From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Dec 1 11:00:49 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 053A32252; Fri, 1 Dec 2006 11:00:48 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #401 Message-Id: <20061201160048.053A32252@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 11:00:48 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 1 Dec 2006 11:03:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 401 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Financial Firms Cyber Attack to Start Today (Kristin Roberts) New Federal Laws Require Email Tracking (Associated Press News Wire) Body X-Ray Scans Starting in Phoenix (Associated Press News Wire) DISH Network SaveMyChannels Distant Network Channels (Monty Solomon) Address Needed (Henry Cabot Henhouse III) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - November 30, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Tech Companies Try Show-and-Tell Concept For Stores (USTelecom dailyLead) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:13:03 -0600 From: Kristin Roberts Subject: Financial Firms Cyber Attack to Start Today Financial firms warned of Qaeda cyber attack By Kristin Roberts The U.S. government warned American private financial services on Thursday of an al Qaeda call for a cyber attack against online stock trading and banking Web sites beginning on Friday, a source said. The source, a person familiar with the warning, said the Islamic militant group aimed to penetrate and destroy the databases of the U.S. financial sites. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed an alert had been distributed but said there was no reason to believe the threat was credible. The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued a "situational awareness report to industry stakeholders," said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke. The warning said the threat called for attacks to begin Friday and run through the month of December in retaliation for the United States keeping terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. "Denial of service is what it called for," said a Homeland Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity. A person familiar with the warning said the threat came from a group calling itself "ANHIAR al-Dollar." The effort was related to al Qaeda and intended to avenge "Muslim brothers in the crusaders' Guantanamo prison camp," the source said. Reaction in the financial community was muted, with markets showing little or no reaction. New York Republican Rep. Peter King (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, said the report was "nothing to panic over, but it will be looked at very carefully." Robert Albertson, chief investment strategist at Sandler O'Neill & Partners in New York, said it was unlikely al Qaeda members could do serious harm to financial Web sites. "I'm not saying there aren't precautions to be taken, but I just can't fathom how there would be serious havoc," he added. Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert with the RAND Corp., said that such threats were not unusual. "There is a regular stream of Jihadist exhortations to attack various targets," he said. "Financial organizations stay at a fairly high level of readiness anyway because of regular assaults." A government source said regulators were being briefed on the warning. (Additional reporting by David Morgan, Paul Eckert and Jim Christie 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 and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:00:27 -0600 From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: New Federal Laws Require Email Tracking U.S. companies will need to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents generated by their employees thanks to new federal rules that go into effect Friday, legal experts say. The rules, approved by the Supreme Court in April, require companies and other entities involved in federal litigation to produce "electronically stored information" as part of the discovery process, when evidence is shared by both sides before a trial. The change makes it more important for companies to know what electronic information they have and where. Under the new rules, an information technology employee who routinely copies over a backup computer tape could be committing the equivalent of "virtual shredding," said Alvin F. Lindsay, a partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP and expert on technology and litigation. James Wright, director of electronic discovery at Halliburton Co., said that large companies are likely to face higher costs from organizing their data to comply with the rules. In addition to e-mail, companies will need to know about things more difficult to track, like digital photos of work sites on employee cell phones and information on removable memory cards, he said. Both federal and state courts have increasingly been requiring the production of relevant electronic documents during discovery, but the new rules codify the practice, legal experts said. The rules also require that lawyers provide information about where their clients' electronic data is stored and how accessible it is much earlier in a lawsuit than was previously the case. There are hundreds of "e-discovery vendors" and these businesses raked in approximately $1.6 billion in 2006, Wright said. That figure could double in 2007, he added. Another expense will likely stem from the additional time lawyers will have to spend reviewing electronic documents before turning them over to the other side. While the amount of data will be narrowed by electronic searches, some high-paid lawyers will still have to sift through casual e-mails about subjects like "office birthday parties in the pantry" in order to find information relevant to a particular case. Martha Dawson, a partner at the Seattle-based law firm of Preston Gates & Ellis LLP who specializes in electronic discovery, said the burden of the new rules won't be that great. Companies will not have to alter how they retain their electronic documents, she said, but will have to do an "inventory of their IT system" in order to know better where the documents are. The new rules also provide better guidance on how electronic evidence is to be handled in federal litigation, including guidelines on how companies can seek exemptions from providing data that isn't "reasonably accessible," she said. This could actually reduce the burden of electronic discovery, she said. 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 each day, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 09:43:23 -0600 From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Body X-Ray Scans Starting in Phoenix Phoenix airport to test X-ray screening. They'll be part of 'Secondary Inspections' at all airports soon. Sky Harbor International Airport here will test a new federal screening system that takes X-rays of passenger's bodies to detect concealed explosives and other weapons. The technology, called backscatter, has been around for several years but has not been widely used in the U.S. as an anti-terrorism tool because of privacy concerns. Privacy is no longer a concern of the government. The Transportation Security Administration said it has found a way to refine the machine's images so that the normally graphic pictures can be blurred in certain areas while still being effective in detecting bombs and other threats. The agency is expected to provide more information about the technology later this month but said one machine will be up and running at Sky Harbor's Terminal 4 by Christmas. The security agency's Web site indicates that the technology will be used initially as a secondary screening measure, meaning that only those passengers who first fail the standard screening process will be escorted to the X-ray area. Even then, passengers will have the option of choosing the backscatter or a traditional patt-down search. A handful of other U.S. airports will have the X-rays machines in place by early 2007 as part of a nationwide pilot program, TSA officials said. The technology already is being used in prisons and by drug enforcement agents, and has been tested at London's Heathrow Airport. The security agency says the machines will be effective in helping detect plastic or liquid explosives and other non-metallic weapons that can be missed by standard metal detectors. Some say the high-resolution images -- which clearly depict the outline of the passenger's body, plus anything attached to it, such as jewelry -- are too invasive. But the TSA said the X-rays will be set up so that the image can be viewed only by a security officer in a remote location. Other passengers, and even the agent at the checkpoint, will not have access to the picture. In addition, the system will be configured so that the X-ray will be deleted as soon as the individual steps away from the machine. It will not be stored or available for printing or transmitting, agency spokesman Nico Melendez said. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 03:56:40 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: DISH Network SaveMyChannels Distant Network Channels Help Save Your Distant Network Channels By Supporting Pending Federal Legislation Today! This website is a resource to help explain the impact of a recent judicial action on DISH Network customers and other TV consumers. It also provides details on how affected customers and interested parties can help efforts to preserve distant network channels for as many DISH Network customers as possible, but only if they act right away. To learn more click the take action links below and then click What's At Stake. http://www.savemychannels.com/ ------------------------------ From: Henry Cabot Henhouse III Subject: Address Needed Date: Wed, 29 Nov 2006 20:05:37 -0800 Does anyone have any info about an outfit calling itself "Phone Revolution" ? The CLID shows 605-299-4105 ... calls to that number so far get voice mail. Need the real address and name of the idiot that runs it. I did a lookup of the domain, says it's in Aliso Viejo, Calif. but seeing as 605- is South Dakota, I wouldn't trust that this is their correct address. They keep calling me, on my cell, even tho the number is on the Do Not Call list AND I have demanded at least 3 times that they never call me again. I never can get a manager and they don't return phone calls... ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - November 30, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 11:32:39 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For November 30, 2006 ******************************** Nokia Lowers Operating-Profit-Margin Guidance on Pressures in Infrastructure Business http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21384?11228 Finnish telecoms equipment vendor Nokia has cut targets for its operating profit margin to 15% in the next two years, down from its previous guidance of 17%, on the back of slowing network infrastructure business. The company has also warned about the continuing price pressures in the global mobile handset marketplace, which could also ... AT&T-BellSouth Merger Hits Hurdles http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21381?11228 WITH THE FCC'S APPROVAL of the AT&T Inc.-BellSouth Corp. merger in mid-October fraught by last-minute deal-brokering and controversy, agency Chairman Kevin J. Martin canceled consideration of the transaction altogether until November. He said he was responding to concerns voiced by Democratic Commissioners Michael J. Copps ... Yahoo!, Nokia Extend Wireless Pact http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21375?11228 Yahoo! is once again delving deeper into the wireless space. In its latest deal with Nokia, the company will make additional Yahoo! services, such as e-mail and messaging, available on select Nokia handsets. The service offers the ability to synchronize Yahoo! contacts, tasks and calendars on the PC and wireless phone. At ... Verizon Wireless's YouTube Moment http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21372?11228 Surprising no one, Verizon Wireless announced that YouTube clips will appear on its VCast multimedia service. According to TelecomWeb news break sister e-letter Wireless Business Forecast, there are two arguments to be made about the viability of a mobilized YouTube, pro and con, but there's only one argument to be made about the ... New Tools for New Rules http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21369?11228 With revisions to the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) set to go into effect Friday, it's no surprise we're seeing products aimed at facilitating e-discovery and compliance this week. Today, CommVault released a potentially useful addition to its archiving product, and newcomer InBoxer rolled out a more off-beat ... Farewell, Lucent http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21367?11228 As Lucent Technologies Inc. finalizes its merger with Alcatel and its power center shifts to Paris, Lucent Technologies Inc. will, from today, cease to exist. Lucent executives will likely argue that with Lucent CEO Patricia Russo taking the helm of the new company, Lucent isn't going away at all. But semantics aside, it ... Nokia's Slim Pickings for 2007 http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21365?11228 Nokia Corp. is getting closer to launching new thin cellphones that it hopes will improve its profitability and market share in North America, home of its major rival, Motorola Inc. The Finnish vendor, however, is unlikely to see a major turnaround stateside before 2008, analysts predict. Nokia has been showing off some of its ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2006 12:35:13 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Tech Companies Try Show-and-Tell Concept for Stores USTelecom dailyLead November 30, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eViYfDtusXgNzNCibuddePKz TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Tech companies try show-and-tell concept for stores BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T rolls out U-verse in Houston * NFL Network adds broadband to deal with Verizon * Study: More U.K. consumers subscribe to bundled services * Sprint expands EV-DO Rev A rollout USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Take a Stephen Shepard Crash Course in WiMAX, IMS, VoIP and Telecom TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Report: FTTH Q3 shipments down 1% * Analysis: Verizon Wireless' mobile video strategy * Samsung plans Mobile WiMAX push REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Republicans ask FCC to delay set-top ban Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eViYfDtusXgNzNCibuddePKz ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #401 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Dec 1 17:07:18 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 02BBE2258; Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:07:17 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #402 Message-Id: <20061201220717.02BBE2258@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:07:17 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:10:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 402 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Romanian Hacked US Computers, Now Indicted (Associated Press NewsWire) Police Dislike Informant's Web Site (Matt Apuzzo, AP) Yahoo Will Start Running BBC News Videos (Reuters News Wire) FCC Chief Proposal Seeks to Streamline Video-Franchising (USTelecomdaily) Telecom Update #557, December 1, 2006 (John Riddell) Toronto Home Telephone Providers (pstock) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 01, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 10:35:01 -0600 From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Romanian Hacked US Computers, Now Indicted A Romanian national was indicted on charges of hacking into more than 150 U.S. government computers, causing disruptions that cost NASA, the Energy Department and the Navy nearly $1.5 million. The federal indictment charges Victor Faur, 26, of Arad, Romania with nine counts of computer intrusion and one count of conspiracy. He faces up to 54 years in prison if convicted of all counts, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. Faur was being prosecuted by authorities in Romania on separate computer hacking charges, Mrozek said Thursday, and will be brought to Los Angeles upon resolution of that case. It was not known whether Faur had retained a lawyer in the United States. The U.S. government alleges Faur was the leader of a hacking group called "WhiteHat Team," whose main goal was to break into U.S. government computers because they are some of the securest in the world. After hacking into and taking control of the computers, Faur programmed them to operate as chat rooms so he could communicate with other WhiteHat members, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Hoffstadt said. During the break-ins, Faur searched for passwords that WhiteHat members could use to gain unauthorized access to other computers, Hoffstadt said. The compromised computers were used to collect, store and analyze scientific data -- including data from spacecraft in orbit and deep space -- and to evaluate new technologies. The machines were located at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.; and the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:02:08 -0600 From: Matt Apuzzo, AP Subject: Police Dislike Informant's Web Site Police decry Web site on informants By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer Police and prosecutors are worried that a Web site claiming to identify more than 4,000 informants and undercover agents will cripple investigations and hang targets on witnesses. The Web site, WhosaRat.com, first caught the attention of authorities after a Massachusetts man put it online and named a few dozen people as turncoats in 2004. Since then, it has grown into a clearinghouse for mug shots, court papers and rumors. Federal prosecutors say the site was set up to encourage violence, and federal judges around the country were recently warned that witnesses in their courtrooms may be profiled online. "My concern is making sure cooperators are adequately protected from retaliation," said Chief Judge Thomas Hogan, who alerted other judges in Washington's federal courthouse. He said he learned about the site from a federal judge in Maine. The Web site is the latest unabashedly public effort to identify witnesses or discourage helping police. "Stop Snitching" T-shirts have been sold in cities around the country and popular hip-hop lyrics disparage or threaten people who help police. In 2004, NBA star Carmelo Anthony appeared in an underground Baltimore DVD that warned people they could be killed for cooperating with police. Anthony has said he was not aware of the DVD's message. Such threats hinder criminal investigations, said Ronald Teachman, police chief in New Bedford, Mass., where murder cases have been stymied by witness silence and "Stop Snitching" T-shirts were recently for sale. "Every shooting we have to treat like homicide. The victim's alive but he's not cooperative," Teachman said. "These kids have the idea that the worst offense they can commit is to cooperate with the police." Sean Bucci, a former Boston-area disc jockey, set up WhosaRat.com after federal prosecutors charged him with selling marijuana in bulk from his house. Bucci is under house arrest awaiting trial and could not be reached, but a WhosaRat spokesman identifying himself as Anthony Capone said the site is a resource for criminal defendants and does not condone violence. "If people got hurt or killed, it's kind of on them. They knew the dangers of becoming an informant," Capone said. "We'd feel bad, don't get me wrong, but things happen to people. If they decide to become an informant, with or without the Web site, that's a possibility." The site offers biographical information about people whom users identify as witnesses or undercover agents. Users can post court documents, comments and pictures. Some of those listed are well known, such as former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland, who served 10 months in prison before testifying in a public corruption case. But many never made headlines and were identified as having helped investigators in drug cases. For two years, anyone with an Internet connection could search the site. On Thursday, a day after it was discussed at a courthouse conference in Washington, the site became a subscription-only service. The site has also disabled the ability to post photos of undercover agents, Capone said, because administrators of the Web site do not want officers to be hurt. Authorities disagree. In documents filed in Bucci's court case last month, federal prosecutors said they have information that Bucci set up the Web site to help intimidate and harm witnesses. "Such information not only compromises pending or future government investigations, but places informants and undercover agents in potentially grave danger," Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter K. Levitt wrote. While prosecutors haven't pointed to a case where a witness or officer was harmed because of the Web site, it has been used to shatter an undercover agent's anonymity. After Hawaiian doctor Kachun Yeung was charged with distributing narcotic painkillers this spring, a surveillance picture of an undercover Drug Enforcement Agent was posted on the site. Federal prosecutors said they traced the posting to the University of Hawaii newspaper's photo department, where the doctor's son was a photo editor. The posting identified the names of three agents and described one as "a known liar and a dirty agent. He is an absolute disgrace to the American justice system." Prosecutors in Boston have discussed whether WhosaRat is protected as free speech but have not moved to shut it down. In 2004, an Alabama federal judge ruled that a defendant had the right to run a Web site that included witness information in the form of "wanted" posters. Earlier this month, federal judges from Minnesota and Utah urged their colleagues to be careful about how much information about witnesses is released in public files, noting that they could end up on WhosaRat. Steve Bunnell, chief of the criminal division at the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, said the rules of evidence already require authorities to identity witnesses to the people most likely to harm them: the defendants. Most of the documents labeled "top secret" on the site are really public court records or information copied from other Web sites, he said. His concern is that the site disparages the reputation of people who come forward to help solve crimes. "We don't make those high-level gang and drug organization cases without somebody on the inside telling us what's going on," Bunnell said. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 15:05:56 -0600 From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Yahoo Will Start Running BBC News Videos Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) said on Friday that it will offer BBC News video on its news site through an agreement with ABC News. People who visit the Yahoo News Web site will get access to about 30 video clips of BBC News video each day. Yahoo made the agreement with ABC News, which maintains exclusive representation for BBC news on-demand broadband and wireless content in North America. Financial terms were not disclosed. ABC is a unit of Walt Disney Co. 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 each day, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 12:00:26 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: FCC Chief's Proposal Seeks to Streamline Video-Franchising Process USTelecom dailyLead December 1, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eVsIfDtusXgQeXCibuddjXKz TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * FCC chief's proposal seeks to streamline video-franchising process BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon to acquire West Virginia Wireless * Sprint, Cingular push into consumer e-mail * Belgacom passes 100,000 IPTV subscribers * Comcast's deal with Disney marks end of a long road USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * CALEA Webinars available on demand TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Cavalier Telephone deploys MPEG-4 * Juniper updates SDX platform * Report: Wibree market could surpass $500 million by 2011 VOIP DOWNLOAD * Report: Market for VoIP, IMS equipment robust * U.K. lags in VoIP, IPTV adoption, report says REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Markey to head telecom subcommittee ------------------------------ Subject: Telecom Update #557, December 1, 2006 Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 14:10:17 -0500 From: John Riddell ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 557: December 1, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca/home/Home_Business.page ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.ca/communications/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** SHAW BUSINESS SOLUTIONS: www.shawbusinesssolutions.ca ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Wireless Profits Surpass Wireline ** CRTC Chair -- Belisle vs Addy? ** Telus Drops Income Trust Plan ** GPS Tracking May Violate Privacy Rights ** Aliant Lets Parents Monitor Cell Use ** Deferral Account Proposals to Be Reviewed ** Alcatel, Lucent Complete Merger ** Skype Takes 4% of World Calling ** Telecom Magazine Folds ** Layoffs Follow Sitel Expansion Plan ** Vonage Expands Montreal-Area Coverage ** Montreal Messaging Developer Wins Financing ** Milne Leaves White Radio ** Celestica Names New CEO WIRELESS PROFITS SURPASS WIRELINE: Statistics Canada reports that in the qarter ending June 30, 2006, Canadian wireless carriers had profits of $996 million, a 36% increase from 2005. This is the first time that wireless profits have exceeded the incumbent telcos' wireline profits, which were $822 million, down from $1.2 billion a year earlier. ** Wireless subscribers at the end of June were 17.2 million, up 10.9% from a year earlier. Wireless revenues were $3.1 billion, about 35% of the industry's total revenues of $8.9 billion. ** The incumbent wireline telcos lost 706,000 residential lines in the preceding 12 months, and a total of 1.2 million residential lines in the past five years. Their business line counts grew by 36,000 in the past year, partially reversing a three-year decline (2002-2005). ** Cablecos had 750,000 telephone subscribers at the end of June 2006, six times more than a year earlier. http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/061127/d061127c.htm CRTC CHAIR -- BELISLE VS ADDY? The Globe and Mail says that there are two leading contenders to replace Charles Dalfen as CRTC Chair. Fernand Belisle (former Vice-Chair Broadcasting at the Commission) is said to be favoured by Heritage Minister Bev Oda and leading broadcasters, while George Addy (former head of the Competition Bureau) is preferred by Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and the large telcos. TELUS DROPS INCOME TRUST PLAN: As expected, Telus has decided not to convert to an income trust. The company says its Board of Directors unanimously decided that Ottawa's plan to increase tax on trusts means that "it is no longer in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders to proceed." (See Telecom Update #553, 554) ** We expect a similar announcement from Bell, at or before the company's annual Business Review Conference on December 12. GPS TRACKING MAY VIOLATE PRIVACY RIGHTS: The Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) says that GPS tracking may violate employees' privacy rights. Responding to a complaint by drivers working for an unnamed telecom company, the Commission said that employers may use tracking devices to monitor vehicles, but they should not be used to evaluate employee performance. ** A summary of the OPC's investigation and conclusions is available online at http://www.privcom.gc.ca/cf-dc/2006/351_20061109_e.asp. ALIANT LETS PARENTS MONITOR CELL USE: For $4.95/month, subscribers to Aliant Mobility Family Plans can now monitor and control their children's cellphone use. Cellular Manager lets parents control when a child's cellphone can be used, and limit which phone numbers can call the phone or be called from it. DEFERRAL ACCOUNT PROPOSALS TO BE REVIEWED: Further in the apparently never-ending process to determine how the incumbent telcos' deferral accounts will be spent, CRTC Telecom Public Notice 2006-15 opens a review of the telcos' proposals. (See Telecom Update #545) To participate, notify the Commission by December 15. ** Alternative broadband providers that are, or will soon be, serving any of the communities proposed for broadband funding from the deferral accounts must notify the CRTC by January 19, 2007. ** The Commission is still considering Barrett Xplore's application to review and vary the original deferral account order (see Telecom Update #533), as well as other proceedings that could affect the amounts in the deferral accounts. ** The deferral account issue won't be decided anytime soon. The Commission will still be receiving comments in June 2007, and the Federal Court will hear appeals of the original decision next year as well. (See Telecom Update #548) http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2006/pt2006-15.htm ALCATEL, LUCENT COMPLETE MERGER: Alcatel and Lucent begin operations today as a merged company. Alcatel-Lucent has 89,000 employees and annual revenues of about $28 billion. Lucent CEO Pat Russo assumes that post for the merged company; Alcatel CEO Serge Tchuruk becomes Chairman. (See Telecom Update #524) SKYPE TAKES 4% OF WORLD CALLING: TeleGeography says that Skype computer-to-computer calls is equivalent to 4.4% of international carrier traffic this year, compared to 2.9% in 2005. The number of Skype users online "now regularly exceeds eight million." TELECOM MAGAZINE FOLDS: Communications & Networking magazine will cease publishing this month. Publisher Transcontinental Media says its ITBusiness Group will continue to offer information on networking and telecom in Computing Canada magazine. LAYOFFS FOLLOW SITEL EXPANSION PLAN: On October 24, Sitel said it plans to hire 500 people for its Kanata call centre. This week the company announced that in April it will close its 550-person call centre in nearby Bell's Corners. VONAGE EXPANDS MONTREAL-AREA COVERAGE: Vonage Canada now offers local numbers in 19 additional communities in the Greater Montreal area, including Lachine, Laval, and Longueuil. MONTREAL MESSAGING DEVELOPER WINS FINANCING: Montreal-based Oz Communications, a maker of software for email and Instant Messaging on cellphones, has raised US$34 million in financing. Oz has 230 employees, up from 60 two years ago. MILNE LEAVES WHITE RADIO: John Milne, President and General Manager of telecom distributor White Radio, has resigned "to pursue other interests." White is a subsidiary of Cygnal Technologies. CELESTICA NAMES NEW CEO: Celestica, the Toronto-based electronics manufacturer, has given president Craig Muhlhauser the additional position of CEO. Former CEO Stephen Delaney has resigned "to pursue other business interests." How to submit items: 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 http://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: pstock Subject: Toronto Home Telephone Providers Date: 1 Dec 2006 09:59:18 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I am researching a simple consumer article listing and comparing home telephone service provider options for Ontario and specifically toronto residents. (Not VOIP or LD add-ons like Vonage or Escarpment Telecom but the real deal, the company you pay for the basic copper line service into your home.) Can anyone tell me who they know of as options for home telephone serivce hosting? I can think of: Bell, Telus, Rogers, Primus, Wintel, (but there might be (must be?) others As an aside I recently switched from Bell to Primus, but that is another story.) Can anyone point me to any others, and does anyone have any performance comments on any services they have used (I have discovered since switching, for instance, that YAK LD service is mysteriously incompatible with Primus, as are many calling cards.) Many thanks, Peter ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 01, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 10:53:28 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 01, 2006 ******************************** Nokia, Ericsson, Sun Create Telecoms Network Equipment Alliance http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21419?11228 The world's top telecoms equipment vendors, Finland's Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson, have teamed up with the United States' Sun Microsystems to create an alliance for network equipment providers. The aim of the new organisation, named Telecommunications Platform Initiative (TPI), would be to assist telecoms operators and ... VoIP Provider Looks for Quality Assurance http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21412?11228 deltathree Inc., a service provider specializing in integrated VoIP, hosted solutions and infrastructure, had a problem: To expand and retain its customer base, it needed a way to achieve toll-quality IP voice on its network, even in remote regions of the globe. deltathree's private-label platform lets other service providers ... Review: 3 Smart Phones Target Consumers http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21410?11228 NEW YORK -- In a blink of mere months, the mobile 'smart' phone has been transformed from pricey corporate gadget to an affordable alternative for ordinary folk. In the last month alone, Cingular Wireless has unveiled three devices priced as low as $200 (after jumping through the assorted contractual hoops and ... Bell Labs' History of Inventions http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21403?11228 TRENTON, N.J. -- It's the birthplace of the transistor, the laser, the solar cell and the fax machine. Its researchers were the first to hear the echoes of the Big Bang. And now this American legend is part of a French company. Bell Labs was founded in 1925 as the research arm of AT&T' national telephone business ... Cingular Polishes up the Pearl http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21396?11228 Cingular Wireless is the latest U.S. carrier to introduce the new BlackBerry Pearl from Research In Motion. The carrier has wrapped up a few holiday surprises for Pearl shoppers, including push-to-talk (PTT) and GPS navigation capabilities. The quadband Pearl offers a digital camera, multimedia capabilities and an expandable memory ... Nortel Partnership Targets Southeast Europe http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21394?11228 Nortel, in a move to beef up its marketing in southeastern Europe, plans to set up a joint venture with consulting house Southeast European Communications and Investments Inc. (SECI). The new unit, to be called Nortel SE, reportedly will open offices in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia, and it will hire a sales and marketing staff of ... Freed From Lockdown http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21391?11228 The new exemption allowing cellphone users to 'unlock' their handsets, for use on a different carrier's network, has been in effect now for four days, and the world hasn't ended for the Big 4 carriers. Yet. In general, the carriers have reacted cautiously, if predictably, to the ruling by the Librarian of ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ 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 #402 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Dec 3 20:28:30 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 661872210; Sun, 3 Dec 2006 20:28:30 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #403 Message-Id: <20061204012830.661872210@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 20:28:30 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 3 Dec 2006 20:30:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 403 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson U.N. Agency Discusses Risks to Privacy, Security Online (Reuters NewsWire) My Space.com Continues to Offend (Tom McGhee) MF Trunks and Caller ID (merton) Airplane Technology Takes Flight (Monty Solomon) Here's My Number (for Today) (Monty Solomon) FBI Taps Cell Phone Mic as Eavesdropping Tool (Monty Solomon) DS3 Bandwidth Pricing Is Getting Cheaper - How To Take (FreedomFireCom) Re: Police Dislike Informant's Web Site (William Warren) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 03 Dec 2006 18:25:43 -0600 From: Reuters News Wire Subject: U.N. Agency Discusses Risks to Privacy and Security Online Computer users who type in the same username and password for multiple sites -- such as online banks, travel agencies and booksellers -- are at serious risk from identity thieves, a United Nations agency said on Sunday. The International Telecommunication Union, a Geneva-based U.N. branch, said businesses and regulators need to find a solution to the spread of personal information on the Internet, possibly by developing more streamlined identification methods. At the moment, the ITU said the sheer number of identifiers and passwords required from computer users made it nearly inevitable that they repeat codes. "This may cause security breaches, and leave them vulnerable to the machinations of identity thieves ever increasing in number and inventiveness," it said in its 2006 Internet report, released ahead of a major meeting of governments and industry officials in Hong Kong. "The lack of coordination in identification systems is a source of growing inconvenience to users and needs to be addressed rapidly," it said. The agency also highlighted risks to privacy from widespread Internet use, especially from marketers tracking the preferences and traffic of browsers across a variety of sites. If people have confidence in the way such information is stored and used, the ITU said there might be no problem from the proliferation of "cookies" and other data-capturing tools, often used for targeted online advertising. But it warned that a breakdown in consumer trust could impede the future expansion of Internet-based commerce. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:48:40 -0600 From: Tom McGhee Subject: My Space.com Continues to Offend By Tom McGhee Denver Post Staff Writer Photos that Melissa Lease, above, sent to her husband appeared on MySpace.com. Parker resident Melissa Lease discovered one downside of the Internet age when a friend told her that revealing photos she sent to her husband were appearing on social networking site MySpace.com. While her husband was at home from a tour of duty in Iraq, Lease said, someone in his unit rifled through his belongings, found the pictures, which showed her posing in a bra and panties, and posted them. "These pictures were made for my husband and no one else. Someone typed my name on MySpace and they popped up, and (my friend) came up to me and said there are inappropriate pictures of me and she asked me if I (posted) them," said Lease, a cosmetology student at Aveda Institute in Denver. "It was just a really uncomfortable situation." MySpace has removed the pictures. Unwelcome attention via websites is becoming more common as social interaction migrates to cyberspace, said Leslie Flint, legal research associate with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego. "In the past, it would be gossip or note-passing. This sort of thing happened, but it wasn't on the same scale." No definitive numbers are available on how frequently privacy invasions or smear campaigns occur on the Internet. But Eric P. Robinson of the Media Law Resource Center in New York said about 60 lawsuits and criminal complaints have been filed nationwide against bloggers, most of them in the past two years. This year, courts have rendered judgments against individuals for making defamatory comments on the Internet in cases in Florida, Georgia and North Dakota. Lawsuits are pending in Colorado, California, Texas and Utah. Earlier this month, Tony Perri,head of Boulder's public-access TV station, Channel 54, filed a criminal complaint alleging a former producer at the station, Jann Scott, put up a MySpace page that defamed him. Scott denied the charge in a telephone interview last week. "Perri accused me of it, but I don't know anything about it," said Scott, who added that he had seen the Perri page before MySpace took it down. "I understand it as parody, protected free speech, so I am not worried about it or him." The text on the page was vile, Perri said, accusing him of being a "suck up," and suggesting he engaged in a sexual act with members of the Boulder City Council. The page went up after Perri suspended Scott for launching a campaign of harrassment after some of his shows didn't appear in the time slots he wanted. MySpace, which is owned by media and entertainment giant News Corp., says it looked into the postings involving Perri and Lease and had them removed. "We take our customer service and safety procedures seriously and will continue to investigate ways to make them as efficient as possible," said Hemanshu Nigam, MySpace chief of security. Blogs, interactive websites such as MySpace and even sites that offer book reviews such as Amazon.com can be used to publish libelous material. But federal law meant to protect free speech on the Web makes it difficult for victims of unwelcome or even defamatory attention to take successful legal action against owners of a website where it appears, said Phil Weiser, a professor of law and telecommunications at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Federal lawmakers wanted to maximize the amount of free speech on the Internet when they passed the 1996 Telecommunications Act, he said. So the act protects Internet service providers and websites from libel and other laws that govern what can appear. "In general, the Internet is not subject to rules that encourage a closer editing of content; it is a wide-open environment," Weiser said. "This is an enormous challenge in the information age that we haven't been able to confront." Anyone who wants to file a civil suit will have to pay a lawyer, and even if they win, there is a good chance the judgment will be more than they can collect, experts said. Susan Scheff, of Weston, Fla., recently won $11.3 million in a defamation suit against a Louisiana woman who posted messages on the Internet accusing her of being a "crook," a "con artist" and a "fraud." "I never expect to collect $11.3 million," said Scheff, who took a second mortgage on her home to pay the legal tab. "She went out there and discredited me and destroyed me and my family on the Internet. ... Whenever you Googled me, you saw these things." Scheff has a business called Parents Universal Resource Experts that helps parents of troubled children find services such as schools. Since her case became public, Scheff has received numerous phone calls and e-mails from others who have been maligned on the Web. "I am amazed at the number of people who contacted me," she said. "I didn't realize it was such an epidemic." ------------------------------ From: merton Subject: MF Trunks and Caller ID Date: 2 Dec 2006 19:21:06 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have run into a subject that I need some clarification on. I have always been advised that Caller ID info, such as calling number, cannot be transmitted through an MF Trunk. Someone has now stated that LRNs have to be sent through MF trunks ... and depending on how those trunks are set up as to whether the calling party number will display on the receiving end. Does anyone have a deep knowledge of how the MF trunks function and if the calling party number can actually be broadcast to the receiving phone? Your assistance will be deeply appreciated!!! ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:51:20 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Airplane Technology Takes Flight http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2006/11/09/airplane-technology-takes-flight/ Airplane Technology Takes Flight David Pogue Greetings from 39,000 feet! I'm writing to you on my laptop on a flight across Canada, courtesy of something I've never encountered before: full-blown, three-prong, U.S.-style power outlets on every seat back. Not some wacky jack that requires a $70 adapter -- we're talking regular three-prong outlets. Not in first class; in coach. Free, by the way. Why is it, I wonder, that Air Canada is the pioneer here? Isn't it a sort of obvious idea -- way more obvious than putting TV screens in everyone's seat back? I mean, if you have power, you can supply your own entertainment: a laptop, game, portable DVD player, whatever. Each seat back on this plane also has a touch-screen entertainment unit with a choice of TV, radio, movies, games, and so on. Now, I've seen TV screens on planes before (they have them on JetBlue, on international flights and in first class) - but not like this. On this plane, there's no set schedule for movies beginning; every single seat has its own little TiVo. You can start, stop, pause, rewind or fast-forward any movie at any time, completely independently of the other passengers' showings. It makes a huge difference. (Ever try to watch a movie on a plane while you're traveling with young children? I rest my case.) Oh, and Air Canada doesn't charge for any of this, either. (On the other hand, I don't much care for the way this airline throws away 200 pairs of complimentary headphones after each flight.) Dear U.S. Carriers: If you're really looking for a competitive advantage, find out who's supplying Air Canada with these goodies. You know what's weird, though? No wireless networking. We all thought that was coming, right? We'd hear about how Lufthansa flights already have on-board Wi-Fi high-speed wireless, and that it was only a matter of time before it came to North American carriers. But even as entertainment screens are developing nicely, wireless Internet is taking a big step backward-maybe even off a cliff. Boeing is shutting down its Connexion Wi-Fi service, which is what Lufthansa and other airline experiments were using. Its Web site says, "The company has decided to exit the high-speed broadband communications connectivity market." The service is free until the end of 2006, but at that point, it's being turned off altogether. And why is Boeing pulling the plug? Because "the global market for the service has not developed satisfactorily." Translation: It was losing money hand over fist. Evidently not enough airlines outfitted their planes with the transmitters (at $500,000 apiece). Surely some other company could step in and rescue the on-board Wi-Fi industry? But no. "There are currently no plans to transition the service to another provider." That's a bummer. (I may be typing this at 39,000 feet, but I'll be sending it at sea level.) Then there's the little matter of cellphones. Turns out that there's really not much evidence that cellphones cause cockpit interference; no study has ever been able to establish proof. In fact, there's now a discussion about perhaps relaxing the restrictions on cellphones on planes. I just hope they know what they're doing. Removing the ban means you might be the unlucky slob who has the loudmouth yakking away next to you for four hours. At this point, planes are the last refuge of people who want to hear themselves think or watch movies. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 22:54:24 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Here's My Number (for Today) By ANNA JANE GROSSMAN The New York Times THERE is no shortage of ways to reach Airin McClain, a singer who lives in Philadelphia. She has a Web site, an instant messenger account, a MySpace page, four e-mail addresses and two mobile phones. Good luck getting one of those phone numbers, though. She would sooner tell you her weight. "Why would I give out my cell?" said Ms. McClain, 23. "I don't need a guy I met at a bar one night calling me every day for the next two weeks begging me to go out. I want to filter out the people I don't need to have contact with." In an age of information oversharing, the mobile-phone number is one of the few pieces of personal information that people still choose to guard. Unwanted incoming calls are intrusive and time-consuming and can suck precious daytime cell-plan minutes. And the decision to give out a cell number can haunt you for years, as people now hold on to the numbers longer than their land-line numbers. Some people have found a way to avoid compromising the sanctity of their cellphone without committing the modern sin of being unreachable. Instead of giving out her cell number, Ms. McClain has recently been dispersing what has become known as a "social phone number." This is a free number that is as disposable as a Hotmail address. A handful of Web sites are creating these mask numbers, which can be obtained in nearly every area code (users can either have a number in their own region, or make it look as if they have an office in New York City when they are actually operating out of rural Maine). These sites buy numbers in bulk at a discount, then generate profit by displaying ads and getting users of the free service to upgrade to billable plans with features like call forwarding, call blocking and outbound calling. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/fashion/30numbers.html?ex=1322542800&en=509006b423704d01&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 03:24:48 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: FBI Taps Cell Phone Mic as Eavesdropping Tool By Declan McCullagh Story last modified Fri Dec 01 18:46:27 PST 2006 The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him. Nextel cell phones owned by two alleged mobsters, John Ardito and his attorney Peter Peluso, were used by the FBI to listen in on nearby conversations. The FBI views Ardito as one of the most powerful men in the Genovese family, a major part of the national Mafia. The surveillance technique came to light in an opinion published this week by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. He ruled that the "roving bug" was legal because federal wiretapping law is broad enough to permit eavesdropping even of conversations that take place near a suspect's cell phone. Kaplan's opinion said that the eavesdropping technique "functioned whether the phone was powered on or off." Some handsets can't be fully powered down without removing the battery; for instance, some Nokia models will wake up when turned off if an alarm is set. While the Genovese crime family prosecution appears to be the first time a remote-eavesdropping mechanism has been used in a criminal case, the technique has been discussed in security circles for years. The U.S. Commerce Department's security office warns that "a cellular telephone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone." An article in the Financial Times last year said mobile providers can "remotely install a piece of software on to any handset, without the owner's knowledge, which will activate the microphone even when its owner is not making a call." Nextel and Samsung handsets and the Motorola Razr are especially vulnerable to software downloads that activate their microphones, said James Atkinson, a counter-surveillance consultant who has worked closely with government agencies. "They can be remotely accessed and made to transmit room audio all the time," he said. "You can do that without having physical access to the phone." Because modern handsets are miniature computers, downloaded software could modify the usual interface that always displays when a call is in progress. The spyware could then place a call to the FBI and activate the microphone -- all without the owner knowing it happened. (The FBI declined to comment on Friday.) http://news.com.com/2100-1029-6140191.html ------------------------------ From: FreedomFireCom Subject: DS3 Bandwidth Pricing Is Getting Cheaper - How To Best Take Advantage Date: 2 Dec 2006 15:22:03 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com The predicted end to dropping DS3 bandwidth pricing is premature as the downward pricing trend continues. If DS3 will be part of your network solution you need to know how to position yourself to take advantage. This article explains how: http://ds3-bandwidth.com/archive/DS3_Bandwidth_Pricing_Cheaper.html God Bless, Michael Lemm FreedomFire Communications "Helping YOUR Business ... DO Business" http://www.linkedin.com/in/freedomfirecom ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 Dec 2006 18:46:28 -0500 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Police Dislike Informant's Web Site Matt Apuzzo wrote: > Police decry Web site on informants > By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer > Police and prosecutors are worried that a Web site claiming to identify > more than 4,000 informants and undercover agents will cripple > investigations and hang targets on witnesses. > The Web site, WhosaRat.com, first caught the attention of authorities > after a Massachusetts man put it online and named a few dozen people as > turncoats in 2004. Since then, it has grown into a clearinghouse for mug > shots, court papers and rumors. [snip] The URL goes to a "Suspended Site" page as of 23:46Z 01 Dec. William ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #403 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Dec 4 14:53:06 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id A64EE2271; Mon, 4 Dec 2006 14:53:05 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #404 Message-Id: <20061204195305.A64EE2271@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 14:53:05 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 4 Dec 2006 14:55:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 404 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Chat Rooms Enable Mental Illness (Michelle Nichols, Reuters) Yahoo Partners With Reuters on EyeWitness Pictures (Eric Auchard,Reuters) Ruling Leaves Dish Viewers Without Networks (Monty Solomon) Open-Source Spying (Monty Solomon) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 04, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Alcatel-Lucent Begins Next Phase (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: My Space.com Continues to Offend (Danny Burstein) Re: Police Dislike Informant's Web Site (Linc Madison) Re: Police Dislike Informant's Web Site (ellis@no.spam) Re: FBI Taps Cell Phone Mic as Eavesdropping Tool (ellis@no.spam) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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. 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Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 12:57:00 -0600 From: Michelle Nichols Reuters Subject: Chat Rooms Enable Mental Illness Anorexics, bulimics learn methods online By Michelle Nichols Young sufferers of anorexia and bulimia who try to hide their eating problems from their parents and doctors are turning to a growing number of Internet chat rooms dedicated to enabling their illness. A pilot study released on Monday of U.S. eating disorder patients aged between 10 and 22 showed that up to a third learn new weight loss or purging methods from Web sites that promote eating disorders by enabling users to share tips, such as what drugs induce vomiting and what Internet sites sell them. But the study -- published in the American Academy of Pediatrics' journal Pediatrics -- found that eating disorder sufferers were also learning new high-risk ways to lose weight from each other on Web sites aimed at helping them recover. The survey by researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford showed a third of patients also visited pro-recovery sites and half of them learned new weight loss and purging methods. "Parents and physicians need to realize that the Internet is essentially an unmonitored media forum," said Rebecka Peebles, Packard Children's adolescent medicine and eating disorder specialist and an author of the study. "It's just not possible to completely control the content of an interactive site," she said in a telephone interview. A wave of pro-eating disorder sites showed up on the Internet between 2001 and 2003, prompting operators of several Internet hosts to try to remove such sites. But the study showed many pro-anorexia and bulimia sites remain accessible, with most patients finding them and pro-recovery sites through chance searches. "I feel so sick eating as much as 800 calories," a teen-age girl, who called herself "berlinium," wrote in a pro-anorexia chat room on Monday. "And then for some reason now when I try to purge, I can't get anything up. I mean I am literally shoving my fingers past my tonsils, but nothing," she said, adding that she had just bought a drug off the Internet to induce vomiting. Eating disorders returned to the global spotlight recently when two models suffering anorexia died in Brazil and Uruguay. The fashion industry has long been blamed for encouraging anorexia and bulimia among teen-agers with its use of excessively thin catwalk models. In September, the city of Madrid banned models below a certain weight from its fashion week shows. The U.S. study was based on an anonymous survey of 76 patients who were diagnosed with an eating disorder at Packard Children's Hospital between 1997 and 2004, as well as 106 parents of patients. While half of the parents surveyed said they were aware of Web sites promoting eating disorders, only 28 percent had ever discussed these sites with their child and only 20 percent said they placed limits on their child's Internet use. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 13:00:57 -0600 From: Eric Auchard, Reuters Subject: Yahoo Partners With Reuters on EyeWitness Pictures By Eric Auchard Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), in partnership with Reuters, is inviting the public to contribute eyewitness photos and videos of news events, in the latest move to turn spectators into on-the-spot journalists. The Internet media company said it has created a news contribution system called "You Witness" and is working with news and information company Reuters Group Plc, which will edit and distribute selected photos to other news outlets. Yahoo plans to run selected images contributed by users as part of topical packages on Yahoo News, which currently offers news from dozens of professional news organizations including Associated Press, CNN and Reuters. With hundreds of millions of camera phones in circulation, consumers are able to take high-quality photos and videos. The South Asian tsunami, the London Underground bombings and the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans have showcased the power of people who happen to be in the wrong place at the right time to capture history as it happens. "There is already a lot of quality amateur journalism being created by our users," said Scott Moore, head of news and information at Yahoo Media Group. "Yahoo needed a more efficient process for soliciting and publishing user- contributed photos and video." While focused initially on news, Yahoo aims to expand the You Witness system to solicit user contributions for sports, entertainment and other sections of its site, a spokesman for the Sunnyvale, California-based company said. Yahoo and London-based Reuters are working out a plan to compensate contributors when their images are selected for commercial syndication, the two companies said. "We are looking at the possibility of creating photo wires and archives to allow people to be compensated for their work and for the images they are able to capture," said Chris Ahearn, president of Reuters Media. Starting on Tuesday, contributors can submit photos to You Witness via a link off of the main page of Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com) or to Reuters at http://www.reuters.com/youwitness. Yahoo is weighing when and whether to expand the program to international sites. Many local and national news organizations invite their readers or viewers to contribute eyewitness news reports. But media outlets have been wary about how to maintain quality control, avert hoaxes and compensate contributors without fueling a mercenary atmosphere around news events. http://CNN.com , another top-ranked news site, invites users to volunteer what it calls "I-Reports" -- "stories seen through your eyes and your lens." But it does not pay contributors. The new undertaking by Yahoo News, the No. 1 online news site with 34 million U.S. readers in October according to comScore Networks data, is more extensive. Yahoo also owns the photo-sharing site Flickr, where amateur photographers often post photos of breaking news events online. Video news contributions will eventually be distributed under the current deal, Yahoo and Reuters officials said. "We want to expand the initiative to include text stories, but photos and video were the most obvious way to begin," said Moore, who previously was publisher of online magazine Slate. Reuters already pays the public for hot images and that will continue, Ahearn said. For example, in 2000, the famous photo of a Concorde plane in flames just ahead of its crash in Paris was purchased by Reuters from a Hungarian plane spotter. "We have been seeking to increase the number and range of voices that can be active in our service," Ahearn said. "This is another step in that direction." 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 00:04:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Ruling Leaves Some Dish Viewers Without Networks By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff | December 2, 2006 When Gardner resident James Bargnesi woke up yesterday, NBC, Fox, and CBS channels from across the country had disappeared from his satellite dish, disrupting his normal routine. At Satellite Video, a satellite television installation company in White River Junction, Vt., calls began to trickle in from customers upset that they had lost the Manchester, N.H., ABC affiliate that provided their local news. Yesterday, satellite TV provider Dish Network was ordered to shut off so-called "distant network channels" to an estimated 900,000 of its 12.8 million customers, ending a nine-year legal battle with networks over copyright violations. Distant network channels are stations beyond the ones offered by a local affiliate. A Florida judge found in October that Dish's practice of offering such service where local stations are available violated the Satellite Home Viewer Act and issued an order to stop Dish from offering them to customers, beginning yesterday . http://www.boston.com/business/personaltech/articles/2006/12/02/ruling_leaves_some_dish_viewers_without_networks/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 00:51:56 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Open-Source Spying By CLIVE THOMPSON The New York Times December 3, 2006 When Matthew Burton arrived at the Defense Intelligence Agency in January 2003, he was excited about getting to his computer. Burton, who was then 22, had long been interested in international relations: he had studied Russian politics and interned at the U.S. consulate in Ukraine, helping to speed refugee applications of politically persecuted Ukrainians. But he was also a big high-tech geek fluent in Web-page engineering, and he spent hours every day chatting online with friends and updating his own blog. When he was hired by the D.I.A., he told me recently, his mind boggled at the futuristic, secret spy technology he would get to play with: search engines that can read minds, he figured. Desktop video conferencing with colleagues around the world. If the everyday Internet was so awesome, just imagine how much better the spy tools would be. But when he got to his cubicle, his high-tech dreams collapsed. "The reality," he later wrote ruefully, "was a colossal letdown." The spy agencies were saddled with technology that might have seemed cutting edge in 1995. When he went onto Intelink -- the spy agencies' secure internal computer network -- the search engines were a pale shadow of Google, flooding him with thousands of useless results. If Burton wanted to find an expert to answer a question, the personnel directories were of no help. Worse, instant messaging with colleagues, his favorite way to hack out a problem, was impossible: every three-letter agency -- from the Central Intelligence Agency to the National Security Agency to army commands -- used different discussion groups and chat applications that couldn't connect to one another. In a community of secret agents supposedly devoted to quickly amassing information, nobody had even a simple blog -- that ubiquitous tool for broadly distributing your thoughts. Something had gone horribly awry, Burton realized. Theoretically, the intelligence world ought to revolve around information sharing. If F.B.I. agents discover that Al Qaeda fund-raising is going on in Brooklyn, C.I.A. agents in Europe ought to be able to know that instantly. The Internet flourished under the credo that information wants to be free; the agencies, however, had created their online networks specifically to keep secrets safe, locked away so only a few could see them. This control over the flow of information, as the 9/11 Commission noted in its final report, was a crucial reason American intelligence agencies failed to prevent those attacks. All the clues were there -- Al Qaeda associates studying aviation in Arizona, the flight student Zacarias Moussaoui arrested in Minnesota, surveillance of a Qaeda plotting session in Malaysia -- but none of the agents knew about the existence of the other evidence. The report concluded that the agencies failed to "connect the dots." By way of contrast, every night when Burton went home, he was reminded of how good the everyday Internet had become at connecting dots. "Web 2.0" technologies that encourage people to share information -- blogs, photo-posting sites like Flickr or the reader-generated encyclopedia Wikipedia -- often made it easier to collaborate with others. When the Orange Revolution erupted in Ukraine in late 2004, Burton went to Technorati, a search engine that scours the "blogosphere," to find the most authoritative blog postings on the subject. Within minutes, he had found sites with insightful commentary from American expatriates who were talking to locals in Kiev and on-the-fly debates among political analysts over what it meant. Because he and his fellow spies were stuck with outdated technology, they had no comparable way to cooperate -- to find colleagues with common interests and brainstorm online. Burton, who has since left the D.I.A., is not alone in his concern. Indeed, throughout the intelligence community, spies are beginning to wonder why their technology has fallen so far behind -- and talk among themselves about how to catch up. Some of the country's most senior intelligence thinkers have joined the discussion, and surprisingly, many of them believe the answer may lie in the interactive tools the world's teenagers are using to pass around YouTube videos and bicker online about their favorite bands. Billions of dollars' worth of ultrasecret data networks couldn't help spies piece together the clues to the worst terrorist plot ever. So perhaps, they argue, it' s time to try something radically different. Could blogs and wikis prevent the next 9/11? http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/magazine/03intelligence.html?ex=1322802000&en=46027e63d79046ce&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 04, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 11:32:54 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 04, 2006 ******************************** Parliament in Germany Approves Controversial Telecoms Legislation http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21447?11228 The German parliament has approved a controversial amendment to the telecoms law, which gives the green light for the country's incumbent, Deutsche Telekom, to close its new high-speed VDSL network to rivals. The move is a success for Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest telecoms group, which has been lobbying the government to ... Qualcomm Builds up Bluetooth and WLAN with Two Acquisitions http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21445?11228 U.S.-based chipmaker and CDMA specialist Qualcomm has announced that is has made two acquisitions to enhance its presence in wireless networking technologies. Qualcomm is to pay US$39 million for the majority of Bluetooth-related assets of RF Micro Devices Inc, which is based in San Diego. Qualcomm will also pay an undisclosed amount for ... Alcatel-Lucent Says Its Space Unit Won 661 Million Order With Globalstar http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21439?11228 PARIS -- Alcatel-Lucent said today that its space unit won a euro 661 million contract (US$882 million) with Globalstar Inc. to design, manufacture and deliver 48 low-earth-orbit satellites. The contract also includes the provision of support services before and during the launches and mission operations support ... Unblocking Laser Signals http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21437?11228 Laser signals can be blocked by many different types of objects, including trees, buildings and mountains. But it's the little things, like fog, rain, dirt and dust, that unpredictably interfere with laser communications and tend to vex users the most. Penn State University researchers are now working on a solution to this problem. ... FCC Grants License, Some Winners Talk Plans http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21436?11228 The FCC officially awarded half of the 1,087 licenses that were up for sale in its August-September Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) auction to winning bidders late yesterday. The agency says it granted 550 of the 1,087 licenses won in this past summer's Auction 66 of advanced wireless spectrum. The licenses granted ... TeliaSonera Goes 3G In Spain, Meets Swedish Goal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21433?11228 TeliaSonera's 76.6-percent majority-owned Spanish mobile operation Xfera launched commercial services today under the brand name 'Yoigo' promising the cheapest 3G service in that country. The operator's initial commercial tariffs see it offering the same prices for both contract and prepaid customers, an unusual ... More About Meraki http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21429?11228 Wireless mesh startup Meraki Networks Inc. has confirmed it's gotten money from Google, among others, and that it's helping the search giant with its WiFi plans while preparing its own commercial release for next year. Recently, Unstrung revealed that Mountain View, Calif.-based Meraki is working to improve indoor coverage ... LSI to Buy Agere for $4B http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21427?11228 LSI Logic Corp. is buying Agere Systems Inc. in an all-stock deal valued at $4 billion, the two chip companies announced today. The transaction will create a storage, networking and 'consumer powerhouse' that will supply chips, systems, and software to equipment vendors, the firms say. LSI Logic is a major ... Alcatel-Lucent Stays Tight-Lipped http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21424?11228 Alcatel-Lucent is alive and kicking, and has been showing off its new purple corporate logo. But today's introductory press conference in Paris provided little else in the way of visibility on staff cuts, product rationalization, or expectations for 2007. Non-executive chairman Serge Tchuruk and CEO ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 12:20:20 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Alcatel-Lucent Begins Next Phase USTelecom dailyLead December 4, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eWcYfDtusXgTdfCibuddzxmC TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Alcatel-Lucent begins next phase BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon to offer FiOS near Philly * BT launches IPTV service * Cisco releases delivery system for digital video * Huawei picks Sylantro for global IMS solution * Report: Developing markets to drive telecom growth, innovation * Analysis: Challenges remain after Sprint-Nextel merger USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * The Irwin Handbook of Telecommunications, Fifth Edition HOT TOPICS * AT&T to sell DSL through Wal-Mart * Surge in VoIP patents signals market for innovation and possible litigation * Phone and cable companies battle for customers * FCC chief's proposal seeks to streamline video-franchising process * High court case on patent "obviousness" has broad implications: TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * MySpace eyes mobile space * Motorola, Nokia "unlock" handsets * Line blurs between TV, Web REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Associated Press: FCC's Martin seeks to avert stalemate on AT&T-BellSouth vote Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eWcYfDtusXgTdfCibuddzxmC ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Re: My Space.com Continues to Offend Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 02:50:18 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC In Tom McGhee writes: > By Tom McGhee > Denver Post Staff Writer [ snip ] > This year, courts have rendered judgments against individuals for > making defamatory comments on the Internet in cases in Florida, > Georgia and North Dakota. Lawsuits are pending in Colorado, > California, Texas and Utah. And I'd betcha tat the vast majority of these "judgments" came about because the defendant never appeared and thus lost by default, and I'd also betcha tat most of the rest (not quite all ...) would be overturned on appeal. Oh, and that the defendants don't have much in the way of attachable resources, either. > Earlier this month, Tony Perri,head of Boulder's public-access TV > station, Channel 54, filed a criminal complaint alleging a former > producer at the station, Jann Scott, put up a MySpace page that > defamed him. Criminal complaint about defamation? That's, umm, interesting. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Police Dislike Informant's Web Site Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 08:30:53 -0800 From: Linc Madison In article , William Warren wrote: > Matt Apuzzo wrote: >> The Web site, WhosaRat.com, ... has grown into a clearinghouse for >> mug shots, court papers and rumors. > The URL goes to a "Suspended Site" page as of 23:46Z 01 Dec. It loads as of 2006-12-04 16:28 UTC, with this news blurb: "On 12/01/06 we were down for part of the day due to an overwhelming number of hits, we apologize for the inconvenience and hopefully this does not happen again. New Informant Profiles Are Added Daily!!! You must be a member to view the site or submit profiles." ------------------------------ From: ellis@no.spam Subject: Re: Police Dislike Informant's Web Site Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 05:30:33 -0000 Organization: S.P.C.A.A. In article , William Warren wrote: > The URL goes to a "Suspended Site" page as of 23:46Z 01 Dec. Are you saying WhosaRat.com is suspended? It's working just fine for me. http://yosemitecampsites.com/ ------------------------------ From: ellis@no.spam Subject: Re: FBI Taps Cell Phone Mic as Eavesdropping Tool Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 04:48:38 -0000 Organization: S.P.C.A.A. In article , Monty Solomon wrote: > The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic > surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile > phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. I wondered how long it'd take for that to start happening. Will the criminals catch on and start taking the batteries out of their phones? http://yosemitephotos.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. 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 #404 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Dec 4 17:53:11 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9A0E0224C; Mon, 4 Dec 2006 17:53:10 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #405 Message-Id: <20061204225310.9A0E0224C@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 17:53:10 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 4 Dec 2006 17:55:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 405 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cell Phone Signal Narrows Search for Missing CNET Editor (Katz & Meyers) FCC Chairman Wants to Break AT&T-Bell South Lock (Roy Mark, Reuters) United States Leads World in Child Abuse Web Sites (Roy Mark, Reuters) Charities Eager for Ackermann Cash Jam Phone Lines (Reuters News Wire) Washington State vs. Spyware Company. $1 Million (Danny Burstein) Who/What is 773-874-8589 (TELECOM Digest Editor) Phone Review: Two New Nokia Phone Models (Patrick Townson) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:15:29 -0600 From: Leslie Katz & Michelle Meyers Subject: Cell Phone Signal Narrows Search for Missing CNET Editor and Family By Leslie Katz, and Michelle Meyers, CNET News.com After searches in Oregon's Curry and Douglas counties, new information on missing CNET senior editor James Kim and his family is narrowing the search back to the Bear Camp area in Josephine County, according to reports Monday. A cell phone tower received a signal from one of the family's cell phones last Saturday near Glendale, but officials say the signal is only an indicator the family could have been within 26 miles of Glendale late Saturday night, local news reports say. Glendale is located off Interstate 5, south of Roseburg, where the Kims were confirmed to have stopped at a Denny's restaurant on the night of Saturday, November 25. A news conference will be held Monday at 3 p.m. PST to provide an update on search efforts. It will be held at Josephine County Search & Rescue Headquarters in Merlin, Ore. The search for the Kims continued through the weekend, with search-and- rescue teams from the ground and air checking secondary rural routes in southwest Oregon, state police said. Helicopter support was to be discontinued at darkness Sunday, but ground search crews were prepared to continue searching into the evening, according to a police statement. The 35-year-old Kim, his 30-year-old wife, Kati, and daughters Penelope (4 years) and Sabine (7 months) left their home in San Francisco last week on a Thanksgiving road trip to the Pacific Northwest. Before the sighting at the Denny's in Roseburg, they had last been seen earlier that day in Portland, Ore., according to the San Francisco Police Department's missing persons' report. Approximately 40 state and federal personnel were searching remote area roads on Sunday, according to Oregon police. Some of those roads are difficult to travel, described by authorities as narrow and curvy with steep bordering embankments. Sno-Cats are assisting with the search in sections covered with up to 6 inches of frozen snow. Private resources secured by family members, including helicopters, have been assisting in the hunt, and friends and family have traveled to Oregon to join the search. Loved ones have also set up a Web site where the public can receive updates on the Kims and share their thoughts. Meanwhile, hundreds of CNET readers have sent e-mails and posted notes of concern and support on the site's message boards. Some have mapped out possible routes using navigation devices, and others in the Oregon area have joined the search effort. Following confirmed sightings last Saturday night of Kim and his family at the Denny's in Roseburg, search efforts shifted north to Douglas County, Oregon police said Saturday morning. Search efforts had been busy in Curry County, the location of Gold Beach, the family's reported destination for last Saturday evening. But after a multiagency search involving snowmobiles, a Sno-Cat and a UH-60 Blackhawk, among other helicopters, there was still no sign of the Kims' 2005 silver Saab 9-2X station wagon with California personalized plates of "DOESF." Those fruitless efforts, combined with news of the Denny's sighting in Roseberg at about 8 p.m. on November 25, gave Lt. Dennis Dinsmore of the Curry County Sheriffs' Department "no indication in any way that they ever reached" his county. "We're going to start backing away from the investigation," he said, adding that the search will shift to roads off state Highway 42 instead of Highway 38. Both are common routes taken to get from Interstate 5 to the Oregon coast. Officials from the sheriff's office in Douglas County, where Roseburg is located, could not be reached for comment. But the Denny's sighting was confirmed in a press statement, and Dinsmore said the family's stop at Denny's had been corroborated by employees and a credit card receipt. The National Guard, California Highway Patrol, Oregon State Police and Coast Guard are all participating in the search. In addition to patrolling highways running from Interstate 5 to the Oregon coast and along Highway 101, Oregon State Police troopers say they are checking hotels and resorts on the south coast. Douglas County sheriffs have already done an extensive search of area roads, including Highway 42 from the Winston area to Myrtle Point in neighboring Coos County, according to the statement. Further search options are being explored. According to Oregon State Police, about 100 tips had come in to a Pacific Northwest call center in Salem, Ore., as of Sunday afternoon. The number for the line is 1-800-452-7888. Ryan Lee, a longtime friend of the Kims, told the San Francisco Chronicle that he had brunch with the Kims in Portland on Saturday. The Kims told their friend they planned to stop by a clothing boutique in Portland before driving to Gold Beach, where they said they had a hotel reservation at the Tu Tu Tun Lodge for Saturday night. The hotel reportedly received an early-evening phone call from the Kims, saying they would be arriving at the hotel later than expected. They never showed up. Inspector Kim Lewis of the SFPD's Missing Persons Unit said the last call recorded from James Kim's cell phone was made to a friend in San Francisco at 3 p.m. and suggested that the call to the hotel may have been made from a landline. While some Saab models come equipped with the OnStar vehicle security and communications system, the model the Kims were driving did not offer OnStar as an option, said Mike Weinstein, a detective with the Portland Police Bureau's Missing Persons Unit, who said he also confirmed that information with OnStar using the Kims' vehicle identification number. The car did not have a LoJack car security system, either, Weinstein said. Information provided by family members indicates that the car may have visible recent damage extending forward from the driver's door along the left quarter panel and wheel area, according to Oregon State Police. This damage was the result of a previous traffic-related incident in which the driver's door was reportedly repaired, but the other noted damage may still be visible. On Saturday, the day the Kims were last seen, weather conditions in Southern Oregon were very hazardous, according to a spokesman for the Curry County Sheriff's Department. At CNET, James Kim is a senior editor covering digital audio who also co-hosts a weekly video podcast for the Crave gadgets blog. He has been writing a book on Microsoft's Zune MP3 player. Formerly, he was an on-air personality on the now-defunct cable television network TechTV. He and his wife own two stores in San Francisco -- Doe, a clothing store in the city's Lower Haight area, and the Church Street Apothecary in the Noe Valley neighborhood, where they live. Kati Kim also worked at CNET from 1998 to 1999. The family was expected to return to San Francisco on Monday, November 27. When both James and Kati failed to show up for appointments on Tuesday, November 28, co-workers began to worry for their safety. The Kims are known for keeping in touch daily with their friends and co-workers, either by phone or e-mail. Those with information about the Kim family's whereabouts are asked to contact the SFPD immediately -- at 415-558-5508 during normal business hours and at 415-553-1071 after-hours. CNET News.com's Greg Sandoval and Jennifer Guevin contributed to this report. Copyright 2006 CNET. 