TELECOM Digest     Thu, 22 Dec 2005 19:40:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 575

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Huge Waves, Flooding in Southern California (Associated Press News Wire)
    Disney and Zazzle Work Together (Gina Keating)
    Luxury E-tailers Waiting For Christmas Rush (Alexandria Sage)
    Spam Wars Still Rage, Critics Say (Grand Gross, IDG News Service)
    EU Threatens Microsoft with Fines (Paul Taylor)
    France Lawmakers Endorse File Sharing (Laurence Frost)
    Cellular-News for Thursday 22nd December 2005 (Cellular-News)
    Cell Phone Extenders? (AES)
    Ericsson Seeks New Growth in Telecom Services (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Major Milestone Reached in IETF Administrative Restructuring (Peter Godwin)
    Re: Through His Webcam, a Teenage Boy Joins a Sordid Online World (Hancock)
    Re: VOIP Learning (jmeissen@aracnet.com)
    Re: NYC Transit Strike Midst Cold Weather and Christmas (Howard S. Wharton)

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: Associated Press News Wire <ap@telecom-digest.org< 
Subject: Huge Waves, Flooding in Southern Calif
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:33:05 -0600


Huge Waves Crash Onto California Coast

Huge waves pounded the Southern California coast Wednesday, forcing
the rescue of struggling surfers, closing piers and causing minor
flooding.

The National Weather Service warned of breakers 15 feet to 20 feet or
higher in coastal areas northwest of Los Angeles, and waves exceeding
15 feet along San Diego County.

The swells were generated by storms in the Pacific, but the first day
of winter in Southern California was summerlike and crowds gathered on
beaches to watch the churning surf.

The piers at Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo
Beach were closed, said Los Angeles County lifeguard Capt. Terry
Harvey. In San Diego County, piers at Ocean Beach and Imperial Beach
also were closed.

"We're trying to warn surfers that we have high surf and strong rip
currents and they should use extreme caution," said Venice Beach
lifeguard Capt. Mike Cunningham.

At Seal Beach, a surfer trying to ride big waves broke a leg when he
was thrown into the sand, said lifeguard Capt. Ross Pounds.

Huge surf also pounded San Diego's beaches. In Encinitas, a north San
Diego suburb, thousands of spectators -- mothers with strollers,
bicyclists in helmets, and businessmen in suits and ties -- stopped
for a glimpse. In San Diego, extra lifeguards were posted.

"This is the kind of day we all wait for," John Roseman, who rode
waves in La Jolla, told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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

For more Associated Press news and headlines, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Upon first seeing this headline in the
news feed, I wondered if it was a sort of 'minature tsuami', and I
have heard elsewhere that there is a dangerous 'crack' in the ocean
just off the coast of middle/southern California which is just waiting
for an earthquake in that spot which will force a _real_ tsuami. Is
that right or wrong?   PAT] 

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

From: Gina Keating <reuters@telecom-digest.org>  
Subject: Disney Launches Web Personalization with Zizzle
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 22:35:15 -0600


By Gina Keating

The Walt Disney Co.'s online shopping site on Wednesday launched its first
"You design it" feature in a move aimed at riding the fast- growing trend
toward giving choosy Internet shoppers exactly what they want.

Disney partnered with online customization site Zazzle.com, which
licenses thousands of images from Warner Bros., Marvel Comics Inc.,
Lucasfilm Ltd.  and 20th Century Fox, among others, and also allows
users to sell their own art for use on personalized T-shirts, greeting
cards and postage stamps.

It took Disney, which aggressively protects its copyrights, about two
years to figure out how to open its vast art archives, while
controlling how consumers could use its characters.

"Disney very much wanted to create the Disney experience and insure
products we ultimately sell to consumers protect the brand and
reinforce a lot of what it stands for," Zazzle co-founder and Chief
Executive Robert Beaver said. "That was our challenge from an
engineering standpoint."

Zazzle's Disney boutique, which can be accessed via disneyshopping.com
and disneyinkshop.com, allows consumers to select a Disney character,
T-shirt style and color and to add a name or phrase from an approved
list.

The 4,000-plus Disney images can also be used on stamps or greeting
cards on Zazzle.

Disney, which has long allowed customers to add their names to items
sold at its stores and theme parks, is "constantly looking to add
personalized items for guests," said David Barad, Disney's vice
president of marketing for Disneyshopping.com.

"Everything we look at we are now looking at ways to let the guest
make it their own," Barad said.

Online holiday shopping was expected to reach $26 billion in 2005, an
18 percent increase over 2004, according to JupiterResearch.

Sales of Disney personalized products were expected to rise 25 percent
to 35 percent over last year's holiday quarter, Barad
said. Personalized products made up 10 percent to 12 percent of Disney
Shopping's overall business last year and were expected to grow to 15
percent, he said.

"Of the items that we have for personalization, over 90 percent (of
consumers) personalize them," Barad said. "That is telling us pretty
powerfully that they want to personalize it."

The partnership with Zazzle allows Disney to market its secondary
characters, which usually are not licensed by traditional retailers
and to tap into emerging, consumer-driven trends, Barad said.

"That's the great thing with the Zazzle business -- we can try to take
advantage of characters we didn't see (as pop culture icons)," he
said.

Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc. and 20th Century Fox is
owned by News Corp.


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

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

From: Alexandria Sage <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: U.S. Luxury E-tailers Await Last Minute Shoppers
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:39:20 -0600


By Alexandria Sage

Online diamond and jewelry retailer Blue Nile Inc. knows a thing or
two about waiting until the last minute to buy those opulent holiday
gifts.

