[HaBi 1]    TAP No. 25 - Jan.-Feb. 1974

TAP No. 25 - Jan.-Feb. 1974 AMMO AT&T Chairman Sohn deButts said 1973 was "a good year for our business. We are now setting our sights for 1974 with a view to making it even better." Their $800 million net income was a piddling 24% above 1972's. Passing along an increase of 23% to shareholders leaves $6.3 million unaccounted for, eh John?... deButts also blasted interconnect companies who sell private phone systems to businesses, saying that the FCC should stop them before they totally ruin all phone service. Meanwhile, Bell Labs has developed a new improved key telephone due to competition from interconnect companies... The Illinois Supreme Court ordered Illinois Bell to stop using customer's money for lobbying, executive's club dues, charity contributions and other expenses... General Telephone appears to be shaping up as a mouse with an elephant's appetite; from an ad for their new CAMA billing system by Automatic Electric, "Timing is precise to one second; your customer gets no free time due to inaccuracy". And an ad for their new single-slot phone, "Simple strapping changes revise local initial calling rates all the way up to 35c, in 5-cent increments. It's an easy field adjustment that only takes about ten minutes. There's nothing extra to buy. Nothing to install." They're handing out leaflets at schools showing a guy in jail for making free calls, and they say, "We know most people are honest. But a few think it's clever to cheat and steal... that the phone company won't miss a few bucks. That's why we are telling it like it is. Thanks to modern electronics, it's easier than ever to catch people who try to rip us off. And when we catch them, it can be a real bad trip." TAP responds, "We know most people are honest. But a few think it's clever to cheat and steal... that the public won't miss a few billion bucks. That's why we're throwing in a few hip phrases totally out of context. Thanks to modern printing presses, it's easier than ever to expose corporations who try to rip us off. And when we expose them it really can be a trip". Two GTE former district managers charged that GTE fixed their books for the last 10 years and the Kentucky Public Service Commission has concluded that it's "likely". They can't tell for sure because there's only one source of the "real" books - GTE! The originals have probably been erased 5 times by now. DEAR TAP, I recently complained that my mail had been opened and resealed. I thought this was the phone co. or the post office. Well it's not, my own parents were opening my mail. They told me they respected my privacy and would never do such a thing, well now I would like to warn anyone who has had their mail opened that it might not be Bell but your own flesh and blood! Who said blood was thicker than water? I found some good literature you may be into- A mag called Moneysworth. It tells how to get many things wholesale and cheap. (Strictly legit). 5 bucks a year, write Moneysworth, 251 w. 57 St., N.Y.,N.Y. 10019. I'm sure some readers have the old problem of finding other phreaks. and if you think you know one you just can't go up to them and say it, so some phreaks here have found a neat solution. When you say goodbye on the phone say bi. This is the word bye but as if you hung up too fast, not completing the word. Try it. -CALIFORNIA- TAP is no longer Technological American Party. TAP is TAP! . We are not a political party. We do not advocate anything, as an organization. All opinions are those of individual readers and staffpersons, and you may agree with them or not. There is, however, one policy of TAP; TAP will print technical information that is otherwise unavailable or unclear. Information which could be of help to the most readers is printed first. Information which is illegal and devoid of informational purpose doesn't make it, and an example might be a printed circuit board or a parts list. TAP will soon publish information on lockpicking. As usual, this is technical material that is hard to learn elsewhere and is valuable for many readers. And it can be used to rip off ordinary people, so we have been asked not to print it. Not one person who ever wrote in TAP wants to see individuals hurt with TAP information. Most would like to see corporations get it bad. So, we emphasize our opinions frequently as to where the energy should be aimed. If there are people reading TAP who do use their talents to hurt others, they probably don't need TAP to do it. If publishing lockpicking or anything else encourages people to turn on each other, we would not apologize. We would condemn society and hope that such people could be lovingly taught to respect others. Here is the recommended procedure for writing to TAP: Don't send cash, don't send coins, send a Postal Money Order. Save receipt but don't put your name