First mobile phone call

Martin Cooper makes a historic call on on 6th Avenue in New York City, April 3, 1973.

Did you know the first mobile phone call was a troll? In 1973, Martin Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, used his prototype of the DynaTAC 8000x (the “brick phone”) to call his rival engineer at Bell Labs to tell him he was making the first mobile phone call. Standing on Sixth avenue near the Hilton in midtown Manhattan, he said “Joel, this is Marty. I’m calling you from a cell phone, a real handheld portable cell phone.”

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Connection & Access 1970s

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Indigenous rights to wireless frequencies

Spectrum sovereignty advocate Darrah Blackwater works to install broadband equipment for Native communities during the pandemic.

"Spectrum sovereignty" advocates for Indigenous peoples' rights to control wireless communication frequencies on their lands. Governments traditionally sell rights to...

BART blocks mobile networks to prevent protests

Photo of crowds of people at a BART station, including protesters grasping the roof of the train car, being pulled down by people in safety vests.

Authorities for Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) blocked wireless signals in San Francisco stations to prevent protests. Demonstrators had planned to stop trains from running...

“We noticed protest posters: 'You will drink lithium, you will eat copper.'”

– Ligaya, Atacama Desert, Chile

September 11th (9/11) attacks

Memorials: Mobile phones and other communication devices found in the rubble from the September 11 attacks in 2011 on the World Trade Center are displayed as part of a new exhibit in Washington D.C.

When terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, cell phones played a vital role. People trapped in the buildings, passengers on hijacked planes, and...

Transform the tech industry from inside.

Take Action Photo of a hand holding the 2021 yearbook, which is a collection of the community’s work over 12 weeks.

Collective Action School has a grassroots theory of change. We believe the people who make the tech industry run—its workers—have the power to not only transform it, but to build and imagine new technologies. They welcome all tech workers—whether you’re a project manager, warehouse worker, software engineer, or ride share driver.

First mobile phone call

Martin Cooper makes a historic call on on 6th Avenue in New York City, April 3, 1973.

Did you know the first mobile phone call was a troll? In 1973, Martin Cooper, an engineer at Motorola, used his prototype of the DynaTAC 8000x (the "brick phone") to call...