Phreaking

2 definitions found

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  phreaking /freek'ing/ n. [from `phone phreak'] 1. The art and science
     of {cracking} the phone network (so as, for example, to make free
     long-distance calls). 2. By extension, security-cracking in any other
     context (especially, but not exclusively, on communications networks)
     (see {cracking}).
  


     At one time phreaking was a semi-respectable activity among hackers;
     there was a gentleman's agreement that phreaking as an intellectual game
     and a form of exploration was OK, but serious theft of services was
     taboo. There was significant crossover between the hacker community and
     the hard-core phone phreaks who ran semi-underground networks of their
     own through such media as the legendary "TAP Newsletter". This ethos
     began to break down in the mid-1980s as wider dissemination of the
     techniques put them in the hands of less responsible phreaks. Around the
     same time, changes in the phone network made old-style technical
     ingenuity less effective as a way of hacking it, so phreaking came to
     depend more on overtly criminal acts such as stealing phone-card
     numbers. The crimes and punishments of gangs like the `414 group' turned
     that game very ugly. A few old-time hackers still phreak casually just
     to keep their hand in, but most these days have hardly even heard of
     `blue boxes' or any of the other paraphernalia of the great phreaks of
     yore.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  phreaking
       
           /freek'ing/ "phone phreak" 1. The art and science of
          {cracking} the telephone network so as, for example, to make
          free long-distance calls.
       
          2. By extension, security-{cracking} in any other context
          (especially, but not exclusively, on communications networks).
       
          At one time phreaking was a semi-respectable activity among
          hackers; there was a gentleman's agreement that phreaking as
          an intellectual game and a form of exploration was OK, but
          serious theft of services was taboo.  There was significant
          crossover between the hacker community and the hard-core phone
          phreaks who ran semi-underground networks of their own through
          such media as the legendary "TAP Newsletter".
       
          This ethos began to break down in the mid-1980s as wider
          dissemination of the techniques put them in the hands of less
          responsible phreaks.  Around the same time, changes in the
          phone network made old-style technical ingenuity less
          effective as a way of hacking it, so phreaking came to depend
          more on overtly criminal acts such as stealing phone-card
          numbers.
       
          The crimes and punishments of gangs like the "414 group"
          turned that game very ugly.  A few old-time hackers still
          phreak casually just to keep their hand in, but most these
          days have hardly even heard of "blue boxes" or any of the
          other paraphernalia of the great phreaks of yore.
       
          [{Jargon File}]
       
          (1994-11-09)