31 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
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The Telecom Digest for July 24, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 159 : "text" Format
====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands
against crime. - Geoffrey Welsh
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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:49:32 -0400
From: Fred Goldstein <invalid@see.sig.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Verizon telemarketers violating laws?
Message-ID: <51EEEC5C.3090801@ionary.com>
I received a telespam today from someone identifying herself as being
with Verizon. She asked if I was the person in charge of the RCN
account. Well, yes, my phone comes from RCN. How does Verizon know
this though? Telephone accounts are customer proprietary network
information (CPNI), aren't they? RCN isn't selling its customer lists
to its competitors. The phone line in question is provided off of RCN's
cable, not leased Verizon loops. It is not a number ported from Verizon;
RCN owns both the thousands-block and the A-block of the NPA-NXX. Thus
the number doesn't even need to appear in the NPAC number portability
database. About the only way they could sort of legally know about it
is because it is listed, and if they checked NPAC and didn't see it,
they'd know it belonged to the A-block holder. But it's not kosher to
use NPAC data for marketing. Carriers are only supposed to use their
caches of it for directing calls.
So I asked her how she knew I used RCN. First she lied that it was
really Verizon's line. This is a standard telesleaze trick of theirs,
to claim that facilities-based CLECs are actually resellers. I said
that it wasn't, then she said it was Verizon's turf and therefore they
knew. Then she made some kind if insulting remark that I'm pretending
to know a lot but don't; then she hung up. Little does she know that I
professionally deliver expert witness work against ILECs!
Just to top it off, the Caller ID was "Name Unavailable" from
"1-987-654-3210". Yeah, right. I wonder if that violates any truth in
Caller ID laws.
--
Fred R. Goldstein fred "at" interisle.net
Interisle Consulting Group
+1 617 795 2701
Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 21:07:39 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon telemarketers violating laws?
Message-ID: <20130724010739.GB10884@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 04:49:32PM -0400, Fred Goldstein wrote:
> I received a telespam today from someone identifying herself as being
> with Verizon. She asked if I was the person in charge of the RCN
> account. Well, yes, my phone comes from RCN. How does Verizon know
> this though? Telephone accounts are customer proprietary network
> information (CPNI), aren't they? RCN isn't selling its customer lists
> to its competitors. [snip]
> ...then she said it was Verizon's turf and therefore they
> knew. Then she made some kind if insulting remark that I'm pretending
> to know a lot but don't; then she hung up.
That's the mark of a frustrated, wannabee colon cleanse
salesperson. They always vent their spleen just before they hang up
and hope for a dope on the next call.
Telemarketing, like spam, is an arms race: the good nature of middle
class citizens provided the vermin with an easy living, until their
victims demanded action by the congresscritters, and the do-not-call
list worked until the marketeers realized that they are in the neutral
zone between congressional apathy and legal indifference.
The next step is that everyone will buy an electronic butler. In a
way, the DNC worked: it gave ordinary people a taste of what privacy
and quiet enjoyment of our homes feels like, and now those same people
will get mad and take individual action.
Bill
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
I won't forget when Peter Pan came to my house, took my hand
I said I was a boy, I'm glad he didn't check
I learned to fly, I learned to fight
I lived a whole life in one night
- Dar Williams
Date: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 07:30:00 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Excellent new book about Phone Phreaks "Exploding the Phone" by Phil Lapsley
Message-ID: <2c3f487f-f909-4743-bb07-8bfd5e077be6@googlegroups.com>
On Tuesday, June 18, 2013 9:30:33 PM UTC-4, Lou Meiss wrote:
> Here is an excellent new book that traces the history of Phone
> Phreaks. It is well researched and well put together. "Exploding The
> Phone : The untold story of the teenagers and outlaws who hacked Ma
> Bell", by Phil Lapsley.
Yes, it's a very good book.
While it has some technical details, it basically written in a light breezy
style. It's more about the people themselves involved in phreaking than the
specific techniques of how it was done; though the reader will get some idea
of MF signalling tones and how the phreaks jumped in to take control.
It describes how developing the phreaking techniques took substantial patience
and practice; one didn't just shoot off internal MF signals. The November
1960 BSTJ had a detailed article describing control and signalling over the
network, and the early hackers made good use of this. But understanding this
article requires a solid technical knowledge.
It describes some holes in the old Bell network that allowed the very
determined phreaks to gain access to Verification trunks, allowing them to
evesdrop on conversations, as well as access to the military's Autovon
network.
The author provides a website loaded with documents.
http://explodingthephone.com/
Presumably, the replacement of 4A toll crossbar and the crossbar tandem, and
the emergence of CCIS and SS7 eliminated the ability to hack into the network.
But then we have modern hackers, like "Rachel from credit card services"
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