From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Nov 15 15:33:07 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p3/8.11.6) id iAFKX6l01744; Mon, 15 Nov 2004 15:33:07 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 15:33:07 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200411152033.iAFKX6l01744@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 #548 TELECOM Digest Mon, 15 Nov 2004 15:31:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 548 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update (Canada) #457, November 15, 2004 (Angus TeleManagement) VoIP Backers Should Celebrate Bush Win (Lisa Minter) Wired News: American Passports to Get Chipped (Marcus Didius Falco) Trial Shows How Spammers Operate (Monty Solomon) Trial Shows How Spammers Operate (Long Version) (Marcus Didius Falco) Re: Chechen Rebel Web Site Reopened (BobGoudreau@nc.rr.com) Re: TV Movie: Category 6 - Day of Destruction (Paul A Lee) Re: Use Comcast Cable Modem? Go to Jail! Judy Sammel (Clarence Dold) Re: Movie Studios to Sue Internet File Traders (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Last Laugh! Purely Spam! MY PRESENTATION TO YOU (Dan Lanciani) Re: Last Laugh! Purely Spam! MY PRESENTATION TO YOU (Tim@Backhome.org) 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 10:41:11 -0500 From: Angus TeleManagement Subject: Telecom Update (Canada) #457, November 15, 2004 ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 457: November 15, 2004 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** ALLSTREAM: www.allstream.com ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/en/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** SPRINT CANADA: www.sprint.ca ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Fast Shake-Up at Microcell ** Rogers Aims to Take Wireless Company Private ** Nortel Finds $3 Billion Problem, Delays Reports Again ** Ottawa Opens Infrastructure Protection Discussion ** Bell Wants Faster Tariff Approvals ** Videotron Cable and Telecom Units to Merge ** Mitel Upgrades Flagship PBX ** FCC Asserts Control of U.S. Internet Calling ** Rogers to Announce PEI Investment ** Roadpost Offers World Blackberry Rental ** Clarification on Bell Staff Reductions ** Cisco Sales Grow 17% ** Everything's Changing in Telephony--Almost ============================================================ FAST SHAKE-UP AT MICROCELL: After winning its takeover bid last week, Rogers Wireless moved quickly to put its own team in charge of Microcell Telecommunications. Rogers CEO Nadir Mohamed and CFO John Gossling have been named to the same positions at Microcell, replacing Andre Tremblay and Jacques Leduc, who have resigned. Other Microcell executives are expected to depart soon. ** Alain Rheaume, who has been President and COO of Microcell Solutions, has been named Executive VP of Rogers Wireless and President of Fido. ** The entire Microcell Board has been replaced by members of Rogers' Board. ROGERS AIMS TO TAKE WIRELESS COMPANY PRIVATE: Rogers Communications wants to buy the 11% equity interest in Rogers Wireless that it doesn't currently own. It is proposing to offer 1.75 shares in Rogers Communications for each outstanding wireless share. NORTEL FINDS $3 BILLION PROBLEM, DELAYS REPORTS AGAIN: Nortel Networks has again delayed releasing financial reports, saying its 1999 and 2000 sales figures were overstated by US$3 billion. Most of that amount will be moved into subsequent years, but $250 million will be "permanently reversed." ** The announcement comes just days after the company launched a new image-building advertising campaign, using the slogan "This is the Way. This is Nortel." OTTAWA OPENS INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION DISCUSSION: Communications and Information technology is one of 10 key sectors identified in the federal government's new Position Paper on a National Strategy for Critical Infrastructure Protection. Ottawa wants to "elicit feedback from stakeholder groups" with the goal of adopting a strategy by the fall of 2005. www.ocipep.gc.ca/critical/nciap/positionpap_e.asp BELL WANTS FASTER TARIFF APPROVALS: Bell Canada has asked the CRTC to streamline the process for reviewing and approving the incumbent telcos' retail tariffs. Under Bell's proposal, tariffs would receive interim approval in 10 days or 40 days (depending on the nature of the tariff) unless the Commission deferred or denied them in that time, and would receive final approval in 60 days unless rejected by the Commission. ** Bell says the proposed changes would not "conflict with or modify the Commission's current regulatory framework or price cap rules." www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2004/8657/b2_200412627.htm VIDEOTRON CABLE AND TELECOM UNITS TO MERGE: Quebecor Media announced last week plans to integrate its Videotron Telecom unit into its cable subsidiary, Videotron ltee, in 2005. MITEL UPGRADES FLAGSHIP PBX: Mitel Networks is now shipping Release 5 of its 3300 ICP IP-PBX, featuring enhancements to in-building wireless, hotdesking, messaging, system management, and other capabilities. FCC ASSERTS CONTROL OF U.S. INTERNET CALLING: The Federal Communications