---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <5B12BC1D-4E83-411E-82D2-36B77F142016@roscom.com> Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2016 00:51:15 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Subpoenas and Gag Orders Show Government Overreach, Tech Companies Argue By Nicole Perlroth and Katie Benner Open Whisper Systems received a subpoena for information on [subscribers to] its "Signal" app and an order not to talk about it, a practice Microsoft and others say is too prevalent, and unconstitutional. SAN FRANCISCO - It has been six months since the Justice Department backed off on demands that Apple help the F.B.I. break the security of a locked iPhone. But the government has not given up the fight with the tech industry. Open Whisper Systems, a maker of a widely used encryption app called "Signal", received a subpoena in the first half of the year for subscriber information and other details associated with two phone numbers that came up in a federal grand jury investigation in Virginia. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/05/technology/subpoenas-and-gag-orders-show-government-overreach-tech-companies-argue.html ------------------------------ Message-ID: <F3C1762C-7CE5-45DD-823C-C95695BC9DB9@roscom.com> Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2016 02:32:52 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Replaced Galaxy Note 7 explodes on a Southwest flight Replaced Galaxy Note 7 explodes on a Southwest flight It looks like Samsung's exploding battery woes may not be behind it just yet. According to a report from The Verge, a Southwest Airlines flight was evacuated this morning when a Galaxy Note 7 began smoking in a passenger's pocket. Worryingly, the phone wasn't actually one of the recalled defective units - it was a new model that had already been replaced by AT&T just a couple of weeks before. The plane was still at the gate when the Note 7 caught fire, and all passengers were successfully evacuated with no reported injuries. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/10/a-replacement-galaxy-note-7-catches-fire-on-a-plane/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <9FFB4110-6610-48A9-AC79-0925AEB57A7A@roscom.com> Date: Thu, 6 Oct 2016 02:12:15 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Verizon workers can now be fired if they fix copper phone lines Verizon workers can now be fired if they fix copper phone lines Verizon has told its field technicians in Pennsylvania that they can be fired if they try to fix broken copper phone lines. Instead, employees must try to replace copper lines with a device that connects to Verizon Wireless's cell phone network. This directive came in a memo from Verizon to workers on September 20. "Failure to follow this directive may result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal," the memo said. It isn't clear whether this policy has been applied to Verizon workers outside of Pennsylvania. The memo and other documents were made public by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union, which asked the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to put a stop to the forced copper-to-wireless conversions. http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2016/10/verizon-workers-can-now-be-fired-if-they-fix-copper-phone-lines/ ***** Moderator's Note ***** And so it begins: the phone companies are adopting the third-world practice of installing cellular-only phone systems, as a prelude to the final chapter of their union-busting saga. There might be several parallel agendas here: 1. Forcing POTS users to accept the lower quality and reliability of cellular connections, so as to deny potential cellular users any standard of comparison by which to judge cellular. 2. Squeezing those oh-so-expensive and oh-so-ornery union workers out on to the streets where they can learn to bow before their betters. 3. Throwing some business to their friends in the insurance industry, since less-reliable phone connections means higher insurance premiums. 4. Cashing in on the copper network, by carting off old cables to the junk dealers - some of whom have side deals with executives at ILECS, by the way. My brother used to do contract work in South America, installing buildings at cell sites, and he told me that the most amazing thing about his time there was how open the cell workers were about the need to secure the sites against sabotage from revolutionaries. Many of the installations were on remote mountaintops, inaccessible by any means other than helicopters, and the engineers there made it clear that it was by design. One man's revolutionary, as they say ... Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Sun, 09 Oct 2016