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The Telecom Digest for January 27, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 27 : "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: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:33:36 -0800
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: The Wired Car
Message-ID: <4F20BB80.5060606@thadlabs.com>
On 1/25/2012 7:21 AM, Pete Cresswell wrote:
> Per Monty Solomon:
>> The Wired Car
>> [...]
>> Cars that are one with the Internet and GPS and your home computer
>> and the e-cosmos in the cloud. Cars that watch the road, watch you,
>> watch your Facebook page, your heart rate, your smart phone. Cars
>> that watch each other, like a flock of birds....
>
> ... Cars with dashboards that you watch instead of driving....
>
> Sounds like it's gonna get even worse than it is now.
Definitely. Tesla is leading the pack with its new distracted-driver
deathmobiles as this article and picture essay illustrate:
The Almanac is the local paper where Tesla is headquartered in
California:
http://www.almanacnews.com/news/show_story.php?id=9830
Click for all 4 pictures at the above URL, especially the one of the
Stanford U. executive director for the Center for Automotive Research
at Stanford playing games (or something) from the driver's seat using
a console LCD larger than my home office's LCD for my computers.
The photo essay here reveals more distracted driving scenarios:
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/10/04/2012-tesla-model-s-beta/
My take on the above? Absolute insanity given cellphone-using drivers
have already been shown to be more hazardous on the roads than drunk
drivers.
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 22:27:53 -0800 (PST)
From: Justin Goldberg <justgold79@gmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Early and modern PBX systems--was Telephony on TV
Message-ID: <ca0be8e4-34d3-4eac-bd45-6259f084e541@k28g2000yqc.googlegroups.com>
On Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:57:20 -0500, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) wrote:
> Before SS7 - and I believe there is still such a capability in SS7 -
> there was a capability for a telco to issue a command for the
> switches handling a call to 'freeze' the connection, such that the
> circuit was not torn down when either party hung up. This
> eliminated the need to 'keep the caller on the line' until the trace
> was completed. This was a "lock and trace" operation.
Is this what the "malicious call trace" feature which is seen on many
modern PBXs does?
[Moderator snip]
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:06:14 -0600
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Authentic sound of telephone ringers
Message-ID: <ovadnYAX4dXLcL3SnZ2dnUVZ_sudnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications>
In article <9851eb66-7e05-4597-85ec-e5be61d77173@c13g2000yqk.googlegroups.com>,
HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> wrote:
>
>Do they have universal digital telephone sets that can connect
>directly to any FIOS, cable, and VOIP networks without needing a
>conversion box?
HIGHLY doubtful.
physical interfaces are different.
logical interfaces are different.
call setup/teardown signaling is different.
etc., etc.
Plus, beyond the phone logic itself, one has to have all the 'smarts' -- for
'node addressing', time-slot management, etc. -- that are in the 'conversion
box, AND those smarts have to be compatible the 'head end' gear of the
"network" they connect to.
The cost of 'all that un-necessary stuff' -- for any specific use -- would
run the cost up, far_beyond that of a phone that lives behind a conversion
box, -or- a set designed for a specific network.
Circa 20 years ago, I saw a phone set that looked like a 2500, but had an
Ethernet jack instead of an RJ-11. It was (somehow, I don't know how)
pre-programmed with the IP address of the switch that it talked to, and
used DHCP to get it's 'own' IP address. You just plugged it into an
Ethernet jack, waited about 20 seconds, and when you picked up the handset,
you had dial-tone from the 'home' switch, wherever you were. (I saw it
in use with the set and the switch on opposite sides of the country.) It
was true 'plug and play'. <grin>
I'm not sure who made the phone sets themselves (probably the switch mfr.),
but the switch was a big Siemens unit -- 30k+ extensions. SS7 trunks, etc.
Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:46:03 -0500
From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: One policy, one Google experience
Message-ID: <14c7vngyc9z4t.hgdc4a5feohi.dlg@40tude.net>
On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:29:14 -0500, Monty Solomon wrote:
> One policy, one Google experience
>
> We're getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google
> and replacing them with one that's a lot shorter and easier to read.
> Our new policy covers multiple products and features, reflecting our
> desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience
> across Google.
>
> This stuff matters, so please take a few minutes to read ...
> ... These changes will
> take effect on March 1, 2012.
>
>
> https://www.google.com/policies/
>
>
> https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/preview/
>
>
> https://www.google.com/policies/terms/
>
>
> https://www.google.com/policies/faq/
>
Is summarizing this as "All your datums is ours now, as of March 1"
oversimplifying it too far :-) ?
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Date: 26 Jan 2012 03:48:26 GMT
From: Doug McIntyre <merlyn@geeks.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Authentic sound of telephone ringers
Message-ID: <4f20cd0a$0$79797$8046368a@newsreader.iphouse.net>
HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> writes:
>Do they have universal digital telephone sets that can connect
>directly to any FIOS, cable, and VOIP networks without needing a
>conversion box?
