From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Feb 15 17:03:01 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i1FM31L09521; Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:03:01 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:03:01 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402152203.i1FM31L09521@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 #73 TELECOM Digest Sun, 15 Feb 2004 17:03:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 73 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Offspring of Spam and Telemarketing (Monty Solomon) New Lawsuit Targets DVD Copying (Monty Solomon) State's New Technology Gathers Info to Find Tax Cheats (Monty Solomon) Amazon Glitch Unmasks War of Reviewers (Monty Solomon) Verizon May Hang up on Plan to Sell Phone Number (Stan) A Suspicious Netscape Icon on my DeskTop (Kan Yabumoto) Cell Phone Numbering Arrangements (Rob) Re: Lost Liberties/Thousand J. Edgar Hoovers/Outlaw Dissent (McWebber) Re: Norvergence Still at it ... (Richard Ramirez) Re: Acxiom is Watching You (Teritor) Re: Telephone Service Surcharges (Michael Chance) My New Blog (Weblog) (TELECOM Digest Editor) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk is definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 01:57:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Offspring of Spam and Telemarketing Firms using prizes and discounts to get customers to request text-message ads By Sasha Talcott, Globe Correspondent, 2/14/2004 Jessica Yang had just walked out of work when her cellphone beeped. "Rainy day special," the text message read, urging the 26-year-old research analyst to stop by the Paris Creperie in Brookline for a discount on crepes and other items. "It was like, 'Great, I don't have to cook dinner tonight,' " Yang said. She promptly ordered her favorite: ham and egg crepe. With spam clogging e-mail boxes, telemarketers calling at all hours, and mailboxes stuffed with junk mail, the cellphone has become one of the consumer's last ad-free oases. But not for long. Marketing companies are increasingly targeting the text-messaging feature of cellphones as an effective way to push customers to open their wallets. The new text-messaging ads have a twist, however. Learning from the backlash against unsolicited e-mail spam, marketers are going to great lengths to persuade customers to actually ask to receive the ads on their phones. By dangling discounts, prizes or trivia questions, the companies aim to make the ads worth a customer's while. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2004/02/14/offspring_of_spam_and_telemarketing/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 02:02:44 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: New Lawsuit Targets DVD Copying By John Borland Staff Writer, CNET News.com The DVD Copy Control Association, a Hollywood-backed technology group, filed suit against software company 321 Studios on Friday for allegedly infringing patent rights on its DVD copy protection. The suit is the fourth set of claims to be filed against 321 Studios, which markets the most popular DVD copying software commercially available. Previously, the company has been sued in both California and in New York by coalitions of Hollywood studios and by Macrovision, another copy-protection technology company. The DVD CCA recently dropped lawsuits against individuals who posted code used in the process of copying DVDs online. After that decision, the group said it would use other tactics to defend its intellectual property. http://news.com.com/2100-1025-5159279.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 02:18:53 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: State's New Technology Gathers Information to Find Tax Cheats By linking to databases, individuals can be profiled By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff, 2/15/2004 If you get the urge to fudge a bit on your taxes this year because you think, "Who's going to notice?" think again. The state Revenue Department is watching. The agency has launched a technology offensive with the goal of pulling together stray bits of information about every Massachusetts taxpayer, searching for clues that would indicate who isn't paying the taxes they owe. State officials dismiss the notion they are playing Big Brother, but the potential is rather Orwellian. In theory, said Revenue Department Commissioner Alan LeBovidge, the state may eventually be able to track down so much information about a resident's finances that the state, rather than the individual, could complete the individual's tax return. http://www.boston.com/business/taxes/articles/2004/02/15/states_new_technology_gathers_information_to_find_tax_cheats/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 02:21:14 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Amazon Glitch Unmasks War of Reviewers By AMY HARMON Close observers of Amazon.com noticed something peculiar this week: the company's Canadian site had suddenly revealed the identities of thousands of people who had anonymously posted book reviews on the United States site under signatures like "a reader from New York." The weeklong glitch, which Amazon fixed after outed reviewers complained, provided a rare glimpse at how writers and readers are wielding the online reviews as a tool to promote or pan a book -- when they think no one is watching. John Rechy, author of the best-selling 1963 novel "City of Night" and winner of the PEN-USA West lifetime achievement award, is one of several prominent authors who have apparently pseudonymously written themselves five-star reviews, Amazon's highest rating. Mr. Rechy, who laughed about it when approached, sees it as a means to survival when online stars mean sales. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/14/technology/14AMAZ.html ------------------------------ From: Stan Subject: Verizon May Hang up on Plan to Sell Phone Number Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 05:45:20 GMT Organization: RoadRunner - Carolina Bidders Hot for Jenny's NYC Number Verizon may hang up on plan to sell 867-5309 By Monty Phan STAFF WRITER Newsday (Long Island) February 14, 2004 To all Manhattan women named Jenny: He's got your number. Combining the forces of '80s pop culture and offbeat Internet auctions, a Manhattan man is using eBay to try to sell 212-867-5309, the number -- sans area code -- that appears in the 1981 song "867-5309/Jenny," by one-hit wonder Tommy Tutone. The question is whether he has the right to sell a number at all. That hasn't stopped bidders so far. Thanks to some Web site postings and a mention Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America," the auction is up to $4,050. "I did not expect this kind of response," said John, the attorney selling the number, who declined to give his last name to maintain some semblance of anonymity. "I'm blown away by the fact that 'Good Morning America' found it. Publicists spend months trying to get on 'Good Morning America,' and I just put it up on eBay [Thursday]." He acquired the number a few months ago after he called it and realized no one had it. He then got the number from Verizon and has used it as a second line, hooking it up to an answering machine. As discovered by people over the past two decades who had their own area code's version of the number, he gets calls throughout the week, but "mostly on weekends, mostly from people that are drunk." Some call it for fun, others call it without realizing it was given out as a fake number. But there's a question of whether the number can even be transferred to the winner once the auction ends Feb. 22. Verizon says there's no question: It can't. Individuals do not have ownership of the numbers given to them, so the right to the number can't be sold, a Verizon spokesman said. Even if the seller agreed to drop the number, there's usually a waiting period to allow for account closure or other reasons, so the buyer wouldn't be able to pick it up right away. Nevertheless, those who lose out on the bidding, take heart: You could always get the "867-5309/Jenny" ring tone. ------------------------------ From: tech@xxcopy.com (Kan Yabumoto) Subject: A Suspicious Netscape Icon on my DeskTop Date: 14 Feb 2004 11:19:05 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I wonder if anyone had a similar experience as mine. When I booted up my XP-Pro computer this morning, I noticed a few funny things. The desktop icons are all re-arranged (for the first time in many months --- this reminded me of the Win9X experience which did this from time to time). I have quite a few icons everywhere on my screen. They are strategically arranged for optimum productivity. Then, I noticed a new icon near the center of the screen -- a familiar Netscape icon (the cute N logo on the Earth I used to like -- that was before the Netscape that we knew was demolished by Micro$oft's illegal action). I grew suspicious of the whole thing for several reasons: 1. I have a hunch that the icon re-arrangement on my desktop did not happen by accident (like in the Win9X system). It is probably a result of placing the unwelcome icon for Netscape (which is labeled "Netscape ISP Try It Now") in the middle to get my attention by some uninvited software which placed it there. 2. I run the Ad-Aware utility almost everyday to keep unwelcome guest from messing around my computer's settings. Somehow, the presence of the Netscape Icon is a proof that something defeated the Ad-Aware defense. 3. Is this (virus-like) behavior a way to get new customer? Certainly not for a self-respecting company. But, if this is by a company once owned by a crook like Steve Case, that explains. 4. Netscape is supposedly part of AOL and is apparently trying to start a new ISP business at $9.95/mon. It claims $9.95 per month for an unlimited Internet access with personal Email -- from anywhere in the country. But, AOL is still doing their business with existing customer at $23.90 (they should offer the same rate to all of their existing customers). 5. I was curious as to what is the catch. So, I proceeded to sign up (I did not give my credit card number, of course). (I have a broadband (cable) access and don't need dial up.) The contract agreement was relatively brief and does not talk much (i.e., they do not promise anything, not even the bandwidth of the connection, or list of connection numbers -- their web sites don't mention). 6. The agreement even explicitly gives them a blank check to "optimize" the users' Internet "experience". (The terms almost promise to rape your system.) 7. The fine print says I have to pay additional fee for the "Premium service" whatever that means. 8. Only a fool will proceed to get into the contract because you have to give them your credit card number and accept their terms before you know what you are getting. BTW, the Netscape icon that mysteriously appered on my Desktop is a link to the following sign-up form: https://register.isp.netscape.com/default.jsp?promo=NS_2_6_2_2003_12_6 The brief description of the service can be viewed from: http://www.getnetscape.com/index.adp?promo=NS_2_7_7_2003_10_2 But, this leads you to download a silly commercial video footage without any technical substance. The whole presentation is extremely vague. In conclusion, my point is: I'm quite disturbed by the appearance of the Netscape Icon on my computer. This is not by a no-name company. It is one of the largest companies and it blatantly disturbed my computer and placed this unwelcome icon on my desktop. Furthermore, it lures the user to a binding contract with