TELECOM Digest     Sat, 10 Sep 2005 18:27:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 413

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Wireless Tech to be Deployed for Katrina (Matthew Fordahl)
    Victims Of Hurricane Katrina (news@amazon.com)
    Cingular, Sprint, Others Give Katrina Victims Help on Phone Bills (Reuters)
    Yahoo Ordered by China to Reveal Reporter's E-Mail (Elaine Kurtenbach)
    New Backpack Puts Juice in Power Walking (Randolph Schmid)
    Katrina May Derail, Tarnish Bush's Presidency (Mark Silva)
    Re: Laptops Turn On, Tune in to Seattle Metro's WiFi (jmeissen@aracnet.com)
    Re: Arizona Budget POTS Plans (Joseph)
    Re: Internet Satellite Imagery Under Fire Over Security (Jim Burks)
    Re: Verizon V710 Settlement (Joseph)
    Re: Qwest Lauches New Legal Fight Against Portland (Tony P.)
    Last Laugh! Fertility Doctor's Lies on Net Get Him Sued (Reuters NewsWire)

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See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.  

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

From: Matthew Fordahl <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Wireless Tech to be Deployed For Katrina
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 13:51:47 -0500


By MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer

A high-speed wireless networking technology that's still being tested
around the world will be deployed at an evacuation shelter and other
spots on the U.S. Gulf Coast hit by Hurricane Katrina.

The technology called WiMax will bring the Internet to remote areas
where the existing infrastructure has been destroyed or never existed.
The network will be used for Internet telephone service and
information exchange.

Intel Corp., a major WiMax supporter and maker of chips, shipped
equipment Thursday to San Antonio's decommissioned Kelly Air Force
Base where thousands of evacuees are being taken. The gear is expected
to arrive on Friday.

A group of wireless Internet providers called Part-15.org is working
with the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency to deploy Wi-Fi hotspots at the shelter and areas
hit by the storm.

But those hotspots need to connect to the wider Internet to be most
useful -- and that's where WiMax comes into play, said Nigel Ballard,
a manager Intel's state and local government unit.

"They were missing a very vital -- and some would say expensive --
piece of the jigsaw, and that's the ability to put up a wireless
solution to actually get the signal in and out of a fairly substantial
Air Force base," he said.

The WiMax equipment will be able to handle carry signals about 15
miles to what's known as a Point of Presence on the Internet. The
bandwidth both upstream and downstream is expected to be about 45
megabits per second -- 30 times the speed of a standard 1.5 megabit
per second DSL connection.

Similar efforts involving WiMax are underway in the disaster area as
well, and Intel has donated equipment for use in other parts of the
Gulf Coast.

WiMax, short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, has
been mentioned as a possible alternative to cable modem and Digital
Subscriber Line services offered by cable and telephone
companies. It's also touted as a tool to connect emerging markets to
the Internet.

But its potential in the United States has been clouded by spectrum
questions. The 3.5-gigahertz band that's being used in tests elsewhere
has been reserved for the military in the U.S. In addition, no WiMax
equipment has been certified for compliance with the WiMax standard
that was set just last year.

For the disaster recovery, the airwaves are not a problem, Ballard
said.  The Federal Communications Commission granted an emergency
license for the spectrum use on Thursday.

On the Net:
Part-15.org: http://www.part-15.org/emergencyrelief/katrina.html

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
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articles daily.

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

Subject: Help For Victims Of Katrina From Red Cross and Amazon.com
From: news@amazon.com 
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 22:30:46 CEST


Victims of Hurricane Katrina are attempting to recover from the
massive storm. American Red Cross volunteers have been deployed to the
hardest hit areas of Katrina.s destruction, supplying hundreds of
thousands of victims left homeless with critical necessities. By
making a financial donation to support hurricane relief efforts, the
Red Cross can provide shelter, food, counseling and other assistance
to those affected by Hurricane Katrina. Privacy Notice: If your
donation is $250 or more, Amazon.com will provide your name, credit
card billing address, and donation amount to the American Red Cross,
and the American Red Cross will provide you with a receipt for your
donation. Other than this, Amazon.com will not share information about
you with the American Red Cross. Amazon.com has waived all customary
Honor System fees associated with your contributions to the Red Cross.  

We are grateful for the continued generosity of Amazon.com customers
at this time of great need. Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely, 

Amazon.com Customer Services.