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 and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:18:35 -0600 From: Roy Mark Subject: FCC Chairman Wants to Break AT&T-Bell South Lock By Roy Mark Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Kevin Martin has ordered agency lawyers to determine if FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell can "unrecuse" himself from the AT&T-BellSouth merger vote. If cleared to vote, McDowell, who holds one of the three Republican seats on the five-person panel, could possibly cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the merger that would create the world's largest telecommunications company. McDowell recused himself from the merger vote to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. Prior to joining the FCC in June, McDowell was a lobbyist for CompTel, which opposes the merger. Without McDowell's vote, Martin and fellow Republican Deborah Taylor Tate, who support the merger, are deadlocked with Democrats Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, who want, among other things, network neutrality provisions attached to the deal. Because of the deadlock, Martin has delayed the vote three times over the last six weeks. The FCC is next scheduled to meet on Dec. 20. The merger has been pending at the FCC for eight months. "The Commission has reached an impasse," Martin wrote in a Friday letter to Congressional leaders. According to Martin, FCC regulations allow a recused commissioner to vote if the government's interest outweighs the appearance of a conflict of interest. "The general counsel has, in the past, used this authority to authorize commissioners to participate in matters in which they would otherwise be recused," Martin wrote. It is not immediately clear when the FCC general counsel will make a determination on McDowell. Even if allowed to vote, McDowell could abstain. Martin's legal maneuvering to get the merger approved, drew the immediate ire of Public Knowledge, a Washington-based advocacy group. "Members of Congress should make clear that having Commissioner McDowell participate in the AT&T-BellSouth merger at this point would deeply compromise the integrity of the Commission," Public Knowledge President Gigi Sohn said in a statement. Sohn wrote that it would be "unseemly" to force McDowell to violate his ethical constraints. "A better solution would be for Chairman Martin to reconsider his opposition to the pro-competitive and pro-consumer merger conditions being advocated by Commissioners Copps and Adelstein," Sohn said. The Department of Justice approved the merger with no strings attached on Oct. 11. Martin also favors unconditional approval of the merger. However, with Martin hamstrung by McDowell's recusal, Copps and Adelstein have pushed for concessions. Just a day after Martin first delayed the vote, AT&T said it is willing to adhere to the FCC's network neutrality principles for 30 months after the official closing of its proposed merger with BellSouth. In August 2005, the FCC declared that consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice, run applications and services of their choice and plug in and run legal devices of their choice. The FCC also said consumers have a right to competition among network providers, application and service providers and content providers. What the FCC network neutrality principles do not address is the ability of broadband providers to charge content providers such as Google extra fees based on bandwidth consumption. Both AT&T and Verizon have announced broadband business models based on charging the extra fees to content providers. Copps and Adelstein want an additional FCC network neutrality principle that would ban the practice. In addition to meeting the FCC's network neutrality principles, AT&T also pledged to offer standalone DSL for 30 months after the merger approval. AT&T also said it would it offer broadband to 100 percent of the living units in the AT&T-BellSouth market by January 2008. In order to promote adoption of broadband, AT&T will offer free modems throughout next year to residential customers who upgrade from dial-up service. For new Internet customers, AT&T proposes to offer broadband service at $10 a month for an unspecified time period. The merger would make AT&T the world's largest telecommunications company with 70 million landline customers across 22 states. Currently a co-owner of Cingular Wireless with BellSouth, the deal would give AT&T full control of the nation's largest cellular company. Combining the two companies' DSL broadband customers would give AT&T 9.1 million high-speed Internet customers, barely behind market leader Comcast's 9.3 subscribers. Copyright 2006 Reuters 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:22:23 -0600 From: Roy Mark Subject: United States Leads World in Child Abuse Web Sites By Roy Mark The United States overwhelmingly leads the world in hosting child abuse Web sites, according to a new survey by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF). The U.K.-based IWF claims over the last decade the U.S. is the source of 51 percent of sites featuring examples of child abuse, followed by Russia (20 percent), Spain (7 percent) and Japan (5 percent). Only 1.6 percent of the reported sites over the same period were traced to the U.K., a reflection of the different policies between the United States and the U.K. In the U.S., law enforcement officials tend to let child-abuse sites exist while conducting an investigation in hopes of not tipping off the site operators that an investigation is under way. The U.K., on the other hand, almost immediately issues a takedown notice when a site is discovered. Investigations are conducted after the sites are closed. In addition, a U.K. law passed in 2003 presumes a person downloading child-abuse pictures is guilty until proven innocent. The IWF also operates the U.K.'s only authorized hotline for the public and IT professionals to report potentially illegal online content. In the 10 years of the IWF, U.K.-based child-abuse sites have fallen from 18 percent to less than 1 percent. "The government is determined to do everything it can to protect children from the insidious use of the Internet by pedophiles," Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said in a statement. "This campaign underlines the importance of the work by the IWF and the [Internet service providers] to block UK residents from accessing potentially illegal websites, wherever they are hosted, by the end of 2007." Peter Robbins, the IWF's chief executive, said his organization "has almost eradicated online child-abuse images hosted in the U.K." Founded in 1996, the IWF said it has handled an average of 1,000 reports a month involving more than 31,000 sites found to contain illegal child abuse content. Copyright 2006 Reuters. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/TDNewsradio.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:06:57 -0600 From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Charities Eager for Ackermann Cash Jam Phone Lines Dusseldorf (dpa) - A promise by a top banker in Germany to donate a huge sum to charity to ward off conviction has led to a jammed switchboard at the courthouse as non-profit groups vie for largesse. A courts spokesman in the western city of Dusseldorf said Monday the court server had also crashed as willing takers bombarded it with e-mails or hunted online for information on where to claim the money. Deutsche Bank chief executive Josef Ackermann and five other defendants promised last week to pay 5.8 million euros into court, with 40 per cent reserved for charity and the rest to go to public funds. Charges that they misappropriated funds in 2000 were dropped. The spokesman said hundreds of applications for the 2.3 million euros reserved for good causes had already been received. "We're not counting them any more now," he said, appealing to charities to send in application by post along with proof of non-profit status. He said private individuals, no matter how deserving they claimed to be, would not qualify. Ackermann, one of Germany's best-paid employees, personally promised 3.2 million euros (4.2 million dollars) to the settlement. He and prosecutors are allowed to nominate charities, with judges then to decide on the recipients. Prosecutors alleged that Ackermann, as a board member of phone company Mannesmann, had no power to approve huge bonuses to retiring staff when the wireless operator was taken over by Vodafone. Copyright 2006 Reuters. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org.td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Washington State vs. Spyware Company. $1 Million Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 14:43:04 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC " Attorney General McKenna Announces $1 Million Settlement in Washington's First Spyware Suit " Secure Computer to reimburse Washington purchasers of Spyware Cleaner and Popup Padlock " SEATTLE - Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna today announced a $1 million settlement with New York-based Secure Computer that resolves Washington's first lawsuit under the state's computer spyware law. An estimated 1,145 Washington residents who purchased the company's SpywareCleaner software and, in some cases, Popup Padlock, are eligible for refunds under the agreement filed in federal court. rest: http://www.atg.wa.gov/releases/2006/rel_Secure_Computer_Restitution_2006.html ____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Subject: Who/What is 773-874-8589? Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 16:39:20 EST From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Can anyone detirmine who this is? They have called one of my voicemail numbers (773-828-4212 [go ahead,anyone is free to call it anytime]) for the past week, leaving a one second hang-up message. That's all anyone will ever get there (voicemail) but it is a nuisance to keep erasing all the hangup calls from 773-874-8589. PAT ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 14:11:13 -0600 From: Patrick Townson Subject: Phone Review: Two New Nokia Phone Models New "talk and text" phones from Nokia Posted: 04-Dec-2006 [Source: Nokia] [Nokia intros two basic handsets for the "talk and text" crowd - the Nokia 1265 and Nokia 1325 featuring hands free speakers and voice recorders.] Hong Kong -- The latest entries into the CDMA handset market from Nokia were unveiled today at the 3G World Congress in Hong Kong. Targeted at consumers who use their mobile phone primarily for basic features like making phone calls voice and text messaging, the Nokia 1265 and Nokia 1325 feature a number of desirable features such as handsfree speakers and voice recorders. "With the new features of the Nokia 1265 and Nokia 1325, consumers are getting functionality along with ease of use," said Larry Paulson, Vice President, CDMA, Nokia. "The features most of us take for granted on our phones are front-and-center on these new products for first-time mobile phone users. These two new products expand the range of Nokia models consumers can choose from at an entry level." Nokia 1325 - Intuitive design, easy-to-use functions The new Nokia 1325 offers great functionality in a slim package, ideal for first-time phone users in Asia-Pacific, China, Latin America, the Middle-East and Africa. A 64k colour display brings the Nokia 1325 to life. Consumers can personalize their mobile phones with ringtones and wallpapers. The integrated handsfree speaker available in the Nokia 1325 means others can get involved in one call, ideal for family and friends. The Nokia 1325 can store up to 400 contacts and 150 messages, ensuring important messages are not deleted. With the 90-second voice recorder as a standard feature on the new Nokia 1325, consumers can now use their phone to record those important notes anywhere. Weighing in at less than 71 g, the Nokia 1325 is competitively priced and has a talk time of up to 3.5 hours, while standby time is up to 6.5 days. It is expected that the Nokia 1325 will begin shipping in select markets within China, Asia-Pacific, Middle-East Africa and Latin America during the 1st quarter of 2007. Nokia 1265 - Lighter by design, heavy on features The Nokia 1265 combines mobile features such as easy text messaging with predictive text and 32-Polyphonic MIDI capabilities with an integrated handsfree speaker, plus a 60-second voice recorder. Essentials such as a large contact phonebook, calendar, calculator and alarm clock are also included in this new device. The affordably-priced Nokia 1265 offers a black-and-white display, talk time of up to 3.5 hours and up to 6.5 days of stand-by capability. It is expected that the Nokia 1325 will begin shipping in select markets within China, Asia-Pacific, Middle-East Africa and Latin America during the 1st quarter of 2007. ------------------------------ 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 #405 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Dec 5 15:25:07 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9963D223F; Tue, 5 Dec 2006 15:25:07 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #406 Message-Id: <20061205202507.9963D223F@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 15:25:07 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 5 Dec 2006 15:25:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 406 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson AT&T Says Won't Need Fiber to the Home (Reuters News Wire) US Phone Data Privacy Bill Gets Final Push From Congress (Peter Kaplan) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 05, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Alcatel-Lucent Finalizes Wireless, Satellite (USTelecom dailyLead) VOIP: Internet Telephone Question (Korey) Info Request: 877-229-9776 (William Warren) Re: Cell Phone Signal Narrows Search for Missing CNET Editor (Rick Merrill) Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? (Chris Farrar) Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? (GlowingBlueMist) Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? (MB) Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? (Robert Bonomi) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 11:52:47 -0600 From: Reuters News Wire Subject: AT&T Says Won't Need Fiber to the Home Top phone company AT&T Inc. shrugged off concerns on Tuesday that it would need to build a more expensive, all-fiber network to handle an expected surge in high-speed Internet and video traffic. AT&T is currently upgrading its networks to deliver an Internet-based video service called U-Verse to compete with cable companies. But unlike No. 2 player Verizon Communications, which is launching a similar service by building a "fiber to the home" network, it is making use of existing copper lines to save costs. "Our view at this point is that we're not going to have go 'fiber to the home.' We're pleased with the bandwidth that we're seeing over copper," Chief Financial Officer Richard Lindner told a Credit Suisse conference. "On average, at this point, we're producing about 25 megabits (per second). But in many many locations, we're producing substantially more than that." Some analysts have said AT&T's method is more efficient, while others have said it would need to upgrade its network again when more consumers start to watch high-definition channels and download movies, requiring increased bandwidth. AT&T is also preparing to merge with BellSouth Corp., a move that would consolidate its ownership of wireless venture Cingular and reinforce its position as the biggest U.S. telecoms service provider. Lindner said he hoped the BellSouth merger would be approved at a U.S. Federal Communications Commission meeting on December 20. "Certainly, from our standpoint, it would be our hope that the merger would get approved and we can close and move on at that point," he said. "That's certainly our goal ... to have an approval on the 20th. If it does not happen on the 20th, potentially it could slip into January." 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:07:33 -0600 From: Peter Kaplan, Reuters Subject: US Phone Data Privacy Bill Gets Final Push From Congress By Peter Kaplan WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers on Monday mounted a final effort to pass legislation this year to ban the use of deceptive methods to obtain consumers telephone records. Democrats and Republicans sought a deal that would clear the way for the Senate to approve the measure before the Republican-led 109th Congress draws to a close, likely at the end of this week, Senate leadership aides said. The legislation was approved earlier this year by the House of Representatives. Both chambers need to pass it so it can be sent to President George W. Bush to sign into law. If the 109th Congress expires before a final agreement is reach on the legislation, lawmakers would have to begin anew on the effort after the 110th Congress convenes on Jan. 4 under the control of Democrats. "This is just one of those (bills) that we can see pass," one GOP aide said. The legislation is aimed at stopping the practice of impersonating people to obtain their telephone records, also known as pretexting. There currently is no law against the practice which was spotlighted when Hewlett-Packard Co. admitted that its investigators obtained telephone records of board members, employees and journalists without their permission as the company tried to find who was leaking sensitive information. The latest efforts to pass the legislation came as the Republican-led Congress began a final, week-long session. The phone records measure is one of several that would be passed under unanimous consent, a process by which leaders from both parties agree to bring a bill to a vote on the Senate floor, aides said. It was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously in March but subsequently stalled in the full Senate. Some Senate lawmakers had been pushing for a broader bill, which also would have given consumers and telephone companies the right to sue for damages. But aides said they did not anticipate any objections to passing the House version of the bill. "I think people have gotten to the point where it's basically this limited one or nothing," one Republican aide said. "People have realized that we're almost at the end." The measure also prohibits buying records from a data broker and sets criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison and fines. The bill would not interfere with investigations by federal, state or local law enforcement agencies. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 05, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 11:57:52 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 05, 2006 ******************************** Versatel Selects Ericsson for IP Network Upgrade http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21474?11228 Germany's third-largest telecoms operator, Versatel, has selected Sweden's telecoms equipment vendor, Ericsson, for the nationwide deployment and integration of its all-IP next-generation access network. According to the terms of the two-year contract, Ericsson will provide a full-service broadband solution, beginning with all-IP ... Nokia, Wind in 3G Radio Network Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21471?11228 The Italian telecoms operator, Wind, has selected Nokia for a three-year frame agreement for the turnkey supply of the WCDMA 3G radio network solution. In a statement, Nokia said it will supply its latest Nokia Flexi WCDMA Base Station-Nokia NetAct. The deal also covers a range of other services and includes a managed services model for ... Worries About Wireless http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21467?11228 Despite a parade of studies, potential health risks hardly register as a concern. Although wireless phones continue to raise health worries among scientists, those concerns don't seem to have much impact on consumers buying phones -- and have been replaced by a more prosaic set of concerns, even at some health agencies. ... Innovating Through Design http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21464?11228 In 1985 the architect Michael Graves designed his first consumer product -- a now famous teakettle -- for Alessi, the northern Italian home-furnishings manufacturer. Although Graves later designed a knockoff for Target that goes for one-fifth the price, Alessi has sold more than 1.5 million of the original version, which grew out of a ... Samsung, Microsoft Launch HSDPA Smartphone http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21463?11228 Samsung Electronics and Microsoft have joined forces to bring, what the companies say, is the first smartphone supporting high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) technology to the Asian and European markets. The Samsung Ultra Messaging i600, which is powered by Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0, supports Web applications such as ... Alcatel-Lucent's First Acquisition: Nortel Finalizes UMTS Exit Plan http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21456?11228 Nortel yesterday said it has now inked a definitive agreement to sell its selling its money-losing UMTS access business to the newly merged Alcatel-Lucent combine, creating what suddenly becomes a major number three player in the market, ready to challenge Ericsson and Nokia/Siemens. The acquisition will most likely be the first ... Colubris's Vertical Takeoff http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21454?11228 Colubris Networks Inc. looks for more enterprise action, the BlackBerry Pearl gets pushy, and one-touch assistance comes to phones in this week's tech-roundup. Colubris's niche itch: Colubris Networks Inc. has unveiled a bundle of new products that it says will help it break further into niche enterprise markets such as ... Cisco Catches Integration Fever http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21450?11228 Repeating the mantra of 'more stuff in routers', Cisco Systems Inc. is packing more features into the 7600 router (giving it more of a broadband-services flavor) and into its integrated services routers (ISRs) for the enterprise. Specifically, Cisco is adding a session border controller and B-RAS to the 7600, giving ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 5 Dec 2006 11:43:48 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Alcatel-Lucent Finalizes Wireless, Satellite USTelecom dailyLead December 5, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eWlYfDtusXgXiyCibuddAhdP TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Alcatel-Lucent finalizes wireless, satellite agreements BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T enhances encryption for MPLS networks * DT chief expected to urge shake-up at board meeting * Nortel expects to make profit targets by '08 * Ericsson wins broadband contracts in Germany, Colombia USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Service Fulfillment Strategies That Balance Risk and Reward Thursday, Dec . 7, 1 p.m. (ET) TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Nokia, Motorola eye services, software * China telecom hints at 3G rollout * Q-and-A: Telecom executives answer readers' questions * Taipei begins citywide VoIP service * Nortel, Toshiba testing WiMAX in Japan REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * EU telecom regulator says consumers should choose standards Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eWlYfDtusXgXiyCibuddAhdP ------------------------------ From: Korey Subject: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question Date: 4 Dec 2006 22:11:31 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com I just recently signed up for telephone service through my cable company (It is supposed to be installed Tuesday, December 5.) Other than my cable company, I had considered services such as Vonage and Sunrocket. After I signed up with my cable company, I was thinking and had the following question: Is it possible to subscribe to two different VOIP telephone services at the same time and be able to use either of them whenever you want? In other words, after I port my current telephone number to my cable company and start with their service, what if I decide I need another line later and want to try another company for the new line, say Vonage, Sunrocket, or another one of my choice, for example? What would be involved with doing this, especially if I don't have an active landline? Would I need to go through my local telephone company and have them install a new telephone line and then once it is working, transfer the telephone service for the new line to Vonage, Sunrocket, or some other provider of my choice? Would it be possible to have two VOIP lines with two separate VOIP providers utilizing the same high speed cable modem connection? Just curious if this would be possible. Thanks, Korey ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:23:14 -0500 From: William Warren Subject: Info request: 877-229-9776 Anywho.com lists 877-229-9776 for Budget Truck Rental. When I dial the number, there's a (clipped) recording saying something about password, and then it disconnects. If anyone knows who/what this number belongs to, please tell me. William Warren (filter noise from my address for direct replies) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 10:31:13 -0500 From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: Cell Phone Signal Narrows Search for Missing CNET Editor http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/12/05/state/n064320S67.DTL wife and kids rescued, he is being tracked ... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 18:08:19 -0500 From: Chris Farrar Subject: Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? Pat This is what I get from http://click411.ca reverse directory. Results: 1 listing matching "(773) 874-8589" T Bernard 7832 S May St Chicago, IL 60620-2939 (773) 874-8589 Chris ------------------------------ From: GlowingBlueMist Subject: Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? Date: Mon, 4 Dec 2006 19:30:22 -0600 Organization: Octanews TELECOM Digest Editor wrote in message news:telecom25.405.6@telecom-digest.org: > Can anyone detirmine who this is? They have called one of my > voicemail numbers (773-828-4212 [go ahead,anyone is free to call it > anytime]) for the past week, leaving a one second hang-up > message. That's all anyone will ever get there (voicemail) but it is > a nuisance to keep erasing all the hangup calls from 773-874-8589. > PAT A Google search it came up with the following: "T Bernard (773) 874-8589 7832 S May St,Chicago, IL 60620" A call to the Chicago Police Department reporting phone harassment might be worth a try unless someone is spoofing the Caller ID. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I called that number -- 874-8589, the first time of idle curiosity, and the second time just now, it rang (each instance) for five or six times, then was pulled away by 'call forwarding on no answer' and transferred to someone's voice mail where I was informed "the mailbox for (uninteligible; the recording allowed for human intervention with a name) is full. To enter another number, please do so now". Oh well ... PAT] ------------------------------ From: MB Subject: Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:47:34 -0800 Horace Bernard 7832 S May St Chicago, IL 60620 (773) 783-3558 T Bernard 7832 S May St Chicago, IL 60620 (773) 874-8589 > TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Can anyone detirmine who this is? They have called one of my voicemail > numbers (773-828-4212 [go ahead,anyone is free to call it anytime]) for the > past week, leaving a one second hang-up message. That's all anyone > will ever get there (voicemail) but it is a nuisance to keep erasing > all the hangup calls from 773-874-8589. > PAT [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This second number, 783-3558, being at the same address and same last name seemed a bit suspicious, so I tried it also. An elderly black lady put her husband on the phone; he said that 874-8589 was his daughter's phone, but he did not know when she would be around, and he offered to take a message. I suggested he could give her a messsage 'to call again later' and he said he would do so. I left no other details (i.e. name, address or number) and he said 'okay he would', and disconnected. The STEwart-3 and the TRIangle-4 phone exchanges both are wired out of Chicago-Englewood, a central office in a majority black neighborhood (West 79th and South May Streets) on the south side of Chicago. Oh well, just curious. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? Date: 5 Dec 2006 07:33:22 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Can anyone detirmine who this is? They have called one of my > voicemail numbers for the past week, leaving a one second hang-up > message. That's all anyone will ever get there (voicemail) but it is > a nuisance to keep erasing all the hangup calls from 773-874-8589. I got a spate of them recently but then they stopped. I'm usually at work during the day but when I'm home a lot of crap comes in over the phone. Sometimes hangup calls like that are from a fax machine on repeat-try. When I've had them, I put on a fax machine on the line and gotten a legitimate fax sent to my number in error. (Since it's cumbersome for me to rearrange the wiring I don't do it often.) Other people who have had them complained to the phone company, and the phone company reported back it was an errant fax machine. I think the volume of such calls is so high today the phone company won't bother anymore. However, I suspect many of these are "spam" faxes going through all numbers searching for a fax machine to tell you about stock or land opportunities. Of course it could be an automatic dialer gone bad, just dialing up everyone over and over again. Just because someone owns such a unit and has an outward WATS line is no guarantee they know what they're doing. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I have a fax machine on one of my internal extensions; the computer modems (which by default do not auto-answer) and the fax machine (which can be set to auto-answer) share extension 105. If someone wants to send a fax they ask me (or whomever) to be transferred to extension 105, or if I answer the phone and hear the familiar beep sounds, I just flash and dial 105 then disconnect myself. My problem here is that 773-828-4212 is somewhere (only god knows) in Chicago; the voicemail picks it up before any human (even if I knew where it was and had a human assigned to pick up on it) can get to it. Your suggestion would work for me if "Ms. T. Bernard" (see another message in this issue) was calling direct into my Kansas number. Maybe I should praise God she has not yet gotten around to calling into the 630 area. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 04:25:15 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > Can anyone detirmine who this is? Yup. trivially. > They have called one of my voicemail numbers (773-828-4212 [go > ahead,anyone is free to call it anytime]) for the past week, leaving > a one second hang-up message. That's all anyone will ever get there > (voicemail) but it is a nuisance to keep erasing all the hangup > calls from 773-874-8589. Did you try plugging that phone number into Google? Or didn't you know that Google can do that? I wonder what happens when you call (773) 796-9600 from a COCOTS. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well I did not try it, but I do know about it. I tried it just now and got the 'T Bernard, 7832 S. May' listing. Two-Oh-Eight-Oh now has a one dollar (is it?) charge per call, unlike years ago when it amounted to a card file index box on the chief operator's desk and it was free; I suppose the charge from a COCOT would go to the COCOT owner unless the COCOT owner was sophisticated enough to have it blocked out as a non-dialable number, sort of like the 900 and 976 variety of numbers. I wonder if the Chicago area had much snow this past weekend? 'They' say our seventeen-inch blast was the second worst on record here in Independence. *Everything* was shut down here all day Friday and the rest of the weekend. Yesterday and today (Tuesday) it is starting to become old, ugly news. No one came around here Friday, Saturday or Sunday; yesterday (Monday) my housekeeper made it through to me; with some pleading I convinced her to drive Raymond my helper, and myself over to Marvins IGA to stock up on some groceries. On Monday (our garbage pickup day in this part of town) the garbage trucks all had been converted to snow plow duty; the main streets have all been plowed, with HUGE mounds of snow piled everywhere and the requisite HUGE lakes of water resulting running off to the sewers as icy slush. Meals-on-Wheels said they were going to 'attempt' to resume service tomorrrow (Wednesday). If this latest storm was the 'second-worst' in the history of our town, I would hate to think of the worst one. 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 #406 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Dec 6 22:56:17 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id A2EAB2284; Wed, 6 Dec 2006 22:56:16 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #407 Message-Id: <20061207035616.A2EAB2284@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 22:56:16 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 6 Dec 2006 23:00:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 407 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson James Kim Found Dead in Oregon Mountains (Jeff Barnard, AP) ICANN Plans to Revoke Outdated Suffixes (Anick Jesdanun, AP) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 06, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Top Executives Out in Yahoo! Reorganization (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question (Rick Merrill) Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question (Bruce L. Bergman) Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? (John Hines) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:04:31 -0600 From: Jeff Barnard, AP Subject: James Kim Found Dead in Oregon Mountains By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer A San Francisco man was found dead in a mountain creek Wednesday, four days after he set out through the snowy wilderness to seek help for his wife and young daughters, stranded in a car. A search helicopter spotted James Kim's body about a mile from where he set out in Oregon's snowy Klamath Mountains, two days after his wife and two daughters were rescued from the vehicle, stuck on a remote road. Investigators believe he traveled about eight miles in total, and said there was no way he could have reached the car directly from where he was found. Kim's body was found at the foot of the Big Windy Creek drainage, a half-mile from the Rogue River, where ground crews and helicopters had been searching for days. A tearful Undersheriff Brian Anderson announced the discovery of the body, his voice breaking at one point. "He was very motivated," Anderson said. "We were having trouble in there. He traveled a long distance." He said he had few details about Kim's condition or the immediate area where he was found. The body was taken to Central Point for an autopsy, the results of which are expected to be released Thursday. Earlier in the day, searchers said they had uncovered clues that suggested Kim had shed clothing and arranged it to give searchers clues to his whereabouts. They had planned to drop rescue packages with clothing, emergency gear and provisions. Kim, 35, was a senior editor for the technology media company CNET Networks Inc. He and his qfamily had been missing since Nov. 25. They were heading home to San Francisco after a family vacation in the Pacific Northwest. Kim's wife, Kati, 30, and their daughters Penelope, 4, and Sabine, 7 months, were rescued Monday at their car. She told officers that the couple made a wrong turn and became stuck in the snow nearly two weeks before. They used their car heater until they ran out of gas, then burned tires to stay warm and attract attention. With only a few jars of baby food and limited supplies, Kati Kim nursed her children. The key to finding them, police said, was a "ping" from one of the family's cell phones that helped narrow down their location. Roads in the area are often not plowed in the winter and can become impassable. On the Net: http://jamesandkati.