<HTML>
<TITLE>T E X T F I L E S</TITLE>
<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#00FF00" LINK="#00FF00" ALINK="#00AA00" VLINK="#00AA00">
<H1>Phone Phreaking: Blue Boxing</H1>
<P>
To a young person dabbling in the underground in the early 1980s, few concepts
were as powerful, alluring, or exciting as the "Blue Box".  A number of simple
circuits enclosed with push buttons, it changed everything in the relationship
between the Phone Company (Ma Bell) and her customers (The Peons). 
<P>
Created in the late 1960's and working well into the 1980s (and maybe beyond),
the Blue Box took advantage of a design flaw in the entire telephone system:
it was possible to gain access to parts of phone switching equipment and 
send them false signals to make the machinery do whatever you wanted.
<P>
With the blast of a 2600hz tone down a telephone line (signifying you Meant
Serious Business), you could seize the telephone trunk and gain a sort of
"Administrator" access to the phone switching equipment. And since operators
were unlikely to do the sort of wild experimentation that a phreak with a 
blue box would try, all sorts of amazing things would happen with a few
button presses.
<P>
The Blue Box was a tangible Swiss Army Knife of the telephone, a powerful tool
that gave the whole world to you in a small box. Little like it has been seen
since. It inspired dozens and dozens of other <A HREF="../BOXES">phone-related
home-grown circuits</A>, who all were given the label of "(Color) Box" in 
homage.
<P>
<TABLE WIDTH=100%>
<TD BGCOLOR=#00FF00><FONT COLOR=#000000><B>Filename</B><BR></FONT></TD>
<TD BGCOLOR=#00DD00><FONT COLOR=#000000><B>Size</B><BR></FONT></TD>
<TD BGCOLOR=#00AA00><FONT COLOR=#000000><B>Description of the Textfile</B><BR></TD></TR>