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

From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Cingular, Sprint, Others Give Katrina Victims Phone Bill Help
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 16:00:12 -0500


Cingular Wireless, the No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier, has said it would
give customers in the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina discounts
on their cell phone bills, including roaming charges and text
messages.

Customers in the New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi, markets will
receive a one-time 50 percent credit on their monthly fee and will not
be charged for roaming, extra minutes, long-distance or text messaging
from late August through September 30, according to a September 8
letter made available on Friday.

Cingular's subscribers in the markets of Mobile, Alabama, Jackson,
Mississippi, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, Louisiana, will get a one-time
25 percent discount on their monthly charge as well as unspecified
discounts on roaming and text messages.

The company, a joint venture of BellSouth Corp. and SBC Communications
Inc., said the expiration date for prepaid customers will be extended
to October 31 and will replace any that expired since August 29.

The Federal Communications Commission had expressed concerns that
customers displaced by the hurricane would have their cell phones shut
off because they had not paid their bills since they had been
evacuated.

The agency sought details on what carriers were doing.

Cingular told the FCC the carrier would not shut off customers in the
affected areas for 30 days and would stop collection efforts in
Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

The company declined to say what impact, if any, the policies would
have on its revenue.

Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 carrier, said it was working on a
case-by-case basis with customers, would not cut them off and had
stopped bill collections. The company is a joint venture of Verizon
Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.

Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 wireless carrier, said it would give a month
of free wireless service to subscribers in the hardest hit areas and
would also give free long-distance, extra minutes, roaming and text
messaging.

Sprint also said in its own letter to the FCC that it would not cut
off customers and has stopped trying to collect on unpaid bills. It
did not reveal how long it would do so.

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

From: Elaine Kurtenbach <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Yahoo Ordered by Chinese Government to Share Reporter's E-Mail
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 16:01:39 -0500


By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer

Yahoo had to comply with a demand by Chinese authorities to provide
information about a personal e-mail of a journalist who was later
convicted under state secrecy laws and sentenced to 10 years in
prison, the company's co-founder Jerry Yang said Saturday.

Yang, responding to questions during an Internet forum in this eastern
Chinese resort city, said he could not discuss the details of the case
involving Shi Tao, a former writer for the financial publication
Contemporary Business News.

Overseas-based human rights groups disclosed days earlier that Yahoo
Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd., part of Yahoo's global network, provided
e-mail account information that helped lead to Shi's conviction.

Yahoo earlier defended its move, saying it was obliged to comply with
Chinese laws and regulations.

The demand for the information was a "legal order" and Yahoo gets such
requests from law enforcement agencies all the time, and not just in
China, Yang told the forum.

But he added, "I cannot talk about the details of this case."

Other Chinese journalists have faced similar charges of violating
vague security laws as communist leaders struggle to maintain control
of information in the burgeoning Internet era.

Despite government information sharing requirements and other
restrictions, Yahoo and its major rivals have been expanding their
presence in mainland China in hopes of reaching more of the country's
fast-growing population of Internet users, which now number more than
100 million.

Yahoo paid $1 billion for a 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com, host of
the Hangzhou conference, last month.

New York-based Human Rights in China and the Paris-based international
media watchdog Reporters Without Borders sent an open letter addressed
to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who was a keynote speaker at
the Internet forum, urging him to bring up Shi's case during his visit
to China.

But Clinton only alluded to the risks faced by Internet users targeted
by the authorities for whatever reason.

"The Internet, no matter what political system a country has, and our
political system is different from yours, the Internet is having
significant political and social consequences and they cannot be
erased," he said.

"The political system's limits on freedom of speech ... have not
seemed to have any adverse consequences on e-commerce," he said. "It's
something you'll all have to watch and see your way through," he said.

According to Reporters Without Borders, court papers show that Yahoo
Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. gave Chinese investigators information that
helped them trace a personal Yahoo e-mail to Shi's computer.

It says Shi was convicted for sending notes on a government circular
spelling out restrictions on the media in his e-mail. He was seized in
November at his home in the northwestern province of Shanxi.

The case is the latest instance in which a prominent high-tech company
has faced accusations of cooperating with Chinese authorities to gain
favor in a country that's expected to become an Internet gold mine.

Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo and two of its biggest rivals,
Google Inc.  and Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, previously have come under
attack for censoring online news sites and Web logs, or blogs,
featuring content that China's communist government wants to suppress.


