The History of Phone Phreaking Blog

800 Historical Phone Phreaking Docs Posted ... Plus Extra Goodies

2013-05-15T01:54:13-07:00

Scanned PDFs of about 800 historical documents related to phone phreaking are now available on the Exploding The Phone web site. While researching the book I amassed an unenviably large collection of papers -- newspaper and magazine articles, memos, FBI files, etc. Most of these are now available on the web site as scanned PDFs. Some examples:

Flyers for the 1973 phone phreak convention in NYC
Bell Labs memo discussing the Esquire article
An FBI file on a 1974 investigation into a mass-produced blue box disguised as a desk calculator

(Thanks to the numerous phone phreaks who donated many of these docs.)

Of course, you can search the database of documents. Some fun example searches:

Joe Engressia, the famous blind kid described as the "granddaddy of phreaking"
Ralph Barclay, the inventor of the blue box
Ramparts magazine, which published "Regualting The Phone Company In Your Own Home"

Finally, I've also posted some "extras" that I just couldn't fit into the book. These range from small essays or stories to interview transcripts to more technical notes on various aspects of the old network.

Mistakes Were Made

2013-03-31T16:18:58-07:00

I worked hard to make Exploding The Phone both technically and historically accurate. Despite my best efforts, several errors crept in. Here are the ones that I know about:

p. 14, "problem to before" should read "problem before".

p. 15, "whose his first" should read "whose first".

p. 18, on Bell's invention of the telephone, several readers commented that I gave inadequate attention to the controversy surrounding who invented the telephone, and that I simply presented the "AT&T side of the story." Fair point. Let me remedy that by directing interested readers to Seth Shulman's The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell's Secret which presents the other side of the story.

p. 42, "Gerlach, Nevada". Astute reader Christopher H., who is compiling a history of the tiny town of Gerlach, says that in fact Gerlach did not have telephone service until 1960 and thus was a poor choice for the 1955 example I used it for in the book.

p. 45, "If telephone numbers in your local exchange were four digits long ... you tied up four Strowger cans for the entire call." Not quite. The last switch in a step-by-step system is of a special type called a "connector." It consumes the last two digits of the phone number (the tens digit causes the switch to step up, and the ones digit causes the switch to step over to the destination telephone line). Thus, for a four-digit telephone number only three Strowger cans are tied up.

p. 48, "human customers and operators used speak to one another" should read "human customers and operators used to speak to one another".

p. 51, "Washington State College" should read "Washington State University." Both the fact checker at IEEE Spectrum and alert reader Dan H. noted that WSC became WSU in 1959, just prior to the incidents descrbed in the book.

p. 61, "407 area code". A typo: the correct area code for Alberta was 403.

p. 233, "Bell Labs had never built a computer before, and its engineers had never written a line of computer code." Not so says reader Evan K.: "Bell Labs developed TRADIC (Transistorized Digital Computer) starting in 1954 and announced it to the public on March 14, 1955."

p. 301, "[Sprint and MCI] access codes were only four digits." Sprint and MCI codes were actually five digits long.

p. 311, "171 121 is how you get there". In fact, the code for the Dominican Republic was 172. For the record, this error is my typo and not a faulty recollection on the part of Bill Acker.

p. 408, Acknowledgments. Leave it to me to misspell someone's name when I'm thanking them: "Francis Kriokorian" should be "Francis Krikorian." Sorry about that, Francis. In addition, Lee Thalblum was inadvertantly left off the acknowledgements list. Lee, thanks for your help.

The most up to date list of errata can be found at http://explodingthephone.com/errata.php.

If you find other errors, please contact me. Thanks!

Exploding The Phone Book Tour, Week 4

2013-03-04T06:34:23-08:00

The book tour last week was fantastic. We had 40 people in Washington DC and an amazing 70 people in Boston, plus a full house the next day at MIT. The Boston reading was particularly cool because three of the people profiled in the book (Charlie, Ed, and Tony from the chapter about the kids at Harvard) were there in person. Many thanks to those who attended, and more thanks still if you can encourage your friends to attend the events below.

This week is the last week of the tour. I'll be reading from, discussing, and signing Exploding The Phone in New York, Denver, and San Francisco:

Monday, 3/4: I'll be a guest on the Leonard Lopate show on New York's WNYC, 93.9 FM, at 1 pm.

