ToneLoc author here (mthreat), checking in, 20 years after the release of the last version. I didn't manage to avoid the federal prison part, but somehow ended up fine in the end. My path, roughly: BBSes -> saw WarGames -> wannabe hacker -> warez boards (Public Enemy) -> cracking games (learned x86 asm) -> hacking voicemail boxes -> wrote ToneLoc (learned C) -> real hacking -> COSMOS access -> physical hacking (burglary of Southwestern Bell, learned lock picking) -> federal prison -> back to college -> startups -> ... I wouldn't change any of it now.
Similar journey here but without the burglary or prison.
BBSes (300 baud modem on a C64 hooked up to an old 13 inch TV) -> warez -> learned 6510/6502 assembly and started cracking -> hacking/wardialing as a means to get access to computers where I could do C programming with 'real' C compilers -> found my way onto the Internet/ARPAnet in the mid-80s -> moved to Amiga (continued cracking on 68k) a reasonably 'real' computer with DICE C (Thanks Matt Dillon!), etc -> software developer.
Got away from the illegal "hacking" when it started becoming a serious thing with serious consequences and I was no longer a minor, and out of the cracking/piracy thing when I was earning good money and could afford to buy things.
There are a few people on HN with similar stories that I know of from back in the +hack/#hack/#Amiga! irc days (my handles there varied but were often some variant of my name: gfm, geo, etc).
I can't believe the author of ToneLoc posts here. This blows my mind! Brings up a lot of memories of great times, hanging out at the st. louis galleria food court for 2600 meetings.
Heavy. Now that's a journey. I remember ToneLoc and I may have used it - although we envied you Americans at the time because local calls were not free for us.
I used your software many a times... and similar trajectory. so fun. should all meet in nyc at the citicorp (old 2600 meeting spot) one day.... and start a startup together.
