[HaBi 1]    TAP No. 21

TAP No. 21 Technological American Party - August/September 1973 No fancy excuses: We changed our name because we want people to know where we really are and what we hope to become. Technological American Party is rapidly becoming a people's warehouse of technological information, and a name like Youth International Party Line simply didn't ring a bell, even if you were trying to find out how to contact the phone phreaks, except of course for the Party Line. We've been receiving so much information lately about gas and electric meters, locks, even chemistry, that a name change is definitely in order. We seriously doubt that phones will cease to be our main interest, but it really Isn't fair to ignore the rest of what science has to offer us. Because so much varied information will begin to be covered and researched, the newsletter will try to mainly cover items of the most general interest, as it always has. In addition, we will start preparIng more reprints of the "fact sheet" type, so that those of you who desire certain areas of info can get it. What we need is for YOU to contribute ideas. We want to know what you know, and what you want to know. Any field, and we mean anything that would be difficult or impossible to learn about is a likely candidate. This means that, as usual, we will be covering information about subjects that happen to be illegal as well as legal activities. Naturally, we don't advocate performing illegal activities, though our readers sometimes do. There is a question as to whether a-free society can even ban advocacy of illegal activities, but our policy of disclaiming the stuff comes from a belief that telling people what to do is like telling them what they can't do. All of our information comes from readers. If you don't help your fellow readers, we'll have to put out blank issues. So start opening up other fields, such as the ones mentioned above and anything else that you think needs researching and distributing. Remember- TAP is an equal opportunity destroyer. Dear YIPL; You may be interested to know that, according to the little booklets Pa Bell' sends out to its stockholders, a phone call from a pay-phone costs them 7 1/2~. This includes buying their equipment from Western Electric (whom they own switch, hook and dial). That means they get 2 1/2~ as free money. Also, at the end of 172, Bell owned over 105 million of the world's 300 million and the U. S. Is 128 million. There are also 1800 independent Telcos to divide what's left. DEFENSE FUND As you probably have heard, Abbie's been busted for allegedly selling cocaine to some agents and the D.A. has made it pretty clear that this isn't just another bust. It's to put Abbie away for life and make a spectacle of him. He and the other defendants intend to challenge the laws classifying cocaine with heroin and they're going to need money to do it. We know most people think Abbie has a lot of money, but he's almost broke. It took 4 weeks to raise bail. TAP readers have a lot to be grateful to Abbie for. Without him this newsletter wouldn't exist. Aside from giving away over $100, 000 from book sales to political groups, Abbie has donated time and money to this newsletter, with no intention of it being an ego booster or the source of a future defense fund. We should return the favor and help him out. Let's let him know that TAP readers support him. Send whatever you and your friends can afford to Abbie Hoffman & Friends Legal Defense, c/o Gerald Lefcourt(Abbie's lawyer), 640 Broadway, N. Y. , N. Y. 10012. If you can, try to 1 et others know about the legal fund so they can help,too. Thanks. If all you can afford to send is a buck, please do it. BEGINNERS ONLY! You can now learn about Electronics easily and quickly with our new Correspondence Course. The first one is on Basic Electrical Concepts and includes a few TAP-type projects and easy-to-read explanations of electricity. By reading this and others comIng out each month you'll learn how to build one of the projects that have been printed by us in the past. You'll learn how to read schematics, buy parts and materials cheap, safety, etc. You can no longer say that what we publish Is above your head because any beginner can learn from these courses. Women are especially urged to take the course as they usually have a fear of electronic concepts and this course will be understood by all. Let's hear from you! It's like a back Issue and is 50~, and free If you can't afford it (let us know). Convention We had a lot of fun at this year's convention. There was significantly less paranoia than at last year's Convention. At that time, two men from the District Attorney's office, two men from the telephone company, and some dude who looked like an FBI agent posing as a reporter were really giving the people in the Blue Box workshop the creeps. Everybody was afraid to give out information with these guys taking pictures and making recordings at the workshop. A hastily organized legal workshop ,with Abbie helped to put things in perspective, and we announced the presence of the phone company agents, who promptly got uptight and left. This year