John Draper Hacked Phone Tones

In 1971, a young hacker named John Draper discovered that toy whistles from Cap'n Crunch cereal boxes could mimic the 2,600 Hz tone used by phone company switching systems. The whistle let him trick the phone network into giving him control of long-distance lines. Draper used the flaw to make free phone calls, and the trick helped make him famous in the phone-phreaking scene as "Captain Crunch."

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