Last year, a mere 14 minutes before the shipping deadline to guarantee
delivery by Christmas, a procrastinating shopper clicked to buy his
soon-to-be fiancee's engagement ring.

"We're here to save all those guys who are shopping at the last
minute," said Blue Nile spokesman John Baird, who expects men to
procrastinate just as much this year as they have in the past until
the final days before Christmas loom.

But industry analysts are mixed over how luxury online retailers are
faring this holiday season.

Providing a boost may be mall-averse men -- a National Retail
Federation survey found that 18 percent of them hadn't started their
holiday shopping as of last weekend -- together with consumers'
increasing comfort level with shelling out hundreds, if not thousands,
of dollars on Internet purchases.

Others note that high-end online gift buying is being supplanted by
visits -- even among the rich -- to online portals of discounters like
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Tracking firm comScore Networks found that luxury goods and jewelry
sites were the fastest-growing Internet shopping category last month
with 16.4 million visitors, a 39 percent jump over October. There is
no way to know what percentage were browsing and how many actually
ended up making purchases.

"We're seeing a very strong season again online," said comScore
Chairman Gian Fulgoni, citing 30 percent more high speed Internet
connections over last year and improved faith in Internet
security. "With the Internet, (consumers) are starting to buy in a
broader range of categories."

Through December 19, holiday sales in the jewelry and watch category
grew 13 percent over last year, he said, below the overall increase of
24 percent, while apparel, home and garden, and furniture have all
grown more than 30 percent over last year.

Analysts agree that consumers are gradually finding the idea of buying
a $123,000 Blue Nile diamond, a $1,400 cashmere wrap from
NeimanMarcus.com or a $900 Coach.com python purse all the more
natural.

"Consumers start out with books and as they become more comfortable
buying on the Internet, they climb the average selling price ladder,"
said Scott Devitt, analyst with Stifel Nicolaus. "Before you know it,
they're buying expensive jewelry on the Internet."

CROSS-CURRENTS

Heather Dougherty, analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings, said the online
luxury category is particularly strong at the holidays "because of the
way it reflects on the gift giver and recipient -- someone cared
enough to buy this upscale gift."

But some point out that the online winners this year are discounters,
who have wooed not only lower-income shoppers, but the affluent to
boot.

A survey by Internet measurement firm Hitwise found that unique visits
to 15 luxury online retailers for the week ending December 17 were
relatively flat over last year. Exceptions included Bergdorf Goodman,
owned by Neiman Marcus Group Inc., where online visits jumped 159
percent.

Hitwise analyst Bill Tancer said that consumers who earn over $100,000
make up a quarter and a fifth of traffic at Costco.com and
Overstock.com, respectively.

At Wal-Mart.com, the demographics of shoppers are more upscale than
the average consumer in the stores, said comScore's Fulgoni,
attributing the difference to "less of a stigma" attached to shopping
online.

Nevertheless, Blue Nile this holiday expanded their high-ticket
product line, offering 50 items above $10,000 compared with a mere
dozen last Christmas.

For the first three quarters of 2005, Blue Nile said, sales of items
priced above $20,000 increased 72 percent over last year. And the
biggest quarter is the fourth, since 40 percent of engagements occur
between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day.

Blue Nile Chief Executive Mark Vadon said the company's goal this
holiday is to keep the right merchandise stocked and ready for
shipment in the last days before Christmas.

"What we're trying to do is keep shipping up to that last minute and
allow people in that final week to still be online and not go into the
store," Vadon said.

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

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

From: Grant Gross <idg@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Spam Wars Still Rage, Critics Say
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:42:02 -0600


Grant Gross, IDG News Service

WASHINGTON-- Some antispam vendors and computer users don't see the
same picture the Federal Trade Commission viewed in its recent report
that many people now get less unsolicited commercial e-mail in their
inboxes than two years ago.

The spam problem isn't shrinking, said Ray Everett-Church, counsel for
the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail and author of the
new book, "Fighting Spam for Dummies."

"Technology has improved incrementally in the last year, but spam
volumes remain at all-time highs by most measures," Everett-Church
said.

FTC Claims Success

The FTC, in a report to Congress on Tuesday, said antispam filtering
technology and a two-year-old federal law have contributed to less
spam showing up in inboxes. The total amount of spam being sent
appears to be "leveling off," if not declining, but spam filters are
catching most of it, the FTC said.

The CAN-SPAM Act, signed into law in late 2003, has also helped fight
spam, by setting standards for mass e-mail marketing and by allowing
about 50 lawsuits against spammers that were filed by the FTC, law
enforcement agencies and Internet companies in the last two years, the
FTC said.  CAN-SPAM has given law enforcement agencies and ISPs "tools
to deal with outlaw spammers," said Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC
Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Spam-filtering technology is also a reason computer users are seeing
less spam, according to the FTC. Asked CAN-SPAM's contribution
compared to spam filters, Parnes said Tuesday she didn't know.

"It's very difficult to parse out the effect of the law versus the
technological advances," she said. "The act has given us a set of best
practices for companies that use commercial e-mail. That is very
important."

Bulging Inboxes

Others question the FTC's conclusions.

"The FTC might be seeing less spam, but I'm not!" Don Smutny, a Web
site administrator and software developer, wrote in an e-mail reacting
to the FTC report. "I get just as much spam today as I did two years
ago, it's just not all from people that want to sell me
pharmaceuticals. Now, they want me to give them bank account and
credit card information to 'verify my account.'"

