From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Mar 19 17:20:57 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i2JMKvl20346; Fri, 19 Mar 2004 17:20:57 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 17:20:57 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200403192220.i2JMKvl20346@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 #130 TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Mar 2004 17:21:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 130 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New VoIP News Mailing List (Jack Decker) Second International Conference: Secure Communication and Net (SECI'04) Google Local is Cool (Phil Earnhardt) Re: Telephone Bill Reconciliation Software (Scott Dorsey) New York City 911 Data - Anywhere? (Cliff Stabbert) Re: Phone Sex (John Levine) Re: Phone Sex (Steven J Sobol) Re: Credit Card Security (Was: Phone Sex) (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Caller ID for PC (Clarence Dold) 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: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 13:01:00 -0500 From: Jack Decker Subject: New VoIP News Mailing List Pat, please conceal my e-mail address -- even though it's not my "usual" I don't want it to become a spam trap. I just wanted to let you know that I'm starting a new e-mail mailing list at Yahoo Groups called "VoIP News", at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/voipnews/ . This is basically an extension of what I've been doing in the MI-Telecom (Michigan Telecommunications) group, which is forwarding excerpts of, and links to, relevant news items that I've found online. Both of those groups are moderated, meaning I approve all posts, but any subscriber to the list can post. Here's the "official" description of the list: This list is intended to distribute news items relating to consumer-grade VoIP service -- that is, VoIP as used by residential or small business customers as a replacement for, or in addition to, traditional wireline telephone service. News items relating to consumer VoIP companies (such as VoicePulse, Vonage, Packet8, and similar companies) or to matters affecting those companies or their customers (such as efforts to regulate VoIP, or new hardware devices intended to be used with such services) are welcome. Please do not post the full text of copyrighted articles -- instead, send a link, the headline, and a short excerpt. Company press releases may be posted within certain limits -- we do not want items saying that, for example, the corporate CEO made a speech somewhere, but announcements of added or enhanced services or features, or similar items directly affecting customers will generally be accepted. Spam messages, or messages containing coupon or referral codes (or links to same) will be rejected. The emphasis in this list will be VoIP news that in some way affects VoIP customers, or that has the potential to do so. (End of description. Note that any of the above is subject to change if necessary to prevent abuse of the group -- I don't intend to let it be used as anyone's advertising vehicle.) As I write this there have been no messages posted to the list yet; it's that new (and Fridays tend to be slow news days anyway). The URL is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/voipnews/ Or, send an e-mail to voipnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe. I mentioned the MI-Telecom (Michigan Telecommunications) list above - that one has been around since at least 1996 although it was just moved to Yahoo Groups last November. There will be some duplication between the two lists (for example, stories about VoIP companies that have ratecenters in Michigan may appear in both) but generally the MI-Telecom list will primarily be of interest to Michigan residents. The web page for that one is at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ Or, send an e-mail to MI-Telecom-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe. I'd also like to mention one web page that VoIP users may find useful. If you want to use your existing home telephone wiring with your VoIP service, you may find the page on "How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home" useful. The instructions here also work for someone who has a CellSocket or similar device, that allows a wireless phone service to be used with standard phone equipment. Most readers of this group probably won't need these instructions, but you may want to save the URL for when your non-techie friends ask how they can use their home phone wiring with their VoIP service or CellSocket type device. The URL for that is: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html As a final comment, it is my belief that VoIP is the thing that will finally bring us the level of competition (and the lower prices) that we've all been waiting for. In just the last year or so, there's been an explosion in the number of "unlimited" plans offered by both VoIP and traditional wireline companies. Yesterday, USA Today carried an article that began by saying, "Major phone companies are close to an agreement that would eliminate the fees long-distance carriers pay local phone providers to connect calls, and would raise local rates to make up the revenue, say people involved in the discussions." (See http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-03-18-phonerates_x.htm ). But what the article doesn't explicitly say is that if this agreement is approved, it probably will mean the end of timed long distance pricing (at least on domestic calls), and that local prices probably can't go up too much because anyone with broadband Internet service will have a multitude of low-cost VoIP options to choose from, not to mention the ever-present threat of people dropping wireline service entirely in favor of wireless service. I don't think anything like this would have been on the table had it not been for the