To Understand The Following We have to Transport Ourselves to a Time before Smart Phones, Before the Cell Phones, and Before Even the Internet. This was the Time Decades ago Where the Phone Company Giants Totally Dominated Communication (Other than Phones there was only Snail Mail or Faxes) World as People Knew it. In this Time there were Only Two types of Phones Landlines for Your Home and Pay Phones if You were Out and About. While Pay Phones Turned a Pretty Penny in Profits The Phone Companies Real Cash Cow was Long Distance Phone Calls. The Phone Companies would Charge Callers like Pay Phones by Billing Them PER MINUTE for Long Distance Phone Calls, and of course the farther One called the More Expensive The Cost. Thats why when Cell Phones first Showed Up it was a Big Deal and a Real Bitch that People could Make FREE Long Distance Nights (Starting at 9 pm) and All Weekend.
Where Ever there are People in Power or a Dominate System of Communication there will be Those People Who will fuck with it Six Days a Week and Twice on Sunday. One of Those Most Influential (if Not the Number One) founder of The Phone Phreak Subculture Movement was Joe Engressia from Richmond, Virginia. Joe was Born Blind and from the Time He was a Small Child had a growing Fascination with the Phone System and More Over Manipulate it. As a Child Joe was in the Habit of Calling what was Referred to as Recording Phones Calls.
I will pause here a minute to explain to Our Reader’s Who may Be Unaware of what the Hell a Recording Call was. It was a simplistic money making scam where Someone would/could set up a Pre Recorded Story, Horoscope, Song Etc. and Then People were able to Call a Specific Phone Number to Listen to Whatever the fuck the Recording was for a Fee that is. Sometimes it was a Flat one time per Call Charge or it might charge People by The Minute as well.
Now back to Our Story. Joe had a habit of Whistling to Himself while He listened to said Recordings. One Day when Joe (Who was also Born with Perfect Pitch) was Eight He realized that when He hit a Certain Pitch when He was Whistling the Recordings would Automatically Shut Off. Joe’s fascination in the Phone System started to turn into a Life Long Obsession. The Tone Joe was able to Identify as well as Mimic was 2600Hz which turned out to be the Key in Control. Using the 2600Hz Tone People were then able to TRICK the Phone System into Thinking They were an Actual Operator. Once the Phone System duped into thinking the Caller was an Operator They could make FREE Long Distance Calls, Open Conference Calls, and Route Calls to Specific Parts of the World for Example.
This Obviously pissed Off the Phone Companies to No End as Phone Phreaks were cutting into Their Bottom Line. Joe was Arrested while attending the Collage of Florida because He was Providing His Fellow Students access Free Long Distance by Joe mimicking The 2600 Hz Tone. A Local Paper caught wind of the Story and shortly After it was Published suddenly Other People Who also had learned Ways to Manipulate the Phone System started to contact Joe. Phone Phreaks like the Hackers of Today Use Monikers to Identify Themselves to Protect Their Anonymity since Phone Phreaking like Hacking was Illegal. Some of Those People who were The Top Phone Phreaks of the Time were Captain Crunch, Even Door Bell, Mike From New York, and Joe had adopted the Moniker Joy Bubbles.
At this Point Joe started to Meticulous Notes Chronicling EVERYTHING Phreak Related that He knew or Learned becoming the a Communication Hub for Other Phone Phreaks. Unfortunately this also led to Joe being Arrested for a Second Time when a Undercover Agent TRICKED Joe into talking about His Phone Phreaking Activities. The Agent then Use the Information He had collected to acquire a Search Warrant for Joe’s House. During the Police Raid They found Equipment used for Accessing, Manipulating, and Transversing through the Complex World of The Telephone System. Joe was sentence to 30 Days in Jail and had to Promise to Quit Phone Phreaking Once and For All. In May 1988 Joe Legally changed His Name to JoyBubbles and Claimed to be Eternally Five Years Old. He explained that He had Reverted Back to Childhood to Over come Trauma from sexual abuse He suffered in His Younger Years. Nowadays JoyBubbles continues to live as a Small Child and even has a Show called “Stories and Stuff” which People can Listen to by Calling/Dialing 206-FEELINGS.
As Time went by and the Phone System started to Evolve They Inadvertently Ended up Accomplishing Their Goal of Killing Phone Phreaking for Good. Once the Phone Systems Upgraded and Converted to a Digital System the Phone System could No Longer be manipulated by Using Tones. Ironically and perhaps pPredictably many Phone Phreaks Transitioned from Phone Phreaking into Hacking.
Thanks for Reading,
By Les Sober