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The Telecom Digest for July 21, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 157 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: Telemarketers call in reinforcements as they ignore do-not-call list (HAncock4)
Re: Big disconnect: Telcos to abandon copper phone lines (unknown)
Millions of US license plates tracked and stored, new ACLU report finds (Monty Solomon)
Google Said to Weigh Supplying TV Channels (Monty Solomon)
Re: Google Said to Weigh Supplying TV Channels (Julian Thomas)
Universities Face a Rising Barrage of Cyberattacks (Monty Solomon)
Re: Telemarketers call in reinforcements as they ignore do-not-call list (Jim Haynes)
Re: Telemarketers call in reinforcements as they ignore do-not-call list (Bill Horne)
The Apple 'Kill List': What Your iPhone Doesn't Want You to Type (Monty Solomon)
Re: Appeals Ct. won't take "Aereo" case, so lower ruling stands (Neal McLain)
Android vs. iPhone: Why Apple still has the edge over Google's operating system. (Monty Solomon)
Microsoft Writes Off $900 Million on Surface Tablets (Neal McLain)

====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Bill Horne and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using any name or email address included herein for any reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to that person, or email address owner.
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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we 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.


Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 09:25:54 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Telemarketers call in reinforcements as they ignore do-not-call list Message-ID: <623db582-d652-4d45-b4fb-e53463a3aa71@googlegroups.com> On Wednesday, July 17, 2013 1:39:12 AM UTC-4, Monty Solomon wrote: > Telemarketers call in reinforcements as they ignore do-not-call list I still get calls from "Credit Card Services". One day I had two such messages, and each message was announced by a different speaker. Perhaps the scam has been adopted by multiple parties. I also get sales calls and texts to my cell phone, even though that's illegal.
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2013 22:07:12 -0400 From: unknown <arnie.goetchius.remove-this@and-this-too.att.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Big disconnect: Telcos to abandon copper phone lines Message-ID: <ks4tt7$j9q$1@dont-email.me> Michael Moroney wrote: > John Levine <johnl@iecc.com> writes: > >>> Voice Link won't handle medical device checking, alarm systems and >>> credit card payments. Verizon needs to come out with Voice Link II >>> that will handle that stuff and charge a premium for it. > >> No, Verizon needs to spend the money to fix the fripping phone lines. >> They're a public utility with a duty to provide universal service. >> It's their job. > > It seems a reasonable solution would be to rewire the whole town with > fiber & rip out the copper, as long as it could look like a copper phone > line to anything that needs such, except for the availability of power > (need the box with UPS/battery). Offer FIOS package and a basic phone > line equivalent over it. > I have FiOS and like everything about it except the need for a UPS for power in order to use the internet. I have a 650VA UPS with which I power the router and the ONT. This gives me about 90 minutes of internet connection. After 90 minutes I lose the router and the ONT switches to its internal battery backup which gives me telephone only for about 6 hours. For short outages, this works fine but for Sandy, it sucked. I was without power in NJ for 11 days and moved to a motel in PA on day 3. Fortunately, FiOS knew when my telephone service went out and automatically transferred all incoming landline calls to my prepaid cell phone which is good for telephone calls and messages but not wifi or data.
