How the first ever telecoms scam worked

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  • Опубліковано 23 гру 2024

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  • @TomScottGo
    @TomScottGo  6 років тому +18366

    Quick tip if you ever go to France: don't let the rental car company give you a free upgrade to an SUV. SUVs do not fit well on tiny rural French roads.

    • @tratoc
      @tratoc 6 років тому +753

      Good to know.

    • @tracey6299
      @tracey6299 6 років тому +362

      This will be handy

    • @marwinhochfelsner
      @marwinhochfelsner 6 років тому +253

      Thank you Tom

    • @GrouchyGander
      @GrouchyGander 6 років тому +179

      Noted.

    • @patrickhanft
      @patrickhanft 6 років тому +413

      with the increased fuel consumption I don't see, why it would be free anyway … ;-)

  • @SkillsWithPhil
    @SkillsWithPhil 6 років тому +3660

    I never know what to expect with any of these videos, I just know I'm going to learn something really cool on a random subject.

  • @briangarrow448
    @briangarrow448 6 років тому +3435

    "The beacon fires from Gondor have been lit! Will Rohan ride to her aid?"
    Or will Theoden short trade a major monetary deal with the dwarves of the Iron Hills?- check back next week for part 2 of The Monetary Scams of Middle Earth...

    • @michaelsommers2356
      @michaelsommers2356 6 років тому +56

      The _Agamemnon_ of Aeschylus begins with a watchman seeing a beacon fire signalling the fall of Troy. It's not a new idea.

    • @Ludvigvanamadeus
      @Ludvigvanamadeus 6 років тому +7

      I'd read that book.

    • @Roxolan
      @Roxolan 6 років тому +117

      They are not all accounted for, the lost seeing stones. We do not know who else may be watching. Don't say another word about the price of pipe-weed.

    • @InfamousArmstrong
      @InfamousArmstrong 6 років тому +11

      Written by George R. R. Martin.

    • @ksaucefpv
      @ksaucefpv 6 років тому +3

      LOLOL thats a good one!

  • @catfish552
    @catfish552 6 років тому +11864

    Other UA-camrs: Make video about thing you found online and spent half an hour googling for research.
    Tom Scott: Film on location, in two different countries, and hire a researcher to check original sources in an archive.

    • @liamguy2820
      @liamguy2820 6 років тому +606

      And this is why we love Tom

    • @MattsAwesomeStuff
      @MattsAwesomeStuff 6 років тому +1337

      Tom doesn't travel to produce UA-cam content. His channel is a way to fund him travelling. We're all in on the scam and I can't say I even care.

    • @duanedibbley258
      @duanedibbley258 6 років тому +108

      Wait this isn’t a green screen?

    • @Cythil
      @Cythil 6 років тому +395

      Nope. Tom is actually fully computer generated. But do not tell anyone! >_>

    • @ElectricityTaster
      @ElectricityTaster 6 років тому +32

      UA-cam demonetizes both.

  • @BrandtRedd
    @BrandtRedd 6 років тому +2147

    Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo includes an episode where the count ruins one of his adversaries by sending a false message about the stock market through the telegraph system. Published in 1844 it was about a decade after the escapade by the brothers Blanc. No doubt Dumas was inspired by the story when it came out.

    • @GwresYnKernow
      @GwresYnKernow 6 років тому +38

      Aha, I commented just now before reading the comments about vaguely remembering something like this. Thanks for clarifying!

    • @TorreFernand
      @TorreFernand 6 років тому +74

      Except that, in Dumas' story, The Count doesn't think about that guy at Tours and the flaw is discovered a lot quicker

    • @squirlmy
      @squirlmy 5 років тому +5

      That's a bit of a stretch. A false message is entirely different matter than true information sent at higher speed. Thanks for trying to make "great" literature trivia sound relevant, though!

    • @Michael_Lederman
      @Michael_Lederman 4 роки тому +44

      Not to mention Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld and the use of the Clacks clearly moduled on this.

    • @Meddled
      @Meddled 3 роки тому +10

      @@Michael_Lederman I was thinking of Going Postal throughout this video!

  • @iplaywhatiwant3738
    @iplaywhatiwant3738 3 роки тому +3020

    "I hired a French translator to read the original source to me." You, sir, are backbone of integraty in journalism.

    • @narmale
      @narmale 2 роки тому +66

      thats REAL journalism, not muckraking and always talking about sex, sexuality or racism

    • @narmale
      @narmale 2 роки тому +44

      @@Brianz99 glad to see you dont care about anything but tabloids

    • @lucbloom
      @lucbloom 2 роки тому +32

      Plot twist: it’s a French patron supporter that got a coupon for Ikea.

    • @narmale
      @narmale 2 роки тому +4

      @@lucbloom 🤣🤣🤣

    • @ulalaFrugilega
      @ulalaFrugilega 2 роки тому +2

      I am very much enamoured with that move, too!

