TELECOM Digest     Sun, 7 Aug 2005 19:33:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 358

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations (Monty Solomon)
    The Wired Are A Rude Bunch (Monty Solomon)
    Europe Zips Lips; U.S. Sells ZIPs - New York Times (Monty Solomon)
    Bogus Homeland Alerts Hit the Air (Monty Solomon)
    Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way (Monty Solomon)
    NYT Article on Cyberextortion Including Ricin, Grenades (Danny Burstein)
    How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? (A User)
    AT&T Voice Mail System (Steven Lichter)
    More Help Needed on Wiring WE-201 (rikki5150@comcast.net)
    Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access (Dean M.)
    Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage (Joseph)
    Re: Calling All Luddites (Ed Clarke)
    Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb (Gene S. Berkowitz)
    Re: MCI Billing Fraud Class Action Notice (Tim@Backhome.org)
    Internet Porn (Steven Lichter)

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.  

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

Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 12:10:09 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations


By Steve Coll and Susan B. Glasser
Washington Post Staff Writers

In the snow-draped mountains near Jalalabad in November 2001, as the
Taliban collapsed and al Qaeda lost its Afghan sanctuary, Osama bin
Laden biographer Hamid Mir watched "every second al Qaeda member
carrying a laptop computer along with a Kalashnikov" as they prepared
to scatter into hiding and exile. On the screens were photographs of
Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta.

Nearly four years later, al Qaeda has become the first guerrilla
movement in history to migrate from physical space to cyberspace.
With laptops and DVDs, in secret hideouts and at neighborhood Internet
cafes, young code-writing jihadists have sought to replicate the
training, communication, planning and preaching facilities they lost
in Afghanistan with countless new locations on the Internet.

Al Qaeda suicide bombers and ambush units in Iraq routinely depend on
the Web for training and tactical support, relying on the Internet's
anonymity and flexibility to operate with near impunity in
cyberspace. In Qatar, Egypt and Europe, cells affiliated with al Qaeda
that have recently carried out or seriously planned bombings have
relied heavily on the Internet.

Such cases have led Western intelligence agencies and outside
terrorism specialists to conclude that the "global jihad movement,"
sometimes led by al Qaeda fugitives but increasingly made up of
diverse "groups and ad hoc cells," has become a "Web-directed"
phenomenon, as a presentation for U.S. government terrorism analysts
by longtime State Department expert Dennis Pluchinsky put it.
Hampered by the nature of the Internet itself, the government has
proven ineffective at blocking or even hindering significantly this
vast online presence.

Among other things, al Qaeda and its offshoots are building a massive
and dynamic online library of training materials -- some supported by
experts who answer questions on message boards or in chat rooms --
covering such varied subjects as how to mix ricin poison, how to make
a bomb from commercial chemicals, how to pose as a fisherman and sneak
through Syria into Iraq, how to shoot at a U.S. soldier, and how to
navigate by the stars while running through a night-shrouded
desert. These materials are cascading across the Web in Arabic, Urdu,
Pashto and other first languages of jihadist volunteers.

The Saudi Arabian branch of al Qaeda launched an online magazine in
2004 that exhorted potential recruits to use the Internet: "Oh Mujahid
brother, in order to join the great training camps you don't have to
travel to other lands," declared the inaugural issue of Muaskar
al-Battar, or Camp of the Sword. "Alone, in your home or with a group
of your brothers, you too can begin to execute the training program."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080501138.html

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

Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 13:01:17 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: The Wired Are A Rude Bunch


by Fahmida Y. Rashid

While technology, such as cell phones, e-mail and instant messaging,
have in many ways made life easier, these same devices may make users
lazy and oblivious to their surroundings. The constant pressure on
workers to be accessible means manners often take a backseat. In
consumer circles, lots of people apparently believe that because they
can take or make a phone call, they should.

In a recent national poll by market research group Synovate, 68% of
Americans claimed to observe poor cell phone etiquette at least once
per day. Eighteen percent said they ran into poor e-mail etiquette.
The study noted that the Americans showed the poorest etiquette when
using the very devices they rely on the most (52% said they would
"die" if their phones and e-mails were taken away).

