The Phone Phreaks in Their Own Words

A collection of old zines

Yesterday we published a review of Phil Lapsley's Exploding the Phone, a history of the old phone phreak subculture. If you didn't see the article because you were off having fun on Memorial Day, you ought to read it now. If you did see it, you may recall a reference to the publication known initially as Youth International Party Line and then as TAP, a zine run by some phreaks involved with the New Left group known as the Yippies.

As a postscript to the review, I'll point you to this site, where back issues of the zine have been put online. Unfortunately, they were put there by a raging anti-Semite, and to get to the pdfs you have to scroll past a long, dumb rant about The Jews. But about a third of the way down the page, the publications themselves are posted, and they're a pretty interesting window into that time and milieu. Recommended, despite the rancid context.

Comments

[Warty]

The site is a goldmine of all sorts of fantastic moonbattery, Jesse. I particularly like this picture.

[Jesse Walker]

You are a connoisseur, Warty.

[Brett L]

Ehhh. I think Einhorn and Hoffman were using their separate polities as useful idiots a la Lenin. I don't think it had anything to do with their Jewish roots.

[Brett L]

Whoops. That should be under Warty's comments on the moonbattery.

[Austrian Anarchy]

One of the general distinctions that the German National Socialists used to make about their rival Socialists of the Internationalist variety was that the Communist creators had Jewish roots. It is really a meaningless distinction, but they threw it down a lot.

IIRC, Hayek quoted Hitler as saying Nazism was Marxism without the international aspect.

If anybody thinks that the Soviets were any more pro-Jew than the Nazis, they are ignoring every fact on the issue. Especially after the Soviets got "Anti-Zionism" defined as not being anti-Jewish, then proceeded to use every Nazi slander against Jews, replacing Jew with Zionist.

[Tonio]

And of course the NSDAP (Nazis) were increasingly less socialist over time. The turning point was the purging of Ernst Rohm aka Night of the Long Knives.

[Austrian Anarchy]

That is an odd point, well before they created a national car company, and continued nationalizing anything and everything (in typical German efficient manner, of course).

No, they never stopped being socialists at any time.

[LTC(ret) John]

"If you didn't see the article because you were off having fun on Memorial Day"

Fun? Not for a number of years now, no.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Thank you for your service to our country.

[LTC(ret) John]

Memorial Day is about those that died - Thanks for the kind thought, but Nov 11th is enough for me.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Yea, dude, as a veteran myself I know what the days are about. Won't make the mistake of thanking you for anything anymore.

[LTC(ret) John]

I just see Memorial Day turning into "Thank a Veteran" instead of "Remember those that died" - its a vain struggle on my part, I realize (and your answer reinforces that).

[Austrian Anarchy]

Hoffman's whole big deal seemed to be screwing up Western industry to make the Soviets look good. He justified his pay phone and LD call scams as ways to avoid some tax that he said partly paid for the Vietnam war. Many a thief advocate who followed him (or preceded him) used the technique, with different details. My 'favorite' The Step-by-Step Guide to Stealing a Camaro (Volume Four, Issue Forty-Three, File 20 of 27). In his article, "Spy Ace" justifies his theft by saying the insurance companies are ripping you off, they didn't pay him for his allegedly damaged car, so he wants everybody to go out and steal one. A sort of 1993 Robin Hood meets "Steal This Book Camaro."

Of course, your average Marxist will love the idea and buy the lines:

My motive is thus
twofold:

1. To see the evil insurance companies screwed some more by
sharing my knowledge of car-thieving techniques with those
who might apply them.

2. To assist the little man in obtaining justice when he/she may
by confronted with a situation similar to mine.

Of course, your typical Marxist will miss the logical holes there. If the insurance companies don't pay off the little guy, how is stealing the little guy's car going to "screw" the insurance companies? He obviously does not care about screwing his neighbor.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Also:
Soviet stoogie Abby Hoffman was pro-Israel (according to the page author)? Every "pro-Israel" quote is by someone not Hoffman, and Hoffman really got into this stuff after the 1967 Soviet propaganda campaign against Israel.

Not noted in either article, Cheshire Catalyst was instrumental in getting the 321 area code assigned to Brevard County, Florida (NASA country).

[Jesse Walker]

Abby Hoffman was pro-Israel (according to the page author)?

The rant is unreliable (surprise, surprise). Hoffman was pro-Palestinian.

[Austrian Anarchy]

Yes, that was my recollection too. Funny reading much of the rant, I have actually met a good number of those guys he names (the Hacker crowd). Most of them are cookie-cutter versions of Hoffman.

[deified]

As Homer Simpson frequently said, "I like my beer cold, my TV loud, and my anti-semites raging.

[MasterDarque]

In this current climate anything that disagrees with Jews can be seen as anti Semitic - despite the obvious dislikes the story about the murdered girl is true

[James Anderson Merritt]

" Unfortunately, they were put there by a raging anti-Semite, and to get to the pdfs you have to scroll past a long, dumb rant about The Jews. But about a third of the way down the page, the publications themselves are posted, and they're a pretty interesting window into that time and milieu. Recommended, despite the rancid context."

This is pretty much the way I feel about Griffin's "The Creature from Jekyll Island." The historical context it provides for our crazy financial system and the Federal Reserve, and the technical descriptions it contains of such things as the "game" (scam) of "bailout" by taxpayers are dead-on and priceless. But the rants about Jewish bankers are off-putting. Still, I think that everyone who cares about our money needs to read "Creature." I read it almost two decades ago, now, and the lessons it teaches are still valid today -- timeless.