eddy@jafus.mi.org (Eddy J. Gurney) (10/31/90)
Since a few weeks ago (or was it a few months? :-) there was a
discussion about the Ramparts article on how to make your own "black
box", I thought everyone on the net might be interested to know that
in the latest issue of IEEE Spectrum (November, 1990), on pages
117-119, there's an interesting article entitled "The Great Blue Box
Phone Frauds", subtitled "Until the phone company separated signaling
information from the voice signal, long-distance calls could be made
without charge by anyone who could whistle at 2600 hertz."
It even has the illustration from the June 1972 "Ramparts" magazine,
showing how to constuct a "black box" to prevent the calling party
from being billed for the call.
There's also a list of about five or six other references at the end
of the article which sound interesting.
I'd type in the article, but it's a full three pages long. :-) If
someone with a scanner wants to do it, be my guest. (I'm not sure
what the IEEE's policy on redistribution is, I couldn't find anything
in the TOC...)
For what it's worth,
Eddy J. Gurney N8FPW THE ECCENTRICITY GROUP
eddy@jafus.mi.org gurney@frith.egr.msu.edu 17158EJG@MSU.BITNET
(Preferred) (If your mail bounces) (If you HAVE to :-)friedl@mtndew.tustin.ca.us (Stephen Friedl) (11/02/90)
Eddy Gurney writes: > "Until the phone company separated signaling > information from the voice signal, long-distance calls could be made > without charge by anyone who could whistle at 2600 hertz." A couple of questions about this. First, was the moving signalling info out of the voice channel done solely to prevent fraud? Second, how big a job was this to redesign the phone system for it (my guess is that it was a Very Big Deal) ? Stephen J. Friedl, KA8CMY / I speak for me only / Tustin, CA / 3B2-kind-of-guy +1 714 544 6561 / friedl@mtndew.Tustin.CA.US / {uunet,attmail}!mtndew!friedl