The Open Book

THE CONTEXT // From makerspaces to data wrangling schools to archives, the digital is being remixed by the open – and it is changing society as we know it. The Open Book <http://theopenbook.org.uk> is an ambitious project to explore these emergent understandings, put together by The Finnish Institute in London as a part of the critical Reaktio series <http://bit.ly/ZvrLn8> with the help of the Open Knowledge Foundation <http://okfn.org> and a global team of contributors and mentors.

THE BOOK // Inspired by the world’s first Open Knowledge Festival <http://okfestival.org> this fall in Helsinki, The Open Book explores the social and technological manifestations of this movement for the first time, featuring over 25 in-depth thought pieces written by pioneers of openness around the world from London to São Paulo - many of whom were suggested by you! Also included is “The Evolution of Open Knowledge” <http://bit.ly/YGwj7N>, the world’s first crowdsourced timeline of openness from 1425 to the current day which we asked you to contribute to <http://bit.ly/122EuLV> earlier this year.

THE CONCLUSIONS // Due to the divisive nature of such an experimental publication, we do not attempt to present any single argument on what ‘open’ is. Instead, we hope The Open Book will serve as a platform for discussion and a launching pad for new ideas about the future of a global open knowledge movement in a time of rapid technological progress.

THE LAUNCH // As many of you already know, The Open Book was officially launched at FutureEverything in Manchester last month: <http://bit.ly/146xxwf> Many thanks to everyone who came and showed their support - it was a great event! Here's a summary by Antti Halonen, Head of Society at the Finnish Institute: <http://bit.ly/ZvqHjj>

GET YOUR COPY // Web: The Open Book is now available online for free as a PDF (CC-BY-SA license) at <http://theopenbook.org.uk>. Print: You can also grab a beautiful print copy at-cost via Amazon: <http://amzn.to/ZcZ2xn>. Please share with colleagues and friends!

Great Moments in Broadcast Signal Intrusion

Broadcast Signal Intrusion is a term given to the act of hijacking broadcast signals of radio and television stations. Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks.


Yesterday Montana TV station KRTV reported that someone hacked into their Emergency Broadcast System and broadcast of an impending emergency in several Montana counties. According to Great Falls Tribune, regular programming was interrupted with a voice-over that warned that bodies were rising from their graves and attacking humans (video 1, 2).

“Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous…”

This is not the first time a Broadcast Signal Intrusion has happened. Here are some of my favorites:



The so-called 'Max Headroom Pirate Incident' from 1987. The first incident occurred during the sports segment of the WGN 9:00 p.m. news broadcast; During the sports section of the 9pm news broadcast on Americas WGN network, an unauthorised signal over powered the sations transmitters and was broadcast for over a minute. The signal had no audio, but the video was of someone in a Max Headroom mask gesturing at the camera.

The second of these incidents occured during the evening broadcast of Dr Who on WTTW. This time the signal had audio and viewers were witness to a unintelligble rant from the 'fake' Max Headroom character.


East Enders interrupted by techno music and geometric shapes.



In May 2012 viewers of UK terrestrial TV were suddenly faced with this alarming yet intriguing break in normal transmission. The perpetrators are still being hunted by OfCom for a violation of UK broadcasting law. If caught, the individuals could face hefty fines or even imprisonment. Quite how they managed to break into the network is still unknown. OfCom and broadcast industry experts are keeping a tight lid on how it may have happened. The only information released is that the broadcast may have been inserted somewhere in the North of England, possibly near the Emley Moor or Winter Hill Transmitter sites



On a late-December evening in 1989, a Los Angeles television station was victim of a broadcast signal takeover.

A broadcast of the Reagan/Bush gavel passing was interrupted by a man wearing a tin foil mask. The crazed person uttered mostly gibberish and becomes flustered when a piece of his "set" falls apart. 30-seconds later, the program returned to normal.



This broadcast of the popular PBS cooking show, "The Frugal Gourmet," was interrupted by a video pirate.



Deep into the night during an HBO broadcast of The Falcon and the Snowman in April 1986, subscribers were startled to see the start of the action interrupted by a four-and-a-half-minute transmission from a certain “Captain Midnight.” Over a test pattern, the message from Captain Midnight ran as follows:

GOODEVENING HBO
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
$12.95/MONTH ?
NO WAY !
[SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]

Captain Midnight turned out to be a John MacDougall, an engineer at a satellite transmission facility in Ocala, Florida. MacDougall’s hacker attack was motivated by frustration at HBO, who he felt was overcharging satellite customers and hurting his satellite dish business. MacDougall was sentenced to one year’s probation and a $5,000 fine.

You can read more about the Max Headroom broadcast intrusion here.

Keep watching the skies.