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The Telecom Digest for July 24, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 183 : "text" Format
====== 29 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ====== |
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Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2011 22:10:45 +0000 (UTC)
From: Paul <pssawyer@comcast.net.INVALID>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: area code named beer
Message-ID: <Xns9F2AB8F06B1FESenex@88.198.244.100>
moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney) wrote in
news:j05d73$ao3$1@pcls6.std.com:
> I don't know what the exchange names for Fitchburg and Leominster,
> Mass. were, however many Fitchburg numbers are 34x-xxxx, and
> Leominster has many 53x-xxxx. It fits being FItchburg-X-xxxx and
> LEominster-X-xxxx.
Yes, they used FItchburg- and LEominster. Later, they changed
FItchburg- to DIamond- because operators and others were hearing
"PIttsburgh."
--
Paul
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 07:39:16 -0700 (PDT)
From: Wes Leatherock <wleathus@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: area code named beer
Message-ID: <1311431956.57780.YahooMailClassic@web111713.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
--- On Fri, 7/22/11, Paul <pssawyer@comcast.net.INVALID> wrote:
> > I don't know what the exchange names for Fitchburg and Leominster,
> > Mass. were, however many Fitchburg numbers are 34x-xxxx, and
> > Leominster has many 53x-xxxx. It fits being FItchburg-X-xxxx and
> > LEominster-X-xxxx.
> Yes, they used FItchburg- and LEominster. Later, they changed
> FItchburg- to DIamond- because operators and others were hearing
> "PIttsburgh."
In the DFW area ARlington was originally used for the city of the same
name. Later changed to CRestview (same dial pull.)
The Bell System had a list of approved names for each dial pull
arranged by the corresponding digits. When Anadarko, Okla. (Indian
City USA) was converted to dial the local leaders wanted "CHieftain,"
which was not on the approved list. So SWBT got, and received, an
exemption.
I assume names assigned before the list was issued were grandfathered.
Wes Leatherock
wleathus@yahoo.com
wesrock@aol.com
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:04:27 -0700 (PDT)
From: Lisa or Jeff <hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: area code named beer
Message-ID: <bcc40aff-ddfe-42d1-a4c7-d8296adabd66@d32g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>
On Jul 23, 10:39 am, Wes Leatherock <wleat...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> The Bell System had a list of approved names for each dial pull
> arranged by the corresponding digits. When Anadarko, Okla. (Indian
> City USA) was converted to dial the local leaders wanted "CHieftain,"
> which was not on the approved list. So SWBT got, and received, an
> exemption.
>
> I assume names assigned before the list was issued were grandfathered.
What's puzzling is that some names were grandfathered in, but others
were still changed with the dial pull left the same.
In Philadelphia, they had BAring 2, which was pronounced "bearing",
and obviously not a good name for an exchange. But BAring 2 stayed
until the end (and 222 remains to this day).
When the second digit of an exchange was 9, some places used Y, as in
HYacinth, HYatt, CYpress, LYric. While OYster probably wouldn't be
mispelled, they did have troubles with HY dialed as HI.
(One community in NJ had SWinburne, named for an old poet.)
I'd like to know the last new name that was assigned to an
exchange. Probably done in the 1960s. In some places, the transition
was done slowly, for example, there was a TUrner 4 (884), but when 885
was opened, it was given 885 instead of TU 5); lots of examples like
that (ORchard 3, 6, 7 were joined by 671).
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:06:49 -0700
From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Google Search problems
Message-ID: <siegman-8CDA3B.16064922072011@sciid-srv02.med.tufts.edu>
In article <YIBkR7H02eKOFwxj@wisty.plus.com>,
Peter R Cook <PCook@wisty.plus.com> wrote:
> >Are there any newsgroups or responsible forums where one can learn
> >about/discuss/complain about Google search problems?
> >
> >[Which are certainly becoming much more annoying/frustrating/infuriating
> >in recent days!!!]
>
> There is an interesting book called " The Filter Bubble" by Eli Pariser
> you might want to read
Thanks for the lead -- although I'm not primarily concerned
about the "you loop" phenomena described in Pariser's book, in
which the Filter Bubble feeds back to you more and more links to
sites whose viewpoints or prejudices match your own, thus
leading you into an increasingly narrow intellectual world.
