From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Nov 13 17:59:21 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iADMxLv09137; Sat, 13 Nov 2004 17:59:21 -0500 (EST) Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 17:59:21 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200411132259.iADMxLv09137@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 #544 TELECOM Digest Sat, 13 Nov 2004 17:59:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 544 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Dutch Charge Teenage Govt Web Site Hacker Suspects (Lisa Minter) Chechen Rebel Web Site Reopened (Lisa Minter) Transforming Existing Wireless Intelligence Systems (SecQrilious) Access of Calling Card Dial in Number From Prepaid Cellular (M Tomczyk) Vonage Phone Adapter (Mike Sutter) Update: Vonage Ring Problem (Tony P.) Re: Criminals 'Joining Finance Firms' (jdj) 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: Lisa Minter Subject: Dutch Charge Teenage Govt Web Site Hacker Suspects Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 16:17:20 EST AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch authorities have charged two teenagers with cyber crimes on suspicion of bringing down government Web sites last month by flooding them with traffic, public prosecutor said on Friday. The boys from the southern Dutch town of Breda were arrested earlier this week after a raid on their houses in which computers were confiscated. There could be more arrests, the public prosecution service said. The two are believed to have hacked into other computers to launch a mass visit to government Web sites, which collapsed under the strain. The attacks on the Web Sites coincided with protests against government plans to overhaul the social security system that drew 250,000 people to a weekend demonstration in Amsterdam. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and other ministers had to change mobile telephone numbers after a list circulated on the Internet invited protesters to send a barrage of text messages. Cyber criminals in the Netherlands risk up to a year in jail under a new law forbidding the distribution of spam messages which overload networks and cause computers to crash. Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Lisa Minter Subject: Chechen Rebel Web Site Reopened Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2004 16:25:05 EST HELSINKI (Reuters) - A Web site used by a Chechen warlord to claim responsibility for September's school siege in Russia has reopened, one month after it was closed by the Finnish company that hosted it. Finnish news agency STT reported Saturday that the site, www.kavkavcenter.com, was now hosted on a Swedish server with a backup in Finland. It was last open for a few days in mid-October. STT quoted the Finnish businessman who rented out the server at the time as saying it was now clear that the Web Site was not illegal and that he had therefore decided to help reopen it. It was not immediately clear who had closed the site in Finland. Before opening in Finland it was based on a Lithuanian server until authorities in the Baltic country shut it down in September after pressure from Moscow. The site was used by rebel warlord Shamil Basayev to claim responsibility for the September school siege in Beslan when 330 hostages were killed, about half of them children. Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance Reuters News Service. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: waeg@latinmail.com (SecQrilious) Subject: Transforming Existing Wireless Intelligence Systems to 21st Century Date: 13 Nov 2004 00:04:49 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Copyright 2004 Markku J. Saarelainen WIRELESS INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS BEHAVIOR NEWSLETTER November, 2004 by Markku J. Saarelainen Transforming Our Existing Wireless Intelligence Systems to the 21st Century's Wireless Electronic Commerce New developments in wireless information technologies (IT) have become every day facts in our businesses and intelligence systems. We need to be capable of adopting new wireless technologies to process our information and data. Without this adoption, our businesses may lose their competitiveness and they may fall behind main global competition. During the last two decades, improvements in computing technologies have enabled computers to double the number of processed instructions / information every 18 months. At the same time, these wireless computers and computing systems have become available for masses and they have become smaller, while improving their effectiveness. Already today, business people can use their wireless devices and wireless network computers around the globe to access their critical information, communicate with their customers, suppliers, partners and other parties and complete business transactions and purchases. However, these developments are just the beginning of new and breakthrough wireless enterprise developments in many information and communication related wireless technologies. This is why we all have to facilitate the use, utilization and adoption of new and existing wireless information technologies in our organizations, businesses and intelligence systems. Many global companies are currently complying with the ISO 9001 standard or other national or international intelligence requirements. These systems have been implemented in many different ways and wireless information technologies are used to some extent. Applications of wireless ITs are often limited to document and data control, intelligence system documentation, audit results communication, control of intelligence records, statistical techniques, control of nonconforming intelligences and some other intelligence system areas. Very few organizations are using wireless ITs for issuing electronic purchase orders (PO) to subcontractors or establishing legal contracts between the company and its customers. Current applications are mostly helping internal processes to be more efficient and operate in the intelligence and reliable manner with very little "real financial and electronic payment" wireless interfaces to external parties such as subcontractors, suppliers, customer and clients, investors and bankers and other significant parties. However, this is all going to change -- applications of wireless information technologies in intelligence systems will become more sophisticated and advanced (see Distributed Wireless Intelligence Audit Vision, July, 1996). We shall be able to issue electronic purchase orders, submit electronic invoices / payments and establish legally