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Article ID: CBB534904848

Telephone Networks, BBSes, and the Emergence of the Transnational ‘warez scene’ (2019)

Wasiak, Patryk (Author)

History and Technology
Volume: 35
Issue: 2
Pages: 177-194

URI: https://doi.org/10.1080/07341512.2019.1652432

DOI: 10.1080/07341512.2019.1652432

Publication Date: 2019
Edition Details: Special issue: Towards a Telephonic History of Technology
Language: English

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Globalization; internationalization Communications, digital Technology and society Computer viruses Software Piracy Telegraphs; telephones Telephone industry

This article analyzes how software pirates who formed the ‘warez scene’ appropriated telephone network infrastructures and Bulletin Board System (or BBS) technology to circulate computer software across national borders. This paper is shedding more light on the roots of contemporary internet-based software piracy by investigating how appropriation of international telephone networks contributed to the globalization of digital software distribution. It also highlights the mundane aspects of the organization of media convergence on the junction between analog and digital technologies. Here I argue that the use of telephone networks as a means of transnational software distribution is an instance of actors setting up a convergent media environment driven by the cultural logic of a specific subculture. My paper provides an overview of BBS technology to demonstrate how it linked analog and digital domains and then outlines its cultural significance, ultimately discussing the appropriation of BBSes and their role in transnational expansion of ‘the scene’.

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Article Gabriele Balbi; Christiane Berth (2019) Towards a telephonic history of technology. History and Technology (pp. 105-114). unapi

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https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB534904848/

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