Joybubbles R.I.P.

Joybubbles
(May 25, 1949 – August 8, 2007)
AKA Josef Carl Engressia Jr.


As a young computer nerd in the mid 80s, with my first-generation Radio Shack TRS-80, I would hear the legend of phone phreak Josef Carl Engressia Jr. He was blind and possessed perfect pitch and could whistle 2600 hertz. This allowed him to fool AT&T phone systems, impersonate the early computer tones and hijack phone calls and conference lines for free for him and his buddies.

This early pioneer of virtual community used the only massive network widely available at the time, phone lines. He joyfully ran amok over long digital distances, exploring.

He died today. The history of the web and social networks originated with many of those early hackers and phreaks. Lest we forget!