Smutny, from Kansas City, Missouri, said he's seen a big increase in
"phishing" e-mail trying to trick recipients into giving up their
personal information. Smutny's employer uses spam-filtering technology
that catches about 75 percent of spam, but the amount of spam coming
into the company has not decreased, he said.

"I don't know just how the FTC measured the amount of spam being sent,
but they didn't measure it at the ISP level," Smutny added. "This is
where a tremendous portion of spam is filtered out, and the ISPs'
customers never even see it. That doesn't mean it wasn't sent,
however."

While the FTC focused more on the amount of spam hitting inboxes
instead of the total amount of spam being sent, the unfiltered volume
of unsolicited messages is a problem, Everett-Church said.

Filtering has provided incremental improvements for end users, but it
doesn't make the problem go away," he said. "The costs are still
there, being borne by the ISPs and businesses."

Everett-Church called for technology vendors to push harder for
efforts to add user authentication to the e-mail system. "Today's
technology improvements are eking a few more horsepower out of an
already overworked engine," he said. "We need a new, better engine,
but nobody is willing to make the investment yet."

Vendors Skeptical

Two antispam vendors agreed with the FTC that filtering is largely
working, but question the effectiveness of CAN-SPAM, which stands for
Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and
Marketing. It's difficult to argue CAN-SPAM had "any kind of real
impact" on the volume of spam, said Scott Chasin, chief technology
officer for MX Logic.

MX Logic found that 68 percent of e-mail traffic it scanned in 2005
was spam, down from 77 percent in 2004. But only 4 percent of
unsolicited commercial e-mail complied with CAN-SPAM in 2005, up from
3 percent in 2004, the company said earlier this month. CAN-SPAM
requires that commercial e-mail include several items, such as a
working return e-mail address, a valid postal address for the sending
company, a working opt-out mechanism and a relevant subject line.

"Overall, the vast majority of [e-mail] traffic on the Internet --
about 85-90 pecent -- is still spam-related content," Chasin said.

Chasin did call CAN-SPAM necessary, saying it has helped educate
legitimate e-mail marketers about acceptable practices.

Jordan Ritter, founder and chief technology officer of antispam vendor
Cloudmark, agreed, but noted that only legitimate marketers have
followed CAN-SPAM's rules. Although the FTC said no changes to
CAN-SPAM are needed, Ritter called for additions to the law to better
define spam and good practices.

"The problem is the people who aren't following the law can't be
found," Ritter added.

Chasin, however, said better technology is the answer to continued
spam problems. "The road map from the technology side in fighting the
spam problem will continue to evolve," he said. "However, the road map
of the spammers will continue to evolve as well."

Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
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------------------------------

From: Paul Taylor <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: EU Threatens Microsoft with Fines
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:43:25 -0600


By Paul Taylor

Europe's competition regulator threatened U.S. software giant
Microsoft with daily fines on Thursday for failing to comply with
antitrust sanctions a year after a top European Union court ruled it
must obey.

The European Commission said it may fine Microsoft up to 2 million
euros ($2.37 million) a day unless it complies with an order to
provide key information to allow rivals' group servers to work with
its ubiquitous Windows operating system.

"I have given Microsoft every opportunity to comply with its
obligations.  However, I have been left with no alternative other than
to proceed via the formal route to ensure Microsoft's compliance," EU
Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said in a statement.

Shares in Microsoft fell 18 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $26.55 in midday
Nasdaq trading while the Nasdaq Composite index was up 0.4 percent.

The Brussels EU executive said Microsoft had five weeks, until January
25, to reply and show it was in compliance with the EU demands. Any
fines would be retroactive to December 15, it said.

Microsoft called the move unjustified and said it was doing its best
to obey the European antitrust watchdog's landmark March 2004 ruling,
but that Brussels kept piling on new demands.

The company vowed to contest the latest decision to the full extent
allowed by EU law including by demanding an oral hearing, which can
take months to organize, stringing out the procedure.

Alan Davis, a technology analyst with brokers McAdams Wright Ragen in
New York, said the threatened fine could come to about $600 million a
year after taxes and would cut his full-year earnings forecast of
$1.33 by 5.5 cents a share or 4 percent.

"It would be significant, but not devastating," Davis told
Reuters. But he added that he expected Microsoft to act at the last
minute to avoid having to pay the fine.

"They've tended to do things at the 11th hour," he said. "It's a cat
and mouse game with Microsoft. I doubt that it will happen."

Oracle Corp. a business software maker and one of Microsoft's most
vocal critics, applauded the EU decision.

"We are very pleased with the Commission's decision," Oracle spokesman
Bob Wynne said in a statement.

The Commission ruled in 2004 Microsoft had abused its global dominance
by leveraging its near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems
and for media players to squelch rivals.

It imposed a record 497 million euro fine and forced Microsoft to sell
a version of Windows without the Windows Media Player software used to
watch films and listen to music, giving rivals a fairer chance to
compete.

At stake now is a part of that decision requiring Microsoft "to
disclose complete and accurate interface documentation which would
allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full
interoperability with Windows PCs and servers."

GOAL POSTS

Microsoft said in a statement the Commission's latest demand "can open
the door to the production of clones of parts of the Windows operating
system" and went beyond the scope of the original EU decision.

"We have now responded to more than 100 requests from the
Commission. We continue working quickly to meet the Commission's new
and changing demands.  Yet every time we make a change, we find that
the Commission moves the goal post and demands another change," said
Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith.

