TELECOM Digest     Thu, 22 Dec 2005 03:00:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 574

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Time Warner's AOL and Google to Expand Strategic Alliance (Monty Solomon)
    Treo 650 to Support BlackBerry Connect (Monty Solomon)
    Cellphone 911 Calls Failed in Big Storm / Verizon Promises (Monty Solomon)
    What Makes Scientists Cheat and Lie? (Peter Spotts, CS Monitor)
    Technology Helps People Weather NYC Transit Strike (Deepti Hajela)
    Dallas Woman Arrested in FEMA Fraud (Kathy Colvin)
    Tim Berners-Lee Starts a Blog (Anick Jesdanun)
    A Free, But Fair Web (Boston Globe Editorial)
    Vonage Has Fresh Backing; Says it Has Raised $250 Million (BBC News Wire)
    VOIP Learning (Kimi)
    Caller ID/etc (Dumb Question on "Do Not Call") (Anthony Bellanga)
    Re: The Letter From valent@mailrus.ru (Steven Lichter)
    Re: Mexican Officials Say Bush Fence Blocking Plan is Stupid (Steve Sobol)
    Re: Dumb Question About "Do Not Call" (Steve Sobol)
    Re: Last Laugh! Police Had to Convince Winner it was Real (Barry Margolin)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
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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.  

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

Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:11:45 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Time Warner's AOL and Google to Expand Strategic Alliance


     Time Warner's AOL and Google to Expand Strategic Alliance
     - Dec 20, 2005 06:10 PM (BusinessWire)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. & NEW YORK & DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS
WIRE)--Dec. 20, 2005--Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX):

    --  Creating Global Advertising Partnership
    --  Google to Invest $1 Billion for a 5% Stake in AOL
    --  Companies to Collaborate on Online Video Offering and Make

        More AOL Content Available to Google Users

    --  Google Talk Instant Messaging Software to Communicate with AIM
        users

Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and America Online, Inc., a wholly owned
subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX), today announced that they
are expanding their current strategic alliance. The agreement creates
a global online advertising partnership, makes more of AOL's
industry-leading content available to Google users, and includes a $1
billion investment in AOL by Google. This strategic alliance expands
on the original relationship between the two companies launched three
years ago.

     - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=54120928

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

Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:23:52 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Treo 650 to Support BlackBerry Connect


BlackBerry Connect and Treo 650
http://www.palm.com/us/enterprise/products/blackberry_connect.html

Press Release
http://www.palm.com/us/company/pr/news_feed_story.epl?reqid=768097

Announcement Webinar
https://www108.livemeeting.com/cc/palmone/view?id=FMQ4XR

Palm Treo 650 smartphone with BlackBerry Connect
http://www.blackberry.com/products/connect/treo650.shtml

BlackBerry Connect for Palm OS
http://www.blackberry.com/products/connect/palmOS.shtml

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

Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 23:15:26 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Cellphone 911 Calls Failed in Big Storm / Verizon Promises


Verizon promises to ferret out why system broke down
By Douglas Belkin, Globe Staff  |  December 21, 2005

At the height of a blinding afternoon snowstorm almost two weeks ago,
the state's enhanced 911 cellphone system failed, leaving motorists
stuck on highways unable to reach police easily.

State authorities said the glitch, which appears to have been in the
Verizon network that routes all cell 911 calls, lasted as long as 40
minutes. The result: Users who called 911 around 3 p.m. on Dec. 9
heard only a busy signal.

"Something jammed the system. The calls never got through," said 
Edward M. Merrick Jr., the chairman of the standards committee for 
the Statewide Emergency Telecommunications Board, which oversees the 
system. "It's a serious concern."

The breakdown coincided with a Northeaster that barrelled across
Massachusetts, icing roads, crippling traffic, and decreasing
visibility to just a few feet. Parts of the state received 15 inches
of snow and experienced wind gusts of up to 70 miles per hour.

The hour before the storm hit, the State Police enhanced 911 center in
Framingham answered about 500 calls. But between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.,
operators received fewer than 200. It is not clear how many calls
failed, but it appears a switch that controls which cell calls enter
the 911 system was overwhelmed and shut down. Land-line calls still
went through.

