New York 99.5 FM
You can hear the best classic jazz in New York
every Saturday on Jazz Sampler with Bill Farrar.
From 4.30 to 6, Saturday afternoon,
listen to Jazz Sampler with Bill Farrar
on listener-sponsored WBAI New York 99.5 FM.
Historical novelist Thomas Flanagan.
Songs, ballads, orations,
especially speeches from the dock
before you're sentenced to prison,
all of these are ways of mythologizing the past.
In the course of a national struggle,
this is probably ascension.
I'm not sure that at the present, in Ireland,
the impulse to mythologize the past
has altogether healthy consequences.
Join us for a movable feast.
Contemporary literature here on WBAI New York,
Friday evenings at 8.30.
This Saturday, October 13th at 12 noon,
a newly formed grassroots organization,
the Citizens Planning Board,
is holding a demonstration
on the site of the proposed
2,000-acre Breslin Development Project,
slated to include New York's largest mall,
an industrial park, high-density housing,
and more in Long Island's last stand
of unprotected pine barrens.
This site is directly above
our state-designated
sole-source drinking water aquifer.
Take the Long Island Expressway
to exit 68 North,
the William Floyd Parkway.
Go one-half mile north on the William Floyd
to the demonstration site.
For more information,
contact the Citizens Planning Board
at 928-6391
or 473-1039.
Those numbers again,
928-6391
or 473-1039.
That's this Saturday,
October 13th at 12 noon.
And those are area code 516.
516.
516.
516.
And if you feel the need
to get involved
and to make a difference
in the world,
that's something you really
should think about doing
this Saturday at noon.
Environmental protests
on Long Island,
exit 68,
on the Long Island Expressway.
It's going to be right there
on the expressway
to protest what is going on
or what may be going on.
Very good evening to you.
This is Emmanuel Goldstein
and site of the new program
Off the Hook.
Actually an old program
making a new appearance
at a new time.
Hopefully a time
that we'll be staying in
for a while.
We're here every two weeks.
And I've been asked
to remind you
that Nancy Rodriguez,
New York Collage Latin Music Show,
has been temporarily moved
to Thursdays at 9 a.m.
So that public service announcement
coming to you by way of WBAI,
New York,
where we always believe
in leaving phones
off the hook.
The telephone keeps ringing
So I ripped it off the wall
I cut myself while shaving
Now I can't make a cough
It couldn't get much worse
But if they could
They would
Bumbiddley Bum
For the best
Expect the worst
I hope that's understood
Bumbiddley Bum!
No doubt we could
I can't make a cough
I can't make it
Okay, bye.
What, are you telling me?
Oh, yeah, do you wanna go play this?
Some call
But, yeah, do you know
We don't wanna be
I don't wanna be
It couldn't have
So, what, you may ask, is this program all about?
Well, we come here and we discuss technology.
Technology, technology gone astray, technology run amok, technology perhaps turning upon
its masters, the kind of thing that happens all the time and the kind of thing that computer
hackers, among many others, have a handle on.
That's why there's much we can learn through the world of hacking, through the world of
telephone freaks, and just general education, something that there is certainly a lack of
these days.
Because technology-wise, we can't figure out how to make phone calls.
We can't figure out how to get our own credit reports.
We don't know what's in computer files about us.
We know very little.
But, if you listen to this program, if you listen to WBAI, you'll find that you're learning
little by little, very, very many things, I guess is the best way to say it, of different
aspects of life and technology.
It's just one of those aspects.
A couple of horror stories, and we'll be giving you the chance to give us your horror stories
as well, this comes to us from a computer publication, computer publication passed on around computer
networks.
This network, known as the Internet, links lots of schools and defense department contractors,
things like that, all throughout the world.
They share stories in a magazine called Risks, and it's designed to illustrate the risks of high technology
and the risks of stupidity and dependency upon high technology.
A woman in Kissimmee, Florida, sent me a dossier that she has compiled over the past few months,
carefully documenting an alarming sequence of problems.
It is one of the most bizarre cases I have ever seen.
The problems are still continuing, unresolved.
She runs a business out of her home, and has an 800 number that rings onto one of her two
home phones, although the problems began before the 800 line was connected.
Her local phone company is United Telephone Company.
It's one of those independent phone companies.
The list of events is somewhat incredible, but is supported by many witnesses, including
law enforcement people.
It includes the following types of incidents.
Calls billed to her 800 number from parties that never called her, in one case from a phone
in Chicago that was not equipped for outgoing calls.
Calls billed to one of the home phones when there was no phone activity.
That is, for calls that were never made to people who never received them.
These troubles with the phone company have resulted in huge bills for calls that apparently were never made.
Even more fascinating incidents were these.