Sure, your 502 or AE40 set could.
In the end, digital phone over FIOS, Cable modem (which is VoIP as it is)
and some VoIP systems present just a standard POTS interface. Leaving
the phone experience the same as ever, and just utilizing the base
transport differently than the traditional phone network.
If you get digital voice over Comcast for example, they'll take their
Arris cable box, plug the POTS jack into the wall, and cut the house
wiring away from the LEC demarc and drive it all from their box instead.
Most of the "consumer" VoIP services give you an ATA box that you plug
a standard POTS telephone into. Ie. MagicJack, Vonage, 8x8 are all
like this. Plug ethernet in one end, plug the POTS network in the
other and go.
There are some VoIP services more orientated towards the techie users
that let you do more, and have something like a SIP phone setup to
talk over ethernet to the provider, but I haven't seen a phone with
both an ethernet and POTS port. The SIP phone then would need
programming and setup, which is why it is is only appealing to a
techie user. Even more so than my old AT&T ISDN phone set.
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:37:34 +1100
From: David Clayton <dc33box-usenet@yahoo.com.au>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Ratted out by your very own phone ... ?
Message-ID: <pan.2012.01.26.03.37.31.8875@yahoo.com.au>
On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:06:35 -0500, tlvp wrote:
> "Is your smartphone telling every website you visit your telephone
> number?"
>
> "O2 mobile users in the UK are venting on Twitter today, fuming at their
> discovery that their phone number is being shared with every website that
> they visit over the network."
>
> More at:
>
<http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/01/25/smartphone-website-telephone-number>,
> including the suggestion: "If you want to know if your smartphone is
> revealing your phone number when you browse websites, you can test for
> yourself by visiting this demo page by Collin Mulliner:
>
> <www.mulliner.org/pc.cgi> "
My Android 2.2 phone tests ok on that site, no HTTP headers with the phone
number.
--
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: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:27:07 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Justices Say GPS Tracker Violated Privacy Rights
Message-ID: <jfrusr$7ou$1@news.albasani.net>
>Justices Say GPS Tracker Violated Privacy Rights
>By ADAM LIPTAK
>January 23, 2012
>The New York Times
>WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled that the
>police violated the Constitution when they placed a Global
>Positioning System tracking device on a suspect's car and monitored
>its movements for 28 days.
>But the justices divided 5-to-4 on the rationale for the decision,
>with the majority saying that the problem was the placement of the
>device on private property. That ruling avoided many difficult
>questions, including how to treat information gathered from devices
>installed by the manufacturer and how to treat information held by
>third parties like cellphone companies.
Huh. That's a poor summary of the case.
There were two different opinions, one written by Scalia and one written
by Alito. Because Sotomayor concurred in part with both, parts of both
opinions are decisions for the majority of the Court. The only certain
outcome of this case is that more litigation is coming and that the US
Supreme Court doesn't intend to provide useful guidance at this time.
The defendant's conviction was reversed by the circuit court on the basis
that the defendant's right against unreasonable search had been violated.
The Supreme Court let the reversal stand. The government tried to bring up
an argument, disallowed as it was not raised in the lower courts, that
there was reasonable suspicion and thus probable cause and therefore the
search wasn't unconstitutional. However, the way Scalia wrote his opinion
didn't rule out upholding that argument if appropriate in another trial.
The government claimed the police had reasonable suspicion to conduct
the warrantless search without violating the suspect's rights as it
was obvious that the defendant was one of the lead drug trafficking
conspirators. It's likely that this argument will be used in future
in appeal of another criminal case. If it becomes a majority opinion,
who would be above suspicion?
The reasonable suspicion was based on [the theory that] "it's obvious
that the defendant was one of the lead conspirators in drug
trafficking." It's simply an argument that can be used next time. It's
always obvious when someone is a criminal, right, so there's always
probable cause when the police just don't want to obtain a warrant,
right?
Scalia's originalist argument in the minority part of his opinion dealt
with the issue of whether the defendant had an expectation of privacy as
there was no trespass as the concept was understood in 1791. After all,
a constable might have tracked a suspect's movements by hiding in his
carriage. Alito said that would have been possible only with a tiny
constable or an enormous carriage.
The search was continuous over a period of nearly a month. The police
even had to change the batteries in the tracking device.
The troubling part of Alito's opinion, with which Sotomayor kinda/sorta
concurred with, making a majority, was that Alito distinguished between
the possibility that a short-term warrantless search might not be
unconstitutional, in case of an investigation into an extraordinary
offense, but that a long-term warrantless search would be. Alito
made no specific comment about what types of extraordinary offenses
would qualify for this exception.
Scalia's minority opinion made no distinction between short term and
long term.
Scalia's opinion only suggested that warrants should be obtained.
