TELECOM Digest     Tue, 26 Jul 2005 14:38:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 339

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    US Telecom Overhaul Chances This Year Unlikely (Jeremy Pelofsky)
    Microsoft Could Face Trademark Challenge Over 'Vista' (Eliz Montalbano)
    Yahoo Buys 'Widget' Information Company Pixoria (Reuters News Wire)
    Lost Blackberry Could Cause Security Breach (Yoki Noguchi)
    AOL's Steve Case Finds Lime Twist in Wisdom (Andrew Wallenstein)
    Court Decision In Internet Censorship Law (Nitke/Ashcroft) (M Solomon)
    Verizon Communications Reports Second Quarter Earnings (Monty Solomon)
    Windows Genuine Advantage 1.0 Goes Live (Monty Solomon)
    Call My SIP Phone Over the Internet? (timeOday)
    Looking For Retailer of Office Telephone System (Christopher Sabine)
    Motorola Shows Off the 'Q' (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Re: TV Telephone History (Paul Coxwell)
    Re: An Unsettling Surprise: Victimized by ID Theft (Steve Sobol)
    Re: Ethics of Deterrence (John Levine)
    Re: TV Telephone History (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Need to Drop SBC LD Service. Info on Other Carriers? (NOTvalid@Xmas)
    Last Laugh! Spammer, Age 35, Murdered (Danny Burstein)

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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
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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: Jeremy Pelofsky <reuters@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: US Telecom Overhaul Chances This Year Seen Slim
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:11:41 -0500


By Jeremy Pelofsky

U.S. lawmakers have been promising to begin overhauling the country's
telecommunications laws this year to keep up with advancing
technologies, but analysts say the odds of passing a bill this year
are slim.

While there were predictions legislation would be completed in the
U.S.  House of Representatives by August, only the first public drafts
of reform bills are expected to be unveiled this week, according to a
congressional aide and industry lobbyists.

U.S. telephone companies like Verizon Communications and SBC Communi-
cations Inc. are pushing Congress to ease regulations so they can
quickly deploy high-speed Internet services such as video, voice and
data.

Lawmakers may also consider curbing some states' oversight of the
industry and will likely weigh revamping the program that offers
subsidies for telephone service to low-income homes and rural areas.

Cable and telephone companies are battling to boost their bottom lines
by signing up as many customers as possible for a suite of
communications and entertainment services.

Verizon, SBC, BellSouth Corp. and Qwest Communications International Inc.
called the Baby Bells, are expanding beyond traditional phone service
to high-speed Internet services, known as broadband.

But the Bells complain they are at a disadvantage because they must
abide by laws for traditional phone service.

"I think this is an effort to try to actually move the ball in terms
of having regulation today in this industry match much better the
actual competitive environment than we see today," BellSouth Chief
Executive Officer Duane Ackerman told Reuters.

Yet, higher on the priority list for Congress is a bill to finish the
transition to digital television airwaves. The old analog airwaves
will be sold for wireless services and could bring billions of dollars
to plug the budget deficit.

"It's tough, there's a chance that they might move something (on
telecommunications) in the House, but it's certainly not a slam dunk,"
said Paul Glenchur, a Stanford Washington Research Group analyst. "The
Senate side is a little more complicated because not everybody will
have the same priorities."

He also said lawmakers were likely divided over whether to act or let the
Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the industry, address as
many issues as possible.

HELP WITH VIDEO ROLLOUT

The last major telecommunications law, which was broad and signed in
1996, took several years to craft. And now with the phone industry
merging -- Verizon is acquiring MCI Inc. and SBC is buying AT&T
Corp. -- competition has shifted to mostly between cable and telephone
providers.

Sen. John Ensign (news, bio, voting record), a Nevada Republican and
chairman of the Senate Commerce subcommittee on technology, innovation
and competitiveness, plans to unveil his bill this week and a House
bill may also be introduced, the aide and lobbyists said.

The primary goal of the Senate bill is to apply the same rules to
services, like broadband, regardless of the provider, they said. But
lawmakers will likely have to balance the desire for limited rules to
avoid stifling innovation with demands for consumer protections.

"At this point we're hopeful" Congress will act this year on
telecommunications legislation, BellSouth's Ackerman said last
week. "I think it all depends on what comes up."

The Bells particularly want Congress to grant them authority to offer
video without seeking approval from municipal authorities, which could
be a cumbersome process.