Frequent, incoming calls that were wrong numbers, usually in large batches on the same day, to
similar 800 numbers.
Originally three numbers in particular, and then, suddenly, two new numbers after some problem
was allegedly fixed.
With alarming frequency, apparently crossed lines resulting in two parties, both getting
ringing tones, answering and finding themselves talking to each other.
Crossed lines such that multiple conversations could be heard clearly at the same time.
Repeated calls to 911 attributed to her phone, even when no one was home.
But the most interesting and best documented single incident was probably this.
On February 27th, 1990, a local Kissimmee police officer was in the house, trying to make sense
out of what was going on.
He picked up the phone and dialed the police department.
However, he reached Yellow Cab.
He put down the phone, not understanding how he reached the Yellow Cab company, when, about
three minutes later, the telephone rang, and the officer answered the phone, only to be
connected to a Howie.
Howie was a dispatcher at the police department.
Only, neither of them had called one another.
It's only a software problem.
With remotely reprogrammable call forwarding, speed dial, redial, automatic dialing units,
almost anything seems possible these days.
Especially when you consider the possible interactions among these features.
One could program up some of the above incidents as combinations thereof.
However, this woman did not subscribe to any of these features.
Although, the mechanism to turn them on is itself programmable.
If these were the only problems, the logical choice would be a messed up central office and
monumental incompetence on the part of the telephone company in fixing the problems.
Apparently, the telephone company has been baffled, with even the trap-and-trace efforts seeming
not having been consistent with observed reality.
Some observed calls were not trapped, and some trapped calls were never placed.
But compounding the situation have been a variety of apparently genuine threatening and
or harassing phone calls.
From that, we consider the tentative conclusion that there are either at least two completely
independent phenomena, telephone system problems plus malicious human agents, or one set of
interrelated phenomena caused by a malicious person who has access to and knows the telephone
hardware and software system with any of a variety of motives.
Is it possible that we might be able to provide some help for this person in Kissimmee, Florida?
This person who seems to be a victim of many problems, including the computer is never wrong syndrome
on the part of the telephone company, whose employees have had difficulty believing that any of
these things could actually happen.
And the main question is, does anyone know of other cases of unintentional or intentionally
caused rampant deviations from expected normal behavior that have been attributable to a telephone
system and its operation as a result of scrambled software, miswired switching gear, inept personnel,
etc.? Has anything like this happened to you?
Let us know.
The sun is shining slowly.
I hear only their birds are flying so low.
Honey, you're my one and only, so pay me what you owe me.
The lights are going down slowly, in the woods the animals are moving.
In my dreams you're talking to me.
Your voice is moving through me.
You talk as if you knew me, so pay me what you owe me.
I can't be sure to pay me what you owe me.
The sun is shining slowly.
The birds are flying so low.
Honey, you're my one and only, so pay me what you owe me.
The sun is shining slowly.
The birds are flying so low.
Honey, you're my one and only, so pay me what you owe me.
You're my one and only, so pay me what you owe me.
You're my one and only, so pay me what you owe me.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Man, we have a situation here.
Boss, what do you want me to do?
Man, nothing.
Boss, then why did you call me?
Well, it's Soviet humor.
I'm sure there are many more amusing and not-so-amusing effects of having a telephone system that is so unpredictable.
The Soviet telephone system is non-digital, of course, and still uses old crossbar switching, if not step switching.
And that's unlikely to be the problem in Florida, but the problems sound similar.
And then we hear from a person who had a similar problem with U.S. West in Eugene, Oregon around 1988.
He says,
A friend of mine called me from his home.
A little later, I returned the call.
Instead of any normal response, the phone system responded with the out-of-service message.
You know, three loud tones, followed by,
The number you have called has been disconnected or is out of service.
On a couple of subsequent tries, motivated by suspicion that I made an error,
followed by disbelief, I always got the same message.
Eventually, I called an operator to complain.
It turns out that my friend's phone had been forwarded to another number,
despite the facts that, one, the other number was not a working number,
and, two, my friend did not have call forwarding.
It seems to have been an internally generated system error.
A disturbing aspect of this is that my friend could always call out,
so that his phone seemed to be working.
It's just that no one ever seemed to call them.
It's unknown how long this state had existed.
Indeed, if the number to which the calls were being forwarded was a working number
that turned out to be either always busy or not answered,
this situation might have continued indefinitely.
And, in Israel, the government-owned company is notorious for such incidents.
Where this contributor lives,
connections to numbers in Tel Aviv starting with 4,
especially 4-1 and 4-2,
are sometimes close to impossible,
with all the phenomena you mentioned in previous articles,
especially crosstalk between lines.
The common explanation is that this is an old exchange,
which is overloaded.
In any case,
all this is caused by bad hardware,
mainly due to rain damage.
