"BELL LABORATORIES NEWSLETTER
"PROGRESS ON ELECTRONIC SWITCHING SYSTEM MADE
"No. 1 Electronic Switching System will be tested at several exchanges in Los Angeles County to replace the antiquated crossbar switching system over the coming weeks. The new system will no longer use in-band signaling, meaning it will no longer be possible for malicious callers to simulate the tones made to control the switching system as at present. Once in place, it should increase uptime, improve efficiency, and eliminate toll fraud for all subscribers in Southern California. See the Bell Labs Technical Journal, July 1969 issue, for a more detailed description of No. 1 Electronic Switching System and a comparison of it with the present No. 5 Crossbar Switching System."

"The Bell Labs Technical Journal..." mused Ada, "I can't seem to find a copy of it anywhere. It's been methodically, systematically scrubbed from all the public libraries in the whole county. They don't want people to have access to it."

Homer reached into his wallet and pulled out his UCLA graduate student ID. "Knock yourself out."

"Oh my goodness, why didn't I think of asking you!" Ada screamed and kissed Homer.

"Well, hold your horses," warned Homer, "I doubt I'm allowed to bring friends into the UCLA library."

"Well, we can just look through all the issues of the newsletter we find in the bags, and then make a list of all the issues of the Journal that are referred to."

"What was that about cutting down on toll fraud?"

"Oh, goodness..." Ada read over it again. "Have you ever had Cap'n Crunch breakfast cereal?"

"It's a guilty pleasure," confessed Homer.

"Get this," said Ada, "the whistle that comes with the cereal boxes produces a sound with the frequency of 2600 hertz when one of its holes is covered. 2600 Hz is the tone the phone company uses to signal that a call is over. What we do is we call a toll-free number; we blow the whistle until we hear a dial tone; and then we use a 'Marty Freeman' to signal the number we really want to call. Without in-band signaling, none of this is possible."

"That sounds...bad."

"We have to warn everybody while we still can," said Ada, "good eye."