The Commission said that in its view, supported by two reports from a
Monitoring Trustee appointed by mutual agreement, Microsoft had not
yet provided full specifications.

The Court of First Instance, the EU's second-highest court, rejected
Microsoft's appeal to suspend the measures last December and warned it
would face a daily fine if it did not comply with its obligation by
December 15, 2005.

The software giant's appeal against the substance of the EU antitrust
case is still pending and the Court of First Instance hopes to hold a
hearing by early spring.

EU Competition spokesman Jonathan Todd said Microsoft would also have
a right to appeal any fines to the EU courts.

It was the first time the EU executive had made use of new powers
enacted last year to impose daily penalties for noncompliance in
antitrust cases, he told a news conference.

"CAT AND MOUSE GAME"

The Commission said that Microsoft had indeed revised the interopera-
bility information it was obliged to disclose, but the data was
incomplete and inaccurate.

The Monitoring Trustee had found that "any programmer or programming
team seeking to use the Technical Documentation for a real development
exercise would be wholly and completely unable to proceed on the basis
of the documentation."

"Overall, the process of using the documentation is an absolutely
frustrating, time-consuming and ultimately fruitless task," the
Commission quoted the trustee, British Professor Neil Barrett, as
saying.

Todd said the company could ask for an extension of the deadline as
well as an oral hearing, which would be open to member states and all
interested parties.

Asked whether an oral hearing would delay the imposition of fines,
Todd told reporters: "The deadline is five weeks. ... If they don't
comply, they'll have to pay the fine every day."

He said other issues remained open in its appraisal of the Microsoft
case, including the royalties charged by Microsoft for
interoperability information.

(Additional reporting by Marie-Louise Moller and Marcin Grajewski in
Brussels and Jim Finkle in New York)

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited.

NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the
daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at
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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: Laurence Frost <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: France Lawmakers Endorse File Sharing
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:45:37 -0600


By LAURENCE FROST, AP Business Writer

A French government crackdown on digital piracy backfired Thursday as
lawmakers rebelled by endorsing amendments to legalize the online
sharing of music and movies instead of punishing it.

The vote by members of France's lower house dealt a setback to Culture
Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, who introduced the draft
legislation.  Showbiz and cultural celebrities protested the latest
move, an indication that the amendments' supporters may eventually
have to back down.

Under the original proposals, those caught pirating copy-protected
material would have faced $360,000 in fines and up to three years in
jail.

An 11th-hour government offer to give illegal downloaders two warnings
prior to prosecution was not enough to stem the rebellion. Instead,
the amendments voted would legalize file-sharing by anyone paying a
monthly royalties duty estimated at $8.50.

Music labels and movie distributors have suggested the amendments
would break international laws on intellectual property, and French
actors and musicians lined up to condemn the surprise vote.

"To legalize the downloading of our music, almost free of charge, is
to kill our work," venerable rocker Johnny Hallyday said in a
statement.

The actors' and musicians' branch of France's largest trade union, the
CFDT, said the plan "would mean the death of our country's music and
audiovisual industries."

The proposed royalties duty amounts to a "Sovietization" of the arts,
said Bernard Miyet, president of the French music composers' and
publishers' organization SACEM.

"You're talking about an administered price, set by a commission
without regard to the music and film economy," Miyet said.

But UFC-Que Choisir, France's largest consumer group, said the plan
would create a "new area of freedom allowing Internet users access to
cultural diversity and fair payment for creators."

Days before the parliamentary debate, consumer activists delivered a
110,000-signature petition to the culture ministry criticizing the
draft bill. The right of consumers to make copies of their music and
videos for private use is enshrined in European law, and media
companies have faced legal action in France for selling copy-protected
CDs and DVDs.

The ruling conservatives' parliamentary leader, Bernard Accoyer,
rejected government demands for a fresh vote Thursday, saying
lawmakers will first take time to listen to all sides, "in particular
the artists and creators."

The final lower-house vote is not expected until after Jan. 17, when
deputies return from their winter break. The bill requires only one
further vote in the Senate to become law, under the emergency
procedure invoked by the government to comply with a 2001 European
Union directive on digital piracy.

Associated Press Writer Emmanuel Georges-Picot 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 news and headlines from Associated Press please go to:
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------------------------------

Subject: Cellular-News for Thursday 22nd December 2005
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 08:46:54 -0600
From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com>


Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com

[[ Financial ]]

Swiss Government Sets New Swisscom Ground Rules
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15345.php

The Swiss government Wednesday said incumbent telecommunications
operator Swisscom will be allowed to take on a maximum of CHF5 billion
in debt for acquisitions and investments as long as it doesn't buy
foreign companies with a universal service obli...

KDDI: Eyes Digital Service Ties With Broadcasters -Nikkei
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15339.php

Japan's KDDI Corp. hopes to form a business tie-up with broadcasting
stations when starting a new digital service rather than a capital
alliance with them, KDDI President Tadashi Onodera said Wednesday. ...

Japan's NTT DoCoMo To Buy 2.6% Stake In Fuji TV
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15340.php

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Wednesday it will take a 2.6% stake in Fuji
Television Network Inc., as part of its preparations for a new digital
broadcasting service for cellphone users. ...

Russia's MTS brings its stake in Sibintertelecom to 100%
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15342.php

Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS, has
increased its stake in Russia's regional mobile operator
Sibintertelecom to 100% by purchasing a 6.3% stake from regional
telecommunications company Sibirtelecom and a 0.17% stake f...

