TELECOM Digest     Fri, 19 Aug 2005 16:27:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 376

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Customs Computer Virus Strands Travelers (Lisa Orkwin Emmanuel)
    Microsoft Rethinks RSS Name Change (Elizabeth Montalbano)
    WTO Gives USA Until April 3 to Change Internet Gambling Laws (Reuters)
    Telecom Update #493, August 19, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement Group)
    Report: IPTV Set-Top Box Market Overcrowded (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements (jmeissen@aracnet.com)
    RE: More on Verizon FioS Requirements (Michael Quinn)
    Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (jmeissen@aracnet.com)
    Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Dan Lanciani)
    Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (John Levine)
    Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (John Levine)
    Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (Lisa Hancock)

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
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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 Orkwin Emmanuel <ap@telecom-digeest.org>
Subject: Customs Computer Virus Strands Passengers
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:23:34 -0500


By LISA ORKIN EMMANUEL, Associated Press Writer

Travelers arriving in the United States from abroad were stuck in
long lines at airports nationwide when a virus shut down an U.S. Customs
and Border Protection computer system for several hours, officials said.

Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the virus impacted
computer systems at a number of airports Thursday night, including
those in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas
and Laredo, Texas.

Knocke said customs agents immediately switched to manual
inspections. He declined to provide details on where the computer
virus originated but said Friday the investigation remained open.

The worst delays appeared to be at Miami International Airport, where
about 4,000 to 5,000 people waited to clear immigration, airport
spokesman Greg Chin said. The passengers were not permitted to leave
the area before then, but they all went through by midnight, he said.
Everything was back to normal Friday.

Brian Hunt and his wife, who were visiting from Spain, said it took
them nearly five hours to be processed.

"The agent was very charming, very nice and greeted us with a smile,"
he told The Miami Herald. "It was just an unfortunate thing, but these
things happen. Who do we blame?"

The computer problem originated in database systems located in
Virginia and lasted from around 6 p.m. until about 11:30 p.m., said
Zachary Mann, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in
southern Florida.

At New York's airports, customs officials processed passengers by
hand. Officials used backup computer systems to keep passengers moving
at Los Angeles International Airport, where computers were down only
briefly and delays from six flights lasted up to 2 1/2 hours.

"It was during a light time of travel for international passengers at
LAX," said Mike Fleming, customs spokesman in Los Angeles. "All
systems have been restored to full capacity."

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. For Associated Press News Radio and detailed stories,
go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html

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

From: Elizabth Montalbano <IGGNews@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Microsoft Rethinks RSS Name Change
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:22:13 -0500


Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service

A well-known Microsoft Web logger is downplaying the proposed use of a
new name for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in the next version of
Internet Explorer following several days of intense discussion about
the notion of rebranding RSS in the Web log community.

In an interview Wednesday, Robert Scoble, a Microsoft technical
evangelist and writer of a popular Web log, or blog, about the
software giant, says the company had not made a final decision as to
whether it would rename RSS "Web feeds" in the final version of IE 7
the way it has in the beta version that is available now.

"We never said Microsoft has decided [to rebrand RSS]," Scoble says.
"It's a year ahead of [Windows Vista] being released and we're trying
to work with the community to get some consensus."

In the IE 7 Beta 1, RSS feeds are called "Web feeds," a fact first
brought to light in an August 2 "IEBlog" post by Jane Kim, a Microsoft
program manager for RSS in IE.

Controversy Sparked

The post sparked a flurry of controversy in the blogs of Microsoft
watchers, some of whom prematurely viewed Microsoft's decision to
rebrand RSS in the beta as an indication of the final name for RSS in
the full version of the product. Some even worried that there might be
a larger plan by Microsoft to recast RSS in its own image.

IE 7 will be included in the next version of the Windows operating
system, Windows Vista, which is scheduled to ship toward the end of
2006. Microsoft has said it would offer broad support for RSS
throughout Windows Vista, including an implementation in IE 7.

Both Scoble and Mike Torres, MSN Spaces lead program manager for
Microsoft, claimed in their blogs that Microsoft has no plan to
rewrite RSS but is trying to come up with a way to name the technology
in a way that is generally accepted in the industry and among Web
users.

In his blog "Torres Talking," Torres mentioned the Mozilla
Foundation's Firefox Web browser, which calls RSS feeds "Live
Bookmarks," and Newsgator Online and Bloglines, which both call them
"feeds," in his defense of Microsoft's choice to call RSS "Web feeds"
in IE 7. He said this shows the industry as a whole may be interested
in using the RSS technology but not the "RSS" brand.

Nevertheless, comments on the blogs of Torres, Scoble, and Dave Winer,
a software guru who writes the popular "Scripting News" Web log,
ignited a heated discussion of Microsoft's plans for RSS in the blog
community and in published reports by the IDG News Service and other
publications over the past few days.

Scoble says in an interview that because of Microsoft's "history" --
which famously includes attempts to create proprietary implementations
for standard technology -- the company wants to be careful and "do the
right thing" in regards to RSS.

In one widely publicized case over the branding of an accepted
technology standard, Microsoft ended up paying Sun Microsystems $1.9
billion last year to settle a seven-year lawsuit over the software
giant's implementation of Java.

"I'm fighting that [former] path," Scoble says of Microsoft's careful
consideration of how to include and name RSS in its products.  "We're
just trying to be compliant with everyone here not do something evil."

Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
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articles daily.

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

From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: WTO Gives United States Until April 3 to Change Gambling Laws 
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:21:53 -0500


A World Trade Organization arbiter on Friday gave the United States
until April 3 to comply with a ruling that a ban on Internet gambling
services offered by Antigua violates the body's rules.

U.S. officials had sought a July deadline.

United States Trade Representative's Office press secretary Neena
Moorjani said on Friday the USTR would examine the ruling and do its
best to accede to the timeframe.

But she said the change would not necessarily loosen U.S.
restrictions on Internet gambling.

The arbiter's decision was the latest stage in a long-running "David
against Goliath" case brought by Antigua & Barbuda, a small Caribbean
nation that has invested heavily in the electronic gambling industry
to boost its economy and job opportunities.

A WTO dispute panel and an appeals body both found largely in favor of
Antigua's complaint over the ban, which has kept U.S. banks and major
Internet search engines from doing business with gambling firms on the
island.

The arbiter, German trade expert Claus-Dieter Ehlermann, said he
recognized the U.S. task would be difficult due to the highly
regulated nature of Internet gambling and betting in the United
States, but was not convinced a July deadline was needed.

Antiguan officials say they are confident the United States will
conform, but trade diplomats say Antigua could do little if the
legislative changes were not made on time, or at all, other than press
the case further within the WTO.

"The United States has already announced its intention to comply with
the WTO findings," the USTR's Moorjani said.

"USTR will not ask Congress to weaken U.S. restrictions on Internet
gambling. We had asked for 15 months to comply as it was our
reasonable and realistic estimate of the necessary amount of time. But
we are studying the arbitrator's award and will do our utmost to
comply," she added.

WTO countries whose trade partners are found to have failed to
implement dispute rulings can be authorized to impose sanctions,
usually in the form of extra tariffs, on goods or services from the
offending nations.

But small countries often find retaliating against the United States
is mostly useless; the current U.S. administration largely does as it
pleases. 

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: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 11:09:11 -0700
Subject: Telecom Update #493, August 19, 2005
From: Angus TeleManagement Group <jriddell@angustel.ca>
Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group <jriddell@angustel.ca>


************************************************************
TELECOM UPDATE 
************************************************************

published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group 
http://www.angustel.ca

Number 493: August 19, 2005

Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous 
financial support from: 
** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com 
** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/
** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca 
** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ 
** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca
** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/
** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions 
** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/

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

IN THIS ISSUE: 

** Policy Panel Gets 97 Submissions 
** Bell to Trial Next-Gen Wireless 9-1-1
** Telus Scores Big Win Over Bell 
** Videotron Expands Cable Phone Service 
** Shaw Says MTS Stalling on Porting Numbers 
** Rogers, Bell Launch Cellphone TV 
** Bell Boosts DSL Speeds 
** Vancouver Exhibition Bars Telus 
** Loblaws Offers Private-Label Cellphones 
** Avaya Ships Seven Million IP Phones 
** One Million in UK Block Telemarketers 
** BCI Class Action Suits End 
** Survey Shows Rural/Urban Broadband Gap 
** Telecom, IT Profits Rise 
** Microsoft Releases Anti-Zotob Tool 
** Correction 

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

POLICY PANEL GETS 97 SUBMISSIONS: This week the Telecom Policy Review
Panel received submissions from incumbent telcos, cablecos, other
competitors, consumer and business groups, industry associations, and
telecom manufacturers, as well as the governments of seven provinces
and the Northwest Territories.

** Bell Canada's 1,000-page submission argues that most 
   economic regulation of incumbent telcos is no longer 
   necessary. It says the regulator should have to justify 
   any use of regulation, rather than reliance on market 
   forces, and wants many CRTC activities to be handled 
   instead by competition authorities. It wants the Telecom 
   Act rewritten; in the meantime Cabinet should instruct the 
   CRTC to adhere to seven guidelines outlined by Bell. 

** Telus wants regulations relaxed so that incumbents can 
   respond more quickly to market conditions and are not 
   subject to different rules than their competitors. 

** Many submissions stress the need to "finish the job" of 
   extending broadband service to all rural communities.

** The range of topics and opinions is much too broad to 
   summarize here: to view all the submissions, go to the 
   Panel's website. 

www.telecomreview.ca/epic/internet/intprp-gecrt.nsf/en/h_rx00025e.html 

BELL TO TRIAL NEXT-GEN WIRELESS 9-1-1: Next month Bell Mobility will begin
a six-month trial of new GPS-based wireless 9-1-1 technology that can
determine a caller's position within 150 meters, for 95% of calls. Bell
says about half of its customers' phones, and almost all new mobile
phones, have Global Positioning System capability.

TELUS SCORES BIG WIN OVER BELL: General Motors of Canada, based in
Oshawa, Ontario, has awarded Telus Business Solutions a five-year
$11-million contract to provide its IP One hosted IP-based phone
service to 5,000 employees, using Nortel's MCS 5200 multimedia
platform.

VIDEOTRON EXPANDS CABLE PHONE SERVICE: Videotron's VoIP phone service
is now available to 825,000 households in Montreal. The Videotron
service, priced at $21.95/month, or $15.95 for customers of two other
services, already has 62,500 customers in Quebec. (See Telecom Update
#466)

SHAW SAYS MTS STALLING ON PORTING NUMBERS: Shaw Telecom says Manitoba
Tel is rejecting many requests to transfer Winnipeg phone numbers to
Shaw, and is telling customers that they cannot move to Shaw's Digital
Phone service if they have MTS Internet or TV service. Shaw has asked
the CRTC to expedite handling of this issue.

www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/s61_200509490.htm

ROGERS, BELL LAUNCH CELLPHONE TV: Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility
introduced television service over their cellular networks last week,
offering sports and news programs. Charge: $25/month (Rogers);
$10/month plus usage (Bell).

** In Broadcasting Public Notice 2005-82, the CRTC seeks 
   comment on a regulatory framework to govern such services. 
   Bell, Rogers, and Telus have all argued that their 
   proposed services should be exempt from regulation. 
   Submissions are due September 12.

www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2005/pb2005-82.htm

BELL BOOSTS DSL SPEEDS: Bell Canada is increasing the speed of its
High-Speed Ultra DSL service in Ontario and Quebec to 5 Mbps for
consumer customers and 6 Mbps for small and medium business customers.

VANCOUVER EXHIBITION BARS TELUS: The Pacific National Exhibition,
owned by the City of Vancouver, says it will not allow Telus to
install, change, or repair equipment on the fair's site during the
current strike.

LOBLAWS OFFERS PRIVATE-LABEL CELLPHONES: Loblaws stores in Alberta and
B.C. now offer a prepaid cellular service under the name President's
Choice Mobile. The underlying carrier is Bell Mobility.

AVAYA SHIPS SEVEN MILLION IP PHONES: Avaya says it has now shipped
more than seven million IP-based telephone lines for business
customers worldwide. Synergy Research Group says Avaya has 21% of the
global IP telephony market.

ONE MILLION IN UK BLOCK TELEMARKETERS: In mid-July the UK phone
company BT introduced Telephone Preference Service, similar to the
U.S. Do-Not-Call list. Companies are legally prohibited from making
unsolicited sales and marketing calls to numbers on the list. In the
first four weeks more than one million households signed up -- that's
30,000 a day, one every three seconds.

** Bill C-37, allowing the CRTC to create a Canadian Do Not Call 
   list, was introduced in Parliament last December but has not 
   yet received Second Reading. (See Telecom Update #462)

BCI CLASS ACTION SUITS END: Two class action suits against Bell Canada
International, BCE, and some BCI directors have been dismissed without
payment of damages. As part of the settlement agreement, BCI will pay
$3 million towards the plaintiffs' legal costs.

