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The Telecom Digest for September 21, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 237 : "text" Format
====== 30 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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Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:50:36 -0400
From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: EXchanges (was: area code named beer)
Message-ID: <mi89yjrouoys$.16iyqtm3qt1o4$.dlg@40tude.net>
On Sat, 17 Sep 2011 20:28:10 -0400, after tlvp wrote
> ...
> Hook-flash dialing was quite a trick to master, if you hadn't
> quite ever needed to before. ...
>
Moderator added:
> My dad taught me a different method. When he came across a phone that
> had a dial-lock on it, he would hook-flash the operator (the trick,
> btw, is to flash the hook at a consistent rate - most people try for
> speed, which is the wrong way to go about it) and ask for assistance
> in dialing, and he'd say the line kept going dead. ...
1) Hook-flashing a Yale Operator on a YPI phone wouldn't go very well,
as the Yale operator would simply respond as if we were YPI inmates
having somehow gotten unauthorized after-hours access to the phone.
Campus Police perhaps likewise, but they'd come to make sure we were
properly confined again, and then learn we weren't inmates at all :-) .
2) A consistent rate is important, of course, but the speed is, too:
slower than about 5 pulses per second and your click-stream becomes
not a pulse-dial 9, for example, but rather nine pulse-dial 1s.
The trick to getting a consistent and fast stream of clicks, I found,
was (i) to alternate fingers on both hands, (ii) to hook-flash in
perceptible, systematic patterns, e.g., three quick triplets for a 9,
Click-click-click Click-click-click Click-click-click, with other
suitable patterns for other digits, and (iii) to aim for something
like 6 flashes per second (360 as a metronome setting) or more.
HTH :-) .
3) Q.: Will hook-flash dialing still work on today's DTMF-based PBXes?
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:14:56 -0500
From: Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: EXchanges (was: area code named beer)
Message-ID: <4E781340.5070807@annsgarden.com>
On Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:46:05 -0700 (PDT), Wes Leatherock
<wleat...@yahoo.com>> wrote:
> There were also some locations where a community of interest
> existed between offices in different area codes, where the
> prefix had to be "protected" in both area codes.
> A prime example was the greater Kansas City Metropolitan
> exchange, since the metro area extended across two states with
> seven-digit dialing. The Missouri side had area code 816, the
> Kansas side 918.
You mean 913.
> Of course, this consideration ceased to be a factor when
> mandatory 10-digit (or 11-digit) dialing on local calls came
> into existence.
Don't those two cities have independent 7-digit dialing plans now? I
thought 816 and 913 each had 7-digit dialing internally but 11-digit
dialing across the river
Another example: DC/Maryland/Virginia metro area. Before 1953, the
entire area had a single 6-digit dialing plan (2L+4D). In '53, 7-digit
dialing was introduced (2L+5D). Sometime later, the dialing plan was
split by area code, with 10-digit dialing across boundaries. Since
then, both Maryland and Virginia have gotten overlays, so the metro area
now has five area codes with 10-digit dialing in Maryland (240+301) and
Virginia (671+703). DC (202 still has 7-digit dialing.
I suppose someday 202 will need relief, with the obvious choice being an
overlay. However, somebody here on T-D once suggested a split of sorts:
put the federal government in its own area code -- 666.
Neal McLain
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:28:23 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: EXchanges (was: area code named beer)
Message-ID: <11910664-8f64-446b-9029-8b679e5cbd32@u3g2000yqb.googlegroups.com>
On Sep 19, 11:14 pm, Neal McLain <nmcl...@annsgarden.com> wrote:
> Another example: DC/Maryland/Virginia metro area. Before 1953, the
> entire area had a single 6-digit dialing plan (2L+4D). In '53, 7-digit
> dialing was introduced (2L+5D). Sometime later, the dialing plan was
> split by area code, with 10-digit dialing across boundaries. Since
> then, both Maryland and Virginia have gotten overlays, so the metro area
> now has five area codes with 10-digit dialing in Maryland (240+301) and
> Virginia (671+703). DC (202 still has 7-digit dialing.
>
> I suppose someday 202 will need relief, with the obvious choice being an
> overlay. However, somebody here on T-D once suggested a split of sorts:
> put the federal government in its own area code -- 666.
>
> Neal McLain
Oops ... I mean 571, not 671.
