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Pacifica has, for over 45 years, brought you programs dedicated to the elimination of hatred
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We urge you to write to your congressional representative today and tell them what you,
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And you may send a copy of your letter to this Pacifica station, WBAI-FM 505 8th Avenue,
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And please do that today. Remember what silence equals. It's time for Off the Hook on WBAI-New
York.
Thank you.
Well, I'm having a nightmare even as I speak. This has never happened before, but I'm having
a computer crash. While I'm talking on the radio, because I'm trying to load up a program
here, I figured, you know, I'd make it nice and easy this week, and instead of printing
out various things that I read from, I'd just be cool, you know, and read directly
from the computer. But it doesn't quite work that way when the program hangs in the middle.
So right now I'm trying to log into my own system and get past a certain point where
I can actually access the information. This is all part of the digital age and all the
wonderful new things that we have to look forward to. Isn't it just great?
Well, this has been an interesting week. While I'm trying to do this, I'm multitasking here.
I'll be typing away and talking about various things that have happened in the past week
as far as the digital age, the communications era, the superhighway, and all kinds of other
fun things like that.
Let's look at the mail. A letter from 9X. It's always nice to get mail from the phone
company because they always have something exciting to say, you know, something fun and
revealing, some new advancement made that will benefit all of mankind. And being a member
of mankind, I'm always waiting for something from the phone company.
Well, let's take a look at this. Opening this up live on the radio.
It's dated January 1995. Dear 9X customer, this is an open letter to customers to alert
you about a potential problem involving 9X's All Call Restrict service. Our records indicate
that you requested All Call Restrict service on your telephone line. All Call Restrict
automatically blocks or prevents your telephone number from appearing on a call ID subscriber's
display device. It also prevents someone from using call return to return your call. There
is no charge to use All Call Restrict.
During a recent system check, we discovered that All Call Restrict service was not in
place on some lines on which it had been requested. We are in the process of checking every All
Call Restrict line and correcting this problem where it exists. As soon as we complete the
checking and correction process, we will confirm the status of All Call Restrict on your line
through a special notification. We apologize for this problem.
Please be assured that 9X is fully committed to protecting your privacy concerns and to
keeping you fully informed.
That's great. We have a couple of conflicting paragraphs there. 9X is fully committed to
protecting your privacy concerns, but if you order All Call Restrict, it may not work.
Well, I don't know if you recall this, but several months ago, maybe it was a year ago,
when Caller ID was first being introduced to New York, one of the major problems that
we found with it on this particular radio program was that there was no way of knowing
for sure if your number was being blocked unless you had a Caller ID box and a second
line to test it on. There really was no way to absolutely make certain. And now, it seems
that our worst fears have been confirmed. You simply don't know with 9X whether or not
they have processed your order in the proper way or simply discarded it someplace.
FiberOptic, am I being too harsh on 9X?
Oh, not at all.
Should I be harsher?
In fact, I thought it was funny to see it on the evening news.
It was actually on the evening news?
It was actually on the evening news.
Well, then you know it's got to be a big story for me in the evening news.
Now, how long could it possibly take to correct this? We're talking about millions of telephones
in New York City.
It can take quite a while.
Oh, yeah.
Quite a while indeed.
By the time they finish, there might not be such things as Caller ID anymore.
Yeah, yeah. Or there may be enhanced services that they're not ready for. There's all kinds
of things. You know what happened to me this week? This isn't really related to Caller
ID, but it gives you a sense of where the phone company is coming from. I woke up Monday
morning, I believe it was, and I picked up my phone and was prepared to call somebody.
I spoke their name into the phone, as I have done for the last couple of months with that
great service they have called Voice Dialing. And lo and behold, my entire Voice Dialing
directory seems to have vanished. For some reason, 9X deleted it. All 50 names gone.
Just wiped out. Poof. Goodbye.
And I called them. I called 611, and I said, Hey, what gives? My names are gone. My voices
are gone. I can't dial these people. I have to re-record all this, and then what guarantee
do I have you won't do it again? They said, Sir, we'll have someone call you back. Well,
no one called back. The next day I called again. They said, Sir, we'll have someone
call you back. And the day after that, which was this morning, a recording called me and
said, We just want to make sure that your 9X service is as good as it can be. If you
want to speak to a 9X representative, say yes. If you want one to call you later, say
yes. Of course, my answering machine didn't say yes. It just recorded that, and then the
whole spiel went through, you know, two machines talking to each other. And by the time I got
the message and called them, they said, Well, sir, we'll have someone call you back tomorrow.
And this is going to go on now for a couple of weeks, I can tell. But the fact of the
matter is, if you order something from 9X, they could, just by brushing against a keystroke
or something, delete it, wipe it out, destroy your phone line, who knows. I'm not too
happy with that, because voice dialing was actually one of the things that I kind of
like playing with, you know. And I even, you know, I had people's voices on there. I had
everybody record their own names. I'm not going to go through all that again, you know.
I called people up long distance, people I never talked to anyway. I said, Hey, I want
you to say your name on here so that when I say your name, I'll hear it say, you know,
repeat your name and your voice, you know. And of course, it doesn't always work that
way, because it doesn't recognize other voices sometimes. But sometimes it does. If it's
close enough, it will. But that's all gone, all wiped away. Now, you would think...
You would think they would have backups.
Yes, you've read my mind. You would think they would have backups. I mean, wouldn't
you have a backup if you were running a system like that? They should be able to say, OK,
you want this restored as of this date? Done, you know. I can't even get them to admit that
they did something wrong or that they did anything at all, you know. They just keep
calling me back. I expect them to send a repairman to my house to fix my voice dialing.
You know, some guy is going to come with a package of my voice dialing names, you know,
and a neat little bow and present it to me and that'll be it. But I don't know. I don't
know where it's going to go from here.
OK, I've succeeded. While I was talking, I was actually loading up the computer there
and I've succeeded in getting the first article for the day. And this is something actually,
Fiber, you might be interested in because this is a person that's writing a book and
he needs some help. Now, let's see if we can help this guy, OK? He's currently writing
a book-length manuscript entitled Crash and Burn, A Parent's Guide to the Dangers on the
Information Superhighway. All right, sounds good so far. I am seeking real events that
are public record, either newspaper articles or court documents which involve the following
criminal activity. Here we go. Number one, sexual predators who have committed sex crimes
on minors with a connection to a local computer bulletin board or a national online service
such as Prodigy, CompuServe or America Online. What do you think? Can we help him on that?
