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The Telecom Digest for October 12, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 237 : "text" Format
====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:07:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: Joseph Singer <joeofseattle@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon collecting old cellphones for victims of domestic abuse
Message-ID: <1349903274.71557.YahooMailClassic@web121404.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
Tue, 9 Oct 2012 15:41:02 -0400 Bill Horne wrote:
> I saw this online today:
> Verizon Wireless and The Family Place Partner With the City of
> Plano to Raise Awareness of Domestic Violence
[snip]
> I'm ususally (sic) fairly skeptical about PR like this, but this
> instance merits an exception. I'd like to hear from other readers:
>
[snip]
I'm not sure why this blurb from Verizon is in a news item.
As far as I know all the wireless operators that I know supposedly
are part of this program or a similar one. T-Mobile, AT&T and I'd
guess Sprint do the same. I guess maybe Verizon feels that they're
not getting enough sympathy in the kudos department or something.
***** Moderator's Note *****
It was in a Press Release.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:29:31 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Verizon vows to get Voice over LTE running next year
Message-ID: <k56l4c$n0q$1@dont-email.me>
Verizon vows to get Voice over LTE running next year
By Brad Reed | BGR News Tue, Oct 9, 2012
Carriers can blow smoke over which one has the largest "4G" network,
since the term "4G" encompasses multiple types of wireless technology.
But when it comes to having the largest LTE network -- and all tests
show that LTE services are faster than HSPA+ and WiMAX -- Verizon (VZ)
is the undisputed champion. And during the MobileCON wireless trade
show on Tuesday, the company announced two major milestones: First, it
now covers 400 markets with its LTE services and second, it will have
Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services up and running by the end of 2013. As
CNET reports, consumer trials will begin in late 2013, with the goal
of rolling out the service by the end of the year or the start of
2014.
VoLTE is a particularly significant technology because it could spell
the end of minute-based voice plans since it would render voice just
another application that's sent through a carrier's data
network. While carriers will obviously be reluctant to give up all the
extra revenues that come with charging for monthly buckets of minutes,
it could only take one enterprising carrier such as Sprint (S) to
offer an alternative that would put pressure on its competitors to do
the same.
http://news.yahoo.com/verizon-vows-voice-over-lte-running-next-231107996.html
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:36:30 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: IBM and AT&T offer cloud mish-mash for fearful firms
Message-ID: <k56lhd$pqr$1@dont-email.me>
IBM and AT&T offer cloud mish-mash for fearful firms
By Richi Jennings
October 11, 2012 5:57 AM EDT
IBM (NYSE:IBM) and AT&T (NYSE:T) will get together to offer a cloud
IaaS to big enterprises in 2013. The pair claim that it'll be more
secure and manageable than other cloudy infrastructures, and should
overcome the worries of companies who fear for lack of control or
suspect security.
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 10:23:36 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Verizon Wireless Starts Sending Usage Alerts to Customers
Message-ID: <k56kp8$kj1$1@dont-email.me>
Verizon Wireless Starts Sending Usage Alerts to Customers
USA based Verizon Wireless is to start sending alerts to its customers
warning them when they are getting close to using up their inclusive
allowances on the tariff they are subscribed to.
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/56668.php
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:51:13 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Texas schools punish students who refuse to be tracked with microchips
Message-ID: <p0624081ccc9cb6d5f0c9@[10.0.1.11]>
Texas schools punish students who refuse to be tracked with microchips
9 October 2012
A school district in Texas came under fire earlier this year when it
announced that it would require students to wear microchip-embedded
ID cards at all times. Now, students who refuse to be monitored say
they are feeling the repercussions.
Since October 1, students at John Jay High School and Anson Jones
Middle School in San Antonio, Texas, have been asked to attend class
with photo ID cards equipped with radio-frequency identification
(RFID) chips to track every pupil's location. Educators insist that
the endeavor is being rolled out in Texas to stem the rampant truancy
devastating the school's funding. If the program is judged
successful, the RFID chips could soon come to 112 schools in all and
affect nearly 100,000 students.
Students who refuse to walk the school halls with the card in their
pocket or around their neck claim they are being tormented by
instructors, and are barred from participating in certain school
functions. Some also said they were turned away from common areas
like cafeterias and libraries.
...
http://rt.com/usa/news/texas-school-id-hernandez-033/
***** Moderator's Note *****
I recommend this article to the readership, not only because of its
obvious implications in privacy debates, but also as a starting point
for a debate about the goals of American education and the ways that
bureaucracies try to apply technical solutions to human problems.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 20:03:35 +0000 (UTC)
From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Texas schools punish students who refuse to be tracked with microchips
Message-ID: <k578mn$f1f$1@reader1.panix.com>
In <p0624081ccc9cb6d5f0c9@[10.0.1.11]> Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> writes:
>
>http://rt.com/usa/news/texas-school-id-hernandez-033/
>
fyi, rt.com -> Russia Today.
