From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 28 15:54:52 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id i7SJspH29245; Sat, 28 Aug 2004 15:54:52 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 15:54:52 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200408281954.i7SJspH29245@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 #403 TELECOM Digest Sat, 28 Aug 2004 15:54:00 EDT Volume 23 : Issue 403 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Book Review: Fighting Spam for Dummies, Levine/Young/Church (noname) Re: VOIP Connects Workers as They Flee Convention Site (Jim Burks) Vonage VOIP and Apartment Intercom (NoSpamPlease) Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind (Tony P.) Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind (Steve Sobol) Re: U.S. Says Over 100 Arrested in Internet Crime Sweep (Tony P.) Re: Forced Ads on Auto Response System (Tony P.) Be Sure to Check Out http://kerry-or-bush-2004.us.tt (P. Townson) 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: noname@example.invalid Subject: Re: Book Review: Fighting Spam for Dummies, Levine/Young/Church Organization: We Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 12:38:08 +0000 In article , John Levine wrote: > I generally don't reply to flames from anonymous cowards who have so > little confidence in what they say that they sent mail from fake > addresses and don't sign their messages, but now and then I make an > exception. What _I_ said was of no importance. The facts, complete with authoritative source references that *anybody* can verify, spoke for themselves. Nice to see you starting off with ad hominems, too. When you can't argue the facts, what else is left? >> Spamassassin *does* run on Windows desktops. >>> From the spamassassin home page, at >> Note: This is the home page for the main open-source SpamAssassin >> distribution. Packages downloaded here contain UNIX-oriented >> front-end scripts. Versions for Windows, commercial versions, and >> other front-ends, are listed on the wiki. >> Note well: "Versions for Windows..." >> Neat trick for a package that "doesn't run on Windows", isn't it? > Had Mr. A.C. spent a few seconds and actually taken a look at the Wiki > he refers to, he would find a bunch of little used add-on packages > that let you set up a proxy mail server on your Windows box that they > say can be set up to run mail through a version of spamassassin. Mr. A.C. _had_ previously done so. And (a) played with SpamD, to see how it worked, (b) recommended it to a number of only 'somewhat' computer literate acquaintances who have had *no*trouble* installing and running the SpamD implementation. With _no_ help whatsoever from anyone, beyond the published directions. Mr. A.C. *is* a 'techie', _my_ experience with installing/configuring would in no way be typical. Precisely why I mention direct knowledge of real-world experiences of non-technical users. As for it being a proxy, there are only _three_ *possible* ways to filter mail 'on the desktop'. One being 'internally' to the mail-reader program, the second being to 'post-process' the 'inbox' _outside_ of the mail-reader program, after you have downloaded the new mail, *before* reading it. The third being through a 'proxy'. When the 'internal' capabilities of the mail-reader program are 'inadequate', you are pretty much restricted to the 'proxy' approach, as I don't know of any generally available tools that perform after-the-fact editing on the inbox. Proxies have the added advantage that they will work with _any_ mail-reader, where an after-the-fact file-editor must be tailored to the internal file format of the specific mail-reader employed. > believe that they can be made to work, but I don't know anyone who > uses spamassassin that way Your 'limited' exposure, I guess. :) There are enough such users out there that there is a commercial market, albeit a niche one, for it. > and I certainly wouldn't recommend any of them to the nontechnical > users who are the target of our book, because they're way too hard > to manage and update. For 'SpamD' -- the free tool -- I won't argue with that. As far as 'recommending' it to that user-base goes. The commercial implementation is a whole 'nuther story as regards ease-of-install/-update. Standard Windows 'wizard'. Question: did you, or did you _not_, know that the resources listed on the wiki existed at the time you wrote your rebuttal to the review? If you did not know, then your research skills are called into question. If you _did_ know, on the other hand, then your previous public statement as to *why* you excluded spamassassin from the filtering 'on the desktop' discussion is disingenuous, at best. Either way, the credibility of the author/work is called into question. > Spamassassin is a swell package. Indeed, it's so swell that we > describe it in some detail in pages 186-188 of the server filtering > chapter which apparently neither the original reviewer nor > Mr. A.C. bothered to read. Mr. A.C. read your previous remarks, where you said, _contrary_to_fact_, that "spamassassin runs ... not on the Windows desktop." Mr. A.C. addressed *that* demonstrable, and demonstrated, factual error. Mr. A.C. would have said _nothing_, *IF*, for example, you had simply stated that you had deliberately omitted spamassassin from the 'desktop' solutions discussion 'because it requires skill-levels beyond that of our target audience', or words to that effect. That _is_ a valid reason for not mentioning a product. Claiming you didn't mention it because "it does not exist" (not the exact words you used, but an accurate rendition of the meaning), when the product _does_ in fact exist, is either deliberate deception, or a by-product of ignorance. 