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/¯¯¯ ¯¯¯/ /¯¯¯¯¯¯\ /\|¯¯\ øctøber-nøvember 1997
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\ ¯¯¯¯¯/ \ ~~~ \/ |\]\ \ =psychrøwR¥the=
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Representing the bay-area of the 334 NPA of the BellSouth jurisdiction
-the premier issuance- ingredients (in no particular order): the never
ending phreak saga, more government conspiracies, my special little
haloween prank, anarchy revisited (nostalgia fred!), treason laws
article, certain aspects of pheild phreaking,
-=INTRODUCTION=-
Welcome to the first edition of the Tribe of the Abbreviated Musk-
rat e-zine. The objective for us, writing this zine, is to (1) get our
message out, (2) deliver information for phreakers, and especially
beginners, in a clear and thorough manner, (3) to give us something to
do on those lonely weekends. We'll see if we can accomplish those. So,
without further babble...
-=THE NEVER-ENDING PHREAK SAGA=-
--journal of a lamer--
---by psychrøwR¥the---
So you wanna be a phreaker? Are all the cool kids doing it? Do you
wish to find acceptance in the h/p/a/v/c community, the loving family
structure that you never had? Ha. The 'scene,' as the kids call it, is
an odd thing these days. Perhaps there has always been an elitist
attitude in the air, but now it is very hard to find information, let
alone know where to start. This is my saga.
I started to get into the whole h/p/a/v thing back in junior high,
around seventh grade or so. This was before the internet had become
what it is today (ahem, capitalistic opportunistic trash) and I was
hot shit because I was sportin' the 2800 bps modem. Anyhoo, I had been
getting into the local BBSes and had stumbled across one or two h/p/a
boards. I downloaded a few anarchy text files (Bad Ass Retards comes
to mind, anybody remember them?) and got pretty into it. I was just a
little kid with an urge to cause trouble and the information to do it
with. Hacking was not really (and has yet to be) a really big interest
to me, namely because I just can't motivate myself to learn how to do
anything. There were several phreaking files, and I had lotsa plans
for boxes (this was before the Tone Dialer Redboxes were en vogue, you
had to solder dem oscillators and whatnots together yourSELF, jerky),
but I was too young, I think, to really grasp what was going on. This
little stage in my life went on until my dad got mad at me one night
for being on the computer and ripped the phone cord out of the wall.
Well, that sort of ended my relationship with computer communica-
tion, until several years ago when I got hooked up with an ISP. One
of my friends (SKaLaR109) had gotten into the h/p scene, and my spark
for h/p/a was renewed (or I should say, 'p/a'). This time was much
different than my early years, though -- I was smarter, had more free-
dom from home, and could grasp what was going on much much better.
What can I say -- I got into it. And since I am basically a
beginner (or "lamer," as I like to call myself), I started out on a
quest to document my development as a guide for future generations. I
am constantly exploring, esp. in the field, and discovering that
many of the text files that are being distributed today are obsolete.
Thus, I would like to get more current stuff out on the 'net, and this
zine is such an attempt.
This may sound elitist, but it is very true and it is one of the
most important and fundamental things you will learn about the
phreaking world: You can read as many text files as you want, but your
knowledge is shit without firsthand experience. For one, the people
writing text files have no way of forseeing every possibility -- it
is possible (well, it is TRUE) that, for instance, Bell Atlantic may
have different cans than BellSouth. I only have experience with Bell-
South, and while I can give you as many descriptions and pictures as
you like, they will only be proven unapplicable in your area.
The best things text files do is, (1) they give you confidence that
it is possible to do what is described, (2) they give you a general
idea of what to do, what to look for, etc., and (3) can be distributed
worldwide, spreading information around. They are shit if people don't
get out there and PHREAK.
There is the introduction. Next month I will get into my first
exploits: VMBs and red boxes. But, to leave you with something useful,
I will go over some of the phield phreaking nuances with you. For a
more bulky source of information, I suggest you search around on the
net, or (when available) check later issues of TAM. This is intended
more as a....
-=Pheild Supplement=-
by psychrøwR¥the
Listen, there are good boxes out there!! The hardest (yet, in my
opinion, it is pretty fun) part about boxing is finding a decent box.
There are some hidden, remote boxes out there, with no houses around
them, and out of view of main roads. Guess what? They don't work! You
need a box that actually has lines in it connected to a house.
Now, one way to go about this is to go to relatively new suburban
residential areas. As you probably know, the people who design suburbs
nowadays are really into cul-de-sacs, dead ends, and other
contraptions meant to make it tough for criminals to case the houses
(whatever). In a new subdivision, it should be easy to find some
lonely street with a lonely house on it, because if the suburb is new
enough, not all of the lots will have been sold.
If you're lucky, it is really really out of the way and the
residents are out of town, so you can drive down there anytime in the
day and use the phone. Of course, this is rather unlikely. You'll
prolly be restricted to the hours of darkness when the inhabitants
are not looking out the window and/or using the phone.
