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Message Digest
Volume 28 : Issue 105 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose
Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose
Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose
Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
AT&T "Family Maps" cellphone location tracking
Re: AT&T "Family Maps" cellphone location tracking
Re: AT&T "Family Maps" cellphone location tracking
Phone Systems
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:29:31 -0700
From: Richard <rng@richbonnie.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <mpncu49lfhbc7mms2kqptq1ksisqge7768@4ax.com>
On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 21:29:45 -0400 (EDT), "Tony Toews \[MVP\]"
<ttoews@telusplanet.net> wrote:
>T <kd1s.nospam@cox.nospam.net> wrote:
>
>>Most of it is handled by the Red Cross.
>
>This is not true. Or rather it may be true in your jurisdiction or you may have a
>misleading opinion based on media reports. One thing that the Canadian and US Red
>Cross are very, very good at is media relations.
>
>Amateurs have thier own relationships with the various served agencies one of which
>is the Red Cross. Most important, though, are the local muncipalities, towns and
>cities.
>
>Tony
Another agency served by hams is The Salvation Army. Check out the
Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) at
http://www.satern.org/
Dick Gardy, AC7EL
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:04:43 GMT
From: "Tony Toews \[MVP\]" <ttoews@telusplanet.net>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <497fu4t567scius1v87cdrsjno77n4ae6r@4ax.com>
Richard <rng@richbonnie.com> wrote:
>>>Most of it is handled by the Red Cross.
>>
>>This is not true. Or rather it may be true in your jurisdiction or you may have a
>>misleading opinion based on media reports. One thing that the Canadian and US Red
>>Cross are very, very good at is media relations.
>>
>>Amateurs have thier own relationships with the various served agencies one of which
>>is the Red Cross. Most important, though, are the local muncipalities, towns and
>>cities.
>>
>Another agency served by hams is The Salvation Army. Check out the
>Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) at
>http://www.satern.org/
Yes. And I have a great deal of respect for the work of the Salvation Army in this
area.
Also the Mormons are encouraging their folks to get amateur radio licenses.
Tony
***** Moderator's Note *****
I'm curious why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would
encourage Stakeholders to get ham licenses. Is this an official
policy, or is it something that's up to each Stake?
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 17:06:17 +1000
From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <pan.2009.04.16.07.06.15.861553@myrealbox.com>
On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:24:43 -0400, Richard wrote:
> On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:54:47 -0400 (EDT), David Clayton
> <dcstar@myrealbox.com> wrote:
>>How many "geeks" these days know what a SWR is let alone what to do about
>>it?
>
> I do. But then again, I'm a balding grey-haired 72-year-old "geek." When
> I worked for Bell Labs designing broad-band microwave systems, we used
> return loss rather than SWR, because the numbers made it easier to
> visualize what was happening. We had to keep each individual echo to
> about 70 dB below the signal. This translated to a 35 dB return-loss
> requirement for each component. In SWR terms, that was 1.035. One day,
> we visited a manufacturer of waveguide parts: bends, transitions, etc.
> They were used to SWR's of 1.2, and couldn't believe that we were serious
> about 35 dB retun losses. But that's what it took to transmit 1860
> multiplexed voice circuits with low intermod noise, and later 3 DS-3's
> using 64QAM modulation with adequate fade margin, over a 30-MHz wide 6 GHz
> channel 3000 miles from coast to coast.
Ahh yes, I recall building an audio return-loss bridge sometime in the
late 1970's. I think I still had my 27Mhz SWR Meter until about 5 years
ago.... (48 year old geek here.....)
--
Regards, David.
David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.
***** Moderator's Note *****
An audio return loss bridge? Were you a roadie for The Police?
Bill "This gives Roxanne's red light a whole new meaning" Horne
Temporary Moderator
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:55:07 -0700
From: Richard <rng@richbonnie.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose
Message-ID: <vpocu41pfah74km1cdsm424h90hv4k642i@4ax.com>
On Tue, 14 Apr 2009 09:57:34 -0400 (EDT), gordonb.zkktj@burditt.org
(Gordon Burditt) wrote:
>>Before choosing how or where to dispose of your old phone, make sure
>>you clear the information from it. It will linger, even if the phone
>>doesn't.
