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The Telecom Digest for November 7, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 284 : "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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are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because
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: Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:46:27 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Feds' Use of Fake Cell Tower: Did it Constitute a Search?
Message-ID: <4EB62D43.6070005@thadlabs.com>
Feds' Use of Fake Cell Tower: Did it Constitute a Search?
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/11/feds-fake-cell-phone-tower/
By Kim Zetter November 3, 2011
Federal authorities used a fake Verizon cellphone tower to zero in on
a suspect's wireless card, and say they were perfectly within their
rights to do so, even without a warrant.
But the feds don't seem to want that legal logic challenged in court
by the alleged identity thief they nabbed using the spoofing device,
known generically as a stingray. So the government is telling a court
for the first time that spoofing a legitimate wireless tower in order
to conduct surveillance could be considered a search under the Fourth
Amendment in this particular case, and that its use was legal, thanks
to a court order and warrant that investigators used to get similar
location data from Verizon's own towers.
The government is likely using the argument to avoid a court showdown
that might reveal how stingrays work and open debate into the tool's
legality.
Stingrays spoof a legitimate cellphone tower in order to trick nearby
cellphones and other wireless communication devices into connecting to
the tower, as they would to a real cellphone tower. When devices
connect, stingrays can see and record their unique ID numbers and
traffic data, as well as information that points to a device's
location. To prevent detection by suspects, the stingray sends the
data to a real tower so that traffic continues to flow.
By gathering the wireless device's signal strength from various
locations, authorities can pinpoint where the device is being used
with much more precision than they can get through data obtained from
the mobile network provider's fixed tower location.
{ article continues at the above URL }
Note I posted an article about the StingRay to comp.dcom.telecom on
23-SEP-2011 which references this Wall Street Journal article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904194604576583112723197574.html
which has a picture of the StingRay and a graphic showing how it works.
The above WSJ URL is still valid as of today, 5-NOV-2011. I always check
"older" URLs now because some newspaper sites expire URLs after a few days
and have no archives (e.g., San Jose (CA) Mercury-News).
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2011 21:53:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: T-Mobile surprises subscribers after testing 'Presidential Alert' system early
Message-ID: <p06240801cadb8b746167@[10.0.1.3]>
T-Mobile surprises subscribers after testing 'Presidential Alert' system early
NOVEMBER 5, 2011
BY MIKE FLACY
...
Occurring on early Friday, a handful of T-Mobile customers were
treated to a test of the Personal Localized Alert Network (PLAN)
that occurred before any scheduled public test. Originally reported
by Lance Ulanoff over at Mashable, the test involved
a startling noise that played on his HTC Radar 4G that was similar to
the alert siren heard when the Emergency Broadcast System is tested
on a television, likely taking T-Mobile customers by surprise. Upon
checking the screen of the HTC Radar 4G, Ulanoff discovered the words
"Presidential Alert" as well as "Test" sent in the format of a text
message. T-Mobile issued a statement on late Friday that apologized
for the mistake and mentioned that the test was supposed to be
distributed to a small group of beta testers.
...
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/t-mobile-surprises-subscribers-after-testing-presidential-alert-system-early/
Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:56:31 -0700
From: John David Galt <jdg@diogenes.sacramento.ca.us>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Air Raid sirens
Message-ID: <j94pgf$fle$1@blue-new.rahul.net>
>> Every Wednesday at noon for decades the city would sound the sirens
>> briefly as a test.
> In Louisville and near Owensboro, Kentucky, the sirens are tested on
> Tuesdays at noon; seems like once a month, though perhaps it's weekly
> and I just don't notice it often. (The sirens are sounded to warn of
> imminent tornadoes, which happen here sometimes).
Sacramento, too. I don't know why they bother, since if there is ever a real
air raid we won't have anywhere to go to shelter from it.