  • @AirborneSurfer
    @AirborneSurfer 6 років тому +6522

    I mean *technically* they transmitted at the speed of light. The lag was just caused by the individual nodes' switching speeds.

    • @rhueoflandorin
      @rhueoflandorin 6 років тому +244

      incorrect. the speed of the message is calculated by dividing the distance between point of origin and point of reception by the time it took from the message being sent to the message being delivered.

    • @cody7888
      @cody7888 6 років тому +75

      @@AppleGameification No u.

    • @antisatorirecords
      @antisatorirecords 6 років тому +4

      I love this xx

    • @johnrickard8512
      @johnrickard8512 6 років тому +115

      I think you're confusing total latency with the medium latency.

    • @iemand123456789
      @iemand123456789 6 років тому +54

      haha nice thought, but that would also mean literally everything moves at the speed of light when you look at it like that, nice thought though

  • @ImSquiggs
    @ImSquiggs 6 років тому +2227

    From this channel I've learned so much that I didn't know that I wanted to know.

    • @dylanharding5720
      @dylanharding5720 6 років тому +5

      Squiggs 【Glitches - ROM Hacks - Speedruns】 hi!

    • @ImSquiggs
      @ImSquiggs 6 років тому +6

      WOAH! Hi friend!!
      How strange to see you here!
      Hahah, this is crazy!

    • @DerMannInDerWand
      @DerMannInDerWand 6 років тому +13

      Things You Might Not Know But You Also Don't Know How Much You Would Want To Know Them If You Knew Them is just not as snappy a title

    • @wcolby
      @wcolby 5 років тому +2

      Squiggs 【Glitches - ROM Hacks - Speedruns】 I was happy not knowing the things I knew I didn’t know. 😀

    • @JohnnyBooi
      @JohnnyBooi 4 роки тому +1

      @@DerMannInDerWand "Things"

  • @fifebielby4147
    @fifebielby4147 6 років тому +719

    Tom Scott isn't just a professional youtuber he's a professional professional youtuber.

  • @dXXPacmanXXb
    @dXXPacmanXXb 6 років тому +2232

    so much work for a 5 minute video, Tom is so great. What did we do to deserve him?

    • @ArminGrewe
      @ArminGrewe 6 років тому +81

      Without wanting to take away anything from Tom's work, that's quite often how good film making works. Wildlife photographers and filmers regularly spend days or even weeks for the perfect shot or perfect sequence. And in some cases they even have to try it again and again for years (e.g. for rare and short mating rituals or for the young leaving the nest as that only happens once a year)

    • @PebsBeans
      @PebsBeans 4 роки тому +3

      @@ArminGrewe but those people are professionals. tom is a random guy on youtube

    • @adithyastren6218
      @adithyastren6218 4 роки тому +48

      @@PebsBeans who makes money and is therefore a professional.

    • @TheMitchellExpress
      @TheMitchellExpress 3 роки тому +26

      @@PebsBeans Tom is absolutely a professional.

    • @duxofducks
      @duxofducks 3 роки тому +1

      the ba dum tiss video getting as popular as it did

  • @sirrliv
    @sirrliv 6 років тому +242

    So this is basically a real life equivalent to the "Clacks Towers" from the late Sir Terry Pratchett's Discworld series? Wow! I had no idea such a concept had ever been used for real, even if this is a different form of the idea, using hinged arms instead of shuttered lamps. Thanks so much for sharing this with us, Tom! My creative mind is flowing.

    • @Zeuseus6609
      @Zeuseus6609 2 роки тому +30

      If you read all the discworld books the firat time the clacks shows up (i think in Night Watch) it's using semaphore rather than lights and shutters.

    • @illi-the-wolf
      @illi-the-wolf 2 роки тому +30

      GNU Terry Pratchett

    • @peterkaplar1660
      @peterkaplar1660 2 роки тому +10

      I was hoping someon else would think about the clack towers as well. :D And the shenanigans they pulled with it. :D

    • @DJChrisNeon
      @DJChrisNeon 2 роки тому +5

      @@Zeuseus6609 I've read that and don't remember that. Clearly I need to read it again. Any excuse to read Pratchett 😁

    • @boulderbash19700209
      @boulderbash19700209 2 роки тому +1

      The earlier story that used the towers for its plot was Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.

  • @aapjeaaron
    @aapjeaaron 6 років тому +696

    This was happening even before. When the Dutch just started trading stocks in Indian charter company boats you had spotters looking at ships off the coast of Portugal to then rush back to Amsterdam selling the information that certain ships made it past the dangerous parts of the journey and were likely to arrive in some weeks time.

    • @sarahprunierlaw9147
      @sarahprunierlaw9147 6 років тому +22

      wow!

    • @mjn84
      @mjn84 3 роки тому +10

      sorry, I didn't understand a word. Could you please use points and commas?

    • @danimayb
      @danimayb 3 роки тому +10

      How is that a telecoms scam?? And spotters were a common thing back then!

