Lehigh, really ancient history but.. Well, way back then, before personal computers, hackers could only find computers at universities, work, or perhaps an internal computer system that ran telephone switching and billing. I was lucky and had an 1130 computer that I programmed a small basic interpreter ( all input and output was with punch cards) so I wasn't "really" into Phone Phreaking, using switching signals to allow phone transmission to go anywhere and do many different things which hackers considered fun , but Ma Bell played "hardbell" with them. Now this is ancient, but the phone system used tones for switching operations and pulses for the numbers. "Supposedly, it was discovered that the tone that gave control of the switches was 2600 hertz, thus the name of the magazine. Also at that time Captain Crunch Cereal had a " Sailor's whistle" as a package insert prize ( wouldn't make safety regs today) and the whistle produced a 2600 hz tone, which when sounded into the telephone handed over most of the internal system once a person knew what to dial next. Dumpsters Divers collected old Bell systems manuals and came up with many "hacks", mainly dialing long distance without a charge to the phone. Once the magazine 2600 started making some of these public, Ma Bell tried to close them down and also threatened any subscriber. Eventually tone generators were utilized, and the "rumor " is that Wozniak of Apple Computers was an early inventor. The story is long and convoluted, but maybe this will help explain what I meant by a "Captain crunch toot". Old Jim
things never change. 2 years ago at the HOPE convention someone created a "new" area code in Florida and even got Governor Bush to call in and congratulate everyone... Also remember those were the days when it was a felony to put a non-ATT device into the wall... soundls like current copyright.. Ruben
I had forgotten about the "foreign device" law. Seems like as far back as "Voting Tax". I just realized that this thread is in Coin Forum and not General Discussion. I do apologize for the Wandering! Jim
google google? http://www.google.com/search?q=Goog...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a http://www.google.com/search?q=Goog...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
555-555-5555 Phreaking went the way of the Dodo when Electronic Switching Systems came into use. As stated the Capt. Crunch whistles could fool a 5X Bar office which was largely manual. Seize a tandem, stir in a little knowledge from stolen or found manuals and you could call Beirut or Timbuktu and inquire about the weather for free. It's been a while since I've been in a C.O. but that's roughly it.
We are gonna get spanked if this thread continues off coin topics. Voice communication can't and won't be replaced by IMs or email anytime soon. Cold hard type is too easily misinterpreted. Voice has the tones, inflections and nuances missing from typed or even hand written words. Our first ancestor who grunted with pleasure, fear or lust sealed the deal.
Coins are all made of metal No - Not text but VOIP which has been ready as a technology for nearly 10 years now on every PC. Ruben
How would you grade this? http://www.mrbrklyn.com/coins/11252008/dsc05583.jpg http://www.mrbrklyn.com/coins/11252008/dsc05584.jpg Ruben