# Modified Final Judgment The 1982 consent decree (effective January 1, 1984) that broke up the [[wiki/AT&T|AT&T]] Bell System, splitting its local telephone operations into seven [[wiki/Regional Bell Operating Companies|Regional Bell Operating Companies]] (Baby Bells) while allowing AT&T to retain its long-distance operations, [[wiki/Western Electric|Western Electric]] manufacturing, and [[wiki/Bell Labs|Bell Labs]]. The divestiture triggered what amounted to a phase transition in American technology power — from centralized cathedral to distributed Hydra. The judgment and its consequences are the structural spine of [[articles/Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power|Bell Labs and the Distributed Architecture of American Power]].