When it rains,
they have to wait until the lines are dry before fixing anything,
but then they don't know where the cracks are.
There are new and computerized exchanges, too,
but the only differences seem to be that
such malfunctions are echoed into billing as well.
And, of course,
they blame the computer for everything.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks again.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
MUSIC CONTINUES
If you're planning to do some travelling over the next couple of months, you might want to stay in touch with news from home via shortwave, even if it's to find out the latest details on the price of a litre of petrol.
Here at Media Network, we've compiled a 56-page consumer guide to world-band portables used for shortwave listening, and we cover sets from 50 to 5,000 US dollars.
If you'd like a copy of the guide, and it's free, just drop us a line.
Maybe you'd also like to tell us a bit about yourself, what you'd like us to cover from this part of Europe in future editions, and what time you were listening to the programme.
Here comes the address. It's simply Media Network, Radio Netherlands, P.O. Box 222, and then a zip code 1200JG in Hilversum, that's H-I-L-V-E-R-S-U-M, in the Netherlands.
Once again, Media Network, Radio Netherlands, P.O. Box 222, 1200JG, Hilversum, the Netherlands.
Or you can even send your request by electronic mail.
Facts, the facts, to Hilversum, 724352.
If I say the word aloof, you might think I was referring to someone who'd lost touch with reality.
But it can also stand for something. Additional low-output obscure flux.
And it's an intriguing area of two-way satellite communication.
Let me oversimplify for a few seconds.
As you may know, when you phone across the Atlantic Ocean, the two telephones are no longer connected by two discrete lengths of wire.
Your conversation is converted electronically into a stream of numbers, or data, combined with thousands of other telephone conversations going on at the same time,
and sent up to a satellite transponder as a whole bundle of mixed-up mathematics.
The trick, though, is that when the signal comes down from the satellite, the data has been packaged in such a way
that all the individual telephone conversations can be reconstructed at the other end.
You can set up the system to get maximum capacity out of the satellite, too.
So if someone on one side of the Atlantic stops to take a breath, or there's a momentary hesitation behind a computer terminal,
that data is not transmitted to North America, and the capacity can be used for another phone or data conversation.
But let's take our analogy further.
If the satellite sitting in geostationary orbit above the Atlantic is handling such a river of data, as it were,
is there a danger that someone might put a paper boat on top of the stream and get a free ride,
or worse still, somehow pollute the river of data?
Telecommunications specialist Rosella Ström has been investigating the world of satellite technology and piracy,
and has come up with some worrying data.
If you were to go and take a wideband broadcast satellite and just use a little bit of the frequency response of the satellite
by feeding up a very narrowband signal,
then you'll be able to have a piggyback ride on the transponder
and re-broadcast your signal wherever you want it, and totally unnoticed.
The link will carry voice, data, or fax transmissions.
So it's a bit like having a wideband signal, then, and there you are, a tiny speck.
It's like hiding in a traffic jam.
Yeah, exactly.
The story was published in the April issue of Electronics and Wireless World,
but it wasn't quite what it seemed.
Frank Ogden, the editor of the magazine, gave me, believe me, some surprising information.
We don't normally run April Fool jokes in the magazine,
but this time we decided the idea was so good that we just had to.
Being engineers, if we were going to produce a spoof, it had to be a very good one.
So we thought that with the intelligence of our readers,
that they wouldn't want to have, be able to go and discern a game too easily.
I haven't really stopped to think about it since I published it,
but my gosh, it is a spoof, though.
But the spoof backfired.
Nobody, even from the satellite industry, was caught out.
Joe McCormack, who is an Irish freelance consultant on satellite television,
tells me that ALOF actually exists.
They exist, but they're known as VSAT.
They actually are used in the States where they uplink and downlink
voice and fax transmissions.
That's the reason the article didn't raise any eyebrows or attract any comment.
But the VSATs operate by using the unused part of a satellite television transponder.
So the signal level there would be lower with respect to the center of the transponder.
So by using combinations of spread spectrum technique,
they can actually fit in an audio channel there too.
Now spread spectrum is where the signal is broken up into a digital format,
and one bit will be sent at one frequency.
Another bit will be sent at another frequency.
So it would, in effect, appear as noise throughout the transponder.
But that wouldn't degrade quality on the actual picture as long as the correct filter is used.
Now the military have used so-called spread spectrum technology for some time now.
If you want to send a secret message across the airwaves,
you can either try to scramble the signal so that someone tuned in to the same frequency
trying to overhear the conversation simply gets a garbled message.
Or you can chop up your message into tiny fragments
and transmit each of those fragments on a slightly different part of the radio dial.
Providing transmitter and receiver can cope with the constantly changing frequency,
something that's only been possible in the last 20 years,
someone tuned to just one frequency probably wouldn't even be aware that you're on the air.