there were quite a few more people attending (several hundred) and it appears even less agents. Black masks were handed out at the door for those who felt they didn't want to have pictures taken. Some people came already equipped with masks, sunglasses, and brain wigs. A pair of security men from a Rochester Independent company admitted that they were only there on their own, but to learn what we were up to lately. The people who attended felt little animosity toward the few agent-types; in fact, a petition was circulating urging that all agents be paid double overtime for attending the convention. Eight half-hour videotapes on many phases of phone phreaking, power heisting, and using slugs. were shown on video monitors around the room. These were alternated with workshops in four areas around the ballroom. One workshop (pictured) dealt with, installing extra devices on your phone line, such as extensions, automatic answering equipment, hold buttons and the like. Other workshops dealt with Con Ed, Boxes of all colors, Credit Card Calls, and "reforming" the phone company. A number of display boxes were scattered over the area One demonstrated the busy tones and dial tones and how they are generated and timed to 60 and 120 interruptions per minute. Another played interesting things you might hear should you be so fortunate to call around the world to different phone numbers, like Dial-a-Disc in France, weather in Tokyo, or Sex on Sunset Strip. There was a display that demonstrated the 2600 cycle whistle and allowed you to practice it into a telephone handset, and probably the most popular was a Red Box, in which you could hear what each of the main circuits did and how the actual Coin Denomination Tones are produced. Some people were even making cassette recordings from the Red Box display unit. The press was there in force, filming and interviewing anyone they could get to talk. The atmosphere seemed very light and people did seem to be enjoying the afternoon. Back issues were being sold rapidly, and most people passed up the organic carob cake and brownies in order to watch the videotapes or attend the workshops. Al Bell gave a short speech on how the phone company plans to raise the public phone rate to 20~ and blame the increased cost on phone phreaks. A walking pay phone was making the rounds, soliciting 20~ contributions here and there. Some attendees were circulating credit card lists and back issues of Telephony. The display boxes were built especially for the convention and we knew that people would want to know how they were constructed. The 2600 cycle whistle detector is actually a toll-fraud detector since it activates upon hearing 2600. We had some schematics at the convention but seeing as they were free, they were all gone by noon. If you would like schematics for the 2600 cycle detector, the displayed red box, and the dual-tone oscillator(which is not, by the way, a blue box), we have more of them in and we're asking c15 each (free if you can't afford it). They use transistors and IC's in each of them and each circuit can be built for about $15. If you received a circuit, be sure and note the correction on the Red Box sheet. For the price of a SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE you can also get a copy of the Convention Schedule which includes Joe Engressia's and Captain Crunch's telephone numbers in case you want to rap with them. We have also compiled a list of typical Destructory Assistance topics which Is free If you send the envelope as above. If you attended the convention, give feedback. What didn't you like? What do you wish there was but wasn't? What, if a thing, did you like? Got any ideas on the next convention? Let us know! We're working hard to get more Phone Phreak Convention T-shirts and others. We'll let you know next issue. Meanwhile, help recruit friends and Telco employees as researchers and contributors to TAP. If you want to do research, tell us LETTERS Dear TAP, Been reading Monopoly, & it's changed my whole outlook on the phone company. Before, I had phreaked 90% for kicks, and 1,0% for saving on long distance call Example of how Pa Bell screws the public_NY Tel has been running a big TV & newspaper ad campaign telling people to send for a free booklet on how to save on your phone bills. Even included a billing insert on where to send to. But you couldn't get it by calling the B.O., they had none. You had to write for it- Q, - Why couldn't NY Tel have simply sent the booklet out with the bills instead of only where to send for it? Or simply publish it in the directory, or even let you call the B. O~ ? A. - Because Pa Bell wants people to think that it wants them to save on their phone bills, but it really doesn't and knows that only a small fraction of all the people will care & bother to send for it. -The Rochester Phone Book says in the front: "In the event that a break-in, burglary, theft, toll. phraud, act of vandalism, or any crime involving Rochester Tel property is discovered call S e c. u r I ty 9 2 1 - 2-3 5 3 that's A. C. 716, so tell them what you think. Now for some info: the Wash. D. C. sweep tone test # mentioned