>
>So, besides using C4 *and* a small nuclear weapon to generate an
>EMP, what's the sure way to erase info from a phone?
Hit the memory card with a sledge hammer and pulverize it.
The US military has banned USB thumb drives and other removable
solid-state memory because the information cannot be erased by
overwriting. Because each memory cell can be rewritten only a limited
number of times, the manufacurers included circuitry which stores the
data of successive writes to different cells each time, to even out
the wear. Overwriting a file many times, the standard way to
obliterate data, doesn't work.
http://www.scmagazineus.com/Militarys-ban-of-USB-thumb-drives-highlights-security-risks/article/121326/
***** Moderator's Note *****
If the file(s) is/are encrypted, why would they care? A USB drive is
like any other media: you have to assume that it will get
lost/stolen/discarded at some point, and take precautions before the
fact.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:56:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose
Message-ID: <8ec0b0b9-545e-493a-81c5-ca9f0f937141@r37g2000yqn.googlegroups.com>
On Apr 14, 9:57 am, gordonb.zk...@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) wrote:
> So what's the official NSA-approved procedure from erasing Top Secret
> data from a cellphone before shipping it to China for recycling?
Obviously one should delete call logs, photos, and speed dials, voice
memos, etc.. Some phones have a "super reset" which clears everything
out; that should be used too.
This topic came up before here and someone posted a website that gave
instructions for a variety of phones, even old ones. You have to key
in a l-o-n-g string of digits to get into supervisory mode and a
command to wipe out.
I hate to be cynical, but I suspect some "phone recylcing sites"
simply take the phones they collect and throw them in the trash; just
an excuse to get you into the store.
Of course the Vz wireless site offers "certified" used cellphones as
free ones, so obviously some are recycled. I'd be nervous about them
unless the battery is new.
***** Moderator's Note *****
I think that some recycling efforts are just that: they recycle the
phones they receive as donations by selling them to precious-metal
recovery companies, and use the funds they receive to help the group
they are trying to benefit.
There's no need to by cynical about it: I put my old AMPS phone in the
bin to benefit soldiers, and I'd be very surprised if the actual
instrument ever made it to Iraq or Afghanistan. The key, you see, is
to consider what doesn't happen as well as what does: the toxins
never went into my local landfill. Recycling isn't always about money
- anyone who's helped the Boy Scouts collect old newspapers can attest
to that - but is, rather, a chance to become a part of a change to our
common outlook on life. When kids see adults recycling, they grow up
with the habit of thinking about which bin to put something in when
they don't need it anymore.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:24:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose
Message-ID: <9031d280-4e0b-4373-b442-20de4f15e78b@f18g2000vbf.googlegroups.com>
On Apr 16, 9:13 am, hanco...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
> . . . Recycling isn't always about money
> - anyone who's helped the Boy Scouts collect old newspapers can attest
> to that - but is, rather, a chance to become a part of a change to our
> common outlook on life. When kids see adults recycling, they grow up
> with the habit of thinking about which bin to put something in when
> they don't need it anymore.
I happen to have a copy of LIFE* for June 5, 1944, which includes a
feature story about paper drives by both Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
During WW II there was a severe paper shortage. Substantial
quantities of heavy wrapping paper and cushioning paper were required
to package war materiel headed overseas (slow ocean voyages were hard
on improperly packaged cargo). Waste newspapers and other items were
collected and virtually all of it turned into wrapping papers.
BTW, the front cover of the magazine has a full page ad by the Bell
Telephone System: The drawing shows prominent wall clock and a man on
the phone saying, "I think I'd better stop now".
