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Exploding The Phone: The Untold Story Of The Teenagers And Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell (2013)

by Phil Lapsley(Favorite Author)

4.12 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

080212061X (ISBN13: 9780802120618)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Grove Press

review 1: Really fun to read. I was sort of vaguely aware that phone phreaking was a thing, but I was scant on the details. There's a palpable sense of excitement as you watch this ragtag band of misfits discover how to work through the giant electromechanical network that was Ma Bell. I especially liked the bit near the end where the author tosses out questions which are extremely relevant today: how much culpability do we place on people for merely being curious? And why should companies and governments crack down on those who bring these vulnerabilities to their attention?
review 2: The AT&T phone network was built over a number of years and became more automated over the years. Gradually, it connected across the country and other nations and continents. There no hack... moreers so the company didn't plan for them. As the phone company gradually changed to a more automated systems in the early 60s, teens, organized crime and people who enjoyed with technology found ways to bypass paying for calls by making blue boxes and black boxes of cheap materials. The laws originally weren't written for phone phreaking and the FBI and courts had to keep up. The FBI and Ma Bell also found out that arrests made the news more people discovered phone phreaking and built blue boxes. By 1971, the phone company declared war on phreakers and the phone company became objects of ridicule on Saturday Night Live and other venues. Two young men became involved in creating and selling blue boxes to people in California. Ike Turner was caught with one of their boxes, so was actor Robert Cummings. In 1971, they were arrested but convinced the cop to let them go saying that the blue box was just a music synthesizer. The two young men were Steve Wozniack and Steve Jobs. They say that the world could have different if they had been prosecuted. Instead they turned their talents from blue boxes to Apple computers. Phone phreaking ended as prosecutions became more common and technology slowly changing. Interesting book. less

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