SURVEY SHOWS RURAL/URBAN BROADBAND GAP: A survey by TNS Canadian Facts
reports two-thirds of Canadian Internet users have high-speed access,
but the proportion drops to 22% in communities with less than 10,000
population. The TNS telephone survey concludes that 73% of households
now have Internet access.

TELECOM, IT PROFITS RISE: A Financial Post DataGroup survey of 50
Canadian telecom service providers shows second quarter profits of
$932 million, 22% more than the same period last year. Profits of 45
surveyed IT companies more than quadrupled, to $564 million. (See
Telecom Update #482)

MICROSOFT RELEASES ANTI-ZOTOB TOOL: The war between security experts
and virus writers is escalating fast. On Tuesday August 9, Microsoft
released a security patch for Windows 95, 98, ME, NE, 2000 and XP. By
Sunday, hackers had reverse-engineered the patch and released a worm,
dubbed "Zotob," that attacked customers who hadn't yet installed the
patch. And on Tuesday August 17, Microsoft released a Zotob-removal
tool.

CORRECTION: Contrary to what we reported in Telecom Update #492,
Bell's Business IP Voice service provides only single-line phone
service, so extension-to-extension calling isn't possible.

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

HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE

E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca

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

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE)

TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There 
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1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the 
   World Wide Web late Friday afternoon each week 
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2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge.
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===========================================================

COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2005 Angus
TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further
information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please
e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca.

The information and data included has been obtained from sources which
we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no
warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy,
completeness, or adequacy.  Opinions expressed are based on
interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If
expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a
competent professional should be obtained.

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

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

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 12:56:44 EDT
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Report: IPTV Set-Top Box Market Overcrowded


USTelecom dailyLead
August 19, 2005
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23981&l=2017006

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Report: IPTV set-top box market overcrowded
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Nextel Partners hits back
* News Corp. eyes two more Internet buys
* Florida carrier embraces VoIP
* Philadelphia chooses finalists in bid to build Wi-Fi
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT 
* New in the Telecom Bookstore:  Introduction to IP Television
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
* WiMAX equipment testing delayed
VOIP DOWNLOAD
* Some VoIP customers ignore E911 notices
* What does the future hold for Skype?
* VoIP port shipments up in Q2
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Singapore presses charges against file-swappers

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23981&l=2017006

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

From: jmeissen@aracnet.com
Subject: Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements
Date: 19 Aug 2005 08:12:17 GMT
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com


In article <telecom24.374.8@telecom-digest.org>, Lee Sweet
<lee@datatel.com> wrote:

> A bit of reading at Broadband Reports' in the FiOS forum would give a
> better picture of life in the real Verizon installation world :-) See
> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiber

I've already done quite a bit of reading there lately.

> Verizon technically does say all that's been reported about removing
> your copper and requiring use of their router, but:

> 1. There are many reports that they will leave the original voice
> copper if you request it. 

[....]

> 2. There are also many reports that you can have the installers use
> the supplied 'mandatory' router to test/bring up the connection, shut
> it down, and then use your old router (any router that can do PPPoE),
> and be fine. 

[....]

> Also, there have been many discussions at BBR about the battery
> backup, 

All of that is fine, if all you want is Verizon Online/MSN. But, ...

The current scenario excludes any competition from non-Verizon ISP's,
is 30% more expensive than the current Verizon Online DSL package and
precludes running servers of any kind (they block inbound port 80 and
port 25). I've been running my own mail and web servers for
years. Because I can host my own domain I have nearly 3GB of data
available on my web server. I think Verizon will give me 10MB.  And my
spam blocking is more effective than anything Verizon can offer. All
of that goes out the window with Verizon FIOS.

Plus I like to support local businesses. I'm willing to pay a premium
to not have my support calls go to India.

John Meissen                                 jmeissen@aracnet.com

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

Subject: Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements
Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:28:05 -0400
From: Michael Quinn <quinnm@bah.com>


This FIOS thread reminds me of a guestion I had.  Verizon non-technical
rep recently told me that we would have to upgrade our wireless router
from to 802.11B to G if we went from their DSL to FIOS.  She could not
explain why;  anyone know if that's really the case?  I can't see
scrapping an entirely good router unnecessarily; I regularly see speeds
(according to my IBM laptop wireless monitor) of 11 MBPS, which of
course well exceeds my DSL capacity. 

