From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Aug 3 04:39:32 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 43E39150BB; Wed, 3 Aug 2005 04:39:32 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #351 Message-Id: <20050803083932.43E39150BB@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 04:39:32 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 3 Aug 2005 04:40:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 351 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Identity Theft: Big Enough to Steal Lawmaker's Attention (Adam Karlin) Fraud Roshambo: Paper Beats RFID (Stephen Leahy) Analysts Say ATM Systems Highly Vulnerable (Brian Bergstein) Today's Long Distance Circuits? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? (Paul Coxwell) Re: Personal Opinion Telegram and Mailgram-Discontinuance (Lisa Hancock) Re: AUDIX Message to Two Mailboxes (Pete Romfh) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Adam Karlin Subject: Identity Theft: Big Enough to Steal Lawmakers' Attention Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 01:31:56 -0500 By Adam Karlin, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor BOSTON - Sandra Pochapin learned a few key lessons from her ordeal with identity theft. Among them: Check the mail early. Had she done so, she may have gotten the replacement credit card in her mailbox. Instead, a thief lifted the card and took it on a $1,200 shopping spree at Lord & Taylor. Ms. Pochapin eventually recouped her money, but the incident haunted her for months afterward, as the criminal opened other new accounts in her name. She recalls a Macy's representative calling to ask about a $2,400 bill on her new store card. "I asked them, 'How could you open an account in my name if I already have an account there?' " said Pochapin, testifying recently in front of the Massachusetts state legislature. Experiences of people like Pochapin, and break-ins at large databases that hold Americans' most sensitive personal information, have grown severe enough in recent months to prompt a new wave of protective legislation by lawmakers at the state and federal level. The bills are designed to address various aspects of the threat, but, as identity thieves find new ways to ply their trade, the efforts represent a daunting race against crime. Credit-freeze laws growing One rising form of legislation, the one being considered here in Massachusetts, allows consumers to freeze third-party access to their credit reports. "If a security freeze [on my credit reports] had been implemented, this couldn't have happened," said Pochapin. While she admits the thief could have still had a field day at Lord & Taylor, "They wouldn't have been able to open other accounts," since companies don't give out credit cards if they can't review a potential client's credit rating. Ten states now have credit-freeze laws, with a New Jersey bill awaiting the promised signature of Gov. Richard Codey. While lauded by many consumer advocates, such measures hint at the challenges of combatting ID theft. Opponents say such laws are intrusive measures that clunk up business practices. Others question if any law can protect personal information from determined hackers. At the least, if current laws aren't deterring high-tech burglars, neither are security measures. On June 17, MasterCard announced a break-in to the database of payment-processor CardSystems Solutions. The heist, by far the biggest of its kind to date, compromised the account records for millions of Visa USA, American Express, Discover, and MasterCard holders. But MasterCard said a much smaller number of people faced a real risk of identity theft from the breach. Cardholders honored in a breach What infuriates ID theft activists is that up until this year, California was the only state that forced credit-card companies to notify their customers about such a raid. There, companies must tell their clients about breaches to electronic, unencrypted databases. Now, 15 states have some sort of breach law, and four more bills await a governor's signature. "We think the California law provides a good model for other states and the federal government to follow," says Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. In that vein, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California is pushing Senate Bill 751, which goes beyond her state's law requiring companies to notify consumers of unauthorized access to paper caches and encrypted files. "The senator has been working on ID theft for over five years. She thought that not just California should have this right. The recent database breaches really underscore the need for this kind of legislation," says Scott Gerber, the senator's spokesman. Representatives from credit-card companies disagree that such steps are needed. J.P. Morgan Chase, for example, has stated that cardholders will not be contacted unless the firm believes they are victims of, or highly susceptible to, fraud. Credit card companies say they are trying to stave off unneeded panic. And costs are an issue as well; if a new card costs $3 to create, 40 million cancelled cards would cost $12 billion to replace. The next phase: prevention For Mr. Rotenberg, bills like Feinstein's come too late to help many ID theft victims. "We also want to focus on the question of how do you reduce the breaches before they take place," he says. So do some lawmakers. This year, Sens. Charles Schumer (D) of New York and Bill Nelson (D) of Florida introduced the Comprehensive Identity Theft Prevention Act. Among that bills' provisions: the establishment of an Office of Identity Theft within the Federal Trade Commission, and provisions that "data merchants" establish authentication, tracking, and safeguarding processes for third parties that want to access personal information. The bill also has language on notifying consumers of database break-ins. All put together, the legislation could create a nightmare for credit-card companies: In a case like CardSystems, fines are slapped down by the federal government and customers across the nation ask for credit report freezes, which keeps consumers from opening new credit accounts. Critics warn that such laws could hold unintended consequences for consumers. "This should be about meeting consumer expectations," said Eric Ellman, director of government relations for the Consumer Data Industry Association, testifying against credit-report freezes in Massachusetts. In emergency situations where credit is crucial, frozen reports would slow access to funds, he says. In addition, obstacles to credit would deter companies from pushing promotional deals, like 10 percent discount cards. But state lawmakers were skeptical. "It seems there's a very paternalistic theme to those comments, which is 'We know what's best for consumers,'" said Massachusetts state Rep William M. Straus. He said the issue should be turned over to the victims of ID theft: "Would they trade a 10 percent discount from Sears for everything they've been through?" Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. All rights reserved. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, The Christian Science Publishing Society. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Stephen Leahy Subject: Fraud Roshambo: Paper Beats RFID Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 01:28:12 -0500 By Stephen Leahy Fingerprints aren't just for fingers anymore. Now, they could be an important new tool for fighting document forgery. All paper, as well as plastic credit and debit cards, bears a unique "fingerprint" of microscopic surface imperfections. According to Russell Cowburn, professor of nanotechnology at Imperial College London, detecting these unique patterns is easy to do with a portable laser scanner. And it's cheap, too: "Our field scanners could be manufactured for $1,000 or less (when made) in volume," said Cowburn. The detection process makes use of the optical phenomenon known as laser speckle. Light coming from a focused laser is coherent, or in phase, but when it strikes a microscopically rough surface like a piece of paper, the light is scattered, producing a pattern of light and dark "speckles." The scanner's photodetectors digitize and record this pattern. According to Cowburn's research, as published July 28 in the journal Nature, the unique speckle pattern of a sheet of paper remains recognizable even after crunching the paper into a ball, soaking it in water, baking it at 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 30 minutes, scrubbing it with an abrasive cleaning pad or scribbling over it with a big black marker. A cross-correlation algorithm that assesses the degree of similarity between the base-line scan and the new scan allows the paper's identity to be verified. The odds of two pieces of paper having similar patterns are greater than 1,000 to one. These fingerprints raise the possibility of securing documents without resorting to controversial solutions like RFID tags. In the future, every passport, driver's license and birth certificate could be scanned for its unique speckle pattern by the issuing agency. Portable scanners at border crossings or police stations would read the pattern on the document in question and match it to the baseline database. A standard desktop PC could check 10 million entries per second. This could put document forgers around the world out of business. "There is no known manufacturing process for copying surface imperfections at the necessary level of precision," said Cowburn. "The beauty of this system is that there is no need to modify the item being protected in any way with tags, chips or inks," he said. But it's still not foolproof. This sort of security would not have prevented the 9/11 terrorists from obtaining their legal Virginia driver's licenses with false information, said Nick Fadziewicz, an expert on security at Comter Systems. Eleven of the terrorists successfully obtained those licenses using false information. Many states, including Virginia, now have much tougher requirements. "There is no one solution for security," said Fadziewicz. "The goal is to put in enough strong security measures to minimize the (potential) to create fake documents." It's also important to balance a security system's benefits with its costs and any resulting inconvenience to the general public, he said. Other attempts to secure documents like passports have met with controversy. Many have likened the State Department's plan to embed RFID chips in all new passports this year to installing homing devices for high-tech muggers, identity thieves and even terrorists. Unauthor- ized persons could read or "skim" the information from the RFID chip and obtain personal data. In late June, the State Department announced that new passports will have a metallic lining to prevent unauthorized reading of the tags. Bill Scannell, a publicist and civil liberties activist, strongly opposes RFID technology on privacy and other grounds. He said document identification using speckle patterns has the advantage of not collecting or broadcasting personal information. But there may be issues regarding on-the-ground implementation and overall cost. "We're spending billions on new, ever-more-complex security technology ... At what point does this become stupid?" Copyright 2005, Lycos, Inc. Lycos is a registered trademark of Carnegie Mellon University. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Brian Bergstein Subject: Analysts Say ATM Systems Highly Vulnerable Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 01:25:44 -0500 By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer By failing to scan security codes in the magnetic strips on ATM and debit cards, many banks are letting thieves get away with an increasingly common fraud at a cost of several billion dollars a year. A report Tuesday from Gartner Inc., a technology analyst firm, estimates that 3 million U.S. consumers were victims of ATM and debit-card fraud in the past year. The fraud most commonly begins when a criminal engages in "phishing" -- sending a legitimate-seeming e-mail with a link to a phony Web site that appears to belong to a consumer's bank, Gartner analyst Avivah Litan believes. The e-mail recipients are asked to give their account information, including PIN numbers. With that information "harvested," fraudsters can make their own cards for automated teller machines and withdraw huge sums. This should be easily preventable, because the magnetic strips on cards contain multiple tracks. One track has data such as the user's name and account number. A second track contains special security codes that card users don't know. That means the information can't be squeezed out of them in a phishing attack. Duplicating the codes would require inside knowledge of a bank's security procedures, Litan said. (The inclusion of another kind of security codes in records held by a credit and debit card processor, CardSystems Solutions Inc., made that company's massive data breach disclosed this spring especially dangerous.) Surprisingly, Litan said, perhaps half of U.S. financial institutions have not programmed their ATM systems to check the security codes. Con artists specifically seek out customers of banks that do not validate the second track on the strip, she said. Litan believes many banks simply didn't know about the vulnerability. Others may have once scanned the codes but stopped because using the codes requires that customers go to a bank and have an ATM card rewritten whenever they want to change their PINs. That was a costly step that many banks figured they could avoid in pre-phishing days when ATM fraud was rare. "It's not negligence," Litan said. "It's just kind of being asleep at the wheel when business is running smoothly, and then you get hit." Gartner estimates that annual losses from ATM fraud total $2.75 billion, or $900 per incident. Most of that is covered by the financial institutions that issued the hacked cards, but consumers sometimes have to struggle with bounced checks and other inconveniences when a criminal raids a bank account. Although fixing the security hole is straightforward, it might not solve everything. One of the codes is only three digits, meaning hackers can use brute-force attacks -- trying every possible combination -- over some online systems. Litan advises banks to lengthen the codes on newly issued cards. A separate report Tuesday by the corporate services unit at International Business Machines Corp. noted a surge in Internet attacks that facilitate bank fraud, including phishing and the surreptitious installation of keystroke-logging programs that copy what a computer user types. Network monitoring by IBM and other organizations led IBM to determine that, in the first half of this year, criminals sent 35 million e-mails designed to steal financial data. Criminals are increasingly engaging in "spear phishing," a targeted attack at a specific person or organization known to be vulnerable, IBM security analyst Jeremy Kelley said. That makes the phishers harder to detect and shut down. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Phishing has indeed gotten much, much worse in the past year or so. There have been some days I have received a hundred phish things on PayPal in a single day. At one time I was batching them up (five, ten or twenty at a time in the day's incoming email) and sending them off to 'spoof@paypal.com'. I would specifically read through the 'source' on an HTML message looking for the real sender. For example, the source code will often times do a pretty good imitation of PayPal, and give a URL to go to for doing the 'required' updates in order to have your account 'unrestricted' once again, which looks something like http://somewhere.com/cgi-bin/something/www.paypal.com "Security Team" or some such nonsense. I was taking several of these incoming mails all at one time, putting them in a larger cover letter and sending them on to 'spoof@paypal.com'. PayPal kept asking me to please forward 'any I recieved'; so if I got fifty in a day, which was typical, I would send all fifty. All I would ever get back from PayPal was an auto-ack saying "thanks for passing it along; our review shows it is not a bonafide PayPal page, we will deal with it. If you gave any personal information to that site, you may get trouble." I had a stack of those auto-acks from Paypal almost as large as the collection of spoofs I would mail them each day; I do not see where it ever did any good; the 'spoofs' just contine, unabated, so I finally quit sending them in, as I have better things to do also. They _claim_ they shut those sites down but I do not see any progress at it. Maybe they are like many netters, and 'horrified' at the prospect of shutting down an offensive web site. Maybe they figure like a lot of netters that if they shut down those jackals they 'may get sued', etc. Who knows, maybe PayPal bought into that line of malarkey also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Today's Long Distance Circuits? Date: 2 Aug 2005 14:10:34 -0700 This came up before but perhaps things changed. I call, say Wilmington Delaware to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. How and who is the call physically routed and connected between the two cities? What about a shorter call, say Harrisburg PA to Erie PA (a few hundred miles)? By how, I mean what physical medium is chosen and how is it routed. Do they use satellite, microwave, fibre optic, coax, plain wire? Are there direct routes or must it go to intermediate switching centers and transferred there? What happens if the primary circuits are busy -- do they go to a lot of trouble to reroute or just cut me off? Does AT&T still have a big network control center in Bedminster? Does anyone even have such control centers or are they not needed anymore? By whom I mean does my designated long distance carrier actually physically carry the call or do they merely sublet to someone else who actually owns the wires to where I'm going. Who manages the switching centers? I suspect a heck of a lot of long distance traffic is carried by someone other than the designated carrier. Thanks! [public replies please] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? Date: 2 Aug 2005 13:54:25 -0700 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do know that in Chicago in years > past, Illinois Bell's largest customer was the City of Chicago itself, Would you know if years ago the city's telephone system, such as street callboxes that cops once used, phones in police and fire stations, and phones in any city owned utilities were Bell Telephones or a private city network? When CTA took over the L lines after the war, were the L lines under one owner or still under individual owners? I'd dare say they had private telephone networks. (Your Skokie Swift L stop was unique in that it was relatively new, built after the old North Shore Line closed down.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think the call boxes were city owned; police and fire stations had Bell telephone lines and PAX type (privately owned) phones as well. Eventually the PAX phone system in the various police stations disappeared along with all the Bell System _phone numbers_ in each location as they all got converted over to the 312-PIG centrex system. The Chicago Transit Atrocity -- oops, I mean 'Authority' was formed by an act of the Illinois Legislature in 1947 as a independent government in its own right (_not a government agency, but an actual government_) when the Chicago City Council in an extraordinary act of greed decided to 'municipalize' (a nice sounding word which means government sanctioned theft) the four existing elevated (and the time, one) subway lines. The subway _tunnel_ remains under city ownership, while the trains belong to the 'government' known as CTA. The four owners of the elevated trains were 'Lake Street Elevated Company', the 'Jackson Park Elevated Railway Company', the Union Loop Company, and the Chicago Rapid Transit Company. In the 1930's, two other elevated train companies ('Commercial' and one whose name I have forgotten but which ran east and west from 40th and Indiana Street to about 40th and Halstead Streets (maybe the 'Stock Yards Transit Company') were merged into the old Milwaukee Avenue elevated train. Eventually the southermost part of 'Commercial' was renamed the Douglas Park branch and the northernmost part of 'Commercial' was abandoned, but they still maintain those tracks; it is the only way for trains to get transferred for service from the north/south line and the Ravenwoood/ Ohare lines; send them over the old 'Commercial' tracks. 'Stock Yards' on the other hand was totally abandoned after the second war. I am sure all those companies had private phone service via Illinois Bell. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 01:33:46 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? > Historically, there wasn't much of a career path for a telephone > operator. Often young women took the job for a few years until they > got married or had kids, and then they quit. Some returned after the > kids were grown. A few would get promoted to be supervisors. Others > would leave and get jobs as PBX operators -- almost all large PBX > installations required an operator to be "Bell trained" and have Bell > Telephone experience to get hired. That's pretty much how it was in the days of the old state-run GPO Telephones in Britain too. As I understand it (I wasn't born until 1966), it was pretty much just expected that any younger girl who got married would leave. In a similar way to "Bell trained,", an operator who was "GPO trained" was often regarded as the best available for a large PBX. About 8 or 9 years ago the BBC produced a drama show -- "The Hello Girls" -- set in a typical telephone exchange in the late 1950s/early 1960s. The show ran for only two very short seasons, but received many favorable comments from those who had worked in GPO exchanges of that era for the way it captured the atmosphere so well. (It might be available on tape or DVD, I'm not sure.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Traditional Bell had a habit of always > using an 'X' to mean 'e(X)change', as in PBX (P)rivate (B)ranch > e(X)change, FX as in (F)oreign E(X)change, and PAX as (P)rivate > (A)utomatic e(X)change. This use of "X" was also widespread by the British GPO. There was the whole group of varying terms for a private branch exchange: PBX, PABX or PAX, PMBX, etc. There was the old UAX -- (U)nit (A)utomatic e(X)change -- series of small Strowger step-by-step systems which were the mainstay of village and rural telephone service at one time. Electronic switching systems became known as TXE, for (T)elephone e(X)change (E)lectronic. Crossbar offices were designated TXK, although how they got the "K" is anybody;s guess. -Paul. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Personal Opinion Telegram and Mailgram - Discontinuance? Date: 2 Aug 2005 14:02:30 -0700 Jim Haynes wrote: > You can still send a telegram, according to www.westernunion.com Yes, but the Opiniongram was a discounted service, much cheaper than a regular telegram (IIRC, 90c vs $5 years ago). I feel a traditional letter gets more attention than an email because (1) a letter has a physical presence instead of fleeting bits on a screen, and (2) the recipient knows you went to the trouble of writing and mailing it while an email is easy to knock off en masse. However, writing to Washington today may be bad because letters are secured before delivery and they can be seriously delayed. > I guess you can still send a Mailgram; somebody sent me one last year. Yes, today's WU website does have them, but under business services. I think you have to send them in volume and they're not available for an individual to use as before. Also, I wonder if there is still a printer in a post office for fast delivery, or is this basically an ordinary first class letter in a mailgram envelope. WU has some interesting services, but I noticed they left the price off most of them (a telegram is $15). They have a deposit debit card but the transaction fee wasn't given, as well as quick payment (but unknown fee). I think if I searched deeper I'd get the fee, but I didn't want to waste time. Some of these services can be pretty expensive to use. ------------------------------ From: Pete Romfh Subject: Re: AUDIX Message to Two Mailboxes Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2005 20:50:12 -0500 Organization: Not Organized stewartmcewen@hotmail.com wrote: > Hi Everyone, > I wondered if anyone could let me know of a way of having > a message delivered to two mailboxes at once on the audix > system. > I have a client who have a small office and they wish for > the two directors to be able to pick up each others > voicemail. > I have tried to explain that you can change to a > different mailbox my doing **7,once logged in, and then > enter the extension details. > But the problem is we have just migrated from call > express where the option was straight forward (simple > check box) and a copy of the message was saved in each > mailbox. > Of course as it was available before, the client wishes > it available now ... sigh! > Anyone out there know if this is possible? I have checked > the Avaya documentation and done a search on the web, but > no joy. > Thanks a great deal in advance. > Regards, > Stewart Look into Enhance List Administration. It's an add on feature from Avaya and it adds a "store & forward" feature to a mailbox. It's intended for distribution lists (of up to 1500 entries) but would work for this application as well. I used it on a CEO's mailbox to send a copy of everything he received to his secretary and a backup mailbox. The backup was in case a message got inadvertently deleted. Pete Romfh, Telecom Geek & Amateur Gourmet. promfh at hal dash pc dot org ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #351 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Aug 4 00:00:17 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id D7B5914E1B; Thu, 4 Aug 2005 00:00:16 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #352 Message-Id: <20050804040016.D7B5914E1B@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 00:00:16 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.3 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAD_CREDIT, BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: R TELECOM Digest Wed, 3 Aug 2005 23:58:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 352 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update - Canada - August 3, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement Group) NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access (Lisa Hancock) Tuning Into the Times / Mobile Phones New Features (Monty Solomon) IPTV May Be Springboard For Telcos (USTelecom DailyLead) Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (Lisa Hancock) Looking For Good International Conference Call Service (John R Levine) Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? (mc) Re: Credit Reports, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken Over (C. Cryderman Re: Identity Theft: Big Enough to Steal Lawmakers' Attention (S Sobol) Re: Personal Opinion Telegram and Mailgram - Discontinuance (Kaminsky) Re: Personal Opinion Telegram and Mailgram - Discontinuance (Greenberg) Re: Today's Long Distance Circuits? (Diamond Dave) Re: Today's Long Distance Circuits? (Justa Lurker) Re: Today's Long Distance Circuits? (Robert Bonomi) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 04:51:47 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update - Canada - August 3, 2005 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca 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: ** Telcos Ask Cabinet to Deregulate VoIP ** Telus Workers on the Picket Line ** Entourage Strike Ends ** Local Phone Competition Spreads ** Telecom Policy Review to Include Public Hearings ** Bell Mobility Relaunches Solo ** Telus Strike Boosts Wireless Sales ** Mitec, SR Telecom CEOs Resign ** Thieves Hit Phone Equipment Vendors ** Wireless Fuels Rogers Growth ** Aliant Sales Edge Up ** Allstream Swells MTS Revenue ** Aastra Revenue Doubles ** Hall of Fame to Debut at Telemanagement Live ============================================================ TELCOS ASK CABINET TO DEREGULATE VoIP: On July 28, Aliant, Bell Canada, SaskTel, Telebec, and Telus filed a joint petition to Cabinet asking it to eliminate the "economic regulation" of VoIP services that the CRTC ordered in Telecom Decision 2005-28 (see Telecom Update #481). The telcos want to be able offer VoIP services without filing tariffs and without restrictions on "winback" activities or promotional offers. www.bce.ca/en/news/eventscalendar/webcasts/2005/20050728/index.php ** The Canadian Cable Telecommunications Association immediately urged Cabinet to reject the telcos' appeal. www.ccta.ca/english/view.asp?t=&x=150&id=1209 TELUS WORKERS SET UP PICKET LINES: The Telecommunications Workers Union calls it a lockout. Telus calls it a strike. What's certain is that after five years without a contract, thousands of unionized Telus employees are now walking picket lines. B.C. and Alberta courts have barred the TWU from picketing in a manner that "blocks, obstructs or impedes access" to and from Telus premises. ** Telus blocked all of its Internet customers from accessing voices-for-change.com, a website that is "run by and for Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) members." The B.C. Civil Liberties association condemned Telus for "leveraging its power as a telecommunications service provider to censor a specific group." Telus ended the website block after an Alberta Court ordered the website to remove photos of Telus employees who cross picket lines. ENTOURAGE STRIKE ENDS: The four-month strike by 1,400 employees of Entourage Technology Solutions, now part of Bell Canada, has ended. The union says the settlement is $3.5 million better for its members than Bell's pre-strike offer; CRTC statistics show that service-related complaints against Bell more than doubled during the strike. LOCAL PHONE COMPETITION SPREADS: Local phone service from cablecos Shaw, Rogers, and Cogeco is now available in more areas. Shaw has begun selling Digital Phone in Winnipeg, Rogers has added six communities in Ontario and three in B.C., and Cogeco has added Three Rivers. ** Vonage Canada has begun offering local telephone numbers from Brampton and Mississauga, Ontario. TELECOM POLICY REVIEW TO INCLUDE PUBLIC HEARINGS: The Telecommunications Policy Review Panel (see Telecom Update #482, 485) has announced two public consultations. The first, on September 9 in Whitehorse, will focus on broadband access issues. The second, on October 24-26 in Ottawa, will consider broader telecom policy issues including regulation, adoption of information and communications technologies, and productivity. www.telecomreview.ca/epic/internet/intprp-gecrt.nsf/en/rx00027e.html BELL MOBILITY RELAUNCHES SOLO: Bell Mobility will launch Solo Mobile service August 2, featuring free text messaging, $1-a-day walkie-talkie service, exclusive handsets, and a free ringtone each month. The revived Solo brand targets 13- to 24-year-olds. TELUS STRIKE BOOSTS WIRELESS SALES: MetroBridge Networks, a B.C.-based wireless broadband provider, says its volume of customer inquires has increased 15-fold since Telus workers walked out. The company says it is receiving orders from companies that are moving or setting up new offices, and from others that want back-up facilities in case of service interruption. MITEC, SR TELECOM CEOs RESIGN: The chief executives of two Montreal-based wireless equipment makers have resigned: ** Rajiv Pancholy has resigned as President and CEO of Mitec Telecom. CFO Keith Findlay becomes interim CEO; Stefano Bazzocchi is acting CFO. Mitec has announced losses of $25 million on sales of $58 million for the year ended April 30. ** Pierre St-Arnaud has resigned as President and CEO of SR Telecom. William Aziz, the company's Chief Restructuring Officer, has been named interim CEO. THIEVES HIT PHONE EQUIPMENT VENDORS: Toronto fraud squad investigators say that a ring of thieves has been calling in orders for quantities of business phones, collecting the orders, and paying with worthless cheques or money orders. Seven thefts have been reported; other victims are asked to call the police. WIRELESS FUELS ROGERS GROWTH: A 47% jump in wireless revenue enabled Rogers Communications to increase second-quarter sales to $1.73 billion, 29% more than a year earlier. The wireless division, which added 125,000 subscribers, made up 56% of Rogers sales. Results include the former Microcell but not Call-Net. ** Rogers bundle discounts, formerly 15% across-the-board, now range from 5% to 15%. ** Rogers Telecom (formerly Call-Net) reports Q2 2005 revenues of $217 million, up 8% over the same quarter in 2004, with growth in both consumer and business service revenues and a 41% increase in EBITDA. ** Rogers' July 1 acquisition of Call-Net (see Telecom Update #488) triggered several change-of-control provisions, including vesting of stock options ($4.1 million) and senior executive payments ($3.4 million). The company’s agreement with Sprint (U.S.) will end September 29. ALIANT SALES EDGE UP%: Aliant Inc. had 2Q net income of $49.8 million, 24% higher than the second quarter a year earlier, during which Aliant experienced a strike. Sales rose 1.2% to $517 million. Wireless sales increased 14%; Internet sales, 6%. Aliant says 693 employees have accepted buyout packages. ALLSTREAM SWELLS MTS REVENUE: Manitoba Telecom 2Q revenue of $502 million was 60% higher than a year ago, before its purchase of Allstream. On a pro forma basis, revenue in Manitoba was up 4.3%, that of the national division (Allstream) down 3.9%. Net income: $111.5 million. ** John MacDonald, President of the MTS national division, returns from a medical leave August 2. AASTRA SALES DOUBLE: Aastra Technologies, based in Concord, Ontario, had 2Q revenue of $126 million, 94% higher than a year earlier. Net income: $7 million. During this year, Aastra bought the PBX business of EADS (which includes the former Intecom); two weeks ago it paid $51 million for the PBX business of Berlin-based DeTeWe. HALL OF FAME TO DEBUT AT TELEMANAGEMENT LIVE: The inaugural ceremonies for Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame will be held in Toronto on October 17, in conjunction with the Telemanagement Live conference and trade show. The first eight inductees to the Hall of Fame will be announced at a gala co-hosted by the Coalition for Competitive Telecommunications. ** Online registration for Telemanagement Live, Canada's premier annual conference on business telecom and networking, is now open at www.telemanagementlive.com. Participants who register before August 31 save $300 off the full conference fee. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== 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 late Friday afternoon each 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 2005 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. 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: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access Date: 3 Aug 2005 10:22:14 -0700 A New York Times columnist, Friedman, calls today (8/3/05) for better wireless access in the United States. He says many foreign countries have better systems than we do and they will have the competitive edge on the US as a result. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 08:46:39 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Tuning Into the Times / Mobile Phones New Features Tuning into the times Mobile phones could soon feature up to 10 radios, delivering a host of services. But the industry must ensure it doesn't frustrate consumers. By Peter Judge Thursday July 14, 2005 The Guardian Most mobile phones already have at least two radios inside them, and some have three or four. In the future, they could have nine or 10. That will be a headache for the handset makers, the silicon vendors and the operators -- and perhaps for you. http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1527517,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 13:35:29 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: IPTV May be Springboard For Telcos USTelecom dailyLead August 3, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23562&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * IPTV may be springboard for telcos BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * BellSouth simplifies DSL pricing * Cable targets small business * Motorola, Nortel fund Wi-Fi company * Sirius announces push for 3M subscribers USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act -- What It Means to Your Business -- Friday, Aug. 5, 11 to 12:30 p.m. (ET) EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Broadband penetration to reach 62% by 2010, study says REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Court issues new ruling in RIM patent case * Nextel seeks e911 delay Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23562&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: 3 Aug 2005 12:14:48 -0700 My department at my employer uses plain 2500 style telephone sets under a Centrex system. I kind of assumed they were still common place, but I understand now that they're kind of unusual? I heard caller-ID is very common on business phones, is that true? [public replies, please] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Caller ID _is_ very common on business phone systems these days. For instance, when I call either Atmos Energy (gas supplier) or Westar (electric utility) they answer with voice mail of course, but after a couple minutes of chatter while they tell me 'our menu has changed, listen to all options' then the voice mail on both tells me "based on your caller ID, you are located at (street number); if yes, press one, if no, press two", etc. And far from using 'old fashioned' 2500 style sets, they sit in a room with little keypads attached to computer terminals. They seem to emphasize your address, since they need to know where to show up to work on the wires or gas pipes, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 3 Aug 2005 18:15:43 -0400 From: John R Levine Subject: Looking For a Good International Conference Call Service Twice a month I'm on a conference call of about fifteen people, maybe five in the US, and the rest scattered all over the world, Italy, Argentina, Chile, China, Japan, and usually a couple in Africa. People call in if there's a local number in their country (US and Europe mainly), and the conference service is supposed to call out to the rest of them. We've been using MCI, but their service is just awful, voice quality is flaky, they consistently fail to call out when they say they're doing so, they tell people who call in at the correct time that the conference is already over. So we're not going to use them any more. Can anyone suggest an international conferencing service that really works, with decent voice quality, international access, and the ability to call out (preferably by an operator) to international numbers? Price isn't a big issue, nothing that works is going to be cheap. Online conferencing stuff is no good, since several of the callers are in places with limited Internet and people are frequently travelling and are using their cell phones. TIA, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of The Internet for Dummies, Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Mayor "I dropped the toothpaste", said Tom, crestfallenly. ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 10:55:43 -0400 Organization: Speed Factory http://www.speedfactory.net > The Chicago Transit Atrocity -- oops, I mean 'Authority' was formed by > an act of the Illinois Legislature in 1947 as a independent government > in its own right (_not a government agency, but an actual government_) Yes ... presumably a "district" that is administratively like a county, but instead of governing a portion of the state the way a county does, it governs a particular set of government services, and has the authority to levy taxes in specified places. For example, we have had a "school district" here (Clarke County, Ga.) for a long time, to get around the problem that the county is small but the city and county governments were not originally consolidated. There are also "sewer districts" etc. Definitely one of the odd points of American politics. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In Chicago, in addition to the CTA or Chicago Transit Authority (thus situated), there is also the CHA (or Chicago Housing Authorty) which is a _true_ atrocity if there ever was one. CHA has been in 'federal receivership' now for a few years due to the unbelievably awful living conditions in the 'homes' and the amount of crime on its property. Originally very nice _but plain_ living accomodations, the CHA was started in 1941 and its first commissioner was a woman who was a protege of Jane Addams of Hull House fame. CHA was intended to be _temporary, transitional_ housing for needy people; then after the second war ended, the idea was to provide _temporary, transitional_ housing for military veterans returnin from military duty. Since about 1960 or so, these high-rise (fifteen or twenty story buildings; a cluster of a dozen or so in each location) have been almost exclusively for black people; many of whom of course have extensive criminal histories and their families; quite often the only person in the 'home' (all seven or eight thousand of them in an aggregate total) is the Mother. Nearly every one of them has one or more sons or fathers currently in prison or recently released. The little kids run around wild and rather delinquent as one would expect. The television series of the 1970's, _Happy Times_ (written by Norman Lear) is now in endless re-runs on TV-Land . The former commissioner of the mess, a man named Charles Swibel, a rich, white older guy from the northern suburbs had some problems of his own in keeping the CHA money accounts in order, barely escaped going to prison himself, but did get CHA tossed into federal recivership (a sort of bankruptcy chapter used for governments) when the feds 'evicted' him from office. Then there is the Chicago Park _District_ (rather than 'authority'), started in the 1940's as well, with its own can of worms. And there is the Chicago School _Board_ (also rather than 'authority') with the same sort of government arrangements. When the school board came up several million dollars unaccounted for, Mayor Daley (312-PIG-3000 if you ever wish to dial him direct) had a solution for that; a whole new layer of control called the Chicago Schools Finance Authority whose only job was to make the School Board obey the law on deficit spending. The Finance Authority has to sign off on the School Board budget each year, and not approve it unless the school board has the books in order. The board is apparently incapable or unwilling to obey the law all on their own. In his greed and unmitigated gall a few years ago, Mayor Daley and the City Council got the notion of 'municipalizing' Commonwealth Edison, the electric utility. So the people who run our transportation system, our subsidized 'homes', our parks and our schools would then be in charge of our nuclear power plants as well ... that did not go off very well; the unwashed masses complained bitterly at the idea, but most important, several very large industries who depend extensively on their electrical power began making arrangements to _close up their shops and split town_, unwilling to risk possible loss of electrical service. At that point, Mayor Daley blinked and backed off. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Credit Reports, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken Over By Alltel Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 14:11:18 -0400 From: Charles Cryderman As Steve and I continue our conversation: I wrote: > Yes Steve, it is my understanding that this is a Federal Law. Then Steve came back with: > Ahh, ok. The unconditional you-get-one-free-report-per-year law is new, > though. The law that's been in effect for years is "you're entitled to a > free report at any time if you've been denied credit or employment > within the last thirty days, based on your credit report." I assume > that's the law that you just referred to? No Steve I am not talking about that one, though I do know about it. Back in 1986 I was the Training Sergeant for a US Army Communications unit on Okinawa, Japan. I would receive the Army Times and other publications which I reviewed for training subjects for my unit. In one issue of the Army Time there was a article about the credit reporting company TRW. In it they talked about how many military personnel would have credit issues due to deployment. It also stated that all "Credit Reporting Companies" were required to provide, upon written request, copies of your credit report (address was provided for TRW). I then sat down and requested a copy to see if it worked. About 6 weeks later I did receive a copy and saw that only the credit I had requested was posted and that I was in good standing. I wanted to have a training session on this but the guy I worked for didn't like it. Wasn't military enough for him so I copied it and sent it out to the read files for each department in my unit. Now I don't remember if it was stated that this was a Federal or not but was someone's law that I was able to use. Chip Cryderman ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Identity Theft: Big Enough to Steal Lawmakers' Attention Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:05:40 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Warning: a major rant follows. > She recalls a Macy's representative calling to ask about a $2,400 bill > on her new store card. "I asked them, 'How could you open an account > in my name if I already have an account there?' " Because I don't believe the store reps care. No one at Carson Pirie Scott apparently gave a crap when someone showed up with my stolen drivers license (ok, lost, but then someone found it and left the state with it) and applied for a card. I was living in Cleveland at the time, and had never lived further west than southwest Ohio. CPS, a Chicago-based chain, never had any Ohio stores except a few in Toledo which had closed years ago, and the only reason I even recognized the name when I got a letter from them was because they used to buy flooring supplies from my father. It apparently meant nothing that the criminal trying to screw me was quite a ways from Ohio and attempting to get credit with an Ohio license. > Credit-freeze laws growing > One rising form of legislation, the one being considered here in > Massachusetts, allows consumers to freeze third-party access to their > credit reports. That's a great idea and I hope someone ends up passing a federal law of that nature. It would give a lot of control back to the consumer. > While lauded by many consumer advocates, such measures hint at the > challenges of combatting ID theft. Opponents say such laws are > intrusive measures that clunk up business practices. And I'd like to tell those people that they can kiss my ass. The only reason I wasn't completely screwed back in 1998 when I lost my DL was because my credit was terrible back then -- and I was never happier about that than when I found out that the idiot had stopped after applying for three department store cards. > Representatives from credit-card companies disagree that such steps > are needed. J.P. Morgan Chase, for example, has stated that > cardholders will not be contacted unless the firm believes they are > victims of, or highly susceptible to, fraud. The banks can kiss my ass too, and I say that as a consumer AND a merchant. The merchants are the ones who lose money if there are chargebacks. Not the consumers, not on chargebacks -- they get their money back. Certainly not the banks. They get to charge more because now the merchant is "high-risk." Or if you're talking about American Express, well ... I got dumped by Amex after one chargeback. ONE. No recourse, couldn't dispute the chargeback, nothing. > Critics warn that such laws could hold unintended consequences for > consumers. > "This should be about meeting consumer expectations," said Eric > Ellman, director of government relations for the Consumer Data > Industry Association, testifying against credit-report freezes in > Massachusetts. In emergency situations where credit is crucial, frozen > reports would slow access to funds, he says. Like what, Mr. Ellman? Gee whiz, can't the house or car purchase wait? Free clue, jerkoff ... it's not a life-or-death issue. There are no credit checks if you get into an accident and get Life-Flighted to the emergency rooms. Hospital ERs ARE REQUIRED TO ACCEPT PATIENTS. Just about everything else can wait. > In addition, obstacles to credit would deter companies from pushing > promotional deals, like 10 percent discount cards. Waaaaahhhhhh. > But state lawmakers were skeptical. "It seems there's a very > paternalistic theme to those comments, which is 'We know what's best > for consumers,'" said Massachusetts state Rep William M. Straus. > He said the issue should be turned over to the victims of ID theft: > "Would they trade a 10 percent discount from Sears for everything > they've been through?" Bravissimo, State Representative Strauss! Someone who Gets It. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I definitly feel consumers should have the absolute right to lock up their credit bureau files so _no one_ can see them. Your application for credit, along with your password, would serve as your permission for a business to look at and act upon your credit. There would be no more of these credit card promotions where cards are just sent out willy-nilly because some store or credit card company said 'you meet our criteria; do you want a card?' If I want a card I have to specifically ask for one. PAT] ------------------------------ From: The Kaminsky Family Reply-To: kaminsky@kaminsky.org Organization: None Whatsoever Subject: Re: Personal Opinion Telegram and Mailgram - Discontinuance? Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 07:35:52 GMT Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > Now, mail between Lawton, Oklahoma, and Wichita Falls, Texas, about 40 > miles apart and considered a single market area, takes two days. > Unless you use the curious and unusual mailbox at the Lawton post > office marked "Wichita Falls only," which presumably bypasses the > mechanized system and goes directly from Lawton to Wichita Falls, > rather than making a mechanized stopover in Oklahoma City and another > one in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. (Yes, they have three mailboxes > rather than the usual two -- "Local," "Out of Town." "Wichita Falls > only." > Wes Leatherock > wesrock@aol.com > wleathus@yahoo.com We have a similar situation here. Sunnyvale and Santa Clara are adjoining cities, but served by different main post offices (San Francisco and San Jose, respectively, if memory serves -- rather a gamble these days). Mail from one to the other can take three to five days for delivery. Even Sunnyvale to Sunnyvale often takes two days, because all the mail is trucked up to San Francisco. There used to be a "Sunnyvale only" box at the main Sunnyvale post office, but they removed it a couple of years ago. They said something about "efficiency". As my wife says, the handbasket is accelerating. Take care. Mark [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does anyone remember when we used to have _two_ mail deliveries each day as a routine thing, and when postage cost only a few pennies at that? PAT] ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Personal Opinion Telegram and Mailgram - Discontinuance? Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 19:47:30 UTC Organization: Organized? Me? In article , wrote: > I feel a traditional letter gets more attention than an email because > (1) a letter has a physical presence instead of fleeting bits on a > screen, and (2) the recipient knows you went to the trouble of writing > and mailing it while an email is easy to knock off en masse. However, > writing to Washington today may be bad because letters are secured > before delivery and they can be seriously delayed. What I have heard is that the preferred media is Fax. As effective as snail mail and no quarantine. Also cheaper. I can send a 1 page fax for 3-6 cents vs 37 cents for a letter. Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L ------------------------------ From: Diamond Dave Subject: Re: Today's Long Distance Circuits? Organization: The BBS Corner / Diamond Mine On-Line Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 18:01:12 -0400 On 2 Aug 2005 14:10:34 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > By how, I mean what physical medium is chosen and how is it routed. > Do they use satellite, microwave, fibre optic, coax, plain wire? Are > there direct routes or must it go to intermediate switching centers > and transferred there? What happens if the primary circuits are busy > -- do they go to a lot of trouble to reroute or just cut me off? Does > AT&T still have a big network control center in Bedminster? Does > anyone even have such control centers or are they not needed anymore? 1. Its all fiber these days. Maybe digital microwave as a backup on some routes, but these are rare, few and far between. 2. It all depends on what carrier you use and how long the call is. Calls may go through an intermediate tandem if the call is cross country, or crosses from one country to another via a "gateway" switch. 3. Rerouting is almost not an issue anymore. There is so much extra capacity that if there is more than one route to a destination, rerouting is automatic. 4. As far as I know, the NOC in Bedminster still exists. After SBC takes over, who knows? 5. I'm sure that these centers are still needed to maintain large networks. I'm sure MCI and Sprint have similar NOCs. > By whom I mean does my designated long distance carrier actually > physically carry the call or do they merely sublet to someone else who > actually owns the wires to where I'm going. Who manages the switching > centers? I suspect a heck of a lot of long distance traffic is > carried by someone other than the designated carrier. These days, everyone buys from everyone else, so who knows where your call actually goes. Also, there are many wholesale providers that work with any and all LD providers (Level 3 comes to mind as one of these). Its not as cut and dry as it once was. Dave Perrussel Webmaster - Telephone World http://www.dmine.com/phworld ------------------------------ From: Justa Lurker Subject: Re: Today's Long Distance Circuits? Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 00:14:09 GMT hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > By how, I mean what physical medium is chosen and how is it routed. > Do they use satellite, microwave, fibre optic, coax, plain wire? The vast majority of domestic "long distance" calls today would, of course, go over fibre optic transmission systems. There are also some digital radio (e.g., microwave) routes still out there where they make economic or technical sense. Satellite routes are used predominantly for overseas traffic to countries not served more directly by optical fibre transport, or perhaps to some extremely remote locales (in for example, the state of Alaska) which do not have fiber connectivity. Satellite is also still used as backup for some of the submarine cables, should they fail pending repair or perhaps during maintenance [although increasingly infrequently --- since (a) many of the new submarine cables tend to use SONET ring technology which greatly increases availability and minimizes the need to use any sort of satellite restoration, and (b) there is often extra capacity on other undersea fiber systems which can be pressed into service by rerouting traffic over them]. For a historical perspective, check out the URL http://long-lines.net/ ... if you haven't already. Lots of good stuff there. > Are there direct routes or must it go to intermediate switching > centers and transferred there? What happens if the primary circuits > are busy -- do they go to a lot of trouble to reroute or just cut me > off? Take a look at http://perso.rd.francetelecom.fr/chemouil/gcn_ieee/DynRout20.pdf ... for a throrough description written by 2 genuine experts. > Does AT&T still have a big network control center in Bedminster? Yes. In fact, it was enlarged and moved to a new building a few years ago. For example, see: http://www.extron.com/company/archive.asp?id=featureappatt http://www.christiedigital.com/recentInstallations/networkOperation/att/att_noc.asp http://www.emeapress.att.com/library/images/att_noc_01.jpg > Does anyone even have such control centers or are they not needed > anymore? Certainly they serve as much of a "PR" (Public Relations) function as anything else. Not to mention the "we always did it that way" factor. And big execs like to build their empires to show off. Certainly, one could debate whether (given today's technology) that all of those people need to be (or even should be) in one physical location. > By whom I mean does my designated long distance carrier actually > physically carry the call or do they merely sublet to someone else who > actually owns the wires to where I'm going. Who manages the switching > centers? Depends on your choice of designated long distance carrier, and the extent to which it owns and operates its own facilities vs. buying capacity 'wholesale' from one of the big guys or perhaps a "carrier's carrier" (Wiltel comes to mind here). > I suspect a heck of a lot of long distance traffic is carried by > someone other than the designated carrier. Once again, it varies from virtually none to virtually all, based upon who you've specifically selected as your LD carrier. As a very rough first-order estimate, next time you are out on your bicycle or driving around the countryside, take a look at those little signs which are posted along fiber optic right-of-ways ... do you see your carrier's name on many (any) of them ? Certainly that's not a 100% foolproof way to answer your question since there is a lot of capacity swaps & dark fiber/optical wavelength leasing & reselling of bandwidth between carriers, but it may give you a crude sense of who owns what in a relative sense. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Today's Long Distance Circuits? Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 11:27:32 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > This came up before but perhaps things changed. > I call, say Wilmington Delaware to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. How and who > is the call physically routed and connected between the two cities? > What about a shorter call, say Harrisburg PA to Erie PA (a few hundred > miles)? > By how, I mean what physical medium is chosen and how is it routed. > Do they use satellite, microwave, fibre optic, coax, plain wire? "Yes". One or more of the above. _Probably_ fiber. > Are there direct routes or must it go to intermediate switching > centers and transferred there? The proverbial 'it depends'. On the specific locations involved. Generally there are a number of intermediate centers involved. > What happens if the primary circuits are busy -- do they go to a > lot of trouble to reroute or just cut me off? Re-route/alternate route is _common_. "All circuits are busy, please try your call again later" generally indicates an issue *very*close* to one end or the other of the call. > Does AT&T still have a big network control center in Bedminster? > Does anyone even have such control centers or are they not needed > anymore? They're still needed. The nature of the beastie has changed considerably, over the years, however. Lots more 'smarts' in the hardware, allowing automation of much of what used to require 'manual intervention'. People are still required, for when the 'unexpected'/'unanticipated' occurs. automation doesn't deal well with things that it -hasn't- been programmed to handle. > By whom I mean does my designated long distance carrier actually > physically carry the call or do they merely sublet to someone else who > actually owns the wires to where I'm going. "It depends." On _who_ the LD carrier is. Some have their own networks, some just buy 'wholesale' from those who do have their own physical infra- structure. > Who manages the switching centers? Whomever owns the network involved. > I suspect a heck of a lot of long distance traffic is carried by > someone other than the designated carrier. Probably true. There are a lot more LD sellers than there are physical "national" networks. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #352 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Aug 4 17:32:19 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 25D33152CA; Thu, 4 Aug 2005 17:32:19 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #353 Message-Id: <20050804213219.25D33152CA@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 17:32:19 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 4 Aug 2005 17:32:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 353 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Advertising com Settles FTC Adware/Spyware Charges (Reuters News Wire) Calling All Luddites: NY Times OpEd (Thomas L. Friedman) Comcast Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results (Monty Solomon) Analysts: ATMs Highly Vulnerable to Fraud (Monty Solomon) Time Warner Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results (Monty Solomon) Hackers Demonstrate Their Skills in Vegas (Monty Solomon) FCC Approves Sprint-Nextel Merger (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (J.P.) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (davidesan@gmail.com) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Looking For Good International Conference Call Service (Hallikainen) Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? (davidesan@gmail.com) Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access (Mark Crispin) Re: Credit Reports, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken Over (Steve Sobol) Re: Opinion Telegrams and Mailgrams (Chris Farrar) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Advertising com Settles FTC Adware/Spyware Charges Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 12:39:17 -0500 An America Online Inc. subsidiary will no longer bundle its anti-spyware program with software that tracks consumers' online habits and force-feeds them pop-up ads, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday. Advertising.com Inc. also agreed to regular check by the FTC in order to settle a deceptive-advertising suit filed by the consumer-protection agency. Advertising.com, also known as Teknosurf.com, promoted its SpyBlast program as a way to protect users' computers from "hackers," the FTC charged. But those who downloaded the product also installed a separate program that monitored their online behavior and served them pop-up ads. Such advertising programs, known as "adware," are considered a form of spyware by many consumer advocates because consumers typically don't know they're installing them. Advertising.com didn't provide consumers with adequate notice that SpyBlast came bundled with the adware program, the FTC charged. Advertising.com did not admit or deny guilt as part of the settlement. AOL, a division of Time Warner Inc. bought Advertising.com for $435 million in June 2004 and understood how Advertising.com's program worked according to FTC's allegations. An AOL spokesman said that Advertising.com had only been in the adware business for a brief period during 2003. The company makes most of its money by selling banner ads, spokesman Andrew Weinstein said. "They were not in this business when we purchased them," Weinstein said. "Advertising.com does not now and will not in the future distribute adware products." FTC did not agree that "Advertising.com was not in 'that business' when it was purchased by AOL" and contended they were still in 'that business' anyway. FTC said that "either way, we think that Advertising.com, and its parent AOL, under the terms of its supervision by FTC, will definitly be out of 'that business' in the future. Banner ads are okay, Adware, no more." The House of Representatives in May voted to stiffen jail sentences and establish multimillion-dollar fines for spyware purveyors. The Senate has not yet acted on the bill. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Thomas L. Friedman Subject: Calling All Luddites Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 12:44:15 -0500 By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN I've been thinking of running for high office on a one-issue platform: I promise, if elected, that within four years America will have cellphone service as good as Ghana's. If re-elected, I promise that in eight years America will have cellphone service as good as Japan's, provided Japan agrees not to forge ahead on wireless technology. My campaign bumper sticker: "Can You Hear Me Now?" I began thinking about this after watching the Japanese use cellphones and laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet trains and subways deep underground. But the last straw was when I couldn't get cellphone service while visiting I.B.M.'s headquarters in Armonk, N.Y. But don't worry -- Congress is on the case. It dropped everything last week to pass a bill to protect gun makers from shooting victims' lawsuits. The fact that the U.S. has fallen to 16th in the world in broadband connectivity aroused no interest. Look, I don't even like cellphones, but this is not about gadgets. The world is moving to an Internet-based platform for commerce, education, innovation and entertainment. Wealth and productivity will go to those countries or companies that get more of their innovators, educators, students, workers and suppliers connected to this platform via computers, phones and P.D.A.'s. A new generation of politicians is waking up to this issue. For instance, Andrew Rasiej is running in New York City's Democratic primary for public advocate on a platform calling for wireless (Wi-Fi) and cellphone Internet access from every home, business and school in the city. If, God forbid, a London-like attack happens in a New York subway, don't trying calling 911. Your phone won't work down there. No wireless infrastructure. This ain't Tokyo, pal. At the City Hall subway stop this morning, Mr. Rasiej plans to show how one makes a 911 call from the subway. He will have one aide with a tin can in the subway send a message to another aide holding a tin can connected by a string. Then the message will be passed by tin can and string up to Mr. Rasiej on the street, who will call 911 with his cellphone. "That is how you say something if you see something today in a New York subway -- tin cans connected to someone with a cellphone on the street," said Mr. Rasiej, a 47-year-old entrepreneur who founded an educational-technology nonprofit. Mr. Rasiej wants to see New York follow Philadelphia, which decided it wouldn't wait for private companies to provide connectivity to all. Instead, Philly made it a city-led project - like sewers and electricity. The whole city will be a "hot zone," where any resident anywhere with a computer, cellphone or P.D.A. will have cheap high-speed Wi-Fi access to the Internet. Mr. Rasiej argues that we can't trust the telecom companies to make sure that everyone is connected because new technologies, like free Internet telephony, threaten their business models. "We can't trust the traditional politicians to be the engines of change for how people connect to their government and each other," he said. By the way, he added, "If New York City goes wireless, the whole country goes wireless." Mr. Rasiej is also promoting civic photo-blogging -- having people use their cellphones to take pictures of potholes or crime, and then, using Google maps, e-mailing the pictures and precise locations to City Hall. Message: In U.S. politics, the party that most quickly absorbs the latest technology often dominates. F.D.R. dominated radio and the fireside chat; J.F.K., televised debates; Republicans, direct mail and then talk radio, and now Karl Rove's networked voter databases. The technological model coming next -- which Howard Dean accidentally uncovered but never fully developed - will revolve around the power of networks and blogging. The public official or candidate will no longer just be the one who talks to the many or tries to listen to the many. Rather, he or she will be a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many -- creating networks of public advocates to identify and solve problems and get behind politicians who get it. "One elected official by himself can't solve the problems of eight million people," Mr. Rasiej argued, "but eight million people networked together can solve one city's problems. They can spot and offer solutions better and faster than any bureaucrat. ... The party that stakes out this new frontier will be the majority party in the 21st century. And the Democrats better understand something -- their base right now is the most disconnected from the network." Can you hear me now? Copyright 2005 New York Times Company NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Read NY Times on line each day; no login nor registration requirements. http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:32:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results Revenue Increased 10.5% to $5.6 Billion Operating Income Increased 23.2% to $1.0 Billion Operating Cash Flow Increased 13.2% to $2.2 Billion 20th Consecutive Quarter of Double-Digit Growth Growth in New Services Continues Added 1.1 Million Revenue Generating Units During the First Half of 2005 Including 507,000 During the Second Quarter PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) today reported results for the quarter ended June 30, 2005. Comcast will discuss second quarter results on a conference call and webcast today at 8:30 AM Eastern Time. A live broadcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations website at http://www.cmcsa.com and http://www.cmcsk.com . - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50846672 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:36:32 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Analysts: ATMs Highly Vulnerable to Fraud By BRIAN BERGSTEIN AP Technology Writer BOSTON (AP) -- By failing to scan security codes in the magnetic strips on ATM and debit cards, many banks are letting thieves get away with an increasingly common fraud at a cost of several billion dollars a year. A report Tuesday from Gartner Inc., a technology analyst firm, estimates that 3 million U.S. consumers were victims of ATM and debit-card fraud in the past year. The fraud most commonly begins when a criminal engages in "phishing" _ sending a legitimate-seeming e-mail with a link to a phony Web site that appears to belong to a consumer's bank, Gartner analyst Avivah Litan believes. The e-mail recipients are asked to give their account information, including PIN numbers. With that information "harvested," fraudsters can make their own cards for automated teller machines and withdraw huge sums. This should be easily preventable, because the magnetic strips on cards contain multiple tracks. One track has data such as the user's name and account number. A second track contains special security codes that card users don't know. That means the information can't be squeezed out of them in a phishing attack. Duplicating the codes would require inside knowledge of a bank's security procedures, Litan said. (The inclusion of security codes in records held by a credit and debit card processor, CardSystems Solutions Inc., made that company's massive data breach disclosed this spring especially dangerous.) Surprisingly, Litan said, perhaps half of U.S. financial institutions have not programmed their ATM systems to check the security codes. Con artists specifically seek out customers of banks that do not validate the second track on the strip, she said. Litan believes many banks simply didn't know about the vulnerability. Others may have once scanned the codes but stopped because using the codes requires that customers go to a bank and have an ATM card rewritten whenever they want to change their PINs. That was a costly step that many banks figured they could avoid in pre-phishing days when ATM fraud was rare. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50863070 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:39:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Time Warner Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 2005--Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) -- Company Reaches Agreement in Principle to Resolve Its Primary Securities Class Action Litigation and Reserves $3 Billion Related to All Pending Securities Litigation Matters -- Board of Directors Authorizes $5 Billion Stock Repurchase Program Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) today reported financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2005. The Company also announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to resolve its primary securities class action litigation and established reserves of $3 billion related to this and all other related securities litigation matters. In addition, Time Warner's Board of Directors has authorized a $5 billion stock repurchase program over the next two years. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50881109 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:47:08 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Hackers Demonstrate Their Skills in Vegas By GREG SANDOVAL AP Technology Writer LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Even the ATM machines were suspect at this year's Defcon conference, where hackers play intrusion games at the bleeding edge of computer security. With some of the world's best digital break-in artists pecking away at their laptops, sending e-mails or answering cell phones could also be risky. Defcon is a no-man's land where customary adversaries _ feds vs. digital mavericks _ are supposed to share ideas about making the Internet a safer place. But it's really a showcase for flexing hacker muscle. This year's hot topics included a demonstration of just how easy it may be to attack supposedly foolproof biometric safeguards, which determine a person's identity by scanning such things as thumb prints, irises and voice patterns. Banks, supermarkets and even some airports have begun to rely on such systems, but a security analyst who goes by the name Zamboni challenged hackers to bypass biometrics by attacking their backend systems networks. "Attack it like you would Microsoft or Linux," he advised. Radio frequency identification tags that send wireless signals and that are used to track a growing list of items including retail merchandise, animals and U.S. military shipments_ also came under scrutiny. A group of twentysomethings from Southern California climbed onto the hotel roof to show that RFID tags could be read from as far as 69 feet. That's important because the tags have been proposed for such things as U.S. passports, and critics have raised fears that kidnappers could use RFID readers to pick traveling U.S. citizens out of a crowd. RFID companies had said the signals didn't reach more than 20 feet, said John Hering, one of the founders of Flexilis, the company that conducted the experiment. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50877421 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 12:41:57 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: FCC Approves Sprint-Nextel merger USTelecom dailyLead August 4, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23601&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * FCC approves Sprint-Nextel merger BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Wireless networks are vulnerable, hackers say * Alcatel, Amdocs focus on IPTV * MCI launches wholesale VoIP service * 7-Eleven answers call for phone service * Alltel, Iowa Telecom report earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Broadband Investment and Consumer Choice Act -- What It Means to Your Business -- Friday, Aug. 5, 11 AM (ET) EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Comcast details digital simulcast plans REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Continental feuds with Boston airport over Wi-Fi * China to merge electronics companies Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23601&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: J.P. Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:13:44 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > My department at my employer uses plain 2500 style telephone sets > under a Centrex system. I kind of assumed they were still common > place, but I understand now that they're kind of unusual? I heard > caller-ID is very common on business phones, is that true? > [public replies, please] Unfortunately everyone wants one button access to features and such and displays with caller ID, length of call, etc. so you're seeing less and less of the 2500-style phones on office desks these days. One of the things I appreciated about the Executone IDS systems I used to maintain is that the "wave" desk phones had 2500-style keypads on them instead of the keypads found on the new business system phones (buttons wrong size, a 'mushy' feel to them, etc.). Nothing beats those old tried and true keypads. J.P. Wing ------------------------------ From: davidesan@gmail.com Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: 4 Aug 2005 08:14:12 -0700 And don't you just hate it when the voicemail system asks for your account code so they "can better process your call" and the very first thing that the human operator asks for is your account number? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, in the case of human operators, its not a bad thing that they ask first for your account number or other identifying feature. While you are on the line explaining your problem, the better trained agents can be scanning your account as you are speaking, and frequently have an intelligent and correct answer for you when you have finished stating your problem. Would you prefer that they listen politely to your problem, _then_ ask for your account number, go away, and come back in a minute or two with an answer? Even for automated systems, the several seconds required for voicemail to give its spiel is time the system can be spinning its disk drives and looking up your account if it knows your name and identity. PAT] ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 11:40:30 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > My department at my employer uses plain 2500 style telephone sets > under a Centrex system. I kind of assumed they were still common > place, but I understand now that they're kind of unusual? I heard > caller-ID is very common on business phones, is that true? Every office I have ever worked in has had a PBX system using some sort of proprietary keysets. Every office I have ever worked in since '95 has had keysets with an LCD display that (amomg other things) displays caller ID. Centrex is a ripoff IMO. Especially for offices where most of the calling is in-house. Why pay for a line for each station when say only 20% of your calls ever go outside the building? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Even in the case of Centrex it is very rare that telco provides an _actual wire pair to the outside_ for every phone thus equipped. Using Erlang or other formulas, they decide a ten or fifteen percent ratio of wire pairs to usage at any given time is sufficient. When calls come in from outside, something like ANI examines the number dialed, chooses an idle pair and rings the desired extension. On outgoing calls (even on centrex you still have to dial '9' first) the equipment looks at the outgoing line, uses its ID number to detirmine what caller ID to send to the called party, etc. If a centrex user ever dials '9' for an outside line and gets a fast busy response, it means one of two things: either the phone in question is not given outside dialing privileges _or_ the limited number of trunk lines is totally in use. And with centrex, your call (inside or outside the customer premises) is still taken to the telco central office for processing, even if the end result is the call is, following processing, sent right back inside your premises as a 'station to station call'. Remember that 'centrex' means that telco has your 'PBX' on its premises rather than in your office. Otherwise calls in or out are handled about the same way and with the same rules in place. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 01:20:43 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Caller ID _is_ very common on business > phone systems these days. For instance, when I call either Atmos > Energy (gas supplier) or Westar (electric utility) they answer with > voice mail of course, but after a couple minutes of chatter while they > tell me 'our menu has changed, listen to all options' then the voice > mail on both tells me "based on your caller ID, you are located at > (street number); if yes, press one, if no, press two", etc. And far > from using 'old fashioned' 2500 style sets, they sit in a room with > little keypads attached to computer terminals. They seem to emphasize > your address, since they need to know where to show up to work on the > wires or gas pipes, etc. PAT] I called one of the credit reporting services 800 numbers the other day. The robot that answered the call told me that it would provide information applicable to my area code. Not real smart as my primary Vonage number is in Washington, DC but I live in California. ;-) ------------------------------ From: harold@hallikainen.com Subject: Re: Looking For a Good International Conference Call Service Date: 4 Aug 2005 08:02:22 -0700 http://www.sipphone.com offers free conferencing for its users. On the sip network, you dial 1 747 222 1234 where 1234 is a random number you choose. Everyone who calls that number at that time is connected together. There are dial in numbers from PSTN at various points around the US, and perhaps the world, but it seems simplest to just hook a sip adapter between a phone and the internet, or to use a "soft-phone" (free ones listed on their home page). Harold FCC Rules updated daily at http://www.hallikainen.com ------------------------------ From: davidesan@gmail.com Subject: Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? Date: 4 Aug 2005 08:18:41 -0700 The TV show was called "GOOD Times". Among the various stars was a young Janet Jackson. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yeah, my error, sorry. It was set in one of the Chicago Housing Authority buildings on the south side of town. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 08:59:21 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > A New York Times columnist, Friedman, calls today (8/3/05) for better > wireless access in the United States. He says many foreign countries > have better systems than we do and they will have the competitive edge > on the US as a result. Well he to take a look at a map and consider the differences in geography and demographics. It's pretty easy to have good wireless coverage in densely-populated postage-stamp sized countries, especially when not encumbered by zoning ("you are NOT going to put that tower where I can see it!"). It is also advisable to consider geography. Japan is no slouch when it comes to wireless, yet there are numerous dead zones in big cities. Any honest coverage map of Japan will show that there is no coverage at all in the sparsely-populated mountainous interior of Japan; the coverage is in the big cities which are all on the coasts. I know from personal experience that you lose service as soon as you get a few kilometers from the urban core. I also know from personal experience that there are numerous dead zones in London. Now, if two relatively small island nations have problems, consider wireless coverage issues in a large continental nation, and you have the situation faced by Canada, the US, and Mexico. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Credit Reports, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken Over By Alltel Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 23:10:37 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Charles Cryderman wrote: > reporting company TRW. In it they talked about how many military > personnel would have credit issues due to deployment. It also stated > that all "Credit Reporting Companies" were required to provide, upon > written request, copies of your credit report (address was provided > for TRW). I then sat down and requested a copy to see if it > worked. About 6 weeks later I did receive a copy and saw that only the > credit I had requested was posted and that I was in good standing. I Maybe you got special consideration as a soldier. Perhaps enlisted men and women got a special deal because it wouldn't be easy for them to deal with credit issues overseas ... But as far as I know, the rest of us were not entitled to any free reports unless we were denied credit or employment (as I posted earlier) or if there was a state law specifying we were not to be charged. There have been some state laws on the books prior to this past year. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 10:47:39 -0400 From: Chris Farrar Subject: Re: Opinion Telegrams and Mailgrams TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in response: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does anyone remember when we used to > have _two_ mail deliveries each day as a routine thing, and when > postage cost only a few pennies at that? PAT] Pat, I wouldn't complain too much about the US Postal Service. Take a look at what the mail service is like in your neighbor to the north. Canada Post doesn't deliver on Saturdays. If you buy a home in a new subdivision, you will NEVER get mail delivery to your door. If you build a house on a vacant lot, in between 2 houses that have mail delivery, you still will NEVER have mail delivery. You will have to go to a "super-mailbox", essentially a post office box somewhere within a several block radius of your house. Chris ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #353 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Aug 5 15:12:51 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 292FF15211; Fri, 5 Aug 2005 15:12:51 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #354 Message-Id: <20050805191251.292FF15211@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 15:12:51 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 5 Aug 2005 15:12:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 354 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Yahoo Launches Web Audio Search Service (Reuters News Wire) Logan, Continental in Spat Over Free Wireless (Micheal Kunzelman) Microsoft Hires New Boss From Walmart (Reed Stevenson) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (J.P.) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (T. Sean Weintz) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (I am a Sock Puppet) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (Rich Greenberg) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (The Kaminsky Family) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (Tim@backhome) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (davidesan@gmail.com) Re: Looking For a Good International Conference Call Service (J Levine) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Yahoo Launches Web Audio Search Service Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 22:58:19 -0500 Web media company Yahoo Inc. on Thursday launched a free Web audio search service that helps users find, hear and buy everything from music downloads and podcasts to interviews and newscasts. Yahoo Audio Search, at http://audio.search.yahoo.com, is still in testing and gives users access to more than 50 million audio files as Yahoo beefs up its entertainment offerings. For example, a search for "Green Day" yields a list of the band's albums, song samples and links to download services, including Yahoo's own music service, Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes, Rhapsody from RealNetworks Inc. and Napster Inc. The service also taps independent publishers and the Web, helping users find such things as music videos, reviews and photographs of the artists. Yahoo and rivals such as Google Inc. and privately held Blinkx already have launched video search services as the Internet's role in entertainment grows and ad dollars follow. The company has integrated Yahoo Audio Search with its video search service and has invited people to submit videos and music through Media Really Simple Syndication, so it can be found by the new audio search engine. It also integrated tools from its comparison shopping search engine, which helps users find CD prices and make purchases from a variety of retailers. Companies such as GoFish and Blinkx already offer audio search. Yahoo acquired early audio search providers AltaVista and AllTheWeb through its purchase of Overture Services in October 2003. Shares of Yahoo were down 46 cents to $34.05 in afternoon trade on the Nasdaq. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Michael Kunzelman Subject: Logan, Continental in Free Wireless Spat Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 23:03:43 -0500 By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, Associated Press Writer Logan International Airport is trying to block Continental Airlines Inc. from providing free wireless Internet access to its frequent fliers -- a service for which the airport charges a daily $7.95 fee -- calling it a threat to safety and security. The Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan, claims Continental's Wi-Fi service interferes with other wireless devices. Continental rejects that claim and argues Massport has no legal authority to restrict its use of the technology. Massport ordered Continental to remove the Wi-Fi antenna from its Presidents Club lounge by July 9, prompting the Houston-based airline to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. An FCC spokesman said the complaint is the first of its kind involving Wi-Fi access at airports. The agency isn't expected to rule on the dispute before Aug. 29, its deadline for accepting public comments on Continental's complaint. A Massport spokesman declined to comment on Continental's complaint. All 27 of Continental's frequent-flier lounges at airports have offered free Wi-Fi service since last December. The airline's lounge at Logan has offered the wireless connection since June 2004, but a year passed before Logan notified Continental in writing that the Wi-Fi antenna violated the terms of its lease. Last month, a Massport attorney warned the airline that its antenna "presents an unacceptable potential risk" to Logan's safety and security systems, including its keycard access system and state police communications. Massport told the airline it could route its wireless signals over Logan's Wi-Fi signal, at a "very reasonable rate structure." In response, however, Continental said using Logan's Wi-Fi vendor could force the airline to start charging its customers for the service. Craig Mathias, founder of the Farpoint Group, a wireless consulting firm in Ashland, Mass., said Wi-Fi signals can interfere with each other, but not with other wireless devices. "It's hard to imagine how this is a security threat," Mathias said. "They clearly don't want the competition." Continental argues that restrictions on the installation and use of Wi-Fi antennas are prohibited under FCC regulations. "We believe that offering the free Wi-Fi service at Logan is consistent with FCC regulations and its prior rulings, and is permitted by the terms of our lease with Massport," Continental spokeswoman Julie King said Thursday. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For AP News Radio and general news headlines, please go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Reed Stevenson Subject: Microsoft Hires New COO From Walmart Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 23:05:21 -0500 By Reed Stevenson SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. appointed Kevin Turner, a top executive at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as its new Chief Operating Officer, the world's largest software maker said on Thursday. The appointment of Turner, 40, who will be in charge of Microsoft's global sales, marketing and service operations, is part of a wider reorganization of executive positions, the Redmond, Washington-based company said in a statement. Wal-Mart, in a separate announcement, said that Doug McMillon would replace Turner as head of its Sam's Club warehouse stores. Microsoft's COO job, considered the No. 3 position after Chairman Bill Gates and Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, has been vacant since 2002, when Rick Belluzzo left the position. "That number three job at Microsoft is a tough position to be in," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm in Kirkland, Washington. Belluzzo, a former Hewlett-Packard Co. executive, left Microsoft three years ago after being pushed out as part of a wider reorganization that made the company's major product groups more autonomous. Belluzzo also held the title of president, but Turner was not named president in Thursday's announcement. "Turner's experience as a proven leader of people in Wal-Mart's incredibly dynamic sales environment; his IT background as CIO of a world-class company and his familiarity with our products and technologies as a Microsoft customer for more than a decade uniquely qualify him to serve as our COO," Ballmer, according to companywide e-mail obtained by Reuters. Turner will effectively replace Kevin Johnson, Microsoft's group vice president in charge of sales and marketing, who will be moving into a new executive role at Microsoft. Ballmer said in his e-mail that Johnson's new role would be announced with a month. Rosoff, who has been tracking Microsoft's human resources for year, said that these changes could be part of a wider reorganization at the top. "There might be an executive departure that we haven't heard of yet," Rosoff said. At Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, Turner was considered a rising star and even a possible successor to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott. He oversaw a turnaround at Sam's Club, which had been losing ground to larger rival Costco Wholesale Corp. Under his tenure, Sam's Club aggressively cut prices to win over coveted small-business customers, heaping pressure on Costco's profits. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: J.P. Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 09:13:44 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > My department at my employer uses plain 2500 style telephone sets > under a Centrex system. I kind of assumed they were still common > place, but I understand now that they're kind of unusual? I heard > caller-ID is very common on business phones, is that true? Unfortunately everyone wants one button access to features and such and displays with caller ID, length of call, etc. so you're seeing less and less of the 2500-style phones on office desks these days. One of the things I appreciated about the Executone IDS systems I used to maintain is that the "wave" desk phones had 2500-style keypads on them instead of the keypads found on the new business system phones (buttons wrong size, a 'mushy' feel to them, etc.). Nothing beats those old tried and true keypads. J.P. Wing ------------------------------ From: T. Sean Weintz Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 11:40:30 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > My department at my employer uses plain 2500 style telephone sets > under a Centrex system. I kind of assumed they were still common > place, but I understand now that they're kind of unusual? I heard > caller-ID is very common on business phones, is that true? > [public replies, please] Every office I have ever worked in has had a PBX system using some sort of proprietary keysets. Every office I have ever worked in since '95 has had keysets with an LCD display that (amomg other things) displays caller ID. Centrex is a ripoff IMO. Especially for offices where most of the calling is in-house. Why pay for a line for each station when say only 20% of your calls ever go outside the building? ------------------------------ From: I am a Sock Puppet Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 10:04:58 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com J.P. wrote: > One of the things I appreciated about the Executone IDS systems I used > to maintain is that the "wave" desk phones had 2500-style keypads on > them instead of the keypads found on the new business system phones > (buttons wrong size, a 'mushy' feel to them, etc.). Nothing beats > those old tried and true keypads. > J.P. Wing I wonder if they are even available anymore since Intertel bought them out. I know they do make cards that let you use them on your intertel system if you already own them, but I don't know if you can buy them new anymore. T. Sean Weintz wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Even in the case of Centrex it is very > rare that telco provides an _actual wire pair to the outside_ for > every phone thus equipped. I think you misunderstood my use of the word "outside". By "outside", I meant "leaving the cusomers property" - IE: going back to the CO, where the centrex switch is. I did not mean a connection to the PTSN for each keyset. And of course they charge for each centrex line going back to the CO. Out here SBC has pitched us about 35 a month for centrex 1100, about 15 a month for centrex 3100. They can't seem to get it thru their brains that $0 a month for PBX connections that we oiwn outright is a better deal. > Remember that 'centrex' means that telco has your 'PBX' on its > premises rather than in your office. Otherwise calls in or out are > handled about the same way and with the same rules in place. PAT] EXACTLY. I knew that -- I think my choice of the word "outside" was a mistake. To me, the lines going to the centrex switch at the CO are "outside lines" - they leave the building, and you pay every month for them. Which is why it is such a bad deal for places such as us, where capital expenditure money is much easier to come up with than operating cash. DO NOT REPLY TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE HEADERS OF THIS POST. IT IS A SPAM TRAP ADDRESS. ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 22:59:32 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Organized? Me? In article , wrote: > And don't you just hate it when the voicemail system asks for your > account code so they "can better process your call" and the very first > thing that the human operator asks for is your account number? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, in the case of human [...] > or two with an answer? Even for automated systems, the several > seconds required for voicemail to give its spiel is time the system > can be spinning its disk drives and looking up your account if it > knows your name and identity. PAT] Pat, you are correct, but it still doesn't answer the original question, why does the human operator STILL have to ask for your account number? Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Maybe because the type of computer system the company uses (or the voicemail, etc) does not present the account number. Or maybe the first step (where you punch it in on the phone as part of voicemail merely validates that you do have an account but it does not get passed 'through the system' to the next person you deal with? PAT] ------------------------------ From: The Kaminsky Family Reply-To: kaminsky@kaminsky.org Organization: None Whatsoever Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 08:37:45 GMT davidesan@gmail.com wrote: > And don't you just hate it when the voicemail system asks for your > account code so they "can better process your call" and the very first > thing that the human operator asks for is your account number? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, in the case of human > operators, its not a bad thing that they ask first for your account > number or other identifying feature. While you are on the line > explaining your problem, the better trained agents can be scanning > your account as you are speaking, and frequently have an intelligent > and correct answer for you when you have finished stating your > problem. Would you prefer that they listen politely to your problem, > _then_ ask for your account number, go away, and come back in a minute > or two with an answer? Even for automated systems, the several > seconds required for voicemail to give its spiel is time the system > can be spinning its disk drives and looking up your account if it > knows your name and identity. PAT] I think you may have missed the point. Once you have given your account code to the automated system, that account number should be directly available on the human agent's screen when the agent gets your call. It's easy enough for a decent automated system to handle this -- but it is surprising to me that so many automated systems seem to have been assembled by folks who just don't get it (or perhaps by folks who really don't like their employer ...). It is certainly not easy to design an excellent user interface for a customer -- especially if you are not willing to spend what it takes to get a good speech recogition engine (and to train it for your application -- getting the grammar rules right is an art, but there are systems available in the market now whch do an excellent job). But designing an excellent user interface for your human agents should be a whole lot easier -- and that interface should start by gathering everything the customer has entered so far on this call. Take care. Mark ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 06:00:19 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications davidesan@gmail.com wrote: > And don't you just hate it when the voicemail system asks for your > account code so they "can better process your call" and the very first > thing that the human operator asks for is your account number? > > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, in the case of human > operators, its not a bad thing that they ask first for your account > number or other identifying feature. While you are on the line > explaining your problem, the better trained agents can be scanning > your account as you are speaking, and frequently have an intelligent > and correct answer for you when you have finished stating your > problem. Would you prefer that they listen politely to your problem, > _then_ ask for your account number, go away, and come back in a minute > or two with an answer? Even for automated systems, the several > seconds required for voicemail to give its spiel is time the system > can be spinning its disk drives and looking up your account if it > knows your name and identity. PAT] I would prefer that the system deliver my account number to the agent based on the entry I made during the automated routine at the start of the call. It's similar to being handed off (often abruptly) from one agent to another and the receiving agent doesn't have a clue about the issue you spent five minutes trying to explain to the first agent. Further, if they are located in India just forget anything beyond a simple request. ------------------------------ From: davidesan@gmail.com Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: 5 Aug 2005 07:32:41 -0700 I don't mind that the operator has my information in front of her/him. What I do mind is giving my information TWICE! When I key it into the pad, and they verify that I really am a subscriber, that info should be passed onto the operator, who should not have to ask me for the information again. The other operator function that infuriates me is the request for a Social Security Number. After my refusal to give it to them they tend to get really huffy. They have a form to fill in, after all. ------------------------------ Date: 5 Aug 2005 00:05:06 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Looking For a Good International Conference Call Service Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA Hmmn. How could I have made the part about why Internet based conferences wouldn't work clearer? Some of these people are in Africa, their Internet access barely exists, and their phone connections aren't a whole lot better. The only way to get them on the call is to call out to them, with a persistent operator who can figure out how to retry around "all circuits busy" and the like. > http://www.sipphone.com offers free conferencing for its users. On the > sip network, you dial 1 747 222 1234 where 1234 is a random number you > choose. Everyone who calls that number at that time is connected > together. There are dial in numbers from PSTN at various points around > the US, and perhaps the world, but it seems simplest to just hook a > sip adapter between a phone and the internet, or to use a "soft-phone" > (free ones listed on their home page). ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #354 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Aug 5 19:30:00 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9FEB915123; Fri, 5 Aug 2005 19:29:59 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #355 Message-Id: <20050805232959.9FEB915123@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 19:29:59 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, INFO_TLD,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 5 Aug 2005 19:30:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 355 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update #491, August 5, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement Group) ISP for Liberty,KS (Iam Enoch) Telephoning Russian Villages (cherniymonakh@hotmail.com) Inter-Tel Phones Through Cable/DSL? (Beholder) Comcast Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results (Monty Solomon) Time Warner Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results (Monty Solomon) Austin Gaffe Stirs Fantasy (Neal McLain) Death Sentence For Independent ISPs (jmeissen) FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marraige (Joseph) Stehekin Residents Say Hold the Phone - Forever (Joseph) Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access (Mark Crispin) Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access (Lisa Hancock) Re: Opinion Telegrams and Mailgrams (NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info) Re: Personal Opinion Telegram and Mailgram - Discontinuance? (R. Bonomi) Re: Calling All Luddites (Mark Crispin) Re: Looking For Good International Conference Call Service (Hallikainen) Re: Credit Reports, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken Over By Alltel (Sobol) Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? (Justa Lurker) Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? (BV124@aol.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 10:55:23 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #491, August 5, 2005 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 491: August 5, 2005 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/ ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** BCE Revenues Up 4% ** Telus Revenues Rise 8.2% ** RIM Gets Mixed News from U.S. Court ** Union Says Telus May Be Ready to Talk ** Ottawa Seeks Comment on Power-Line Broadband ** Bell Buys Montreal Cableco Assets ** Nortel Postpones Quarterly Results ** Industry Canada Supports Rural Digital Roaming ** FCC Creates VoIP E911 Task Force ** Dobbin Moves to Toronto Hydro Telecom ** Quick Approval for Telus Bundle ** CRTC Limits Cost of Bell Service Improvement ** Wireless Age Buys Networking Company ============================================================ BCE REVENUES UP 4%: BCE's second quarter revenues of $5.0 billion were up 4.2% from a year ago. Net income rose 2% to $563 million. Wireless sales rose 10.5% to $771 million, making up 15% of total revenues. Changes in other product-line sales: Long distance down 9.4%; local/access down 2.4%; data up 11%. ** Growth in subscriber base: wireless 146,000; video 63,000; high- speed Internet 92,000. ** Telesat led BCE subsidiaries with a revenue gain of 61%, to $137 million, due in large part to income from the new Anik F2 satellite. ** BCE declared it had reached its goal of "significantly more competitive labour agreements." TELUS REVENUES RISE 8.2%: Second quarter revenues at Telus rose 8.2% over the same quarter last year, to $2.02 billion. Net income increased 10% to $190 million. Wireless sales increased 19% to $802 million, making up 40% of total Telus revenue. Changes in revenue in other categories: long distance no change; local down 0.2%; data up 9.9%. ** Growth in subscriber base: wireless 131,100; high-speed Internet 17,100. ** Regarding the current labour conflict, Telus said that 70% of its total work force continues to work, including all employees east of Alberta. RIM GETS MIXED NEWS FROM U.S. COURT: A U.S. appeals court has delayed implementation of a lower court order to halt sales of BlackBerry devices in the U.S. However, the same ruling confirmed most of the earlier ruling against RIM on the substance of its patent dispute with NTP Inc. UNION SAYS TELUS MAY BE READY TO TALK: The Telecommunications Workers Union says it has established "channels of communication with [Telus] upper levels" and expects contract negotiations to resume in two to four weeks. (See Telecom Update #490) OTTAWA SEEKS COMMENT ON POWER-LINE BROADBAND: Industry Canada is asking for public and industry comment on the deployment and regulation of systems that deliver high-speed Internet and broadband services over power lines. A consultation paper is now available online; the deadline for comments is November 28. http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/vwapj/bpl-e.pdf/$FILE/bpl-e.pdf BELL BUYS MONTREAL CABLECO ASSETS: Bell Canada has bought the residential assets of Cable VDN, a Gaz Metropolitain subsidiary that provides service to 13,500 TV and 3,000 Internet subscribers in Montreal apartment buildings. NORTEL POSTPONES QUARTERLY RESULTS: On the day before it was to announce second quarter results, Nortel Networks postponed the release five days to August 8, to align with the date of U.S. regulatory filings. INDUSTRY CANADA SUPPORTS RURAL DIGITAL ROAMING: Under current policy, wireless carriers are required to provide only analog roaming service to other carriers; this will disadvantage small rural carriers as analog is phased out. Industry Canada has announced a new policy that "encourages" national wireless carriers to voluntarily provide digital roaming to non-competing rural wireless carriers. The policy includes no legal obligation, and no penalty for not complying. http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/en/sf06317e.html FCC CREATES VOIP E911 TASK FORCE: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has created a joint federal-state task force "to facilitate the timely and effective enforcement of the Commission's VoIP E911 rules." In May the FCC ordered providers of telephone service over the Internet to provide Enhanced E911 to all customers by the beginning of November. (See Telecom Update #482) http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-260150A1.pdf DOBBIN MOVES TO TORONTO HYDRO TELECOM: Telecom Ottawa COO Dave Dobbin is leaving the utility telco to become President of Toronto Hydro Telecom, effective August 15. Telecom Ottawa's owner, Hydro Ottawa, has congratulated Dobbin on the move and will work with him to "ensure an orderly transition." QUICK APPROVAL FOR TELUS BUNDLE: The CRTC took only nine business days to issue Telecom Order 2005-285, which approves a new Telus residential bundle that offers discounts up to 30% to customers who subscribe to Telus residential service and six calling features. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Orders/2005/o2005-285.htm CRTC LIMITS COST OF BELL SERVICE IMPROVEMENT: Six years ago, CRTC Telecom Decision 99-16, which dealt with service in high-cost areas, ordered the incumbent telcos to upgrade all localities to a newly defined basic service that included touch-tone, access to 911, 411, and voice relay, and access to long distance. Telecom Decision 2005-43, released this week, limits that requirement to localities where the capital cost would not exceed $62,500 for each customer who opts to obtain the upgrade. ** Bell says that 69 localities will be excluded from service improvement programs under the new rule: in those locations only 5% of customers, on average, want the upgrades. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/1999/DT99-16.htm www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-43.htm WIRELESS AGE BUYS NETWORKING COMPANY: Mississauga-based Wireless Age Communications, a cellular retailer and phone card distributor, has bought Wireless Works, which provides broadband wireless and Land Mobile Radio services in the Niagara region. (See Telecom Update #447) ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== 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 late Friday afternoon each 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 2005 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. 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. ============================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 08:32:26 PDT From: Iam Enoch Subject: ISP for Liberty,KS Hello, I am trying to find a way to get internet in Liberty, KS without using Totah. They will not let any other ISP get a number in their exchange. Do you have any ideas? Thank you for any help you can give. Will [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You did not say _where_ you live in Liberty; the Totah Telephone business office rep said Totah was 'mostly entirely' all of Liberty (zip 67351) with 620-485 phones but a 'tiny edge' was served by Southwestern Bell out of the Independence Central Office 620-331. She offered me DSL 'for about $30 per month' if you are served by Totah as you seemed to imply. I checked with our two cable companies in this area: Cable One out of Independence and Cox out of Coffeyville. Mike Flood over at Cable One here told me they did not reach all the way to Liberty. I also chatted with the Cox Cable tech support guy and asked him about it. He said at first that '67351 zip code was shown on his map as an 'unserviceable area' but he agreed that 'Cox takes in so much of Montgomery County (other than Cable One communities) that he could not be sure.' He had me hold while he called the 'head end' guys in Coffeyville and asked them specifically about the fiber in the south end of the county; did it reach into Liberty or not? They said it did not, presently. So it would appear that for _high speed broadband service_ you are stuck with Totah Telephone Company DSL service if that is what you have now. Cable One also runs into many 'small' towns around here: Cherryvale, Parsons, etc but not Liberty which is really a very tiny, very rural area. ): By the way, Totah brokers DSL from Southwestern Bell as I understand it, but under their own brand name. If you are willing to use dialup service (much slower) you can get an account with TerraWorld (which has _no_ 'local' numbers in Liberty). You'd have to pay for a toll call to Independence or Cherryvale or Coffeyville, whichever was cheapest for you, or TerraWorld told me you could get an account with them and use their 800 number by paying extra. But still it would just be dialup speed. Sorry I could not find any better alternative for you; Cox Cable at least told me they expected to get out that way 'sometime in a year or so'; Cable One could not even give me that little bit of encouragement. PAT] ------------------------------ From: cherniymonakh@hotmail.com Subject: Telephoning Russian Villages Date: 5 Aug 2005 07:28:24 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, perhaps you can help: My family are now at a cottage in a village outside Moscow, where they are staying for weeks due to the hot weather. The telephone number there contains less than the usual number of digits (6 instead of seven). For some reasons calls cannot get there from North America, although they can call here. The problem seems to be with the US, as I don't even get a Russian dial tone, but a North American one followed by an English-language message saying that there is no such number and to try again. Is there any trick to dialing such numbers and getting through? There is freakish discrepency between the cost of calling from there (a couple of dollars per minute) versus from here (cents per minute with calling card), so I would prefer to be the one doing the calling. Any help would be appreciated. Regards, BM [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What is the _name_ of the village? Let's begin by examining what _you_ show is the correct dialing string. Often times, I have found that you have 'country code' then 'city code' (like a USA area code) then the local number. Many times, the 'city code' part has an extra digit or two, to make up for 'less than seven' digits in the local number part. Tell us the correct name of the village and what _you_ think is the dialing string. Are you actually in Russia trying to make the call, or in the USA trying to make an international call? Some of our experts here will be able to figure it out, I am sure. If in the USA trying to call do not be alarmed if an intercept recording comes back in _English_ instead of in Russian. Telco has some trick where if they (telco) knows that an intercept message is on the way, they yank the connection and return with an 'American' recording instead often times. Your turn, tell us more specifics please. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Beholder Subject: Inter-Tel Phones through Cable/DSL? Date: 5 Aug 2005 07:28:15 -0700 Hi everyone, I am new to our office (been here about 3 months) and have been quickly learning all about the Company's Inter-Tel phone system that they installed in Nov 04'. Our company has a converged system so our main office (which houses the system) uses RJ11 wire to the 50+ phones that are in this office. We also have 3 branch offices that use the IP version of the same phone we have in our main office (Model 8520). We have a MPLS VPN that connects our Headquarters to each remote office, so each branch office has a T1 line running between them and our HQ. As the system is set up now we can 3-digit dial any extension regardless of where it is in the network. I am trying to persue the possibility of using a normal cable or DSL connection to have our phones connect to our system. I could have a phone at my house with my cable connection, and have my work extention ring at my house. ALso if salespeople traveled they could plug into a hotel's internet connection and have access to voicemail and their extention. Is this possible? We are also looking at the possibility of having cable connections supplied to each branch office which would be a better value as the cable connections provide about 4x as much speed for 1/4 the price of teh VPN lines. If anyone has done this I would greatly appreciate some help. Thanks, and I appoligize for the lenghtly post. - Andrew ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:32:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Comcast Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results Revenue Increased 10.5% to $5.6 Billion Operating Income Increased 23.2% to $1.0 Billion Operating Cash Flow Increased 13.2% to $2.2 Billion 20th Consecutive Quarter of Double-Digit Growth Growth in New Services Continues Added 1.1 Million Revenue Generating Units During the First Half of 2005 Including 507,000 During the Second Quarter PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) today reported results for the quarter ended June 30, 2005. Comcast will discuss second quarter results on a conference call and webcast today at 8:30 AM Eastern Time. A live broadcast of the conference call will be available on the investor relations website at http://www.cmcsa.com and http://www.cmcsk.com . - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50846672 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:39:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Time Warner Inc. Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 2005--Time Warner Inc. -- Company Reaches Agreement in Principle to Resolve Its Primary Securities Class Action Litigation and Reserves $3 Billion Related to All Pending Securities Litigation Matters -- Board of Directors Authorizes $5 Billion Stock Repurchase Program Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) today reported financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2005. The Company also announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to resolve its primary securities class action litigation and established reserves of $3 billion related to this and all other related securities litigation matters. In addition, Time Warner's Board of Directors has authorized a $5 billion stock repurchase program over the next two years. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50881109 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 07:24:57 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Austin Gaffe Stirs Fantasy by Rick Casey Houston Chronicle It is said in Washington that a gaffe is when someone slips up and tells the truth. Austin is becoming more like Washington. Time Warner Regional President Ron McMillan of Houston made a gaffe in a note he wrote in response to a fundraising letter from state Rep. Corbin Van Arsdale, R-Houston. Now McMillan has me fantasizing that he would expand on his truthful gaffe. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/metropolitan/3297313 ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Death Sentence for Independent ISPs? Date: 5 Aug 2005 21:47:16 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com The FCC just signed a death sentence for local independent ISP's. http://tinyurl.com/dzhzg WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Verizon Communications (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and other U.S. local telephone companies will be freed from numerous regulations on their high-speed Internet services, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission decided on Friday. The agency unanimously agreed to treat the service, known as digital subscriber line (DSL), as an "information service," which insulates it from many traditional telephone rules, such as requirements to lease network access to competitors. ....... I fail to see how enabling a monopoly reduces prices and improves service. :-/ John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:57:54 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com By Arshad Mohammed and Yuki Noguchi The Washington Post WASHINGTON -- The merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications won approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department yesterday, clearing the way for a combined company with more than 35 million mobile-phone subscribers. The companies said they expect the $35 billion merger to close within two weeks and joint operations to begin within two months, meaning consumers may see joint advertising on television and new signs in stores by October. The combined Sprint Nextel will be the nation's third-largest mobile company and will have more ammunition to compete against its much bigger rivals, Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless, and to forge potentially lucrative partnerships with cable companies. The company will continue to market to Sprint's customer base and to Nextel's loyal business clients, who are devoted to its "push to talk" walkie-talkie-like feature. For now, the companies will still operate two different network technologies, so that customers will not have to switch their phones. They hope to develop a new version of Nextel's push-to-talk service that will operate over Sprint's network, allowing current Nextel customers to use the feature with Sprint customers. http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=sprintnextel04&date=20050804&query=fcc+gives+blessing+to+sprint%2C+nextel+marriage http://tinyurl.com/79trq ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Stehekin Residents Say Hold the Phone - Forever Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 16:47:53 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com By Ralph Thomas Seattle Times Olympia bureau Judy Clark yells out to greet a neighbor in Stehekin. At left is the community's only public phone. Clark is against expanding phone service, saying it will change too many things here, including face-to-face contact with people in this remote area. Phil Garfoot, who turns 68 Wednesday, shoes a horse in Stehekin. Garfoot doesn't want phone service coming to the remote community and he isn't alone. STEHEKIN, Chelan County -- Ana Maria Spagna has to think hard about how long it's been since she talked on a telephone. Two months, she figures, maybe longer. It's not that Spagna is anti-social or suffering from some weird phone phobia. It's just that she, like nearly everyone else here in this remote mountain village, doesn't have a phone. And she'd like to keep it that way. More than a century after telephones came to towns like Seattle, a small company called WeavTel is pushing to connect Stehekin (pronounced sta-HEE-kin) to the outside world. But instead of embracing the idea, many of the town's 100 or so year-round residents are fighting hard to keep WeavTel and the telephones out. "Why can't we have one place in this world where there aren't any phones?" said Spagna. Spagna and many of her neighbors have numerous arguments against bringing phones to Stehekin. They say it will damage the town's rustic but neighborly nature and ruin its reputation as a place where tourists can truly escape their hectic city lives. Some lifelong residents, descendants of Stehekin's first white settlers, fear the phone system would further diminish the town's already eroding spirit of self-reliance. They fume over a federally mandated subsidy program that would enable WeavTel to make money even if many of the residents never hook up. http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=stehekin04m&date=20050804&query=stehekin+residents+say+hold+the+phone http://tinyurl.com/a8466 ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 08:59:21 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > A New York Times columnist, Friedman, calls today (8/3/05) for > better wireless access in the United States. He says many foreign > countries have better systems than we do and they will have the > competitive edge on the US as a result. Tell him to take a look at a map and consider the differences in geography and demographics. It's pretty easy to have good wireless coverage in densely-populated postage-stamp sized countries, especially when not encumbered by zoning ("you are NOT going to put that tower where I can see it!"). It is also advisable to consider geography. Japan is no slouch when it comes to wireless, yet there are numerous dead zones in big cities. Any honest coverage map of Japan will show that there is no coverage at all in the sparsely-populated mountainous interior of Japan; the coverage is in the big cities which are all on the coasts. I know from personal experience that you lose service as soon as you get a few kilometers from the urban core. I also know from personal experience that there are numerous dead zones in London. Now, if two relatively small island nations have problems, consider wireless coverage issues in a large continental nation, and you have the situation faced by Canada, the US, and Mexico. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access Date: 5 Aug 2005 09:09:26 -0700 Mark Crispin wrote: > Well he to take a look at a map and consider the differences in > geography and demographics. It's pretty easy to have good wireless > coverage in densely-populated postage-stamp sized countries, > especially when not encumbered by zoning ("you are NOT going to put > that tower where I can see it!"). That's an excellent point. Many articles complain about the United States compared to other countries. Certainly in some cases the complaints are valid. However, we must be sure we're making an apples-to-apples comparison and understand all the business-environment differences. What seems particularly strange is that in the days the Bell System the U.S. consistently was far ahead of other countries with telephone service. I wonder if perhaps the lack of landline service options fueled growth of cell phones in other countries. That is, in other places the cell phone is the only phone they have because a traditional phone line was either unavailable or too expensive. In one sense developing an all-new cellular system is easier than land lines since no expensive street house-to-house cabling is required. Central office electronics are relatively cheap now. ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info Subject: Re: Opinion Telegrams and Mailgrams Date: 5 Aug 2005 05:01:03 -0700 Chris Farrar wrote: > Pat, I wouldn't complain too much about the US Postal Service. Take a > look at what the mail service is like in your neighbor to the north. > Canada Post doesn't deliver on Saturdays. And I hear that they charge sales tax on stamps. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Personal Opinion Telegram and Mailgram - Discontinuance? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 01:12:27 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does anyone remember when we used to > have _two_ mail deliveries each day as a routine thing, and when > postage cost only a few pennies at that? PAT] "The cost of postage really _hasn't_ gone up all that much in the last 75 years. It's *still* about 3 cents a day." Seriously, when you factor out inflation, the cost of mailing a letter has not increased all that much over the years. ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Calling All Luddites Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 17:39:28 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Thu, 4 Aug 2005, Thomas L. Friedman wrote: > I began thinking about this after watching the Japanese use > cellphones and laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet > trains and subways deep underground. Yes; in select areas, cellphones work in Japanese subways and on the shinkansen. The key is the phrase "select areas". I have a domestic Japanese cell phone. I see the infamous "OUT" (which is how many Japanese phones indicate "no service") appear regularly while on the subway, and while on the shinkansen. Actually, you're not supposed to be talking on the phone at all on trains in Japan. In Japan, you're supposed to switch the phone into "manner mode", which silences the ringer and speaker and directs all incoming calls to voice mail. The heavy usage of cell phones on Japanese trains that you see are people playing games (muted!) or exchanging email messages (which only needs intermittant connectivity). It was quite jarring to me back in the US to encounter people engaged in loud and animated cell phone conversations on public transportation (not to mention unmuted Game Boys). > But the last straw was when I couldn't get cellphone service while > visiting I.B.M.'s headquarters in Armonk, N.Y. How about not being able to get cellphone service at a research lab at NTT? By the way, Japan has about as many incompatible cell phone systems as the US: PDC (TDMA-based 2G unique to Japan), cdmaOne (2G), W-CDMA (3G), CDMA2000 1x (3G), and PHS (dual low-power public wireless/cordless phone in Japan and a few other Asian countries). There's no GSM in Japan. There is limited international roaming with 3G CMDA (W-CDMA, CMDA2000 1x), but not (as far as I can tell) with any North American carriers. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 19:50:46 PDT Subject: Re: Looking For a Good International Conference Call Service From: Harold Hallikainen Guess I missed the part about Internet conferencing not working. Sorry about that. Harold ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Credit Reports, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken Over By Alltel Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 23:10:37 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Charles Cryderman wrote: > reporting company TRW. In it they talked about how many military > personnel would have credit issues due to deployment. It also stated > that all "Credit Reporting Companies" were required to provide, upon > written request, copies of your credit report (address was provided > for TRW). I then sat down and requested a copy to see if it > worked. About 6 weeks later I did receive a copy and saw that only the > credit I had requested was posted and that I was in good standing. I Maybe you got special consideration as a soldier. Perhaps enlisted men and women got a special deal because it wouldn't be easy for them to deal with credit issues overseas ... But as far as I know, the rest of us were not entitled to any free reports unless we were denied credit or employment (as I posted earlier) or if there was a state law specifying we were not to be charged. There have been some state laws on the books prior to this past year. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: Justa Lurker Subject: Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 21:52:01 GMT > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In Chicago, in addition to the CTA or > Chicago Transit Authority (thus situated), there is also the CHA (or > Chicago Housing Authorty) which is a _true_ atrocity if there ever was > one. CHA has been in 'federal receivership' now for a few years due > to the unbelievably awful living conditions in the 'homes' and the > amount of crime on its property. Originally very nice _but plain_ living > accomodations, the CHA was started in 1941 and its first commissioner > was a woman who was a protege of Jane Addams of Hull House fame. CHA > was intended to be _temporary, transitional_ housing for needy people; > then after the second war ended, the idea was to provide _temporary, > transitional_ housing for military veterans returnin from military > duty. Since about 1960 or so, these high-rise (fifteen or twenty story > buildings; a cluster of a dozen or so in each location) have been > almost exclusively for black people; Exactly how has this racial exclusivity been enforced ? > many of whom of course "of course" ???? Do explain further, please. > have extensive criminal histories and their families; quite often > the only person in the 'home' (all seven or eight thousand of them > in an aggregate total) is the Mother. Nearly every one of them has > one or more sons or fathers currently in prison or recently > released. The little kids run around wild and rather delinquent as > one would expect. All of which is somehow the fault of the CHA ? You've lost me here. > The television series of the 1970's, _Happy Times_ (written by Norman > Lear) is now in endless re-runs on TV-Land . "Good Times". I remember watching it as a lad, along with "All in the Family" and other Lear shows. :-) > The former commissioner of the mess, a man named Charles Swibel, a > rich, white older man How is his financial status, race, and age relevant ? Why did you mention them ? Aren't you a white older man too (so that can't be the problem) ? Maybe your real problem is that he is rich and you are not. Or are you implying that he & the CHA oppressed black people on behalf of rich white people. Say what you mean ! Don't keep us guessing. > from the northern suburbs had some problems of his own in keeping > the CHA money accounts in order, barely escaped going to prison > himself, but did get CHA tossed into federal recivership (a sort of > bankruptcy chapter used for governments) when the feds 'evicted' him > from office. Not all that unusual, or unique to Chicago or even Illinois, unfortunately. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Racial exclusivity in Chicago means that when black people move into a neighborhood, the white people generally move out. Blame it on whomever you wish; that is a fact of life in Chicago (another reason, among several, why I was happy to get away from Chicago). I like Independence, because it is an integrated, inclusive community. There are many 'integrated' couples and families here. Blacks and whites are not at each other's throats as happens so often in a place like Chicago. Gay and straight people are not always hassling each other here either. We are simply too 'laid back' to bother with that sort of thing. There was a discussion here in town once of having a 'gay pride' parade. Some gay people said 'why should we do anything like that; who needs such a garish display?' I did not completely agree with that assessment (having lived so long in Chicago) but I can see where the local guys were coming from. Our public schools here are totally integrated; in Chicago the public schools are almost entirely black (by default, since the white people send their kids to private schools often times.) Here the white people do not run and hide when blacks are around. The 'racial exclusivity' of the CHA 'housing projects' came about by this default; blacks moved in, whites moved out. It was not entirely the CHA's 'fault' except that as the conditions of the housing got worse and worse over the years, many less ecomically privileged blacks found it was all they could afford, and the white people figured out somewhere else to live. Yes, I am a white man, and no I am not rich; even when I lived around Chicago I could not afford to live in an enclave like Wilmette or Glencoe or Winnetka. Many of CHA's problems came from Charles Swibel and his immediate sucessors, men who were demonstrated thieves, men who ripped off the housing authority for most of its money, it was nothing to do with 'rich oppressing poor' or 'white oppressing black'. I mentioned those items about his race, wealth and living accomoda- tions to show the difference between the person who ran the system versus those who lived and still live under the system. In recent years, some thought has been given to having a board of directors of CHA who are _actually residents_ in large part of the housing project. Just like the Chicago Police Department; isn't it sad there has to be a law requiring officers to live in the city; in other words they have to live where they shit and the other way around. For many years there was no such law; cops tended to live where they wanted, usually the white cops lived around other white guys (much nicer white suburbs) and the black cops lived in at least the better class black neighborhoods in the suburbs. Ditto with school teachers in Chicago. You want to work here, then _live_ here as well. City of Chicago had to force that rule, even with the unions fighting them. We just do not have to do that sort of thing here; people in town by and large are proud to be part of Independence. Once on a local area BBS in Chicago, I got into a discussion with a guy who said "prostitution and 'drug use' should be legal in a 'red light district'. " I asked him where would you put the 'red light district'? He said "oh I guess we would locate it somewhere in _Chicago_." I asked him why not locate it in _Lake Forest where you live_ or maybe in _Winnetka?_ Needless to say he was highly indignant at my suggestion. Oh, by the way, even our local 'housing project' here in town; it is called 'Garden Walk Apartments' on North 10th Street near the high school (rents subsidized by City of Independence and State of Kansas) does not come close to the hassles that were so prevalent with the CHA. And our housing 'project' is truely integrated, not just all black people who cannot manage to do any better. PAT] ------------------------------ From: BV124@aol.com Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 22:28:10 EDT Subject: Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? You wrote: > The TV show was called "GOOD Times". Among the various stars was a > young Janet Jackson. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yeah, my error, sorry. It was set in > one of the Chicago Housing Authority buildings on the south side of > town. PAT] I believe they were in the Cabrini Green Homes, which is > on the near north side. At least the lead-in film was of Cabrini > and the near north side. I believe they were in the Cabrini Green Homes, which is on the near north side. At least the lead-in film was of Cabrini and the near north side. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My second mistake in recent years; the (Catholic nun) Mother Frances Cabrini 'Homes' at Division Street and Halstead Street (where the CTA bus drivers always warn their passengers 'duck down in your seats until we get to Clark Street') -- in order, I guess, to avoid being hit by a random bullet -- is right next to the group of buildings named for Edgar Green, a long-ago commissioner of CHA. It is one of the near north side branches of the 'homes' offered by CHA to black people. 'Cabrini', as 'Cabrini-Green' is known in street parlance, is or was one of the worst. The couple thousand people who live in the 'Cabrini-Green' highrises are not as fortunate as the family in 'Happy Times'. I think when Lear made that pilot, CHA required a lot of consideration (read that as 'loot') to let him make the series and they (CHA) insisted on decorating and fixing up one apartment where the actors would live which was nicer than the usual accomodations there. Also, CHA insisted on giving imprimatuer to Lear's work before they would okay the series being made. CHA once was asked why they did not have _their_ administrative offices in one of their own highrises rather than on State and Madison Streets downtown where it is located. They had no answer for that, or maybe were too embarassed or ashamed to say why. Once of our mayors (during the interim when Daley was out of office) Jane Byrne tried to score some political points by supposedly moving out of her near- north elegant highrise and living for a month in Cabrini, just to show that she was 'one of the regular people'. PAT] ------------------------------ 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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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #355 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 6 00:01:06 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 2174B15224; Sat, 6 Aug 2005 00:01:06 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #356 Message-Id: <20050806040106.2174B15224@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 00:01:06 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 5 Aug 2005 23:53:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 356 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Craig Niedorf Remembered - Part 1 (TELECOM Digest Archives Reprint) Craig Niedorf Remembered - Part 2 (TELECOM Digest Archives Reprint) Re: Nextel False Advertising (Joseph) Re: Analysts: ATMs Highly Vulnerable to Fraud (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: Credit Report, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken By Alltel (Damon Brownd) Re: Today's Long Distance Circuits? (Neal McLain) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 22:42:12 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Craig Niedorf Remembered - Part 1 It was fifteen years ago, about this time in the summer of 1990, that Craig Niedorf, then a college student about 20 years old, was told by the federal government that they would not be finding him guilty after all. The federal prosecutor came up with a total crock based on some flaky testimony by BellSouth. To save embarassment to themselves because of this prosecutorial misconduct, the government simply decided to let him go, after all the hell they had first put him through, for his alleged 'hacking'. I thought you might like to see the story I ran in the Digest fifteen years ago, over the last weekend of July, 1990. Date: Fri, 27 Jul 90 16:55 CDT From: TK0JUT2%NIU.BITNET@uicvm.uic.edu Subject: NEIDORF TRIAL OVER! GOVERNMENT DROPS ALL CHARGES! Less than halfway through the trial, and before it had presented its remaining witnesses, but government dropped all charges against Craig Neidorf. Defense Attorney Sheldon Zenner said that Prosecutor Bill Cook's decision was "in line with the highest standards of good government and ethical conduct." Zenner said that the government could have continued to the last and let the jury decide, but did the honorable thing. One reason for the surprise decision, according to one inside source, was that, as the testimony and cross-examination proceeded, the government realized that BellSouth had not been forthcoming about the extent of availability of the document and its worth. The prosecution apparently relied on the good faith of BellSouth because of the previously good working relationship it had with it and other telecom companies. Craig Neidorf was ecstatic about the decision, and feels vindicated. He can now resume his studies, complete his degree, and seriously consider law school. He *WILL NOT* resume publication of PHRACK! Zenner praised Bill Cook's decision to drop all charges, and added he is not angry, but appreciative. Zenner also felt that the the efforts of EFF, CuD, and the many individuals who supported Craig were instrumental in creating credibility and visibility for the case, generating ideas and information for the defense, and facilitating enlisting some of the prospective defense witnesses to participate. There are those who have taken the Ed Meese line and assumed that Craig must have done *something* or the government wouldn't be prosecuting him. Others have not been as strident, but have put their faith in "The System," assuming that the process works, and as long as Craig's procedural rights were protected, we should "wait and see." Others on the extreme end have said that those of us who supported Craig would change our minds once all the evidence has come out, and we were criticized for raising issues unfairly when the government, so it was claimed, couldn't respond because it had to protect Craig's privacy and was required to sit in silence. One prosecutor even said that when all the evidence comes out, Craig's supporters would slink back under their rocks. There is little cause for Craig's supporters to gloat, because the emotional and financial toll on Craig and his family were substantial. Dropping the charges hardly means that the system works, because if it worked, there would have been no charges to begin with. From the beginning, Craig expressed his willingness to cooperate, but the government made this impossible with its persecution. Craig's supporters, from the beginning, have published the evidence, explained the issues, and we can still see no reason for his indictment. The evidence presented by the government in some cases could have been presented as well by the defense to show that *no* criminal acts occurred. When witnesses must be coached into how to present negative evidence, and when little, if any, can be adequately constructed, one would think that somebody in the prosecutor's office might realize there simply isn't a case there. The government had no case in the beginning, they could not construct one, and they had nothing at the end. So, dropping the charges does not indicate that the system works, but rather that sometimes a just outcome may result despite unjust actions of over-zealous agents. The prosecution not only lost the case, but reduced its credibility in all areas of computer enforcement. The claim that a recent TELECOM Digest contributor made that the SS and others may intentionally overstep bounds to establish more clearly the lines of law may be true, but what about the costs to innocent victims of such Machiavellian tactics? Do we really live in such a cynical society that we find it acceptable to place lives, careers, and reputations at great risk? Now, however, it is time to move on and address the lessons learned from the experience. Some of the issues include how computerists can be protected from overzealousness, how law enforcement agents can perform their legitimate tasks of gathering evidence without violation rights, and how legislation can be written to reflect technological changes that protect us from predators while not subverting our rights with loose, broad, or inaccurate language. This has been the goal of Mitch and the EFF, and it is one on which we should *all* unite and focus our energy. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 27 Jul 90 03:23 CDT From: TK0JUT2%NIU.BITNET@uicvm.uic.edu Subject: Days Three and Four of Craig's Trial Some final comments on Day Three of Craig Neidorf's trial: It was curious that, in introducing the PHRACK/INC Hacking Directory, a list of over 1,300 addresses and handles, the prosecution seemed it important that LoD participants were on it, and made no mention of academics, security and law enforcement agents, and others. In some ways, it seemed that Bill Cook's strategy was to put HACKING (or his own rather limited definition of it) on trial, and then attempt to link Craig to hackers and establish guilt by association. It was also strange that, after several months of supposed familiarization with the case, that neither Bill Cook nor Agent Foley would pronounce his name correctly. Neidorf rhymes with eye-dorf. Foley pronounced it KNEEdorf and Cook insisted on NEDD-orf. Further, his name was spelled incorrectly on at least three charts introduced as evidence, but as Sheldon Zenner indicated, "we all make mistakes." Yeh, even Bill Cook. One can't but think that such an oversight is intentional, because a prosecutor as aware of detail as Bill Cook surely by now can be expected to know who he is prosecuting, even when corrected. Perhaps this is just part of a crude, arrogant style designed to intimidate, perhaps it is ignorance, or perhaps it is a simple mistake. But, we judge it an offense both to Craig and especially his family to sit in the courtroom and listen to the man prosecuting their son to continually and so obviously mispronounce their name. DAY FOUR OF THE TRIAL (THURSDAY, JULY 26): Special Agent Foley continued his testimony, continuing to describe the step by step procedure of the search, his conversation with Craig, what he found, and the value of the E911 files. On cross-examination, Agent Foley was asked how he obtained the original value of the files. The value is crucial, because of the claim that they are worth more than $5,000. Agent Foley indicated that he obtained the figure from BellSouth and didn't bother to verify it. Then, he was asked how he obtained the revised value of $23,000. Again, Agent Foley indicated that he didn't verify the worth. Because of the importance of the value in establishing applicability of Title 18, this seems a crucial, perhaps fatal, oversight. Next came the testimony of Robert Riggs (The Prophet), testifying presumably under immunity and, according to a report in the last issue of CuD, under the potential threat of a higher sentence if he did not cooperate. The diminutive Riggs said nothing that seemed harmful to Craig, and Zenner's skill elicited information that, to an observer, seemed quite beneficial. For example, Riggs indicated that he had no knowledge that Craig hacked, had no knowledge that Craig ever traded in or used passwords for accessing computers, and that Craig never asked him to steal anything for him. Riggs also indicated that he had been coached by the prosecution. The coaching even included having a member of the prosecution team play the role of Zenner to prepare him for cross-examination. It was also revealed that the prosecution asked Riggs to go over all the back issues of PHRACK to identify any articles that may have been helpful in his hacking career. Although it may damage the egos of some PHRACK writers, Riggs identified only one article from PHRACK 7 that MIGHT POSSIBLY be helpful. What are we to make of all this? So far, it seems that the bulk of the evidence against Craig is weak, exaggerated, and at times seems almost fabricated (such as the value of the E911 file and Craig's "evil" attempt to organize a league of "criminals." We have been told repeatedly be some law enforcement officials and others that we should wait, because evidence will come out that could not be discussed in public, and that this evidence would silence critics. Some have even said that those who have criticized law enforcement would "slink back under their rocks" when the evidence was presented. Perhaps. But, so far at least, there has been no smoking gun, no evidence that hasn't been discussed previously, and no indication of any heinous conspiracy to bring America to its knees by trashing the E911 system, robbing banks, or destroying the technological fabric of society. Perhaps a bombshell will be introduced before the prosecution winds up in a few days. But, even if Craig is ultimately found guilty on any of the counts, there is certainly nothing presented thus far that appears to justify the severity of the charges or the waste of state resources. To paraphrase that anonymous writer in the last issue of CuD, I can't help but wonder why we're all here! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 22:35:21 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Craig Niedorf Remembered - Part 2 Another incident during that summer of 1990 we shouldn't forget were the various newspaper accounts written by reporter Joe Abernathy. Although Mr. Abernathy in his earlier articles got a lot of details wrong, by this point (summer, 1990) he was doing better at reporting facts, not hearsay and rumors. Abernathy talked in this article about the government sponsored witch hunt that went on for couple of yeas in 1989-1990. ANOTHER ARTICLE BY JOE ABERNATHY ABOUT THE INTERNET IS LOCATED IN THE MAIN DIRECTORY OF TELECOM ARCHIVES UNDER THE TITLE 'ABERNATHY.INTERNET.STORY' . Date: Wed, 5 Sep 90 19:29:47 CDT From: edtjda@MAGIC712.CHRON.COM(Joe Abernathy) To: tk0jut2%niu.bitnet@UICVM.UIC.EDU Subject: Text of chron-sundevil article War on computer crime waged with search, seizure By JOE ABERNATHY Houston Chronicle The government's first assault on computer crime, unveiled with fanfare six months ago, has generated few criminal cases and is drawing allegations that federal agents are using heavy-handed tactics. Although only four people have been charged, searches and seizures have been conducted in at least 44 homes or businesses in the crackdown, called Operation Sun Devil. One prosecutor attributed the delay in filing cases to the vast amount of information that must be sorted. Authorities would not say, however, when or if additional charges might be re- turned. Sun Devil, so named because it began in Arizona and targeted an evil that investigators deemed biblical in stature, is held forth as a sophisticated defense of the nation's computer in- frastructure. Computer-related abuses will cost the nation's business community $500 million this year, according to some esti mates. Operation Sun Devil and several related investigations made public in March have been under way for more than two years. Hun- dreds of agents from the Secret Service, U.S. attorney's office, the Bell companies, and assorted law enforcement agencies are involved. But the operation is coming under fire for what critics describe as unjustified searches and seizures of property and electronic information protected by the Constitution. Among examples they cite: * An Austin publishing house is clinging to life after Secret Service agents confiscated equipment and manuscripts, leaving behind an unsigned search warrant. * A Missouri college student faces an extra year in school and $100,000 in legal fees after defending himself from charges that he stole a proprietary document from the telephone company by publishing it in a newsletter. * The wife and children of a Baltimore corporate computer consultant were detained for six hours while he was interrogated in a locked bedroom and his business equipment was confiscated. With no way to support itself, the family has sunk into pover- ty. At a press conference in March, authorities presented Sun De- vil as a full-scale response to a serious criminal threat. "The United States Secret Service, in cooperation with the Un- ited States attorney's office and the attorney general for the state of Arizona, established an operation utilizing sophisticat- ed investigative techniques," a press release said, adding that 40 computers and 23,000 data disks had been seized in the initial sweep. "The conceivable criminal violations of this operation have serious implications for the health and welfare of all individu- als, corporations, and United States government agencies relying on computers and telephones to communicate," it continued. Six months later, most officials are silent about Sun Devil. But at least one principal denies excesses in the operation. "I am not a mad dog prosecutor, " said Gail Thackeray, assistant attorney general for the state of Arizona and the intellectual parent of Operation Sun Devil. "(Agents) are acting in good faith, and I don't think that can be said of the hacker community. "Over the last couple of years, a lot of us in different places -- state, federal and local -- have been getting hit with a dramatic increase in complaints from computer hacker victims. So in response to that the Secret Service started the Sun Devil in- vestigation trying to find a more effective way to deal with some of this." Thackeray said the Secret Service, an agency of the U.S. Treasury Department, assumed jurisdiction because computer crime often involves financial fraud. Most of the losses are at- tributed to stolen long distance service. "It's not unusual for hackers to reach six figures (of abuse) in one month'' at a single business location, she said. "This whole mess is getting completely out of hand.'' But computer experts critical of Sun Devil contend the opera- tion also is out of hand. They have rallied behind the banner of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which contends that computer networks represent a fundamentally new realm of self-expression into which constitutional protection must be extended. Some visitors to this realm deem it cyberspace, using termi- nology borrowed from a science fiction genre set in a gritty fu- ture in which computer and telephone lines become extensions of one's intellect and even physical being. Hackers, as those who enter others' computers without authori- zation are known, are referred to as cyberpunks by some computer network users. It may have been this connection that drew the Secret Service to the Austin offices of Steve Jackson Games, which early this spring was about to publish something called "GURPS Cyber- punk." It is a rule book for a role-playing adventure along the lines of Dungeons & Dragons, played with dice and not computers. The cover page, however, credits the Legion of Doom, a self- professed underground hackers group, for assistance in providing realism. The game's author admits discoursing with the Le- gion. This link ensnared the company in the nationwide sweep con- ducted March 1, when 27 search warrants were executed in 14 ci- ties. A number of cases targeted members of the Legion. The Secret Service seized all copies of the Cyberpunk manuscript, along with the computers on which it was being stored prior to publication. "One of the Secret Service agents told Steve Jackson that they thought the book was a handbook for computer crime,'' said Sharon Beckman of the Boston firm Silverglate & Good, Jackson's attorney. "It looks like what (this) was, in effect, was a prior restraint on protected speech, speech protected by the First Amendment." Jackson's company, which had revenues of $1.4 million in 1989, was nearly dealt a death blow by the raid. Cyberpunk was to be its main spring release, but it would have to be rewritten from scratch. Jackson was not allowed access to the reams of in- formation stored on the confiscated equipment. "We had to lay off eight people, and we had to cut way back on the number of products we were producing," said Jackson, who put the cost of the raid at $125,000. That doesn't include lost revenues, "or the value to the company of the eight (of 17) em- ployees we had to lay off, because I don't know where to start to put a value on that." Beckman described her client as an ordinary businessman who uses a computer in his business. "He's not a computer hacker. He's not even a particularly sophisticated computer user," she said. "It was terrifying,'' Jackson recalled." I was in the hands of a lot of keen, earnest, sincere people who had no idea what they were doing and who had federal law enforcement powers. "It's frightening that they can do this to innocent people." No charges have been filed. Some of the equipment has been returned, but some was damaged beyond repair. Jackson said agents recently acknowledged that some equipment indeed is gone forever. The Secret Service, Arizona U.S. attorney's office and Justice Department all refused to discuss any specifics of Jackson's case, or any activities associated with Operation Sun Devil. "We're a very efficient organization, and we follow the guide- lines set forth by the law," said Michael Cleary, assistant to the special agent in charge of the Secret Service in Chicago, which has jurisdiction in the case. "If we have a signed, sworn affidavit, and a search warrant, we execute that warrant." Cleary wouldn't say why the search warrant used against Steve Jackson was not signed. A request by Jackson's attorney for more information went unanswered. Beckman said a raid conducted without a signed warrant would violate Fourth Amendment protection against unwarranted search and seizure. Mike Hurst, a Steve Jackson Games editor who lost his job to the raid on the company, offered bitter advice: "The Secret Ser- vice ought to make some attempt to find out if there's actually a case involved before they begin searches and confiscations of property." In one incident, the government did file a case, only to aban- don it when it fell apart in court. The defendant, Craig Neidorf, is going back to college at the University of Missouri this fall, but his reputation is stained, he's having to repeat his senior year, and he's $100,000 in debt. An intrusion into the computers of Bell South by a Legion member in 1988 set off much of the activity in Operation Sun De- vil, including the case against Neidorf. While in Bell South's computer, Legion member Robert Riggs found and copied a document describing administrative aspects of the emergency 911 system. Riggs and associates Franklin E. Darden Jr. and E. Grant, all three of whom are from Georgia, recently pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges and await sentencing. Darden and Riggs face up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Grant faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Neidorf, publisher of Phrack, a newsletter for hackers, was accused of theft for republishing the 911 document stolen by Riggs. Prosecutors stopped the trial after the document was shown to be freely available. His case received widespread coverage because it raised is- sues of free speech. Phrack was published electronically via computer networks instead of on paper, and thus did not immedi- ately receive the First Amendment protection that virtually would have been assured a paper document, according to Sheldon Zenner, Neidorf's attorney. "Going through this last seven months is not something I would wish on my worst enemy," said Neidorf, 20, who faced 31 years in prison. "It devastated my parents. My grandparents, they didn't take it well. They're in their 80s. "I kind of broke down myself at one point. I don't like to talk about it exactly." Leonard Rose, a computer consultant in Baltimore, let the Legion forward network mail through his computer, an everyday ar- rangement on the sprawling Internet research and education net- work. But because the name of his computer appeared in the group's electronic address, he was portrayed by the government as the mastermind of the group. "I've lost everything because of it," he said. Business con- tracts worth $100,000 a year, $70,000 worth of computer equipment used in his business, his top secret clearance, his wife's dream home, their credit rating, cars, are gone. The Roses now live with their two young children in an apartment furnished with two mattresses and a TV. "I used to look at people in the street and I couldn't under- stand how they could get there," Rose said. "I couldn't under- stand how you could sink that low, but now I understand. I under- stand a lot more now." He was never charged as part of the Legion of Doom investiga- tion, but during that probe he was found to have received an il- licit copy of a computer program that must be licensed from AT&T. "What Len Rose is accused of turns software piracy into a felo- ny," said John Perry Barlow, a co-founder of the Frontier Foun- dation. "If the government is prepared to go out and turn every- body who has engaged in software piracy into a felon, it'll make the war on drugs look like a minor undertaking." Detractors say that the investigative techniques used in Operation Sun Devil are at best rude, at worst illegal. Authori- ties respond that they are adjusting to a new world. Most concerns center on bulletin board systems, a frequent point of access into the nation's computer network byways. Locals call the BBS, which then moves private electronic mail and pub- lic messages into the public networks, which as a whole are re- ferred to as Internet or simply the matrix. "The government is seizing electronic mail like crazy, in the sense that it's seizing BBS's and all their contents," Barlow said. "It's the equivalent of seizing post offices and all their contents." The privacy of electronic mail is protected under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, which is also the law setting forth most of the conditions under which computer hacking can be con- sidered a crime. "We've seized lots of BBS's," acknowledged Thackeray of the Arizona attorney general's office, although search warrants were obtained only for the owner of each computer, not for each person with electronic mail stored on that computer. Benjamin Wright, a Dallas attorney who writes and lectures frequently on electronic data interchange, said that surveillance of electronic mail poses serious questions even when conducted properly under the supervision of a court. "A huge amount of information could build up, so there could be a great mass of information laying at the government's feet," he said. "To tap into all the phone lines of a corporation would be a lot of work, but if there's this database building up of a large part of a company's business, then there's a reason for being a little bit concerned. "This applies to private people as much as it applies to cor- porations." Authorities see the BBS seizures as preventive medicine. "The only thing I have ever found that has an effect on these kids is to take their computer away," Thackeray said. "It final- ly sinks in, 'I'm really not going to get this back.' " But Barlow criticizes that approach. "Essentially what they have done is to fine (the suspect), without conviction, for the entire value of his property," he said. "They're not making arrests. This is turning the whole search and seizure into the punishment." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The preceding appeared Sunday, 9/2/90, on the front page of the Houston Chronicle. Please send comments to: edtjda@chron.com ANOTHER ARTICLE ON THE INTERNET BY JOE ABERNATHY IS LOCATED IN THE MAIN TELECOM-ARCHIVES DIRECTORY UNDER THE TITLE 'ABERNATHY.INTERNET.STORY' [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I wonder what the past fifteen years has done for Craig, Len Rose and those other guys. And also of interest to me would be what the past fifteen years has done to the several individuals who were responsible for this misguided attack on computer 'hackers'. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Nextel False Advertising Date: Mon, 01 Aug 2005 10:18:56 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 20:37:41 -0700, Telecom digest editor wrote: > but now these guys are stuck with a couple phones that are useless, > and a contract to boot. Did you even check this out? To my knowledge if you sign up with a carrier and move to an area that they do not serve they usually will let you out of a contract. They may need some proof such as a utility bill, but more than likely they would be let out of any contractual obligation. If no one checked that out that's yet another error that they've made. > When newer technologies are sort > of a mystery even to relatively experienced users, how is it that kids > in their early/mid twenties getting a 'cellular phone' for the first > time in their lives are expected to know anything? No one needs to play the "victim" in this day and age. You do some not so hard research on the net and you find an answer! Just typing "cellular phone basics" into Google brings up over 800,000 hits! Going to google and asking the question "cellular service independence missouri" brings up several results including a Google page showing all registered cellular towers around Independence. It also shows you which services are available. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are wrong! I am no where close to Independence, MO; I am in Independence, KS, about 300 miles southwest and I know what cell towers we have around here. Independence, MO is a suburb of Kansas City, MO, which is nowhere near me. But I will explain to Justin how to use Google and look for the information he will need if he wishes to cancel his contract. He will be returning back home to Orlando, FL in about a week. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 19:42:04 EDT Subject: Re: Analysts: ATMs Highly Vulnerable to Fraud In a message dated Wed, 3 Aug 2005 22:36:32 -0400 Monty Solomon writes: > By BRIAN BERGSTEIN AP Technology Writer > BOSTON (AP) -- By failing to scan security codes in the magnetic > strips on ATM and debit cards, many banks are letting thieves get away > with an increasingly common fraud at a cost of several billion dollars > a year. > Surprisingly, Litan said, perhaps half of U.S. financial institutions > have not programmed their ATM systems to check the security codes. > Con artists specifically seek out customers of banks that do not > validate the second track on the strip, she said. A very large number of ATM's are owned by ATM companies, not banks, who provide ATMs in many convenience stores, stadiums race tracks and arenas, shopping malls and casinos. To blame the banks for what these companies do is disingenuous. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: Damon Brownd Subject: Re: Credit Reports, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken Over By Alltel Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 01:23:41 GMT Steve Sobol wrote in message news:telecom24.355.17@telecom-digest.org: > Maybe you got special consideration as a soldier. Perhaps enlisted men > and women got a special deal because it wouldn't be easy for them to > deal with credit issues overseas ... But as far as I know, the rest of > us were not entitled to any free reports unless we were denied credit > or employment (as I posted earlier) or if there was a state law > specifying we were not to be charged. There have been some state laws > on the books prior to this past year. See https://www.annualcreditreport.com. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 20:54:46 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: Today's Long Distance Circuits? hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > By how, I mean what physical medium is chosen and how is it > routed. Do they use satellite, microwave, fibre optic, coax, > plain wire? Whereupon Justa Lurker responded: > Depends on your choice of designated long distance carrier, and > the extent to which it owns and operates its own facilities vs. > buying capacity 'wholesale' from one of the big guys or perhaps > a "carrier's carrier" (Wiltel comes to mind here). Or even a "carrier's carrier's carrier." Back in the 1980s, Wiltel provided capacity to Norlight, which in turn provided capacity to IXCs. At the time, Norlight was owned by a consortium of Minnesota- and Wisconsin-based electric utility companies. Most of the network was constructed using grounded Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) installed at the top of the electric transmission lines owned by the member utility companies. OPGW is a metallic (usually aluminum-clad steel) conductor with optical fibers buried inside; it is installed at the top of a transmission line in place of a static wire, where it serves the same purpose as the static wire -- protecting lower conductors from lightning. http://www.phillipsfitel.com/english/48specs.html Norlight faced a problem when it tried to extend its network to Chicago: Commonwealth Edison Company. ComEd was not a member of the consortium that owned Norlight, so it had no financial interest in Norlight's success. ComEd's price for letting Norlight use its transmission lines was higher than Norlight was willing to pay. So Norlight turned to Wiltel instead. Wiltel (then a subsidiary of Williams Pipeline, a gas and petroleum transmission company) installs fiber optic cables in abandoned pipelines. Norlight contracted with Wiltel for dark fiber between Maple Park IL and Chicago, bypassing most of ComEd's transmission lines. Thus, Wiltel became a "carrier's carrier's carrier" (and AFAIK, it still is, although since I've retired I've lost contact with the folks I used to deal with). Neal McLain ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #356 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 6 16:18:45 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id D4F9715185; Sat, 6 Aug 2005 16:18:44 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #357 Message-Id: <20050806201844.D4F9715185@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 16:18:44 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 6 Aug 2005 16:17:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 357 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The Life of an Internet Scammer (Dulue Mbachu) Wireless Internet - Easy Hacker Pickings (Andy Sullivan) MCI Billing Class Action Lawsuit Notice (Gerard Gibbs De Bartolomeo) ICANN Transfers the Iraq (iq) Domain (Danny Burstein) Wiring Help Needed (rikki5150@comcast.net) Re: Telephoning Russian Villages (Gerard Bok) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (Joseph) Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? (Tony P.) Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? (Tony P.) Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? (Justa Lurker) Re: FCC Gives Blessings to Sprint/Nextel Merger (Steve Sobol) Re: Credit Reports; was Re: AT&T Customers Taken by Alltel (Steve Sobol) Re: Identity Theft: Big Enough to Steal Lawmakers Attention (Tony P.) Sixtieth Anniversary of Hiroshama Bombing (Eric Talmadge) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Dulue Mbachu Subject: Life of an Internet Scammer Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 12:05:40 -0500 Internet Scammers Keep Working in Nigeria By DULUE MBACHU, Associated Press Writer Day in, day out, a strapping, amiable 24-year-old who calls himself Kele B. heads to an Internet cafe, hunkers down at a computer and casts his net upon the cyber-waters. Blithely oblivious to signs on the walls and desks warning of the penalties for Internet fraud, he has sent out tens of thousands of e-mails telling recipients they have won about $6.4 million in a bogus British government "Internet lottery." "Congratulation! You Are Our Lucky Winner!" it says. So far, Kele says, he has had only one response. But he claims it paid off handsomely. An American took the bait, he says, and coughed up "fees" and "taxes" of more than $5,000, never to hear from Kele again. Festac Town, a district of Lagos where the scammers ply their schemes, has become notorious for "419 scams," named for the section of the Nigerian penal code that outlaws them. In Festac Town, an entire community of scammers overnights on the Internet. By day they flaunt their smart clothes and cars and hang around the Internet cafes, trading stories about successful cons and near misses, and hatching new plots. Festac Town is where communication specialists operating underground sell foreign telephone lines over which a scammer can purport to be calling from any city in the world. Here lurk master forgers and purveyors of such software as "e-mail extractors," which can harvest e-mail addresses by the million. Now, however, a 3-year-old crackdown is yielding results, Nigerian authorities say. Nuhu Ribadu, head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, says cash and assets worth more than $700 million were recovered from suspects between May 2003 and June 2004. More than 500 suspects have been arrested, more than 100 cases are before the courts and 500 others are under investigation, he said. The agency won its first big court victory in May when Mike Amadi was sentenced to 16 years in prison for setting up a Web site that offered juicy but phoney procurement contracts. Amadi cheekily posed as Ribadu himself and used the agency's name. He was caught by an undercover agent posing as an Italian businessman. This month the biggest international scam of all -- though not one involving the Internet -- ended in court convictions. Amaka Anajemba was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered to return $25.5 million of the $242 million she helped to steal from a Brazilian bank. The trial of four co-defendants is to start in September. Why Nigeria? There are many theories. The nation of 130 million, Africa's most populous, is well educated, and English, the lingua franca of the scam industry, is the official language. Nigeria bursts with talent, from former NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon to Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka. But with World Bank studies showing a quarter of urban college graduates are unemployed, crime offers tempting career opportunities -- in drug dealing, immigrant-trafficking, oil-smuggling, and Internet fraud. The scammers thrived during oil-rich Nigeria's 15 years of brutal and corrupt military rule, and democracy was restored only six years ago. "We reached a point when law enforcement and regulatory agencies seemed nonexistent. But the stance of the present administration has started changing that," said Ribadu, the scam-busting chief. President Olusegun Obasanjo is winning U.S. praise for his crackdown. Interpol, the FBI and other Western law enforcement agencies have stepped in to help, says police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo, and Nigerian police have received equipment and Western training in combating Internet crime and money-laundering. Experts say Nigerian scams continue to flood e-mail systems, though many are being blocked by spam filters that get smarter and more aggressive. America Online Inc. Nicholas Graham says Nigerian messages lack the telltale signs of other spam -- such as embedded Web links -- but its filters are able to be alert to suspect mail coming from a specific range of Internet addresses. Also, the scams have a limited shelf life. In the con that Internet users are probably most familiar with, the e-mailer poses as a corrupt official looking for help in smuggling a fortune to a foreign bank account. E-mail or fax recipients are told that if they provide their banking and personal details and deposit certain sums of money, they'll get a cut of the loot. But there are other scams, like the fake lotteries. Kele B., who won't give his surname, says he couldn't find work after finishing high school in 2000 in the southeastern city of Owerri, so he drifted with friends to Lagos, where he tried his hand at boxing. Then he discovered the Web. Now he spends his mornings in Internet cafes on secondhand computers with aged screens, waiting "to see if my trap caught something," he says. Elekwa, a chubby-faced 28-year-old who also keeps his surname to himself, shows up in Festac Town driving a Lexus and telling how he was jobless for two years despite having a diploma in computer science. His break came four years ago when the chief of a fraud gang saw him solve what seemed like "a complex computer problem" at a business center in the southeastern city of Umuahia and lured him to Lagos. He won't talk about his scams, only about their fruits: "Now I have three cars, I have two houses and I'm not looking for a job anymore." Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Listen to AP News Radio and browse headlines at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Andy Sullivan Subject: Wireless Networks - Easy Hacker Pickings Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 12:01:19 -0500 By Andy Sullivan Wireless Internet users may not know that it's easy for outsiders to read their email or scoop up passwords or other sensitive information. Secretly using a stranger's Wi-Fi connection is so easy that sniffing out open connections has become a sport among computer hackers. At a recent conference in Las Vegas, wireless network enthusiasts, known as "wardrivers," had two hours to find 1,000 wireless networks in one of many contests that test their prowess. Hackers ogled high-powered antennas that can pick up signals from over a mile away, and promoted wardriving Web sites like Wigle.net that map millions of wireless access points, or "hotspots," around the globe. Hacking the Defcon conference's own wireless network proved popular as well -- organizers said they fended off some 1,200 attempts to compromise network security. Wardrivers say the goal is not to steal bandwidth or spy on unsuspecting Internet users, and they frown upon those who do so. Rather, they hope to convince consumers and equipment manufacturers to improve the dismal state of wireless security. "We're trying to raise awareness. Security, by default, should not be turned off," said an Edmonton, Alberta wardriver who goes by the name Panthera. Wireless routers, many costing less than $100, enable consumers to surf the Web from their back yard or living room couch. With a range of several hundred feet, a Wi-Fi signal can reach to the street or surrounding houses, allowing neighbors to get online too. Equipment sellers like Wardrivingworld.com say they do a lot of business with truckers and Winnebago owners as well as war drivers. "People think truckers just drink beer and eat chili and belch, but 800 truck stops across the United States have wireless access," said Wardrivingworld.com co-founder Matthew Shuchman. Hotspot owners can set passwords, encrypt their traffic to deter eavesdroppers, or limit network access only to specified computers. But most don't have that kind of protection in place -- a June, 2004 wardrive of some 230,000 hotspots conducted found that 62 percent were not encrypted. Encryption won't stop a determined hacker. Wardrivers say that the WEP encryption standard used by many access points is easily crackable, though the recent WPA standard is tougher. Open networks can expose sensitive information in homes, businesses and government offices. A Michigan man in 2004 was convicted of using an unsecured network at a Lowe's home improvement store to steal credit card numbers, while a Toronto man was charged in 2003 with downloading child pornography using a nearby wireless connection. Some wardrivers say that manufacturers like Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems Inc. are to blame because they don't ship their products with security settings turned on and are more concerned with ease of use than security. "They're not taking care of their customers -- they're intentionally putting them in harm's way," said RenderMan, a prominent wardriver who has logged some 20,000 access points in Edmonton. New Linksys routers allow consumers to set up a secure connection with other Linksys devices by simply pushing a button, said Mike Wagner, the company's director of worldwide marketing. But Linksys, which accounts for 57 percent of the U.S. consumer market, can't ship its products with security settings turned on because most users won't bother to change the default password, Wagner said. "That preconfigured password will be the exact same on 500,000 wireless products that we ship every month. So that's actually creating a false sense of security," he said. Legal aspects of wardriving remain murky. While a variety of laws make it illegal to access a computer network without permission, very few have been tested in court. Reading e-mail and other traffic on a wireless network could invite prosecution and it's unclear if wardrivers are breaking the law when they use open networks for Internet access, said San Francisco lawyer Robert Hale. In Tampa, Florida, a man was arrested in April and charged with unauthorized access to a computer network after police found him using a nearby hotspot without permission. "It comes down to a policy debate about whether the Internet is open or not," Hale said at a Defcon forum. RenderMan and other prominent wardrivers say that people shouldn't tap into open networks even if the owners don't mind. "We actively do not condone unauthorized use of people's networks," said Andy Carra, who helps run the Wigle.net wardriving Web site. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Girard, Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP Subject: MCI Billing Fraud Class Action Notice Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 23:31:29 -0500 MCI SUED FOR BILLING MONTHLY SERVICE CHARGES TO NON-CUSTOMERS San Francisco - The law firm Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP http://www.girardgibbs.com has filed a class action complaint on behalf of telephone customers nationwide who were unlawfully billed by MCI, Inc. for monthly service charges despite the fact they were not MCI customers. The complaint alleges that MCI assesses the monthly fees directly or through consumers' local phone bills. "MCI has been charging non-customers minimum usage fees and other monthly service fees without authorization even though MCI provided no service to these persons," said Daniel Girard, one of the attorneys for the plaintiff. "Consumers who mistakenly paid MCI or paid in response to a threatening collections notice should get their money back." The case was brought by Shary Everett, a Goodyear, Arizona resident who repeatedly was assessed monthly service charges by MCI even though she had a different long distance carrier and had terminated MCI service at a former address several years earlier. MCI refused to reverse the unauthorized charges and threatened Ms. Everett with a collections notice for failing to pay. To stop MCI from continuing to bill her without authorization, she was forced to restrict all long-distance service on her telephone line. The complaint alleges that MCI enrolled non-customers and former MCI long-distance subscribers without their knowledge or consent in the "Basic Dial-1 Plan" or another MCI calling plan that carries a monthly service fee. In 2002, MCI began charging a $3.00 or $5.00 minimum usage fee (MUF) and a $3.95 monthly recurring fee to consumers who did not have active billing accounts with MCI and whom MCI has no reasonable basis to believe are current MCI customers. The class action lawsuit against MCI was filed in federal district court in Phoenix on July 18, 2005 and asserts claims against MCI for violations of the federal Communications Act and for unjust enrichment. The complaint alleges that MCI's policy and practice is to reverse, refund, or credit back unauthorized charges only to consumers who threaten to bring legal action, lodge complaints with regulatory authorities, or take other action. According to the complaint, consumers who do not pay the unauthorized charges are turned over to collections agencies. Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP is one of the nation's leading firms representing individuals in consumer fraud class actions and investors in securities fraud litigation. If you've experienced this or a similar problem and you are interested in sharing your experience with us, please print out and fill in the form below, and mail or email it to our firm. http://gerardgibbs.com Name: E-Mail: Telephone: State of Residence: Message: I would like to receive updates concerning this problem or other class action news: Your use of this web site, or sending of email to Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP, does not, by itself, create an attorney-client relationship between you and Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP. ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: ICANN Transfers the Iraq ("iq") Domain Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 01:43:31 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Redelegation of .IQ (Iraq) Following a detailed discussion of the proposed .IQ redelegation, Michael Palage moved and Thomas Niles seconded the following resolution: " Whereas, the .IQ top-level domain was originally delegated on 9 May 1997. " Whereas, ICANN has received a request for the redelegation of .IQ to the National Communications and Media Commission (NCMC) of Iraq. " Whereas, ICANN has reviewed the request, and has determined that the proposed redelegation would be in the best interests of the local and global Internet communities. " Resolved (05.__) that the proposed redelegation of the .IQ ccTLD to the National Communications and Media Commission (NCMC) of Iraq is approved." http://www.icann.org/minutes/resolutions-28jul05.htm Good related story: " The Internet's key oversight agency has quietly authorized Iraq's new government to manage its own domain name, allowing for the restoration of Internet addresses ending in '.iq'." " The suffix had been in limbo after the 2002 federal indictment of the Texas-based company that was running it on charges of funneling money to a member of the Islamic extremist group Hamas." " InfoCom Corp., which sold computers and Web services in the Middle East and got the '.iq' assignment in 1997, was convicted in April along with its chief executive and two brothers...." ....... snip ......... http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/special_packages/iraq/12315401.htm _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 11:06:14 -0400 From: rikki5150@comcast.net Subject: Wiring Help Needed I have my father's Western Electric D1(202) phone and a newly acquired WE 684BA subset. I'm having difficulty getting it to ring. Can you or direct me to someone that can tell me the wiring configuration for the subset. Thanks, Rick Busey, Bel Air, Md. ------------------------------ From: bok118@zonnet.nl (Gerard Bok) Subject: Re: Telephoning Russian Villages Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 11:51:10 GMT On 5 Aug 2005 07:28:24 -0700, cherniymonakh@hotmail.com wrote: > Hello, perhaps you can help: > My family are now at a cottage in a village outside Moscow, where they > are staying for weeks due to the hot weather. The telephone number > there contains less than the usual number of digits (6 instead of > seven). For some reasons calls cannot get there from North America, > although they can call here. The problem seems to be with the US, as > I don't even get a Russian dial tone, but a North American one > followed by an English-language message saying that there is no such > number and to try again. > Is there any trick to dialing such numbers and getting through? First thing I would try: dial an extra digit :-) (just an arbitrary one) Kind regards, Gerard Bok ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 09:18:13 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Fri, 05 Aug 2005 08:37:45 GMT, The Kaminsky Family wrote: > I think you may have missed the point. Once you have given your > account code to the automated system, that account number should > be directly available on the human agent's screen when the agent > gets your call. It's easy enough for a decent automated system > to handle this -- but it is surprising to me that so many automated > systems seem to have been assembled by folks who just don't get it > (or perhaps by folks who really don't like their employer ...). I think it's the implementation of systems and not being consistant with systems. I've called T-Mobile on several occasions and in the "log in process" when you call they ask you to enter your ten digit phone number. If you ask for certain information such as billing they will ask for the last four digits of your SSN. Then the frustrating thing sometimes happens when you speak to a rep. They don't have *any* of the information that you have keyed in. It's not always this way but it is a lot of the time. I've asked reps why this is and they claim it's because those identifying fields are not filled in on their display. I'd say that this is a technical problem which could be fixed if there was a demand for it. > It is certainly not easy to design an excellent user interface for a > customer -- especially if you are not willing to spend what it takes > to get a good speech recogition engine (and to train it for your > application -- getting the grammar rules right is an art, but there > are systems available in the market now whch do an excellent job). > But designing an excellent user interface for your human agents should > be a whole lot easier -- and that interface should start by gathering > everything the customer has entered so far on this call. I have seen really good IVR implementations such as what T-Mobile uses. With T-Mobile's IVR you are not limited to just the standard commands that the IVR expects you to give. It will do all sorts of normal variants e.g. saying representative, operator, or assistance will transfer you to a real person. Saying text message or saying SMS will give you your text message use. There are also "touch tone" shortcuts. If you want minute useage key 2. For billing key 1. For a representative key 0. Then on the other hand extremely poor implementation of an IVR you can look at Fido (mobile provider in Canada.) It will only understands the exact words it wants to understand. Even on words that it's supposed to know such as "agent" you'll get fed back "I didn't get that" repeatedly. Also the Fido IVR absolutely does not permit any touch tone input for any menu items. If you do you get "that function is not supported." You can't even time out to get a real person! Another problem with IVRs is if you're using it with a mobile handset any outside noise will confuse the IVR. Why mobile providers think it's a good thing to use IVRs with mobile services I have yet to understand. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Typical Business Telephone Sets Today? Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 13:58:24 -0400 In article , jp@jpnearl.com.nospam says: > hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> My department at my employer uses plain 2500 style telephone sets >> under a Centrex system. I kind of assumed they were still common >> place, but I understand now that they're kind of unusual? I heard >> caller-ID is very common on business phones, is that true? > Unfortunately everyone wants one button access to features and such and > displays with caller ID, length of call, etc. so you're seeing less and > less of the 2500-style phones on office desks these days. > One of the things I appreciated about the Executone IDS systems I used > to maintain is that the "wave" desk phones had 2500-style keypads on > them instead of the keypads found on the new business system phones > (buttons wrong size, a 'mushy' feel to them, etc.). Nothing beats > those old tried and true keypads. I'm partial to the 7406D+. The keypad is very close to that on a 2500 set. Feature buttons respond with an accompanying sound to and in some cases, a light to indicate the feature is active, like send-calls. I hate the 8410's we have but the 6408's we've got are ok. In article , davidesan@gmail.com says: > And don't you just hate it when the voicemail system asks for your > account code so they "can better process your call" and the very first > thing that the human operator asks for is your account number? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, in the case of human > operators, its not a bad thing that they ask first for your account > number or other identifying feature. While you are on the line > explaining your problem, the better trained agents can be scanning > your account as you are speaking, and frequently have an intelligent > and correct answer for you when you have finished stating your > problem. Would you prefer that they listen politely to your problem, > _then_ ask for your account number, go away, and come back in a minute > or two with an answer? Even for automated systems, the several > seconds required for voicemail to give its spiel is time the system > can be spinning its disk drives and looking up your account if it > knows your name and identity. PAT] What I hate even more is calling Cox Communications. They have you enter in your phone number before letting you through the gate. Then a service rep comes on the line and asks for your phone or account number. Apparently it doesn't pass that little bit of information from the phone system to the computer sitting on the reps desk. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 13:36:20 -0400 TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to article , mc_no_spam@uga.edu: > when the feds 'evicted' him from office. > Then there is the Chicago Park _District_ (rather than 'authority'), > started in the 1940's as well, with its own can of worms. And there > is the Chicago School _Board_ (also rather than 'authority') with the > same sort of government arrangements. When the school board came up > several million dollars unaccounted for, Mayor Daley (312-PIG-3000 if > you ever wish to dial him direct) had a solution for that; a whole new > layer of control called the Chicago Schools Finance Authority whose > only job was to make the School Board obey the law on deficit > spending. The Finance Authority has to sign off on the School Board > budget each year, and not approve it unless the school board has the > books in order. The board is apparently incapable or unwilling to > obey the law all on their own. There is however one good thing that the Chicago School Board and system has done. Seems that in Freakonomics they were able to prove that teachers were padding test results because they kept the answers that all the students had given on the tests for a period of at least a decade. The resulting investigations culminated in the termination of several teachers. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Interesting news from a school system where about ten percent of the students graduate from high school almost totally illiterate and about thirty percent of graduating seniors can read/write and do math at about a ninth grade level. I recall a big stink in the Chicago Tribune once where high school students were given a blank map of the world and asked to mark on the map the location of 'Chicago'. While many students got it correct (or at least parked it in the general area for North America and/or Illinois, a few of them located 'Chicago' around South America or the North Pole region. Tribune printed pictures of the maps the kids had turned in. Mayor Daley was furious, but what else is new. The reason the teachers kept those tests to work from is because there are standardized tests all the kids have to take in order for the school system to retain its accredidation, etc. The teachers were desparate to get the right answers on those standardized tests. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Justa Lurker Subject: Re: Bell System and GTE Telephone Operator? Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 03:20:05 GMT TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Justa Lurker: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In Chicago, in addition to the CTA or >> Chicago Transit Authority (thus situated), there is also the CHA (or >> Chicago Housing Authority) which is a _true_ atrocity if there ever was >> one. CHA has been in 'federal receivership' now for a few years due >> to the unbelievably awful living conditions in the 'homes' and the >> amount of crime on its property. Originally very nice _but plain_ living >> accomodations, the CHA was started in 1941 and its first commissioner >> was a woman who was a protege of Jane Addams of Hull House fame. CHA >> was intended to be _temporary, transitional_ housing for needy people; >> then after the second war ended, the idea was to provide _temporary, >> transitional_ housing for military veterans returnin from military >> duty. Since about 1960 or so, these high-rise (fifteen or twenty story >> buildings; a cluster of a dozen or so in each location) have been >> almost exclusively for black people; > Exactly how has this racial exclusivity been enforced ? >> many of whom of course > "of course" ???? Do explain further, please. >> have extensive criminal histories and their families; quite often >> the only person in the 'home' (all seven or eight thousand of them >> in an aggregate total) is the Mother. Nearly every one of them has >> one or more sons or fathers currently in prison or recently >> released. The little kids run around wild and rather delinquent as >> one would expect. > All of which is somehow the fault of the CHA ? You've lost me here. >> The television series of the 1970's, _Happy Times_ (written by Norman >> Lear) is now in endless re-runs on TV-Land . > "Good Times". I remember watching it as a lad, along with "All in the > Family" and other Lear shows. :-) >> The former commissioner of the mess, a man named Charles Swibel, a >> rich, white older man > How is his financial status, race, and age relevant ? Why did you > mention them ? Aren't you a white older man too (so that can't be the > problem) ? Maybe your real problem is that he is rich and you are not. > Or are you implying that he & the CHA oppressed black people on behalf > of rich white people. Say what you mean ! Don't keep us guessing. >> from the northern suburbs had some problems of his own in keeping >> the CHA money accounts in order, barely escaped going to prison >> himself, but did get CHA tossed into federal recivership (a sort of >> bankruptcy chapter used for governments) when the feds 'evicted' him >> from office. > Not all that unusual, or unique to Chicago or even Illinois, > unfortunately. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Racial exclusivity in Chicago means > that when black people move into a neighborhood, the white people > generally move out. Blame it on whomever you wish; that is a fact of > life in Chicago (another reason, among several, why I was happy to get > away from Chicago). I like Independence, because it is an integrated, > inclusive community. There are many 'integrated' couples and families > here. Blacks and whites are not at each other's throats as happens so > often in a place like Chicago. Gay and straight people are not always > hassling each other here either. We are simply too 'laid back' to > bother with that sort of thing. There was a discussion here in town > once of having a 'gay pride' parade. Some gay people said 'why should > we do anything like that; who needs such a garish display?' I did not > completely agree with that assessment (having lived so long in > Chicago) but I can see where the local guys were coming from. > Our public schools here are totally integrated; in Chicago the public > schools are almost entirely black (by default, since the white people > send their kids to private schools often times.) Here the white people > do not run and hide when blacks are around. The 'racial exclusivity' > of the CHA 'housing projects' came about by this default; blacks moved > in, whites moved out. It was not entirely the CHA's 'fault' except > that as the conditions of the housing got worse and worse over the > years, many less ecomically privileged blacks found it was all they > could afford, and the white people figured out somewhere else to > live. Yes, I am a white man, and no I am not rich; even when I lived > around Chicago I could not afford to live in an enclave like Wilmette > or Glencoe or Winnetka. Many of CHA's problems came from Charles > Swibel and his immediate sucessors, men who were demonstrated thieves, > men who ripped off the housing authority for most of its money, it was > nothing to do with 'rich oppressing poor' or 'white oppressing black'. > I mentioned those items about his race, wealth and living accomoda- > tions to show the difference between the person who ran the system > versus those who lived and still live under the system. In recent > years, some thought has been given to having a board of directors of > CHA who are _actually residents_ in large part of the housing > project. Just like the Chicago Police Department; isn't it sad there > has to be a law requiring officers to live in the city; in other words > they have to live where they shit and the other way around. For many > years there was no such law; cops tended to live where they wanted, > usually the white cops lived around other white guys (much nicer white > suburbs) and the black cops lived in at least the better class black > neighborhoods in the suburbs. Ditto with school teachers in > Chicago. You want to work here, then _live_ here as well. City of > Chicago had to force that rule, even with the unions fighting them. We > just do not have to do that sort of thing here; people in town by and > large are proud to be part of Independence. Once on a local area BBS > in Chicago, I got into a discussion with a guy who said "prostitution > and 'drug use' should be legal in a 'red light district'. " I asked > him where would you put the 'red light district'? He said "oh I guess > we would locate it somewhere in _Chicago_." I asked him why not > locate it in _Lake Forest where you live_ or maybe in _Winnetka?_ > Needless to say he was highly indignant at my suggestion. > Oh, by the way, even our local 'housing project' here in town; it > is called 'Garden Walk Apartments' on North 10th Street near the > high school (rents subsidized by City of Independence and State > of Kansas) does not come close to the hassles that were so prevalent > with the CHA. And our housing 'project' is truely integrated, not > just all black people who cannot manage to do any better. PAT] Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and detailed reply ! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are quite welcome. I have heard it stated on a few occassions that much or most of the trouble in the world comes from people _not understanding correctly_ what another person is saying. With this thesis in mind -- that many problems would be solved if _everyone spoke the same language and phrases_ (not as per English versus German or French, but if we all could fully commun- icate what we wanted to say to each other easily) -- I sometimes attempt to do that in this Digest. To that extent, my responses are sometimes painfully long -- some would claim 'long-winded' -- because I want to convey _exactly_ what I mean, and what I feel is a solution to the issue or problem at hand. When some reader or another _actually under- stands_ what I am saying I feel gratified, even if they do not agree with me. Clarity in written or oral conversation is very important. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 10:48:10 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Joseph wrote: > WASHINGTON -- The merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications won > approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice > Department yesterday, clearing the way for a combined company with > more than 35 million mobile-phone subscribers. Good. This is one merger that might actually benefit people other than the shareholders. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Credit Reports, was Re: AT&T Customers Taken Over By Alltel Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 10:49:40 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Damon Brownd wrote: > Steve Sobol wrote in message > news:telecom24.355.17@telecom-digest.org: >> Maybe you got special consideration as a soldier. Perhaps enlisted men >> and women got a special deal because it wouldn't be easy for them to >> deal with credit issues overseas ... But as far as I know, the rest of >> us were not entitled to any free reports unless we were denied credit >> or employment (as I posted earlier) or if there was a state law >> specifying we were not to be charged. There have been some state laws >> on the books prior to this past year. > See https://www.annualcreditreport.com. That is a result of the change in federal law that was *just implemented.* As I said, it used to be that there were only certain conditions under which you could get a free report, unless you lived somewhere where state law specified otherwise. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Identity Theft: Big Enough to Steal Lawmakers' Attention Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 13:51:53 -0400 In article , karlin@telecom- digest.org says: > By Adam Karlin, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor > BOSTON - Sandra Pochapin learned a few key lessons from her ordeal > with identity theft. Among them: Check the mail early. > Had she done so, she may have gotten the replacement credit card in > her mailbox. Instead, a thief lifted the card and took it on a $1,200 > shopping spree at Lord & Taylor. > Ms. Pochapin eventually recouped her money, but the incident haunted > her for months afterward, as the criminal opened other new accounts in > her name. > She recalls a Macy's representative calling to ask about a $2,400 bill > on her new store card. "I asked them, 'How could you open an account > in my name if I already have an account there?' " said Pochapin, > testifying recently in front of the Massachusetts state legislature. > Experiences of people like Pochapin, and break-ins at large databases > that hold Americans' most sensitive personal information, have grown > severe enough in recent months to prompt a new wave of protective > legislation by lawmakers at the state and federal level. > The bills are designed to address various aspects of the threat, but, > as identity thieves find new ways to ply their trade, the efforts > represent a daunting race against crime. > Credit-freeze laws growing Credit freeze is one thing. But if the legislators really looked at the true causes of identity theft they'd have to point the blame squarely at the feet of the banking industry. For example, as mentioned in a prior posting here on c.d.t if ATM's simply read the second track of a car and used challenge-response you could kill off most replicant identity theft. But as I'm lead to believe, even the PIN is challenge-response. So that means the procedure for encoding the PIN on a card has been exploited. But banks don't want you to know that your money isn't as safe as you think it is. For example, ever write a check to someone? They could empty your account just by knowing the routing and account number on the check using a demand draft. It's a bit more risky but completely within the realm of the probable. So don't expect an immediate answer to the problem. First off, it would require a rehash of procedures to identify any vulnerabilities. Then it would require a replacement of the infrastructure that is already out there. It isn't going to happen anytime soon. ------------------------------ From: Eric Talmadge Subject: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 11:26:25 -0500 By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer Hiroshima marked the 60th anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack Saturday with prayers and water for the dead and a call by the mayor for nuclear powers to abandon their arsenals and stop "jeopardizing human survival." At 8:15 a.m., (a day ago, by Japanese time), the instant of the blast, the city's trolleys stopped and more than 55,000 people at Peace Memorial Park observed a moment of silence that was broken only by the ringing of a bronze bell. A flock of doves was released into the sky. Then wreaths and ladles of water -- symbolizing the suffering of those who died in the atomic inferno -- were offered at a simple, arch-shaped stone monument at the center of the park. Outside the nearby A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings left standing after the blast, peace activists held a "die-in" -- falling to the ground to dramatize the toll from the United States bombing that turned life to death for more than 140,000 and forever changed the face of war. Thousands of paper lanterns symbolizing the souls of the dead were floated on a river next to the park, concluding a day of rememberance. Fumie Yoshida was just 16 when Hiroshima was bombed. She survived but lost her father, brother and sister. On Saturday, she chose not to attend the formal memorial, but paid her respects privately with a small group of friends in the peace park. "My father's remains have never been found," she said. "Those of us who went through this all know that we must never repeat this tragedy. But I think many Japanese today are forgetting." In a "Peace Declaration," Hiroshima's outspoken Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba vowed to never allow a repeat of the tragedy and gave an impassioned plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying the United States, is "jeopardizing human survival." "Many people around the world have succumbed to the feeling that there is nothing we can do," he said. "Within the United Nations, the United States uses its veto power to override the global majority and pursue its selfish objectives." In a more subdued speech, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered condolences for the dead. "I offer deep prayers from my heart to those who were killed," he said, vowing that Japan would be a leader in the international movement against nuclear proliferation. Though Hiroshima has risen from the rubble to become a thriving city of 3 million, most of whom were born after the war, the anniversary underscores its ongoing tragedy. Officials estimate that about 140,000 people were killed instantly or died within a few months after the Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload over the city, which then had a population of about 350,000. Three days later, another U.S. bomber, Bock's Car, dropped a plutonium bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II. Including those initially listed as missing or who died afterward from a loosely defined set of bomb-related ailments, including cancers, Hiroshima officials now put the total number of dead in this city alone at 242,437. This year, 5,373 more names were added to the list. In central London, more than 200 anti-nuclear activists and others gathered at Tavistock Square, where a cherry tree was planted in 1967 in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing. Jeremy Corbyn, a lawmaker in the governing Labour Party and vocal anti-war campaigner, urged people to remember the "unique horror" of what the United States did to Hiroshima in 1945. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have to wonder if it has occurred to Mr. Bush that what is good for the goose is often times good for the gander as well. How would _he_ (or Mr. Blair for example) feel if the Iraqi government decided "in order to end further suffering or loss of innocent lives in this war with the United States, _we_ have elected to drop the big one on their country." In other words, Harry Truman's line, all over again, one big blast to end the agony of war, but this time fingers pointed at us as the agressors ... and the Iraqi government did, just this past week, invite the United States to withdraw totally from Iraq and let all of us go back to living at peace. We know that Mr. Bush refused that offer totally. We also know that China has threatened us in recent days regards its ongoing spat with Taiwan, stating that if Bush insisted on remaining involved in that situation, they (the Chinese) 'would not hesitate' to use strong medicine on us. And the North Koreans, I am sure, would get involved also as circumstances permitted. I have to wonder if Mr. Bush even realizes how close he is coming toward getting a taste of his own medicine or if he even cares, in his deluded state of grandeur. Considering Bush's strong association with the right-wing fundamentalist Christian movement in this country -- people who feel from their reading of scripture that the end is near anyway -- I really wonder if he _does_ care ... if nothing else, it would most assuredly allow _his_ congresspersons to declare a state of emergency and retain him in office for the duration of the first real war on American soil. Under the present constitutional constraints, he is ineligible for another term in office, but just as in New York City a few days after 9-11-01 there were suggestions seriously considered to put off installing the new mayor and retaining the old mayor 'due to the crisis'. I am sure the same ideas would be floated around as Bush's term would otherwise draw to a close. Do the Atomic Scientists still keep setting that clock periodically on its journey to midnight? What is that clock setting now? PAT] ------------------------------ 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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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #357 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Aug 7 19:33:43 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 8745415185; Sun, 7 Aug 2005 19:33:42 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #358 Message-Id: <20050807233342.8745415185@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 19:33:42 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 7 Aug 2005 19:33:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 358 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations (Monty Solomon) The Wired Are A Rude Bunch (Monty Solomon) Europe Zips Lips; U.S. Sells ZIPs - New York Times (Monty Solomon) Bogus Homeland Alerts Hit the Air (Monty Solomon) Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way (Monty Solomon) NYT Article on Cyberextortion Including Ricin, Grenades (Danny Burstein) How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? (A User) AT&T Voice Mail System (Steven Lichter) More Help Needed on Wiring WE-201 (rikki5150@comcast.net) Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access (Dean M.) Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage (Joseph) Re: Calling All Luddites (Ed Clarke) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: MCI Billing Fraud Class Action Notice (Tim@Backhome.org) Internet Porn (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 12:10:09 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Terrorists Turn to the Web as Base of Operations By Steve Coll and Susan B. Glasser Washington Post Staff Writers In the snow-draped mountains near Jalalabad in November 2001, as the Taliban collapsed and al Qaeda lost its Afghan sanctuary, Osama bin Laden biographer Hamid Mir watched "every second al Qaeda member carrying a laptop computer along with a Kalashnikov" as they prepared to scatter into hiding and exile. On the screens were photographs of Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta. Nearly four years later, al Qaeda has become the first guerrilla movement in history to migrate from physical space to cyberspace. With laptops and DVDs, in secret hideouts and at neighborhood Internet cafes, young code-writing jihadists have sought to replicate the training, communication, planning and preaching facilities they lost in Afghanistan with countless new locations on the Internet. Al Qaeda suicide bombers and ambush units in Iraq routinely depend on the Web for training and tactical support, relying on the Internet's anonymity and flexibility to operate with near impunity in cyberspace. In Qatar, Egypt and Europe, cells affiliated with al Qaeda that have recently carried out or seriously planned bombings have relied heavily on the Internet. Such cases have led Western intelligence agencies and outside terrorism specialists to conclude that the "global jihad movement," sometimes led by al Qaeda fugitives but increasingly made up of diverse "groups and ad hoc cells," has become a "Web-directed" phenomenon, as a presentation for U.S. government terrorism analysts by longtime State Department expert Dennis Pluchinsky put it. Hampered by the nature of the Internet itself, the government has proven ineffective at blocking or even hindering significantly this vast online presence. Among other things, al Qaeda and its offshoots are building a massive and dynamic online library of training materials -- some supported by experts who answer questions on message boards or in chat rooms -- covering such varied subjects as how to mix ricin poison, how to make a bomb from commercial chemicals, how to pose as a fisherman and sneak through Syria into Iraq, how to shoot at a U.S. soldier, and how to navigate by the stars while running through a night-shrouded desert. These materials are cascading across the Web in Arabic, Urdu, Pashto and other first languages of jihadist volunteers. The Saudi Arabian branch of al Qaeda launched an online magazine in 2004 that exhorted potential recruits to use the Internet: "Oh Mujahid brother, in order to join the great training camps you don't have to travel to other lands," declared the inaugural issue of Muaskar al-Battar, or Camp of the Sword. "Alone, in your home or with a group of your brothers, you too can begin to execute the training program." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/05/AR2005080501138.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 13:01:17 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Wired Are A Rude Bunch by Fahmida Y. Rashid While technology, such as cell phones, e-mail and instant messaging, have in many ways made life easier, these same devices may make users lazy and oblivious to their surroundings. The constant pressure on workers to be accessible means manners often take a backseat. In consumer circles, lots of people apparently believe that because they can take or make a phone call, they should. In a recent national poll by market research group Synovate, 68% of Americans claimed to observe poor cell phone etiquette at least once per day. Eighteen percent said they ran into poor e-mail etiquette. The study noted that the Americans showed the poorest etiquette when using the very devices they rely on the most (52% said they would "die" if their phones and e-mails were taken away). "Poor tech etiquette is something most of us don't really think about as we pick up our cell phones or send an e-mail," said Steve Levine, senior vice president at Synovate. The survey results follow on the heels of a marketing push by a company called Moderati, which sells ring tones, cell phone wallpaper and ring-back tones. The company claims that "nothing says 'I hate you' like a DisTone." A DisTone is a rather unfriendly greeting users assign to callers they want to avoid. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/07/28/technology-rudeness-wireless-cx_fr_0728rude.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 14:15:43 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Europe Zips Lips; U.S. Sells ZIPs - New York Times By ERIC DASH IF the information is not already missing, 2005 might be recorded in the databanks of history as the year of the consumer privacy breach. So far, American companies including financial services giants like Bank of America, Citigroup and MasterCard, and national retailers like DSW shoes and Ralph Lauren Polo, have announced data compromises. All told, the personal information of more than 50 million consumers has been lost, stolen and even sold to thieves. Why is this happening here, and not, say, in Britain, Germany or France? One reason may be that every other Western country has a comprehensive set of national privacy laws and an office of data protection, led by a privacy commissioner. The United States, by contrast, has a patchwork of state and federal laws and agencies responsible for data protection. "In Europe, the question has been settled: citizens have strong legal rights," said Joel R. Reidenberg, a Fordham University law professor who is an expert on international data privacy rules. "In the United States, we basically have a mess, and we are still trying to sort it out." More fundamentally, these two systems for dealing with data arise from a cultural divide over privacy itself. In broad terms, the United States looks at privacy largely as a consumer and an economic issue; in the rest of the developed world, it is regarded as a fundamental right. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/weekinreview/07dash.html?ex=1281067200&en=0917edc4d24f6c28&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 15:48:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Bogus Homeland Alerts Hit the Air By Kevin Poulsen As if Florida didn't have enough to worry about this hurricane season, some residents of the Sunshine State were alerted to a nonexistent radiological emergency last Wednesday after a National Weather Service operator fat-fingered a routine test of the Emergency Alert System. The EAS, a 1997 replacement for the Cold War-era Emergency Broadcast System, transmits emergency audio and text information to the public over weather-alert radios and by interrupting commercial television and radio broadcasts. A digital header at the top of every EAS alert dictates how long it's in effect and how far the message should be propagated. It also identifies the type of event by a three-letter code. The Florida gaffe occurred when an operator at the National Weather Service's Tallahassee forecast office inadvertently entered the code "RHW" instead of "RWT," keying a radiological hazard warning instead of a required weekly test. The warning was broadcast to the Florida panhandle and parts of southern Georgia, said National Weather Service warning-coordination meteorologist Walt Zaleski. Fortunately, it failed to cause panic, in part because the audio accompanying the message still identified it as "only a test," and the office moved rapidly to quash the false alarm. "They quickly alerted every radio and television station within their viewing and listening area that the ID had gone out incorrectly and there was no emergency to speak of," said Zaleski. A similar glitch at a Las Vegas radio station a day earlier falsely alerted cable companies, radio and TV stations in five counties to a national crisis that didn't exist. That error occurred Tuesday afternoon when KXTE-FM tried to send out a message canceling an earlier Amber Alert, and instead transmitted an EAN, or emergency action notification -- a special code reserved for the president of the United States to use in the event of a nuclear war or similar extreme national emergency. http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68363,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 11:06:31 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4658 We admire Princeton not only for its beautiful campus and its myriad of creative minds, but also for its courage to embrace new technologies. Starting in the fall semester, the school will offer digital textbooks to its students in partnership with Missouri-based MBS Textbook Exchange Inc and various textbook publishers. The student only needs to pick up a barcoded textbook card (see attached screenshot), activate it at the cash register for usually 33 percent less than the new-book price, and go online for a one-time download of the textbook in PDF format. Alas, the e-books are encoded in DRM which pretty much spoils the potential success of this pilot project: * Textbook is locked to the computer where you downloaded it from; * Copying and burning to CD is prohibited; * Printing is limited to small passages; * Unless otherwise stated, textbook activation expires after 5 months (*gasp*); * Activated textbooks are not returnable; * Buyback is not possible. If this hasn't scared you off already, click here to read the rest in the press release. http://www.digitaltextbooks.net/cgi-dts/pressrelease.pdf ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: NYT Article on Cyberextortion Including Ricin and Grenades Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 01:15:51 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC " August 7, 2005 The Rise of the Digital Thugs By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN " Early last year, the corporate stalker made his move. He sent more than a dozen menacing e-mail messages to Daniel I. Videtto, the president of MicroPatent, a patent and trademarking firm, threatening to derail its operations unless he was paid $17 million. " In a pair of missives fired off on Feb. 3, 2004, the stalker said that he had thousands of proprietary MicroPatent documents, confidential customer data, computer passwords and e-mail addresses. " Unbeknownst to the stalker, MicroPatent had been quietly trying to track him for years, though without success. He was able to mask his online identity so deftly that he routinely avoided capture, despite the involvement of federal investigators. " But in late 2003 the company upped the ante. It retained private investigators and deployed a former psychological profiler for the Central Intelligence Agency to put a face on the stalker. The manhunt, according to court documents and investigators, led last year to a suburban home in Hyattsville, Md., its basement stocked with parts for makeshift hand grenades and ingredients for ricin, one of the most potent and lethal biological toxins. " Last March, on the same day that they raided his home, the authorities arrested the stalker as he sat in his car composing e-mail messages he planned to send wirelessly to Mr. Videtto. The stalker has since pleaded guilty to charges of extortion and possession of toxic materials. [ snippety snip, rest at: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/business/yourmoney/07stalk.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The NY Times article did not note however, whether or not some snippity, uppity Usenetters were 'horrified' that the company had drilled down deep enough to find the _actual offender_ and afford him some severe punishment rather than just -- as they would prefer -- the guy's messages had just been filtered out, perhaps ineffectually, as filters go, but the preferred (by some who are quite vocal) way to deal with offenders. It is _good_ to see some of these bozos get caught and severely dealt with. PAT] ------------------------------ From: A User Subject: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 09:16:26 +1000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com I am going to be visiting Northern California shortly. I am trying to find out what carriers have GSM coverage in 95437 Fort Bragg California. Is there a database that might be able to help? Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: AT&T Voice Mail System Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 02:25:35 GMT Some years ago AT&T marketed a 2 line digital Answering system. It was made by Bogon. It is real nice since you can have 10 different mailboxes with some being answer only and also allow a caller to page or transfer via the second line to reach you. Does anyone know if they ever updated it to handle CID? The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 22:02:04 -0400 From: rikki5150@comcast.net Subject: More Help Needed on Wiring for WE201 I asked about wiring for a WE subset 684BA to the wall outlet with a WE201. There was a response but I could not open the attachment. Could you try something else? Rick Busey ------------------------------ Subject: Re: NYT's Friedman Calls For Better Wireless Access From: Dean M. Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 22:07:01 GMT I agree Friedman is probably making too much of the US lagging in cell phone coverage. However, what is true (only from my personal experience and that of some friends though) is that one particular kind of cell phone service -- GSM -- has coverage in major US cities which is worse than in major European cities. From the journos perspective, whether or not there are good reasons for this is probably irrelevant. I'll bet that Friedman has GSM (possibly even T-Mobile which I hear is very flaky in Manhattan), and has found coverage much better when he travels to London, Paris and Brussels! And that's what really spurred the article he wrote:-) -Dean On Thu, 04 Aug 2005 08:59:21 -0700, Mark Crispin wrote: > On Wed, 3 Aug 2005, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> A New York Times columnist, Friedman, calls today (8/3/05) for >> better wireless access in the United States. He says many foreign >> countries have better systems than we do and they will have the >> competitive edge on the US as a result. > Tell him to take a look at a map and consider the differences in > geography and demographics. It's pretty easy to have good wireless > coverage in densely-populated postage-stamp sized countries, > especially when not encumbered by zoning ("you are NOT going to put > that tower where I can see it!"). > It is also advisable to consider geography. Japan is no slouch when > it comes to wireless, yet there are numerous dead zones in big cities. > Any honest coverage map of Japan will show that there is no coverage > at all in the sparsely-populated mountainous interior of Japan; the > coverage is in the big cities which are all on the coasts. I know > from personal experience that you lose service as soon as you get a > few kilometers from the urban core. > I also know from personal experience that there are numerous dead > zones in London. > Now, if two relatively small island nations have problems, consider > wireless coverage issues in a large continental nation, and you have > the situation faced by Canada, the US, and Mexico. > -- Mark -- > http://staff.washington.edu/mrc > Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. > Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 15:54:57 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sat, 06 Aug 2005 10:48:10 -0700, Steve Sobol wrote: > Joseph wrote: >> WASHINGTON -- The merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications won >> approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice >> Department yesterday, clearing the way for a combined company with >> more than 35 million mobile-phone subscribers. > Good. This is one merger that might actually benefit people other than > the shareholders. Actually, this is good for Sprint PCS which has been in the pits. The benefit to Nextel is illusive. It's more than likely Sprint PCS had more designs on spectrum than any real benefit to Nextel. Then again when have mergers ever really benefitted the end user? Look at what happened with AT&T Wireless and Cingular. If you were an AT&T Wireless subscriber and you got absorbed by Cingular you basically got reamed and were not even given any Vaseline to make it easier on you. ------------------------------ From: Ed Clarke Subject: Re: Calling All Luddites Date: 7 Aug 2005 02:07:28 GMT Organization: Ciliophora Associates, Inc. Reply-To: clarke@cilia.org On 2005-08-04, Thomas L Friedman wrote: > By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN > I began thinking about this after watching the Japanese use cellphones > and laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet trains and > subways deep underground. But the last straw was when I couldn't get > cellphone service while visiting I.B.M.'s headquarters in Armonk, N.Y. No matter what you do, you aren't going to get cell service in CHQ Armonk. The lobby (if you noticed it) has a copper foil ceiling; the walls are metal and the windows are metalized (and grounded). You're not going to get a radio signal out of that building (or into it). I've tried. I had to set up a demo for the corporate staff that involved satellite data transmission. We ended up moving the meeting to a different building on the site that wasn't quite so RF secure. ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 01:24:59 -0400 In article , ap@telecom-digest.org says: > By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer > Hiroshima marked the 60th anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack > Saturday with prayers and water for the dead and a call by the mayor > for nuclear powers to abandon their arsenals and stop "jeopardizing > human survival." > > At 8:15 a.m., (a day ago, by Japanese time), the instant of the blast, > the city's trolleys stopped and more than 55,000 people at Peace > Memorial Park observed a moment of silence that was broken only by > the ringing of a bronze bell. > A flock of doves was released into the sky. Then wreaths and ladles of > water -- symbolizing the suffering of those who died in the atomic > inferno -- were offered at a simple, arch-shaped stone monument at the > center of the park. > Outside the nearby A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings left standing > after the blast, peace activists held a "die-in" -- falling to the > ground to dramatize the toll from the United States bombing that > turned life to death for more than 140,000 and forever changed the > face of war. > Thousands of paper lanterns symbolizing the souls of the dead were > floated on a river next to the park, concluding a day of rememberance. > Fumie Yoshida was just 16 when Hiroshima was bombed. She survived but > lost her father, brother and sister. On Saturday, she chose not to > attend the formal memorial, but paid her respects privately with a > small group of friends in the peace park. > "My father's remains have never been found," she said. "Those of us > who went through this all know that we must never repeat this > tragedy. But I think many Japanese today are forgetting." > In a "Peace Declaration," Hiroshima's outspoken Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba > vowed to never allow a repeat of the tragedy and gave an impassioned > plea for the abolition of nuclear weapons, saying the United States, > is "jeopardizing human survival." > "Many people around the world have succumbed to the feeling that there > is nothing we can do," he said. "Within the United Nations, the United > States uses its veto power to override the global majority and > pursue its selfish objectives." > In a more subdued speech, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi offered > condolences for the dead. > "I offer deep prayers from my heart to those who were killed," he > said, vowing that Japan would be a leader in the international > movement against nuclear proliferation. > Though Hiroshima has risen from the rubble to become a thriving city > of 3 million, most of whom were born after the war, the anniversary > underscores its ongoing tragedy. > Officials estimate that about 140,000 people were killed instantly or > died within a few months after the Enola Gay dropped its deadly > payload over the city, which then had a population of about 350,000. > Three days later, another U.S. bomber, Bock's Car, dropped a plutonium > bomb on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing about 80,000 people. > Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II. > Including those initially listed as missing or who died afterward from > a loosely defined set of bomb-related ailments, including cancers, > Hiroshima officials now put the total number of dead in this city > alone at 242,437. > This year, 5,373 more names were added to the list. > In central London, more than 200 anti-nuclear activists and others > gathered at Tavistock Square, where a cherry tree was planted in 1967 > in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing. > Jeremy Corbyn, a lawmaker in the governing Labour Party and vocal > anti-war campaigner, urged people to remember the "unique horror" of > what the United States did to Hiroshima in 1945. > Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. > NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the > daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at > http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new > articles daily. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have to wonder if it has occurred to > Mr. Bush that what is good for the goose is often times good for the > gander as well. How would _he_ (or Mr. Blair for example) feel if the > Iraqi government decided "in order to end further suffering or loss > of innocent lives in this war with the United States, _we_ have > elected to drop the big one on their country." In other words, Harry > Truman's line, all over again, one big blast to end the agony of > war, but this time fingers pointed at us as the agressors ... and the > Iraqi government did, just this past week, invite the United States to > withdraw totally from Iraq and let all of us go back to living at > peace. We know that Mr. Bush refused that offer totally. We also know > that China has threatened us in recent days regards its ongoing spat > with Taiwan, stating that if Bush insisted on remaining involved in > that situation, they (the Chinese) 'would not hesitate' to use strong > medicine on us. And the North Koreans, I am sure, would get involved > also as circumstances permitted. I have to wonder if Mr. Bush even > realizes how close he is coming toward getting a taste of his own > medicine or if he even cares, in his deluded state of grandeur. > Considering Bush's strong association with the right-wing fundamentalist > Christian movement in this country -- people who feel from their > reading of scripture that the end is near anyway -- I really wonder if > he _does_ care ... if nothing else, it would most assuredly allow > _his_ congresspersons to declare a state of emergency and retain him > in office for the duration of the first real war on American > soil. Under the present constitutional constraints, he is ineligible > for another term in office, but just as in New York City a few days > after 9-11-01 there were suggestions seriously considered to put off > installing the new mayor and retaining the old mayor 'due to the > crisis'. I am sure the same ideas would be floated around as Bush's > term would otherwise draw to a close. Do the Atomic Scientists still > keep setting that clock periodically on its journey to midnight? > What is that clock setting now? PAT] The clock is now set at 7 minutes to Midnight. http://www.thebulletin.org/doomsday_clock/ Gene ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: MCI Billing Fraud Class Action Notice Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 07:04:15 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications Shows how woefully inadequate are so-called federal consumer "protectors" are. It is absolutely disgusting. Girard, Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP wrote: > MCI SUED FOR BILLING MONTHLY SERVICE CHARGES TO NON-CUSTOMERS > San Francisco - The law firm Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP > http://www.girardgibbs.com has filed a class action complaint on > behalf of telephone customers nationwide who were unlawfully billed by > MCI, Inc. for monthly service charges despite the fact they were not > MCI customers. The complaint alleges that MCI assesses the monthly > fees directly or through consumers' local phone bills. > "MCI has been charging non-customers minimum usage fees and other > monthly service fees without authorization even though MCI provided no > service to these persons," said Daniel Girard, one of the attorneys > for the plaintiff. "Consumers who mistakenly paid MCI or paid in > response to a threatening collections notice should get their money > back." > The case was brought by Shary Everett, a Goodyear, Arizona resident > who repeatedly was assessed monthly service charges by MCI even though > she had a different long distance carrier and had terminated MCI > service at a former address several years earlier. MCI refused to > reverse the unauthorized charges and threatened Ms. Everett with a > collections notice for failing to pay. To stop MCI from continuing to > bill her without authorization, she was forced to restrict all > long-distance service on her telephone line. > The complaint alleges that MCI enrolled non-customers and former MCI > long-distance subscribers without their knowledge or consent in the > "Basic Dial-1 Plan" or another MCI calling plan that carries a monthly > service fee. In 2002, MCI began charging a $3.00 or $5.00 minimum > usage fee (MUF) and a $3.95 monthly recurring fee to consumers who did > not have active billing accounts with MCI and whom MCI has no > reasonable basis to believe are current MCI customers. > The class action lawsuit against MCI was filed in federal district > court in Phoenix on July 18, 2005 and asserts claims against MCI for > violations of the federal Communications Act and for unjust > enrichment. > The complaint alleges that MCI's policy and practice is to reverse, > refund, or credit back unauthorized charges only to consumers who > threaten to bring legal action, lodge complaints with regulatory > authorities, or take other action. According to the complaint, > consumers who do not pay the unauthorized charges are turned over to > collections agencies. > Girard Gibbs & De Bartolomeo LLP is one of the nation's leading firms > representing individuals in consumer fraud class actions and investors > in securities fraud litigation. > If you've experienced this or a similar problem and you are interested > in sharing your experience with us, please print out and fill in the > form below, and mail or email it to our firm. http://gerardgibbs.com > Name: > E-Mail: > Telephone: > State of Residence: > Message: > I would like to receive updates concerning this problem or > other class action news: [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I ran this entire legal notice again, along with Tim's response since it is important that _everyone_ reclaim their money from MCI. Long-time (twenty or thirty year) phone users understand that MCI by and large was built on fraud from its beginning in the 1960's. It's crowning glory, if that term is appropriate came this summer when it's chairperson, Bernie Ebbers, got sent away all the while he was wringing his hands and claiming to know nothing of the deceit which built that huge empire. By all means, if you have as little as five cents coming from MCI, go through Gerard Gibbs (or whomever will administer the class action and get your money back. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Internet Porn Date: Sat, 06 Aug 2005 21:25:02 GMT Dateline NBC ran a good program on this problem, that included tracking down the companies and the spammer, plus an inside look at a porn convention, in Las Vegas. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ 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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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #358 ****************************** TELECOM Digest Mon, 8 Aug 2005 02:12:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 359 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Gangs and Spam (ConsumerAffairs.com) The Truth About DSL (ConsumerAffairs.com) Towns Prepare For Switch to Comcast (Monty Solomon) Dayight Saving Time Switch May Cause Tech Woes (Monty Solomon) NBC TV Lookat, was: Internet Porn (Danny Burstein) Pay Phone Providers (demetrios@word13.com) Re: Europe Sells Zips; US Zips Lips (Phil Earnhardt) Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? (Daniel AJ Sokolov) Re: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way (Tony P.) Re: The Wired Are A Rude Bunch (Steven Lichter) Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? (John Levine) Re: Calling All Luddites (John McHarry) Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage (Steve Sobol) New Sponsor - Phone Bill Busters (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: ConsumerAffairs.com Subject: Gangs and Spam Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 23:11:45 -0500 IBM Says Gangs Now Behind Most Spam In the early days of the Internet, geeky hackers competed to see who could create the most diabolical computer viruses. The motivation was a twisted kind of bragging rights. But a study released by IBM says hackers today have a different motivation -- profit. In its Global Business Security Index, the computer giant says email continues to grow as a security menace, with messages often disguised as communications from legitimate entities that seek to pry personal and financial information from the unsuspecting. Believed to be largely driven by criminal gangs, "phishing" was tied to 35.7 million emails in the first half of 2005. The experts also noted an increase in "spear phishing," highly targeted and coordinated attacks at a specific organization or individual designed to extract critical data. Also, more and more electronic messages contain viruses that can harm computer or network operations. The overall volume of viruses has exploded. In January of 2004, one in every 129 emails contained a virus; by June of this year, infections had spread to one in every 28 emails. The first half of 2005 saw more than 237 million security attacks overall, more than 20 percent of which were aimed at government computers. The United States was overwhelmingly the target location for attacks (12 million), followed distantly by New Zealand (1.2 million) and China (1 million). Surprisingly, spam, unsolicited and unwanted email, provided a bright spot in the study. The ratio of spam to legitimate email continuously decreased over the course of the last six months, from 83 percent in January to 67 percent in June 2005. Although some of this decrease is due to spammers getting fewer reponses from net users, and simply getting tired from fewer positive results and giving up their efforts, much of the decease is also attributed to netters taking a more agressive seek/search out/destroy posture as well. "IBM advises its clients to rapidly adopt a holistic, enterprise-wide approach to security and risk management," said John Lutz, general manager of IBM's Financial Services Sector. Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, ConsumerAffairs.com For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: ConsumerAffairs.com Subject: The Truth About DSL Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 23:14:55 -0500 DSL (digital subscriber line) technology uses plain old copper phone wires to deliver data at high speeds to your home or office. It's the second-most-popular broadband service behind cable, and its subscriber numbers are growing. To get DSL, you'll need a phone line (your primary home phone line can work; you don't necessarily need a second line); a DSL modem, which usually comes with the service; an Ethernet card; and a company that's willing to sell the service to you at your current location. While DSL has become a lot easier to find over the last year or so--it's fast approaching mainstream status -- some common myths still abound. We'll debunk them and set you straight on the facts of DSL. Read on. Myth: DSL makes Web surfing blazingly fast. DSL is faster than dial-up Internet service but not change-your-life faster. In our informal tests, Web pages loaded about three to five times quicker with DSL than with dial-up -- nice, but about the same boost we got from cable. The real difference comes when downloading multimegabyte files, which can show up on your computer in minutes rather than the hours required for dial-up, provided you're downloading with a high-speed connection from a high-speed connection. Myth: Getting DSL is a Nightmare. While ordering DSL is no picnic, it's a lot easier now than it was even a year ago. To qualify for DSL, you still must be within about three miles of a phone company's central office (CO), and that CO must be equipped for digital Internet service. But many of the bureaucratic hassles -- incredibly long installation times, billing mistakes, and tech-support finger-pointing -- have disappeared, says Justin Beech, founder of Broadband Reports. That's partly because many small DSL providers have gone belly-up, leaving only one bureaucracy (the telcos) to deal with if you have a problem. Also, the phone companies have updated their databases and upgraded their equipment dramatically in the last two years. And many now offer self-installation kits, eliminating the delays waiting for an installer to arrive. There are, however, a few caveats to note. It's much easier to get brand-new DSL service than it is to transfer existing service to a new address or switch to a new provider. If you're moving, you'll have better luck getting DSL service quickly if you get a brand-new phone number. If you're transferring to a new service but are keeping your old phone number, be prepared for possible delays; it's sometimes difficult to get your old provider to release its death grip on your phone line, and once that happens, the new provider has to provision, or take hold of, the line for itself. Myth: They advertise DSL in your area, so you can get it. Not so fast, slick. Even if you live close to a central office, you may not qualify for DSL. For example, your phone line might contain load coils, devices that boost voice signals, or bridge taps, where a phone line is spliced to serve other houses in your neighborhood, both of which stop DSL dead in its tracks. The only way to find out is to ask the phone company to test your line and fix any problems, if the company is willing to do so. Such repairs shouldn't cost extra, but don't expect your telco to be speedy about it. And unfortunately, the DSL company usually won't tell you if your line isn't suitable; you're more likely to find out by installing DSL, then discovering for yourself that it doesn't work. Myth: You can get DSL only through your local Baby Bell. Today America Online, MSN, and EarthLink offer DSL (and cable) connections in various parts of the country. A handful of smaller firms also sell DSL, mostly to small businesses. But in nearly every case, these small firms simply piggyback on your local phone company's equipment, as do the large providers, which can add to the time it takes to get your service installed. Myth: One type of DSL is no different from another. There are several types of DSL, each of which differs in speed, reliability, and price. Nearly all residential connections use ADSL. The A stands for asymmetric, and the term means that the speed at which you send data from your PC will be different from the speed at which you receive it. Most ADSL connections let you download data at up to 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) and send data up the line at 128 to 256 kilobits per second (Kbps), but the rates will vary depending on your distance from the central office and on Net congestion. Symmetric DSL (SDSL) is used by businesses who need a reliable connection speed; it sends data at the same rate in both directions (typically from 256K to 768K) and is usually more expensive ($75 to $200 per month). There's also IDSL (for ISDN DSL), which costs about the same as SDSL and provides speeds of up to 144Kbps in both directions. It's primarily for customers who are too far from a central office to qualify for faster versions of DSL. Myth: Having DSL means your computer is always logged on to the Net. Not necessarily. Some DSL service is merely always available -- meaning that you have to log on every time you turn on your computer. Logging on again is a minor hassle if you have programs running that expect constant access to the Net -- such as online backup software or an antivirus update utility -- but otherwise, it's no big deal, since the process takes only a few seconds and doesn't tie up your phone line. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, Consumer Affairs.com For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 23:40:15 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Towns Prepare For Switch to Comcast By Robert Knox, Globe Correspondent Some 73,000 households in Southeastern Massachusetts served by Adelphia cable TV soon will become Comcast customers, probably within the next year. For cable TV viewers in communities currently served by Adelphia, the change will likely mean new programs, services, and fees. For the town of Carver, it may mean beginning negotiations with one company on a new cable contract and concluding with another. The Carver Cable TV Advisory Committee is gearing up to begin talks on a new 10-year pact, with two years left on its current deal. With the joint $12.7 billion purchase of the troubled Adelphia Communications by Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Corp. working its way through bankruptcy court, the companies can only estimate that the deal will be completed in the first three months of next year. By then the Carver committee may be well underway in its contract renewal dealings with Adelphia. But it's almost certain that Adelphia will not be around when Carver completes its negotiations. "The owners of [Adelphia] dug a hole they just can't get out of," said Ron Clarke, a member of the Carver cable committee. In addition to Carver, Comcast is taking over nine other area communities currently served by Adelphia: Abington, Rockland, Duxbury, Kingston, Halifax, Marshfield, Pembroke, Plympton, and Plymouth. Adelphia, then the sixth-largest US cable company, filed for bankruptcy three years ago, shortly before its founder and two of his sons were charged with financial fraud. The sale of the company to Comcast and Time Warner, announced in April, needs the approval of security regulators in addition to the bankruptcy court. The cable companies believe it's a matter of when, not if, the deal will be completed. As required by law, Comcast has applied to each town for a cable TV license transfer. The town has 60 days to hold a public hearing. If it does nothing within that period, the transfer goes through automatically -- but in either case the actual transfer will not take place until the sale is final. The hearings are not the time to air concerns about service, costs, and favorite channels, officials say. Federal law allows the licensing authority -- generally the local board of selectmen -- to examine only a narrow range of criteria at the hearing, such as the company's technical, financial, and management capability to provide the service. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/08/07/towns_prepare_for_switch_to_comcast/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 01:10:37 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Daylight-Saving Switch May Cause Tech Woes By ANICK JESDANUN Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- When daylight-saving time starts earlier than usual in the United States come 2007, your VCR or DVD recorder could start recording shows an hour late. Cell phone companies could give you an extra hour of free weekend calls, and people who depend on online calendars may find themselves late for appointments. An energy bill President Bush is to sign Monday would start daylight time three weeks earlier and end it a week later as an energy-saving measure. And that has technologists worried about software and gadgets that now compensate for daylight time based on a schedule unchanged since 1987. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=50981012 ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: NBC TV Lookat, was: Internet Porn Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 23:39:49 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In Steven Lichter writes: > Dateline NBC ran a good program on this problem, that included > tracking down the companies and the spammer, plus an inside look at a > porn convention, in Las Vegas. Actually,. I thought it was pretty miserable. They did a credible job of tracking down the spammer and showing the layers of camelf^h^h^ subterfuge they use, but among other major difficulties: a) the show claimed these folk (spammers and the porn merchants) hadn't violated any laws. In the same clip they showed the spammers saying "They'll sign up with fake names or fake credit cards" (and lots of other clearly illegal actions). b) they had to do the sappy, happy, ending deal where they tracked down the original spammer (maybe..) and he apologized to the recipient for causing her grief. Sure he's sorry. Stick a national tv camera in front of someone and they'll say anything... (watcha wanna bet he's still doing it?) Oh, and they quoted one of the CAUCE folk (hopefully out of context) as saying: "I think many spammers, once they see the kind of damage they do, some of them may feel sorry. Some of them may get a sense of how much pain they cause people," - sorry, I don't buy that. c) they showed the original e-mail spam that got them started ... *with a fake ID on it*, and nowhere did they followup on how much grief the splillback of these _illegal identity fraud_ mails cause the innocent third parties. I could go on and on ... My compliments to Dateline host John Hockenberry and crew for getting as far a they did, but they left out plenty. Transcript is up at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8841299/ _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Reply-To: From: Subject: Pay Phone Providers Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 21:23:28 -0700 Hello, Do you have a list of pay phone providers nationally? Do you know where I can find one? Best Regards, www.Word13.com "Your Word to Our World" Demetrios Pousatis 505 South 9th Street, Suite 2 Philadelphia, P.a., 19147 p:215-917-2680 ------------------------------ From: Phil Earnhardt Subject: Re: Europe Zips Lips; U.S. Sells ZIPs - New York Times Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 23:44:56 -0600 Organization: http://newsguy.com On Sun, 7 Aug 2005 14:15:43 -0400, Monty Solomon wrote: > So far, American companies including financial services giants like > Bank of America, Citigroup and MasterCard, and national retailers like > DSW shoes and Ralph Lauren Polo, have announced data compromises. All > told, the personal information of more than 50 million consumers has > been lost, stolen and even sold to thieves. I think this analysis is missing the forest for the trees. The larger failure is that the validity of our identity is being held in the secrecy of a few numbers rather than a challenge-response system. If a challenge-response system were in place for the approval of credit card transactions (and applicaitons for new credit, changes of address, etc.), things like credit card nubmers would rapidly lose their value as a target for thieves. --phil ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 02:15:00 +0200 From: Daniel AJ Sokolov Subject: Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? Am 07.08.2005 01:16 schrieb A User: > I am going to be visiting Northern California shortly. I am trying to > find out what carriers have GSM coverage in 95437 Fort Bragg > California. Is there a database that might be able to help? http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_us.shtml HTH, Daniel AJ My e-mail-address is sokolov [at] gmx dot net ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2005 21:04:52 -0400 In article , monty@roscom.com says: > http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4658 > We admire Princeton not only for its beautiful campus and its myriad > of creative minds, but also for its courage to embrace new > technologies. Starting in the fall semester, the school will offer > digital textbooks to its students in partnership with Missouri-based > MBS Textbook Exchange Inc and various textbook publishers. The student > only needs to pick up a barcoded textbook card (see attached > screenshot), activate it at the cash register for usually 33 percent > less than the new-book price, and go online for a one-time download of > the textbook in PDF format. > Alas, the e-books are encoded in DRM which pretty much spoils the > potential success of this pilot project: > * Textbook is locked to the computer where you downloaded it from; > * Copying and burning to CD is prohibited; > * Printing is limited to small passages; > * Unless otherwise stated, textbook activation expires after > 5 months (*gasp*); > * Activated textbooks are not returnable; > * Buyback is not possible. > If this hasn't scared you off already, click here to read the rest in > the press release. > http://www.digitaltextbooks.net/cgi-dts/pressrelease.pdf Considering that: 1) College Textbooks aren't worth the paper they are printed on because the information contained in them is often erroneous. 2) The choice of textbooks at any given college or university has nothing to do with the quality of the book, instead it has to do with the marketing of the book. 3) That there's very little difference between revision 5 and revision 9 of a book. But that doesn't stop them from publishing a new revision pretty much every year. 4) The price gouging is horrendous. I'm assuming that MBS is going to learn a horrible lesson in all this. Students might actually be willing to pay an extra 33% to get a non- crippled paper version of the book. There goes their profit scenario. ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: The Wired Are A Rude Bunch Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 01:12:50 GMT Monty Solomon wrote: > by Fahmida Y. Rashid > While technology, such as cell phones, e-mail and instant messaging, > have in many ways made life easier, these same devices may make users > lazy and oblivious to their surroundings. The constant pressure on > workers to be accessible means manners often take a backseat. In > consumer circles, lots of people apparently believe that because they > can take or make a phone call, they should. > In a recent national poll by market research group Synovate, 68% of > Americans claimed to observe poor cell phone etiquette at least once > per day. Eighteen percent said they ran into poor e-mail etiquette. > The study noted that the Americans showed the poorest etiquette when > using the very devices they rely on the most (52% said they would > "die" if their phones and e-mails were taken away). > "Poor tech etiquette is something most of us don't really think about > as we pick up our cell phones or send an e-mail," said Steve Levine, > senior vice president at Synovate. > The survey results follow on the heels of a marketing push by a > company called Moderati, which sells ring tones, cell phone wallpaper > and ring-back tones. The company claims that "nothing says 'I hate > you' like a DisTone." A DisTone is a rather unfriendly greeting users > assign to callers they want to avoid. > http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/07/28/technology-rudeness-wireless-cx_fr_0728rude.html There was a letter to the editor in the Press-Enterprise here in Riverside, Ca. today. Someone wrote about being hit by a shopping card in a market here by a woman using her cell phone, the person took it away and shut it off, then the lady called the party she was taking to and said that SHE had been interrupted by a rude person. About 5 years ago I was working in Las Vegas and was in a supermarket and was leaning down to get something from the frozen foods section when I was knocked to the floor, I got up the woman was pushing her cart and talking, she never even know she had hit me, that one was not as lucky, I got up, took the phone from her and smashed it on the floor, she went nuts, but other pointed out that she had run me down and kept going, would that be considered hit and run? The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: 8 Aug 2005 02:45:58 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I am going to be visiting Northern California shortly. I am trying > to find out what carriers have GSM coverage in 95437 Fort Bragg > California. Is there a database that might be able to help? The two major GSM carriers in the US, Cingular (now including what used to be AT&T Wireless) and T-Mobile both have 1900MHz band licenses in Mendocino. If you visit Cingular's web site, you can find a coverage map with a little blob around Fort Bragg, so assuming you have a 1900MHz phone, it should work. T-Mobile has no coverage at all in Mendocino, and the 800 MHz band carriers, US Cellular and Verizon, are both CDMA. The Mendocino coast is so hilly that I'd expect plenty of dead spots even for carriers that do cover the area. But it's very pretty. R's, John ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Calling All Luddites Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 02:05:32 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 02:07:28 +0000, Ed Clarke wrote: > No matter what you do, you aren't going to get cell service in CHQ > Armonk. The lobby (if you noticed it) has a copper foil ceiling; the > walls are metal and the windows are metalized (and grounded). You're > not going to get a radio signal out of that building (or into it). > I've tried. > But if all you want is audio, windows make lovely microphones. Just bounce a laser off all that lovely metalized glass. A Faraday cage does not a prison make. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 19:05:45 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Joseph wrote: > Actually, this is good for Sprint PCS which has been in the pits. The > benefit to Nextel is illusive. It's more than likely Sprint PCS had > more designs on spectrum than any real benefit to Nextel. Perhaps, but both companies will end up combining spectrum - there are towers where Nextel has antennas but Sprint doesn't, &c. Nextel probably figured Sprint was a good partner since (as I understand it) they're dumping iDen for a CDMA-based platform, long-term. > when have mergers ever really benefitted the end user? Look at what > happened with AT&T Wireless and Cingular. If you were an AT&T > Wireless subscriber and you got absorbed by Cingular you basically got > reamed and were not even given any Vaseline to make it easier on you. What do you expect? SBC has done the same thing to hundreds of thousands of landline customers by buying RBOC's... I'd *never* use Cingular. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ Subject: New Sponsor - Phone Bill Busters Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 00:36:14 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) A new sponsor for the Digest, starting today; Phone Bill Busters and its owner, Dave Seldon. Please check out his web site at http://www.phone-bill-busters.com for a lot of good deals on long distance service. Plus which, on his home page he has the .rss feed of this Digest, making just one more way to read the TELECOM Digest on if you wish. If you refer, use our top page at http://telecom-digest.org and see his ad in the far right column where you can also click and go to his web site. Thanks very much, Dave. ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #359 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Aug 8 19:24:46 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 7BEF215051; Mon, 8 Aug 2005 19:24:45 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #360 Message-Id: <20050808232445.7BEF215051@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 19:24:45 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: R TELECOM Digest Mon, 8 Aug 2005 19:25:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 360 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Google Gets Sued (Reuters News Wire) Google Gets Googled (Saul Hansel) Report: Cisco Mulls Offer For Nokia (USTelecom dailyLead) RJ-50 Specifications (chsvideo@hotmail.com) Re: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way (jmeissen@aracnet) Re: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way (Lisa Hancock) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (L Hancock) Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? (A User) Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? (Joseph) Re: Calling All Luddites (Dean M.) Re: The Wired Are A Rude Bunch (Steve Sobol) Re: Pay Phone Providers (Carl Navarro) Re: Death Sentence for Independent ISPs? (Matt Simpson) Re: FAX vs VOIP (I am a Sock Puppet) New Sponsor - Phone Call Busters (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Google Gets Sued Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 16:54:57 -0500 Google sued over claims of excess advertising fees Google Inc. is being sued over accusations that it overcharged advertisers who use the Web search giant's paid search advertising program, which accounts for the vast majority of Google's revenue. The proposed class-action suit, filed on August 3 in State Superior Court in Santa Clara, California, accuses Google of charging in excess of advertisers' "daily budgets," under which Google allows an advertiser to limit how much it spends each day. Lawyers for the proposed suit were not available to comment. The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages and was filed on behalf of CLRB Hanson Industries LLC in Minnesota and other advertisers. Google said the allegations had no basis. "The claims are without merit and we will defend against it vigorously," said Google spokesman Steve Langdon. The suit claims Google "engaged in conduct which injured members of the general public, including the plaintiffs" and said it was "impossible ... to determine the exact amount of the injury without a detailed review of Google's books and records." It also accuses Google, based in Mountain View, California, of disputing complaints from advertisers regarding the company's pricing practices and for not reimbursing what the suit called "unlawful" charges. Google, the biggest player in the global Internet advertising market, gets the vast majority of its revenue from Web search advertising. Shares of Google closed down $1.10 to $291.25 on Nasdaq. The stock is 7.2 percent below its record close of $313.94 on July 21. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Saul Hansel Subject: Google Gets Googled Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 16:57:51 -0500 Google says its mission is "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." But it does not appear to take kindly to those who use its search engine to organize and publish information about its own executives. CNETNews.com, a technology news Web site, said last week that Google had told it that the company would not answer any questions from CNET's reporters until July 2006. The move came after CNET published an article last month that discussed how the Google search engine can uncover personal information and that raised questions about what information Google collects about its users. The article, by Elinor Mills, a CNET staff writer, gave several examples of information about Google's chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, that could be gleaned from the search engine. These included that his shares in the company were worth $1.5 billion, that he lived in Atherton, Calif., that he was the host of a $10,000-a-plate fund-raiser for Al Gore's presidential campaign and that he was a pilot. After the article appeared, David Krane, Google's director of public relations, called CNET editors to complain, said Jai Singh, the editor in chief of CNETNews.com. "They were unhappy about the fact we used Schmidt's private information in our story," Mr. Singh said. "Our view is what we published was all public information, and we actually used their own product to find it." He said Mr. Krane called back to say that Google would not speak to any reporter from CNET for a year. In an instant-message interview, Mr. Krane said, "You can put us down for a 'no comment.' When asked if Google had any objection to the reprinting of the information about Mr. Schmidt in this article, Mr. Krane replied that it did not. Mr. Singh, who has worked in technology news for more than two decades, said he could not recall a similar situation. "Sometimes a company is ticked off and won't talk to a reporter for a bit," he said, "but I've never seen a company not talk to a whole news organization." by Saul Hansel Copyright 2005 New York Times and CNET Com. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Read NY Times on line each day with NO registration or login requirements: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 12:53:33 EDT From: USTelecom DailyLead Subject: Report: Cisco Mulls Offer For Nokia USTelecom dailyLead August 8, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23672&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Report: Cisco mulls offer for Nokia BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Iowa Telecom taps CopperCom for softswitch changeover * Huawei considers Marconi bid * Report: News Corp. made offer for Skype * Nortel reports earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Carrier Grade Voice Over IP EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * AOL acquires phone-personalization software maker REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Evolving broadband raises new questions Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23672&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: chsvideo@hotmail.com Subject: RJ-50 Specifications Date: 8 Aug 2005 08:56:03 -0700 Hi All, Does anyone know where I can find the physical specifications for an RJ-50 plug/jack? We have some equipment that uses RJ-45s as well as an RJ-45-sized connector with a 10P10C configuration -- coworkers say it's a "10 Conductor RJ45", I say it's a "RJ50" -- we'd like to know who is right and have some hard evidence in the form of a spec or something. Thanks! Lincoln ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way Date: 8 Aug 2005 17:53:59 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Monty Solomon wrote: > http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=4658 > .... > Alas, the e-books are encoded in DRM which pretty much spoils the > potential success of this pilot project: > * Textbook is locked to the computer where you downloaded it from; > * Copying and burning to CD is prohibited; > * Printing is limited to small passages; > * Unless otherwise stated, textbook activation expires after > 5 months (*gasp*); > * Activated textbooks are not returnable; > * Buyback is not possible. Do they use some proprietary Adobe DRM mechanism that makes them incompatible with non-Adobe PDF readers? Specifically, what about Linux platforms, where Windows-specific DRM measures don't usually work? John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Princeton University Goes Digital - The Wrong Way Date: 8 Aug 2005 11:33:37 -0700 Tony P. wrote: >> go online for a one-time download of >> the textbook in PDF format. This is another issue in the ongoing debate between conventional paper and book records and electronic media. My conclusion is "mixed". I've been doing library research with both kinds of media. I also use both at work. There are a lot of advantagess of online media: it takes up less space, it's more easily or much more easily searchable, and one can 'cut and paste' selected portions faster and easier than writing them down or making a photocopy. But there are some disadvantages, too. Traditional hardcopy (a book) is eye scannable. That means you can see random things with your eyes that an electronic search will never catch. A book is movabl e-- you can arrange it in different ways on the table or on your lap or even in the bathroom, you can't do that with a fixed terminal. Large format books are difficult to read on a computer screen without constant size adjustment or screen scrolling which gets dizzying after a short while. For example, we have the telephone book available online. They come up slowly and are hard to read. For such a reference it's faster to use the real thing. As the original article notes, there are many restrictions to the CDs being offered which are significant disadvtgs to the book. In the case of a textbook where you're reading the whole thing anyway I don't see much advtg to CD. I see it more with reference works or indexes. Microfilm saves tremendous space. That's significant since space is costly and a large collection probably couldn't be housed. It also lasts longer than paper, esp newsprint. However, it is a pain to search through and look at. The problems of 'scrolling' a large image over a screen remain. Microfiche is a little bit better in terms of random access, but still a pain. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: 8 Aug 2005 10:06:28 -0700 Eric Talmadge wrote: > Outside the nearby A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings left standing > after the blast, peace activists held a "die-in" -- falling to the > ground to dramatize the toll from the United States bombing that > turned life to death for more than 140,000 and forever changed the > face of war. I was wondering why the firebombing of Tokyo -- that burned to death 100,000 people -- doesn't get the same attention as Hiroshima? Lots of German and Japanese cities were fire bombed and many thousands of civilians were killed by napalm and related incendiaries. Indeed, during the war US research labs continually sought better burning materials that would stick harder and burn hotter to Japanese buildings. Analysts worked to develop the most efficient ratio between explosives and fire -- how much explosives to use to properly blow something apart, and then fire to burn it all up; all in a way to maximize destruction. Nobody talks about this stuff. I point all this out because "the bomb" must be taken in context with the rest of the WW II, not in isolation. We also must look at the causes of WW II. That's a lot harder. It's easy to denounce war. It's something completely different to prevent. On Sept 11, many people worldwide cheered when the World Trade Center was destroyed and thousands of people were killed. That kind of cheering seems rather warlike to me. It's easy for someone to say in hindsight "I would not have dropped the bomb." But it's a lot harder to rethink decisions made by the Allied countries in the 1930s in response to Axis powers aggression. The Axis powers thought they had a legitimate right to do what they did. Germany felt it was unfairly screwed at the end of WW I and was only making things right. Japan felt it was unfairly shut out of world commerce by actions of western powers. At the time, it sure seemed that Chamberlain was doing the right thing making concessions to Germany and avoiding war at that moment. That's a decision people need to rethink carefully. > In central London, more than 200 anti-nuclear activists and others > gathered at Tavistock Square, where a cherry tree was planted in 1967 > in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing. Do they remember the victims of the London blitz? Do they remember the victims of the 'rape of Nanking'? The Bataan death march? TELECOM Digest Editor's Note Note was responded to by Gene S. Berkowitz: >> Do the Atomic Scientists still keep setting that clock periodically >> on its journey to midnight? What is that clock setting now? PAT] > The clock is now set at 7 minutes to Midnight. > http://www.thebulletin.org/doomsday_clock/ It has been 60 years since nuclear weapons were used. They were used only once. However, conventional weapons and new weapons (like hijacked airplanes) have been used many times. The "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" is an interesting magazine; it has a lot of good history and international political affairs articles. However, I don't agree with their general theme. As I understood it, the Bulletin was established by some scientists from the Manhattan Project who were opposed to using the bomb they created against Japan. They intended it for use against Germany, but they objected for use in Japan. In my opinion, those who objected at the time did not understand the situation as well as the political leaders who had to make the actual decision. The scientists had been busy in their laboratories and didn't realize the horrors and casualties Allied soldiers suffered in the war in the Pacific. The scientists knew firsthand how evil Germany was. But Japan's military government was just as bad and had to be completely removed from power. Their actions at the time as well as subsequent history shows clearly that military government was not about to step away despite a string of defeats. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A group of World War Two veterans in a counter-demonstration over the weekend at Arlington Cemetery carried banners which stated 'had there been no Pearl Harbor there would have been no Hiroshima.' PAT] ------------------------------ From: A User Subject: Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 20:14:56 +1000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com On 8 Aug 2005 02:45:58 -0000, John Levine wrote: >> I am going to be visiting Northern California shortly. I am trying >> to find out what carriers have GSM coverage in 95437 Fort Bragg >> California. Is there a database that might be able to help? > The two major GSM carriers in the US, Cingular (now including what > used to be AT&T Wireless) and T-Mobile both have 1900MHz band licenses > in Mendocino. If you visit Cingular's web site, you can find a > coverage map with a little blob around Fort Bragg, so assuming you > have a 1900MHz phone, it should work. T-Mobile has no coverage at all > in Mendocino, and the 800 MHz band carriers, US Cellular and Verizon, > are both CDMA. > The Mendocino coast is so hilly that I'd expect plenty of dead spots > even for carriers that do cover the area. But it's very pretty. > R's, > John Thanks to all. The GSM World page is rarely up to date. According to the Cingular web site, looks like there is a cell in Fort Bragg. It looks like one cell. GSM cells are only 17 or so miles across. Still would nice to have a database of US and other global locations with who services them and what technology. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 08:00:37 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 09:16:26 +1000, A User wrote: > I am going to be visiting Northern California shortly. I am trying to > find out what carriers have GSM coverage in 95437 Fort Bragg > California. Is there a database that might be able to help? According to Wireless Advisor http://www.wirelessadvisor.com for that ZIP the GSM providers would be T-Mobile and Cingular. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Calling All Luddites From: Dean M. Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 06:09:52 GMT Heh! You should email Friedman this little piece of info:-) Although he was obviously making a larger point, it's rather amusing his supposed "straw that broke the camel's back" is bogus! -Dean On Sat, 06 Aug 2005 19:07:28 -0700, Ed Clarke wrote: > On 2005-08-04, Thomas L Friedman wrote: >> By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN >> I began thinking about this after watching the Japanese use cellphones >> and laptops to get on the Internet from speeding bullet trains and >> subways deep underground. But the last straw was when I couldn't get >> cellphone service while visiting I.B.M.'s headquarters in Armonk, N.Y. > No matter what you do, you aren't going to get cell service in CHQ > Armonk. The lobby (if you noticed it) has a copper foil ceiling; the > walls are metal and the windows are metalized (and grounded). You're > not going to get a radio signal out of that building (or into it). > I've tried. > I had to set up a demo for the corporate staff that involved satellite > data transmission. We ended up moving the meeting to a different > building on the site that wasn't quite so RF secure. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: The Wired Are A Rude Bunch Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 00:01:24 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Steven Lichter wrote: > There was a letter to the editor in the Press-Enterprise here in > Riverside, Ca. today. Someone wrote about being hit by a shopping > card in a market here by a woman using her cell phone, the person took > it away and shut it off, then the lady called the party she was taking > to and said that SHE had been interrupted by a rude person. Good thing she wasn't about an hour further north, because if she'd run into me up here I probably would have done physical damage to the phone before giving it back to her. :) I try extremely hard *not* to be rude when I'm using my phone in a public place, and I wish other people would too (though I don't expect it; I know better). > cart and talking, she never even know she had hit me, that one was not > as lucky, I got up, took the phone from her and smashed it on the > floor, she went nuts, but other pointed out that she had run me down > and kept going, would that be considered hit and run? Good for you. :) Steve in Apple Valley Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Pay Phone Providers Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 11:50:26 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On Sun, 7 Aug 2005 21:23:28 -0700, wrote: > Hello, > Do you have a list of pay phone providers nationally? If you're the one buying the box, try the obvious. www.payphone.com Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: Matt Simpson Subject: Re: Death Sentence for Independent ISPs? Organization: Yeah Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 13:13:22 -0400 In article , jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: > I fail to see how enabling a monopoly reduces prices and improves > service. :-/ Since any service is an improvement over no service at all, this MIGHT improve service if it really does encourage the "monopolies" to begin serving areas which currently have no service. Speaking as someone who can get neither cable nor DSL (and doesn't consider satellite a viable option), I get a little tired of my friends who currently have access to both cable and DSL whining about their choices being limited. At this point, I'd be pretty damn happy if I could get just one option. I'm not convinced that legislation favoring the "big guys" is necessarily the answer, but until I have at least one vendor offering to sell me broadband, I'm not going to whine about legislation limiting other ISPs' ability to undercut the big guys in the profitable urban markets, unless those ISPs also want to sell their service to me. I would be happier if the legislation actually provided some incentives, or even requirements, to the big guys to expand service in exchange for strangling the competition, instead of vague suggestions that they'll feel more free to expand if competition isn't a threat. For example, my telephone service is provided by Bell South. Bell South won't sell me DSL. From a technical point of view, I don't know what would be required for them to do so. I've heard rumors that maybe DSL equipment could be added to that SLC box at the end of my road. It would be nice to see a ruling that Bell South doesn't have to give competitors access to their lines IF AND WHEN they offer DSL to all their residential phone customers. ------------------------------ From: I am a Sock Puppet Subject: Re: FAX vs VOIP Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 16:25:42 -0400 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com John McHarry wrote: > This is really a reply to a question posted on a discussion of Lingo, > but the subject is really quite different from that of the original > thread. > I believe the issue with FAX over VOIP is that VOIP uses lossy > compression that does not treat FAX modulation gently. Depends the VOIP. But (when set to "high quality mode) use g7.11 for the codec. This is the same that most digital lines (ie: isdn, t1) use - so in most cases lossy compression is NOT an issue. What IS often an issue is latency in the IP connection -- this translates into audio latency. For instance, a 250ms delay on the IP end means that there is a 1/4 second delay in the audio -- the recieving end hears the audio 1/4 second after it is sent. That sort of thing can play havoc with modems and faxes. DO NOT REPLY TO THE EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE HEADERS OF THIS POST. IT IS A SPAM TRAP ADDRESS. ------------------------------ Subject: New Sponsor - Phone Bill Busters Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 00:36:14 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) A new sponsor for the Digest, starting today; Phone Call Busters and its owner, Dave Seldon. You'll find his ad in the far right column on our web site http://telecom-digest.org ; the green telephone and the Phone Bill Busters message. You can either click on that logo itself or check out http://phone-bill-busters.com to learn about his techniques for reducing long distance costs, and also note his several pages of good links, and reports on cell phones, etc. In addition, he carries the .rss feed for TELECOM Digest and you might find that a preferable way to read this Digest each day. Dave and I both thank you for taking a few minutes today to visit with him. 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #360 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Aug 9 20:45:16 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id A4DB31514D; Tue, 9 Aug 2005 20:45:15 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #361 Message-Id: <20050810004515.A4DB31514D@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 20:45:15 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, BIZ_TLD,CELL_PHONE_IMPROVE autolearn=no version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 9 Aug 2005 20:45:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 361 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Microsoft Spammer (Reuters News Wire) Listing of Major Spyware Threats (Webroot Software) Digital Gold Circulation Rises (Reuters News Wire) DesignCon East 2005 Invitation (Lisa Reyes) VOIP Hardware (J Kelly) CacheLogic Announces P2P Audio/Video File Format Study (Jon Hirshon) Covad VoIP Service (harris@calltower) Former U.S. Treasury Chief Aims To Close Digital Divide (USTelecomdaily) Iwatsu Omega IV 616 (compufreak) Re: More on Verizon Fiber/FiOS (foxintampa1) Re: 1A2 Help Requested (IPRichie) Correction (David Sims) Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage (John Levine) Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? (Joseph) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (Tony P.) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (Tim) Nakasaki Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb (Eric Talmadge) Don't Forget Peter Jennings' ... Flaw (alan@bloomfieldpress.com) New Sponsor - Phone Call Busters (TELECOM Digest Editor) Sister Katherine Finally Laid to Rest (Patrick Townson) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Microsoft Settles Suit Against Spammer Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 08:46:03 -0500 Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday that it had settled a lawsuit against Scott Richter, whom it identified as a former "spam king." Microsoft said that as part of the settlement Richter and his company agreed to pay $7 million to Microsoft. Richter and his company will file a motion on Tuesday to dismiss bankruptcy proceedings they filed in March in the U.S. bankruptcy court in Denver, according to a joint statement by Microsoft and Richter. Bankruptcy was originally filed to avoid paying Microsoft's judgment. The settlement is conditioned on dismissal of the bankruptcy cases. A separate statement from Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith said the company will reinvest all of the money including $5 million additional of their own money which will go to increase Internet enforcement efforts and expand technical and investigative support to help law enforcers to address computer- related crimes. Smith said "we intend to begin catching and punishing spammers; deterence rather than filtering from now on." The joint statement from Microsoft and Richter said Richter had changed his e-mailing practices in part because Microsoft and the office of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued him in 2003. In its lawsuit, Microsoft argued that Richter and his companies violated state and federal law by sending spam e-mail and teaching other guys how to do the same, to send spam. In the statement, Richter and his company, OptInRealBig.Com, LLC, denied all allegations. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. ------------------------------ From: Webroot Software Subject: Listing of Major Spyware Threats Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 09:39:20 -0500 The list below depicts the spyware threats most frequently identified by Webroot's Spy Audit, a free spyware scanner tool. Webroot's dedicated team of expert spyware researchers compiled the threat background and additional spyware information provided. Spy Sweeper, Webroot's anti-spyware software, can detect and remove all of these spyware threats: Name: CoolWebSearch (CWS) Description: CoolWebSearch may hijack any of the following: Web searches, home page, and other Internet Explorer settings. Recent variants of CoolWebSearch install using malicious HTML applications or security flaws, such as exploits in the HTML Help format and Microsoft Java Virtual machines. Name: Gator (GAIN) Description: Gator is an adware program that may display banner advertisements based on user Web surfing habits. Gator is usually bundled with numerous free software programs, including the popular file-sharing program Kazaa. Name: 180search Assistant Description: 180search Assistant is an adware program that delivers targeted pop-up advertisements to a user's computer. Whenever a key word is entered into a search engine or a targeted Web site is visited, 180search Assistant opens a separate browser window displaying an advertiser's Web page that is related to the key word or site. Name: ISTbar/AUpdate Description: ISTbar is a toolbar used for searching pornographic web sites that may display pornographic pop-ups and hijack user homepages and Internet searches. Name: Transponder (vx2) Description: Transponder is an IE Browser Helper Object that monitors requested web pages and data entered into online forms, then delivers targeted advertisements. Name: Internet Optimizer Description: Internet Optimizer hijacks error pages and redirects them to its own controlling server at http://www.internet-optimizer.com. Name: BlazeFind Description: BlazeFind may hijack any of the following: Web searches, home page, and other Internet Explorer settings. BlazeFind may redirect Web searches through its own search engine and change default home pages to www.blazefind.com. This hijacker may also change other Internet Explorer settings. Name: Hot as Hell (one of the worst!) Description: Hot as Hell is a dialer program which dials toll numbers in order to access paid pornographic Web sites. Hot as Hell may disconnect a user's computer from a local Internet provider and reconnect the user to the Internet using an expensive toll or international phone number. It spies on the user, and it may accrue significant long distance phone charges. It may run in the background, hiding its presence. It often times does not even ask permission; it simply seizes the user's line and makes credit card calls to porn sites, based on information it has accumulated such as credit card numbers, for instance during overnight hours. Name: Advance Keylogger Description: Advanced Keylogger has the ability to monitor keystrokes and take screenshots. Name: TIBS Dialer Description: TIBS Dialer is a dialer that may hijack a user's modem and dial toll numbers that access paid, pornographic Web sites. Copyright 2005 Webroot Software, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, WebRoot Software. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Digital Gold Circulation Rises to 2.5 Tons Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 09:31:53 -0500 Internet payment system e-gold now holds around 2.5 ton of gold, an increase of 40 percent since 2004 and more than the official gold reserves of countries like Chile and Luxembourg. "The e-gold system has now surpassed 27 out of 109 gold-holding nations and is on track to exceed Canada's gold reserves by year-end," e-gold founder Douglas Jackson said in a statement. The system (www.e-gold.com) allows people anywhere in the world to send specified weights of gold to other e-gold accounts. While the ownership changes, the gold in the treasury grade vault stays put. A Canadian, for example, can pay a German the correct weight of gold for goods or services as easily as if the price had been quoted in a national currency. The system currently processes over 10 million user-to-user payments annually with a value exceeding $1 billion. According to e-gold's Web Site, the most frequent gold spend over the past 24 hours fell in the 10-100 milligram range, for a total of 455 grams (14.6 troy ounces). Spot gold currently trades at around $433 an ounce. But the amount of gold involved is still only a fraction of bullion's ever-shrinking share of central bank foreign exchange reserves, which stood at just over 31,000 tons as of June 2005. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Lisa Reyes Subject: DesignCon East 2005 Invitation Date: TUE, 9 AUG 2005 09:20:09 -0500 Reply-To: events@iec.org The International Engineering Consortium (IEC) requests your presence, as a valued member of the high-technology press, at the 2005 DesignCon East Conference in Worcester, Massachusetts, September 19-21 at the DCU Center. Offering the freshest solutions to today's pressing engineering-design challenges, DesignCon East is the place to see and hear about the latest advancements in semiconductor and electronic design engineering. Industry leaders will give keynote addresses on critical industry issues, participate in important panels, and present award-winning papers during comprehensive seminars. More than 40 technical papers will be presented at DesignCon East, and more than 40 leading companies are expected to demonstrate their latest products and services at its accompanying technology exhibition. The IEC offers complimentary registration to the DesignCon East conference and exhibition to accredited members of the media, which will grant you full access to the host of educational programming offered, as well as the extensive exhibition showcasing the industry's most important technological advances and product developments. Please see below for information on how to register. What: DesignCon East 2005 When: September 19-21, 2005 Where: DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts Who (keynote speakers): Raul Camposano, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Synopsys; Michael Paczan, Chief Technology Officer, Power.org Initiative, Systems and Technology Group, IBM; Don Desbiens, Vice President, Technology Development, Fairchild Semiconductor; and Wayne Morrison, Vice President, TCS Sales and Applications Engineering, Teradyne How to Register: Visit http://www.iec.org/events/2005/designcon_east/registration/reg_press.html How to Get More Information: Visit http://www.designcon.com/east or contact Lisa Reyes at 312-559-3325, (Chicago number). Best regards, Lisa Ann Reyes Communications Manager +1-312-559-3325 mailto:lreyes@iec.org http://www.iec.org/ ------------------------------ From: Withheld on Request Subject: VOIP Hardware Date: 8 Aug 2005 17:50:47 -0700 *** PATRICK, can you remove my name email address from this post please *** Can anyone recommend a solution for the following: I need to be able to pick up a phone at Location B and get a dialtone from a POTS line located at Location A Both locations have broadband. Location A has a cable modem and Location B has a T1 connection. Both locations are behind a firewall and or NAT, but I have full control over the firewall at A (but no control at all at B, I assume it will pass most anything going out that originates inside the firewall, so far I've found no protocols it will not pass). Location B does not need to be able to receive calls, only originate calls, the calls must be made from the phone line at A (ANI has to match A's number). It needs to allow a modem connection across the link. Its probably 2400bps, but I have no way to be sure. My other requirement is that it needs to be really cheap. My first thought was Asterisk with a FXO card at A and some sort of FXS device at B (maybe an iAXy or similar). Asterisk seems like overkill for this and I don't want to dedicate a PC for this unless I really have to. Seems like there should be some sort of cheap box out there that can take a single FXO line and link up to an FXS device using SIP or some similar protocol across the public internet. If such a thing exists I have yet to locate it. This is going to be very low traffic, maybe a couple calls a month at random times. Any pointers to get me started are much appreciated. ------------------------------ From: Jonathan Hirshon Subject: CacheLogic Announces Worldwide P2P Audio/Video File Format Study Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 12:18:08 -0700 Greetings all -- the following news announcement from CacheLogic details their latest analysis of the actual P2P data traffic worldwide across the Net, obtained through direct packet monitoring of Internet backbones and ISPs data streams via Layer 7 packet analysis. For this study, we determined what kinds of audio and video file formats are being actually traded on the major P2P networks, on a weighted basis. The results certainly surprised me -- key details are: - Overall Mix of P2P traffic by volume, across the 4 major P2P networks: Audio: 11.34% Video: 61.44% Other: 27.22% - Microsoft video formats represent 46% of aggregate worldwide P2P traffic. - 65% of all audio files by volume of traffic are still traded in the MP3 format, but a surprising 12.3% are in the open-source OGG file format (almost all of which are exclusively traded on the BitTorrent network, particularly in Asia - this last *really* caught me by surprise, as I did not believe OGG had anywhere near this kind of market penetration!) - BitTorrent is increasingly being used for the distribution of legitimate content. If you are interested in seeing the complete Powerpoint presentation with these and other details, just reply back and I will forward it on to you. Also, if you wish to interview CacheLogic regarding this, please don't hesitate to call me on my mobile number and I'll quickly facilitate that for you. As always, should you no longer wish to receive these missives from CacheLogic, just reply back and we will immediately address this for you. Cheers, JH First-Ever, Real-Time Traffic Analysis of File Formats Crossing Peer-to-Peer Released by CacheLogic CacheLogic Technology Installed in Tier-One ISPs Worldwide Monitors Actual Network Traffic, Reveals Surprising Facts in Audio/Video Trends and Format Usage. Cambridge, England August 9, 2005 CacheLogic, Ltd. a world leader in Peer-to-Peer traffic management and network intelligence solutions =96 today published a market study of file formats traversing the Peer-to-Peer Networks that identifies the formats of choice for audio and video files among file traders. This first-ever, truly definitive study is based not on estimates, but on actual packet data and traffic levels analyzed at Tier-One ISPs (Internet Service Providers) worldwide. Using the advanced Layer-7 technology found in both its Peer-to-Peer Management Solution and Deep Packet Inspection products, CacheLogic analyzed terabytes of data to discover a number of surprising new facts regarding Peer-to-Peer audio and video trading across the entirety of the Internet. Jonathan Hirshon Principal, Horizon Communications Vox - 408-969-4888 US Mobile - 408-393-4900 Euro Mobile (only when traveling) - (+44)(0)7791 156425 GnuPG Fingerprint - 3F31 D4FE 391C A0AA E7DE 124F 36FB E002 891C 8909 Automatically add my vCard into Outlook (etc.) at www.horizonpr.com/ vcard.html See the current JH Music Library at http://www.horizonpr.com/ituneslist/ ------------------------------ From: harris@calltower Subject: Covad VoIP Service Date: 9 Aug 2005 13:09:44 -0700 Full disclosure: I am with CAllTower, a direct competitor of Covad in VoIP. Recently we have received a number of calls from Covad VoIP customers who are looking for alternatives. In some cases these Covad customers are telling us that they have not received any billing from Covad for a number of months. "Free" is hard to sell against. I am wondering if there are lots of Covad customers who are: 1. unhappy and looking for alternatives; 2. not being invoiced? and if not being invoiced, is this due to service issues? Thanks for helping us grow the quality end of the nascent VoIP industry. harris@calltower ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 14:45:16 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Former U.S. Treasury Chief Aims to Close Digital Divide USTelecom dailyLead August 9, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23703&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Former U.S. Treasury chief aims to close digital divide BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Marconi issues statement on strategic plans * Verizon joins MOCA * Yahoo! adds phone service to IM software * Editorial: FCC's DSL ruling to spur broadband * AT&T makes VoIP easy with new software USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * New in the Telecom Bookstore: Introduction to IP Television EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Qualcomm, Boeing test in-flight mobile phone service REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC adds VoIP to CALEA rules * USDA puts Pannaway on RUS list Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23703&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ Subject: Iwatsu Omega IV 616 From: jone@ll-dot-net.no-spam.invalid (compufreak) Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 11:21:51 -0500 Hi! I have just recently picked up an Iwatsu Omega IV 616 system. The system was removed from a working environment, or so I was told. I am now setting it up. Unfortunately, I seem to be having problems getting the extension phones to operate. When hooked up, they simply keep clicking, even without the handset lifted. There is no dialtone or anything. As of now, I have tried different RJ-21 ends on this thing, but I seem to keep running into brick walls. I believe that this is a problem with the ends, the key system unit hardware, or the software on the system. I cannot further isolate this problem, though. I do know, however, that it is not the phones -- I have tested several to no avail. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks! P.S. Some extensions did 'work,' but then mysteriously went bad. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: More on Verizon Fiber/FiOS From: jason@vip26-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (foxintampa1) Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 11:21:52 -0500 You can also find more out about Fios here: http://www.myfios.net - Thanks ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 1A2 Help Requested From: petratechnologies@yahoo-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (IPRichie) Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 11:21:51 -0500 My father installed those systems in the 70's. He even custom wired them to utilize the Northern Telecom SM-1's and Logic 10's. The 1A2 KSU was made by ITT. Each multibutton telephone requires a 25 pair connection to the KSU (If it is a 10-button ITT Classic)=20 I might be able to find the old ITT manuals which have the punch down configurations for all the features, including intercom. The Ksu requires the old relay line cards. ------------------------------ Subject: Correction From: david@david-sims-dot-com.no-spam.invalid (David Sims) Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 11:21:52 -0500 In my article as posted recently, I misattributed material from Paul Kapustka's original reporting to "wire services" and "Reuters" and neglected to put attributions on all Paul's reporting. This article has been pulled and a revised version submitted to my editors. ------------------------------ Date: 9 Aug 2005 05:02:33 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> Actually, this is good for Sprint PCS which has been in the pits. The >> benefit to Nextel is illusive. It's more than likely Sprint PCS had >> more designs on spectrum than any real benefit to Nextel. > Perhaps, but both companies will end up combining spectrum - there are > towers where Nextel has antennas but Sprint doesn't, &c. Unlikely, since Sprint is PCS 1900 and Nextel is iDen 800, different bands, different technologies, different antennas. I can report that our shiny new water tower has separate antennas for Sprint and Nextel, each paying separate rent. > Nextel probably figured Sprint was a good partner since (as I > understand it) they're dumping iDen for a CDMA-based platform, > long-term. That's the point, iDen doesn't provide an upgrade path to spiffy digital services. I wonder whether they're going to move to CDMA in the 800 band that Nextel uses or run the networks in parallel forever or what. They're surely not going to abandon the iDen band, since they paid so much for them and 800 propagates a lot better than 1900. Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 06:43:45 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Mon, 08 Aug 2005 20:14:56 +1000, A User wrote: > Still would nice to have a database of US and other global locations > with who services them and what technology. It may not be official but if you go to http://www.cellreception.com/towers/ they have interactive google maps of areas with red balloons where towers are. Clicking on a balloon will show you who it belongs to. From what I understand it won't show everything except towers that are registered with the FCC. Also take into account that it may not be listed as its present name e.g. it may say something like VoiceStream I LLC instead of T-Mobile or it might say Airtouch LLC instead of Verizon. Also mobile operators sometimes "aggregate" with other operators on a single tower being run by someone who owns the tower. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Organization: ATCC Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 21:03:54 -0400 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says: > Eric Talmadge wrote: >> Outside the nearby A-Bomb Dome, one of the few buildings left standing >> after the blast, peace activists held a "die-in" -- falling to the >> ground to dramatize the toll from the United States bombing that >> turned life to death for more than 140,000 and forever changed the >> face of war. > I was wondering why the firebombing of Tokyo -- that burned to death > 100,000 people -- doesn't get the same attention as Hiroshima? Lots of > German and Japanese cities were fire bombed and many thousands of > civilians were killed by napalm and related incendiaries. Indeed, > during the war US research labs continually sought better burning > materials that would stick harder and burn hotter to Japanese > buildings. Analysts worked to develop the most efficient ratio between > explosives and fire -- how much explosives to use to properly blow > something apart, and then fire to burn it all up; all in a way to > maximize destruction. Nobody talks about this stuff. In the case of Japan the incendiary bombs were VERY effective. They literally used lots of wood and paper in Japanese homes. > I point all this out because "the bomb" must be taken in context with > the rest of the WW II, not in isolation. We also must look at the > causes of WW II. That's a lot harder. > It's easy to denounce war. It's something completely different to > prevent. On Sept 11, many people worldwide cheered when the World > Trade Center was destroyed and thousands of people were killed. That > kind of cheering seems rather warlike to me. > It's easy for someone to say in hindsight "I would not have dropped > the bomb." But it's a lot harder to rethink decisions made by the > Allied countries in the 1930s in response to Axis powers aggression. > The Axis powers thought they had a legitimate right to do what they > did. Germany felt it was unfairly screwed at the end of WW I and was > only making things right. Japan felt it was unfairly shut out of > world commerce by actions of western powers. Both were correct in their reasons. Germany in particular was economically hamstrung by the French when they signed the Treaty of Versailles. People also neglect to mention the push by the arms industry in Germany, Krup being a prime example. In the case of Japan it was all about natural resources and establishment of Empire. Manchuria allowed them to do both. > At the time, it sure seemed that Chamberlain was doing the right thing > making concessions to Germany and avoiding war at that moment. That's > a decision people need to rethink carefully. Chamberlain was an idiot. Perhaps that was a little bit harsh and instead I should have said that his failure to reconcile promise against breach was the main issue. >> In central London, more than 200 anti-nuclear activists and others >> gathered at Tavistock Square, where a cherry tree was planted in 1967 >> in memory of the victims of the Hiroshima bombing. > Do they remember the victims of the London blitz? Do they remember > the victims of the 'rape of Nanking'? The Bataan death march? Indirectly we Rhode Islanders still commemorate the brutality of the Japanese and the dropping of the atomic bomb to vanquishing the Japanese. It used to be called and is still widely known as VJ or Victory over Japan day but the state government prefers to drop the "Japan" part in order to appease Toray Plastics. My two grandfathers both served during WW II. My maternal grandfather was in the South Pacific, while my paternal was in Europe routing out Germans. You can be damned sure I'll remember the sacrifices they made. > TELECOM Digest Editor's Note Note was responded to by Gene S. Berkowitz: >>> Do the Atomic Scientists still keep setting that clock periodically >>> on its journey to midnight? What is that clock setting now? PAT] >> The clock is now set at 7 minutes to Midnight. >> http://www.thebulletin.org/doomsday_clock/ The clock was at 3 minutes to Midnight when Ronald Reagan was sworn as President. I think ... > It has been 60 years since nuclear weapons were used. They were used > only once. However, conventional weapons and new weapons (like > hijacked airplanes) have been used many times. > The "Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists" is an interesting magazine; it > has a lot of good history and international political affairs > articles. > However, I don't agree with their general theme. > As I understood it, the Bulletin was established by some scientists > from the Manhattan Project who were opposed to using the bomb they > created against Japan. They intended it for use against Germany, but > they objected for use in Japan. In my opinion, those who objected at > the time did not understand the situation as well as the political > leaders who had to make the actual decision. The scientists had been > busy in their laboratories and didn't realize the horrors and > casualties Allied soldiers suffered in the war in the Pacific. The > scientists knew firsthand how evil Germany was. But Japan's military > government was just as bad and had to be completely removed from > power. Their actions at the time as well as subsequent history shows > clearly that military government was not about to step away despite a > string of defeats. What would the difference have been had the atomic bomb been used on Germany instead of Japan. The Germans were pretty much on their way to having their own atomic weapons but fortunately for us, the best minds migrated westward to the United States. Germany even had the delivery system that was the basis of our manned space program. That's right, Von Braun got lifted from Germany to get our program off the ground. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A group of World War Two veterans in > a counter-demonstration over the weekend at Arlington Cemetery carried > banners which stated 'had there been no Pearl Harbor there would > have been no Hiroshima.' PAT] Good for them. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 18:25:10 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A group of World War Two veterans in > a counter-demonstration over the weekend at Arlington Cemetery carried > banners which stated 'had there been no Pearl Harbor there would > have been no Hiroshima.' PAT] In the context of the era, Truman did what he had to do. I certainly agree with his decision. But, on a macro level, Carl Sagen was right, we are screwed. ------------------------------ From: Eric Talmadge (ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Nakasaki Commemorates Sixtieth Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 09:22:44 -0500 By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press The second and last city ever attacked by an atomic bomb marked the 60th anniversary of its devastation Tuesday with a Catholic Mass, a moment of silence and an impassioned plea for a global ban on nuclear arms. About 6,000 people, including hundreds of aging bomb survivors, crowded into Nagasaki's Peace Memorial Park, just a few hundred yards from the center of the blast, for a solemn remembrance and moment of silence. Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Itoh then had some angry words for the leaders of the nuclear powers, and especially the United States. "We understand your anger and anxiety over the memories of the horror of the 9/11 terrorist attacks," he said. "Yet, is your security enhanced by your government's policies of maintaining 10,000 nuclear weapons, of carrying out repeated sub-critical nuclear tests, and of pursuing the development of new 'mini' nuclear weapons?" Itoh also urged Japan to get out from under the U.S. "nuclear umbrella." About 50,000 U.S. troops are deployed throughout Japan under a post-World War II mutual security pact. Soon after, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a staunch supporter of the U.S. presence, placed a wreath before the monument to the dead. He vowed to advocate a nuclear ban but kept his comments brief. "This is an occasion to remember the victims and pray for world peace," he said. Nagasaki's remembrances began just after sunrise yesterday (Japanese time) with a special Mass at Urakami Cathedral. Hundreds of worshippers crowded into the church, which at the time of the bombing was the largest in Asia with 12,000 parishioners -- 8,500 of whom are believed to have been killed. Tuesday's memorial follows a much bigger one last week in Hiroshima, where some 55,000 people swarmed into the city's peace park. Three days after the Enola Gay dropped the "Little Boy" bomb on Hiroshima, killing at least 140,000 in the world's first atomic bomb attack, Bock's Car took off to deliver the second A-bomb -- nicknamed "Fat Man" -- to the city of Kokura. Kokura was hidden under a thick cover of smoke. The plane circled three times, then changed course for Nagasaki, where it also encountered thick clouds. With dwindling fuel, the pilot nearly turned around but then found a break in the clouds. Estimates of the death toll range from 60,000 to 80,000. Nagasaki officials on Tuesday used 74,000 as the death figure. Japan surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, ending World War II. "Together with some 260,000 A-bomb survivors ... I swear in the presence of the souls of the victims of the atomic bombing to continue to tirelessly demand that Nagasaki be the last A-bomb site," said Fumie Sakamoto, who represented survivors at Tuesday's memorial. Sakamoto, 74, was a junior high school student when Nagasaki was bombed. The blast destroyed her home and threw her 10 yards into the air. She landed in her garden. "As far as I could see, everything had been reduced to rubble," she said. Other than the many small monuments around town, few signs of the devastation remain. A scenic port city with a population of about 420,000, Nagasaki today is a popular tourist destination known for its Chinatown, one of the largest in Japan, and its European flair. Nagasaki has a long history of trade with the Dutch, and for about 200 years, until Japan opened its doors to the outside world in 1859, it was the only Japanese city open to foreign trade. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For Associated Press News Radio 24/7 go to URL: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 14:41:13 -0400 From: alan@bloomfieldpress.com Subject: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Newscasters and reporters are falling all over themselves trying to out-praise the now deceased Peter Jennings. I suppose it's only natural, but it hides something important. Jennings was one of the prime actors in the greatest news suppression and anti-rights campaigns ever waged. Yes, it's the anti-gun-rights, hide-everything-positive-about-guns media campaign that rushes on unabated to this day. Listen up folks -- because Jennings and his media comrades refuse to tell you -- guns are good, guns save lives, guns stop crime, and guns are why America is still free. What, you haven't seen that in the news, ever? Then you're a witness to this simple truth. Most news people I meet cannot even name ten story ideas that portray the wholesome and wonderful side of firearms or the great two-century American tradition of the right to keep and bear arms. Huge numbers of Americans own guns, enjoy guns, and know this is true. Many are alive today because guns are good. But Jennings spent decades hiding it, lying about it, suppressing the side he and his "J-school" accomplices hate -- the free, individually responsible, armed adult citizen. It's not good to hate. How bad is it? Thirteen scholarly studies confirm 2-1/2 million defensive gun uses annually. In 2001, Jennings, with his corrupt corps of "news" leaders at the other two networks, aired 190,000 words about gun crime, and zero words about defensive gun use. Zero. It's just as bad in print (I have the numbers if you care to see, posted at gunlaws.com). That's not a measurement upon which to heap praise. Sincerely, Alan Korwin, Author Gun Laws of America Contact: Alan Korwin BLOOMFIELD PRESS "We publish the gun laws." 4718 E. Cactus #440 Phoenix, AZ 85032 602-996-4020 Phone 602-494-0679 FAX 1-800-707-4020 Orders http://www.gunlaws.com alan@gunlaws.com Call, write, fax or click for a free catalog. If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran. ------------------------------ Subject: New Sponsor - Phone Bill Busters Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 00:36:14 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) A new sponsor for the Digest, started this week; Phone Bill Busters and its owner, Dave Seldon. Stop in to chat with him and check out his web site at http://phone-bill-busters.com . He has good deals on long distance service, and a huge number of references to VOIP service, cell phones, and other interesting things. In addition, he carries the .rss feed for this Digest, meaning you can read our news at his site if you wish. Dave and I will appreciate you stopping in to chat with him sometime soon. PAT ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson Subject: Sister is Home, Now Laid to Rest Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 18:00:00 CDT I've mentioned a couple times in the past that as a teenage girl, many years ago, my sister ran away from home, located herself for a short time in Texas but mainly, for about thirty years, she lived in Orlando, Florida, pretty much as a street person. We were notified back in mid-May that she had died in that set of circumstances, on the streets in Orlando in March, 2005. Her cremated remains were delivered to her son who came to visit us (his Grandma and his Uncle Pat) this past week. Today, Tuesday, August 9 the ashes were taken by us to the cemetery in Coffeyville where my father is buried, and were scattered. That's the end of this saga, I guess. I am glad we found her finally, particularly my mother who now has some closure in the matter. PAT ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #361 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Aug 10 15:16:58 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 5FE2214F98; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:16:57 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #362 Message-Id: <20050810191657.5FE2214F98@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:16:57 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, CELL_PHONE_IMPROVE,NO_COST autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 10 Aug 2005 15:17:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 362 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Students Charged With Computer Trespass (Michael Rubinkam) Kenya to Begin Using Internet Phones (George Obulutsa) DTV Beta: Internet TV (Monty Solomon) Pushing Broadcasting to the Limit (Monty Solomon) Bluesecurity and BlueFrog (Chuck Wassall) Franchise Rules Could Blunt IPTV's Promise (USTA Daily Lead) Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? (John Levine) Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage (Joseph) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (jtaylor) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (John McHarry) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (Steve Sobol) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (Joseph) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Michael Rubinkam Subject: Students Charged With Computer Trespass Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 12:32:45 -0500 By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer They're being called the Kutztown 13 -- a group of high schoolers charged with felonies for bypassing security with school-issued laptops, downloading forbidden Internet goodies and using monitoring software to spy on district administrators. The students, their families and outraged supporters say authorities are overreacting, punishing the kids not for any heinous behavior -- no malicious acts are alleged -- but rather because they outsmarted the district's technology workers. The Kutztown Area School District begs to differ. It says it reported the students to police only after detentions, suspensions and other punishments failed to deter them from breaking school rules governing computer usage. In Pennsylvania alone, more than a dozen school districts have reported student misuse of computers to police, and in some cases students have been expelled, according to Jeffrey Tucker, a lawyer for the district. The students "fully knew it was wrong and they kept doing it," Tucker said. "Parents thought we should reward them for being creative. We don't accept that." A hearing is set for Aug. 24 in Berks County juvenile court, where the 13 have been charged with computer trespass, an offense state law defines as altering computer data, programs or software without permission. The youths could face a wide range of sanctions, including juvenile detention, probation and community service. As school districts across the nation struggle to keep networks secure from mischievous students who are often more adept at computers than their elders, technology professionals say the case offers multiple lessons. School districts often don't secure their computer networks well and students need to be better taught right from wrong on such networks, said Internet expert Jean Armour Polly, author of "Net-mom's Internet Kids & Family Yellow Pages." "The kids basically stumbled through an open rabbit hole and found Wonderland," Polly, a library technology administrator, said of the Kutztown 13. The trouble began last fall after the district issued some 600 Apple iBook laptops to every student at the high school about 50 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The computers were loaded with a filtering program that limited Internet access. They also had software that let administrators see what students were viewing on their screens. But those barriers proved easily surmountable: The administrative password that allowed students to reconfigure computers and obtain unrestricted Internet access was easy to obtain. A shortened version of the school's street address, the password was taped to the backs of the computers. The password got passed around and students began downloading such forbidden programs as the popular iChat instant-messaging tool. At least one student viewed pornography. Some students also turned off the remote monitoring function and turned the tables on their elders_ using it to view administrators' own computer screens. The administrative password on some laptops was subsequently changed but some students got hold of that one, too, and decrypted it with a password-cracking program they found on the Internet. "This does not surprise me at all," said Pradeep Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon University's engineering department and director of the school's cybersecurity program. IT staff at schools are often poorly trained, making it easy for students with even modest computer skills to get around security, he said. Fifteen-year-old John Shrawder, one of the Kutztown 13, complained that the charges don't fit the offense. He fears a felony conviction could hurt his college and job prospects. "There are a lot of adults who go 10 miles over the speed limit or don't come to a complete stop at a stop sign. They know it's not right, but they expect a fine" not a felony offense, he said. Shrawder's uncle, James Shrawder, has set up a Web site that tells the students' side of the story. "As parents, we don't want our kid breaking in to the Defense Department or stealing credit card numbers," said the elder Shrawder, a businessman. "But downloading iChat and chatting with their friends? They are not hurting anybody. They're just curious." The site, http://www.cutusabreak.org, has been visited tens of thousands of times and sells T-shirts and bumper stickers, including one that says: "Arrest me, I know the password!" The district isn't backing down, however. It points out that students and parents were required to sign a code of conduct and acceptable use policy, which contained warnings of legal action. The 13 students charged violated that policy, said Kutztown Police Chief Theodore Cole, insisting the school district had exhausted all options short of expulsion before seeking the charges. Cole said, however, that there is no evidence the students attacked or disabled the school's computer network, altered grades or did anything else that could be deemed malicious. An association of professional computer educators, The International Society for Technology in Education, believes in a less restrictive approach to computer usage. The more security barriers a district puts in place, the more students will be tempted to break them down, it believes. "No matter how many ways you can think to protect something, the truth is that someone can hack their way around it," said Leslie Conery, the society's deputy CEO. "The gauntlet is thrown down if you have tighter control." On the Net: Students' site: http://www.cutusabreak.org Kutztown Area School District's response: http://www.kasd.org/districtinfo/kasdPressrelease.htm Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For AP News Radio and headlines, go to URL: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: George Obulutsa Subject: Kenya Telecoms Regulator to Allow Internet Phone Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 12:31:22 -0500 By George Obulutsa Kenya's telecoms regulator on Wednesday said it would this week permit telecoms operators to provide call services over the Internet, in order to lower high phone costs and expand telephone services to the rural areas. Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) Director-General John Waweru said the regulator will place a notice in Kenya's official publication on Friday allowing licensed Internet service providers to transmit phone calls using the Internet -- or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). "As a further step toward liberalization, the commission has introduced the provision of Voice over Internet Protocol," Waweru told reporters at a news conference. "We expect that the introduction of VoIP is going to increase the teledensity, particularly in the rural areas." The regulator said that the notice would give guidelines to licensed service providers on how to run the Internet calls. The new service would also reduce calling costs locally and internationally, but that would depend on how the companies involved adopt it, Waweru said. Industry players had accused Kenya's only fixed line provider, Telkom Kenya, of interfering with companies that attempted to provide Internet phone services long after its monopoly ended in June 2004. "It's the reason why these guidelines have been issued -- to remove the conflict. With this guidelines they (Telkom Kenya and service providers) will now be allowed to negotiate," Waweru said. Telecoms industry experts say they expect the cost of making calls to fall with the introduction of Internet calls. While hailed for reducing calling costs, experts say that using the Internet to transmit phone calls is open to eavesdropping when done on unencrypted connections. Kenya is one of the east African countries hoping to connect to a fibre optic cable running under the sea from Djibouti to South Africa. Waweru said that he hoped the completion of the cable connection in early 2007 would reduce Internet costs by diverting traffic from terrestrial satellites heavily used to transmit data out of Kenya. "At that time, I think the cost of bandwidth will be affordable, and even Voice over Internet Protocol will be even better and the prices will be better," he said. ) Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 00:59:09 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: DTV Beta: Internet TV on Your Mac http://participatoryculture.org/download.php WINDOWS VERSION AND FULL LAUNCH COMING SOON. Internet TV is Open and Independent. DTV is a new, free and open-source platform for internet television and video. An intuitive interface lets users subscribe to channels, watch video, and build a video library. Our publishing software lets you broadcast full-screen video to thousands of people at virtually no cost. The project is non-profit, free and open source, and built on open standards. A Windows version of DTV and a full website are well underway and will arrive in the next several weeks. http://participatoryculture.org/download.php ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 01:06:31 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Pushing Broadcasting to the Limit http://www.apple.com/uk/pro/video/tourdefrance/ Even by the standards of the world's most prestigious cycling event, this year's Tour de France was momentous. Cycling enthusiasts from all over the world tuned in to watch the indefatigable Lance Armstrong make history with an unprecedented seventh consecutive Tour win. In the UK, ITV covered the three-week event with a daily hour-long highlights programme on ITV2 plus live coverage on Saturday and Sunday, and a weekly highlights programme every Monday on ITV1. Mounting a broadcast operation on such a large scale is a phenomenal task. Turnaround needs to be lightning-fast and with a high profile event like the Tour, there's simply no margin for error. A London-based 'dream team' was assembled to take on the job -- and the 'dream workflow' they employed was based around Apple technology. James Venner, producer/director of production company VTV, has been covering the Tour since 1986. Venner joined forces with freelance editor Peter Wiggins, who has been editing sport for over 15 years and the Tour for nine years. The other key members of the 'dream team' were Soho-based broadcast facility, Molinare, and Apple Solution Experts, Root6, who supplied the equipment and helped install the Xsan at Molinare. http://www.apple.com/uk/pro/video/tourdefrance/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 23:04:38 -0700 From: Chuck Wassall Subject: Bluesecurity and BlueFrog After ten years with the same email address I was getting over a hundred spams a day. Now I get *none*. This program really works and does what congress failed to do. It's free for now and I have no ethics problems in flooding ISP's that harbor spammers. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I generally have no objections or ethics problems with that same concept. I do think one needs to make abosolutely certain (or as reasonably certain as one can be) that your aim is at the _actual offender_ and that you do very little or no 'collateral damage' to other 'valid' users at the ISP. I object to your use of the phrase 'flooding ISP's that harbor spammers' however. You or your agent (in this instance, Blue Frog/Blue Security) are entitled to complain or respond _ONE TIME_ to each proven, valid, actual offender, not 'flood' the ISP. That is what I understand that Blue is doing. A hundred spams per day is nothing, believe me, really nothing. How about 500 to a thousand spams per day plus viruses which is what my score is up to? I do not have the time nor patience to investigate _actual offenders_ so I employ Blue to do that work for me. Believe me, should I get proof that Blue is not doing _exactly as they claim_ locating offender by offender and sending them exactly one each complaint per offended netter then I will quickly pull out of their program. Of course one complaint per offended party to each actual offender still causes lot of commotions does it not? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 14:35:12 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Columnist: Franchise Rules Could Blunt IPTV's Promise USTelecom dailyLead August 10, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23732&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Columnist: Franchise rules could blunt IPTV's promise BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Skype mulls its options * Deutsche Telekom buys Tele.ring * Report: DSL port shipments hit new record * Sprint, Nextel target "third screen" * Cisco, MCI report earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * The MVNO model: Should it be included in your business plan? EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Author reaches tween fans via SMS REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * The future of P2P * Europe may regulate wireless broadband Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23732&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ Date: 10 Aug 2005 03:47:53 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: How Do I Find GSM Coverage in the US? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > It may not be official but if you go to > http://www.cellreception.com/towers/ they have interactive google maps > of areas with red balloons where towers are. Clicking on a balloon > will show you who it belongs to. From what I understand it won't show > everything except towers that are registered with the FCC. It looks to me like it's just towers that are tall enough to be registered with the FAA. I checked its coverage of the area where I live, and it had none of the towers that are mounted on buildings and water towers and missed a lot of the freestanding towers that are short enough not to need lights. On the other hand, it also includes towers for public service and broadcast radio that don't have any cell antennas. It's better than nothing, but don't take its contents too seriously. In the particular case of Fort Bragg, it shows a couple of towers for Edge Wireless, which the gsmworld site says does GSM 1900, confirming the info that Cingular works there. There's also a note on the cellreception site claiming that T-Mobile works, but since T-Mobile claims no coverage in that county at all, I'd guess they were roaming onto Cingular. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: FCC Gives Blessing to Sprint, Nextel Marriage Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 06:03:38 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 9 Aug 2005 05:02:33 -0000, John Levine wrote: > That's the point, iDen doesn't provide an upgrade path to spiffy > digital services. I wonder whether they're going to move to CDMA in > the 800 band that Nextel uses or run the networks in parallel forever > or what. They're surely not going to abandon the iDen band, since > they paid so much for them and 800 propagates a lot better than 1900. I'd say it's highly likely they'd move to the PCS 1900 band since Nextel already has problems of interference with public safety broadcasting in several areas in the 800 Mhz band. Nextel is already in the process of transferring out of the 800 Mhz band. See: ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 22:06:25 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service Tony P. wrote in message news:telecom24.361.15@telecom-digest.org... > The Germans were pretty much on their way to having their own atomic > weapons. The stuff I've read (Farm Hall transcripts, for instance) says no, they were working on a pile, not bombs. They miscalculated the amount of fissionable material necessary and so thought they could not a) get enough; b) if not a), get such a big bomb to anywhere it would do them any good. ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 01:30:52 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On Tue, 09 Aug 2005 14:41:13 -0400, alan@bloomfieldpress.com wrote: The most mean spirited off topic load of bollocks you have allowed to seep through into this forum in many a year. At least he included his 800 number, 1-800-707-4020, for posting in pay phone booths. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2005 19:45:12 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com alan@bloomfieldpress.com wrote: > Newscasters and reporters are falling all over themselves trying to > out-praise the now deceased Peter Jennings. I suppose it's only > natural, but it hides something important. You're entitled to your opinion. However, I think you're exceedingly foolish if you believe any particular slant in ABC's coverage is the fault of Jennings or any other reporter. Your posthumous attack seems rather sleazy to me -- you should direct your ire at the people actually responsible for making decisions about coverage. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 n ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 06:09:51 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Tue, 9 Aug 2005 14:41:13 -0400, alan@bloomfieldpress.com wrote: > Newscasters and reporters are falling all over themselves trying to > out-praise the now deceased Peter Jennings. I suppose it's only > natural, but it hides something important. > Jennings was one of the prime actors in the greatest news suppression > and anti-rights campaigns ever waged. Yes, it's the anti-gun-rights, > unabated to this day. Once again, Pat uses his "good" judgment to permit this article which doesn't have a damned thing to do with telecom to allow this lug nut to spew his crap. I guess Telecom Digest and CDT have really gone into the toilet. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This Digest does not exist to serve as a mouthpiece for CDT or for that matter, _any of Usenet_. Usenet is so nineteen-sixtyish it is not funny. It might have been a cute and quaint thing back in the 1980's or even the 1990's, but this is 2005 for god's sake. Only a ... well ... Usenetter would pay any attention to the load of crap coming out of that network most of the time. And although you (obviously!) do not believe in the Second Amendment to the US Constitution it _is_ one of our rights (not privileges) as citizens here. I dunno why the legislature simply does not retract the Second Amendment or amend it to make it read the way some of you think it should read. Yes, that would be a chore to do and should not be taken lightly, but we have what -- twenty four or twenty five amendments to the constitution and one that was even repealed totally (Prohibition) so the Second _can_ be amended or repealed if that is the wishes of the people through their legislators. Make it read the way _you_ think it should read, if not outright abolish it. It has been watered down and diddled with so substantially now it might was well not exist anyway. I know John Ashcroft and Senor Gonzales and Mr. Bush wish a few of the amendments were not present or could be easily eliminated. Why not number two as well? PAT] ------------------------------ 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #362 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Aug 11 23:27:35 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 6E52014F84; Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:27:34 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #363 Message-Id: <20050812032734.6E52014F84@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:27:34 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.5 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:27:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 363 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Mobile Phone Virus Infects Helsinki Championships (Reuters News Wire) Amazon Settles Patent Lawsuit (Retuers News Wire) ISOC Adopts Strategic Operating Plan, Seats New Board (Peter Godwin) Texas Lawmakers Greenlight Video Franchise Bill (USTelecom dailyLead) 800 Number - Prepaid - Walmart (Jason Vance) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (Garrett Wollman) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (William Warren) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (Joseph) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (Charles Cryderman) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (A Hastings) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (L Hancock) Employment Opportunity-System Engineering (grant.gibson@us.fujitsu.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Mobile Phone Virus Infects Helsinki Championships Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 19:32:00 -0500 Visitors to the world athletics championships in Finland have had to brave wind and rain, and officials say they now face the possibility of catching the world's first mobile phone virus. Officials in mobile-mad Finland, home to the world's largest cellphone maker Nokia, said there had been outbreaks of the Cabir virus at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium. "At most we are speaking about dozens of infections, but during a short period and in one spot this is a huge number," said Jarmo Koski, a security official at telecoms firm TeliaSonera. Cabir, first reported in June last year, uses Bluetooth short range wireless signals to jump between cellphones. That means it can spread over distances of up to 10 metres (30 feet), which in a packed stadium could include dozens of phones. The recipient needs to accept a download to be infected and, while telecoms security officials say the risk of catching a mobile virus is small, thousands of phones have already been hit around the world. "There must be a lot of infected phones at the stadium and a lot of Bluetooth traffic," said Antti Vihavainen, head of the mobile unit at antivirus software firm F-Secure. "It is the early version of Cabir, which can infect only one phone at a time. Later versions of Cabir are much more fierce. Since it was invented, the virus has so far spread to more than 20 countries, from the United States to Japan and from Finland to South Africa. F-Secure says there are 55 viruses or other malicious programmes spreading between cellphones and other mobile devices. Cabir drains the power of the infected phone as it tries to replicate itself on nearby mobiles but the most damaging viruses could disable a phone, requiring a factory reset. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Amazon Settles Patent Lawsuit for $40 Million Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 19:11:23 -0500 Amazon.com Inc. on Thursday said it will pay $40 million in the third quarter to settle a patent infringement lawsuit with Soverain Software LLC. The settlement of the lawsuit, which was originally filed in 2004 in Texas, was announced in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Amazon, the online retailer, said the settlement also includes the dismissal of all claims and counterclaims, mutual releases, and a nonexclusive license to Soverain's patent portfolio. Soverain had filed the suit against Amazon on January 12, 2004 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Amazon said in the filing. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Peter Godwin Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 14:08:18 +0200 Organization: Internet Society Subject: ISOC Adopts Strategic Operating Plan, Seats New Board Reston, VA - 11th August 2005 - The Board of Trustees of the Internet Society formally adopted ISOC's new Strategic Operating Plan (SOP) during the the society's Annual General Meeting in Paris. The SOP provides a high-level framework outlining the society's vision, mission and values, goals and objectives, and programs and projects. The Plan will be used extensively to drive the definition of future activities in line with ISOC's core values. The full text of the ISOC SOP is available at: http://www.isoc.org/isoc/SOP.pdf "I am excited about the launch of the society's Strategic Operating Plan," said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "ISOC has made significant progress in the last several years and we are now well positioned to continue building on our past success. This Plan heralds the start of a new era for ISOC as we move forward to address the new challenges facing the Internet." ISOC's Board of Trustees now includes those members that were selected in a recent election process for terms 2005 to 2008. During these elections two members of the new board were selected by the society's organization members --- Glenn Ricart of PricewaterhouseCoopers was re-elected, and Daniel Karrenberg of the RIPE NCC joined the Board. Veni Markovski (President and Chairman of the Board of ISOC Bulgaria) was re-elected by ISOC's chapters. "We're delighted to welcome Daniel Karrenberg to the ISOC Board," said Fred Baker, Chair of the ISOC Board of Trustees. "Daniel brings with him a wealth of experience gained during his work with building up and managing the processes behind the operations of the RIPE NCC, one of the five Regional Internet Registries." As part of ISOC's election process, one member of the Board is named each year by the IETF, through selection by the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and confirmation by the IESG. ISOC is pleased to announce that Fred Baker of Cisco will be returning for a new three year term. Baker was also re-elected as Chair of the ISOC Board of Trustees for a further one year term. The current members of the Internet Society's Board of Trustees, their countries and terms of office are listed below: Fred Baker, Chair (USA): 2002-2008 Rosa M. Delgado (Peru/Switzerland): 2000-2006 Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO, 2001- Glenn Ricart, Treasurer (USA): 2002-2008 Veni Markovski (Bulgaria): 2002-2008 Pindar Wong (Hong Kong): 2003-2006 Erik Huizer (Netherlands): 2002-2007 Desire Miloshevic (Serbia/UK): 2004-2007 Patrick Vande Walle (Luxembourg): 2004-2007 Steve Crocker (USA): 2003-2006 Stephen Squires (USA): 2004-2007 Margaret Wasserman (USA): 2003-2006 Daniel Karrenberg (Germany/Netherlands): 2005-2008 ### ABOUT ISOC The Internet Society (http://www.isoc.org) is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. With offices in Washington, DC, and Genev a, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in ensuring that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner. For over 13 years I= SOC has run international network training programs for developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country connecting to the Internet during this time. FOR FURTHER DETAILS: Peter Godwin Communications Manager, Internet Society E-mail: godwin@isoc.org 4, rue des Falaises 1205 Geneva Switzerland ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:12:23 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Texas Lawmakers Greenlight Video Franchise Bill USTelecom dailyLead August 11, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23772&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Texas lawmakers greenlight video franchise bill BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qualcomm to buy Flarion * Cisco chief seeks to squelch Nokia rumors * BellSouth: IPTV's coming in 2006 * Cable One picks Nortel for VoIP * HBO, Cingular talk wireless distribution * Deutsche Telekom, XO post earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * 3G Wireless with WiMAX and Wi-Fi EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Execs ponder TiVo's future REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Rural carriers have option under new DSL rules Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23772&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: Jason Vance Subject: 800 Number - Prepaid - Walmart Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:15:02 -0500 AT&T developed the card (patent #:6694003) primarily as a PRIVACY service. Original intent was that if you needed to hear from someone, but did not want them to know your name or location, you would purchase card, activate service, and then callers could reach you. Number they dialed, would route to any number you programmed in. They added a "follow me" feature which if (for example) you didn't answer at first location, call would re-route to your back-up number. PLUS -- 800 service without big set-up hassles. AND near total anonymity. (I am sure AT&T would co-operate if card were used for nefarious purposes. Original thought was that card purchaser would only activate the card for very limited, very short time, purposes (hence, the cost-per minute was not really the primary issue). PS: As far as I know (so far) ... the card and the service is available ONLY thru Walmart. Add me to your address book... Want a signature like this? Jason Vance ------------------------------ From: wollman@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 20:29:22 +0000 (UTC) Organization: MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted n response to Joseph : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This Digest does not exist to serve as > a mouthpiece for CDT or for that matter, _any of Usenet_. I'd be happy to issue a rmgroup for you if that's really how you feel. Frankly, there's been so little of any interest (or indeed relevance to telecom) in this newsgroup in so long, I really wouldn't miss it. > Usenet is so nineteen-sixtyish it is not funny. BZZZZZT! Wrong, but thanks for playing. Usenet was invented in 1979. [Second Amendment screed deleted as irrelevant.] Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: 1979? Really? I thought Al Gore invented it in 1994 when he invented the web. I find it interesting that you only challenged the year (1979 versus 1960-ish) and not my main point about many of the people who hang out a lot on Usenet. Please accept my correction -- my typographical error -- go back and read my thoughts again, using 1979-ish instead of 1960-ish won't you please? See if you can pick me apart again doing it that way. Thank you! PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 01:11:24 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Steve Sobol wrote: > alan@bloomfieldpress.com wrote: >> Newscasters and reporters are falling all over themselves trying to >> out-praise the now deceased Peter Jennings. I suppose it's only >> natural, but it hides something important. > You're entitled to your opinion. However, I think you're exceedingly > foolish if you believe any particular slant in ABC's coverage is the > fault of Jennings or any other reporter. Your posthumous attack seems > rather sleazy to me -- you should direct your ire at the people > actually responsible for making decisions about coverage. How's he going to do that if they're watching us from the black helicopters using silent mode all the time? Besides, it's impossible to talk to them: don't you know that the black helicopters have special encrypted radios that not even tinfoil can stop? The black helicopters have special mind rays that control us! They used to belong to a Well-Regulated Militia until the John Birch Society bought them at surplus ... William "If you're not smiling, you need help" Warren (Filter noise from my address for direct emails) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Delightful, touche, and all that. Sadly, many Second Amendment advocates are of that John Birch mentality. Not all, nor even very many of them, but the crackpots who _are_ of the John Birch mentality are like crackpots most anywhere; loud and noisy. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 06:06:23 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 06:09:51 -0700, TELECOM Digest Editor noted in reponse to Joseph : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This Digest does not exist to serve as > a mouthpiece for CDT or for that matter, _any of Usenet_. Usenet is > so nineteen-sixtyish it is not funny. It might have been a cute and > quaint thing back in the 1980's or even the 1990's, but this is 2005 > for god's sake. Only a ... well ... Usenetter would pay any attention > to the load of crap coming out of that network most of the time. > And although you (obviously!) do not believe in the Second Amendment > to the US Constitution it _is_ one of our rights (not privileges) as > citizens here. Well, despite what you say you believe anyone (evidently) who has an axe to grind can have their say about anything. And it also appears that telecom doesn't have anything to do with CDT or Telecom Digest any longer and is only a place where any lugnut can spew his opinion never mind that it doesn't have any tangental relevance to telecom at all. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think what I shall do is start an adjunct digest; I shall call it SOCIETY Digest or SPAMMER Digest or even maybe ADJUNCT Digest or as a last ditch thing, maybe TOWNSON Digest. (All those words) Digest have _seven letters_ just like 'TELECOM', ergo I won't even have to re-write all the 1960-ish scripts I use to put it out each day, especially since the onset of my beloved Deseased Brain I have lost the ability and patience to write shell scripts anyway other than changing a few print statements to my liking. I'll add a few Google Adsense messages on the web version just as I do with telecom and collect on the revenue from the clicks there. That's all that really matters for most of us web publishers on the net these days anyway is the Google Scorecard isn't it? To answer your question bluntly and succintly (and with this benediction I hope and pray this thread soon comes to a close without having to rudely toss many of the messages on same) I _firmly_ and _strongly_ support the US Constitution the way it is written. I do wish that those guys in the 18th century, Adams, Jefferson, et al had been able to tell the future, or been as succinct at times in their writings as I attempt to be with mine. (snore!). Especially, a wee bit more laborious in writing numbers one and two. Break up one to be more plain about religion and speech and in the case of two, to be more precise about terms like 'well regulated militia' and re-ordered their punctuation a bit differently, removing any and all doubt about each of those two Amendments. Both of them (one and two) give us much grief when there are court battles about them. My opinion: if number two means what many claim it means, that a 'well regulated militia' refers to the National Guard or the military service in general and this 'well regulated' National Guard or military has a right to bear arms but the rest of us ordinary citizens do _not_ have such a right, then I would have to say that is the one item in the Bill of Rights which allows the _government_ (as opposed to regular citizens a 'right'). The National Guard or the Army does not have to get permission (in the form of a constitutional amendment) to 'bear arms'. Think about it that way; the entire Bill of Rights was written to provide we the people with certain rights; does it make sense that the second amendment is an exception to that, and it (second amendment) is to give the government 'rights'? The government does not need protection from the people; the people are the ones needing protection. So why would the Bill of Rights grant the 'right to bear arms' to its own agencies (National Guard and Army, etc). A 'well regulated militia', IMO, refers to _law abiding_ citizens who wish to arm themselves. Now if 'well regulated' equals 'law abiding' (instead of equalling 'a government agency' as the government claims) then we have problems. Far too many of us are not 'well regulated' in that sense; we grow angry or we get drunk or we otherwise break the law and take our host- ility out on police officers and other more 'well-regulated' citizens. Does it seem a bit odd that the New York Times constantly chatters about 'gun control' yet the late publisher of that journal used to always get chauffered to work each day carrying a gun in his suit pocket or briefcase? Many people think that 'gun control' should apply to everyone else _except for themselves_. I can trust me, but I can't trust you, that sort of thing. And you never hear of the ACLU taking on a Second Amendment case; they seem to be happy with the status quo also. I personally am frightened of guns. I do not want one in my house; I grow ill when I have touched a gun in the past; but I certainly would not restrict the right of _other folks_ to have them and use them as needed, but the government does just that. The regulations on gun ownership and use in the USA are so restrictive that about all I can say to anyone who has a _legitimate, bonafide need_ to ever use a gun in the protection of their property or life or family's lives, etc, do what you need to do but then _destroy the gun and ditch it totally_. Do not let the gun stand in the way of detirmining who the true villian was; the person who made the use of the gun necessary. And do not ask me for support of some crackpot notion from John Birch and all that rot. President Bush is strongly in favor of 'gun control', and that should give you something to think about. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 16:57:49 -0400 From: Charles Cryderman Steve Sobol responded to a somewhat crass commit on Mr. Jennings: > You're entitled to your opinion. However, I think you're exceedingly = > foolish if you believe any particular slant in ABC's coverage is the = > fault of Jennings or any other reporter. Your posthumous attack seems = > rather sleazy to me -- you should direct your ire at the people actually = > responsible for making decisions about coverage. Actually Steve you are wrong on this one. Last night August 10, 2006, ABC had a wonderful retrospective on Mr. Jennings. His title was "Senior Editor, ABC World News Tonight". As such, he was given total control over the content of "ABC World News Tonight - With Peter Jennings". This included what stores to present and how they were to be presented. One Reporter even told of how all, that were to report a story for each show had to submit their script to him for approval. This one gentlemen went so far as to say how proud he was the one and only time he submitted a script and it came back with no marks (Peter like his red pen I guess). Now, yes the original poster's attack was very sleazy but as is his right in our country he can have his opinion and state it as his wishes. I am a firm believer in the Second Amendment and am a very proud gun owner. That said, Peter Jennings was one of the best of his profession and I enjoyed his reporting, especially how well he understood the Mid-east. Chip Cryderman [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not a 'proud gun owner' and in fact guns scare me a lot. But I support the people who own them and use them _properly_ as needed. If you went around Independence here, you are not going to find a bunch of raving lunatics driving in the streets waving or displaying or shooting off their weapons. But if you went to at least a few private homes, you would find some weapons put away, out of children's reach, unloaded, etc to be used as the need arose. Peter Jennings was a good reporter, and he _did_ control the stuff that went out on the air, but yes, he did have that one 'blind spot' in his life; he did not 'believe in' the private ownership of weapons, and he did not promote any positive publicity on private gun ownership; many others in the media do not either. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Andrew Hastings Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 14:25:42 -0500 Organization: Sun Microsystems Corporation According to Edward Teller as quoted by John McCarthy, the miscalculation may have been intentional. See http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/teller.html. -Andrew jtaylor wrote: > Tony P. wrote in message > news:telecom24.361.15@telecom-digest.org... >> The Germans were pretty much on their way to having their own atomic >> weapons. > The stuff I've read (Farm Hall transcripts, for instance) says no, > they were working on a pile, not bombs. They miscalculated the amount > of fissionable material necessary and so thought they could not > a) get enough; > b) if not a), get such a big bomb to anywhere it would do them any good. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: 10 Aug 2005 19:07:06 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com jtaylor wrote: >> The Germans were pretty much on their way to having their own atomic >> weapons. > The stuff I've read (Farm Hall transcripts, for instance) says no, > they were working on a pile, not bombs. They miscalculated the amount > of fissionable material necessary and so thought they could not Germany was clearly interested in developing nuclear power for military purposes. However, as stated, the project didn't get very far. The Allies went to a lot of trouble to disrupt a source of heavy water. Before the war even ended, an American specialist team went into Germany to get German scientists and their records. See "Now it can be told" by Gen. Leslie Groves. Japan was also working on a nuclear weapon, although their project was extremely limited in size and basically just lab research. When nuclear fission was discovered and announced in January 1939, scientists worldwide knew of the potential for extremely powerful weapons and began to think about the issues involved. We are fortunate that making a nuclear weapon is not easy at all. This is why 60 years later so few nations have them. Making the fuel is very difficult as well is detonation. Of course, one can't help but wonder what would've happened if the U.S. had the bomb a year later, say August 1944. The Allies still face high losses slogging through Europe to Germany at that point, and a great many losses in the Pacific against Japan. Thousands, perhaps millions of enemy civilians and soldiers would also die. The shock of a single bomb doing the work of a huge fleet of conventional bombers would've been the shock to end the war. ------------------------------ From: grant.gibson@us.fujitsu.com Subject: Employment Opportunity - System Engineering Date: 11 Aug 2005 14:01:22 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com SYSTEM ENGINEERING Job Description: Work as a senior member of an R&D System Engineering team that defines product requirements and architectures for a new Fiber to the Prem (FTTP) product. Skills and Abilities: * Prior System Engineering experience is required. * Ability to write product requirements and define product architectures based on ITU, Telcordia, and other industry standards. * Must be a team player that can work independently with little or no supervision. In depth knowledge and product implementation experience in 1 or more of the following technologies is required: * VOICE: VOIP-H.248, MGCP, GR-303, GR-909, echo cancellation, MOS, soft switch, Custom, Local, Area Switching Service (CLASS) * VIDEO: MPEG2, MPEG4, Video on Demand (VOD) Multicast, IPTV, MOCA * GPON: G.984, FTTP, GR-909, GR-57 CORE * HFC/Cable Systems: DOCSIS, OpenCable, CableHome, Residential COAX distribution system design * IP transport and switching: SIP, DNS, DHCP, IGMP, NAT, IPSEC, RTSP Knowledge / Experience in the following preferred but not required: * Residential Gateway / Home Networking * Ethernet, Layer 2 switching, VLAN, Q in Q, MPLS, pseudowire (Martini specs) * Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) specifications, QOS * Carrier Tariffs, SLA's, RFI's, RFQ's Education: BS / MS Electrical Engineering or Computer Science Years of Experience: 10+ years of Industry Experience Location: Pearl River, NY Applicants should email their resume in MS Word format along with their salary requirements to: grant.gibson@us.fujitsu.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #363 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Aug 12 13:58:35 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 089D314FE7; Fri, 12 Aug 2005 13:58:35 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest Special Announcement Message-Id: <20050812175835.089D314FE7@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 13:58:35 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.5 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 12 Aug 2005 13:45:48 EDT Special Announcement Inside This Issue: ditor: Patrick A. Townson Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (TELECOM Digest Editor) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 13:40:56 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) This is an appeal to any Windows Internet Explorer person in our readership who can help me: Wednesday night/Thursday morning someone stuck me with a virus and the end result was my Internet Explorer browser is gone. I cannot get the browser to come up at all; clicking on the icon makes it sit for a few seconds, then the screen flashes ONCE as though it was getting ready to deliver the browser, but no such luck. I have cleared out the virus but apparently a driver or two or a file is gone as well. Not only that but I cannot even get any pages which would come via that browser. Now my copy of Mozilla works just fine, its only that Internet Explorer 6.0 wont come up (or anything that depends on it, such as a link in email, etc.) Using Mozilla I went to a download site (supposedly 'free downloads') and paid for a password to download an entirely new copy of Internet Explorer 6.0 and Outlook Express. Downloaded it, but still nothing ... I am wondering if it is because my index page (I was using 'my yahoo' as my home or starting page) somehow got wiped out. The newly loaded thing produces the very same results: click on the icon, it goes away for a couple seconds, comes back flashing once then goes away. Can you tell me WHERE to install a new 'index' page ('Documents and Settings/Administrator/something? so I can try that method to clear this up? Or got any other ideas? And where would I go to make mail and all the other links default to mozilla rather than IE? Microsoft tech support cannot help me because I have an OEM serial number. So I am seeking tech support from the readership here. If someone will send me email who can help, I will supply that person with an 800 number to reach me at by phone so it will not cost them anything to call me, and I will be right at the affected computer to follow their instructions. Thanks very much! PAT ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest Special Announcement ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Aug 12 19:23:00 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id E5EAA14E7A; Fri, 12 Aug 2005 19:22:59 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #364 Message-Id: <20050812232259.E5EAA14E7A@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 19:22:59 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.4 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_REMOVE,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 12 Aug 2005 19:23:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 364 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Internet Phone Carriers Still Seeking 911 Replies (Jeremy Pelofsky) Google Pauses on Book Search After Copyright Flap (Eric Auchard) D. Telekom Home is Couch Potato Heaven (Prodhan and Sikhrar) TiVo Tests Internet Download Service (Greg Sandoval) Telecom Update #492, August 12, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement Group) WorldCom's Sullivan Gets Five Years (USTelecom dailyLead) Western Union Private Line Voice Service -- "Hot Line" (Lisa Hancock) Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (Lisa Hancock) Overview of Telecom History? (Vincent M) Re: Austin Gaffe Stirs Fantasy (AntwainBarbour) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (mc) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (jtaylor) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Paul W. Schleck) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Robert Bonomi) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeremy Pelofsky Subject: Internet Phone Carriers Still Seeking 911 Replies Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:29:08 -0500 By Jeremy Pelofsky Some of the top U.S. Internet phone providers told U.S. regulators this week they are still trying to obtain acknowledgments from customers that they know the limitations of dialing 911 with their service. Some customers of Internet phone service, known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), have had trouble getting help when dialing the emergency number 911, which prompted the Federal Communications Commission to order changes. Unlike traditional phone service, not all Internet phones provide 911 dispatchers with the location of callers, and some calls have been routed to administrative lines that are not always monitored. The FCC in May ordered companies to fix those issues by late November and, in the interim, to get acknowledgments from all customers that they understand those service limitations. Analysts estimate there are more than 2 million VOIP customers. Vonage Holdings Corp., the biggest U.S. Internet phone provider, said it has received acknowledgments from more than 90 percent of its customers but was unable to predict whether it would achieve the 100 percent goal by an August 29 deadline. "Vonage is continuing its campaign to contact and obtain affirmative acknowledgment from all of its customers," the company told the FCC. Dozens of carriers reported that they were contacting customers via letters, calls and e-mails. "Vonage expects to send out at least one e-mail per week and to continue to restrict account access of subscribers who have not yet submitted an affirmative acknowledgment," it said in an August 10 filing. AT&T Corp. said that it had received affirmative replies from 77 percent of its customers as of August 9, but about 10 percent of its Internet phone customers may not provide acknowledgments by the deadline. Net2Phone said 98 percent of its own customers had provided acknowledgments and the company was still working on the remaining 2 percent. The FCC initially ordered companies to obtain acknowledgments from all customers by July 29 but then gave companies an extra month as long as they filed a report detailing their efforts. The FCC said only those companies that filed reports about their compliance efforts by August 10 would escape enforcement action for violations until the end of the month. The agency said service should be disconnected for those customers who have not provided an acknowledgment by then. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Eric Auchard Subject: Google Pauses on Book Search After Copyright Flap Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:30:20 -0500 By Eric Auchard Google Inc., responding to an outcry by publishers, has temporarily scaled back plans to make the full text of copyrighted books in five of the world's great libraries searchable via the Internet. Google, the world's most popular way of searching the Internet, said it will allow copyright holders who contact the company to withhold books from the project, according to Adam Smith, program manager of the Google Print program. For three months, Google will stop scanning copyrighted books to allow owners to inform the company of objections. "Any and all copyright holders ... can tell us which books they'd prefer that we not scan if we find them in a library," Adam Smith, the product manager of Google Print, said in a statement on Google's corporate Web site. Nonetheless, Google is moving ahead with its ambitious project to work with publishers and librarians to scan books in the public domain that are not covered by copyright, he said. Libraries participating in the program include Oxford University, Harvard University, the New York Public Library, Stanford University and the University of Michigan. The Google spokesman declined to comment on how many book titles are now searchable on the Google Print site, which works by typing the name of an author, a book title or a word or phrase into a Web search box at http://print.google.com/. Google is working with publishers large and small to encourage them to make their books searchable. In exchange, Google can create distinct pages for each book with advertising and links to retailers. As a further inducement, publishers can create a direct sales link to consumers for their titles. "We are really excited about the scope of this program and the good it will do for the world," Smith said in a telephone interview. Google said that virtually all major U.S. and U.K. publishers are partici- pating, at least in part, in Google Print. Critics of the program said that Google's plan to allow copyright holders to indicate whether they wish to opt out of the Google Print project switches the burden of upholding copyright from infringers to the copyright holders. "This really stands copyright law on its head," Patricia Schroeder, president and chief executive of the Association of American Publishers, said in a phone interview. "There are hundreds of years of tradition that go the other way." "Google's announcement does nothing to relieve the publishing industry's concerns," said Schroeder, a former congresswoman from Colorado. Smith replied that Google is extending the logic of searching for online materials to printed books to make them more accessible. "What we are doing here is legal under the principles of fair use," he said. Schroeder said her organization and Google had been unable to come to terms on a proposal to address the concerns of copyright holders. Smith said Google was continuing to talk with organizations of publishers, authors and other interested parties to strike a balance between the interests of publishers and readers. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Georgina Prodhan & Rajiv Sekhrir Subject: D. Telekom's Home is Couch Potato Heaven Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:33:10 -0500 By Georgina Prodhan and Rajiv Sekhri The two-story pre-fabricated house dwarfed by Communist-era buildings in the center of Berlin looks as though it belongs in the suburb of a small town but it is actually Deutsche Telekom's vision of a high-tech future. From the moment you cross the threshold of the T-Com house, everything is theoretically at your fingertips. "The idea is to not go out at all," said house manager Anne-Kathrin Berends. "You can do everything inside." Surrounded by flags and lit up by Deutsche Telekom's signature magenta-colored lights, the house is a very public walk-in laboratory where a lucky few can test out the company's latest gadgets and get a glimpse of a supposedly fuss-free future. The central concept is a system of plasma screens that dominate every room, serving up entertainment and information linked by an Internet IP system to handheld PDAs (personal digital assistants) via wireless local area network (WLAN). "Anyone can see straight away just how simply and conveniently our communications solutions integrate every aspect of modern day life," said Achim Berg, a member of the management board at T-Com, Telekom's fixed-line and broadband unit. A favorite feature is the mood lighting: Feel like a party? Change the room's color scheme to vibrant reds and oranges. Want to de-stress? Go for soothing blue with calm music. There can be problems -- during a recent visit, screens froze as competing PDAs vied for their control -- but T-Com house still has a lot to offer couch potatoes. TAKING IT EASY IN T-COM HOUSE Real-time or face-to-face communication is no longer necessary -- instead there is a multi-media whiteboard by the door where you can swap e-mails, pictures or text messages with housemates. If you don't feel like entertaining visitors, let them leave a video recording at the front door and relax while a robot vacuum cleaner trundles around the floors and a torso-shaped shirt press blow-dries your work clothes to perfection. And don't worry about the children misbehaving -- a Webcam will keep an eye on them. Just don't let them get their hands on a PDA or you might find alarms going off, blinds going up and down and television programs abruptly interrupted. If you feel like a spot of exercise or fancy a look around Germany's capital city, step onto the running machine and let a plasma screen take you on a virtual tour of Berlin. The T-Com house was built by WeberHaus, which makes pre-fabricated homes for thousands of Germans, and inventors hope it will soon become a reality for what they call average German families. Mail-order company Neckermann provided the furnishings and engineering firm Siemens supplied appliances and house automation. "It's a prototype," said Berends, adding that the gadgets being tested are expected to be ready for the market in 15 to 18 months. "We want to find out what normal German people think about this kind of technology." So far, she says, the mood lighting has been the biggest hit with some 20 groups who beat tens of thousands of online contestants to spend a long weekend in the house, which opened on March 1. The lighting system, however, is not for sale. In fact, the only item which Deutsche Telekom has definite plans to bring to market is the whiteboard message center, which should be available for under 500 euros within 18 months. Siemens already supplies other house-automation systems that remotely control security, temperature or kitchen appliances. Most of these are not installed in the T-Com house for fear of accidents or of frightening guests -- who have ranged from young families to groups of elderly friends to the Bayern Munich soccer team -- with too much technology. An intelligent fridge, which scans for missing products and compiles shopping lists, stands in an exhibition at the Communications Museum nearby but is not featured in the house. "Germany is not really the market for that. Maybe in 20 years or something, but not yet," said Berends. Perhaps tellingly, only one visitor so far has actually expressed interest in buying the whole house with its contents -- and he was Italian. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Greg Sandoval Subject: TiVo Tests Internet Download Service Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:37:40 -0500 By GREG SANDOVAL, AP Technology Writer Add TiVo Inc. to the list of companies trying to wed the Internet to television. The digital recording company is preparing to enable customers to download TV shows to their set-top boxes via the Internet -- even before the shows air on TV. TiVo has struck a deal with the Independent Film Channel to transmit several of the cable channel's shows through a broadband connection as part of a trial program. A group of customers were asked to take part in the test and those who chose to participate will begin receiving the IFC shows next week, said TiVo spokesman Elliot Sloane. Content on demand has long been a holy grail for Internet and cable companies as they try to create the next generation of television. No one yet has found a way to overcome key technological hurdles, such as finding a speedy way to pump two-hour movies through broadband, or convince Hollywood that it can profit from Internet broadcasts. Still, broadband connections are picking up speed, and are moving closer to becoming a reliable delivery method for broadcast-quality video. Should the day come that video is downloaded at the touch of a button, some of the stakeholders in the sector foresee a vast video universe of endless variety. For TiVo, the news comes a day after the company saw its stock fall more than 6 percent following a media report that DirecTV was planning to stop marketing the service to its 14 million customers. News Corp.-owned DirecTV is planning to throw support behind a competing digital recording company. About 70 percent of TiVo's 3.3 million users have come from its deal with DirecTV. TiVo shares were up 3 cents at $5.65 in midday trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For more AP headlines and AP News Radio, go to URL: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 10:56:49 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #492, August 12, 2005 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 492: August 12, 2005 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/ ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Bell Offers Hosted VoIP for Small, Medium Business ** Rogers Firefly Targets Pre-Teens ** Bell Offers Cellular Tracking for Families ** Linton Named EVP at Rogers ** Policy Review Submissions Due Monday ** Prince Rupert Spins Off City Telco ** More Appeals Filed Against CRTC VoIP Decision ** "Spam King" Agrees to Pay Damages ** Aliant Adds Self-Service Options ** Small ILECs Want Price Cap Regime Extended ** Is Phone Penetration Falling in U.S.? ** WorldCom CFO Gets Five Years ** Work Stoppage Delays Telus TV Launch ** Enterprise Sector Leads Nortel Sales Gain ** Cisco Profits Up, Shares Down ** "Telemanagement Live" Brochure Now Online ============================================================ BELL OFFERS HOSTED VoIP FOR SMALL, MEDIUM BUSINESS: Bell Canada this week launched a hosted VoIP service for small and medium-sized businesses. Business IP Voice provides local phone service, extension to extension calling, and a range of calling features including Find Me/Follow Me, Meet Me Conferencing, and Voicemail to Email. ** Bell's proposed tariff for the service received interim approval on July 26. Intervenors have until September 2 to submit comments on the tariff. www.crtc.gc.ca/8740/eng/2005/b2.htm#6883 ** In July the CRTC asked for comment on Bell's Digital Voice, a consumer VoIP service whose tariff has some similarities. (see Telecom Update #486, 488) www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2005/pt2005-9.htm ROGERS FIREFLY TARGETS PRE-TEENS: Rogers Wireless now offers Firefly, a phone designed "for pre-teens and their parents." The phone has no dialpad; parents use a PIN to program up to 22 numbers, including speed keys for mom and dad. BELL OFFERS CELLULAR TRACKING FOR FAMILIES: Bell Mobility's new Seek & Find service enables parents to determine their children's whereabouts if the child has a GPS-equipped cellphone and the phone is switched on. Parents can check location on the Internet 20 times a month for $5. LINTON NAMED EVP AT ROGERS: Bill Linton, former President and CEO of Call-Net Enterprises, is now Executive Vice-President of Rogers Communications Inc. Call-Net was acquired by Rogers Communications on July 1 and renamed Rogers Telecom Holdings. (See Telecom Update #488) POLICY REVIEW SUBMISSIONS DUE MONDAY: Submissions to the Telecom Policy Review are to be filed by August 15. They will be made public on the panel's website, where some comments are already posted. (see Telecom Update #485) www.telecomreview.ca/epic/internet/intprp-gecrt.nsf/en/h_rx00025e.html PRINCE RUPERT SPINS OFF CITY TELCO: Prince Rupert B.C.'s CityTel, until now a department of the city government, has been spun off as a city-owned corporation and renamed City West. The new company has agreed to buy the northern B.C. cable business and assets of Monarch Cablesystems for $23.5 million. MORE APPEALS FILED AGAINST CRTC VoIP DECISION: The Coalition for Competitive Telecommunications, the Vancouver Board of Trade, and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada have each petitioned the federal Cabinet, opposing economic regulation of incumbent telcos' VoIP services, as ruled in CRTC Telecom Decision 2005-28. ** Earlier Cabinet appeals of this decision were filed by the Government of Saskatchewan (see Telecom Update #488) and by Aliant, Bell Canada, SaskTel, Telebec, and Telus (see Telecom Update #490). "SPAM KING" AGREES TO PAY DAMAGES: Microsoft has won $7 million in damages from Scott Richter, whose Colorado company is alleged to have sent 38 billion spam messages a year in violation of U.S. law. Richter denied the allegations but agreed to let authorities monitor his business in future. ALIANT ADDS SELF-SERVICE OPTIONS: Using software from California-based eGain, Aliant has enhanced the customer self-service options available on its website. SMALL ILECs WANT PRICE CAP REGIME EXTENDED: The Canadian Independent Telephone Company Joint Task Force, representing most of the small incumbent carriers in Canada, says the price cap regime under which they have been regulated since January 2002 has worked well for providers and consumers. They want the framework extended for another four years, with minor modifications. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8663/c136_200509201.htm IS PHONE PENETRATION FALLING IN U.S.? A March 2005 Federal Communications Commission study shows that 92.5% of U.S. homes have either wireline or wireless phone service, a sharp decline from 95.5% two years earlier. This would indicate that 8.7 million homes cannot make or receive phone calls, the largest number since 1983. The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates has asked the FCC to investigate whether the statistics are correct. WORLDCOM CFO GETS FIVE YEARS: Scott Sullivan, the former WorldCom Chief Financial Officer whose testimony held convict CEO Bernard Ebbers, has been sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the US$11 billion fraud. The judge said Sullivan was the "architect" and "day-to-day manager" of the scheme, but gave him a short sentence because he cooperated with prosecutors. WORK STOPPAGE DELAYS TELUS TV LAUNCH: Telus says its plans to launch digital TV "are on hold until we see the work stoppage through to a positive conclusion." ENTERPRISE SECTOR LEADS NORTEL SALES GAIN: Nortel Networks reports second quarter revenues of US$2.86 billion, up 10% over the same period a year ago and 13% over the previous quarter. Sales of the enterprise networks division increased 22% on the year; sales in Canada rose 34%. CISCO PROFITS UP, SHARES DOWN: Cisco Systems revenues for the three months ended July 30 were US$6.58 billion, 11% higher than a year ago. Net income increased 11.6% to 1.54 billion. A Cisco forecast that sales would increase only 10% in the next quarter sparked an 8% decline in share price. "TELEMANAGEMENT LIVE" BROCHURE NOW ONLINE: Full program details for the Fall 2005 TeleManagement Live conference and exposition are now available online. This year's agenda includes a day of in-depth management tutorials on IP-Based Convergence, Telecom Cost Control, Managing Change in Telecom, and other topics. www.telemanagementlive.com/PDFS/TML%202005%20Event%20Guide.pdf ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== 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 late Friday afternoon each 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 2005 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. 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. ============================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 13:57:21 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: WorldCom's Sullivan gets five years USTelecom dailyLead August 12, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23809&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * WorldCom's Sullivan gets five years BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Speech tones catch fire among handset users * Study: Home-networking sales poised for boom * Birch files Chapter 11 USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * RFID: Radio Frequency Identification -- Get Your Copy Today! EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Internet-style search coming to TV * Not interested? New phone software might give you away VOIP DOWNLOAD * Study: Skype leads in U.S. VoIP traffic * Analysis: Quality key to cable VoIP's future success * Municipalities the next VoIP frontier? REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * VoIP wiretap ruling spurs concern over network security * Former FCC chief joins investment firm Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23809&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Western Union Private Line Voice Service -- "Hot Line" Date: 12 Aug 2005 12:57:16 -0700 In the mid 1960s Western Union introduced a private line voice service called "Hot Line". In essence, a person lifting the receiver of one telephone would cause a specified distant telephone to ring over a private line. The connection was faster and cheaper than placing a conventional long distance call over the Bell System. WU charged by 6 second increments and at a lower rate; the Bell System at that time had a 3 minute minimum. WU says their arrangement was cheaper when more than 3 calls a day were made. The connection between the two telephones was actually not a dedicated private line, but shared use of the WU network via concentrators. If a circuit was busy there were alternates. See: http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/technical/western-union-tech-review/21-2/p104.htm The article said the service was popular among brokers between field offices and the central office serving the stock exchange for calling in stock orders. Such calls were normally brief. Obviously this service had some limitations since it was telephone-set to telephone-set. I don't think this could terminate in a PBX system to allow shared use of the line by a whole organization which would give more flexibility. I don't know if WU permitted any kind of multiple extension sets at the subscriber since a specialized telephone set they provided was used. For example, a secretary might want to answer the boss's hot/line phone if he was out. WU also reported customers wanted to get the service in more cities than available. None the less, it seemed like a pretty good idea for its time. Would anyone know how successful this service was and how long it lasted? ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Stock market ticker tape machines? Date: 12 Aug 2005 13:31:51 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com For many years a symbol of Wall Street has been the stock market ticker tape machine. This was a table top glass-domed unit that printed a tape of trades. My impression from Oslin's book was that this unit was developed around 1930 and had a service lifespan of 30 years. Faster units to handle larger market volumes of the 1960s replaced it. WU had to continually speed up the wire to handle ever more trading volumes, which exploded in the 1960s. (Historically, the tape printed the sale of 100 stock lots by the symbol of the stock and the sale price). These tapes were showered down upon parades in New York, thus the name "ticker tape parade". For many years it's really been a "scrap paper" parade but that doesn't sound as good. Along with this system was a wall display system used in brokerage offices. The trades were projected on a wall where investors could watch it. In the 1960s computerized stock quote machines became available which also showed the bid, asked, and closing price of stock sales. Western Union had a big business handling stock brokers and connecting field offices to New York to announce trading information and send in orders. I was wondering what kind of machine, if any, replaced the classic glass-dome model and continued to produce a tape showing trades. ------------------------------ From: Vincent M Subject: Overview of Telecom History ? Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 17:43:17 +0200 Organization: Guest of ProXad - France Hi everyone, I'm looking for an overview on the telecom's history. -When it really beguns, where, which technique ... Can someone recommend any site/book ? Thanks, Vincent [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might begin right here, at our site for some basic information. http://telecom-digest.org is a good start; look at the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) files; also check the files at http://telecom-digest.org/history and the other sections in our archives. PAT] ------------------------------ From: AntwainBarbour Subject: Re: Austin Gaffe Stirs Fantasy Date: 12 Aug 2005 11:59:05 -0700 I just read this article. Wow. What is going on here? Are all cable companies working like this? Does this seem right? Just raises a lot of questions I guess. ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 23:31:45 -0400 > Actually Steve you are wrong on this one. Last night August 10, 2006, You're posting from the future? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, I did that because I wanted to see if anyone would notice it or not. (smile). PAT] ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 07:29:33 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service Andrew Hastings wrote in message news:telecom24.363.10@telecom-digest.org: > According to Edward Teller as quoted by John McCarthy, the > miscalculation may have been intentional. > See http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/teller.html. > -Andrew I knew that -- but Heisenberg may have been the only one who also did, at the time. That the decision makers had/were given the wrong info doesn't change the fact that the Germans were in no way "close to having the bomb". > jtaylor wrote: >> Tony P. wrote in message >> news:telecom24.361.15@telecom-digest.org... >>> The Germans were pretty much on their way to having their own atomic >>> weapons. >> The stuff I've read (Farm Hall transcripts, for instance) says no, >> they were working on a pile, not bombs. They miscalculated the amount >> of fissionable material necessary and so thought they could not >> a) get enough; >> b) if not a), get such a big bomb to anywhere it would do them any good. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 13:38:29 CDT From: Paul W. Schleck Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Pat, I recall that one, or both, of these free Microsoft tools has an option to return your copy of Internet Explorer to its original factory settings: Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/mbsahome.mspx Microsoft Anti-Spyware (Beta) http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx The second tool installs itself as a startup utility, and runs periodically to check for spyware, so make sure that that's what you want. The current versions of both of these tools may also require that you do Microsoft's confirmation that you have a licensed copy of XP, so make sure that you're comfortable with that, also. I recall you mentioning using Spybot Search and Destroy, so I'll assume you have run the current version already (in Windows "Safe Mode" and from read-only media if you want to be absolutely sure). Paul W. Schleck pschleck@novia.net http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/ Finger pschleck@novia.net for PGP Public Key ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 20:26:17 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > This is an appeal to any Windows Internet Explorer person in our > readership who can help me: > Wednesday night/Thursday morning someone stuck me with a virus and the > end result was my Internet Explorer browser is gone. I cannot get the > browser to come up at all; clicking on the icon makes it sit for a few > seconds, then the screen flashes ONCE as though it was getting ready > to deliver the browser, but no such luck. I have cleared out the virus > but apparently a driver or two or a file is gone as well. > Not only that but I cannot even get any pages which would come via > that browser. Now my copy of Mozilla works just fine, its only that > Internet Explorer 6.0 wont come up (or anything that depends on it, > such as a link in email, etc.) > Using Mozilla I went to a download site (supposedly 'free downloads') > and paid for a password to download an entirely new copy of Internet > Explorer 6.0 and Outlook Express. Downloaded it, but still nothing ... > I am wondering if it is because my index page (I was using 'my yahoo' > as my home or starting page) somehow got wiped out. > The newly loaded thing produces the very same results: click on the > icon, it goes away for a couple seconds, comes back flashing once then > goes away. > Can you tell me WHERE to install a new 'index' page ('Documents and > Settings/Administrator/something? so I can try that method to clear > this up? Or got any other ideas? And where would I go to make mail > and all the other links default to mozilla rather than IE? > Microsoft tech support cannot help me because I have an OEM serial > number. So I am seeking tech support from the readership here. If > someone will send me email who can help, I will supply that person > with an 800 number to reach me at by phone so it will not cost them > anything to call me, and I will be right at the affected computer to > follow their instructions. Thanks very much! The Microsoft-standard troubleshooting and repair script for all problems: 1) Exit the program and re-start it. Did that fix the problem? (If yes, you're done.) 2) Re-install the software, and re-start it. Did that fix the problem? (If yes, you're done.) 3) Re-install the operating system, re-start it. Re-install the application and start it. Did that fix the problem? (If yes, you're done.) 4) Sorry. Must be a hardware problem. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know you meant to tell a funny story but sorry, it was not all that funny. I have done numbers 1 and 2 above; am not inclined to do number 3, and it is _not_ number 4 since the hardware, which is in common to both the Linux stuff inside the computer and the Windows 2000 stuff is working fine. The problem still exists and I am still struggling with it, however there is one more piece of news in this process of elimination: Although Internet Explorer will not start up when the 'administrator' user is on line, I also created a user known as 'ptownson' and IE works fine on that 'user' account; just not on the administrator's account which is what I usually use. The problem (for those of you who missed my special mailing on it, is that (in the admin account) when I click on the icon for IE 6.0 it stalls a few seconds, then _very briefly_ flashes up the browser program with a blank 'home page' then after a second or less zaps it away. If I wish to use the IE browser, I can go in through a 'back door' such as any page which presents a bunch of files, for example 'search' or 'desktop', move my mouse up to the address line and then manually edit the destination line and get to my 'home page' or any URL desired. But the clicker on my desktop will not work, nor will any link to click on which relies on IE getting open. Mozilla, which is another desktop icon works just fine, click on it, get my 'home page' and go to wherever. Now, if I could set the various program defaults so that Outlook Express for example and other programs currently relying on IE to operate instead went to Mozilla to operate, I suppose I could just write off IE entirely _when using the administrator account_ on my Windows 2000. By the way, when I use the 'ptownson' account on the same machine, everything works fine. What am I overlooking in the admin account? What about read/write permissions on the 'home page'? It goes to look for the home page, sees the permissions won't allow it to be read, so it closes down and goes away? What is the exact directory location in DOS where I can find that file? Something like C:\documents and settings\administrator\something else? Clues are welcome. Look at the special request message in the special mailing Friday afternoon and see if you can help me. PAT] ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V24 #364 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 13 04:15:08 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 4452C1513D; Sat, 13 Aug 2005 04:15:08 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #365 Message-Id: <20050813081508.4452C1513D@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 04:15:08 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.5 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 13 Aug 2005 04:15:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 365 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Florida Man Guilty of Stealing 1.5 Billion Data Files (Reuters News) Pirated Copies of Mac OS Available Now (Tom Krazit, IDG News Service) Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail (Monty Solomon) Internet Phone Carriers Still Seeking 911 Replies (Monty Solomon) Verizon Web Site Flaw Allowed Record Access (Monty Solomon) TiVo Tests Internet Download Service (Monty Solomon) How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (wylbur37) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Bill Matern) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Flatus Ohlfahrt) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (mc) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Allen McIntosh) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Colin) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Florida Man Guilty of Stealing 1.5 Billion Data Files Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 23:46:28 -0500 A Florida man who ran a bulk e-mail company was convicted on Friday of stealing more than 1.5 billion data files from Acxiom Corp. in what federal officials said was one of the largest recorded cases of data theft. Scott Levine, 46, of Boca Raton, Florida, will be sentenced January 6 after a U.S. district court jury found him guilty on 120 counts of theft by computer, two counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. Each theft count carries a possible sentence of five years and a $250,000 fine while each fraud counts could result in 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The obstruction count could bring a 20-year sentence and a $250,000 fine. Jurors acquitted Levine of money-laundering and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors said Levine, during a 16-month period that ended in August 2003, exploited a security weakness in Acxiom's system to steal the files, which he hoped to use to inflate the value of Snipermail.com Inc., his bulk email company, which is now out of business. Levine was primarily stealing street and e-mail addresses and credit card and checking account numbers. Millions of consumers had their data stolen but U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins said there apparently had been no cases of identity theft or related crimes. When Levine was indicted in July 2004, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Christopher Wray said the case "may be the largest intrusion of personal data ever." Acxiom, one of the world's largest creators of consumer databases, has said it has tightened security for its file transfer protocol server. Several former Snipermail employees testified against Levine under plea agreements. Levine's attorneys had argued he was the victim of an employee conspiracy to frame him for the data theft. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Tom Krazit IDG News Service Subject: Pirated Version of Mac OS for PCs Available Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 01:46:34 -0500 Tom Krazit, IDG News Service Instructions on how to install Apple Computer's Mac OS X operating system on any PC with a chip from Intel or Advanced Micro Devices were posted to the Internet this week, and they could be found on several Web sites today. Apple announced in June that Mac OS X will run on Intel's x86 architecture chips starting in 2006. The Cupertino, California, company has been working on a version of Mac OS X for Intel's chips since 2000, even though Macs currently use PowerPC chips from IBM and Freescale Semiconductor. Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs told developers that a switch was necessary to take advantage of the low-power chips Intel is expected to release in the future. At the time, Apple executives insisted that Mac OS X would only run on x86 chips used in Apple-developed hardware. Intel PCs distributed to Apple developers with the x86 version of Mac OS X used a security chip to prevent developers from copying Mac OS to other Intel PCs, according to several reports this week from Mac enthusiast sites. Hacker Bypass However, several enterprising hackers have figured out ways to bypass the security chip and run the developer's version of MacOS for x86 on any x86-based PC, according to a posting on the Web page of The OSx86 Project. Posters on that site, as well as other sites within the Mac community, claim to have used the instructions to run Mac OS X on their Intel or AMD PCs, with some posting pictures and videos of x86 PCs booting Mac OS X. The process requires a copy of Mac OS X version 4 (Tiger), VMware's virtualization software, the PearPC emulator that can run operating systems written for PowerPC on any architecture, Apple's Darwin 8.0.1 software, an x86 processor that supports SSE2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 2), and two files created by an independent developer that can be downloaded using the BitTorrent file-sharing system. As of Friday afternoon, detailed instructions were available in a wiki created by The OSx86 Project. Another site had posted instructions for installing Mac OS X without using VMware's software. Not Legal Users must be willing to download pirated software, as the two files have been modified to get around the security technology in the developer PCs, according to The OSx86 Project Web site. The site insists that The OSx86 Project does not support the use of illegal software but wishes to offer a forum for users interested in running Mac OS on x86 chips. Mac OS X users praise its user-friendly design and the scarcity of viruses developed for the operating system. Aside from a brief flirtation with licensing the operating system in the mid-1990s, Apple has maintained control over its operating system by restricting it to hardware made and developed by the company. However, there is a sizable group of PC users that like to build their own systems using hardware from Intel and AMD, and many users in that group have itched for a way to run Mac OS on these low-cost machines. Dell Chairman Michael Dell also expressed interest in selling a Mac OS X Dell PC after Jobs announced the switch to Intel's chips. An Apple spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment on the issue. However, Apple has said many times since the June announcement that Mac OS X is designed to work only with Apple hardware whether that hardware uses PowerPC chips or x86 chips. Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, PC World Communications, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 22:46:27 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail Businessman can be tried under wiretap statute By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff A federal appeals court in Boston said yesterday that a businessman charged with intercepting and reading his customers' e-mails can be tried under a federal wiretapping statute. The ruling is the latest twist in a four-year-old case that has been closely watched by Internet civil liberties groups around the country. Bradford Councilman is former vice president of Interloc Inc., a rare book dealer in Greenfield that offered a free e-mail service to customers. In 1998, Councilman allegedly began intercepting any e-mails sent to his customers by the Internet retailer Amazon.com. Councilman and his colleagues allegedly read the messages to see what Amazon was offering his customers, so that he could make attractive counter-offers. A grand jury indicted Councilman in 2001 for violating the federal wiretapping law. Councilman urged dismissal of the indictment, saying that the wiretap law did not apply because the e-mail was intercepted while it was stored in the memory of a computer, not when it was traveling across a network. A federal district court agreed and threw out the indictment. The US Justice Department, which had brought the case against Councilman, appealed the ruling. But a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals in Boston also rejected the charges. Last year, the Justice Department persuaded all seven appeals court judges to hear the case. http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/08/12/appeals_court_ruling_revives_case_of_intercepted_e_mail/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 23:11:36 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Internet Phone Carriers Still Seeking 911 Replies By Jeremy Pelofsky WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some of the top U.S. Internet phone providers told U.S. regulators this week they are still trying to obtain acknowledgments from customers that they know the limitations of dialing 911 with their service. Some customers of Internet phone service, known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), have had trouble getting help when dialing the emergency number 911, which prompted the Federal Communications Commission to order changes. Unlike traditional phone service, not all Internet phones provide 911 dispatchers with the location of callers, and some calls have been routed to administrative lines that are not always monitored. The FCC in May ordered companies to fix those issues by late November and, in the interim, to get acknowledgments from all customers that they understand those service limitations. Analysts estimate there are more than 2 million VOIP customers. Vonage Holdings Corp., the biggest U.S. Internet phone provider, said it has received acknowledgments from more than 90 percent of its customers but was unable to predict whether it would achieve the 100 percent goal by an August 29 deadline. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/08/12/internet_phone_carriers_still_seeking_911_replies/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 22:42:36 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Web Site Flaw Allowed Record Access NEW YORK --Verizon Wireless customers who signed up for online billing services were able to peek at some details of others' accounts due to a Web site programming error that was caught by a customer and fixed this week, a company spokesman said Thursday. The flaw allowed customers who punched in another user's phone number to see how many airtime minutes that person had used, as well as the number of free minutes they had remaining for the month, spokesman Tom Pica said. Snoopers could also learn what cell phone model a customer used. All users who registered to use the "My Account" system were affected by the glitch, which could have been in place for as long as five years, Pica told The Associated Press. It did not appear that anyone had taken advantage of the error to pry into individual accounts, he said. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/08/12/verizon_web_site_flaw_allowed_record_access/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 02:02:18 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Tests Internet Download Service By Greg Sandoval, AP Technology Writer | August 12, 2005 SAN FRANCISCO --Add TiVo Inc. to the list of companies trying to wed the Internet to television. The digital recording company will soon allow customers to download TV shows to their set-top boxes via the Internet -- even before the shows air on TV. TiVo has struck a deal with the Independent Film Channel to transmit several of the cable channel's shows through a broadband connection as part of a trial program. Participating customers will begin receiving the shows next week, said TiVo spokesman Elliot Sloane. Sloan confirmed that TiVo sent messages to its customers -- later posted on the technology Web log Engadget.com -- offering to transmit three IFC shows beginning Aug. 19, before they aired on the cable channel. Content on demand has long been a holy grail for Internet and cable companies as they hunt for the next generation of television. No one yet has found a way to overcome the considerable technological hurdles, such as finding a speedy way to pump two-hour movies through broadband, or convince Hollywood that its content won't be pirated and that it can profit from Internet broadcasts. Still, Internet connections are picking up speed and moving closer to a reliable delivery method for broadcast-quality video. Should the day come that video is downloaded at the touch of a button, some stakeholders foresee a vast video universe of endless variety. TiVo has offered its 3.3 million customers a form of watch-what-they-want, when-they-want-it luxury since it launched in 1997, but the service remains restricted to broadcast schedules, and customers must program their set-top box to record shows. Right now, fans of the spy drama "Alias" must wait until weekly episodes are broadcast on ABC. Conceivably, an Internet broadcaster could strike a deal with a studio to offer customers a season's worth of shows at once. The question is, why would any studio with a hot show want to hand over its content to TiVo? http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/08/12/tivo_tests_internet_download_service/ ------------------------------ From: wylbur37 Subject: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: 12 Aug 2005 16:35:54 -0700 Recently, at a Radio Shack store at the telephone accessories section, I noticed that telephone extension cords were available in lengths up to 25 feet (but I didn't notice any that were longer). Is that because 25 feet is the longest you can go before there's a significant loss of signal strength? And what about people who access the internet via 56K dial-up? For them, how long can the extension cord be and still have "clean" transmission for error-free downloads? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know what the rule is -- if any -- regarding the length of cords, but I do not think it has to do with any signal degradation; after all, you might be _miles_ from the central office building, or in the case of a DSL connection, up to several thousand feet. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bill Matern Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 17:56:05 -0400 Organization: MV Communications, Inc. PAT, I had a similar problem before. A good lesson was learned by my kids about downloading stuff from web pages. It took me days to clean the mess up. The procedure that worked the best for me was using as many "free" spyware removes as possible: Spybot search and destroy and others. I needed three (don't remember the other two) before I got the mess cleaned up. I don't know if this will work for you or not, but it is worth a try. Good Luck, Bill TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:telecom0.0.1@telecom-digest.org: > This is an appeal to any Windows Internet Explorer person in our > readership who can help me: > Wednesday night/Thursday morning someone stuck me with a virus and the > end result was my Internet Explorer browser is gone. I cannot get the > browser to come up at all; clicking on the icon makes it sit for a few > seconds, then the screen flashes ONCE as though it was getting ready > to deliver the browser, but no such luck. I have cleared out the virus > but apparently a driver or two or a file is gone as well. > Not only that but I cannot even get any pages which would come via > that browser. Now my copy of Mozilla works just fine, its only that > Internet Explorer 6.0 wont come up (or anything that depends on it, > such as a link in email, etc.) > Using Mozilla I went to a download site (supposedly 'free downloads') > and paid for a password to download an entirely new copy of Internet > Explorer 6.0 and Outlook Express. Downloaded it, but still nothing ... > I am wondering if it is because my index page (I was using 'my yahoo' > as my home or starting page) somehow got wiped out. > The newly loaded thing produces the very same results: click on the > icon, it goes away for a couple seconds, comes back flashing once then > goes away. > Can you tell me WHERE to install a new 'index' page ('Documents and > Settings/Administrator/something? so I can try that method to clear > this up? Or got any other ideas? And where would I go to make mail > and all the other links default to mozilla rather than IE? > Microsoft tech support cannot help me because I have an OEM serial > number. So I am seeking tech support from the readership here. If > someone will send me email who can help, I will supply that person > with an 800 number to reach me at by phone so it will not cost them > anything to call me, and I will be right at the affected computer to > follow their instructions. Thanks very much! > PAT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The problem is now cured, and it was a thing about running one Spybot thing after another. I had found out earlier that all the facilities worked fine under a non-administrator account called 'ptownson', so I thought why not run the Spy Bot and AdAware and Grisoft AVG under that account also since all three of those things are at least partially dependent on IE 6.0 to run correctly anyway, which they were refusing to do under the admin account. By running them over and over, getting to the point of 'found and cured X files; could not cure Y files since they are locked, reboot and let (whoever) run first thing once again, while those files are still unlocked, etc. It took some doing, but then on one test of the results, presto, things were back to normal again. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Flatus Ohlfahrt Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: 12 Aug 2005 23:21:35 GMT Organization: USAF Ret On Fri, 12 Aug 2005 18:38:29 GMT, Paul W. Schleck wrote in news:telecom24.364.13@telecom-digest.org: > Pat, > I recall that one, or both, of these free Microsoft tools > has an option to return your copy of Internet Explorer to > its original factory settings: > Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer: > http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/tools/mbsahome.msp > x > Microsoft Anti-Spyware (Beta) > http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/de > fault.mspx > The second tool installs itself as a startup utility, and > runs periodically to check for spyware, so make sure that > that's what you want. The current versions of both of > these tools may also require that you do Microsoft's > confirmation that you have a licensed copy of XP, so make > sure that you're comfortable with that, also. > I recall you mentioning using Spybot Search and Destroy, so > I'll assume you have run the current version already (in > Windows "Safe Mode" and from read-only media if you want to > be absolutely sure). > Paul W. Schleck > pschleck@novia.net > http://www.novia.net/~pschleck/ > Finger pschleck@novia.net for PGP Public Key I think I would be inclined to try this one: Microsoft® Windows® Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830) Here's a pointer to it: http://tinyurl.com/4hvpc Your caveats still apply. Flatus [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That 'malicious software removal tool was quite helpful also. Thanks for the mention of it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 20:37:58 -0400 What I'd suggest is going to Disk Cleanup and removing Temporary Internet Files. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did that also ... it is incredible how many files build up in the computer after just one or two days. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 22:44:18 -0400 From: Allen McIntosh Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Reply-To: nospam@mouse-potato.com Have you done all the things recommended for recovery from a browser hijack? When this happened to me once, one of the symptoms was that IE wouldn't start. Unfortunately I don't usually do Windows, and I've forgotten what program I ran to fix it. Good luck. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Just rub and scrub many times, using all the free anti-virus tools at your disposal. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 15:17:01 +1000 From: Colin Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > This is an appeal to any Windows Internet Explorer person in our > readership who can help me: > Wednesday night/Thursday morning someone stuck me with a virus and the > end result was my Internet Explorer browser is gone. Which virus? Usually a description of the virus will tell you which files and registry settings it corrupted. Regards, Colin [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It was something to do with www.coolweb and 180Search as I recall. I also took no chances and did a complete reload of service pack 2 of Internet Explorer 6.0. It sure was a nasty one, and what I get for allowing my nephew to peek at some 'unwholesome' web sites while he was sitting around with nothing to do Wednesday afternoon. In his case for sure, idle hands made a very good devil's workshop. But now that our business has been concluded, the funeral for his mother (my sister) has concluded, and Justin checked on employment and housing opportunities here; he is on his way back home to Florida as I clean up the mess he made of my computers. Poor Justin ... a Professor of Computer Science he won't be any time soon; but a very good hearted kid he is. I am going to run all three of those anti-virus tools I have (Grisoft, AdAware and Spybot Smash and Destroy one last time before I go to bed tonight, and I am going to begin normal operations here using the 'ptownson' account rather than the 'administrator' account in the future as well. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #365 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 13 17:10:35 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 129B914FA4; Sat, 13 Aug 2005 17:10:34 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #366 Message-Id: <20050813211034.129B914FA4@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 17:10:34 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.5 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 13 Aug 2005 17:10:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 366 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Digital Service BurnLounge Makes Anyone a Retailer (Antony Bruno) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (DevilsPGD) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (Fred Atkinson) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (Robert Bonomi) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (John Levine) Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Western Union Private Line Voice Service - "Hot Line" (Robt Bonomi) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Fred Atkinson) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Robert Bonomi) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Steve Sobol) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Colin) Re: Appeals Court Revives Ruling on Intercepted Email (Barry Margolin) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Antony Bruno Subject: Digital Service BurnLounge Makes Anyone a Retailer Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 15:13:57 -0500 By Antony Bruno Startup digital music company BurnLounge wants to democratize the music retail business. The Web-based service provides the music library, e-commerce tools and business management software for virtually anyone to own and operate their own digital download store. The company's founders hope to recruit everyday music fans, allowing each to decide which acts they want to feature and promote, as a sort of digital guerrilla marketing play. "It's the reincarnation of the corner record store," BurnLounge president/COO and co-founder Ryan Dadd says. "This whole concept is about the next generation of retail. It's about marketing to affinity groups, to people with shared interests." BurnLounge is essentially a digital store franchise. Regardless of operator, each store has the same look and feel, and all carry the BurnLounge brand. All also have access to the same music library, pricing and transaction system, powered by partner Loudeye. What sets each BurnLounge store apart is the programming that the individual operator chooses. The service lets users decide which bands or songs to feature on the home page and each genre page, as well as create and promote customized playlists. It also provides a host of digital marketing tools. These include an instant messaging application that supports all popular IM communities (such as AOL, MSN Messenger and Yahoo; chat rooms; and message boards), DVD presentations, posters, letterheads, gift cards and a quarterly promotional magazine. GETTING PERSONAL "In the music business, we've always known that personal referrals and relationships lead to sales," says Stephen Murray, BurnLounge president of entertainment and co-founder. "The problem is there's been no way to quantifiably track that transaction." That, he promises, is possible with BurnLounge. The company hopes to capitalize on this by marketing the service to artists and their managers, fan clubs, street-team marketing groups, labels, music retailers and others with a large audience of music fans. Radio personality Rick Dees is one, and he is an investor in the company. BurnLounge offers these companies its top-level Music Mogul service, which allows them to set up their own digital music service as well as operate an online chain of stores. Music Mogul operators invite others to open franchises under their oversight via the Affiliate level of the service. These affiliate members then invite individuals to open their own personalized stores. The company's initial challenge is to convince users it is not a pyramid scheme. No investment is required for inventory, a typical feature of such pyramid programs. But there are costs involved -- from $30 per year to a $215 upfront setup fee and $15 per month -- all for access to various levels of music and team management software. "It's different than Amway because you don't have to buy the inventory, but it is multilevel marketing," says Mike McGuire, an analyst with Gartner G2. "But that can be a valuable tool. I think any product or service that's aimed at making the fan an artist's best salesperson is very important." DIGITAL COMPETITION BurnLounge also faces competition from such Internet communities as Yahoo. Unlike BurnLounge, Yahoo allows users to write album reviews in its blog service, with links directly back to the Yahoo Music Unlimited store. But BurnLounge compensates its users for sales made via their recommendations; Yahoo does not. "This whole class of products and services are really crucial to helping the industry make this transition into the digital media age," McGuire says. "These could become tools that help more consumers realize that (digital) can be a better way of getting and discovering music." BurnLounge plans to go live before the end of the year, after its has secured deals with all five major label groups; EMI Music has already signed on. The point, Murray says, is to create a market for lesser-known music by employing the community aspect of music discovery that the digital format allows. "Hardcore music fans, that is our core demographic," Murray says. "They love music so much, and the idea of being able to tell their friends about the music they think is good and be able to sell it to them as a side job is really cool to them. The concept about the name BurnLounge is that it's about starting a fire ... that spreads." Reuters/Billboard Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 04:32:13 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message wylbur37 wrote: > Recently, at a Radio Shack store at the telephone accessories section, > I noticed that telephone extension cords were available in lengths up > to 25 feet (but I didn't notice any that were longer). Is that > because 25 feet is the longest you can go before there's a significant > loss of signal strength? > And what about people who access the internet via 56K dial-up? For > them, how long can the extension cord be and still have "clean" > transmission for error-free downloads? I'm not sure what the official specs are, and I'm much too lazy to look 'em up, but my girlfriend has 2x50' cables connected back to back and I can get a stable 50Kb connection. In message TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to wylbur37 : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know what the rule is -- if > any -- regarding the length of cords, but I do not think it has to > do with any signal degradation; after all, you might be _miles_ from > the central office building, or in the case of a DSL connection, up > to several thousand feet. PAT] True -- However, that cable will typically be better quality copper then your average Radio Shack crap. That being said, 50'-100' isn't usually a problem. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 07:28:56 -0400 > Recently, at a Radio Shack store at the telephone accessories section, > I noticed that telephone extension cords were available in lengths up > to 25 feet (but I didn't notice any that were longer). Is that > because 25 feet is the longest you can go before there's a significant > loss of signal strength? > And what about people who access the internet via 56K dial-up? For > them, how long can the extension cord be and still have "clean" > transmission for error-free downloads? > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know what the rule is -- if > any -- regarding the length of cords, but I do not think it has to > do with any signal degradation; after all, you might be _miles_ from > the central office building, or in the case of a DSL connection, up > to several thousand feet. PAT] I don't think there is any limit on how long the cord can be from a realistic standpoint. But with extension cords, there is a practical limit in that the darned things can be so long that they get tangled and are otherwise awkward and cumbersome. To that end, the longest cord I get is thirteen feet (a standard size that you can buy over the counter). Go with twenty-five feet (also a standard size you can buy over the counter) and you are always struggling with managing the cord. It's a pain in the neck. I have used a modular crimping tool to make ones longer much longer than that when someone was insistent about it. But why do that when you can just run standard telephone wire to an RJ-11 jack somewhere in the vicinity of where they want their phone located? I still discourage those excessively long telephone cords. As far as the wire from the C. O. is concerned, I believe there is a limit before the phone company makes it four wire most of the way to the premises. But I don't remember what that length is. I'd be willing to bet it is pretty long. Regards, Fred ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 14:48:47 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wylbur37 wrote: > Recently, at a Radio Shack store at the telephone accessories section, > I noticed that telephone extension cords were available in lengths up > to 25 feet (but I didn't notice any that were longer). Is that > because 25 feet is the longest you can go before there's a significant > loss of signal strength? The issue is not 'loss of signal strength', but 'pick-up of interference'. The 'pre-made' cords at Radio Shack, etc. are usually what is called 'satin' cord. Notably, all the conductors are laid out exactly parallel in the flat cord (same arrangement as 'ribbon' cable', just with a small number of conductors.) Such 'flat cable' is much more prone to pick up interference, etc, than is a 'twisted pair' cable. In twisted-pair cable, the position of the individual conductors changes 'frequently' (depending on the 'category' of cable, it may be centimeters to 10s of inches). This results in the different sections of the cable picking up the interference *differently*, and the signal pick-up in the different sections effectively cancel each other out -- with just the 'intended' signal going through. It isn't "perfect", but it is much *much* better than what happens with 'flat' cable. Note: Radio Shack, etc., also sells 'spools' (50', 100', maybe 250' and longer) of 'round' telephone cable -- which _is_ 'twisted pair' construction. You can easily build-you-own long extension from that. > And what about people who access the internet via 56K dial-up? For > them, how long can the extension cord be and still have "clean" > transmission for error-free downloads? The authoritative answer for that is "whatever works". *grin* Seriously, the phone cord _itself_ is a 'non issue'. It is "what else" that is in the vicinity, *generating* interference, that is the primary problem. There are *no* _official_ "rules" limiting length of extension cords -- and you can always buy a 'coupler' (sold at Radio Shack, etc.), to join 2 25' extensions, giving you a 50' reach, for example. Probably the primary reason you don't see cords longer than 25' for sale is that there would be a _very_small_ market for them. 10' and 15' cords out-sell the 25' ones by a *big* margin -- something like 25:1. I'd expect _at_least_ 10:1 to 15:1 for 25' vs 50'. ------------------------------ Date: 13 Aug 2005 19:02:14 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Recently, at a Radio Shack store at the telephone accessories > section, I noticed that telephone extension cords were available in > lengths up to 25 feet (but I didn't notice any that were longer). > Is that because 25 feet is the longest you can go before there's a > significant loss of signal strength? I think the limit is about 18,000 feet. Then you might have trouble carrying DSL over it. Of course, a crummy extension cord with badly crimped connections that are coming apart can mess up your connection even if it's two inches long, but so long as it's well made, don't worry about it. R's, John ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 14:26:49 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > I was wondering what kind of machine, if any, replaced the classic > glass-dome model and continued to produce a tape showing trades. The volume of data, and the required speed of transmission to stay more-or-less current with the actual market conditions outstripped the capability of 'tape' printers. Just as _telegram_ printing shifted to roll-feed wide paper, from the tape, what remained for dedicated mechanical printers did similarly. In the 60s, early-70s ... Bunker-Ramo came out with electronic quote display terminals, and practically owned the _broker_ market for a number of years. Telerate also came out with a CRT display supporting many, _many_ 'pages' of display data -- everything from news stories to lists of latest market prices -- either as groups displayed simultaneously on a single 'page', or single issues as a streaming 'ticker' across the bottom of the screen. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Western Union Private Line Voice Service -- "Hot Line" Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 15:21:59 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > In the mid 1960s Western Union introduced a private line voice service > called "Hot Line". In essence, a person lifting the receiver of one > telephone would cause a specified distant telephone to ring over a > private line. The connection was faster and cheaper than placing a > conventional long distance call over the Bell System. WU charged by 6 > second increments and at a lower rate; the Bell System at that time > had a 3 minute minimum. WU says their arrangement was cheaper when > more than 3 calls a day were made. > The connection between the two telephones was actually not a dedicated > private line, but shared use of the WU network via concentrators. If > a circuit was busy there were alternates. > See: > http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/technical/western-union-tech-review/21-2/p104.htm > The article said the service was popular among brokers between field > offices and the central office serving the stock exchange for calling > in stock orders. Such calls were normally brief. > Obviously this service had some limitations since it was telephone-set > to telephone-set. I don't think this could terminate in a PBX system > to allow shared use of the line by a whole organization which would > give more flexibility. Correct. It was a dedicated line/circuit. Either physical or 'virtual'. There was minimalist special-purpose 'central-office' equipment for those lines; two ports. When one port went off-hook, it send 'ring' down the other port. Then the 2nd port went off-hook, it was cross-connected to the first one. After both sides hung up, the system reset itself. > I don't know if WU permitted any kind of > multiple extension sets at the subscriber since a specialized telephone > set they provided was used. Pretty vanilla innards -- omitting the dial assembly was common. A limited (max 3?, 5?) number of extensions _were_ supported/allowed by specific arrangement. > For example, a secretary might want to > answer the boss's hot/line phone if he was out. > WU also reported customers wanted to get the service in more cities > than available. > None the less, it seemed like a pretty good idea for its time. > Would anyone know how successful this service was and how long it > lasted? "Ring down" circuits are not uncommon today, although they have been mostly replaced by ISDN -- which gives you call set-up/completion in less time than you can get the handset from cradle to your ear. At least in Chicago, the telco provided the dedicated circuits -- dry wire pairs (3002, 3008, types) -- and the customer provided the "C.O." gear, as well as the phones. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 07:41:11 -0400 > PAT, > I had a similar problem before. A good lesson was learned by my kids > about downloading stuff from web pages. It took me days to clean the > mess up. > The procedure that worked the best for me was using as many "free" > spyware removes as possible: Spybot search and destroy and others. I > needed three (don't remember the other two) before I got the mess > cleaned up. I don't know if this will work for you or not, but it is > worth a try. > Good Luck, > Bill Spyware removal programs such as Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy do a pretty good job if you run them from time to time. My brother's girlfriend has a daughter that is constantly downloading all kinds of junk off of the Internet. My brother cautioned her that she was garbaging the computer with all kinds of Spyware and viruses, but she didn't seem to care one way or the other. Teenagers can be like that. Finally, she had gathered so much stuff on it that my brother asked me to go over and try to fix it. When I arrived, there was so much junk on it that pop ups and other malicious wares kept jumping in front of me that I couldn't even make a boot disk so I could delete the partition to start again. We wandered next door to one of her neighbor's house. The neighbor allowed me to use his computer to make a boot disk. There was spyware on his computer, though not nearly as bad. I installed a copy of Adaware on his PC and wiped most of it out. Then I was able to make a boot disk and also downloaded onto the boot disk a piece of freeware called 'Delpart' that will wipe out any partition you care to blow away ('be careful how you use it', to steal a slogan from an old Hai Karate commercial). When I returned to the computer the teenage girl had trashed, I rebooted on the floppy and used Delpart to blow away her partition. The I created a clean one and reinstalled the OS. Of course, the teenage daughter lost all of her files. But she had been cautioned that that would happen at the rate she was going. I installed Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy and showed my brother's girlfriend how to run them. It can be a real mess. Regards, Fred ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 14:07:39 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: > In article , > TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: >> This is an appeal to any Windows Internet Explorer person in our >> readership who can help me: >> Wednesday night/Thursday morning someone stuck me with a virus and the >> end result was my Internet Explorer browser is gone. I cannot get the >> browser to come up at all; clicking on the icon makes it sit for a few >> seconds, then the screen flashes ONCE as though it was getting ready >> to deliver the browser, but no such luck. I have cleared out the virus >> but apparently a driver or two or a file is gone as well. >> Not only that but I cannot even get any pages which would come via >> that browser. Now my copy of Mozilla works just fine, its only that >> Internet Explorer 6.0 wont come up (or anything that depends on it, >> such as a link in email, etc.) >> Using Mozilla I went to a download site (supposedly 'free downloads') >> and paid for a password to download an entirely new copy of Internet >> Explorer 6.0 and Outlook Express. Downloaded it, but still nothing ... >> I am wondering if it is because my index page (I was using 'my yahoo' >> as my home or starting page) somehow got wiped out. >> The newly loaded thing produces the very same results: click on the >> icon, it goes away for a couple seconds, comes back flashing once then >> goes away. >> Can you tell me WHERE to install a new 'index' page ('Documents and >> Settings/Administrator/something? so I can try that method to clear >> this up? Or got any other ideas? And where would I go to make mail >> and all the other links default to mozilla rather than IE? >> Microsoft tech support cannot help me because I have an OEM serial >> number. So I am seeking tech support from the readership here. If >> someone will send me email who can help, I will supply that person >> with an 800 number to reach me at by phone so it will not cost them >> anything to call me, and I will be right at the affected computer to >> follow their instructions. Thanks very much! > The Microsoft-standard troubleshooting and repair script for all > problems: > 1) Exit the program and re-start it. > Did that fix the problem? (If yes, you're done.) > 2) Re-install the software, and re-start it. > Did that fix the problem? (If yes, you're done.) > 3) Re-install the operating system, re-start it. Re-install the > application and start it. Did that fix the problem? (If yes, > you're done.) > 4) Sorry. Must be a hardware problem. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know you meant to tell a funny story > but sorry, it was not all that funny. It *wasn't* intended as a 'funny'. It is, *UNFORTUNATELY*, _entirely_ serious. That _is_ the list of steps _Microsoft_technical_support_ recommends for all issues, where something "isn't working". (including the exact wording of item #4.) What =that= says about MS 'support', and/or the lack of ability to identify _what_ is wrong that causes the aberrant behavior, is left to the reader. > I have done numbers 1 and 2 above; am not inclined to do number 3, Microsoft tech support then closes the call. "Customer unwilling to take recommended actions." (I've been down that road with them.) > and it is _not_ number 4 since the hardware, which is in common to > both the Linux stuff inside the computer and the Windows 2000 stuff > is working fine. Microsoft tech support "knows more about things than you do" -- they are *always* right about such matters. Ask _them_ -- they *will* assure you of that fact. > The problem still exists and I am still struggling with it, however > there is one more piece of news in this process of elimination: > Although Internet Explorer will not start up when the > 'administrator' user is on line, I also created a user known as > 'ptownson' and IE works fine on that 'user' account; just not on the > administrator's account which is what I usually use. > The problem (for those of you who missed my special mailing on it, > is that (in the admin account) when I click on the icon for IE 6.0 > it stalls a few seconds, then _very briefly_ flashes up the browser > program with a blank 'home page' then after a second or less zaps it > away. If I wish to use the IE browser, I can go in through a 'back > door' such as any page which presents a bunch of files, for example > 'search' or 'desktop', move my mouse up to the address line and then > manually edit the destination line and get to my 'home page' or any > URL desired. But the clicker on my desktop will not work, nor will > any link to click on which relies on IE getting open. Mozilla, which > is another desktop icon works just fine, click on it, get my 'home > page' and go to wherever. Now, if I could set the various program > defaults so that Outlook Express for example and other programs > currently relying on IE to operate instead went to Mozilla to > operate, I suppose I could just write off IE entirely when using the > administrator account_ on my Windows 2000. By the way, when I use > >the 'ptownson' account on the same machine, everything works fine. > What am I overlooking in the admin account? %DIETY% only knows. MS-ware works by 'magic'. According to the Redmond Mantra, users never have any need to know what goes on 'beneath the covers', so there aren't any records (you know, 'log files' of what various things do, or 'what changed what', let alone what it was 'changed from' and 'changed to'. If everything is the way Microsoft 'intended it to be', the magic works; if something _isn't_ the way Microsoft requires, There is no provision for tracking down _what_ that 'something' is. The "official" fix is to "put everything back to the Microsoft intended it" -- which you accomplish by doing a 're-install'. It is 'something' related to that user profile. Data for which is scattered in several places. A bunch is in the registry. some may be under: C:\Documents and Settings/{userid}/Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft or C:\Documents and Settings/{userid}/Application Data\Microsoft and possibly several layers below either of those points. > What about read/write permissions on the 'home page'? It goes to > look for the home page, sees the permissions won't allow it to be > read, so it closes down and goes away? I would expect a 4.0.3 error 'access denied'. > What is the exact directory location in DOS where I can find that > file? The URL for the home page is, I *think*, in the registry. "somewhere". (if so, it will be there twice -- once under H_KEY_CURRENT_USER, and once in the administrator 'permanent' registry items. > Something like C:\documents and settings\administrator\something > else? Clues are welcome. Look at the special request message in the > special mailing Friday afternoon and see if you can help me. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 09:24:17 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Using Mozilla I went to a download site (supposedly 'free downloads') > and paid for a password to download an entirely new copy of Internet > Explorer 6.0 and Outlook Express. Downloaded it, but still nothing ... > I am wondering if it is because my index page (I was using 'my yahoo' > as my home or starting page) somehow got wiped out. Uhhhh ... you wasted your money http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ IE 6 is available from this site, it's the actual software and it won't cost you a cent. > Can you tell me WHERE to install a new 'index' page ('Documents and > Settings/Administrator/something? so I can try that method to clear > this up? Or got any other ideas? And where would I go to make mail > and all the other links default to mozilla rather than IE? You can make web links default to Mozilla by clicking Tools|Options in Mozilla, clicking General, and looking for the option that makes Mozilla check whether it's the default browser. > Microsoft tech support cannot help me because I have an OEM serial > number. That's right, they don't support OEM copies of windows. The Original Equipment Manufacturer (the company that built your computer) does; call them. > So I am seeking tech support from the readership here. If > someone will send me email who can help, I will supply that person > with an 800 number to reach me at by phone so it will not cost them > anything to call me, and I will be right at the affected computer to > follow their instructions. Thanks very much! I'd try downloading IE6 from Microsoft first, but I'm wondering if something else isn't up with your computer ... Flatus Ohlfahrt wrote: > I think I would be inclined to try this one: Microsoft® Windows® > Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830) Here's a pointer to it: > http://tinyurl.com/4hvpc On my Windows XP laptop,Windows Automatic Update installs an updated copy of this program every month. Or you can go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com -- which you should be doing on a regular basis anyhow if your OS doesn't do automatic updates -- and apply the security fixes there. mc wrote: > What I'd suggest is going to Disk Cleanup and removing Temporary > Internet Files. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I did that also ... it is incredible > how many files build up in the computer after just one or two days. > PAT] I just cleaned up a Temporary Internet Files directory yesterday, where the user had the cache set to almost 600 MB. Go to Tools|Internet Options in IE, look for the temporary file settings in the middle of the page, and click the Settings button - the default is probably to use quite a bit of space for temporary files and can safely be adjusted WAY down. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 00:45:05 +1000 From: Colin Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Colin wrote: > TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: >> This is an appeal to any Windows Internet Explorer person in our >> readership who can help me: >> Wednesday night/Thursday morning someone stuck me with a virus and the >> end result was my Internet Explorer browser is gone. > Which virus? Usually a description of the virus will tell you which > files and registry settings it corrupted. > Regards, > Colin > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It was something to do with www.coolweb > and 180Search as I recall. I also {...] http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.180search.html tells you what it did. Try the removal tool, or if you have already deleted files and the tool doesn't work see the registry settings to delete near the bottom of the page. IE is stuck for the 180ax 'helper object' you have probably already found and deleted ... Regards, Colin ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail Organization: Symantec Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 16:56:30 -0400 In article , Monty Solomon wrote: > Bradford Councilman is former vice president of Interloc Inc., a rare > book dealer in Greenfield that offered a free e-mail service to > customers. In 1998, Councilman allegedly began intercepting any > e-mails sent to his customers by the Internet retailer Amazon.com. > Councilman and his colleagues allegedly read the messages to see what > Amazon was offering his customers, so that he could make attractive > counter-offers. > A grand jury indicted Councilman in 2001 for violating the federal > wiretapping law. Councilman urged dismissal of the indictment, saying > that the wiretap law did not apply because the e-mail was intercepted > while it was stored in the memory of a computer, not when it was > traveling across a network. > A federal district court agreed and threw out the indictment. The US > Justice Department, which had brought the case against Councilman, > appealed the ruling. But a three-judge panel of the US Court of > Appeals in Boston also rejected the charges. Last year, the Justice > Department persuaded all seven appeals court judges to hear the case. It seems to me that they're using the wrong law. Doesn't the Electronic Communications Privacy Act have provisions prohibiting email providers from looking at customers' mail, except as needed to provide the service (e.g. server administrators sometimes have to look at mail to diagnose problems)? Why are they using the a wiretapping statute, when he didn't actually intercept anything on the wire? Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #366 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Aug 14 17:49:12 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 8CF7C1505D; Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:49:11 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #367 Message-Id: <20050814214911.8CF7C1505D@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:49:11 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, INFO_TLD autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: R TELECOM Digest Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:50:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 367 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Podcasting Is Still Not Quite Ready For the Masses (Monty Solomon) Podcasting Frequently Asked Questions (Monty Solomon) The Paradox of Podcasting (Monty Solomon) Podcasting: Can This New Medium Make Money? (Monty Solomon) Review: Podcasting: The Do-It-yourself Guide (Monty Solomon) Start-Up Slashes Cost of International Wireless (Monty Solomon) Segregated Saudis Flirt Via Bluetooth (Monty Solomon) Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? (Lisa Hancock) True Long Distance Carriers? (Lisa Hancock) Using Converged Services Platform [CSP] With Windows (Ali) Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail (Mike Sullivan) Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail (John Levine) Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail (Robert Bonomi) Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (Jim Haynes) Re: Telephoning Russian Villages (B.M. Wright) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (Michael Quinn) Usenet (was Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw) (Dennis G. Rears) School Gun Expulsions End (alan@bloomfieldpress.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:18:39 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Podcasting Is Still Not Quite Ready For the Masses [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In this issue of the Digest, our regular correspondent Monty Solomon has colllected a number of articles from the media of interest on 'Podcasting', the relatively new technique for audio presentations on the net. I hope you will find this collection of articles interesting. PAT] By WALTER S. MOSSBERG July 6, 2005 The process of receiving, and creating, blogs has gone mainstream and become quite simple. Anyone can compose and post a blog -- a personal, diary-like Web site filled with text and photos -- in a matter of minutes using free online services like Google's Blogger or Microsoft's MSN Spaces. Last month, I explained how to do it in my guide to blogging (see http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20050615.html ). But text blogs are yesterday's news. The hottest new trend in personal online content creation is something called a podcast, essentially a short personal radio show or audio blog. They can be downloaded and played back on a computer or a portable music player like Apple's iPod, whence the genre draws its name. Podcasts range from slick productions offered by big media companies and amateur broadcasters; to clever and entertaining offerings from smart, undiscovered talent; to crude diatribes and snooze-inducing lectures by people the mainstream media proved wise not to hire. Some are just talk, some include music. Some sound like they were recorded on a 1971-vintage RadioShack cassette recorder, others -- even from amateurs -- are studio-quality. These audio blogs, once the province mainly of techies, took a big step toward the mainstream last week when Apple began offering thousands of them, free, through its market-leading iTunes music store and iTunes music software. Anyone can submit a podcast for distribution through iTunes, and any iTunes user can download it. The company doesn't charge a penny for listing or downloading podcasts. So, this week, my assistant Katie Boehret and I set out to see how easy it is to get and create podcasts. The good news is that, with its iTunes move, Apple has made receiving podcasts as simple as downloading music. The bad news is that neither Apple nor anyone else has made it nearly as simple to create a podcast and get it online as it is to create and post a text and photo blog. Until that happens, podcasting won't be truly mainstream. http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/solution-20050706.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:23:21 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Podcasting Frequently Asked Questions http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301880 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:24:35 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Paradox of Podcasting By Robert MacMillan washingtonpost.com Staff Writer Podcasting has done what no new technology that I'm aware of has ever accomplished: It's gone mainstream and underground at the same time. I don't know any other word to use besides "mainstream" when I hear from the White House that President Bush's radio addresses will be offered via podcast. And I have no other word at my fingertips than "underground" when I read a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece that suggests that podcasting is the biggest tech craze that most of us have never heard of. Here's what White House spokesman David Almacy told me: Selected Bush speeches, along with the radio addresses, are available now at the iTunes Web site. A team of about a dozen Web staffers are converting these and selected speeches into MP3 files and making them available too. Not only that, the White House has created RSS feeds for the radio addresses in English and Spanish. That means that anyone who wants to can sign up to receive the information through their RSS readers along with news and other Web site updates that offer this service. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081100695.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:23:30 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Podcasting: Can This New Medium Make Money? Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh and his nemesis, Al Franken, are podcasting. As are ESPN, former MTV video jockey Adam Curry and thousands of others. Podcasting, a way to broadcast audio over the Internet, has become the latest web movement to get everyone's attention. Including Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs, who recently called it "the next generation of radio." On June 28, Apple announced that it had integrated podcasts into the latest version of iTunes software so that users can manage and receive these new kinds of broadcasts. It's a logical move. After all, the podcast moniker stuck partially because of the popularity of the iPod, although most of these broadcasts are produced in a format that can be played on music players using the MPEG-1 Audio Layer-3, or MP3, audio compression format. Podcasting can also apply to video broadcasts, but audio dominates for now. The actual content on podcasts is a mix of amateur broadcasters -- waxing poetic about everything from global warming to venture capital to ice hockey -- and media giants that are repurposing existing shows like "Nightline." Podcasting is different from traditional media broadcasting because it allows listeners to "time shift," or listen to programs at their leisure, unlike radio, which operates on a schedule. Podcasting is also different from traditional media in that the means of production and distribution are readily available to anyone. The technology required to produce podcast content is relatively simple and, unlike the scarce radio broadcast spectrum, the distribution channel -- the Internet -- is available to all. The market for podcasts is growing quickly. A survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that more than six million people out of the 22 million who own iPods or MP3 players have listened to a podcast. Such activity begs the question: Is podcasting here to stay? Experts at Wharton and analysts who follow the market answer with a resounding yes. As to whether a business model emerges for these broadcasts, observers suggest that advertising and subscription revenues may eventually come into play. Apple, for example, could begin serving as a guide to podcasts and sell a few more iPods in the process. "A lot of the attention has been overdone, but podcasting is not going away," says Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader. "It will continue to grow and resources will be thrown at it. Some will do podcasting well and be rewarded for it." http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1239 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:40:59 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Review: Podcasting: The Do-It-yourself Guide Todd Cochrane's Podcasting: The Do-It-yourself Guide is the first book published on listening to and creating podcasts. It's an easy read, covers a lot of ground, and has enough information that podcasters at all levels of experience should be able to learn from it. Cochrane's Geek News Central is a popular tech blog. His podcast is an extension of his site, and with this book he shares what he's learned from his experiences creating a regular podcast. In addition to this review, we've arranged with the publisher to make a sample chapter available, Producing a Podcast with the Gear You Own Today. You can preview the book online, or download the sample chapter as a PDF for printing. The book is broken down into five sections: * Listening to the Podcast Revolution * Joining the Revolution: Your Own Podcast * Recording Your Podcast and Performing Postproduction Tasks * Hosting and Preparing to Publish Your Podcast * It's Show Time http://www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2005/07/review_podcasti_1.html http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0764597787/ http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?isbn=0764597787 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And there you have it; everything anyone could ever possibly wish to know about Podcasting and its techniques. My thanks to Monty Solomon for compiling all this from the recent press. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 01:45:52 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International wireless Cambridge firm uses Skype technology to make cellphone calls By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | August 1, 2005 CAMBRIDGE -- In just one year, computer users around the world have downloaded 140 million copies of the Skype program that lets them make free phone calls over the Internet to other Skype users. Now a Kendall Square start-up is pushing Skype into a new frontier: cellphones. Through a $10-a-year software rental that goes on sale today, iSkoot promises to let people make international calls to other Skype users for nothing more than the price of local air time for the link from their cellphones to their broadband-connected home computers. Just as Internet phone technology has slashed the price of making conventional landline long-distance calls and enabled unlimited calling for as little as $20 a month, the iSkoot technology could put pressure on still-exorbitant wireless international calling charges. Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless, the two biggest US carriers, charge $1.49 a minute for calls to Europe and India, and rates as high as $3 for less common destinations like Madagascar. Subscribers willing to pay a $4 monthly fee can get lower rates, such as 19 or 20 cents a minute to most of Europe and 30 or 35 cents to India. But Verizon warns it can require a $500 security deposit for international long-distance subscribers. Market data suggest a big market for international cellphone calls. According to a survey by Telegeography, a market analysis and research firm in San Diego, 20 percent of all international calls originated on cellphones in 2003, the most recent year surveyed. In the United States and Canada, the figure was 5 percent. The iSkoot founder, Jacob Guedalia, said his vision was to 'enable the individual to become his own long-distance carrier' by routing calls over a home or office computer connection, instead of AT&T or Sprint. Thanks to moves by Skype to make its software code available to other technology developers to build new services and products that run over Skype, Guedalia said, "We can take the voice-over-Internet revolution, which until now has really been confined to the personal computer, and bring it to the mobile world." Executives at top wireless carriers, who could lose millions of dollars in international calling revenue, are taking a wait-and-see attitude. Although carriers like Verizon and Cingular maintain wide latitude to terminate customers they deem to be misusing their service by doing things like making excessive free night and weekend calls, functionally iSkoot resembles using a calling card or company conference bridge for an international cellphone call, which normally carriers don't block. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/08/01/start_up_slashes_cost_of_international_wireless/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:07:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Segregated Saudis Flirt Via Bluetooth By DONNA ABU-NASR The Associated Press RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- The restaurant, like all Riyadh eateries, has taken precautions to prevent its male and female diners from seeing or contacting each other. Circular white walls surround each table in the family section, open only to women alone or women accompanied by close male relatives. Other male diners are on lower floors. Yet despite the barriers, the men and women flirt and exchange phone numbers, photos and kisses. They elude the mores imposed by the kingdom's puritanical Wahhabi version of Islam _ formulated in the 18th century _ by using a 21st century device in their mobile phones: the wireless Bluetooth technology that permits users to connect without going through the phone company. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/11/AR2005081100987.html ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? Date: 13 Aug 2005 18:30:30 -0700 Back in the 1970s, a standard fixture in almost every business (and even in some wealthy homes) was a key telephone. This has six buttons along the time so that the phone could handle more than one outside line, intercom lines, and HOLD function. I was wondering what basic key systems cost in the 1970-1975 time frame. From what I saw, the pricing was a la carte--every little feature was a charge. One large organization did not bother with line lamps to save money. The "wink-hold" feature, where the line lamp blinked slowly when the line was on-hold, was optional. I never saw a system without a HOLD button, but apparently even that was optional. (I believe later systems, such as ComKey had package prices). Anyway, would anyone know what typical pricing was in the 1970-1975 time frame, for the following: - "Hunting" feature so busy calls would go to the next line. - Two lines, two keysets, line lamps that would blink on ring, but not wink-hold. - Wink-hold feature. - Basic manual intercom (push-button to sound buzzer). Sometimes there was a SIG button on the phone, sometimes there was a tiny panel with pushbuttons mounted next to the phone. - Dial intercom, one common channel, one digit automatically sounded desired buzzer. - Other features of the six button keyset? - If a residence had a key system was the cost cheaper than a business? Around the 1960s the Bell System came out with a fancier system known as the "Call Director". Did this have any advanced features or did it just offer more line buttons? I know the basic Call Director shell was used as a PBX operator's console, but that was a different phone and included an additional lamp for supervision. Six button keysets are rare to see today, having been replaced by more modern systems. Even the Bell System, before divesture, had developed several new lines, such as ComKey and phones with more buttons (identified by a larger square button with the light within it. Both wall and desk sets had a long row of buttons along the top of the phone. These were out early enough that they were made in rotary dial as well as touch tone. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have seen a few very elaborate and very complex (regards wiring) six-buton sets. One of the strangest I ever saw had six buttons (five lines plus hold) but the 'lines' were very special purpose: from left to right, the hold button (red plastic) was followed by 'intercom' for an open-loop arrangement (just battery to provide talking voltage on to a similar set in a place called 'radio station booth' and also 'box office' and 'stage left' [anyone using one of the instruments at 'radio booth' or 'box office' or 'stage left' could talk to or be heard by persons at the the other instruments by going off hook]) the fourth button (or third 'line') was 'extension 263' from the building PBX. There was a jack on the backside to plug in a headphone for handsfree conversation either on the 'extension 263' or the 'intercom'; either of which could be put on hold to answer the other line; the switchhook on the left plunger was plastic and could be raised up to serve a way to swap between the phone receiver or the headset; and last but not least, a 'beehive lamp' so the phone did not actually ring (which might disturb something in process in the auditorium) but just flashed in cadence with the silent bell 'ringing'. Apparently the principal user of that instrument used it to stay in touch with the box office, the other side of the stage or perhaps the radio station booth, to be informed when the radio link was on the air or not. This was in around 1960, and instead of the 'square' buttons on the bottom, they were the older style 'round' buttons. They told me they had to pay Illinois Bell seventy five cents per month for the intercom loop, which I presume was to maintain the power supply and the wiring of same. They paid a dollar per month for the rental of the operator-style headset and about the same amount for the beehive lamp. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: True Long Distance Carriers? Date: 13 Aug 2005 18:35:51 -0700 Would anyone know who the 'true' long distance carriers are in the U.S.? That is, what carriers actually own their own physical network that can carry calls to various parts of the entire United Sates (as opposed to renting space from someone else)? Also, today the Baby Bells each hold a large geograhic area and offer long distance. Do they carry calls within their own areas? (They've always had the capability to do that). Do whatever large once-'independent' telephone companies (ie United Telecom?) have any long distance networks? (GTE was the largest independent, but that was merged into Verizon.) Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the 1960-70's, AT&T was mostly it, and the _largest customers_ of AT&T were MCI and Sprint. As MCI began putting together some facilities of their own, then AT&T and Sprint started buying from them, etc. They have always been each other's largest customers, even until more recent years as they developed their own networks. United Tel used to buy capacity almost exclusively from AT&T but now they buy it as much as possible from their parent company Sprint. The term 'independent' means nothing any longer (in the context of telephony) as you know, and I _think_ that all carriers try to handle their own calls within their 'territories' but even the terms 'intralata' and 'interlata' these days are very complex and vague. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ali Subject: Using Converged Services Platform [CSP] with Windows Date: 13 Aug 2005 17:11:59 -0700 Hi EveryOne! Hope every one is fine; I need to know if any one here is familiar with Hardware Switch [ http://www.excelswitching.com/ ] for implementing H.323 , SIP or SS7 [ http://www.pt.com/ ]. For general solution like call center, voice conference, call diverting-forwarding-recording etc. I'll appreciate any useful tips and hints for this from design to implementation phase. Are there any www, usenet groups or other articles? Looking forward to hear. ali ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 01:00:41 GMT Barry Margolin wrote: > It seems to me that they're using the wrong law. Doesn't the > Electronic Communications Privacy Act have provisions prohibiting > email providers from looking at customers' mail, except as needed to > provide the service (e.g. server administrators sometimes have to look > at mail to diagnose problems)? Why are they using the a wiretapping > statute, when he didn't actually intercept anything on the wire? The ECPA is part of the federal wiretapping law; it amended the wiretap laws that were enacted as part of the 1968 Omnibus Crime and Safe Streets Act to address electronic communications. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) ------------------------------ Date: 14 Aug 2005 01:21:29 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > It seems to me that they're using the wrong law. Doesn't the > Electronic Communications Privacy Act have provisions prohibiting > email providers from looking at customers' mail, except as needed to > provide the service (e.g. server administrators sometimes have to look > at mail to diagnose problems)? Why are they using the a wiretapping > statute, when he didn't actually intercept anything on the wire? The ECPA is part of the wiretap law. If you're interested in this, why not read the decision, which is not all that long, rather than guessing about what the parties were trying to do. R's, John ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 13:04:27 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Barry Margolin wrote: > In article , Monty Solomon > wrote: >> Bradford Councilman is former vice president of Interloc Inc., a rare >> book dealer in Greenfield that offered a free e-mail service to >> customers. In 1998, Councilman allegedly began intercepting any >> e-mails sent to his customers by the Internet retailer Amazon.com. >> Councilman and his colleagues allegedly read the messages to see what >> Amazon was offering his customers, so that he could make attractive >> counter-offers. >> A grand jury indicted Councilman in 2001 for violating the federal >> wiretapping law. Councilman urged dismissal of the indictment, saying >> that the wiretap law did not apply because the e-mail was intercepted >> while it was stored in the memory of a computer, not when it was >> traveling across a network. >> A federal district court agreed and threw out the indictment. The US >> Justice Department, which had brought the case against Councilman, >> appealed the ruling. But a three-judge panel of the US Court of >> Appeals in Boston also rejected the charges. Last year, the Justice >> Department persuaded all seven appeals court judges to hear the case. > It seems to me that they're using the wrong law. Doesn't the > Electronic Communications Privacy Act have provisions prohibiting > email providers from looking at customers' mail, except as needed to > provide the service (e.g. server administrators sometimes have to look > at mail to diagnose problems)? Why are they using the a wiretapping > statute, when he didn't actually intercept anything on the wire? Maybe because the "unlawful access to stored communications" statute (sec. 2701) has a hole in it that you could drive a battleship through. *SIDEWAYS*. It specifies that if you access the _facility_ in/on which the messages are stored, "without authorization", or "in access of authorization", and access/modify/delete messages, you have committed a crime. There is also a blanket exemption for any acts "authorized" by the owner of _the_ _facility_. Sec 2511 is pretty clear that _it's_ prohibitions apply to messages 'in transit', especially when you look at how 'intercepting' a message is defined. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am curious, but how can an email message be 'in transit'? Its either 'here' or it is 'there' or are they referring to the 30 or 45 seconds after the sender hits his 'enter' key (while the message travels on the wires from here to there via somewhere else) before it lands in my box, at which point I would think the 'in transit' stage has ended. Or does 'in transit' include the time it spends sitting on my ISPs server until I call the ISP and further retrieve it? I like to think of email as I would think of a traditional box at the post office. I am not standing there at the post office box 24/7 with the door open waiting to immediatly grab what is stuffed in from the clerk's side. Doesn't 'in transit' refer to the time one carrier is handling my letter from the point where it was picked up until it is placed in my physical possession? PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 01:43:42 GMT > In article , > wrote: >> I was wondering what kind of machine, if any, replaced the classic >> glass-dome model and continued to produce a tape showing trades. (Guess I missed the original message, or I would have replied.) The glass-bell-jar ticker was replaced ca. 1930 by a machine made by Teletype. It used a six-level start-stop code and printed using a type wheel. I would have to look this up, but think the speed was 600 letters per minute, which works out to 100 wpm. The glass bell jar tickers continued to be used by Western Union to report baseball scores as late as circa 1950. Sports score reporting was a service of W.U.; the customers for the service were mostly bookies and other gamblers. W.U. made some tape printers for telegrams using the basic mechanism of the 1930 ticker; this was called the 401-A printer. Teletype made a low-cost page printer in the late 1930s using much of the same technology; this was the Model 26. The ticker had no model number. Those tickers where replaced circa 1965 by a new Teletype ticker operating at 900 chars/min and often called the "900" ticker for that reason. It used technology under development for the Model 37 page printer; but within the Bell System it was called the Model 28 ticker even though it had little in common with the Model 28 equipment line. I guess they wanted to reserve Model 37 for the new page printer. The 900 ticker used the same 6-level code as the earlier ticker. This ticker could be considered the last successful Teletype product of the almost-all-mechanical genre. The Model 37 and Model 38 page printers achieved few sales and never got completely debugged. Everything after that used a lot of electronics instead of complicated mechanisms. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ From: B.M. Wright Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 03:45:28 UTC Organization: XMission Internet http://www.xmission.com Subject: Re: Telephoning Russian Villages cherniymonakh@hotmail.com wrote: > Hello, perhaps you can help: > My family are now at a cottage in a village outside Moscow, where they > are staying for weeks due to the hot weather. The telephone number > there contains less than the usual number of digits (6 instead of > seven). For some reasons calls cannot get there from North America, > although they can call here. The problem seems to be with the US, as > I don't even get a Russian dial tone, but a North American one > followed by an English-language message saying that there is no such > number and to try again. > Is there any trick to dialing such numbers and getting through? There > is freakish discrepency between the cost of calling from there (a > couple of dollars per minute) versus from here (cents per minute with > calling card), so I would prefer to be the one doing the calling. Read here: http://www.wtng.info/wtng-7-ru.html and maybe you will find some answers. Numbers aren't always a fixed length from city to city in certain countries, some people include numbers which need to be omitted when dialing international, and some places have numbering plan changes (which, that URL discusses). In London many places still have a number from an old numbering plan printed on their business sign/literature (i.e. 0171 became 0207) and if you didn't know about this change you could spend all day mis-dialing. Somtimes mobile phone numbers include more/less digits also. Example of how an international number may be printed and how you might dial it differently depending on the originating area: +44 (0)20 7555 5555 Dialed as: 011 44 20 7555 5555 (from the US) 020 7555 5555 (from the UK) 00 44 20 7555 5555 (from Germany) So, as you can see, the 0 is only used when dialing locally from within the UK and international dialing prefix in the US is 011 vs. 00 in most European (and many other) countries. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 06:11:20 -0400 From: Michael Quinn Several years ago when or Verizon phone line failed (amazing, but it does happen), the tech ran a cable from the nearby riser across our lawn through the backyard into our house, must have been a hundred feet or more, while they waited to retrench the new cable. Now that there's fiber in the neighborhood, I guess they'll retrench a new fiber cable if we order FIOS. Regards, Mike Northern VA > Recently, at a Radio Shack store at the telephone accessories section, > I noticed that telephone extension cords were available in lengths up > to 25 feet (but I didn't notice any that were longer). Is that > because 25 feet is the longest you can go before there's a significant > loss of signal strength ------------------------------ From: Dennis G. Rears Subject: USENET (Was Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw) Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 23:43:51 -0400 Organization: Optimum Online > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This Digest does not exist to serve as > a mouthpiece for CDT or for that matter, _any of Usenet_. Usenet is > so nineteen-sixtyish it is not funny. It might have been a cute and > quaint thing back in the 1980's or even the 1990's, but this is 2005 > for god's sake. Only a ... well ... Usenetter would pay any attention > to the load of crap coming out of that network most of the time. I am mostly a lurker to USENET now. My favourite group (rec.travel.air) was taken over by politics a long time ago. I was involved in USENET a long time ago. I was a newsgroup moderator and news admin. I have since gone in a different way. I salute Pat in maintaining the Telecom Digest and the link to USENET. He has a lot more patience than I ever had. Dennis [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, Dennis, that is why they used to call me the 'Moderator who doesn't give a shit' or even an iota of a shit for that matter. A long time ago, when there were a grand total of 80-100 newsgroups in total, I used to at least glance through them all every day. I am talking now about 1980-85 or so. Believe me you, in those days there was but _one_ voice-telecom related newsgroup, and that was me doing business as comp.dcom.telecom, period, that was it. Just like AT&T 'got some competition' from 'outsiders' in their business, I got competition also. First there was 'alt.dcom.telecom' which started when some readers got angry at me (as I recall it was the 'caller-ID' debacle that started the hassles or maybe the 'hacker' scandals around 1989-90 which gave birth to both your computer privacy alt.group and the Computer Underground newsgroup of Jim Thomas). But I didn't give a shit ... then there was the fuss in 1993 when comp.dcom.telecom.tech got started. Then came the web in 1994-95 and god only knows how many telecom newsgroups from various directions. When it got to the point I had to put in six to eight hours each day merely to get all the messages out (if I wanted any coherence in the messages, and some standardization to the punctuation, and an archives I could be proud of, etc) I had to give up my full time employment and work on this Digest, which became my full time 'employer'. I still did not give a shit ... like the NPR or CBP models, I experimented with begging to have pennies pitched at me by the audience, only to have a producer and radio host from NPR -- for god's sakes! -- ask me (and the readers here) if I had 'cleared' my proposal of asking for money with the Usenet hierarchy. I didn't give a shit ... just kept on doing my thing. But when it got to be time to pay the rent and buy cat food for Tarzan and Oliver and hopefully some bologna, peanut butter and bread for myself, while some of the audience was quite generous and helpful (my patrons as I call them), most of the audience (and I am sure NPR and CPB have discovered this also) were not quite willing to be as generous, so I had to switch to a paid advertising basis, like any good .com site. So it is no longer true that I don't give a shit; now I worship at the Divine Google Scorecard Church, when services are held each month about the 25th or so for the proceeding month. The Google Scorecard; that is where things are at these days on the net. With Google Scorecard (Ad Sense) assisted by the Social Security Disability Choir, I _finally_ am able to pay my bills in a more or less timely way each month, feed Missy, Callie and Sassy, and actually (gasp!) go out to our local public house for a beer now and then; and my patrons supplant that income just a little. I must say however that all those commercials on television and the net claiming to make tons of money for a 'couple hours per day at your computer' are just a bunch of _lies_. So yes, Dennis, I have lots of patience, lots of calluses and other thick skin, and I have actually gotten a wee bit wiser in the past quarter century or so. Thanks for writing to me. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 14:39:06 -0400 From: alan@bloomfieldpress.com Subject: School Gun Expulsions End BLOOMFIELD PRESS KIDS BACK TO SCHOOL School Expulsions For Guns Quietly Dropped Rare procedure omits federal ban New research has uncovered an "inventive" federal procedure used to require local schools to adopt a national student-expulsion plan. Once set, the enabling law was "omitted," leaving little trace of this federal gun policy operating on the nation's local schools. In President Clinton's highly publicized Educational Goals 2000, the federal government banned itself from giving money to any school that didn't expel students for having a gun at school (20 USC § 3351). Narrow exceptions were allowed for officials and authorized use, and case-by-case review. Local school systems, to continue receiving the funds they depend upon, had to provide assurance they would expel students who possessed firearms. This forced schools nationwide to quickly implement gun-possession expulsion rules, nearly opposite of the gun-safety training atmosphere that gun-rights advocates recommend. Until the 1960s, many schools had firing ranges on campus, and guns could be brought to school for many reasons, such as varsity competition, ROTC training, hunting on the way home after class, and even show-and-tell. Seven months later, with expulsion policies cobbled into place, the law was quietly "omitted" from a general amendment of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, of which it was a part. That removed the ban Congress had placed on its ability to spend. In other words, government can again fund any school, maintaining the influence that implies, even if the school has no expulsion rules. Left in place though are the expulsion requirements schools everywhere had already implemented. Detecting and deciphering this omission in federal law was arguably the most challenging research for the tenth anniversary edition of "Gun Laws of America," just released. "Expulsion is an obviously inadequate response to a child who has a gun at school with evil intent," says Alan Korwin, the book's author. "That's why we have deadly serious laws against crime. On the other hand, this approach to gun safety, and the blind fear this law encouraged toward the wholesome American tradition of firearms possession, may be irreparable. It's time to actively invest in training and safety programs, instead of bans and ignorance, isn't it?" ### [Backgrounder: Bloomfield Press is the largest publisher and distributor of gun law books in the country, founded in 1988. Our website, gunlaws.com, features a free national directory to gun laws and relevant contacts in all states and federally, along with our unique line of related books and DVDs. "Gun Laws of America" for news media review is available on request, call 1-800-707-4020. The author is available for interview, call us to schedule. Call for cogent positions on gun issues, informed analysis on proposed laws, talk radio that lights up the switchboard, fact sheets and position papers. As we always say, "It doesn't make sense to own a gun and not know the rules."] Contact: Alan Korwin BLOOMFIELD PRESS "We publish the gun laws." 4718 E. Cactus #440 Phoenix, AZ 85032 602-996-4020 Phone 602-494-0679 FAX 1-800-707-4020 Orders http://www.gunlaws.com alan@gunlaws.com Call, write, fax or click for a free catalog. Encourage politicians to pass more laws ... with expiration dates. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Our friend, Alan Korwin has written to us again, as you can see. I do not know if this means I will now get a huge raft of ugly mail as I did from his screed on Peter Jennings or not ... but I sincerely wish people would debate the _issues_ rather than pick on the messenger all the time. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #367 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Aug 15 14:30:56 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 292D414E3F; Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:30:56 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #368 Message-Id: <20050815183056.292D414E3F@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:30:56 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, NO_COST autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 15 Aug 2005 14:30:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 368 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "Cyber Spying", Ted Fair/Michael Nordfelt/Sandra Ring (Slade) Agilent Sells Chip Business (USTelecom dailyLead) T-Mobile USA Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results (Monty Solomon) TiVo Launches Video Download Trial With IFC (Monty Solomon) Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (Reed) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (Rich Greenberg) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (DevilsPGD) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? (Carl Navarro) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s (Michael Muderick) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail (Robert Bonomi) Re: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International Wireless (jared) Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (Reed) Re: Daylight-Saving Switch May Cause Tech Woes (DevilsPGD) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 08:45:20 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "Cyber Spying", Ted Fair/Michael Nordfelt/Sandra Ring Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKCBRSPY.RVW 20050614 "Cyber Spying", Ted Fair/Michael Nordfelt/Sandra Ring, 2005, 1-931836-41-8, U$39.95/C$57.95 %A Ted Fair %A Michael Nordfelt %A Sandra Ring %C 800 Hingham Street, Rockland, MA 02370 %D 2005 %G 1-931836-41-8 %I Syngress Media, Inc. %O U$39.95/C$57.95 781-681-5151 fax: 781-681-3585 www.syngress.com %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931836418/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931836418/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931836418/robsladesin03-20 %O Audience n- Tech 1 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation) %P 439 p. %T "Cyber Spying" Chapter one seems to be a search for grounds to justify spying on your family. The reasons seem to boil down to a) everybody likes to snoop, b) you should spy on your spouse (because everybody likes sex), and c) it's always OK to spy on your kids (you're just looking out for them, after all). (Somehow it is easy to believe that the authors all met at the CIA.) We are supposed to learn about the basics of spying, in chapter two, but instead get vague advice on planning, plus hypothetical stories. A kind of terse review of the parts of computers is in chapter three: chapter four provides slightly more usable information about network operations. Chapter five starts out with an extremely simplistic set of instructions for navigating around your computer (if I am going to get spied on, maybe I *do* want it to be these guys), moves into a list of recommended utilities, and also discusses some issues that don't seem to fit the level of the other material at all. (If you don't know how to run Windows Explorer, how are you going to know the difference between an Ethernet hub and an Ethernet switch?) Areas to obtain data from a computer are listed in chapter six. Oddly, there is much "low hanging fruit" that is not mentioned, while a number of the items suggested can be defeated quite easily. Web browsing, in chapter seven, repeats a great deal of material from five and six. Email, in chapter eight, also reiterates a lot of earlier content. Instant messaging and clients are discussed in chapter nine. Chapter ten reviews other spying techniques and more advanced computer technologies. Some elementary means to make spying more difficult are mentioned in chapter twelve. Once again, the lack of a stated audience makes it very difficult to assess whether this book does its job. It certainly isn't for professionals: neither security nor law enforcement people will get much out of this work. For people who want to spy on their spouses or significant others, well, I have no sympathy if they waste their money that way. If parents are planning to spy on children, I would suggest that there are other, better, means of protecting your kids online, and if you really need to know the content that is provided in this text, then your kids are probably going to be able to get around you anyway. For the tin-foil hat crowd, you may be comforted to find that CIA staff can't do any better than this. (On the other hand, maybe it's a conspiracy to make us all *think* that the CIA is that dumb ...) copyright Robert M. Slade, 2005 BKCBRSPY.RVW 20050614 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@sun.soci.niu.edu Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. - Immanuel Kant http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:04:58 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Agilent Sells Chip Business USTelecom dailyLead August 15, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23846&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Agilent sells chip business BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Sprint-Nextel deal finalized * VoIP growth: Behind the numbers * MVNO launches service for Spanish speakers * A nationwide Google Wi-Fi net? USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Crash Course -- The must-have book for telecom professionals HOT TOPICS * Report: Cisco mulls offer for Nokia * Birch files Chapter 11 * BellSouth: IPTV's coming in 2006 * Rural carriers have option under new DSL rules * Huawei considers Marconi bid EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Motorola readies for WiMAX REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * MCI could cost Verizon less than expected Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23846&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 22:23:22 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: T-Mobile USA Reports Second Quarter 2005 Results BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 11, 2005--T-Mobile USA, Inc. (NYSE:DT): -- 972,000 net new customers added in Q2 2005 - total customer base of 19.2 million -- $1.08 billion in Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization (OIBDA) in Q2 2005 -- Tied for best call quality performance in Northeast and Southeast regions in the JD Power and Associates 2005 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study -- Over 1,000 new cell sites on air in Q2 2005 - almost 31,000 cell sites on air in total -- Q2 2005 net income of $387 million, up more than 60% from Q2 2004 T-Mobile USA, Inc. ("T-Mobile USA"), the U.S. operation of T-Mobile International AG & Co. KG ("T-Mobile International"), the mobile communications subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG ("Deutsche Telekom") (NYSE:DT), today announced second quarter 2005 results. In order to provide comparability with the results of other U.S. wireless carriers all financial amounts are in USD and are based on accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP"). T-Mobile USA results are included in the consolidated results of Deutsche Telekom, but differ from the information contained herein as Deutsche Telekom reports financial results in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). In the second quarter of 2005, T-Mobile USA added 972,000 net new customers, compared with 957,000 added in the first quarter of 2005 and 1,092,000 in the second quarter of 2004. Approximately 70% of the growth in the second quarter of 2005 came from new postpay customers, which currently comprise over 87% of the total customer base. Approximately 30% of the growth came from new prepaid customers, reflecting the successful rebranding of T-Mobile USA's prepaid service into "T-Mobile To Go" combined with a more attractive prepaid offering. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51076753 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 09:35:05 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Launches Video Download Trial With IFC IFC to Make Its First-Ever Scripted Series Available for Download by TiVo(R) Series2 Subscribers ALVISO, Calif., Aug. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), announced today the launch of a video download trial in conjunction with Independent Film Channel (IFC), enabling select TiVo subscribers to download IFC programming over broadband to their TiVo Series2(TM) DVR. The only television services provider for DVRs to seamlessly integrate broadband video downloads and telecast content, TiVo is using this new functionality to begin a series of broadband features that will be deployed to TiVo Series2 users beginning this fall. The availability of the IFC programming will be promoted to trial participants through a TiVo Showcase. Once a TiVo subscriber chooses to receive the IFC programming, the shows are downloaded via a broadband connection. During the trial, IFC will make its first-ever scripted series, "Hopeless Pictures", "Greg The Bunny", and "The Festival" -- which will premiere August 19 -- available for download by TiVo subscribers in advance of their network telecast premiere. In addition to offering the full episodes of each series, IFC will package exclusive content, including outtakes and other unaired footage, for TiVo subscribers. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51148748 ------------------------------ From: Reed Organization: None Whatsoever Subject: Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 03:35:41 GMT Jim Haynes wrote: >> In article , >> wrote: >>> I was wondering what kind of machine, if any, replaced the classic >>> glass-dome model and continued to produce a tape showing trades. > (Guess I missed the original message, or I would have replied.) > The glass-bell-jar ticker was replaced ca. 1930 by a machine made by > Teletype. It used a six-level start-stop code and printed using a > type wheel. I would have to look this up, but think the speed was 600 > letters per minute, which works out to 100 wpm. The glass bell jar > tickers continued to be used by Western Union to report baseball > scores as late as circa 1950. Sports score reporting was a service of > W.U.; the customers for the service were mostly bookies and other > gamblers. > W.U. made some tape printers for telegrams using the basic mechanism > of the 1930 ticker; this was called the 401-A printer. Teletype made > a low-cost page printer in the late 1930s using much of the same > technology; this was the Model 26. The ticker had no model number. > Those tickers where replaced circa 1965 by a new Teletype ticker > operating at 900 chars/min and often called the "900" ticker for that > reason. It used technology under development for the Model 37 page > printer; but within the Bell System it was called the Model 28 ticker > even though it had little in common with the Model 28 equipment line. > I guess they wanted to reserve Model 37 for the new page printer. The > 900 ticker used the same 6-level code as the earlier ticker. > This ticker could be considered the last successful Teletype product > of the almost-all-mechanical genre. The Model 37 and Model 38 page > printers achieved few sales and never got completely debugged. > Everything after that used a lot of electronics instead of complicated > mechanisms. > jhhaynes at earthlink dot net Check some pictures of these at http://claussstudios.bizland.com/realticker2.chtml --reed ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 22:51:01 UTC Organization: Organized? Me? In article , Michael Quinn wrote: > Several years ago when or Verizon phone line failed (amazing, but it > does happen), the tech ran a cable from the nearby riser across our > lawn through the backyard into our house, must have been a hundred > feet or more, while they waited to retrench the new cable. Now that > there's fiber in the neighborhood, I guess they'll retrench a new > fiber cable if we order FIOS. Twice both of my phone lines went dead. Each time the problem was "backhoe fade", or in these cases actually "shovel fade" The local cable company whose pedastal was only inches from the telco pedastal cut my line while working on my next door neighbor's cable connection. The first time, the telco guy spliced it with a jelly filled splice case. The second time they decided to replace the underground drop wire, and rerouted it away from the cable pedastal. No problem since. Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 02:09:59 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message Michael Quinn wrote: > Several years ago when or Verizon phone line failed (amazing, but it > does happen), the tech ran a cable from the nearby riser across our > lawn through the backyard into our house, must have been a hundred > feet or more, while they waited to retrench the new cable. Now that > there's fiber in the neighborhood, I guess they'll retrench a new > fiber cable if we order FIOS. Chances are Verizon would have used twisted pair, which is the same stuff they put in underground everywhere. It's also the same stuff that goes miles underground. ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 23:56:04 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On 13 Aug 2005 18:30:30 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Back in the 1970s, a standard fixture in almost every business (and > even in some wealthy homes) was a key telephone. This has six buttons > along the time so that the phone could handle more than one outside > line, intercom lines, and HOLD function. I was wondering what basic > key systems cost in the 1970-1975 time frame. Since the stuff was regulated in that time frame it might be hard to tell. You rented it and paid whatever the phone company wanted you to. In 1985, I paid: 6-button set 65.79 10-button set 93.29 20-button set 195.53 Line cards were about $20.00 without MOH option and KSU's about $340 for a 512 (12 or 13 slots in an empty huge cabinet), and the intercoms started at $100 for a 9 or 10 station Valcom with $1.40 for low voltage and $4.00 for high voltage buzzers. We used ITT 601 KSU's, one of which is still in my warehouse. It runs to mind that it was about a couple of hundred. Now, to give you a comparison, the new-fangled Comdial Executech system was about $720 for a 616 KSU (IIRC they were 2 for 1 in a promo), and the phones were about $150-190 each. > From what I saw, the pricing was a la carte--every little feature was > a charge. One large organization did not bother with line lamps to > save money. The "wink-hold" feature, where the line lamp blinked > slowly when the line was on-hold, was optional. I never saw a system > without a HOLD button, but apparently even that was optional. (I > believe later systems, such as ComKey had package prices). > Anyway, would anyone know what typical pricing was in the 1970-1975 > time frame, for the following: >- "Hunting" feature so busy calls would go to the next line. Still in the $2-4 range per line. > - Two lines, two keysets, line lamps that would blink on ring, but not > wink-hold. > - Wink-hold feature. > - Basic manual intercom (push-button to sound buzzer). Sometimes there > was a SIG button on the phone, sometimes there was a tiny panel with > pushbuttons mounted next to the phone. In the '80's, the unit was about $25 for a 401 common battery card. You hand modified(took out the screw) the last button and added buzzers. > - Dial intercom, one common channel, one digit automatically sounded > desired buzzer. > - Other features of the six button keyset? Whatever you wanted, you added them ... if they would fit in the set. We even put Demon dialers on later 1A2 sets. > - If a residence had a key system was the cost cheaper than a business? Probably not, just the lines were less. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 21:01:08 -0400 From: Michael Muderick Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s I don't know the cost of all the features, but they were a la carte. However the hunting feature was done at the CO and there was no charge for that as far back as I can remember. Remember, it meant another completed call for Ma Bell, rather than a busy signal, so it was to their advantage to give hunting away free, lest someone decide to opt out of it. mm ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 02:31:13 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > Back in the 1970s, a standard fixture in almost every business (and > even in some wealthy homes) was a key telephone. This has six buttons > along the time so that the phone could handle more than one outside > line, intercom lines, and HOLD function. I was wondering what basic > key systems cost in the 1970-1975 time frame. Commonly known as a "1A2" system. > From what I saw, the pricing was a la carte--every little feature was > a charge. One large organization did not bother with line lamps to > save money. The "wink-hold" feature, where the line lamp blinked > slowly when the line was on-hold, was optional. I never saw a system > without a HOLD button, but apparently even that was optional. (I > believe later systems, such as ComKey had package prices). The button itself, and the mechanical actions related there were universal. whether the back-end equipment recognized 'hold' and kept the circuit busy was the 'optional' part. Took some additional cards in the card cage. > Anyway, would anyone know what typical pricing was in the 1970-1975 > time frame, for the following: > - "Hunting" feature so busy calls would go to the next line. Handled entirely in the C.O. nothing in the 1A2 had anything to do with it. (the CPE was irrelevant, unless you had 'trunk' circuits into a true PBX.) > - Two lines, two keysets, line lamps that would blink on ring, but not > wink-hold. > - Wink-hold feature. > - Basic manual intercom (push-button to sound buzzer). Sometimes there > was a SIG button on the phone, sometimes there was a tiny panel with > pushbuttons mounted next to the phone. > - Dial intercom, one common channel, one digit automatically sounded > desired buzzer. > - Other features of the six button keyset? > - If a residence had a key system was the cost cheaper than a business? > Around the 1960s the Bell System came out with a fancier system known > as the "Call Director". Did this have any advanced features or did it > just offer more line buttons? I know the basic Call Director shell > was used as a PBX operator's console, but that was a different phone > and included an additional lamp for supervision. One of the big features of the call director was idiot lights that showed the on/off hook status of multiple extensions. A limited number on the phone itself (10? 15?) plus expansion sections with additional 25(?) lines/indicators. I don't know what equipment was behind it -- had to be considerably more than just a 1A2 chassis, probably Centrex -- but all the call directors I ever saw had the capability to do a two/three button 'transfer' of an incoming call, to a specified extension. > Six button keysets are rare to see today, having been replaced by more > modern systems. Even the Bell System, before divesture, had developed > several new lines, such as ComKey and phones with more buttons > (identified by a larger square button with the light within it. Both > wall and desk sets had a long row of buttons along the top of the > phone. These were out early enough that they were made in rotary dial > as well as touch tone. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Appeals Court Ruling Revives Case of Intercepted E-Mail Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 02:08:07 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: > In article , > Barry Margolin wrote: >> In article , Monty Solomon >> wrote: >>> Bradford Councilman is former vice president of Interloc Inc., a rare >>> book dealer in Greenfield that offered a free e-mail service to >>> customers. In 1998, Councilman allegedly began intercepting any >>> e-mails sent to his customers by the Internet retailer Amazon.com. >>> Councilman and his colleagues allegedly read the messages to see what >>> Amazon was offering his customers, so that he could make attractive >>> counter-offers. >>> A grand jury indicted Councilman in 2001 for violating the federal >>> wiretapping law. Councilman urged dismissal of the indictment, saying >>> that the wiretap law did not apply because the e-mail was intercepted >>> while it was stored in the memory of a computer, not when it was >>> traveling across a network. >>> A federal district court agreed and threw out the indictment. The US >>> Justice Department, which had brought the case against Councilman, >>> appealed the ruling. But a three-judge panel of the US Court of >>> Appeals in Boston also rejected the charges. Last year, the Justice >>> Department persuaded all seven appeals court judges to hear the case. >> It seems to me that they're using the wrong law. Doesn't the >> Electronic Communications Privacy Act have provisions prohibiting >> email providers from looking at customers' mail, except as needed to >> provide the service (e.g. server administrators sometimes have to look >> at mail to diagnose problems)? Why are they using the a wiretapping >> statute, when he didn't actually intercept anything on the wire? > Maybe because the "unlawful access to stored communications" statute > sec. 2701) has a hole in it that you could drive a battleship > through. *SIDEWAYS*. > It specifies that if you access the _facility_ in/on which the > messages are stored, "without authorization", or "in access of > authorization", and access/modify/delete messages, you have committed > a crime. There is also a blanket exemption for any acts "authorized" > by the owner of _the_ _facility_. > Sec 2511 is pretty clear that _it's_ prohibitions apply to messages > 'in transit', especially when you look at how 'intercepting' a message > is defined. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am curious, but how can an email > message be 'in transit'? While the packets are *on*the*wire* between the sending (origin) system, and the receiving (destination) system. > Its either 'here' or it is 'there' That is *NOT* the case. It has to _get_ from 'here' *to* 'there'. That does not occur 'by magic'. > or are > they referring to the 30 or 45 seconds after the sender hits his > 'enter' key (while the message travels on the wires from here to there > via somewhere else) before it lands in my box, at which point I would > think the 'in transit' stage has ended. Or does 'in transit' include > the time it spends sitting on my ISPs server until I call the ISP and > further retrieve it? No, 'in transit' does *not* include the time when the message is just sitting 'on disk', anywhere. If you tap the _wires_, and intercept the message _while_it_is_being_ _transmitted_ that is one thing. If you read the message while it is in storage, that is a totally *different* thing. > I like to think of email as I would think of > a traditional box at the post office. I am not standing there at the > post office box 24/7 with the door open waiting to immediatly grab > what is stuffed in from the clerk's side. Doesn't 'in transit' refer > to the time one carrier is handling my letter from the point where it > was picked up until it is placed in my physical possession? Short answer: NO. Factious illustration. You're 'on the road', from Chicago to Dallas. You stop for the night at a motel, And get all sorts of rambunctious, careless, etc. -- doing things that endanger yourself, and others. Even though you are 'on the road', you cannot be charged with 'reckless driving' for those activities, because you were not travelling on the roadway. The statutes don't actually use the language 'in transit' to describe the situation. The statutory language is a 'wire' communication. If it isn't _on_the_wire_, because it has already reached the destination, (or because it hasn't started transmission yet) it isn't a wire communication. If you commandeer a semi truck on the road, between start-point and end-point, that is 'hijacking', If you break into the warehouse at the terminal, and steal the load, that is 'theft'/'burglary', *not* hijacking. Wiretap statutes are similar. If you hijack (or copy) the message while it is 'on the wire', that's wire-tapping. if you break into a telephone answering machine (or voice-mail system), and get it to play back a previously recorded message, that is something *entirely* different. The same logic applies to e-mail. 'on the wire' _between_ sending and receiving servers is one thing; getting it from storage on the server is something quite different. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:27:27 -0600 From: jared@nospam.au (jared) Subject: Re: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International wireless Calls from wireless (USA) ... calls to wireless in most parts of the world attract a charge to the calling party ... substantial though nowhere near what the big USA telcos charge (from landline or wireless). > Cambridge firm uses Skype technology to make cellphone calls > By Peter J. Howe, Globe Staff | August 1, 2005 ------------------------------ From: Reed Organization: None Whatsoever Subject: Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 03:37:39 GMT Robert Bonomi wrote: > In article , > wrote: >> I was wondering what kind of machine, if any, replaced the classic >> glass-dome model and continued to produce a tape showing trades. > The volume of data, and the required speed of transmission to stay > more-or-less current with the actual market conditions outstripped the > capability of 'tape' printers. > Just as _telegram_ printing shifted to roll-feed wide paper, from the > tape, what remained for dedicated mechanical printers did similarly. > In the 60s, early-70s ... > Bunker-Ramo came out with electronic quote display terminals, and > practically owned the _broker_ market for a number of years. > Telerate also came out with a CRT display supporting many, _many_ > 'pages' of display data -- everything from news stories to lists of > latest market prices -- either as groups displayed simultaneously on a > single 'page', or single issues as a streaming 'ticker' across the > bottom of the screen. other desktop quote machine providers of the time were Ultronic, and Quotron. see http://claussstudios.bizland.com/realticker2.chtml for some pictures. -reed ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Daylight-Saving Switch May Cause Tech Woes Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 02:18:39 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message Monty Solomon wrote: > By ANICK JESDANUN Associated Press Writer > NEW YORK (AP) -- When daylight-saving time starts earlier than usual > in the United States come 2007, your VCR or DVD recorder could start > recording shows an hour late. > Cell phone companies could give you an extra hour of free weekend > calls, and people who depend on online calendars may find themselves > late for appointments. > An energy bill President Bush is to sign Monday would start daylight > time three weeks earlier and end it a week later as an energy-saving > measure. > And that has technologists worried about software and gadgets that now > compensate for daylight time based on a schedule unchanged since 1987. Sounds like a blast for consultants to fix software/systems which can't handle the date change. Yippie! ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #368 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Aug 15 23:48:53 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 1E79814ECB; Mon, 15 Aug 2005 23:48:52 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #369 Message-Id: <20050816034852.1E79814ECB@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 23:48:52 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, NO_COST autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 15 Aug 2005 23:48:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 369 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (Lisa Hancock) Stromberg Carlson Company? (Lisa Hancock) FSK on Voicemail for MCI (nextray) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (Phil McKerracher) Re: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International Wireless (John Levine) Re: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International Wireless (Joseph) Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (Reed) (Michael Quinn) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? (Joseph) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? (Bob Vaughan) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (Paul Vader) Last Laugh! Another Huge Money Making Idea!!! (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:22:51 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) This is a story which makes me _so glad_ to live in a small town (population 8000) where most people know everyone else, and things are handled in an informal way. I never realized -- seriously -- how many people around this town -- Independence, KS -- know me and care about me and try to protect me. Here is how it happened: Saturday was a _very hot_ day; temperature about 105 in mid-afternoon. But here it is mostly a dry heat, so you don't feel it quite as if it were humid, but still, it was warm. My house is in the middle of a block; there is an alley next to me. A young guy I did not know -- still really do not know -- walked up and down the street a few times over a five or ten minute period, looking sort of exasperated. He finally walked into the alley next my house, and said, "I am sorry to bother you, my ride did not show up, I really was wondering if you had a bathroom I can use." I told him I did have one, and he could use it. I also offered him a glass of ice water from the water cooler/ice maker thing on my refrigerator, which he accepted gratefully. Now I am _NOT_ trying to brag, or be 'holier than thou' or any such thing; but I do sincerely believe in 'doing to others as you would have them do to you', and _I_ have had situations being in a strange neighborhood, needing to use a bathroom, being quite thirsty on a hot day; I knew how _I_ felt on those days, so I thought 'this is how I was raised, in this small town where nearly everyone always looks out for their neighbors, etc, I will be damned if I tell this guy he cannot use my bathroom or have a drink of cold water.' He seemed very grateful when he left _with my checkbook and a box of new blank checks_ (but I did not find that out until much later). I found out about his 'tresspass' not on Saturday afternoon (when he was here) nor on Saturday night, but not until Sunday about noon when I came back home from the Episcopal church I attend here in town. Phone rang, I answered it, and it turned out to be a lady who idenfitied herself as 'the clerk at Mikies Conoco' up on North Penn Street. "Did you authorize someone to come in with a check?" No, I did not ... "Well, I know you are on the other side of town, and you may not remember me, but I work part time also for Windsor and I have been at your home to do the housekeeping stuff from Windsor, and I could not imagine you ever coming all the way across town to Mikies, or sending some guy with a check to get cigarettes and cash back." She was completely correct. We agreed I would make a trip there Monday morning when the manager was on duty to look at the security video (of the guy cashing the check, and getting cigarettes). She called me again, Monday morning to say "the guy came in again twice last night, the same way, cigarettes and cash back; the overnight clerk is the son of the manager, and he is sort of new, but I found two more of your checks here, and he told me the guy had been in twice last night." I told her I was going to stop at the bank on the way to the store and get the affidavit Officer John Edwards (Independence Police Department) had suggested I bring to him when I filed my report about the theft. I was sitting in the office of the bank manager (vice president Karen Stoner) -- [don't be impressed, in banks Vice Presidents are a dime a dozen]. Karen is the manager of our branch, but she also works on the teller line now and then, and everytime I go in she always greets me and is super friendly. [Again, don't be impressed, that's how folks in this town are: either we interact through our work, through community organizations to which we belong, through church, they are a next door neighbor, or some combination of the above. Its not like I am a rich old geezer customer tossing around piles of money at the bank, I am not. I live from one social security check to the next ... barely ...] And our Bank of America here in Independence has all of eight employees total. I told Karen about this young guy who tried to rip me off; in fact had done so, and I needed an affidavit for fraud, theft of checks, etc. She was getting it drawn up (she is also a notary which is important) when my cell phone rang again. It was Mikies Conoco again ... "hey! he came back again! he is at the front counter now, I told the clerk to stall him a little while, are you coming over here soon?" I told her I was in fact on the way then, would be there in five or ten minutes at most. I told Karen I would be back ASAP and hustled right out the door where our community taxicab driver Jeff had been waiting for me. I told him let's get to Mikies right now, pronto. He took off, but pronto was not fast enough. We pulled into Mikies, I climbed out of the cab as fast as I could and went in the store, where Officer Edwards, the store manager and her clerk were waiting for me. The clerk spoke first saying, "I tried to stall him as Sandra (the store maanger asked me to do. But then he turned around and saw Sandra whispering in the telephone (she had placed a call to 911 then she reached me (while I was in the bank). He saw her talking on the phone and he took off at a gallop. My boy friend and one of his buddies saw the guy split from the store on a run and they tried to go catch him, but he was too fast." The boy friend and his buddy watched all this and one of them said to the clerk (about me) "Is this the dude that guy tried to rip off?" and they were by the door, going to go look for the guy again, but the manager and Officer Edwards said, "that's okay, a couple other officers found him down the street; he is in custody; over at the jailhouse now, waiting until I get back to interview him." The manager showed me the security video tape and I identified him as the guy who had been over to my house Saturday afternoon looking like a sad, starved and very thirsty puppy who I had served on the 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you' principle. Edwards said "go back to Karen's office and get the affidavit, then come by the jailhouse and ask for me; I will take your statement." I went back to Bank of America (the Independence branch to which I usually go), got Karen to finish up the affidavit and we stood there chatting for a few minutes. She said "you always pay all your bills by computer; your SSD deposit and your Google AdSense deposits are always credited automatically; always like a clock; Social on the fourth Wednesday of each month, Google either a day before that or maybe one or two days after that. Then you come either here to our ATM or you go by First National Bank ATM a few blocks south and take out a hundred dollars for spending money and you then authorize us to pay all your bills. Do you ever write a manual check?" I told her it was very rare; since the brain aneurysm my handwriting has pretty much gone to hell; it was far better to turn it all over to the bank to handle my bills, etc. She was reviewing my account on her screen as we chatted. She then said, "Suppose I just note here on the computer comments the phrase 'question/confirm any manual checks written by customer'; that way in the future no one will be able in a Bank of America at least, to try and rip you off like that again. When you get bills, we pay them, when you come around, you use the ATM. Oh, and if you see your mother anytime soon, tell her I will see her at the next AWOL meeting." (She and my mother are both on the board of the local animal welfare shelter which is known as AWOL [Animals With Out Love]). I left her office and walked a few blocks over to City Hall, (where our police station is located in the basement); they called Officer Edwards and as he came out to get me, two other officers were taking Timothy Garotte (pronounced 'gah-RUTH', a French name) in handcuffs to the jailhouse next door to City Hall. A thirty-year old resident of Independence, Timothy did a 'stretch' at Winfield (Kansas State Prison) for theft and forgery a few years ago, was released, and about a month ago had done the same thing to someone else. On that second time, he was bonded out of jail to wait for his trial, and _while on bond_ had chosen me as his new 'mark'. Officer Edwards said he did not think Timothy would be able to get bonded out this time around. As he walked out the door in handcuffs in the custody of two officers, he glanced at me. All I could think of to say was "Timothy, I am so ashamed of you ... I treated you the way I would have wanted to be treated, and you did this to me in return." Edwards found a couple of my checks in Timothy's possession, along with a reciept from Walmart. They _think_ he cashed one of my checks over at Walmart as well, and Edwards suggested "watch your bank statement or talk to Karen and tell her to watch for it; where the local merchants deal with that sort of thing on an informal basis with the victimized customer first in mind, an outfit like Walmart will just keep trying to ACH you until they get their money. " Karen agreed: "Walmart is bad like that; they will probably place you with an agency and listen to no reason at all; take this copy of the affidavit and police report so that when Walmart starts hassling you about whatever Timothy 'purchased' in your name, you can get them to call off the dogs." I will be watching my BOA account on the computer very closely for a few days. I understand under 'check 21' Walmart does not even send the actual check around any longer; just a computer tape. Meanwhile, Mikies Conoco Station and the Ace Hardware store downtown consider the matter closed, for which I am grateful. I'd like to see how Walmart decides to deal with it; I've not had a good fight with them in a long time now. My brother, the well-to-do commercial artist in Chicago said to me when he was here to visit a couple months ago, "What I have noticed is that everyone in Independence seems to be, ... so ... innocent." Well, yes and no ... there are still small town values and ideas here, everyone still gives out their phone number as four digits only, and the Timothy Garotte -style people are at a minimum. After all, our Montgomery County Jailhouse only holds at capacity about 50 prisoners, and when the County Jail gets more than 20-25 prisoners at any time, they right away start talking about building an expansion to it. And that was my weekend, how was yours? Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Date: 15 Aug 2005 13:40:56 -0700 In many places in the U.S. the demand for telephone exchanges is very high for a variety reasons. This has result in area code splits and overlays. NJ started off with one area code and now has nine. But some states still only have one area code. I understand some states are not growing very fast in population, indeed, some rural towns are losing population. This includes: Alaska, Idaho, Montanna, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. (Not counting some other single-code states). Given the rural/low growth aspect of places in some of these states, I was wondering if telephone service may still have some old fashioned features to it. For example, would such areas have: 1) Traditional party line service, since it's not worth the cost to upgrade lines out to people's farms? 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by community dial offices? I believe everything is ESS nowadays, but that pays for itself by eliminating the need for technicians to visit remote unattended switches. Probably some community dial offices have been converted to concentrators or feeders to a larger CO elsewhere. Any other comments about _today's_ rural telephone service would be appreciated. [public replies please] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I also understand almost everything these days is ESS ... and the days of 'community dial' (or less than seven digit dialing) has become as rare as the California Condor. Kansas is a relatively rural area; at one time we had just two area codes, 316 for the southern half of the state and 913 for the northern part. Kansas City metro area was area 816 but one could dial seven digits for either side of the state line. Then they chose to confine 913 to the Kansas suburbs of Kansas City, and other north places went to 785. A couple years ago, 316 was given to Wichita only and a few other nearby suburbs, and the rest of us in the more rural area of southeast Kansas were switched to 620. Around here, there are still party lines (not in Independence itself, but in 'rural' such as Tyro, Kansas, Caney, Jefferson, Liberty. The way they handle the billing and routing is all those towns have different prefixes but the first digit in the suffix is different in each case. Everyone in Tyro for example is 289-4xxx everyone in Caney is 289-2xxx. The only places 'big enough' to have more than one prefix are Coffeyville (251 and 252), and Independence (331 mainly, but a few cell phones in 330 and the City Offices on 332 along with Cessna Aircraft and one other company). There are some 'area-wide' prefixes used by TerraWorld and Prairie Stream Communications (712, 713, 714) but no one other than me has ever heard of those or use them except in very rare cases. TerraWorld as an ISP uses 714-0005 as its dialup for 56-K in several small towns around here; they use 712-0005 as their 56-K dialup for Coffeyville, Caney and Tyro. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Stromberg Carlson Company? Date: 15 Aug 2005 12:48:19 -0700 Would anyone know any history of this company? I know that they once made telephones, radios, and PA systems. I understand "Comdial" phones are an outgrowth of them. I presume they are long out of business. I've never seen a home audio product, but have seen commercial PA systems and telephone sets made by them in the 1950s. I get the impression they were a modest sized company in both telephones and audio products. I don't recall seeing too many of their ads in old magazines compared to other electronic outfits. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They also made motion picture projectors like Bell and Howell did. PAT] ------------------------------ From: nextray@yahoo.com Subject: FSK Signal For Voicemail on MCI Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 20:00:00 I have MCI as my local carrier and subscribe to MCI's CID and voicemail service. I recently purchased a new phone that has a voicmail indicator. However, when I have voicemail, the indicator does not work. The manual for the phone states I need a FSK signal for the indicator to work. Emails and calls to MCI have proved fruitless when I ask if MCI supports FSK for VM notification. No one seems to know what I'm talking about. Does anyone here know if MCI local service provides a FSK signal for VM? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International wireless Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 19:24:00 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 20:27:27 -0600, jared@nospam.au (jared) wrote: > Calls from wireless (USA) ... calls to wireless in most parts of the world > attract a charge to the calling party ... substantial though nowhere near > what the big USA telcos charge (from landline or wireless). Generally wireless international long distance does not differentiate between wireless and wireline terminations if only because the wireless operators generally charge a good deal more than wireline companies. Where wireline long distance companies might put a cost of only 5 cents/minute to call from the US to a UK wireline connection and 30 cents/minute to call a mobile terminated call the wireless operators will charge 29 cents/minute to call the UK with no differentiation between terminating to a wireline or wireless termination. Those who make lots of international calls have learned to use alternative long distance providers such as Gorilla Mobile or One Suite where they get much better international rates even to wireless terminations. ------------------------------ From: Phil McKerracher Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:29:07 GMT John Levine wrote in message news:telecom24.366.5@telecom-digest.org: > I think the limit is about 18,000 feet. Then you might have trouble > carrying DSL over it ... Correct, but that's the approximate limit for the total length from the switch to the telephone. Beyond that, the signal is typically attenuated too much, mainly by cable resistance, and gets buried in noise. As someone else has pointed out, you need decent cable, routed clear of sources of interference (such as power cables and cordless phones), otherwise interference will be a bigger problem than loss of signal. Phil McKerracher www.mckerracher.org ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2005 23:15:59 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Start-Up Slashes Cost of International wireless Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Calls from wireless (USA) ... calls to wireless in most parts of the > world attract a charge to the calling party ... substantial though > nowhere near what the big USA telcos charge (from landline or > wireless). That's sort of a red herring, and it's definitely a topic that has been argued to death between people in North America who think that caller-pays mobile is a ripoff since the actual per-minute rates that people pay are much higher than they are here, and people in other countries who think that "free" inbound calls that overcharge their friends are great. (You can probably tell which way I feel.) It's true, US mobile carriers charge ridiculous prices for international calls. Fortunately, calling cards with reasonable international rates are widely available, and it is not hard at all to program your phone's phone book to make international calls using a calling card with a US 800 number. At this point, the mobile carriers are clearly depending on the expense account crowd who don't care what their calls cost, and probably making private reasonably priced deals with their big customers, but sooner or later they'll figure out that their overall revenue will be greater if they offer prices that will encourage their users to make more calls. R's, John ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (Reed) Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 15:31:23 -0400 From: Michael Quinn Someone wrote: > This ticker could be considered the last successful Teletype product > of the almost-all-mechanical genre. The Model 37 and Model 38 page > printers achieved few sales and never got completely debugged. > Everything after that used a lot of electronics instead of complicated > mechanisms. Only within the last 20 years did the US Navy move away from electromechanical Teletype Model 28s and variations thereof. When I was the communications officer aboard the then state-of the-art fleet flagship USS Blue Ridge in Yokosuka in 1987, we had at least 50 of those clunky noisy boat anchors. They had more more moving (and malfunctioning) parts than a British Leyland MGB, but a good teletype tech could assemble a working teleprinter blindfolded after an atomic bomb explosion. (By way of perspective, our then also state-of-art message communications processing system featured a shock hardened rack mounted 1 MByte hard drive with tape backup. We had to replace it once at a cost of $100 + K as I recall). Regards, Mike Springfield VA ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 19:17:33 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 21:01:08 -0400, Michael Muderick wrote: > I don't know the cost of all the features, but they were a la carte. > However the hunting feature was done at the CO and there was no charge > for that as far back as I can remember. Remember, it meant another > completed call for Ma Bell, rather than a busy signal, so it was to > their advantage to give hunting away free, lest someone decide to opt > out of it. And something I've always wondered about is the use of multiple lines in countries outside of the US such as in Europe and in Asia. Often I'd see numbers advertised or on signage on the order of 123456/7 meaning that you could reach that business by dialing either 123456 or 123457. Does this mean that these step-by-step/Strowger or other electromechanical exchanges did not have trunk hunt and that this is just a North American "invention." I can't think of any other reason for listing for the public both numbers if they were sequential other than the facility for automatic trunk hunt was not available. And as far as "hunt" goes Telco (Southwestern Bell in particular) did not want to give me hunt on a residential line with sequential line numbers when I had two lines. Actually it doesn't matter if it's sequential or not. Even #5 Crossbar had "jump" hunt readily available. In any case they didn't want to provision my residential line with hunt capability. ------------------------------ From: techie@tantivy.tantivy.net (Bob Vaughan) Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 02:31:32 UTC Organization: Tantivy Associates In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: > In article , > wrote: >> Back in the 1970s, a standard fixture in almost every business (and >> even in some wealthy homes) was a key telephone. This has six buttons >> along the time so that the phone could handle more than one outside >> line, intercom lines, and HOLD function. I was wondering what basic >> key systems cost in the 1970-1975 time frame. > Commonly known as a "1A2" system. There was an earlier version known as 1A1, and apparently a 1A, 2A, and 2B before that. The 1A1 units that I have seen, were built as a complete unit, where the 1A2 systems were modular, using plug in cards for the various features. I have no information on 1A, 2A, or 2B systems. >> From what I saw, the pricing was a la carte--every little feature was >> a charge. One large organization did not bother with line lamps to >> save money. The "wink-hold" feature, where the line lamp blinked >> slowly when the line was on-hold, was optional. I never saw a system >> without a HOLD button, but apparently even that was optional. (I >> believe later systems, such as ComKey had package prices). > The button itself, and the mechanical actions related there were universal. > whether the back-end equipment recognized 'hold' and kept the circuit busy > was the 'optional' part. Took some additional cards in the card cage. The phones could be wired up without a KSU, and would operate as a regular phone, without lights, or hold. The ringers in the phones were wired to a dedicated pair, and could be strapped to any line, or to multiple lines via a diode matrix. The basic KSU had a power supply for the lamps, and a line card for each line, which handled the hold function, lamp control, and ring indication. The basis line card was a type 400. Lamp voltage was normally 10vac. The wink-on-hold feature required an interruptor, which plugged in to the KSU, and provided the pulsed lamp voltage for lines on hold. This was normally powereed by the 10vac lamp supply, although other voltages were available. I worked at a radio station where all the lamps, and interuptors were powered by 24vdc from a bank of batteries, which also supplied all the control circuitry within the studios. The PBX (Western Electric 711B step-by-step dial PBX) was powered by another bank of batteries at -48vdc. >> Anyway, would anyone know what typical pricing was in the 1970-1975 >> time frame, for the following: >> - "Hunting" feature so busy calls would go to the next line. > Handled entirely in the C.O. nothing in the 1A2 had anything to do with it. > (the CPE was irrelevant, unless you had 'trunk' circuits into a true PBX.) >> - Two lines, two keysets, line lamps that would blink on ring, but not >> wink-hold. KSU without interruptor. >> - Wink-hold feature. KSU with interruptor. >> - Basic manual intercom (push-button to sound buzzer). Sometimes there >> was a SIG button on the phone, sometimes there was a tiny panel with >> pushbuttons mounted next to the phone. KSU with a type 401 manual intercom card in place of a line card. Signaling was handled by using either a spare button on the phone, or add-on button(s) wired to extra pairs, and a add-on buzzer powered from the lamp voltage supply. The buttons in the phone could be changed from latching to momentary by removing a screw. >> - Dial intercom, one common channel, one digit automatically sounded >> desired buzzer. There were several types of dial intercoms, depending on the number of stations desired. The smaller ones could be cards in the KSU, or a seperate unit. >> - Other features of the six button keyset? You could wire the phones to do many different things. We used to use the buttons on the phones to provide contact closures to other (non-phone) devices, and the same for the lamps. >> - If a residence had a key system was the cost cheaper than a business? >> Around the 1960s the Bell System came out with a fancier system known >> as the "Call Director". Did this have any advanced features or did it >> just offer more line buttons? I know the basic Call Director shell >> was used as a PBX operator's console, but that was a different phone >> and included an additional lamp for supervision. > One of the big features of the call director was idiot lights that > showed the on/off hook status of multiple extensions. A limited number > on the phone itself (10? 15?) plus expansion sections with additional > 25(?) lines/indicators. > I don't know what equipment was behind it -- had to be considerably > more than just a 1A2 chassis, probably Centrex -- but all the call > directors I ever saw had the capability to do a two/three button > 'transfer' of an incoming call, to a specified extension. This would have been a Call Director in a PBX type environment, with a busy lamp field. The basic Call Director was simply a 1A2 type phone, with additional buttons/lamps. The earlier ones simply added additional 6 button strips, and the later ones were 10 button strips. Earlier call directors were commonly 18 or 30 buttons, and later 10, 20, and 30 buttons. There were also some custom monster phones. There were some wiring differences between the 6 button strips, and the 10 button strips. Normally each line used 3 pairs of wire, 2 for the phone line, 2 for the button (A1/A), 2 for the lamp (L/LG). For a 6 button phone/5 line phone, this would be 15 pairs, plus one for the ringer, leaving 9 spare pairs for add-on devices such as buzzers, speakerphones, etc, using a 25 pair cable. Some phones were equipped with 15 or 18 pair cables instead. For 10 lines, this would require 30 pairs, not including any pairs for ringer, or add-on buzzers, etc, but by bussing all the A1 leads together, the spare A1 leads for lines 2-5 could be reused as A leads for lines 6-9. The same trick was used with the LG leads, thus reducing the number of pairs needed to 19 (plus one for the ringer), leaving 5 spare pairs for add-ons in a 25 pair cable. Additional 25 pair groups were added for additonal 10 button rows. >> Six button keysets are rare to see today, having been replaced by more >> modern systems. Even the Bell System, before divesture, had developed >> several new lines, such as ComKey and phones with more buttons >> (identified by a larger square button with the light within it. Both >> wall and desk sets had a long row of buttons along the top of the >> phone. These were out early enough that they were made in rotary dial >> as well as touch tone. The phones with more buttons sound like late version Call Directors. I found a collectors website, with a listing of many many types of Western Electric phones, including many that most people have never seen or heard of. http://mysite.verizon.net/paul-f/we500typ.htm -- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine -- Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net | | P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 | -- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? -- ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? Date: 15 Aug 2005 11:06:12 -0700 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have seen a few very elaborate and > very complex (regards wiring) six-buton sets. One of the strangest I > ever saw had six buttons (five lines plus hold) but the 'lines' were > very special purpose: from left to right, the hold button (red > plastic) was followed by 'intercom' for an open-loop arrangement (just > battery to provide talking voltage on to a similar set in a place > called 'radio station booth' and also 'box office' and 'stage left' > [anyone using one of the instruments at 'radio booth' or 'box office' > or 'stage left' could talk to or be heard by persons at the the other > instruments by going off hook]) the fourth button (or third 'line') > was 'extension 263' from the building PBX. ... Such arrangements were actually quite common. The common talk circuit light would go on if anyone was on it. Either other keyset buttons could be used to sound a particular buzzer or there was a little plate next to the phone with tiny buttons on it. We don't see it nowadays, but in old movies you'd often see a boss press a buzzer and a secretary or aide would come inside. You could use a key telephone buzzer for that arrangement, though you could of course wire one up yourself. I once inherited a desk that had a forest of disconnected push buttons underneath it. Other intercom arrangements were dial. I think they may have had some large ones needing two digits. Obviously there are a variety tradeoffs between using a key system which requires lots of cabling to each station set but no attendant vs. a PBX which requires an attendant and a switchboard. I've seen very small outfits have a switchboard and larger outfits with a key system, with every phone in a sprawling facility having the line buttons. I guess it depends on traffic, both internal and external. My uncle worked in a modest-sized factory served by a key system. A frequent use on that was the loudspeaker (intercom 6--"Joe pick up line 3"). I don't think the shop floors used the phones that much. Occassionally you'd see key systems with various colored buttons, such as blue or deep-yellow in addition to the red hold button. > They told me they had to pay Illinois Bell seventy five cents per > month for the intercom loop, which I presume was to maintain the > power supply and the wiring of same. They paid a dollar per month > for the rental of the operator-style headset and about the same > amount for the beehive lamp. PAT] I was thinking that's pretty reasonable until I realized that was in 1960 dollars. Still, it's not really that bad in that it's all maintained for you as part of the telephone. To go out and buy your own parts and build your own system would be costly in terms of time and materials. For the person wearing the headset it's a big convenience to answer/use the telephone or intercom quickly and simply. I don't know if power supplies were solid state back then but any needed maintenance was handled by the phone co. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But the most ancient arrangement I ever saw was a phone with the six buttons in a separate box next to it. This one was in the clock tower at Holy Family Catholic Church on West Roosevelt Road in Chicago, back in 1972 or so. A relatively ancient wall phone (with a side ringer, yet) and the feed to it coming from a somewhat newer but still ancient side box with six round buttons on it. I was employed with someone else to get the tower clock started once again (it had been inactive for many years at that point). Taking the cover off the side ringer caused much dust and cobwebs to fall out, and a typewritten note inside the side ringer dated 1929 said 'this phone comes from the terminal box in the basement of the rectory on Hoyne Street (about 100 feet away I guess). And the side box with the line buttons had a note dated 1946 which said the pairs went to the inside terminal box in the basement of the rectory also where they appeared on 'strip 2 row 3'. I recall the actual clock (the four faces of it on each side of the tower was on the ninth floor (walking up the inside stairway) and the bells were below it on the 8th floor, the stairs and floor at that point full of pigeon 'stuff' and the bells had a note on them saying the construction of the clock and bells came from a company in 'Southwick England' ; I think it was the Southwick Clock and Bell Company. A notice on the bells said they had been installed in 1905, and that 'for proper care of the bells, the sexton must rotate the clapper one-quarter turn every _75 years_ '. Since this was in the 1970's, I guess it was about time to rotate the clapper which we did. I could find out no information about Southwick Clock and Bell Company; they were many years out of business. But some detective work got me to the 'General Time Company' offices in Chicago where the people there told me they had inherited all of Southwick's business and maintainence files many years before that. We _thought_ we had the bell chimes working once again but then they got stuck and would not quit chiming the hour over and over and over and over, about a hundred times while we climbed back up there and turned it off manually. But we got the clock mechanism working again for what it was worth. The clock motor (where the telephone was located) was in the now long since abandoned sexton's office in the tower on the fifth floor; the motor had a very long shaft on it going up through the ceilings, etc with a universal connector to turn the hands on the four sides of the clock three or four stories further up. PAT] ------------------------------ From: pv+usenet@pobox.com (Paul Vader) Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 18:10:53 -0000 Organization: Inline Software Creations > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It was something to do with www.coolweb > and 180Search as I recall. I also took no chances and did a complete Yikes! Both of those are about as bad as they get. There's at least a couple variants of coolwebsearch that are best removed by applying a flamethrower to your hard drive -- they are *that* persistent. CWS is so nasty that it spawned a remover just for all its variants, CWShredder: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html. Another good place to look is doxdesk.com/parasite - lots of useful manual removal techniques. It's quite likely that the spyware has a reloader process running -- you will need to boot into safemode and look for odd entries in your HijackThis log. Pay careful attention to run items. If you don't get the reloader, you're wasting your time removing the spyware, because it will grow right back. A clean reinstall of windows is probably the only way to be sure you nailed it. * * PV something like badgers--something like lizards--and something like corkscrews. ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Last Laugh! Another Huge Money Making Idea!!! Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 00:54:32 GMT This guys says you can make thousands in just hours. His his number is 800-667-2497, E-mail is greg@gettingpaid.com. There is a conferance call number: 512-305-4663, Pin: 228862#, plus his home phone is 530-209-4956. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #369 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Aug 16 17:51:58 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 5D14A14F01; Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:51:58 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #370 Message-Id: <20050816215158.5D14A14F01@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:51:58 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, DRUGS_MUSCLE,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NO_COST autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:52:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 370 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Focus on Cyber Terrorism (Nathaniel Hoopes) New Worm Targeting Windows (Reuters News Wire) 2 PRIs - Failover (rmalarc) Jun Murai Recognized With the Internet Society Postel Award (P. Godwin) VoIP Provider Appeals FCC's 911 Deadline (USTelecom dailyLead) Museum of Communications - Seattle (and Others) (Bob Vaughan) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (jared) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (John Levine) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (Joseph) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (Robert Bonomi) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s (BV124@aol.com) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s (Bob Vaughan) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? (Joseph) Six-Button Keysets - Additional Lines in Europe (Charles G Gray) Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 (William Warren) Re: FSK Signal For Voicemail on MCI (Fred Atkinson) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (R (jared) Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Nathaniel Hoopes Subject: New Focus on Cyber Terrorism Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 14:28:31 -0500 At risk: computers that run power grids, refineries. By Nathaniel Hoopes, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor Buried deep in America's new energy legislation is a requirement that power companies step up their safeguards against computer attack. Why does a law aimed at boosting energy production address the dangers of hackers, software "worms," and computer viruses? Because the automatic networks that run so-called "critical infrastructure" are emerging as a vital - and weak - link in America's defense against terrorism. Networks run everything from water-treatment plants and oil refineries to power grids and transport networks. They constantly read data and adjust, opening a valve here, closing a tank there, often keeping the facility operating 24/7. In the wrong hands, however, such systems could be compromised. "People downplay the importance of cyber-security, claiming that no one will ever die in a cyber-attack, but they're wrong," says Richard Clarke, a former terrorism and cyber-security czar in the Bush administration. "This is a serious threat." In March, for instance, hackers gained access to the electronic control systems of the nation's electric power grid, says Dave Powner a cyber-security specialist at the US Government Accountability Office (GAO). In 2003, a computer "worm" on the Internet may have helped delay power companies' response to the major Midwest and Northeast power outage, although the electric industry says it has found no evidence of a cyber-related effect. In all, the first half of 2005 saw 237 cyber-attacks worldwide - a 50 percent rise from the same period last year, according to IBM's global security intelligence team. >From a national security viewpoint, the real danger is that a determined and talented cyber-terrorist could break into a utility or chemical plant's computer network and manipulate the sensor-control systems, experts say. That could set off an "accident" that could kill not just workers at the plant, but thousands of civilians in the surrounding area. Nearly 300 critical-infrastructure facilities lie in densely populated regions with 50,000 or more local residents, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "An attack on the scale of the Bhopal disaster in India is not impossible," says Mr. Clarke, citing the chemical leak that killed some 3,800 people in 1984. Despite such a nightmare scenario, federal officials are more immediately focused on the threat of a dual attack, says Mr. Powner of the GAO. "There is a lot of concern in government about what the FBI calls a swarming terrorist attack. You have a physical attack and a simultaneous cyber-attack on critical infrastructure -- that really hurts your ability to respond." The cascading effect of such an attack could cost the nation billions of dollars. And getting the incredibly complex systems up and running again wouldn't be easy, security experts say. Many experts say that DHS is still relatively unprepared to protect America's critical infrastructure against a cyber-attack. "In government, when it came to senior level focus after Sept. 11, 99.9 percent was skewed towards physical protection, and cyber-security took a back seat," says Paul Kurtz, director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance and a former Bush administration official. But he is optimistic that attitudes are changing. Facing mounting pressure, DHS is creating a national cyberspace response system. Supporters claim it will help the government work with the private sector to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber incidents. In November, DHS will launch its first major national exercise -- code-named "Cyberstorm" -- to test the government's ability to partner with the private sector in response to a major cyber incident. Last month, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff created a new post, assistant secretary of cyber and telecommunications security, a position that Mr. Kurtz says will carry the necessary clout. But Clarke points out that the position hasn't been filled yet. "So far it's been all talk," he says. Power companies aren't waiting around for governments to protect them. "Ultimately industry has to be responsible for protecting its own assets," says Ellen Vancko of the North American Electric Reliability Council. The council is developing cyber-security standards, which its members will have to uphold. The industry has a lot to address, Clarke says. "Every time the government has tested the security of the electric power industry, we've been able to hack our way in - sometimes through an obscure route like the billing system," he says. "Computer-security officers at a number of chemical plants have indicated privately that they are very concerned about the openness of their networks and how easily they might be penetrated." Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, Christian Science Publishing Society. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: New Worm Targeting Windows Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 15:26:57 -0500 A new Internet virus targeting recently uncovered flaws in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system is circulating on the Internet, an anti-virus computer software maker said on Monday. The ZOTOB virus appeared shortly after the world's largest software maker warned of three newly found "critical" security flaws in its software last week, including one that could allow attackers to take complete control of a computer. Trend Micro Inc. said that the worm exploits security holes in Microsoft's Windows 95, 98, ME, NE, 2000 and XP platforms and can give computer attackers remote access to affected systems. "Hundreds of infection reports were sighted in the United States and Germany," Tokyo-based Trend Micro said. But computer security engineers at Microsoft said that the worm is only targeting Windows 2000 and not the other versions of Windows. "It only affected Windows 2000," said Stephen Toulouse, a manager at Microsoft's Security Response Center. "So far its has shown a very limited impact -- we're not seeing any widespread impact to the Internet, but we remain vigilant." The latest virus drops a copy of itself into the Windows system folder as BOTZOR.EXE and modifies the system's host file in the infected user's computer to prevent the user from getting online assistance from anti-virus Web sites, Trend Micro added. The worm can also connect to a specific Internet relay chat server and give hackers remote control over affected systems, which can be used to infect other unpatched machines in a network and slow down network performance. "Since most users may not be aware of this newly announced security hole so as to install the necessary patch during last weekend, we can foresee more infections from WORM_ZOTOB," it said. Last Tuesday, Microsoft issued patches to fix its security flaws as part of its monthly security bulletin. The problems affect the Windows operating system and Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser. Microsoft has warned that an attacker could exploit a vulnerability in its Internet Explorer Web browser, lure users to malicious Web pages and could run a software code on the user's PC giving the attacker control of the affected computer. Computer users should update their anti-virus pattern files and apply the latest Microsoft patches to protect their computer systems, Trend Micro said. More than 90 percent of the world's PCs run on the Windows operating system and Microsoft has been working to improve the security and reliability of its software. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: rmalarc Subject: 2 PRIs - Failover Date: 16 Aug 2005 05:54:11 -0700 Hello, I currently have a PRI with a bunch of DIDs operating in site A. We are planning to set up a site B with its own PRI and its own DIDs. I would like to be able to also set up PRI B so it serves as a backup to PRI A. Here are the options I've thought of: -. All calls ring PRI A and should it be down they ring PRI B -. All calls to PRI A ring PRI A and PRI B simultanously. Calls to PRI B only ring in PRI B. Are these options feasable? Is there another way to set them up? A few more questions: -. should any carrier be able to set this up? -. do both PRIs have to be with the same carrier? Regards, Renato A. ------------------------------ From: Peter Godwin Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 12:43:39 +0200 Organization: Internet Society Subject: Jun Murai Recognized With the Iinternet Society's Postel Award 2005 award goes to pioneer behind development of the Internet in the Asia Pacific region Reston, VA - 16th August 2005 - Professor Jun Murai is this year's recipient of the Internet Society's prestigious Jonathan B. Postel Service Award. The award recognises Professor Murai's vision and pioneering work that helped countless others to spread the Internet across the Asia Pacific region. The Postel Award was presented during the 63rd meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in Paris, France by Daniel Karrenberg, chair of this year's Postel award committee, and Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. "Jun Murai has always encouraged, inspired and helped others, particularly his students and his colleagues in other parts of the Asia Pacific region," said Karrenberg. "He has also played a key role in creating structures for Internet coordination in the region (particularly APNIC), and he is widely recognised for his recent pioneering work in IPv6 implementation." Jun Murai is currently Vice-President, Keio University in Japan, where he is a Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Information. In 1984, he developed the Japan University UNIX Network (JUNET), and in 1988 established the WIDE Project (a Japanese Internet research consortium) of which he continues to serve as the General Chairperson. He is President of the Japan Network Information Center (JPNIC), a former member of the Board of Trustees of the Internet Society and a former member of ICANN's Board of Directors. The Jonathan B. Postel Service Award was established by the Internet Society to honor those who have made outstanding contributions in service to the data communications community. The award is focused on sustained and substantial technical contributions, service to the community, and leadership. With respect to leadership, the nominating committee places particular emphasis on candidates who have supported and enabled others in addition to their own specific actions. The award is named after Dr. Jonathan B. Postel, who embodied all of these qualities during his extraordinary stewardship over the course of a thirty-year career in networking. He served as the editor of the RFC series of notes from its inception in 1969, until 1998. He also served as the ARPANET "numbers Czar" and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority over the same period of time. He was a founding member of the Internet Architecture Board and the first individual member of the Internet Society, where he also served as a trustee. Previous recipients of the Postel Award include Jon himself (posthumously and accepted by his mother), Scott Bradner, Daniel Karrenberg, Stephen Wolff, Peter Kirstein and Phill Gross. The award consists of an engraved crystal globe and $20,000. ABOUT ISOC The Internet Society (http://www.isoc.org) is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. With offices in Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in ensuring that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner. For over 13 years ISOC has run international network training programs for developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country connecting to the Internet during this time. FOR FURTHER DETAILS: Peter Godwin Communications Manager, Internet Society E-mail: godwin@isoc.org 4, rue des Falaises 1205 Geneva Switzerland ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 12:39:35 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: VoIP Provider Appeals FCC's 911 Deadline USTelecom dailyLead August 16, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23877&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * VoIP provider appeals FCC's 911 deadline BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Icahn, Time Warner's Parsons to meet * Sprint, NFL ink wireless deal * Broadband growth sluggish in Q2 * NTT DoCoMo executive champions "wallet phones" USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * TELECOM '05: Preparing You for What's NEXT EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Vendors claim data transmission record REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * India's government blocks Huawei Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23877&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: techie@tantivy.tantivy.net (Bob Vaughan) Subject: Museum of Communications - Seattle (and Others) Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:22:27 UTC Organization: Tantivy Associates I should probably remember to mention the Museum of Communications in Seattle, (formerly the Vintage Telephone Equipment Museum), operated by Washington Chapter 30, TelecomPioneers. The musuem is located at: 7000 East Marginal Way S Seattle, Washington 98108 (206) 767-3012 (just down the street from the Museum of Flight) and is open Tuesdays from 8:30am to 2:00pm or by appointment. www.museumofcommunications.org They have a large collection of phones, switches, tools, etc covering several floors. They share building space with a USWest central office. From the moment you walk in the door, you are surrounded by old communications technology, from magneto phones to broadcast radio transmitters, from telegraph to teletype. They have working #1, #5 and #755 crossbar, Step-by-Step, and #3ESS, as well as a Panel switch, believed to be the only working panel switch anywhere in the world. If you are ever in Seattle, check it out ... Arrive early, as there is a lot to see. It is amazing just how much equipment they have managed to shoehorn into the space that they have. =========================== Pacific Bell also has/had a small museum at their headquarters at 140 New Montgomery Street in San Francisco. I have not been there in years, and I do not know the status of it. http://www.sfvisitor.org/visitorinfo/html/Soma.html ============================ The Roseville Telephone Company (Now SureWest) has a telephone museum in Roseville, California (Near Sacramento) http://www.rosevilletelephonemuseum.org/ ============================ for more links see: www.scn.org/tech/telmuseum/links.html http://www.stepintoplaces.com/Resource%20Guide/Industry/Telecommunication.htm I also came across a page of recordings of telephone sounds. Equipment, announcements, intercepts, etc. http://www.wideweb.com/phonetrips/ -- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine -- Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net | | P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 | -- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? -- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:51:11 -0600 From: jared@nospam.au (jared) Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States > 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by > community dial offices? Having lived in a town where an ESS was being installed, forcing 7-digit dialing, I asked a friend who worked for the then Bell Labs why an ESS couldn't be programmed to retain 5 digits. His response was that the opposite problem was more of a concern, i.e. allowing for 7 and 10 digit local dialing, giving as an example the situation in Silicon Valley at the time, where the 415 and 408 area codes were across the street from each other. ------------------------------ Date: 16 Aug 2005 05:13:46 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > 1) Traditional party line service, since it's not worth the cost to > upgrade lines out to people's farms? I doubt it. Private lines make moves and changes and maintenance vastly cheaper. My relatives who are trying to sell their small rural telco in Vermont converted everything to private lines years ago. For the few people who still have grandfathered party lines, they tie the lines together at the CO. > 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by > community dial offices? Not since 1+7D went away. I think these days you'll find that CDOs are all remotes from modern switches that provide all of the digital bells and whistles. They certainly are around here. Remember that due to the magic of USF accounting, small rural telcos have an incentive to gold plate their plant. That's why the CO down the street from me has a GTD-5 with two remotes that handles a total of about 10,000 lines. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 06:26:48 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 15 Aug 2005 13:40:56 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > 1) Traditional party line service, since it's not worth the cost to > upgrade lines out to people's farms? I am of the belief that anyone who wants a private line these days can get one. It used to be that if you could get a private line at all you could only be a relatively short distance from the CO not to incur a "mileage" charge if you wanted anything other than 8-party service. I believe you can still get two-party service in some areas at a reduced per month rate, but I believe private line service is pretty much available in all but the most remote areas now. > 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by > community dial offices? I'd say off the top of my head probably not. When CDO's were all step-by-step offices dialing patterns as little as three digits were available determined by the number of subscribers and optionally could be dialed with all seven numbers with the first few digits "absorbed" for local callers. When ESS came into being that all ended. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:20:06 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > In many places in the U.S. the demand for telephone exchanges is very > high for a variety reasons. This has result in area code splits and > overlays. NJ started off with one area code and now has nine. > But some states still only have one area code. I understand some > states are not growing very fast in population, indeed, some rural > towns are losing population. This includes: Alaska, Idaho, Montanna, > North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. (Not counting some other > single-code states). > Given the rural/low growth aspect of places in some of these states, I > was wondering if telephone service may still have some old fashioned > features to it. For example, would such areas have: > 1) Traditional party line service, since it's not worth the cost to > upgrade lines out to people's farms? Yes. > 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by > community dial offices? *VERY* rare. Gotta have full numbers, to handle direct-dial inbound calls from outside that exchange. Recognizing 'short cut' dialing within the exchange raises all sorts of complexities, having to do with 'variable length' numbers, and detecting 'end of dialing'. ------------------------------ From: BV124@aol.com Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 00:53:31 EDT Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s Joe of Seattle wrote: > And as far as "hunt" goes Telco (Southwestern Bell in particular) > did not want to give me hunt on a residential line with sequential > line numbers when I had two lines. Actually it doesn't matter if > it's sequential or not. Even #5 Crossbar had "jump" hunt readily > available. In any case they didn't want to provision my residential > line with hunt capability. SBC gave it to me, for non-sequential lines, in Glendale, California for $.38/month. I don't know if it was a "true" hunt or what they advertise as "busy call forwarding." In any event, they charged me $38.00 labor to install it! And then they refused to "alias" the voice mail to the 1st line from the 2nd line. They sure aren't the Pacific Tel or AT&T of old. I'm with you Pat, I hate those people. ------------------------------ From: techie@tantivy.tantivy.net (Bob Vaughan) Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:38:03 UTC Organization: Tantivy Associates In article , Joseph wrote: > On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 21:01:08 -0400, Michael Muderick > wrote: >> I don't know the cost of all the features, but they were a la carte. >> However the hunting feature was done at the CO and there was no charge >> for that as far back as I can remember. Remember, it meant another >> completed call for Ma Bell, rather than a busy signal, so it was to >> their advantage to give hunting away free, lest someone decide to opt >> out of it. > And something I've always wondered about is the use of multiple lines > in countries outside of the US such as in Europe and in Asia. Often > I'd see numbers advertised or on signage on the order of 123456/7 > meaning that you could reach that business by dialing either 123456 or > 123457. Does this mean that these step-by-step/Strowger or other > electromechanical exchanges did not have trunk hunt and that this is > just a North American "invention." I can't think of any other reason > for listing for the public both numbers if they were sequential other > than the facility for automatic trunk hunt was not available. The step-by-step switches were certainly capable of sequential hunting. On the Western Electric 711B PBX, it was simply a matter of adding or removing an insulating sleeve on one of the relay contacts to route a connection thru adjacent lines.. I think it was the ground that was routed, and the call would hunt until it found ground, and completed the circuit, allowing the line relay to be closed. In theory, you could do non-sequential hunting, but it would require the addition of jumpers of the switch frame, while sequential hunting could be setup by a switch tech in a minute or two. > And as far as "hunt" goes Telco (Southwestern Bell in particular) did > not want to give me hunt on a residential line with sequential line > numbers when I had two lines. Actually it doesn't matter if it's > sequential or not. Even #5 Crossbar had "jump" hunt readily > available. In any case they didn't want to provision my residential > line with hunt capability. I'm going to guess that they didn't normally provide hunting on residential lines, and thus were not expecting to have to clear it when the line was disconnected, especially if the switch served mostly residential customers. -- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine -- Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net | | P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 | -- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? -- ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s? Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 06:17:23 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 15 Aug 2005 11:06:12 -0700,[Telecom Digest Editor] wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But the most ancient arrangement I ever > saw was a phone with the six buttons in a separate box next to it. > This one was in the clock tower at Holy Family Catholic Church on West > Roosevelt Road in Chicago, back in 1972 or so. A relatively ancient > wall phone (with a side ringer, yet) and the feed to it coming from a > somewhat newer but still ancient side box with six round buttons on it. I'm surprised you don't remember that all the while when "565" sets were available for desk use there was no similar model for wall mount. For wall mount they had a 500 set with a separate "key" box that had the same keys as you'd find on a 565 desk set usually in the reverse order that you'd find on the desk set with the hold button on the extreme right and also with round keys. It was only later that a six button wall keyset was developed with the big square keys and the handset which rested on top of the set. ------------------------------ Subject: Classic Six Button KeySets - Additional Lines in Europe From: Charles G Gray Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 08:43:59 -0500 I saw your question about multiple line hunt phone numbers in the Digest. As for Europe, (at least in Germany) most of the stepper switches were Siemens/Halske RP-40. It was first manufactured beginning in the mid-1930s, and some was still in operation as late as 1980. I managed the US Army's phone system in Europe 1971-1976 and we still had bunches of RP-40. Siemens stopped making repair parts in about 1972, and from then on our German switch techs pieced together what they could. Rotary hunt was available for the RP-40, but the Army wasn't using it. We had an Italian gentleman who understood the equipment inside out, but none of the Americans would listen to him. I had been to school with AT&T for a year, and I knew the benefits of rotary hunt. Since I was brought in as the "expert", I didn't have any trouble convincing a couple of generals and a bunch of colonels of the benefits of rotary hunt, so we went on a big campaign to install the little brass clip-things that made it possible. In fact, I used to carry one of them in my pocket to show them just how simple it was to install. Actually, we improved traffic handling on the network tremendously by reducing the number of busy tones and re-dials. Mr. DiBernardo and I made a great team, and many people thought we were "magic". Actually, we were just pretty good engineers. We did some other neat things as well, such as instituting one-way trunks, with overflow to two-way that increased network traffic capacity by over 50% and didn't cost the Army (American Taxpayer) a single dime for new equipment. The capability was there all along, but nobody wanted to listen to Mr. DiBernardo. We implemented circuit "gooming" before it was a popular concept here,which also resulted dramatic increases in traffic capacity. Just a historical note, we still had the switch in the I.G. Farben Building in Frankfurt that had been installed in 1937-39. The original switch was 400 lines of RP-40. By the time I was there it had grown to about 3,000 lines -- but still RP-40. I did write a plan for a completely new digital electronic switching system in 1974, known as the "European Telephone System Plan". It went into the Army budget cycle and was approved in 1975, calling for installation of American made equipment. I wanted it to be portable so when we moved bases and troops around we could take it with us. Then politics entered the game. Mr. Rumsfeld who was the Secretary of Defense at the time (the youngest one ever), received a hand-written note from his counterpart in the German Ministry of Defense that said something like: "Dear Don. I understand that the US Army is considering replacing their telephone system in Germany. I just want to remind you that Siemens is eminently qualified to undertake this work". Soon after that Siemens in Munich was awarded the contract -- even though they had never built a digital switch before. Good old Mr. DiBernardo ("Mr. Di" to his friends) provided months of "free" consulting work to Siemens R&D in Munich guiding them through the design process so they could build something to sell to the Army. Of course, the Army paid his TDY expenses from Heidelberg to Munich. He may have gotten some "free" lunches from Siemens. As for multiple sequential numbers listed on signage, I think that was/is a psychological thing -- at least in Europe. A company that listed only one number might be considered "small", while a company that listed multiple numbers might be considered "large". Of course, they also listed fax numbers, TELEX, and anything else that might bolster their public image. It happens here, too, but for different reasons. I just randomly looked in our phone directory and the Owl Drug Store in Wagoner, OK lists two numbers -- no way to know if they are in rotary hunt or not. The "Land of Oz" in Tulsa is the same way. I suspect that there are hundreds of them here. In the US, it typically happens because the telephone company sales reps that handle business lines don't have a clue about rotary hunt, and the users don't know enough to ask. So if a company has one number, and decides to add another one (or more) due to business needs, nobody ever thinks about hooking them together in a hunt group, and the directory bunch just punches in another number. Enough of my rambling for now. I'm sure that this may be "too much information", but once I got started, it just kind of went on. Regards. Charles G. Gray Senior Lecturer, Telecommunications Oklahoma State University - Tulsa (918)594-8433 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 13:18:21 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Urgent Help Needed With Internet Explorer IE 6.0 Bill Matern wrote: > PAT, > I had a similar problem before. A good lesson was learned by my kids > about downloading stuff from web pages. It took me days to clean the > mess up. > The procedure that worked the best for me was using as many "free" > spyware removes as possible: Spybot search and destroy and others. I > needed three (don't remember the other two) before I got the mess > cleaned up. I don't know if this will work for you or not, but it is > worth a try. [snip] > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The problem is now cured, and it was a > thing about running one Spybot thing after another. I had found out > earlier that all the facilities worked fine under a non-administrator > account called 'ptownson', so I thought why not run the Spy Bot and > AdAware and Grisoft AVG under that account also since all three of > those things are at least partially dependent on IE 6.0 to run > correctly anyway, which they were refusing to do under the admin > account. By running them over and over, getting to the point of > 'found and cured X files; could not cure Y files since they are > locked, reboot and let (whoever) run first thing once again, while > those files are still unlocked, etc. It took some doing, but then > on one test of the results, presto, things were back to normal again. > PAT] Pat, You have my deepest sympathy: there's nothing more frustrating about computers than having a child trash one just by following a link or trying to play an online game. Adware and spyware has gotten a lot more tenacious and intrusive since it started, and it's an order of magnitude more difficult to remove than a virus. After all, virus writers don't get paid (hmmm ...), and adware vendors do, so they've gotten very good very quickly. Of course, the ad/spyware vendors depend on children to spread their sleezeware, but the damage and wasted time they cause is what an MBA would call an "externality": cleanup is _your_ problem. The good news is that there is a lot of help available and you've done the most important thing already, which is to admit you need it. Here's the list I use when I set up a new machine for my SOHO customers. HTH. 1. Copy the system partition as soon as the OS and any "office" software has been registered. Since new disk drives typically have at least 20GB of storage, it's a quick and easy precaution. In event of a software meltdown, I simply roll the copy back over the original and they're back in business twenty minutes later. [This is, BTW, an excellent use for the ~2GB drives you have hanging around in your old 486 or can get for free at the recycling center. You can plug the drive in for the backup, and then take it out and put it on a shelf out of harm's reach, thus guarding against both software _and_ hardware failures.] 2. If children will have access to the computer, take these precautions: A. Enable a power-on password to prevent late-night adventures. B. Set a password on the screen saver, and set the timeout to 5 minutes. This keeps the kids out of _your_ account and helps limit damage to your data. C. Warn the user to NEVER use the Administrator account for day-to-day tasks. D. Install the hisecws (or hisecws4) security template, and use it to post a logon warning that all internet usage will be logged. E. Use a group policy to prevent users erasing their history files, and show the owner how to check. F. Install TeaTimer or similar monitoring software to flag attempted registry changes. Of course, the kids always click "yes", but there'll be a log and it'll help to keep the adults out of trouble as well. 3. Make sure the owner knows about backup options and the costs of each one: online vs. CD-RW vs. disk, etc. I make sure the user knows that it's a question of "When", not "If", especially with children involved. I emphasize the need for backups just before any family gathering, just in case. There's another option that you should consider: set aside your old computer for use by the kids, and warn them they if it breaks, they get to keep both pieces and you don't want to hear any whining. I do this with mine, and the one time it got adware on it, I told them I'd get to it in a couple of weeks and in the meantime they could walk to the library or stay after school and use the machines there. It's never happened again. I know this is locking the barn door, but (especially in your job) it's only a matter of time before something slips past your first line of defense. Next time, the result can be a shrug and a few minutes of copying while you enjoy a coffee break. Sound good? William Warren (Filter noise from my address for direct emails) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It does all sound like good advice. I know that the password on my Administrator account (all my logins and passwords actually) are on autologin. That is to say, I turn on the computer, sit back and wait while it boots up, the 'network user name' and 'network password' boxes are filled in automatically, all the programs which are 'run on start up' such as the atomic clock synchronizer the 'tclockex' program (which provides fancy script and additional features to the Windows clock) starts, Zone Alarm and AVG get started, etc. Sometimes also one or more virus scanning programs run as needed. Then, and only then, do I start doing my thing. And _despite_ the hardware firewall (cable router and modem), the Zone Alarm software firewall, an email 'spam examination program' and other goodies, I still get jumped on now and then. It appears the 'Administrator' profile got trashed by something, which is what caused Internet Explorer to quit operating. I went in the Documents and Settings, renamed that profile to 'Administrator.old', then shut down, powered back up and let Windows build an all new profile for Administrator. The 'ptownson' profile (also an administrator account) worked okay. Now I can be on 'ptownson' or on 'Administrator' and log off that account and switch to the other one which I do sometimes. But for some reason I am unable to switch to the old 'Administrator.old' account to benefit from his files, etc. Apparently just renaming one profile to something else, to force Windows to construct a new profile for who you want to be does not in the process require the old user 'Administrator.old' to come to life any longer. Ergo, things like the Outlook Express mailbox name and address book is now unreachable. I log out of 'ptownson' or 'administrator' and attempt to login in as 'administrator.old' (in order to access his files, etc) but it just won't work. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: FSK Signal For Voicemail on MCI Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 05:08:31 -0400 As long as you talk to their customer service people, they won't know, either. That's the norm for most companies these days. I've long since lost count of how many times customer service and even technical support people have given me bad information. It's really pretty sad. I wrote an article for the local computer club in Columbia, SC a couple of years ago. I entitled it, 'Customer Service, an oxymoron'. The editor of the newsletter changed the title to 'Is Customer Service an oxymoron' (he did it without telling me. I would've objected to the change if I had had an opportunity before he published it). It detailed some of my experiences and pointed out that these companies are hiring entry level people to keep costs down. The telephone, cable, and other high tech companies are hiring lost cost people due to the state of the economy over the last few years. A number of experienced people have been practically unable to get a position during this time. They are told they are 'overqualified' when they apply. But, the folks they hire are underqualified. And they don't do an adquate job of training the ones they do hire. The truth is, these companies don't want to pay for experience right now. I am frequently given bad information when I talk to these folks. And when I point out the error of their ways, they insist they could not possibly be wrong. Yet, when I pursue the matter on my own, I generally prove them to be wrong. Sad, but true. Fred Atkinson ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 12:56:47 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Phil McKerracher wrote: > John Levine wrote in message > news:telecom24.366.5@telecom-digest.org: >> I think the limit is about 18,000 feet. Then you might have trouble >> carrying DSL over it ... > Correct, but that's the approximate limit for the total length from > the switch to the telephone. Strange, isn't it, that the limit for ISDN (with an extender) is over _25,000_ ft? In rural areas, for POTS service, 75,000+ ft of wire is not uncommon. > Beyond that, the signal is typically attenuated too much, mainly by > cable resistance, and gets buried in noise. Circa 18,000 ft is a general practical limit for _DSL_ circuits, only. *NOT* due to cable "resistance", by the way -- but rather due to the cumulative effect of distributed capacitance, and the 'blurring' of high-frequency signal transitions that occurs as a result thereof. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 22:05:29 -0600 From: jared@nospam.au (jared) Subject: Re: Stock Market Ticker Tape Machines? (R > Only within the last 20 years did the US Navy move away from > electromechanical Teletype Model 28s and variations thereof. When I > was the communications officer aboard the then state-of the-art fleet > flagship USS Blue Ridge in Yokosuka in 1987 Memories of 75 baud circuits using Baudot encoding ... the wily shift symbol ... some of the low speed circuits were for naval communication over very noisy channels and so I think the low rate was necessary (esp in those days before FEC and/or IP). ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:10:43 GMT hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Would anyone know any history of this company? I know that they once > made telephones, radios, and PA systems. I understand "Comdial" > phones are an outgrowth of them. I presume they are long out of > business. > I've never seen a home audio product, but have seen commercial PA > systems and telephone sets made by them in the 1950s. > I get the impression they were a modest sized company in both > telephones and audio products. I don't recall seeing too many of > their ads in old magazines compared to other electronic outfits. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They also made motion picture > projectors like Bell and Howell did. PAT] I believe the equipment manufacturing division moved to Florida and is part of General Dynamics. They were really big in Rochester, Ny. Used the old Rochester Telephone for testing. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #370 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Aug 16 22:14:05 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 2F7BD151CD; Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:14:05 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #371 Message-Id: <20050817021405.2F7BD151CD@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:14:05 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAD_CREDIT, BAYES_00,INFO_TLD,NO_COST autolearn=no version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:12:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 371 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Meet ZoTob; New Worm; Busy Attacking Windows Vulnerabilities (Jack Germain) Cell Phone Customers Held Captive By Early Cancel Fees (Consumer Affairs) Florida Court Bars Comcast From Enforcing Agreement (Consumer Affairs) Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? (John McHarry) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s (NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info) Re: Telephone Exchange Useage in Low Volume Areas (John Levine) Re: Telephone Exchange Useage in Low Volume Areas (John McHarry) Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? (John McHarry) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (John McHarry) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Jim Haynes) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (David LaRue) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Steve Sobol) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Fred Atkinson) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (mc) Re: Last Laugh! Another Huge Money Making Idea!!! (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Jack M. Germain Subject: Meet ZoTob; New Worm; Busy Attacking Windows Vulnerabilities Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:02:28 -0500 Jack M. Germain, newsfactor.com Finish antivirus firm F-Secure found a new worm on Sunday that attacks the Windows Plug-N-Play vulnerability that Microsoft patched last Tuesday. The security firm's researchers said the worm, which they named ZoTob, poses the biggest risk to users running Windows 2000. Industry researchers began seeing exploit code for the critical Microsoft vulnerability showing up on various hacking Web sites on Friday. According to F-Secure's Web site, Zotob began spreading as early 7:30 a.m. EST Sunday morning. Mikko Hyppnen, director of antivirus research for F-Secure, wrote that the new worm is based on MyTob, a mass-mailing virus that opens a back door and lowers security settings on compromised machines. Hyppnen noted that the ZoTob worm might be using exploit code published by a researcher known as "houseofdabus" four days ago. ZoTob is the first major self-propagating program since the Sasser worm -- which began spreading April 30, 2004 -- to target a Microsoft Windows vulnerability. F-Secure researchers also announced their discovery of two variants of the ZoTob worm. Each one gives hackers access to unpatched computers and shares several similarities with the earlier MyTob worm. Windows XP Users Safe According to F-Secure researchers and other antivirus companies, ZoTob has no affect on computers running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Server 2003. Thus, the ZoTob worm should not spread as quickly as Sasser did. According to researchers, Microsoft confirmed that ZoTob only infects Windows 2000 systems. Redmond said that any Windows XP system that applied the updated patches released last Tuesday would be safe. Other antivirus researchers, however, say unpatched vulnerabilities in other Windows platforms -- Windows 95, 98 and ME -- could be at risk. Attack Scenario Antivirus firm Trend Micro (Nasdaq: TMIC - news) said the ZoTob worm places a copy of itself into the Windows system folder as botzor.exe modifies the system's host file in the infected computer, preventing the user from getting online assistance from antivirus Web sites. According to the Internet Storm Center, which monitors network threats for the SANS Institute, the ZoTob worm compromises computers by sending data on TCP port 445. The worm uses the infected computer as a file transfer protocol (FTP) server in an effort to propagate itself. F-Secure's Hyppnen said that researchers found a message hidden inside the virus code warning death to the first to discover the worm. That message said, "MSG to avs: the first av who detect this worm will be the first killed in the next 24hours!!!" Although ZoTob appears to be a failed attack, David Perry, Trend Micro's Director of Global Education, recommends that all users remain vigilant. "ZoTob. A utilizes modular programming, which is considered a mainstream programming technique, and has been in wide use since MyDoom.A in January, 2004," said Perry. "ZoTob.A carries on in that tradition, utilizing a module of the MyTob family of worms, called 'HELLBOT.' Therefore, it is certainly possible that further variants will be forthcoming." ZoTob/Botzor.exe is expected to be quite active searching out Windows 2000 systems during this week, August 15-20. Copyright 2005 NewsFactor Network, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, NewsFactor Network, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Consumer Affairs.org Subject: Cell Phone Customers Held Captive by Termination Fees Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:16:13 -0500 Nearly half of U.S. cell phone customers would switch or consider switching cell phone service carriers to get a lower rate and better service if they didn't have to pay an average penalty of $170 to cancel their service contract, according to a new economic analysis and survey released today by U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group). "Consumers are captives locked in a cell by early termination fees preventing them from shopping for better or cheaper cell phone service," said Ed Mierzwinski, U.S. PIRG Consumer Program Director. "No cell phone company has to honor its promises if its customers can't afford to shop around because of unfair penalties." The report's release coincides with a review by the Federal Communications Commission, of a petition from the cell phone industry that, if granted, could preempt, or eliminate, state oversight of Early Termination Fees. The fees range from $150 - $240 depending on the company. The report also follows last week's Nextel/Sprint merger approval, leaving just four companies to provide more than 80 percent of the cell phone service in the U.S. The report is a follow-up to a March 2005 MASSPIRG report: "Can You Hear Us Now." That survey of 874 Massachusetts cell phone customers found that 42 percent of consumers reported having a billing problem with their provider and 68 percent reported dropped calls and other quality problems. "Not only does this new survey find that more than three out of four Americans want these unfair fees eliminated, but our economic analysis also shows that when you combine the penalties some consumers have paid with the benefits others have lost or can't afford, these penalties have cost consumers more than $4.6 billion in the last three years," said Mierzwinski. The new report, "Locked in a Cell: How Cell Phone Early Termination Fees Hurt Consumers" includes analysis of a phone survey conducted by the polling firm IPSOS North America of 1000 U.S. households in July 2005. Key findings include: . Nearly half (47 percent) of cell phone customers would "switch cell phone companies as soon as possible" or "consider switching cell phone companies" if early termination fees were eliminated. . More than one out of three (36 percent) of the respondents replied that the early termination fee had prevented them from switching. . Nearly 9 out of 10 (89 percent) of the consumers agreed that the early termination fee is "a penalty to discourage switching cell phone companies". . Combining the actual costs incurred by the 10 percent of consumers who switched in the past three years ($2.5 billion) with the potential benefits others have lost or can't afford ($2 billion), cell phone early termination fees cost consumers more than $4.6 billion from 2002 to 2004. . More than three out of four (77 percent) of the consumers either strongly support (57 percent) or support (20 percent) elimination of the early termination penalties. In response to consumer lawsuits in several states, including California, Florida and Illinois, challenging these early termination fees as unfair, US PIRG says the cell phone industry has petitioned the FCC to treat ETFs not as penalties designed to restrict consumer choice, but as a part of the rates that the companies charge their customers for cell phone. "If the FCC were to grant the industry's petition, then the cell phone industry would try to have state laws inappropriately preempted from applying to early termination penalties," said Mierzwinski. "In short, the wireless companies want to stifle competition rather than compete for the customer's business." U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and 14 other members of Congress sent a joint letter today to FCC members saying they "strongly urge you to deny" the petition and "urge you not to take any action that would preclude states from enforcing their own laws to protect consumers from unfair and anti-competitive business practices." Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, ConsumerAffairs.com For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Consumer Affairs Subject: Florida Court Bars Comcast From Enforcing Customer Agreements Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:18:02 -0500 A Florida court has upheld cable TV subscribers' rights by barring cable giant Comcast from unilaterally changing subscriber agreements by requiring customers to submit to binding arbitration. The Florida First District Court of Appeal upheld a trial court decision, clearing the way for certification of a class action suit filed against AT&T Broadband, purchased by Comcast in 2001. The class action suit was filed on behalf of then-AT&T cable TV customers throughout Florida and Georgia for breach of contract, unjust enrichment and fraud related to customer service and billing problems. Prior to the filing of this class action suit, AT&T had adopted the practice of sending out a fine print notice as an insert in customer bills that attempted to essentially eliminate subscriber's rights against the cable company. In addition to eliminating the right to bring a claim in court, the provision shortened the statue of limitations, prohibited class actions, imposed a confidentiality agreement, and prohibited punitive damages. This was a take-it-or-leave-it policy that gave consumers no option except to cancel service. After the class action suit was filed, AT&T petitioned the Fourth Circuit Court of Duval County, asking Judge L. Haldane Taylor to stop the suit based on the position that all customers were subject to binding arbitration and therefore had no right to participate in a class action suit. On September 30, 2004, Judge Taylor wrote in his ruling that this policy by AT&T was "procedurally and substantively unconscionable ... it was presented on a take- it-or-leave-it basis and provisions unilaterally benefited AT&T." "The arrogance of these companies reminds me of big tobacco," said attorney Norwood "Woody" Wilner, whose landmark tobacco case Carter v. Brown & Williamson resulted in the loss of $14 billion to tobacco stocks in one single day. Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, ConsumerAffairs.com For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:37:27 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:10:43 +0000, Steven Lichter wrote: > I believe the equipment manufacturing division moved to Florida and is > part of General Dynamics. They are in Florida, and I think part of Siemens, or they were a while back. They were a fairly big supplier to independent telcos, and one of the few to make the transition to digital switching. Their DCO competed quite well with Northern Telecom's DMS-10 and smaller DMS-100s. ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@XmasNYC.Info Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s Date: 16 Aug 2005 13:42:53 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I am in NYC with 3 residential lines with hunt at no charge. I use OneSuite on all of them with detailed billing from OS on each line. Incredibly low long distance phone rates. As low as USA-Canada 1.9CPM! Works as prepaid phone card. PIN not needed for calls from home or cell phone. Compare the rates at https://www.OneSuite.com/ No monthly fee or minimum. Use Promotion/SuiteTreat Code: FREEoffer23 for FREE time ------------------------------ From: John Levine Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > reduced per month rate, but I believe private line service is pretty > much available in all but the most remote areas now. Make that all areas. SLCs and the like made party lines obsolete. >> 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by >> community dial offices? > I'd say off the top of my head probably not. When CDO's were all > step-by-step offices dialing patterns as little as three digits were > available determined by the number of subscribers and optionally could > be dialed with all seven numbers with the first few digits "absorbed" > for local callers. When ESS came into being that all ended. Electronic switches can handle any dialing plan you can think up. But I believe that by policy it's all 7D or 10D and 1+10D in the PSTN now, since anything else would be too confusing. R's, John ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:32:43 GMT On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 13:40:56 -0700, hancock4 wrote: > In many places in the U.S. the demand for telephone exchanges is very > high for a variety reasons. This has result in area code splits and > overlays. NJ started off with one area code and now has nine. > But some states still only have one area code. I understand some > states are not growing very fast in population, indeed, some rural > towns are losing population. This includes: Alaska, Idaho, Montanna, > North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. (Not counting some other > single-code states). > Given the rural/low growth aspect of places in some of these states, I > was wondering if telephone service may still have some old fashioned > features to it. For example, would such areas have: > 1) Traditional party line service, since it's not worth the cost to > upgrade lines out to people's farms? In almost all places single party lines have been cheaper for the telco for decades. Where they have been forced to continue to offer party line service, they have used bridges at the CO, not in the field. The forcing comes when they go to the PUC and tell them party lines cost more, and the PUC replies go to all single party lines at the party line rate. I think they have mostly managed to buy off the PUCs. > 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by > community dial offices? Five digit dialing was a feature of old panel switches which could be set up to throw out the first two digits if the local exchange was being dialed, and use them otherwise. My old hometown had one of those for a long time. > I believe everything is ESS nowadays, but that pays for itself by > eliminating the need for technicians to visit remote unattended > switches. Probably some community dial offices have been converted to > concentrators or feeders to a larger CO elsewhere. There are certainly CDOs still around in the boondocks. Many of those old brick windowless boxes have a pad out back with a fiberglass hut mounted on it. Likely that contains a DMS-10 or DCO. Those are small ESS systems that can serve several thousand lines. ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: How Long Can a Telephone Extension Cord Be? Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:21:12 GMT On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:29:07 +0000, Phil McKerracher wrote: > John Levine wrote in message > news:telecom24.366.5@telecom-digest.org: >> I think the limit is about 18,000 feet. Then you might have trouble >> carrying DSL over it ... > Correct, but that's the approximate limit for the total length from > the switch to the telephone. Beyond that, the signal is typically > attenuated too much, mainly by cable resistance, and gets buried in > noise. > As someone else has pointed out, you need decent cable, routed clear > of sources of interference (such as power cables and cordless phones), > otherwise interference will be a bigger problem than loss of signal. If it gets too long, you might have trouble with ring trip. For that, add another battery to boost the loop current. Also, be sure to use twisted pair to preserve longitudinal balance. If even that doesn't do it, I have heard of interfacing to magneto sets on distant parts of military reservations. I don't know much more about that than that the people who made it work reported to me at the time. They were a small group of mostly geezers who could interface anything to anything, so that is what they did. ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:11:41 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net I am pretty out of date on this, but, last I knew, banks were liable for processing checks that didn't bear a reasonable facsimile of the signature on file against the account. Since the golden rule, in the sense of he who has the gold, prevails, it has been held that if the signature is the same name that is on the account card, it is close enough. For that reason, I have always had my name printed differently on checks than is on the card. Whether that is of any use today, I have had the pleasure of not finding out, although I noticed a few years ago a check I hadn't signed at all went through quite nicely. Since it was for some sort of utility bill and was correct, I just winked as well. Like PAT, I write very few paper checks these days. I moved across state lines over three years ago and have never had new ones printed. Since all I have used them for is to pay for services already rendered, it hasn't been a problem. I would guess it would be hard to get cigarettes and cash back with one, however. It wouldn't surprise me to see paper checks go away. Even point of sale debit cards are more secure, and we are all being charged the skim off for credit cards whether we use them or not. Looks like a bull market for wire fraud! I had a rather large ACH transfer executed in the wrong direction a while back. The company that screwed it up managed to straighten it out, but the bank that was supposed to receive funds, and instead disbursed them, didn't do squat. Apparently there is no security in that system beyond trusting those who are admitted, which is pretty much all the big corporations. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 20:48:11 GMT I just finished reading a book "The Old Chicago Neighborhood" with pictures and memoirs by people who grew up in Chicago mostly in the 1940s. Some of the common threads in many of the memoirs are: Your neighborhood was like a small town -- you did all your shopping and school and church and recreation in your own neighborhood, and everybody knew everybody. You might go downtown for shopping once or twice a year, but ordinarily you never left the neighborhood. Kids had a lot of freedom. They could go to the park from dawn to well after dark and parents didn't worry about them. Some of this was because of the 1930s depression followed by World War II. It was safe to play in the streets because there was little car traffic because of wartime gasoline rationing. Many people who had cars got rid of them or put them in storage during the war. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And Independence downtown still has the semblance of the 1930-50's era. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 19:57:18 EDT From: David LaRue Subject: Re: Your exiting weekend Reply-To: David LaRue Hello Patrick, My it is a small world, isn't it? I'm a 40-something year old computer geek that immediately recognized the big town of Independence. My parents grew up between Neosha and Chanute. I'll call my mom after bit and call the rest of the family down in Chanute. I live south of Tampa, Florida now. I was last through your little town last summer with my mom to return home to see family and attend a cousin's wedding. Thank you for sharing your exiting weekend with us in the telecom group and letting those of us who still remember the joys that small Kanasas towns have to offer. David [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are quite welcome; I guess Independence is the 'big town' compared to the other places you named, which are smaller and more rural. I know on Friday and Saturday night, a lot of rural people come through town to the Independence Cinema and also to see the high school basketball/football games, etc. Do you remember about one year ago when the New York Times ran the full page story about Independence, calling us the 'magical town in southeast Kansas'? It seems a lady and her husband were traveling from the west coast back to New York, and on much of the trip came through Kansas on Highway 169. She said they decided to stop overnight here, staying at a motel (I think it was the Appletree Inn downtown). She was rather amazed at how little their room cost, and instead of hitting the road early the next morning, decided to look all over town, and was 'just delighted' at things like our real-genuine drug store downtown with an actual soda fountain/lunch counter; all the stores downtown lined up one after another on Penn Street, etc, all very 1930 to 50-ish; our radio station, our daily newspaper, etc and perhaps some will be impresed, our _very tiny_ by comparison (perhaps fifty page) telephone directory from Southwestern Bell. My nephew Justin went back to Orlando just several days ago, and I recall him one day asking me, "Can I look something up in the phone book?" I handed him the directory, which resembles an early issue of _Readers Digest_ (that size and shape, about fifty pages with a staple in the side binder.) Poor Justin, his eyes bulged out of his head as he said, "Is that the WHOLE phone book?" He saw SBC's name and logo on the front cover, along with admonitions to use 911 in emergency and he marveled saying "our phone book in Orlando is much larger." I told him so is the phone book for Manhattan or Chicago. I told him not only is it Independence listings, but all the listings for the six southern- most counties in Kansas. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2005 21:49:43 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > And that was my weekend, how was yours? Interesting -- drove home from Palmdale, CA to Apple Valley, CA in a pounding rainstorm, with many of our fine desert roads flooded out, but I can't figure out how to make that story on-topic for this newsgroup. :D Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On topic? Not a problem. I suppose if many roads were flooded out, chances are likely some phone lines were down also. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:58:02 -0400 Pat, I know exactly how you feel. Quite a few years back, someone got hold of two books of my checks. I still don't know how they got them as there was never any sign of forced entry into my apartment, also several of my good suits disappeared at the same time. I was in SC visiting my relatives when I tried to withdraw some money from an ATM. It said there was no money in my account. I couldn't believe that. I called the credit union and asked them what was going on. They asked me what where all of these two, three, and four hundred dollar checks that were being drawn on my account. She got copies of the checks and read the information on them to me. I had no recollection of writing them. I asked her what the designs were on the checks. She said they were airplanes, which practically confirmed that they were indeed mine as I was using a style of checks that had pictures of antique airplanes (like the Ford Trimotor and other classic now antique aircraft). They were a special issue that a check company I was using was offering for a short time. She compared the signatures on the checks with my signature card on file. She said that in her humble opinion, the signatures were clearly not mine. I had to fax an order to block my checking account altogether to protect myself further. I also called the Montgomery County police (I was in SC) and made a police report by telephone. When I got back to Washington, I had to go by the credit union and look at those checks to determine which ones were legitimate and which ones weren't. The credit union sent the fraudulent ones back to the payees and recovered all of my money. I opened an account at a local bank and had managed to stop direct deposit on my credit union account before my next payday. They expedited my checks when I told them about my situation at the credit union. The letters from the collection agencies started arriving. I sent them a form letter I had typed up. They all demanded copies of the police report, which I didn't have in hand since I'd made the report by telephone while I was out of town. So, I sent the county police a letter and a five dollar check they required to send me a copy of the report. They were slow about it. In fact, the collection agencies were getting so nasty with me that finally I told the boss I'd be in late the next morning and stopped at the county police office and insisted on getting a copy of that report as those collection people were hounding me to death. They charged me another five dollars, of course. But I walked out with the police report in hand. I made copies of it and sent them to all of those collection agencies. One by one, I began to get letters from them telling me they had purged the collection reports from their files, all except one. That was the notorious Equifax Services. I wrote them another letter, but they didn't seem to care. They kept sending me letters demanding payment or legal action would be taken (despite the fact that they already had the police report in hand). Fortunately, the county bar association had a service whereby you could consult with an attorney for forty minutes for seventy-five dollars. They refered me to a Maryland bar member who happened to have an office in Washington just a few blocks from where I worked. He assured me that I wasn't liable and that these people were just blowing smoke. He suggested I write them another letter and told me basically what to say. I was always very good at writing letters demanding change. In fact, some of the stories I could tell you about my letter writing would curl your hair considering the results they got. So, I wrote it up and included the legal phrases he suggested I used. For good measure, I sent it via certified mail so they wouldn't be able to say they didn't get it. Most companies are a little intimidated by certified mail because they believe you are probably getting ready to go legal when you start doing that, or at least that's been my experience. My letter was strongly worded and I cautioned them that this would be the last letter I sent them before I had my attorney contact them on this matter. I pointed out that I had already filled out and sent them the fraud form they asked me to fill out and attach the police report to. I used the 'cease and desist at once' phrase and told them there was another copy of the police report attached for their 'convenience'. I told them I'd hold them criminally responsible and civilly liable if they had done anything to damage my credit rating. They took it very seriously. I got a letter from them telling me that they had purged all of the fradulent checks from my files and that I had not been reported to any of the credit bureaus and that I wouldn't hear from them on the matter again. I had gotten a few phone calls from some of the merchants who had cashed those fraudulent checks. Whomever the perpetrator was had a passport and a DC driver's license with my name on it. The passport number was not my passport number. And up to that time, my area driver's license was issued in Maryland. I later had a Virginia license for a time. But to this day, I never had a DC driver's license. Safeway was one of the companies that had taken some of the checks. They told me that the norm these days was to steal checks and then make fake ID so they could cash them. So, they weren't terribly surprised. I had filed a claim with my renter's insurance about the missing suits that disappeared about the time that my checks had apparently been taken. They denied the claim because there was no sign of forced entry into my apartment (the stolen checks that were passed at about the same time those suits disappeared didn't seem to make any difference). I later trashed them and went with another insurance company, not only for that but for other problems I'd had with them (never returning my phone calls, demanding I take time out from my job to go to DMV to get a copy of my driving recording and bringing it in in person just to get a quote for auto insurance, which none of the other insurance companies required you to do). There is no experience like getting all of those threatening letters and phone calls from all of those collection agencies. They practically impune your self-esteem on a daily basis. And though you sent them the letter advising them that the checks were stolen and that you were getting a copy of the police report to send them, they just keep demanding payment and claim that you weren't responding to the letters they sent you. However, Eleanor Roosevelt said it best. But I found that since I was using checks with a different account number that no one was giving me any trouble about cashing my new checks. I later went back to the credit union and got another account number altogether. I never got any static about those checks either. I'm sure my old account number was flagged by all of the check clearing houses that the merchants use to verify your checks are good. I would advise anyone that has been the victim of identity theft to change the affected account numbers immediately and stop using the old accounts. Then you shouldn't get any static when you cash checks or use your credit cards again. Of course, the perpetrator was never caught. All that trouble he caused me and he skated. Fred Atkinson [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, this bird did not get any of my credit or debit cards, or other ID; just a carton box of the kind that checks are sent in from the check printing company. And Timothy Garotte was caught. It was in the Independence Daily Reporter today. I watched eagerly for my paper to show up this afternoon, and there it was on page 2, where they put the Police Activity column each day: "Timothy S. Garotte, 34, of 1628 North 9th Street, Independence, was arrested Monday afternoon for the alleged theft of checks from a residence in the 600 block of East Poplar Street in Independence, according to Police Officer John Edwards." PAT] ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 09:33:34 -0400 *chuckle* Look up "garotte" in the dictionary. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My Websters Unabridged says it is a Spanish word meaning to strangle someone by a device around the person's neck which continually gets tighter and tighter as the screws holding it together are turned in place. Sounds like an awful way to die, IMO, but perhaps our next correspondent in this issue of the Digest will volunteer to be the executioner. Take it away, Steve ..... PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Another Huge Money Making Idea!!! Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:12:45 GMT Steven Lichter wrote: > This guys says you can make thousands in just hours. His his number > is 800-667-2497, E-mail is greg@gettingpaid.com. There is a > conferance call number: 512-305-4663, Pin: 228862#, plus his home > phone is 530-209-4956. > The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? > (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. It should be greg@gettingpaidtoday.com, bad typing on my part. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #371 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Aug 17 16:38:09 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C062614FF7; Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:38:08 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #372 Message-Id: <20050817203808.C062614FF7@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:38:08 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:38:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 372 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (Reuters News Wire) New Worms Hit US Media Outlets, Companies (Reed Stevenson) Telcos Forge Ahead With IPTV (USTelecom dailyLead) Early Los Angeles Dialing and Network Management (Lisa Hancock) Broadband Competition (John Meissen) Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? (George Berger) Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? (Carl Navarro) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (Lisa Hancock) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (Neal McLain) Re: Bad Customer Service - was FSK Signal for Voicemail (John Meissen) Re: Classic Six Button Sets - Additional Lines in Europe (Chip Cryderman) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: News Wire Subject: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 14:23:56 -0500 The group that oversees Internet domain names said on Wednesday it had postponed a decision to set up a special .xxx domain for sex sites that has drawn opposition from conservative activists. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, was scheduled to hear the proposal on Tuesday but postponed its decision until September 15 after the U.S. Commerce Department asked for more time to hear objections. In a letter dated August 11, the Commerce Department said it had received nearly 6,000 letters and e-mails from people who are concerned that it would make life easier for the online sex industry. An internal ICANN group that represents the United States and other governments also asked for more time for public input. The group did not say which governments had objected to the domain. ICANN announced in June that it would move ahead with plans to evaluate the domain, pitched by ICM Registry Inc., a private company which is proposing to run the domain as a sort of online red-light district that would enable people to easily find porn or filter it out. ".XXX was deferred in response to requests from the applicant ICM, as well as ICANN Government Advisory Committee Chairman's and the US Department of Commerce's request to allow for additional time for comments by interested parties," ICANN said in a statement. Efforts to ban or segregate online pornography have failed in the United States for years on free-speech grounds. ICANN in the past has resisted congressional attempts to set up a domain for sex sites on the grounds that it doesn't want to regulate online content. Sex sites wouldn't be required to sign up for .xxx addresses but allowing ICM to handle the domain would sidestep those issues, an ICANN spokesman said in June. That didn't sit well with conservative activists who worry that a .xxx domain will further legitimize the porn industry and won't make it easier to avoid sexual content online. The Family Research Council, a conservative group, has urged its members to contact the Commerce Department and ICANN, and a Web site called ConservativePetitions.com says it has gathered 1,867 signatures opposing the .xxx domain. In its letter to ICANN, the Commerce Department said it had received an "unprecedented" volume of correspondence on the issue. A lawyer who has helped ICM through the application process was not immediately available for comment. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Reed Stevenson Subject: New Worms Hit US Media Outlets, Companies Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:36:56 -0500 By Reed Stevenson Several new computer worms were being blamed for causing computer system outages at some media outlets and companies in the United States on Tuesday. The worms, including two called "IRCBOT.WORM" and "RBOT.CBQ," exploit a recently discovered flaw in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 operating system and were causing personal computers at more than 100 U.S. companies to restart repeatedly and potentially exposed them to attackers who could take control of a system. "This is the most significant threat we've seen in at least 12 months," said Vincent Gullotto, vice president of the anti-virus emergency response team at McAfee Inc. But Symantec Corp. and McAfee, the top two computer security companies, as well as Microsoft, said that damage to computer systems on Tuesday was limited and was not likely to cause widespread havoc like other malicious software programs such as SQL Slammer and MyDoom. CNN, breaking into regular programming, reported on air that personal computers at the cable news network were affected by a worm that caused them to restart repeatedly. The New York Times and ABC News also reported system outages earlier on Tuesday, causing some to suspect that another recent worm called "Zotob" was behind Tuesday's outages. Gullotto said, however, that the newly discovered worms were different from Zotob, even though they all, including Zotob, appeared to exploit the same vulnerability in the "Plug-and-Play" feature in Windows 2000, which runs on less than half of the world's personal computers. Microsoft, which warned users last week of three newly found "critical" security flaws in its software, urged users to update the software on their personal computers to prevent them from being infected. Microsoft said users with properly updated software, anti-virus software and a firewall can avoid being infected by the worm, a malicious software program that replicates itself over a computer network. The new "IRCBOT.WORM" and "RBOT.CBQ" worms were different in that they could be controlled by IRC servers, or networked computers that manage chat sessions over the Internet, other security experts said. "We haven't seen any huge uptick or impact today," said a spokeswoman with Microsoft's security unit, "a fairly small number of customers are being impacted." Symantec said that it has heard from at least 100 organizations that a group of about eight viruses were targeting individual organizations and was not the Internet as a whole. "This is not across the Internet but inside organizations," said David Cole, a product management director at Symantec. CNN , a division of Time Warner Inc., said that computer systems at General Electric Co., United Parcel Service Inc. and Caterpillar Inc. were affected by system outages as well. A GE spokesman said that there appeared to be no problems with GE's internal network, while UPS said that only a small number of its computers were affected by a worm or system outage. "There is no impact whatsoever on operations, customer-facing computer systems, service or delivery," said UPS spokesman Norman Black. Caterpillar officials were not immediately available for comment. ABC is a division of Walt Disney Co.=20 Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 14:22:19 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Telcos Forge Ahead With IPTV USTelecom dailyLead August 17, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23912&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Telcos forge ahead with IPTV BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Nortel, LG team up for joint venture * Study: Dual-mode phones will drive VoIP adoption * Comcast offers security software to broadband subscribers * Report: Google acquires Android * Qwest, unions agree on contract deal USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * On-Demand Webinars: Delivering What's NEXT to Your Desktop EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Speakeasy helps businesses save using innovative broadband offering REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Muni Wi-Fi by the Bay? * USTelecom president praises telecom update proposal Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23912&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Early Los Angeles Dialing and Network Management Date: 16 Aug 2005 19:55:15 -0700 The Bell System history tells that they recognized the traffic of big cities would not fit on Step-by-Step switching because of the switch's limited decimal choices. Panel switching was developed to give more flexibility and choices in city service. However, Los Angeles remained Step by step because the Bell System inherited existing exchanges. The history says despite things like graded multiples network mgmt in LA proved difficult, but they did not elaborate. I know Bell Labs developed SxS add-ons in the 1960s and 1970s to improve SxS functionality, but that was much later. An early short haul toll itemized message accounting system was developed for LA. As Los Angeles turned into a big city (1950s?), how did the Bell System handle inter-exchange traffic within the limits of an SxS switch? Did they rely on tandems? Did they have to overtrunk at high expense? Did they put in No 5 Crossbar when it came out? Thanks. [public replies, please] ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 17 Aug 2005 20:13:07 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com Our government claims their actions are intended to encourage competition, expand deployment and lower cost of broadband Internet access. It must be working ... Verizon is aggressively deploying fiber-to-the-premises here. Because I use a local independent ISP there has been a lot of concern about the consequences of this action. What has now been confirmed by calls to Verizon is that - Once the fiber connection is established all services, including voice, are moved to the fiber and the copper wires are pulled, making it impossible to return to standard DSL in spite of the supposed 30-day trial period. - The lowest cost package for the fiber connection is 30% more expensive than their standard DSL offering - They will absolutely NOT allow connections to other ISP's over the fiber connection, essentially limiting ISP's other than MSN to dialup customers. - The lowest-cost package from Verizon that will allow me to continue to run my own servers and host my own domain (something my local independent ISP actively supports) will cost $99/mo. So, while the landscape today includes a diverse collection of local and national ISP's with a range of services and cost options, the future will be dialup at $10-15/month or Comcast or Verizon/MSN at ~$50/mo. No more local businesses, no more local customer service, no choice of services. Yes indeed, seems like a major improvement to me. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: George Berger Subject: Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:15:55 -0400 Organization: Heller Information Services hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> Would anyone know any history of this company? I know that they once >> made telephones, radios, and PA systems. I understand "Comdial" >> phones are an outgrowth of them. I presume they are long out of >> business. In the late 1930's my grandparents and parents had Stromberg Carlson AM radios in the living room to receive what passed, in those days, for "true to life" recreation of what ever was on the other end at the microphone. The sets were strong on polished wood, big speakers with the voice coils being driven by an a.c. tap rather than speakers using permanent magnets as we have today, and more sections of RF amplification in the tuner module than we ever see in this day in age. As for tubes - - well, when you turned one on, the temperature in the living room could rise several degrees. Most were in the RF and AF amplifier stages, with a pair of 6L6's in push pull used as the output. Hey! My first Hi Fi power amp that I built in 1949 used 6L6's and Partridge transformers and my JBL speakers were housed in home-brewed enclosures. Now, I use a Bryston preamp and amplifier and Thiel 3.5's. Times have really changed! George (The Old Fud) I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -- Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman (attributed) ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 15:32:15 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:37:27 GMT, John McHarry wrote: > On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:10:43 +0000, Steven Lichter wrote: >> I believe the equipment manufacturing division moved to Florida and is >> part of General Dynamics. > They are in Florida, and I think part of Siemens, or they were a while > back. They were a fairly big supplier to independent telcos, and one > of the few to make the transition to digital switching. Their DCO > competed quite well with Northern Telecom's DMS-10 and smaller > DMS-100s. Back in 1982, General Dynamics sold off all of the telecommunications divisons. The "Stromberg Carlson" telephone manufacturing and ATC, decorator phones, went to Comdial. The CO switch manufacturing part was in Lake Mary, FL and it was not part of the sale as I remember, but GDCC did not retain it. Rolm bought Stromberg and later Siemens and now it's called Siemens-Stromberg. Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Date: 16 Aug 2005 19:38:27 -0700 Joseph wrote: > ... I believe private line service is pretty > much available in all but the most remote areas now. Could you elaborate on the situation in "the most remote areas"? Has it been cost effective to replace an isolated long loop shared party line with more modern carrier equipment? I know that in developed areas party lines are obsolete, in some cases grandfathered in, in some cases not available at all. But I was wondering about very isolated rural areas. >> 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by >> community dial offices? > be dialed with all seven numbers with the first few digits "absorbed" > for local callers. When ESS came into being that all ended. As long as the dialing is unique, there is no reason that an ESS couldn't absorb digits just like an SxS could. In many places the demand for exchanges is so high that the only way to create unique dialing is require TEN digits. But in the states I mentioned perhaps there is enough 'space' in the exchange assignments that five digits could still be unique for a town. In any event, I was also wondering what kind of exchange demand there was in the states I mentioned with limited population growth and rural decline. Robert Bonomi wrote: >> 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by >> community dial offices? > *VERY* rare. Gotta have full numbers, to handle direct-dial inbound > calls from outside that exchange. Recognizing 'short cut' dialing > within the exchange raises all sorts of complexities, having to do > with 'variable length' numbers, and detecting 'end of dialing'. By 1965 (probably earlier), almost all '5 digit' exchanges had full 10 digit numbers to handle inward calls. During the 1950s and early 1960s the Bell System was changing exchanges where necessary to make them unique within an area code. None the less, the 5-digit dialing capability remained for people within those small towns. Letterheads carried phone numbers like this: (505) 34 5-4111. Outsiders would dial 505-345-4111, but those within the town would need only dial 5-4111. This was easily accomodated by SxS. One reason this was possible was because rural areas often had very small local calling areas, so local dial choices were quite limited. Anything else required the toll prefix which forwarded the call to a toll center (or later a SxS add-on memory register). I should note I had 7 digit dialing to the area code nearby (and they did to me). This was possible because our exchanges were unique to BOTH area codes. In other words, if I were 555, there'd be no 555 in the other area code, so there was no confusion. Obviously when exchanges became scarce this was abandoned. First I had to dial all ten digits to cross the area code, now I have dial 10 digits to call next door. This was common in area code border sections. (To this day such calls remain local even though they cross the LATA). As mentioned, it was easy for SxS to handle this, and certainly could for ESS if conditions and policy permitted it. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 07:38:50 -0500 From: Neal McLain Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > In many places in the U.S. the demand for telephone exchanges is very > high for a variety reasons. This has result in area code splits and > overlays. NJ started off with one area code and now has nine. > But some states still only have one area code. I understand some > states are not growing very fast in population, indeed, some rural > towns are losing population. This includes: Alaska, Idaho, > Montanna, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. (Not counting > some other single-code states)..... I assume that by "exchange," Lisa is referring to an NXX code. > Given the rural/low growth aspect of places in some of these states, > I was wondering if telephone service may still have some old > fashioned features to it. For example, would such areas have: > 2) Five digit dialing in some areas not well populated or served by > community dial offices? No. The misconception here is that, after the introduction of DDD, telcos retained 4- or 5-digit local dialing as a convenience to users. Telcos retained 4- and 5-digit numbering only as a temporary stopgap measure during the transition from SxS to crossbar or ESS. In order to accommodate inbound DDD, it was essential that every number have a 7-digit format. But SxS switches couldn't accommodate 7-digit dialing, so telcos faked 7-digit numbers by prepending dummy digits. Local calls continued to be dialable with only four or five digits; however, if a local caller actually dialed all seven digits, the prepended digits were absorbed by "absorbing selectors" -- i.e. ignored. This situation led to numerous conflicts between local numbers (dialable as 4 or 5 digits) and non-toll calls to nearby communities (dialable as 7 digits). To avoid such conflicts, telcos had to devise special dialing plans. AT&T documents dating from 1975 describe such dialing plans in detail ["Typical Trunking Diagrams for Step-by-Step Offices." "Notes on Distance Dialing." AT&T Engineering and Network Services Department, Systems Planning Section, 1975. Appendix A, Section 4]. The legacy of these old dialing plans can still be seen today in the numbering assignments of many outlying communities surrounding mid-sized cities, even though the old SxS switches have long since been replaced with ESS. In these communities, most/all of the NXX codes assigned to the outlying communities start with a numeral that was not used in the central city in the SxS days. Two examples that come to mind: -- In Ann Arbor Michigan, local numbers were a combination of four- and five-digit numbers, all served from the same central office: 2-XXXX Huron office 3-XXXX Huron office 4NX-XXXX Outlying communities 5-XXXX Huron office 6XXX Huron office 7XXX Huron office 8XXX Huron office 9XXX Huron office The 4NX codes are still in use today, even though one of them (South Lyon 437) is now in a different area code (248). -- In Madison Wisconsin, all local numbers were five digit, served from four central offices: 2-XXXX Pflaum office 3-XXXX Sylvan office 4-XXXX Kedzie office 5-XXXX Main office 6-XXXX Main office 7-XXXX Main office 8NX-XXXX Outlying communities 9-XXXX Kedzie office The 8NX codes are still in use today. A third example -- Centerville, Iowa -- was cited by Mark Roberts in a posting here on TD a couple years ago. As I noted at the time, even though Centerville's old SxS switch retained 5-digit dialing, new NNX codes, even within Centerville itself, would require 7-digit dialing. http://tinyurl.com/8axyn Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Bad Customer Service (was: FSK Signal For Voicemail on MCI) Date: 17 Aug 2005 19:50:09 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Fred Atkinson wrote: > I've long since lost count of how many times customer service and even > technical support people have given me bad information. It's really > pretty sad. > The telephone, cable, and other high tech companies are hiring lost > cost people due to the state of the economy over the last few years. > A number of experienced people have been practically unable to get a > position during this time. They are told they are 'overqualified' > when they apply. But, the folks they hire are underqualified. And > they don't do an adquate job of training the ones they do hire. The > truth is, these companies don't want to pay for experience right now. Sad, but true. Yesterday I helped an elderly woman restore access to her dial-up MSN account. It seems it just stopped connecting one day recently, and she couldn't figure out why. The MSN support person told her she needed to re-install Windows XP. It turned out that the real problem was that her dialing sequence had *70 prepended to disable call-waiting, and she had stopped carrying call-waiting on her service. Dialing *70 just got the standard "Your call cannot be completed as dialed" message. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: _Thank you_ for doing the right thing and helping that elderly lady get her service restarted. She most likely now thinks of you as a hero for helping her as you did, and I appreciate it also. For those of us who have _some_ understanding and abilities with computers, between the worms, other viruses and spam/scam, these machines are really no longer fun to use. Imagine how people like your elderly friend -- who probably knows much less than many of us -- must feel when their computers are repeatedly attacked. I make no bones about it; the task of getting this Digest out a few times each day is tiring, given my brain aneuerysm. But like the elderly lady you helped, I also have a couple of very good friends (I think of them as my 'tech support staff') who are quite patient with me when I get threatened, as I did this past week with the virus in Internet Explorer. (More than likely it was just the profile which got pretty well trounced.)When I get frantic trying to clear those messes, these guys very patiently walk me through how to repair the damage, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Classic Six Button KeySets - Additional Lines in Europe Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 15:58:20 -0400 From: Charles Cryderman Professor Gary told us: > Just a historical note, we still had the switch in the I.G. Farben > Building in Frankfurt that had been installed in 1937-39. The original > switch was 400 lines of RP-40. By the time I was there it had grown to > about 3,000 lines -- but still RP-40. Professor, when I left Frankfurt (worked at the Technical Control Center behind the I. G. Farben building, January 1979-June 1982) that same switch was still in use there. It was very temperamental but the biggest problem we ever had was those damn "war" circuits. The ring-down lines for 5th Corp out to all of the lower command HQs. Mr. Harold, the line tester, would log them out of service every morning when the only problem was getting someone just to be there to answer the dang thing. By the way, did you know Mr. Harold? The joke we had there was he, Mr. Harold, was doing the same thing for the US Army that he did when he worked for the Nazis. Can't wait to get back to Frankfurt to look around and visit some of the old hang outs with the wife. Chip Cryderman ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #372 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Aug 18 02:12:59 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 71B1315078; Thu, 18 Aug 2005 02:12:59 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #373 Message-Id: <20050818061259.71B1315078@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 02:12:59 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.4 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,SOMETHING_FOR_ADULTS autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 Aug 2005 02:12:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 373 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson AOL Employee Found Guilty, Sent to Prison in Spam Case (C. Kearney) On Line Scammers Pose as Company Executives (Reuters News Wire) Computer Virus Writers at War, Security Firm Says (Reuters News Wire) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (AES) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Gene S. Berkowitz) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (bv124@aol.com) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (John Levine) Re: Early Los Angeles Dialing and Network Management (Steven Lichter) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (Mark Crispin) Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Christine Kearney Subject: AOL Employee Found Guilty, Send to Prison in Spam Case Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:28:54 -0500 By Christine Kearney An America Online employee was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Wednesday for stealing 92 million e-mail screen names from the Internet company and selling them to a spammer. Jason Smathers, 25, pleaded guilty in February in federal court in Manhattan to charges including conspiracy and interstate trafficking of stolen property. He was paid $28,000 by an Internet marketer for the names, which were taken from AOL's database of 30 million subscribers at the time. Other defendants in spam cases have received tougher sentences. Last year, a New York state man known as the "Buffalo Spammer" was sentenced to 3-1/2 to 7 years in prison for violating state forgery and identity-theft laws. Smathers has been cooperating with the government and appeared sorrowful in court on Wednesday, surrounded by family members. He faced up to 24 months in prison under federal guidelines. "I know I have done something very wrong," he told U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein. Prosecutors said AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc., suffered an estimated loss of $300,000 from employee time spent dealing with the issue, as well as hardware and software expenses. Hellerstein said that while AOL's loss estimate was hard to prove, the offense was still serious. "People use e-mail as a primary measure of communication these days," he said. "Companies need to preserve the integrity of the information they have." In stealing the e-mail names of AOL customers, Smathers created "the sale of a line of products customers had no need for," the judge said. In a letter to the judge, Smathers pleaded for leniency. He described himself as "an outlaw" in the "new frontier" of cyberspace. Prosecutor David Siegal said he found Smathers' letter "moving," but told the judge that "the Internet is not lawless." He estimated that AOL suffered a loss of 10 cents for every 1,000 spam e-mails sent to subscribers. The judge did not impose a fine. He gave AOL 10 days to prove its financial loss before deciding on restitution, but suggested a figure of $84,000. Smathers will surrender to a United States Marshall in Pensacola, Florida on September 19. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: NewsWire Subject: Online Scammers Pose as Company Executives in 'Spear-Phishing' Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:26:19 -0500 Online criminals trying to pry passwords and other sensitive information out of companies have started using phony e-mails to pose as powerful executives of the targeted organizations, experts said on Wednesday. Known as "spear phishing," the technique is an ingenious wrinkle on the "phishing" e-mail scams that try to trick consumers into giving up bank-account information and other sensitive details that can be used in identity theft. Businesses are typically reluctant to publicly disclose when they are the target of online attacks but online security company MessageLabs said in June that it has seen the tactic grow steadily during the year to the point where it now sees one to two spear phishing campaigns a week. Rather than posing as a bank or other online business, spear phishers send e-mail to employees at a company or government agency, making it appear that the e-mail comes from a powerful person within the organization, several security experts said. "It works wonderfully if you're a bad guy," said Allan Paller, chief executive of the SANS Institute, a nonprofit cybersecurity research organization. Unlike basic phishing attacks, which are sent out indiscriminately, spear phishers target only one organization at a time. Once they trick employees into giving up passwords, they can install "Trojan horses" or other malicious software programs that ferret out corporate or government secrets. Spear phishing has emerged as one of several kinds of "targeted attacks" that experts say have grown more common in 2005. Though such attacks are difficult to trace, many compromised machines seem to be reporting back to Internet addresses in the Far East, according to a report by the United Kingdom's National Infrastructure Security Co-Ordination Center. Spear phishing can be devastatingly effective even among employees who are aware of online threats. At the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, several internal tests found that cadets were all too willing to give sensitive information to an attacker posing as a high-ranking officer, said Dr. Aaron Ferguson, a visiting faculty member there. "It's the colonel effect. Anyone with the rank of colonel or higher, you execute the order first and ask questions later," he said. Cadets in more recent tests have been somewhat more likely to report the messages as suspicious as awareness has grown, he said. Employee education helps counteract the threat but these attacks will remain rampant until e-mail verification schemes come into widespread use, said Dave Jevans, chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a group of banks and online retailers formed to fight the problem. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: News Wire Subject: Computer Virus Writers at War, Security Firm Says Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:26:04 -0500 Computer worms that have brought down systems around the world in recent days are starting to attack each other, Finnish software security firm F-Secure said on Wednesday. "We seem to have a botwar on our hands," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure. "There appear to be three different virus-writing gangs turning out new worms at an alarming rate, as if they were competing to build the biggest network of infected machines." Hypponen said in a statement that varieties of three worms -- "Zotob," "Bozori" and "IRCbot" -- were still exploiting a gap in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 operating system on computers that had not had the flaw repaired and were not shielded by firewalls. "The latest variants of Bozori even remove competing viruses like Zotob from the infected machines," Hypponen said in a statement on the company's Web site. (http://www.f-secure.com) The worms were blamed for major system trouble at some media outlets and companies in the United States on Tuesday, causing personal computers to restart repeatedly and potentially making them vulnerable to attack. Microsoft and the top computer security companies, Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc, said damage to systems on Tuesday had been limited and was unlikely to cause widespread havoc like that which resulted from other malicious software such as "SQL Slammer" and "MyDoom." Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: AES Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 14:21:24 -0700 Organization: Stanford University In article , jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: > Verizon is aggressively deploying fiber-to-the-premises here. Because > I use a local independent ISP there has been a lot of concern about > the consequences of this action. > What has now been confirmed by calls to Verizon is that > - Once the fiber connection is established all services, including > voice, are moved to the fiber and the copper wires are pulled, > making it impossible to return to standard DSL in spite of the > supposed 30-day trial period. > - The lowest cost package for the fiber connection is 30% more > expensive than their standard DSL offering > - They will absolutely NOT allow connections to other ISP's over > the fiber connection, essentially limiting ISP's other than > MSN to dialup customers. > - The lowest-cost package from Verizon that will allow me to > continue to run my own servers and host my own domain (something > my local independent ISP actively supports) will cost $99/mo. > So, while the landscape today includes a diverse collection of local > and national ISP's with a range of services and cost options, the > future will be dialup at $10-15/month or Comcast or Verizon/MSN at > ~$50/mo. No more local businesses, no more local customer service, no > choice of services. If accurately described here (and I have no reason to think it isn't) this is absolutely criminal -- and probably entirely typical of what most or all "broadband to the premises" types services (copper, cable, fiber or wireless will try to impose on us). Has your local government no way to control what comes to your premises over the publicly owned rights of way? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But what the cableco will _claim_ is that the 'right of way' is not publicly owned; and telco will claim that municipal ownership of the right of way gives unfair competition to them in providing ISP services. Or so they will all claim. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:43:29 -0400 In article , jmeissen@aracnet.com says: > Our government claims their actions are intended to encourage > competition, expand deployment and lower cost of broadband Internet > access. It must be working ... > Verizon is aggressively deploying fiber-to-the-premises here. Because > I use a local independent ISP there has been a lot of concern about > the consequences of this action. > What has now been confirmed by calls to Verizon is that > - Once the fiber connection is established all services, including > voice, are moved to the fiber and the copper wires are pulled, > making it impossible to return to standard DSL in spite of the > supposed 30-day trial period. > - The lowest cost package for the fiber connection is 30% more > expensive than their standard DSL offering > - They will absolutely NOT allow connections to other ISP's over > the fiber connection, essentially limiting ISP's other than > MSN to dialup customers. > - The lowest-cost package from Verizon that will allow me to > continue to run my own servers and host my own domain (something > my local independent ISP actively supports) will cost $99/mo. > So, while the landscape today includes a diverse collection of local > and national ISP's with a range of services and cost options, the > future will be dialup at $10-15/month or Comcast or Verizon/MSN at > ~$50/mo. No more local businesses, no more local customer service, no > choice of services. > Yes indeed, seems like a major improvement to me. > John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com Verizon also REQUIRES that you use THEIR router after the fiber modem. --Gene ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 17:43:42 -0400 From: bv124@aol.com Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Neal McLain wrote: > In order to accommodate inbound DDD, it was essential that every > number have a 7-digit format. But SxS switches couldn't accommodate > 7-digit dialing, so telcos faked 7-digit numbers by prepending dummy > digits. Local calls continued to be dialable with only four or > fivedigits; however, if a local caller actually dialed all seven > digits, the prepended digits were absorbed by "absorbing selectors" -- > i.e. ignored. I don't understand. Below is the local dialing plan we had when I was in school. Carbondale, IL, (Jackson County) 1971 General Telephone 618-453 - So. Il. Univ., Carbondale. IL 618-457 - Carbondale, IL 618-549 - Carbondale, IL 618-867 - De Soto, IL 618-684 - Murphysboro, IL 618-687 - Murphysboro, IL From/to any Carbondale NXX (1, 2, or 3): 5-digits allowed, 7-digits supported (618-453 required a ?9? to dial out from the university, but 5-digits allowed within the university PBX/Centrex/whatever) From Carbondale NXX (1, 2, 3) to De Soto (4): 7-digits required From Carbondale NXX (1, 2, 3) to Murphysboro, (5, 6): 7-digits required. From Murphysboro or De Soto to Carbondale, 7-digits required. (I believe that locally, only 5-digits were required in Murphysboro and only 4-digits in De Soto.) Outside of these 3 exchanges, but within the 618 NPA: 1+7-digits required Outside the 618 NPA: 1+NPA+7-digits required Carbondale had DDD in the 60's. It did use '150' instead of just '1' as a toll alert and the operator would come on the line and ask 'Your Number Please?' ------------------------------ Date: 18 Aug 2005 02:26:35 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > Could you elaborate on the situation in "the most remote areas"? Has > it been cost effective to replace an isolated long loop shared party > line with more modern carrier equipment? Yes. My relatives' telco in Vermont has some really long loops out to remote farms, and they're all private lines. The maintenance is a lot easier, as is the toll billing. They have a Paradyne DSL system that works on long loops and they told me about one farmer who wanted DSL so they took him off the SLC which didn't support DSL and gave him an 18k ft home run so the 60 hz hum on voice calls was deafening but the DSL works fine. > In many places the demand for exchanges is so high that the only way > to create unique dialing is require TEN digits. But in the states I > mentioned perhaps there is enough 'space' in the exchange assignments > that five digits could still be unique for a town. Sure, but for policy reasons dialing is now all 7D or 10D or 1+10D. There is exactly one prefix in my town, and we tell each other our phone numbers with four digits, but the dialing is 7D nonetheless. It's 7D within the area code, which may be local, intralata toll or interlata toll, 1+10 to other area codes. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Early Los Angeles Dialing and Network Management Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:57:12 GMT hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > The Bell System history tells that they recognized the traffic of big > cities would not fit on Step-by-Step switching because of the switch's > limited decimal choices. Panel switching was developed to give more > flexibility and choices in city service. > However, Los Angeles remained Step by step because the Bell System > inherited existing exchanges. The history says despite things like > graded multiples network mgmt in LA proved difficult, but they did not > elaborate. > I know Bell Labs developed SxS add-ons in the 1960s and 1970s to > improve SxS functionality, but that was much later. An early short > haul toll itemized message accounting system was developed for LA. > As Los Angeles turned into a big city (1950s?), how did the Bell > System handle inter-exchange traffic within the limits of an SxS > switch? Did they rely on tandems? Did they have to overtrunk at high > expense? Did they put in No 5 Crossbar when it came out? > Thanks. > [public replies, please] I believe they started using digit absorbing switches and directors which did translations, so say you dialed a short hall number it would drop back into the local switch, or to a trunk for another office, if it were long distance it might go to a tandem. They as GTE did would rearrange trunking for what was called the busy season. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:59:05 -0700 Organization: Networks & Distributed Computing On Wed, 17 Aug 2005, the News Wire reported: > That didn't sit well with conservative activists who worry that a .xxx > domain will further legitimize the porn industry and won't make it > easier to avoid sexual content online. Leaving aside their motivations, they are correct in their overall assessment of the undesirability of a .xxx TLD. However, an .xxx TLD does not help the porn industry or its customers. The proper analogy is not with a zoned red-light district, but rather with a walled ghetto with no requirement that anyone live in the ghetto. The basic notion of a zoned red-light district is to create a safe haven for the "entertainment" industry; if they stay in the district and follow certain rules, they can ply their trade without harassment. Another characteristic of the red-light district is that the customers of the "entertainers" can come and go discreetly without harassment. The basic notion of a walled ghetto is to lock an "undesirable" subset of society into one area, and to track all comings and goings. Not only can't the inhabitants leave, but their visitors can't be discreet. An .xxx TLD combines the worst features of both. The porn industry is not required to use it; and it is likely that the level of filtering applied to the .xxx TLD would block many of their customers. We're not just talking about little Johnny not being allowed to look at dirty pictures on the school computer. We're also talking about legitimate adult customers on their own computers being blocked from their porn because some entity between customer and supplier chooses to block the .xxx TLD. It also makes it easier to track the activities of these legitimate adult customers. There may be no recourse if the only ISP in a small town is owned by someone who chooses to interfere with his users' access to porn, especially if the user does not want his consumption of porn to become well-known. An .xxx TLD does not help those who want to be in a "porn-free" environment either. There's no requirement for the porn industry to use it. There is abundant motivation for them *not* to use it. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to create laws to force the porn industry to use an .xxx TLD. A red-light district or a ghetto involves a single legal authority to make the determination of what goes in and what does not. The Internet does not have that luxury. What is considered to be the vilest porn in Tehran or Mecca may be normal public art (or even medical information) in Paris or San Francisco. If the real intent is to set up a red-light district, a better means of doing this would be through the means of content tagging. The tagging must be of a form by which local jurisdictions (and individuals!) can make their own determination of "porn" or "not porn" and by doing so create a red-light district customized for their own needs. For example, Tehran and Mecca would probably rate content with the "uncovered woman's face" tag as going in their red-light district. The other necessary part -- and much more difficult to achieve -- would be to have an international body of law (with local versions in place at all countries with Internet access) which protects content providers from prosecution if they accurately label their content according to the content tagging standards. It must be understood that protection from prosecution is a vital part of any red-light district. Finally, it is the responsibility of the authority defining the red-light district to block content that is prohibited even in the red-light district. It is not the responsibility of the content provider; the content provider's responsibility ends with accurate tagging. None of this is simple; and none of this is accomplished by an .xxx TLD. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I want to just respond to one point which was stated by Mark ... Mark said "It would be difficult if not impossible to force the porn industry to be part of 'xxx'." Why would that be difficult, Mark? In many communities now, those places are required (just like taverns) to post notices that persons of minority age cannot be on the premises. It is not considered a free-association issue, but rather a matter of public policy and any challenges to the 'minors stay away' rule are always defeated. Why would it be a free-speech issue to impose on porn sites in the same way, with 'xxx' being the equivilent of a 'minors not allowed' sign? I have never yet seen a tavern, or a gay mens 'bathhouse', or an adult bookstore for example, which got anywhere trying to argue that that signs on the wall ordering minors to leave the premises were somehow an imposition on the establishment (or the patrons therein) rights of free speech or free association. Or, for that matter, a movie theatre (adult or otherwise) which attempted to enfore an 'X' or 'PG' rating making free speech claims, etc. So why would an internet establishment suddenly have that problem (assuming the law said that public policy dictated the protection of minors? Mark also notes that the presence of 'xxx' would mean that snoopers or other busy bodies could easily spy to see who had been where. While that is true and it is easier to audit the behavior of others on a computer screen rather than standing on the sidewalk around a business place, don't you suppose conservative Christians (not to single them out but use them as a good example) couldn't observe the patrons of an 'adult' business place by watching from the sidewalk if they were so inclined? And yes, 'xxx' does not keep detirmined children (nor conservative Christians for that matter) away from such an Internet establishment if they wish to sneak inside, neither does a 'we do not sell cigarattes under 18 nor alcohol under 21' sign prevent kids from trying to purchase or use or peek, etc. Those signs merely serve as a reminder of society's stated purposes, and warn of society's intent to punish offenders. One thing that 'xxx' _would_ do is provide a good screening and filtering mechanism for 'adult' purveyors who did _not_ want to be bothered by kids coming around, etc (when combined with their other validation techniques such as credit card proof of age, etc.). People who were so inclined could filter out 'xxx' in the same way they can filter out other spam and trash. What's your objection to that? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:59:42 GMT Carl Navarro wrote: > On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:37:27 GMT, John McHarry > wrote: >> On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:10:43 +0000, Steven Lichter wrote: >>> I believe the equipment manufacturing division moved to Florida and is >>> part of General Dynamics. >> They are in Florida, and I think part of Siemens, or they were a while >> back. They were a fairly big supplier to independent telcos, and one >> of the few to make the transition to digital switching. Their DCO >> competed quite well with Northern Telecom's DMS-10 and smaller >> DMS-100s. > Back in 1982, General Dynamics sold off all of the telecommunications > divisons. The "Stromberg Carlson" telephone manufacturing and ATC, > decorator phones, went to Comdial. The CO switch manufacturing part > was in Lake Mary, FL and it was not part of the sale as I remember, > but GDCC did not retain it. > Rolm bought Stromberg and later Siemens and now it's called > Siemens-Stromberg. > Carl Navarro General Dynamics still has a full service COEI Installation division, I get calls from their recruters a couple times a year. I know that GD had bought Stromberg Carlson. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #373 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Aug 18 18:25:27 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 2373E152A8; Thu, 18 Aug 2005 18:25:27 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #374 Message-Id: <20050818222527.2373E152A8@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 18:25:27 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, HOT_NASTY autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 Aug 2005 18:25:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 374 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Child Porn Growing on Web; Internet Exploitation Prompting Action (Scherer) Web Inventer, McCartney Sisters Win Awards in Germany (Reuters News Wire) Yahoo Sticks to its $5 Music Service (Michele Gershberg) Web Map Tracks Demand for News (Eric Auchard) Journalism's Fear and Loathing of Blogs (Dante Chinni) Book Review: "Honeypots for Windows", Roger A. Grimes (Rob Slade) SBC Picks Motorola, S-A For Set-Tops (USTelecom dailyLead) More on Verizon FioS Requirements (Lee Sweet) 4-Wire Echo Suppression Conference Calls (WU Tech Review) (Lisa Hancock) AP Article "New N.Y. Law Targets Hidden Net Tolls" (Carl Moore) Re: Online Scammers Pose as Company Executives in 'Spear-Phishing' (mc) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Lisa Hancock) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Matt Simpson) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (DevilsPGD) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (Mark Crispin) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Ron Scherer Subject: Child Porn Rising on Web; Internet Exploitation Prompting Action Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 01:47:33 -0500 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0818/p01s01-stct.html By Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor NEW YORK - Despite highly publicized arrests, law-enforcement officials say that the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet is growing dramatically. The more that get arrested, the more there are out there ... Over the past four years, the number of reports of child pornography sites to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has grown by almost 400 percent. Law-enforcement officials are particularly disturbed by the increased number of commercial sites that offer photos of exploited children in return for a credit-card number. Those fighting child porn say it has become a global multibillion-dollar industry. "We are encountering staggering proportions of violators or offenders we would have never imagined years ago," says Ray Smith, who oversees child exploitation investigations by the United States Postal Inspection Service. "It is an exploding problem worldwide, and particularly in the US," adds Ernie Allen, president of NCMEC. Efforts to stem the upsurge are taking place on multiple fronts. At the G-8 summit in Scotland last month, officials said that Interpol, an international police organization, is putting together a global database of offenders and victims. And this week, 3,000 law-enforcement officials from around the US are meeting in Dallas to discuss ways to attack Internet crimes against children. On the state level, New Jersey and Florida are among those enacting requirements for sexual predators to wear GPS devices that keep track of their whereabouts. One of the biggest pushes against the purveyors is aimed at shutting down the use of credit cards. NCMEC is currently talking to MasterCard about making it even harder to subscribe to the commercial sites. "We're trying to mobilize the financial industry to choke off the money," says Mr. Allen. At MasterCard, spokeswoman Sharon Gamsin says her organization is "appalled people are using our systems for illegal transactions involving child pornography, and finding a way to stop this is a priority." Two years ago, Visa International began a program to try to identify child porn sites allowing transactions with its credit cards. It hired a firm that used retired federal agents to go through the Internet searching for sites, and it says it's still searching the Web for illicit sites today. Good marks for effort Officials generally give the credit-card companies good marks for their efforts. "The financial industry is made up of real people with children, and they want this thing ended for society, too," says Mr. Smith, who has been fighting the illegal merchandise since 1982. To try to help credit-card companies and law-enforcement officials identify websites, NCMEC has hired a consultant to search online for illicit sites. "We provide the information first to law enforcement and then do reviews to see if they follow up," he says. "Otherwise, we send a cease-and-desist order to the method-of-payment services [such as a credit-card company] and try to engage banks and regulators." Allen notes that he recently met with Asian bankers to seek cooperation. Shutting off the money flow could help, agree officials. Jim Plitt, director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Cyber Crime Center, believes that the growth of the child porn industry is part of what he terms the "illegal business cycle" -- where groups watching the huge profits decide to join in. "The emphasis is on the money. That's where you focus," says Mr. Plitt, who adds, "more cases are coming." When law-enforcement officials have cracked the organizations, they often find that the organizations have many illegal websites that are collecting money. That was the case with Regpay, a company in Minsk, Belarus, which provided credit-card billing services for 50 child porn websites worldwide. Indeed, the groups are often international in scope. The Regpay investigation resulted in the initial arrests of 35 people in the United States, France, and Spain. "The actual businesses themselves are not necessarily large, but they have a large membership pool," says Plitt. When Regpay was broken up two years ago, it had 270,000 subscribers -- 4,000 in New Jersey alone. Recently, in fact, 11 more individual subscribers were arrested in New Jersey, and more arrests are on the way, say officials. Because the membership pool was so large, law-enforcement officials have broken the prosecutions down into two phases. The first phase was to dismantle the financial apparatus, including businesses in Florida and California that processed US credit-card transactions. The second phase, which is ongoing, is to arrest individuals who subscribed to the sites. 'Prioritized' arrests "They are prioritized, so we are targeting individuals with access to children, people of trust in the community, and the most egregious subscribers who had lots of transactions," says Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for ICE. "What you'll see in the cases made are schoolteachers, pediatricians, a campus minister, a Boy Scout leader, and other individuals in those types of positions." ICE is now arresting individuals who subscribed to the sites multiple times. Although the arrests themselves get the word out to the pedophile community, some law-enforcement officials are optimistic that technology may ultimately help them stem the tide. "I think there will come a time in the not-too-distant future where, working with the [Internet service provider] community and the financial community, they will be able to package information and put it into computers that will not allow people to subscribe to these sites," says Smith. However, he adds, "We have First Amendment issues so we can't completely shut down all pornographic sites." Steps to keep kids safe . As always, make communication a priority. "One of the main tips is listening to your kids. Pay attention if they tell you they don't want to go somewhere or see someone," Ms. Schwartz says. . Let kids know that they can say no. "They have the right to say no to any uncomfortable advances or touches. Kids are taught to be respectful of their elders, and child predators prey on that." . As far as computers go, be aware of technology, trends, and especially a child's online activity. "Parents [are perceived as not being] up to speed with the technology. It's a great conversation starter to say, 'OK, what websites are you looking at? How do I create an [instant messaging] account?' " That can be a subtle way to monitor a child. . Caution children in giving out information. "Predators ask for phone numbers or personal information, and eventually they want to escalate it to a phone call. People don't realize how little information is needed today in order to find someone." . Be attuned to any changes in behavior. "What if she was just acting different and spending hours and hours online -- if you come up to her and she quickly minimized the screen?" . Suspicious websites or other activities can be reported to www.cybertipline.com or 800-843-5678. - Adam Karlin Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. To read the Christian Science Monitor on line each day with no registration nor login requirements please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html and review the far right hand column (upper part of page). Also see articles 'Not so Fast; xxx Startup Put on Hold' elsewhere in this issue of the Digest. ------------------------------ From: Erik Kirschbaum Subject: Web Inventer, McCartney Sisters Win German Awards Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:37:34 -0500 By Erik Kirschbaum Britain's Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web and then gave it away, will receive Germany's national Quadriga award on the country's 15th annual Unification Day on October 3, organizers said on Thursday. Also receiving a Quadriga award for courage and vision will be six Northern Irish women who challenged the Irish Republican Army over the murder of a Catholic man, Robert McCartney, in Belfast in January. McCartney's five sisters and fiance will receive the award for their tireless campaign against IRA violence, organizers said. Last month, the IRA pledged to end its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland. Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web in 1990 while at the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva to let his fellow scientists work together even when in other parts of the world. But instead of patenting it and reaping a fortune, he chose to put it onto the Internet a year later, opening access to everyone. Quadriga organizers hailed Berners-Lee as the most important scientist of the 20th century after Albert Einstein. "Berners-Lee elected not to patent the World Wide Web for commercial reasons or his own personal profit but gave it away for all of us," said Klaus Riebschlaeger, chairman of the organising committee. "Free and available to all humanity, it became the network for knowledge linking the world." The Web made modern-day surfing possible and transformed the Internet from a domain for scientists and academics into the fastest growing mass medium of all time. Before the Web was developed, electronic files stored on the Internet were exceedingly difficult to find and pages could only be located using an address -- often a vast string of numbers. The Quadriga national awards for courage, vision and responsibility were inspired by ex U.S. President Bill Clinton on a visit to Berlin in 2002. They are presented each year in four categories: political, economic, social and cultural. Other winners of the 25,000 euro prize this year include former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl for his achievements in reuniting Germany in 1990; and the Aga Khan, billionaire spiritual leader of the world's 15 million Ismaili Muslims, for his charitable institution the Aga Khan Development Network. Previous winners include Afghan President Hamid Karzai (2004) and British architect Norman Foster (2003). Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Michele Gershberg Subject: Yahoo Sticks to $5 Music Service Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 11:05:14 -0500 By Michele Gershberg Whether you prefer hard rockers or accordion-pumping folk singers, Yahoo Inc. will stick with an aggressively low $5 monthly fee in the first major marketing push for its online music service. After an introductory roll-out in May, Yahoo on Thursday said it would keep its music download subscription priced well below those of competitors, such as RealNetworks Inc.'s Rhapsody and Napster Inc., in an effort to become "the standard online music service." Yahoo Music Unlimited offers more than 1 million songs, allowing listeners to move tracks to portable music players and share them with other subscribers on its messenger platform. Trial subscriptions were launched at $4.99 per month for an annual commitment, or $6.99 on a monthly basis, and analysts had wondered whether Yahoo would raise the price with its full-scale launch. Yahoo Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Cammie Dunaway said the music service had so far attracted subscribers through public relations efforts and word of mouth. The new Yahoo Music campaign will be the online media company's most aggressive push this year, she said. "It's exciting to see what happens now that we really start marketing it," Dunaway told Reuters. "We're certainly looking to expand the subscription (music) market and think that this pricing is one great way to do it." Pixellated characters representing rock band Green Day and rapper Missy Elliott bounce and bop in the Yahoo Music online ads, with viewers able to move the "Mini-Pop" stars onscreen. The ads were created by agencies Soho Square and OgilvyOne, San Francisco. The campaign debuts on August 28 during the MTV Video Music Awards with the tagline "Over A Million Songs - 5 Bucks A Month - This Is Huge." One television commercial shows an animated spaceship beaming up favorite musicians, then pulverizing a lederhosen-clad accordion player. Commercials will air on MTV and Comedy Central. Yahoo has also planned ads in a new video game from Midway Games Inc., and other nontraditional campaign efforts. PRICE PRESSURE Yahoo's price strategy could heap more pressure on music download rivals. Napster and Rhapsody provide subscribers unlimited streams on demand and other features for about $10 a month, or about $15 with portability. "There will probably be room for some price differences, but if Yahoo stays at a lower price, coupled with its broad marketing reach, it would be tough for the other guys," said Christopher Rowen of Suntrust Robinson Humphrey. Rowen rates Napster shares at "buy" and Real Networks at "neutral." Both companies' shares tumbled after Yahoo introduced its music service in May, as did the stock of online music leader Apple Computer Inc.. Napster has an estimated 400,000 subscribers to its service, while Real Networks has nearly 1.2 million for Rhapsody. Yahoo would not disclose subscriber numbers. Rowen said online music subscription had yet to boom as listeners are focused on copying their own music collections to portable devices, but he noted it would take off once they look to music downloads as their primary source for fresh songs. "Five years down the road, subscription will be the dominant model," he said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Eric Auchard Subject: What's Next? Web Map Tracks Demand for Major News Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 11:08:16 -0500 By Eric Auchard It's debatable how big a deal any specific news event is compared to all the other human mayhem that occurs each day. Journalists, editors, historians and the guy at the end of the bar could probably never agree. A news mapping service introduced on Thursday by Akamai Technologies Inc. promises to give unprecedented insight into the relative hunger that millions of Internet users have to learn of breaking events minute-by-minute. Akamai, which helps speed delivery of 15 percent of the world's Internet traffic over its network, is looking to count the sum of page requests across 100 major news sites it serves to rank interest in major events on a scale never seen before. The Akamai Net News Index provides a map of six global regions and measures the current appetite for news relative to average daily demand in terms of millions of visitors to news sites per minute, per week, within each geographic region. Spikes in traffic can reveal the next wave of news demand. "You have never really been able to look at big news events in this way," Akamai Chief Executive Paul Sagan said in a phone interview. "When you can get down to the minute of a day and correlate spikes in news site traffic, you can really begin to see what was going on at that moment," he said. This aggregate news site data -- the company stresses that it does not track individual surfing habits -- is now available publicly on the Web at http://www.akamai.com/en/html/industry/net_usage_index.html/ In two-and-a-half months of testing before the index introduction, Akamai found the biggest Internet news events were the London bombings on July 7, Hurricane Emily July 15, the combined effects of the Space Shuttle launch and monsoon in India on July 26. The fourth most popular recent Web news event was the June 13 Michael Jackson verdict, Akamai data showed. Sagan says his Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company plans to make the data available to its customers and members of the public to see what ways they put the information to work. The news index is in the spirit of the Internet Archive's WayBack Machine, which provides snapshots of vast reaches of the Web in order to preserve online history, or the various Internet Weather Reports, which give Web surfers a glimpse of how essential networks on the Internet are functioning. IN A PLACE TO KNOW Because its computers serve up billions of pages of news to Internet readers each day, Akamai is in the unique position of being able to track news consumption on a global scale. Akamai believes it is in a unique position to be able to track news consumption on a global scale. At any point in time, millions of PC users (and growing numbers of Web-connected mobile phone users) are viewing news on the Internet. Some of the 100 participating news sites include the U.S.-centered NBC, XM Satellite Radio and ESPN, LeMonde in France and the global audiences of CNN.com and Reuters.com. Other major sites in the Americas, Europe and Asia cannot be named, Sagan said. "We think we have a pretty representative sample" of the world's major Internet news sites, he said. When news breaks, studies show that the Internet is displacing television and print media for instant information. Sagan said the index could act as early warning system on major news events, or for retrospective trend research later. "How do you measure an event of a certain magnitude?" Sagan asked. "No one know what that means really," he said, adding that: "We are going to let people draw their own conclusions." Sagan hopes the service can be used to help reveal geographic and sociological trends in public spectacles. Data generated by the index could be used by advertisers and investors to map social patterns and make buying decisions. "How much did it grab public attention? What economic effect did the news have?" Sagan asks. "We can get a real-time, exact view of the data." Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Dante Chinni Subject: Journalism's Fear and Loathing of Blogs Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 11:13:40 -0500 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0809/p09s01-codc.html By Dante Chinni WASHINGTON - Mainstream journalism is running scared. It's watching its audience numbers decline and its public trust numbers drop. Newspapers, magazines, and network television news have been shaken by major scandals. The media have seen the future and it is blogging. Or at least that's the story this year. "Mainstream journalism," however you want to define it, has been under siege so long it's hard to keep track of all the people, things, and outlets that were or are still going to destroy it. Blogs, or weblogs -- websites on which a person or a group of people opines about events, reports what's been heard, or simply links to other sites (many of which are also blogs) - are the latest concern among journalists who look at them with curiosity and fear. Many believe blogs are a dangerous direct competitor to mainstream journalism -- a way for individuals and interest groups to reach around the gatekeeper function that newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio have traditionally held. Some even see them as the future of journalism; an army of citizen journalists bringing the unfiltered news to a public hungry for the inside dope. "The latest, and perhaps gravest, challenge to the journalistic establishment is the blog," Richard Posner wrote last week in The New York Times Book Review. Actually Mr. Posner wrote about a lot of challenges the media faced, but gave blogs a lot of space as he spelled out their advantages. They bring expertise. They bring flair and opinion. They bring more checks and balances than the mainstream media. "It's as if the Associated Press or Reuters had millions of reporters, many of them experts, all working with no salary for free newspapers that carried no advertising," he explained. Ah, yes, in the future news will be bountiful and free with no advertising. Can't beat that. If they throw in complimentary ice cream we've really got something here. Let me just say for the record, I have nothing against blogs. I actually like them. Their formula of opinion, links, and reportage can be refreshing -- though they are often short on the last part of that mix. And the voices they enter into the media dialogue sometimes offer perspectives that otherwise might never be heard. But if you really look closely, all this "and in the future ..." talk seems a bit far-fetched for a number of reasons. For all the bloggers' victories (like raising questions about memos in CBS's Bush/National Guard story) there are numerous failures (gossiping about John Kerry's affair that never happened or how the presidential election was rigged in Ohio). And most bloggers simply don't have time or staff to, say, launch an investigation into the internal workings of the Department of State. Getting leaks and tips is one thing, digging for the fuller story is quite another. But the main reason blogs can't really supplant the mainstream media is what they cover. If you go looking for blogs about national politics, foreign affairs, celebrities or (yes) the media, you won't go wanting. In fact, every one of the country's top 10 most visited blogs deals with one of these subjects, according to www.truthlaidbear.com itself a "portal to the blogosphere." That's not really that surprising. To be a serious blogger - one who can devote his time and energy to the job - one needs to make a name for himself, sell ad space, and get paid. And to make a name, sell ad space, and get paid, one needs a national audience. In other words, if you live in, say, Grand Rapids, Mich. and are looking for the latest developments on the construction on the nearby highway, or the city council budget, or a millage dispute - things that impact people in very real ways -- you're not going to have much luck in the blogosphere. Even large cities and state capitals, except for those that are part of the media/government industrial complex, are relatively blog free. And it's hard to see how that will change. The number of people interested in devoting their life to things like local zoning rules is a bit more limited than those interested in national politics. Getting paid to do it would probably be all but impossible. And that's a problem. For all the fretting, blogging ultimately is bound to be less a replacement for the traditional media than a complement. The fact is, journalism's most critical responsibilities in a democratic society -- seeking, reporting, and analyzing news and holding people accountable -- aren't easy to fulfill. People rightly point out that the media often fail at those tasks. It's just hard to see how making it a volunteer position or a part-time job could improve the situation. . Dante Chinni writes a twice-monthly political opinion column for the Monitor. Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Read the Christian Science Monitor at our web site daily. http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html (upper right column). *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:38:36 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "Honeypots for Windows", Roger A. Grimes Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKHNPTWN.RVW 20050614 "Honeypots for Windows", Roger A. Grimes, 2005, 1-59059-335-9, U$39.99 %A Roger A. Grimes roger@banneretcs.com %C 2560 Ninth Street, Suite 219, Berkeley, CA 94710 %D 2005 %G 1-59059-335-9 %I Apress %O U$39.99 510-549-5930 fax 510-549-5939 info@apress.com %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590593359/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590593359/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/1590593359/robsladesin03-20 %O Audience i+ Tech 2 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation) %P 392 p. %T "Honeypots for Windows" Now, we all know that honeypots can be fun: turning the tables on the blackhats, and watching what they are doing for once. We'll even acknowledge that the information honeypots provide can be useful, teaching us the types of approaches and activities that intruders are likely to undertake. But Grimes, in the introduction, stresses the position that honeypots are important security tools used for protection: that the extensive employment of honeypots will somehow "put an end" to script kiddies and the myriad attacks we see flying around the nets. Part one is about general honeypot concepts. Chapter one is an introduction to honeypots, looking at different honeypots and some common attack types, and has an extremely terse mention of the fact that there are risks associated with using honeypots. Components and simple topologies for honeypots are listed in chapter two. Part two moves specifically to Windows honeypots. Chapter two lists the ports that a Windows computer typically has open, and provides some (but not much) information on how the major ones work. A set of questions to ask yourself about how you want to operate and configure your honeypot are in chapter three, along with generic advice about hardening the computer if you use Windows as the native operating system. There is a table of services that you might want to turn off. There is also an inventory of programs you may wish to remove: it contains rather dated entries such as edlin.exe, but doesn't mention items such as tftp.exe. Chapters five to seven are concerned with the honeyd program and its Windows port, first in regard to description and installation, then configuration options, and finally service scripts. Other honeypot programs; Back Officer Friendly (BOF), LaBrea, SPECTER, KFSensor, Patriot Box, and Jackpot; are outlined in chapter eight, with the commercial entries getting the bulk of the space. Part three deals with the operation of honeypots. Chapter nine has some basic traffic analysis information, mostly documentation for the use of the Ethereal packet sniffer and the Snort intrusion detection system. A number of tools for monitoring your system are listed in chapter ten. Even though the title is "Honeypot Data Analysis," most of chapter eleven records more monitoring tools. Grimes reprises some of his stuff from "Malicious Mobile Code" (cf. BKMLMBCD.RVW), and adds a catalogue of assembly tools, to talk about analysing such code in chapter twelve. As a compilation of utilities, the book will probably be a handy reference for those who are interested in trying out a honeypot, or possibly just getting more information from their Windows computer. Network administrators who are seriously interested in actually running a honeypot or reviewing the data thus collected should probably look into "Know Your Enemy" (cf. BKKNYREN.RVW) or "Honeypots" (cf. BKHNYPOT.RVW), both by Spitzner. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2005 BKHNPTWN.RVW 20050614 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@sun.soci.niu.edu In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but, in practice, there is. - Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 13:15:30 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: SBC Picks Motorola, S-A For Set-Tops USTelecom dailyLead August 18, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23947&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * SBC picks Motorola, S-A for set-tops BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Yahoo! denies VoIP report * Nokia: No deal with Apple * BellSouth targets small businesses * Intel launches wireless cities initiative USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * New! The USTelecom IP Video Implementation & Planning Guide EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Verizon Wireless to test next-generation 3G technology * VoIP phones hitting their wireless stride REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Sprint Nextel disputes value of Nextel Partners Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23947&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: Lee Sweet Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 09:06:37 -0400 Subject: More on Verizon FioS Requirements A bit of reading at Broadband Reports' in the FiOS forum would give a better picture of life in the real Verizon installation world :-) See http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiber Verizon technically does say all that's been reported about removing your copper and requiring use of their router, but: 1. There are many reports that they will leave the original voice copper if you request it. (I don't know if you can use it for 3rd party DSL, VZN probably won't give the wire to them, especially now with the recent FCC decisions [did that mean they didn't have to, period, or they could charge what they wanted?]; you may be able to retain your VZN voice on it in places where FiOS is optional, and then only have Internet on FiOS) 2. There are also many reports that you can have the installers use the supplied 'mandatory' router to test/bring up the connection, shut it down, and then use your old router (any router that can do PPPoE), and be fine. You will want to have their router around to plug in, because it has special diagnostics they can access from their end, but there is no special reason to use it, per se. (This is particularly of note for those that want to use Vonage, etc., adapters, and don't want to cascade routers.) Also, there have been many discussions at BBR about the battery backup, with people not understanding that some COs also only have 8- 12 hours of battery and being all upset that 'the phone will die in 6 hours' or whatever. Me, when I get FiOS (I have no choice, you may recall), I'm going to put a 1500VA APC UPS in back of the VZN backup to run the thing for 24 hours, I hope. (Yes, I have a non-cordless phone to use with it. :-) ) Lee Sweet Datatel, Inc. Manager of Telephony Services and Information Security How higher education does business. Voice: 703-968-4661 Cell: 703-932-9425 Fax: 703-968-4625 lee@datatel.com www.datatel.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: 4-Wire Echo Suppression Conference Calls (WU Tech Review) Date: 18 Aug 2005 09:41:09 -0700 The Western Union Technical Review had an article describing how they utilized four-wire connections for voice conference calls to suppress echos. A notable feature was that the four wires apparently went all the way to the subscriber set. Another features was that conference calls were set up automatically by dialing various codes. They used an Ericsson crossbar switch on the WU voice network. Fall 1968. The article goes into considerable technical detail. See: http://massis.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/technical/western-union-tech-review/22-4/p144.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 12:39:54 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: AP Article "New N.Y. Law Targets Hidden Net Tolls" 1st paragraph says: "A new law that's apparently the first in the nation threatens to penalize Internet service providers that fail to warn users that some dial-up numbers can ring up enormous long- distance phone bills even though they appear local." That law is in New York state. Article notes that long distance within same area code can cost 8 to 12 cents a minute. As far as *I* can tell, the above warning is the same as what I have seen in the front section of the Northeastern Maryland phone book, where police and other public-service telephone numbers are listed with the advice that some of those calls may be toll. ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Online Scammers Pose as Company Executives in 'Spear-Phishing' Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:25:36 -0400 This type of phishing by phone was already known by 1975. It was one of the first computer security issues I ever heard about. "Hello, I'm from the computer center [or, I'm in the corporate office] and I'm working on your account. Can you tell me your password?" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, it is an older style of phishing and does go back twenty years at least. I do recall an office I worked in during the early 1980's which had credit bureau terminal machines, and on the wall behind the machines, a poster of a very stern looking Uncle Sam, his fingers pursed over his lips, with a message saying "Uncle Sam Wants YOU to Keep the Trust. Do not let other employees get YOU in trouble ... neither your supervisor nor any executive of your company is _ever_ going to ask you to provide them with your password, nor ask you to 'pull a bureau report' for them personally, other than in the regular course of your employment. If you receive a telephone call from someone claiming to be in authority to do that, please let your supervisor know immediatly." The message then concluded by telling the penalties for doing so: "Under the law, providing credit bureau information to an unathorized person is punishable by (whatever). Why risk your job and your freedom by helping someone who claims to be _your friend_ in this way? They're not your friend; they're just trying to use you." Then a smaller picture of the stern Uncle Sam once again. Finally at the bottom of the poster the statement, "Has anyone ever bothered you in this way? Do you want to talk to someone about a situation at your place of employment? Call 800 - (whatever) in complete confidence." PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 18 Aug 2005 09:56:42 -0700 jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: > What has now been confirmed by calls to Verizon is that Verizon has installed fibre ("FIOS") in my area. However, they have told me different things: > - Once the fiber connection is established all services, including > voice, are moved to the fiber and the copper wires are pulled, > making it impossible to return to standard DSL in spite of the > supposed 30-day trial period. Only subscribers who sign up for FIOS will get fibre to their front door. It is rather expensive to run the fibre and terminal box (actually the terminal box is pricey) to your front door. The old phone loop won't go anywhere. > - They will absolutely NOT allow connections to other ISP's over > the fiber connection, essentially limiting ISP's other than > MSN to dialup customers. They stressed this is not a regulated service. As such, they can charge as they wish and run it as they wish. HOWEVER, anyone else can run fibre just as they did. The cable company -- while it was still a small outfit -- obviously was able to run fibre, so the field is open to others. They also need permission to run these lines, they don't have the automatic ROW of a standard utility. While my _area_ overall has FIOS, many specific sections do not have FIOS because permission was not granted by the appropriate parties. I also want to point out that this magical "competition" is no guarantee of lower prices. There are a number of cellular phone providers, but oddly enough, they all charge about the same and all seem to be making very good money. That is, competition does NOT automatically force down prices or improve service. Remember that technology is better than ever and their costs should be lower than the past. Economics include a multitude of factors, one of which is demand. In other words, right now many of us have a choice between phone company DSL and cable company broadband. It just so happens that prices of those are about the same. If a third provider showed up, do you really think prices would go down? Not likely as long as demand remained high. As mentioned, anyone else can come in and run fibre and provide this service if they wanted to. ------------------------------ From: Matt Simpson Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Organization: Yeah Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 14:17:07 -0400 In article , jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: > So, while the landscape today includes a diverse collection of local > and national ISP's with a range of services and cost options, the > future will be dialup at $10-15/month or Comcast or Verizon/MSN at > ~$50/mo. No more local businesses, no more local customer service, no > choice of services. For some of us, the current landscape does not include that "diverse collection", and does not even include the more limited choice you describe as the gloomy future. It includes ONLY dialup. If the so-called "independent" ISPs want to be truly independent, and not dependent on infrastructure owned by evil conglomerates, they can provide broadband to those of us who would be happy with even a single choice of broadband provider. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 03:08:19 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message Mark Crispin wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I want to just respond to one point > which was stated by Mark ... > Mark said "It would be difficult if not impossible to force the porn > industry to be part of 'xxx'." > Why would that be difficult, Mark? In many communities now, those > places are required (just like taverns) to post notices that persons > of minority age cannot be on the premises. It is not considered a > free-association issue, but rather a matter of public policy and any > challenges to the 'minors stay away' rule are always defeated. Why > would it be a free-speech issue to impose on porn sites in the same > way, with 'xxx' being the equivilent of a 'minors not allowed' sign? > I have never yet seen a tavern, or a gay mens 'bathhouse', or an adult > bookstore for example, which got anywhere trying to argue that that > signs on the wall ordering minors to leave the premises were somehow > an imposition on the establishment (or the patrons therein) rights of > free speech or free association. Or, for that matter, a movie theatre > (adult or otherwise) which attempted to enfore an 'X' or 'PG' rating > making free speech claims, etc. So why would an internet establishment > suddenly have that problem (assuming the law said that public policy > dictated the protection of minors? Go ahead and try to force me to move one of my customer's sites from a .com to a .xxx site. Where will you go? Your ISP? The police? Hire a lawyer and go to court? Which court? See, this internet thing surpasses jurisdictional boundaries. I'm in Canada, my clients are in Canada, and unless a similar law was passed in Canada, the best you'd get is a US court to agree that my site really should be somewhere else, but that's about it. Even if you got ICANN onboard, the site could be in .ca rather then .com, and ICANN has no authority. Next, there are literally millions of sites. With all the crime existing in the world today, who exactly do you expect to pursue sites appearing and disappearing daily? Next, we have the question of who defines "adult" -- Again, the internet is international. What your average rightwing nutjob in the US considers "adult" or "offensive" may be common place and completely legal in the less-inhibited portions of Europe -- The whole world isn't as upright about breasts as Americans seem to be. A more workable solution would be a .kids or .family TLD which would specifically exclude adult material -- This would be enforceable, since it would be controlled by a central authority under a single jurisdiction, and anyone who wanted to purchase a domain in that TLD would need to agree to appropriate terms. > One thing that 'xxx' _would_ do is provide a good screening and > filtering mechanism for 'adult' purveyors who did _not_ want to be > bothered by kids coming around, etc (when combined with their other > validation techniques such as credit card proof of age, etc.). People > who were so inclined could filter out 'xxx' in the same way they can > filter out other spam and trash. What's your objection to that? PAT] There are already tons of techniques to allow legitimate pornographic sites to keep children away. If you use Internet Explorer, go to Tools --> Options --> [Content], click the "Content Advisor"'s [Enable] button, and set some appropriate ratings. ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 12:34:47 -0700 Organization: University of Washington Pat writes: > Mark said "It would be difficult if not impossible to force the porn > industry to be part of 'xxx'." > Why would that be difficult, Mark? In many communities now, those > places are required (just like taverns) to post notices that persons > of minority age cannot be on the premises. First, you must understand that what is being discussed is access restriction; that is, a definition of "pornography" such that material declared to be "pornographic" must be accessed only via an .xxx TLD. Second, you must understand that a community is a local jurisdiction. Within that jurisdiction, the definition of "booze" and "pornography", for the purposes of access restrictions, can be well-defined. The Internet is not a local jurisdiction. The only way that you can avoid having "pornography" being available outside of the .xxx TLD on the Internet is to declare that *all* material that *any* authority declares to be "pornographic" must be placed within the .xxx TLD. In other words, the effect of what you are advocating is that the standards of Tehran are to apply to an Internet cafe in San Francisco. This problem with variation in standards stymied an attempt to achieve a national concensus in the USA on what constitutes pornography that needs to be access-restricted. Remember the ill-fated Meese Commission? Internationally, material that is considered vile pornography in the USA is considered to be "art" in certain other countries. Material that is considered to be ordinary in the USA (such as a photo of you with your wife with her head uncovered) are considered to be vile pornography in Tehran and Mecca. What about the romance novels that adult women (and teenaged girls) consume in vast quantities? Many of these contain material that would make a Playboy reader blush. More to the point: I'll wager that I have a very different definition of what constitutes "pornography that should be locked inside the .xxx TLD" than your definion. How dare you expose my kids to this vile pornography that you choose to exclude from the .xxx TLD? How dare you deny my kids access to art, literature, and medical information that you misguidedly placed within the .xxx TLD? Simplistic answers to complex problems turn out to be not as simple as they seem. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Also see article on how substantially child porn is growing on the net elsewhere in this issue of the Digest. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #374 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Aug 19 01:39:23 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 7D33F14DA1; Fri, 19 Aug 2005 01:39:21 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #375 Message-Id: <20050819053921.7D33F14DA1@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 01:39:21 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, HOT_NASTY,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,MORTGAGE_PITCH,SOMETHING_FOR_ADULTS autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Aug 2005 01:39:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 375 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Authors Offer Immortality in Web Auction (Claudia Parsons) Arizona School Trades Books for Laptops (Arthur Rotstein) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (Mark Crispin) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (Steve Sobol) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Steve Sobol) Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States (Neal McLain) Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? (John McHarry) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (G Novosielski) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Claudia Parsons Subject: Authors Offer Immortality in Web Auction Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:25:02 -0500 By Claudia Parsons How much would you pay to be immortalized as a zombie in a Stephen King novel or a good guy in a John Grisham thriller? King and Grisham are among 16 authors selling the right to have a character in a book named for the buyer to raise money for the First Amendment Project, a California-based nonprofit group that promotes freedom of information and expression. Details of exactly what each author is offering have been posted on Internet auction site eBay and the auctions will be held between September 1 and September 25, the group said on Tuesday. King said he was offering the chance to name a character in a novel called "CELL," to be published in 2006 or 2007. "Buyer should be aware that 'CELL' is a violent piece of work, which comes complete with zombies set in motion by bad cell phone signals that destroy the human brain," King said. "Like cheap whiskey, it's very nasty and extremely satisfying," he said on the site, adding that if the buyer wanted the character to diee, it must be a female name. David Greene of the First Amendment Project, which provides legal representation in freedom of expression cases, said fans had already shown significant interest. "My job is to put out the most conservative estimate and we're hoping to raise somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000 between the 16 authors," Greene told Reuters. The auction is not without precedent -- religious fiction writer Karen Kingsbury has raised some $100,000 for charity in recent years through a series of auctions that her publicists say bring an average of $2,500 per sale. In the auction posting at http://www.ebay.com/fap, legal writer Grisham promised the character whose name he is selling would be portrayed "in a good light" in his next novel. Amy Tan, author of "The Joy Luck Club," and best-selling romance writer Nora Roberts are also offering names, but they gave no guarantees about what sort of character it would be. The author of the children's series "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" is selling "an utterance" by the infant Sunny Baudelaire, the youngest of the three orphan children whose adventures are chronicled in the books. "Pronunciation and/or spelling may be slightly 'mutilated.' An example of this is in 'The Grim Grotto' when Sunny utters 'Bushkey,"' the posting said. Dave Eggers, author of the memoir "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," said his buyer would be featured in an illustrated story called "The Journey of the Fishes Overland." Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Arthur H. Rotstein Subject: Arizona High School Trades Books for Laptops Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:25:26 -0500 By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN, Associated Press Writer Students at Empire High School here started class this year with no textbooks - but it wasn't because of a funding crisis. Instead, the school issued iBooks - laptop computers by Apple Computer Inc. -- to each of its 340 students, becoming one of the first U.S. public schools to shun printed textbooks. School officials believe the electronic materials will get students more engaged in learning. Empire High, which opened for the first time this year, was designed specifically to have a textbook-free environment. "We've always been pretty aggressive in use of technology and we have a history of taking risks," said Calvin Baker, superintendent of the Vail Unified School District, which has 7,000 students outside of Tucson. Schools typically overlay computers onto their instruction "like frosting on the cake," Baker said. "We decided that the real opportunity was to make the laptops the key ingredient of the cake ... to truly change the way that schools operated." Two years ago, about 600 school districts nationwide had pilot projects to provide laptops for each student -- a figure that's likely doubled since then, said Mark Schneiderman, director of federal education policy for the Software and Information Industry Association in Washington. But most still issue textbooks -- for now. "Because most schools are not starting from scratch ... most districts are using a blended approach now and will phase out their printed textbooks," he said. For example, in the Henrico County school system near Richmond, Va., students in 23 middle and high schools will be using laptops for the fifth straight year, though teachers still use textbooks, said spokesman Mychael Dickerson. Many publishers of traditional textbooks are offering digital formats to address the growing use of computers, and that provided some of the material for Empire High's curriculum. Teachers also used subscription services and free Web resources. Students get the materials over the school's wireless Internet network. The school has a central filtering system that limits what can be downloaded on campus. The system also controls chat room visits and instant messaging that might otherwise distract wired students. Students can turn in homework online. A Web program checks against Internet sources for plagiarized material and against the work of other students, Baker said. "If you copy from your buddy, it's going to get caught," he said. Before Empire High opened, officials looked at the use of laptops in other schools and decided that high school students were more engaged when using computers. Unlike many adults, teens weaned on digital material seem to have little difficulty adapting to reading primarily on computer screens, Baker said. But educators also decided they could do more with the technology. In addition to offering up-to-date information, teachers can make the curriculum more dynamic. For example, lessons in social studies, which might previously have been done in summaries, can include links to full Supreme Court rulings or an explorer's personal account of a discovery. Social studies teacher Jeremy Gypton said the transition was easier than expected. Gypton said he assigns readings based on Web sites, lists postings to news articles, uses online groups and message boards to keep the students connected on weekends and asks them to comment on each other's work. One of the more surprising things, he said, was finding that students' proficiency at video games and e-mail hasn't always translated into other computer skills. "One of the greatest challenges actually is getting the kids up to speed in using Word, in using an Internet browser for other than a simple global search," Gypton said. All of Empire's students knew about the laptop-only setup when they enrolled, and students who were uncomfortable with it were allowed to enroll in the district's other, more traditional schools. But Empire has a waiting list. Julian Tarazon, a freshman, said he doesn't miss lugging around a bag full of books. "It was kind of hard at first, because you had to put things in folders," Julian said, referring, naturally, to virtual folders on his computer's desktop. "After a couple of days, you kind of get used to it." Freshman Morgan Northcutt said the computer system has made it easier to do assignments, and she isn't as likely to lose them. "There's complications like hooking up with the Internet, but other than that it's been pretty easy," Morgan said. The school isn't entirely paperless, however. It has a library, and students are often assigned outside reading. "We're not trying to eliminate books," Baker said. "We love books." On the Net: Vail School District: http://www.vail.k12.az.us/index.php Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. To read all stories from AP each day, go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 16:20:10 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Thu, 18 Aug 2005, TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Mark Crispin: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Also see article on how substantially > child porn is growing on the net elsewhere in this issue of the > Digest. PAT] And how, pray tell, would an .xxx TLD address the problem of child pornography? As far as I know, rumors to the contrary about certain Scandinavian countries notwithstanding, child pornography is completely illegal throughout the world. This is not "restricted" pornography which would presumably go into an .xxx TLD; it is "prohibited pornography" which has no legitimate home. It is inaccurate and misleading to bring up the question of child pornography in a serious discussion of whether or not an .xxx TLD is a good idea. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The Editor's Note in question was intended as a _cross reference_ on the topic of 'adult' web sites which appeared in the same issue, no more, no less. And unless you wish to be in denial (not all that uncommon I have found in many Usenet newsgroups) child pornography -- legal or illegal not with- standing, -- is a _major_ part of the overall 'adult web site' scene on the net. The Editor's Note was not intended to either justify nor disparage the use of .xxx and kiddie porn. I am sorry you jumped the gun and made that association. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 20:34:29 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Mark Crispin wrote: > On Wed, 17 Aug 2005, the News Wire reported: >> That didn't sit well with conservative activists who worry that a .xxx >> domain will further legitimize the porn industry and won't make it >> easier to avoid sexual content online. > Leaving aside their motivations, they are correct in their overall > assessment of the undesirability of a .xxx TLD. ... because? TELECOM Digest Editor noted in reponse to Mark Crispin: > One thing that 'xxx' _would_ do is provide a good screening and > filtering mechanism for 'adult' purveyors who did _not_ want to be > bothered by kids coming around, etc (when combined with their other > validation techniques such as credit card proof of age, etc.). People > who were so inclined could filter out 'xxx' in the same way they can > filter out other spam and trash. What's your objection to that? PAT] Ditto. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Just as it is quite common on the net to see misleading email with subject lines such as "You have money coming" and it turns out to be a Nigerian Spam or a phisher notice to restore your PayPal account (I get forty or fifty of those most days) or very likely a phisher solicitation to apply for a mortgage loan (and thus 'get the money you have coming'), it is not uncommon these days to get email with the title 'Religious Education' which links to a picture of an alleged 'Catholic priest' molesting a boy or something equally misleading, always of course with a price tag involved to view the 'lessons' in more detail as long as you have a valid credit card or a telephone number to which third-party billing can be applied. Even more so than the typical phisher scam, the kiddie porn peddlers on the net (of which there are plenty) need that sort of deceptive approach in order to get their mail read. If you ask me, not only should there be an .xxx domain, but a .scam and .spam domain as well to make it easier to avoid all that stuff if you consider it the same bore that I do. Obviously many of the Usenetters and their buddies at ICANN would not agree with my assessment, but who cares? They seldom agree with Real World on anything. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 20:32:23 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com AES wrote: >> What has now been confirmed by calls to Verizon is that >> - Once the fiber connection is established all services, including >> voice, are moved to the fiber and the copper wires are pulled, >> making it impossible to return to standard DSL in spite of the >> supposed 30-day trial period. >> - The lowest cost package for the fiber connection is 30% more >> expensive than their standard DSL offering >> - They will absolutely NOT allow connections to other ISP's over >> the fiber connection, essentially limiting ISP's other than >> MSN to dialup customers. >> - The lowest-cost package from Verizon that will allow me to >> continue to run my own servers and host my own domain (something >> my local independent ISP actively supports) will cost $99/mo. >> So, while the landscape today includes a diverse collection of local >> and national ISP's with a range of services and cost options, the >> future will be dialup at $10-15/month or Comcast or Verizon/MSN at >> ~$50/mo. No more local businesses, no more local customer service, no >> choice of services. > If accurately described here (and I have no reason to think it isn't) > this is absolutely criminal -- and probably entirely typical of what > most or all "broadband to the premises" types services (copper, cable, > fiber or wireless will try to impose on us). Now hold on a second. I'm in Apple Valley, California, one of the market areas where Verizon is rolling out FIOS (no ETA yet). $99 may be the cheapest price for a connection where you can run servers, but there ARE less expensive packages available that still give you lots of speed. So, I think we'd need to compare apples to apples where cost is concerned. Many existing fiber and copper broadband providers don't let you run servers on the cheap connections either. I'm no fan of Verizon, but let's be fair ... > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But what the cableco will _claim_ is > that the 'right of way' is not publicly owned; and telco will claim > that municipal ownership of the right of way gives unfair competition > to them in providing ISP services. Or so they will all claim. PAT] Of course. hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Only subscribers who sign up for FIOS will get fibre to their front > door. It is rather expensive to run the fibre and terminal box > (actually the terminal box is pricey) to your front door. The old > phone loop won't go anywhere. And you can insist that they not get rid of the copper pairs, too. I know someone down in Florida who has done this. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 17:38:15 -0500 From: Neal McLain Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: Telephone Exchange Usage in Low-Volume States I wrote: > In order to accommodate inbound DDD, it was essential that every > number have a 7-digit format. But SxS switches couldn't > accommodate 7-digit dialing, so telcos faked 7-digit numbers by > prepending dummy digits. Local calls continued to be dialable > with only four or five digits; however, if a local caller > actually dialed all seven digits, the prepended digits were > absorbed by "absorbing selectors" -- i.e. ignored. Whereupon bv124@aol.com responded: > I don't understand. Below is the local dialing plan we had when > I was in school. > Carbondale, IL, (Jackson County) 1971 General Telephone > 618-453 - So. Il. Univ., Carbondale. IL > 618-457 - Carbondale, IL > 618-549 - Carbondale, IL > 618-867 - De Soto, IL > 618-684 - Murphysboro, IL > 618-687 - Murphysboro, IL > From/to any Carbondale NXX (1, 2, or 3): 5-digits allowed, > 7-digits supported (618-453 required a ?9? to dial out from the > university, but 5-digits allowed within the university > PBX/Centrex/whatever) > From Carbondale NXX (1, 2, 3) to De Soto (4): 7-digits required > From Carbondale NXX (1, 2, 3) to Murphysboro, (5, 6): 7-digits > required. > From Murphysboro or De Soto to Carbondale, 7-digits required. > (I believe that locally, only 5-digits were required in > Murphysboro and only 4-digits in De Soto.) My guess: the GTE Carbondale office used type "AR" (absorb repeatedly) selectors on the 4th and 5th levels. Local (within Carbondale) calls were dialable with only five digits, but if a local caller dialed all seven digits, the prepended digits (4 and/or 5) were absorbed and ignored. Nearby communities (7-digit dialable) were segregated on separate levels (6th and 8th). Which means that you could have dialed any combination of 4s and 5s before dialing anything else, with no effect on the end result. For example, you could have dialed 444554444555544443-XXXX to reach SIU. With this in mind, the Carbondale dialing plan would have been: ----- ---------- ------------ ---------------------- LEVEL LOCAL INBOUND DDD RESULT ----- ---------- ------------ ---------------------- 1 11X Vertical service codes 2 Blank level ? 3 3-XXXX 618-453-XXXX SIU., Carbondale. IL 4 absorbed 5 absorbed 6 68X-XXXX 618-68X-XXXX Murphysboro, IL 7 7-XXXX 618-457-XXXX Carbondale, IL 8 867-XXXX 618-867-XXXX De Soto, IL 9 9-XXXX 618-549-XXXX Carbondale, IL 0 0 0 Operator ----- ---------- ------------ ---------------------- If my guess is correct, the 2nd level would have been blank (perhaps an error tone). Did you ever dial it to see what happened? bv124@aol.com continued: > Outside of these 3 exchanges, but within the 618 NPA: > 1+7-digits required Outside the 618 NPA: 1+NPA+7-digits > required I suspect it's now: Within the 618 NPA: 1+618+7-digits Outside the 618 NPA: 1+NPA+7-digits Unless the ICC has adopted the New York/California plan in 618, in which case it's now: Within the 618 NPA: 7-digits Outside the 618 NPA: 1+NPA+7-digits In this same thread, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com noted: > As long as the dialing is unique, there is no reason that an ESS > couldn't absorb digits just like an SxS could. True. But it would have been enormously complicated, if not impossible, to add more NNX prefixes as the community grew. A case in point: the Carbondale office described above. (Note that I use NNX here, rather than NXX, because most of the crossbar/ESS conversions occurred long before 01/01/95.) I realize that Illinois isn't one of the "low-volume states" that you mentioned in your posting. But the problems associated with five-digit dialing are universal, and occur in all states. In 1971, there was only one unused level in Carbondale (2nd), so only one new NNX would have been possible: NN2. The obvious choices would have been 442, 452, 542, or 552 (to maintain the look and feel of the existing NNXs); however, it appears that all four were already in use NPA 618. So GTE would have had to find something on the 6th or 8th levels (as it happens, 618-862 is still available today). In any case, NN2 would have been the last non-conflicting NNX available in Carbondale. Now imagine yourself trying to play this game in every small community across southern Illinois (or any other area code). In every case, you'd have to pick a new NNX that: - Wasn't already in use elsewhere in the area code. - Didn't conflict with the local dialing plan. - Didn't conflict with the dialing plan in any nearby community. And you probably wouldn't even have Lotus 1-2-3 to help you do it! Footnote: new prefixes in Carbondale today include 319, 351, 503, and 529. SIU's centrex has added 536. Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: Stromberg Carlson Company? Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 23:35:25 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 23:59:42 +0000, Steven Lichter wrote: > General Dynamics still has a full service COEI Installation division, I > get calls from their recruters a couple times a year. I know that GD > had bought Stromberg Carlson. Siemens offers the DCO on its web site. They also give Broken Sound Boulevard as an address. They might have outsourced the installation. ------------------------------ From: Gary Novosielski Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 03:04:54 GMT hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A group of World War Two veterans in > a counter-demonstration over the weekend at Arlington Cemetery carried > banners which stated 'had there been no Pearl Harbor there would > have been no Hiroshima.' PAT] Nice turn of a phrase, but it certainly does not follow. It presumes that, but for Pearl Harbor, the U.S. would /never/ have entered the war. I suppose that's possible, but it's equally possible that some other provocation would have been found, even if it had to be manufactured. Recall that the Tonkin Gulf incident which got us into Vietnam was manufactured, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait prior to Gulf War I was all but instigated by the State department, and the WMD stockpiles that justified Gulf War II were simply invented out of thin air. With these and other (remember the Maine?) pretextual war triggers confirmed, is it any wonder that Pearl Harbor itself is now the subject of several conspiracy theories? The most popular, which is considered "common knowledge" throughout the U.S. Army Signal Corps, is that warnings of the approaching attack force were provided long in advance, but that the "top brass" decided not to repel the attack, but rather just to "ride it out", knowing that a "sneak" attack would surely lead to a war declaration, whereas a successfully repelled one might not. I'd hate to believe that, but at this point I don't know if it's crazier to believe it or to dismiss it. Gary "I try to be cynical, but I can't keep up." --Lilly Tomlin ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #375 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Aug 19 16:28:15 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 8F6E7153CA; Fri, 19 Aug 2005 16:28:14 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #376 Message-Id: <20050819202814.8F6E7153CA@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 16:28:14 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: R TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 Aug 2005 16:27:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 376 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Customs Computer Virus Strands Travelers (Lisa Orkwin Emmanuel) Microsoft Rethinks RSS Name Change (Elizabeth Montalbano) WTO Gives USA Until April 3 to Change Internet Gambling Laws (Reuters) Telecom Update #493, August 19, 2005 (Angus TeleManagement Group) Report: IPTV Set-Top Box Market Overcrowded (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements (jmeissen@aracnet.com) RE: More on Verizon FioS Requirements (Michael Quinn) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Dan Lanciani) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (John Levine) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (John Levine) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (Lisa Hancock) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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 Orkwin Emmanuel Subject: Customs Computer Virus Strands Passengers Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:23:34 -0500 By LISA ORKIN EMMANUEL, Associated Press Writer Travelers arriving in the United States from abroad were stuck in long lines at airports nationwide when a virus shut down an U.S. Customs and Border Protection computer system for several hours, officials said. Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the virus impacted computer systems at a number of airports Thursday night, including those in New York, San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and Laredo, Texas. Knocke said customs agents immediately switched to manual inspections. He declined to provide details on where the computer virus originated but said Friday the investigation remained open. The worst delays appeared to be at Miami International Airport, where about 4,000 to 5,000 people waited to clear immigration, airport spokesman Greg Chin said. The passengers were not permitted to leave the area before then, but they all went through by midnight, he said. Everything was back to normal Friday. Brian Hunt and his wife, who were visiting from Spain, said it took them nearly five hours to be processed. "The agent was very charming, very nice and greeted us with a smile," he told The Miami Herald. "It was just an unfortunate thing, but these things happen. Who do we blame?" The computer problem originated in database systems located in Virginia and lasted from around 6 p.m. until about 11:30 p.m., said Zachary Mann, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in southern Florida. At New York's airports, customs officials processed passengers by hand. Officials used backup computer systems to keep passengers moving at Los Angeles International Airport, where computers were down only briefly and delays from six flights lasted up to 2 1/2 hours. "It was during a light time of travel for international passengers at LAX," said Mike Fleming, customs spokesman in Los Angeles. "All systems have been restored to full capacity." Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For Associated Press News Radio and detailed stories, go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Elizabth Montalbano Subject: Microsoft Rethinks RSS Name Change Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:22:13 -0500 Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service A well-known Microsoft Web logger is downplaying the proposed use of a new name for RSS (Really Simple Syndication) in the next version of Internet Explorer following several days of intense discussion about the notion of rebranding RSS in the Web log community. In an interview Wednesday, Robert Scoble, a Microsoft technical evangelist and writer of a popular Web log, or blog, about the software giant, says the company had not made a final decision as to whether it would rename RSS "Web feeds" in the final version of IE 7 the way it has in the beta version that is available now. "We never said Microsoft has decided [to rebrand RSS]," Scoble says. "It's a year ahead of [Windows Vista] being released and we're trying to work with the community to get some consensus." In the IE 7 Beta 1, RSS feeds are called "Web feeds," a fact first brought to light in an August 2 "IEBlog" post by Jane Kim, a Microsoft program manager for RSS in IE. Controversy Sparked The post sparked a flurry of controversy in the blogs of Microsoft watchers, some of whom prematurely viewed Microsoft's decision to rebrand RSS in the beta as an indication of the final name for RSS in the full version of the product. Some even worried that there might be a larger plan by Microsoft to recast RSS in its own image. IE 7 will be included in the next version of the Windows operating system, Windows Vista, which is scheduled to ship toward the end of 2006. Microsoft has said it would offer broad support for RSS throughout Windows Vista, including an implementation in IE 7. Both Scoble and Mike Torres, MSN Spaces lead program manager for Microsoft, claimed in their blogs that Microsoft has no plan to rewrite RSS but is trying to come up with a way to name the technology in a way that is generally accepted in the industry and among Web users. In his blog "Torres Talking," Torres mentioned the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox Web browser, which calls RSS feeds "Live Bookmarks," and Newsgator Online and Bloglines, which both call them "feeds," in his defense of Microsoft's choice to call RSS "Web feeds" in IE 7. He said this shows the industry as a whole may be interested in using the RSS technology but not the "RSS" brand. Nevertheless, comments on the blogs of Torres, Scoble, and Dave Winer, a software guru who writes the popular "Scripting News" Web log, ignited a heated discussion of Microsoft's plans for RSS in the blog community and in published reports by the IDG News Service and other publications over the past few days. Scoble says in an interview that because of Microsoft's "history" -- which famously includes attempts to create proprietary implementations for standard technology -- the company wants to be careful and "do the right thing" in regards to RSS. In one widely publicized case over the branding of an accepted technology standard, Microsoft ended up paying Sun Microsystems $1.9 billion last year to settle a seven-year lawsuit over the software giant's implementation of Java. "I'm fighting that [former] path," Scoble says of Microsoft's careful consideration of how to include and name RSS in its products. "We're just trying to be compliant with everyone here not do something evil." Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: WTO Gives United States Until April 3 to Change Gambling Laws Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:21:53 -0500 A World Trade Organization arbiter on Friday gave the United States until April 3 to comply with a ruling that a ban on Internet gambling services offered by Antigua violates the body's rules. U.S. officials had sought a July deadline. United States Trade Representative's Office press secretary Neena Moorjani said on Friday the USTR would examine the ruling and do its best to accede to the timeframe. But she said the change would not necessarily loosen U.S. restrictions on Internet gambling. The arbiter's decision was the latest stage in a long-running "David against Goliath" case brought by Antigua & Barbuda, a small Caribbean nation that has invested heavily in the electronic gambling industry to boost its economy and job opportunities. A WTO dispute panel and an appeals body both found largely in favor of Antigua's complaint over the ban, which has kept U.S. banks and major Internet search engines from doing business with gambling firms on the island. The arbiter, German trade expert Claus-Dieter Ehlermann, said he recognized the U.S. task would be difficult due to the highly regulated nature of Internet gambling and betting in the United States, but was not convinced a July deadline was needed. Antiguan officials say they are confident the United States will conform, but trade diplomats say Antigua could do little if the legislative changes were not made on time, or at all, other than press the case further within the WTO. "The United States has already announced its intention to comply with the WTO findings," the USTR's Moorjani said. "USTR will not ask Congress to weaken U.S. restrictions on Internet gambling. We had asked for 15 months to comply as it was our reasonable and realistic estimate of the necessary amount of time. But we are studying the arbitrator's award and will do our utmost to comply," she added. WTO countries whose trade partners are found to have failed to implement dispute rulings can be authorized to impose sanctions, usually in the form of extra tariffs, on goods or services from the offending nations. But small countries often find retaliating against the United States is mostly useless; the current U.S. administration largely does as it pleases. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 11:09:11 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #493, August 19, 2005 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 493: August 19, 2005 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/ ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Policy Panel Gets 97 Submissions ** Bell to Trial Next-Gen Wireless 9-1-1 ** Telus Scores Big Win Over Bell ** Videotron Expands Cable Phone Service ** Shaw Says MTS Stalling on Porting Numbers ** Rogers, Bell Launch Cellphone TV ** Bell Boosts DSL Speeds ** Vancouver Exhibition Bars Telus ** Loblaws Offers Private-Label Cellphones ** Avaya Ships Seven Million IP Phones ** One Million in UK Block Telemarketers ** BCI Class Action Suits End ** Survey Shows Rural/Urban Broadband Gap ** Telecom, IT Profits Rise ** Microsoft Releases Anti-Zotob Tool ** Correction ============================================================ POLICY PANEL GETS 97 SUBMISSIONS: This week the Telecom Policy Review Panel received submissions from incumbent telcos, cablecos, other competitors, consumer and business groups, industry associations, and telecom manufacturers, as well as the governments of seven provinces and the Northwest Territories. ** Bell Canada's 1,000-page submission argues that most economic regulation of incumbent telcos is no longer necessary. It says the regulator should have to justify any use of regulation, rather than reliance on market forces, and wants many CRTC activities to be handled instead by competition authorities. It wants the Telecom Act rewritten; in the meantime Cabinet should instruct the CRTC to adhere to seven guidelines outlined by Bell. ** Telus wants regulations relaxed so that incumbents can respond more quickly to market conditions and are not subject to different rules than their competitors. ** Many submissions stress the need to "finish the job" of extending broadband service to all rural communities. ** The range of topics and opinions is much too broad to summarize here: to view all the submissions, go to the Panel's website. www.telecomreview.ca/epic/internet/intprp-gecrt.nsf/en/h_rx00025e.html BELL TO TRIAL NEXT-GEN WIRELESS 9-1-1: Next month Bell Mobility will begin a six-month trial of new GPS-based wireless 9-1-1 technology that can determine a caller's position within 150 meters, for 95% of calls. Bell says about half of its customers' phones, and almost all new mobile phones, have Global Positioning System capability. TELUS SCORES BIG WIN OVER BELL: General Motors of Canada, based in Oshawa, Ontario, has awarded Telus Business Solutions a five-year $11-million contract to provide its IP One hosted IP-based phone service to 5,000 employees, using Nortel's MCS 5200 multimedia platform. VIDEOTRON EXPANDS CABLE PHONE SERVICE: Videotron's VoIP phone service is now available to 825,000 households in Montreal. The Videotron service, priced at $21.95/month, or $15.95 for customers of two other services, already has 62,500 customers in Quebec. (See Telecom Update #466) SHAW SAYS MTS STALLING ON PORTING NUMBERS: Shaw Telecom says Manitoba Tel is rejecting many requests to transfer Winnipeg phone numbers to Shaw, and is telling customers that they cannot move to Shaw's Digital Phone service if they have MTS Internet or TV service. Shaw has asked the CRTC to expedite handling of this issue. www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8622/s61_200509490.htm ROGERS, BELL LAUNCH CELLPHONE TV: Rogers Wireless and Bell Mobility introduced television service over their cellular networks last week, offering sports and news programs. Charge: $25/month (Rogers); $10/month plus usage (Bell). ** In Broadcasting Public Notice 2005-82, the CRTC seeks comment on a regulatory framework to govern such services. Bell, Rogers, and Telus have all argued that their proposed services should be exempt from regulation. Submissions are due September 12. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2005/pb2005-82.htm BELL BOOSTS DSL SPEEDS: Bell Canada is increasing the speed of its High-Speed Ultra DSL service in Ontario and Quebec to 5 Mbps for consumer customers and 6 Mbps for small and medium business customers. VANCOUVER EXHIBITION BARS TELUS: The Pacific National Exhibition, owned by the City of Vancouver, says it will not allow Telus to install, change, or repair equipment on the fair's site during the current strike. LOBLAWS OFFERS PRIVATE-LABEL CELLPHONES: Loblaws stores in Alberta and B.C. now offer a prepaid cellular service under the name President's Choice Mobile. The underlying carrier is Bell Mobility. AVAYA SHIPS SEVEN MILLION IP PHONES: Avaya says it has now shipped more than seven million IP-based telephone lines for business customers worldwide. Synergy Research Group says Avaya has 21% of the global IP telephony market. ONE MILLION IN UK BLOCK TELEMARKETERS: In mid-July the UK phone company BT introduced Telephone Preference Service, similar to the U.S. Do-Not-Call list. Companies are legally prohibited from making unsolicited sales and marketing calls to numbers on the list. In the first four weeks more than one million households signed up -- that's 30,000 a day, one every three seconds. ** Bill C-37, allowing the CRTC to create a Canadian Do Not Call list, was introduced in Parliament last December but has not yet received Second Reading. (See Telecom Update #462) BCI CLASS ACTION SUITS END: Two class action suits against Bell Canada International, BCE, and some BCI directors have been dismissed without payment of damages. As part of the settlement agreement, BCI will pay $3 million towards the plaintiffs' legal costs. SURVEY SHOWS RURAL/URBAN BROADBAND GAP: A survey by TNS Canadian Facts reports two-thirds of Canadian Internet users have high-speed access, but the proportion drops to 22% in communities with less than 10,000 population. The TNS telephone survey concludes that 73% of households now have Internet access. TELECOM, IT PROFITS RISE: A Financial Post DataGroup survey of 50 Canadian telecom service providers shows second quarter profits of $932 million, 22% more than the same period last year. Profits of 45 surveyed IT companies more than quadrupled, to $564 million. (See Telecom Update #482) MICROSOFT RELEASES ANTI-ZOTOB TOOL: The war between security experts and virus writers is escalating fast. On Tuesday August 9, Microsoft released a security patch for Windows 95, 98, ME, NE, 2000 and XP. By Sunday, hackers had reverse-engineered the patch and released a worm, dubbed "Zotob," that attacked customers who hadn't yet installed the patch. And on Tuesday August 17, Microsoft released a Zotob-removal tool. CORRECTION: Contrary to what we reported in Telecom Update #492, Bell's Business IP Voice service provides only single-line phone service, so extension-to-extension calling isn't possible. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== 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 late Friday afternoon each 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 2005 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. 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. ============================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 12:56:44 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Report: IPTV Set-Top Box Market Overcrowded USTelecom dailyLead August 19, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23981&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Report: IPTV set-top box market overcrowded BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Nextel Partners hits back * News Corp. eyes two more Internet buys * Florida carrier embraces VoIP * Philadelphia chooses finalists in bid to build Wi-Fi USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * New in the Telecom Bookstore: Introduction to IP Television EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * WiMAX equipment testing delayed VOIP DOWNLOAD * Some VoIP customers ignore E911 notices * What does the future hold for Skype? * VoIP port shipments up in Q2 REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Singapore presses charges against file-swappers Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=23981&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements Date: 19 Aug 2005 08:12:17 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Lee Sweet wrote: > A bit of reading at Broadband Reports' in the FiOS forum would give a > better picture of life in the real Verizon installation world :-) See > http://www.dslreports.com/forum/vzfiber I've already done quite a bit of reading there lately. > Verizon technically does say all that's been reported about removing > your copper and requiring use of their router, but: > 1. There are many reports that they will leave the original voice > copper if you request it. [....] > 2. There are also many reports that you can have the installers use > the supplied 'mandatory' router to test/bring up the connection, shut > it down, and then use your old router (any router that can do PPPoE), > and be fine. [....] > Also, there have been many discussions at BBR about the battery > backup, All of that is fine, if all you want is Verizon Online/MSN. But, ... The current scenario excludes any competition from non-Verizon ISP's, is 30% more expensive than the current Verizon Online DSL package and precludes running servers of any kind (they block inbound port 80 and port 25). I've been running my own mail and web servers for years. Because I can host my own domain I have nearly 3GB of data available on my web server. I think Verizon will give me 10MB. And my spam blocking is more effective than anything Verizon can offer. All of that goes out the window with Verizon FIOS. Plus I like to support local businesses. I'm willing to pay a premium to not have my support calls go to India. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:28:05 -0400 From: Michael Quinn This FIOS thread reminds me of a guestion I had. Verizon non-technical rep recently told me that we would have to upgrade our wireless router from to 802.11B to G if we went from their DSL to FIOS. She could not explain why; anyone know if that's really the case? I can't see scrapping an entirely good router unnecessarily; I regularly see speeds (according to my IBM laptop wireless monitor) of 11 MBPS, which of course well exceeds my DSL capacity. Regards, Mike ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 19 Aug 2005 08:45:30 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: >> - They will absolutely NOT allow connections to other ISP's over >> the fiber connection, essentially limiting ISP's other than >> MSN to dialup customers. > They stressed this is not a regulated service. As such, they can > charge as they wish and run it as they wish. HOWEVER, anyone else can > run fibre just as they did. The cable company -- while it was still a > small outfit -- obviously was able to run fibre, so the field is open to > others. That is a Straw Man argument. The phone company DSL revenue was/is generated from existing infrastructure that was developed with the benefit of government sponsored monopolies and subsidies. They have an existing revenue and equipment base to support the expansion to fiber. Also, the cable companies that you reference were deploying in a new non-telecom market, also with monopoly protection. It wasn't until recently that they offered Internet or telecom services (I know when they did it, I had one of the first cable Internet connections in the area). > They also need permission to run these lines, they don't have the > automatic ROW of a standard utility. While my _area_ overall has > FIOS, many specific sections do not have FIOS because permission was > not granted by the appropriate parties. I suspect the ROW is grandfathered onto existing ROW agreements used with the existing phone service. They are only deploying into areas that they already serve. > I also want to point out that this magical "competition" is no > guarantee of lower prices....... > Economics include a multitude of factors, one of which is demand. True. But prices only come down when supply EXCEEDS demand. If there is no excess supply then there is no pressure to reduce prices. > In other words, right now many of us have a choice between phone > company DSL and cable company broadband. It just so happens that > prices of those are about the same. If a third provider showed up, do > you really think prices would go down? Not likely as long as demand > remained high. > As mentioned, anyone else can come in and run fibre and provide this > service if they wanted to. You're missing the point. I currently have phone company DSL, and I'm quite happy with it. But I =DON'T= use the phone company ISP. Because the phone company is an infrastructure provider I can choose a different ISP, allowing me to tailor the services to my needs. I even pay a premium for that. What Verizon is doing is eliminating that option, forcing everyone into the FIOS equivilant of Verizon Online/MSN DSL but charging them 30% more for the priviledge. I'd be quite happy even paying inflated rates if I could stay with my current ISP. I, and many like me, am technically experienced enough to manage my own systems and host my own domains. I go out of my way to find an ISP that supports the configuration I want. Verizon is out to kill all of that. When Verizon is through there will be no more Earthlink, no AOL, no EasyStreet .... Because of the way the service is classified they are also free to control what traffic flows on their network. They can block Vonage just as easily as any other service; they can block traffic to "objectionable" web sites. This is not moving in a good direction at all. In article , Steve Sobol wrote: > Now hold on a second. I'm in Apple Valley, California, one of the > market areas where Verizon is rolling out FIOS (no ETA yet). $99 may > be the cheapest price for a connection where you can run servers, but > there ARE less expensive packages available that still give you lots > of speed. This has nothing to do with speed. I'm currently paying Verizon $37/mo for the priviledge of using a 768K/128K DSL circuit that terminates at a local ISP. If all I cared about was speed I'd go with Verizon Online and get 3M/384K DSL for $30/mo. (including ISP charges). > So, I think we'd need to compare apples to apples where cost is > concerned. Many existing fiber and copper broadband providers don't > let you run servers on the cheap connections either. And there are many that do, too. What's your point? My point is that right now I'm free to choose one of the providers that does. Once Verizon squeezes the other ISP's out of the market I won't be able to. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 04:29:36 -0400 (EDT) From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief jmcharry@comcast.net (John McHarry) wrote: > I had a rather large ACH > transfer executed in the wrong direction a while back. The company > that screwed it up managed to straighten it out, but the bank that was > supposed to receive funds, and instead disbursed them, didn't do > squat. What was the bank's response when you asked them to reverse the unauthorized disbursal? > Apparently there is no security in that system beyond trusting > those who are admitted, which is pretty much all the big corporations. Proponents of the system claim that no further security is required because the paying bank is obligated to unwind the transaction upon the account owner's statement that the payment was unauthorized. On the other hand, some people report significant problems getting their money back after unauthorized ACH debits. They can't both be right; hence my question. (I realize that unwinding the transaction would have solved only half of your particular problem, of course.) Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ Date: 19 Aug 2005 15:59:15 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > As far as I know, rumors to the contrary about certain Scandinavian > countries notwithstanding, child pornography is completely illegal > throughout the world. Quite true, but the definition varies significantly at the margins. In the aforementions countries, pictures of nude 17 year olds are legal erotica, in the US they're child porn. Among the bad things about .XXX is that it makes it much easier for governments to shunt indecent content off to a ghetto, for varying local definitions of "indecent". I'm sure there are plenty of places in the U.S. where they'd love to push nasty topics like contraception and homosexuality into .XXX, purely to protect innocent children. R's, John [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do that now, with filtering programs. Filtering, never a perfect solution, now can filter out the sexual topic of women's breasts, but the problem is it cannot seem to understand why 'breast cancer' is not the same thing as 'I love to look at and fantasize on those breasts'. But to the filter writers, what is there that you cannot understand about '.xxx'? If I write a filter and I say that a dot followed by three x's goes no further into my computer, then other things like the context in which 'breasts' or 'sex' or whatever is to be taken becomes a moot point doesn't it? If the real problem that '.xxx' makes writing and main- taining filtering programs too easy? If local communities or govern- ments decide what is to go into '.xxx' it would seem to me that all the fuss over effective and ineffective filtering would go away. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 19 Aug 2005 16:06:43 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > ..., but for Pearl Harbor, the U.S. would /never/ have entered the war. > I suppose that's possible, but it's equally possible that some other > provocation would have been found, even if it had to be manufactured. No question about that. Germany declared war on us, after all. But if we'd waited another year to get into the war, it would have been a much harder war to fight, and the war in western Europe might well have been lost. > warnings of the approaching attack force were provided long in advance, > but that the "top brass" decided not to repel the attack, but rather > just to "ride it out", These theories have been around since about 8 Dec 1941. The standard book on the topic is "At Dawn We Slept," which goes through just about everything you could possibly imagine. The Pearl Harbor disaster was as much as anything a failure of the imagination. A long range carrier based air attack was unprecedented in the history of warfare, and it was quite a trick for the Japanese to pull it off. The US Navy expected ground based sabotage, and that's what they were set up to repel. Oops, that's not what the Japanese did. From the Japanese point of view, Pearl Harbor was a success insofar as it took us quite a while to get the Pacific Navy back up to a point where we could fight them, but it was a disaster in the long run because they greatly underestimated our ability to mobilize a really, really BIG Navy. R's, John [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am glad at least you do not claim like some that 'Pearl Harbor came as a complete surprise'. If you did, I would have told you to check the _Honolulu Advertiser_ newspaper for *Friday, December 5, 1941* (two days before the attack!) when the headline that day was, "Japs May Attack Over Weekend". It was known by the newspaper at least. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: 19 Aug 2005 10:02:21 -0700 Gary Novosielski wrote: > Nice turn of a phrase, but it certainly does not follow. It presumes > that, but for Pearl Harbor, the U.S. would /never/ have entered the war. > I suppose that's possible, but it's equally possible that some other > provocation would have been found, even if it had to be manufactured. The original statement does not make the presumption you claim. It is pointing out that the U.S. was at war with Japan because of Pearl Harbor. We must remember that Pearl Harbor was more than a mere attack. At that time the Japanese were officially engaged in peace negotiations with the U.S. When one is negotiating, one does not make war. The Japanese diplomatic in the U.S. did not break off diplomatic until well after the attack -- which he didn't even know about. That was act of sleaziness by the Japanese government. Anyway, Japan fired the first shot of the war. > Recall that the Tonkin Gulf incident which got us into Vietnam was > manufactured, the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait prior to Gulf War I was all > but instigated by the State department, and the WMD stockpiles that > justified Gulf War II were simply invented out of thin air. First off, the events you cite happened long after WW II under different people in government. Secondly, there are strong arguments justifying all of those events. The Communists were attempting to take over and enslave South Vietnam, as they eventually did -- ask the 'boat people' why they were so willing to risk death in little boats to escape. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait was a fact and not in the world's interest to be allowed to happen. As to the WMD, critics of the Bush Adm claimed Iraq had WMD because the US orginally gave Iraq such weapons years before, so even Bush critics agreed there was WMD and the Clinton Adm said there was WMD. There was no need to "invent" or "manufacture" an incident. Had the US known about the Pearl Harbor attack it could've and would've defended itself. That would've reduced casualties and damage, but there STILL would've been a surprise attack during negotiations and ample justification to go to war. > With these and other (remember the Maine?) pretextual war triggers > confirmed, is it any wonder that Pearl Harbor itself is now the subject > of several conspiracy theories? "Conspiracy theories" have the same basis as ancient myths, such as throwing a virgin into the volcano would appease the gods. They are an attempt to explain the unexplainable or to rationalize bad outcomes we can't bear to believe actually happened. It hurts us to believe we were caught unprepared at Pearl Harbor so we fictionalize excuses and blame. Likewise for the assination of JFK and 9/11. These fictions might make us feel a little better, a little more empowered, but do not change the truth. When things go wrong we look for people to blame when in reality there is no one to blame or the blame belongs to ourselves. People today are upset about skyrocketing gasoline prices, but ignore the fact that we've gone back to buying gas guzzler SUVs, including ones for EVERY kid the minute they get their license. We haven't built any new refineries. So is it really any surprise demand for gas is high against a limited supply? People are always upset about taxes, but they forget about all the tax benefits they receive. I have a friend who constantly rails against "wasteful govt spending". Yet he is a trustee of various volunteer organizations that get quite a few govt grants. Several of his organizations is an lobby aggressively for tax funding of their interests. He gets mad when I point that out to him. I recently passed by my old elementary school and looked inside. They've got computers, air conditioning, a PA system in the auditorium, put brick siding up on ratty 50 year old "temporary" building and other improvements. Class size is smaller than in my day. Anyway, all of these improvements above and beyond when I was a kid costs money from us taxpayers. No one wants to address that issue. A lot of proponents of "conspiracy" claim they know of "secret" information. Well, if it's so "secret", how the heck do they know it? You'd think if there was really a conspiracy going on they'd be especially careful to keep the "secrets" actually secret. Indeed, some of the "secrets" conspirators love to whisper about aren't secret at all. Critics of the a-bomb claim the US "covered up" attempts by Japan to surrender. Actually, there was no coverup whatsoever. Those surrender attempts made the front page of the New York Times at the time they were offered during the war. The conspiracy people don't bother to share the _full text_ of such articles describing exactly what was offered (a cease fire with Japan keeping its military and conquered countries) and why the offer was rejected (we didn't go to war to allow Japan to keep conquered lands and a nasty viscious military; and we certainly didn't allow Germany such goodies). The people who decided to deploy the atomic bombs had overwhelming evidence it was the right thing to do. They knew Japan was run by a viscious and ruthless military dictatorship. They knew the bomb was more than just an efficient weapon using 1 plane instead of 300--it would be a psychological shock. They wanted the war to end quickly to save both American and Japanese lives and keep the Russians out of Japan. The bomb accomplished all of that. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Too bad the people who did not know about the possibility of Pearl Harbor did not read the Honolulu Adver- tiser the Friday before, when its lead story told about the very stong possibility of an attack by 'the Japs, over the weekend'. And although the Japanese had planned the attack for Monday morning, _someone_ neglected to recall the International Date Line. It was late at night Sunday when they started out from Japan; dateline moved it back to Saturday night. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #376 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 20 02:56:09 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 1A87514CA4; Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:56:09 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #377 Message-Id: <20050820065609.1A87514CA4@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:56:09 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: R TELECOM Digest Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:56:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 377 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Jamster Runs up Your Cell Phone Bill and Spams you Also (Martin Bosworth) Sprint, Nextel Nerger (Consumer Affairs) Yet More on FiOS (Lee Sweet) Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC (Fred Atkinson) Two VOIP Boxes On the Same Port (Fred Atkinson) Worm Infects Hospital Systems / Security Breach at MGH (Monty Solomon) Norvergence Again: NYS Att. Gen. Spitzer With More Settlements (Burstein) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (jtaylor) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (Daryl Gibson) Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements (George Berger) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (J Kelly) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Devils PGD) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (Devils PGD) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (Mark Crispin) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Martin H. Bosworth Subject: Jamster Runs up Your Cell Phone Bill and Spams you Also Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 23:36:01 -0500 By Martin H. Bosworth ConsumerAffairs.Com The next time you feel like downloading the latest hot single as a cell phone ring tone, listen carefully. That sound you hear may be your wallet deflating, thanks to charges on your bill from services you didn't even know you were buying. Jamster, a subsidiary of Internet infrastructure provider VeriSign that specializes in custom content for mobile devices, has been accused of defrauding customers into paying for ring tones they didn't authorize, and using deceptive marketing to lure consumers into purchasing its products. One irate customer filed a lawsuit in San Diego alleging that applying for Jamster's "free ring tones" actually result in receiving "junk text" messages that subscribers get charged for. The lawsuit alleges that Jamster would promote free downloadable ring tones to any subscriber who registered with its site or responded to the advertisement by sending a text message with a special code. The subscriber would then receive multiple messages from Jamster stating that its content was available for download. However, the subscriber would be charged for every text message sent from Jamster, at a rate of $1.99 per message plus fees from their wireless carrier. The lawsuit also names wireless providers AT&T Wireless, Cingular and T-Mobile as defendants. SBC Communications, which owns Cingular jointly with BellSouth, is a Verisign client, as was AT&T Wireless prior to its buyout by Cingular. "What we're seeing is a lot of people seeing these ads and thinking they can download a ring tone or wall paper for their phone, and suddenly they're signed up for a subscription," said Kate Hartman, one of the attorneys on the case. Hartman sees Jamster and wireless providers as "using your phone bill like a credit card," automatically charging customers for service without explaining or even identifying what the charges are. Another problem Hartman identified is that many frustrated customers cancel their plans in order to be rid of Jamster, thus incurring heavy "early termination" fees. Not only that, but phone numbers from canceled contracts are recycled and given to new customers, who suddenly have to contend with charges from Jamster without ever having used or encountered the service. Consumer Affairs.Com has received several complaints from cell phone subscribers wondering how they ended up with charges from Jamster on their bills. Leslie C., from Oakland, CA, signed herself and her husband for T-Mobile's Family Share plan, only to find that she received unauthorized charges from Jamster for the first two months. "It outrages me that a ring tone company can send him ring tones and charge [us] without some action required on his part to accept these charges. These charges were never permitted by myself or my husband and seem completely illegal." Steve from Cleveland, OH receives multiple text messages from Jamster on his phone each week. "I have tried e-mailing them through their web site but the spamming does not stop. [There is] no tangible damage, just severe annoyance and frustration over the fact that I have no way to stop getting spammed over and over by the same company." Jamster's terms of service specify that if a user downloads content from the company onto their phone, "you represent that you are at least 13 years of age and have the consent of the subscriber of a participating mobile communications carrier to sign-up for and use the Jamster service on behalf of the subscriber," and that the download constitutes an agreement to use its services. Critics of Jamster contend that the service advertises on teen-oriented television shows and channels such as Nickelodeon and MTV in order to convince young cell phone users to get the "free ring tone." An online petition entitled Stop Jamster.com is filled with tales of woe from defrauded customers, as well as vitriolic sentiment for the company's ubiquitous "Crazy Frog" ad and ring tone. "I'm tired of seeing commercials for stupid, useless add-ons for my phone that no one could possibly ever need.and I want to kil l that stupid frog," fumes one signer. Not only are Jamster clients irate. Cell phone content provider Jamdat Mobile has filed suit against VeriSign alleging infringement on its trademark. Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For more consumer news each day, go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html in the far left column. ------------------------------ From: Consumer Affairs Subject: Sprint, Nextel Complete Merger Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 23:37:46 -0500 Sprint and Nextel have officially completed their $35 billion merger, although subscribers won't see the effects for at least the next few weeks. Sometime next month, subscribers will be able to switch from one provider to the other without paying cancellation fees. Sprint-Nextel . Sprint, Nextel Complete Merger . FCC Clears Sprint, Nextel Merger . Shareholders OK Sprint, Nextel Merger . Sprint and Nextel Make It Official . Sprint, Nextel Merger May Be Next . Verizon In Bid For Sprint? Also, customers whose plans include free in-network calling will be able to call free to both Sprint and Nextel customers sometime next month, the company said. The merger solidifies Sprint Nextel's hold on the #3 position among U.S. wireless carriers with 44 million subscribers. It trails No. 2 Verizon Wireless, with 45.5 million subscribers, and No. 1 Cingular Wireless, with more than 50 million subscribers. The merger creates a company with 80,000 employees nationwide. In a blow to the Kansas City area, where Sprint has been located since its founding, the new entity's headquarters will be in Reston, Va., where Nextel got its start. The new company will maintain its operations center in suburban Overland Park, Kansas. Sprint Nextel will concentrate on the wireless business, selling off the local telephone businesses Sprint operates in 18 states. The local telephone business has been steadily losing subscribers while Sprint and Nextel have each grown their wireless businesses nearly 10 percent in the eight months since the merger was announced. Sprint Nextel's combined networks cover approximately 268 million people. Sprint was founded in 1899 by Cleyson Brown under the Brown Telephone Company name in the small town of Abilene, Kansas. It was a landline telephone company that operated as a competitor to the Bell System. In the mid 20th century, Brown changed its name to United Utilities. That company changed its name to United Telecommunications in 1972, as it began to offer a more diversified product range. In 1986, the company launched its long distance services under the Sprint brand name. As more people became familiar with the Sprint name, the company changed its from United to Sprint Corporation in 1992. In 1995, the company began to offer wireless service under the Sprint PCS brand. NEXTEL was founded as FleetCall in 1987, promoting its "push-to-talk" feature. It changed its name to NEXTEL Communications in 1993. Copyright 2005 ConsumerAffairs.com NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. See far left hand column for consumer news. ------------------------------ From: Lee Sweet Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 17:41:40 -0400 Subject: Yet More on FiOS John's comments are quite true, I believe, *if* you are in an area where you are "forced" to get VZN fiber. If you aren't required to get the fiber, and want to use another ISP in order to run your own local servers, I'd retain the copper so you have the option to use another ISP that is more flexible. In VZN's defense (can't believe I'm saying that ...), I do see why they have blocks on inbound port 80 (for web servers) and the like, because of the high upload bandwidth of the fiber network (2 Mb mimimum?), if they didn't, *everyone* would be running servers. Now, as for the storage limitations, for example, I don't use my current ISP (a mix of VZN DSL and Adelphia Cable) for anything except 'connectivity', and don't expect to use FiOS otherwise. I use Dreamhost; for $9.95 a month, I get two domains, all the email addresses I could want, webmail access for when I'm away from home, gigabytes of storage, tons of things I don't use, and even a shell account on their machine. Very sastified customer here! (See http://www.dreamhost.com for details.) On Michael's question, I assume this is the same point I raised, and the VZN reps are really talking about the fact that they 'give' you a new combo router-wireless-access-point. As I remarked, you can have the installers shut that one down after they test it, and then you put the PPPoE login/password into your old router, and you are good to go. The CSRs, as we all well know, usually don't have a clue beyond what's on the screen in front of them and say things like "you have to use", when they mean "normally it's the case that you do this when you don't know any better". > Subject: Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements > Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 10:28:05 -0400 > From: Michael Quinn > This FIOS thread reminds me of a guestion I had. Verizon non-technical > rep recently told me that we would have to upgrade our wireless router > from to 802.11B to G if we went from their DSL to FIOS. She could not > explain why; anyone know if that's really the case? I can't see > scrapping an entirely good router unnecessarily; I regularly see speeds > (according to my IBM laptop wireless monitor) of 11 MBPS, which of > course well exceeds my DSL capacity. > Regards, > Mike Lee Sweet Datatel, Inc. Manager of Telephony Services and Information Security How higher education does business. Voice: 703-968-4661 Cell: 703-932-9425 Fax: 703-968-4625 lee@datatel.com www.datatel.com ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:23:19 -0400 I recently moved to Sylva, NC to work in nearby Cullowhee, NC (it's about a fifteen minute drive (tops) between the two places). Our local calling area is between three small cities, Sylva, Cullowhee, and Cashiers. Anything outside that zone is long distance for us. I acquired Voicepulse VOIP service when I moved here. They offered Sylva and Cashiers, NC telephone exchanges. I got a Sylva number on the 534 exchange. It's been working fine. Today, I tried to dial into my home number from work so I could check my voicemail. I dialed 9 and then 53 and got no farther. It retuned a busy signal. We tried it from several different phones and got the same results. I called the telecom guys and told them of this dilemna. Despite the fact that I had explained about it being from a VOIP provider, he asked me several times if it was a Verizon exchange. I told him no, it wasn't. It was a special services exchange in the Sylva, NC area. He told me he couldn't get it added to the switch without going through a bunch of hoops (a number of people had to sign off on it). I couldn't believe it. All he should have to do is call their provider and confirm that it is a local exchange. Meantime, my colleagues cannot call me at home (from work) when a need arises. Bureaucracy at its best. Regards, Fred [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You should have just told him "yes, it is a local number; a new exchange just opened in the past year or so." As soon as you got into the discussion about it being VOIP and a 'special services exchange' you probably shorted out his little one-volt brain. I had an _identical_ situation several years ago. A place where I was working had a Rolm PBX. A new exchange was started in Chicago and I had a phone on it. The PBX guy was a real bureaucrat also and knew little or nothing about the repair/maintainence/programming of it. Naturally he assumed everyone else in the office was too dumb to know anything about it also. I told him three or four times that particular exchange (312-836) should be added, but of course he knew so much better than me. I had various phone numbers I could use, but I decided one day the only one I would put on company records was that 312-836 number. I knew it would only be a matter of time until _someone_ in authority around there needed to reach me, and _they_ would be the one to come down hard on this idiot -- which I had no authority to do. Sure enough, it took two or three weeks, but one day I got a phone call from the office manager asking if I could come in that evening and do a special job for him. And he was calling me, with an angry tone of voice from a payphone down the street somewhere when he could not get through on his office phone. A couple days later, the Rolm PBX had been reprogrammed to dial 312-836 numbers. So Fred, why don't you consider making that VOIP number the _only_ number on file for you with the company. Back them into a corner and _someone_ will get the bureaucatic nonsense eliminated there. Give them no alternate numbers, no easy way to ignore the problem. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Two VOIP Boxes on the same port Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:29:31 -0400 As I've previously mentioned, I've just moved from Columbia, SC to Sylva, NC. I took my Vonage phone (Columbia number) with me and got a new VOIP phone from Voicepulse (Sylva, NC number). I've got both of them connected to my Cisco 831 router via Ethernet cables. I've been having some problems getting fast busies when dialing. I hang up and dial it a second time and it goes through. Voicepulse was not able to sort it out so I contacted Sipura, who was the manufacturer of the VOIP adapter (Sipura 3000). Sipura said that having two VOIP devices on a single router can be a problem. To fix it, they said that you have to change the SIP port on one of them. Typically, I believe they said that it was on port 5061 and 5062. They suggested changing one of them to 5063 or above. I called Voicepulse and asked them to make the change. They said that wasn't possible. I spoke with the supervisor there. He said that their system wouldn't accomodate me using a different SIP port from the one I have now. Can the VOIP experts on here sort this out? To expand upon my system, I have a Cisco 831 home/office router connected to Mediacom cablemodem. Each VOIP device is plugged directly into an Ethernet port on the router. Is Sipura's story plausible? How likely is it that Voicepulse is telling the truth about not being able to change the SIP port to communicate with their system? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Fred ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:23:46 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Worm Infects Hospital Systems / Security Breach at MGH, Brigham By Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff The computer worm that struck systems around the nation over the last week breached security at Partners HealthCare Systems Inc. and infected 800 computers at four of its five acute-care hospitals, including Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's in Boston. Partners called the breach 'modest' and said it did not appear to have affected patient care or compromised medical records. The healthcare network has 55,000 computerized devices connected to its systems. Responding to an alert of a vulnerability last week by Microsoft Corp., Partners computer experts had already installed preventive measures on the most sensitive records systems by the time the worm attacked Saturday night, said John Glaser, Partners chief information officer. The systems affected were lower in priority, including computers used in research and in the human resources department, he said. The worm caused the computers to repeatedly reboot on their own, but did not destroy data. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/08/19/worm_infects_hospital_systems/ ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Norvergence Again ... NYS Att. Gen. Spitzer With More Settlements Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 20:57:56 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced settlements with four additional financial institutions in connection with widespread telecommunications fraud involving NorVergence, Inc., a bankrupt New Jersey-based telecommunications company. Under the terms of the newly announced agreements, BB&T Leasing Company, Interchange Bank, R-G Crown Bank (d/b/a Crown Bank Leasing), and National Penn Leasing Company, will forgive $2.8 million (90% of the balances on outstanding leases) in payments due from 111 New York customers, who signed long-term contracts with NorVergence .... ... rest of press release gives the sordid Norvergence history we all know so well and lists various other leasing companies who've joined in the write-offs, as well as a few who still haven't ... http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/aug/aug18a_05.html _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I'll tell you, it really feels good to see all those stupid, sleazy financial houses having to get their noses rubbed in their own messes, doesn't it? They all thought they were _so_ smart, that they could rely on that 'holder in due course' argument and force everyday business people to have to pay for _their_ mistakes in not evaluating the paper they were agreeing to take on. I wonder how many salesmen (in that business, a 'salesman' is the person who brings in new business to the company) who were originally rewarded with fancy dinners and bonuses for the 'great new account' they brought the company (in this case Norvergence was their client) have since been fired and sent packing for in effect causing the house to have to write off millions of dollars at the government's 'request' to avoid getting sued -- same as the house would have sued the poor debtor who stood up for his rights had not the government gone to bat for them. I hope they learned from this lesson, and I hope at least a few will go under from the write offs they had to take. PAT] ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 20:07:24 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service wrote in message news:telecom24.376.12@telecom-digest.org: > We must remember that Pearl Harbor was more than a mere attack. At > that time the Japanese were officially engaged in peace negotiations > with the U.S. When one is negotiating, one does not make war. The > Japanese diplomatic in the U.S. did not break off diplomatic until well > after the attack -- which he didn't even know about. That was act of > sleaziness by the Japanese government. No, it was not "sleaziness". The Japanese government fully intended to stop the peace negotiations before the attack occured, but the diplomatic staff at the Japanese emabssy was too slow decoding the message sent from Japan. And it's a diplomat's job to do whatever his government tells him to, regardless of whether or not he knows its intentions in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 21:03:47 -0700 From: Daryl Gibson Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Too bad the people who did not know > about the possibility of Pearl Harbor did not read the Honolulu Adver- > tiser the Friday before, when its lead story told about the very stong > possibility of an attack by 'the Japs, over the weekend'. True, the allies had been expecting an attack, but most people thought it would be at Wake or the Phillipines. Who knows what the Advertiser story said, or where they got their information. Because the United States was intercepting and reading the Japanese diplomatic ciphers, they knew something was coming. Should Kimmel have kept his eyes open? Should Short have expected an attack? Certainly ... but they didn't. They seem to have been moderately incompetent. If they had any idea that the attack was going to happen that day, they wouldn't have been on their way to a golf game when the attack happened. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's note, continued: > And although the Japanese had planned the attack for Monday morning, > _someone_ neglected to recall the International Date Line. It was > late at night Sunday when they started out from Japan; dateline > moved it back to Saturday night. PAT] This is just plain silly. Yes, the Japanese consider December 8, 1941 the day of the attack -- it was that day in Japan. But the Japanese navy *planned* on attacking on Sunday morning -- when the fleet's guard was down. And the planes took off from carriers a hundred miles or so away from Hawaii, not from Japan! If you want to read more about this, try the aforementioned book, Nakamoto's biography, or even the movie Tora Tora Tora. As far as the Kuwait attack, the State Department did not set it up -- unless you assume that they intentionally stationed a stupid diplomatic officer in Iraq. When questioned about how the United States felt about "border skirmishes among the Arabs," she reportedly told them that the United States didn't care about border skirmishes. The Iraqis considered it a border skirmish -- for whatever reason. Obviously, the rest of the world didn't. People are going to see idiotic conspiracies anyway -- but most of the things that are cited are the result of a mix of stupidity and carelessness. Daryl ------------------------------ From: George Berger Subject: Re: More on Verizon FioS Requirements Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:12:59 -0400 Organization: Heller Information Services And, those of us who use Macs are automatically cut out, as Verizon/MSN does not support Macs -- and why anyone using Macs, especially Panther / Tiger would want to fool with MSN really doesn't compute. I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -- Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman (attributed) ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:10:44 -0500 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@*newsguy.com A few months back some dirtbag got ahold of my debit card number. No idea how. They debit $500 to a poker website. I caught it within 24 hours and had the bank to a hot card. I was told that FDIC rules require the bank to CLOSE an account in which any of the imformation is known to have been compromised. I'm curious why they didn't close your account, especially since physical checks were stolen. Of course, if they did, and you opened a new account the info would be compromised as soon as you write a new check. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The sneak thief got two of my _original_ boxes of checks, numbered 101 through 125 and 126 through 150. They had never been opened, since it is very rare that I ever write a manual check. The guy did not get my debit card or any access to my bank account otherwise. The bank manager simply noted my account 'no manual checks ever written on this account' and said she would watch my account for a few days in case Walmart (or some other store of that ilk) had gotten a check. No word on that yet, so maybe they did not take a check, since the thief would have not had any of my identification anyway, which Walmart (hopefully) would have insisted on but local merchants probably would not have required since so many of them know me and the missing checks _were_ imprinted with my address and phone number (but not my SSN). PAT] ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 23:07:12 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message Dan Lanciani wrote: > jmcharry@comcast.net (John McHarry) wrote: >> I had a rather large ACH >> transfer executed in the wrong direction a while back. The company >> that screwed it up managed to straighten it out, but the bank that was >> supposed to receive funds, and instead disbursed them, didn't do >> squat. > What was the bank's response when you asked them to reverse the > unauthorized disbursal? >> Apparently there is no security in that system beyond trusting >> those who are admitted, which is pretty much all the big corporations. > Proponents of the system claim that no further security is required > because the paying bank is obligated to unwind the transaction upon > the account owner's statement that the payment was unauthorized. On > the other hand, some people report significant problems getting their > money back after unauthorized ACH debits. They can't both be right; > hence my question. (I realize that unwinding the transaction would > have solved only half of your particular problem, of course.) Just because the bank is obligated doesn't mean they'll make it easy or fun. Ultimately you'll get your money back, but the hassle makes it sometimes not worth the pain. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 23:07:12 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to John Levine : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do that now, with filtering > programs. Filtering, never a perfect solution, now can filter out > the sexual topic of women's breasts, but the problem is it cannot > seem to understand why 'breast cancer' is not the same thing as 'I > love to look at and fantasize on those breasts'. But to the filter > writers, what is there that you cannot understand about '.xxx'? If > I write a filter and I say that a dot followed by three x's goes no > further into my computer, then other things like the context in which > 'breasts' or 'sex' or whatever is to be taken becomes a moot point > doesn't it? If the real problem that '.xxx' makes writing and main- > taining filtering programs too easy? If local communities or govern- > ments decide what is to go into '.xxx' it would seem to me that all > the fuss over effective and ineffective filtering would go away. PAT] Sure *IF* the whole world decided what goes into .xxx, everybody agreed AND everybody played nice. BUT ... Even ignoring the fact that defining what belongs in .xxx is impossible (what's obscene? What's pornographic? In the middle east, a women without a head covering is probably pornographic. In the US, Janet Jackson's nipple was obviously a problem. In Europe, a photo of a topless 17 year old isn't obscene) there is another issue: You can't even get Russian web hosts to terminate child porn which is illegal virtually everywhere, so what do you think the odds are they'll give a damn about a nipple? At the end of the day the only workable solution is to create an restrictive/exclusive .kids or .family (or whatever gTLD would be appropriate) and set restrictions on that TLD which are enforced by the registry/registrars responsible and don't require cooperation of *everybody* [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So tell me what makes .kids or .family any different than .sex except for the direction it goes? And what do you propose to do with the people who say 'what right have you got to tell me what is appropriate for my family/kids? You would not want to settle for enforcement standards on that (family/kids) any more than you would want to try and enforce it for .sex so what is the difference? We also presently have 'K12' or 'K-12' do we not? I wonder how they ever got _that one_ through, given the guys on the net always dragging their red-herrings out? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 18:04:08 -0700 Organization: Networks & Distributed Computing Pat writes: > If local communities or governments decide what is to go into '.xxx' it > would seem to me that all the fuss over effective and ineffective > filtering would go away. Everybody: Please read RFC 3675 before commenting further on this subject. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To make it easy for readers to find this _fascinating document_ that Mark refers to I am providing a link here: http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3675.html sub-titled '.sex considered dangerous', it is an interesting sermon-length document which explains why the author has such hatred and bias against a TLD known as '.sex' All the author's objections could likewise be applied to '.com' or '.org' or '.edu' as well, and if a couple of guys here in this mailing list are to be believed, '.org' is free to be (and I will suggest, is) abused at present. A finer collection of red-herrings you'll not find anywhere than those presented in RFC 3675. Thanks for pointing it out, Mark. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #377 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 20 16:30:22 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 74550154AF; Sat, 20 Aug 2005 16:30:21 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #378 Message-Id: <20050820203021.74550154AF@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 16:30:21 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, DRUGS_ERECTILE autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 20 Aug 2005 16:30:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 378 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Opening Pandora's Inbox (Economist Newspaper Group) Linux or Windows: TCO Comparison (Laura DiDio) Microsoft Working to Fix Browser Flaw (Elizabeth Gillespie) Mediacom (Fred Atkinson) Re: Customs Computer Virus Strands Passengers (David Clayton) Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC (Fred Atkinson) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Dan Lanciani) Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s (Paul Coxwell) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (Mark Crispin) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (DevilsPGD) Last Sad Laugh: Porno Spam: new.site.p0rn0..ch|ldren$ (hongli@levitte.org) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Economist Newspaper Group Subject: Opening Pandora's Inbox Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 12:34:22 -0500 From The Economist Global Agenda Microsoft has reached a settlement with one of the world's leading spammers which includes a payment of $7m to the software giant. Despite legal and technological challenges, spamming is still a big problem. And a new form of the scourge could prove even more costly to the unwary. FOR overweight lovers of pornography in need of a cheap loan or a "boost", the offers of slimming pills, Viagra, smut and the like that flood into e-mail inboxes around the world are a positive boon. For most consumers and businesses, however, "spam" has grown over the past few years from a mere nuisance into a costly and time-consuming threat. On Tuesday August 9th, business fought back. Microsoft's case against Scott Richter ended in victory for the software giant after the "spam king" agreed to pay $7m to settle charges relating to a lawsuit filed in 2003 against his internet firm, OptInRealBig. Microsoft alleged that Mr Richter's firm had sent up to 38 billion unsolicited commercial e-mails a year, offering anything from loans to herbal remedies. Once described as the world's leading spammer, Mr. Richter claims that his firm has since cleaned up its act and now only sends offers to customers that want them. Microsoft was joined in the action by Eliot Spitzer, who for once took the side of big business (albeit in a battle with another, more unpopular business). The software giant and New York's crusading attorney-general are not alone in wanting to stamp out spam. Other big technology firms, internet service providers, affected companies and governments have all taken action of various kinds against spammers. There are even some suggestions that the battle against unwanted e-mail is finally being won. The volume of spam increased alarmingly over much of the past few years. In 1997, the world's e-mail users could expect on average one unsolicited spam message a week. By the end of 2000, spam accounted for some 10% of global e-mail traffic. Steadily that proportion increased to a high of an astounding 95% in July 2004, according to MessageLabs, a message-security firm. Since then, the level has fallen to just below 70%. But though some may count this as a victory of sorts, spam still accounts for a greater share of worldwide e-mail traffic than it did when federal anti-spam regulation was introduced in America-where much spam originates and is received-some 18 months ago. Despite Bill Gates's declaration in 2004 that spam would soon be a thing of the past, it is clearly a vast problem that is not going away. And it is costly as well as inconvenient and annoying. Ferris Research, a consulting firm, estimates that spam will cost American businesses alone $17 billion this year in lost productivity and in spending on anti-spam measures; sending spam, on the other hand, is virtually costless. America Online (AOL) says that at any time between a third and two-thirds of its server capacity is taken up by spam (though the firm noted a decline in 2004). Some spam messages contain computer viruses that wreak havoc with the recipients' hard drives. Others contain scams that cost gullible readers in more embarrassing ways. Mr. Richter's case is only the latest in a series of prosecutions that have led to fines and prison sentences for junk e-mailers in America and elsewhere. Microsoft has joined forces with AOL, Yahoo! and EarthLink to bring legal actions against spammers. In the past two years, Microsoft has filed over 100 lawsuits in America, and either initiated or supported legal action against spammers in 30 cases abroad, of which it has won or favourably settled over half. And sentences for spamming can be stiff. In April, Jeremy Jaynes, considered among the world's top-ten spammers, got a nine-year prison sentence in America for using false e-mail addresses and aliases to send mass e-mails (though the sentence was suspended pending an appeal). But spammers are an elusive bunch. Following the introduction of America's anti-spam CAN-SPAM Act in January 2004, junk e-mailing fell briefly but then shot up again (see chart). Some spammers, acting illegally by sending messages via third-party "proxies", simply moved abroad. Furthermore, the act gave spammers a let-out: its authors, lobbied hard by legitimate marketing companies, agreed that spamming could still be deemed legal as long as recipients were able to remove themselves from mailing lists, and senders did not mislead them about the origin of the mail. In Europe, too, new measures have been of limited help. The European Union introduced tougher legislation shortly before America. This required explicit consent from recipients before spam could be sent but has proved largely ineffective as a deterrent. As a result, internet users have been taking matters into their own hands using blocking technology, and deterrence methods which are improving all the time. Around 90% of all spam is caught by filters these days. But spam still clogs servers, to the chagrin of internet service providers and IT departments. Internet users then often times work on that which is left manually, using methods a few other Internet users claim is 'illegal' or 'unethical'. Phishing for victims The recent decline in the amount of spam may just reflect a realisation on the part of spammers that they need to be more selective now that filters will trap the most obvious unsolicited offers. And a troubling development is the increased incidence of "phishing", a form of fraudulent spamming that can be extremely costly to victims. Phishers send out millions of e-mails in an attempt to steal personal and financial-account details from unsuspecting dupes. These e-mails purport to come from reputable businesses and contain links to websites where recipients are asked to divulge bank and credit-card details. The fraudsters can then use this information to steal cash from their victims. One recent attempt mimicked eBay's website. Another, similar fraud involves spam e-mails carrying hidden software that sends details of the recipient's computer use to criminals, often using key-logging software that notes passwords or keyed-in bank details. Despite the modest successes in the war on spam, it is here to stay. The type of cross-border legal action that is necessary to rope in spammers is notoriously hard to organise, and jurisdictions that are willing to turn a blind eye to spammers will be impossible to police. Technology may yet provide an answer beyond blocking technology. Microsoft and other big technology firms are currently tussling over the best standard for authentication technologies that verify the origins of e-mails and will provide added protection in the future. They have their work cut out. Old-style spamming may, perhaps, be coming under control. But for the enterprising miscreant, spamming-based computer crime is a growth industry. Copyright 2005 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, Economist Newspapers and Economist Group. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Laura DiDio Subject: Linux vs. Windows: TCO Comparison Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 12:35:24 -0500 Laura DiDio, newsfactor.com With no apologies to the partisans and protagonists on either side of the Linux-versus-Windows debate: It's not an either-or, all-or-nothing proposition. There are technical and business advantages and disadvantages for both operating-system environments. Neither server system will consume the other. Both will coexist. The big question currently confronting corporate users is whether harmonious heterogeneity is possible. It had better be. If it is not forthcoming, everyone -- corporate end users and vendors alike -- stands to lose. Here's where things stand now: Microsoft's Windows commands 65 to 70 percent of the server operating system market, while the Linux share stands at 15 to 20 percent. Currently, Linux server shipments represent the fastest-growing segment of the market. No Basis for Mass Switch Yankee Group recently completed an extensive total cost of ownership (TCO) comparison report in which it polled 500 North American corporations on their use of Windows and Linux. The high-level findings show that there is no universal clear-cut TCO basis to compel the corporate masses to do a wholesale switch from Windows to Linux as there is for a migration from Unix to Linux. And there is no indication that users are replacing Windows with Linux. The majority of wholesale defections to Linux continues to come at the expense of midrange Unix installations, although many organizations are installing Linux as an OS that is complementary to existing Windows servers. Nearly two-thirds of Windows environments now have Linux or some other open-source distribution present in their environments. This trend will continue. The report also indicates that businesses continue to expand the ways they use Linux. More than 50 percent of corporations now use Linux as multipurpose servers to perform several functions, including serving Web pages, e-mail and applications. But, contrary to what the headlines would have us believe, the biggest threat to Microsoft's continued dominance, at present, is not Linux. It is older versions of Windows. The biggest threat to Linux is not Microsoft, but rather integration and interoperability issues among the various Linux and open-source distributions and applications. The lack of enterprise-level application support and documentation for the aforementioned software packages also is an issue. Energy and Enthusiasm Pragmatism -- not misguided passion -- should decide whether Linux, Windows, Unix or any combination of the three is the best solution for an individual organization. Don't get me wrong. I applaud the passion of the software developers and I.T. administrators who pour their time, effort, energy and enthusiasm into their work. But I abhor it when the passion disintegrates into mudslinging and counterproductive internecine warfare. That does not help the business or any of the corporation's end users. To put it simply, both Windows and Linux have much to recommend them. Largely, server operating systems have been commoditized. A corporation's TCO and ROI are less factors of the underlying Linux or Windows operating systems than they are of the applications and services that support the server platforms. The most startling revelation coming out of the report was the fact that more than 50 percent of the respondents said they had performed a thorough TCO analysis. But when asked to calculate their specific Linux and Windows capital expenditure and maintenance costs, 75 percent, on average, could not answer explicit questions about their own environments. Crucial, Basic TCO Information Businesses lack basic, crucial TCO information, such as the cost of a Linux or Windows server upgrade and what they are spending on network management, third-party applications, tools, utilities, ongoing maintenance, security, systems downtime, calls to the help desk and hardware and software breaks and fixes. The absence of such crucial financial information makes it difficult for corporations to make informed purchasing decisions and heightens risks when choosing technologies that are ill-suited to their business needs. It is clear that Linux servers, spurred by support from Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, Red Hat and others, are legitimate contenders in the corporate enterprise. But Linux desktops have yet to make a perceptible impact or gain traction in mainstream enterprise accounts. It also is clear that Microsoft recognizes the Linux challenge posed by its old and new foes. The company has responded positively and aggressively to meet the challenge. Ironically, Linux has had a positive impact on Windows. Faced with its fiercest competitor in the past decade, Microsoft responded with a series of aggressive moves. Competition creates a win-win situation for everyone. Corporate customers get better products, services and more competitive pricing as Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and the various Linux distributors compete for their business. Rival vendors improve the inherent performance, reliability, security and scalability of their core offerings. Maximizing Network Potential There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all operating system that is right for every scenario in every environment. Depending on a corporation's business needs, current and planned technology infrastructure, and capital-expenditure budgets, either Windows, Linux or some combination of the two might best suit the firm's technology needs, budget and business goals. But the brand name is less important than the overarching issues associated with whether corporate I.T. managers, CTOs and CIOs can answer specific questions about the cost and efficiency of their existing network infrastructure and the reasons for the relative strengths and weaknesses. If you do not know what is on your network, if you cannot at least estimate the hourly, monthly or yearly cost of downtime, if you do not know how long it takes to recover from a security outage, if you cannot answer questions about the extent of your company's license compliance, then you cannot truly evaluate whether Linux, Windows or Unix is right for your business. Chances are, if you cannot answer most or all of those questions, it does not matter what operating system you have because ignorance of the core TCO tenets means that your business is not getting the most out of its networks. It is incumbent on individual organizations to determine which operating system -- or combination thereof -- best suits their firm's technology needs, budgets and business goals. With proper planning, training and due diligence, Linux, Windows or Unix can provide the best TCO and fastest ROI. Companies that fail to perform due diligence are buying blind and will almost surely suffer the consequences. Laura DiDio is a Research Fellow at Yankee Group, a Boston-based consultancy. She has covered operating systems and related security issues for 18 years as an analyst, reporter and editor. Copyright 2005 NewsFactor Network, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, NewsFactor Network, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Elizabeth M. Gillespie Subject: Microsoft Working1< to Fix Browser Flaw Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 12:34:53 -0500 By ELIZABETH M. GILLESPIE, AP Business Writer Microsoft Corp. was working Friday to come up with a fix for a flaw in its Internet Explorer browser that could let hackers gain remote access to computer systems through malicious Web sites. A patch was not immediately available, though security experts played down the risk. "If the user doesn't browse a malicious Web site, then the user isn't even under attack," said Gerhard Eschelbeck, chief technology officer at Qualys Inc., a security company based in Redwood Shores, Calif. Stephen Toulouse, a program manager for the software maker's Security Response Center, said the component that's the root of the problem does not come standard in the Windows operating system. In an update to a security advisory the company had issued the day before, Microsoft said Friday that machines running Visual Studio 2002 without the Service Pack 1 update, or Office 2003 with Service Pack 3, could be vulnerable. Microsoft said it knew of no customers who had been attacked. The company urged Internet users to be careful about opening up Web links in e-mails and said it would release a security update once it had completed its investigation. Thursday's advisory came after a French security research team published a "proof-of-concept exploit" showing how hackers could take advantage of the vulnerability. Without referring to the exploit specifically, Microsoft said the flaw "was not disclosed responsibly, potentially putting computer users at risk." The disclosure came just days after a series of computer worms, programmed to take advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's Windows operating system, caused delays in operations at big companies and government offices. On the Net: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/906267.mspx Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For up to the minute Associated Press News Reports and headlines, go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So ... they claim 'no harm to the small individual at a computer; just do not open any email attachments which look suspicious.' Well, gee, that's good to know; what about the tons of email spam each day which was sent under phalse pretenses using a misleading subject line? I expect a lot of users will get this latest virus as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Mediacom Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 10:06:36 -0400 Folks, Since I've become a Mediacom customer, I've discovered that they require seven users to make a request for a new newsgroup on their mailserver. Since I'm new in the area and don't know any other Mediacom users as yet, that presents a problem. I'm hoping there are a handful of other Mediacom subscribers on here. If you are, please send me an email at fatkinson@mishmash.com. I'd like to get enough of us together so that if one or more of us are interested in getting a new newsgroup added, we can find strength in numbers to achieve that end. Specifically, Kyler suggested I post my previous question on the comp.dcom.voice-over-ip since that would be more appropriate for that post anyway. Can't do it because comp.dcom.voice-over-ip is not on the Mediacom news server. And Medicom won't do it without six other users wanting it. Hope to hear from those of you who are Mediacom customers. Thanks, Fred [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does comp.dcom.voice-over-ip have a _mailing list_ as well as a newsgroup? If so, then try to reach them in email as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: Re: Customs Computer Virus Strands Passengers Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 10:03:33 +1000 On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 13:23:34 -0500, Lisa Orkwin Emmanuel wrote: > By LISA ORKIN EMMANUEL, Associated Press Writer > Travelers arriving in the United States from abroad were stuck in long > lines at airports nationwide when a virus shut down an U.S. Customs and > Border Protection computer system for several hours, officials said. How long until some custom-written "virus" is written to erase (or alter) the records of the sort of people that these systems are supposed to identify? With so many obvious holes and vulnerabilities in these systems that governments are purporting to use to protect the people from terrorism etc., one wonders if it truly is one big con-job given the "bad guys" could infiltrate a lot of these systems if they truly desired to? Regards, David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@XYZ.myrealbox.com Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Remove the "XYZ." to reply) Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a measure of how many questions you have. ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 06:57:56 -0400 > So Fred, why don't you consider making that VOIP number the _only_ > number on file for you with the company. Back them into a corner and > _someone_ will get the bureaucatic nonsense eliminated there. Give > them no alternate numbers, no easy way to ignore the problem. PAT] Well, that same guy called me at home last night. He apparently rang and hung up before I could speak to him. I used *69 to ring him back. He told me that he had test dialed my number on an outside line and it worked. He said he was waiting for his supervisor to tell him what to do about it. Actually, that is the only number I can be reached at at home (save my 800 number, which I'm obviously not going to give them). I circulated a memo to those in authority making them aware of the situation. I didn't want them upset when they found out about it on the spur of a moment. On another note, I used to program Rolm PBX and voicemail systems. Once you got the drift of what was going on, programming those things was never difficult. I was never Rolm certified. I learned it on the job from a couple of other certified folks. When I asked about becoming certified, they said they felt I was already at a level where sending me to school for certification was kind of pointless. Oh, well. Regards, Fred ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 04:28:07 EDT From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief spamsucks@crazyhat.net (DevilsPGD) wrote: >> jmcharry@comcast.net (John McHarry) wrote: >> I had a rather large ACH transfer executed in the wrong direction a >> while back. The company that screwed it up managed to straighten it >> out, but the bank that was supposed to receive funds, and instead >> disbursed them, didn't do squat. > What was the bank's response when you asked them to reverse the > unauthorized disbursal? >> Apparently there is no security in that system beyond trusting >> those who are admitted, which is pretty much all the big corporations. > Proponents of the system claim that no further security is required > because the paying bank is obligated to unwind the transaction upon > the account owner's statement that the payment was unauthorized. On > the other hand, some people report significant problems getting their > money back after unauthorized ACH debits. They can't both be right; > hence my question. (I realize that unwinding the transaction would > have solved only half of your particular problem, of course.) > Just because the bank is obligated doesn't mean they'll make it easy > or fun. Ultimately you'll get your money back, but the hassle makes > it sometimes not worth the pain. That's an easy way to resolve the apparent conflict in stories, but I would still like to hear the details on one or more specific incidents from the actual participants. Again, defenders of the system claim that all you have to do is affirm to the bank that the transaction was unauthorized in order for it to be reversed. It isn't obvious how a bank can make an affirmation _that_ painful. I can see them requiring a particular form and maybe a notary and/or having you swear before a witness or such. But if they require much beyond that then the proponents' assertion is clearly false. In particular, if by "ultimately" you mean after the consumer has taken the bank to court and won and the bank has exhausted all appeals then as a practical matter I would say that the bank is not so obligated. :( On the flip side, people have complained about losing significant sums to ACH scams (such people may be making up these stories, of course) and one would assume that it would have been worth at least some hassle for them to get the bank to reverse the transaction. Something just doesn't add up, so I'd still like to hear how the bank responded in this case. Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 17:12:51 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Classic Six-Button Keysets - Cost During 1970s > And something I've always wondered about is the use of multiple lines > in countries outside of the US such as in Europe and in Asia. Often > I'd see numbers advertised or on signage on the order of 123456/7 > meaning that you could reach that business by dialing either 123456 or > 123457. Does this mean that these step-by-step/Strowger or other > electromechanical exchanges did not have trunk hunt and that this is > just a North American "invention." I can't think of any other reason > for listing for the public both numbers if they were sequential other > than the facility for automatic trunk hunt was not available. Hunt groups were certainly used in the British PSTN when it was mostly SxS. All it took was suitable links on one bank of the final selector (connector) for it to hunt across subscriber lines in much the same way as any other type of selector would hunt for a free trunk. It was quite common for a larger company to advertise its number as something like "REGent 2101 (8 lines)" People could still call on 2102, 2103, etc., but of course the hunting on busy would progress only forward from that line. Businesses with just two or three lines did indeed advertise as, for example, "REGent 2101/2/3." Either they genuinely had consecutive but separate lines, or maybe in some cases whoever was in charge of advertising, letterheads, etc. didn't realize that the system would hunt and that "REGent 2101 (3 lines)" or simply "REGent 2101" would have been sufficient. Naturally, the former option would have made the company look more prestigious. - Paul. ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 23:56:34 -0700 Organization: Networks & Distributed Computing Pat writes: > here: http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc3675.html sub-titled '.sex > considered dangerous', it is an interesting sermon-length document > which explains why the author has such hatred and bias against a TLD > known as '.sex' Pat apparently does not know the author of RFC 3675. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: No, I do not know the author of that work. All I could find on my copy was a copyright notice from Internet Society. But one thing I noticed early on in my reading of that missive was that most of what he said about '.sex' or '.xxx' regards the way people could abuse those domain names could and has been done in equal measure with '.com', '.org', '.edu', and '.net'. That little factor -- that the author failed to include the rather well known TLDs in his discussion of how the system can be abused did nothing to impress me about the quality of his workmanship. It was almost as if the author had some other secret agenda he failed to mention. Nor was there any mention of those new arrivals '.biz', 'info', '.museum' and '.aero' and how _they_ could be (and have been, in their short lives) greatly abused. Apparently he feels it is okay to segregate dubious 'business' ventures, museums and airplane enthusiasts along with dubious 'information' providers into their own domains, rather than have them mainstreamed with others in .com, but he resents the idea that .sex or .xxx should thus be segregated. It really makes one wonder what his agenda is really all about. I don't really care _what_ the person's name is; I prefer to deal with ideas (which, in case you did not know it, have _consequences_) rather than possibly know who the person is and maybe have some prejudicial and unfair thoughts. So anyway, Mark, I have now read RFC-3675. Where does our conversation go from here? PAT] ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:09:22 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to DevilsPGD : > In message TELECOM Digest > Editor noted in response to John Levine : >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But they do that now, with filtering >> programs. Filtering, never a perfect solution, now can filter out >> the sexual topic of women's breasts, but the problem is it cannot >> seem to understand why 'breast cancer' is not the same thing as 'I >> love to look at and fantasize on those breasts'. But to the filter >> writers, what is there that you cannot understand about '.xxx'? If >> I write a filter and I say that a dot followed by three x's goes no >> further into my computer, then other things like the context in which >> 'breasts' or 'sex' or whatever is to be taken becomes a moot point >> doesn't it? If the real problem that '.xxx' makes writing and main- >> taining filtering programs too easy? If local communities or govern- >> ments decide what is to go into '.xxx' it would seem to me that all >> the fuss over effective and ineffective filtering would go away. PAT] > Sure *IF* the whole world decided what goes into .xxx, everybody > agreed AND everybody played nice. > BUT ... Even ignoring the fact that defining what belongs in .xxx is > impossible (what's obscene? What's pornographic? In the middle east, a > women without a head covering is probably pornographic. In the US, > Janet Jackson's nipple was obviously a problem. In Europe, a photo of a > topless 17 year old isn't obscene) there is another issue: > You can't even get Russian web hosts to terminate child porn which is > illegal virtually everywhere, so what do you think the odds are they'll > give a damn about a nipple? > At the end of the day the only workable solution is to create an > restrictive/exclusive .kids or .family (or whatever gTLD would be >appropriate) and set restrictions on that TLD which are enforced by > the registry/registrars responsible and don't require cooperation of > *everybody* > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So tell me what makes .kids or .family > any different than .sex except for the direction it goes? And what > do you propose to do with the people who say 'what right have you got > to tell me what is appropriate for my family/kids? You would not want > to settle for enforcement standards on that (family/kids) any more > than you would want to try and enforce it for .sex so what is the > difference? We also presently have 'K12' or 'K-12' do we not? I > wonder how they ever got _that one_ through, given the guys on the net > always dragging their red-herrings out? PAT] The difference with a .kids-type gTLD is that it's rules can be enforced without trying to retroactively apply new rules to existing domains. It's substantially more difficult to attempt to enforce new rules retroactively. Imagine the lawsuits from each and every pornographic site which has invested significant time and money branding existing domain names -- It will be tied up in court for the rest of our natural lives. Again, if you or the US gov't or even a US court tells me to remove sexually explicit material my site, I'll likely not bother responding at all, and if I do, my response will be roughly the size of "no" -- I'm not in the US and I care very little for US law other then when I'm in the US. Even if ICANN somehow agreed to pull gTLD domains with porn and was able to deal with the legal side of things, it wouldn't help since I can get a ccTLD domain which ICANN has no influence over and would again require global cooperation. The difference with a .kids domain is that one of the terms of sale for a .kids domain would be a no-porn rule, and since that would be in the form of a contract rather then relying on criminal law, the registrar could revoke the domain if there were violations. The registrar only needs to answer to the legal system where it's located, and so jurisdictional restrictions don't apply. All that being said, we do still have some content issues. There are a few potential solutions, one is to require RSACi ratings which would assist parents in setting appropriate limits. Another option is to set a moderately conservative bar of entry and parents who don't agree still don't need to give their children access to the internet at all (in other words, it's no different then today) -- The goal would be to give children access to only .kids and nothing else. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Where did you get this idea that there is going to be an en-masse removal of sites from one domain to another? I do not recall ever saying that ... those web sites who are willing to and gracious enough to take up residence in .xxx will be permitted to do so, just as sites took up residence in .info, .biz, .aero, and .museum ... and those of us Moderators and others who do not give a shit about dubious information, biz-iness ventures, museums or aeroplanes would be free to filter it out. But we won't be permitted to filter out .xxx which I suspect will be the rudest, crudest and lewdest of all because (name the red herring of your choice) is likely to happen as a result. Oh, we will able to filter .xxx -like material in a sort of half-assed way using the tools we are given, but that is all, not .xxx domains in their entirety. And someone should explain to the conservative fundamentalist Christians who feel somehow that starting '.xxx' would give an unwarrented air of respectability to porn peddlers that it is the nature of the internet among other things: One cannot find cockroaches or other vermin in a dark area without a good working flashlight, which a domain identifying tag would give them. If we shine a somewhat more perfect light on them, you will be able to see and better block them. That is the intent, right? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 08:39:47 +0000 From: hongli@levitte.org Subject: Last Sad Laugh! new.site.p0rn0..ch|ldren$ 4601527 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: For those among us who are still in denial about the extent to which child pornography has become a big part of email and web sites, below is a piece of email I receive every few days from someone in Russia. What you see is just the way it arrives here each time. Much of the text below is apparently Cryllic or similar and unprintable on American screens, but the intent is quite plain. PAT] ============================================== Hello dear friend ! Ptownson NEW (HILDREN P()RN@ AROUSE FOR YOU New#site#2005#years#CH!LDREN#P0RN0#... 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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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #378 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Aug 21 16:07:53 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 81DD915518; Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:07:53 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #379 Message-Id: <20050821200753.81DD915518@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:07:53 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.0 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, DRUGS_PAIN,ONLINE_PHARMACY autolearn=no version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 21 Aug 2005 16:07:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 379 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Spammer Diversifies, Gets Rich, Goes to Jail (Steve Karnowski) Campaigners Prepare to Battle EU Storage Rules (Huw Jones) Re: Two VOIP Boxes on the Same Port (Robert Bonomi) Re: Two VOIP Boxes on the Same Port (Gordon Burditt) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (William Warren) Re: Linux vs. Windows: TCO Comparison (Jim Haynes) Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC (Robert Bonomi) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (Wesrock@aol) Re: Yet More on FiOS (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold (DevilsPGD) Re: Last Sad Laugh! new.site.p0rn0..ch|ldren$ 4601527 (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Steve Karnowski Subject: Spammer Diversifies, Gets Rich, Goes to Jail Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 19:10:38 -0500 By STEVE KARNOWSKI, Associated Press Writer Christopher Smith's neighbors didn't know exactly what he did for a living. But they knew well that he liked to collect expensive cars and set off fireworks at all hours. At an age when most of his peers could barely afford a new car, Smith was amassing a collection that would include BMWs, Hummers, a Ferrari, a Jaguar and a Lamborghini. And when other 20-somethings were trying to save for down payments on modest starter homes, Smith paid $1.1 million for a house in a more affluent suburb. Smith got all that through his successes in massive unsolicited e-mail marketing, authorities say. The Spamhaus Project, an anti-spam group, considered him one of the world's worst offenders. He was just 25 when the feds in May shut down his flagship company, Xpress Pharmacy Direct, and seized $1.8 million in luxury cars, two homes and $1.3 million in cash held by Smith and associates. But even then, prosecutors say, he refused to give up. They say he tried to relaunch his online pharmacy from an offshore haven -- the Dominican Republic -- intending to build his business back up to $4.1 million in sales by its second month, right where it was before. Brian McWilliams, author of "Spam Kings," said young people like Smith aren't unusual in the fast-buck world of spammers. "A lot of them are guys who haven't had success anywhere else in life but they find this easy money to be made in the spam trade," he said. "They don't want to give it up." Authorities were waiting when Smith flew back to Minneapolis in late June. Smith remains free on bail as he awaits another hearing Thursday on contempt-of-court charges for which prosecutors are seeking six months in jail. He also faces a grand jury investigation of his e-mail businesses, which could lead to more charges and potentially longer sentences. The high school dropout, operating under the nickname Rizler, got his start in the late 1990s, selling police radar and laser jammers. Along the way he added cable TV descramblers and other products. After Time Warner Cable got an injunction in 2002 putting Smith out of the descrambler business, he diversified and generated more than $18 million in sales from drugs online, including the often-abused narcotic painkiller Vicodin, without obtaining proper prescriptions, federal prosecutors say. Smith's former neighbors in a hilly, heavily wooded part of Burnsville were glad to see him go after he moved to pricier, more secluded digs in Prior Lake over the winter. Sue Parson said things began to get out of hand in May 2004. When her husband complained about loud fireworks, she said, Smith's response was: "Too bad. We can set them off if we want to." Not long after one complaint, someone set off fireworks at the foot of the Parsons' driveway early one morning, she said. Neighbors didn't know exactly what Smith did for a living. Parson said he told one person he had a lawn service, another that he was "into computers" and yet another that he was "into pharmaceuticals." "There were these Hummers outside, the limos outside," she said. "It was like, 'Where do these people get their money from?'" Just four days after a federal judge put Xpress Pharmacy Direct into receivership, Smith made what prosecutors say was a brazen play to stay in business. Smith took off for the Dominican Republic and went to work setting up a new online pharmacy and call center, where prosecutors say helped he'd be safe from extradition and out of the reach of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Former employees, his wife and even his girlfriend brought or sent Smith "substantial sums of cash" there, and one former employee passed him a disk with data on more than 100,000 Xpress Pharmacy customers, court documents and testimony allege. Smith even managed to withdraw some money from an account that was supposed to be frozen. He also launched two new Web sites, the documents allege. In the Dominican Republic, Smith was a guest of Creaghan Harry, a man the government described as another notorious spammer. According to the court documents, Harry, who runs a call center there, earned more than $2 million from Smith for telemarketing. Harry said the call center he manages, Santo Domingo-based Americas Best Worldwide, was just one of many that took orders for Smith. He said it had no other connection with Smith's new business. "We basically got pulled in to this because Chris Smith decided to come down here," Harry told The Associated Press. "But we are not his company or even his call center. Taking pharmaceutical orders is only a small part of our business." Harry acknowledged that Smith had stayed in his Santo Domingo apartment for a week in early June, but then left for a beach resort in Boca Chica, outside Santo Domingo, where he took up scuba diving. He then went to the eastern island resort town of Punta Cana, Harry said. "It just seemed Chris was on vacation," he said. Though Smith mentioned over a few lunches in Santo Domingo that he planned to start up a new business, he didn't offer details, Harry said. Whether it was a business trip or vacation, it ended with Smith going straight to jail when he returned to Minnesota. Authorities arrested him on a contempt-of-court warrant and said in court last month that they plan to seek unspecified criminal charges against him. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Engisch told U.S. District Judge Michael Davis a grand jury has been hearing evidence against Smith and others she did not name. She said she did not know when indictments might come down, nor did she say what the charges might be. Smith and his stepfather declined to comment on his legal troubles as he left the courthouse the next day after his release on $50,000 bail. Prosecutors also declined to comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation. Smith's father, Scott Smith, declined to comment for this story after initially agreeing to talk. In an earlier interview with the Star Tribune, he portrayed his son as a business genius who dropped out of high school because he was bored. "That spamming stuff they talk about, sometimes Chris may have been a middleman helping other business people, but he never broke the law. I'm sure of it," Scott Smith told the newspaper. As Smith sat in Davis' courtroom, wearing orange jail garb and flashing an occasional forlorn smile at his father and wife, high-profile local defense lawyer Joe Friedberg conceded that Smith had violated the judge's May 20 injunction by taking $2,000 from a frozen account. But Friedberg contends the government hasn't proven that anything else Smith did in the Dominican Republic was illegal. As Davis freed Smith on bail, he put him on home monitoring and ordered him to surrender his passports. And Davis admonished Smith: Stay away from computers and don't set up any more Web sites. On the Net: Spamhaus background on Rizler: http://www.rizler.com Associated Press Writer Peter Prengaman contributed to this story from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Steve Karnowski can be reached at skarnowski(at)ap.org Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. AP News Radio and headlines 24/7 at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Huw Jones Subject: Campaigners Prepare to Battle EU Data Storage Bill Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 13:09:39 -0500 By Huw Jones Telecom firms and civil liberty groups are readying themselves to influence a battle next month between European Union member states and the European Commission over rival plans to log calls and emails to combat terror. A council of EU justice and interior ministers put forward a data-logging plan after the March 2004 Madrid train bombs, saying retaining such data would help tackle terror and other crime. The attacks in London in July revived the plan. EU ministers have pledged to reach final agreement in October, but the Commission hopes it can persuade ministers to switch to the executive's proposal for a directive next month. The council text would only need member state approval, while the Commission's would need the go-ahead from the European Parliament as well as member states. "We expect the directive to be presented mid-September," said Alexander Alvaro, the German EU deputy responsible for data retention. The Commission has said it would present its proposal after the summer. "I don't believe the council will ignore this because if they do it would be an institutional slap in the face. Lobbying has increased quite a lot and now it's becoming serious." The presidency of the EU, currently held by Britain, had no immediate comment. Neither proposal seeks to log the content of email and telephone traffic. A draft of the Commission's proposal was recently obtained by the European Digital Rights group EDRI. The Commission wants calls and email traffic to be retained for six months to a year, while member states proposed up to 48 months. The council plan wants all Web addresses people use to be logged but the Commission draft makes no mention of this. Over 27,000 people have already signed an EDRI online anti-logging petition. "Large scale data mining will lead to many people's innocent behavior becoming suspicious," said Sjoera Nas, board member of EDRI, which sees no need for either proposal. "There will be this whole climactic battle in September between the Commission and the justice ministers," Nas said. Telecom firms outside the European Union also worry a lengthy retention period would become the norm for them as well. "What benefit is only half a call record? If American carriers are either originating or terminating an international call, then they are in fact covered by this requirement," Stephen Trotman, a senior vice president at U.S. carrier industry group CompTel in Washington said. "What's going to happen is that the additional cost of retaining, storing and sorting that data is going to be shifted to the consumer. The consumers will pay for their own privacy to be invaded," Trotman said. The council plan makes no mention of who would pay extra IT costs, while the Commission says in its draft proposal that governments should contribute toward compliance costs. A study by Dutch Erasmus University shows in nearly all 65 cases where traffic data was useful in combating crime, the police got the information they needed from data going back three months -- the typical period data is already stored by telecom firms for billing purposes. "Three months in general should be enough for storing data," Alvaro said. German industry bodies BITKOM, BDI and VATM said a solid and adequate impact study of the proposals has not been done and that any retention period must not exceed six months. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Two VOIP Boxes on the Same Port Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 21:47:56 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Fred Atkinson wrote: > As I've previously mentioned, I've just moved from Columbia, SC to > Sylva, NC. I took my Vonage phone (Columbia number) with me and got a > new VOIP phone from Voicepulse (Sylva, NC number). I've got both of > them connected to my Cisco 831 router via Ethernet cables. > I've been having some problems getting fast busies when dialing. I > hang up and dial it a second time and it goes through. Voicepulse was > not able to sort it out so I contacted Sipura, who was the > manufacturer of the VOIP adapter (Sipura 3000). > Sipura said that having two VOIP devices on a single router can be a > problem. To fix it, they said that you have to change the SIP port on > one of them. Typically, I believe they said that it was on port 5061 > and 5062. They suggested changing one of them to 5063 or above. > I called Voicepulse and asked them to make the change. They said that > wasn't possible. I spoke with the supervisor there. He said that > their system wouldn't accomodate me using a different SIP port from > the one I have now. > Can the VOIP experts on here sort this out? To expand upon my system, > I have a Cisco 831 home/office router connected to Mediacom > cablemodem. Each VOIP device is plugged directly into an Ethernet > port on the router. > Is Sipura's story plausible? How likely is it that Voicepulse is > telling the truth about not being able to change the SIP port to > communicate with their system? They are right. And you are right. To use their system, you have to contact their system at the IP address and port number(s) they specify. YOUR system, on the other hand, can be at any IP address you can use, and can _originate_ from any available port number on that address. Two devices trying to use the same originating address _and_ the same port number *will* confuse anything you try to talk to. Details of 'fixing' the situation depend on the gory details of your set-up. Do you have multiple IP addresses available to you? Or only a single address? Are you using DHCP? Are you using NAT/PAT? Depending on those answers, you _may_ be able to do the necessary things entirely in the Cisco 831. Or, you may have to access the configuration stuff for the VoIP devices. ------------------------------ From: gordonb.tqwky@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: Two VOIP Boxes on the Same Port Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 00:50:23 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com > As I've previously mentioned, I've just moved from Columbia, SC to > Sylva, NC. I took my Vonage phone (Columbia number) with me and got a > new VOIP phone from Voicepulse (Sylva, NC number). I've got both of > them connected to my Cisco 831 router via Ethernet cables. > I've been having some problems getting fast busies when dialing. I > hang up and dial it a second time and it goes through. Voicepulse was > not able to sort it out so I contacted Sipura, who was the > manufacturer of the VOIP adapter (Sipura 3000). A Sipura 3000 is effectively two SIP devices, one FXS (plug in an analog phone) and one FXO (plug in a phone line), which can cross-connect (e.g. dialing 911 can be routed out your local landline, and incoming calls on the analog line can be routed to the analog phone). Mine came with the FXS at port 5060 and FXO at 5061. If yours was preconfigured by a provider, it may be configured differently, and there may be lots of settings you can't change or even see at the option of the provider who configured it. > Sipura said that having two VOIP devices on a single router can be a > problem. To fix it, they said that you have to change the SIP port on > one of them. Typically, I believe they said that it was on port 5061 > and 5062. They suggested changing one of them to 5063 or above. You cannot have two devices on the same public IP and the same port, as a NAT gateway cannot decide where to send packets coming in from the outside. Since the Sipura 3000 is two sip devices, you'd need to set two alternate ports. If your setup has the two VOIP devices on two different public IP addresses (no NAT), this should present no problem (except for bandwidth and latency issues, which mostly has to do with pipe size). > I called Voicepulse and asked them to make the change. They said that > wasn't possible. I spoke with the supervisor there. He said that > their system wouldn't accomodate me using a different SIP port from > the one I have now. This may be administratively impractical. If you make an IP-to-IP SIP call (as your provider will be doing to send a call to you), is there even a syntax to specify an alternate port? Asterisk does have one, but it's far from obvious that everything else does. You might be able to get an alternate port to work for outgoing calls only on one of the devices. To take another example, if I set up an *EMAIL* server on an alternate port, I may be able to specially set up one of my servers to forward mail there (MX records do not include a port number), but there is no way to write an email address to get most of the servers in the world to forward mail there (e.g. user@do.main.com:26 doesn't work as an email address on most servers). I'd have to arrange for the mail to be routed through a server that uses a conventional port number. It is possible to set up SRV records to specify what port incoming calls come in on, if someone is calling using a domain name to dial. However this does not allow specifying two different ports where the caller is supposed to intelligently choose which one to used based on precognition. Providers usually figure out where to send the call based on registration, which may not track port numbers. > Can the VOIP experts on here sort this out? To expand upon my system, > I have a Cisco 831 home/office router connected to Mediacom > cablemodem. Each VOIP device is plugged directly into an Ethernet > port on the router. I presume here that you have *ONE* public IP. This is part of the problem. > Is Sipura's story plausible? How likely is it that Voicepulse is > telling the truth about not being able to change the SIP port to > communicate with their system? An unlocked Sipura 3000 can be configured for an alternate port on your end. A locked one might also be configurable as to port number. The problem is more likely on their end, which does not consider the port to connect to on an outgoing call to be a variable. Gordon L. Burditt ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 13:32:13 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw Pat wrote: > To answer your question bluntly and succintly (and with this benediction > I hope and pray this thread soon comes to a close without having to > rudely toss many of the messages on same) I _firmly_ and _strongly_ > support the US Constitution the way it is written. I do wish that > those guys in the 18th century, Adams, Jefferson, et al had been able > to tell the future, or been as succinct at times in their writings as > I attempt to be with mine. (snore!). Especially, a wee bit more > laborious in writing numbers one and two. Break up one to be more > plain about religion and speech and in the case of two, to be more > precise about terms like 'well regulated militia' and re-ordered their > punctuation a bit differently, removing any and all doubt about each > of those two Amendments. Both of them (one and two) give us much grief > when there are court battles about them. > My opinion: if number two means what many claim it means, that a 'well > regulated militia' refers to the National Guard or the military > service in general and this 'well regulated' National Guard or > military has a right to bear arms but the rest of us ordinary citizens > do _not_ have such a right, then I would have to say that is the one > item in the Bill of Rights which allows the _government_ (as opposed to > regular citizens a 'right'). The National Guard or the Army does not > have to get permission (in the form of a constitutional amendment) to > 'bear arms'. Think about it that way; the entire Bill of Rights was > written to provide we the people with certain rights; does it make > sense that the second amendment is an exception to that, and it > (second amendment) is to give the government 'rights'? The government > does not need protection from the people; the people are the ones > needing protection. So why would the Bill of Rights grant the 'right > to bear arms' to its own agencies (National Guard and Army, etc). > A 'well regulated militia', IMO, refers to _law abiding_ citizens who > wish to arm themselves. > Now if 'well regulated' equals 'law abiding' (instead of equalling 'a > government agency' as the government claims) then we have problems. > Far too many of us are not 'well regulated' in that sense; we grow > angry or we get drunk or we otherwise break the law and take our host- > ility out on police officers and other more 'well-regulated' > citizens. Does it seem a bit odd that the New York Times constantly > chatters about 'gun control' yet the late publisher of that journal > used to always get chauffered to work each day carrying a gun in his > suit pocket or briefcase? Many people think that 'gun control' should > apply to everyone else _except for themselves_. I can trust me, but I > can't trust you, that sort of thing. And you never hear of the ACLU > taking on a Second Amendment case; they seem to be happy with the > status quo also. [snip] Pat, If I had to guess, and I do, I'd guess that the writers of the amendments wanted to leave their descendants some room to maneuver. The amendments weren't part of the original constitution because those who wrote it believed that some things should be either understood or left open to interpretation: they had, after all, just finished the war for independence, and had seen first hand how easily the common men could be stirred up and set to march, so it's my guess that they were a little afraid of having an absolute right to bear arms. Nonetheless, the amendments were written and passed. I feel, though, that the second amendment was _suppossed_ to be vague: those who wrote it had heeded the lesson of the constitution's original authors. No one would advocate an absolute right to bear arms: a crazy man should not be able to buy a firearm, let alone bear or use one. A "Well Regulated Militia" is, of necessity, a _group_ of soldiers, not an individual. My interpretation of the amendment is that it was intended both to give citizens the right to band together in armed groups when needed to protect their other rights, and also to prevent individuals from claiming the "right" to show up at town meeting with a flintlock. Speaking of which, let's remember the class of firearms available in that era: single shot, muzzle loaded, non-rifled muskets which are, in comparison to today's machines, laughable. I don't and can't be made to believe that any of the amendment's authors would advocate a right of any private citizen, and probably not even of a militiaman, to have a submachine gun or even a Glock semi-automatic pistol. The Founding Fathers were, above all else, mindful of "The Last Argument of Kings" -- a phrase engraved on one manarch's canons -- and I think they wanted this to be a never-ending debate. They got their wish. FWIW. Your caliber may vary. Charles Cryderman wrote: > Steve Sobol responded to a somewhat crass commit on Mr. Jennings: >> You're entitled to your opinion. However, I think you're exceedingly >> foolish if you believe any particular slant in ABC's coverage is the >> fault of Jennings or any other reporter. Your posthumous attack seems >> rather sleazy to me -- you should direct your ire at the people actually >> responsible for making decisions about coverage. > Actually Steve you are wrong on this one. Last night August 10, 2006, > ABC had a wonderful retrospective on Mr. Jennings. His title was > "Senior Editor, ABC World News Tonight". As such, he was given total > control over the content of "ABC World News Tonight - With Peter > Jennings". This included what stores to present and how they were to > be presented. [snip] > Chip Cryderman > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not a 'proud gun owner' and in > fact guns scare me a lot. But I support the people who own them and > use them _properly_ as needed. If you went around Independence here, > you are not going to find a bunch of raving lunatics driving in the > streets waving or displaying or shooting off their weapons. But if > you went to at least a few private homes, you would find some weapons > put away, out of children's reach, unloaded, etc to be used as the need > arose. Peter Jennings was a good reporter, and he _did_ control the > stuff that went out on the air, but yes, he did have that one 'blind > spot' in his life; he did not 'believe in' the private ownership of > weapons, and he did not promote any positive publicity on private > gun ownership; many others in the media do not either. PAT] It's no surprise that Mr. Jennings didn't believe in a "right" to have guns: for most of his life, he was a Canadian citizen. That said, I'll also add that Mr. Jennings was a competitive television reporter, and he knew that telling people what they don't want to hear is a shortcut to the ratings cellar. I think he steered away from the topics because his polsters told him it was sure to offend a major portion of his viewers no matter what was said. This won't be popular, but it needs mentioning anyway: Peter Jennings was a reflector of public opinion, not a creator. The attention paid to his death amazes me; I haven't bothered to check, but I'd bet that there were at least ten people more worthy of our admiration and remembrance who died on the same date. We have confused popularity with statesmanship, and glibness with oratory. No matter what my opinion is of Mr. Jennings, the issue of gun "control" _deserves_ attention, and I'll ask you to ask yourself one question: Do you know someone who would be dangerous if they owned a gun? William (Filter noise from my email address for direct replies.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Define 'dangerous' in your context. As in taking _my_ life, for example? Is that supposed to be a major issue? Anytime it is my turn to go, I can assure you I will; there is nothing to be afraid of. Death is actually the last thing I worry about. And your theory on the Second Amendment is good, and worth considering. But I still want to know: the other nine (of the original ten 'basics') all address the protections given to _citizens_ in this land. Why should number two be an exception, and given the government the 'right to bear arms' (if well-regulated militia is taken to mean Army, National Guard, etc). The citizens have the right to speak, to have the religion they want, to be free from being searched or seized in their homes, etc. And then number two says 'the _government_ has the right to bear arms' ? Personally, I do not think so. I have heard these folks who say (in a real pissy, whimpering tone of voice) "Well, we citizens do not have to bear arms, that is what the National Guard and Army is for." Usually I tell those folks "well, in that case we do not need free speech either; we have the New York Times and the Washington Post and Katherine Graham's News Weak magazine, and TELECOM Digest to do our speeches. Why do you need the right to speak also?" And regards the 'final argument of Kings' that is also the final argument of the government is it not? Oh, we do not see them most days, and we 'voluntarily' do as we are told by the government, but the final solution, the gun, is back there waiting, is it not? And as needed, it will be produced and used. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Linux vs. Windows: TCO Comparison Reply-To: jhaynes@alumni.uark.edu Organization: University of Arkansas Alumni From: haynes@alumni.uark.edu (Jim Haynes) Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 21:43:25 GMT The Groklaw website, www.groklaw.com, has had quite a bit to say about Ms. DiDio's contributions to the Linux vs. everything debate. One might want to read that before taking this too seriously. jhhaynes at earthlink dot net ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 22:10:16 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Fred Atkinson wrote: > I recently moved to Sylva, NC to work in nearby Cullowhee, NC (it's > about a fifteen minute drive (tops) between the two places). > Our local calling area is between three small cities, Sylva, > Cullowhee, and Cashiers. Anything outside that zone is long distance > for us. > I acquired Voicepulse VOIP service when I moved here. They offered > Sylva and Cashiers, NC telephone exchanges. I got a Sylva number on > the 534 exchange. It's been working fine. > Today, I tried to dial into my home number from work so I could > check my voicemail. I dialed 9 and then 53 and got no farther. It > retuned a busy signal. We tried it from several different phones > and got the same results. I called the telecom guys and told them > of this dilemma. Despite the fact that I had explained about it > being from a VOIP provider, he asked me several times if it was a > Verizon exchange. I told him no, it wasn't. It was a special > services exchange in the Sylva, NC area. > He told me he couldn't get it added to the switch without going > through a bunch of hoops (a number of people had to sign off on it). > I couldn't believe it. All he should have to do is call their > provider and confirm that it is a local exchange. Your place of work has a PBX. Your home exchange is not known to the 'dialing plan' for that switch. "Company policy" has a problem, regarding handling exchanges assigned to CLECs. This is not an issue that _you_ need to fight. See to it that your *boss* has your home phone number, for 'emergency' use. Make sure said boss knows that you _cannot_ be reached via a 'company' phone due to a 'programming problem' in the company's switch. > Meantime, my colleagues cannot call me at home (from work) when a need > arises. Isn't that a SHAME! <*grin*> You cannot be disturbed on your non-work time, because the company you work for won't let other employees call and bother you. Some people would _pay_extra_ for that kind of an arrangement! :) ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 19:51:06 EDT Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack In a message dated Fri, 19 Aug 2005 20:07:24 -0300, jtaylor writes: > The Japanese government fully intended to stop the peace negotiations > before the attack occured, but the diplomatic staff at the Japanese > emabssy was too slow decoding the message sent from Japan. The Japanese intended that the message cutting off negotiations be delivered just before the attack. Since it was Sunday morning in Washington, the Japanese embassy had to call the code clerk to come in. Since the USA had broken the Japanese diplomatic code, and had people on duty all the time, the USA had the full text in President Roosevelt's hands before the Japanese ambassador delivered the note. And keep in mind that communications between Washington and Honolulu weren't the simple matter they are now. You couldn't just dial 1+.and be connected. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Yet More on FiOS Date: 21 Aug 2005 00:24:16 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Lee Sweet wrote: > John's comments are quite true, I believe, *if* you are in an area > where you are "forced" to get VZN fiber. If you aren't required to > get the fiber, and want to use another ISP in order to run your own > local servers, I'd retain the copper so you have the option to use > another ISP that is more flexible. Actually, that's not clear either. The FCC has given Verizon the right to exclude other ISP's from their DSL circuits, too. That is set to take effect in approximately a year. > In VZN's defense (can't believe I'm saying that ...), I do see why > they have blocks on inbound port 80 (for web servers) and the like, > because of the high upload bandwidth of the fiber network (2 Mb > mimimum?), if they didn't, *everyone* would be running servers. Verizon plans to deliver video content in competition with the local cable company (here it's Comcast). I doubt they're worried about bandwidth issues. And inbound port 25 (SMTP) doesn't use any bandwidth to speak of. > I use Dreamhost; for $9.95 a month, I get two domains, all the email > addresses I could want, webmail access for when I'm away from home, > gigabytes of storage, tons of things I don't use, and even a shell > account on their machine. Very sastified customer here! (See > http://www.dreamhost.com for details.) That's a possible alternative. But the main reason for running my own mail server is the complete control over it. My spam blocking, for instance, currently is running at over 150 per day with almost 100% efficiency. I don't quarantine, and I don't worry about lost messages. If I have to rely on someone else then I'll still have to look at ~150 spams per day just to make sure they're legit. The ONLY spam blocker I trust is the one my current ISP uses, which also happens to be what I'm using. There's lots of other reasons for running my own servers ... I can add domains for the cost of the registration, for instance, which is real useful with teenage kids around. At times I've hosted an IRC server for work. The list goes on. With my own system I'm free to do what I want with it. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Not so Fast! 'xxx' Startup Put on Hold Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 01:41:32 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to DevilsPGD spamsucks@crazyhat.net>: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Where did you get this idea that there > is going to be an en-masse removal of sites from one domain to another? > I do not recall ever saying that ... those web sites who are willing > to and gracious enough to take up residence in .xxx will be permitted > to do so, just as sites took up residence in .info, .biz, .aero, and > .museum ... and those of us Moderators and others who do not give a > shit about dubious information, biz-iness ventures, museums or > aeroplanes would be free to filter it out. But we won't be permitted > to filter out .xxx which I suspect will be the rudest, crudest and > lewdest of all because (name the red herring of your choice) is likely > to happen as a result. Oh, we will able to filter .xxx -like material > in a sort of half-assed way using the tools we are given, but that is > all, not .xxx domains in their entirety. I'm not against the creation of .xxx -- I'm only pointing out that making it mandatory won't work. If we make it optional then all that has been done is to open up more domain space (Which isn't a bad thing, but .biz and .info haven't exactly been successful, and how many .name domains have you seen?) ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Last Sad Laugh! new.site.p0rn0..ch|ldren$ 4601527 Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 20:50:45 GMT TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to spam sent by hongli@levitte.org: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: For those among us who are still in > denial about the extent to which child pornography has become a big > part of email and web sites, below is a piece of email I receive > every few days from someone in Russia. What you see is just the > way it arrives here each time. Much of the text below is apparently > Cryllic or similar and unprintable on American screens, but the > intent is quite plain. PAT] > ============================================== > Hello dear friend ! Ptownson > NEW (HILDREN P()RN@ AROUSE FOR YOU > New#site#2005#years#CH!LDREN#P0RN0#... > DISCOUNT 5 DAY 25% click here and VELCOME in site ch!l dear friend ! > > çäđŕńňâóéňĺ ĺńëč çŕőîňčňĺ óâčäčňü íŕř ńŕéň ňî âŕě íŕäŕ çäĺëŕňü 3 ýňŕďŕ > 1) çŕéäčňĺ íŕ ńŕéň http://hondaclub.by > 2) çŕéäčňĺ íŕ forum > 3) îńňŕâňĺ âŕř ĺěŕë č íŕďčřčňĺ íŕě ( ňîĺńňü ĺěŕéë ŕäěčíŕ) > íŕ ńŕěîě ńŕéňĺ http://hondaclub.by > č âŕě ďđčřëţň îńňŕëüíóţ číôîđěŕöčţ > ========================================== > CHILDREN$ P()RN0 > new.s*candal0us.material*ch|ldren$. > CHILDREN$ P()RN0 > ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu > 21H0rny.super.site._ch|ldren$.f0r.adult.abs0luty.new I get the same one, but my filters catch it and it gets dumped in the trash and is deleted. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #379 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Aug 22 15:13:41 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 76840150C9; Mon, 22 Aug 2005 15:13:41 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #380 Message-Id: <20050822191341.76840150C9@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 15:13:41 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 Aug 2005 15:13:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 380 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson RSA Security Sees Hope in Online Fraud (Brian Bergstein) Amazon Offers Short Stories for 49 Cents (Reuters Newswire) Google Bypasses Browser to Scan Hard Drives (Eric Auchard) Hacker Underground Erupts in Virtual Turf Wars (Peter N. Spotts) Tables Turn in File-Swapping Business (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC (Lisa Hancock) Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC (J Kelly) Re: Two VOIP Boxes on the Same Port (Fred Atkinson) Re: Campaigners Prepare to Battle EU Data Storage Bill (Paul Coxwell) Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack (L Hancock) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (J Kelly) Last Laugh! Doctors are Now Spamming to Get Business (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Brian Bergstein Subject: RSA Security Sees Hope in Online Fraud Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 10:08:38 -0500 By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer It was a Friday afternoon for the computer encryption folks at RSA Security Inc., and summertime greenery filled the countryside view from Art Coviello's office. Even so, the RSA chief could have been excused if he didn't seem relaxed. RSA had just announced its second straight set of quarterly results that didn't dazzle Wall Street analysts, and RSA's stock was flirting with a 52-week low. But Coviello shrugged it off. Analysts, schmanalysts. More importantly, he said, lots of factors are about to turn in RSA's favor, namely the need for more secure, traceable financial transactions in a world beset by online fraud and identity theft. "The whole thing's moving a lot more slowly than it ought to," Coviello said. "We've got to keep pounding and pounding until we reach a tipping point, and we will take advantage of it." The lack of an obsession over quarterly results isn't the only unusual thing about RSA, which still bears the marks of an academic past despite being a $300 million company with 1,200 employees and customers in government, banking and health care. RSA is named for three Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors, Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Len Adelman. Though they are no longer involved with the company they founded in 1986, their invention of a seminal method of cryptography set the tone for the company and is crucial in online commerce. Today RSA is perhaps best known for staging a prestigious annual security conference and for selling 20 million little devices that display a six-digit code computer users must type to gain access to computer networks. The code, which changes every minute as determined by an RSA-created algorithm, is unique to each "SecureID" token, making it useless to a snoop. The requirement that users enter the code in addition to a password is known as two-factor authentication, an approach that figures to gain ground over simple passwords as more and more sensitive data move online. Indeed, RSA's sales of authentication products jumped 16 percent last year, as RSA's overall profits more than doubled, to $35 million. E-Trade Financial Corp. and America Online Inc. began offering SecureID devices to some customers over the past year. The Associated Press also uses the tokens for network access. "It is the Kleenex or Q-Tip of two-factor identification," said Gregg Moskowitz, an analyst with the Susquehanna Financial Group. "SecureID is the brand name." But wide deployment in consumer applications has come slowly. In theory, every institution that does business on a Web site could increase its security by offering its users RSA tokens. But practically, it would be a nightmare to have 20 different devices with their own codes. And banks apparently don't trust one another enough to accept a competitor's authentication token. RSA hopes to smash such hang-ups by acting as an intermediary, launching a new "hosted" service this fall in which its servers will check whether a consumer entered the proper token code -- even if the token was made by an RSA rival -- then relay the "yea" or "nay" back to the bank. RSA already provides such a service for companies' internal access control, but has yet to offer it for consumer applications. Investors will be watching closely. Although Coviello is confident that wider trends in access control -- such as rampant identity theft and abuse of Social Security numbers -- should play to RSA's strengths, he acknowledges that RSA needs to do more to push the market rather than wait for it. That means RSA has to be much more than the company known for authentication tokens -- a product that some analysts say is coming down in price because of competition. RSA also hopes to expand its sales of software and security consulting services, where heftier rivals such as VeriSign Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. also lurk. "When you consider all the identity theft that is taking place now, the challenge for RSA is to monetize that," Moskowitz said. "It's easier said than done." RSA believes one key differentiator can be its research arm, including the eight people in "RSA Labs," a group so focused on the advanced mathematics behind cryptography that it is described as an academic institution within the company. RSA researchers are expected to dream up ways to expand the use of two-factor authentication, though sometimes that puts the company a bit ahead of the market. One system being developed would use radio-frequency chips in keyless office access cards so employees wearing one can automatically access their secured computers as soon as they near them. Such a system would use a fingerprint reader on the computer to confirm identity. That product won't be ready, though, for a year or two. Then there's an effort, led by labs director Burt Kaliski, to give users a better way to confirm the legitimacy of Web sites -- and avoid "phishers" who set up phony sites to lure passwords and account information from the unsuspecting. Kaliski envisions a system in which Web browsers or even computer operating systems act as an intermediary between a user and a site. Through the principles of encryption, the intermediary software could tell the Web site that the user entered the proper password without sending the actual password. In another realm, RSA has created a "blocker tag" that ensures that radio-frequency identification chips can be scanned only by designated readers. It could be an elegant answer to the question of whether RFID chips, which are designed to streamline corporate inventory systems, might pose privacy risks for consumers. (The chips also are coming to U.S. passports, raising fears that American travelers overseas could be surreptitiously, remotely tracked.) But for now this and other RFID solutions sit on the shelf, since the deployment of such tags has been slower than predicted. "That is the hardest thing for a technology company to do," Coviello said. "You have to anticipate a market, not get too far ahead of customers, but you want to be there when they come around." But he quickly added: "We've been around 20 years, and I think the market opportunity ahead of us is richer than ever before." On the Net: RSA's security blog: http://www.rsasecurity.com/blog/about.asp Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Additional news at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: News Wire Subject: Amazon Offers Short Stories for 49 Cents Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 10:01:40 -0500 On-line book store Amazon.com,, in what could be a literary equivalent of snacking, is now selling short stories, and even alternate chapters or single scenes from novels, for 49 cents each. "Amazon Shorts," on sale from Monday, have no printed editions and are only delivered digitally. "Amazon Shorts will help authors find new readers and help readers find and discover authors they'll love," said Steve Kessel, Amazon.com's vice president of digital media. "We hope that by making short-form literature widely and easily available, Amazon.com can help to fuel a revival of this kind of work." Publishers have always had a hard time selling and marketing the single, short-form work -- the novella, or the novelette, or the even shorter "novelini," he said. Customers can now find Amazon Shorts from accomplished authors, such as Danielle Steel or Tama Janowitz, in various genres and formats, including alternate chapters and scenes to well-known stories, personal memoirs, one-act plays and classic short stories. No digital rights management software is needed to download and read Amazon Shorts. Customers have three options for reading a piece: -- View now: Takes customers to a Web page to read or print out the Amazon Short. -- Download: Initiates the download of a PDF file. -- E-mail: Sends the entire Amazon Short in a plain-text message to the specified e-mail address. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Eric Auchard Subject: Google Bypasses Browser to Search PC Drives Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 10:03:40 -0500 By Eric Auchard Google Inc. unveils a computer and Web search tool on Monday using self-updating navigation and personal information software that puts it in more direct competition with Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL. The creator of the world's most popular Web search system said it was branching out beyond pure search to help users manage e-mail, instant messages, news headlines and music. Google Desktop 2, as the new search software is known, helps users locate information stored on their own hard disk, on office network drives they may use and on the Web. Details can be found at http://desktop.google.com/features/. The heart of the system is a tall, rectangular "sidebar" with a set of panels that provide glimpses into the latest "live" information of interest to the user. It actively learns from each move a user makes to personalize what is featured. "We really want to have people be able to sit back and watch the Web come to them," Nikhil Bhatla, product manager of the Google Desktop product, said, adding that: "We have tried to provide a lot of information in a small amount of space." Innovative features include a headline syndication system that adds Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds of frequently visited sites, without any special user intervention. Aside from searching the Web, Google will trawl Outlook e-mail and PC program data like Word, Excel, Adobe PDFs and instant messages. "All this information is available at one glance," Bhatla said. "You don't have to manually do anything," he said. Still, each feature is designed to be easily customized when desired. SUBTLE PRESSURE Step back from the screen and increasingly desktop applets, instant messaging windows, mobile phone browsers and interactive TV menus all look alike. Lines are blurring between different ways of navigating computers, phones and television. Google is moving beyond "Coke Classic" -- the basic experience of searching the Web through the browser for which it is known. In ways not always apparent to the user, Google is seeking to control more of a users' computer experience, the way Yahoo, Microsoft and America Online do. Increasingly for Google, this means that users of its information management tools will not need such tools from Microsoft or Yahoo, and vice versa. The downside is that Google Desktop's powerful information-vacuuming capabilities can compete for a computer's resources with these rival programs. "There seems to be parallel development going on among all the major players," said Greg Sterling, a Kelsey Group analyst. The major Web media players all are creating "invisible walled gardens" that are less open than they first appear, he said. Google's strategy remains focused on search and information management, but in small yet vital ways, users are being nudged to choose sides. Just last week America Online introduced a new version of its popular AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) that emphasizes e-mail, radio, Internet phone-calling, text messaging with mobile phone users, even Web-based TV. AIM targets people keen on all the new-fangled Internet communications. Yahoo lures entertainment fans and socializers. Microsoft attracts office workers. Google draws the Web-based information worker, but covets the other audiences too. Yahoo offers its own "sidebar" within a user's browser, which manages music, photos and instant messenger conversations alongside whatever Web page Yahoo users are viewing. Yahoo recently acquired Konfabultator, which first popularized the modular programs it calls Widgets among Apple Macintosh computer users. Google's sidebar is similar. In a challenge to Microsoft's dominance of the computer desktop, users of the Google Sidebar are encouraged to bypass the Windows desktop and "start" navigation menu. The Quickfind feature allows one to return to recently used applications or Web sites without extra mouse clicks. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Peter N. Spotts Subject: Hacker Underground Erupts in Virtual Turf Wars Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 00:31:17 -0500 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0822/p01s01-stct.html Hacker underground erupts in virtual turf wars A chain of warring virus attacks last week fits an emerging trend. By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor In the early days of computer attacks, when bright teens could bring down corporate systems, the point was often to trumpet a hacker's success. No longer. In today's murky world of digital viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, the idea is to stay quiet and use hijacked computers to flood the Internet with spam, spread destructive viruses, or disgorge e-mail to choke corporate systems. Not only can networks of these compromised computers be leased or sold, experts say, they are becoming more valuable as the number of vulnerable computers slowly shrinks. That's a major reason that turf wars are emerging among hackers. Besides infiltrating computer systems, the viruses are now also designed to kill any other competing viruses in those systems. These skirmishes have gone on -- quietly -- for several years. Last week, for the second time in a little over a year, they exploded into public view. A worm dubbed Zotob infected computers at major media outlets, industrial companies, and San Francisco International Airport. Three days after a Finnish computer-security firm discovered Zotob on Aug. 14, seven variations were on the loose. Five of them were designed to delete the initial worms that may have burrowed through the vulnerable spot in Windows 2000 first. "We've been seeing an increase in these kinds of battles, especially in the last three years," says Tom Liston, an Internet security consultant with Intelguardians Network Intelligence, in Washington. "We're likely to see more." Often the battles involve "proof of concept" hacker software, says Curtis Franklin Jr., a senior technical editor with Secure Enterprise Magazine. The programs' writers use it to test new techniques, so the viruses carry no "payloads" that can harm a computer system. But they can backfire. Indeed, last week's outbreak may be a case where the hackers "didn't expect this to be quite as virulent as it was," says Mr. Liston. "You had this thing taking off inside a network, and all these machines were pounding on each other trying to compromise each other." It's not the first time. In the spring of 2004, it was dueling viruses Bagel, Netsky, and Mydoom, notes Mikko Hyppnen, director of antivirus research for F-Secure Corporation in Helsinki. The trio went through several variations. Later versions included taunts to writers of the other viruses, adds Peter Reiher, a computer science professor at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles. "Years ago, people just wanted access to a machine or to do something they could brag about," says Dr. Reiher. This led to one-upmanship among hackers. Indeed, he says, even last year's virus wars may have been more about bragging rights than control over infected machines. But it's clear now that there is some of the more serious activity going on as well." One of the noteworthy aspects of this latest outbreak was the speed with which Zotob appeared after Microsoft announced it had developed a fix for the vulnerability Zotob was written to exploit. While not the fastest piece of hacker software -- or "malware" -- to hit the streets, its six-day gestation period beat the current average. "In the last 24 months, the average has gone from 21 days to eight days, and it's continuing to trend downward," Mr. Franklin says. One reason behind the increased speed: Malware writers appear to be using prewritten program "shells" into which they can stuff code tailored to the newest vulnerability, experts say. Meanwhile, corporate network managers sometimes have to negotiate with other parts of the corporation before they can speed up the process of plugging software gaps. The biggest concern is over what security specialists call "zero-day exploits," when malware hits the Internet the same day that the fix for the vulnerability is announced. Zotob's rise and fall highlights what many see as an increasing ethical dimension to keep a clean machine, Franklin adds. The viruses of yesteryear, "where something would get on your system and blow away your boot sector just doesn't happen that much anymore." Today, the various forms of malware "are all converging in what they do. It's either looking to use your system without your knowledge to do something against other systems, or it's trying to collect information on you and combine it with information from other people" for use in fraud or identify theft schemes. An unprotected computer running Windows XP experiences an average "survival" time of 26 minutes on the Internet before hackers identify it as vulnerable, according to the SANS Institute, a cooperative Internet security organization. www.csmonitor.com Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. To read the Monitor on line each day, go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html and the upper right hand column of that page. *** 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, The Christian Science Publishing Society. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 13:14:52 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Tables Turn in File-Swapping Business USTelecom dailyLead August 22, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24019&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Tables turn in file-swapping business BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qualcomm prepares for future * Report predicts big growth for residential gateways * Q-and-A with China Netcom's CEO USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Enter the digital age with PBX Systems for IP Telephony HOT TOPICS * Telcos forge ahead with IPTV * VoIP growth: Behind the numbers * Report: IPTV set-top box market overcrowded * A nationwide Google Wi-Fi net? EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Video ads served up to mobile phones * Viacom celebrates "Star Trek" 40th with phones REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Telecoms vie for defense contracts Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24019&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC Date: 22 Aug 2005 08:22:00 -0700 Fred Atkinson wrote: > All he should have to do is call their provider and confirm that it > is a local exchange. What difference should it make if the number is "local"? Some of my co-workers live across the street and walk to work. Some live in a different state and have a 90 minute commute. I think every workplace is like that. So, in order to call people at home, in some cases they will have to use long distance. Anyway, today corporate long distance is so cheap why is that even a problem? Years ago when toll rates were expensive, PBX extensions had a three-tier option: 1) interal PBX calls only (most common, esp on phones anyone could use), 2) outside local calls only (low level supervisors, secretaries), 3) all calls (big bosses). Frankly, I don't see what's changed. If a manager needs to call you, he probably has long distance access already. It's pretty hard to conduct business today without long distance. The other issue raised here is keeping switching equipment up-to-date with new exchanges. This has been an ongoing problem for years since the explosion of area codes and new exchanges. I believe official bulletins are issued describing new exchanges and where they're located. (In the old days the Bell System handled this automatically internally). Any organization with a PBX that has internal tables must subscribe or contract with someone who subscribes to these bulletins and keep the internal tables updated. What happens if a valued customer gets a new phone number and you can't reach them? ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 12:29:34 -0500 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@*newsguy.com On Sat, 20 Aug 2005 22:10:16 -0000, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > In article , Fred Atkinson > wrote: >> I recently moved to Sylva, NC to work in nearby Cullowhee, NC (it's >> about a fifteen minute drive (tops) between the two places). >> Our local calling area is between three small cities, Sylva, >> Cullowhee, and Cashiers. Anything outside that zone is long distance >> for us. >> I acquired Voicepulse VOIP service when I moved here. They offered >> Sylva and Cashiers, NC telephone exchanges. I got a Sylva number on >> the 534 exchange. It's been working fine. >> Today, I tried to dial into my home number from work so I could >> check my voicemail. I dialed 9 and then 53 and got no farther. It >> retuned a busy signal. We tried it from several different phones >> and got the same results. I called the telecom guys and told them >> of this dilemma. Despite the fact that I had explained about it >> being from a VOIP provider, he asked me several times if it was a >> Verizon exchange. I told him no, it wasn't. It was a special >> services exchange in the Sylva, NC area. >> He told me he couldn't get it added to the switch without going >> through a bunch of hoops (a number of people had to sign off on it). >> I couldn't believe it. All he should have to do is call their >> provider and confirm that it is a local exchange. > Your place of work has a PBX. Your home exchange is not known to the > 'dialing plan' for that switch. > "Company policy" has a problem, regarding handling exchanges assigned > to CLECs. > This is not an issue that _you_ need to fight. See to it that your > *boss* has your home phone number, for 'emergency' use. > Make sure said boss knows that you _cannot_ be reached via a 'company' > phone due to a 'programming problem' in the company's switch. >> Meantime, my colleagues cannot call me at home (from work) when a need >> arises. > Isn't that a SHAME! <*grin*> > You cannot be disturbed on your non-work time, because the company you > work for won't let other employees call and bother you. > Some people would _pay_extra_ for that kind of an arrangement! :) I know I would! Sign me up! ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Two VOIP Boxes on the Same Port Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 17:16:33 -0400 > Details of 'fixing' the situation depend on the gory details of your > set-up. Do you have multiple IP addresses available to you? Or only > a single address? Are you using DHCP? Are you using NAT/PAT? > Depending on those answers, you _may_ be able to do the necessary > things entirely in the Cisco 831. Or, you may have to access the > configuration stuff for the VoIP devices. No, I only get a single IP address on my Mediacom cablemodem. Yes and no. I have a virtual DHCP server in my Cisco 831. But all of the permanent devices on my home network have private/static IP addresses assigned to and programmed into them. Yes, I am using NAT/PAT. Can you suggest a solution? Regards, Fred ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 23:05:13 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Campaigners Prepare to Battle EU Data Storage Bill > Telecom firms and civil liberty groups are readying themselves to > influence a battle next month between European Union member states and > the European Commission over rival plans to log calls and emails to > combat terror. > A council of EU justice and interior ministers put forward a > data-logging plan after the March 2004 Madrid train bombs, saying > retaining such data would help tackle terror and other crime. The > attacks in London in July revived the plan. Yet another reason why we in Britain should pull out of the totally corrupt and dictatorial EU. - Paul ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Hiroshima Marks 60th Anniversary of Atomic Bomb Attack Date: 22 Aug 2005 07:51:47 -0700 jtaylor wrote: > No, it was not "sleaziness". > The Japanese government fully intended to stop the peace negotiations > before the attack occured, but the diplomatic staff at the Japanese > emabssy was too slow decoding the message sent from Japan. Geez, so the break off diplomatic relations five minutes before the attack? Somehow that makes it ok? No, I don't think so. > And it's a diplomat's job to do whatever his government tells him to, > regardless of whether or not he knows its intentions in advance. The point is the Japanese government was lying. Note that its attack fleet had to leave Japan a week before (it's a big ocean to cross) under radio silence. I suppose we could buy their argument that the Bataan death march was due to a shortage of transport. I don't. I suppose we could believe that the 1930s bombing and rapes of civilians in China was normal warfare. I don't. The Empire of Japan had a run up a long record of atrocities by 1945. It does not make sense to suggest to give them the benefit of doubt regarding their cease fire proposals. It should also be noted that the Japanese military command had a very selective view of "honor". They had no problem teaching their troops to never surrender and to die for the emperor. But when it came to saving their own necks, it was another story. They refused any serious attempt at surrender because they knew of their guilt in war trials. ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 12:25:13 -0500 Organization: http://newsguy.com Reply-To: jkelly@*newsguy.com The problem with checks is that all I need is your routing and account number, and guess what? Those are printed on every one of your checks in plain human readable numerals. I can print up new checks on my computer with any ID on them I want, and your account number. I can start passing them around town same as your sneak thief. And guess what? I can easily get a fake ID to match the ID of the person I put on the check. Checks are terribly insecure. On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:10:44 -0500, J Kelly wrote: > A few months back some dirtbag got ahold of my debit card number. No > idea how. They debit $500 to a poker website. I caught it within 24 > hours and had the bank to a hot card. I was told that FDIC rules > require the bank to CLOSE an account in which any of the imformation > is known to have been compromised. I'm curious why they didn't close > your account, especially since physical checks were stolen. > Of course, if they did, and you opened a new account the info would be > compromised as soon as you write a new check. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The sneak thief got two of my > _original_ boxes of checks, numbered 101 through 125 and 126 through > 150. They had never been opened, since it is very rare that I ever > write a manual check. The guy did not get my debit card or any > access to my bank account otherwise. The bank manager simply noted > my account 'no manual checks ever written on this account' and said > she would watch my account for a few days in case Walmart (or some > other store of that ilk) had gotten a check. No word on that yet, so > maybe they did not take a check, since the thief would have not had > any of my identification anyway, which Walmart (hopefully) would have > insisted on but local merchants probably would not have required since > so many of them know me and the missing checks _were_ imprinted with > my address and phone number (but not my SSN). PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Last Laugh! Doctors are Now Spamming to Get Business Date: Sun, 21 Aug 2005 20:01:29 GMT Thank you: You will be contacted by one of our Plastic Surgery Consultants within 45 minutes. TO SHORTCUT THIS PROCESS CALL 1-800-346-8104 NOW TO RECEIVE YOUR FREE CONSULTATION. 1-800-346-8104 Business Hours, Eastern Time: 8:30 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. Friday 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday googleAds.com Inc., All Rights Reserved The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am not so sure the doctor was spamming. Based on that opening phrase "thank you; you will be contacted by one of our consultants within 45 minutes ..." it looks to me more like an autoreply or auto-ack thing. It would appear someone either clicked on a 'contact me' button on an ad, or maybe had send email to some address given for the doctor and (as assurance he got the message) an auto ack was sent out. I know the people who write here to the Digest (even if it is spam that did not fall into the Spam Assassin trap) also get an autoack based on my assuming they were a real, serious person. Did you receieve any followup email or phone calls from the staff? I had an instance one day where I apparently sent an auto ack to someone who had 'written' me (well actually they had not written me they had spammed me [well actually 'they' had not spammed me, some- one else unknown to them had done it in their name]) and that person decided I needed to have my backporch remodeled as a result, and they wrote back to me saying it was spam and they were go turn me in to the authorities. I wrote them back in person that time (although they had gotten a second auto-ack as a result of their actual letter) and after enumerating what I feel are the better points in my life, I said it did me good to get abused now and then, and thanked the person graciously for taking the time to write me. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #380 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Aug 23 00:29:11 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 5EA2A150A7; Tue, 23 Aug 2005 00:29:11 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #381 Message-Id: <20050823042911.5EA2A150A7@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 00:29:11 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.3 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, CELL_PHONE_IMPROVE autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 Aug 2005 00:29:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 381 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing (Jim Salter) Earthlink Acquires Anti-Spyware Company Aluria (Reuters NewsWire) Norvergence ... Update on Its Owners' Problems (Danny Burstein) Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC (Fred Atkinson) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Devils PGD) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Jim Salter Subject: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 17:05:34 -0500 By JIM SALTER, AP Business Writer After two years of boisterous meetings and litigation, the 150-member Southampton Presbyterian Church surrounded by closely-spaced red-brick homes is at odds with its neighbors over an issue that has nothing to do with theology. T-Mobile plans to construct a cell phone antenna along the chimney of the two-story, 89-year-old white-stone building. In return, the company will pay rent to the church. "That revenue is in exchange for our potential well-being, our peace of mind and our property values," said David O'Brien, 33, who lives two homes down and remains unconvinced by studies downplaying the health threat of low-level radio-frequency emissions. "None of us are willing to take that risk," O'Brien said. "None of us are going to put our kids in a bedroom that's 70 feet away from something that might cause cancer or other problems." In years past, cell towers and antennas stood anonymously in farm fields, on remote hilltops, on water towers. As cell phone use continues to grow, companies must find new places to keep up with demand -- including residential areas like the South Hampton neighborhood. Ten years ago, the U.S. had 24 million cell phone subscribers, said Joe Farren, a spokesman for CTIA-The Wireless Association, the trade group for the industry. Today, more than 190 million cell phones are in use. To keep up, cell "sites" -- towers and antennas mostly -- have increased tenfold - from fewer than 18,000 in 1994 to more than 175,000 now. Without additional towers, calls are lost and reception suffers. "Our companies are always running into this conundrum, which is, 'We want cell phone service, but don't put that tower here,'" Farren said. "When you're dealing with communications through the air, you have to have antennas and towers." To meet demand, companies are increasingly turning to nontraditional sites -- fire houses, churches, schools, even cemeteries and national parks. A cell tower now sits near Yellowstone's Old Faithful, despite strong opposition. Opposition is just as strong in residential areas. Washington attorney Ed Donohue, who represents several cell phone companies, estimated that more than 500 cases have been heard nationwide involving efforts to stop cell phone towers and antennas. In most cases, the cell phone companies have won. That's in part because federal law eliminates one of the key arguments against cell sites -- the health factor. No studies have shown conclusive evidence that radio-frequency emissions are harmful at levels allowed by the Federal Communications Commission. As a result, the law prohibits rejection of a tower based on health risk. Yet fear of the uncertainty remains. A year ago, the International Association of Fire Fighters opposed the use of fire houses for cell sites "until a study with the highest scientific merit" proves they are safe. The American Cancer Society's Web site says that because the technology is still relatively new, "we do not yet have full information on health effects." However, the organization noted there was no known evidence of a link between low-level emissions and cancer. Still, the perception of a health risk, combined with what some consider an eyesore, can lower property values for those living near a cell site, O'Brien said. Cell sites can be a financial boon to those who provide space for them. Cell companies won't discuss rent, but Donohue said companies typically pay $800 to $2,000 per month, depending on location, the size of the tower or antenna, and other factors. That can be a significant amount for a struggling school district or a church with stagnant or declining membership. Residents of St. Louis' South Hampton neighborhood first learned of Southampton Presbyterian's plan to rent space to T-Mobile in 2003. Immediately, they mobilized against it. A petition opposing the cell antenna was signed by more than 250 people. When talks failed, residents turned to zoning officials who ruled against T-Mobile. The city's Board of Adjustment agreed, ruling the antenna could have "a negative impact on the health of children and residents" and would cause property values to decrease. T-Mobile sued. U.S. Magistrate Judge Frederick Buckles ruled in favor of the company in July. Debbie Barrett, a spokeswoman for suburban Seattle-based T-Mobile, said the company is doing everything it can to make the site blend in. But she said the antenna is needed. "We have a responsibility not only to our customers but to the public agencies that benefit from our 911 service," Barrett said. Southampton's pastor, Will Mason, said the antenna will not extend beyond the top of the chimney, will sit flush against in, will even be painted the same shade of white as the chimney. Neither he nor T-Mobile would disclose the rental fee. Mason said he spent months studying health effects of cell sites, the impact on property values. He believes the antenna is harmless. "It wasn't all that kindly to be demonized, but we're over it," Mason said. "We've tried to work with the neighborhood association and the folks opposed to the antenna." Still, O'Brien said neighbors feel betrayed. Parishioners on Sunday morning used to be met with a smile and a wave from neighbors. Now, he said, they're met with angry glares. "Almost every one of my neighbors says they're going to move if this thing goes up," O'Brien said. On the Net: T-Mobile: http://www.t-mobile.com CTIA-The Wireless Association: http://www.ctia.org American Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.org Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Go to http://telecom-digest.org/trd-extra/newstoday.html for more AP news. ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Earthlink Acquires Anti-Spyware Company Aluria Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 17:06:06 -0500 U.S. Internet service provider EarthLink Inc. on Monday said it agreed to acquire the assets of privately held Aluria Software LLC, which makes security and anti-spyware software. EarthLink said it expects the acquisitions, whose terms were not disclosed, to close in September. Aluria, which was founded in 1999 and based in Orlando, Florida, is best known for its consumer anti-spyware application called Spyware Eliminator. The product has more than 20 million users, Atlanta-based EarthLink said in a statement. Recently, Aluria launched its first business-targeted application, Paladin, which provides anti-spyware protection for small businesses and corporations. The company also sells a number of other security and system optimization applications. EarthLink counted 5.4 million Internet subscribers at the end of June. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Norvergence ... Update on Its Owners' Problems Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 20:21:29 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC ( article is a month old. Just saw it ) Former NorVergence Chief's New Venture Falls Just As Hard Jul. 24 - A year ago Thomas N. Salzano stood at the helm of NorVergence, a multimillion-dollar telecommunications company on the brink of a spectacular flameout. Three weeks ago, Salzano scuffled with police after he was unceremoniously booted from his Kenilworth (NJ) office that housed Charity Snack, his latest venture, for non-payment of rent. On the surface, the companies couldn't have less in common: NorVergence was a reseller of phone service with hundreds of millions of dollars of leases; Charity Snack raised money for breast cancer by putting cardboard boxes in nail salons. But the similarities were striking. Both companies relied on a high-powered sales force working from a script; employees described draconian work rules including docking pay for minor infractions; and when the business soured, some employees say they weren't paid what was owed to them. And both companies fell hard ... And federal agents are still scrutinizing the byzantine finances of NorVergence and its principals. ... Interviews with former employees reveal that Thomas Salzano has started at least three new companies in the past year, one called Retail America Inc. and another called Certa Clean Inc. ... The company's sales staff placed an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 (Charity Snack) boxes in nail salons, auto-repair shops and other walk-in businesses throughout New Jersey, according to former employees. By April, the business was growing fast, bringing in as much as $20,000 a week in cash, the employees said. ... (After the landlord locked him out), Salzano returned and smashed through the plate glass door of the office using a hammer ... About four hours later, police returned to find Salzano sitting behind his desk. He was arrested and charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor to which he later pleaded not guilty, according to the Kenilworth police. rest at (watch for line wrap ): http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyOSZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NjcyODc5MCZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI= ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 21:01:47 -0400 Fred Atkinson wrote: > What difference should it make if the number is "local"? It means they should only have to dial seven digits. > Some of my co-workers live across the street and walk to work. Some > live in a different state and have a 90 minute commute. I think every > workplace is like that. True, but you have to understand the culture of the area I'm in to fully get the picture. > So, in order to call people at home, in some cases they will have to > use long distance. I'm not even sure they showed it as a valid long distance exchange, to tell you the truth. I didn't try it. > Anyway, today corporate long distance is so cheap why is that even a > problem? It is a problem when you have folks who are constantly watching the amount of long distance calls being made. Unfortunately, we *are* in that position. > Years ago when toll rates were expensive, PBX extensions had a > three-tier option: 1) interal PBX calls only (most common, esp on > phones anyone could use), 2) outside local calls only (low level > supervisors, secretaries), 3) all calls (big bosses). How very true. > Frankly, I don't see what's changed. If a manager needs to call you, > he probably has long distance access already. It's pretty hard to > conduct business today without long distance. Well, a number of my colleagues and others I interact with at work might need to reach me as well. > The other issue raised here is keeping switching equipment up-to-date > with new exchanges. This has been an ongoing problem for years since > the explosion of area codes and new exchanges. I believe official > bulletins are issued describing new exchanges and where they're > located. (In the old days the Bell System handled this automatically > internally). Any organization with a PBX that has internal tables > must subscribe or contract with someone who subscribes to these > bulletins and keep the internal tables updated. What happens if a > valued customer gets a new phone number and you can't reach them? I've encountered such problems. I was in a position years back where I had units that called in to report alarms to an 800 number we had set up for that purpose. I had to know when dialing plans changed so I could manage the units. If an area code changed and I didn't get the word, I couldn't call it up and monitor it. I tried to find a mailing list that put out announcements about new area codes and exchanges. That was when I was introduced to Telecom Digest, by the way. We used MCI for all of our long distance. We had an account rep at MCI that was supposed to let me know when new area codes sprang up or when dialing plans changed. Unfortunately, I often got the word from other sources after the changes had been made. So, I didn't rely on her and had to actively seek out information about area code splits/overlays/dialing plan changes. But back to the original discussion, I'm happy to report that the Telecom guy called me today and told me he had it fixed. I called my home number from the office and this time it went through. >> I recently moved to Sylva, NC to work in nearby Cullowhee, NC (it's >> about a fifteen minute drive (tops) between the two places). >> Our local calling area is between three small cities, Sylva, >> Cullowhee, and Cashiers. Anything outside that zone is long distance >> for us. >> I acquired Voicepulse VOIP service when I moved here. They offered >> Sylva and Cashiers, NC telephone exchanges. I got a Sylva number on >> the 534 exchange. It's been working fine. >> Today, I tried to dial into my home number from work so I could >> check my voicemail. I dialed 9 and then 53 and got no farther. It >> retuned a busy signal. We tried it from several different phones >> and got the same results. I called the telecom guys and told them >> of this dilemma. Despite the fact that I had explained about it >> being from a VOIP provider, he asked me several times if it was a >> Verizon exchange. I told him no, it wasn't. It was a special >> services exchange in the Sylva, NC area. >> He told me he couldn't get it added to the switch without going >> through a bunch of hoops (a number of people had to sign off on it). >> I couldn't believe it. All he should have to do is call their >> provider and confirm that it is a local exchange. > Your place of work has a PBX. Your home exchange is not known to the > 'dialing plan' for that switch. Yes, I know that. I used to program Rolm PBX and Voicemail systems. > "Company policy" has a problem, regarding handling exchanges assigned > to CLECs. > This is not an issue that _you_ need to fight. See to it that your > *boss* has your home phone number, for 'emergency' use. My boss hasn't got time to fight such things. He expects us to handle such things on our own, which I successfully did, by the way. > Make sure said boss knows that you _cannot_ be reached via a 'company' > phone due to a 'programming problem' in the company's switch. Yes, I did that. And I subsequently notified him today when the problem was corrected. >> Meantime, my colleagues cannot call me at home (from work) when a need >> arises. > Isn't that a SHAME! <*grin*> Not if you look at the big picture, which I'm not going to go into here. > You cannot be disturbed on your non-work time, because the company you > work for won't let other employees call and bother you. I beg to differ with you. > Some people would _pay_extra_ for that kind of an arrangement! :) > I know I would! Sign me up! You can have it. But, I don't want to be in that position at the moment. It could very much affect me adversely. However, as I mentioned, it was resolved earlier today. Regards, Fred ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 22 Aug 2005 20:45:39 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Gene S. Berkowitz wrote: > Verizon also REQUIRES that you use THEIR router after the fiber modem. So now we're back to the scenario where you can only attach phone company equipment to their lines. Didn't we already fight this battle, about 30 years ago? John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But in those days (1960's) the telco was a _regulated entity_ and it still is. But for newer things like ISP and Internet service, those features are mostly _unregulated_ and telco is permitted to do as they please or require whatever they want on their _unregulated_ stuff. PAT] ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 21:51:01 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message J Kelly wrote: > The problem with checks is that all I need is your routing and account > number, and guess what? Those are printed on every one of your checks > in plain human readable numerals. I can print up new checks on my > computer with any ID on them I want, and your account number. I can > start passing them around town same as your sneak thief. And guess > what? I can easily get a fake ID to match the ID of the person I put > on the check. Checks are terribly insecure. You also need a signature, at least if you want the money to come from my account. Now you obviously don't care if a merchant gets screwed since you've long since run off with the goods, but for the consumer, it's not as bad as the above makes it sound. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #381 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Aug 23 17:30:09 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 4A2EA14EA8; Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:30:09 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #382 Message-Id: <20050823213009.4A2EA14EA8@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:30:09 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:29:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 382 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Web of Crime: Zombie PC Armies Designed to Suck Your Wallet Dry Google Instant Messnger to Start This Week (Reuters News Wire) Yahoo, Verizon Lauch Internet Service (Greg Sandoval) Japanese House Sitter Robot Now Available (Hiroko Tabuchi) 3COM and Livingston Terminal Servers and Hubs $1 Each NR (Milo Aukerman) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Joseph) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Steven Schlichter) Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing (joseph) Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC (Lisa Hancock) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Lisa Hancock) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Erik Larkin Subject: Web of Crime: Zombie PC Armies Designed to Suck Your Wallet Dry Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:39:23 -0500 by Erik Larkin, PC World As a teenager running his own online chat server in the 1990s, Barrett Lyon had no idea that the attacks routinely pounding his server would evolve into an Internet scourge that earned serious profit for online criminals. Lyon says that he enjoyed using Internet Relay Chat, or IRC, as a place for people to share ideas and get instant answers to questions. But online, as in the real world, bringing a bunch of teenage male egos together inevitably resulted in battles, and Lyon was forced to become a de facto security expert in order to fend off frequent attempts to shut his server down. It was "basically one big massive testosterone ego fight," Lyon says, from "kids that wanted to prove themselves." The teens of the late 1990s wrote and deployed software that became known as "bots," short for "robots"--programs created to attack each other and to hit servers such as Lyon's. How Bot Networks Work In a general sense, a bot is a program that acts semiautonomously in response to commands sent by humans. Bots aren't necessarily evil or illegal. For instance, the GoogleBot scours the Web for the purpose of improving that search engine. But harmful bots, when installed on the PCs of unspecting users, connect to IRC, or to a Web site, or even to a peer-to-peer network and await commands from their controllers. When the commands arrive, the bots execute them on their unwitting hosts -- which might include your personal computer -- enabling malicious hackers to gain complete control over those machines; the infected PCs are then called "zombies." When a bot has spread to a huge number of computers, the resulting botnet provides a ready source of computing power and Internet access that the bot's owner can abuse at will. What was once a weapon for attention-hungry teens in chat rooms has mutated into a digital tool that Internet criminals now use to steal millions of dollars across the globe. For instance, a July 2005 study by antivirus vendor McAfee reported that the number of systems infected with malicious software that allows a PC to be used for unauthorized purposes jumped by 303 percent during the second quarter of 2005 from the previous quarter. The primary purpose of these infiltrations is to make money, says Larry Johnson, special agent in charge of the Criminal Investigative Division of the U.S. Secret Service. And in some respects, the operations function just like a legitimate business. For instance, malicious entrepreneurs appear to be charging $2000 to $3000 for temporary use of armies of 20,000 zombie PCs, according to a June posting on SpecialHam.com, an electronic forum for hackers. More Sophistication Organized criminals are emerging as a new and increasingly effective source of sophisticated attacks with botnets, according to Vincent Gullotto, vice president of McAfee's Anti-virus and Vulnerability Emergency Response Team. "There's a whole new ballgame that's being played," he adds. Gullotto says that his team recorded nearly 13,000 cases of attempted bot hijackings in the second quarter of 2005, up from about 3000 during the first quarter of 2005. In fact, turning ordinary PCs into zombies has become so common that CipherTrust -- a company that provides e-mail security and guards against spam -- posts an hourly update on global zombie activity. A graphical representation of what a distributed denial of service attack looks like.Meanwhile, Barrett Lyon has taken the skills he honed in the 1990s to the world of security. In 2004 he founded Prolexic, a company dedicated to protecting clients from botnet-launched distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which miscreants launch in an effort to overwhelm a Web site with a flood of meaningless data. During a DDoS attack, each bot-infected computer sends as much data as it can to the target site. Multiply that by the thousands of zombie PCs in a given botnet, and the target Web site must dedicate all its resources to dealing with the DDos flood; as a result, the site can't do anything else -- such as respond to real users who are trying to reach it. Financially motivated criminals use DDoS attacks as part of extortion schemes that may demand as much as $50,000 from a business. Some particularly unscrupulous companies use them to attack competitors. But botnets have many other uses. Botnets' Other Skills Botnets began to emerge as money-making tools when spammers discovered that they could be use them to send e-mail messages that would evade blacklists and other antispam measures, according to analysts. ID theft is another favorite activity of botnet wranglers. They use teams of zombie PCs to send out spam in the hope of capturing information through "phishing" schemes. One common variant of phishing is when scam artists design Web sites to look like real banking or e-commerce sites. The crooks then send out spam messages asking the recipients to enter their account or credit card number at the bogus site. If anyone does, the crooks can take control of that account. Bot software is versatile because it opens a "back door" on its host that lets the controller gain covert control over the PC. Botnets can perform a multitude of tasks because they can update themselves with new features and install other software -- including viruses, adware, and spyware -- on the computers they rule, says Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering at Symantec. Bots' capacity for self-updating shows all the hallmarks of professional software, Huger says. Certain varieties of bots look "as if someone who has some formal software training is putting them together," he says. How They're Controlled One common characteristic of botnets is that they can be controlled from a central location. Reflecting their historical roots, most bots connect to an IRC chat channel to receive their commands. But some sinister varieties now use other means of control, including peer-to-peer networks like EDonkey or Gnutella, to send control messages. "Those are the scary ones," Lyon says, because they're much harder to trace and shut down. Creating a botnet is like "casting a net out wide," Huger says. A would-be controller essentially releases the bot (or a precursor Trojan horse that installs the bot) onto the Internet to see how many computers it infects. Targeted Malware On the other hand, some criminals prefer to choose a particular target and use a tailored approach, without botnets. In one attack that spanned March and April 2005, cybercrooks tricked individual companies' and organizations' domain name servers -- which guide all Internet traffic -- into sending all of their Internet traffic to a server controlled by the attackers. Ken Dunham, director of malicious code at IDefense, a Virginia-based Internet security company, estimates that 3000 DNS servers at a range of companies, including at least two with more than 8000 employees each, got hit. Anyone inside one of the affected companies or organizations who tried to go to any Web page ended up instead at the attacker's site, where stealth scripts surreptitiously installed about 80MB worth of adware and spyware onto any computer using an older version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. Because so much malware was installed, its presence was immediately obvious to the hapless users, slowing their systems to a crawl and peppering their screens with pop-up ads. As a result, IT response was fast, and the companies quickly cleaned their employees' PCs. But some analysts have theorized that the attackers designed the huge payload simply to create a diversion while a separate piece of malware not yet caught by antivirus and antispyware programs installed itself. According to this theory, the remaining piece of stealth software may have been programmed to steal information in a corporate espionage scheme, a growing threat to businesses across the globe. Businesses Beware On June 16, the British government released a report titled "Targeted Trojan Email Attacks" that warned of directed attacks against government offices and businesses in the United Kingdom. According to the report, the attacks might infiltrate specific targets with spyware meant for "covert gathering and transmitting of commercially or economically valuable information" such as usernames, passwords, and sensitive documents. American companies are at risk from this type of spyware as well. "It happens all the time," Symantec's Huger says. Unscrupulous companies seek a business advantage, and crooked individuals look for information they can sell. If there's money to be made, malware-based spying will continue, Huger says. "It's very simple -- it's the unfortunate truth." Files Held for Ransom Money was definitely at the heart of a novel new attack that infected victims' computers with a virus that searched for and then encrypted various text files. Once the encryption was complete, the virus deleted itself and left a ransom note, demanding that $200 be sent to an account with E-Gold, a Paypal-like Internet currency service whose payments are backed by gold deposits. Dan Hubbard, senior director of security and technology research at Websense, investigated this attack after one of his company's clients was targeted. Hubbard says that only one business reported being hit; and Joe Stewart, an Internet security analyst he knows at LURHQ, a provider of managed security services, wrote a program to decrypt the relatively simple encryption used. But "coming up with a better encryption scheme is a very simple thing to do," Hubbard says. So another, nastier attack could be on the way. Considering how much money is at stake to motivate criminals, expert after expert expects botnets and other malware attacks to continue to expand. "This whole cybercrime wave is growing in numbers and sophistication," Hubbard says. "We're seeing technology evolve in ways we never have [before]." Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Discuss this report with others in our chat room at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html *** 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, PC World Communications, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Google Plans Instant Message System Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:36:04 -0500 Google Inc. is set to introduce its own instant messaging system, the Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday, marking the expansion by the Web search leader into text and also voice communications. Citing unnamed sources "familiar with the service," the Los Angeles Times said that Google's Instant Messaging program would be called Google Talk and could be launched as early as Wednesday. Google Talk goes beyond text-based instant messaging using a computer keyboard to let users hold voice conversations with other computer users, the newspaper quoted a source as saying. A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the company's product plans. If confirmed, the combined computer text and voice-calling service would put Google in competition with a similar service pioneered by Skype, which has attracted tens of millions of users, especially in Europe, to its own service. Separately, independent journalist Om Malik on his blog at http://gigaom.com/ pointed to technical clues that suggest Google is preparing to run an instant messaging service based on an open-source system known as Jabber. Jabber technology would allow Google instant message users to connect with established IM systems that also work with Jabber, including America Online's ICQ and Apple Computer Inc.'s iChat, Malik said. "This is the worst possible news for someone like Skype, because now they will be up against not two but three giants who want to offer a pale-version of Skype," he wrote. Earlier this week, Google said it was branching out beyond pure search to help users manage e-mail, instant messages, news headlines and music. It introduced a new service called the Google Sidebar, a stand-alone software program that sits on a user's desktop and provides "live" information updates. Over the past year or so, the company has expanded into e-mail, online maps, personalized news and more. The product push comes as rivals Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL are all pushing to upgrade existing instant messaging systems and expand into new Internet phone-calling services. Google's moves take it beyond its roots in Web search and closer to becoming a broad-based Internet media company. With instant messaging, Google would be breaking into a market in which its major competitors boast tens of millions of subscribers to their established instant messaging services. America Online, with its AIM and ICQ brands, counts more than 40 million IM users in the United States alone. Yahoo has around 20 million and Microsoft's MSN Messenger numbers some 14 million users, according to recent comScore Media Metrix data. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Greg Sandoval Subject: Yahoo Verizon Launch Internet Service Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 12:42:53 -0500 Yahoo, Verizon Launch Internet Service By GREG SANDOVAL, AP Technology Writer Verizon Communications Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have teamed up to launch a cheaper high-speed Internet service designed to compete against cable operators and dial-up service providers. For $14.95, subscribers will be able to download Web pages via a digital subscriber line at speeds of up to 768 kilobits and upload data at 128 kilobits. The cheaper service, which requires a one-year contract, offers Yahoo premium services, such as antivirus protection, on-demand music videos and unlimited photo storage, according to an advertisement on Yahoo's site. Sunnyvale-based Yahoo was expected to announce formally the Verizon launch Tuesday, but an advertisement found on the company's Web site Monday night detailed the DSL offering. John Reseburg, a Yahoo representative, confirmed the accuracy of the ad. When it comes to transmission speed, Verizon is far behind SBC Communications, which launched a $14.95 DSL service with Yahoo in June. SBC transmits data at up to 1.5 megabits, twice as fast as Verizon's. Verizon will continue to offer faster DSL for higher prices. According to the ad on Yahoo's site, Verizon customers can pay between $19.95 and $37.95 to obtain transmission speeds comparable to SBC's. Verizon and other telephone companies are cutting prices to stave off cable companies, which can offer faster data delivery and at greater distances than DSL. Still, Verizon's low-cost DSL is speedier and cheaper than America Online's $23.90-monthly dialup service. For Yahoo, the partnership is another chance to collect a share of monthly subscriber fees as well as increase its profile as an Internet-service provider. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. AP News online at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html chat about our news and other reports: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html ------------------------------ From: Hiroko Tabuchi Subject: Japanese House Sitter Robot Now Available Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:29:23 -0500 By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer Worried about leaving your house empty while you go on vacation? Japan has the answer: a house-sitter robot armed with a digital camera, infrared sensors and a videophone. Stores across Japan started taking orders on Thursday for the Roborior -- a watermelon-sized eyeball on wheels that glows purple, blue and orange -- continuing the country's love affair with gadgets. Roborior can function as interior decor, but also as a virtual guard dog that can sense break-ins using infrared sensors, notify homeowners by calling their cellular phones, and send the owner's cell phone videos from its digital camera. It debuted in department stores this week, but supplies are limited. The robot is on display in a half-dozen shops, though many more are taking orders. "We've had robots before that were just toys, but the Roborior can actually be put to practical use in the home," said Takako Sakata, a spokeswoman for the department store chain Takashimaya. Such technology doesn't come cheaply. Takashimaya will sell the machines, developed by Japanese robot maker Tmsuk Co. Ltd. and electronics company Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., for $2,600 each. "We received a lot of inquiries after the demonstrations," Sakata said. "Our initial plan is to sell 2,000 robots." Tmsuk has already produced a four-legged security robot called Banryu, which is about the size of a large dog and sells for $18,000. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Listen to AP News Radio and read headlines at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-exta/newstoday.html Chat with other readers at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html ------------------------------ From: martians@sdf.lNoOnSePsAtMar.org (Milo Aukermann) Subject: 3COM and Livingston Terminal Servers & Hubs $1.00 NR Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 20:15:54 UTC Organization: SDF Public Access UNIX System, est. 1987 - sdf.lonestar.org Each of these items are $1.00 with no reserve. Buyer would just pay actual shipping costs. (BTW, I also have a couple ASCEND terminal servers available you may contact me privately if you are interested). Livingston PM2 10 port http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5799130448 3COM CS 2600 10 port http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5799131277 3COM CS 3600 10 port (new in box) http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5799131390 SYNOPTIC 16 port rackmountable hub http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5799129779 SYNOPTIC 16 port rackmountable hub http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5799129841 ------------------------------ From: J Kelly Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 15:33:44 -0500 Organization: http://newsguy.com On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 21:51:01 -0600, DevilsPGD wrote: > In message J Kelly > wrote: >> The problem with checks is that all I need is your routing and account >> number, and guess what? Those are printed on every one of your checks >> in plain human readable numerals. I can print up new checks on my >> computer with any ID on them I want, and your account number. I can >> start passing them around town same as your sneak thief. And guess >> what? I can easily get a fake ID to match the ID of the person I put >> on the check. Checks are terribly insecure. > You also need a signature, at least if you want the money to come from > my account. > Now you obviously don't care if a merchant gets screwed since you've > long since run off with the goods, but for the consumer, it's not as > bad as the above makes it sound. You don't really think the bank checks the signature do you? Only if you complain about an unauthorized check. The problem isn't the possibility of losing money, its the work required to clean up the mess after the fact. ------------------------------ From: shlichter1@aol.com Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: 23 Aug 2005 05:43:38 -0700 DevilsPGD wrote: > In message J Kelly > wrote: >> The problem with checks is that all I need is your routing and account >> number, and guess what? Those are printed on every one of your checks >> in plain human readable numerals. I can print up new checks on my >> computer with any ID on them I want, and your account number. I can >> start passing them around town same as your sneak thief. And guess >> what? I can easily get a fake ID to match the ID of the person I put >> on the check. Checks are terribly insecure. > You also need a signature, at least if you want the money to come from > my account. > Now you obviously don't care if a merchant gets screwed since you've > long since run off with the goods, but for the consumer, it's not as > bad as the above makes it sound. Most banks don't even look at the signature, that is unless the check it presented in person at the issuers bank. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 06:51:00 -0700 On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 17:05:34 -0500, Jim Salter wrote: > "Almost every one of my neighbors says they're going to move if this > thing goes up," O'Brien said. And more likely than not they're the same people who will whine that they can't get a good signal when they try to make calls on their mobile phones. I think it's just a little strange to mount a huge campaign especially when a company goes out of its way so what they're doing won't intrude on a community. So many people getting bent out of shape over a perceived danger that has not even been proven in twenty years when there are other bigger targets which are likely more of a threat. You don't see people railing against the power companies for running high voltage transmission lines through neighbourhoods "ruining" their property values either. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC Date: 23 Aug 2005 07:41:40 -0700 Fred Atkinson wrote: > It means they should only have to dial seven digits. ... Because of area code splits, overlays, and diverse population and industry, many calls today require ten digits. > True, but you have to understand the culture of the area I'm in to > fully get the picture. ... > It is a problem when you have folks who are constantly watching the > amount of long distance calls being made. Unfortunately, we *are* in > that position. I'm glad it worked out for you. But I thought _I_ was old fashioned about modern technology. My mother was extremely frugal. When she wanted to talk to her sister (a long distance call), she would use the drugstore phone and bring only enough change for a 3 minute call. That forced her to limit the call to 3 minutes. Normally she and her sister sent postcards back and forth. But about ten years ago they got 5c/min Sundays. They stopped using postcards and used the phone instead, talking for an hour or more. My mother also regularly called relatives across the country. BTW, even in the nursing home they'd let my mother make occassional free toll calls from the nurse's desk. Anyway, the point is that a once-frugal elderly person who once thought of long distance telephone as very serious business changed and used the phone freely. Certainly you don't want toll calls all over the place all day long, but I would think today a business would be looking at a bigger picture. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 23 Aug 2005 08:35:54 -0700 jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: > That is a Straw Man argument. The phone company DSL revenue was/is > generated from existing infrastructure that was developed with the > benefit of government sponsored monopolies and subsidies. They have an > existing revenue and equipment base to support the expansion to > fiber. Also, the cable companies that you reference were deploying in > a new non-telecom market, also with monopoly protection. It wasn't > until recently that they offered Internet or telecom services (I know > when they did it, I had one of the first cable Internet connections in > the area). I don't agree. The "existing infrastructure" you speak of consisted of obsolete technology in both switching and the local loops. It worked fine for POTS and low speed dialup but it was no good for higher speed work. The phone company had to invest in new facilities to support broadband. This investment was done in a competitive marketplace. The cable companies had to compete against plain old rabitt ears, high gain rooftop antennas, and satellite TV. Obviously rollouts in different areas occured at different times. But generally consumer broadband service was offered on cable and phoneco at roughly the same time. > I suspect the ROW is grandfathered onto existing ROW agreements used > with the existing phone service. They are only deploying into areas > that they already serve. No, it is not. FIOS is treated differently. It is more difficult for the phone company, but I suspect they chose this path to avoid regulations. I still maintain that the capital cost to lay fibre optic, esp when it can be done selectively to areas with the best customers, is not unsurmountable. The cellphone world was supposed to be two companies, but quite a few have built networks, and quite a few more sublet services from those networks. > You're missing the point. I currently have phone company DSL, and I'm > quite happy with it. But I =DON'T= use the phone company ISP. Because > the phone company is an infrastructure provider I can choose a > different ISP, allowing me to tailor the services to my needs. I even > pay a premium for that. What Verizon is doing is eliminating that > option, forcing everyone into the FIOS equivilant of Verizon > Online/MSN DSL but charging them 30% more for the priviledge. ... > Because of the way the service is classified they are also free to > control what traffic flows on their network. They can block Vonage > just as easily as any other service; they can block traffic to > "objectionable" web sites. This is not moving in a good direction at > all. I understand what you're saying -- since Verizon FIOS is deregulated, they can do as they please, just as any other business may require exclusive packages with their customers. (I don't think a nice fancy restaurant would appreciate it if I came in, ordered only a cup of coffee, and then ate a pizza I brought in with me.) That is a problem with deregulation and the marketplace. There is no guarantee there will be competition. Sure a busy corner _might_ have three supermarkets involved in a price war, but could just as easily have only grocery store who charges premium prices. That's the way it is in a lot of markets in a lot of industries. There is no way around it if you want deregulation and a free marketplace. That's how it works. There is nothing stopping the cable company or a new business from laying their own fibre or whatever network and offering their own service, undercutting Verizon's FIOS prices. If Verizon FIOS is priced so unfairly high, someone else should be able to undercut them (presuming there is a demand by customers to use their own ISP.) The other alternative is to go back to regulation and control the prices. Then we're back to the old Bell System. As to ISP's, I expect a consolidation of them because of a variety of factors in the industry. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #382 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Aug 24 15:04:50 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 5BEDB151E4; Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:04:50 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #383 Message-Id: <20050824190450.5BEDB151E4@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:04:50 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.6 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, HOT_NASTY autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:05:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 383 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson NY AG Spitzer: AOL's Been Very Naughty ... (Danny Burstein) AOL: The Full Story of Spitzer's Lawsuit (Reuters News Wire) Google to Launch Messaging, Voice Service Today (Matthew Fordahl) Google Talk (Monty Solomon) Gmail Account For Mobile Phone Users (Monty Solomon) Problem Acessing Some Sites (ive.cal@gmail.com) FCC Could Add VoIP to USF (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Robert Bonomi) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (DevilsPGD) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Dave Garland) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Robert Bonomi) Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC (DevilsPGD) Re: Yahoo Verizon Launch Internet Service (Steve Sobol) Re: Norvergence ... Update on Its Owners' Problems (nstrom@ananzi.co.za) Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing (Dave Garland) This Digest Article Was Spam! (John L. Shelton) Help Wanted With Telecom Chat Room (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Danny Burstein Subject: NY AG Spitzer: AOL's Been Very Naughty ... Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 09:58:23 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC " Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced an agreement that requires the nation's leading internet service provider to reform its customer service procedures. ..... " For several years, AOL had instituted minimum retention or 'save' percentages, which consumer representatives were expected to meet. These bonuses, and the minimum 'save' rates accompanying them, had the effect of employees not honoring cancellations, or otherwise making cancellation unduly difficult for consumers. " Many consumers complained that AOL personnel ignored their demands to cancel service and stop billing ... http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2005/aug/aug24a_05.html _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My thanks to Danny for the tip off on this latest legal action by Mr. Spitzer. The full report from Reuters is included in this issue of the Digest. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: AOL to Reform Customer Service in Spitzer Pact Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:25:10 -0500 America Online, the world's largest Internet service provider, has agreed to reform the way it handles customers who want to cancel service, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said on Wednesday. Spitzer, announcing settlement of a lawsuit, said AOL is also required to provide fee refunds for up to four months of service to all New York consumers who claim harm based on improper cancellation requests and pay New York state $1.25 million in penalties and costs. Spitzer's office, responding to about 300 New York customer complaints, conducted a probe into AOL's customer service policies and procedures. AOL, owned by media conglomerate Time Warner Inc., serves about 21 million subscribers, of which 1.9 million customers reside in the region. With the settlement, AOL agreed to alter incentives it offers customer representatives who try to dissuade customers from canceling their subscriptions. It also agreed to eliminate customer service quotas on the number of subscribers dissuaded from canceling and to record all cancellation requests. Cancellation requests will need to be verified by a third party monitor by June 2006. Customers seeking refunds will need to submit claims to either AOL or the attorney general's office within 120 days. "AOL is pleased to have reached an agreement with the state of New York on customer care practices that we believe will increase quality assurance and assist with the verification of certain member intentions online," an AOL spokesman said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. To discuss this news with other readers, use our chat page: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html ------------------------------ From: Matthew Fordahl Subject: Google to Launch Messaging, Voice Service Today Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:26:56 -0500 By MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer Further expanding beyond its roots in Internet search, Google Inc. plans to launch a long-rumored program Wednesday that provides both text instant messaging and computer-to-computer voice chat. The new program, Google Talk, will compete against similar free services offered for several years by America Online Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. All are vying to increase their presence on PCs to boost online ad revenue and name recognition. The launch was due to come two days after Google unveiled another free program that aggregates information on a computer desktop. It also comes less than a week after the company announced plans to raise $4 billion in a secondary stock offering -- which some analysts speculated could be used to fund far-flung projects such as Internet telephony. As a newcomer to messaging, Google could face an uphill battle. AOL's messaging program has about 41.6 million U.S. users, followed by Yahoo Messenger with 19.1 million and MSN Messenger with 14.1 million, according to ComScore Media Metrix's July report. Users of those services are unlikely to switch unless the friends and colleagues on their "buddy lists" do the same. The top instant messaging services still do not communicate with each other, though promises of such "interoperability" have been made for years. Google based its software on open standards, so it will work with smaller networks that are based on the same technology. Text messages can be exchanged with users of Apple Computer Inc.'s iChat, Cerulean Studios' Trillian and the open-source Gaim program. Google also is inviting programmers to build its technology into their software. "It means other people and developers will be able to add value to our network by being able to add this to computer games, productivity applications and anywhere else they want," said Georges Harik, director of product management at Google. The new Google program features a basic user interface with few graphics, much like the main Google search site. It does not spawn pop-up windows or display ads like America Online's Instant Messenger. "We'll have an uncluttered interface that allows you to search over your contacts pretty easily," Harik said. "It just stays out of your way unless you want to connect to someone." Google Talk, which is being released in a beta test version, works only on PCs running Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Eventually, the company plans to release a version for Apple's Mac OS X. Google Talk also requires users to have an account with the company's free Gmail e-mail system. Gmail previously was available only to those invited by a current account holder, but now Google is opening up registration to anyone in the United States. Voice chat requires that both the caller and recipient have speakers and a microphone hooked up to their computers. It does not currently offer an adapter to which regular phones can be connected. And unlike Internet phone services such as Vonage and Skype, Google's voice service does not support calls to the regular telephone system. Harik also made clear that Google has no intention of trying to become a popular bridge to the other major instant-messaging providers. "We're not going to do anything like force other networks to interoperate with us," he said. "We're not going to arbitrarily break into their protocols." However, since Google Talk runs on open standards, outside developers who incorporate the service into their programs could try to enable such interoperability. Because of Google's large and loyal user base, the company's foray into instant messaging could threaten the other players, said Sara Radicati, head of The Radicati Group Inc., a technology research firm. As evidence, Radicati cited Google's entry into e-mail, when it became chic to have a Gmail account. "We've seen people show off their Google address," she said. "It's on the level of `Hey, look at my new Swatch. I've got the yellow one while you're still wearing the blue.' ... It's a little thing, but it helps." AP Technology Writer Greg Sandoval contributed to this report. On the Net: http://www.google.com/talk Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For AP News Reports go to: http://telecom-digest.org./td-extra/newstoday.html To chat with other users about this or other stories: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Our correspondent Monty Solomon summar- izes this news and has an additional report from Google in another message in this issue. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 08:49:38 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Google Talk http://www.google.com/talk/ They say talk is cheap. Google thinks it should be free. Google Talk enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free-anytime, anywhere in the world. ... http://www.google.com/talk/ http://www.google.com/talk/start.html Google to Offer Instant Messaging and Voice Communications on Web http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/24/technology/24google.html?ex=1282536000&en=14bfd19debb1e094&ei=5090 Where Does Google Plan to Spend $4 Billion? http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/22/technology/22google.html?ex=1282363200&en=56c24d008a489caf&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 09:50:17 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Gmail Account For Mobile Phone Users Excerpt from the press release Google Launches Open, Instant Communications Service http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/talk.html Greater Availability of Gmail Google Talk requires a Gmail username and password, and starting today, Google is making it easier for anyone in the U.S. with access to a mobile phone to sign up for a Gmail account. When users visit http://gmail.com and enter their mobile phone number, they will receive an invitation code via a text message. This code enables them to open an account. With a Gmail account, users can try both Gmail and Google Talk, and begin inviting their friends and family to talk with them for free over email, IM or a voice call. ------------------------------ From: ive.cal@gmail.com Subject: Problem Acessing Some Sites! Date: 23 Aug 2005 21:13:14 -0700 Hello! Please ... do reply ... I have a problem accessing some sites.It took me minutes to access it. This is the case with Yahoo (but not Google). It says "The document contains no data." What does this means? Is it something to do with the configuration? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 12:47:35 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: FCC Could Add VoIP to USF USTelecom dailyLead August 24, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24087&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * FCC could add VoIP to USF BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Study: Broadband growth opens new market for Web portals * Sprint Nextel details plans for local phone unit spinoff * Microsoft offers rebate on set-tops * Can Yahoo! become the fifth network? * Time Warner invests in mobile gaming startup * Google joins IM crowd EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Skype offers IM developer tools * Intel, Cisco work together on VoIP/Wi-Fi combo * Akimbo to offer MLB highlights online REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * NTIA chief defends national broadband deployment policy Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24087&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 23 Aug 2005 23:16:20 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: >> That is a Straw Man argument. The phone company DSL revenue was/is >> generated from existing infrastructure that was developed with the >> benefit of government sponsored monopolies and subsidies. They have an >> existing revenue and equipment base to support the expansion to >> fiber. Also, the cable companies that you reference were deploying in >> a new non-telecom market, also with monopoly protection. It wasn't >> until recently that they offered Internet or telecom services (I know >> when they did it, I had one of the first cable Internet connections in >> the area). > I don't agree. The "existing infrastructure" you speak of consisted > of obsolete technology in both switching and the local loops. It > worked fine for POTS and low speed dialup but it was no good for > higher speed work. The phone company had to invest in new facilities > to support broadband. This investment was done in a competitive > marketplace. I didn't say anything about the capability of the existing infrastructure. What I meant was that they had an existing revenue stream based on that infrastructure to support their expansion, as well as buildings and network facilities. > The cable companies had to compete against plain old rabitt ears, high > gain rooftop antennas, and satellite TV. Not much competition there. When the cable companies first deployed satellite TV consisted of an 8' dish in the back yard and rabbit ears pulled in a couple of local stations with serious ghosting. > Obviously rollouts in different areas occured at different times. But > generally consumer broadband service was offered on cable and phoneco > at roughly the same time. And in both cases used the existing infrastructure developed and maintained under a government sponsored monopoly. > I still maintain that the capital cost to lay fibre optic, esp when it > can be done selectively to areas with the best customers, is not > unsurmountable. The cellphone world was supposed to be two companies, > but quite a few have built networks, and quite a few more sublet > services from those networks. There was a lot of fibre laying activity a few years ago. All of those companies a defunct now. The problem isn't so much that as generating revenue from it. In the case of Verizon, they're migrating their existing telephone customer base onto the fibre as well as existing and new Internet customers. So the cost is offset by more than just the Internet revenue. And as they shift their income to the fibre circuits they also shift their costs, since they're physically pulling the copper wires whenever they connect fibre. Any new competing company creating their own infrastructure from scratch would have to take customers away from Verizon, which is much harder to do. The problem is that it's extremely inefficient to have multiple infrastructure providers. That was shown in the early days of the power companies and the phone companies, and is why we have government sanctioned monopolies in the first place. Even when they tried to recreate competition in the power industry it involved the power itself, not the infrastructure that handled local distribution of that power. > I understand what you're saying -- since Verizon FIOS is deregulated, > they can do as they please, just as any other business may require > exclusive packages with their customers. (I don't think a nice fancy > restaurant would appreciate it if I came in, ordered only a cup of > coffee, and then ate a pizza I brought in with me.) An interesting analogy. If I may extend it a bit, what you're essentially saying is that if Verizon says,"We offer our own VOIP product, so we're not allowing Vonage to connect over our fibre circuits" then that's OK, because if Vonage wants to compete then they should build their own infrastructure to run over. You see the problem? The people who own the infrastructure shouldn't be able to control who has access to it or what flows over it. The real mistake was affirming that priviledge for cable, as it set a precedent. The cable system, also built with the protection of a government sponsored monoply, was/is the only serious infrastructure competition. > There is nothing stopping the cable company or a new business from > laying their own fibre or whatever network and offering their own > service, undercutting Verizon's FIOS prices. If Verizon FIOS is > priced so unfairly high, someone else should be able to undercut them > (presuming there is a demand by customers to use their own ISP.) There's nothing inherently wrong with Verizon's prices, other than they don't seem to be going in the direction the government says the deregulation should be moving them. > The other alternative is to go back to regulation and control the > prices. Then we're back to the old Bell System. We're almost there, anyway, because of consolidation in the telephone industry. The difference is that we'll have the monopoly back, but not the control and regulation. :-/ A more appropriate analogy would be if the local farm coop and food distributor (Verizon) contracted to exclusively provide product to one restaurant (MSN). You're free to run your own competing restaurant, all you have to do is find and buy enough tillable land to create your own farms and establish your own food distribution network. There's certainly nothing to prevent you from doing it. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:53:36 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: >> That is a Straw Man argument. The phone company DSL revenue was/is >> generated from existing infrastructure that was developed with the >> benefit of government sponsored monopolies and subsidies. They have an >> existing revenue and equipment base to support the expansion to >> fiber. Also, the cable companies that you reference were deploying in >> a new non-telecom market, also with monopoly protection. It wasn't >> until recently that they offered Internet or telecom services (I know >> when they did it, I had one of the first cable Internet connections in >> the area). > I don't agree. The "existing infrastructure" you speak of consisted > of obsolete technology in both switching and the local loops. It > worked fine for POTS and low speed dialup but it was no good for > higher speed work. "Bullsh*t" applies. DSL was expressly designed to work on pre-existing physical-plant wiring. *NO* wholesale replacement of physical plant was needed. My DSL circuit is carried on a wire-pair that is nearly 50 years old, with the possible exception of the _first_ 130 ft out from the C.O. switch. There is one, and only one, 'patch point' on the circuit, and it appears to be within the C.O., itself. Aside from that, it is a dedicated point-to-point cable from the C.O. to the building I'm in. 'direct-burial", not in a utility tunnel, or anything like that. > The phone company had to invest in new facilities > to support broadband. This investment was done in a competitive > marketplace. "head-end" DLSAMS, and splitters, yes. "Distribution" facilities, *NO*. And, at least locally, the ILEC was very-much a 'trailing edge' participant in the DSL market. It was very late in the growth cycle before they climbed on the bandwagon, and their offering was 'not competitive' (either on price or performance) with what the other players were offering. They eventually killed that offering completely, and replaced it with a more 'conventional' offering, which then sold well. > The cable companies had to compete against plain old rabitt ears, high > gain rooftop antennas, and satellite TV. > Obviously rollouts in different areas occured at different times. But > generally consumer broadband service was offered on cable and phoneco > at roughly the same time. *snicker* In the Chicago area, DSL availability pre-dated cable-Internet by around 10 years. It was also available from a CLEC at least *five*years* before the ILEC offered DSL. >> I suspect the ROW is grandfathered onto existing ROW agreements used >> with the existing phone service. They are only deploying into areas >> that they already serve. > No, it is not. FIOS is treated differently. It is more difficult for > the phone company, but I suspect they chose this path to avoid > regulations. > I still maintain that the capital cost to lay fibre optic, esp when it > can be done selectively to areas with the best customers, is not > unsurmountable. "That depends". ROW access _is_ a problem in many locales. Generally, erecting your own poles is _not_ an option, so (if you're going 'overhead') you have to rent space on the existing poles. *IF* there is space available on the poles to rent. Going 'underground' has its own set of problems, involving avoiding 'collisions' with pre-existing buried cables, gas/water/sewage piping, etc. Try to figure out how you lay two cables down the block, with taps going out to each house, *without* the two systems crossing over each other (making maintenance of the lower' system "difficult). > The cellphone world was supposed to be two companies, Correction: two in any _specific_ locale. *NO* assurance that either of the companies serving your town would also be providing services in the next town/county/state away, in any direction. with one of the two licenses going to the 'wire-line' provider in the area, you had some hope of 'equivalent' coverage to local land-line patterns. > but quite a few have built networks, and quite a few more sublet > services from those networks. >> You're missing the point. I currently have phone company DSL, and I'm >> quite happy with it. But I =DON'T= use the phone company ISP. Because >> the phone company is an infrastructure provider I can choose a >> different ISP, allowing me to tailor the services to my needs. I even >> pay a premium for that. What Verizon is doing is eliminating that >> option, forcing everyone into the FIOS equivilant of Verizon >> Online/MSN DSL but charging them 30% more for the priviledge. ... >> Because of the way the service is classified they are also free to >> control what traffic flows on their network. They can block Vonage >> just as easily as any other service; they can block traffic to >> "objectionable" web sites. This is not moving in a good direction at >> all. > I understand what you're saying -- since Verizon FIOS is deregulated, > they can do as they please, just as any other business may require > exclusive packages with their customers. (I don't think a nice fancy > restaurant would appreciate it if I came in, ordered only a cup of > coffee, and then ate a pizza I brought in with me.) In fact, there are FEDERAL regulations that prohibit that. :) Bringing your own _food_ into a place where food is served is a no-no. (there are some special cases -- like 'sealed' beverage containers -- that are _legally_ allowed; although the establishment may have it's own prohibitions.) > There is nothing stopping the cable company or a new business from > laying their own fibre or whatever network and offering their own > service, undercutting Verizon's FIOS prices. If Verizon FIOS is > priced so unfairly high, someone else should be able to undercut them > (presuming there is a demand by customers to use their own ISP.) > The other alternative is to go back to regulation and control the > prices. Then we're back to the old Bell System. There *IS* a third alternative. Separate the 'content' from the 'delivery infrastructure'. Have one regulated-utility operation that *only* operates the local 'physical plant' and distribution facilities. Access to which is made available to 'all comers' (content providers) at the _same_ rates for the same level of access. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:39:19 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message shlichter1@aol.com wrote: > DevilsPGD wrote: >> In message J Kelly >> wrote: >>> The problem with checks is that all I need is your routing and account >>> number, and guess what? Those are printed on every one of your checks >>> in plain human readable numerals. I can print up new checks on my >>> computer with any ID on them I want, and your account number. I can >>> start passing them around town same as your sneak thief. And guess >>> what? I can easily get a fake ID to match the ID of the person I put >>> on the check. Checks are terribly insecure. >> You also need a signature, at least if you want the money to come from >> my account. >> Now you obviously don't care if a merchant gets screwed since you've >> long since run off with the goods, but for the consumer, it's not as >> bad as the above makes it sound. > Most banks don't even look at the signature, that is unless the check > it presented in person at the issuers bank. Correct. But a quick phone call to your bank (or potentially some signed paperwork) will get the cheque reversed. I've written cheques with no date, with a date over a year earlier (and not around Jan/Feb), without a signature, with mis-matched written and numeric dollar amounts, and that had the word VOID in the signature line, all cleared without difficulty. However, should I have disputed any of the above, a simple email or phone call, I'd get the money back immediately. ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 01:54:44 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when shlichter1@aol.com wrote: > Most banks don't even look at the signature, that is unless the check > it presented in person at the issuers bank. This is true, I've had checks go through that weren't signed at all. I don't think they read anything else (except the dollar amount, and mechanically the routing and account numbers) either, once I mixed up my business and personal deposits (different names, different banks) and all that happened was both banks sent me a "deposit correction" saying that I'd added the total up wrong, and fixing it to the amount they'd actually received. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:57:09 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , shlichter1@aol.com wrote: > DevilsPGD wrote: >> In message J Kelly >> wrote: >>> The problem with checks is that all I need is your routing and account >>> number, and guess what? Those are printed on every one of your checks >>> in plain human readable numerals. I can print up new checks on my >>> computer with any ID on them I want, and your account number. I can >>> start passing them around town same as your sneak thief. And guess >>> what? I can easily get a fake ID to match the ID of the person I put >>> on the check. Checks are terribly insecure. >> You also need a signature, at least if you want the money to come from >> my account. >> Now you obviously don't care if a merchant gets screwed since you've >> long since run off with the goods, but for the consumer, it's not as >> bad as the above makes it sound. > Most banks don't even look at the signature, that is unless the check > it presented in person at the issuers bank. And they *don't* do any comparasion with the signature card that is 'on file'. This has been the case for 20 years or more. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Local Exchange Not Local in Sylva, NC Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 17:39:19 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Fred Atkinson wrote: >> True, but you have to understand the culture of the area I'm in to >> fully get the picture. ... >> It is a problem when you have folks who are constantly watching the >> amount of long distance calls being made. Unfortunately, we *are* in >> that position. > I'm glad it worked out for you. > But I thought _I_ was old fashioned about modern technology. > My mother was extremely frugal. When she wanted to talk to her sister > (a long distance call), she would use the drugstore phone and bring > only enough change for a 3 minute call. That forced her to limit the > call to 3 minutes. Normally she and her sister sent postcards back > and forth. But about ten years ago they got 5c/min Sundays. They > stopped using postcards and used the phone instead, talking for an > hour or more. My mother also regularly called relatives across the > country. BTW, even in the nursing home they'd let my mother make > occassional free toll calls from the nurse's desk. > Anyway, the point is that a once-frugal elderly person who once > thought of long distance telephone as very serious business changed > and used the phone freely. Certainly you don't want toll calls all > over the place all day long, but I would think today a business would > be looking at a bigger picture. I still have relatives that limit themselves to 3 minute long distance calls, even though they have unlimited evening and weekend calling plans, it's just habit and one that seems to be unbreakable in some people. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Yahoo Verizon Launch Internet Service Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 18:26:14 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Greg Sandoval wrote: > Verizon Communications Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have teamed up to launch a > cheaper high-speed Internet service designed to compete against cable > operators and dial-up service providers. So what happens to MSN? Verizon's been partnered with MSN for a few years now. Do Verizon Wireless customers get access to Yahoo content too? (VZW has been touting their "VZW with MSN" content...) Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: nstrom@ananzi.co.za Subject: Re: Norvergence ... Update on Its Owners' Problems Date: 24 Aug 2005 08:27:07 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Danny Burstein wrote: > http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyOSZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NjcyODc5MCZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI= I'm having problems contacting www.northjersey.com. If others are having problems, a quick Google search shows a copy of this article available here: http://www.rednova.com/news/technology/184576/former_norvergence_chiefs_new_venture_falls_just_as_hard/ (or via tinyurl: http://tinyurl.com/c4fhq ) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My thanks to you also for this follow up. Like yourself, I found some hassles locating that article on the site; the link was no good as originally published. Thanks again for locating it and correcting it for us. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 01:56:31 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Joseph wrote: > You don't see people railing against the power companies > for running high voltage transmission lines through neighbourhoods > "ruining" their property values either. Around here you do. Not for property values, but for health concerns. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 09:45:27 -0700 From: John L. Shelton Subject: This Digest Article Was Spam! Telecom Digest has gone off-topic before, and many of us have kept quiet. But in the anti-spam spirit of the digest, some of us would appreciate not having additional advertising included, particularly in the form of "articles". > Each of these items are $1.00 with no reserve. Buyer would just pay > actual shipping costs. > (BTW, I also have a couple ASCEND terminal servers available you may > contact me privately if you are interested). =John= john@jshelton.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for your comments on this. I frequently print messages about things 'for sale' of a telecom nature, simply because the items for sale are peculiar enough to telecom that the people here _might_ be interested where in other forums there might not be any interest. In this instance, I was _told_ the items were surplus and it seemed to me there might be some interest in them among Digest readers. I am sorry if it gave some readers more the appearance of spam. It is indeed unfortunate, IMO, that there is not a classification on the net for '.spam' since there is so much of it everywhere. 'They' (net authorities) have categories for so many new phenomena on the net these days including '.biz' and '.info' much of which amounts to spam anyway, but 'they' refuse to offer categories for actual '.spam' and/or '.scam' and '.xxx' (.sex) which is also plentiful. Go figure ... PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Help Wanted With Telecom Chat Room Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 00:55:44 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Anyone who likes to chat on telecom topics is invited to use the chat area we have available: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html I would also like to have a few people agree to take over the moderator duties in the Telecom Chat. It is an IRC-style chat program, in javascript. It is a volunteer position, but intended to have someone around at various times to help answer questions from newcomers, and promote conversations on the topics going on here in the Digest. Please check it out, and if you would like to volunteer to be a chat room moderator, please let me know. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #383 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Aug 25 01:26:48 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C96B414EBB; Thu, 25 Aug 2005 01:26:47 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #384 Message-Id: <20050825052647.C96B414EBB@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 01:26:47 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 Aug 2005 01:26:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 384 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Sony Adds Browser to PGP Mobile Device (Reuters News Wire) Microsoft to Support Linux With Virtual Server (Elizabeth Montalbano) Playboy Magazine to go Digital in September (Reuters News Wire) Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing (DevilsPGD) Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing (Paul Coxwell) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Lisa Hancock) Re: Problem Accessing Some Sites (Robert Bonomi) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (DevilsPGD) Re: Yahoo Verizon Launch Internet Service (DevilsPGD) Help Wanted With Telecom Chat Room (TELECOM Digest Editor) Is it Just Me, or Are Viruses Getting Worse? (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Sony Adds Browser to PSP Mobile Game Device Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 23:49:48 -0500 Sony Corp. is adding Internet access to its Play Station Portable in a bid to increase the mobile gaming device's appeal as a handheld entertainment center, the company said on Wednesday. Sony Computer Entertainment America is offering PSP users a software upgrade that will allow wireless Internet access on the device, including a new Web browser to connect to news, entertainment content, online searches and e-mail. The software is also built to increase data security on the device and enhance digital photo-sharing and video playback capabilities, the company said. "The Internet browser and other added functionality ... will further enhance the user experience beyond the unprecedented portable entertainment already provided by PSP," said Andrew House, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America. Japan's Sony has sold nearly 2 million PSP units in North America since launching the product in March. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. To discuss this and other telecom news topics, go to our chat room at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html ------------------------------ From: Elizabeth Montalbano Subject: Microsoft to Support Linux With Virtual Server Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 23:55:01 -0500 Microsoft to support Linux with Virtual Server. The product will include 64-bit support, which allows more virtual machines to run on one server. By Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service The next release of Microsoft's Virtual Server product will support the virtualization of both Linux (Overview, Articles, Company) and Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris operating systems on servers running the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS), a company spokesman said in an interview Wednesday. Microsoft on Wednesday also announced a new name for the next interim release of the product, formerly called Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1. Microsoft is now calling it Virtual Server 2005 R2, news unveiled by Microsoft in a keynote by Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in San Francisco. Microsoft changed the name because the release will include significantly more enhancements than a usual service pack, said Zane Adam, director of marketing in the Windows Server division of Microsoft. The software giant typically offers service packs and interim releases called "R2s" between major updates to its server products. Included in enhancements to Virtual Server 2005 R2 will be support for Linux and Solaris, technology that Microsoft is developing with the help of some of its partners, Adam said. He declined to name those companies, however. Virtual Server 2005 R2 also will include 64-bit support, which allows more virtual machines to run on one server. Additionally, the product will feature better performance for virtual machines in memory-intensive applications, as well as higher availability through new clustering technologies, Adam said. Microsoft introduced Virtual Server in October 2004. The product enables virtualization of its Windows Server OS so multiple instances can run simultaneously on one server as if they are running on multiple servers. It competes directly with virtualization technology available from EMC's VMWare division. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer first announced in April that Microsoft would include third-party support for Linux in Virtual Server. At the same time, he also unveiled Hypervisor, a technology that will add the virtualization and management features of Virtual Server directly to the OS. Hypervisor eventually will be included in the next major release of Windows Server, code-named Longhorn. The Longhorn version of Windows Server is expected to be released in the first half of 2007. At the time of the Hypervisor announcement, the fate of Virtual Server as a standalone product was widely questioned, but Microsoft said it would continue to add enhancements to the product and sell in as a separate server product. Zane reconfirmed those plans Wednesday and said a new full release of Virtual Server will follow its R2 version. The beta of that release will be available in the first half of 2006, with full availability of the product scheduled for the second half, he said. Also in Gelsinger's keynote at IDF Wednesday, Microsoft demonstrated support for VT, a virtual technology chipset Intel is bringing to market. This support, along with support for Pacifica, th code name for similar technology being developed by AMD will be included the release of Virtual Server due out by the end of 2006, Adam said. ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Playboy to Go Digital as of September Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 22:14:42 -0500 Playboy magazine, losing money in the face of depressed advertising, will go digital later this year in hopes of winning new subscribers and advertisers. The first digital magazine -- which will mirror the print version -- will be available in September after months of testing the technology, Playboy Enterprises Inc. said on Wednesday. The move comes as Playboy Enterprises is increasingly dependent on revenue from its licensing and entertainment businesses rather than the publishing division, where it posted a second-quarter loss of $2.3 million. The media company's overall profit totaled $4.6 million. "I think we're all cognizant of the fact that there are two macro trends going on here that this product is designed to respond to," Playboy Enterprises Chief Executive Christie Hefner said in an interview. "One is more and more consumers are getting information and entertainm ent online and the other is more and more advertising dollars are going online." With the digital service, readers can buy either a subscription or single copy that can then be downloaded. The company launched the service in conjunction with digital marketing and publishing company Zinio Systems Inc. Hefner described the start-up costs as "very modest" and said individual digital issues would be priced at the same rate as newsstand copies, while subscriptions would be slightly higher than the lowest introductory price for print editions. She said that Zinio finds subscriptions to digital editions typically average about 5 percent of print subscriptions. "For Playboy that would be a very large number because we have 2.8 million subscribers to the print magazine," she said. "But we aren't making any budget projections at this point." An October issue featuring the Girls of the Pac 10 and an interview with comedian George Carlin will kick off the digital publishing. Starting September 13, it can be downloaded from http://www.playboydigital.com. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:40:01 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message Dave Garland wrote: > It was a dark and stormy night when Joseph > wrote: >> You don't see people railing against the power companies >> for running high voltage transmission lines through neighbourhoods >> "ruining" their property values either. > Around here you do. Not for property values, but for health concerns. To me, there is a simple solution: If they don't want high voltage lines, don't give them any. Unplug the complainers from the grid completely. *shrugs* ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 21:05:41 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing >> "Almost every one of my neighbors says they're going to move if this >> thing goes up," O'Brien said. > And more likely than not they're the same people who will whine that > they can't get a good signal when they try to make calls on their > mobile phones. I know of some who protest strongly over the towers, yet they're people who seem to walk around half the day with a cellphone clamped to their ear. Ever tried to explain the inverse-square law to these people? -Paul ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 24 Aug 2005 13:28:19 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Robert Bonomi wrote: > My DSL circuit is carried on a wire-pair that is nearly 50 years old, That's nice. But a lot of old loop plant was replaced, in whole or in part. The Bell Labs history talks extensively about the local loop and technological improvements made to it through the 1970s through the use of concentrators and the like. This newsgroup has had discussions of more modern technology. > There *IS* a third alternative. Separate the 'content' from the > 'delivery infrastructure'. That brings back regulation. We broke up the Bell System to get away from regulation and to go to competition. It is very common in the marketplace for providers to bundle services and products. Many times we take it for granted and never think about. For example, most supermarkets and shopping centers today (outside downtown) provide free parking. What that really is is that their cost of building and maintaining a parking lot is passed on to the customers. It's bundled in. They could lower their prices (slightly) if they made people pay to park instead. Sports arenas tend to charge people (and charge dearly) to park. Which one is a preferable system? Should the govt dictate to one or the other? Many stores also sell their own house brand. If you like a particular house brand, you may only get it at the associated store, not at any other store. If you like WalMart's t-shirts, don't look for them at JCPenney. That's bundling. In many cases, there is a blurred line between "content". Should every customer choose their own automobile tires and radio on a new car? Should an airline not provide those free magazines at the seats? Should a doctor's office not provide magazines in the waiting room? All of those are bundled services and supposedly could be isolated out. So, if a telecom provider wants to bundle services, why shouldn't it? Otherwise we're back to the Bell System and we must wait for the government to tell us what we may and may not have. As an example, the Bell System proposed its first cellular (called AMPS then) test system many years ago. It took the FCC over a YEAR to grant permission. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Problem Acessing Some Sites! Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 23:28:21 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > Hello! Please ... do reply ... I have a problem accessing some > sites. It took me minutes to access it. This is the case with Yahoo > (but not Google). It says "The document contains no data." What does > this means? It means: "The Internet is full. Go away." > Is it something to do with the configuration? Authoritative answer; "Maybe." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, Robert, for a man who is usually so full of long, usually lengthy answers on things, I am a little surprised at this response to a fellow who posed a legitimate question. PAT] ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:40:01 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: > In article , shlichter1@aol.com > wrote: >> DevilsPGD wrote: >>> In message J Kelly >>> wrote: >>>> The problem with checks is that all I need is your routing and account >>>> number, and guess what? Those are printed on every one of your checks >>>> in plain human readable numerals. I can print up new checks on my >>>> computer with any ID on them I want, and your account number. I can >>>> start passing them around town same as your sneak thief. And guess >>>> what? I can easily get a fake ID to match the ID of the person I put >>>> on the check. Checks are terribly insecure. >>> You also need a signature, at least if you want the money to come from >>> my account. >>> Now you obviously don't care if a merchant gets screwed since you've >>> long since run off with the goods, but for the consumer, it's not as >>> bad as the above makes it sound. >> Most banks don't even look at the signature, that is unless the check >> it presented in person at the issuers bank. > And they *don't* do any comparasion with the signature card that is > 'on file'. This has been the case for 20 years or more. Actually, this is starting to change thanks to computers -- No more signature card required, but they do sometimes check the signature against an online image of the signature. It certainly doesn't happen often, and probably only above a certain amount, but they do perform checks of cheques in some cases -- I know because I've had a cheque held while they called a bank officer over to approve a signature because the signature wasn't close enough for the rep to eyeball it and approve it. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: Yahoo Verizon Launch Internet Service Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 13:40:01 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message Steve Sobol wrote: > Greg Sandoval wrote: >> Verizon Communications Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have teamed up to launch a >> cheaper high-speed Internet service designed to compete against cable >> operators and dial-up service providers. > So what happens to MSN? Verizon's been partnered with MSN for a few > years now. Do Verizon Wireless customers get access to Yahoo content > too? (VZW has been touting their "VZW with MSN" content...) Probably business as usual, MSN and Verizon will still offer their service, it just means Verizon and Yahoo will be offering an alternate service as well. ------------------------------ Subject: Help Wanted With Telecom Chat Room Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 00:55:44 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Anyone who likes to chat on telecom topics is invited to use the chat area we have available: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html I would also like to have a few people agree to take over the moderator duties in the Telecom Chat. It is an IRC-style chat program, in javascript. It is a volunteer position, but intended to have someone around at various times to help answer questions from newcomers, and promote conversations on the topics going on here in the Digest. Please check it out, and if you would like to volunteer to be a chat room moderator, please let me know. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Is it Just Me, or are Viruses Getting Much Worse? Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2005 00:00:00 EDT I had been getting a virus or two each week on my personal Cable One account. Starting about a week ago, the viruses started rolling in literally a hundred at a time most days. I am lucky that Cable One attempts to screen for viruses and spam by putting what they perceive to be either in a separate folder then sending me a piece of email telling me 'look in here' at what we found floating around. That's good since by their efforts, it reduces the spam I get on that personal account by about 95 percent and where I was getting forty or fifty spams each day via Cable One (for the most part all nicely isolated for me to pitch out if I wished) and a virus or two in a weeks's time; now lately the viruses are really rolling in. A hundred or more each time I pull my personal mail from there, all nicely marked with a check box to delete it, and as often as not the 'sender' is forged as 'postmaster@cableone.net', and tipped off to what is happening, I now call in and clear my mailbox a couple times per day there. Anyone have any ideas? PAT ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #384 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Aug 25 16:12:20 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 897B1152D6; Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:12:20 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #385 Message-Id: <20050825201220.897B1152D6@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:12:20 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, NO_COST,WORK_AT_HOME autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 Aug 2005 16:11:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 385 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Japan Internet Providers Spy and Inform on Suicide Postings (Reuters) Chinese Web Sites Used to Target USA Systems (Reuters News Wire) Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Bruce Myerson) Melding of Cell Phones and Wi-Fi Will be Cosmic (Kevin Maney) The Front Lines - August 25, 2005 (Jonathan Marashlian) Report: Vonage to File for IPO (USTelecom dailyLead) The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Garrett Wollman) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (John Levine) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Neal McLain) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief (Steven Lichter) Spam With Some Commentary: Purchase of Your Phones (Daniel Frank) Help Wanted With Telecom Chat Room (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Japan Internet Providers Spy and Inform on Suicide Postings Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 10:28:34 -0500 Japan's communications and Internet services industry is planning to provide police information on people who post messages suggesting they may be close to committing suicide. Four communications industry groups have worked out guidelines for submitting the information, which could include the names and addresses of such people, Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday. Rising numbers of Japanese are dying each year in group suicides after meeting online via suicide web sites, posing a new problem for officials trying to tackle the nation's alarmingly high suicide rate. The guidelines mandate disclosing the information to police only as an emergency measure when suicide attempts are believed to be imminent. The industry groups will present the guidelines, drawn up with help from the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and National Police Agency, to group members for their feedback, aiming to put them into practice in October, Kyodo added. Officials could not be immediately reached for confirmation. According to police, 32,325 Japanese took their own lives in 2004, down from the record 34,427 who killed themselves the year before but still the seventh straight year of suicides rising above 30,000. The number of people who committed group suicides linked to the Internet came to 70 in the first half of this year, eclipsing last year's total of 55, Kyodo said. No religious prohibitions exist against suicide in Japan and it has long been seen as a way to escape failure, or of saving loved ones from embarrassment or financial loss. In 2000, according to the World Health Organization, Japan's suicide rate was 35.2 per 100,000 for men and 13.4 per 100,000 for women. The rate in the United States that same year was 17.1 per 100,000 for men and 4.0 per 100,000 for women. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Chinese Web Sites used to Target U.S. Systems Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 10:30:23 -0500 Web sites in China are being used as a staging ground for attacks on computer networks in the U.S. Defense Department and other agencies, the Washington Post reported on Thursday. The newspaper said no classified systems have been compromised but officials were concerned that data pulled together from different agencies could become useful intelligence to an adversary. The newspaper cited four government officials who spoke separately about the intrusions, which were said to go back two or three years. It said the FBI had launched an investigation. "It's not just the Defense Department but a wide variety of networks that have been hit," including the departments of State, Energy, and Homeland Security as well as defense contractors, one official was quoted as saying. "This is an ongoing, organized attempt to siphon off information from our unclassified systems." the official said. All of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, the Post said. The report said U.S. analysts were divided over whether the attacks were a coordinated effort by the Chinese government to penetrate U.S. government databanks or if it was the work of other hackers using Chinese networks to hide the origin of the intrusions. Pentagon figures show that more attempts to scan Defense Department systems come from China than any other country, the Post said. But a Pentagon official said that does not mean China is where the probes start. Lt. Col. Mike VanPutte, vice director of operations for a new task force that manages the Pentagon's computer networks, told the newspaper that China is a convenient "steppingstone" for hackers because of the large number of computers there that can be compromised. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. See USA Today news headlines at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/othernews.html ------------------------------ From: Bruce Meyerson Subject: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 10:27:14 -0500 By BRUCE MEYERSON, AP Business Writer Providers of Internet-based phone services may be forced next week to cut off tens of thousands of customers who haven't formally acknowledged that they understand the problems they may encounter dialing 911 in an emergency. The Federal Communications Commission had set the Monday deadline as an interim safeguard while providers of Internet calling, also known as "VoIP" for Voice over Internet Protocol, rush to comply with an FCC order requiring full emergency 911 capabilities by late November. Vonage Holdings Corp., the biggest VoIP carrier with more than 800,000 subscribers, told The Associated Press Wednesday that 96 percent of its customer base have responded to the company's notices about 911 risks. But that still means as many as 31,000 accounts would need to be shut off as early as Tuesday. Other leading carriers declined to quantify the response rate beyond the updates they were required to file with the FCC two weeks ago. AT&T Corp. spokesman Gary Morgenstern said customer acknowledgments are now "significantly higher" than the 77 percent figure it reported to the FCC on Aug. 10. The FCC issued its order in May after a series of highly publicized incidents in which VoIP users were unable to connect with a live emergency dispatch operator when calling 911. Vonage, AT&T and other carriers have indicated that they plan to comply with the FCC deadline to disconnect customers. "There is no way to know just how close (to a 100 percent customer response) we will get by Monday," Vonage spokeswoman Brooke Schulz said. She added that the company has been meeting with the FCC weekly "to seek their guidance as to how to implement the approaching Aug. 29 cutoff date." But Time Warner Cable, the biggest VoIP provider in the cable TV industry with more than 600,000 users, has told the FCC it sees no need to disconnect anyone. The division of Time Warner Inc. said in its FCC filing that all customers have already been adequately informed about the risk of losing 911 service in a power outage -- the primary issue for cable-based VoIP services -- and that all have already acknowledged that risk. Some VoIP users have expressed anger on Web forums at what they perceive as a heavy-handed approach by the FCC, while others have mistakenly seen the disconnection warnings as an arbitrary policy adopted by their service providers. Compared with many vague government pronouncements, the wording of the FCC order is clear-cut on the disconnections, which could create a situation where some VoIP users suddenly find themselves with no phone service at all during an emergency rather than a functioning phone with inferior 911 service. The FCC declined to say how it might enforce or check up on compliance with the order, which originally called for disconnections in late July before the agency pushed the deadline to Aug. 29. The agency also declined to discuss whether it might allow another temporary reprieve. Unlike the traditional telephone network, where phone numbers are associated with a specific location, VoIP users can place a call from virtually anywhere they have access to a high-speed Internet connection. That "roaming" flexibility, while generally viewed as a benefit, can make it more complex to connect VoIP accounts to the computer systems that automatically route 911 calls to the nearest emergency dispatcher and instantly transmit the caller's location and phone number to the operator who answers the call. As a result, most VoIP providers have only been able to offer a watered-down version of 911 service that often directs emergency calls to a general administrative phone number at a local public safety office. In many cases, those lines are not staffed by emergency operators, and some may even play only a recording or go unanswered, particularly during non-peak hours. In addition, while traditional phone lines generally keep working during a blackout, VoIP users might not be able to dial 911 during a power outage because the high-speed Internet modems, phone adapters and personal computers needed for VoIP calling rely on electrical outlets and batteries. Cable-based VoIP services have avoided the roaming issue by tying each phone number to a specific location and emergency dispatch center. But VoIP providers who allow their customers to use their numbers in multiple locations face major challenges. They need to adopt a technology that will patch their customers into a disparate national patchwork of 911 call-routing systems and databases. That means they must reach an interconnection agreement with each of the more than 1,000 local phone companies who maintain and operate those 911 systems. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For AP News Radio and other headlines, go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html To chat about this report or other items in the Digest, go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html ------------------------------ From: Kevin Maney Subject: Melding of Cell Phones and Wi_Fi Will be a Cosmic, Man Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 12:26:30 -0500 Back in 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage with an electric guitar, and although some folk faithful booed, the enlightened went, "Oooo, you can combine folk AND rock. Folk-rock, man. Dig it." And nothing was the same again. This kind of thing is about to happen with cell phones. Over the next few years, companies will start selling dual-mode cellular/Wi-Fi phones. The phones will be able to make voice calls either on a cellular network, or by connecting via Wi-Fi wireless Internet to make calls using VoIP (a.k.a. Voice over Internet Protocol). Cell-Fi, man. Dig it. When in range of Wi-Fi in your office, home, Starbucks the phone will make calls using VoIP,which should be cheaper and better quality than a typical cell call. When there's no Wi-Fi, the phone will switch to the cell network. That might not sound like a big deal, but it is. These phones will alter the dynamics of the telecom industry and change the way consumers think about phone service. People could truly have one phone that is their home and cell phone, with all the advantages of both. Cell-Fi phones are the beginning of the end for common wired telephone service, which will become the bottom-rung stepchild of its industry the equivalent of AM radio, single-blade razors and film cameras. "The implications for the industry are huge," says Keith Nissen, analyst at research firm In-stat, which predicts 66 million cell-Fi phones in use by 2009. But we're not there yet. The industry is still experimenting with every aspect of this technology, including the chips and software that make it go, the systems and standards for switching calls between cellular and Wi-Fi, and the business models for offering it to consumers and corporations. Japanese cellular provider DoCoMo is probably the furthest along. Over the past few months, DoCoMo began offering cell-Fi phones on a limited basis. One is made by NEC, another by Motorola. Just about every cell phone maker has some version of the technology in the works. The Nokia 9500 is a cell phone that can connect to Wi-Fi, but it's not set up to do VoIP calls. Some hackers have figured out how to put Internet phone service Skype on a Nokia 9500 and make free phone calls over Wi-Fi, but it's apparently pretty clunky. Nokia meanwhile is working on a real cell-Fi phone that it plans to start offering to business customers early next year. Corporations love the concept. A company could give employees one phone. In any of the company's offices, that phone would connect to a secure Wi-Fi network (presuming the company installs one), and act like a typical office desk phone. Travel from a field office in St. Louis to a subsidiary in Istanbul, and your phone would operate just as if you were sitting at your desk same phone number, voice mail and every other feature. Outside the company, the phone would become a cell phone, with the same phone number as you have at the office. At home, assuming you have Wi-Fi, the phone could securely connect through the Internet back to your corporate network and once again become your work phone great for people who sometimes work at home. For consumers, analyst Nissen thinks that the likes of Verizon Wireless and Sprint will offer combination cellular-VoIP packages. This could work to a wireless company's advantage because, Nissen figures, up to 30% of cell phone calls are no made inside homes. If those calls could be routed through the relatively cheap Internet instead of over costly cell networks, wireless companies would save money and free up capacity. Because of the cost savings, a provider might be able to offer a bucket of thousands of minutes of cell-Fi service for maybe $50. "That's enough minutes so consumers just make phone calls and don''t worry where it goes," Nissen says. Even the most chatty people would have a hard time using 2,000 minutes a month. You'd get one number for home and cellular. Same voice mail. One bill. Cheaper because you're paying for one phone service, not two. Once cell-Fi service is in place and priced right, consumers will jump on it and get rid of their land lines. This will happen, much as there came a day when people realized it was time to get a car instead of a horse, or a gas stove instead of a wood-burning stove. In the meantime, the whole industry is wrestling with some interesting questions big and small. On the big side: Who will have a leg up in cell-Fi? Maybe today''s wireless carriers, because they have the cellular piece. But it could be today's broadband providers, whether phone companies selling DSL or the cable companies. They have the VoIP piece. Or might it be a third party, like Skype? Or Google, which is on such a roll it could open a chain of bowling alleys and make a killing? Earlier this year, Time Warner Cable started trying to sell cellular service in Kansas City. Seems like a smart step if cell-Fi is coming. My neighborhood looks like it's been attacked by giant moles as Verizon digs up everything to put in broadband lines a good idea if Verizon wants to marry wireless to VoIP. As for little questions: Nokia wonders whether, in some circumstances, people might NOT want a seamless handoff between Wi-Fi and cellular. "In your office, you're using your Wi-Fi phone and walking around, and as you get close to a window, it might switch to cellular," says Nokia executive Gerard Bruen. "Then you walk back to your desk and it switches to Wi-Fi again. That might cause some issues." And how about airplanes? Airlines, it seems, are going to nix cell phone usage in the air. But they will increasingly provide wireless Internet. If you have a cell-Fi phone and it's connecting through Wi-Fi and allowing you to talk is that against the rules? Or will you figure that out only after your fellow passengers flush your cell-Fi phone down the commode? Kevin Maney has covered technology for USA TODAY since 1985. His column appears Wednesdays. Click here for an index of his Technology columns. E-mail him at: kmaney@usatoday.com. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Read USA Today headlines at no charge each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/othernews.html ------------------------------ From: Jonathan Marashlian Subject: The Front Lines - August 25, 2005 Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 10:35:39 -0400 Organization: The Helein Law Group http://www.thefrontlines-hlg.com/ The FRONT LINES http://www.thlglaw.com/ Advancing The Cause of Competition in the Telecommunications Industry FCC REGULATORY FEES DUE NO LATER THAN SEPTEMBER 7th The Federal Communications Commission has published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the Fiscal Year 2005 Regulatory Payment window is now available to accept annual regulatory fee payments. Regulatory fee payments will be accepted from August 23, 2005 through September 7, 2005. Any payments received after 11:59 p.m. September 7, 2005 will be assessed a 25% late fee. If your company is registered with the FCC as an interstate carrier (i.e., Form 499 registration) you should have already received an invoice for Regulatory Fees. FCC EXTENDS VoIP E-911 REPORTING AND COMPLIANCE DEADLINES On July 26, 2005, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau released a "guidance" notice to Interconnected VoIP providers regarding the July 29, 2005 E-911 customer notification deadlines. In the notice, the Bureau provided additional information concerning its planned enforcement of the VoIP E-911 subscriber notification provisions of the FCC's Rules. The FCC also extended the deadline for compliance by 30 days, to approximately August 29, 2005, provided the VoIP provider has met certain reporting requirements by August 10, 2005. FCC ENFORCEMENT BUREAU PROPOSES OVER $2.5 MILLION IN FORFEITURES AGAINST 5 CARRIERS FOR ALLEGEDLY VIOLATING USF AND OTHER REGULATORY PROGRAM RULES In the past month, the FCC has issued Notices of Apparent Liability ("NALs") totaling over $2.5 million against five telecommunications carriers for apparently violating Universal Service Fund ("USF") and other regulatory program laws, including those for the Telecommuni- cations Relay Service ("TRS"), the North American Numbering Plan Administration ("NANPA"), and regulatory fees. The programs at issue in the NALs further important statutory and regulatory goals. The USF ensures that consumers in all regions of the nation have access to affordable, quality telecommunications services. The TRS fund enables persons with hearing or speech disabilities to communicate by telephone with the help of a relay operator. The NANPA ensures the equitable availability of telephone numbers. Regulatory fees distribute the cost of certain regulatory activities. Under the Communications Act and the Commission's rules, every telecommunications carrier that provides interstate service must contribute to these programs on an equitable basis. The Commission requires carriers to register with the Commission in order to monitor activities in the telecommunications marketplace. The five corporations that are the subject of the NALs are: Carerra Communications, LP, InPhonic, Inc., Teletronics, Inc., Telecom Management, Inc., and OCMC, Inc. According to FCC News Releases, the NALs help level the playing field for all telecommunications carriers by demonstrating a "no tolerance policy" for any carrier that fails to pay its required USF and other regulatory obligations. The apparent violations distort the marketplace by causing carriers in compliance with the requirements to carry a disproportionate share of the costs of funding these programs and frustrate the purposes for which Congress and the Commission established the programs. ============================= The Front Lines is a free publication of The Helein Law Group, P.C., providing clients and interested parties with valuable information, news, and updates regarding regulatory and legal developments primarily impacting companies engaged in the competitive telecommunications industry. The Front Lines does not purport to offer legal advice nor does it establish a lawyer-client relationship with the reader. If you have questions about a particular article, general concerns, or wish to seek legal counsel regarding a specific regulatory or legal matter affecting your company, please contact our firm at 703-714-1313 or visit our website: http://www.thlglaw.com/ www.THLGlaw.com The Helein Law Group, P.C. 8180 Greensboro Drive, Suite 700 McLean, Virginia 22102 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 11:21:17 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Report: Vonage to File For IPO USTelecom dailyLead August 25, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24123&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Report: Vonage to file for IPO BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * SBC to offer Yahoo! music service * Nokia widens lead in global handset market * Tech powerhouses join power line broadband group * Motorola may sell phones geared toward children * Cablers edge telcos in Q2 broadband growth USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Today! Personeta presents: Profiting from converged services for SMBs EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Intel teams with Skype on VoIP * Have you heard? Voice is back REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Cell phone carriers jump on NYC's subway plan Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24123&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: 25 Aug 2005 09:28:40 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com There's a name given to junk email that is the same as a pork luncheon meat product produced by Hormel. I don't think the Hormel company is too pleased about their product associated with something negative and undesirable, but the usage has become widespread. I was wondering if this word association has helped or hindered sales of the food product. The meat product has been around for years. It was given to troops during WW II. Complaints then arose about it, but they were NOT about the quality or taste of the product, which was fine. The problem was that the troops in the field were given that as meal three times a day, seven days a week and they got sick of the monotony. The Quartermaster Corps attempted to provide a variety of tasty food for front line troops, but was constrained by (1) shipping and preserving food from the U.S. to Europe and the Pacific, 2) shipping food from foreign ports to the front line, 3) preparing food in combat conditions to serve mobile troops. The official history (the Army "green series" books) goes into interesting candid detail on their logistical challenges and their efforts to overcome them**. (They freely admitted that their "powdered lemon drink" proved more useful as a floor cleaner than tasty beverage.) Getting back to words and communication, it is interesting how the word "pig" is so contradictory. As I understand it, the pig is actually a nice animal and some people have them as pets. But we have so many negative "pig" usages -- a nasty term for cops, sloppy eating, greediness, an overly aggressive man, rude behavior etc. Yet pig meats -- processed luncheon meats*, pork, ham, bacon, scrapple*, etc., are very popular foods. (*balogna, salami, hot dogs, sausage, liverwurst, etc. Scrapple is a popular Philadelphia food made from scraps.) (**The combat cooks used mobile gasoline stoves, but the stoves required unleaded gas otherwise the burners would clog up from the lead. The army stocked leaded gas for vehicles, carrying a separate fuel was another burden. As an aside, apparently gasoline fired stoves and heaters were popular at one time, but no longer. Anyone know why? Gasoline too flammable? Why didn't they use safer kerosene back then?) Public replies, please. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I sometimes give scraps to my cats to eat, although I am sort of particular about which kind and how much. They are better off with genuine cat food rather than left-over human food. Regards the use of the term 'spam' for unwanted email, my impression has always been that Hormel treats it like a joke. Consider for example various television commercials for Spam (the meat product) in recent months: _they are quite funny_, IMO. In one, a family is sitting down to dinner and they have a guest. The guest comments on the delicious quality of the food she is being served, and asks the cook about the recipe. The cook enumerates the various ingredients, and then says "I put a lot of sliced up Spam in it also." As he says the word 'Spam' the camera closes in on his face and mouth as he deliberatly and willfully pronounces the word. The guest tell the cook it was really good, and looking at the serving dish she exclaims, "I wish there were more, I would have another serving, but it is all gone." Her face has a frown. "Oh, no," says the cook, "there is a lot more, we always have plenty of Spam." The cooks snaps his fingers and says, "More Spam, please", (again we see his mouth up close, deliberatly pronoucing the word) and a huge, semi-tailer truck full of little cans of Spam drives through, and dumps its huge load all over the family computer which is sitting nearby. In the second Hormel advertisement, some guy is sitting at his computer doing some work. Something bad has happened because we see him turn around and face the camera with an angry look on his face; up close we see his contorted mouth as he yells, "more spam!" and angrily tries to erase it all. When he says 'more spam' the same semi-trailer truck backs up and dumps its load of Spam cans all over the computer, burying the machine totally under the cans. In both commercials, as the truck dumps its load, one of the little cans of Spam flips over upright so its label is upright, and the word 'Spam' fills the screen then another image saying 'a product of Hormel Meat Company; find it at your grocers.' PAT] ------------------------------ From: wollman@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 13:11:20 UTC Organization: MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory In article , wrote: > So, if a telecom provider wants to bundle services, why shouldn't it? Because the market for residential communications services cannot support what economists call "effective competition". The barriers to entry in "local loop" services are so high that allowing bundling stifles competition on the services built on top. What should have been done back in 1984, and wasn't, is the unbundling of outside plant from telephone service (with both by preference provided by separate companies). By the late 1990s, most states understood this, and implemented a similar model for energy deregulation: you buy your energy from a competitive supplier, who then must contract with a regulated distribution company to deliver it to you. -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) ------------------------------ Date: 25 Aug 2005 14:20:44 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> My DSL circuit is carried on a wire-pair that is nearly 50 years old, > That's nice. But a lot of old loop plant was replaced, in whole or in > part. I think you will be surprised to find out how little "a lot" is in >> There *IS* a third alternative. Separate the 'content' from the >> 'delivery infrastructure'. > That brings back regulation. We broke up the Bell System to get away > from regulation and to go to competition. My, how soon we forget. The Bell breakup was about long distance competition, and LD has indeed been quite competitive, at least until all of the LD carriers merge into one in a couple of years. But the breakup made no difference at all to local competition. Your local Bell company was and is just as much of a monopoly after the breakup as before. > So, if a telecom provider wants to bundle services, why shouldn't it? Because the telecom provider is a monopoly, or now maybe a duopoly. The only companies with wires into everyone's house are the phone company and the cable company, and that is as true now as it was 20 years ago. The first mover advantage is insurmountable, and although it would be legal for someone to raise $100 billion and overbuild a new phone infrastructure alongside the one we have, it'll never happen. (If it were at all possible, it would have happened during the dot.com bubble when capital was free.) Verizon bundling DSL service is like your state telling you that you can only drive cars they sell you on their roads, and you are free to buy any other car you want if you build the roads to drive it on. The point of splitting the telco into switchco and loopco is that the loop part is a natural monopoly and the switchco isn't. So split them up, require the loopco to provide service to everyone on an equal basis, and then completely deregulate the switchco. That would work, and we'd end up with a much more vibrant market. > Otherwise we're back to the Bell System and we must wait for the > government to tell us what we may and may not have. Uh, no. Please, put down the kool-aid and think about what's really going on. R's, John PS: > As an example, the Bell System proposed its first cellular (called > AMPS then) test system many years ago. It took the FCC over a YEAR to > grant permission. Considering all the new radio spectrum they wanted, a year was pretty quick. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 10:55:14 -0500 From: Neal McLain Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working [TD V24:372] wrote: > So, while the landscape today includes a diverse collection of local > and national ISP's with a range of services and cost options, the > future will be dialup at $10-15/month or Comcast or Verizon/MSN at > ~$50/mo. No more local businesses, no more local customer service, > no choice of services. AES [TD V24:373] responded: > If accurately described here (and I have no reason to think it isn't) > this is absolutely criminal -- and probably entirely typical of what > most or all "broadband to the premises" types services (copper, > cable, fiber or wireless will try to impose on us). > Has your local government no way to control what comes to your > premises over the publicly owned rights of way? Local governments have very limited control over content provided by telecommunications networks placed on their rights of way. Under our system of law, property law is the province of state governments, but interstate commerce law is vested in the Congress. Congress has determined, and numerous court decisions have confirmed, that content carried by telecommunications (telco and CATV) networks falls within the meaning of interstate commerce. Since my background is in CATV, I'll cite how this situation has affected the CATV industry, and leave it to other readers to cite how it's affected telcos. Federal law does give local governments the right to "manage" rights of way used by CATV, but exactly what "manage" means has been a source of much controversy. Some matters indisputably fall within the meaning of "managing": - Determination of the physical location of facilities within the ROW (aerial or buried; distance from edge of ROW; depth of burial; location of utility poles; restrictions against new poles; etc.). - Permitting and inspection of work, including restoration of work areas to "as was" condition. - Traffic control in work areas. - Maintenance of public records and system maps related to the CATV company. - Imposition and collection of fees based on actual services rendered, such as permit fees, inspection fees, utilities, reimbursement for employee time/overtime, etc. However, under to federal law, content-related matters do not fall within the meaning of "managing." - Local governments may not exercise control over video programming offered by any CATV, except for PEG access channels specifically authorized by federal law. This limitation is rooted in FCC and federal court decisions dating back to the 1950s and 60s holding that CATVs are not common carriers because they alone select the content carried over their networks [1,2]. Subsequent court decisions have affirmed that such content selection constitutes "speech" protected by the First Amendment [3]. This policy has always been, and continues to be, controversial [4-7]. - Local governments may not exercise control over "Title II telecommunications services" (including ISP access) offered by any CATV. This limitation follows directly from the Communications Act of 1996 [8], and was recently confirmed by the Supreme Court in the "Brand X" decision [9]. Nevertheless, this policy continues to be controversial [10,11]. PAT [TD V24:373] added: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But what the cableco will _claim_ is > that the 'right of way' is not publicly owned; and telco will claim > that municipal ownership of the right of way gives unfair > competition to them in providing ISP services. Or so they will all > claim. PAT] Huh? I was in the CATV business for 25 years, and I never heard anybody claim that municipal ROW was "not publicly owned." The right of a franchised CATV operator to occupy land stems from three sources: FRANCHISE AGREEMENT. A franchise agreement grants a CATV company the right to occupy (install and maintain its facilities on) ROW owned by the (one or more) municipal and/or county government(s) that constitute the LFA (local franchising authority). But a franchise does not grant the right to occupy: - Other government property (as parks, recreation facilities, schools, government buildings, etc.) unless specifically so stated in the franchise agreement). - Property owned by any municipal or county government that is not a constituent government of the LFA. - Property owned by any separate governmental entity (federal or state government; school district; public college or university, etc.). - Railroad ROW. - Private property. PRE-EXISTING RECORDED UTILITY EASEMENT. Franchised CATV operators have a federal right to occupy existing recorded utility easements "which have been dedicated for compatible uses" [12]. Many states also have similar provisions; for example, Texas [13]. NEGOTIATED EASEMENT or PERMIT. If a CATV company wishes to occupy any property not covered by a franchise agreement or by an existing recorded utility easement, it must negotiate a separate easement or permit with the property owner. PAT's statement that "But what the cableco will _claim_ is that the 'right of way' is not publicly owned ..." mystifies me. If PAT is referring to property owned by the LFA (or a constituent government of an LFA), then I don't agree with his statement. If he's referring to property owned by any other entity, then he's right: the CATV will indeed, and correctly, claim that the ROW is not owned by the LFA (or a constituent government of the LFA). ----- references ----- [1] Federal Communications Commission. "Frontier Broadcasting v. Collier" (determining that CATV systems are not common carriers). 24 FCC 251, 1958. Cited in Mary Alice Mayer Phillips, "CATV: A History of Community Antenna Television." Evanston: Northwestern UP, 1972, 51-52. [2] United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "Philadelphia Television Broadcasting Co. v. FCC" (affirming "Frontier"). 359 F. 2d 282, 1966. Cited in Phillips, 56. [3] Thompson-Findlaw. Annotations to the U.S. Constitution, First Amendment, "Governmental Regulation of Communications Industries," "Regulation of Cable Television." http://tinyurl.com/cut6t [4] Fred H. Cate. "The First Amendment and Compulsory Access to Cable Television." Evanston: Northwestern University, n.d. http://tinyurl.com/agl9z [5] Thomas W. Hazlett. "Let's Regulate Cable Now!" New York: The Manhattan Institute, October 1998. http://tinyurl.com/8hqpu [6] Thomas W. Hazlett. "Regulation," "Wiring the Constitution for Cable." Washington: The Cato Institute, n.d. http://tinyurl.com/athvj [7] Andrew Glass. "Cable TV indecency." The Hill, February 8, 2005. http://tinyurl.com/ao5hz [8] 47 U.S.C. 541(b)(3). http://tinyurl.com/84syy [9] Supreme Court of the United States. "National Cable & Telecommunications Association et al. v. Brand X Internet Services et al." http://tinyurl.com/dqgxr [10] Yuki Noguchi. "Cable Firms Don't Have to Share Networks, Court Rules." The Washington Post, June 28, 2005, D01. http://tinyurl.com/e25gf [11] Consumers Union. "Statement of Consumers Union and the Consumer Federation of America on the Supreme Court's Decision to Grant Cert in the Brand X Case." December 2004. http://tinyurl.com/7935z [12] 47 U.S.C. 541(a)(2). The term "compatible uses" is usually construed to mean easements dedicated for electric power and/or telephone facilities. http://tinyurl.com/84syy [13] Texas Utilities Code 181.101 - 181.104. http://tinyurl.com/byzeu Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 25 Aug 2005 17:59:04 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > Many stores also sell their own house brand. If you like a particular > house brand, you may only get it at the associated store, not at any > other store. If you like WalMart's t-shirts, don't look for them at > JCPenney. That's bundling. You've inverted the analogy. You're saying if I want to use Verizon Online/MSN I shouldn't expect to get it through Covad. And I agree. A correct analogy would be a store ONLY offering its own house brand, while being the only retail outlet in the area. If I don't like the house brand then I'm screwed. > So, if a telecom provider wants to bundle services, why shouldn't it? We've seen the effects of that many times. And each time it involved a monopoly (or near-monopoly) the results were bad enough to get the government involved. For instance, in the old days you HAD to use IBM software and peripherals with your IBM mainframe. It was called "bundling", and the government eventually stepped in and forced them to unbundle their products and services. Most of the "examples" you cited aren't valid analogies. In almost every case the "bundles" are value-added services or features that might make using one service slightly mor attractive than using a competing one. The Verizon "bundling" is much more like the sporting event, where you're FORCED to use and pay for the parking facilities associated with the event. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: An Exciting Weekend With a Sneak Thief Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 12:09:37 GMT DevilsPGD wrote: > In message > bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote: >> In article , shlichter1@aol.com >> wrote: >>> DevilsPGD wrote: >>>> In message J Kelly >>>> wrote: >>>>> The problem with checks is that all I need is your routing and account >>>>> number, and guess what? Those are printed on every one of your checks >>>>> in plain human readable numerals. I can print up new checks on my >>>>> computer with any ID on them I want, and your account number. I can >>>>> start passing them around town same as your sneak thief. And guess >>>>> what? I can easily get a fake ID to match the ID of the person I put >>>>> on the check. Checks are terribly insecure. >>>> You also need a signature, at least if you want the money to come from >>>> my account. >>>> Now you obviously don't care if a merchant gets screwed since you've >>>> long since run off with the goods, but for the consumer, it's not as >>>> bad as the above makes it sound. >>> Most banks don't even look at the signature, that is unless the check >>> it presented in person at the issuers bank. >> And they *don't* do any comparasion with the signature card that is >> 'on file'. This has been the case for 20 years or more. > Actually, this is starting to change thanks to computers -- No more > signature card required, but they do sometimes check the signature > against an online image of the signature. > It certainly doesn't happen often, and probably only above a certain > amount, but they do perform checks of cheques in some cases -- I know > because I've had a cheque held while they called a bank officer over > to approve a signature because the signature wasn't close enough for > the rep to eyeball it and approve it. They did that only in the case of you going to the issuing bank, through the automatic system it would never have been done. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 17:03:14 +0100 (BST) From: Daniel Frank Subject: Spam With Commentary: Purchase of Your Phones Hello sir, I am mr Daniel Frank the Sales Manager of (Daniloux communication nig ltd) which is based in nigeria .I am here in conjuction with my general manger and with the support of my company to have a business transaction with your company in the sence that i want to order some good from your store house and i also like if you send me your site so as for me to order for the paticular goods i need .in termes of payment i will pay you in cheque but it will be hanged as soon as i get the goods i will realse it , why i said so is b cos so many people have have bambiozled and frauded me on it thats why i said so . Thanks from the sale manger Daniel frank danfrank_2@yahoo.co.uk General manger Johnson smith moulinexstore@yahoo.co.nz [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So the man wants us to sell him phones; that's good. But then he let's us know he will pay us only when he gets the actual merchandise, because he (and apparently others?) in Nigeria have been defrauded so often (by the Americans, no doubt?). If this guy is a serious, legitimate business person in Nigeria I must say I feel very sorry for him in attempting to do business with the rest of the world. And yes, there _are_ honest business people in that country. Too bad -- if he is legitimate -- how a relative handful of screwups have managed to get a whole scam routine (Nigerian 419) named after them. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Help Wanted With Telecom Chat Room Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 00:55:44 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Anyone who likes to chat on telecom topics is invited to use the chat area we have available: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html I would also like to have a few people agree to take over the moderator duties in the Telecom Chat. It is an IRC-style chat program, in javascript. It is a volunteer position, but intended to have someone around at various times to help answer questions from newcomers, and promote conversations on the topics going on here in the Digest. Please check it out, and if you would like to volunteer to be a chat room moderator, please let me know. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #385 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Aug 26 16:04:51 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 0AEF61540F; Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:04:51 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #386 Message-Id: <20050826200451.0AEF61540F@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:04:51 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.3 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, DEAR_SOMETHING,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:04:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 386 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "Corporate Computer and Network Security", Panko (R Slade) Internet Telephone Providers Ask For Further Delay Re 911 (Reuters News) Telecom Update #494 - Canada (Angus Telemanagement) Picking Up the Pieces (Eric Friedebach) VoIP Market Draws a Crowd (USTelecom dailyLead) Merlin Legend - Blocking Outbound Caller ID (contessa) Re: Problem Acessing Some Sites! (panoptes@iquest.net) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (John Hines) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (John McHarry) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification (jstrauss01@att.net) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Paul Coxwell) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Spam Targeted at TD Subscribers? (Michael Quinn) Is it Sp*m if They Offer to Set You Up as a Sp*mmer? (Hudson Leighton) Last Laugh! Turning the Tables on Nigeria's E-Mail Conmen (M Quinn) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 13:26:16 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "Corporate Computer and Network Security", R. Panko Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKCPCNSC.RVW 20050614 "Corporate Computer and Network Security", Raymond R. Panko, 2004, 0-13-038471-2 %A Raymond R. Panko pankosecurity.com %C One Lake St., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 %D 2004 %G 0-13-038471-2 %I Prentice Hall %O 800-576-3800 +1-201-236-7139 fax: +1-201-236-7131 %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130384712/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130384712/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0130384712/robsladesin03-20 %O Audience a- Tech 2 Writing 1 (see revfaq.htm for explanation) %P 522 p. %T "Corporate Computer and Network Security" In the preface (for teachers), Panko states that this is a text for a security course. The book is said to be based on the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) "exam," although there is a definite lack of material dealing with architecture, physical security, and security management. Chapter one is a list of possible attacks and security problems. There are "Test Your Understanding" questions sprinkled throughout, but they are mostly on the level of fact-based reading checks. (One of the later examples asks "What is shoulder surfing?" immediately under a paragraph on shoulder surfing.) There is also a chapter "1a" with a collection of very terse "case studies" (one is only a sentence in length). Access control and a tiny mention of physical security is in chapter two. (As well as a very strange mention of wireless LANs: the author considers WLAN access to be a factor of site security.) There are odd and sometimes careless mistakes: "rters" is said to be four characters. The emphasis seems to be on minutiae rather than concepts. A lot of material is repeated: two separate paragraphs deal with piggybacking, only five paragraphs apart. The facts are generally correct, but the discussions are often misleading if not wrong: a confusing deliberation of what is probably false acceptance incorrectly refers to the situation as false rejection. Chapter three reviews the TCP/IP protocol suite. (Again, the conceptual material is weak: Panko asserts that the real world uses an amalgam of the OSI [Open Systems Interconnection] and TCP/IP models, whereas the TCP/IP protocol suite is generally described with reference to the OSI model. Anyone who has actually used the OSI protocols knows why the rest of the world uses TCP/IP.) Network attacks are discussed in chapter four. (Oddly, in the midst of a list of net probing activities comes a mention of looking up corporate information on the Security and Exchange Commission's EDGAR database.) There is also a rather limited section on malware. Chapter five looks at firewalls. Some generic advice on hardening hosts or desktop computers is given in chapter six. Chapters seven and eight contain miscellaneous references to cryptographic ideas or practices. Most of the discussion of application security, in chapter nine, is limited to Web and e- commerce problems. Chapter ten is a rather mixed bag of incident response, automated intrusion detection, and business continuity planning. Security should be managed, says chapter eleven, but it doesn't give an awful lot of help on how it can be done. Most of chapter twelve looks at computer related laws. The book seems to be a very loosely structured compilation of points related to security. The lack of overall organization means that material is often disjointed and repetitive. As with anything, in the hands of a good teacher this could be used for a computer security course text. In the hands of one who followed the text closely, the course would be a bit ragged. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2005 BKCPCNSC.RVW 20050614 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@sun.soci.niu.edu There's nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all. - Peter F. Drucker http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: ISP Telephone Providers Ask For Further Delay in FCC Cut Off Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 10:19:08 -0500 A coalition of Internet telephone service companies asked the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to modify a rule that could force them to cut off service to some customers by next week. The FCC in May ordered Internet phone service providers to ensure emergency 911 calls go directly to emergency dispatchers and provide the location of callers by November 29, four months after the order became effective. The agency also required companies to get acknowledgments from all subscribers that they understood the type of 911 service available, and that providers should disconnect anyone who fails to reply by August 29. The decision came after the FCC heard tear-filled testimony from parents who only were able to reach administrative offices when they dialed 911 with Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services. Since many VOIP services can be used anywhere a person has a high-speed Internet connection, knowing a caller's location can be difficult. The VON Coalition, which includes AT&T Corp. and MCI Inc., both providers of VOIP services, said in a letter to the FCC that disconnecting customers could cause more harm than good, as many who have not responded already have 911 service. Cutting customers off "would inevitably impede commerce and cause consumer inconvenience and could even leave VOIP customers stranded in an emergency," the coalition said. "We are not aware of any other circumstances where the Commission has required service providers to terminate service to their customers, possibly leaving them without any communications services," it said. An FCC spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Several other companies and organizations have also asked the FCC to reconsider its cutoff order, and one smaller provider has challenged the rules in court. Florida state officials have warned the FCC that disconnecting VOIP customers could endanger people during hurricane season. UBS analyst John Hodulik estimates there were about 2.5 million U.S. VOIP customers at the end of the second quarter, meaning that even if 90 percent responded by the deadline, 250,000 could lose service. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. To discuss this item with others, go to our chatroom at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 11:14:23 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #494, August 26, 2005 From: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 494: August 26, 2005 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/ ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Canadian VoIP Carriers Comply With 9-1-1 Rules ** Telus Intros Hosted IP Call Centre ** CRTC Refuses to Change Allstream City Contracts ** Agenda Set for Local Forbearance Hearing ** Auto Union Protests GM-Telus Deal ** Telus Launches Mobile TV ** Rogers Wins CA*net Expansion Contract ** Internet Growth Slows ** Telus Makes Mike Multimedia ** Regulation of Small Incumbents Under Review ** Google Offers Instant Messaging, Voice ** Aliant Boosts Internet Download Speed ** Cogeco Expands Phone Service ** CRTC Orders Telus to Tariff Fibre Deal ** Telus Provides WLAN for Winnipeg Airport ** Call Centre Managers to Meet in September ============================================================ CANADIAN VOIP CARRIERS COMPLY WITH 9-1-1 RULES: All VoIP providers in Canada have told the CRTC that they are in compliance with the VoIP 9-1-1 requirements set out in Telecom Decision 2005-21. (See Telecom Update #476) This includes routing 9-1-1 calls to the correct emergency centre, and obtaining new customers' express consent to limitations on 9-1-1 service. Unlike the U.S. rules, Canada's don't require carriers to obtain express consent from existing customers. ** An industry consensus report on standard notification of 9-1-1 limitations awaits approval by the Commission. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-21.htm www.crtc.gc.ca/cisc/COMMITTE/E-docs/ESRE039D.doc TELUS INTROS HOSTED IP CALL CENTRE: Telus says it already has $12 million in contracts for CallCentreAnywhere, a newly announced hosted IP-based call centre product that the telco says can be up and running for a customer within 12 days. CRTC REFUSES TO CHANGE ALLSTREAM CITY CONTRACTS: The CRTC has denied MTS Allstream's 2001 request to amend the municipal access agreements signed with Toronto and Calgary by its predecessor, MetroNet. The CRTC says the terms Allstream objects to as "onerous and unconscionable" were actually proposed by MetroNet and confirmed by Allstream when it and MetroNet merged. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-46.htm www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-47.htm AGENDA SET FOR LOCAL FORBEARANCE HEARING: The CRTC has outlined the process to be followed at the September 26-29 hearing on deregulating local phone service, including the order in which parties will speak. The process is similar to that followed at the VoIP hearing last year. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Letters/2005/lt050817.htm www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2005/8640/c12_200505076.htm AUTO UNION PROTESTS GM-TELUS DEAL: The Canadian Auto Workers union says that General Motors' IP telephony contract with Telus is "completely unacceptable" so long as a strike continues at Telus. In an August 19 letter to GM, CAW president Buzz Hargrove says that the deal violates a GM-CAW "Supplier Relation letter" and that CAW "fully expects that GM will cancel this contract" unless the strike is settled immediately. (See Telecom Update #493) TELUS LAUNCHES MOBILE TV: Telus Mobility has launched Mobile TV, providing seven television channels for $15/month, on Telus's 1X data network. It's initially available only on the Motorola V710 flip phone, which sells for $349.99, or for $199.99 on a three-year contract. ** Rogers and Bell launched similar services last week. (See Telecom Update #493) ROGERS WINS CA*net EXPANSION CONTRACT: Rogers Telecom (formerly Sprint Canada) has won a multi-million contract with CANARIE to expand CA*net 4 connections beyond universities and colleges, to federal and provincial research labs, schools, hospitals and private sector research facilities. INTERNET GROWTH SLOWS: A new TeleGeography survey says that that global cross-border Internet traffic grew by "just" 49% in 2005, down from 103% in 2004. The combined average traffic on all cross-border backbone routes is now just under 1 Terabit per second. www.telegeography.com/press/releases/2005-08-23.php TELUS MAKES MIKE MULTIMEDIA: Telus Mobility's push-to-talk Mike service now offers the multimedia-enabled Motorola 1860 phone, which allows users to send photos, contacts, and virtual business cards to other Mike users. REGULATION OF SMALL INCUMBENTS UNDER REVIEW: In Public Notice 2005-10, the CRTC invites comments on the regulatory framework for small incumbent phone companies from 2006 forward. A joint report by all 39 small ILECs has proposed extending the existing price cap rules, with modifications, for another four years. (See Telecom Update #492). www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2005/pt2005-10.htm GOOGLE OFFERS INSTANT MESSAGING, VOICE: The new Google Talk service allows users of Google's email service to exchange instant messages or computer-to-computer voice calls. ALIANT BOOSTS INTERNET DOWNLOAD SPEED: Aliant has increased the download speed of its High-Speed Ultra Internet service from 3 Mbps to 5 Mbps. The upload speed remains 640 Kbps. COGECO EXPANDS PHONE SERVICE: Cogeco's cable telephone service is now available to its Internet customers in a Drummondville. The service made its Quebec debut in Trois-Rivieres in July. (See Telecom Update #488) CRTC ORDERS TELUS TO TARIFF FIBRE DEAL: The CRTC says that Telus cannot provide and maintain fibre to four remote B.C. communities under an inter-carrier agreement with EnTel, a company that provides high-speed Internet to remote, rural and First Nations communities. Instead, Telus must file a special facilities tariff for the services. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Orders/2005/o2005-309.htm TELUS PROVIDES WLAN FOR WINNIPEG AIRPORT: Winnipeg Airports Authority has launched a wireless LAN service at Winnipeg International Airport; travelers can access the service, built and managed by Telus Mobility, for $8 a day. CALL CENTRE MANAGERS TO MEET IN SEPTEMBER: The 2005 ICCM Conference & Exposition -- the world's largest event focusing on contact centre management -- will be held September 25-28 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. ICCM's educational program is developed by Canada's Angus Dortmans Associates, and the conference will be chaired by Henry Dortmans. For more information or to register, go to http://vegas.iccm.com. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== 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 late Friday afternoon each 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 2005 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. 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: Eric Friedebach Subject: Picking Up The Pieces Date: 26 Aug 2005 11:52:06 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com by S. Dinakar, Forbes.com, 09.05.05 Singapore Telecom's regional ambitions are looking smarter now. The turnaround is starkly evident at Optus in Australia. Lee Hsien Yang's vision mirrors that of his father, Lee Kuan Yew, who, as Singapore's first prime minister, transformed it from a tropical slum in the 1960s into a regional economic powerhouse. Lee, his youngest son, wants to turn Singapore Telecommunications, the island nation's biggest company, into a regional telecom powerhouse. The son's voyage into emerging markets is expensive and risky -- buying stakes in Asian telcos in 1999-2002 cost nearly $10 billion, driving SingTel into debt. The stock suffered, sliding to 92 cents (U.S.) per share, less than half of what foreign investors paid when SingTel listed on the Singapore bourse in 1993. But Lee stands vindicated today in his efforts to convert a sleepy state monopoly into a nimble Pan-Asian telecom carrier. The stock now trades at $1.60. His forays into foreign lands are beginning to pay off. http://www.forbes.com/business/global/2005/0905/100.html To read without registration, try http://www.bugmenot.com/ Eric Friedebach /And now it's time for: Jaromir Weather/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:44:43 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: VoIP Market Draws a Crowd USTelecom dailyLead August 26, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24159&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * VoIP market draws a crowd BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Parks: IPTV's takeoff year is 2008 * Nextel Partners' shareholders approve vote on Sprint Nextel buyout * This ain't your daddy's ESPN USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * USTelecom Webinar -- Municipal Broadband: The Shape of the Debate EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Column: S&P says WiMAX is gathering momentum VOIP DOWNLOAD * Google Talk VoIP could get big, analysts say * Report: VoIP gear Q2 revenues soar * Analysis: Broader wiretap rules could hurt Skype REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * VoIP companies ask FCC to extend service cutoff deadline * MPAA files 286 lawsuits against file-swappers Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24159&l=2017006 ------------------------------ From: contessa Subject: Merlin Legend - Blocking Outbound Caller ID Date: 25 Aug 2005 13:21:31 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is there a feature within the Merlin Legend or Magix system that can prevent the caller ID (DID line) from displaying when calling out, specifically upon demand? Our users want to be able to turn off the caller ID from time to time on specific calls. ------------------------------ From: panoptes@iquest.net Subject: Re: Problem Acessing Some Sites! Date: 25 Aug 2005 15:21:20 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, Robert, for a man who is > usually so full of long, usually lengthy answers on things, I am a > little surprised at this response to a fellow who posed a legitimate > question. PAT] Would you have preferred "Insufficient data for meaningful answer"? As far as problem descriptions go, this was right up there with "Six or seven months ago, I was driving in Platte County, and something lit up on the dashboard when I hit the gas. What does this mean? Is there a problem with my car?" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Your answer would have been a little more agreeable, IMO. _Not everyone_ who uses this forum is as brilliant (or perceived to be, at least) as everyone else. With any number of newer, or at least less regular readers, it is often times necessary to ask the person to rephrase the question in a more precise way in order to attempt to give an answer. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2005 15:43:48 -0500 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Regards the use of the term 'spam' for unwanted email, my impression > has always been that Hormel treats it like a joke. No, they have a policy these days, in summary, the word 'spam' has been added to the English vocabulary, while 'Spam' is still a registered trademark, and is to be used only in reference to their (Hormel AFAIK) product. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All well and good, but how does one pronounce an upper case /S/ differently than a lower case /s/ in order to avoid violating any trademarks? Perhaps in verbalizing it we could refer to 'upper Spam' and 'lower spam' but somehow I think that would be even more confusing; it would make it come out sounding like a country in Asia or something. PAT] ------------------------------ From: John McHarry Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 01:58:55 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On Thu, 25 Aug 2005 09:28:40 -0700, hancock4 wrote: > The meat product has been around for years. It was given to troops > during WW II. Complaints then arose about it, but they were NOT about > the quality or taste of the product, which was fine. The problem was > that the troops in the field were given that as meal three times a > day, seven days a week and they got sick of the monotony. My father wouldn't touch the stuff afterward. In Hawaii I understand it has become a part of the local culture. Go figure. > Getting back to words and communication, it is interesting how the word > "pig" is so contradictory. As I understand it, the pig is actually a > nice animal and some people have them as pets. There is also the old saying, "I haven't seen so much excitement around here since the day the hogs et my baby brother." From what I understand, it has happened, but my father again, who practiced medicine in a rural community for over 50 years cannot recall an actual incident. My former father in law was very strict about keeping his young daughters away from them. They will eat pretty much anything thrown to them, including rats, and I have read of them scavenging the dead on Civil War battlefields, so I tend to believe it has happened. People keep young ones as pets, but a full grown hog is huge. The ones you see being trucked to piggy heaven are prepubescent. Even the pot bellied pigs that were popular a few years ago tended to get too big for many owners. > (*balogna, salami, hot dogs, sausage, liverwurst, etc. Scrapple is a > popular Philadelphia food made from scraps.) Don't forget head cheese, or souse. Gelatin replaces the fat in most lunch meats, so I think it is a bit healthier. Also, the name keeps the price low. > (**The combat cooks used mobile gasoline stoves, but the stoves required > unleaded gas otherwise the burners would clog up from the lead. The > army stocked leaded gas for vehicles, carrying a separate fuel was > another burden. As an aside, apparently gasoline fired stoves and > heaters were popular at one time, but no longer. Anyone know why? > Gasoline too flammable? Why didn't they use safer kerosene back then?) I got interested in gasoline fired appliances many years ago when I had a larger collection of Coleman equipment. Since I was a grad student, and it was probably the slow summer period, I went over to the law library and looked up the original patents from the early 1920s. There is a whole series granted to the eponymous Coleman and to his engineer, whose name escapes me. Basically what they figured out was the generator, used to gasify white gasoline. This led to the familiar Coleman lanterns and stoves, but also to whole house systems with table lamps and kitchen ranges, presumably for unelectrified homes. There are UL standards for how to pipe the stuff around. There are kerosene stoves on yachts that work on the same principal, but they are more complex. Kerosene is harder to gasify, so the generator has to be preheated with a fire in a small can of alcohol. There are also alcohol stoves that work much the same way, but are started by drizzling a bit of alcohol into a pan beneath the burner and lighting it there. Gasoline is a no no on yachts because of its tendency to collect in the bilge and launch the crew beyond the Styx. I don't know if the kerosene stove had been developed by WW2. It might, since the Coleman patents were mostly still in effect, have come later. At any rate, it would still have been a second fuel, since I don't think you can use #2 diesel, and white gas was not one of the top danger elements at the time. There are also kerosene mantel lamps, of which I have one, that date from around the same period as the Coleman lamps, maybe earlier. Mine isn't presently in working order, but I have had it so in the past. It puts out about as much light as a 40-50 watt light bulb, but enough heat to light a cigarette off the outflow of the chimney. Those lamps, made by Alladin, work entirely differently. They have a circular wick, with air fed up the center, that indirectly heats the Wiesbach mantel. If you turn the wick up slightly too high, the mantel will carbon up. For some reason, a few grains of salt dropped down the chimney will clear it much quicker. There are one or two places that sell these things on the Internet, but I got my parts at an Amish lamp shop in Chester, IL. LPG seems to be the dominant fuel these days, but it isn't necessarily better. It has less heat value than white gas or kerosene, and its fumes are as dangerous as gasoline. It is more convenient, and I guess we can spare a few launched yachties. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 14:08:07 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > There's a name given to junk email that is the same as a pork luncheon > meat product produced by Hormel. I don't think the Hormel company is > too pleased about their product associated with something negative and > undesirable, but the usage has become widespread. Hormel has made it clear that they *do*not*object* to the use of 'spam' to refer to junk e-mail. They do maintain a proprietary interest in 'SPAM' and people who use the all-caps form to refer to junk email have gotten 'cease and desist' requests. OTOH, the Monty Python skit -- from which the e-mail usage derives -- did use the word as referent to the "spiced ham" product, and Hormel did not have any problems with _that_. > I was wondering if this word association has helped or hindered sales > of the food product. It has given Hormel *millions* (literally!) of dollars of free publicity for the product. And introduced it to a whole new generation -- too young to be familiar with Monty Python's diner. Sales have actually increased slightly, but not enough to support any claim of cause-and-effect. > The meat product has been around for years. It was given to troops > during WW II. Complaints then arose about it, but they were NOT about > the quality or taste of the product, which was fine. The problem was > that the troops in the field were given that as meal three times a > day, seven days a week and they got sick of the monotony. .... Not necessarily 3x daily, every day, but often enough to *seem* like it ;) It was -- fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint -- about the only meat product that could/would survive _all_ the conditions encountered in shipping food rations to the front lines. The length of time it took to get food to the front, and the lack of means to keep things cold, meant that other products spoiled and/or went rancid. > Getting back to words and communication, it is interesting how the word > "pig" is so contradictory. As I understand it, the pig is actually a > nice animal and some people have them as pets. That is *WIDELY* variable -- depending on the species. The one frequently kept as a pet is a South-East Asian breed -- the Vietnamese Pot-Bellied Pig. A *distant* cousin of the animals used in the U.S and Europe for feed animals. Many U.S./European varieties are 'temperamental', to put it charitably, and a wise person exercises considerable care around them, particularly when feeding. In large part, I suspect, with the 'nice' pigs, it is a matter of 'socialization' with humans, starting from a very young age. Wild pigs are notoriously aggressive/dangerous -- especially when 'cornered' (as with any other wild animal). Do a literature search for references to a "wild boar', and being gored by same, With their tendencies to root in garbage, carrion, etc, the tusks/teeth were a serious source of infection when injuries were inflicted. > But we have so many negative "pig" usages -- a nasty term for cops, > sloppy eating, greediness, an overly aggressive man, rude behavior > etc. With the exception of the law-enforcement-officer reference, all of the connotations mentioned _are_ directly based on representative behaviors of the typical American/European farm animal. > Yet pig meats -- processed luncheon meats*, pork, ham, bacon, > scrapple*,etc., are very popular foods. > (**The combat cooks used mobile gasoline stoves, but the stoves > required unleaded gas otherwise the burners would clog up from the > lead. The army stocked leaded gas for vehicles, carrying a separate > fuel was another burden. As an aside, apparently gasoline fired > stoves and heaters were popular at one time, but no longer. Anyone > know why? Gasoline too flammable? Why didn't they use safer > kerosene back then?) Popular because: Gasoline burns hotter. Gasoline has (somewhat) more energy per gallon. Gasoline was easily available, *everywhere*. Discontinued because: Gasoline *very* volatile -- vaporizes at relatively low temperatures. *Explosive* concentration of vapors was too easily reached. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Regards 'PIG' and police officers or other municipal employees, do not forget how the City of Chicago and Illinois Bell were each greatly embarassed by having 312-744 (312-PIG) assigned to municipal offices -- including the police department -- in the middle 1960's by a witty phreak who happened to both work for Illinois Bell (until he got canned in a housecleaning the telco did a year or so later) and the Chicago Seed newspaper (until it went out of business once the Vietnam war ended.) PAT] ------------------------------ From: jstrauss01@att.net Subject: Re: Long Distance Carrier Verification Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 05:09:15 +0000 (In reply to old thread: Michael Muderick: "Long Distance Carrier Verification") Michael Muderick wrote: > Has anyone tried 700-555-4141 lately to verify long distance carrier? Steve Sobol wrote: > Apple Valley, CA, March 12th: 700-555-4141 works just fine with VZ as > the ILEC and Sprint as the IXC. Has worked everywhere else I've tried > it, too. I've never seen -1212 advertised as the IXC number. Seems to depend on the l.d. carrier. I dialed 700-555-4141 and received a, "Your call cannot be completed as dialed ..." message. I tried 700-555-1212, not expecting it to work, and got, "Thank you for using Covista." One would think there would be a standard. Oh, well. -Jeremy Strauss [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: On my local (620-331) line from Prairie Stream Communications, dialing it without a '1' first got me a request to 'dial 1 first, then the area code and number." Doing it with '1' first got me a message saying 'Thank you for choosing Quest Communications ... then a pause ... and "your call cannot be completed as dialed, one-six-one". PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:48:53 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers > Providers of Internet-based phone services may be forced next week to > cut off tens of thousands of customers who haven't formally > acknowledged that they understand the problems they may encounter > dialing 911 in an emergency. > The Federal Communications Commission had set the Monday deadline as > an interim safeguard while providers of Internet calling, also known > as "VoIP" for Voice over Internet Protocol, rush to comply with an FCC > order requiring full emergency 911 capabilities by late November. > Vonage Holdings Corp., the biggest VoIP carrier with more than 800,000 > subscribers, told The Associated Press Wednesday that 96 percent of > its customer base have responded to the company's notices about 911 > risks. But that still means as many as 31,000 accounts would need to > be shut off as early as Tuesday. I can't help but ponder upon the irony that a ruling intended to make people aware of how the service may not work as they believe could result in the service being withdrawn altogether, so they won't be able to place ANY call. To hear the fuss, it kind of makes me wonder how anybody ever managed before 911. I know when I was down in Georgia around 1992/93 there were still quite a few of the more rural counties which had no 911 service at all, so it's not as though we're talking about ancient history either. - Paul [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Also see the news report in this issue from Reuters which stated that several VOIP carriers, including AT&T, have filed an emergency request for a further extension of time from FCC. Like yourself, I do not know how people managed to get by from the start of dial or automated telephony until (in most communities) the advent of 911 back around the early/middle 1980's ... Does anyone remember when the standard that AT&T set up for the operating companies called for police emergency to be (prefix)-1313 or (prefix)-2121 and fire emergencies to be (prefix)-2131. In large cities such as Chicago, where there were many exchanges and calls were routed automatically through internal telco switches they often times used POLice-1313 and FIRe-1313. In cases where there were two separate and distinct communities (each with own PD or FD) but sharing one phone exchange, where one community was '2121' and '2131' the other community would be '2181' and '2191' for police and fire respectively. Where 911 I guess was an improvement was that when someone reported their house was on fire, they would often times be in a panic and tell the dispatcher, "help, house on fire at 3200 Halsted Street" and slam the phone down and run off (to get away from the fire), but neglect to say if firemen were wanted at 3200 _North_ Halsted or 3200 _South_ Halsted, a difference in driving of about seven miles, so of course Fire had to dispatch _two_ companies, one to each location, and at least one company came back empty-handed. That is, unless both of them came back from a dry run; it was not uncommon in those days for idiots to deliberatly call in a false alarm. In the 1960's, when it seems with Vietnam everyone was anti- everything, Chicago Fire Department in one year alone (1965 I think) responded to over six thousand deliberate false alarms. 911 pinned it down a little closer than the old system of a huge map on the wall and beehive lamps from telco which lighted up in the _general vicinity_ on the map where police/fire was needed. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 26 Aug 2005 10:20:35 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Garrett Wollman wrote: > Because the market for residential communications services cannot > support what economists call "effective competition". The barriers to > entry in "local loop" services are so high that allowing bundling > stifles competition on the services built on top. I don't agree about the barriers. As I mentioned, our local cable company, while still a small independent outfit, managed to go through and wire us with coax and then come back and use fibre optic. Granted, their work methods were far cheaper than other utilities, but they managed to build a network. Today they offer competition for both telephone and broadband computer connections. Somehow the cable TV industry managed to break through those "barriers" and build itself up from little cooperatives to major corporations. > What should have been done back in 1984, and wasn't, is the unbundling > of outside plant from telephone service (with both by preference > provided by separate companies). By the late 1990s, most states > understood this, and implemented a similar model for energy > deregulation: you buy your energy from a competitive supplier, who > then must contract with a regulated distribution company to deliver it > to you. Two years ago we had a massive blackout thanks to this "new model". The electric power "deregulation" did nothing for consumers and was a bad idea. The power companies have _reduced_ distribution service quality to save money. For years, power companies traded with each other to get the best cost of power, so for a consumer buying it doesn't save any money. Power supply was one of the fraud's Enron was involved in. Today the national grid is carrying far more power than it was designed to and the risks of another NYC-Midwest blackout is very high. Little has been done to resolve those problems. Garrett Wollman also wrote: > The barriers to entry in "local loop" services are so high ... If that is true -- local loop is so hard to build -- why wasn't the Bell System assigned the task of providing CATV service? After all, it already had the natural monopoly local loop plant already in place. The answer is that the barrier isn't so high and cable companies were able to surmount it. jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: >> So, if a telecom provider wants to bundle services, why shouldn't it? > We've seen the effects of that many times. And each time it involved a > monopoly (or near-monopoly) the results were bad enough to get the > government involved. For instance, in the old days you HAD to use IBM > software and peripherals with your IBM mainframe. It was called > "bundling", and the government eventually stepped in and forced them > to unbundle their products and services. Actually, IBM chose to unbundle on its own, the government was not involved at that time. Remember that customers who wished to buy the full IBM product were still able to do so -- customers could go a la carte or take the traditional offering. When telecom deregulated -- supposedly to give consumers "more" choice -- we consumers actually had LESS choice. If my local Bell company wanted to sell me long distance, they were forbidden to do so (until very recently). I note that now I get my long distance from them and dealing with one provider is so much better than multiple, plus they give me a good deal. Saying a company should be a carrier only is like saying IBM can only sell hardware and we must buy our software from someone else, even if we like IBM's software. By the way, the vast majority of IBM mainframe users continued to use IBM's operating systems (OS, DOS, CICS, and VM and their successors) to this very day. Allowing independent manufacturers to hook up their peripherals to IBM mainframes had its problems as well, which people forget. If IBM enhanced its mainframes, the peripheral makers had to follow suit, but sometimes such improvements would be enough to kill them off. If a peripheral had trouble, there would be finger-pointing between vendors. > Most of the "examples" you cited aren't valid analogies. In almost > every case the "bundles" are value-added services or features that > might make using one service slightly mor attractive than using a > competing one. The Verizon "bundling" is much more like the sporting > event, where you're FORCED to use and pay for the parking facilities > associated with the event. The line between "value added" and forced bundling is blurry. In any event, carriers should be allowed to offer their own bundled package and not isolated into a narrow niche. John Levine wrote: > My, how soon we forget. The Bell breakup was about long distance > competition, and LD has indeed been quite competitive, at least until > all of the LD carriers merge into one in a couple of years. But the > breakup made no difference at all to local competition. Your local > Bell company was and is just as much of a monopoly after the breakup > as before. I can get phone service from my cable company or from a cellular company. I don't see Bell being a monopoly anymore. You also forget that equipment ownership and other services were also deregulated at that time. > Because the telecom provider is a monopoly, or now maybe a duopoly. > The only companies with wires into everyone's house are the phone > company and the cable company, and that is as true now as it was 20 > years ago. The first mover advantage is insurmountable, and although > it would be legal for someone to raise $100 billion and overbuild a > new phone infrastructure alongside the one we have, it'll never > happen. I don't agree at all. See my other post about cable construction; they were able to do it. BTW, the electric companies have wires into my house, and the water company has a pipe into my house. I understand power lines can carry phone signals although for the moment it's not practical. But who knows -- maybe they'll invent something to allow effective transmission. Maybe signals could be carried along copper water pipes as well in the future. > The point of splitting the telco into switchco and loopco is that the > loop part is a natural monopoly and the switchco isn't. So split them > up, require the loopco to provide service to everyone on an equal > basis, and then completely deregulate the switchco. That would work, > and we'd end up with a much more vibrant market. Who gets to decide what is a "natural monopoly"? Is the phone loop really a natural monopoly? At one time it was, but I'm not sure any more. On the other hand, breaking up the telco switches to support multiple vendors was very costly and I'm not sure it was worth it. MY phone rates went up to pay for a new telco building to house switchgear for external companies so that someone ELSE would benefit. That sure doesn't seem like a free marketplace to me. And as I mentioned elsewhere, I wasn't allowed until recently to make a free choice. >> Otherwise we're back to the Bell System and we must wait for the >> government to tell us what we may and may not have. > Uh, no. Please, put down the kool-aid and think about what's really > going on. Sorry, but outsiders are attempting to dictate to me -- as a consumer -- what business arrangements I want to make. You people claim it will be "better" for me if you do so. ------------------------------ Subject: Spam Targeted at TD Subscribers? Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 07:24:27 -0400 From: Micheal Quinn Has anyone else on the Telecom Digest heard from this idiot? The subject line is so specific that I assume he may have harvested my address from here. I do use my legit address when I occasionally post. I only regret that he doesn't have a toll free number, but maybe he'll accept a collect call. Sorry for the disturb and thanks a lot for your patient, as Jun Wang would say. Regards, Mike -----Original Message----- From: Jun Wang [mailto:wwwjjjj8866@yahoo.com.cn]=20 Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 8:07 PM To: Quinn Michael Subject: Various low price Telecom products Importance: High [TD Editor Notes: But of course!] Dear Sir, We know your company via internet offering and purchasing list. Sorry for the disturb without your permission. It's my favor to introduce our plant as one professional telecommunication products manufacture here in Shanghai. 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Jun Wang TEL:+86 21 67820784 FAX:+86 21 67820791 ------------------------------------------ If no use for you, please send one "No thanks" mail to: cable88@163.com, your won't receive this mail in the future again. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, perhaps the several hundred thousand readers who see this should write mailto://cable88@162.com and tell Mr. Wang 'no use for me, thanks' as he asks. And no, Michael, harvesting names from this Digest has been a long time favored activity of the luncheon meat eaters. No news here, no suprise. All the luncheon meat eaters get from this end now and then is a blast of 'no thanks' notes from polite readers, rude, crude and lewd relies from less courteous readers, and a hideous bill on their 800 number if they bothered to include one in their email. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Hudson Leighton Subject: Is it Sp*m if They Are Offering to Set You Up as a Sp*mmer? Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 09:43:02 -0500 Received the following email today, names and address removed to protect the guilty. ****** BulletProof server: Fresh IPs 1024MB RAM P4 CPU 72GB SCSI Dedicated 100M fiber Unlimited Data Transfer Any software Based in China US$599.00 for per month May use the server for: Bulk Hosting Direct Mailing We also supply Target list according to your order and sending out your message for you. ***** [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've been thinking I should write a note to those people and ask them how many netters take them up on their offer to 'rent their server' for direct mail purposes. If they can get $599 per customer/month it would pay me to discontinue this Digest and turn my computer totally into a 'bullet proof' direct spam -- err, I mean, mail server. Even just one customer per month would pay off better for me than this Digest does at $599 each. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Last Laugh! Turning the Tables on Nigeria's E-Mail Conmen Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 07:47:26 -0400 From: Michael Quinn This BBC News article about getting back at the senders of "get rich quick" scam messages may amuse some Telecom Digest readers. The pictures alone are hilarious. Regards, Mike http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3887493.stm [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for passing this along. The pictures are funny. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #386 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 27 00:52:50 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 014321536C; Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:52:49 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #387 Message-Id: <20050827045249.014321536C@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:52:49 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.4 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, HOT_NASTY,ITS_LEGAL autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:51:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 387 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson High Costs of Low Value Fraud (IMB) Phishers and their Phake Banks (Artists Against 419) Alltel/AT&T/Cingular Scam in Oklahoma City Market Area (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (Lisa Hancock) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (John Hines) Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw (William Warren) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Neil McClain) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Garrett Wollman) Re: Is it Sp*m if They Are Offering to Set You Up as a Sp*mmer (Lichter) Re: Last Laugh! Turning the Tables on Nigeria's E-Mail Conmen (Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: IMB Subject: High Costs of Low Value Fraud Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:57:05 -0500 by Commercial Crime Services, a division of the ICC London, 29 March 2005 "Low value" commodity frauds by-pass checks by banks The re-emergence of a financial fraud specializing in low value commodities has the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) warning banks to be on their guard. IMB Assistant Director Michael Howlett stated: "This particular internet scam typically pursues amounts of money small enough to fall just below the threshold that triggers routine checks. Because the amounts are smaller, banks do not perform the necessary checks and are unlikely to spot these frauds." While fraud involving small amounts may not seem like a large problem, totals can add up quickly. The case of convicted fraudster Glenn McCorquodale is a telling example. As reported in a 2003 edition of the ICC newsletter Commercial Crime International, McCorquodale was able to amass several million dollars by perpetrating numerous low value fraud operations with non-existent agricultural or metal shipments. McCorquodale ultimately received a four and a half year jail term. The frauds he conducted are very similar to those many banks may be currently facing. IMB investigators were recently called upon to investigate a metal shipment after a bank encountered documents that did not appear authentic. The amount of money involved would ordinarily see the consignee paid without question, but something about the documentation led the bank to question their validity. Examining the bill of lading, IMB quickly established that the vessel named on the bill did not exist. They also found that while the noted container numbers were genuine, their prefixes belonged to containers owned by another company. The company name and address used had been employed in a series of earlier frauds. Lastly, the commodity said to be shipped metal from the UK at slightly below market value had also been used in a number of recent frauds. Mr Howlett commented: "The fraudsters operating these kinds of frauds are counting on banks not to make the necessary checks. In this specific case, the fraudster was only seeking 193,000 pounds assuming the bank would not investigate important elements of the documentation. With IMB assistance, the bank was able to identify and prevent this fraud." The IMB is concerned that banks may be facing a series of such commodity frauds and the organization is urging financial institutions to exercise caution if they are asked to confirm financial documentation for non-customers. Banks concerned about documentation related to commodities fraud or those that have recently encountered similar suspicious activity are advised to contact the IMB for assistance. In particular, internet users who deal in commodities know well what fraud is about, and how it has affected them through auction services for example. For further information or interviews please contact IMB Tel: +44 208 591 3000, Email: imb@icc-ccs.org ------------------------------ From: Artists Against 419 Fraud Subject: Phake Banks and Websites: Ways to Shut Them Down Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 21:07:18 -0500 They call it 'phishing' or 'spoofing' and it is the fastest-growing fraud on the web, netting cyber-criminals millions of pounds, dollars and euros. Sophisticated gangs are setting up fake websites that mimic well-established companies and banks. See also: Fake banks and web sites in the news 2000 - 2003 =================== 2005: Mar 03 2005 - NBC Nightly News: Fake banks lure customers online - At first glance, it looks much like any other Internet bank. Pearl Atlantic Credit & Trust says it offers loans, project financing and online banking, with deposits insured by the FDIC. There are even pictures of a CEO, Victor Bartruff, and other officers. [...] "Artists against 419," a grassroots consumer group which targets these scams, says the fake bank appears tied to an e-mail scam. "We probably find five or ten more a day on average," says a woman who volunteers at the group and asked that we not use her name. "We keep finding new ones." Feb 11 2005 - zdnet.com.au: Web vigilantes launch attacks -- Internet vigilantes have launched a 48-hour bandwidth attack against spammers who defraud people online. The 419 Flash Mob, supported by Artists Against 419, has declared war on criminals who host fake bank Web sites in the hope of luring victims to deposit money there. The attacks began on Wednesday. A Web site statement from Artists Against 419 said, "This flash mob is in celebration of Chinese New Year ... Our aim is to shut down eight fake bank web sites in less than 48 hours!" [...] Feb 09 2005 - Slashdot.org: Artists Against 419 Releases Mugu Marauder -- An anonymous reader writes "Similar in scope to the (now defunct) screensaver created by Lycos that targeted spam sites, the newly-released Mugu Marauder is intended to take fraudulent bank sites off the air by sponging up their bandwidth. Mugu Marauder can be downloaded at http://www.aa419.org/mm/ It's currently only available for Windows, though a Linux port is allegedly in the works." 2004: Dec 31 2004 - Information Age infoconomy.com: The lawless Internet -- Direct action -- Old Coaster, is a qualified doctor, retired stockbroker and former bank board member (...) As part of the group 'Artists Against 419', he is on a crusade to shut down the fake bank sites that scammers use (...) After verifying that a site has no legitimate status with a banking regulator, the activists ask the web hoster to close it down. Most oblige but if not, the group asks large numbers of associates to visit the offending site using a downloadable tool, http://Lad Vampire. Dec 09 2004 - AARP Bulletin (Switzerland): Scam Alert - Can't Win for Losing The catch: No prize money is released until the "winners" pay customs duties, taxes, or shipping and handling fees, usually to a Western Union office in Canada. Swindlers can wreak even more damage if they can sell their victims on the convenience of automatically withdrawing the fees from their bank accounts. Once they have access, the con artists can deplete the account. Law enforcement officials say the Canadian lottery hoax is robbing Americans of about $120 million a year. Nov 16 2004 - Ghanaweb.com: Beware of White Collar Scams Others may be in the form of "spoof banks" where there is supposedly money in your name already on deposit; "paying" for a purchase with a check larger than the amount required and asking for change to be advanced; fake lottery 419; and ordering items and commodities off "trading" sites on the web and then cheating the seller. The variations of Advance Fee Fraud (419) are very creative and virtually endless. Oct 30 2004 - The Times: Scam baiting: They are the online jungle's lowlife -- eBay auction scammers, Nigerian advance-fee fraudsters, fake bank website "phishers" trawling for the next sucker. Their lucrative cons play on human greed and naivety, yet they evade detection through the anonymity of the web (...) But what if the fraudsters themselves could be conned? Sept 15 2004 - MSN Money: Advance fee fraud: The UK's National Criminal Intelligence Agency says 150 million a year is reaped by variations of this fraud. (...) In the last year, the NCIS says it has detected an increasing number of frauds in which bogus bank websites are set up, and the victims are provided with a PIN number and logon ID which apparently allows them to see that the prize has already cleared into the account. The identities of genuine companies are sometimes used to add an extra layer of authenticity. Aug 11 2004 - ABCNEWS: Regulators Shut Down Phony Bedrock Bank Federal regulators shut down a phony Internet bank claiming to be located in the tiny Colorado town of Bedrock population 10 near the Utah state line. Aug 13 2004 - Monterey County Herald, et al: International email scams score billions with offer of millions "I had one person last week who lost $40,000," said a college student who is a member of Artists against 419, one of a growing number of Web sites devoted to foiling advance-fee scams. The college student, known online as Sister Mary Catherine..." Aug 08 2004 - Guardian UK: Only winners are con gangs: Log on to http://aa419.org and learn how you can help to shut down fake lotteries. _You_ are invited and encouraged to help put phishers and their phake banks out of business. http://www.aa419.org will teach you how to obtain and use the tools to do it. Aug 08 2004 - This is Guernsey: The Guernsey Financial Services Commission battles bogus Internet banks Over the last three years, there had been an increase in fraudsters setting up bogus bank websites. These look like a genuine bank and claim to have a connection to a reputable jurisdiction such as Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man. Victims are referred to the sites by the fraudsters who say they are independent of the bogus bank. Investors are encouraged to open accounts with a promise that they will receive all, or a percentage, of a large sum of money. The bogus bank asks for an initial deposit and, after paying, that is the last the victim will see of it. Aug 02 2004 - The Register: Net vigilantes target 419 sites Artists Against 419 (AA419) has organised a 48-hour online protest against Phishers and advanced fee fraud, otherwise known as the 419 scam. The protest is an organised version of the SlashDot effect whereby a huge number of visitors turn up at a site, overwhelming its bandwidth allocation. The virtual flash mob began at midnight on 1 August and has already taken down three of its targets. July 25 2004 - Mail on Sunday: FINANCIAL Mail's list of fake banks to avoid has a new recruit: A call to the tricksters on their website phone number 020 7060 0487 was automatically transferred to an unknown destination where a man with a heavy West African accent tried unsuccessfully to convince me he was a banker. July 20 2004 - BankInfoSecurity.com: Social Engineering Offers Increased Threat to Banking Industry Please be advised that the Web site is not operated by the OCC. It is a fraudulent attempt to acquire personal confidential information from users of the site for the purpose of identity theft. July 16 2004 - News24: 419 scam hits SA cabinet Photos of the ministers who are unwittingly being involved (under false names), are published on a website where they are portrayed as directors or senior managers of First National Bank (FNB). July 12 2004 - The Register: 419 'bankers' back in business. As is the case with UMCIB, Trans-Atlantic Private Bank is not registered with the Financial Services Authority. July 12 2004 - Toronto Star: Scambaiters lure fraudsters: Artists Against 419 takes a different approach ... against fake bank sites used by scammers. They teach you how to respond to phishers; how to waste their time and money. July 11 2004 - Star-Telegram, Texas: GETTING HOOKED Artists against 419 also conducts monthly "flash mobs," a vigilante effort to shut down fraudulent bank sites. July 09 2004 - Cape Cod Times: Vacation getaway: Family taken in by phony Web site offering $3,500 Cape summer rental. July 09 2004 - The Register: Anatomy of a 419 scam: The following is an account of how one US citizen recently lost $1,000 to a UK-based 419 outfit who used a combination of plausible correspondence, phone calls and a fake bank website to reel in their victim. July 08 2004 - Town Times: The Better Business Bureau hopes to curtail 'phishing' Comprehensive phishing resources are available on the Internet for consumers at http://www.bbb.org/phishing http://www.califoraction.org http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft and http://www.visa.com/phishing July 07 2004 - Amsterdam Weekly: Having fun with 419 fraudsters: Well, you could always join that other global phenomenon, the 'flash mob', a new technique against the 419 scam. Get tools to use at http://www.aa419.org July 05 2004 - THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Thieves target online bankers: A new threat against online banking customers has emerged. Internet thieves are secretly downloading software through pop-up ads to record keystrokes as people type. The threat targeted users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. June 24 2004 - Khaleej Times, Dubai: Beware of fraudulent companies: A recent example of this was the uncovering of Saturn Jobs, a fraudulent recruitment company, which operated from Britain, and duped thousands of Indians and Bangladeshis of their money by promising them jobs in the Middle East. June 23 2004 - Reuters: How to outfox the email scammers: British police recently estimated that phishing scams cost UK banks an estimated 60 million pounds last year. The economic toll of phishing in the United States is much worse, costing American banks and credit card companies $1.2 billion (660 million pounds) in 2003, since so few internet users are willing to cooperate in putting fraud web sites out of business. June 22 2004 - BBC: How to avoid getting caught by the lottery fraudsters: Ultimate FI's impressive-looking website was registered to a man in Amsterdam who had already been connected to other fake banking sites used in online scams. June 22 2004 - Netcraft.com: After months of rapid growth, the number of phishing attacks leveled off in May, rising just 6 percent with a total of 1,197 unique campaigns, according to new data from the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG). June 19 2004 - THE WASHINGTON TIMES: The Federal Trade Commission has settled civil charges with two men accused of stealing consumers' personal information by setting up fake Web sites designed to look like those of legitimate companies. June 17 2004 - THE NEW YORK TIMES: E-mail Scammers Face Dose of Vigilante Justice: For instance, Karl Dailey, the sheriff of Dawes County, Nebraska, has also joined the effort. After local residents started asking him about the schemes, he said, he got involved with the fraud-baiters at Artists Against 419 http://www.aa419.org and even helped take down a fake bank Web site. May 11 2004 - The Register: Lottery scams new flavour of the month: If victims do not want to pay upfront fees, they can open an (online) account with a specified bank, whose "policy" requires a deposit of around $3,000. This bank, however, is fake, as are many banks with web sites and online 'services'. As the folks at http://www.aa419.org find out about them, they immediatly enlist the net to put the web site out of business. May 2nd 2004 - Mail on Sunday: Get on the web to hit the cheats: You don't need any technical knowledge to help attack the crooks. Just go to artists against 419 Let's see how many crooks we can kick off the internet in one day. This plan works much like the Lycos Screen Saver which so many of the 'do-gooders' on the net squalled about. April 14 2004 - USA TODAY: Hot Sites: This site can tell you all about it, but they're also doing something fresh: Fighting back -- not just 'filtering'. Come here to see how you can help mess with the bad guys' heads. April 05 2004 - The Register: Scambusters target 419 online 'banks': Since Artists against 419 started operating, around 85 scam websites and phake banks have been removed. Visa launches new channel to fight online fraud: In recent months Visa has identified and shut down a number of spoofed websites around the world. March 23 2004 - The Sacramento Bee: Scam alert: 'Deceased-relative' scam costs Sacramento-area man $27,000. Phishers on the net con artists posing as London bankers from HSBC. March 19 2004 - The Sydney Morning Herald: Man faces court over $5m internet scam Nick Marinellis, the alleged Australian mastermind behind a global internet scam has set up a website to con victims into believing they could claim millions of dollars through lottery winnings. March 5 2004 - Lottery Post: New Jersey man loses $41,000 in sweepstakes scam The con artists then gave the victim the name and Web site of a bank that was supposed to be in Barcelona, but police say it was a fraudulent Web site. Feb 14 2004 - The Detroit News: FBI ties Internet scam increase to organized crime, terrorist sympathizers: The Phishing scams and their phake banks have become the single most prevalent crime on the Internet, experts say. Jan 30 2004 - Cambridge News: Mr. Fountain became the last victim of the Dutch lottery fraud: He committed suicide by setting himself alight after he was cheated by an internet scam. Widow's warning after internet scam tragedy: "I'm not unintelligent and neither was Leslie. We both worked at universities and dealt with technology. _If we can be conned, anyone can._" Jan 8 2004 - The Age: Fake bank website spotted: A new wave of hoax emails targeting Australian bank customers, and how netters are _shutting them down forcibly_. Related internal links: http://www.419legal.org Copyright 2005, Artists Against 419 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Are you as sick as I am of the growing number of frauds and spams on the net? Then do as I have done, and join Blue Security and/or similar groups such as Artists Against 419 who use _deterrance_ instead of ineffectual filtering methods to run the crooks out of town. It is moral, it is ethical, and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. Don't expect ICANN or any so-called 'authorities' on the net to give you any help. If anything, assume that ICANN will fight your efforts. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:52:38 EDT Subject: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area From the news stories indicated. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com From The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK 8-24-05 Cellular users find themselves left holding the phone after company changeovers By Jim Stafford The Oklahoman Norman physician Joseph Leonard and Asher resident David Duszynski are fellow travelers on a wireless telephone journey neither of them wanted to make. Leonard and Duszynski said they were left holding expensive, useless telephone equipment when the sale of AT&T Wireless to rival Cingular and the subsequent sale of Oklahoma City wireless assets to Alltel Corp. was completed in April. "It's kind of a scam," said Leonard, who said he paid $500 for a Palm Treo Smartphone shortly before the sale was announced. Cingular was forced by federal regulators to sell AT&T's Oklahoma City assets, and the buyer was Alltel. Leonard can't use the Treo on the Alltel network because it uses a differenttechnology. And Cingular Wireless won't let new subscribers bring their own phones even if they use the same digital network. Cingular's wireless network uses the same GSM -- Global System for Mobile Communications -- that the old AT&T Wireless network used. "It appears they may have defrauded us," Leonard said. "Big business is striking again at the little guy." Leonard said he has spent hours on the phone with both telephone companies and the Oklahoma attorney general's office, and has registered a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. Bottom line: He can't port his Treo into either network. Cingular spokesman Frank Merriman said the company won't allow users to bring telephones from other networks to ensure "quality remains the same across the board" for its users. "When someone upgrades from AT&T Wireless to Cingular, they need a new phone, and the reason they need to upgrade is there is unique software imbedded in the phone to enable it to work properly," Merriman said. "The AT&T network is not functioning anymore, and there is no way that equipment can operate on the system as it is." As for Duszynski, he owns a pair of $129 GSM phones that he can't use on the Alltel network. He said he contacted Alltel and was offered a $50 discount to purchase new telephones. "What Alltel has said is we have until Dec. 31 before we have to decide what we are going to do," Duszynski said. "I'm going to take advantage of that and see if I come across a better deal." Alltel's Bill Oltean, vice president of retail services for the Oklahoma City market, said the company offers a free-phone option for former AT&T Wireless subscribers. The uncertainty wrought by the wireless changeover has kept him busy trying to solve issues such as those faced by Leonard and Duszynski. Leonard said he finally "gave up," signed up for Cingular service and bought a $200 Blackberry, which provides some of the features that his Treo offered. He assigns blame to everyone, the telephone companies and federal regulators. "It's kind of a vicious circle with no one taking responsibility," he said. -------------------------------------------------------- From The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK 8-26-05 By Jim Stafford The Oklahoman Business is booming for Jesse Fox of Oklahoma City. He "unlocks" digital cell phones, such as those owned by former AT&T Wireless subscribers to let them work on virtually any carrier's network. Fox operates Eco-Tech on Northwest Expressway, and for $20 each he will "unlock" the code that restricts a GSM -- Global System for Mobile Computing -- phone to one network and allow its use on any carrier's network that uses the GSM technology. "This is a business that's been strong for years and years," Fox said. The issue of "unlocking" a phones software codes to allow users to port it from one network to another surfaced recently when Cingular Wireless bought the former AT&T Wireless network. Although federal regulators forced Cingular to sell the Oklahoma City assets of AT&T Wireless, some former AT&T subscribers chose to migrate to Cingular rather than stay with Alltel and use its CDMA -- Code Division Multiple Access -- network. But Cingular has said it won't accept cell phones from the AT&T Wireless network, forcing subscribers to buy new equipment to operate on its network. Fox provides a service that allows subscribers to do just that. "We just unlock the phone off the carrier so they can put a new SIM card in," Fox said. "It's totally legal. It's just like owning a Chrysler and putting a Ford motor into it." A SIM card is a computer chip inserted into a cell phone that provides user identity information. "If you come down here, nine out of every 10 customers that come in were sent to me by Cingular," Fox said. "I'm not sure it is the corporate stores, because the corporate stores want to sell their phones." Oklahoma City resident Robert Orner is among those Cingular subscribers who brought his own phones to his new wireless carrier. He bought three digital phones before the AT&T Wireless buyout and wanted to keep them rather than move to Alltel's service or buy new phones. So, he paid Eco-Tech to "unlock" them and then took them to a Cingular agent. "I took it in and the lady programmed it right there and there was no problem," Orner, 73, said. "So far, everything is fine. I'm talking to you now on my Nokia 6200 GSM phone." Several other Cingular subscribers, contacted by The Oklahoman, on Wednesday shared similar experiences. Their phones were "unlocked" and put in use on the Cingular network. A Cingular spokesman responded by saying that the company does not condone the practice. "We do not unlock phones, nor do we recommend that people get their phones unlocked," spokesman Frank Merriman said. "That's not something that we authorize or perform. If they circumvent the system it can cause problems. We make no guarantees about the performance of their phones." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Of course Cingular would not 'condone' any practice which did not serve to rip off their customers even more than they have been already. So what else is old news? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:00:04 EDT Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? In a message dated 25 Aug 2005 09:28:40 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > There's a name given to junk email that is the same as a pork luncheon > meat product produced by Hormel. I don't think the Hormel company is > too pleased about their product associated with something negative and > undesirable, but the usage has become widespread. > I was wondering if this word association has helped or hindered sales > of the food product The Hormel Company just reported a loss for the quarter, but reported the loss would have been a good deal higher if it were not for a substantial increase in sales of Spam. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: 26 Aug 2005 18:27:09 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com John Hines wrote: > No, they have a policy these days, in summary, the word 'spam' has > been added to the English vocabulary, while 'Spam' is still a > registered trademark, and is to be used only in reference to their > (Hormel AFAIK) product. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All well and good, but how does one > pronounce an upper case /S/ differently than a lower case /s/ in order > to avoid violating any trademarks? ... The "Columbia Journalism Review", a magazine for reporters, often has ads by corporations reminding people about using trademarks as everyday words. I guess the most common example today is using "Xerox" as a verb ("go xerox this letter") or a noun ("I'll send you a xerox of the letter"). It is a trademark and is properly used to describe a particular brand of copier machine or the company that makes them: ("I'll run them off on our Xerox machine"). Another example is Lycra, which is a brand time of spandex -- spandex is the generic term for that type of fabric. An old time example is Jello, which is a brand name for gelatin. Another is Band-Aid. Another is Kleenex. Years ago I heard people refer to phonographs as "Victrolas", which were a particular brand. Many companies don't want their trademark names to become commonplace. They spend a lot of money promoting their particular brand. In that sense, I can understand Xerox's position since the company isn't doing so well and so many other brands of machines are in use. As to various fuels, during the last energy price spike a lot of people bought kerosene heaters for their home. I never heard of anyone using a gasoline heater, though another poster described gasoline as a better fuel for that purpose. I guess gasoline is considered too dangerous, I don't think one is even allowed to store it inside a building. They expect high fuel costs this winter and I wonder if the stoves will make a comeback. I hope not, they were smelly in apartment buildings. But as to lighting, it was kerosene for lighting that made the Rockefeller oil fortune. Kerosene replaced whale oil and was a lot cheaper (plus whales were becomming extinct from aggressive hunting). Gasoline was mostly discarded until the auto came out. Coal stoves also made a comeback to save money. My mother told me coal was a horrible way to heat because it was very dirty and labor intensive. Her family was able to switch to oil during the 1940s and she said it was a world of improvement. When coal stoves reappeared she thought people were crazy. BTW, gas lines in cities were originally used for lighting. Cities had factories that manufactured the gas from coal by a rather complex process. In the 1960s they converted to natural gas which became available by pipelines. The gas works came around and converted every gas appliance in the house for natural gas. We had gas cooking, clothes dryer, heat, and hot water. For a while the gas works was pushing gas air conditioning, but that never caught on. I grew up with gas, but my apt now is all electric and frankly I don't miss gas; I was always nervous about a leak. In Walter Cronkite's memoirs, he described a story he covered early in his career -- a horrible gas accident in a school that used leftover gas from nearby oil wells. Apparently the system wasn't too controlled. ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 16:23:18 -0500 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org John Hines wrote: > hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> Regards the use of the term 'spam' for unwanted email, my impression >> has always been that Hormel treats it like a joke. > No, they have a policy these days, in summary, the word 'spam' has > been added to the English vocabulary, while 'Spam' is still a > registered trademark, and is to be used only in reference to their > (Hormel AFAIK) product. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: All well and good, but how does one > pronounce an upper case /S/ differently than a lower case /s/ in order > to avoid violating any trademarks? Perhaps in verbalizing it we > could refer to 'upper Spam' and 'lower spam' but somehow I think > that would be even more confusing; it would make it come out > sounding like a country in Asia or something. PAT] Context, are we talking food or email? Or use more words ("Hormel Spam", "Spam luncheon meat", etc) in cases where there could be doubt. How about using "Spam the ham"? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Then how would we deal with Spam King? Does it refer to an experienced and effective spammer, or to some fancy variation on the meat used in luncheon sandwhiches? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:05:44 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Don't Forget Peter Jennings'... Flaw William Warren wrote: > No matter what my opinion is of Mr. Jennings, the issue of gun "control" > _deserves_ attention, and I'll ask you to ask yourself one question: > Do you know someone who would be dangerous if they owned a gun? > William > (Filter noise from my email address for direct replies.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Define 'dangerous' in your context. As > in taking _my_ life, for example? Is that supposed to be a major > issue? Anytime it is my turn to go, I can assure you I will; there is > nothing to be afraid of. Death is actually the last thing I worry about. No, I meant dangerous as in "This guy gives me the creeps and the _least_ damaging thing he could do with a firearm is take his own life". The major issue is that we all have a fairly good sixth sense about who is and isn't to be trusted with power -- and firearms are the ultimate power trip -- and the point I was trying to make is that the constitution has to rely on common sense to work. Some people shouldn't have guns. I think the authors of the second amendment _wanted_ us to be uncomfortable with any "universal" right to own one. TELECOM Digest Editor continued noting: > And your theory on the Second Amendment is good, and worth > considering. But I still want to know: the other nine (of the > original ten 'basics') all address the protections given to _citizens_ > in this land. Why should number two be an exception, and given the > government the 'right to bear arms' (if well-regulated militia is > taken to mean Army, National Guard, etc). The citizens have the right > to speak, to have the religion they want, to be free from being > searched or seized in their homes, etc. And then number two says 'the > _government_ has the right to bear arms' ? Personally, I do not think > so. Nor I: the government, by definition, has the right to use firearms. The amendment refers to a "militia", and I submit that it's impossible to have a militia of one, and therefore that the amendment's authors intended that it apply to _groups_ of citizens, not to individuals _or_ the government. "Well regulated" is left open to interpretation, and I feel that was the intent as well, since someone else's "well regulated militia" might be my "dangerous mob". > I have heard these folks who say (in a real pissy, whimpering tone of > voice) "Well, we citizens do not have to bear arms, that is what the > National Guard and Army is for." Usually I tell those folks "well, in > that case we do not need free speech either; we have the New York > Times and the Washington Post and Katherine Graham's News Weak > magazine, and TELECOM Digest to do our speeches. Why do you need the > right to speak also?" If there's one reason for the resiliency and stability of our government, it's that we are allowed, encouraged, and cursed to endlessly debate what the constitution means. It means whatever the current body politic agrees it does, and still has room to protect individuals from that same force that defines it. > And regards the 'final argument of Kings' that is also the final > argument of the government is it not? Oh, we do not see them most > days, and we 'voluntarily' do as we are told by the government, but > the final solution, the gun, is back there waiting, is it not? And > as needed, it will be produced and used. PAT] Of course: policemen wear them, but always remind each other that having to "break leather" is a sign of poor planning: they're in the business of keeping a lid on an always-simmering melting pot, and the weapon is more a _symbol_ of their authority (or, perhaps, of the state's) than an everyday tool. I was a cop once, and we used to tell the new recruits that "Surgeons carry bone saws in their bags to remind themselves what happens if they screw up. We carry weapons to remind the public of what happens if _we_ screw up." Policemen and politicians are in the same business, you know: it's just the scale that's different. Both must convince citizens that its better to talk than to fight. FWIW. YMMV, and I think it should ;-). William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies). ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:33:47 -0500 From: Neal McLain Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Garrett Wollman wrote: > Because the market for residential communications services cannot > support what economists call "effective competition". The barriers > to entry in "local loop" services are so high that allowing bundling > stifles competition on the services built on top. hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com responded: > I don't agree about the barriers. As I mentioned, our local cable > company, while still a small independent outfit, managed to go through > and wire us with coax and then come back and use fibre optic. I agree with Garrett. Your local cable company HAD to build a separate network in order to carry NTSC television signals. A cable network is vastly different from the telephone network: it has to carry much higher frequencies (by about 14 octaves), and it serves an entirely different market. The barriers that Garrett describes have largely prevented construction of competitive networks of either type. > Granted, their work methods were far cheaper than other utilities ... Huh? That's news to me. CATV plant uses essentially the same "work methods" as telcos: same poles, same pole hardware, same type of supporting strand, same trenches, same pedestals, same rights-of-way, same easements, same construction methods. Often the same conduits and manholes. Of course, the topology is very different (tree-and- branch rather than star); the signal-carrying cable is different (coax rather than multipair copper); and the electronic devices are different. But these differences don't make CATV networks "far cheaper." In fact, CATV constructions cost were often higher. Because most CATV networks were built half-a-century after telco networks, construction costs in existing neighborhoods were often substantially higher than new construction would have been. But these differences resulted from having to work around existing facilities, not from different "work methods." On the other hand, CATV labor costs were often lower than telco's because CATV companies were usually non-union. Furthermore, a CATV headend costs less than a telephone central office, but that doesn't affect the construction cost of the outside-plant network. hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com continued: > but they managed to build a network. Today they offer competition > for both telephone and broadband computer connections. Telephone service over CATV networks wasn't realistically possible until VOIP came along (some would say it still isn't). > Somehow the cable TV industry managed to break through those > "barriers" and build itself up from little cooperatives to major > corporations. The cable TV industry built networks to carry NTSC television signals, not local-loop services. The "barriers to entry in 'local loop' services" that Garrett describes don't apply to networks that aren't designed to provide local loops. Garrett Wollman: > The barriers to entry in "local loop" services are so high ... hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com: > If that is true -- local loop is so hard to build -- why wasn't the > Bell System assigned the task of providing CATV service? After all, it > already had the natural monopoly local loop plant already in place. Because local loop plant won't carry NTSC television signals. The only way a telco could/can provide CATV is by building a coax (or, nowadays, HFC or all-fiber) network. And because, under federal law, the telcos' "natural monopoly" didn't apply to CATV service. Any telco that wanted to offer CATV still had to get a franchise from every LFA. As it happens, a few Bell companies did just that. SNET obtained a state-wide franchise for Connecticut, and Ameritech built several cable systems in its territory, mostly in Ohio. But SBC shut them all down after it bought the companies. Bell Canada built numerous CATV systems in its territory. In most cases, it overlashed the coax cable onto its existing telco strand (cheaper construction, but a real maintenance headache). In the early days of the CATV industry, GTE built many CATV networks on a "leaseback" basis: GTE financed, built, and owned the network, and leased it to a franchised cable operator. > The answer is that the barrier isn't so high and cable companies were > able to surmount it. Cable companies surmounted it by building an entirely different kind of network. > John Levine wrote: > Because the telecom provider is a monopoly, or now maybe a duopoly. > The only companies with wires into everyone's house are the phone > company and the cable company, and that is as true now as it was 20 > years ago. The first mover advantage is insurmountable, and although > it would be legal for someone to raise $100 billion and overbuild a > new phone infrastructure alongside the one we have, it'll never > happen. hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com: > I don't agree at all. See my other post about cable construction; they > were able to do it. I agree with John. See my post about new-plant construction costs at http://tinyurl.com/cm29d . Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 26 Aug 2005 23:53:15 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , wrote: > jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: >> We've seen the effects of that many times. And each time it involved a >> monopoly (or near-monopoly) the results were bad enough to get the >> government involved. For instance, in the old days you HAD to use IBM >> software and peripherals with your IBM mainframe. It was called >> "bundling", and the government eventually stepped in and forced them >> to unbundle their products and services. > Actually, IBM chose to unbundle on its own, the government was not > involved at that time. Actually, the government WAS involved. The feds filed an antitrust lawsuit against IBM in 1969. They fought in the courts for 13 years. I don't recall exactly when during that period IBM unbundled, but I'm sure the lawsuit had something to do with it :-) > Remember that customers who wished to buy the full IBM product were > still able to do so -- customers could go a la carte or take the > traditional offering. Not before they unbundled. Until then, if you attached any non-IBM hardware to your system they would refuse to honor any warranty or service agreement. Which, given the failure rates back then, was a very big deal. Maybe you forgot already that Microsoft almost went the way of the Bell system, also over bundling issues. The courts had already ordered a breakup, until the Bush administration stepped in. Even so, it was only the remedy that was modified, not the court findings. > When telecom deregulated -- supposedly to give consumers "more" > choice -- we consumers actually had LESS choice. If my local Bell > company wanted to sell me long distance, they were forbidden to do > so (until very recently). I note that now I get my long distance > from them and dealing with one provider is so much better than > multiple, plus they give me a good deal. So you'd prefer being forced to buy long distance service from your local phone company? My local provider keeps trying to sell me a package, too, but somehow it's never a very good deal compared to what I've got now with a 3rd-party. Excluding the local carrier from selling the service while allowing multiple competitors didn't give you less choice, it gave you more (but different) choices. While it may not have been entirely fair, having N (where N is greater than one) providers is not less than one. > Saying a company should be a carrier only is like saying IBM can only > sell hardware and we must buy our software from someone else, even if > we like IBM's software. You're not listening. What we're saying is not that they shouldn't be able to provide their own service on top of the carrier business, but that they should provide EQUAL ACCESS to others who ALSO want to provide such a service. This was the original framework that the phone companies had to operate within. For quite some time Verizon was required to operate the Data Services Division (which provided the DSL circuits) as a separate business unit which had to sell their product back to Verizon Online at the same rates they charged everyone else. > Allowing independent manufacturers to hook up their peripherals to IBM > mainframes had its problems as well, which people forget. If IBM > enhanced its mainframes, the peripheral makers had to follow suit, but > sometimes such improvements would be enough to kill them off. If a > peripheral had trouble, there would be finger-pointing between > vendors. Such issues were resolved quickly. Proper troubleshooting techniques identify the problems fairly accurately. >> Most of the "examples" you cited aren't valid analogies. In almost >> every case the "bundles" are value-added services or features that >> might make using one service slightly mor attractive than using a >> competing one. The Verizon "bundling" is much more like the sporting >> event, where you're FORCED to use and pay for the parking facilities >> associated with the event. > The line between "value added" and forced bundling is blurry. In any > event, carriers should be allowed to offer their own bundled package > and not isolated into a narrow niche. Not at all. For instance, to use one of your examples, I'm certainly free to bring my own magazines to the doctor's office. And no one is saying the carrier shouldn't be allowed to offer their own bundle. What we're saying is that they shouldn't be allowed to exclude others from offering similar services. > Sorry, but outsiders are attempting to dictate to me -- as a consumer > -- what business arrangements I want to make. You people claim it > will be "better" for me if you do so. Ha! You couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, it is the phone company that is trying to dictate to you, and me, what business arrangements we'll be ALLOWED to make. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: wollman@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 20:37:48 UTC Organization: MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory In article , wrote: > I don't agree about the barriers. As I mentioned, our local cable > company, while still a small independent outfit, managed to go through > and wire us with coax and then come back and use fibre optic. Your local cable company was granted a monopoly on cable TV service in exchange for wiring your community. Such monopolies are now forbidden. > Two years ago we had a massive blackout thanks to this "new model". Completely false. You had a massive blackout because the (regulated) power distribution companies were not held to an appropriate standard of reliability and capital investment. Competitive power generation did not cause the blackout. > Today the national grid is carrying far more power than > it was designed to There is no "national grid", unless you're referring to the distribution company National Grid. Even allowing for what you probably meant, it's still not true, and still a red herring: power distribution is still regulated, both by the states and by the Federal Energy Commission. >> The barriers to entry in "local loop" services are so high ... > If that is true -- local loop is so hard to build -- why wasn't the > Bell System assigned the task of providing CATV service? After all, it > already had the natural monopoly local loop plant already in place. "Everyone Knew" that you couldn't carry even 100 MHz of television spectrum over telephone wiring, and of course many people had perfectly good antennas, so why would telephone subscribers have been forced to subsidize the construction of cable television networks? > my local Bell company wanted to sell me long distance, they were > forbidden to do so (until very recently). I note that now I get my > long distance from them and dealing with one provider is so much > better than multiple, plus they give me a good deal. You don't believe, I hope, that they give you "a good deal" out of the goodness of their hearts ... They give you "a good deal" becase there's a competitive marketplace for long-distance communications services, and (unlike local service, until very recently) you have a choice of carriers. > Who gets to decide what is a "natural monopoly"? The economy does. I don't have the definition available off the top of my head, but any microeconomics textbook will give you a set of objective criteria, which when applied retrospectively to observations of an existing marketplace will tell you if it's a natural monopoly. > MY phone rates went up to pay for a new telco building to house > switchgear for external companies so that someone ELSE would benefit. What makes you think you didn't benefit from having that choice? -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Is it Sp*m if They Are Offering to Set You Up as a Sp*mmer? Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:32:26 GMT Hudson Leighton wrote: > Received the following email today, names and address removed to protect > the guilty. > ****** > BulletProof server: > Fresh IPs > 1024MB RAM > P4 CPU > 72GB SCSI > Dedicated 100M fiber > Unlimited Data Transfer > Any software > Based in China > US$599.00 for per month > May use the server for: > Bulk Hosting > Direct Mailing > We also supply Target list according to your > order and sending out your message for you. > ***** > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've been thinking I should write a > note to those people and ask them how many netters take them up on > their offer to 'rent their server' for direct mail purposes. If > they can get $599 per customer/month it would pay me to discontinue > this Digest and turn my computer totally into a 'bullet proof' direct > spam -- err, I mean, mail server. Even just one customer per month > would pay off better for me than this Digest does at $599 each. PAT] Problem is we know where you live and what you look like. Remember the guy is Russia!!!! The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That you do know about me. I still do not understand why ICANN does not do a re-alignment of the general domain naming system, to put things more in line with where they really are: Suggested TLDs would be '.sex, .scam,' and '.spam' to make a full transition to the kind of internet Vint Cerf and Esther Dyson have always dreamed of having. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Turning the Tables on Nigeria's E-Mail Conmen Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 00:43:06 GMT Michael Quinn wrote: > This BBC News article about getting back at the senders of "get rich > quick" scam messages may amuse some Telecom Digest readers. The > pictures alone are hilarious. > Regards, > Mike > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3887493.stm > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for passing this along. The > pictures are funny. PAT] The other day on a local TV station; reported that a Hollywood producer called a friend and said he was being chased by people, it was also reported that he had just gotten some money from people involved in one of the 419 scams. That was the last time anyone had heard from him. It sounds like it could be pretty dangerous. The other day I got one and gave a friends work phone number to them, he is with the FBI, I let him know before I did it. Now to see what happens. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It _is_ a very dangerous area to be in. The archenemy of all phishers and their phake banks, http://www.aa419.org says rather plainly on their web site that deterring (through time-wasting emails, etc) phishers and their phony banks is _not_ a task for the faint hearted. In their forum for users, the members fall into a few categories including newbie-baiters, elite- baters and master-baiters, and all 'baiters' (their term for the now thousands of internet users who play games with the 419 crooks) are asked to try and improve their skills, but _never, never ever_ provide any real, accurate information about yourself, for good reason, and always use a throw-away email address when you work at nuking their web sites, etc. A couple of the real experts (known on their 419.org site as 'master-baiters') have actually convinced a couple of the Nigerian conmen to _send them money_ instead of the way the Nigerians had it planned. They have a monthly 'laugh at the 419 phishers day' each month, but they tell everyone to take much care against getting in 'too deep' with those people. I guess they have shut down dozens of web sites run by those fools, but the job never seems to end. They are always looking for new players to both run that bot thing of theirs which always goes around attacking phisher web sites 24-7 and the phake banks the phishers set up to 'prove' to you that they are okay, should you ask for credentials about the 'bank' holding your lottery money or your late Uncle's (the one killed in the aeroplane crash leaving no relatives) money. They have various dummy email accounts set up waiting for a phisher to abuse the 'bait', (which is what you would be if you wished to play along) and although you would start as a novice or newbie, the other guys there in the user forum would teach you how to become a master baiter soon enough, and maybe get some phisher to send you money in order for your bank to 'cut a check' as has been done, just a few minutes before they decided to nuke that particular 419 scammer out of business. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #387 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Aug 27 15:17:21 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 4341D15425; Sat, 27 Aug 2005 15:17:21 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #388 Message-Id: <20050827191721.4341D15425@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 15:17:21 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 27 Aug 2005 15:17:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 388 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FCC Gives More Time to VOIP Companies to Get 911 Replies (Reuters) Verizon Wireless to Cut High Speed Pricing (Reuters News Wire) Suspected Computer Worm Writers Arrested, FBI Says (Andy Sullivan) FBI and Microsoft Comment on Arrest of Alleged Zotob Worm (M Solomon) FCC Delays Cutoff of Internet Phone Users (Monty Solomon) IBM to Continuously Protect Information Stored on Laptops (M Solomon) Yahoo, Verizon Team Up on Internet Service (Monty Solomon) Voip Over ADSL (jariwalakrunal@gmail.com) Followup to 419 Story (Steven Lichter) Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area (David Clayton) Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area (Joseph) Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area (Dan Lanciani) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (Dave Garland) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Steve Sobol) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (nmclain@annsgarden) Re: Gmail Account For Mobile Phone Users (suzanne.hoy@gmail.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: FCC Gives More Time to VOIP Telcos to Get 911 Replies Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 12:36:58 -0500 U.S. communications regulators on Friday gave Internet telephone providers more time to get customers to acknowledge the limitations of 911 access with their subscriptions, likely reducing the chances that some would have service cut off. The Federal Communications Commission has been worried that not all customers know that when they dial 911 with an Internet phone, the call may not reach an emergency dispatcher or would not show the location from where the call was made. The agency ordered carriers to fix that by late November and also get an affirmative reply from subscribers of the service -- known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) -- that they know the limitations. The FCC said carriers should suspend service to those customers who failed to reply by late July. That was later extended until August 29. But Internet phone carriers urged the agency to put off that deadline again amid fears it could cause more harm than good, leaving customers with no phone service at all. After noting that carriers made significant strides in obtaining replies, the FCC's enforcement bureau decided to grant another extension, until September 28, for those carriers that submit more reports on progress and details on getting final replies. "During this additional period of time, the bureau expects that all interconnected VoIP providers that qualify for this extension will continue to use all means available to them to obtain affirmative acknowledgements from all of their subscribers," the FCC said. But companies that still provide VOIP service to customers after the deadline without obtaining the acknowledgements could be subject to enforcement action by the FCC. UBS analyst John Hodulik estimates there were about 2.5 million U.S. VOIP customers at the end of the second quarter, meaning that even if 90 percent responded by the August deadline, 250,000 could lose service. "There are too many VOIP users who have cut their traditional phone service or turning off VOIP service to be a valid solution," said Jeff Kagan, an independent telecommunciations analyst. The head of a coalition VOIP companies said the decision was particularly helpful since some customers may have been on vacation while others may have been confused or unaware they needed to acknowledge the 911 limitations. "It's a recognition that consumers could have been put in harms way if their service was shut off because they inadvertently hadn't acknowledged the limitations of the service," said Jim Kohlenberger, executive director of the VON Coalition. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Chat about this with others in our chat room: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Verizon Wireless to Cut High Speed Pricing Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 12:37:28 -0500 Verizon Wireless is expected to cut the price of its high-speed wireless Internet service by as much as 25 percent early next week in a bid to increase its customer base for the service, one analyst said on Friday. The No. 2 U.S mobile service and the country's first to sell wireless Web links with speeds comparable to some home broadband services, will cut its $80 a month rate plan to about $60 in a bid to stay ahead of rivals such as Sprint Nextel, said American Technology Research analyst Albert Lin. "I think it'll be a significant cut," said Lin, who declined to name his sources. "I think they're trying to maximize the time they have as a monopoly in order to build a customer base lead before there's competition." Verizon Wireless was not immediately available to comment. Lin said the price cut for Verizon Wireless' service plan for laptop computer users should put the service, mainly aimed at business people until now, in a more affordable price range for some consumers. Lin said he does not expect the company to make dramatic changes to its high-speed consumer service, known as Vcast, which delivers content such as Web surfing and video downloads to phones for about $15 a month. Phone companies around the world have been beefing up their networks to deliver services such as high-speed Internet links and video and music downloads to phones in a bet that demand for such offerings will help offset falling phone call prices. Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, has led the pack in the United States by starting to sell high-speed services based on EV-DO technology to laptop computer users in some markets in 2003. It has since expanded the service to cover about one third of the U.S. population and expects to cover roughly half the U.S. population or 150 million people by year end. Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service which became Sprint Nextel this month after its purchase of Nextel Communications, said in July it was starting to offer laptop services based on the same technology and with similar charges of $80 a month. Sprint Nextel expects to have coverage for 143 million people by the fourth quarter and 150 million people -- or roughly half the U.S. population -- in early 2006. The EV-DO technology which both Sprint Nextel and Verizon wireless are using was developed by wireless technology firm Qualcomm Inc., which sells chips and licenses based on the technology. The country's biggest operator, Cingular Wireless, a venture of SBC Communications and BellSouth Corp., has said it expects to have high-speed services based on a different technology later this year. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Andy Sullivan Subject: Suspected Computer Worm Authors Arrested, FBI Says Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 13:15:01 -0500 By Andy Sullivan Authorities in Morocco and Turkey have arrested two men for unleashing computer worms that disrupted networks across the United States last week, the FBI said on Friday. Farid Essebar, 18, of Morocco, and Atilla Ekici, 21, of Turkey, are believed to have been responsible for the Zotob worm that hit the Internet less than two weeks ago, along with predecessors called Rbot and Mytob released earlier, the FBI said. Zotob caused computer outages at more than 100 U.S. companies, including major media outlets like CNN and The New York Times, but it did not create widespread havoc along the lines of previous malicious software programs like SQL Slammer and MyDoom. Close teamwork among the FBI, Microsoft Corp. and authorities in Morocco and Turkey was essential to the case, said FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Louis Reigel. "This case happened very quickly," Reigel said on a conference call. "Had we not had those entities involved in this investigation, I suspect it would still be ongoing today." Reigel said Essebar wrote the malicious code and provided it to Ekici for a fee. The two men will face prosecution in their native countries and FBI officials will provide evidence, he said. Zotob targeted a recently discovered flaw in the Plug and Play feature of Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system. Newer versions of the software were not affected. Users who heeded a prior warning from Microsoft and updated their systems were not victimized by the worms, but those who did not keep their systems up to date could have their computers taken over by remote servers or see them shut down and start back up repeatedly. Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said the worms had a limited impact because more consumers were keeping their software up to date and using firewalls and anti-virus software. The software industry was taking threats more seriously as well, he said. Microsoft's team of 50 investigators was able to analyze the worms and find out where they were coming from, he said. The team began work on the case in March after the release of Mytob, but Zytob provided the evidence to track them down, he said. "We have important work ahead of us to strengthen computer security but we've also come a long ways in a short time, and the fact that we were able to see these arrests in less than two weeks and see them halfway around the world really drives that point home," Smith said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 01:35:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: FBI and Microsoft Comment on Arrest of Alleged Zotob Worm Microsoft general counsel and FBI representative commend Turkish and Moroccan law enforcement for prompt arrest. What: Turkish and Moroccan law enforcement and the FBI today announced the arrest of the individuals believed to be responsible for the creation and distribution of the recent Zotob worm. Louis M. Reigel III, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director, and Microsoft Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith will be available to discuss Microsoft's role in the investigation leading to the arrest. Who: Louis M. Reigel III, FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Brad Smith, Senior Vice President and Microsoft General Counsel When: Friday, Aug. 26, 2005, 2:45 p.m. EDT/11:45 a.m. PDT Call-in Information: -- U.S. Toll-Free Number: (800) 857-9781 -- U.S. Toll Number/ International: 1 (630)395-0023 -- Passcode: 2391275 - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51404023 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is a bit stale, however replays of the conference may be heard at 800-756-4244, _not_ the various numbers listed above. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 01:36:35 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: FCC Delays Cutoff of Internet Phone Users By JENNIFER C. KERR Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal regulators on Friday extended a disconnection deadline that could have left tens of thousands of people without their Internet phone service next week. The Federal Communications Commission said it would delay a Monday deadline for providers of Internet-based phone calls to get acknowledgments from their customers that they understand the problems they may encounter when dialing 911 in an emergency. Providers of the phone service, known as Voice over Internet Protocol or "VoIP," had been told by the FCC that they should disconnect service by Tuesday to people who had not responded. But in Friday's notice, the agency said the deadline would be extended to Sept. 28 for the providers to get their acknowledgments. If by that time a provider still has not received confirmation from a customer, then the company should disconnect a customer's phone service, according to the FCC order. The agency gave companies the option of turning off regular Internet phone service to a client, but still allowing emergency calls to 911 to be made. As part of this so-called "soft" disconnect, a provider could also allow customers to place non-911 calls that would automatically be sent to the company's customer service center. The agency's decision to extend the cutoff deadline follows a letter from a coalition of VoIP providers, including AT&T and MCI, who complained that customers would be left stranded in an emergency come Tuesday. More than 30,000 people could have been left with no service at all. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51402163 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 01:39:33 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: IBM to Continuously Protect Information Stored on Laptops IBM to Continuously Protect Information Stored on Laptops and Servers; New Technology Delivers Real-Time, On Demand Data Protection ARMONK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 26, 2005--IBM today announced new software that continuously protects information -- on laptops, desktop PCs and file servers -- from viruses, file corruption, or accidental deletion. The software, IBM Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files, is a "data safety net" that provides real-time back up for important information such as Word documents, MP3 files, digital photos, presentations, and spreadsheets containing sales and tax records. With people today more likely to be connected to a network through high-bandwidth wireless connections in coffee shops, parks and even entire cities, continuous backup of data is now practical. Previously, users have had to back up data through a scheduled backup session. With IBM's new software, it happens continuously with one simple package that can be installed on laptops, desktop PCs or enterprise file servers. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51392719 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 01:45:23 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Yahoo, Verizon Team Up on Internet Service By GREG SANDOVAL AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Verizon Communications Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have teamed up to launch a cheaper high-speed Internet service designed to compete against cable operators and dial-up service providers. For $14.95, subscribers will be able to download Web pages via a digital subscriber line at speeds of up to 768 kilobits and upload data at 128 kilobits. The cheaper service, which requires a one-year contract and has a price hike after 12 months, offers Yahoo premium services, such as antivirus protection, on-demand music videos and unlimited photo storage, according to an advertisement on Yahoo's site. Sunnyvale-based Yahoo was expected to announce formally the Verizon launch Tuesday, but an advertisement found on the company's Web site Monday night detailed the DSL offering. John Reseburg, a Yahoo representative, confirmed the accuracy of the ad. When it comes to transmission speed, Verizon is far behind SBC Communications, which launched a $14.95 DSL service with Yahoo in June. SBC transmits data at up to 1.5 megabits, twice as fast as Verizon's. Verizon will continue to offer faster DSL for higher prices. According to the ad on Yahoo's site, Verizon customers can pay between $19.95 and $37.95 to obtain transmission speeds comparable to SBC's. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51318042 ------------------------------ From: jariwalakrunal@gmail.com Subject: VOIP Over ADSL Date: 27 Aug 2005 02:38:01 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, I'm having 256 kbps ADSL connection from Dataone BSNL. I want to setup VOIP phone upon it and also want to share the same connection between three pc, currently working on only one. I'm having ADSL modem installed by service provider. What kind of equipment do I need to do sharing as well as having VOIP calls using regular phones. do i need to have purchase regular voip router which can also share connection, or do i need to have specific differnt one for ADSL.? Does it work with existing ADSLl modem or do I have to change it? I'll look foreward for any reply. Thanks in advance, krunal ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Followup to the 419 story Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 14:05:10 GMT Missing Music Producer Found, Hospitalized By TIM MOLLOY LOS ANGELES (AP) - The nearly weeklong search for a Grammy-nominated producer ended Friday after a resident spotted the man sitting naked in a backyard creek, washing his jeans. The Topanga Canyon resident found a distraught Christian Julian Irwin saying he feared he was being pursued by Nigerians who had contacted him in an Internet scam, sheriff's Capt. Ray Peavy said. Peavy said there was no evidence anyone was actually pursuing the 48-year-old producer, who has worked with Carly Simon and David Bowie, among others. Irwin was taken into custody because he was deemed mentally incompe- tent and possibly dangerous to himself, Peavy said. He was found at about 4:30 p.m. and agreed to go with police about two hours later after negotiations in which authorities, at Irwin's request, located his sister to help calm him. Irwin was questioned by medical and mental health workers and taken to a hospital to make sure he was in good physical health. He was to be transferred to another hospital for observation. Authorities began looking for Irwin on Sunday after he made a panicked phone call to a friend, saying he was being pursued by people with dogs. He told his friend he was running through water and had lost his glasses and shoes in a creek. Topanga Canyon, a rustic area long a favorite with artists and musicians, is about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles in the Santa Monica Mountains. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ From: David Clayton Subject: Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 17:17:51 +1000 On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:52:38 -0400, Wesrock wrote: > A Cingular spokesman responded by saying that the company does not > condone the practice. > "We do not unlock phones, nor do we recommend that people get their > phones unlocked," spokesman Frank Merriman said. "That's not something > that we authorize or perform. If they circumvent the system it can cause > problems. We make no guarantees about the performance of their phones." > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Of course Cingular would not 'condone' > any practice which did not serve to rip off their customers even more > than they have been already. So what else is old news? PAT] That "performance" statement has to be the biggest crock I've seen in quite a while, GSM is GSM is GSM, the whole concept of a standard is that all equipment that complies with it will interoperate. Can't someone stop fools like that who make obviously misleading statements about "problems" and performance? Regards, David Clayton, e-mail: dcstar@XYZ.myrealbox.com Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. (Remove the "XYZ." to reply) Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a measure of how many questions you have. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 05:29:13 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:52:38 EDT, Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > Cingular spokesman Frank Merriman said the company won't allow users > to bring telephones from other networks to ensure "quality remains the > same across the board" for its users. Of course Merriman would say that it is to "ensure quality." He's a company hack! > "When someone upgrades from AT&T Wireless to Cingular, they need a new > phone, and the reason they need to upgrade is there is unique software > imbedded in the phone to enable it to work properly," Merriman > said. "The AT&T network is not functioning anymore, and there is no > way that equipment can operate on the system as it is." Which for a GSM phone is a line of BS. As long as the phone is unlocked it can work on any compatible GSM network. Of course they don't want you using an unlocked phone it's one less phone that they couldn't sell you. Cingular made the decision that when they "captured" all the former AT&T Wireless callers that Cingular would reap all the benefits and all the former AT&T Wireless subscribers would have none of it. To the victor goes the spoils. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 04:18:18 EDT From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area dcstar@myrealbox.com (David Clayton) wrote: > On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:52:38 -0400, Wesrock wrote: >> A Cingular spokesman responded by saying that the company does not >> condone the practice. >> "We do not unlock phones, nor do we recommend that people get their >> phones unlocked," spokesman Frank Merriman said. "That's not something >> that we authorize or perform. If they circumvent the system it can cause >> problems. We make no guarantees about the performance of their phones." >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Of course Cingular would not 'condone' >> any practice which did not serve to rip off their customers even more >> than they have been already. So what else is old news? PAT] > That "performance" statement has to be the biggest crock I've seen in > quite a while, GSM is GSM is GSM, the whole concept of a standard is that > all equipment that complies with it will interoperate. So does Cingular do something active to block the use of "foreign" GSM phones on its network or does it rely on such phones being subsidy-locked to another provider's network? Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 23:56:32 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when PAT wrote: > how does one pronounce an upper case /S/ differently than a lower > case /s/ in order to avoid violating any trademarks? "I'm gonna fry up some spam and make a sandwich." I don't think trademark confusion is likely to arise. "Dammit, my inbox is full of spam again!" Nor here, unless the speaker is sitting at a desk in a Hormel meat-packing plant. Protecting trademarks is about avoiding confusion. It's ok to sell Saturn cars, even if there's a store that sells planets next door. It's ok to call the products made from coal and Colombian vegetation "coke". Besides, Hormel is bowing to the inevitable. There's no way to stop the world from calling the email byproduct "spam", all they can do is make sure people know if it's a meat byproduct, it only comes from them. ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 22:08:58 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Paul Coxwell wrote: > I can't help but ponder upon the irony that a ruling intended to make > people aware of how the service may not work as they believe could > result in the service being withdrawn altogether, so they won't be > able to place ANY call. > To hear the fuss, it kind of makes me wonder how anybody ever managed > before 911. > I know when I was down in Georgia around 1992/93 there were still > quite a few of the more rural counties which had no 911 service at > all, so it's not as though we're talking about ancient history either. Sometime between my freshman year in high school (1984-5) and my junior year (1986-7), I did a piece for the high school paper about Cuyahoga County, Ohio's new 9-1-1 system (not Enhanced 9-1-1, mind you, just 9-1-1). Cuyahoga County is one of the largest counties in Ohio (second largest IIRC), and includes Cleveland, the 25th largest city in the USA. I thought it was a godsend. The South Euclid Police Department's number was 216-381-1234 and our home phone number was 216-381-1231. I'd gotten tired of taking emergency calls for them. :) Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 04:54:46 -0600 From: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Garrett Wollman wrote: > Because the market for residential communications services cannot > support what economists call "effective competition". The barriers > to entry in "local loop" services are so high that allowing bundling > stifles competition on the services built on top. hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com responded: > I don't agree about the barriers. As I mentioned, our local cable > company, while still a small independent outfit, managed to go > through and wire us with coax and then come back and use fibre > optic. Garrett responded: > Your local cable company was granted a monopoly on cable TV > service in exchange for wiring your community. Such > monopolies are now forbidden. Forbidden by whom? In my experience, CATV franchises have never been legal monopolies, even in Massachusetts. To the extent that cable networks have turned out to be de-facto monopolies isn't the result of any legal changes; it's simply confirmation of John Levine's statement that: > Because the telecom provider is a monopoly, or now maybe a duopoly. > The only companies with wires into everyone's house are the phone > company and the cable company, and that is as true now as it was 20 > years ago. The first mover advantage is insurmountable, and although > it would be legal for someone to raise $100 billion and overbuild a > new phone infrastructure alongside the one we have, it'll never > happen. Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: suzanne.hoy@gmail.com Subject: Re: Gmail Account For Mobile Phone Users Date: 27 Aug 2005 10:37:31 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com However, one cannot use one's existing Gmail account, correct? So I had to create a new user name. How does one get text msgs with existing Gmail account? Can this be done? ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #388 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Aug 28 00:26:04 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id F26AD1537C; Sun, 28 Aug 2005 00:26:03 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #389 Message-Id: <20050828042603.F26AD1537C@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 00:26:03 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 28 Aug 2005 00:26:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 389 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Jealous Lover Program Creator Is Indicted (Monty Solomon) Beating Over-the-Air, But Not Quite Perfect (Monty Solomon) 5.8GHz Cordless Phones (Den) Star Trek Phone Set to Thrill (Tom Betz) Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area (John Levine) Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area (Daniel AJ Sokolov) Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area (Joseph) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Paul Coxwell) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (John Levine) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Gordon S. Hlavenka) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (Paul Coxwell) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (John Hines) Re: Gmail Account For Mobile Phone Users (Steven Lichter) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Lisa Hancock) Re: Last Laugh! Turning the Tables on Nigeria's E-Mail Conmen (John Levine) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:52:02 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Jealous Lover Program Creator Is Indicted The Associated Press Saturday, August 27, 2005; 9:13 AM SAN DIEGO -- The creator and several buyers of a computer program designed to allow jealous lovers to snoop on their sweethearts' online activities have been indicted for allegedly violating federal computer privacy laws. Carlos Enrique Perez-Melara, 25, was indicted Friday on 35 counts of manufacturing, sending and advertising a surreptitious interception device and unauthorized access to protected computers. The Loverspy program, disguised as an electronic greeting card showing images of puppies and flowers, was sent as an e-mail. When it was executed, it would begin recording victims' e-mail messages and the Web sites they visited, prosecutors said. The information would be transmitted to computers operated by Perez-Melara and relayed to customers, authorities said. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/27/AR2005082700545.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:51:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Beating Over-the-Air, But Not Quite Perfect By Frank Ahrens Washington Post Staff Writer Satellite radio in a nutshell: I spent one night earlier this summer driving around and listening to the Washington Nationals close out an exciting win. Where I was driving around, however, was Charleston, W.Va., well outside the broadcast range of the Nationals' Z104/WFED radio network. It was not, however, out of range of XM Satellite Radio, which this season began carrying every game of all 30 Major League Baseball teams and beaming them across North America. It was terrific to be able to keep up with the team from afar; every win sounded like the World Series on the radio, thanks to the vocal fans. So, as the final out of this particular game was recorded, the Nats' announcer enthused, "Just listen to that crowd!" It was a cruel taunt. At that precise moment, I drove into one of a handful of dead spots around Charleston where XM service drops out for several seconds. Hence, the often-simultaneous joy and frustration of satellite radio. Now, with nearly 6 million subscribers between them, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. have established a foothold as a competitively priced entertainment option for auto, home and mobile use. Like the cell phone, however, satellite radio is an infant technology compared with its predecessor, which has had more than a century to perfect its delivery system. And, like an infant, it still spits up from time to time. On the face, Sirius and XM are comparable services: Both have more than 60 channels of commercial-free music covering a broad spectrum of niches, from old-school country to today's hits, from the most experimental jazz to the spaciest New Age, from the raunchiest hip-hop to the kid-friendliest Radio Disney. Each has channels devoted to music from the decades of the '40s to the '90s; each has bluegrass and standards channels, each has several hip-hop and classical channels and so on. XM has a fun unsigned bands channel that Sirius does not have; Sirius has a groovy, trip-hoppy electronica channel that has no XM equivalent. Both also have more than 50 channels of news, talk and entertainment and share many of the same third-party providers: Fox News Channel, the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC and CNN. And both cost a fair amount of money over time: The receivers for each start at $50 (in some cases, after a mail-in rebate), and each service runs $12.95 a month before any family-plan or pay-in-advance discounts. But over the course of their short life spans, each service has begun to develop a personality and a direction. Music fans will find a deeper and better-defined selection of stations on XM. Sports and talk fans, however, will gravitate toward Sirius, which broadcasts NFL and NBA games. Sirius also has swiped NASCAR from XM, starting in 2007, and will resume NHL games, assuming anyone cares. XM cannot rival this lineup. For live action, it offers only baseball, the PGA Tour, three college conferences and IndyCar racing. Through its carriage of ESPN, it also broadcasts the NBA playoffs but not the regular season. Of course, Sirius also can claim the sui generis Howard Stern, who probably will be good for 1 million new subscribers on his own after he joins Sirius in January. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/27/AR2005082700203.html ------------------------------ From: Den Subject: 5.8GHz Cordless Phones Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 02:20:55 GMT All: Dumb questions about the 5.8Ghz cordless phone systems standards: * Is a handset from one vendors system automatically compatible with that from another vendor, or are they all vendor specific. * Is there a limit to the number of additional handsets that can be added to a base station, or is this vendor specific. Thanks, Den ------------------------------ From: Tom Betz Subject: Star Trek Phone Set to Thrill Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 03:20:55 UTC Organization: Some I'm surprised I haven't seen this here yet! From http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,68577,00.html : Get ready for your phone to go where no phone has gone before. Sona Mobile and Viacom Consumer Products are set to offer a Star Trek communicator-themed mobile device that will let users make calls, play video clips, play online Star Trek games and surf the internet. The cool gadgetry on the classic TV series has made dreamers drool since the first time Captain Kirk barked the words "Beam me up, Scotty!" into his little black box and snapped it shut. But this is the first time Viacom, which owns the rights to the TV and movie franchise, has put its licensed imprint on such a device. The special-edition Star Trek Communicator Phone is part of the ramping-up of events and promotions tied to the 40th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise next year. But the timing was also right because "the technology is better now," said Sandi Isaacs, VP of interactive at Viacom Consumer Products. "With the prior generations of handsets and mobiles, it was really hard to give consumers a rich experience." Viacom and Sona are still finalizing details of the look and features that the communicator phone, due in stores Sept. 30, will sport. But fans can expect the devices to chirp and beep with ringtones that mimic the familiar sounds of the communicators used in the Star Trek TV series and movies. [...] My wife keeps nudging me to replace her phone ... George Bush's War of Choice on Iraq is a totally unnecessary war. Every life lost, every limb lost, every disfigurement, every disability caused there is more blood on George W. Bush's hands, and on the hands of everyone who voted for George W. Bush. ------------------------------ Date: 27 Aug 2005 20:33:34 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > So does Cingular do something active to block the use of "foreign" > GSM phones on its network or does it rely on such phones being > subsidy-locked to another provider's network? I've used a variety of GSM phones on my Cingular accounts, and they all work fine so long as they work at the right frequencies. In Cingular's mild defense, in some areas they're various combinations of GSM 850, GSM 1900, and still some TDMA 800 and 1900. Most used GSM phones are GSM 1900, maybe with Euro 900 and 1800 mixed in, and they won't work on Cingular's largely GSM 850 network. Even the wrong Cingular phone can fail to work on their own network, e.g., I just bought a used Nokia 6340i and the seller accidently sent me a 6340, with the difference being that the 6340 doesn't do GSM 850 which is what Cingular uses around here, so it only gets a faint signal from an ex-AT&T GSM 1900 cell ten miles away. Oops. I took one look and knew what was wrong, but a non-technical user could easily leap to the wrong conclusion about what his problem was. > Cingular spokesman Frank Merriman said the company won't allow users > to bring telephones from other networks to ensure "quality remains the > same across the board" for its users. That's not even true. When my wife lost her phone last month, Cingular was happy to sell me a new SIM chip to use in an unlocked T-Mobile phone I had lying around. R's, John ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 01:32:52 +0200 From: Daniel AJ Sokolov Subject: Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area Am 27.08.2005 14:29 schrieb Joseph: >> "When someone upgrades from AT&T Wireless to Cingular, they need a new >> phone, and the reason they need to upgrade is there is unique software >> imbedded in the phone to enable it to work properly," Merriman >> said. "The AT&T network is not functioning anymore, and there is no >> way that equipment can operate on the system as it is." > Which for a GSM phone is a line of BS. As long as the phone is > unlocked it can work on any compatible GSM network. Of course they > don't want you using an unlocked phone it's one less phone that they > couldn't sell you. Cingular made the decision that when they > "captured" all the former AT&T Wireless callers that Cingular would > reap all the benefits and all the former AT&T Wireless subscribers > would have none of it. To the victor goes the spoils. How odd. They should be happy to have customers who do not expect to receive a free handset, but bring their own. Especially in the case of a Treo. This is likely to be a high value customer with high ARPU und AMPU. Daniel AJ My e-mail-address is sokolov [at] gmx dot net ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 19:18:30 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 04:18:18 EDT, Dan Lanciani wrote: >> That "performance" statement has to be the biggest crock I've seen in >> quite a while, GSM is GSM is GSM, the whole concept of a standard is that >> all equipment that complies with it will interoperate. > So does Cingular do something active to block the use of "foreign" GSM > phones on its network or does it rely on such phones being > subsidy-locked to another provider's network? No, they can't do that. Unlike other technologies such as CDMA and TDMA (IS-136) where you have to register and authenticate the handset's ESN to activate it on the network no such stipulation exists for GSM. If an operator (such as Sprint PCS for example) doesn't want you to use certain equipment on their network all they have to say is that they won't activate any ESN other than what they sell or have sold in the past for use on their network and check it against a database which they hold. Operators can be as cooperative as they wish or as uncooperative as they wish. T-Mobile for instance has no problem securing the unlock codes for any of their handsets. They'll even attempt to get the unlock for present subscribers from competing operators. They can't get codes for AT&T Wireless because AT&T Wireless never released unlock codes under any circumstance. Still the AT&T Wireless subscriber with GSM equipment isn't totally out of luck. Some handsets such as are sold by Nokia have readily available unlock code calculators for PCs which you can download and generate an unlock code for your handset provided you know what your operator's MCC/MNC (mobile country code/mobile network code.) Also there are on line sites that will calculate the code for you while you're on line either free or for a small fee. Other manufacturers handsets can be unlocked with procured codes or by modifying the hardware with flashing and by other means. It is only the arrogance of this "mouthpiece" from Cingular who insists that you have no alternative except to buy equipment from them. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:08:52 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers > Sometime between my freshman year in high school (1984-5) and my > junior year (1986-7), I did a piece for the high school paper about > Cuyahoga County, Ohio's new 9-1-1 system (not Enhanced 9-1-1, mind > you, just 9-1-1). > Cuyahoga County is one of the largest counties in Ohio (second largest > IIRC), and includes Cleveland, the 25th largest city in the USA. > I thought it was a godsend. The South Euclid Police Department's > number was 216-381-1234 and our home phone number was > 216-381-1231. I'd gotten tired of taking emergency calls for them. :) Back in the early 1960s my mother and her friend ran a little diner in north London, with the telephone number LABurnham 1122. She said they frequently took calls intended for a rather large company which had the number LADbroke 1122. It just doesn't pay to have some numbers! > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Also see the news report in this issue > from Reuters which stated that several VOIP carriers, including > AT&T, have filed an emergency request for a further extension of time > from FCC. > Like yourself, I do not know how people managed to get by from the > start of dial or automated telephony until (in most communities) the > advent of 911 back around the early/middle 1980's ... Does anyone > remember when the standard that AT&T set up for the operating > companies called for police emergency to be (prefix)-1313 or > (prefix)-2121 and fire emergencies to be (prefix)-2131. In large > cities such as Chicago, where there were many exchanges and calls > were routed automatically through internal telco switches they often > times used POLice-1313 and FIRe-1313. In cases where there were > two separate and distinct communities (each with own PD or FD) but > sharing one phone exchange, where one community was '2121' and '2131' > the other community would be '2181' and '2191' for police and > fire respectively. One of the few firsts we Brits can claim over America was the adoption of our 999 emergency number, which started in the 1930s and was in fairly widespread use in dial areas by the 1950s. Under the U.K. system at that time, 999 calls were handled by normal GPO operators -- In fact in most places they were the same operators who took regular "0" (later "100") assistance calls. On the standard cord boards of the day, the emergency trunks had red call lights over each jack in place of the usual white ones, and every incoming 999 call also operated a klaxon and a large red light atop the boards or on the wall until the trunk was answered. If was then entirely up to the operator to complete the call to the appropriate police, fire, or ambulance department. In many cases, she had dedicated jacks with direct outgoing trunks to each of the major emergency stations for the area to allow the call to be completed as quickly as possible. Despite the 999 system, there was, however, still a widely adopted convention that the regular number for the police should use 2222. The legacy of this can still be seen in many local police numbers today, e.g. the general (non-emergency) number for my area is 402222. (These days a local number is often routed to a police HQ in a distant town, but that's another story). The convention also spilled over to companies with large PBX systems, where they had a security officer (or some other person in charge of any emergency situation on the premises) and extension 222 was assigned for emergencies. Of course, the most famous British police number (excluding 999) didn't follow this convention. For many years the general number for Scotland Yard, Metropolitan Police HQ in London, was WHItehall 1212. -Paul ------------------------------ Date: 27 Aug 2005 22:08:05 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA >> Providers of Internet-based phone services may be forced next week to >> cut off tens of thousands of customers who haven't formally >> acknowledged that they understand the problems they may encounter >> dialing 911 in an emergency. Am I the only person on the planet who noticed that the FCC extended the deadline yesterday until the end of September? Regards, John R. Levine, IECC, POB 727, Trumansburg NY 14886 +1 607 330 5711 johnl@iecc.com, Mayor, http://johnlevine.com, Member, Provisional board, Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 22:02:12 -0500 From: Gordon S. Hlavenka Reply-To: nospam@crashelex.com Organization: Crash Electronics Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers Bruce Meyerson wrote: > Providers of Internet-based phone services may be forced next week to > cut off tens of thousands of customers who haven't formally > acknowledged that they understand the problems they may encounter > dialing 911 in an emergency. I have a Vonage box that I use only occasionally. I'm signed up for the $15/mo service; originally I saw it as an inexpensive way to "park" a couple of phone numbers, but Vonage was unable to transfer the numbers in (partly my fault) so I never really got much use out of it. I'm probably going to be canceling the service soon in any case. In the meantime, experimentally, I'm leaving it alone and intentionally not responding to their notices just to see what will happen with this whole 911 thing. On July 3 I got my first notice saying, "In response to a recently announced FCC 911 ruling, we are required to ensure that you acknowledge your understanding of our 911 Dialing feature." A week later (7/11) I got another: "...due to a recently announced FCC 911 ruling, we are required to ensure that you acknowledge your understanding of these differences. To continue to provide you with premium Vonage service, please login to your web account to review this feature and acknowledge your understanding." A few days later (7/15): "Recently we've sent you notifications about the important differences between our 911 Dialing feature and traditional 911 ... [P]lease Click Here to view a notice on our 911 Dialing and acknowledge that you have read and understand the information. Please do so now as failure to do so may affect your Vonage service." Then (7/19): "You may have missed the recent notifications requesting that you view a notice on our 911 Dialing. Click Here to view the important differences ... Failure to do so may result in a disruption of your Vonage service." On 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11: "We have sent numerous notifications requiring that you view a notice on our 911 Dialing. Click Here now to view the important differences ... Failure to do so may require us to restrict your Vonage service, as per the FCC." On 8/18, then daily from 8/22 to present: "We have sent numerous notifications requiring that you view a notice on our 911 Dialing. Pursuant to an Order from the Federal Communications Commission, if you do not acknowledge this notice, we will be required to restrict your outbound calling for your Vonage service." Along with the latest note, I've also been getting daily recorded messages on the Vonage line. It's been interesting to watch the details fill in as time goes on. At the moment (8/27) the Vonage line is still working normally; we'll see what happens Tuesday :-) Gordon S. Hlavenka http://www.crashelectronics.com If your teacher tells you to Question Authority Should you do it? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:08:46 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? > The "Columbia Journalism Review", a magazine for reporters, often has > ads by corporations reminding people about using trademarks as > everyday words. I guess the most common example today is using > "Xerox" as a verb ("go xerox this letter") or a noun ("I'll send you a > xerox of the letter"). It is a trademark and is properly used to > describe a particular brand of copier machine or the company that > makes them: ("I'll run them off on our Xerox machine"). Xerox isn't used in a generic sense quite so much in Britain as in the States, but we have plenty of other examples. "Hoover" is commonly used both as a generic name for any sort of vaccuum cleaner, and as a verb, e.g. "I'll just hoover up" or even "I'm going to do the hoovering." The Hoover name never became generic for any of the other types of appliances they made, such as irons and refrigerators. Had the latter been the most widely associated product of the company, maybe today people would talk about "Getting some milk from the Hoover." Sounds weird, but it could have happened. -Paul ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 20:01:27 -0500 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org Dave Garland wrote: > Besides, Hormel is bowing to the inevitable. There's no way to stop > the world from calling the email byproduct "spam", all they can do is > make sure people know if it's a meat byproduct, it only comes from > them. It sure is amazing how a single Python sketch has influenced culture, getting it's own word in the dictionary, not related to the food product. That and a musical ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Gmail Account For Mobile Phone Users Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 19:45:29 GMT suzanne.hoy@gmail.com wrote: > However, one cannot use one's existing Gmail account, correct? So I > had to create a new user name. How does one get text msgs with > existing Gmail account? Can this be done? I believe when you created the new account your old one was transfered. My old regular Google account was absorbed into the new Gmail account. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: 27 Aug 2005 17:55:32 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Neal McLain wrote: > I agree with Garrett. Your local cable company HAD to build a > separate network in order to carry NTSC television signals. A cable > network is vastly different from the telephone network: it has to > carry much higher frequencies (by about 14 octaves), and it serves an > entirely different market. The telephone system extensively uses coaxial cable to multiplex phone and TV signals. Indeed, the phone co has been carrying TV signals for years. The telco could've integrated cable signals into its existing plant and billing systems. There would've been definite economies of scale to be gained if they used telco standards. > Huh? That's news to me. CATV plant uses essentially the same "work > methods" as telcos: same poles, same pole hardware, same type of > supporting strand, same trenches, same pedestals, same rights-of-way, > same easements, same construction methods. ... > In fact, CATV constructions cost were often higher. Because most CATV > networks were built half-a-century after telco networks, construction > costs in existing neighborhoods were often substantially higher than new > construction would have been. But these differences resulted from > having to work around existing facilities, not from different "work > methods." > On the other hand, CATV labor costs were often lower than telco's > because CATV companies were usually non-union. Furthermore, a CATV > headend costs less than a telephone central office, but that doesn't > affect the construction cost of the outside-plant network. I've seen and dealt with cable construction by various companies. To say "non union labor" is an understatement. Cable companies got day laborers off the street and ragged 2nd-hand equipment. Lines were strung on poles FAST. They disregarded the wishes of communities and shoved their work through, irritating the heck out of property owners and towns, knowing once the work was done the town likely wouldn't litigate. Cable reliability is far less than phoneco; their underground lines are very shallow. Cable used existing infrastructure -- the same poles power and phone lines already used, they just added theirs. Because the cable is a common signal, it is much simpler to run than providing a unique channel for each subscriber. So, either the costs of cable are so high that the phoneco should've done it to provide for economies of scale, OR, cable laying isn't so expensive that others couldn't do it too. > Telephone service over CATV networks wasn't realistically possible > until VOIP came along (some would say it still isn't). I dare say VOIP and other value-added services were in mind when they went to fibre (another rush job). > Because local loop plant won't carry NTSC television signals. The only > way a telco could/can provide CATV is by building a coax (or, nowadays, > HFC or all-fiber) network. A great many phone subscribers do not have a dedicated pair of copper wires between their home and the CO. There are various ways of multiplexing the line (see the discussion on party lines) plus the use of concentrators. The Bell Labs history and "Bell Labs Record" describes many of those techniques. As mentioned, telcos know about coax and TV. > And because, under federal law, the telcos' "natural monopoly" didn't > apply to CATV service. Any telco that wanted to offer CATV still had to > get a franchise from every LFA. Telcos couldn't do so because of a policy decision, not a technical one. The long distance network was built to carry voice, TV, and radio. The local loop can be set up to carry high speed data and at one time could carry pulsed signals (not modulated) for Teletype machines. ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 2005 03:48:18 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Turning the Tables on Nigeria's E-Mail Conmen Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > The other day on a local TV station; reported that a Hollywood > producer called a friend and said he was being chased by people, it > was also reported that he had just gotten some money from people > involved in one of the 419 scams. That was the last time anyone had > heard from him. He showed up yesterday standing naked in the creek washing his pants. He probably imagined the whole thing. See: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/valley/la-me-irwin27aug27,1,637173.story ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #389 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Aug 28 19:26:53 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 3DE4415151; Sun, 28 Aug 2005 19:26:53 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #390 Message-Id: <20050828232653.3DE4415151@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 19:26:53 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAD_CREDIT, BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 28 Aug 2005 19:26:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 390 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Katrina on the Way to New Orleans (Allen Breed) ID Theft Creates Opportunities for Data Companies (Alexandria Sage) Pod2Mob.com - Mobile Podcasting (Monty Solomon) ATM Cards Pirated For Plenty, Police Say; Ploy used Cameras (Monty Solomon) Who'll Mind the Mainframes? / Few Students Learning to Run (Monty Solomon) Boston Schools Get New System to Notify Parents in Emergency (M. Solomon) Colleges Struggle to Combat Identity Thieves (Monty Solomon) King Kong vs. the Pirates of the Multiplex (Monty Solomon) Google Wants to Be Your Best Friend On Your Computer (Monty Solomon) RIP, Sussex Cellular (Stanley Cline) Re: 5.8GHz Cordless Phones (DevilsPGD) Re: 5.8GHz Cordless Phones (beavis) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Garrett Wollman) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (John Levine) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Neal McLain) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Steve Sobol) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Joseph) Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area (Stanley Cline) Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area (Daniel AJ Sokolov) Re: Star Trek Phone Set to Thrill (Steve Sobol) Re: VOIP Over ADSL (John Levine) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Allen G. Breed Subject: Katrina Causes Havoc For New Orleans Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 16:32:49 -0500 By ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writer 21 minutes ago Monstrous Hurricane Katrina barreled toward the Big Easy on Sunday with 165-mph wind and a threat of a 28-foot storm surge, forcing a mandatory evacuation, a last-ditch Superdome shelter and prayers for those left to face the doomsday scenario this below-sea-level city has long dreaded. "Have God on your side, definitely have God on your side," Nancy Noble said as she sat with her puppy and three friends in six lanes of one-way traffic on gridlocked Interstate 10. "It's very frightening." Katrina intensified into a Category 5 giant over the warm water of the Gulf of Mexico on a path to make landfall at sunrise Monday in the heart of New Orleans. That would make it the city's first direct hit in 40 years and the most powerful storm ever to slam the city. It eased slightly during the day, with top sustained wind down from 175 mph, but forecasters said fluctuations were likely. But forecasters warned that Mississippi was also in danger because Katrina was such a big storm -- with hurricane-force winds extending up to 105 miles from the center -- that even areas far from the landfall could be devastated. "I'm really scared," New Orleans resident Linda Young said as she filled her gas tank. "I've been through hurricanes, but this one scares me. I think everybody needs to get out." Showers began falling on southeastern Louisiana and other parts of the Gulf Coast on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by pounding surf as far east as the Florida Panhandle, the first hints of a storm with a potential surge of 18 to 28 feet, even bigger waves and as much as 15 inches of rain. "We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared," Mayor C. Ray Nagin said in ordering the mandatory evacuation for his city of 485,000 people, surrounded by suburbs of a million more. "The storm surge will most likely topple our levee system." Conceding that as many as 100,000 inner-city residents didn't have the means to leave and an untold number of tourists were stranded by the closing of the airport, the city arranged buses to take people to 10 last-resort shelters, including the Superdome. Nagin also dispatched police and firefighters to rouse people out with sirens and bullhorns, and even gave them the authority to commandeer vehicles to aid in the evacuation. "This is very serious, of the highest nature," the mayor said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime event." For years, forecasters have warned of the nightmare scenario a big storm could bring to New Orleans, a bowl of a city that's up to 10 feet below sea level in spots and dependent on a network of levees, canals and pumps to keep dry. It's built between the half-mile-wide Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain, half the size of the state of Rhode Island. Estimates have been made of tens of thousands of deaths from flooding that could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a 30-foot-deep toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, and waste from ruined septic systems. At 5 p.m. EDT, Katrina's eye was about 150 miles south-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The storm was moving toward the northwest at nearly 13 mph and was expected to turn toward the north. A hurricane warning was in effect for the north-central Gulf Coast from Morgan City, La., to the Alabama-Florida line. Despite the dire predictions, a group of residents in a poor neighbor- hood of central New Orleans sat on a porch with no car, no way out and, surprisingly, no fear. "We're not evacuating," said 57-year-old Julie Paul. "None of us have any place to go. We're counting on the Superdome. That's our lifesaver." The 70,000-seat Superdome, the home of football's Saints, opened at daybreak Sunday, giving first priority to frail, elderly people on walkers, some with oxygen tanks. They were told to bring enough food, water and medicine to last up to five days. By afternoon, people with bags of belongings lined up outside hoping to get in. In the French Quarter, most bars that stayed open through the threat of past hurricanes were boarded up and the few people on the streets were battening down their businesses and getting out. Sasha Gayer tried to get an Amtrak train out of town but couldn't. So she walked back to the French Quarter, buying supplies on the way, and then stopped at one of the few bars open on Bourbon Street. "This is how you know it's a serious hurricane," she said. "You can't find a slice of white bread in the city, but you can still buy beer." Airport Holiday Inn manager Joyce Tillis spent the morning calling her 140 guests to tell them about the evacuation order. Tillis, who lives inside the flood zone, also called her three daughters to tell them to get out. "If I'm stuck, I'm stuck," Tillis said. "I'd rather save my second generation if I can." But the evacuation was slow going. Highways in Louisiana and Mississippi were jammed as people headed away from Katrina's expected landfall. All lanes were limited to northbound traffic on Interstates 55 and 59, and westbound on I-10. Evacuation orders were also posted all along the Mississippi coast, and the area's casinos, built on barges, were closed. Alabama officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for low-lying coastal areas. Mobile Mayor Michael C. Dow said flooding could be worse than the 9-foot surge that soaked downtown during Hurricane Georges in 1998. Residents of several barrier islands in the western Florida Panhandle were urged to evacuate as Katrina pushed several inches of water onto coastal roads and near homes. Tourists stranded by the shutdown of New Orleans' Louis Armstrong Airport and the lack of rental cars packed the lobbies of high-rise hotels, which were exempt from the evacuation order to give people a place for "vertical evacuation." Tina and Bryan Steven, of Forest Lake, Minn., sat glumly on the sidewalk outside their hotel in the French Quarter. "We're choosing the best of two evils," said Bryan Steven. "It's either be stuck in the hotel or stuck on the road. ... We'll make it through it." His wife, wearing a Bourbon Street T-shirt with a lewd message, interjected: "I just don't want to die in this shirt." Only three Category 5 hurricanes -- the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale -- have hit the United States since record-keeping began. The last was 1992's Hurricane Andrew, which at 165 mph leveled parts of South Florida, killed 43 people and caused $31 billion in damage. New Orleans has not taken a major direct hit from a hurricane since Betsy in 1965, when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged parts of the city in seven feet of water. Betsy, a Category 3 storm, was blamed for 74 deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida. National Hurricane Center deputy director Ed Rappaport warned that Katrina, already responsible for nine deaths in South Florida as a mere Category 1, could be far worse for New Orleans. "It would be the strongest we've had in recorded history there," Rappaport said. "We're hoping of course there'll be a slight tapering off at least of the winds, but we can't plan on that. ... We're in for some trouble here no matter what." On the Net: National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov Editors Note: Associated Press reporters Mary Foster, Adam Nossiter and Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Attempts to reach someone I know in New Orleans by telephone Sunday afternoon were met with either 'all circuits are busy now' or 'emergency weather conditions prevent completing your call at the time' announcements, depending on the carrier used. I hope it won't turn out as bad as is predicted, but I am certain there will be at least _some_ damage before it is done with. I hope the people who will be housed in the Superdome take along their cell phone and portable radios, _along with extra batteries_ for those devices. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Alexandria Sage Subject: ID Theft Creates Opportunities for Data Companies Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 17:02:03 -0500 By Alexandria Sage For its victims, identity theft means worry, headache and countless time spent restoring bad credit. But for some businesses, the collective fear that consumer identities may be stolen can mean opportunity. The surge in identity theft, estimated to affect more than 9 million Americans each year at a cost of $50 billion, is spurring credit bureaus and banks to offer credit-monitoring services designed to protect against fraud and guarantee peace of mind. There is broad consensus that consumers need access to credit informa- tion, but many advocates question whether some new services are taking advantage of growing fears. Some companies that have made headlines by compromising sensitive consumer data in the past are now selling these watch-dog services to their customers. "Making money on identity theft is a growth industry and it's just not pretty," said Pam Dixon, executive director of the nonprofit World Privacy Forum. This month, credit bureau Experian, a unit of Britain's GUS, settled a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing it of using the promise of free credit reports to deceive consumers into registering for subscription credit monitoring services. Experian, which did not admit to wrongdoing, agreed to give up nearly $1 million and refund affected customers. Under a 2003 federal law, consumers are allowed one free credit report per year from each of the three national credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Although some consumer advocates say ordering a report from a different bureau every four months is an adequate method of checking one's credit, the credit-monitoring services appeal to those who want less hassle. Javelin Strategy & Research recently found that the services may "represent true increased safety for account holders, while providing valuable benefits to the institutions that offer them," including revenue and branding opportunity. "These services can provide value but don't pay too much for them and don't pay for (those that use) deceptive practices," report author James Van Dyke said. PROFITING FROM IDENTITY THEFT? Increased awareness of free credit reports has been a positive for the consumer and the company alike, said John Danaher, president of TrueCredit, a subsidiary of TransUnion. "Once people realize they have a credit report and ongoing access to and management of their credit report is something that's important to them, that in turn leads them to purchase services," Danaher said. Credit bureau Equifax, whose $49.95 and $99.95 per- year services were favorably cited by Javelin, reported a 21 percent rise to revenue of $29.3 million in the second quarter of this year in its division that includes credit monitoring services, which include daily or weekly notification of account activity, identity theft coverage and a fraud victim hotline. Some of the companies now offering to monitor credit have made headlines when their own customer information was stolen. Wells Fargo & Co., which has experienced various data breaches since 2003, launched a $12.99 per month plan last year, while Bank of America, which lost non-encrypted data tapes containing information on more than a million federal account holders last December, sells a $129 yearly monitoring program. Both banks offer the services free for their victimized customers. Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess said the company had strong privacy and information security systems in place, while Wells Fargo spokesman Julia Tunis said credit monitoring services and past problems with data security should be viewed "as two separate issues." Data broker ChoicePoint, which acknowledged in February that identity thieves gained access to a database of roughly 145,000 consumer profiles, sells a $24.95 "pre-employment background check" for job seekers to find information on themselves. But World Privacy Forum's Dixon said that companies that were not securing data were profiting from its theft, by virtue of the new services. "It makes you cynical," she said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 10:49:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Pod2Mob.com - Mobile Podcasting PODCASTING ON MOBILE PHONES TUNES IN WITH POD2MOB SOFTWARE PODCAST AUDIENCE SWELLS FROM 25M TO NEARLY 700M MOBILE USERS WORLDWIDE SOFTWARE SUPPORTS SPRINT PCS, T-MOBILE AND CINGULAR NETWORKS LOS ANGELES (--August 22, 2005--) Cut the white cord. Pod2Mob (www.pod2mob.com) announced today the launch of its precedent-setting podcast streaming service that enables consumers to listen to their favorite podcasts on their mobile handsets. The launch of the free software, which is first to market, forms a new milestone for mobile media. The power of wireless couples with the podcasting phenomenon to exponentially expand access to a new medium. The new Pod2Mob application transforms mobile handsets into a podcasting remote, capable of browsing and selecting new shows while listening to the audio directly from the phone. http://www.pod2mob.com/main/pr1 http://www.pod2mob.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 01:58:24 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: ATM Cards Pirated For Plenty, Police Say; Ploy Used Cameras By David Abel, Globe Staff Using small cameras and secretly-installed ATM card readers, a thief stole private bank card information from more than 400 ATM users in Greater Boston and withdrew at least $400,000 from their accounts over the past two years, police alleged yesterday. Ioan Emil Codarcea, a Romanian national, allegedly mounted the spy cameras and magnetic card readers on ATM machines in communities throughout the region, including Canton, Cambridge, Needham, Wellesley, and Woburn. The magnetic card readers -- which looked legitimate -- were sometimes installed on the doors leading to the ATM machines. Other times they were mounted on top of an ATM's actual card reader. They recorded users' card information while the cameras captured images of users punching in their PIN numbers, which were transmitted to Codarcea's laptop computer, police said. Armed with the information, Codarcea duplicated the magnetic strips and produced his own ATM cards, attaching a sticker on each where he scribbled the PIN number, police said. Working with accomplices, he then visited cash machines in downtown Boston and along Route 1, and withdrew cash from the accounts, they said. Many customers, police said, were not aware they were being victimized until their banks notified them. Police did not name the banks involved, but said the customers were reimbursed for the money stolen. Police say this type of theft, known as skimming, is becoming increasingly common. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/05/10/atm_cards_pirated_for_plenty_police_say/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 02:13:24 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Who'll Mind the Mainframes? / Few Students Learning to Run By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | August 26, 2005 They're the grizzled, unglamorous veterans of the computing world, middle-aged men and women who don't create best-selling computer games or dazzling special effects for the movies. All they do is quietly run the most important computer systems in the world. They operate mainframe computers, the 'big iron' machines that run businesses and governments all over the planet. Mainframes issue Social Security checks, track credit-card purchases, and oversee the nation's air-traffic network. They're immensely powerful computers, and immensely reliable, routinely running around the clock for years at a time. But many mainframe operators have been at it for decades, and they've begun to realize that their time is running out. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2005/08/26/wholl_mind_the_mainframes/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 02:30:13 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Boston Schools Get New System to Notify Parents in Emergency By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff | August 25, 2005 Out with scrolling words at the bottom of television screens and form letters crumpled at the bottom of backpacks. The next time Boston public school principals need to notify parents of an emergency, they'll pick up a phone, record a message, and in relatively short order, thousands of parents will be called on their home, work, and cellphones. That means spreading the word faster if students are held hostage, involved in a bus accident, or even if one is missing from school, officials said yesterday. Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office announced yesterday that Boston public schools will start using the automated system -- computer software combined with phone lines and the Internet -- this fall to more easily connect with parents. The school system has received a nearly $250,000 federal grant from the Mayor's Office of Homeland Security to improve its communication system in case of terrorist attacks, said Carlo Boccia, the director of Homeland Security for the Boston metro region. http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2005/08/25/boston_schools_get_new_system_to_notify_parents_in_emergency/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 02:36:56 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Colleges Struggle to Combat Identity Thieves By Reuters | August 21, 2005 LOS ANGELES -- Despite their image as leafy enclaves of higher learning shielded from the real world, universities across the United States are finding themselves on the front lines of the battle against identity theft. With their huge databases, universities may rival financial institutions as attractive targets for the crime, estimated to affect over 9 million Americans a year at the cost of more than $50 billion, specialists said. Nearly half of the publicized incidents of data breach since January occurred at universities, according to the San Diego-based Identity Theft Resource Center. The focus on campus computer security comes as pending legislation in Congress seeks to address on a national level the growing problem of identity theft, in which criminals steal personal information, so they can impersonate the victim to obtain credit and drain money from financial accounts. In academia, major institutions such as the University of California system and smaller private schools from Tufts to Stanford are equally affected as hackers exploit computer vulnerabilities to access data and laptops get stolen. The problem is hardly new, but available data are incomplete. California, for example, only recently started to require disclosure after a data breach. Some specialists say that universities only contribute to 20 percent of all breaches nationally. http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2005/08/21/colleges_struggle_to_combat_identity_thieves/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 03:27:51 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: King Kong vs. the Pirates of the Multiplex By TIMOTHY L. O'BRIEN SHORTLY before Christmas, Universal Pictures plans to unveil its $150 million remake of "King Kong," the 1933 sci-fi classic featuring an overgrown beast with a soft spot for blondes, a craggy, fog-shrouded island inhabited by dinosaurs and a squadron of biplanes buzzing the Empire State Building. The new version, aimed squarely at the hearts, minds and wallets of the teenage-to-mid-30's set that Hollywood prizes, has blockbuster written all over it. Peter Jackson, the maestro behind the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, is directing; Naomi Watts is stepping into Fay Wray's shoes as the imperiled, scantily clad heroine; and the film is rumored to be embroidered with mind-blowing special effects. But even the mighty Kong may not be safe from the clutches of a nebulous, tech-savvy network of film pirates who specialize in stealing copies of first-run movies and distributing them globally on the Internet or on bootleg DVD's. While Hollywood has battled various forms of film looting for decades, this time seems different. Piracy in the digital era is more lucrative, sophisticated and elusive than ever -- and poses a far bigger financial threat. "Piracy has the very real potential of tipping movies into becoming an unprofitable industry, especially big-event films. If that happens, they will stop being made," said Mr. Jackson in an e-mail message from New Zealand, where he is putting the final touches on his version of "King Kong." "No studio is going to finance a film if the point is reached where their possible profit margin goes straight into criminals' pockets." Film piracy is taking place against a larger backdrop of technological and demographic shifts that are also shaking Hollywood. Elaborate home theater components -- like DVD players, advanced sound systems and flat-screen TV's -- are helping to shrink theatrical attendance, as more and more film fans choose to watch while stretched out on their couches. And with the advent of high-speed Internet connections that can deliver large film files to personal computers, the movie business is confronted with the same thorny challenges that the music industry encountered several years ago with the emergence of file-sharing programs like Napster. Hollywood reported global revenue of $84 billion in 2004, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm. With most theatrical releases amounting to little more than an unprofitable, expensive form of marketing, DVD's have become Hollywood's lifeblood: together with videos, they kick in $55.6 billion, or about two-thirds of the industry's annual haul, with box-office receipts making up most of the rest. The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that piracy involving bootleg DVD's deprived the film industry of more than $3 billion in sales last year. That figure does not include lost sales from pirated works peddled online, for which industry insiders say they have no reliable estimate but which they assume to be substantial. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/business/media/28movie.html?ex=1282881600&en=f19a921158bab2bd&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:57:38 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Google Wants to Be Your Best Friend On Your Computer By WALTER S. MOSSBERG For most Internet users, Google is synonymous with online search. Millions of people begin every Web session at Google's famous, plain home page. But that's not good enough for the bright young upstarts who run Google. They want Google to be your constant companion even if searching or browsing the Web is the furthest thing from your mind. They are working hard to make Google software a fixture on computer desktops. That is the aim of two new, free products the search giant released this week. One is an instant-messaging program called Google Talk, intended to be your primary means of real-time digital communication. The other is an information-management utility called Google Desktop 2, designed to become a permanent part of your desktop, grabbing space from Microsoft's Windows desktop. I've been testing pre-release versions of both new products, which only work on Windows PCs, and have found that both work well, with a couple of exceptions. More important, both products, especially Google Desktop, have great potential for expansion and are meant to become indispensable. http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20050825.html ------------------------------ From: Stanley Cline Subject: RIP, Sussex Cellular Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 05:34:56 -0400 Organization: Roamer1 Communications Reply-To: sc1-news@roamer1.org One of the most backward, most reviled, most laughed-at cell phone companies in the US -- and one mentioned many times here in the Digest over the years -- closed its doors earlier this month. Sussex Cellular (which operated as SciTel Wireless in its last days), the carrier serving Sussex County, NJ that was infamous for its arrogance, roaming agreement "hardball", and poor service and being one of the last analog-only carriers in the continental US, requested that the FCC cancel its license as of August 4. http://tinyurl.com/9ua6j Since that time their web site has disappeared from the net and the trunks between their MTSO and the rest of the world have been either busied out or disconnected. Based on some digging in the FCC ULS databases, it appears that Sussex is the ONLY cellular (as opposed to PCS or ESMR) licensee to ever have built out a network and simply shut down without selling its licenses, network, and customers to another carrier; given their historical arrogance, that doesn't surprise me one bit. It doesn't look like anyone has stepped up to take over the vacated license yet, but my guess is that Cingular will do so in order to improve service in Sussex County, where Cingular currently has only 1900 MHz (PCS) coverage and where 850 MHz coverage would be helpful because of the terrain. Other carriers who might be interested in the area include Dobson Communications, who serves areas of New York just to the north of Sussex County, and Commnet Wireless, the roamer-only carrier that serves scattered tertiary and rural markets stretching from California (Lake Isabella/Kernville and Boron) all the way to Tennessee (Mountain City). Stanley Cline // Telco Boi // sc1 at roamer1 dot org // www.roamer1.org "it seems like all you ever buy is Abercrombie and cell phones" --a friend ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD Subject: Re: 5.8GHz Cordless Phones Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:26:21 -0600 Organization: Disorganized In message Den wrote: > All: > Dumb questions about the 5.8Ghz cordless phone systems standards: > * Is a handset from one vendors system automatically compatible with > that from another vendor, or are they all vendor specific. > * Is there a limit to the number of additional handsets that can be > added to a base station, or is this vendor specific. Both are vendor specific. 5.8GHz is simply a different frequency, nothing else changes from 2.4GHz or the 900MHz phones of ages past. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: 5.8GHz Cordless Phones From: beavis Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:17:47 GMT Organization: Road Runner In article , Den wrote: > Dumb questions about the 5.8Ghz cordless phone systems standards: > * Is a handset from one vendors system automatically compatible with > that from another vendor, or are they all vendor specific. > * Is there a limit to the number of additional handsets that can be > added to a base station, or is this vendor specific. Both vendor-specific. ------------------------------ From: wollman@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 05:25:54 UTC Organization: MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory In article , wrote: > The long distance network was built to carry voice, TV, and radio. No. The long-distance network was built to carry voice, slightly better-quality voice (for the radio networks), and baseband (*not* broadband) video (for the TV networks). -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 2005 16:44:39 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > So, either the costs of cable are so high that the phoneco should've > done it to provide for economies of scale, OR, cable laying isn't so > expensive that others couldn't do it too. I think you'll find the answer to the first question is that regulators wouldn't let them do so in North America except in a few rural areas. The answer to the second is blindingly obvious: there's already a cable system in place and every customer would have to be poached, at great expense, from the existing system. That's what a natural monopoly means. >> Telephone service over CATV networks wasn't realistically possible >> until VOIP came along (some would say it still isn't). > I dare say VOIP and other value-added services were in mind when they > went to fibre (another rush job). Fiber gives them lower maintenance and lets them offer cable modems, HDTV and video on demand. Nobody builds a cable system to offer VoIP, which despite all the hoopla is still a teensy niche business. They build it to offer broadband applications. > The local loop can be set up to carry high speed data and at one > time could carry pulsed signals (not modulated) for Teletype > machines. Widespread ADSL depends on signal processing chips that have only become available in the last decade or two. When CATV was being built, the state of the art in phone line data was T1 with very expensive equipment at each end of a not very long well line. R's, John ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:51:43 -0500 From: Neal McLain Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working I wrote: >> I agree with Garrett. Your local cable company HAD to build a >> separate network in order to carry NTSC television signals. A cable >> network is vastly different from the telephone network: it has to >> carry much higher frequencies (by about 14 octaves), and it serves an >> entirely different market. hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > The telephone system extensively uses coaxial cable to > multiplex phone and TV signals. But not in the local loop. > Indeed, the phone co has been carrying TV signals for > years. But not in the local loop. > The telco could've integrated cable signals into its existing > plant and billing systems. What do you mean by "integrated cable signals into its existing plant"? If you mean they could have placed coax cable plant on existing poles and in existing easements, then I agree. That's exactly what SNET, Ameritech, GTE, TDS, and Bell Canada did. But if you mean sending "cable signals" (NTSC signals modulated onto carriers 54 MHz and above) over existing copper-pair loops, then I don't think you understand physics. > There would've been definite economies of > scale to be gained if they used telco standards. >> On the other hand, CATV labor costs were often lower than telco's >> because CATV companies were usually non-union. Furthermore, a CATV >> headend costs less than a telephone central office, but that doesn't >> affect the construction cost of the outside-plant network. > I've seen and dealt with cable construction by various companies. To > say "non union labor" is an understatement. Cable companies got day > laborers off the street and ragged 2nd-hand equipment. Lines were > strung on poles FAST. They disregarded the wishes of communities and > shoved their work through, irritating the heck out of property owners > and towns, knowing once the work was done the town likely wouldn't > litigate. Cable reliability is far less than phoneco; their > underground lines are very shallow. Yet you still claim that telcos could have built CATV systems at lower cost by using union labor and following "telco standards"? > Cable used existing infrastructure -- the same poles power and phone > lines already used, they just added theirs. Sure. They were taking advantage of "economies of scale" by using existing poles. They even used the same "telco standards" of poleline construction (they had to under their agreements with pole owners). Moreover, most franchise agreements required them to use existing poles whenever possible. But you can rest assured that the owners of those poles didn't let them do it for free. > Because the cable is a common signal, it is much simpler to run than > providing a unique channel for each subscriber. Arguably not true. But even if it were true, what's it got to do with your original argument about "economies of scale"? A cable signal is a cable signal no matter who owns the plant. > So, either the costs of cable are so high that the phoneco should've > done it to provide for economies of scale, OR, cable laying isn't so > expensive that others couldn't do it too. Ok, fine. >> Telephone service over CATV networks wasn't realistically possible >> until VOIP came along (some would say it still isn't). > I dare say VOIP and other value-added services were in mind when they > went to fibre (another rush job). True. But I thought this thread was about the relative costs of coax plant v. copper-loop plant. >> Because local loop plant won't carry NTSC television signals. The only >> way a telco could/can provide CATV is by building a coax (or, nowadays, >> HFC or all-fiber) network. > A great many phone subscribers do not have a dedicated pair of copper > wires between their home and the CO. There are various ways of > multiplexing the line... But none of those "various ways" changes the fact that local loop plant won't carry NTSC television signals. I agree that it's possible to carry a few NTSC signals over DSL, but DSL didn't exist back in the 70s and 80s when CATV companies were building plant. > As mentioned, telcos know about coax and TV. Which probably explains why they didn't try to send TV signals over the local loop. >> And because, under federal law, the telcos' "natural monopoly" didn't >> apply to CATV service. Any telco that wanted to offer CATV still had to >> get a franchise from every LFA. > Telcos couldn't do so because of a policy decision, not a technical > one. Cross-ownership rules in place at the time required telcos to obtain waivers from the FCC before they could build CATV systems. Although this requirement was a nuisance, it didn't prevent telcos from getting franchises and building CATV systems: SNET and Ameritech did just that. Apparently, SBC decided that it wasn't a good business so they canned it, but that too was a policy decision, not a technical one. > The long distance network was built to carry voice, TV, and > radio. But the local loop wasn't. > The local loop can be set up to carry high speed data and at > one time could carry pulsed signals (not modulated) for Teletype > machines. A local loop can be "set" to carry "pulsed signals (not modulated)" all the way up to 1.544 MBps. But CATV signals are (or were, back in the 70s and 80s when CATVs were building plant) all analog in the 54-300 MHz range. Neal McLain ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:44:05 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Paul Coxwell wrote: > Despite the 999 system, there was, however, still a widely adopted > convention that the regular number for the police should use 2222. Sounds much like the convention that many US cities used where the local police departments' phone numbers all ended in 1234 and the fire departments ended in 1212. This was true of Cleveland and most of its suburbs. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A 'standard' set by AT&T for the operating companies was to use '2121' or '2131' as well. The last four digits were to preferably end in '1' and be repetitive. PAT]n ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 07:10:54 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Sat, 27 Aug 2005 22:02:12 -0500, Gordon S. Hlavenka wrote: > It's been interesting to watch the details fill in as time goes on. > At the moment (8/27) the Vonage line is still working normally; we'll > see what happens Tuesday :-) All the no responders have another month's reprieve before service is shut off for no response. Likely there will still be some who haven't heard about the requirement for a response or just don't *get it!* ------------------------------ From: Stanley Cline Subject: Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 05:08:48 -0400 Organization: Roamer1 Communications Reply-To: sc1-news@roamer1.org On Fri, 26 Aug 2005 19:52:38 EDT, Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > Leonard can't use the Treo on the Alltel network because it uses a > different technology. Correct ... AT&T Wireless was and Cingular is GSM, while Alltel is CDMA. Alltel does own some GSM coverage in the West and Southeast as the result of acquisitions, but Alltel does not sell GSM service to its customers; the GSM in former Western Wireless territory in the West only serves roamers from other carriers, and the GSM in former PSC Wireless territory in the Southeast only serves a small number of acquired customers (until they are weaned off GSM to CDMA anyway) and roamers. > And Cingular Wireless won't let new subscribers bring their own > phones even if they use the same digital network. This statement is partly incorrect. Cingular IS requiring that new customers accept Cingular-branded equipment when activating service (and AIUI, T-Mobile USA is too, but unlike Cingular only for activations through indirect sales channels), but Cingular, like every other GSM carrier in the world, does NOT prevent GSM customers from using their own equipment. Technically, Cingular could do so via a variant of IMEI blacklisting, but no US carrier uses IMEI blacklisting at all and no carrier in the world does it except for phones reported lost or stolen. The problem in this case is almost certainly that the Treo is locked to the AT&T network (programmed to only accept an 'AT&T SIM') and won't accept a 'Cingular SIM' ...but that can be very easily worked around via any number of third-party unlocking services. Cingular itself won't provide unlock codes for AT&T-branded equipment because a) AT&T Wireless flatly refused to provide unlock codes under any circumstances for equipment it sold (AFAIK, they were one of the only GSM carriers in the world, if not *the* only one, with such a harsh and restrictive policy) and b) Cingular wants all AT&T-branded equipment out of customers' hands so it can put Cingular-branded equipment in their hands. (Cingular DOES provide unlock codes for Cingular-branded equipment when certain conditions involving length of service, account status, are met.) The solution in this specific instance is to: - get the Treo unlocked via a third-party unlocking service (this would involve taking or shipping the Treo somewhere; AFAIK, there are no "remote unlock" options available for Treos like there are for virtually all Nokias and some Motorolas); - activate a new line of service with Cingular with no data plan, accepting any old phone (preferably one that is free or very cheap with a contract); - move the SIM from the free/cheap phone to the Treo; - request the PDA data plan on the newly activated line. > Cingular spokesman Frank Merriman said the company won't allow users > to bring telephones from other networks to ensure "quality remains the > same across the board" for its users. Cingular generally doesn't allow *TDMA* users (what few there are left) to do so, but as stated above, they can't exert the same power over *GSM* users -- well, technically they could, but they don't. > "When someone upgrades from AT&T Wireless to Cingular, they need a new > phone, and the reason they need to upgrade is there is unique software > imbedded in the phone to enable it to work properly," Merriman > said. "The AT&T network is not functioning anymore, and there is no > way that equipment can operate on the system as it is." That is utter cow manure ... IF THE TREO WERE UNLOCKED, which Cingular itself could do by providing unlock codes but simply refuses to do for "AT&T"-branded equipment because of "marketing" policies, it would work on Cingular's network -- or on the network of any other GSM carrier in the world -- just fine. All Treo firmware, including carrier-specific versions, already contains all settings needed to run on the networks of Cingular and a wide variety of other GSM carriers in the US and around the world, and even if it didn't, GSM is standardized enough that getting any device up and running fully on any network just entails changing a few settings to get data and SMS/MMS working, and to get basic voice service working even that isn't necessary. FWIW, I have a Treo 650 running on T-Mobile USA despite their not selling or officially supporting it. I bought an unlocked 650 directly from Palm(One) and just moved my SIM over from my previous device, a T-Mobile Sidekick, after activating a data plan appropriate for the Treo; as soon as I put my SIM in the Treo it configured itself with the data and SMS/MMS settings required by T-Mobile's network and has worked flawlessly with my T-Mobile service ever since. Stanley Cline // Telco Boi // sc1 at roamer1 dot org // www.roamer1.org "it seems like all you ever buy is Abercrombie and cell phones" --a friend ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 14:20:18 +0200 From: Daniel AJ Sokolov Subject: Re: Alltel/AT&T/Cingular in Oklahoma City Market Area Am 28.08.2005 04:18 schrieb Joseph: >> So does Cingular do something active to block the use of "foreign" GSM >> phones on its network or does it rely on such phones being >> subsidy-locked to another provider's network? > No, they can't do that. In fact, they could. I don't know if they do, but the technology is there. Any GSM-network can check the IMEI of any phone, that want's to connect to the network, and decide whether to allow that phone on the network or not. This is actually an anti-theft measure. There are international databases that collect IMEI numbers of phones reported as stolen. These phones are rendered useless on networks, that cooperate with such a database. Sadly, only very few networks do that. They think economically: "Every phone, that is stolen from someone (which, most likely, was a customer of another network in another country) and ends up in my own network saves me (or my customer) a lot of money. So why should I block it. My customer would be angry, if he didn't know he bought a stolen phone." However, you could use that technology the other way round: block all phones on your network that do not have certain IMEIs -- these being only IMEIs of phones you sold yourself. Still, I doubt that anyone would do that, it's not economical. I think, that the people who've run into problems here have simply locked handsets and do not know how to unlock them. However, most handsets can be easily unlocked (except recent Nokia models like 6630 and 6680). Their new provider is too dumb to tell them and rahter utters some nonsense. Daniel AJ My e-mail-address is sokolov [at] gmx dot net ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Star Trek Phone Set to Thrill Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:41:49 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Tom Betz wrote: > I'm surprised I haven't seen this here yet! > From http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,68577,00.html : > Get ready for your phone to go where no phone has gone before. Yawn. I had a Motorola StarTAC, a few years back, that everyone claimed look like one of the communicators from the USS Enterprise, and my current Motorola V188 makes a sound exactly like the doorbell on the door of the captain's quarters. :) I wonder how many Trekkies are designing phones for Moto ... Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ Date: 28 Aug 2005 16:25:32 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: VOIP Over ADSL Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > What kind of equipment do I need to do sharing as well as having VOIP > calls using regular phones. > do I need to have purchase regular VOIP router which can also share > connection, or do i need to have specific differnt one for ADSL.? Any VoIP router should work, or you can buy a router and a separate VoIP adapter. Your ADSL modem should have a jack for a normal Ethernet cable to plug into your router. If it doesn't (there may still be a few that are USB only), call up the telco and tell them to switch it for one that does. R's, John ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #390 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Aug 29 20:10:39 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 90AD015009; Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:10:39 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #391 Message-Id: <20050830001039.90AD015009@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:10:39 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:09:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 391 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Phones Mostly Out Around New Orleans Area (Anick Jesdanun) Katrina Floods New Orleans and Gulf Coast (Adam Nossiter) Piracy Crackdown Spurs Shift in Online File-Sharing (Adam Pasick) BBC Targets Music Downloads in Internet Strategy (Adam Pasick) Intelsat Buys PanAmSat for $3.2 Billion (USTelecom dailyLead) Book Review: "Spam Kings", Brian McWilliams (Rob Slade) Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular (Daniel AJ Sokolov) Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular (John Levine) Re: Who'll Mind the Mainframes? / Few Students Learning to Run (L Hancock) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (Michael Quinn) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Anick Jesdanun Subject: Phones Mostly Out Around New Orleans Area Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 16:58:01 -0500 Storm hampers long-distance, cell services by Anick Jesdanun / Associated Press Cell phone service was spotty and long-distance callers met busy signals on Monday as Hurricane Katrina knocked out key telecommunications hubs along the Gulf Coast. Most long-distance and cellular providers reported trouble, while the dominant local phone provider for the hurricane zone, BellSouth Corp., did not immediately quantify the extent of storm-related service disruptions. Sprint Nextel Corp.'s long-distance switch in New Orleans failed soon after the storm hit, meaning no long distance call could be placed into or out of the area, said company spokesman Charles Fleckenstein. Customers who tried got busy signals or recordings informing them that all circuits are busy, he said. He attributed troubles to flooding and power loss. Many of AT&T Corp.'s facilities in the area were operating on backup generator power but some were completely down, likely because of flooding. Long-distance calls could not be properly relayed along AT&T's Gulf Coast fiber-optics routes. AT&T's traffic-management software was able to reroute some calls when spare capacity existed elsewhere, but spokesman Jim Byrnes said thousands of calls still were failing to get through. The company said Internet data networks were operating fine. MCI Inc. spokeswoman Linda Laughlin said one fiber cable east of New Orleans was cut and other facilities had "some water issues." But she said customers faced at most a few seconds' delay as MCI rerouted calls to other cables. There were no reports of the storm knocking down any cell phone towers, but many stopped working because of power problems. Many of Sprint's cell towers in the New Orleans area switched to batteries or generators but could not be recharged because crews could not reach them, Fleckenstein said. Some towers stopped working completely by early afternoon, and many more were expected to fail as power loss continues, he said. Cellular provider Cingular Wireless also reported service interruptions in the coastal communities of Mobile and Baldwin, Ala., because of power outages. Cingular also had problems in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, La., and Biloxi, Miss. In Florida, about 46,000 BellSouth Corp. phone lines remained out of service, representing less than 2 percent of lines in the affected counties. The company said its crews already restored service to nearly 356,000 lines since the storm hit Florida late last week. BellSouth officials did not return calls for comment on service outside Florida, nor did Verizon Wireless officials on the status of their cell towers and services. Telecommunications companies generally had crews, supplies and parts on standby to restore facilities and services once emergency officials clear them. Cingular said it had distributed more than 500 emergency generators, placed 240,000 gallons of fuel in them or on standby and had 25 teams ready to deploy to replace and refuel the generators once conditions are safe. Also reporting were AP Business Writer Bruce Meyerson in New York and AP Writer Phillip Rawls in Montgomery, Ala. Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Online at: http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl082905cellphones.7108841.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: wwltv.com has been doing a _tremendous_ job covering the situation in New Orleans for the past 36 hours. You can watch the storm and the television coverage of same on computer at http://www.wwltv.com . I've had it on my computer almost continually since Sunday evening, when it was still in the 'talking stages'. WWL- TV and radio gave announcements quite promptly regards evacuations, etc. Sometime around two or three Monday morning, I think even their power went out for awhile. I know when I woke up Monday morning and tuned back in to it, they were not in their own studios any longer but some station in Houston had taken over the coverage for WWL and doing it by cellular phone with authorities in New Orleans. Later I heard WWL say they moved into their auxilliary facility on the campus of Tulane University. But while they were working out of the television station in Houston, the cellular phone connection was just horrible, and the connection was lost frequently. There was no video at that moment, just audio from the staff in New Orleans and the Houston people were running visuals from the weather service. Those people surely have put in a hard day's work reporting the storm. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Adam Nossiter Subject: Katrina Floods New Orleans, Gulf Coast Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:21:11 -0500 By ADAM NOSSITER, Associated Press Writer Hurricane Katrina plowed into this below-sea-level city Monday with shrieking, 145-mph winds and blinding rain that flooded homes to the rooflines and peeled away part of the Superdome, where thousands of people had taken shelter. Katrina weakened overnight to a Category 4 storm and made a slight turn to the right before hitting land at 6:10 a.m. CDT near the bayou town of Buras. It passed just to the east of New Orleans as it moved inland, sparing this vulnerable city its full fury. But National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield warned that New Orleans would be pounded throughout the day and that Katrina's potential 15-foot storm surge, down from a feared 28 feet, was still enough to cause extensive flooding. "I'm not doing too good right now," Chris Robinson said via cellphone from his home east of the city's downtown. "The water's rising pretty fast. I got a hammer and an ax and a crowbar, but I'm holding off on breaking through the roof until the last minute. Tell someone to come get me please. I want to live." On the south shore of Lake Ponchartrain, entire neighborhoods of one-story, shotgun-style homes were flooded up to the rooflines. The Interstate 10 off-ramps nearby looked like boat ramps amid the whitecapped waves. Garbage cans and tires bobbed in the water. Two people were stranded on the roof as murky water lapped at the gutters. "Get us a boat!" a man in a black slicker shouted over the howling winds. Across the street, a woman leaned from the second-story window of a brick home and shouted for assistance. "There are three kids in here," the woman said. "Can you help us?" Elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, the storm flung boats onto land in Mississippi, lashed street lamps and flooded roads in Alabama, and swamped highway bridges in the Florida Panhandle. At least a half-million people were without power from Louisiana to Florida's Panhandle, including 370,000 in southeastern Louisiana and 116,400 in Alabama, mostly in the Mobile area. At New Orleans' Superdome, home to 9,000 storm refugees, the wind peeled pieces of metal from the golden roof, leaving two holes that let water drip in. People inside were moved out of the way. Others stayed and watched as sheets of metal flapped and rumbled loudly 19 stories above the floor. Building manager Doug Thornton said the larger hole was 15 to 20 feet long and four to five feet wide. Outside, one of the 10-foot, concrete clock pylons set up around the Superdome blew over. Elsewhere in the city, the storm shattered scores of windows in high-rise office buildings and on five floors of the Charity Hospital, forcing patients to be moved to lower levels. At the Windsor Court Hotel, guests were told to go into the interior hallways with blankets and pillows and to keep the doors to the rooms closed to avoid flying glass. In suburban Jefferson Parish, Sheriff Harry Lee said residents of a building on the west bank of the Mississippi River called 911 to say the building had collapsed and people might be trapped. He said deputies were not immediately able to check out the building because their vehicles were unable to reach the scene. At 11 a.m. EDT, Katrina was centered 35 miles northeast of New Orleans, moving to the north at 16 mph. The storm's winds dropped to 125 mph -- a Category 3 storm -- as it pushed inland, threatening the Gulf Coast and the Tennessee Valley with as much as 15 inches of rain over the next couple of days and up to 8 inches in the drought-stricken Ohio Valley and eastern Great Lakes. Katrina was a terrifying, 175-mph Category 5 behemoth -- the most powerful category on the scale -- before weakening. By midday, the brunt of the storm had moved beyond New Orleans to Mississippi's coast, home to the state's floating casinos, where Katrina recorded a 22-foot storm surge and washed sailboats onto a coastal four-lane highway. Trees were blown across streets and onto houses, utility poles dangled in the wind and billboards were shredded. Windows of a major hospital were blown and the Beau Rivage Hotel and Casino, one of the premier gambling spots in Biloxi, had water on the first floor. Katrina was the most powerful storm to affect Mississippi since Hurricane Camille came in as a Category 5 in 1969, killing 143 people along the Gulf Coast. "This is a devastating hit -- we've got boats that have gone into buildings," Gulfport, Miss., Fire Chief Pat Sullivan said as he maneuvered around downed trees in the city. "What you're looking at is Camille II." In New Orleans' historic French Quarter of Napoleonic-era buildings with wrought-iron balconies, water pooled in the streets from the driving rain, but the area appeared to have escaped the catastrophic flooding that forecasters had predicted. On Jackson Square, two massive oak trees outside the 278-year-old St. Louis Cathedral came out by the roots, ripping out a 30-foot section of ornamental iron fence and straddling a marble statue of Jesus Christ, snapping off only the thumb and forefinger of his outstretched hand. At the hotel Le Richelieu, the winds blew open sets of balcony French doors shortly after dawn. Seventy-three-year-old Josephine Elow of New Orleans pressed her weight against the broken doors as a hotel employee tried to secure them. "It's not life-threatening," Mrs. Elow said as rain water dripped from her face. "God's got our back." Elow's daughter, Darcel Elow, was awakened before dawn by a high-pitched howling that sounded like a trumpeting elephant. "I thought it was the horn to tell everybody to leave out the hotel," she said as she walked the hall in her nightgown. For years, forecasters have warned of the nightmare scenario a big storm could bring to New Orleans, a bowl of a city that is up to 10 feet below sea level in spots and relies on a network of levees, canals and pumps to keep dry from the Mississippi River on one side, Lake Pontchartrain on the other. The fear was that flooding could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, as well as waste from ruined septic systems. The National Weather Service reported that a levee broke on the Industrial Canal near the St. Bernard-Orleans parish line, and 3 to 8 feet of flooding was possible. The Industrial Canal is a 5.5-mile waterway that connects the Mississippi River to the Intracoastal Waterway. Crude oil futures spiked to more than $70 a barrel in Singapore for the first time Monday as Katrina targeted an area crucial to the country's energy infrastructure, but the price had slipped back to $68.95 by midday in Europe. The storm already forced the shutdown of an estimated 1 million barrels of refining capacity. Calling it a once-in-a-lifetime storm, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had ordered a mandatory evacuation over the weekend for the 480,000 residents of the vulnerable city, and he estimated about 80 percent heeded the call. The evacuation itself claimed lives. Three New Orleans nursing home residents died Sunday after being taken by bus to a Baton Rouge church. Officials said the cause was probably dehydration. New Orleans has not taken a direct hit from a hurricane since Betsy in 1965, when an 8- to 10-foot storm surge submerged parts of the city in seven feet of water. Betsy, a Category 3 storm, was blamed for 74 deaths in Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida. Katrina hit the southern tip of Florida as a much weaker storm Thursday and was blamed for 11 deaths. It left miles of streets and homes flooded and knocked out power to 1.45 million customers. It was the sixth hurricane to hit Florida in just over a year. Associated Press reporters Mary Foster, Holbrook Mohr, Brett Martel and Allen G. Breed contributed to this report. On the Net: National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Most people have heard the expression 'TGIF' or 'Thank God its Friday'. Not as many folks are familiar with another saying which is 'OHIM' which means 'Oh Hell, its Monday', and like so many 'delightful' things in store for us (Chicago Fire, in 1871), this destruction of New Orleans began late Sunday night and continued all day Monday. Some of the video on WWL-TV Monday afternoon as things were 'quieting down' just a little was absolutely amazing, including, but not limited to the _total looting_ of a Winn-Dixie store. A very troubling scene, that one; and like the Chicago Fire in 1871, where at one point firemen just tossed in the towel and said they could do no more, WWL noted that the police department in New Orleans at one point had to respond to calls for service by telling the residents, "We will get to you when we can, try us again in two or three hours". And if the poor people who made their way to the SuperDome did not have enough misery in their lives, part of the roof on that structure blew away as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Adam Pasick Subject: Piracy Crackdown Spurs Shift in Onine File-Sharing Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:01:56 -0500 By Adam Pasick Traffic in the popular file-sharing network BitTorrent has fallen in the wake of a crackdown on piracy, but file sharers have merely shifted to another network, eDonkey, new data released on Monday showed. Popular movies like "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" have surfaced on BitTorrent before they even appeared in theatres. A study by the Cambridge-based Internet analysis firm CacheLogic found that eDonkey is now roughly on par with BitTorrent in the United States, China, Japan and Britain. It is the dominant peer-to-peer file-sharing network in South Korea, which has the world's highest percentage of high-speed Internet use, and also in Italy, Spain and Germany. "This is almost assuredly a result of the increased legal action toward the once-ignored BitTorrent -- a game of P2P hide-and-seek," said CacheLogic's chief technology officer Andrew Parker. Last year, BitTorrent was consuming up to a third of the Internet's total bandwidth as users traded huge movie and television files. Hollywood struck back with a slew of lawsuits to shut down Web sites that provided "tracker" links, which tell the network where to look for files. The United States has also seen a surprising return to popularity of the Gnutella file-sharing network, which had faded after an earlier crackdown by music companies. "Gnutella was once seen as dead so may be off the radar" of the music and movie industries, Parker said. "It's proof that legal pressure from industry groups results in the mass migration of file sharers to an alternative network, whether old or new. This cat and mouse game will continue." About 60 percent of the Internet's total bandwidth consists of P2P traffic, according to the CacheLogic study. P2P, which sends data from user to user, is often difficult to shut down because networks don't rely on a centralised server to distribute data. In a precedent-setting ruling earlier this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against P2P firm Grokster, saying that because the company's intent was to encourage copyright infringement, it could be held liable for the movies and music traded on its network. But any hopes from Hollywood that the Grokster ruling would result in less P2P traffic have not been fulfilled, according to CacheLogic. "The Grokster case did not result in a rapid decline in P2P usage," Parker said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Adam Pasick Subject: BBC Targets Music Downloads in Internet Strategy Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:03:38 -0500 By Adam Pasick The BBC wants to be a major player in the digital media world and is considering partnerships with private businesses to sell music downloads, Director-General Mark Thompson said on Saturday. The publicly-funded broadcaster is testing software called MyBBCPlayer to let users download its TV and radio programing, and plans to use its powerful presence to take its place among Internet media giants like Google and Yahoo. "Everything we know about the online world suggests that it's the big brands -- the eBays, the Amazons, the Microsofts -- that punch through, and the BBC is one of the big brands," Thompson said in a speech at the Edinburgh Television Festival. The British Broadcasting Corporation's Web site is the fifth most popular in Britain, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. It already makes recent radio programmes available for post-broadcast listening on its Web site, and in recent months, 1.4 million users downloaded recordings of nine Beethoven symphonies that the broadcaster offered for free. There were 60 million online requests for video footage following the London bombings. Thompson said that people listening to BBC Radio 1 online could eventually click on a link to buy a song being broadcast. The idea that "there needs to be a vast cordon sanitaire" between public service and commercial transactions "flies in the face of the way the public actually use the media now," he said. The BBC plans to a launch a trial incorporating parts of MyBBCPlayer next month, with a full roll-out in 2006. The plan is to offer on-demand TV and radio programing, live streaming of BBC channels, and access to the broadcaster's huge archives. Thompson said it was "ridiculous" to think that technology-savvy consumers "would not welcome the opportunity to actually buy a download of a piece of music they have heard on a BBC Website." The prospect of the BBC using its massive heft is likely to upset UK media and Internet companies, which have often complained that the corporation -- funded by a mandatory tax on UK television households totaling nearly 3 billion pounds -- has encroached on activities in the private sector. Thompson said that when and if the BBC links to online music stores, "the choice of commercial providers (would be) fair and open." Ashley Highfield, director of BBC New Media and Technology, told Reuters that the BBC has not yet held any discussions with online music providers. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 13:46:57 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Intelsat Buys PanAmSat for $3.2 Billion USTelecom dailyLead August 29, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24200&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Intelsat buys PanAmSat for $3.2 billion BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon Wireless cuts EV-DO price by 25% * FCC extends VoIP deadline * Broadcom to court Nokia * Camera phone theft takes bizarre twist * Telcos take advertising outdoors USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Municipal Broadband: The Shape of the Debate HOT TOPICS * Tables turn in file-swapping business * FCC could add VoIP to USF * Sprint Nextel details plans for local phone unit spinoff * FCC chief may enforce cable TV competition rule * Report: IPTV poised for major growth in next five years EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Beeb to offer TV downloads * Airspan announces U.S., Japan WiMAX trials REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Cells in the subway: Good idea or a nuisance? * Nokia, Telsim settle Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24200&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 14:52:49 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "Spam Kings", Brian McWilliams Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKSPMKNG.RVW 20050610 "Spam Kings", Brian McWilliams, 2005, 0-596-00732-9, U$22.95/C$33.95 %A Brian McWilliams %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 2005 %G 0-596-00732-9 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O U$22.95/C$33.95 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596007329/robsladesinterne http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596007329/robsladesinte-21 %O http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596007329/robsladesin03-20 %O Audience n+ Tech 1 Writing 2 (see revfaq.htm for explanation) %P 333 p. %T "Spam Kings" This book is the story of some spammers, and some anti-spammers, during the period from about 1998 to 2003. The stories are not, as in other works, separated by chapters, but are interwoven in roughly chronological order. After a while, you begin to realize that much of the material is padded out with conversations taken from old Usenet archives, as well as instant messaging and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) logs. Oddly enough, these aren't as interesting as they sound. The conversations aren't particularly illuminating, and tend to be arguments on the level of schoolyard fights. In fact, almost nobody in the book comes across as an attractive or sympathetic character: even the "good guys" seem to be self-righteous, petty, vindictive, and occasionally just plain, outright nasty. The book does not provide much insight into spam protection technology: that is probably not the intent. Neither does it describe spamming technology as such, and many would likely consider this restraint to be a good thing. Instead, the book concentrates on the fight between the spamming and anti-spamming forces, but does not go into any detail on those technologies either, using narratives, and references to the fact that certain research is undertaken, without any suggestion of how this might be accomplished. Those seriously interested in the fight against spam will likely find something in this work to redeem the cost of it. Those who simply want to use email, and who are annoyed by spam, may believe that they have obtained some insight into the phenomenon after reading the text. But it's difficult to say what value or intelligence that might be. copyright Robert M. Slade, 2005 BKSPMKNG.RVW 20050610 ====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@sun.soci.niu.edu Dulce et decorum est desipere in loco. (It is pleasant and proper to be foolish once in a while. A derivation from the more famous `Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori,' about dying for one's country, which may be more noble but is less fun.) http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 01:47:55 +0200 From: Daniel AJ Sokolov Subject: Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular Am 28.08.2005 11:34 schrieb Stanley Cline: > One of the most backward, most reviled, most laughed-at cell phone > companies in the US -- and one mentioned many times here in the Digest > over the years -- closed its doors earlier this month. Sussex > Cellular (which operated as SciTel Wireless in its last days), the > carrier serving Sussex County, NJ that was infamous for its arrogance, > roaming agreement "hardball", and poor service and being one of the > last analog-only carriers in the continental US, requested that the > FCC cancel its license as of August 4. http://tinyurl.com/9ua6j > Since that time their web site has disappeared from the net and the > trunks between their MTSO and the rest of the world have been either > busied out or disconnected. Based on some digging in the FCC ULS > databases, it appears that Sussex is the ONLY cellular (as opposed to > PCS or ESMR) licensee to ever have built out a network and simply shut > down without selling its licenses, network, and customers to another > carrier; given their historical arrogance, that doesn't surprise me > one bit. > It doesn't look like anyone has stepped up to take over the vacated > license yet, but my guess is that Cingular will do so in order to > improve service in Sussex County, where Cingular currently has only > 1900 MHz (PCS) coverage and where 850 MHz coverage would be helpful > because of the terrain. Other carriers who might be interested in the > area include Dobson Communications, who serves areas of New York just > to the north of Sussex County, and Commnet Wireless, the roamer-only > carrier that serves scattered tertiary and rural markets stretching > from California (Lake Isabella/Kernville and Boron) all the way to > Tennessee (Mountain City). Hi, Is there somewhere a list of network operators, that do romaing only? Like Comnet Wireless and the GSM-part of Western Wireless/Alltel? BR Daniel AJ My e-mail-address is sokolov [at] gmx dot net ------------------------------ Date: 29 Aug 2005 00:37:58 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > being one of the last analog-only carriers in the continental US Are there any other analog-only carriers in the US at all? I can't think of any. Even the little carriers in Alaska seem to be doing TDMA or CDMA. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Who'll Mind the Mainframes? / Few Students Learning to Run Date: 29 Aug 2005 07:16:30 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote: > By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | August 26, 2005 > They're the grizzled, unglamorous veterans of the computing world, > middle-aged men and women who don't create best-selling computer games > or dazzling special effects for the movies. All they do is quietly run > the most important computer systems in the world. The mainframe world is rather specialized which makes this an even harder challenge. First, there is a small group of non-IBM mainframes, such as Groupe Bull (formerly Honeywell). There may Unisys out there as well. Some companies must support more than one depending on prior data centers' legacy. Within the IBM world there are specialities: 1) Computer operators: physically run the machines -- handle things like printers, tapes and cartridges, disk drives. Much work is automated now (disks are usually fixed, cartridges have auto loader silos), but there is stuff to be done. 2) System programmers: This is specialized people who maintain the operating system for a particular installation. There are three operating systems, MVS, VSE, and VM. Some companies must support more than one depending on prior data centers' legacy. 3) Application programmers: Usually COBOL and CICS, but there are various database programs new and old; plus other work in Fortran and Assembler. 4) New stuff like Linux and C and web development. Some centers use the solid COBOL/CICS on the back end and GUI on the front end to get the best of the old and new worlds. The mainframe world got overpopulated in 1999-2000 with many people trained and hired to work on Y2K conversions. Mainframe people were once in great demand, then the market collapsed (at least in NE US) and many people were laid off, never to work again in the field. Others took a 50% cut in pay just to have a job, such as a senior person earning $80k forced to take a junior position making $40k or else pump gas on the overnight shift. The mainframe takes a lot of care and support. However, it has tremendous capacity to serve thousands of users simultaneously very reliably and very quickly. It is extremly rare that my employer's mainframe or its traditional network goes down. Remote networks, servers, and local PCs go down all the time. The hardware revolution in cheap memory has hit mainframes as well, and the boxes have tremendous memory and speed. The mainframe's basic architecture is great at keeping the system from crashing from errant programs. The basic storage protection works great. The channel system for I/O is much better than a "bus". The operating system assigns peripherals to the proper application and prevents mixups. One advantage of older people is that they've made every mistake they're gonna make and have years of experience behind them. If there is a problem, they'll know where to fix it fast. The article mentioned people passing on. Sadly, that is true too, I just was at a funeral for a wonderful woman who died suddenly at 61 from a stroke. (She was a smoker, FWIW). ------------------------------ Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:09:19 -0400 From: Michael Quinn Speaking of Hoovers, this is a bit of Navy trivia that will all but be forgotten when the last S-3 carrier based aircraft (remember President Bush's landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln? That was an S-3) retires. Known for the distinct high pitched whine from their engines, they are also sometimes referred to as Hoovers. There is a particular typed of flight ops known as "Triple H ops", for "Hummers (the E-2C early warning aircraft) Hoovers and Helos". =20 There is also a running joke in motorcycle circles along the lines of "Q: What's the difference between a Hoover and a (insert target motorcycle name here)? A: On a Hoover, the dirtbag is on the inside" etc etc. On date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 23:08:46 +0100 Paul Coxwell said: > "Hoover" is commonly used both as a generic name for any sort of vaccuum > cleaner, and as a verb, e.g. "I'll just hoover up" or even "I'm going to > do the hoovering." The Hoover name never became generic for any of the > other types of appliances they made, such as irons and refrigerators. > Had the latter been the most widely associated product of the company, > maybe today people would talk about "Getting some milk from the Hoover." > Sounds weird, but it could have happened. > -Paul ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #391 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Aug 30 00:50:50 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 1433815550; Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:50:49 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #392 Message-Id: <20050830045049.1433815550@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:50:49 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 Aug 2005 00:50:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 392 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster (Matt Crenson) New Orleans Phones Out of Order for Duration (Jim Burks) Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (Shalom Septimus) Free Wi-Fi at T-Mobile HotSpot Locations in Louisiana (Monty Solomon) History of Phone Billing (Michael Hyman) Re: Book Review: "Spam Kings", Brian McWilliams (mc) Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular (Mark Crispin) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Matt Crenson Subject: New Orleans Facing Environmental Disaster Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:46:18 -0500 By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer As Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday, experts said it could turn one of America's most charming cities into a vast cesspool tainted with toxic chemicals, human waste and even coffins released by floodwaters from the city's legendary cemeteries. Experts have warned for years that the levees and pumps that usually keep New Orleans dry have no chance against a direct hit by a Category 5 storm. That's exactly what Katrina was as it churned toward the city. With top winds of 160 mph and the power to lift sea level by as much as 28 feet above normal, the storm threatened an environmental disaster of biblical proportions, one that could leave more than 1 million people homeless. "All indications are that this is absolutely worst-case scenario," Ivor van Heerden, deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, said Sunday afternoon. The center's latest computer simulations indicate that by Tuesday, vast swaths of New Orleans could be under water up to 30 feet deep. In the French Quarter, the water could reach 20 feet, easily submerging the district's iconic cast-iron balconies and bars. Estimates predict that 60 percent to 80 percent of the city's houses will be destroyed by wind. With the flood damage, most of the people who live in and around New Orleans could be homeless. "We're talking about in essence having -- in the continental United States -- having a refugee camp of a million people," van Heerden said. Aside from Hurricane Andrew, which struck Miami in 1992, forecasters have no experience with Category 5 hurricanes hitting densely populated areas. "Hurricanes rarely sustain such extreme winds for much time. However we see no obvious large-scale effects to cause a substantial weakening the system and it is expected that the hurricane will be of Category 4 or 5 intensity when it reaches the coast," National Hurricane Center meteorologist Richard Pasch said. As they raced to put meteorological instruments in Katrina's path Sunday, wind engineers had little idea what their equipment would record. "We haven't seen something this big since we started the program," said Kurt Gurley, a University of Florida engineering professor. He works for the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program, which is in its seventh year of making detailed measurements of hurricane wind conditions using a set of mobile weather stations. Experts have warned about New Orleans' vulnerability for years, chiefly because Louisiana has lost more than a million acres of coastal wetlands in the past seven decades. The vast patchwork of swamps and bayous south of the city serves as a buffer, partially absorbing the surge of water that a hurricane pushes ashore. Experts have also warned that the ring of high levees around New Orleans, designed to protect the city from floodwaters coming down the Mississippi, will only make things worse in a powerful hurricane. Katrina is expected to push a 28-foot storm surge against the levees. Even if they hold, water will pour over their tops and begin filling the city as if it were a sinking canoe. After the storm passes, the water will have nowhere to go. In a few days, van Heerden predicts, emergency management officials are going to be wondering how to handle a giant stagnant pond contaminated with building debris, coffins, sewage and other hazardous materials. "We're talking about an incredible environmental disaster," van Heerden said. He puts much of the blame for New Orleans' dire situation on the very levee system that is designed to protect southern Louisiana from Mississippi River floods. Before the levees were built, the river would top its banks during floods and wash through a maze of bayous and swamps, dropping fine-grained silt that nourished plants and kept the land just above sea level. The levees "have literally starved our wetlands to death" by directing all of that precious silt out into the Gulf of Mexico, van Heerden said. It has been 40 years since New Orleans faced a hurricane even comparable to Katrina. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy, a Category 3 storm, submerged some parts of the city to a depth of seven feet. Since then, the Big Easy has had nothing but near misses. In 1998, Hurricane Georges headed straight for New Orleans, then swerved at the last minute to strike Mississippi and Alabama. Hurricane Lili blew herself out at the mouth of the Mississippi in 2002. And last year's Hurricane Ivan obligingly curved to the east as it came ashore, barely grazing a grateful city. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Watch WWL television for ongoing converage, on the net at http://www.wwltv.com ------------------------------ From: Jim Burks Subject: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 02:16:28 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com AT&T has lost multiple DS-3s (probably the whole fiber) between New Orleans and Jackson, MS, and between New Orleans and Gulfport, MS. No ability to reroute at this point. 37 AT&T offices have lost power and are on battery or generator. BellSouth has 64 offices down. Has anybody heard from Mark Cuccia? Hopefully, he either got out of town, or is keeping his head above water. Jim Burks ------------------------------ From: Shalom Septimus Subject: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:42:00 -0400 Reply-To: druggist@pobox.com I have long had a Nokia 5180 phone (since Xmas 1998, to be exact). It was on its second battery, but eventually couldn't even keep that charged, and I finally decided, this past February, to claim on my insurance and have them send me a new one. Whaddaya know, there's a $50 deductible that nobody ever mentioned to me. OK, fine, here's my credit card number, send me the damn thing. They didn't have any more 5180s, so they sent me a 5185i. Fine so far, except that this one had the exact same problem as my old one: you turn it on, it lasts three seconds and shuts down. Besides which, it had a manufacturing date somewhere in 2000. I send this back and they send another; this one at least has a sticker saying it's a refurb with a date of 5/04, so at least I know they haven't just sent me someone else's old broken phone. Fast forward six months. I'm standing there with the phone in my shirt pocket, minding my own business, when the thing beeps. I look at the screen to find the legend "Invalid roaming list", with a stop sign, after which it says "Searching for service" and stays that way. I call 611 (from my wife's phone) and ask what's up, and they tell me it needs to be flashed. Finally get to a Verizon store, leave it there for an hour, come back and find that, like about 50% of the phones with this particular failure mode, it has failed to accept the flash. The following conversation resulted. Me: What now? Them: How would you like to buy a new phone? Me: What of this New Every Two that you advertise? Them: You aren't eligible. Me: Why not, I've had this same phone for six years? Them: But you never had a two year contract. Me: (walks out). So I called Asurion (the insurance carrier) back, and told them that the phone they sent me has crapped out. Them: Sorry, you only have a six month warranty on refurbs, and you got that one six months and eighteen days ago. Me: WTF, was there a countdown timer in it that told it when to break? Them: You can file a new claim if you want. Me: I don't want, as that would cost me another $50 deductible. Them: Sorry, can't help you. Me: Lemme talk to a supervisor. Supervisor echoes the above. I point out that at $5/month for six years of premiums, plus the $50 they already got from me for the old phone, I've already paid in at least three times the cost of a new phone; besides, it was very likely that the phone they sent me was defective from the get-go, as the exact same thing happened a few months ago (but the flash worked that time). They check the records, find that in those six years I've only had the one claim, and tell me they're making an exception and sending me another new phone, but they have no 5185i's left either, so I'm getting a 6015i instead; received this last Friday, it works, so I'm set. It's too darn small, and the Select button is where the Clear button was on the old phone, plus the belt clip, car adapter, data cable and so on don't fit it, but these are minor annoyances. Except that I did some go0gling over the weekend, and find that I'm not the only one with this particular phone failure, and it always seems to happen to the older Nokia phones, mostly on Verizon. There are two hypotheses advanced to explain this: Hypothesis 1, the more innocent one: The roaming list has gotten so huge over the years, what with nationwide roaming &c, that the limited memory in these older phones wasn't enough, and the resulting overflow clobbered the phone's firmware. (As evidence, when I tried to put my phone in test mode (*3001#[security code]#), it crashed hard: screen blank, backlight on, random ticking noise in both earpiece and ringer, unresponsive to any keypress except to increase the rate of ticking. Geiger counter anyone? Removing the battery and replacing it cured this temporarily.) Of course, this implies some stupidity on Verizon's part, as they know exactly what kind of phone each customer has, and *should* know the memory capacity of each type; if the phone is listed as one that can't handle the full roaming list, then send it an abridged version, and inform the customer that in some remote areas the roaming indicator will indicate improperly, due to the age of the phone, but the phone will otherwise function correctly. (Does the roaming list do *anything* but tell the phone whether or not to light up the roaming indicator?) Hypothesis 2, the more paranoid one: Some people have been suggesting that Verizon have been deliberately breaking these phones. The reason given is that they aren't E911 compliant, and if they were still functional, Verizon would have to *give* you another one in order to be in compliance with the minimum 85% that the FCC wants. Now that it's "broken", they can *sell* you another one, or lock you in to a new 2-year contract. (Note that this doesn't necessarily contradict the first theory.) So: What do y'all think about this? Is there any evidence for one or the other scenario? Shalom Septimus Reply-To: works. From: also works but isn't read much, if at all. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 22:43:21 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Free Wi-Fi at T-Mobile HotSpot Locations in Louisiana, Wi-Fi Internet Service Available Free of Charge at T-Mobile HotSpot Locations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama; Residents and Tourists Displaced by Hurricane Katrina Can Stay Connected at Open T-Mobile HotSpot Locations - Aug 29, 2005 06:44 PM (BusinessWire) BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2005--T-Mobile What: Free T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi Internet Service When: Immediately. This will be in effect through the end of the week, at which time the situation will be re-evaluated. Where: Locations offering T-Mobile HotSpot service (if open for business): -- Borders Books and Music -- FedEx Kinko's -- Starbucks -- Hyatt Hotels -- Red Roof Inn Motels -- American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways clubs and lounges News: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, T-Mobile HotSpot is offering free Wi-Fi Internet service at many of its nearly 66 locations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama which have not been forced to close due to the storm. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51444487 ------------------------------ From: Michael Hyman Subject: History of Phone Billing Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:18:54 -0700 Organization: OnTarget Solutions Hi, I am looking for information on pre-computer and early computer toll/call billing systems. Does anyone have a good site or reference? Also, information on early call detail reporting/recording systems. Does anyone have a good site or reference? Thanks, Michael [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: At the time my grandmother died, we found among her possessions a _typewritten_ bill from Southwestern Bell Telephone Company dated in 1938. I know of no reason why she was saving it; there was nothing we noted unusual about it. In 1938, she and my grandfather lived in Coffeyville, KS. Nice letterhead stationary, with the AT&T corporate logo (bell in circle) and the phrase Southwestern Bell Telephone Company at a local address in Coffeyville. Her phone number was '309'. She as asked to return the bottom part of the page, (below the perforation) with her payment for the month. Her 'subscription' (as it was called) to service was three dollars and some change. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Book Review: "Spam Kings", Brian McWilliams Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 20:14:18 -0400 > "Spam Kings", Brian McWilliams, 2005, 0-596-00732-9, U$22.95/C$33.95 > %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. > %O U$22.95/C$33.95 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 nuts@ora.com > %O http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596007329/robsladesinterne > After a while, you begin to realize that much of the material is > padded out with conversations taken from old Usenet archives, as well > as instant messaging and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) logs. Oddly > enough, these aren't as interesting as they sound. I wonder how much money he's making quoting things *we* said. Or are the conversations arguments between rival spammers? ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:24:40 -0700 Organization: Networks & Distributed Computing On Sun, 29 Aug 2005, John Levine wrote: > Are there any other analog-only carriers in the US at all? I can't > think of any. Even the little carriers in Alaska seem to be doing > TDMA or CDMA. Not true. Copper Valley Wireless (Glennallen, McCarthy, Valdez, Cordova) is still analog-only, although they are planning to offer CDMA in the future. Analog is likely to remain important for them, since quite a few of their customers are on fishing vessels in Prince William Sound. As far as I know, the carriers serving the Arctic (Kotzebue, Wainright, Barrow, Prudhoe, Kaktovik) are still analog-only. Dobson has done a remarkable job in building out the GSM network in Alaska. This year, GSM coverage seems to more or less overlap the TDMA network, enough that I decided to switch from TDMA to GSM. I read complaints about GSM coverage in Anchorage about a year ago, but I had no problem. There is very little CDMA in Alaska. I found (at best spotty) CDMA in Mat-Su and Anchorage. Even in Anchorage, TDMA and GSM are much more reliable. -- Mark -- http://staff.washington.edu/mrc Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate. Si vis pacem, para bellum. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #392 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Aug 30 15:06:42 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C55A81573C; Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:06:41 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #393 Message-Id: <20050830190641.C55A81573C@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:06:41 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:06:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 393 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Katrina Overwhelms Weather Web Sites (Reuters News Wire) Ireland Has World's First Disposable 'Credit Card' (Paul Hoskins) Is Malware Hiding in Your Windows Registry? (Elizabeth Montalbano) Consumers Also Want to Watch TV Programs on Their Mobile (Monty Solomon) United Mileage Plus Visa Cards With 'Blink' (Monty Solomon) DISH Network Delivers Six Networks Simultaneously to Interactive (Solomon) OpenTV Builds Enhanced Home Portal Application for DISH (Monty Solomon) Overseas Phone Calls Get Cheaper (Monty Solomon) Microsoft, S-A Ink IPTV Deal (USTelecom dailyLead) Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy (Lisa Hancock) Telecom Scam (Eric Shoaf) Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (William Cattey) Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (William Warren) Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (Joseph) Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular (Joseph) Re: History of Phone Billing (Lisa Hancock) Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing (Tony P.) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Juk Email (Tony P.) Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working (Tony P.) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Reuters News Wire Subject: Katrina Overwhelms Weather Web Sites Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:19:40 -0500 Several U.S. weather and news Web sites were deluged by heavy traffic as hordes of people went online seeking emergency information and news on Hurricane Katrina, which battered the U.S. Gulf Coast. Weather.com was largely unavailable from 6 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday night (2200 GMT Sunday to 0115 GMT Monday), as the storm was approaching its Louisiana landfall, according to Keynote Systems Inc., which monitors Internet performance. But a spokesman at Weather.com disputed that contention. He said availability was close to 100 percent, but the time needed to retrieve the site's entire home page spiked to as long as 9 seconds on Monday morning, during the height of the storm, as people came back to the office and started checking the news. Keynote was not immediately available for comment. Availability of the National Weather Service Web site www.nws.noaa.gov fell to 29 percent from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m. EDT Monday (1515 to 1545 GMT) from its usual 94 percent to 98 percent, according to Keynote. News sites CNN.com and USAToday.com showed some degradation of performance on Monday morning, with their home pages loading at 6 seconds and 10 seconds respectively for short periods of time, and availability of ABCNews.com went as low as 52 percent from 2 to 2:30 p.m EDT (1800 to 1830 GMT) on Monday. These sites usually load at 3 or 4 seconds, said Keynote. Keynote's Business 40 Index Internet Performance Index measures the average download time for the home pages of 40 important U.S.-based business Web Sites. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We also had, hee on Sunday night and Monday morning a higher than usual amount of traffic as people looked for whatver details they could recieve. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Paul Hoskins Subject: Ireland Gets World's First Disposable 'Credit Card' Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:21:42 -0500 By Paul Hoskins If you've ever been nervous about using your credit card to order the latest bestseller online or buy roses for a loved one over the phone, an Irish bank thinks it has solved the problem. Permanent tsb said on Tuesday it will launch the world's first pre-paid, disposable credit voucher, opening up Internet and telephone shopping to those previously put off by the security implications of handing over their credit card details. In the same way that owners of pre-paid mobile phones top up their credit at shops, registered users of the new service will be able to buy vouchers for between 20 and 350 euros at retail outlets. Each voucher will carry its own unique number which can then be used to shop online, by phone or by mail with any retailer who accepts cards issued by Visa. The scheme, which is the brainchild of Ireland's 3V Transactions Services Ltd, also aims to attract those who do not hold traditional credit cards. "This new voucher will enable both sets of people to avail of all the benefits of shopping online or on the telephone in a controlled, prepaid way and without any security issues," said Niall O'Grady, head of marketing at permanent tsb bank. Alphyra -- an Irish-based processor of mobile phone payments and the parent company of 3V Transactions Ltd -- said the consortium planned to roll out the facility nationwide in the coming weeks before targeting other European countries. "Within the next 12-18 months we plan to launch the product in the UK, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Italy, Greece, Romania, Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic," said Seamus Minogue, head of financial services at Alphyra. Permanent tsb, the retail banking arm of Irish Life & Permanent, expects the idea to prove popular in Ireland, where 67 percent of adults do not have a credit card and those who do incur an annual government levy of 40 euros. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know why they are referring to this as the "world's first disposable credit card". Those cards, issued through banks with the VISA logo have been available here in the USA for at least a couple years; here in our town, they are sold as 'gift cards' by Commerce Bank and a couple other banks. You can get them in various denominations and they make ideal gifts for someone when you do not know what else to get the person. They're good anywhere a VISA card is good. I've both received them and given them a few times at Christ Mass over the past two years. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Elizabeth Montalbano Subject: Is Malware Hiding in Your Windows Registry? Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:26:02 -0500 by Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service Security experts have found a vulnerability in the Windows operating system that could allow malware to lurk undetected in long string names of the Windows Registry. According to a security advisory by Denmark-based IT security company Secunia, the weakness is caused by an error in the Windows Registry Editor Utility's handling of long string names. A malicious program could hide itself in a registry key by creating a string with a long name, which would allow the malicious string and any created after it in the same key to remain hidden, according to Secunia. Keys are stored in the Windows Registry, which saves a PC's configuration settings. Secunia has confirmed that the vulnerability affects the "Run" registry key, according to the advisory. Malicious strings in this key will be executed when a user logs in to the PC. Affected Systems The vulnerability affects Windows XP and Windows 2000 and has been confirmed to exist on fully updated XP systems with Service Pack 2 and Windows 2000 systems with Service Pack 4, according to Secunia. Microsoft issued a statement on the vulnerability saying it is investigating the weakness and is not aware of any malicious attacks that have exploited it. Moreover, the company asserted that the vulnerability by itself could not allow an attacker to remotely or locally attack a user's computer. It could only be exploited if the computer had its security compromised in some other way or was already running malicious software. In its advisory, Secunia provided several solutions to avoid exploitation of the vulnerability, one of which is to ensure that systems have up-to-date anti-virus and spyware detection software installed. The security company also said it is possible to see the hidden registry strings with the "reg" command-line utility of the Windows Registry, and that the "regedt32.exe" utility on Windows 2000 is not affected by the weakness. Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, PC World Communicacations, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:14:56 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Consumers Also Want to Watch TV Programs on Their Mobile NOKIA PRESS RELEASE August 30, 2005 Consumers also want to watch TV programs on their mobile Espoo, Finland - Results announced today from one of the world's first commercial mobile TV pilots in Helsinki, Finland reveal the popularity and willingness to pay for mobile TV services, underlining the potential of this exciting new mobile application. 41% of pilot participants would be willing to purchase mobile TV services and half thought that a fixed monthly fee of 10 euros was a reasonable price to pay. Over half (58%) said that they believed broadcast mobile TV services would be popular. Digita, Elisa, MTV, Channel Four Finland (Nelonen), Nokia, TeliaSonera Finland and YLE jointly conducted the pilot in Finland between March and June 2005 with 500 users accessing mobile TV using the Nokia 7710 smartphone and DVB-H technology. Content is king According to the pilot results, pilot participants not only wanted to watch familiar program offerings, but they would also welcome mobile TV content that is suitable for short and occasional viewing. Familiar programs available through national Finnish television channels proved to be the most popular followed by sports and news channels (CNN, BBC World, Euronews). The Ice Hockey World cup games, the San Marino and Monaco Formula One as well as the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and AC Milan were among the top 10 programs viewed during the pilot. Viewing patterns In general, mobile TV users spent approximately 20 minutes a day watching mobile TV, although more active users watched between 30 to 40 minutes per session. Participants also watched mobile TV at different times than traditional TV peak hours. Mobile TV was most popular while traveling on public transport to relax or to keep up to date with the latest news although it also proved popular at home for entertainment and complementing participants' main TV watching. http://press.nokia.com/PR/200508/1008920_5.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:29:06 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: United Mileage Plus Visa Cards With 'Blink' Chase, United Are First to Offer Airline Rewards With 'blink' Technology; United Mileage Plus Visa Cards with 'blink,' Increased Speed, Convenience for Travel, Home - Aug 30, 2005 08:00 AM (BusinessWire) WILMINGTON, Del. & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 30, 2005--Chase Bank U.S.A., N.A., a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), and United announced today that the United Mileage Plus Visa* card is the first airline rewards card to feature "contactless" technology called "blink." The United Mileage Plus Visa cards with blink were first issued this summer to over 200,000 cardmembers in Colorado, a United hub destination. To use United Mileage Plus Visa cards with blink, Colorado cardmembers simply hold their card near a special point-of-sale terminal at checkout, instead of swiping their card or handing it to a store employee. As cardmembers hold their card with blink near the point-of-sale terminal, the terminal will quickly emit a tone and light up to signal payment confirmation. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51448452 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:30:17 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: DISH Network Delivers Six Networks Simultaneously to Interactive DISH Network Delivers Six Networks Simultaneously to Interactive TV Viewers; Mosaic of Popular TV Channels and Interactive Features Entice Viewers - Aug 30, 2005 08:00 AM (BusinessWire) ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 30, 2005--EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH) and its DISH Network satellite TV service today unveiled a new feature that will give customers the ability to watch six TV channels and use an interactive menu, all at the same time. The mosaic of six networks and interactive channels on DISH Home, Ch. 100, is a convenient way for subscribers to watch and interact with their TV. DISH Network pioneered the interactive mosaic -- six mainstream TV channels integrated with interactive features -- during the 2004 Summer Olympics and again for the 2004 Presidential Elections. DISH Network viewers can select windows of popular networks including CNN, MSNBC, The Weather Channel, E! Entertainment, Bloomberg and Court TV through DISH Home. Full-screen video with audio automatically appears when viewers select a network window. Viewers can still go to their favorite interactive channel for customer service, news, shopping, sports, games and entertainment on DISH Home. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51448763 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:31:24 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: OpenTV Builds Enhanced Home Portal Application for DISH Network New DISH Home Delivers Six Channel Mosaic of Popular Networks With Interactive Services SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OpenTV Corp. (Nasdaq: OPTV), one of the world's leading providers of technologies and services enabling the delivery of digital and interactive television, announced today that it developed and integrated an enhanced digital interactive application for EchoStar Communications Corporation's (Nasdaq: DISH) DISH Network(TM). Available to all of DISH Network's subscribers at channel 100, the new DISH Home channel will allow viewers to simultaneously watch six video windows of popular networks including CNN, The Weather Channel and E! displayed on an attractive full-motion video background. The OpenTV-developed service allows viewers to navigate through each of the six video windows using the remote control's directional arrows. As they navigate, the audio changes to correspond with the currently highlighted video window. Full-screen video and audio automatically appears when a network window is selected. Viewers can access the wide selection of interactive services from the DISH Home channel, including customer service, news, and shopping and games. In addition, a text ticker allows EchoStar to provide up-to-the-minute news and events. The new DISH Home channel is configurable, enabling EchoStar to refresh the six video services, interactive offerings, banner ads, and background and text ticker with new content at any given time. For example, DISH could swap out the six video windows with six different video feeds of a single event and update the full-motion video background to reflect the theme of the event. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51448989 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 09:16:03 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Overseas Phone Calls Get Cheaper International Wireless Rates Are Finally Starting to Fall; Six Cents a Minute to the U.K. By SARMAD ALI Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL August 30, 2005; Page D1 The last shoe is about to drop in the telephone price wars. Rates for most land-line and cellphone calls have been falling for years. A smart consumer can, for example, make overseas calls from a home phone now for essentially local rates, or even less. International cellphone calls have been a big exception, however, with overseas wireless rates remaining stubbornly high over the years. Finally, that is changing, too. Some of the big cellular providers, including Cingular Wireless -- a joint venture between San Antonio-based SBC Communications Inc. and Atlanta's BellSouth Corp. -- and Nextel Communications Inc., have started heavily discounting their international rates. In some cases, it is now cheaper to call overseas on a cellphone than a land line. This latest development is part of a rapidly changing landscape that includes a wide range of discount options for international calling, such as prepaid cards and Internet calling, known as voice over Internet protocol, or VOIP, where a regular phone is adapted to use a high-speed Internet connection. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112536357996626281-VVqM2yVRXYgdsAcVntv7_FkCKJc_20060830,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 12:57:04 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Microsoft, S-A Ink IPTV Deal USTelecom dailyLead August 30, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24230&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Microsoft, S-A ink IPTV deal BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Apple, Motorola to unveil iTunes phone next week * Intelsat's proposed deal for PanAmSat could face hurdles * Sprint Nextel takes affiliates under its wing * Wi-Fi spreads as cities, providers jockey for position * Report: Vonage may seek a buyer * Prices drop for overseas cell phone calls USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Crash Course -- The must-have book for telecom professionals EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Analysis: Verizon Wireless' EV-DO ready to explode? * A peek at the Internet of the future * Japan, China collaborate on 4G REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Huawei addresses India's security concerns * Advocacy group presses FCC on private data guidelines Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24230&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy Date: 30 Aug 2005 07:32:55 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com My local PBS showed clips from old shows. The telephone figured in some of them. In one clip, the group got into an argument over the names of the Seven Dwarfs from Snow White. One man makes a few phone calls to ask around. He dialed 5 or 6 digits, but spun the dial very quickly, not letting it properly return. The man then made another call, this time dialing only three digits. "Long Distance? Get me Walt Disney in Hollywood!". The man repeatedly emphasizes he's spending $3 on long distance to find out the info ($3 was maybe $30-$40 today). He gets Walt Disney on the phone (who didn't know the answer), and mentioned again he was calling long distance for $3. The clip was also interesting for the social world it shown. The gang was headed out for the evening when they got into this argument. They were hollering at each other, and it reminded me of adults of that day, which seemed to be hollering at lot more than they do today (maybe it was only my world). Also, they were all dressed up very nicely -- men in suits, women in nice dresses. Today people go out to dinner or a movie in beach clothes; we forget in those days people put on a necktie or dress quite often when they left the house. Another clip was a monologue about a night on the town. It starts off with him calling his girlfriend for a date, and he made exagerated sounds of dialing, ringing, etc. Those old shows were done live. When something fouled up -- which happened often (forgotten lines, prop would fall down -- the actors had to be quick and improvise to keep the sketch moving. By today's standards the humor could be a little bland and the jokes very old. But the shows have a kind of vitality often not seen today. The comedy groups were a tight-knit team. They also could be funny without resorting to sex or even politics. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One of my favorite telephone gags is when the person _merely pretends_ to call someone, but actually has his finger holding the hook down while he makes a big production of dialing then speaking to whomever (only supposedly), and then mid-way through the supposed conversation with the supposed person, the phone _actually rings_ with a real call coming in, and of course the pretender is quite embarassed at being caught in this obvious lie. I first saw this routine in an old Jack Benny show from the 1930's, then I saw it again in an "I Love Lucy" show. The third time I saw it was when John Ritter (in his role as Jack Tripper, on "Three's Company") got caught in that lie on one of the "Three's Company" shows. Viewers will recall that poor Jack was always getting in some hassle or another on that show, and his two female roomates would always have to rescue him. The odd part was that on the show where Jack got caught 'with his finger on the hook while making a call' (because the phone rang), when it happened, the audience roared with laughter, poor Jack looked very humiliated as always, but on the 'outakes' (not used in the show but available on the video of 'outakes' several years later) who should walk on the set at that moment but Lucille Ball -- not normally on the show except two or three times as a special guest) and she sternly said "John, you stole one of my better laughs!" and Ritter replied, "but my writers got it from the same guy you did, Jack Benny!". Miss Ball gave him a dirty look and stalked off the stage. The audience loved it; because the applause for Lucille Ball and the laughter on account of the joke went on for so long the producers had to cut it out of the tape entirely. You are correct, Lisa, they could tell jokes and have funny situations in a clean way on television in years gone past. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Eric Shoaf Subject: Telecom Scam Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 10:33:45 -0400 I just received this today. I called to see what the deal was. They required that I made over 50k, I bring my spouse to an office at 1250 22nd Street NW, DC with two forms of ID. No Children. I would have to set through a 90 minute presentation. I felt this might be a scam, so I did a search on the phone number that I called on the internet and found Telecom Digest. Message as follows ... Eric, Please call me at 1-866-677-4100. I previously tried to contact you at 410xxxxxxx, but was unable to reach you. This is reference to an entry form you filled out, either on-line or at a major mall or movie theater. I actually have some decent news in regards to the Global Adventure and Ford Explorer contest. I have an address, claim number, and further details for you. Since all prizes are well over $500, I will need a few moments of your time to cover all related lottery-type information from procuring your prizes due to any tax issues on them. Sincere congratulations! The Prize Claim Coordinators P.S. For your convenience, we are available 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM Central Standard Time, Monday to Friday 199.173.226.228 Jul 20 2005 6:26AM Please follow url below to stop further emails http://www.prizeclaimcenter.net/cgi-bin/frame1.cgi?email=eshoaf@comcast.net Sender: The Prize Claim Coordinators 105 South River Rd North Aurora, IL, 60542 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for passing it along, but it is a total _scam_. I hope you did not get too much into it. PAT] ------------------------------ From: William Cattey Subject: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:54:53 -0400 On the subject of Verizon phones shutting down, a couple weeks ago my Kyocera 7135 quit making outgoing calls. But it was not due to a broken phone. (I guess that since it's an expensive phone they let customers talk to technicians who know what they're doing before trading them in.) For some reason my phone spontaneously decided to sign onto a Sprint cell tower. The tell-tale symptoms were: Much stronger signal than I'm used to for that location, and the time of day being 6 AM instead of 2 PM. The first technician I spoke to attributed no significance to the time of day difference, but after we went through all she could think of, she transferred me to someone who was going to take my info for a new phone. Instead we retraced a few steps, and re-initialized the phone's identity, at which point it called home to the proper mama and has been fine ever since. -wdc "Like my father before me, I shall remain 5 years old till the day I die!" P.S. I think this is my first posting to Telecom digest, but I've been an avid reader since the early days (Hi Pat! Hi Jon!). Thanks for a GREAT digest! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I am glad you like this little digest of news and opinion each day. Having messages like yours makes it very worthwhile for me. And yes, often times just a simple reset of your phone will clear up those problems like you described. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 10:31:21 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Shalom Septimus wrote: [snip] > Hypothesis 2, the more paranoid one: Some people have been suggesting > that Verizon have been deliberately breaking these phones. The reason > given is that they aren't E911 compliant, and if they were still > functional, Verizon would have to *give* you another one in order to > be in compliance with the minimum 85% that the FCC wants. Now that > it's "broken", they can *sell* you another one, or lock you in to a > new 2-year contract. (Note that this doesn't necessarily contradict > the first theory.) > So: What do y'all think about this? Is there any evidence for one or > the other scenario? I just went through some of the same trouble, but for a different reason: I left my phone behind at my folk's house, which is about an hour's drive away, and tried to activate a spare Motorola 120C that a friend gave me a couple of months ago. Verizon flat-out refused to turn it on, saying that it isn't E911 compliant, and that their system won't activate any phone that doesn't comply. FedEx solved the short term problem: I now have my original 120C back and am able to use it. However, this episode raises lots of questions. E911 has been simmering for years now, and I don't know what happens to non-compliant instruments when the deadline is finally here. A quick web search turned up an FCC date of December 2005, and a requirement that 95% (not 85%) of phones must comply by the end of this year. Verizon has chosen, according to the search results, to use GPS-enabled phones to comply, while other companies are putting the location hardware in their cell sites. So, the questions: 1. 95% or 85%? 2. Is December 2005 still the deadline? 3. What happens to those of us on Verizon's network without GPS-enabled phones (such as, apparently, the Motorola 120C). William (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 07:22:49 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:42:00 -0400, Shalom Septimus wrote: > Hypothesis 2, the more paranoid one: Some people have been suggesting > that Verizon have been deliberately breaking these phones. The reason > given is that they aren't E911 compliant, and if they were still > functional, Verizon would have to *give* you another one in order to > be in compliance with the minimum 85% that the FCC wants. Now that > it's "broken", they can *sell* you another one, or lock you in to a > new 2-year contract. (Note that this doesn't necessarily contradict > the first theory.) You may have some validity in wondering about the second. In many mobile forums that I've gone to I've heard it mentioned that Verizon will no longer activate any handset on its network that doesn't incorporate GPS tracking in it. The older handsets did not incorporate this and Verizon has a mandate that by a certain time 95%(?) of their subscribers must have this type of handset. Verizon will not at present activate any non-compliant non-GPS capable handset on their network. For a while you could get around this by using the on line tool on the web to do this, but last I heard that's not even possible any longer. Since they have a mandate to have it done they may be doing this. It's not the first time a cellular company has used underhanded practices to force people to buy new equipment and not re-emburse them for doing so. Cingular has done that with their acquired AT&T Wireless subscribers in many cases. ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: RIP, Sussex Cellular Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 06:51:20 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On 29 Aug 2005 00:37:58 -0000, John Levine wrote: > Are there any other analog-only carriers in the US at all? I can't > think of any. Even the little carriers in Alaska seem to be doing > TDMA or CDMA. If you go to http://www.wirelessadvisor.com and put in the ZIP code for rural locations such as in Maine or New Hampshire you'll see 800 AMPS only providers listed. Curiously for many locations you'll also see the company Nextwave at 1900 Mhz listed as well even though they have no service! ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: History of Phone Billing Date: 30 Aug 2005 07:19:28 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Michael Hyman wrote: > I am looking for information on pre-computer and early computer > toll/call billing systems. > Also, information on early call detail reporting/recording systems. Remember that before computers there were IBM punched-card tabulating machines (widely available and sophisticated by the mid-1930s and perfect for this kind of work) and these were extensively used to prepare telephone bills. The tab machines remained in use to supplement electronic computers well into the 1970s (a punched card was included with the bill that you returned with your payment). Before tab machines there were accounting machines (kind of a supersized cash register); so in larger areas bills were automated for years. I presume in small areas they either used the facilities of large cities or did bills by hand. Keep in mind that before the 1960s toll calls were expensive and people made a lot fewer of them. Making a toll call was serious business back then. So, undoubtedly many subscribers had no toll charges at all and the phone bill was much simpler. I would not want to be a clerk doing nothing but hand-figuring every telephone bill all day long, but back in the 1950s and earlier a great many people were employed doing just that in all kinds of industries. In cities, message units were used to tally up local and suburban calls. There was a meter attached to each line which would increment for calls and time of call. The meters were photographed and the values processed and a single amount transferred to the bill. The use of message units instead of itemized billing saved considerable paperwork. In Los Angeles, they used itemized billing and in the 1940s they developed ANI (auto number ID) and a crude AMA (auto message accounting). Tapes were printed of call activity. In the 1950s they developed sophisticated AMA that prepared punched tapes which could be processed by machine. Surprisingly, there was less standardization in bill preparation across the Bell System than I would expect. Bills in different places had different formats in the 1960s. Different places used different kinds of computers -- some Univac, some IBM. Although Bell Labs developed many computer systems for the business office, it appeared billing software was programmed independently. Some billing formats may have been mandated by individual state PUCs so variation had to be allowed for that. By the way, very recently the New York Times had a story on complex phone bills and ridiculous charges they add in. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Debate Over Cell Phone Towers Growing Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 14:31:04 -0400 In article , spamsucks@crazyhat.net says: > In message Dave Garland > wrote: >> It was a dark and stormy night when Joseph >> wrote: >>> You don't see people railing against the power companies >>> for running high voltage transmission lines through neighbourhoods >>> "ruining" their property values either. >> Around here you do. Not for property values, but for health concerns. > To me, there is a simple solution: If they don't want high voltage > lines, don't give them any. > Unplug the complainers from the grid completely. > *shrugs* Or bury the lines about 8+ feet underground, as they should have done in the beginning. ------------------------------ From: "Tony P." Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? Organization: ATCC Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2005 10:37:45 -0400 In article , paulcoxwell@tiscali.co.uk says: >> The "Columbia Journalism Review", a magazine for reporters, often has >> ads by corporations reminding people about using trademarks as >> everyday words. I guess the most common example today is using >> "Xerox" as a verb ("go xerox this letter") or a noun ("I'll send you a >> xerox of the letter"). It is a trademark and is properly used to >> describe a particular brand of copier machine or the company that >> makes them: ("I'll run them off on our Xerox machine"). > Xerox isn't used in a generic sense quite so much in Britain as in the > States, but we have plenty of other examples. > "Hoover" is commonly used both as a generic name for any sort of > vaccuum cleaner, and as a verb, e.g. "I'll just hoover up" or even > "I'm going to do the hoovering." The Hoover name never became generic > for any of the other types of appliances they made, such as irons and > refrigerators. Had the latter been the most widely associated product > of the company, maybe today people would talk about "Getting some milk > from the Hoover." Sounds weird, but it could have happened. Sort of how the big joke during the heyday of DEC's VAX computers was the ad by a European (Quite likely British) manufacturer of vacuum cleaners titled "Nothing sucks like a Vax". That ad made it into quite a few VAX shops. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Broadband Competition Must Surely be Working Organization: ATCC Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2005 14:35:05 -0400 In article , wollman@khavrinen.csail.mit.edu says: > In article , > wrote: >> So, if a telecom provider wants to bundle services, why shouldn't it? > Because the market for residential communications services cannot > support what economists call "effective competition". The barriers to > entry in "local loop" services are so high that allowing bundling > stifles competition on the services built on top. > What should have been done back in 1984, and wasn't, is the unbundling > of outside plant from telephone service (with both by preference > provided by separate companies). By the late 1990s, most states > understood this, and implemented a similar model for energy > deregulation: you buy your energy from a competitive supplier, who > then must contract with a regulated distribution company to deliver it > to you. Here in Rhode Island they broke the electrical distribution network from the generating plants. Have our bills gone down, even discounting increased fuel costs? No. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #393 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Aug 31 01:36:23 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 2B7FA152A2; Wed, 31 Aug 2005 01:36:23 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #394 Message-Id: <20050831053623.2B7FA152A2@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 01:36:23 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Aug 2005 01:35:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 394 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Orleans Social Breakdown (Holbrook Mohr) Katrina Crisis Gets _Much_ Worse Each Day (AFP News Wire) "I Love You, But We Are Going to Die" (Scott Gold) Connecticut Man Sells Microsoft Windows Source Code (AP News Wire) Where There's a Will, There's a Way;Fresh Spin on 419 Fraud (Monty Solomon) IBM to Release 'IBM and the Future of the Home' Podcast (Monty Solomon) iTunes Music Phone Set to Launch (Monty Solomon) New on TV: The Multiple-Channel Screen (Monty Solomon) Verizon Is Granted Authority to Offer FiOS TV (Monty Solomon) Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (Daniel AJ Sokolov) Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (Lisa Hancock) Judge: Lawsuit About (NYS) Prison Phone Rates Can Proceed (Danny Burstein) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. 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Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Holbrook Mohr Subject: New Orleans Social Breakdown Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:27:17 -0500 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The first several articles in this issue of the Digest for Wednesday are devoted to the _massive_ destruction in New Orleans as well as Gulfport and Biloxi, MS, not just the physical destruction and loss of lives, but the rioting and looting going on as well. The telecommunications networks are mostly out of order as well. PAT] Water Continues to Rise in New Orleans By HOLBROOK MOHR, Associated Press Writer Rescuers in boats and helicopters struggled to reach hundreds of wet and bedraggled victims of Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, while New Orleans slipped deeper into crisis as water began rising in the streets because of a levee break. The magnitude of the disaster -- and the death toll in particular -- became clearer with every tale of misery. Mississippi's governor said the number of dead in one county alone could be as high as 80. "At first light, the devastation is greater than our worst fears. It's just totally overwhelming," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said the morning after Katrina howled ashore with winds of 145 mph and engulfed thousands of homes in one of the most punishing storms on record in the United States. Bill Lokey, an official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, called Katrina "the most significant natural disaster to hit the United States." In New Orleans, water began rising in the streets Tuesday morning, swamping an estimated 80 percent of the city and prompting the evacuation of hotels and hospitals. The water was also rising perilously inside New Orleans' Superdome, and Blanco said the tens of thousands of people now huddled there and other shelters would have to be evacuated as well. "The situation is untenable," Blanco said at a news conference. "It's just heartbreaking." Because of two levees that broke Tuesday, the city was rapidly filling with water, the governor said. She also said the power could be out for a long time, and the storm broke a major water main, leaving the city without drinkable water. Also, looting broke out in some neighborhoods. New Orleans lies mostly below sea level and is protected by a network of pumps, canals and levees. Officials began using helicopters to drop 3,000-pound sandbags onto one of the levees, hoping to close the breach. All day, rescuers were also seen using helicopters to drop lifelines to victims and pluck them from the roofs of homes cut off by floodwaters. The Coast Guard said it rescued some 1,200 people. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said hundreds, if not thousands, of people may still be stuck on roofs roofs and in attics, and so rescue boats were bypassing the dead. "We're not even dealing with dead bodies," Nagin said. "They're just pushing them on the side." A reporter saw an example of this, with a dead human being floating in the way of their rowboat; using a stick, the body was shoved aside, along with the cockroaches and red ants which were crawling all over it. National Guardsmen brought in people from outlying areas to New Orleans' Superdome in the backs of big 2 1/2-ton Army trucks. Louisiana's wildlife enforcement department also brought people in on the backs of their pickups. Some were wet, some were in wheelchairs, some were holding babies and nothing else. Superdome was to be only a stopover, a transfer point, since authorities had earlier decided the many thousands of people who had taken shelter there in Superdome would have to be evacuated also; water had begun to enter that place as well. Nevertheless, it was clear the death toll would rise sharply, with one survivor after another telling of friends and loved ones who floated off or disappeared as the floodwaters rose around them. "I talked with paramedics that are on the scene and the devastation is so great that they won't quit counting (bodies) for a while," said Mark Williams, operations supervisor for an ambulance service along the Mississippi coast. On Monday, paramedics made feeble efforts to assist some residents; now today the same paramedics are busy attempting to evacuate Charity Hospital by taking the old, very sick patients over to Superdome, where they will wait with thousands of other folks until eventually they figure out a way to evacuate everyone who is left and still alive. Along the coast, tree trunks, downed power lines and trees, and chunks of broken concrete in the streets prevented rescuers from reaching victims. Swirling water in many areas contained hidden dangers. Crews worked to clear highways. Along one Mississippi highway, motorists themselves used chainsaws to remove trees blocking the road. Animal carcasses floated along in places in the acrid, filthy water. Tens of thousands of people will need shelter for weeks if not months, said Mike Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. And once the floodwaters go down, "it's going to be incredibly dangerous" because of structural damage to homes, diseases from animal carcasses and chemicals in homes, he said. An estimated 40,000 people were in American Red Cross shelters along the Gulf Coast. Officials warned people against trying to return to their homes, saying that would only interfere with the rescue and recovery efforts. Looting broke out in Biloxi and in New Orleans, in some cases in full view of police and National Guardsmen. On New Orleans' Canal Street, the main thoroughfare in the central business district, looters sloshed through hip-deep water and ripped open the steel gates on the front of several clothing and jewelry stores. ================================ ** "The looting is out of control. The French Quarter has been attacked," said Jackie Clarkson, a New Orleans councilwoman. "We're using exhausted, scarce police to control looting when they should be used for search and rescue." Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley said that in one case, a looter shot and wounded another looter, and the mayor was asking for martial law to be imposed. ** People were seen running down the streets with bags of food and clothing taken from stores. When asked, most of them insisted they were not 'looters' but were simply looking for ways to feed and clothe their families. ================================ More than 1,600 Mississippi National Guardsmen were activated to help with the recovery, and the Alabama Guard sent 800 of its soldiers to Mississippi as well. In New Orleans, a city of 480,000 that was mostly evacuated over the weekend as Katrina closed in, those who stayed behind faced another, delayed threat: rising water. Failed pumps and levees apparently sent water from Lake Pontchartrain coursing through the streets. The rising water forced one New Orleans hospital to move patients to the Superdome, where some 10,000 people had taken shelter, and prompted the staff of New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper to abandon its offices, authorities said. Hotels were evacuated as well as the water kept rising. Downtown streets that were relatively clear in the hours after the storm were filled with 1 to 1 1/2 feet of water Tuesday morning. Water was knee-deep around the Superdome. Canal Street was literally a canal. Water lapped at the edge of the French Quarter. Clumps of red ants floated in the gasoline-fouled waters downtown, sometimes feasting on dead animals and other garbage. "It's a very slow rise, and it will remain so until we plug that breach. I think we can get it stabilized in a few hours," said Terry Ebbert, New Orleans' homeland security chief. Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi said there were unconfirmed reports of up to 80 deaths in Harrison County -- which includes devastated Gulfport and Biloxi -- and the number was likely to rise. An untold number of people were also feared dead in Louisiana. At least five other deaths across the Gulf Coast were blamed on Katrina. "We know that there is a lot of the coast that we have not been able to get to," Barbour said on NBC's "Today Show." "I hate to say it, but it looks like it is a very bad disaster in terms of human life." As for the death toll in Louisiana, Blanco said only: "We have no counts whatsoever, but we know many lives have been lost." At the Superdome, someone died after plunging from an upper level of the stadium, Ebbert said. He said the person probably jumped. The biggest known cluster of deaths was at the Quiet Water Beach apartments in Biloxi, a red-brick beachfront complex of about 100 units. Harrison County, Miss., emergency operations center spokesman Jim Pollard said about 30 people died there. "This is our tsunami," Mayor A. J. Holloway of Biloxi, Miss., told The Biloxi Sun Herald. Joy Schovest, 55, was in the apartment complex with her boyfriend, Joe Calvin, when the water began rising. They stayed despite a mandatory evacuation order. "The water got higher and higher," she said, breaking into tears. "It pushed all the doors open and we swam out. We grabbed a lady and pulled her out the window and then we swam with the current. It was terrifying. You should have seen the cars floating around us. We had to push them away when we were trying to swim." Teresa Kavanagh, 35, of Biloxi, shook her head is disbelief as she took photographs of the damage in her hometown. "Total devastation. Apartment complexes are wiped clean. We're going to rebuild, but it's going to take long time. Houses that withstood Camille are nothing but slab now," she said. Hurricane Camille killed 256 people in Louisiana and Mississippi in 1969. The hurricane knocked out power to millions of people from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, and authorities said it could be two months before electricity is restored to everyone. Oil prices jumped by more than $3 a barrel on Tuesday, climbing above $70 a barrel, amid uncertainty about the extent of the damage to the Gulf region's refineries and drilling platforms. By midday Tuesday, Katrina was downgraded to a tropical depression, with winds around 35 mph. It was moving northeast through Tennessee at around 21 mph. Forecasters said that as the storm moves north over the next few days, it could swamp the Tennessee and Ohio valleys with a potentially ruinous 8 inches or more of rain. On Monday, Katrina's remnants spun off tornadoes and other storms in Georgia that smashed dozens of buildings and were blamed for at least one death. According to preliminary assessments by AIR Worldwide Corp., a risk assessment company, the insurance industry faces as much as $26 billion in claims from Katrina. That would make Katrina more expensive than the previous record-setting storm, Hurricane Andrew, which caused some $21 billion in insured losses in 1992 to property in Florida and along the Gulf Coast. Anne Anderson said she lost her family home in Gulfport. "My family's an old Mississippi family. I had antiques, 150 years old or more, they're all gone. We have just basically a slab," she told NBC. She added: "Behind us we have a beautiful sunrise and sunset, and that is going to be what I'm going to miss the most, sitting on the porch watching those." Associated Press reporters Mary Foster, Allen G. Breed, Brett Martel, Adam Nossiter and Jay Reeves contributed to this report. On the Net: National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Listen to AP News Radio and read other stories at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: AFP Newswire Subject: Katrina Crisis Gets _Much_ Worse Each Day Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:14:15 -0500 Dozens dead, communities smashed, floods rise, as Katrina crisis deepens Rescuers battled a humanitarian disaster after storm surges whipped up by Hurricane Katrina killed dozens and a canal breach sent a new deluge into already swamped New Orleans. At least 80 people were feared dead along the coast of the southern state of Mississippi, where glitzy casinos, plush homes and shrimp fishing businesses lay in ruins, after a storm surge up to 30 feet (10 metres) high crashed ashore on Monday. Helpless authorities in New Orleans meanwhile watched as surging floodwaters gushed through a 200 feet (600 metre) hole in the 17th Street Canal defences, indundating a low-lying city already 80 percent under water. "Some 700 people have been brought to dry ground during the night," Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco told reporters. But in the absence of reliable casualty figures and reports of bodies floating in the water, she warned: "We know that many lives have been lost." More than a million people were without power across Mississippi, Louisiana and Alamaba, water supplies were compromised and collapsed communications left large areas cut off from the outside world, authorities said. Damage estimates soared into the billions of dollars and oil prices raced to the historic level of 70.85 dollars per barrel on anxiety over the damage to US production facilities. "This is our tsunami," said A.J. Holloway, mayor of the 48,000 population city of Biloxi, where a tidal surge swept away bridges, sent boats crashing into buildings and flooded entire neighborhoods. Authorities said at least 50 people were known to have been killed in Biloxi alone. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said that the death toll in wider Harrison County could be as high as 80. At least 30 of the dead were in a single Biloxi apartment complex demolished by the storm. Back in New Orleans, famed for its French Quarter and Mardi Gras celebrations, engineers tried to stem rising flood waters surging through a canal breach from Lake Pontchartrain into the northern part of the city. "The water is going to keep coming in until it reaches the level of the lake. I don't know what they are going to do," police Lieutenant Julie Wilson told WWL-TV. Pumping stations, which normally keep the low lying city free of flood waters were not functioning owing to a city-wide power cuts, after waters submerged power lines, or fallen trees knocked out supplies. Two parishes were put under martial law to deter looting, while police halted anyone trying to get into the city from outside, following a mass evacuation on Monday. Two people were reported to have died in floodwaters as they tried to return to their homes. Swamped highways, unsafe raised expressways and severed telephone links left the city effectively cut off to the outside world. Ray Nagin, mayor of 1.4 million people said late Monday that at least 80 percent of the city was underwater. Hurricane victims clung to the roofs of their homes waving bits of material to attract helicopters on rescue missions. Boat crews meanwhile picked gingerly around submerged live power lines, gas pipes and underwater debris. "The devastation is greater than our worst fears. It is just totally overwhelming," Blanco said. "We need to save as many people as we can save, and that is our mission for today." Evacuees some with broken legs and arms were taken to the storm ravaged Superdome sports arena, where more than 20,000 people were packed, amid rising tensions. CNN reported that one man, apparently crazed by frustration, jumped from the second level of seating to his death, while toilets were overflowing and temperatures were rising in the absence of air conditioning. Three feet of water (one meter) had flooded areas outside the arena and waters had encroached on the downtown area, reports said. As the scale of the disaster became clear, the White House said President George W. Bush would lop the last two days off his vacation and head back to Washington on Wednesday to coordinate relief efforts. Copyright 2005 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. Also see http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Scott Gold Subject: "I Love You, But We Are Going to Die" Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:20:44 -0500 By Scott Gold, Times Staff Writer NEW ORLEANS - The phone call lasted just long enough to break Bridgette Medley's heart. Medley, her husband and her 3-year-old daughter had sought shelter from Hurricane Katrina at a downtown hotel. Water seeped through the ceiling and wind made the building shudder as they slept on the hard floor of a ballroom. But they were safe. Her siblings and parents were not. Like about 50,000 other residents of the city, they had ignored the mayor's mandatory evacuation order and elected to ride out the storm at the family home in the Eighth Ward, a neighborhood of shotgun houses, railroad tracks and industrial canals on the city's east side. By 7 a.m. Monday, the water started rising. Medley's siblings and parents pulled down the stairs to the attic and climbed up. At 7:57 a.m., Medley's 48-year-old sister, Stephany Johnson, managed to get through on her cellphone. "She was panicking," Medley said. "The water was up to their ankles in the house and rising fast -- in a house that is 5 feet off the ground to start. "She said, 'I love you.' " Medley struggled to keep the tears from spilling out. "And then she said, 'We're going to die.' " Then the line went dead. Throughout the day, the two sisters maintained a frantic, frustrating conversation in spurts and stops. Hundreds of families found themselves in a similar situation, divided by choice, chance and fate. Authorities said that by nightfall, 200 people in the city were stranded on rooftops, and more were trapped in attics awaiting rescue. Scores more in surrounding towns were in similar straits. People sought help from one of the only radio stations on the air: WWL. They called to explain how their friend or relative got trapped in the attic or on the roof, then provided addresses and cross streets in case rescuers were listening. "Please, sir. We don't know what else to do," said a woman who gave her name as Betty. "It's my sister. They're stuck on the roof. And her two kids are there." "We'll see if we can't get some response over there," said the radio host, Bob Del Giorno. "We can't guarantee." Seconds later: "Let's go to Yvonne." "My daughter is on the roof!" Yvonne said. "She was in the attic until 10 and then she broke through the roof and climbed up there." "Maybe we can help," Del Giorno said. "Hopefully." Others waited by the phone. There was nothing else they could do. Patricia Penny had begged her son, Billy, 34, to leave. But he was afraid to abandon his five cats and the dog he was watching for friends, so he and his girlfriend stayed at their home on the east side of New Orleans. Penny last heard his voice in an 8 a.m. phone call. He was blunt: "It's bad." An enormous magnolia tree had fallen over in the front yard, and the storm had ripped a deck off the house. The water was rising and it was too late to leave. Penny said Monday night that she was sure her son had climbed onto the roof (and cut a hole behind him for the animals to escape). She eventually reached someone with St. Bernard Parish who was working with emergency crews. The word was not good. The entire parish, he told her, does not have a single fire engine or police car that still worked. "They are operating from on top of a building," she said. "They are just going out in boats with a bullhorn trying to find people." She was certain her son was alive, Penny said. "I raised both my children myself," she said. "I know them so well that when I think about one of them, they'll call me. It's true. I know him that well. And I know that he is a survivor." New Orleans is surrounded by water, and much of the city rests below sea level in a bowl-shaped depression. Even when the sun is shining, the city depends on a complex and often fragile system of protective levees, as well as enormous pumps to expel water that collects in the bowl. The flooding was worse in the city's eastern districts. In the neighborhood where Medley's father, a postal worker, and her mother, a nurse, had raised four children in a single-story stucco house, the water had nowhere to go, even hours after Katrina had passed. Medley's family home is close to an industrial canal, and serious storms had often brought water to the curb out front. "But never inside," Medley said. "Never, ever." That's why Medley's parents and two of her siblings elected to stay. They knew that Katrina was big, Medley said. But how bad could it be? The last major hurricane to hit New Orleans directly was Hurricane Betsy in 1965. At 9 a.m., Medley was able to get through to her sister again. Now the water was 3 feet deep in the house. There were two windows in the attic, and if her relatives broke the windows and contorted their bodies just right, they might be able to get to the roof, Medley said. But her parents are frail and in their 70s, she said. "That might work for my brother and sister," she said. "But I can't imagine my parents making it out." By noon, the water was 3 feet from the first-floor ceiling and still rising. Medley had enlisted relatives in Texas and Georgia to call the National Guard in hopes of getting a rescue party to the house. "No luck," Medley said. "Not yet. All we can do is pray. There's just so much water, and it's still raining hard." She paused. "I think . I mean, I think they're going to drown," she said. "I really do." At 3 p.m., she got through again. "What is the water doing?" she asked. "Well, what do you see through the window? Look out the window! What do you see when you look at Mrs. Jones' house?" The water, her sister reported, appeared to have stabilized -- not dropping, but not rising anymore either. "OK," Medley said. "That's good." At 6 p.m., another call. Her sister told her that she had reached a person. "A real, human person," Medley said. The National Guard was sending a boat. They were saved. "Praise the Lord!" Medley shouted. "Hallelujah!" The family had already made a pact for the next hurricane -- no more splitting up. "Everybody is leaving next time," Medley said. "More importantly, everybody is leaving together." How to help Federal officials said Monday that people wanting to help victims of Hurricane Katrina should not travel to the affected areas unless directed to by an agency. Instead, Michael Brown, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, urged people to contribute money to organizations. FEMA listed the following agencies as needing monetary donations to assist hurricane victims: . American Red Cross, (800) HELP NOW [435-7669] English, (800) 257-7575 Spanish . Adventist Community Services, (800) 381-7171 . Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, (800) 848-5818 . Church World Service, (800) 297-1516 . Convoy of Hope, (417) 823-8998 . Mennonite Disaster Service, (717) 859-2210 . Salvation Army, (800) SAL-ARMY [725-2769] . United Methodist Committee on Relief, (800) 554-8583 Source: Associated Press Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Associated Press NewsWire Subject: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 15:03:16 -0500 Mon Aug 29,10:38 PM ET A Connecticut man known on the Internet as "illwill" pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court on Monday to charges relating to the theft of the source code to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating software, considered among the company's crown jewels. William Genovese Jr., 28, of Meriden, Conn., pleaded guilty charges related to the unlawful sale and attempted sale of the source code for Microsoft's Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0. The code had previously been obtained by other people and unlawfully distributed over the Internet, prosecutors said. The source code is the blueprint in which software developers write computer programs. Access to a software program's source code can allow someone to replicate the program, and industry experts expressed concern that hackers reviewing the Microsoft software code could discover new ways to attack computers running some versions of Windows. A federal indictment filed against Genovese in February 2004, charged that the day Microsoft learned significant portions of its source code were stolen Genovese posted a message on his Web site offering the code for sale. Genovese was arrested when an investigator for an online security company hired by Microsoft and an undercover FBI agent downloaded the stolen source code from his Web site after sending him electronic payments for it, Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley said in a news release. Genovese faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in the fall. There was no published telephone listing for Genovese in Meriden, Conn. and prosecutors did not return a call seeking information about his attorney. Microsoft had previously shared parts of its source code with some companies, U.S. agencies, foreign governments and universities under tight restrictions that prevented them from making it publicly available. A Microsoft spokesman said in February that the company was confident the Windows blueprints weren't stolen from its own computer network. The Redmond, Wash.-based company did not immediately return a message Monday seeking comment. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:26:14 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Where There's a Will, There's a Way; Fresh Spin on '419 Fraud' Mitch Lipka Special to Consumer Reports WebWatch A "banker" recently e-mailed Consumer Reports WebWatch asking for our help in claiming a deceased man's bank account: "I am Mr. Pui Cheung, Director of Operations of Hang Seng Bank Ltd. We discovered that Mr. Richard Nault died from an automobile accident. On further investigation, I found out that he died without making a WILL, and all attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless. No one will ever come forward to claim it (his $30 million account). According to Laws of Hong Kong, at the expiration of 5(five) years, the money will revert to the ownership of the Hong Kong Government if nobody applies to claim the fund." The pitch had a familiar ring to it. In this spin on the old Nigerian letter scam, the purported banker -- or, in some cases, attorney or individual -- writes about desperately trying to reach next of kin to dispense a fortune. Finding no relatives, the e-mailer suggests you pretend to be family and split the fortune with him. This scam hooked Stanley El of Woodbury, N.J., who responded to an e-mail supposedly from a Nigerian prince who said he needed a trustee to help him collect his inheritance. El, a business and personal development specialist who has published articles in some African publications and had relatives who worked on the continent, said the message seemed plausible to him. Following an exchange of e-mails and phone calls, El said he spent $5,000 to fly to Spain to sign documents that supposedly would make him the trustee. He was offered a prince's sum for his part, but El said he participated because he genuinely believed he could help. He had no idea he was participating in a scam. The scammers sent a phony $50,000 check to El's bank account, which cleared. El never got any of it, because the fraudsters quickly withdrew the cash before the bank realized the check was a fake. The bank then sued El. Although a judge determined that El should share the loss with the bank, he said a year later he hadn't been asked to pay up. http://www.consumerwebwatch.org/dynamic/fraud-investigation-419-fraud.cfm ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:32:21 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: IBM to Release 'IBM and the Future of the Home' Podcast ARMONK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 30, 2005--IBM announced today that the second podcast in its inaugural series, "IBM and the Future of ..." is available on its investor Web site. The podcast is called "IBM and the Future of the Home." "IBM and the Future of the Home" explores how an explosion of new consumer-electronics devices, smart-home appliances and home network technologies promise to combine together to change the way our homes work and how we interact with them, introducing a new category of home integration software and services. The podcast is hosted by George Faulkner and includes a discussion with George Bailey of IBM Business Consulting Services and Kevin Reardon of IBM Engineering and Technology Services. Both are experts in the consumer-electronics industry and work frequently with clients. The podcast is available on IBM's investor Web site, at http://www.ibm.com/investor/viewpoint/podcast/30-08-05-1.phtml . - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51466434 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:30:46 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: iTunes Music Phone Set to Launch By GREG SANDOVAL AP Technology Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A long-delayed cell phone from Apple Computer Inc. and Motorola Inc. that can play iTunes music downloads is finally set to debut through Cingular Wireless, a research analyst said. The new phone will be equipped with software that would allow it to play songs purchased at Apple's iTunes Web site, according to Roger Entner, an analyst for research firm Ovum who said he learned of the plans from an industry executive. Representatives from Apple, Cingular and Motorola declined to comment, but the three companies are expected to roll out the device at an event here next week. Apple announced Monday that it would host a news conference Sept. 7. It was unclear whether the new phone will allow users to download music directly over a cellular Internet connection or if they would have to download songs to a computer and then transfer them to the handset. Just about every major cell phone maker has been working to launch a music phone that could compete with the iPod, Apple's popular digital music player. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51469647 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:20:55 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: New on TV: The Multiple-Channel Screen By PETER GRANT Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL August 30, 2005; Page B1 When pro football starts in September, fans who sign up for the "SuperFan" game package offered by satellite operator DirecTV Group Inc. will get a new feature: a channel on which they'll be able to watch eight games on one screen. But viewers who don't feel like shelling out about $300 for SuperFan will have other options for watching several programs at once -- whether it's sports, news or shopping shows. The multiple-channel screen, known in the television industry as a "mosaic," is about to show up on millions of TVs throughout the country. It's another sign that satellite and cable systems are beginning to embrace interactive television after years of hype about the concept. EchoStar Communications Inc. is set to announce today that its Dish Network satellite service has added the mosaic feature to its "Dish Home" channel. Viewers who tune to Dish Home, where they have access to a wide range of interactive features like games and shopping, will see what's happening on six channels, currently all tuned to news stations. Comcast Corp. this fall is planning to launch a similar mosaic feature on a new "portal" screen that subscribers to its cable systems will see when they first turn on their TVs. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112536033078726213-6nbA_iBpwzmHcvE4b46Bk3vMoAA_20060830,00.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:22:37 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Is Granted Authority to Offer FiOS TV Verizon Is Granted Authority to Offer FiOS TV to 235,000 Residents of Manatee County - Aug 30, 2005 05:55 PM (PR Newswire) County Commission Opens the Door to More Consumer Choice, Better Competition for the Public BRADENTON, Fla., Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Manatee County Commission today voted for consumer choice and competition in the cable-TV market by awarding a far-reaching video franchise to Verizon for its FiOS TV product, to be delivered via its new, all-fiber network. This is the largest population to be served by a Verizon franchise agreement so far. Manatee joins Temple Terrace as the second municipality in Florida to grant a franchise to Verizon as the company continues its campaign to be permitted to deliver television services to customers in its service territory. The commission's decision means that Verizon now has the authority to offer FiOS TV to the 235,000 residents in the unincorporated portions of the county. It is anticipated that a portion of these residents will begin enjoying stepped-up competition and more consumer choice to the region's existing cable-TV and satellite services by 2006. The franchise does not apply to other communities in the county, including the cities of Bradenton, Palmetto, Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach, Holmes Beach and Longboat Key. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51472930 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 21:32:04 +0200 From: Daniel AJ Sokolov Subject: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Am 30.08.2005 16:31 schrieb William Warren: > I just went through some of the same trouble, but for a different > reason: I left my phone behind at my folk's house, which is about an > hour's drive away, and tried to activate a spare Motorola 120C that a > friend gave me a couple of months ago. > Verizon flat-out refused to turn it on, saying that it isn't E911 > compliant, and that their system won't activate any phone that doesn't > comply. Such rules create mindbogging "logic". Better no phone, hence no means to call 911, than a phone that may connect you to the wrong 911-callcenter. My e-mail-address is sokolov [at] gmx dot net ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Date: 30 Aug 2005 13:45:54 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Joseph wrote: > You may have some validity in wondering about the second. In many > mobile forums that I've gone to I've heard it mentioned that Verizon > will no longer activate any handset on its network that doesn't > incorporate GPS tracking in it. The older handsets did not > incorporate this and Verizon has a mandate that by a certain time > 95%(?) of their subscribers must have this type of handset. I don't know about that stuff. I do know that, for some time now, none of the carriers would activate any analog phones. I have a friend who has an old bag phone and goes into rural areas where there are weaker signals and he needs the stronger power but they wouldn't help him. The newspaper had a piece on this; people out west in wide open spaces aren't happy. Regarding the original poster's concerns, it's sadly nothing new with cellular companies to be a pain to their customers. I knew someone who got a cell phone that wouldn't work in his own house and he wanted to cancel his deal but they refused; he had to threaten litigation (actually get the paperwork from court) before they'd let him go. Other companies had frequent disconnects while talking. Batteries have a limited life span. Batteries and accessories are very hard to find since they don't want you keeping old phones; I guess they want the profit of selling you a new phone or having you make use of the newest features which are a cost. Many fathers have screamed over the text-messaging bill their kids have run up. For myself, I've tried buying batteries at yard sales, but they're usually no good; so I generally just use the phone in the car where I have the adapter. I get about 15 minutes of time out of a battery so I can use it for limited stuff and that's been helpful. I don't think the phones themselves are built very well and probably would just break from normal handling after a couple of years. I do not like cell phone sales people. I know some people use pay-as-you-go cell phones but they have dirty tricks (purchased time expires monthly even if you don't use it), and the companies don't treat those subscribers very well. Supposedly competition is supposed to make it good, but all the carriers have sunk to a lousy level which is now the base. My impression is they want every subscriber on the $40 minimum plan. My plan is now $20 and I suspect fairly soon they'll cancel me and force me to upgrade. I doubt it's for technical reasons, but rather they want $40 from me too every month and hopefully I'll use premo features and pay even more. ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Judge: Lawsuit About (NYS) Prison Phone Rates Can Proceed Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:36:16 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Center for Constitutional Rights announced a major victory on August 30, 2005 for the families and friends of people incarcerated in New York State prisons. The federal trial court in Byrd v. Goord issued an opinion upholding the constitutional challenge lodged by inmates' families, ministers, friends, and counselors to the inmate telephone system in New York, which is designed to provide the Department of Correctional Services with millions of dollars in 'commissions' or 'kickbacks'. Rates for such calls are set well above market rates: In New York State, families pay a $3 connection fee and 16=A2 per minute, a 630% markup over regular residential consumer rates ... Meanwhile, rates at federal prisons are as low as 7 cents a minute. rest at: http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=FhipyPsQJ&Content NOTE that this decision does NOT reduce the rates. It simply allows the lawsuit to proceed. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The prisoners in Illinois really need to have such a lawsuit started also in their behalf. The Illinois Department of Corrections is _not_ a very nice bunch of people to be sure. Ninety or ninety-five percent of all crime (and thus inmates) in the Illinois correctional system are from Chicago. But of course they have no prisons anywhere around Chicago itself; the prisons are all in the southern end of the state 300 miles away, or some are in the western part of the state 150-200 miles away. Objective: make it as difficult or nearly impossible for the prisoner's families and friends to stay in touch with them. Prisoners are given the 'privilege' to make as many _collect_ phone calls as desired to names and phone numbers on lists submitted by inmates at about one or two dollars per _minute_. Keeping the prisoners out of touch with their families and friends is one surefire way to guarentee a high rate of repeat incarcer- ation, which is what the Corrections Industry needs for its own 'success', along with the profits made on expensive phone calls. A division of Salvation Army working with a division of Catholic Charities operates several 'bus routes' from the Chicago area to the various prisons in Illinois (I think there are 32-35 prisons run by the state). Busses leave Chicago seven days per week at 7 AM taking the mothers and children (almost always) to see the men in prisons throughout the state. Bus arrives at Robinson, IL or East St. Louis, IL after a several hour ride, waits around for one or two hours (or however long is allowed for visits) then brings the women and children back to Chicago, arriving in the late evening. That's the ones who had gotten their phones cut off because they could not pay the outrageous fees charged by Illinois Department of Corrections for phone calls. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #394 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Aug 31 02:08:21 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 1B8A815378; Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:08:20 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #395 Message-Id: <20050831060820.1B8A815378@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:08:20 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Aug 2005 02:08:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 395 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Global Warming Probably the Reason for Katrina (AFP News Wire) Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also (Jim Burks) An iPod Cellphone Said to Be Imminent (Monty Solomon) Re: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Tony P.) Re: Star Trek Phone Set to Thrill (Tony P.) Re: Telecom Scam (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (Steve Sobol) Re: Overseas Phone Calls Get Cheaper (Joseph) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Agence France Presse Subject: Global Warming Probably the Reason for Katrina Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 14:58:28 -0500 Brace for more Katrinas, say experts Tue Aug 30,10:55 AM ET For all its numbing ferocity, Hurricane Katrina will not be a unique event, say scientists, who say that global warming appears to be pumping up the power of big Atlantic storms. 2005 is on track to be the worst-ever year for hurricanes, according to experts measuring ocean temperatures and trade winds -- the two big factors that breed these storms in the Caribbean and tropical North Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Risk, a London-based consortium of experts, predicted that the region would see 22 tropical storms during the six-month June-November season, the most ever recorded and more than twice the average annual tally since records began in 1851. Seven of these storms would strike the United States, of which three would be hurricanes, it said. Already, 2004 and 2003 were exceptional years: they marked the highest two-year totals ever recorded for overall hurricane activity in the North Atlantic. This increase has also coincided with a big rise in Earth's surface temperature in recent years, driven by greenhouse gases that cause the Sun's heat to be stored in the sea, land and air rather than radiate back out to space. But experts are cautious, also noting that hurricane numbers seem to undergo swings, over decades. About 90 tropical storms -- a term that includes hurricanes and their Asian counterparts, typhoons -- occur each year. The global total seems to be stable, although regional tallies vary a lot, and in particular seem to be influenced by the El Nino weather pattern in the Western Pacific. "(Atlantic) cyclones have been increasing in numbers since 1995, but one can't say with certainty that there is a link to global warming," says Patrick Galois with the French weather service Meteo-France. "There have been other high-frequency periods for storms, such as in the 1950s and 60s, and it could be that what we are seeing now is simply part of a cycle, with highs and lows." On the other hand, more and more scientists estimate that global warming, while not necessarily making hurricanes more frequent or likelier to make landfall, is making them more vicious. Hurricanes derive from clusters of thunderstorms over tropical waters that are warmer than 27.2 C (81 C). A key factor in ferocity is the temperature differential between the sea surface and the air above the storm. The warmer the sea, the bigger the differential and the bigger the potential to "pump up" the storm. Just a tiny increase in surface temperature can have an extraordinary effect, says researcher Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In a study published in Nature in July, Emanuel found that the destructive power of North Atlantic storms had doubled over the past 30 years, during which the sea-surface temperature rose by only 0.5 C (0.9 F). Emanuel's yardstick is storm duration and windpower: hurricanes lasted longer and packed higher windspeeds than before. Another factor in destructiveness is flooding. Kevin Trenberth of the US National Center for Atmospheric Research suggests that hurricanes are dumping more rainfall as warmer seas suck more moisture into the air, swelling the stormclouds. The indirect evidence for this is that water vapour over oceans worldwide has increased by about two percent since 1988. But data is sketchy for precipitation dropped by recent hurricanes. "The intensity of and rainfalls from hurricanes are probably increasing, even if this increase cannot yet be proven with a formal statistical test," Trenberth wrote in the US journal Science in June. He said computer models "suggest a shift" toward the extreme in in hurricane intensities. Copyright 2005 Agence France Presse. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, Agence France Presse. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Jim Burks Subject: Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 01:13:42 GMT Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com Jim Burks wrote in message news:telecom24.392.2@telecom-digest.org: > AT&T has lost multiple DS-3s (probably the whole fiber) between New > Orleans and Jackson, MS, and between New Orleans and Gulfport, MS. No > ability to reroute at this point. > 37 AT&T offices have lost power and are on battery or generator. BellSouth > has 64 offices down. > Has anybody heard from Mark Cuccia? Hopefully, he either got out of > town, or is keeping his head above water. AT&T (and BellSouth) did an excellent job of restoral. Most of our sites in the Gulf Coast area were down less than 24 hours. We don't have anything in the city of New Orleans. Jim Burks ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 00:56:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: An iPod Cellphone Said to Be Imminent By MATT RICHTEL SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29 - Apple Computer and Motorola plan to unveil a long-awaited mobile phone and music player next week that will incorporate Apple's iTunes software, a telecommunications industry analyst who has been briefed on the announcement said on Monday. The development marks a melding of two of the digital era's most popular devices, the cellphone and the iPod, which has become largely synonymous with the concept of downloading songs from the Internet or transferring them from compact discs. Roger Entner, a telecommunications analyst with Ovum, a market research firm, said he had been told by an industry executive that the new phone, to be made by Motorola, would be marketed by Cingular Wireless. Mr. Entner said it would include iTunes software, which helps power the iPod. The software will allow people to transfer songs from a personal computer to the mobile phone, then listen to the songs, presumably through headphones. "It's a deluxe music player now on your cellphone," he said of the device. Apple, Motorola and Cingular declined to confirm or deny the report. But Apple did announce on Monday that it would hold a major news event on Sept. 7 in San Francisco that it indicated was music-related. Apple is routinely tight-lipped about pending product announcements, preferring to make a splash on the day of the event. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/technology/30apple.html?ex=1283054400&en=be40e4a92a196f2f&ei=5090 ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 16:01:57 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > letting it properly return. The man then made another call, this time > dialing only three digits. "Long Distance? Get me Walt Disney in > Hollywood!". Actually, that part was accurate around the LA area (or at least the suburban independents) in the 1950s. You dialed "0" for the local operator and "211" for the long distance operator. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:18:28 -0400 In article , sjsobol@JustThe.net says: > Paul Coxwell wrote: >> Despite the 999 system, there was, however, still a widely adopted >> convention that the regular number for the police should use 2222. > Sounds much like the convention that many US cities used where the > local police departments' phone numbers all ended in 1234 and the fire > departments ended in 1212. This was true of Cleveland and most of its > suburbs. > Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED > Company website: http://JustThe.net/ > Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ > E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A 'standard' set by AT&T for the > operating companies was to use '2121' or '2131' as well. The last four > digits were to preferably end in '1' and be repetitive. PAT]n Providence Police Department was and still is on 272-1111, while fire is on 272-3344. Interesting the back line at PPD for the longest time was 272-3121. Now everything is DID on the 401-243 exchange. ------------------------------ From: Tony P. Subject: Re: Star Trek Phone Set to Thrill Organization: ATCC Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:17:07 -0400 In article , sjsobol@JustThe.net says: > Tom Betz wrote: >> I'm surprised I haven't seen this here yet! >> From http://wired.com/news/print/0,1294,68577,00.html : >> Get ready for your phone to go where no phone has gone before. > Yawn. I had a Motorola StarTAC, a few years back, that everyone > claimed look like one of the communicators from the USS Enterprise, > and my current Motorola V188 makes a sound exactly like the doorbell > on the door of the captain's quarters. :) I wonder how many Trekkies > are designing phones for Moto ... My little v60 has a tone called TaDa which sounds more like a morse code A -- dit dah. Being my first initial this is the perfect ring tone. Of course I want it to ring like an old phone so one of these days I'll pay for the damned polyphonic ringtone. ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: Telecom Scam Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 00:22:31 GMT Eric Shoaf wrote: > I just received this today. I called to see what the deal was. They > required that I made over 50k, I bring my spouse to an office at 1250 > 22nd Street NW, DC with two forms of ID. No Children. I would have to > set through a 90 minute presentation. I felt this might be a scam, so > I did a search on the phone number that I called on the internet and > found Telecom Digest. The address they gave you is for an Embassy Suites hotel (it's across the street from my office, in fact), not an office building. Total scam. Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:37:54 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Joseph wrote: > On Mon, 29 Aug 2005 23:42:00 -0400, Shalom Septimus > wrote: >> Hypothesis 2, the more paranoid one: Some people have been suggesting >> that Verizon have been deliberately breaking these phones. The reason >> given is that they aren't E911 compliant, and if they were still >> functional, Verizon would have to *give* you another one in order to >> be in compliance with the minimum 85% that the FCC wants. Now that >> it's "broken", they can *sell* you another one, or lock you in to a >> new 2-year contract. (Note that this doesn't necessarily contradict >> the first theory.) > You may have some validity in wondering about the second. OTOH, the Nokia CDMA phones traditionally had issues. My GTE Wireless 2180 (activated 1996, CDMA 800MHz and AMPS 800MHz) was a solid performer, but many of the 5180, 5185 and 6185 models just sucked. Verizon (and Sprint, the other big US CDMA carrier) stopped selling Nokia for a while. Nokia finally wised up and started licensing Qualcomm's CDMA chipset instead of trying to do their own, and as a result, their products have returned to Sprint and VZW stores over the past few years. > It's not the first time a cellular company has used underhanded > practices to force people to buy new equipment and not re-emburse them > for doing so. > Cingular has done that with their acquired AT&T Wireless subscribers > in many cases. I'd not be surprised if VZW did intentionally do *something* to the phone, but I'm not sure how they would have done it, except perhaps by pushing a bum PRL to the phone. The phones in question can't do over-the-air firmware updates. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: Joseph Subject: Re: Overseas Phone Calls Get Cheaper Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:56:07 -0700 Reply-To: JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 09:16:03 -0400, Monty Solomon wrote: > International Wireless Rates Are Finally Starting to Fall; Six Cents a > Minute to the U.K. In the article it states: > Most landline and cellular carriers provide two types of overseas > calling plans: a standard plan where users don't pay extra monthly > fees, but the calls are usually pricey; and discount plans where > customers pay an average of $4 a month for access to less-expensive > per-minute rates on the calls. In general, even if you only make a > few international calls every month, the monthly fee option quickly > pays for itself. Just like monthly "service" charges for land lines monthly charges for "discount" rates for international calling is no bargain. A closer in example is what T-Mobile is doing for calling to Canada and Mexico. For a "privilege" fee of $5/month you can call Mexico for 5 cents/minute or $5/month to call Canad at 9 cents/minute. When you think about this setup it's a bit strange since calling to Mexico T-Mobile's regular rate is 32 cents/minute (which is high) or 20 cents/minute to call Canada (which is high as well since it's easy to get per minute rates to Canada very commonly for 5 cents or *less* per minute.) > Under a new plan from Verizon Wireless, which is owned by Verizon > Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, customers who pay an > extra $3.99 a month get access to cheaper per-minute rates to more > than 100 countries. A call to London using the plan, which was > launched in April, costs 20 cents a minute, compared with $1.49 a > minute without it. And this is supposed to be a bargain? Getting a long distance plan that give you a rate to call the UK for 4 cents/minute or less are common! Even to call Australia is 5 cents or so from several carriers. And to get these "bargain" rates you have to pay a monthly fee. And something people often don't take into account that when they pay those fees of 4 or 5 dollars it means that your per minute rate is *not* 20 cents/minute when you factor in what you're paying for a monthly service fee. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #395 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Aug 31 16:55:10 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id EA4D515307; Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:55:09 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #396 Message-Id: <20050831205509.EA4D515307@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:55:09 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:55:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 396 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Phone Networks Out for 'Months' in New Orleans (Justin Hyde) All Remaining New Orleans Citizens _Must_ Evacuate Now (Brett Martel) Re: Global Warming Probably the Reason for Katrina (mc) More Charges For Los Angles Man in Choice Point ID Theft (Dan Whitcomb) Microsoft Buys VoIP Firm (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (Scott Dorsey) Re: Telecom Scam (Scott Dorsey) Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers (Lisa Hancock) Re: Long Distance = 211 (was Sid Ceasar and Phones) (Neil Mclain) Re: Judge: Lawsuit About (NYS) Prison Phone Rates Can Proceed (L Hancock) Re: Connecticut Man Sells Microsoft Windows Source Code (Lisa Hancock) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Justin Hyde Subject: Governor Says: Everyone _Must_ Leave New Orleans Immediatly, Now Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 09:49:44 -0500 BRETT MARTEL, Associated Press Writer The governor of Louisiana says everyone needs to leave New Orleans due to flooding from Hurricane Katrina. "We've sent buses in. We will be either loading them by boat, helicopter, anything that is necessary," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. Army engineers struggled without success to plug New Orleans' breached levees with giant sandbags, and the governor said Wednesday the situation was worsening and there was no choice but to abandon the flooded city. There are no exceptions to this request. "The challenge is an engineering nightmare," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "The National Guard has been dropping sandbags into it, but it's like dropping it into a black hole. It has accomplished nothing." As the waters continued to rise in New Orleans, four Navy ships raced toward the Gulf Coast with drinking water and other emergency supplies, and Red Cross workers from across the country converged on the devastated region. The Red Cross reported it had about 40,000 people in 200 shelters across the area in one of the biggest urban disasters the nation has ever seen. The death toll from Hurricane Katrina reached at least 110 in Mississippi alone, while Louisiana put aside the counting of the dead to concentrate on rescuing the living, many of whom were still trapped on rooftops and in attics. A full day after the Big Easy thought it had escaped Katrina's full fury, two levees broke and spilled water into the streets on Tuesday, swamping an estimated 80 percent of the bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city, inundating miles and miles of homes and rendering much of New Orleans uninhabitable for weeks or months. "We are looking at 12 to 16 weeks before people can come in," Mayor Ray Nagin said on ABC's "Good Morning America, "and the other issue that's concerning me is have dead bodies in the water. At some point in time the dead bodies are going to start to create a serious disease issue." Blanco said she wanted the Superdome -- which had become a shelter of last resort for about 20,000 people - evacuated within two days, along with other gathering points for storm refugees. The situation inside the dank and sweltering Superdome was becoming desperate: The water was rising, the air conditioning was out, toilets were broken, and tempers were rising. Many of the temporary residents of this shelter of last resort have begun arguing with each other and becoming violent. At the same time, sections of Interstate 10, the only major freeway leading into New Orleans from the east, lay shattered, dozens of huge slabs of concrete floating in the floodwaters. I-10 is the only route for commercial trucking across southern Louisiana. The sweltering city of 480,000 people -- an estimated 80 percent of whom obeyed orders to evacuate as Katrina closed in over the weekend -- also had no drinkable water, the electricity could be out for weeks, and looters were ransacking stores around town, firing guns as needed to scare away any resistance to their tactics. "The logistical problems are impossible and we have to evacuate people in shelters," the governor said. "It's becoming untenable. There's no power. It's getting more difficult to get food and water supplies in, just basic essentials. We had thought frail and sick people would be safe in Superdome, but that is unrealistic also. Still, Charity (Hospital) and other such institutions are moving their patients over to Superdome, under the assumption 'something is better than nothing'." She gave no details on exactly where the refugees would be taken. But in Houston, Rusty Cornelius, a county emergency official, said at least 25,000 of them would travel in a bus convoy to Houston starting Wednesday and would be sheltered at the 40-year-old Astrodome, which is no longer used for professional sporting events. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was considering putting people on cruise ships, in tent cities, mobile home parks, and so-called floating dormitories -- boats the agency uses to house its own employees. To repair one of the levees holding back Lake Pontchartrain, officials late Tuesday dropped 3,000-pound sandbags from helicopters and hauled dozens of 15-foot concrete barriers into the breach. Maj. Gen. Don Riley of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said officials also had a more audacious plan: finding a barge to plug the 500-foot hole. Right now, Pontchartrain, and the Mississippi River are simply swapping their contents back and forth, via New Orleans; the fast rise of the water level has slowed down somewhat, as water seeks its own level. Riley said it could take close to two months to get the water out of the city. If the water rises a few feet higher, it could also wipe out the water system for the whole city, said New Orleans' homeland security chief, Terry Ebbert. A helicopter view of the devastation over Louisiana and Mississippi revealed people standing on black rooftops, baking in the sunshine while waiting for rescue boats. "I can only imagine that this is what Hiroshima looked like 60 years ago," said Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour after touring the destruction by air Tuesday. All day long, rescuers in boats and helicopters plucked bedraggled flood refugees from rooftops and attics. Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu said 3,000 people have been rescued by boat and air, some placed shivering and wet into helicopter baskets. They were brought by the truckload into shelters, some in wheelchairs and some carrying babies, with stories of survival and of those who didn't make it. "Oh my God, it was hell," said Kioka Williams, who had to hack through the ceiling of the beauty shop where she worked as floodwaters rose in New Orleans' low-lying Ninth Ward. "We were screaming, hollering, flashing lights. It was complete chaos." Looting broke out in some New Orleans neighborhoods, prompting author- ities to send more than 70 additional officers and an armed personnel carrier into the city. One police officer was shot in the head by a looter but was expected to recover, authorities said. A giant new Wal-Mart SuperCenter in New Orleans was looted, and the entire gun collection was taken, The Times-Picayune newspaper reported. "There are gangs of armed men in the city moving around the city, some attempting to act as police officers while others are simply looting and pilaging" said Ebbert, the city's homeland security chief. Also, looters tried to break into Children's Hospital, the governor's office said. On New Orleans' Canal Street, dozens of looters ripped open the steel gates on clothing and jewelry stores and grabbed merchandise. In Biloxi, Miss., people picked through casino slot machines for coins and ransacked other businesses. In some cases, the looting took place in full view of police and National Guardsmen. Blanco acknowledged that looting was a severe problem but said that officials had to focus on survivors. "We don't like looters one bit, but first and foremost is search and rescue," she said. Officials said it was simply too early to estimate a death toll. One Mississippi county alone said it had suffered at least 100 deaths, and officials are "very, very worried that this is going to go a lot higher, based on corpses seen floating in the water" said Joe Spraggins, civil defense director for Harrison County, home to Biloxi and Gulfport. In neighboring Jackson County, officials said at least 10 deaths were blamed on the storm. Several of the dead in Harrison County were from a beachfront apartment building that collapsed under a 25-foot wall of water as Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf Coast with 145-mph winds Monday. Louisiana officials said many were feared dead there, too, making Katrina one of the most punishing storms to hit the United States in decades. Blanco asked residents to spend Wednesday in prayer. "That would be the best thing to calm our spirits and thank our Lord that we are survivors," she said. "Slowly, gradually, we will recover; we will survive; we will rebuild." Across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, more than 1 million residents remained without electricity, some without clean drinking water. Officials said it could be weeks, if not months, before most evacuees will be able to return. Emergency medical teams from across the country were sent into the region and President Bush cut short his Texas vacation Tuesday to return to Washington to focus on the storm damage. Also, the Bush administration decided to release crude oil from federal petroleum reserves to help refiners whose supply was disrupted by Katrina. The announcement helped push oil prices lower. Katrina, which was downgraded to a tropical depression, packed winds around 30 mph as it moved through the Ohio Valley early Wednesday, with the potential to dump 8 inches of rain and spin off deadly tornadoes. The remnants of Katrina spawned bands of storms and tornadoes across Georgia that caused at least two deaths, multiple injuries and leveled dozens of buildings. A tornado damaged 13 homes near Marshall, Va. The governor of Louisiana, the Mayor of New Orleans and various other community leaders urged everyone remaining to "gather up what you can of your possessions (at SuperDome or wherever) and please evacuate; you will be taken in a bus convoy or by boat or helicopter to a safe place, most likely Houston." ___ Associated Press reporters Holbrook Mohr, Mary Foster, Allen G. Breed, Adam Nossiter and Jay Reeves contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To me it seems unrealistic to expect any restoral of telecom service in the near future for New Orleans. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Global Warming Probably the Reason for Katrina Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 10:59:24 -0400 > For all its numbing ferocity, Hurricane Katrina will not be a unique > event, say scientists, who say that global warming appears to be > pumping up the power of big Atlantic storms. So now all right-thinking, pardon me, left-thinking activists are going to say Big Oil caused the hurricane? Weren't there bad hurricanes in 1900 and the 1930s? Who caused them? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not know about any right- or left- thinking activists. Yes, there were hurricanes in the past, and I do not know what caused them. I will suggest, and strongly believe there is a problem with global-warming. I will suggest at least part of that problem has come about because there are far too many people on our planet to support them all sufficiently. I do not think the problem of over-population has to get to the visual extremes we have heard about in the past (so many people we each get a few feet of space to stand in, etc); it can simply get to where our resoures become more and more scarce. I live in a very small town, and I can go sometimes for a mile without seeing someone else. Aside from the fact that that _suits me fine_ I still maintain we have too many people on planet Earth to support them all. I think we each need to do our share to reduce the massive consumption of energy needed in our world. I do not know about any direct correlation between global warming and the disasterous weather conditions we have experienced in the past few years, but I strongly suggest there is a cause and effect somewhere. Even if we confine our search on this to things obvious before our eyes, such as the changes in weather conditions at the North/South Poles, and the unpleasant events of this past week, still, there has to be some cause and effect. The events of this past week and the changes at the polar regions are just two of the more obvious things for those of us who are not too bright. A measly little hurricane -- as nasty as it has been, but still a tiny event in the overall scheme of things -- is but a symptom in what to expect if things continue as they have. And it would seem everyone wants to have his own agenda figure into the process. Ignorant Christians who follow along after Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell and their ilk would like to have you believe that the tsunami at Christmas was "God's way of punishing the world because of the abundance of gay people in southeast Asia." I wonder how long it will be until Pat Robertson and others come to the conclusion that the abundance of gay people in the French Quarter in New Orleans led to the great Katrinia. All of us have agendas, it would seem, why not own up to your own agenda on this as well? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Dan Whitcomb Subject: More Charges for Los Angeles Man in ChoicePoint ID Theft Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 01:21:38 -0500 By Dan Whitcomb A Nigerian man has been indicted for infiltrating the personal data firm ChoicePoint Inc. to fraudulently access financial records of consumers in a still-widening case that has spurred calls for tighter regulation of the consumer information business. Oluwatunji Oluwatosin, who had already been sentenced to 16 months in prison in the ChoicePoint case, now faces 22 more charges, Los Angeles prosecutors said on Tuesday. The additional counts came as authorities broadened their investigation of data theft at ChoicePoint and said they expected more people to be charged in the case. Prosecutors said about 1,500 people had their personal data fraudulently accessed and an estimated 148,000 people nationwide were exposed to identity theft. The ChoicePoint case first came to light in February when the company -- as required by state law -- informed some 35,000 Californians that they were at risk for identity theft. "The 22-count grand jury indictment unsealed today represents one of the largest cases of identity theft ever prosecuted in Los Angeles County," Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said. The breach prompted investigations by federal authorities and a U.S. Senate committee. Sen. Diane Feinstein has used the ChoicePoint case to back her call for a federal law like the California regulation requiring data companies to advise consumers when their information has been compromised. Oluwatosin, 42, a resident of the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood, is accused of using mail drops to dupe ChoicePoint into thinking he ran a legitimate business, which allowed him access to the Georgia company's vast collection of consumer information. Prosecutors say Oluwatosin and other members of a fraud ring used that information to access existing credit card accounts or set up new accounts. The case caused $2 million in losses to Bank of America, Citibank, Bank One, Household Bank and Discover and another $2 million to ChoicePoint to cover the costs of notifying consumers whose data had been compromised. In February Oluwatosin was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading no contest to a single count of identity theft in the ChoicePoint case. Authorities continued the investigation while he was in prison. Oluwatosin faces 22 years in prison if convicted on all of the counts in the new indictment, which charges him with conspiracy, grand theft, identity theft and credit card access fraud. A second Nigerian national, Kabiru Olatunde Ipaye, 43, has been charged in a related case with receiving stolen property, access fraud, possessing a forged driver's license and other counts. ChoicePoint's databases contain 19 billion public records, including driving records, sex-offender lists and FBI lists of wanted criminals and suspected terrorists. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 12:20:18 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Microsoft Buys VoIP Firm USTelecom dailyLead August 31, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24269&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Microsoft buys VoIP firm BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Katrina causes phone service outages; SMS, blogs come through * Report: SBC to use AT&T name * Skype: We're not for sale * Microsoft, Nortel team up * Analysis: ITunes phone will face stiff competition * Icahn group mulls plan to boost Time Warner stake USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * TELECOM '05: Preparing You for What's NEXT EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Juniper makes WLAN plan REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * MCI settlement may be close Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24269&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Date: 31 Aug 2005 11:42:32 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) In article , wrote: > Joseph wrote: > Other companies had frequent disconnects while talking. > Batteries have a limited life span. Batteries and accessories are > very hard to find since they don't want you keeping old phones; I > guess they want the profit of selling you a new phone or having you > make use of the newest features which are a cost. Many fathers have > screamed over the text-messaging bill their kids have run up. > For myself, I've tried buying batteries at yard sales, but they're > usually no good; so I generally just use the phone in the car where I > have the adapter. I get about 15 minutes of time out of a battery so > I can use it for limited stuff and that's been helpful. So take the batteries to a local battery shop and get them recelled. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Telecom Scam Date: 31 Aug 2005 11:44:46 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Michael D. Sullivan wrote: > Eric Shoaf wrote: >> I just received this today. I called to see what the deal was. They >> required that I made over 50k, I bring my spouse to an office at 1250 >> 22nd Street NW, DC with two forms of ID. No Children. I would have to >> set through a 90 minute presentation. I felt this might be a scam, so >> I did a search on the phone number that I called on the internet and >> found Telecom Digest. > The address they gave you is for an Embassy Suites hotel (it's across > the street from my office, in fact), not an office building. Total > scam. Well, a lot of these guys give presentations in rented hotel conference rooms. Many of these program ARE scams, it's true, but just because they are using a hotel conference room doesn't mean they necessarily are one. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But we know for a fact that this one is a scam. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Internet Phone Companies May Cut Off Customers Date: 31 Aug 2005 09:41:41 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: A 'standard' set by AT&T for the > operating companies was to use '2121' or '2131' as well. The last four > digits were to preferably end in '1' and be repetitive. PAT]n In Phila, before 911, police was 231-3131. When 911 came in, they kept the old number and said to use that for minor police calls (ie dog parking, traffic light out) and only use 911 for serious emergencies. But everyone just used 911 and 231-3131 was dropped. Some cities have instituted another number (311) for low grade calls, but I don't know if it is successful. The Philadelphia 911 system badly failed when a young kid was brutally murdered. Several people called 911 to report the attack, but the overall computer system didn't take it as a critical call and police came out way too late. One problem was that all dispatchers were poorly trained and they all handled calls citywide rather than a specific area as they used too. Because of that they had no idea of multiple calls coming in. The family of the victim said if the city properly upgraded the system they would not sue and the city did so. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 00:38:45 -0600 From: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: Long Distance = 211 (was Sid Ceasar and Phones) Tim@Backhome.org wrote: > Actually, that part was accurate around the LA area (or at least the > suburban independents) in the 1950s. You dialed "0" for the local > operator and "211" for the long distance operator. In Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," Jimmy Stewart is watching (through a very long lens) his across-the-court neighbor (Raymond Burr) as Burr picks up the phone and dials three digits. Stewart, narrating the events to his girlfriend (Grace Kelly), recognizes "211" and mutters "long distance." ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Judge: Lawsuit About (NYS) Prison Phone Rates Can Proceed Date: 31 Aug 2005 07:10:53 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Danny Burstein wrote: > Center for Constitutional Rights announced a major victory on August 30, > 2005 for the families and friends of people incarcerated in New York State > prisons. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The prisoners in Illinois really need > to have such a lawsuit started also in their behalf. ... > Prisoners are given the 'privilege' > to make as many _collect_ phone calls as desired to names and phone > numbers on lists submitted by inmates at about one or two dollars per > _minute_. Keeping the prisoners out of touch with their families and > friends is one surefire way to guarentee a high rate of repeat incarcer- > ation, which is what the Corrections Industry needs for its own > 'success', along with the profits made on expensive phone calls. Many prisons and jails* charge high fees on prisoner collect calls. It is a profit source. IMHO that makes it an unconstitutional tax. Clearly it is immoral and foolish. These fees do not punish the guilty; rather, they punish the innocent families. It is not fair to make them suffer. Any prison textbook will tell you that family contact keeps recidivism down, and obviously that's something society wants. So in making family contact harder, these policies encourage crime, not deter it. One Long Island jail was in the news on how cruel they treat families. They must wait outdoors in the rain in a long line to be admitted. If capacity is exceeding, those in line are sent home; having made the trip for nothing. There are necessary security restrictions for prison visitors and phone calls, but the rates for phone calls are too high. They should be provided on a break-even basis. *Jails are normally county units for sentences of less than a year, prisons are normally state units for sentences of a year or longer. Both jails and prisons have collect phone service. One jail has phones in each cell, $1/minute. The New York Times had an editorial today about this: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/31/opinion/31wed3.html?pagewanted=print An extract: Faced with high prison costs, the states have been desperately seeking ways to make sure that people who are released from prison will forge viable lives outside -- and not end up right back behind bars. Part of the solution is to help former inmates find training, jobs and places to live. In this context, the increasingly common practice of jacking up the costs of inmates' telephone calls to bankrupting levels, and then using the profits to pay for some prison activities, is self-defeating and inhumane. It also amounts to a hidden tax on prisoners' families, who tend to be among the poorest in American society. A vast majority of the state prison systems have telephone setups that allow only collect calls. The person who accepts the call pays a premium that is sometimes as much as six times the going rate. Part of the money goes to the state itself in the form of a "commission" - or, more simply put, a legal kickback. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Some people, it seems, are unclear on the concept. Ask any police officer: People in prison are scum. If they are in jail (instead of prison) it is only because (a) we did not get around yet to putting them in prison (waiting for a trial) or (b) some 'liberals and activist judges' insist on giving the scum shorter sentences instead of taking the advice and wisdom afforded them by those of us who are Brave and Courageous Police Officers, because we know better on how to deal with scum. And if people in prison are scum (as the police officer has proven to you) then it only seems reasonable prisoner's families and friends are scum also. We cannot punish them (family and friends) as much as we would like, since that goddamned US constitution keeps standing in the way (or at least the way the 'liberals and activist judges' interpret it) so the best we (as police officers) can hope for is to punish them as severely as we can in order that maybe -- just maybe -- we will be able to drive a wedge between them and their loved ones. Make them jump hoops to be able to visit inmates; drive them into bankruptcy on their telephone bills; insist on investigating each visitor or recipient of a phone call as closely as we are allowed (in the hopes they also can be charged with something), etc. And, thank God for small favors, none of us ever have any of this pinned back on us; we never get our own noses rubbed in the messes we helped create, because in order for that to happen it requires that the scum be able to afford an attorney smart enough to know our 'system' and they are usually too expensive. (police to prisoners complaining there is only one working phone for them to use [of the six or eight installed there] and a huge number of new prisoners just brought in): 'its not _our_ fault the phones are not working; _you_ would need to notify the telephone company.' (police to visitors waiting in a line outside in inclement weather to get in to visit who have been waiting four hours since that is when the Salvation Army bus got there that day: 'its not _our_ fault it is raining today [or ten degrees below zero]. Our 'regulations' say that only X and Y can be allowed to visit today, and then only if X and Y submit to all sorts of humiliation [which they call procedures] first. Oh, they'll blame it on any- and everything: 'terrorism' being their first choice in recent years. And I guess you may have read in the news recently where President Bush wants FBI to now investigate all prisoners and their families/friends to detirmine if they have become 'radicalized' by their treatment in prisons/jails. Cannot have any new terrorists coming out of jail/prison ready to kick ass, can we? I guess the prisoners and families are expected to say to the prez, "oh no, massah, no hard feelings on this end.". PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code Date: 31 Aug 2005 09:45:39 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Associated Press NewsWire wrote: > A Connecticut man known on the Internet as "illwill" pleaded guilty in > Manhattan federal court on Monday to charges relating to the theft of > the source code to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating software, > considered among the company's crown jewels. I believe IBM always made the source code available for its mainframe operating systems. Competitors could and would use it for supplemental utility programs. They would write links and exits to/from the operating system for maximum program efficiency. If IBM can release it, why can't Microsoft? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I guess Microsoft _doesn't want_ to release their code, and no law says they have to. But as a matter of fact, they do release it to 'recognized developers' (not just, in street parlance, 'hackers') to work with provided the same recognized developers take a vow of total secrecy about their projects and require the same vows of secrecy from their employees, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #396 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Sep 1 15:18:59 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id CF70A153E8; Thu, 1 Sep 2005 15:18:58 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #397 Message-Id: <20050901191858.CF70A153E8@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 15:18:58 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Sep 2005 15:19:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 397 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Violence, Looting, Fires Delay Superdome Evacuation (Adam Nossiter) Recording Industry Files 754 More Suits (Reuters News Wire) Hurricane Katrina Cuts Phone Service For Others Also (Reuters News Wire) European Cell Phones to Get Faster Data (Reuters News Wire) OnStar by GM Turns Ten Years Old (Monty Solomon) With 25-Song Cap, iTunes Phone May Underwhelm (Monty Solomon) Microsoft Serious About VOIP (USTA Daily Lead) Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also (Diamond Dave) Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code (Joe Morris) Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code (Barry Margolin) Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? (Steve Sobol) Re: More Charges for Los Angeles Man in ChoicePoint ID Theft (Steve Sobol) Re: Long Distance = 211 (was Sid Ceasar and Phones) (Tim@Backhome.org) Re: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers (mc) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Adam Nossiter Subject: Violence, Looting, Riots, Fires Delay Superdome Evacuation Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 12:30:03 -0500 Unrest Intensifies at Superdome Shelter By ADAM NOSSITER, Associated Press Writer Fights and trash fires broke out, rescue helicopters were shot at and anger mounted across New Orleans on Thursday, as National Guardsmen in armored vehicles poured in to help restore order across this increasingly desperate and lawless city. "We are out here like pure animals. We don't have help," the Rev. Issac Clark, 68, said outside the New Orleans Convention Center, where corpses lay in the open and evacuees complained that they were dropped off and given nothing. An additional 10,000 National Guardsman from across the country were ordered into the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast to shore up security, rescue and relief operations in Katrina's wake as looting, shootings, gunfire, carjackings spread and food and water ran out. But some Federal Emergency Management rescue operations were suspended in areas where gunfire has broken out, Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said in Washington. "In areas where our employees have been determined to potentially be in danger, we have pulled back," he said. "Hospitals are trying to evacuate," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan, spokesman at the city emergency operations center. "At every one of them, there are reports that as the helicopters come in people are shooting at them. There are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, "You better come get my family. Police Capt. Ernie Demmo said a National Guard military policeman was shot in the leg as the two scuffled for the MP's rifle. The man was arrested. "These are good people. These are just scared people," Demmo said. The Superdome, where some 25,000 people were being evacuated by bus to the Houston Astrodome, descended into chaos. Huge crowds, hoping to finally escape the stifling confines of the stadium, jammed the main concourse outside the dome, spilling out over the ramp to the Hyatt hotel next door -- a seething sea of tense, unhappy, people packed shoulder-to-shoulder up to the barricades where heavily armed National Guardsmen stood. Fights broke out. A fire erupted in a trash chute inside the dome, but a National Guard commander said it did not affect the evacuation. After a traffic jam kept buses from arriving at the Sueprdome for nearly four hours, a near riot broke out in the scramble to get on the buses that finally did show up. Outside the Convention Center, the sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement. Thousands of storm refugees had been assembling outside for days, waiting for buses that did not come. At least seven bodies were scattered outside, and hungry, desperate people who were tired of waiting broke through the steel doors to a food service entrance and began pushing out pallets of water and juice and whatever else they could find. An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet. "I don't treat my dog like that," 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. "I buried my dog." He added: "You can do everything for other countries but you can't do nothing for your own people. You can go overseas with the military but you can't get them down here." Just above the convention center on Interstate 10, commercial buses were lined up, going nowhere. The street outside the center, above the floodwaters, smelled of urine and feces, and was choked with dirty diapers, old bottles and garbage. "They've been teasing us with buses for four days," Edwards said. People chanted, "Help, help!" as reporters and photographers walked through. The crowd got angry when journalists tried to photograph one of the bodies, and covered it over with a blanket. A woman, screaming, went on the front steps of the convention center and led the crowd in reciting the 23rd Psalm. John Murray, 52, said: "It's like they're punishing us." The first of hundreds of busloads of people evacuated from the Superdome arrived early Thursday at their new temporary home -- another sports arena, the Houston Astrodome, 350 miles away. But the ambulance service in charge of taking the sick and injured from the Superdome suspended flights after a shot was reported fired at a military helicopter. Richard Zuschlag, chief of Acadian Ambulance, said it had become too dangerous for his pilots. The military, which was overseeing the removal of the able-bodied by buses, continued the ground evacuation without interruption, said National Guard Lt. Col. Pete Schneider. The government had no immediate confirmation of whether a military helicopter was fired on. In Texas, the governor's office said Texas has agreed to take in an additional 25,000 refugees from Katrina and plans to house them in San Antonio, though exactly where has not been determined. In Washington, the White House said President Bush will tour the devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign for victims. The president urged a crackdown on the lawlessness. "I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this -- whether it be looting, or price gouging at the gasoline pump, or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud," Bush said. "And I've made that clear to our attorney general. The citizens ought to be working together." On Wednesday, Mayor Ray Nagin offered the most startling estimate yet of the magnitude of the disaster: Asked how many people died in New Orleans, he said: "Minimum, hundreds. Most likely, thousands." The death toll has already reached at least 121 in Mississippi. If the estimate proves correct, it would make Katrina the worst natural disaster in the United States since at least the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which was blamed for anywhere from about 500 to 6,000 deaths. Katrina would also be the nation's deadliest hurricane since 1900, when a storm in Galveston, Texas, killed between 6,000 and 12,000 people. Nagin called for a total evacuation of New Orleans, saying the city had become uninhabitable for the 50,000 to 100,000 who remained behind after the city of nearly a half-million people was ordered cleared out over the weekend, before Katrina blasted the Gulf Coast with 145-mph winds. The mayor said that it will be two or three months before the city is functioning again and that people would not be allowed back into their homes for at least a month or two. "We need an effort of 9-11 proportions," former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, now president of the Urban League, said on NBC's "Today" show. "So many of the people who did not evacuate, could not evacuate for whatever reason. They are people who are African-American mostly but not completely, and people who were of little or limited economic means. They are the folks, we've got to get them out of there." "A great American city is fighting for its life," he added. "We must rebuild New Orleans, the city that gave us jazz, and music, and multiculturalism." With New Orleans sinking deeper into desperation, Nagin ordered virtually the entire police force to abandon search-and-rescue efforts Wednesday and stop the increasingly brazen thieves. "They are starting to get closer to heavily populated areas - hotels, hospitals, and we're going to stop it right now," Nagin said. In a sign of growing lawlessness, Tenet HealthCare Corp. asked authorities late Wednesday to help evacuate a fully functioning hospital in Gretna after a supply truck carrying food, water and medical supplies was held up at gunpoint. The floodwaters streamed into the city's streets from two levee breaks near Lake Pontchartrain a day after New Orleans thought it had escaped catastrophic damage from Katrina. The floodwaters covered 80 percent of the city, in some areas 20 feet deep, in a reddish-brown soup of sewage, gasoline and garbage. The Army Corps of Engineers said it planned to use heavy-duty Chinook helicopters to drop 15,000-pound bags of sand and stone into a 500-foot gap in the failed floodwall. But the agency said it was having trouble getting the sandbags and dozens of 15-foot highway barriers to the site because the city's waterways were blocked by loose barges, boats and large debris. Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu toured the stricken areas said said rescued people begged him to pass information to their families. His pocket was full of scraps of paper on which he had scribbled down their phone numbers. When he got a working phone in the early morning hours Thursday, he contacted a woman whose father had been rescued and told her: "Your daddy's alive, and he said to tell you he loves you." "She just started crying. She said, `I thought he was dead,'" he said. Associated Press reporters Holbrook Mohr, Mary Foster, Robert Tanner, Allen G. Breed, Cain Burdeau, Jay Reeves and Brett Martel contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For more Katrina and other news, also go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Recording Industry Sues More U.S. File Swappers Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 12:36:59 -0500 The recording industry on Wednesday filed its latest round of copyright infringement lawsuits, targeting 754 people it claims used online file-sharing networks to illegally trade in songs. The lawsuits were filed in federal district courts across the country, including California, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The world's major record labels, represented by the Recording Industry Association of America, have filed more than 14,000 such lawsuits since September 2003. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Hurricane Katrina Cuts Phone Service to Millions Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 10:10:11 -0500 Millions of people in storm-ravaged areas of the southern United States were without telephone service on Wednesday, with flooding and power outages from Hurricane Katrina hampering efforts to restore networks. BellSouth Corp., the dominant local telephone company in much of the area, said service had been cut to about 1.75 million customers along the Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to Florida. Spokesman Joseph Chandler said 750,000 customers were in the hardest-hit areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. Large wireless carriers also reported problems with their networks. "A significant amount of the network is out in all of the areas affected, especially in areas such as New Orleans," said Cingular Wireless spokesman Ritch Blasi. "As the waters and floods subside, we'll begin some of the restoration efforts." With power still out in many parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, the switches and infrastructure that runs the telecommunications networks were operating on backup power, either batteries or generators. Chandler said BellSouth was beginning to assess the damage to its network in Alabama and Mississippi, but it might be some time before it was able to reach its equipment in New Orleans. About 80 percent of the city is under water. Cellular companies said text messages and e-mails were more likely to reach people on cellular phones than voice calls. Such messages are sent as small bursts of data and can find a path to the network more easily than a voice call, which requires a steady connection. Some cell phone users were also able to place calls, but not receive them, depending on which cellular towers were working. Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Sheryl Sellaway said the company's network was starting to improve from Tuesday. Cingular, the wireless venture of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth, and Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, had used stores in some areas to offer free calling and phone recharging. Sellaway said Verizon was also readying portable cellular towers to be deployed in areas where the company had lost equipment or could not reach it. With hit-or-miss telephone service, many people turned to the Internet to attempt contact relatives or friends. Several Internet sites set up boards for people to post messages to reach relatives or swap news about particular neighborhoods. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: European Cellphones to Get Faster Data Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 10:42:41 -0500 T-Mobile International, Deutsche Telekom's mobile division, will launch the new HSDPA high-speed mobile service in four European countries by March to improve Internet speed on mobile phones. HSDPA is a special version of third generation (3G) mobile phone services, offering data speed which allows clients to watch television on mobile phones and is even faster than many fixed-line broadband connections. "High-speed 3G will be available wherever T-Mobile already offers 3G coverage," T-Mobile Chief Executive Rene Obermann said at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin. T-Mobile has 3G services in Germany, Britain, Austria and the Netherlands. The new service, also dubbed the "data turbo," will deliver transmission rates of up to 1.8 megabits per second initially, and 7.2 megabits per second eventually, Obermann said. Typical DSL fixed-line broadband delivers 1 megabit per second. T-Mobile will also launch a new subscription plan in Germany called mobile@home, designed to fully replace a fixed-line connection at home, mimicking a popular plan offered by rival O2's German arm. Subscribers of mobile@home will pay the much lower call fees used in fixed-line networks if their mobile phones are detected to be in their homes. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 18:40:35 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: OnStar by GM Turns Ten Years Old Nearly 4 million GM customers receive value and benefits from OnStar safety, security and peace of mind services DETROIT, Aug. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Since beginning operations in 1995, OnStar by GM has grown to become the nation's leading provider of in-vehicle safety, security and communications services using wireless and Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite technology. Throughout the past ten years, OnStar has continually evolved, providing its nearly 4 million subscribers with the industry's most comprehensive in-vehicle safety and security system. On average each month, OnStar advisors respond to more than 383,000 routing calls, 43,000 remote door unlocks, 23,000 roadside assistance calls, 27,000 remote vehicle diagnostic checks, more than 400 stolen vehicle location assistance requests, 900 air bag deployment notifications, 15,000 emergency service requests, and 5,000 Good Samaritan calls. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51481153 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 12:19:16 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: With 25-Song Cap, iTunes Phone May Underwhelm David M. Ewalt and Peter Kafka NEW YORK - For more than a year, Apple and Motorola's plans to release an iTunes-enabled phone have tantalized the music and mobile phone businesses. Now, with the two companies set to unveil the long-rumored handset Sept. 7, they might be underdelivering. A person who has seen a version of the phone says it was designed to accommodate just 25 songs, which would be "sideloaded" from a user's computer using iTunes. The phone was equipped with a 128-megabyte Sandisk TransFlash memory card -- just one-quarter the capacity of Apple's smallest iPod, the 512-megabyte shuffle, which holds about 120 songs. While it should be possible to swap out the memory card on the new iTunes phone for one with more capacity, the person who has seen the handset says the phone's software appears to artificially cap song storage at 25 songs, regardless of how much memory the phone has. http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/08/30/itunes-motorola-phone-cx_pak_0830ipod.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 13:43:51 -0400 (EDT) From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Microsoft Serious About VoIP USTelecom dailyLead September 1, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24306&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Analysis: Microsoft serious about VoIP BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Coral Wireless taps Nortel for Oahu network * Amedia bets on HDTV * Sprint Nextel unveils new logo, branding message * Boingo adds 36 airport hotspots * Report: Cox hires BellSouth exec for VoIP USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Bookstore: Everything for the Telecom Professional EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Skype, German mobile firm sign deal REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC could change roaming rules * MCI's vote on Verizon merger scheduled for Oct. 6 Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24306&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: Diamond Dave Subject: Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also Organization: The BBS Corner / Diamond Mine On-Line Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:11:21 -0400 On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 02:16:28 GMT, Jim Burks wrote: > Has anybody heard from Mark Cuccia? Hopefully, he either got out of town, or > is keeping his head above water. I know Mark quite well and I'm conerned about his well being as well. I have not heard from him since Sunday afternoon. He told me he was staying put at his apartment in the eastern section of New Orleans. His mother and sister left for Houston about a day before Katrina hit. I keep trying his home phone and cell phone, but obviously neither are working. Hopefully he is alright. If I hear anything, I'll post it here as well as other places where he has been known to hang out. If anyone gets a hold of him before I do, please do the same! In addition to his well being, I'm also worried if his apartment got flooded and that he lost a lot of telco related books and manuals that he has collected over the years. Lets keep everyone involved in our thoughts and prayers!! Dave Perrussel Webmaster - Telephone World http://www.dmine.com/phworld [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might wish to try the Tulane University library, where he was employed, and ask them what they know, if anything. I do not know how badly, if at all, the flood affected the library and its book collections. Obviously, the phones are out, but perhaps someone with some imagination can find a way to reach the library staff. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joe Morris Subject: Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 12:50:44 UTC Organization: The MITRE Organization hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > I believe IBM always made the source code available for its mainframe > operating systems. Competitors could and would use it for supplemental > utility programs. They would write links and exits to/from the > operating system for maximum program efficiency. Until June 1969 (a date known in the IBM mainframe community as "New World") IBM (with a very few exceptions) didn't even copyright its software, and did not charge for it. The price was bundled into the charges for IBM hardware. That's why you can find the source for pre-New World MVS and VM on the Internet, and run them in the Hercules S/370 emulator on a PC. After New World, the combined pressure of the IBM mainframe clone manufacturers and the Justice Department antitrust lawsuit gave IBM the opening to unbundle software and begin charging what were then extremely high prices. (On the day of the New World announcement IBM released four "program products". A headline in a subsequent issue of _Computerworld_ read "SURPRISE! Software costs as much as a printer!". The reference was to one of the four program products, Generalized Information System (GIS), which had a monthly charge (running forever) of ~US$1200 (in 1969 dollars!), which was about the same as the monthly rental fee for a 1403-N1 1100 lpm printer. Don't take the above price as exact; it's been 36 years ... However ... even after New World many of the program products still offered an option for the customer to obtain the (copyrighted) source code. A few years later, however, the PHB contingent at IBM decided that it was a Bad Thing to allow mere customers to see the source code, with the result that IBM implemented the Object Code Only (OCO) policy. IBM insisted that there was no need for customers to see the source or *gasp* modify it to meet their organization's requirements because IBM was providing defined interfaces that gave customers all they needed. (Does this sound like the attitude of a certain software vendor in Redmond?) One other consequence of the OCO policy was that the customers could no longer debug the problems that were encountered when using the IBM products. One industry observer (Melinda Varian, I think, but I'm not sure and I've not talked to Melinda in many years) commented that with the OCO policy IBM had fired its most productive systems support staff: the unpaid (by IBM) customers. Joe Morris ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code Organization: Symantec Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:13:33 -0400 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Associated Press NewsWire wrote: >> A Connecticut man known on the Internet as "illwill" pleaded guilty in >> Manhattan federal court on Monday to charges relating to the theft of >> the source code to Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating software, >> considered among the company's crown jewels. > I believe IBM always made the source code available for its mainframe > operating systems. Competitors could and would use it for supplemental > utility programs. They would write links and exits to/from the > operating system for maximum program efficiency. When IBM did this, they were a hardware company. The OS was just something that made their hardware useful to the customer, it wasn't considered valuable on its own. And if third-party vendors made use of it to make more applications and peripherals available, it meant that IBM would sell even *more* computers. So there was little down side to making the OS available. But Microsoft is a software company. All they have is their software, and if someone else starts selling it, those are sales that Microsoft has lost. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Is Verizon Wireless Sabotaging Older Cell Phones? Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 18:36:14 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > I don't know about that stuff. I do know that, for some time now, > none of the carriers would activate any analog phones. There is, from the carrier's perspective, a very good reason not to activate analog-only phones; you can't put anywhere near the number of callers onto a tower with analog that you can with digital. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: More Charges for Los Angeles Man in ChoicePoint ID Theft Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:19:41 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Dan Whitcomb wrote: > A Nigerian man Scams, financial and otherwise, seem to be a growth industry in Nigeria. This is probably a pipe dream, but I'd love to see these slimebags hit hard with economic sanctions of some sort. I just don't know how much trade we do with them (probably not much coming into the US; the question is, how much going out?) Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: Long Distance = 211 (was Sid Ceasar and Phones) Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 03:26:24 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications nmclain@annsgarden.com wrote: > Tim@Backhome.org wrote: >> Actually, that part was accurate around the LA area (or at least the >> suburban independents) in the 1950s. You dialed "0" for the local >> operator and "211" for the long distance operator. > In Alfred Hitchcock's "Rear Window," Jimmy Stewart is watching > (through a very long lens) his across-the-court neighbor (Raymond > Burr) as Burr picks up the phone and dials three digits. Stewart, > narrating the events to his girlfriend (Grace Kelly), recognizes "211" > and mutters "long distance." I wonder whether "211" was just a California thing in those days? If so, wasn't Jimmy, Raymond, and Grace (oh what a beautiful woman ;-) in an apartment house in NYC? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know we had '211' in the Chicago area in those days and in New York City as well. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 16:40:30 EDT Subject: Re: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy In a message dated Tue, 30 Aug 2005 16:01:57 -0700, Tim@Backhome.org writes: > hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> letting it properly return. The man then made another call, this time >> dialing only three digits. "Long Distance? Get me Walt Disney in >> Hollywood!". > Actually, that part was accurate around the LA area (or at least the > suburban independents) in the 1950s. You dialed "0" for the local > operator and "211" for the long distance operator. Was this true in LA, which was still primarily step at this time? Most predominantly step cities used "110" for the Long Distance operator. Predominantly panel type cities (including those that had some crossbar mixed in by this time) used "211." Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com wleathus@yahoo.com ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:14:51 -0400 I thought this (comp.dcom.telecom) was a moderated newsgroup. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I kept the 'Re:' on the subject line of this message because even though _I_ did not see this message at all (it may have fallen in the spam trash basket here and gone unobserved), apparently _some people_ got the original comment. If anyone wants to tell me what the _original message_ was all about, I will be most appreciative. My presumption (we know what 'they' say about 'assume' and 'assumption'; what do 'they' say about 'presume' and 'presumption'?) is that it was some flavor of spam, or scam, or other get-rich-quick scheme. And yes, mc, c.d.t. is in theory a moderated newsgroup. Years and years ago, I would have seen your message (of course, I probably would have seen my copy of it also) and dropped everything to rush around and find out which news site had a leak which was allowing the spam/scam to propogate around the net. It was important to keep _my_ newsgroup looking impeccable. I would have sat here and put out control:cancel messages until I was blue in the face, to keep the newsgroup clean. That's when I was known as the moderator who did not give a shit, or even an iota of a shit. For quite some time now, Usenet has been an area that I simply cannot be concerned about. Yes, I still feed it daily, but no, I do not worry about the sewage which flows in from everywhere on an almost daily basis. Like the former crown jewel of the south, New Orleans, the internet is sinking deeper and deeper into the mire every day. Like we are going to see in the instance of New Orleans where most people who _matter_ and most institutions which _matter_ are going to desert it totally over the next couple of years, giving it over to the Red Ants which are feasting on the carcasses -- human and animal -- floating along Canal Street, we'll begin to see (already have begun to see) less and less of what _matters_ on the net, which in the 1980-90's used to be our own crown jewel. If someone who has a copy of the message in question will send it to me, I'll do a cancel on it if it is still possible. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #397 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Sep 2 06:27:45 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 453D3151D2; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 06:27:45 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #398 Message-Id: <20050902102745.453D3151D2@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 06:27:45 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Sep 2005 06:27:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 398 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Orleans in Total Anarchy With Rapes, Fights, Looting (Allen G. Breed) Houston Astrodome Now Full, Accepting No More Refugees (Easton & Curry) Important Gulf Coast Update from T-Mobile (Monty Solomon) Verizon Wireless Takes Legal Action Against Florida, Calif (Monty Solomon) Verizon Wireless Working Round-the-Clock to Restore Service (Monty Solomon) 1954 Movie Telephone Scenes (Lisa Hancock) Mark Cuccia (was Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also) (Diamond Dave) Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also (Paul Coxwell) Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? (Paul Coxwell) Re: Long Distance = 211 (was Sid Ceasar and Phones) (Neal McLain) Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code (Julian Thomas) Re: Dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers (Lisa Hancock) Re: Dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers (mc) Re: Dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers (Bruce L. Bergman) Re: Dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers (Steve Sobol) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Allen G. Breed Subject: New Orleans in Total Anarchy With Fights, Looting, Rapes Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 03:31:15 -0500 By ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writer New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out, cops turned in their badges and the governor declared war on looters who have made the city a menacing landscape of disorder and fear. "They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said of 300 National Guard troops who landed in New Orleans fresh from duty in Iraq. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will." Four days after Hurricane Katrina roared in with a devastating blow that inflicted potentially thousands of deaths, the fear, anger and violence mounted Thursday. "I'm not sure I'm going to get out of here alive," said Canadian tourist Larry Mitzel, who handed a reporter his business card in case he goes missing. "I'm scared of riots. I'm scared of the locals. We might get caught in the crossfire." The chaos deepened despite the promise of 1,400 National Guardsmen a day to stop the looting, plans for a $10 billion recovery bill in Congress and a government relief effort President Bush called the biggest in U.S. history. New Orleans' top emergency management official called that effort a "national disgrace" and questioned when reinforcements would actually reach the increasingly lawless city. About 15,000 to 20,000 people who had taken shelter at New Orleans convention center grew ever more hostile after waiting for buses for days amid the filth and the dead. Police Chief Eddie Compass said there was such a crush around a squad of 88 officers that they retreated when they went in to check out reports of assaults. "We have individuals who are getting raped, we have individuals who are getting beaten," Compass said. "Tourists are walking in that direction and they are getting preyed upon." Col. Henry Whitehorn, chief of the Louisiana State Police, said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers -- many of whom from flooded areas -- turning in their badges. "They indicated that they had lost everything and didn't feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives," Whitehorn said. A military helicopter tried to land at the convention center several times to drop off food and water. But the rushing crowd forced the choppers to back off. Troopers then tossed the supplies to the crowd from 10 feet off the ground and flew away. In hopes of defusing the situation at the convention center, Mayor Ray Nagin gave the refugees permission to march across a bridge to the city's unflooded west bank for whatever relief they could find. But the bedlam made that difficult. "This is a desperate SOS," Nagin said in a statement. "Right now we are out of resources at the convention center and don't anticipate enough buses." At least seven bodies were scattered outside the convention center, a makeshift staging area for those rescued from rooftops, attics and highways. The sidewalks were packed with people without food, water or medical care, and with no sign of law enforcement. An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet. "I don't treat my dog like that," 47-year-old Daniel Edwards said as he pointed at the woman in the wheelchair. "You can do everything for other countries, but you can't do nothing for your own people," he added. "You can go overseas with the military, but you can't get them down here." The street outside the center, above the floodwaters, smelled of urine and feces, and was choked with dirty diapers, old bottles and garbage. "They've been teasing us with buses for four days," Edwards said. "They're telling us they're going to come get us one day, and then they don't show up." Every so often, an armored state police vehicle cruised in front of the convention center with four or five officers in riot gear with automatic weapons. But there was no sign of help from the National Guard. At one point the crowd began to chant "We want help! We want help!" Later, a woman, screaming, went on the front steps of the convention center and led the crowd in reciting the 23rd Psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd ..." "We are out here like pure animals," the Issac Clark said. "We've got people dying out here -- two babies have died, a woman died, a man died," said Helen Cheek. "We haven't had no food, we haven't had no water, we haven't had nothing. They just brought us here and dropped us." Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, "'Go to hell -- it's every man for himself.'" "This is just insanity," she said. "We have no food, no water ... all these trucks and buses go by and they do nothing but wave." FEMA director Michael Brown said the agency just learned about the situation at the convention center Thursday and quickly scrambled to provide food, water and medical care and remove the corpses. Speaking on CNN's "Larry King Live," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the evacuation of New Orleans should be completed by the end of the weekend. At the hot and stinking Superdome, where 30,000 were being evacuated by bus to the Houston Astrodome, fistfights and fires erupted amid a seething sea of tense, suffering people who waited in a lines that stretched a half-mile to board yellow school buses. After a traffic jam kept buses from arriving for nearly four hours, a riot broke out in the scramble to get on the buses that finally did show up, with a group of refugees breaking through a line of heavily armed National Guardsmen. One military policeman was shot in the leg as he and a man scuffled for the MP's rifle, police Capt. Ernie Demmo said. The man was arrested. Some of those among the mostly poor crowd had been in the dome for four days without air conditioning, working toilets or a place to bathe. An ambulance service airlifting the sick and injured out of the Superdome suspended flights as too dangerous after it was reported that a bullet was fired at a military helicopter. "If they're just taking us anywhere, just anywhere, I say praise God," said refugee John Phillip. "Nothing could be worse than what we've been through." By Thursday evening, 11 hours after the military began evacuating the Superdome, the arena held 10,000 more people than it did at dawn. National Guard Capt. John Pollard said evacuees from around the city poured into the Superdome and swelled the crowd to about 30,000 because they believed the arena was the best place to get a ride out of town. As he watched a line snaking for blocks through ankle-deep waters, New Orleans' emergency operations chief Terry Ebbert blamed the inadequate response on the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "This is not a FEMA operation. I haven't seen a single FEMA guy," he said. He added: "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims, but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans." FEMA officials said some operations had to be suspended in areas where gunfire has broken out, but are working overtime to feed people and restore order. A day after Nagin took 1,500 police officers off search-and-rescue duty to try to restore order in the streets, there were continued reports of looting, shootings, gunfire and carjackings - and not all the crimes were driven by greed. When some hospitals try to airlift patients, Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Cheri Ben-Iesan said, "there are people just taking potshots at police and at helicopters, telling them, `You better come get my family.'" Outside a looted Rite-Aid drugstore, some people were anxious to show they needed what they were taking. A gray-haired man who would not give his name pulled up his T-shirt to show a surgery scar and explained that he needs pads for incontinence. "I'm a Christian. I feel bad going in there," he said. Earl Baker carried toothpaste, toothbrushes and deodorant. "Look, I'm only getting necessities," he said. "All of this is personal hygiene. I ain't getting nothing to get drunk or high with." Several thousand storm victims had arrived in Houston by Thursday night, and they quickly got hot meals, showers and some much-needed rest. Audree Lee, 37, was thrilled after getting a shower and hearing her teenage daughter's voice on the telephone for the first time since the storm. Lee had relatives take her daughter to Alabama so she would be safe. "I just cried. She cried. We cried together," Lee said. "She asked me about her dog. They wouldn't let me take her dog with me. ... I know the dog is gone now." While floodwaters in the city appeared to stabilize, efforts continued to plug three breaches that had opened up in the levee system that protects this below-sea-level city. Helicopters dropped sandbags into the breach and pilings were being pounded into the mouth of the canal Thursday to close its connection to Lake Pontchartrain, state Transportation Secretary Johnny Bradberry said. The next step called for using about 250 concrete road barriers to seal the gap. In Washington, the White House said Bush will tour the devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign for victims. The president urged a crackdown on the lawlessness. "I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this -- whether it be looting, or price gouging at the gasoline pump, or taking advantage of charitable giving or insurance fraud," Bush said. "And I've made that clear to our attorney general. The citizens ought to be working together." Donald Dudley, a 55-year-old New Orleans seafood merchant, complained that when he and other hungry refugees broke into the kitchen of the convention center and tried to prepare food, the National Guard chased them away. "They pulled guns and told us we had to leave that kitchen or they would blow our damn brains out," he said. "We don't want their help. Give us some vehicles and we'll get ourselves out of here!" Associated Press reporters Adam Nossiter, Brett Martel, Robert Tanner and Mary Foster contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And so, desite working all day and night to evacuate people, at the end of the day they wind up with _ten thousand more people_ than they started out with that morning. It seems like someone (Mister Mayor -- Ray Nagin -- perhaps) may have miscalculated how many people heeded the original 'mandatory' evacuation request last weekend. And a terribly sad part of this story was on a video tape Thursday evening on WWL-Channel 4 (with its 24 hour per day continuous coverage of the spectacle): Four young children, the oldest age eight) wandering around at the SuperDome with their mother missing; apparently when the kids were rescued the rescuers somehow missed getting (or did not find) the mother. The oldest child, the eight year old boy was watching so protectively over his three younger siblings, who were all crying. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Pam Easton and Matt Curry Subject: Houston Astrodome Now Full, Accepting no More Evacuees Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 03:34:05 -0500 By PAM EASTON and MATT CURRY, Associated Press Writers After accepting more than 11,000 Hurricane Katrina evacuees, officials said the Astrodome was full and at least temporarily halted the flow of evacuees into the shelter Thursday night. "We've actually reached capacity for the safety and comfort of the people inside there," American Red Cross spokeswoman Dana Allen said shortly before midnight. She said people were "packed pretty tight" on the floor of the Astrodome. Instead of sending arriving buses away to other shelters, however, officials decided early Friday to process the refugees there and begin housing people in the adjacent Reliant Center, where the Houston Texans play football, said Houston press secretary Patrick Trahan. It wasn't immediately clear if others would be housed at the Astrodome. At least 20 buses were lined up in three directions outside the Astrodome early Friday. Dozens of frustrated and angry people milled about outside. They were handed bottles of cold water, baggies with sandwiches -- for many it was their first cold water or food in days -- and greeted by Houston officials. Before we left New Orleans they said everybody will be in the Astrodome," said Patricia Profit, who stood outside one of the buses while some of her relatives were inside the Astrodome. "'Don't panic, don't worry, you'll still be with your family.' That's what they told us. Now we can't be with our family." Houston's fire marshal had made the decision that the stadium was full, said police Sgt. Nathan McDuell. "It would be unfortunate if we were to bring these individuals from a desperate situation and create another desperate situation here," McDuell said. He later said the situation had been reassessed and more people could be processed. "It's a very fluid situation and we have to deal with the situations as they arrive," McDuell said. "Our main goal and main interest is to make sure everybody is safe." The total of 11,375 inside the Astrodome when the initial decision on capacity was made was less than half the estimated 23,000 people who were expected to arrive by bus from New Orleans in Houston, and even that estimate is now being reconsidered in light of the more than ten thousand additional citizens previously unaccounted for who arrived at the SuperDome in New Orleans. Those refugees who arrived earlier, weary from days in the sweltering, miserable conditions at the Superdome, were happy to get a shower, a hot meal and a cool place to sleep. Thirty deputies working on overtime provided security and searched refugees for weapons. A few people were arrested, although Sheriff Tommy Thomas didn't have an exact count. He said some men were arrested for going into the female showers. Others were arrested for fighting over cots. "These bunks are going to be territorial. Somebody gets up and then somebody's going to take their bunk," Thomas said. Police officers also have confiscated 30 guns, most of which have been voluntarily surrendered, McDuell said. He added, "they may have needed these things in New Orleans, they won't need them here." Doctors and nurses set up a clinic to help people with high blood pressure, diabetes and other health problems. Ambulances waited in the parking lots for those needing hospital care, said Dr. Herminia Polacio, a Harris County public health official. "Many of them have been in situations in the Superdome where they have been under quite a bit of duress, such as several days without medication," she said. Organizers spent the past two days setting up cots that covered the Astrodome's cement floor. They provided phones and a message board so refugees could contact loved ones, and gathered supplies such as bottled water, soap, toothbrushes and diapers. Outside the Astrodome, trucks delivered sandwiches and paramedics assessed new arrivals for health problems under tents in a makeshift triage center. Evacuees, most who hadn't bathed since the hurricane hit Monday, showered in one of four locker rooms once used by the Houston Astros and the Houston Oilers. Those teams now play in new stadiums, one within walking distance of the aging Astrodome. Audree Lee, 37, felt relief after getting a shower and hearing her teenage daughter's voice on the telephone for the first time since the storm. Lee had relatives take her daughter to Alabama so she would be safe. "I just cried. She cried. We cried together," Lee said. As she was offered chips and an apple, Lee said the conditions Houston are far better than they were in New Orleans, but she can't wait to get back to her home state. "I've never been through anything like this," she said. "We have nothing to go home to. I just want to be safe and comfortable." Volunteer Daniel Rittgers said many of the refugees remain in shock. "They are still in the moment of survival," he said. "They have been displaced." The first refugees arrived Wednesday night on a school bus, apparently commandeered by a person who then picked up other evacuees who were stranded on the interstate. Another school bus arrived about two hours later, followed by the first commercial bus that was part of the emergency evacuation effort to transport Superdome residents to Houston. Hungry and tired, the refugees ate scrambled eggs, biscuits and orange juice for breakfast, and then passed out on cots to get some much-needed rest. "People are so happy to have a hot meal," said Margaret O'Brien Molina, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross. "Some of the folks haven't had a hot meal in days." Some, however, weren't pleased about the long trip to Texas. Ruby Roussell, who lost her house and car to the hurricane, said she climbed aboard a bus in New Orleans thinking she'd be dropped off in Baton Rouge, where she has family. Instead, she found herself in Houston. "We didn't choose to come to this place," she said. "We didn't ask to come here." Farrell Johnson, a 54-year-old carpenter from New Orleans, said the shelter was overcrowded Thursday afternoon and tempers had begun to flare. He said it's hard not to be frustrated given the circumstances. "First, you know, we done lost everything," he said. "See what I have on? This is it. That is enough right there." Houston Mayor Bill White said some problems are to be expected. "You're talking about God's children here ... My mom and dad used to say, 'There's always a few bad apples,'" he said. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. More stories from Associated Press and others at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 02:00:28 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Important Gulf Coast Update from T-Mobile BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 2, 2005--T-Mobile USA today issued an update on its efforts to restore its wireless network in the north Gulf Coast areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Following is updated information from T-Mobile as of Sept. 2: -- More than 80 percent of T-Mobile market coverage is now operational in the Mobile, Ala. area. -- More than 40 percent of T-Mobile market coverage is now operational in the Hattiesburg, Miss. and Mississippi Gulf Coast areas. -- Fifty percent of T-Mobile wireless coverage is now operational in the greater New Orleans area. Downtown New Orleans is still experiencing limited service, although T-Mobile crews are making progress in their efforts to restore service as emergency personnel allow access to some of the hardest hit areas. -- T-Mobile has mobilized resources from across the country to support the recovery efforts. Specifically, T-Mobile offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Houston have sent significant numbers of engineers and technicians to conduct onsite recovery efforts. -- T-Mobile is employing several hundred generators and dozens of cells-on-wheels (COWs); and has access to enough fuel to keep the generators powering cell sites up and running, and to bring new sites online. T-Mobile personnel on the north Gulf Coast rode out the storm at its switching facility in New Orleans in an effort to keep its network functioning at the highest service levels possible. Additional engineers were on the ground within hours in the hardest-hit areas to begin the process of restoring wireless service to residents and public safety agencies throughout the affected areas. Historical Data: -- The T-Mobile New Orleans Switching facility, which serves New Orleans and Baton Rouge, remained operational throughout Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. -- In order to keep the switch operational following the storm, T-Mobile immediately began airlifting supplies, technicians and diesel fuel into the facility to keep the switch supplied with generator power (Editor's Note: video footage available to the media upon request). This would not have been possible without the exceptional aid of local law enforcement agencies, which have been instrumental in assisting T-Mobile in keeping this vital communications link operational. -- On 8/29, T-Mobile processed 600,000 wireless calls into and out of New Orleans -- On 8/30, T-Mobile processed 1.1 million wireless calls into and out of New Orleans -- On 8/31, T-Mobile processed 1.4 million wireless calls into and out of New Orleans -- The T-Mobile switches which serve Alabama and Mississippi also remained in operation throughout Hurricane Katrina despite the fact that the switch buildings sustained heavy damage due to rain and wind. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51538253 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 02:01:45 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Wireless Takes Legal Action Against Florida, California Verizon Wireless Takes Legal Action Against Florida, California Telemarketers to Defend Customers' Privacy Lawsuit Says Apparent Use Of Auto-Dialers and Pre-recorded Messages In Calls To Cell Phones Violated Federal, State Laws BEDMINSTER, N.J., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless, owner and operator of the nation's most reliable wireless network, is standing up once again for customer privacy rights in lawsuits charging two telemarketing companies with illegal solicitation of cell phone users. In separate lawsuits, believed to be the first of their kind by a U.S. wireless provider against telemarketing firms, Verizon Wireless is seeking injunctions against the two companies, Intelligent Alternatives of San Diego, CA, and Resort Marketing Trends of Coral Springs, FL, that apparently made hundreds of thousands of calls to cell phone customers using pre-recorded messages and auto-dialers in violation of the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act as well as state laws. Based on information from customers and company employees who received telemarketing calls on their mobile phones, Verizon Wireless is seeking injunctions against the continued use of the illegal telemarketing practices and also is asking the courts to award monetary damages. Both suits were filed Wednesday: the Intelligent Alternatives suit was filed in state Superior Court in Sacramento, Calif.; the Resort Marketing suit was filed in state Superior Court in Somerville, NJ. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51511289 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 02:03:10 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Wireless Working Round-the-Clock to Restore, Maintain Verizon Wireless Working Round-the-Clock to Restore, Maintain and Enhance Service in Gulf Coast Area Service Improvements Continue in Baton Rouge, Pensacola, Mobile; Network Equipment Ready to Join in New Orleans Recovery Efforts BEDMINSTER, N.J., Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Verizon Wireless continues the urgent work of maintaining and restoring wireless service in the New Orleans and Gulf Coast regions in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The company has dispatched teams of network technicians who are making progress in strengthening communications in many of the affected areas. Service to parts of New Orleans and surrounding areas, including Mandeville, Lacombe, Slidell, Hammond and Covington, are beginning to come back online and coverage has been reestablished at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International airport. Wireless service continues to improve in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Pensacola, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama and in surrounding areas where technicians have been able to move in and begin restoring the network. - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=51530574 ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: 1954 Movie Telephone Scenes Date: 1 Sep 2005 20:03:48 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com "Executive Suite" is a 1954 movie about jockeying for power in a corporation after the president's unexpected sudden death with no clear heir. Aside from being a good movie, there were quite a few interesting historic telephone scenes. The movie opens with the president sending a telegram from New York to Pennsylvania at a prominently marked Western Union office. The charge is an even $1.00, decent money for that day, but apparently cheaper than a long distance phone call. Back at the home office, in the executive office tower, there are lots of phones. Everybody had two phones on their desks as well as an intercom. The first phone was a key set (lots of keysets). Most phones were Western Electric 300-type sets, although some non-Bell phones were used too. The phones were regularly used in the movie to convey urban messages. In one scene, they had to reach a VP who left for the weekend for a resort. They called the turnpike toll plaza, where the collectors knew him, and asked the collectors to give him a message. Perhaps in 1954 turnpike interchange traffic was light enough to permit such personal service, but I can't imagine how they'd respond to such a request today. There were several switchboards shown. In a fancy restaurant/club a telephone operator served guests with a console PBX. Guests were directed to phone booths when the call was completed. Another scene showed a traditional cord PBX. A person-to-person long distance call was placed by name, town, and company, which was not uncommon in those days. At some point the Bell System advertised for callers to place calls by number, not name. Obviously having the toll operator wait and tie up a circuit while directory assistance pulled up the number was inefficient. All the office buildings had uniformed elevator operators and starters in the lobbies. I forgot that automatic elevators were uncommon then. I believe buildings built around 1957 had fancy automatic elevators. Another feature was that the death of a furniture manufacturer president was big news. Industrial concerns like that were a very big deal in that era, much more so than today. A Newsweek or Time magazine was filled with "general-awareness" ads by such corporations, such as a nut-and-bolt company in Wheeling WVa. Today it's computer companies, and factories that make actual goods are forgotten, even though they still exist. ------------------------------ From: Diamond Dave Subject: Mark Cuccia (was Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also) Organization: The BBS Corner / Diamond Mine On-Line Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 20:40:12 -0400 On Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:11:21 -0400, TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to Diamond Dave : > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might wish to try the Tulane > University library, where he was employed, and ask them what they > know, if anything. I do not know how badly, if at all, the flood > affected the library and its book collections. Obviously, the phones > are out, but perhaps someone with some imagination can find a way to > reach the library staff. PAT] Mark no longer works at the Tulane law library. He and Tulane parted ways in May of this year. I've tried his landline and cell, as others who know him (and regular posters on here) have also tried various methods to no avail. We're still trying. If anyone who knows him as well, please let us know one way or the other. Thanks! Dave Perrussel ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 22:19:50 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also > I know Mark quite well and I'm conerned about his well being as well. > I have not heard from him since Sunday afternoon. He told me he was > staying put at his apartment in the eastern section of New Orleans. > His mother and sister left for Houston about a day before Katrina hit. > I keep trying his home phone and cell phone, but obviously neither are > working. Hopefully he is alright. If I hear anything, I'll post it > here as well as other places where he has been known to hang out. If > anyone gets a hold of him before I do, please do the same! > In addition to his well being, I'm also worried if his apartment got > flooded and that he lost a lot of telco related books and manuals that > he has collected over the years. > Lets keep everyone involved in our thoughts and prayers!! > Dave Perrussel > Webmaster - Telephone World > http://www.dmine.com/phworld Hear hear! Over here in Britain we're known to grumble about our rather non-descript and notoriously fickle climate, but we rarely experience extremes and they are never anywhere near as severe as those which hit the United States. It's sobering to see the horrendous pictures from the South and to realize that climate-wise, we actually have mnch to be thankful for. May God bless and protect everyone involved. -Paul ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 22:18:40 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: The Luncheon Meat Associated With Junk Email? > Sort of how the big joke during the heyday of DEC's VAX computers was > the ad by a European (Quite likely British) manufacturer of vacuum > cleaners titled "Nothing sucks like a Vax". > That ad made it into quite a few VAX shops. Yep, British company started in the 1970s VAX vacuum cleaners are still made, although they've changed the slogan now. ;) http://www.vax.co.uk/history.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 20:13:24 -0500 From: Neal McLain Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com Subject: Re: Long Distance = 211 (was Sid Ceasar and Phones) Tim@Backhome.org wrote: > I wonder whether "211" was just a California thing in those > days? If so, wasn't Jimmy, Raymond, and Grace (oh what a > beautiful woman ;-) in an apartment house in NYC? Greenwich Village. http://tinyurl.com/7bbtx > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know we had '211' in the > Chicago area in those days and in New York City as well. PAT] Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > Was this true in LA, which was still primarily step at this > time? Most predominantly step cities used "110" for the Long > Distance operator. Some godawful Jerry Lewis movie had him sitting at a manual PBX impersonating a female operator. At one point, the telco operator tells him to call 110 if he wants long distance. I don't remember anything more about this film because it was so awful that I walked out. > Predominantly panel type cities (including those that had some > crossbar mixed in by this time) used "211." This gets us back to the endless N11 v. 11N thread. Our expert on such things is Mark Cuccia, but I suspect that Mark has other things on his mind right now. Speaking of Mark, has anybody heard from him since Katrina hit New Orleans? ------------------------------ From: Julian Thomas Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 21:56:45 -0400 Subject: Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code In <20050901191858.CF70A153E8@massis.lcs.mit.edu>, on 09/01/05 at 03:18 PM, Joe Morris typed: > (On the day of the New World announcement IBM > released four "program products". A headline in a subsequent issue of > _Computerworld_ read "SURPRISE! Software costs as much as a printer!". > The reference was to one of the four program products, Generalized > Information System (GIS), which had a monthly charge (running forever) of > ~US$1200 (in 1969 dollars!), which was about the same as the monthly > rental fee for a 1403-N1 1100 lpm printer. And a festering piece of excrement that was. The GIS Query Editor, in particular, was buggy with a primitive user interface to boot. Julian Thomas: http://jt-mj.net In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! Warpstock 2005: Hershey, Pa. October 6-9, 2005 - http://www.warpstock.org A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any invention in human history -- with the possible exceptions of handguns and tequila. -- Mitch Ratliffe ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: dear comp.dcom.telecom readers Date: 1 Sep 2005 13:28:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com PAT: Below is the message. You needn't reproduce it. Note that the same message came through the WW II newsgroup even though that group is moderated as well. Their moderator has also spoken of the challenge to keep out the garbage that comes flowing in. I am disappointed that the Internet has been allowed to fill up so much with garbage, thievery, and malicious sabotage. Time magazine just had a piece on how highly skilled hackers were attempting to enter (or actually entered) US military sites. People who maintain firewalls tell me there are constant hits. Consumers who hook up mini-home networks to broadband DSL or cable are at risk for being hijacked by hackers as launching points for further mischief. This newsgroup discussed this issue recently. I was disappointed with some posters who vehmenently denied any and all responsibility for the lack of security, controls, and easy access of the Internet. Hiding behind technical excuses is not the way to deal with a problem. Many thousands of years ago humankind realized that if people are going to live and work together they need to establish and follow common guidelines so as to get along fairly and move forward. Civil governments and religious law were established globally. Indeed, humans have chosen authoritarian dictatorships over unorganized anarchy as a better way to go. We created "civilization" and being "civilized" was our goal. For some unknown reason the long established laws which govern traditional human interaction don't apply on the Internet. Apparently if I knock on your front door and defraud you out of $1,000 the cops will come after me, but if I manage to do it electronically, you're [S---] out of luck. I don't know if that's because the laws won't cover it, there is no willingness to fight such crime, law enforcement is overwhelmed by it, or they can't figure out how to trace back the money. If it's on credit card, why is it so hard to trace who received the payment? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As Lisa requested, the several K of text which came along was deleted here. Lisa, I am also greatly disappointed at how internet has become in the past several years. I suppose it was unrealistic of me to expect it would always retain the same status quo as it had in the 1980's, but still ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers Date: Thu, 1 Sep 2005 17:03:01 -0400 "mc" wrote in message news:telecom24.397.15@telecom-digest.org: >I thought this (comp.dcom.telecom) was a moderated newsgroup. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I kept the 'Re:' on the subject line of > this message because even though _I_ did not see this message at all > (it may have fallen in the spam trash basket here and gone > unobserved), apparently _some people_ got the original comment. If > anyone wants to tell me what the _original message_ was all about, I > will be most appreciative. It was a long political exhortation. Thanks for confirming that he faked his way around the moderation process. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You are quite welcome (to the confirmation), and of course (but of course!) there are no hard feelings. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Bruce L. Bergman Subject: Re: Dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 05:08:12 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net PAT: Please leave my address munged as 'b l bergman at earth link dot net' to confuse the bots. And I DO care about Usenet. On Thu, 1 Sep 2005 11:14:51 -0400, mc wrote: > I thought this (comp.dcom.telecom) was a moderated newsgroup. It IS a moderated newsgroup and only messages that have gone past Pat an are approved by him (or Lisa) are supposed to be propagated, but if you check the headers -- I'll attach the original message below, PAT feel free to snip it off or edit it for length -- the sender forged himself an Approved: header. Almost all news servers do not check if the approval is valid, it just sees that the header is there and sends the message through. And Pat, forget about sending a cancel message -- forged cancel messages are so prevalent that very few servers will act on them. (There are programs that will try to mass-cancel all the messages in a newsgroup so a radical can silence his opposition. Even if it doesn't work, then you have to wade through all the cancel message clutter to read the messages with real content.) The original message below has appeared unchanged in many of the groups I read. The guy is trying to accuse President Bush of being an international terrorist by sending our armed forces out to invade and capture countries, murder, torture, rape, etc. But there ARE loons out there that will believe practically anything, facts be damned ... I will complain to his hosting company and to Google (his GMail return address) but it is much more effective if lots of people do it. One complaint to an ISP and you might as well not bother, they will ignore it. (With a few exceptions like Erols.) But when they have to dedicate one or two employee's time for several days emptying out thousands of messages from the Abuse@ mailbox and dealing with the backlash, THEN they will do something about the original poster. Oh, and it might be a "Joe Job" smear attempt instead, considering the post has the (alleged) full name and address at the bottom. --<< Bruce >>-- > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I kept the 'Re:' on the subject line of > this message because even though _I_ did not see this message at all > (it may have fallen in the spam trash basket here and gone > unobserved), apparently _some people_ got the original comment. If > anyone wants to tell me what the _original message_ was all about, I > will be most appreciative. My presumption (we know what 'they' say > about 'assume' and 'assumption'; what do 'they' say about 'presume' > and 'presumption'?) is that it was some flavor of spam, or scam, or > other get-rich-quick scheme. And yes, mc, c.d.t. is in theory a > moderated newsgroup. Years and years ago, I would have seen your > message (of course, I probably would have seen my copy of it also) and > dropped everything to rush around and find out which news site had a > leak which was allowing the spam/scam to propogate around the net. It > was important to keep _my_ newsgroup looking impeccable. I would have > sat here and put out control:cancel messages until I was blue in the > face, to keep the newsgroup clean. That's when I was known as the > moderator who did not give a shit, or even an iota of a shit. > For quite some time now, Usenet has been an area that I simply cannot > be concerned about. Yes, I still feed it daily, but no, I do not worry > about the sewage which flows in from everywhere on an almost daily > basis. Like the former crown jewel of the south, New Orleans, the > internet is sinking deeper and deeper into the mire every day. Like we > are going to see in the instance of New Orleans where most people who > _matter_ and most institutions which _matter_ are going to desert it > totally over the next couple of years, giving it over to the Red Ants > which are feasting on the carcasses -- human and animal -- floating > along Canal Street, we'll begin to see (already have begun to see) > less and less of what _matters_ on the net, which in the 1980-90's > used to be our own crown jewel. If someone who has a copy of the > message in question will send it to me, I'll do a cancel on it if > it is still possible. PAT] And here is the original message, with all headers. > Path: newsspool2.news.pas.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!elnk-pas-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!pd7cy1no!shaw.ca!newscon02.news.prodigy.com!newscon06.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!news-feed01.roc.ny.frontiernet.net!nntp.frontiernet.net!news02.roc.ny.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail > From: tomstdenis@gmail.com > Message-ID: <19c6d3be.35050c49.tomstdenis@gmail.com> > Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom,mn.test > Subject: dear comp.dcom.telecom readers > Approved: tomstdenis@gmail.com > User-Agent: Xnews/M3 > Sender: ottawa-hs-209-217-122-41.s-ip.magma.ca [209.217.122.41] > Lines: 90 > X-Complaints-To: abuse-news@frontiernet.net > X-Trace: 52616e646f6d4956902cec576439a1fbc7e2ca3ff44e0eae17e4e285f8a55b7b2ba61b710b42fc794ee846752154951ed4faee4e122dad8fc0d9393aaca7c6b51a03346f34f0a0934466a5ccca759f67dfb75d52d3e4c30490a3466f0b8bd1a9 > X-Abuse-Info: Please be sure to forward ALL headers so that we may process your complaint properly. > NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 09:38:24 UTC >Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 09:38:24 GMT > Xref: news.earthlink.net comp.dcom.telecom:59751 mn.test:8345 > X-Received-Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 02:38:24 PDT (newsspool2.news.pas.earthlink.net) ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Dear comp.dcom.telecom Readers Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2005 22:15:04 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com mc wrote: > I thought this (comp.dcom.telecom) was a moderated newsgroup. It is, but it's not hard to get around the moderation requirement, due to a flaw in the basic design of the NetNews Transfer Protocol. And it's possible something just slipped through Pat's fingers; I moderate rec.radio.broadcasting and occasionally the same thing happens to me. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It did not come through _my_ inbox in normal channels. If it had -- and I thought it had not been used in many other newsgroups, I _might_ (not saying for sure either way) have tidied it up some and used it here, because he did make a few good points. I would have caught hell for doing so by the people who do not seem to mind being off-topic as long as the off-topic sort of meets their own agenda, but they sure give me a blast when it is off-topic and not in their own agenda. And Steve, I know you are running r.r.b. these days, so would you mind talking to John Levine and the guy in Minnesota who is handling the Airwaves.com web site about the problems he is/was having with the IP address for http://airwaves.com ? He has written me a couple times to note that when Bill Pfieffer passed away, the whole thing was left in the care of Cindy (Bill's planned to be fiance), and that since that time, apparently the web site has been improperly moved around. Thank you very much, Steve. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #398 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Sep 2 15:50:58 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id AF89814FE1; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:50:57 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #399 Message-Id: <20050902195057.AF89814FE1@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:50:57 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:50:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 399 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Chaos and Confusion in New Orleans (Michael Martinez) Katrina Reignites Global Warming Debate (Joseph B. Verringia) Re: Global Warming Probably the Reason for Katrina (Michael Chance) Telecom Update - Canada - Issue #495 (Angus Telemanagment) Matthew Shears Appointed ISOC'S Director of Public Policy (Peter Godwin) DT to Upgrade Network, Launch 3G Service (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also (Joe Morris) Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code (Joe Morris) Re: Sid Ceaser and Phones in Comedy (Lisa Hancock) Re: dear comp.dcom.telecom readers (Tim@Backhome.org) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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: Michael Martinez Subject: Chaos and Confusion in New Orleans Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 12:30:46 -0500 By Michael Martinez Tribune national correspondent One body was abandoned in a wheelchair at the rear of the Convention Center. Another, clad in a hospital gown, was laid on the concrete beside the wheelchair, in a designated smoking area. A group of people hoisted a third corpse and threw it into a nearby loading dock's trash bin. Ron and Dottie Thomas of Melbourne, Fla., two of the thousands of refugees lined up waiting to be rescued, watched the unceremonial treatment Thursday of three apparent victims of Hurricane Katrina. "This whole thing is so disgusting right now," said Ron Thomas, 65, a New Orleans native. "These people probably just died of heat exhaustion." Three days into Katrina's wake, New Orleans was rife with confusion, chaos and desperation as thousands of families, elderly citizens, mothers with infants and tourists like the Thomases wondered when, if ever, they would be rescued from this city without power and water. Indeed, passage out of downtown loomed like a mirage Thursday as convoys moved easily in and out of the central business district with only a few instances of knee-deep water. But authorities were turning back refugees who sought to get out of downtown on foot and traverse a suspended highway and bridge over the Mississippi River, residents said. It seemed the oppressive summer heat and humidity, which brought some rain Thursday, would likely claim the lives of those who dared to walk rather than board a bus. Authorities have focused on saving people, not retrieving the dead. But while many survivors have been rescued from the floods, they have often had to go without food and water. As Thomas recounted the experience at the Ernest Morial Convention Center, a military helicopter arrived. He and other refugees bolted toward the swooping aircraft as it landed in the parking lot and dropped off the first food and water Thomas has seen in days. "This is sad, what they've done to everyone here," said Thomas, after he fought the whirling air blasts and secured a box of military meals ready to eat. "I don't mean to keep stressing this to you, but why would it take three days to deliver food?" If people don't get food soon, he said, there will be more bodies to discard. At least one more body was disposed of on the median in front of the Convention Center, bringing the number of those deposited there to at least four. About a mile away, havoc was evident outside the downtown post office, whose seven-story garage became a temporary shelter Thursday for 150 people seeking refuge from the rain. Moms with babies, frail elderly people in wheelchairs, disabled children -- all watched as a steady pulse of bus and truck convoys passed them by. The refugees beseeched drivers to pick them up, but the vehicles just splashed by as they stood in knee-deep water on Loyola Avenue. They were just two blocks from the Superdome, the collection point for displaced individuals to be bused out of downtown, they said. Why couldn't the buses just pick them up? But military men in camouflage, holding rifles, ordered the people to back away from a bus pickup point at the Superdome complex just down the street. When some buses arrived a day earlier, ostensibly to pick up the women, children and the elderly outside the post office, more agile refugees jumped on the vehicles first, and bus attendants failed to notice, residents said. They left behind amputees, people with diabetes and seniors with heart conditions. At the post office, refugees swarmed visitors, asking for help for a sick relative in need of medicine or a child who hadn't eaten. Among those waiting were Paula Jackson, 52, a licensed practical nurse, and her 14-year-old daughter, who is paralyzed on one side and requires a feeding bag. "They're emptying the dome first, and they're leaving us to weather the elements," Jackson said. "It's like it's at your fingertips, if you just stretch out your arm, but you can't do it," Jackson said of the buses. "I don't picture how they can go to the nation telling what great assistance they're giving us. At ground level, ground zero, it's poor, poor, poor service." Darrell Dozier, 39, a pizza deliveryman in New Orleans, agreed. "They're ignoring us," he said. "I want to get out of New Orleans. I just can't live like this." Sadly, Jackson and Dozier could have boarded a bus if they'd known they had only to walk around the garage to an alley between the post office and a bus station. The two-block trek eventually leads to a back entrance to the Superdome, where Louisiana National Guard commanders were directing people to a long line for buses evacuating refugees. Carrying children, suitcases and even pet cats in cages, people stood in long lines, evoking images of a biblical exodus as they negotiated the filthy water to the Superdome. Some elderly people were too frail to walk and sat under the bus station's front awning. "I don't know how we're going to leave because there ain't nobody going to do anything for us," said Essie Allen, 65. As refugees climbed two flights of exterior stairs to the Superdome -- strewn with clothing and brand-new costume jewelry that apparently became too heavy to carry -- Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron, 43, was directing refugees to the nearby New Orleans Center for processing. Beron admitted that the loss of telecommunications in downtown New Orleans has led to widespread confusion about evacuation. "It's crazy," said Beron, an attorney. "The sad thing is that there are people all over the city who can't get here." mjmartinez@tribune.com Copyright 2005 Chicago Tribune NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, Chicago Tribune Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Joseph B. Verrengia Subject: Katrina Reignites Global Warming Debate Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 12:19:09 -0500 By JOSEPH B. VERRENGIA, AP Science Writer Hurricane Katrina's fury has reignited the scientific debate over whether global warming might be making hurricanes more ferocious. At least one prominent study suggests that hurricanes have become significantly stronger in the past few decades during the same period that global average temperatures have increased. Katrina blew up in the Gulf of Mexico to a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 175 mph before slackening a bit Monday when it hit, swamping New Orleans and the Mississippi coast. Other leading scientists agree the Atlantic Basin and Gulf Coast regions are being battered by a severe hurricane phase that could persist for another 20 years or more. But they believe that a natural environmental cycle is responsible rather than any human-induced change, and they point to what they consider to be large gaps in the global warming analysis conducted by a climatologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Roger Pielke Jr., who studies the social impacts of natural disasters and climate change at the University of Colorado, said any link between the intensity of Katrina and other recent hurricanes and global warming is "premature." Most forecasts suggest climate change would increase hurricane wind speeds by 5 percent or less later in this century. Pielke's analysis will be published later this year in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. "There are good reasons to expect that any conclusive connection between global warming and hurricanes or their impacts will not be made in the near term," he said. In August, MIT climatologist Kerry Emanuel reported in the journal Nature that major storms spinning in both the Atlantic and the Pacific have increased in duration and intensity by about 50 percent since the 1970s. During that period, global average temperatures have risen by about one degree Fahrenheit along with increases in the level of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants from industry smokestacks, traffic exhaust and other sources. Hurricanes rely on huge pools of warm water at the surface of the ocean to grow for several days. As trade winds spin the storm, it pulls more heat from the ocean and uses it as fuel. Typically, large storms require sea surface temperatures of at least 81 F. Scientists say rising global atmospheric temperatures have been slowly raising ocean temperatures, although they still vary widely from year to year. On Web logs, scientists and environmentalists in the United States and Europe sparred over the possible connection. The evidence linking global warming and hurricane intensity might be fuzzy, but it highlights a potential issue worth examining right away, some say. "Maybe a connection here is yet to be clearly established, but it is also yet to be ruled out," said Terry Richardson, a physicist at the College of Charleston in South Carolina on CCNet, a British climate blog. Pielke and other researchers say Emanuel's evidence is too slim at this point. The past 10 years have been the most active hurricane seasons on record, and many researchers say the trend could persist for another 20 years or more. They believe it's a consequence of natural salinity and temperature change in the Atlantic's deep current circulation -- elements that shift back and forth every 40-60 years. National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield agrees. He said that while Atlantic hurricane seasons have been active for a decade, that isn't true around the world. "In fact, the Asian Pacific is way down the past few years. Is that due to global warming, a decrease in hurricanes? I haven't bought into that one yet," he said. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. AP News Stories: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html NY Times and CS Monitor news: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html Get aquainted with TD-Extra features at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra ------------------------------ From: Michael Chance Subject: Re: Global Warming Probably the Reason for Katrina Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 11:09:50 GMT In article , afp@telecom-digest.org says: > Brace for more Katrinas, say experts > Tue Aug 30,10:55 AM ET > For all its numbing ferocity, Hurricane Katrina will not be a unique > event, say scientists, who say that global warming appears to be > pumping up the power of big Atlantic storms. However, the real hurricane experts at NOAA are saying that global warming has only a negliable effect on hurricane strength. The number and size of hurricanes in any given season is cyclical, and we just happen to be on the upside of the current cycle. See http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2005/8/31/173242.shtml Besides, even if President Bush had completely implemented all of the Kyoto Protocols the day after his first inauguration in 2001, there would be zero effect on this year's hurricane season -- all of the possible reduction in "greenhouse gases" from the U. S. would be more than offset by increases from China, India, and South America -- who aren't subject to any of the Kyoto reductions. Except that it would have completely trashed the U. S. economy in the process. ObTelecom -- Personally, I think that the real cause of "global warming" is the huge increase in the number of cell phone towers, with the accompanying increase in electro-magnectic radiation heating up the atmosphere. Can't prove it empirically, but then none of the other "experts" prove their theories, either. Michael Chance [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But, if Bush _had_ signed on to Kyoto 'the day after his inauguration' -- or even if he were to do so right now -- he would demonstrate that the entire world came ahead of just the wishes of the United States. And again, I think all this would be moot if in our world we had about half as many people as we have now. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 11:07:58 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #495, September 2, 2005 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 495: September 2, 2005 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/ ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** UTC CANADA: www.canada.utc.org/ ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Katrina Cuts Phone Service to Thousands ** CRTC Stats Show Incumbents Still Dominate Local Service ** Bell Creates Separate Mobility Group ** Details Released on Policy Review Hearings ** Telesat Anik F1R to Launch Tuesday ** Guelph, Waterloo Utelcos Merge ** Study Finds No Cellphone Cancer Link ** CRTC Acts on Vancouver Access Issues ** Cogeco Offers Phone Service to Non-Customers ** BCE Invests in Broadband Over Home Electrical Wire ** Nortel Adds Microsoft Call Control to CS 1000 ** 3com Intros Telecommuting Module ** Intel, Microsoft Back RIM in Patent Case ** Harris to Buy Leitch Technology ** Rogers Telecom Seeks to Cut Debt ============================================================ KATRINA CUTS PHONE SERVICE TO THOUSANDS: No exact figures are yet available, but it appears that hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses on the U.S. Gulf Coast lost phone service as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding. In addition to near-total loss of local and cellular service in New Orleans, several major switching hubs were damaged, cutting long distance service as far away as Florida. CRTC STATS SHOW INCUMBENTS STILL DOMINATE LOCAL SERVICE: To assist participants in the local forbearance proceeding (See Telecom Update #479, 486) the CRTC has released some of the local market data that will appear in its October report on the status of competition in telecom. Some highlights (all figures are for the end of 2004): ** Nationally, incumbent telcos provide 96.8% of residential lines and 88.4% of business lines. ** Two-thirds of the competitive business lines are provided by incumbents operating outside their home territory--e.g. Bell Canada operating in B.C. and Alberta. ** Competition is strongest in Nova Scotia, where competitors provide 15% of all local lines. (The major competitor in Nova Scotia is cableco EastLink.) www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2005/pt2005-11.htm BELL CREATES SEPARATE MOBILITY GROUP: Bell Mobility, which has been part of Bell's Consumer Markets Group, is now a separate organization headed by Robert Odendaal, who reports directly to CEO Michael Sabia. Other changes announced today include: ** Kevin Crull, who joined Bell this year after four years at AT&T, is now President, Residential Services, a new organization that incorporates consumer wireline, high- speed Internet and video services. ** Pierre Blouin, a 20-year veteran who has been Consumer Markets Group President since May 2003, has decided "to leave Bell Canada to pursue other career opportunities." ** Alek Krstajic, former president of Bell Mobility, will work in the Office of the CEO until "a new senior executive assignment" is announced. DETAILS RELEASED ON POLICY REVIEW HEARINGS: The Telecom Policy Review panel (see Telecom Update #490) will hold two public consultations this fall, to supplement two rounds of written submissions. ** A forum on broadband access will be held in Whitehorse on September 9, followed by an online discussion until September 16. To participate in the live webcast and/or the online discussion, register at the panel's website. www.telecomreview.ca/epic/internet/intprp-gecrt.nsf/en/rx00040e.html ** A three-day symposium on a wider range of topics will be held in Ottawa on October 24-26. Those wishing to attend may request an invitation, but spaces are limited. A live webcast will also be provided. www.telecomreview.ca/epic/internet/intprp-gecrt.nsf/en/rx00041e.html TELESAT ANIK F1R TO LAUNCH TUESDAY: On September 8, Telesat Canada's first European-built satellite, the Anik F1R, will be launched in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The new satellite will provide telecom, TV, and global positioning services. GUELPH, WATERLOO UTELCOS MERGE: FibreTech telecommunications, owned by three Waterloo region hydro companies and Guelph FibreWired, owned by Guelph Hydro have merged. The combined company, Atria Networks, owns over 1,000 kilometers of fibre. STUDY FINDS NO CELLPHONE CANCER LINK: The largest study to date concludes that ten years of cellphone use produces no increased risk of tumors in nerves near the ear. The U.K. Institute of Cancer Research found no relationship between the risk of acoustic neuroma and years of mobile phone use, time since first use, the number of calls, or hours of use. CRTC ACTS ON VANCOUVER ACCESS ISSUES: The CRTC has issued letters regarding two municipal access disputes in the City of Vancouver: ** MTS Allstream is given permission to construct a transmission line at Station Street, subject to some conditions. The Commission says it will rule soon on the carrier's January 2005 application for a long-term, city- wide access agreement (see Telecom Update #466). www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/dt2005-26.htm ** The Commission provides guidelines to Shaw and Vancouver for negotiating an access agreement, recommending a 15- year term and the Ledcor principles. If the parties don't agree by November 1, the Commission is prepared to impose access rules. www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Letters/2005/lt050901.htm COGECO OFFERS PHONE SERVICE TO NON-CUSTOMERS: Cogeco Cable has extended its Digital Phone service to Windsor, Ontario and Saint-Hyacynthe, Quebec. In addition, phone service in Burlington, Oakville, and Windsor will now be available to all residents in served areas, rather than only to Cogeco's Internet customers. BCE INVESTS IN BROADBAND OVER HOME ELECTRICAL WIRE: The Toronto Star says that BCE Capital has invested US$5 million in Florida-based Intellon Corp, whose technology uses a home's electrical wiring to deliver a broadband network. NORTEL ADDS MICROSOFT CALL CONTROL TO CS: Nortel Networks says it has integrated Microsoft's Office Communicator and Office Live Communication Server into Nortel's Communications Server 1000. The resulting "converged office solution" will be in beta trials this month, and generally available later in 2005. ** Nortel has also announced new releases of CS 1000, CallPilot, and MCS 5100, as well as four new phones. 3COM INTROS TELECOMMUTING MODULE: 3Com has introduced a SIP-compliant IP Telecommuting module that enables IP conferencing, messaging, and contact centre applications to be used outside corporate LANs. The module uses technology from Sweden-based Ingate Systems. INTEL, MICROSOFT BACK RIM IN PATENT CASE: Intel and Microsoft have made submissions to a Washington DC appeals court, supporting Research In Motion's appeal of patent infringement rulings. ** The Canadian government also backs RIM, arguing that the U.S. court has no jurisdiction, because RIM's actions took place in Canada, at RIM's network control. (See Telecom Update #487) HARRIS TO BUY LEITCH TECHNOLOGY: Florida-based Harris Corp. has acquired Leitch Technology Corp. of Toronto for $450 million. Both companies make digital network broadcasting systems. ROGERS TELECOM SEEKS TO CUT DEBT: Rogers Telecom (formerly Call-Net Enterprises) has issued a cash tender to buy back outstanding notes worth US$222.9 million, in order to eliminate associated interest expenses. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== 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 late Friday afternoon each 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 2005 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. 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: Peter Godwin Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 13:13:18 +0200 Organization: Internet Society Subject: Matthew Shears Appointed as ISOC'S Director of Public Policy Reston, VA - 2nd September 2005 - The Internet Society (ISOC) today announced the appointment of Matthew Shears as its Director of Public Policy. This key appointment, which is effective immediately, will further strengthen ISOC's role as an independent and effective advocate for the core values of an open and accessible Internet. In this newly-created position, Matthew will drive ISOC's policy initiatives in support of the society's Strategic Operating Plan. These include broad outreach activities aimed at helping governments and policy makers design and maintain policies to ensure that the Internet remains an open and universally accessible platform for innovation, creativity, and economic opportunity. Matthew has extensive experience in public policy, advocacy, communications, business development and strategy in both the public and private sectors. After working as a standards and market entry adviser at the US Mission to the EU in Brussels, he worked as AT&T's EMEA Regional Director for Public Affairs, drove public affairs in Europe for the Seattle-based satellite Internet start-up Teledesic, and then moved to Cisco, where he created the EMEA Government Affairs team. Lynn St. Amour, ISOC's President and CEO, said, "The public policy issues facing the Internet are now more complex and more visible than ever before. Matthew's experience and insight will be invaluable as ISOC moves forward to develop new approaches to help policy makers meet these new challenges." ### ABOUT ISOC The Internet Society (http://www.isoc.org) is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. With offices in Washington, DC, and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and other Internet-related bodies who together play a critical role in ensuring that the Internet develops in a stable and open manner. For over 13 years ISOC has run international network training programs for developing countries and these have played a vital role in setting up the Internet connections and networks in virtually every country connecting to the Internet during this time. FOR FURTHER DETAILS: Peter Godwin Communications Manager, Internet Society E-mail: godwin@isoc.org 4, rue des Falaises 1205 Geneva Switzerland ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 12:49:47 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: DT to Upgrade Network, Launch 3G Service USTelecom dailyLead September 2, 2005 http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24344&l=2017006 TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * DT to upgrade network, launch 3G service BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Nokia names new head of cell phone unit * Sprint Nextel pares EV-DO price * Columnist: Wireless gaming is red hot, especially in Seattle * Is the "digital home" just hype? * Madonna, celebs to promote iTunes-enabled phone USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Order Today! Newton's Telecom Dictionary -- 21st Edition EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES * Major WiMAX rollout begins in U.K. * At long last, the Wi-Fi camera arrives VOIP DOWNLOAD * Verizon's Revision A speeds transition to cellular VoIP * Analysis: What is Google up to? REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Verizon Wireless sues telemarketers * Prosecutors: No criminal charges for MCI EDITOR'S NOTE * The dailyLead will not be published on Monday Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://www.dailylead.com/latestIssue.jsp?i=24344&l=2017006 Legal and Privacy information at http://www.dailylead.com/about/privacy_legal.jsp SmartBrief, Inc. 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20005 ------------------------------ From: Joe Morris Subject: Re: New Orleans Phones Are All Out, Also Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 12:51:44 UTC Organization: The MITRE Organization Diamond Dave writes: > On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 02:16:28 GMT, Jim Burks wrote: >> Has anybody heard from Mark Cuccia? Hopefully, he either got out of >> town, or is keeping his head above water. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You might wish to try the Tulane > University library, where he was employed, and ask them what they > know, if anything. I do not know how badly, if at all, the flood > affected the library and its book collections. Obviously, the phones > are out, but perhaps someone with some imagination can find a way to > reach the library staff. PAT] It may or may not help you, but the web site of the Times-Picayune (the New Orleans newspaper) has a public bulletin board that's had traffic asking and reporting about Tulane departments (among, of course, lots of other postings). The material isn't threaded so you may have to scroll through literally thousands of postings hoping that the subject lines of what you're looking for stand out. The board for Orleans Parish is: http://www.nola.com/forums/townhall According to the sources I've seen the area just beyond the far western edge of the campus (corner of Willow and Broadway) has (or had) a few feet of water but the area roughly bounded by Broadway, Freret, Jefferson, and Magazine is (more or less) dry. The library sits just off Freret unless it's been moved in the past few years. FWIW: reports I'm getting (both from anonymous boards like the board I cited above, and from some contacts within the city) indicate that Tulane (and its next-door neighbor, Loyola) were spared the floodwaters. There is obviously significant wind damage in the area, but I'm getting inconsistent reports of the degree of damage on the campus. I no longer have any direct contacts in the Library and my indirect contacts haven't mentioned it. Joe Morris (awaiting confirmation that my sister's house still exists) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Another good source of information in and about New Orleans is at http://wwl.com where they maintain forums with open postings of people looking for loved ones. They were asking people to use the accelerated indexes according to family name, etc but posters seemed to just be putting notices everywhere on the board. I tried going through it, reading the various postings yesterday, but it was tough going, not only from the disorganized way the postings appeared (I think the postings were appearing faster than the sysadmin caretakers could re-arrange them) and emotionally (at least for me). WWL Radio and WWL Television have been attempting to cover this 24 hours daily, but they did have to sign off for a few hours the other night (coming back on the air at 5:30 AM) because of maintainence needs. Use http://wwl.com for a direct video/audio feed 24/7 from their newsroom. The usual technological pitfalls (bandwidth shortage) is apparent. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joe Morris Subject: Re: Connecticut Man Sells Micrsoft Windows Source Code Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 12:55:04 UTC Organization: The MITRE Organization Julian Thomas writes: > In <20050901191858.CF70A153E8@massis.lcs.mit.edu>, on 09/01/05 at > 03:18 PM, Joe Morris typed: >> (On the day of the New World announcement IBM >> released four "program products". A headline in a subsequent issue of >> _Computerworld_ read "SURPRISE! Software costs as much as a printer!". >> The reference was to one of the four program products, Generalized >> Information System (GIS), which had a monthly charge (running forever) of >> ~US$1200 (in 1969 dollars!), which was about the same as the monthly >> rental fee for a 1403-N1 1100 lpm printer. > And a festering piece of excrement that was. The GIS Query Editor, in > particular, was buggy with a primitive user interface to boot. That's what I remember hearing. Thankfully, the closest I ever came to GIS was on a visit to the UKY computer center I saw the manuals sitting on Selwyn Zerof's desk. Joe Morris ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy Date: 2 Sep 2005 12:17:46 -0700 Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > Was this true in LA, which was still primarily step at this time? > Most predominantly step cities used "110" for the Long Distance > operator. In the show, you couldn't see what was dialed. He just kind spun the dial a few times, without letting it return properly. They didn't want to waste air time while properly dialing a number, slows the pace down too much. Indeed, today on TV you'll see people just shove their hand against a Touch Tone pad rather than properly press buttons one at time to make a call. Perhaps the show originated out of New York City, not Hollywood. I think the writers (who later were famous comedians and producers themselves) were New Yorkers, or at least New York oriented. > Predominantly panel type cities (including those that had some > crossbar mixed in by this time) used "211." A separate number for Long Distance instead of plain zero was common in many cities. Long Distance switchboards were differently equipped than dial-0 boards (calugraphs*, long distance trunks, number verification panel, etc.), although many places used one operator. I wonder when 211-long distance was discontinued. I don't remember it in my phone book, even before we got DDD (we just dialed 0). Dialing 211 got the regular operator. *Not to be confused with "calutrons" which was a suped-up cyclotron used to refine unranium at Oak Ridge Tenn. ------------------------------ From: Tim@Backhome.org Subject: Re: dear comp.dcom.telecom readers Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 06:00:25 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As Lisa requested, the several K of > text which came along was deleted here. Lisa, I am also greatly > disappointed at how internet has become in the past several years. I > suppose it was unrealistic of me to expect it would always retain the > same status quo as it had in the 1980's, but still ... PAT] Alas, you are trying to place an American value system on all of this, which is a value system shared by main-stream America in the past, but is mostly gone now. Also, you have folks in other parts of the world that view Americans as rude, arrogant, repulsive, too rich and or too consuming and thus, long overdue for a good fleecing. And, there are the terrorists with their hate of America. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Is it 'rude and arrogant' of me to question "why would anyone dislike Americans?" or "why would terrorists hate America?" or did you happen to notice maybe I am just a bitter old man with enough losses of one kind or another under his belt that the transition of internet/usenet from a medium by and for the citizens of the world into a cesspool is going to be no big thing to me either way? After all, I watched as Citizens Band radio in the 1970's changed from a very popular, very worthwhile 'medium for the people' to a sewer as the spammers (of those times, in that era and that style) wrecked it for everyone. I very early got in on the (then new) phenomena called 'Citizens Band for Computer' as Compuserve stuck its neck out with its (then) new product called 'CB Simulator'. A program producer at Compuserve developed this new thing called 'CB Simulator' and he begged and pleaded with H & R Block (then the owners of Compuseve) to give it a try. They said they were not sure; it won't go over; people use computers in their homes to read stock market reports, read the Wall Street Journal and now and then -- but rarely in those days -- use what was being termed 'email' to write letters, and check out our forums. "No one is going to be interested in just chattering on line with others. But we will try it for six months; it will fail, we will drop it, and you will be out of a job." In about six months the 'CB Simulator' program had grown in popularity to the point it was paying the bills for Compuserve, and CIS/H&R Block was thrilled that this new product offering was doing so well for them. And many of us migrated our CB Radio forums over to computer and the 'CB Simulator' service since there were so many promises here of good things to come; we had none of the 'usual annoyances' we had become so accustomed to on the radio, with 'bad people' raising all kinds of hell 24/7; turn the radio on any more and it was just solid heterodyne from all directions; we'd raise our power, we'd go out of band; none of it kept the 'spammers and scammers' (although those words were not known then) away; we got followed everywhere. So, 'CB Simulator' was our Messiah. At last, I mentioned to Bill Pfieffer, we can have our community meetings and information- collecting and -passing along sessions in peace and quiet. Or so we thought ... within six months or a year, that had been taken over also. Of course we all know the reputation chat programs have gotten in recent years, as a place for young guys -- and some older guys as well -- to get in big trouble. Anyway, you were saying, people in other parts of the world seem to sometimes dislike or disrespect internet -- basically an American invention -- mainly because so many of them hate Americans. That's a very good point. I guess if our country wants to be part of the world community we need to make some changes, eh? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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: 620-402-0134 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. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2004 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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 V24 #399 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Sep 2 19:26:55 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 7F190150A0; Fri, 2 Sep 2005 19:26:54 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V24 #400 Message-Id: <20050902232654.7F190150A0@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 19:26:54 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Sep 2005 19:26:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 400 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Katrina and the Neighborhood (Christian Science Monitor Editorial) Computers and Phones for Astrodome Refugees (Matt Slagle) Microsoft Lauches Internet Crime Portal (Walaika Haskins) Morocco to Try Suspected Computer Worm Author (Souhail Karim) Appeals Court Knocks Out Online Game Bypass System (Jim Suhr) AP Offers Satellite Photos of New Orleans Destruction (AP News Wire) Re: Global Warming Probably the Reason for Katrina (Mark Crispin) Re: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy (Paul Coxwell) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. 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. 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Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christian Science Monitor Editorial Subject: Katrina and the Neighborhood Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 16:51:39 -0500 from the September 02, 2005 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0902/p08s02-comv.html The Monitor's View Concerned about Louisianians stranded in the unsanitary Superdome, the governor of Texas invited all 25,000 of them to the cool, dry Houston Astrodome Wednesday. Thursday, he invited another 25,000 evacuees to San Antonio. "We're neighbors and we're going to pull together," Gov. Rick Perry stated. After hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are now everyone's "next door." Those states' vast needs require help from across the country -- donations to private charities, offers to open up homes to the displaced, and all levels of government assistance. The catastrophe is also particularly relevant to those who share the same potential for large-scale disaster or evacuation -- people living in flood or earthquake zones, for instance, or cities deemed terrorist targets. As Governor Perry observed, "we could be the ones that have this extraordinary need." Dealing skillfully with this current need, therefore, serves a dual purpose: helping the millions directly affected, and teaching Americans how to cope more effectively with disasters. So far, local, state, and national officials have shown a good measure of competence in handling Katrina before, during, and after it hit. Last year, local and state officials along the Gulf of Mexico were criticized for poor evacuation procedures in advance of hurricane Ivan. This time, they called for mandatory evacuations early on and opened all lanes to outbound traffic on the two interstates leading away from Louisiana's and Mississippi's most populous areas. More than a million people fled, including about 80 percent of the population of New Orleans. Because President Bush designated both states disaster areas in advance of the storm, the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency could mobilize beforehand, setting up shelters and bringing water, ice, and food. Rightly, the Bush administration recognized the storm's ripple effect on oil, and temporarily waived key air-quality fuel standards to increase gas supplies after the storm damaged the Gulf's petroleum infrastructure. The Pentagon has also sprung into action with an unprecedented domestic joint task force, coordinating National Guard and active-duty forces across four states. Meanwhile, naval vessels and helicopters are on the way. But the death toll; the plight of people too ill, poor, or stubborn to evacuate; the lawlessness; and the billions of dollars in destroyed homes and businesses show just how much officials at all levels -- and individuals -- still have to learn in handling a truly far-reaching disaster. Response has been quick, but with more prepositioning of National Guard forces and equipment, it could have been faster. Evacuation planning should have served disadvantaged people better. This storm reminds coastal regions that wetlands preservation does matter in controlling flooding (Louisiana has lost 1 million acres of marshland since 1930), and so do building restrictions. Now, and in coming months of reconstruction, Americans must remember their Gulf neighbors. They need our prayers and donations. And all of us need to learn from their experience. www.csmonitor.com | Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, The Christian Science Publishing Society. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Indeed, we are all neighbors in this thing together. How did Katrina affect you? Well, maybe it made the price of your gasoline more expensive; it surely will make the cost of your heating fuel in the coming winter months more expensive. How did Katrina affect me? Well, today when the Meals on Wheels lady came around with my noonday meal, she said she was asked to announce to everyone she served that the meals in September will be 'a little more skimpy than they are usually.' I asked her why. She said the Kansas Food Bank, which serves SEK-CAP (the southeast Kansas food pantries which in turn maintains our local food pantry and Meals on Wheels) had been asked to provide 'anything extra they could to Louisiana and Mississippi, due to the hurricane damage, and the increased numbers of people being served.' We will get only about 90 percent of our usual rations -- not the best food anyway -- while Kansas Food Bank 'levels off' the resulting shortfall. In addition to her daily vists, I usually go once per month to the Independence Food Pantry for a few items. We're all going to pay for Katrina for awhile it seems. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Matt Slagle Subject: Computers and Phones For Astrodome Refugees Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:44:43 -0500 By MATT SLAGLE, AP Technology Writer Thousands of Hurricane Katrina refugees packing into Houston's Astrodome are getting electronic access to the outside world. Corporations, volunteers and nonprofit agencies continued working Friday to install telephones and Internet-enabled computers inside the sprawling former sports stadium in one of many efforts aimed at bringing communications technologies to hurricane victims. Astrodome refugees, displaced from the Superdome in New Orleans, were getting 10 minutes blocks of time to make free local and long distance calls. Many of them haven't heard from friends or family -- nor have they been able to let loved ones know they're safe -- since Katrina ravaged their hometown on Monday. Audree Lee, 37, said she was relieved after hearing her teenage daughter's voice. Lee had relatives take her daughter to Alabama so she would be safe. "I just cried. She cried. We cried together," Lee said Thursday after using one of the free lines at the Astrodome. "She asked me about her dog. They wouldn't let me take her dog with me. ... I know the dog is gone now." Technology For All, a Houston nonprofit, was coordinating with authorities to set up a center in the Astrodome with 40 desktop computers loaded with Internet connections and office productivity software. "We're just working on this one little piece," said William Reed, the organization's chief executive. "We recognize that these folks need a connection to the outside world." SBC Communications Inc. said it planned to establish a communications center at the Astrodome with about 1,000 telephone lines and free high-speed Internet service. A similar setup was also in the works at a shelter in San Antonio, Texas, where the company is based. Verizon Wireless, meanwhile, offered to recharge cell phones for free at its stores and many emergency shelters, while Cingular Wireless invited displaced residents to make free calls from its company-owned stores in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. SBC spokesman Larry Meyer acknowledged food, showers and other basic needs would come first, but said "we've got to begin to address other needs as well." Farrell Johnson, a 54-year-old New Orleans carpenter who now calls the Astrodome home, said he appreciated the efforts. "It's not bad in there to get to use the phones," Johnson said. "Everybody is being very cooperative. They put a bank of telephones and little privacy booths in this one area; volunteers from one of the Houston area ISPs keeps everything on a strict time schedule for how much people can use the computers; same with the phones, and if someone gets a phone call, they take messages for us." Associated Press Writer Pam Easton in Houston contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. For more news reports, go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Walaika Haskins Subject: Microsoft Launches Internet Crime Portal Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:06:29 -0500 Walaika Haskins, enterprise-security-today.com At a High Technology Crime Investigation Association event on Wednesday, Microsoft announced plans to launch a Web site that will aid police in investigating Internet crime. Analysts say the move should resonate with the law enforcement community as a valuable crime-fighting tool. The announcement comes on the heels of the FBI's Microsoft-aided investigation into the origins of the ZoTob worm, which crippled business across the U.S. last month. "Over the past months, cybercrime has gone from casual to malicious to criminal," said Joe Wilcox, a senior analyst at Jupiter Research. Poised for Battle Planned resources for the site include online training sessions on how to conduct Internet investigations, extract information from hard drives and trace an IP address back to its source to identify Web site owners. The portal also will offer information on recently passed legislation related to Internet crime. Analysts say that Microsoft's enormous resources and intimate knowledge of its software prompted the creation of the Web portal. Given Microsoft's recent focus on security and its in-house taskforce of roughly 50 investigators, some analysts see the new portal as a win-win for the company, its users and law enforcement. According to Wilcox, everyone wins when industry is cooperating with law enforcement. "This is a way for Microsoft to give back to its customers," Wilcox said. "After all, who knows Windows better than Microsoft?" Publicity Stunt? But other experts are bit more skeptical about casting Microsoft as some sort of Lady Bountiful. They suggest the new portal might simply be a cry for attention. "[It's] tough to say at this point how much of this is really more than a public relations exercise," said Phil Hollows, president of Open Service, a security-solutions developer. Hollows pointed out that the impact of such a Web site probably would be minimal for local law enforcement agencies that do not have the funds to secure dedicated I.T. resources and track down Internet criminals. Hollows added that, although the smaller agencies will not be able to take advantage of the site, larger metropolitan forces will benefit because the site will help them consolidate their current knowledge and expertise with formal training. But Hollows warned that businesses and consumers should not expect to see a significant drop in Internet crime. This move, he said, only will serve to help law enforcement agencies analyze Internet crime but do little to reduce or prevent it. Copyright 2005 NewsFactor Network, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** 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, NewsFactor Network, Inc. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Souhail Karam Subject: Morocco to Try Suspected Computer Worm Author Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:02:40 -0500 By Souhail Karam An 18-year-old math student will go on trial in Morocco this month for unleashing computer worms that disrupted networks of major U.S. firms, a Justice Ministry official said on Friday. The FBI announced last week Moroccan Farid Essebar's arrest in Rabat and that in Turkey of 21-year-old Attila Ekici, both suspected of releasing the Zotob worm that hit the Internet three weeks ago. The official said Essebar's trial would start on September 13 and he would be in custody near Rabat until then. "The hearing will specify charges against him for the trial," the ministry official told Reuters. The Russian-born math student is accused of illegal access to data systems, criminal conspiracy, aggravated theft and credit card piracy. Legal sources say he faces up to 10 years in jail if found guilty. The Rabat court will try another suspect, identified as 21-year-old Achraf Bahloul, on the same charges. "Bahloul got into this for having used Essebar's alias and pirated credit cards data. We don't think Bahloul is directly involved in the Zotob attack," the official said. Police were trying to find any more Moroccan accomplices Essebar may have had, he said, declining to elaborate. Zotob caused computer outages at more than 100 U.S. firms, including major media outlets like CNN, ABC, New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press, and Christian Science Monitor, but did not create widespread havoc like previous malicious software programs like SQL Slammer and MyDoom. They did select these media outlets intending to 'silence the press'. Close teamwork among the FBI, Microsoft Corp. and authorities in Morocco and Turkey helped net Essebar and Ekici 12 days after the attack. Using the alias Diab10 (Wolves10), Essebar is suspected of having helped Ekici create the Zotob worm in exchange for credit cards data, local newspapers said, quoting well-informed sources. Moroccan police declined comment. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Jim Suhr Subject: Court Knocks Out Online Game Bypass Program Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:04:49 -0500 By JIM SUHR, AP Business Writer Three men illegally bypassed anti-piracy controls when they developed free technology to let computer users play some games against each other online without using the gamemaker's own system, a federal appeals court has ruled. Attorneys for Tim Jung, Ross Combs and Rob Crittenden had argued that the trio engaged in allowable "fair use" because they had legally bought the games and were not profiting from the bypass technology, called BnetD. Although the trio could have used Blizzard Entertainment Inc.'s Battle.net game service for free, they found it frustrating and preferred the dozens of additional features available through the BnetD technology they had developed, their lawyers said. Blizzard claimed that BnetD, which the trio also distributed to others over the Internet, disabled controls meant to ensure that players used a non-pirated copy of the game. Thursday's ruling by a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals here upholds a lower court's finding that the trio violated the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act as well as software license agreements by helping people bypass Blizzard's system for playing multiplayer games like Diablo and StarCraft online. The defendants were barred from further distributing the technology. Combs and Crittenden are identified in the ruling as computer programmers, and Jung was listed as a systems administrator who also heads Internet Gateway, an Internet service provider based in the suburb of St. Peters. According to the ruling, the Battle.net service has nearly 12 million active users who spend more than 2.1 million hours online per day. Blizzard, which did not return messages Friday seeking comment, had lauded the earlier ruling last October by U.S. District Judge Charles Shaw for "sending a clear message that creating unauthorized servers which emulate Blizzard's Battle.net servers is without question illegal." "We have worked hard to provide gamers with a free, safe, secure, reliable environment on Battle.net, and this ruling is a strong validation that we are justified in protecting and ensuring the integrity of our game service," said Mike Morhaime, Blizzard's president and co-founder. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based civil liberties group that helped represent the trio, said the ruling could dampen the market for performance-enhancing innovations called "add-ons" and limit the consumer to whatever the manufacturer of the purchased item decides to provide. "This ruling threatens competition to offer new services, new features," said Jason Schultz, an attorney for EFF. Schultz said the foundation would talk to his clients before deciding whether to appeal. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: AP News Wire Subject: AP Offers Satellite Image of New Orleans Destruction Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 15:47:31 -0500 The Associated Press is offering Internet access to a satellite image that covers most of New Orleans, detailed enough that viewers can zoom in to check on particular neighborhoods and streets. The image's resolution is high, at 2.4 meters per pixel. It is posted in a format that allows quick viewing of any area a user zooms in on. Users can quickly see what areas are under water and what structures are still standing. The initial image was taken Wednesday and supplied by the company DigitalGlobe. AP will offer updated satellite images as as they become available. The image is available at: http://hosted.ap.org/specials/neworleanssatellite/index.html Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I tried this earlier today, I was uanble to get the web page to properly load. Maybe it has been repaired. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Global Warming Probably the Reason for Katrina Date: Fri, 2 Sep 2005 13:53:02 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Fri, 2 Sep 2005, Michael Chance wrote: > Besides, even if President Bush had completely implemented all of the > Kyoto Protocols the day after his first inauguration in 2001, there > would be zero effect on this year's hurricane season -- all of the > possible reduction in "greenhouse gases" from the U. S. would be more > than offset by increases from China, India, and South America -- who > aren't subject to any of the Kyoto reductions. Except that it would > have completely trashed the U. S. economy in the process. Which, in turn, would render the US quite a bit *less* capable of responding to natural disasters. I'm sure that it would have been great comfort to the people of New Orleans to be told that, rather than help being delayed a few days in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, that help will never come, but at least we signed Kyoto! > ObTelecom -- Personally, I think that the real cause of "global > warming" is the huge increase in the number of cell phone towers, with > the accompanying increase in electro-magnectic radiation heating up > the atmosphere. According to Professor Tinfoil at the presigious non-accredited Univerity of Lower Slobbovia, global warming is caused by all the heat generated by Internet traffic. :-) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But, if Bush _had_ signed on to Kyoto > 'the day after his inauguration' -- or even if he were to do so right > now -- he would demonstrate that the entire world came ahead of just > the wishes of the United States. Pray explain *why* any US president should give "the entire world" priority over the wishes of the United States and its people. Given the opportunity, "the entire world" would wish the USA into extinction. This includes our so-called "friends and allies", any of whom would be quite happy to fill the vacuum left by our demise. And yes, this includes Canada. There are descendants of American Tories in Canada who still have their precious pre-Revolution property deeds to their families' lands in the Thirteen Colonies. They have every intention of reclaiming that property from the rebel usurpers once the silly experiment with republicanism end and the rule of Her Britainnic Majesty's is restored. If your worldview is of an international hugfest with everybody singing Kumbaya, keep in mind that hugs and Kumbaya are the luxury of the strong who can defend themselves. -- Mark -- http://panda.com/mrc Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You have a very ugly and hateful idea of what is going on. I suggest you read the first article in this issue of the Digest on 'Katrina and the Neighborhood.' You might also want to consider that if Kyoto had been in place for a few years, the hurricane might not have been as fierce as it was; thus not as much help needed from the rest of the 'neighborhood'. I do not believe in any hugfest. But I will say I do not think the United States should be nearly as arrogant and bossy as they are with the rest of the world. Someday _you_ may need help. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 22:47:06 +0100 From: Paul Coxwell Subject: Re: Sid Ceasar and Phones in Comedy > A separate number for Long Distance instead of plain zero was common > in many cities. Long Distance switchboards were differently equipped > than dial-0 boards The same was true here in Britain. In smaller towns callers just used to dial "0" for either general assistance or to place a long-distance call, while in the large cities there were separate codes for long-distance. In London, there were two separate codes to split the traffic. TOL (805) got the "Toll" operator for calls to the surrounding areas while TRU (878) reached the "Trunks" operator for all other long-distance calls to the rest of the country. -Paul. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications 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. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #400 ******************************