TELECOM Digest     Mon, 3 Oct 2005 22:56:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 451

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Travel Industry Gets New Online Domain (Anick Jesdanun)
    California Governor Says Phishers to be Punished (Reuters News Wire)
    Video Laced Websites Turn Into Pseudo TV Stations (Jefferson Graham) 
    Google Morphs Into Multifaceted Juggernaut (Michael Liedtke)
    Visitors Risk Being Shot and Killed in Florida (Agence France Presse)
    On Bluefrog (Chuck Wassall)
    Re: On Television, Brands Go From Props to Stars (Steve Stone)
    Re: State of the Internet, 2005 (Henry)
    Re: Help Needed with DHCP on Remote Laptop (Brad Houser)
    Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours! (Gordon Burditt)
    Re: Free 411 (Joseph)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
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               ===========================

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: Anick Jesdanun <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Travel Industry Gets New Online Domain
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 14:35:30 -0500


By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

A new online domain for the travel industry is open for business.

Airlines, theme parks, restaurants, tourism offices and others in
travel and tourism are eligible for Web sites and e-mail addresses
ending in ".travel."

The new domain could give consumers confidence that they are dealing
with a legitimate travel business or group, though the mantra of
"buyer beware" applies: Operators of the domain won't be performing
any credit or criminal background checks or offering any guarantees.
The sneaks and crooks who infest .com now will be soon moving over to
use .travel as well.

New York-based Tralliance Corp., a unit of Internet communications
company Theglobe.com, won approval to run ".travel" earlier this year
from the Internet's key oversight agency, the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN.

Since July 1, industry groups such as the Adventure Travel Trade
Association and the International Hotel and Restaurant Association
have been verifying that companies and organizations belong to one of
18 eligible industry sectors.

Those approved were allowed to register and use ".travel" names
starting Monday.

Although Tralliance billed the domain as an online space for the
global travel and tourism community, travel journalist and author
Edward Hasbrouck criticized the rules, saying they exclude travelers
at the expense of promoting travel businesses.

"The domain appears to exclude the participation of the largest class
of people who use the Internet to travel -- people who use the Internet
to post their travel stories and photos and all sorts of things,"
Hasbrouck said.

Cherian Mathai, Tralliance's chief operating officer, said individuals
might qualify as travel media if they offer a service, such as advice
on how to get there. Simply creating a site with family photos from
Peru's Machu Picchu won't qualify, he said.

Approval is made on a case-by-case basis, he said.

So far, many of the eligible travel sectors are in transportation,
including airlines, bus operators, cruise lines and passenger rail
lines, a group that covers suburban commuter lines but not city subway
systems. Also eligible are hotels, casinos, camp facilities, travel
agents and providers of travel technologies.

To prevent overlap with ".aero," an existing domain for the aviation
industry, airports and aerospace companies don't qualify -- but
airlines do.

Mathai said the list will be continually reviewed by a nonprofit group
of travel associations, the Travel Partnership Corp., and may grow to
include retailers of luggage, for instance.

ICANN has been creating new Internet suffixes partly because existing
ones like ".com" are crowded, making easy-to-remember addresses
difficult to obtain. Nonetheless, Web sites that already have a ".com"
name are likely to keep it and automatically redirect visitors to the
new ".travel" site instead.

"Nobody wants to give up a dot-com name at this stage," Mathai said.

