Naturally, I had to pull from a varied set of locations for this speech and
some of the sources might have been in error. I tried my best to back everything
up with a legitimate citation, but in the heat of the moment some numbers and
facts might not have gotten out. I also make reference to various web sites and
documents, which I will try and link here.
Notes on What You're Hearing
I am speaking in a conference room in a hotel in downtown Nashville, TN. There
are about 50-60 people sitting listening to me. It is the first night of a
weekend conference, so folks are drifting in and out of the room, seeing who
is where (this is why you hear folks having unrelated discussions in a low
tone), and in some cases getting drinks. A few minutes in, someone brings
in a drink for his friends and trips and falls (this is the source of the
spontaneous applause.)
On a couple occasions during the speech, someone triggered the fire alarm
somewhere in the hotel. I eventually incorporate sarcastic comments about
pulling alarms in the speech. Some speculation later says that it might not
have been someone intentionally pulling the alarm but just opening a door
to go outside and setting it off.
I recorded this talk using the microphone of my video camera, aiming the camera
at my legs. The quality is pretty good, considering. You can see it in the
photo on the table in front of me. One side effect is that you can't easily
hear the questions I'm asked towards the end. Some of these questions have
been abridged because you couldn't hear them anyway.
My proudest moment is when a gentleman pipes in a commentary about using
methods to ground out phone handsets in the 1950's. This puts him in the
center of a lot of the history I'm talking about and he didn't find my
speech a whitewash or a misrepresentation. That means a lot to me.
Documents, References and Links
The TEXTFILES.COM Collection of Phone Box Plans
http://www.textfiles.com/phreak/BOXES/
The Telephone History Museum
http://www.telephonymuseum.com/
Mark Bernay's Phone Trips
http://www.wideweb.com/phonetrips/
The Youth International Party Line
http://flag.blackened.net/daver/misc/yipl/
Cheshire Catalyst's Home Page
http://cheshirecatalyst.com/
Joe Engressia/Joybubbles
http://www.mbay.net/~mpoirier/joy1.html
PhreakNIC Home Page
http://www.phreaknic.info/
Errata
I said that the "DrinkorDie" busts had an average of 600gb of data on each
seized machine; the actual amount was something like 400gb.
I imply the term "The Last Mile" rises in the 1980's. I've given absolutely
no time to actually researching this assumption; a concept like "The Last
Mile" could be hundreds of years old and just transferred over to phones
at some arbitrary point.
My characterization of the Cult of the Dead Cow was mainly to illustrate
that a relatively small group of people could have a very prominent effect
on the world; I don't mean to demean or disparage any members of cDc as
not having an influence in the group's fame or reputation. The cDc deserve
more of a historical perspective/study than a few choice sentences chucked
off in the middle of a presentation.
At one point towards the end, someone goes off about attacking Afghanistan
and demands to know why phone phreaking isn't going on. He's entirely trashed
and keeps showing up to rant further. At the end of the talk, I invited him
down and gave him a hug.