Rather, I'm encountering an increasing number of situations
where I carefully phrase my search to ask for some fairly
specific piece of technical or product information and Google
gives me in response not only several sponsored links, which are
most often irrelevant but are at least marked as sponsored --
and then a bunch of additional links from firms or sites or
organizations which actually have no useful information on my
query, but try to make it look as if they do -- and want me to
register, or to click on ad sites, or even pay an initial fee,
for them to look for this information.
Seems to me to be happening with rapidly increasing frequency,
in more and more areas of knowledge.
***** Moderator's Note *****
I've noticed this as well, and here's what caused it: the Google
search algorithms became semi-common knowledge, and companies started
selling "Seach Engine Optimization" services that reverse-engineered
Google's search method so as to advance their client's page rankings.
I knew a guy who used to do the work - trust me, it's not rocket
science - and he showed me some of the tricks involved. The root of
the problem is that Google's algorithms work extremely well until seo
comes along, and then they "fail" and deliver URL's that have been
gerrymandered to appear at the top of the rankings. That means that
Google took off like a rocket, and obtained "escape velocity" very
quickly, because it was an extremely useful tool for searching the net
WHEN IT FIRST STARTED. Now, it's usefullness has been compromised, but
the Google management team was smart enough to know that they had to
branch out quickly, so they used the revenue from the early years to
finance the expansion, and have succeeded beyond anyone's estimates.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 08:49:27 -0700
From: AES <siegman@stanford.edu>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Google Search problems
Message-ID: <siegman-6CAB7D.08492723072011@sciid-srv02.med.tufts.edu>
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>
> I've noticed this as well, and here's what caused it: the Google
> search algorithms became semi-common knowledge, and companies started
> selling "Seach Engine Optimization" services that reverse-engineered
> Google's search method so as to advance their client's page rankings.
>
> I knew a guy who used to do the work - trust me, it's not rocket
> science - and he showed me some of the tricks involved. The root of
> the problem is that Google's algorithms work extremely well until seo
> comes along, and then they "fail" and deliver URL's that have been
> gerrymandered to appear at the top of the rankings. That means that
> Google took off like a rocket, and obtained "escape velocity" very
> quickly, because it was an extremely useful tool for searching the net
> WHEN IT FIRST STARTED. Now, it's usefullness has been compromised, but
> the Google management team was smart enough to know that they had to
> branch out quickly, so they used the revenue from the early years to
> finance the expansion, and have succeeded beyond anyone's estimates.
Moderator:
I fully agree with your explanation. Seems to me we'll have to
wait and see how this battle of wits between Google and
SEO-wielding advertisers will play out over coming years (or
should that be "battle of nitwits"?).
It's not clear to me that Google will even fight the battle all
that hard. There's a view of the conflict between the forces of
knowledge and the forces of commerce that I've long held. Lord
Acton, a noted British philosopher (1834-1902), is remembered
for his famous quote:
"Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Today's equivalent in my view is:
"Dependence on advertising tends to corrupt. Total
dependence on advertising corrupts totally."
Google is of course, like so many other areas in our society,
totally dependent on advertising.
--AES
***** Moderator's Note *****
It's possible to "repair" Google's search engine, albeit temporarily,
but to do so would mean that Google would have to dedicate resources
that are more profitably used elsewhere. Of course, it's also possible
that will change: M$'s "Bing" service gained traction very quickly
because Redmond took the trouble to find out what bothered users about
Google, and scored lots of viewers by appealing to the average Google
users' "Needle in a haystack" frustration at having to wade through
all the artificially-enhanced rankings in order to reach one that they
can use. If enough users abandon the Google site, they will have to
take steps, and that means start an arms race that pits Google's techs
against well-financed SEO providers who will always have another trick
up their sleeve.
So long as Google is able to sell itself by reputation, then they have
no motive to change: the only question is how long it will take.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 00:44:57 +0000 (UTC)
From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Most cellphone voice mail is vulnerable to hackers
Message-ID: <j0d5i9$8k6$1@reader1.panix.com>
In article <j0cb31$s22$3@news.albasani.net>,
Adam H. Kerman <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:
>Thor Lancelot Simon <tls@panix.com> wrote:
>>David Clayton <dcstarbox-usenet@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>
>>>I seem to remember that Voice Mail services from network providers used
>>>the secure ID data (used for 1-800 etc.), not the stuff that can be
>>>spoofed and appears on your phone.
