From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Jan 19 14:09:08 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i0JJ98c03757; Mon, 19 Jan 2004 14:09:08 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 14:09:08 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200401191909.i0JJ98c03757@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 #28 TELECOM Digest Mon, 19 Jan 2004 14:09:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 28 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #416, January 19, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) Re: Place Name for 610-388 (Lisa Hancock) Re: Place Name for 610-388 (Jerry Wolf) Re: Wireless Home Networks (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Re: All-Zeros Numbers (Nick Landsberg) Re: All-Zeros Numbers (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) E-Commerce Report: Television Commercials Come to Web (Monty Solomon) Patent Lawyer Puts Claim to Entire Internet (Monty Solomon) Cops Use GPS Device to Nab Texas Fugitive (Monty Solomon) America Online to Showcase TopSpeed Technology (Monty Solomon) Bell Labs Technology Would Give Consumers Greater Control (M Solomon) Companies Tossing Aside Consumers' Freedoms (Monty Solomon) Don't Bank on Privacy (Monty Solomon) Northwest Gave U.S. Data on Passengers (Monty Solomon) Last Laugh! Dagwood's Trouble With Telemarketers (Lisa Minter) 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, 19 Jan 2004 09:43:20 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #416, January 19, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 416: January 19, 2003 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca ** CYGCOM INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGIES: www.cygcom.com ** GROUP TELECOM: www.360.net ** JUNIPER NETWORKS: www.juniper.net ** PRIMUS CANADA: www.primustel.ca ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** TELUS: www.telus.com ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Telus Service Levels Recover ** Security Hole Affects VoIP Systems ** Q3 2003 Telecom Statistics Released ** Bell-Cisco Alliance to Promote IP Adoption ** Telus to Make Final Offer to TWU ** Bell Union Seeks Conciliation ** Gigabit Net Planned for Ottawa Schools ** 25% of Tested Wi-Fi Products Fail ** CRTC Deregulates More Private Line Routes ** Nortel Debt Upgraded ** RIM Prices Public Offering ** Microcell to Buy Nortel Gear ** Cogeco Revenue Rises ** Telehop Reports Increased Calling ** Call Centre Conference Seeks Speakers ** Telemanagement Online Available Now ============================================================ TELUS SERVICE LEVELS RECOVER: Telus says it is now meeting or exceeding CRTC standards for customer service. It says that its business office and repair contact centres "are now performing better than at any time since the 1999 merger of Telus Alberta and BC Telecom." SECURITY HOLE AFFECTS VoIP SYSTEMS: The UK National Infrastructure Security Coordination Centre has identified security vulnerabilities in the H.323 protocol used in many VoIP systems. Cisco, Microsoft, and Nortel Networks have issued advisory notices. Microsoft rates the problem as "critical." www.uniras.gov.uk/vuls/2004/006489/h323.htm Q3 2003 TELECOM STATISTICS RELEASED: This morning in The Daily, Statistics Canada releases a summary of its Q3 2003 report on the telecommunications services industry. The full report will be posted later this week. www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040119/d040119c.htm BELL-CISCO ALLIANCE TO PROMOTE IP ADOPTION: Bell Canada and Cisco Systems have announced an alliance to expand Bell's IP/MPLS network, offer "co-marketed integrated IP products and services," and help large and mid-sized businesses migrate existing networks to IP. TELUS TO MAKE FINAL OFFER TO TWU: Telus says it will submit a final offer to the Telecommunications Workers Union today, two weeks ahead of the legal deadline. Telus and the TWU are in a cooling off period after which either party could give 72 hours notice of a strike or lockout. BELL UNION SEEKS CONCILIATION: The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union is seeking federal conciliation in its negotiations with Bell Canada. The union and Bell resumed negotiations last week. GIGABIT NET PLANNED FOR OTTAWA SCHOOLS: Telecom Ottawa has won a ten-year contract from the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to provide 1 Gbps connections to 154 schools and other facilities by this summer. 25% OF TESTED WI-FI PRODUCTS FAIL: The Wi-Fi Alliance, which tests wireless LAN equipment for interoperability and conformance with 802.11 standards, says that it has now given its seal of approval to more than 1,000 products. Over 25% of the products submitted for review failed. www.wi-fi.org CRTC DEREGULATES MORE PRIVATE LINE ROUTES: In Telecom Decision 2004-2, the CRTC "forbears from regulating" ILEC high-capacity private lines on additional routes now served by competitors. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2004/dt2004-2.htm NORTEL DEBT UPGRADED: The Dominion Bond Rating Service has upgraded Nortel Networks' trend from "negative" to "stable." RIM PRICES PUBLIC OFFERING: On Thursday, Research In Motion increased the size of its public offering from 9 million to 10.5 million shares, to be sold for US$78.25 per share, raising approximately $789 million MICROCELL TO BUY NORTEL GEAR: Microcell Solutions has extended its supply agreement with Nortel Networks to cover purchase of additional GSM and UMTS core wireless network equipment for $70 million by 2006. COGECO REVENUE RISES: For the three months ended November 30, Cogeco Cable had revenue of $128 million, 11% more than in the same period last year. One-time charges of $44 million resulted in a net loss of $40 million. Cogeco added 17,439 Internet subscribers (8.5%) and 7,239 cable customers (0.9%). TELEHOP REPORTS INCREASED CALLING: Telehop Communications, a Toronto-based dial-around long distance provider, says it carried 137 million minutes of traffic in 2003, an 82% increase over 2002. CALL CENTRE CONFERENCE SEEKS SPEAKERS: Advanstar Communications, organizers of the International Call Center Management conference in Chicago August 10-12, have issued a call for speakers. Submissions are due February 11. www.advanstartech.com/cfp/ TELEMANAGEMENT ONLINE AVAILABLE NOW! Angus TeleManagement Group has launched a premium service that gives Telemanagement subscribers exclusive online access to current and past issues of Telemanagement, Editorials, On the Line columns, feature reports, and more. ** Special Charter Subscriber rates are being offered for a limited time. For full details, go to www.angustel.ca/teleman/tm-sub-online.html. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-MAIL: editors@angustel.ca FAX: 905-686-2655 MAIL: TELECOM UPDATE Angus TeleManagement Group 8 Old Kingston Road Ajax, Ontario Canada L1T 2Z7 =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web on the first business day of the week at www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2003 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail rosita@angustel.ca or phone 905-686-5050 ext 500. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com (Lisa Hancock) Subject: Re: Place Name for 610-388 Date: 18 Jan 2004 16:26:40 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Carl Moore wrote > 610 area, part of old 215 in southeastern Pennsylvania, includes the > Delaware-Pennsylvania border. Recently, I made a call from my home > (via AT&T) to a phone on 610-388, which is along the Delaware border > (is local to Wilmington, Del.) and reaches up to a stretch of U.S. 1. > > AT&T bill which includes that call has arrived, and it gives the place > name as Chadds Ford (do not recall seeing Chadds Ford in that context > before), but nanpa.com (and the old phone books for that area) give > 388 (which is a holdover from the 215 area) as Mendenhall. Chadds Ford is in that area. My phone books says "Mendenhall". Verizon has been consolidating some small suburban exchanges. It's possible this was merged together. In the suburbs, an exchange usually serves several towns, and town municipal and postal boundaries do not match. It is quite often that someone's phone exchange, mailing town, and muncipality are all different. For instance, you could be in the Jenkintown phone exchange (now TUrner, ESsex, and MElrose), but be in the Elkins Park post office and Cheltenham Township, but be in a place commonly called Melrose Park. ------------------------------ From: sl_jerry1@hotmail.com (Jerry Wolf) Subject: Re: Place Name for 610-388 Date: 19 Jan 2004 06:44:07 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I grew up just east of there and can confirm that Chadds Ford and Mendenhall are within a few miles of each other. At least back in the 50's and 60's, telephone exchanges in that then-rural area spanned multiple communities, so the name given to an exchange was kinda arbitrary. That area has experienced tremendous growth in population as farms were turned into housing. Perhaps such exchanges changed their names as a result of changing population patterns. Carl Moore wrote in message news:: > 610 area, part of old 215 in southeastern Pennsylvania, includes the > Delaware-Pennsylvania border. Recently, I made a call from my home > (via AT&T) to a phone on 610-388, which is along the Delaware border > (is local to Wilmington, Del.) and reaches up to a stretch of U.S. 1. > AT&T bill which includes that call has arrived, and it gives the place > name as Chadds Ford (do not recall seeing Chadds Ford in that context > before), but nanpa.com (and the old phone books for that area) give > 388 (which is a holdover from the 215 area) as Mendenhall. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 15:48:58 GMT From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: Wireless Home Networks Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > Three colleagues, all more knowledgeable and opinionated than me, have > strongly warned against the more expedient wireless solution because > of security vulnerabilities. I thought these things were range limited If you set up your WiFi network properly, it's no more unsecure than anything else you're probably running. A really determined cracker can get to your computer from the Internet through whatever firewall you have set up, or can even splice a connection into your cable somewhere. Crackers don't need you to be running a wireless network to get into your system. The real problem with wireless is that most people don't install any sort of encryption. -Joel ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: All-Zeros Numbers Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:39:15 