It's scary when the Kommies are the ones warning us
about Big Brother Gov't.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 18:41:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Texas schools punish students who refuse to be tracked with microchips
Message-ID: <589d3ec9-5291-417b-846b-2f8fd10814da@y8g2000yqy.googlegroups.com>
On Oct 11, 1:51 pm, Monty Solomon <mo...@roscom.com> wrote:
> I recommend this article to the readership, not only because of its
> obvious implications in privacy debates, but also as a starting point
> for a debate about the goals of American education and the ways that
> bureaucracies try to apply technical solutions to human problems.
Our junior high, with an overcrowded diverse urban enrollment, managed
to function pretty well without students having any ID card at all.
There's something troubling about kids all wearing a mandated dangling
ID card.
As to the problem that created the need for fancy ID cards, I would
suggest the problem be addressed at its roots, that is, determine why
are so many kids are truant and remedy those issues, rather than track
kids like criminals.
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:12:18 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Texas judge jails honor student for missing school
Message-ID: <k57972$va2$1@dont-email.me>
Texas judge jails honor student for missing school
Published: 30 May, 2012, 00:07
Diane Tran, 17, is on the honor roll at her high school, works full
time at a dry cleaners and spends most weekends making extra cash
by helping out a local wedding planner. But when Tran isn't busy
earning straight-As, she goes to jail.
She might have a scholarly record that has made her the envy of the
rest of Willis High School in Houston, Texas, but her peers aren't
exactly praying to be just like Tran after a judge recently
sentenced the eleventh grade student to an overnight stint behind
bars. Never mind the magnificent grades and go-getter attitude:
Judge Lanny Moriarty was not impressed when Tran recently missed
another day of school.
"If you let one run loose, what are you going to do with the rest
of them? Let them go, too?" Moriarty asks local [TV station]
KHOU. The judge has found a solution for truancy in Texas, but it
might not be the best one -- Tran's community and the rest of
America is now up in arms after the 17-year-old star student was
imprisoned by Moriarty for missing another day of school.
http://rt.com/usa/news/texas-judge-jail-tran-532/
- - - -
This is a great illustration of the conflict between what we
think we're teaching our children, and what the State wants our
kids to learn and how the State wants to teach it to them.
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
***** Moderator's Note *****
OBTelecom: If this report is accurate, someone is phoning it in at the
Texas Statehouse. Kidding aside, there are so many things wrong with
this approach that it needs to be read as widely as possible.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 22:56:30 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Confirmed: Apple-owned fingerprint software exposes Windows passwords
Message-ID: <p06240829cc9d372904ab@[10.0.1.11]>
Confirmed: Apple-owned fingerprint software exposes Windows passwords (updated)
Exploit software is released one month after the serious weakness
came to light.
by Dan Goodin
Oct 9 2012
Ars Technica
Security consultants have independently confirmed a serious security
weakness that makes it trivial for hackers with physical control of
many computers sold by Dell, Acer, and at least 14 other
manufacturers to quickly recover Windows account passwords.
The vulnerability is contained in multiple versions of
fingerprint-reading software known as UPEK Protector Suite. In July,
Apple paid $356 million to buy Authentec, the Melbourne,
Florida-based company that acquired the technology from privately
held UPEK in 2010. The weakness came to light no later than
September, but Apple has yet to acknowledge it or warn end users how
to work around it. No one has accused Apple of being responsible for
the underlying design of fingerprint-reading software.
The UPEK software has long been marketed as a secure means for
logging into Windows computers using an owner's unique fingerprint,
instead of a user-memorized password. Last month, Elcomsoft, a
Russia-based developer of password-cracking software, warned that the
software makes users less secure than they otherwise would be because
it stores Windows account passwords to the registry and encrypts them
with a key that is easy for hackers to retrieve. It takes only
seconds for people with the key to extract a password, company
officials said. They withheld technical details to prevent the
vulnerability from being widely exploited.
Now, a pair of security consultants say they have independently
verified the vulnerability and released open-source software that
makes it easy to exploit it. Easily decrypted passwords are stored in
one of several registry keys located in
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Virtual Token\Passport\, depending on the
application version. The duo said they released the software and
additional information so that penetration testers, who are paid to
penetrate the defenses of their customers, can exploit the weakness.
...
http://arstechnica.com/security/2012/10/confirmed-fingerprint-reader-owned-by-apple-exposes-windows-passwords/
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