	The Best Of The Best Phreaker's Manual

	FORWARD                             

	     Ok I have worked many weeks on compiling the information in
	this VERY large Phreakers Manual. As you can see from the Tabel of
	Contense, this Manual covers a wide field of topics, from Phreaking, 
    To hacking to Carding. I Hope some of you will get as much out of it 
    as I did. I know some of the topics are out dated, 	but it still 
    makes a d***! good reading piece. All the articals are in full and 
    credit given to the authors. Anyways Get to work and start reading 
    and then do some hacking or phreaking ot a little carding on the 
	side. Have a Good time and let me know if you have any good work
	to add to this Manual.     


											Time Bandit (TBH)


						   Tabel Of Contense                  
						   =================

     Forward                               < Time Bandit >...... 1-i

	 1- The Bell Glossary                  < Net Runner>.........1-01

	 2- MCI Glossary                       < Star Rider >........1-05
	
	 3- AT&T Forgery                       < Net Runner >........1-12

	 4- Electronic Fraud Device            < Doc Silicon >.......1-14

	 5- Secrets Of The Little Black Box: 
	           The Captain Crunch Story    < Ron Rosen Baum >....1-18

	 6- Files By XTC                       < XTC >...............1-46
	   a- Wire Tapping And Diverst         < XTC >................ 46
	   b- Essence Of Phone Conf            < XTC >................ 48
	   c- Phone Tapping                    < XTC >................ 49

	 7- Phreaking COSMOS                   < Freddy >............1-52

	 8- FACS FACTS                         < Freddy >............1-54

	 9- The History Of British Phreaking   < Lex Luthor >........1-55

	10- The History Of ESS                 < Lex Luthor >........1-58

	11- Pen Registering And Tracking       < XTC >...............1-60

	12- Interesting Thing To Do on Step 
   	    Lines                              < XTC >...............1-60

	13- Phreakers Phunhouse                < Doc Silicon >.......1-61

	14- Telenet                            < Doc Silicon >.......1-67

	15- BAD as s***!                        < Grim Reaper >.......1-68
 
	16- Private Sector Bust                < Shooting Shark >....2-69

	17- Phreaking AT&T Cards               < Net Runner >........2-73

	18- Basic Telecommunications           < Net Runner >........2-74

	19- Something About Your Phone Co.     < Col Hogan >.........2-76

	20- Files By Al.P.H.A                  < Al.P.H.A>...........2-77
	   a- Jesters Guide to 0266's          < Jester >............. 77
	   b- Code Hacking Done Right          < Captain Kidd >....... 78
	   c- Surving at Night                 < Falcon >............. 82
	   d- Basic Carding Plus               < Al.P.H.A >........... 85

	21- The Computer Underground           < Byte Bandit >.......2-113

	22- Introductions To PBXs              < Grim Reaper >.......2-133
	
	23- Intro To Phreaking                 < Cat-Trax >..........2-135
	
	24- Some Notes On Line Noise           < Captain Kidd .......3-139
	
	25- Guide to H/C/P                     < The Dark Lord >.....3-141

	26- LOD/H Bust                         < Pizza Man >.........3-148

	27- Operation Sundevil                 < Phreak_Accident>....3-154

	28- The Art of Investigation           < The Bulter >........3-162

	29- Phreak Primer                      < Frankie >...........3-170

	31- Hacking Tymnet                     < Unknown >...........3-176

	32- The Phreakers Handbook #1          < Phortune 500 >......3-179

	33- 950's The Real Story               < Jester >............3-205

	34- ANI                                < Jester >............3-206

	35- Area Code List                     < Net Runner >........4-210

	36- Bible Of Fraud                     < Sneak Theif >.......4-212

	37- The Do's and Don't Of Phreaking    < The Jester >........4-217

	38- Field Freak                        < Home Boy >..........4-221

	39- Telephone Works                    < EggHead Dude >......4-225

	40- The End Was Bound To Come!         < Captain Kidd >......4-229

	41- Computer Crimes, Past and Present  < Captain Kidd >......4-232

	42- How To Get $30 A Day From AT&T     < Tesla >.............4-236

	43- Pirates Bust                       < Time Bandit >.......4-239

	44- Bust Will Follow                   < Amiga #1>............ 241

	45- Wrap Up						       < Time Bandit >........ 243
	

The Bell Glossary - by < Net Runner >                  

    ACD: Automatic Call Distributor - A system that automatically
    distributes calls to operator pools (providing services such as
    intercept and directory assistance), to airline ticket agents. 

    Administration: The tasks of record-keeping, monitoring,
    rearranging, prediction need for growth, etc.

    AIS: Automatic Intercept System - A system employing an
    audio-response unit under control of a processor to automatically
    provide pertinent info to callers routed to intercept.

    Alert: To indicate the existence of an incoming call, (ringing).

    ANI: Automatic Number Identification - Often pronounced "Annie," a
    facility for automatically identify the number of the calling party
    for charging purposes.

    Appearance: A connection upon a network terminal, as in "the line
    has two network appearances."

    Attend: The operation of monitoring a line or an incoming trunk for
    off-hook or seizure, respectively.

    Audible: The subdued "image" of ringing transmitted to the calling
    party during ringing; not derived from the actual ringing signal in
    later systems. 

    Backbone Route: The route made up of final-group trunks between end
    offices in different regional center areas.

    BHC: Busy Hour Calls - The number of calls placed in the busy hour.

    Blocking: The ratio of unsuccessful to total attempts to use a
    facility; expresses as a probability when computed a priority.

    Blocking Network: A network that, under certain conditions, may be
    unable to form a transmission path from one end of the network to
    the other. In general, all networks used within the Bell Systems
    are of the blocking type.

    Blue Box: Equipment used fraudulently to synthesize signals,
    gaining access to the toll network for the placement of calls
    without charge.

    BORSCHT Circuit: A name for the line circuit in the central office.
    It functions as a mnemonic for the functions that must be performed
    by the circuit: Battery, Overvoltage, Ringing, Supervision, Coding,
    Hybrid, and Testing.

                                   - 1 -


    Busy Signal: (Called-line-busy) An audible signal which, in the
    Bell System, comprises 480hz and 620hz interrupted at 60IPM.

    Bylink: A special high-speed means used in crossbar equipment for
    routing calls incoming from a step-by-step office. Trunks from such
	offices are often referred to as "bylink" trunks even when incoming
	to noncrossbar offices; they are more properly referred to as "dc
	incoming trunks." Such high-speed means are necessary to assure
	that the first incoming pulse is not lost.

	Cable Vault: The point which phone cable enters the Central Office
	building.

	CAMA: Centralized Automatic Message Accounting - Pronounced like
	Alabama.


	CCIS: Common Channel Interoffice Signaling - Signaling information
	for trunk connections over a separate, nonspeech data link rather
	that over the trunks themselves.

	CCITT: International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative
	Committee- An International committee that formulates plans and
	sets standards for intercountry communication means.

	CDO: Community Dial Office - A small usually rural office typically
	served by step-by-step equipment.

	CO: Central Office - Comprises a switching network and its control
	and support equipment. Occasionally improperly used to mean "office
	code."

	Centrex: A service comparable in features to PBX service but
	implemented with some (Centrex CU) or all (Centrex CO) of the
	control in the central office. In the later case, each station's
	loop connects to the central office.

	Customer Loop: The wire pair connecting a customer's station to the
	central office.

	DDD: Direct Distance Dialing - Dialing without operator assistance
	over the nationwide intertoll network.

	Direct Trunk Group: A trunk group that is a direct connection
	between a given originating and a given terminating office.

	EOTT: End Office Toll Trunking - Trunking between end offices in
	different toll center areas.

	ESB: Emergency Service Bureau - A centralized agency to which 911
	"universal" emergency calls are routed.

                                   - 2 -


	ESS: Electronic Switching System - A generic term used to identify
	as a class, stored-program switching systems such as the Bell
	System's No.1 No.2, No.3, No.4, or No.5.

	ETS: Electronic Translation Systems - An electronic replacement for
	the card translator in 4A Crossbar systems. Makes use of the SPC 1A
	Processor.

	False Start: An aborted dialing attempt.

	Fast Busy: (often called reorder) - An audible busy signal
	interrupted at twice the rate of the normal busy signal; sent to
	the originating station to indicate that the call blocked due to
	busy equipment. 

	Final Trunk Group: The trunk group to which calls are routed when
	available high-usage trunks overflow; these groups generally "home"
	on an office next highest in the hierarchy.

	Full Group: A trunk group that does not permit rerouting
	off-contingent foreign traffic; there are seven such offices.

	Glare: The situation that occurs when a two-way trunk is seized
	more or less simultaneously at both ends.

	High Usage Trunk Group: The appellation for a trunk group that has
	alternate routes via other similar groups, and ultimately via a
	final trunk group to a higher ranking office.

	Intercept: The agency (usually an operator) to which calls are
	routed when made to a line recently removed from a service, or in
	some other category requiring explanation. Automated versions (ASI)
	with automatic voiceresponse units are growing in use.

	Interrupt: The interruption on a phone line to disconnect and
	connect with another station, such as an Emergence Interrupt.

	Junctor: A wire or circuit connection between networks in the same
	office. The functional equivalent to an intraoffice trunk.

	MF: Multifrequency - The method of signaling over a trunk making
	use of the simultaneous application of two out of six possible
	frequencies.

	NPA: Numbering Plan Area.

	ONI: Operator Number Identification - The use of an operator in a
	CAMA office to verbally obtain the calling number of a call
	originating in an office not equipped with ANI.

	PBX: Private Branch Exchange - (PABX: Private Automatic Branch
	Exchange) An telephone office serving a private customer, Typically, 
	access to the outside telephone network is provided.

                                   - 3 -



	Permanent Signal: A sustained off-hook condition without activity
	(no dialing or ringing or completed connection); such a condition
	tends to tie up equipment, especially in earlier systems. Usually
	accidental, but sometimes used intentionally by customers in
	high-crime-rate areas to thwart off burglars.

	POTS: Plain Old Telephone Service - Basic service with no extra
	"frills". 

	ROTL: Remote Office Test Line - A means for remotely testing
	trunks.

	RTA: Remote Trunk Arrangement - An extension to the TSPS system
	permitting its services to be provided up to 200 miles from the
	TSPS site.

	SF: Single Frequency. A signaling method for trunks: 2600hz is
	impressed upon idle trunks.

	Supervise: To monitor the status of a call.

	SxS: (Step-by-Step or Strowger switch) - An electromechanical
	office type utilizing a gross-motion stepping switch as a
	combination network and distributed control.

	Talkoff: The phenomenon of accidental synthesis of a
	machine-intelligible signal by human voice causing an unintended
	response. "whistling a tone".

	Trunk: A path between central offices; in general 2-wire for
	interlocal, 4-wire for intertoll.

	TSPS: Traffic Service Position System - A system that provides,
	under stored-program control, efficient operator assistance for
	toll calls. It does not switch the customer, but provides a bridge
	connection to the operator.

	X-bar: (Crossbar) - An electromechanical office type utilizing a
	"fine-motion" coordinate switch and a multiplicity of central
	controls (called markers).

	There are four varieties:
	No.1 Crossbar: Used in large urban office application; (1938)
	No 3 Crossbar: A small system started in (1974).
	No.4A/4M Crossbar: A 4-wire toll machine; (1943).
	No.5 Crossbar: A machine originally intended for relatively small
     	 suburban applications; (1948)





                                   - 4 -


	MCI Glossary - By < Star Rider >

	- A -

	A & B LEADS: Designation of leads derived from the midpoints of the
	two 2-wire pairs comprising a 4-wire circuit.

	ABBREVIATED DIALING: The ability of a telephone user to reach
	frequently called numbers by using less than seven digits. Synonym: 
	Speed Dialing ACCESS CHARGE: A fee paid for the use of local
	lines.

	ACCESS CODE: A digit or number of digits required to be connected
	to a private line arranged for dial access.

	ACCESS LINE: A telephone circuit which connects a customer location
	to a network switching center.

	AIRLINE MILEAGE: Calculated point-to-point mileage between terminal
	facilities.

	ALL TRUNKS BUSY (ATB): A single tone interrupted at a 120 ipm
	(impulses per minute) rate to indicate all lines or trunks in a
	routing group are busy.

	ALTERNATE ROUTE: A secondary communications path used to reach a
	destination if the primary path is unavailable.

	ALTERNATE USE: The ability to switch communications facilities from
	one type of service to another, i.e., voice to data, etc.

	ALTERNATE VOICE DATA (AVD): A single transmission facility which
	can be used for either voice or data.

	AMERICAN STANDARD CODE FOR INFORMATION INTERCHANGE (ASCII): An 8
	level code developed for the interchange of information between
	data processing and communications systems.

	ANALOG SIGNAL: A signal in the form of a continuous varying
	physical quantity, e.g., voltage which reflects variations in some
	quantity, e.g., loudness in the human voice.

	ANNUNICATOR: An audible intercept device that states the condition
	or restrictions associated with circuits or procedures.

	ANSWER BACK: An electrical and/or visual indication to the calling
	or sending end that the called or received station is on the line.

	ANSWER SUPERVISION:  An off-hook signal transmitted toward the
	calling end of a switched connection when the called party answers.

                                   - 5 -


	AREA CODE: Synonym: Numbering Plan Area (NPA). A three digit number
	identifying more than 150 geographic areas of the United States and
	Canada which permits direct distance dialing on the telephone
	system. A similar global numbering plan has been established for
	international subscriber dialing.

	ATTENDANT POSITION: A telephone switchboard operator's position. It
	provides either automatic (cordless) or manual (plug and jack)
	operator controls for incoming and/or outgoing telephone calls.

	ATTENUATION: A general term used to denote the decrease in power
	between that transmitted and that received due to loss through
	equipment, lines, or other transmission devices. It is usually
	expressed as a ration in db (decibel).

	AUDIBLE RINGING TONE: An audible signal heard by the calling party
	during the ringing-interval.

	AUTHORIZATION CODE: An identification number that the caller enters
	when placing a call which is used for billing purposes.

	AUTHORIZED USER: A person, firm, organization, corporation or any
	other entity authorized by the customer to send or receive
	communications over a specific communications network.

	AUTO ANSWER: A machine feature that allows a transmission control
	unit or station to automatically respond to a call that it
	receives. 

	AUTOMATIC CALL DISTRIBUTOR (ACD): A switching system designed to
	queue and/or distribute a large volume of incoming calls to a group
	of attendants to the next available "answering" position.

	AUTOMATIC DIALING UNIT: A device which automatically generates a
	predetermined set of dialing digits.

	AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION OF OUTWARD DIALING (AIOD): A computer
	generated report showing all long distance calls placed over AT&T's
	toll network.

	AUTOMATIC NUMBER IDENTIFICATION (ANI): Automatic equipment at a
	local dial office used on customer dialed calls to identify the
	calling-station.

	AUTOMATIC ROUTE SELECTION (ARS): Least cost routing via AT&T
	CENTREX system.

	- B -

	BAND: (1) The range of frequencies between two defined limits. (2)
	In reference to WATS, one of the five specific geographic areas as
	defined by AT&T. Synonym: BANDWIDTH.

                                   - 6 -


	BANDWIDTH: See BAND.

	BASEBAND: The total frequency band occupied by the aggregate of all
	the voice and data signals used to modulate a radio carrier.

	BAUD: A unit of signaling speed. The speed in baud is the number of
	discrete conditions conditions or signal elements per second. If
	each signal event represents only one bit condition, then Baud is
	the same as bits per second. When each signal event represents
	other than one bit, Baud does not equal bits per second.

	BELL OPERATING COMPANY (BOC) /BELL SYSTEMS

	OPERATING COMPANY (BSOC): Any of the 24 AT&T affiliated companies
	providing local service.

	BELL SYSTEM: The aggregate of AT&T's 24 associated telephone
	companies, Long Lines, Western Electric, and Bell Labs.

	BILLING NUMBER: The MCI term for the number which identifies a
	customer on a billing location level, assigned to Network Service
	Customer (by COMS). Assigned for each unique customer name and
	billing location. For internal use only.

	BINARY: A number system that uses only two characters ("0" and
	"1"). BIT: A binary digit.  The smallest unit of coded information. 

	BITS PER SECOND (BPS): The rate at which data transmission is
	measured.

	BLOCKED CALLS: Attempted calls that are not connected because (1)
	all lines to the central offices are in use; or (2) all connecting
	connecting paths through the PBX/switch are in use.

	BLOCKED ANI: ANI prohibited from completing a call over the MCI
	network.

	BREAK: A means of interrupting transmission, a momentary
	interruption of a circuit.

	BROADBAND: A transmission facility having a bandwidth of greater
	then 20 kHz.

	BUS: A heavy conductor, or group of conductors, to which several
	units of the same type of equipment may be connected.

	BUSY: The condition in which facilities over which a call is to be
	connected are already in use.

	BUSY HOUR: The time of day when phone lines are most in demand.


                                   - 7 -


	BUSY TONE: A single that is interrupted at 60 ipm (impulses per
	minute) rate to indicate that the terminal point of a call is
	already in use.

	BYTE: A group of binary digits that are processed by a computer as
	a unit. 

	- C -

	CARRIER: High frequency current that can be modulated with voice or
	digital signals for bulk transmission via cable or radio circuits.

	CARRIER SYSTEM: A system for providing several communications
	channels over a single path.

	CATHODE RAY TUBE (CRT): The "television-like" screen used to
	display the output from a computer.

	CELLULAR MOBILE RADIO: A system providing exchange telephone
	service to a station located in an auto or other mobile vehicle,
	using radio circuits to a base radio station which covers a
	specific geographical area and as the vehicle moves from one area
	to another, different base radio stations handle the call.

	CENTRAL OFFICE (CO): A telephone switching center that provides
	local access to the public network.  Sometimes referred to as:
	Class 5 office, end office, or Local Dial Office.

	CENTREX, CO: PBX Service provided by a switch located at the
	telephone company central office.

	CENTREX, CU: A variation on Centrex CO provided by a telephone
	company maintained "Central Office" type switch located at the
	customer's premises.

	CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT (CPU): The control unit within a computer
	which handles all the intelligent functions of the systems.  In a
	telephone switch, directs all potions of the system to carry out
	their appropriate functions. Synonym: Common Control.

	CHANNEL: A communication path via a carrier or microwave radio.

	CHARACTER: Any letter, digit, or special symbol. In data
	transmission would be represented by a specific code made up of a
	group of binary digits.

	CIRCUIT: A path for the transmission of electromagnetic signals to
	include all conditioning and signaling equipment. Synonym:  
	Facility



                                   - 8 -


	CIRCUIT SWITCHING: A switching system that completes a dedicated
	transmission path from sender to receiver at the time of
	transmission.

	CLASS OF SERVICE/CLASS MARK (COS): A subgrouping of telephone
	customers or  users for the sake of rate distinction  or limitation
	of service.

	COAXIAL CABLE: A cable having several coaxial lines under a single
	protective sheath. Usually used as a high capacity carrier in urban
	areas between interexchange and toll offices.

	CODEC: Coder-Decoder. Used to convert analog signals to digital
	form for transmission over a digital median and back again to the
	original analog form.

	COMMON CARRIER: A government regulated private company that
	provides the general public with telecommunications services and
	facilities.

	COMMON CHANNEL INTEROFFICE SIGNALING (CCIS): A digital technology
	used by AT&T to enhance their Integrated Services Digital Network. 
	It uses a separate data line to route interoffice signals to
	provide faster call set-up and more efficient use of trunks.

	COMMON CONTROL SWITCHING ARRANGEMENT (CCSA): An arrangement for
	telecommunicationsnetworks in which common controlled switching
	machines are used to route traffic over network routes and access
	lines.  The switching machine may be shared with other users 
	and is maintained by the telephone company.

	COMPUTER PORT/TKI PORT: The interface through which the computer
	connects to the communications circuit.

	CONDITIONING EQUIPMENT: Equipment modifications or adjustments
	necessary to match transmission levels and impedances and which
	equalizes transmission and delay to bring circuit losses, levels,
	and distortion within established standards.

	CONFIGURATION: The combination of long-distance services and/or
	equipment that make up a communications system.

	CONTROL UNIT (CU): The central processor of a telephone switching
	device.

	CORPORATE ID NUMBER: The MCI term for the number which identifies
	a customer on a corporate level. (Not all MCI customers have this).

	COST COMPONENT: The price of each type of long distance service
	and/or equipment that constitutes a configuration.

                                   - 9 -


	COST PER HOUR (CPH): Total cost of different services divided by
	total holding time (in minutes).

	CROSS CONNECTION: The wire connections running between terminals on
	the two sides of a distribution frame, or between binding posts in
	a terminal.

	CROSS TALK: The unwanted energy (speech or tone) transferred from
	one circuit to another circuit.

	CUSTOMER OWNED AND MAINTAINED (COAM): Customer provided
	communications apparatus, and their associated wiring.

	CUSTOMER PREMISE EQUIPMENT (CPE): Telephone equipment, usually
	including wiring located within the customer's part of a building.

	CUT: To transfer a service from one facility to  another.

	CUT THROUGH: The establishment of a complete path for signaling
	and/or audio communications.

	- D -

	DATA: Any representation, such as characters to which a meaning is
	assigned.

	DATA COMMUNICATIONS: The movement of coded information by means of
	electronic transmission systems.

	DATA SET: A device which converts data into signals suitable for
	transmission over communications lines.

	DATA TERMINAL: A station in a system capable of sending and/or
	receiving data signals.

	DECIBEL (db): A unit of measurement represented as a ratio of two
	voltages, currents or powers and is used to measure transmission
	loss or gain.

	DELAY DIAL: A dialing configuration whereby local dial equipment
	will wait until it receives the entire telephone number before
	seizing a circuit to transmit the call.

	DELTA MODULATION (DM): A variant of pulse code modulation whereby
	a code representing the difference between the amplitude of a
	sample and the amplitude of a previous one is sent.  Operates well
	in the presence of noise, but requires a wide frequency band.

	DIAL LEVEL: The selection of stations or services associated with
	a PBX using a one to four digit code (e.g., dialing 9 for access to
	outside dial tone).
                                  - 10 -


	DIAL PULSING: The transmitting of telephone address signals by
	momentarily opening a DC circuit a number of times corresponding to
	the decimal digit which is dialed.

	DIAL REPEATING TIE LINE/ DIAL REPEATING TIE TRUNK: A tie line which
	permits direct station to station calling without use of the
	attendant.

	DIAL SELECTIVE SIGNALING: A multipoint network in which the called
	party is selected by a prearranged dialing code.

	DIAL TONE: A tone indicating that automatic switching equipment is
	ready to receive dial signals.

	DIALING PLAN: A description of the dialing arrangements for
	customer use on a networks.

	DIGITAL: Referring to the use of digits to formulate and solve
	problems, or to encode information.

	DIMENSION CUSTOM TELEPHONE SERVICE (DCTS): AT&T's electronically
	programmable telephone station sets which use special buttons to
	access PBX features.

	DIRECT DISTANCE DIALING (DDD): A toll service that permits
	customers to dial their own long distance call without the aid of
	an operator.

	DIRECT INWARD DIALING (DID): A PBX or CENTREX feature that allows
	a customer outside the system to directly dial a station within the
	system.

	DIRECT OUTWARD DIALING: A PBX or CENTREX feature that allows a
	station user to gain direct access to an exchange network.

	DROP: That direction of a circuit which looks towards the local
	operator.

	DRY CIRCUIT: A circuit which transmits voice signals and carries no
	direct current.

	DUAL TONE MULTI-FREQUENCY (DTMF): Also know as Touch Tone. A type
	of signaling which emits two distinct frequencies for each
	indicated digit.

	DUPLEX: Simultaneous two-way independent transmission.
	DX SIGNALING: A long-range bidirectional signaling method using
	paths derived from transmission cable pairs.  It is based on a
	balanced and symmetrical circuit that is identical at both ends. 
	This circuit presents an E&M lead interface to connecting circuits.


                                  - 11 -


	AT&T FORGERY: By - < Net Runner >

	Here is a very simple way to either:

	[1] Play an incredibly cruel and realistic joke on a phreaking
	friend. -OR- [2] Provide yourself with everything you ever wanted
	to be an AT&T person. 