binding contracts between us and our clients and customer. Our customers will issue their purchase orders to us through wireless electronic networks and we will be able to provide wireless electronic and multimedia advise and assistance for our clients wirelessly around the globe. In addition, we will be able to utilize "wireless software intelligent agents" to handle some of our information processing, information retrieval, research and analysis needs and requirements. For example, our software agents will be capable of completing automatic supplier evaluations and reviews. We will also be able to automate some of our intelligence audit practices such as review and evaluation activities of electronic intelligence records with new automated wireless agent processes. Our intelligence systems will include processes for completing purchase order forms and issuing these forms automatically over wireless networks, when our inventory levels become low enough to initiate these automated processes to meet our raw material requirements. To enable all new wireless IT applications operate effectively and reliably, our business environment has be able to support the utilization of new wireless applications and our clients, customers, suppliers and other relevant parties have to be able to connect their internal processes such as purchase order reviews to our processes wirelessly. Electronic interfaces between different parties have to be developed creating additional requirements for interdependent and highly connected wireless information processing systems, methods and processes. Without these changes in our business environment, applications for wireless electronic commerce will be limited to our internal processes without real and financially sound wireless commerce. We have to be able to complete our financial transactions wirelessly in secure, effective and reliable ways to implement and utilize wireless electronic commerce and all its applications fully in our businesses and intelligence systems. What should your company do to plan and implement wireless electronic commerce (EC) in your intelligence systems? You need to establish your "Wireless EC Strategy" (WECS). One good approach is to define and document applicable transition phases for transforming your current intelligence system. You can review your system against desired WECS requirements and then identify development areas (this can be your "Initial Assessment" or "Baseline Assessment"). Some companies may already have started this transition and they may be in early WEC phases including wireless electronic document control, document and report distribution, marketing and advertising activities and other internal or minor external processes, while still heavily relying on non-electronic / non-IT processes. For example, one of your phases could include the development, implementation and maintenance of purchasing systems for completing and issuing electronic purchase orders wirelessly to you suppliers / subcontractors. During this phase, you need to be capable of making required preparations for accepting any wireless electronic POs from your clients and customers. In the beginning, these methods and processes may rely more heavily still on humans, but in future transition phases you can develop and implement wireless software agents to minimize human involvement in purchasing, sales and other processes by improving "organizational / system intelligence" in your intelligence and information systems. Our intelligence systems have transformed in the last 25 years remarkably due to many improvements and developments in IT applications, Internet technologies and wireless capabilities. It is expected that these developments will continue and our intelligence systems will be relying on new wireless applications that help us to improve our intelligence and efficiency having positive impact on customer satisfaction, price, cost efficiency, intelligence and process safety and reliability. We need to help our organizations to accept, adopt and utilize these new wireless technologies effectively and transform our human resources, processes and organizational structures to the 21st century's wireless electronic commerce (21WEC). We can not do this alone, but we need to work with our business partners, clients, governments, suppliers, investors, regulatory agencies, standardization bodies and any other relevant parties to make this happen. Copyright 2004 Markku J. Saarelainen ------------------------------ From: Marek Tomczyk Subject: Access of Calling Card Dial in Number From Prepaid Cellular Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 23:43:32 +0100 Organization: University of Karlsruhe, Germany Hi, I'm posting this for a friend (Juergen). Find his contact address at the bottom of this post. Thanks. Marek =========== Hi Telecom Digest, This October I stayed three weeks in the bay area. I like it a lot, and this time I even had a GSM1900 (Nokia 6100) phone from my German provider T-Mobile with me. The phone worked fine, but I never ever used it to place phone calls home to Germany and I never ever answered any incoming call. Why? Quite simple, the charges for outgoing and esspecially inbound calls are outrageous. Just imagine to pay $1.70 for incoming calls per minute!!! So I have decided now to get an American mobile phone on my next trip to the USA. I like the offer of AT&T Wireless very much as it provides a long validity of one year for balances starting at $100. Domestic calling with the Free2Go service is very reasonable priced, but calling foreign countries is still expensive. So the idea is to use a calling card service for this matter. The AT&T documents say that prepaid calling card service is not possible with Free2Go. Besides this AT&T says in its terms that certain numbers can be blocked if "abuse" to the network happens. Is calling a local dial in number from a mobile phone in America, in particular from a free2Go phone, abusive usage of the network? Do you know if calling of local (regular) dial in number from American, in particular prepaid aka "pay as you go" services is possible? Can such providers block access to those numbers? Unfortunately I could not find definitive information about this issue on the web. Thanks, Juergen-Usenet@web.de ------------------------------ From: Mike Sutter Subject: Vonage Phone Adapter Reply-To: DaGroup@syrcnyrdrs-02.nyroc.rr.com Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 23:30:01 GMT Organization: Road Runner I've been a Vonage customer for well over a year now. I like the service and am generally satisfied with one exception. Often when I take an incoming call there is a two - five second lag between when I pick up and when the call path is established. I've tried letting it ring a few extra times but that doesn't seem to make any difference. The phone adapter I got from Vonage is the Cisco ATA which they no longer seem to ship. Two questions. Does anyone know if the newer phone adapters offer any better performance in this area or any other benefits that I should consider? How much hassle is it to replace a phone adapter on an existing Vonage account? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The Motorola TA (which Vonage was shipping after they discontinued shipping the Cisco) has never had that problem that I am aware of; that's the telephone adapter I have now. Lately they have been shipping Linksys on orders, but they may have stopped that and gone back to Motorola; I do not know. Regards any 'hassles' with swapping out one TA for another, my experience was this: Several months ago when chatting with a customer service person one day (while I still had the Cisco TA) they told me they had 'started using Motorola'; they suggested the QoS or quality of service, fromn a technical standpoint, was better on the Motorola so I requested one. Here is where my experience may differ from yours. I have mounds of credit on their books, due to 'next month free' e-coupons I have redeemed for new users, so the rep said what they would do was put a charge against my credits on hand for the amount of a Motorola TA (in effect, I paid for a new adapter; they will probably take your credit card number for payment.) Two or three days later I had the new Motorola TA, which I installed on my line, taking out and returning the old Cisco adapter, using the RMA number they gave me, marked plainly on the Fed Ex box. When the old Cisco TA got back to them and recorded on my account, they then gave me the full credit for same back on my account (in your case they would probably issue credit back to your credit card [or release the hold on it, however they do it].)But be sure to save the receipt from the Fed Ex driver or whoever. The Motorola TA they sent me to replace the Cisco has certain things burned in the e-PROM of it when they send it to you; an ESN (or electronic serial number) and your telephone number; you cannot change those values as apparently you could with the Cisco. Also, with the Cisco, I could do (on the phone keypad)_ #80# and get an audio playout of many of the values recorded in the TA. Or, I could do #123# and the Cisco would recite to me its 'name' and version number, etc. With the Motorola TA I can't find anything to do on the phone keypad to produce such results, however if you know to do it you can get a *visual display* on your screen. I think on my network here 192.168.100.102 displays the Motorola TA values that are burned into it, including my particular rom version number, ESN and phone number. And where I view my NetGear router on 192.168.0.1 (and change values as desired) the Motorola TA which sits beyond it, and more on the 'net side' of things, looks at the NetGear as 192.168.102.something. If you have the money to spare (while waiting for the new Motorola TA to reach you and the Cisco to get returned to the company) you may want to ask them if they still have any Motorola TA units around you could try. I have not seen the Linksys (and the latest rep I talked to at Vonage told me 'do not even bother; it is a disappointment'). The Motorola TA has one advantage; instead of plugging it into one of the holes on your router -- depending on how many computers/periphe- rals you work with, that hole might be very valuable real-estate -- it bypasses all that and plugs into the line ahead of everything else. With three holes of its own, the modem plugs into one, the telephone into another, 'bypassing' your internal network, then your router and computers and peripherals go out the third hole. Vonage says the Motorola TA 'chokes' data coming and going, providing better phone conversations. I dunno how true that is, or if it is just bulljive from the Vonage people. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Update: Vonage Ring Problem Organization: ATCC Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 22:19:48 -0500 It appears the problem is solved. I looked at Linksys's datasheet for the RT31P2 router and found you could vary the ring voltage and frequency (60 to 90 vrms at 10 to 40Hz). But Vonage locks that on the router. Finally got a former switch tech when I called support who understood what I was telling him in that the router is supposed to support 5REN on the jack on the router. I told him to crank the voltage to 90 vrms and sure enough -- the Trimline, Princess and Celebrity all ring when they're plugged in together. He mentioned 90 vrms stressing the unit. I told him that if the unit was stressed by 90 vrms which is telecom industry standard for ring voltage, and further that the specs for the unit indicate it is capable of, then the problem lay with their choice of router not the settings. So all is functional now. All I have left to do is the dial pulse to DTMF converter so my Imperial and 302 can connect and I'll be all set. Tony [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I assume the tech had to unlock your TA at his end while you were speaking and make that change to 90 vms. And as far as their choice of router goes, I am not hearing very good things about the Linksys device. I do not know what Vonage was hung about with the Motorola TA; it has mostly worked fine for me, although a couple people with super sensitive ears still complain to me that I 'drop out' on occassion when talking to them. I just tell them to put new batteries in their hearing aids. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jdj Subject: Re: Criminals 'Joining Finance Firms' Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2004 23:35:53 -0800 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 06:47:15 +0000, Lisa Minter wrote: > Members of organised crime are joining financial firms to commit > fraud, a new report by the industry watchdog reveals. That's a logical step. The info they get that way is long-lived and they can just snarf it up, store it away for much later use. Crime orgs have been building databases of financial and ID info for quite a long time now. The Russian mafia has been leading in this but the Asian orgs are catching up quick. It may become necessary to start using throwaway or one-time ID's and accounts to keep ahead of them. ------------------------------ 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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