On the Net:
http://nic.travel

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

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: Anyone notice things smelling a little
about this report? First of all, the reporter referred to ICANN as
"the internet's key oversight agency", but has been explained to me,
God knows how many times, imbecile that I am, that ICANN has very
little or no authority on the net. Well, shit! Let's get our stories
straight, okay?  Either ICANN runs the internet (and I suggest they
do, primarily to watch out for the business interests that wish to
take it over, replete with contracts, and authority to use it, etc) or
they do not have such oversight ability. When I say they do have such
authority, and point out ways I feel they abuse that authority where
regular, small netizens are concerned, I can count on three or four of
you to contradict me and run to ICANN's rescue, poor little picked
upon ICANN being blamed for things they cannot help. Now this writer,
Anick Jesdanun refers to them as 'key' and explains how they (ICANN)
will exercise such tight control over the domain, as to who can and
who cannot get in the domain .travel, etc. So come on guys, do your
thing with Anick Jesdanun's claim about ICANN being 'key', or is your
ire only reserved when someone like myself points out that Vint Cerf
needs to quit marching around naked running the net for the best
interests of his previous employer MCI and the other major
corporations now getting cozy with the net? I mean, even _I_ am not as
dumb as I look?  If I suggested that .org should be as tightly
controlled as they purport .travel will be, some of you are bound to
whimper and tell me how _anyone_ can get into .org, the charter means
nothing, etc, and that ICANN cannot help it, etc. 

And the fact that ICANN is perfectly willing and able to create new
domains such as .biz, .info, .aero, .museum, .travel, etc but flatly
refuses to create the more realistic and useful domains of .xxx, .spam
and .scam and .virus should tell you exactly where their heads are at.
I recommend that netters simply begin to refuse to pay the extortion
fees ICANN asks for, and begin their own root servers, saying to hell 
with ICANN and Vint Cerf once and for all.  PAT]

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

From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: California Governor Says Phishers to be Punished
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 14:33:49 -0500


California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill on Friday making
Internet "phishing" identity theft scams punishable by law.

The bill, advanced by state Sen. Kevin Murray, is the first of its
kind in the United States and makes "phishing" -- getting people to
divulge personal information via e-mail by representing oneself as a
business without the approval or authority of the business -- a civil
violation.

Victims may seek to recover actual damages or $500,000 for each
violation, depending upon which is greater.

Phishing often involves the use of names of legitimate banks,
retailers and financial institutions to convince recipients of bogus
e-mail offers to respond.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

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

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

From: Jefferson Graham <usatoday@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Video Laced Webstes Evolve Into Pseudo-TV Stations
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 14:36:47 -0500


By Jefferson Graham, USA TODAY writer

Don't touch that mouse. Online news and entertainment video is
booming, says market tracker Forrester Research, with video traffic
doubling every six to eight months on average at websites that offer
sight, sound and motion.

America Online next month introduces a celebrity journalism series
that will offer video-on-demand stories about Paris Hilton, Tom Cruise
and other stars. Yahoo recently hired independent journalist Kevin
Sites to file video news reports from Iraq and other war zones. World
Wrestling Entertainment just moved two long-running shows from cable
TV -- WWEHeat and WWEVelocity -- to its wwe.com site.

"There seems to be no way to quench people's thirst for online video
programming," says Chris Chambers, WWE senior vice president.

A few weeks ago, the first hour of WWE's Friday Night SmackDown series
on UPN was pre-empted by Hurricane Katrina coverage, so WWE put the
show on its website. The show averages 5 million viewers weekly, and
WWE thought it might attract 250,000 viewers online. Instead, there
were 500,000.

"That was with no promotion, without people knowing that the show was
there," Chambers says.

In the dot-com bubble era, there were lots of grand plans for the
Internet to replace television as the viewing medium of choice. But
slow Internet connections made the shows practically impossible to
watch, and advertising support wasn't there.

Now, Forrester analyst Josh Bernoff says, "The viewers are there, in a
big way, and so are the advertisers." Online advertising is expected
to grow to $26 billion by 2010, from $14.7 billion, Forrester says.

"I can envision a day when we'll all be watching our flat-panel TVs
and will Google the TV to figure out what to watch," says Sarah Kim, a
vice president at advertising agency AvenueA/Razorfish.

Indeed, Internet giants Google, Yahoo and America Online all are
investing heavily in video.

Google last week presented the pilot episode of UPN's Chris Rock
series, Everybody Hates Chris, on its Google Video project.