Sotomayor kinda/sorta agreed.
Unlike what the lead of the New York Times suggests, the US Supreme Court
did not uphold the right to privacy against warrantless searches using
modern tracking technology. The Court equivocated on the issue and
await further litigation. Who knows what privacy rights will survive
after the next case is heard?
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:40:49 -0500
From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: We need to talk about piracy...
Message-ID: <t4j5gcgl1juj$.1rnc3kpvdpgnf.dlg@40tude.net>
On Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:21:21 -0500, Bill Horne wrote:
> We need to talk about piracy (but we must stop SOPA first)
>
> Much to my happiness, the internets (sic) are in a frenzy about the
> "Stop Online Piracy Act" (aka SOPA). ...
>
> Rest at:
> http://goo.gl/wB0I4
>
That's the tip of a world-wide iceberg. The European component is called
ACTA. What exactly is ACTA, you ask? In a nutshell, ACTA is Europe's
SOPA / PIPA.
Several days ago I had submitted a truly dreadfully rendered (hence
rejected here) GoogleTranslate of a recent Polish piece describing the
protests taking place on the streets of major cities across Poland against
ACTA. I had even chosen as Subject: "Polish websites to go dark to protest
ACTA" and offered the page
http://www.wftv.com/ap/ap/top-news/polish-websites-to-go-dark-to-protest-acta/nG7Rr/,
or rather, Google's inept translation thereof, as my only reference.
But what is ACTA really? And why protest it? For basics, cf.
http://www.thedailyaztec.com/2012/01/acta-has-same-dangers-as-pipa-and-sopa/
A year or so ago, ACTA seemed dead in the water. Now, however, see
http://www.davidhammerstein.com/article-acta-campaign-rolls-on-in-the-eu-46694931.html
.
More links:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120125/12034817541/state-union-address-highlights-dirty-trick-hiding-more-draconian-ip-rules-trade-agreements.shtml
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120123/11385017516/paulo-coelho-sopa-pirates-world-unite-pirate-everything-ive-ever-written.shtml
and, by Marietje Schaake (MEP),
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/ow1v5/acta_note_from_marietje_schaake_member_of_the/.
Learn much more by searching with search-strings like [ acta vote 2012 ],
[ ACTA vote Europe ], [ACTA vote european parliament ], and the like.
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:11:16 -0500
From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Ratted out by your very own phone ... ?
Message-ID: <1lfgtc5tc5vwy$.1gb02qzf1dpi7$.dlg@40tude.net>
On Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:37:34 +1100, David Clayton wrote:
>> ... demo page by Collin Mulliner:
>>
>> <www.mulliner.org/pc.cgi> "
>
> My Android 2.2 phone tests ok on that site, no HTTP headers with the phone
> number.
Non-Android LG CU-400 tests OK too, both the inbuilt browser, and the
J2ME-based Opera mini-browser I added in as an aftermarket afterthought.
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:12:50 -0600
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Early and modern PBX systems--was Telephony on TV
Message-ID: <foednbZO5M1vQLzSnZ2dnUVZ_o2dnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications>
In article <ca0be8e4-34d3-4eac-bd45-6259f084e541@k28g2000yqc.googlegroups.com>,
Justin Goldberg <justgold79@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 03 Nov 2011 03:57:20 -0500, bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert
>Bonomi) wrote:
>> Before SS7 - and I believe there is still such a capability in SS7 -
>> there was a capability for a telco to issue a command for the
>> switches handling a call to 'freeze' the connection, such that the
>> circuit was not torn down when either party hung up. This
>> eliminated the need to 'keep the caller on the line' until the trace
>> was completed. This was a "lock and trace" operation.
>
>Is this what the "malicious call trace" feature which is seen on many
>modern PBXs does?
No. All a PBX can do is issue the standard 'Vertical Service Code'
for a 'customer originated trace' request. (AFAIK, this is not an
actual physical traceback through all the switches, but a capture of
the originating 'caller-ID' info (even if the suppress flag is set),
and the 'ANI' fields from the SS7 call-set-up packets.)
A full-blown 'lock and trace' takes explicit advance arrangement with
the LEC, with special CPE to generate the request, and explicit
enabling of the 'recognition' for that request at the C.O.
The lock & trace is still labor intensive, because it requires a tech
to access the console of the destination switch, find the incoming
circuit that matches the outgoing circuit to the customer, and then
either repeat the process for each 'upstream' switch that that tech
can access, or to contact another tech who does have access to that
upstream switch. It's a lot easier then when one actually had to
'follow the wires' through an electromechanical C.O., but it's not
exactly trivial. There's no telling how may different 'telephone
companies' may be involved in handling a single call, and it will take
a minimum of one tech from -each- company to complete the actual
trace. This just one of the reasons telcos "resist" doing actual lock
& trace these days. <wry grin>
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
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