    • @EriniusT
      @EriniusT 3 роки тому +8

      How did the spotters make it back to Amsterdam faster than those ships? Did they just have faster ships?

    • @aapjeaaron
      @aapjeaaron 3 роки тому +34

      @@EriniusTThey went on horseback. Pony express style. They had the added benefit that they could go in a straighter line.

  • @Necrotoxin44
    @Necrotoxin44 6 років тому +26

    I'm impressed you paid a translator. It adds a lot of credibility to your story, and the fact that you care enough to seek out the more definite source encourages me greatly to keep watching your content. Thanks for all your hard work!

  • @calledsomething
    @calledsomething 2 роки тому +63

    I just love Tom’s dedication to giving the absolute best information he can, he always goes the extra mile to make sure the things he shares are reliable, and is so willing to be honest when he can’t give a 100%. No lies, no overhyping anything, just accessible, trustworthy information.

  • @h545-k9m
    @h545-k9m 3 роки тому +74

    “Semaphore message incoming. They want to know about your car’s extended warranty.”
    “What the hell is a car?”

    • @38vocan
      @38vocan Рік тому +4

      Did you know Steve Jobs died of Ligma?

    • @MarlenNurmakov
      @MarlenNurmakov Рік тому +1

      I believe they had cars in 19th century

    • @yetanother9127
      @yetanother9127 Рік тому +4

      @@MarlenNurmakov Karl Benz's _Motorwagen_ only came along in the 1880s, whereas the Blanc Brothers did all their scamming in the 1830s or thereabouts. I think it's more likely they would've understood "car" to mean either "carriage" or "train car" depending on exactly what year it was. (The word "car" is attested from the Middle Ages and originally just meant any wheeled vehicle like a wagon, carriage, cart, or chariot, from the Latin _carrus_ meaning "wagon".)

    • @MarlenNurmakov
      @MarlenNurmakov Рік тому +1

      @@yetanother9127 I meant exactly carriages and wagons.

  • @timothymclean
    @timothymclean 6 років тому +1880

    The idea of banning private semaphore towers, without providing any public alternatives, probably made perfect sense in the 19th century; nobody knew what that sort of rapid communication network could do for the civilian sector that would be worth anything. (Of course, the low bandwidth limits what could be done with it, but there were absolutely still possibilities.) To someone in the 21st century, that idea sounds ludicrous; we've built so much on a publically-available high-speed communication system that we can't imagine anyone being so foolish as to throw all that aside.

    • @karolkozik5918
      @karolkozik5918 6 років тому +16

      Timothy McLean Or at least some of us think so...

    • @thecodingethan
      @thecodingethan 6 років тому +49

      because there's only so much to go around

    • @YensR
      @YensR 6 років тому +101

      I think your critique of anti-net neutrality is a bit too subtle, but well-played!

    • @bob_._.
      @bob_._. 6 років тому +9

      Low bandwidth limits? It was the backbone of its day.

    • @timothyhilditch
      @timothyhilditch 6 років тому +1

      This guy uses like bots.

  • @zappawoman5183
    @zappawoman5183 6 років тому +959

    Sounds like the Clacks! GNU Sir Terry Pratchett.

    • @PabloLaConecta
      @PabloLaConecta 6 років тому +56

      Definitely a Smoking GNU.

    • @gildedbear5355
      @gildedbear5355 6 років тому +119

      Definitely. I came to the comments to say "the Clacks was real‽"

    • @Adumb_
      @Adumb_ 6 років тому +7

      Hell yeah! Was just about to comment this.

    • @rumaddzero9100
      @rumaddzero9100 6 років тому +5

      Yea, it's amazing

    • @michaelsommers2356
      @michaelsommers2356 6 років тому +74

      Where do you think Pratchet got the idea?

  • @AngeloMichel
    @AngeloMichel 6 років тому +173

    Hey Tom Scott. It has to be said.. just on this random video. You make awesome stuff. You didn't change all that much, and I mean that in a good way. A lot of channels I followed have changed to a point that I no longer van enjoy them. But you didn't. Keep sharing (also your fanbase/community ofc!). Cheers

  • @Hoffmanmannen
    @Hoffmanmannen 6 років тому +104

    In Dumas "The count of Monte Christo", the count bribes a semaphore worker to send faulty messages down the line which manipulates the bond market and quickly destroys a large portion of Danglars' fortune.

  • @a97013
    @a97013 6 років тому +48

    Hey tom just wanted to say good on you for getting a proper source re translated instead of relying on translations around the web.

  • @GermaphobeMusic
    @GermaphobeMusic 6 років тому +136

    My favorite channel for learning things that I'll probably never need to know.

  • @SnowDemonAkuma
    @SnowDemonAkuma 6 років тому +562

    Liked for the audio/visual synch clap being left in~

    • @andrewholmes7092
      @andrewholmes7092 6 років тому +85

      He's sending a signal to someone ;)

    • @omri9325
      @omri9325 6 років тому +1

      When?

