From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Jun 25 15:22:06 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.3) id i5PJM6420479; Fri, 25 Jun 2004 15:22:06 -0400 (EDT) Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 15:22:06 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200406251922.i5PJM6420479@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 #306 TELECOM Digest Fri, 25 Jun 2004 15:22:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 306 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Norvergence in Financial Trouble (Barry B.) Re: Norvergence Questions (Black Ninja) Beastie Boys CD Installs Virus (Monty Solomon) Re: AOL Worker Sold Customer List For Spam, US Charges (Monty Solomon) EPIC Alert 11.12 (Monty Solomon) MCI Layoffs Looming (r8989) Peer to Peer/Point to Point VOIP (Jeroen) Re: Cell Phone Reception Question (Joseph) Re: Telephony Card for SOHO CTI? (Fred) Re: Verizon FSK Voice Mail Indication (SELLCOM Tech Support) VoIP Moves Continue: Qwest Enters Fray (VOIP News) Nortel Wants to Take VoIP to the Next Level (VOIP News) A Conversation With AT&T Labs Clayton Lockhart (VOIP News) Shaw Profits Surge; Links With Bell on VOIP (VOIP News) SH RISC/DSP SoC Does VoIP (VOIP News) Xten Phone Home - SIP FWD Client a Little Nosy? (VOIP News) Policy Makers Warned on VOIP Challenges to E-911 (VOIP News) Looking For a Security Engineer? (rwf) 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: BarryB Date: Thu, June 24 2004 9:25:00 PM Subject: Norvergence in Financial Trouble Norvergence article June 17 Star Ledger Page 58 Layoffs this week; financial problems; rumors that paychecks are bouncing. No way they can make it to the middle of July. Barry [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, you know what 'they' say: When it comes to paying your bills you *always* pay the utilities and meet your payroll. Without employees and utilities you are out of business. You can always stall for time on the others; but not the utilities and not the payroll. You MUST take care of those. PAT] ------------------------------ From: triple_des1544@yahoo.com (Black Ninja) Subject: Re: Norvergence Questions Date: 24 Jun 2004 17:58:01 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Steven J Sobol wrote in message news:: > Black Ninja wrote: >> Which is it? You know a lot, or you don't have much juicy info? I >> feel that it may be the latter. Why don't you tell us all just one >> (1) thing that we don't already know. I know a lot too, and I can >> tell you if it is true or not. Personally, I think you are a full of >> sh*t ex-telemarketer. > Hey, all. Black Ninja is the jackass who replied to my post in > alt.cellular re: Norvergence's cellular services and then alternately > waffled and insulted me and a couple other posters when we pointed out > the company's problems and solicited comments from him. He eventually > stopped posting. > Norvergence's problems are well-documented. I'm sure Mr. Ninja will > dispute that, but the facts are out there. Surf on over to: > http://tinyurl.com/2uckn > and then click the Complete Thread link to view the sordid story. > I think the proper term is "company shill." And Sobol is the greasy jackhole that decided to post a totally incorrect response to a person's request for nuts and bolts info on a product -- just so that he could get his business email signature on the web. Get your facts straight and make a real contribution. Steven, let me help you out. Folks, if you are lucky enough to live in the oasis that we call "Apple Valley" (best damn tap water on earth and the meth aint half bad either), then please contact Mr. Steven "Never Heard of Norv Doing Cell Phones" Sobol for all of your web hosting needs. He's the man in the know. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 11:21:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Re: AOL Worker Sold Customer List For Spam, US Charges UNITED STATES v. JASON SMATHERS, SEAN DUNAWAY http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/cyberlaw/ussmthrs604acmp.pdf ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 11:13:36 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Beastie Boys CD Installs Virus By Thomas C Greene A new Beastie Boys' CD called "To the Five Boroughs" (Capitol Records), is raising hackles around the Web for reputedly infecting computers with a virus. According to a recent thread at BugTraq, an executable file is automatically and silently installed on the user's machine when the CD is loaded. The file is said to be a driver that prevents users from ripping the CD (and perhaps others), and attacks both Windows boxen and Macs. The infected CD is being distributed worldwide except in the USA and UK, which prevents us from giving a firsthand report. However, according to hearsay, we gather that the Windows version exploits the 'autorun' option, and that the Mac version affects the auto play option. On Windows, when a CD is loaded, a text file called autorun.inf is read, and any instructions within it are executed. In this case, the machine is instructed to install some manner of DRM driver that prevents copying. We haven't seen either the .inf file or any of the executables, so we