VoIP services breaking onto the scene, and the degree of wireless substitution taking place. I am probably of the first generation that never recalls having sent or received a traditional telegram. I wonder if the kids just being born today will be of the first generation to never remember having wireline phone service, at least not the traditional circuit-switched variety? Jack (If you want to e-mail me, go to http://michigantelephone.mi.org/ and use the e-mail address shown in the graphic image near the bottom of the page). [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jack, this really sounds exciting, and I wish you the best of luck with it. Let's exchange VOIP related messages if you want. That is, you feel free to take VOIP stuff which appears here and use it in *your* newsgroup for same and if you will add 'editor@telecom-digest.org' as a member on your list to receive individual emails as they come out, then the messages for your list will automatically come here. Have you personally gotten into VOIP yet for your phone service? I have, and it works great, but I can see where new VOIP users would have some trouble sorting it all out. And your exhibits on how to connect VOIP to your house pairs or Cell Socket devices are a good idea also. Anyone who wants an e-coupon for a month of free service on Vonage is free to ask me for one. The e-coupon gets you the second month at no charge of whatever type of service you sign up for. Write not-for-pub to ptownson@telecom-digest.org to get one. PAT] ------------------------------ From: halfao_y@epitech.net (ILIES HALFAOUI) Subject: Second International Conference: Secure Communication and Internet Date: 19 Mar 2004 00:54:12 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com ************************************ Second International Conference on Secure Communication and the Internet " Threats and Challenges in an open Environment " ************************************ 27 - 29 December, Cairo, EGYPT ******************* The National Telecommunication Institute (NTI) of the Ministry of telecommunications and Information Technology in Egypt is organizing the second conference on " Secure Communication and the Internet " (SecI2004) in Cairo during the period 27 - 29 December 2004 . The conference theme is " Threats and Challenges in an open Environment ". . The topics covered by the conference include but are not limited to: 1 - Web-based technologies for application security (SOAP, LDAP, etc) 2 - Wireless network security (LAN, WAN) . 3 - Intrusion detection systems . 4 - Elliptic cryptography . 5 - Automation of formal verification . 6 - Smart card-based applications . 7 - Watermarking/IPR . 8 - Techniques for authentication and authorization . Important Dates : 1st call for papers 31 January 2004 2nd call for papers 15 April 2004 Submission deadline 15 August 2004 Notification of Acceptance 10ctober 2004 Camera Ready Manuscript 15 October 2004 Conference 27 - 29 December 2004 Paper Submission : Detailed instructions are found on the conference website . Registration Fees : The fees will cover a hard copy and CD of the conference proceedings , coffee breaks and lunches during the conference days at the following rates : US $ 500 with an additional US $ 50 for every page exceeding the allowable 12 pages . Conference Chair : Dr. Mahmoud T. El-Hadidi (Cairo University) Conference Co-Chair : Dr. Ahmed H. El-Sherbini (Director , NTI) Conference Secretary General : Dr. Magdi El-Soudani (Deputy Director,NTI) Technical Program Committee Chair : Dr. Gamal Darwish (Cairo University) Co-Chair : Dr. Nabil El-Kadhi (Laboratoire LERIA, France) Mohamed ABDEL-MEGUID - Egypt Heba ASLAN - Egypt Bill CAELLI - Australia David CHADWICK - UK Frederic CUPPENS - France Yasser DAKROURY - Egypt Mahmoud EL-HADIDI - Egypt Magdi EL-SOUDANI - Egypt Mohamed Adeeb GHONAIMY - Egypt Jean GOUBAULT-LARRECQ - France Dimitris GRITZALIS - Greece Bahaa HASSAN - Egypt James HUGHES - USA Gamal HUSSEIN - Egypt Sokratis KATSIKAS - Greece Yassine LAKHNECH - France Zakia MARRAKCHI - France Scott Knight - Canada Hartmut POHL - Germany Thomas QUILLINAN - Ireland Jean-Jacques QUISQUATER - Belgium Pierangela SAMARATI - Italy Thomas SCHLIENGER - Switzerland Amr YOUSSEF - Egypt Contact Information : Conference website : http://www.seci2004.nti.sci.eg/ For more inquiry send E-mail to : Seci2004@nti.sci.eg ------------------------------ From: Phil Earnhardt Subject: Google Local is cool Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 08:26:06 -0700 Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Google launched their location-specific business directory service, local.google.com , this week. FAQ for it is at http://local.google.com/help/faq_local.html . This is a beta release of the service: it currently only works in the US and will have some glitches. But it is definitely a useful service today. Google is using web pages, online phone directories, etc., to get the locations of local businesses. You then enter a location and some set of keywords; google returns the results. The results are mostly sorted by distance to the specified location, but Google's ranking can override this. And Google will sell locally-targeted advertising. As with all their services, the sponsored links are clearly labeled as such aid displayed in a distinct area on the search results page. The online Yellow Pages are one of the few legacy databases I use on a regular basis. I am amazed by the clunkiness of the GUI and the general uselessness of these online interfaces. Yellow Page advertisements have traditionally been a huge cash cow for the Baby Bells. If Google can sway users to access their online directories instead, significant advertising dollars should start flowing to this friendly directory service -- and away from the traditional Yellow Pages. One wonders what countermeasures the Baby Bells -- and other owners of Yellow Pages services -- will