***** Moderator's Note *****
Actually, in California, the sirens warn you about atta^h^h^h^hvisits by politicians.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2011 21:53:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: U.S. Cellular rejected Apple and the iPhone 4S
Message-ID: <p06240802cadb8c1386bc@[10.0.1.3]>
U.S. Cellular rejected Apple and the iPhone 4S
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
BY MIKE FLACY
...
Reported in a third quarter earnings call this week, U.S.
Cellular CEO Mary Dillon told investors that the company turned down
Apple when approached in regards to offering models of the iPhone
to U.S. Cellular customers. While Dillon indicated that the U.S.
Cellular network was definitely capable of handling the expanded
traffic from sales of a new iPhone, Apple's offer was rejected due
to terms that were "unacceptable from a risk and profitability
standpoint." This indicates that Apple may have wanted a large order
placed as well as an upfront payment from the cellular company. Apple
may have also stipulated a set of conditions around distribution and
in-store placement of the iPhones that was unacceptable to U.S.
Cellular.
...
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/u-s-cellular-rejected-apple-and-the-iphone-4s/
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2011 21:53:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: "Siri, how much data do you gobble up in a month?" Ars investigates
Message-ID: <p06240803cadb8fb15f9e@[10.0.1.3]>
"Siri, how much data do you gobble up in a month?" Ars investigates
By Jacqui Cheng
Apple's new iPhone 4S has been in users' grubby little hands for a
bit over two weeks now. One of the main features of the 4S is the
virtual "personal assistant" Siri, a technology that Apple acquired
in 2010 and integrated into iOS 5 for integration with the iPhone 4S.
When we put Siri through its paces during our iPhone 4S review, we
came away with a mixture of bemusement and optimism. The service is
still in beta and has its rough patches, but it's pretty decent at
performing Web searches and other basic phone tasks, such as setting
up appointments, making reminders, and text dictation.
But one huge caveat to Siri is that it requires an active Internet
connection in order to function. Apple sends Siri voice data up to
its own data centers for processing and the sends the results back
down to your phone, even if you're only trying to perform a task that
shouldn't require any network connectivity. This can sometimes be
frustrating when you're in a low-signal area with no WiFi available,
but heavy data users were quick to point out that there are even
bigger potential downsides to using Siri: it could force you over
your monthly data quota with your cell carrier if you're not careful.
And in today's heavily data-capped world, such a concern is becoming
more and more valid.
Because of this, we decided to find out how much data a typical Siri
user might expect to use in an average month. We carefully watched
our data usage while performing 11 different queries through Siri,
split between local phone tasks and tasks that required lookups from
the Internet. We also performed four dictation tasks. Your milage, of
course, will vary depending on the kinds of things you might use Siri
for and how often you might do those things. With that said, here's
what we found.
...
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/11/how-data-heavy-is-siri-on-an-iphone-4s-ars-investigates.ars
***** Moderator's Note *****
Am I the only one that sees the possibility of abuse? All voice inquiries handled by a central server?
if (customer_asked_for_restaurants_nearby)
then
if (customer_annual_income_exceeds_100000)
then
send answer ("Chauteau Boef")
else
if (customer_is_white)
then
send answer ("Bob's Big Boy")
else
send answer ("McDonald's")
endif
endif
endif
end of privacy, end of equality, end of an era.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2011 21:53:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Apple iOS 5 Review
Message-ID: <p06240808cadb93ae4eed@[10.0.1.3]>
Apple iOS 5 Review
by Vivek Gowri, Andrew Cunningham, Saumitra Bhagwat & Brian Klug
10/18/2011 3:05:00 AM
The original iPhone was designed to address a significant user
experience problem with smartphones of the day. The iPhone itself was
just the delivery vehicle, what later became known as Apple's iOS was
what made it all happen. At its launch in 2007 many lamented the
significant loss of typical smartphone features with the very first
iPhone. You couldn't multitask, there was no copy/paste support, you
couldn't tether, you couldn't send pictures or video via MMS and
there were no apps. Apple of 2007 was very much a Mac company that
was gaining strength, looking to dabble in the smartphone world.