"Poor tech etiquette is something most of us don't really think about
as we pick up our cell phones or send an e-mail," said Steve Levine,
senior vice president at Synovate.

The survey results follow on the heels of a marketing push by a
company called Moderati, which sells ring tones, cell phone wallpaper
and ring-back tones. The company claims that "nothing says 'I hate
you' like a DisTone." A DisTone is a rather unfriendly greeting users
assign to callers they want to avoid.

http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/07/28/technology-rudeness-wireless-cx_fr_0728rude.html

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

Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 14:15:43 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Europe Zips Lips; U.S. Sells ZIPs - New York Times


By ERIC DASH

IF the information is not already missing, 2005 might be recorded in
the databanks of history as the year of the consumer privacy breach.

So far, American companies including financial services giants like
Bank of America, Citigroup and MasterCard, and national retailers like
DSW shoes and Ralph Lauren Polo, have announced data compromises. All
told, the personal information of more than 50 million consumers has
been lost, stolen and even sold to thieves.

Why is this happening here, and not, say, in Britain, Germany or
France? One reason may be that every other Western country has a
comprehensive set of national privacy laws and an office of data
protection, led by a privacy commissioner.

The United States, by contrast, has a patchwork of state and federal
laws and agencies responsible for data protection.

"In Europe, the question has been settled: citizens have strong legal
rights," said Joel R. Reidenberg, a Fordham University law professor
who is an expert on international data privacy rules. "In the United
States, we basically have a mess, and we are still trying to sort it
out."

More fundamentally, these two systems for dealing with data arise from
a cultural divide over privacy itself. In broad terms, the United
States looks at privacy largely as a consumer and an economic issue;
in the rest of the developed world, it is regarded as a fundamental
right.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/weekinreview/07dash.html?ex=1281067200&en=0917edc4d24f6c28&ei=5090

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

Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 15:48:11 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Bogus Homeland Alerts Hit the Air


By Kevin Poulsen

As if Florida didn't have enough to worry about this hurricane season,
some residents of the Sunshine State were alerted to a nonexistent
radiological emergency last Wednesday after a National Weather Service
operator fat-fingered a routine test of the Emergency Alert System.

The EAS, a 1997 replacement for the Cold War-era Emergency Broadcast
System, transmits emergency audio and text information to the public
over weather-alert radios and by interrupting commercial television
and radio broadcasts.

A digital header at the top of every EAS alert dictates how long it's
in effect and how far the message should be propagated. It also
identifies the type of event by a three-letter code.

The Florida gaffe occurred when an operator at the National Weather
Service's Tallahassee forecast office inadvertently entered the code
"RHW" instead of "RWT," keying a radiological hazard warning instead
of a required weekly test.

The warning was broadcast to the Florida panhandle and parts of
southern Georgia, said National Weather Service warning-coordination
meteorologist Walt Zaleski. Fortunately, it failed to cause panic, in
part because the audio accompanying the message still identified it as
"only a test," and the office moved rapidly to quash the false alarm.

"They quickly alerted every radio and television station within their
viewing and listening area that the ID had gone out incorrectly and
there was no emergency to speak of," said Zaleski.

A similar glitch at a Las Vegas radio station a day earlier falsely
alerted cable companies, radio and TV stations in five counties to a
national crisis that didn't exist.

That error occurred Tuesday afternoon when KXTE-FM tried to send out a
message canceling an earlier Amber Alert, and instead transmitted an
EAN, or emergency action notification -- a special code reserved for
the president of the United States to use in the event of a nuclear
war or similar extreme national emergency.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68363,00.html

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

Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 11:06:31 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way


http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4658

We admire Princeton not only for its beautiful campus and its myriad
of creative minds, but also for its courage to embrace new
technologies. Starting in the fall semester, the school will offer
digital textbooks to its students in partnership with Missouri-based
MBS Textbook Exchange Inc and various textbook publishers. The student
only needs to pick up a barcoded textbook card (see attached
screenshot), activate it at the cash register for usually 33 percent
less than the new-book price, and go online for a one-time download of
the textbook in PDF format.

