before 1999, the Melissa virus [wiki] probably changed that. That's when New Jersey programmer David Smith [wiki] unleashed the first self-replicating worm to attack the Internet since Robert Morris' 1988 worm. Traveling via Microsoft Outlook email software, Melissa brought computer networks at some 300 corporations to their knees. It's estimated Smith caused nearly $500 million in damages, but he was sentenced to five years in prison for $80 million in damages. Why? Because that was the maximum allowed under federal law. "The Melissa case," wrote author Richard Power, "had reached the outer limits of what was even conceived of in the federal sentencing guidelines."