With the aggressive pace of technological change and the onslaught of news regarding data breaches, cyber-attacks, and technological threats to privacy and security, it is easy to assume these are fundamentally new threats. The pace of technological change is slower than it feels, and many seemingly new categories of threats have actually been with us longer than we remember. Nervous System is a monthly blog that approaches issues of data privacy and cyber security from the context of history—to look to the past for clues about how to interpret the present and prepare for the future.

Joe Engressia was born blind, had perfect pitch, and was fascinated by telephones at an early age. In 1957, he became a pioneering computer hacker at the age of seven. (Or age eight; accounts differ. Either way, this was a prodigious accomplishment for a small child in the Eisenhower Age.)