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Bill Atkinson doxxed Douglas Adams in 1987

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Re: Bill Atkinson doxxed Douglas Adams in 1987

#4
>I read somewhere that Douglas Adams (writer of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) was the first person in Europe to own an Apple II computer.

Not the 1977 Apple II, but the 1984 Macintosh. Adams owned a variety of computers from the obscure DEC Rainbow, to the also-obscure Apricot, to the BBC Micro, but as far as I know he never owned an Apple II, but he was a fan of the Macintosh from the first time he saw it and even wrote in the "about the author" section of his books that he "lived with a lady barrister and an Apple Macintosh".

Re: Bill Atkinson doxxed Douglas Adams in 1987

#5
pre internet, your name, address, and phone number would published in the widely distributed telephone book.

if you were a big celebrity, you could get an "unlisted" number (I think you had to pay for it), but that was relatively rare.

you might recall, the opening of the original Terminator film (1984, same time period) hinges on this idea: the robot has a name and a city, he tears that page out of a phone book in a phone booth, and starts visiting the addresses one by one.

it's how we all lived (minus the killer robot), and it didn't seem strange at all. Women who lived alone frequently would have just their first initial instead of name, but that was not for fear of "stalkers", it was for fear of potential "heavy breathing" annoyance calls late at night.

Re: Bill Atkinson doxxed Douglas Adams in 1987

#7
post #5

pre internet, your name, address, and phone number would published in the widely distributed telephone book. if you were a big celebrity, you could get an "unlisted" number (I think you had to pay for it), but that was relatively rare. you might recall, the opening of the original Terminator film (1984, same time period) hinges on this idea: the robot has a name and a city, he tears that page out of a phone book in a…

Anyone could pay to have an unlisted number, it wasn’t crazy expensive in the US at least

Re: Bill Atkinson doxxed Douglas Adams in 1987

#9
post #6

I used to live nearby. Was always amused by the Hotblack Desiato estate agent signs.

I still live nearby and am similarly amused. 22 Duncan Terrace is an especially nice house, in an area not short of nice houses. Clearly Adams had done pretty well from Hitchhikers and his other work by the 80s.

Iain M Banks also lived in Islington in the 80s and much of his novel Walking on Glass is set in and around the place, and include some references to Adams living there.

Re: Bill Atkinson doxxed Douglas Adams in 1987

#10
post #8

Looks like it were the real addresses, see https://www.housebeautiful.com/uk/lifestyle/property/news/a1...

Looks like a different address close by - on a street parallel to upper street.

Listed as the “new address” in the screenshot…
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