Nowadays when you watch a TV show about hacking, they throw a bunch of spaghetti code on the screen (black background with green lettering, of course) and play weird synth noises while an actor drools all over the keyboard. Although fun to watch, modern pop culture doesn't do real hacking justice.

So, before I start blogging about some modern examples of what actual hacking looks like, I'd like to reflect back on the movement's roots.

I intend on briefly introducing several notorious/famous older hackers for those interested in knowing the history of this topic. Although most might associate hacking with viruses, it's much, much more than that. So, let's start this series off by talking about one of the greats.

Image from Imgur user WaterDeliveryBoy - found in several other places as well

John Draper

The name

The name John Draper might not ring a bell, but you'd be a novice if you didn't know him by his other name: Captain Crunch (or "Cap’n’Crunch"). John referred to himself as The Crunchman, which helped him avoid any trademark/copyright issues from a certain cereal company.

A little background

John was born during WWII, and gained his reputation as a hacker through a process known as phone phreaking. Phone phreaking was a process where a user will manipulate the phone system by mimicking the internal noises made by the system. To do this, Mr. Draper was able to utilize whistles (including those found in Cap'n Crunch cereal boxes) to mimic the frequencies that the phones used to communicate. Now, phreaking could be used to explore the system and learn about how calls were routed (innocent stuff), but it could also be used to make free phone calls and do other illegal activities, such as wiretapping.

Famous contributions

Apple computer

The Crunchman was pretty darn good at what he did, and was capable of making blue boxes (tech that would make phreaking a bit easier than manually whistling over lines). One of these blue boxes was given to none other than Wozniak and Jobs, who would eventually go on to create Apple. Love them or hate them, you can't disagree that the company they created has had a big influence on our modern world, from smart phone production to snooty computing aesthetics.

“after I showed Woz and jobs the blue box. Jobs stated there would be no Apple computer without the blue box, and this is true, because the initial money Woz needed came from selling them, which went into laying out and producing the printed circuit for the apple one.” - John's reddit AMA

Blue box picture courtesy of Wikipedia/Maksym Kozlenko

Phreaking knowledge

While in jail (woops), John also hosted fake electronics classes, where he was able to teach fellow inmates some of the intricacies behind phreaking.

EasyWriter

While also in jail, he was able to find the time to create a word processor known as EasyWriter, which I imagine was no easy task while behind bars.

Conclusion

John was a true hacker: a curious person that went out of their way to learn/tinker with a system, and use it in ways that its creators probably didn't think to be possible. He didn't just download a program made by someone else and click a few buttons to "hack the system" - he worked hard to create code, solder circuits, and create systems that could augment something that already existed.

Although I would never advise that anyone break the law, I would advise everyone to be curious, push boundaries, and help create something that would benefit the world in some way.

Additional sources/reading:

• The Blue Box That Sparked the Creation of Apple
• John Draper's Reddit AMA
• Phone phreaking information
• EasyWriter information