I was phreaking (stealing long distance telephone service) in the late 80s and early 90s when Phrack magazine was at its peak. At one point, the phone line I u

I was phreaking (stealing long distance telephone service) in the late 80s and early 90s when Phrack magazine was at its peak. At one point, the phone line I used with my modem would have a long delay between the time I picked up and the time I got a dial tone, and the connection afterward would be weak, noisy and attenuated. I'd even get bad packets over the Ymodem file transfer protocol. I asked some of my hacker friends if my phone was being tapped by the companies I was stealing long distance service from. One of them knew the number of a department of a department at Pacific Bell (my local phone provider) that handled investigating illegal taps. These companies would tap the lines of people that they suspected were stealing service without getting the required warrant just because they had the capability to do s. So I called that number and asked them to see if my phone was being illegally tapped. One of the first things they asked me was, "are you calling from the line you think is tapped?" I told them I was, and they explained that in doing so I revealed my hand to whoever was tapping me. The very next phone call my modem made was back to normal without the noise, delay and attenuation. I estimate that I made $50,000 to $100,000 in illegal phone charges. I was calling other computers all over the world. This was back when calling Europe or Oz from the USA could cost $10 per minute or something insane. I never got busted. But I knew some people who had. I think I was getting close to getting busted but it never happened. I went on to have a very successful career in Silicon Valley.