OK, sounds good so far.
All right. Teenage computer hackers who have been charged with any type of telephone fraud,
unauthorized access to another computer or similar crimes. OK. Any teenagers involved
in making explosives with information obtained from a computer bulletin board. There seems
to be a lot of fascination about that, you know, about people making explosives, but
only if they make explosives through a computer bulletin board. That makes it, you know, really,
really special there. OK. Any selling of illegal drugs involving minors on a computer bulletin
board. How do you buy drugs on a bulletin board? Do you kind of download them or something?
Yes, using virtual cash or something. This is really incredible. You better use error
correction. You might have a bad trip. Yeah. Any other crimes involving teenagers as either
victims or perpetrators with the use of modems or any manner in, quote, cyberspace. Wow.
Any information must be a public record that can be verified by my literary agency and
my publisher. Also, I would be interested in hearing from victims or perpetrators willing
to be interviewed off the record and or willing to appear on national talk shows.
I'm going to see where this person posted this. That way I'll know if it's proper to
give the information out. Yep, he sent it to a public place. So, dear listeners, you'll
be able to mail to this person if you have e-mail. If you have any such information,
please contact me as follows. Jerome Haddon. E-mail address FM, as in what this station
is. GG44A. It's all one string there. FMGG44A at prodigy.com. You knew there had to be a
prodigy attached to that, right? Well, that's the latest as far as that goes. What do you
think? Do you think that reflects the general mentality of people wanting to find the sensationalist
stories? Well, I don't think it's a general mentality. I think it's just a few choice,
sick-minded people who really dwell on really morbid things like stalkers. And when you
add a computer into the picture, somehow now it's even more morbidly fascinating to them
or something. Well, that's unfortunately the reality of the situation.
We seem to be having a train going through. Nothing to worry about. That happens now,
especially at this station. Okay, I'm going to load up another file here. This is really
not as smooth as it should be because it's just kind of hard when you're dealing with
a computer and talking at the same time. But today is a very important...
That's really spacey. Today is a pretty important day in that, well, kind of similar to what
happened to you last year, Fiber. This is the day that someone else is heading off to
prison. And, of course, this would be the system operator for the Amateur Action Bulletin
Board out in California. The latest news as of the 21st of January, 1995, is that bail
during appeal was denied by the Sixth Circuit. And Robert Thomas, who has appeared on this
program a couple of years ago, actually, is to report to federal prison on February 8th,
that would be today, in Springfield, Missouri, to serve three years, one month. And according
to this person who posted this on the net, I have no doubt that picking a place that
far from his home and family was done on purpose as part of the punishment. His wife also is
supposed to go to prison July 12th in Dublin, California. That's for Carlene Thomas. She
is to serve two years, two months. And, again, the comment of the poster, I think the reason
they are letting her start later is so she can be present when their oldest son graduates
from high school. The Amateur Action Bulletin Board is still up and may well stay up for
the whole time Robert is in prison. He has no other way to support his family or pay
for legal defense. Also, outside of western Tennessee, Oklahoma, Utah, and other backwards
places, what he is selling is legal, even protected under the First Amendment. For
those of you who aren't familiar, what happened in this particular case was that Robert Thomas
was running an adult-oriented bulletin board system, perfectly legal in places like California,
New York, and most parts of the civilized world. However, not in Tennessee. So this
postal inspector from Tennessee called it up, downloaded some pictures, which he considered
to be obscene, and succeeded in having Robert Thomas and his wife brought to Memphis to
face charges of violating community standards. Keep in mind, he called the bulletin board,
he downloaded the pictures, he instigated the whole thing, yet he was able to get this
case successfully prosecuted against him. Three years in jail for Robert, two years
in jail for his wife. It's simply obscene. Unfortunately, I don't have the phone number
on me for Amateur Action. I know it's in 408-AREA-CO. But I intend to call that board
and offer my support by subscribing to show that there are people out there who care about
freedom of speech. It doesn't matter if you agree with what it is that they have on there.
The fact of the matter is, if they're able to wipe away a bulletin board because of this,
they'll go for something else next. They'll go for computer hackers next, or for something
that's even politically motivated, community activism, all that kind of thing. We have
to stand up for all aspects of freedom of speech, regardless of how we personally feel
about them. And in this particular case, I happen to know that these people were very
conscientious about who was let on their board. They made sure nobody underage got on. However,
that protection was not enough. It's really unfortunate, and unless something has changed,
which I have not heard of, Robert Thomas was sent to prison today to start serving a term
of three years. This is an absolutely incredible story, and we'll try to get more on it for
you in the weeks ahead. And we'll also try to get you a phone number, so if you're interested
in subscribing to that bulletin board and helping in a defense fund, remember there
is an appeal on this case pending. You will have the opportunity to do so.
Okay, and now finally an update on MetroCards. This comes from an exclusive report heard
on WPIX. They were the guys that came to the Hackers on Planet Earth conference and covered
that, and devoted some time to our MetroCard panel. For the second time, hackers have been
cheating the MTA slash TA. It's funny how it always gets known as hackers whenever they
succeed in cheating. As you can see, this story really doesn't have anything to do with
hackers so much, although the ingenuity might be hacker-inspired. But this time, by encoding
blank MetroCards and selling them on the streets at a discount. Now, that's just not what hackers
do. Hackers don't go out and sell things. Let's just call them businessmen for now.