    	All you need to do is get your hands on some AT&T paper and/or
	business cards.  To do this you can either go down to your local
	business office and swipe a few or call up somewhere like WATTS
	INFORMATION and ask them to send you their information package.
	They will send you: 1. A nice letter (with the AT&T logo
	letterhead) saying "Here is the info." 2. A business card (again
	with AT&T) saying who the sales representative is. 3. A very nice
	color booklet telling you all about WATTS lines. 4. Various billing
	information. (Discard as it is very worthless) Now take the piece
	of AT&T paper and the AT&T business card down to your
	local print/copy shop.  Tell them to run you off several copies of
	each, but to leave out whatever else is printed on the business
	card/letter.  If they refuse or ask why, take your precious
	business elsewhere. (This should only cost you around $2.00 total)

    	Now take the copies home and either with your typewriter, MAC,
	or Fontrix, add whatever name, address, telephone number, etc. you
	like. (I would recommend just changing the name on the card and
	using whatever information was on there earlier)

    	And there you have official AT&T letters and business cards.  As
	mentioned earlier, you can use them in several ways.  Mail a nice
	letter to someone you hate (on AT&T paper..hehehe) saying that AT&T
	is onto them or something like that.  (Be sure to use correct
	English and spelling)  (Also do not hand write the letter!  Use a
	typewriter! - Not Fontrix as AT&T doesn't use OLD ENGLISH or ASCII
	BOLD when they type letters.  Any IBM typewriter will do perfectly)
	Another possible use (of many, I guess) is (if you are old enough
	to look the part) to use the business card as some sort of fake id.
	The last example of uses for the fake AT&T letters & b.cards is
	mentioned in my textfile, BASIC RADIO CALLING.  Briefly, send the
	station a letter that reads:

    		WCAT - FM202: (Like my examples? Haha!)

	(As you probably know, radio stations give away things by accepting
	the 'x' call. (ie: The tenth caller through wins a pair of Van
	Halen tickets) Sometimes they may ask a trivia question, but that's
	your problem. Anyway, the letter continues:)
    	You basically say that they have become so popular that they are
	getting too many calls at once from listeners trying to win
	tickets. By asking them to call all at the same time is overloading
	our systems.  

                                  - 12 -


    	We do, of course, have means of handling these sort of
	matters, but it would require you sending us a schedule of when you
	will be asking your listeners to call in.  That way we would be
	able to set our systems to handle the amount of callers you get at
	peak times..(etc..etc..more BS..But you get the idea, right?)
	Joseph Hakimout AT&T Telecommunications East Bumblef***!,
	Nowheresville  55555  Ok, so it probably won't work (DJs just
	aren't that dumb, unless you really do live in Nowheresville), but
	using AT&T paper and a business card might up your chances some.




































                                  - 13 -


	ELECTRONIC TOLL FRAUD DEVICES: by - < Doc Silicon >

    	THIS FILE IS DESIGNED TO IDENTIFY VARIOUS KINDS OF ETF
	(ELECTRONIC TOLL FRAUD) DEVICES AND TO DESCRIBE THEIR OPERATION,
	ACCORDING TO A BOOKLET PUT OUT BY BELL ENTITLED: THE INVESTIGATION
	AND PROSECUTION OF ELECTRONIC TOLL FRAUD DEVICES. (FOR OFFICIAL USE
	ONLY).

    	THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT TYPES OF ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
	WHICH MAY BE GENERALLY CLASSIFIED AS ETF DEVICES. THE MOST
	SIGNIFICANT IS THE "BLUE BOX". THE CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH TYPE OF
	DEVICE ARE DISCUSSED BELOW.

	*BLUE BOX*
	-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    	THE "BLUE BOX" WAS SO NAMED BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF THE FIRST ONE
	FOUND. THEDESIGN AND HARDWARE USED IN THE BLUE BOX IS FAIRLY
	SOPHISTICATED, AND ITS SIZE VARIES FROM A LARGE PIECE OF APPARATUS
	TO A MINIATURIZED UNIT THAT IS APPROXIMATELY THE SIZE OF A "KING
	SIZE" PACKAGE OF CIGARETTES. THE BLUE BOX CONTAINS 12 OR 13 BUTTONS
	OR SWITCHES THAT EMIT MULTI-FREQUENCY TONES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE
	TONES USED IN THE NORMAL OPERATION OF THE TELEPHONE TOLL (LONG
	DISTANCE) SWITCHING NETWORK. THE BLUE BOX ENABLES ITS USER TO
	ORIGINATE FRAUDULENT ("FREE") TOLL CALLS BY CIRCUMVENTING TOLL
	BILLING EQUIPMENT. THE BLUE BOX MAY BE DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO A
	PHONE LINE, OR IT MAY BE ACOUSTICALLY
	COUPLED TO A TELEPHONE HANDSET BY PLACING THE BLUE BOX'S SPEAKER
	NEXT TO THE TRANSMITTER OR THE TELEPHONE HANDSET. THE OPERATION OF
	A BLUE BOX WILL BE DISCUSSED IN MORE DETAIL BELOW.

    	TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE OF A FRAUDULENT BLUE BOX CALL, IT IS
	NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE BASIC OPERATION OF THE DIRECT DISTANCE
	DIALING (DDD) TELEPHONE NETWORK. WHEN A DDD CALL IS PROPERLY
	ORIGINATED, THE CALLING NUMBER IS IDENTIFIED AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF
	ESTABLISHING THE CONNECTION. THIS MAY BE DONE
	EITHER AUTOMATICALLY OR, IN SOME CASES, BY AN OPERATOR ASKING THE
	CALLING PARTY FOR HIS TELEPHONE NUMBER. THIS INFORMATION IS ENTERED
	ON A TAPE IN THE AUTOMATIC MESSAGE ACCOUNTING (AMA) OFFICE. THIS
	TAPE ALSO CONTAINS THE NUMBER ASSIGNED TO THE TRUNK LINE OVER WHICH
	THE CALL IS TO BE SENT. THE INFORMATION RELATING TO THE CALL
	CONTAINED ON THE TAPE INCLUDES: CALLED NUMBER, CALLING NUMBER, TIME
	OF CALL. THE TIME OF DISCONNECT AT THE END OF THE CALL IS ALSO
	RECORDED.

    	ALTHOUGH THE TAPE CONTAINS INFO WITH RESPECT TO MANY DIFFERENT
	CALLS, THE VARIOUS DATA ENTRIES WITH RESPECT TO A SINGLE CALL ARE
	EVENTUALLY CORRELATED TO PROVIDE BILLING INFO FOR USE BY YOUR
	BELL'S ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT. THE TYPICAL BLUE BOX USER USUALLY
	DIALS A NUMBER THAT WILL ROUTE THE CALL INTO THE TELEPHONE NETWORK
	WITHOUT CHARGE. FOR EXAMPLE, THE USER WILL VERY OFTEN CALL A
	WELL-KNOWN INWATS (TOLL-FREE) CUSTOMER'S NUMBER. THE BLUE BOX USER, 
	AFTER GAINING THIS ACCESS TO THE NETWORK AND, 

                                  - 14 -


	IN EFFECT, "SEIZING" CONTROL AND COMPLETE DOMINION OVER THE LINE,
	OPERATES A KEY ON THE BLUE BOX WHICH EMITS A 2600 HERTZ (CYCLES PER
	SECOND) TONE. THIS TONE CAUSES THE SWITCHING EQUIPMENT TO RELEASE
	THE CONNECTION TO THE INWATS CUSTOMER'S LINE. THE 2600HZ TONE IS A
	SIGNAL THAT THE CALLING PARTY HAS HUNG UP. THE BLUE BOX SIMULATES
	THIS CONDITION. HOWEVER, IN FACT THE LOCAL TRUNK ON THE
	CALLING PARTY'S END IS STILL CONNECTED TO THE TOLL NETWORK. THE
	BLUE BOX USER NOW OPERATES THE "KP" (KEY PULSE) KEY ON THE BLUE BOX
	TO NOTIFY THE TOLL SWITCHING EQUIPMENT THAT SWITCHING SIGNALS ARE
	ABOUT TO BE EMITTED. THE USER THEN PUSHES THE "NUMBER" BUTTONS ON
	THE BLUE BOX CORRESPONDING TO THE TELEPHONE # BEING CALLED. AFTER
	DOING SO HE/SHE OPERATES THE "ST" (START) KEY TO INDICATE TO THE 
	SWITCHING EQUIPMENT THAT SIGNALLING IS COMPLETE. IF THE CALL IS 
	COMPLETED, ONLY THE PORTION OF THE ORIGINAL CALL PRIOR TO THE EMISSION 
	OF 2600HZ TONE IS RECORDED ON THE AMA TAPE. THE TONES EMITTED BY THE 
	BLUE BOX ARE NOT RECORDED ON THE AMA TAPE. THEREFORE, BECAUSE THE 
	ORIGINAL CALL TO THE INWATS # IS TOLL-FREE, NO BILLING IS RENDERED 
	IN CONNECTION WITH THE CALL. ALTHOUGH THE ABOVE IS A DESCRIPTION OF
	A TYPICAL BLUE BOX OPERATION USING A COMMON METHOD OF ENTRY INTO THE
	NETWORK, THE OPERATION OF A BLUE BOX MAY VARY IN ANY ONE OR ALL OF 
	THE FOLLOWING RESPECTS: (A) THE BLUE BOX MAY INCLUDE A ROTARY DIAL 
	TO APPLY THE 2600HZ TONE AND THE SWITCHING SIGNALS. THIS TYPE OF BLUE 
	BOX IS CALLED A "DIAL PULSER" OR "ROTARY SF" BLUE BOX. (B) ENTRANCE 
	INTO THE DDD TOLL NETWORK MAY BE EFFECTED BY A PRETEXT CALL TO ANY 
	OTHER TOLL-FREE # SUCH AS UNIVERSAL DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE (555-1212) 
	OR ANY # IN THE INWATS NETWORK, EITHER INTER-STATE OR INTRA-STATE, 
	WORKING OR NON-WORKING. (C) ENTRANCE INTO THE DDD TOLL NETWORK MAY 
	ALSO BE IN THE FORM OF "SHORT HAUL" CALLING. A "SHORT HAUL" CALL IS
	A CALL TO ANY # WHICH WILL RESULT IN A LESSER AMOUNT OF TOLL 
	CHARGES THAN THE CHARGES FOR THE CALL TO BE COMPLETED BY THE BLUE 
	BOX. FOR EXAMPLE, A CALL TO  BIRMINGHAM FROM ATLANTA MAY COST $.80 
	FOR THE FIRST 3 MINUTES WHILE A CALL FROM ATLANTA TO LOS ANGELES IS
	$1.85 FOR 3 MINUTES. THUS, A SHORT HAUL, 3-MINUTE CALL TO BIRMINGHAM
	FROM ATLANTA, SWITCHED BY USE OF A BLUE BOX TO LOS ANGELES, WOULD 
	RESULT IN A NET FRAUD OF $2.65 FOR A 3 MINUTE CALL. (D) A BLUE BOX 
	MAY BE WIRED INTO THE TELEPHONE LINE OR ACOUSTICALLY CONNECTED TO THE
	HANDSET. THE BLUE BOX MAY EVEN BE BUILT INSIDE A REGULAR TOUCH-TONE
	PHONE, USING THE PHONE'S PUSH BUTTONS FOR THE BLUE BOX'S SIGNALLING
	TONES. (E) A MAGNETIC TAPE RECORDING MAY BE USED TO RECORD THE BLUE
	BOX TONES REPRESENTATIVE OF SPECIFIC PHONE #'S. SUCH A TAPE RECORDING 
	COULD BE USED IN LIEU OF A BLUE BOX TO FRAUDULENTLY PLACE CALLS TO THE
	PHONE #'S RECORDED ON THE MAGNETIC TAPE. 

    	ALL BLUE BOXES, EXCEPT "DIAL PULSE" OR "ROTARY SF" BLUE BOXES,
	MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING 4 COMMON OPERATING CAPABILITIES: (A) 
	IT MUST HAVE SIGNALLING CAPABILITY IN THE FORM OF A 2600HZ TONE. 
	THE TONE IS USED BY THE TOLL NETWORK TO INDICATE, EITHER BY
	ITS PRESENCE OR ITS ABSENCE, AN "ON HOOK" (IDLE) OR "OFF HOOK"
	(BUSY) CONDITION OF THE TRUNK. (B) THE BLUE BOX MUST HAVE A "KP" 

                                  - 15 -



	TONES THAT UNLOCKS OR READIES THE MULTI-FREQUENCY RECEIVER AT THE
	CALLED END TO RECEIVE THE TONES CORRESPONDING TO THE CALLED PHONE
	#. (C) THE TYPICAL BLUE BOX MUST BE ABLE TO EMIT MF TONES WHICH ARE
	USED TO TRANSMIT PHONE #'S OVER THE TOLL NETWORK. EACH DIGIT OF A
	PHONE # IS REPRESENTED BY A COMBINATION OF 2 TONES. FOR EXAMPLE,
	THE DIGIT 2 IS X-MITTED BY A COMBINATION OF 700HZ AND 1100HZ. (D)
	THE BLUE BOX MUST HAVE AN "ST" KEY WHICH CONSISTS OF A COMBINATION
	OF 2 TONES THAT TELL THE EQUIPMENT AT THE CALLED END THAT ALL
	DIGITS HAVE BEEN SENT AND THAT THE EQUIPMENT SHOULD START SWITCHING
	THE CALL TO THE CALLED NUMBER.  THE "DIAL PULSER" OR "ROTARY SF"
	BLUE BOX REQUIRES ONLY A DIAL WITH A SIGNALLING
	CAPABILITY TO PRODUCE A 2600HZ TONE.

	*BLACK BOX*
	-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

    	THIS ETF DEVICE IS SO-NAMED BECAUSE OF THE COLOR OF THE FIRST
	ONE FOUND. IT VARIES IN SIZE AND USUALLY HAS ONE OR TWO SWITCHES OR
	BUTTONS.  ATTACHED TO THE TELEPHONE LINE OF A CALLED PARTY, THE
	BLACK BOX PROVIDES TOLL-FREE CALLING *TO* THAT PARTY'S LINE. A
	BLACK BOX USER INFORMS OTHER PERSONS BEFOREHAND THAT THEY WILL NOT
	BE CHARGED FOR ANY CALL PLACED TO HIM. THE USER THEN OPERATES THE
	DEVICE CAUSING A "NON-CHARGE" CONDITION  ("NO ANSWER" OR
	"DISCONNECT") TO BE RECORDED ON THE TELEPHONE COMPANY'S BILLING
	EQUIPMENT. A BLACK BOX IS RELATIVELY SIMPLE TO CONSTRUCT AND IS
	MUCH LESS SOPHISTICATED THAN A BLUE BOX.

	*CHEESE BOX*
	-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
    	ITS DESIGN MAY BE CRUDE OR VERY SOPHISTICATED. ITS SIZE VARIES;
	ONE WAS FOUND THE SIZE OF A HALF-DOLLAR.  A CHEESE BOX IS USED MOST
	OFTEN BY BOOKMAKERS OR BETTERS TO PLACE WAGERS WITHOUT DETECTION
	FROM A REMOTE LOCATION. THE DEVICE INTER-CONNECTS 2 PHONE LINES,
	EACH HAVING DIFFERENT #'S BUT EACH TERMINATING AT THE SAME
	LOCATION. IN EFFECT, THERE ARE 2 PHONES AT THE SAME LOCATION WHICH
	ARE LINKED TOGETHER THROUGH A CHEESE BOX. IT IS
	USUALLY FOUND IN AN UNOCCUPIED APARTMENT CONNECTED TO A PHONE JACK
	OR CONNECTING BLOCK. THE BOOKMAKER, AT SOME REMOTE LOCATION, DIALS
	ONE OF THE NUMBERS AND STAYS ON THE LINE. VARIOUS BETTORS DIAL THE
	OTHER NUMBER BUT ARE AUTOMATICALLY CONNECTED WITH THE
	BOOKMAKER BY MEANS OF THE CHEESE BOX INTER-CONNECTION. IF, IN
	ADDITION TO A CHEESE BOX, A BLACK BOX IS INCLUDED IN THE
	ARRANGEMENT, THE COMBINED EQUIPMENT WOULD PERMIT TOLL-FREE CALLING
	ON EITHER LINE TO THE OTHER LINE. IF A POLICE RAID WERE CONDUCTED
	AT THE TERMINATING POINT OF THE CONVERSATIONS. THE LOCATION OF THE
	CHEESE BOX- THERE WOULD BE NO EVIDENCE OF GAMBLING ACTIVITY. THIS
	DEVICE IS SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO IDENTIFY. LAW ENFORCEMENT
	OFFICIALS HAVE BEEN ADVISED THAT WHEN UNUSUAL DEVICES ARE FOUND
	ASSOCIATED WITH TELEPHONE CONNECTIONS THE PHONE COMPANY SECURITY
	REPRESENTATIVES SHOULD BE CONTACTED TO ASSIST IN IDENTIFICATION.
	(THIS PROBABLY WOULD BE GOOD FOR A  BBS, ESPECIALLY WITH THE BLACK
	BOX SET UP. AND IF YOU EVER 

                                  - 16 -


	DECIDED TO TAKE THE BOARD DOWN, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO CHANGE YOUR
	PHONE #. IT ALSO MAKES IT SO YOU YOURSELF CANNOT BE TRACED. I AM
	NOT SURE ABOUT CALLING OUT FROM ONE THOUGH) 

	*RED BOX*
	-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

	  THIS DEVICE IT COUPLED ACOUSTICALLY TO THE HANDSET TRANSMITTER OF
	A SINGLE-SLOT COIN TELEPHONE. THE DEVICE EMITS SIGNALS IDENTICAL TO
	THOSE TONES EMITTED WHEN COINS ARE DEPOSITED. THUS, LOCAL OR TOLL
	CALLS MAY BE PLACED WITHOUT THE ACTUAL DEPOSIT OF COINS.









































                                  - 17 -


	Secrets of the Little Blue Box: by Ron Rosenbaum                  

	Printed in the October 1971 issue of Esquire Magazine.  If you
	happen to bein a library and come across a collection of Esquire
	magazines, the October1971 issue is the first issue printed in the
	smaller format.  The storybegins on page 116 with a picture of a
	blue box. 

	The Blue Box Is Introduced: Its Qualities Are Remarked I am in the
	expensively furnished living room of Al Gilbertson (His real name
	has been changed.), the creator of the "blue box." Gilbertson is
	holding one of his shiny black-and-silver "blue boxes" comfortably
	in the palm of his hand, pointing out the thirteen little red push
	buttons sticking up from the console. He is dancing his fingers
	over the buttons, tapping out iscordant beeping electronic jingles.  
	He is trying to explain to me how his little blue box does nothing 
	less than place the entire telephone system of the world, satellites, 
	cables and all, at the service of the blue-box operator, free of 
	charge. "That's what it does. Essentially it gives you the power of 
	a super operator. You seize a tandem with this top button," he presses 
	the top button with his index finger and the blue box emits ahigh-
	pitched cheep, "and like that" -- cheep goes the blue box again -- 
	"you control the phone	company's long-distance switching systems 
	from your cute little Princes phone or any old pay phone. And you've 
	got anonymity.  An operator has to operate from a definite location: 
	the phone company knows where she is and what she's doing.  But with 
	your beeper box, once you hop onto a trunk, say from a Holiday Inn 800 
	(toll-free) number, they don't know where you are, or where you're 
	coming from, they don't know how you slipped into their lines and 
	popped up in that 800 Number.  They don't even know anything illegal 
	is going on.  And you can obscure your origins through as many levels 
	as you like. You can call next door by way of White Plains, then over 
	to Liverpool by cable, and then back here by satellite. You can call
	yourself from one pay phone all the way around the world to a pay
	phone next to you.  And you get your dime back too." "And they
	can't trace the calls?  They can't charge you?" "Not if you do it
	the right way.  But you'll find that the free-call thing isn't
	really as exciting at first as the feeling of power you get from
	having one of these babies in your hand.  I've watched people when
	they first get hold of one of these things and start using it, and
	discover they can make connections, set up crisscross and zigzag
	switching patterns back and forth across the world.  They hardly
	talk to the people they finally reach.  They say hello and start
	thinking of what kind of call to make next.  They go a little
	crazy."  He looks down at the neat little package in his palm.  His
	fingers are still dancing, tapping out beeper patterns. "I think
	it's something to do with how small my models are.  There are lots
	of blue boxes around, but mine are the smallest and most
	sophisticated electronically.  I wish I could show you the
	prototype we made for our big syndicate order." He sighs.

                                  - 18 -


	"We had this order for a thousand beeper boxes from a
	syndicate front man in Las Vegas.  

	They use them to place bets coast to coast, keep lines open for
	hours, all of which can get expensive if you have to pay.  The deal
	was a thousand blue boxes for $300 apiece. Before then we retailed
	them for $1500 apiece, but $300,000 in one lump was hard to turn
	down.  We had a manufacturing deal worked out in the Philippines. 
	Everything ready to go.Anyway, the model I had ready for 
	limited mass production was small enough to fit inside a flip
	top Marlboro box.  It had flush touch panels for a keyboard, 
	rather than these unsightly buttons, sticking out. Looked just 
	like a tiny portable radio.  In fact, I had designed it with a 
	tiny ransistor receiver to get one AM channel, so in case the law 
	became suspicious the owner could switch on the radio part, start 
	snapping his fingers, and no one could tell anything illegal was 
	going on. I thought of everything for this model -- I had it lined 
	with a band of thermite which could be ignited by radio signal 
	from a tiny button transmitter on your belt, so it could be burned 
	to ashes instantly in case of a bust.  It was beautiful.  A 
	beautiful little machine.  You should have seen the faces on these
	syndicate guys when they came back after trying it out.  They'd 
	hold it in their palm like they never wanted to let it go, and 
	they'd say, 'I can't believe it.  I can't believe it.'  You 
	probably won't believe it until you try it." The Blue Box Is 
	Tested: Certain Connections Are Made About eleven o'clock two 
	nights later Fraser Lucey has a blue box in the palm of his left
	hand and a phone in the palm of his right. He is standing inside 
	a phone booth next to an isolated shut-down	motel off Highway 1.  
	I am standing outside the phone booth. Fraser likes to show off 
	his blue box for people.  Until a few weeks ago when Pacific 
	Telephone made a few arrests in his city, Fraser Lucey liked to 
	bring his blue box (This particular blue box, like most blue 
	boxes, is not blue. Blue boxes have come to be called "blue boxes" 
	either because 1) The first blue box ever confiscated by phone-
	company security men happened to be blue, or 2) To distinguish 
	them from "black boxes."  Black boxes are devices, usually a 
	resistor in series, which, when attached to home phones, allow 
	all incoming calls to be made without charge to one's caller.) 
	to parties. It never failed: a few cheeps from his device and 
	Fraser became the center of attention at the very hippest of 
	gatherings, playing phone tricks and doing request numbers for 
	hours.  He began to take orders for his manufacturer in Mexico.
	He became a dealer. Fraser is cautious now about where he shows 
	off his blue box.  But he never gets tired of playing with it.  
	"It's like the first time every time," he tells me. Fraser puts 
	a dime in the slot.  He listens for a tone and holds the receiver 
	up to my ear.  I hear the tone. Fraser begins describing, with a 
	certain practiced air, what he does while he does it. "I'm dialing
	an 800 number now. Any 800	number will do.  It's toll free. Tonight 
	I think I'll use the ----- (he names a well-know rent-a-car company) 
	800 number.  