>
>>No. There is no "secure ID data". The number used for 800 number
>>billing is delivered by a service called ANI, which delivers the BTN,
>>the *Billing Telephone Number* for a given account. This is much harder
>>to spoof, but will also be identical for many different phones billed to
>>the same company -- so is not useful for purposes like identifying a
>>voicemail customer. . . .
>
>I don't agree. BTN the telephone number associated with the master account
>record. ANI is the line number. An account comprises a single line or
>hundreds or thousands of lines, depending on the nature of the telephone
>subscriber.
The ANI service delivers *either*:
A) The "calling party number" from the SS7 IAM message, if that
number is marked as network-provided, or
B) Otherwise, the BTN for the originating line, again from the SS7
IAM message.
Look at the message formats -- where in there are you going to jam some
third number for it to deliver?
Remember, the BTN emitted in the AMA record from the originating switch
may not end up being the BTN actually used to bill the account. But that
all happens "magically" from the point of view of the SS7 network.
Thor
--
Thor Lancelot Simon tls@panix.com
"All of my opinions are consistent, but I cannot present them all
at once." -Jean-Jacques Rousseau, On The Social Contract
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 10:12:06 +0000 (UTC)
From: Koos van den Hout <koos+newsposting@kzdoos.xs4all.nl>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Automatic License Plate Readers track your every move
Message-ID: <j0e6pm$50k$2@kzdoos.xs4all.nl>
Kade Crockford <kcrockford@remove-this.aclum.org> wrote in
<CA4C597D.2D23%kcrockford@remove-this.aclum.org>:
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
> The recent story about Automatic License Plate Reader technology
> piqued my curiosity, so I sent an email to the author of the blog,
> Kade Crockford of the ACLU of Massachusetts, and asked her to answer
> some questions for the Digest. My questions to Ms. Crockford are the
> ones shown as quoted text in her email reply.
>> 2. Does the ALPR technology have the capability to make certain
>> license plates "invisible", so that they don't show up in traffic
>> scans or other information gathering? If so, who controls which
>> license plates are immune from being tracked?
> To my knowledge, no, but I¹m not sure I fully understand your question.
Were you trying to get to the point of certain government officials wanting
to be completely exempt from any vehicle tracking? I can imagine certain
types of USA government officials (FBI, Secret service, NSA) really not
wanting to be tracked because otherwise they would have to trust every
single person with access to this system to not leak that information.
But public knowledge of such an exemption would immediately completely
undermine the 'trust us, we will not abuse this' needed to get the public
to accept this. If highranking government officials do not trust it, why
should the public.
Personally I think the only way data like this is safe from abuse is not
to collect it.
Koos
--
Koos van den Hout Homepage: http://idefix.net/
PGP keyid DSS/1024 0xF0D7C263
Webprojects: Camp Wireless http://www.camp-wireless.org/
The Virtual Bookcase http://www.virtualbookcase.com/
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 11:16:58 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@QRM.horne.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Automatic License Plate Readers track your every move
Message-ID: <20110723151658.GF9895@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
On Sat, Jul 23, 2011 at 10:12:06AM +0000, Koos van den Hout wrote:
> Kade Crockford <kcrockford@remove-this.aclum.org> wrote in
> <CA4C597D.2D23%kcrockford@remove-this.aclum.org>:
>
> > ***** Moderator's Note *****
>
> > The recent story about Automatic License Plate Reader technology
> > piqued my curiosity, so I sent an email to the author of the blog,
> > Kade Crockford of the ACLU of Massachusetts, and asked her to answer
> > some questions for the Digest. My questions to Ms. Crockford are the
> > ones shown as quoted text in her email reply.
>
> >> 2. Does the ALPR technology have the capability to make certain
> >> license plates "invisible", so that they don't show up in traffic
> >> scans or other information gathering? If so, who controls which
> >> license plates are immune from being tracked?
>
> > To my knowledge, no, but I¹m not sure I fully understand your question.
>
> Were you trying to get to the point of certain government officials wanting
> to be completely exempt from any vehicle tracking? I can imagine certain
> types of USA government officials (FBI, Secret service, NSA) really not
> wanting to be tracked because otherwise they would have to trust every
> single person with access to this system to not leak that information.
>
> But public knowledge of such an exemption would immediately completely
> undermine the 'trust us, we will not abuse this' needed to get the public
> to accept this. If highranking government officials do not trust it, why
> should the public.
>
> Personally I think the only way data like this is safe from abuse is not
> to collect it.
