Pat, the Editor

For your convenience in reading: Subject lines are printed in RED and Moderator replies when issued appear in BROWN.
Previous Issue (just one)
TD Extra News

 

TELECOM Digest     Wed, 11 May 2005 18:20:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 209

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    America OnLine to Unveil Free Email Service (Lisa Minter)
    Microsoft Will Expand MSN in China (Lisa Minter)
    Big Providers Add Record Broadband Subs in Q1 (Telecom dailyLead USTA)
    Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP? (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP? (Thor Lancelot Simon)
    Re: Who Gets to See the E-mail of the Deceased? (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Spyware ... Ugh! (bob@coolgroups.com)
    Re: Kiddie Porn Problem Severe, Expert Sees it Worsening (NOTvalid)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  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 are 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.  

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: America OnLine to Unveil Free Email Service
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 14:00:03 -0500


By Kenneth Li 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - America Online will begin offering a free e-mail
service on Wednesday tied to its popular instant messaging service,
ahead of a big relaunch of its free AOL.com Web site later this year.

AOL's free Web-based e-mail service is nearly a decade behind
Microsoft's Hotmail service and several years behind a Yahoo E-mail
offering.

But the online division of Time Warner Inc. is betting that the
combination of e-mail with its ubiquitous instant messaging software
(AIM) will create a more powerful service combining all electronic and
phone messages.

AOL will integrate its recently launched digital phone service this
fall, when the AIM software will be rewritten, allowing users to
retrieve voice mail, e-mail and instant messages from any computer.

"AOL is a bit late to the Web mail game, but it's not too late," said
Joe Laszlo, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. "It's a question of
integrating different communications channels together giving them an
opportunity to go a bit further than anyone else has gone."

The once prominent provider of paid online services will offer free
e-mail to 20 million active users of the free AOL Instant Messenger as
a test before it's final launch about a month later.

The e-mail service, which offers 2 gigabytes of free storage space,
will be subsidized by banner advertisements that run alongside the
e-mail screens, similar to other free Web-based e-mail services.

AOL's new AIM Mail service is part of an ambitious plan to overhaul
its business model to focus on freely available services and
programming from one that depends on subscription revenue.

The move is a dramatic reversal from its previous strategy, built
around assembling the most compelling package of Internet programming
in order to get subscribers to pay about $20 a month for dial-up
Internet service.

AOL has been losing subscribers to phone and cable companies offering
high speed Internet packages. At the same time, AOL's advertising
revenue has exploded, jumping 45 percent in its most recent first
quarter from a year ago, prompting the Internet service to rethink its
strategy last year.

"It's a part of our broader 'Audience' strategy that takes advantage
of the significant increases in advertising, search and e-commerce on
the Internet," said Chamath Palihapitiya, vice president and general
manager of AIM at AOL.

AOL will be up against Yahoo Inc., at which e-mail services accounted
for 53.2 percent of traffic to all Web mail services in the week ended
May 7, according to measurement firm Hitwise.

It will also be up against Google Inc. Google's e-mail service, Gmail,
helps marketers target e-mail users by serving ads linked to key words
in e-mail text. Google uses technology to sift through e-mail for
relevant text and has said no humans actually read users' e-mail.

"That's creepy," Palihapitiya said, referring to Google's use of
technology to target e-mail users with ads. AOL has a lucrative
partnership with Google, which provides the search engine foundations
of AOL's search site.

An AOL executive said AIM Mail will also include junk e-mail fighting
features, like AOL.

AIM users will automatically qualify for an account using their
current AIM user name.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

------------------------------

From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Microsoft Will Expand MSN in China 
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 14:01:29 -0500


By Reed Stevenson and Doug Young

SEATTLE/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday it would
form two new ventures for its MSN Internet service in China, becoming
the latest player to expand in the crowded market.

The deals will allow Microsoft to offer "the full gamut of what a true
Internet portal should be" in China, said Bruce Jaffe, a Microsoft,
chief financial officer of the MSN division.

"We have been looking at China for quite some time," he said.

Microsoft already offers MSN services such as Hotmail and Messenger
services in Chinese, but the new joint venture will offer more
communication, information and content beginning this spring, the
company said.

Microsoft also said that it would buy assets from Chinese mobile phone
software provider TSSX to offer MSN-based services to China's 340
million mobile phone users.

China is the world's second-largest Internet market with 94 million
users at the end of 2004, a number expected to rise to 134 million by
the end of this year, according to official data.

Microsoft -- which already operates a China site at china.msn.com --
is a relative bit player in a market where Yahoo Inc. eBay Inc.,
Amazon.com Inc. and InterActiveCorp have made a string of acquisitions.
Google Inc. said on Wednesday it got a business license for China and 
bought a China-based Web domain.

