iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Ian Austen @ianausten.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Back to Australia, where payphones are free for domestic calls and well maintained. Ricky-Lee and Tim, it seems, are radio show hosts in Sydney. (Hasselblad SWC, Zeiss 38mm f4.5 Biogon, Kodak Tri-X)

A payphone kiosk in a plaza with a tram in the backgorund. The tram is wrapped with photos of a man and woman and says Ricki-Lee and Tim, New for Breakfast, From 6 am.

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

I don't think so? I had nothing to do with this movie and didn't know about it until a few hours ago. IMDB says the tagline is "Without sight, the phone is his weapon" and I've never said anything like that ...

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Just returned from Europe yesterday. Was thinking about you, hope you’re staying dry. Miss you.

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Supercat64 @supercatn64.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Uploaded one of my many recordings from my #5ESS phone line. I figured I want to get this stuff recorded and preserved as my line card has already changed after recording this a few weeks ago. www.youtube.com/watch?v=95pi... #5ESS, #1ESS, #1AESS, #5XB, #3XB, #1XB, #SxS

youtube.com

#5ESS Dial Tone Timeout and Jane Barbe 5 digit code

YouTube video by Supercat Telephone

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Supercat64 @supercatn64.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

reject modernity of ai data centers and packet switches, embrace tradition of crossbar switching tandems. #5xb #1xb #4axb #xbt #1ess #5ess #phone #phreaking

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

That’s an incredible score! these were for AUTOVON which was indeed the US military telephone network (although not “secure” as in encrypted). And yes, those 4th column tones were the same as those used in silver boxes.

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The National Museum of Computing @tnmoc.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Last call for 'Phone Phreaks'. Phil Lapsley join us tomorrow for a talk on how a group of hackers found the Achilles heel in AT&T's massive network and changed technology forever ow.ly/oaLq50ZCnoS

ow.ly

Phone Phreaks: What Can We Learn from the First Network Hackers?

Dive into the wild world of early phone hackers and discover the tricks that shaped today’s networks.

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The National Museum of Computing @tnmoc.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

The original hackers didn't use computers, they used phones. On Sat Aug 22nd, Phil Lapsley is at TNMOC to share how the Phone Phreaks changed technology forever. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/phone-phreak…

eventbrite.co.uk

Phone Phreaks: What Can We Learn from the First Network Hackers?

Dive into the wild world of early phone hackers and discover the tricks that shaped today’s networks.

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I didnt really take FOIA response time into explicit consideration but then I was writing my book part time for ~7 years so I had the luxury of time.

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

The issue is not the individual people who, as you note, are working hard under challenging conditions. It’s institutional policy that is the problem.

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I should note that my interactions with FBI FOIA staff were lovely! I used to send them FOIA-themed holiday cards, and thanked them personally in the book.

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Sadly, agencies have every incentive to do this. so much of FOIA is about throwing up roadblocks to make requesters go away. :(

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

It was an excellent talk, one of the most informative and clearly delivered at the conference, imo.

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—>realhackhistory.org @bsky.realhackhistory.org · 14/08/2026

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has located approximately 43,671 pages of records subject to the FOIPA that are potentially responsive to the subject of your request.” If anyone is interested, the FBI response to my #FOIA request on Junaid Hussain aka TRicK from Team Poison.

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Self effacing of you, but not true about being the least interesting. (Although quiet I will give you.)

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

How did I not know this about you??? :-)

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Riccardo S. @sacco.ciarpa.me · 09/08/2026

Had so much fun at @connections.museum Took quite a few photos, let's see how many of them come out good I used an AT&T Picturephone, tried a blue box, saw the mechanical switches working while I was dialing a phone, and much more Also gave the lovely tour guide a few Italian payphone tokens

Close up of a standard boring grey analog phone switching equipment rack, on the right a few rows of lights are visible, in the middle of the frame a sticker with the drawing of a bear wearing a fireman's hat and the text "Hug-A-Bear says... Remember to test your smoke detector every month."