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 more Associated Press headlines and stories, go to:
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------------------------------

From: Randolph E. Schmid <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: New Backpack Puts Juice in Power Walking
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 16:06:03 -0500


By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer

As soldiers, hikers and students can testify, it takes energy to haul
around a heavy backpack. Now, researchers have developed a backpack
that turns that energy into electricity.

It doesn't crank out a lot of juice -- just a bit more than 7 watts --
but that's enough to run things like an MP3 player, a personal data
assistant, night vision goggles, a handheld global positioning system
or a GSM cell phone.

The development could eventually allow field scientists, hikers,
explorers, soldiers and disaster workers to produce their own
electricity.

The researchers used a backpack fastened to the carrying frame by
springs.  The up-and-down motion caused by walking powers a small
generator, producing electricity that can be used directly or stored
in a capacitor or battery.

The device, developed by Lawrence C. Rome of the University of
Pennsylvania, and colleagues, is reported in Friday's issue of the
journal Science.

The electricity-generating frame weighs about 10 pounds, Rome said in
a telephone interview. He's working to lighten it, so it will weigh
only a couple of pounds more than a standard backpack.

Power generated increases as the load in the backpack gets heavier, he
said.  Tests ranged from loads of about 40 pounds to about 80 pounds.

Rome developed the new backpack at the request of the Office of Naval
Research, which was looking for ways to reduce the need for service
members to carry lots of batteries to power equipment while on duty in
Afghanistan.

The researchers studied the movement of people walking, and concluded
that the hips move up and down between 1.6 inches and 2.7 inches with
each step.

They then set about trying to exploit that movement.

The result is the "suspended load backpack." It uses a rigid frame
similar to regular backpacks, but instead of being attached directly
to the frame, the load is suspended by springs, allowing it to move up
and down as the person walks. That movement turns a small electrical
generator producing current. In tests on a treadmill, walking on level
ground and uphill both produced current, Rome said.

Arthur D. Kuo of the University of Michigan's Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Biomedical Engineering said the backpack is novel
"because it generates useful amounts of electrical power, while
costing less metabolic power than would be expected."

Indeed, carrying the backpack uses only a little more energy than
carrying a standard backpack of the same weight, said Rome, a
biologist who also does research at the Marine Biological Laboratory
in Woods Hole, Mass. He said volunteers testing the device altered
their gait slightly to move more efficiently.

"Metabolically speaking, we've found this to be much cheaper than we
anticipated. The energy you exert could be offset by carrying an extra
snack, which is nothing compared to weight of extra batteries," Rome
said.  "Pound for pound, food contains about 100-fold more energy than
batteries."

The concept resembles that of a self-winding watch where power is
generated by the movement of the wearer, commented Kuo, who was not
part of Rome's research team.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, Office
of Naval Research and the University of Pennsylvania Research
Foundation.

A company called Lightning Packs LLC has been formed to improve the
suspended-load backpack and to develop an ergonomic backpack based on
the prototype. Lightning Packs has applied for patents on both
inventions.

Rome said he hopes to have the new version ready for testing in six
months to a year.

On the Net:
Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. 

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

From: Mark Silva <chi-trib@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Katrina May Derail Plans, Tarnish Legacy
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 16:08:27 -0500


By Mark Silva Washington Bureau

As the anniversary of the worst enemy assault on American soil
approaches and with victims reeling from what may be the worst natural
disaster in U.S.  history, President Bush's handling of the two could
mark the high and low points of a presidency he has staked squarely on
national security.

The indelible image of a president rallying a nation with a bullhorn
atop the rubble of the World Trade Center after Sept. 11, 2001,
provided Bush with lasting political power that carried him to
re-election despite a frustrating economy at home and an increasingly
unpopular war abroad.

But the images of despair flowing from the Gulf Coast in the aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina and the growing recriminations over the perceived
mishandling of the federal response could haunt the president for the
remainder of his term.

They could even alter Bush's legacy by denting one of the great
sources of his political success: his image as a man of strength who
leads in times of crisis, a decision-maker who gets things done and
takes care of the country in its darkest hour.

"When you define yourself as a protector-in-chief, your accountability
is higher," said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg
Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. "On
Sept. 11, you could reasonably say he hadn't had time to take charge,
whereas at the beginning of your second term you really can't say it's
someone else's responsibility."

Nearly a week after Bush declared that relief efforts on the Gulf
Coast were "not acceptable," the White House late this week said Bush
"continues to be not satisfied about where things are going."

