How did you get the name Cap'n Crunch - I got the name while talking on the 2111 conference. It was about a week before I discovered how blue boxes work, and I had used the box to dial kp- 604-2111 -st which was some kind of special conference line setup.
People were using handles like "Mark Brenay", and "Marty Freeman". Nobody had taken the name "Cap'n Crunch" which was the origin of a toy whistle that emitted a 2600 Hz tone if one of the holes was glued up.

How did you discover that the whistle could be used to control the phone switches? - I actually didn't discover it. Some blind kids Dennie, Jimmie, and a few others had known this for quite some time. So although I used the name, I can't really take credit for figuring it out.

How do Blue Boxes work? - Blue boxes are nothing more then a device to generate pairs of tones, and a single 2600 Hz tone. They had 12 keys, plus a single button (or a key). Each key was numbered 0 - 9, and had a "KP" key and "ST"key. The button emitted a pure 2600 Hz tone. A toll free number is dialed, and just as the number is ringing, the 2600 Hz tone is sent to clear or "Blow off" the call. A "Ker-chink" sound is heard, which is ths switch signaling back indicating its ready to receive the tones. A "KP" is sent, followed by the 10 digit number, and ending with an "ST" tone. Call goes through, and the only indication was that an 800 number was dialed. This was how it was done more than 15 years ago. Since then, all of the American and Canadian phone companies have all but ditched this older "in-band" signalling equipment.

Do Blue Boxes work now? - Only on a small number of 800 numbers. Usually ones that terminate overseas. These are watched very carefully, because there are just a few "Chokepoints", it's easy for the phone companay to monitor them. The signalling handshaking is very time critial, and the tone duration and frequency is very critical. If any of these are out of tolerance, the call won't process and I'm certain that it would set off all kinds of alarms. The calling numbers are usually immediately identified through ANI and they know the calling number almost immediatly. Because most calls to these numbers are going through Digital trunks, the supervision signals will usually de-activate the voice channel the moment the flash-back happens. You have to live in an area where the 800 number actually switches to the Overseas trunks.

Is it illegal to tell someone how to make free calls? - Although I'm not an attorney, I do know that it IS illegal to publish this information in the state of California. As far as I know, there are no federal laws preventing this, because there are numerous magazines that publish this information, and they are NOT in California. There are new laws that also make it illegal to pass access codes, passwords, etc to mailboxes, call extenders, and calling card access codes.http://www.did-it.com

What books or magazines that I can read to learn about hacking? - Probably one of the more popular periodicals is "2600 Magazine" available from some, but not all newstands. The best places to go to learn about hacking is the Web. Although my links may not be as extensive as MOST H/P (Hacker/Phreak) sites, you should find links from them to most of the others. Happy Surfin...

What is the best way to learn how to hack? - The best way *I* learned how is by trying things. Experimentation.... Like what happens if I dial an invalid prefix? By trying this, I discovered ANI (Automatic Number Identification). By experimentation, I discovered that if I dial the ANI prefix and the last 4 digits of my phone number, then hang up, it rings my phone back. True hackers don't learn from books. They work with very little information and go out and find things on their own, instead of learning it from someone. This applies to computers as well. The best way to learn UNIX is to download and install LINUX..

What is a loop? - A loop is a pair of "test" numbers used to measure the line loss between the subscriber's phone and the central office. It has two "sides" or numbers, usually a single digit apart. The A side produces a 1000 Hz tone if the B side is empty. When someone calls the B side, the tone goes away and if the loop is not filtered, it's possible to talk to each other. For testing purposes, a 1000 hz tone is injected into the B side and it's level is compared with the tone heard on the A side. The difference in level determines the line loss.