Another box to find is one in an older neighborhood that has been
grown over with about ten years of vegetation, and there is little
chance that you will be seen while commiting line fraud. If you do
choose an older neighborhood, make sure it's not a -poor- neighborhood
because that is just fucked up. Sure, it's not a great thing to do to
rich people, either, but c'mon, man.
Anyway, the best way to find boxes is at DAYTIME. If you are
driving around to find the box (which I strongly prefer to walking
around in my neighborhood where everybody knows me) I strongly suggest
that you take a friend who knows what he's looking for along with you.
I have nearly run into mailboxes, oncoming traffic, etc. because a box
caught my attention. If you MUST go out looking for boxes at night, I
suggest equipping your copilot with a flashlight, to aid in the
location of boxes. Keep in mind that a car driving slowly shining a
flashlight at the side of the road is a tad suspicious.
Once you've located and named your box, and came back to it ready
to go, you'll need the following tools: Long Nose pliers. Now, when I
say long nose, i don't mean needlenose. They need to be about 3 mm
broad at the tip. If you have a Leatherman® tool, you are set. You
also need a flashlight to see what you are doing.
Locate the 7/16 bolt on the side of the box, it should have a
ring around it which makes it impossible to open with a normal
socket wrench. OR, if the telco can is the type that is a plastic
cylinder, you will need to unscrew the 7/16 bolt which is hidden
under the latch handle. For a box, you only need to unscrew the bolt
about one rotation or so, until you see the cover 'unlock' (it will
tilt out slightly). For a cylinder, you will need to unscrew the bolt
considerably more, until you are able to lift on the latch and, well,
unlatch it. I say this because I haven't seen any mention of these
plastic-cylinder type cans in text files, and the TelCo is putting
them in all the new subdivisions.
Now, don't lose that attractive trait of laziness!!! ALWAYS MAKE
SURE, before you get your tools out, THAT THE BOX ISN'T ALREADY OPEN!
I would say that more than half of the boxes I encounter are already
open, you just need to pull the cover off. As far as the cylinders,
I have seen one or two that you could unlatch (These are such a pain
in the ass to unscrew, do your phreaking phriends a phavor and leave
them unscrewed, just relatch).
-Goodies in boxes: There is usually a wire gauge and some dessicant
(silicon pellets) in the new cylinder-type cans. We have also found
a little bottle of that lubricant they use on the wires. If you want
to keep these things, go for it. I will update you on any other
artifacts we find.
Now, check to see if the lines inside the box are hooked up.
Although generally if you see wires leading from the bolts you will
have a valid line, we have seen all of the sets of bolts hooked up
and none of them work. If there is a house next to the box, and the
line appears to be connected, but you can't get a dial tone, be sure
that you have tried the following:
-switching the red and green wires
-making sure that the alligator clips, or wires, are not touching
-holding your mouth right
-making sure that the bolts you have selected are supposed to be
together (i.e. make sure it is a pair)
-testing your beige box* at home, or on a line that you KNOW works
If it all works, then you are able to do whatever it is you do on
other people's phone lines. Just remember it's illegal.
In future issues we will concern ourselves with the finer details
of those gray telco boxes on the sides of your house, and also, when
we are able to do the research, the largest box in the 'hood. Also,
we will have an update on the newer, larger boxes in neighborhoods
using fiberoptics.
*Beige box: A one-piece telephone ever-so-slightly modified to act the
same as a lineman's handset, which enables people to talk on the
phone direct out of the telco box. The modification? The end of the
plug is stripped of its modular plug. Each of the two wires that are
inside the cord are fitted with alligator clips.
-=A Scanning Tip=-
by psychrøwR¥the
And now, a quick note on scanning numbers in your local area. You
may be wanting to look for secret telco test numbers, loops, etc. but
do not feel like getting a wardialer to do it, or printing out a list
of random numbers and dialing. Well, here's a common sense tip. Around
here, there are companies (not BellSouth, but independent, local cos)
that print out these little handy phone books for the local area you
are in. They are usually half-sized and are very easy to carry around
(good for a phield phreaker to have). The ones I am referring to have
a section (usu. called the Blue Pages, or Caller ID) with the last 4
digits of all the telephone numbers in the area, with the name next to
them. Most of the ones listed are businesses and personal numbers, and
in this case we are not looking for those. So, look for large gaps in
the number list (i.e. when it jumps from 4332 to 5012, etc.) and also
missing numbers that are "easy", such as 5000, 5500, 5555, etc. Make a
mark in your phone book for later reference. Manage your time wisely.
