text: Kevin Mitnick hacking case In 1995, Tsutomo Shimomura noticed some of his stolen software had been stored in a WELL account. He worked with WELL management to track and identify hacker Kevin Mitnick as the culprit. This effort was described in Shimomura's book Takedown, which he wrote with John Markoff, and in a Wired article excerpted from the book.
  Media coverage of the internet and online community
  The WELL was described in the early 1990s as a "listening post for journalists," with members who were staff writers and editors for the New York Times, Business Week, the San Francisco Chronicle, Time, Rolling Stone, Byte, Harper's, and the Wall Street Journal. This early visibility may have been helped by the early policy of providing free accounts for interested journalists and other select members of the media. Notable journalists who have written about their experiences on the WELL include John Seabrook of the New Yorker, Katie Hafner of the New York Times, Wendy M. Grossman of the Guardian, and Jon Carroll of the San Francisco Chronicle.
  In the news
  In March 2007, The WELL was noted for refusing membership to Kevin Mitnick, and refunding his membership fee.
  The WELL also received numerous awards in the 1980s and 1990s, including a Webby Award for online community in 1998, and an EFF Pioneer Award in 1994.