"If they were just to focus on that, the odds of something like that
happening (this year) would be greater," said Blair Levin, a Legg
Mason analyst. "But the danger is that you then push back even farther
a bigger bill."

In February, Rep. Fred Upton (news, bio, voting record), head of the
House telecommunications subcommittee and a Michigan Republican, said
he planned to have a bill done in the full House by summer break,
which begins on Friday. His spokesman declined to comment.

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: Elizabeth Montalbano <idgnews@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Microsoft Could Face Trademark Challenge Over 'Vista' Name
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:13:22 -0500


by Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service

SAN FRANCISCO--The founder of a Redmond, Washington-based custom
application and services provider is considering taking action to
challenge Microsoft over the naming of the next version of the Windows
operating system.

John Wall, chief executive officer of Vista, says his company is
"considering all of its options" for a potential case against
Microsoft because of the company's choice of the name "Windows Vista"
for the version previously code-named Longhorn.

Wall says the naming of Windows may violate a trademark his company
has, and potentially create confusion over the software and services
Vista provides.  Vista is headquartered just down the road from
Microsoft and provides small businesses with online information
systems, including custom applications, as well as with consulting
services.

"If people call it Windows Vista, that's not a problem," he says. "If
people call it 'Vista,' that confuses it with our business and what we
do."

What's the Effect?

Wall says Vista will be analyzing traffic to its Web site to see what
effect the "Windows Vista" name may have on visitors to the site. If
the effect is significant -- that is, if a surge of visitors comes to
Vista.com looking for information about Windows Vista -- the company
may decide to take legal actions over the trademark.

One of the key tests for whether a new trademark can be challenged is
if it creates confusion over another company's products and services,
says Bill Lozito, president of Strategic Name Development, a brand
naming consultancy in Minneapolis.

Vista potentially has a good case against Microsoft because its
software and services are similar to what the software giant offers,
he says. Because Microsoft is a larger, more recognizable company, the
name confusion might drive some of Vista's potential customers to
Microsoft.

"The ramifications are [customers] no longer associate you as this
independent company and think you're a part of Microsoft," Lozito
says. "If they need the service you're providing, they'll call
Microsoft instead of you. You're going to get drowned out."

The issue for Vista is particularly prickly because the company deals
mainly in the small business market, a segment where Microsoft also
figures prominently, he adds.

Other Vista Firms Out There

Wall's company is not the only one that might have a case against
Microsoft in the naming of the next version of Windows. At least two
other software companies, both named Vista Software, might have a good
argument against Microsoft's using the Vista moniker, Lozito says.

"Anyone using that name that's doing business in this category runs
the risk of being overshadowed by Microsoft Windows Vista," he says.

However, the presidents of the two companies called Vista Software,
both of which provide add-on technology for Microsoft products,
separately said their companies likely will benefit from Microsoft's
choice of name for the next version of Windows because of their
current affiliation with the Redmond, Washington-based company. The
two companies are Vista Software of Tucson, Arizona, and Lorant's
Vista Software in La Jolla, California.

A Microsoft product manager says his team came up with the name
because it reflects the three main design principles of the next
version of Windows, which is expected to be available in the last
calendar quarter of 2006.

Greg Sullivan, group product manager with Microsoft's Windows client
group, says Microsoft has focused on making the next version of
Windows provide users with a higher level of confidence in the system;
give them a clearer view of their information and files; and help them
be more connected to other systems and other modes of communication. 
"When we take those all together, when I really think about my view
into this world, my personal view of all this digital content, this is
how we arrived at the name 'Vista,'" he says.

Microsoft plans to make the first beta of Windows Vista available
August 3.

The Vista case is not the first time Microsoft has decided on a
product name that conflicted with an existing trademark. In 1998,
Microsoft paid Internet service provider Synet $5 million for the
rights to the name "Internet Explorer" because the company had had
that name trademarked since 1995.

Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc.

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.

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

From: News Wire <newswire@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Yahoo Buys Information 'Widget' Company Pixoria
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:05:38 -0500


Yahoo Inc. said on Monday it bought Pixoria, a company that provides
small, downloadable programs that let computer users quickly get
up-to-the-minute information, such as stock quotes and weather reports
without using a Web browser.

Terms of the sale, which closed July 19, were not disclosed. The
products, which also include such things as an alarm clock and a
launching pad for Web searches, are available free at
http://widgets.yahoo.com/.

