Blog 6: Phone Phreaking

I was so intrigued by Chapter Six's introduction of 'phone phreaks' that I decided to do some more research on the history of the hobby.

The first method of phreaking was known as the switch-hook. It allowed calls to be placed from a phone that had been disabled by either removing the rotary dial or keypad. This prevented unauthorized calls from that phone. The phreaker would rapidly press and release the switch hook to mimic the effect of the rotary dial. By doing this they could have the telephone system and jump lines without being noticed; most of the time.

According to historyofphonephreaking.org, "A phone phreak is someone who loves exploring the telephone system and experimenting with it to understand how it works. Phone phreaking got its start in the late 1950s. Its golden age was the late 1960s and early 1970s."

Phreakers learned to impersonate operators and other personnel in order to hack the telephone lines.

Would you agree that computer hackers are the modern day phone phreaks? 

According to the same website, there are still phone phreaks today and the assume that they will be around as long as telephones are. Many phreakers now are more interested in understanding and exploring the telephone network, much like hackers are interested in unraveling the internet. 

I found this great image in another article.
Why do you think Ryan gives his briefing of phreaking in Chapter 6?