Commission has voted unanimously to exempt Vonage's Internet telephony service from regulation by the State of Minnesota, asserting that such services fall under federal jurisdiction. ROGERS TO ANNOUNCE PEI INVESTMENT: This morning, Rogers will announce a donation to support wireless research and development in Prince Edward Island, and measures to improve wireless coverage on the island. ROADPOST OFFERS WORLD BLACKBERRY RENTAL: Toronto-based Roadpost says it is the first Canadian provider of wireless equipment for world travelers to offer BlackBerry rentals. The service delivers data in 55 countries. CLARIFICATION ON BELL STAFF REDUCTIONS: Bell Canada points out that the 5,000 employees who are leaving the company (see Telecom Update #456) have all accepted voluntary departure or voluntary early retirement packages. CISCO SALES GROW 17%: Cisco Systems reports net sales of US$5.97 billion, an increase of 17% over a year ago and 0.8% over the previous quarter. Net income increased 29% to $1.40 billion. R&D of $787 million was 7% higher than a year ago. EVERYTHING'S CHANGING IN TELEPHONY -- ALMOST: The November-December issue of Telemanagement, now available online, provides an exclusive look at the future of business telecommunications by Fred Knight, a world-recognized authority on enterprise telephony and networking. Also in this issue: ** Avaya and Mitel: Two Strategies for IP Success ** Opening Enterprise Wi-Fi Nets to Guests and Customers ** Reinventing Telecom Management, Again These important reports are available to Telemanagement subscribers only! To subscribe today, call 1-800-263-4415 ext 500 or 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 2004 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: Lisa Minter Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:25:48 -0500 Subject: VoIP Backers Should Celebrate Bush Win http://news.com.com/VoIP+backers+should+celebrate+Bush+win/2010-1071-5450656.html By Declan McCullagh President Bush's second term is likely to yield ballooning deficits, further erosion of civil liberties, and military adventurism that will estrange the United States from the rest of the world. But a decision last week illustrates why Bush's ascendancy is terrific news for Internet telephony companies that would have experienced a tougher time if a Democrat had moved into the White House. The Federal Communications Commission's vote on Tuesday in favor of voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, companies nicely captures the long-running discord between the Democrats' regulatory fetishism and the Republicans' regulatory restraint. Led by FCC Chairman Michael Powell, the Republicans said VoIP must be freed from the clutches of busybody state utility commissioners--an argument also raised by Vonage and Internet companies worried about states regulating prices and levying onerous taxes in the manner of the former Soviet Union. As usual, that approach irked the two Democrats on the five-member commission. Full story at: http://news.com.com/VoIP+backers+should+celebrate+Bush+win/2010-1071-5450656.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:51:05 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Wired News: American Passports to Get Chipped http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,65412,00.html http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,65412,00.html By Ryan Singel Story location:=20 http://www.wired.com= /news/privacy/0,1848,65412,00.html New U.S. passports will soon be read remotely at borders around the world, thanks to embedded chips that will broadcast on command an individual's name, address and digital photo to a computerized reader. The State Department hopes the addition of the chips, which employ radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology, will make passports more secure and harder to forge, according to spokeswoman Kelly Shannon. "The reason we are doing this is that it simply makes passports more secure," Shannon said. "It's yet another layer beyond the security features we currently use to ensure the bearer is the person who was issued the passport originally." But civil libertarians and some technologists say the chips are actually a boon to identity thieves, stalkers and commercial data collectors, since anyone with the proper reader can download a person's biographical information and photo from several feet away. "Even if they wanted to store this info in a chip, why have a chip that can be read remotely?" asked Barry Steinhardt, who directs the American Civil Liberty Union's Technology and Liberty program. "Why not require the passport be brought in contact with a reader so that the passport holder would know it had been captured? Americans in the know will be wrapping their passports in aluminum foil." Last week, four companies received contracts from the government to deliver prototype chips and readers immediately for evaluation. Diplomats and State Department employees will be issued the new passports as early as January, while other citizens applying for new passports will get the new version starting in the spring. Countries around the world are also in the process of including the