---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20210418174525.0385E9A6@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2021 17:45:24 +0000 (UTC) From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Alaska Sold Berkshire Hathaway, Oracle Stock; Bought Wireless-Tower Shares By Ed Lin A major Alaskan agency recently made big changes in its largest stock investments. Alaska's Department of Revenue, which collects and invests public funds, cut back in Class B shares of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (ticker: Berkshire Hathaway ), and reduced its position in Oracle (ORCL) stock in the first quarter. The agency also increased investments in the three publicly traded wireless-tower stocks: American Tower REIT (AMT), Crown Castle International (CCI), and SBA Communications (SBAC) during the period. The trades, among others, were disclosed in a form the agency filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.barrons.com/articles/alaska-sold-berkshire-hathaway-oracle-stock-bought-wireless-tower-shares-51618608943 ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20210417201907.ADDFC738A83A@ary.qy> Date: 17 Apr 2021 16:19:07 -0400 From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com> Subject: Re: Canada: For Whom The Ringtone Tolls It appears that Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.remove-this.telecom-digest.org> said: >Canada: For Whom The Ringtone Tolls - Federal Court Confirms No >Repayment Owed To Telecommunications Companies By SOCAN For >Communicating Downloadable Ringtones ... > https://www.mondaq.com/canada/telecoms-mobile-cable-communications/1056862/for-whom-the-ringtone-tolls-federal-court-confirms-no-repayment-owed-to-telecommunications-companies-by-socan-for-communicating-downloadable-ringtones?email_access=on > >***** Moderator's Note ***** > >OK, it's a bit thick even for me, but to my mind, ... It's badly written but the actual point is simple. Mobile phone companies let you pick your own ringtone, and some of those ringtones are recongizable copyrighted songs. When they play a copyrighted ringtone, how much if any royalty does the phone company owe the composer under Canadian law? As you might expect, the composers said "a lot" and the telcos said "none". This fight started in 2003 and has been going back and forth in the courts since then, with detours arging whether ringtones are like the music streamed in online games (no, it turns out.) This time the judge said yes you owe royalties going quite a way back, so pay up. But the telcos can and probably will appeal so it's not over yet. R's, John ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20210417000351.3FAD3CC0@telecom2018.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2021 00:03:51 +0000 (UTC) From: Moderator <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> Subject: An Ad Or Not An Ad: NY Weighs In On TCPA Surveys By David O. Klein Another day, another court decision that refines [what] constitutes a Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") unsolicited fax adver- tisement. A Manhattan-based federal court recently issued a decision that removes faxed invitations to participate in a survey from the TCPA definition of advertisement. In drawing this distinction for TCPA surveys, the Court held that the subject faxes, while unsolicited, did not qualify as advertisements because they did not offer for sale goods, property, or services of any sort. https://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/advertising-marketing-branding/1057638/an-ad-or-not-an-ad-ny-weighs-in-on-tcpa-surveys?email_access=on ------------------------------ Message-ID: <58d74d96-0cd1-3bab-530f-48317edb2119@billhorne.com> Date: 18 Apr 2021 14:29:01 -0400 From: Bill Horne <malQRMassimilation@gmail.com> Subject: Verizon Mobile strikes again Well, I finished today's Digest, and (as is my habit) I dialed *86 to check my voice mail. Yes, there is one person in the world who still bothers to check his voicemail. I heard a recording telling me to enter my mailbox ID. Usually, I get a prompt to put in my password and an octothorpe, and then the recorded lady that they have chained up in the basement of the secret location where Bell Labs is still in business will tell me what messages are being saved for my edification and amusement. This time, it couldn't even figure out what my phone number is. I tried the ten-digit version, and got a snippet of the crazy person in the basement of Bell Labs screaming for mercy and telling me that I didn't know the right code. I tried the seven-digit version, and got a recording saying that the system isn't available right now, from the same desperate woman, except that by now her latest drug injection has taken effect and she's very relaxed and even might be interpreted as friendly. I find it interesting that it never occurred to me before: fewer and fewer customer use voicemail, so the ghost of that old whore Mother Bell has decided to scrimp on maintenance. You heard it here first: the next step is that you'll find your voicemail forwarded to Google, where you'll be given a choice of offering your first born to receive it without ads, or the wealth of Croesus if you'd rather just hear only the ones from people you know. Bill -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)