Pentagon proposal to install "Address the Populace" device on TVs
December 28, 2009 1:10 PM Subscribe
"In 1971, [the Pentagon proposed] to President Nixon that an electronic gadget be attached to every television set in the country. Capable of being activated directly by the president, it would switch on every set in the country at once." Really?
The above is a quote from Jerry Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, just before which he said that this news was in "a small item" in the New York Times. I can find no reference to this proposal anywhere on the internet. Can you find proof that it actually happened?
The above is a quote from Jerry Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, just before which he said that this news was in "a small item" in the New York Times. I can find no reference to this proposal anywhere on the internet. Can you find proof that it actually happened?
I have access to the NYT archive. Smackfu has it - there's also a very brief article from Aug 21, 1971 titled "Civil Defense Link Set for 11 States" describing how the system was at least partially implemented. The 1970 article smackfu cites specifically mentions the ability to activate the signal via small battery-powered boxes inside TVs and radios even if they were switched off or the power was out.
Neither article mentioned Nixon or the Pentagon directly, though.
posted by donnagirl at 2:00 PM on December 28, 2009
Neither article mentioned Nixon or the Pentagon directly, though.
posted by donnagirl at 2:00 PM on December 28, 2009
I vaguely recall this being discussed in my house when I was barely jinxed at all...
posted by Jinx of the 2nd Law at 8:16 PM on December 28, 2009
posted by Jinx of the 2nd Law at 8:16 PM on December 28, 2009
Hope this link to a 1973 article about DIDS works...
Can you imagine how early phreakers and hackers would have raped this system? Oh my dear sweet Lord....
posted by codswallop at 10:26 PM on December 28, 2009
Can you imagine how early phreakers and hackers would have raped this system? Oh my dear sweet Lord....
posted by codswallop at 10:26 PM on December 28, 2009
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From the preview snippets, it's probably describing DIDS, which was a proposal to put longwave emergency radio receivers in TVs and radios: "One of them would attach to, or be installed inside, a TV set. If the TV was turned off when DIDS was activated, the DIDS circuit would deliver the message at "greater-than-normal volume" through the TV speaker to wake sleepers. "
posted by smackfu at 1:38 PM on December 28, 2009