    • @omri9325
      @omri9325 6 років тому +10

      NVM, It's at 0:43

    • @lukef.132
      @lukef.132 6 років тому +7

      yeah. considering his level of editing, idk how it got left in...

    • @dylanharding5720
      @dylanharding5720 6 років тому +56

      Luke Fletcher intentionally.

  • @dpmakestuff
    @dpmakestuff 6 років тому +38

    I think I love you Tom. You have a found your purpose on earth with these videos.

  • @efari
    @efari 6 років тому +354

    so you're telling me there had to be loads of unfortunate telecom operators watching their neighbour's tower 8 hours a day? imagine one of them needing to go to the toilet, the entire line would stand still.

    • @renakunisaki
      @renakunisaki 6 років тому +98

      I wonder if they had more than one person at each tower? Or would the potential delay be acceptable?

    • @twistedtachyon5877
      @twistedtachyon5877 6 років тому +212

      Given that the whole point was to be the fastest thing going, I'd assume there were at least two blokes in every shack so that they could take turns staring at a tower.

    • @telemachin
      @telemachin 6 років тому +74

      2 guys in a tower, and a tower every 15km/8mi... This system was using a lot of manpower.

    • @ShankarSivarajan
      @ShankarSivarajan 5 років тому +97

      @@telemachin Not that many. Paris to Bordeaux is ~600 km, so fewer than a 100, with your numbers.

    • @rezap1356
      @rezap1356 3 роки тому +19

      I think a toilet incident would have simply resulted in a lot of 'packet loss', unless tower operators were tasked to watch BOTH preceding and succeeding towers and specially 'handshakes with the one after them (not very likely).

  • @skaparinn
    @skaparinn 2 роки тому +17

    For anybody wondering this is the Tour Chappe in Marcy, near Lyon. It has nothing to do with the Paris-Bordeaux line he's talking as it is located on the Paris-Lyon line. But it's one of the few towers that has been restored and is now fonctional. You can even visit it!

  • @TheUncommonVideo
    @TheUncommonVideo 6 років тому +631

    Huh, I didn't know The Clacks from the Discworld was based on a real thing, though I probably should have guessed.
    GNU Terry Pratchett.

  • @tracey6299
    @tracey6299 6 років тому +83

    10/10 Content as always

  • @hobbitilius
    @hobbitilius 6 років тому +2

    The amount and quality of research that was put into this video is incredible. Thanks for the great work Victoria and Tom.

  • @TimeTravelingBunnis
    @TimeTravelingBunnis 4 роки тому +60

    When you find out Terry Pratchett wasnt making this stuff up.

  • @SolarWebsite
    @SolarWebsite Рік тому +2

    I think this is Tom's best video ever, and he has made some really, really good ones.

  • @kat369-mine
    @kat369-mine 6 років тому +64

    As mentioned by others...an amazing amount of work, to give me a 5 min. history lesson, that I found very interesting.
    I'll bet most of the people who eventually read this, had no idea this exsited.
    So much history is lost, because at the time it was just regular stuff everybody knew about.

    • @tibfulv
      @tibfulv 6 років тому +5

      This particular invention got a mention in a couple of popular books, _Going Postal_ among them. Not to forget Dumas's _The Count of Monte Cristo._ I suspect it's in no danger of being forgotten any time soon. ;)

    • @kat369-mine
      @kat369-mine 6 років тому +1

      @@tibfulv Thank you. I didn't know Going Postal was a book. In the US it's a phrase descriping a person freaking out in the work place. The network news used the phrase, I thought they made it up. As for "The Count...' I could never get into that particular Dumas. But I do enjoy historical fiction. Time to try again.

  • @JefffRushton
    @JefffRushton 6 років тому +284

    when the son of the deposed king of Nigeria calls you directly, asking for help, you help! His father ran the freaking country! Ok?

    • @anonUK
      @anonUK 6 років тому +10

      The son of the deposed monarch of Nigeria is Prince Charles. These scammers obviously aren't counting on their marks being able to Google stuff. How stupid do they think we are?

    • @theondono
      @theondono 6 років тому +33

      anonUK precisely because you can google it, you are not the mark they are looking for. It’s not crappy because they are bad at it, it’s that crappy scams get the right type of naive fools

    • @Judge371
      @Judge371 4 роки тому +5

      For those who don't know, the original comment was quoting michael scott from the office

  • @Vinemaple
    @Vinemaple 2 роки тому +4

    And thank you, Tom, for showing us a real-life, honest-to-goodness Clacks tower from the original (?) French network! Or a gorgeous replica. Optical telegraphs are a bit of trivia I've just happened to know since I was very, very young (thanks, weird tech museum at Rocky Reach Dam), and it was lovely to see that one still exists, or has been recreated!
    Not to mention a version of the Blanc brothers scam taken straight from the French sources, well done.

