[HaBi 1]    YIPL No. 19 - June 1973

YIPL No. 19 - June 1973 AMMO Northwestern Bell Telephone is starting to take the bells out of pay phones to prevent, they claim, collect calls to pay phones and "signal calls" where people hear their phone ring once and call back to a pay phone. Thus, if you have a life-or-death situation where you must be called back, you're out of luck. So much for the argument that "pay phones are a public service"... Robert McCrie, editor of Security Letter, a anti-ripoff newsletter showing companies security methods, is plugging YIPL for business execs. He calls us "a bunch of nuts" and puts in our address with the warning "don't use the office address" (of their company). Security Letter, 475 Fifth Avenue, N. Y., N. Y. 10017. Use an office address-you're writing for a company, remember. Say you want to subscribe to Security Letter ... John D. deButts, chairman of AT&T, in U. S. News and World Report, ~Tomo ~ow Is i)hone serviceWhy it Will Cost More) comes up with some outrageous statements like "a public telephone is a public service", "Service in New York City today is good" and"we'had always felt the Bell System companies were well out ahead in the fairness of our employment practices". Also"People don't visualize the uses for Picturephones". George Orwell did in 1984, but deButts doesn't mention bugging or privacy at all. Another item of interest: "Do you have a telephone listed for Tohn D. deButts at 200 E. 66 St?... Yes, that is 421-227711... "In Kansas City, the existence of just such an arrangement between the telephone company and the chief of police was revealed". That's a quote from Monopoly that YIPL printed in issue 41. Well friends, we all know how big corporations often exert political pressure to help their friends into office, don't we? Nixon just named Clarence M. Kelley, the police chief of Kansas City to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Maybe all those wires will go to a little box on Clarence's desk... MEAT! Several of you have written about meeting other phreaks in your area. Some feel that this would invite infiltration, and that meeting at electrical supply stores is probably a lot safer. This why you could see who you meet before you meet them. Then again, you don't know if they're in the "field" unless you ask. Others have said that if another phone phreak convention is held, that would be the ideal place. Or, again, YIPL could receive requests to meet other phreaks in your area, and send pairs of people the name and number of each other simultaneously, from readers whom we feel are cool. If you send in, be patient. We'll try to match another reader, only one, for each request HOT FLASHES A friendly Pa Bell worker says that though most telephone kompanies use the amount of resistance in ringing the bells on a line to determine the number of phones connected, in some (college) towns they run spot checks of total line resistances that detect phones even with the bell disconnected. So a good policy is to make up a one-line "conference" call maker (YIPL #1)and to leave the switch in the center-off position when not in use. MONKEY WARFARE The underground warfare against mindless mechanical bandi goes on. After the phone, but high up on the list lies the coin sucking parking meter. After stalking the little beasties you find they fall into two major types; the egg-headed cranker and the flat-faced change sorter. The flat-faced change sorter was the pioneer of the modern generation of coin suckers. You stuff coins in the side through a single slot; it gauges the coin's size and gives you credit for it. The last two coins inserted are visible through two rounded windows (spray paint) and is very gullible. It sucks nickels, dimes, round pop tops #14 brass washers. Also the larger pop tops with the tails attached and many other bulky items plug it and render it use less till serviced. The egg-headed cranker is more sophisticated. It comes with different slots on the side for different coins, and has a thumb and index crank like a nose on the middle of its face. It is much more selective in what it gives credit for. But #14 washers and, if you use great care, round pop tops if they are both scotch taped can achieve the desired effect. (Be sure to carry something to push them in with like the pop top tab as the tape sometimes stops the "coins" from rolling in far enough.) WARNING: if you use funny money be generous, you don't want a ticket from a meter that is filled with washers. It might lead to embarrassing questions). After tiring of the above methods and wishing to become a mass destroyer of meters, send to Edmund Scientific Co. (300 Edscorp Bldg., Barrington, N. T. 08007) for their mass meter disabler (they call them giant surplus