Merrick was aware that call volume had lessened during the storm, but
until he was contacted by the Globe, he attributed it to not having
enough operators on duty. It was only after some inquiries, and 10
days after the storm, that Merrick learned the problem may have been
on Verizon's end.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/12/21/cellphone_911_calls_failed_in_big_storm/

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

From: Peter N. Spotts <csm@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Laboratory Ethics: What Makes Scientists Lie and Cheat?
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:51:20 -0600


      from the December 22, 2005 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1222/p02s01-stss.html

Questionable stem-cell research in a South Korea case may be the
latest in a series of ethical lapses in 2005.

By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Is it a matter of shoddy work in the lab? A problem of excessive
deference by junior researchers to senior scientists? Or does the case
of the suspect stem-cell experiments in South Korea - an episode that
is shaking the biomedical field worldwide - point to a severe lapse of
research ethics?

With a probe at Seoul National University just beginning, it is likely
to be some time before investigators can explain what led to apparent
flaws in research -- once celebrated as groundbreaking -- by scientist
Hwang Woo-Suk. His work involved cloning human embryos to garner
highly prized stem cells specific to individual patients -- an ability
seen as an advantage in any future stem-cell therapies.

In the meantime, the case is prompting a closer look at how scientific
journals screen research reports before publication, as well as
forcing a deeper recognition of the intense pressures scientists can
experience while working on cutting-edge, high-stakes research.

"Scientists are not a special breed of human being," says Thomas
Murray, president of the Hastings Center, a bioethics institute in
Garrison, N.Y. "But they function in a special environment ... They
are bright people working in a community where the best ideas rise to
the top. If you're not in first place, you're no place."

South Korea's probe at the dawn of what some dub "the biotech century"
caps a year of research-ethics challenges.

  . Late last month, a US district court judge in Albany, N.Y.,
sentenced a former Veterans Administration cancer researcher to 71
months in jail for criminally negligent homicide. Paul Kornak admitted
that he had forged medical records, opening the way for people to take
part in drug trials who should have been excluded because of existing
medical conditions.  One participant whose records were altered died
during the experiment.

  . In October, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology fired a
young biologist and promising immunology researcher. MIT officials say
Luk Van Parijs was dismissed after he admitted to school investigators
that he fabricated and altered evidence in research papers to support
grant applications. MIT, in speaking with the Christian Science Monitor
was succinct in stating their case: "No liars nor cheaters need apply
here. We just won't deal with it."

  . In March, a University of Vermont obesity scientist admitted
faking data in order to buttress grant applications. (He netted $3
million in government grants.) Under a deal with US prosecutors, Eric
Poehlman agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud and to retract or
correct several research papers.

Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health has tightened its rules
for NIH researchers who also serve as consultants to drug companies.
The NIH is trying to walk a tightrope between avoiding conflicts of
interest and ensuring that scientists can engage in the open give and
take today's complex research efforts require. In a survey of NIH-
funded scientists, released in June, only 1.5 percent of 3,000-plus
respondents acknowledged having falsified or plagiarized information.
But 15.5 percent admitted to altering their research approach under
pressure from funding sources, and 12.5 percent admitted to looking
the other way when colleagues used flawed data.

Surveys show that the public consistently holds scientists in high
esteem, perhaps leading many people to assume an unrealistic ethical
purity among them.

If lapses happen in business, "the public says, 'Well, what did you
expect?' " says Mark Frankel, director of Scientific Freedom,
Responsibility, and Law at the American Association for the
Advancement of Science, which publishes the journal Science. The
public tends to be more surprised when the violators are scientists -
although public esteem remains high despite the lapses, he adds.

Biomedical research in particular is a hotbed of economic and
scientific competition. Several countries, including South Korea, are
vying with the US for leadership. So the pressure to lead can be huge.

Dr. Hwang's request last week to withdraw his team's paper on
stem-cell work, published in May in Science, has spurred editors at
the journal to ask whether their peer-review process of evaluating
papers for publication could have caught problems in the Hwang
submission.