tags in their passports, in part due to U.S. government requirements that some nations must add biometric identification in order for their citizens to visit without a visa. Current passports (which are already readable by machines that decipher text on the photo page) will remain valid until they expire, according to a State Department spokeswoman. The RFID passport works like a high-tech version of the children's game "Marco Polo." A reader speaks out the equivalent of "Marco" on a designated frequency. The chip then channels that radio energy and echoes back with an answer. But instead of simply saying "Polo," the 64 Kb chip will say the passport holder's name, address, date and place of birth, and send along a digital photograph. While none of the information on the chip is encrypted, the chip does also broadcast a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitally_Signed digital signature that verifies the chip itself was created by the government. Security experts said the U.S. government decided not to encrypt the data because of the risks involved in sharing the method of decryption with other countries. RFID technology has been around for more than 60 years, but has only recently become cheap enough to be adopted widely. Pass prepay toll systems across the country run on RFIDs, pets and livestock around the world have RFID implants, and businesses such as Wal-Mart plan to use the tags to track their inventory. But Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Lee Tien argues that RFID chips in passports are a "privacy horror" and would be even if the data was encrypted. "If 180 countries have access to the technology for reading this thing, whether or not it is encrypted, from a security standpoint, that is a very leaky system," Tien said. "Strictly from a technology standpoint, any reader system, even with security, that was so widely deployed and accessible to so many people worldwide will be subject to some very interesting compromises." Travel privacy expert Edward Hasbrouck argues that identity thieves are not the only ones with an interest in recording the data remotely. Commercial travel companies, including hotels, will capture the data to create commercial dossiers when people check into hotels or exchange currency in order to up-sell their customers, he argues. While there are no laws in the United States prohibiting anyone from snooping on someone's passport data, Roy Want, an RFID expert who works as a principal engineer for Intel Research, thinks that the possibility of identity theft is overblown. "It is actually quite hard to read RFID at a distance," said Want. A person's keys, bag and body interfere with the radio waves, and the type of RFID chip being used requires readers equipped with very large -- and obvious -- coils to capture the data, according to Want. Still, he concedes that a determined snooper could create a snooping system. "In principle someone could rig up a reader, perhaps in a doorway you are forcing people to go through. You could read some of these tags some of the time," Want said. But Want thinks that overall the chips will help cut down on passport fraud. "The problem with security is there is always a possibility of attack," Want said. "RFIDs are not going to solve the problem of passport forgery, but people who know about printing are not going to learn about RFIDs." Copyright 2004, Lycos,Inc. All Rights Reserved. *** 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, Lycos, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:18:07 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Trial Shows How Spammers Operate By MATTHEW BARAKAT AP Business Writer LEESBURG, Va. (AP) -- As one of the world's most prolific spammers, Jeremy Jaynes pumped out at least 10 million e-mails a day with the help of 16 high-speed lines, the kind of Internet capacity a 1,000-employee company would need. Jaynes' business was remarkably lucrative; prosecutors say he grossed up to $750,000 per month. If you have an e-mail account, chances are Jaynes tried to get your attention, pitching software, pornography and work-at-home schemes. The eight-day trial that ended in his conviction this month shed light on the operations of a 30-year-old former purveyor of physical junk mail who worked with minimal assistance out of a nondescript house in Raleigh, N.C. A state jury in Leesburg has recommended a nine-year prison term in the nation's first felony trial of spam purveyors. Sentencing is set for February. During the trial, prosecutors focused on three products that Jaynes hawked: software that promises to clean computers of private information; a service for choosing penny stocks to invest in; and a "FedEx refund processor" that promised $75-an-hour work but did little more than give buyers access to a Web site of delinquent FedEx accounts. Jaynes, going by Gaven Stubberfield and other aliases, had established a niche as a pornography purveyor, said Assistant Attorney General Russell McGuire, who prosecuted the case. But Jaynes was constantly tweaking and rotating products. Relatively few people actually responded to Jaynes' pitches. In a typical month, prosecutors said during