horseshoe magnets). A meter is after all a one-handed clock, and clocks and magnets don't mix. Their monster 5 lb. job concealed in a pack or purse ran stop a meter with a couple of rubs. After it is stopped any money deposited will give credit till city demagnetizes it. OFF A METER TODAY, IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL AND IT FEELS GOOD TOO. JACK FLASH- IOW A RED BOX IN EVERY POT If you are one of those readers who would love to build a red box but don't have electronic experience, the tape method s for you. With only a small cassette recorder (price-$25) and a telephone pickup coil (about $2) you can easily and quickly record the sound of pay phone money. The pay phones are now single-slot types which make a tone when you deposit coins, but the earpiece Is disconnected momentarily so that you hear nothing. But it you call up a friend and deposit money, be will hear it He can then record the tones off of his phone, and use them whenever he goes to a pay phone to make long-distance calls. The usual method is to have your friend call you at the pay phone (one that rings; some don't) and this way you can deposit money and get It back when you hang up, pickup & hang up again. You deposit 6 quarters, 2 dimes, and 2 nickels. The tape can be played to the operator for a sum of $1.80, or rewound quickly for more quarters or dimes or whatever. Volume is important, if the operator is to be fooled. The beeps should be loud and clear, with little background noise. A recorder with Automatic Level (AGC) is good to use for recording. For playback to the operator, a small 2 1/2" external speaker is useful, because you can easily take it away from the mouthpiece of the phone when you want to skip a particular coin sound. The correct volume is set as follows: At the pay phone, alternately play the tape and deposit money, holding the speaker about 111 from the phone mouthpiece. When your friend hears the two at the same level, mark the volume control on the cassette for future use. It's that easy! Use phone booths where people won't see you playing the recorder and become suspicious. And in case your suspicions are aroused, simply erase the tape. DEAR YIPL I have some black-box info you might be interested in. This info, came from a Bell V. P. talking to his nephew. He says some central Offices have a computer tied in to all its tandems which randomly checks the resistance of the calls going on. When it detects a low-resistance call it prints out all available info, your number, his number, time. Supposedly the second time the same conditions are detected between the same two numbers someone gets screwed, usually he who has the box. I can't say how true all this is, but its plausible, they do have diagnostics equipment. In R. I., (A. C. 401) 959-XXXX (any numbers) gives a high pitch that makes the tandem cheep. 958-XXXX gets some Lineman's office. 955-XXXX gives employee new and Bell -propaganda. 238-0000 gives you a line that doesn't ring or answer. All should be free. It would be a great user service if you could compile and publish a list of what overseas senders go where. P. S. - I would appreciate it if you could clarify your mail status and how the F. B. I. gets your subscriber's names. -SAV-ROK, R. I. - We bulk mail at the post office where they are broken up into different mail bags. From that point the issues are scattered around the country, and our mail gets probably more mishandling than outright censoring, due to sloppily managed postal service. It is also possible that certain individual postmen throw out YIPLs, but if a manager did it as policy it would leak out too fast. Cooperation between the post office and FBI in revealing subscriber names is totally illegal and would be very embarrassing if leaked. Not to mention that we will sue all parties involved if it occurs. All you postal workers let us know what treatment YIPL mail gets in your area. We might mention that we do not trade, sell, or otherwise expose our mailing list. 0 Allende Accuses ITT in UN By JERRY CLAPSO Of Time News UN Bureau Chile's Marxist President Salvador Allende. addressing a packed United Nations General Asembly, accused the International Telephone & Telegraph Co. yesterday of "attempting to bring about a civil war"in his country to retaliate agaist his nationalization policies. We are not only enduring a financial blockade, but are the victims of downright aggression,` Allende said. He said United States companies began acting against his government after it nationalized several industries. including copper and telephone communications. Although he did not attack the U.S. Directly, he charged that 'capitalistic imperialism' is responsible for his country's ailing and backward economy. He charged