Question
An influential 1990 article by Noah Clayton introduced a DIY tool for hacking these devices, made by installing a 6.5536 megahertz crystal in a certain Radio Shack product. The very sturdy “fortress” type of these devices typically uses an automated system called ACTS. In contrast to similar tools like black boxes or blue boxes, a red box is specifically used to exploit these devices. Privately-owned COCOTs (“CO-cots”) are alternatives to these devices, which are usually owned by incumbent local exchange carriers like (*) GTE. Potter Stewart wrote that the Fourth Amendment “protects people, not places” when arguing for the defendant’s privacy using one of these devices in the case Katz v. United States. Phreakers might exploit these specific devices by playing recordings of three kinds of sounds corresponding to different coins. For 10 points, name these devices, which in the UK can be found in prominent red kiosks. ■END■
ANSWER: payphones [accept coin-operated phones before “coins”; accept phone booths; accept public phones; prompt on “telephones”] (The article in the first sentence is “Converting a Tone Dialer into a Red Box”, which may have been the most influential article published in 2600 magazine in terms of how many people used it to get free phone calls.)
<AW>
= Average correct buzz position
Conv. % | Power % | Average Buzz |
---|
100% | 20% | 121.00 |
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