Neal
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 20:12:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: EXchanges (was: area code named beer)
Message-ID: <0368e091-dee0-480d-949a-dbfcfd608b3b@l4g2000vbv.googlegroups.com>
On Sep 20, 12:14~am, Neal McLain <nmcl...@annsgarden.com> wrote:
> I suppose someday 202 will need relief, with the obvious choice being an
> overlay. ~However, somebody here on T-D once suggested a split of sorts:
> put the federal government in its own area code -- 666.
Speaking of Washington . . .
Washington went dial around 1930. Washington grew somewhat during the
New Deal as the alphabet soup agencies were formed, but then grew
tremendously during WW II. (The Pentagon alone had about a 16,000
station PBX. See David Brinkley's excellent "Washington Goes to
War".)
Would anyone know what kind of switch type was used for Washington
dial service, especially as the city grew? Also, did Washington get
any special long distance switches or trunks to meet wartime demand?
Did the military have an early version of Autovon during WW II to
interconnect Washington with military bases around the country? I
recall reading that they did build a new cross country toll line just
before the war, but I can't recall the details. The No. 4 toll
crossbar switch first went into service during WW II, but it was based
in Philadelphia, not Washington. Also, to meet war time traffic
needs, they narrowed the bandwidth on toll lines to squeeze in more
capacity.
With the press of wartime traffic, long distance facilities to/from
Washington must have been strained. I wonder what percentage of toll
calls were completed on a demand basis vs. a delayed basis, and if
operators had a priority system for handling calls.
(There's a Bell Labs volume on military service, but it's mostly about
fire control, radar, and military radio communications.)
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:58:56 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Hackers break SSL encryption used by millions of sites
Message-ID: <p062408adca9ee0856d45@[10.0.1.8]>
Hackers break SSL encryption used by millions of sites
Beware of BEAST decrypting secret PayPal cookies
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco
19 September 2011
Researchers have discovered a serious weakness in virtually all
websites protected by the secure sockets layer protocol that allows
attackers to silently decrypt data that's passing between a webserver
and an end-user browser.
The vulnerability resides in versions 1.0 and earlier of TLS, or
transport layer security, the successor to the secure sockets layer
technology that serves as the internet's foundation of trust.
Although versions 1.1 and 1.2 of TLS aren't susceptible, they remain
almost entirely unsupported in browsers and websites alike, making
encrypted transactions on PayPal, GMail, and just about every other
website vulnerable to eavesdropping by hackers who are able to
control the connection between the end user and the website he's
visiting.
At the Ekoparty security conference in Buenos Aires later this week,
researchers Thai Duong and Juliano Rizzo plan to demonstrate
proof-of-concept code called BEAST, which is short for Browser
Exploit Against SSL/TLS. The stealthy piece of JavaScript works with
a network sniffer to decrypt encrypted cookies a targeted website
uses to grant access to restricted user accounts. The exploit works
even against sites that use HSTS, or HTTP Strict Transport Security,
which prevents certain pages from loading unless they're protected by
SSL.
The demo will decrypt an authentication cookie used to access a
PayPal account, Duong said.
...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/19/beast_exploits_paypal_ssl/
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:58:56 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Apple makes a hash of password security (again)
Message-ID: <p062408afca9ee2b9f188@[10.0.1.8]>
Apple makes a hash of password security (again)
Shadow boxing
By John Leyden
19 September 2011
Apple has dropped a couple of monumental password security clangers
with the release on OS X Lion, according to security blogger Patrick
Dunstan.
Dunstan, who posted an important piece on cracking Mac OS X passwords
a couple of years ago, decided to revisit the subject with the
release of OS X Lion (version 10.7).
He discovered Apple's developers had made user security worse in two
important ways: firstly, it's possible to change the password of the
current user without needing to know the original password, as
Dunstan explains.
...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/19/apple_password_security_exposed/
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:58:56 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: OnStar Begins Spying On Customers' GPS Location For Profit
Message-ID: <p062408b7ca9efeb07f96@[10.0.1.8]>
OnStar Begins Spying On Customers' GPS Location For Profit
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Jonathan Zdziarski
I canceled the OnStar subscription on my new GMC vehicle today after
receiving an email from the company about their new terms and
conditions. While most people, I imagine, would hit the delete button
when receiving something as exciting as new terms and conditions,
being the nerd sort, I decided to have a personal drooling session
and read it instead. I'm glad I did. OnStar's latest T&C has some
very unsettling updates to it, which include the ability to sell your
personal GPS location information, speed, safety belt usage, and
other information to third parties, including law enforcement. To add
insult to a slap in the face, the company insists they will continue
collecting and selling this personal information even after you
cancel your service, unless you specifically shut down the data
connection to the vehicle after canceling.
...
http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/?p=1270
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