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Bruce Howells wrote: > There's been an ongoing thread about numbers ending in four zeros; > yes, they are of course valid. A couple jobs back, our hunt-group > lead was (area code suppressed since I don't know who currently owns > these numbers) NXX-891-0000, and our primary inbound FAX (aging myself > and this story by saying "our singular inbound") was NXX-890-0000. > Yep, *five* zeros. We all spent quite a bit of time convincing folks > that these were real, and not missing-data placeholders. > (If you recognize these numbers ... drop me a hello!) > -Bruce Howells, bhowells@earthlink.net I just have to re-tell this war story about 4 zeros on the end of a phone number. Way back when, before ESS and stuff, the phone company would try to hand out the lowest digit numbers to the numbers most often dialed. The reason being that, for dial pulse (rather than touch tone), the high numbers used up more time on the equipment. (0 is ten pulses). In those days, you would see pay-phones with numbers such as XXX-YYY-9987 because it was unlikely that anyone would be dialing pay-phones at a large frequency. I presume that big businesses had to pay a premium for numbers like MElrose 6-1000. When a system called "MLT" (mechanized line testing) was being developed to replace the test desk in the early 80's, the program was written in Fortran (because of all the compute intensive stuff which was necessary to figure out what the problems on the line were). The system worked for years without a major hitch. It got to the point that multiple MLT computers were hooked into multiple CO's for redundancy. So, if you reported a trouble on (e.g.) XXX-YYY-1111 and the primary MLT machine was down, the request would be routed to another machine which could also access XXX-YYY. (all routing was point-to-point in those days) Well, one day, a trouble report came in on ... XXX-YYY-0000. Within the space of seconds, all MLT machines which could access XXX-YYY crashed and had to be restarted (manually in those days). Those who are ancient computer geeks, will recognize something here. Fortran has arrays with "1-based" subscripts, i.e. the base of the array starts with NNX[1]. In other languages, the base of the array starts with NNX[0]. Internally, the software used the last 4 digits of the phone number to index into the array. NNX[0000] caused the machine to crash. ("There will never be a number ending in all zero's ... and even if it were, it would be a pay-phone, so who cares.") The upstream systems were programmed to try an alternate machine if the first one did not respond with an acknowledgment within a fraction of a second (the actual test took longer, but acknowledgement of the request was within milliseconds). They then blissfully forwarded the request to the next machine in the list which could handle XXX-YYY. Maybe I should cross-post to the Risks Digest ? :) Nick Landsberg "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 15:52:40 +0000 (GMT) From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Subject: Re: All-Zeros Numbers Organization: Excelsior Computer Services > There's been an ongoing thread about numbers ending in four zeros; > yes, they are of course valid. A couple jobs back, our hunt-group When I was in high school, I had a parent with a phone number ending in -0000. A teacher wanted a parent-teacher conference, and when I gave the teacher the number, I got punished and had to stay after school for lying. -Joel ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 00:13:42 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: E-Commerce Report: Television Commercials Come to the Web E-COMMERCE REPORT By BOB TEDESCHI January 19, 2004 TELEVISION commercials, in all their big, loud glory, are coming to the Web. Beginning tomorrow, more than a dozen Web sites, including MSN, ESPN, Lycos and iVillage, will run full-motion video commercials from Pepsi, AT&T, Honda, Vonage and Warner Brothers, in a six-week test that some analysts and online executives say could herald the start of a new era of Internet advertising. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/19/technology/19ecom.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:36:54 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Patent lawyer puts claim to entire Internet By Kieren McCarthy The Net's two biggest registrars of domain names are being sued for infringing an email and domain name patent granted last month. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in California, claims Network Solutions and Register.com are liable for selling, specifically, .name domains. It claims undisclosed monetary damages and an injunction against the sale of any more domains. US patent 6,671,714 - "Method, apparatus and business system for online communications with online and offline recipients" - is owned by Frank Weyer and Troy Javaher, both of Beverly Hills in California, was filed in November 1999 and approved on 30 December 2003. Frank Meyer is a patent lawyer who is heading the case himself and who recently set up the company Nizza Group to act as prosecutor. He has told the press that he is hoping to work with the two registrars and licence his naming method rather than prevent the sale of domains. No wonder, because the only way this patent case will ever be won is if the US court system is as hopelessly incompetent as the Patent Office. http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/34949.