Regards,

Mike

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

From: jmeissen@aracnet.com
Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working
Date: 19 Aug 2005 08:45:30 GMT
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com


In article <telecom24.374.12@telecom-digest.org>,
<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:

> jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote:

>>  - They will absolutely NOT allow connections to other ISP's over
>>    the fiber connection, essentially limiting ISP's other than
>>    MSN to dialup customers.

> They stressed this is not a regulated service.  As such, they can
> charge as they wish and run it as they wish.  HOWEVER, anyone else can
> run fibre just as they did.  The cable company -- while it was still a
> small outfit -- obviously was able to run fibre, so the field is open to
> others.

That is a Straw Man argument. The phone company DSL revenue was/is
generated from existing infrastructure that was developed with the
benefit of government sponsored monopolies and subsidies. They have an
existing revenue and equipment base to support the expansion to
fiber. Also, the cable companies that you reference were deploying in
a new non-telecom market, also with monopoly protection. It wasn't
until recently that they offered Internet or telecom services (I know
when they did it, I had one of the first cable Internet connections in
the area).

> They also need permission to run these lines, they don't have the
> automatic ROW of a standard utility.  While my _area_ overall has
> FIOS, many specific sections do not have FIOS because permission was
> not granted by the appropriate parties.

I suspect the ROW is grandfathered onto existing ROW agreements used
with the existing phone service. They are only deploying into areas
that they already serve.

> I also want to point out that this magical "competition" is no
> guarantee of lower prices.......
> Economics include a multitude of factors, one of which is demand.

True. But prices only come down when supply EXCEEDS demand. If there
is no excess supply then there is no pressure to reduce prices.

> In other words, right now many of us have a choice between phone
> company DSL and cable company broadband.  It just so happens that
> prices of those are about the same.  If a third provider showed up, do
> you really think prices would go down?  Not likely as long as demand
> remained high.

> As mentioned, anyone else can come in and run fibre and provide this
> service if they wanted to.

You're missing the point. I currently have phone company DSL, and I'm
quite happy with it. But I =DON'T= use the phone company ISP. Because
the phone company is an infrastructure provider I can choose a
different ISP, allowing me to tailor the services to my needs. I even
pay a premium for that. What Verizon is doing is eliminating that
option, forcing everyone into the FIOS equivilant of Verizon
Online/MSN DSL but charging them 30% more for the priviledge.

I'd be quite happy even paying inflated rates if I could stay with my
current ISP. I, and many like me, am technically experienced
enough to manage my own systems and host my own domains. I go out
of my way to find an ISP that supports the configuration I want. Verizon
is out to kill all of that. When Verizon is through there will be no 
more Earthlink, no AOL, no EasyStreet ....

Because of the way the service is classified they are also free to
control what traffic flows on their network. They can block Vonage
just as easily as any other service; they can block traffic to
"objectionable" web sites. This is not moving in a good direction at
all.

In article <telecom24.375.5@telecom-digest.org>, Steve Sobol
<sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:

> Now hold on a second. I'm in Apple Valley, California, one of the
> market areas where Verizon is rolling out FIOS (no ETA yet). $99 may
> be the cheapest price for a connection where you can run servers, but
> there ARE less expensive packages available that still give you lots
> of speed.

This has nothing to do with speed. I'm currently paying Verizon $37/mo
for the priviledge of using a 768K/128K DSL circuit that terminates at
a local ISP. If all I cared about was speed I'd go with Verizon Online
and get 3M/384K DSL for $30/mo. (including ISP charges).

> So, I think we'd need to compare apples to apples where cost is
> concerned.  Many existing fiber and copper broadband providers don't
> let you run servers on the cheap connections either.

And there are many that do, too. What's your point? My point is that
right now I'm free to choose one of the providers that does. Once
Verizon squeezes the other ISP's out of the market I won't be able to.


John Meissen                              jmeissen@aracnet.com

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

Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 04:29:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: Dan Lanciani <ddl@danlan.com>
Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief


jmcharry@comcast.net (John McHarry) wrote:

> I had a rather large ACH
> transfer executed in the wrong direction a while back. The company
> that screwed it up managed to straighten it out, but the bank that was
> supposed to receive funds, and instead disbursed them, didn't do
> squat.