on money order. Then it can't be traced like a regular check. Use enough postage, don't send postcards, scotch tape all seams on your envelope, and leave off your real name and return address. If possible, drop off the letter at our mailing address. Dear TAP, People might check out Wm. Powell's The Anarchist Cookbook which is published by Lyle Stuart, Inc.,239 Park Ave, NYC 10003 ($5.95). Topics on drugs,electronics & surveillance, explosives, boobytraps and guns. Some of it is too simplisticly explained, but it serves as a point of departure for the creative. A better section on weapons is Beat the Heat ($2.45, Berkeley Int'l Lib. School, Ramparts Press, SF, Ca.) The firearms chapter substantially reprints "Firearms and Self-Defense" (1969) by-the Int'l Liberation School & Red Mountain Tribe,which had been distributed by Juche' and the White Panthers. The most elegant syntheses & explanations of effects of drugs can be found in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Most university libraries have it. If you know German, check out Beilstein in a chemistry library. For example, one can obtain purer and better THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol) in the optically active form by synthesis than by extraction (e.g., from grass,hash, etc..). If you've got business letterhead stationery or science dept. connections with a university you can buy most necessary reagents directly from chemical supply companies. An addendum to your note on page 1, Issue 24 is that anyone who is being prosecuted who feels that a possibility exists of illegal government activities in obtaining evidence (i.e., without a court order) like opening mail or tapping lines should his/her attorney make a motion for disclosure of this and ask court for all logs of conversations and copies of letters, etc. Experience is that the government would rather dismiss a case than have it widely circulated through the media that it was engaging in illegal surveillance. -MASSACHUSETTS THE METHANE GAME - IT'S A GAS! As part of its continuing coverage of the energy crisis, TAP presents Part 2- Free Gas. In most places, the local power company also supplies the gas, thus they strangle people with two hands. As usual, we do not advocate following the simple money-saving techniques outlined here, as they are reproduced for informational purposes and to follow them would be illegal, though extremely difficult to be caught doing. Many of the tips are valid for electric meters, too, so keep that in mind. Most common gas meters today work on the bellows principle, i.e.- a gas bag, usually made of leather, is forced to "breathe" like a lung when gas flows through it. A metal rod connected to the bag pushes the wheels which turn the dials of the meter, which displays the amount of cubic feet of gas which has passed through the meter. This meter is common for houses and apartments because it is accurate with small flows, such as in pilot lights in stoves and heaters. Since pilot lights use up 1/3 of the average gas bill, the power wants to be sure to get it registered properly. To be a Gas Raider one must follow these important rules: First,before doing anything, write down the conditions that you're starting with and the situation that you will end up with. Second, do not allow the power co. to become suspicious. Finally, and most important use ail safety precautions, bar none! A careless Raider is a dead Raider! The first step is to make notes on the before and after situations. This is important because even seasoned professional Raiders can easily forget where a particular screw came from, or whether the washers were under the frame or ever the frame, etc. And by knowing in advance what changes you're going to make, it will be easier to see what notes you'll have to make on the "before" situation. Some things you'll have to watch are in the next step,below. Second, you must keep a grip on your security by not leaving tell-tale signs. Here's how: Don't cut down your gas bill to nothing overnight. The power company knows how much you use and if the computer notices a sharp dip in your bills they'll ask you why. Saying that you've been on vacation helps, but it's best to cut down gradually. Remember, greed is the power company's downfall. Don't let it be yours. Check old bills and use thern as a guide. Figure out your usage in cubic feet and you'll know how much to cut down your reading by. The bills also tell the date that the meter reader comes by, another good thing to know. Some meters are clean, but most are filthy. The face of the dials are usually unsmudged. Write down the ap pearance of vour meter before you touch it, and make sure it looks exactly the same when you're done. This is ab3olutely imperative. If you're lazy, plan on get ting caught. Gas Raiding is a precision art, requiring patience and