Google Video director Jennifer Feikin says the online airing was
clearly promotional, designed to get people to tune into UPN, but she
says the next phase of Google Video will be about offering shows on
demand, for a fee.  "Let's say I missed an entire season of a TV show
and now would like to catch up. There may be an opportunity for a TV
producer to say, 'Let's put it on Google, and receive a payment in
return.' "

Yahoo has big plans to expand, under the leadership of former ABC
programming chief Lloyd Braun. He was hired last year to oversee
Yahoo's original programming. Kevin Sitesin the Hot Zone, which made
its debut last month, is the first original effort from his team.

Furthest along is Time Warner unit AOL, which used video as the
cornerstone of its re-launch as a free Web portal in June. AOL
recently began two original, online reality series -- The Biz and
Project Freshman -- and has more in the works. AOL will begin webcasting
classic TV shows intact in the coming months.

Video is an integral part of AOL's new look. AOL is bankrolling new
shows because, "We wanted to make a statement," says Jim Bankoff, AOL
executive vice president. "The new AOL is optimized for today's
high-speed (Internet) user."


Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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

For USA Today headlines and stories, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html

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

From: Michael Liedtke <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Google Morphs Into Multifaceted Juggernaut
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 14:39:15 -0500


By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer

SAN FRANCISCO - In just seven years, Google Inc. has morphed from a
bare-bones online search engine into a technological octopus that
seems to sprout another intriguing tentacle every other week.

The Mountain View, Calif.,-based company, with $7.1 billion to spend
thanks to zealous shareholder support, is now positioned to head down
a variety of different paths. And that's spurring an almost-daily
guessing game about where Google's flurry of innovation might lead.

Internet and software rivals like Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and
Microsoft Corp. aren't the only ones tracking Google. Big media and
telecommunications companies also are on the lookout, realizing they
too may face a looming threat.

The theories about Google's next move are all over the map.

Is Google cobbling together an Internet-driven computing platform that
would challenge Microsoft's stranglehold on the personal computer? Is
the company preparing to build a wireless network that would provide
free Internet access nationwide? Will Google dip into its huge hoard
of cash to pull off a blockbuster deal?

There's a consensus on one overarching point: "Google wants to be
everywhere that people are," said Danny Sullivan, who has followed the
company closely as editor of the industry newsletter Search Engine
Watch.

But Google's long-range objectives remain obscure. Is the company
simply exploring different ways to distribute the ads that generate
virtually all of its revenue? Or is Google pursuing a much grander
plan that ultimately will transform the way people work, communicate,
shop, read and even watch TV?

Former Stanford University graduate students Larry Page and Sergey
Brin have never been shy about sharing their ambitions to change the
world.

But they have never been keen on discussing the specific implications
underlying the company's stated mission "to organize the world's
information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who makes all the key decisions with Page and
Brin, isn't about to start divulging any secrets now.

"You can't know what we are really up to until you are in the bowels
of the company," Schmidt said during a recent interview with The
Associated Press.

John Battelle, the author of a recently released book on Google's
impact and potential, thinks the company's mystique has turned it into
the equivalent of a Rorschach inkblot -- an amorphous object that's
defined by the hopes and fears of whomever is looking at it.

"When we see a remarkable new company that redefines the technology
industry, we either fear it because of all the things it might do or
we expect more from it than it can possibly deliver," Battelle said.

Some previous theories about Google's maneuvering already have turned
out to be off base. For instance, last year, it was widely believed
that the company planned to introduce its own Web browser. Schmidt has
since thrown cold water on that idea.

There's little doubt that Google is going to get much bigger.

The company made that clear last week when it announced plans to build
a 1-million-square-foot campus just a few miles away from its
915,000-square-foot headquarters, known as the "Googleplex," on the
grounds of

NASA's Ames Research Center. Google needs the space for thousands of
new workers and plans to draw on the brain power of NASA's rocket
scientists.  The new hires will join a payroll that already has nearly
tripled in the past two years to 4,200 employees.

For all its growth, Google remains a relative midget alongside
Microsoft, which employs 61,000 workers and holds nearly $38 billion
in cash.