Yevtushenkov criticizes Russia's MTS management
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15343.php

During a conference call late Tuesday AFK Sistema's CEO Vladimir
Yevtushenkov criticized the management of Russia's largest mobile
operator MTS for the company's flat share price performance this year,
Aton Capital said in its daily report for inve...

Alcatel's Chinese unit to open representative office in Belarus
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15346.php

China's Alcatel Shanghai Bell, a subsidiary of French telecom
equipment producer Alcatel, plans to set up a representative office in
Belarus, Alexander Popov, director of Alcatel's
representative office in Belarus, told reporters Wednesday. ...

Telefonica Moviles Buys Remaining 8% Stake Of Mexico Unit
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15347.php

Spanish mobile phone operator Telefonica Moviles, Wednesday said it
has agreed to acquire the 8% stake in its Mexican unit that it didn't
already own, for EUR177 million. ...

[[ Interviews ]]

INTERVIEW: Ericsson Sees Quick Integration Of Marconi
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15348.php

Telefon AB LM Ericsson expects to integrate Marconi PLC into the
company quickly and aims to complete most of the process in the first
half of next year, a senior executive told Dow Jones Newswires
Wednesday. ...

Altimo's CEO says won't sell Russian, CIS telecom assets
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15351.php

Russia's Altimo, or Alfa Telecom International Mobile, which manages
the telecommunications assets of its parent company Alfa Group, does
not plan to sell any of its Russian, CIS or other assets, Altimo's CEO
Alexei Reznikovich said in an interview, ...

[[ Legal ]]

German Banker Awaits Word On Possible Mannesmann Retrial
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15338.php

BERLIN (AP)--Germany's most prominent banker awaited a decision
Wednesday on whether he and five others would face retrial over large
payments to executives during the 2000 takeover of Mannesmann AG by
Vodafone Group PLC. ...

German Court Overturns Verdict In Mannesmann Case
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15341.php

A German federal court Wednesday overturned the verdict in the
so-called Mannesmann trial, meaning the defendants likely face
retrial. ...

[[ MVNO ]]

SingTel Declines Comment On Virgin Mobile Australia Talks
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15337.php

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. declined to comment Wednesday on a
report that said it is close to announcing a deal to buy the 75% of
Virgin Mobile Australia it does not already own. ...

[[ Personnel ]]

Polish Polkomtel CEO Jaroslaw Pachowski Resigns
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15349.php

Chief executive officer at Poland's third-largest mobile telephone
operator Polkomtel, Jaroslaw Pachowski, resigned Wednesday, the
company's supervisory board chairman Andrzej Szczepek told Dow Jones
Newswires. ...

[[ Statistics ]]

M6 Beats 200,000 Subscriber Target For Mobile Services
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15344.php

M6 mobile, the mobile phone service of French private television
M6-Metropole Television and France Telecom's mobile operator Orange
said Wednesday that it beat its own target of 200,000 subscribers. ...

Russia's MegaFon Northwest user base up 35% on year
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15350.php

The subscriber base of Russia's third largest national GSM mobile
operator MegaFon in the Northwest Federal District increased 35% on
the year to 5.4 million users this year, the commercial director of
the company's Northwest branch Nikolai Demen...

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

From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
Subject: Cell Phone Extenders?
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 09:00:06 -0800
Organization: Stanford University


I'd appreciate any practical, specific advice on the feasibility of a
modest-cost cell phone extender for a private residence in a weak
signal location in the Stanford University area of the San Francisco
peninsula:

Details are: Verizon service, 3 family members on a family plan, all
with inexpensive low-end Samsung phones, resident in a one-story house
in a low spot on the back edge of Stanford campus (along JSB below the
"Big Dish", for those who know the area).  We generally get zero or
one flickering tower and phones are pretty much unusable inside the
house, though they will sporadically ring; we can get 1 tower weakly
and sometimes make or receive calls successfully by going outside on
the roof or all the way to the back or front edges of the lot.

Web surfing for cell phone extenders brings up a lot of not very clear
information, and prices for "repeaters" seem to be in the $300 range.
So:

1) Recommendations on trying or not trying one of these?  Specific
brands?

2) Would more expensive higher-end phones have any better sensitivity 
or chance of working?


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My experience has been (and I think
this is true of most _transmitting_ radios) the antenna is 90 percent
of the task. With that in mind, why don't you try an external antenna
at least when the phone is not in use. For instance, I have my cell-
socket device (for battery charging purposes, and to 'extend' the use
of the cell phone to a 'regular' wired phone in my house. Plugged into
the cell socket is a 5/8 wave antenna which sets on a pedastle in the
corner of one room right near a window. If your phone has an optional
jack on it somewhere (like Nokia 5165 does) you can plug in the coax
cable there and see if the external antenna makes it work better. I do
not think a more expensive phone would make a lot of difference. I
have seen _really cheap_ transmitting radios which when outfitted with
a _properly tuned, well placed_ antenna started working quite well. As
you have found, being outdoors helps a lot; having an external antenna
with a couple DB of gain (I suggest 5/8 wave are best for this) placed
close to a window inside should help you a lot. I am assuming your
phone has some kind of external antenna hookup. 

