From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Jan 25 00:09:10 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i0P59An08943; Sun, 25 Jan 2004 00:09:10 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 00:09:10 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200401250509.i0P59An08943@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #38 TELECOM Digest Sun, 25 Jan 2004 00:09:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 38 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Suspected Movie Pirate Arrested / Charge Filed (Monty Solomon) CDs Will Die But Not Music May be a Business Bubble (Monty Solomon) Netopia Pushes Wi-Fi Cordless Phones (Monty Solomon) AOL Tests Caller ID For E-Mail (Monty Solomon) Week in Review: Copyright Fights (Monty Solomon) Need Telephone Selection Advice for Small Business (VITO) Re: NANP Numbering (Paul Robinson) Re: Time Is Right For Home Network Appliances, Gadgets (SELLCOM Tech) Last Laugh! was Re: Enforcing the Do Not Call List (Fred Atkinson) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk is definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 14:59:42 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Suspected Movie Pirate Arrested / Charge Filed An actor's friend is linked to unauthorized copies of 'screeners' found on the Internet. By Lorenza Munoz and Patrick Day, Times Staff Writers The FBI arrested an Illinois man Thursday on criminal charges in connection with bootlegged copies of "The Last Samurai" and other Oscar candidates that have turned up on the Internet in recent weeks. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-arrest23jan23,1,4614018.story Charge Filed in Posting of Oscar Candidates on Web By Lorenza Munoz, Times Staff Writer A man arrested on suspicion of helping to illegally post on the Internet films that are being considered for Oscars was formally charged Friday with violating Hollywood studios' copyrights. http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-screeners24jan24,0,6309974.story FBI agents arrest Homewood man Suburban movie buff tied to Oscar `screeners' By Todd Lighty and Rudolph Bush Tribune staff reporters A federal investigation into pirated movies abruptly shifted Thursday from Hollywood to south suburban Homewood, where FBI agents raided a house and accused its owner with posting popular films on the Internet. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0401230025jan23,1,4481448.story ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 15:07:44 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: CDs Will Die but Net Music Subject: Netopia Pushes Wi-Fi Cordless Phones By Marguerite Reardon Staff Writer, CNET News.com Broadband equipment maker Netopia on Friday announced a program designed to spur manufacturers to develop more Wi-Fi cordless phones. The company's certification program is meant to aid any Wi-Fi cordless phone manufacturer or developer that uses the 802.11b or 802.11g Wi-Fi standards. The program ensures Wi-Fi cordless phone interoperability through Netopia's 3-D Reach wireless digital subscriber line and broadband gateways. http://news.com.com/2100-7351-5146332.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 15:28:53 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AOL Tests caller ID For E-Mail By Stefanie Olsen Staff Writer, CNET News.com America Online is testing an antispam filter intended to accurately trace the origin of e-mail messages, a move that could bring new accountability to the Net if it proves reliable. The online unit of media giant Time Warner last week implemented SPF, or Sender Permitted From, an emerging authentication protocol for preventing e-mail forgeries, or spoofing. The trial involves the company's 33 million subscribers worldwide and is the first large-scale test for the protocol, which standards groups are considering along with various other e-mail verification proposals. http://news.com.com/2100-1032-5145065.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 14:32:09 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Week in Review: Copyright Fights By Steven Musil Staff Writer, CNET News.com The technology world kept court dockets full this week as the recording industry sued hundreds of people it can't yet name, the SCO Group got tough with rival Novell, and Microsoft got a little too rough with a Canadian teenager. http://news.com.com/2100-1083-5146049.html ------------------------------ From: CROPSEYIRONWORKS@AOL.COM (VITO) Subject: Need Telephone Selection Advice for Small Business Date: 24 Jan 2004 18:56:46 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com We are changing our current telephone service from three incoming lines down to one line with call forwarding call, waiting, and conferance calling. We're also adding dsl service to replace an existing telephone line dedicated to our computors dial up. We now use an 'AT&T Merlin System' that previously "rolled over" incoming calls, forwarded calls, provided conferencing, and also provided our 'PA' system.. Now with the advent of call waiting, call forwarding, conferance calling, we really want to 'strip out' the existing system and hope to simplify and cut service costs i.e. additional lines, without losing any of our existing features. We operate a small ironworks shop and due to the frequent high noise levels we installed "phone flashers" & buzzers to the shop. Three questions. 1)What's a good business phone with a max of two incoming lines? 2) Do 'hold' buttons work between three extensions? Can we have intercom without having a proprietary system included i.e. Avaya? ------------------------------ From: Paul Robinson Organization: elusive-butterfly.net Subject: Re: NANP Numbering Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 21:10:04 GMT Rob wrote: > OK, I know that this may very well seem a dumb question, but why is > the NANP numbering system different to other phone systems throughout > the world? Probably because it's older than anyone else's, as the telephone system started in the U.S. (as it was invented there simultaneously by two different people, Bell and Gray) and was implemented here first. If you don't think how a system is first set up can affect things for decades or even a century or more, look at your keyboard and realize the QWERTY pattern was developed back in the 1880s to *slow people down* on manual typewriters that would jam. We're still using a system designed to slow down people more than 120 years later, when typewriters themselves are almost extinct. > The vast majority of countries in the world have area codes beginning > with '0', whereas in NANP countries the area code commences with '1', > and then numbers on the same area code, or even numbers in > neighbouring codes (i.e. 919, 252 and 304), aren't always regarded as > local, as they are here in the UK. For example, my local calling area > not only covers my own exchange (01685) but also all numbers on the > neighbouring exchanges of 01443, 01639, 01874 