Shady businessmen do that kind of thing, but hackers, no. But hackers are trying to defeat
this system, and we're going to continue to try, and just basically confuse token clerks
wherever we can. According to the WPIX report, the TA has no idea as to how much money is
being lost through such cheating, but estimates range up to the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
My, my. TA officials stated that customers should not buy these knock-off MetroCards,
since once fake MetroCards were detected, they would be voided from the system. Well,
if they're voided from the system immediately, how could you lose hundreds of thousands of
dollars? You have to wonder about that. Unless it's hundreds of thousands of dollars of people
buying bogus cards, that's a possibility. Because then you'd have hundreds of thousands
of people buying these bogus cards at $1.25 a shot, you know, that's the maximum amount
of money you could lose, the TA could lose anyway. WPIX reported that perhaps a TA employee,
how do you report perhaps something? Well, they did. WPIX reported that perhaps a TA
employee may be involved in this scheme, providing blank MetroCards for encoding. WPIX
also stated that previously a token clerk was fired after he discovered a glitch in
the MetroCard system that allowed him to sell recoded MetroCards without having to report
the value of the transaction, thus enabling him to pocket the revenue. Sounds interesting.
And you know, eventually the system is going to be cracked wide open and, uh, well, what
do you think? You think we'll be blamed when it happens? Yeah, probably. Yeah. I'm ready
to accept that. So that's, uh, that's the kind of week it's been. The, uh, holes in
the MetroCards, holes in 9x, holes in justice. And, uh, so it goes. Our phone number is 212-279-3400.
Anything new in your week, Fiber? Uh, it's, uh, actually it's been a pretty dull week
so far. Uh-huh. Nothing really exciting has happened. Computer system staying up in one
piece? Yeah, I mean, uh, it's doing its best, I'm sure. Uh-huh. Yeah. As a good computer
should. I had an adventure on the way over here, um, a couple of days ago. I have a Macintosh.
Yeah, I'll confess, I have a Macintosh. Uh, and I've been trying to get it, uh, to communicate
with my modem. You know, I used to have a modem cable, but you know, sometimes things
just mysteriously vanish and this is one of them, just mysteriously gone. Sort of like
my voice dialing. Um, so what happened was I figured I'd go to CompUSA and buy another
modem cable, you know? There's nothing wrong with that logic, is there? Well, actually
there is. What's wrong with that logic? Please tell me. Because people don't seem to know
this, but there are two types of Mac serial cables. Okay. There are the older RS-422 cables
and the newer RS-423 cables. They look exactly the same. Well. Only one has flow control
and one doesn't. Well, the amazing thing about that is that the cable on the package, it
says, will work on all Macintoshes. Oh, well, it will work. It doesn't mean that it'll work
properly. Well, okay. Here's the problem. I went to CompUSA and I bought this thing
and I brought it back and I plugged it in and you know, it didn't not work properly.
It didn't work at all. There you go. It didn't work at all. It was as if there was no cable
plugged in whatsoever. So, I figured this isn't right. This can't be. First, of course,
I thought I was doing something wrong. So, I checked everything. You know, climbed the
back of the Mac and was plugging things in, plugging things out, hooking things together,
tearing things apart. Finally, I reached a conclusion. There's nothing wrong with the
modem. There's nothing wrong with the computer. There's nothing wrong with the phone line.
There's nothing wrong with me. The problem is with the cable. Imagine the fantastic odds
of walking into a mega computer store, you know, piled to the rafters with products,
you know, software, hardware, magazines, people all around to help you and finding
the one component that does not work at all, you know, makes you feel kind of special,
I guess, in a bad way. So, basically, I went back tonight and I said, my friends, this
modem cable appears not to work. Would you please test it for me? And so, I stood there.
They went into the back room and tested the thing out. Came back later with a slightly
perplexed look on their faces and said, it doesn't work. It's broken. It doesn't work
at all. Go to the back and get another one and bring it back here. And so, I did, you
know. And I realized that this is, you know, something that must happen almost every day
to people. They buy something that they expect will work and really should work. It's a simple
thing. It's a cable. You know, I called them on the phone the other day to make sure that
I had the right cable. And they said, yeah, you know, a certain percentage of those are
bad. I mean, why don't they test them? They know that a certain percentage are bad. How
hard is it to test a cable? I mean, they did it. They went back and they tested the cable
and it worked. It didn't work, rather. But their testing abilities work. You know, it
should be part of the whole selling process, making sure that what you're selling actually
is what you're selling.
That's the problem with Macs. They made them too simple.
Yeah. So, anyway, when I got back to the checkout counter, I decided to be a real pest. You
know what I did?
What?
I asked them to test that one, too.
I would have done the same thing.
Well, they gave me a look like I was the devil himself. You know, how could you want this?
I mean, you know, obviously, you know, the first one didn't work. What do you think?
We sell all kinds of inferior products here. You know, the odds of it not working twice
are crazy. So, you know, eventually, though, I did convince them to do it. And guess what?
It didn't work either.
Wow.
Yeah. Can you imagine that? Two modem cables in a row did not work at all. So I just asked
my money back.
Oh, you showed them.
And that they got to work. But I just don't believe it. You cannot buy modem cables that
work, apparently, in that place. So I'm going to mail order it now. What do you think my
odds are of mail ordering a single cable and getting one that works?
Well, they should be fairly good. In fact, this whole scenario reminds me of that Monty
Python skit in Holy Grail.
Which skit would that be?
The one about building the castle in the, um, what was it? The one in the swamp. That's
right. Building the castle in the swamp. They built the first one and it sank into
the swamp. They built the second one, that one tipped over and sank into the swamp. And
they built the third one and something like it burned down, tipped over, and then sank
into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed standing.
Right. Right. It's like Babylon 5, too. 1 through 3 got destroyed. Number 4 disappeared
24 hours after it was made. But number 5 is going to last 5 years. And that's how it
works.
Okay, we're ready for phone calls now, I guess. What do you think?
Sure.
Alright, let's go for some phone calls. Our number is 212-279-3400. And tell us your
adventures. Tell us what's going on in your particular cyber space sphere or whatever.
I really hate those phrases, but they're fun to say, you know.
Okay, let's get to our first phone call. I'm trying to get this mood music out. Go
ahead, fade away. Uh-oh. We have these trains going through. I don't know quite why this
is happening.
Okay, I think it's here for a little while. Let's see if we can get a phone call over
the noise. Good evening, you're on.
Hi.
Yes, go ahead. You're going to have to speak up because this train is here.
Do you guys know any free bulletin boards in the 914 area code?
Free bulletin boards? What kind of bulletin board are you looking for?
Anything that's free, really.
