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The Telecom Digest for March 8, 2014
Volume 33 : Issue 41 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Centurylink outages reported (Bill Horne)
CenturyLink phone outage caused by copper thief (Bill Horne)
CenturyLink applies new fee to customer bills (Bill Horne)
Re: California Yellow pages firm sues phone giant AT&T (HAncock4)
New attack on HTTPS crypto might reveal if you're pregnant or have cancer (Bill Horne)

====== 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: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 13:43:30 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Centurylink outages reported Message-ID: <lfd40k$8j4$1@dont-email.me> The Seattle Times Blogs The Today File An outage for CenturyLink users has been reported in the Seattle area, affecting Internet, phone and television services. Outages have been reported in more than 20 other states, according to Downdetector.com. Rest at: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/01/outage-affecting-centurylink-users-in-seattle-area/ -or- http://goo.gl/N9F8aO -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) I am changing my name to Crysler I am going down to Washington D.C. I will tell some power broker what you did for Iococca Would be perfectly acceptable to me - Tom Paxton
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:11:40 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: CenturyLink phone outage caused by copper thief Message-ID: <lfd5ld$tef$1@dont-email.me> CenturyLink phone outage caused by copper thief KIRO-TV Video report of an alleged copper thief, who was caught napping. http://www.kirotv.com/videos/news/centurylink-phone-outage-caused-by-copper-thief/vF3Hr/ -or- http://goo.gl/FiD0Yo -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) Now he's got a woman at home He's got another woman down the hall He seems to want me anyway Why'd you have to get so drunk And lead me on that way - Joni Mitchell
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:15:29 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: CenturyLink applies new fee to customer bills Message-ID: <lfd5si$hn$1@dont-email.me> The Denver Post by Andy Vuong Colorado's largest telephone company is adding a new fee to monthly phone bills, one it classifies as a "non-telecom services surcharge." CenturyLink said the $1.55 monthly fee is related to voicemail and inside wiring maintenance. The company states on its website that only customers who subscribe to those services will be required to pay the surcharge. Inside wiring maintenance covers the "repair or replacement of damaged inside wiring or jacks." http://blogs.denverpost.com/techknowbytes/2014/02/14/centurylink-add-1-55-non-telecom-services-surcharge-colorado-bills-march/13132/ -or- http://goo.gl/kYExqD -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) One generation got old One generation got soul This generation got no destination to hold Pick up the cry - Jefferson Airplane
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2014 10:39:22 -0800 (PST) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Re: California Yellow pages firm sues phone giant AT&T Message-ID: <9a492fb0-3e4d-420c-a7ec-ca216abc4340@googlegroups.com> On Thursday, March 6, 2014 9:49:04 PM UTC-5, Bill Horne wrote: > The lawsuit filed by Fresno-based Valley Yellow Pages says a rival phone > book run by AT&T and Cerberus Capital Management LP are offering > illegal, secret discounts to advertisers. The lawsuit seeks an end to > the alleged practice and unspecified damages. I'm no lawyer, but at first this article seemed strange to me because businesses offer private discounts all the time to selected customers. One sentence in the linked article said: "The laws Alldredge accuses AT&T and its partners of breaking stem from the 1930s and were written to keep large national companies from anticompetitive and fraudulent behavior used to crush smaller businesses." That leads me to two key questions: 1) Is today's AT&T still considered a "large national company"? Obviously the old Bell System AT&T fell into that category, but since divestiture does it still fit? Verizon is a very large company. Further, the yellow pages marketplace overall has greatly declined, along with telephone directories in general, as users make use of the Internet instead. Given all that, it would seem AT&T's alleged marketplace dominance isn't as big as claimed. In another example, today IBM competes in services that it was once prohibited from doing due to anit-trust laws. 2) In today's free-wheeling deregulated business atmosphere, are those old 1930s laws still applicable? For instance, in the 1930s, banks were strictly limited in size and function, but today they can be nation-wide, offering a variety of financial services. Likewise, many other businesses have evolved into national powerhouses, squeezing out smaller players. Many "big box" retail store chains have destroyed modest sized "Main Street" businesses. Today, tough competition is perceived as a good thing--the marketplace doing its job.
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 14:30:18 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: New attack on HTTPS crypto might reveal if you're pregnant or have cancer Message-ID: <lfd6oc$a9c$1@dont-email.me> Ars Technica Scientist-devised technique determines precise address of SSL-protected websites. by Dan Goodin As the most widely used technology to prevent eavesdropping on the Internet, HTTPS encryption has seen its share of attacks, most of which work by exploiting weaknesses that allow snoops to decode cryptographically scrambled traffic. Now there's a novel technique that can pluck out details as personal as someone's sexual orientation or a contemplation of suicide, even when the protection remains intact. A recently published academic paper titled "I Know Why You Went to the Clinic: Risks and Realization of HTTPS Traffic Analysis" shows how even strongly encrypted Web traffic can reveal highly personal information to employers, Internet service providers, state-sponsored spies, or anyone else with the capability to monitor a connection between a site and the person visiting it. As a result, it's possible for them to know with a high degree of certainty what video someone accessed on Netflix or YouTube, the specific tax form or legal advice someone sought from an online lawyer service, and whether someone visiting the Mayo Clinic website is viewing pages related to pregnancy, headaches, cancer, or suicide. Rest at: http://arstechnica.com/security/2014/03/new-attack-on-https-crypto-might-know-if-youre-pregnant-or-have-cancer/ -or- http://goo.gl/z3EyvI -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly) I'll send this song around the world with love to every boy and girl Hoping they don't mind a little advice in rhyme You'll find in life or revolution rarely is there a quick solution Anything worthwhile takes a lot of time - Pete Seeger
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