Joybubbles

August 8, 2007 - Joybubbles died of a heart attack on this day. He was only 58 years old, but in his short life he made a huge name for himself as one of the pioneers in the world of Phone Phreaks.

His real name was Josef Carl Engressia, Jr, and he was born blind. When he was 7 years old he discovered that he could whistle a certain tone into the phone and it would trick the technology into thinking the call was over. This was a trick that would later be exploited to illegally obtain free long distance.

Joybubbles dove deeply into the phone systems and perfected a wide range of skills that enabled him to call anywhere around the world - for free! In his college years he was suspended from the University of South Florida when he got caught selling unlimited long distance calls for just $1.

Eventually his illegal explorations got him arrested. A profile in Esquire introduced his Phreaking activities to the general public, and overnight Joybubbles became a counter-culture icon.

The video below includes a clip of Joybubbles in action: