________SWAT MAGAZINE ISSUE TWENTY THREE: NOVEMBER 1999_________ 
  /         \___________________________________________/          \ 
 /	          THE ACOUSTIC COUPLER & ITS USE.                   \ 
/                            By Deimos                               \
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Recently, I invested in an acoustic coupler. And a very valid 
investment that was - It has proved an excellent addition to the 
hacker's tools - let me explain.

An acoustic coupler, for those who don't know, is a device that you
plug your modem into - the phone cable that you would normally plug 
into a jack in the wall plugs into a jack on the device, which looks 
very much like a land phone handset. That 'handset' is now a free end -
there are no cables of which you can plug into a wall - so... ???

Simple. Lets say you go into a phone box. Hmm, by some remarkable 
coincidence, you have a laptop, an acoustic coupler and a book of 
access codes! So, what do you do? Use your imagination. With these 
devices hooked up to your laptop, you're ready to go in a phonebox. 
But what about cost? Surely 10p every minute of hacking is a bit 
pricey. Thats where BT comes in handy - Yes, i know we're using their 
phone box, but thats not the point - The BT 0800 access code. Lovely, 
we love BT really. So, snapping your acoustic coupler onto the handset,
and strapping them together, you open up your laptop and flick it on. 
The lovely bootstrap flashes onto your screen, as nix loads up. 
(you don't need nix, but obviously if you want complete 'hackability' 
then it would help. ;-) ). Loading X windows, you flash ppxp up onto 
your screen, and dial up. Lovely, a carrier. We love BT we do. 

So, for complete and utter anonymity, get yourself an acoustic coupler.

A summary of what i just babbled:
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Ever seen the film 'Hackers' with Johnny Lee Miller - course you have.
And you've also heard all the flames about it online. Well personally, 
i love the film, even though its no where near the truth. The graphics 
are stunning, shame about the crap plot. Oh well. You know the bits 
where they hack from a telephone box? Ever thought to yourself - 
"Bollocks, cant do that in the UK. they haven't got those little 
screwy mouthpieces." Not to worry, a coupler eliminates this for you. 
What do you know? You're the next Dade Murphy. Poor sod. 

Look on the net, they're available in weird places. One site i know, 
even though they charge quite a lot - http://www.blackbox.co.uk - 
They're a supplier of network and IT communications hardware and 
software. Very handy, indeed.

Enjoy!!!

	-- Deimos

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You can contact me at these locations:
Email: gingermaniac@hotmail.com
ICQ: 44794329
IRC: hirc.dyndns.org - #hdc