In large type, "PLEASE LIMIT YOUR CALL TO 5 MINUTES. That's a good
suggestion to follow. It menas the lines to war-busy centers are
crowded. It's a friendly, thoughtful at that helps the other
fellow--and then some day turns right around and helps you."
In those days it was tech progress to "miniaturize" telephone
components small enough so they all fit into a single set. Prior to
the 300 set of 1938, telephones required a separate ringer box and
condenser/network. Indeed, I think in those days handset models cost
more than candlestick models. No one could've imagined that a land-
line phone (forget about mobile phones) could be as tiny as today's
cellphones.
A great deal of communications, electronics, and information
processing technology came out of the war. It's a shame it took a war
to do so. (Many corporations and colleges published books about their
wartime contributions. They make for interesting reading. Some stuff
came to fruition immediately, but other ideas took years to be
perfected or to be cheap enough for widespread everyday use. Touch
Tone, for example.)
*The old magazines make for very interesting reading. For one thing,
the country was not as "united" behind the war effort and the
government as we're taught, there were lots of caustic columnists and
opinions very critical of the prosecution of the war or problems of
the home front. While the majority of the country deeply respected
FDR, a good part of it detested him. Politicians were just as
'political' then as now.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:54:59 -0700 (PDT)
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Cell phone recycling: delete, then dispose
Message-ID: <db3912b6-f344-48fd-a9f6-b8a76a85777d@o14g2000vbo.googlegroups.com>
P.S.
The old Bell System was always aggressively into recycling since it
owned everything. Telephone sets or their components would be re-
used, even if certain parts were replaced. Take apart a 500/554 set
and you'll find the network, transmitter, receiver all have different
mfr dates.
C.O. had bags to recycle copper wire. (However, a huge quantity of
interior copper wiring in buildings and even key system boxes was
left in place even if phones were removed. In the 1960s the Bell
System worked with builders to pre-wire homes and put phone wires in
all the rooms regardless of what the resident would actually order.)
In the 1950s they recycled 300 sets by repackaging them in a modern
case and calling it the 5302 set. To subscribers it looked like the
newer 500 set.
In another issue, as to recycling electronics to extract rare metals,
sometimes the chemistry to do that can be pretty nasty and more
environmentally caustic than merely throwing the set in the trash.
Indeed, I doubt a cellphone "leaks".
------------------------------
Date: 16 Apr 2009 10:53:08 -0400
From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <gs7gok$1e8$1@panix2.panix.com>
In article <grvq4b$ba9$1@solaris.cc.vt.edu>, <ranck@vt.edu> wrote:
>Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> wrote:
>
>> Whatever the final toll, one thing is certain: Whoever did this is in
>> a world of trouble if he, she or they get caught.
>
>> "I pity the individuals who have done this," said San Jose Police
>> Chief Rob Davis.
>
>> Ten fiber-optic cables carrying were cut at four locations in the
>
>Yeah, and I bet the perps were really annoyed when they saw
>there wasn't any copper in those cables . . .
>
>How much does anyone want to bet it was something stupid
>like that more than intentional DOS?
Could be, but when a union contract is about to expire and things start
breaking down in suspicious ways, my first thought is that there might be
a connection between these things.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
------------------------------
Date: 16 Apr 2009 11:01:58 -0400
From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <gs7h96$drq$1@panix2.panix.com>
>Michael Grigoni <michael.grigoni@cybertheque.org> wrote:
>About 25 years ago I used to maintain and install IBM 3270 terminals.
>These were located in several buildings around the campus and connected
>via coax cable running in the steam tunnels. We frequently had to
>get out a TDR and guesstimate the number of feet along some tunnel
>to where a cable had gone bad. The hot environment was not kind
>to coax, but it would not fail too often. One incident we went
>into the tunnel to find about 20 feet of cable and been cut out.
>Our speculation at the time was that some student had been "exploring"
>the tunnels, a fairly normal passtime on college campuses, and
>decided he needed a piece of coax for his cable TV hookup. Now,
>3270s used RG58 coax that is 50ohm instead of the RG56 75ohm for cable,
>but it looked very similar and would probably work OK for a short jumper.