and 01495. It depends on where you live and where you are calling. Some nearby places are non-toll calls, some others are not. Again, it's historical and has nothing to do with how much it costs to provide a connection or how much it is worth, but was generally based on some bargaining between the original landline telephone monopoly and the state Public Utility Commission decades ago on how much certain calls would cost and what would or would not be long distance. > Also, how are calls charged between countries within NANP -- that > is, is a call from Canada or the US to Bermuda or Barbados regarded as > international, even though they're technically (I think!) on the same > phone system? The first three digits of a NANP (North America except Mexico and Cuba) phone number determine what country it is in, and if it's the U.S. or Canada, the state or province as well. The next three digits determine the 'rate center' where the called subscriber is presumed to be located. Note this is a total fiction if the phone number is a service code such as toll-free 800, 888, 877, 866 etc., premium 900, carrier 700, or personal 500. And it's merely the location for terminating billing purposes if the number is a mobile phone, which is why when a friend of mine called my Sprint PCS number when I was on vacation with my family in Niagara Falls a couple of years ago, the phone rang when I had it with me in Canada even though the phone number is a Virginia 703 area code. The call terminated in Canada, the caller was charged for a call to Virginia even though the network may have routed it directly to me without it ever even going to Virginia. For calls from wired telephones, the rate structure is generally as follows: All dialed calls are based on two factors, the first 6 digits of the caller and the first 6 digits of the called party. Given that, you have any of the following possible rate structures: (1) intrastate local call, which may or may not be free, or may be a message unit; (2) interstate local call; (3) intrastate intra-LATA toll call which may or may not be free depending on whether the user has paid for extended area service; and may be more expensive than one outside the state; (4) intra-LATA interstate toll call; (5) inter-LATA interstate toll call, which might be cheaper than an intrastate toll call or even an intra-LATA interstate toll call, again because of the original negotiated rates between the original monopoly provider (now referred to as an ILEC) and the state regulatory authorities (or the FCC if the local or intra-LATA calling area crossed a state line when it was first established) and (6) international calls, which are subject to whatever rate the telephone company that provides the call has negotiated with the terminating long distance company in that country (or the government there in some cases.) This means, for example, that back in 1994 I was calling a BBS in Rockville, Maryland from Arlington, Virginia, which is a 60-kilometer long, interstate, intra-LATA toll call. Had I been 4 miles north in Washington, DC it would have been an interstate local call. I was charged 13c a minute for that call. Had a called a number in Los Angeles, it would have been a 6,000 kilometer long, interstate, inter-LATA toll call and charged out at 7c a minute. The cost for any call is simply whatever it was set in the past, has nothing to do with what it costs to provide or where it is going or how far, and it only changes because someone figures out they either can make more money by charging less and encouraging more usage, or they have to charge less because a competitor comes in, realizes the incumbent is ripping people off and they can do the same but make a lot of money by being less greedy and undercuts their exorbitant rates. Paul Robinson "Above all else... We shall go on..." "...And continue!" "If the lessons of history teach us anything it is that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us." ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Time Is Right For Home Network Appliances, Gadgets Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:00:25 -0500 Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Monty Solomon posted on that vast internet thingie: > Salton calls its stainless steel clock a "home hub." It was one of > many master control systems on display here designed to give people a > unified way to manage the explosion of new digital devices being > hooked up to home networks. What frequency does it use? Steve at SELLCOM http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Talkswitch, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Minuteman UPS systems If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ Reply-To: Fred Atkinson From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Last Laugh! was Re: Enforcing the Do Not Call List Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 20:37:18 -0500 Pat, That's normal gall, not out of the ordinary gall. I once demanded to speak to a telemarketer's supervisor (we had been on the national do not call list for more than the required amount of time). When I spoke to the supervisor, I explained to him that the call was in total violation of the new anti-telemarketing laws. I threatened to make a complaint with the FTC if he didn't make sure I wouldn't be called again. He was all upset after the way I chewed him out, but before hanging up, he started to give me a pitch (still in his shaken up tone of voice, by the way). I told him that if I was interested in his service I certainly wouldn't be demanding they not call me again. After reminding him that I better not hear from his company again and taking his name, I hung up. We've never heard from that company again. But, they just have no shame. Actually, since the new DNC law went into effect, we've not received more than three or four calls, and we just tell them to put us on the DNC list and not call back (warning them that they've violated the DNC list). About eight or ten years ago, someone was circulating an obviously fictitious story over the Internet about the man who purchased a bronze statue of a rat. The seller sold him the rat for ten dollars and said the story that goes with it would be another thousand. The man declined the story and took the rat out of the store. As he walked along, all of the rats started coming out of the sewer and chased him down the avenue. He began to run and continued to run all the way to the waterfront. The farther he ran, the more rats were following him. When he got to the waterfront, he climbed up on a lampost and heaved the bronze rat into the bay. All of the rats dived into the water after it and drowned. After a while, the man climbed down from the lamp post and returned to the store. The manager asked him if he had returned to get the story that went with the rat. He said no. He wanted a bronze statue of a telemarketer. Fred ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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