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computer-operated unit, with acoustical coupling for receiving outputs and a switch-board with multiple-line-tie capability? Did they tell you that
the frequency tolerance is guaranteed to be not more than .05 percent? The amplitude tolerance less than .01 decibel? Those pulses you
heard were perfect. They just come faster than the phone company. Those were high-precision op-amps. Op-amps are instrumentation
amplifiers designed for ultra-stable amplification, super-low distortion and accurate frequency response. Did they tell you it can operate in
temperatures from -55øC to +125øC?"
I admit that they did not tell me all that.
"I built it myself," the Captain goes on. "If you were to go out and buy the components from an industrial wholesaler it would cost you at least
$1500. I once worked for a semiconductor company and all this didn't cost me a cent. Do you know what I mean? Did they tell you about how I
put a call completely around the world? I'll tell you how I did it. I M
-Fed Tokyo inward, who connected me to India, India connected me to
Greece, Greece connected me to Pretoria, South Africa, South Africa connected me to South America, I went from South America to London, I
had a London operator connect me to a New York operator, I had New York connect me to a California operator who rang the phone next to
me. Needless to say I had to shout to hear myself. But the echo was far out. Fantastic. Delayed. It was delayed twenty seconds, but I could
hear myself talk to myself."
"You mean you were speaking into the mouthpiece of one phone sending your voice around the world into your ear through a phone on the
other side of your head?" I asked the Captain. I had a vision of something vaguely autoerotic going on, in a complex electronic way.
"That's right," said the Captain. "I've also sent my voice around the world one way, going east on one phone, and going west on the other,
going through cable one way, satellite the other, coming back together at the same time, ringing the two phones simultaneously and picking
them up and whipping my voice both ways around the world back to me. Wow. That was a mind blower." "You mean you sit there with both
phones on your ear and talk to yourself around the world," I said incredulously.
"Yeah. Um hum. That's what I do. I connect the phone together and sit there and talk."
"What do you say? What do you say to yourself when you're connected?"
"Oh, you know. Hello test one two three," he says in a low -pitched voice.
"Hello test one two three," he replied to himself in a high-pitched voice.
"Hello test one two three," he repeats again, low-pitched.
"Hello test one two three," he replies, high-pitched.
"I sometimes do this: Hello Hello Hello Hello, Hello, hello," he trails off and breaks into laughter.
Why Captain Crunch Hardly Ever Taps Phones Anymore
Using internal phone-company codes, phone phreaks have learned a simple method for tapping phones. Phone-company operators have in
front of them a board that holds verification jacks. It allows them to plug into conversations in case of emergency, to listen in to a line to
determine if the line is busy or the circuits are busy. Phone phreaks have learned to beep out the codes which lead them to a verification
operator, tell the verification operator they are switchmen from some other area code testing out verification trunks. Once the operator hooks
them into the verification trunk, they disappear into the board for all practical purposes, slip unnoticed into any one of the 10,000 to 100,000
numbers in that central office without the verification operator knowing what they're doing, and of course without the two parties to the
connection knowing there is a phantom listener present on their line.
Toward the end of my hour-long first conversation with him, I asked the Captain if he ever tapped phones.
"Oh no. I don't do that. I don't think it's right," he told me firmly. "I have the power to do it but I don't... Well one time, just one time, I have to admit
that I did. There was this girl
, Linda, and I wanted to find out... you know. I tried to call her up for a date. I had a date with her the last weekend
and I thought she liked me. I called her up, man, and her line was busy, and I kept calling and it was still busy. Well, I had just learned about this
system of jumping into lines and I said to myself, 'Hmmm. Why not just see if it works. It'll surprise her if all of a sudden I should pop up on her
line. It'll impress her, if anything.' So I went ahead and did it. I M-Fed into the line. My M-F-er is powerful enough when patched directly into the
mouthpiece to trigger a verification trunk without using an operator the way the other phone phreaks have to.
"I slipped into the line and there she was talking to another boyfriend. Making sweet talk to him. I didn't make a sound because I was so
disgusted. So I waited there for her to hang up, listening to her making sweet talk to the other guy. You know. So as soon as she hung up I
instantly M
-F-ed her up and all I said was, 'Linda, we're through.' And I hung up. And it blew her head off. She couldn't figure out what the hell
happened.
"But that was the only time. I did it thinking I would surprise her, impress her. Those were all my intentions were, and well, it really kind of hurt [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]