Actually, the 3270s used RG/62 which is much weirder, at 93 ohms. It's
handy for making impedance matching sections on 50 ohm cables, but using
it for cable TV would probably not be a very good idea. Wouldn't hold the
F connectors too well either.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
***** Moderator's Note *****
You're both right:
1. 3270's used RG-62 for the connections to their controllers.
2. Inter-building comms, however, may have been done with Ethernet,
and 10Base2 Ethernet used RG-58, as Michael mentioned.
BTW, I studied ArcNet while getting my CNE in 1995: I don't remember
if the 3270's used ArcNet, or what the length limits were, but ArcNet
also used RG-62 cable.
Now and then, readers may encounter a building with legacy RG-62
(ArcNet) or RG-59 (CATV) cables still in place: those cables can still
be used, since it's easy to add baluns that allow them to work with
half-duplex 10BaseT Ethernet. ArcNet cards and hubs also appear
regularly on Ebay.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
------------------------------
Date: 16 Apr 2009 10:56:20 -0400
From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <gs7guk$aeu$1@panix2.panix.com>
AES <siegman@stanford.edu> wrote:
>In article <gs124c$5di$1@reader1.panix.com>,
> danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> That being said, how sure are "we", as in the general public,
>> in our belief that only the four super duper important
>> cables were cut? How's about the scenario that a couple
>> of dozen were sliced, but the other 20 or so weren't
>> even noticed and aren't being reported?
>
>Wouldn't elementary TDR pretty readily locate at last some of these?
Yes, and they'd get fixed. But the issue isn't whether the problems are
detected, the issue is whether they are announced to the public or not.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:02:52 -0500
From: Jim Redelfs <jim.redelfs@NOSPAMredelfs.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <jim.redelfs-20E693.10025216042009@news.west.cox.net>
In article <siegman-127428.07430914042009@news.stanford.edu>,
AES <siegman@stanford.edu> wrote:
> Wouldn't elementary TDR pretty readily locate at last some of these?
Yes.
However, it was the MULTIPLE cuts that exacerbated the bad situation.
Once the repair droid prepared the OUT cable, he probably shot it for
distance, only to learn that the cable was open in the next hole - and
so on. <sigh>
--
:)
JR
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:57:03 -0500
From: Jim Redelfs <jim.redelfs@NOSPAMredelfs.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <jim.redelfs-48FB0C.09570216042009@news.west.cox.net>
In article <pan.2009.04.11.22.40.32.572122@myrealbox.com>,
David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com> wrote:
> Gee, all these billions upon billions of dollars spent on "security"
> around the world each year and still there are ways to bring western
> civilization to its knees with little effort.
No such thing happened.
Before western civilization is truly brought to its knees, there will
have been used LOTS of explosives and radiation.
The telecom sabotage wasn't some kid with an axe simply whacking a riser
cable on a pole. It was performed in the UNDERGROUND, cutting
apparently only fiber optic cable. The perpetrator obviously knew what
he was doing and where to do it.
This was no small project: Opening four (?) manholes, descending with
light and tools sufficient to ensure proper cable ID for greatest
effect, cutting the cables then ascending and closing the holes.
I doubt if it was done by ONE person.
AT&T's contract with the local union had expired. I will be surprised
if this doesn't turn out to be an "inside" job and the perpetrators
brought to justice. Surely someone drove down that road during the time
the deed was done. Telcos rarely place duct lines down truly deserted
roads.
> Better hope those terrorist type people don't figure out that they
> could cripple a country's economy (in the short-term, at least) with a
> well co-ordinated attack on these innumerable easy targets.
Too late. Different terrorists already did that in 2001. <sigh>
What *I* really want to know is if the cable cutters tested, purged and
ventilated the vaults during this act. <big grin>
--
:)
JR
------------------------------
Date: 16 Apr 2009 11:04:01 -0400
From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Sabotage attacks knock out phone service
Message-ID: <gs7hd1$3n2$1@panix2.panix.com>
Richard <rng@richbonnie.com> wrote:
>I do. But then again, I'm a balding grey-haired 72-year-old "geek."