                                  - 19 -


	Listen, It's ringing.  Here, you hear it?  Now watch."  He places
	the blue box over the mouthpiece of the phone so that the one
	silver and twelve black push buttons are facing up toward me.  He
	presses the silver button -- the one at the top -- and I hear that
	high-pitched beep. "That's 2600 cycles per second to be exact,"
	says Lucey. "Now, quick. listen."  He shoves the earpiece at me. 
	The ringing has vanished. The line gives a slight hiccough, there	
	is a sharp buzz, and then nothing but soft white noise. "We're home 
	free now," Lucey tells me, taking back the phone and applying the 
	blue box to its mouthpiece once again. "We're up on a tandem, into 
	a long-lines trunk.  Once you're up on a tandem, you can send 
	yourself anywhere you want to go."  He decides to check out London 
	first.  He chooses a certain pay phone located in Waterloo Station.
	This particular pay phone is popular with the Phone-phreaks network
	because there are usually people walking by at all hours who will 
	pick it up and talk for a while. He presses the lower left-hand 
	corner button which is marked "KP" on the face of the box. "That's 
	Key Pulse.  It tells the tandem we're ready to give it instructions.
	First I'll punch out KP 182 START, which will slide us into the 
	overseas sender in White Plains."  I hear a neat clunk-cheep. "I 
	think we'll head over to England by satellite. Cable is actually 
	faster and the connection is somewhat better, but I like going by
	satellite.  So I just punch out KP Zero 44.  The Zero is supposed 
	to guarantee a satellite connection and 44 is the country code for
	England.  Okay... we're there.  In Liverpool actually.  Now all I 
	have to do is punch out the London area code which is 1, and dial 
	up the  pay phone.  Here, listen, I've got a ring now." I hear 
	the soft quick purr-purr of a London ring.  Then someone picks 
	up the phone. "Hello," says the London voice. "Hello.  Who's
	this?" Fraser asks. "Hello.  There's actually nobody here.  I just
	picked this up while I was passing by.  This is a public phone. 
	There's no one here to answer actually." "Hello.  Don't hang up. 
	I'm calling from the United States." "Oh. What is the purpose of
	the call?  This is a public phone you know." "Oh.  You 	know.  To 
	check out, uh, to find out what's going on in London. How is it 
	there?" "Its five o'clock in the morning.  It's raining now." 
	"Oh.  Who are you?" The London passerby turns out to be an
	R.A.F. enlistee on his way back to the base in Lincolnshire, with
	a terrible hangover after a thirty-six-hour pass. He and Fraser 
	talk about the rain.  They agree that it's nicer when it's not
	raining.  They say good-bye and Fraser hangs up.  His dime
	returnswith a nice clink. "Isn't that far out," he says grinning at
	me.  "London, like that." Fraser squeezes the little blue box
	affectionately in his palm.  "I told ya this thing is for real. 
	Listen, if you don't mind I'm gonna try this girl I know in Paris. 
	I usually give her a call around this time.  It freaks her out.
	This time I'll use the ------ (a different rent-a-car
	company) 800 number and we'll go by overseas cable, 133; 33 is the
	country code for France, the 1 sends you by cable.  Okay, here we
	go.... Oh d***!.  Busy.  Who could she be talking to at this time?"
	A state police car cruises slowly by the motel.  The car does not

                                  - 20 -


	stop, but Fraser gets nervous.  We hop back into his car and 
	drive ten miles in the opposite direction until we reach a
	Texaco station locked up for the night.  We pull up to a phone
	booth by the tire pump. Fraser dashes inside and tries the Paris
	number.  It is busy again. "I don't understand who she could be
	talking to.  The circuits may be busy. It's too bad I haven't
	learned how to tap into lines overseas with this thing yet." Fraser
	begins to phreak around, as the phone phreaks sa.  He dials a
	leading nationwide charge card's 800 number and punches out the
	tones that bring him the time recording in Sydney, Australia.  He
	beeps up the weather recording in Rome, in Italian of course.  He
	calls a friend in Boston and talks about a certain over-the-counter
	stock they are into heavily.  He finds the Paris number busy again. 
	He calls up "Dial a Disc" in London, and we listen to Double Barrel
	by David and Ansil Collins, the number-one hit of the week in
	London.  He calls up a dealer of another sort and talks in code. 
	He calls up Joe Engressia, the original blind phone-phreak genius,
	and pays his respects. There are other calls.  Finally Fraser gets
	through to his young lady in Paris. They both agree the circuits
	must have been busy, and criticize the Paris telephone system.  At
	two-thirty in the morning Fraser hangs up, pockets his dime, and
	drives off, steering with one hand, holding what he calls his
	"lovely little blue box" in the other. You Can Call Long Distance
	For Less Than You Think "You see, a few years ago the phone company
	made one big mistake," Gilbertson explains two days later in his
	apartment.  "They were careless enough to let some technical
	journal publish the actual frequencies used to create all their
	multi-frequency tones.  Just a theoretical article some Bell
	Telephone Laboratories engineer was doing about switching theory,
	and he listed the tones in passing.  At ----- (a well-known
	technical school) I had been fooling around with phones for several
	years before I came across a copy of the journal in the engineering
	library.  I ran back to the lab and it took maybe twelve hours from
	the time I saw that article to put together the first working blue
	box.  It was bigger and clumsier than this little baby, but it
	worked." It's all there on public record in that technical journal
	written mainly by Bell Lab people for other telephone engineers. 
	Or at least it was public. "Just try and get a copy of that issue
	at some engineering-school library now. Bell has had them all 
	red-tagged and withdrawn from circulation," Gilbertson tells me.
	"But it's too late.  It's all public now.  And once they became 
	public the technology needed to create your own beeper device is 
	within the range of any twelve-year-old kid, any twelve-year-old 
	blind kid as a matter of fact.  And he can do it in less than the 
	twelve hours it took us. Blind kids do it all the time.  They can't 
	build anything as precise and compact as my beeper box, but theirs 
	can do anything	mine can do." "How?" "Okay.  About twenty years ago 
	A.T.&T. made a multi-billion-dollar decision to operate its entire 
	long-distance switching system on twelve electronically generated 
	combinations of twelve master tones. Those are the tones you 

                                  - 21 -


	sometimes hear in the background after you've dialed a
	long-distance number. They decided to use some very simple tones --
	the tone for each number is just two fixed single-frequency tones
	played simultaneously to create a certain beat frequency.  Like
	1300 cycles per second and 900 cycles per second played together
	give you the tone for digit 5.  Now, what some of these phone
	phreaks have done is get themselves access to an electric organ. 
	Any cheap family home-entertainment organ.  Since the
	frequencies are public knowledge now -- one blind phone phreak has
	even had them recorded in one of the talking books for the blind --
	they just have to find the musical notes on the organ which
	correspond to the phone tones.  Then they tape them.  For instance,
	to get Ma Bell's tone for the number 1, you press down organ keys
	F~5 and A~5 (900 and 700 cycles per second) at the same time.  To
	produce the tone for 2 it's F~5 and C~6 (1100 and 700 c.p.s).  The
	phone phreaks circulate the whole list of notes so there's no trial
	and error anymore." He shows me a list of the rest of the phone
	numbers and the two electric organ keys that produce them.
	"Actually, you have to record these notes at 3 3/4
	inches-per-second tape speed and double it to 7 1/2
	inches-per-second when you play them back, to get the proper
	tones," he adds. "So once you have all the tones recorded, how do
	you plug them into the phone system?" "Well, they take their organ
	and their cassette recorder, and start banging out entire phone
	numbers in tones on the organ, including country codes, routing
	instructions, 'KP' and 'Start' tones.  Or, if they don't have an
	organ, someone in the phone-phreak network sends them a cassette
	with all the tones recorded, with a voice saying 'Number one,' then
	you have the tone, 'Number two,' then the tone and so on.  So with
	two cassette recorders they can put together a series of phone
	numbers by switching back and forth from number to number. Any
	idiot in the country with a cheap cassette recorder can make all
	the free calls he wants." "You mean you just hold the cassette
	recorder up the mouthpiece and switch in a series of beeps you've
	recorded?  The phone thinks that anything that makes these tones
	must be its own equipment?" "Right.  As long as you get the
	frequency within thirty cycles per second of the phone company's
	tones, the phone equipment thinks it hears its own voice talking to 
	it.  The original granddaddy phone phreak was this blind kid with 
	perfect pitch, Joe Engressia, who used to whistle into the phone. 
	An operator could tell the difference between his whistle and the 
	phone company's electronic tone generator, but the phone company's 
	switching circuit can't tell them apart.  The bigger the phone 
	company gets and the further away from human operators it gets, the 
	more vulnerable it becomes to all sorts of phone phreaking." A Guide 
	for the Perplexed "But wait a minute," I stop Gilbertson.  "If 
	everything you do sounds like phone-company equipment, why doesn't 
	the phone company charge you for the call the way it charges its own 
	equipment?" "Okay. That's where the 2600-cycle tone comes in.  I 
	better start from the beginning." The beginning he describes
	for me is a vision of the phone system of the continent as thousands

                                  - 22 -


	of webs, of long-line trunks radiating from each of the hundreds of 
	toll switching offices to the other toll switching offices.  Each 
	toll switching office is a hive compacted of thousands of long 
	distance tandems constantly whistling and beeping to tandems in 
	far-off toll switching offices. The tandem is the key to the whole 
	system.  Each tandem is a line with some relays with the capability 
	of signalling any other tandem in any other toll switching office on 
	the continent, either directly one-to-one or by programming a 
	roundabout route through several other tandems if all the direct 
	routes are busy.  For instance, if you want to call from New York 
	to Los Angeles and traffic is heavy on all direct trunks between the 
	two cities, your tandem in New York is programmed to try the next best
	route, which may send you down to a tandem in New Orleans, then up to 
	San Francisco, or down to a New Orleans tandem, back to an Atlanta 
	tandem, over to an Albuquerque tandem and finally up to Los Angeles. 
	When a tandem is not being used, when it's sitting there waiting for 
	someone to make a long-distance call, it whistles.  One side of the 
	tandem, the side "facing" your home phone, whistles at 2600 cycles 
	per second toward all the home phones serviced by the exchange, 
	telling them it is at their service, should they be interested in 
	making a long-distance call. The other side of the tandem is whistling 
	2600 c.p.s. into one or more long-distance trunk lines, telling the 
	rest of the phone system that it is neither sending nor receiving a 
	call through that trunk at the moment, that it has no use for that 
	trunk at the moment. "When you dial a long-distance number the first 
	thing that happens is that you are hooked into a tandem.  A register 
	comes up to the side of the tandem facing away from you and presents 
	that side with the number you dialed.  This sending side of the tandem
	stops whistling 2600 into its trunk line.  When a tandem stops the
	2600 tone it has been sending through a trunk, the trunk is said to
	be "seized," and is now ready to carry the number you have dialed
	-- converted into multi-frequency beep tones -- to a tandem in the
	area code and central office you want. Now when a blue-box operator
	wants to make a call from New Orleans to New York he starts by
	dialing the 800 number of a company which might happen to have its
	headquarters in Los Angeles.  The sending side of the New Orleans
	tandem stops sending 2600 out over the trunk to the central  office 
	in Los Angeles, thereby seizing the trunk.  Your New Orleans tandem 
	begins sending beep tones to a tandem it has discovered idly whistling 
	2600 cycles in Los Angeles.  The receiving end of that L.A. tandem 
	is seized, stops whistling 2600, listens to the beep tones which tell 
	it which L.A. phone to ring,and starts ringing the 800 number.  
	Meanwhile a mark made in the New Orleans office accounting tape notes 
	that a call from your New Orleans phone to the 800 number in L.A. has 
	been initiated and gives the call a code number. Everything is routine 
	so far. But then the phone phreak presses his blue box to the 
	mouthpiece and pushes the 2600-cycle button, sending 2600 out from the 
	New Orleans tandem to the L.A. tandem.  The L.A. tandem notices 2600

                                  - 23 -
 

	cycles are coming over the line again and assumes that New Orleans 
	has hung up because the trunk is whistling as if idle. The L.A. 
	tandem immediately ceases ringing the L.A. 800 number.  But as soon 
	as the phreak takes his finger off the 2600 button, the L.A. tandem 
	assumes the trunk is once again being used because the 2600 is gone, 
	so it listens for a new series of digit tones - to find out where it 
	must send the call. Thus the blue-box operator in New Orleans now is 
	in touch with a tandem in L.A. which is waiting like an obedient genie
	to be told what to do next.  The blue-box owner then beeps out the ten
	digits of the New York number which tell the L.A. tandem to relay a call
	to New York City.  Which it promptly does.  As soon as your party picks 
	up the phone in New York, the side of the New Orleans tandem facing 
	you stops sending 2600 cycles to you and stars carrying his voice to 
	you by way of the L.A. tandem.  A notation is made on the accounting 
	tape that the connection has been made on the 800 call which had been
	initiated and noted earlier.  When you stop talking to New York a
	notation is made that the 800 call has ended. At three the next
	morning, when the phone company's accounting computer starts
	reading back over the master accounting tape for the past day, it
	records that a call of a certain length of time was made from your 
	New Orleans home to an L.A. 800 number and, of course, the accounting 
	computer has been trained to ignore those toll-free 800 calls when 
	compiling your monthly bill. "All they can prove is that you made an 
	800 toll-free call," Gilbertson the inventor concludes.  "Of course, 
	if you're foolish enough to talk for two hours on an 800 call, and 
	they've installed one of their special anti-fraud computer programs to 
	watch out for such things, they may spot you and ask why you took two 
	hours talking to Army Recruiting's 800 number when you're 4-F. But if 
	you do it from a  pay phone, they may discover something peculiar the 
	next day -- if they've got a blue-box hunting program in their computer
	 -- but you'll be a long time gone from the pay phone by then.  Using 
	a pay phone is almost guaranteed safe." "What about the recent series 
	of blue-box arrests all across the country -- New York, Cleveland, and 
	so on?" I asked.  "How were they caught so easily?" "From what I can 
	tell, they made one big mistake: they were seizing trunks using an 
	area code plus 555-1212 instead of an 800 number. Using 555 is easy to
	detect because when you send multi-frequency beep tones of 555 you get 
	a charge for it on your tape and the accounting computer knows there's 
	something wrong when it tries to bill you for a two-hour call to Akron, 
	Ohio, information, and it drops a trouble card which goes right into the
	hands of the security agent if they're looking for blue-box user. 
	"Whoever sold those guys their blue boxes didn't tell them how to 
	use them properly, which is fairly irresponsible.  And they were fairly
	stupid to use them at home all the time. "But what those arrests
	really mean is than an awful lot of blue boxes are flooding into
	the country and that people are finding them so easy to make that
	they know how to make them before they know how to use them.  Ma
	Bell is in trouble." And if a blue-box operator or a 

                                  - 24 -



	aassette-recorder phone phreak sticks to pay phones and 800 
	numbers, the phone company can't stop them? "Not unless they change
	their entire nationwide long-lines technology, which will take them
	a few billion dollars and twenty years.  Right now they can't do a
	thing.  They're screwed."

	Captain Crunch Demonstrates His Famous Unit

	There is an underground telephone network in this country.
	Gilbertson discovered it the very day news of his activities hit
	the papers. That evening his phone began ringing.  Phone phreaks
	from Seattle, from Florida, from New York, from San Jose, and from
	Los Angeles began calling him and telling him about the
	phone-phreak network.  He'd get a call from a phone phreak who'd
	say nothing but, "Hang up and call this number." When he dialed
	the number he'd find himself tied into a conference of a dozen
	phone phreaks arranged through a quirky switching station in
	British Columbia. They identified themselves as phone phreaks, they
	demonstrated their homemade blue boxes which they called "M-Fers"
	(for "multi-frequency," among other things) for him, they talked
	shop about phone-phreak devices. They let him in on their secrets on 
	the theory that if the phone company was after him he must be 
	trustworthy.  And, Gilbertson recalls, they stunned him with their 
	technical sophistication. I ask him how to get in touch with the 
	phone-phreak network.  He digs around through a file of old schematics
	and comes up with about a dozen numbers in three widely separated area
	codes. "Those are the centers," he tells me. Alongside some of the 
	numbers he writes in first names or nicknames: names like Captain 
	Crunch, Dr. No, Frank Carson (also a code word for a free call), 
	Marty Freeman (code word for M-F device), Peter Perpendicular Pimple, 
	Alefnull, and The Cheshire Cat.  He makes checks alongside the names 
	of those among these top twelve who are blind.  There are five checks.
	I ask him who this Captain Crunch person is. "Oh.  The Captain. He's 
	probably the most legendary phone phreak.  He calls himself Captain 
	Crunch after the notorious Cap'n Crunch 2600 whistle." (Several years
	ago, Gilbertson explains, the makers of Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal
	offered a toy-whistle prize in every box as a treat for the Cap'n
	Crunch set.  Somehow a phone phreak discovered that the toy whistle
	just happened to produce a perfect 2600-cycle tone.  When the man who
	calls himself Captain Crunch was transferred overseas to England with 
	his Air Force unit, he would receive scores of calls from his friends 
	and "mute" them -- make them free of charge to them -- by blowing his 
	Cap'n Crunch whistle into his end.) "Captain Crunch is one of the older
	phone phreaks," Gilbertson tells me.  "He's an engineer who once got 
	in a little trouble for fooling around with the phone, but he can't
	stop.  Well, they guy drives across country in a Volkswagen van
	with an entire switchboard and a computerized super-sophisticated
	M-F-er in the back.  He'll pull up to a phone booth on a lonely
	highway somewhere, snake a cable out of his bus, hook it onto the
	phone and sit for hours, days sometimes, sending calls zipping back

                                  - 25 -

 

	and forth across the country, all over the world...." Back at my motel, 
	I dialed the number he gave me for "Captain Crunch" and asked for G---- 
	T--, his real name, or at least the name he uses when he's not dashing 
	into a phone booth beeping out M-F tones faster than a speeding bullet 
	and zipping phantomlike through the phone company's long-distance 
	lines. When G---- T----- answered the phone and I told him I was 
	preparing a story for Esquire about phone phreaks, he became very 
	indignant. "I don't do that.  I don't do that anymore at all. And if 
	I do it, I do it for one reason and one reason only.  I'm learning 
	about a system. The phone company is a System.  A computer is a 
	System, do you understand?  If I do what I do, it is only to explore 
	a system. Computers, systems, that's my bag. The phone company is 
	nothing but a computer." A tone of tightly restrained excitement 
	enters the Captain's voice when he starts talking about systems.  
	He begins to pronounce each syllable with the hushed deliberation of 
	an obscene caller. "Ma Bell is a system I want to explore.  It's a 
	beautiful system, you know, but Ma Bell screwed up.  It's terrible 
	because Ma Bell is such a beautiful system, but she screwed up.  I 
	learned how she screwed up from a couple of blind kids who wanted me 
	to build a device.  A certain device.  They said it could make free 
	calls.  I wasn't interested in free calls.  But when these blind kids
	told me I could make calls into a computer, my eyes lit up.  I wanted
	to learn about computers.  I wanted to learn about Ma Bell's computers.
	So I build the little device, but I built it wrong and Ma Bell found
	out.  Ma Bell can detect things like that.  Ma Bell knows.  So I'm 
	strictly rid of it now.  I don't do it. Except for learning purposes."
	He pauses. "So you want to write an article. Are you paying for this 
	call?  Hang up and call this number." He gives me a number in a area 
	code a thousand miles away of his own.  I dial the number. "Hello 
	again.  This is Captain Crunch.  You are speaking to me on a toll-free
	loop-around in Portland, Oregon.  Do you know what a toll-free loop 
	around is? I'll tell you. He explains to me that almost every exchange
	in the country has open test numbers which allow other exchanges to 
	test their connections with it.  Most of these numbers occur in
	consecutive pairs, such as 302 956-0041 and 302 956-0042.  Well,
	certain phone phreaks discovered that if two people from anywhere in 
	the country dial the two consecutive numbers they can talk 	together 
	just as if one had called the other's number, with no charge to either 
	of them, of course. "Now our voice is looping around in a 4A switching 
	machine up there in Canada, zipping back down to me," the Captain tells
	me.  "My voice is looping around up there and back down to you.  And 
	it can't ever cost anyone money. The phone phreaks and I have compiled
	a list of many many of these numbers.  You would be surprised if you 
	saw the list.  I could show it to you.  But I won't.  I'm out of that
	now.  I'm not out to screw Ma Bell.  I know better.  If I do anything
	it's for the pure knowledge of the System.  You can learn to do 
	fantastic things. Have you ever heard eight tandems stacked up?  
	Do you know the sound of tandems stacjinh and unstacking?

                                  - 26 -


	Give me your phone number.  Okay. Hang up now and wait a minute." 
	Slightly less than a minute later the phone rang and the Captain was 
	on the line, his voice sounding far more excited, almost aroused. 
	"I wanted to show you what it's like to stack up tandems.  To stack 
	up tandems." (Whenever the Captain says "stack up" it sounds as if he 
	is licking his lips.) "How do you like the connection you're on now?" 
	the Captain asks me. "It's a raw tandem.  A raw tandem.  Ain't nothin'
	up to it but a tandem. Now I'm going to show you what it's like to 
	stack up.  Blow off. Land in a far away place. To stack that tandem 
	up, whip back and forth across the country a few times, then shoot 
	on up to Moscow. "Listen," Captain Crunch continues. "Listen.  I've 
	got line tie on my switchboard here, and I'm gonna let you hear me 
	stack and unstack tandems. Listen to this.  It's gonna blow your mind.
	" First I hear a super rapid-fire pulsing of the flutelike phone 
	tones, then a pause, then another popping burst of tones, then another,
	 then another.  Each burst is followed by a beep-kachink sound. "We 
	have now stacked up four tandems," said Captain Crunch, sounding 
	somewhat remote. "That's four tandems stacked up.  Do you know what 
	that means?  That means I'm whipping back and forth, back and forth 
	twice, across the country, before coming to you.  I've been known 
	to stack up twenty tandems at a time. Now, just like I said, I'm 
	going to shoot up to Moscow." There is a new, longer series of 
	beeper pulses over the line, a brief silence, then a ring. "Hello,"
	answers a far-off voice. "Hello.  Is this the American Embassy
	Moscow?" "Yes, sir.  Who is this calling?" says the voice. "Yes. 
	This is test board here in New York.  We're calling to check out
	the circuits, see what kind of lines you've got.  Everything okay
	there in Moscow?" "Okay?" "Well, yes, how are things there?" "Oh. 
	Well, everything okay, I guess." "Okay.  Thank you." They hang up,
	leaving a confused series of beep-kachink sounds hanging in
	mid-ether in the wake of the call before dissolving away. The
	Captain is pleased.  "You believe me now, don't you?  Do you know
	what I'd like to do?  I'd just like to call up your editor at
	Esquire and show him just what it sounds like to stack and unstack
	tandems. I'll give him a show that will blow his mind.  What's his
	number? I ask the Captain what kind of device he was using to 
	accomplish all his feats. The Captain is pleased at the question. 
	"You could tell it was special, couldn't you?"  Ten pulses per 
	second. That's faster than the phone company's equipment.  Believe 
	me, this unit is the most famous unit in the country.  There is no 
	other unit like it.  Believe me." "Yes, I've heard about it.  Some 
	other phone phreaks have told me about it." "They have been referring
	to my, ahem, unit?  What is it they said? Just out of curiosity, did 
	they tell you it was a highly sophisticated computer-operated unit, 
	with acoustical coupling for receiving outputs and a switch-board 
	with multiple-line-tie capability?  Did they tell you that the 
	frequency tolerance is guaranteed to be not more than .05  percent?  
	The amplitude tolerance less than .01 decibel?  Those pulses you 
	heard were perfect.  They just come faster than the phone company.