Back to satellite technology there.
VSAT, which stands for Very Small Aperture Terminal,
is a fairly cheap and flexible two-way satellite technology.
In most countries, nobody, except a phone company,
is allowed to own and operate a two-way satellite dish.
So from the phone company's perspective,
it's a dangerous technology because it threatens to bypass their monopoly.
In fact, VSAT brings satellite links direct into business premises.
Companies could control their own communications
and VSAT free from the constraints of having to deal with the phone companies.
That's why in Europe, VSAT technology is so edged in by regulations
and it's almost unknown.
Because it's so easy to use,
John McCormack believes it could be easily abused.
With the availability of technology within the next few years,
VSATs will become common and it's a possibility someone will go crazy and try it.
Dr. Ahmed Gais, the Director of the Engineering and Operations Division of Immersat,
based in London, identifies three kinds of satellite piracy.
The first kind is where someone steals the satellite capacity
in order to communicate without harming the satellite.
The second case is where the intruder attempts to prevent others from communicating.
And it's usually called jamming.
The third type is perhaps the most objectionable,
and I'll call it hijacking of the satellite.
The intruder takes control of the satellite by breaking into the telemetry,
being able to read it, thereby telling what the satellite is actually doing,
and then issuing unauthorized commands to make the satellite do what he wants
rather than what the owner wants.
This means that it's possible to kidnap a satellite
and, for example, hold it for ransom.
It's possible in principle.
It certainly wouldn't go undetected for long.
And unless the hijacker had the resources of, let's say,
a high-technology advanced nation behind him,
would not be able to hijack a satellite.
I know of no case where this has happened in the past.
Dr. Gayis reckons that operators of telecommunication systems,
including satellites, of course,
are quite capable of coping with any sort of piracy,
should it ever occur.
But Joe McCormack is not so optimistic.
The public believes that they're in a safe world,
but the reality is that very little is safe in satellite technology,
partly due to the technology,
and it's also partly due to the attitude of the people who control the technology.
There's no way you can have a 100% safe system,
so 90% may be good enough,
but there's always the 10% that will cause a problem.
Why should they cause a problem?
Why should they like you to hack into a satellite network?
It's mental chess.
That's the best analogy for it.
Well, you're only dealing with a very small handful of people
who could actually interrupt the satellite,
and brain power required is a lot more than it would take to break into a computer system.
There's been no real reason to hijack a satellite yet.
What could be a good reason?
Boredom.
If you've done everything,
or rather done as much as you can with the present technology,
you always want to go a little bit further.
It's just going one step beyond.
I believe that's not a spoof.
A satellite is a bird which sits out there in space,
and it's defenseless.
Somebody could grab control,
and in most situations,
the satellites would respond and obey automatically.
I'll send an SOS to the world
I'll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets mad
I hope that someone gets mad
I hope that someone gets mad
Message in a bottle
Yeah
Rosela, that does seem quite frightening,
the research you've done so far.
Do you know if there are some active hackers in this business?
You have hackers trying to break into computers.
You have people trying to break into satellites?
From my information, yes, there are.
But I have no proof.
I haven't interviewed them yet.
When I get the interview,
I will come back here and report.
Okay.
Would you say that people who are playing around
with this technology
obviously must have money too,
because it's not just something that you can do
on a laboratory bench or do at home, is it?
Well, as a matter of fact,
John McCormick gave me this information.
It's possible to find the equipment you need
on the used market,
mainly the military surplus.
And a station, in order to hack into satellite,
might cost from a minimum of £7,000
to a maximum of £15,000.
A lot depends if you...
It's an homemade station
or if you want to buy everything new.
Obviously, it's a hacking activity
for rich hackers.
And, of course, very bored.
Yeah, as you just pointed out.
But, I mean, I remember the Captain Midnight situation
a while back
where it turned out
that it was a technician
at a television station in Florida,
I believe it was,
who put up a signal
and blocked her,
put a special message
over the home box office.
And, immediately,
there was this huge nationwide,
or US nationwide search
to try and find him.
And he was found
and, in fact, prosecuted in the end.
So, I mean,
on the other hand,
do you think that some of these people
are not going...
are not being found?
Well,
if you wanted to hack into a satellite
and obviously use the facility
and the capacity of the satellite
as some are doing already
without being noticed,
it is possible.
And because the size of the dish
is...
...be caught,
but they have to chase you by air.
And that means that an helicopter
or an airplane
has to come and find you.
And, obviously,
this is very expensive.
Well, let's hope
that satellite companies
recognize the hijacked threat
and take precautions
to prevent misuse
and abuse in the future.
That report was compiled
by Rosella Ström.
And we'd like to hear
your views on the subject, too.
