New Book Details The History of Telephone Hacking (Phone Phreaking)

Phil Lapsley led an entertaining discussion of the history of the battle between the telephone company and the rag-tag army of hackers who were intent on hacking into the amazingly complex nation-wide system of electronic switching.  Finding that a certain tone (emitted from a toy whistle that came free in a box of “Capn Crunch” cereal, would unlock and bypass the massive Bell system, young hackers, including Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, began to explore the system for flaws, tones, and entry-points.

To watch the presentation, which took place at Skylight Books in Hollywood, click on the links below.

Part 1 – Click here.  Includes a “boogie-woogie” intro done to sound like touch tone.

Part 2 – Click here.  Includes intro and exit that has a wonderful audio piece on “Operators” done by phone phreakers.  Also, at the end of the presentation by Phil Lapsley is a short clip with the famous “Cap’n Crunch” himself, John Draper, who describes his experience getting too close to an atomic bomb test.

Click here to go to Skylight Books.  They may still have some signed copies of “Exploding the Phone.”