the trial, Jaynes might receive 10,000 to 17,000 credit card orders, thus making money on perhaps only one of every 30,000 e-mails he sent out. But he earned $40 a pop, and the undertaking was so vast that Jaynes could still pull in $400,000 to $750,000 a month, while spending perhaps $50,000 on bandwidth and other overhead, McGuire said. http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?story=200411150144_APO_V5198 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:38:20 -0500 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Trial Shows How Spammers Operate (Lycos full version) http://finance.lycos.com/qc/news/story.aspx?story=3D200411150144_APO_V5198 Trial Shows How Spammers Operate By MATTHEW BARAKAT AP Business Writer LEESBURG, Va. (AP) -- As one of the world's most prolific spammers, Jeremy Jaynes pumped out at least 10 million e-mails a day with the help of 16 high-speed lines, the kind of Internet capacity a 1,000-employee company would need. Jaynes' business was remarkably lucrative; prosecutors say he grossed up to $750,000 per month. If you have an e-mail account, chances are Jaynes tried to get your attention, pitching software, pornography and work-at-home schemes. The eight-day trial that ended in his conviction this month shed light on the operations of a 30-year-old former purveyor of physical junk mail who worked with minimal assistance out of a nondescript house in Raleigh, N.C. A state jury in Leesburg has recommended a nine-year prison term in the nation's first felony trial of spam purveyors. Sentencing is set for February. During the trial, prosecutors focused on three products that Jaynes hawked: software that promises to clean computers of private information; a service for choosing penny stocks to invest in; and a "FedEx refund processor" that promised $75-an-hour work but did little more than give buyers access to a Web site of delinquent FedEx accounts. Jaynes, going by Gaven Stubberfield and other aliases, had established a niche as a pornography purveyor, said Assistant Attorney General Russell McGuire, who prosecuted the case. But Jaynes was constantly tweaking and rotating products. Relatively few people actually responded to Jaynes' pitches. In a typical month, prosecutors said during the trial, Jaynes might receive 10,000 to 17,000 credit card orders, thus making money on perhaps only one of every 30,000 e-mails he sent out. But he earned $40 a pop, and the undertaking was so vast that Jaynes could still pull in $400,000 to $750,000 a month, while spending perhaps $50,000 on bandwidth and other overhead, McGuire said. "When you're marketing to the world, there are enough idiots out there" who will be suckered in, McGuire said in an interview. Prosecutors believe Jaynes had a net worth of up to $24 million, and they described one of his homes as a mansion, though the e-mail came from a house described as average. Jaynes got lists of e-mail addresses _ millions of them _ through a stolen database of America Online customers. He also illegally obtained e-mail addresses of users of the online auction site eBay. Prosecutors don't know how he got the lists, though McGuire said the AOL names matched a list of 92 million addresses an AOL software engineer has been charged with stealing. However Jaynes got them, they were particularly valuable because AOL customers and eBay users by their very nature have already shown a willingness to engage in e-commerce. Under Virginia law, like a federal anti-spam measure that took effect months later, sending out commercial pitches, even on a massive scale, is not itself illegal. The e-mail must be unsolicited and contain false information as to its origin or transmission. Jaynes did that in several ways. He provided bogus contact information and company names when registering for Web sites, making it almost impossible for recipients to track him down. He also falsified routing information within message headers and used software to generate phony domain names identifying the e-mail server used to send messages. "He would do that to circumvent the spam filters," said Lisa Hicks-Thomas, section chief for the Virginia attorney general's computer crimes unit. Jaynes honed his techniques a decade ago as a distributor of regular, old-fashioned junk mail hawking a "mortgage refund processor," similar to the FedEx refund processor he pitched in his spam, McGuire said. But the ability to set up shop in cyberspace allowed Jaynes to take his fraud to a whole new level, McGuire said. A videotape prosecutors were barred from showing at trial shows Jaynes sitting amid his array of computer equipment, bragging about sitting at "spam headquarters." It appears, though, that Jaynes was sending out e-mails 24 hours a day, so he could frequently leave those headquarters unstaffed. And it appears he had little assistance. Jaynes' sister, Jessica DeGroot, was convicted of identical charges but given no jail time. A third defendant was acquitted. Prosecutors would not discuss the investigative techniques that led to Jaynes' capture. But John Levine, author of "The Internet for Dummies" and an expert witness for the prosecution in Jaynes' trial, said Jaynes was