---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20190623183245.GA22108@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2019 18:32:45 +0000 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: I need to confirm if there were problems at CenturyLink DownDetector.com reported "Problems at Centurylink," but there are no specifics. The site invited comments from readers, but I need to know if any of the Digest's readers have direct knowledge of a Centurylink failure. Thanks in advance. https://downdetector.com/status/centurylink/news/253376-problems-at-centurylink -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20190623185406.GA22424@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2019 18:54:07 +0000 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: The fight to end robocalls With much fanfare earlier this month, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved a rule allowing phone companies to block robocalls on your mobile or home phone. "If there is one thing in our country today that unites Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, socialists and liber- tarians, vegetarians and carnivores, Ohio State and Michigan fans, it is that they are sick and tired of being bombarded by unwanted robocalls," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, adding, "We hear you, and we are on your side." https://wcfcourier.com/opinion/editorial/the-fight-to-end-robocalls/article_b05a313f-fc98-545d-9786-32e379b3ba78.html -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <E1B009A5-AE87-4A30-9F0B-150F3DA3A4DF@roscom.com> Date: 18 Jun 2019 10:52:40 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Botanical Imperative: Why Cellular Network Towers Get Disguised as Trees Engineers at Bell Labs first envisioned a modern cellular communications network back in the 1940s. Wireless towers, they imagined, would create biological cell-like coverage areas. But that was the extent of their organic metaphor - they never would have guessed that the towers themselves would be designed to look "natural." With the rise of mobile phones in the 1980s came ever more cellular network towers, and, of course, not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) criticisms from nearby residents who saw them as eyesores. Thus, an array of camouflage techniques emerged alongside this expanding technology. Towers were hidden inside church steeples, coupled with water towers, disguised as flagpoles and otherwise made to stand out less in their environments. Of course, there's not always another structure handy to help hide a tower. So, in the early 1990s, a new idea took root and towers designed to look like trees began to crop up. https://99percentinvisible.org/article/botanical-imperative-why-cellular-network-towers-get-disguised-as-trees/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <AFDAE6B6-3E53-4CB5-B5E0-AB14848C19C4@roscom.com> Date: 22 Jun 2019 14:10:34 -0400 From: "Monty Solomon" <monty@roscom.com> Subject: LTE Flaw Lets Hackers "Easily" Spoof Presidentail Alerts Security vulnerabilities in LTE can allow hackers to "easily" spoof presidential alerts sent to mobile phones in the event of a national emergency. Using off-the-shelf equipment and open-source software, a working exploit made it possible to send a simulated alert to every phone in a 50,000-seat football stadium with little effort, with the potential of causing "cascades of panic," said researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder in a paper out this week. https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/21/lte-flaws-spoof-presidential-alerts/ ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Mon, 24 Jun 2019