Microsoft's late entry, coupled with its strategy of working with
relatively unknown partners, means it could face a tough time gaining
traction, said one analyst who spoke on condition his name not be
used.

"If you look at what Yahoo has done ... they had to pay quite a
significant sum of money" to acquire an existing search engine in
China, he said. "This may be a better way in China -- to take over a
key player in a particular area."

The entry into the mobile services market would put Microsoft
competition with a host of homegrown start-ups such as Sina Corp.,
Sohu.com Inc., Linktone Ltd. and Tom Online Inc.

Those companies rose to profitability -- and saw their shares soar as
well -- by offering short messaging services (SMS) over mobile
phones. but many have lately fallen out of favor amid a government-led
cleanup of the industry.

Microsoft has long seen China as a key growth market, but also a
headache because of widespread software piracy and copyright issues.

Censorship has been a major problem for many Internet players, who
voluntarily block searches and other links to sensitive subjects like
the Falun Gong spiritual movement and the 1989 crackdown on
pro-democracy protestors in Tiananmen Square.

Microsoft and Beijing have become closer in recent years, with the
Redmond, Washington-based company opening up a research lab in Beijing
in 1998.

Microsoft formed one of the two ventures, an MSN China joint venture,
with government-operated Shanghai Alliance Investment Ltd. (SAIL) to
develop MSN products and services more closely tied to China.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 12:50:21 EDT
From: Telecom dailyLead from USTA <usta@dailylead.com>
Subject: Big Providers Add Record Broadband Subs in Q1


Telecom dailyLead from USTA
May 11, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=21483&l=2017006


		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Big providers add record broadband subs in Q1
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Microsoft unveils Windows Mobile 5.0
* Analysis: Small VoIP providers may feel heat as market grows
* FTTH connections surge since September 2004
* Comcast sees growth ahead
* Cisco reports earnings
USTA SPOTLIGHT 
* Newton's Telecom Dictionary -- 21st Edition
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* Yahoo! Music Unlimited offers tunes for less
* Nike launches interactive Times Square billboard
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Editorial: Telecom market has changed

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=21483&l=2017006

Legal and Privacy information at 
http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp

SmartBrief, Inc.
1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005

------------------------------

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP?
Date: 11 May 2005 06:58:18 -0700


The difficulties won't "derail" VOIP.  The VOIPS will have to spend
some money maintaining the appropriate customer databases and then
develop a protocol to transmit that information 911 centers.  That
requires some cost and effort, but it is not impossible as long as the
VOIP owners understand and accept their responsibility and liability
in this matter.

I suspect it will increase the cost of providing VOIP service and
raise fees a bit, but since the protocols and databases should be
standardized, the computer costs could be spread out among many VOIP
customers, so it won't be a big deal.

What I think a concern should be is service reliability.  On the next
virus/worm attack when the Internet is flooded with messages and
intermediate switching/relay points can't keep up, it's possible VOIP
telephone service won't be available or be difficult to use.  I don't
know how VOIP handles "traffic jams" where packets are delayed en
route.  Also, if some business which is dependent on VOIP for its
voice has major server problems will voice traffic be disrupted?



[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Lisa, since we are chatting about
'service reliability' and how important it is, what about when a place
like California has an earthquake now and then, or now and then in New
York City when an airplane crashes into a tall building and all the
people get excited and stirred up and all everyone jumps on the phone
at one time bringing the phone system to a screaming halt with all
the dialtone missing and the switching capacity totally used up?  Or,
about every 14-15 years on average when a telco central office burns
down, and there is no phone service at all for a few weeks or months, 
i.e. New York City, middle 1970's; Hinsdale (Chicago), Illinois in 1988.
Telco has been known to have its share of 'traffic jams' also, so my
question is, considering how many business places are dependent on
telco, how do they manage to get by when telco has an incident like
that?  You know, I guess, that the events in NYC on 9-11-01 damn near
wrecked the central office serving lower Manhattan from the size and
fury of the 'traffic jam' as people found out what was happening. Do
we dare trust something like telco when reliability is important? PAT]

------------------------------

From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon)
Subject: Re: Will 911 Difficulties Derail VoIP?
Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 20:56:30 UTC
Organization: Public Access Networks Corp.


In article <telecom24.208.4@telecom-digest.org>, Jack Decker
<jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request]> wrote:

> The big problem for VoIP providers is that there is no easy 911
> solution.

I think we've been around this block a few times before.  The big
problem for VoIP providers whose financial models rely on avoiding
the cost of regulation imposed on traditional providers (rather
than on the inherent efficiency of packet voice) is that there is
no *free* 911 solution.