>When I worked for Bell Labs designing broad-band microwave systems, we
>used return loss rather than SWR, because the numbers made it easier
>to visualize what was happening. We had to keep each individual echo
>to about 70 dB below the signal. This translated to a 35 dB
>return-loss requirement for each component. In SWR terms, that was
>1.035. One day, we visited a manufacturer of waveguide parts: bends,
>transitions, etc. They were used to SWR's of 1.2, and couldn't
>believe that we were serious about 35 dB retun losses. But that's
>what it took to transmit 1860 multiplexed voice circuits with low
>intermod noise, and later 3 DS-3's using 64QAM modulation with
>adequate fade margin, over a 30-MHz wide 6 GHz channel 3000 miles from
>coast to coast.
Yes, but back then, SOME waveguide manufacturers published tuning procedures
which involved banging on waveguide sections with a hammer until the return
loss hit a certain amount. Problem with that is that once you've bent it
you can't easily bend it back....
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 10:58:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: AT&T "Family Maps" cellphone location tracking
Message-ID: <33401170-fb76-4ec7-9fa6-ba9b9cd43933@o14g2000vbo.googlegroups.com>
AT&T announced a new cellphone service targeted to parents to track
their kids. Privacy experts are concerned.
See: http://www.kyw1060.com/AT-T-Offers-New---Family-Plan---Cell-Phone-Trackin/4209208
This kind of thing makes me uncomfortable. Yes, I know plenty of kids
lie about where they are, but I think that is a separate issue that
needs to be addressed. In other words, if there are family social
problems, deal with those problems as they are, don't use technology
as a way of avoiding important social issues.
What troubles me is if the present generation of kids gets used to the
tracking and surveillance that older folks thought of as "1984ish" and
unacceptable. It's troubling how many things prophesized in "1984"
have become a routine part of everyday life.
[I was a "goody two-shoes" as a school student, but I'd probably be
expelled if I were a student today because of the many new strictly
enforced rules that didn't exist when I was a kid. In my day if a kid
was misbehaving in a minor way the teacher would merely tell the kid
to stop it and that was the end of it. Today they have "zero
tolerance" and the teacher or proctor would formally write the kid up
for discipline. Today it's hard for a kid to get through the school
year without any write-ups, it my day such formal write-ups were
rare. Kids' behavior hasn't changed.]
When an organization puts up electronic controls and tells me it's to
"protect the customers", I view that with great suspicion; I think
it's to protect the organization and to heck with the customers.
***** Moderator's Note *****
<RANT>
Privacy be damned: when my kid was underage, I wanted to know where he
was, and who he was with, every second he was out of my sight.
We can look back to the halcyon days of yesteryear all we want
(nostalgia for a simpler, more understandable time made a lot of money
for the producers of "Happy Days" and similar TV shows), but we have
to live in the present. Children growing up in the Twenty-First
century are so over-stimulated that they are literally numb, and are
practically incapable of applying any common-sense to social
situations. The Perfect People(TM) they see on TV all get to do
whatever they want, so those who watch them do it too.
June Cleaver is not vacuuming Ward's little trophy home anymore: she's
hustling between meetings at mega-corp, dreading the next series of
layoffs, taking work home all the time, and fighting physical and
spiritual exhaustion every day. Ward's little trophy wife is as numb
as her kids (or Ward, for that matter), and Eddie Haskel is depositing
his drug profits to addresses in the Netherlands Antilles, to add to
his retirement fund and in case he needs to buy his way out of an
inconvenient truth. Beaver is no more a child than the orphans he sees
on the streets of Lagos while he channel-surfs and memorizes the date
of birth of Paul Revere: the Beeve is high, he's stealing from June's
purse and Ward's wallet to make sure that Eddie Haskel is still his
friend, and someday June is going to realize that her jewelry
collection went missing at about the same time as the video camera
and the SLR and the family silver.