"A paper that apparently achieves a result that others have tried to
get and failed is subject to especially careful scrutiny," says Donald
Kennedy, Science's editor. "I expect a certain amount of skepticism"
among reviewers as they give papers the once-over. "On the other hand,
I think reviewers generally tend to trust explicit representations" of
the information in the papers.

Science is generally self-correcting, says the Hasting Center's Dr.
Murray. If a paper is published and other scientists fail to reproduce
the results, it is likely to get relegated to the trash bin.

In the end, no system is infallible, ethicists note. "If you have
someone determined to fabricate evidence, no screening system will
catch that," says Alto Charo, a law professor at the University of
Wisconsin who specializes in biomedical and research ethics. "You have
to rely on the integrity of the individual."

In the past decade, federal funding agencies have put more emphasis on
ethical research practices, requiring grant recipients to take ethics
courses or giving grants to scientists at universities with ethics
classes for graduate students, notes the AAAS's Dr. Frankel. These
courses have undergone little evaluation for effectiveness, but
several cases that made headlines this year came to light after fellow
researchers or young protégés became suspicious of data being used and
blew the whistle on their errant colleagues.

Copyright 2005 www.csmonitor.com and the The Christian Science Monitor.

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

From: Deepti Hajela <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Technology Helps People Weather NYC Transit Strike
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:43:27 -0600


By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer

The last time the city had a transit strike, in 1980, a fax machine
was considered cutting-edge. Fast forward 25 years, and it is a world
of wireless laptops, Internet-enabled cell phones and telecommuting
from your living room.

And that, some say, is a big reason the bus and subway strike has not
caused the utter chaos that many people had expected.

"We're open for business as usual," said Selena Morris, spokeswoman
for Merrill Lynch & Co. The financial management company had some
employees working from home, while others could go to various regional
offices if getting into Manhattan was too difficult.

"It makes it a lot easier for people to function when you have a
crisis like this, just to log in from wherever you are," she
said. "It's inconvenient, obviously, but I think we've been able to
work around it."

Commuters have also Internet technology to find rides or a couch to
sleep on, and to fire off e-mails from home or the car.

Clearly, there are a lot of jobs in New York City for which working
from home is not an option, such as in retail and the service
industry. But for segments like the financial industry, technology
makes a big difference, said Frank Lichtenberg, professor of economics
at Columbia Business School.

The strike "does still represent a significant disruption," he said,
but "clearly this information technology has reduced the cost of this
kind of disruption and made it somewhat easier to bear."

Commuters have posted ads on Web sites like Craigslist, looking for or
offering rides to meet the four-person-per-car rule for cars entering
a large portion of Manhattan, and offering to rent out space to anyone
looking for a place to crash for the night.

A one-bedroom apartment near Times Square was being offered for $140
per night, while a studio near Grand Central Terminal was going for
$145.

Dennis C. Fleischmann, managing partner of the Bryan Cave law firm's
New York office, said the strike was having a "minimal" effect, with
most employees able to get in and others working from home.

"These days in our business, between e-mail and voice mail, you can
function reasonably well from a remote location," he said. "In terms
of productivity we don't really lose very much."

Associated Press Writer Anick Jesdanun 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
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For more Associated Press headlines and audio reports, go to:
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------------------------------

From: Kathy Colvin, US Department of Justice <doj@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Dallas Woman Arrested in FEMA Fraud Scheme
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:46:23 -0600


Contact: Kathy Colvin, 214-659-8600 Web: http://WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/TXN

DALLAS, Dec. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- United States Attorney Richard B.
Roper announced that Lakietha Hall was arrested Wednesday morning by
federal authorities in Dallas on charges outlined in a federal
criminal complaint filed on December 16, 2005 and unsealed this
afternoon. The complaint charges Hall with knowingly and willfully
stealing money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and
knowingly using, without lawful authority, the means of identification
of another person during and in relation to a felony, that is, the
theft of public funds. A search warrant was also executed this morning
at Hall's residence and more than $10,000 in cash was seized.

