When you think of "hacking," you probably imagine a dark underground of technical criminals abusing computer skills to break into, steal or deface company data and web sites. When "hacking" is done with telephones, it's called "phreaking," and it's always just as illegal... Or is it? I'm going to tell you about an ethical form of phone phreaking that's legal, easy, free and -- best of all -- helps you escape from that prison of automated responses you get when you call many large companies."Press one for English, press two for Spanish. Press one if you're a current customer, two if you're a prospective customer, three if you have hours to kill struggling through this hideous phone system before we ultimately hang up on you and leave you screaming with rage (hey, it doesn't bother us -- we can't hear you...)."

We've all suffered through automated phone system hell. Now there's real help.

A really cool Web site called the Gethuman Database exists to reveal the sometimes unpublished phone numbers and usually secret codes you can use to bypass those automated phone systems you encounter whenever you call many large companies.

The main page features a long list of major companies, next to the numbers to call, and the secret info you need to know to bypass all that automation and move straight to a conversation with a real human being in the customer service department.

The site isn't just a stale, static list of aging information. It's a "living document" constantly updated, revised and expanded. It also features helpful tips and tricks, as well as a blog for the most up-to-date info.

Far too many companies don't want to "waste" their money giving you real customer service. So you'll just have to take it.

But to do so, you'll need to embrace your inner hacker. Here's the site:

http://gethuman.com/us/

Enjoy!