Alex: and they open up!

David: ...and they all start bragging like hackers. Sterling makes that connection in general, but never admits that they want recognition just as much as the hackers do. They just have a...I don't know if I want to say healthier, but certainly a more socially acceptable way of seeking it. Strangely, that makes it even harder to find...

Alex: Yeah, I can't quote text to back this up but Sterling represents the hacker crackdowners as somehow even more sympathetic than the hackers themselves; they feel like they should get some recognition for all the work they do, but hackers are the ones with all the sexy sci-fi novels and movies.

Nate: There's something far more alluring about the mysterious underground, shadowy perps in trenchcoats trading floppy disks, as opposed to geeky cops seizing modems.

Alex: I wonder if perhaps the widely-publicized "Hacker Crackdown" was a bold-faced effort to garner some public accolades for all the hard work law enforcement was devoting to cybercrime; I mean, Sterling basically admits as much in this section, right?