Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Youth International Party Line.
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- Source of title proper: From content of collection.
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Collection
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Physical description
1 cm of textual records
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Administrative history
The Youth International Party was founded on December 31, 1967 by Abbie Hoffman, Anita Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Nancy Kurshan and Paul Krassner. Coming out of the beliefs of the hippie movement, the group named themselves yippies and created the backronym Youth International Party. The organization advocated for cooperative and alternative political and social institutions including food co-ops, free health care, permaculture farming, free schools and more. They had a plan for a "new nation" in America that was grounded in collectivism, community, and anarchy and were one of the early schools of the political New Left movement. The movement continued to exist through the later part of the 20th century with protests, smoke-ins, operating cooperative institutions, political farcicality and more.
Custodial history
Issues of the newsletter are addressed to both Bill Foring of New York, and Dr. Eugene Grant of Florida.
Scope and content
A collection of 15 issues of the first hacker newsletter, the Youth International Party's (Yippies) phone hacking ("phreaking") newsletter, the Youth International Party Line (later renamed Technological American Party, or TAP). Also includes a hand written sheet on number 5 signalling systems.
Notes area
Physical condition
The newsletters are overall in good condition, with some evidence of use, including underlining.
Immediate source of acquisition
Purchased in 2025 from Burnside Rare Books.
Arrangement
Files are arranged chronologically. Some issues are missing.
Language of material
- English
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Copyright is retained by the original creator.
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General note
The newsletter makes reference to a number of hacking tools and techniques, some of which are explained below:
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- A blue box is an electronic device that produces tones used in the North American long-distance telephone network. With this device, phone phreakers could trick a phone into thinking that payment was made for a long distance call.
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- A red box is a similar device used in phone phreaking to simulate the tones made when a coin is inserted into a pay phone. With this device, phone phreakers could make pay phone calls for free.
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- A black box was used on a home phone line to prevent a caller from being billed for a call. They use a resistor to prevent a phone exchange from noticing a drop in line voltage which would trigger billing for a call.
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Created by JB September 2025.
Language of description
- English