Tuesday, 3/5: Alpha One Labs Community Hackerspace (231 Norman Ave., #312) in Brooklyn at 7 pm. Registration is required: http://bit.ly/13ya9HD

Wednesday, 3/6: Tattered Cover Books (2526 East Colfax Ave.) in Denver at 7:30 pm. http://bit.ly/WB50Hy

Saturday, 3/9: Writers with Drinks at the Make-Out Room (3225 22nd St.) in San Francisco at 7:30 pm. Admission $5-$10. Correction: this is at 7:30 pm, not 9 pm as mentioned last week. http://writerswithdrinks.com

That about wraps it up for the book tour! There will be a few more radio appearances that I'll post about here when they are finalized, and of course, I'll keep you informed if any additional appearances get scheduled.

Exploding The Phone Book Tour, Week 3

2013-02-24T16:58:00-08:00

This was another great week -- the readings in Portland, Seattle, and Bellingham were wonderful and both The Atlantic and Salon ran excerpts from the book. Many thanks to those who attended, and more thanks still if you can encourage your friends to attend the events below! :-)

This week I'll be reading from, discussing, and signing Exploding The Phone in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Cambridge, MA:

Monday, 2/25: Book Passage in San Francisco (Ferry Building) at 6:00 pm. http://bit.ly/YQPjfr

Tuesday, 2/26: RSA Data Security Conference in San Francisco at 2:30 pm. (Llimited to attendees of the RSA conference.) http://bit.ly/13EclJe

Wednesday, 2/27: Politics and Prose in Washington DC (5015 Connecticut Ave SW) at 7:00 pm http://bit.ly/Yp1JMQ

Thursday, 2/28: Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA (1256 Mass Ave.) at 7:00 pm. http://bit.ly/13EcKLy

Friday, 3/1: MIT, Cambridge, MA, room E62-250 at noon.

Next week it wraps up -- I'll be in NYC/Brooklyn and Denver, then back to San Francisco:

Monday, 3/4: I'll be a guest on the Leonard Lopate show in New York on WNYC, 93.9 FM, at 1 pm.

Tuesday, 3/5: Alpha One Labs Community Hackerspace (231 Norman Ave., #312) in Brooklyn at 7 pm. (Correction: this is Tuesday, not Monday, as mentioned earlier.)

Wednesday, 3/6: Tattered Cover Books (2526 East Colfax Ave.) in Denver at 7:30 pm.

Saturday, 3/9: Writers with Drinks at the Make-Out Room (3225 22nd St.) in San Francisco at 9 pm. Admission $5-$10.

The complete book tour schedule is at http://explodingthephone.com/tour.php. Hope to see you at one of the above events!

Exploding The Phone Book Tour, Week 2

2013-02-17T17:01:00-08:00

Wow. What a week. The readings in LA, Menlo Park, and Oakland were tremendous. More than 100 people showed up at Diesel! Many thanks to those who attended, and more thanks still if you can encourage your friends to attend the events below… :-)

This week I'm doing readings/discussions/signings of Exploding The Phone in Portland, Seattle, and Bellingham, Washington:

Tuesday, 2/19: Powell's Books, Portland (1005 West Burnside) at 7:30 pm.

Wednesday, 2/20: Town Hall, Seattle (1119 Eighth Ave.) at 6:00 pm. Admission is $5, tickets at http://bit.ly/UwjLP5

Friday, 2/22: Chuckanut Radio Hour / Village Books, Bellingham (Crystal Ballroom of the Leopold Retirement Residence, 1224 Cornwall Ave.) at 7:00 pm. Note that this event is not being held at the bookstore but at the swanky Crystal Ballroom of the Leopold Retirement Residence. Admission is $5, tickets at http://bit.ly/UwljbL

Next week is split between San Francisco and the East Coast:

Monday, 2/25: Book Passage in San Francisco (Ferry Building) at 6:00 pm.

Tuesday, 2/26: RSA Data Security Conference in San Francisco at 2:30 pm. (Llimited to attendees of the RSA conference.)

Wednesday, 2/27: Politics and Prose in Washington DC (5015 Connecticut Ave SW) at 7:00 pm

Thursday, 2/28: Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA (1256 Mass Ave.) at 7:00 pm.

Friday, 3/1: MIT, Cambridge, MA (room to be announced) at noon.