finesse. Use proper tools. Without a big enough pipe wrench you may scratch the pipe and/or the bolts enough to be noticeable. Seals are often used on meters. You may be able to use a technique that doesn't require breaking the seal. you may be able to break the seal and put it back look ing uncut, but it's not too easy. You can often get a seal and a sealing tool from a friend in the company, from a friendly employee who needs a few bucks, or by (getting a job yourself for a month and ripping off a few hundred thousand. Sometimes meters are bolted on, and the threads on the bolts or nuts have a sealer-type glue. Get a bit of the stuff and be sure it looks the same when applied (and dried). If you have to break a seal that you can't replace, wait at least 8 months before touching the meter again, because they may be suspicious and waiting. Waiting is also important to see if they put a new seal on. If they don't, then they just don't care and you're in business again. REVERSING METER This is the easiest method of rewinding your meter. First, turn off the valve that supplies gas to the meter. When the power co. cuts you off, it uses this valve to do so. They use a wrench to turn the valve so that the hole on the pipe and the moving hole on the valve handle line up. Then they put a lock(usually a rollersmith lock-see Issue 23) or a seal through the two holes. When the valve handle is pointing in the direction of the pipe the gas is on. Turn the handle with a wrench so the holes line up. Take a bigger pipe wrench and loosen the big nuts that connect the input and output pipes to the top of the meter. Then turn ~hem by hand, holding the meter so it doesn't fall when it comes off. Now turn the meter around so the dials face the opposite direction that they did before, and the gas is going backwards through the meter. Tighten the huts by hand while pushing up on the meter. Make sure they are turning smoothly and properly, straight onto the meter. Then tighten them snugly, (but not as tight as possible, or you may stripe the threads with the big wrench.) As you use gas the meter will run in reverse, unless it has a ratchet mechanism to prevent it. At the very least the meter won't move, thus-Free Gas! Check for leaks as shown in the safety section. BLOWING BACK METER Thin ingenious method requires a vacuum cleaner. To blow back the meter, connect the output of the vacuum to the output (supply) side of the meter. To suck back the meter, connect the input hose of the vacuum to the input of the meter. Tape up the connections with plastic tape and let ler rip! Be sure you disconnect the meter from the pipes (Method 1) before connecting on the vacuum cleaner, stupid! REMOVING DIALS Some meters have a removable dial assembly that is simply removed by unscrewing the frame and pulling the whole thing off. Then plug up the hole where the rod comes through so that no gas leaks out. Any gas that you now use won't register on the dials, and you can even open up the assembly that you just removed and turn the dials back to a more equitable reading. When repositioning these dials it is extremely important to understand how the numbering system on the dials works. Every time the "Cubic feet" dial rotates one full turn, the "Tens of cubic feet" dial moves one digit upwards. Thus, when the "Cubic feet" dial is on zero, the "Tens" dial should be pointing right at a particular number. And when the "Cubic feet" dial is halfway around, the "Tens" dial must be halfway -between two numbers. The same holds true for all the dials, when compare to the dial right next to them. Meter readers do nothing but read meters all day, and they will know if the dials are pointing in the wrong positions. Mark down the dial readings of your meter before playing with it. If the dials aren't labeled with "Feet", "Tens", etc., then turn your gas on and see which dial moves fastest. This will be the "Cubic feet" dial, usually the right-most dial. The "Tens" dial will be next to it, and so on. Be sure no one in your home lets the meter reader in with the dials off, the meter reversed, or anything else looking funny. SAFETY Natural gas is a mixture of 80%. methane and smaller amounts of ethane, propane, butane, nitrogen and d few other gases. It is highly explosive and very poisonous. The shutoff valve should be regarded as your "Live/Die" switch. You MUST remember to turn it off before working on gas lines. You can faint before you realize it if you have a gas leak. Super-Important- Work with plenty of ventilation. If impossible to have ventilation, don't work! Even after you shutoff the valve there is still enough gas in the pipes to be dangerous. With fresh air coming in you'll have no problems. Sparks or flame will ignite any gas in the air. Do not smoke. Electric motors, drills, saws or appliances make sparks and must not be used while