In 1988 I was in line for a take-out lunch at M.I.T., near where I worked, when I overheard an excited conversation about something strange that was happening with Internet-connected computers on campus. It turned out to be the infamous Robert Morris Worm incident. Another technical troublemaker I became aware of around that time was the notorious hacker Kevin Mitnick.
Until the Internet hit big my primary technical specialty was data communications and networking. There was a period of overlap and transition that I enjoyed very much, when statistical time-division multiplexors were replaced with Ethernet bridges, which in turn gave way to IP routers.
In 1991 I was working on my first Internet-related project, involving an implementation of the Telnet virtual terminal protocol. Working with IP-enabled communication servers from Gandalf, Xyplex, and Xylogics — none of which are still in business — I became very familiar with Telnet and something called raw TCP sockets. In those early, clunky days of online tech I could connect a dumb ASCII terminal or a DOS-PC running ProComm to a modem and dial into a comm server with Internet access to get online.
With all of that background in mind I drew this cartoon for the Comics Buyers Guide. Twenty-eight years ago, anticipating the possibility of identity theft, swatting, and an overreaction by law enforcement seemed extremely extreme. But now, not so much.
The little serial interface diagram of a null-modem cable was an in-joke to myself, showing wires getting crossed. The name Estes is a dig at Senator Estes Kefauver, who is infamous to those who know comic book history.