                                  - 27 -

 

	Those were high-precision op-amps.  Op-amps are instrumentation 
	amplifiers designed for ultra-stable amplification, super-low 
	distortion and accurate frequency response.  Did they tell you 
	it can operate in temperatures from -55 degrees C to +125 degrees
	 C?" I admit that they did not tell me all that. "I built it 
	myself," the Captain goes on.  "If you were to go out and buy 
	the components from an industrial wholesaler it would cost you at
	least $1500.  I once worked for a semiconductor company and all 
	this didn't cost me a cent.  Do you know what I mean?  Did they 
	tell you about how I put a call completely around the world?  I'll
	tell you how I did it.  I M-Fed Tokyo inward, who connected me to 
	India, India connected me to Greece, Greece connected me to 
	Pretoria, South Africa, South Africa connected me to South America,
	I went from South America to London, I had a London operator connect
	me to a New York operator, I had New York connect me to a California
	operator who rang the phone next to me.  Needless to say I had to 
	shout to hear myself.  But the echo was far out.  Fantastic.  
	Delayed.  It was delayed twenty seconds, but I could hear myself 
	talk to myself." "You mean you were speaking into the mouthpiece of 
	one phone sending your voice around the world into your ear through 
	a phone on the other side of your head?" I asked the Captain. I had 
	a vision of something vaguely autoerotic going on, in a complex 
	electronic way. "That's right," said the Captain.  "I've also sent 
	my voice around the
	world one way, going east on one phone, and going west on the
	other, going through cable one way, satellite the other, coming
	back together at the same time, ringing the two phones
	simultaneously and picking them up and whipping my voice both ways
	around the world back to me. Wow. That was a mind blower." "You
	mean you sit there with both phones on your ear and talk to
	yourself around the world," I said incredulously. "Yeah.  Um hum. 
	That's what I do.  I connect the phone together and sit there and
	talk." "What do you say?  What do you say to yourself when you're
	connected?" "Oh, you know.  Hello test one two three," he says in
	a low-pitched voice. "Hello test one two three," he replied to
	himself in a high-pitched voice. "Hello test one two three," he
	repeats again, low-pitched. "Hello test one two three," he replies,
	high-pitched."I sometimes do this: Hello Hello Hello Hello, Hello,
	hello," he trails off and breaks into laughter. Why Captain Crunch
	Hardly Ever Taps Phones Anymore Using internal phone-company codes,
	phone phreaks have learned a simple method for tapping phones.  
	Phone-company operators have in front of them a board that holds 
	verification jacks.  It allows them to plug into conversations in 
	case of emergency, to listen in to a line to determine if the line 
	is busy or the circuits are busy.  Phone phreaks have learned to 
	beep out the codes which lead them to a verification operator,
	tell the verification operator they are switchmen from some other
	area code testing out verification trunks. Once the operator hooks
	them into the verification trunk, they disappear into the board for
	all practical purposes, slip unnoticed into any one of the 10,000
	to 100,000 numbers in that central office without the 

                                  - 28 -


	verification operator knowing what they're doing, and of course
	without the two parties to the connection knowing there is a
	phantom listener present on their line. Toward the end of my
	hour-long first conversation with him, I asked the Captain if he
	ever tapped phones. "Oh no. I don't do that.  I don't think it's
	right," he told me firmly.  "I have the power to do it but I
	don't... Well one time, just one time, I have to admit that I did. 
	There was this girl, Linda, and I wanted to find out... you
	know.  I tried to call her up for a date. I had a date with her the
	last weekend and I thought she liked me.  I called her up, man, and
	her line was busy, and I kept calling and it was still busy.  Well,
	I had just learned about this system of jumping into lines and I
	said to myself, 'Hmmm.  Why not just see if it works. It'll
	surprise her if all of a sudden I should pop up on her line. It'll
	impress her, if anything.'  So I went ahead and did it.  I M-Fed
	into the line.  My M-F-er is powerful enough when patched directly
	into the mouthpiece to trigger a verification trunk without using
	an operator the way the other phone phreaks have to. "I slipped
	into the line and there she was talking to another boyfriend.
	Making sweet talk to him.  I didn't make a sound because I was so
	disgusted. So I waited there for her to hang up, listening to her
	making sweet talk to the other guy.  You know.  So as soon as she
	hung up I instantly M-F-ed her up and all I said was, 'Linda, we're
	through.'  And I hung up.  And it blew her head off.  She couldn't
	figure out what the hell happened. "But that was the only time.  I
	did it thinking I would surprise her, impress her.  Those were all
	my intentions were, and well, it really kind of hurt me pretty
	badly, and... and ever since then I don't go into verification
	trunks." Moments later my first conversation with the Captain comes
	to a close. "Listen," he says, his spirits somewhat cheered,
	"listen.  What you are going to hear when I hang up is the sound of
	tandems unstacking. Layer after layer of tandems unstacking until
	there's nothing left of the stack, until it melts away into
	nothing.  Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep," he concludes, his voice
	descending to a whisper with each cheep. He hangs up.  The phone
	suddenly goes into four spasms: kachink cheep. Kachink cheep
	kachink cheep kachink cheep, and the complex connection has wiped
	itself out like the Cheshire cat's smile. The MF Boogie Blues The
	next number I choose from the select list of phone-phreak alumni,
	prepared for me by the blue-box inventor, is a Memphis number.  It
	is the number of Joe Engressia, the first and still perhaps the
	most accomplished blind phone phreak. Three years ago Engressia was
	a nine-day wonder in newspapers and magazines all over America
	because he had been discovered whistling free  long-distance
	connections for fellow students at the University of South Florida. 
	Engressia was born with perfect pitch: he could whistle phone tones
	better than the phone-company's equipment. Engressia might have
	gone on whistling in the dark for a few friends for the rest of his
	life if the phone company hadn't decided to expose him.  He was
	warned, disciplined by the college, and the whole case became
	public.  In the months following media reports of his talent, 

                                  - 29 -



	Engressia began receiving strange calls.   There were calls from a 
	group of kids in Los Angeles who could do some very strange things 
	with the quirky General Telephone and Electronics circuitry in L.A. 
	suburbs. There were calls from a group of mostly blind kids in ----, 
	California, who had been doing some interesting experiments with 
	Cap'n Crunch whistles and test loops.  There was a group in Seattle, 
	a group in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a few from New York, a few 
	scattered across the country.  Some of them had already equipped 
	themselves with cassette and electronic M-F devices.  For some of 
	these groups, it was the first time they knew of the others. The 
	exposure of Engressia was the catalyst that linked the separate 
	phone-phreak centers together. They all called Engressia.  They 
	talked to him about what he was doing and what they were doing.  
	And then he told them -- the scattered regional centers and lonely 
	independent phone phreakers -- about each other, gave them each 
	other's numbers to call, and within a year the scattered phone-phreak 
	centers had grown into a nationwide underground. Joe Engressia is 
	only twenty-two years old now, but along the phone-phreak network 
	he is "the old man," accorded by phone phreaks something of the 
	reverence the phone company bestows on Alexander Graham Bell.  
	He seldom needs to make calls anymore. The phone phreaks all call 
	him and let him know what new tricks, new codes, new techniques 
	they have learned.  Every night he sits like a sightless spider 
	in his little apartment receiving messages from every tendril of 
	his web.  It is almost a point of pride with Joe that they call 
	him. But when I reached him in his Memphis apartment that night, 
	Joe Engressia was lonely, jumpy and upset. "God, I'm glad somebody
	called.  I don't know why tonight of all nights I don't get any
	calls.  This guy around here got drunk again tonight and
	propositioned me again.  I keep telling him we'll never see eye
	to eye on this subject, if you know what I mean.  I try to make
	light of it, you know, but he doesn't get it.  I can head him out
	there getting drunker and I don't know what he'll do next.  It's
	just that I'm really all alone here, just moved to Memphis, it's
	the first time I'm living on my own, and I'd hate for it to all
	collapse now. But I won't go to bed with him.  I'm just not very
	interested in sex and even if I can't see him I know he's ugly.
	"Did you hear that?  That's him banging a bottle against the wall
	outside. He's nice.  Well forget about it.  You're doing a story on
	phone phreaks? Listen to this.  It's the MF Boogie Blues. Sure
	enough, a jumpy version of Muskrat Ramble boogies its way over the
	line, each note one of those long-distance phone tones.  The music
	stops.  A huge roaring voice blasts the phone off my ear: "AND THE
	QUESTION IS..." roars the voice, "CAN A BLIND PERSON HOOK UP AN
	AMPLIFIER ON HIS OWN?" The roar ceases.  A high - pitched
	operator-type voice replaces it. "This is Southern Braille Tel. &
	Tel.  Have tone, will phone." This is succeeded by a quick series
	of M-F tones, a swift "kachink" and a deep eassuring voice: "If you
	need home care, call the visiting-nurses association. First
	National time in Honolulu is 4:32 p.m." Joe back in his jow voice

                                  - 30 -


	again: "Are we seeing eye to eye? 'Si, si,' said the blind Mexican.  
	Ahem.  Yes.  Would you like to know the weather in Tokyo?" This swift
	manic sequence of phone-phreak vaudeville stunts and blind-boy jokes 
	manages to keep Joe's mind off his tormentor only as long as it lasts.
	"The reason I'm in Memphis, the reason I have to depend on that 
	homosexual guy, is that this is the first time I've been able to live 
	on my own and make phone trips on my own.  I've been banned from all 
	central offices around home in Florida, they knew me too well, and at 
	the University some of my fellow scholars were always harassing me
	because I was on the dorm pay phone all the time and making fun of
	me because of my fat ass, which of course I do have, it's my
	physical fatness program, but I don't like to hear it every day,
	and if I can't phone trip and I can't phone phreak, I can't imagine
	what I'd do, I've been devoting three quarters of my life to it. "I
	moved to Memphis because I wanted to be on my own as well as
	because it has a Number 5 crossbar switching system and some
	interesting little independent phone-company districts nearby and
	so far they don't seem to know who I am so I can go on phone
	tripping, and for me phone tripping is just as important as
	phone phreaking." Phone tripping, Joe explains, begins with calling
	up a central-office switch room.  He tells the switchman in a
	polite earnest voice that he's a blind college student interested
	in telephones, and could he perhaps have a guided tour of the
	switching station?  Each step of the tour Joe likes to touch and
	feel relays, caress switching circuits, switchboards,
	crossbar arrangements. So when Joe Engressia phone phreaks he feels
	his way through the circuitry of the country garden of forking
	paths, he feels switches shift, relays shunt, crossbars swivel,
	tandems engage and disengage even as he hears -- with perfect pitch
	-- his M-F pulses make the entire Bell system dance to his tune.
	Just one month ago Joe took all his savings out of
	his bank and left home, over the emotional protests of his mother.
	"I ran away from home almost," he likes to say.  Joe found a small
	apartment house on Union Avenue and began making phone trips.  He'd
	take a bus a hundred miles south in Mississippi to see some
	old-fashioned Bell equipment still in use in several states, which 
	had been puzzling.  He'd take a bus three hundred miles to Charlotte, 
	North Carolina, to look at some brand-new experimental equipment.  
	He hired a taxi to drive him twelve miles to a suburb to tour the 
	office of a small phone company with some interesting idiosyncrasies 
	in its routing system. He was having the time of his life, he said, 
	the most freedom and pleasure he had known. In that month he had done 
	very little long-distance phone phreaking from his own phone.  He had 
	begun to apply for a job with the phone company, he told me, and he 
	wanted to stay away from anything illegal. "Any kind of job will do,
	anything as menial as the most lowly operator. That's probably all
	they'd give me because I'm blind.  Even though I probably know more
	than most switchmen.  But that's okay.  I want to work for Ma Bell.
	I don't hate Ma Bell the way Gilbertson and some phone phreaks do.  
	I don't want to screw Ma Bell.  With me it's the pleasure of pure

                                  - 31 -



	knowledge.  There's something beautiful about the system when you 
	know it intimately the way I do. But I don't know how much they 
	know about me here.  I have a very intuitive feel for the condition 
	of the line I'm on, and I think they're monitoring me off and on 
	lately, but I haven't been doing much illegal.  I have to make a 
	few calls to switchmen once in a while which aren't strictly legal, 
	and once I took an acid trip and was having these auditory 
	hallucinations as if I were trapped and these planes were dive 
	bombing me, and all of sudden I had to phone phreak out of there. 
	For some reason I had to call Kansas City, but that's all." A Warning 
	Is Delivered At this point -- one o'clock in my time zone -- a loud 
	knock on my motel - room door interrupts our conversation.  Outside 
	the door I find a uniformed security guard who informs me that there 
	has been an "emergency phone call" for me while I have been on the 
	line and that the front desk has sent him up to let me know. Two seconds
	after I say good-bye to Joe and hang up, the phone rings. "Who were
	you talking to?" the agitated voice demands. The voice belongs to
	Captain Crunch.  "I called because I decided to warn you of
	something.  I decided to warn you to be careful.  I don't want this
	information you get to get to the radical underground.  I don't
	want it to get into the wrong hands. What would you say if I told
	you it's possible for three phone phreaks to saturate the phone
	system of the nation.  Saturate it.  Busy it out.  All of it.  I
	know how to do this.  I'm not gonna tell.  A friend of mine has
	already saturated the trunks between Seattle and New York.  He did
	it with a computerized M-F-er hitched into a special Manitoba
	exchange.  But there are other, easier ways to do it." Just three
	people?  I ask.  How is that possible? "Have you ever heard of the
	long-lines guard frequency?  Do you know about stacking tandems
	with 17 and 2600?  Well, I'd advise you to find out about it. I'm
	not gonna tell you.  But whatever you do, don't let this get into
	the hands of the radical underground." (Later Gilbertson, the
	inventor, confessed that while he had always been skeptical about
	the Captain's claim of the sabotage potential of trunk-tying phone
	phreaks, he had recently heard certain demonstrations which
	convinced him the Captain was not speaking idly. "I think it might
	take more than three people, depending on how many machines like 
	Captain Crunch's were available. But even though the Captain sounds 
	a little weird, he generally turns out to know what he's talking 
	about.") "You know," Captain Crunch continues in his admonitory tone, 
	"you know the younger phone phreaks call Moscow all the time.  
	Suppose everybody were to call Moscow.  I'm no right-winger.  But 
	I value my life. I don't want the Commies coming over and dropping a 
	bomb on my head. That's why I say you've got to be careful about who 
	gets this information." The Captain suddenly shifts into a diatribe 
	against those phone phreaks who don't like the phone company. "They 
	don't understand, but Ma Bell knows everything they do.  Ma Bell knows.
	Listen, is this line hot?  I just heard someone tap in.  I'm not
	paranoid, but I can detect things like that.  Well, even if it is,
	they know that I know that they know  that I have a bulk eraser.

                                  - 32 -
 

	I'm very clean."  The Captain pauses, evidently torn between wanting 
	to 	prove to the phone-company monitors that he does nothing illegal, 
	and the desire to impress Ma Bell with his prowess.  "Ma Bell knows 
	how good I am.  And I am quite good.  I can detect reversals, tandem 
	switching, everything that goes on on a line.  I have relative pitch 
	now. Do you know what that means?  My ears are a $20,000 piece of 
	equipment.  With my ears I can detect things they can't hear with 
	their equipment. I've had employment problems.  I've lost jobs.  
	But I want to show Ma Bell how good I am.  I don't want to screw her, 
	I want to work for her.  I want to do good for her.  I want to help 
	her get rid of her flaws and become perfect.  That's my number-one 
	goal in life now."  The Captain concludes his warnings and tells me 
	he has to be going.  "I've got a little action lined up for tonight," 
	he explains and hangs up. Before I hang up for the night, I call Joe
	Engressia back.  He reports that his tormentor has finally gone to
	sleep -- "He's not blind drunk, that's the way I get, ahem, yes;
	but you might say he's in a drunken stupor."  I make a date to
	visit Joe in Memphis in two days. 

	A Phone Phreak Call Takes Care of Business

	The next morning I attend a gathering of four phone phreaks in 
	----- (a California suburb).  The gathering takes place in a
	comfortable split-level home in an upper-middle-class subdivision. 
	Heaped on the kitchen table are the portable cassette recorders,
	M-F cassettes, phone patches, and line ties of the four phone
	phreaks present.  On the kitchen counter next to the telephone is
	a shoe-box-size blue box with thirteen large toggle switches for
	the tones.  The parents of the host phone phreak, Ralph, who is
	blind, stay  in the living room with their sighted children.  They
	are not sure exactly what Ralph and his friends do with the phone
	or if it's strictly legal, but he is blind and they are pleased he
	has a hobby which keeps him busy. The group has been working at
	reestablishing the historic "2111" conference, reopening some
	toll-free loops, and trying to discover the dimensions of what seem
	to be new initiatives against phone phreaks by phone-company
	security agents. It is not long before I get a chance to see, to
	hear, Randy at work. Randy is known among the phone phreaks as
	perhaps the finest con man in the game.  Randy is blind.  He is
	pale, soft and pear-shaped, he wears baggy pants and a wrinkly
	nylon white sport shirt, pushes his head forward from hunched
	shoulders somewhat like a turtle inching out of its shell.  His
	eyes wander, crossing and recrossing, and his forehead is somewhat
	pimply.  He is only sixteen years old. But when Randy starts
	speaking into a  telephone mouthpiece his voice becomes so
	stunningly authoritative it is necessary to look again to convince
	yourself it comes from a chubby adolescent Randy. Imagine the voice
	of a crack oil-rig foreman, a tough, sharp, weather-beaten Marlboro
	man of forty.  Imagine the voice of a brilliant performance-fund

                                  - 33 -


	gunslinger explaining how he beats the Dow Jones by thirty percent. 
	Then imagine a voice that could make those two sound like Stepin
	Fetchit.  That is sixteen-year-old Randy's voice. He is speaking to
	a switchman in Detroit.  The phone company in Detroit had closed up
	two toll-free loop pairs for no apparent reason, although heavy use
	by phone phreaks all over the country may have been detected. 
	Randy is telling the switchman how to open up the loop and make it
	free again: "How are you, buddy.  Yeah. I'm on the board in here in
	Tulsa, Oklahoma, and we've been trying to run some tests on your
	loop-arounds and we find'em busied out on both sides.... Yeah,
	we've been getting a 'BY' on them, what d'ya say, can you drop
	cards on 'em?  Do you have 08 on your number group?  Oh that's
	okay, we've had this trouble before, we may have to go after the
	circuit.  Here lemme give 'em to you: your frame is 05, vertical
	group 03, horizontal 5, vertical file 3.  Yeah, we'll hang on
	here.... Okay, found it?  Good.  Right, yeah, we'd like to clear
	that busy out.  Right.  All you have to do is look for your key on
	the mounting plate, it's in your miscellaneous trunk frame.  Okay? 
	Right.  Now pull your key from NOR over the LCT.  Yeah. I don't 
	know why that happened, but we've been having trouble with that 
	one.  Okay. Thanks a lot fella.  Be seein' ya." Randy hangs up, 
	reports that the switchman was a little inexperienced with the 
	loop-around circuits on the miscellaneous trunk frame, but that the
	loop has been returned to its free-call status. Delighted, phone 
	phreak Ed returns the pair of numbers to the active-status column 
	in his directory.  Ed is a superb and painstaking researcher.  
	With almost Talmudic thoroughness he will trace tendrils of hints 
	through soft-wired mazes of intervening phone-company circuitry back
	through complex linkages of switching relays to find the location
	and identity of just one toll-free loop. He spends hours and hours,
	every day, doing this sort of thing.  He has somehow compiled a
	directory of eight hundred "Band-six in-WATS numbers" located in
	over forty states.  Band-six in-WATS numbers are the big 800
	numbers -- the ones that can be dialed into free from anywhere in
	the country. Ed the researcher, a nineteen-year-old engineering
	student, is also a superb technician.  He put together his own
	working blue box from scratch at age seventeen.  (He is sighted.) 
	This evening after distributing the latest issue of his in-WATS
	directory (which has been typed into Braille for the blind phone
	phreaks), he announces he has made a major new breakthrough: "I
	finally tested it and it works, perfectly. I've got this switching
	matrix which converts any touch-tone phone into an M-F-er." The
	tones you hear in touch-tone phones are not the M-F tones that
	operate the long-distance switching system.  Phone phreaks believe	
	A.T.&T. had deliberately equipped touch tones with a different set
	of frequencies to avoid putting the six master M-F tones in the
	hands of every touch-tone owner.  Ed's complex switching matrix 
	puts the six master tones, in effect put a blue box, in the hands
	of every touch-tone owner. Ed shows me pages of schematics,
	specifications and parts lists. "It's not easy to build, but
	everything here is in the Heathkit catalog."

                                  - 34 -

 

	Ed asks Ralph what progress he has made in his attempts to 
	reestablish a long-term open conference line for phone phreaks. 
	The last big conference -- the historic "2111" conference -- had
	been arranged through an unused Telex test-board trunk somewhere in
	the innards of a 4A switching machine in Vancouver, Canada.  For
	months phone phreaks could M-F their way into Vancouver, beep out
	604 (the Vancouver area code) and then beep out 2111 (the internal
	phone-company code for Telex testing), and find themselves at any
	time, day or night, on an open wire talking with an array of phone
	phreaks from coast to coast, operators from Bermuda, Tokyo and
	London who are phone - phreak sympathizers, and miscellaneous
	guests and technical experts.  The conference was a massive
	exchange of information.  Phone phreaks picked each other's brains
	clean, then developed new ways to pick the phone company's brains
	clean. Ralph gave M F Boogies concerts with his
	home-entertainment-type electric organ, Captain Crunch demonstrated
	his round-the-world prowess with his notorious computerized unit
	and dropped leering hints of the "action" he was getting with his
	girl friends.  (The Captain lives out or pretends to live out
	several kinds of fantasies to the gossipy delight of the blind
	phone phreaks who urge him on to further triumphs on behalf of all
	of them.)  The somewhat rowdy Northwest phone-phreak crowd let
	their bitter internal feud spill over into the peaceable conference
	line, escalating shortly into guerrilla warfare; Carl the East
	Coast international tone relations expert demonstrated newly opened
	direct M-F routes to central offices on the island of Bahrein in
	the Persian Gulf, introduced a new phone-phreak friend of his in
	Pretoria, and explained the technical operation of the new
	Oakland-to Vietnam linkages. (Many phone phreaks pick up spending
	money by M-F-ing calls from relatives to Vietnam G.I.'s, charging
	$5 for a whole hour of trans-Pacific conversation.) Day and night
	the conference line was never dead.  Blind phone phreaks all over
	the country, lonely and isolated in homes filled with active
	sighted brothers and sisters, or trapped with slow and
	unimaginative blind kids in straitjacket schools for the blind,
	knew that no matter how late it got they could dial up the
	conference and find instant electronic communion with two or three
	other blind kids awake over on the other side of America.  Talking
	together on a phone hookup, the blind phone phreaks say, is not
	much different from being there together. Physically, there was
	nothing more than a two-inch-square wafer of titanium inside a vast
	machine on Vancouver Island.  For the blind kids >there< meant an
	exhilarating feeling of being in touch, through a kind of skill and
	magic which was peculiarly their own. Last April 1, however, the
	long Vancouver Conference was shut off. The phone phreaks knew it
	was coming.  Vancouver was in the process of converting from a
	step-by-step system to a 4A machine and the 2111 Telex circuit was
	to be wiped out in the process.  The phone phreaks learned the
	actual day on which the conference would be erased about a week 
	ahead of time over the phone company's internal - news - and - 
	shop- talk recording. For the next frantic seven days every phone

                                  - 35 -

 

	phreak in America was on and off the 2111 conference twenty-four 
	hours a day.  Phone phreaks who were just learning the game or 
	didn't have M-F capability were boosted up to the conference by 
	more experienced phreaks so they could get a glimpse of what it 
	was like before it disappeared.  Top phone phreaks searched 
	distant area codes for new conference possibilities without success.  
	Finally in the early morning of April 1, the end came. "I could feel 
	it coming a couple hours before midnight," Ralph remembers.  "You 
	could feel something going on in the lines.  Some static began 
	showing up, then some whistling wheezing sound.  Then there were 
	breaks.  Some people got cut off and called right back in, but 
	after a while some people were finding they were cut off and 
	couldn't get back in at all.  It was terrible.  I lost it about 
	one a.m., but managed to slip in again and stay on until the thing 
	died... I think it was about four in the morning.  There were four 
	of us still hanging on when  the conference disappeared into nowhere 
	for good.  We all tried to M-F up to it again of course, but we got 
	silent termination. There was nothing there. " The Legendary Mark 
	Bernay Turns Out To Be "The Midnight Skulker" Mark Bernay.  I had 
	come across that name before. It was on Gilbertson's select list of 
	phone phreaks.  The California phone phreaks had spoken of a 
	mysterious Mark Bernay as perhaps the first and oldest phone 
	phreak on the West Coast.  And in fact almost every phone phreak in
	the West can trace his origins either directly to Mark Bernay or to
	a disciple of Mark Bernay. It seems that five years ago this Mark
	Bernay (a pseudonym he chose for himself) began traveling up and
	down the West Coast pasting tiny stickers in phone books all along 
	his way.  The stickers read something like "Want to hear an 
	interesting tape recording? Call these numbers." The numbers that 
	followed were toll-free loop-around pairs. When cone of the curious 
	called one of the numbers he would hear a tape recording pre-hooked 
	into the loop by Bernay which explained the use of loop-around pairs, 
	gave the numbers of several more, and ended by telling the caller, 
	"At six o'clock tonight this recording will stop and you and your 
	friends can try it out.  Have fun." "I was disappointed by the 
	response at first," Bernay told me, when I finally reached him at 
	one of his many numbers and he had dispensed with the usual "I never 
	do anything illegal" formalities which experienced phone phreaks open 
	most conversations. "I went all over the coast with these stickers 
	not only on pay phones, but I'd throw them in front of high schools 
	in the middle of the night, I'd leave them unobtrusively in candy 
	stores, scatter them on main streets of small towns.  At first hardly 
	anyone bothered to try it out.  I would listen in for hours and hours 
	after six o'clock and no one came on.  I couldn't figure out why people 
	wouldn't be interested.  Finally these two girls in Oregon tried it 
	out and told all their friends and suddenly it began to spread." 
	Before his Johny Appleseed trip Bernay had already gathered a sizable 
	group of early pre-blue-box phone phreaks together on loop - arounds 
	in Los Angeles. Bernay does not claim credit for the original