In the meantime,
from Hilversum, Holland,
it's Cheers for Now.
Cheers for Now.
And Cheers from New York.
This is WBAI in New York.
The program is off the hook.
I'm Emmanuel Goldstein,
Goldstein, and we're talking
tonight about telephone systems
gone crazy,
satellite hijacking,
as it were,
and all kinds of other fun things.
We're going to be getting into
New York telephone scandal
in just a bit.
But, first,
a couple of more stories.
Again, our thanks to
whoever it was
that passed that on to me,
the Radio Netherlands piece there,
and hopefully we'll hear more
from them in the future.
Now back to
the Risks Digest,
which was pulled off
the Internet Computer Network.
Talking about
phone companies gone crazy.
And I should say,
at this point,
we'll be taking phone calls
if you want to
tell us your horror stories,
or if you have any questions
as to what
your phone is capable of
in the positive sense
and
in the horrible sense.
Phones can do a lot of damage.
The number is
279-3400,
area code 212.
This story,
while it may not be related
to a
phone company problem,
but the person writes,
when I was an undergraduate,
the university decided
to go from
party-line rotary phones
to a brand-spanking-new
digital switch
and give everyone
their own private line.
No problem, right?
Well,
you know the answer
to this one.
Not only did we get
our own phone lines,
but all the neat-o features
that come with
a digital switch,
such as
call forwarding,
speed dial,
three-way calling,
call waiting,
on and on,
and the ability
to have a secret
five-digit code
to bill your calls to.
Due to a programming error,
it was quickly discovered
that you could use
your secret code
from any telephone
on campus.
And of course,
if you happen to
incorrectly enter
your secret code
at another phone,
chances were
that it was someone
else's secret code
that you entered
and the call
would go through.
Of course,
when that person's
bill came,
it showed up
as a call
from a phone
they weren't at
for a number
they didn't call.
So of course,
the local telephone
people on campus
got this bug fixed
after about a month
and an unknown number
of misentered
secret codes.
After this fix,
another neat thing
would show up.
During the late hours
of the night
when all the computer
science hackers
do their things
and make average use
of all the modem lines
on campus,
the digital switch
would tend to hang
and would not
produce a dial tone.
Sometimes,
it would actually
connect you
as an additional party
to a conversation
in progress.
And although you
could hear both sides
of the conversation,
they couldn't hear you
no matter what tone
you sent
or how loud
you screamed.
After the two parties
hung up,
if you stayed
on the line,
you would be connected
to the next phone call
which either of those
two parties made,
although they could
hear you this time.
However,
they could not dial.
And until you hung up,
they couldn't dial at all.
Through some trial and error,
a friend of mine
and I discovered
that by hitting
star 99,
which would kill
all of your personal
speed dial numbers,
by hitting star 99,
the entire switch
would reset,
losing all the
speed dial numbers
and other
pre-programmed things.
Needless to say,
after reporting
this occurrence,
the university
did nothing.
So we talked
to the makers
of the switch,
GTE,
and they came out
and fixed it,
no problems
since then.
The moral of the story
is this.
Software controls
our lives
and is written
by people
who are subject
to sleeplessness,
caffeine,
or other drug addictions,
or just plain
forgetfulness.
After all,
how many times
have you left out
a bracket
in some C code?
We had all
better be aware
of the risks
and do the best
we can.
There was a problem
earlier this year
with the census folks,
the census bureau's
toll-free telephone system.
Each census form
sent by the bureau
of the census
was contained
in an envelope
on which was printed
a toll-free number
to call
in case
of any questions.
That was
800-999-1990.
And I can tell
by that number
it's owned by MCI.
I had a relatively
simple question
this person did
and found that
one of two things
happened on the
100 or so times
I tried the number.
Either
one,
a busy signal,
the usual result,
or two,
a few rings,
a few rings pitched
slightly higher,
then a click,
and finally a connection
to another person
with a question.
The second case
happened twice.
Both the other party
and myself
were rather confused
for half a minute or so.
I finally did get through
to an actual census employee
and I relayed my problems
with the phone system
to her.
She replied
that other callers
had relayed
similar problems
and this contributor
wonders
if the bureau
of the census
will fix its phone system
in the next
ten years.
And finally,
our final story
for tonight.
This is for all you folks
that think
caller ID
is the next best thing
is the coming of Christ.
And that's right,
you'll be able to
call people
and identify yourself
before they even
pick up the phone.
And you'll receive
phone calls
and you'll know
whether or not
to pick up the phone
or not
because you'll see
the phone number.
And if it's a creep
you don't want to talk to
you won't pick up the phone.
If it's someone
you do want to talk to
you will pick up the phone.
If the creep
is calling from the house
or someone you do
want to talk to
however,
you are screwed.
But we won't
get into that
right now.