Thor Lancelot Simon	                               tls@rek.tjls.com

"The inconsistency is startling, though admittedly, if consistency is
 to be abandoned or transcended, there is no problem."  - Noam Chomsky

------------------------------

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Who Gets to See the E-mail of the Deceased?
Date: 11 May 2005 07:32:47 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


I still don't think we know the actual details in this particular
case.  IMHO, the email holder was being too tight about this, legally
or not (see below).  We don't know if the family's "court order" was
from probate or litigation.

Robert Bonomi wrote:

>> Keep in mind that many estates are settled without probate and court
>> orders.  Getting that stuff is expensive and not worth it if the
>> estate is small, such as often in the case of a young person.

> (A) That stuff is _not_ expensive. court costs are generally in the very
>     low 3 figures, _at_most_.

I am not a lawyer.  However, after handling two estates I have a bit
of experience.  Many lawyers told me probate is expensive and to be
avoided if possible.  Our family was quoted $1,000 in legal fees (ten
years ago) to handle a very simple of estate (no car, no real
property, just some bank accounts).  We ended up doing it ourself.


> (B) "informal" settlement works *ONLY*IF* nobody objects.  As soon as
>     any 'involved party' raises an objection, or demands the formal
>     procedures, the informal techniques are no longer a viable option.
>     Those who insist on employing them in the face of opposition, are
>     _personally_ legally liable for not using the formal procedures.
>     If the objection comes from a beneficiary of the estate, or a
>     creditor thereof, those who take property from the estate "without
>     benefit of formal procedure" can find themselves subject to
>     criminal action (for 'theft'), as well as civil suit to recover
>     the value of the stolen property.

Basically true.  However, the value and contents of the estate plays a
big part of this.  If there's real estate or a business involved,
you'll need official documentation to legally transfer titles or sell.
But for an elderly person who say is in a nursing home with little
property left, or a young person killed in the service, there simply
may not be enough assets to even cover the cost of probate.

Anyone can certainly file a civil suit, but the value in question must
be significant to justify the cost of litigation.

On the flip side, sometimes people with substantial estates and duly
executed wills still run into litigation as beneficiaries feel they're
were cheated out of their perceived rightful share.  Many estates have
been ruined as litigation dragged on for years.

>> I would presume the family presented a death certificate which is
>> normally issued upon death.

> Which doesn't prove "boo" as regards who is the authorized agent of
> the estate, and the only party legally entitled to access to the
> property of the decedent.

I thought more about it and in some cases a death certificate is all
that is needed.  Been there/done that, with the above two estates.  I
conducted numerous transactions submitting only the death certificate
or even only a copy of the newspaper's obituary notice.

Certain property by law automatically defaults to someone else in the
event of death, and no probate certificate is necessary.  A common
example is joint bank accounts and husband and wife.

> Such a designation has *NOTHING* to do with who obtains _ownership_ of
> any physical property that belongs (belonged) to the decedent.  The
> _only_ document that specifies that is a "will" -- and which may, or
> may *not*, take precedence over statutory specifications.  (In some
> states, a wife, for example, may "elect against the will", and get the
> statutory share of the estate, regardless of express provisions in
> the will.)

Again, in practice when there is a very modest amount of property at
issue, the above is not closely adhered to.  I don't know military
procedure, but given the reality of life risk in military service, I
still presume that they provide soldiers with appropriate
documentation that is acceptable to outsiders.

Naturally I recommend consulting an attorney for such matters.  But
like anything else, fees can vary tremendously and getting several
opinions from recommended attorneys is a good idea.  Setting up joint
title to some property will be helpful but that has its risks.  (In my
state, the joint title saved 50% of the inheritance tax and eased
probate.)

(But other setups can waste money.  I know a fellow who borrowed money
from his mother for his mortgage.  He insisted it be recorded.  When
she died, that became part of her official estate and the probate
taxes on the mortgage, recording payoff fees, etc., were steep.  He
spent $20,000 on legal fees alone and that was 20 years ago).



[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When my maternal grandfather died in 
the early 1960's my grandmother had us drive her to the bank the next
morning (before any notices got in the papers, etc.) so she could
clean out their safe-deposit box. _After_ she had gone in the vault
room and taken the contents of their box, then on the way out the door
she stopped and mentioned to the bank clerk "you know, my husband 
passed away yesterday evening." The bank clerk's response was "well,
I certainly wish you had told me that _before_ you went into the
safety-deposit box."  Grandmother replied, "I am sure you do, but it
is too late now."  She had been a joint tenant with rights of
survivorship in the box, but did not want to mess around with any
paperwork the bank or taxman might have later requested. PAT] 

------------------------------

From: bob@coolgroups.com
Subject: Re: Spyware ... Ugh!
Date: 11 May 2005 12:22:54 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Did they change the name of Hijack This to Alertspy or is Alertspy
something else?

