Calling from a "payphone in the wilderness," John Draper, also known as "Captain Crunch," was a pioneer in phone hacking, which was a way to get free phone service on landlines in the days before cell phones. Art recalled that he first interviewed Draper in 1972. Draper said he got his nickname because he discovered that a free toy whistle given away in cereal boxes in the mid-1960s would actually produce a tone that would allow the hacker to dial any number by repeating the tones in differing sequences. The phone company later changed their tones to a multi-tone to foil the hackers, but Draper and others bypassed this by inventing a device called the "blue box."

With input from Draper, Apple computer co-founder Steve Wozniak built a more sophisticated version of this device, which could call overseas numbers. Draper and other hackers also discovered that they could create a huge network and hold massive meetings using the AT&T phone system, almost like a primitive internet chat room.

In 1971, he was interviewed by Esquire magazine, and Draper said the article "dropped like a bomb" and panicked the phone company. As a result, he described how he was indicted and sentenced to five years’ probation, and later spent actual time in prison for phone fraud. Draper said he was more interested in seeing how the phone system worked than simply making free calls.