But few companies spend more time worrying about Google than
Microsoft, and not just because its rival has been raiding its work
force to lure away talented engineers. The defectors include Kai-Fu
Lee -- currently prevented from working on search technology because
Microsoft sued him for jumping to Google -- and Mark Lucovsky, a key
architect of the Windows operating system.

Since 2003, Google has rolled out an assortment of software and
services that could coalesce into a challenge to Microsoft's Office
suite of applications, says Stephen Arnold, whose recently completed
electronic book, "The Google Legacy," examines the company's ambitions
beyond online search.

After studying the details of the patents that Google has obtained
during the past two years, Arnold is convinced the company plans to
build upon the sophisticated computer architecture that drives its
search engine to offer a Web-hosted alternative to Windows.

"They have the infrastructure to challenge a company like Microsoft,"
Arnold said.

All of this hasn't gone unnoticed at Microsoft headquarters, where CEO
Steve Ballmer vowed to kill Google in an obscenity-laced tirade late
last year, according to a sworn court declaration submitted by
Lucovsky in the lawsuit targeting Lee.

Ballmer has described Lucovsky's recollection as a "gross
exaggeration."

Google does seem to have designs that extend well beyond the turf of
the world's richest and best-known technology company.

While gearing up for its looming showdown with Microsoft, Google also has:

 . Launched an effort to create digital versions of entire
brick-and-mortar libraries, triggering copyright infringement
allegations from the publishing industry, which fears Google won't be
able to protect the contents.

 . Unveiled a system for talking over the Internet, spurring
speculation about a potential Google-branded telephone;

 . Dabbled in wireless Internet access at a handful of connection
points near its Silicon Valley home and now wants to extend the
service throughout San Francisco, inspiring predictions about a
nationwide network that will enable people to get on the Web for free;

 . Confirmed the development of an online payment system that hints at
company designs on electronic commerce;

 . Started to stockpile video and transcripts of previously broadcast
material, fueling theories that Google wants to play a bigger role in
television;

 . And raised $5.3 billion in two separate stock offerings, providing
ample financial ammunition for a major acquisition or investment in
other projects that might open even more doors.

Industry analyst Lauren Rich Fine suspects Google might use some of
that money to buy a stake in its biggest business partner, America
Online -- and thus thwart Microsoft's reported attempt to form an
alliance with AOL.

Google declined to comment on that possibility.

There's already plenty on Google's plate, so much so that some
industry observers suspect the company will become a 21st-century
Icarus, a high-flying Internet company brought down by its own hubris.

Others believe Google possesses the technical dexterity to wrap its
arms around all of its disparate projects.

But even the optimists like Battelle have their doubts.

"There are no guarantees for Google," he says. "The biggest question
is whether they can accomplish everything they want before someone
else comes along with even better ideas."

On the Net:
John Battelle's Web log: http://www.battellemedia.com
Stephen Arnold's "Google Legacy" book:
http://www.infonortics.com/publications/google/google-legacy.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
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new
articles daily.

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

From: AFP News Wire <afp@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Visitors Risk Being Shot in Florida
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 14:41:38 -0500


Attention: Visitors Risk Being Shot in Florida

Welcome to Florida, but avoid arguments or thanks to a new law you run
the risk of getting shot, according to an ad campaign launched by a
gun-control group.

The campaign coincides with a state law that enters into effect
authorizing gun owners to shoot anyone in a public area who they
believe threaten their safety.

The law, supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA), was
approved by the state legislature in April. Governor Jeb Bush
described it as a "good, common sense, anti-crime issue" when he
signed it into law. His is a brother of US President George W. Bush.

Supporters call it the "Stand Your Ground" law, while opponents call
it the "Shoot First" law.

Under the previous law gun owners had first to attempt to withdraw and
avoid a confrontation, and were authorized to shoot the threatening
individual inside their home or property.

Critics say the current law allows gun owners to shoot if they engage
in a simple argument. Supporters say that criminals will think twice
when they try to attack someone in public.