previously (202 560-9944) has been restored to service, toll free of course. Oui Magazine has an article on phreaking (August) includinq Blue Bix freqs, the first time ever in a non-technical straight mag. They quote a Telco security officer. "Phone freaks are a danger to National Security". - The N. Y. Tel Network Service Bureau Traffic Report is 212 394-0111. - A pay phone rang, I picked it up- & found I was the party of the third part to a call that was going through; in fact I answered before the called party did. Although they said nothing worth listening to, it shows how much privacy you have on the phone. - It would be useful if you could publish what type of equipment such as panel, cross bar, or ESS Is used in the various N. Y. exchanges. In NY exch. the 569/M *1 crossbar, here are some interesting codes: -221 is an alias of 575-that is, 221-XXXX will get you 575-XXXX. -660 is a touch-tone test. When you hear dial tone dial 1 thru 0. If correct "beep-beep" will follow. Press 6 or 7 switchhook once, & hang up, & will ring back. -840 identification bas been changed to 958 and 880 which hadn't worked before. -970 gets you a silent line without paying a message unit. -890 gets you the same thing that happens when you-leave the phone off the hook too long. -975-XXXX sounds like a toll call going through, including polarity reversal, but I get "unable to complete call as dialed". - As you may know, they're going to start using area codes as Los Angeles. central office codes, which will mean changes in switching equipment all over the country. Happy 25th Anniversary of No. 5 Crossbar (July 11, 1948, Media, Pa.) -H. Gordon Liddy, N.Y. - The New York News Service-a bi-weekly packet of New York's best underground Journalism and cartoons. Send for 25c sample. NYNS, 204 W. 10, NYC Dear TAP Mail order fireworks is available from: Universum Fireworks and Novelty, Box 123, Muncy, Pa. 17756, Calalog 50c, and from Westech, Box 593, Logan, Utah. 84321, catalog 50c. 7bey mail by UPS or freight collect. A friend bought a case of firecrackers from Universal and had no trouble. The shipping statement, that you sign, will say "ICC class C common fireworks, explosive"- but don't worry. On the news they said "crackers and bottle rockets are soon to be illegal, so stock up. " -J. S. , OREGON ATTENTION If you were at the Convention and found Linda's pocketbook. please let us know Dear Pbreaks: Want to thank you for the greatest convention ever. Have some questions which might be of broad reader interest. a) S o that an extension phone will remain undetected, it is advised that the bell be turned off. How is this done anyway? b) If my current phone is replaced with a "touch-tone", Is it possible that the pig company will be able to detect the change? c) Missed the talk about Con Ed. What Is the best way to fuck the fucking Electrical Co? Thanks again for the Public Service! a)Turn bell off by opening phone and removing the red wire of the bell from the screw It's already or b) Unless your line is hooked up for touch-tone (many already are), you won't be able to make calls, but you can receive them. The phone company won't be able to detect unless they hear you touch-toning. c) We'll compile info about electrical companies in the next two months. See next page. Dear TAP, Bell's PR dept. has free films available on various topics such as TASI, ESS, EDDD. Call up telco business office, and say you would like to find out about renting phone co. educational films. Put on your best Sunday School voice, and tell them that you're in charge of programming for your church youth group (that's how I found out). If they ask what church, have a name ready. They have a nice brochure, and some of the films are very informative. Have you ever mentioned the fact that out-of-city phone books can be obtained free from Pa? Trust call the business office and say you want to get a phone book for another city. They'll switch you to the rep. for your exchange. Give her the info, and she'll (or he'll) get your name & address. If they ask why you want it, just say that you've just moved from there and have a lot of friends there. When they ask if it's a business or residence, say residence (they charge businesses more). Dear TAP, Just thought you might be interested in a few pieces of information. First of all, a guy named Dial has invented a lie detector that can be used over the phone. Fun, huh? It measures the stress in a person's voice. He also said that he had sold them to P.D.s, Gov't. agencies and Big Corporations! What corporation has more voices to deal with and is larger than our friend Pa? Don't get stressed when calling! Right! For you bugged phreaks, Samuel Line, Jr., Vice-President of a Bell subsidiary in Penn., says, "We have been historically against wire- tapping". However, Bell provides a line to the FBI if needed directly from the tapee's home. You can beat the simplest type of bug (A transmitter in the phone's microphone) by ripping a new mic. off from some other phone and replacing your transmitter with it. If you bang a payphone long enough, the mic. will loosen up. Keep up the good work.

[HaBi 1]    TAP No. 21