Reaching Out On Your Own
by Forest Ranger

Verification is a very touchy subject. The telephone company wants to keep
verification secret from anyone beyond telco employees. But as phone phreaks
should know that is quite impossible. There are two types of operators that do
verifications. "0" (TSPS) for local verifications and IO (INWARD) operators
for verifications beyond your NPA. They use their operator console, but other
people use blue boxes.

                           KP:NPA+0+XX+NPA+XXX+XXXX:ST

The first NPA (area code) is yours and the 0 will get you on your TSPS
operator lines. The next XX part is an area identifier. They are 00,11,22,
33,44,55,66,77,88,99. There are ten possible choices depending on which area
you are in. For example, blue box verification for Michigan would be 
KP:313+0+66+NPA+XXX+XXXX:ST. The second NPA is the NPA of the number you are
going to verify. The XXX+XXXX part is the rest of the number you are going to
verify.

Once you have routed your verification you will receive a series of clicks
(tandems stacking), then you will hear a beep and you will be on the line.
You won't understand what anyone is saying because everything is scrambled.
The verification will last about thirty seconds. Then you will be beeped out
and finally disconnected.

Federal laws regarding line listening have become much stronger - especially
after 1974 when a subcommittee of the House of Representatives held a public
hearing called "Telephone Monitoring Practices by Federal Agencies". At this
hearing it was discovered that Bell had listened in to lines of their employees
and had the power to listen in on anyone. This shocked many people and made
federal laws concerning such activity much stronger. My point is don't abuse
this verification, because all you need is a simple descrambler from Radio
Shack to descramble the conversation on the line.

2600 Magazine, Volume 2, Number 9, September 1985