deh@ENEEVAX.UMD.EDU (Douglas Humphrey) (07/22/86)
Concerning Blue Boxes, and what is illegal, it depends upon the laws of the State that you are in. In most states, they can get you for 'possession of a device capable of defrauding the phone company' which is a literal quote from some summons papers I have here from a time when a friend in Virginia got nailed. No need to show intent because the device has only one obvious purpose and capability which is defrauding the phone company. Possession of it is defacto evidence of intent (in the eyes of the courts, anyway). Blue boxes still work very well, but it is getting to be a game of Find The MF Trunk, since so much of the long distance facilities are onto CCIS and other out-of-band signaling methods. Still, there are a lot of trunks out there, and many of them will do the 'right thing' when whistled at. Rumor has it that there are places where trunks cross over into Canada which have a set of MF translaters on them to let the CCIS gear talk inband to some older MF gear up north, allowing the 2600 to go to the border unseen (who looks for it on CCIS trunks ?) but have the desired effect just over the border. From there it would be possible to hit international senders and come back into the US, or go wherever else the sender can take you. Me ? No. Haven't touched the stuff in years. Too risky by half. Shamefully paying for all my long distance..... Doug