  • @dshack4689
    @dshack4689 5 років тому +3

    Wow great video! Loved how the signal was encoded "invisibly" by the backspace function.

  • @_Egitor
    @_Egitor 6 років тому +7

    Way to credit your researchers Tom, amazing work from all of you too on this one!

  • @EastyyBlogspot
    @EastyyBlogspot 6 років тому +17

    I remember seeing about Semaphore in the Count of Monte cristo where The count bribes a person who worked there to send a message that spain was at war to ruin one his enemies who had invested.

  • @SEThatered
    @SEThatered 6 років тому

    No other youtuber's video makes me so happy to see in my feed as yours. I can't even out a finger on what exactly is so appealing in them, I just know i love them!

  • @allanrichardson1468
    @allanrichardson1468 6 років тому +47

    At one time, Boy Scout troops taught semaphore using square flags, one in each hand. Navies had a similar system as a backup to the radio. Very well known traditional tech.

    • @mayadancey6101
      @mayadancey6101 2 роки тому +4

      While not required now, one current merit badge that a scout can earn does include learning flag code.

  • @jpe1
    @jpe1 6 років тому +272

    Two questions come to mind: what was the very last message sent via French semaphore tower? Is there an RFC for a TCP/IP implementation over semaphore tower (presumably similar to RFC 4824)?

    • @NyanSten
      @NyanSten 6 років тому +62

      1) AFAIK nobody knows. There was no good bye message. People didn't think of such things in the 1850s.
      2) Not yet :)

    • @DRSDavidSoft
      @DRSDavidSoft 6 років тому +9

      IETF should really write one for this!

    • @davidweihe6052
      @davidweihe6052 6 років тому +22

      The British had semaphore telegraph system during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, although I think that they were abandoned afterwards. Signalling as far as can be seen fails badly in fog or rain, even with telescopes, and so was not felt worth the trouble and expense over sending riders, since there was felt to be no chance of missing an invasion.

    • @NyanSten
      @NyanSten 6 років тому +23

      @David Weihe Actually, it was abandoned because of a brand new invention: telegraph

    • @gcewing
      @gcewing 6 років тому +66

      Rule 34 for communication protocols: If a communication medium exists, there is a TCP/IP implementation for it (or there soon will be).

  • @lukassnakeman
    @lukassnakeman 6 років тому +29

    ive been listening to the count of monte cristo lately and there is actually a few mentions of these towers in the book. and in a late 20th century movie adaptation there is a scene where one can be seen

    • @hxhuang9306
      @hxhuang9306 6 років тому +2

      Yeah. Read the book and always wondered about how it works. Thanks Tom.

    • @jeaguilar
      @jeaguilar 6 років тому +3

      Mentions? Spoiler alert: It's a major plot point!

  • @Alex4296
    @Alex4296 6 років тому +2

    Lived in Tours for five years whish I heard that story before. Great video as usual !

  • @baylinkdashyt
    @baylinkdashyt 6 років тому +142

    "I hired a French researcher to go to the archives in Paris."
    Thanks, UA-cam.
    Tom, you may not quite be the new James Burke... But I think you're really damned close...
    I'd like to see you try something long form like that. I don't know what; you probably know better than I do.

  • @3006spikespiegel
    @3006spikespiegel 6 років тому

    Pressed Like for mentioning "Tours"... Loved that city...lived there for 6 years and never heard about this story... amazing...Thank you!

  • @annakeye
    @annakeye 6 років тому +6

    Genius! Love this story. I love stories where there's no real victims, as such. No one was injured, no one went bust. It shows that people will always try to find a short cut. Joe and Frank White are fortunate that they didn't meet the shiny part of la guillotine.

  • @Awesomeness-iz3dh
    @Awesomeness-iz3dh Рік тому +1

    This is fascinating and such an incredible tale. Thank you for sharing information like this with the world!

  • @LunarSpotlight
    @LunarSpotlight 6 років тому +3

    Can't help but notice the cloud smiling over Tom's shoulder starting around 4:50.

  • @AlexVoxel
    @AlexVoxel 6 років тому +1

    This is the content that make your channel great

  • @stevenjlovelace
    @stevenjlovelace 6 років тому +194

    Could someone (such as an certain enterprising UA-camr) set up visual semaphores to transmit Internet Packets, then use that (very slow) link to send a Tweet?

    • @AirborneSurfer
      @AirborneSurfer 6 років тому +19

      On it....designing a system now. Check with me in a few weeks.

    • @entropyzero5588
      @entropyzero5588 6 років тому +21

      At least it would probably beat IPoAC (rfc1149) ;)

    • @battlesheep2552
      @battlesheep2552 6 років тому +23

      It’ll still be better than dealing with Comcast

    • @gwenynorisu6883
      @gwenynorisu6883 6 років тому +7

      I would be stunned if it hasn't _already_ happened, tbh.
      Be fairly simple to get a proof of concept going between neighbouring tower blocks with some meccano and a couple of webcams duct taped onto telescopes. Or maybe Kinects?

