That ship had sailed well before the ~1997 launch of the book. See for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker

That ship had sailed well before the ~1997 launch of the book. See for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_(film) (1995) or http://www.takedown.com/ http://www.takedown.com/ (1996)