can't say how or at what level it accomplishes this -- or if indeed it actually does accomplish this. But assuming that the unconfirmed reports are accurate, we have here a media company infecting users' machines silently with a file that affects a computer's functionality, without first obtaining informed consent: a likely violation of pretty much every jurisdiction's anti-hacking laws. It's possible to foresee criminal charges being brought at some point: after all, having a good reason for spreading malware has never been much of a defence in court. And a file that alters a computer's functioning without the owner's informed consent is the very definition of malware. Because this malware can be transferred from machine to machine on a removable disk, and requires user interaction to spread, it is, quite simply, a computer virus. (A worm, on the other hand, is distinguished by its ability to spread without user interaction.) http://www.theregister.com/2004/06/23/beastie_boy_cd_virus/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 13:37:21 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Re: AOL Worker Sold Customer List For Spam, US Charges Penis pill peddler stiffs AOL spam insider By Andrew Orlowski in San Francisco Published Thursday 24th June 2004 00:32 GMT An AOL employee has been arrested and charged with conspiracy, after selling 92 million screen names to an Internet gambling operator in Las Vegas. 24-year-old Jason Smathers found out how to access what the charges describe as AOL's "highly secure database" when he was assigned another employee's laptop PC. All the instructions he needed were on the machine. Using his, er, AOL email account, Smathers got in touch with Sean Dunaway, who then sold the list onto spammers. Dunaway later boasted of using the list to boost his own Internet business and charged $52,000 for the full list, or $2000 for each letter of the alphabet, according to police charges. Smathers also gave himself away by using his new database privileges to first check on his own AOL account. The scam came to light when one of Dunaway's customers, whose job we learn, "is primarily the sending out of masses of unsolicited e-mail marketing herbal penile enlargement pills." This source, who isn't named, hopes to mitigate his participation in spamming. http://www.theregister.com/2004/06/24/aol_spam_insider/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 18:36:01 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 11.12 ======================================================================= E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================= Volume 11.12 June 24, 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.12.html ====================================================================== Table of Contents ====================================================================== [1] Supreme Court Upholds Arrest for Refusal to Give Identification [2] EPIC Recommends Protections for Social Security Numbers [3] Info on PATRIOT Act Surveillance Authority Released [4] EPIC Proposes RFID Privacy Guidelines to the FTC [5] EPIC Opposes Ratification of Cybercrime Convention [6] Top TSA Official Admits Vast Collection of Air Passenger Data [7] News in Brief [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_11.12.html ------------------------------ From: rlm2174@yahoo.com (r8989) Subject: MCI Layoffs Date: 24 Jun 2004 21:59:50 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Has anyone seen anything on layoff this week? ------------------------------ From: muskjer@hetnet.nl (Jeroen) Subject: Peer to Peer/Point to Point VOIP Date: 25 Jun 2004 00:41:30 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Would anybody know how it is possible to connect a couple of branch offices with ip phones that will use ip for voice transfer and that are not connected to the PSTN with a gateway, like an intercom to get two sites connected. Regards, John ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Cell Phone Reception Question Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 07:13:46 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.NONOcom On 24 Jun 2004 10:03:59 -0700, flyerscrew05@aol.com (nick) wrote: > I have been having a lot of trouble with my reception I get on my cell > phone. How much does the actual phone have to do with reception? Is > cell phone reception have more to deal with the carrier's network or > does your phone model actually play a large enough part to make a > difference. Which phone you use on a network can make all the difference in the world as far as holding a call and the useablility of the signal received. Some phones that have come out within the last few years have been notorious for bad RF reception such as the Ericsson T68i. That's not the only one, but it can make a big difference on how good your reception is. If you read mobile phone reviews that's one of the things that is often reviewed i.e. how well it picks up and holds on to signals. Also antenna design isn't always an indicator on which phone will have better RF reception. Some internal antenna designs on some phones will trump external antennas either the fixed type or the whip type. remove NONO from .NONOcom to reply ------------------------------ From: Fred Subject: Re: Telephony Card for SOHO CTI? Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 17:20:19 +0200 Organization: Guest of ProXad - France On Thu, 24 Jun 2004 08:53:12 +0000, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > Yeah, that's "too simple" --- but it works! I wasn't looking specifically for a sophisticated solution, but I didn't know a modem could read caller ID info without answering a call. An 18E PCI modem did the trick. Thx for the tip. Fred. ------------------------------ From: SELLCOM Tech support Subject: Re: Verizon FSK Voice Mail Indication Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 16:58:51 GMT David posted on that vast internet thingie: > Has anyone successfully used an FSK voice mail indicator with Verizon > CO voice mail? When one asks the Verizon sales office they say that > they will try to turn it on, but they don't seem to know which COs > support it. The exchange that I am interested in is 781-235-XXXX. > Panasonic has a new portable phone with a nice LED in the antenna that > is supposed to light from FSK signaling. Much better than stutter > dial tone if it will work. Just about each time I have needed to have Verizon VMWI turned on it has taken several calls. Sometimes a repair tech can go in and toggle it on. I am pretty sure they support it because a lot of people buy our TMC ET4000 phones to use with Verizon's products. Steve at SELLCOM http://www.sellcom.com Discount multihandset cordless phones by Siemens, AT&T, Panasonic, Motorola Vtech 5.8Ghz; TMC ET4000 4line Epic phone, OnHoldPlus, Beamer, Watchguard! Brick wall "non MOV" surge protection. Mini-Splitter log splitter! If you sit at a desk www.ergochair.biz you owe it to yourself. ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 20:05:12 -0400 Subject: VoIP Moves Continue: Qwest Enters Fray Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.x-changemag.com/tdhotnews/46h24133929.html By Tara Seals Qwest Communications International Inc. this week says it will soon launch IP telephony-based local and long-distance bundles with broadband nationwide. The notice follows a VoIP announcement by Verizon Communications Inc. earlier in the week and others by incumbents and top interexchange carriers over the last six months. Qwest's VoIP service, dubbed OneFlex, targets businesses and will be available in mid-July in Boise, Idaho; Denver; Minneapolis; and Phoenix. The company plans to roll out OneFlex to 22 more metropolitan areas, ranging from Albuquerque, N.M. to Washington, D.C., by the end of 2004. The managed and hosted solution relies on Qwest’s national IP network and requires no CPE beyond IP phones. It allows self-service via a Web portal for conference calling, adds, moves and changes, voice mail setup and other features. It also provides some quality of service controls as long as the traffic stays on the Qwest network. Full story at: http://www.x-changemag.com/tdhotnews/46h24133929.html How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home: http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/ ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 20:13:37 -0400 Subject: Nortel Wants to Take VoIP to the Next Level Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.x-changemag.com/tdhotnews/46h24131256.html By Tara Seals Taking a page from open source initiatives, Nortel Networks announced a global strategy at SUPERCOMM to jumpstart mass market adoption of SIP-based multimedia by making it easy to for device manufacturers and other vendors to interoperate with its Multimedia Communication Server (MCS) 5100 and 5200 products. It hopes to add at least 40 vendors to its roster of those with certified compatible manufacturers. "There are not enough SIP clients out there to provide a choice to consumers," explains Thom Baker, product line manager at Nortel. "We want to seed the market with clients and devices, and interoperate with different products," the theory being that more available, interoperable devices will lead to cheaper manufacturing costs, more affordable clients and more end user adoption. "You should be able to walk into Best Buy or Wal-Mart and buy a SIP device," he adds. Full story at: http://www.x-changemag.com/tdhotnews/46h24131256.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2004 20:59:34 -0400 Subject: A Conversation With AT&T Labs Clayton Lockhart Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://telephonyonline.com/ar/telecom_conversation_att_labs/index.htm By Dan O'Shea CHICAGO--This spring, AT&T steered the voice-over-IP market into a new phase by launching its CallVantage VoIP service for the residential market. Though VoIP has matured gradually over the last few years, the service launch still represents a remarkable change in attitude and shift in strategy by the mother of all old-school telcos. Clayton Lockhart, vice president for global network planning and development at AT&T Labs, sat down with Telephony's Dan O'Shea at the Supercomm 2004 trade show Thursday morning to discuss how AT&T got to this market turning point and what to expect in the future. Full story at: http://telephonyonline.com/ar/telecom_conversation_att_labs/index.htm ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 11:28:09 -0400 Subject: Shaw Profits Surge; Links With Bell on VOIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1088158352925&call_pageid=968350072197&col=968705923364 CALGARY (CP) Cable TV giant Shaw Communications Inc. is reporting a third-quarter profit of $24.8 million, sharply reversing the $13-million loss a year earlier and teaming up with Bell Canada on coming Internet telephone services. In a third-straight profitable quarter, Shaw's net income in the period ended May 31 amounted to six cents a share, contrasting with a year-ago loss of 10 cents a share, the Calgary-based company said Friday. Service revenue rose 5.2 per cent to $532 million. Shaw said it plans to "decisively pursue" new business in the new voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP) phone market. "We have selected Bell to provide wholesale services for our initial launch of residential telephone service," the company said in a release. "Bell will provide wholesale services, including interconnection to the public switched telephone network, and long-distance termination in order to enable Shaw to provide residential telephone service to its customers in Western Canada." Full story at: http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1088158352925&call_pageid=968350072197&col=968705923364 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 11:30:18 -0400 Subject: SH RISC/DSP SoC Does VoIP Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6000469573.html Renesas has introduced a new SuperH embedded processor that supports Linux and is optimized for VoIP (voice over IP) applications. The SH7710 dual-core RISC/DSP chip can process VoIP with enough overhead to simultaneously run a firewall and security algorithms, according to Renesas. It targets VoIP ATAs (analog telephone adapters), routers, home gateway servers, and secure routers. Renesas says the SH7710 can encode or decode up to four channels of voice while simultaneously running an operating system, SIP (session initiation protocol), and other networking protocol stacks. A "complete set of VoIP middleware" for the chip is available for licensing to VoIP equipment OEMs, according to Renesas. The middleware is based on ITU-compliant CODECs including G.711, G.723.1, G.726, and G.729A, and the speech CODEC license includes patent indemnification that covers major countries in North America, Asia, and Europe. An echo canceller and an adaptive jitter buffer manager are also available. Full story at: http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6000469573.html ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 11:34:44 -0400 Subject: Xten Phone Home - SIP FWD Client a Little Nosy? Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/46666 Free World Dial-Up's Jeff Pulver notes in our forums that SIP VoIP softphone provider Xten seems to be tracking user information when users launch their product. Each time a user launches the Xten Free World Dial-up client, the company receives: - the date and time the call was made - The license key - Software version number and build stamp - NAT IP Address According to a post from an apparent employee over at Jeff's blog , the company claims they aren't data mining, they simply "need to know how many active endpoints we have in the market not only for our purposes but also for our customers." They also claim the information is only collected the first time the client is run. Big deal? Depends who you ask and how paranoid they are. One thing to note; after a quick glance of the Xten license agreement, there seems to be no mention that this information would be shared with the parent company. Article plus reader comments at: http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/46666 ------------------------------ From: VOIP News Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 13:59:06 -0400 Subject: Policy-Makers Warned on VoIPs Challenges to E911 Reply-To: VoIPnews@yahoogroups.com http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=18632 by HEATHER FORSGREN WEAVER WASHINGTON Congressional staffers were told Thursday that Voice over Internet Protocol technology poses challenges to the enhanced 911 system. "VoIP brings new technical challenges and new players to the E911 system. The purpose of the briefing is to educate policy-makers on the implications of VoIP technology for public safety, homeland security and emergency communications, and provide more information on efforts by the public-safety community and industry to address these challenges," said Gregory Rohde, executive director of the E911 Institute. Full story at: http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=18632 ------------------------------ From: rwf@loonybin.net Subject: Looking For a Security Engineer? Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2004 18:35:03 GMT Organization: Road Runner Looking for a security engineer? My website is http://www.loonybin.net/ and email rwf@loonybin.net Please feel free to contact me. Robert ------------------------------ 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. 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