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TELECOM Digest Sat, 5 Nov 2005 02:40:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 503 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Porncasts Appear on Video Playing iPod (Ron Harris) Consumers Sing Copy Protection Blues (Todd Martens) Microsoft Patches Break Some Sites (Jeremy Kirk) Verizon POTS (Joe) EFFector 18.35: A Trio of Victories at WIPO (Monty Solomon) EFFector 18.37: Court Issues Surveillance Smack-Down to Justice (M Solomon) AT&T Answering System 1309 - Need Help With Instructions (browny) Looking for 1A2 Phone System Parts [Amphenol to Amphenol Splitters] (mdhes) Re: Recorded Call From Law Office? (DevilsPGD) Re: Replacement for Siemens Gigaset (Michael D. Sullivan) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ron Harris <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Porncasts Appear on Video Playing iPod Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2005 00:27:14 -0600 Porncasts Appear on Video-Playing iPod By RON HARRIS, Associated Press Writer Purveyors of porn and entrepreneurs who spied a niche when Apple Computer Inc. unveiled its video-playing iPod are proving that sex even sells in tiny packages -- especially when it is portable. One online social network of amateur pinup girls said it logged 500,000 downloads of the sexy "featurettes" -- three- to five-minute video clips -- in the first 24 hours targeting the new iPod-toting crowd. Most of these had been downloaded at one time or another from Usenet. It's a no-brainer: pornography to go. The naughtiness is already finding its way into video handhelds through business models tried-and-true -- along with some new ones -- as the adult entertainment industry works to untether video content. Soon enough, skin flicks whose viewing has been largely restricted to the privacy of homes and theaters could be on view in the open public of parks and mass transit, for all ages to see. Porn is no doubt a very big business on the Internet. Two in five Internet users visited an adult site in August, according to tracking by comScore Media Metrix. The company said 3 percent of all Web traffic and 2 percent of all surfing time involved an adult site. The Internet accounted for $2.5 billion of the adult industry's $14 billion in U.S. revenues last year, about the same as revenues from cable and satellite pay-per-view showings, according to Adult Video News, a trade magazine. Vivid Entertainment Group, a major adult video producer that already offers high-resolution still images, video clips and footage from "voyeur cams" through its Web site, now plans to shoot shorter films specifically for the iPod and other portables. "It could be a huge percentage of our business," says the company's chief executive, Steven Hirsch. "People love watching adult movies and to be able to carry an adult movie in your pocket is a powerful tool." Sin City, based in Chatsworth, Calif., already offers trailers of full-length adult films for the Sony PlayStation Portable, a handheld video game player. It now plans full-length adult films for the video iPod. Apple wasn't first on the scene with a small digital device capable of playing good-quality video. Creative Technology and iRiver are among companies with pocket-sized devices already on the market; they use Windows Mobile software to display video, audio and still images. In addition, one early entrant, Archos, has a Jukebox that can store and play a whopping 400 hours of video in the MPEG-4 standard. Yet the very marketing and deal-making finesse that helped Apple rise to dominate the portable music market make its new video-playing iPod a likely vessel for adult movies' expansion to portable porn. The Apple's iTunes online story already features several hot and heavy podcasts, audio downloads geared to portability. The company isn't offering much in the way of sex on videos, though some of the music videos it sells for $1.99 each can tend toward titillation. Apple officials refused requests for interviews on whether they might offer adult content on iTunes for iPod owners. For many high-profile companies, sex remains a tough sell. Although wireless phone companies support devices that play video, they are reluctant to expose themselves to complaints from a large and valuable customer base. One company that knows firsthand is Digital Orchid, which manages the delivery of streaming video to cell phones for top brands, including MLB.com, NASCAR.com, ESPN and the National Hockey League. It also handles Hawaiian Tropic, the suntan oil company perhaps better known for its comely bikini models. That sort of content is about as racy as wireless carriers want to get, says Robert Betros, Digital Orchid's co-founder and chief technology officer. "We won't cross that line because the carriers won't distribute it, and that's a majority of the revenue opportunity for us," Betros said. "Now they may change their tune, and in some places in Europe carriers are distributing this kind of content." In the wireless industry, carrier-approved content exists within