The move comes as Yahoo and chief rival Google Inc. (Nasdaq:GOOG - news)
open their networks to independent developers, whose program tweaks at times
move technology forward or result in popular products.

Pixoria, is the developer of the Konfabulator engine that builds small
desktop applications to help users access Web content and other information
from their desktops. The programs are built on an open platform, which
allows developers to write specialized programs.

The company's three employees are joining Yahoo as full-time employees.

Shares of Yahoo were up 11 cents at $33.64 in mid-day trading on
Nasdaq.

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: Yuki Noguchi  <washpost@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Lost BlackBerry Could Open Security Breach 
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:08:27 -0500


By Yuki Noguchi, Washington Post Staff Writer

The ability to carry vast amounts of data in small but easily
misplaced items such as computer memory sticks and mobile e-mail
devices has transformed the way Americans work, but it has also
increased the risk that a forgotten BlackBerry or lost cell phone
could amount to a major security breach.

Worried that sensitive information could ride off in the back of a
taxicab or be left in a hotel room, companies are peeling back some of
the convenience of mobile devices in favor of extra layers of password
protection and other restrictions. Some are installing software on
their networks to make it impossible to download corporate information
to a portable device or a memory stick, which is a plug-in device that
holds data for use on other computers. Wireless providers are
developing weapons to use against their own products, like digital
"neutron bombs" that can wipe out information from long distance so
one misplaced device doesn't translate into corporate disaster.

It's a nightmare that individuals and corporations fret about when
their mobile e-mail or handheld devices go missing or fall into the
wrong hands.  With the swift stroke of a keypad, someone's e-mail,
corporate data and business contacts can be laid bare for others to
see -- and potentially abuse.

Personal devices "are carrying incredibly sensitive information," said
Joel Yarmon, who, as technology director for the staff of Sen. Ted
Stevens (R-Alaska), had to scramble over a weekend last month after a
colleague lost one of the office's wireless messaging devices. In this
case, the data included "personal phone numbers of leaders of
Congress.  If that were to leak, that would be very embarrassing,"
Yarmon said.

A couple of years ago, David Yach and all other workers at his
Canadian company woke up to an e-mail full of expletives from an
otherwise mild-mannered female employee.

But it was not sent by the woman. A thief had broken into her home,
commandeered her BlackBerry wireless device and sent the note, said
Yach, vice president of software at Research in Motion Ltd., the
company that makes the BlackBerry, a device that allows e-mail to be
sent and received.

"It's terrifying," said Mark Komisky, chief executive of Baltimore's
Bluefire Security Technologies Inc., who recently lost his iPaq 6315
Pocket PC in a cab or at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. The
device, a small pocket phone with a miniature keyboard, contained his
e-mail, details of his company's strategy, Social Security numbers of
his wife and son, and phone numbers for high-level executives at
companies with which Bluefire does business, such as Intel Corp.

"I got off the plane in Baltimore and did the pat-down, and didn't
have it," he said. "It's bad," even for the head of a firm that sells
security services for companies and government agencies trying to
secure their wireless devices. At 10:30 p.m., he called a technician
at Bluefire, who erased the information on the iPaq remotely. Luckily,
it was also locked with a password, he said.

Companies are seeking to avoid becoming the latest example of
compromised security. Earlier this year, a laptop computer containing
the names and Social Security numbers of 16,500 current and former MCI
Inc. employees was stolen from the car of an MCI financial analyst in
Colorado. In another case, a former Morgan Stanley employee sold a
used BlackBerry on the online auction site eBay with confidential
information still stored on the device.  And in yet another incident,
personal information for 665 families in Japan was recently stolen
along with a handheld device belonging to a Japanese power-company
employee.

To combat the problem, security companies have come up with ways to
install layers of password protection and automatic locks on
devices. Others market the ability to erase data over the air once the
device is reported lost. In Japan, cell phone carrier NTT DoCoMo
Inc. started selling models that come with fingerprint scanners to
biometrically unlock phones.

Some companies suffer only embarrassment from such incidents. But for
public companies or financial firms, a lost device could mean
violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires strict controls
over disclosure of financial information. For doctors and health care
companies, the loss of customer data compromises patient
confidentiality, protected by the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act.

Potential security breaches are made scarier by the greater reliance
on mobile devices. Smart phones, such as the Treo or some BlackBerry
models, come with enough memory and high-speed Internet access to
function as small computers. In some cases, accompanying memory cards
allow users to store even more data, including client lists and
contract information.