Alas, the e-books are encoded in DRM which pretty much spoils the 
potential success of this pilot project:

  * Textbook is locked to the computer where you downloaded it from;
  * Copying and burning to CD is prohibited;
  * Printing is limited to small passages;
  * Unless otherwise stated, textbook activation expires after
	5 months (*gasp*);
  * Activated textbooks are not returnable;
  * Buyback is not possible.

If this hasn't scared you off already, click here to read the rest in
the press release.
http://www.digitaltextbooks.net/cgi-dts/pressrelease.pdf

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

From: Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: NYT Article on Cyberextortion Including Ricin and Grenades
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 01:15:51 -0400
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC


" August 7, 2005 The Rise of the Digital Thugs By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN

" Early last year, the corporate stalker made his move. He sent more
than a dozen menacing e-mail messages to Daniel I. Videtto, the
president of MicroPatent, a patent and trademarking firm, threatening
to derail its operations unless he was paid $17 million.

" In a pair of missives fired off on Feb. 3, 2004, the stalker said
that he had thousands of proprietary MicroPatent documents,
confidential customer data, computer passwords and e-mail
addresses.

" Unbeknownst to the stalker, MicroPatent had been quietly trying to
track him for years, though without success. He was able to mask his
online identity so deftly that he routinely avoided capture, despite
the involvement of federal investigators.

" But in late 2003 the company upped the ante. It retained private
investigators and deployed a former psychological profiler for the
Central Intelligence Agency to put a face on the stalker. The manhunt,
according to court documents and investigators, led last year to a
suburban home in Hyattsville, Md., its basement stocked with parts for
makeshift hand grenades and ingredients for ricin, one of the most
potent and lethal biological toxins.

" Last March, on the same day that they raided his home, the
authorities arrested the stalker as he sat in his car composing e-mail
messages he planned to send wirelessly to Mr. Videtto. The stalker has
since pleaded guilty to charges of extortion and possession of toxic
materials.

[ snippety snip, rest at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/business/yourmoney/07stalk.html


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The NY Times article did not note
however, whether or not some snippity, uppity Usenetters were
'horrified' that the company had drilled down deep enough to find
the _actual offender_ and afford him some severe punishment rather
than just -- as they would prefer -- the guy's messages had just
been filtered out, perhaps ineffectually, as filters go, but the
preferred (by some who are quite vocal) way to deal with offenders. 
It is _good_ to see some of these bozos get caught and severely
dealt with.   PAT]

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

From: A User <serge-newnew2715@mailblocks.com>
Subject: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US?
Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 09:16:26 +1000
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


I am going to be visiting Northern California shortly. I am trying to
find out what carriers have GSM coverage in 95437 Fort Bragg
California. Is there a database that might be able to help?

Thanks in advance.

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

From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com>
Reply-To: Die@spammers.com
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc.  (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co.
Subject: AT&T Voice Mail System
Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 02:25:35 GMT


Some years ago AT&T marketed a 2 line digital Answering system.  It
was made by Bogon. It is real nice since you can have 10 different
mailboxes with some being answer only and also allow a caller to page
or transfer via the second line to reach you.  Does anyone know if
they ever updated it to handle CID?

The only good spammer is a dead one!!  Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2005  I Kill Spammers, Inc.  A Rot in Hell Co.

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

Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 22:02:04 -0400
From: rikki5150@comcast.net
Subject: More Help Needed on Wiring for WE201


I asked about wiring for a WE subset 684BA to the wall outlet with a
WE201. There was a response but I could not open the attachment. Could
you try something else? 

Rick Busey

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

Subject: Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access
From: Dean M. <cjmebox-telecomdigest@yahoo.com>
Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com
Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 22:07:01 GMT


I agree Friedman is probably making too much of the US lagging in cell
phone coverage. However, what is true (only from my personal
experience and that of some friends though) is that one particular
kind of cell phone service -- GSM -- has coverage in major US cities
which is worse than in major European cities. From the journos
perspective, whether or not there are good reasons for this is
probably irrelevant.

