Back in the beginning of the 70s, phone lines and phone operators were not as secure as they can be nowadays.

Moreover, taking a phone and sending calls was very expensive. Of course, as for every new technology, there were people involved in trying to understand it (and you can imagine how hard it was, Google wasn't a friend you could ping at that time) ... And also people involved in trying to get it for free. These people were called "phreakers".

The slang "phreaker" is derived from "phone" and "freak". A famous phreaker was John Draper, aka Captain Crunch. He was the first person in the world to notice that the whistle offered by Cap'n Crunch cereals boxes were producing a perfect 2600 Hertz tone.

This tone, when blown into some phone lines, would identify one as a phone line operator, and giving him possibilities like giving free international calls. The process was widely spread amongst the phreaker's community, and it became what phreakers are still calling the "Blue Box".

Using computers or whatever could produce a 2600Hz frequency on the phone, the phreakers were calling an international toll-free number, sending the 2600Hz, and then hourray, they were able to compose another number and call it for free !

The golden years of phreaking were the 80s, used widely to send data via the first computer modems, or to call friends internationally. Different boxes appeared : the Beige Box, the Black Box, and many other...

Anyway, what people are knowing less is the story of Joe Engressia.<br><br>Joe Engressia, back in 1957, was a small blind eight-years old kid, skilled with perfect pitch. He was always whistling around, and quickly got interested in phones. One day, whistling on the phone, he discovered he was resetting the phone line when whistling a certain frequency. He called an operator, and explained the problem. It was the first ever "Blue Box" system.

Joe, aka Joybubbles, aka Joe The Whistler, has inspired a lot of phreakers, including Captain Crunch. He was born May 25, 1949, in Richmond, Virginia, USA. In the date 60s he was caught by law enforcement, charged with malicious mischief and given a suspended sentence and quickly abandoned phreaking.

An article in Esquire magazine provides more information about Joe and the "Blue Box" : http://www.lospadres.info/thorg/lbb.htm

Joe studied scriptures and philosophy and got a ministerial certificate from what he called a "community of spiritual seekers" in Florida.

But Joe was more than this funny kid whistling around, he was a true inspiration for many. Sexually abused as a child, he reverted to childhood in the end of the 80s and lived the rest of his life saying he was five. He spent all his time with kids, sharing songs and poetry, also...by phone. He ran a one-man nonprofit support organization for people rediscovering and reexperiencing childhood, called "We Won’t Grow Up". He was giving readings at the local library and setting up phonecalls to terminally ill children around the world.

Joe left us some days ago, but will remain in the heart of the computer geeks and phreakers community.

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Joe's Wikipedia page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Engressia