Anything that's free. Well, obviously the net is the best thing to be on because that
allows you unlimited access to all kinds of different things, whereas one bulletin board
pretty much is an enclosed environment.
Yeah, but I don't have net access.
Well, yeah, that may be true, but you can always get net access for very, very low costs,
like something under $20 a month. Is that too much for you?
No, that sounds cool.
Yeah. Up in 914, I think there's a system called Cloud 9, which might be pretty cheap.
I don't have a reach number for them. They might be listed.
Yeah, they should be.
They should be listed. If not, I was going to say email me, but if you don't have net
access, that's going to be kind of difficult.
That's another question. I was looking up bulletin boards and networks, but what would
you look it up under in the phone book?
What would you look under the phone book?
Well, unless you have a company name. Actually, you can go to the bookstore. They do have
things like the Internet Yellow Pages.
Yeah.
That would be the closest thing that you could consider, like a phone book.
Is that okay?
Yeah, that sounds cool.
All right.
Thanks, guys.
Good luck. It's always nice to get somebody started on the road to the net.
Did you hear the show before this one? They were talking about the Internet.
No, actually, I missed it.
And about the information superhighway. Now, it's not really a superhighway per se.
It's not even a highway at all.
I don't know what it is, but I hate these phrases that the media feels compelled to
come up with.
It's the information superdriveway.
Yeah. Well, basically, that's it. I mean, there's no real direction.
And, you know, that sounds like a Metroliner coming.
I do believe it was.
You can feel the vibration.
About 120 miles an hour, that was going.
At least.
Good evening. You're on the air.
While you're having your metros running through, my 20 rings are going to be used up.
You know, you're only allowed 20 rings while you're holding on to your phone.
That's true. That's true.
It's another gripe we have with the phone company because we don't think that's right.
We don't think that should be.
And is there anything the president could do about it?
Yes. Call 9X and complain and say that you're trying to reach this particular number.
And it's really the only occasion you would ever have to make a phone ring more than 20 times.
It isn't, but I'll tell them that.
Well, the thing is, you know, only a radio station would really need for that to happen,
for a phone to ring more than 20 times.
You're not going to call Macy's and have the phone ring 50 times unless you're some kind of lunatic.
And, you know, 9X knows this.
The most we can have here is something like 10 lines ringing for 50 times or whatever.
How much is 9X going to lose by having 10 lines in the city or in this particular part of the city ring for that long?
Well, in any event, that wasn't the main purpose of my call.
Rather, it's to reiterate something I said when I phoned you two weeks ago.
Which was?
If you remember, I was talking about the elections, and there was a book called A Vote Scam, which you asked me about.
It showed how tampering goes on.
It's an age-old story about tampering.
But according to the authors, this is being done on a very wide scale, not for the voting alone, but for the reporting of the voting.
When I spoke to you then, I didn't mention that it was the reporting of the voting, and that it's been going on for decades now.
And I really commend it to your attention.
The book is called A Vote Scam, and the authors are Collier, C-O-L-L-I-E-R.
And the publisher is Victoria House Press in Manhattan.
And it's in a paperback. It's less than $10.
And I think that, in spite of all the theories and the analysis of the elections having to do with economic and other kinds of reasons,
I think that this may explain that insane kind of voting result in November 1994.
Well, I don't know.
Talking to various people and just seeing the outlook of a lot of Americans,
I don't really think the results of the voting were that far off from the results of what people are actually saying out there.
I think there's a lot of misinformation being passed around.
True enough.
But according to some people like Michael Parenti, I think I mentioned that.
He's often on WBAI.
He said the polls were so far off, and the fact of Republicans being returned totally, it's unknown in history.
And it can't just be in response to people's general feelings.
It was just a little too perfect.
So I really would like for you to investigate it, if you can, because you're sort of an expert.
They had all kinds of instances of tampering on a very wide scale.
You know, citywide, statewide, nationwide.
Of course, absolutely.
Just by knowing the kinds of things that computers are capable of, computerized voting could be a complete catastrophe.
I'm not talking about the voting alone.
I'm talking about the reporting of the voting.
There are many stages in the reporting.
By the time it leaves the ballot booth, it goes to various stages along the way before the TV picks it up.
And that's supposed to make it official, whatever comes on TV.
And there's all kinds of misreporting and misrecording that TVs have been found guilty of.
That is true of virtually anything that TV does.
I mean, now it can be done by magic, a press of a button.
And this can all be done on a very, very wide scale.
And magic, of course, is based in illusion.
Well, whatever it is, I'm not talking about that.
That's something to consider.
Pressing a button could make it happen.
And I think it's scary.
And I think it's something that should be absolutely checked up on.
I agree totally.
And so maybe you will?
Oh, I'll definitely be watching, yes.
Maybe you should get a copy of the book.
Oh, yeah, I'll look for it.
It reads, by the way, like a terrific detective story.
It's really a terrifically entertaining book.
They've got a fine sense of humor, of all their adventures.
They went up to the Supreme Court with their lawyer.
They brought lawsuits up and down the line,
and they had terrible experiences wherever they went.
Okay, give the book information one more time for our listeners.
It's called Vote Scam, one word, V-O-T-E-S-C-A-M.
It's in paperback, less than $10.
The author is a collier, C-O-L-L-I-E-R.
And the publisher is Victoria House Press in Manhattan.
Okay, thanks again for the info.
Thank you.
Take care.
There was an article a couple of Sundays ago.
It was, I think, in the op-ed piece, op-ed page.
It might have been actually on a weekday,
concerning electronic voting and how virtually.
I believe one of the quotes came from Peter Neumann, Risk Digest.
That's the guy?
Yeah, who we quote various times when we read things from the Risk Digest.
And he said basically that anything is possible when you have computer knowledge
and when you have access to this system.
The kinds of foul-ups and sabotage that could take place
really are limited only by our imagination.
And that's a pretty scary thing when you consider that we're talking about voting,
about the very basis for which this whole society is founded.
If you can affect that, influence that, change that, alter that,
who knows what you can do, what kind of effect you can have.
It's something we really need to keep an eye on.
Another thing that was brought up in that article,
mechanical machines can always be fixed.
However, software, you don't know what's going on.
You don't know what the problem is.
If there is a problem, you may never know.