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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 21:09:04 -0600 From: Anick Jesdanun, AP Subject: ICANN Plans to Revoke Outdated Suffixes By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer Over the past few years, the Internet has seen new domain names such as ".eu" for Europe and ".travel" for the travel industry. Now, the key oversight agency is looking to get rid of some. Meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers began accepting public comments this week on how best to revoke outdated suffixes, primarily assigned to countries that no longer exist. The Soviet Union's ".su" is the leading candidate for deletion, although the former Yugoslav republics of Serbia and Montenegro are transitioning from ".yu" to their own country codes. A Google search generated millions of ".su" and ".yu" sites. East Timor now uses ".tl," though about 150,000 sites remain under its older code, ".tp." Also obsolete is Great Britain's ".gb," which produced no sites on Google. Britons typically use ".uk" for the United Kingdom. ICANN assigns country codes based on standards set by the International Organization for Standardization, which in turn takes information from the United Nations. Conflicts can potentially occur when codes are reassigned. Czechoslovakia didn't need ".cs" after it split into the Czech Republic (".cz") and Slovakia (".sk"). Serbia and Montenegro got ".cs" following the breakup of Yugoslavia, before further splitting into Serbia (".rs") and Montenegro (".me"). (In this case, a crisis was averted because Czechoslovakia let go of ".cs" long before it was reassigned, and Serbia and Montenegro never used it before splitting up.) A few other domains have already disappeared, including East Germany's ".dd" and Zaire's ".zr" after the country became the Democratic Republic of the Congo (".cd"). ICANN wants to establish a formal policy and is accepting comments online until Jan. 31. Further deletions will likely take a year or longer to give users time to change. Reductions in the number of domains -- now 265 -- are likely to be temporary. ICANN is crafting rules on how to roll out additional domains, including ones in non-English characters. ICANN also is launching a review of eligibility rules for ".int," a domain reserved for international organizations. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 06, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:42:55 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 06, 2006 ******************************** Deutsche Telekom Reshuffles Top Management http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21507?11228 As Deutsche Telekom's new CEO (chief executive officer), René Obermann has started his reign as the boss of Europe's largest telecoms group with a top management reshuffle, which was approved on 5 December during the telco's supervisory board meeting. Obermann appointed the former head of European sales and service ... Rogers Indicates National Ambitions Using VoIP http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21504?11228 Speaking during an investor conference held by UBS, Ted Rogers, CEO of Rogers Communications, the largest cable TV and wireless carrier in Canada, has indicated that VoIP will form part of a plan to expand both voice and broadband services beyond the company's existing footprint for cable infrastructure. Significance: Rogers ... EU Calls for Consumer-Driven Telecoms Standards http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21501?11228 The European Union telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, has called for telecoms regulators to allow room for consumers to decide on successful telecoms standards by choosing the platform that offers the services they want. Speaking at the ITU Telecoms World conference in Hong Kong, Reding said that regulators should no longer be the ... Cable Company NTL Says It Won't Make a Formal Bid for ITV http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21498?11228 LONDON -- Cable and telephone company NTL Inc. said Wednesday it has abandoned plans for a 4.7 billion pound (E 7 billion; US$9.3 billion) takeover bid for British broadcaster ITV PLC and will concentrate on integrating recently acquired businesses. NTL's interest in Britain's largest independent TV broadcaster ... Samsung Blackjack: Playing the 3G Card http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21493?11228 Thinking of stepping up to 3G: Cingular is ready to deal you in with the Samsung Blackjack. The new UMTS/HSPDA-capable smart phone is targeted at busy professionals who need constant voice and data connectivity. Featuring a sleek, black case, the Blackjack sets a new size and weight standard. Measuring an ultra-trim 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.6 ... McDowell May Vote on AT&T-BellSouth Merger http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21492?11228 It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas for AT&T Inc., as Washington sources say the FCC may approve the telco's merger with BellSouth Corp. with fewer concessions than even the carrier itself expected. (See Critics Consider AT&T Merger Conditions.) This new turn centers on a decision by Republican Federal ... Nortel Pushes WiMAX http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21490?11228 Nortel announced WiMAX trials with Toshiba in Japan, which will be conducted in the northern Tohoku region. Separately, Nortel is working with Chunghwa Telecom to build Taiwan's first integrated local government WiMAX network, according to the company. In its partnership with Toshiba, Nortel will deliver base stations and ... Report From Hong Kong: Convergence The Top Topic http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21487?11228 The hot word reaching TelecomWeb news break from the massive International Telecommunication Union (ITU) show being held in Hong Kong this week is 'convergence' of fixed a mobile, at least as far as voice and data go -- but the cold shoulder is apparently being given to mobile TV. There's a lot of discussion about ... Device Lockdown http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21483?11228 Network Chemistry Inc. has extended its security system so that administrators can now protect Microsoft Corp. -- and Symbian Ltd. -- based smartphones against data loss and network infections. According to Brian De Haaff, vice president of product management and marketing at Network Chemistry, adding Symbian and Microsoft support to ... Cellular Base Station Silicon Makers Face WiMAX, Other Challenges http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21481?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Just as 3G is deployed after years of delays, there is now a new potential fly-in-the-ointment, WiMAX, reports In-Stat. However, WiMAX is not the only threat to cellular base station semiconductor manufacturers. Not only has cellular subscriber growth started to slow, but also cheaper semiconductors from Asia ... TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 11:57:32 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Top Executives Out in Yahoo! Reorganization USTelecom dailyLead December 6, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eWxAfDtusXhjgFCibuddzaJo TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Top executives out in Yahoo! reorganization BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T doesn't see need for FTTH network * Sprint CFO predicts lower churn for '07 * Deutsche Telekom replaces three executives * Vodafone: Turkish business will improve sooner than expected * Telefonica delays launch of mobile TV USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Service Fulfillment Strategies That Balance Risk and RewardTomorrow, Dec. 7, 1 p.m. (ET) TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Nortel signs first Mobile WiMAX deal with Taiwan telecom * Study finds handsets safe * Motorola, PCCW study mobile-TV service * Belgacom launches IPTV channel * Analysis: What's next for next-generation handsets REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Senators: FCC should review effect before changing rules Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eWxAfDtusXhjgFCibuddzaJo ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2006 16:11:10 -0500 From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question Korey wrote: > I just recently signed up for telephone service through my cable > company (It is supposed to be installed Tuesday, December 5.) Other > than my cable company, I had considered services such as Vonage and > Sunrocket. > After I signed up with my cable company, I was thinking and had the > following question: Is it possible to subscribe to two different VOIP > telephone services at the same time and be able to use either of them > whenever you want? In other words, after I port my current telephone > number to my cable company and start with their service, what if I > decide I need another line later and want to try another company for > the new line, say Vonage, Sunrocket, or another one of my choice, for > example? > What would be involved with doing this, especially if I don't have an > active landline? Would I need to go through my local telephone > company and have them install a new telephone line and then once it is > working, transfer the telephone service for the new line to Vonage, > Sunrocket, or some other provider of my choice? Would it be possible > to have two VOIP lines with two separate VOIP providers utilizing the > same high speed cable modem connection? > Just curious if this would be possible. > Thanks, > Korey It's thinkable, but you don't want to do that. Both would still be dependent on your ISP/HSI provider. (Better to have a land line as backup.) Second, your VoIP provider can give y0u a single ATA (analog telephone adapter) with two lines! Much simpler and it can handle the QoS issues better (Quality of Service: which line gets priority ...) ------------------------------ From: Bruce L. Bergman Subject: Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question Organization: What - I have to be organized? Why start now... Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:11:29 GMT On 4 Dec 2006 22:11:31 -0800, Korey wrote: > I just recently signed up for telephone service through my cable > company (It is supposed to be installed Tuesday, December 5.) Other > than my cable company, I had considered services such as Vonage and > Sunrocket. > After I signed up with my cable company, I was thinking and had the > following question: Is it possible to subscribe to two different VOIP > telephone services at the same time and be able to use either of them > whenever you want? In other words, after I port my current telephone > number to my cable company and start with their service, what if I > decide I need another line later and want to try another company for > the new line, say Vonage, Sunrocket, or another one of my choice, for > example? > What would be involved with doing this, especially if I don't have an > active landline? Would I need to go through my local telephone > company and have them install a new telephone line and then once it is > working, transfer the telephone service for the new line to Vonage, > Sunrocket, or some other provider of my choice? Would it be possible > to have two VOIP lines with two separate VOIP providers utilizing the > same high speed cable modem connection? > Just curious if this would be possible. Possible, yes -- but don't try making two calls at once unless you have really good service. Most home net connections are asymmetric and your 'outbound' connection probably isn't fast enough to handle two calls at once. And even if you can pull it off in the slow times at 4 AM, try it at 6 PM when everyone is home surfing the web and it won't go -- if you are really unlucky, you won't be able to get even one decent VOIP phone call through during the busy hours. Cable modem speed is /very/ dependent on how heavily they have your cable segment loaded with Internet users, and how much of the shared segment bandwidth they are using. That's the one saving grace of DSL -- it's slower, but it's all YOUR bandwidth, no sharing. Unless they overload the backhaul connection at the switchroom to Earthlink (or whomever), it's fairly reliable. --<< Bruce >>-- ------------------------------ From: John Hines Subject: Re: Who/What is 773-874-8589? Date: Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:04:02 -0600 Organization: www.jhines.org Reply-To: john@jhines.org > I wonder if the Chicago area had much snow this past weekend? 'They' > say our seventeen-inch blast was the second worst on record here in > Independence. About a foot or so. Icy rain at first, then snow, very heavy wet snow. We (Chicago) didn't get it nearly as bad as southern Illinois, where the power in some areas is still off, 5 days later. From the news pictures I saw, it looked like long runs of power poles in rural areas being replaced, but now the story is the need to hook individuals up. The Bears played at home Sunday, other than cold and windy it was fine. Silly sig to prevent isp ad [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As of today, Wednesday, our temperature got up to about fifty degrees, which is about normal for this time of year. The snow began to melt in ernest, which left a small lake in Poplar Street near Second Street. Oh well, it made up for last winter when it did not snow even _once_ here. (Cold and grey; windy and damp; but no snow). We made up for it this year, to say the least. 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 #407 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Dec 7 23:53:13 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9C8182247; Thu, 7 Dec 2006 23:53:12 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #408 Message-Id: <20061208045312.9C8182247@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 23:53:12 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Dec 2006 23:55:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 408 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson More Internet Journalists Put in Jail (Rukmini Callimachi, AP) Google Begins Experiment With Radio Advertising (Associated Press NewsWire) Yahoo Shakeup Highlights Web Video Shift (Gary Gentile, AP) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 07, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Cable Plans Smaller Rate Increases Amid Competition (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question (Korey Smith) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:55:41 -0600 From: Rukmini Callimachi, AP Subject: More Internet Journalists Put in Jail By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - When Iranian journalist Mojtaba Saminejad was sentenced to two years in prison for insulting the country's Supreme Leader, it was not for an article that appeared in a newspaper. His offending story was posted on his personal Web blog. Nearly one-third of journalists now serving time in prisons around the world published their work on the Internet, the second-largest category behind print journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in an analysis released Thursday. The bulk of Internet journalists in jail -- 49 in total -- shows that "authoritarian states are becoming more determined to control the Internet," said Joel Simon, the New York-based group's executive director. "It wasn't so long ago that people were talking about the Internet as a new medium that could never be controlled," he said. "The reality is that governments are now recognizing they need to control the Internet to control information." Other noteworthy imprisoned Internet journalists include U.S. video blogger Joshua Wolf, who refused to give a grand jury his footage of a 2005 protest against a G-8 economic summit, and China's Shi Tao, who is serving a 10-year sentence for posting online instructions by the government on how to cover the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. For the second year in a row, CPJ's annual survey found the total number of journalists in jail worldwide has increased. There were 134 reporters, editors and photographers incarcerated as of Dec. 1, nine more than a year ago. In addition to the Internet writers, the total includes 67 print journalists, eight TV reporters, eight radio reporters and two documentary filmmakers. Among the 24 nations that have imprisoned reporters, China topped the list for the eighth consecutive year with 31 journalists behind bars -- 19 of them Internet journalists. Cuba was second with 24 reporters in prison. Nearly all of them had filed their reports to overseas-based Web sites. The U.S. government and military has detained three journalists, including Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who was taken into custody in Iraq nine months ago and has yet to be charged with a crime. CPJ recorded the first jailing of an Internet reporter in its 1997 census. Since then, the number has steadily grown and now includes reporters, editors and photographers whose work appeared primarily on the Internet, in e-mails or in other electronic forms. The increase is a testament to the increasing attention of government censors to the Internet, media experts say. "I refer to the freedom of the press as the canary in the coal mine," said Joshua Friedman, director of international programs at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. "It's a barometer of the insecurity of the people running these governments. One of the things that makes them insecure these days is the power of the Internet." The rise in jailings of Internet journalists is also an indication that reporters in authoritarian countries are increasingly using the Web to circumvent state controls. Shi, the jailed Chinese journalist, could have published his notes on state propaganda in the Chinese magazine in Hunan province where he worked as an editorial director. He chose instead to send an e-mail from his Yahoo account to the U.S.-based editor of a Chinese language Web forum. Cuban journalist Manuel Vasquez-Portal said he posted his articles on a Miami-based Web site for a similar reason. "Without a doubt, the Internet provided me an avenue. It was the only way to get the truth out of Cuba," he said through an interpreter. Vasquez-Portal, who was jailed for 15 months in 2003, said he had to call his stories in to the operator of the Web site, though, because Cubans are not allowed access to the Internet. On the Net: Committee to Protect Journalists: http://www.cpj.org/ 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:59:34 -0600 From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Google Begins Experiment With Radio Advertising By The Associated Press Google Inc. has started testing a long-awaited radio advertising service that represents the Internet search leader's most elaborate attempt yet at expanding its financial clout beyond the Web. The test announced Thursday will help sell advertising on more than 700 radio stations in more than 200 U.S. metropolitan markets. Google hopes to eventually sign up more than 5,000 stations, according to documents shown potential advertisers. For now, at least, Google will lag well behind other radio advertising placement services like Softwave Media Exchange, which says it has enlisted more than 1,500 stations with a combined daily audience of more than 9 million listeners. Thursday's announcement didn't specify how many advertisers are involved in the early radio tests nor set a timetable for opening the service to all comers. Google is betting its technology can do for radio what it has already done for the Internet by automating the process for selling and distributing ads to an audience where the messages are most likely to pique consumer interest. As it does on the Web, Google plans to charge a commission for helping radio stations sell ads. The Mountain View-based company signaled its intention to expand into radio advertising in January with a $102 million acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting Inc. Since then, Google has been working to make the service compatible with a system that already serves millions of Internet advertisers. The Internet ad platform has turned into a gold mine, with Google's profit this year expected to approach $3 billion — nearly a 30-fold increase since 2002. The company makes virtually all its money from short, written ads posted on the Web, raising worries among some analysts about Google's lack of other moneymaking channels. As part of its expansion efforts, Google also is trying to help newspaper and magazine publishers fill some of their unsold advertising space. Google's early efforts in magazines have had little impact. The company just started working with 50 of the nation's largest newspapers. Google appears intent on pouring far more resources into the radio service, with management openly discussing plans to employ about 1,000 workers in the division. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/TDNewsradio.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:01:11 -0600 From: Gary Gentile, AP Subject: Yahoo Shakeup Highlights Web Video Shift By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer The departure of television veteran Lloyd Braun from Yahoo Inc. underscores a shift, or at least a major hiccup, by Internet companies away from creating costly original content. Braun, who once ran primetime programming for the Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network, left Yahoo this week after his role was greatly diminished in a companywide reorganization that placed his group into a newly created division. Yahoo's hiring of Braun to run the new Yahoo Media Group two years ago sparked speculation that the online company was itching to become, in effect, a TV network on the Web, producing its own shows to attract eyeballs to its lucrative Internet advertising. After all, Braun was responsible for ABC's nascent turnaround and the genius behind its hit show "Lost." Analysts saw great symbolism in the consolidation of Yahoo's far-flung media sites -- music, video, finance and news -- into a new Santa Monica office that was once home of fabled movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But two years ago, no one foresaw the rise of sites such as YouTube and MySpace, which became huge companies by aggregating user-generated videos and creating communities where people could network. YouTube was eventually bought by search giant Google Inc. for $1.76 billion, while MySpace was snatched by News Corp. for $580 million. Few people also foresaw that major media companies such as Disney, CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. would begin selling TV episodes or full-length films over Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store. As YouTube and similar sites grew in popularity, Braun struggled to get competing Yahoo divisions to think in terms of content rather than technology, Braun recounted in an interview at his Santa Monica office several weeks before his departure. One major glitch that consumed more than a year, for instance, was the lack of common software for producing and publishing content at the various product units inside Yahoo. Incompatible technology made it nearly impossible to design a template that could be easily shared by the various sites. Before redesigns of such services as Yahoo Music or Yahoo Games could be launched, Braun's unit had to develop a common software platform, a task now completed. Yahoo recently started to rollout redesigned sites and introduced a new offering, Yahoo Food. Braun also had to curtail ambitions to produce original shows for the Web. Replicating the TV network model would be prohibitively expensive, especially if such shows could only be viewed on a small computer screen. Yahoo did create several new video and other programs, including news dispatches from war journalist Kevin Sites. The company also recently launched a series of live music performances similar to those featured on rival AOL's site. But in a twist, one of its most popular shows, called "The Nine," features host Maria Sansone counting down nine notable user-generated video clips found on other sites such as YouTube. Yahoo isn't alone. When Time Warner Inc.'s AOL started breaking down its walls of exclusivity two years ago, the company cited its own video productions of concerts and other events as reasons people would want to visit its free, ad-supported sites. AOL even won a broadband Emmy for last year's "Live 8" concert special. Although AOL isn't abandoning those productions, its focus lately has been on search. It wants to be the starting point for online video, whether it's hosted at AOL or at a rival like YouTube. AOL also started its own video-sharing service, UnCut Video, where users can share clips they produce with camera phones and camcorders. The rapidly changing Web landscape has left Yahoo playing catch up, a situation this week's reorganization is designed to address. "Frankly I'm surprised it took Yahoo so long to make this decision," said Dmitry Shapiro, chief executive of video startup Veoh Networks Inc. "I think it's been known for at least a year, with the success of YouTube and hundreds of media aggregator players like Veoh that are jumping into the game, that this is the way it should be done. But large companies move slowly." Veoh wants to distribute user-generated and Hollywood content, but has no plans to create its own shows. Nonetheless, original content created for distribution over high-speed Internet connections shouldn't be dismissed just yet, said former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner, who now invests in media-related startup companies such as Veoh. "The production of original content for broadband is coming and will be significant and important just like it was significant and important for cable," Eisner said. Eisner said traditional media and online companies are in a transitional period where Hollywood-generated programs, TV shows and films are competing for attention with user-generated material. Makers of original Web content aren't wrong, he said, but may be hurt by pushing it before consumers are ready. "To take a position that it's all going to move to user-generated and be this anarchy and democracy is wrong," Eisner said. "To take the point of view that it's all going to be distribution of ancillary product from the studios and others is wrong. And to take the position that it's all going to be original product is wrong. "It's all three and it's all a matter of being too early or too late." 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 07, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 11:16:58 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 07, 2006 ******************************** The Cloud, Truphone in VoIP Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21531?11228 Wi-fi hotspot provider, The Cloud, has signed an agreement with the software provider, Truphone, to allow customers with a Truphone-enabled handset to make VoIP calls over The Cloud's wi-fi hotspots. Truphone is a free software tool for making VoIP calls that can be loaded onto Nokia's series of wi-fi-equipped handsets. ... Tele-Visionaries http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21525?11228 I just finished reading 'Tele-Visionaries, The People Behind the Invention of Television', by Richard C. Webb, IEEE Press. This is a relatively new book, published last year. I highly recommend it for a number of reasons discussed below. But I would caution that this is not the whole story and it has a well-defined ... Fight Heats Up Over Tie-Breaking AT&T/BellSouth Vote http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21519?11228 The flap over whether Federal Communications Commission (FCC)member Robert McDowell can be allowed to vote in favor of the AT&T/BellSouth merger has begun to ratchet up as the Republican commissioner indicated his willingness to participate in the regulator's approval process. Congressional Democrats openly expressed their ... Verizon to Boost Storage Service http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21513?11228 Verizon Communications Inc. is about to get more serious about storage for the sake of its broadband customers -- whether they're flying on FiOS or dawdling along with DSL. The company first offered its file backup and sharing service in late September from its Verizon Surround portal. Today, it provides 5 Gbytes of storage ... Increasing Telco TV Deployments a Boon for Headend Vendors http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21511?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A large number of headends have been built in 2005 and 2006 to support increasing telco TV deployments, and the wide availability of H.264 compression equipment in 2006 has prompted telcos that were waiting, to move forward with deployment plans, reports In-Stat. Growth in telco TV deployments and subscribers ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 11:58:35 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Cable Plans Smaller Rate Increases Amid More Competition USTelecom dailyLead December 7, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eXiAfDtusXhrxHCibuddsqNR TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Cable plans smaller rate increases amid more competition BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T seeks to launch 13 FTTN markets by year's end * Verizon: Dilutive effect of FiOS to fall after Q1 * News Corp. near deal to regain Liberty's stake * Motorola seeks growth beyond RAZR's edge * RIM expects sales in Asia to double within a year * Buyout firms eye Hutchison's Indian wireless assets USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Steven Shepard's IMS Crash Course TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Cisco to make Net-based phones in India * Vodafone mulls 3G launch in Egypt * China Unicom says CDMA, GSM networks can go 3G REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC's Martin discusses time limit on franchise reviews * Ruling unlocks handsets Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eXiAfDtusXhrxHCibuddsqNR ------------------------------ From: Korey Smith Subject: Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question Reply-To: newsemail@cox.net Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 05:39:17 -0600 Organization: Cox On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:11:29 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman wrote: > On 4 Dec 2006 22:11:31 -0800, Korey wrote: >> I just recently signed up for telephone service through my cable >> company (It is supposed to be installed Tuesday, December 5.) Other >> than my cable company, I had considered services such as Vonage and >> Sunrocket. >> After I signed up with my cable company, I was thinking and had the >> following question: Is it possible to subscribe to two different VOIP >> telephone services at the same time and be able to use either of them >> whenever you want? In other words, after I port my current telephone >> number to my cable company and start with their service, what if I >> decide I need another line later and want to try another company for >> the new line, say Vonage, Sunrocket, or another one of my choice, for >> example? >> What would be involved with doing this, especially if I don't have an >> active landline? Would I need to go through my local telephone >> company and have them install a new telephone line and then once it is >> working, transfer the telephone service for the new line to Vonage, >> Sunrocket, or some other provider of my choice? Would it be possible >> to have two VOIP lines with two separate VOIP providers utilizing the >> same high speed cable modem connection? >> Just curious if this would be possible. > Possible, yes -- but don't try making two calls at once unless you > have really good service. Most home net connections are asymmetric > and your 'outbound' connection probably isn't fast enough to handle > two calls at once. > And even if you can pull it off in the slow times at 4 AM, try it at > 6 PM when everyone is home surfing the web and it won't go -- if you > are really unlucky, you won't be able to get even one decent VOIP > phone call through during the busy hours. > Cable modem speed is /very/ dependent on how heavily they have your > cable segment loaded with Internet users, and how much of the shared > segment bandwidth they are using. > That's the one saving grace of DSL -- it's slower, but it's all YOUR > bandwidth, no sharing. Unless they overload the backhaul connection > at the switchroom to Earthlink (or whomever), it's fairly reliable. > --<< Bruce >>-- I had tried DSL, but having been on cable before, I thought it was too slow. I was then looking for ways to save money on all of my home communications needs, and so I looked into my cable company for telephone service. I have a single line through them right now and so far the service is pretty good. I have even been able to fax both ways without any problems. I thought the faxing would be an issue since I had read somewhere else that faxing over this type of connection isn't always reliable, but I haven't had any problems send or receive. I remember reading somewhere else that AT&T is now offering VOIP Service (Internet Telephone Service) with their AT&T CallVantage® Service Plan. How are they going to be able to offer this and be competitive with cable? I'm no expert, but it would seem that with the CallVantage, you would need the DSL, which would also require a landline phone # or can you have DSL only? If you are required to have a landline phone, then what would be the purpose of subscribing to their CallVantage® Service? In other words, with this new AT&T CallVantage service, can you subscribe to DSL only and have the CallVantage service for your voice without having to pay extra for another line? Korey ------------------------------ 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 *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml End of TELECOM Digest V25 #408 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Dec 7 23:53:13 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9C8182247; Thu, 7 Dec 2006 23:53:12 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #408 Message-Id: <20061208045312.9C8182247@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 23:53:12 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 7 Dec 2006 23:55:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 408 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson More Internet Journalists Put in Jail (Rukmini Callimachi, AP) Google Begins Experiment With Radio Advertising (Associated Press NewsWire) Yahoo Shakeup Highlights Web Video Shift (Gary Gentile, AP) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 07, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Cable Plans Smaller Rate Increases Amid Competition (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question (Korey Smith) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:55:41 -0600 From: Rukmini Callimachi, AP Subject: More Internet Journalists Put in Jail By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - When Iranian journalist Mojtaba Saminejad was sentenced to two years in prison for insulting the country's Supreme Leader, it was not for an article that appeared in a newspaper. His offending story was posted on his personal Web blog. Nearly one-third of journalists now serving time in prisons around the world published their work on the Internet, the second-largest category behind print journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said in an analysis released Thursday. The bulk of Internet journalists in jail -- 49 in total -- shows that "authoritarian states are becoming more determined to control the Internet," said Joel Simon, the New York-based group's executive director. "It wasn't so long ago that people were talking about the Internet as a new medium that could never be controlled," he said. "The reality is that governments are now recognizing they need to control the Internet to control information." Other noteworthy imprisoned Internet journalists include U.S. video blogger Joshua Wolf, who refused to give a grand jury his footage of a 2005 protest against a G-8 economic summit, and China's Shi Tao, who is serving a 10-year sentence for posting online instructions by the government on how to cover the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. For the second year in a row, CPJ's annual survey found the total number of journalists in jail worldwide has increased. There were 134 reporters, editors and photographers incarcerated as of Dec. 1, nine more than a year ago. In addition to the Internet writers, the total includes 67 print journalists, eight TV reporters, eight radio reporters and two documentary filmmakers. Among the 24 nations that have imprisoned reporters, China topped the list for the eighth consecutive year with 31 journalists behind bars -- 19 of them Internet journalists. Cuba was second with 24 reporters in prison. Nearly all of them had filed their reports to overseas-based Web sites. The U.S. government and military has detained three journalists, including Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who was taken into custody in Iraq nine months ago and has yet to be charged with a crime. CPJ recorded the first jailing of an Internet reporter in its 1997 census. Since then, the number has steadily grown and now includes reporters, editors and photographers whose work appeared primarily on the Internet, in e-mails or in other electronic forms. The increase is a testament to the increasing attention of government censors to the Internet, media experts say. "I refer to the freedom of the press as the canary in the coal mine," said Joshua Friedman, director of international programs at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. "It's a barometer of the insecurity of the people running these governments. One of the things that makes them insecure these days is the power of the Internet." The rise in jailings of Internet journalists is also an indication that reporters in authoritarian countries are increasingly using the Web to circumvent state controls. Shi, the jailed Chinese journalist, could have published his notes on state propaganda in the Chinese magazine in Hunan province where he worked as an editorial director. He chose instead to send an e-mail from his Yahoo account to the U.S.-based editor of a Chinese language Web forum. Cuban journalist Manuel Vasquez-Portal said he posted his articles on a Miami-based Web site for a similar reason. "Without a doubt, the Internet provided me an avenue. It was the only way to get the truth out of Cuba," he said through an interpreter. Vasquez-Portal, who was jailed for 15 months in 2003, said he had to call his stories in to the operator of the Web site, though, because Cubans are not allowed access to the Internet. On the Net: Committee to Protect Journalists: http://www.cpj.org/ 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:59:34 -0600 From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Google Begins Experiment With Radio Advertising By The Associated Press Google Inc. has started testing a long-awaited radio advertising service that represents the Internet search leader's most elaborate attempt yet at expanding its financial clout beyond the Web. The test announced Thursday will help sell advertising on more than 700 radio stations in more than 200 U.S. metropolitan markets. Google hopes to eventually sign up more than 5,000 stations, according to documents shown potential advertisers. For now, at least, Google will lag well behind other radio advertising placement services like Softwave Media Exchange, which says it has enlisted more than 1,500 stations with a combined daily audience of more than 9 million listeners. Thursday's announcement didn't specify how many advertisers are involved in the early radio tests nor set a timetable for opening the service to all comers. Google is betting its technology can do for radio what it has already done for the Internet by automating the process for selling and distributing ads to an audience where the messages are most likely to pique consumer interest. As it does on the Web, Google plans to charge a commission for helping radio stations sell ads. The Mountain View-based company signaled its intention to expand into radio advertising in January with a $102 million acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting Inc. Since then, Google has been working to make the service compatible with a system that already serves millions of Internet advertisers. The Internet ad platform has turned into a gold mine, with Google's profit this year expected to approach $3 billion — nearly a 30-fold increase since 2002. The company makes virtually all its money from short, written ads posted on the Web, raising worries among some analysts about Google's lack of other moneymaking channels. As part of its expansion efforts, Google also is trying to help newspaper and magazine publishers fill some of their unsold advertising space. Google's early efforts in magazines have had little impact. The company just started working with 50 of the nation's largest newspapers. Google appears intent on pouring far more resources into the radio service, with management openly discussing plans to employ about 1,000 workers in the division. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/TDNewsradio.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 22:01:11 -0600 From: Gary Gentile, AP Subject: Yahoo Shakeup Highlights Web Video Shift By GARY GENTILE, AP Business Writer The departure of television veteran Lloyd Braun from Yahoo Inc. underscores a shift, or at least a major hiccup, by Internet companies away from creating costly original content. Braun, who once ran primetime programming for the Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network, left Yahoo this week after his role was greatly diminished in a companywide reorganization that placed his group into a newly created division. Yahoo's hiring of Braun to run the new Yahoo Media Group two years ago sparked speculation that the online company was itching to become, in effect, a TV network on the Web, producing its own shows to attract eyeballs to its lucrative Internet advertising. After all, Braun was responsible for ABC's nascent turnaround and the genius behind its hit show "Lost." Analysts saw great symbolism in the consolidation of Yahoo's far-flung media sites -- music, video, finance and news -- into a new Santa Monica office that was once home of fabled movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. But two years ago, no one foresaw the rise of sites such as YouTube and MySpace, which became huge companies by aggregating user-generated videos and creating communities where people could network. YouTube was eventually bought by search giant Google Inc. for $1.76 billion, while MySpace was snatched by News Corp. for $580 million. Few people also foresaw that major media companies such as Disney, CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. would begin selling TV episodes or full-length films over Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes store. As YouTube and similar sites grew in popularity, Braun struggled to get competing Yahoo divisions to think in terms of content rather than technology, Braun recounted in an interview at his Santa Monica office several weeks before his departure. One major glitch that consumed more than a year, for instance, was the lack of common software for producing and publishing content at the various product units inside Yahoo. Incompatible technology made it nearly impossible to design a template that could be easily shared by the various sites. Before redesigns of such services as Yahoo Music or Yahoo Games could be launched, Braun's unit had to develop a common software platform, a task now completed. Yahoo recently started to rollout redesigned sites and introduced a new offering, Yahoo Food. Braun also had to curtail ambitions to produce original shows for the Web. Replicating the TV network model would be prohibitively expensive, especially if such shows could only be viewed on a small computer screen. Yahoo did create several new video and other programs, including news dispatches from war journalist Kevin Sites. The company also recently launched a series of live music performances similar to those featured on rival AOL's site. But in a twist, one of its most popular shows, called "The Nine," features host Maria Sansone counting down nine notable user-generated video clips found on other sites such as YouTube. Yahoo isn't alone. When Time Warner Inc.'s AOL started breaking down its walls of exclusivity two years ago, the company cited its own video productions of concerts and other events as reasons people would want to visit its free, ad-supported sites. AOL even won a broadband Emmy for last year's "Live 8" concert special. Although AOL isn't abandoning those productions, its focus lately has been on search. It wants to be the starting point for online video, whether it's hosted at AOL or at a rival like YouTube. AOL also started its own video-sharing service, UnCut Video, where users can share clips they produce with camera phones and camcorders. The rapidly changing Web landscape has left Yahoo playing catch up, a situation this week's reorganization is designed to address. "Frankly I'm surprised it took Yahoo so long to make this decision," said Dmitry Shapiro, chief executive of video startup Veoh Networks Inc. "I think it's been known for at least a year, with the success of YouTube and hundreds of media aggregator players like Veoh that are jumping into the game, that this is the way it should be done. But large companies move slowly." Veoh wants to distribute user-generated and Hollywood content, but has no plans to create its own shows. Nonetheless, original content created for distribution over high-speed Internet connections shouldn't be dismissed just yet, said former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner, who now invests in media-related startup companies such as Veoh. "The production of original content for broadband is coming and will be significant and important just like it was significant and important for cable," Eisner said. Eisner said traditional media and online companies are in a transitional period where Hollywood-generated programs, TV shows and films are competing for attention with user-generated material. Makers of original Web content aren't wrong, he said, but may be hurt by pushing it before consumers are ready. "To take a position that it's all going to move to user-generated and be this anarchy and democracy is wrong," Eisner said. "To take the point of view that it's all going to be distribution of ancillary product from the studios and others is wrong. And to take the position that it's all going to be original product is wrong. "It's all three and it's all a matter of being too early or too late." 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 07, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 11:16:58 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 07, 2006 ******************************** The Cloud, Truphone in VoIP Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21531?11228 Wi-fi hotspot provider, The Cloud, has signed an agreement with the software provider, Truphone, to allow customers with a Truphone-enabled handset to make VoIP calls over The Cloud's wi-fi hotspots. Truphone is a free software tool for making VoIP calls that can be loaded onto Nokia's series of wi-fi-equipped handsets. ... Tele-Visionaries http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21525?11228 I just finished reading 'Tele-Visionaries, The People Behind the Invention of Television', by Richard C. Webb, IEEE Press. This is a relatively new book, published last year. I highly recommend it for a number of reasons discussed below. But I would caution that this is not the whole story and it has a well-defined ... Fight Heats Up Over Tie-Breaking AT&T/BellSouth Vote http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21519?11228 The flap over whether Federal Communications Commission (FCC)member Robert McDowell can be allowed to vote in favor of the AT&T/BellSouth merger has begun to ratchet up as the Republican commissioner indicated his willingness to participate in the regulator's approval process. Congressional Democrats openly expressed their ... Verizon to Boost Storage Service http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21513?11228 Verizon Communications Inc. is about to get more serious about storage for the sake of its broadband customers -- whether they're flying on FiOS or dawdling along with DSL. The company first offered its file backup and sharing service in late September from its Verizon Surround portal. Today, it provides 5 Gbytes of storage ... Increasing Telco TV Deployments a Boon for Headend Vendors http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21511?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A large number of headends have been built in 2005 and 2006 to support increasing telco TV deployments, and the wide availability of H.264 compression equipment in 2006 has prompted telcos that were waiting, to move forward with deployment plans, reports In-Stat. Growth in telco TV deployments and subscribers ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 11:58:35 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Cable Plans Smaller Rate Increases Amid More Competition USTelecom dailyLead December 7, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eXiAfDtusXhrxHCibuddsqNR TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Cable plans smaller rate increases amid more competition BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T seeks to launch 13 FTTN markets by year's end * Verizon: Dilutive effect of FiOS to fall after Q1 * News Corp. near deal to regain Liberty's stake * Motorola seeks growth beyond RAZR's edge * RIM expects sales in Asia to double within a year * Buyout firms eye Hutchison's Indian wireless assets USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Steven Shepard's IMS Crash Course TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Cisco to make Net-based phones in India * Vodafone mulls 3G launch in Egypt * China Unicom says CDMA, GSM networks can go 3G REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC's Martin discusses time limit on franchise reviews * Ruling unlocks handsets Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eXiAfDtusXhrxHCibuddsqNR ------------------------------ From: Korey Smith Subject: Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question Reply-To: newsemail@cox.net Date: Thu, 07 Dec 2006 05:39:17 -0600 Organization: Cox On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:11:29 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman wrote: > On 4 Dec 2006 22:11:31 -0800, Korey wrote: >> I just recently signed up for telephone service through my cable >> company (It is supposed to be installed Tuesday, December 5.) Other >> than my cable company, I had considered services such as Vonage and >> Sunrocket. >> After I signed up with my cable company, I was thinking and had the >> following question: Is it possible to subscribe to two different VOIP >> telephone services at the same time and be able to use either of them >> whenever you want? In other words, after I port my current telephone >> number to my cable company and start with their service, what if I >> decide I need another line later and want to try another company for >> the new line, say Vonage, Sunrocket, or another one of my choice, for >> example? >> What would be involved with doing this, especially if I don't have an >> active landline? Would I need to go through my local telephone >> company and have them install a new telephone line and then once it is >> working, transfer the telephone service for the new line to Vonage, >> Sunrocket, or some other provider of my choice? Would it be possible >> to have two VOIP lines with two separate VOIP providers utilizing the >> same high speed cable modem connection? >> Just curious if this would be possible. > Possible, yes -- but don't try making two calls at once unless you > have really good service. Most home net connections are asymmetric > and your 'outbound' connection probably isn't fast enough to handle > two calls at once. > And even if you can pull it off in the slow times at 4 AM, try it at > 6 PM when everyone is home surfing the web and it won't go -- if you > are really unlucky, you won't be able to get even one decent VOIP > phone call through during the busy hours. > Cable modem speed is /very/ dependent on how heavily they have your > cable segment loaded with Internet users, and how much of the shared > segment bandwidth they are using. > That's the one saving grace of DSL -- it's slower, but it's all YOUR > bandwidth, no sharing. Unless they overload the backhaul connection > at the switchroom to Earthlink (or whomever), it's fairly reliable. > --<< Bruce >>-- I had tried DSL, but having been on cable before, I thought it was too slow. I was then looking for ways to save money on all of my home communications needs, and so I looked into my cable company for telephone service. I have a single line through them right now and so far the service is pretty good. I have even been able to fax both ways without any problems. I thought the faxing would be an issue since I had read somewhere else that faxing over this type of connection isn't always reliable, but I haven't had any problems send or receive. I remember reading somewhere else that AT&T is now offering VOIP Service (Internet Telephone Service) with their AT&T CallVantage® Service Plan. How are they going to be able to offer this and be competitive with cable? I'm no expert, but it would seem that with the CallVantage, you would need the DSL, which would also require a landline phone # or can you have DSL only? If you are required to have a landline phone, then what would be the purpose of subscribing to their CallVantage® Service? In other words, with this new AT&T CallVantage service, can you subscribe to DSL only and have the CallVantage service for your voice without having to pay extra for another line? Korey ------------------------------ 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 *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml End of TELECOM Digest V25 #408 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Dec 8 16:42:07 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id A75712270; Fri, 8 Dec 2006 16:42:07 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #409 Message-Id: <20061208214207.A75712270@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 16:42:07 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: R TELECOM Digest Fri, 8 Dec 2006 16:45:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 409 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Internet Gangs Recruit on Line; Hire Students to Write Viruses (Griffiths) Identity Theft Gang Found Guilty in E-Bay Scam (Elsa McLaren, Reuters) Article on Mobile/Cell Phone History (Lisa Hancock) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 08, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Telecom Executives See Improvement (USTelecom dailyLead) Telecom Update #558, December 8, 2006 (John Riddell) Re: VOIP Internet Telephone Question (Rick Merrill) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2006 14:26:15 -0600 From: Peter Griffiths, Reuters Subject: Internet Gangs Recruit on Line; Hire Students to Write Viruses By Peter Griffiths Organized gangs have adopted "KGB-style" tactics to hire high-flying computer students to commit Internet crime, a report said on Friday. Criminals are targeting universities, computer clubs and online forums to find undergraduates, according to Internet security firm McAfee. Some gangs have sponsored promising students from other disciplines to attend computer courses before planting them in businesses as "sleepers." McAfee said the students write computer viruses, commit identity theft and launder money in a multi-billion dollar industry that is more lucrative than the drugs trade. The gangs' tactics echo the way Russian agents sought out experts at trade conferences or universities during the Cold War, the company said in an annual report. "Although organized criminals may have less of the expertise and access needed to commit cybercrimes, they have the funds to buy the necessary people to do it for them," the report says. McAfee said its study was based partly on FBI and European intelligence. In Eastern Europe, some people are lured into "cybercrime" because of high unemployment and low wages. "Many of these cybercriminals see the Internet as a job opportunity," McAfee quoted FBI Internet security expert Dave Thomas as saying. "With low employment, they can use their technical skills to feed their family." Hackers are paid to write computer viruses that can infect millions of machines to discover confidential information or send unwanted "spam" emails. This "spyware" can detect credit card numbers or other personal information which is then used by fraudsters. Criminals trawl through social networking Web sites which allow people to leave their pictures and personal details. Their research helps them to target "phishing" attacks, where people are sent fraudulent emails to trick them into revealing credit card numbers. Hackers are increasingly hired to spy on businesses, McAfee said. "Corporate espionage is big business," it 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 For more news and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2006 14:28:27 -0600 From: Elsa McLaren, Reuters Subject: Identity Theft Gang Found Guilty in E-Bay Scam by Elsa McLaren and agencies One of the world's most successful identity theft gangs who defrauded bank account holders in Britain, America and several European countries out of millions of pounds are behind bars today. The gang created hundreds of false identities and used huge numbers of cloned credit cards to buy electrical goods, which were later sold on the website eBay. Police believe the lucrative international operation could have been running for 10 years and generated millions of pounds for the members. Anton Dolgov, a former boss of the Moscow City Bank, was at the heart of the operation and ran offices in north Kensington and Spain. He was known under a number of aliases including Anton Gelonkin, the name he appeared under at London's Harrow Crown Court. A police investigation was prompted after Spanish authorities arrested gang member Andreas Fuhrmann, who is currently awaiting trial in Spain. An international arrest warrant was issued for Anthony Peyton, one of Gelonkin's aliases. Gelonkin was tracked down by police after he reported a break-in at his headquarters at BusPace Studios. After a police check the Interpol warrant issued for his arrest was flagged up. Officers from the Serious and Organised Crime unit raided the gang's premises where they discovered a huge amount of evidence. However, much of it was lost when gang member Aleksei Kostap, while handcuffed, managed to leap off a sofa to flick a power switch on the ceiling which wiped the computer databases and triggered layers of encryption. Despite efforts of police IT experts, the system has proved impregnable and its secrets will probably remain beyond reach for ever. Kostap, 31, an Estonian national, denied his involvement in the scam and instead said that he had been framed by Gelonkin. But, today he was found guilty of conspiracies to defraud, obtain services by deception, acquire, use and possess criminal property, and conceal, disguise, convert, transfer or remove criminal property. He was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice by shutting down the power to the PCs. He is due to be sentenced on December 13, along with Gelonkin, 42, who admitted four charges of conspiracy and Romanos Vasilauskas, 24, who pleaded guilty to possessing three false passports. David Hewett, for the prosecution, told the court that, while the fraud was thought to have lasted up to a decade, the charges covered just an 18-month period between June 2003 and January last year when the gang was arrested. During that time the gang managed to pocket at least 750,000 pounds. "However, it is quite clear the total amount of money defrauded will probably never be known," he explained. The operation's ultimate mastermind is thought to have been a shady underworld figure called Kaljusaar, who has never been caught. Police discovered bogus passports, council tax documents, electoral registration applications, and bank statements as well as employment references from both an unsuspecting firm of solicitors and a fake one that were used to create false identities. Cloned credit cards were used to buy cameras, computers, iPods, computer games, Royal Mint coin collection sets and other goods such as Liverpool FC strips from a variety of website traders. These items were then auctioned on eBay. The gang also used stolen credit card details to set up online gambling accounts and directed the winnings into bank accounts they had created in false names. They also used the compromised credit cards to make thousands of small payments to WorldPay and PayPal accounts which they later banked. Copyright 2006 Reuters. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Article on Mobile/Cell Phone History Date: 8 Dec 2006 10:37:22 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com The magazine, American Heritage of Invention & Technology, Winter 2007, has two feature articles on cell phone history. The first article deals with the history of developing cells. The second article deals with hand held telephone development by Motorola. It also discusses the relationship between Motorola, who developed and manufactured the components, and AT&T that provided the service. There is a supplemental article on Picturephone. This issue also contains articles on making snow, the U-2 spy plane, and metal fatigue prevention. The magazine is found at better newstands under INVENTION & TECHNOLOGY. http://www.inventionandtechnology.com ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 08, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 11:58:39 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 08, 2006 ******************************** Palm Gets Its OS Back http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21561?11228 Paving over a gaping hole in its strategic roadmap, Palm Inc. said today that it has re-licensed the source code for its operating system, known as the Palm Garnet OS, from Access Systems Americas Inc., a unit of Japanese company Access Co. Ltd. The contract, under which Palm will pay $44 million for a perpetual, non-exclusive ... Alfa Seeking Dialogue with TeliaSonera and Telenor http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21559?11228 Altimo, the telecoms arm of Russian holding group Alfa, is keen to enter into dialogue with Sweden's TeliaSonera and Norway's Telenor, with a view to establishing some form of alliance with either, according to press reports. Altimo CEO Alexey Reznikovich has pointed out that representatives of Altimo and TeliaSonera are already. Moto Q on MTS and Palm Treo on Rogers Increase Smartphone Options http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21556?11228 Smartphone options available to Canadians have been expanded this week as MTS Allstream launches the Motorola's Moto Q, available for free on a three-year contract or C$149 on a two-year contract. Rogers Wireless has also taken on the quad-band EDGE-capable Palm Treo 680, available for C$299.99 on a three-year contract. ... Session Border Controllers in Converged Fixed-Mobile IMS/TISPAN Architecture http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21550?11228 Acme Packet has defined the role of session border controllers within the next-generation, converged fixed-mobile IMS architecture defined by 3GPP and extended by ETSI TISPAN. Within this architecture, session border controllers provide service providers with critical support for real-time interactive IP-based voice, video and ... Poll: 'IM-ing' Divides Teens, Adults http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21547?11228 WASHINGTON -- Teenager Michelle Rome can't imagine life without instant messaging. Baby boomer Steve Wilson doesn't care that it even exists. They're part of an 'instant messaging gap' between teens and adults. And the division is wide, says an AP-AOL survey on how Americans use or snub those Internet ... Take a Picture http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21544?11228 It's no news that camera phones are hot. Tech research giant Gartner recently predicted that nearly 50 percent of mobile phones sold worldwide in 2006 will incorporate a camera; the number rises to 81 percent by 2010. One is tempted that observe that cameras will be increasingly added to mobile phones whether or not buyers ... U.K. Wireless/Broadband Retail Battle Twists & Shouts http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21542?11228 In the latest twist in the turbulent British retail cellular and broadband markets, U.K. cellphone retailer Phones 4U today leaked -- and it appears on purpose -- word it's negotiating to become a broadband reseller. Its target is rival Carphone Warehouse, from which it stole the Vodafone cellular resale contract two months ago, ... BSkyB Gets Googly http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21539?11228 British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (BSkyB) says it plans to offer its U.K. broadband customers a set of Sky-branded services from Google including video, communications, search, and advertising. The two companies say they've signed a set of 'wide-ranging multi-year agreements' to develop, tailor, and re-brand ... Battery Recall Hits Cell Phones http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21536?11228 On the heels of the notebook computer industry being hit with a slew of battery recall announcements, NTT DoCoMo is calling back 1.3 million battery packs used on one of its phones sold in Japan. The Japanese operator says it is pulling the batteries made by Sanyo Electric Company back because deformed parts were discovered in the ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 12:31:07 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Telecom Executives See Improvement in Access Line Loss Trend USTelecom dailyLead December 8, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eXuMfDtusXhwrGCibuddGIXH TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Telecom executives see improvement in access-line loss trend BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Net ads to reach $16.4 billion this year, eMarketer says * Verizon promotes DirectTV to small businesses * EU clears Alcatel purchase of Nortel radio access business * Cincinnati Bell plays ball * Sprint Nextel offers Hispanic customers mobile chats * Nokia, France Telecom sign deal for remote-content service USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Secure Your Carrier Class Network Tuesday, Dec. 12, 1 p.m. (ET) TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Report: Developing countries show demand for high-end mobile products * As Web videos grow longer, so too does competitive risk * Customized ads for mobile phones to be tested VOIP DOWNLOAD * Mass migration to VoIP has begun, says report * Hinkley Q-and-A: Progress of massive VoIP conversion * Survey: Small businesses tout VoIP conveniences as well as cost Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eXuMfDtusXhwrGCibuddGIXH ------------------------------ Subject: Telecom Update #558, December 8, 2006 Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 13:46:03 -0500 From: John Riddell ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 558: December 8, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca/home/Home_Business.page ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.ca/communications/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** SHAW BUSINESS SOLUTIONS: www.shawbusinesssolutions.ca ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca IN THIS ISSUE: ** Study Finds No Cellphone Cancer Link ** Bernier Proposes Fines for Telecom Market Abuse ** Rogers Considers National Rollout of Phone, Internet ** MTS Seeks 50-Cent Payphone Charge ** CRTC Reintroduces Internal Decision Standards ** Telus Expands EVDO Roaming ** Northwestel Rate Increases Approved ** Cogeco Founder Leaves Board ** SR Telecom Takes $29M Hit, Gets New Backing ** Wi-LAN Wins Nokia Licence Deal ** Nortel Changes Its Auditor ** Nortel Completes Sale of UMTS Unit ** Call-Back LD Comes to Cellular ** New Handsets Announce Holiday Season ** Globalstar Shrinks the Satellite Phone ** Nordiq Board Approve Aliant Buyout ** Telecom Hall of Fame Gala on Rogers TV STUDY FINDS NO CELLPHONE CANCER LINK: A major study has found that cellphone users are no more likely to develop cancer than the population at large. A report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute documents the largest study on the subject ever conducted: it examined the health records of 420,000 people in Denmark who were cellphone users for an average of 8.5 years and for over 20 years in some cases. It found no increased incidence of tumours among mobile users. (See Telecom Update #270, 352, 495, 514) BERNIER PROPOSES FINES FOR TELECOM MARKET ABUSE: Industry Minister Maxime Bernier has tabled amendments to the Competition Act that would allow the Competition Tribunal to levy fines of up to $15 million against telecommunications service providers that abuse their dominant position. http://xrl.us/BillC41 ** The Martin government proposed to give both the Competition Tribunal and the CRTC the power to impose similar fines, but the bills died when Parliament was dissolved in November 2005. ** Last month, the Competition Bureau outlined its proposed approach to dealing with complaints of anti-competitive behaviour in telecom markets, and invited comments by December 29. (see Telecom Update #554). ROGERS CONSIDERS NATIONAL ROLLOUT OF PHONE, INTERNET: Speaking at a UBS-sponsored conference in New York this week, Ted Rogers said that his company is "developing technology to offer high-speed Internet and phone across the country." He may have been referring to an enhanced version of the Inukshuk network, the wireless Internet venture that Rogers and Bell own jointly. ** Rogers, who was due to retire at the end of 2008, recently signed a new contract that extends his term in office until either he or the company terminates the contract on six months' notice. MTS SEEKS 50-CENT PAYPHONE CHARGE: MTS Allstream has asked the CRTC to approve an increase in payphone charges to 50 cents, to be effective in April 2007. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/public/8740/2006/m59/697249.zip CRTC REINTRODUCES INTERNAL DECISION STANDARDS: The CRTC has set internal deadlines for issuing decisions on a variety of telecommunications applications. The Commission will begin measuring its internal service standards in April 2007, and will report annually beginning in 2008. ** The Commission previously set performance standards for itself in 2002, but failed to meet them and subsequently stopped reporting results. (See Telecom Update #346). http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Circulars/2006/ct2006-11.htm TELUS EXPANDS EVDO ROAMING: Telus says that its customers can now use their high-speed (EVDO) mobile phones in more than 230 U.S. cities. Telus charges for roaming in the U.S. are 95 cents/minute for airtime, and an additional 50 cents/minute for long distance calls within Canada and the U.S. ** A full list of U.S. cities where Telus EVDO roaming is available is posted at http://xrl.us/EVDOroam NORTHWESTEL RATE INCREASES APPROVED: The CRTC has approved Northwestel interim rate increases of $2/month for residential lines and $5/month for business lines, effective January 1, 2007. ** All of Northwestel's tariffs are made interim, to allow any price changes in the Commission's final ruling on the telco's regulatory framework, due in 2007, to be made retroactive to January 1. (See Telecom Update #513) http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Orders/2006/o2006-332.htm COGECO FOUNDER LEAVES BOARD: Louis Audet, who founded Cogeco in 1956 and led it until 1993, is resigning from the Board of Cogeco Cable and Cogeco Inc. Audet, 88, owns 72% of Cogeco Inc. and remains its Chairman Emeritus. SR TELECOM TAKES $29M HIT, GETS NEW BACKING: SR Telecom has raised $20 million in new financing and taken a $29 million restructuring charge. (See Telecom Update #555) SR says it has been burdened by restructuring efforts that were "disruptive to operations" and has responded by focusing all efforts on WiMAX products. ** SR reports a 35% decline in third quarter revenue, compared to a year ago, due to "outsourcing issues." WI-LAN WINS NOKIA LICENCE DEAL: Nokia has agreed to pay Ottawa-based Wi-LAN Inc. $15 million, and to transfer 93 patents worth $34 million to Wi-LAN, in exchange for a licence to use Wi-LAN's ADSL patents. ** Earlier this year, Wi-LAN stopped making equipment in order to concentrate on licensing its technology. It is offering reduced fees to companies that sign licences before April 12, 2007. (See Telecom Update #515) NORTEL CHANGES ITS AUDITOR: Deloitte & Touche, which has been Nortel's auditor since 1914, has been replaced by KPMG. (See Telecom Update #472) NORTEL COMPLETES SALE OF UMTS UNIT: Nortel Networks this week concluded a definitive agreement to sell its UMTS mobile products division to Alcatel-Lucent for US$320 million in cash -- "less significant deductions and transaction-related costs." About 1,700 Nortel employees will move to Alcatel-Lucent by year-end. (See Telecom Update #544) CALL-BACK LD COMES TO CELLULAR: Call-back long distance, which was used to cut overseas LD charges in the 1980s, has been reborn as an option for cost-conscious cellular users. Customers of Toronto-based Mobilmiser dial a Toronto number and get a busy signal -- Mobilmiser calls them back and connects them to long distance dialtone. The company says that Canada and U.S. LD calls are 4.9 cents/minute. http://www.mobilemiser.com NEW HANDSETS ANNOUNCE HOLIDAY SEASON: Cellcos are preparing for Santa's midnight ride by introducing a new crop of wireless gadgets: ** Bell Canada's LG Fusic phone offers an MP3 player and Canada's first in-phone FM transmitter. ** MTS Motorola Q smartphone has an MP3 player, a camera, Windows Mobile software, and an "ultra-thin design." ** Telus's Nokia 6165i push-to-talk phone includes "advanced mobile IP" and Bluetooth technology, and a "vibrantly coloured matte metallic finish." GLOBALSTAR SHRINKS THE SATELLITE PHONE: Globalstar's 7.1-ounce satellite handset, the Qualcomm GSP-1700, is half the size and weight of its previous models. NORDIQ BOARD APPROVE ALIANT BUYOUT: The directors of Bell Nordiq Group have decided to recommend approval of Bell Aliant's bid to buy the 37% of Nordiq that it does not already own. (See Telecom Update #556) TELECOM HALL OF FAME GALA ON ROGERS TV: A film of the 2006 Awards Ceremony for Canada's Telecom Hall of Fame will be broadcast on Rogers cable on Saturday December 9 at 6pm in Owen Sound and York Region, and at 8pm in the rest of Rogers' territory. 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 http://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. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:57:59 -0500 From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question Korey Smith wrote: > On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:11:29 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman > wrote: >> On 4 Dec 2006 22:11:31 -0800, Korey wrote: >>> I just recently signed up for telephone service through my cable >>> company (It is supposed to be installed Tuesday, December 5.) Other >>> than my cable company, I had considered services such as Vonage and >>> Sunrocket. >>> After I signed up with my cable company, I was thinking and had the >>> following question: Is it possible to subscribe to two different VOIP >>> telephone services at the same time and be able to use either of them >>> whenever you want? In other words, after I port my current telephone >>> number to my cable company and start with their service, what if I >>> decide I need another line later and want to try another company for >>> the new line, say Vonage, Sunrocket, or another one of my choice, for >>> example? >>> What would be involved with doing this, especially if I don't have an >>> active landline? Would I need to go through my local telephone >>> company and have them install a new telephone line and then once it is >>> working, transfer the telephone service for the new line to Vonage, >>> Sunrocket, or some other provider of my choice? Would it be possible >>> to have two VOIP lines with two separate VOIP providers utilizing the >>> same high speed cable modem connection? >>> Just curious if this would be possible. >> Possible, yes -- but don't try making two calls at once unless you >> have really good service. Most home net connections are asymmetric >> and your 'outbound' connection probably isn't fast enough to handle >> two calls at once. >> And even if you can pull it off in the slow times at 4 AM, try it at >> 6 PM when everyone is home surfing the web and it won't go -- if you >> are really unlucky, you won't be able to get even one decent VOIP >> phone call through during the busy hours. >> Cable modem speed is /very/ dependent on how heavily they have your >> cable segment loaded with Internet users, and how much of the shared >> segment bandwidth they are using. >> That's the one saving grace of DSL -- it's slower, but it's all YOUR >> bandwidth, no sharing. Unless they overload the backhaul connection >> at the switchroom to Earthlink (or whomever), it's fairly reliable. >> --<< Bruce >>-- > I had tried DSL, but having been on cable before, I thought it was too > slow. I was then looking for ways to save money on all of my home > communications needs, and so I looked into my cable company for > telephone service. I have a single line through them right now and so > far the service is pretty good. I have even been able to fax both > ways without any problems. I thought the faxing would be an issue > since I had read somewhere else that faxing over this type of > connection isn't always reliable, but I haven't had any problems send > or receive. > I remember reading somewhere else that AT&T is now offering VOIP > Service (Internet Telephone Service) with their AT&T CallVantage=AE > Service Plan. How are they going to be able to offer this and be > competitive with cable? I'm no expert, but it would seem that with > the CallVantage, you would need the DSL, which would also require a > landline phone # or can you have DSL only? If you are required to > have a landline phone, then what would be the purpose of subscribing > to their CallVantage service? > In other words, with this new AT&T CallVantage service, can you > subscribe to DSL only and have the CallVantage service for your voice > without having to pay extra for another line? You are very, very confused - it may not be your fault. "ATT CallVantage" IS a VoIP service over whatever broadband (cable) provider you may have. [VoIP is totally different from DSL which is not too different from "landline".] ------------------------------ 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 #409 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Dec 9 22:49:11 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 192E9223D; Sat, 9 Dec 2006 22:49:10 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #410 Message-Id: <20061210034910.192E9223D@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 22:49:10 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 9 Dec 2006 22:50:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 410 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Your Email Address Known by Police? (David Farrett, Newsfactor) Step Taken Toward Global Internet Names (Anick Jesdanun) High-Tech Firms Push Data-Privacy Law (Christopher S. Rugaber) Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question (Korey Smith) From Our Archives: History of Teletype (TELECOM Digest Editor) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:25:05 -0600 From: David Garrett, Newsfactor Subject: Your Email Address Known by Police? An E-Mail Registry for Sex Offenders? by David Garrett, newsfactor.com Two of the Senate's biggest names, Charles E. Schumer (D.-NY) and John McCain (R.