Sophos' Graham Cluley is amazed at the reception given to the iPhone worm creator. Others have offered a mix of jobs and death threats.
In a recent on-line survey, Sophos (the anti-virus people) asked for readers' opinions on the merits of Ashley Towns, the author of the iPhone worm (or virus, if you prefer).

The poll asked, succinctly enough: "What do you think about the iPhone worm's author?"

The (completely unscientific) results, based on 721 votes, were intriguing:

He's done iPhone users a favour. This was an acceptable way to raise awareness of poor security. 547 votes.

He's acted recklessly by releasing the worm, the ends didn't justify the means. 69 votes.

I hope he's investigated by the cops - when he released that worm he broke the law. 105 votes.

What this is saying is that around 75% of visitors to a well-known anti-virus site (people who ought to know better) are essentially supporting Towns' actions.

Graham Cluley, writing in his blog comments, "Has the world gone completely bonkers? It's a depressing notion that most people think that doing harm and breaking computer crime laws is a good thing.