Say what you want about the 1950's (or any other bygone time) - we
live in an age where controlled substances can be had in any hamlet in
the world. The poster is right: children have not changed. They will
always respond to peer pressure, will always take stupid risks, and
will always need adults to guide them. The difference is that Aunt
Polly's fence is covered with lead-poisoned paint, and Tom Sawyer is
offering your son the chance to get high in return for a small part of
his soul.
Privacy and its prosetylizers be damned. I want the coordinates.
</RANT>
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:20:49 +0000 (UTC)
From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: AT&T "Family Maps" cellphone location tracking
Message-ID: <gs87fh$bs9$1@reader1.panix.com>
In <33401170-fb76-4ec7-9fa6-ba9b9cd43933@o14g2000vbo.googlegroups.com> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes:
>AT&T announced a new cellphone service targeted to parents to track
>their kids. Privacy experts are concerned.
>See: http://www.kyw1060.com/AT-T-Offers-New---Family-Plan---Cell-Phone-Trackin/4209208
This was a big selling point a couple of years ago for "Disney Mobile",
an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) which was reselling, um,
I think Sprint.
Nice concept, but it didn't get them anywhere near the market
penetration they where hoping for, and they've been relegated
to the dust bins of history.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:42:44 -0700 (PDT)
From: David Kaye <sfdavidkaye2@yahoo.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: AT&T "Family Maps" cellphone location tracking
Message-ID: <b4fcb374-cd11-4408-b8a3-24be30071a5d@f41g2000pra.googlegroups.com>
On Apr 16, 12:47 pm, hanco...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> This kind of thing makes me uncomfortable. Yes, I know plenty of kids
> lie about where they are, but I think that is a separate issue that
> needs to be addressed. In other words, if there are family social
> problems, deal with those problems as they are, don't use technology
> as a way of avoiding important social issues.
I agree. If people wish to create the communities of the 1950s they
can. It's a matter of moving to a smaller community. Case in point,
the town of Brisbane, California, 1 mile south of San Francisco's
Candlestick Park (where the 49ers play and the Giants used to play).
Brisbane has about 4,000 people. It's located in a small valley. The
residents know each other. When a kid is wandering around, neighbors
know who they are. They know where they're supposed to be. People
watch out for each other. No GPS necessary. Brisbane is but one such
community. There are 10s of thousands of these all over America.
What's funny is that Brisbane is no isolated early 20th Century
enclave. It's in the heart of the epicenter of biotech. It has
better cell phone coverage than nearly anywhere in America. Any given
outdoors area will receive a dozen or more Wi-Fi routers. Brisbane is
the ultimate in high tech. And yet, people know each other, look out
for each other. The crime rate is low.
Again, it's not because Brisbane is so special. It's because it's
small. Even across crowded California (37 million people) there are
hundreds of such small communities there 1950s style community still
works.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:29:01 GMT
From: Justin Goldberg <justgold79@gmail.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Phone Systems
Message-ID: <Xns9BEFB1CEA31B9j1u2s3t4i5n6forXnews@69.16.185.250>
If an office has phones with multiple lines and they are reached with
a button on the phone, would I be able to plug a regular phone into
that jack to test if the line is dead? This question has gotten me to
worrying what other fields of knowledge, that weren't taught in class,
am I missing in becoming the best pc technician I can be.
***** Moderator's Note *****
Justin,
I applaud your willingness to ask questions: it's the most important
part of being a good technician.
I can't give you an answer to your question without knowing the
specifics of the system you work with. Some PBX's allow "500"
(regular) sets to attach to their extension ports, while others
require that only phones made by the PBX manufacturer may be
used. You'll need to read through the documentation for the PBX and go
from there: feel free to post the PBX brand and model number here if
you'd like specific info on that unit.
HTH. Stay curious.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
------------------------------
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