                                  - 36 -
 

	discovery of the loop-around numbers.  He attributes the
	discovery to an eighteen-year-old reform school kid in Long Beach	
	whose name he forgets and who, he says, "just disappeared one day." 
	When Bernay himself discovered loop-arounds independently, from
	clues in his readings in old issues of the Automatic Electric
	Technical Journal, he found dozens of the reform-school kid's
	friends already using them. However, it was one of Bernay's
	disciples in Seattle that introduced phone phreaking to blind kids. 
	The Seattle kid who learned about loops through Bernay's recording
	told a blind friend, the blind kid taught the secret to his friends
	at a winter camp for blind kids in Los Angeles.  When the camp
	session was over these kids took the secret back to towns all over
	the West.  This is how the original blind kids became phone
	phreaks.  For them, for most phone phreaks in general, it was the
	discovery of the possibilities of loop-arounds which led them on to
	far more serious and sophisticated hone-phreak methods, and which
	gave them a medium for sharing their discoveries. A year later a
	blind kid who moved back east brought the technique to a blind
	kids' summer camp in Vermont, which spread it along the East Coast. 
	All from a Mark Bernay sticker. Bernay, who is nearly thirty years
	old now, got his start when he was fifteen and his family moved
	into an L.A. suburb serviced by General Telephone and Electronics
	equipment.  He became fascinated with the differences between Bell
	and G.T.&E. equipment. He learned he could make interesting things
	happen by carefully timed clicks with the disengage button.  He
	learned to interpret subtle differences in the array of clicks,
	whirrs and kachinks he could hear on his lines.  He learned he
	could shift himself around the switching relays of the L.A. area
	code in a not-too-predictable fashion by interspersing his own
	hook-switch clicks with the clicks within the line. (Independent
	phone companies -- there are nineteen hundred of them still left,
	most of them tiny island principalities in Ma Bell's vast empire --
	have always been favorites with phone phreaks, first as learning
	tools, then as Archimedes platforms from which to manipulate the
	huge Bell system.  A phone phreak in Bell territory will often M-F
	himself into an independent's switching system, with switching
	idiosyncrasies which can give him marvelous leverage over the Bell
	System. "I have a real affection for Automatic Electric Equipment,"
	Bernay told me. "There are a lot of things you can play with. 
	Things break down in interesting ways." Shortly after Bernay
	graduated from college (with a double major in chemistry and
	philosophy), he graduated from phreaking around with G.T.&E. to the
	Bell System itself, and made his legendary sticker-pasting journey
	north along the coast, settling finally in Northwest Pacific Bell
	territory.  He discovered that if Bell does not break down as
	interestingly as G.T.&E., it nevertheless offers a lot of "things
	to play with." Bernay learned to play with blue boxes.  He
	established his own personal switchboard and phone-phreak research
	laboratory complex.  He continued his phone-phreak evangelism with
	ongoing sticker campaigns. He set up two recording numbers, one
 

                                  - 37 -

	with instructions for beginning phone phreaks, the other with latest
	news and technical developments (along with some advanced
	instruction) gathered from sources all over the country. These
	days, Bernay told me, he had gone beyond phone-phreaking itself.
	"Lately I've been enjoying playing with computers more than playing
	with phones.  My personal thing in computers is just like with
	phones, I guess -- the kick is in finding out how to beat the
	system, how to get at things I'm not supposed to know about, how to
	do things with the system that I'm not supposed to be able to do."
	As a matter of fact, Bernay told me, he had just been fired from
	his computer-programming job for doing things he was not supposed
	to be able to do. he had been working with a huge time-sharing
	computer owned by a large corporation but shared by many others. 
	Access to the computer was limited to those programmers and
	corporations that had been assigned certain passwords. And each
	password restricted its user to access to only the one section of
	the computer cordoned off from its own information storager.  The
	password system prevented companies and individuals from stealing
	each other's information. "I figured out how to write a program
	that would let me read everyone else's password," Bernay reports. 
	"I began playing around with passwords.  I began letting the people
	who used the computer know, in subtle ways, that I knew their
	passwords.  I began dropping notes to the computer supervisors with
	hints that I knew what I know. I signed them 'The Midnight
	Skulker.'  I kept getting cleverer and cleverer with my messages 
	and devising ways of showing them what I could do. I'm sure they 
	couldn't imagine I could do the things I was showing them.  But 
	they never responded to me.  Every once in a while they'd change 
	the passwords, but I found out how to discover what the new ones 
	were, and I let them know.  But they never responded directly to 
	the Midnight Skulker. I even finally designed a program which they 
	could use to prevent my program from finding out what it did.  In 
	effect I told them how to wipe me out, The Midnight Skulker.  It 
	was a very clever program.  I started leaving clues about myself.  
	I wanted them to try and use it and then try to come up with something 
	to get around that and reappear again.  But they wouldn't play.  I 
	wanted to get caught.  I mean I didn't want to get caught personally, 
	but I wanted them to notice me and admit that they noticed me.  I 
	wanted them to attempt to respond, maybe in some interesting way." 
	Finally the computer managers became concerned enough about the threat 
	of information-stealing to respond.  However, instead of using The
	Midnight Skulker's own elegant self-destruct program, they called
	in their security personnel, interrogated everyone, found an
	informer to identify Bernay as The Midnight Skulker, and fired him.
	"At first the security people advised the company to hire me
	full-time to search out other flaws and discover other computer
	freaks.  I might have liked that.  But I probably would have turned
	into a double double agent rather than the double agent they
	wanted.  I might have resurrected The Midnight Skulker and tried 
    to catch myself. Who knows?  Anyway, the higher-ups turned the 
	whole idea down." 

                                  - 38 -


	You Can Tap the F.B.I.'s Crime Control Computer in the Comfort of
	Your Own Home, Perhaps Computer freaking may be the wave of the
	future.  It suits the phone-phreak sensibility perfectly. 
	Gilbertson, the blue-box inventor and a lifelong phone phreak, has
	also gone on from phone-phreaking to computer-freaking.  Before he
	got into the blue-box business Gilbertson, who is a highly skilled
	programmer, devised programs for international currency arbitrage.
	But he began playing with computers in earnest when he learned he
	could use his blue box in tandem with the computer terminal
	installed in his apartment by the instrumentation firm he worked
	for.  The print-out terminal and keyboard was equipped with
	acoustical coupling, so that by coupling his little ivory Princess
	phone to the terminal and then coupling his blue box on that, he
	could M-F his way into other computers with complete anonymity, and
	without charge; program and re-program them at will; feed them
	false or misleading information; tap and steal from them.  He
	explained to me that he taps computers by busying out all the
	lines, then going into a verification trunk, listening into the
	passwords and instructions one of the time sharers uses, and them
	M-F-ing in and imitating them.  He believes it would not be
	impossible to creep into the F.B.I's crime control computer through
	a local police computer terminal and phreak around with the
	F.B.I.'s memory banks.  He claims he has succeeded in
	re-programming a certain huge  institutional computer in such a way
	that it has cordoned off an entire section of its circuitry for his
	personal use, and at the same time conceals that arrangement from
	anyone else's notice.  I have been unable to verify this claim.
	Like Captain Crunch, like Alexander Graham Bell (pseudonym of a
	disgruntled-looking East Coast engineer who claims to have invented
	the black box and now sells black and blue boxes to gamblers and
	radical heavies), like most phone phreaks, Gilbertson began his 
	career trying to rip off pay phones as a teenager.  Figure them 
	out, then rip them off.  Getting his dime back from the pay phone is 
	the phone phreak's first thrilling rite of passage.  After learning 
	the usual eighteen different ways of getting his dime back, 
	Gilbertson learned how to make master keys to coin-phone cash boxes, 
	and get everyone else's dimes back.  He stole some phone-company 
	quipment and put together his own home switchboard with it.  He 
	learned to make a simple "bread-box" device, of the kind used by 
	bookies in the Thirties (bookie gives a number to his betting 
	clients; the phone with that number is installed in some widow 
	lady's apartment, but is rigged to ring in the bookie's shop 
	across town, cops trace big betting number and find nothing but 
	the widow). Not long after that afternoon in 1968 when, deep in 
	the stacks of an engineering library, he came across a technical 
	journal with the phone tone frequencies and rushed off to make his 
	first blue box, not long after that Gilbertson abandoned a very 
	promising career in physical chemistry and began selling blue boxes 
	for $1,500 apiece. "I had to leave physical chemistry.  I just ran 
	out of interesting things to learn," he told me one evening.  
	We had been talking in the apartment of the man who served as the

                                  - 39 -

 

	link between Gilbertson and the syndicate in arranging the big 
	$300,000 blue-box deal which fell through because of legal 
	trouble. There has been some smoking. "No more interesting 
	things to learn," he continues.  "Physical chemistry turns out 
	to be a sick subject when you take it to its highest level.  I 
	don't know. I don't think I could explain to you how it's sick.
	You have to be there.  But you get, I don't know, a false feeling 
	of omnipotence.  I suppose it's like phone-phreaking that way.  
	This huge thing is there.  This whole system.  And there are holes 
	in it and you slip into them like Alice and you're pretending 
	you're doing something you're actually not, or at least it's no 
	longer you that's doing what you thought you were doing.  It's 
	all Lewis Carroll. Physical chemistry and phone-phreaking.  That's 
	why you have these phone- phreak pseudonyms like The Cheshire Cat, 
	the Red King, and The Snark.  But there's something about phone-
	phreaking that you don't find in physical chemistry."  He looks up 
	at me: "Did you ever steal anything?" "Well yes, I..." "Then you 
	know!  You know the rush you get.  It's not just knowledge, like 
	physical chemistry. It's forbidden knowledge.  You know.  You can 
	learn about anything under the sun and be bored to death with it. But
	the idea that it's illegal.  Look: you can be small and mobile and
	smart and you're ripping off somebody large and powerful and very
	dangerous." People like Gilbertson and Alexander Graham Bell are
	always talking about ripping off the phone company and crewing Ma
	Bell.  But if they were shown a single button and told that by
	pushing it they could turn the entire circuitry of AT&T. into
	molten puddles, they probably wouldn't push it.  The
	disgruntled-inventor phone phreak needs the phone system the way
	the lapsed Catholic needs the Church, the way Satan needs a God,
	the way The Midnight Skulker needed, more than anything else,
	response. Later that evening Gilbertson finished telling me how
	delighted he was at the flood of blue boxes spreading throughout
	the country, how delighted he was to know that "this time they're
	really screwed."  He suddenly shifted gears. "Of course. I do have
	this love/hate thing about Ma Bell.  In a way I almost like the
	phone company.  I guess I'd be very sad if they were to
	isintegrate. In a way it's just that after having been so good they
	turn out to have these things wrong with them.  It's those flaws
	that allow me to get in and mess with them, but I don't know. 
	There's something about it that gets to you and makes you want to
	get to it, you know." I ask him what happens when he runs
	out of interesting, forbidden things to learn about the phone
	system. "I don't know, maybe I'd go to work for them for a while."
	"In security even?" "I'd do it, sure.  I just as soon play -- I'd
	just as soon work on either side." "Even figuring out how to trap
	phone phreaks? I said, recalling Mark Bernay's game." "Yes, that
	might be interesting.  Yes, I could figure out how 	to outwit the 
	phone phreaks.  Of course if I got too good at it, it might become 
	boring again.  Then I'd have to hope the phone phreaks got much 
	better and outsmarted me for a while.  That would move the quality 
	of the game up one level.  I might even habe yo help them out you

                                  - 40 -
 

	know, 'Well, kids, I wouldn't want this to get around but did you 
	ever think of -- ?' I could keep it going at higher and higher 
	levels forever." The dealer speaks up for the first time.  He has 
	been staring at the soft blinking patterns of light and colors on 
	the translucent tiled wall facing him. (Actually there are no 
	patterns: the color and illumination of every tile is determined 
	by a computerized random-number generator designed by Gilbertson 
	which insures that th re can be no meaning to any sequence of events 
	in the tiles.) "Those are nice games you're talking about," says the 
	dealer to his friend. "But I wouldn't mind seeing them screwed.  A 
	telephone isn't private anymore. You can't say anything you really 
	want to say on a telephone or you have to go through that paranoid 
	bulls***!.  'Is it cool to talk on the phone?' I mean, even if it is 
	cool, if you have to ask 'Is it cool,' then it isn't cool.  You know.
	'Is it cool,' then it isn't cool.  You know.  Like those blind kids,
	people are going to start putting together their own private
	telephone companies if they want to really talk.  And you know what
	else.  You don't hear silences on the phone anymore.  They've got
	this time-sharing thing on long-distance lines where you make a
	pause and they snip out that piece of time and use it to carry part
	of somebody else's conversation.  Instead of a pause, where somebody's 
	maybe breathing or sighing, you get this blank hole and you only start 
	hearing again when someone says a word and even the beginning of the 
	word is clipped off. Silences don't count -- you're paying for them, 
	but they take them away from you.  It's not cool to talk and you can't 
	hear someone when they don't talk.  What the hell good is the phone? 
	I wouldn't mind seeing them totally screwed." 

The Big Memphis Bust

	Joe Engressia never wanted to screw Ma Bell.  His dream had always
	been to work for her. The day I visited Joe in his small apartment
	on Union Avenue in Memphis, he was upset about another setback in
	his application for a telephone job. "They're stalling on it.  I
	got a letter today telling me they'd have to postpone the interview
	I requested again.  My landlord read it for me. They gave me some
	runaround about wanting papers on my rehabilitation status but I
	think there's something else going on." When I switched on the	
	40-watt bulb in Joe's room -- he sometimes forgets when he has
	guests -- it looked as if there was enough telephone hardware to
	start a small phone company of his own. There is one phone on top
	of his desk, one phone sitting in an open drawer beneath the desk 
	top.  Next to the desk-top phone is a cigar-box-size M-F device 
	with big toggle switches, and next to that is some kind of switching 
	and coupling device with jacks and alligator plugs hanging loose.  
	Next to that is a Braille typewriter.  On the floor next to the desk, 
	lying upside down like a dead tortoise, is the half-gutted body of an 
	old black standard phone.  Across the room on a torn and dusty couch
	are two more phones, one of them a touch-tone model; two tape 

                                  - 41 -

	recorders; a heap of phone patches and cassettes, and a life-size
	toy telephone. Our conversation is interrupted every ten minutes by
	phone phreaks from all over the country ringing Joe on just about
	every piece of equipment but the toy phone and the Braille
	typewriter.  One fourteen-year-old blind kid from Connecticut calls
	up and tells Joe he's got a girl friend.  He wants to talk to Joe
	about girl friends. Joe says they'll talk later in the evening when
	they can be alone on the line.  Joe draws a deep breath, whistles
	him off the air with an earsplitting 2600-cycle whistle. Joe is
	pleased to get the calls but he looked worried and preoccupied that
	evening, his brow constantly furrowed over his dark wandering eyes. 
	In addition to the phone-company stall, he has just learned that
	his apartment house is due to be demolished in sixty days for urban
	renewal.  For all its shabbiness, the Union Avenue apartment house
	has been Joe's first home-of-his-own and he's worried that he may
	not find another before this one is demolished. But what really
	bothers Joe is that switchmen haven't been listening to him. "I've
	been doing some checking on 800 numbers lately, and I've discovered
	that certain 800 numbers in New Hampshire couldn't be reached from
	Missouri and Kansas.  Now it may sound like a small thing, but I
	don't like to see sloppy work; it makes me feel bad about the
	lines.  So I've been calling up switching offices and reporting it,
	but they haven't corrected it.  I called them up for the third time
	today and instead of checking they just got mad. Well, that gets me
	mad.  I mean, I do try to help them.  There's something about them
	I can't understand -- you want to help them and they just try to
	say you're defrauding them." It is Sunday evening and Joe invites
	me to join him for dinner at a Holiday Inn.  Frequently on Sunday
	evening Joe takes some of his welfare money, calls a cab, and
	treats himself to a steak dinner at one of Memphis' thirteen
	Holiday Inns.  (Memphis is the headquarters of Holiday Inn. 
	Holiday Inns have been a favorite for Joe ever since he made his
	first solo phone trip to a Bell switching office in Jacksonville,
	Florida, and stayed in the Holiday Inn there. He likes to stay at 
	Holiday Inns, he explains, because they represent freedom to him 
	and because the rooms are arranged the same all over the country so 
	he knows that any Holiday Inn room is familiar territory to him. 
	Just like any telephone.) Over steaks in the Pinnacle Restaurant 
	of the Holiday Inn Medical Center on Madison Avenue in Memphis, 
	Joe tells me the highlights of his life as a phone phreak. At age 
	seven, Joe learned his first phone trick. A mean baby-sitter, tired 
	of listening to little Joe play with the phone as he always did, 
	constantly, put a lock on the phone dial. "I got so mad. When 
	there's a phone sitting there and I can't use it... so I started 
	getting mad and banging the receiver up and down.  I noticed I banged 
	it once and it dialed one.  Well, then I tried banging it twice...." 
	In a few minutes Joe learned how to dial by pressing the hook switch 
	at the right time.  "I was so excited I remember going 'whoo whoo' and
	beat a box down on the floor." At age eight Joe learned about
	whistling.  "I was listening to some intercept non working-number

                                  - 42 -
 

	recording in L.A.- I was calling L.A. as far back as that, but I'd 
	mainly dial non working numbers because there was no charge, and 
	I'd listen to these recordings all day.  Well, I was whistling 
	'cause listening to these recordings can be boring after a while 
	even if they are from L.A., and all of a sudden, in the middle of 
	whistling, the recording clicked off.  I fiddled around whistling 
	some more, and the same thing happened.  So I called up the switch 
	room and said, 'I'm Joe.  I'm eight years old and I want to know 
	why when I whistle this tune the line clicks off.'  He tried to 
	explain it to me, but it was a little too technical at the time.  
	I went on learning.  That was a thing nobody was going to stop me 
	from doing. The phones were my life, and I was going to pay any 
	price to keep on learning.  I knew I could go to jail.  But I had 
	to do what I had to do to keep on learning." The phone is ringing 
	when we walk back into Joe's apartment on Union Avenue. It is 
	Captain Crunch.  The Captain has been following me around by phone, 
	calling up everywhere I go with additional bits of advice and 
	explanation for me and whatever phone phreak I happen to be visiting.
	This time the Captain reports he is calling from what he describes
	as "my hideaway high up in the Sierra Nevada."  He pulses out lusty
	salvos of M-F and tells Joe he is about to "go out and get a little
	action tonight.  Do some phreaking of another kind, if you know	
	what I mean."  Joe chuckles. The Captain then tells me to make sure
	I understand that what he told me about tying up the nation's phone
	lines was true, but that he and the phone phreaks he knew never used 
	the technique for sabotage.  They only learned the technique to help 
	the phone company. "We do a lot of troubleshooting for them.  Like 
	this New Hampshire/Missouri WATS-line flaw I've been screaming about.
	We help them more than they know." After we say good-bye to the 
	Captain and Joe whistles him off the line, Joe tells me about a 
	disturbing dream he had the night before: "I had been caught and 
	they were taking me to a prison.  It was a long trip.  They were 
	taking me to a prison a long long way away.  And we stopped at a 
	Holiday Inn and it was my last night ever using the phone and I was 
	crying and crying, and the lady at the Holiday Inn said, 'Gosh, 
	honey, you should never be sad at a Holiday Inn. You should always 
	be happy here.  Especially since it's your last night.'  And that 
	just made it worse and I was sobbing so much I couldn't stand it." 
	Two weeks after I left Joe Engressia's apartment, phone-company 
	security agents and Memphis police broke into it.  Armed with a 
	warrant, which they left pinned to a wall, they confiscated every 
	piece of equipment in the room, including his toy telephone.  Joe 
	as placed under arrest and taken to the city jail where he was 
	forced to spend the night since he had no money and knew no one 
	in Memphis to call. It is not clear who told Joe what that night, 
	but someone told him that the phone company had an open-and-shut 
	case against him because of revelations of illegal activity he had 
	made to a phone-company undercover agent. By morning Joe had become 
	convinced that the reporter from Esquire, with whom he had spoken 
	two weeks ago, was the undercover agent.  He probably had 

                                  - 43 -


	ugly thoughts about someone he couldn't see gaining his confidence,
	listening to him talk about his personal obsessions and dreams,
	while planning all the while to lock him up. "I really thought he
	was a reporter," Engressia told the Memphis Press-Seminar. "I told
	him everything...." Feeling betrayed, Joe proceeded to confess
	everything to the press and police. As it turns out, the phone 
	company did use an undercover agent to trap Joe, although it was 
	not the Esquire reporter. Ironically, security agents were alerted 
	and began to compile a case against Joe because of one of his acts 
	of love for the system: Joe had called an internal service 
	department to report that he had located a group of defective 
	long-distance trunks, and to complain again about the New 
	Hampshire/Missouri WATS problem.  Joe always liked Ma Bell's lines 
	to be clean and responsive.  A suspicious switchman reported Joe to 
	the security agents who discovered that Joe had never had a 
	long-distance call charged to his name. Then the security agents 
	learned that Joe was planning one of his phone trips to a local 
	switching office.  The security people planted one of their agents 
	in the switching office.  He posed as a student switchman and followed 
	Joe around on a tour.  He was extremely friendly and helpful to Joe, 
	leading him around the office by the arm. When the tour was over he 
	offered Joe a ride back to his apartment house.  On the way he asked 
	Joe -- one tech man to another -- about "those blue boxers" he'd 
	heard about.  Joe talked about them freely, talked about his blue 
	box freely, and about all the other things he could do with the 
	phones. The next day the phone-company security agents slapped a 
	monitoring tape on Joe's line, which eventually picked up an illegal 
	call.  Then they applied for the search warrant and broke in. In 
	court Joe pleaded not guilty to possession of a blue box and theft 
	of service.  A sympathetic judge reduced the charges to malicious 
	mischief and found him guilty on that count, sentenced him to two 
	thirty-day sentences to be served concurrently and then suspended 
	the sentence on condition that Joe promise never to play with phones 
	again.  Joe promised, but the phone company refused to restore his 
	service.  For two weeks after the trial Joe could not be reached 
	except through the pay phone at his apartment house, and the landlord
	screened all calls for him. Phone-phreak Carl managed to get through 
	to Joe after the trial, and reported that Joe sounded crushed by the 
	whole affair. 	"What I'm worried about," Carl told me, "is that Joe 
	means it this 	time.  The promise. That he'll never phone-phreak 	
	again.  That's 	what he told me, that he's given up phone-phreaking 
	for good.  I 	mean his entire life.  He says he knows they're 
	going to be watching him so closely for the rest of his life he'll 
	never be able to make a move without going straight to jail.  He 
	sounded very broken up by the whole experience of being in jail. 
	It was awful to hear him talk that way.  I don't know.  I hope maybe he
	had to sound that way.  Over the phone, you know." He reports that
	the entire phone-phreak underground is  up in arms over the phone
	company's treatment of Joe.  "All the while Joe had his hopes
	pinned on his application for a phone-company job, 

                                  - 44 -



	they were stringing him along getting ready to bust him.  That gets
	me mad.  Joe spent most of his time helping them out.  The
	b******!s.  They think they can use him as an example.  All of
	sudden they're harassing us on the coast.  Agents are jumping up on
	our lines.  They just busted ------'s mute yesterday and ripped out
	his lines.  But no matter what Joe does, I don't think we're going
	to take this lying down." Two weeks later my phone rings and about
	eight phone phreaks in succession say hello from about eight
	different places in the country, among them Carl, Ed, and Captain
	Crunch.  A nationwide phone-phreak conference line has been
	reestablished through a switching machine in --------, with the
	cooperation of a disgruntled switchman. "We have a special guest
	with us today," Carl tells me. The next voice I hear is Joe's.  He
	reports happily that he has just moved to a place called
	Millington, Tennessee, fifteen miles outside of Memphis, where he
	has been hired as a telephone-set repairman by a small independent
	phone company.  Someday he hopes to be an equipment troubleshooter.
	"It's the kind of job I dreamed about.  They found out about me
	from the publicity surrounding the trial.  Maybe Ma Bell did me a
	favor busting me. I'll have telephones in my hands all day long."
	"You know the expression, 'Don't get mad, get even'?" phone-phreak
	Carl asked me.  "Well, I think they're going to be very sorry about
	what they did to Joe and what they're trying to do to us."        
   
          




























                                  - 45 -


	Files By - XTC

	WIRETAPPING AND DIVESTITURE: By - XTC

	EEVER MISSING AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SOCIAL ENGINEERING, THE KID & CO.
	AND I NATURALLY CARRIED ON A CONVERSATION WITH THE NEW JERSEY BELL
	FONE INSTALLER WHEN HE CAME TO PUT IN MY MODEM LINE. THE
	CONVERSATION TURNED TO FONE TAPPING, AND SEVERAL INTERESTING
	DETAILS CAME TO LIGHT. HE SWORE UP AND DOWN THAT BELL HAD NOTHING
	TO DO WITH WIRE TAPPING. HE SAID THE SUPERVISOR RECEIVES SEALED
	ORDERS FROM THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE, MERELY PASSING THEM ON TO THE
	LINEMEN.  THEN THE LINEMEN FOLLOW THE ORDERS TO GO UP ON THE POLES
	AND MARK THE PAIR IN THE "CAN" THAT FIT THE FONE LINE IN QUESTION,
	AND THEN LEAVE THE SITE. 

