Levy_S-Hackers-Heroes-Computer-Revolution

engineers had a broad knowledge of the interrelations within that system.Nevertheless, the engineers could readily provide detail on specific functions ofthe system, like cross-bar switching and step-relays; Kotok and the others wouldhound these experts for information, and the flattered engineers, probably havingno idea that these ultra-polite college kids would actually use the information,would readily comply.Kotok made it a point to attend those tours, to read all the technical material hecould get his hands on, and to see what he could get by dialing different numberson the complex and little-understood MIT phone system. It was basic exploration,just like exploring the digital back alleys of the TX-0. During that previous winterof 1960-61, the TMRC hackers had engaged in an elaborate "telephone networkfingerprinting," charting all the places you could reach by MIT's system of tielines. Though not connected to general telephone lines, the system could take youto Lincoln Lab, and from there to defense contractors all over the country. It was amatter of mapping and testing. You would start with one access code, add differentdigits to it, see who might answer, ask whoever answered where they were, thenadd digits to that number to piggyback to the next place. Sometimes you couldeven reach outside lines in the suburbs, courtesy of the unsuspecting phonecompany. And, as Kotok would later admit, "If there was some design flaw in thephone system such that one could get calls that weren't intended to get through, Iwasn't above doing that, but that was their problem, not mine."Still, the motive was exploration, not fraud, and it was considered bad form toprofit illegally from these weird connections. Sometimes outsiders could notcomprehend this. Samson's roommates in the Burton Hall dorm, for instance, werenon-hackers who thought it was all right to exploit system bugs without the holyjustification of system exploration. After they pressured Samson for days, hefinally gave in and handed them a twenty-digit number that he said would accessan exotic location. "You can dial this from the hall phone," he told them, "but Idon't want to be around." As they anxiously began dialing, Samson went to adownstairs phone, which rang just as he reached it. "This is the Pentagon," heboomed in his most official voice. "What is your security clearance, please?" Fromthe phone upstairs, Samson heard terrified gasps, and the click of a phone beinghung up.Network fingerprinting was obviously a pursuit limited to hackers, whose desire toknow the system overruled any fear of getting nailed.But as much as phone company esoterica fascinated Kotok, the prospect of thePDP-1 took precedence. Perhaps he sensed that nothing, even phone hacking,would be the same afterward. The people who designed and marketed this newmachine were not your ordinary computer company button-downs. The company