Hall, age 35, made her initial appearance in federal Court this
afternoon before the Honorable Paul D. Stickney, United States
Magistrate Judge, who found her not to be an immediate danger to the
communith and released her on bond with conditions.

According to the affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint
and search warrant, Lakietha Hall made numerous fraudulent claims for
hurricane disaster relief. As part of her scheme, Hall would file the
fraudulent claims over the telephone and online with FEMA and the
Louisiana Department of Labor by using the identities, including the
names and social security numbers, of other persons without their
knowledge or consent. Hall would often use the identities of other
persons with the surname "Hall."  Hall would provide FEMA and the
Louisiana Department of Labor with a mailing address that she
controlled. Hall has received approximately $65,000 in fraudulently
obtained Hurricane Katrina disaster benefits and there is no evidence
to indicate that Lakietha Hall has ever lived in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Daniel S. Cortez, U.S. Postal Inspector In Charge of the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service, Fort Worth Division, said, "The mission of the
United States Postal Inspection Service is to protect the nation's
mail system from criminal misuse. Any type of fraud, especially
charity, identity theft, insurance and government -- related to
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are a priority for the Postal Inspection
Service. When a case is identified our agency will move quickly to
disrupt the criminal activity perpertrated through this type of mail
fraud scheme."

Gordon S. Heddell, Inspector General, Department of Labor, said,
"Fraud schemes in the programs that assist the victims of the natural
disasters are unconscionable. This case demonstrates the commitment of
federal law enforcement and state workforce agencies to work together
to protect these programs from fraud. We will continue to work closely
with our state and federal partners to uncover identity theft schemes
and fraud in the unemployment insurance system."

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the
Department of Labor -- Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service, the Department of Homeland Security -- Office of
Inspector General and the Louisiana Department of Labor. The case is
being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tammy Reno.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

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

From: Anick Jesdanun <ap@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Tim Berners-Lee Starts a Blog
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:36:57 -0600


Creator of World Wide Web Starts Blog
By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee has started a blog just in time
for the 15th anniversary of his invention.

In his first entry, Berners-Lee remarked on how the Web took off as a
publishing medium rather than one in which visitors not only read but
also contributed information.

"WWW was soon full of lots of interesting stuff, but not a space for
communal design, for discource through communal authorship," he wrote.

That has changed lately with the growing popularity of blogs, which
are online diaries that often let visitors submit comments, and wikis,
which are sites in which visitors can add, change and even delete what
they see.

Their popularity "makes me feel I wasn't crazy to think people needed
a creative space," wrote Berners-Lee, who added that he decided to
start a blog to get a chance to play with blogging tools.

Berners-Lee first proposed the Web in 1989 while developing ways to
control computers remotely at CERN, the Geneva-based European
Organization for Nuclear Research. He never got the project formally
approved, but quietly tinkered with it anyway, making the first
browser available at CERN by Christmas Day 1990.


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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http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html

For more news headlines from Associated Press with NPR Audio (usually
classical music and NPR news programs), please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/KOSU.html



[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: FYI, anyone interested, this Digest is
thought to be the _oldest, continually published Digest on the
internet. From our beginning in August, 1981, for the first fourteen
years we were only a text-based publication, with a mailing list and
Usenet circulation base. We started on the web in 1995-96, so early
next year is our tenth anniversary on the web, but our twenty-fifth
anniversary as an internet publication.    PAT]

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

From: Boston Globe Editorial <globe@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: A Free, But Fair Web
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:38:48 -0600


      GLOBE EDITORIAL
    A free, but fair, Web
      December 16, 2005

THE VENERABLE NEWSMAN John Seigenthaler had it about right when he
explained last weekend why he decided not to take legal action against
a rogue Internet user who had posted defamatory -- and false -- claims
about him in the popular open-source research tool, Wikipedia. "I
still believe in free expression," Seigenthaler said. "What I want is
accountability."

Seigenthaler has been badly maligned by charges added to the Wikipedia
entry about him, saying that he "was thought to have been directly
involved" in the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. The
78-year-old former editor of the Nashville Tennessean, who has won
numerous awards for courage in publishing, was a pallbearer at RFK's
funeral.

