Myrna Loy was a Brobdingnagian movie star in the 1930s and 40s . She star in classic moving-picture show like The Thin Man ( 1934 ) , Manhattan Melodrama ( 1934 ) , and The Best Years of Our Lives ( 1946 ) . Ed Sullivan crown her “ Queen of the Movies . ” But famous person always has a dark side .
Loy was the direction of undesirable care from overeager fans and weirdoes , as many celebrities of every era are — so much so that the FBI eventually got ask . And document fresh free by the FBI to Gizmodo reveal that invading Myrna Loy ’s seclusion was n’t too different from cut up a fame ’s telephone today .
Phones of the thirties were nothing like the smartphones of today , of course of study . But the hoi polloi who wanted to get Myrna Loy ’s personal contact information to provoke her used many of the same tactics that are used by hackers here in the 21st century .
When we peach about hacking into a person ’s societal media account , computer , or phone , the average soul automatically assumes that this is accomplish through advanced software and programming skills — and sometimes it is . But the open secret about hack is that information acquired through speaking with other people is often the individual most important cock in any cyberpunk ’s tool case .
If you’re able to get a phone party or relative or friend to give up valuable information that can lead to a countersign reset or rerouting a 2 - agent authentication phone numeral , that ’s 100 time more valuable than essay to brute - force your way in through the front door . And that ’s on the button what Myrna Loy ’s thirties “ cyberpunk ” did .
Loy bulge get yell in 1938 from what sound like a woman at her home plate and at the movie studio where she work . At first they were rather innocuous chalk calls , but they soon turned disturbing , according to Loy .
The secret security system personnel at Paramount Studios touch their friends at the Los Angeles bureau of the FBI just to let them know what was break on , and the FBI sent some agents out to look into . nameless suspect also started to call random men in the LA area , pretend to be Loy and giving out her real address , inviting them over for some “ fun . ” It was n’t clear if these were the same people who were make the same crank calls to Loy at her home and at the studio .
Pretty shortly Loy transfer her home phone act , which stopped the earphone calls at home , and Paramount Studios and MGM started to riddle outside phone call better . But once the FBI last chase down one of the people who made forbidding claim , they get a line the weakness in the system of rules : the phoner was able-bodied to bluff out his manner into getting Myrna Loy ’s abode phone number by calling the studio apartment and pose as a supporter .
It ’s exactly this kind of social engineering that make the best modern day encoding and technical expertness a comparatively sleeveless effort when you consider the number of watery points that you have no control over . Swatting , earphone hacking , and imitation will always be vulnerable to the whimsy of mass who know how to misrepresent other people . And it turn out they always have been .
I ’ve uploaded Myrna Loy’sentire FBI filebelow . Accusations that she had communistic ties are in there , but that was pretty par for the course of study for a luck of high - profile lefties who were politically active in the 1930s . By almost all business relationship , Loy was a pretty received FDR Democrat . Happy meter reading .
Myrna Loy ( FBI File )
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