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The Telecom Digest for January 15, 2012
Volume 31 : Issue 15 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
AT&T responds to Senator Franken's questions about Callier IQ (Bill Horne)
Ringing Finally Ended, but There's No Button to Stop Shame (Monty Solomon)
Federal agency finds that LightSquared's LTE network would (Bill Horne)
LightSquared Network Causes 'Harmful Interference' to GPS, No (Bill Horne)

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Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:16:15 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: AT&T responds to Senator Franken's questions about Callier IQ Message-ID: <20120115071615.GB9498@telecom.csail.mit.edu> AT&T has sent a letter to Senator Al Franken, denying that it has used Caller IQ software for snooping on its customers. The letter, which appears on the Senator's official website, was sent by Timothy P. McKone, AT&T Executive Vice President for Federal Relations. McKone's opening paragraph: I am responding to your letter to AT&T Inc. regarding AT&T's use of Carrier IQ ("CIQ") software. Let me start by saying that AT&T uses CIQ software only to collect diagnostic information about its network to improve the customer experience. We do not use CIQ to obtain the contents of cuttomers' communications, to track where our customer go on the Internet, or to track customer location. The information is protected in secure storage with restricted access. The rest of the letter is at http://tinyurl.com/7njk85z . The cynic in me wonders why the denial was so clearly limited to Caller IQ: does AT&T have and/or use the capabilities mentioned, implemented via other means? -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) "Down at the courthouse coffee shop, they stared in disbelief As a pack of thirsty lawyers started filling out their briefs" - Julie Gold
Date: Sat, 14 Jan 2012 15:46:28 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Ringing Finally Ended, but There's No Button to Stop Shame Message-ID: <nDbw8.A.QtC.S2nEPB@telecom> Ringing Finally Ended, but There's No Button to Stop Shame By DANIEL J. WAKIN January 12, 2012 They were baying for blood in the usually polite precincts of Avery Fisher Hall. The unmistakably jarring sound of an iPhone marimba ring interrupted the soft and spiritual final measures of Mahler's Symphony No. 9 at the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday night. The conductor, Alan Gilbert, did something almost unheard-of in a concert hall: He stopped the performance. But the ringing kept on going, prompting increasingly angry shouts in the audience directed at the malefactor. After words from Mr. Gilbert, and what seemed like weeks, the cellphone owner finally silenced his device. After the audience cheered, the concert resumed. Internet vitriol ensued. But no one, it seems, felt worse than the culprit, who agreed to an interview on Thursday on condition that he not be identified - for obvious reasons. ... http://tinyurl.com/7hazd7s ***** Moderator's Note ***** Cellphones are inherently anti-social devices. Carrying one around and answering it in public places is an announcement to the world that you think your time and convenience is more important than anyone else's. The "Patron X" mentioned in the NY Times story claimed that his employer had just switched him from a blackberry to an iphone, and that the sound was actually an alarm signal, not the phone ringing. Sounds like revisionist history ex post factotum to me, but even if it's true, that only proves that the person in question felt entitled to take an active electronic device into a concert hall without bothering to RTFM. The gaul of some people! Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 01:48:36 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Federal agency finds that LightSquared's LTE network would Message-ID: <jetss6$p52$1@dont-email.me> from the PhoneDog blog: By Alex Wagner January 14, 2012 9PM LightSquared's been running into some issues with its plans to build out a 4G LTE network that's integrated with satellite spectrum for some time now, as there are concerns that it could cause interference with GPS systems. Recently LightSquared hit perhaps its biggest stumbling block yet, as a group of nine federal agencies known as the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Executive Committee have unanimously decided that both the company's original and revised plans for its LTE network would interfere with many GPS receivers. The group added that it believes that there aren't any practical solutions that'd allow LightSquared to operate its network without GPS interference any time in the next few years, so as of now it's not planning to do any additional testing on LightSquared's network. http://tinyurl.com/7svstoh -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 01:07:34 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: LightSquared Network Causes 'Harmful Interference' to GPS, No Message-ID: <jetqf9$i19$1@dont-email.me> by Dave Murphy, PC Magazine January 14, 2012 05:39pm EST Did federal officials just slam the final nail into the coffin for LightSquared? A letter released Friday by the Federal Aviation Administration certainly makes the case. According to officials, LightSquared's proposed (and controversial) plan to launch a new LTE network - and then sell access rights to the service to regional and rural wireless carriers, and other partners - interferes too greatly with existing GPS systems. http://tinyurl.com/85crkvt -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
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