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Botty.bot @infosecbot.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Phreaking village. This really made me smile, hanging out at a phonebooth to go blue boxing... #defcon34 🔁 RT @hackerfantastic | reposted by @gleeda x.com/hackerfantastic/status/208622…

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lycamania ☉∇ ☣ 🏜️ @wolf.moda · 01/08/2026

good morning from Klamath valley payphone booth + elk prairie payphone walk up. this walk up is beautiful

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Ian Austen @ianausten.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

A battery of phones sits at the ready down a hallway in Toronto's Metro Hall. It was not obvious why a key lock box is attached to the phone on the left. (Rolleiflex Wide, Zeiss 55mm f4 Distagon, Kodak Tri-X)

Four pay phones are mounted into separate niches under intense focused light. The carpeting is very patterned and a door is that the right.

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Now now, don’t be mean. (Or even median.)

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Lucky225 @lucky225.2600.blue · 23/07/2026

In honor of the Joybubbles documentary finally being screened, we ( @swhite-photos.com) have restored his old 206-FEELING (2063335464) number that he recorded Stories and Stuff on. When called you will get a random recording from the archive. Enjoy. 🎉 Cc @explodingthephone.bsky.social

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Tao Neuendorffer @taonf.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

The phone to me was the closest thing to God on earth —Joe Engressia Jr, aka Joybubbles If you’re noticing a similarity between Engressia and the character Whistler in Sneakers, that’s not a coincidence #Joybubbles was curiosity given human form decipher.sc/2026/02/02/p...

Joybubbles is a documentary directed by Los Angeles filmmaker Rachael Morrison that tells the story of Joe “Joybubbles” Engressia Jr., a legendary and whimsical blind hacker who helped pioneer the art of “phone phreaking.”

Gifted with perfect pitch, he realized that if he whistled the exact tone of 2600Hz into the telephone receiver, he could make free phone calls and explore the inner workings of the telephone network. His incredible skill for hacking the network eventually awarded him the nickname “The Whistler,” and he became famous among a group of underground telephone hackers who called themselves phone phreaks.

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Tao Neuendorffer @taonf.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

How did artists working for newspapers in the 1970s view computer crime? How did they depict it? This blog goes year by year with a selection of images from newspaper archives

This illustration was attached to an article that detailed more concerns about potential for fraud when computers are used in voting. I don’t fully understand what it is portraying though, maybe a computer in a voting booth that has been prised open?

Newsday (Nassau Edition), Monday, Nov 6th, 1972

And this illustration which I think relates to stories about phone phreaks prank calling people around the world.

"Do you really want to listen to Chairman Mao's heavy breathing on the line?”

Western Daily Press, Sat, September 9th, 1972

This is an excellent cartoon of an FBI agent made out of phones, with the handsets as pistols. There were two types of phone phreak stories in the 1970s, one tended to be whimsical stories about the adventures phreaks got up to and the other was about technical or legal moves against phone phreaking.

'Phone phreak' pays a heavy toll for bugging Ma Bell, FBI

Chicago Tribune, Tuesday, May 10th, 1977

My favorite illustration of this entire blog, it accompanied an article that came about because of more statements by Donn B. Parker, in this case that universities and colleges were becoming hotbeds of computer crime. The cartoon has real Mad Magazine energy combined with something you might see in a college textbook on computer security. I think it is meant to show a university computer department as a fraternity house complete with hijinx and mayhem. I’m assuming the old man tied up at the bottom of the image is the crusty Dean or the ageing professor who was meant to have been preventing the chaos taking place.

Computer U.
The Columbus Ledger, Sunday, November 19th, 1978

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

You are familiar with the Connections Museum, I hope?

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Amusingly, the bsky timeline just delivered this!

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Ian Austen @ianausten.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

This one was shot some time ago but someone missed going through the scanner until now. The Byward Market Parking Garage, Ottawa. (Leica M2, 35mm f2 Summicron, Kodak Tri-X)

A payphone kiosk mounted on a brick wall. To its left is a Canada Post mailbox and to the left of that is a light colored utility box. To the right of the phone is a curved, mulitpaned window which is very dirty and has some sort of sealing problem. A cartoonish tulip is painted on it. Part of a one way sign is visible.

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Cinetopia, Ann Arbor, MI Sunday May 17 at noon *audio description headsets and captioning devices available

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Millenium Docs Against Gravity, Warsaw, Poland May 8-17 Specific dates, times, and ticket sales forthcoming *filmmaker Rachael J Morrison in person for Q&A’s

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Exploding The Phone @explodingthephone.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

MOMI: First Look co-presented with Reelablities, NYC Saturday May 2 at 2pm *open audio description and open captions *filmmaker Rachael J Morrison in person for Q&A

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