This comes from
someone in
some part of this country.
I can't tell by the address
where they're from.
But he says
I recently had
an unpleasant taste
of the disadvantage
of the caller
identification
that may be
more widespread soon.
A few weeks ago
I called the
University Police's
business line
from my office phone
and asked a few minutes
of questions
about how to find out
about outstanding warrants.
I had heard of someone
getting arrested
while renewing
his driver's license.
I informed the officer
that I spoke
I informed the officer
that I spoke with
that this was
entirely moot.
After receiving my replies
I thought that was
the end of it.
Thus you can imagine
my surprise
and annoyance
to find that
two uniformed
armed officers
and their sergeant
came to my workplace
having located that
using the
Campus Centrex's
caller ID ability
on phones
with appropriate displays.
They spoke
with my co-workers
knocked on my office door
and via surprise
and intimidation
verified my ID.
This permitted them
to run a warrant
check on me.
I was clean
which was no surprise
to me.
They skulked away
shortly thereafter.
Conversations
with the chief
of police
indicated that
the rather zealous
instigating officer's
behavior
was within
acceptable bounds
and if you raise
enough suspicion
on a slow day
this constitutes
justification
for nosing
about your workplace.
Something to think about.
If you happen to be
reading the pages
of 2600 magazine
in our last issue
which was
the
summer issue
that's right
the summer issue
you may have noticed
in fact you may have
noticed had you been
listening to this
radio station
a few weeks ago
mention of an 800 number
nice special 800 number
you can call
to find out
what your phone number is.
Real handy to have
you know
and also
handy to have
because
you can tell
what people
know about you
when you make
a phone call
and you can tell
how to defeat that.
Well this 800 number
no longer exists
apparently
they got their bill
and they've decided
to discontinue
the service
but it was
very handy
to a number
of people
in the time
that it was around
and
other than
a moment of silence
for its demise
I'd like to
to share with you
one of the
one of the benefits
I got from it
for one thing
we discovered
that
if you place
an 800 call
through an operator
they don't know
what your number is
so if you're worried
about calling
the IRS
or
the Census Bureau
or
whatever
thing
you're calling
that you don't
want to be identified
place the call
through the operator
and at least
for now
your number
will show up
as all fives
they'll have
the correct area code
but that's
that's all
they'll have
anything else
though
is suspect
immediately
they will have
your phone number
on an 800 number
now
in
a growing
a very rapidly
growing number
of cases
so that
that 800 number
showed us that
it was also
very very handy
to have
when you were at
phones that you
didn't know
what the phone numbers
were
for instance
those rip-off
pay phones
that we all
hate so much
I went around
the city
and I
found a few
that I've always
was curious
what their phone
number was
because there's
really no way
to find out
what the number
is
the operator
won't tell you
the person
who owns
the store
won't tell you
the phone number
is not written
on the phone
itself
but if you
call this
800 number
and very
very few
customer-owned
pay phones
don't allow you
to call
800 numbers
if you call
the 800 number
it would tell you
very merrily
what the phone
number was
you were calling
from
and tonight
we're going to
call two of those
numbers
yes that's right
we're going to
call a customer
owned pay phone
now you may ask
why in the world
would anyone
want to call
a pay phone
well I've
called pay phones
before on the radio
and sometimes
had quite nice
discussions with
people who answer
sometimes not so
nice discussions
but that's beside
the point
when you call
a customer
owned pay phone
more often than
not something
unusual happens
you see
they don't like
you to call
those phones
because there's
no way they
can charge
while the person
is on the phone
if he picks up
a ringing phone
so therefore
they use a different
kind of system
they use
well maybe I should
just connect
and show you
exactly what I'm
talking about
let's get a dial tone
and we'll dial
one of the numbers
I have two numbers
here
and these are
two pay phones
on 8th Avenue
right next to each other
let's see what happens
well listen to that
it's a computer tone
let's hit a touch tone
oh my god
I know what's
happening here
see if you can
figure out what's
happening
I'm not 100% certain
I'm going to call
back because
that's the first
time I heard that
but it sounded
to me like
when I hit
that touch tone
you could suddenly
hear the
surrounding noise
of that pay phone
in other words
it was kind of
spying on
on the people
around
sounded like
traffic there
I'm going to
try it one more
time
actually what I'll
do is I'll
try the phone
next to it
and see if
the same thing
happens
let's get a
dial tone
here
and see what
happens
yes
I'd say very
definitely that
it was street
noise
so that shows
you
and this is
I just hit
a tone
now
I hit one
single tone
I did not
even try this
before
every customer
on pay phone
is slightly
different
some will
tell you
how much
money is in
them
some will
tell you
things you
really shouldn't
know
like billing
information
that kind of
thing
but I think
this is probably
the most
outrageous
of the things
that they do
you can actually
spy on people
from a phone
that appears
to be on the
hook
most shocking
most shocking
indeed
speaking of
shocking
let's connect
to something else
just out of
pure fun
here
this is a
surprise
279-3400
this is the
New York
Telephone Newswire
for Wednesday
October 10th
on Wall Street
today
9X closed
at 74
and 1-8
down 7-8
the Dow Jones
Industrial Average
closed at
2407.92
down 37.62
representatives
from New York
Telephone's
management team
and the
communications
workers of
America's
international
staff
meant to
launch a
new phase
in their
relationship
developing a
more constructive
mutual
relationship
during the
September
meeting
the group
shared their
thoughts
concerning
the actions
and reactions
that had
fueled some
of the
distrust
between
union and
management
there was
a consensus
New York
Telephone
must develop
a new way
of doing
things
that focuses
the energies
of the union
and management
where it
should be
on the
customer
the group
agreed that
the next step
would be to
focus on the
quality process
to address this
a session on
quality is
scheduled for
October 19th
in other
news
the Supreme
Court
yesterday
let stand
a U.S.