Calls for speech

Adding to a sense of drift, critics are questioning why Bush has not
delivered a prime-time speech or addressed a joint session of
Congress.  Instead, Bush will make his third visit to the
storm-stricken region on Sunday and Monday, a two-day tour of
Mississippi and Louisiana.

The president drew his own connection between the catastrophes of 2001
and 2005 when he assembled relatives of Sept. 11 victims Friday to
award "9/11 Heroes Medal of Valor" honors that Congress has ordered
for the relatives of 442 public safety workers killed in the terrorist
attacks.

"We're still at the beginning of a huge effort," Bush said, comparing
the courage of police and rescue workers on Sept. 11 with those in the
aftermath of Katrina. "The tasks before us are enormous."

Yet four years after the Sept. 11 attacks, critics are saying the
initial response to Hurricane Katrina suggests the nation may be no
better prepared to cope with a disaster in a major urban center.

That preparedness is something Bush has spent the better part of his
presidency attempting to achieve, committing billions of dollars,
several government reorganizations and the creation of an entirely new
federal agency.

"What we have failed to realize is the terrorists showed us on 9/11
that we are vulnerable," said Stephen Flynn, a senior fellow at the
Council on Foreign Relations who worked for President Bill Clinton's
National Security Council. "And Katrina showed us here in late August
and September that we are still a very vulnerable society -- and the
most vulnerable part of the population ends up without the lifeboat."

The storm also may take its toll on Bush's agenda. The growing expense
of a storm whose costs are starting to rival those of the war in Iraq
could badly damage Bush's second-term plans.

Democrats say it will become impossible to justify further tax cuts in
the context of a deficit-busting hurricane and flood recovery. And if
the president's prospects for reform of Social Security and the
nation's tax code weren't already dashed before the storm, they
probably are now, say legislators and outside observers.

"Katrina pretty much stops his legislative agenda cold," said Stephen
Hess, a professor of media and public affairs at George Washington
University.

"If we ever needed more of a reason not to do Social Security reform,
this is it, because of the cost required," added Jim Manley, spokesman
for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). "It's going to be a
question of priorities, a question of whether Republicans are going to
want to stand on the Senate floor and support more tax cuts for the
wealthy."

Congressional Republicans say they still plan to push ahead with
important legislative agenda items. And less than two weeks after the
storm, it could be too early to measure the impact of the recovery
efforts on the president.

Early surveys

Two in three Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center said Bush
could have done more to speed relief efforts, while 28 percent said he
did all he could. Yet just a fraction of those surveyed in a Gallup
Poll -- 13 percent -- blamed Bush for mishandling the relief effort
and 18 percent blamed the federal government. Another 25 percent said
local and state governments are to blame.

"The initial impressions, obviously, of how the government handled
Katrina have not been positive, but I think the book is still out on
how this thing is going to be perceived," said Neil Newhouse, a
Republican pollster who has campaigned for the Bush family.

"I thought that everybody would be blaming FEMA, the federal
government."  Newhouse added. "But there is a significant amount of
blame to place on state and local government. That is probably going
to increase as time goes on."

Some say the president has already begun to regain his footing, with
two personal visits to storm-stricken regions and a third starting
Sunday. He also has dispatched Vice President Dick Cheney to be his
eyes and ears on the ground.

The National Guard, for its part, has greatly expanded its presence in
New Orleans, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has plugged the levee
breaches that flooded the city, and embattled FEMA Director Michael
Brown is out as head of on-site relief efforts.

But some analysts say Bush should have found an opportunity by now to
address the nation with a widely watched evening speech explaining
what the government is doing, what Americans can do to help, and
perhaps even what went wrong at first.

"That's certainly something we expect from the president," said David
Lanoue, chairman of political science at the University of
Alabama. "We expect some kind of unifying statement that is both
reassuring and challenging to us, that assures us we are taking
control of the situation but also challenges us to do something to
help the people affected.

"George Bush has staked his reputation on the notion that his singular
goal is to protect the American people -- from terrorism, from crisis
or whatever -- that he has the strength and the vision and the
leadership skills to do that," Lanoue said. "But there is a
significant number of Americans right now who feel the crisis-manager
president didn't act quickly enough, didn't act decisively enough,
didn't put the right people in charge. If that view were to fester,
that would be devastating to the rest of the president's term and his
legacy."

mdsilva@tribune.com
Copyright 2005 Chicago Tribune

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

From: jmeissen@aracnet.com
Subject: Re: Laptops Turn On, Tune in to Seattle Metro's New WiFi
Date: 10 Sep 2005 01:46:07 GMT
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com


In article <telecom24.412.10@telecom-digest.org>, John L. Shelton
<john@jshelton.com> wrote:

> Do you really trust the people who won't patch potholes or
> widen the highways, yet take billions in road-maintenance money, to
> provide you with better and better internet connections "for free?"