Here's an interesting bit of a letter somebody sent us this week
to get out the hacker vote.
The influence of Off the Hook was expressed last November
when I could not switch voting booth levers without listening.
Now this is interesting.
All levers emitted a quiet, dampened sound,
except for three prominent Democratic candidates
for which the lever would produce a consistent, quite audible thunk.
A polling technique.
What do you think of that?
Of course, that's mechanical.
But I guess the people inside will just know who everybody is voting for.
But I don't know if you'd really care what those volunteers thought.
Listen for the thunk.
Yeah.
212-279-3400.
Good evening, Eron.
Go ahead.
Hi.
How are you doing?
Okay.
This is probably off the subject a little bit,
but the chances of me getting through the line
at the same time that you're talking about this is pretty slim.
You did, though.
You know that if you dial 958,
a computer will tell you what number you're dialing from.
Yes, that is a bit of information that's been kicking around for a while.
That's called automatic number announcement?
Announcement.
ANAC.
Right.
And it works.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, thank you.
Well, wait.
Now we can really amaze him by telling him after he hears the star
to hit a pound button on his telephone,
and it'll dial the number back.
Well, he's gone, but if he's listening to the radio, yes.
That is true.
Let me see if we can demonstrate that.
Let's see.
I don't know if that works everywhere.
Not everywhere.
Most places.
Okay.
We're going to try that.
If you hear a star tone right before it reads the number.
Just any touch tone, because most people don't know a star.
Yeah, you'll hear a tone, but it is a star.
If you respond by hitting pound.
Let's see.
We're going to go to our auxiliary line, which is 212.279.3407.
If you call that number, it will never pick up
because we're not picking up those lines right now.
We're going to dial 958 on that and see what we get.
It should get 3407 as our number.
2-7-9-3-4-0-7.
No star.
I didn't hear that.
Maybe I was talking when she said it, so let me try again.
2-7-9-3-4-0-7.
No, she didn't do it.
It doesn't always happen, but if it does happen,
if you hear a little touch tone before she starts talking,
hit the pound sign, and you'll hear it in touch tone.
What's the purpose of that?
The purpose is for automatic line testing equipment.
If a lineman is, say, in the central office,
he's not going to sit there with little alligator clips
and clip on to each pair one at a time and dial 958 and listen.
I've seen them do things like that.
They do if they only need to test one or two pairs.
Otherwise, they're going to have a big piece of testing apparatus
that's going to be able to clip on to an entire cable
and just get a whole readout automatically.
These days with SS7, do you even need to do that?
It depends.
SS7 has nothing to do with testing cables in the central office.
Do you need to be sending DTMF tones up and down the line?
Isn't there a way to just clip on and get a data stream?
No, we're not talking about data or SS7 or anything.
We're talking about just the wiring from the home to the central office.
Obviously, wires can get pretty messy.
That's the quickest way if they need to organize the wiring
to be able to tell if it's in service
and obviously what phone number is assigned to it.
It also could be useful for people with various bits of machinery on their lines
to DTMF decoders to quickly find out what number they're tied into.
I don't know of any devices that would make use of that,
but I'm sure somebody could come up with something.
Okay.
Interesting bit of information.
958, of course, works throughout the New York metro area.
I'm told it works in New Jersey,
but I was told recently that it stopped working in New Jersey.
I'm not sure if anybody can verify that for us.
And, of course, if those numbers don't work,
I know 990 still works in parts of 914 area code.
I know 511 works as a backup ANAC in other switches throughout the area.
Other parts of the country have all kinds of different numbers
ranging from three digits to 11 digits in length.
So you really have to kind of find these things.
They don't tell you.
They never tell you.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Yeah, hi.
I got possibly a redundant question,
but how does one get a subscription to 2600?
I'll give you a phone number, okay,
and then I'll give you all the information you need.
Sure.
All right.
It's area code 516-751-2600.
That works.
Okay.
All right.
Thanks a lot.
All right.
Take care.
Good evening.
You're on off the hook.
Oh, yeah.
958 works in New Jersey, Bell Atlantic.
You just tried it now?
Tried it, yeah.
Okay.
Well, that's good to know.
That was a really quick response there.
Yeah.
Anything else?
That's it.
That's it.
That's New Jersey, though.
It's weird.
It seemed to be ringing that line for a long time,
yet he had an answer to a question
we only asked a few seconds ago.
It's very strange, our callers.
That's great.
We can just get any bit of information like that.
Anything else we need from people?
Let's try ordering a pizza.
Well, yeah.
We'll probably get like 10,000 of them.
Uh-oh.
What have we done?
No.
Please don't send us pizzas.
Please don't.
They'll be refused, okay,
because we need to pick it out ourselves.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Hello, man.
You're on the air.
You're on the air.
You're on the air.
Good evening.
You're on the air.
Yes, hello, Manuel.
Yeah, speak up, please.
I'm sorry.
What kind of phone are you using?
I'm using an AT&T 900 megahertz spread spectrum.
Well, I think you were saying something significant
about that particular phone line.
It sounds like you're in a tunnel of some sort.
Anyway, um...
Good base response, but not much trouble.
Well, I wanted to...
I have a question for Fiber.
First, I want to say I'm in northern New Jersey as well.
I'm in Bergen County.
958 does not work.
What do you get when you dial 958?
Nothing.
It just, it waits for more numbers.
What happens when you give it more numbers?
It just, it will call and say,
do-do-do, this number,
if you'd like to make a call, please try again.
Interesting.
Okay, so it doesn't work everywhere in Jersey.
No.
I wanted to ask Fiber if,
probably because it's a technical question,
if it would possibly be,
if it would be possible to get my computer
to set parameters on my communication software
so I could communicate with DVDs or TTYs?
Yeah, I forget the actual speed they use.
I know it's a really slow one.
I think it's either 110 baud,
or it might even be down to maybe 50 baud.
Okay.
It's an odd data rate.
Some of them are compatible with 110.
And what about parity?
As far as...
...data bits, as far as I've seen.
Seven data bits,
either even or sometimes space parity.
And one or two stop bits.
I don't recall the actual data format.
I've been searching this for about a month now.
I've been trying to get this to work.
