From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat May 27 19:54:32 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id E17DD1535A; Sat, 27 May 2006 19:54:31 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #201 Message-Id: <20060527235431.E17DD1535A@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 19:54:31 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 27 May 2006 19:56:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 201 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson AT&T Wiretap Documents (wired.com) Vonage Problem (David Reihmer) Re: Uniden Phones Interference With DSL - Why or How to Fix? (DLR) Re: MOS Reading (DLR) Last Laugh! Scammers Say IRS Refund of $63.80 Coming to You (IRS) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Subject: AT&T Wiretap Documents Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 17:39:34 -0500 Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut Former AT&T technician Mark Klein is the key witness in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit against the telecommunications company, which alleges that AT&T cooperated in an illegal National Security Agency domestic surveillance program. Inside the Secret Room Courtroom Clash! A federal judge refuses to give AT&T back its internal documents, but orders the EFF not to give them out. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: However, nothing was said about other publications (net or printed) not giving them out. PAT] Whistle-Blower's Precognition Years before the NSA's warrantless surveillance program made national headlines, then-AT&T technician Mark Klein suspected his company was colluding with the government to spy on Americans. The Ultimate Net Monitoring Tool A little-known company called Narus makes the packet-inspection technology said to be the basis of the NSA's internet surveillance. Here's how it works. In a public statement Klein issued last month, he described the NSA's visit to an AT&T office. In an older, less-public statement recently acquired by Wired News, Klein goes into additional details of his discovery of an alleged surveillance operation in an AT&T building in San Francisco. Klein supports his claim by attaching excerpts of three internal company documents: a Dec. 10, 2002, manual titled "Study Group 3, LGX/Splitter Wiring, San Francisco," a Jan. 13, 2003, document titled "SIMS, Splitter Cut-In and Test Procedure" and a second "Cut-In and Test Procedure" dated Jan. 24, 2003. Here we present Klein's statement in its entirety. This, and other documents were filed under seal in federal court in San Francisco. AT&T's Implementation of NSA Spying on American Citizens 31 December 2005 I wrote the following document in 2004 when it became clear to me that AT&T, at the behest of the National Security Agency, had illegally installed secret computer gear designed to spy on internet traffic. At the time I thought this was an outgrowth of the notorious Total Information Awareness program, which was attacked by defenders of civil liberties. But now it's been revealed by The New York Times that the spying program is vastly bigger and was directly authorized by President Bush, as he himself has now admitted, in flagrant violation of specific statutes and constitutional protections for civil liberties. I am presenting this information to facilitate the dismantling of this dangerous Orwellian project. AT&T Deploys Government Spy Gear on WorldNet Network -- 16 January, 2004 In 2003 AT&T built "secret rooms" hidden deep in the bowels of its central offices in various cities, housing computer gear for a government spy operation which taps into the company's popular WorldNet service and the entire internet. These installations enable the government to look at every individual message on the internet and analyze exactly what people are doing. Documents showing the hardwire installation in San Francisco suggest that there are similar locations being installed in numerous other cities. The physical arrangement, the timing of its construction, the government-imposed secrecy surrounding it and other factors all strongly suggest that its origins are rooted in the Defense Department's Total Information Awareness (TIA) program which brought forth vigorous protests from defenders of constitutionally protected civil liberties last year: "As the director of the effort, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, has described the system in Pentagon documents and in speeches, it will provide intelligence analysts and law enforcement officials with instant access to information from internet mail and calling records to credit card and banking transactions and travel documents, without a search warrant." The New York Times, 9 November 2002 To mollify critics, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) spokesmen have repeatedly asserted that they are only conducting "research" using "artificial synthetic data" or information from "normal DOD intelligence channels" and hence there are "no U.S. citizen privacy implications" (Department of Defense, Office of the Inspector General report on TIA, December 12, 2003). They also changed the name of the program to "Terrorism Information Awareness" to make it more politically palatable. But feeling the heat, Congress made a big show of allegedly cutting off funding for TIA in late 2003, and the political fallout resulted in Adm. Poindexter's abrupt resignation last August. However, the fine print reveals that Congress eliminated funding only for "the majority of the TIA components," allowing several "components" to continue (DOD, ibid). The essential hardware elements of a TIA-type spy program are being surreptitiously slipped into "real world" telecommunications offices. In San Francisco the "secret room" is Room 641A at 611 Folsom Street, the site of a large SBC phone building, three floors of which are occupied by AT&T. High-speed fiber-optic circuits come in on the 8th floor and run down to the 7th floor where they connect to routers for AT&T's WorldNet service, part of the latter's vital "Common Backbone." In order to snoop on these circuits, a special cabinet was installed and cabled to the "secret room" on the 6th floor to monitor the information going through the circuits. (The location code of the cabinet is 070177.04, which denotes the 7th floor, aisle 177 and bay 04.) The "secret room" itself is roughly 24-by-48 feet, containing perhaps a dozen cabinets including such equipment as Sun servers and two Juniper routers, plus an industrial-size air conditioner. The normal work force of unionized technicians in the office are forbidden to enter the "secret room," which has a special combination lock on the main door. The telltale sign of an illicit government spy operation is the fact that only people with security clearance from the National Security Agency can enter this room. In practice this has meant that only one management-level technician works in there. Ironically, the one who set up the room was laid off in late 2003 in one of the company's endless "downsizings," but he was quickly replaced by another. Plans for the "secret room" were fully drawn up by December 2002, curiously only four months after Darpa started awarding contracts for TIA. One 60-page document, identified as coming from "AT&T Labs Connectivity & Net Services" and authored by the labs' consultant Mathew F. Casamassima, is titled Study Group 3, LGX/Splitter Wiring, San Francisco and dated 12/10/02. This document addresses the special problem of trying to spy on fiber-optic circuits. Unlike copper wire circuits which emit electromagnetic fields that can be tapped into without disturbing the circuits, fiber-optic circuits do not "leak" their light signals. In order to monitor such communications, one has to physically cut into the fiber somehow and divert a portion of the light signal to see the information. This problem is solved with "splitters" which literally split off a percentage of the light signal so it can be examined. This is the purpose of the special cabinet referred to above: Circuits are connected into it, the light signal is split into two signals, one of which is diverted to the "secret room." The cabinet is totally unnecessary for the circuit to perform -- in fact it introduces problems since the signal level is reduced by the splitter -- its only purpose is to enable a third party to examine the data flowing between sender and recipient on the internet. The above-referenced document includes a diagram showing the splitting of the light signal, a portion of which is diverted to "SG3 Secure Room," i.e., the so-called "Study Group" spy room. Another page headlined "Cabinet Naming" lists not only the "splitter" cabinet but also the equipment installed in the "SG3" room, including various Sun devices, and Juniper M40e and M160 "backbone" routers. PDF file 4 shows one of many tables detailing the connections between the "splitter" cabinet on the 7th floor (location 070177.04) and a cabinet in the "secret room" on the 6th floor (location 060903.01). Since the San Francisco "secret room" is numbered 3, the implication is that there are at least several more in other cities (Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego are some of the rumored locations), which likely are spread across the United States. One of the devices in the "Cabinet Naming" list is particularly revealing as to the purpose of the "secret room": a Narus STA 6400. Narus is a 7-year-old company which, because of its particular niche, appeals not only to businessmen (it is backed by AT&T, JP Morgan and Intel, among others) but also to police, military and intelligence officials. Last November 13-14, for instance, Narus was the "Lead Sponsor" for a technical conference held in McLean, Virginia, titled "Intelligence Support Systems for Lawful Interception and Internet Surveillance." Police officials, FBI and DEA agents, and major telecommunications companies eager to cash in on the "war on terror" had gathered in the hometown of the CIA to discuss their special problems. Among the attendees were AT&T, BellSouth, MCI, Sprint and Verizon. Narus founder, Dr. Ori Cohen, gave a keynote speech. So what does the Narus STA 6400 do? "The (Narus) STA Platform consists of standalone traffic analyzers that collect network and customer usage information in real time directly from the message.... These analyzers sit on the message pipe into the ISP (internet service provider) cloud rather than tap into each router or ISP device" (Telecommunications magazine, April 2000). A Narus press release (1 Dec., 1999) also boasts that its Semantic Traffic Analysis (STA) technology "captures comprehensive customer usage data ... and transforms it into actionable information.... (It) is the only technology that provides complete visibility for all internet applications." To implement this scheme, WorldNet's high-speed data circuits already in service had to be rerouted to go through the special "splitter" cabinet. This was addressed in another document of 44 pages from AT&T Labs, titled SIMS, Splitter Cut-In and Test Procedure, dated 01/13/03. "SIMS" is an unexplained reference to the secret room. Part of this reads as follows: "A WMS (work) Ticket will be issued by the AT&T Bridgeton Network Operation Center (NOC) to charge time for performing the work described in this procedure document.... "This procedure covers the steps required to insert optical splitters into select live Common Backbone (CBB) OC3, OC12 and OC48 optical circuits." The NOC referred to is in Bridgeton, Missouri, and controls WorldNet operations. (As a sign that government spying goes hand-in-hand with union-busting, the entire (Communication Workers of America) Local 6377 which had jurisdiction over the Bridgeton NOC was wiped out in early 2002 when AT&T fired the union work force and later rehired them as nonunion "management" employees.) The cut-in work was performed in 2003, and since then new circuits are connected through the "splitter" cabinet. Another Cut-In and Test Procedure document dated January 24, 2003, provides diagrams of how AT&T Core Network circuits were to be run through the "splitter" cabinet. One page lists the circuit IDs of key Peering Links which were "cut-in" in February 2003, including ConXion, Verio, XO, Genuity, Qwest, PAIX, Allegiance, AboveNet, Global Crossing, C&W, UUNET, Level 3, Sprint, Telia, PSINet and Mae West. By the way, Mae West is one of two key internet nodal points in the United States (the other, Mae East, is in Vienna, Virginia). It's not just WorldNet customers who are being spied on -- it's the entire internet. The next logical question is, what central command is collecting the data sent by the various "secret rooms"? One can only make educated guesses, but perhaps the answer was inadvertently given in the DOD Inspector General's report (cited above): "For testing TIA capabilities, Darpa and the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) created an operational research and development environment that uses real-time feedback. The main node of TIA is located at INSCOM (in Fort Belvoir, Virginia).." Among the agencies participating or planning to participate in the INSCOM "testing" are the "National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the DOD Counterintelligence Field Activity, the U.S. Strategic Command, the Special Operations Command, the Joint Forces Command and the Joint Warfare Analysis Center." There are also "discussions" going on to bring in "non-DOD federal agencies" such as the FBI. This is the infrastructure for an Orwellian police state. It must be shut down! By Ryan Singel 13:30 PM May, 26, 2006 Formerly sealed documents from a lawsuit against AT&T for allegedly helping the National Security Agency spy on Americans' communications without a warrant were released in redacted form Thursday, and confirm the legitimacy of documents published earlier by Wired News. The papers, which were obtained by Wired News through an anonymous source, included a declaration written by Mark Klein, several snapshots of a secret room in an AT&T facility in San Francisco that Klein alleges is used to spy on a wide swath of domestic internet traffic, and eight pages of wiring diagrams marked "AT&T Proprietary." In order to help the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class-action lawsuit, Klein provided the online civil liberties advocacy group with a sworn affidavit and three documents, totaling more than 140 pages. The EFF filed these, along with a motion asking for a preliminary injunction that would stop the alleged spying and an evaluation of Klein's evidence by a former FCC internet expert, under seal with the court. While the judge in the case initially declined to unseal the documents last week, he ordered AT&T and EFF to jointly redact Klein's statement and the preliminary injunction motion and make them public. Much of the wording in the redacted text of Klein's affidavit (see http://Wirednews.com for details and .pdf), which was published in the court docket Thursday afternoon, matches language in the statement published Monday by Wired News. Technical details in the newly released documents also mesh with the documents published by Wired News. Additionally, both sets of documents refer to an employee who was cleared by the NSA to work in the room, but who was later laid off by AT&T as part of a downsizing. This shared detail, along with others, was not part of Klein's only previous public statement, which was released by his lawyer in early April and printed in full by Wired News. The proposed preliminary injunction (.pdf) filed by the EFF also referred to a declaration by J. Scott Marcus, a former senior technical adviser for internet technology for the FCC. Marcus found that the surveillance room described in documents provided by Klein is "consistent with the media reports describing telecommunication companies' assistance with the program, and illustrates an infrastructure built and designed by AT&T Corp. to conduct large-scale covert collection and intensive analysis of substantial amounts of both international and domestic communications carried by AT&T Corp.'s network, including domestic communications of AT&T WorldNet internet service customers such as the plaintiffs." Additionally, the preliminary injunction argues that the secret room was connected to an "additional, parallel backbone network that would be unnecessary if AT&T Corp. were merely using the Surveillance Configuration for ordinary business purposes, because such analytical results could, and logically would, be transmitted over the common backbone." The presence of extra routers on the list of equipment in the documents published by Wired News suggests intercepted traffic is being forwarded somewhere, according to Columbia University computer science professor Steven Bellovin. But Bellovin points out the system described could not forward all the internet data flowing into the room. "An OC-3 network (150 Mbit/s) can't possibly carry all of the traffic from multiple OC-3, -12 (621 Mbit/s), and -48 (2488 Mbit/s) networks back to Ft. Meade (NSA headquarters)," Bellovin said in an e-mail. "They'd have to do some filtering there." But the other equipment in the room, including a Narus packet inspection tool, is well suited to pick out traffic of interest and forward it along. Bellovin was one of the technical experts who looked at the documents for Wired News. He suggested that the room might be part of a network-management system or used to comply with lawful wiretap orders. But Klein's statements about the room being off-limits to anyone not cleared by the NSA make Bellovin suspicious. "The taps are oddly located for the alleged purpose, but the restricted-access room is unusual," Bellovin said. AT&T filed a redacted brief in its defense this week, but carried out the redaction in a sloppy manner that makes it easy to remove the black bars. The poorly redacted text included the statement, "Although the plaintiffs ominously refer to the equipment as the 'Surveillance Configuration,' the same physical equipment could be utilized exclusively for other surveillance in full compliance with" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, according to CNET News.com. That brief, along with one filed by the federal government, argued that the judge should promptly look at secret documents prepared for him by the government. Those documents, which include sworn statements by the head of the NSA and the director of national intelligence, constitute the government's argument as to why the case should be dismissed on national security grounds. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker will review the government and AT&T's motions to dismiss the case June 23. Copyright 2006 Wired News [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: That rule about 'forbidden to enter the area' (by anyone other than a couple people) was also the case in Chicago when the ESS machinery was first installed back in the early to middle 1970's. The very large Illinois Bell building downtown at Congress Parkway and Clark Street (65 West Congress) was originally full of the older style switches and frames. When they started installing the ESS equipment, one or two floors of the building became totally _off limits_ to even telephone workers who did not have a special pass to be in the area. I found this out through a discussion with an old man (in 1975) who was about to retire from Illinois Bell. He had been an 'inside plant' worker for many years. I asked him once, "what does that ESS stuff look like?" His reply was, "I have never seen it up close. None of us older guys are allowed in that room. Only a couple of the young kids who know about computers are allowed to go anywhere near it. They told me and the guys I work with to stay away from the area." See http://WiredNews.com for the full report, pictures and sketches, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: David Reihmer Subject: Vonage Problem Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 11:17:18 -0400 Vonage has been of no help with this issue. I have not enabled 'call forwarding' in many months. My broadband was down during a storm last week, and I was therefore unable to use my Vonage phone. When I came back on line, I received a call from a friend who told me that during the outage, instead of going to voicemail, my calls had been forwarded to another number, and the other party was getting pretty upset about getting all my calls. I went to the Vonage website, and saw that in the 'Activity' portion of my account, 7 calls had been forwarded to this other number. I recognized that number as a cell phone number I no longer have. When I signed up with Vonage, I included that number as an alternate. But now, of course, I don't have that number. Regardless, none of my calls should have been forwarded, as the forwarding option was disabled. The 'call forwarding' page confirmed that the 'call forwarding' option was disabled, and yet I still had calls forwarded to a number that I did not authorize. I was able to delete the old number in my 'profile', BUT it remained (and remains) in the 'call forwarding page, as the number to forward to. I tried to delete it and enter another forwarding number to, but still the 'old number' reappears when the page is reloaded. I called Vonage and was advised that 'call forwarding' was disabled on my account and not to worry. I told them I knew that it was disabled, because I never enabled it, and why were my calls being forwarded just because my network was down? I then told Vonage I was unable to delete that number from the 'call forwarding' screen. The tech was surprised he could not delete it either, and after holding for 10 minutes, I was advised that the number could not be deleted, and my call forwarding option was permanently disabled. Unsatisfied, I sent an email explaining all this and why am I paying for services I am not receiving, should I ever need them? I got a canned reply and am looking for other means of resolution. Any suggestions? Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is the 'call forwarding' option as you know, but there is also an option (I think it is called) 'Network Forwarding' and the explanation given for this is "what should we do with your calls when the network is down?" and where 'call forwarding' is the routine thing, 'network forwarding' is intended for when Vonage _is unable to see you_ for whatever reason. If Vonage is unable to complete the call on its own network to you (to ultimatly get forwarded on, etc) then what do you want them to do? Look for an option entitled 'network forwarding' and although I do not think it allows itself to be completely erased, it does allow editing which is probably what you would want to do anyway. See if that makes a difference. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 17:57:25 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Uniden Phones Interference With DSL - Why or How to Fix? neverfamous@gmail.com wrote: > Your posting gives me pause. I just purchased the exact same phones > (last night) and have a very similar DSL set-up. I haven't connected > the Uniden system yet because I guess I'm supposed to let the phones > charge overnight first, but I was planning to do so tonight. > I did look through the manual briefly this morning and I noted there > are two types of voice mail service signals and one type may require a > configuration change on the Unidens. It may not be the culprit, but I > thought I would throw it out there as an idea. > If you do find the culprit, please post. Just an opinion. Uniden is a company who puts out a feature requirement and gets bids on who can make x1000 of them at what price. The winner builds them with Uniden's logo and they get sold. Panasonic designs phones and then builds them or contracts out the manufacturing. Big difference. I avoid makes of phones that are built like the Uniden. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 18:01:10 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: MOS Reading mike7411@gmail.com wrote: > Is there any software that I can feed an input WAV file into and an > output WAV file into to get an MOS reading for a VOIP comm system? I got to ask. What is this about WAV files and extracting information from them? Seems to be a theme with you. ------------------------------ Subject: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 Coming From: Internal Revenue Service Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 14:47:49 -0400 (CLT) After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $63.80. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it. A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline. To access the form for your tax refund, please < a href="http://review.mine.nu/.../IRS/refund/caseid886432/index.html" >click here Internal Revenue Service Copyright 2006, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My Dear God! Don't those fools _ever_ grow weary of sending out this crap day after day? Of all the banks and other financial institutions I have seen fall victim to these scams, this is the first time I have ever seen it tried on the good old IRS. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #201 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun May 28 17:16:38 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C2341150B8; Sun, 28 May 2006 17:16:07 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #202 Message-Id: <20060528211607.C2341150B8@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 17:16:07 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 28 May 2006 17:17:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 202 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Amnesty Seeks to End Internet Repression (Paul Majendie) Symantec Business Antivirus Software Is Badly Flawed (Reuters News Wire) Streamcast Sues eBay for 12.3 Billion Dollars (David Greenfield) Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones (David Twiddy) Verizon Rates in NYS Going Up (Danny Burstein) Good Registrar With URL Fframe Forwarding Wanted (Stefan Paul Arif) Re: Vonage Problem (Joshua Putnam) Re: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 (Steven Lichter) Another Scam eBay Job Offer (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Paul Majendie Subject: Amnesty Seeks to End Internet Repression Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 15:13:53 -0500 By Paul Majendie Amnesty International marked its 45th anniversary on Sunday by launching a global campaign to stamp out state censorship of the Internet. The human rights pressure group called on Web users to sign a pledge calling on governments to stop censoring sites and urging technology corporations not to collude with them. Arguing that online censorship is a new threat to freedom, Amnesty claimed to have uncovered Internet repression in areas around the world from China and Tunisia to Vietnam, Iran, Israel and the Maldives. Calling for the release of "cyber dissidents" jailed for expressing their political views online, Amnesty said Internet cafes are being shut down, computers seized, chat rooms monitored and blogs deleted. "The Internet is a huge, powerful tool. We see governments censoring access to the Internet or locking people up for having conversations about democracy and freedom," said Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty International. Launching a new irrepressible.info Web site to challenge Internet censorship, Allen said "I call on governments to stop the unwarranted restriction of freedom of expression and on companies to stop helping them do it." The world's largest Internet providers have become embroiled in an international debate about Web censorship, especially in China. Earlier this month, Yahoo Inc. said it was seeking the U.S. government's help in urging China to allow more media freedom after reports linking information it gave to Chinese authorities with the jailing of a dissident. The case was the latest to highlight conflicts of profit and principle for Internet companies in the world's second biggest Internet market. Web search leader Google Inc, has come under fire for saying it would block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, bowing to conditions set by Beijing. The new campaign for freedom on the information superhighway was launched in the Observer newspaper. In 1961, an article by Peter Benenson in the same newspaper, calling on governments to stop persecution, led to Amnesty being founded. Corporations accused of collusion were quick to defend themselves in the newspaper with Yahoo corporate communications manager Alex Laity telling The Observer: "We condemn punishment of any activity internationally recognised as free expression whether that punishment takes place in China or anywhere else in the world." Amnesty, which once relied on letter writing campaigns to bombard governments with pleas to release political prisoners, now has 1.8 million supporters in more than 100 countries. Adapting "People Power" to the electronic age as a tool for pressurising international opinion, Amnesty urged Web users to sign an online pledge which will be presented to a U.N. meeting on the future of the Internet in November. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Symantec Business Antivirus Software Is Badly Flawed Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 15:15:51 -0500 Versions of Symantec Corp.'s anti-virus business security software contain a flaw that could put millions of computers at risk of a crippling worm attack, Internet experts warned on Friday. Researchers at eEye Digital Security discovered the vulnerability, which they said could allow an attacker to create a worm able to take over a user's computer and destroy critical programs and files. They rated the threat as high because a hacker could exploit the flaw to get on a machine and edit, remove and delete programs and files without a user doing anything, such as clicking on a link, eEye spokesman Mike Puterbaugh said. "This could potentially result in an Internet worm," he said. "It is a flaw that can be triggered from another location and provides the attacker with system-level access." A worm is a computer virus that spreads by sending copies of itself over a network. Most viruses these days are worms, since almost all computers are now linked by networks. Symantec, a leading maker of anti-virus software used by consumers and businesses, said in a statement it was investigating and that the issue does not affect its popular Norton consumer brand of products. It confirmed eEye's finding that its Client Security 3.1 and AntiVirus Corporate Edition 10.1 offerings contained the flaw that Symantec said could allow a remote user to attack a machine. "Fixes have been identified for all affected products and work on these fixes is ongoing," the company said in a statement. "To date, Symantec has not had any reports of any related exploits of this vulnerability." The warning comes as Internet security experts say cyber criminals are more interested in breaching systems for financial gain rather than simply to win notoriety by unleashing a devastating worm. In fact, the number of headline-grabbing viruses has slowed since the Blaster worm outbreak in 2003, which targeted Microsoft software and devastated hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: David Greenfield Subject: Streamcast Sues eBay for 12.3 Billion Dollars Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 15:18:40 -0500 By David Greenfield Networking Pipeline StreamCast Networks, Inc. announced today that it has field suit against eBay and twenty-one other defendants for $12.3 billion in damages for allegedly misappropriating intellectual property. The suit, filed earlier in the year against Skype, was amended to include eBay in a filing with the federal court in the central district of California in Los Angeles on Monday. "The sale of Skype to eBay was made possible through a scheme by many of the defendants to misappropriate the FastTrack peer-to-peer technology that rightfully belongs to StreamCast," added outside Counsel Dan Woods of the global law firm, White & Case. "We've now added eBay as a defendant to this lawsuit. As we learn about others who should be defendants, they are being added to the suit." The complaint states that the defendants orchestrated an "elaborate over-seas shell game" in an attempt to steal customers and technology from Steamcast. Kazaa co-founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, allegedly sold the FastTrack's P2P technology to Kazaa despite StreamCast having the contractural right to prevent the deal. The technology was and eventually transferred to Skype through a company called Sharman Networks. The complaint also alleges that the defendants also conspired to steal Streamcast's customer base of 28 million users by transferring those customers to Sharman Networks and to another off-shore company, called Blastoise. The suite seeks at least $4.1 billion for actual damages, at least $12.3 billion in treble damage, and additional funds for other damages and attorneys' fees. Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more tech news from the daily media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html (and) http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ From: David Twiddy Subject: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 15:23:17 -0500 Some cell phone owners spurn gadgetry By DAVID TWIDDY, AP Business Writer Nathan Bales represents a troubling trend for cellular phone carriers. The Kansas City-area countertop installer recently traded in a number of feature-laden phones for a stripped-down model. He said he didn't like using them to surf the Internet, rarely took pictures with them and couldn't stand scrolling through seemingly endless menus to get the functions to work. "I want a phone that is tough and easy to use," said Bales, 30. "I don't want to listen to music with it. I'm not a cyber-savvy guy." But the wireless industry needs him to be comfortable with advanced features and actively use them. As the universe of people who want a cell phone and don't already have one gets smaller, wireless carriers are counting on advanced services to generate the bulk of new revenue in coming years. Consumers last year paid $8.6 billion for so-called data applications on their phones, up 86 percent from the year before, according to wireless trade group CTIA. But they've also shown a growing frustration with how confusing those added features can be. A J.D. Power & Associates survey last year found consumer satisfaction with their mobile devices has declined since 2003, with some of the largest drops linked to user interface for Internet and e-mail services. That has providers working hard to make their devices easier to use - fewer steps, brighter and less cluttered screens, different pricing strategies - so consumers will not only use data functions more often but also be encouraged to buy additional ones. For Sprint Nextel Corp., the process begins in a suite of small rooms on its operations campus in suburban Kansas City. On one recent day, a trio of researchers watched through one-way glass and overhead cameras as a volunteer navigated her way through a prototype program that lets parents set limits on their children's phone use. The observers monitored how many steps it took for the woman to make the program work, how easily she made mistakes and how quickly she could get herself out of trouble. The results could be used to further tweak the program, said Robert Moritz, director of device development. "If you bring somebody in and they have problems, it's not because they're dumb, but we were dumb with the design," Moritz said, adding that the lab typically tests devices and programs with up to 50 users over three to nine months. The company also uses focus groups to determine what people want from their phones and what they say needs fixing. The results of those studies can sometimes push back the release of a product. For example, Michael Coffey, vice president of Sprint's user-experience design, said the company delayed releasing its walkie-talkie Ready Link service for about a year after testers said they didn't like the short delay between when the user pushes the button and the recipient answers. Coffey said the testing is worth it because ease-of-use can be a competitive edge. "IPod was not the first MP3 player on the market, but once they figured it out (the user interface), they became the predominant one overnight," he said. "Whether you make it a marketing message or not, the public will discover that usability and choose your product over a competitor's." So far, Sprint Nextel is doing something right as its subscribers spend the highest average amount for data services in the industry. "We believe there's a strong correlation between our standard of success and how usable the products are," he said. The other major wireless providers use similar techniques to improve their devices and programs. Cingular Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider, developed MEdia Net, which allows users to personalize their phones for using the Internet, downloading ringtones or getting e-mail. Verizon Wireless has V-Cast, a service that makes it easier to download music and video. The company has also pushed designs that allow users to accomplish many things with one button press. "It's not fun to download a ringtone and have to figure out how to get that on your phone," said Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Ramey. "We do not shy away from testing. If the device or service doesn't work, it's a reflection on our network." T-Mobile also has focused on a few key areas, introducing T-Zone to help customers find ringtones and screen wallpaper by subject and decreasing the number of steps to take and send photos, for example. "Communication and personalization will continue to be the driver for phone use," said Michael Gallelli, director of product marketing at T-Mobile. Industry experts say the companies understand the stakes involved in making sure their designs attract customers and keep them loyal. "Five years ago, I wouldn't have seen a commercial from Cingular that you can customize your layout," said David Chamberlain, principal wireless analyst for research firm In-Stat. "To think that they're putting this kind of effort into the interface is welcome news." How well they're doing is a different matter. Some analysts pointed to phones from niche providers, such as youth-oriented Amp'd Mobile and sports-centric ESPN Mobile, as good examples of intuitive design, marrying easy-to-understand menus with pared-down lists of content aimed at their particular markets. But Roger Entner of the market research firm Ovum said none of the major carriers impresses him. He says most of them are trying to replicate how people use personal computers instead of coming up with a new approach. "What do (customers) do best on the phone? They talk. What do they do worst? Type. Why is every user interface based on typing?" Entner said. "Right now, the software developers take advantage of every weakness a device has and none of the strengths." Some wireless carriers and third-party companies are experimenting with voice-recognition technology. Kirkland, Wash.-based VoiceBox Technologies, for instance, plans to release a product later this year that recognizes words and context in a customer's speech to immediately bring them content on their phones. Charles Golvin of Forrester Research said a recent survey indicated few cellular customers choose a phone based on its usability, typically because they either don't think there's anything better or, like Bales in Kansas City, don't think they need those services. But Golvin said for the market to truly grow, the programs and phones themselves are going to have to become more graceful and not just the purview of tech-junkies. "Early adopters are less retarded by the user interface," he said. "As we're moving from the early adopters to the more mainstream customers, it will make a huge difference." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from the Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Verizon Rates in NYS Going Up Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 10:24:05 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC As foretold by that scribe in dslprime.com, VZ is rushing to take advantage of the new NYS PSC unregulating ... Excerpted from an advert in the NY Times (Fri 26-May, p. D5) Dial tone monthly access rate: residential current: $ 8.61, new: $ 9.85 business: $18.24 new: $19.79 (Plus, of course, all the various fees and surcharges and taxes and kickbacks.) Oh, business local per minute of additional use: $ 0.013 new: $ 0.016 (that means an increase from 1.3 cents/minute to 1.6 cents) And ... "Certain isdn-basic service monthly rates" (no amount listed). Plenty of other increases as well. More info at: http://www.verizon.com/tariffs Click to the NY map, then "pending projects". (hmm ... anyone up to looking through all the other states?) Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: S P Arif Sahari Wibowo Subject: Good Registrar With URL Frame Forwarding That Forward Complete URL Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 23:38:14 -0400 Organization: Bell Sympatico Hi! Do you know good domain name registrars that have multiple sub-domain URL frame forwarding (also called "masking" or "cloaking") that will forward complete URL, including fragment id / anchor name? Right now I am using Wingsix, which works fine except that its URL frame forwarding will strip the fragment id from URL, so using fragment in URL won't work. If the registrar support multiple e-mail forwarding that recognize extension addresses (e.g. arifsaha-ext1@domain.name will have the same forwarding as arifsaha@domain.name), it will be even better! :-) Thanks! (Stephan Paul) Arif Sahari Wibowo _____ _____ _____ _____ /____ /____/ /____/ /____ _____/ / / / _____/ http://www.arifsaha.com/ ------------------------------ From: Joshua Putnam Subject: Re: Vonage Problem Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 21:55:42 -0700 In article , TELECOM Digest Editor noted in response to simwahh@comcast.net: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is the 'call forwarding' option > as you know, but there is also an option (I think it is called) > 'Network Forwarding' It's the "Network Availability Number" under Features. You can delete it, click on "configure" then "remove" and the field is blank. josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam Books for Bicycle Mechanics and Tinkerers: ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Organization: I Kill Spammers, inc. Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 Coming Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 00:40:02 GMT Internal Revenue Service wrote: > After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have > determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of > $63.80. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in > order to process it. > A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example > submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline. > To access the form for your tax refund, > please < a href="http://review.mine.nu/.../IRS/refund/caseid886432/index.html" >click here > Internal Revenue Service > Copyright 2006, > Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My Dear God! Don't those fools _ever_ > grow weary of sending out this crap day after day? Of all the > banks and other financial institutions I have seen fall victim to > these scams, this is the first time I have ever seen it tried on the > good old IRS. PAT] This one has been going on for a couple of years, the IRS issued a warning a few weeks ago about this again. Plus the IRS refunds are in even amount no cents, these guys are really fools, but they do get hooks in some new users. I got one the other day from the Credit Union League, which is an association owned by credit unions and they don't e-mail customers of the credit unions unless you happen to file a complaint with them and they sure don't use a Hotmail e-mail address and what got my attention besides all the other crap was at the bottom of the message it said Insured by the FDIC, of which credit unions are not. The only way to stop this is to make sure that everyone knows about these scams and when a scammer is caught to try him fast and put him away for very long time, take anything he owns or better just take him out back of the court and SHOOT HIM. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, inc, A Rot in Hell. Co. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Now, now, although I would agree with you a hundred percent, most of the Enablers would say you have no right to cause the essence of a DDoS on a spammer. They've got their rights, by God ... and don't you forget it! PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Organization: I Kill Spammers, inc. Subject: Another eBay Scam Job Offer Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 17:53:59 GMT Got one of these today offering a Free kit on selling products for them on eBay, but they needed my credit card number for shipping. Here is their toll free number if you are not happy with your kit!! 1-800-609-5118 I'm sure they would like to know people are not happy with their email marketing methods!! The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, inc, A Rot in Hell. Co. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #202 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon May 29 15:48:29 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id D87C9158D0; Mon, 29 May 2006 15:48:28 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #203 Message-Id: <20060529194828.D87C9158D0@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 15:48:28 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 29 May 2006 15:50:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 203 Inside This Issue: Happy Memorial Day! So You Think -You- Have Problems? (Chris Brummitt) The Shorter, Faster, Cruder, Tinier TV Show (Monty Solomon) Parents Making Use of TV Despite Risks - New York Times (Monty Solomon) Middle Class Goes Broadband As Price Falls (Monty Solomon) From a Small Stream, a Gusher of Movie Facts (Monty Solomon) Interns? No Bloggers Need Apply (Monty Solomon) Cellular-News: Monday 29th May 2006 (Cellular-News) Re: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 (Gordon Burditt) Re: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 (DLR) Ask Your Mother; She Would Love it ... (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Chris Brummitt Subject: So You Think -You- Have Problems? Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 14:08:00 -0500 Indonesian quake toll jumps past 5,000 By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer The death toll from a 6.3-magnitude earthquake in Indonesia over the weekend rose by more than 800 Monday to 5,137, according to the government. Meanwhile, emergency aid began arriving, but officials said the supplies were not reaching survivors quickly enough. The government's Social Affairs Ministry said the revised death toll included previously uncounted bodies buried in mass graves immediately after the quake. The international Red Cross said it had sent a field hospital and distributed about 2,000 tents, with up to 8,000 more on the way. The U.N. sent three trucks carrying high-energy biscuits and a plane loaded with water, tents, stoves and cooking gear. Two Singapore military cargo planes arrived at Yogyakarta airport with doctors and medical supplies. Japan said it would dispatch an undetermined number of land, sea and air forces to help with relief efforts. But officials said supplies remained inadequate. "We have received food and medicine from the government but it's not enough," said Suparno, a neighborhood official in the hardest-hit district of Bantul on Java island who goes by one name, like many Indonesians. "How can I distribute 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of rice to 1,200 people?" Indonesia said late Sunday it would allocate $107 million to help rebuild over the next year. The United States says it is considering allocating 'some money' in aid and the U.S. military plans to send 100 doctors, nurses and medical technicians from a base in Okinawa to Indonesia, U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Bigelow said Sunday. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, has released $100,000 in emergency aid but said it will need to give much more. U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland has proposed boosting relief efforts with money from the U.N.'s $178 million central emergency relief fund. U.N. officials in Indonesia said the most urgent needs were for generators, tents, three 100-bed field hospitals and medical supplies, mostly for treating broken limbs. Officials said they hoped to meet these requirements within three days. France said Monday it would send medical equipment and personnel. Spain was to send 12 tons of tents, blankets and medicines and other aid, while Germany said German aid groups were moving water purification equipment and a mobile medical clinic to Java. Britain, the European Union, China and the Japanese Red Cross Society together had given, or pledged to give, more than $14 million. Hundreds of villagers lined main roads in the disaster zone, holding out boxes for donations to buy rice, oil and candles. "We need help. Anything at all," one sign read. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono acknowledged a "lack of coordination" in aid distribution when he visited refugees Monday and called for government officials to be "more agile." "I saw in many areas that there are many things that need to be speeded up," he said. Yudhoyono -- criticized by some as being hesitant to act in the past -- spent the first night after Saturday's quake sleeping in a tent along with survivors and moved his office to the nearby city of Yogyakarta to supervise relief operations. The government said the quake left an estimated 200,000 people homeless, most of whom now are living in shacks close to their former homes or in shelters erected in rice fields. Hospitals overflowed with bloodied survivors. The area affected by the quake stretches across hundreds of square miles of mostly farming communities to the south of the ancient city of Yogyakarta. The quake has intensified activity at the nearby Mount Merapi volcano, which spit out lava and hot clouds Monday, sending debris avalanching 2 1/2 miles down the mountain, said Subandriyo, chief of the Merapi volcanology and monitoring office. No one was injured because the debris tumbled down unpopulated sections of the peak. Some villagers had received clothing and food, but most were still fending for themselves more than 48 hours after the quake struck. "All our valuables are gone," said Hardadi, as she cooked breakfast for three families living under a shelter made from fertilizer sacks. "But at least we managed to get the children out alive." Many survivors worked together to clear the rubble and salvage building materials to build temporary shelters and health centers. "The people here have the spirit to rebuild their lives," said Prapto Warsito, a village chief. "They have a long tradition of working and living together." Electricity and water supplies were still down in much of the region on Monday. Telecommunications were totally out, and torrential rains have fallen at least twice since the disaster, adding to the misery of survivors. The only working telecommunications noted by this reporter were two young men who had installed and were maintaining a ham radio station in a hastily erected tent, powered by a gasoline generator nearby, along with the airplane they had used to reach the area. I used their radio gear to file this report with the Associated Press. The quake was the fourth destructive temblor to hit Indonesia in the last 17 months, including the one that spawned the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that killed 230,000 people across Asia, most of them on this Indian Ocean archipelago. The country also is battling the bird flu crisis, terrorist attacks by al-Qaida-linked Islamic militants and the threat of eruption from Mount Merapi, just north of the quake zone. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. It has 76 volcanos, the largest number in the world. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines of interest from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html (also) http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Throughout 2005 and 2006 the gentle folk of the south Pacific area have had more problems than many of us have seen in our lifetimes. It is really very sad. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 13:33:51 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Shorter, Faster, Cruder, Tinier TV Show By RANDY KENNEDY The New York Times One morning earlier this spring, Dave Sirulnick and a group of fellow MTV executives gathered in a 29th-floor conference room overlooking Times Square to observe a time-honored television ritual, one they'd performed dozens of times. They were shaping a pilot, the hopeful chrysalis of a television show. Three months of hard work and soul searching had gone into this particular effort, so the assembled team waited to see its work in progress with no small amount of anticipation. In these kinds of meetings, someone usually pops the show into a DVD player and it materializes on a flat-screen television the size of a coffee table. But this time the six people in the room ambled over to Sirulnick, a slender man who was peering over a pair of rimless glasses at a small, black Samsung cellphone. "Do we all stand behind each other or what?" he asked, unsure of the protocol. As everyone circled around his chair like kids gawking at a science experiment, Sirulnick pressed a button on the phone, and the tiny screen in his palm flickered to life. What appeared on it didn't feel much like a TV show as you and I have come to know it. Clocking in at just over three minutes, it seemed vaguely schematic, with lots of close-ups and static scenes. But Sirulnick watched it with the hope that what he was seeing - even through the pixel smears and buffering pauses of today's mobile-video technology -- was nothing less than the future of television. A boyish-looking 41-year-old man wearing jeans and a green-and-purple-striped sweater, Sirulnick was in the room that morning because just a few months earlier MTV redrew its organizational chart and gave him a new job it considers extremely important, one with the unwieldy title of executive vice president for multiplatform production, news and music. Translated, it means that he is the guy responsible for figuring out how his network - one of the most recognizable in the world, with annual ad revenue of more than a billion dollars -- will continue to thrive creatively, and thus financially, in a world where television's center of gravity seems to be rapidly shifting, away from immobile TV sets and toward roving screens: laptops, P.D.A.'s, iPods, game players and, most important, cellphones. The shift is not simply changing the way the medium looks and feels. Even now, in its infancy, mobile video is starting to make the very definition of television, as a place where people watch "shows" on "channels," sound pleasantly anachronistic, like a description from an old issue of Popular Mechanics. It may also be creating a new way to make a whole lot of money: one model projects that the worldwide market for mobile television will be $27 billion by 2010. By the most optimistic counts, there are only about 3 million people out of the almost 200 million cellphone users in the United States who now watch video on their phones. Other analysts say the number of those who watch regularly is much lower, which leads them to ask whether people really want another version of television, one they can literally take anywhere. Judging by what is happening in other parts of the world, where the mobile-television experiment is well under way, the more pertinent questions are: What are they going to want to watch? Will it be regular live television, redirected to their phones? Or typical television fare, edited and re-packaged to suit a screen smaller than a business card? It might end up being neither, but instead a new amalgam that feels little like traditional television and more like the increasingly video-dominated Web - like computer games, like the kind of shaggy user-generated video and mashed-up video clips that began as novelties for people killing time in their cubicles but are now on their way to becoming big business. MTV's international channels have been providing cellphone entertainment, mostly repackaged TV clips, for almost a year. In fact, MTV claims to be the world's largest mobile-content provider. When the demand for cellular television materializes in the United States, people like Sirulnick say that it is likely to be most intense among the generation of young people that has never known a world without wireless, for whom a cellphone is not just a phone but an entertainment center, a dating service, a scrapbook, a virtual hangout and a fashion statement -- in other words, MTV's core viewers, the network's to keep or lose. You could argue that of all the traditional television empires, MTV has a better-than-even shot at keeping them. It has had to reinvent itself constantly (some critics would say for the worse) to keep pace with its ever-young audience. And it popularized short-attention-span creations like music videos and created artful station breaks that at least seem likely to translate well in an on-the-fly wireless world. But MTV is approaching its 25th birthday; in the cable world, it's what is known as a mature brand. And on the morning that Sirulnick and company fine-tuned their pilot, other veteran producers, screenwriters and television executives were hard at work all over New York and Los Angeles on their own cellphone projects. Maybe more worrisome than these conventional competitors were the countless Web companies, also cranking out cellphone content, led not by television experts but by hordes of 20-somethings all angling to become the Sumner Redstones of broadband and wireless, bypassing the TV industry altogether. For television veterans, the advance of cellphone television makes for competing anxieties. They're worried that they may be moving far too slowly, but they're anxious, too, that they could be moving in the wrong direction. It's a feeling something like television's pioneers must have had, trying to create visual shows for a nation still huddled around the radio. But another, perhaps more apt, comparison is to the early years of the Internet, when so-called content providers pumped prodigious amounts of material and ideas onto the Web and hoped that the demand for it would follow. More often than not, it didn't. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/magazine/28mtv.html?ex=1306468800&en=934ea7a5db62c06b&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 13:12:44 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Parents Making Use of TV Despite Risks - New York Times By LYNETTE CLEMETSON The New York Times WASHINGTON, May 24 - Sure, Sharae Sharp knows pediatricians say children under 2 should not watch TV. But the advice feels less than practical when she needs to scrub the bathroom floor or has a migraine and is craving an hour of silence. "Sometimes you just need some time," said Ms. Sharp, 29, unapologetic about the 13-inch television she placed in her 3-year-old daughter Taelor-Shanel's room more than a year ago. Jennifer Beck-Wilson, 36, tends to agree with the Academy of Pediatrics. But with a 3-year-old son, a 15-month-old daughter and a full-time job, best intentions fall by the wayside. "There's my philosophy and then there's real life," she said. The two are hardly alone. A new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, in which both participated, found that despite increasing debate over the potentially harmful effects of television on young children, many parents believe that the benefits of a little tube time -- whether for their children's development or their own sanity -- outweigh the risk of raising a generation of crib potatoes. On a typical day 61 percent of babies one year or younger watch TV or videos, with average viewing of more than an hour, the study found. A third of children under 6 have a TV in their bedroom. And more than half of parents surveyed said their main reason for putting a TV in their child's room was so that they or other family members could watch their own shows. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/science/24cnd-crib.html?ex=1306209600&en=8679bb359520b60b&ei=5090 The Media Family: Electronic Media in the Lives of Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers and Their Parents http://www.kff.org/entmedia/7500.cfm ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 07:45:46 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Middle Class Goes Broadband As Price Falls By PETER SVENSSON AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- Middle- and working-class Americans signed up for high-speed Internet access in record numbers in the past year, apparently lured by a price war among phone companies. Broadband adoption increased 59 percent from March last year to March 2006 among U.S. households with incomes between $30,000 and $50,000, according to a survey to be released Monday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. It increased 40 percent in households making less than $30,000 a year. Among blacks, it increased 121 percent, according to the study. Middle- and lower-income households still lag higher-income households when it comes to broadband adoption. Among the $30,000-$50,000 households, 43 percent now have broadband, compared to 68 percent for those making more than $75,000. Overall, 42 percent of adult Americans, or 84 million people, have broadband, compared to 30 percent a year ago. Phone companies last year started slashing prices for broadband service that uses regular phone line to establish a digital subscriber line, or DSL. Both Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. introduced $14.99 per month offers. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=58821282 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 00:16:22 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: From a Small Stream, a Gusher of Movie Facts Media Frenzy By RICHARD SIKLOS The New York Times BRISTOL, England THE closest that Col Needham gets to corporate life is the Dilbert calendar in his neat office -- a converted bedroom in a quaint house in the ancient village of Stoke Gifford, a suburb of Bristol, the harbor city that is 90 minutes west of London by train. As the founder and managing director of the Internet Movie Database, Mr. Needham might just be the archetype of the telecommuting Web-head. The site he founded and runs, www.imdb.com, ranks as the 10th-most-popular entertainment spot online, according to ComScore Media Metrix. It had 18.6 million unique visitors in April, a 67 percent surge from a year earlier. In Stoke Gifford, Mr. Needham works solo -- without even an assistant -- but is in constant contact by instant message with other employees scattered across the globe and at the Seattle headquarters of Amazon.com, which acquired the business eight years ago. "Everybody assumes that we have a massive office complex on Wilshire Boulevard," Mr. Needham said with a grin. "I always say, 'We're headquartered on the Internet.' " Mr. Needham, a boyish, closely-shorn 39-year-old walked to the kitchen, put on the kettle and made tea. Part of what makes him a curiosity -- beyond his enviable work setup -- is that Internet Movie Database, or Imdb for short, has become a classic example of a hobby that turns out to be a powerful media asset. For years, it has quietly gone about its business almost entirely separately from its parent, and only subtly does it encourage users to go to the Amazon site to buy videos. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/business/yourmoney/28frenzy.html?ex=1306468800&en=8b5199696ab48ad6&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 00:34:35 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Interns? No Bloggers Need Apply http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/25/fashion/thursdaystyles/25intern.html?ex=1306209600&en=d6be55156b07d13f&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Monday 29th May 2006 Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 09:58:14 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[3G News]] NTT DoCoMo Mulls Ending "mova" Phone Sales To Focus On 3G http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17556.php NTT DoCoMo said Friday it is considering ending sales of its second-generation "mova" cellphones to focus on its 3G "FOMA" phones. ... France Telecom May Consider Using Chinese 3G System http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17559.php France Telecom's research unit in Beijing said Friday it is assessing China's locally developed 3G standard, which its parent company may consider using in Europe at a later date. ... [[Financial News]] Telecom Italia Sells Digitel Venezuela For About $425 Million http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17555.php Telecom Italia said late Thursday it has sold its Venezuelan mobile-phone unit Digitel CA for about US$425 million to Telvenco SA. ... PRESS: GlobeTel responsible for WiMAX failure http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17560.php The shareholders of Russia's Internafta said that U.S. telecommunications equipment producer GlobeTel was responsible for the failure to implement a U.S $600 million project to build a WiMAX network in Russia, Vedomosti business daily reported. ... Nokia Gets $341 Million Payment From Turkish Government http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17561.php Finland's Nokia, Friday said it has received a settlement payment of $341.25 million following the completion of the sale of the assets of Telsim Mobil Telekomunikasyon's, in accordance with an arrangement with Telsim and the Turkish Savings and Depo... Iusacell announces US$416mn exchange offer http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17563.php Mexican mobile operator Grupo Iusacell has launched a solicitation of consents to restructure debts totaling US$416mn, the company said in a statement. ... International operators offer up to US$685mn for Millicom's Telemóvil http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17564.php European mobile holding company Millicom International Cellular has received offers of up to 6bn colones (US$685mn) for Telemóvil, its subsidiary in El Salvador, El Salvador newspaper La Prensa Gráfica reported. ... TEM aims to grow 7-10%, mostly boosted by LatAm http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17565.php Spain's Telefonica Moviles plans to grow its revenues by 7-10% in the next four years, particularly boosted by the positive market performance in Latin America, international press quoted board member Antonio Viana-Baptista as saying. ... Motorola Gets $410 Million Related To Sale Of Turkey's Telsim http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17566.php Motorola on Friday said it received a $410 million cash payment following Vodafone Group's acquisition of Telsim Mobil Telekomunikasyon as part of a settlement of Motorola's long-running legal spat with the Turkish mobile phone operator. ... UK PRESS: Deutsche Telekom Studying Bid For BT http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17567.php Deutsche Telekom, the German telecommunications group, is studying a possible bid for the UK based BT Group that could see the former monopoly valued at more than GBP25 billion, The Times reported Saturday. ... Vodafone Expecting to Report Record Loss http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17574.php Vodafone is expected to announce a record annual loss of US$37 billion this week as the company writes down the value of its investments in Germany. The figure exceeds the US$25 billion loss that Vodafone reported back in 2002. It should be noted tha... [[Legal News]] Sprint Sues IBM Over Failed Outsourcing Deal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17557.php OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP)--Sprint is suing IBM, saying Big Blue did not live up to its claims three years ago that it would save the telecommunications company money by taking over some of its computer programming. ... [[Mobile Content News]] Mobile Music Will Grow to US$8 billion by 2010 - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17570.php Music available for downloading onto mobile phones is a lifeline for the shrinking global music industry and critical to wireless providers with an urgent need to recoup investment in their networks. Worldwide revenue from sales of mobile music is pr... Qualcomm Introduces World's First Universal Mobile TV Chip http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17572.php Qualcomm has announced a single-chip Universal Broadcast Modem (UBM) solution supporting three of the world's leading mobile broadcast standards. The UBM solution unifies the world's leading mobile TV standards into a single, cost-effective chip with... [[Offbeat News]] Cambodia Banning 3G Phones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17569.php Cambodia's Prime Minister, Hun Sen is proposing a law which will ban the use of video calls on 3G handsets in the country. The move was prompted by an online petition which had also been signed by the Prime Minister's wife who feared that the video p... [[Personnel News]] Telefonica: Management Remuneration Not Tied To Share Price http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17558.php The current remuneration plans for Telefonica's top managers aren't tied to the telecommunications company's share price, a top Telefonica official said Friday. ... [[Regulatory News]] Namibia Awards Second Mobile License http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17571.php Namibia's cabinet has announced that the country's second GSM operating license has been awarded to Powercom, which is partly owned by the state controlled power utility, NamPower. Local reports suggested that the other investor in the company is Nor... Regulator Reminds Operators of Obligations http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17573.php The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has reminded all cellular mobile operators to maintain proper record of mobile phone users and follow all formal requirements when connecting new customers to their networks. The PTA says that it has iss... [[Reports News]] Fixed WiMAX Growth to be Restricted by the Adoption of Mobile WiMAX http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17568.php A new report from Juniper Research predicts that the number of Fixed WiMAX subscribers will grow from 1.3 million in 2006 to 8.5 million in 2011. However, the advent of certified Mobile WiMAX equipment in 2007 will lead to many subscribers adopting M... [[Statistics News]] Russia's MegaFon user base in Penza Region rises to 300,000 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17562.php The subscriber base of Russia's third largest mobile phone operator MegaFon in the Penza Region rose to 300,000 users as of Friday from 260,000 people as of October 31, 2005, MegaFon's subsidiary in the Volga Federal District MSS-Povolzhye said in a ... ------------------------------ From: gordon@hammy.burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 Coming Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 21:45:08 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My Dear God! Don't those fools _ever_ >> grow weary of sending out this crap day after day? Of all the >> banks and other financial institutions I have seen fall victim to >> these scams, this is the first time I have ever seen it tried on the >> good old IRS. PAT] > This one has been going on for a couple of years, the IRS issued a > warning a few weeks ago about this again. Plus the IRS refunds are in > even amount no cents, these guys are really fools, but they do get hooks > in some new users. IRS refunds are in even amount, no cents? I don't think I've ever had one like that in the last 30 years or so. (The smallest one was $1.60). Some of this may have to do with whether you round off to even dollars in preparing your return, which usually seems to work in favor of the IRS. Gordon L. Burditt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 08:31:18 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 Coming Internal Revenue Service wrote: > After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have > determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of > $63.80. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in > order to process it. > A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example > submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline. > To access the form for your tax refund, > please < a > href="http://review.mine.nu/.../IRS/refund/caseid886432/index.html" >click here > Internal Revenue Service > Copyright 2006, > Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My Dear God! Don't those fools _ever_ > grow weary of sending out this crap day after day? Of all the > banks and other financial institutions I have seen fall victim to > these scams, this is the first time I have ever seen it tried on the > good old IRS. PAT] It only gets sent if it generates income. The real question is where is the income coming from. At the first level the scam is generating income for the folks sending it out as users fall for the scam. At what I think of as the second level, the spammers are selling services to spammer wannabes who are paying to have this sent out and aren't really getting folks to fall for it. ------------------------------ Subject: Your Mother Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 14:46:18 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Ask your mother ... she will enjoy listening to 218-488-0000. PAT ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management (MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35 credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including data, video, and voice networks. The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum. Classes are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning. Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ In addition, gifts from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert have enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #203 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue May 30 14:28:00 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 1702215475; Tue, 30 May 2006 14:28:00 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #204 Message-Id: <20060530182800.1702215475@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 14:28:00 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_REMOVE,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 May 2006 14:30:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 204 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The Front Lines - May 30, 2006 (Jonathan Marashlian) Why the Democratic Ethic of the Web May Be About to End (Monty Solomon) Pay Bills With a Click? More Americans Are Doing It (Monty Solomon) Software to Look for Experts Among Your Friends (Monty Solomon) Cellular-News: Tuesday 30th May 2006 (Cellular-News) Number of Americans With Broadband Service Leaps 40% (USTelecom dailyLead) On-Hook Signal (mike7411@gmail.com) Re: Telephone 'Luxury' Tax Now Discontinued (Arthur Kamlet) Re: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones (Dave Close) Re: Middle Class Goes Broadband As Price Falls (Sam Spade) Re: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 (Gene S. Berkowitz) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reply-To: From: Jonathan Marashlian Subject: The Front Lines - May 30, 2006 Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 11:50:02 -0400 Organization: The Helein Law Group http://www.thefrontlines-hlg.com/ The FRONT LINES Sponsored by The Helein Law Group, P.C. http://www.thlglaw.com/ Advancing The Cause of Competition in the Telecommunications Industry FORMER HELEIN LAW GROUP ATTORNEY, ROBERT McDOWELL, CONFIRMED AS FCC COMMISSIONER On May 26, 2006, the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert McDowell to be a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (=93FCC=94). Mr. McDowell fills the fifth and final seat on the FCC, assuming the remainder of an unexpired term that runs until June 30, 2009. McDowell's confirmation as the third Republican commissioner gives Chairman Kevin Martin a majorit of votes on the 5-person Commission for the first time since Martin took office in March 2005. In a statement, Chairman Martin applauded Mr. McDowell's confirmation: I congratulate Rob McDowell on his confirmation as Commissioner at the FCC. He has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the communications arena, and we will rely on his insight. I am anxious to have him onboard and look forward to working with a full complement of Commissioners to address the important issues before us. According to media reports, with McDowell now positioned as the third Republican member of the agency, Chairman Martin can more aggressively pursue plans that include pressuring cable companies to offer channels ala carte and liberalizing media ownership rules. The FCC is also grappling with a triumvirate of major issues affecting telecommunications providers, including Universal Service reform, inter-carrier compensation and deciding how to regulate IP-based services. Unlike the broadcast and media issues, for which many news reports already have Mr. McDowell supporting Chairman Martin's initiatives, the same may not be said of matters concerning wireline Bell company issues. Martin is considered more supportive of large incumbent Bell companies while McDowell has sought an approach that supports the competitive goals of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 by balancing the interests of smaller competitors along with those of the Bell companies. Mr. McDowell most recently served as CompTel's Senior Vice President and Assistant General Counsel. CompTel is the leading association representing small and mid-sized competitive telecommunications enterprises. Aside from representing CompTel members before Congress, the FCC and the appellate courts, McDowell is a veteran of several Republican presidential campaigns most recently as a member of the Bush-Cheney Florida Recount Team. Prior to CompTel, Mr. McDowell served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the America's Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA). Mr. McDowell began his legal career at Arter & Hadden and honed his skills as an advocate during the mid-to-late 90s working as a Senior Attorney at The Helein Law Group. On a personal note, all of us at The Helein Law Group would like to congratulate Rob on his wonderful achievement and wish him and his family all the very best. The Front Lines is a free publication of The Helein Law Group, P.C., providing clients and interested parties with valuable information, news, and updates regarding regulatory and legal developments primarily impacting companies engaged in the competitive telecommunications industry. The Front Lines does not purport to offer legal advice nor does it establish a lawyer-client relationship with the reader. If you have questions about a particular article, general concerns, or wish to seek legal counsel regarding a specific regulatory or legal matter affecting your company, please contact our firm at 703-714-1313 or visit our website: http://www.thlglaw.com/ www.THLGlaw.com The Helein Law Group, P.C. 8180 Greensboro Drive, Suite 700 McLean, Virginia 22102 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 00:21:10 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May Be About to End By ADAM COHEN The New York Times The World Wide Web is the most democratic mass medium there has ever been. Freedom of the press, as the saying goes, belongs only to those who own one. Radio and television are controlled by those rich enough to buy a broadcast license. But anyone with an Internet-connected computer can reach out to a potential audience of billions. This democratic Web did not just happen. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989, envisioned a platform on which everyone in the world could communicate on an equal basis. But his vision is being threatened by telecommunications and cable companies, and other Internet service providers, that want to impose a new system of fees that could create a hierarchy of Web sites. Major corporate sites would be able to pay the new fees, while little-guy sites could be shut out. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/opinion/28sun3.html?ex=1306468800&en=cd83b09b58c721a6&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 00:39:56 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Pay Bills With a Click? More Americans Are Doing It and Banks Love It By BOB TEDESCHI The New York Times FROM the annals of Online Economics 101 comes this shocker: free is good, especially when it comes to paying bills. Big billers like Verizon Wireless and ConEd learned this bit of wisdom years ago, when they offered customers the ability to pay bills free online. But most banks have come to the same realization only in the last 18 months. The result has been a boom in the number of bills viewed and paid online. According to a recent poll by Harris Interactive, a research firm, the gap between the number of bills paid by check and the number paid online has closed significantly in the past year. More than 37 percent of bills are paid by check; 35 percent are paid online. The remaining 28 percent are paid with cash, debit cards or other payment methods. Given that trend, Web payments could surpass checks over the next year. (Last year, 46 percent of bills were paid by check, and 25 percent online.) Banks are hoping to accelerate the move by marketing online services far more aggressively. Television campaigns, radio spots and, of course, online advertisements from the Bank of America and Wells Fargo, among others, now promote the benefits of such services, where in years past banks advertised other features like online statements and account balances. The caveat with these numbers is that the Harris poll was commissioned by CheckFree, which helps banks and billers build online bill presentment and payment services. But analysts said the data mirrored other research showing the growing popularity of the service. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/29/technology/29ecom.html?ex=1306555200&en=98299a26ef524a37&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 00:46:13 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Software to Look for Experts Among Your Friends By JOHN MARKOFF The New York Times PALO ALTO, Calif., May 27 - For anyone who has hesitated before making a purchase on a Web site, uncertain which brand is preferable, Tacit Software is preparing to introduce an online service that will make it simple to pick the brains of friends and colleagues for opinions and expertise. Tacit plans to start testing the service, called Illumio, next month. The service allows the user to mine the data on the computers of friends, business associates and others with shared interests on any subjects. However, Illumio is not a search engine, like Google or Yahoo. The system works by transparently distributing a request for information on questions like "Who knows John Smith?" and "Are Nikon digital cameras better than Olympus?" to the computers in a network of users. The questions can then be answered locally based on a novel reverse auction system that Illumio uses to determine who the experts are. The system is intended to extend a growing category of software that helps groups collaborate and work together more efficiently. Efforts to create systems that augment the intellectual power of work groups go back to the earliest days of computing technology development. The widespread availability of networks and Web browsers, however, has made such technologies far more accessible in recent years. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/29/technology/29gilmour.html?ex=1306555200&en=5b0c7f4282eb5f83&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Tuesday 30th May 2006 Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 07:09:06 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ 3G ]] India Forces delay on 3G Services http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17586.php India's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has ordered Tata Teleservices to delay its launch of CDMA EVDO based services until the government makes formal policy on 3G services. The government has planned to offer spectrum to the GSM operators so... [[ Financial ]] Hong Kong Hutchison Telecom, NTT DoCoMo In Strategic Partnership http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17575.php Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong), a unit of Hutchison Telecommunications International, said Monday it has formed a strategic partnership with NTT DoCoMo of Japan. ... Russia's Alfa Group unit says won't change stake in MegaFon http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17582.php Russia's CT Mobile, indirectly controlled by Alfa Group, does not plan to sell its stake or purchase additional stakes in Russia?s third largest mobile operator MegaFon, CT Mobile's General Director Dmitry Vozianov told a news conference Monday. ... Mobilkom Completes Slovenian Investment http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17588.php Mobilkom Austria says that it has acquired remaining 7.812% share in the Slovenian mobile operator Si.mobil from Medaljon and Iskratel. With the closure of this transaction mobilkom austria becomes 100% owner of Si.mobil. Since majority takeover, Si.... [[ Handsets ]] Two New Handsets from BenQ Mobile http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17584.php BenQ Mobile's has added two more handsets to its economy class. Both the design-oriented BenQ-Siemens A38 and the business-oriented BenQ-Siemens A58 with integrated Bluetooth technology offer top-class quality and optimal reliability at affordable pr... [[ Legal ]] Ukrainian court declares Kyivstar's voting agreement void http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17583.php Ukraine's Kiev Arbitration Court of Appeals has declared the shareholder and voting agreements of Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivstar void, as the general director of Storm, Kyivstar's shareholder, had no rights to sign them, Storm's parent co... [[ MVNO ]] FOCUS: MVNOs fail to advance in market dominated by major operators http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17576.php Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which have become widespread in Europe, are unlikely to make inroads on the Russian market in the near future due to the lack of the necessary regulations for virtual operators, the absence of operational nic... [[ Network Contracts ]] Huawei Wins Tajik GSM Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17585.php China's Huawei has announced that VimpelCom had recently awarded a commercial contract to Huawei to build the UMTS/GSM network for Tajikistan. According to the contract, Huawei will provide a unified 2G/3G Softswitch Core Network, New Generation Node... [[ Network Operators ]] BrT, Intelbras launch wireless fixed line phone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17577.php Brazil's third largest telco Brasil Telecom and local telecoms manufacturer Intelbras have launched a wireless fixed line telephone, BrT said in a press release. ... Alegro PCS needs US$300mn to migrate to GSM http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17578.php Ecuadorian mobile operator Alegro PCS plans to migrate to GSM technology from the CDMA 1x platform currently in use, and is expected to invest US$30mn in the project, local newspaper El Comercio reported. ... Oi to end handset subsidies for prepaid clients http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17579.php Brazilian mobile operator Oi plans to stop applying subsidies to handsets sold for prepaid users, a spokesperson for Oi confirmed for BNamericas. ... Uzbekistan-US' Coscom to invest $100 mln in 2006-2007 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17581.php Uzbek-U.S. telecommunications joint venture Coscom plans to invest up to U.S. $100 million in the development of its network in 2006-2007, Coscom's General Director Alexei Stepanov told reporters Monday. ... [[ Personnel ]] Nokia Board Member Dies http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17587.php It has been announced that the Nokia board member, Edouard Michelin died last week in a fishing accident of Sein, off the coast of Finistare in northwest France. Edouard Michelin was managing partner and co-chief executive of the Michelin Group. He w... [[ Regulatory ]] OAS delegate to supervise mobile concession talks http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17580.php The Organization of American States (OAS) has agreed to nominate one of its delegates as a supervisor to monitor concession negotiations between Ecuador's government and mobile operators Movistar and Porta, local press reported. ... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 12:10:22 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Number of Americans With Broadband Service Leaps 40% USTelecom dailyLead May 30, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dHtEfDtuteokBlUttq TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Number of Americans with broadband service leaps 40% BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Microsoft targets unified communications market * U.K. carriers see bright future for fixed-mobile convergence * Hispanics are hot market for wireless carriers * Vodafone reports loss, details strategic vision * Report: Market for IMS gear down 7% in Q1 USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * What you need to know about IPTV HOT TOPICS * Treasury ends excise tax on phone services * Microsoft, Alcatel, HP form alliance * AT&T's new satellite broadband service gets off the ground * Motorola takes on BlackBerry with the new Q * Net neutrality debate: Craig versus McCurry TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * The really small screen may be future for MTV * Analysis: IPTV could reshape content licensing models REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Report: Telecoms will prevail in franchise battles * McDowell confirmed as fifth member of FCC Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dHtEfDtuteokBlUttq ------------------------------ From: mike7411@gmail.com Subject: On-Hook Signal Date: 30 May 2006 10:14:46 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Anyone know exactly what the on-hook signal for a plain old telephone looks like in terms of voltages? The information on the web is real contradictory. ------------------------------ From: kamlet@panix.com (Arthur Kamlet) Subject: Re: Telephone 'Luxury' Tax Now Discontinued Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 02:49:39 UTC Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: ArtKamlet@aol.REMOVE.com In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > The Treasury Department has, for many, many years, been charging a tax > on telephone calls. They have been sued many times for it, amd I guess > the decision finally came down to not only quit charging it or trying > to collect it, but also to allow the essence of a 'class action' > lawsuit so that people who have paid that tax over the years can apply > for a refund. I think the way this will work is there will be a line > on your tax form next year allowing you to deduct as a credit whatever > had been paid on the telephone tax. I believe this tax began during > the Spanish American War, and like so many government things, it just > stayed on forever for at least a century. The issue hinges on the tax on toll calls. Under the law establishing the tax, toll calls had to be defined, and were defined as a distance based charge -- what informally was called Long Distance. As long a distance was one component in the charge, minutes could also be used. But in recent years distance has stopped being a factor and minutes became the factor in toll charges. Since the law stated toll calls were distance based, and that's just not the case any longer, first one federal circuit court, than another, and most recently the fifth federal circuit in a row ruled against the IRS. So the IRS finally caved in, and will allow all taxpayers who paid the 3% excise tax on toll calls to apply for a refund of this tax. The period is from the first court ruling in March 2003, until the final demise of this tax, June 30, 2006. > Talk to your tax people about the particulars of how to apply for a > refund, etc. The IRS will be announcing how to claim the credit, which will be either the actual amount you paid if you have the bills, or a simplified method if not. That will be announced before next tax season. For the past 10 years I have been a professional tax preparer, and am "so looking forward" to this new credit :-( Art Kamlet ArtKamlet @ AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH ------------------------------ From: Dave Close Subject: Re: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 07:00:38 UTC Organization: Compata, Costa Mesa, California David Twiddy writes: > So far, Sprint Nextel is doing something right as its subscribers > spend the highest average amount for data services in the industry. Something right for the stockholders, or something right for the customers? Many of us are severely annoyed by the nickle-and-dime pricing approach of the carriers. We might pay a proportionate amount extra for a worthwhile service, but $$ for a ringtone? More money for a 10-second audio clip than for a full track on iTunes? Mature adults just say no. > Charles Golvin of Forrester Research said a recent survey indicated > few cellular customers choose a phone based on its usability, > typically because they either don't think there's anything better or, > like Bales in Kansas City, don't think they need those services. One thing Sprint is doing wrong, IMHO, is narrowing the choice of phones available. They don't offer simple phones any more. I know that electronic economics means you can always get more for less as time passes, but sometimes you still just want less. I'm in the market for a new phone. I want a "candy-bar" style phone with a USB connector that allows me to manage my name list using my computer. I don't own or want to own any Windows or Mac systems. I don't care about a camera or browser. I don't care about a color screen. I do want a keyboard with all the numbers of equal size and arranged in a rectangular grid and with very few additional keys. The keys should be essentially the only moving parts on the phone. Can anyone suggest a candidate for my business? Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Greed is to the moralists of the dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 left what sex is to the moralists dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu of the right." - Cathy Young ------------------------------ From: Sam Spade Subject: Re: Middle Class Goes Broadband As Price Falls Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 08:24:54 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications Monty Solomon wrote: > By PETER SVENSSON AP Technology Writer > NEW YORK (AP) -- Middle- and working-class Americans signed up for > high-speed Internet access in record numbers in the past year, > apparently lured by a price war among phone companies. > Broadband adoption increased 59 percent from March last year to March > 2006 among U.S. households with incomes between $30,000 and $50,000, > according to a survey to be released Monday by the Pew Internet and > American Life Project. > It increased 40 percent in households making less than $30,000 a > year. Among blacks, it increased 121 percent, according to the study. > Middle- and lower-income households still lag higher-income households > when it comes to broadband adoption. Among the $30,000-$50,000 > households, 43 percent now have broadband, compared to 68 percent for > those making more than $75,000. > Overall, 42 percent of adult Americans, or 84 million people, have > broadband, compared to 30 percent a year ago. > Phone companies last year started slashing prices for broadband > service that uses regular phone line to establish a digital subscriber > line, or DSL. Both Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T > Inc. introduced $14.99 per month offers. Wait until the permanent prices kick in at the end of the promotional period. ------------------------------ From: Gene S. Berkowitz Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Scam IRS Says You Have Refund of $63.80 Coming Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 19:34:28 -0400 In article , gordon@hammy.burditt.org says: >>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My Dear God! Don't those fools _ever_ >>> grow weary of sending out this crap day after day? Of all the >>> banks and other financial institutions I have seen fall victim to >>> these scams, this is the first time I have ever seen it tried on the >>> good old IRS. PAT] >> This one has been going on for a couple of years, the IRS issued a >> warning a few weeks ago about this again. Plus the IRS refunds are in >> even amount no cents, these guys are really fools, but they do get hooks >> in some new users. > IRS refunds are in even amount, no cents? I don't think I've ever had > one like that in the last 30 years or so. (The smallest one was > $1.60). Some of this may have to do with whether you round off to > even dollars in preparing your return, which usually seems to work in > favor of the IRS. > Gordon L. Burditt You're kidding, right? EVERY dollar amount on a 1040 form can be rounded, with amounts ending in .49 or less rounded DOWN, and amounts ending in 0.50 or more rounded UP. As with flipping a coin, while YOU might encounter a "run" where for the last three years you had to round UP, the odds are just as likely that you would round DOWN. Gene ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #204 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue May 30 23:37:08 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id DDDF71534F; Tue, 30 May 2006 23:37:07 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #205 Message-Id: <20060531033707.DDDF71534F@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 23:37:07 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 30 May 2006 23:40:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 205 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Virgin Mobile Introduces Ad-Subsidized Calls (Reuters News Wire) Computer Program Helps Locate, Fight Bird Flu (Reuters News Wire) Microsoft Lauches Security Plan for Windows (Allison Linn) Add Voicemail to Partner or Get Different System (vwrobert@gmail.com) Re: On-Hook Signal (William Warren) Re: On-Hook Signal (Ron Kritzman) Re: On-Hook Signal (JGolan) Re: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones (Mr Joseph Singer) Re: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones (GlowingBlueMist) Re: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones (Richard Kaszeta) Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of the Web May Be About to End (Carl Moore) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Virgin Mobile Introduces Ad-Subsidized Calls Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 21:55:34 -0500 Virgin Mobile USA, a cell-phone service used mostly by teenagers and 20-somethings, said on Tuesday it was giving its customers the option to earn free calls if they view and respond to ads on their phones. Wireless providers are putting more and more features such as Web browsers and video players in cell phones in an effort to expand their revenue beyond voice. They also hope to profit from using these advanced phones to display advertising. Under the offer, customers of Virgin, a venture of Sprint Nextel and Richard Branson's Virgin, can get up to 75 minutes of free calls per month if they spend an equal amount of time looking at ads and replying to these ads via text messages. Virgin, one of the first providers to offer such a service, hopes the service will appeal to its often cash-strapped customers, 65 percent of whom are younger than 30 years old. "Very practically speaking a lot of our customers are value conscious. They manage budgets that are finite," said Howard Handler, the company's chief marketing officer. He said that while it was too soon to say how popular the service would be he expects it to increase revenue. "It will contribute meaningful additional top line revenue and EBITDA," Handler said, referring to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. He declined to reveal details of the terms of Virgin's agreements with its first advertising partners Pepsi, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox game console unit and truth, a youth smoking prevention campaign. Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin believes advertising will be "extremely important" to wireless providers as they deliver video and news to phones. But he said it was not clear if many customers would want ad subsidized calls because cellphone calls are already cheap. "If you give somebody the choice whether you can have free content with advertising or you can pay for the content they'll chose the former," Golvin said. "Realistically the price of voice is pretty darn cheap on a mobile phone these days so giving somebody three free minutes of mobile voice is not a compelling proposition for most mobile users." Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news stories, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Computer Program Helps Locate, Fight Bird Flu Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 21:53:34 -0500 US poultry experts using Google to beat bird flu Poultry experts are turning to sophisticated computer imaging to help them prepare for the expected arrival of the deadly bird flu virus in the United States later this year. Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is being used to pinpoint the location of commercial poultry flocks, feed mills and processing plants, said Sherrill Davison, professor of avian medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The information will be used to help create buffer zones around an infected flock and contain the H5N1 strain when it makes its U.S. appearance. Since the beginning of the year, experts have also been using Google Earth, which combines satellite imagery, maps and the company's search engine to span the globe. It gives extra details including the location of buildings, schools and roads near large chicken and turkey farms and production facilities. "Twenty years ago we had to drive around the countryside and find the chicken farm that reported a disease, but now everything is on a mapping system," Davison told Reuters in a recent interview. "Now, we can very quickly, within about an hour, know exactly how many farms are in an (affected) area. Then we can know which farms to send teams to for extra sampling. "It may be there is an infected flock but they are out in the middle of nowhere and so the probability of spread to another farm is very minimal," she said. The H5N1 virus that has infected birds and chickens in Asia, Africa and Europe and caused more than 120 deaths there is expected to arrive in North America this summer via migrating birds flying from Asia to Alaska and southwards. Testing of wild birds is already underway in Alaska but no signs of the bird flu virus have yet been found. Davison and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania were among the first to develop GIS technology to monitor poultry flocks in the state in 1998. They have since used it to detect and control -- by swift culling -- minor outbreaks of avian diseases in Pennsylvania, which ranks third in the United States in chicken production. Other U.S. states have since adopted the system. "Many states do have this type of a mapping system which helps with a rapid response that reduces the spread of disease," Davison said. "We began using Google Earth to help us locate poultry farms more exactly. In the past we knew the chicken house was on a parcel of land but now we can zoom in and tell exactly where on the property it is. ... It is another tool to add into our rapid response program." Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html See other news reports each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ From: Allison Linn Subject: Microsoft Lauches Security Plan for Windows Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 21:57:41 -0500 By ALLISON LINN, AP Business Writer Security software makers, the 800-pound gorilla has landed. Microsoft Corp. was to announce Wednesday that it is releasing software that aims to better protect people who use its Windows operating system from Internet attacks. The move pits the world's largest software maker head-to-head with longtime business partners Symantec Corp., McAfee Inc. and others. Windows Live OneCare, which will protect up to three computers for $49.95 per year, marks the latest step in Microsoft's effort over the years to make its operating system less vulnerable to crippling Internet attacks. Windows, which runs on the vast majority of personal computers, has been a near-constant target of worms, viruses and other attacks, hurting countless users and forcing Microsoft to invest heavily in patching vulnerabilities and improving flaws. The official release of the OneCare product comes after months of public testing. Redmond-based Microsoft has previously said that its main focus for OneCare was the 70 percent of computer users who, according to Microsoft estimates, have no additional protection at all. But in an interview last week, Ryan Hamlin, general manager for the OneCare product, said the company also hopes to snag existing Symantec and McAfee customers. "We'd love for those customers to use our product, and encourage them to, but there's also 70 percent that don't use anybody," he said. Microsoft is hoping to gain an edge against Symantec and others by also including tools in OneCare to make computers run more smoothly and help people back up data. McAfee said Tuesday that it was preparing to release a new security service, code-named Falcon, this summer. A spokesman for Symantec, maker of the popular Norton products, said no one was available to comment on the OneCare competition. Hamlin said he expects the product to be profitable for Microsoft. He said the company doesn't have any current plans to bundle OneCare into the Windows operating system, as it has done with products such as its Internet browser and music and video player. But he said the company was looking at ways to distribute the product through computer makers or Internet service providers, as many competing security software makers have done. The OneCare release also comes on the heels of a federal lawsuit Symantec filed against Microsoft over a separate matter. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Seattle, accuses Microsoft of misappropriating Symantec's intellectual property and breach of contract. The dispute is over is over a technology that allows operating systems to handle large amounts of data. Hamlin said Microsoft believes it acted appropriately. On the Net: http://onecare.live.com Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: vwrobert@gmail.com Subject: Add Voicemail to Partner or Get Different System Date: 30 May 2006 16:58:09 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com We have an old AT&T Partner Plus system at work. We have 3 incoming lines and about 12 extensions. Some of the extensions ports have developed some static on them. I understand how to program the Partner System and change or add extensions as needed. We would like to upgrade to a system that has voicemail. Should I look at getting a newer partner system with voicemail? I see alot of used/refurbished Partner Systems available. How good is the voicemail on newer Partner systems? A local installer told me that in his opinion the Partner Systems were never really meant to have voicemail. I think he meant that Partners are older technology and voicemail was an add on and not part of the original design of the system. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 16:52:34 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: On-Hook Signal mike7411@gmail.com wrote: > Anyone know exactly what the on-hook signal for a plain old telephone > looks like in terms of voltages? The information on the web is real > contradictory. Mike, The on-hook DC voltage should measure between 42 and 55 volts, depending on the CO type and the locality. This is the nominal -48 volt Central Office battery. On-hook AC voltage will be present during ringing, and it will vary widely depending on the number of ringers on the line, the cable condition, and the type of central office. You can expect to see anywhere from 30 to 120 volts AC. HTH. William Warren (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 16:47:11 -0500 From: Ron Kritzman Subject: Re: On-Hook Signal mike7411@gmail.com wrote: > Anyone know exactly what the on-hook signal for a plain old telephone > looks like in terms of voltages? The information on the web is real > contradictory. The info may appear contradictory because there are no standards in terms of voltage. On and off hook states on a POTS line are a function of loop current. Battery (power) is provided by the central office, and an on-hook telephone is an open circuit. To go off hook you close the circuit and current flows. What you would see with a voltmeter across tip and ring (the two wires of a basic phone pair) is the voltage drop across the middle resistor of three in series. The middle one is the phone itself and the other two are the resistance of the cable back to the C.O. When the phone is on-hook the resistance is infinite, so the voltage will be essentially whatever the CO is providing. For a residential POTS line this is typically in the range of 48-52 volts. When the phone is off hook, the drop across the resistor is typically 6-12 volts. You need to know that this is not reliable at all. The phone may not be connected to a C.O. It may be wired to a PBX, intercom, or a VOIP adapter providing 24v, 12v or who knows what. You may be far from the CO and the loop resistance may be very high. The voltages can and will be all over the place, and reading of zero volts could just as easily be a short as an open. The end result: The voltage across the line can give you a quick and dirty guess as to whether the phone is on or off hook. If you want to know for sure, look at loop current. Emoveray ethay Igpay Atinlay otay eplyray ------------------------------ From: JGolan Subject: Re: On-Hook Signal Date: 30 May 2006 17:18:55 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com on-hook (phone hung up) - Open circuit. If line is measured should be about 48-53 VDC. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 18:39:22 PDT From: Mr. Joseph Singer Subject: Re: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones Dave Close Tue, 30 May 2006 07:00:38 UTC wrote: > I'm in the market for a new phone. I want a "candy-bar" style phone > with a USB connector that allows me to manage my name list using my > computer. I don't own or want to own any Windows or Mac systems. I > don't care about a camera or browser. I don't care about a color > screen. I do want a keyboard with all the numbers of equal size and > arranged in a rectangular grid and with very few additional keys. The > keys should be essentially the only moving parts on the phone. Can > anyone suggest a candidate for my business?>> You do not indicate if you must have a handset that will work with a certain mobile operator. If it's Sprint my first suggestion would be to go to http://www.phonescoop.com. Go to the "phone finder" and tick off anything that is important to you. Unfortunately for current models you may be forced to get more than you wanted. There are at present very few non-color phones available. The best you're likely going to do is to find a model that is a low-end introductory model as that will likely have the least amount of "features" such as cameras etc. There are still for certain technologies simpler phones such as the Nokia 1112 or Nokia 1100 which are non-color phones but they are for the T-Mobile or cingular service and not for Sprint if that's what you must have. ------------------------------ From: GlowingBlueMist Subject: Re: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 21:52:22 -0500 Organization: Octanews Dave Close wrote in message news:telecom25.204.9@telecom-digest.org: > David Twiddy writes: >> So far, Sprint Nextel is doing something right as its subscribers >> spend the highest average amount for data services in the industry. > Something right for the stockholders, or something right for the > customers? Many of us are severely annoyed by the nickle-and-dime > pricing approach of the carriers. We might pay a proportionate amount > extra for a worthwhile service, but $$ for a ringtone? More money for > a 10-second audio clip than for a full track on iTunes? Mature adults > just say no. >> Charles Golvin of Forrester Research said a recent survey indicated >> few cellular customers choose a phone based on its usability, >> typically because they either don't think there's anything better or, >> like Bales in Kansas City, don't think they need those services. > One thing Sprint is doing wrong, IMHO, is narrowing the choice of > phones available. They don't offer simple phones any more. I know that > electronic economics means you can always get more for less as time > passes, but sometimes you still just want less. > I'm in the market for a new phone. I want a "candy-bar" style phone > with a USB connector that allows me to manage my name list using my > computer. I don't own or want to own any Windows or Mac systems. I > don't care about a camera or browser. I don't care about a color > screen. I do want a keyboard with all the numbers of equal size and > arranged in a rectangular grid and with very few additional keys. The > keys should be essentially the only moving parts on the phone. Can > anyone suggest a candidate for my business? > Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA "Greed is to the moralists of the > dave@compata.com, +1 714 434 7359 left what sex is to the moralists > dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu of the right." - Cathy Young Sounds like you need to combine the Nokia 1100 from Tracfone http://www.tracfone.com with the USB cable from http://cell-phone-accessories-wholesale.com/browseproducts/Nokia-1100-USB-Data-Cable.-Cell-Phone-USB-Data-Cable-for-data-connectivity-between-cell-phones-and-computer.-Includes-USB-Driver-CD-for-PC.HTML and you should have what you are asking for. ------------------------------ From: Richard Kaszeta Subject: Re: Cell Phone Owners Just Want Simple Phones Date: 30 May 2006 13:28:40 -0500 Organization: University of MN ME Dept Dave Close writes: >> So far, Sprint Nextel is doing something right as its subscribers >> spend the highest average amount for data services in the industry. > Something right for the stockholders, or something right for the > customers? Obviously, the customers think (correctly or not) that they are getting a better deal from Sprint, since they pay it. If they weren't, they'd have signed up with someone else. (For existing customers, there's a disincentive for this, due to the usual 1 or 2 year service agreements). > One thing Sprint is doing wrong, IMHO, is narrowing the choice of > phones available. They don't offer simple phones any more. I know that > electronic economics means you can always get more for less as time > passes, but sometimes you still just want less. Indeed, my current cell phone is essentially disposable, costing a mere $20 (however, it's also a prepaid phone) to buy it. It costs me around $8/month to keep it running and working. But this approach only works since I don't really make a lot of calls (a lot of calling people to tell them I'm ready to go at the airport, etc, i.e. almost entirely 1-2 minute calls). Richard W Kaszeta rich@kaszeta.org http://www.kaszeta.org/rich ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 15:12:38 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of World Wide Web May Be About to End There is a "little-guy" site named after me (and not connected to the office where I work) where I select, arrange, and transcribe the music myself on a volunteer basis. I already include a statement "Consider learning about the actual recordings.". There is a cultural "difference" emerging from that site, too, because most of it is based on light popular sounds of the middle third of the 20th century -- on average, I am selecting music which is older than most of my high-school classmates would pick. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl, why didn't you give us the URL for your site? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #205 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 31 23:12:46 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 3E9F515606; Wed, 31 May 2006 23:12:46 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #206 Message-Id: <20060601031246.3E9F515606@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 23:12:46 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.6 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NA_DOLLARS autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 31 May 2006 23:15:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 206 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson VA Data Theft Worse Than First Reported (Hope Yen) Police Raid, Shut Down Music Web Site (Reuters News Wire) Cellular-News: Wednesday 31st May 2006 (Cellular-News) ADC Acquires Andrew Corp. (USTelecom dailyLead) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 31, 2006 (Telecomdirect_daily) RTV in Phone Jack (sawney beane) Perfect Hangup (bob@coolgroups.com) Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of World Wide Web About to End (jtaylor) Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web About to End (L.Hancock) Re: Microsoft Lauches Security Plan for Windows (mc) Re: Using Cell Phone For Frequency Calibration Reference? (Scott Dorsey) Music Site (was Re: Why the Democratic Ethic ...) (Carl Moore) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Hope Yen Subject: VA Data Theft Worse Than First Reported Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 18:07:34 -0500 Stolen VA data goes far beyond initial reports By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Personal information on 26.5 million veterans that was stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee this month not only included Social Security numbers and birthdates but in many cases phone numbers and addresses, internal documents show. Meanwhile, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said Wednesday that he had named a former Arizona prosecutor as a special adviser for information security, a new three-month post that will pinpoint security problems at the VA and develop recommendations for improvements. The three pages of memos by the VA, written by privacy officer Mark Whitney and distributed to high-level officials shortly after the May 3 burglary, offer new details on the scope of one of the nation's largest security breaches. The memos were obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. They show that a file containing 6,744 records pertaining to "mustard gas veterans" -- or those who participated in chemical testing programs during World War II -- was breached, and that a "short file" with as many as 10 diagnostic codes indicating a veteran's disability also was stolen. At the same time, however, the memos suggest that the data might be difficult to retrieve by thieves. "Given the file format used to store the data, the data may not be easily accessible," stated one memo dated May 5 and distributed internally May 8. On Wednesday, the VA did not say why it didn't immediately reveal that personal information such as addresses and phone numbers had been disclosed. But the agency said it aggressively sought to protect veterans once Nicholson was informed. "VA's initial and primary efforts have focused on notifying the millions of veterans and some spouses whose most sensitive and identifiable information -- their names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and some disability ratings -- may have been compromised," spokesman Matt Burns said. Some lawmakers said Wednesday they were troubled by the new revelations, which go further than what the VA initially reported after publicizing the theft on May 22. At the time, Nicholson said the data was limited to names, Social Security numbers and birthdates; he later indicated that diagnostic codes in some cases also may have been breached. "It is not appropriate for this information to ever enter the public domain," said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, which is planning to hold several additional hearings on data security and veterans' benefits later this summer. Veterans groups have criticized the VA for a three-week delay in publicizing the burglary after the theft at a VA data analyst's Maryland home. During hearings last week, Nicholson said he was "mad as hell" that employees did not notify him of the May 3 burglary until May 16. Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the VA needs to come clean about who exactly is at risk. "What's so upsetting and frustrating is the lack of specific details coming from the VA," he said. "We have millions of veterans looking to the VA for answers, including older veterans who may not have Internet access or fully comprehend what this means to them, and younger veterans who will now have to carry this dark cloud with them for the rest of their lives." Separately, Nicholson said in a statement that he had appointed former Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley as his new adviser for information security. Nicholson cited a need for dramatic security changes in the wake of the burglary. "Rick Romley is a well-respected attorney and veteran who will provide a critical outsider's perspective to VA," Nicholson said. "Rick shares my commitment to cutting through bureaucracy to provide results for our nation's veterans." Romley, a Vietnam War veteran, prosecuted one of the largest public corruption cases in Arizona in the early 1990s and was seen as a potential GOP contender in that state's 2006 governor's race. On Tuesday, VA deputy assistant secretary Michael McLendon said he was stepping down because of the theft, and the VA announced it would dismiss the data analyst, who had reported to McLendon. The department also placed Dennis Duffy, the acting head of the division in which the data analyst worked, on administrative leave. On the Net: Info for veterans suspecting identity theft: http://www.firstgov.gov or 1-800-FED-INFO Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Police Raid, Shut Down Music Web Site Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 18:16:36 -0500 Swedish police shut Web site in music piracy raid. Swedish police detained three people in raids and closed an Internet site on Wednesday that the entertainment industry said was a major source of music and film piracy. The Web site operators could not be contacted but supporters said the site had not been doing anything illegal and criticised the police action. Last year, Sweden banned the downloading of copyright material after being singled out for criticism by Hollywood. The issue of file sharing and copyright has been emotive in Sweden, a hi-tech country with a tradition of openness. "Three people ... have been taken in for questioning on suspicion of breaking copyright law or abetting the breaking of copyright law," Stockholm police, who carried out raids at 10 locations, said in a statement. "The preliminary inquiry is related to so-called file sharing and concerns The Pirate Bay Web site," said the statement. It gave no further details but the International Federation of Phonogram and Videogram Producers (IFPI) said The Pirate Bay was the world's largest search index using BitTorrent software, employed to download movies and music, and was a major source of illegal material. "The Pirate Bay has damaged the legitimate music industry on an international scale and I am very pleased that the Swedish authorities have taken such decisive action against it," IFPI chairman and chief executive John Kennedy said in a statement. But Rickard Falkvinge, who launched the Pirate Party this year to run in national elections in September and fight for changes to copyright laws, condemned the police action. "Pirate Bay has not committed any crime," Falkvinge said in a statement on his Web site. "It is precisely this sort of raid which the Pirate Party wants to stop." Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Wednesday 31st May 2006 Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 07:16:46 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ Financial ]] NEWS SNAP: Vodafone To Give GBP3 Billion Extra To Holders http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17590.php Vodafone Group, Tuesday offered a GBP3 billion payback to shareholders and higher dividends as it unveiled a long-awaited strategy update. ... Vodafone Happy With Current Verizon Wireless Stake -Sarin http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17591.php Vodafone Group is happy with its current stake in US mobile operator Verizon Wireless and isn't looking to sell it, Chief Executive Arun Sarin said Tuesday. ... Vodafone Breakup Would Subordinated-optimize Assets - CEO Sarin http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17593.php A potential breakup of Vodafone Group would result in lower profitability across its different divisions, Chief Executive Arun Sarin said Tuesday. "If the company were to be split, that would sub-optimize its current assets," Sarin told a conference ... 3rd UPDATE: Vodafone To Give GBP3 Billion Extra To Holders http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17594.php Vodafone Group, Tuesday offered a GBP3 billion payback to shareholders and higher dividends as it unveiled a long-awaited strategy update. ... CEO: Telefonica interested in purchasing PT's stake in Vivo http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17598.php Spain's Telefonica has confirmed that it is interested in obtaining full control of Brazil's largest mobile operator Vivo, purchasing the 50% held by Portugal Telecom, Telefonica's president Ceasar Alierta was reported as saying by inte... Telenor asks VimpelCom to move deadline for Kyivstar deal until Jul 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17601.php Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor has asked Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom to move the deadline for completing negotiations on VimpelCom's purchase of Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivstar to July 1 from Wednesday, V... [[ Handsets ]] Telecom Italia Gets New Handsets Orders Worth EUR400 Million http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17592.php Telecom Italia said Tuesday it received orders for 2.5 million new handsets worth EUR400 million at a convention it held in Barcelona with its dealers. ... Mobiles Are Workers Primary Phone - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17602.php A recent IDC survey has found that enterprise telecom managers believe 28% of their employees are using their mobile phone as their primary work phone. These employees are managing multiple messaging pools and are outside the reach of policy and secu... Motorola RAZR Continues To Top Handset Sales Figures http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17609.php Wirefly, a USA based online cellphone retailer has released its list of the best-selling cell phones for Winter and Spring, calculated from January 1, 2006 through May 15, 2006. Both the silver and black RAZRs continued to dominate the list outsellin... [[ Legal ]] Kyivstar challenges regulator on antitrust case http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17600.php Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivstar has filed a lawsuit in the Kiev Arbitration Court against by Ukraine's Antimonopoly Committee challenging an antitrust case initiated by the regulator, Alexander Voznyuk, the state commissioner of the commit... Nokia Wins Counterfeit Lawsuit http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17603.php A USA Court has ruled in favour of Nokia over a counterfeit claim. Resulting from a civil action pursued by Nokia, United States District Judge Jose E. Martinez of the Southern District of Florida found Suplimet Corp. and Hermann Lozano in contempt o... [[ Network Contracts ]] Retain Your Office Extension Number While Roaming http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17608.php The roaming services provider, Starhome has announced that the KPN Mobile-owned European mobile communications provider Sympac has signed a contract with the company to make use of Starhome's turn-key solution 'Virtual Office Environment' - intended ... [[ Network Operators ]] Virgin Mobile Unveils Way To Earn Airtime With Ad Plans http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17589.php Virgin Mobile USA unveiled a service enabling its pre-paid customers to earn airtime minutes on their plan by interacting with advertisements. ... VimpelCom wants to get 1.1 rbl/min for fixed-to-mobile calls http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17595.php Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom has suggested that mobile operators are paid 1.1 rubles per minute, excluding value-added tax (VAT), for fixed-to-mobile calls after the launch of Calling Party Pays (CPP) principle in the country, th... Digitel plans US$250mn investment in 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17597.php Venezuelan startup telecoms group Telvenco plans to invest US$250mn in its recently acquired mobile unit Digitel GSM with a view to expanding its market share, the holding company said in a statement. ... [[ Offbeat ]] Kazak Telecoms Ministry Tower Catches Fire http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17604.php Kazakhstan's tallest building, which houses the government ministry of industry, information and communications caught fire at the weekend. The building, known locally as "the cigarette lighter" was wreathed in smoke, while flames could be seen comin... [[ Regulatory ]] Two remain in bidding for 4th cellular license http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17596.php Two bidders remain in negotiations with the Jamaican government regarding plans to re-auction the country's fourth mobile phone license, which was confiscated from Cingular in 2005, The Jamaica Observer reported. ... Review of Swiss GSM Licenses http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17605.php On behalf of Switzerland's Federal Communications Commission (ComCom), the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) has launched a public consultation on the renewal of the GSM licences of Swisscom Mobile, Orange Communications and TDC Switzerland.... [[ Reports ]] Deployments and Adoption of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Accelerate http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17606.php The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has reported that 22 operators in 17 countries throughout Latin America and the Caribbean have deployed or are building CDMA2000 1xEV-DO networks. Operators are seeing a significant demand for 1xEV-DO services, with t... Next tech boom looming? http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17607.php The pursuit of digital convergence, and the resulting urge-to-merge, will likely deliver the next boom in the technology industry according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report concludes that executives have learned from the last bubbl... [[ Statistics ]] IN BRIEF: Suptel: Mobile base grows 19% Jan-Apr http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17599.php Ecuadorian mobile operators closed April with 7.44 million subscribers, up nearly 19% compared to the 6.2 million users reported at end 2005, according to sector supervisor Suptel. ... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 12:39:12 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: ADC Acquires Andrew Corp. USTelecom dailyLead May 31, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dKesfDtuteoUplwOWv TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * ADC acquires Andrew Corp. BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Vonage to pay banks for unwanted shares * Broadband plays a key role in Vodafone's growth plans * Microsoft in VoIP deal with LG-Nortel * Airgo's MIMO technology used for IPTV-over-Wi-Fi * Verizon Airfone drops out of in-flight broadband auction USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * VoIP for Dummies TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Report: UWB will arrive in 2006 * VOD seen as way to boost voter interest in elections * Sling enters European market REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Chicago to seek private sector partner for wireless network * Mediacom, ICTA file lawsuit over broadband program * Report: Government may require companies to retain data Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dKesfDtuteoUplwOWv ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 10:46:18 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Wednesday, May 31, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 31, 2006 Agreements Imminent for MTS and VimpelCom on Fixed-to-Mobile Tarffis http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/18178?11228 Russian mobile operators Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) and VimpelCom have suggested that after the calling-party-pays (CPP) system is introduced in the country, on 1 July 2006, fixed-to-mobile calls should initially be charged at 1.1 rouble per minute (US$0.041), excluding VAT, according to Prime-Tass. Both MTS and VimpelCom have proposed... Slovakia's Telecom Publishes Tender for New Cell Operator http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/18171?11228 BRATISLAVA -- Slovakia's state-run Slovak Telecom on Wednesday published an international bid for the country's third cell phone operator, the state-run news agency TASR reported. Potential buyers have until July 14 to make offers. The starting price was set at 110 million Slovak crowns (US$ 3.7 million). The bidders will also have... Nokia Ramps Up Counterfeiter Fight http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18168?11228 Given the rise in counterfeit mobile devices and accessories, Nokia announced plan to step up its efforts to thwart counterfeiters. The news comes on the heels of a Florida court awarding the No. 1 global handset manufacturer more than $1 million in damages in its case involving the trafficking of counterfeit Nokia products. Due to an... Survey Sez: Truck Rolls Plague Cable VoIP http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18165?11228 A huge percentage of cable-company voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) customers -- some 34 percent -- report needing on-site technical support to get their VoIP lines to work, according to a new survey commissioned by SupportSoft and done by online market research firm Decipher Inc., scheduled for release tomorrow. The issue isn't... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 16:06:32 -0400 From: sawney beane Subject: RTV in Phone Jack Yesterday my neighbor said for two days he'd had no phone service except to put the phone by the window and plug it in outside. He asked if I could check his wiring. Outside, I found that one of the contacts on his plug was invisible. There appeared to be unpigmented RTV in the jack. It had the physical characteristics of RTV when I scraped it off the plug. That restored his service. He said the crackling he'd had for two months was gone. He keeps his gates locked so nobody will accidentally let his alert dogs out. Two months ago a woman from Bellsouth restored his service on the street pole. She also came into his yard. We couldn't think of any other possibility. Bellsouth will annoy me with useless telemarketing day after day, so I don't know how they think. Could Bellsouth be injecting RTV into phone jacks because they think it's preventive maintenance or to create more service calls? ------------------------------ From: bob@coolgroups.com Subject: Perfect Hangup Date: 31 May 2006 00:56:48 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is there any kind of phone out there that does a perfect hangup? Basically, I want a phone that instantaneously creates a perfect open circuit between TIP and RING upon hangup, probably with the press of a button. Right now, I have a cheap phone that hangs up when you put it in the cradle. I think the jostling in the cradle upon hangup is causing occasional hangup errors on a VOIP system. I would prefer a phone that can do this without being in speakerphone mode. ------------------------------ From: jtaylor Subject: Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of World Wide Web May Be About to End Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 09:43:36 -0300 Organization: MCI Canada News Reader Service Carl Moore wrote in message news:telecom25.205.11@telecom-digest.org: > There is a "little-guy" site named after me (and not connected to the > office where I work) where I select, arrange, and transcribe the music > myself on a volunteer basis. I already include a statement "Consider > learning about the actual recordings.". There is a cultural > "difference" emerging from that site, too, because most of it is based > on light popular sounds of the middle third of the 20th century -- on > average, I am selecting music which is older than most of my > high-school classmates would pick. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Carl, why didn't you give us the URL > for your site? PAT] A search for "carl moore music" brings up this as the first hit: http://www.centuria.com/~carl/ ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May Be About to End Date: 31 May 2006 09:56:04 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote: > By ADAM COHEN > The New York Times Another uptopian "ivory tower" dream concept about the web. Let's be clear about this: the world described in this article never existed in the first place. I'm aware my opinion offends some people, especially web advocates. But I lived through the "magic" of the BBS world and deal with the modern web regularly. It is a _disservice_ to claim the web is something other than what it really is. Let's be honest about the web's flaws and deal with them, not fantasize in some utopian fake world*. Frankly, many utopian advocates are leftover hippies from the 1960s and 1970s. I remember them well from my college days, and how "free and open communication" was the mantra. It was nonsense then and is now, as I will describe below. > The World Wide Web is the most democratic mass medium there has ever > been. Freedom of the press, as the saying goes, belongs only to those > who own one. Radio and television are controlled by those rich enough > to buy a broadcast license. But anyone with an Internet-connected > computer can reach out to a potential audience of billions. Anyone could cheaply print up handbills and stand on a busy street corner and give them out, or distribute them door to door in a city neighborhood. Big potential audience there, too. But the reality is that almost all the recipients will toss said leaflet in the trash. On the web, very, very few of the so-called "billions" will bother to read it and even fewer will care. A heck of a lot of the web is pure wasted noise. Any serious researcher will have to skip past quack-cures, sexual come-ons, and a variety of commercial ventures, some legitimate, many bogus. Sites with the most reliable and detailed information often require a fee. People are impatient and don't want to waste time sifting through noise. > This democratic Web did not just happen. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the > British computer scientist who invented the Web in 1989, envisioned a > platform on which everyone in the world could communicate on an equal > basis. This is that "open communiation" mantra I mentioned above. Here's the reality of group communication: If it is unmoderated, those with the loudest or most oratorial voice will dominate the discussion. Just because someone is a great orator doesn't make them intelligent or bless their ideas as valid; but it is easy for a group to go into a trance by a smooth polished speaker. Obviously a loud bully speaker will dominate too. In any event, unmoderated groups do not have free communication. The Internet is no different. Bullies and "loud" drown out worthwhile speakers. "Bad money drives out good money". A big problem of the web is that it is totally unmoderated. Anyone can put up a website and claim anything they damn well want; but that does not make their website any good. There are lots and lots of such websites. In contrast, in the traditional world, anyone could write a book, but publishers act as a filter and usually the worst quacks are not accepted. A second filter is the distribution channel. This is not foolproof -- there are plenty of garbage books and articles -- but some filtering does take place. If the group is moderated, there is a much better chance for decent communication. The moderators will control the bullies and smooth out outlandish claims. Unfortunately, most web communiation is not moderators. Further, there are no controls on moderators, they could subtly or overtly impart their prejudices. Lastly, moderated groups have limitations. In college, the bell would ring and it was time go to the next class. > But his vision is being threatened by telecommunications and > cable companies, and other Internet service providers, that want to > impose a new system of fees that could create a hierarchy of Web > sites. Major corporate sites would be able to pay the new fees, while > little-guy sites could be shut out. People forget that the web is not free. It is made up of servers and high speed telephone lines between the servers. All of this must be maintained by people. (Please don't give me nonsense about "volunteers"). This costs money which must come from somewhere. AFAIK, anyone who sets up their own web page now must pay some fees to register the domain, get server space, etc. They of course have their own server costs. So, I'm not sure how a new fee schedule will curtail that. As to a "hierarchy", that exists now. As a web user, I'd like to be able to go to a site without worry about viruses. I recently tried to visit a legitimate non-profit recreation group site and the virus alarm went off. Obviously that site is clueless. I find it very offensive that I must spend my time and money on virus and sabotage protection that is a result from the "openness" we supposedly so desperately want. As a web user, if I buy something over the Internet, I'd like a reasonable assurance that the company at the other end is a legitimate company and isn't just fishing to steal my credit card number. As an Internet user, I'd like not to be bombarded with spam emails, and semi-spam emails. I visited PC Expo in NYC years ago and they still innundate me with emails despite repeated requests to cease. Unlike traditional junk mail, email costs me money. You may think your non-profit organization's cause is the most important thing in the world. I'm sorry, but not only do I not agree, I'm not the least bit interested in hearing about it nor subsidizing your web page or floods of email. When you ask for "openness" what you really want is me to open my front door so you can march in my home uninvited, sit down and push for your organization. I respect intellectual property rights, and I object to those who exploit the web download protected materials for free redistribution without paying for them. In conclusion, I have not seen any substantive argument against "the new system of fees". If anyone has studied them and has a differing opinion on their impact, please share your thoughts with us. [public replies, please] *In the mid 1950s it was clear automobiles were dangerous, yet most automakers denied this and fought against safety features like seatbelts and the like. It took more than 15 years to finally get needed stuff installed in cars. Finally, lives were saved. I see the utiopians on the web as no different than the major auto companies. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have often times wondered why people like Tim Berners-Lee (credited as the 'inventor' of the World Wide Web) did not think far enough ahead in the middle-late 1980's to slap some very firm controls on how _his_ product could be permissibly used by people in generations to follow. Oh, I know all the reasons for not doing so which were given, but I have to wonder if now, 15-20 years after the fact, if it is a case of wising up too late in the game. That is, unless Tim B-L is really okay with the unreal twists and turns which have taken place on the web in the past, all the abuses and misuses we see as a routine thing of late. Was it really his intention to provide an air of 'legitimacy' to the cretins who publish all sorts of scams and spams and then hide in obscurity behind web sites which -- while traceable by folks who have the time and energy to examine them -- for most of us are essentially impossible to track down? Somehow I think -- and I do not mean this in an unkind way -- he shared in the naive notions that so many of the early computer pioneers; that people were basically good and decent and all that. I do not wish to get into an "I warned you" or an "I told you so" posture, but I can still recall, with some bitterness I might add, the day in 1993 or 1994 when I first began attempting to clamp some _serious_ controls on this Digest in terms of editorial control on the content, the layout, etc, and how a few of the earlier readers gasped and acted so incredulous. They wanted a moderator, all right, but other than a bit of moderation, I was to keep my mouth shut and not disturb the status quo. When I changed my title (I like to say 'gave myself a promotion') from "Moderator" to "Editor" and published some rules on what would, and what would not be acceptable, the shit really hit the fan blade, as the expression goes. I would like to think I was not as naive back in the 1980-90's as many netizens were, but some have said I was even more so. Lisa Hancock is correct, IMO. PAT] ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Microsoft Lauches Security Plan for Windows Organization: BellSouth Internet Group Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 00:02:20 -0400 A comment: There should always be a diversity of antivirus software makers. The reason is that each of them will catch things that the others don't, and the only way to be sure they're thorough is to have them compete with each other. Having a multiplicity of antivirus programs helps ensure that a virus will be detected by *somebody* before it infects *everybody*. An antivirus monopoly would be a single point of vulnerability for everyone. Having said that, I'm glad to see Microsoft getting into the virus protection business because it gives them an incentive to make their OS harder for viruses to get into. At least, the antivirus team and the OS team are in the same company. ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Using Cell Phone For Frequency Calibration Reference? Date: 31 May 2006 10:54:32 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Richard Eldon BARBER wrote: > Some piano tuners calibrate electronic tuning devices using their cell > phone. Is this a good idea? Calling up NIST on the cell phone, you > can have 440Hz played to you. Is using a cell phone going to be a > stable frequency reference? Will the cell phone network actually be > able to preserve the frequency, say as 440.0000 Hz? or will there be > frequency domain quantization errors due to wavelet compression, thus > affecting the freq stability of the transmitted tone? Please post and > email ... I don't think it would be a serious issue, but try it yourself and find out. Call the number with a conventional phone, then call it with a cell phone. Hold the two phones together and see if you hear any beat notes. There will be some error. But if you can't hear it, it's not important. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Or notice, for example, the setting of accurate clocks via the internet. I've a program here called 'Net Time' which constantly polls various 'time servers' around the net. When you set it up, one site returns data reported to have latency of .150 ms and another has latency of .75 ms, etc, in other words _none _ of them display (on my screen) -exactly- the right time. But the program takes a half dozen or so of these time servers, and averages the latencies then makes an adjustment which is as close as one can get apparently, to the 'correct time', but no one can ever discern the difference, at least human eyes and ears are unable to find a difference, which is what I suspect the original writer would find in checking landline to cellular. If he can tell the difference, then his hearing is better than mine. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 11:11:11 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Music Site (was Re: Why the Democratic Ethic ...) The music site I referred to can be reached as: http://www.centuria.com/~carl or http://www.cmooremusic.net ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #206 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Jun 1 16:11:19 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 2F02A1538A; Thu, 1 Jun 2006 16:11:19 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #207 Message-Id: <20060601201119.2F02A1538A@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 16:11:19 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NIGERIAN_BODY1 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Jun 2006 16:13:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 207 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson T-Online: German Court OKs Takeover (Associated Press News Wire) Yahoo Reprograms Online Video Service (Michael Liedtke) Report: Broadband Adoption Spikes (USTelecom dailyLead) Cellular-News: Thursday 1st June 2006 (Cellular-News) Comparison Between Merlin Legend and Merlin Magic (Etop Udoh) Try Cancelling Vonage (was Re: Vonage Problems) (Andy P.) Re: Perfect Hangup (Scott Dorsey) Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of the Web May Be About to End (G. Wollman) Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of the Web May Be About to End (Lisa Hancock) Two New Pages on VOIP in Our Archives (Patrick Townson) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: T-Online: German Court OKs Takeover Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 12:02:45 -0500 Internet service provider T-Online International AG said Thursday that a German federal court has cleared the way for its absorption by majority owner Deutsche Telekom AG, dismissing appeals against the deal. The Federal Court of Justice rejected as "inadmissible" complaints against a Frankfurt court's ruling that pending lawsuits by shareholders should not block any registration of the deal, T-Online said in a statement. Following the decision, "the merger will take effect once it has been entered in the commercial registers of both companies," it added. T-Online is Europe's largest ISP and has more than 13.5 million subscribers. Deutsche Telekom had spun T-Online off, but retained a 74 percent stake. In October 2004, it decided to buy out the remaining stake for nearly 3 billion euros from minority shareholders and bring the Internet provider back into its T-Com unit. Deutsche Telekom offered 8.99 euros ($11.56) per share for the outstanding T-Online shares, well under the shares' issue price of 27 euros in early 2000. More than 20 shareholders sued against Deutsche Telekom's buyout offer, saying they were treated unfairly and demanding a higher buyout offer. On Thursday, Deutsche Telekom shares rose 1.3 percent to 12.84 euros ($16.51) on the Frankfurt exchange. T-Online shares dropped 2.25 percent to 7.40 euros ($9.52). Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Michael Liedtke Subject: Yahoo Reprograms Online Video Service Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 12:05:54 -0500 By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer Yahoo Inc. is reprogramming its online video service so it's more like YouTube.com, an Internet upstart that has amassed a large audience during the past year with a free Web service that encourages people to post and share homemade clips. Under the changes unveiled Thursday, Yahoo will store homemade videos on its own site for the first time as it attempts to build a platform for people to browse and rate the clips. The videos will be separated into different categories, including a section devoted to the most-watched selections. Those features mirror YouTube, which has become the Web's most popular video channel since a pair of twentysomething technology whizzes started the San Mateo, Calif.-based company a year ago. Now, Internet heavyweights like Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo are trying to chip away at YouTube's early lead as the rapidly growing number of high-speed Internet connections make it easier to transfer and watch online videos. Just two weeks ago, Google Inc. retooled its video service so a special piece of software would no longer be required to upload clips to the online search engine leader. Meanwhile, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL is testing a service, called UnCut Video, that accepts clips. Since launching its video service in late 2004, Yahoo has focused on indexing the clips available on other Web sites. Although the company intends to continue indexing material from other sites, Yahoo is betting it will be able to lure more visitors and give them more reason to stick around longer by creating a unique video library through submissions from its 208 million registered users. "We felt this was a necessary next step in our evolution," said Jeff Karnes, Yahoo's director of multimedia search. Yahoo has been adding more attractions to its Web site to maintain its status as the Web's most trafficked destination and spur even more spending by advertisers -- the main source of the company's revenue. By accepting homemade videos, Yahoo risks showing material that infringes on copyrights or contains pornographic scenes. Both of those problems have cropped up on YouTube, despite restrictions prohibiting users from posting such content. Like YouTube, Yahoo will depend on its own users and copyright holders to flag rule-breaking videos so they can be removed from the site. To minimize the chances of an offensive video appearing before a big audience, Yahoo editors will screen all the clips that are featured on the service's front page, said Jason Zajac, the company's general manager of social media. Yahoo will have to make up a lot of ground to catch up with YouTube, which boasts of streaming more than 40 million videos per day. In April, YouTube attracted 12.5 million U.S. visitors, well ahead of MSN Video's second place service at 9.5 million visitors, according to Nielsen/NetRatings Inc. Yahoo's video service attracted 2.6 million visitors, trailing rival offerings from MySpace.com, Google and AOL, as well as YouTube and MSN, Nielsen/NetRatings said. Although it leads the rest of the video pack, YouTube still hasn't proven it can make money as it subsists on $11.5 million in venture capital. Yahoo, in contrast, earned $160 million during the first three months of this year and ended March with $1.4 billion in cash. On the Net: Yahoo Video: http://video.yahoo.com Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 13:01:05 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Report: Broadband Adoption Spikes USTelecom dailyLead June 1, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dKrYfDtutepBABMuYc TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Report: Broadband adoption spikes BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * France Telecom to sell products under Orange brand * Verizon expected to win video franchise in Maryland county * Comcast to let customers boost speeds on demand * HP renames division to reflect telecom market changes * Cable industry doesn't need to rush to IPTV technology USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Take a Stephen Shepard Crash Course in IMS, VoIP and Telecom TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Yahoo! revamps Web video search to compete with YouTube * Wireless is the next wave in social networking REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * California Assembly passes bill to end local franchise laws * FCC may expand USF to VoIP, wireless * Analysis: Net neutrality debate a complex web of issues Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dKrYfDtutepBABMuYc ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Thursday 1st June 2006 Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 07:10:12 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] Anatel: Public consultation for 3G licenses before Sep http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17613.php Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel expects to hold a public consultation before September to evaluate interest in applying for 3G licenses, TI Inside reported Anatel director Jarbas Valente as saying. ... Qualcomm Opens African 3G Center http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17623.php Qualcomm has opened its African hub, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Qualcomm's new office will also serve as a base for implementing Wireless Reach projects, which seek to empower underserved communities through the use of 3G wireless technolog... Mobile Operators' 3G CAPEX Rising Sharply http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17628.php Two years ago, announcements of capital spending on 3G deployments were mainly made by the largest operators in the most developed nations, but today many smaller and incumbent operators in developing and less saturated markets are also increasing CA... [[ Financial ]] Russia's NSS mobile operator 2005 RAS net profit up 34% on yr http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17617.php The net profit of Russian regional mobile operator Nizhegorodskaya Sotovaya Svyaz (NSS) increased 34% on the year to 444.727 million rubles in 2005, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), the company said Wednesday. ... Altimo disputes Telenor's reporting of Kyivstar results http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17618.php Altimo, the telecommunications arm of Russian holding Alfa Group, disputed Wednesday financial reporting practices of Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor. ... Celtel Buys Nigerian Operator http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17619.php Celtel, a subsidiary of MTC Group has announced that it has reached agreement to acquire a controlling stake of 65% in Vmobile, one of Nigeria's leading mobile telecom operators, for US$1.005 billion. This agreement marks the company's largest ever a... [[ Handsets ]] Changing Fonts on Cellphones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17621.php Monotype Imaging says that it is introducing a suite of scalable fonts for mobile phones -- the first in the industry to offer handset manufacturers, wireless operators, content providers and publishers the ability to integrate into their products rea... Top ten Mobile Phone Sales in Telia Stores http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17624.php Sony Ericsson and Nokia captured the leading positions on Telia's top-ten list of best-selling mobile phones in Telia's retail stores during May. The list has changed only slightly since April. Sony Ericsson had the only new mobile handset for the mo... Mobile Phone Sales in Q1 Indicate a Strong 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17629.php Worldwide mobile phone sales totaled 224 million units in the first quarter of 2006, a 23.8% increase from the same period last year, according to Gartner. These strong results for the quarter have resulted in Gartner increasing its mobile phone sale... [[ Legal ]] IN BRIEF: Salinas/SEC close to settlement over fraud charges http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17614.php The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Mexican media mogul Ricardo Salinas could be close to reaching a settlement on fraud charges arising from a 2003 debt transaction, Mexican daily El Norte quoted SEC lawyer Harold Loftin as saying. ... Ringback Tone Patent Awarded http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17622.php Nearly two years after the actual introduction of ringback tones by wireless carriers, the U.S. Patent Office has granted official patent status to patent filer Karl Seelig, CEO of Perceptive Impression, for ring back signal replacement. This final s... [[ Network Contracts ]] Ericsson Wins Serbian GSM Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17620.php Ericsson has signed a US$96 million contract with the Serbian operator, Telekom Serbia for the provision of equipment and services for the expansion and upgrade of Telekom Serbia's GSM/GPRS/EDGE network. This agreement is the largest Ericsson contrac... Easy Handset Settings for Swedish Operator http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17625.php Telenor Sweden has gone live with a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution from SmartTrust that will allow it to better manage subscriber access to data services such as MMS, Email, WAP and Push-to-Talk (PTT). Using SmartTrust's MDM solution SmartMa... [[ Network Operators ]] France Telecom Rebrands Services Orange In Overhaul http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17612.php France Telecom, which has seen its stock fall 32% under current management, Wednesday said it is now selling Internet, TV and mobile phone services under the Orange brand as part of a larger overhaul. ... Digicel to invest US$5mn in network upgrades in Dominica http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17615.php Caribbean mobile operator Digicel has earmarked US$5mn for its operations in the eastern Caribbean island of Dominica, the company said in a statement. ... AMX registers Claro brand http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17616.php Mexico's America Movil has registered in Chile its Claro brand for all types of telecommunication services, from mobile telephony to any equipment related to the sector, according to information published in Chile's official gazette. ... [[ Personnel ]] TeliaSonera: Prosecutor Charges CEO Igel With Bribery http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17611.php Swedish telecommunications operator TeliaSonera's chairman, Tom von Weymarn, said he remains confident in Chief Executive Anders Igel despite bribery charges being brought against him. ... [[ Regulatory ]] Italy's Regulator Opens Probe Into Fixed-Mobile Services http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17610.php The Italian communication authority said Wednesday it opened a preliminary probe into the so-called integrated fixed-mobile telecommunication services. ... [[ Reports ]] GSA Announces HSDPA Network Deployments Reach 100 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17626.php The latest "HSDPA Operator Commitments" survey undertaken by vendor trade association GSA - Global mobile Suppliers Association, confirms that 100 HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) networks, an increase of 100% in 6 months, are in deployment ... Global Mobile Gambling Market to Reach $23bn by 2011 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17627.php The popularity of Mobile gambling, involving casinos, lotteries and betting, is set to rise from under US$2 billion (in terms of bets placed) to in excess of US$23 billion come 2011, according to industry analysts Juniper Research. The increasing tre... ------------------------------ From: Etop Udoh Reply-To: sdruid11@BELLSOUTH.NET Subject: Comparison Between Merlin Legend and Merlin Magix ?? Organization: BellSouth Internet Service Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 12:20:31 -0500 Does anyone know where I can get prewritten info that contains a side by side comparison of the Merlin legend and Merlin Magix phone systems?? Thanks. ==================================================================== | Etop Udoh | Http://www.geocities.com/sdruid11 | | P.O. Box 1054| Http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/sdruid | |Snellville, Ga| Http://home.bellsouth.net/p/pwp-sdruid | | 30078 | Http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/bit/9122 | |--------------| Http://home.earthlink.net/~sdruid11 | | A+ Certified Net+ Certified | | \/ \/ | |sdruid11@earthlink.net |sdruid11@bellsouth.net |sdruid11@yahoo.com| | !! ..........Peace and Love to All......... !! | ==================================================================== ------------------------------ From: AndyP Subject: Re: Vonage Problem Date: 1 Jun 2006 11:39:54 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Now try cancelling the account, you'll have more fun. You would have to find the account cancellation number first from a rep. Then you have to wait for an hour. Then you would have to pay a cancellation fee. David Reihmer wrote: > Vonage has been of no help with this issue. > I have not enabled 'call forwarding' in many months. > My broadband was down during a storm last week, and I was therefore > unable to use my Vonage phone. > When I came back on line, I received a call from a friend who told me > that during the outage, instead of going to voicemail, my calls had > been forwarded to another number, and the other party was getting > pretty upset about getting all my calls. > I went to the Vonage website, and saw that in the 'Activity' portion > of my account, 7 calls had been forwarded to this other number. I > recognized that number as a cell phone number I no longer have. > When I signed up with Vonage, I included that number as an alternate. > But now, of course, I don't have that number. Regardless, none of my > calls should have been forwarded, as the forwarding option was disabled. > The 'call forwarding' page confirmed that the 'call forwarding' option > was disabled, and yet I still had calls forwarded to a number that I > did not authorize. > I was able to delete the old number in my 'profile', BUT it remained > (and remains) in the 'call forwarding page, as the number to forward > to. I tried to delete it and enter another forwarding number to, but > still the 'old number' reappears when the page is reloaded. > I called Vonage and was advised that 'call forwarding' was disabled on > my account and not to worry. I told them I knew that it was disabled, > because I never enabled it, and why were my calls being forwarded just > because my network was down? I then told Vonage I was unable to > delete that number from the 'call forwarding' screen. The tech was > surprised he could not delete it either, and after holding for 10 > minutes, I was advised that the number could not be deleted, and my > call forwarding option was permanently disabled. > Unsatisfied, I sent an email explaining all this and why am I paying > for services I am not receiving, should I ever need them? I got a > canned reply and am looking for other means of resolution. Any > suggestions? > Thanks. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is the 'call forwarding' option > as you know, but there is also an option (I think it is called) > 'Network Forwarding' and the explanation given for this is "what > should we do with your calls when the network is down?" and where > 'call forwarding' is the routine thing, 'network forwarding' is > intended for when Vonage _is unable to see you_ for whatever reason. > If Vonage is unable to complete the call on its own network to you > (to ultimatly get forwarded on, etc) then what do you want them to > do? Look for an option entitled 'network forwarding' and although I > do not think it allows itself to be completely erased, it does allow > editing which is probably what you would want to do anyway. See if > that makes a difference. PAT] If you think you have trouble with their service, try cancelling their account. 1) You would have to find the account cancellation number from a customer service rep. 2) Then you would have to wait for over half hour, sometimes the phone disconnects after a long wait. 3) Then you have to pay a cancellation fee, cannot be waived, period. They have made all efforts to keep the cancellation fee part hidden and the cancellation process itself very very painful. I would never recommend a company like this to anyone. ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Perfect Hangup Date: 1 Jun 2006 11:42:16 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) In article , wrote: > Is there any kind of phone out there that does a perfect hangup? > Basically, I want a phone that instantaneously creates a perfect open > circuit between TIP and RING upon hangup, probably with the press of a > button. Any phone will do this if you disconnect the ringer. But as long as the ringer is active, there will be some leakage between tip and ring. Phones with crappy piezo warblers will usually have much higher ringer impedance than phones with conventional bells. --scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: wollman@csail.mit.edu (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May Be About to End Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 04:34:36 UTC Organization: MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab In article , PAT wrote: (Lisa Hancock said): > [public replies, please] I don't care to respond to hancock4's rant, which would only aggravate my blood pressure, but I wanted to respond to a few things PAT said: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have often times wondered why people > like Tim Berners-Lee (credited as the 'inventor' of the World Wide Web) The fact that you used 'scare quotes' here suggests that you don't believe TBL invented the Web. Would you care to explain who you think did, if he didn't? > did not think far enough ahead in the middle-late 1980's to slap some > very firm controls on how _his_ product could be permissibly used by > people in generations to follow. Perhaps because he (or whomever) had no such power. Remember, the Gopher folks at the University of Minnesota tried that -- and lost in the marketplace. > That is, unless Tim B-L is really okay with the unreal twists and > turns which have taken place on the web in the past, all the abuses > and misuses we see as a routine thing of late. You could actually read what he, and other Internet pioneers like Dave Clark, have written on the subject -- although I understand uninformed speculation is much easer. > Was it really his intention to provide an air of 'legitimacy' to the > cretins who publish all sorts of scams and spams and then hide in > obscurity behind web sites which Huh? How does a scam have more "legitimacy" (your word) when it's on the Web than when it's delivered in a plain white envelope, no-return-address? (Or, for that matter, in a plain white envelope, franked bulk rate and sent by one of America's largest banks?) > When I changed my title (I like to say 'gave myself a promotion') > from "Moderator" to "Editor" and published some rules on what would, > and what would not be acceptable, the shit really hit the fan blade, > as the expression goes. And yet, those people who you pissed off could easily have told their netnews servers that you no longer had anything to do with this newsgroup, and set someone else up as moderator. At that time, such a thing was still possible. Yet this didn't happen: most of those people simply unsubscribed, moving their telecom discussions to other forums where they would have to deal with you. (Sometimes you make me wonder why I still bother, but then I realize that someone responsible needs to pay attention to what you're doing, so long as it's on our servers and network. Speaking of which, that advertising on the Web site *must go*; we do not permit our network to be used for commercial gain.) -GAWollman -- Garrett A. Wollman | As the Constitution endures, persons in every wollman@csail.mit.edu | generation can invoke its principles in their own Opinions not those | search for greater freedom. of MIT or CSAIL. | - A. Kennedy, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You put the emphasis (resulting from the quote marks) on the person named rather than as I intended, which was the result of the creation. In other words, we all know that Tim B-L was the primary person behind the creation of the World Wide Web. Would we use the expression 'invent' or perhaps the expression 'author' or some other expression? When a book is written, we do not say 'the author _invented_ a new book' we say the author _wrote_ a new book. My quote marks were intended to question whether or not 'invent' was the correct term to use, _not_ whether or not B-L was the person correctly identified. I suppose since it was essentially software 'authored' or 'wrote' might have been a better choice of terms. But we also have so many folks who make the claim (as he did himself) that Albert Gore 'invented' the internet and/or the WWW. One major problem I have -- as do many people who take seriously their efforts at expressing themselves in the written word -- is the choice of words to use. After all, in a text-based newsletter -- as opposed to a personal face to face meeting or at the very least lots of graphics on the page -- we are sometimes woefully lacking in our ability to completely and accurately _communicate_ the meaning of what we say. It is one of those "I know you know what I said but I am not sure you understood my meaning" situations. And I suspect that happens a lot here in this Digest. I always spend at least an hour or two in the preparation of each issue, yet day after day I finish my work sort of frustrated; in my post-reviews of my work after each issue is sent out, I invariably have 'second thoughts' about the way something was printed. My phraseology leaves much to be desired, IMO, from day to day. I have gotten entire issues of the Digest ready to go, then had a change of my mind and pulled it out of the queue in order to change a sentence or a paragraph. I know, it probably sounds stupid, which is the way I feel some days. You mentioned controls and regulations on Gopher not working in the market-place. That's true; but Gopher never did have the popularity of the WWW. Even in its earliest days, WWW was seen to be a killer- application. Although the traditional controls B-L might have tacked onto the Web in the beginning might have (probably would have) slowed down its growth a little, my thoughts are people would have adjusted to it and utlimatly made it an even better resource than it is. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of the World Wide Web May Be About to End Date: 1 Jun 2006 09:38:28 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have often times wondered why people > like Tim Berners-Lee (credited as the 'inventor' of the World Wide Web) > did not think far enough ahead in the middle-late 1980's to slap some > very firm controls on how _his_ product could be permissibly used by > people in generations to follow. ... > Somehow I think -- and I do not mean this in an unkind way -- > he shared in the naive notions that so many of the early computer > pioneers; that people were basically good and decent and all that. It isn't so much an issue of "good and evil" but rather a limited understanding of human nature. There are many college professors who are in an "ivory tower" and disconnected with how the real world operates. Many college communities are a select group of people admitted because of high academic skills brought together for a common cause of study. The human interaction in such a world is not the same as interactions elsewhere. (Of course, not all colleges are like this.) In the real world, unlike college, people have many different agendas. It's not so much of a question of "good or evil", but rather Joe wants a quick answer right now while Sam wants to experiment with different stuff while Tony wants to sell things while Henry wants things for free. Without a set of rules, these differences clash. Unfortunately, in the real world, there is greater evil than in college and that, as Pat described, is a serious problem. Frankly, I'm not too sympathetic to the Internet's early developers. Way back when I was in high school and we shared but a single Teletype, various human behaviors came out loud and clear among our little group. Accordingly, our teacher established rules for the computer room. It was clear structure was needed to deal with human realities. It was also clear a technical structure was required to (1) deal with human realities and (2) deal with innocent mistakes that could screw up the computer or other people's work. In any human interaction, there are formal and informal rules of behavior. The problem with the Internet was that the rules of academia did not apply in the real world. What would be considered unpardonably rude and unacceptable in college was commonplace in the greater anonymous real world. An excellent example of this disconnect is during WW II when numerous scientists worked for the Army to develop the atomic bomb. The scientists were genuises in nuclear theory, after all, they developed a very complex set of rules for something that can't even be seen or measured directly. (How does one calculate the mass of an electron, proton, neutron? How does one even discover such particles?) But the scientists were utterly clueless in turning that theory into working units like nuclear reactors and practical weapons in a reasonable period of time. They hated their tough army general, Leslie Groves. But Groves got them to be productive. (See "Now It Can Be Told" by Groves, a very good book on organizational behavior). Another example is how FDR's academic based "brain trust" was unable to develop efficient high industrial production needed for WW II. FDR had to replace the professors with men borrowed from industry who knew how to get the job done. There was considerable friction in that too. ------------------------------ Subject: New Pages on VOIP in Our Archives Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 15:55:39 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Two new tutorial pages on VOIP service have been installed in our archives area for your review by Rene Tse: http://telecom-digest.org/voip.html and http://telecom-digest.org/voip-2.html Rene writes about this sort of thing a lot and is sharing these with us. PAT ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management (MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35 credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including data, video, and voice networks. The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum. Classes are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning. Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ In addition, gifts from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert have enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #207 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Jun 1 23:07:23 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id CC212154BE; Thu, 1 Jun 2006 23:07:22 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #208 Message-Id: <20060602030722.CC212154BE@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 23:07:22 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 1 Jun 2006 23:10:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 208 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FBI Wants Internet Records Kept for Two Years (Pelosky & Gershberg) Firms Wary About Holding Customer Records Without Warrants (M. Sherman) ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For Two Years (Swartz & Johnson) Norvergence as of 6/01/06, Anything New??? (The Dale Earnhardt Story) Google Blogspot Domestic IP Address Blocking Confirmed (ab5cvjl@yahoo.com) Re: RTV in Phone Jack (Paul A Lee) Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of World Wide Web May Be About to Die (DLR) Cell Phone Towers in U.S. Parks Dial Up Debate (John Mayson) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeremy Pelofsky & Michele Gershberg Subject: FBI Wants Internet Records Kept for Two Years Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 21:03:11 -0500 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In this issue of the Digest, three different reports from three sources on the new demands by Justice Department and FBI on the new file retention demands made of ISPs effective immediatly. This is report one, from Reuters. PAT] By Jeremy Pelofsky and Michele Gershberg The Federal Bureau of Investigation wants U.S. Internet providers to retain Web address records for up to two years to aid investigations into terrorism and pornography, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The request came during a May 26 meeting between U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller with top executives at companies like Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL. "I think there is less of a willingness to passively go along with this type of request than there might have been a year ago," said the source, mentioning the recent uproar over a report that telephone companies had provided call records to the National Security Agency. "All the telcos got caught in the cross fire on this; now the ISPs are feeling the heat also." A Justice Department spokesman confirmed the meeting but was not immediately available to comment on how long law enforcement officials wanted the records retained. "This meeting was an initial discussion for the Attorney General to gather information and to solicit input from Internet service provider executives on the issues associated with data retention," said spokesman Brian Roehrkasse. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Gonzales presented blurred images of child pornography and explained why he thought retaining data was important to those investigations. At issue was Internet protocol addresses. When one industry executive questioned how long the government wanted the records kept, Mueller said for two years and that the data would also be used for anti-terrorism purposes, said the source. The Justice Department has tangled before with Internet companies over gaining access to records, subpoenaing search data from Google to defend an online pornography law. The government cut the size of its demand and Google acquiesced. In that instance, Microsoft and Yahoo Inc. had turned over search information after receiving assurances that no specific customer data was involved. The IP address is key to unlocking what a person does online, what site they visited what terms they searched, who they e-mailed and what they downloaded, the source noted. Internet providers usually change the address data within several days to several weeks. Two big high-speed Internet service providers, Verizon Communications and Comcast Corp., also attended the meeting last week, the source said. The Justice Department spokesman said Internet companies would retain the information and the government would only gain access to the records through legal means like a subpoena. "Internet service providers would retain the information," Roehrkasse said. If Congress is going to be asked to pass legislation ordering Internet providers to retain data they won't be asked for content of that data but rather addresses e-mails were sent and sites they visited, Roehrkasse said. Recommendations are expected to be submitted to Gonzales in the next several weeks, according to another source. Data retention is a "complicated issue with implications not only for efforts to combat child pornography but also for security, privacy, safety, and availability of low-cost or free Internet services," said Microsoft senior security strategist Phil Reitinger. Google spokesman Steve Langdon said proposals by the United States and European Union on data retention "require careful review and must balance the legitimate interests of individual users, law enforcement agencies, and Internet companies." The Justice Department's chief privacy officer on Thursday met with a group of officials from rights groups including the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for American Progress, Cato Institute, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Roehrkasse said. The American Civil Liberties Union was also invited but did not attend, he said. Other Justice Department officials were meeting with victims rights groups and law enforcement groups to discuss the same issues. (Additional reporting Deborah Charles in Washington, Daisuke Wakabayashi in Seattle and Eric Auchard in San Francisco) Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Reuters, please go to: http:/telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Mark Sherman Subject: Firms Wary About Holding Customer Records Without Warrants Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 21:05:25 -0500 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is the second of three reports on this very sensitive topic in this issue. PAT] Firms wary about holding customer records By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Top U.S. law enforcement officials have told Internet companies they must retain customer records longer to help in child pornography and terrorism investigations, and they are considering asking Congress to require preservation of records. Industry representatives are expected to meet Friday with Justice Department officials, a week after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller first raised the issue with executives from several Internet service providers, including AOL, Comcast Corp., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. The subject has prompted alarm from some executives and privacy advocates, especially after Gonzales' Justice Department took Google to court earlier this year to force it to turn over information on customer searches. Civil liberties groups also have sued Verizon and other telephone companies, alleging they are working with the government to provide information without search warrants on subscriber calling records. Assistant Attorney General Rachel Brand, who attended the first meeting, said Thursday that some executives raised privacy concerns at the meeting. But she said Gonzales has not made any decisions about how to proceed and that the department would be mindful of the privacy issue. "We are looking at whether requiring longer data retention or asking ISPs to do it informally is something we want to pursue," Brand said. Mueller suggested a period of two years and said terrorism investigations also would be helped by such a rule, several people who attended the meeting said. Gonzales was focused on child pornography cases, they said. Any proposal would not call for the content of communications to be preserved, would keep the information in the companies' hands and could be obtained by the government through a subpoena or other lawful process, Brand said. Still, one Internet executive familiar with the meeting said one worry is that once retained, the records could be made available for any criminal investigation or civil case, "down to a bad divorce, up to a music company asking for people who visited a file trading site." The executive, who requested anonymity because it was private meeting and the talks were still continuing, said the industry was likely to oppose any legislation for financial, privacy and technical reasons. The department's recent clash with Google probably will make the companies more resolute in their opposition, the executive said. Several companies said they work hard to protect children online and often work with law enforcement. "But data retention is a complicated issue with implications not only for efforts to combat child pornography but also for security, privacy, safety, and availability of low-cost or free Internet services," Microsoft said in a statement. In a statement, Google said, "Any proposals related to data require careful review and must balance the legitimate interests of individual users, law enforcement agencies and Internet companies." The meetings are an outgrowth of Gonzales' interest in beefing up child porn investigations, some of which he said have been hampered by Internet companies' failure to retain records long enough. Gonzales, who first raised the issue in an April speech, did not name any companies or cases. But a Justice Department official said some of the information provided by Justin Berry, a child pornography victim who testified to Congress in April, did not lead to arrests because authorities who sought help from ISPs were told the records no longer existed. Berry criticized the department for acting too slowly on information he provided on 1,500 pedophiles. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because investigators still are looking into Berry's case. At the moment, there are no broad requirements for preservation of data, although federal authorities can request records be maintained for up to six months when they suspect a crime has been committed. Associated Press Technology Editor Matthew Fordahl contributed to this report. On the Net: Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Jon Swartz & Kevin Johnson Subject: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For two Years Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 21:11:49 -0500 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is the third report of three on the wires tonight regarding law enforcement's demands on making a requirement of two years records from ISPs. PAT] By Jon Swartz and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY Top law enforcement officials have asked leading Internet companies to keep histories of the activities of Web users for up to two years to assist in criminal investigations of child pornography and terrorism, the Justice Department said Wednesday. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and FBI Director Robert Mueller outlined their request to executives from Google, Microsoft, AOL, Comcast, Verizon and others Friday in a private meeting at the Justice Department. The department has scheduled more discussions as early as Friday. Last week's meeting was first reported by CNET, an online news service. The meetings reflect a new approach by law enforcement in anti- terrorism efforts. Previously, the Justice Department had invoked the need for data retention only to battle child pornography. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, Internet traffic has become increasingly critical to terrorism investigations, too. COMMENT: What do you think of the government's plans? Justice is not asking the companies to keep the content of e-mails, spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. It wants records such as lists of e-mail traffic and Web searches, he said. Roehrkasse said the government is required to seek proper legal authority, such as a subpoena, before obtaining the records. He said any change in the retention period would not alter that requirement. Law enforcement officials have seen investigations derailed "time and time again" because of a lack of data, Roehrkasse said. The government's request forces the companies to strike a balance between satisfying law enforcement demands and honoring the privacy of millions of customers. "The issue for us is not whether we retain data, but we want to see it done right," says Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, which represents 150 companies, primarily Internet service providers. "Our concerns are who pays for it, what data is retained, and if it is retained legally without violating federal laws and subscriber agreements." Lee Tien, a lawyer for the privacy advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation, said he was concerned. "I think that the request raises some really, really major privacy problems," he said. The Justice Department is "asking ISPs (Internet service providers) to really become an arm of the government." The request creates a logistical challenge: Most Internet providers store data such as Web searches for 30 to 90 days. Storing such information significantly longer is more expensive, McClure and others say. "We strongly support Gonzales' interest in assuring that the Internet is safe for everyone," Phil Reitinger, Microsoft's senior security strategist, said in a statement Wednesday that acknowledged the company's participation in the meeting at Justice. "But data retention is a complicated issue." "We believe (data retention and preservation) proposals deserve careful review and must consider the legitimate interests of individual users, law enforcement agencies, and Internet companies," Google spokesman Steve Langdon said Wednesday. Gonzales broached the issue of record retention in April during a speech at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va. Gonzales, who has made fighting child exploitation a prominent part of the national law enforcement agenda, said the pursuit of child predators depends on the availability of evidence often in the hands of ISPs. This isn't the first time Gonzales has gone to Internet companies with a request related to their records. In March, a federal judge ordered Google to hand over Web search records requested by Justice as part of its efforts to shield children from sexually explicit material online. Google balked at an earlier request, saying it would expose trade secrets. AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft cooperated with the government, but they said their assistance was limited and users' privacy was not violated. Contributing: William M. Welch Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2006-05-31-internet-records_x.htm?csp=34 NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and stories from USA Today, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I dunno about you, but I think if there was ever a good time to begin using anonymous proxies and/or very strong encryption, now is that time. PAT] ------------------------------ From: 3 - The Dale Earnhardt Story Subject: Norvergence as of 6/01/06, Anything New??? Date: 1 Jun 2006 13:19:28 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com This may be old to many, but not to me. Does anyone out there have any information they may be able to share on Norvergence? I don't care if it's about the bankruptcy, the Salzanos, the other executives, etc. Any new news will be appreciated. I still say, if it could happen to Enron, it could happen to Norvergence. ------------------------------ From: ab5cvjl@yahoo.com Subject: Google Blogspot Domestic IP Address Blocking Confirmed Date: 1 Jun 2006 12:59:39 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I discovered, thanks to Google, a sourced report, http://www.cotse.com/20060516.html , that Google is blocking domestic IP addresses. "Google owns Blogspot and has blocked users of our privacy service from accessing Blogspot." Per its site, cotse operates a service similar to secure tunnel and anonymizer. I have heard it is popular in China. It is not hard to see why Google Blogspot would do this. In connection with Blogspot blocking in Ethiopia and Pakistan, several bloggers have noted that these proxy services provide a way around censorship, including posting. Google, in its never ending effort to support censoring governments, is blocking a path by which people could access and post information despite the blocks. But what Google has done here goes beyond helping repressive foreign governments keep information from their own people. It is now censoring Americans, who are the primary users of these services, from accessing Blogspot who seek to preserve their privacy in reading blogs, like they do when they read a newspaper. By blocking access to Americans, Google is not only inteferring with American's rights to privacy, it is violating the rights of Californians, Google's home state, where the State Constution explicitly declares a right of privacy of its citizens. ------------------------------ From: Paul A Lee Subject: Re: RTV in Phone Jack Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 15:54:40 -0400 In TELECOM Digest V25 #206, sawney beane wrote (in part): > Outside, I found that one of the contacts on his plug was=0D > invisible. There appeared to be unpigmented RTV in the jack. =0D > It had the physical characteristics of RTV when I scraped it=0D > off the plug. That restored his service. He said the=0D > crackling he'd had for two months was gone. > Bellsouth will annoy me with useless telemarketing day after=0D > day, so I don't know how they think. Could Bellsouth be=0D > injecting RTV into phone jacks because they think it's=0D > preventive maintenance or to create more service calls? Some carriers use gel-filled jacks outside (at the demarc/NID) in coastal or tropical areas where high humidity and temperature tend to corrode connections. The gel helps exclude moisture and oxygen to prevent corrosion that degrades electrical connections. The stuff I've encountered is similar or identical to the gel filling in so-called "ickyPIC" cable and serves a similar purpose. Like the stuff in the cable, I suppose the gel in the jack could congeal and/or migrate over time. It shouldn't have disrupted the connection all by itself. Maybe the BellSouth tech unplugged the prem wiring plug for testing, and the congealed gel prevented the jack contact "whisker" from mating to the= plug contact when she plugged it back in. I'd tend to discount the "conspiracy theory", though ... Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer Rite Aid Corporation WP-IS-COM (Telecomm) V: +1 717 791-6408 5280 Simpson Ferry Rd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 F: +1 717 791-6406 P.O. Box 3165, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3165 C: +1 717 805-6208 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 01 Jun 2006 19:42:07 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Why the Democratic Ethic of Web May Be About to Die TELECOM Digest Editor noted in a response, then hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have often times wondered why people >> like Tim Berners-Lee (credited as the 'inventor' of the World Wide Web) >> did not think far enough ahead in the middle-late 1980's to slap some >> very firm controls on how _his_ product could be permissibly used by >> people in generations to follow. ... >> Somehow I think -- and I do not mean this in an unkind way -- >> he shared in the naive notions that so many of the early computer >> pioneers; that people were basically good and decent and all that. > It isn't so much an issue of "good and evil" but rather a limited > understanding of human nature. > There are many college professors who are in an "ivory tower" and > disconnected with how the real world operates. Many college > communities are a select group of people admitted because of high > academic skills brought together for a common cause of study. The > human interaction in such a world is not the same as interactions > elsewhere. (Of course, not all colleges are like this.) > In the real world, unlike college, people have many different agendas. > It's not so much of a question of "good or evil", but rather Joe wants > a quick answer right now while Sam wants to experiment with different > stuff while Tony wants to sell things while Henry wants things for > free. Without a set of rules, these differences clash. What continues to amaze me is that a lot of folks think that some things really are free. The just don't get that someone has to pay for the building, electric bills, heating costs, paving the parking lot, repairing the roof leak, etc ... much less the time (initially and ongoing) to maintain that fiber Internet connection to the rest of the world. Or even just to other colleges. But then again there are a LOT of folks who think that government money grows on trees in some secret treasury orchard. :) Anyone who doesn't know the meaning of TTSTAAFL should Google it and then read the story and think long and hard about the meaning of the term. > Unfortunately, in the real world, there is greater evil than in college > and that, as Pat described, is a serious problem. > Frankly, I'm not too sympathetic to the Internet's early developers. > Way back when I was in high school and we shared but a single > Teletype, various human behaviors came out loud and clear among our > little group. Accordingly, our teacher established rules for the > computer room. It was clear structure was needed to deal with human > realities. It was also clear a technical structure was required to > (1) deal with human realities and (2) deal with innocent mistakes that > could screw up the computer or other people's work. > In any human interaction, there are formal and informal rules of > behavior. The problem with the Internet was that the rules of > academia did not apply in the real world. What would be considered > unpardonably rude and unacceptable in college was commonplace in the > greater anonymous real world. It's a problem through out all of the US and much of the developed world just now. For some reason folks can't accept that other folks don't see the universe like them and "why can't the just get it". > An excellent example of this disconnect is during WW II when numerous > scientists worked for the Army to develop the atomic bomb. The > scientists were genuises in nuclear theory, after all, they developed > a very complex set of rules for something that can't even be seen or > measured directly. (How does one calculate the mass of an electron, > proton, neutron? How does one even discover such particles?) But the > scientists were utterly clueless in turning that theory into working > units like nuclear reactors and practical weapons in a reasonable > period of time. They hated their tough army general, Leslie Groves. > But Groves got them to be productive. (See "Now It Can Be Told" by > Groves, a very good book on organizational behavior). Oppenheimer at first thought he'd need 100 folks. He was off by what, a factor of 40? > Another example is how FDR's academic based "brain trust" was unable to > develop efficient high industrial production needed for WW II. FDR had > to replace the professors with men borrowed from industry who knew how > to get the job done. There was considerable friction in that too. ------------------------------ From: John Mayson Subject: Cell Phone Towers in U.S. Parks Dial Up Debate Date: 1 Jun 2006 13:11:42 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com "The jarring ring of a cell phone deep in the wilderness is many a nature lover's worst nightmare." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/060531-cell-phones.html?source=rss I visited Big Bend National Park in 2004. One of the things I loved most about the area was neither cell phones nor pagers worked. There were also no radio or TV stations. It was paradise! John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #208 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Jun 2 13:55:04 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 1698A14EC8; Fri, 2 Jun 2006 13:55:04 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #209 Message-Id: <20060602175504.1698A14EC8@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 13:55:04 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Jun 2006 13:58:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 209 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Phishing Scam Takes Aim at MySpace.com (Jeremy Kirk, IDG) The Risk of Misplaced Myspace Hysteria (Andrew Brandt) Phishermen are Trolling MySpace for Victims (tedrichardson9925) On Point: Net Neutrality (Monty Solomon) Cell Phone Outages During Disasters (Lee Sweet) Cellular-News: Friday 2nd June 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - June 2, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Re: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For Two Years (John Hines) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeremy Kirk Subject: Phishing Scam Takes Aim at MySpace.com Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 11:43:19 -0500 Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service A phishing site that harvested the login and credentials of MySpace.com users was removed as of Friday from a California server, a security vendor reported. A phishing attack involves tricking users into visiting a look-a-like Web page that asks for personal information, which is then sent to a hacker. The rich trove of personal information stored on MySpace user pages is making the social networking site an increasing attractive target for identity theft, said Ross Paul, a senior product manager at Websense, which makes security software. Spreading Via IM The attack would not have been noticed by most users, Paul said. The attack starts when a user is sent a link through an instant messaging program. The link is from someone in their contact lists, asking them to click the link to MySpace to view photos, Paul said. The link leads to a fraudulent MySpace login page. Once the victim enters their information, they are then transparently logged into the real MySpace pages, Paul said. But a hacker then has access to personal information stored by MySpace, such as someone's address and birthday, which could be used to open a bank account, Paul said. A hacker can also tap other instant messaging contacts or e-mail addresses who send out the link to the phishing site, which often is done using automated programs. "The rising popularity of this kind of meeting place is obviously increasing the potential for financial gain," Paul said. "The more information you give MySpace, the more at risk you would be if someone managed to get a hold of your login information." MySpace, started in 2004 and bought by News Corp. last year, counts at least 73 million users and is growing. MySpace's "viral" networking model allows friends of friend to easily connect, but sexual predators have also used its features to meet underage victims. As a result, MySpace appointed a chief security officer in April and implemented careful page monitoring. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. ------------------------------ From: Andrew Brandt Subject: The Risk of Misplaced Myspace Hysteria Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 11:42:12 -0500 Posted by Andrew Brandt Last week, many of us read about yet another incident involving MySpace, the social networking site that has become so popular with teens and tweens. In the latest news, one teen was arrested and twenty were suspended from school after taking part in a MySpace "community" called I Hate [another student's name], in which the arrested teen posted a blog item about shooting the subject of the blog in the face with a shotgun. The same student also made anti-semitic remarks in other postings. In this case, this was entirely the correct action to take. School districts are a lot better at identifying Columbine-esque warning signs, and they're not sitting idly by while students write harassing and threatening things on blog pages about their fellow students. These students were way out of line, and need to learn a hard lesson about online misbehavior and consequences in the flesh-and-blood world. But I see another danger here: Knee-jerk parental reactions shutting down a line of communication between parent and child. I heard it from the very first caller to a talk radio show I participated in last Friday (RealAudio stream, Real player required), and I read vitually the same thing from the very first commenter to the blog item Ramon McLeod posted on Friday. The reaction I'm talking about goes (approximately) as follows: As soon as I found out what some kids do on MySpace, I scolded my kid(s)/took the computer away and said they couldn't ever go back there. Sarcasm alert: Yeah, that strategy always works. Kids couldn't just use the computers at school or at friends' homes. Seriously, I'm not out to minimize or mock a parent's (or a teacher's or a school administrator's) desire to protect children. These parents are freaked out because, well, sexual predators may actually know more about their kids' online activities than they do. But, people, ask yourselves: Is that the kid's fault? What's the parent's responsibility to, you know, be even peripherally aware of what their kids are doing online, not to mention (gasp) teach them right from wrong? And is throwing down the gauntlet and building a wall around your kids always the best way to protect them? Schools have a role to play here, too. The almost ubiquitous presence of computers in the classroom seem to beg for a curriculum about both online dangers and responsible computer use, something that addresses the "why" questions. These kids who love MySpace aren't just shouting across the playground. They are becoming publishers, every single one, with access to a potential audience of millions around the world. As such, we need to teach them what it means to be a publisher, and how to avoid getting into trouble. But knee-jerk reactions are even more prevalent in some schools among administrators: In one notable recent case, a teacher was suspended and "escorted from the building" after the broadcast journalism group she supervises produced a hard-hitting segment about the dangers of MySpace. Think about that: She helped teach an entire school about cybersafety, in a way that engaged and motivated students...and was severely punished for it. Parents, schools, and the people who run MySpace have a tremendous opportunity here. The publicity about the dangers of, for instance, kids posting lurid, but make-believe, details about their lives could lead to a great discussion about how online sexual predators operate -- and how to protect yourself by not posting personal details about your school, birthday, bar-hopping habits, or anything else that could help a predator find victims. There are terrific resources out there that can grease the wheels for such a conversation. A whole generation of both kids and adults don't understand Internet safety topics that are, in essence, the online equivalent of 'look both ways before you cross the road' and 'don't talk to strangers.' The adults' ignorance has made them fearful, and that fear leads to irrational decisions being made -- to lock kids away from the Internet, to suspend teachers who broach the subject of improper behavior online -- in the name of ... what? Safety? I worry that this trend could deal a crushing blow the possibility of constructive dialogue between kids and adults about safety, online and offline. My challenge to those folks is: prove me wrong. ------------------------------ From: tedrichardson9925@sbcglobal.net Subject: Phishermen are Trolling MySpace for Victims Date: 2 Jun 2006 06:11:58 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The Phishermen are now trolling the MySpace waters, along with other cyber scum types hoping to lure victims. http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/2006/06/phishermen-are-trolling-myspace-for.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is a very good, very useful blog detailing efforts being taken in the battle of fraud using internet as a way to rip people off. I strongly suggest you review http://fraudwar.blogspot.com PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 1 Jun 2006 23:25:48 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: On Point: Net Neutrality Net Neutrality http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2006/06/20060601_a_main.asp Aired: Thursday, June 01, 2006 10-11AM ET By host Tom Ashbrook: There's a battle royale raging over the future of the worldwide web and the Internet right now, and it's all about money and the egalitarian spirit of the web. From the beginning, and by design, the web has been a come-one-come-all public square, where little bloggers and pipsqueak web sites could go nose-to- nose with the big guys. Now, the big corporations who bring the Internet to your home and office want to charge big bucks for priority on the pipes that deliver the online world. That would favor the kind of big companies that already dominate radio, TV and cable. And maybe squeeze out the little guy. Critics are screaming bloody murder, and demanding "net neutrality." Hear about money, democracy and the battle for the heart of the web. Guests Adam Cohen, member of the editorial board of the New York Times, author of "The Perfect Store: Inside eBAY" Scott Cleland, chairman of http://netcompetition.org Michael Grebb, contributing editor for Wired News. Lawrence Lessig, professor of law at Stanford University, founder of school's Center for Internet and Society. Alan Davidson, Washington Policy Counsel for Google. Copyright 2006 Trustees of Boston University. All Rights Reserved http://www.onpointradio.org/shows/2006/06/20060601_a_main.asp mms://realserver.bu.edu:554/w/b/wbur/onpoint/2006/06/op_0601a.wma http://realserver.bu.edu:8080/ramgen/w/b/wbur/onpoint/2006/06/op_0601a.rm ------------------------------ From: Lee Sweet Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:16:45 -0400 Subject: Cell Phone Outages During Disasters This may have been covered here last fall at the time of Katrina or perhaps even before, but the topic came up for us recently as we're doing some Disaster Recovery planning and I didn't recall the answer. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9120503/ Is it true that roaming cell phones can't work independently of resources in the home market? I would have assumed that the databases they need to refer to make outgoing calls (and perhaps the ones for inbound calls to be redirected to them in another market) wouldn't be centralized in the phone's home market, but be located elsewhere. For instance, perhaps Verizon Wireless would have one or more of these database resources around its coverage area, not one for each home market where it's prone to damage in a disaster. Pointers appreciated! Lee Sweet Datatel, Inc. Senior Telephony and Communications Specialist How higher education does business. Voice: 703-968-4661 Cell: 703-850-2385 Fax: 703-968-4625 lee@datatel.com www.datatel.com ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Friday 2nd June 2006 Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 07:10:56 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ Financial ]] Russia's VimpelCom withdraws proposal to buy Ukraine's Kyivstar http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17633.php Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom has withdrawn its proposal to both Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor and Russia's Altimo, the telecommunications arm of Alfa Group, to acquire 100% in Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivs... Micron, Sprint Nextel Join Corporate Venture Capital Wave http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17636.php Micron Technology and Sprint Nextel have launched the latest in a recent flurry of corporate forays into the venture capital world. But rather than seeking a quick buck as many entrants did during the Internet bubble, these new efforts are intended t... Ukraine's Astelit says revenue soars on year in Jan-Apr http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17641.php The revenue of Ukrainian mobile operator Astelit rose to 111.661 million hryvnas in January-April from 18.115 million hryvnas in January-April 2005, the company said in a report sent to regulators Thursday. ... Telenor says still interested in VimpelCom Kyivstar deal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17642.php Norwegian telecom operator Telenor ASA Thursday said it understands Vimpel Communication's decision not to extend its offer to purchase Kyivstar, but will continue to seek Altimo's agreement to enable talks to go forward. ... [[ Handsets ]] Venko, Teikon launch mobile phones from Rio Grande do Sul factory http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17639.php Brazilian handset manufacturers Venko and Teikon launched their first mobile phones assembled at their new factory in southern Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state on May 30, local newspapers reported. ... Nokia: Vertu luxury range to hit LatAm within two years http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17640.php Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia plans to launch its Vertu luxury phone range in certain Latin American countries over the next two years, regional press reported Vertu's CEO Alberto Torres as saying. ... Dolce & Gabbana Restyle a Motorola Handset http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17646.php Motorola and the fashion house, Dolce & Gabbana have unveiled a new RAZR V3i Dolce & Gabbana handset, the latest collaboration which unites the RAZR design together with Dolce & Gabbana's signature style for consumers across the world.... [[ Industry News ]] Emergency Telecoms Provided for Indonesian Earthquake http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17645.php Following the Indonesian earthquake at the weekend, the communications charity, Telecoms Sans Frontieres has sent a delegation to assist in providing emergency telecoms services to aid workers and displaced people who want to call worried relatives. ... [[ Messaging ]] Aicent Claims 100 MMS Interconnections http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17643.php Aicent has announced that it has reached a significant milestone by offering the largest number of destinations for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) exchange among global mobile operators. As of yesterday, over 100 operator destinations are already... [[ Mobile Content ]] Microsoft To Offer Messenger For DoCoMo Soon - Sources http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17630.php Microsoft will release a version of its Windows Live Messenger application for use on NTT DoCoMo mobile phones "very soon," sources at Microsoft say. ... China's BREW Service Market Size Dropped in Q1 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17644.php China's Analysys International has reported that China's CRBT service market continues to decrease, the total market size had dropped 5% quarterly to reach US$6.1 million in the first quarter of 2006. The continuously sluggish condition has formed a ... [[ Network Operators ]] European Mobile Operators To Lower Roaming Tariffs http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17631.php Six mobile phone operators in Europe have Thursday agreed to halve the price of average wholesale roaming tariffs. ... Russia's Start Telecom to start construction of WiMAX network http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17632.php Russian telecommunications operator Start Telecom plans to start the construction of a WiMAX network soon, which is projected to operate in five cities by the end of this year, the company's Executive Director Pavel Kaplunov said, Vedomosti business ... [[ Personnel ]] Claro unit denies CEO reshuffle http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17637.php Brazilian mobile phone company Claro denied it has carried out a CEO reshuffle. ... [[ Regulatory ]] EU To Impose Roaming Rules Despite Industry Price Cuts http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17634.php The European Commission will go ahead with a proposed regulation to slash mobile phone roaming tarrifs despite operators' offer to voluntarily cut prices, spokesman Martin Selmayr said Thursday. ... [[ Reports ]] O2 Tops UK Customer Care Survey http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17648.php O2 ranks highest in customer satisfaction with mobile telephone service in both the pre-pay and contract service sectors, according to a J.D. Power and Associates study. Among pre-pay providers, O2 ranks highest with an overall index score of 738 poi... Multimedia Services Demand Urgent Planning for Expanded Backhaul Capacity http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17649.php The growth of mobile data and multimedia services over high-bandwidth 3G networks has mobile operators, traditional wireline carriers, and cable companies alike preparing to make critical choices in an effort to expand the capacity of cellular networ... [[ Statistics ]] Belarusian GSM operator BeST?s user base at 8,500 as of Jun 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17635.php The subscriber base of state-controlled Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, rose 13.3% in May to 8,500 users as of June 1, the company said in a press release Thursday. ... April figures suggest 29 million mobile lines by year-end http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17638.php The Argentine mobile market should grow to more than 29 million lines in service by year-end if the current monthly growth rate persists. ... [[ Technology ]] Motorola Buys TTPCom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17647.php Motorola is paying US$193 million to buy the UK based TTP Communications. TTPCom, is focused on the three core areas of mobile phone technology - applications, protocols, and silicon. The TTPCom business was founded in 1988 and has approximately 575 ... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 12:12:31 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Friday, June 2, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For June 2, 2006 ******************************** Customer Self-Care: Sharpening the Competitive Edge http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18209?11228 Customer self-care technology is moving into the spotlight, not just for the money it can save service providers, as important as that is, but also because it can be an important tool in customer retention in an increasingly competitive environment. The acquisition of Switchmaxx, a division of Phonetics LC, by CopperCom Inc., a provider... Several European Mobile Phone Operators Agree To Halve Roaming Costs http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18207?11228 LONDON -- Several European mobile phone operators, including Germany's T-Mobile and Britain's Orange, said that they have agreed to halve the price of making and receiving calls from abroad. The group of companies, which also includes Italy's Wind SpA and Telecom Italia SpA, Norway's Telenor SA and Sweden's TeliaSonera Corp., said... Russian Mobile Operator Vimpelcom Withdraws Offer for Ukrainian Telecom http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18205?11228 MOSCOW -- Russia's second-largest mobile phone operator said Thursday it had withdrawn its offer to buy leading Ukrainian telecommunications company Kyivstar. The announcement by OAO Vimpel Communications is the latest chapter in a running dispute between Vimpelcom's two primary shareholders -- Norway's Telenor ASA and... Verizon Wireless to Give SMS a Voice http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/18204?11228 Verizon Wireless is among several carriers planning to launch services that let subscribers send text messages from wireless phones to landline phones. Sources at the company behind the technology, Telemessage Inc., say Verizon Wireless will use Telemessage's SMS product to convert typed text messages into audio messages that play to a... Growing Pains in Off-Portal World http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/18202?11228 Navigating the complex and fragmented wireless content ecosystem can be a challenge for any company. But for small application developers that typically lack manpower and wireless industry acumen, this can be an overwhelming task. In the early days of mobile content, many of the small developers gravitated toward content application... Motorola Snaps up TTP http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18200?11228 Motorola signed a deal to acquire TTP Communications, a software developer for 3G applications. Motorola has agreed to pay $192 million in cash for the British entity. A Motorola wholly-owned subsidiary will acquire TTPCom under the terms of the deal, which will give Motorola access to TTPCom's AJAR mobile operating system. In February,... Vonage Demands IPO Subscribers Pay Up http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18199?11228 Vonage's IPO disaster took a new twist as the company issued a statement that it is going to demand that those of its VoIP subscribers who bought into the IPO pay up and eat their losses. Meanwhile, Vonage shares continued the death spiral they started immediately after the $17 per share IPO, and had plunged to less than $12 at the close... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For two Years Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 10:06:36 -0500 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org Jon Swartz & Kevin Johnson wrote: > Top law enforcement officials have asked leading Internet companies to That is a key, it is a REQUEST, because the justice department doesn't want to go to congress for a law requiring it. They are hoping the use of child porn, and terrorism will get companies to do this on their own. I'm sure any company expressing anything less than total enthusiasm will be vilified in the press for aiding and abetting. If I had something to say, this is where I'd say it. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: One thing police (my generic phrase for government in general) strongly rely on is their cheering squad of fools on issues like child porn, terrorism, etc. Without that cheering squad constantly making a ruckus and a lot of noise, people might be able to think _logically_ on these social issues and (gasp! god forbid!) reach some independent conclusions different than police 'wisdom'. Why, (gasp! god forbid!) enough independent thinkers might lead us back to the original ideals, of government _by_ the people and _for_ the people, rather than government by and for the police, as is now the situation. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management (MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35 credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including data, video, and voice networks. The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. The program has state-of-the-art lab facilities on the Stillwater and Tulsa campus offering hands-on learning to enhance the program curriculum. Classes are available in Stillwater, Tulsa, or through distance learning. Please contact Jay Boyington for additional information at 405-744-9000, mstm-osu@okstate.edu, or visit the MSTM web site at http://www.mstm.okstate.edu ************************ In addition, gifts from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert have enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #209 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Jun 2 21:24:47 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C074D15333; Fri, 2 Jun 2006 21:24:46 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #210 Message-Id: <20060603012446.C074D15333@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 21:24:46 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, FREE_ACCESS,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 2 Jun 2006 21:27:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 210 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Wen Ho Lee Settles Privacy Lawsuit (Mark Sherman) Net2Phone Sues Skype For Patent Infringment (Reuters News Wire) Free Access to Online Books This Summer(Dave Carpenter) Verizon Debuts Interactive Features For FiOS (USTelecom dailyLead) Telecom Update #532, June 2, 2006 (Angus TeleManagement Group) Cellphone Filmmakers (kshag5@yahoo.com) EPIC Alert 13.11 (Monty Solomon) Re: RTV in Phone Jack (sawney beane) Re: The Risk of Misplaced Myspace Hysteria (Lisa Hancock) Re: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For two Years (Gordon Burditt) Re: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For two Years (Lisa Hancock) Re: Google Blogspot Domestic IP Address Blocking Confirmed (Barry Margolin) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Sherman Subject: Wen Ho Lee Settles Privacy Lawsuit Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 19:40:00 -0500 By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Wen Ho Lee, the former nuclear weapons scientist once suspected of being a spy, settled his privacy lawsuit Friday and will receive $1.6 million from the government and five news organizations in a case that turned into a fight over reporters' confidential sources. Lee will receive $895,000 from the government for legal fees and associated taxes in the 6 1/2-year-old lawsuit in which he accused the Energy and Justice departments of violating his privacy rights by leaking information that he was under investigation as a spy for China. The Associated Press and four other news organizations have agreed to pay Lee $750,000 as part of the settlement, which ends contempt of court proceedings against five reporters who refused to disclose the sources of their stories about the espionage investigation. Lee said of the settlement: "We are hopeful that the agreements reached today will send the strong message that government officials and journalists must and should act responsibly in discharging their duties and be sensitive to the privacy interests afforded to every citizen of this country." The payment by AP, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and ABC is the only one of its kind in recent memory, and perhaps ever, legal and media experts said. The companies said they agreed to the sum to forestall jail sentences for their reporters, even larger payments in the form of fines and the prospect of revealing confidential sources. The companies and their reporters were not defendants in the privacy lawsuit. "We were reluctant to contribute anything to this settlement, but we sought relief in the courts and found none," the companies said. "Given the rulings of the federal courts in Washington and the absence of a federal shield law, we decided this was the best course to protect our sources and to protect our journalists." The statement noted that the accuracy of the reporting itself was not challenged. The government agencies did not admit that they had violated Lee's privacy rights. Betsy Miller, one of Lee's lawyers, said the payments show "that both the government and the journalists knew that they had significant exposure had this case gone to trial." Lee was fired from his job at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, but he was never charged with espionage. He was held in solitary confinement for nine months, then released in 2000 after pleading guilty to mishandling computer files. A judge apologized for Lee's treatment. Two federal judges held the reporters in contempt for refusing to reveal their sources to Lee. The journalists had argued that he could obtain the information elsewhere. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer signed an order Friday vacating the contempt proceedings against the reporters, H. Josef Hebert of The Associated Press, James Risen of The New York Times, Bob Drogin of the Los Angeles Times, Walter Pincus of The Washington Post, and Pierre Thomas, formerly of CNN and now working for ABC News. CNN, in a separate statement, said it declined to join in the settlement "because we had a philosophical disagreement over whether it was appropriate to pay money to Wen Ho Lee or anyone else to get out from under a subpoena." The reporters had appealed the contempt rulings to the Supreme Court. The justices recently delayed a decision on whether to take up the reporters' case after being told a settlement was near. Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, called the payment unusual and perhaps unprecedented. "I'm certainly not happy about this, but I'm not sure I could have dreamed up a better result," Dalglish said. "On the positive side, it appears that this result will allow these reporters to continue to protect their sources." The settlement underscores the need for a federal law that would shield reporters from having to disclose their sources, she said. On the Net: Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov Energy Department: http://www.energy.gov Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: htp://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Net2Phone Sues Skype For Patent Infringement Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 19:42:12 -0500 Net2Phone, the Internet telephone unit of IDT Corp. has filed a lawsuit against eBay Inc.'s Skype Internet telephone unit, accusing the unit of infringing a Net2Phone patent. The suit, filed late on Thursday at a federal court in Newark, New Jersey, claims that Skype's computer-to-computer Internet telephone service infringes Net2Phone's patent number '704. It is seeking a permanent injunction and damages. An IDT spokesman said he would not comment beyond the lawsuit and a representative from eBay was not immediately available for comment. IDT bought Net2Phone in February. (Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in San Francisco) Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Dave Carpenter Subject: Free Access to Online Books Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 19:43:49 -0500 By DAVE CARPENTER, AP Business Writer Electronic book devotees may want to set aside some extra screen time this summer, as two nonprofits are preparing to provide free access to 300,000 texts online. Project Gutenberg and World eBook Library plan to make "a third of a million" e-books available free for a month at the first World eBook Fair. Downloads will be available at the fair's Web site from July 4, the 35th anniversary of Project Gutenberg's founding, through Aug. 4. The majority of the books will be contributed by the World eBook Library. It otherwise charges $8.95 a year for access to its database of more than 250,000 e-books, documents and articles. But the book fair won't be the last chance for e-bookworms to devour works ranging from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" to "Old Indian Legends," not to mention dictionaries and thesauruses, without paying for them. Project Gutenberg founder Michael Hart, who first announced the ambitious plan a month ago, said Friday the partners are on track to make 1 million books available for the annual fair's one-month run in 2009, with more appearing in subsequent years. About 100,000, he said, will be permanently available at the handful of Project Gutenberg sites on the Internet. "We want to give the most books to the most people," the 59-year-old Hart said by phone from Urbana, where he established the project in 1971 after graduating from the University of Illinois. "It has been our goal since the dawn of the Internet to break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy." The Gutenberg books, typed and scanned into computers by thousands of volunteers, mostly are those that are no longer protected by copyright. They include fiction, nonfiction and reference books and will be available for worldwide readers in about 100 languages. While the commercial e-book market remains tiny, Hart said electronic books have "caught on without getting a lot of publicity" and are being widely read on handheld computers, cell phones and even special programs for use on iPods. "These people that grew up on GameBoys -- to them a GameBoy screen is the standard size," he said. "To us old folks, it's too small. But they don't care." Based on fast-increasing demand, he predicted there will be 10 million e-books available by 2020. "I've gotten notes from people who said they would have never, ever read Shakespeare if I hadn't put it on the Internet," Hart said. On the Net: http://gutenberg.org http://worldebookfair.com Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 12:49:05 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Verizon Debuts Interactive Features for FiOS USTelecom dailyLead June 2, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dLbEfDtuteqccpLLMt TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon debuts interactive features for FiOS BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * EarthLink bets on muni Wi-Fi as growth engine * Spinoff Embarq to launch advertising blitz * LBS poised to enter mainstream * Vonage IPO customers may have avenue to seek damages, sell back shares USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Stay on top of IPTV, Network Security, IMS, Ethernet, IPv6 and more TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * DVB-H about to go live in Italy VOIP DOWNLOAD * Skype offers users free conference calls * Global Crossing takes wraps off VoIP VPN * VoIP drives Q1 growth in CMTS revenue REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * McDowell joins FCC, creating Republican majority Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dLbEfDtuteqccpLLMt ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 11:00:04 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #532, June 2, 2006 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 532: June 2, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.com/canada/telecom/ ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Three Telcos Reduce Local Rates ** OnStar Partners With Bell Mobility ** Aliant Expands High-Speed Wireless ** CRTC Modifies Interconnection Rules ** Cogeco to Buy Portuguese Cableco ** Bell Cellphones Join Missing Child Program ** Inukshuk Seeks Internet Learning Proposals ** Persona Third-Party Tariff Approved ** Telecom Regulatory Fees Increase ** Minacs Names New Chair ** SaskTel Upgrading Network for TV ** SR Telecom Names New CFO ** Telecom Summit Opens June 12 ** Hall of Fame Dinner Planned ============================================================ THREE TELCOS REDUCE LOCAL RATES: CRTC Telecom Order 2006-134 approves residential rate reductions by Bell Canada, MTS Allstream, and SaskTel, effective June 1. The rate cuts eliminate most or all recurring inflows to their deferral accounts. (See Telecom Update #517) ** Bell's individual, two-, and four-line residential rates are down $.65/mo. Other reductions affect rates for Call Waiting, Visual Call Waiting, and the Mini Messaging Pack. ** MTS's residential rates in Bands A, B, and C are reduced to $23.85. Call Display is cut $.90. ** SaskTel's residential rates in Regina, Saskatoon, Estevan, Moose Jaw, North Battleford, Prince Albert, Swift Current, Weyburn, and Yorkton are reduced by $.46/month. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Orders/2006/o2006-134.htm ONSTAR PARTNERS WITH BELL MOBILITY: Owners of equipped General Motors vehicles can now use their OnStar hardware as a Bell Mobility cellphone; and Bell Mobility customers can use their cellphones to get OnStar emergency response service, even if they don't drive GM cars. ** "Bell Minute Sharing with OnStar" costs $18/month in addition to regular cellphone and OnStar charges. Usage charges appear on the cellphone bill under the customers' existing calling plan. ALIANT EXPANDS HIGH-SPEED WIRELESS: Aliant has extended its EV-DO high-speed wireless service to Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton, NB; Charlottetown, PEI; and St. John's, NL. The service was launched in Halifax in February. (See Telecom Update #518) CRTC MODIFIES INTERCONNECTION RULES: CRTC Telecom Decision 2006-35 further simplifies the interconnection arrangements between local carriers, reducing the number of Local Interconnection Regions in Canada from 337 to 182 (see Telecom Update #442). http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-35.htm COGECO TO BUY PORTUGUESE CABLECO: Cogeco Cable has agreed to buy Cabovisao, Portugal's second-largest cableco, for 465 million euros (about $650 million). Cabovisao has 264,000 TV and 217,000 telephony subscribers. BELL CELLPHONES JOIN MISSING CHILD PROGRAM: Bell Mobility customers in Ontario can now register to receive AMBER Alerts from the Ontario Provincial Police by text messaging and email. To register for the emergency missing child announcements, go to www.bell.ca/amberalert. INUKSHUK SEEKS INTERNET LEARNING PROPOSALS: Inukshuk Wireless has called for proposals that focus on enhancing content or connectivity related to learning and the Internet. The company says $3 million in funding is available: for information, visit www.inukshuk.ca. PERSONA THIRD-PARTY TARIFF APPROVED: CRTC Telecom Decision 2006-36 gives interim approval to the third-party Internet access tariff filed by cableco Persona Communications in January (see Telecom Update #516). Provisions are temporarily suspended for ISPs who are already connected to Persona's network, pending resolution of some remaining issues. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-36.htm TELECOM REGULATORY FEES INCREASE: The CRTC's cost of regulating telecom in 2005-6 was $25.2 million, $1.2 million of which was not recovered from fees paid by carriers. The shortfall will be added to the coming year's fees, bringing the 2006-7 total to $26.6 million. MINACS NAMES NEW CHAIR: Minacs Worldwide has named former New Brunswick finance minister Norman Betts as Chair of the Board. Andrea Minacs, daughter of the company's founder, the late Elaine Minacs, has joined the board to provide "continued representation of Minacs' largest shareholder." (See Telecom Update #530) SASKTEL UPGRADING NETWORK FOR TV: As part of its Next Generation Access Infrastructure initiative, SaskTel will pay Alcatel $35 million for routers, Ethernet switches, fiber-to-the-node technology, and system management to support high definition TV at speeds of up to 40 Mbps. SR TELECOM NAMES NEW CFO: SR Telecom has appointed Marc Girard, formerly with Aeroplan, Quebecor, and BCE, as Senior VP and CFO, effective August 15. He replaces interim CFO Peter Campbell. ** SR will hold its annual meeting in Laval on Tuesday, June 8. TELECOM SUMMIT OPENS JUNE 12: The Canadian Telecom Summit will take place in Toronto June 12-14. Speakers include Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier, CRTC Chair Charles Dalfen, and the CEOs of Avaya, BCE, MTS Allstream, Telus, and Videotron. http://www.gstconferences.com HALL OF FAME DINNER PLANNED: Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame will hold its second Telecom Laureate Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner on Monday, October 16, at The Carlu in Toronto. The 2006 Laureates will be announced at a press conference in Montreal in September. ** This year's Hall of Fame Selections Committee is chaired by David Colville, past Vice-Chair of the CRTC. Other members include Francoise Bertrand, past Chair of the CRTC, Carol Stephenson, Dean of the Ivey School of Business, and Lis Angus, co-editor of Telecom Update. http://www.telecomhall.ca ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web late Friday afternoon each week at http://www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2006 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ============================================================ ------------------------------ From: kshag5@yahoo.com Subject: Cellphone Filmmakers Date: 2 Jun 2006 16:16:38 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Check out http://www.Cellphonefilmmaking.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 19:32:04 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 13.11 ======================================================================== E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================== Volume 13.11 June 2, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_13.11.html ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== [1] Coalition Calls for HIPAA Compliance Review of Veterans Affairs [2] European Court Blocks Passenger Data Transfer [3] Supreme Court Rules Against Whistleblower [4] EPIC Urges Privacy Safeguards for Traveler Database [5] Gen. Michael Hayden Sworn in as CIA Director [6] News in Brief [7] EPIC Bookstore: Goldsmith and Wu: "Who Controls the Internet?" [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_13.11.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 14:59:46 -0400 From: sawney beane Subject: Re: RTV in Phone Jack Paul A Lee wrote: > In TELECOM Digest V25 #206, sawney beane > wrote (in part): >> Outside, I found that one of the contacts on his plug was=0D >> invisible. There appeared to be unpigmented RTV in the jack. =0D >> It had the physical characteristics of RTV when I scraped it=0D >> off the plug. That restored his service. He said the=0D >> crackling he'd had for two months was gone. >> Bellsouth will annoy me with useless telemarketing day after=0D >> day, so I don't know how they think. Could Bellsouth be=0D >> injecting RTV into phone jacks because they think it's=0D >> preventive maintenance or to create more service calls? > Some carriers use gel-filled jacks outside (at the demarc/NID) in > coastal or tropical areas where high humidity and temperature tend > to corrode connections. The gel helps exclude moisture and oxygen to > prevent corrosion that degrades electrical connections. > The stuff I've encountered is similar or identical to the gel filling > in so-called "ickyPIC" cable and serves a similar purpose. Like the > stuff in the cable, I suppose the gel in the jack could congeal and/or > migrate over time. > It shouldn't have disrupted the connection all by itself. Maybe the > BellSouth tech unplugged the prem wiring plug for testing, and the > congealed gel prevented the jack contact "whisker" from mating to the= > plug contact when she plugged it back in. > I'd tend to discount the "conspiracy theory", though ... > Paul A Lee Sr Telecom Engineer > Rite Aid Corporation WP-IS-COM (Telecomm) V: +1 717 791-6408 > 5280 Simpson Ferry Rd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 F: +1 717 791-6406 > P.O. Box 3165, Harrisburg, PA 17105-3165 C: +1 717 805-6208 My neighbor thought it was something that had melted and seeped in, but I'm sure the stretchy stuff I removed from the plug was RTV. I wonder if the repair person had two similar tubes and injected RTV by mistake. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: The Risk of Misplaced Myspace Hysteria Date: 2 Jun 2006 12:41:55 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Andrew Brandt wrote: > But I see another danger here: Knee-jerk parental reactions shutting > down a line of communication between parent and child. I heard it from > the very first caller to a talk radio show I participated in last > Friday (RealAudio stream, Real player required), and I read vitually > the same thing from the very first commenter to the blog item Ramon > McLeod posted on Friday. One or two sample citizen statements (such as callers to a radio station) is by no means representative of public opinion or public trends. > But knee-jerk reactions are even more prevalent in some schools among > administrators: In one notable recent case, a teacher was suspended > and "escorted from the building" after the broadcast journalism group > she supervises produced a hard-hitting segment about the dangers of > MySpace. I find the above situation that very hard to believe. If indeed the teacher got in trouble as described (which may be an exaggeration), there must have been more to it. I do agree with your point that parents and kids must communicate about the dangers of Internet use. The problem is that parents often don't know what their kids are doing on the computer, and, so many things happen on the Internet so fast it's hard for parents to keep up with the latest technology and abuse of technology. For example, a kid could be illegally downloading and distributing music and the parent might not have known that was even possible. But I think overall there is a general blindness of parents and kids to the dangers of posting personal information on-line to any website. I strongly doubt any kid would post their beach pictures and personal info up on a public bulletin board in a mall or town square or share that information with a stranger. But parents and kids think the computer is somehow safer. This isn't only young kids, college kids have sites as well and share an awful lot publicly that they really should be more discrete about. There is another issue of how much parental supervision is appropriate. When I was a teen, I would've been furious if my parents listened in on my telephone calls and would've been annoyed if they asked to see every computer printout I made. I think teens are entitled to some privacy. Unfortunately, the power of the Internet is so strong that comparing it to old fashioned POTS phone calls is apples and tomatoes. While my parents didn't listen into conversations, they knew at least who I was talking to and it was a peer friend, not some strange adult. Further, with most parents both working, there isn't much time to monitor all online, text-message, and cell phone transmissions. Frankly, I think today's situation is unsatisfactory because people are exposing themselves (both figuratively and even literally) to danger via the Internet. But I don't know the solution without draconian controls and censorship that I don't like. [public replies, please] ------------------------------ From: gordonb.syc4f@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For two Years Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 19:34:20 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com >> Top law enforcement officials have asked leading Internet companies to > That is a key, it is a REQUEST, because the justice department doesn't > want to go to congress for a law requiring it. The reports posted are also very unclear on WHAT information they want kept. There are different kinds of info that have a lot different potential for abuse. Info needed to track who was using what IP address at what time (customer name, address, credit card info, and login records for dialup lines) to track down who posted that horrible child porn is one thing. Most ISPs need to keep this info (for a short time, anyway) so they can turn off customers who cancel their accounts and possibly bill for time used. It can be used to correlate victim server logs to determine who launched that attack or posted the evil child porn. But in order to use this info, it has to be matched against someone else's logs (e.g. they have to get logs from Ebay on what IP and when searched for "weapons of mass destruction") . Tracking every web URL accessed and envelope info for every email sent or received is far more abusable and is something that most ISPs not using proxies don't keep and don't care about (unless the server involved is one of theirs). It's also extremely invasive and abusable and can reveal sensitive information (passwords, and all sorts of info on one's taste in reading). It's great for fishing expeditions. They can find out if ANY customers of this ISP, such as George Bush, searched for "weapons of mass destruction" on any search engine without going to the search engines. The difference between the two is much like the difference between "John Doe lived at 15 Maple Street, Anytown, State of Confusion between June 1999 and May 2005", and a log of everyone who came and left during that time and when. So what kinds of info are they asking for? Gordon L. Burditt ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For two Years Date: 2 Jun 2006 12:51:07 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Jon Swartz & Kevin Johnson wrote: > Justice is not asking the companies to keep the content of e-mails, > spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. It wants records such as lists of > e-mail traffic and Web searches, he said. I find this very troubling because INNOCENT people could be inadvertently caught up in some sting or dragnet. We all know that many porn sites intentionally use a misspelling of a common legtimate site to catch visitors. If someone does a typo and gets a bad site, does that make them dangerous? Many bad sites (political or porn or other) on the Internet disguise themselves so a casual user thinks they're ok. Are such innocent users who try out such sites dangerous? Some people are just curious as to what the fuss is about and will check out a "bad" site. Does that make such people dangerous? Say the government is investigating such people. An aggressive newspaper reporter gets the suspects and publishes them "in the name of public safety -- the people have a right to know who might be dangerous". Innocent people and their families, even if never charged with any crime, would be ruined by such disclosures. [public replies please] ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Google Blogspot Domestic IP Address Blocking Confirmed Organization: Symantec Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:47:35 -0400 In article , ab5cvjl@yahoo.com wrote: > But what Google has done here goes beyond helping repressive foreign > governments keep information from their own people. It is now > censoring Americans, who are the primary users of these services, from > accessing Blogspot who seek to preserve their privacy in reading > blogs, like they do when they read a newspaper. By definition an anonymizer prevents the site from knowing where the user is coming from. So how is Blogspot supposed to allow domestic users to access it through an anonymizer, when they can't tell that the user is domestic? I realize that's not really what you're suggesting. Obviously you think that if they can't restrict the blocking to the repressive countries, they shouldn't block anyone. But Google is caught between a rock and a hard place. One country is forcing them to block, while traditions in another country promote freedom. It's easy to understand why they went the direction they did; no government is planning on banning them for blocking, but they may be banned by the largest country in the world if they don't. > By blocking access to Americans, Google is not only inteferring with > American's rights to privacy, it is violating the rights of > Californians, Google's home state, where the State Constution > explicitly declares a right of privacy of its citizens. This is a ridiculous claim. Google isn't interfering with anyone's right to privacy, since they're not forced to post to Blogspot in the first place. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ Visit http://www.mstm.okstate.edu and take the next step in your career with a Master of Science in Telecommunications Management (MSTM) degree from Oklahoma State University (OSU). This 35 credit-hour interdisciplinary program is designed to give you the skills necessary to manage telecommunications networks, including data, video, and voice networks. The MSTM degree draws on the expertise of the OSU's College of Business Administration; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #210 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Jun 3 02:19:41 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 641AA151F4; Sat, 3 Jun 2006 02:19:41 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #211 Message-Id: <20060603061941.641AA151F4@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 02:19:41 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 3 Jun 2006 02:20:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 211 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Northern Alberta (780) CAC Oddities (Tim Scott) President Garfield's Assassination and Alex Bell (R. J. Brown) The World eBook Fair, July 4-August 4, 2006 (Project Gutenberg) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 21:55:03 -0600 From: Tim Scott Subject: Northern Alberta (780) CAC Oddities Well, a little while ago, I decided that I'd play around with Carrier Access Codes (CACs) and some other miscellania in my area. All of this information is relative to western Canada, primarily 780 and 403 (Alberta), and 250, 604 and 778 (British Columbia). The information about what can be done in my area is relative to Edmonton, Alberta. A little background on a few CACs. 1010324 was Telus' primary CAC for the Edmonton area, and most of Alberta, before the merger with BCTEL. Now, 1010323 is Telus' primary CAC, so 1010323-0 will give you an operator, and 1010324-00 will give you a long distance operator. The 1010324-0 simply gives you a fast busy. Same with 1010324-00. So if you sign up for normal Telus long distance, you'll get 1010323 as your CAC. I don't beleive that Telus has any additional casual-use charges for use of their CAC. 1010424 was BCTEL's primary CAC for it's areas of control in BC, before the merger with Telus. Post-merger, 1010424 became a "special services" CAC. In other words, 1010424 was used for people that required special billing or special features of some sort. 1010424 has varied accessibility in different areas of Canada. It's accessible from Edmonton, but that is all that I can verify at this time. I'll explain what I consider "accessible" to be later on. A few other carriers also have CACs that are accessible from Edmonton and surrounding areas, for example Primus (1010615), Bell Canada (1010363), and Sprint (1010348). A Carrier Access Code is a code that enables you to select which long distance provider you want to handle your calls. For example, if I sign up for Telus long distance. Let's say that I want to call my friend "Chris" in Massachusetts (NPA 413). Telus long distance might be 9 cents a minute, anywhere in Canada and the USA. But, let's say that Sprint has a special rate of 5 cents a minute to Massachusetts. I'd rather use the Sprint carrier. So, instead of dialing the number as I normally would (1-413-445-6666), I would prefix the number with the Carrier Access Code. This would yeild, "1010348-1-413-445-6666." Dialing this number would route my call over Sprint's long distance network for this call only. Dialing in this way (with the CAC prefixed before your number) is referred to as "Casual Use." Interexchange carriers are will often charge casual-use calls at a higher rate than the posted long-distance prices. It is best to verify the casual use rates (if any) with your IXC before using CACs. Anyway, on to the specific behaviour of CACs. Prefixing your call with a CAC and calling a toll number often results in very different behaviour than simply direct dialing a toll number. Often, dialing through CACs yeild many restrictions that are not present when direct dialing numbers, such as restrictions on 900-number dialing, 800/888/877/866 toll-free number dialing, 950-XXXX (Feature Group B) dialing, 700-number dialing, and many other restrictions. Often, attempting to dial a local number through a CAC will yeild a Cannot-Be-Completed-As-Dialed (CBCAD) error, or simply a fast-busy. This is expecially evident in many parts of the USA and Eastern Canada. However, when dialing local numbers through CACs in Edmonton and many other parts of Western Canada, the restrictions are slightly different. I will explain the behaviour below. For those readers that are not familier, Telus has a very lax system, when it comes to dialing formatting for local numbers. Any of the following will complete properly, and charge as a local call: 958-6111 780-958-6111 1-780-958-6111 So you can see there is a lot of flexibility on how you want to dial your local calls. Both 958-6111 and 780-958-6111 will terminate normally, and ring the party after you've finished dialing. 1-780-958-6111, however, will play a message that states, "Your local call is proceeding. There is no need to dial long distance. Thank you, from Telus," before completing your call (assuming you called a number that terminated properly, and didn't intercept, or do something weird). All CACs in my area have fairly standard behaviour when it comes to dialing local numbers. Also, this behaviour is quite different than normal direct-dialing. Normally, you dial the whole number as one string, and the entire string is parsed at once. However, certain CACs can be made to match at the thousands block, instead of waiting for the entire string to be dialed. The situations that will cause a CAC to match at the thousands block are as follows. Note that it is assumed that the conditions below are prefixed with a CAC. Note that these are also general situations, there are specific situations that can cause other specific intercepts, those will be listed and explained later. 1. Dialing a local number that is in the same exchange (NXX) as you. For example, if my number was "780-444-5555", and I dialed, "1010424-1-780-444-5556", my pattern would be matched at the thousands block (which is the first "5", in case you weren't aware), and will immediately intercept. The exact intercept it gives is discussed later. 2. Dialing a local number that is outside of the city you live in. For example, if I lived in Edmonton, and I dialed an exchange in Sherwood Park (which is just outside of Edmonton), such as 464, it would again, intercept at the thousands block. Sherwood Park is normally a local call when direct dialed. 3. Dialing a cellular prefix within your city. For example, if "903" is a cellular prefix in Edmonton, then dialing "1010424-1-780-906-6" will intercept after I dial the thousands block (the last "6"), before I can finish entering the number. All of these conditions will give the same intercept. As soon as you finish dialing the the thousands block, it will ring for a certain amount of time, then the call will intercept to a recording of "Your local call is proceeding. There is no need to dial long distance. Thank you, from Telus." Then, you'll hear a quarter-second snippet of some other intercept recording on the switch (which is a documented DMS bug that has never been fixed, likely because it occurs so rarely, and isn't really an annoyance). Following the snippet, you will hear ringing. You will then hear an intercept message. Note that the intercept message can sometimes come on *before* the ringing, and the ringing will be heard overlayed on the error message. The error message states, "The number you have called cannot be completed as dialed. Please check the area code and number before trying again, or dial 411 for directory assistance." This error will repeat three times, and on the third time, it will but off before it can get to the word, "assistance." Also note that dialing a local number prefixed with a CAC doesn't actually go through the CAC. So, even though you might not have Bell Canada long distance, you can still dial a local number (subject to the previous requirements) prefixed with a CAC. A bit more on local calling through CACs. I wanted to get another viewpoint on this interesting situation, so I called up the Telus Network Operations Center, and talked to a fellow in DMS Switching, Jason. He was on break, but he took some time to talk to me, which I really appreciate. When I explain what I had encountered with not being able to call cellular numbers, or out-of-city numbers through any CACs, he noted a few things that he thought might cause that. He mentioned that it was possible that the switches would not route *local* calls prefixed with a CAC from tandem to tandem, but would only route them from tandem to end-offices. So, any end-offices not directly connected to the tandem would not be able to be contacted, and he speculated that was why only calls within the city of Edmonton could be made through the CACs. Of course, this was speculation, and it would be appreciated if someone outside of Edmonton could verify that you really can, only call numbers in your city. I also discussed the issue of not being able to call numbers on your own exchange with Jason, he attributed it to switch programming as well, but neither of us were aware of any particular hardware restriction or regulation that would require it to be so. By all rights, it should work. Either way, thanks Jason for the comments! Alright, a bit more on 1010424. As I previously stated, 1010424 is a CAC that is now used for "special services." Not every regular casual caller can use all the features on the line. Some of the following conditions will cause 1010424 to tell you, "We're sorry, you are not authorized to call the number dialed." 1. Dialing a Feature Group 'B' number ex: 1010424-1-780-950-8888 2. Dialing 1010424-0 (operator) 3. Dialing 1010424-00 (long distance operator) 4. Dialing any long-distance number ex: 1010424-1-604-477-1452. Note that it doesn't matter if the number supervises or not, it still intercepts to that message. 5. Dialing 1-780-555-1212 This illustrates where 1010424 contrasts with 1010323. All of the previous stated conditions are conditions that would require the "special billing" parts of the system to be activated. Simply dialing local calls, within your own city, and not on your own switch, however, are local calls, and like most of Telus-land, free. So the "special billing" stuff never has to get activated. Also note, you can still dial 1-700-555-4141 and it'll tell you that "Telus" is your long-distance carrier. So if you want to verify that this is a valid CAC for Telus, you can, right like that. Alright, a bit more about 1010323. 1010323 is the normal Telus CAC, and you can place calls normally through it. 1010323-0 yeilds you an operator, 1010323-00 gets you a long-distance operator. You can place long-distance calls normally, and "special" stuff like Directory Assistance (1-NPA-555-1212) works normally, and when you dial through and place local calls, with the restrictions I listed above on local calls. Alright, a bit more on some other CACs. Bell Canada's CAC is 1010363, and it's quite similar to Telus' 1010323, with a few notable differences. You can't call an operator (via either 1010363-0 or 1010363-00) through Bell's CAC, at least, I've never gotten one. It might be possible to get an operator if you are subscribed to the service, but I've never gotten one. Comments, anyone? Also, if you dial up 1010363-1-700-555-4141, you'll get a nice messages telling you that Bell Canada is your long distance provider. Trying to make a normal long distance call, though, will net you the message, "We're sorry, the service you are calling cannot be reached by this method." Primus also runs 1010615, which is entirely unremarkable, except for 1010615-0, which will get you an automated attendant. I'm not sure if Primus has any additional casual-use charges. Telus' old CAC, 1010324, will intercept with the message, "This service is no longer available in your area. We apologize for the inconvenience," no matter what you try to call. Sprint runs a CAC as well, 1010348, which is again, entirely unremarkable. That's about it. Comments, anyone? Does it work like this in anyone else's area? -Tim ------------------------------ From: R. J. Brown Subject: Alex Bell and the Garfield Assassination Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 02:00 EDT >From http://www.historybuff.com/library/refgarfield.html Alexander Graham Bell and the Garfield Assassination Our thanks to http://www.historybuff.com and rbrown@tir.com Mr. Brown for this interesting report. By R.J. Brown Editor-in-Chief (of History Buff.com): Some people ask me "Why bother to collect old newspapers? If I want to read dry, boring history, I can just get a history book." My answer to this is that historical events. The only way they can be re-discovered, is through reading original newspapers published during the time of the event. The assassination of president James Garfield in 1881 is a prime example of this. James Garfield was assassinated on July 2, 1881 and lingered until September 19, 1881 when he died. The problem was that a bullet was lodged inside his chest. The two methods of treatment at the time were: (1) If the bullet had penetrated the liver (or other organs) it would mean certain death without surgery to remove it. (2) If the bullet hadn't penetrated an organ was wasn't lodged tightly against an organ at the present time, the chances of recovery were much better if they delayed the surgery until the president's condition stabilized. Therefore, finding the exact location of the bullet was very critical in the president's recovery. X-rays had not been invented yet so the only way to determine the exact location of the bullet was to do a manual probe with instruments. If they were to make continued probes to locate the bullet, it increased the risk of infection. As a result of this indecision, a most unique journalistic style arose. Newspapers across the United States printed editorial after editorial making big light of this indecision by the White House doctors. Soon, lay-people, as well as qualified medical personnel, jumped in with their opinions. The White House doctors were deluged with package after package containing such items as special herbs, teas, home remedies, poultices, as well as patent medicines. A special area was set up in the White House basement to store all the items. In addition, people with medical degrees sent lengthy letters giving their opinions on what should be done. Many of these letters were also published in newspapers. Coverage of the debate received so much attention that discussions from this angle over shadowed the current medical condition of the president. One such example of the press taking over the job of finding the answer as to finding the exact location of the bullet took place one week after the shooting. Simon Newcomb of Baltimore was interviewed by a reporter for the Washington National Intelligencer. Newcomb had been experimenting with running electricity through wire coils and the effect metal had when placed near the coils. He had found that when metal was placed near the coils filled with electricity that a faint hum could be heard at that point in the coil. The problem was that the hum was so faint that is was very difficult to hear. He suggested that he might be able to perfect his invention so that it could be used on the President but, unfortunately, he though that the perfection of the apparatus would take too long. While in Boston, Alexander Graham Bell read the newspaper account mentioned in the above paragraph of this article. Upon reading this account, Bell telegraphed Newcomb in Baltimore and offered to assist him. Further, he suggested that perhaps his own invention of the telephone was the answer he had been seeking. His telephone amplified sound made through wire! Newcomb accepted Bell's offer. Bell immediately went to Baltimore to work with Newcomb. White House surgeons spent a lot of time at the Baltimore lab witnessing the experiments. The invention consisted of two coils of insulated wire, a battery, a circuit breaker, and Bell's telephone. The ends of the primary coil were connected to a battery and those of the secondary coil were fastened to posts of the telephone. When a piece of metal was placed in the spot where the circuit breaker was, a hum could be heard in the telephone receiver. As the metal was moved further away, the hum became more faint. Five inches away was the maximum distance that a hum could still be heard. Various methods of testing the apparatus were tried. At first a game of hide and seek was played. Either Bell or Newcomb would hide an unspent bullet in their mouth, arm pit, or elsewhere on their body. The other would pass the wand over the others' body. Meanwhile an assistant would be listening on the telephone to announce (based on the hum) where the bullet was and how far away from the tip of the wand it was. Next, the experiments included spent bullets and hiding them in bags of grain, inside sides of beef and so forth. Various adjustments were made with each test. As a final test, before using it on the president, they went to the Old Soldiers Home in Washington, D.C. where they solicited Civil War veterans and lined them up in open fields. They passed the wand over each volunteer's body. As some still had bullets in their body from doing battle in the war, this provided a very close approximation of what they hoped their invention would accomplish -- locate a bullet inside a human body. In each case, the soldiers with bullets still in them, and where the bullets were, were identified. Now was the appropriate time to try the invention on the president. On July 26, Bell, his assistant Tainter, and Newcomb had an appointment at the White House. In the early evening they made their first attempt to locate the bullet using their apparatus. There were also five White House doctors and several aides present for this experiment. The president looked apprehensive as the wand was passed over his body. He expressed a fear of being electrocuted. Bell offered reassurance and tried to explain how the apparatus worked. None-the-less, Garfield's eyes never left the wand through out the experiment. The results of the experiment were inconclusive as there was a faint hum no matter where the wand was placed on the president's body. After many attempts, Bell, Newcomb and Tainter left the White House wonder just where they went wrong. Meanwhile, the press used this failure as a personal attack on Bell. The hostility of the rivalry among claimants that they (and not Bell) were the first ones to invent the telephone was at its peak at this time. Many lawsuits were already pending in the courts over this issue. The publicity over Bell using his invention to attempt to find the bullet in the president's body didn't help matters. Editorials in newspapers called Bell a "publicity seeker." Undaunted, Bell returned to the lab with Newcomb and Tainter. They ran more experiments. It still worked just fine in the lab and at the Old Soldier's Home. Bell managed to talk White House doctors into letting them come back and try again. The last day of July they went back to the White House to try again. It was the same thing again -- no matter where they placed the wand on the president's body, a faint hum could be heard. When they moved the wand away from the president's body the hum could no longer be heard. All were stumped. It worked fine on everyone else but the president. Feeling dejected, they again left the White House. Bell continued back to Boston and gave up trying to perfect the invention. A few weeks after their last attempt, President Garfield was moved to his home in New Jersey and died on September 19, 1881. So what is the answer to why Bell's and Newcomb's invention worked on everyone except the president? It wasn't the president that was the problem. The problem was the bed he was in. Coil spring mattresses had just been invented. In fact, a national campaign hadn't even been started yet at the time of the assassination. The White House was one of the few that had the coil spring mattresses at the time. Very few people had even heard of them. Thus, Bell's and Newcomb's invention was detecting metal -- unfortunately they didn't realize that it was the coil springs. If they had moved him off the bed to the floor or table, their apparatus would have detected where the bullet was and likely, knowing this, the White House surgeons could have saved James Garfield's life! Send mail to rbrown@tir.com the author of this article. ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson Subject: The World eBook Fair, July 4-August4, 2006 Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2006 20:55:19 -0500 The World eBook Fair Home Page eBook Celebration Please visit us here from July 4th-August 4, 2006 to download your selections from 1/3 million free eBooks. Welcome to the future home of the World eBook Fair, soon to be the largest showcase for eBooks, eBook publishers, editors, and others working in the new world of eBooks. July 4th to August 4, 2006 marks a month long celebration of the 35th anniversary of the first step taken towards today's eBooks, when the United States Declaration of Independence was the first file placed online for downloading in what was destined to be an electronic library of the Internet. Today's eBook library has a total of over 100 languages represented. The World eBook Fair welcomes you to absolutely free access to a variety of eBook unparalleled by any other source. 1/3 million eBooks await you, all free of charge for the month from July 4 - August 4, 2006, and then 1/2 million eBooks in 2007, 3/4 million in 2008, and ONE million in 2009. Ten times as many eBooks are available from private eBook sources, without the media circus that comes with 100 billion dollar media mavens such as Google. The World eBook Fair has created a library of wide ranging sample of these eBooks, totaling 1/3 million. Here are eBooks from nearly every classic author on the varieties of subjects previously only available through the largest library collections in the world. Now these books are yours for the taking, free of charge, to keep for the rest of your lives. This event is brought to you by the oldest and largest free eBook source on the Internet, Project Gutenberg, with the assistance of the World eBook Library, the providers of the largest collection, and a number of other eBook efforts around the world. The World eBook Library normally charges $8.95 per year for online access, and allows unlimited permanent downloading. During The World eBook Fair all these books are available free of charge through a gateway at http://www.gutenberg.org YOU ARE INVITED! You are encouraged to participate in The World eBook Fair, either to download any or all of the 1/3 million eBooks provided here or to add your own eBooks. The World eBook fair is currently scheduled for the next few July and August periods as follows: 2007 1/2 Million eBooks 2008 3/4 Million eBooks 2009 One Million eBooks The World eBook Fair, Project Gutenberg, and World eBook Library, along with our other participants, join together to encourage you to assist in bringing many entire libraries to the general public and to encourage ever increasing levels of literacy and reading. We hope the invention of eBooks will advance the world as much as did the invention of The Gutenberg Press, and look forward to the Neo-Industrial Revolution following the advent of eBooks, just as the invention of The Gutenberg Press undoubtedly led to the first Industrial Revolution, and your participation can help bring this new revolution in reading and libraries to the world. We heartily thank you for visiting The World eBook Fair. We hope you and yours will find lifetimes of reading materials to expand your horizons over the years. World eBook Fair, WorldeBookFair.com. 2006 World eBook Fair is sponsored by Project Gutenberg and the World eBook Library Consortia ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V25 #211 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Jun 4 16:57:10 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 796E4155AE; Sun, 4 Jun 2006 16:57:10 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #212 Message-Id: <20060604205710.796E4155AE@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 16:57:10 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 4 Jun 2006 17:00:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 212 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Companies _DO_ Snoop on Employee Email (Reuters News Wire) Viral Video Sharing is New Headache for Music Business (Brian Garrity) A 14 Year Old Scammer and Millionaire (Leonard Lawal) CFP: MICAI-2006, Artificial Intelligence, Springer LNAI (Alexander Gelbukh) How eBay Makes Regulations Disappear (Monty Solomon) Bad Static, Humming, and Disconnects (Mike S.) Spam King Settles With Texas, Microsoft (Monty Solomon) Re: Perfect Hangup (Curtis R Anderson) Re: The Risk of Misplaced Myspace Hysteria (Joshua Putnam) Re: Cell Phone Outages During Disasters (John Levine) Re: Cell Phone Outages During Disasters (Mr. Joseph Singer) Re: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For Two Years (sawney beane) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Companies _DO_ Snoop on Employee Email Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 21:19:00 -0500 Big Brother is not only watching but he is also reading your e-mail. According to a new study, about a third of big companies in the United States and Britain hire employees to read and analyze outbound e-mail as they seek to guard against legal, financial or regulatory risk. More than a third of U.S. companies surveyed also said their business was hurt by the exposure of sensitive or embarrassing information in the past 12 months, according to the annual study from a company specializing in protecting corporate e-mail at large businesses. "What folks are concerned about is confidential or sensitive information that is going out," said Gary Steele, chief executive of Cupertino, California-based Proofpoint Inc., which conducted the study along with Forrester Research. The top concern was protecting the financial privacy and identity of customers followed by compliance issues and a bid to prevent confidential leaks. Businesses ranked monitoring for inappropriate content and attachments as less important. Steele also said on Friday that more and more companies are employing staff to read outgoing e-mails of workers who typically have no idea their correspondence is being monitored. "It is not something that is broadcast," Steele said. "There are organizations where employees think they can say whatever they want to say and nobody is going to read it." The survey gathered responses concerning e-mail security from 406 companies in the United States and the United Kingdom with more than 1,000 employees. In both regions, 38 percent of respondents said they employed staff to read or otherwise analyze outbound e-mail. In the United States, 44 percent of companies with more than 20,000 employees said they hire workers to snoop on workers' e-mail. Nearly one in three U.S. companies also said they had fired an employee for violating e-mail policies in the past 12 months and estimated that about 20 percent of outgoing e-mails contain content that poses a legal, financial or regulatory risk. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from the daily media please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Brian Garrity Subject: Viral Video Sharing is New Headache for Music Business Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 21:21:03 -0500 By Brian Garrity As the recording industry tries to block file trading of songs across peer-to-peer networks, blogs and other viral distribution channels, the major labels suddenly have a whole new piracy concern: music videos. The rise of user-generated content sites like YouTube, MySpace, Google Video and iFilm has sparked a revolution in the viral sharing of music videos across these Web communities. The problem is, much of the distribution taking place -- outside a select number of promotional deals -- is happening without the approval of record companies. In recent weeks the Recording Industry Association of America has been stepping up its efforts to stop sharing of popular videos on such sites, particularly on the rapidly expanding YouTube. The site, which now claims more than 6 million visitors and 40 million streams daily, has become a haven for unlicensed music videos, which users are capturing with TiVo and other digital video recorders and then posting the files to the Web. Much of the material is coming from recorded MTV broadcasts. The RIAA recently issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users sharing videos from the likes of Nelly Furtado, Beyonce and Rihanna. In the wake of the takedowns, users following links to the video are greeted by this notice: "This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner the RIAA because its content was used without permission." Reps for the RIAA and YouTube declined to comment. However, one source close to the situation says that the recording industry is lobbying YouTube and other viral video sites to implement content-filtering technologies to identify and block unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works. POLICING THE SITES Among YouTube's competitors, early attempts at filtering solutions are bearing out in various ways. A search on Google Video for clips from commerce partner Sony BMG yields only video-for-sale offers, while searches for videos from other labels' artists produce unauthorized video postings. MTV's viral video unit iFilm allows only music videos that it can monetize through promotional deals or ads. Meanwhile, MySpace -- which has promotional and ad-supported music videos with the labels for a designated music video area of the site -- also is seeing unauthorized videos pop up in its viral video area. The major labels are taking the position that these sites are responsible for policing their own communities. But in the meantime, they have been targeting individuals who use these sites to share popular music videos, alerting them that they are distributing unauthorized works. Those efforts have produced decidedly mixed results thus far. Many of the videos that labels have requested be removed have quickly resurfaced on the site in a matter of days -- a fact that industry sources suggest supports the need for more stringent filtering by all viral video specialists. Viral video sharing would not have been an issue just 18 months ago, when the labels still viewed music videos as a promotional tool for selling albums. But today videos are a rapidly growing money-maker for the music business. The RIAA estimates that sales of music videos topped $3.7 million in three months, after being introduced in October. Meanwhile, the major labels also are sharing in the profits of ad-supported video-on-demand offerings from AOL, Yahoo, Music Choice and others. That is revenue the music industry is keenly interested in protecting. Hopes are that YouTube and others will ink similar deals with the industry in the long run. One industry insider familiar with the situation says, "The recording industry has an important antipiracy goal in music video to ensure that business moves forward." Reuters/Billboard Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Leonard Lawal Subject: A 14 Year Old Scammer and Millionaire Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 14:58:39 -0500 Online scams create "Yahoo! millionaires" In Lagos, where scamming is an art, the quickest path to wealth for the cyber-generation runs through a computer screen. By Leonard Lawal, FORTUNE (FORTUNE Magazine) - Akin is, like many things in cyberspace, an alias. In real life he's 14. He wears Adidas sneakers, a Rolex Submariner watch, and a kilo of gold around his neck. Akin, who lives in Lagos, is one of a new generation of entrepreneurs that has emerged in this city of 15 million, Nigeria's largest. His mother makes $30 a month as a cleaner, his father about the same hustling at bus stations. But Akin has made it big working long days at Internet cafes and is now the main provider for his family and legions of relatives. Call him a "Yahoo! millionaire." Akin buys things online -- laptops, BlackBerries, cameras, flat-screen TVs -- using stolen credit cards and aliases. He has the loot shipped via FedEx or DHL to safe houses in Europe, where it is received by friends, then shipped on to Lagos to be sold on the black market. (He figures Americans are too smart to sell a camera on eBay to a buyer with an address in Nigeria.) Akin's main office is an Internet cafe in the Ikeja section of Lagos. He spends up to ten hours a day there, seven days a week, huddled over one of 50 computers, working his scams. And he's not alone: The cafe is crowded most of the time with other teenagers, like Akin, working for a "chairman" who buys the computer time and hires them to extract e-mail addresses and credit card information from the thin air of cyberspace. Akin's chairman, who is computer illiterate, gets a 60 percent cut and reserves another 20 percent to pay off law enforcement officials who come around or teachers who complain when the boys cut school. That still puts plenty of cash in Akin's pocket. A sign at the door of the cafe reads, WE DO NOT TOLERATE SCAMS IN THIS PLACE. DO NOT USE E-MAIL EXTRACTORS OR SEND MULTIPLE MAILS OR HACK CREDIT CARDS. YOU WILL BE HANDED OVER TO THE POLICE. NO 419 ACTIVITY IN THIS CAFE. The sign is treated like a joke; 419 activity, which refers to the section of the Nigerian law dealing with obtaining things by trickery, is a national pastime. There are no coherent laws relating to e-scams, the police are mostly computer illiterate, and penalties for financial crimes are light. No penalties for breaking the law "The deterrent factor is not there at all," says Thomas Oli, a Lagos lawyer, citing the case of a former police inspector general who was convicted of stealing more than $100 million and got only six months in jail. "What do you want me to do?" Akin asks in pidgin English, explaining why he turned to a life of Internet crime. "It is my God-given talent. Our politicians, they do their own; me, I'm doing my own. I feed my family -- my sister, my mother, my popsie. Man must survive." The scams perpetrated by Akin and his comrades are many and varied: moneygram interceptions, Western Union hijackings, check laundering, identity theft, and outright begging, with tall tales of dying relatives and large sums of money in search of safe haven. One popular online fraud often practiced by women (or boys pretending to be women) involves separating lonely men from their money. Attempts to speak to government officials about Internet crime were futile. They all claimed ignorance of such scams; some laughed it off as Western propaganda. But last November the Economic Fraud and Financial Crimes Commission won a high-profile case that had dragged on for years against Emmanuel Nwude, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years for bilking a Brazilian bank out of $242 million using an Internet scam involving phony bank drafts. The commission is also pursuing a case against 419 kingpin Fred Ajudua, a lawyer and businessman accused of using the Internet to steal $1 million from a victim in Germany. Some officials, who asked not be identified, said young people are drawn to Internet crime as a way of getting back at a society that has no plans for them. Others see it as a form of reparation for the sins of the West. Or as Akin puts it, "White people, especially in the United States, are too gullible. They are rich, and whatever I gyp them out of is small change to them." (Fortune Editor's note): The term "Yahoo Millionaire" is frequently used by scammers in Nigeria. They are not affiliated in any way with Yahoo! the company. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/05/29/8378124/?cnn=yes ------------------------------ From: Alexander Gelbukh Subject: CFP: MICAI-2006, Artificial Intelligence, Springer LNAI Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 04:09:46 -0500 Organization: MICAI 5th Mexican International Conference on ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MICAI 2006 Springer LNAI; poster session: IEEE CS Submission: June 2 November 13-17, Mexico www.MICAI.org/2006 ONE WEEK REMINDER *** SUBMISSION *** Papers accepted for oral session will be published by Springer in Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI). Papers accepted for poster session will be published by IEEE CS Press. Submissions are received via the webpage; see guidelines there. *** IMPORTANT DATES *** June 2: Submission deadline. PAPERS DUE NOW. July 24 / August 4: Acceptance notification for oral / poster session. August 21 / 25: Camera-ready deadline for oral / poster session. *** TOPICS *** All areas of Artificial Intelligence, see list on the webpage. *** CONTACT *** General inquiries: micai2006 at MICAI dot org. See more contact options on the webpage. We apologize if you receive this CFP more than once. It is sent in good faith of its interest for you as an AI-related person. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 01:30:00 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: How eBay Makes Regulations Disappear By KATIE HAFNER The New York Times In quick succession one morning last month, Louisiana state legislators plowed through a long list of bills, including one to relocate the motor vehicle commission, another to regulate potentially abusive lending practices, and yet another that was the handiwork of eBay, the digital shopping mall that bills itself as "the world's online marketplace." EBay had worked overtime to ensure the passage of Senate Bill 642, which sought to exempt some Internet transactions -- like those that occur on its Web site -- from Louisiana licensing requirements for businesses conducting auctions. As the State Senate's Commerce Committee convened to consider the bill, Duane Cowart, an eBay lobbyist, testified that forcing eBay "trading assistants" to fork over $300 for a license was unduly burdensome. "What they do on the Internet is not an auction, and they are not auctioneers," Mr. Cowart told the committee. Trading assistants take items on consignment from other owners and put them up for bid on eBay, but Mr. Cowart said their activities were more akin to placing classified ads. Louisiana's senators seemed to agree with him wholeheartedly. "I think eBay is great," said one, while another regaled the room about his adventures shopping for a Plymouth Prowler on eBay. State Senator Noble E. Ellington, a Democrat who sponsored the bill at Mr. Cowart's behest, beamed as his colleagues gave the legislation their unanimous support. EBay's lobbying activities are not confined to Louisiana. As the company has spread its innovative and influential wings across the Internet, it has also woven together a muscular and wily lobbying apparatus that spans 25 states. "It is a fast-moving train, and if you get in front of it you'll get flattened," said Sherrie Wilks, an official with Louisiana's licensing agency, who is concerned that eBay flouts regulatory oversight by persuading state legislators to take the company's side. Regulators in other states also say that when they try to erect guidelines around eBay's activities, they quickly encounter the realities of the company's political power, raising anew the perennial questions about the proper balance among public policy, consumer protection and business interests. EBay's lobbying tactics, meanwhile, illustrate the spoils to be won when a savvy, resourceful company combines local political persuasion and grass-roots rallying to get lucrative regulatory exemptions that allow it to safeguard its profits. EBay's efforts have been remarkably successful, and the company, which has worked tirelessly to cultivate its image as a friendly neighborhood bazaar even as it engages in hard-nosed lobbying, is not shy about boasting of its victories. Last year, Ohio passed a law that would have regulated eBay sellers, but the company moved quickly -- with the help of seasoned lobbyists -- to have a pre-emptive and more favorable bill passed. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/business/yourmoney/04ebay.html?ex=1307073600&en=b1aae9a67d18cfc5&ei=5090 ------------------------------ From: Mike S. Subject: Bad Static, Humming, and Disconnects Date: 4 Jun 2006 00:23:28 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The other day I noticed a lot of static and humming on my phone lines. Then today I noticed that sometimes I can't get a dial tone, it sort of goes in and out. I also noticed that the upstairs phones are the ones that have more problems with getting a dial tone and the static. So I went out to the phone box (NID) and tested the line with two different phones. There was static and humming on both but it wasn't terribly bad. So it seems that the static is not so bad at the NID, at the downstairs phones it gets worse and then on the upstairs phones it's horrible. Since I get static and humming at the NID, that indicates the problem is in the outside wiring. If the problem is outside, then shouldn't all the phones have the same amount of static? Why would it be worse upstairs if the problem is outside? Is it some sort of signal problem? The further the line goes, the worse the problem gets? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 11:06:13 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Spam King Settles With Texas, Microsoft AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- One of the world's most notorious spammers has settled lawsuits with the state of Texas and Microsoft Corp. that cost him at least $1 million, took away most of his assets and forced him to stop sending the nuisance e-mails. Ryan Pitylak, 24, who graduated from the University of Texas last month, has admitted sending 25 million e-mails every day at the height of his spamming operation in 2004. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=58948931 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 22:12:57 -0400 From: Curtis R Anderson Organization: Gleepy's Chaotic Henhouse Subject: Re: Perfect Hangup Scott Dorsey wrote: > Phones with crappy piezo warblers will usually have much higher ringer > impedance than phones with conventional bells. I read this and all I could think of are those cheap phones which when connected to a POTS line with another phone with pulse dialing. THe cheap phone would tick once for each pulse when someone dialed a number with a rotary dial. Poor designs like that make me miss the well-made Ma Bell phones from the days of yore. -- Curtis R. Anderson, Co-creator of "Gleepy the Hen", still "In Heaven there is no beer / That's why we drink it here ..." http://www.gleepy.net/ ICQ: 50137888 mailto:gleepy@gleepy.net (and others) Yahoo!: gleepythehen ------------------------------ From: Joshua Putnam Subject: Re: The Risk of Misplaced Myspace Hysteria Date: Sat, 3 Jun 2006 09:38:17 -0700 In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says ... > Andrew Brandt wrote: >> But knee-jerk reactions are even more prevalent in some schools among >> administrators: In one notable recent case, a teacher was suspended >> and "escorted from the building" after the broadcast journalism group >> she supervises produced a hard-hitting segment about the dangers of >> MySpace. > I find the above situation that very hard to believe. If indeed the > teacher got in trouble as described (which may be an exaggeration), > there must have been more to it. I'm afraid I don't find it difficult to believe at all -- if a district has a "zero intelligence" policy against anything, whether it's visiting MySpace or drug posession, it doesn't matter who violates it or why, they're all punished the same. (If you aren't familiar with the current "zero tolerance" insanity sweeping American schools and other institutions, http://www.thisistrue.com/ has some good, well researched, examples of what hysterical stupidity can lead to.) josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam Books for Bicycle Mechanics and Tinkerers: ------------------------------ Date: 4 Jun 2006 00:38:49 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Cell Phone Outages During Disasters > Is it true that roaming cell phones can't work independently of > resources in the home market? Yes. They need to check with the home system to see if the roamer has an active account and to exchange billing info. > I would have assumed that the databases they need to refer to make > outgoing calls (and perhaps the ones for inbound calls to be > redirected to them in another market) wouldn't be centralized in the > phone's home market, but be located elsewhere. Why would they do that? Surely you aren't under the misimpression that disaster survivability drives their network design. R's, John ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 11:05:45 PDT From: Mr Joseph Singer Subject: Re: Cell Phone Outages During Disasters Lee Sweet Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:16:45 -0400 wrote: > This may have been covered here last fall at the time of Katrina or > perhaps even before, but the topic came up for us recently as we're > doing some Disaster Recovery planning and I didn't recall the answer. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9120503/ > Is it true that roaming cell phones can't work independently of > resources in the home market? I would have assumed that the databases > they need to refer to make outgoing calls (and perhaps the ones for > inbound calls to be redirected to them in another market) wouldn't be > centralized in the phone's home market, but be located elsewhere. For > instance, perhaps Verizon Wireless would have one or more of these > database resources around its coverage area, not one for each home > market where it's prone to damage in a disaster. Sure, if the infrastructure at the location where inbound calls are sent is damaged or unavailable the call wouldn't be delivered. This is no different than normal wireline service. I couldn't get through to any calls in NPA 504 for days and days after the 29th of August. I don't think that's any different than for any other kind of traffic into a disaster area. If you're a cellular subscriber who has a number in the area affected it's not hard to see why calls to a subscriber would not be able to be completed since the call has to be routed from the originating switch and if incoming traffic to the switch isn't possible it can't be routed out of the switch to find the cellular subscriber whereve that subscriber is located. If the originating switch is out of commission it would be sort of impossible for the switch to send the call. As far as outgoing services there should not be any problem at all since you'd be using the infrustructure of the area you are in rather than of your "home" switch. Mr. Cuccia could probably tell you about that. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2006 01:18:31 -0400 From: sawney beane Subject: Re: ISPs Must Begin Holding Data For two Years Jon Swartz & Kevin Johnson wrote: > COMMENT: What do you think of the government's plans? > Justice is not asking the companies to keep the content of e-mails, > spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. It wants records such as lists of > e-mail traffic and Web searches, he said. > Roehrkasse said the government is required to seek proper legal > authority, such as a subpoena, before obtaining the records. He said > any change in the retention period would not alter that > requirement. Law enforcement officials have seen investigations > derailed "time and time again" because of a lack of data, Roehrkasse > said. Why would one need to trace somebody's web activity two years into the past to prosecute child pornography? If the government needs a witness to lie for a criminal prosecution, a fishing expedition of internet activity going back two years might provide leverage. Suppose a prosecutor is under pressure to pin a murder on a suspect. An old trick would be to coach a little old lady to identify a former associate of the suspect, then coerce him to testify. If the prosecutor could find out that the associate was married to an illegal alien, he could have the wife arrested and the child taken away to force the innocent man to lie in court. (I saw that on TV.) Information on an individual's internet activity could be useful for a corporate or government official who wants power over that individual. If the information were kept, I'll bet it could be accessed without a warrant. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is a name for this kind of activity: 'Prosecutorial Misconduct'. The Chicago Tribune did a five part series on this subject in 1999 which led to the disbarment of five or six attornies (who were prosecutors) in Chicago, two dozen judges of the Cook County Circuit Court and in 2002, a one hundred percent cleanout of Illinois 'Death Row' by the governor at the time who frankly stated he had considerable doubt about the guilt of many of the Death Row inmates. Needless to say, police were furious at having this happen, and the prosecutors screamed rather loudly also. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #212 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Jun 5 15:39:45 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 2EBA2154A7; Mon, 5 Jun 2006 15:39:45 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #213 Message-Id: <20060605193945.2EBA2154A7@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 15:39:45 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Jun 2006 15:40:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 213 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Id Theft Made Easy (USA Today News Wire) Latest Wholesale Ripoff: Data From Hotels.com Users Stolen (Donna Gordon) Net Neutrality Puts Time Crunch on Telecom Agenda in Congress (K.C. Jones) Circuit City Fixes Forum Flaw That Infected IE Users (Monty Solomon) Avaya IP Office VoIP over Internet (ryanjjones@mail.com) Cellular-News: Monday 5th June 2006 (cellular-news) Telegram in TV Show 1984; Payphone in TV Show 2006 (Lisa Hancock) Investors Buy Undersea-Cable Business (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Companies _DO_ Snoop on Employee Email (Lisa Hancock) Re: Companies _DO_ Snoop on Employee Email (Steve Sobol) Re: Bad Static, Humming, and Disconnects (DLR) Re: Alex Bell and the Garfield Assassination (Lisa Hancock) Re: Microsoft Lauches Security Plan for Windows (David) Political Telemarketing Calls (Steven Lichter) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: USA Today News Wire Subject: Id Theft Made Easy Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 10:48:20 -0500 With a little computer savvy and a few keystrokes, identity thieves can invade your privacy, run up your credit card bills, pilfer bank accounts and create years of financial nightmares. A name, date of birth and Social Security number are all the thieves need. Because of slipshod procedures to protect computer data, the Department of Veterans Affairs might have given them just that. Sensitive information on 26.5 million veterans discharged since 1975 was stolen from the home of a VA employee who improperly brought the material home to work on, officials announced Monday. It's of small comfort that the burglars probably don't even know what they stole. The theft -- one of the largest breaches of identity security ever -- occurred even though the VA was on notice for years from its inspector general that its information security was lax. Even more disturbing is that the VA apparently learned nothing from the more than 130 reported breaches at banks, credit card companies, colleges and a giant data broker that exposed more than 55 million Americans to ID theft last year alone. The episode is all the more reason to be skeptical when the government says "trust us" on security and privacy matters, such as with the National Security Agency's secret collection of phone records of millions of Americans. If you think such sensitive data couldn't get beyond the office walls, recall the case of former CIA director John Deutch, who was accused of storing hundreds of highly classified reports on unsecured home computers, leaving them vulnerable to theft. (President Clinton pardoned Deutch in 2001.) The VA analyst who brought his work home violated department procedures and was placed on administrative leave. But privacy advocates are astonished that the data wasn't encrypted, which would have rendered it useless to all but the most sophisticated computer hackers. Failure to encrypt is like sending a bank armored vehicle to transfer cash with no guards. In our digital age, Congress and state lawmakers need to establish basic protections for information. The rising industry of data brokers needs more oversight. Anyone who handles sensitive information should be aware of federal privacy laws and punished for violations. It's hard to take seriously government warnings about how to prevent ID theft when the government itself is so lax about protecting sensitive data. Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-05-23-id-theft-edit_x.htm?csp=34 NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from USA Today, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ From: Donna Gordon Blankinship Subject: Latest Wholesale Ripoff: Data on Hotels.com Customers Stolen Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 10:50:26 -0500 By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press Writer Thousands of Hotels.com customers may be at risk for credit card fraud after a laptop computer containing their personal information was stolen from an auditor, a company spokesman said Saturday. The password-protected laptop belonging to an Ernst & Young auditor was taken in late February from a locked car, said Paul Kranhold, spokesman for Hotels.com, a subsidiary of Expedia.com based in Bellevue, Wash. "As a result of our ongoing communication with law enforcement, we don't have any indication that any credit card numbers have been used for fraudulent activity," Kranhold said. "It appears the laptop was not the target of the break-in." Both Hotels.com and Ernst & Young mailed letters to Hotels.com customers this past week encouraging them to take appropriate action to protect their personal information. The transactions recorded on the laptop were mostly from 2004, although some were from 2003 or 2002, the companies said. The computer contained personal information including names, addresses and credit card information of about 243,000 Hotels.com customers. It did not include their Social Security numbers. Ernst & Young, which has been the outside auditor for Hotels.com for several years, notified the company of the security breach on May 3. "We deeply regret this incident has occurred and want to apologize to you and Hotels.com for any inconvenience or concern this may cause," said the unsigned memo from Ernst & Young dated May 2006. Ernst & Young invites those affected by the incident to enroll in a free credit monitoring service arranged by the auditor. "We sincerely regret that this incident occurred and we are taking it very seriously," said the letter signed by Hotels.com general manager Sean Kell. The letter from Hotels.com said "Ernst & Young was taking additional steps to protect the confidentiality of its data, including encrypting the sensitive information we provide to them as part of the audit process." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines and stories from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: K.C. Jones Subject: Net Neutrality Puts Time Crunch on Telecom Agenda in Congress Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 16:27:00 -0500 Providers have about 20 days to push for changes to cable franchising rules and universal service fees, until about end of June. By K.C. Jones, TechWeb.com http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188701295 Time is running out for Congress to pass several telecommunications rule changes this year because the changes are tied to another contentious issue: network neutrality. Since net neutrality is holding the telecommunications agenda hostage, the idea of compromise legislation is catching on. "As sand runs out of the hour glass, compromises are reached," said Thaddeus Strom, vice president of congressional relations for Parry, Romani, DeConcini & Symms. Panelists at Cowen and Company's Technology Conference in New York City said Friday that providers have about 20 days to push for changes to cable franchising rules and universal service fees. "It's a question of finding floor time," said Strom, whose powerful lobbying firm represents Verizon. And, there are several obstacles to overcome. Committee chairs are vying for jurisdictional control over net neutrality also called Internet neutrality. Members are drafting and revising several bills to guarantee equal access to networks or to protect providers' ability to charge more for better access and improved networks. As a challenging election season approaches, lobbyists are applying pressure from both sides. If Congress cannot get one version to the floor, and soon, members are likely to turn their attention away from telecommunications issues during recesses, budgeting and campaigns. Then there is the threat of returning to a more net neutrality-friendly congress -- one controlled by Democrats in one house or both. Political strategists believe, and telecommunications lobbyists acknowledge, that voters could sweep out Republican incumbents over national issues. "There's certainly speculation about a sea-change in the control," Strom said. While several Republicans favor legislation aimed at preserving neutrality, Democrats are not jumping to the aid of telecommunications companies. That means it could be a better strategy for telecommunications providers to make some concessions on net neutrality now, in a more certain environment. "It will probably be more than they want because it's the only way to get legislation passed this year," said Chris McKee, vice president and assistant general counsel of Covad Communications Group, a broadband voice and data communications provider. Strom said compromise legislation, which could be introduced next week, would likely include promises not to block, degrade or modify network access. The House Rules Committee is likely to decide next week whether to send an existing net neutrality bill to the floor. Mike Wendy, media relations manager for the Computing Industry Association, said that net neutrality bills could impose "onerous telephone-like, or more complicated, regulation," on caching speeds, access requirements, rate regulations and application regulation. He said regulation should not be a default, but a last resort after the free market, technology and federal watchdogs fail to protect consumers. "We just haven't been there thus far," he said during an interview Friday. He said he hopes compromise legislation does not impose restrictions on growth because the net has not relied on legislation to develop. Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more tech news from the media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 00:03:22 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Circuit City Fixes Forum Flaw That Infected IE Users The company patched a customer-support message forum Web site that had been silently installing a backdoor Trojan on visitors' PCs. By Gregg Keizer TechWeb.com Jun 2, 2006 02:35 PM Circuit City Stores Inc. on Thursday patched a customer support message forum Web site that had been silently installing a backdoor Trojan on visitors' PCs for more than two weeks. Sometime on or about May 17, hackers broke into a home theater message board on Circuit City's online site, said Bill Cimino, a spokesman for the Richmond, Va.-based electronics retailer. "We're trying to backtrack to when the break-in actually occurred," Cimino said Friday. From then until Thursday, June 1, visitors to the forum who were running unpatched versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer were directed to a Russian-based Web site that tried to install a Trojan horse which would give attackers full access to the compromised PC. http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=188701288 ------------------------------ From: ryanjjones@mail.com Subject: Avaya IP Office VoIP Over Internet Date: 5 Jun 2006 05:14:55 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi, We are running an Avaya IP office system. We have VoIP working on LAN, WAN and via VPN connections. However -- how do we get this working (from an Avaya IP handset) over simply the Internet? The Avaya sits on the LAN obviously. 1) - Would we configure a default gateway to be the firewall? - Have a 1-2-1 NAT rule of one of our external IPs to the Avaya? - Configure the handset to talk with the externa lP? Q - Would this work? Q - Is the Avaya secure if all ports are accessible from web? Any idea welcome on this -- as we are getting a bit of heat over this! Cheers. ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Monday 5th June 2006 Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 07:26:12 -0500 From: cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[Financial News]] NTT Docomo Planning Broad Expansion Into Asia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17650.php NTT DoCoMo is planning a broad expansion into Asia in an effort to exploit a predicted boom in high-technology demand in the region, its chief executive said, the Financial Times reported on Its Web site Thursday. ... Sonae: Vivo sale would follow PT acquisition http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17658.php Portuguese industrial conglomerate Sonae SGPS has confirmed that in the event of acquiring control of Portugal Telecom it would sell PT's 50% stake in Brazil's largest mobile operator Vivo, Brazilian newspaper Gazeta Mercantil reported. ... Saudi Telecom May Give Egypt Co 20% Of 3rd Mobile -Report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17661.php Saudi Telecommunications is ready to give Telecom Egypt -- or any other Egyptian company -- up to 20% of its shares in Egypt's third mobile operator, should Saudi Telecom win the bidding for the third license, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Satur... Qualcomm Denies Korean Royalties Reports http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17666.php Qualcomm has reiterated a prior statement that the reports in two Korea Times articles (December 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006) indicating that certain Korean manufacturers' obligations to pay royalties to the company under their respective license agreem... [[Handsets News]] Motorola plans US$9mn investment in R&D sites http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17656.php US equipment manufacturer Motorola plans to invest US$9mn in its research and development (R&D) operations in the northeast of Brazil, Motorola said in a statement. ... [[Legal News]] Phone Network Hacker Fined http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17663.php A Vietnamese computer hacker has been fined US$980 after he managed to break into the Mobifone network and "stole" six high value phone numbers. Hacker Nguyen Van Nhuan, lived in Hoang Liet Ward, Hoang Mai District, Hanoi, worked for a MobiFone agent... [[Mobile Content News]] Hong Kong SmarTone: Hutchison-DoCoMo i-mode Service Not A Threat http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17651.php Hong Kong mobile-phone carrier SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings said Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) partnership with NTT DoCoMo to launch an i-mode service in the territory won't be a threat to its business. ... BT Movio Licenses Mobile TV Technology http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17669.php The Technology Partnership (TTP) says that it has agreed with BT Movio to license its DAB-IP open standards based mobile television module to manufacturers worldwide. This follows the successful pilot mobile TV service trials by BT Movio last Novembe... [[Network Operators News]] Russia's Equant to operate under Orange brand later this year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17652.php Russia's Equant, or OOO Ekvant, a subsidiary of France Telecom, plans to start operating under the Orange Business Services brand starting sometime in September-November, Equant said in a press release Friday. ... Cellphone Cos Beefing Up Systems For Hurricane Season http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17653.php JACKSON, Miss. (AP)--Mobile phone companies are working on bolstering their systems to try to prevent a repeat of the havoc Hurricane Katrina wreaked on communication services last year. ... PeterStar to launch WiMAX network in Kaliningrad soon http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17654.php Russia's PeterStar, a St. Petersburg-based alternative fixed-line operator, plans to launch a WiMAX network in the city of Kaliningrad in late 2006 or early 2007, the company said in a press release Friday. ... T-Mobile Says Demand For At-Home Cell Phone Offer Strong http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17660.php Deutsche Telekom's mobile phone arm T-Mobile International is experiencing growing demand for its so-called T-Mobile@home offer launched at the beginning of the year, Chief Executive Philipp Humm told Dow Jones Newswires Friday. ... [[Personnel News]] Gunmen Kill 4 Telecommunication Workers In Baghdad http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17662.php BAGHDAD (AP)--Gunmen killed four telecommunications workers in a drive-by shooting in Baghdad Sunday, authorities said. ... Plot to Topple Vodafone Directors http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17667.php Several of Vodafone's institutional shareholders are reported to be planning to vote against the re-election of several Vodafone directors, chief executive Arun Sarin. ... [[Regulatory News]] Cofetel candidates rejected for "political" reasons http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17657.php Mexico's congress rejected this week three of the four candidates proposed by President Vicente Fox to form the new board of telecoms regulator Cofetel apparently for political reasons, local press reported. ... Irish Unaware of Roaming Costs http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17665.php Ireland's Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has published the results of its quarterly residential survey of 15-74 year olds on their adoption and use of electronic communications services. The survey results, for the period January-M... Fourth Attempt to Offer Slovak GSM License http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17670.php The Telecommunications Office of the Slovak Republic has announced plans to offer a 3rd GSM and UMTS license in the country. This is however, the third time the regulator has attempted to offer a GSM license to break the T-Mobile/Orange duopoly. Tend... [[Statistics News]] Belarus' MDC subscriber base up to 2.21 million users June 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17655.php The subscriber base of Belarusian mobile phone operator Mobile Digital Communications (MDC) rose 3.3% in May to 2.21 million users as of June 1, the company's press office said Thursday. ... Ecuadorian Mobile market reaches US$1bn in 2005 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17659.php Ecuadorian mobile operators billed US$1.01bn in 2005 and saw the number of users grow 76% compared to 2004, local newspaper El Comercio reported. ... Cellphones Drive Semiconductor Sales Rise http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17668.php The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has reported that worldwide sales of semiconductors rose 8.1% in April 2006, compared to April 2005. Sales reached US$19.6 billion, driven largely by mobile phones.... Mobile RAN equipment sales down 22% in 1Q06 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17671.php The worldwide radio access network equipment market fell 22% to US$7.4 billion in 1Q06 due to a huge drop in CDMA/EV-DO/EVDV and GSM/GPRS/EDGE equipment revenue, says Infonetics Research latest Radio Access Network Equipment report. W-CDMA/UMTS RAN e... [[Technology News]] Ericsson integrates with Microsoft Office Live http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17664.php Ericsson says that it is providing integration between its One Phone solution and Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2005. This will enable users to 'click to dial' from their computer desktops, using any phone connected to the corporate pho... ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Telegram in TV Show 1984; Payphone in TV Show 2006 Date: 5 Jun 2006 10:36:59 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com TV Land has been running old episodes of the show "Benson". In one episode, they received a telegram announcing an award winner. I was surprised they'd still use mention of a telegram that late; by then telegrams were virtually obsolete. For the scene's dramatic effect, it was necessary to have the message in a sealed envelope and be something special as opposed to the regular mail. As an aside, in an I Love Lucy episode, Lucy received a telegram from a fancy women's group she sought to join. That was interesting since it was a local group and I'd think a plain letter or phone call would do. I wouldn't think telegrams would be used for local in-city messages after the war, but maybe they were.) In a current TV show, The Suite Life comedy, a sci-fi machine was built that looked like a British payphone booth. The stars of the show (13 y/o boys) remarked that "no uses pay phones anymore". (Actually the machine shifted to parallel universes and the subsequent plot was similar to the old Star Trek episode "MIrror Mirror".) I just realized that this show's scenes makes use of today's instant communication that would be unheard of in past TV. They had one scene where they put together a commercial for the owner of the hotel where they live. The owner, in a very distant overseas city, saw the commercial instantly and phoned at once to voice his opinion; the call was instantly received on his daughter's cell phone. However, some scenes still rely on relayed messages or even newspaper headlines (an old movie trick) to convey information for dramatic effect. In I Love Lucy there were no cell phones, of course, but Lucy seemed to be always near a phone when she needed it; she often used her apt phone and called Ricky at work. I do believe there were plots where she couldn't reach Ricky and concocted a scheme as a result. That's all doable today, they just have to make the excuse a cell phone was turned off. [public replies, please] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 12:41:12 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: June 5, 2006 - Investors buy undersea-cable business USTelecom dailyLead June 5, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dLmwfDtuterKrNcSzb TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Investors buy undersea-cable business BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * IPTV poised to take TV world by storm * RCN sees triple-play advantage in fight against larger rivals * Selling convergence no easy marketing task * Cable operators risk alienating customers in move to HDTV USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Telecom at your Fingertips - Updated TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * VoIP poses new challenge for wireless REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * JetBlue unit wins airwaves auction * Analysis: Spectrum auction faces more delays Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dLmwfDtuterKrNcSzb ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Companies _DO_ Snoop on Employee Email Date: 5 Jun 2006 08:42:57 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Reuters News Wire wrote: > "It is not something that is broadcast," Steele said. "There are > organizations where employees think they can say whatever they want > to say and nobody is going to read it." My employer issued a formal policy statement about emails, emphasizing that they are monitoring emails. There has been considerable publicity about e-mails not being private. People have lost their jobs, even gone to jail when they mistakenly sent a very personal email to everyone in the company. (Such a mistake was part of the jokes in the film "American Pie"). I dislike using email for sensitive personal matters (anything beyond "Want to meet for lunch today?") for that reason. I've gotten burned with personal emails forwarded to others without my consent. I am very careful who has my email address. (I need to establish email on Yahoo as Pat suggested that I could be less cautious with.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The only thing -- well, not the only thing, but an important factor where Yahoo Mail is concerned is the extremely high volume of spam/scam mail you will get on your account there within days of starting to use their email. My main complaint with Yahoo Mail is the _huge_ amount of sexually-related spam. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Companies _DO_ Snoop on Employee Email Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2006 14:05:29 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Reuters News Wire wrote: > Big Brother is not only watching but he is also reading your e-mail. And? You shouldn't be using company email for personal purposes. > Steele also said on Friday that more and more companies are employing > staff to read outgoing e-mails of workers who typically have no idea > their correspondence is being monitored. > "It is not something that is broadcast," Steele said. "There are > organizations where employees think they can say whatever they want to > say and nobody is going to read it." If it's the company's resources that are being used, and company emailboxes that are being monitored, the employee has no say in the matter. Steve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Apple Valley, California PGP:0xE3AE35ED It's all fun and games until someone starts a bonfire in the living room. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2006 18:58:00 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Bad Static, Humming, and Disconnects Mike S. wrote: > The other day I noticed a lot of static and humming on my phone lines. > Then today I noticed that sometimes I can't get a dial tone, it sort > of goes in and out. I also noticed that the upstairs phones are the > ones that have more problems with getting a dial tone and the > static. So I went out to the phone box (NID) and tested the line with > two different phones. There was static and humming on both but it > wasn't terribly bad. > So it seems that the static is not so bad at the NID, at the > downstairs phones it gets worse and then on the upstairs phones it's > horrible. Since I get static and humming at the NID, that indicates > the problem is in the outside wiring. If the problem is outside, then > shouldn't all the phones have the same amount of static? Why would it > be worse upstairs if the problem is outside? Is it some sort of signal > problem? The further the line goes, the worse the problem gets? Did you disconnect the inside wiring when you did the NID testing? Different makes of phones might explain it. But if you have the problem with the inside wire disconnected, I'd call the phone company before worrying about cascading effects. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Alex Bell and the Garfield Assassination Date: 5 Jun 2006 09:36:39 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com R. J. Brown wrote: > Some people ask me "Why bother to collect old newspapers? If I want to > read dry, boring history, I can just get a history book." My answer to > this is that historical events. The only way they can be > re-discovered, is through reading original newspapers published during > the time of the event. Old newspapers offer far more information than given in a history book. They tell of the times. Even a quick glimpse at old newspapers shows that times actually haven't changed very much. Take a newspaper 50 years old -- the arguments about politics and social issues haven't changed very much. The claims of technology aren't new. One would think we in the technology business would have no interest at all in old newspapers, after all, we're working with stuff that simply didn't exist back then. But that's not true. The actual physical technology -- say of making a microchip -- is new. But technology doesn't exist in a vacuum. It must co-exist with consumer preferences, social policy and custom, and economics. Human nature does not change. Many of the social issues for and against new technology are the same as 50 years ago. A read of the arguments is like reading a modern paper. Finding investment capital to move a development out of the lab into mass production is no different than 50 years ago. The challenge of marketing and consumer acceptance isn't different either beyond perhaps the style of the outer enclosure box. Many technical gadgets were envisioned many years ago. Some were actually developed but not applied because of high cost. (Many ESS features were doable on crossbar but it was expensive.) An advtg of studying old articles is that one is armed with good responses and arguments to today's issues. Another advtg is that hindsight is 20/20. Today we have that hindsight when looking at the past to see what worked and what did not and why. Politics is very much the same. We have cantankerous reactionary leaders and head-in-the-clouds liberal leaders; only the names have changed. Politics is very much a part of technology as much as technical people like to think they're above it. There's a lot of erroneous conventional wisdom that newspapers mock. For example, during WW II, newspapers published considerable criticism of FDR, his staff, and his strategies for prosecuting the war. The "good ole days" weren't so good. One problem with having old newspapers is that physical hard copies are bulky and extremely fragile (newsprint wasn't meant to last). Most old stuff is on microfilm but that loses all colors and photos are very muddy, plus it's sequential access only. The New York Times has been put on digital and some libraries have access to the database for free (others can get at it by paying an al a carte fee). Fascinating stuff. The traditional newspaper is losing readership to the Internet. I'm terribly disappointed in this. Despite what Internet proponents say, the quality of info in a tradtional major newspaper is far superior to what's on the web. Full service newspaper feature articles contain a great amount of detail, far more than a web article does. They're written and editing by professional journalists using strict standards. Of course they're not always perfect or right, but at least the journalistic standards keeps their accuracy high. Too many web articles are written by amateurs repeating conventional wisdom that may not be accurate. [public replies please] ------------------------------ From: David Reply-To: FlyLikeAnEagle@United.Com Subject: Re: Microsoft Lauches Security Plan for Windows Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 17:00:59 GMT On Wed, 31 May 2006 02:57:41 UTC, Allison Linn wrote: > By ALLISON LINN, AP Business Writer > Security software makers, the 800-pound gorilla has landed. Microsoft Corp. > was to announce Wednesday that it is releasing software that aims to better > protect people who use its Windows operating system from Internet attacks. Let me get this straight. Microsoft makes a popular product that is vulnerable to certain forms of attack. Rather than choosing to fix the problem, they decide to create add-on products to get a share of the money spent on competing after-market products. It is a very good thing that the public still chooses to use the popular products with known volunerabilities. A competitor might come along and take away their core business. At least the automotive industry had competitors and there was reasonable competition and improvement across the board. David ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Organization: I Kill Spammers, inc. Subject: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 02:56:22 GMT Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or don't they care? Today I was bombarded with one for Westly for Governor of California, 4 calls in less then 2 hours, and all were from out of state. I had planned on voting for him, now my cat gets the vote!!!! -- The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, inc, A Rot in Hell. Co. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #213 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Jun 5 22:46:45 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 832651551D; Mon, 5 Jun 2006 22:46:43 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #214 Message-Id: <20060606024643.832651551D@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 22:46:43 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_REMOVE,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 5 Jun 2006 22:50:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 214 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Network Time (was Re: Cell Phone For Frequency Calibration (K VandenHout) Re: Telegram in TV Show 1984; Payphone in TV Show 2006 (DLR) Re: Telegram in TV Show 1984; Payphone in TV Show 2006 (Ron Kritzman) Re: Id Theft Made Easy (USA Today News Wire) (John Schmerold) Re: Bad Static, Humming, and Disconnects (Ken Abrams) Re: Companies _DO_ Snoop on Employee Email (DLR) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (DLR) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (mc) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Sam Spade) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (George Berger) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Barry Margolin) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Koos van den Hout Subject: Network Time (was Re: Using Cell Phone For Frequency Calibration?) Date: 5 Jun 2006 19:50:37 GMT Organization: http://idefix.net/~koos/ > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Or notice, for example, the setting > of accurate clocks via the internet. I've a program here called 'Net Time' > which constantly polls various 'time servers' around the net. When > you set it up, one site returns data reported to have latency of .150 ms > and another has latency of .75 ms, etc, in other words _none _ of > them display (on my screen) -exactly- the right time. But the > program takes a half dozen or so of these time servers, and averages > the latencies then makes an adjustment which is as close as one can > get apparently, to the 'correct time' NTP (Network Time Protocol) and the associated software is a science in itself. The round-trip latency is used in the time calculations, as is the averaging of multiple servers to find correct servers and outliers. With good hardware, microsecond to nanosecond accuracy is possible. http://www.ntp.org/ (The network time protocol project) has a lot of information, including scientific papers. Koos van den Hout Camp Wireless, wireless Internet access at campsites| Koos van den Hout http://www.camp-wireless.org/ | http://idefix.net/~koos/ PGP keyid DSS/1024 0xF0D7C263 or RSA/1024 0xCA845CB5| Fax +31-30-2817051 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thanks for mentioning this site. I went over earlier today and selected from the 'us.pool.ntp.org' numbers for my computer clock settings. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 15:48:34 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Telegram in TV Show 1984; Payphone in TV Show 2006 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > TV Land has been running old episodes of the show "Benson". In one > episode, they received a telegram announcing an award winner. > I was surprised they'd still use mention of a telegram that late; by > then telegrams were virtually obsolete. For the scene's dramatic > effect, it was necessary to have the message in a sealed envelope and > be something special as opposed to the regular mail. > As an aside, in an I Love Lucy episode, Lucy received a telegram from > a fancy women's group she sought to join. That was interesting since > it was a local group and I'd think a plain letter or phone call would > do. I wouldn't think telegrams would be used for local in-city > messages after the war, but maybe they were.) The start of all the headaches for the main character in "North by Northwest", 1959 depended on a telegram scene. He wanted to get in touch with his mother who had just moved and didn't yet have her phone installed. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:58:14 -0500 From: Ron Kritzman Subject: Re: Telegram in TV Show 1984; Payphone in TV Show 2006 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > In a current TV show, The Suite Life comedy, a sci-fi machine was > built that looked like a British payphone booth... Certainly not a new concept! The BBC's well known time traveler Dr. Who has been moving through time, space and dimensions in a vehicle shaped like a British police box, since the program's inception in 1963. Emoveray ethay Igpay Atinlay otay eplyray ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 15:34:18 -0500 From: John Schmerold Subject: Re: Id Theft Made Easy Thinking about the USA Today newswire report in the Digest: Here's a situation where I'd like to see a juicy class-action suit against the 3 credit bureaus. If there was a simple way to lock and unlock your credit record without charge, identity theft would be difficult. After all, if the evil doer can't open accounts in my name, there is only so much damage that is possible. A few nice, expensive class action suits would encourage the credit bureaus to solve this problem. TELECOM Digest Editor wrote, quoting newswire: > With a little computer savvy and a few keystrokes, identity thieves > can invade your privacy, run up your credit card bills, pilfer bank > accounts and create years of financial nightmares. > A name, date of birth and Social Security number are all the thieves > need. Because of slipshod procedures to protect computer data, the > Department of Veterans Affairs might have given them just that. ------------------------------ From: Ken Abrams Subject: Re: Bad Static, Humming, and Disconnects Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 22:28:18 GMT DLR wrote: > Did you disconnect the inside wiring when you did the NID testing? With a modern NID, that happens automatically when you remove the plug from the jack inside the box. This is likely the style he has, since he is (seems to be) plugging in regular phones to test. > Different makes of phones might explain it. But if you have the > problem with the inside wire disconnected, I'd call the phone company > before worrying about cascading effects. I absolutely agree with that part. Also there is usually more ambient/background noise outside. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 15:54:11 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Companies _DO_ Snoop on Employee Email hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > Reuters News Wire wrote: >> "It is not something that is broadcast," Steele said. "There are >> organizations where employees think they can say whatever they want >> to say and nobody is going to read it." > My employer issued a formal policy statement about emails, emphasizing > that they are monitoring emails. I manage some in house mail servers for some small businesses. My advice to them is to tell employees that emails must be such that they can be enlarged and nailed to the front door of the office. Anything that doesn't meet that standard is not allowed and will be treated as if it was so posted. All have basically adopted this policy. It means that personal email is ok. Just not about last nights romantic encounters. Disparaging comments about others, business or personal, is not ok unless you're willing to say it in public. And it is noted regularly that emails are not private. Any email received or sent via the company computers can be assumed to be read by management. I understand large companies need more formal rules but this one seems to be a reasonable compromise. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 15:55:51 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Steven Lichter wrote: > Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on > the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or > don't they care? Today I was bombarded with one for Westly for > Governor of California, 4 calls in less then 2 hours, and all were > from out of state. I had planned on voting for him, now my cat gets > the vote!!!! They don't care. I'll repeat. They don't care. They're playing a numbers game where as long as the stats show that they are succeeding to the extend of the goals of the call, they will keep doing it. ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Organization: BellSouth Internet Group Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 17:32:34 -0400 Steven Lichter wrote in message news:telecom25.213.14@telecom-digest.org... > Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on > the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or > don't they care? Today I was bombarded with one for Westly for > Governor of California, 4 calls in less then 2 hours, and all were > from out of state. I had planned on voting for him, now my cat gets > the vote!!!! This is a conversation I've had with various people at various times: "Maybe you've found a loophole in the Do Not Call List. But do you remember *why* there's a Do Not Call List? You don't get business (votes, etc.) by bothering people when they don't want to be bothered!" ------------------------------ From: Sam Spade Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 16:42:11 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications Political calls and calls from charitable are exempt from the Do Not Call Registry. You think politicans would have cut themselves off? Steven Lichter wrote: > Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on > the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or > don't they care? Today I was bombarded with one for Westly for > Governor of California, 4 calls in less then 2 hours, and all were > from out of state. I had planned on voting for him, now my cat gets > the vote!!!! > -- The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you > hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, inc, A Rot in > Hell. Co. ------------------------------ From: George Berger Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:28:44 -0400 Organization: Heller Information Services In article , Steven Lichter wrote: > Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on > the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or > don't they care? Today I was bombarded with one for Westly for > Governor of California, 4 calls in less then 2 hours, and all were > from out of state. I had planned on voting for him, now my cat gets > the vote!!!! Sorry, Fella' - When Congress passed the Do Not Call legislation, they deliberately left a very large and gaping hole, viz., Political entities are exempt. Nice, eh? Did you expect legislators to cut themselves off from telephone fund-raising and "get out the vote" entreaties? George I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -- Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman (attributed) ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Organization: Symantec Date: Mon, 05 Jun 2006 20:42:27 -0400 In article , Steven Lichter wrote: > Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on > the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or > don't they care? They obviously don't care, or they wouldn't have put the exemption for political calls in the law in the first place. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We here in s.e. Kansas have a special election planned for Tuesday, June 6. I think it is only for Independence. The reason is whether or not to authorize bonds (i.e. borrow more money) to make some improvements to the schools. We have received phone calls and visitors at the door all day today telling us 'vote yes for the kids' and that is such a dishonest approach! I told each of them you want a yes vote for the school administrators is how it actually goes. This will be the third time in the past year they have tried to get this past us. The first two times they were voted down; each time they re-wrote the plan and brought it back to the voters again. They want money to build a new gymnasium for the high school among other things. This third plan now being presented is only a shell of the first two plans, so maybe it will pass. I know we do _not_ need to borrow more money. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #214 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Jun 6 14:32:47 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id A724D15258; Tue, 6 Jun 2006 14:32:46 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #215 Message-Id: <20060606183246.A724D15258@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 14:32:46 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 6 Jun 2006 14:35:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 215 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson EFFector 19.13: EFF Files Evidence to Stop AT&T's Dragnet (Monty Solomon) EFFector 19.14: AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents (Monty Solomon) EFFector 19.15: EFF Stands Up for Online Journalists' Rights (M Solomon) EFFector 19.16: Action Alert - Don't Let Congress Shackle Digital (Solomon) EFFector 19.17: Action Alert - Tell Your Senators to Kick Out (M Solomon) EFFector 19.18: Donate to EFF and Stop the Illegal Spying! (Monty Solomon) EFFector 19.19: EFF Can Use Critical AT&T Documents (Monty Solomon) EFFector 19.20: Action Alert - Let the Public Decide Broadcasting (Solomon) Windows XP Update May be Classified as "Spyware" (Monty Solomon) Cellular-News: Tuesday 6th June 2006 (Cellular-News) Re: Perfect Hangup (Dan Lanciani) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Steven Lichter) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Dave Garland) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Sam Spade) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Lena) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Bob Vaughan) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 23:37:24 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 19.13: EFF Files Evidence to Stop AT&T's Dragnet EFFector Vol. 19, No. 13 April 7, 2006 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 374th Issue of EFFector: * EFF Files Evidence to Stop AT&T's Dragnet Surveillance * Bogus Clear Channel Patent May Be Revoked * EFF Challenges Dangerous Patent on Internet Test-Taking * Citizens Lobby Congress for Reliable Electronic Voting * Smithsonian-Showtime: Why the Broadcasting Treaty Matters * Copyright v. Indexing, Part 1: TorrentSpy * You're Invited! "Email -- Should the Sender Pay?": EFF Fundraiser, Debate Between Esther Dyson and Danny O'Brien * EFF PSAs for Your Podcast or Online Radio Show * miniLinks (12): MAFIAA * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/19/13.php ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 23:37:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 19.14: AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents EFFector Vol. 19, No. 14 April 14, 2006 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 375th Issue of EFFector: * AOL Censors Email Tax Opponents * You're Invited! "Email -- Should the Sender Pay?": EFF Fundraiser, Debate Between Esther Dyson and Danny O'Brien * Digital Copyright Law Hurts Consumers, Scientists, and Competition * E-Voting Lobby Days a Resounding Success * EFF Defends American's Free Speech Against Foreign Court Ruling * Get Secure, Encrypted Webmail and Support EFF * Support EFF at the Maker Faire Dunk Tank! * miniLinks (10): 2006 Underhanded C Contest * Staff Calendar * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/19/14.php ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 23:37:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 19.15: EFF Stands Up for Online Journalists' Rights EFFector Vol. 19, No. 15 April 20, 2006 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 376th Issue of EFFector: * EFF Stands Up for Online Journalists' Rights in Apple v. Does * Calling For Sunshine at the Smithsonian * Visit EFF at the Maker Faire Dunk Tank and MySQL Users Conference * miniLinks (8): HDCP: Broken by Design * Staff Calendar * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/19/15.php ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 23:37:26 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 19.16: Action Alert - Don't Let Congress Shackle Digital EFFector Vol. 19, No. 16 April 28, 2006 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 377th Issue of EFFector: * Action Alert: Don't Let Congress Shackle Digital Music! * Petition Congress to Oppose RIAA Lawsuits, Forge Better Way Forward * EFF Honors Craigslist, Gigi Sohn, and Jimmy Wales with Pioneer Awards * The Season of Bad Laws, Part 1: TM Dilution Revision Act * The Season of Bad Laws, Part 2: Criminal Copyright Infringement, Drug War Style * Top Canadian Artists Oppose DRM, Suing Fans * miniLinks (16): GETV at EFF Email Debate * Staff Calendar * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/19/16.php ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 23:37:29 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 19.17: Action Alert - Tell Your Senators to Kick Out EFFector Vol. 19, No. 17 May 5, 2006 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 378th Issue of EFFector: * Action Alert: Tell Your Senators to Kick Out the Flags * Government Moves to Intervene in AT&T Surveillance Case * Sign EFF's Petition to Congress Opposing RIAA Lawsuits! * EFF Challenges FCC's Jurisdiction Over Internet Services * Update From the Smithsonian Front * Support EFF By Donating a Printer * miniLinks (15): OECD on DRM Disclosure * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/19/17.php ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 23:37:30 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 19.18: Donate to EFF and Stop the Illegal Spying! EFFector Vol. 19, No. 18 May 15, 2006 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 379th Issue of EFFector: * Donate to EFF and Stop the Illegal Spying! * Government Files Secret Motion to Dismiss AT&T Surveillance Case * AOL Starts Pay-to-Send Email Shakedown * Court Slows EFF Efforts to Address Ohio E-voting Malfunctions * Public Interest Wins Big at WIPO Broadcast Treaty Meeting * Online Rights Canada Launches Action Center * Support EFF By Donating a Printer * miniLinks (12): Fire Hatch in 2006 * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/19/18.php ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 23:37:30 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 19.19: EFF Can Use Critical AT&T Documents EFFector Vol. 19, No. 19 May 22, 2006 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 380th Issue of EFFector: * EFF Can Use Critical AT&T Documents in Surveillance Lawsuit * Support EFF: New EFF v. AT&T Blog Banners! * Internet Test-Taking Patent Draws Official Suspicion * Supreme Court Reverses Dangerous Injunction Rule in eBay Patent Case * Judge Grants Final Approval for Sony BMG CD Settlement * Record Labels Sue XM Radio * Support EFF By Donating a Printer * miniLinks (17): Another Way to Register Gun Owners? * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/19/19.php ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 23:37:34 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EFFector 19.20: Action Alert - Let the Public Decide EFFector Vol. 19, No. 20 May 30, 2006 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 In the 380th Issue of EFFector: * Action Alert - Let the Public Decide Broadcasting Treaty's Fate! * Huge Win for Online Journalists' Source Protection * Key Portions of Critical Documents Unsealed in AT&T Surveillance Case * The Battle for Your Digital Media Devices * miniLinks (14): A Catalog of Features Lost in iTunes Upgrades * Administrivia http://www.eff.org/effector/19/20.php ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 08:05:05 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Windows XP Update May be Classified as "Spyware" Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein Date: June 6, 2006 1:15:05 AM EDT Subject: Windows XP update may be classified as "spyware" Dave, There have been some murmurs about this in other forums, but since I've now independently verified I figured I'd better report here. A recent Microsoft update to Windows XP, which modifies the tool that verifies the "validity" of XP installations to insure that they are not illicit, may itself be considered to be spyware under commonly accepted definitions. The new version of the "Microsoft Genuine Advantage" tool reportedly will repeatedly nag users of systems it declares to be invalid, and will then apparently deny such users various "non-critical" updates. Apparently various parties have already found ways to bypass this tool, though the effects of this on later updating capabilities remain to be seen. However, I've noted a much more serious issue on local XP systems, all of which are legit and pass the MS validity tests with flying colors. It appears that even on such systems, the MS tool will now attempt to contact Microsoft over the Internet *every time you boot*. At least, I'm seeing these contacts on every boot after the tool update so far, and I've allowed them to proceed to completion each time. Perhaps it stops after some number of boots, but there's no indication of such a limit so far. The connections occur even if you do not have Windows "automatic update" enabled. http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200606/msg00030.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Tuesday 6th June 2006 Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 07:16:55 -0500 From: cellular-news Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] HSDPA Trials in Malaysia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17680.php Malaysia's Time dotCom says that it has commenced a 3G pilot trial, following its success in the recent 3G spectrum award. The primary objective of the trial is to test the performance of High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) - a next generation ... Chinese Ministry Orders 3G Test Platform http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17683.php Tektronix says that China Academy of Telecommunication Research (CATR), a division of The Ministry of Information Industry (MII), has chosen it as a supplier for the 3G network environment testing. CATR has specified that Tektronix' K1297-G20 protoco... 3G Billing Deployment for Intec http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17684.php The BSS/OSS software vendor, Intec and Huawei say they have successfully implemented Intec's Mediation solution for Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless ("APBW"), a CDMA 2000 operator in Taiwan, within three months. Established in November 2001, APBW won ... [[ Financial ]] PRESS: Sistema bids for 90% in Armenia's ArmenTel http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17676.php Major Russian holding AFK Sistema has filed a bid to participate in the tender of a 90% stake in Armenian fixed-line and mobile operator ArmenTel, Sistema's Chairman Vladimir Yevtushenkov said, Vedomosti business daily reported Monday. ... Telenor inks swap agreement with ING on 3.5% in Russia's VimpelCom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17677.php Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor has signed a swap agreement with the London branch of ING Bank N.V. under which Telenor will receive exposure to 3.52% of voting shares in Russia?s second largest mobile operator VimpelCom, Telenor said in ... [[ Legal ]] Supreme Court Turns Away Cingular Appeal On Arbitration http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17675.php The US Supreme Court Monday turned away the chance to decide whether class-action termination fee lawsuits filed against AT&T's Cingular Wireless unit in California can be forced into arbitration. ... Alltel Sued Over Mobile TV Patents http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17682.php Speedus has announced that its unit CellularVision Technology & Telecommunications filed lawsuits on June 2 against the USA network operator, Alltel. The suits address technologies now used by Alltel to transmit television to wireless users over cell... [[ Mobile Content ]] Strong Customer Support for Mobile TV http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17679.php A new report from Portio Research, the result of an extensive survey of European mobile phone users in early 2006, gives a resounding 'thumbs up' for Mobile TV. Significantly over 50% of those interviewed were interested in Mobile TV and were prepare... US Consumers Keen on Advanced Mobile Services - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17681.php Mobile subscribers in the United States are ready to catch up with their global peers -- including closing the gap on the world's most advanced users in Korea and China -- in the adoption of new cellular innovations that make mobile devices sing, play ... [[ Network Operators ]] NTT DoCoMo Eyes Phone-Wallet Market In Hong Kong http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17672.php NTT DoCoMo is planning to enter the electronic payment market in Hong Kong when it brings its i-mode service to the city at the end of this year. ... Claro reorganizes structure to provide strategic continuity http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17678.php Brazilian mobile operator Claro has consolidated its operational structure to provide strategic continuity, Claro said in a statement. ... [[ Regulatory ]] FOCUS: Russian operators seek compensation on CPP launch http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17673.php The introduction of the Calling Party Pays (CPP) principle in Russia next month will result in free incoming calls for mobile users, however, at the same time, it might also bring a hike in tariffs for outgoing calls as mobile operators seek to make ... Ukraine's regulator refuses to give CDMA-450 license to Ukrtelecom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17674.php Ukraine's National Commission for Communications Regulation (NKRS) has refused to provide state-owned fixed-line monopoly Ukrtelecom with a license for operation in CDMA-450 standard, a spokesperson with the regulator told Prime-Tass Monday. ... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 01:48:21 EDT From: Dan Lanciani Subject: Re: Perfect Hangup gleepy@gleepy.net (Curtis R Anderson) wrote: > Poor designs like that make me miss the well-made Ma Bell phones from > the days of yore. Why miss them? My desk phone is a 2565 set that I picked up at a ham flea market in the 80's. (If you didn't grab a few when they were really cheap they are certainly available on eBay. Either way they pretty much last forever.) The other day I finally had to adjust the row oscillator in the DTMF pad because "6" was no longer working with an ISDN terminal adapter. (It still worked for POTS; it was just a little off.) It was quite difficult to turn the tuning slug. Eventually I used a triangular file held in a Vice Grip pliers. (Even after I broke it free I don't think any plastic tool would have turned it.) Using a metal tool I had to do a bit of tweak/remove/test, but once I had row #2 set all the others were correct to within the accuracy of my meter. The columns were perfect to begin with. I hope for another 20+ years of service before more maintenance is required. :) Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Organization: I Kill Spammers, inc. Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 03:42:10 GMT Sam Spade wrote: > Political calls and calls from charitable are exempt from the Do Not > Call Registry. > You think politicans would have cut themselves off? > Steven Lichter wrote: >> Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on >> the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or >> don't they care? Today I was bombarded with one for Westly for >> Governor of California, 4 calls in less then 2 hours, and all were >> from out of state. I had planned on voting for him, now my cat gets >> the vote!!!! >> -- The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you >> hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, inc, A Rot in >> Hell. Co. I'm well aware of that, but as was pointed out, you don't get votes or business when you bother people. I did file a report after getting 2 calls an hour for 6 hours, and added the number to my Radio Shack CID box to block all further calls. I also plan on voting for my Cat for Governor. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, inc, A Rot in Hell. Co. ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 01:03:51 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Steven Lichter wrote: > Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on > the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or > don't they care? I expect they don't have a clue that you're on the Don't Call list. Political campaigns don't check against it, since legally it doesn't apply to them, and they don't have a copy of it. (I'm not saying it shouldn't, but it doesn't.) And as a volunteer who does do phone banking (not, I hasten to add, for Governor of California), we're just happy when somebody checks and corrects the database, so we're not the fifth person to call the same damn wrong number. Dave ------------------------------ From: Sam Spade Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 02:25:05 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications Barry Margolin wrote: > In article , > Steven Lichter wrote: >> Don't these people know that calling someone who has their number on >> the Don't Call list do not want to here from them or anyone else, or >> don't they care? > They obviously don't care, or they wouldn't have put the exemption for > political calls in the law in the first place. > Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu > Arlington, MA > *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** > *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: We here in s.e. Kansas have a special > election planned for Tuesday, June 6. I think it is only for > Independence. The reason is whether or not to authorize bonds > (i.e. borrow more money) to make some improvements to the schools. > We have received phone calls and visitors at the door all day today > telling us 'vote yes for the kids' and that is such a dishonest approach! > I told each of them you want a yes vote for the school administrators > is how it actually goes. This will be the third time in the past > year they have tried to get this past us. The first two times they > were voted down; each time they re-wrote the plan and brought it > back to the voters again. They want money to build a new gymnasium for > the high school among other things. This third plan now being > presented is only a shell of the first two plans, so maybe it will > pass. I know we do _not_ need to borrow more money. PAT] In California, the Governator has a huge bond issue set for the November election to overhaul the general declining infrastructure of the state. The place is super broke and has already one of the highest tax burdens in the nation. For the first time, the lackluster handling of the unending hordes of illegal "invaders" (primarily from Mexico) has people relating the two. I often hear, "Why should I vote to make nice roads for illegal Mexicans to driver their unlicensed cars on?" ------------------------------ From: Lena Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: 6 Jun 2006 04:16:19 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I had a burning desire for a device that I could put on my phone line that would allow me to control who and when folks could call me, since the phone companies didn't seem to be willing to do it. I thought I'd get some relief after the long awaited "Do Not Call'" list went in to effect. No such luck. Not only are political and charitable organizations exempt, but also companies with whom one has done business recently. I wish I was more computer literate and could write the software and built the necessary hardware which would allow me to block any anonymous caller and any caller from a list of numbers that I specify, especaially the callers who refuse to leave a message, but just call back over and over again. Telemarketers would only get away with calling me once. I wish I could turn the phone off completely overnight and at times during the day if I wanted. I wish I could divert certain long-winded callers to voicemail every time they called. My wish came true when I signed up for VOIP. So many features for so much less money than a landline. Block up to 20 numbers. Send another 20 to voicemail. Schedule the phone not to ring overnight and during dinner. Block all anonymous callers. Goodbye and good riddance, you #%#@!%^& telemarketers! Lena ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: 6 Jun 2006 09:07:21 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The WORST offender has to be former NYC Mayor David Dinkins. One election we got SEVEN phone calls from him with msg left on our TAD. Had to be maybe one for each office that was being voted for. I called his office at Columbia U and told his secretary I didn't want any more calls. My outgoing TAD msg at that time stated that msgs would be relayed to my cell phone. So I was charged for an outgoing call from my home phone to cell, and then air time on cell. Before then next elction I got a "Screen Machine", Caller has to enter a tone digit to continue. That solved the Dinkins' problem. ---------- Incredibly low long distance phone rates. As low as USA-Canada 1.9CPM! Works as prepaid phone card. PIN not needed for calls from home or cell phone. Compare the rates at https://www.OneSuite.com/ No monthly fee or minimum. Use Promotion/SuiteTreat Code: "FREEoffer23" for FREE time. Although from USA payphones there is a connection fee, there is NONE from other phones or Canadian payphones. Also works FROM many other countries. ------------------------------ From: techie@tantivy.tantivy.net (Bob Vaughan) Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 13:46:16 UTC Organization: Tantivy Associates In article , George Berger wrote: > Sorry, Fella' - > When Congress passed the Do Not Call legislation, they deliberately left > a very large and gaping hole, viz., Political entities are exempt. Political entities are exempted from the Do Not Call list, but as far as I can tell, they are not exempted from the delivery restrictions of 47 USC 64.1200: (a) No person or entity may: (1) Initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using an automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice, (i) To any emergency telephone line, including any 911 line and any emergency line of a hospital, medical physician or service office, health care facility, poison control center, or fire protection or law enforcement agency; (ii) To the telephone line of any guest room or patient room of a hospital, health care facility, elderly home, or similar establishment; or (iii) To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call; (3) Use a telephone faximile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone faximile machine. I have received two political campaign calls to my cellphone in the last two weeks, one of which was a prerecorded pitch for a county sales tax measure, and the other of which was a live human. My cellphone is in a prefix assigned exclusively to cellular, and the prefix serves cellular service in the northern San Francisco peninsula, including San Mateo, and northern Santa Clara counties.. I'm sure that a large number of the phones in the prefix belong to users who do not reside in the county of Santa Clara where the measures are on the ballot. I filed formal complaints with the FCC and FTC for both calls, and read the riot act to the live human. I have also received numerous calls from unidentified numbers, none of which listened to my outgoing voicemail message, which demands that telemarketers, political campaigns, and political parties place me on their do-not-call list. > Nice, eh? Did you expect legislators to cut themselves off from > telephone fund-raising and "get out the vote" entreaties? > George -- Welcome My Son, Welcome To The Machine -- Bob Vaughan | techie @ tantivy.net | | P.O. Box 19792, Stanford, Ca 94309 | -- I am Me, I am only Me, And no one else is Me, What could be simpler? -- ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #215 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Jun 7 01:44:13 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id B3A3F15122; Wed, 7 Jun 2006 01:44:12 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #216 Message-Id: <20060607054412.B3A3F15122@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 01:44:12 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, EXCUSE_3,OPTING_OUT_CAPS,SOMETHING_FOR_ADULTS autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Jun 2006 01:45:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 216 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Fill up With TV News While Getting Gas (Carly Mayberry) Minnesota Sued Over Video Game Clampdown (Jesse Heistand) Battle of the Whispers (Peter Spotts - The Christian Science Monitor) Google Founder Lobbies for Net Neutrality (Joel Rothstein) Panel Recommends NTT Breakup (USTelecom dailyLead) Free and Unlimited SIP Softphone! Customization and SDK (portsip@gmail.com) Re: Windows XP Update May be Classified as "Spyware" (mc) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Steven Lichter) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Carly Mayberry Subject: Fill up With TV News While Getting Gas Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 22:14:46 -0500 By Carly Mayberry Motorists cringing at the cost of fuel can now at least fill up on current news and information while tethered to the pump. Internet-enabled Gas Station TV formally launched its digital television network Monday featuring ABC programming and original content including local news, sports, weather and traffic. The network will air constantly updated content to refueling motorists on 20-inch high-definition LCD monitors embedded in gas dispensers. GSTV already has conducted a test pilot in Dallas and expects to reach 100 locations of the Wal-Mart-based retail gasoline chain Murphy USA by September and 400 stations in the top 10 U.S. markets by next year. "We're very focused on creating an enjoyable and informative experience for the average of four minutes the user spends at the pump with content that has a sense of purpose and that can help them," GSTV CEO David Leider said, describing the venture as based on an advertising revenue model. Current content includes "News You Can Use" segments from ABC's "Good Morning America" along with news, weather forecasts and traffic updates from ABC-owned stations as well as promotional material. Rotating ads from such retail brands as Pepsi, Frito-Lay and US Tobacco are woven into the segments and geared toward driving the consumer back into the convenience store. GSTV president Adam Bleibtreu said future collaborations with other content providers are imminent. "We view this as a great distribution platform to provide the appropriate mix of content," Bleibtreu said. "This is a truly captive audience that we have -- those stuck at the pump -- and this is a great opportunity to engage them." Reuters/Hollywood Reporter Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Jesse Hiestand Subject: Minnesota Sued Over Video Game Clampdown Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 22:16:11 -0500 By Jesse Hiestand The trade group representing the video game industry sued the state of Minnesota on Tuesday to overturn a new bill that would fine children and teens for buying or renting mature or adults-only games. The Entertainment Software Assn. (ESA) filed the suit in Minnesota Federal District Court, arguing that the bill attempted to substitute governmental judgment for parental supervision. The ESA has successfully convinced courts to strike down six similar bills during the past five years, usually by arguing that the prohibitions on certain video games were unconstitutional. "The bill's tortured effort to end run the First Amendment by punishing kids directly fails under the Constitution because children have rights under the First Amendment, like all other citizens," ESA president Doug Lowenstein said. "The state is attempting to impose liability on children because they know that courts have consistently held that they cannot penalize retailers. We believe that the courts will agree that fining children violates the First Amendment as well." The bill would impose a $25 fine on anyone under the age of 17 who bought or rented a video game marked "M" for mature or "AO" for adults only. Stores would be required to post signs alerting customers to the restrictions. Lowenstein said that the average game buyer last year was 40 and the average player was 33. He also questioned how lawmakers reasonably expected retailers to collect the $25 fine from children. The ESA, the U.S. association for console, computer and Internet game developers, said many leading retailers already are working to prevent the sale of Mature-rated games to people under 17. The association's most recent legal victory came in April when a federal judge in Michigan issued a permanent injunction halting the implementation of a state bill that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors. The judge rejected the state's claim that the interactive nature of video games makes them less entitled to First Amendment protections, the ESA said. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Peter N. Spotts Subject: Battle of the Whispers Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 21:19:22 -0500 from the June 05, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0605/p16s01-stgn.html Battle of the whispers A Boston tourist attraction becomes a research lab to resolve a 19th-century sotto voce mystery. By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor It's an odd formula that math teachers shouldn't scrutinize too closely, but for physicist William Hartmann, it worked: S + Ta = Rp, where S is scientist, Ta is tourist attraction, and Rp is research project. When the Michigan State University physicist and his family arrived in New England to begin a sabbatical at Harvard in 1976, "it was the Bicentennial, and we did all the Boston sites," he recalls. Then he heard about a 30-foot, walk-through, stained-glass globe that played odd tricks with sound. "We'd done everything else," he says, "so we went to see it." For Dr. Hartmann, who specializes in acoustics, the globe instantly morphed from tourist attraction to research target. "I resolved that if I ever came back to Boston, I'd study its acoustics," he says. In 2001, he returned to Boston for a sabbatical at Boston University, and Monday, he and two BU colleagues are presenting their initial findings on the globe's sleights-of-ear at the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Providence, R.I. The globe, known formally as the Mapparium, is part of the Mary Baker Eddy Library for the Betterment of Humanity, located in the Christian Science Publishing Society building at the First Church of Christ, Scientist's Boston headquarters (home of this newspaper). The globe lets visitors look at the world inside-out from a glass bridge. Built in 1934, the Mapparium reflects the political boundaries of the day. Now it may have also become the vehicle for settling a 135-year-old dispute between two eminent British scientists about whispering galleries -- locations inside domes or specially designed rooms where a whisper can readily be heard a far distance. "I'm very familiar with whispering galleries," Hartmann says, noting the fine gallery at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry, for example. "But this one has some unique properties." He and BU researchers Steven Colburn and Gerald Kidd took measurements with microphones, noise generators, and an acoustically correct manikin "head." The globe was officially closed at the time, but church officials opened it for the team. "It's kind of a favorite place for me when we have visitors from out of town," says Dr. Kidd. "To have a chance to be in there for hours was just fabulous." Many of the results being reported Monday describe measurements of how the globe's aural illusions and their strength vary with location and orientation between listener and sound source. Ultimately, the team hopes to tie those observations to other factors, such as sound frequency, then use acoustic theory to explain the experience the Mapparium delivers. The team spent several hours trying to identify the various effects by walking the glass bridge with tiny microphones in their ears, recording what they heard at various locations. Then they returned with more sophisticated gear to test more rigorously. The whispering-gallery effect -- a person at one end of the bridge can hear clearly the whispers of someone at the other end -- is the most obvious aural illusion. But there are others: The team identified points of "acoustic symmetry" or hot spots along the bridge where sound is naturally amplified. For two people conversing at a constant volume, the volume will seem twice as loud if they stand two meters on either side of the bridge's center, compared with the volume if one person stands at the center of the bridge. Another is the "opposite ear" effect. With a miked manikin near one end of the bridge, the team moved a sound source toward the opposite end. "For a range of locations, the sound appears to come from its true direction," Kidd says, "then it flips over and sounds as if it comes from the opposite side." As for the 135-year-old debate: In 1871 Britain's Astronomer Royal, George Airy, unveiled a theory explaining the whispering effect in the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He held that, in a spherical dome, the sound at one location reflects to an identical spot opposite the source. Fellow scientist Lord Rayleigh replied: Bosh! Noting that whispers can be heard throughout the whispering gallery, not just opposite the whisperer, he said the sound "crept" around the inner perimeter of the dome. Hartmann searched for Rayleigh's skipping phenomenon, holding a mike on a boom in various locations as close to the Mapparium's stained glass as he dared. At the end of the team's stay, and within the limits of Hartmann's setup, the final score: Airy 1, Rayleigh 0. www.csmonitor.com | Copyright 2006 The Christian Science Monitor. For more headlines and news from Christian Science Monitor, New York Times and National Public Radio with no login nor registration requirements, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I've not seen the one in Boston, although I hope I may sometime have the funds and the health to go visit it. But I have seen the one at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and it is really fascinating. One person stands in a small chamber at one end of a long hall. The other person walks to the other end, about a hundred feet away to a similar chamber. The 'chamber' is actually just a piece of glass about six feet tall. You stand there facing it and talk in a whisper or a very soft voice; the person at the other end -- a hundred or more feet away down a busy hallway full of people can hear you whispering or talking very softly quite well -- you can have a conversation with each other. I do not know what makes it work. From the description shown above, apparently the one in Boston operates the same way. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Joel Rothstein Subject: Google Founder Lobbies for Net Neutrality Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 22:08:12 -0500 By Joel Rothstein Google Inc. co-founder and President Sergey Brin met with U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday to press for legislation that would prevent Internet access providers from charging Web sites more for faster content delivery. "The only way you can have a fast lane that is useful -- that people will pay a premium for -- is if there are slow lanes," Brin told reporters after meeting with Republican John McCain, a member of the Senate committee that oversees telecommunications issues. Google, Microsoft Corp. and other major Internet site operators have joined with small Web site owners to oppose broadband providers such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications that want to offer faster network performance to companies that pay more. The issue has been dubbed "net neutrality" by those who oppose a two-tier system of access and pricing. Brin acknowledged large companies such as Google would be able to cut deals with the network owners to get their content through. But he added that Google searches are only valuable if consumers can then quickly access the sites listed in the results. "The thesis is that some content providers will pay for premium service. Why are they paying? Just because they feel charitable toward the telcos and ISPs?" Brin asked. "I assume they are paying because otherwise they would have worse performance, or maybe it won't really work." The U.S House of Representatives may vote as early as this week on a telecommunications reform bill that does not include the net neutrality protection sought by Google. But the bill would direct the Federal Communications Commission to enforce the agency's September 2005 broadband policy statement that says consumers are entitled to access the content and applications of their choice. Critics like Brin say these provisions do not go far enough and they hope to get stronger language in the Senate's version of a telecoms reform bill. Brin said he "did not know where McCain will come out on the issue." Clad in jeans and sneakers, the billionaire Silicon Valley executive said his company is new to Washington lobbying. Nonetheless, the seven-year-old company has found itself at the center of several political storms in recent months. It successfully battled the Justice Department to avoid handing over search records and absorbed severe congressional criticism over its business practices in China. "Our reputation certainly suffered" from reports that Google's Chinese site -- www.google.cn -- did not show search results on topics critical of the Chinese government, he said. But he said only 1 percent of Chinese users use google.cn, while the majority uses the unfiltered www.google.com. "We are not actually censoring in China," he added. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 12:43:56 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Panel Recommends NTT Breakup USTelecom dailyLead June 6, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dLxcfDtutesSBlRjgK TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Panel recommends NTT breakup BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Intel shopping parts of communications business * Qwest to bundle Microsoft's Live software with broadband * Carphone Warehouse's broadband service in high demand * Time Warner in deal with OpenTV to add interactive features * Ericsson announces IPTV platform, plans integration with IMS USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Upcoming CALEA and Security Webinars TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Prepare for takeoff and connect your Wi-Fi * RIM chief cautions on bandwidth limitations REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC chairman indicates support for tiered access * Net neutrality debate takes the spotlight * Editorial: Get serious about muni Wi-Fi Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dLxcfDtutesSBlRjgK ------------------------------ From: portsip@gmail.com Subject: Free and Unlimited SIP Softphone! Customization and SDK Date: 6 Jun 2006 19:51:56 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com http://www.portsip.com PortSIP softphone is a powerful and unique Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) software phone capable of voice over IP communications. It has been used and downloaded by a lot of users. If you are looking for a softphone for your commnucation needs, try PortSIP softphone please! It' free! Download it : http://www.portsip.com/downloads/portsip2.rar PortSIP VOIP SDK provides necessary components to quickly add SIP(Session Initiation Protocol) audio phone features to your software. Save your time! save your money! The SDK is built by using non-MFC, C and C++ programming languages. PortSIP offers affordable softphone customization for our products. Whether you need pretty GUI and private labeling or other new functionalities of the soft phone, we offer services to meet your needs, such as signing up new account, account balance displaying on the skin, modifying password, charging balance, call history management, and Address book. The customized soft phone is US $8800 including 12 months' free support (including e-mail technical support, patches and upgrades) Please vist us at: http://www.portsip.com ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Windows XP Update May be Classified as "Spyware" Organization: BellSouth Internet Group Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 21:08:38 -0400 Monty Solomon wrote in message news:telecom25.215.9@telecom-digest.org: > However, I've noted a much more serious issue on local XP systems, all > of which are legit and pass the MS validity tests with flying colors. > It appears that even on such systems, the MS tool will now attempt to > contact Microsoft over the Internet *every time you boot*. At least, > I'm seeing these contacts on every boot after the tool update so far, > and I've allowed them to proceed to completion each time. Perhaps it > stops after some number of boots, but there's no indication of such a > limit so far. The connections occur even if you do not have Windows > "automatic update" enabled. Please get people to investigate further. That's a fairly serious matter because it deprives you of some privacy. I don't want a third party tracking me every time I boot, irrespective of whether I want anything from their network at the time. ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter Organization: I Kill Spammers, inc. Subject: Re: Political Telemarketing Calls Date: Wed, 07 Jun 2006 03:52:42 GMT Lena wrote: > I had a burning desire for a device that I could put on my phone line > that would allow me to control who and when folks could call me, since > the phone companies didn't seem to be willing to do it. I thought I'd > get some relief after the long awaited "Do Not Call'" list went in to > effect. No such luck. Not only are political and charitable > organizations exempt, but also companies with whom one has done > business recently. > I wish I was more computer literate and could write the software and > built the necessary hardware which would allow me to block any > anonymous caller and any caller from a list of numbers that I specify, > especaially the callers who refuse to leave a message, but just call > back over and over again. Telemarketers would only get away with > calling me once. I wish I could turn the phone off completely > overnight and at times during the day if I wanted. I wish I could > divert certain long-winded callers to voicemail every time they > called. > My wish came true when I signed up for VOIP. So many features for so > much less money than a landline. Block up to 20 numbers. Send > another 20 to voicemail. Schedule the phone not to ring overnight and > during dinner. Block all anonymous callers. > Goodbye and good riddance, you #%#@!%^& telemarketers! > Lena I have a credit card with HSBC and started getting calls to sign up for all kinds of services. I called the number to be removed from there list. It stated that it could take six months to get removed from their lists, my next act was to send a bill for each and every call I got after I called their Opt-Out number. I charged $100.00 a call which I considered fair since where I work I earn at least that much. The total was $15,000. I got a real fast answer in the form of a call from their legal department stating that I had no right to demand any fee. My answer was I would file complaints with the FCC, the regional Administrator of National Banks and the California Attorney General. To say the least it started a paper fire storm for them. It ended with my number being removed from all of their lists and a check for $1,000, which they felt was fair. I took the money and canceled my account with them. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, inc, A Rot in Hell. Co. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #216 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Jun 7 13:28:48 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id AAFF91524E; Wed, 7 Jun 2006 13:28:47 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #217 Message-Id: <20060607172847.AAFF91524E@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 13:28:47 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.3 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, NIGERIAN_BODY1 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 7 Jun 2006 13:30:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 217 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson China Internet Users Unable to Access Google at all (Reuters News Wire) Pirate Bay Back in Business Following Raid (K.C. Jones CMP Media) Active Duty Military Files Also Stolen (Ann Tyson & Christopher Lee) Cellular-News: Wednesday 7th June 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Summary - June 07, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) EFFector 19.21: Appeals Court Corrects Dangerous Web Privacy (M Solomon) Re: Political Telemarketing Calls (Mark Crispin) Re: Fill up With TV News While Getting Gas (Ron Kritzman) Re: Windows XP Update May be Classified as "Spyware" (Claude J Ortega) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 11, 1981 ====== Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Reuters News Wire Subject: China Internet Users Unable to Access Google at all Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 11:01:34 -0500 China's Web surfers have complained of problems opening Google Inc.'s main search engine Web site in the latest bout of Internet access problems afflicting foreign Internet sites. Internet search giant Google drew fire in January after it announced it would voluntarily block politically sensitive terms on its Chinese site, Google.com.cn -- bowing to Beijing's demands in exchange for access to the world's number-two Internet market. But Web site Google.com had until recently been freely available and uncensored to Web surfers in China. Problems, however, have been reported across the country with complaints ranging from intermittent access failure to sustained blockage. "I haven't been able to access Google's Web page for over a week," said Ma Le, 23, a researcher for a Beijing-based media company. "It's very inconvenient as I regularly use it for work." Students in Wuhan, the capital of the central Chinese province of Hubei, also reported trouble accessing Google. "My friends and I feel very angry about it," said an information technology student who declined to be named. "Google stopped functioning for about a month, and it seems to be a common problem ... The government always tries to control the Internet, so that might be the main reason for it." Google said on Tuesday it had received notice of the access difficulties and was investigating the cause. "We are currently looking into these reports but as yet don't know why these access problems are occurring," said Cui Jin, a Google official." Google is just one of the Web sites recently affected by access problems. Internet users have reported problems accessing email accounts and online chat servers linked to servers overseas including Google's Gmail and MSN Hotmail accounts. "In the last two and a half weeks, the level of international email traffic between China and overseas has declined sharply," said Peter Humphrey, who runs a security firm in China. "It's not just the little guys who can't afford expensive technology and communication lines, it's also affecting big businesses as well ... People are starting to wonder how they can do business in China so long as this goes on." Free information activists Reporters Without Borders on Tuesday issued a statement condemning "the unprecedented level of Internet filtering in China" and linked access problems to the passing of the 17th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4. Others have speculated that the government has tightened Internet access ahead of a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a security forum for Central Asia, which starts on June 15. An official from the Ministry of Information Industry -- China's Internet regulator -- admitted she had also had trouble accessing Google, but declined to comment further. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For other news and headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: K.C. Jones Subject: Pirate Bay Back in Business Following Raid Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 11:03:29 -0500 Pirate Bay Back, Reportedly Overwhelmed By Traffic By K.C. Jones TechWeb.com The Pirate Bay was up and running with a few problems Tuesday after a government raid, followed by a temporary shut down. Authorities shut down the Bit Torrent tracking site last week, saying it directed visitors to illegally distributed digital files. The site returned Saturday but has had sporadic problems since then, including complete, though temporary failure Monday. The site reopened with a variation on its pirate ship logo, which has a silhouette of a cassette tape and cross bones. The logo now has cannonballs shooting at the word "Hollywood." Meanwhile, several media reports blamed the crash of Swedish government Web sites on hackers trying to retaliate. The Pirate Bay maintained its innocence, issuing statements saying it does not hold copyright files but acts as a search index. Web site operators told Wired that the site was experiencing problems because of a deluge of traffic following the publicity. Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Ann Tyson & Christopher Lee Subject: Active Duty Military Files also Stolen Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 11:09:49 -0500 By Ann Scott Tyson and Christopher Lee The Washington Post WASHINGTON -- Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel -- including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force -- were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, federal officials said Tuesday, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft. The department announced that personal data for as many as 1.1 million active-duty military personnel, 430,000 National Guard members and 645,000 reserve members may have been included on an electronic file stolen May 3 from a department employee's house in Aspen Hill, Md. The stolen data include names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, VA spokesman Matt Burns said. Defense officials said the loss is unprecedented and raises concerns about the safety of U.S. military forces. But they cautioned that law-enforcement agencies investigating the incident have not found evidence the stolen information has been used to commit identity theft. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the loss is "the largest that I am aware of." Rep. Lane Evans (D-Ill.) ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, said he was "appalled" at the data breach and called for a Government Accountability Office investigation into VA information security practices. Army spokesman Paul Boyce said, "Obviously there are issues associated with identity theft and force protection." For example, the information could be used to find out where military personnel live, security experts said. "This essentially can create a ZIP code for where each of the service members and [their] families live, and if it fell into the wrong hands, could potentially put them at jeopardy of being targeted," said David Heyman, director of the homeland security prog