full of foul smell ... Has anyone seen the same thing? If you have seen it, what's your take on this? Kan [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Did you ever notice how many useless icons America Online puts on your desktop behind your back whenever you do an upgrade with them, or change to their DSL instead of the dialup so many of their users are used to? Same difference. PAT] ------------------------------ From: rob51166@yahoo.com (Rob) Subject: Cell Phone Numbering Arrangments Date: 14 Feb 2004 12:51:39 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Do NANP counties use a 'standard' area-code for cellphones as opposed to the UK (cell phone numbers begin with 07XXX) or other countries, where different codes are required? Just asking! :-) Rob ------------------------------ From: McWebber Subject: Re: Lost Liberties / A Thousand J. Edgar Hoovers Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 14:06:42 -0500 Monty Solomon wrote in message news:telecom23.72.6@telecom-digest.org: > http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/02/12/dissent_two/ > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Again, this is supposed to be something > new? Of course computers have made the job of police (spying, gassing, > and general brutality) much easier. J. Edgar Hoover would be so proud > of how far his people have been able to get, spy-wise, in this age of > computers. PAT] Again, yes, it is new. The FBI had been stopped from doing that until Bush II. Monty Solomon wrote in message news:telecom23.72.5@telecom-digest.org: > http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/02/11/cointelpro/ > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That's really nothing new. Back in the > sixties and seventies, Chicago Police had an active 'red squad' whose > job it was (besides gassing and beating up war protestors and others) > was to spy and infiltrate churches and other peaceable gatherings of > citizens. I wonder why Salon thinks this is somehow a new story. PAT] Because the practice was later banned due to abuses of civil liberties, until Herr rather Mr. Ashcroft came along. McWebber "Richter points to the lack of legal action against his company as proof that he's operating appropriately." Information Week, November 10, 2003 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 11:54:03 -0800 (PST) From: Richard Ramirez Subject: Re: Norvergence Still at it ... Didn't you write that it was the DEFENDANT'S lawyer (Acosta) that had demanded you to remove the derog comments? What does that have to do with Norvergence still being "at it"? -RR [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes I did say that. But I have been told that Norvergence (who started the whole problem with the discharge from employment of the defendant) has now agreed to drop their lawsuit against the defendant *on the condition* that the defendant go about the net and get the derogatory comments about Norvengence removed from the various archives and newsgroups where they appear. In other words, Norvergence (who started the whole thing) will lay off on the Defendant if *I* will cooperate in the removal of messages here. That's why Norvergence is still 'at it'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Teritor Subject: Re: Acxiom is Watching You Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 12:31:08 -0600 Organization: deamon Either post the entire article or don't post at all. I don't want to have to subscribe or watch ads to read the rest of this! On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 03:31:44 -0500, Monty Solomon wrote: > Whenever you book a flight, this data-mining colossus will be turning > over its files to John Ashcroft. Why did Wesley Clark lobby for what > could become the biggest snooping operation of all time? > By Farhad Manjoo > Feb. 10, 2004 | On Saturday, Jan. 5, 2002, a 15-year-old boy named > Charles Bishop stole a single-engine Cessna airplane from the St. > Petersburg International Airport in Florida and crashed it into an > office building in Tampa. The boy, who was probably mentally > disturbed, died; no one else was hurt. Still, in the tense months > after the 9/11 attacks, Charles Bishop's flight was one of the dozens > of small, strange events that set the public imagination reeling over > the horrors surrounding airplanes, and cable news shows went into > overdrive to cover it. The next day on CNN, Wesley Clark, the retired > Army general who was at the time the network's military analyst, was > asked about "the situation in Tampa.... The fact that a teenager was > able to steal this plane and crash it into a building -- what does > that say about the general state of aviation security?" > "We've been worried about general aviation security for some time," > Clark said. "The aircraft need to be secured, the airfields need to be > secured, and obviously we're going to also have to go through and do a > better job of screening who could fly aircraft, who the private pilots > are, who owns these aircraft. So it's going to be another major > effort." > That answer -- that pilots ought to face more-rigorous screening -- > seemed logical enough; but according to some critics, Wesley Clark > might have had an ulterior motive in calling for more background > checks in aviation. What Clark, who is now campaigning for the > Democratic presidential nomination, did not tell the CNN audience was > that, months before the interview, he had been hired as a board member > and lobbyist for Acxiom, an Arkansas company that manages data > collected by large businesses on millions of Americans. Weeks after > the Sept. 11 attacks, the company developed a computerized system that > would perform instant identity checks on airline passengers. > http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/02/10/acxiom/ ------------------------------ From: Michael Chance Subject: Re: Telephone Service Surcharges Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 11:12:37 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I thought the 'telephone luxury tax' > started about 1917 during the First War as a way to provide for the > soldiers. They won't be getting rid of it anytime soon, however. [ remainder of moderator comments deleted ] Now I'm sorry that I asked the question. If I'd know that it would have sent Pat off on an error-laden, near libelous rant against President Bush, I never would have bothered. Diseased brain or not, that was uncalled for. I'm more than willing to debate Pat on the points in which he's got his facts and assumptions wrong, but this isn't a political forum (at least I didn't think that it was), but a telecom one (which is what I thought that I was attempting to discuss). My mistake, and I apologize to the rest of the readers for inflicting this on you all. Michael Chance ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 15:34:49 EST From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: My New Blog (Weblog) Michael Chance and egnil1494 both raise good points of interest in their two messages in this issue. First of all, egnil says run the entire article or don't run it; he does not like reading ads or having to subscribe (to Salon). The trouble is, when you 'borrow' articles from other sources as Monty Solomon does and I sometimes do, you can either do an excerpt or *very occassionally* run the entire article under the 'fair use' provisions of the copyright laws. Those of you who follow this Digest know I rely on a very liberal interpretation of the copyright 'fair use' provisions. The Cornell University Law School says I am within my rights to do this. I've no doubt I can do this, but when a newsgroup takes a total free ride by continually using the research/writing of others **without compensating them** it begins to get sort of brazen. Of course, I could compensate the authors also, e.g. have advertisements, sell subscriptions, etc, but that poses other problems as well. So my 'compromise' is to rely on 'fair use' (as defined by Cornell) quite often and rely on links to the actual article in other cases. Usually, I wind up accepting Monty Solomon's material as he chooses to edit it; if he sends the full article then I append the 'fair use' message at its conclusion; if he sends a link then I use the link. Ditto the other contributors here who send that kind of material. Link or full article with fair use disclaimer, as it arrives here. Or, if sometimes a reader sends a large (not) original article but does not appeal to 'fair use' at the bottom of the article, then I append that statement from my files here. So, egnil, really, I try hard -- my best -- to make good judgment calls on this. If I had an endowment -- or even made more than a half-hearted/non-existent effort to ENFORCE a subscription policy here, then I could use that money to join the syndicates that Salon, Yahoo, and others belong to and begin printing the same articles in full here, with no compunctions. Lacking that endowment (or source of funds) my compromise is to occassionally force readers to make their virgin eyes(!) see 'advertisements' now and then from Salon and the better quality web sites. Seriously, like President Carter, I lust in my heart to operate a first class site like Salon. I only wish there was money available to me to do it. So egnil, how would *you* have me do it? Now on to Michael Chance and his more serious complaint, about how bad my brain desease has gotten (!!) I AGREE. The time has come to *split* my writing/rambling into parts; one part for telecom and the other part for my increasing concerns over the downright *evil* things which are starting to return to our country, compliments of our born-again president and his band of cronies. All during the 1960-70's, I was, well, to put it politely, an 'anti-war' activist. You will see my propensities for same if you google up my *very old* messages from chinet and the old BBS lines which have survived in the archives of on the net from the late seventies/early eighties. Then in the middle 1980's, when I inherited TELECOM Digest, I promised to 'behave myself' and I periodically renew that promise or commitment from time to time but then our deranged president or his staff do something *so outrageous* or *so incredible* that I bubble over. No doubt it is my diseased brain acting up again. The way I have decided to handle that is with a web log, or 'blog' which I invite all of you to participate in if you wish. You can be anonymous or real, as you wish when posting messages in the blog at http://patricktownson-live.us.tf . And if you want to see if I am in my computer room at work, look at http://patricktownson.us.tf (where you will find a link to the blog.) Its been going for about a week or so; you might want to catch up on the older entries. And use the 'comment on this' link to add your own thoughts. Thank you, Michael, for giving me the impetus I needed to finally make it happen. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ 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. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-330-6774 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. 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Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2003 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. If you donate at least fifty dollars per year we will send you our two-CD set of the entire Telecom Archives; this is every word published in this Digest since our beginning in 1981. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V23 #73 *****************************