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The Resource Exploding the phone : the untold story of the teenagers and outlaws who hacked Ma Bell, Phil Lapsley

Exploding the phone : the untold story of the teenagers and outlaws who hacked Ma Bell, Phil Lapsley

Creator
Summary
  • Describes how "phone phreaks" learned how to make illicit but technologically innovative free phone calls and shared the technique, and places the process in the development of telecommunications and the behavior of the telephone monopoly
  • "Before smartphones, before the Internet and before the personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world's largest machine: the telephone system. Starting with Alexander Graham Bell's revolutionary 'harmonic telegraph,' by the middle of the twentieth century the phone system had grown into something extraordinary, a web of cutting-edge switching machines and human operators that linked together millions of people like never before. Unfortunately for the telephone company, the network has a billion-dollar flaw. And once people discovered it, things would never the be the same. Phil Lapsley's Exploding the phone tells this story in full for the first time. It traces the birth of long distance communication and the telephone, the rise of AT&T's monopoly, the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work, and the discovery of Ma Bell's Achilles' heel. Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine underground of 'phone phreaks' who turned the network into the electronic playground, the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds, and the counterculture movement that argued you should rip off the phone company to fight against the war in Vietnam... AT&T responded with 'Greenstar'... The FBI fought back, too... Phone phreaking exploded into the popular culture, with famous actors, musicians, and investors caught with 'blue boxes,' many of them built by two young phone phreaks named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak... The product of extensive original research, including exclusive interviews and declassified government documents, Exploding the phone is a captivating, ground-breaking work about an important part of our cultural and technological history"--
  • Before smartphones, before the Internet and before the personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world's largest machine: the telephone system. Starting with Alexander Graham Bell's revolutionary "harmonic telegraph," by the middle of the twentieth century the phone system had grown into something extraordinary, a web of cutting-edge switching machines and human operators that linked together millions of people like never before. Unfortunately for the telephone company, the network has a billion-dollar flaw. And once people discovered it, things would never the be the same. Phil Lapsley's Exploding the Phone tells this story in full for the first time. It traces the birth of long distance communication and the telephone, the rise of AT&T's monopoly, the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work, and the discovery of Ma Bell's Achilles' heel. Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine underground of "phone phreaks" who turned the network into the electronic playground, the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds, and the counterculture movement that argued you should rip off the phone company to fight against the war in Vietnam...AT&T responded with "Greenstar"...The FBI fought back, too...Phone phreaking exploded into the popular culture, with famous actors, musicians, and investors caught with "blue boxes," many of them built by two young phone phreaks named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak...The product of extensive original research, including exclusive interviews and declassified government documents, Exploding the Phone is a captivating, ground-breaking work about an important part of our cultural and technological history -- Publisher's description
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Edition
1st ed.
Extent
xvi, 431 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Note
Map on endpapers
Contents
  • Little Jojo learns to whistle
  • Bill Acker learns to play the flute
  • The phone freaks of America
  • The law of unintended consequences
  • Counterculture
  • Busted
  • Pranks
  • The story of a war
  • A little bit stupid
  • Snitch
  • Fine arts 13
  • Crunched
  • Twilight
  • Nightfall
  • Birth of a playground
  • Cat and canary
  • The largest machine in the world
  • Blue box
  • "Some people collect stamps"
  • Headache
  • Blue box bookies
  • Fine arts 13 -- Birth of a playground -- Cat and canary -- The largest machine in the world -- Blue box -- "Some people collect stamps" -- Headache -- Blue box bookies -- Little Jojo learns to whistle -- Bill Acker learns to play the flute -- The phone freaks of America -- The law of unintended consequences -- Counterculture -- Busted -- Pranks -- The story of a war -- A little bit stupid -- Snitch -- Crunched -- Twilight -- Nightfall
Isbn
9780802120618
Instance
Label
Exploding the phone : the untold story of the teenagers and outlaws who hacked Ma Bell
Title
Exploding the phone
Title remainder
the untold story of the teenagers and outlaws who hacked Ma Bell
Statement of responsibility
Phil Lapsley
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
  • Describes how "phone phreaks" learned how to make illicit but technologically innovative free phone calls and shared the technique, and places the process in the development of telecommunications and the behavior of the telephone monopoly