I don't remember the original article, and I can't go back and look
without losing context, but I don't recall anyone offering "free"
access. And if they're trying to build a service in an area where the
other providers WON'T offer service then they're not eliminating
competition because the competition wasn't there to begin with.

> I understand you think SBC and others can still compete. Just like
> private schools compete with public. But it's not real competition,
> when the public schools have a $10k/student subsidy. 

Or when the private schools don't have to accept low-income or
mentally handicapped students, or have to deal with a host of other
issues that make the comparison unfair.

John Meissen                                     jmeissen@aracnet.com


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A situation like this occurred in
Chicago several years ago, when City of Chicago _attempted_ to take
over the electric power utility. They said they could handle it so
much more effeciently and inexpensively than the historical provider
of same, Commonwealth Edison Company. But they were not going to 
negotiate with anyone, or deal with laws of any sort; they were simply
going to -- in polite terms -- 'municipalize' the electric service,
which is to say they were going to steal it. It was only when several
large corporations threatened to move out of town in self defense if
the plans went through and others of influence such as Chicago Tribune
called attention to the city's intentions that the city backed off.

The Tribune noted "so the gang of cronies and politicians which run
our transit atrocity, our housing atrocity, our schools and our parks
are now going to be in charge of our nuclear plants as well
...". Mayor Daley blinked at that and after the obligatory defense of
the city government decided to back away from the plan. This is not
quite the same thing as Seattle's plan for muni wi-fi, but quite similar.
PAT]

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

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Arizona Budget POTS Plans
Date: Fri, 09 Sep 2005 19:35:04 -0700
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


On Fri, 09 Sep 2005 04:58:20 GMT, Mike Sutter
<mjs2032@rochester.rr.com> wrote:

> More background -- My parents have gone completely wireless in NY. They
> have ported their NY number to the mobile and are happy with the
> results. However, they have many friends in the Phoenix area that
> would be put off by LD charges to call their NY mobile number. That
> said they feel and I agree that they need to keep their POTS line in
> Phoenix but don't want to spend a bundle on it since all outgoing
> calls will be on the mobile.

I don't know if this idea would work for them, but they could get a
toll-free number such as from Kall8.  The receiver (the one who has
the toll-free number) it would cost them 6.9=A2/minute for people to
call them if their cellular number was the target number.  That way no
one would pay a toll to call them.

> And so, finally on to the question, does anyone know if Qwest offers a
> real low cost (perhaps metered) service for POTS in the 480 area?
> Where I'm at (NY) the LEC is obligated to provide a minimal POTS

It's likely that Qworst does offer measured service which would likely
be less cost than an unlimited line.  It's not cheap however.  After
taxes and such it's likely around $12 or more per month.  If they've
not had service of course there's the installation fees as well.  I
don't know if they could qualify for "lifeline" service.  I believe
you need to show that your economic level makes you eligible.

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

From: Jim Burks <jbburks@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Internet Satellite Imagery Under Fire Over Security
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 02:38:23 GMT
Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com


Panarat Thepgumpanat <reuters@telecom-digest.org> wrote in message 
news:telecom24.408.2@telecom-digest.org:

> By Panarat Thepgumpanat

> Asian governments have expressed security concerns about easy access
> to detailed satellite images on the Internet, such as those used by
> rescuers in New Orleans, saying the technology could endanger
> sensitive sites.

Google should do the same as they do for the US. Currently, they
block the roof of the White House, and buildings around it. View
1600 Pennsylvania and see. As you zoom in, at a certain magnification,
the roofs are whited out.

Either respect the wishes of those countries and 'mask' their sensitive
sites, or don't mask ours.

Jim Burks
Collierville, TN 

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

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Verizon V710 Settlement
Date: Fri, 09 Sep 2005 19:49:02 -0700
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


On Fri, 9 Sep 2005 10:46:41 -0400, Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
wrote:

> A national settlement has been reached in the claims against Verizon 
> Wireless over the Motorola V710 cell phone. Details will be available 
> shortly at http://www.verizonwireless.com/V710Settlement

And when you go to the above link you get:

Page is unavailable!