relatively unsophisticated compared to spammers who use "zombie servers" in foreign countries _ akin to "e-mail laundering" _ to hide the e-mail's true origin. Such zombies are often innocent Internet users whose computers, through a virus or other malicious code, become relays for spam. "I was surprised at how simple his operation was," Levine said. "If he were more clever, it would have been much harder to catch him." Jaynes' defense attorney, David Oblon, never disputed that his client was a bulk e-mail distributor. But he argued that the law was poorly crafted and that prosecutors never proved the e-mail was unsolicited. He also argued before the trial that the law is an unconstitutional infringement of free speech. Jaynes can raise the free-speech issue on appeal, and Oblon said both he and Jaynes are confident the conviction will eventually be overturned. Oblon also took issue with the recommended nine-year sentence, calling it exceptionally harsh. Virginia is investigating similar cases, and McGuire said a lengthy sentence would serve as a deterrent _ not only in Virginia, where prosecutors brought the case given that AOL's headquarters is there. Copyright 2004, Lycos, Inc. All Rights Reserved. *** 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 Lycos, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: BobGoudreau@withheld at request Subject: Re: Chechen Rebel Web Site Reopened Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 11:33:07 -0500 [As usual, please hide my email address.] Henry wrote: > Lisa Minter wrote: >> 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, >> kavkavcenter.com, was now hosted on a Swedish server with a backup >> in Finland > Well, on Sunday at 1013 gmt I got > "The specified server could not be found." That's because either Lisa or Reuters made a typo. Having taken some Russian in college, I was immediately suspicious of the link above, since the Russian word for "Caucausus" transliterates to "Kavkaz", not "Kavkav" And indeed, www.kavzazcenter.com comes up fine in my browser. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC [Lisa Minter responds: I am at a total loss at reading/translating Russian. It would be easy to say Reuters made the error, but it might have well been my mistake, and I apologize.] ------------------------------ From: Paul A Lee Subject: Re: TV Movie: Category 6 - Day of Destruction Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 12:07:03 -0500 Organization: Rite Aid Corporation In TELECOM Digest V23 #547, our Esteemed Editor wrote (in part): > Did anyone else watch the first part of this two part movie > on CBS Sunday night[?] > The movie purported to be about a major disaster in > Chicago, when a major power outage covering several > midwestern states takes place on the same day as a major > storm (converging on the city from *three* directions all at > once)... > It was a very frightening movie about what will be the > consequences of 'global warming' and what will happen if the > very complex computers which run our interlocking power grid > go out of order at the same time as a major storm in a large > metropolitan area. I tuned in, just to see what kind of ideas would be offered by a production that apparently offered a "category 6" imaginary extension of the Saffir-Simpson scale (which only goes to 5). After about 20 minutes, I could no longer stand the smell of the hackneyed "evil conspiracy of huge corporations causing or taking advantage of natural disasters to destroy humanity for their own profit" plotline. I wonder what the reaction would be to a TV movie that depicts a conspiracy by entertainment companies to present a surfeit of disinformation about environmental problems, in the guise of "entertainment", with the goal of distracting the public from the _real_ issues? Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer [let's leave the company name out of this one] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well Paul, the entertainment companies do that already. You should know that in the movies, everyone and every idea is fair game for everyone else. These days, truth is very rare. Everyone's agendas have to come first. For interested parties, the second half of this movie 'Category 6: Day of Destruction' will appear on CBS Wednesday night at 8 PM. PAT] ------------------------------ From: dold@XReXXUseXC.usenet.us.com Subject: Re: Use Comcast Cable Modem? Go to Jail! Judy Sammels's Experience Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:13:41 UTC Organization: a2i network Rick Merrill wrote: > I think there is a misconception about the "video trap" : it does NOT > cut out the video, but removes some video reflections so that said > reflections will not interfere with the cable modem! The "solution" to > your original problem was simply to Not Connect your TV to the > cable. - RM The video trap installed on my internet-only cable was described as blocking TV channels. It caused problems for my internet connection, and was "allowed" to be removed because the cable run went directly from the drop to my cable modem, and I could not attach a TV anywhere. Clarence A Dold - Hidden Valley (Lake County) CA