32 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981

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The Telecom Digest for July 2, 2014
Volume 33 : Issue 117 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Re: In Aereo's wake, Fox targets Dish's TV streaming service (Neal McLain)
Aereo temporarily halts operations (Neal McLain)
Re: Massachusetts high court orders suspect to decrypt his computers (Bill Horne)
Re: Yup, 1-800-COLLECT is still in business-and charging massive fees (Fred Atkinson)

====== 32 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

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See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.


Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 19:46:39 -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: In Aereo's wake, Fox targets Dish's TV streaming service Message-ID: <dd6339fa-67f5-4ed7-a9ab-863cc8194646@googlegroups.com> On Sunday, June 29, 2014 6:47:56 PM UTC-5, Monty Solomon wrote: > In Aereo's wake, Fox targets Dish's TV streaming service. > Broadcaster says Supreme Court ruling killing Aereo also > dismantles Dish Hopper. Here's FierceCable's version of the same story: http://www.fiercecable.com/story/so-it-begins-fox-using-aereo-precedent-battle-against-dish/2014-06-30?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal -or- http://tinyurl.com/nfgdsc7
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 19:54:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Neal McLain <nmclain.remove-this@and-this-too.annsgarden.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Aereo temporarily halts operations Message-ID: <22a089b2-1f40-44ca-afb2-a08a5214efa4@googlegroups.com> By Samantha Bookman, FierceOnlineVideo, June 28, 2014 Over-the-air streaming provider Aereo halted its operations Saturday morning in a move that founder and CEO Chet Kanojia said is only temporary. The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against Aereo in a case brought by several broadcasters, including ABC. The high court cited the 1976 Copyright Act in determining that Aereo violated broadcast copyrights by streaming signals from its antenna-DVR cloud facilities to subscribers who rent the equipment for $8 to $12 per month. "As a result of that decision, our case has been returned to the lower Court. We have decided to pause our operations temporarily as we consult with the court and map out our next steps," Kanojia said in a letter emailed to its subscribers Saturday morning and posted on the provider's website. "You will be able to access your cloud-based antenna and DVR only until 11:30 a.m. ET today. All of our users will be refunded their last paid month." Continued: http://www.fierceonlinevideo.com/story/aereo-temporarily-halts-operations/2014-06-28 -or- http://tinyurl.com/qewqfhg Neal McLain
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 13:04:12 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Massachusetts high court orders suspect to decrypt his computers Message-ID: <loupmd$d8k$1@dont-email.me> On 6/29/2014 7:47 PM, Monty Solomon wrote: > > Massachusetts' top court ruled, in a 5-2 decision on Wednesday, that > a criminal suspect can be ordered to decrypt his seized computer. Cryptography, like all technologies that provide a competitive advantage during wars - "shooting" or economic - is an arms race. Up until now, the NSA has managed to bypass those few algorithms they are unable to break, either by Gerrymandering the standards or making deals with crypto providers to betray their customers. However, now we come to the end-point of the arms race; the nuclear artillery of the government's arsenal. After Snowden, those with serious secrets to hide, either on behalf of "the good guys" or for less politically-correct purposes, are on notice that "Security by obscurity", closed-source encryption is useless. Ergo, those with important secrets to safeguard - be they the stationmasters on the underground railroads whom protect refugees fleeing the CIA's wars, or the wretched voyeurs trying desperately to reclaim a shred of the innocence lost during their youth - have upped the ante by obtaining and using robust crypto. As a result, the ruling class of a once-proud country is now flying a trial balloon that is able to destroy our rights with a mere shadow: the threat of "Rubber Hose Cryptography" being used by the government to obtain access to incriminating data. This is the "weapons of mass destruction" phase of the arms race - a case obviously hand-picked to appeal to the lowest common denominator of public fear while cloaking the nanny state with a few threads of respectability. It's a threat so massive as to make ordinarily sensible men look the other way, even though in doing so, they overlook Franklin's warning about the fundamental liberties that they are sacrificing "to purchase a little temporary safety". The saddest part of this farce is that the Massachusetts Supremes probably expect to be reversed, but have passed the buck over to Number One First St. N.W. in Washington, D.C. (an address no doubt chosen to deliver an important message), in order to make it clear that those on Beacon Hill consider privacy inconvenient in an age of "tea party" spin-doctor politics. There's no subtlety here, and no reason to debate the value of encryption as a force for "good" vs. "evil". As Washington so aptly pointed out over two-hundred years ago, "Government is force": and the worst politicians money can buy are now sending a harsh message to those whom question the Ghod-given right of the ruling classes to know everything that they want to about anyone that might threaten their Ghod-given right to laugh at and ignore the rules that yoke common men. Bill Copyright (C) 2014 E.W. Horne. All Rights Reserved. -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) And though the past has it's share of injustice Kind was the spirit in many a way But it's protectors and friends have been sleeping Now it's a monster and will not obey - Edmonton/Kay
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 19:43:12 -0600 From: "Fred Atkinson" <fatkinson.remove-this@and-this-too.mishmash.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: Yup, 1-800-COLLECT is still in business-and charging massive fees Message-ID: <a818ecbb43a70e991dac43906bd9ca10.squirrel@webmail.mishmash.com> On Sun, June 29, 2014 5:46 pm, Monty Solomon wrote: > > Yup, 1-800-COLLECT is still in business-and charging massive fees > $42.55 for a 6-minute collect call? It happened to one Ars reader. > > > by Nate Anderson June 28 2014 > Ars Technica > > > > http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/yup-1-800-collect-is-still-in- > > business-and-charging-massive-fees/ I remember getting a call from (800) COLLECT one evening back in the late nineties. They said that the person calling was from a social networking site that I was on now and then and asked me to accept the charges. I told them I wouldn't accept the charges. It sounded like a scam to me. I figured that if it was important enough, they'd pay to call me. They didn't. So it obviously wasn't. I don't accept collect calls from strangers and I never have. And with the low rates of today, there is no reason to call anyone collect anyway. If I remember right, that was the last time someone called me collect. It has never happened to me since then. From what you are telling me now, it was a good thing I didn't. Fred
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