31 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
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The Telecom Digest for January 24, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 21 : "text" Format
====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
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Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Bill Horne and
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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.
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Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:19:11 -0600
From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: "Rachel" in the funny papers
Message-ID: <3LidnfOFZuRyE2LNnZ2dnUVZ_rKdnZ2d@posted.nuvoxcommunications>
In article <xsmdnT2yAsHeQWPNnZ2dnUVZ_qOdnZ2d@megapath.net>,
Hal Murray <hal-usenet@ip-64-139-1-69.sjc.megapath.net> wrote:
>In article <20130122045514.76865.qmail@joyce.lan>,
> "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com> writes:
>>> If law enforcement were serious about this, there'd be no need to
>>>trace the call. The whole scheme is futile unless the scammer gets
>>>paid. Therefore, all that's needed is to follow the money.
>>
>>The FTC, who are not entirely stupid, have done quite a lot of this,
>>and put a lot of them out of business.
>>
>>Unfortunately, as someone else noted, "Rachel" isn't one person or one
>>gang, but a whole lot of them who've bought the package.
>
>Is selling the package legal?
legal where? that is the question.
In the U.S., it is possible, albeit unlikely, for it to be used legally.
Now, IF they market it, where they promote/suggest/recommend using it
in a manner that is illegal in the jurisdiction where it is sold/used,
they could be charged with 'aiding and abetting' and/or 'accomplice
before the fact' and/or 'conspiracy'.
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:05:07 -0600
From: Jim Haynes <jhaynes@cavern.uark.edu>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: "Rachel" in the funny papers
Message-ID: <slrnkg0nkj.2nl.jhaynes@Frances.localdomain>
In any case it's hard to fathom the stupidity of the company in wasting its
efforts calling people who don't want to be called. Surely the success rate
of such calls approaches zero. Seems like their success rate would
improve dramatically if they obeyed the do-not-call list. Albeit what
they are selling is a scam.
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:09:02 -0500
From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: "Rachel" in the funny papers
Message-ID: <20130123230902.GB14124@telecom.csail.mit.edu>
On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 04:05:07PM -0600, Jim Haynes wrote:
> In any case it's hard to fathom the stupidity of the company in wasting its
> efforts calling people who don't want to be called. Surely the success rate
> of such calls approaches zero. Seems like their success rate would
> improve dramatically if they obeyed the do-not-call list. Albeit what
> they are selling is a scam.
There are several reasons that Rachel and friends might ignore the
DNC:
1. They may not be able to check it: I don't know anything about the
software Rachel runs on, but I think it robo-dials at random, and
it may be coded to do only that.
2. The DNC, from what I've heard, was successful beyond anyone's
expectations, and was therefore an unexpected barrier to Rachel's
developers. They may have decided to ignore the DNC as a matter of
expedience just to get their software "out the door".
3. I suspect that DNC entries are made by a single "techie" family
member in most homes, and other family members might be unaware
they even have the protection, so Rachel might have decided to go
after them just to up her averages.
As things stand now, there is no effective way to prevent Rachel from
violating the DNC, since enforcement depends on civil, not criminal,
action by the FTC or the persons who are being called. Moreover,
there's no mechanism to enforce the list by electronic means: there's
no way to classify originating calls so as to divide them by
"unsolicited" vs. "existing relationship" status. The SS7 system has
no bits assigned for information of this sort, and introducing them
would be a major modification to the telephone signalling network.
In addition, and this does need to be said, legislators are
reluctant to restrict any commercial activity during the current
depression. As repugnant as Rachel's franchisees may be, they are
generating money for someone, and that's not something that an
elected official wants to look at too closely.
Bill
--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:26:27 +0000 (UTC)
From: danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: "Rachel" in the funny papers
Message-ID: <kdprj3$png$1@reader1.panix.com>
In <20130123230902.GB14124@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> writes:
>As things stand now, there is no effective way to prevent Rachel from
>violating the DNC, since enforcement depends on civil, not criminal,
>action by the FTC or the persons who are being called.
I call bull***t. If the Feds actually cared about this there
are huge numbers of laws that "Rachel" is breaking, way above
and beyond the Do Not Call list.
Wire fraud, lying to law enforcement, money laundering, and
a dozen others before breakfast.
Martha Stewart went to jail for a lot less.
