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The Telecom Digest for September 27, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 227 : "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 must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
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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
and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.
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Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:01:54 +0000 (UTC)
From: David Lesher <wb8foz@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Bogus Called ID
Message-ID: <k3vce2$naf$1@reader1.panix.com>
Doug McIntyre <merlyn@geeks.org> writes:
> ....
>I don't think it is too broken, it is useful. There is some abuse of
>it, and there are laws that try to fix some of the more blatent abuse.
>(ie. Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009).
>But it was never designed to be very secure, with much of the data
>coming from end-user run PBXs (besides the LEC sending their
>single-line customers data onwards).
It was from an era where there was one Telephone Company in
an area. The thinking was there were 2 classes: Telcos to be
trusted explictly; and outsiders, never to be trusted.
Then there were CLEC's and the model broke.
--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:21:19 -0400
From: Pete Cresswell <PeteCress@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Bogus Called ID
Message-ID: <eu2668hrdefvsq0ft97rpdjr5bipdto2g4@4ax.com>
Per Andrew Kaser:
>Like a lot of folks, I got a robo call asking to donate as little of $3 to
>Romney's campaign. The call came from 202-730-9976. Of course, it is a bogus
>number.
> ... Do subsequent entities have to accept the reported originating number?
>Are they any controls at the origin end to prevent bogus numbers from being
>accepted by the first switch that handles the call? How does the Caller ID
>number jive with all the other information that is needed to distribute the
>revenue among all the parities that carried or handled all or part of the
>call?
I don't know enough to speak to the specifics, but from
experience:
- When I make outgoing calls from my iPod via the "Bria"
app over WiFi, I spoof my home landline number so that
when the phone rings on the other end they see that it's
me calling.
That is a service provided free-of-charge by my VOIP
provider - so it must be easily available to the
telemarketing industry.
- The Do Not Call lists are fading into irrelevancy bco
VOIP, offshore telemarketers, and other technical stuff.
I used to report telemarketing calls to the Penna Do Not
Call list enforcers, but all I have gotten back in recent
years are lame-sounding letters on how it's too hard to
go after these guys. National DNC, I've reported to
also, but never received a response.
- If you fire up Google and search on "Who Is" plus
the offending phone number you can often get confirmation
that it's perpetrators are up to no good.
For instance, among the hits for "Who Is 202-730-9976",
was
http://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-202-730-9976
, which
contained:
"Got robocall 10:33am from someone soliciting donations for
Mitt Romney saying please donate as little as $3 because
Obama out raised Romney in August. Press 1 to donate, 9 to
unsubscribe. A few days ago got a call from another
Washington D C number from Mike Huckabee. We are not
Republicans.
Caller: Donate to Romney Campaign
Call Type: Political Call"
- In anticipation of the election season, I have
pre-pended the SIT tones for "Non-working Number"
to my answering machine's message.
I don't really expect it to help, but maybe... just
maybe some of the ironically computers will recognize
it and delete the number from their database.
I think the chances of this happening are between zero
and a very, very, vary small number... but it didn't cost
me anything....
- One of my fond wishes is that one or more stand-up comedians
line Jay Leno will start making jokes at the expense of
people who are foolish enough to listen to any telemarketing
call... especially political ones... My hope would be that it
might affect the cost/benefit ratio...
--
Pete Cresswell
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:55:15 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: New Limits Considered in Airwaves
Message-ID: <p062408a6cc898c6d81d1@[10.0.1.8]>
New Limits Considered in Airwaves
By EDWARD WYATT
September 25, 2012
WASHINGTON - From East Hampton to Malibu, the only limit on how much
beachfront property one can own is usually however much one can
afford.
Not so in the air across the continent, where the Federal
Communications Commission has long set limits on how much of the
airwaves one company can control.
Now, pushed by small and medium-size telecommunications companies,
the government plans to begin setting new rules to govern how much of
the airwaves, or spectrum, a single carrier can hold. A big goal for
those small companies, which compete with the behemoths Verizon and
AT&T, is a measure that would give greater importance to so-called
beachfront spectrum.
Those are the highly sought-after airwaves that travel farther
between antennas and pass more easily through buildings, making them
especially attractive in urban areas where the largest, most
profitable clusters of mobile device users congregate.
It may sound esoteric, but the issue is known to every cellphone user
who has experienced a dropped call or a smartphone browser stuck
endlessly loading a Web page. After years of limiting companies to no
more than one-third of the available airwaves in a given territory,
the F.C.C. on Friday will begin the rule-making process on whether
new technologies require limits to be redrawn, recalibrated or
perhaps removed.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/26/business/media/fcc-considers-new-spectrum-rules-for-wireless-companies.html
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 22:10:25 -0400
From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: [telecom[ using a rental computer? There's a spy-app with that...
Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.1209262208300.18102@panix5.panix.com>
[FTC press release]
FTC Halts Computer Spying
Secretly Installed Software on Rented Computers Collected Information,
Took Pictures of Consumers in Their Homes, Tracked Consumers' Locations
Seven rent-to-own companies and a software design firm have agreed to
settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they spied on consumers using
computers that consumers rented from them, capturing screenshots of
confidential and personal information, logging their computer keystrokes,
and in some cases taking webcam pictures of people in their homes, all
without notice to, or consent from, the consumers.
....
... user names and passwords for email accounts, social media websites,
and financial institutions; Social Security numbers; medical records;
private emails to doctors; bank and credit card statements; and webcam
pictures of children, partially undressed individuals, and intimate
activities at home, according to the FTC.
=======
rest:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/09/designware.shtm
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
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