working on gas lines. When you're done, check for leaks by cupping your hands around the pipe and pouring in some water. Watch for bubbles of gas escaping. This method is better than sniffing because your sense of smell will decrease if you've been smelling gas for a few minutes, and either everything will smell like gas or nothing will. Do not try the old trick of lighting a match to find a leak! Do not work alone. With two people you have protection from fainting and not being found until it's too late. Both of you should know all safety rules and be aware if how you are feeling while working. Work slowly and carefully and you should have complete success and safety. Before starting, locate every single pilot light that works on gas in your home. They must be relit after you finish or you'll be finished off. In one house there was a gas heater, a gas dryer, a gas water heater and a gas stove, each with its own pilot light. The stove itself had 7 pilot lights! Know your appliances and it's a good idea to have the manuals for them so you can find the pilot lights before you begin to work. Some people have gas refrigerators. Many N.Y. people only have a gas stove with one or two pilots. Your pilot lights are also good for checking that the shutoff valve is working before you turn the nuts on the meter. If you smell gas in your home after finishing, turn off the valve at once. You'll breathe easier for it! Dear TAP, Black Box Detection depends on the kind of switching equipment you have in "your"C.O. Identification: Step by Step Dial your own number -and listen after each digit. If it makes a distinct click or clicks after most of the digits you have SXS. If you get nothing except a distinct Klunk Klunk sound after the last digit only, before you have a busy you have Crossbar, either no. 1 (the first kind Pa Bell created) or no. 5, the improved variety. If your busy signal sounds real musical rather than the normal harsher busy you probably have no. 1 ESS. Black boxes are considered safe only on no. 5 to or possibly no. 1 crossbar. It can be used on SXS but for only very short periods, unless your C. O. switchroom is unattended at the time you use. the box or if the C. O. doesn't have CPH alarms. The purpose of these is not to catch boxes (although it works for that) but to keep someone who called you from holdinq your line up in case they don't hang up. If the alarm comes in once in a while the switchman will just get up and knock down the connection (you'll be disconnected, and after a minute or more) but he'll get VERY suspicious if it happens too often and he may listen in. If he hears a conversation and the alarm says one person hung up, well... Some cheap offices don't have alarms, they're safe for boxing. To find out, call some business you can't stand in the same office (same prefix or first 3 digits) and after they hang up sit on the line. Make the call just before they close for the day, or they'll call the phone co. and have the connection knocked down. Or try a friend who doesn't mind his line being held up for half a day. After that time, if you're still holding the line up, either the office doesn't have alarms or it is unattended during that time. ESS is almost impossible to use any kind of box with; move to a different area. Or find a friend who works in the switchroom to re-program the computer to give you the neat extra cost features like call forwarding free. California loop around numbers vary widely across the state, but in Southern California the pattern is XXX-1118 and XXX-1119 or XXX-0118 and 0119. Most charge, some are free when called from the same area code but charge outside that area code. -CALIFORNIA Dear TAP, FREE COPIES!!! The 3M 11400L11 Reader-Printer (microfilm) so often found in schools and libraries will give you all the free copies you want if you know how. When you put in a dime it gives you a copy of whatever you were looking at. The copy comes out of the top front, and you're supposed to tear it off ... but not if you're smart. The paper comes on a roll. When the copy comes out, find something else you want copied, and when it's focused on the screen, grip the paper firmly and pull straight out. This will start the machine and a few seconds later you'll have two copies for the price of one. Stay there a few hours, and you'll have two hundred for the price of one. Space shooter discs, (small pieces of plastic made for the space shooter toy-19c per box at Woolworths) work as a dime in parking meters. just make sure it is pushed all the way in, before turning, or meter will jam. This has saved us about $50 so far-we'd like to share it. -NEW YORK - For the names and numbers of war company executives, send a stamp and 25c for the Stop the War Phone Book; c/o Thomas Paine, Box 20605, Phila., Pa. 19138 ... Another way to find who belongs to a particular phone