I'll bet that Friedman has GSM (possibly even T-Mobile which I hear is
very flaky in Manhattan), and has found coverage much better when he
travels to London, Paris and Brussels! And that's what really spurred
the article he wrote:-)

-Dean

On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 08:59:21 -0700, Mark Crispin
<mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU> wrote:

> On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

>> A New York Times columnist, Friedman, calls today (8/3/05) for
>> better wireless access in the United States.  He says many foreign
>> countries have better systems than we do and they will have the
>> competitive edge on the US as a result.

> Tell him to take a look at a map and consider the differences in
> geography and demographics.  It's pretty easy to have good wireless
> coverage in densely-populated postage-stamp sized countries,
> especially when not encumbered by zoning ("you are NOT going to put
> that tower where I can see it!").

> It is also advisable to consider geography.  Japan is no slouch when
> it comes to wireless, yet there are numerous dead zones in big cities.
> Any honest coverage map of Japan will show that there is no coverage
> at all in the sparsely-populated mountainous interior of Japan; the
> coverage is in the big cities which are all on the coasts.  I know
> from personal experience that you lose service as soon as you get a
> few kilometers from the urban core.

> I also know from personal experience that there are numerous dead
> zones in London.

> Now, if two relatively small island nations have problems, consider
> wireless coverage issues in a large continental nation, and you have
> the situation faced by Canada, the US, and Mexico.

> -- Mark --

> http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
> Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
> Si vis pacem, para bellum.

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

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage
Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 15:54:57 -0700
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


On Sat, 06 Aug 2005 10:48:10 -0700, Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
wrote:

> Joseph wrote:

>> WASHINGTON  -- The merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications won
>> approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice
>> Department yesterday, clearing the way for a combined company with
>> more than 35 million mobile-phone subscribers.

> Good. This is one merger that might actually benefit people other than
> the shareholders.

Actually, this is good for Sprint PCS which has been in the pits.  The
benefit to Nextel is illusive.  It's more than likely Sprint PCS had
more designs on spectrum than any real benefit to Nextel.  Then again
when have mergers ever really benefitted the end user?  Look at what
happened with AT&T Wireless and Cingular.  If you were an AT&T
Wireless subscriber and you got absorbed by Cingular you basically got
reamed and were not even given any Vaseline to make it easier on you.

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

From: Ed Clarke <clarke@cilia.org>
Subject: Re: Calling All Luddites
Date: 7 Aug 2005 02:07:28 GMT
Organization: Ciliophora Associates, Inc.
Reply-To: clarke@cilia.org


On 2005-08-04, Thomas L  Friedman <ntytimes@telecom-digest.org> wrote:

> By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

> I began thinking about this after watching the Japanese use cellphones
> and laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet trains and
> subways deep underground. But the last straw was when I couldn't get
> cellphone service while visiting I.B.M.'s headquarters in Armonk, N.Y.

No matter what you do, you aren't going to get cell service in CHQ
Armonk.  The lobby (if you noticed it) has a copper foil ceiling; the
walls are metal and the windows are metalized (and grounded).  You're
not going to get a radio signal out of that building (or into it).
I've tried.

I had to set up a demo for the corporate staff that involved satellite
data transmission. We ended up moving the meeting to a different
building on the site that wasn't quite so RF secure.

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

From: Gene S. Berkowitz <first.last@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack
Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 01:24:59 -0400


In article <telecom24.357.14@telecom-digest.org>, ap@telecom-digest.org 
says:

> By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer

> Hiroshima marked the 60th anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack
> Saturday with prayers and water for the dead and a call by the mayor
> for nuclear powers to abandon their arsenals and stop "jeopardizing
> human survival."
> 
> At 8:15 a.m., (a day ago, by Japanese time), the instant of the blast,
> the city's trolleys stopped and more than 55,000 people at Peace
> Memorial Park observed a moment of silence that was broken only by
> the ringing of a bronze bell.

> A flock of doves was released into the sky. Then wreaths and ladles of
> water -- symbolizing the suffering of those who died in the atomic
> inferno -- were offered at a simple, arch-shaped stone monument at the
> center of the park.

