I had learned that I could get taxpayer information from the Internal Revenue Service easily enough, just by social-engineering employees who had computer access. The IRS complex in Fresno, California, had hundreds of phone lines; I’d call one at random. Armed with foreknowledge based on my usual brand of research, I’d say something like, "I’m having problems getting into IDRS—is yours working?" ("IDRS" stands for "Integrated Data Retrieval System.")