Despite its shortcomings, the original iPhone/iOS combination did
enough things right to build a user base. With a solid foundation
Apple did what all good companies do: iterate like crazy. We got
annual iPhone and iOS updates, each year offering evolutionary but
important improvements. A company that executes consistently may not
be competitive on day 1, but after a couple years of progressive
iteration it may be a different beast entirely.
That's where Apple finds itself today. No longer the timid newcomer
in the smartphone market, Apple has turned iOS into a major player in
the industry. Given its success in convincing iPod users to embrace
Macs, it was inevitable that Apple would leverage a similar strategy
in growing its iOS and Mac businesses. The latest release of iOS,
version 5.0, announced in June of this year is as much about updating
the phone/tablet platform as it is about beginning the next phase in
Apple's expansion. iOS 5 isn't about liberating Apple from the PC,
it's a step towards unifying the experience across Apple's product
line. As it's still just an iOS revision, Apple needed another tool
to bring about this level of change, which is why iOS 5 is
accompanied by the public release of Apple's iCloud service.
A primary goal of iOS 5 and iCloud is to enable users to access their
content across any Apple device without manual syncing. You should
only have to worry about carrying the right device with you and not
think about whether it'll have access to your contacts, email, files
or if people can still reach you if it's all you're carrying. That's
the theory at least.
...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4956/apple-ios-5-review
***** Moderator's Note *****
I'm announcing the NEW! IMPROVED! iBill iService. The iBill iService
will make you iSexier, iSmarter, and iPrettier. Only iStupid,
iSluggish, iOld people will turn down the NEW! IMPROVED! iBill
iService. You have been iWarned!
iBill, whose iCrystal iBall is as iCloudy as iEver.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2011 23:55:11 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Verizon API To Give Apps 'Turbo' Bandwidth Boost for pay
Message-ID: <4EB62F4F.2000708@thadlabs.com>
Verizon API To Give Apps 'Turbo' Bandwidth Boost
by Mark Hachman November 1, 2011
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2395728,00.asp
Verizon will publish an API that could allow consumers to
"turbocharge" the network bandwidth their smartphone apps use for a
small fee, executives said Tuesday.
Verizon anticipates that a customer running an app on a smartphone
will have the option to dynamically snatch more bandwidth for that
app, if network congestion slows it down, said Hugh Fletcher,
associate director for technology in Verizon's Product Development and
Technology team. The app, however, must be running what Verizon
referred to as the network optimization API it is currently
developing, and hopes to publish by the third quarter of 2012.
Users could have the option to pay for the extra bandwidth via a
separate microtransaction API Verizon is developing and hopes to have
in place by the end of 2012, Fletcher said.
At an open-house event at Verizon's Application Innovation Center in
San Francisco, Verizon executives showcased several partner efforts,
plus their own in-house technology development. Probably the most
noteworthy was the network optimization technology, which took a
high-quality video stream and simulated it running over a congested
network. When a Verizon engineer pushed a "turbo button," the video's
choppy frame rate and apparent quality improved.
{ article continues at the above URL }
Hmmm, this puts a slant on "Net Neutrality".
***** Moderator's Note *****
If the bandwidth increase comes from the same pipe that others are
still using, this "service" effectively denies bandwidth to others
when it delivers it to the purchaser. I predict an automagic e-auction
conducted every few milliseconds, which will separate the wealthy from
the not when both want access to information, especially
time-sensitive information that affects the stock, option,
commodities, and other markets, when time is of the essence.
Oh, and I love the mealy-mouthed salesman-speak. It's not even a
payment, it's a "transaction"! It's a "micro" transaction, too small
to even think about! Open your micro-wallet, micro-suckers! Let
Verizon take all your micro-money!
Bill Horne
Moderator
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