The world’s first court-ordered wire-tap and the Apple iPod is released. All on today’s On This Day from TEST Huddle.
1995 – The World’s First Computer Wire-tap
In the United States, a court authorises what’s believed to be the world’s first computer wire-tap. The judge ordered the wire-tap on Harvard faculty computers in November and December of 1995. The purpose of the wiretap was to provide evidence to prosecute an Argentinian hacker accused of remotely using Harvard computers to crack into other networks, including the Ames Research Center, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Navy Research Laboratory, and the Naval Command Control and Ocean Surveillance Center.
This was not the first time for surveillance of a computer but was it was the first time a court’s approval was required because the Harvard systems didn’t caution users that their communications might be monitored. As a result of the tap, Julio Cesar Ardita of Buenos Aires was charged on March 29, 1996 with intercepting electronic communications and damaging files. He was sentenced to three years probation and a $5,000 fine.
2001 – Apple iPod is released 
On this day in 2001, Apple released the first model of its popular iPod portable music player for $400. It featured FireWire connectivity to Mac computers, a stylized mechanical scroll wheel, and a 5 GB capacity, which Apple touts as ”enough for a thousand songs.” One hundred million units would be sold by April 2007, leaving Apple the leader in portable music devices. Code-name: Dulcimer
Images: Wikipedia