Q:hey, doesn't this seem like dumbshit stuff? where is the tech talk?**
A:I will talk tech when I learn tech, jerky. This is the beginner now.*
-=Government Conspiracies Yr Common Sense Doesnt Want You to Know=-
---by psychrøwR¥the---
This list is a perpetual thing. It was started last year when a
privyed few of us began to notice that somethings were just not right:
the government and other secret organizations were trying to hide wee
tidbits from us. There are many occurances in your everyday life that
you can't see the connection between. Let this list open your eyes, as
long as you can have an open mind.
This list was discontinued for several months because the gov't
found about me and made several attempts on my life (the most blatant
and recent event involved trying to poison me w/ flouride via the tap
water). I got a little scared, and got out of that scene, but now I
have much bigger things to be scared about. So here we go:
1) Mixture of Things Never Meant to be Mixed
Case in point, Fresca and Alka Seltzer. These are two things that just
don't jive -- the government subsidizes the manufacture of the two by
suppling the manufacturers with certain ingredients for free. What the
companies don't know is that our loving government has added chemical
agents that react with each other in the numerous bubbles produced by
the carbonated beveraged mixed with the Alka-Seltzer.
Why is the government doing this? The agents are not harmful by
themselves, so nobody will get hurt... until you plop-plop fizz-fizz
into that Fresca can. Instantly, a uncomprehensible amount of mass
is concentrated in the can. First, you and the objects in your
immediate vicinity are sucked into the can (yes, with such force as to
pull you through that little opening). As more and more mass is
amassed to the mass of... OK. I mean, as more mass is concentrated
in the can (in otherwords, its density is increased), we know that its
gravitational force increases proportionally, right with it (thank you
Newton). Also due to the same law, the more gravitational attraction
an object posesses, it can attract objects at further distances from
it.
Technical talk aside, the can has started a snowball effect, the more
things it pulls in, the more things are attracted to it. In short, it
is a black hole of sorts, only all of the matter pulled into it is
deposited in the Fresca can. This system persists until the entire
universe is concentrated in the fresca can (with the exception of a
stereotypical flying saucer, which for some reason did not fit through
the can's opening (this has something to do with a 17th century
Russian gadget that I'm afraid I cannot elaborate on here, it was
revealed to me in a vision)). Why would the government do this???
BECAUSE IT CAN (no pun intended :)
We shall add to the list later, i need to consult with some of
my associates before publishing more.
[UPDATE: Research has shown that a sealed suit of blue Saran Wrap
will protect you against the gravitational forces of the AlkaFresca.
The Associates recommend a full covering of Saran Wrap (no air holes!)
is neccessary before experimentation in this field. -wrythe]
-=My special little haloween prank:=-
OK, here goes. You go around with a nondescript medium-sized
paper bag on the 31st, presumably for the candy. You have no costume.
You knock on the door, say "trick or treat" in a very apathetic voice,
and when they say some clever comment about being too old to go trick-
or-treating, or something about you not having a costume, you pull yr
gun out of the bag and shoot them. Rinse & repeat.
-=ANARCHY: A rational analysis=-
---by psychrøwR¥the---
We live, or I live rather, in what is supposedly the greatest
nation on the face of the earth: the United States of America. It is
the model for a successful capitalistic, free-enterprise, democratic
society. The nation's attributes have been glorified (in an arrogant,
condescending manner) through the teaching of history and government
in schools. The attitude seems to be that the system our nation runs
under is the best in the world, we are the most free people in the
world, and there is no possible alternative that would improve our
society. To me, this is self-serving propaganda fed to the people by
those in power who wish to remain in power. The politicians and others
who hold power over the governed realize that the only improvements
that could be made to advance the human society (the establishment of
True Freedom, through the overthrow of all forms of government and
religious political power) would only result in them losing their
positions of wealth, control, and secret agendas.
Many philosophers over time have tried to create the utopian
society, and over time their theories fail. Many governments have
existed in the world, based on many different theories and origins,
but over time these also fail. Perhaps our problem is the pursuance
of power. In a society with no government, opportunities for an
individual to attain real power are limited to intellectual and
brute force intimidation. Even then, the power excised over one
individual is irrelevant to society as a whole. In the current mode
of operation, a small, elite group is able to control a mass group of
people psychologically and physically, because the people are willing
to permit censorship, lies, and bribery as long as it protects their
financial pursuits.
Thus greed is the main enemy to an effective religious or
political system. Eliminating this basic human trait is most probably
impossible. The imbalances inherent in any human system stem from
the instinctual traits of greed, powerlust and competition, a concept
more fully explored in the Renewal Army's Final Manifesto. Unfortunate
for us, we have to ignore this basic fact in the establishment of a
utopian model.
The current American government is not immune from destroyal. Many
other documents outline different ways to overthrow the government,
from usage of computers to explosives. That is not the issue in this
essay. The knowledge is out there to bring the country, perhaps the
world, to its knees, but for what? Yet another group to come to power?
[-unfinished!!- continued next issue]
tam will eventually cough up another issue, look for it. -wrythe
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