> Outside the nearby A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings left standing
> after the blast, peace activists held a "die-in" -- falling to the
> ground to dramatize the toll from the United States bombing that
> turned life to death for more than 140,000 and forever changed the
> face of war.

> Thousands of paper lanterns symbolizing the souls of the dead were
> floated on a river next to the park, concluding a day of rememberance.

> Fumie Yoshida was just 16 when Hiroshima was bombed. She survived but
> lost her father, brother and sister. On Saturday, she chose not to
> attend the formal memorial, but paid her respects privately with a
> small group of friends in the peace park.

> "My father's remains have never been found," she said. "Those of us
> who went through this all know that we must never repeat this
> tragedy. But I think many Japanese today are forgetting."

> In a "Peace Declaration," Hiroshima's outspoken Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba
> vowed to never allow a repeat of the tragedy and gave an impassioned
> plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying the United States,
> is "jeopardizing human survival."

> "Many people around the world have succumbed to the feeling that there
> is nothing we can do," he said. "Within the United Nations, the United
> States uses its veto power to override the global majority and
> pursue its selfish objectives."

> In a more subdued speech, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered
> condolences for the dead.

> "I offer deep prayers from my heart to those who were killed," he
> said, vowing that Japan would be a leader in the international
> movement against nuclear proliferation.

> Though Hiroshima has risen from the rubble to become a thriving city
> of 3 million, most of whom were born after the war, the anniversary
> underscores its ongoing tragedy.

> Officials estimate that about 140,000 people were killed instantly or
> died within a few months after the Enola Gay dropped its deadly
> payload over the city, which then had a population of about 350,000.

> Three days later, another U.S. bomber, Bock's Car, dropped a plutonium
> bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people.
> Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II.

> Including those initially listed as missing or who died afterward from
> a loosely defined set of bomb-related ailments, including cancers,
> Hiroshima officials now put the total number of dead in this city
> alone at 242,437.

> This year, 5,373 more names were added to the list.

> In central London, more than 200 anti-nuclear activists and others
> gathered at Tavistock Square, where a cherry tree was planted in 1967
> in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing.

> Jeremy Corbyn, a lawmaker in the governing Labour Party and vocal
> anti-war campaigner, urged people to remember the "unique horror" of
> what the United States did to Hiroshima in 1945.

> Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

> 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.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have to wonder if it has occurred to
> Mr. Bush that what is good for the goose is often times good for the
> gander as well. How would _he_ (or Mr. Blair for example) feel if the
> Iraqi government decided "in order to end further suffering or loss 
> of innocent lives in this war with the United States, _we_ have
> elected to drop the big one on their country."  In other words, Harry
> Truman's line, all over again, one big blast to end the agony of
> war, but this time fingers pointed at us as the agressors ... and the
> Iraqi government did, just this past week, invite the United States to
> withdraw totally from Iraq and let all of us go back to living at
> peace. We know that Mr. Bush refused that offer totally. We also know
> that China has threatened us in recent days regards its ongoing spat
> with Taiwan, stating that if Bush insisted on remaining involved in 
> that situation, they (the Chinese) 'would not hesitate' to use strong
> medicine on us. And the North Koreans, I am sure, would get involved
> also as circumstances permitted. I have to wonder if Mr. Bush even
> realizes how close he is coming toward getting a taste of his own
> medicine or if he even cares, in his deluded state of grandeur. 

> Considering Bush's strong association with the right-wing fundamentalist
> Christian movement in this country -- people who feel from their 
> reading of scripture that the end is near anyway -- I really wonder if
> he _does_ care ... if nothing else, it would most assuredly allow
> _his_ congresspersons to declare a state of emergency and retain him 
> in office for the duration of the first real war on American
> soil. Under the present constitutional constraints, he is ineligible
> for another term in office, but just as in New York City a few days
> after 9-11-01 there were suggestions seriously considered to put off
> installing the new mayor and retaining the old mayor 'due to the
> crisis'. I am sure the same ideas would be floated around as Bush's
> term would otherwise draw to a close. Do the Atomic Scientists still
> keep setting that clock periodically on its journey to midnight?
> What is that clock setting now?  PAT]

The clock is now set at 7 minutes to Midnight.

http://www.thebulletin.org/doomsday_clock/


Gene

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

From: Tim@Backhome.org
Subject: Re: MCI Billing Fraud Class Action Notice
Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 07:04:15 -0700
Organization: Cox Communications


Shows how woefully inadequate are so-called federal consumer
"protectors" are. It is absolutely disgusting.

