Phil Lapsley

In Exploding the Phone ($25.00), Phil Lapsley illuminates the forgotten history of the proto-hackers, tinkerers, and pranksters who turned AT&T’s telephone system into their electronic playground.

Before smartphones and iPads, before the Internet or 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. By the middle of the twentieth century the telephone 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. But the network had a billion-dollar flaw, and once people discovered it, things would never be the same.

Phil Lapsley co-founded two high technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and was a consultant at McKinsey & Company where he advised Fortune 100 companies on strategy. He holds a Master's degree in electrical engineering and computer sciences from U. C. Berkeley and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Lapsley has been interviewed by NPR and the BBC and quoted in The New York Times and Boston Globe on telephone and computer security issues, and is the author of one textbook, sixteen patents, an Internet standard, and many technical articles. (MDGentleReader)… (more)

Join us this month as we host special guest Philip Lapsley on the Chuckanut Radio Hour for his new book, Exploding the phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell. The Chuckanut Radio Hour is a radio variety show that began in January 2007. Each Chuckanut Radio Hour features a guest author and includes guest musicians, performance poet Kevin Murphy, Cascadia Weekly columnist Alan Rhodes, an episode of "The Bellingham Bean" serial radio comedy, and some groaner jokes by hosts Chuck & Dee Robinson and announcer Rich Donnelly. The Chuckanut Radio Hour's first guest was Erik Larson and has since included Alexander McCall Smith, Elizabeth George, Cheryl Strayed, Sherman Alexie, Tom Robbins and Garrison Keillor, among many others. The Radio Hour airs every Saturday evening at 6pm and Sunday at 9pm on SPARK RADIO, KMRE 102.3FM. Our musical guest tonight is the Holly Swanson Trio.

Phil Lapsley's Exploding the phone 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 network of "phone phreaks" who broke into the system to satisfy their curiosity, 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," an unprecedented project that would ultimately tap some thirty-three million telephone calls and record 1.5 million of them. The FBI fought back, too, especially when a phone phreak showed a confidential informant how he could remotely eavesdrop on FBI calls. 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. Soon, the phone phreaks, the feds, and the phone company were at war. Based on original interviews and declassified documents, and featuring a forward by phone phreak turned Apple Computers co-founder Steve Wozniak, Exploding the phone is a captivating, ground-breaking work about an important part of our cultural and technological history.

Phil Lapsley co-founded two high technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and was a consultant at McKinsey & Company where he advised Fortune 100 companies on strategy. He holds a Master's degree in electrical engineering and computer sciences from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Lapsley has been interviewed by NPR and the BBC and quoted in The New York Times and Boston Globe on telephone and computer security issues, and is the author of one textbook, sixteen patents, an Internet standard, and many technical articles.

Tickets for the Chuckanut Radio Hour are $5 and are available at BrownPaperTickets.com and at Village Books. Receive a free ticket to the show with purchase of one hard cover copy of the book at Village Books. Doors open at 6:30pm, and you must be seated by 6:45pm as the show begins promptly at 7pm. Co-sponsored by the Leopold Retirement Residence, 12th Street Shoes, Fairhaven Pizza, and the Fairhaven Village Inn.

Location: Street: 1224 Cornwall Ave. Additional: Crystal Ballroom Leopold Retirement Residence City: Bellingham, Province: Washington Postal Code: 98225-7015 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland welcomes local author Phil Lapsley to the store to discuss Exploding the phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell on Friday, February 15th at 7pm.

In Exploding the phone, Phil Lapsley illuminates the forgotten history of the proto-hackers, tinkerers, and pranksters who turned AT&T’s telephone system into their electronic playground.

Before smartphones and iPads, before the Internet or 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. By the middle of the twentieth century the telephone 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. But the network had a billion-dollar flaw, and once people discovered it, things would never be the same.

AT&T responded with “Greenstar,” an unprecedented project that would ultimately tap some thirty-three million telephone calls and record 1.5 million of them. The FBI fought back, too, especially when a phone phreak showed a confidential informant how he could remotely eavesdrop on FBI calls. 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. Soon, the phone phreaks, the feds, and the phone company were at war.



Exploding the phone 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 network of phone phreaks who broke into the system to satisfy their curiosity, 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. 



Based on original interviews and declassified documents, and featuring a forward by phone phreak turned Apple Computers co-founder Steve Wozniak, Exploding the phone is a captivating, groundbreaking work about an important part of our cultural and technological history.

Phil Lapsley is a cofounder of two high-tech companies, and a former consultant at McKinsey & Company. He holds a masters degree in electrical engineering from UC Berkeley and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Location: Street: 5433 College Ave City: Oakland, Province: California Postal Code: 94618-1502 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Credit: Margaretta K. Mitchell

Phil Lapsley

Wednesday, February 13, 7:30 p.m.

Exploding the phone: The Untold Story of the Teenagers and Outlaws Who Hacked Ma Bell

Before smartphones, back even before the Internet and 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. 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. But the network had a billion-dollar flaw, and once people discovered it, things would never be the same.

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. Phil Lapsley expertly weaves together the clandestine underground of "phone phreaks" who turned the network into their electronic playground, the mobsters who exploited its flaws to avoid the feds, the explosion of telephone hacking in the counterculture, and the war between the phreaks, the phone company, and the FBI.

Phil Lapsley co-founded two high technology companies in the San Francisco Bay Area and was a consultant at McKinsey & Company where he advised Fortune 100 companies on strategy. He holds a Master's degree in electrical engineering and computer sciences from U.C. Berkeley and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Location: Street: 1010 El Camino Real City: Menlo Park, Province: California Postal Code: 94025-4349 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)