Nice read. I being somewhat younger than the author, didn't get into the scene (such as it was) until after the dust settled from Operation Sun Devil. There was a lot of what he describes, excepting less emphasis on long-distance codes (understandable in our 5ESS LATA) and greater emphasis on hacking nearby universities to get onto the somewhat nascent Internet, as well as the occasional Tymnet/X.25 NUI. Almost none of us 'carded', although there was an epidemic of nice modems being stuffed down pants at the local Comp-USA. But for a few years, if it was connected to a local phone line or was on the Internet with a security vulnerability, one (or more) of us had root access.
I did get receive modest interest from local law enforcement, but I owe a sincere debt of gratitude to university staff (who I hope recognized something of a kindred, non-malicious spirit) who begged district attorneys not to proceed with my prosecution. Between that scare and somehow raising modest capital to start a local ISP with a Sprintlink T1 line, I eventually graduated from 'the scene' and found myself a straight-laced system admin (later software developer).
I like to think 'the scene' didn't disappear; Most people can buy fast Internet access somewhat cheaply (or hack a wireless network) and install Linux for free. For a couple nickels more, you can operate your own IN-WATS PBX with help from Twilio or a cut-rate SIP provider. In short, much of what was forbidden to us became easily and/or cheaply within reach. Welcome to utopia.
Really interesting story. I wonder if I myself might have gotten into trouble were it not for the fact that I couldn't make that many phone calls. I seem to recall that there was no such thing as unlimited calling - even for local numbers. Not to mention I wasn't allowed to hog our one phone line. Calling a long-distance number for 30 minutes probably would have resulted in at least a $10 phone bill - which was totally out of the question.
I was resigned to call one local BBS and do a direct 1-to-1 modem connection with my only other friend who had a modem!
Local calls were unlimited in the 1970s and 1980s, like the are now. I think that this was true everywhere in the US but with different RBOCs perhaps some had different rules.
Guy I went to college with in the late 1990s had measured phone service [0] at home in Illinois. It's still alive today [1] and it's the cheapest way to get a phone line, with the caveat that substantial usage can become pretty expensive.
Yeah, but there was the concept of intraLATA toll calls. Or "local-toll" calls. These weren't long-distance, but they weren't free, either.
I remember calling my grandparents in Arizona cost 5¢ a minute, but calling relatives in the next city over—about 10 miles away—cost something crazy like 29¢ a minute.
This was in California. I'm sure the rate structures varied from state to state.
That's how I remember it too. Most local calls perhaps were included with the service, but a call to the other side of town might be considered long-distance. I do remember that the rates varied wildly. My parents would occasionally question me or my sister about a specific call on the bill that cost a lot.
When cellphones were still pretty new, they offered unlimited call forwarding we would set the phone to call forward to the bbs we want to call then call the cellphone number. It was great until the cellphone companies caught on and limited the call forwarding minutes.
I'm impressed that the modulated audio from the sending modem was intelligible by the receiving modem when it emerged out the other end of the cell network!
I got the Internet in 2006. I feel like I missed out on so much :(
Invest anti-establishmentarianism and experiment with psuhing your own boundaries, and get rewarded with access to this totally new new thing - technology - that was everywhere, powering the world, and Important(TM)...
I can totally understand how that would be quite attractive :)
That said, this author seems to have had a bit of a lucky break with the authorities, and I can't say I (or my family) would be particularly enthusiastic to have to deal with this side of things.
But I guess the fact that it was a two-sided coin added to the attractiveness in a way.
It is indeed one of their best.