    • @vincentmuyo
      @vincentmuyo 6 років тому +1

      For throughput, I think rfc1149 still got it beat.

  • @Travoid
    @Travoid 6 років тому

    Tom, you have the best channel on UA-cam. The content is always fascinating and never feels like a waste of time. Thanks!

  • @epicgo0se
    @epicgo0se 6 років тому +7

    I'm in IT and I happen to know this is a current issue today with respect to Tier 1 providers being bribed or explored. It drastically can affect the amount of time advantage certain broker firms have. The FCC doesn't investigate this yet imposes harsh penalties on service vendors and customers. Net neutrality is a massive issue.

  • @PeterT1981
    @PeterT1981 4 роки тому

    Remarkable production. Your delivery is very engaging and professional. I enjoy your work immensely

  • @froschnmaximus9108
    @froschnmaximus9108 6 років тому +15

    going postal - the globe world version.... Thanks Tom, reminds me to read the masterpieces of Sir Pratchett again ;)

  • @Uncivilcivilservice
    @Uncivilcivilservice 6 років тому

    This is your best video in a while (which is meant as no insult to your work as of late)

  • @azdgariarada
    @azdgariarada 6 років тому +3

    Thank you Victoria!

  • @stevepittman3770
    @stevepittman3770 6 років тому +50

    Re:getting trading news faster -- in the ~90s there was a big race to buy up all the data lines closest to the NYSE and Nasdaq. There's a stock exchange in the US (IEX, founded in 2012) that via a 38 mile loop of fiber injects a minimum delay specifically to counteract this advantage for close-proximity, high-frequency traders. Might be worth a video on its own next time you're in the NYC area.

    • @jeffreyhueseman7061
      @jeffreyhueseman7061 6 років тому

      Yes, the dark money book

    • @zucc4764
      @zucc4764 5 років тому +10

      Tom also made a video about this exact topic.

    • @dracvich
      @dracvich 4 роки тому +4

      Huh, did Tom get inspired to make the video about that same topic from comments like this?

  • @VitorMadeira
    @VitorMadeira 6 років тому

    Great Scott! What an impressive and precious lesson on history!
    Thank you so very much, dude.
    Greetings from Portugal.

  • @bruzie900
    @bruzie900 6 років тому +33

    Gotta love the Grand Trunk. Keep him alive in the Overhead..

    • @pintpullinggeek
      @pintpullinggeek 6 років тому +7

      Not enough people get this reference...but I do. De Chelonian Mobile

    • @MartinSStoller
      @MartinSStoller 6 років тому +4

      GNU Terry Pratchett.

    • @MarceldeJong
      @MarceldeJong 6 років тому +3

      @@pintpullinggeek indeed the turtle moves

    • @RoseIllo
      @RoseIllo 4 роки тому

      Yessss. I was looking for this reference

  • @m53goldsmith
    @m53goldsmith 3 роки тому

    This was fascinating! I had never heard of this before and the dates make it even more amazing!

  • @AliceQuinnRose
    @AliceQuinnRose 6 років тому +14

    Well now I know more about the reserch behind going postal

    • @utility63
      @utility63 6 років тому

      This is a very odd comment if you don't know that Going Postal is a book.

  • @xdeler
    @xdeler 6 років тому +1

    I really appreciate how much time and effort you seem to put into your videos. They are always very interesting and I just wish the world had more Toms so we could get more videos like this one! I am very thankful for the one Tom and all of his crew we have the privilege of being entertained by, though. Thank you!

  • @otakuribo
    @otakuribo 6 років тому +17

    Prior to the intention of optical semaphore towers, dozens of French citizens were employed to wave their arms about from the rooftops.

    • @stevieinselby
      @stevieinselby 6 років тому +7

      Brilliant :-D
      Of course, in Italy they didn't even need to be paid!

  • @viridae
    @viridae 6 років тому

    Spectacular video Tom, one of your best.

  • @bdf2718
    @bdf2718 6 років тому +21

    You didn't mention the semaphore erected in the Wizard's Tower. A very important part of the scam. :)

    • @MarceldeJong
      @MarceldeJong 6 років тому +2

      Just beware of the owls and Mister Gryle.

  • @Nabend1402
    @Nabend1402 6 років тому

    Really fascinating! Thanks to all involved in making this video.

  • @EpicBandicoot
    @EpicBandicoot 6 років тому +4

    I love that you don't make your videos 10 minutes. There's SO MUCH information, and you can compact it down so that it's watchable. Thank you

  • @themaster3211234
    @themaster3211234 6 років тому +1

    I love your videos, Tom! Very informational.

  • @michaelhunt6019
    @michaelhunt6019 Рік тому

    I find your titles and topics seemingly mundane and yet, you never disappoint in your depth and breadth of knowledge. You connect the dots and let me see the whole picture. Thank you Tom.