"I hear less about the cost of the devices, because it really is a
pittance, but I really do hear more about the potential cost of
someone gaining access to corporate data," said Kenny Wyatt, a vice
president for Sprint Corp., which helps some of its business customers
manage the security of wayward devices.

Three years ago, Wyatt lost a cell phone containing phone numbers of
co-workers and clients. Sprint now can delete information by sending a
signal to a phone over the air, he said, although if the device is
turned off, the kill signal won't work.

Without the kill service, losing his phone would be a bigger deal
today than it was three years ago because the device contains so much
more information, he said. "It'd be like I lost an appendage."

In Chicago, 160,000 portable devices are left in taxicabs every year,
according to a survey earlier this year by Pointsec Mobile
Technologies, a security software firm. Fifty to 60 percent of those
are reunited with their owner, according to the firm, which polled cab
companies.

According to another survey sponsored by software maker Symantec
Corp., 37 percent of smart-phone users store confidential business
data on their phones. Only 40 percent of those surveyed worked at
companies that have corporate policies about wireless security.

Yarmon, the staffer for Sen. Stevens, said he sends an e-mail every
few months reminding colleagues to install passwords on devices. "That
is my worst fear," he said, "for a user to have it fall into the hands
of somebody who disseminates it or uses that information against my
boss."

Copyright 2005 The Washington Post Company.

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: Andrew Wallenstein <awallenstein@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: AOL's Steve Case Finds Lime Twist in Wisdom 
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 19:10:07 -0500


By Andrew Wallenstein

The man who packaged the Internet to the masses is trying his hand at
television, but for a more discriminating audience.

In April, America Online co-founder Steve Case rose from the ashes of
his company's ill-fated merger with Time Warner by declaring his
intent to build a new empire based in the health care industry.

His private holding company, Revolution, has been on a buying binge
funded in part by $500 million of his own fortune. Among the companies
acquired was Wisdom Media Group, a small, family-run cable venture
based in Bluefield, W.Va., not too far from AOL's Dulles, Va.,
headquarters.

At this past weekend's Cable & Telecommunications Association for
Marketing convention in Philadelphia, Revolution announced plans to
rebrand and relaunch the Wisdom cable channel as the keystone of a
multiplatform media play including radio, Internet, wireless and DVD.

In line with Case's ambitions in the health care business, his media
strategy is aimed at a loosely defined market segment interested in
healthy, eco-friendly goods and services ranging from Whole Foods
groceries to Toyota Prius hybrid vehicles. Known to market researchers
by the acronym LOHAS, or lifestyles of health and sustainability, the
group has a spending power pegged at more than $230 billion.

But Case will have his work cut out for him, notwithstanding the
difficulties independent cable ventures have had amassing significant
distribution. The tens of millions of Americans that comprise the
LOHAS market have proved to be notoriously resistant to television
itself, which falls somewhere between the Twinkie and the Humvee on
their list of favorite inventions.

"If you are used to doing mass-market TV, you are going to run into
trouble," said Paul H. Ray, a leading market researcher studying LOHAS
who wrote the defining text on them in 2001, "The Cultural Creatives."
"Their allergy to hype is huge, and that is the big problem with
conventional TV.  It is built around hype."

But Revolution believes they are preparing a more sophisticated
approach appropriate for an audience that has grown too large to
dismiss. "This category has moved out of the subculture and into the
mainstream," said the channel's CEO, C.J. Kettler, who was president
of sales and marketing at the Oxygen network.

Case could not be reached for comment.

By the fourth quarter of the year, Wisdom will be rechristened Lime --
"healthy living with a twist" is the tagline. Complete with
wedge-shaped logo, the brand alludes to the color of the titular
citrus, green being synonymous with ecological concerns. But Lime
connotes a "lite" green, as Kettler puts it, befitting a hipper
sensibility the brand aspires to in hopes of deflating stereotypes
associated with such new-age totems as granola or healing crystals.

"What would be best for us is to take a more unexpected approach to
the category, something with a sense of humor," Kettler said. "The
category has been so serious. We're a media brand, we want to appeal
on emotional level."

True to form as an ecologically conscious venture, Revolution is
recycling a used channel to create its own, crafting Lime out of
pieces of Wisdom (mainly its distribution deals), a pact with Sirius
Satellite Radio and 1,000 hours of such library programming as "Yoga
Zone" and "Lectures With Deepak Chopra." Kettler plans to add original
programming as well as acquired comedy and drama series or films that
have eco-friendly themes.

