wavLength: August 21, 2007 Archive

The death of a man named Joybubbles in Minneapolis earlier this month put the spotlight on phone phreaks -- a group of people who took great joy in hacking the country's telephone system back in the late 1960s and 70s.

Phil Lapsley, who's writing a book on phone phreaks, says telephone hackers are the forefathers of computer hackers.

Listen to today's Future Tense (RealAudio - MP3 - iTunes)

EXTRA AUDIO: Why phone companies disliked phone phreaks, and what they did to step them (MP3)

If you're an old phone phreak, Phil Lapsley would love to hear from you. You can email him at history-of-phone-phreaking@lapsley.org