  • "Before smartphones, before the Internet and before the personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world's largest machine: the telephone system. Starting with Alexander Graham Bell's revolutionary 'harmonic telegraph,' by the middle of the twentieth century the phone system had grown into something extraordinary, a web of cutting-edge switching machines and human operators that linked together millions of people like never before. Unfortunately for the telephone company, the network has a billion-dollar flaw. And once people discovered it, things would never the be the same. Phil Lapsley's Exploding the phone tells this story in full for the first time. It traces the birth of long distance communication and the telephone, the rise of AT&T's monopoly, the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work, and the discovery of Ma Bell's Achilles' heel. Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine underground of 'phone phreaks' who turned the network into the electronic playground, the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds, and the counterculture movement that argued you should rip off the phone company to fight against the war in Vietnam... AT&T responded with 'Greenstar'... The FBI fought back, too... Phone phreaking exploded into the popular culture, with famous actors, musicians, and investors caught with 'blue boxes,' many of them built by two young phone phreaks named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak... The product of extensive original research, including exclusive interviews and declassified government documents, Exploding the phone is a captivating, ground-breaking work about an important part of our cultural and technological history"--
  • Before smartphones, before the Internet and before the personal computer, a misfit group of technophiles, blind teenagers, hippies, and outlaws figured out how to hack the world's largest machine: the telephone system. Starting with Alexander Graham Bell's revolutionary "harmonic telegraph," by the middle of the twentieth century the phone system had grown into something extraordinary, a web of cutting-edge switching machines and human operators that linked together millions of people like never before. Unfortunately for the telephone company, the network has a billion-dollar flaw. And once people discovered it, things would never the be the same. Phil Lapsley's Exploding the Phone tells this story in full for the first time. It traces the birth of long distance communication and the telephone, the rise of AT&T's monopoly, the creation of the sophisticated machines that made it all work, and the discovery of Ma Bell's Achilles' heel. Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine underground of "phone phreaks" who turned the network into the electronic playground, the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds, and the counterculture movement that argued you should rip off the phone company to fight against the war in Vietnam...AT&T responded with "Greenstar"...The FBI fought back, too...Phone phreaking exploded into the popular culture, with famous actors, musicians, and investors caught with "blue boxes," many of them built by two young phone phreaks named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak...The product of extensive original research, including exclusive interviews and declassified government documents, Exploding the Phone is a captivating, ground-breaking work about an important part of our cultural and technological history -- Publisher's description
Assigning source
Publisher's description
Cataloging source
YDXCP
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1965-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Lapsley, Phil
Dewey number
384.0657/3
Illustrations
  • illustrations
  • maps
  • plates
Index
index present
LC call number
  • HD9697.T454
  • TK6343
LC item number
  • A44 2013
  • .L37 2013
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • American Telephone and Telegraph Company
  • AT & T (Firm)
  • Telecommunication systems
  • Telephone companies
  • Telephone systems
  • Computer engineers
  • Counterculture
  • Gegenkultur
  • Telekommunikation
  • Computersicherheit
  • Datenschutz
  • Hacker
  • USA
Label
Exploding the phone : the untold story of the teenagers and outlaws who hacked Ma Bell, Phil Lapsley
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Note
Map on endpapers
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-406) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Contents
  • Little Jojo learns to whistle
  • Bill Acker learns to play the flute
  • The phone freaks of America
  • The law of unintended consequences
  • Counterculture
  • Busted
  • Pranks
  • The story of a war
  • A little bit stupid
  • Snitch
  • Fine arts 13
  • Crunched
  • Twilight
  • Nightfall
  • Birth of a playground
  • Cat and canary
  • The largest machine in the world
  • Blue box
  • "Some people collect stamps"
  • Headache
  • Blue box bookies
  • Fine arts 13 -- Birth of a playground -- Cat and canary -- The largest machine in the world -- Blue box -- "Some people collect stamps" -- Headache -- Blue box bookies -- Little Jojo learns to whistle -- Bill Acker learns to play the flute -- The phone freaks of America -- The law of unintended consequences -- Counterculture -- Busted -- Pranks -- The story of a war -- A little bit stupid -- Snitch -- Crunched -- Twilight -- Nightfall
Control code
805055474
Dimensions
23 cm
Edition
1st ed.
Extent
xvi, 431 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780802120618
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, map
System control number
(OCoLC)805055474
Label
Exploding the phone : the untold story of the teenagers and outlaws who hacked Ma Bell, Phil Lapsley
Publication
Copyright
Note
Map on endpapers
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-406) and index
Carrier category
volume
Carrier category code
  • nc
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier.
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent.
Contents
  • Little Jojo learns to whistle
  • Bill Acker learns to play the flute
  • The phone freaks of America
  • The law of unintended consequences
  • Counterculture
  • Busted
  • Pranks
  • The story of a war
  • A little bit stupid
  • Snitch
  • Fine arts 13
  • Crunched
  • Twilight
  • Nightfall
  • Birth of a playground
  • Cat and canary
  • The largest machine in the world
  • Blue box
  • "Some people collect stamps"
  • Headache
  • Blue box bookies
  • Fine arts 13 -- Birth of a playground -- Cat and canary -- The largest machine in the world -- Blue box -- "Some people collect stamps" -- Headache -- Blue box bookies -- Little Jojo learns to whistle -- Bill Acker learns to play the flute -- The phone freaks of America -- The law of unintended consequences -- Counterculture -- Busted -- Pranks -- The story of a war -- A little bit stupid -- Snitch -- Crunched -- Twilight -- Nightfall
Control code
805055474
Dimensions
23 cm
Edition
1st ed.
Extent
xvi, 431 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates
Isbn
9780802120618
Media category
unmediated
Media MARC source
rdamedia.
Media type code
  • n
Other physical details
illustrations, map
System control number
(OCoLC)805055474

Subject

Library Locations

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