Yeah.
And then, what about handshaking?
Just normal, no handshaking, or XON, XOFF.
You wouldn't be using hardware flow control
at such a slow speed.
Okay.
And then, Faber, I wanted to ask you
if you had anything to do with that book
Masters of Deception.
Well, it was...
Calm down there.
He's turning apoplectic here.
It was kind of about certain events
leading up to my case.
So, I mean, I had to do with it
in as much as speaking with the authors
and clarifying a lot of things
and clarifying a lot of people, places, and events.
But, I mean, I didn't write the book.
No, I know that.
Yeah.
But did you make any money off of it?
Oh, no, no.
Nothing.
I mean, I wouldn't mind if you did.
I would probably be pretty good if you did.
Yeah.
They talk about you had a movie deal at one point.
Well, I mean, I've been approached
by a couple of outfits, at least.
And I don't know if anything will develop out of it.
Maybe something will.
We'll see what happens.
Yeah.
Okay, well, I just wanted to say hello to Leanne from Indian Hills.
And you guys are doing a great job.
Keep it up.
Okay, thanks for calling.
Bye.
I don't think anyone ever greeted someone else before on our show, but...
Shout-outs.
Yeah, shout-outs.
That's all we need.
Yeah, well, certainly our lives are interesting enough
to make many films out of, I think.
And the lives of people here at BAI, you know?
Day-to-day occurrences at BAI would be something.
It would be an incredible film.
A regular TV series, if you will.
All right, let's go back to the phones.
212-279-3400.
Good evening.
Hello?
Yes, go ahead.
What number do I have?
Oh, dear.
Game started up.
You have WBAI radio.
Is that what you want?
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, you're on the radio now.
All right, good.
I'm in southern New Jersey.
And 958 works great.
What area code are you in?
908.
Okay.
Okay, 908.
That's not quite southern.
Yes, 609 would be really southern.
I can tell by your accent, you're not that far down.
Central New Jersey, I guess is what you would call it.
Yeah, that's central New Jersey there.
And 958 works great.
And you get the tone before you hear the voice.
You do?
Did you hit a pound sign?
Yeah.
And you got the touch tones?
Yep.
Isn't that fun?
Yep.
All right, that's a great way to spend a day.
Okay, anything else to tell us?
Yeah, real quick.
Yes?
The Hallmark red box.
How do you turn this stupid thing off?
Control Q.
Thank you.
Hallmark red box?
Yes.
Is it true that the tone, I mean, it records half-step high?
Or that tones get recorded higher than the sound should be?
They shouldn't be.
Because that's a rumor spreading around the country.
Well, we've got to put a stop to that.
Yeah, we certainly could.
I think it's because there's a lot of non-Hallmark cards that do record voices,
and people might be using those, and I don't know.
They might not be as good a quality.
Yeah.
All right, well, I mean, because I've just heard that from a lot of people,
that their red boxes are recording not the same pitch that it should be.
Well, that wouldn't make sense.
If anything, as the batteries began to die, it wouldn't be as loud.
It shouldn't change the frequency since it's being sampled.
Yeah, that's what I assumed.
Worst comes to worst, the operator will just ask you to hold it a little closer.
All right, thanks a lot.
All right, thanks for calling.
It's amazing, though, how everybody was saying how red boxes would be great,
except you can't make local calls on them.
There's no way to make a local phone call on a red box.
And then 9X comes and introduces this service that after you call directory assistance,
it offers to connect you for 35 more cents.
Of course, that particular system surely takes red box tones for payment,
so you have to wonder, who is 9X working with, anyway?
Oh, you can make local calls even without that.
Oh, yeah, you could.
You could route it through other carriers, but not everybody knows that.
Oh, shh.
All right.
212-279-3400.
Good evening.
You're on.
Oh, BAI?
Yes, you're on the air.
Okay, well, you've just raised the question that I'm trying to deal with indirectly.
Okay.
I tried to connect up with Varteq to call the tip of Long Island because it was cheaper.
Varteq?
Yes.
It's a long-distance service.
Sounds like an alien of some sort.
One of the Romulans.
Varteq.
Okay, go ahead.
And they have, instead of an 800 number, they've got a sequence that's like 110811.
I could give it to you, but I'm not going to now.
10811.
Yeah, something along those lines.
Okay.
I've heard of that one.
I can't give you the exact thing.
But 9X came in as soon as I made the call.
You don't get a dial tone, so you can do it on a Pulse phone.
In large parts of Texas, they don't have dial tone.
I mean, they don't have touch tone phones.
Okay.
So this system was adapted.
Now, came crowding in, an announcement from 9X that went like this.
You do not need to use an access code to dial within the 9X area.
Yes, yes.
That is what you will get in many central offices.
Right.
Now, the question is this.
Will I be able to use an 800 number, an 800 access number for a long-distance service?
Sure.
Sure.
You could use an 800 or a 950.
They would both connect your call to any place that you wanted to.
The only thing that's...
But will I be...
By the way, what...
Here's a funny...
It's a legal technicality.
The way 9X said it, you do not have to dial.
Mm-hmm.
When I called the operator at the business office, they said,
Oh, well, you have to.
You're in our area.
I said, then why do you say you do not have to?
It seems to me it's being stated for particular reasons.
When in actuality, you're not permitted to.
Well, I'm not sure that's...
They don't permit.
If it doesn't go through, you're not permitted to.
They do not permit me to because they have a trap,
which picks up the fact that I'm trying to make a long-distance call
using that access number,
and the long-distance call is within their area.
Mm-hmm.
I know AT&T is prohibited by tariff from...
This isn't AT&T.
I know.
This is not AT&T,
and I've also been able to make intra-latter calls
with other long-distance companies apart from AT&T,
but I found that it differs from central office to central office.
Some are programmed to allow it.
Some are not programmed to allow it.
Right, with the 800 number or the 950 number.
No, I'm talking about with 10XXX.
800s and 950s will work from anywhere.
Well, okay.
I did find out that I still had a Sprint 950 working,
but when I tried to make a call out on it, I couldn't.
Well, you won't be able to route it through your other long-distance companies.
Is that what you were trying to do?
No, I was actually trying to...
Now, should I be able to make a local call within the 9X area?
