33 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.The Telecom Digest for Aug 30, 2014
| ||||||||||
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.
| Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 14:23:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Neal McLain <nmclain@remove-this.annsgarden.com> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: ATVA Launches Six-Figure 'Local Choice' Ad Campaign Message-ID: <ee2671a4-0e4c-4511-9950-e7bbbc2c2bcc@googlegroups.com> Drumming Up Viewer Support For Deconstructing Retransmission Consent By John Eggerton, MultiChannel News, 8/27/2014 Saying it was "just two words away from the biggest celebration ever," the American Television Alliance (ATVA), a coalition of cable and satellite operators and other TV distributors, today is launching a national ad campaign promoting the Senate Commerce Committee leadership's "Local Choice" proposal. Those two words are "Local Choice," a plan that would essentially end the retransmission consent negotiation regime by having broadcasters deal directly with multichannel video programming distributor customers, offering their channels for a per-subscriber price that viewers could take or leave. The plan does not similarly apply to cable channels, or to stations that opt for mandatory carriage (must carry), only to stations that opt to charge for their signals. The plan does not similarly apply to cable channels, or to stations that opt for mandatory carriage (must carry), only to stations that opt to charge for their signals. Continued: http://www.multichannel.com/news/national-regulation/atva-launches-six-figure-local-choice-ad-campaign/383413 -or- http://tinyurl.com/mlg5qvh This plan seems to be gathering steam. As I noted in a previous post (August 11, 2014), I still prefer Rep. Anna Eshoo's (D-CA18) "CHOICE" act. But at least the Rockefeller-Thune "Local Choice" proposal is a step in the right direction. And it has the advantage of having a Republican as a sponsor. CHOICE Act: http://eshoo.house.gov/press-releases/bill-to-eliminate-tv-blackouts-and-reform-the-video-marketplace-introduced/ -or- http://tinyurl.com/khdqzt7 Neal McLain |
| Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 08:53:00 +1000 From: David Clayton <dc33box-usenet2@NOSPAM.yahoo.com.au> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Verizon flirts with QR codes for user id's Message-ID: <pan.2014.08.28.22.52.58.481920@NOSPAM.yahoo.com.au> On Thu, 28 Aug 2014 15:02:18 -0400, Bill Horne wrote: > On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 11:06:47AM -0400, Barry Margolin wrote: >> In article <20140828131536.GA12768@telecom.csail.mit.edu>, >> Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote: >> >> > The QR code would get people into accounts without passwords. ......... > Of course, the phone is only as secure as an attacker's willingness to > steal it, or the QR image, from Alice while it's unlocked. > > This strikes me as one of those "Do *SOMETHING*" solutions: not a big > improvement in real security, but enough to stop someone's boss from > screeming. Once we all have "QR" codes tattooed onto our bodies, the problem will be moot, eh? Just wait for it to become compulsory at birth..... -- 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. |
| Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 10:14:10 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Verizon flirts with QR codes for user id's Message-ID: <20140829141410.GA5168@telecom.csail.mit.edu> On Fri, Aug 29, 2014 at 08:53:00AM +1000, David Clayton wrote: > On Thu, 28 Aug 2014 15:02:18 -0400, Bill Horne wrote: > > > On Thu, Aug 28, 2014 at 11:06:47AM -0400, Barry Margolin wrote: > >> In article <20140828131536.GA12768@telecom.csail.mit.edu>, > >> Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote: > >> > >> > The QR code would get people into accounts without passwords. > ......... > > Of course, the phone is only as secure as an attacker's willingness to > > steal it, or the QR image, from Alice while it's unlocked. > > > > This strikes me as one of those "Do *SOMETHING*" solutions: not a big > > improvement in real security, but enough to stop someone's boss from > > screeming. > > > Once we all have "QR" codes tattooed onto our bodies, the problem will be > moot, eh? > > Just wait for it to become compulsory at birth..... That cuts both ways. I'm tempted to tell a joke about how a woman you approach in a bar might demand that you present your tatoo for scanning, but the more likely scenario is that a policeman will demand it so that he can tell if you're in the wrong neighborhood, or if you're a "person of interest" to the ruling class, or if you've visited any "communist sympathising" country, or if you're too well-educated to belief his threats, or if you or your relatives are wealthy enough to bail you out of jail or pay a fine. It's a very interesting and very scary subject, and there are (serious, well thought-out) arguments for both views: I was told that Massachusetts drivers licenses won't be accepted as valid ID at airports in a couple of years. It seems that Bay State residents will be expected to present U.S. passports or other federal ID instead. If I understand the issue correctly, this is because my home state has refused to participate in what amounts to the federal government's demand that drivers licenses be used as national ID cards: it seems that most voters are uncomfortable with the idea of having to carry a "U.S." ID card or passport all the time, so the feds are going through the back alley and demanding that states provide equivalent identity credentials that can be quickly scanned by any cop at any traffic stop, anywhere in the U.S. If we're all to be tattooed with a bar code or QR code or whatever, at least we won't have to pay the Old Boys Club at Foggy Bottom hundreds of dollars for a passport every five or ten years. And, speaking for myself, I'd rather be able to board the commuter rail by scanning my arm than by having to buy yet-another-monthly pass: I'm not likely to forget my arm. ;-) Bill -- Bill Horne ... Because the people got fat and grew lazy Now their vote is a meaningless joke They babble about law, about order But it's all just an echo of what they've been told - Kay/Edmonton |
| Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 16:38:18 -0400 From: Arnie Goetchius <arnie.goetchius@remove-this.att.net> To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: T-Mobile to buy 700MHz A Block spectrum from CenturyLink subsidiary Message-ID: <lto3vq$jli$1@dont-email.me> Bill Horne wrote: > T-Mobile US has revealed in a filing with the Federal Communications > Commission (FCC) that it is seeking approval to purchase 700MHz A > Block licences from Actel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of fixed line > operator CenturyLink. T-Mobile US, which is majority-owned by Deutsche > Telekom, recently said it had entered into agreements to acquire A > block spectrum from "multiple parties" for approximately > USD50.5 million. > > Rest at: > > > http://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2014/08/13/t-mobile-to-buy-700mhz-a-block-spectrum-from-centurylink-subsidiary/ > > -or- > > http://goo.gl/p1uNUF > I dropped T-Mobile about two years ago because I had great difficulty making calls in the house. It would not work at all in the basement where my office is so I switched to AT&T which works in the basement fine. My understanding of why AT&T works in my basement and T-Mobile does not is because ATT has a low frequency band (850MHz ?) that works better in buildings. T-Mobile has not had this in the past. T-Mobile is now getting 700MHz "A-Block" frequencies. My question is will my phone (Alcatel SPARQ OT-606A) work with the 700 A-Block frequencies or will only phones designed specifically for A-Block work? |
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to Usenet, where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'.
TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit educational service offered to the Internet by Bill Horne.
The Telecom Digest is moderated by Bill Horne.
| Contact information: |
Bill Horne Telecom Digest 43 Deerfield Road Sharon MA 02067-2301 339-364-8487 bill at horne dot net |
| Subscribe: | telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=subscribe telecom |
| Unsubscribe: | telecom-request@telecom-digest.org?body=unsubscribe telecom |
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 Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All rights reserved.
Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself. Thank you!
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.