33 Years of the Digest ... founded August 21, 1981
Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All Rights Reserved.
The Telecom Digest for Aug 31, 2014
Volume 33 : Issue 147 : "text" Format
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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.
| Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 21:43:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: Neal McLain <nmclain@annsgarden.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Local Choice fight ramps up as CBS refuses to run ATVA ads
Message-ID: <c6271201-dd09-4b3c-acef-0d7835988b5b@googlegroups.com>
By Daniel Frankel, FierceCable, August 28, 2014
CBS Radio will not run the American Television Alliance's new spot plugging
the Senate Commerce Committee's "Local Choice" proposal.
The refusal to air the low-budget campaign is not a shocker, given that --
should it become law -- Local Choice would dispense with broadcast
retransmission fees and employ a system of pay-TV compensation that would
likely be far less profitable to broadcasters.
Continued:
http://www.fiercecable.com/story/local-choice-fight-ramps-cbs-refuses-run-atva-ads/2014-08-28?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal
-or-
http://tinyurl.com/kvq85b5
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"... the proposal will ... unfairly single out the free, over-the-air, local
television broadcast industry for mandatory 'a la carte' treatment."
I think broadcasters better be careful about using that argument. Many of the
advertising-supported non-broadcast channels carried by MVPDs are there
because the broadcast companies own them and demand that operators carry them
as conditions for granting retransmission consent for their broadcast
signals.
To cite my favorite example: in the Houston DMA the Walt Disney Company owns:
- The ABC Television Network
- KTRK, the local Houston ABC affiliate station
- Numerous non-broadcast channels include ABC Family and The Disney Channel
- 80% of ESPN
Under the 1992 Cable Act, Disney has the legal right to require Houston-area
MVPDs to carry, and pay license fees for, some or all of those non-broadcast
channels if they want to carry KTRK.
If broadcasters are so upset that the Local Choice Act would "unfairly single
out the free, over-the-air, local television broadcast industry for mandatory
'a la carte' treatment", do they really want the feds to impose "a la carte"
treatment on those non-broadcast channels?
Does Disney really want to give me a chance to drop ESPN?
Neal McLain |
| Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 23:11:21 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: California Governor Signs Law Requiring a 'Kill Switch' on Smartphones
Message-ID: <5B0F399E-40F1-4CE4-9C7D-999AD5DE02D5@roscom.com>
California Governor Signs Law Requiring a 'Kill Switch' on Smartphones
The law requires smartphones sold in California to include antitheft
technology, a feature that lawmakers hope will lead to a cool down in
phone theft, now the hottest urban crime.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/california-governor-signs-law-requiring-a-kill-switch-on-smartphones/
-or-
http://goo.gl/4LcQL6
***** Moderator's Note *****
It's an election year.
Bill Horne
Moderator
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| Date: 30 Aug 2014 05:08:09 -0000
From: "John Levine" <johnl@iecc.com>
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: T-Mobile to buy 700MHz A Block spectrum from CenturyLink subsidiary
Message-ID: <20140830050809.60705.qmail@joyce.lan>
> T-Mobile is now getting 700MHz "A-Block" frequencies. My question is
> will my phone (Alcatel SPARQ OT-606A) work with the 700 A-Block
> frequencies or will only phones designed specifically for A-Block
> work?
You need to look at the specs. Your phone appears to be 850/1900
only, not 700.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/T-Mobile-Sparq_id5364
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| Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 04:15:16 -0500
From: gordonb.ctt9t@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt)
To: telecomdigestsubmissions.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Verizon flirts with QR codes for user id's
Message-ID: <R-udnYYmO4u5C5zJnZ2dnUVZ_rudnZ2d@posted.internetamerica>
> ZDnet
> by Larry Dignan
>
> Can the QR code replace user names and passwords? Verizon Enterprise
> thinks so - at least for some companies looking at two-factor
> authentication.
>
> Verizon Enterprise on Tuesday is launching QR codes as a two-factor
> authentication option in its universal identity service. What's
> unclear is how many companies will see the handy QR code as a way to
> help eradicate user names and passwords.
Well, it looks like I'm supposed to scan a QR code off of a (probably)
LCD screen displaying a web site. I haven't had a lot of luck doing
that reliably. In my experience, QR codes scan better if they are
on paper or you are handing the image directly to a scanner program
(no display/camera involved).
I guess if I want to access the web site via smartphone, I either
need two smartphones, or one that can aim its camera at its own
screen, or one where I can point the browser at an image it is
displaying and ask it to scan the image for QR codes. I haven't
seen that ability in many browsers. Installing browser extensions
seems to be beyond many users.
Also, my smartphone isn't very good at decoding dense QR codes
without multiple tries and very careful aiming. I'm not sure how
much getting a phone with a better camera would help.
> The telecom giant developed a QR code login that would allow a
> customer or employee to scan a QR code on a website with their
> smartphone without a user name or password.
Weakness: no cell service, no login. Even if it's an employee
trying to log into the server from someplace inside the data center
(which tend to have terrible cell phone service due to shielding
and extensive air conditioning ducts). It's not something you want
to force the employees in charge of fixing cell phone service to
use in order to do their jobs.
Weakness: if a business is using this to handle logins into its
internal systems from inside its offices, this information is now
going over the Internet (when previously it didn't). Even if it's
encrypted, it's still exposed. Cutting off internal logins is now
possible by cutting fiber possibly very far from the business. Even
if it's assumed (correctly) that this cut is an attack in preparation
for a (physical) robbery, narrowing down which business is the
target may be difficult.
Factors:
Something you know (e.g. usernames and passwords and PINs)
Something you have (e.g. various cryptographic tokes, or an app
programmed with individual information)
Something you are (e.g. biometrics)
Unless there's something I'm missing, it seems if I can come up
with a good excuse to borrow your phone, I'm in to your account.
That's one factor: something you have. I'm not sure I like the
idea of more and more reasons to steal cellphones.
It's unclear how you could handle one person having multiple accounts
(e.g. personal, work, in his role as trustee of his church, and in
his role as Girl Scout cookie drive chairman).
Something has to be done in order to tie your session (on, say, a tablet
or desktop) with your login (on the smartphone). I guess that's what
the contents of the QR code is for.
> User names and passwords
> are a major security issue since few people use two-factor
> authentication and most passwords are reused across multiple
> sites. The QR code would get people into accounts without passwords.
>
> Rest at:
>
> http://www.zdnet.com/verizon-eyes-qr-codes-as-authentication-option-7000032942/
>
|
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
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Copyright © 2014 E. William Horne. All rights reserved.
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All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the
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