Before the law was "on the side of the criminal," said Marion Hammer,
head of Unified Sportsmen of Florida and a former NRA president. "The
new law is on the side of the law-abiding victim," Hammer said.

Enter the Washington DC-based Brady Campaign to Control Gun
Violence. The group will run ads in US and British newspapers warning
tourists planning to visit Florida that a "nervous and frightened"
Florida resident could shoot to kill. "Warning: Florida residents can
use deadly force," the ad states.

"If you are involved in a traffic accident or near-miss, remain in
your car and keep your hands in plain sight. If someone appears to be
angry with you, maintain to the best of your ability a positive
attitude, and do not shout or make threatening gestures," the ad
reads.

The Brady Campaign promises to also run ads in French, German and
Japanese newspapers if they can stretch their budget. They also plan
to hand out fliers and post signs on the Florida highways with the
warnings.

"It is reasonable to make people know that while they're visiting
Florida they should take the right precautions to avoid potentially
being victims of violence," Brady Campaign spokesman Peter Hamm told
AFP.

The group is named after Jim Brady, spokesman for president Ronald
Reagan.  Brady received a gunshot that paralyzed him when a mentally
disturbed man shot Reagan in 1981.

Florida tourist authorities are hardly amused by the campaign.

"The Brady Campaign is one group's political agenda and not a safety
and education issue," fumed Bud Nocera, executive director of Visit
Florida, the state's tourism office, who described it as a "scare
tactic" campaign.

"It is sad that such an organization would hold the 900,000 men and
women who work in the Florida tourism industry, and whose lives depend
on it, hostage, to their political agenda," he added.

Nocera said the campaign would have no impact on the millions of
tourists that visit Florida, numbering 80 million in 2004.

"I can't understand why anybody would be opposed to telling visitors
what the law is," said Hamm. "No state in America has ever passed a
law like this one."

The Brady Campaign is "not telling anybody that they shouldn't visit
Florida. My family and I vacation in Florida every Easter and were
intending to do so. But I'm going to make sure that none of the people
in my family get into a loud argument while we are there," he said.

Copyright 2005 Agence France Presse. 

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.

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

Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 12:03:08 -0700
From: Chuck Wassall <woodchuk@c-zone.net>
Subject: On Bluefrog


You are quite right in your exceptions to Bluefrog, and have
reservations as I do. Let me explain. I live in a remote location that
can only receive a 28.8K input. While I understand broadband has
spread widely, most of the world still operates at that speed. When I
get a hundred spams, some of them over 50K, it takes 4 hours to
download and my email service has been rendered useless. I think it is
up to the individual ISP's to filter their services, rather than
choose to ignore the complaints of their customers as they do now.

Yahoo has blocked the Bluefrog site altogether from it's users. My
suspicion is that considering my ISP wants 5 bucks a month extra to
"automatically" block spam, they might not be so happy to see a
solution for free.  I might add I get less than one a day now, so it
works and that to me is utterly amazing.  David against the giant and
all that. 

Cheers,

Chuck


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:  Least anyone forget, Blue is the
security service which has been rather successful to date in cutting
back the amount of spam sent to it. Blue Frog simply sends an email of
complaint to each spammer _one time_, in the name of each person who
received the spam. PAT]

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

From: Steve Stone <spfleck@citlink.net>
Subject: Re: On Television, Brands Go From Props to Stars
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:59:14 GMT


This is nothing new. It was a popular tactic used in the heyday of radio 
shows.

Steve,

N2UBP

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

From: henry999@eircom.net (Henry)
Subject: Re: State of the Internet, 2005
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 23:10:13 +0300
Organization: Elisa Internet customer


OK, let me keep this simple for you.

Robert Bonomi <bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com> wrote:

> <henry999@eircom.net> wrote:

>> TELECOM Digest Editor <ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:

>>> A look at the internet as it stands now, in 2005, from a compilation
>>> originally prepared by CNN.com:

>>> Chain letters

>>>...it is illegal to start or forward an e-mail chain letter
>>> that promises any kind of return. Anyone doing so could be prosecuted for
>>> mail fraud.

