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The Telecom Digest for Mon, 17 Jun 2019
Volume 38 : Issue 168 : "text" format

Table of contents
Re: Please help me identify this deviceFred Goldstein
Re: FCC Move Against Robocalls Is Way Overdue. Ending 'Spoofing' Should Be Next.HAncock4
Re: Please help me identify this deviceGreg Monti
Cellebrite Now Says It Can Unlock Any iPhone for CopsMonty Solomon
Ninth Circuit: TCPA Survives Constitutional Challenge After Minor Cosmetic SurgeryMonty Solomon
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <40feebaa-9c00-b0c5-42bb-4a7bb1924367@ionary.com> Date: 16 Jun 2019 11:54:03 -0400 From: "Fred Goldstein" <invalid@see.sig.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Re: Please help me identify this device On 6/15/2019 11:02 PM, Bill Horne wrote: > One of my amateur radio friends has asked me what the device shown at > <http://telecom-digest.org/cable-overhead-loop.jpg> is used for. > > Please take a look and offer your advice, and thanks in advance. > > Bill "They say the memory is the second thing to go" Horne One device on the wire is used for tweeting. RFC1149 also explains how to use a related version of the device as an avian carrier for IP packets, though historically it has performed much better with paper packets performing message-switching function. It also helps plants propagate seeds and fertilize the ground. It can also be cat food. The other device is a "showshoe", which, used in pairs, holds a loop of optical fiber at a large enough bending diameter to not damage it. This is generally a slack loop, which is released in order to lower the loop and allow new connections to be spliced onto it while working near ground level. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <c5748ae3-2b5a-4e86-a79f-bf24bc1da6e3@googlegroups.com> Date: 15 Jun 2019 12:36:59 -0700 From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Re: FCC Move Against Robocalls Is Way Overdue. Ending 'Spoofing' Should Be Next. On Friday, June 14, 2019 at 9:30:51 PM UTC-4, Bill Horne wrote: > Some in the business community are decrying the Federal Communications > Commission's recent decision to allow carriers to automatically block > robocalls unless customers opt out, saying it will make it harder for > them to hawk their services to people who haven't indicated they're > interested in receiving a telephone sales pitch. > > Yes, it will make it harder - that's the whole point. Robocalls are > the scourge of the communications industry, blowing up Americans' > phones almost 48 billion times last year alone by one estimate. The > FCC move is way overdue. > > https://www.creators.com/read/daily-editorials/06/19/fcc-move-against-robocalls-is-way-overdue-ending-spoofing-should-be-next Historical notes: here are some notes from the past on how the issue was handled. In 1966, the Bell System took out a full page ad in LIFE indicating their effort to fight harassing calls. https://books.google.com/books?id=o1UEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA89&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20harassment&pg=PA89#v=onepage&q&f=false In 1981 New York magazine ran an article on stalking calls. https://books.google.com/books?id=JeQCAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA38&dq=life%20bell%20telephone%20harassment&pg=PA38#v=onepage&q&f=false ------------------------------ Message-ID: <BD5DF61E-35B9-4F4E-B8BE-775735EB147E@mindspring.com> Date: 16 Jun 2019 11:49:01 -0400 From: "Greg Monti" <gmonti@mindspring.com> Subject: Re: Please help me identify this device On Sun, 16 Jun 2019 03:02:06 +0000, Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> wrote: > One of my amateur radio friends has asked me what the device shown at > <http://telecom-digest.org/cable-overhead-loop.jpg> is used for. I say the device pictured by Bill Horne is half of a paired Fiber Optic Storage Loop. See: https://hubbellcdn.com/catalogfull/CA05037E-Opti-LoopStorage.pdf When fiber optic cable is installed on poles, sections are chosen to be "too long" in case extra length is required later to accommodate splices, additional equipment and relocations of poles. The carrier wants to minimize the chances of having to cut and re-splice the many individual fibers within each cable, which takes substantial labor and causes service outages. Fifty feet or more of fiber is tripled back upon itself between two poles to "store" that length for future use. The loop devices are made of painted metal. I suppose they could be spring-loaded to compensate for expansion and contraction, although I have not seen that feature mentioned in web sources. The 15- to 20-inch diameter of these devices assures that the fiber is never bent smaller than its minimum radius which will either degrade data performance or will crack the fiber strands, making them useless. Greg Monti gmonti@mindspring.com ------------------------------ Message-ID: <AC8E9B01-F6F9-4A5F-A49B-DE54AE2EF747@roscom.com> Date: 15 Jun 2019 15:25:44 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Cellebrite Now Says It Can Unlock Any iPhone for Cops NOT SO LONG ago, companies that cracked personal devices on behalf of governments did so in secret, closely guarding even the descriptions of their capabilities. Now, it seems, they proudly tweet about their updated abilities to hack into new iPhones, like a videogame firm offering an expansion pack. https://www.wired.com/story/cellebrite-ufed-ios-12-iphone-hack-android/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <7694DA5A-AF50-4AA8-91A3-030248561837@roscom.com> Date: 16 Jun 2019 10:42:05 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Ninth Circuit: TCPA Survives Constitutional Challenge After Minor Cosmetic Surgery The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit yesterday rejected Facebook's effort to avoid a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit on First Amendment grounds. Facebook had argued that a recent amendment to the law, which excepted calls seeking to collect debts owed to or guaranteed by the federal government from the TCPA's ban on robocalls to cell phones, made the statute an unconstitutional content-based restriction on speech. The court agreed with Facebook but held that the argument didn't do Facebook any good: The remedy the court gave was to sever and invalidate the government-debt exception while leaving the rest of the statute intact. In so doing, the court followed a Fourth Circuit decision from earlier this year. https://pubcit.typepad.com/clpblog/2019/06/ninth-circuit-tcpa-survives-constitutional-challenge-after-minor-cosmetic-surgery.html ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Mon, 17 Jun 2019

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