Girard, Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP wrote:

>    MCI SUED FOR BILLING MONTHLY SERVICE CHARGES TO NON-CUSTOMERS

> San Francisco - The law firm Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP
> http://www.girardgibbs.com has filed a class action complaint on
> behalf of telephone customers nationwide who were unlawfully billed by
> MCI, Inc. for monthly service charges despite the fact they were not
> MCI customers. The complaint alleges that MCI assesses the monthly
> fees directly or through consumers' local phone bills.

> "MCI has been charging non-customers minimum usage fees and other
> monthly service fees without authorization even though MCI provided no
> service to these persons," said Daniel Girard, one of the attorneys
> for the plaintiff. "Consumers who mistakenly paid MCI or paid in
> response to a threatening collections notice should get their money
> back."

> The case was brought by Shary Everett, a Goodyear, Arizona resident
> who repeatedly was assessed monthly service charges by MCI even though
> she had a different long distance carrier and had terminated MCI
> service at a former address several years earlier. MCI refused to
> reverse the unauthorized charges and threatened Ms. Everett with a
> collections notice for failing to pay. To stop MCI from continuing to
> bill her without authorization, she was forced to restrict all
> long-distance service on her telephone line.

> The complaint alleges that MCI enrolled non-customers and former MCI
> long-distance subscribers without their knowledge or consent in the
> "Basic Dial-1 Plan" or another MCI calling plan that carries a monthly
> service fee. In 2002, MCI began charging a $3.00 or $5.00 minimum
> usage fee (MUF) and a $3.95 monthly recurring fee to consumers who did
> not have active billing accounts with MCI and whom MCI has no
> reasonable basis to believe are current MCI customers.

> The class action lawsuit against MCI was filed in federal district
> court in Phoenix on July 18, 2005 and asserts claims against MCI for
> violations of the federal Communications Act and for unjust
> enrichment.

> The complaint alleges that MCI's policy and practice is to reverse,
> refund, or credit back unauthorized charges only to consumers who
> threaten to bring legal action, lodge complaints with regulatory
> authorities, or take other action. According to the complaint,
> consumers who do not pay the unauthorized charges are turned over to
> collections agencies.

> Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP is one of the nation's leading firms
> representing individuals in consumer fraud class actions and investors
> in securities fraud litigation.

> If you've experienced this or a similar problem and you are interested
> in sharing your experience with us, please print out and fill in the
> form below, and mail or email it to our firm. http://gerardgibbs.com

>             Name:

>             E-Mail:

>             Telephone:

>             State of Residence:

>             Message:

>             I would like to receive updates concerning this problem or
> other class action news:


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I ran this entire legal notice again,
along with Tim's response since it is important that _everyone_
reclaim their money from MCI. Long-time (twenty or thirty year) phone
users understand that MCI by and large was built on fraud from its
beginning in the 1960's. It's crowning glory, if that term is
appropriate came this summer when it's chairperson, Bernie Ebbers,
got sent away all the while he was wringing his hands and claiming to
know nothing of the deceit which built that huge empire. By all means,
if you have as little as five cents coming from MCI, go through Gerard
Gibbs (or whomever will administer the class action and get your 
money back.   PAT]

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

From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com>
Reply-To: Die@spammers.com
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc.  (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co.
Subject: Internet Porn
Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 21:25:02 GMT


Dateline NBC ran a good program on this problem, that included
tracking down the companies and the spammer, plus an inside look at a
porn convention, in Las Vegas.

The only good spammer is a dead one!!  Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2005  I Kill Spammers, Inc.  A Rot in Hell Co.

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


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