>> 'Anyone doing so could be prosecuted for mail fraud.'

> In the United States, that statement _is_  correct.

> The USPIS handles investigation/enforcement of 18 USC 1342.

> Which includes frauds that _induce_ victims to send money
> _via_the_mails_.

> If the 'scheme to defraud' involves the use of the postal mail system
> *in*any*way* then the crime of 'mail fraud' applies.

YOU are the first one to mention MONEY. What the CNN report said, and
PAT quoted, was 'a chain letter that promises any kind of return.'
Nothing about money. What about a chain 'letter', by E-MAIL, which
promises that you'll receive ten prayers for every one you send?

It does not involve money. It does not involve use of the postal mail
system. It is completely absurd to suggest that  _anyone_ (in the
world!!!) who does this could be prosecuted for mail fraud.

You kind of remind me of the apologists for the Customs service. On
the one hand they claim that they have sophisticated 'profiles' which
identify even the wiliest of smugglers, yet on the other hand they
harass hundreds of millions of completely innocent people every year.
You can't have it both ways.

If the USPIS is so bloody adept and 18 USC 1342 applies to e-mail too,
then why the hell are we all inundated with SPAM -- much of which is
clearly fraudulent???

cheers,

Henry

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

From: Brad Houser <bradDOThouser@intel.com>
Subject: Re: Help Needed with DHCP on Remote Laptop
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2005 13:17:40 -0700
Organization: Intel Corporation
Reply-To: bradDOThouser@intel.com


On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 21:00:00 CDT, ptownson wrote:

> Help wanted: I have a laptop computer here running Win NT from 1997.
> I have a NetGear Wireless card in a slot. It seems to be correctly
> installed; that is, the drivers are there, the little green light on
> the 'television icon' is present, it _says_ it has a very good link,
> and should be working fine. But the laptop reports "The DHCP client
> could not obtain an IP address". Furthermore, no one else on the
> network can see the laptop. The laptop cannot connect to the internet
> nor see anyone else on tne network either. Yet it claims the link
> is present and very strong. Can anyone tell me what is wrong?  Why
> is it unable to obtain an IP address via DHCP?  Thanks for the help.

> PAT

Try picking a static IP address in the correct range and see if that
works.  Just dont' pick one that is already in use.

Brad H

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

From: gordonb.3ugya@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)
Subject: Re: United States Says No! Internet is Ours!
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 21:55:51 -0000
Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: For the life of me, I do not understand
> why United States insists on keeping total control of Internet for
> itself, rather than at least sharing control with other countries. I

I suspect that it has a lot to do with the amount of havoc that can be
wrought by hijacking a top-level country domain as a deliberate act of
war.  The US government wants to (a) be able to do it to someone else,
and (b) not have anyone else do it to it.  It may also realize it's
vulnerable.

(As I recall, the top-level domain for Iraq, .IQ, used to have its
servers in Dallas, until the FBI raided them.  Since then it's been
turned back to the new government of Iraq.)

Gordon L. Burditt

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

From: Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Free 411
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 17:00:47 -0700
Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com


On Sat, 01 Oct 2005 19:43:30 -0700, Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> New ad supported directory assistance.  1-800-FREE-411
> (1-800-373-3411)  

> Before the number is given you have to listen to a ten second
> advertisement.  The service also has auto connect to the number given.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I tried it, it is a national service,
> handled as much as possible by interactive voice recordings. But their
> voice recognition software does not seem to be very good. After three
> or four attempts to find out what I wanted "a radio station, KOSN in
> Stillwater, OK" it gave up and transferred me to an operator.  PAT]

Well, it may not be perfect, but you got what you paid for... !  If
the IVR cannot understand you at least you *do* get transferred to a
live human being.  Some services such as 800 directory IVR won't
transfer you to a real person other than during "working hours."
AFAICS the numbers given are correct.  Not only that it provides for
call completion for free!  If you don't have unlimited long distance
from either your VoIP line or your cell phone it's a bargain in my
book. 

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


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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #451
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