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

From: Tony P. <kd1s@nospamplease.cox.reallynospam.net>
Subject: Re: Qwest Lauches New Legal Fight Against Portland
Organization: ATCC
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 09:43:53 -0400


In article <telecom24.412.1@telecom-digest.org>, oregonian@telecom-
digest.org says:

> by Mike Rogoway, The Oregonian

> The communications company sues the city, alleging the government
> system hurts competition.

> Qwest Communications International Inc. has opened a new front in its
> long-running legal battle with the city of Portland, suing to rein in
> the city's internal telecommunications system.

> Portland launched its network in 2002 to get around the rates Qwest
> and other telecom companies charge for phone lines and high-speed
> Internet connections. Portland's $14 million system links several city
> offices, and a few government agencies outside the city, to a network
> of fiber-optic cable that carries city phone calls and Internet
> traffic.

> The Integrated Regional Network Enterprise is known by its initials,
> IRNE, pronounced "Ernie." Portland says IRNE provides super-fast
> Internet connections the city couldn't otherwise afford. The city,
> however, estimates it has already spent $150,000 on legal fees
> defending the system against earlier challenges from Qwest and others.

> Qwest's latest suit, filed late last week in U.S. District Court,
> calls IRNE an illegal, government-sponsored competitor. Qwest
> complains that the city is abusing its regulatory authority by forcing
> telecom companies to connect IRNE to their networks in exchange for
> permission to use city-owned rights of way for the companies' private
> networks.

> "It provides, basically, unfair competition and makes it very, very
> difficult for the private sector to compete," said Judy Peppler,
> Qwest's Oregon president.

> Portland grants IRNE access to the Oregon Department of
> Transportation, the Port of Portland, Metro and other government
> agencies, which Peppler said robs telecom companies of large,
> lucrative customers.

Oh boo hoo. You know what,maybe if Qwest aka US Worst had provided
reasonable rates for the services the city might have gone with them.

Here in RI I know of at least one instance where Verizon and Cox got
cut out of the picture. The AG's office gets part of it's access to
court services through a fiber optic cable laid in a Narragansett
Electric duct that runs down South Main St.

Of course the file folder containing all the easement grants etc is
about two inches thick and Verizon got its say in there.

In essence we could only use it to access data between the AG's office 
and the Courts. 

At one point we'd proposed setting up a system where if one of our
ISP's went down (We had Verizon, they had Cox) we could let folks
connect to the others ISP via a couple of router changes.

Verizon stopped that one cold. 

I do wish the phone companies would acknowledge and embrace their own
anti-competitive history. Maybe then they wouldn't be such anal
retentive jerks about things.

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

From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Last Laugh! Doctor's Lies on Internet Cause him to Get Sued
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 2005 16:03:59 -0500



[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Normally I do not make fun of people
who have legitmate reasons for sadness (Katrina victims) nor even the
folks who are just very naive and get set up by charlatans and wind up
getting seriously hurt. But obviously, these two women had not taken
the time to read and reflect upon "Honesty and the Internet" as
detailed at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/honesty.html   PAT]

Angry women sue NY doctor for online dating lies

A Manhattan fertility specialist has been sued by two women who say he
broke their hearts after meeting them through an online dating site on
which he pretended to be single.

In their lawsuits the two women, Tiffany Wang and Jing Huang, accused
Dr.  Khaled Zeitoun, 46, of pretending to be single and using mind
games to entice them into sexual relationships with tales of past
lives.

According to court papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court and made
public this week, Zeitoun is married with three children. Wang said
she met him in March 2001 through a Web site on which he said he was
single and had never married.

"Zeitoun claimed he and Wang had been married to each other in
previous lives," Wang's lawsuit said, adding that the doctor told her
he had mistreated her in that life and "searched for her in this
lifetime to correct his past mistakes."

Wang says that in May 2002, he asked her to marry him but only
proposed "to see the look of joy on her face."

In a separate suit filed earlier this year, Huang said she met the
reproductive endocrinologist in October 2003 through an online dating
service. He fed her a similar line about being single and having been
married to her in a previous life.

Huang eventually realized he was cheating on her and the relationship
ended in July 2004.

Both women are seeking unspecified money damages for infliction of
severe emotional distress "outside the boundaries of human decency and
social norms."

In a written response to the court papers filed by Huang, Zeitoun
admitted that he told her he was single and had relationships with
other women he met on the Internet.

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.

Honesty on the Internet -- http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/honesty.html

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


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