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ramon156yesterday at 9:55 PM5 repliesview on HN

this doesnt really reflect the vibe old school hackers give. "solder a wifi module to a calculator" sounds like a cartoon-inspired project.

Why not reference call spoofing (i forgot the name) where they were able to call for no charge because they were able to spoof a real call. that's the kind of hacker vibe i want continued.


Replies

inigyouyesterday at 10:01 PM

The word "hacker" comes from MIT students who would cut up circuit boards with a hacksaw and connect the pieces together in different ways. Soldering a WiFi module to a calculator is very oldschool hacker.

The word you're looking for is phreaking. I must admit, since the title of TFA's website is only two letters away, it's funny you forgot it.

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AuthAuthyesterday at 10:42 PM

That is not something that should be encouraged. Hacking together projects like a wifi calculator is fun, harmless and builds knowledge. Hacking a phoneline can land a kid in jail. Attacking public infra is not something that should be treated lightly.

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Retr0idyesterday at 10:47 PM

Because phreaking in the traditional sense hasn't worked for decades?

detourdogyesterday at 10:37 PM

Blue box and phreaking.

onoesworkacctyesterday at 11:16 PM

It was written by ChatGPT which would avoid examples that are explicitly illegal, and would stop short of advocating things that contravene ToS agreements.

Sad.

Who is in charge of this shit now?