| FT-248633-16 | Research Programs: Summer Stipends | Brian Hochman | A History of Wiretapping in the United States | 6/1/2016 - 7/31/2016 | $6,000.00 | Brian | | Hochman | | | | Georgetown University | Washington | DC | 20057-0001 | USA | 2016 | American Studies | Summer Stipends | Research Programs | 6000 | 0 | 6000 | 0 | A history of wiretapping in the United States, from the Civil War to the present.
All Ears: A History of Wiretapping in the United States explores one of modern media history’s most inconvenient truths: that technologies for eavesdropping on communications have proliferated as rapidly as communications technologies themselves. Third parties tapped the earliest telegraph wires during the nineteenth century, and America’s communications systems have been bugged ever since. Drawing on a range of primary source materials, All Ears uncovers the history of wiretaps and other eavesdropping technologies in the United States. In the process, the book chronicles debates about eavesdropping that have captured the public’s attention since the mid-nineteenth century. My central argument is that cultural contests over wiretapping constitute contests over what it means to communicate in a networked society--a society in which information needs to travel across vast distances, and a society in which technologies of all sorts enable the human voice to traverse them. |
| FZ-256398-17 | Research Programs: Public Scholars | Brian Hochman | A History of Wiretapping in the United States | 1/1/2018 - 12/31/2018 | $50,400.00 | Brian | | Hochman | | | | Georgetown University | Washington | DC | 20057-0001 | USA | 2017 | American Studies | Public Scholars | Research Programs | 50400 | 0 | 50400 | 0 | Research and writing of a book on the history of public and private sector wiretapping and wiretapping technology since the 19th century.
All Ears: A History of Wiretapping in the United States explores an oft-overlooked truth of modern media history: that technologies for eavesdropping on communications have proliferated as rapidly as communications technologies themselves. Third parties tapped the earliest telegraph wires during the nineteenth century, and the nation's communications networks have been bugged ever since. Drawing on a wide range of primary source materials, the project uncovers the surprising history of wiretaps, bugs, and other eavesdropping technologies in the United States. In the process, it offers valuable historical perspective on an issue that remains hotly contested among pundits and policymakers today. By tracing a series of popular flash points in the history of wiretapping, the project ultimately demonstrates how the modern myth of communications privacy has depended, even thrived, on the reality of its technological infringement. |