Kevin Poulsen
“Dark Dante”The Phreak Who Won a Porsche
Taking over LA phone lines to win a radio contest
Rating
88Impact score
Domains
Phone phreakingJournalism
Scouting report
Seized control of every telephone line into KIIS-FM to guarantee he was caller 102 and won a Porsche. Ran from the FBI, was profiled on Unsolved Mysteries, and served time. Reinvented himself as an investigative journalist at Wired and helped build SecureDrop, the whistleblower system used by newsrooms worldwide.
Curator’s note
Rigged a radio contest, then spent his second act protecting sources.
Sources
- 01Kevin Poulsen en.wikipedia.org
- 02SecureDrop, which Poulsen co-created en.wikipedia.org