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Much like hackers, the definition of what a phone phreak is will change depending on who you ask. During the seventies, it centered around people who appreciate
by doctorshady 10y ago
Much like hackers, the definition of what a phone phreak is will change depending on who you ask. During the seventies, it centered around people who appreciated the network and loved to see it do unorthodox things - see some of the old Evan Doorbell recordings for good examples; http://www.evan-doorbell.com/production/ http://www.evan-doorbell.com/production/ . Toll fraud was generally frowned upon by that sect of people.
By the eighties, the term more or less flipped and it became known mostly as just something people did to get free phone calls. This sorta continued on through the nineties.
The term is gradually flipping back again, thankfully. A phone phreak who just makes free calls is sort of an analog to a hacker that just compromises random Facebook accounts.
- rsync 10y ago"The term is gradually flipping back again, thankfully." I suppose that makes sense, as there is (largely) no such thing as non-free calls ...
- coldpie 10y ago> see some of the old Evan Doorbell recordings for good examples; http://www.evan-doorbell.com/production/ http://www.evan-doorbell.com/production/ I have no idea what I'm listening to but I'm strangely compelled. I'm going to chuck a few of these on my (uhh) phone to listen to later.
- doctorshady 10y agoA good place to start is the "How Evan Became a Phone Phreak" recordings. Though it's about someone dealing with electromechanical switching equipment in the seventies, it's surprisingly parallel to how a lot of people get into phones today. Dialing Those Mysterious "1xx" and "0xx" Codes is another good one, as is the 052 conference.
- coldpie 10y agoThanks! I'll start there.