To get such an antenna, Mike Sandman sells them, pedastle, base, coax
and all. He'll need to know about your phone plug of course. The URL
is http://sandman.com . He also has a sort-of 'repeater' device. This
'repeater' mounts outside your house (like under the roof on your
porch or on the roof) and _retransmits_ the signal in both directions
on the proper frequency to the cell phone which is wherever. On the
'repeater' thing, a directional antenna points to the nearest
tower. He uses that for his personal Nextel phone I think. Ask him
for advice before you waste a lot of money on this project.   PAT] 

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

Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:36:23 EST
From: US Telecom  <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Ericsson Seeks New Growth in Telecom Services


The SmartBrief team -- and our inspirational genius -- wish you the
best this holiday season. Thanks to our partners, advertisers and --
most importantly -- you and the thousands of other subscribers, we've
had a very good year. Your comments and suggestions throughout 2005
helped to make us and our publication even smarter. We're looking
forward to 2006; we can't promise to make you an Einstein, but we will
keep you informed and save you valuable time. Happy holidays!

USTelecom dailyLead
December 22, 2005
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/ACsYatagCCxRfBZIEz

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Ericsson seeks new growth in telecom services
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Nortel sets sights on router acquisition
* Orascom takes stake in Hutchison Telecom
* BT signs deals with four vendors for 21CN
* RIM reports solid Q3 profit
* The top telephony stories of 2005
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* dailyLead and membership -- USTelecom prepares you for What's NEXT
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* Industry trends: What to expect in 2006
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* NYC to study plans to spread broadband
* Swiss government allows Swisscom to make foreign acquisitions

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/ACsYatagCCxRfBZIEz

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

From: Peter Godwin <godwin@isoc.org>
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 11:10:33 +0100
Subject: Major Milestone Reached in IETF Administrative Restructuring


Reston, VA - 22nd December 2005 - After nearly twenty years of
existence, the Internet Engineering Task Force has assumed oversight
over the services that support the operations of the world's leading
Internet standards development group. A new agreement with NeuStar
Secretariat Services LLC marks a major milestone in efforts to ensure
that the IETF administrative support infrastructure will meet the
future needs of the expanding IETF community.

The agreement (signed on December 15) was the outcome of extensive
discussions and consultations between the IETF community and the IETF
Administrative Support Activity (IASA) -- a group created in April 2005
to examine ways of improving the IETF's administrative operations in
support of the IETF standards process and technical activities.

A two-year Services Agreement with NeuStar Secretariat Services (NSS)
was then executed on behalf of IASA by Lynn St. Amour, President and
CEO of the Internet Society. Mark Foster, Senior Vice President and
CTO of NeuStar, Inc., represented NSS in the transaction.

Under the terms of the agreement, NeuStar Secretariat Services will
begin work immediately on managing the IETF's secretariat, meetings,
and document and data management services.

Speaking after signing the agreement with NeuStar, Lynn St. Amour said
"The Internet Society is delighted to be able to bring this new level
of support to the IETF."

Earlier in the day, NeuStar had reached agreement with the Corporation
for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), to acquire the assets of
CNRI subsidiary Foretec Seminars Inc - the incumbent secretariat
service provider.

The IETF Trust was created at the time of the closing to ensure the
utilization, maintenance, preservation and protection of IETF
intellectual property for the benefit of the IETF. The agreement
document was executed by CNRI President and CEO, Robert Kahn, and Lynn
St. Amour as settlors, on behalf of their respective
organizations. Members of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee
and the IETF Administrative Director will serve as trustees. CNRI and
the Internet Society donated their IETF related Intellectual Property
to the Trust at its creation; the IETF also transferred its rights to
its intellectual property to the Trust.

Following the Trust's first business meeting, a Trust Licensing
Agreement was executed by and between the Trust and NeuStar
Secretariat Services for its use of certain specified IETF
intellectual property appropriate or necessary to its delivery of
services to the IETF community in accordance with the Services
Agreement.

"The IETF is not just getting older, it's growing up," said Leslie
Daigle, IAB Chair and a leader in the IETF restructuring
initiative. "Today marks the convergence of many hours and weeks of
thoughtful discussion all around - we are coming together to set the
IETF on a new administrative foundation to continue its technical
work."

ABOUT THE IETF

The IETF (http://www.ietf.org) is a large open international community
of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned
with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth
operation of the Internet. It is open to any interested individual.

ABOUT ISOC

The Internet Society (http://www.isoc.org) is a not-for-profit
membership organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in
Internet related standards, education, and policy. With offices in
Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring
the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the
benefit of people throughout the world. ISOC is the organizational
home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other
Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in ensuring
that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner. For over 13
years ISOC has run international network training programs for
developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up
the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country
connecting to the Internet during this time.

FOR FURTHER DETAILS: 

Peter Godwin
Communications Manager, Internet Society
E-mail: godwin@isoc.org 
4, rue des Falaises
1205 Geneva
Switzerland 

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Through His Webcam, a Teenage Boy Joins a Sordid Online World
Date: 22 Dec 2005 12:08:44 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Ron Chapman wrote:

> Am I alone in being *flabbergasted* that a 13 year old boy has that
> kind of private time with a computer?  Especially to the point that it
> got that far?

I don't agree at all.  How much time was required for a peep show --
maybe an hour?

It's not uncommon for computer geek kids to spend hours in front of
their machine.  Even in my day some kids spent hours after school at
the computer center.  And kids did "porn" that parents didn't know
about, even if it merely naked or risque pictures done on a line
printer.  I doubt mothers would be pleased if they knew.

Instant-Messaging is very popular among ALL kids today, as it the
Internet over all.

> Where were his parents during all of this?

The article discussed this.  The father was absent, then disappeared.
Later on the father returned and got involved with the kid's
activities.  The father also severely physically abused the boy when
he was younger and that may have played a role; kids who are abused
are more likely to get into this kind of behavior when they're older.
Clearly the father deserves much of the blame.