    	ONE DAY, OUR LINEMAN DROVE BACK BY THE POLE HE HAD MARKED
	EARLIER IN THE DAY, AND SAW A BELL TRUCK.  WONDERING WHO IT WAS, HE
	STOPPED TO ASK.  THE GUY UP ON THE POLE TOLD HIM TO GO AWAY AND TO
	LEAVE HIM ALONE.  SINCE OUR FRIENDLY LINEMAN DIDN'T RECOGNIZE THE
	MYSTERY MAN AS ONE OF THE LINEMEN FOR THE AREA, HE ASKED HIS
	SUPERVISOR WHO IT COULD HAVE BEEN.  HIS SUPERVISOR CURTLY TOLD HIM 
	TO FORGET THE ENTIRE INCIDENT. 

    	THE LINEMAN TOLD US THAT IN THE OLD DAYS THE TELCO AND THE
	PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE WORKED HAND-IN-HAND.  THEY WOULD LET THE
	AUTHORITIES RIGHT INTO THE CO TO LISTEN IN ON CONVERSATIONS.  BUT
	THIS ENDED AROUND 1973 WHEN SOMEONE SUED JERSEY BELL BECAUSE OF
	THIS TOO CLOSE INTERACTION.  THE TELCO THEN REALIZED THAT THEY
	DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THAT FAR IN  ORDER TO HELP THE POLICE.  AFTER
	THIS THEY GRADUALLY BROKE FROM THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP.  NOW THE
	FONE COMPANY MERELY MARKS THE LINES, AND THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
	HANDLES THE REST.  HE ALSO SAID THAT NOW THE POLICE SOMETIMES USE
	ULTRASONIC WAVES BOUNCED OFF OF WINDOW PANES TO LISTEN TO SUSPECTS,
	REMOVING ALL CONTACT WITH THE FONE LINES.  SINCE THE PRESENCE OF A
	FONE COMPANY TRUCK MESSING WITH TELEPHONE WIRES IS
	TAKEN FOR GRANTED BY THE GENERAL POPULACE, THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE
	ALSO HAS A COUPLE OF THEM FOR UNDERCOVER WORK.  SINCE THEY GOT THEM
	BACK IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF BELL FRIENDLINESS, THE TRUCKS TEND TO
	BE THE OLDER MODELS, WITH OUTDATED GEAR. THE LINEMAN TOLD US A SURE
	WAY TO IDENTIFY THE LOCAL POLICE'S TRUCKS:  THEY HAVE WOODEN
	LADDERS.  NEW JERSEY BELL SWITCHED OVER TO PLASTIC ONES YEARS AGO. 

    	CONTINUING THE DISCUSSION WITH THE LINEMAN, WE COVERED THE
	BREAKUP.  NEW JERSEY BELL NOW NO LONGER GIVES AS MUCH OVERTIME AS
	IT ONCE DID.  THE LINEMAN COMPLAINED THAT HIS STANDARD OF LIVING
	HAD GONE DOWN SINCE THE BREAKUP AS HE NO LONGER HAS AS MUCH TAKE
	HOME PAY.  THE BREAKUP HAS CAUSED A TOTAL SEVERING OF TIES WITH
	AT&T.  HE PROFESSED TOTAL IGNORANCE ABOUT LONG DISTANCE CALLING. 
	HE HAD ORIGINALLY GONE WITH AT&T, BUT DISLIKED FIXING PBX'S AND
	COMPUTER SYSTEMS. AS SOON AS HE COULD, HE SWITCHED BACK TO THE
	LOCAL OPERATING COMPANY. HE TOLD US ABOUT A TECHNICAL INSTITUTE 

                                  - 46 -


	WESTERN UNION WAS OPERATING SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDWEST.  HE HAD GONE
	THERE TO LEARN ABOUT THE VARIOUS TYPES OF SWITCHING SYSTEMS.  ON
	CAMPUS WAS A GIGANTIC, MULTI-STORY BUILDING SPLIT UP INTO ROOMS
	APPROXIMATELY THE SIZE OF GYMNASIUMS.  IN EACH WAS A FULLY
	OPERATIONAL SCALE MODEL OF EACH OF THE VARIOUS SWITCHING SYSTEMS. 
	WESTERN ELECTRIC MANUFACTURES, INCLUDING ALL THE ESS AND CROSSBAR
	MACHINES, AS WELL AS SOME STEP-BY-STEP, AND SEVERAL TYPES OF PBX'S. 
	THEY TROUBLE-SHOT AND REPAIRED PROBLEMS IN THESE MACHINES IN ORDER
	TO LEARN ABOUT ACTUAL OPERATING EQUIPMENT. WE TALKED ABOUT THE
	LOCAL SWITCHING EQUIPMENT, WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE A #1A ESS. 
	ACCORDING TO HIM, SOON ALL THE LOCAL CO'S WILL BE RUN AUTOMATICALLY
	FROM CENTRAL LOCATIONS CALLED "HUBS".  THE "HUB" HANDLES ANY
	OVERLOAD BETWEEN CENTRAL OFFICES THAT MIGHT CAUSE THE DREADED
	"GRIDLOCK" OF THE FONE SYSTEM.  IF THE INTEROFFICE SIGNALING LINES
	GET OVERLOADED, THE CALLS ARE REROUTED THROUGH THE HUB.  THE HUB
	ALSO SERVES AS A CENTRAL SPOT WHERE TROUBLES AT THE LOCAL CO ARE
	HANDLED IN THE FIRST STAGES OF TROUBLE-SHOOTING.  THE "HUB" CONCEPT
	IS ALIVE AND WELL IN OUR LOCAL AREA, WITH #5 ESS, THE THIRD
	INSTALLED IN THE ENTIRE NATION, RUNNING THE WHOLE OPERATION. 

    	WHEN HE WAS GETTING READY TO LEAVE HE THANKED US FOR THE
	INTERESTING CONVERSATION, AND WE WAVED AT HIM AS HE  PULLED OUT. 
	I NOW NOT ONLY HAD A NEW FONE LINE, BUT ALSO A LOT OF USEFUL AND
	INTERESTING INFO, AS WELL AS THE SATISFACTION OF A FRIENDLY CHAT.

	WIRETAPPING AND DIVESTITURE:

    	THE LESSON IS CLEAR.  WHENEVER A BELL EMPLOYEE VISITS YOUR
	HOUSE, FELL PHREE TO ASK WHATEVER YOU WANT, WITHIN REASON.  MOST
	ARE EXTREMELY WILLING TO SHOOT THE BULL ABOUT ALMOST ANYTHING OF
	WHICH THEY HAVE KNOWLEDGE.  AT FIRST, MERELY JOKE WITH THEM
	LIGHTHEARTEDLY, IN ORDER TO GET THEM OFF THERE GUARD. LEGIT
	QUESTIONS ASKABLE BY A NORMAL CUSTOMER, SUCH AS EQUAL ACCESS
	CUTOVERS, WILL GET THEM ROLLING, LEAVING YOU TO DIRECT THE
	CONVERSATION WHEREVER YOU LIKE.  ASKING ABOUT THE BREAKUP AND HOW
	IT AFFECTED THEM IS A SURE FIRE WAY TO GET THEM TALKING.  QUESTIONS
	LIKE "HOW DOES THE FONE NETWORK WORK?" ALSO ARE GOOD, ESPECIALLY IF
	YOU GUIDE THEM INTO  THE DISCUSSION OF SWITCHING TECHNOLOGY. MOST 
	BELL EMPLOYEES ARE REALLY GLAD TO TALK TO SOMEONE.  REMEMBER, THEY 
	USUALLY INTERACT WITH DISGRUNTLED CUSTOMERS WITH COMPLAINTS.  THEIR 
	SPOUSES PROBABLY YELL AT THEM, AND THEIR SUPERVISORS EITHER COMPLAIN 
	ABOUT THEIR PERFORMANCE OR IGNORE THEM. SOCIETY AT LARGE JUST DOESN'T 
	CARE ABOUT THEM.  THEY'RE MOST PROBABLY DISENCHANTED WITH THE WORLD AT 
	LARGE, AND MAYBE EVEN DISSATISFIED WITH THEIR JOBS.  THE CHANCE TO 
	ALK TO SOME ONE WHO MERELY WANTS TO LISTEN TO WHAT THEY SAY IS A 
	WELCOME CHANGE.  THEY WILL TALK ON AND ON ABOUT ALMOST ANYTHING, 
	FROM TELECOMMUNICATIONS TO THEIR HOME LIFE AND THEIR CHILDHOOD.  
	THE POSSIBILITIES FOR SOCIAL ENGINEERING ARE ENDLESS. REMEMBER,
	BELL EMPLOYEES ARE HUMANS, TOO.  ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS LISTEN.


                                  - 47 -


	ESSENCE OF TELEPHONE CONFERENCING: By < EXC >

	  TELEPHONE CONFERENCING IS AN EASY WAY OF GETTING MANY FRIENDS
	TOGETHER AT ONCE. THIS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED EASILY WITH LITTLE OR NO
	TROUBLE WHAT SO EVER. THE TECHNIQUES THAT I WILL TEACH YOU DO NOT
	REQUIRE A BLUE BOX OR A TOUCH TONE PHONE LINE. THE ONLY
	PREREQUISITE IS THAT YOU HAVE A PHONE THAT HAS A TONE SWITCH ON IT
	OR HAVE A HOOKABLE TOUCH TONE KEYPAD. NOW, IF YOU ARE THE
	PARANOID TYPE OF PERSON AND REFUSE TO USE YOUR OWN PHONE OUT OF
	YOUR HOUSE THEN HERE ARE SOME SIMPLE WAYS OF GETTING CONFERENCES
	STARTED FROM ANOTHER PHONE. GO TO A MALL OR A PLACE WHERE YOU KNOW
	THE PHONE IS BEING PAYED FOR BY THE BUSINESS IT IS IN.

    	NOW THERE ARE TWO TO CALL THE CONFERENCE OPERATOR; DIAL "0" TO
	GET YOUR LOCAL OPERATOR SO SHE CAN PUT YOU THROUGH TO THE
	CONFERENCE OPERATOR OR DIAL THE CONFERENCE OPERATOR DIRECTLY IF YOU
	HAVE THE NUMBER HANDY. THE SYSTEM YOU WILL BE LINKED UP TO IS
	CALLED THE "ALLIANCE" SYSTEM. THERE ARE THREE BRANCHES; 1000, 2000,
	3000.     

    	 NOW ONCE YOU HAVE GOTTEN THE CONFERENCE OPERATOR YOU TELL HER
	YOU WOULD LIKE TO START A CONFERENCE AND YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAINTAIN
	CONTROL OF IT. SHE WILL THEN PROCEED TO ASK YOU FOR YOUR NAME AND
	NUMBER. YOU WILL THEN GIVE HER A FAKE NAME AND THE NUMBER OF THE
	PAY PHONE. SHE WILL HANG UP AND CALL YOU BACK ONCE SHE HAS CHECKED
	THE NUMBER. THEY USUALLY DON'T REALIZE IT IS A
	PAYPHONE SO DON'T THINK IT WON'T WORK! NOW ONCE THE OPERATOR HAS
	GIVEN YOU CONTROL YOU WILL THEN PROCEED TO HACK MY VOICE PHONE AND
	PUT ME ON THE CONFERENCE.

    	 NOW, THE OTHER WAY OF STARTING A CONFERENCE IN WHICH YOU 
	DON'T GET A LIVE OPERATOR IS A "PBX". WITH THIS YOU WILL CALL A PBX
	NUMBER AND YOU WILL THEN RECEIVE A RECORDING OF A BUSINESS OR
	OFFICE CO. THEN WHEN THE RECORDING IS OVER YOU WILL HERE A BEEP.
	THEN AFTER ABOUT 10-30 SECONDS AFTER THE BEEP YOU WILL GET A DIAL
	TONE ON THE ON THE END OF THE PBX.  YOU WILL THEN TYPE THE PBX CODE
	WHICH WILL THEN RESPOND WITH A RECORDING WELCOMING YOU TO THE
	CONFERENCING NETWORK (WHICH WILL IN MOST IF NOT ALL BE
	THE "ALLIANCE" SYSTEM).

	    IT WILL BE SELF EXPLANATORY FROM THERE. NOW IF YOU DON'T WISH
	TO CALL THE CONFERENCE OPERATOR EITHER WAY ALREADY EXPLAINED THEN
	THERE IS A WAS OF GETTING YOUR FRIENDS IN CONFERENCE. THIS IS DONE
	OVER A LOOP EXTENSION. NO ONE WILL HAVE CONTROL, BUT YOU WILL STILL
	BE ON CONFERENCE. THIS IS CALLED THE SEVEN LINE LOOP EXTENSION.
	THIS MEANS YOU CAN HAVE UP TO SEVEN MEMBERS, BUT THAT IS IT! THE
	NUMBER IS IN LA, CA. 213-206-2820. THE LAST WAY I WILL
	EXPLAIN TO YOU IF YOU ARE IN DESPERATE NEED OF A CONFERENCE IS TO
	GO TO PAY PHONE LIKE I MENTIONED BEFORE ANY MAKE SURE SOME BUSINESS
	PAYS THE BILL FOR IT THEN CALL THE CONFERENCE OPERATOR IN THE
	FASHIONS MENTIONED AND ASK THE TO PLACE CONFERENCE CALLS.


                                  - 48 -


	    THE WILL THEN ASK FOR THE NUMBERS OF THE PEOPLE TO PUT ON
	CONFERENCE, YOU GIVE HER THE NUMBERS AND SHE WILL PUT YOU ALL ON
	CONFERENCE.  WHEN YOU ARE DONE YOU WILL HANG UP ON HER SO THERE
	WILL BE NO ONE IN CONTROL.THAT MEANS THE CONFERENCE WILL BE BILLED
	TO THE PAYPHONE AND NO ONE CAN BE BLAMED FOR THE CONFERENCE DUE TO
	NO ONE BEING IN CONTROL! ***NOTE*** THE CONFERENCE OPERATOR WILL
	NOT BE ON WHILE YOU ARE ALL TALKING! REMEMBER THAT CONFERENCES ARE
	NOT HARD AND IT IS VERY HARD TO GET ARRESTED ON ONE DUE TO WHAT I
	HAVE MENTIONED. 

                REMEMBER:REACH OUT AND PHREAK SOMEONE!

	[TELEPHONE CONFERENCE CONTROLS]

	   # - CONTROL MODE
	   # - 6 PASSES CONTROL
	   # - 1 + AREA CODE & NUMBER ADDS
	   # - 9 SILENT MODE
	   # - 7 GETS CONFERENCE OPERATOR
	   * - ENDS CONFERENCE

	   THE "#" IS THE CONTROL KEY ON YOUR CONFERENCES. WHEN YOU PASS
	CONTROL TO SOMEONE ELSE HIT THE "#" THEN "6". WAIT FOR THE
	RECORDING TO SAY ENTER # OF PERSON TO PASS CONTROL TO, THEN ENTER
	THE NUMBER OF THE PERSON YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE CONTROL TO.
	
	   TO ADD A PERSON ON TO THE CONFERENCE HIT "#" THEN "1","AREA
	CODE","NUMBER". THEN WHEN THE PERSON ANSWERS WAIT FIVE SECONDS THEN
	HIT THE "#" TO ADD. IF YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF THE CONFERENCE AND YOU
	WANT TO HEAR EVERYONE ELSE, BUT YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE HEARD IT "#"
	THEN "9" THEN THE "#" TO REJOIN THE CONFERENCE. REMEMBER AFTER
	ADDING SOMEONE ON OR PASSING CONTROL TO SOMEONE YOU MUST ALWAYS HIT
	THE "#" TO REJOIN THE OTHERS ON CONFERENCE:
	PASSING CONTROL: "#", "6", WAIT FOR RECORDING TO SAY ENTER NUMBER
	OF PARTY TO GIVE CONTROL TO THEN ENTER NUMBER AND HIT "#" TO REJOIN
	YOUR CONFERENCE.IF YOU EVER WANT TO GET A CONFERENCE OPERATOR FOR
	SOME STRANGE REASON THEN HIT "#","7" AND WAIT FOR A CONFERENCE
	OPERATOR TO CLICK ON. TO END A CONFERENCE HIT "*". WITH HELP FROM:
	SILICON FALCON, SILVER CONDOR, AND THE ELIMINATOR.

	Phone Tapping: By - ETC

	     HERE IS SOME INFO ON PHONE TAPS. I HAVE ENCLOSED A SCHEMATIC
	FOR A SIMPLE WIRETAP & INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOOKING UP A TAPE RECORDER
	CONTROL RELAY TO THE PHONE LINE. FIRST I'LL DISCUSS TAPS A LITTLE.
	THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF TAPS. THERE ARE TRANSMITTERS,
	WIRED TAPS AND INDUCTION TAPS TO NAME A FEW.  WIRED AND WIRELESS
	TRANSMITTERS MUST BE PHYSICALLY CONNECTED TO THE
	LINE BEFORE THEY'LL DO ANY GOOD. ONCE A WIRELESS TAP IS CONNECTED
	TO THE LINE, IT CAN TRANSMIT ALL CONVERSATIONS OVER A LIMITED
	RANGE. THE PHONES IN THE HOUSE CAN EVEN BE MODIFIED TO PICK UP 

                                  - 49 -


	CONVERSATIONS IN THE ROOM & TRANSMIT THEM TOO!  THESE TAPS ARE
	USUALLY POWERED OFF THE PHONE LINE, BUT CAN HAVE AN EXTERNAL POWER
	SOURCE. WIRED TAPS, ON THE OTHER HAND, NEED NO POWER SOURCE, BUT A
	WIRE MUST BE RUN FROM THE LINE TO THE LISTENER OR TO A TRANSMITTER. 
	THERE ARE OBVIOUS ADVANTAGES OF WIRELESS TAPS OVER WIRED ONES. 
	THERE IS ONE TYPE OF WIRELESS TAP THAT LOOKS LIKE A NORMAL
	TELEPHONE MIKE. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS REPLACE THE ORIGINAL MIKE
	WITH THIS & IT'LL TRANSMIT ALL CONVERSATIONS!

	    THERE IS AN EXOTIC TYPE OF WIRED TAP KNOWN AS THE 'INFINITY
	TRANSMITTER' OR 'HARMONICA BUG'.  IN ORDER TO HOOK UP ONE OF THESE,
	YOU NEED ACCESS TO THE TARGET TELEPHONE.  IT HAS A TONE DECODER &
	SWITCH INSIDE.  WHEN IT IS INSTALLED, SOMEONE CALLS THE TAPPED
	PHONE & *BEFORE* IT RINGS, BLOWS A WHISTLE OVER THE LINE.  THE
	X-MITTER RECEIVES THE TONE & PICKS UP THE PHONE VIA A RELAY.  THE
	MIKE ON THE PHONE IS ACTIVATED SO THE CALLER CAN HEAR ALL
	CONVERSATIONS IN THE ROOM.

	Phone Tapping:

	     THERE IS A SWEEP TONE TEST AT 415/BUG-1111 WHICH CAN BE USED
	TO DETECT ON OF THESE TAPS.  IF ONE OF THESE IS ON YOUR LINE & THE
	TEST # SENDS THE CORRECT TONE, YOU'LL HEAR A CLICK.

	     INDUCTION TAPS HAVE ONE BIG ADVANTAGE OVER TAPS THAT MUST BE
	PHYSICALLY WIRED TO THE PHONE.  THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE TOUCHING THE
	PHONE IN ORDER TO PICK UP THE CONVERSATION. THEY WORK ON THE SAME
	PRINCIPLE AS THE LITTLE SUCTION-CUP TAPE RECORDER MIKES YOU CAN GET
	AT RADIO SHACK. INDUCTION MIKES CAN BE HOOKED UP TO A TRANSMITTER
	OR BE WIRED. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF INDUSTRIAL ESPIONAGE USING THE
	PHONE: A SALESMAN WALKS INTO AN OFFICE & MAKES A FONE CALL.  HE
	FAKES THE CONVERSATION, BUT WHEN HE HANGS UP HE SLIPS SOME
	FOAM-RUBBER CUBES UNDER THE HANDSET, SO THE FONE IS STILL OFF THE
	HOOK.  THE CALLED PARTY CAN STILL HEAR ALL CONVERSATIONS IN THE
	ROOM. WHEN SOMEONE PICKS UP THE FONE, THE CUBES FALL AWAY
	UNNOTICED. I USE A TAP ON MY LINE TO MONITOR WHAT AE-PRO IS DOING
	WHEN IT AUTO-DIALS, SINCE IT DOESN'T TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE HANDSET
	ON THE APPLE CAT II.  I CAN ALSO HOOK UP THE TAP TO A CASSETTE
	RECORDER OR AMPLIFIER. HERE IS THE SCHEMATIC: 












                                  - 50 -

	-------)!----)!(------------->
	
	             )!(

	 CAP ^       )!(

	             )!(

	             )!(

	             )!(

	     ^^^^^---)!(------------->

	       ^  100K

	       !

	       !<INPUT


	THE 100K POT IS USED FOR VOLUME.  IT SHOULD BE ON ITS HIGHEST
	(LEAST RESISTANCE) SETTING IF YOU HOOK A SPEAKER ACROSS THE OUTPUT,
	BUT IT SHOULD BE SET ON ITS HIGHEST RESISTANCE FOR A TAPE RECORDER
	OR AMPLIFIER.  YOU MAY FIND IT NECESSARY TO ADD ANOTHER 10-40K. 
	THE CAPACITOR SHOULD BE AROUND .47 MFD. IT'S ONLY PURPOSE IS TO
	PREVENT THE RELAY IN THE CO FROM TRIPPING & THINKING YOU HAVE THE
	FONE OFF THE HOOK.  THE AUDIO OUTPUT TRANSFORMER AVAILABLE AT RADIO
	SHACK (273-1380) IS FINE FOR THE X-FORMER. THE BLACK & GREEN ARE
	FINE FOR INPUT & THE RED & WHITE GO TO THE OUTPUT DEVICE.  YOU MAY
	WANT TO EXPERIMENT WITH THE X-FORMER FOR THE BEST OUTPUT.  

	     HOOKING UP A TAPE RECORDER CONTROL RELAY IS EAST.  JUST ONE OF
	THE FONE WIRES (USU. RED) BEFORE THE TELEPHONES & HOOK ONE END TO
	ONE WIRE OF THE RELAY & THE OTHER END TO THE OTHER RELAY WIRE. 
	LIKE THIS:

	------^^^^^^^^^------------

	      ---------

	      RELAY^^










                                  - 51 -


	Phreaking COSMOS: By- Freddy

	    COSMOS is Bell's computer for handling information on customer
	lines, special services on lines, and orders to change line
	equipment, disconnect lines, etc.  COSMOS stands for Computerized
	System for Mainframe Operations. It is based on the UNIX operating
	system and, depending upon the COSMOS and
	upon your access, has some, many, or no UNIX standard commands. 
	COSMOS is powerful, but there is no reason to be afraid of it. 
	This article will give some of the basic, pertinent info on how
	users get in, account format, and a few other goodies.

	Password Identification

	    To get onto COSMOS you need a dialup, account, password, and
	wire center (WC).  Wire centers are two letter codes that tell what
	section of the COSMOS you are in.  There are different WC's f or
	different areas and groups of exchanges.  Examples are PB, SR, LK,
	et c. Sometimes there are accounts that have no password; obviously
	such accounts are the easiest to hack.          
        

	Checking It Out

	    Let's suppose you have a COSMOS number which you obtained one
	way or another.  The first thing to do would be to make sure it is
	really a COSMOS system, not some other Bell or AT&T computer.  To
	do this, you would call it and connect your modem,, then hit some
	returns until you got a response. It should say: 

	';LOGIN:' or 'NAME:'.

	    If you enter some garbage it should say:

	'PASSWORD:'.

	If you hit a return and it says 'WC?', it is a COSMOS system.  If
	it says something like 'TA%' then you're in business.  If it
	doesn't do any of the above, then it is either some other  kind of
	system, or, if you're not getting anything at all, the dialup has 
	probably gone bad.