Absolutely, using your 950s?
Using a 950 and Sprint?
Yes, if you have a valid code.
Because 950s use, what, feature group B?
Yeah.
And there's no real revelation of your number.
They're for those people that don't have equal access.
Officially, that's what 950s are for.
Right, but once you have equal access, that is, the one dialing,
what happens?
It still works.
Are you able to use that,
or is there some sort of interphone agreement?
No, unless they...
Interphone company agreement.
Unless they discontinue the 950 service in your area,
which some companies have done, it will work perfectly.
There's no reason why it shouldn't work.
What 950 are you calling?
Is it 1033 for Sprint?
Yeah, I think so.
What was the other one, 0777?
That's been gone for years.
Yeah, that was a good one, though.
Well, this is going to be interesting.
By the way, they tried to connect me to the President's line,
so I could complain.
I mean, it seems to me...
Try this, try this.
It's a data thing.
You do not have to.
It sounds like they're hedging.
Okay, try this.
Let's assume your carrier access code is 10811.
Dial 10811, 0.
Okay, you'll get an operator for your particular long-distance company
and explain to them exactly what the problem is.
They might be able to connect to your call right there on the spot.
Right, that was fine.
Yeah, yeah, and they wouldn't charge extra either.
No, they shouldn't.
They shouldn't.
That's also a possibility.
And they might just get the problem fixed.
However, when I talked to Vartek about it,
what they said to me is,
oh, you must be on a special plan.
Well, then that's Vartek's bureaucracy.
No, Vartek probably didn't understand the way 9X worked.
But anyway, this will give me some ideas.
You do think, though, that if I were to, let's say,
sign up with Sprint, by the way,
I'd have the lowest prices now, at least if you believe the times.
Uh-huh.
Well, you see, the thing is,
I don't think you're going to beat 9X's prices for something within...
Yes, you do.
Well, what do they charge for...
Oh, it's like, okay, you should know that with the 50% off
and the fixed rates that, okay, they have...
Can you beat $0.10 a minute?
Fixed rates, and you get 50% off at this point.
I don't want to show for them, but that's what they have.
50% off for all phone calls for six months
and then a list of 21 in-country and three out-of-country, half price.
Right.
And it is lower.
You need a navigational chart, though, to figure all that out.
You don't have to have a navigational chart if it's flat rate.
Right, if it's something nice and simple,
but I just don't see it being cheaper right now than...
You're calling from where to where, 212 to 516?
Yes, well, it turns out to be cheaper.
If you want me to run over and get the calculations, I can.
It turns out to be 20, 30% cheaper.
Uh-huh.
And if you're making a two-hour call, say.
Give me an approximation of the lowest per-minute charge
that you would have, just without running over to get anything.
Just tell me what you think it is.
Oh, Christ, I can't.
Is it under 3 cents per minute?
Oh, no.
I believe that's what 9X is for a late-night call.
Yeah, but what if you want to call 10 o'clock at night?
Right, okay.
Now, the one time I can think of this actually working
would be if you call between, say, the hours of 5 and 9,
because between 5 and 9 is a discounted rate for most long-distance companies,
but it's the full daytime rate for 9X, which a lot of people don't realize.
Right.
So that's where you could definitely save something,
but as far as late night, I can't see it winning out.
But, sir, we're going to have to move on because we're running out of time.
Okay, but at any rate, you at least have given me a strategy to investigate this thing.
Okay.
Thanks.
Thanks for calling.
What was that company again?
Vartek.
Vartek, yeah.
I don't know.
I'd be afraid to have a company called Vartek.
You get mail from Vartek, you know.
Or maybe Vartek is on the phone, you know, or Vartek comes to your door.
Wasn't there a character on Star Trek, Ambassador Vartek?
I don't know.
Good evening. You're on the air.
Yes, Emanuel Goldstein?
That's me.
Yes, Mr. Radio calling.
Many things to banter here on the picnic table.
Mr. Radio.
Yes.
Whatever happened to those loops?
You should be Mr. Telephone.
What happened to those loop phone lines that pirate radio stations used to use?
Well, loops are pretty much dying out, aren't they?
They're pretty much gone.
I don't know of any.
I mean, the apparatus exists.
It's just not connected.
I mean, we want it back.
We want the loop lines.
Let me ask you something, Mr. Radio.
Is there any pirate radio around anymore?
You just read Newsday.
In today's Newsday, like page four, they just busted this pirate radio broadcaster on Long Island
who allegedly stole Long Island radio stations' parts, like their antenna.
That's a real pirate.
Wow.
He actually stole parts of the radio station, not just the electromagnetic spectrum?
Allegedly.
It's a big story in today's Newsday.
I know in the Long Island editions.
It's a very intriguing article.
So people might want to read it.
Okay, I'm going to have to try and track that down because I'm interested in that.
Do you know what frequency they were transmitting on?
Yes, at 87.9.
What's at 87.9?
It's just below the TV dial.
That's like Channel 6, isn't it?
It's probably coming on your TV.
Wow.
You see, I think, with the exception of the New York area, because every radio spot seems to be filled,
there should be pirates all over the place because there are so many unfulfilled needs of music and talk
throughout the country.
After seeing Pump Up the Volume, you kind of wonder why it's not out there like that.
You know what my favorite pirate of all time was?
Who?
WFAT at 1620 a.m. out of, I believe, the Brooklyn area.
That was a great talk show with Hal McRae, also Frank Futter.
It was just a great radio station.
WFAT was a great one.
Also, we had PRN coming from New England.
I could talk hours about pirate radio.
Oh, don't forget Radio New York International.
Yes, of course.
The famous one.
I could talk hours about pirate radio.
Well, we have to do a pirate radio show, but for us to do a pirate radio show,
we need to find pirate radio people that are involved in the whole process.
Maybe you can help us track some of them down, and if they want to disguise their voices or whatever,
that's fine, too.
Use some technology devices.
Also, can I take some calls?
We can't do that here.
How about doing a legal ID?
Go ahead.
You can do a legal ID.
Ladies and gentlemen, you're listening to WEVD.
No, excuse me.
That's not right.
WBAI, New York, New York, with your host, Emanuel Goldstein.
