October 31, 2025
Rats, Wires, and Wireless Shade
History's first public hack: rats, rats, rats
Magician hijacks Marconi’s demo; commenters yell RAT SPAM and ‘hooliganism’
TLDR: In 1903, a stage magician hijacked Marconi’s “secure” wireless demo, tapping out “Rats” and a mocking poem. Commenters argue whistleblowing vs. trolling, demand the technical play-by-play, and crack modern AI jokes—proof that bold security claims invite scrutiny, memes, and drama, then and now.
The comments turned a dusty 1903 footnote into a full-blown meme. A stage magician hijacked Marconi’s “secure” wireless demo at the Royal Institution, tapping out “Rats” in Morse and a roast poem. Community verdict: legendary prank meets early whistleblowing—and everyone’s now chanting “scientific hooliganism” like a badge of honor.
But the strongest take is pure impatience: readers want the how. charliebwrites gripes the piece skipped the mechanics; commenters explain in plain speak—Maskelyne used a nearby transmitter to blast code at the same frequency, proving the “tuned and un-tappable” claim was hype. In short: if your radio can hear, a louder neighbor can shout.
Cue drama. Some call it noble consumer protection; others say it was petty sabotage commissioned by a rival telegraph company. And optimalsolver wins the day with modern snark: the title “sounds like some kind of LLM prompt injection,” linking 1903 mischief to today’s AI trickery. Memes fly: rat spam, wireless stage-crash, and “first hack = a magic show.” The crowd agrees on one thing: grand promises of “secure tech” age badly—and the clapback is timeless.
Key Points
- •On 12 June 1903, a Royal Institution lecture was set to demonstrate Marconi’s secure long‑range wireless messaging from Cornwall to London.
- •Marconi publicly claimed tuned instruments would prevent interception of his wireless transmissions.
- •The Eastern Telegraph Company engaged Neville Maskelyne to test these claims; he intercepted signals using a 50‑metre radio mast at Porthcurno.
- •Before the official demo message, Maskelyne injected an unsolicited transmission (“Rats” and a satirical poem) into the London receiver.
- •This incident is cited as the first known recorded act of public hacking of a wireless communication system.