On Friday the man who posted the addendum, Brian Chase, confessed --
once he realized his identity was about to be unveiled by a
cyber-sleuth -- claiming it all was a prank. Seigenthaler's response
was more principled than Chase had any right to expect, sticking to
his First Amendment principles but calling on Wikipedia to do a better
job policing its own content.

The incident touched off the always-simmering debate over the limits,
if any, of material posted on the Web. Champions of a freewheeling
Internet often claim that it is self-correcting, since hundreds of
'editors', or readers, visit websites and will catch errors. But the
slander against Seigenthaler sat on the Wikipedia site for four
months.

Other supporters say the Web is more transparent than other anonymous
sources, because postings can be traced -- with enough diligence or
with a subpoena. The very fact that an Internet watchdog was able to
track Chase's electronic fingerprints to his workplace shows the
system is working, they claim. But Wikipedia seems to thrive on
drive-by postings; its guidelines offer hints for how users can shield
their identities, including avoiding company computers.

Wikipedia, a non-profit, all-volunteer effort, is a phenomenal
success, with millions of listings in 82 languages. But its idealistic
mission to be a 'global digital commons' is easily undercut by sloppy
or unscrupulous contributors. Given its immense reach, a disclaimer
notice and caveat emptor don't seem good enough.

One step in the right direction is Wikipedia's decision to require all
of its contributors to register with the site. Another would be to
give better play to 'editors' who are willing to sign their work.

Rather than holding Wikipedia or other sites liable for the actions of
the unruly masses, which could chill the vigorous, free exchange the
Internet should be, websites need to find ways to be more
accountable. Even the global village needs to police its town common.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company, originally Boston Globe.

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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at
http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html

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

From: BBC News Wire <bbc@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Vonage Has Fresh Backing; Says it Has Raised $250 Million
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:40:52 -0600


Fresh backing for web phone firm

Broadband phone company Vonage has said it has raised $250m (&pount;142m) to
help finance the expansion of its network.

The US firm, which enables people to make calls over the web using their
home phones, said it acquired the funds from a group of private investors.

Vonage is one of a number of companies focusing on internet telephony,
known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

The financing could be the private firm's last before it goes public,
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Growth prospects

Vonage managers are understood to be exploring the possibility of
floating the company on the stock market.

However, a deal which could see the firm sold to a separate buyer
could also materialise, the newspaper said.

Vonage has more than a million customers in the US and recently
launched operations in the UK.

Investors are increasingly excited at the prospects for growth among
VoIP companies, which offer users phone calls at substantially lower
prices than traditional fixed-line firms.

In September, online auction giant eBay agreed to buy internet
telephone firm Skype Technologies for $2.6bn.

The latest round of investment in Vonage brings the total amount
raised by the company to $658m.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/4542340.stm

Published: 2005/12/19 14:01:21 GMT

Copyright 2005 BBC

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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For more news headlines from BBC, along with BBC World Service Audio,
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------------------------------

From: kimi <kimi777@gmail.com>
Subject: VOIP Learning
Date: 21 Dec 2005 19:22:46 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


For VOIP learning, check out our web site at:

http://www.freewebs.com/voipformula/VoIP-HOWTO.html

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

Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:20:34 -0700
From: Anthony Bellanga <anthonybellanga@spampoison.com>
Subject: Caller ID/etc. (Dumb Question on Do Not Call)


*** PAT: PLEASE MASK MY EMAIL ADDRESS! ***

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note:

> The 'reject anonymous calls' condition only applies if the caller
> _deliberatly_ inserted *67 to withhold his number.  That condition
> will not work if the failure to deliver ID is due to a telco
> shortcoming, such as the type of switch used by the sending telco,
> etc. The 'reject anonymous' condition relies on the sending telco
> specifically saying 'do not say who is calling'. In your case the
> sending telco is not saying that, it just does not know who the
> caller is or else the details somehow got lost in the switching
> matrix on the way. But it did not _deny_ or _hide_ anything at the
> caller's request.

So far, so good.