[TELECOM Digest  Editor's Note:  I have never  heard of  'AlertSpy'; I
know nothing  about it. I first  became aware of 'Hijack  This' when I
had a similar  problem. A program I knew nothing  about was causing my
computer  to try  and go  to  a certain  site immediatly  on boot  up.
Trouble is,  the site had been  discontinued, so all I  would ever get
was a 404 message (immediatly on  boot up, without even asking for the
URL.) I zapped the mysterious program  but then on bootup it was right
back there  doing its thing again,  time after time. A  friend of mine
said we would have to go kill  it in the registry where it was hiding,
always looking for a way and  time to restart itself. He told me where
to find Hijack This  on the net; I got it and  installed it.  It gives
you many warnings in  the process of installation, essentially telling
you if you don't  know what you are doing, to get  back out of the way
and find  a _real-man_ to do the  job. My friend talked  me through it
over the  phone, and once the  proper registry entry  had been located
and  deleted,  that  was the  last  of  the  problem; at  that  point,
following the hijacking process, I  had to turn the computer off, wait
a couple minutes then turn it back on.

I thought to myself at the time the spammers/hackers/whoever who go
and deliberatly tamper with your system registry in the process of
installing their crap should be ashamed of themselves. But my friend
pointed out 'this is the internet. There has been no shame around here
in years ...'  When I first told my friend about the mess I was
certain I would have to do a fresh install of Windows to get rid of
it. But Hijack This cured it all, and even rebuilt the registry in 
the process.   PAT] 

------------------------------

From: NOTvalid@surplus4actors.INFO
Subject: Re: Kiddie Porn Problem Severe, Expert Sees it Worsening
Date: 11 May 2005 10:43:43 -0700


In NYC one of the local radio stations, WQHT jokes about child
slavery.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sounds pretty sick to me, but I have
never heard the station so cannot comment on the 'jokes' nor their
context. All anyone can really comment on is what they, themselves
have experienced: In my case, my sister (18 years younger than myself;
I grew up as an 'only child' until I was 18) ran away from home when
she was 15; went to live in Orlando, FL where she promptly got the
first 'job' which came to mind; between that and her cocaine addiction
she was essentially a 'child slave'. Between her several stays in the
Orange County Jail over the years variously for prostitution and drug
abuse she would call us collect or write letters now and then. Now,
in the past year, neither mother nor myself have heard from her; she
might be dead, or might be alive, living with someone, we have no
clue. 

Some of you may recall Bill Pfieffer from before his passing: He was
the Airwaves.com moderator and the Usenet rec.radio.broadcasting guy.
He ran away from home when he was 12 years old from an abusive
environment. He was searching for his true parents, who had abandoned
him years before. Needless to say, like many young guys he fell into
the same trap as my sister did. Bill _always_ ran the Amber Alert
javascript on his web site (and its predecesser program "Have you Seen
Me?") because he knew as I know, what an insidious evil the problem
of missing children (often times in sexual/drug slavery) can be.

Call the radio station: tell them its nothing to joke about.  PAT]

------------------------------


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. You may reprint articles in
some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work
and that of the original author.

Contact information:    Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest
                        Post Office Box 50
                        Independence, KS 67301
                        Phone: 620-402-0134
                        Fax 1: 775-255-9970
                        Fax 2: 530-309-7234
                        Fax 3: 208-692-5145         
                        Email: editor@telecom-digest.org

Subscribe:  telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org
Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org

This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm-
unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and
published continuously since then.  Our archives are available for
your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list
on the internet in any category!

URL information:        http://telecom-digest.org

Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/
  (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives)

Email <==> FTP:  telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org 

      Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for
      a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system
      for archives files. You can get desired files in email.

*************************************************************************
*   TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from                  *
*   Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate  *
*   800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting.         *
*   http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com                    *
*   Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing      *
*   views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc.                             *
*************************************************************************

ICB Toll Free News.  Contact information is not sold, rented or leased.

One click a day feeds a person a meal.  Go to http://www.thehungersite.com

Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved.
Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA.

              ************************

DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO
YOUR CREDIT CARD!  REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST
AND EASY411.COM   SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest !

              ************************

Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your
career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management
(MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35
credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the
skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including
data, video, and voice networks.

The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College
of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the
College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has
state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus
offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum.  Classes
are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning.

Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at
405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at
http://www.mstm.okstate.edu

              ************************

   ---------------------------------------------------------------

Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as
yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help
is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars
per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above.
Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing
your name to the mailing list. 

All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the
author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only
and messages should not be considered any official expression by the
organization.

End of TELECOM Digest V24 #209
******************************

Return to Archives**Older Issues