Another environmentally aware cable magnate, Al Gore, adopted a
similar strategy, acquiring NewsWorld International from Vivendi
Universal to be remade into Current, a youth-targeted network that
launches Aug. 1.

With cable operators no longer interested in adding linear channels to
crowded digital lineups, "rebranding an existing channel is a smarter
way of getting distribution than starting from scratch," said Debra
Sharon Davis, a media strategist who also attempted to acquire Wisdom
for a consortium of clients.

Launched in 1998, Wisdom has largely been in a vegetative state since
the death of its founder, cable pioneer Bill Turner, in
2002. Revolution will harvest carriage agreements with distributors
including Comcast and EchoStar, which will put Lime in 6.5 million
homes.

Sources indicate it is Wisdom's deal with Comcast, inherited from the
operator's acquisition of AT&T Broadband, that will enable Case to
turn this cable-industry lemon into Lime. The channel has a place on
select Comcast systems until at least 2009. Comcast and EchoStar
declined comment.

Lime is aiming for a breakthrough this category has yet to sustain;
bit players come and go, and such existing channels as Oxygen and
Lifetime have dabbled here. Los Angeles-based Oasis TV is primarily
broadband, but the outfit recently secured video-on-demand deals with
Time Warner and Akimbo.

The problem might lie with the nature of the medium. Both programers
and advertisers tend to rely on the glitz and glibness that the
Birkenstock crowd detest, Ray argues. He believes they favor more
plain-spoken information available via print or Web that rarely
translates to TV.  "They've turned to the Internet because they are
tired of shlocky programing," Ray said.

But the timing of Lime could be to its benefit. Corporate America is
waking up to a slice of the population willing to pay a premium for
such products as hybrid vehicles (Toyota, Ford) and energy-efficient
appliances (General Electric) with targeted marketing efforts. Giant
food companies like General Mills quietly are backing boutique gourmet
labels.

"Lots of sectors are transforming, and the media has an huge
opportunity to transform as well," Kettler said.

What remains to be seen is as how Lime fits together with the rest of
Case's holdings, which include controlling shares in real estate
properties like Miraval, an Arizona-based wellness resort. A chain of
private health clinics is rumored to be his next project.

"It's still early in the game, but if there's synergies to be had,
they will happen," Kettler said. "Steve is very involved from a
strategic perspective."

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 22:51:49 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Court Decision In Internet Censorship Law (Nitke / Ashcroft)


http://sethf.com/infothought/blog/archives/000884.html

by Seth Finkelstein

Nitke versus Ashcroft is a case challenging Internet censorship law,
involving issues of "community standards" and the Internet. I (Seth
Finkelstein) am serving as an expert witness in the case.

Case lawyer John Wirenius' blog entry describes the decision:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jwirenius/2005/07/25/

"[On July 25, 2005], the three judge panel of the Southern District 
of New York issued a 25 page per curiam opinion finding against the 
plaintiffs -- us, to be clear -- in Nitke v. Ashcroft. The decision is a 
stunner -- as much for what it doesn't say as for what it does. The 
Court found that Barbara and NCSF (through The Eulenspeigel Society) 
had been chilled in their speech and had censored themselves because 
of the statute allowing the Government to choose which venue any 
artist using the Internet may be prosecuted in, and applying that 
local community's standards to all art on the Internet. The Court 
also found that Barbara and NCSF could not rest easy on the obvious 
social value of their speech, because not all prosecutors and not all 
juries see social importance the same way. Then they found we had not 
produced enough evidence as to how many artists would be chilled, and 
how local community standards varied. Thus, we had not shown to what 
extent the standards varied from community to community, and how much 
speech was effected."

I have a page of resources about the case at: http://sethf.com/nitke/

Case lawyer John Wirenius' material: Overview: 
http://wireniusreport.net/overview.html

January 2005 Update: 
http://www.livejournal.com/users/jwirenius/2005/01/01/ 
http://wireniusreport.net/
http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=jwirenius

NCSF's site: http://www.ncsfreedom.org/

Barbara Nitke: http://www.barbaranitke.com/

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/1.0

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

Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 13:20:33 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Verizon Communications Reports Second-Quarter Earnings $2.1 Billion


     Verizon Communications Reports Second-Quarter Earnings of $2.1
     Billion, With $18.6 Billion in Revenues
     - Jul 26, 2005 07:25 AM (PR Newswire)
     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50677649