By the way, he uses the name Eric Corley when on WUSB in Stony Brook.
That's much more than you have to say for a legal ID, but thanks for saying it anyway.
Have a good evening, sir.
Best of luck to you.
Ah, yes.
It's good to hear from people that follow this kind of thing.
There should be pirate people out there.
I know they're out there someplace.
There used to be a radio station.
I would get it at, I think it was 91.9 because nobody takes that particular frequency in the city,
and they just played the Ramones 24 hours a day.
Now, you know, I think a 24-hour Ramones station might seem like a bit much to some people,
but there's a definite need for that kind of thing.
And, you know, all it was was someone left their Walkman attached to a transmitter on a high building,
and it just was going back and forth and back and forth,
and eventually you heard the batteries wearing out,
and then the station kind of, you know, they got really, really slow,
and the Ramones were playing like a normal rock band at regular speed,
and then too slow for even that, and then the whole transmitter just died eventually.
And that was the end of that.
But that's what pirate radio is all about.
If anyone knows anything about that, please get a hold of us.
We have time for one more phone call.
Good evening.
You're on.
Hey, how you doing?
Okay.
What kind of phone are you on?
I wanted to respond to the gentleman that called in about the 958 thing.
I've got another interesting number that's like that.
It's 1-800-692-6447.
Now, you just spelled My Annie Is.
Right.
My Annie Is, exactly, right?
My Annie Is.
It's an interesting mnemonic to remember it by.
Uh-huh.
But I also had a question for you guys, which is I understand that you were consulting on that movie Hackers,
and I was wondering if you had any other information about when it might be coming out.
Yes.
In fact, I was just talking to the people there,
and the film is in the editing stages, and they should be finished with that by around May or June.
They're thinking it's going to come out now in September, so actually much later than originally forecast.
Okay, cool.
I'll keep an eye out for it.
Okay.
Thanks for calling.
Okay.
Thanks a lot.
Bye-bye.
We're going to try out that number just to see what the difference is between what we called before,
the ANAC number of 958, and this 1-800-ANI.
Let's see what it sounds like.
Okay.
My A-N-I is.
Your A-N-I is...
2-1-2-2-7-9-3-4-0-7.
Your A-N-I is...
I heard you.
Thank you.
2-1-2...
Of course, they could have just heard the other one.
9-3-4-0-7.
Is that it?
T-N-I is...
He's going to keep doing this, isn't he?
2...
Well, that's a kind of neat service to have, and that will work from anywhere in the country.
3-4...
Okay, so that's a handy number to have.
Well, we're out of time, so again, I want to thank everybody for calling in, and keep those stories coming.
Again, we are still accepting those used phone cards.
We got one used phone card, but it was from Australia, and that doesn't really do us much good.
I mean, I like to see Australian phone cards, but we want to see what the ones that work locally look like,
and if there's any kind of algorithm on them, and things like that.
And remember, once they're used, they're no good to anybody, so don't throw them out. Send them to us.
We're off the hook.
Care of WBAI, 505 8th Avenue, New York, New York, 10018.
And that's our show for tonight. We'll be back again next week.
Next Wednesday night, 10 o'clock. This is Emanuel Goldstein for FiberOptic. Good night.
♪♪
Good evening. In the news tonight, the House revisits the crime bill at risk, the rights of defendants.
President Clinton calls his own number in the baseball strike, but his first pitch is in the dirt, and now Congress is up to bat.
And in our region, students at Rutgers University walk out on their classes and disrupt the basketball game
to protest the university president's allegedly racist remarks.
With these and other stories, I'm Jose Santiago in New York with Verna Avery-Brown in Washington,
and this is the news for Wednesday, February 8, 1995.
First to Washington for the Pacific National News.
President Bill Clinton told reporters his embattled surgeon general nominee, Henry Foster Jr., should be confirmed.
He is a good man who has delivered thousands of babies and devoted his life
to trying to prevent the kind of problems that he's now being criticized for.
I believe he should be confirmed, and I believe he will.
White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry acknowledges mistakes were made in the handling of the Foster nomination.
We probably should have had more specific information available faster,
but in general, the information provided was truthful and correct,
and as we now develop more specific information, we'll be in a good position to present that to the public
and members of the Senate as appropriate.
Anti-abortion forces have been saying that Foster participated in a study
designed to help women induce their own abortions.
They've also charged that Foster performed more abortions than he has acknowledged.
Both anti-abortion and pro-choice groups have begun lobbying senators regarding the Foster nomination.
As expected, President Clinton has named retired Air Force General Michael Carnes to head the CIA.
We must be open to change and to innovation.
Reinvention and downsizing will be major factors, even as we continue to produce high-quality intelligence.
We will be leaner, but at the same time, we will do more of the more important things.
The 57-year-old combat veteran is known as a first-rate management expert.
Mexican government officials say they're opposed to President Clinton's plan to charge a fee for border crossings.
The Mexicans maintain the fees would mostly affect Mexicans and would ultimately hurt U.S.-Mexican trade.
Palestinian police today arrested nearly 90 militants
and shut down a Gaza City press office just before tomorrow's summit with Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres was asked by reporters outside the U.S. State Department
whether Israel regretted turning over Gaza and Jericho to the Palestinians.
Thank heaven that we are no longer in charge of Gaza, that the Palestinians are running their own lives there.
And I do feel that over the last few days, the Palestinian Authority started to take seriously the danger of terror coming from Gaza.
I do believe they have the capacity to handle it, and I think there is a replacement to our presence there.
PLO Chair Yasser Arafat today announced he's setting up a military-run court to deal with violations of national security.
In New Jersey, Rutgers University students say they'll continue demonstrations until the college president resigns or is dismissed.
The state university president, Francis Lawrence, suggested last November that disadvantaged students
do not have the genetic background to score well on college admission tests.
Lawrence has apologized for those comments.
Last night, about 200 students took to the floor during a Rutgers basketball game as part of their campaign against Lawrence.
With the baseball strike threatening spring training, President Clinton is stepping up to the plate.
Clinton sent legislation to Capitol Hill proposing that Congress order baseball owners and players to submit to binding arbitration.
But House Speaker Newt Gingrich says Congress has other...