Court of
Appeals
ruling
allowing
regional
phone
companies
to compete
in the
lucrative
information
services
market
the seven
bell
companies
want to
sell
their own
information
services
ranging from
stock quotes
to classified
ads
over phone
lines
the lower
court ruling
in Washington
last April
was a major
victory for
the phone
companies
in their
efforts to
enter the
growing market
of selling
data by phone
the next
newswire update
will be
Thursday morning
thank you
for calling
all right
that's the
New York
telephone
news line
lots of
news from
New York
telephone
recently
some of it
good
some of it
bad
and to put
it all in
perspective
let's go back
to
January 1st
1984
that sound
you may have
heard there
was the
breaking up
of the
phone company
that's right
the one
massive phone
company was
split
into several
different pieces
9x being
one of them
9x
becoming the
parent company
of New York
telephone
and recently
something very
strange
has occurred
the public
service commission
in New York
State
has come out
and said
that
they're going
to study
they're going
to study
the idea
of breaking
up 9x
they
are considering
forcing
9x to
divest itself
of the
New York
telephone
company
it's
incredible
something I
never even
thought would
be possible
and a lot
of this
comes
after
reports
of sex
parties
in Florida
that 9x
was hosting
and us
rate payers
were funding
that kind
of thing
and I
didn't see
a little
line on
the phone
bill that
said
certain amount
for sex
parties
for friends
of the
company
so that
kind of
thing
was the
last straw
apparently
with the
public
service
commission
and they
are
considering
breaking
up 9x
and this
would open
the pathways
for competition
on the local
level
something we're
in desperate
need of
because New
York telephone
is a
monopoly
as AT&T
was a
monopoly
back in
the past
a lot of
people say
well is
that such
a good
thing
is it
good to
have
competition
because look
what has
happened
with pay
phones
with long
distance
companies
all of a
sudden
it's a
rip
off
you don't
know what
you're
getting
into
you pick
up a
pay phone
and you
charge
ten dollars
for a
local
call
you get
signed up
for some
sleazy
long distance
company
wasn't it
better back
in the
days
when you
knew what
you were
getting
well I
have two
answers to
that
one is
had we
done it
right to
start with
it wouldn't
have gotten
to this
stage now
and two
if you
make it so
hard for
the alternate
companies to
operate
that the
only way
they can
possibly turn
a profit
is by
ripping
people off
you got to
take a good
look at
the rules
of the game
all right
well I
certainly have
talked up
enough of
this hour
we only have
eight minutes
left
phone number
is 279-3400
your thoughts
feelings
comments
questions
good evening
yes
pardon me
you caught
me off guard
with a mouth
full of corn
chips
yeah well
that was my
intention
oh good
well it was
my fault
since I
started I
rung the
phone just
as soon as
you came on
the air
I wanted to
get some
information about
encryption programs
I know you
weren't talking
about that
but it's been
something I
wanted to ask
you and by
the way
congratulations for
your new more
accessible time
slot
well I hope it
lasts you know
I'm told that
it's not a
definite thing
right now but
we are going to
be back in two
weeks
the question is
that for
people who want
to encrypt
information so
that well let's
take the case of
these guys who
were developing
software and
the feds came
in and raided
them in order to
keep things
private is there
any decent
encryption program
I've heard some
bad things about
the DES program
and that apparently
there are some
side doors into
that that if
somebody really
wants and they
know what they're
doing they can
get in and not
have to go
through the whole
thing
there's word
that DES is
not as
uncrackable as
it's cracked up
to be
no pun intended
and of course
that's the reason
being that NSA
does not exactly
want there to
be an uncrackable
decryption
standard
they're going to
want to be able
to get into
just about
anything and
backdoor is
certainly a
possibility there
the only
you know of
anything like
out on the
shareware market
or anything
on the
underground market
encryption
isn't exactly
my forte
but I do
know this
the only
way it's going
to be really
secure is if
there are lots
of different
standards floating
around that
way you never
know what it
is you're going
to be trying
to decrypt
you know and
if there's
something I
don't think
there should be
just one
standard you
know I think
there should be
lots of different
things that you
can choose from
and right
exactly I just
wondered if you
were aware of
any one
particularly good
piece of software
or some
algorithm that's
really useful for
this kind of
stuff well I'm
not but if
someone has one
you know send
me the details
here at WBAI
all right thanks
very much and
congrats again
thanks for calling
sure enough
279-3400
good evening
well it was
nice hearing my
voice there
good evening
yeah hi I'd like
to know if you
could give out
some information
on how I could
subscribe to the
magazine 2600
well what I'll do
is I'll give you
I'll give you the
address okay okay
it's 2600 magazine
that's the hacker
quarterly okay and
that's P.O.