> You still have a way around it however. Subscribe through your telco
> to *60 (I think that is called 'reject these callers' in many
> places). *60 answers you and says 'enter the number to be rejected'
> or words to that effect and from that point on _that_ caller gets a
> message saying you are not taking calls at this time.

Well, still so good for now.

> Now I heard your next question already: if you do not know _who_ is
> calling, how are you supposed to block them?  Good question. The *60
> recording also tells you 'to reject the last call you received,
> whether or not you know the number, press (some) key.' I think
> around here it is '01' or something. You press whatever you were
> told, and the Operator-Bot responds, "Thank you! That number is a
> _private_ entry." But none the less it has been blocked.  Your telco
> has a 'local cache' of the last call you placed/ received and it
> uses that entry to do the blocking.

But this too works ONLY if the terminating telco has that number
delivered to it along the way. IF the calling number is simply "not
available" because of the various reasons you above itemized, you
won't be able to "Call Block" that last incoming number.  However, IF
that caller deliberately used *67 to suppress delivery of their number
at the called end, as long as the telcos along the line have that
number, you can use "Call Block". However, in most cases, this will
ONLY work on Intra LATA numbers.

The number has to be deliverable via the SS7 signaling network,
(although the number might be suppressed for "final delivery", at the
calling party's *67 request) for the called party to be able to add
that "last incoming number" or specifically entered number on to their
"Call Block" list. And the list is limited to anywhere from six to
twelve entries, depending on local telco policy or your type of local
switching equipment equipment (Lucent 5ESS vs. Nortel DMS-100, and
even differences with different "generics").

> If your telco offers 'return last call' service (*68 I think),

It's *69 in most places in the US and Canada, not *68.

> then you can also use that service to return the last call and find
> out what the 'important business matter' is all about.  Both 'return
> last call' and 'reject this caller' service are sold by most telcos
> these days.  PAT]

In most places, *69 will quote the number of the last incoming number
if it isn't flagged as "private" with *69; AND the number must also
have been properly "delivered" via the SS7 signaling network -- i.e.,
it can not be "unavailable" or "unknown" or "out of area". You are
also allowed a "conenct back" option after the quote, by pressing or
dialing (or saying?) "one", but this "connect back" will not work if
the calling number was inter LATA.  I don't know if the "connect back"
option works if the calling number was flagged as "private" or
"blocked" with *69.

Adding numbes to a "Call Block" list or doing a *69 "connect back"
might also NOT be allowed on certain classes of lines/numbers, even if
the "number" was delivered. Many times, such calling numbers (which
have been delivered/deliverable) as payphones, cellphones, PBX lines
(and various types of PBX lines, such as outbound trunk lines, billing
number only lines, actual PBX extensions, etc), centrex lines, CLEC
numbers, etc. are NOT allowed to be "queue'd back for a *69 connect
back" nor to be added to a "Call Block" list.

You might be able to get a "quote back" (of some kind) on *69, and you
might be able to see "some" kind of number on your CID box, but don't
expect perfect inter-operation with *60 Call Blcck or *69
Quote-back/Connect-Back. And to even be "possible" to work, the number
must be SS7-delivered (even if the calling party did *69 or their line
is flagged as a *69 type line), and it must usually be intra-LATA, to
be able to fully work.

About the only thing that MIGHT work on "unavailable" or "unknown" or
"out-of-area" numbers (and remember that calls from overseas are
usually flagged as "out of area" unless you have full ISDN or similar
features as well as everyone else down the line too), is to get
"Privacy Manager". This will divert the call to the local terminating
telco's platform asking the calling party to enter their ten-digit
telephone number, etc. Of course, I assume you remember that even this
has drawbacks, such as invalid ten-digit strings (invalid area codes,
invalid format c.o.codes, etc) being able to "pass through" the
Privacy Manager restricor. Thus, a totally invalid number such as
000-000-0000 or 999-888-7777 or whatever can still bypass "Privacy
Manager" and ring your phone!