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 11:14:45 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Millions of US license plates tracked and stored, new ACLU report finds Message-ID: <p0624085fce0c648e4b74@[10.0.1.9]> Millions of US license plates tracked and stored, new ACLU report finds Alarming number of databases across US are storing details of Americans' locations - not just government agencies Ed Pilkington in New York guardian.co.uk 17 July 2013 Millions of Americans are having their movements tracked through automated scanning of their car license plates, with the records held often indefinitely in vast government and private databases. A new report from the American Civil Liberties Union has found an alarming proliferation of databases across the US storing details of Americans' locations. The technology is not confined to government agencies - private companies are also getting in on the act, with one firm - National Vehicle Location Service - holding more than 800m records of scanned license plates. ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/jul/17/million-american-license-plate-privacy-tracking You Are Being Tracked: How License Plate Readers Are Being Used to Record Americans' Movements http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/you-are-being-tracked-how-license-plate-readers-are-being-used-record http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/071613-aclu-alprreport-opt-v05.pdf
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 01:03:29 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Google Said to Weigh Supplying TV Channels Message-ID: <p06240828ce0bd5e2dae8@[10.0.1.9]> Google Said to Weigh Supplying TV Channels By BRIAN STELTER July 16, 2013 If Google has its way, you might someday get cable television the same way you get Gmail: through any ordinary Internet connection. Foreshadowing a new challenge to entrenched cable and satellite providers, Google is one of several technology giants trying to license TV channels for an Internet cable service, according to people with direct knowledge of the company's efforts. No deals are imminent. But Google's recent meetings with major media companies that own channels are a sign of the newfound race to sell cablelike services via the Internet, creating an alternative to the current television packages that 100 million American households buy from companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Intel is hard at work on one such service and companies like Sony and Microsoft have previously shown interest in the same idea, called an "over the top" service because the channels would ride on top of existing broadband connections. They need support from the channel owners, though, and so far that has been tepid. Google, which also owns YouTube, the world's largest online video site, declined to comment on its television interest. But by instigating conversations with channel owners about a service that would compete with the likes of Comcast, the company is taking a different tack than its rival Apple, which has been trying to collaborate with both channel owners and their distributors on a TV offering. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/business/media/google-is-said-to-mull-internet-cable-service.html
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 13:04:59 -0400 From: Julian Thomas <jt@jt-mj.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Google Said to Weigh Supplying TV Channels Message-ID: <07D76290-96DB-46ED-8423-D0747067FFD7@jt-mj.net> On 17Jul 2013, at 1:03 AM, Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> wrote: > If Google has its way, you might someday get cable television the > same way you get Gmail: through any ordinary Internet connection. Er - how many of us get our internet connection from our cable company? IIRC naked internet isn't a very attractive buy. -- Sent from my iMac Julian Thomas jt@jt-mj.net http://jt-mj.net
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 00:58:15 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Universities Face a Rising Barrage of Cyberattacks Message-ID: <p06240825ce0bd4c497b4@[10.0.1.9]> Universities Face a Rising Barrage of Cyberattacks By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA July 16, 2013 America's research universities, among the most open and robust centers of information exchange in the world, are increasingly coming under cyberattack, most of it thought to be from China, with millions of hacking attempts weekly. Campuses are being forced to tighten security, constrict their culture of openness and try to determine what has been stolen. University officials concede that some of the hacking attempts have succeeded. But they have declined to reveal specifics, other than those involving the theft of personal data like Social Security numbers. They acknowledge that they often do not learn of break-ins until much later, if ever, and that even after discovering the breaches they may not be able to tell what was taken. Universities and their professors are awarded thousands of patents each year, some with vast potential value, in fields as disparate as prescription drugs, computer chips, fuel cells, aircraft and medical devices. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/education/barrage-of-cyberattacks-challenges-campus-culture.html
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 11:54:31 -0500 From: Jim Haynes <jhaynes@cavern.uark.edu> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Telemarketers call in reinforcements as they ignore do-not-call list Message-ID: <slrnkuirq7.3mk.jhaynes@Frances.localdomain> I've received three calls so far in a two-hour period this morning. One from "John at the shipping department..." with some emergency medical alert scam - getting to be as frequent or more than Rachel these days. The others from quite likely bogus charities that may be exempt from the do-not-call list.
Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 10:13:37 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Telemarketers call in reinforcements as they ignore do-not-call list Message-ID: <20130720141337.GB26911@telecom.csail.mit.edu> On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 11:54:31AM -0500, Jim Haynes wrote: > I've received three calls so far in a two-hour period this morning. One > from "John at the shipping department..." with some emergency medical > alert scam - getting to be as frequent or more than Rachel these days. > The others from quite likely bogus charities that may be exempt from the > do-not-call list. The latest scam to hit my phone is robocallers telling me to "Push One" if I want to hear about how they're going to send me a "Free GE home-security system". Anyone who drills down to the details, after working his way past the first semi-humanoid troll who only wants to screen away those whom are complaining about violations of the do-not-call list, will discoverer that the "free" system needs "monitoriing", which is an internet-based service costing almost $500 per year. The attitude of the people involved, from start to finish, is shameless hucksterism and vicious manipulation for profit. Laws are an externality to them. It's not as if Uncle Sam doesn't notice: it's that he doesn't know how to solve it. Last year, I was interviewed by an FTC employee who was looking for ways to prevent forged caller ID and DNC violations. I told him that there's always a CLEC with a payroll to meet and bills to pay, and that the hucksters have cash. -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) He wants to dream like a young man With the wisdom of an old man He wants his home and security He wants to live like a sailor at sea - Bob Seger
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2013 01:34:42 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: The Apple 'Kill List': What Your iPhone Doesn't Want You to Type Message-ID: <p06240834ce0bdd3a9360@[10.0.1.9]> The Apple 'Kill List': What Your iPhone Doesn't Want You to Type The Daily Beast Jul 16, 2013 Spell 'electrodialysis' wrong in a text, and Apple will correct you. Miss 'abortion' by one letter? You're on your own. A Daily Beast investigation into your iPhone's hidden taboos. ... http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/16/the-apple-kill-list-what-your-iphone-doesn-t-want-you-to-type.html
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 00:54:12 -0700 (PDT) From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Appeals Ct. won't take "Aereo" case, so lower ruling stands Message-ID: <0932accb-9036-41e0-b7d4-dbfc5b41de39@googlegroups.com> Aereo Update: Second Circuit Nixes En Banc Review Posted on Common Law Blog on July 16, 2013 by Harry Cole, Fletcher Heald & Hildreth Law Firm > Procedural rejection does not resolve merits of broadcasters' case. > > Put another one in the "W" column for Aereo. The Second Circuit has > denied the petition for en banc review filed by the broadcast > plaintiffs last April. > > It may be some comfort to the broadcasters that the Court's decision > technically did not address the merits of the case. That's because > of the nature of en banc procedures. As we previously summarized > that process, when a petition for en banc review is filed, the > petition is circulated to all the active judges on the Circuit. If > any of them asks for a vote to be taken on whether or not to grant > en banc review, then all the active judges are polled. Note that > they're not polled on the bottom line substantive issue(s) involved; > rather, they're just polled on the limited question of whether the > Court should agree to let the parties slug it out before the full > Court. Continued: http://tinyurl.com/mc5zlu4 Neal McLain
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 11:05:23 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Android vs. iPhone: Why Apple still has the edge over Google's operating system. Message-ID: <p06240804ce0db443b4e4@[10.0.1.9]> Give Me Back My iPhone! Android is a wonderful operating system. But most Android phones are crap. By Farhad Manjoo July 17, 2013 Slate Magazine Six years ago, Google launched an unconventional effort to gain a toehold in the growing smartphone business. Rather than make its own phones, the way Apple was beginning to do, the search company decided to make only half a phone: just the software to run the device, not the device itself. Google planned to give its operating system, called Android, to phone makers for free, and it would let them alter the OS in any way they liked. Google thought that in the long run, the plan would pay off in two ways. First, it believed a free OS would push phone makers to create better Web-enabled phones, and better phones would let people spend more time on the Internet. More time online means more opportunities to use Google's service and see Google ads-i.e., ka-ching! Android also provided a strategic benefit: If phone makers adopted Google's OS, the search company would retain some influence on the devices people used to get its services. If it weren't for Android, Google's customers would have been using devices controlled by Apple, Microsoft, Nokia, or RIM, all of which had incentives to limit Google's reach. Android lets Google control its own destiny. The strategy worked brilliantly. Android is now the world's most popular mobile operating system. It's unclear if Google makes much money from Android directly-by some estimates Google makes as much from ads on Apple's iOS devices as it does on Android machines. But there's no question that Android has helped lower the prices of smartphones across the globe, which can only help Google's ad business. It's hard to call Android anything other than a resounding success. Well, except for one small thing: Most Android phones are crap. As part of a New Year's resolution, I promised to trade in my beloved iPhone 5 for an Android phone sometime in 2013. I reasoned that, as a tech writer, I should spend more time with the world's most popular operating system. Phone makers and carriers have regularly sent me Android phones to test out in the past, but I'd never given most of them more than a passing look-I'd open them up, turn them on, get aggravated by their bad keyboards or poor touchscreens or frustrating add-on software, and I immediately package them up and send them back. ... http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/android_vs_iphone_why_apple_still_has_the_edge_over_google_s_operating_system.single.html
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 10:58:50 -0700 (PDT) From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Microsoft Writes Off $900 Million on Surface Tablets Message-ID: <df6d3c50-c4b5-4f78-b25f-bde162791bad@googlegroups.com> By David Gilbert, International Business Times, July 18, 2013 | Microsoft has reported lower-than-expected quarterly profits with | share diving 5% following the news. | | Microsoft on Thursday reported lower-than-expected quarterly | earnings as faltering PC sales ate into its Windows business and | the company took an unexpected $900 million (&pount;591m) charge for | its inventory of unsold Surface tablets, sending its shares | down 5% in after hours trading. Continued: http://tinyurl.com/ltanehu Neal McLain
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom- munications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to Usenet, where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Bill Horne. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. The Telecom Digest is moderated by Bill Horne.
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