USA 38.8-122.5 ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Movie Studios to Sue Internet File Traders Date: 15 Nov 2004 17:14:41 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Bob Smythe wrote: > Just buy the damn videos y'all. The industry will benefit by offering > an I-Tunes type service for those who want to get movies via > downloading for an affordable price. Say -8 bucks for a movie. YOu > have to go by the hardware and software to burn it and the dual > layered DVD's are like 4 bucks a pop I think. Personally, I have never seen a reason to download a movie. It's not worth my time and effort when I know the real product will show up at the used record store in a few months for $10 or less, and not long after that will probably be under $10 at regular retail stores. The video industry is so anxious to squeeze every dollar out of a movie or TV show that everything, regardless of how bad, eventually shows up on DVD. If the movie industry is suffering I doubt it's because downloaders are ripping them off. People probably spend the time and effort because the industry has driven them away from the theatres. I stopped going to theatres when they started making me sit through commercials. I sent a letter to the owner of the local chain complaining about having to sit through 20-30 minutes(!) of commercials (straight from TV) after spending ~$25 in ticket costs plus another ~$20 for popcorn, etc, and was essentially told, "sorry, that's the way it is." Well, sorry, but from now on I'll wait for the video, and spend $2 on rental fees and my kids and I will eat our own popcorn. Music is a somewhat different matter. In a lot of instances the P2P networks are the only source for non pop-culture music. With the consolidation in radio it's become almost impossible to hear anything not specifically molded for success by the Recording Industry (ala Britney Spears, etc.). The actions by the RIAA benefit the RIAA, not the artists. An excellent article on this point was written by Folk artist Janis Ian: http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html John Meissen john@meissen.org Think Logically / Act Intelligently / Question Authority [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: At the Independence Cinema over on 8th and Laurel Streets, you get your choice of any of the five movies currently being shown for about $3 *per movie, and showing* (no fair walking with the crowds between showings between rooms and getting a second show [of something else] for free or hiding out in the restroom until some other film in a different room is ready to start.) They do show about ten minutes worth of advertising (mostly for local merchants) before the movie starts, interspersed with reminders that no smoking is allowed, follow the rules, etc, to give you a chance to eat your five dollar little skimpy bucket of popcorn and your little cup of beverage. Honestly, the popcorn/candy/soda costs more than the movie these days. At least they do honor Visa/MC to get your admssion ticket and refreshments. I generally prefer to use a service on the net called 'Movie Link' where you can download and *rent* the movies you wish (and those people _WILL_ come back on your computer the next day and remove the movie you rented) for about two dollars per movie and you supply your own refreshments. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 02:23:32 EST From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Purely Spam! MY PRESENTATION TO YOU richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) wrote: > The other is that if they can get your bank account and bank routing > numbers, they will monitor your account a while and at a peak, they > will drain it with an ACH transfer through a Nigerian bank that works > with them (for a cut of the action). I wonder who actually ends up paying in cases like these? Are there any posted accounts that tell whether the bank absorbed the loss? Or whether they were able to pull the money back? These might provide some ammunition to argue with banks that universally refuse to block ACH debits on consumer accounts (as that would be inconvenient for businesses) and claim that they can clean up any fradulent withdrawals after the fact. Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Purely Spam! MY PRESENTATION TO YOU Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 08:34:40 -0800 Organization: Cox Communications > The other is that if they can get your bank account and bank routing > numbers, they will monitor your account a while and at a peak, they > will drain it with an ACH transfer through a Nigerian bank that works > with them (for a cut of the action). Under federal law pertaining to electronic transactions, your bank has no choice but to charge the electronic debit back to the originating bank so long as you notify them on a timely basis that you did not authorize the transfer. If the Nigerian bank won't accept the charge-back they are supposed to be removed from the ACH. If they don't accept the charge-back your bank has to ultimately eat the charge. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. 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