box 752 752 okay
middle island New
York 11953 and
generally if you
mention that you're
a BAI listener we
we send you a free
sample because we're
such nice people
the subscription rate
sorry what is the
subscription rate
well you see that's
a funny thing here
at BAI I'm not
sure if I'm supposed
to give prices over
the air but if you
call I'll give you a
phone number to call
where it says all
that information and
that's 516-751-2600
751-2600 right and
that's that's about all
the the promotion for
that I can do right
now let's go to
another phone call
good evening hi
is this BAI yes it
is oh I have some
information that you
might like okay let's
hear it if you want to
know if you want to
get the phone number
from where you are
yeah and you don't
dial 958 well yes
that that's that's an
old one I mean I knew
that maybe there are
people out there that
didn't know that oh
oh because I heard you
talk about that 800
number sure as hell
sounded interesting
958 works from just
about anywhere in lower
New York state does not
work in New Jersey does
not work in Connecticut
get it it's New Jersey
once it's I don't think
it could ever work in
New Jersey because a
different phone company
completely no I did I
swear I used it New
Jersey once well maybe
you were on a leased
line of some sort I
don't know because it
was a rental house and
there was a phone there
it was working and they
said well this is great
it's working but nobody
can call us I said wait
a minute it worked so
maybe it's well that you
know there is one way to
always find out the phone
number that you're
calling from and that's
to make a collect call to
a friend and then a month
later look at the phone
bill and see what the
number was that's that's
you know a surefire way
of doing it but other
than that you know if
you can find an 800
number that gives you
automatic number
identification known as
Annie or what you have
958 which is known as
ANAC automatic number
oh gosh I forget what it
stands for but it's it's
slightly different it's
coming from the central
office
those are very useful
numbers and we believe in
passing them around and
when we find out what they
are we print them in the
magazine and say them
over the air
well that's why I called
in okay thanks for calling
and sharing the information
right remember folks
information should be
shared good evening
yeah
BAI
yeah go ahead
on the air
yes
oh great well I just
tried the 958 number
uh-huh where are you
and uh yeah I'm 55 miles
west of New York City and
it works my number was uh
it works in New Jersey
I just I just read my
number right over the line
you're in the 201 area
code
201 area code
well that is news to me
it must be a new
development because uh I
I've never heard of it
working in New Jersey
before
yeah well it definitely
did so that uh caller
just called in was uh
pretty certain uh uh this
very interesting show I
just tuned into it tuned in
a minute ago from my car
and um I said wow this
guy's fascinating about all
this information on the
phone now what do you
want to get
uh we'll be on two weeks
from tonight nine to ten
o'clock
and uh I encourage folks if
you if you're interested in
seeing this kind of program
on the radio to write into
the station and and say
that because uh we're
kind of uncertain where
we're going right now and
we you know we'd like to
be on on a regular basis
it's a it's a very
interesting topic and
there's tons of material
that we haven't even
covered yet
yeah uh and another
question uh on the
middle island thing what
was that what is that
publication
uh well 2600 that's uh
the hacker quarterly
that's uh a magazine that
deals with uh passing
information around and you
know hacker information that
kind of thing
right okay all right
thanks very much for
calling all right all
right and that's gonna
pretty much do it for us
right now
the program is off the
hook this is emmanuel
goldstein and i'll be back
in two weeks from nine to
ten o'clock stay tuned for
the personal computer show
coming up at ten o'clock
remember information is free
share it liberally and we'll
see you in two weeks
good night
the telephone keeps
ringing so i ripped it
off the wall i cut myself
while shaving now i can't
make a call it couldn't get
much worse but if they could
they would
99.5 fm wbai new york
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