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The Telecom Digest for March 31, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 82 : "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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See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
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Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:00:39 -0400
From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Ohio bill could doom landlines
Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.64.1203292257550.16213@panix5.panix.com>
[Ohio news]
Ohio bill could doom landlines
With the steady stream of innovations to wireless phones, many companies
are regarding the traditional landline as obsolete.
....
The [Ohio] bill addresses Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) obligations that
previously required franchises to serve everyone who wanted service in a
franchise territory.
...
According to a copy of the bill provided by the Ohio state legislature, to
discontinue basic telephone service a company must prove there are at
least two other telecommunications companies providing services within the
area. Those companies, however, do not have to provide service through the
entire area serviced by the phone company.
For rural areas like Washington County, that can lead to some people being
unable to acquire a basic phone service.
------
rest:
http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/543092
____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:23:03 -0400
From: Matt Simpson <net-news69@jmatt.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Ohio bill could doom landlines
Message-ID: <net-news69-04A89A.13230330032012@news.eternal-september.org>
In article <Pine.NEB.4.64.1203292257550.16213@panix5.panix.com>,
danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:
> Ohio bill could doom landlines
>
A similar bill was defeated in Kentucky. The bill was actually written
by AT&T
http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/13/2108034/bill-that-could-end-basic-phone.html
The sponsor's recommendation to criticism of introducing legislation
drafted by AT&T was awesome:
Hornback defended AT&T getting to write a deregulation bill that would
benefit the company. Nobody knows better than AT&T what the company
needs the legislature to do for it, he said.
"You work with the authorities in any industry to figure out what they
need to move that industry forward," Hornback said. "It's no conflict."
Umm...we realize that maybe AT&T has been generous to you, but you're
really supposed to be representing the citizens and thinking about what
we need the legislature to do for us.
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:48:16 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: MasterCard, VISA Warn of Processor Breach
Message-ID: <p06240833cb9ba102314f@[10.0.1.4]>
MasterCard, VISA Warn of Processor Breach
Brian Krebs
March 30, 2012
VISA and MasterCard are alerting banks across the country about a
recent major breach at a U.S.-based credit card processor. Sources in
the financial sector are calling the breach "massive," and say it may
involve more than 10 million compromised card numbers.
In separate non-public alerts sent late last week, VISA and
MasterCard began warning banks about specific cards that may have
been compromised. The card associations stated that the breached
credit card processor was compromised between Jan. 21, 2012 and Feb.
25, 2012. The alerts also said that full Track 1 and Track 2 data was
taken - meaning that the information could be used to counterfeit new
cards.
Neither VISA nor MasterCard have said which U.S.-based processor was
the source of the breach. But affected banks are now starting to
analyze transaction data on the compromised cards, in hopes of
finding a common point of purchase. Sources at two different major
financial institutions said the transactions that most of the cards
they analyzed seem to have in common are that they were used in
parking garages in and around the New York City area.
...
http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/03/mastercard-visa-warn-of-processor-breach/
New credit card data breach revealed
by Avivah Litan
March 30, 2012
Just when we thought the big credit card data breaches were over, at
least for a while (with Alberto Gonzalez put away after his scams at
TJX, Heartland Payments and others) - along comes a new one reported
today in www.Krebsonsecurity.com. See KrebsOnSecurity.com
Visa and MasterCard have already issued warnings on this. I've spoken
with folks in the card business who are seeing signs of this breach
mushroom. Looks like the hackers have started using the stolen card
data more recently. From what I hear, the breach involves a taxi and
parking garage company in the New York City area so if you've paid a
NYC cab in the last few months with your credit or debit card - be
sure to check your card statements for possible fraud.
...
http://blogs.gartner.com/avivah-litan/2012/03/30/new-credit-card-data-breach-revealed/
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:22:09 -0400
From: tlvp <mPiOsUcB.EtLlLvEp@att.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: MasterCard, VISA Warn of Processor Breach
Message-ID: <1s1a38o41tfhz.6kgp9arvr461$.dlg@40tude.net>
On Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:48:16 -0400, Monty Solomon wrote:
> MasterCard, VISA Warn of Processor Breach
>
> Brian Krebs
> March 30, 2012
>
> VISA and MasterCard are alerting banks across the country about a
> recent major breach at a U.S.-based credit card processor.