Wireless Nets Record 1.9 Million New Customers, Maintains Margins, Yields
   Record-Low Churn; Wireline Broadband, LD, Data Revenues Continue Growth

                          SECOND-QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

     Consolidated Results

      -  75 cents in diluted earnings per share; 63 cents per share before
         special items (non-GAAP measure)

     Wireless

      -  Industry-record 1.9 million net customer additions, up 25.1 percent;
         47.4 million total customers, up 17.1 percent; record-low churn
         (customer turnover) of 1.2 percent

      -  Total quarterly revenues of $7.8 billion, up $1.0 billion, or
         14.6 percent -- the 12th consecutive quarter of double-digit
         year-over-year revenue growth increases

      -  Continued strong operating income margin of 22.7 percent

     Wireline

      -  4.1 million total broadband connections (DSL and Verizon Fios
         data lines), including 278,000 net new broadband connections

      -  Improving revenue trends: Total quarterly revenues of $9.4 billion
         include a year-over-year gain in the consumer business, and gains
         from first quarter 2005 in all major lines of business

      -  Data revenues up 10.9 percent; long-distance (LD) revenues up
         6.7 percent

Notes: Reclassifications of prior-period amounts have been made to
reflect comparable results excluding Verizon's Hawaii wireline and
directory operations, which were sold in the second quarter 2005.
Growth percentages cited above compare second quarter 2005 with second
quarter 2004.  See the schedules accompanying this news release and
www.verizon.com/investor for reconciliations to generally accepted
accounting principles (GAAP) for the non-GAAP financial measures
included in this announcement.  Discontinued operations in the
prior-year periods presented include the operations of Verizon
Information Services Canada.

NEW YORK, July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Communications
Inc. (NYSE:VZ) today reported second-quarter 2005 earnings of $2.1
billion, or 75 cents per diluted share, highlighted by another
record-breaking quarter at Verizon Wireless and continued strong
consolidated cash flows and revenue growth.

Second-quarter earnings included $336 million, or 12 cents per share,
from the sale of wireline and directory operations in Hawaii, as well
as tax benefits of $242 million recognized on prior-year investment
losses, partially offset by net tax expense of $232 million for the
repatriation of foreign earnings.  Earnings before these special items
(non-GAAP measure) were $1.8 billion, or 63 cents per share.  This
compares with $1.8 billion, or 64 cents per share, in earnings before
special items in the second quarter 2004.

The tax on repatriated foreign earnings relates primarily to the more
than $2 billion that Verizon expects to receive in 2005 from share
buybacks initiated by Italian wireless provider Vodafone Omnitel.
Verizon received $1.2 billion in proceeds in the second quarter 2005
and anticipates receiving the final amount in the second half of 2005.

Record Quarterly Revenues

Consolidated operating revenues of $18.6 billion in the second quarter
2005 set a company record, increasing 4.6 percent compared with the
second quarter 2004.  Consolidated operating revenues on a comparable
basis (non-GAAP measure, excluding revenues from Verizon's Hawaii
operations in both periods) were $18.5 billion in the second quarter
2005.  This is an increase of 5.1 percent, or $0.9 billion, compared
with the second quarter 2004.

Second-quarter total revenues at Verizon Wireless increased 14.6
percent, or $1.0 billion, to $7.8 billion when compared with the
second quarter 2004, marking the 12th consecutive quarter of more than
10 percent year-over-year increases.

Operating revenues on a comparable basis at Domestic Telecom were $9.4
billion in the second quarter 2005.  This 0.5 percent decrease,
compared with the second quarter 2004, was the segment's lowest rate
of revenue decline in four years.  Domestic Telecom revenues in the
second quarter 2005 increased $78 million over the first quarter 2005
on a comparable basis.

In the second quarter 2005, consolidated operating expenses increased
3.0 percent to $14.5 billion, compared with second-quarter 2004
operating expenses of $14.1 billion.

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

Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 13:21:17 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Windows Genuine Advantage 1.0 Goes Live


Global anti-piracy initiative ensures software authenticity,
performance and support while providing ongoing system improvements.

REDMOND, Wash., July 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp.
(Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced the transition of the Windows(R)
Genuine Advantage (WGA) pilot to a version 1.0 launch with worldwide
availability. WGA is part of Microsoft's ongoing commitment to
protecting its customers from software counterfeiting and to helping
support partners through education, engineering, and enforcement of
policies and laws. WGA, designed to differentiate the value of genuine
Windows-based software from counterfeit software, enables customers to
enjoy the capabilities they expect, provides them with confidence that
their software is authentic, and delivers ongoing system improvements,
including approximately $450 in software offerings available only to
genuine users.