something referred to as a walled garden. In the United States, at least, that garden is generally safe for children. Once users stroll outside garden walls and inside a Web browser, however, all bets are off. A company called Xobile sells pornographic video clips for cell phones. No special operating system or other software is necessary: Just a Web browser, which is commonplace now for phones with access to digital data networks. That it's now easier than ever for minors to view X-rated content on portable devices concerns media watch groups that seek to protect children. The problem is that children are often quicker to grasp the technology than their parents, says Jack Samad, a senior vice president with the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families. "The arena is wide open, unfiltered, unrestricted, for adult content," Samad said. "Children are very aware of where it is and how to download it." Associated Press Writer Gary Gentile in Los Angeles contributed to this report. 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 news stories and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Todd Martens <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Consumers Sing Copy Proection Blues Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2005 00:25:21 -0600 By Todd Martens and Brian Garrity Complaints continue to mount regarding a controversial CD copy-protection initiative by Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Artists and consumers' initial concern was that the digital rights management technology does not work with iPods. Now a growing number of music fans charge that the security software behaves like spyware and may create security vulnerabilities in users' computers. The matter drew increased attention in technology circles October 31, when software developer/computer security expert Mark Russinovich began blogging the details of problems he experienced after using his computer to play the copy-protected CD of "Get Right With the Man" by Van Zant, a Southern rock act signed to Columbia Records. Russinovich posted that Sony BMG's DRM drained resources from his computer processor, even when the CD was not being played, and was extraordinarily difficult to locate and uninstall. When he finally deleted the software, his computer's CD player stopped working. "This is a clear case of Sony taking DRM too far," he wrote. Within 24 hours, online tech-news sites including SlashDot and CNet had posted news about Russinovich's account. And by November 2, Sony BMG had posted instructions on its own site (cp.sonybmg/xcp) for removing the DRM. IN SEARCH OF TRANSPARENCY Copy-protection software is not actually spyware, of course. And industry executives have long pointed to piracy rates in defense of DRM measures. Consumers on average acquire almost 30 percent of their music annually by burning and ripping CDs, according to the NPD Group. But Russinovich and others complain that Sony BMG's latest DRM lacks transparency -- and a simple uninstall option. "The disclosure is totally inadequate," says Fred Von Lohmann, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "I read the (end-user license agreement), and it does not say they will install software that hides itself and is difficult to uninstall. When I read that someone is going to install software, I don't think it's going to behave like spyware and try to evade me." Sony BMG representatives declined to comment, but sources in the company and the label's technology partners -- which include First 4 Internet and SunnComm -- say hiding software on computers is standard. "Cloaking technology is reasonably commonplace," says Mathew Gilliat Smith, CEO of First 4 Internet, a developer of copy-protection technology. "This is a protection software, and the object is to make it more difficult to circumvent." But Russinovich says Sony's software may create a weakness for others to exploit. "All it takes is one malware (malicious software) author to get one of these CDs and see how it works and recognize it's on millions of people's machines," Russinovich says. "The whole malware industry is financially driven, and there are tons of smart people paid to find those opportunities." PATCHING THINGS UP As part of their November 2 online update, Sony BMG and First 4 Internet released a patch to make the files visible and ensure that malware writers cannot hide their own files behind the DRM technology. The patch is also being distributed to manufacturers of anti-virus software. Gilliat Smith says First 4 Internet is looking for new installation methods for its software, but did not provide specifics. SunnComm executives say they have not had any problems with their technology. In the meantime, a growing number of consumers and consumer advocates are expressing frustration with the technology. "I know this is the last copy-protected CD I will buy," Russinovich says. "It strikes me as particularly pernicious," Von Lohmann adds, "to single out paying customers for this kind of treatment." Reuters/Billboard 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: Jeremy Kirk <idg@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Microsoft Patches Break Some Sites Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2005 00:28:38 -0600 Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service Two patches released by Microsoft earlier this year for its Internet Explorer browser may cause some Web sites not to load properly. The bulletins, MS05-038 and MS05-052, removed "unsafe functionality" and change how the browser handles ActiveX controls for security reasons, Stephen Toulouse, a program manager in Microsoft's security unit, wrote on Thursday on the Microsoft Security Center Response Blog. After installing MS05-038, which was published August 9 on the Microsoft Download Center, Web pages containing Component Object Model (COM) objects called monikers may not work as expected. Patch Particulars MS05-052, which was published October 11, added an additional check for a specific interface for ActiveX controls before allowing a COM object to run in Internet Explorer. But it also blocks some Web pages containing ActiveX controls, Microsoft said. Users who are missing certain registry subkeys may also experience problems with this patch, Microsoft said. Microsoft has published instructions on how to resolve the MS05-038 issues. Also available is additional information on the two possible problems with MS05-052. Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, PC World Communications, Inc. For more information go to:http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Joe <Joe@NOSPAM.SPAM> Subject: Verizon POTS Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 21:39:39 GMT How long does it take for Verizon to install POTS? I have moved my mother to an apartment. The complex is not new, been there for 10+years. The previous tenent had Verizon POTS. I called Verizon for new service on 10/27. Got a tracking number. But it has been 5 business days and no telephone service. Checked online using tracking number but it shows "in progress", no date. Called customer support, on hold for 45min. then gave up. Any idea how long it takes? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 17:11:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: EFFector 18.35: A Trio of Victories at WIPO A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 351st Issue of EFFector: * A Trio of Victories at WIPO * Adult Website Lawsuit Threatens Google Image Search * New Government Excuses for Cell Phone Surveillance * First Annual P2P Litigation Summit, November 3 * miniLinks (9): Your Right to Bare Arms * Staff Calendar: 10.15.05 - Kurt Opsahl, Fred von Lohmann and Kevin Bankston speak at California First Amendment Coalition Assembly, Fullerton, CA. * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/35.php ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2005 17:07:47 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: EFFector 18.37: Court Issues Surveillance Smack-Down to Justice A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 353rd Issue of EFFector: * Court Issues Surveillance Smack-Down to Justice Department * Plan for Internet "Backdoors" Draws Coordinated Attack * Want to Take a Bite Out of the DMCA? Now's the Time * First Annual P2P Litigation Summit, November 3 * The Patent System of the Future? * Spring Legal Internships at EFF * Stanford Center for Internet and Society Mailing List * miniLinks (10): Open Letter to Yahoo's Jerry Yang * Staff Calendar: 10.30.05 - Fred von Lohmann at Eastern * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/18/37.php ------------------------------ From: browny <njbraun@sirisonline.com> Subject: AT&T Answering System 1309 - Need Help With Instructions Date: 4 Nov 2005 14:43:16 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have misplaced my instructions for this unit (telephone answering machine). Would like to use the REMOTE ACCESS feature and don't recall how. Can anyone help me? ------------------------------ From: m3deshmukh@verizon.net Subject: Looking for 1A2 Phone System Parts [Amphenol to Amphenol Splitters] Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 19:27:55 GMT Hello, Item: Splitting device that takes in Amphenol and puts out 6 or more Amphenols My company is looking to find a [or several] bridging adapters, bunching blocks, splitters for a 1A2 telephone system that would take in one Amphenol jack and Output 6 or more Amphenol Sockets. My boss likes having the 1A2 phone system in place, but we're trying to find an alternative to daisy-chaining the feed with 2 and 3 way splitters right in-front of each phone/fax. We'd like to find a piece of equipment that would allow us to localize all the splitting, right after the KSU. I found some real helpful phone wizards on another site who told me about the Suttle company and gave me some parts numbers: Suttle #SE-825L6-1P49 (gray) or 1P50 (beige) has one input and six outputs on through Suttle #SE-825l12-1P49 or 1P50 with one input and 12 outputs I will be continuing to search for these parts with warehouses I find online [right now eBay doesn't have what I'm looking for], but I wanted to put word out in this group, so if anyone is holding something like this [the more amphenol outs the merrier!] and looking to get rid of it, they might let me know. Thanks. Easy on. Mayur Deshmukh Interpage Network Services, Inc. mayurXYZZTOP@interpage.net [to email me, remove the CAPS] http://www.interpage.net ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD <spamsucks@crazyhat.net> Subject: Re: Recorded Call From Law Office? Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 16:15:58 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message <telecom24.502.12@telecom-digest.org> Clark W. Griswold, Jr. <spamtrap100@comcast.net> wrote: > Anyway, about ten or twelve years ago, the McDonalds in Skokie, IL > (which is known not only as the second or third McDonalds in > existence, having been started orginally as a 'company location' when > it started in 1958) is one of the most ill-managed in the chain, wound > up being the defendant in a class action suit based on their poorly > programmed cash registers. (Walmart has the same situation; a cash > register used today in Illinois may be used next week [following its > repair, etc in Kansas or Oklahoma]; proper sales tax rate is of no > concern to those folks.) Plaintiff's class action lawyers said they > were frequently overcharged on taxes, and it is true that if you as a > shopkeeper make a claim that 'X amount of money is for taxes' when in > fact the tax is either (1) incorrectly stated or (2) does not exist > at all, a crime has been committed. The class action lawsuit went on > a couple years, the attornies raked in piles of money; it was finally > settled by McDonalds putting a newspaper ad in several Chicago-area > publications with a coupon to clip out, offering a free small size > drink to the holder of the coupon, to cure the problem of being > charged a couple pennies too much on tax. PAT] They're still billing incorrectly though, or they were as of last July when I visited their location. I didn't look at the tax, just the rest of the meal. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If you are referring to the McDonalds at 5000 or 5100 West Dempster (Niles Center Road and Dempster, about a block east of the Skokie Swift station) that does not surprise me at all. They got the notion once to lock down the inside eating area at 9 PM but keep the drive up window open until 11 PM, so at 9:10 PM I came walking along on foot past the drive in window to get an order. The woman refused to sell to me since I was 'not in a car'. We exchanged a few words; I wound up getting an empty bag out of the trash can nearby and calling the McDonalds customer service number. The woman just about flipped out when she got a call from customer service a couple minutes later asking her what was going on. Her excuse was a 'man on a bike a couple weeks earlier had robbed her and she was not going to take any more chances with pedestrians when the main dining area had been closed for the night. Another time I was told they considered it 'more effecient' to be 'blackmailed' out of drinks rather than change their way of doing business. By comparison, the McDonalds here in Independence is so pleasant, even for a Mcdonalds place. I am watching to see if walmart gets sued the same way, for using incorrectly (tax) programmed cash registers here. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan <userid@camsul.example.invalid> Subject: Re: Replacement for Siemens Gigaset Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2005 05:05:18 GMT rlittle@thetasoft.com wrote: > The Siemens Gigaset is great as far as features go, operating like a > little PBX (the extensions dial each other, the base unit does the > actual telecom work of dialing while the handsets just act like > recievers). > Unfortunately, the Siemens quality sucks. It works for about a year > before it starts flaking out -- we've already gone through 2 base > units, and Siemens customer support is worse than their reliability. > So, I'm in the market for a new system. I got the Panasonic 2 line > 6502, but feature-wise its horrible. (I'm so tired of seeing "24 > missed calls" on the handset that was lost under the couch). > Is there a good system out there? Cost is really no issue -- I'm > desperate for feature parity with the Siemens -- cordless handsets (6 > or more), base unit does all the dialing, multiple lines (2), > answering machine, transfer & conference between handsets... Surely > there must be something out there! Rob, I went through the same problems with the Siemens Gigaset. I replaced it with an AT&T-branded multi-set system (actually made by Vtech, I think). It's a great improvement, but not perfect. I looked at the Panasonic multi-set systems, but the handsets were too gadgety. The AT&T 2-line system handles up to 8 or 9 handsets and has a corded base station; both the base station and the cordless handsets can be used as speakerphones. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #503 ****************************** | |