From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Mar 8 02:09:58 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i2879vN23231; Mon, 8 Mar 2004 02:09:58 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 02:09:58 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200403080709.i2879vN23231@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #109 TELECOM Digest Mon, 8 Mar 2004 02:10:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 109 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Earthlink to Test Caller ID for E-Mail (Monty Solomon) Experts Question Microsoft's Caller ID Plans (Monty Solomon) "Preventing the Internet Meltdown" (Monty Solomon) Liberty May be Weighing Break-Up - Barron's (Monty Solomon) Snapshots in Time ... (Al Gillis) Re: Should I Use 66-Block? (Carl Navarro) Re: Compensation For Telephones Sold Incorrectly Programmed (Berkowitz) Re: Spam Going Out Under My Name (jmayson@nyx.net) Re: Spam (Allen McIntosh) Last Laugh! What a Deal! (zxe@hotmail.com) 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 is 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 00:29:25 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Earthlink to Test Caller ID for E-Mail New systems could fight spam and Internet scams, company says. Paul Roberts, IDG News Service ISP Earthlink will soon begin testing new e-mail security technology, including Microsoft's recently released Caller ID technology, a company executive says. Earthlink will be experimenting "very soon," with "sender authentication" technology including Caller ID and a similar plan called Sender Policy Framework (SPF). The Atlanta-based ISP will be evaluating other e-mail security proposals as well, but is not backing any specific technology, says Robert Sanders, chief architect at Earthlink. Plans to secure e-mail by verifying the source of e-mail messages have garnered much attention in recent months, as the volume of spam has swelled and the number of Internet scams has increased. Spammers and Internet-based criminals often fake, or "spoof," the origin of e-mail messages to trick recipients into opening them and trusting their content. Sender authentication technologies attempt to stop spoofing by matching the source of e-mail messages with a specific user or an approved e-mail server for the Internet domain that the message purports to come from. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115094,00.asp ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 00:31:17 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Experts Question Microsoft's Caller ID Plans Is the software giant trying to profit from the proposed e-mail security system? Paul Roberts, IDG News Service Just a week after Microsoft's Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates unveiled a plan for securing e-mail communications, leading e-mail authorities, legal experts, and at least one Internet service provider are expressing concerns about the e-mail sender authentication plan, known as Caller ID. Some experts agree that the technology is promising. However, Microsoft's claim that it owns patents around Caller ID and its decision to license the technology to third parties, rather than submit it to an Internet standards body, have riled e-mail experts and domain owners, some of whom say they worry about a power grab by the Redmond, Washington, company and are wary of signing on to the new system. Caller ID allows Internet domain owners to publish the IP (Internet Protocol) address of their outgoing e-mail servers in an XML format e-mail "policy" in the DNS (Domain Name System) record for their domain. E-mail servers can query the DNS record and match the source IP address of incoming e-mail messages to the address of the approved sending servers, Microsoft says. The goal is to reduce spam for end users. Speaking at the RSA Conference last month in San Francisco, Gates set out an ambitious agenda for deploying Caller ID, saying it would be "very easy for people to apply," and that Microsoft hoped to have Caller ID in place by the third quarter, provided it could reach "the right agreements" with ISPs and e-mail providers. Gates did not elaborate on what those agreements might involve, but said that Microsoft had some patents related to "the fundamentals" of Caller ID which is "royalty free, available for everyone to use," according to a transcript of his RSA speech. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,115095,00.asp ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 22:49:09 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: "Preventing the Internet Meltdown" PFIR Conference Announcement "Preventing the Internet Meltdown" Spring/Summer 2004 Los Angeles, California, USA --------------------------------- March 6, 2004 People For Internet Responsibility (PFIR) is pleased to preliminarily announce an "emergency" conference aimed at preventing the "meltdown" of the Internet -- the risks of imminent disruption, degradation, unfair manipulation, and other negative impacts on critical Internet services and systems in ways that will have a profound impact on the Net and its users around the world. http://www.pfir.org/meltdown ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 22:40:23 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Liberty May be Weighing Break-up - Barron's NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) - Liberty Media Corp. (NYSE:L), could be weighing a break-up amid renewed speculation the company may be nearing a financial restructuring that could unlock some of its value, Barron's reported in its online edition on Sunday. Barron's said there is a growing sense on Wall Street that the company has become too complex, with dozens of media- and telecom-related properties. Liberty's Class A shares, at around $11.60, are well below their peak of $30 in early 2000 and currently stand no higher than they did in late 1998. Liberty, a holding company, now trades at a nearly 25 percent discount to its asset value, Barron's said. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40771644 ------------------------------ From: Al Gillis Subject: Snapshots in Time ... Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 19:44:00 -0800 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Well, On Friday a Uniformed Agent of the United States Government came to my home to deliver my new copy of Snapshots in Time, A Photographic History of Ameritech. As Pat promised it's quite a nice book with few words and lots of photos of Bell System history from the five states that made up Ameritech. Those companies are Illinois Bell, Indiana Bell, Michigan Bell, Ohio Bell and Wisconsin Telephone (their corresponding states of operation should be obvious to the casual observer). I would have liked to see a little more on the technology, particularly Step by Step, which was so pervasive across America (and the world, too) as well as Crossbar systems. Do you suppose Mr. Caughlin has another book in him? The people made a lot of the book more interesting, especially their manner of dress (compare the operators on pages 58 and 138, for example) and the hair styles (Boy! Those sideburns in the middle 1970s!). Vehicles also changed substantially, of course. An oddity that would probably never happen in this age is reviewed on pages 83-85. Moving the Indianapolis headquarters building of Indiana Bell WHILE IT'S STILL IN OPERATION as an office and Central Office building! Those guys were gutsy! Anyway, thanks again Pat for pointing this book out to us. If you're interested in Bell System history you should have this book. Oh, does anyone know if other Bell entities have published similar books? Al [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Let's ask Mr. Caughlin right now ... is there a possibility of another book of pictures like your last one anytime soon ? In case you did not order your copy and want to do so now, here is the address and an order coupon once again: The SBC Archives and History Center is pleased to offer the book entitled, Snapshots in Time: A Photographic History of Ameritech. This 192-page soft-cover book chronicles the evolution of telecommunications in the SBC Midwest (former Ameritech) five-state region through select historical images. It offers more than 225 captioned photos of switchboard operators, crews with their vehicles and technicians testing central office equipment. The book begins with an 1876 portrait of Alexander Graham Bell and ends in 1999, on the eve of the SBC/Ameritech merger. The cost for each book is $25.00, plus $4.95 for shipping. To order, fill out the form below. If you have questions, please call Bill Caughlin at (210) 524-6192. Or send him an e-mail at wc2942@sbc.com --------------------------------------------------------------- ORDER FORM FOR Snapshots in Time: A Photographic History of Ameritech NAME __________________________________________________ BUSINESS UNIT ________________________________________ ADDRESS _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ CITY _________________________ STATE _____ ZIP __________ PHONE NUMBER (______)_________________________ I would like to order _______ copy(ies) each at $25.00, plus $4.95 shipping, for a total of _____________. No cash, please. Make your check or money order payable to SBC Services, Inc. and send it to: SBC Archives and History Center 7990 IH-10 West Floor 1 San Antonio, Texas 78230 ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Should I Use 66-Block? Date: Sun, 07 Mar 2004 20:31:29 -0500 Organization: Airnews.net! at Internet America On 7 Mar 2004 11:20:18 -0800, johnfofawn@hotmail.com (John) wrote: > I only have one POTS phone line. I just re-wired my basement and I > used CAT5 wire in running all my POTS lines. I now have 8 POTS jacks > in the basement that I need to connect to the phone system. > I bought a 66-block (Leviton 4066-M50) at Home Depot and I assumed > (incorrectly) that I could put the red, green, yellow, and black on > each column and then wire the extensions (TIA 568A) to each of the > rows. I now understand a 66-block doesn't work this way. > Is there something better I can do other than twisting 8 wires > together for each of the 4 colors? I looked at a Leviton catalog and I > understand how patch panels work, but it's just too expensive. ^^^^^^^^ The 66 block you are holding is the least expensive solution. There's always something better. For about $25 (Leviton 47603-110) you can buy the residential module that will accept 10 Cat-5 cables in a bunching block. You might have to go across the street to Lowes for their brand of Home Center stuff and/or mount it with some ummm good old fashioned engineering. If you leave the cables a bit longer for when you change your mind and want to put in a real patch panel, you can always terminate the cables on the 66 block. You keep the cable jacket together and terminate all cables on the A or D row (6 cables on one side and 2 cables on the other). You bring out the first pair, fan it between pins 1 and 2 and terminate the white/blue up and the blue/white down. Then you fan the orange pair between pins 3 & 4 and do the same thing and so on down the line. I'd like to tell you that I can e-mail examples to you, but the truth is I have only terminaed Cat-5 on a 66 block once :-) After you get your 8 cables on the 66 block, the looping part of the tool can be used to get the wiring to the first pairs of each cable. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Compensation For Telephones Sold Incorrectly Programmed Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 22:14:04 -0500 In article , mlmmod@rev.net says: > Approved for misc.legal.moderated > Bernie Cosell > moderator: misc.legal.moderated > From: ConsultingServices2004@yahoo.com (Consultant) > Subject: Compensation for telephones sold programmed to call my > mobile telephone. > Date: 5 Mar 2004 18:46:54 -0800 > What do you think of this? > A USA Telecom company sold phones that were programmed wrong so they > call my mobile phone instead of voicemail. > The problem is the number that was programmed in was only valid for > one place in the USA. When that phone is used in my state, people > call my business mobile phone (instead of their voicemail). I have > had HUNDREDS of these calls to my mobile phone. > It took me some time to get one of the callers from these seemingly > random numbers to let me know they were trying to reach voicemail. I > put enough pieces of information together that I called the telecom > company and spent several hours getting to the right person who would > understand what I was saying. I had to ask callers who called me for > more information before I diagnosed exactly what was happening. > Today someone from the company called and said they would like to > compensate me. The people I've dealt with at the company have been > nice. I don't want to be unfair in dealing with them, but I'm > wondering what should reasonably request as remuneration. > Is what they did illegal? > Would the FCC consider this any sort of violation? > Could this be considered harrassing calls (even though the telecom > company didn't actually place the calls, simply provided the > incorrectly programmed equipment)? > What do YOU think? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: After dealing with this situation first > hand on one occassion (but thank God, in the early 1970's when there was > still a legitimate phone company [Illinois Bell] with reasonably > intelligent people working for it who had genuine concerns about service) > in the Chicago-Beverly ESS cutover when I spend a day getting bombed > with calls for Sears, Roebuck, and seeing a few anecdotal cases where > a bank (First National of Chicago) misprogrammed their auto-dial Fax > machine and other cases, it is very hard for me to approach this > without some bias. On the one hand, I would say take them to Small > Claims Court (telcos [and banks] absolutely despise that place, and > the people who resort to using those places) but you can get very > good satisfaction from it. > What they did to you is not illegal, unless being a stupid person is > against the law (I sometimes think it should be) and any court would > resent being asked to function as your collection agency. You would > definitly need to document exactly how much inconvenience you > suffered. You might be able to sue for negligence on the telco's part, > in not properly supervising the employee who programmed the phone. > But if telco is being nice about it, and has ended the problem, then > I would think a new cellphone for free, and a few hundred dollars > would suffice. Are *they* asking you to name the amount? Have they > hinted at any amount they think is fair? PAT] I would: Add up the airtime minutes used handling these calls. Add in the time spent identifying and attempting to correct the problem. Multiply by your per-minute salary (i.e. your hourly rate $ / 60). Round up to the nearest hundred $. And, like Pat said, ask for a phone, and a year's paid up service. --Gene ------------------------------ From: jmayson@nyx.net Subject: Re: Spam Going Out Under My Name Date: Mon, 08 Mar 2004 01:58:45 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com > I guess one way of getting someone out of business you dislike is by > sending a load of trash under their name, and hope that most readers > do not take the trouble to investigate it. I suppose I should get a > signature encryption, slap an 'iron clad' (as that goes) copyright on > all my work, including this Digest, etc, but I just do not have the > energy to go to all that work. I started GnuPG signing all of my outgoing messages because of people forging messages to appear to come from me. A few years ago I had to argue with Yahoo! and my ISP not to yank my accounts over messages I did not send. Mindspring (my ISP at the time) was very professional about it and actually took the time to review the mail headers and confirmed they had originated with another ISP in a different part of the country. The complainants' ISPs didn't bother looking at the header and turned me over to Mindspring. :-/ Today I can tell people if the message isn't signed, it probably did not originate with me. And don't worry Pat, I know you wouldn't spam anyone, so if I get any from you (though I use procmail and never see any), I'll ignore it immediately! John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Mar 2004 21:33:53 -0500 From: Allen McIntosh Subject: Re: Spam You have just experienced firsthand the reason why I no longer post to netnews under my own name. (I know I'm not alone in this.) After one weekend where our computer staff deleted five *thousand* spam e-mails to me, I decided it wasn't worth it. I can do this because I don't edit anything online. You can't, unfortunately ... [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No, I cannot do that, and I am not sure if I would want to anyway. I am thinking however about doing something like PGP on my signature, then disavowing anything that does not have my encrypted mark on it. But I am getting so many requests to hide email addresses these days in the Digest, I am giving serious consid- eration to **removing all email addresses** in the Digest, something I would have been horrified by a few years ago. I *like* the idea of having open addressing here so readers can contact one another with questions, solutions, etc. It is not up to me to control the flow of mail here, or require everyone to come through here with comments and answers, etc. But there really is not going to be much of a choice very soon. I am also thinking about installing a 'challenge/white list' approach on incoming mail. Everyone will *have* to use a valid address to reach me and 'good' for-real correspondents will go on a 'white list' for future incoming mail, however I will automatically strip off the email addresses on everything before it leaves here and goes back out. No good answer to the challenge, I won't even see the mail; not that it will fall in an overflowing spam bucket; it will just get bashed on the way in the door. Nothing definite on this yet, but I have to do something. The spam count is now higher than ever. PAT] ------------------------------ From: zxe@hotmail.com Subject: Last Laugh! What a Deal! Reply-To: zxe@hotmail.com Date: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 14:09:20 +0800 Email Marketing ! We offer you e-mail addresses databases for advertisement mailing; we sell databases also carry out mailing and hosting for the advertising projects. Products: World Email Lists . 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Nah, its probably useless to try and fight with them any longer. But just imagine, you can spend a mere $600 and get enough lists to never quit sending email. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) Email <==> FTP: telecom-archives@telecom-digest.org Send a simple, one line note to that automated address for a help file on how to use the automatic retrieval system for archives files. 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Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. If you donate at least fifty dollars per year we will send you our two-CD set of the entire Telecom Archives; this is every word published in this Digest since our beginning in 1981. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #109 ******************************