---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <23021819-4E3D-49A7-9281-DA68CCA28353%usenet@news.jmatt.net> Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 17:08:46 -0000 (UTC) From: Matt Simpson <usenet@news.jmatt.net> Subject: Mystery Calls I have been getting several calls a day to my Google Voice number from seemingly random callerids. If I answer, nobody is there. If I don't answer, I get a brief empty voicemail message. Although the callerids are never the same, it seems likely that these are all from the same organization. The changing numbers makes it impossible to effectively block the calls. Does anybody have any idea who/what these calls might be from, and why somebody would want to continue making numerous calls without any attempt to communicate? ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20160929152304.GA10624@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2016 11:23:04 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon-INCOMPAS 'Compromise' On FCC Business Data Is Anticompetitive By Fred Campbell A regulatory "compromise" between Verizon and trade association INCOMPAS to set prices for business data services is effectively an anticompetitive agreement that's designed to protect Verizon's existing high rates for ethernet connections while providing a competitive boost to Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and T-Mobile in the emerging market for 5G wireless services. Private agreements among competitors to set prices or service terms are generally prohibited by U.S. antitrust law because they often lead to higher prices. But the same type of agreement is generally legal when it's used to persuade the government to do the price setting, even if its sole purpose is to eliminate competition, because the agreement then falls into the category of "political activity" protected by the First Amendment. The Verizon-INCOMPAS agreement falls into the political category, because it was submitted to the Federal Communications Commission in the agency's proceeding to impose new price regulations on business data services (or "BDS," which includes ethernet-based data connections to businesses and cell towers). http://www.forbes.com/sites/fredcampbell/2016/09/28/verizon-incompas-compromise-on-fcc-business-data-is-anticompetitive/#3bd4b91f49c7 -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20160929151256.GA10544@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2016 11:12:56 -0400 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Verizon technician admits he sold customer data for years A former Verizon Wireless network technician in Alabama has admitted to using company computers to steal and sell private customers' location and call data over a period of five years. As Ars Technica reports, Daniel Traeger of Birmingham faces up to five years in prison or a $250,000 fine for the federal hacking charge. As part of a plea deal, Traeger confessed that he sold the data to an unnamed private investigator. According to the terms of the plea (PDF), Traeger and the PI made a deal sometime in 2009, when Traeger agreed to provide the information even though he was aware he was not authorized to access the data or provide it to a third party. Using two different internal systems, Traeger accessed call records and pinged the victims' cellphones to get their location. He then compiled all the data into spreadsheets which he passed along to the PI over email. Traeger made only $50 per month, or about $25 per record, when he started selling the information. By the time he was finally caught in 2014, Traeger had racked up a nest egg of more than $10,000 from Verizon customers' private data. While Traeger's relatively small-time hack came from within the company, earlier this year Verizon's anti-hacking task force was hacked along with a cache of Enterprise customer data. Last year, Buzzfeed also reported that a vulnerability in Verizon's system made it painfully easy to access the accounts of home internet customers. https://www.engadget.com/2016/09/28/verizon-technician-stole-customer-call-location-data/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Fri, 30 Sep 2016