---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <vf6dndjLioBjBYnKnZ2dnUU7-aPNnZ2d@posted.internetamerica> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 03:21:18 -0500 From: gordonb.7u1rc@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: First came the Breathalyzer, now meet the roadside police "textalyzer" >> Use of hands-free technology and then getting into an accident >> should double the penalty (which in the uh, wrong circumstances >> might be 30 counts negligent homicide of a bus full of children), >> unless you were using brain-free technology (this is usually called >> a cellular answering machine, which almost nobody carries around, >> or "voice mail", which pretty much every cellular phone has. For >> true brain-free operation, most cellular phones have a DO NOT DISTURB >> mode where you are not notified of an incoming text, or call. > > Since most states seem to be passing laws that prohibit use of hand-held > phones while driving, but allow hands-free phones, why would the penalty > double for the explicitly legal use? I call that criminally negliglent legislative malpractice on the part of the legislators that passed those laws. Apparently they don't really care about people getting hurt in accidents; they just want to look like they care. I don't think most legislators could write a sodomy law (however you define one) without causing a breakfast egg crisis due to outlawing sex between roosters and hens. > If you want to argue that they shouldn't allow hands-fee use, that's a Hands-*FEE*? You want hands equipped with a coin slot to pay a tax before sending a text while driving? I suppose legislators might legalize murder, too, if you paid a large enough tax. > separate issue. Yes, that's what I am arguing. Also, you shouldn't be allowing voice calls while driving either. And that includes the use of police radios by the police officer doing the driving - his partner can handle the radio. Although motorcycles may present a problem here. > But as long as they do, then if the equipment can > distinguish it then that should be a proper defense. Take any object that is *NOT* designed to be held in the hands while driving: one of the tires. The gas tank. A passenger. The World Trade Center. The engine. A live chimpanzee. A built-in navigation system / phone (like On*Star, etc.) which has most of the electronics in the engine compartment (or at least that's where they are *supposed* to be - they could be moved elsewhere with an extension cable). My Tom-Tom GPS which mounts on the dashboard with a heavy mount that looks and acts a bit like a bag of sand. A bluetooth earbud. My Samsung S6, which really is designed to be hand-held, but it can also be put on the seat beside me and read incoming texts aloud without any need to touch it. (I don't actually use that feature - checking whether there are incoming texts can wait.) My Samsung S6, in combination with a bluetooth earbud, which can let me carry on a conversation hands-free, but seems to require me to touch the earbud with one hand to initiate a call, hang up, or answer a call (I can dial with my voice). I don't use that feature while driving either. It has proved useful to avoid hand fatigue on long holds for customer service from home. A 20-meter satellite dish being hauled on a trailer behind the car. One million dollars in cash. How can you electronically detect whether or not that object, for whatever stupid reason the driver might have had for holding it, is not being held in the driver's hand while driving, even though hands-free features, if any, for the object in question were being used? Just because the software read me an incoming text by text-to-speech doesn't mean the phone isn't in my hand. You might be able to tell that there was a bluetooth earbud connected, or not. With or without the earbud, I could have heard the texts read to me, and it's still distracting. You might get good use out of a camera if the police arrive soon enough. Was the driver wearing an earbud? Is the phone built into the car? For example, although the TomTom GPS (*not* a phone) is really supposed to be mounted on the dashboard, it is not uncommon for me to pick it up (before starting the engine) to add a new destination address to the favorites list with one hand while holding it in the other. I put it back on the dash before starting the trip. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <dc7c759d-7f0e-477a-b9c1-eb6ba1cbc3b3@googlegroups.com> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 15:34:51 -0700 (PDT) From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> Subject: Reactions to House Passage of No Rate Regulation on Broadband Internet Access By Laura Hamilton, CED, Mon, 04/18/2016 On Friday, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2666, "No Rate Regulation on Broadband Internet Access." It now goes on to the Senate, but President Obama has signaled he would veto the bill. It prevents the FCC from regulating rates charged for Internet services. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler indicated opposition last month in a letter to Fred Upton, chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Passage of the bill would "introduce significant uncertainty into the Commission's ability to enforce the three bright line rules that bar blocking, throttling and paid prioritization," Wheeler says. cedmagazine.com -or- http://tinyurl.com/hs2ub5x Neal McLain ------------------------------ Message-ID: <nf4223$99m$1@dont-email.me> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 21:39:24 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Battle between Verizon and strikers enters endurance phase By Cora Lewis Nearly 40,000 Verizon workers are holding the line of a strike that began last Wednesday at 6 a.m., as tensions between management and employees over off-shoring, pay, and benefits remain high. Thousands marched in Times Square, holding signs reading "We are people, not machines," and "Build up FiOS. Not executive pay," joined by local labor groups and city politicians Monday. Bernie Sanders joined the protesters for the second time since their strike began. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/18/battle-between-verizon-and-strikers-enters-endurance-phase.html -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <nf426d$99m$2@dont-email.me> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 21:41:43 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Technology is helping Verizon ride out one of its biggest strikes ever By Brian Fung Verizon's worker strike is about to enter its second week as tens of thousands of employees, outraged about the telecom giant's efforts to outsource jobs and redeploy labor from one part of the country to another, remain on the picket line. With seemingly no resolution in sight, Verizon's landline and FiOS customers who phone in seeking help are, for the moment, being routed to contractors or management employees who've been detailed to company call centers temporarily. But a decision Verizon made at least two years ago to cut the human out of many customer interactions is blunting some of the strike's effects, company executives say. The technology-driven shift - from hold music and long wait times toward instant, digital self-service - could give Verizon a greater ability to withstand one of the biggest walk-offs in company history. And that may have implications for continuing negotiations between union leaders and management. https://www.washingtonpost.com -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <nf42b3$99m$3@dont-email.me> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 21:44:13 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon strike: Workers say they had no choice By David P. Willis HAZLET - As the strike against Verizon hit its sixth day, Verizon worker John Mamo, walking the picket line in front of a Verizon Wireless store here, said he believes the dispute comes down to a fight for good jobs. "I don't have any money coming in and I have a family to support, so yeah, it is an extremely hard decision," said Mamo, a repair technician from Old Bridge, of the strike. "It's nerve-wracking and I'm worried, but it has to be done for the future of America, the future of the middle class and the future of my children." http://www.app.com/story/money/business/2016/04/18/verizon-strike-workers-say-they-had-no-choice/83178780/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <1F127B11-3BC4-40AE-85B1-5FF073018084@roscom.com> Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2016 23:52:12 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: How hackers eavesdropped on a US Congressman using only his phone number A US congressman has learned first-hand just how vulnerable cellphones are to eavesdropping and geographic tracking after hackers were able to record his calls and monitor his movements using nothing more than the public ten-digit phone number associated with the handset he used. The stalking of US Representative Ted Lieu's smartphone was carried out with his permission for a piece broadcast Sunday night by 60 Minutes. Karsten Nohl of Germany-based Security Research Labs was able to record any call made to or from the phone and to track its precise location in real-time as the California congressman traveled to various points in the southern part of the state. At one point, 60 minutes played for Lieu a crystal-clear recording Nohl made of one call that discussed data collection practices by the US National Security Agency. While SR Labs had permission to carry out the surveillance, there's nothing stopping malicious hackers from doing the same thing. http://arstechnica.com/security/ ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Tue, 19 Apr 2016