Anthony


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: An intertesting experiment to try is to
'ping' a distant number and see if it is in the type of central office
where this can be done. Using the *60 function, dial some random
number in anther area code on the opposite coast of the country, three
thousand miles away. Please note how the equipment will sit there a
bit longer than if it was in your own area. Apparently your central
office has to 'ping' the other end to wake it up and see what it is
about: After typically 15-20 seconds (a much longer time than if you
were calling somewhere in your telco's operating territory) the
Operator-Bot will return and say one of these things: (1) either you 
have, indeed, blocked out the requested number [in which case you can
turn around and immediatly unblock it, if it matters] or (2) "I am 
sorry, but that number cannot be blocked" or (3) "I am sorry, that 
number cannot be blocked _at this time_, please try again in a few
minutes."  I think what response #3 means is that your telco went and
knocked on the door there, was told at some previous point that yes,
those numbers could be blocked, but the distant central office did 
not respond 'quick enough' to the 'ping message' and your central 
office got tired of waiting and walked away. But ask again, in a 
minute or two, your central office will be glad to go over there 
and knock on the door again, and maybe make it that time.  

It sort of reminds me of how many years ago when the internet was
newer and still in need of tweaking now and then, a large mailing list
like this one (in the olden, text-message only days of email/Usenet, I
had _thousands_ of names on the telecom list in the bcc area [still
have several hundred readers via email, but many/most of you now read
this on the 'web'])I would encounter difficulty in mailing. I'd get
back notices from the postmaster-bot saying delivery had failed,
during 'user open with' which meant that some site somewhere had
opened its gate to let me and my list in, but before the entire list
to that location got in the door, the other site got tired of waiting
and closed the gate on me. I'd have to break the list into a few parts
and mail specifically to that site only as a separate thing. When MCI
Mail was a big thing, I had three or four hundred readers via MCI Mail
which was notorious for closing the gate before all the readers at
that site could get their copies. 

I also had the same trouble with Usenet sometimes: I'd get to some
'backbone site' to drop off the current comp.dcom.telecom messages and
in the middle of my posting of the new messages, a second or two after
I got there, let's say UUNET as an example, some other newsgroup
moderator with five or ten times as many messages that day as I had
would arrive. The way the system was set up, the 'last' newsgroup to
arrive inbound with new messages always took control of the process,
so I could not get out of there and move on to my next stop until _he_
was finished with his drop as well. And sometimes it took _him_ a long
time to make his drop; I had to sit and tap my toes waiting for him to
finish his drop. Where many large-volume Usenet message posters (such
as group moderators) drop everything in the stream at one location
(where they work out of) and let it float down the news stream on its
own, for quite a few years I have used software called 'nntpxmit'
which speeds me along rapidly to the large Usenet distribution points
where I have permission to post directly, the theory being that it is
quicker to get back a response of 'SEEN IT' a dozen times to the
new messages [because one of my other distribution points was quick and
beat me to the punch in delivery before I could get to the next place
on my own] than it is to say 'I HAVE' (message serial number) a dozen
times and wait for acknowlegement from the other end. Even so,
sometimes even today, I will fire up NNTPXMIT and start it making its
rounds, get to one stop, tell it IHAVE (number), it will sit there
looking at it for a couple seconds, some other newsgroup arrives,
bumps me aside, takes over the process, and I may be awhile getting
my deliveries done, in which case I just do <control-c> and start over
hoping for faster delivery. I get all the way around the world to my
primary Usenet sites in less than a minute if I am lucky.  PAT]  

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

From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com>
Reply-To: Die@spammers.com
Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc.  (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co.
Subject: Re: The Letter From valent@mailrus.ru
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 02:15:13 GMT


Philip TAYLOR wrote:

>> In article <telecom24.566.15@telecom-digest.org>, TELECOM Digest
>> Editor noted in response to a message from Valentin
>> <valent@mailrus.ru>:

>>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I thought about this message for quite
>>> awhile, and although it would probably qualify as spam (by virtue of
>>> how many copies were distributed, I personally do not think it is a
>>> scam.

>> It's spam.

>> Spam is theft.

>> Therefore, it's a scam.

>> If he's so hard up, where did he get the resources to spam with?

