We've all heard the terms War Dialing, Scanning, and Demon Dialing. But do you have a good idea of what it is, and how to do it safely? What about where good places are to scan? In this file, I'll give you all the info on war dialing (hereafter known as scanning), how to do it, where to do it, legality, getting caught, etc. So, here we go:
History:
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Basically, all scanning is is dialing random phone numbers, looking for modems to connect to. Originally, this was done by hand, by simply dialing each number in an exchange, looking for a computer to connect to. The first program ever written to simply dial numbers and listen for carriers was written by Lex Luthor in BASIC, and was simply called Dial. All it did was call phone numbers in the exchange you entered, and if it heard a certain tone at the other end, it saved the phone number in a log. Little has changed in scanning si nce then.
How to:
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If you want to war dial, simply find a scanning program (I recomend Assault Dial for the Mac, and Blue Beep for the IBM), and run it. I advise you to make sure that the program you get has the option to dial random numbers. If Bell sees that you have been calling 749-1000, 749-1001, 749-1002, etc, they will know that you're scanning. But if they see 749-1876, 749-1685, 749-3568, etc, they will assume you are just calling people. Blue Beep also has the option for you to en ter numbers for it to NOT call. This function is useful so you don't go dialing the police, fire, ambulence, poison control, national guard, and every other emergency number in an exchange. Just find out what those numbers are, and enter them in.
Legality:
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There are many different opinions of whether or not scanning is legal, but Dave Ferret has made what I consider the best quote, summing up the whole deal. So here it is. Thanks Dave:
"As I understand it --
You have a right to us e your phone as you wish to call any other number you wish-- PROVIDED it does not interfere with other person(s) rights. This is where the harassment comes in. If your repeat dialing to a single person, you have disturbed them and made an attack against their right to have a phone and not have it ring randomly from some bonehead kid.
But remember, because the phone system is a corporate entity, it wants to make money and doe sn't want people screwing too much with it. If you start dialing a slew of 800 #'s they'll get suspicious and they won't stop you but may mention something to you. What normal person dials 300+ 800 #'s within a month? Checking the price of Motherboards 10 times a day for the month???
Etc... Common sense... You'll get charged for the service you use, but it is a service and thus at the owner of the services descretion (Phone, Telco, Telephone calls), you can get in trouble."
Getting Caught:
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It's hard to call it "getting caught" if you consider scanning to be legal. However, if you know what you're doing, and you're careful, you can keep interuptions at a minimum. So here are some tips for safe and effective scanning:
#1. Scan between the hours of 11pm and 6am. These are the times when the least number of people are up and about. That's good because if you dial during the day, everyone will *69 you. But if you dial at night, only the people who are already awak e, or who are tough enough to think it'll do them any good to get up, get out of bed, stumble blindly to the phone, pick it up, and dial *69, will.
#2. If you are scanning, and someone calls you back, don't answer. All they'll do is start bitching at you about how much you are annoying them, and how you should find a more edifying way to amuse yourself. If you plan to scan often, and want to scan without interuptions, get call forwarding. It's not too expensive, and it's the easiest way to avoid people *69ing you. Just find a nice isolated pay phone in a mall or something. Then, just before you start, set the forward to that payphone's number, and poof. Anyone who calls you back will be ringing the pay phone.
I guess that's all there is to it. Keep it clean, quiet and safe. Later on kids.