The mother, a single mom trying to earn money to support her family,
thought it was good her son was involved with computers.  Better than
being out on the streets.

When I was in high school kids spent a lot of time on the computer
(Teletypes in those days).  Parents had no idea what they were doing.
They were more concerned about coming home late on night from being
out on the streets rather than _why_ they was coming home late.  Some
kids I knew in school were pioneer hackers via the Teletype.

> No matter; this kind of thing has been going on forever -- where the
> parents are totally oblivious to what's going on in their childrens'
> lives.

Yes and no.  Once the kid enters junior high, the parents must accept
that their child now must have some independence.  They can't watch
over the kid as they did when he was younger.  It's not healthy for a
kid to be supervised so closely; they need some space to learn how to
make their own decisions and grow up.  This distancing continues in
high school.

These days it's extremely difficult for a parent to monitor what their
kid is doing on a computer.  The very nature of an all-purpose digital
computer and the Internet makes it hard.  Virtually no parent is a
systems programmer with the skills to put on filters and monitors (the
way employers do), and none of that stuff is foolproof anyway.

BTW, there were boys who got National Geographic subscription as a
present, and promptly disappear into their bedrooms with it.  Were
their parents or the gift-giver aware of the naked pictures the N/G
had in those days that boys enjoyed?  Plenty of boys had Playboy
hidden in their rooms, did their parents know?  Jeez, even in my day
stuff went down at co-ed parties for 13 y/o's that parents wouldn't be
pleased to know about.  Don't be so quick to blame the parents.

> This is no different than Columbine, for example.  So it happened with
> a computer instead of homemade bombs -- it's still a parental issue at
> heart,

This is totally different than Columbine.  This kid was involved in
software and primarily victimizing _himself_ not a whole school.
AFAIK, he did NOT bring his friends (he was a loner) into his room and
get them to perform for the webcam, so there was no parade of strange
people for his parents to see.  He was not stocking large physical
items.  Software takes up very little room.  There's a heck of a big
difference coming home with a trailing stream of computer printout and
a high powered rifle and strange friends.  (Plus I think there's a lot
of about Columbine we don't know about.)

> The computer was the tool or outlet in this particular case, but this
> isn't about computers and the internet.  This is about horrible
> parents, plain and simple.

Wrong.  It is about _computers_, plain and simple.  The whole
invention of the modern computer was for it to be a _general purpose_
device.  Earlier machines and even computers were designed for
specifics like calculations, cataloging, business document preparation
(paychecks, bills, etc), or communications.  Mixing all these
functions together was the ultimate goal and now we have it.

Today's computer lets people put together a lot of different functions
that greatly magnifies its power.  Kids always had cameras, and
theorectically a kid could've taken nude shots of himself and sold
them, but it would've been very cumbersome to find buyers and complete
the transaction.  Electronic networks and modern software -- like credit
card services and PayPal -- make it very easy.  As the article
mentioned, perverts love the Internet.

Remember how the kid started -- he put up a single picture, requests
for just a little bit more came in, and so forth.  The anonymity of
the computer made it so easy for it to happen.  I strongly doubt this
kid would've willingly posed in person for such pictures and taken
direct cash, but the webcam and Internet changed all that.

At some point in the history of the automobile it was recognized that
autos had to be registered as did the drivers.  Drivers had to take a
test, autos had to meet standards.  Laws were passed regulating their
use.

To put it another way, the law doesn't let 13 y/o kids drive cars or
drink alcohol or buy cigarettes, but the law lets them do anything
they please with a computer or network.  Indeed, many people claim
cigarette ads encourage kids to smoke by creating a desirable
mystique.  Maybe the computer world is creating too much of a mystique
for kids in a simialr manner.  Teenagers like adventure and often
don't understand the real risks of their activities.  Computers
located in the safety of their bedroom seem very safe, but we know
that is not true.

All of the adults who particpated in this enterprise were breaking
very serious laws.  But the anonymity of today's computers makes it
hard to catch and prosecute them.  The credit card payments apparently
get filtered through multiple layers making them difficult or
impossible to trace.  Remember the kid was paid through gifts made to
on-line retailers, which helped keep the transactions at an arms
length.

I frankly don't know what the answer is.  But I take great offense if
the technology community washes it hands of any responsibility for
things like this.  It's just like the automobile industry refusing to
put in safety features during the 1950s when it was clear they were
needed.  In other threads we talked about the massive frauds and abuse
that the Internet has created.

I might point out that in the 1960s many people used dial telephones
to harass other people.  This wasn't the telephone company's "fault",
but the phone co none the less had to work out solutions to curb the
abuse.

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

From: jmeissen@aracnet.com
Subject: Re: VOIP Learning
Date: 22 Dec 2005 17:50:15 GMT
Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com


In article <telecom24.574.10@telecom-digest.org>, kimi
<kimi777@gmail.com> wrote:

> For VOIP learning, check out our web site at:

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

It's an ad farm, with a few hundred words of common knowledge 
sprinkled throughout pages of Google ads.