     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50674486

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

Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 23:01:40 -0600
From: timeOday <timeOday-UNSPAM@theknack.net>
Subject: Call My SIP Phone Over the Internet?


At home I use Vonage for phone service, so my phone is attached to the
Internet.

I travel reasonably often but don't have a cellphone.  Increasingly,
hotels are charging ridiculous prices even for local and 1-800 calls,
but I do have broadband Internet because I need it for work, so they
pay.

Finally my question, can I get SIP on my laptop, and call home,
bypassing the POTS (and for that matter, Vonage) entirely?  (I realize
I could do PC-to-PC calling to my home computer from my laptop, but it
will never work unless my wife can just pick up the normal phone).

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

From: Christopher Sabine <jsabine@cinci.rr.com>
Subject: Looking For Retailer of Office Telephone System
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 20:25:39 -0400


Hi folks.  I'm looking for a price quote on an office telephone with a
port for a pair of dual jack headsets that interface between the
telephone handset and a computer.  I need to take audio from the
computer in one earpeace and audio from the telephone in the other.
I'm in Cincinnati and would like a supplier as local to that area as
possible.

Thanks a bunch,

Chris

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

Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 12:09:57 EDT
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Motorola Shows Off the 'Q'


USTelecom dailyLead
July 26, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23343&l=2017006

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Motorola shows off the "Q"
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Western Wireless sells Irish assets
* Broadcasters, telcos continue dialogue at TELECOM '05
* Cells to offer sound of music
* Verizon, Sprint ink pic-sharing pact
* BellSouth, Verizon report Q2 earnings
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT 
* Cox Cable Chief to Speak at TELECOM '05
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* Vonage, Motorola announce new VoIP gear
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* FCC forms e911 task force
* SBC-AT&T merger wins support in California

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23343&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

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

Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 01:49:40 +0100
From: Paul Coxwell <paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk>
Subject: Re: TV Telephone History


> While watching TV Land, I realized I could learn about the
> phone-wealth of various TV families.

I think there were four phones in the Stevens household in Bewitched
 -- One in the kitchen, one in the bedroom, one in Darrin's den, and a
green WE 500 set which normally sat atop the TV in the living room.

> TV writers later learned to use the exchange "555" (or KLondike 5) for
> fictitious numbers, but perhaps weren't doing this back then. The "99"
> portion of their phone number used to indicate a coin-operated
> telephone in some exchanges, so perhaps this convention was good
> enough.

I recall seeing an episode of The Twilight Zone in which a KLondike 5
number was used.  When was the last series of that?  About 1963?

- Paul

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

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: An Unsettling Surprise: Victimized by ID Theft
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 20:00:42 -0700
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

> Actually, us lay people can do NOTHING about 'opportunity'.  I have no
> idea what big data warehouses handle my information, let alone dictate
> to them to maintain proper controls and security.

Quoted in full for emphasis.

I was almost the victim of ID theft in 1998, but that was my own
fault, as I somehow misplaced my Ohio driver's license and in 1998,
they hadn't yet enacted the law that makes a SSN optional on your
license. (In my opinion, it shouldn't ever be on there, but that's
just my opinion. I now live in a state that has enough clue to omit
the SSN from the DL.)

What Lisa says is extremely important. My situation happened out of
sheer stupidity and absent-mindedness, and I could have prevented it
very easily.  Situations like the one with Cardsystems can't be
prevented by the consumer.


Steve Sobol, Professional Geek   888-480-4638   PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

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

Date: 26 Jul 2005 06:34:19 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Ethics of Deterrence
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I wonder if anyone besides me has 
> noticed how this whole thing has deteriorated from evil nasty spammers
> as the _true_ villians to evil nasty netizens trying to harm a good
> and pure web site;

Since that's not what anyone has proposed, no, I don't think anyone
else has noticed that.  You know that I have no love for spammers, but
I have even less love for stupid gimmicks that play into spammers'
hands.

> Why did ICANN (and its cheering squad on the net) fight so
> vigorously against the federal government's CAN-SPAM proposed
> legislation;

ICANN never said anything about CAN-SPAM one way or the other.  You
must be thinking of someone else.  CAUCE, on whose board I sit,
opposed CAN-SPAM because we thought it would encourage more spam, not
less.  So far, we seem to have been correct.