What was the bank's response when you asked them to reverse the
unauthorized disbursal?

> Apparently there is no security in that system beyond trusting
> those who are admitted, which is pretty much all the big corporations.

Proponents of the system claim that no further security is required
because the paying bank is obligated to unwind the transaction upon
the account owner's statement that the payment was unauthorized.  On
the other hand, some people report significant problems getting their
money back after unauthorized ACH debits.  They can't both be right;
hence my question.  (I realize that unwinding the transaction would
have solved only half of your particular problem, of course.)

Dan Lanciani
ddl@danlan.*com

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

Date: 19 Aug 2005 15:59:15 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> As far as I know, rumors to the contrary about certain Scandinavian 
> countries notwithstanding, child pornography is completely illegal 
> throughout the world.

Quite true, but the definition varies significantly at the margins.
In the aforementions countries, pictures of nude 17 year olds are
legal erotica, in the US they're child porn.

Among the bad things about .XXX is that it makes it much easier for
governments to shunt indecent content off to a ghetto, for varying
local definitions of "indecent".  I'm sure there are plenty of places
in the U.S. where they'd love to push nasty topics like contraception
and homosexuality into .XXX, purely to protect innocent children.

R's,

John


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do that now, with filtering
programs. Filtering, never a perfect solution, now can filter out
the sexual topic of women's breasts, but the problem is it cannot
seem to understand why 'breast cancer' is not the same thing as 'I
love to look at and fantasize on those breasts'.  But to the filter
writers, what is there that you cannot understand about '.xxx'?  If
I write a filter and I say that a dot followed by three x's goes no
further into my computer, then other things like the context in which
'breasts' or 'sex' or whatever is to be taken becomes a moot point
doesn't it?  If the real problem that '.xxx' makes writing and main-
taining filtering programs too easy?  If local communities or govern-
ments decide what is to go into '.xxx' it would seem to me that all
the fuss over effective and ineffective filtering would go away.  PAT]

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

Date: 19 Aug 2005 16:06:43 -0000
From: John Levine <johnl@iecc.com>
Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack
Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA


> ..., but for Pearl Harbor, the U.S. would /never/ have entered the war.
> I suppose that's possible, but it's equally possible that some other
> provocation would have been found, even if it had to be manufactured.

No question about that.  Germany declared war on us, after all.  But
if we'd waited another year to get into the war, it would have been a
much harder war to fight, and the war in western Europe might well
have been lost.

> warnings of the approaching attack force were provided long in advance,
> but that the "top brass" decided not to repel the attack, but rather
> just to "ride it out",

These theories have been around since about 8 Dec 1941.  The standard
book on the topic is "At Dawn We Slept," which goes through just about
everything you could possibly imagine.  The Pearl Harbor disaster was
as much as anything a failure of the imagination.  A long range
carrier based air attack was unprecedented in the history of warfare,
and it was quite a trick for the Japanese to pull it off.  The US Navy
expected ground based sabotage, and that's what they were set up to
repel.  Oops, that's not what the Japanese did.  From the Japanese
point of view, Pearl Harbor was a success insofar as it took us quite
a while to get the Pacific Navy back up to a point where we could
fight them, but it was a disaster in the long run because they greatly
underestimated our ability to mobilize a really, really BIG Navy.


R's,

John


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am glad at least you do not claim
like some that 'Pearl Harbor came as a complete surprise'. If you did,
I would have told you to check the _Honolulu Advertiser_ newspaper for
*Friday, December 5, 1941* (two days before the attack!) when the
headline that day was, "Japs May Attack Over Weekend". It was known by
the newspaper at least. PAT]

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack
Date: 19 Aug 2005 10:02:21 -0700


Gary Novosielski wrote:

> Nice turn of a phrase, but it certainly does not follow.  It presumes
> that, but for Pearl Harbor, the U.S. would /never/ have entered the war.
> I suppose that's possible, but it's equally possible that some other
> provocation would have been found, even if it had to be manufactured.

The original statement does not make the presumption you claim.  It is
pointing out that the U.S. was at war with Japan because of Pearl
Harbor.

We must remember that Pearl Harbor was more than a mere attack.  At
that time the Japanese were officially engaged in peace negotiations
with the U.S.  When one is negotiating, one does not make war.  The
Japanese diplomatic in the U.S. did not break off diplomatic until well
after the attack -- which he didn't even know about.  That was act of
sleaziness by the Japanese government.  Anyway, Japan fired the first
shot of the war.

