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| Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2015 10:09:45 -0400
From: Fred Goldstein <invalid@see.sig.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: UltraDNS Server Problem Pulls Down Netflix for 90 Minutes
Message-ID: <5624F9A9.8080105@ionary.com>
...
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>
> I've cut way back on "security" postings, but this one has a
> roundabout applicability to telecom: UltraDNS, the article notes, was
> acquired by Neustar, which at one time had the contract to provide the
> "Local Number Portability" database.
>
They still do. The FCC put it up for bid and Neustar lost badly, to
iConective (f/k/a Telcordia, f/k/a Bellcore, now a subsidiary of
Ericsson), but Neustar's lawyers have diligently held up the completion
of that switch while they milk the system for all it's worth.
> I'm also curious if any of the readers can explain how ultraDNS,
> Akamai, and CloudFlare make the Internet viable as a
> mass-content-delivery mechanism. We used to say that TCP/IP was
> B.A.D. for broadcasting use - "Broken As Designed" - but every Netflix
> subscriber, myself included, is making use of whatever the workaround
> is.
Start with a B.A.D. design (and TCP/IP is awful in oh so many ways) and
create workaround on top of workarounds. What happens in the CDN is
that when you do a DNS lookup for one of these services, it looks at
your IP address, guesses where you are from a database of IP-block
locations, looks at the path to you, and returns one of multiple IP
addresses at their nearest content farm. Then your request is redirected
to one of the servers there, based on load balancing. These access a
local cache of the content. So you're not reaching Netflix or frankly
any major site at its own principal location; you're accessing a more
local copy of it.
None of this is in the Internet's own official architecture, so it's
basically a string of hacks that sort of make do. And since the Internet
is ruled by juche thought, everyone from Cisco to the FCC to the
"neutrality" activists assume that it's the best of all possible worlds,
and any attempt to demonstrate otherwise is rejected out of hand.
|
| Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 09:51:35 +1100
From: David Clayton <dc33box-usenet2@NOSPAM.yahoo.com.au>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Apple removes some ad blockers from its app store
Message-ID: <pan.2015.10.17.22.51.31.791253@NOSPAM.yahoo.com.au>
........
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
........
> Some websites have installed back-channel verification software which
> prevents their content from being displayed if ads are not.
>
> This is another phase of the arms race.
>
> Bill Horne
> Moderator
Yep, the next "Smart" blockers will still download the content to fool the
servers but simply not display it.
That will last until the ads have code in them to let the servers know
they have actually been displayed and then someone will write something to
simulate that and then...... and then...... and then.....
--
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: Tue, 20 Oct 2015 01:16:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Judge John Hodgman on a Wife's Casual Texts
Message-ID: <C3E7273A-A6E5-410A-9EA4-7B164769D775@roscom.com>
Justice is best served cold, with emojis.
Philip writes: When I am driving and I receive a text, instead of
replying myself, my wife will text for me. But if I say: Should we
meet you at your house?", she will send "should wee meet u at ur
house?" I find texting impersonal, but if I am forced to text, I at
least want to use appropriate English. Please order her to type my
words properly when texting under my name.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/magazine/judge-john-hodgman-on-a-wifes-casual-texts.html
***** Moderator's Note *****
Anyone interested in shortening the length of their texts messages can
obtain a copy of "The Phillips Telegraphic Code for the Rapid
Transmission by Telegraph of Press Reports, Commercial and Private
Telegrams, and All Other Matter Sent By Wire or Cable.", which was the
most commonly used commercial code on telegraph lines.
Such acronyms as POTUS, and abreviations like "Crupt" and "Sumr"
originated in Walter P. Phillip's immortal salute to brevity, which is
available online at
https://goo.gl/GZXysb
.
Bill Horne
Moderator
|
| Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2015 08:01:14 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: CWA submits photos to PUC of neglected Verizon copper network
Message-ID: <1a0aa935-642f-472c-88e7-71699b7debfb@googlegroups.com>
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Communications Workers of America
says it has photographic evidence showing Verizon Communications Inc. has been
depriving its aging copper network of money for maintenance and repair
throughout parts of Pennsylvania.
The union - which represents 4,980 Verizon linemen, technicians, and customer
service representatives in the state - filed the photos on Wednesday in a
petition with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, seeking an
investigation into whether Verizon has violated state utility laws by not
maintaining its copper lines.
The photos taken in the late summer depict dangling cut-off utility poles,
plastic-wrapped phone equipment, and spliced phone lines.
The union told Pennsylvania utility regulators in a letter in September that
thousands of people had complained about copper line-related service problems,
based on state regulatory data.
for full article and photos please see:
http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20151022_Frayed_Wires.html
|
| Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2015 10:24:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: New federal rate caps on telephone calls by prison inmates
Message-ID: <93beecc2-8e7a-41ca-ad32-c2c95565d5c9@googlegroups.com>
NJ.COM reported that the Federal Communications Commission passed
a sweeping reform on inmate calling costs Thursday, capping the
rates for the first time on local, in-state and long-distance
calls. According to the FCC, the "ballooning" rates have cost
inmates up to $14 per minute for calls at times made from inside
prisons -- a steep expense that has made contact unaffordable for
many families with incarcerated relatives.
Some states made a profit above and beyond the expenses of handling
inmate calls.
Prison experts say contact with families helps rehabilitation and
prevent fights and disruption within the prison.
for full article please see:
http://www.nj.com/
|
| Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2015 23:12:09 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: New federal rate caps on telephone calls by prison inmates
Message-ID: <20151024031209.GA20733@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
On Fri, Oct 23, 2015 at 10:24:03AM -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> NJ.COM reported that the Federal Communications Commission passed
> a sweeping reform on inmate calling costs Thursday, capping the
> rates for the first time on local, in-state and long-distance
> calls. According to the FCC, the "ballooning" rates have cost
> inmates up to $14 per minute for calls at times made from inside
> prisons -- a steep expense that has made contact unaffordable for
> many families with incarcerated relatives.
>
> Some states made a profit above and beyond the expenses of handling
> inmate calls.
>
> Prison experts say contact with families helps rehabilitation and
> prevent fights and disruption within the prison.
I have a different perspective on this issue than that of many other
people: as a Military Policeman in Vietnam, I saw with my own eyes the
disdain most criminals have for the rules of society, and for those
who obey them.
Unlike many of their victims, none of the inmates in prisons have a
gun held at their head when they choose to spend money for phone
calls. If they feel that the rates are unreasonable, they need only
stop paying them: when enough inmates refrain from doing so, the rates
will fall. It's not as if the U.S. Postal Service isn't in operation,
or as if the liberal media doesn't have hundreds of other tempests to
churn up in dozens of other toilet bowls.
The reporters who parade criminals in front of the public for no
better reason than to sell soap, and the rulemakers who chose to
pretend that prison phone rates aren't in line with the extraordinary
costs of doing business in secure facilities, and the vicious
opportunists who play the "blame and shame" game to advance hidden
political agendas have ALL commited a crime: they have wasted the
voters' time with trivia instead of proposing solutions to the
immense, complicated, and difficult problems confronting our country.
I propose a simple answer to those who feel convicted fellons need
discount phone service: let's all remind the FCC of the rule that
every convicted fellon knows - "Don't do the crime if you can't do the
time" - and EVERYTHING that goes with it.
Bill
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
|
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