Prank call
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A prank call (also known as a crank call) is a telephone practical joke. Prank phone calls began to gain an American following over a period of many years, as they became a staple of the obscure and amusing cassette tapes traded amongst musicians, sound engineers, and media traders beginning in the late 1970s. Among the most famous and earliest recorded prank calls are the Tube Bar prank calls tapes, which centered on Louis "Red" Deutsch. Comedian Jerry Lewis was an incorrigible phone prankster, and recordings of his hijinks, dating from the 1960s and possibly earlier, still circulate to this day.

Very prominent people have fallen victim to prank callers, for example Elizabeth II, who was fooled by Canadian DJ Pierre Brassard posing as Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, asking her to record a speech in support of Canadian unity ahead of the 1995 Quebec referendum.[1] Two other notable examples of prank calls were made by the Miami-based radio station Radio El Zol. In one, they telephoned Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, and spoke to him pretending to be Cuban president Fidel Castro.[2] They later reversed the prank, calling Castro and pretending to be Chávez. Castro began swearing at the pranksters live on air after they revealed themselves.[3]
Prank calls and the Internet[edit]
The earliest known streaming prank call on the internet was posted by Michael Biggins, who is known by his prank caller / radio station host name "Blackout". It was broadcast in real audio 1.0 format (14.4 kbit/s modem speed) in 1995. His was also the first interactive internet radio show primarily based on prank calls to broadcast live and take callers' suggestions on pranks. The first world wide notability of a 'prank call site' was Blackout.com (Blackout's Box),[4] and the site remains online to this day.

The internet radio station [wPCR] PrankCall Radio (www.prankcallradio.net) is the largest web-site that still continuously broadcasts prank phone calls as they happen live on the internet. Since its creation by "DJ FooDStamP" in 1997, they have completed over 185,000 prank phone calls and broadcast them to over 5 million people worldwide.

Ever since the opportunity has been available, there have been multiple internet radio stations dedicated to prank calls. Most of them feature a so-called "rotation" of prank calls which is a constant broadcast of various prank calls submitted by the community, usually streamed from a SHOUTcast server host. Software such as Ventrilo has allowed prank calls to be carried out to a more private user-base, however, in real-time.

The internet has allowed many people to share their own personal prank calls and develop into communities. Prank calls can be carried out in many ways; live or pre-recorded. Sites such as Stickam and Ustream allow hosts to carry out prank calls live to thousands of listeners, who can also chat and discuss on-goings in real-time. The use of social networking and the popularity of user generated content also allows these prank calls to spread and popularity to grow. For example, the popular internet series "PrankCallsX" features pre-recorded prank calls to fan-suggested businesses.
See also[edit]
Nuisance call
Bomb threat
Caller ID spoofing
Fonejacker
Soundboard (computer program)
The Jerky Boys
Dr. Tangalanga
Roy D. Mercer
Text roulette
The Masked Avengers' prank on Sarah Palin
Touch-Tone Terrorists
Phone Losers of America
Tube Bar
Guido Hatzis
List of practical joke topics
Turnip Bay Audio
Longmont Potion Castle
Malicious Caller Identification
Steve Allen
References

Legal issues[edit]
Some prank calls are criminalized in many jurisdictions, while others may be protected as freedom of expression. For example, in the US, for a prank call to fall afoul of the Telecommunications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 223(a)(1), the call must be done with the intent to "annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass". In Australia, the 2Day FM incident is alleged by ACMA to have violated Australian law, but on the grounds that the recorded call was publicly broadcast without the other party's consent.[8]

Rudimentary criminal 'pranks' may range from simple telephone harassment to bomb threats. One such hoax call occurred in Perth, Western Australia, on New Year's Eve 2002, when a drunk teenager called the new anti-terrorist hot line to report a bomb threat against the New Year's Eve fireworks celebrations.[9] The threat was taken seriously, and the celebrations were about to be cancelled when police discovered that no such threat existed. The teenager was then arrested for the false report.