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The Telecom Digest for March 25, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 78 : "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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against crime. - Geoffrey Welsh
See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
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Date: 24 Mar 2012 08:53:09 -0000
From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: FCC sues AT&T for Nigerian TDD scams
Message-ID: <20120324085309.12855.qmail@joyce.lan>
> Intresting factoid -- claim is that AT&T erroneously billed $16
> million to the U.S. Gov't. for non-US-origin 'relay' services calls
> over several years. DOJ is seeking 'treble damages'. RICO ??
False Claims Act
R's,
John
Date: 24 Mar 2012 11:54:39 -0400
From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: FCC sues AT&T for Nigerian TDD scams
Message-ID: <jkkqnv$7h2$1@panix2.panix.com>
John R. Levine <johnl@iecc.com> wrote:
>
>TDD relay has a dreadful problem with Nigerians calling and defrauding
>people. The FCC required that operators register users and verify that
>they're in the US. The suit claims that AT&T deliberately uses a
>registration scheme that doesn't keep out crooks, and as a result 95%
>(NINETY FIVE PERCENT) of their TDD calls are Nigerian fraud.
I have many deaf friends who tell me that they can no longer use the TDD
service because as soon as people hear the announcement that they are
receiving a relay call, they hang up.
So, this abuse has made the service unusable for the people it was intended
to help.
I'm not surprised that this has become the case, and I'm not surprised that
AT&T has made no attempt to stop it. However, I am very very surprised that
AT&T would attempt to make the case that they didn't know what was going on.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:08:01 -0400 (EDT)
From: Randall Webmail <rvh40@insightbb.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: [Obscure] Re: Nigerian scam
Message-ID: <1161414109.2289837.1332605281622.JavaMail.root@md03.insight.synacor.com>
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
>
>http://tinyurl.com/7of6knb
>
>Intresting factoid -- claim is that AT&T erroneously billed $16 million to
the
>U.S. Gov't. for non-US-origin 'relay' services calls over several years. DOJ
is
>seeking 'treble damages'. RICO ??
False Claims Act, most likely. Any entity that has submitted a false claim
for payment to the USG (whether the USG pays it or not) is liable for treble
damages plus attorney fees.
Anybody who knows of any entity which submits a false claim can file a Qui Tam
lawsuit, under seal.
"The False Claims Act provides incentive to relators by granting them between
15% and 25% of any award or settlement amount. In addition, the statute
provides an award of the relator's attorneys' fees, making qui tam actions a
popular topic for the plaintiff's bar. An individual bringing suit pro
se--that is, without the representation of a lawyer--may not bring a qui tam
action under the False Claims Act (see, for example, United States ex Rel. Lu
v. Ou, 368 F.3d 773 [7th Cir. 2004])."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qui_tam#False_Claims_Act
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:08:34 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Not all was lost when Apple bought Quattro
Message-ID: <p062408dccb93a11f53eb@[10.0.1.4]>
Not all was lost when Apple bought Quattro
By Scott Kirsner
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT
MARCH 18, 2012
Just before Christmas in 2009, Andy Miller gathered the employees of
his Waltham mobile advertising start-up in an open bullpen area. The
employees figured it was probably the year-end review of the
company's numbers. But then Miller showed a video of Steve Jobs
introducing the original iPhone.
He talked about how much he admired Jobs and Apple's obsession with
building great products. Then, he told the assembled troops that he
was selling the three-year-old company, Quattro Wireless, to Apple
Inc. The price: $275 million.
"There was cheering and hugging for probably 10 minutes,'' Miller
recalls. "There had been a rumor that we were selling to RIM,'' the
maker of BlackBerry devices, "and people were glad that wasn't true.''
Today, there are no Quattro or Apple employees in Waltham. What has
transpired in the two years since the acquisition is a case study of
what happens when out-of-state companies buy Massachusetts firms, but
decide not to establish a presence here. There are positive and
not-so-positive elements.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2012/03/18/not_all_was_lost_when_apple_bought_quattro/
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/03/17/not-all-was-lost-when-apple-bought-quattro/lZsPDGIVoV4zWmfDOES9TK/story.html
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 21:17:30 -0400
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Shameless plug
Message-ID: <4F6E722A.10109@horne.net>
I was quoted in an article written for CBS Moneywatch about being
interviewed via Skype:
http://goo.gl/YkUG9
Bill
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly)
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