What did phone phreaks do?
Phone phreaks spent a lot of time dialing around the telephone network to understand how the phone system worked. They listened to the clicks and clunks and beeps and boops to figure out how calls were routed. They read obscure telephone company technical journals. They learned how to impersonate operators and other telephone company personnel. They dug through telephone company trash bins to find “secret” documents. They solved puzzles. They snuck into telephone company buildings at night and wired up their own telephones. They soldered. They built clever little electronic devices called blue boxes, black boxes, and red boxes to help them explore the network — and make free phone calls. They hung out on early conference call circuits and “loop arounds” to communicate with one another. They wrote their own newsletters to spread information. Some used their blue boxes to wiretap people. Many were investigated by the police and FBI. Some were arrested. Some informed on their friends. A