	Getting In

	    COSMOS has certain accounts that are  usually on the system,
	one of which might not have a password.  They consist of ROOT (most
	powerful and almost always on the system), SYS (second most 
	powerful, still many privileges), BIN (a little less power), PREOP
	(a little less), and COSMOS (hardly any privileges, like a normal
	user).  The way to tell if they have passwords is by
	entering accounts at the ';LOGIN:' or ' NAME:' prompt, and if it
	jumps straight to 'WC?', all you need is a WC to get in.  But 

                                  - 52 -


	suppose all of the accounts have passwords?  You have two choices. 
	You  can try to hack the password and WC to one of the above
	accounts.  I won't deal with this method, as is self-explanatory. 
	Or you can do something I  find much easier... call the COSMOS
	during business hours and hope that someone forgot to log off. Keep
	calling until when you connect and hit return until you get a 'WC%'
	prompt. 'WC' is the WC that the account you found is currently in.
	You are now in!

	What to Do while on-line

	    The first thing you want to do is write down the WC you are in.
	Only on our first login it is a good idea to print everything or
	dump everything to a buffer.

	Commands

	'WCFLDS'(!)     : Should list all WC's.
	'WHO'           : Should print everyone currently logged on the
	                  system, giving some accounts.
	'TTY'           : Tells what terminal port you are on.
	'WHERE'         : Should tell the location of the COSMOS
	installation.
	'WHAT'          : Tells what version of COSNIX, COSMOS's operating
	                  system, it is.
	'LS *'          : Prints all the files you  have access to.
	'CD /dir'       : Connects you to the directory '/dir'.
	'CAT filename ' : Prints the file 'filename'.
	'Q'             : Quits the editor.
	CTRL- Y.        : Logs off
	'TAT'           : Sometimes prints a little help file.
	'ISH'           : Check someone's telefone #, type 'ISH' at the
	COSMOS 'WC%'

	prompt. Then type. 'HTN XXX-XXXX'  : (Hunt Telephone Number) to
	tell you about the local number you are interested in. 'CAT
	/ETC/PASSWD': Prints out the password file, if you have access. The
	passwords are almost always encrypted, but you get a  list of all
	the accounts. If you are lucky, one of the lines will have two
	colons after the account name. This means there is no prompt from
	the ';LOGIN:' or 'NAME:' prompts when you enter that account. To
	run a file just type the name followed by a return. When the system
	gives you a '-', you type a '.', and it will type all kinds of info
	on the phone number you entered (in Bell abbreviations, of course). 
	If it is not a good exchange, it will say something to that effect. 
	You type a period to end the ISH. If you wish to learn more
	information about COSMOS, find yourself a COSMOS manual or look at
	future issues of 2600.  A UNIX manual would also be helpful for
	standard UNIX commands.



                                  - 53 -


	FACS  FACTS: By- Freddy

	    BELL ATLANTIC (AND PROBABLY THE REST OF THE U.S. SOON ENOUGH)
	IS REVAMPING COSMOS. THE PROJECT IS CALLED FACS (FACILITATED
	ASSIGNMENT AND CONTROL SYSTEM).FACS IS COMPOSED OF 5 MODULES WHICH
	ARE DESIGNED TO FUNCTION AS A UNIFIED SYSTEM. THE PREMIS AND THE
	COSMOS SYSTEMS CAN FUNCTION AS ST AND-ALONE SYSTEMS.THE FIVE PARTS
	OF FACS ARE PREMIS,SOAC, LFACS,COSMOS,AND THE WM. THE PREMIS
	(PREMISES INFORMATION SYSTEM) SUPPORTS BOTH RESIDENCE AND
	BUSINESS ACCOUNTS. PREMIS IS USED FOR VARIOUS INQUIRIES FOR THE
	STREET ADDRESS GUIDE(SAG),IE::PHONE NUMBERS,BILLING CHARGES,
	CREDIT, ETC. THE SECOND PART OF FACS IS THE SOAC(SERVICE ORDER
	ANALYSIS AND CONTROL). THIS IS PRIMARILY USED TO INPUT SERVICE
	ORDER DATA INTO FACS, AND TO GET THE APPROPRIATE OUTPUT.  SOAC
	INTERPRETS, VALIDATES,AND DECOMPOSES ALL INPUTED DATA AND SENDS THE
	INFO TO THE COSMOS AND THE LFACS SYSTEMS. THE THIRD PART OF THE
	SYSTEM IS LFACS(LOOP FACILITIES AND CONTROL SYSTEM). THIS IS THE
	COMPONENT OF FACS THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE
	INVENTORY,DOING THE ASSIGNMENTS, ADMINISTRATING INQUIRIES AND
	REPORTS, AND IS THE INVENTORY TRANSFORMATION CENTER. THIS PART OF
	FACS WILL BE MOSTLY USED FOR AIDING THE AT&T LINEMEN. THE COSMOS
	SYSTEM(COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR MAINFRAME OPERATIONS) COMPRISES THE
	FOURTH PART OF THE FACS SYSTEM. COSMOS IS THE COMPONENT OF FACS
	THAT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE MECHANIZED INVENTORY OF MDF
	FACILITIES,STORING CUSTOM CALL FEATURES(IE:SPEED DIALING
	NUMBERS),AND OTHER MISC. INFO. THE FIFTH AND LAST PIECE OF THE FACS
	SYSTEM IS THE WORK MANAGER (WM).  HIS COMPONENT SERVES AS THE
	FRONT-END PROCESSOR FOR COSMOS. IT ENABLES A NUMBER OF COSMOS
	COMPUTERS TO RELIABLY COMMUNICATE WITH THE OTHER FACS COMPONENTS. 
	WM SERVES AS THE MESSAGES SWITCHING SYSTEM FOR THE FACS PIECES,
	AND GENERALLY IS THE "MESSENGER AND STABILIZER" OF THE SYSTEM. THE
	HARDWARE THAT WILL RUN THIS FACS SYSTEM IS: COSMOS:  22-WECO.
	3B-20S MINI COMPS. WM:      6-WECO.  3B-20S MINI COMPS.
	SOAC-LFACS-PREMIS: TWO SPERRY UNIVAC 1100/92 MAINFRAMES. BANCS 2
	THP CYBER 1000 PROCESSORS.


















                                  - 54 -


	THE HISTORY OF BRITISH PHREAKING: By - < LEX LUTHOR >

	  NOTE:  THE BRITISH POST OFFICE, IS THE U.S.  EQUIVALENT OF MA
	BELL. IN BRITAIN, PHREAKING GOES BACK TO THE EARLY FIFTIES, WHEN
	THE TECHNIQUE OF 'TOLL A DROP BACK' WAS DISCOVERED.  TOLL A WAS AN
	EXCHANGE NEAR ST.  PAULS WHICH ROUTED CALLS BETWEEN LONDON AND
	NEARBY NON-LONDON EXCHANGES.  THE TRICK WAS TO DIAL AN UNALLOCATED
	NUMBER, AND THEN DEPRESS THE RECEIVER-REST FOR 1/2
	SECOND.  THIS FLASHING INITIATED THE 'CLEAR FORWARD' SIGNAL,
	LEAVING THE CALLER WITH AN OPEN LINE INTO THE TOLL A EXCHANGE.THE
	COULD THEN DIAL 018, WHICH FORWARDED HIM TO THE TRUNK EXCHANGE AT
	THAT TIME, THE FIRST LONG DISTANCE EXCHANGE IN BRITAIN AND FOLLOW
	IT WITH THE CODE FOR THE DISTANT EXCHANGE TO WHICH HE WOULD BE
	CONNECTED AT NO EXTRA CHARGE.   THE SIGNALS NEEDED TO CONTROL THE
	UK NETWORK TODAY WERE PUBLISHED IN THE "INSTITUTION OF POST OFFICE
	ENGINEERS JOURNAL" AND REPRINTED IN THE SUNDAY TIMES (15 OCT.
	1972). THE SIGNALLING SYSTEM THEY USE:  SIGNALLING SYSTEM NO.  3
	USES PAIRS OF FREQUENCIES SELECTED FROM 6 TONES SEPARATED BY 120HZ. 
	WITH THAT INFO, THE PHREAKS MADE "BLEEPERS" OR AS THEY ARE CALLED
	HERE IN THE U.S.  "BLUE BOX", BUT THEY DO UTILIZE DIFFERENT MF
	TONES THEN THE U.S., THUS, YOUR U.S.  BLUE BOX THAT YOU SMUGGLED
	INTO THE UK WILL NOT WORK, UNLESS YOU CHANGE THE FREQUENCIES. 
	IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES, A SIMPLER SYSTEM BASED ON DIFFERENT 
	NUMBERS OF PULSES WITH THE SAME FREQUENCY (2280HZ) WAS USED.  
	FOR MORE INFO ON THAT, TRY TO GET A HOLD OF:  ATKINSON'S 
	"TELEPHONY AND SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY". IN THE EARLY DAYS OF BRITISH
	PHREAKING, THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY TITAN COMPUTER WAS USED TO
	RECORD AND CIRCULATE NUMBERS FOUND BY THE EXHAUSTIVE  DIALING OF
	LOCAL NETWORKS.  THESE NUMBERS WERE USED TO CREATE A CHAIN OF LINKS
	FROM LOCAL EXCHANGE TO LOCAL EXCHANGE ACROSS THE COUNTRY,
	BYPASSING THE TRUNK CIRCUITS.  BECAUSE THE INTERNAL ROUTING CODES
	IN THE UK NETWORK ARE NOT THE SAME AS THOSE DIALED BY THE CALLER,
	THE PHREAKS HAD TO DISCOVER THEM BY 'PROBE AND LISTEN' TECHNIQUES
	OR MORE COMMONLY KNOWN IN THE U.S.-- SCANNING.  WHAT THEY DID WAS
	PUT IN LIKELY SIGNALS AND LISTENED TO FIND OUT IF THEY SUCCEEDED.
	THE RESULTS OF SCANNING WERE CIRCULATED TO OTHER PHREAKS.
	DISCOVERING EACH OTHER TOOK TIME AT FIRST, BUT EVENTUALLY THE
	PHREAKS BECAME ORGANIZED.  THE "TAP" OF BRITAIN WAS CALLED
	"UNDERCURRENTS" WHICH ENABLED BRITISH PHREAKS TO SHARE THE INFO ON
	NEW NUMBERS, EQUIPMENT ETC. TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THE BRITISH BRITISH
	PHREAKS DID, THINK OF THE PHONE NETWORK IN THREE LAYERS OF LINES: 
	LOCAL, TRUNK, AND INTERNATIONAL.#IN THE UK, SUBSCRIBER TRUNK
	DIALING (STD), IS THE MECHANISM WHICH TAKES A CALL FROM
	THE LOCAL LINES AND (LEGITIMATELY) ELEVATES IT TO A TRUNK OR	
	INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.#THE UK PHREAKS FIGURED THAT A CALL AT TRUNK
	LEVEL CAN BE ROUTED THROUGH ANY NUMBER OF EXCHANGES, PROVIDED THAT
	THE RIGHT ROUTING CODES WERE FOUND AND USED CORRECTLY.  THEY ALSO
	HAD TO DISCOVER HOW TO GET FROM LOCAL TO TRUNK LEVEL EITHER WITHOUT
	BEING CHARGED (WHICH THEY DID WITH A BLEEPER BOX) OR WITHOUT USING
	(STD).  CHAINING HAS ALREADY BEEN MENTIONED BUT IT REQUIRES LONG
	STRINGS OF DIGITS AND SPEECH GETS MORE AND MORE FAINT AS THE CHAIN
	GROWS, JUST LIKE IT DOES WHEN YOU STACK TRUNKS 
                                  - 55 -


	BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THE U.S.#THE WAY THE SECURITY REPS SNAGGED
	THE PHREAKS WAS TO PUT A SIMPLE 'PRINTERMETER' OR AS WE CALL IT: A
	PEN REGISTER ON THE SUSPECTS LINE, WHICH SHOWS EVERY DIGIT DIALED
	FROM THE SUBSCRIBERS LINE. THE BRITISH PREFER TO GET
	ONTO THE TRUNKS RATHER THAN CHAINING.  ONE WAY WAS TO DISCOVER
	WHERE LOCAL CALLS USE THE TRUNKS BETWEEN NEIGHBORING EXCHANGES,
	START A CALL AND STAY ON THE TRUNK INSTEAD OF RETURNING TO THE
	LOCAL LEVEL ON REACHING THE DISTANT SWITCH.  THIS AGAIN REQUIRED
	EXHAUSTIVE DIALING AND MADE MORE WORK FOR TITAN; IT ALSO REVEALED
	'FIDDLES', WHICH WERE INSERTED BY POST OFFICE ENGINEERS. WHAT
	FIDDLING MEANS IS THAT THE ENGINEERS REWIRED THE EXCHANGES FOR
	THEIR OWN BENEFIT.  THE EQUIPMENT IS MODIFIED TO GIVE ACCESS TO A
	TRUNK WITH OUT BEING CHARGED, AN OPERATION WHICH IS PRETTY EASY IN
	STEP BY STEP (SXS) ELECTROMECHANICAL EXCHANGES, WHICH WERE
	INSTALLED IN BRITAIN EVEN IN THE 1970S (NOTE:  I KNOW OF A BACK
	DOOR INTO THE CANADIAN SYSTEM ON A 4A CO., SO IF YOU ARE ON SXS OR
	A 4A, TRY SCANNING 3 DIGIT EXCHANGES, IE:  DIAL 999,998,997
	ETC.#AND LISTEN FOR THE BEEP-KERCHINK, IF THERE ARE NO 3 DIGIT
	CODES WHICH ALLOW DIRECT ACCESS TO A TANDEM IN YOUR LOCAL EXCHANGE
	AND BYPASSES THE AMA SO YOU WON'T BE BILLED, NOT HAVE TO BLAST 2600
	EVERY TIME YOU WISH TO BOX A CALL. A FAMOUS BRITISH 'FIDDLER'
	REVEALED IN THE EARLY 1970S WORKED BY DIALING 173. THE CALLER THEN
	ADDED THE TRUNK CODE OF 1 AND THE SUBSCRIBERS LOCAL NUMBER.  AT
	THAT TIME, MOST ENGINEERING TEST SERVICES BEGAN WITH 17X, SO THE
	ENGINEERS COULD HIDE THEIR FIDDLES IN THE NEST OF SERVICE WIRES.  
	WHEN SECURITY REPS STARTED SEARCHING, THE FIDDLES WERE CONCEALED 
	BY TONES SIGNALLING:  'NUMBER UNOBTAINALBE' OR 'EQUIPMENT ENGAGED' 
	WHICH SWITCHED OFF AFTER A DELAY. THE NECESSARY RELAYS ARE SMALL 
	AND EASILY HIDDEN.   THERE WAS ANOTHER SIDE TO PHREAKING IN THE UK 	
	IN THE SIXTIES. BEFORE STD WAS WIDESPREAD, MANY 'ORDINARY' PEOPLE 
	WERE DRIVEN TO. OCCASIONAL PHREAKING FROM SHEER FRUSTRATION AT THE 
	INEFFICIENT OPERATOR CONTROLLED TRUNK SYSTEM.  THIS CAME TO A HEAD 
	DURING A STRIKE ABOUT 1961 WHEN OPERATORS COULD NOT BE REACHED.  
	NOTHING COMPLICATED WAS NEEDED.  MANY OPERATORS HAD BEEN IN THE 
	HABIT OF REPEATING THE CODES AS THEY DIALLED THE REQUESTED NUMBERS SO
	PEOPLE SOON LEARNT THE NUMBERS THEY CALLED FREQUENTLY. THE ONLY
	'TRICK' WAS TO KNOW WHICH EXCHANGES COULD BE DIALLED THROUGH TO
	PASS ON THE TRUNK NUMBER.CALLERS ALSO NEEDED A PRETTY QUIET PLACE
	TO DO IT, SINCE TIMING RELATIVE TO CLICKS WAS IMPORTANT THE MOST
	FAMOUS TRIAL OF BRITISH PHREAKS WAS CALLED THE OLD BAILY TRIAL.
	#WHICH STARTED ON 3 OCT.  1973.#WHAT THEY PHREAKS DID WAS TO DIAL
	A SPARE NUMBER AT A LOCAL CALL RATE BUT INVOLVING A TRUNK TO
	ANOTHER EXCHANGE THEN THEY SEND A 'CLEAR FORWARD' TO THEIR LOCAL
	EXCHANGE, INDICATING TO IT THAT THE CALL IS FINISHED;BUT THE
	DISTANT EXCHANGE DOESN'T REALIZE BECAUSE THE CALLER'S PHONE IS
	STILL OFF THE HOOK.  THEY NOW HAVE AN OPEN LINE INTO THE DISTANT
	TRUNK EXCHANGE AND SENDS TO IT A 'SEIZE' SIGNAL: '1' WHICH PUTS HIM
	ONTO ITS OUTGOING LINES NOW, IF THEY KNOW THE CODES, THE
	WORLD IS OPEN TO THEM.  ALL OTHER EXCHANGES TRUST HIS LOCAL
	EXCHANGE TO HANDLE THE BILLING; THEY JUST INTERPRET THE TONES
	PHREAKING THEY HEAR.  MEAN WHILE, THE LOCAL EXCHANGE COLLECTS 

                                  - 56 -

	ONLY FOR A LOCAL CALL.  THE INVESTIGATORS DISCOVERED THE PHREAKS
	HOLDING A CONFERENCE SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND SURROUNDED BY VARIOUS
	PHONE EQUIPMENT AND BLEEPER BOXES, ALSO PRINTOUTS LISTING 'SECRET'
	POST OFFICE CODES.  (THEY PROBABLY GOT THEM FROM TRASHING?) THE
	JUDGE SAID: "SOME TAKE TO HEROIN, SOME TAKE TO TELEPHONES" FOR THEM
	PHONE PHREAKING WAS NOT A CRIME BUT A HOBBY TO BE SHARED WITH
	PHELLOW ENTHUSIASTS AND DISCUSSED WITH THE POST OFFICE OPENLY OVER
	DINNER AND BY MAIL.  THEIR APPROACH AND ATTITUDE TO THE WORLDS
	LARGEST COMPUTER, THE GLOBAL TELEPHONE SYSTEM, WAS THAT OF
	SCIENTISTS CONDUCTING EXPERIMENTS OR PROGRAMMERS AND ENGINEERS
	TESTING PROGRAMS AND SYSTEMS.  THE JUDGE APPEARED TO AGREE, AND
	EVEN ASKED THEM FOR PHREAKING CODES TO USE FROM HIS LOCAL
	EXCHANGE!!! 








































                                  - 57 -


	THE HISTORY OF ESS:  by- < Lex Luthor >

	   Of all the new 1960s wonders of telephone technology -	
	satellites, ultra modern Traffic Service Positions (TSPS) for
	operators, the picturephone, and so on - the one that gave Bell
	Labs the most trouble, and unexpectedly became the greatest
	development effort in Bell System's history, was the perfection
	of an electronic switching system, or ESS.  It may be recalled that
	such a system was the specific end in view when the project that
	had culminated in the invention of the transistor had been launched
	back in the 1930s. After successful accomplishment of that planned
	miracle in 1947-48, further delays were brought about by financial
	stringency and the need for further development of the transistor
	itself.  In the early 1950s, a Labs team began serious work on
	electronic switching.  As early as 1955, Western Electric became
	involved when five engineers from the Hawthorne works were assigned
	to collaborate with the Labs on the project. The president of AT&T
	in 1956, wrote confidently, "At Bell Labs, development of the new
	electronic switching system is going full speed ahead. We are sure 
	this will lead to many improvements in service and also to greater 
	efficiency. The first service trial will start in Morris, Ill., in 
	1959." Shortly thereafter, Kappel said that the cost of the whole 
	project would probably be $45 million.  

	   But it gradually became apparent that the development of a
	commercially usable electronic switching system -in effect, a
	computerized telephone exchange - presented vastly greater
	technical problems than had been anticipated, and that,
	accordingly, Bell Labs had vastly underestimated both  the time 
	and the investment needed to do the job. The year 1959 passed
	without the promised first trial at Morris, Illinois; it was
	finally made in November 1960, and quickly showed how much more	
	work remained to be done.  As time dragged on and costs mounted,
	there was a concern at AT&T and some-thing approaching panic at
	Bell Labs.  But the project had to go forward; by this time the
	investment was too great to be sacrificed, and in any case, forward
	projections of increased demand for telephone service indicated
	that within a phew years a time would come when, without the
	quantum leap in speed and flexibility that electronic switching
	would provide, the national network would be unable to meet the
	demand. In November 1963, an all-electronic switching system went
	into use at the Brown Engineering Company at Cocoa Beach, Florida. 
	But this was a small installation, essentially another test 
	installation, serving only a single company. Kappel's tone on the 
	subject in the 1964 annual report was, for him, an almost 
	apologetic: "Electronic switching equipment must be manufactured 
	in volume to unprecedented standards of reliability.... To turn out 
	the equipment economically and with good speed, mass production 
	methods must be developed; but, at the same time, there can be 
	no loss of precision..." Another year and millions of dollars 
	later, on May 30, 1965, the first commerical electric central 

                                  - 58 -


	office was put into service at Succasunna, New Jersey. Even 
	at Succasunna, only 200 of the town's 4,300 subscribers 
	initially had the benefit of electronic switching's added 
	speed and additional services, such as provision for three 
	party conversations and automatic transfer of incoming calls. 
	But after that, ESS was on its way. In January 1966, the second 
	commercial installation, this one serving 2,900 telephones,
	went into service in Chase, Maryland. By the end of 1967 there 
	were additional ESS offices in California, Connecticut, Minnesota, 
	Georgia, New York, Florida, and Pennsylvania; by the end of 1970 
	there were 120 offices serving 1.8 million customers; and by 1974 
	there were 475 offices serving 5.6 million customers. The difference 
	between conventional switching and electronic switching is the 
	difference between "hardware" and "software"; in the former case, 
	maintenance is done on the spot, with screwdriver and pliers, while 
	in the case of electronic switching, it can be done remotely, by 
	computer, from a central point, making it possible to have only
	one or two technicians on duty at a time at each switching center. 
	The development program, when the final figures were added up, was
	found to have required a staggering four thousand man-years of work
	at Bell Labs and to have cost not $45 million but $500 million!






























                                  - 59 -


	PEN REGISTERING AND TRACING: By - XTC

	  PEN REGISTERING IS A SPECIAL DEVICE USED BY AT&T. THIS DEVICE
	DECIPHERS THE TONES USED WHEN PHREAKING PHONE CALLS. THIS MEANS
	THAT EACH TONE KEY PRESSED IS DECIPHERED IF YOU HAD A PEN REG-
	ISTER ON YOUR LINE OR WERE BEING TRACED WITH A PEN REGISTER, EVERY
	PHONE NUMBER YOU DIALED WOULD BE KNOWN. THAT MEANS EVERY TIME YOU
	WOULD PHREAK A NUMBER NOT ONLY WOULD THE ACCESS NUMBER BE RECORDED,
	BUT THE CODE BEING USED AND WHERE YOU CALLED TO! SO IF YOU KNOW YOU
	HAVE A PEN REGISTER ON YOUR LINE THEN I WOULD AD- VISE YOU NOT TO
	PHREAK! TRACING - THE FBI DOES NOT TRACE,THE POL- ICE DO NOT TRACE.
	THE PHONE CO. TRACES. IF THE FBI WANTS A TRACE ON YOUR LINE THEY
	SIMPLY CALL THE PHONE CO. THE FBI DOES NOT SIT UP ALL NIGHT TO
	LISTEN IN ON YOUR PHONE. THEY DON'T TRACE FOR YEARS OR 6 MONTHS,
	BUT JUST FOR A FEW DAYS AT A TIME IF AT ALL. THE POLICE TRACES THE
	SAME WAY. IT COSTS TOO MUCH MONEY TO TRACE ALL THE COMPUTER
	PHREAKERS AND HACKERS, SO THEY MERELY PICK ON A SELECT FEW. SO
	TRACING ISN'T AS DANGEROUS AS IT SEEMS! THE PEOPLE THAT TELL YOU
	DIFFERENT HAVE BEEN WATCHING TOO MANY LATE NIGHT FILMS! SO DON'T
	GET TOO PARANOID!