John Meissen                                     jmeissen@aracnet.com


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for doing that evaluation for
us. Still, those 'few hundred words of common knowledge' are probably
new wisdom for many on the net. Fifteen or twenty years ago -- had
VOIP been in common useage back then -- there'd have been no excuse
for a page like that, but as the numbers of people on the net continue
to grow, the amount of collective ignorance continues to grow with
it. And the Google Scorecard -- that is all that matters for many
website owners these day; how much revenue can be bought in each month
 from click-throughs. Remember how we used to say the 'death of the
internet' would come from certain opinionated netters (back in the
times when we old-timers were all very elitist). More of late, the 
theme has been the 'death of the internet' would come from all the
spam/scam/fraud going on (which may be very true); but I think now the
'death of the internet' may come with the assistance of that great
enabler of spam/scam/fraud/ignorance/nonsense in general, the
Almighty Google Scorecard' i.e. how much is there for me this month? 
I really feel the Google Scorecard (or report of hits [page views]
and ratio of click throughs to hits and how much Google will deign to
pay us for the month) has done more to 'dumb us down' on the net 
than anything else. I guess I should complain about it, eh?  I really
wonder if all the folks who felt that of necessity the net had to
go commercial if it was to survive at all stopped to think about this
collateral damage we have seen: the gradual 'dumbing down' of the
net and so many web sites being run by idiots, present case excepted,
but of course.   PAT] 

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

From: Howard S. Wharton <yhshowie@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Subject: Re: NYC Transit Strike Midst Cold Weather and Christmas
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 13:13:20 -0500
Organization: The University at Buffalo


The striking workers are employess of a public authority governed
under the provisions of the New York State Employees Fair Employment
Act known as the Taylor Law. If you allow the transit workers as
public workers to strike then you better allow fire and police to do
the same. See what happens then.

One of the provisions of the law is to prohibt strikes by public
employees.

For the record, I'm a state employee. I worry about politicians
messing with our pension. The state controller who is elected is the
sole administrator of the public employee's pension. And there are
those who think that we we retire, we get a generous pension and it
should be changed.

I agree with with what they are asking. But there are resolutions of
contract disputes under the Taylor Law which the local did not
do. Even the parent union disagrees with the srtike. The law has been
on the books since 1967.

I may live in Buffalo now, but I'm orginally from the city and still
have friends and family done there. I still keep tabs on whats going
on there.

And in closing, I do would like to wish you and everyone a Merry
Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Happy New Year!


Howie
Howard S. Wharton
Fire Safety Technician
Occupational and Environmental Safety Services
State University of New York at Buffalo


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: By and large I agree with your
sentiments, at least where the holidays are concerned. Where I
disagree however is your statement "If you allow public workers to
strike then be prepared if police/firemen walk off the job you will 
see what happens ... " 

Just FYI, they (emergency first responders) _do_ sometimes walk off
the job. Chicago firemen went on strike a number of years ago for two
or three days.   I guess, Howard, I disagree with you on the legitimacy
of government. I happen to feel the _only legitimate_ function of
government is to do those things we cannot _conveniently_ do for ourselves,
(such as, for example, fire protection and (maybe) police services. I
think almost everything else should be based on economics. I know that
may sound foolish to you, considering I  -- of all people -- rely on
Social Security Disability, Meals on Wheels and a nurse/housekeeper
courtesy of the State of Kansas, and one dollar taxicab rides anywhere
in town courtesy of City of Independence. But _someone_ has to pay for
what I consume; like most people alive today, I was raised up in an
enviroment where I grew slothful, plus which the 'system' would not 
allow me to take care of myself; it insisted on doing things for me.
The amount I have paid in taxes over the years would have well
provided for my needs in my old age _had I been given the opportunity
to do so_. And how we are going to change the 'system' now I do not
know. The shell game has gone on so long, a lot of people would feel
cheated (and rightly so) if the rules were changed in their lifetime. 
Plus, there are many people who feel that (this illegitimate form of)
government actually 'owes them' many things. I confess to feeling the
same way at times in my weaker moments. But seriously, this shell game,
or whatever needs to stop sometime. otherwise the balloon is going to
eventually explode. 

Government should NOT be in the transportation business. They are not
into transport where private automobiles are concerned (although they
are trying hard to do so), nor in taxicabs, nor in airplanes or 
intercity busses. Why should they be into local busses and subways?
In the 1930-40's, Chicago had a perfectly workable system of _private__
bus and elevated train lines. Six different companies were involved. 
Then in 1947 government decided they should take over. It has been a
disaster ever since. Until 1939 we had perfectly workable _private_
housing, then Miss Jane Addams (in Chicago's instance) came along and
decided govenment should run the housing, and the Chicago Housing
Atrocity was born. It also has been a disaster ever since. Is the
publicly owned housing in New York in any better condition? I think
not! Literally _everything_ the government decides to take over from
the private sector (transportation, housing, etc) is like the old
story of King Midas; in his case everything he touched turned to gold,
but in the government's case, everything they touch turns into shit. 

And the education of children; we have been brainwashed into thinking
that public schools serve a good community purpose; no one wants a
bunch of ignorant children; after all those children will be our
country in a few years; so we have to have public schools to insure
a good education. Are the public schools in New York any different
than those in Chicago? Somehow I doubt it. So just imagine if our
overall tax payments were about two percent of what they are now (let's
refer to it as the 'adminstrative fee' to run what the government 
has the legitimate right to run) and with the rest of the money we
educated our own children, provided for our own housing, and managed
to somehow drag our own asses to work each day?  Would things be
any better or worse than they are now, in a system of _commercial_
transportation lines, _commercially_ owned housing, and _commercially_
owned/operated schools?  I for one am tired of seeing the government
thinking _it_ can do a better (and more noble, more honest and all
that rot) job than the public can do on its own. PAT]

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


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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #575
******************************