On Aaron Swartz:
Regardless of what one may think of him, I cannot see how anyone could not agree with the following sentiment:

"in a world where the architects of the financial crisis dine regularly at the White House, it’s ridiculous to think Aaron Swartz was a felon."- Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law Professor, longtime friend and mentor to Swartz

from "Larry Lessig Remembers Aaron Swartz After Cyberactivist’s Suicide Before Trial; Parents Blame Prosecutor"
http://www.democracynow.org/2013/1/14/an_incredible_soul_lawrence_lessig_remembers

So the innocent Wozniak makes a blue box that is sold to any payer. The Innocence stops there. Today replicate this ten thousand times into what is called Anonymous.
-
Book purchase already made, BTW.

Remember also that this was the 1960s, 70s, the time of That Was the Week That Was, Laugh-In, Folk Music, the Smothers Brothers (etc.) and the culture of flying in the face of authority.

A lot of this activity was done because it was not only fun, but a thumb-in-the-eye to The Establishment.

If this is a secret society, how did the author build the relationships that lead to this book?

In the late 1960s when large businesses had entire phone exchanges for themselves, the phone phreaks were able to link unused phone lines at NYC hospitals into a party line. Anyone who called in (after hearing the recording "you have dialed an unused number at this hospital") was able to talk to anyone else who called in. The phone numbers were publicized on non-commercial radio stations.