'Which one' applies may be important to some, but the simple existence of the contra-factual claim -- without considering 'why' -- is sufficient to raise questions as to the reliability of the rest of your information. Alphonse Coward (no relation to Noel) ------------------------------ From: Jim Burks Subject: Re: VOIP Connects Workers as They Flee Convention Site Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 12:06:33 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com Jack Decker wrote in message news:telecom23.402.17@telecom-digest.org: > http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1640338,00.asp > By Ellen Muraskin > Opinion: With the Republican National Convention descending on New > York, Midtown employees are avoiding the office. Infinity Consulting > is using Cisco IP phones and M5's IP Centrex service to stay connected > from the outer boroughs and New Jersey. My company has a large sales office in the office tower over Madison Square Garden, and we upgraded our Avaya in the building to support VoIP for both PC softphones and hard VoIP sets so the users could work from other offices on the data network, or via VPN from home. Jim Burks ------------------------------ From: cmclagan@yahoo.com (NoSpamPlease) Subject: Vonage VOIP and Apartment Intercom Date: 28 Aug 2004 07:24:47 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I live in an apartment with an Enterphone "No Phone Bill" system. I recently signed up for Vonage VOIP before realizing there would be an issue of how I'll get front-door buzzes after I discontinue my Verizon service. My thinking so far is that maybe I can "reverse-split" the hookup to my phone by plugging it into BOTH the VT1000 adapter and the old hardwired line that the Enterphone uses. Presumably there would be a problem if the door buzzes while I'm on a call, but that happens infrequently enough that I could live with it. My concern, before I try this out, is that the voltage (if any) from the Enterphone might fry the VT1000, since I assume that a phone splitter would allow the volts to cross over from the landline to the pair going into the adapter. Four questions: 1) Am I right about the voltage risk? 2) If I disconnect the Verizon service will the Enterphone still supply a voltage that could damage the adapter? 3) If Enterphone does not supply voltage, but I try to test the arrangement before disconnecting Verizon, will I be at risk? 4) Are there any special devices I might use that would help me deal with this situation? Is there any hope? I really don't want to have to limit my Enterphone use to a single wired phone (I use 4 cordless extension phones and don't want to have to run to the kitchen every time the door is buzzed.) Thanks, ccm ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 00:24:05 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind At 02:54 PM 8/27/04, > I will keep using my 1996 home computer with its 14.4 modem until it > dies and I am forced to upgrade. Of course they've told me the hard > drive isn't compatible with new machines (surprise, surprise), so I'll > have to recopy my software. Some programs were on 5" floppies > originally -- how I am supposed to copy those over? (I had hoped to > simply move my hard drive to the new machine and go from there.) I had two floppy drives in my old machine, a 3 1/2 drive A: and a 5 1/4 drive B: I "upgraded" my processor, motherboard, and video card. Imagine my surprise to learn that my new motherboard can't handle two floppies, and auxiliary floppy cards are no longer available, nor are motherboards that CAN handle two floppies. I can open the machine to switch cables, and then activate the 5 1/4 drive in the bios, but that's a pain in the anatomy. What I should do, when I get a round tuit, is get a USB external drive (3 1/2), and then activate the 5 1/4 internal as the boot drive on the motherboard. Since floppies are used only for "backward compatibility" -- to access the archives of most of the last 20 years, except for the last couple which are on CD or DVD, this will probably keep me going. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 14:56:37 GMT In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says: > SELLCOM Tech support wrote: >> I just went from a "poor Microsoft why are they persecuting it" to a >> "Microsoft is really really dangerous and something needs to be done" >> in only a few short hours. What caused this great change of heart >> you might ask? The answer is "XP". I held out for as long as I could >> without buying it, but ... > In the IBM mainframe world, if you happen to have an old program from > 40 (forty) years ago, you can still run it without change on current > machines and operating systems. The backward compatibility is there. > (Yes, most old programs would have needed Y2k changes, and there was > changes from COBOL to COBOL-II/MVS, but basically everything is the > same). > Actually, if you had programs that were 50 (fifty) years old from an > earlier generation of IBM mainframes (ie 1401 or 7090 series from the > 1950s) you could STILL run them without change, too. I know of people > who did just that until at least the mid 1990s. IBM paid a heavy price to support those old applications. The 370 series allowed virtual machines so they could just emulate a 1401 or 7090 to run those applications and pass the IO back to the VM/CMS manager for display. > The 1948 Western Electric rotary phone on my desk works just fine, by > the way. The Centrex ESS still accepts rotary dial pulses and the > ringing current still rings the telephone. Voice clarity is fine. Definitely -- they were built for a minimum service life of thirty years. That they've lasted nearly twice that is a good indicator of the quality WE was able to achieve. It would be interesting to find out how much in today's dollars the manufacture of a 302 would cost. I bet it would be a few hundred dollars or more. > On the other hand, Microsoft keeps rolling out new and changed > operating systems year after year. As a person of limited means who > tends to keep his computers for as long as possible, my personal > software becomes "obsolete" and this creates problems. Intel keeps > making faster and faster chips. Planned obsolescence. It's been with us at least since World War II and will continue to be with us. If something works for me I use it until *I* outgrow it, not when the marketing people say I should trade in or buy new. I'm actually at the point now where I need to upgrade my system but am loathe to accept Win XP as it's default OS. So what I'll probably do is buy a new machine with no OS and put Win2K on it, or dual-boot and throw a Linux partition on there too. Oh hell, I may just go pure Linux at that point if SCO doesn't kill it. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That is sort of what I have here now on one machine: a custom built (more or less) computer with two actual hard drives (C and F); two CD-DVD drives (D and E), one of which (E) is a writer as well; a removable USB drive with 62 MB on it (the little 'finger-like' thing which fits in a USB socket) called (G) and of course the 1.44 mb floppy (A). There is a slot to install another another 1.44 mb floppy if desired and a space to install a larger old style 5 1/2 inch floppy if I wanted, or another CD-DVD thing if I wished, but I do not know where those latter two slots (if I were to fill them with devices) would plug in; the ribbon connectors inside are all in use as I recall. The original hard drive (C) started out at one time with Win-XP but that got me so nervous I swapped it for Win-2000, then when the new larger (80GB) hard drive was installed the Win-2000 was put on it instead (it was named [and strapped] into the 'C' position); the older original drive took a new position (F) and it was re-formatted and had Linux 9.0 installed on it. (Not Red Hat, I think it is Debian?) When I boot, it defaults after seven or eight seconds to Linux unless I tap a key and get it to boot into Win-2000. Now that Mike Rowesoft has released a new 'service pack' for Win-XP I am sorely tempted to 'upgrade' my bastardized C drive to use XP again, and I do have a product key that supposedly works on XP, but truth be told, I am **very leary** to get into such a mess on my own. You must understand, I really do not know what I am doing here; a few of you readers who have taken pity on an old, brain-diseased man have walked me through what has happened up to now over the telephone and I followed your advice and gotten this far. But from what I am reading here in the Digest, one little change or another in the hardware and I will be asked to re-register it all again. Maybe I should leave well enough alone. I was quite pleased recently to get far enough along in this odessey to get a wireless laptop (actually a very ancient IBM Think Pad with Win 95 installed from the factory but upgraded to Win 98 which I installed a wireless PCMCIA card in) which a reader donated to me working with a wireless NetGear router so I can sit in my back yard on hot summer days to work on this Digest. Am I pressing my luck trying to go further on all this? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Microsoft Changed My Mind Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 08:49:18 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com friendly wrote: > Thanks for describing MS great products that most the world chooses to > use because they are superior and cost effective and kept very up to > date. Make sure and get XP SP2 as it's a big improvement and installs > seemlessly for the large majority of users. Whatever. Even Microsoft is suggesting that users be careful deciding whether and how to deploy SP2. http://tinyurl.com/4bzpa http://tinyurl.com/3kse3 (Describing an over 100-page document on HOW TO APPLY A SERVICE PACK!) Apparently Bill Gates is employing Usenet sock-puppets these days. Anonymous sock-puppets, even. This isn't even an entertaining troll. JustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/ Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED) Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Would you please explain what is a 'sock-puppet' (anonymous or otherwise)? Thanks. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: U.S. Says Over 100 Arrested in Internet Crime Sweep Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 15:03:20 GMT In article , monty@roscom.com says: > By Andy Sullivan and Peter Kaplan > WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - More than 100 people have been arrested > in the largest global crackdown to date on identity theft, hacking and > other Internet-based crimes, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said > on Thursday. > The arrests followed a three-month investigation into a range of > crimes from reselling co-workers' Social Security numbers to disabling > Web sites, Ashcroft said. > - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=43320357 I notice that the FBI is finally consolidating the fraud cases. Anytime the loss is less than roughly $20K it isn't worth investigating because of the costs associated with the investigation. It's good to see the FTC is making the FBI perform one of its functions. Now if we could only get the intelligence side to talk to the CIA we'd be all set. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Forced Ads on Auto Response System Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 15:08:11 GMT In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says: > I called my credit card bank to check my balance and got their > automated response system. > Before it would give me the information, it forced me to listen to > some ads for extra services (ie card protection, etc). Then it added > salt in the wound by asking me TWICE if I wanted this package. That > is, once I said no, it repeated part of the spiel then asked me again > if I was sure I didn't want it. I work for a government agency that has a brand new vm but doesn't use it because the head honcho believes that every phone should be answered by a human being. The down side of that is that we have centrex groups assigned to all the different units so people can dial in directly without going through the switchboard. Costs a fair bit per month. ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson Subject: The Forthcoming Election Discussion Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2004 15:00:00 EDT Just a pitch for a temporary web site of my own, for your use in cussing and discussing the upcoming presidential election. I'd appreciate your use of the board and your uncensored, unmoderated thoughts on two important social issues of the day, one being the forthcoming election between Bush and Kerry; the other topic being Same Sex Marriage (and other general discussion.) Please point your browsers to http://kerry-or-bush-2004.us.tt and I thank you in advance. PAT ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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