--
_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 18:10:01 -0800 (PST)
From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: "Rachel" in the funny papers
Message-ID: <eb510739-217a-4641-bca0-9aea58ca20ac@x3g2000yqo.googlegroups.com>
On Jan 23, 6:26 pm, danny burstein <dan...@panix.com> wrote:
> >As things stand now, there is no effective way to prevent Rachel from
> >violating the DNC, since enforcement depends on civil, not criminal,
> >action by the FTC or the persons who are being called.
> I call bull***t. If the Feds actually cared about this there
> are huge numbers of laws that "Rachel" is breaking, way above
> and beyond the Do Not Call list.
> Wire fraud, lying to law enforcement, money laundering, and
> a dozen others before breakfast.
> Martha Stewart went to jail for a lot less.
Agreed. First, the Feds could (and should) order regulations to stop
callers from entering the network with inadequate or erroneous
identification; so that Caller ID and Call Trace would work properly
to identify them.
Secondly, the Feds should start acting on reports of abuse.
Third, in the cases where the illegal activity originates overseas,
there still is some way payment from this country gets to the crooks
elsewhere. The Feds should investigate and control those weakspots in
international payments.
Some of the solutions might take some creative legal work and
reprogramming and rethinking of telephone network protocols. But this
should not be that hard to do.
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:32:08 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Even if It Enrages Your Boss, Social Net Speech Is Protected
Message-ID: <p062408b8cd253af22f62@[10.0.1.3]>
Even if It Enrages Your Boss, Social Net Speech Is Protected
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
January 21, 2013
As Facebook and Twitter become as central to workplace conversation
as the company cafeteria, federal regulators are ordering employers
to scale back policies that limit what workers can say online.
Employers often seek to discourage comments that paint them in a
negative light. Don't discuss company matters publicly, a typical
social media policy will say, and don't disparage managers,
co-workers or the company itself. Violations can be a firing offense.
But in a series of recent rulings and advisories, labor regulators
have declared many such blanket restrictions illegal. The National
Labor Relations Board says workers have a right to discuss work
conditions freely and without fear of retribution, whether the
discussion takes place at the office or on Facebook.
In addition to ordering the reinstatement of various workers fired
for their posts on social networks, the agency has pushed companies
nationwide, including giants like General Motors, Target and Costco,
to rewrite their social media rules.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/technology/employers-social-media-policies-come-under-regulatory-scrutiny.html
***** Moderator's Note *****
This is a two-edged sword. While employees may have a right to
complain, I don't think they have a right to do it on company
time. That means that companies which used to allow FaceTwiTube posts
over the corporate network will now be more likely to block the
traffic, and I'm not sure that's a "net gain" for the labor movement.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:14:11 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: MIT hacked again, URLs redirected
Message-ID: <p062408afcd252f707cf8@[10.0.1.3]>
MIT hacked again, URLs redirected
By Joanna Kao
January 22, 2013
The Tech
MIT was hacked on Tuesday around noon, with MIT URLs redirecting to a
webpage claiming credit for the attack in remembrance of Aaron Swartz.
As a result of the hack, people who visited tried to reach MIT over
the Internet were redirected to the hacked Web page pictured here:
http://goo.gl/kxdm1
. The hack affected all names under mit.edu,
including web.mit.edu, tech.mit.edu, etc.
The hack and subsequent outages were due to a compromise at EDUCAUSE,
the registrar that provides information on all .EDU names. A
registrar, which allows users to purchase domain names, also
specifies the domain name system (DNS) servers for a domain, which
convert domain names to IP addresses - needed to actually load the
page.
...
http://tech.mit.edu/V132/N62/hack.html
***** Moderator's Note *****
It's not yet clear if the Telecom Digest lost any email submissions:
if you sent something in yesterday, and you don't see it published
within the next week, please email me with a "[nfp]" tag in the email
Subject.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:18:01 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Atlantic Tele-Network sells off rural carrier to AT&T
Message-ID: <p062408decd26585a1450@[10.0.1.3]>
Atlantic Tele-Network sells off rural carrier to AT&T
Nearly three years after Atlantic Tele-Network Inc. acquired rural
cellphone carrier Alltel for $200 million, the Beverly-based company
is cashing in, selling Alltel to wireless giant AT&T Inc. for $780
million in cash.
"We are pleased with today's outcome, which represents a strong return
on our investment," said Atlantic chief executive Michael Prior.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2013/01/23/atlantic-tele-network-cashes-alltel/sUY3HdASoXdjoTjAhd5pWO/story.html?s_campaign=8315
-or-
http://goo.gl/Dp14s
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