> Recall that the Tonkin Gulf incident which got us into Vietnam was
> manufactured, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait prior to Gulf War I was all
> but instigated by the State department, and the WMD stockpiles that
> justified Gulf War II were simply invented out of thin air.

First off, the events you cite happened long after WW II under
different people in government.  Secondly, there are strong arguments
justifying all of those events.  The Communists were attempting to take
over and enslave South Vietnam, as they eventually did -- ask the 'boat
people' why they were so willing to risk death in little boats to
escape.  Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was a fact and not in the world's
interest to be allowed to happen.  As to the WMD, critics of the Bush
Adm claimed Iraq had WMD because the US orginally gave Iraq such
weapons years before, so even Bush critics agreed there was WMD and the
Clinton Adm said there was WMD.

There was no need to "invent" or "manufacture" an incident.  Had the US
known about the Pearl Harbor attack it could've and would've defended
itself.  That would've reduced casualties and damage, but there STILL
would've been a surprise attack during negotiations and ample
justification to go to war.

> With these and other (remember the Maine?) pretextual war triggers
> confirmed, is it any wonder that Pearl Harbor itself is now the subject
> of several conspiracy theories?

"Conspiracy theories" have the same basis as ancient myths, such as
throwing a virgin into the volcano would appease the gods.  They are
an attempt to explain the unexplainable or to rationalize bad outcomes
we can't bear to believe actually happened.

It hurts us to believe we were caught unprepared at Pearl Harbor so we
fictionalize excuses and blame.  Likewise for the assination of JFK
and 9/11.  These fictions might make us feel a little better, a little
more empowered, but do not change the truth.

When things go wrong we look for people to blame when in reality there
is no one to blame or the blame belongs to ourselves.  People today
are upset about skyrocketing gasoline prices, but ignore the fact that
we've gone back to buying gas guzzler SUVs, including ones for EVERY
kid the minute they get their license.  We haven't built any new
refineries.  So is it really any surprise demand for gas is high
against a limited supply?

People are always upset about taxes, but they forget about all the tax
benefits they receive.  I have a friend who constantly rails against
"wasteful govt spending".  Yet he is a trustee of various volunteer
organizations that get quite a few govt grants.  Several of his
organizations is an lobby aggressively for tax funding of their
interests.  He gets mad when I point that out to him.

I recently passed by my old elementary school and looked inside.
They've got computers, air conditioning, a PA system in the
auditorium, put brick siding up on ratty 50 year old "temporary"
building and other improvements.  Class size is smaller than in my
day.  Anyway, all of these improvements above and beyond when I was a
kid costs money from us taxpayers.  No one wants to address that
issue.

A lot of proponents of "conspiracy" claim they know of "secret"
information.  Well, if it's so "secret", how the heck do they know it?
You'd think if there was really a conspiracy going on they'd be
especially careful to keep the "secrets" actually secret.

Indeed, some of the "secrets" conspirators love to whisper about
aren't secret at all.  Critics of the a-bomb claim the US "covered up"
attempts by Japan to surrender.  Actually, there was no coverup
whatsoever.  Those surrender attempts made the front page of the New
York Times at the time they were offered during the war.  The
conspiracy people don't bother to share the _full text_ of such
articles describing exactly what was offered (a cease fire with Japan
keeping its military and conquered countries) and why the offer was
rejected (we didn't go to war to allow Japan to keep conquered lands
and a nasty viscious military; and we certainly didn't allow Germany
such goodies).

The people who decided to deploy the atomic bombs had overwhelming
evidence it was the right thing to do.  They knew Japan was run by a
viscious and ruthless military dictatorship.  They knew the bomb was
more than just an efficient weapon using 1 plane instead of 300--it
would be a psychological shock.  They wanted the war to end quickly to
save both American and Japanese lives and keep the Russians out of
Japan.  The bomb accomplished all of that.


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Too bad the people who did not know
about the possibility of Pearl Harbor did not read the Honolulu Adver-
tiser the Friday before, when its lead story told about the very stong
possibility of an attack by 'the Japs, over the weekend'. And although
the Japanese had planned the attack for Monday morning, _someone_
neglected to recall the International Date Line. It was late at night
Sunday when they started out from Japan; dateline moved it back to
Saturday night. PAT]

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


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