3 ms·

Suppressing Innovation: Bell Laboratories and Magnetic Recording

14 points by bobbiechen 8y ago

nitrogen 8y ago
Is there a summary somewhere or a copy that doesn't require creating a jstor account?
- neilv 8y ago
  Link with summary: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275933493_Suppressing_Innovation_Bell_Laboratories_and_Magnetic_Recording https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275933493_Suppressi... Interesting info at: (PDF) http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/sites/default/files/articles/WQ_VOL18_SP_1994_Periodical_19.pdf http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/sites/default/files/artic... Complementary big quote in a footnote at: http://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/supporting-documents/b.10-the-us-vs-western-union-lawsuit-1949-1956.html http://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/supporting-d... There might be better links.
  - acqq 8y ago
    Thanks. The most interesting parts of the text behind the second link: "AT&T did not offer an answering machine to its customers until the early 1950s—and prohibited the connection of recorders to public phone lines until 1948, when consumer pressure became too great to resist. Why the delays? Upper-level executives at AT&T, Clark says, feared that if recordings of conversations were permitted, customers would be less willing to use the phone system. A slip of the tongue recorded during a business negotiation, for example, could be fatal to a deal. Also, some AT&T executives estimated that up to one-third of all phone calls involved matters of an illegal or immoral nature." ... "Surprisingly, according to Clark, the managers "paid far more attention to the question of trust and image" than to potential profits. That was a reflection of the public-relations problems AT&T was having as a result of New Deal antitrust investigations." ... "When the Bell system finally began offering answering machines to its customers in 1951, they were built not by AT&T but by an outside contractor." I am still not aware of the mobile phone which allows one to easily record a conversation, even if today it could be easier than ever to implement that feature.

14 points by bobbiechen 8y ago

nitrogen 8y ago

Is there a summary somewhere or a copy that doesn't require creating a jstor account?

neilv 8y ago
Link with summary: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275933493_Suppressing_Innovation_Bell_Laboratories_and_Magnetic_Recording https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275933493_Suppressi... Interesting info at: (PDF) http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/sites/default/files/articles/WQ_VOL18_SP_1994_Periodical_19.pdf http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/sites/default/files/artic... Complementary big quote in a footnote at: http://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/supporting-documents/b.10-the-us-vs-western-union-lawsuit-1949-1956.html http://www.historyofcomputercommunications.info/supporting-d... There might be better links.
- acqq 8y ago
  Thanks. The most interesting parts of the text behind the second link: "AT&T did not offer an answering machine to its customers until the early 1950s—and prohibited the connection of recorders to public phone lines until 1948, when consumer pressure became too great to resist. Why the delays? Upper-level executives at AT&T, Clark says, feared that if recordings of conversations were permitted, customers would be less willing to use the phone system. A slip of the tongue recorded during a business negotiation, for example, could be fatal to a deal. Also, some AT&T executives estimated that up to one-third of all phone calls involved matters of an illegal or immoral nature." ... "Surprisingly, according to Clark, the managers "paid far more attention to the question of trust and image" than to potential profits. That was a reflection of the public-relations problems AT&T was having as a result of New Deal antitrust investigations." ... "When the Bell system finally began offering answering machines to its customers in 1951, they were built not by AT&T but by an outside contractor." I am still not aware of the mobile phone which allows one to easily record a conversation, even if today it could be easier than ever to implement that feature.