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Slate Reprints Blue-Box Article That Inspired Jobs

Posted by timothy on from the via-neal-stephenson-via-facebook dept.

Slate has reprinted the piece that Ron Rosenbaum wrote for Esquire in 1971, explaining to the world that there was an underground movement of people hacking the phone system. (Rosenbaum is now a columnist for Slate.) According to the article's new introduction and followup piece by Rosenbaum reflecting on its impact — and to the New York Times obituary for Steve Jobs — this article inspired Jobs and Wozniak to start building blue boxes themselves, an effort that made them several thousand dollars.

10 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. not any more by spokenoise · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They would now be considered a homeland security threat or some such shit and locked up, put on a no fly list and given a free colonoscopy. The several thou would be proceeds of crime and fined in the brazillions or dollars....

    1. Re:not any more by Runaway1956 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Most definitely. Phreakers would be water boarded at Guantanamo today. Not only would the law have taken Steve and Woz's paltry thousands, they would have confiscated their homes, their cars, their parent's homes and cars, and the families of both would be on no-fly lists, etc ad nauseum. Gotta do away with those phreakers - they'll be the downfall of this great corporate nation!

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
  2. iWoz, Chapter 6 by BitterKraut · · Score: 4, Informative

    titled 'Phreaking for Real' tells the story from Steve Wozniak's perspective. It starts "In 1971, the day before I headed off to my third year of college at Berkeley, I was sitting at my mother's kitchen table and there happened to be a copy of Esquire sitting there." After giving an account of the article and the excitement it gave him, Woz first mentions Jobs four pages later: "One of the first things I did after reading the article was to call up my friend Steve Jobs. He was just about to start twelfth grade at Homestead High School, the same high school I'd gone to. I started telling him about this amazing article, [...]".

  3. The lesson is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Be a criminal first. Then start a business so you can rip people off bigtime. Legally.

    Don't much care for apple of the last 10+ years. Apple could have advanced computing greatly. Instead they advanced lockin, lawsuits, form over function, and trendy fad expensive disposable products.

    We're not a pc! No.. you're the same hardware with one extra thing to make it a pain to interoperate with the rest of the computing world easily and cheaply. Once apple started using intel as their base it should have become obvious to everyone what they were doing and what they actually cared about. Money.

    And that does not make you great. That's actually pretty common.

    Damm shame... Apple forcing microsoft and other companies to compete on a level open playfield could have done so much more to advance technology.

    Instead you now get your choice of iproduct in a range of primary colors!

    1. Re:The lesson is... by SlippyToad · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I didn't know "grandma" was the problem the iPad was meant to solve.

      Demographic studies would seem to indicate that the main group using iPads are between 35-44. In other words, perfectly computer literate, probably well into their careers, and wealthy enough to afford the hefty price tag and maintenance (after all, you've got to send it back to change the battery).

      Also, I have used an iPad. It is just as quirky as any Windows computing device. I don't know where this delusion comes from that Apple products are more user-friendly, but from the perspective of someone who had to learn how to hook these damn things into my virtual desktop environment, I have had ample opportunity to experience the Apple user interface, and it is really nothing spectacular. It's just as badly-designed as every other user interface I've ever encountered.

      --
      One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel / the next it's rolling over me / I can get back on / I can get back on
  4. Hahah by X.25 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's amazing how fucked up humanity is.

    Day after day, "media" spends time talking about someone who managed to run some businesses that basically produced some eye-candy that naive people can drool over. A hero.

    But chance that you will hear about someone who actually saves peoples' eyes (like this, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanduk_Ruit) are almost zero.

    Edward Bernays would be proud.

  5. Re:Esquire, then Xerox by CrackedButter · · Score: 3, Informative

    They were invited to Xerox and bought the tech off them. Afterwards, Apple hired some of the staff. Read history (or ask Woz) and don't be a douche.

    --
    Jonathanjk.com
  6. Re:yup by rsmith-mac · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Scoff all you want, but it would do all the youngins here good to read the whole Blue Box article from front to back. Not only does it provide a great historical context to modern hacking - and proof that the motivations haven't changed even though the technology has - but it's also an example of an extremely well written article, something the modern blogosphere is incapable of creating. Even if it takes the death of Steve Jobs, it's exactly the kind of article that should be posted on Slashdot.

  7. Re:Is it just me? by unimacs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Never watched a Pixar movie? Never owned a device with a firewire port?

    What about MS Windows? Windows up until at least 3.1 licensed some Mac OS technology.

    Downloaded any music using a paid service? Maybe you haven't use an Apple product to do so, but Steve Jobs and company turned the music industry upside down and forever changed the way we buy music.

    First web server? Written on NeXT computer. First spreadsheet? Written for an Apple computer.

    Maybe you have never owned Apple product but my guess is that many of the products you do use have been profoundly influenced by Apple's designs in one way or another.

    What if there was never was a Steve Jobs? What would the computer industry look like today? Would the computer as a personal device be as prevalent as it is? Would there be as many IT jobs as there are today?

    I'm not saying that he was a great humanitarian or anything. But his impact on our lives is undeniable.

    If nothing else, the lesson I wish the world would take from Apple and Steve Jobs is how to weather an economic downturn. Layoff staff? Hunker down? F*&k no. Make stuff people want, - not just cheaper versions of and minor improvements to what's already available. Innovate.

    He had an ability to make stuff that was complicated into things mortals could do on their own. I agree that it is a shame he couldn't have applied this talent to the world's more profound problems.

  8. Re:Esquire, then Xerox by LetterRip · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They were invited to Xerox and bought the tech off them. Afterwards, Apple hired some of the staff. Read history (or ask Woz) and don't be a douche.

    Actually the real history is that Raskin arranged the visit so that Steve Jobs would see why the technology that was in the Macintosh was important and hopefully convince Jobs to quit trying to kill the Mac.

    http://www-sul.stanford.edu/mac/parc.html