> ...
> Neither VISA nor MasterCard have said which U.S.-based processor ...
>
>
> http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/03/mastercard-visa-warn-of-processor-breach/
> and
>
> http://blogs.gartner.com/avivah-litan/2012/03/30/new-credit-card-data-breach-revealed/
>
More detail provided by yahoo finance:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mastercard-tells-banks-possible-security-breach-154439326.html
In particular, "Four giant card-payment processors and large U.S. banks
that issue debit and credit cards were hit by a data-security breach after
third-party services provider Global Payments Inc discovered its systems
were compromised by unauthorized access."
Also: "Global Payments said it determined that an unauthorized entity had
accessed its systems and possible customer card data in early March. Krebs
on Security, a blog that first reported the incident on Friday, said
accounts had been compromised for over a month, between January 21, 2012
and February 25, 2012."
(That "in early March" time point, I fear, refers not to when "an
unauthorized entity had accessed its systems", as a quick read might
suggest, but rather when Global Payments finally "determined that ... .")
(Sigh!) Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP.
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 07:01:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Verizon, at&t agree to stop 'cramming' on customers' bills
Message-ID: <afc827ef-def6-479e-ba12-a741b58017e3@fk28g2000vbb.googlegroups.com>
MSNBC reported:
"Verizon and AT&T have agreed to stop "cramming" consumers' telephone
bills with unauthorized third-party charges, Sen. Jay Rockefeller
announced Wednesday. The move comes after a Senate investigation
revealed last year that consumers were hit with $10 billion in
fraudulent charges due to the practice over the past five years. . . .
Cramming has vexed consumers and generated mountains of complaints
since 1995, when land line providers began making it easy for third-
party firms to sell add-on services like voice mail through local
phone bills."
for full article please see:
http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/28/10908841-after-investigation-att-verizon-agree-to-stop-cramming-phone-bills?chromedomain=lifeinc
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:17:24 -0400
From: "r.e.d." <red-nospam-99@mindspring.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon, at&t agree to stop 'cramming' on customers' bills
Message-ID: <HYmdnfn4T7pkrevSnZ2dnUVZ_hednZ2d@earthlink.com>
Regarding this posting and linked article, I have always wondered about
this:
----- Original Message -----
From: "HAncock4" <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Verizon, at&t agree to stop 'cramming' on customers' bills
> MSNBC reported:
> "Verizon and AT&T have agreed to stop "cramming" consumers' telephone
> bills with unauthorized third-party charges, Sen. Jay Rockefeller
> announced Wednesday.
[Moderator snip]
Is there expertise in the newsgroup readership as to how cramming
works, technically? I gather it's not like billing for carrier
interconnection (not that I understand that, either).
Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:48:16 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: With new mobile payment app, Cumberland Farms allows customers to buy gas with their phones
Message-ID: <p06240831cb9ba09918be@[10.0.1.4]>
With new mobile payment app, Cumberland Farms allows customers to buy
gas with their phones
By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist
March 30, 2012
I don't usually drive from Brookline out to Framingham just to gas
up, but I found myself pulling into a Cumberland Farms outlet on
Cochituate Road a few weeks ago, to try paying for a tank of fuel
without using cash or a credit card. About fifty Cumberand Farms
locations in eastern Massachusetts are participating in a pilot test
of a just-released mobile app called SmartPay, available for iPhone
and Android, and they're offering a five cents a gallon discount if
you use it. It was the perfect lure for a tech-obsessed cheapskate
like me: trying out a new app for mobile payment, and saving money at
the same time.
The app was developed by Cumberland Farms in collaboration with the
Boston office of PayPal. (Last April, PayPal acquired Fig Card, a
small Boston startup that was developing mobile payment technology.)
It requires that you have an account with PayPal, the online payment
service that is owned by eBay. In addition to the iPhone and Android
versions, there's also a mobile web version for other phones.
...
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2012/03/with_new_mobile_payment_app_cu.html
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