R's,

John

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: TV Telephone History
Date: 26 Jul 2005 07:18:04 -0700


Joseph wrote:

> They never had the "ringing" right and always used the double-gong
> ringers that one would find on 500/2500 type phones.  When using
> payphones they'd have the "ding-ding" sound from a regular fortress
> type phone.  The last "ding-ding" pay phones were the three
> slotters!

TV shows were notoriously inaccurate in ringers for telephones.  I
believe the phone itself does not ring, but rather the sound is
provided off set and recorded separately.  I've often heard 302-type
ringers used for more modern sets and other strange bells used.  In
more modern shows, they've had a bell ringer for a modern tone ringer
phone and vice versa.

Likewise with payphones.  Long after 3-slot pay phones were replaced
by single slot, the 'ding-ding-bong' sounds continued when someone
used a payphone.

Of course, nowadays a ringer can be anything (even Jeanette McDonald's
"When I'm Calling You") so the point is kind of moot.

Our local Bell business office lent our high school theatre group a
Call Director set for a play.  I wanted to 'examine' it but they
returned it as soon as the play was over.

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

From: NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info
Subject: Re: Need to Drop SBC LD Service. Info on Other Carriers?
Date: 26 Jul 2005 07:57:34 -0700


George wrote:

> But I'm having trouble finding reviews of particularly the smaller
> companies or resellers.  Where can I go to find that?  Is there a
> newsgroup?  I'm talking about companies like Everdial/Primus, which
> I currenly use as a dial-around, or maybe Americom.  And I'm
> particularly interested in honest dealing and customer service.
> Assuming there still is such a thing.

Maybe your current dial around is a good deal.

We use OneSuite.  Incredibly low long distance phone rates. As low as
USA-Canada 1.9CPM!  Works as prepaid phone card. PIN not needed for
calls from home or cell phone. Compare the rates at
https://www.OneSuite.com/ No monthly fee or minimum. Use
Promotion/SuiteTreat Code: FREEoffer23 for FREE time

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

From: Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: Last Laugh!  Spammer, age 35,  meets "Moscow Rules"
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 20:35:40 -0400
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC



[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does anyone remember the old parlor
game we used to play as kids? I think the name of the game was
'Murder' and it was about this wealthy, rich old geezer who had been
murdered in his home, which was a mansion-like place. Using cards and
dice, and moving tokens around on a board accordingly, we kids had to
use logic and the process of elimination to guess the three cards
hidden from view: (1) who murdered the old gentleman, (2) the way his
murder was committed, and (3) the room of the house it happened in. By
looking at your cards, the tokens on the board and thinking about
previous incorrect answers, we junior detectives had to announce to
the other players out loud, "I suggest that (victim) was murdered with
(weapon: gun, knife, candleobera or other blunt instrument) in the
(room: kitchen, parlor, library, den, bedroom, etc) by (criminal: the
butler, the cook, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. Green, others). The person who
made the right choices won of course, but a wrong choice got the
player eliminated. Today's 'Last Laugh' is brought to us by Danny
Burstein who tells us the true story of the victim (Vardan Kushnir)
who was murdered in his apartment, apparently with a blunt instrument,
but police have not been able to figure out _who_ the perpetrator was.
Personally I doubt they are looking very hard either. PAT]

          ===================================

      Russia's Biggest Spammer Brutally Murdered in Apartment

Created: 25.07.2005 13:14 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:24 MSK,
    5 hours 14 minutes ago

MosNews

Vardan Kushnir, notorious for sending spam to each and every citizen
of Russia who appeared to have an e-mail, was found dead in his Moscow
apartment on Sunday, Interfax reported Monday. He died after suffering
repeated blows to the head.

Kushnir, 35, headed the English learning centers the Center for American
English, the New York English Centre and the Centre for Spoken English,
all known to have aggressive Internet advertising policies in which
millions of e-mails were sent every day ...

[ snip, snip, snip; rest at:

  	http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/07/25/spammerdead.shtml


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Funeral arrangements have not been
announced; they are still pending. That, you see, is how spammers in
Russia are dealt with; a good, effecient dispatch of their rotten
souls if I do say so myself. A prompt cremation of his earthly remains
and all his spam with him should follow and assure he burns in Hell
forever in his special, reserved spot. PAT]

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


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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #339
******************************