	INTERESTING THINGS TO DO ON STEP LINES: By - XTC

	IF YOU HAVE STEP LINES IN YOUR PREFIX, (A GOOD WAY OF CHECKING TO
	SEE IF YOU HAVE STEP IS TO LOOK AT THE PAYPHONES AROUND YOUR HO-
	USE, IF THEY ARE ROTARY, THEN YOU HAVE STEP, IF NOT, YOUR OUTTA
	LUCK.) FROM YOUR HOUSE DIAL "0" (THIS WILL NOT WORK AT A PAYPH-
	ONE). YOU WILL HEAR A FEW "KERPLUNKS", IF YOU HIT THE HANG  UP
	BUTTON WHEN THE SECOND-TO-THE-LAST "KERPLUNK" IS HEARD THEN THE
	OPERATOR WILL GET ON AND BE VERY CONFUSED. (I WILL TELL WHY SHE IS
	CONFUSED IN JUST A SECOND, BUT FOR NOW JUST.) SAY THAT YOU ARE
	TRYING TO COMPLETE A CALL WHEN SHE GOT ON. SHE WILL ASK FOR THE #
	YOU ARE TRYING TO CALL. TELL HER THE NUMBER (LONG DISTANCE OF CO-
	URSE), AND SHE WILL ASK YOU FOR YOUR NUMBER, PICK A NUMBER OUT OF
	YOUR HEAD, (IT MUST BE IN YOUR PREFIX THOUGH), AND TELL HER IT. SHE
	WILL BELIEVE YOU AND WILL CONNECT YOU WITH THE CHARGES CHA- RGED TO
	THE NUMBER YOU SAID.(IF YOU DIDN'T HIT THE BUTTON AT THE CORRECT
	TIME JUST TELL THE OPERATOR YOUR SORRY, YOU WERE TRY- ING TO DUST
	THE PHONE OR SOME OTHER BULLs***! LIKE THAT.) WHAT YOU DID WAS SCREW
	UP THE AUTOMATIC NUMBER FIND THAT WAS BUILT IN TO THE FIRST STEP
	LINES. THIS IS WHAT WOULD TELL THE OPERATOR YOUR # SO SHE COULD
	BILL YOU IF SHE HAD TO COMPLETE A CALL FOR YOU. THE OP- ERATOR WILL
	GET SOME GARBAGE ON HER SCREEN THAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR NUMBER,
	BUT SINCE YOU INTERRUPTED THAT PRO- CESS, IT LOOKS REALLY BIZZARE.
	WHAT IS REALLY PHUN TO DO IS COM- PLAIN TO THE - OPERATOR THAT THIS
	IS THE THIRD TIME TODAY THAT YOU HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO GET THROUGH
	AND SHE WILL GIVE YOU SOME SOB STORY ABOUT "WE'RE SORRY, BUT WE'VE
	HAD A COMPUTER MAL- FUNCTION AND IT IS BEING FIXED RIGHT NOW". I'M
	KINDA SURE THAT THE PHONE COMPANY KNOWS NOTHING OF THIS. THE WORST
	THING THAT COULD HAPPEN IS YOU GET A CALL ASKING WHY YOU'VE HUNG UP
	ON THE OPERATOR SO MANY TI- MES, (IF YOU DID THIS ALOT, THAT IS).
	JUST GIVE THEM s***! ABOUT A BABY BROTHER JUST LEARNING HOW TO USE
	THE PHONE, OR SOMETHING. 

                                  - 60 -


	Phreaker's PhunHouse: By - Doc Silicon

	     The long awaited prequil to Phreaker's Guide has finally
	arrived. Conceived from the boredom and loneliness that could only
	be derived from: Doc Silicon. But now, he has returned in full
	strength (after a small vacation) and is here to 'World Premiere'
	the new files everywhere. Stay cool. This is the prequil to the
	first one, so just relax. This is not made to be an exclusive ultra 
	elite file, so kinda calm down and watch in the background if you 
	are too cool for it...

	/-/   Phreak Dictionary   /-/

	 Here you will find some of the basic but necessary terms that
	should be known by any phreak who wants to be respected at all...

	 Phreak [fr'eek]:1.  The action of using mischevious and mostly
	illegal ways in order to not pay for some sort of
	telecommunications  bill, order, transfer, or other service. It
	often involves usage of highly illegal boxes and machines in order
	to defeat the security that is set up to avoid this
	sort of happening.

	[fr'eaking]. v. 2.  A person who uses the above methods of
	destruction and chaos in order to make a better life for all. A
	true phreaker will not not go against his fellows or narc on people
	who have ragged on him or do anything termed to be dishonorable to
	phreaks.

	[fr'eek]. n.    3.  A certain code or dialup useful in the action
	of being a phreak. (Example: "I hacked a new metro phreak last
	night.")

	Switching System  [Swich'ing sis'tem]: 1.  There are 3 main
	switching systems currently employed in the US, and a few other
	systems will be mentioned as background. A) SxS:  This system was
	invented in 1918 and was employed in over half of the country until
	1978. It is a very basic system that is a general waste of energy
	and hard work on the linesman. A good way to identify
	this is that it requires a coin in the phone booth before it will
	give you a dial tone, or that no call waiting, call forwarding, or
	any other such service is available. Stands for: Step by Step B)
	XB:   This switching system was first employed in 1978 in order to
	take care of most of the faults of SxS switching. Not only is it
	more efficient, but it also can support different services in 
	various forms. XB1 is Crossbar Version 1. That is very limited and 
	is hard to distinguish from SxS except by direct view of the wiring 
	involved. Next up was XB4, Crossbar Version 4. With this system, 
	some of the basic things like DTMF that were not available with SxS 
	can be accomplished. For the final stroke of XB, XB5 was created. 
	This is a service that can allow DTMF plus most 800 type services 
	(which were not always available...) 

                                  - 61 -


	Stands for: Crossbar. C) ESS:  A nightmare in telecom. In vivid
	color, ESS is a pretty bad thing to have to stand up to. It is
	quite simple to identify. Dialing 911 for emergencies, and ANI [see
	ANI below] are the most common facets of the dread system. ESS has
	the capability to list in a person's caller log what number was
	called, how long the call took, and even the status of the
	conversation (modem or otherwise.) Since ESS has been employed,
	which has been very recently, it has gone through many kinds of
	revisions. The latest system to date is ESS 11a, that is employed
	in Washington D.C. for security reasons. ESS is truly trouble for
	any phreak, because it is 'smarter' than the other systems. For
	instance, if on your caller log they saw 50 calls to
	1-800-421-9438, they would be able to do a CN/A [see Loopholes
	below] on your number and determine whether you are subscribed to
	that service or not. This makes most calls a hazard, because
	although 800 numbers appear to be free, they are recorded on your
	caller log and then right before you receive your bill it deletes
	the billings for them. But before that they are open to inspection,
	which is one reason why extended use of any code is dangerous under
	ESS. Some of the boxes [see Boxing below] are unable to function in 
	ESS. It is generally a menace to the true phreak. Stands For: 
	Electronic Switching System. because they could appear on a  filter 
	somewhere or maybe it is just nice to know them any ways. A) SSS: 
	Strowger Switching System. First non-operator system available. B) 
	WES: Western Electronics Switching. Used about 40 years ago with some 
	minor places out west. 

	Boxing [Boks'-ing]: 1)  The use of personally designed boxes that
	emit or cancel electronical impulses that allow simpler acting
	while phreaking. Through the use of separate boxes, you can
	accomplish most feats possible with or without the control of an
	operator. 2)  Some boxes and their functions are listed below. Ones
	marked with '*' indicate that they are not operatable in ESS.    
	*Black Box: Makes it seem to the phone company that the phone 
	was never picked up. Blue Box:  Emits a 2600hz tone that allows 
	you to do such things as stack a trunk line, kick the operator 
	off line, and others. Red Box:  Simulates the noise of a quarter, 
	nickel, or dime being dropped into a payphone. Cheese Box:  Turns 
	your home phone into a pay phone to throw off traces (a red box 
	is usually needed in order to call out.) *Clear Box:  Gives you
	a dial tone on some of the old SxS payphones without putting in 
	a coin. Beige Box:  A simpler produced linesman's handset that 
	allows you to tap into phone lines and extract by eavesdropping, 
	or crossing wires, etc. Purple Box:  Makes all calls made out from 
	your house seem to be local calls.

	 ANI [ANI]: 1)  Automatic Number Identification. A service
	available on ESS that allows a phone service [see Dialups below] to
	record the number that any certain code was dialed from along with
	the number that was called and print both of these on the customer
	bill. 950 dialups [see Dialups below] are all designed 

                                  - 62 -


	just to use ANI. Some of the services do not have the proper
	equipment to read the ANI impulses yet, but it is impossible to see
	which is which without being busted or not busted first. 

	Dialups  [dy'l'ups]: 1)  Any local or 800 extended outlet that
	allows instant access to any service such as MCI, Sprint, or AT&T
	that from there can beused by handpicking or using a program to
	reveal other peoples codes which can then be used moderately until
	they find out about it and you must switch to another code
	(preferably before they find out about it.) 2)  Dialups are
	extremely common on both senses. Some dialups reveal the company
	that operates them as soon as you hear the tone. Others are much
	harder and some you may never be able to identify. A small list of 
	dialups:1-800-421-9438 (5 digit codes) 1-800-547-6754 (6 digit
	codes) 1-800-345-0008 (6 digit codes) 1-800-734-3478 (6 digit
	codes) 1-800-222-2255 (5 digit codes) 3)  Codes: Codes are very
	easily accessed procedures when you call a dialup. They will
	give you some sort of tone. If the tone does not end in 3 seconds,
	then punch in the code and immediately following the code, the
	number you are dialing but strike the '1' in the beginning out
	first. If the tone does end, then punch in the code when the tone
	ends. Then, it will give you another tone. Punch in the number you
	are dialing, or a '9'. If you punch in a '9' and the tone stops,
	then you messed up a little. If you punch in a tone and the tone
	continues, then simply dial then number you are calling without the
	'1'. 4)  All codes are not universal. The only type that I know of
	that is truly universal is Metrophone. Almost every major city has
	a local Metro dialup (for Philadelphia, (215)351-0100/0126) and
	since the codes are universal, almost every phreak has used them
	once or twice. They do not employ ANI in any outlets that I know
	of, so feel free to check through your books and call 555-1212 or,
	as a more devious manor, subscribe yourself. Then, never use your
	own code. That way, if they check up on you due to your caller log,
	they can usually find out that you are subscribed. Not only that
	but you could set a phreak hacker around that area and just let it
	hack away, since they usually group them, and, as a bonus, you will
	have their local dialup. 5) 950's. They seem like a perfectly cool
	phreakers dream. They are free from your house, from payphones,
	from everywhere, and they host all of the major long distance
	companies (950-1044 <MCI>, 950-1077 <Sprint>, 950-1088
	<Skylines>, 950-1033 <Us Telecom>.) Well, they aren't. They were
	designed for  ANI. That is the point, end of discussion.
	
	 A phreak dictionary. If you remember all of the things contained
	on that file up there, you may have a better chance of doing
	whatever it is you do. This next section is maybe a little more
	interesting...





                                  - 63 -


	Blue Box Plans:
	---------------
	   These are some blue box plans, but first, be warned, there have
	been 2600hz tone detectors out on operator trunk lines since XB4.
	The idea behind it is to use a 2600hz tone for a few very naughty
	functions that can really make your day lighten up. But first, here
	are the plans, or the heart of the file:

	700  :   1   :   2   :   4   :   7   :  11   :
	900  :   +   :   3   :   5   :   8   :  12   :
	1100 :   +   :   +   :   6   :   9   :  KP   :
	1300 :   +   :   +   :   +   :  10   :  KP2  :
	1500 :   +   :   +   :   +   :   +   :  ST   :
	     : 700   : 900   :1100   :1300   :1500   :

	     Stop! Before you diehard users start piecing those little tone
	tidbits together, there is a simpler method. If you have an
	Apple-Cat with a program like Cat's Meow IV, then you can generate
	the necessary tones, the 2600hz tone, the KP tone, the KP2 tone,
	and the ST tone through the dial section. So if you have that I
	will assume you can boot it up and it works, and I'll do you the
	favor of telling you and the other users what to do with the blue
	box now that you have somehow constructed it.

	     The connection to an operator is one of the most well known
	and used ways of having fun with your blue box. You simply dial a
	TSPS (Traffic Service Positioning Station, or the operator you get
	when you dial '0') and blow a 2600hz tone through the line. Watch
	out! Do not dial this direct! After you have done that, it is quite
	simple to have fun with it. Blow a KP tone to start a call, a ST
	tone to stop it, and a 2600hz tone to hang up. Once you have
	connected to it, here are some fun numbers to call with it:
	0-700-456-1000  Teleconference (free, because you are the
	operator!) (Area code)-101 Toll Switching (Area code)-121 Local
	Operator (hehe) (Area code)-131 Information (Area code)-141 Rate &
	Route (Area code)-181 Coin Refund Operator (Area code)-11511
	Conference operator (when you dial 800-544-6363)

	     Well, those were the tone matrix controllers for the blue box
	and some other helpful stuff to help you to start out with. But
	those are only the functions with the operator. There are other
	k-fun things you can do with it...

	     More advanced Blue Box Stuff: Oops. Small mistake up there. I
	forgot tone lengths. Um, you blow a tone pair out for up to 1/10 of
	a second with another 1/10 second for silence between the digits.
	KP tones should be sent for 2/10 of a second. One way to
	confuse the 2600hz traps is to send pink noise over the channel
	(for all of you that have decent BSR equalizers, there is major
	pink noise in there...) Using the operator functions is the use of
	the 'inward' trunk line. That is working it from the inside. From
	the 'outward' trunk, you can do such things as make 

                                  - 64 -


	emergency breakthrough calls, tap into lines, busy all of the lines
	in any trunk (called 'stacking'), enable or disable the TSPS's, and
	for some 4a systems you can even re-route calls to anywhere.  All
	right. The one thing that every complete phreak guide should not be
	without is blue box plans, since they were once a vital part of
	phreaking. Another thing that every
	complete file needs is a complete listing of all of the 800 numbers
	around so you can have some more fun. 

	/-/   800 Dialup Listings  /-/

	1-800-345-0008 (6)   1-800-547-6754 (6) 1-800-245-4890 (4)  
	1-800-327-9136 (4)   1-800-526-5305 (8) 1-800-858-9000 (3)
	1-800-437-9895 (7)   1-800-245-7508 (5) 1-800-343-1844 (4)  
	1-800-322-1415 (6)   1-800-437-3478 (6) 1-800-325-7222 (6)

	 All right, set Your Hacker on those numbers and have a f***! of a
	day. That is enough with 800 codes, by the time this gets around to
	you I dunno what state those codes will be in, but try them all out
	anyways and see what you get. On some 800 services now, they have
	an operator who will answer and ask you for your code, and then
	your name. Some will switch back and forth between voice and tone
	verification, you can never be quite sure which you will be up against.

	     Armed with this knowledge you should be having a pretty good
	time phreaking now. But class isn't over yet, there are still a
	couple important rules that you should know. If you hear continual
	clicking on the line, then you should assume that an operator is
	messing with something, maybe even listening in on you. It is a
	good idea to call someone back when the phone starts doing that. If
	you were using a code, use a different code and/or service to call 
	him back.  A good way to detect if a code has gone bad or not is to 
	listen when the number has been dialed. If the code is bad you will 
	probably hear the phone ringing more clearly and more quickly than 
	if you were using a different code. If someone answers voice to it 
	then you can immediately assume that it is an operative for whatever 
	company you are using. The famed '311311' code for Metro is one of 
	those. You would have to be quite stupid to actually respond, 
	because whoever you ask for the operator will always say 'He's not 
	in right now, can I have him call you back?' and then they will ask 
	for your name and phone number. Some of the more sophisticated 
	companies will actually give you a carrier on a line that is 
	supposed to give you a carrier and then just have garbage flow 
	across the screen like it would with a bad connection. That is a 
	feeble effort to make you think that the code is still working and 
	maybe get you to dial someone's voice... a good test for the carrier 
	trick is to dial a number that will give you a carrier that you have 
	never dialed with that code before, that will allow you to determine 
	whether the code is good or not.  For our next section, a lighter 
	look at some of the things that a phreak should not be without. A 

                                  - 65 -


	vocabulary. A few months ago, it was a quite strange world for the
	modem people out there. But now, a phreaker's vocabulary is
	essential if you wanna make a good impression on people when you
	post what you know about certain subjects.

	/-/    Vocabulary    /-/

	 - Do not misspell except certain exceptions:
	      phone -> fone
	      freak -> phreak
	 - Never substitute 'z's for 's's. (i.e. codez -> codes)

	 - Never leave many characters after a post (i.e. Hey             
	   dudes!#!@#@!#!@)
	 - NEVER use the 'k' prefix (k-kool, k-rad, k-whatever)
	 - Do not abbreviate. (I got lotsa wares w/ docs)
	 - Never substitute '0' for 'o' (r0dent, l0zer).
	 - Forget about ye old upper case, it looks ruggyish.

	     All right, that was to relieve the tension of what is being
	drilled into your minds at the moment.. now, however, back to the
	teaching course. Here are some things you should know about fone
	and billings for phones, etc. 

	LATA:  Local Access Transference Area. Some people who live in
	large cities or areas may be plagued by this problem. For Inst-
	ance, let's say you live in the 215 area code under the 542 pre 
	(Ambler, Fort Washington). If you went to dial in a basic Metro
	code from that area, for instance, 351-0100, that might not be
	counted under unlimited local calling because it is out of your
	LATA.For some LATA's, you have to dial a '1' without the area code
	before you can dial the phone number. That could prove a hassle for
	us all if you didn't realize you would be billed for that sort of
	call. In that way, sometimes, it is better to be safe than sorry
	and phreak.  The Caller Log: In ESS regions, for every household
	around, the phone company has something on you called a Caller Log.
	This shows every single number that you dialed, and things can be
	arranged so it showed every number that was calling to you. That's
	one main disadvantage of ESS, it is mostly computerized so a number
	scan could be done like that quite easily. Using a dialup is an
	easy way to screw that, and is something worth remembering. Anyways,
	with the caller log, they check up and see what you dialed. Hmm... 
	you dialed 15 different 800 numbers that month. Soon they find that 
	you are subscribed to none of those companies. But that is not the 
	only thing. Most people would imagine "But wait! 800 numbers don't 
	show up on my phone bill!". To those people, it is a nice thought, 
	but 800 numbers are picked up on the caller log until right before 
	they are sent off to you. So they can check right up on you before 
	they send it away and can note the fact that you f***!ed up slightly 
	and called one too many 800 lines. Right now, after all of that, you
	should have a pretty good idea of how to grow up as a good phreak.
	Follow these guidelines, don't show off!         

								 - 66 -


	Telenet: By - Doc Silicon

	It seems that not many of you know that Telenet is connected to
	about 80 computer-networks in the world. No, I don't mean 80 nodes,
	but 80 networks with thousands of unprotected computers. When you
	call your local Telenet-gateway, you can only call those computers
	which accept reverse-charging-calls. If you want to call computers
	in foreign countries or computers in USA which do not accept
	R-calls, you need a Telenet-ID. Did you ever notice that you can
	type ID XXXX when being connected to Telenet? You are then asked
	for the password. If you have such a NUI (Network-User-ID) you can
	call nearly every host connected to any computer-network in the
	world. Here are some examples: 026245400090184 :Is a VAX in Germany 
	(Username: DATEXP and leave mail for CHRIS  !!!) 0311050500061   
	:Is the Los Alamos Integrated computing network (One of the hosts 
	connected to it is the DNA (Defense Nuclear Agency)!!!) 1230197000016
    :Is a BBS in New Zealand 024050256 :Is the S-E-Bank in Stockholm, 
	Sweden (Login as GAMES !!!) 02284681140541  :CERN in Geneva in 
	Switzerland (one of the biggest nuclear research centers in the
	world) Login as GUEST 0234212301161   :A Videotex-standard system.
	Type OPTEL to get in and use the ID 999_ with the password 9_
	0242211000001 :University of Oslo in Norway (Type  LOGIN 17,17  to
	play the Multi-User-Dungeon !) 0425130000215   :Something like ITT
	Dialcom, but this one is in Israel ! ID HELP  with password HELP 
	works fine with security level 3 0310600584401   :Is the Washington
	Post News Service via Tymnet (Yes, Tymnet is connected to Telenet,
	too !)  ID and Password is: PETER You can read the news of the next
	day ! 

	The prefixes are as follows:
	02624  is Datex-P in Germany
	02342  is PSS in England
	03110  is Telenet in USA
	03106  is Tymnet in USA
	02405  is Telepak in Sweden
	04251  is Isranet in Israel
	02080  is Transpac in France
	02284  is Telepac in Switzerland
	02724  is Eirpac in Ireland
	02704  is Luxpac in Luxembourg
	05252  is Telepac in Singapore
	04408  is Venus-P in Japan

	and so on... Some of the countries have more than one packet-
	switching-network (USA has 11, Canada has 3, etc). OK. That should
	be enough for the moment. As you see most of the passwords are very
	simple. This is because they must not have any fear of hackers.
	Only a few German hackers use these networks. Most of the computers
	are absolutely easy to hack !!! So, try to find out some Telenet-ID's! 



                                  - 67 -


	Bad as s***!: By - The Grim Reaper

	   Recently, a telephone fanatic in the  northwest made an
	interesting discovery.  He was exploring the 804 area code
	(Virginia) and found out that the 840 exchange did something
	strange.   In the vast majority of cases, in fact in all of the
	cases except one, he would get a recording as if the exchange
	didn't exist. However, if he dialed 804-840 and four rather
	predictable numbers, he got a ring! After one or two rings,
	somebody picked up.  Being experienced at this kind of thing, he
	could tell that the call didn't "supe", that is, no charges were
	being incurred for calling this number.  (Calls that get you to an
	error message, or a special operator, generally don't supervise.) 
	A female voice, with a hint of a Southern accent said, "Operator, 
	can I help you?"  "Yes," he said, "What number have I reached?" 
	"What number did you dial, sir?" He made up a number that was 
	similar. "I'm sorry that is not the number you reached."  Click. 
	He was fascinated.  What in the world was this? He knew he was 
	going to call back, but before he did, he tried some more 
	experiments. He tried the 840 exchange in several other area
	codes.  In some, it came up as a valid exchange. In others, exactly
	the same thing happened -- the same last four digits, the
	same Southern belle.  Oddly enough, he later noticed, the areas
	worked in seemed to travel in a beeline from Washington DC to
	Pittsburgh, PA. He called back from a payphone.  "Operator, can I
	help you?" "Yes, this is the phone company.  I'm testing this line
	and we don't seem to have an identification on your circuit.  What
	office is this, please?" "What number are you trying to reach?"
	"I'm not trying to reach any number.  I'm trying to identify this
	circuit." "I'm sorry, I can't help you." "Ma'am, if I don't get an
	ID on this line, I'll have to disconnect it.  We show no record of
	it here." "Hold on a moment, sir." After about a minute, she came
	back.  "Sir, I can have someone speak to you. Would you give me
	your number, please?"  He had anticipated this and he had the
	payphone number ready. After he gave it, she said, "Mr. XXX will
	get right back to you." "Thanks."  He hung up the phone.  It rang.
	INSTANTLY!  "Oh my God," he thought, "They weren't asking for my
	number -- they were confirming it!" "Hello," he said, trying to
	sound authoritative. "This is Mr. XXX.  Did you just make  an
	inquiry to my office concerning a
	phone number?"    "Yes.  I need an identi--"  "What you need is
	advice.  Don't ever call that number again. Forget you ever knew
	it." At this point our friend got so nervous he just hung up.  He
	expected to hear the phone ring again but it didn't. Over the next
	few days he racked his brains trying to figure out what the number
	was.  He knew it was something big -- that was pretty certain at
	this point.  It was so big that the number was programmed into
	every central office in the country.  He knew this because if he
	tried to dial any other number in that exchange, he'd get a local
	error message from his CO, as if the exchange didn't exist. It
	finally came to him.  He had an uncle who worked in a federal
	agency.  He had a feeling that this was goverment related

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	and if it was, his uncle could probably find out what it was.  He 
	asked the next day and his uncle promised to look into the matter. 
	The next time he saw his uncle, he noticed a big change in his 
	manner.  He was trembling.  "Where did you get that number?!"  
	he shouted.  "Do you know I almost got fired for asking about it?!? 
	They kept wanting to know where I got it."   Our friend couldn't 
	contain his excitement.  "What is it?" he pleaded. "What's the 
	number?!" "IT'S THE PRESIDENT'S BOMB SHELTER!"  He never called 
	the number after that.  He knew that he could probably cause quite 
	a bit of excitement by calling the number and saying something like, 
	"The weather's not good in Washington.  We're coming over for a 
	visit."  But our friend was smart.  he knew that there were some 
	things that were better off unsaid and undone.








































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