launch. Effectiveness at using search engines is enhanced by studying them; I'm wondering if Google has contemplated buying/subsidizing one of the better guides to using Google (like O'Reilley's _Google Pocket Guide_) and distributing on a massive scale. I'm also interested in seeing how Google will work to provide access to their service beyond a traditional web interface. I really like Google's news service ( news.google.com ) and the beta of their shopping service ( froogle.google.com ). Google's taking on the Yellow Pages could massively shift the landscape of the Internet again. --phil ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Telephone Bill Reconciliation Software Date: 19 Mar 2004 11:08:41 -0500 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Randy H wrote: > Does anyone know of a Retail or shareware piece of software that can > take a phone bill from AT+T (delimeted file) and another file > generated on an in-house SMDR system and compare the two for accuracy? > I tried to come up with an Excel V-Lookup formula (I'm not too good > with formulas) but couldnt get an accurate match. > A big problem is that the Times of the calls do not match exactly in > both. AT+T may have a call time at 8:00 am, and the SMDR may have the > same call at 8:01 am, etc. > Any help would be appreciated. Try subtracting the times from one another, then taking the absolute value. If the result is less than five minutes and the destination fields match, consider them the same call. This could fail IF you have a lot of short calls to the same place within a five-minute period, but that's the kind of error you can overlook. The three hour call to Guyana will be handled fine. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: cstabbert@yahoo.com (Cliff Stabbert) Subject: New York City 911 Data - Anywhere? Date: 19 Mar 2004 06:33:22 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi. I've been trying to locate some specific information on 911 calls in New York over the last six months to a year. Ideally, I'd like to be able to get information calls dispatched to specific precincts broken down by incident type (domestic/assault/ theft etc.), by time of day, and by day of the week. Googling around has led to NYPD's CompStat information, which provides precinct-level crime statistics, but isn't really what I'm looking for. It's a tall order, perhaps. So far, calling the NYPD (both main information and specific precincts) and the New York mayor's office hasn't gotten me very far (the information doesn't exist, or isn't public, or would be released only under FOIA). Anybody have a clue whether this information is out there, and if so, how I'd get it? If there's a better newsgroup to post this in, or some other forum that might provide leads, please let me know. Thanks in advance, Cliff ------------------------------ Date: 19 Mar 2004 14:54:03 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Phone Sex Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > But Touboul has some big problems that stand between him and Internet > enlightenment for the masses: the Federal Trade Commission and > attorneys general in 20 states. In a lawsuit filed in May, and echoed > in the state actions, the FTC accuses Touboul and his other company, > Alyon Technologies, of "unjust enrichment," "unfair" billing, > violations of the FTC's Pay-Per-Call Rule and other mischief. ... http://www.forbes.com/ebusiness/2004/03/18/cz_sl_0318credit.html > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think the FTC is so far out in left > field on these claims regards the 'ChargeMeLater' plan. I do not > understand why it would be considered 'unjust enrichment' or 'unfair > billing.' Read the article. The FTC and state AG's are after him not for this latest plan (which is a really stupid idea, but that's a separate issue), but because he was running a free porn scam where the victim downloads a dialer program that calls a $5/min number. If that's his idea of a legitimate business plan, I don't think I have any further interest in whatever he's proposing now. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies" Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "A book is a sneeze." - E.B. White, on the writing of Charlotte's Web John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com Village Trustee and Sewer Commissioner http://iecc.com/johnl Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: Steven J Sobol Subject: Re: Phone Sex Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:57:37 -0600 Eric Friedebach wrote: > Seth Lubove, 03.18.04, Forbes.com > LOS ANGELES - As many as 87% of U.S. consumers are still worried about > using their credit cards to make Internet purchases, according to one > recent survey. Stephane Touboul says he has the killer app that could > reinvent Internet purchasing. > His company, ChargeMeLater, allows consumers to buy online and pay for > it simply by entering the sum of the last four digits of their social > security number. Lessee, a quarter of a billion people living in the USA, only ten thousand distinct combinations of digits from 0000 to 9999 and not all of those are used in SSNs ... how does he expect this to work again? > Touboul uses a proprietary algorithm that corroborates the identity > of users based on a search of multiple databases and their phone > numbers, validates their ages and addresses, makes sure they're good > for the money, and then sends a bill to the user's house. "We have > created a mechanism that could really change the face of commerce on > the Internet," boasts Touboul from his Secaucus, N.J., headquarters. Then he woke up. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think the FTC is so far out in left > field on these claims regards the 'ChargeMeLater' plan. I do not > understand why it would be considered 'unjust enrichment' or 'unfair > billing.' I'm afraid I just do not see how he's going to make it work. Forget about the FTC allegations for a second. Is it not possible that you might have more than one person in a household that may have the same sum? What about people who aren't fiscally responsible for the phone lines? > how well the person is about paying. I do not understand why FTC would > think so poorly of that plan. If anything, the merchant (who does not > get paid until 'ChargeMeLater' gets paid) Ummm, yeah. If I want to screw around waiting for money to come in, I'll bill the customer myself. This plan ain't gonna work. The credit card processors put all the liability on the merchant anyhow, and at least I am guaranteed the money once I get an authorization. The bank *must* fund my account and that is generally done within 2-3 business days. I think the FTC allegations are a moot point. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, Apple Valley, CA PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net Domain Names, $9.95/yr, 24x7 service: http://DomainNames.JustThe.net/ "someone once called me a sofa, but i didn't feel compelled to rush out and buy slip covers." -adam brower * Hiroshima '45, Chernobyl '86, Windows 98/2000/2003 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Although with an SSN there are only ten thousand (give or take) 'last four digits' as you point out what I read recently on line is that he also uses some one or more digits from a person's credit card (NOT the first digit 4, 5, or 6) and that serves pretty well to avoid two people having the same sum of digits. Unless your intent is to defraud you wind up with a unique number. Obviously he does not publish his entire algorithym. Its sort of like how credit card point of sale credit authorization is done when the computer is 'down' and a human bean has to use some judgment. The merchant's proof that he did call in and get authorization for the sale is when the human bean recites a number to the sales person which is acquired by taking two of the digits in the credit card, summing them a certain way. No one knows the exact formula (which digits in the card number are used, and the way they are added or subtracted and the absolute! value recieved except for the authorization people. The merchant writes that number on the ticket as his proof. There are flaws in the system, but as computers get more and more reliable (less 'down' time) it works well enough, especially when the authorizaton phone room has a huge backlog of calls in the queue waiting for answers. And, they change the choice of digits used and the calculation process every month or so. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 10:34:41 EST Subject: Re: Credit Card Security (Was: Phone Sex) In a message dated 18 Mar 2004 17:31:40 -0800, friedebach@yahoo.com (Eric Friedebach) writes: > Seth Lubove, 03.18.04, Forbes.com > LOS ANGELES - As many as 87% of U.S. consumers are still worried about > using their credit cards to make Internet purchases, according to one > recent survey. Stephane Touboul says he has the killer app that could > reinvent Internet purchasing. > His company, ChargeMeLater, allows consumers to buy online and pay for > it simply by entering the sum of the last four digits of their social > security number. I had dealings last fall with a company which had a web site displaying their wares (not porn) which would not accept credit cards over the internet. They gave an 800 number to call to actually place your order. (My dealings with them were satisfactory, although my credit card issuer called to ask if this charge from New Mexico was legitimate in the middle of several other charges the day before and the same day in my home state.) Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: dold@CallerXIDX.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Caller ID for PC Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 18:34:07 UTC Organization: a2i network J Kelly wrote: > On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 04:23:48 UTC, dold@CallerXIDX.usenet.us.com wrote: >> Why doesn't your popup work anymore? I missed that part. I thought >> you were looking for a modem where you never had success before. > I was using an old USR External modem, and it takes up too much room > on the desk so I ditched it. Looking for something either *very* > small, or internal PCI. I've tried a half dozen internal PCI's (all > claiming to support CLID) and none work properly. It appears that > most winmodems either can't do CLID or require specialized software, > but do not necesarrily supports the AT command set for CLID which is > what the software I like uses. Most of the cheap USRs I've seen do > not mention CLID. I wish there was a PCI version of the USR Courier, > I have an ISA one but PC's don't come with ISA slots these days. You're a tough guy to help. You trim off the parts of an answer that might give you help, and pose the same question again, with a little more detail. So, you liked your USR? Get another one. What is cheap, anyway? The $19.95 USR-PCI is a WinModem. They don't mention Caller ID as a feature, because that is a given. They do mention the ability to display Caller ID while you are online. Internet Call Notification (ICN) is the buzzword. http://www.usr.com/products/home/compare-home.asp http://www.usr.com/products/home/home-product.asp?sku=USR5610B looks like the current version of the courier. It shows a list price of $79.95, but I see that online for $51. My U.S. Robotics 56K Voice PCI is not a WinModem. It appears to be a model 5601, but that must be a Dell rebrand, because I can't find that model mentioned on the USR site. If a PCI Winmodem won't run the software that you like, maybe you need different software, or stay with the old modem that worked. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ 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. 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #130 ******************************