Dutch tells Fett that her father worked for a major New York City telecommunications company helping track down "phone phreakers". Phone phreaking was kind of a pre-internet analog to hacking, it involved exploiting and manipulating telecommunications lines to place free phone calls, and to access early internet servers without paying for access. Before phone lines became digital they used analog tones, sounds at specific frequencies that sounded for a specific length of time, to represent numbers and communicate. This is why whenever a number is dialed on a phone a specific tone is heard for each number, even though it is no longer needed on digital lines the tones have been retained for various reasons, one is in assisting blind callers to ensure they are dialing the right number. Phone companies also used a specific series of tones to route long distance calls, by learning how to emulate these tones a person could connect to a telecommunication company's hub and make free long distance phone calls, which used to be expensive at one time, especially if it was an international call. The easiest way to emulate the tones was by using the wrapper for a piece of gum, or thin aluminum foil, folding it a certain way, and blowing air through it to make it vibrate. Phreaking was also used by early internet hackers back when dial-up modems used phone lines to connect to the internet. Whenever a dial-up modem connected to an internet service provider's server a series of tones was heard, which is how the modem communicated with the server and established the connection. Once again by emulating specific tones a person could connect to an ISP's server, and then the internet, without paying for internet service; it was also a useful way for criminals to connect to the internet without being easily tracked.