that ITT tried to prevent him, from taking office after his 1970 election through a "sinister plan" that included "terrorist attacks planned outside Chile" and which culminated in the assasination of the army commannder in chief, Gen. Rene Schneider. "It was clear that the purpose was to drag us into civil war, the utmost degree of disintegration for our country." Allende said. 1970-71 Documents Last March. he said, documents had been unearthed in which ITT suggested in 1970 that the U.S. intervene in Chilean affairs. He said another document. dated October 1971, showed that ITT proposed a "new plan of action" aimed at the overthrow of his Socialist government in six months. Allende said his country was also involved in a struggle against "aggression" by Kennecott Copper Corp. Kennecott has brought court suits in several Western nations to prevent delivery of Chilean copper. Allende said this caused his country's copper industry grave harm, and its credit rating and drawing power with European and U.S. banks have been impaired. U.S. Arbassador George Bush denied any U.S. involvement in the hassle between Chile, ITT and Kennecott. and told reporters he took exception to Allende's insinuation of indirect U.S. Responsibility for economic strangulation of Chile. DEAR YIPL Those individuals who are in the habit of squirting epoxy into pay phone coin slots would be better advised to squirt it into the locks instead. That way the machines will function in case someone needs it. Of course, upright, moral YIPL readers love Pa Bell too much to do such a thing. -R. F., LA, CAL. - DEAR YIPL Only problem with red box #16: faint tone (constant) in background with periodic soft beeps even when no button is depressed. Can anything be done? I bought what I thought were good quality ($1. 20) International rectifier switches (coin silver contacts, etc. ) and they're hogwash. Will look for better constructed versions. Thanks for all-you folks are beautiful. -MN NY- You've got a leakage problem. Some possibilities are to decrease the 47K resistor on the base of the shorting transistor, decrease the 22K resistor of the same transistor, or increase the 5 mfd. capacitor in the emitter circuit. Or try this: Move the collector of the shorting transistor to the other side of the .01 mfd. -capacitor. This will almost surely load the oscillator beyond hope when the shorting transistor is turned on, but may affect the character of the beeps. It shouldn't be too serious, however BUILD A SNOOP LIGHT CAUTION: THIS IS NOT A FOOLPROOF FONE TAP DETECTOR, but it's great for finding out if all the extensions in your home are hung-up. So If you're going to talk about "Konfidential Matters" or otber "Dopee Subjects" you're sure that when You say "I've got it maw" no one else has it too. To insure that all phones on your end of a conversation are hung-up construct the very simple line voltage detector shown here. The light bulb is a 5 volt miniatre type, such as a 1490 or a no. 27. Ideal is the phone company's own tiny slide-base lamps found in multi-button (hold-button) phones. For these use a 470 ohm, 1/2 watt resistor to lengthen the life. The capacitor is a 50 mfd., 100 volts or greater electrolytic type. Get the parts out of any radio or electrical store for about $2. Then connect each of the two contacts from the light to the two contact wires of the capacitor, and Install both between t blue wire (inside the phone) and the 'F' screw. where the blue wire normally connects to. Be careful not to touch other screws or wires with the new parts you install. Carefully wrap up the connections with tape and close up the phone. Test thd light by picking up the phone. The light will light, and if someone picks up an extension, It will go very dim or completely out. HOW IT WORKS: When a fone is in use (without a black box) the voltage on your phone line drops to about 4 volts. If the lamp is wired as shown, the 4 volts will flow through It when the phone is picked up. If another phone is used, the line drops to only 2 volts, and the light gets weaker. This other phone, however, must be on your phone line, and not, for example, on the line of a friend you're talking to. The capacitor allows the high ringing voltage to pass around the lamp, so that the bulb is not accidentally fizzed if the phone is picked up during a ring. You can install this in any normal dial phone, even if already equipped with a black box (Issue 11). The light will not light during free long-distance calls, however since we don't make free long-distance call that's a minor problem, no? It's not just the rate increases that burn me up about Bell. It's those local calls that sound like there's an atomic war on, after you've dialed a wrong number three times in a row. It's