>> Wasn't there just a thread on why spam continues, because so many
>> idiots send money to spammers? Some are suckers for bigger bodyparts,
>> others for free money, others for helping the needy. All of those are
>> reasons that spam continues.

>> Seth

> It may be spam.  It may even be a scam.  Or it may be genuine.  If
> it's genuine, then we -- the recipients -- are in a position to help
> soneone in genuine need.  If it's a scam, then we may end up a little
> poorer, and the scammer a little richer, but on balance, does it
> matter?  It's hardly in the same league as the Nigerian scam (and
> anyone who falls for that needs their brains tested), so isn't it
> worth risking losing a few rubles /kopeks/whatever ?  I think it is.

> Philip Taylor

Most if not all of the Nigerian scams have moved to the East European 
countries like Russia and Romania, and those people are really nasty, I 
let loose on one with some nasty language and got a threat back from 
them before Yahoo France pulled the plug on the e-mail address.

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

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

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: Mexican Officials Say Bush Fence Blocking Plan is Stupid
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 20:12:21 -0800
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


Will Weissert wrote:

> Mexico's foreign secretary Monday leveled his country's sharpest
> criticism yet at U.S. proposal for a fence along parts of its southern
> border, condemning it as "stupid" and "underhanded."

And they've hired a Dallas PR firm to convince Americans that illegal
immigration is OK. Today, KFI-AM 640 (Los Angeles) interviewed Rob
Allyn, owner of the PR firm in question. Allyn was mostly evasive, and
when KFI's John and Ken asked what made it ok for Mexico to punish
illegal immigrants but insist that we not punish theirs, he refused to
answer. He repeatedly called John and Ken racist and xenophobic even
after they pointed out that they were only opposed to ILLEGAL
immigration, not all immigration.

http://www.kfi640.com/

http://johnandkenshow.com/

On the show's website there is a link to archived shows. I hope they
post the interview. It was ... enlightening. Apparently the attitude of
many immigrants -- that Americans owe them something - trickles down
from Mexico City, because the Mexican federal government seems
incensed that we are proposing erecting a fence to make it harder for
the illegals to cross our borders.

> Reacting Sunday to the bill's approval, Mexican President Vicente Fox
> said "this wall is shameful," 

What's Fox doing to improve his own economy and bring up his own
citizens' standard for living? That's the real question.

Incidentally, Rob Allyn's corporate web site is http://www.allynco.com

Steve Sobol, Professional Geek   888-480-4638   PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

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

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: Dumb Question About "Do Not Call"
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 20:13:29 -0800
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


Lena wrote:

> It clams to block "anonymous and unidentified numbers" Been tempted to
> try it, and then the telemarketers go away, so I forget about it.
> There is also the configuration problem; how does it block all the
> phones in the house.  Can I mount it where the line comes in, and then
> tie all the phones to it?  They sell "remotes", but that drives the
> cost up.  Verizon has this "iobi" service that appears to have the
> ability to block unwanted calls.  It costs $4.95 per month when added
> to a "Freedom" package ($7.95 without).  More flexibility, it seems,
> than the Privacy Corps Caller ID.

iobi is supposed to do quite a bit more than just block unwanted
calls. As far as telemarketing is concerned, I put us on the federal
DNC list and that seems to have worked quite well for us.

Steve Sobol, Professional Geek   888-480-4638   PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Company website: http://JustThe.net/
Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/
E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307

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

From: Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu>
Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Police Had to Convince Lottery Winner it was Real
Organization: Symantec
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 17:33:53 -0500


In article <telecom24.573.13@telecom-digest.org>, Reuters News Wire
<reuters@telecom-digest.org wrote:

> A lottery company had to call the police to convince an elderly German
> woman that she had hit the jackpot, police said Tuesday.

Most of the lottery mail is obviously a scam because they claim you
won a lottery that you never actually entered.  If this woman won
something, she must have really purchased a lottery ticket, in which
case it's reasonable to assume that the jackpot is real.

Also, the scams ask the "winner" to pay some fee to secure their
winnings.  A real lottery would not, so there's nothing to worry about
in those mails.


Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu
Arlington, MA
*** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***
*** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***

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


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