Wired Love: A Romance of Dots and Dashes (1879) describes a long distance romance conducted "online", from the point of view of a female telegraph operator, where neither party knew what the other looked like or even the sound of their voice. Describes the virtual communities of telegraph operators and the culture surrounding them. It's a wonderful book.
Copies can be found at archive.org, Gutenberg, and Amazon.
What's also interesting to me are the telegraph hacks during the American Civil War. Tapping into enemy wires and sending misleading orders, or just listening in. Here's some discussion on it:
http://www.kristinholt.com/archives/5686 -- a review of the book
Copies can be found at archive.org, Gutenberg, and Amazon.
What's also interesting to me are the telegraph hacks during the American Civil War. Tapping into enemy wires and sending misleading orders, or just listening in. Here's some discussion on it:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/hacking-into-the-telegraph-s...