number is to look in Polk's City Directory in your library. #s are listed numerically followed by name and occupation. ... An amusing book "The Poor Man's James Bond" is $5 from Hillcrest Publications, Box 395, McDonald, Ohio, 44437 and is a manual of homemade bombs, mace and zip guns. It's the revised version of the "Militant's Formulary". Catalog is 25c, and they're not cool so write a straight-looking letter... Heath Company, Benton Harbor, Mi. will lend you a frequency counter on a 30 day trial basis. You have to have a business letterhead ($5 per 100 offset) and pay a $400 advance deposit. Write or stop by nearest dealer for details. They're real nice about it. Say you want to compare theirs with the Hewlett Packard or some other brand. NEW RED BOX! Circuit operation is similar to Issue 16, jut simplified with two IC timers. Leakage has been eliminated. Pushing button supplies power to timer (pin M4) which turns on for a short time according to the selected 120k, 220k or 470k resistor. The timer, when on, supplies power from its pin 3 to the flip-flop, (pin 4&8), which turns on and off power through the 15k resistor to the oscillator, which in turn feeds signal to the amplifier and earpiece. The flipflop speed is first set for 25c by adjusting the value of the 620k if necessary, then for 5 & 10c (they're the same) with the 6.2k resistor. The 120k, 220k and 470k are rough values for the timer length. They can be 500k miniature pots or resistors. An alternate way to set times is to adjust the value of the * capacitors by paralleling others on it. The 1 mfd. is the timer, and the .1 is the flip-flop. Buttons are normally-open miniature pushbuttons; the on-off switch is necessary & shouldn't be done with diodes in this box. Try a realnickel if booths in your area are hip to red box tones. For more information see issue number 16. Adjust the 30k pot for 2200 Hz tone, or compare to the real thing. Dear People, I'm glad to see your concern with areas other than phones. In the Nixonoid era we all need to learn all sorts of ways to save and survive. TAP seems sometimes too techno-oriented so I'm glad you're putting out intro courses in electronics. I've decided to send something to help Abbie although I don't think he is blameless. Yipster Times seems to want to see him in jail but they are sometimes too heavy-handed. Your view convinced me to dig in and find a dollar or 2. Venceremos, -C - Note: Please send contributions to Abbie Hoffman & Friends Defense Fund, 640 Broadway, N. Y., N. Y. 10012. The case is about to come to trial and funds are urgently needed. Abbie and his friends need our support; please help. Dear Sirs, I INSIST that you remove my name from your mailing list. I was unaware that TAP had all these other materials, in addition to what appeared to be some simple useful ideas. -FLORIDA- NEW CREDIT CARD PLAN: To combat the fraudulent use of credit cards, a new card numbering plan win be introduced in 1975 by the Bell System. The plan is the result of soaring credit card fraud that began in the late 1960's. One phase of the plan is that long-distance calls placed with credit cards will be checked for validity by computers. The 1975 credit cards will bear a 10 digit number that will have none of the characteristics of the customer's phone number. When a long-distance call is placed, a validity check of the credit card number will be made by a system of computers. The checks will vary according to the equipment available to the operators. For example, those on TSPS will have automatic access to the computer. Cordboard operators will query the computer manually. In all cases, the computer will advise the operator if the number is valid. Published for informational purposes only by Youth Hot Line Reports, Inc. Blast Damages Phone Lines By ADRIANNE THOMAS Denver Post Staff Writer An explosion under the west end of the W. Colfax Avenue viaduct Monday night severed three main telephone cables and caused minor damage to homes, busi. nesses and cars in the area, police m ported. Detectives Fred Stevenson and Robert Weyand of the police bomb squad said the blast. at 8:50 p.m., was caused by a "high explosive--either plastic or dynamite". Stevenson said the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and--Firearms was assisting local police in the investigation. Debris collected at the scene will be examined in the federal agency's laboratories. Heaviest damage was to five Mountain Bell telephone cables that enter an underground conduit at the site of the blast. Jim Kercheville, Colorado public relations manager for Mountain Bell, said three of the lines were severed or torn UP and the other two were "nicked." The explosive apparently was placed directly on the telephone cables, Kercheville said. He said he has no idea on possible motives.

[HaBi 1]    TAP No. 25 - Jan.-Feb. 1974