Koos,
Knowing about abuses of a system might undermine public trust in other
countries, and I wish it were so here, but (at least in the U.S.), the
public chooses to be fearfully ignorant about the way the government
really works.
In the U.S., license plates used by undercover policemen are not kept
in the regular databases: they are issued and tracked by hand(1). That
means that they are immune from citations, because there is no place
to send the citations to, no name to lookup, etc.
Of course, there are problems with such a system: dedicated civil
servants who set their minds to finding the scofflaws must be taken
aside and advised that their efforts will not be productive. Since
civil servants are human, and prone to talk about their work, it's
inconvenient to leave such "X Files" lying around: the truth may not
be "out there", but the fact that someone is looking for it can cause
ripple effects which are hard to deal with.
A couple of years ago, I had a gig with a company that contracted
with local governments to deliver, account for, and collect payments
for parking citations(2). Here's the juicy part: the portable
computers used by the meter maids contained an "exception" file, which
included license plate number that would receive special treatment. A
certain number could be coded as "Call boot squad", or "Plate does not
match VIN, alert police", etc. A registration number could also be
coded as "Ignore violation, do not cite". That meant that, no matter
the reason, certain plate numbers would never receive parking tickets
in those towns: the hand-held computers would refuse to record the
citation.
You see, if the mayor of a city doesn't want to have his whereabouts
tracked, he has two avenues of escape: he can use a car with a
"secret" license plate, or he can arrange to prevent the plate he uses
from ever being listed on a citation. From a politician's perspective,
the second solution is, by far, the better choice: judges can order
police departments to deliver their internal records of which "secret"
plates were cited, or various functionaries might come calling to ask
for favors based on their knowledge of the mayor's travels, or someone
who is not "entitled" to obtain a "secret" plate number might simply
notice that it adorns a car parked in the mayor's reserved parking
place at the city hall. It's much more secure, and less troublesome,
to prevent such chains of events from ever being started.
Of course, you see where this leads: those who have a say in the
contract awards for such companies are able to exert their power to
prevent themselves or their friends or their coworkers from ever
receiving a parking citation, at least in that city(3). If that
starts, what follows is inevitable: sooner or later, only those who
have no influence and no power will be the only ones who pay the
fines.
Bill Horne
(Filter QRM for direct replies)
1. Of course, that led to an obvious conclusion: anyone who checked a
license plate and found that it was not in the database could
deduce that it was being used by an undercover cop. The police
departments now have "dummy" records in the computer, and are thus
able to take notice of anyone who is interested in the fictitious
names/addresses/whatever. It's called a "Canary trap" in the spy
trade: spread misleading information, and wait to see who sings.
2. Some cities even contracted with this firm to provide the personnel
whom issued the citations: even though the employees wore municipal
uniforms, they were not employed by the city or town they worked in,
so that the local government could force every iota of the cost for
citations onto the backs of the car owners, collect a percentage of
the fines, and never worry about providing health care or retirement
benefits to the meter maids. That is, of course, a side issue, but
still germaine to this discussion: non-government employees who are
working at 3 AM are less likely to think twice about taking bribes,
aren't part of the day-to-day workings of the government, won't see
the mayor's car in his reserved spot, etc. More to the point, there is
a big difference between a hardened, experienced policeman with access
to the "secret" records that show the mayor's plate number, and a
poorly trained menial who is desperate to keep her job and feed her
children on minimum wage.
3. It's worse than that: as a practical matter, the exception files
were always shared across every area that the contracting company
serviced, so that anyone whose plate number was in that file could
park their car illegally near the airport, which was in a town this
firm contracted to, and also at the sports arena, which was in a
different city that had also hired the firm I worked at. At contract
time, the firm's negotiator could choose to let this slip out, just so
that those sitting across the table knew exactly what they were
bargaining for. This is, of course, a hypothetical possibility and I
have no direct knowlege of it ever actually happening.
Date: Sat, 23 Jul 2011 12:03:35 -0400
From: Pete Cresswell <nobody@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Automatic License Plate Readers track your every move
Message-ID: <86sl27pcucna36101p83ipos0ja8j7bu5i@4ax.com>
Per Bill Horne:
> This is, of course, a hypothetical possibility and I
>have no direct knowlege of it ever actually happening.
That one made my "keepers" file.
Thanks.
--
PeteCresswell
***** Moderator's Note *****
Seems like a very mundane disclaimer to me. Are you reading anything
else into it?
Bill Horne
Moderator
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