  • @mastweiler22
    @mastweiler22 6 років тому +57

    Terry Pratchett's Clacks Tower... almost :-)

    • @iainhewitt
      @iainhewitt 6 років тому +3

      Beat me to it!

    • @mrkrunch4340
      @mrkrunch4340 6 років тому +10

      GNU Terry Pratchett

    • @vaclav_fejt
      @vaclav_fejt 6 років тому +4

      @@mrkrunch4340 what.does GNU mean? Other than "GNU's not Unix"

    • @mrkrunch4340
      @mrkrunch4340 6 років тому +17

      @@vaclav_fejt G means to send the message to all towers, U means to turn the message around at the end of the line (combining both means the message will travel the line forever) and N means to "not log" the message in the tower's logbook/message drum.

    • @vaclav_fejt
      @vaclav_fejt 6 років тому +7

      @@mrkrunch4340 A man's not dead till people speak his name!

  • @TheOnirayju
    @TheOnirayju 4 роки тому +1

    I'm from Bordeaux and I had never seen one of those, or even heard of that. Loved it

  • @jackhocking1689
    @jackhocking1689 6 років тому +4

    Love you Tom x

  • @stephanienoire1892
    @stephanienoire1892 6 років тому

    Thanks for sharing the documents! Facinating

  • @tekvax01
    @tekvax01 6 років тому +10

    (0:43) If you're synced and you know it, clap your hands!

  • @gottfriedvongrunfeld7128
    @gottfriedvongrunfeld7128 Рік тому +1

    I finally get to see a real-world example of what the telegraph towers looked like in L. Sprague De Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall". Always wondered about those

  • @BGerbs66
    @BGerbs66 6 років тому +11

    In The Count of Monte Cristo, the Count abused the French semaphore network to make false news that financially crippled one of his old rivals.

    • @Attaxalotl
      @Attaxalotl 3 роки тому

      For some reason, I have a version where the count sets one of the rivals up to be kidnapped and forced to pay back all the money that the rival had just taken, but the count does the actual kidnapping.
      The other rival is dealt with by exposing the fact that the guy literally sold a fortress in greece to the turks.

  • @jamesdavies25
    @jamesdavies25 6 років тому

    Tom Scott you are such a dude. Love this channel. Fascinating stuff 👍🏻

  • @PaulPaulPaulson
    @PaulPaulPaulson 6 років тому +258

    Technically, those towers transmitted at the speed of light

    • @patrickhanft
      @patrickhanft 6 років тому +45

      Yeah, dial up connections via old modems would technically also transmit at the speed of light (or the equivalent of electrons within copper, which should be around 2/3 of c, or something like this). Doesn't mean, they are fast! :-D

    • @bdf2718
      @bdf2718 6 років тому +80

      The latency was a bit of a bugger, though.

    • @andreww2098
      @andreww2098 6 років тому +55

      the ping was in days

    • @radon1221
      @radon1221 6 років тому +5

      300,000,000 m/s

    • @StansStuff
      @StansStuff 6 років тому +24

      I love the idea of an e-gamer bribing a semaphore operator to get faster ping

  • @foranken
    @foranken 2 роки тому

    Fascinating info for sure, thank you for illustrating something I'd never even thought about!!

  • @hxhuang9306
    @hxhuang9306 6 років тому +18

    Oh so that's the tower in The Count of Monte Cristo.

  • @TheBeardedDog
    @TheBeardedDog 4 роки тому

    I always enjoy your videos. This one, especially so. Thanks for brightening up my day.

  • @tommihommi1
    @tommihommi1 6 років тому +65

    I had no idea that Going Postal was based on the real world

    • @MidtownSkyport
      @MidtownSkyport 6 років тому +30

      Just about every fantastic thing Pratchett wrote about had a real-life counterpart, often only slightly less fantastic and ridiculous

    • @wierdalien1
      @wierdalien1 6 років тому +2

      Of course it was

    • @qwertyTRiG
      @qwertyTRiG 6 років тому +7

      Pratchett was a great reader of Victorian reference books, by which I mean both reference books about the Victorians and, primarily, reference books written by Victorians about everything.

    • @Kakurady
      @Kakurady 6 років тому +2

      Sometimes more.

    • @Kakurady
      @Kakurady 6 років тому

      Sometimes more.

  • @vkoskiv
    @vkoskiv 6 років тому

    So much info packed into this short video. I want to watch it again now!

  • @theuser810
    @theuser810 2 роки тому +3

    If these optical telegraphs were legal for private use, one could potentially send a signal to another unrelated telegraph line, causing mixed communications. I guess a solution for that would be to require lines to be painted with specific colour bands to distinguish them.

  • @MasterRabbitLP
    @MasterRabbitLP 6 років тому

    Hey, I just wanted to say thank you for your effort and the amazing stories that come out of it. Your success is very much deserved!

