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FBI Illegally Tapped Phone Phreaks In 1969

Posted by kdawson on from the nothing-new-under-the-sun dept.

xmedar writes "In his talks about the history of Apple, Woz has often recounted how the 1971 Esquire article 'Secrets of the Little Blue Box' set him on the road to phone phreaking. Now someone has obtained the FBI file of one of the phreaks, Joe Engressia (who later changed his name to Joybubbles), via Freedom of Information requests. The file reveals that Engressia was illegally wiretapped by the FBI and the phone company back in 1969. J. Edgar Hoover considered the blind college student a national security risk and wrote a memo about him to John Ehrlichman."

15 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, now it's time for the Nixon haters! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    What are you people going to say? He's like Bush? A crook that can't be trusted? Don't talk about President Nixon that way!

    1. Re:Oh, now it's time for the Nixon haters! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course not, he's dead. It's more like:

      He was like Bush. A crook that couldn't be trusted.

  2. Re:Well... by Narpak · · Score: 5, Funny

    "But... but... all the other world leaders are doing in!"
    "If all the other world leaders jumped of a cliff, would you?"
    /sulk

    --
    The Long Now Foundation
  3. That's ok by pngwen · · Score: 5, Funny

    The phreaks illegally tapped the FBI at the same time!

    --
    I am the penguin that codes in the night.
  4. Re:If you are illegally hacking phone systems by SillyNickName · · Score: 1, Funny

    You don't really have much of a leg to stand on.

    I presume you're referring to the FBI.

  5. So what files do they have on the other phreaks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Seems way out of line, this kid could dial phones by whistling up 2600Hz, and this rates memos from Hoover (head of FBI) to Laird (head of DoD) to Ehrlichmann (WH Chief of Staff), in the middle of the Vietnam War?? Imagine the files they must have on the phreaks who could only whistle up to 2540Hz or so.

  6. Re:If you are illegally hacking phone systems by shermo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Indeed, and he should keep an eye out

    --
    Insanity: voting in the same two parties over and over again and expecting different results
  7. My Reply: by anti-human+1 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hopefully, yes.

    1. Re:My Reply: by CDMA_Demo · · Score: 4, Funny

      If I was Control, you'd have jumped off the cliff.
      If you were Control, you'd have jumped off the cliff.
      Neither of us have jumped off the cliff, so obviously I'm not Control.

  8. Re:Doesn't mean it should be fixed.. by ph4s3 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Decent, respectable people on Slashdot?

    You're new here, aren't you?

  9. Re:Doesn't mean it should be fixed.. by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2, Funny
    Once I have a few years of experience with the law, I'm running for office, and I'm going to do everything I can to fix what's wrong with our government.


    Mr. Corbettw Goes To Washington. Say, you're not the leader of the Boy Rangers are you?

  10. Re:Well... by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can you see world's population assembling under that cliff, chanting "Jump! Jump!"?

    Hell, I could see quite a few people giving them a nudge in the 'right' direction...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  11. Oblig. quote by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mustard: "Why is J. Edgar Hoover on your phone?"
    Wadsworth: "I don't know. He's on everybody else's, so why shouldn't he be on mine!"

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  12. Re:Doesn't mean it should be fixed.. by NeuroManson · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hence the "Crisis" crisis (tm). Everything is a "crisis".

    Funny, I thought it was "FUCK YEAH!" (from Team America: World Police)

    Health Care ... FUCK YEAH!
    Environment ... FUCK YEAH!
    Energy/Oil ... FUCK YEAH!
    Republicans ... FUCK YEAH!
    Democrats ... FUCK YEAH!
    Terroism ... FUCK YEAH!
    Drugs ... FUCK YEAH!
    Immigration ... FUCK YEAH!

    --
    Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
  13. Re:whither now, 2nd amendment? by xalorous · · Score: 2, Funny

    Withered now it is.

    --
    TANSTAAFL GIGO Acronyms to live by!