A phreaker is someone who is driven to explore the phone system through legal means or otherwise to understand how it operates, and marvel at it's greatness.
"Being able to beige box doesn't make you a phreaker anymore than being able to write makes you a poet."
by Murder Mouse June 12, 2005
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Phil: Last night she accidentally gnawed on my phed, that shit hurted!
Tom: That fuckin sucks.
Phil: Last night she accidentally gnawed on my phed, that shit hurted!
Tom: That fuckin sucks.
by Penile_Connoisseur March 9, 2019
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by Iandb1 April 15, 2005
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“The study of phrenology emerged in the 19th century, as did Freudian psychology and the practice of putting cocaine in every bodily orifice.”
by glocksucker69 July 30, 2019
Get the Phrenology mug.A psycological theory or analytical method based in the idea that certain mental faculties and character traits are indicated by the configurations of a person's skull.
by Li-chan May 30, 2006
Get the Phrenology mug.A form of hacking, as applied to telephone networks. Phone phreaks exploit weaknesses in the phone system to make long-distance calls for free, tap into other's calls, take control of lines, get free phone services, and the like.
Phreaks (or phreakers) are usually motivated more by technical curiosity and the hacker ethos than any criminal intent (although phreaking is most certainly illegal). To bounce a call through a dozen different switching systems around the world, to your friend next door - all for free - is regarded by phreaks as an accomplishment. The fact that they are committing fraud and felonies in the process is regarded as incidental - or perhaps part of the fun.
The tools of phreaking often take the form of "boxes", such as the blue box, red box, or beige box. These devices - whose names refer to their function, not their actual color - generate various useful audio frequencies or electrical signals. The "red box", which allows you to make free calls from pay phones, is the easiest to build and can be assembled using two parts from Radio Shack that cost less than ten dollars.
The archetypal phone phreak is John Draper, aka Captain Crunch, who began phreaking on the West Coast in the 1960s.
The practice of phreaking has declined in recent years, as phone networks have been upgraded from old analog systems to newer, less vulnerable digital systems.
Phreaks (or phreakers) are usually motivated more by technical curiosity and the hacker ethos than any criminal intent (although phreaking is most certainly illegal). To bounce a call through a dozen different switching systems around the world, to your friend next door - all for free - is regarded by phreaks as an accomplishment. The fact that they are committing fraud and felonies in the process is regarded as incidental - or perhaps part of the fun.
The tools of phreaking often take the form of "boxes", such as the blue box, red box, or beige box. These devices - whose names refer to their function, not their actual color - generate various useful audio frequencies or electrical signals. The "red box", which allows you to make free calls from pay phones, is the easiest to build and can be assembled using two parts from Radio Shack that cost less than ten dollars.
The archetypal phone phreak is John Draper, aka Captain Crunch, who began phreaking on the West Coast in the 1960s.
The practice of phreaking has declined in recent years, as phone networks have been upgraded from old analog systems to newer, less vulnerable digital systems.
by Greenie December 12, 2003
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