  • @dryued6874
    @dryued6874 6 років тому +33

    That's freaking steganography.
    Nice.

  • @domramsey
    @domramsey 6 років тому

    I really appreciate the lengths you go to in order to ensure accuracy. Great video.

  • @brachypelmasmith
    @brachypelmasmith 6 років тому +13

    Wasnt something similar plot point in Count Monte Cristo?

    • @PMA65537
      @PMA65537 6 років тому +3

      That was just bribing someone to include a false message to distort the market till the real news got around.

  • @michaelhiggins7365
    @michaelhiggins7365 6 років тому +1

    As an Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) Operator, I find this super interesting. Well done!

  • @arceye89
    @arceye89 6 років тому +37

    The Beacons are Lit. Gondor Calls for Aid

    • @dickjohnson4447
      @dickjohnson4447 6 років тому +4

      Mmmm delicious beacons

    • @lvkeyne
      @lvkeyne 6 років тому +6

      And Rohan will answ. . . oh, never mind. They've backspaced.

    • @Οδοιπόρος
      @Οδοιπόρος 6 років тому +2

      Bru you know it those beacons are lit af

  • @SilentForestNight
    @SilentForestNight 6 років тому

    Finally !! Someone got the story right, great depiction and really great animation i got to say. Keep pushing this stuff, it's good.

  • @Jon.......
    @Jon....... 3 роки тому +6

    I remember reading an article once about a private financial network that was thwarted from getting the lead on its competitors by technicians installing a (hidden) local fiber patch in their colo / data center space that was several kilometers long, thus increasing the time to send/receive messages by a few microseconds ... enough to make a difference.

    • @jtd8719
      @jtd8719 2 роки тому

      I think that you might me talking about the intentional 'speed bump' used by IEX to thwart parasitic high-frequency trading on that exchange.

  • @peeelan
    @peeelan 4 роки тому +2

    Tom in the intro: talks
    Cars: imma bout to end this mans whole career
    Great vid btw

  • @kagitsune
    @kagitsune 6 років тому +40

    The scam sounds like something you could do to mop up data on an unencrypted network. I wish I knew more about the subject to articulate what I'm actually thinking of...

    • @atianfirebolt8125
      @atianfirebolt8125 6 років тому +4

      Any unencrypted data isn't worth your time.

    • @Chartreugz
      @Chartreugz 6 років тому +22

      @Atian Firebolt Not necessarily true, even metadata like "who is sending signals and at what times?" or "When is the highest volume of messages in a day?" can be important.

    • @Seafox0011
      @Seafox0011 6 років тому +9

      Naomi PR indeed even ‘crumbs from the table’ can tell you what was being eaten for dinner...

    • @A-Sync-Employee
      @A-Sync-Employee 6 років тому +6

      My local police radio signals are unencrypted and i can tell you they are quite interesting to listen to.

    • @jlammetje
      @jlammetje 6 років тому +2

      There are actually exploits that sort of use this principle. A type of virus that will send instructions (send “wrong symbol”), knowing they will not be carried out (backspace, sorry, left out of transcript), because the side effect will still be there (signal was sent, just not written down in the transcript).
      It’s not an exact match, but it reminded me of that. I can’t remember the name of the virus though. Targets certain kinds of processors

  • @gigglysamentz2021
    @gigglysamentz2021 6 років тому +2

    Nice work on the research!

  • @ChrisBeard
    @ChrisBeard 6 років тому +7

    Ankh Morpork Clacks messaging. Epic!

  • @JeremyMcMahan
    @JeremyMcMahan 6 років тому

    Amazing story. Thanks for the work on this Tom!

  • @anneaunyme
    @anneaunyme 6 років тому +3

    As a French person I always thought everyone knew about the semaphores... Well, apparently that's not true.

  • @syamfarhan3334
    @syamfarhan3334 6 років тому

    The effort you put in a 5 min video is amazing

  • @PowahSlapEntertainmint
    @PowahSlapEntertainmint 6 років тому +116

    I bet these guys were just phoning it in.

    • @hajfksdl
      @hajfksdl 6 років тому

      PowahSlap Entertainmint lmao

    • @GermaphobeMusic
      @GermaphobeMusic 6 років тому +15

      how do i delete someone's comment

    • @Jelkiin
      @Jelkiin 6 років тому

      *WHY ARE YOU HERE?*

    • @Jelkiin
      @Jelkiin 6 років тому +1

      Since i subbed to you I’ve seen you’ve everywhere

  • @zJoriz
    @zJoriz 6 років тому

    It doesn't often happen I say 'woah' out loud during a UA-cam video. But you got me three times here. What an awesome device, and what a deviously clever scheme those two brothers had.

  • @treyforest2466
    @treyforest2466 6 років тому +4

    LMAO They made the clacks from Discworld into a real thing 😂😂😂

    • @kaldogorath
      @kaldogorath 3 роки тому +1

      Terry Pratchett isn't that old