that lousy Bell service. Lousy service comes from rotten equipment and asinine employees. The equipment is rotten because Bell doesn't feel like buying new equipment. It costs money and doesn't make money for them. Thus, there is no reason. People don't enjoy piercing tones that blow their ears out, or taps and clicks constantly on their private conversation~. But people don't count, unless they're the few who own stock, lots of stock. It's a fact that in New York City the phone company puts the new equipment in the richer areas and badly neglect service in predominantly non-white areas. Recently they sent out printed leaflets in the bills saying that they were changing to a new dial tone to improve service. Results new dial tone with no improvement in service. The employees are another problem. Though there are many polite employees, the bad ones do their best to make up for their numbers. They listen to your conversations, act like they do you a favor, and cut you off if you start to get apoplectic from not being able to strangle them. It has often happened that an operator will accuse you of being a bother or of lying to them, and they then pronounce your sentence- your phone will be disconnected for the night. Too bad you only get credit if service is cut for 24 straight hours. And if you call the business office you get to talk to the latest invention of Bell Laboratories- computer people. They recite certain phrases and no others. Sometimes they blow a fuse and keep repeating phrases in random incoherent tones. You don't have to be sick to work for Bell; as their ads say, "We'll train you". Why do some operators monitor your calls? Because operators themselves are harassed and monitored by their supervisors, and the supervisors don't make clicks when they listen to you and the operator. Employees are treated like children, like boy scouts, or as if they're in the army (as many employees are hired because they're "pre -disciplined "). Employees are urged to act like they have some personal stake in AT&T and to protect its equipment with their life. Little insects that eat cloth wire remain a pain in the ass to operators bodies because PaL Bell won't spray their fossilized equipment or (God forbid) replace it with plastic wires. Profits before People-AT&T's Success Story! But cheer up folks! Soon AT&T will eliminate thousands of jobs by charging for information calls, brainwashing us into dialing our own calls, and soon there will just be one big daddy computer-ANID THAT'S ALL! Who needs people anyway? How to get out of paying deposit Feel Free to lie to phone co. They don't have time to check your answers, especially in spring and fall in college towns. When they ask, "Are you married? I say YES. When they ask where you work, NEVER say, "I'm a student." Tell them you're civil service. When they ask, "Do you have a bank account?" say YES and mention a checking account in one local bank and a savings account in another. When they ask, "How long have you been at that address?" say a year and name your landlord. If they still want a deposit, get very insulted and say "To hell with it." Then apologize: "Gee, I'm not mad at you personally, but those stupid company policies I I'll bet working there is a real drag. " Call 2 or 3 days later, go thru the above routine again, & you probably will get the phone with no hassle about a required deposit. Very important: After several months, often 6, you are entitled to your deposit back. The phone company will give you interest on the deposit in the form of phone credit, but it's no bargain. The interest can be earned at any bank, but the phone company invests your money in ways to make a fortune for them and much less for you. Don't let them use your money! If you have your friends do this it will mean less money to spend on Western Electric's defense contracts. They were the bloodsuckers -behind the ABM. The phone company also invests money from phone bills and the sooner they get it, the more profits they get. Don't ever send in your bill until the last possible day marked on the bill. Be sure to call these swell people at convenient times. Area code is 606. Honeywell299-0449- Ask them about contract DAAA-21 73-CO286 of January 1973. And ask theta about the $30.9 million Navy contract for the Rockeye II cluster bomb. Ask them why they keep working for a company that makes 40% of its profits from anti-personnel weapons. -NL T., Kentacky- STUCK STACKS? A memo from the Director of Switching Engineering to the various Bell Engineers reveals that a device has been built to prevent stacked tandems. It is being installed in all senders with varying degrees of haste. We have some copies of the memo in Destructory Assistance.

[HaBi 1]    YIPL No. 19 - June 1973