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 02:00:11 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cops Use GPS Device to Nab Texas Fugitive DALLAS -- Federal marshals were bringing a fugitive con man back to Texas this weekend from Dillon, Mont., where they ended his flight toward the Canadian border. Finding 64-year-old Bobbie McCoy Burress was easy: They just had the rental company switch on the global positioning device in his rented car. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/01/17/cops_use_gps_device_to_nab_texas_fugitive/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:54:28 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: America Online to Showcase TopSpeed Technology America Online to Showcase TopSpeed Technology Throughout Super Bowl XXXVIII, Featuring Unparalleled Ad Poll Giving Millions of Fans a Chance to View and Vote for Their Favorite Super Bowl XXXVIII Commercials DULLES, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 2004-- Super Bowl@AOL to Give Fans Behind-the-Scenes Access to Super Bowl Week Events in Houston and Extensive Football Video from NFL@AOL Newly Designed AOL.com to Offer Non-Members Free Access to NFL and Entertainment Content on the Web January 26-February 3 New AOL Commercials to Premiere Featuring AOL(R) TopSpeed (TM) Technology and the Teutuls, Stars of Breakout Hit Show "American Chopper" Millions of Super Bowl fans will have the chance to relive their favorite ads immediately following the game and vote for their choice for the best in AOL's biggest ever AOL Ad Bowl poll, according to America Online, sponsor of the AOL TopSpeed(TM) Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show. The event is expected to be the largest Super Bowl advertising poll in history, with voting open to both AOL members, through AOL Keyword: Super Bowl, and on the Web through the AOL.com(R) service. Last year, AOL hosted a similar commercial showcase which generated more than 5.6 million streams in 36 hours. Early results of this year's poll will be available within hours after the big game. The AOL Ad Bowl gives fans on AOL and AOL.com the opportunity to view ads that premiere during Super Bowl XXXVIII immediately after the game and cast their votes for their favorite. The final results of the AOL Ad Bowl will be announced on February 2. Fans will also be able to view classic Super Bowl ads and vote for their favorite from January 23-28. The AOL Ad Bowl is part of a comprehensive package of Super Bowl events designed to promote AOL TopSpeed technology, the built-in Web accelerator in AOL 9.0(R) Optimized that allows consumers to get where they want to go on the Internet faster--up to five times faster for dial-up users when compared to a standard dial-up connection*. These offerings include Super Bowl@AOL--a destination giving fans up close and behind-the-scenes access to the events surrounding the big game as well as extensive football video from NFL@AOL; access to a wide array of Super Bowl content via the Web on a newly designed AOL.com; and a series of new ads highlighting TopSpeed featuring the stars of Discovery Channel's breakout hit show "American Chopper." - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40217755 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 08:59:26 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Bell Labs Technology Would Give Consumers Greater Control Bell Labs Technology Would Give Consumers Greater Control over Their Privacy When Using Mobile Devices - Jan 19, 2004 08:30 AM (BusinessWire) BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 2004-- New Location Privacy Approach Outlined at Mobile Data Management 2004 Conference Researchers from Lucent Technologies' (NYSE:LU) Bell Labs have developed new software technologies that would enable users to tightly control how their location information is shared when using location-enabled mobile devices such as cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). In a paper to be presented here at the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Mobile Data Management, Bell Labs researchers will describe a method for users to specify what location information is shared, and when, with whom, how and under what circumstances. Today's location-based services promise incredible access in an ever-increasingly connected world, but they do not support the possibility that a user's willingness to share location data may depend on a range of factors including recent and current activities, time of day, and who is requesting the data -- in other words, an individual's context. Bell Labs' newly developed Privacy-Conscious Personalization (PCP) framework relies on user preferences to intelligently infer context such as working or shopping, and then determines with whom location information should be shared. When a user's location or other information is requested, it is analogous to someone making a query of a database. In this case, the request is checked against the user's preferences and filtered through a high-performance rules engine, known within Bell Labs as "Houdini," before any action is taken. Since location and other mobile services require near-real-time performance, this entire process can take a few milliseconds or less. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=40218518 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 09:19:10 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Companies Tossing Aside Consumers' Freedoms By Dan Gillmor Mercury News Technology Columnist The digital revolution has been all about empowering people, to use technology in ways that broaden our horizons and our freedom. So when the tech industry began moving into consumer electronics, there were reasons to expect great things. The consumer electronics companies, by and large, have sold closed boxes that deliberately limit customers' options. This is by tradition, in part for simplicity and ease of use, but also to placate an entertainment industry that tramples customers' rights in the name of curbing copyright infringement. I've been hoping that the tech industry will bring its better traditions into the living room -- expanding customers' flexibility and creativity, not curbing them. At the giant Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January, the evidence was mixed. While new technology is adding some useful features to consumer electronics, tech companies -- by embracing Hollywood-dictated restrictions on how digital content is used -- have allied themselves with a greedy cartel at the expense of their own customers. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/7739841.htm http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/columnists/dan_gillmor/7739841.htm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 09:29:30 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Don't Bank on Privacy Most bank Web sites fall short when it comes to customer privacy, convenience and responsiveness, a study found. By Richard Burnett Sentinel Staff Writer Tina Williams knows little about what her bank does with her personal information. The privacy policy is wordy and tough to decode. She doesn't read it when it arrives in the mail. She also doesn't read the disclosure statements when she's banking online. "Like most other privacy policies, it is long and boring and confusing," said the substitute schoolteacher, who lives in Lake Mary. "My feeling is, as long as you don't share my personal information the wrong way, I'll trust you. Luckily, so far, I haven't had any problem." Online-banking customers deserve better, however, according to a new study of banks' online operations. Despite banks' increasing Internet savvy, too many financial institutions still fall short when it comes to customer privacy, convenience and responsiveness, according to a report by The Customer Respect Group, a research and consulting firm based in Bellevue, Wash. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bizbanksonline14011404jan14,1,7297658.story ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 23:16:44 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Northwest Gave U.S. Data on Passengers Airline Had Denied Sharing Information For Security Effort By Sara Kehaulani Goo Washington Post Staff Writer Northwest Airlines provided information on millions of passengers for a secret U.S. government air-security project soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, raising more concerns among some privacy advocates about the airlines' use of confidential customer data. The nation's fourth-largest airline asserted in September that it "did not provide that type of information to anyone." But Northwest acknowledged Friday that by that time, it had already turned over three months of reservation data to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center. Northwest is the second carrier to have been identified as secretly passing travelers' records to the government. The airline industry has said publicly that it would not cooperate in developing a government passenger-screening program because of concerns that the project would infringe on customer privacy. But the participation of two airlines in separate programs demonstrates the industry's clandestine role in government security initiatives. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26422-2004Jan17.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2004 23:26:01 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Last Laugh! Dagwood's Trouble With Telemarketers In the Sunday Independence Reporter for 1/18 Comic pages the 'Blondie' comic had Dagwood (apparently) getting a call from a telemarketer and retaliating by putting the family name and phone number on the national do not call list. Blondie approves of this and smiles sweetly at Dagwood as the family dog looks on. At last, says Dagwood, no more dinner interuptions and he can take his naps in peace. Blondie tells him how wonderful that sounds. Then the doorbell rings and Dagwood goes to answer the door. Standing in the doorway is a string of a dozen or so door-to-door salesmen and sales ladies carrying their wares, pots and pans, insurance policies, electronic items, etc. Like a chorus in unison they all say "We're B---A---C---K !" I have to wonder if the new rules will make *enough* of a dent in phone sales that many companies will return to the door-to-door sales routine. Lisa Minter Editor, Yahoo Telecom News ------------------------------ 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. 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