Great news: we finally have a venue in New York! I'll be at the Alpha One Community Hackerspace in Brooklyn (231 Norman Ave., #312) on Monday, March 5, at 7 pm.

More events to follow. The complete book tour schedule can always be found at http://explodingthephone.com/tour.php.

Exploding The Phone Book Tour, Week 1

2013-02-10T17:37:00-08:00

This week I'm doing readings/discussions/signings of Exploding The Phone in LA, Menlo Park, and Oakland:

Monday, 2/11: Skylight Books in Los Angeles (1818 North Vermont Ave.) at 7:30 pm. (Note change in time: the reading is at 7:30 pm, not 7:00 pm as reported last week; sorry for the confusion.)

Wednesday, 2/13: Kepler's at Menlo Park (1010 El Camino Real) at 7:30 pm.

Friday, 2/15: Diesel Books in Oakland (5433 College Ave.) at 7 pm. (Drinks to follow at Ben-n-Nick's just down the street after the reading.)

Next week is the Pacific Northwest:

Tuesday, 2/19: Powell's Books in Portland (1005 West Burnside) at 7:30 pm.

Wednesday, 2/20: Town Hall in Seattle (1119 Eighth Ave.) at 6 pm. ($5 admission.)

Friday, 2/22: Village Books in Bellingham, WA (1200 11th St.) at 7 pm.

Hope to see you at one or more of these events, with more to follow in the coming weeks.

A Very Good Weekend

2013-02-04T18:40:48-08:00

Exploding The Phone had a very good weekend!

Howard Schneider at The Wall St. Journal reviewed it on Friday and describes it as an "authoritative, jaunty and enjoyable account of [the phone phreaks'] sometimes comical, sometimes impressive and sometimes disquieting misdeeds."
Geeta Dayal at Slate also reviewed it over the weekend and connected the dots between phone phreaks and Aaron Swartz.
Rebecca Onion, also at Slate, wrote a lovely pictoral piece on the history of the use of whistles in phone phreaking.

Finally, just to round things out, both Amazon and Barnes and Noble listed Exploding The Phone on their books of the month lists for February!

Exploding The Phone Book Tour, Week 0

2013-02-04T17:04:00-08:00

Exploding The Phone had a great weekend! First there were nice reviews in both the Wall St. Journal and Slate (with a bonus pictorial feature on whistles used in phone phreaking). And then both Amazon and Barnes and Noble picked it for their "best of February" lists.

Like I said, it was a great weekend. :-)

I'll be making a couple of appearances this week:

On Wednesday, 2/6 I'll be a guest on WBAI's "Off The Hook" program in New York City at 7 pm Eastern time. New Yawkers can listen on 99.5 FM. Everyone else, you can get streaming audio at http://www.2600.com/offthehook.

On Thursday, 2/7 I'll be giving a talk in Berkeley on "Phone Phreaks: What Can We Learn From the Earliest Network Hackers?" at TRUST (Team For Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology) at 1 pm in the (appropriately named!) Wozniak Lounge at Soda Hall, U.C. Berkeley. Bonus: free lunch! Details at https://www.truststc.org/seminar

Next week the book tour kicks off in earnest, with readings at three great bookstores:

Monday, 2/11: Skylight Books in Los Angeles (1818 North Vermont Ave.) at 7 pm.

Wednesday, 2/13: Kepler's at Menlo Park (1010 El Camino Real) at 7:30 pm.

Friday, 2/15: Diesel Books in Oakland (5433 College Ave.) at 7 pm. (Drinks to follow at Ben-n-Nick's just down the street after the reading.)

Hope to see you at one or more of these events, with more to follow in the coming weeks.

"Exploding The Phone" Spotted In The Wild

2013-01-23T22:10:46-08:00

It's really here! Amazon is shipping copies and this photo was taken at Diesel bookstore in Oakland earlier today:

Holy crap! It's real!

Michael Zelenko's "The Birth of Phone Hacking"

2013-01-22T21:18:23-08:00

Michael Zelenko has just written a very nice article about the history of phone phreaking for BULLETT magazine. Titled "The Birth of Phone Hacking and How It Set the Stage for the News Corp. Scandal," it lays out the start of the hobby in the 1950s and 60s and traces it up the present day, including some nice quotations from Mark Bernay and Ron Rosenbaum along the way. Worth checking out!