-AZ) plan to push for legislation that will compel sex offenders to register their active e-mail addresses with authorities in an effort to save kids from online predators. Schumer and McCain will introduce the bill at the start of 110th Congress in 2007. If passed, it would send convicted sex offenders to prison for providing false e-mail accounts. The news follows on the heels of a MySpace announcement to vet its user base against the sex offender registries of 46 states, the nation's first attempt to combine database systems across state lines into a single, unified system. Technology or Talking? MySpace is the star of the social networking universe, and a fixture in most teens' after-school time. While popular, MySpace has been dogged by reports of known sex offenders using it to solicit teens and tweens with abusive and often nightmarish proposals. It's a problem that's well known to John Shehan, program manager of the CyberTipline, a project by the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. According to Shehan, parents need to rely on talking, and not merely technology, to keep their kids safe. "It's old fashioned communication," said Shehan. "You put every type of technological advantage online, but there are ways around all of them." Yet talking -- and above all, talking with teens -- is sometimes the hardest part of parenting. Shehan and colleagues performed a set of focus groups in which parents quickly admitted that not knowing as much as their kids did about was a roadblock to even the simplest dialogue. LOL No More Teens' language, including the dozens of acronyms they use for on-screen chats, was among the most confounding facets of their online lives. Yet some of those very acronyms reveal the danger that unpoliced computer use can pose: IPN: I'm posting naked LDR: Long distance relationship LULAB: Love you like a brother LULAS: Love you like a sister OLL: Online love RPG: Role playing games WIBNI: Wouldn't it be nice if WTGP: Want to go private? A/S/L: age, sex, location To help parents talk with teens, CyberTipline offers a list of acronyms, tips, and talking points on its Web site at www.cybertipline.com, as well as a way to report the actions of suspected predators. "Even little tips like getting the computer out of kids' bedrooms and putting it into a central location" can make a difference, said Shehan. He added that sex predators' attempts to contact kids seem to know no limits of deception. "We've even seen cases where individuals have gone online posing as atheists," said Shehan, "then go into chatrooms and look for kids who are devout in a particular religion." The adult -- often posing as a teen -- claims to find religion in an attempt to groom the victim into sending photos, meeting offline, or worse. Copyright 2006 NewsFactor Network, Inc. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are so many holes in this proposal! For on, what prevents a sex offender (or anyone else) from using two or more different email addresses? You use one address, when it gets to be 'too hot' to use further, then ditch it and start again. After all, its not like getting a driver's license or State ID card where a lot of people can get involved. Email addresses are like 'throw-away' things. The second problem I see is what happens to the user -- sex offender or not -- who gets a 'joe job' done on him? In other words, someone impersonates him, for the main reason of covering up his tracks. So does the former sex offender get punished again for 'not registering' his email address, or how will that work? And with the huge amount of porn and spam on the net these days, which of you can say with assurance your email name/address has never been forged? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:27:03 -0600 From: Anick Jesdsanun, AP Subject: Step Taken Toward Global Internet Names By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer The Internet's key oversight agency sought Friday to identify policy disputes that might arise from the introduction of addresses that end in non-Latin scripts, marking one more step toward making the Internet truly global. Histrically, domain names have been limited to the 26 characters of the English alphabet, the 10 numerals and the hyphen. Constraining non-English speakers to those characters is akin to forcing all English speakers to type domains in Chinese. Operators of some domain name suffixes, such as ".com" and Thailand's ".th," already have adopted technical tricks to understand other scripts. However, the suffix -- the ".com" part -- remains in English, and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers so far has barred addresses entirely in non-Latin scripts. That could start to change in the next year or two. In anticipation of non-English suffixes, the ICANN board asked representatives from governments and operators of country-code domains such as ".fr" for France to come up with a list of policy questions that must be resolved. That could include who should decide what countries get what suffixes and how to make sure a domain in one language isn't inadvertently offensive in another, said Vint Cerf, ICANN's chairman. A preliminary report could come by March. "What we're trying to do is get as much of the issues documented and publicly visible," Cerf said Friday after the board wrapped up this week's meetings in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Separately, engineers have been considering technical issues surrounding such names. One concern is that characters in two scripts sometimes look alike, raising the possibility that criminals might sub one for the other as part of scams. Earlier in the week, ICANN released technical details for application developers and others to test whether non-English domains could wreck a global addressing system that millions of Internet users rely upon every day. On Friday, ICANN's board also approved contract renewals for ".biz," ".info" and ".org." Added clauses include one designed to ensure that operators of those domains won't try to charge more to register the simpler, more valuable names. Critics had worried that without such a provision, an operator could potentially raise prices when a company tries to renew an easy-to-remember or trademarked name. Friday's decision clarifies that the board opposes variable pricing and indicates that similar clauses are likely for other domains as contracts get renewed. Cerf, one of the Internet's founding fathers as co-developer of the key communications protocols, also was named ICANN chairman for a seventh and final year. He said ICANN's bylaws require him to leave the board when his term expires next December. Cerf joined the board in 1999 and became ICANN's second chair a year later. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2006 20:28:40 -0600 From: Christopher S. Rugaber, AP Subject: High-Tech Firms Push Data-Privacy Law By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Business Writer Microsoft Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and other high-tech companies are preparing to push for data-privacy legislation next year to replace what they consider an outdated patchwork of state and federal laws that are inconsistent and burdensome. "We think the time has come for a comprehensive privacy bill that would protect consumers' personal information while still allowing the flow of information needed for commerce online," Ira Rubinstein, a Microsoft lawyer, said this week. Several recent high-profile breaches of consumers' personal information have made consideration of privacy proposals more likely, Rubinstein said. The Social Security numbers and medical data of approximately 930,000 people were compromised this June, for example, when computer equipment belonging to insurance provider American International Group Inc. was stolen. Microsoft, HP and eBay Inc. earlier this year formed the Consumer Privacy Legislative Forum to lobby for privacy legislation. Google Inc., Intel Corp., Oracle Corp. and other companies later joined. The forum supports legislation that would set standards for what notice must be given to consumers about personal information collected on them and how it will be used, Rubinstein said. The companies are aiming for a law that would override any existing state laws and standardize privacy rules across industries. The group's efforts will likely face some opposition, however. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a consumer advocacy group, said the proposals, if adopted, would amount to an industry drafting its own regulations. Rotenberg also argued that the notices to consumers preferred by Microsoft and other companies are insufficient to protect online privacy. Instead, consumers should have access to the data that companies have on them and have more control over how they are used, he said, similar to the way consumers can currently access their credit reports. Rotenberg also opposes the pre-emption of state laws, which he said in many cases have better protections than federal rules. Many anti-spam experts complained when Congress in 2003 approved a measure that did not let individuals sue spammers and that pre-empted most state laws that did. Meanwhile, Stuart Ingis, a partner at the law firm Venable LLP, said that a broad privacy measure is unnecessary. "Comprehensive privacy legislation already exists in this country," he said, citing existing laws and regulations governing financial and health-care privacy. Those rules took decades to develop and provide strong protections for consumers, said Ingis, whose firm represents several companies and trade groups that track privacy issues. Although high-tech companies have been seeking comprehensive federal privacy legislation, Congress has focused on the steps companies should take to protect data and when companies should notify consumers of data security breaches. But several data security bills failed to pass during the soon-to-end congressional session, largely because of jurisdictional struggles between different congressional committees, said Steve Adamske, spokesman for Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass. Frank, incoming chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said Wednesday that he plans to consider the issue of data security next year. To avoid a repeat of the jurisdictional struggle, Frank says he plans to propose to incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she appoint a task force of members from committees with oversight on privacy matters to work on the issue. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. For more news and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Korey Smith Subject: Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question Reply-To: newsemail@cox.net Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2006 16:14:08 -0600 Organization: Cox On Fri, 08 Dec 2006 15:57:59 -0500, Rick Merrill wrote: > Korey Smith wrote: >> On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 06:11:29 GMT, Bruce L. Bergman >> wrote: >>> On 4 Dec 2006 22:11:31 -0800, Korey wrote: >>>> I just recently signed up for telephone service through my cable >>>> company (It is supposed to be installed Tuesday, December 5.) Other >>>> than my cable company, I had considered services such as Vonage and >>>> Sunrocket. >>>> After I signed up with my cable company, I was thinking and had the >>>> following question: Is it possible to subscribe to two different VOIP >>>> telephone services at the same time and be able to use either of them >>>> whenever you want? In other words, after I port my current telephone >>>> number to my cable company and start with their service, what if I >>>> decide I need another line later and want to try another company for >>>> the new line, say Vonage, Sunrocket, or another one of my choice, for >>>> example? >>>> What would be involved with doing this, especially if I don't have an >>>> active landline? Would I need to go through my local telephone >>>> company and have them install a new telephone line and then once it is >>>> working, transfer the telephone service for the new line to Vonage, >>>> Sunrocket, or some other provider of my choice? Would it be possible >>>> to have two VOIP lines with two separate VOIP providers utilizing the >>>> same high speed cable modem connection? >>>> Just curious if this would be possible. >>> Possible, yes -- but don't try making two calls at once unless you >>> have really good service. Most home net connections are asymmetric >>> and your 'outbound' connection probably isn't fast enough to handle >>> two calls at once. >>> And even if you can pull it off in the slow times at 4 AM, try it at >>> 6 PM when everyone is home surfing the web and it won't go -- if you >>> are really unlucky, you won't be able to get even one decent VOIP >>> phone call through during the busy hours. >>> Cable modem speed is /very/ dependent on how heavily they have your >>> cable segment loaded with Internet users, and how much of the shared >>> segment bandwidth they are using. >>> That's the one saving grace of DSL -- it's slower, but it's all YOUR >>> bandwidth, no sharing. Unless they overload the backhaul connection >>> at the switchroom to Earthlink (or whomever), it's fairly reliable. >>> --<< Bruce >>-- >> I had tried DSL, but having been on cable before, I thought it was too >> slow. I was then looking for ways to save money on all of my home >> communications needs, and so I looked into my cable company for >> telephone service. I have a single line through them right now and so >> far the service is pretty good. I have even been able to fax both >> ways without any problems. I thought the faxing would be an issue >> since I had read somewhere else that faxing over this type of >> connection isn't always reliable, but I haven't had any problems send >> or receive. >> I remember reading somewhere else that AT&T is now offering VOIP >> Service (Internet Telephone Service) with their AT&T CallVantage=AE >> Service Plan. How are they going to be able to offer this and be >> competitive with cable? I'm no expert, but it would seem that with >> the CallVantage, you would need the DSL, which would also require a >> landline phone # or can you have DSL only? If you are required to >> have a landline phone, then what would be the purpose of subscribing >> to their CallVantage service? >> In other words, with this new AT&T CallVantage service, can you >> subscribe to DSL only and have the CallVantage service for your voice >> without having to pay extra for another line? > You are very, very confused - it may not be your fault. "ATT > CallVantage" IS a VoIP service over whatever broadband (cable) > provider you may have. [VoIP is totally different from DSL which is not > too different from "landline".] I'm new at learning all of this stuff as it relates to VoIP, etc. So, the "ATT CallVantage" service can be utilized over a DSL or Cable connection, right? I guess what seemed confusing to me is if it can be used over a DSL connection, then in order to have a DSL connection, you usually have to have a regular landline, correct? Well, what seemed odd to me is why anyone would pay for a landline in order to have DSL service just so they could have the "ATT CallVantage" service, unless a person could subscribe only to DSL service without landline service. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are at least two forms of 'broadband' internet (or considered 'fast enough' for applications such as VOIP service). There is DSL, which is a telco service, and there is 'cable internet'. Cable is quite independent of your phone service. They are a lot the same, but many of us feel that cable is generally a bit faster. I used to have DSL when I was a customer of Southwestern Bell Telco; I have been with Cable One now for a few years, for both television and internet. I do not know if AT&T will sell their 'CallVantage' service to people who do not have DSL service. A few of us can easily have both DSL and cable internet, but there are many people eligible for one (because of their location) but not the other. Many of the cable companies are now doing phone service as well. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 21:47:49 EST From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Sunbject: From our Archives: History of Teletype Fifteen years ago in this Digest, I published a book review which had been submitted by Jim Haynes; I thought it might be interesting to look at it again. Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1991 20:33:50 -0600 From: TELECOM Moderator To: telecom Subject: History of Morkrum Company - Ancestor of Teletype Corporation [Moderator's Note: Attached is a very interesting piece I received which is too large for a regular issue of the Digest. I thought it was fascinating and hope you feel the same way. PAT] From: Jim Haynes Subject: History of Morkrum Company - Ancestor of Teletype Corporation Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MORKRUM COMPANY Howard L. Krum circa 1925 ABSTRACT This is a first-hand report of Teletype's early years. Although the original manuscript was found unsigned and undated, it has been positively identified as the work of Mr. Howard L. Krum, son of Mr. Charles L. Krum, a co-founder of the original Morkrum Company. The date of writing seems to have been somewhere between 1925 and 1928. The fame of Howard Krum does not depend on his illustrious parentage. His own contributions to the printing telegraph art, among them the invention of _stop-start synchronization_, were of lasting importance. ----- In the year 1902, Mr. Joy Morton, nationally known as the founder and head of the Morton Salt Company, became interested in the possibility of developing a printing telegraph system. He called Mr. Charles L. Krum, who was at that time Mechanical Engineer of the Western Cold Storage Company, into consultation on the matter. While cold storage seems rather a far cry from printing telegraph development, Mr. Krum had had considerable experience on the design of intricate mechanisms, including adding machines. Inventors had been working on the development of printing telegraph for forty years prior to this time but had not succeeded in producing apparatus which was simple and practical enough to find any market or any considerable use by the communication systems in the United States. As is the case with most others who started work on printing telegraph, Mr. Krum was fascinated with the possibilities of this development, and Mr. Morton agreed to go ahead with the proposition and finance it. How important this decision was did not become apparent for many years, as certainly no one realized the vast sums of money and the years of hard work which would have to be expended before satisfactory printing telegraph apparatus would be produced and widespread use made of it. In 1906, Mr. Howard Krum received his degree in electrical engineering and immediately started work with his father on this problem. The combination of the electrical engineer and the mechanical engineer proved to be a happy one and experiments were diligently prosecuted for a couple of years, until in 1908 a system was developed which looked good enough to try on an actual telegraph line. The first trial of this system was made on the lines of the Chicago & Alton Railroad. While operation was secured and the results were sufficiently satisfactory to cause the inventors to feel quite jubilant, still they were hard-headed enough to see the weak points of this system in the state of development in which it was at that time. The experience acquired in this actual line test of the apparatus was made the basis for further research, and after two more years of work, the start-stop printing telegraph system which has become the basis for all successful single channel printer systems of the present day, was born. The apparatus which embodied the start-stop system at that time bore little resemblance to the present apparatus but the principles of operation were there and the working out of them was sufficiently satisfactory to justify a commercial installation. In their pursuit of a satisfactory system of transmission, the mechanism for recording the signals was not neglected. Several different kinds of commercial typewriters were modified to perform the duty of recording the received signals, but strange as it may seem, it was found that commercial typewriters were not satisfactory for the rigorous job of recording telegraph signals. It was therefore found necessary to design a typewriter especially for this work. These first tests also pointed out the advantages and superiority of mechanical over electrical operation, with a result that all functions outside of the bare selection are now performed mechanically by the Teletype in its present form. Having finally produced a system and apparatus which they felt certain was commercially practical, the inventors were then faced with the necessity for finding a communication company who would permit the installation of this apparatus in regular commercial operation. The Postal Telegraph Company proved to be the most receptive and a commit- tee headed by Mr. Minor M. Davis, at that time Electrical Engineer for the Postal Telegraph Company, visited Chicago to investigate this new Morkrum system. It is interesting to note that Mr. Davis, who had years of experience in the telegraph business and who had seen many attempts at the development of a successful printing telegraph system, was not so much concerned in the actual functioning of the recording apparatus but was more concerned in learning if the basis of the system, that is, the line signal, was of a type which would function on ordinary telegraph lines in good weather and bad. After a thorough investigation of the system, he became convinced that the start-stop line signal devised by the Krums would meet the rigorous service requirements, and the committee decided to permit an actual commercial installation on the Postal lines between New York and Boston. This installation was made in the summer of 1910. After years of work, the inventors felt that they had finally reached their goal. The apparatus was packed and shipped and Mr. Howard Krum went to Boston to supervise the installation at that end of the circuit and Mr. Charles Krum went to New York to take care of the operations at that end. However, the difficulties were not yet over, for when the apparatus arrived at its destination it was found that due to rough handling the delicate instruments were so badly damaged that instead of proceeding with the installation they had to spend months of work to get the machines back in shape for operation. Finally the day came when everything was in readiness and the two sets, one at New York and one at Boston, were hooked together by a telegraph wire and the first commercial message was transmitted by the Morkrum system. From the start good results were obtained, but as operation continued the inventors realized more and more that the operating requirements for commercial telegraph service were terribly exacting. The percentage of accuracy required was much higher than with any other form of mechanism; it must work twenty-four hours a day; it must operate on good telegraph wires and on telegraph wires whose quality was impaired by rain and other adverse weather conditions. The apparatus was too delicate to function over long periods of time without the necessity of close supervision. However, as in the case of the earlier installation, the inventors profited by their experience and went steadily along perfecting their apparatus, making changes here and there to improve its accuracy [and] to make it sturdier and simpler. Further Postal Telegraph lines were equipped and an installation was made on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad between Chicago and Galesburg, Illinois. However, in spite of the fact that these circuits gave good service, the growth of the business was very slow. Telegraph companies and the railroads seemed loath to adopt the new system. Possibly this slow growth in the early days of the Morkrum system was due to the fact that the telegraph companies and the railroads could easily secure good Morse operators at low wages. Therefore, they were loath to abandon Morse operation, concerning which they were thoroughly familiar, and to replace it with machine telegraphy which would force them to go to school all over again. However, the telegraph business continued to grow and good Morse operators became harder to secure, wages increased, and above all, the Morkrum system steadily improved and finally installations of the system were made by the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the Canadian Pacific and Great Northwestern Telegraph companies in Canada. Due to increased business, Morkrum Company were able to enlarge their plant facilities, to engage expert assistants and to steadily improve their product. In 1917, Mr. Sterling Morton, son of Mr. Joy Morton, who had had wide experience with the Morton Salt Company, became president of the Morkrum Company. Mr. Morton brought to the Morkrum Company not only his great organizing and executive ability, but also an unusual talent for machine design work. The page printer and the Simplex tape printer, which are the most widely used units at the present time, are the joint work of Mr. Morton and Mr. Howard Krum. Up to this time, the laboratory and manufacturing work had been carried on in an old building near the business district. A careful survey of the employees showed that the majority of them lived on the north side of Chicago and this study determined the location of the present factory. In 1918, the factory was moved to the first unit of the present building, which is entirely fireproof and is considered one of the finest factory buildings in Chicago. Since that time, a total of six units have been built and a seventh is just being started. [1] As the demand for printing telegraph apparatus grew, the standards were steadily raised and apparatus which was thought quite wonderful a few years previous became obsolete and was replaced with newer types having greater margins of operation, higher speeds, and which were much simpler to maintain. Installations were made in new fields and each new field offered new and more difficult problems. In 1914, Mr. Kent Cooper, who was then head of the Traffic Department of the Associated Press, became convinced that the method of delivering copy to the New York newspapers by messenger boy was decidedly unsatisfactory and asked the Morkrum Company if they could make an installation of their apparatus by which one operator in the Associated Press could transmit the press matter simultaneously to all of the newspapers in New York City. A simple problem in the light of our present-day knowledge, but at that time it was an undertaking which offered many problems as yet unsolved. However, it was undertaken; the problem was studied, suitable apparatus was designed and within a year all of the newspapers in New York City and nearby towns, as well as in Philadelphia, were receiving their press matter simultaneously from a transmitting set controlled by a single operator in the Associated Press office in New York City. From this small beginning in the service of the Associated Press, the use of printing telegraphs has spread until over 800 newspapers belonging to the Associated Press receive their news dispatches by these machines, and some of the wire circuits of which this matter is transmitted involve as much as 4,000 miles of wire. The other press associations are using the apparatus to much the same extent. Up to 1917, the Morkrum Company had devoted all their efforts to the design of single channel printing telegraph systems and had developed both direct keyboard and tape transmission, but at this time the Postal Telegraph Company asked the Morkrum Company to develop a Multiplex system to meet the requirements on their heavy trunk lines. This development was undertaken and in less than a year a satisfactory Multiplex system had been designed, manufactured and installed on the Postal Company's line and proved so valuable that its use was extended to all their main trunk lines. As the use of printing telegraph became more general, needs developed for different types of apparatus to meet different classes of service, and the Morkrum Company attacked these problems and devel- oped different types of apparatus until at present there are available both direct keyboard and perforated tape transmission systems, printing either on tape printers or page printers, operated either single channel or Multiplex, using either five-unit or six-unit code, the latter being especially valuable for stock quotation work. The use of the apparatus in the telegraph companies continued to grow until at the present time fully 80% of all commercial telegrams are handled by printing telegraph. As the use of the machines grew, the requirements became more and more rigid and these were met by intensive research and development work which has never ceased. Printers are operating today under service conditions which would not have been considered possible even two or three years back. The latest development, the so-called "Typebar Tape Teletype" has proven so simple and reliable that it bids fair to drive Morse operation even from the way wires. Always on the alert for new fields for its equipment, the Morkrum Company several years ago became convinced that its apparatus could render valuable service for the communication needs of business houses, factories, hotels, etc. To sell this idea required a lot of time and much hard work, and the first few installations proved that this service was much more exacting that the use of the machines in regular telegraph offices where expert maintenance was instantly available, The experience gained in these early commercial install- ations paid big dividends, in that it resulted in such marked improvement in the apparatus that the use has grown so that today there is scarcely a city or town in the United States where this apparatus is not used for some communication need outside of its primary field -- that of telegraphic message traffic. The development of an organization that could satisfactorily handle the complex problems of developing and manufacturing a printing telegraph system has been quite as remarkable as the development of the apparatus itself; in fact, the successful culmination of the work would not have been possible had it not been for the splendid loyalty and intelligent work of the whole organization. This is particularly true in the case of the many men who had courage enough to stick to the proposition through the many years that it took before practical commercial results were obtained. The Morkrum Company is particularly proud of the fact that the outstanding men in the organization have developed in their own organization. It is a fixed policy of the company to develop its own men for important positions wherever possible. Mr. Howard Krum met Mr. J. O. Carr, who is now head of the Sales Engineering Department, in Boston in 1910 and engaged him for testing and engineering work. About the same time, Mr. G. Heding, who is now Factory Manager, came to the company as a tool maker. During their long years of service these two men have filled practically every position of importance in the organization and much credit is due them for their part in the final success of the work. We believe there are few companies where such a large proportion of the men in supervisory positions have grown up with the company and developed as the company has developed and there are certainly few companies where there is a greater spirit of loyalty and co-operation. Just a word about the manufacture of this apparatus. The requirements which printing telegraph apparatus must meet are extremely severe. This is readily understood when it seen that when a printer is opera- ting at the rate of 60 words per minute it is printing six characters per second. The printing of a character requires at least four successive operations of the various portions of the machine; in other words, many of these mechanisms have less than a twenty-fourth of a second in which to do their job. Coupled with this is the fact that the control of this rapidly moving mechanism is by means of a current of electricity so weak that it would hardly cause the smallest electric light globe to even glow. Knowing this, it is easy to understand that continuous work and research must be carried on to secure proper alloys and devise the proper methods of heat treating and hardening to permit all of the parts of the machine to function properly. Another requirement which is successfully met by Morkrum apparatus is absolute interchangeability of parts. This has been secured by the work of a force of highly trained designers and engineers and by the policy of the company of unhesitatingly securing the finest machine tool equipment available to permit parts to be made with the highest degree of accuracy. The present plant of the Morkrum-Kleinschmidt Corporation [2] at Chicago contains about 135,000 square feet of floor space devoted solely to the manufacture of this type of apparatus, filled wit the best machine tool equipment that can be purchased and manned by a force of highly trained employees, many of whom have been in the service of the company for a great many years. ----- [1] This would be the building at 1400 Wrightwood Ave., in Chicago which was occupied by Teletype until early in the 1960s, when the R&D portion of the complex at 5555 Touhy Ave., Skokie, was completed. I hear it has now been remodeled into luxury apartments. [2] E. E. Kleinschmidt had a competing printing telegraph company in the 1905-1920 time frame. His company eventually merged with the Morkrum company because of the dominance of the Krum patent on start-stop operation. In the 1950s Mr. Kleinschmidt got back into the business with his own company, located in Deerfield, IL. haynes@cats.ucsc.edu haynes@ucsccats.bitnet ------------------ From: Jim Haynes Subject: History of Teletypewriter Development Date: 17 Nov 91 08:34:46 GMT Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz Here's another one (and that exhausts my supply). These two came into my hands as Monographs when I was working for Teletype in 1963-1966. The main reason I typed them in is to get them into the telecom archive since they contain information that isn't readily available so far as I know. HISTORY OF TELETYPEWRITER DEVELOPMENT R. A. Nelson K. M. Lovitt, Editor October 1963 Teletype Corporation 5555 West Touhy Avenue Skokie, Illinois ------ ABSTRACT The success of the modern teletypewriter began with Howard L. Krum's conception of the start-stop method of synchronization for permutation code telegraph systems. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief historical account of events which led to that achievement and of those which ensued. Four areas of development will be covered: (1) The contributions of Sterling Morton, Charles L. Krum and Howard L. Krum. (2) The contributions of E. E. Kleinschmidt. (3) The contributions of AT&T and Western Electric. (4) The contributions of L. M. Potts ----- _HISTORY OF TELETYPEWRITER DEVELOPMENT_ Area I. In 1902 a young electrical engineer named Frank Pearne solicited financial support from Joy Morton, head of the Morton Salt interests. Pearne had been experimenting with a printing telegraph system and needed sponsorship to continue his work. Morton discussed the matter with his friend, Charles L. Krum, a distinguished mechanical engineer and vice president of the Western Cold Storage Company (which was operated by Joy's brother, Mark Morton). The verdict for Pearne was favorable, and he was given laboratory space in the attic of the Western Cold Storage Company. After about a year of unsuccessful experimenting, Pearne lost interest and decided to enter the teaching field. Charles Krum continued the work and by 1906 had developed a promising model. In that year his son, Howard, a newly graduated electrical engineer, plunged into the work alongside his father. The fruit of these early efforts was a typebar page printer (Patent No. 888,335; filed August 22, 1903; issued May 19, 1908) and a typewheel printing telegraph machine (Patent No. 862,402; filed August 6, 1904; issued August 6, 1907). Neither of these machines used a permutation code. They experimented with transmitters as well, applications filed in 1904 and 1906 maturing into Patents No. 929,602 and No. 929,603. These patents covered modes of transmission which depended both on alternation of polarity and change in current level. By 1908 the Krums were able to test an experimental printer on an actual telegraph line. The typing portion of this machine was a modified Oliver typewriter mounted on a desk with the necessary relays, contacts, magnets, and interconnecting wires (Patent No. 1,137,146; filed February 4, 1909; issued April 27, 1915). As a result of the successful test of this printer, Charles and Howard Krum continued their experiments with a view to developing a direct keyboard typewheel printer. They sought most of all to discover a way of synchronizing transmitting and receiving units so that they would stay "in step." It was Howard Krum who worked out the start-stop method of synchronization (Patent No. 1,286,351; filed May 31, 1910; issued December 3, 1918). This achievement, which more than anything else put printing telegraphy on a practical basis, was first embodied (for commercial purposes) in the "Green Code" Printer, a typewheel page printer (Patent No. 1,232,045; filed November 28, 1909;issued July 3, 1917). The transmitters first used by the Krums were of the continuously- moving-tape variety. (A stepped tape feed, they maintained, would have reduced transmission speed.) In order to permit sequential sensing, the rows of code holes were arranged in a slightly oblique pattern (with respect to tape edges). This method of transmission is more fully elaborated in Krum Patents No. 1,326,456, No. 1,360,231, and No. 1,366,812. Keyboard-controlled cam-type start-stop permutation code transmitters were developed by Charles and Howard Krum in about 1919. Such a device is the transmitter component of the Morkrum 11-Type tape printer (Krum Patent No. 1,635,486). This kind of transmitter employs a single contact to open or close the signal line. In about 1924 the Morkrum Company introduced the No. 12-Type tape printer (H. L. Krum Patent No. 1,665,594). On December 23, 1924, Howard Krum and Sterling Morton (son of Joy Morton) filed an application on the 14-Type type-bar tape printer which matured into Patent No. 1,745,633. [1] Area II. It appears that the early efforts of E. E. Kleinschmidt were directed toward development of facsimile printing apparatus and automatic Morse code equipment. He patented first a Morse keyboard transmitter (Patent No. 964,372; filed February 7, 1095; issued January 11, 1910) and later a Morse keyboard perforator (Patents No. 1,045,855, No. 1,085,984, and No. 1,085,985). (The latter became known as the Wheatstone Perforator.) In 1916 Kleinschmidt filed an application for a type-bar page printer (Patent No. 1,448,750 issued March 20, 1923). This printer utilized Baudot code but was not start-stop. It was intended for use on multiplex circuits, and its printing was controlled from a local segment on a receiving distributor of the sunflower type. Later, around 1919, Kleinschmidt appeared to be concerned chiefly with development of multiplex transmitters for use with this printer (Kleinschmidt Patent No. 1,460,357). It seems that Kleinschmidt first became interested in modern start-stop permutation code telegraph systems when H. L. Krum's basic start-stop patent was issued in December 1918. Shortly after that Kleinschmidt filed an application entitled "Method of and Apparatus for Operating Printing Telegraphs" (Patent No. 1,463,136; filed May 1, 1919; issued July 24, 1923). The system described therein employed the start-stop principle with a modified version of his earlier multiplex distributor. That patent, accordingly, was dominated by the Krum start-stop patent. The conflict of patent rights between the Morkrum Company and the Kleinschmidt Electric Company eventually led to a merger of the two interests. Shortly after the new Morkrum-Kleinschmidt Corporation (later called the Teletype Corporation) had been established, Sterling Morton, Howard Krum, and E. E. Kleinschmidt filed an application covering the commercial form of the well-known 15-Type page printer (Patent No. 1,9904,164). [2] Area III. Teletype entered the Bell System in 1930. From this point on, advances in the Teletype product can be considered the result of the pooled efforts of the AT&T Company, the Western Electric Company, and the Teletype Corporation. Teletype Corporation, of course, holder of the basic patents and expert in the art, was the chief contributor. Although it appears from the report of R. E. Pierce, dated December 24, 1934, that the Bell System was active in the development of telegraph printers and transmitters as early as the year 1909, a review of the patents issued to Bell reveals no significant contribution to modern teletypewriter development (using start-stop permutation code) until the introduction in 1920 of the 10-A teletypewriter (Pfannenstiehl Patents No. 1,374,606, No. 1,399,933, No. 1,426,768, No. 1,623,809, and No. 1,661,012). The 10-A teletypewriter was the first embodiment of such basic design features of the 15-Type printer as stationary platen, moving type basket, and selector vane assembly, but the majority of improvements incorporated in the 15-Type were proprietary to the Teletype Corporation. Area IV. The earliest contribution of Dr. L. M. Potts to the start-stop method of synchronization appears to have been set forth in a patent application filed November 18, 1911, covering a reed-type start-stop selector (Patent No. 1,151,216). In 1914, Dr. Potts filed an application for a single magnet page printer which used an eight-unit code (Patent No. 1,229,202; issued June 5, 1917). In 1915, Dr. Potts filed an application covering another single magnet page printer, this one using the start-stop permutation code (Patent No. 1,370,669; assigned to AT&T March 8, 1921). Potts Patents No. 1,517,381 and No. 1,570,923 were also assigned to AT&T. ---------- [1] For anyone who is old enough to have seen a Western Union Telegram where the typing is on narrow gum-backed tape that is moistened and stuck to a telegram blank, this is the machine that produces that kind of printing. The same mechanism is the basis of a typing reperforator, a machine which punches received signals into a tape for retransmission and also types on the tape so an operator can read it. [2] This is the machine used until the 1960s or so by the news wire services. Some radio stations still use a recording of the sound of one of these machines as background during news broadcasts. haynes@cats.ucsc.edu haynes@cats.bitnet [Moderator's Note: Thank you for two very excellent articles this weekend on the history of Teletype and its predecessor companies. Jim's earlier article on the history of the Morkrum Company was distributed as a special mailing sent out between issues 936-937 on Saturday evening. Watch for your copy to arrive if it hasn't yet. But I am curious about something not mentioned in either article. Did the Bell System buy out Morkrum and change the name to Teletype in 1930 or did Teletype start and later buy out Morkrum? How did that transition occur? I love these history articles because so much telecom history happened right here in Chicago -- the Chicago I like to remember from years ago. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #410 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Dec 11 03:37:22 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id CE4462226; Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:37:21 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #411 Message-Id: <20061211083721.CE4462226@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:37:21 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 11 Dec 2006 03:35:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 411 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson How Much Will Windows Security Matter? (Brian Bergstein, AP) Unlocking Cell Phones Does Not Violate DMCA (Monty Solomon) Town Explores Offering WiFi (Monty Solomon) Re: Phonelabs Dock N Talk vs. Cidco Communications Merge (support@sellcom) Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question (Dave Garland) Re: Your Email Address Known by Police? (mc) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:48:37 -0600 From: Brian Bergstein, AP Subject: How Much Will Windows Security Matter? By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer Microsoft Corp. took great pains to improve security in its newly released computer operating system, Windows Vista, redesigning it to reduce users' exposure to destructive programs from the Internet. Outside researchers commend the retooled approach -- yet they also say the changes won't make online life much safer than it is now. Why not? Partly because of security progress that Microsoft already had made in its last operating system, Windows XP. Also because a complex product like Vista is bound to have holes yet to be discovered. And mainly because of the rapidly changing nature of online threats. Sure, Microsoft appears to have fixed the glitches that used to make it easy for viruses, worms and other problems to wreck PCs. But other avenues for attack are always evolving. "Microsoft has made the core of the operating system more secure, but they've really solved, by and large, yesterday's problems," said Oliver Friedrichs, director of emerging technologies at antivirus vendor Symantec Corp. That claim would not please Microsoft, which touts Vista's improved security as a big reason why companies and consumers will want to upgrade to the new operating system. In fact, Microsoft's effort to tighten security in Vista was one reason the software was delayed past the crucial holiday shopping season. It's now available for businesses and will be available to consumers Jan. 30. "It is an incremental improvement -- it is a reasonably large increment," said Jon Callas, chief technology officer at PGP Corp., a maker of encryption software. "I don't think it's a game-changer." Some of Vista's security enhancements require computers with the latest microprocessors -- which are known as 64-bit chips, in reference to how much data they process at once. That won't improve things on today's standard 32-bit computers, which will stick around for a long time. However, most of the improvements are available in all editions of Vista, including a stronger firewall and a built-in program known as Defender that alerts users if Vista believes spyware is being installed. "Windows is going to talk to you a lot more and make sure you're a lot more aware of what you're doing," said Adrien Robinson, a director in Windows' security technology unit. "It's going to help consumers be more savvy." One of Vista's biggest changes is more control over computer management. With previous versions of Windows, users were given by default great control over the computer's settings -- a situation that opened the door to nefarious manipulation by outsiders. In Vista, users are prompted to supply a password when they make significant changes -- a security feature long available on Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh and computers running the Linux operating system. At the same time, the software gives corporate PC administrators new security powers, such as the ability to turn off the USB ports that employees might use to remove data or bring in troublesome programs on flash drives. (Some network administrators had told Microsoft they were so desperate to stop that practice that they were filling the PC ports with glue.) Even with all the changes, Vista does not promise a total cure for security headaches. Microsoft, after all, is also selling security add-ons, competing more directly with antivirus companies than in the past. "Rather than having all the doors unlocked, you now have locks on the doors. It doesn't mean it's a silver bullet," Robinson said. "If they really wanted to get in, they could get through. They could throw a rock through the window. But it's harder. Our goal is to make it harder, to raise the bar." Still, when Vista for businesses was launched in New York on Nov. 30, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer promised a "dramatic" drop in "the number of vulnerabilities that ever present themselves." If so, that would spare Microsoft from a repeat of the embarrassing series of "critical" security patches it had to release for the previous operating system. But it might not mean much against many threats Web surfers face today. For one thing, the kinds of large-scale, automated worms that Vista purportedly will hinder have been waning anyway, according to security analysts. Symantec's Friedrichs said 2006 hasn't seen any worms as prevalent as the kinds that caused widely publicized PC outages several years ago, with names like Slammer and Blaster. That's partly because of enhancements Microsoft already made in Service Pack 2, a huge set of patches for Windows XP that were released in 2004. "If you're looking at two versions, XP Service Pack 2 versus Vista, I'm going to say to the average user they're both going to offer them good security," said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft. "Is Vista better? I don't know if it's that substantially better." Security experts say malicious hackers have largely moved away from outage-causing attacks, motivated by publicity or pride, in favor of more targeted and lucrative thefts of users' data. Those attacks tend to exploit flaws in Web applications or employ "social engineering" -- such as tricking people with phony e-mails into giving up passwords. "From that perspective, Vista is a non-event," said John McCormack, a senior vice president at security vendor Websense Inc. To its credit, Microsoft is fighting such "phishing" attacks by configuring its new Internet Explorer 7 Web browser to alert users if they're visiting a dicey-seeming Web site. Internet Explorer 7 is already available for free download. But IE7's phish-catching method alone is limited: It is based on a "black list" of sites known to be up to no good. Outside security experts say that will not stop the increasingly savvy attackers who constantly morph their tactics, sometimes every few hours. For example, Websense recently tracked a phishing attack that mimicked a customer service message from Amazon.com. It passed through most spam filters, and the phony Web site to which it directed victims changed throughout the day. For at least the first few days, IE7 hadn't caught up to block it, McCormack said. Perhaps one indication that security in the Vista era will be better but far from perfect came in recent research by Sophos PLC. The security software company determined that three of the 10 most prevalent malicious worms circulating on the Internet in November were able to run on Vista. Impressively, the e-mail program that comes with Vista -- Windows Mail, formerly called Outlook Express -- successfully found and blocked the malware. But Web-based e-mail services let it through, said Sophos security analyst Ron O'Brien. For O'Brien, that finding showed that while Microsoft's efforts to upgrade computer security are praiseworthy, there's only so much the company can do. Not only are Microsoft's hands tied when it comes to the security of third-party applications, but the company also is limited in what it can do with its own software. For example, McCormack said Microsoft might have done more to prevent criminals from surreptitiously placing keystroke-monitoring programs on computers to steal data. But the fix likely would have shut out legitimate programs as well, such as those that let people operate their PCs remotely. "You have to find this happy medium between usability and security," McCormack said. Of course, with Vista on a tiny fraction of desktops today, it's way too early to assess how much hackers can mess with it. "I don't know how long Microsoft is going to be able to claim the streets are safe before a criminal decides to challenge that opinion," O'Brien said. "That's going to just be a matter of time." On the Net: Microsoft's page on Vista security: http://www.microsoft.com/security/windowsvista/default.mspx 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 each day, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:02:58 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Unlocking Cell Phones Does Not Violate DMCA Excerpt from: [Federal Register: November 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 227)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 68472-68480] LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Copyright Office 37 CFR Part 201 Docket No. RM 2005-11 Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2006/71fr68472.html 5. Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network. The Wireless Alliance and Robert Pinkerton proposed an exemption for "Computer programs that operate wireless communications handsets." The proponents of this exemption stated that providers of mobile telecommunications (cellphone) networks are using various types of software locks in order to control customer access to the "bootloader" programs on cellphones and the operating system programs embedded inside mobile handsets (cellphones). These software locks prevent customers from using their handsets on a competitor's network (even after all contractual obligations to the original wireless carrier have been satisfied) by controlling access to the software that operates the mobile phones (e.g., the mobile firmware). Many reply comments were submitted in support of this exemption and only one reply comment provided any opposition to the proposal. Only two witnesses testified at the hearing on this issue: a representative of the principal proponent of the exemption and a representative of some copyright owners (none of whom operate wireless telecommunication services, manufacture wireless handsets or make bootloader or operating system programs for cellphones). It was undisputed that mobile handset consumers who desire to use their handsets on a different telecommunications network are often precluded from doing so unless they can obtain access to the bootloader or operating system within the handset in order to direct the phone to a different carrier's network. The evidence demonstrated that most wireless telecommunications network providers do not allow a consumer to obtain such access in order to switch a cell phone from one network to another, and that the consumer could not use the cell phone with another carrier, even after fulfilling his or her contractual obligations with the carrier that sold the phone. In order to switch carriers, the consumer would have to purchase a new phone from a competing mobile telecommunications carrier. The obstacle that prevents customers from using lawfully acquired handsets on different carriers is the software lock. At least one wireless telecommunications service has filed lawsuits alleging that circumvention of the software lock is a violation of section 1201(a)(1)(A) and has obtained a permanent injunction (albeit by stipulation). The Register has concluded that the software locks are access controls that adversely affect the ability of consumers to make noninfringing use of the software on their cellular phones. Moreover, a review of the four factors enumerated in 1201(a)(1)(C)(i)-(iv) supports the conclusion that an exemption is warranted. There is nothing in the record that suggests that the availability for use of copyrighted works would be adversely affected by permitting an exemption for software locks. Nor is there any reason to conclude that there would be any impact -- positive or negative -- on the availability for use of works for nonprofit archival, preservation, and educational purposes or on the ability to engage in criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Nor would circumvention of software locks to connect to alternative mobile telecommunications networks be likely to have any effect on the market for or value of copyrighted works. The reason that these four factors appears to be neutral is that in this case, the access controls do not appear to actually be deployed in order to protect the interests of the copyright owner or the value or integrity of the copyrighted work; rather, they are used by wireless carriers to limit the ability of subscribers to switch to other carriers, a business decision that has nothing whatsoever to do with the interests protected by copyright. And that, in turn, invokes the additional factor set forth in 1201(a)(1)(C)(v): "such other factors as the Librarian considers appropriate." When application of the prohibition on circumvention of access controls would offer no apparent benefit to the author or copyright owner in relation to the work to which access is controlled, but simply offers a benefit to a third party who may use 1201 to control the use of hardware which, as is increasingly the case, may be operated in part through the use of computer software or firmware, an exemption may well be warranted. Such appears to be the case with respect to the software locks involved in the current proposal. The copyright owners who did express concern about the proposed exemption are owners of copyrights in music, sound recordings and audiovisual works whose works are offered for downloading onto cellular phones. They expressed concern that the proposed exemption might permit circumvention of access controls that protect their works when those works have been downloaded onto cellular phones. The record on this issue was fairly inconclusive, but in any event the proponents of the exemption provided assurances that there was no intention that the exemption be used to permit unauthorized access to those works. Rather, the exemption is sought for the sole purpose of permitting owners of cellular phone handsets to switch their handsets to a different network. Because the Register has concluded that, in appropriate circumstances, a class of works may be refined by reference to uses made of the works, this issue can best be resolved by modifying the proposed class of works to extend only to "Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network." On September 18, 2006, long after the comments had been submitted and the hearings had been conducted in this rulemaking, the Register received unsolicited submissions from CTIA - The Wireless Association (a nonprofit trade association that promotes the interests of the wireless industry, representing both wireless carriers and manufacturers) and TracFone Wireless, Inc. (which describes itself as "America's largest prepaid wireless company"). The submissions included the submitters' responses to written questions that the Copyright Office had submitted to the two witnesses who had testified at the March 23, 2006, hearing on the proposed exemption -- witnesses who had no relationship with Tracfone or CTIA. The submissions also contained arguments opposing the proposed exemption. In the course of his consultation with the Register of Copyrights on this rulemaking, the Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information shared his concern that the record on this proposal appeared to be incomplete and stated that he was pleased that the Register had sought additional information (in the form of the written questions to the witnesses) to supplement the record. Subsequently, he expressed to the Register his view that the CTIA and TracFone comments "afford you a complete record in which the views of both users and creators of content are currently represented," and urged the Register to consider those submissions in making her recommendation. The Assistant Secretary's concerns are understandable, and the Register shares his desire that the views of both users and creators of content be represented in the rulemaking. However, complying with the Assistant Secretary's request and accepting the last-minute submissions of CTIA and TracFone would undermine the procedural requirements of this proceeding and of the rulemaking process in general. While it is preferable that all interested parties make their views known in the rulemaking process, they must do so in compliance with the process that is provided for public comment, or offer a compelling justification for their failure to do so. In this case, they have failed to offer such justification. CTIA (which counts TracFone among its members) was aware of this rulemaking proceeding and this request for an exemption as early as January or February, 2006. Yet it remained silent until September 18, long after the opportunities provided for comment and testimony had expired. Nor did it offer any explanation for its silence. If these extremely untimely submissions were accepted, it would be difficult to imagine when it ever would be justified to reject an untimely comment. Such a precedent would be an invitation to chaos in future rulemakings. Therefore, the late submissions of CTIA and TracFone have not been considered. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:50:59 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Town Explores Offering WiFi FRAMINGHAM Town explores offering WiFi By John C. Drake, Globe Staff | December 7, 2006 Framingham officials say they are ready to push forward with a plan to blanket the town with wireless Internet service, a proposal seen as a potential boon to law enforcement and a source of revenue. But they are undecided on whether to build the network themselves or leave the work to private companies. That decision is significant, said Bill Ennen , program director for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Innovation Institute. The choice of business model can determine whether the town's effort to provide Internet access to town employees in the field and residents in their homes can be sustained or will be just a passing fad. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/12/07/town_explores_offering_wifi/ ------------------------------ From: support@sellcom.com Subject: Re: Phonelabs Dock N Talk vs. Cidco Communications Merge Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 01:04:24 -0500 Organization: www.sellcom.com Reply-To: support@sellcom.com support@sellcom.com spake thusly and wrote: > Richard Davies spake thusly and wrote: >> I can find several reviews about the Phonlabs Dock N Talk product on CNet, >> but nothing on the Cidco Communications Merge product. Both provide >> solutions for using your cell phone through household wiring. >> Has anyone used either product, and if so, what is your opinion? > We picked up the Dock N Talk ( www.dock-n-talk.biz ) recently and > so far it is a -0- complaint item. I have not heard about the > other product but will try to get a look at it. I did a bit of research. The Phonelabs product has a vastly larger list of supported cell phone brands and models, over 1000 now. The other one just works with a handful of Motorolas many of which, like mine, are about obsolete. With the Dock-n-talk if you switch cell phones you would just need a new cable (unless you went with Bluetooth). I believe we picked the way better product to sell by choosing Phonelabs. I am ordering one in here to test with the TMC phone systems that we sell. I plan to put it on line 2 and see if I can drop one land line. Regards, Steve www.sellcom.com for firewood splitters, ergonomic chairs, office phone systems, "non-mov" surge protection, Exabyte, CA, Minuteman, Brave Products, Fisch, TMC, Panasonic and more http://www.phonelabs.biz cellphone docking now here! ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: VOIP: Internet Telephone Question Date: Sat, 09 Dec 2006 22:40:40 -0600 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Korey Smith wrote: >>> you would need the DSL, which would also require a >>> landline phone # or can you have DSL only? Some companies (e.g. Qwest) will sell you DSL without phone service. Dave ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Your Email Address Known by Police? Organization: BellSouth Internet Service Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 23:40:45 -0500 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are so many holes in this > proposal! ... > And with the huge amount of porn and spam on the net these days, > which of you can say with assurance your email name/address has > never been forged? PAT] I think, in fact, that the way spammers operate, everyone's e-mail address *has* been forged many times, and will continue to be, unless it's a very rarely used address. Legislators don't know how the Internet works. ------------------------------ 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'. 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End of TELECOM Digest V25 #411 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Dec 11 14:56:36 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id BF9862227; Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:56:35 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #412 Message-Id: <20061211195635.BF9862227@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:56:35 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:00:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 412 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Internet Criminals Stepping Up Cyberwar (Peter Griffiths, Reuters) School Shuns Tech, Teaches Fountain Pen (Ben McConville, AP) FCC Commissioner Can Break Tie in AT&T-Bell South Merger Vote ( TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 11, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Verizon Extends Efforts to Offer Video (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Unlocking Cell Phones Does Not Violate DMCA (Mr Joseph Singer) Re: Your Email Address Known by Police? (mc) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 13:07:18 -0600 From: Peter Griffiths Subject: Internet Criminals Stepping Up Cyberwar By Peter Griffiths Computer hackers will open a new front in the multi-billion pound "cyberwar" in 2007, targeting mobile phones, instant messaging and community Web sites such as MySpace, security experts predict. As people grow wise to email scams, criminal gangs will find new ways to commit online fraud, sell fake goods or steal corporate secrets. "The attacks are becoming more sophisticated," said Dave Rand of Internet security firm Trend Micro. "It's all about making money. And they're making a lot of it," he told Reuters. In 2007, hackers will be scouring social networking sites such as MySpace to gather information for more focused attacks on people's computers. "It is definitely an area that is ripe for more exploitation by malware (malicious software)," said Ed English, Trend Micro's Chief Technology Officer for anti-spyware. People could find their computers infected with viruses that secretly record all their keystrokes or send out millions of spam email messages. Identity theft fraudsters will trawl through sites which allow people to leave their pictures and personal details, finding target s for "phishing" attacks -- fraudulent emails aimed at tricking people into revealing credit card numbers. "It is way too easy for the spyware guys to assemble a puzzle of who you are," English said. Hackers will also target people using instant messaging services or making telephone calls over the Internet in 2007, Trend Micro said. MOBILE PHONES ARE TARGETS Powerful new mobile phones and portable computers will also be targets as thieves try to bypass tight security to steal emails, documents or contacts, security firm McAfee said. "Modern mobile phones are in essence miniature portable computers," the company said in its annual crime report. "Mobile devices present a serious challenge." A new version of the popular Web browser Internet Explorer released in November and Microsoft's new Vista operating system will also attract hackers, Trend Micro said. McAfee warns that spying on businesses will become more sophisticated. Criminals are hiring students to plant as sleepers in companies and huge amounts of data can be removed on small, portable memory sticks. "Corporate espionage is big business," its report says. "Data is often priceless property. Stealing trade secrets, information or contacts is a lucrative money-spinner for cybercriminals." Security firms say Internet crime can be hard to combat because it embraces different continents and time zones. Criminals are attracted by the relative ease of making money, the speed and anonymity the Internet offers. "It beats taking a gun and walking into a 7-Eleven store," English said. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 13:09:54 -0600 From: Ben McConville, AP Subject: School Shuns Tech, Teaches Fountain Pen By BEN McCONVILLE, Associated Press Writer In this age of cell phones, text messages and computer keyboards, one Scottish school has returned to basics. It's teaching youngsters the neglected art of writing with a fountain pen. There is no clacking of keyboards in most classrooms at the Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School, although there is a full range of facilities for computer lessons and technology isn't being ignored. But the private school's principal believes the old-fashioned pens have helped boost the academic performance and self-esteem of his 1,200 pupils. "The pens improve the quality of work because they force the children to take care, and better work improves self-esteem," principal Bryan Lewis said. "Proper handwriting is as relevant today as it ever has been." Students as young as 7 have been instructed to forgo their ball point pens and get to grips with its more artful predecessor. By the time they reach grade five, at age 9, they are expected to write mainly with fountain pens. At an English class recently, students worked at perfecting a skill that is under threat from the onset of e-mail -- the art of writing a letter by hand. Each child's work was meticulous and clearly presented in the upright, graceful strokes of a fountain pen. Ten-year-old Cailean Gall has been using fountain pens in class for two years. It took the keen soccer player one month to master the pen and, like all pupils at the school, still has regular handwriting lessons. "At the start it was hard because I kept smudging, but you get used to it," he said. "I still have to use a pencil for maths, and now I find it strange using the pencils. I like it because it makes me concentrate much more on my work." Cailean now uses his fountain pen even for non-school work, but classmate Katie Walker, 11, prefers to use ball point and pencil when not in class. "I use it for schoolwork and homework only," she said. "It is quite easy using a fountain pen once you're used to it. My parents say it's improved my work enormously." The children learn a handwriting style developed by teachers at the school, which charges $12,500 a year. New teachers are also put through a course on how to write with pens -- as well as refresher courses on literacy and numeracy -- before they are let loose in classes. Lewis said the school's 7- and 8-year-olds use fountain pens for 80 percent to 90 percent of their work, reverting to pencils for such subjects as math. "I don't see fountain pens as old-fashioned or outmoded. Modern fountain pens are beautiful to use; it's not like in the old days of broken nibs and smudging," Lewis said. "We have a particular writing style and we have developed it very carefully and found a way that allows left- and right-handed people to write without smudging." Parent Susan Garlick supports the school and believes the use of fountain pens has improved the work of her daughter Elisabeth, an 11-year-old in grade 7. "Her handwriting is beautiful," Garlick said. Some people in wealthy nations argue that handwriting is becoming less important because of the growing use of cell phone text messaging and typing on computers, but the school disagrees. In August, for example, examiners at the Scottish Qualifications Agency complained they had difficulty deciphering the scrawl of many students on exam papers used to determine admission to universities. "We talk of the paperless office and the paperless world, but this is not true," Lewis said. "You still need to have proper handwriting skills." 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 02:53:19 -0600 From: HighTech Magazine Subject: FCC Commissioner Can Break Tie in AT&T-Bell South Merger Vote Find this article at: http://www.HighTechMagazine.com/ManageArticle.asp?c=210&a=9559 FCC Commissioner Can Break Tie In AT&T-BellSouth Merger The head lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission has paved the way for Commissioner Robert McDowell to break the deadlock on the mega-merger between AT&T and BellSouth, despite his recent affiliation with an organization strongly opposed to the deal. Samuel Feder, general counsel for the FCC, issued a memorandum on Friday evening clearing the path for McDowell to participate in the vote. Feder said he based his decision on a similar situation the FCC dealt with under then-chairman William Kennard. The commission has been split between Democrats and Republicans on what, if any, conditions should be imposed on the merger, which is currently valued at around $83.7 billion. The two Democratic commissioners would like to see more restrictions, including a provision to protect Net neutrality, which would bar companies from prioritizing Web traffic or charge extra fees for providing enhanced services over a network. The deadlock has resulted in the final vote on the merger being postponed three times. McDowell, a Republican, would cast the tiebreaking vote. McDowell recused himself from the process, however, because just prior to joining the FCC earlier this year, he had been a lobbyist for seven years for a trade organization called CompTel, which represents companies competing against the incumbent phone companies. CompTel has been one of the strongest opponents to the merger. While Feder has authorized McDowell to vote on the deal, he emphasized several times in the memorandum he sent to McDowell that it was ultimately McDowell's decision whether to participate in the proceedings or not. "Balancing competing concerns here was difficult," he said. "And reasonable people looking at these facts could disagree about the appropriate result. However, on balance, I find that you should not be barred from participating in the proceeding if you so choose to do so." McDowell said in a statement that he is reviewing Feder's opinion. He also said he plans to review Feder's responses to a letter sent to the general counsel's office earlier this week by Congressman John Dingell, D-Mich., the incoming chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee and Ed Markey, D-Mass., who is likely to become chairman of a telecommunications panel. In their letter, the Congressmen posed 15 questions aimed at gathering information on the laws that Feder plans to consult in reaching his decision and the history of actions in situations when commissioners have recused themselves. "I look forward to receiving a copy of Mr. Feder's response to Congressman John Dingell's letter of December 5," McDowell said. "In the meantime, I strongly urge the participating parties and my four colleagues to resolve their differences in the same amicable and unified manner they did in the similar merger between SBC and AT&T just last year." Earlier on Friday, AT&T and BellSouth said they had no objection to McDowell voting on the merger. In a letter to the FCC's general counsel, they said they trusted McDowell to live up to his pledge at his Senate confirmation hearing -- to be impartial and fair. FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, who sent a letter to Feder last week urging him to clear McDowell to vote, applauded the general counsel's decision. After sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers, Martin explained his concern that the merger has been before the commission for more than eight months already. The agency usually tries to complete actions within 180 days. Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a consumer group opposed to the merger, was heartened by the fact that the general counsel emphasized that the decision was ultimately McDowell's. But she criticized the agency for being more concerned about pleasing the companies involved than about responding to the public. "The concept of the public interest was nowhere to be found in this General Counsel's opinion," she said in a statement. "The chief concern is the effect on the companies involved, and not the effect on the public interest. Government's role should be broader than meeting arbitrary deadlines or acting for the convenience of large companies." 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 11, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:45:06 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 11, 2006 ******************************** Vodafone Italia Gets Go Ahead for Fixed-Mobile Convergence Service http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21583?11228 Vodafone's Italian unit finally got the go-ahead order to trial its new mobile service temporarily for two months. The Italian communications ministry came up with the compromise after a court in Rome blocked the service late in November, claiming that it encourages customers to transfer their fixed-line number to their mobile ... BenQ Mobile May Be Sold to Financial Investor http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21580?11228 BenQ Mobile, the former mobile handset joint venture of the German electronics maker, Siemens, and the Taiwanese vendor, BenQ, is in advanced negotiations with a private equity fund. The potential investor has already completed the due diligence. At the same time, Siemens has refused to pay the outstanding 100 million euro (US$131.9 ... The DIY Dream, Deferred http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21578?11228 MAYBE IT'S PART OF THE RUGGED individual, American Dream ethos, but very few of us can resist the opportunity to do things ourselves. Whether it's putting in a new kitchen or learning how to knit, DIY is hot. Resellers and master agents are on top of the trend, implementing self-provisioning and self-management for their own ... Dutch Pull Plug on Free Analog TV http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21575?11228 AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- The Netherlands ended transmission of 'free to air&' analog television Monday, becoming the first nation to switch completely to digital signals. Few Dutch consumers noticed, because the overwhelming majority get TV via cable. Only around 74,000 households relied primarily on the ... Third VoIP Era Uses Software to Challenge Telcos http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21573?11228 VoIP is quickly maturing, gaining new power and capabilities. As the technology gains added strength, it promises to pose its most serious challenge yet to traditional voice service providers. When VoIP first arrived, the technology was little more than a nuisance to traditional telcos. Focused on a narrow bandwidth, PC-to-PC ... McDowell to Vote on AT&T-Bellsouth Merger http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21570?11228 As predicted by Light Reading sources last week, Commissioner Robert McDowell was cleared by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) general counsel to vote on the merger of AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. McDowell had recused himself earlier due to his recent employment by the CLEC group Competitive ... Nokia Scores A Hat Trick http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21568?11228 During this past week, Nokia disclosed a deal with France Telecom covering mobile content while landing a 3G contract from carrier Wind in Italy and a network-modernization pact with Philippine telecom operator Eastern Telecom. The French deal calls for Nokia to integrate a customized remote-content service and related platforms ... Alltel Adds TeleNav Navigation Service http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21565?11228 Alltel Wireless wants to make sure its customers are always pointing in the right direction. With this hope in mind, the carrier is launching the TeleNav GPS Navigator service on select devices. The TeleNav GPS Navigator is a mapping service designed to give users a 3-D bird's eye view of moving maps, voice and on-screen ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 12:12:46 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Verizon Extends Efforts to Offer Video USTelecom dailyLead December 11, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eYcYfDtusXhziJCibuddXRvt TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon extends efforts to offer video, broadband services BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T boosts business in China, but regulatory barriers remain * Media companies in talks to build online network * Cingular rolls out big fourth-quarter ad campaign * Samsung, Chinese telecom close to deal for wireless networks * SK Telecom, Hanaro in position to make deal, reports say * Vodacom seeks African expansion * Google 2.0 offers best of media, software USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Secure Your Carrier Class Network Tomorrow, Dec. 12, 1 p.m. (ET) HOT TOPICS * AT&T doesn't see need for FTTH network * Alcatel-Lucent begins next phase * Top executives out in Yahoo! reorganization * AT&T seeks to launch 13 FTTN markets by year's end * Motorola, Nokia "unlock" handsets TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Cisco shifts focus to media * For mobile carriers, data driving growth * M-commerce expected to take off in S. Korea REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Senate passes bill making pretexting a crime * U.K.'s Ofcom readies spectrum auction Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eYcYfDtusXhziJCibuddXRvt ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 10:52:09 PST From: Mr Joseph Singer Subject: Re: Unlocking Cell Phones Does Not Violate DMCA Sun, 10 Dec 2006 01:02:58 -0500 Monty Solomon quoted a snippet from an article: > Excerpt from: > [Federal Register: November 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 227)] > [Rules and Regulations] > [Page 68472-68480] > LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Copyright Office 37 CFR Part 201 Docket No. RM > 2005-11 Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright > Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies > http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2006/71fr68472.html > 5. Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless > telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication > network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of > lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network. What this article fails to point out is several things among them th1at "unlocking" has been available for GSM phones for as long as there has been GSM. The carriers locked the handsets they sell to their subscribers so that their subscriber will not take the handset that the carrier has subsidized (either giving you the phone outright or giving the subscriber a siezeable discount towards the price of the handset. It fails to mention among other things that even unlocking a handset does not make it work with a technology for which is was not designed e.g. you cannot use a handset from T-Mobile on VeriZon or vice versa if only because VeriZon uses CDMA technology for an air interface and T-Mobile uses the GSM air interface. Other arguments from parties such as TracFone that it will cause pricing to increase is a red herring since the handsets can only be used in the US or North America even with the firmware modified. And as far as modifying firmware unless you are in a business that does that sort of thing it's not the kind of thing you're going to easily find. Without a firmware revision TracFone and Net10 handsets will not work with anything other than TracFone or Net10. ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Your Email Address Known by Police? Organization: BellSouth Internet Group Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 10:24:28 -0500 mc wrote in message news:telecom25.411.6@telecom-digest.org: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There are so many holes in this >> proposal! >> And with the huge amount of porn and spam on the net these days, >> which of you can say with assurance your email name/address has >> never been forged? PAT] > I think, in fact, that the way spammers operate, everyone's e-mail address > *has* been forged many times, and will continue to be, unless it's a very > rarely used address. > Legislators don't know how the Internet works. Come to think of it, this may be what it takes to dissuade spammers from forging e-mail addresses. "How do you know you're not impersonating a sex offender?" [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Seriously, I doubt that it matters all that much to your average, garden-variety spammer. They are all such hit-and-run users anyway. They just send out their garbage and rush along to some other database to rip off. 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=455 ************************************************************************* * 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 #412 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Dec 12 20:51:58 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 0FBB9225F; Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:51:57 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #413 Message-Id: <20061213015157.0FBB9225F@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:51:57 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 12 Dec 2006 20:55:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 413 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Microsoft Starts Test of New VoIP Server (Reuters News Wire) Oracle Tackles Identity Governance (Paul Roberts - Oracle Press Release) Hackers Attack Naval War College Network, Shut it Down (Michelle Smith) Mobile Phone Security Attacks on Rise (Will Head, Vnunet) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 12, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Verizon Communications Vice Chairman to Retire (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: School Shuns Tech, Teaches Fountain Pen (Rick Merrill) Re: School Shuns Tech, Teaches Fountain Pen (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:50:01 -0600 From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Microsoft Starts Test of New VoIP Server Microsoft Corp. started testing on Monday a new computer server software that allows corporate customers to make Web-based phone calls through its Office suite of business software. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, due for release in the April-June quarter of 2007, will push the software giant into the business telephone market at a time when many large companies shift to cheaper telecommunications powered by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. Ahead of the official release, Microsoft said it will make the technology available to 2,500 companies for testing. The new voice server will allow users to instantly call anyone from within Office applications by clicking on a person's name and initiating a call. For example, a worker who receives an e-mail in Office Outlook from various colleagues can simply click on each colleague's name to check their availability and place a person-to-person phone call or arrange a conference call. The company's push into the business telephone market pits Microsoft against Cisco Systems Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and other technology companies seeking to cash in on growing demand for VoIP. Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has predicted that within 10 years all business communications will be Web-based, meaning hundreds of millions of people will change how they communicate. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:52:39 -0600 From: Paul Roberts Subject: Oracle Tackles Identity Governance by Paul F. Roberts There's a common nightmare haunting CISOs (computer information security officers) that features a glance at the morning paper, and 72-point banner headlines with the name of their employer and the words 'LOST' and 'CUSTOMER DATA.' There's no question about it: protecting customer and employee data is one of the thorniest problems facing enterprises today. Last week, Oracle took a swing at solving that problem, announcing the Identity Governance Framework, an initiative to develop specifications for sharing identity data across heterogeneous applications. The project has the support of identity and access management (IAM) vendors Ping Identity, Sun Microsystems, and Securent, as well as CA and Novell, according to Amit Jasuja, vice president of product development for Oracle's security and identity management products. Problems such as lost data on laptops and identity theft point to the need for overarching standards that govern all the sensitive data squirreled away in data repositories across an enterprise, such as human resources, customer relationship management and custom-built internal applications, he said. IGF addresses that problem by establishing a governance model that allows organizations to create 'contracts' between applications and repositories of identity data. The model would cover how data flows within an enterprise and outside the enterprise to supply chain or business partners, he said. Because the framework came together quickly, the real value of IGG will be determined in the coming weeks and months, as Oracle and its partners work to develop the specifications and transfer them to a standards group such as OASIS or the Liberty Alliance to manage, Bowen said. "It's a good first step. It will get us closer to the goal line," said Don Bowen, director of identity integration at Sun. "Will it get us into the end zone? I don't know." Copyright 2006 Yahoo! Inc. 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 and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 17:54:49 -0600 From: Michelle R. Smith, AP Subject: Hackers Attack Naval War College Network, Shut it Down By MICHELLE R. SMITH, Associated Press Writer Hackers attacked the computer network at the Naval War College in Newport, taking down the school's network for more than two weeks, including some e-mail services and the college's Web site. The Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command in Norfolk, Va., detected the intrusion around Nov. 16 and took the system offline, spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Doug Gabos said. He said the unclassified network was used by students. Military spokesmen would not give an estimate on when the school's Web site, http://www.nwc.navy.mil, will be back up. The Naval War College bills itself as the Navy's leading center of strategic thought and national security policy. Investigators were trying to determine the extent of the intrusion, Gabos said. They planned to upgrade firewalls and make other unspecified improvements. "Once that is complete, the network will be restored," Gabos said. Gabos would not comment on who is suspected of attacking the network. School spokeswoman Karen Sellers said e-mail worked on campus, but people could not send or receive messages from off-campus. "It's certainly inconvenient," she said. "But we all understand the importance of network security and we're patiently waiting." 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 14:18:54 -0600 From: Will Head Subject: Mobile Phone Security Attacks on Rise Mobile security products to be worth $5bn by 2011 Will Head, vnunet.com 11 Dec 2006 The number of security attacks against mobile phones is increasingly dramatically, according to new data from Juniper Research. The analyst firm has identified a raft of risks that can affect mobile users, including viruses and malware. These dangers, combined with ever-tightening corporate governance rules and the increasing use of mobiles to store critical data, will prompt mobile users to install security products on 247 million mobile phones, nearly eight per cent of the total, by 2011. Juniper's latest report also forecasts that mobile phone theft will continue to rise, despite initiatives by mobile operators and police forces. The analyst firm expects that nearly four per cent of mobile phones will be stolen annually by 2011. Revenues from mobile security products, including antivirus, virtual private networks, data and file encryption and mobile identity management applications, are expected to generate almost $5bn worth of revenue by 2011. The biggest mobile security market will be in the secure mobile content sector, where antivirus, anti-spam, anti-spyware and content filtering will make up 40 per cent of the total market, according to the report. Revenue from mobile data and file encryption products is expected to outstrip the PC market by 2011. "Initially driven by the data-hungry mobile business user who has seen the benefits of data services such as email, predominantly on BlackBerry devices, we will see mobile security products go mainstream by late 2008 or early 2009 resulting in a doubling of revenues from 2008 to 2010," said Juniper analyst Alan Goode, author of the report. ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 12, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 11:39:14 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 12, 2006 ******************************** European Industry Body Calls for Greater Power to National Regulators http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21614?11228 The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA), the industry body representing Europe's alternative telcos, has released a report, calling on European countries to give greater powers to their national regulators in order to make the region more globally competitive by 2010. In the study, conducted with Brussels law ... Consolidation in Cable Market as UPC Belgium and Telenet Merge http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21611?11228 The Belgian cable market is set for a major consolidation as the two leading players-Telenet and UPC Belgium-confirmed plans to merge. Telenet, which has 2.6 million customers, is buying UPC Belgium from Liberty Global for 187 million euro (US$246 million) in cash. UPC Belgium has 125,000 customers. Significance: The merger deal is ... Ofcom Unveils Proposal for Wireless Broadband Spectrum Auction http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21608?11228 The United Kingdom's telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has unveiled proposals for the auction of its 2.6 GHz radio spectrum, in what has been dubbed Ofcom's largest sell-off of wireless spectrum. The 2.6 GHz spectrum band can be used for mobile services, mobile TV and WiMAX. Ofcom said that depending on the length of the consultation ... HP, Cingular Unveil Global Mobile Broadband Laptop http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21602?11228 Hewlett-Packard and Cingular Wireless have teamed to integrate Cingular's 3G UMTS/HSDPA network capabilities into the new HP Compaq nc6400 Notebook PC. The laptop, according to the companies, is the first to feature built-in support for global high-speed connections. The HP Compaq nc6400 features a tri-band UMTS modem, which ... Survey Sez: Despite Risks, Securities Firms Love IM http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21599?11228 A new poll confirms that instant messaging (IMing) is an increasingly common communication tool within securities firms, despite the fact risk management remains the top barrier to institutional adoption of IM in many companies and that the days are likely numbered for unsanctioned consumer IM applications on securities-industry ... New Memory Device Could Trash Flash http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21596?11228 Leap-frogging Moore's Law, scientists from IBM Corp. will announce on Wednesday a prototype of a new type of memory device that has the potential to replace flash memory in mobile devices such as music players, cell phones, and digital cameras. Called 'phase-change memory', the new technology runs more than 500 ... Mobile Carriers Tackle Backhaul Bottleneck http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21594?11228 Three leading European mobile operators will take to the podium at a one-day conference in London this week to tackle one of the biggest issues currently facing wireless carriers: the backhaul bottleneck. Emin Gurdenli, technical director at T-Mobile (UK) , will provide the keynote address at Light Reading's 'Backhaul ... Mirapoint to Bundle SAN/Email Solution http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21592?11228 The worlds of storage and email are becoming entwined as users attempt to tackle the double-whammy of email growth and compliance pressures. Today, for instance, messaging specialist Mirapoint announced a partnership with NetApp to sell the storage vendor's SAN technology with its own Message Server device. ... Complexity Will Hasten Managed Services Adoption Among US Firms http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21589?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Most US firms-especially leading IT-using firms-choose to perform business network functions in-house, reports In-Stat. But even these do-it-yourselfers (DIYers) admit that future complexity could spur managed service adoption within two years, the high-tech market research firm says. To best capitalize on this ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:21:31 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Verizon Communications Vice Chairman to Retire USTelecom dailyLead December 12, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eYqQfDtusXhCqMCibuddgyyC TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon Communications vice chairman to retire BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Canadian telecom Telus offers TV service * Alcatel-Lucent prepares for next-generation mobile * Spain's Telefonica increases stake in China Netcom * BT could re-enter U.K. mobile market * Cisco, Citrix extend click-to-call feature * Texas Instruments trims fourth-quarter outlook USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * New: The USTelecom IP Multimedia Subsystem Implementation Guide TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Analysis: IPTV market heats up * Report: Most U.S. mobile users don't use data services * Operators ready for German WiMAX auction * Nokia to open flagship in Mexico REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * AT&T suit accuses Time Warner of damaging network wiring Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eYqQfDtusXhCqMCibuddgyyC ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 16:30:52 -0500 From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: School Shuns Tech, Teaches Fountain Pen Ben McConville wrote: > By BEN McCONVILLE, Associated Press Writer > In this age of cell phones, text messages and computer keyboards, one > Scottish school has returned to basics. It's teaching youngsters the > neglected art of writing with a fountain pen. > There is no clacking of keyboards in most classrooms at the Mary > Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School, although there is a full > range of facilities for computer lessons and technology isn't being > ignored. > But the private school's principal believes the old-fashioned pens > have helped boost the academic performance and self-esteem of his > 1,200 pupils. > "The pens improve the quality of work because they force the children > to take care, and better work improves self-esteem," principal Bryan > Lewis said. "Proper handwriting is as relevant today as it ever has > been." > Students as young as 7 have been instructed to forgo their ball point > pens and get to grips with its more artful predecessor. By the time > they reach grade five, at age 9, they are expected to write mainly > with fountain pens. > At an English class recently, students worked at perfecting a skill > that is under threat from the onset of e-mail -- the art of writing a > letter by hand. Each child's work was meticulous and clearly presented > in the upright, graceful strokes of a fountain pen. > Ten-year-old Cailean Gall has been using fountain pens in class for > two years. It took the keen soccer player one month to master the pen > and, like all pupils at the school, still has regular handwriting > lessons. > "At the start it was hard because I kept smudging, but you get used to > it," he said. "I still have to use a pencil for maths, and now I find > it strange using the pencils. I like it because it makes me > concentrate much more on my work." > Cailean now uses his fountain pen even for non-school work, but > classmate Katie Walker, 11, prefers to use ball point and pencil when > not in class. > "I use it for schoolwork and homework only," she said. "It is quite > easy using a fountain pen once you're used to it. My parents say it's > improved my work enormously." > The children learn a handwriting style developed by teachers at the > school, which charges $12,500 a year. New teachers are also put through > a course on how to write with pens -- as well as refresher courses on > literacy and numeracy -- before they are let loose in classes. > Lewis said the school's 7- and 8-year-olds use fountain pens for 80 > percent to 90 percent of their work, reverting to pencils for such > subjects as math. > "I don't see fountain pens as old-fashioned or outmoded. Modern > fountain pens are beautiful to use; it's not like in the old days of > broken nibs and smudging," Lewis said. "We have a particular writing > style and we have developed it very carefully and found a way that > allows left- and right-handed people to write without smudging." > Parent Susan Garlick supports the school and believes the use of > fountain pens has improved the work of her daughter Elisabeth, an > 11-year-old in grade 7. > "Her handwriting is beautiful," Garlick said. And I betcha they FORCE all lefthanded kids to write with their right hand! [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I don't think they go _that_ far ... I can understand the rationale, however ... when I was in high school (far too long ago, IMO, to remember much about it) our Algebra and other general mathematics teacher was a guy named Paul Wilkinson. We did not have computers of any kind in 'those days' (late 1950's). Then in the middle 1970's as 'home computers' became a bit more common, I learned Microsoft DOS _very well_ if I do say so myself -- so well that as a 'sideline' I taught it to a few other folks, not the least of whom was one (by this time) old man, retired school teacher, Paul Wilkinson. So I taught Microsoft BASIC to the fellow who had twenty years earlier taught _me_ algebra and mathematics. Some of you long time readers will recall in the late 1970's I had an OSI (Ohio Scientific Instruments) Model C-1-P home computer, with all of 4 K memory (and DOS, loaded from a tape recorder took a bit of that as well). You'll also recall that OSI had a reputation as a 'number cruncher'. We used to play these parlor games such as 'search for and print out on the screen all prime numbers from one up to infinity' and 'print out all square roots', etc. Paul watched me set up the OSI to do these things and other stuff, then he remarked, 'oh my, that sure is fast'. I told him, "yes Paul, it is quite fast, but I would not be able to program it all in had _you_ not first taught me the general principles. To find a prime number at infinity I do not have to test all numbers up to one less than infinity, I need only test numbers up to the square root of infinity _plus one more_, and if I fail at that point, then the number (infinity) is NOT a prime number." Paul thought about that and said, "yes, you are correct, and I did teach that at some point or another." So anytime a computer is used for anything more than just a convenient shortcut, it is being abused, IMO. If I don't know telephones, then no matter now fancy my typing or intricate my language, I cannot do TELECOM Digest. Ant that is/was the problem at the school in question. Students were using the computer alone, rather than their brains plus computer. Instead of using the ten or twelve percent of their brains most of us use, the computer had allowed them to get by with only one or two percent of their brain power. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: School Shuns Tech, Teaches Fountain Pen Date: 12 Dec 2006 07:43:26 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Ben McConville, AP wrote: > But the private school's principal believes the old-fashioned pens > have helped boost the academic performance and self-esteem of his > 1,200 pupils. > "The pens improve the quality of work because they force the children > to take care, and better work improves self-esteem," principal Bryan > Lewis said. "Proper handwriting is as relevant today as it ever has > been." That is quite true. Using low speed devices forces people to think about their task. qThinking first improves quality. I use the word processor now but when I used a typewriter I was forced to first think through what I wanted to write to save the trouble of endless draft retyping. (The often parodied IBM "THINK" sign was created for a resaon.) If I were a secondary or college level teacher I would require _one_ homework assignment to be done neatly in longhand. This is to demonstrate the benefit of thinking ahead and reinforce the skill of writing. Computers have replaced many things, but we still have a need for handwritten notes that are legible. Power tools are great, but we should know how to use hand tools as well. Fountain pens also reproduce much better than ball point on copying and fascimile machines. I once told somebody my fountain pen was actually a digital device that read the computer screen. They believed me. But the flip side is that fountain pens can be a nuisance. Most pens today use pre-filled cartridges. They go through them quickly and cartridges are expensive. If you use a bladder and an ink bottle the ink is cheap, but filling is messy. (Even changing cartridges can be messy). If you flick or jar a fountain pen it will splatter staining clothing. I'm not sure it's a good idea for such young kids to be using them given their rambuctiousness. I must admit I have some fountain pens out of service since they need to be cleaned and filled and it's just easier using my inexpensive "Bic round stick". [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do feel that forcing a _fountain pen_ on students -- as opposed, let's say to a 'ballpoint pen' or something similar -- is perhaps a bit extreme, for the reasons you suggested, but I definitly would require students to work out at least one problem in 'long-hand' and _circle their answer_ and explain how they arrived at that answer. The rest of the test could be done on computer for all I care as long as they knew what they were doing. For a test once in high school, Paul said take a couple pieces of paper, compute (in your head, not on computer!) some mathematical formula of (number). That's your test, pass your papers forward. Either you know how to do it or you don't know. Count on your fingers and toes if you wish, but I want a detailed explanation of how you arrived at your answer. Well, try that approach in most high schools these days, and see how many children can pass the test. 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://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 #413 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Dec 13 20:24:33 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 71A252238; Wed, 13 Dec 2006 20:24:33 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #414 Message-Id: <20061214012433.71A252238@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 20:24:33 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 13 Dec 2006 20:25:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 414 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Man Gets 8 Years in Prison for Computer Sabotage (Associated Press News) Disk Drive Pioneer Al Sugart Dies (Associated Press News Wire) Windows Development Chief Says 'Buy a Mac Instead' (Eric Lai, IDG) Skype Begins Charging For Calls (Reuters News Wire) Search Engines Sometimes Return Risky Results (Anick Jesdanun, AP) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 13, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Sprint Names CEO Forsee as Chairman (USTelecom dailyLead) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:07:02 -0600 From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Man Gets 8 Years in Prison for Computer Sabotage A former UBS PaineWebber systems administrator was sentenced Wednesday to eight years and one month in prison for attempting to profit by detonating a "logic bomb" program that prosecutors said caused millions of dollars in damage to the brokerage's computer network in 2002. Roger Duronio also was ordered to pay $3.1 million in restitution to his former employer, now known as UBS Financial Services Inc., part of the Swiss banking company UBS AG. Duronio, 64, of Bogota was put under house arrest by U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. until he is assigned to a prison. He had been free on $1 million bond. The term was the maximum under sentencing guidelines, which pleased U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie. "This was a fitting, appropriately long sentence," Christie said. "Duronio acted out of misplaced vengeance and greed. He sought to do financial harm to a company and to profit from that, but he failed on both counts." A message left for Duronio's lawyer, Christopher D. Adams, was not immediately returned. A federal jury in July convicted Duronio on one count of securities fraud and one count of computer fraud, and acquitted him on two counts of mail fraud. Prosecutors presented evidence that Duronio was angry with the company, where he had worked for nearly two years in Weehawken, because he expected an annual bonus of $50,000 but got $32,500. Evidence showed Duronio ultimately lost $23,000 he invested in a stock market bet against UBS because the ploy failed to reduce the company's share price. Duronio planted the logic bomb in some 1,000 of PaineWebber's approximately 1,500 networked computers in branch offices around the country and resigned from the company Feb. 22, 2002, prosecutors said. That day, Duronio went to a broker and bought what are called "put options" for UBS stock, prosecutors said. Those give the purchaser the right to sell shares for a fixed per-share price, so the lower a stock falls the more valuable the option becomes. Duronio placed his last trade on March 1, 2002, and the logic bomb attack took place three days later, deleting files on 1,000 computers, prosecutors said. On the Net: U.S. Attorney's Office: http://www.njusao.org/break.html 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 information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml For more news and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:08:54 -0600 From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Disk Drive Pioneer Al Sugart Dies Alan Shugart, the co-founder of hard drive maker Seagate Technology LLC, has died, the company said Wednesday. He was 76. Shugart helped pioneer the multibillion dollar hard drive industry, in which Seagate now holds the leading market position. He founded the company in 1979 and left in 1998. Described by some as a maverick, Shugart was well known for his colorful personality that included an effort to get his dog to run for Congress. The unsuccessful ploy became the topic of one of his three books, "Ernest Goes to Washington (Well, Not Exactly)." Shugart died Tuesday at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, said Seagate spokeswoman Julie Stills. He was admitted last week and died of complications from heart surgery he underwent six weeks ago. He was still working until the day of his death, checking e-mails for his company, Al Shugart International, a startup incubator based in Santa Cruz, Stills said. He is survived by his wife, Rita, four daughters, a son, and seven grandchildren. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:11:14 -0600 From: Eric Lai, IDG Subject: Windows Development Chief Says 'Buy a Mac Instead' by Eric Lai, Computerworld - IDG News Service Editor's note: This story was reprinted from Computerworld. For more of Computerworld's coverage of the Mac, visit its Mac Knowledge Center. Longtime Windows development chief James Allchin wrote in a January 2004 e-mail to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and company co-founder Bill Gates that the software vendor had 'lost sight' of customers' needs and said he would buy a Mac if he wasn't working for Microsoft. "In my view, we lost our way," Allchin, the co-president of Microsoft's platform and services division, wrote in an e-mail dated Jan. 7, 2004. The e-mail was presented as evidence late last week in the Iowa antitrust trial, Comes v. Microsoft. "I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products." Allchin, who has headed various aspects of Windows development since the mid-1990s but plans to retire at the end of this year with the shipping of Windows Vista, later wrote in the same e-mail that he would buy a Mac if he was not a Microsoft employee, according to transcripts from proceedings Thursday and Friday in the class-action case obtained and posted by Groklaw.net, an open-source legal Web site. Jim Hibbs, a spokesman for Wixted Pope Nora Thompson & Associates, a Des Moines public relations firm employed by the law firm prosecuting the case, confirmed that Allchin's quotes were read directly from his e-mails by the plaintiff's lawyers. The case, filed in February 2000, charges that Microsoft used its monopoly position to overcharge Iowans for its software. Held in the Polk County District Court in Des Moines, it is one of two remaining antitrust cases; the state of Mississippi's case is the other brought by the U.S. government and multiple states against Microsoft starting in the late 1990s. In 2004, Microsoft settled a class-action lawsuit accusing it of overcharging customers in California for $1.1 billion. That same year, it was also hit by a $613 million fine by the European Commission for monopolistic behavior for its free bundling of Windows Media Player with Windows. Microsoft, which has appealed the ruling, was hit by a further $356 million fine in October for failing to comply with the ruling. Microsoft, through its public relations firm, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, was unable to comment on the Allchin e-mail immediately. Allchin has said in the past that Vista's delayed arrival -- it shipped five years after Windows XP was released -- was the result of a desire to improve its security and make it perform bug-free from the get-go. As in past antitrust trials against Microsoft, much of the evidence came in the form of e-mails from Allchin and other Microsoft executives. Ironically, Allchin himself is quoted in two internal memos directing employees to get rid of all e-mails after 30 days. "This is not something you get to decide," he wrote on Jan. 23, 2000. "This is company policy. Do not think this is something that only applies to a few people. Do not think it will be okay if I do this, it hasn't caused any problems so far. Do not archive your mail. Do not be foolish. 30 days." Iowa's counsel also presented evidence designed to show that an ostensibly charitable program from Microsoft for developing countries and schools was actually designed to ensure that Windows remained preinstalled on PCs to discourage competition from the open-source Linux operating system. The so-called Education Government Incentive (or Edgi) program, appears 'to be based on Microsoft generosity, but in fact the program is intended only for use where Linux is a threat,' according to Roxanne Conlin, co-counsel for Iowa. Conlin also presented evidence of a job description for Bill Gates' technical assistant, whose primary duty was to make sure no permanent record of Gates' e-mail existed, Conlin said, according to transcripts. Copyright 2006 Mac Publishing 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 news and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:42:19 -0600 From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Skype Begins Charging For Calls Internet telephone service Skype said on Wednesday that it would charge customers $29.95 a year for unlimited calling in the United States and Canada, a service it had offered free since May. eBay Inc.'s Skype, which competes with traditional phone companies and Web operators like Vonage Holdings Corp. for customers, said subscribers who sign up for the plan before January 31 will get the service for half price. The service covers calls to mobile phones or traditional wire line phones from computers or from a new category of Internet-connected phones that run Skype software. Skype had been offering the computer-to-phone call service free since May as a promotion aimed at winning new customers. Customers who do not want to pay a subscription could also opt to pay for calls at the rate of 2.1 cents a minute which it charged before the promotion. Skype calls from computer to computer would still be free for its customers. The company said it would consider extending the service for international calls. "We'll be taking a close look at how this plan does and keep our options open to see what our customers want on a more International scale," said Skype spokeswoman Jennifer Caukin. Skype said it had more than 136 million registered users globally at the end of September. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:44:31 -0600 From: Anick Jesdanun, AP Subject: Search Engines Sometimes Return Risky Results Study: 4 pct of search results risky By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer It's slightly safer to use search engines, but about 4 percent of search results still lead to sites deemed risky, a new study finds. Ben Edelman, a security expert who serves as an adviser to security software vendor McAfee Inc., said that although the overall riskiness of search engines declined 12 percent since May, some 4.4 percent of results still lead to sites flagged with a "red" warning or a cautionary "yellow" by McAfee's SiteAdvisor service. SiteAdvisor rates sites based on whether they result in spyware, viruses, excessive pop-up ads, junk e-mail or other threats. The study was conducted by running about 2,500 popular keywords through the top five search engines -- Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.'s MSN, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL ad IAC/InterActive Corp.'s Ask. Risks are about three times greater when clicking on keyword ads that make up much of these companies' revenues, and adult-related search terms are twice as risky as non-adult terms, the study found. Queries containing the word "free" are also more likely to produce risky sites. Getting malicious software isn't the only threat from search engines. Security experts say that some hackers have used search engines to find sites with security vulnerabilities to exploit. Others have used cleverly crafted keywords to locate confidential documents and passwords inadvertently left on public Web sites. Search companies, meanwhile, have taken steps to mitigate the risks. Google, for instance, sometimes flags links to sites it deems risky. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 13, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 11:24:17 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 13, 2006 ******************************** Eepad Partners With Neuf Cegetel To Offer Algeria-France Calls http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21636?11228 Eepad, the Algerian ISP, has entered into a partnership with the French operator, Neuf Cegetel, to offer international VoIP calls between France and Algeria. The agreement means that those of Eepad's ADSL subscribers who also have a Neuf Cegetel subscription will be able to make and receive international VoIP calls. This means that ... Wireless Enters the Political Arena http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21633?11228 Wireless technology may be the next big thing for election campaigning and even voting, but its use could initially be troubling, according to media experts. Wireless phones have been increasingly used internationally in the past few years, to great political and strategic affect among political groups. The 'Orange ... Waiting for WiMAX http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21630?11228 In the high-speed networking arena, plenty of people and businesses are waiting for WiMAX. That includes today's 3G wireless data service providers, who have the most to lose from a widespread WiMAX deployment. But 3G carriers can breathe easy, since WiMAX probably won't be a major technology--at least in North America and... BT Confirms WiMax Ambitions http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21625?11228 Domestic reports out of the U.K. confirm what Unstrung readers already knew. BT Group plc looks set to re-enter the mobile market using WiMax or similar wireless broadband technology. Back in October, we reported that BT was plotting to bid on a wireless broadband spectrum auction in the in the 2.5GHz to 2.69GHz band in order ... T-Mobile's Backhaul Bugbear http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21622?11228 LONDON -- Backhaul Strategies for Mobile Operators: Europe -- Mobile operators are being forced towards alternative backhaul strategies by prohibitively expensive leased-line pricing structures, according to Emin Gurdenli, Technical Director at T-Mobile (UK) . Giving the keynote address at today's Light Reading Live conference in ... ITC Rules in Broadcom/Qualcomm Spat http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21620?11228 The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has ruled that Qualcomm is infringing on a patent held by rival Broadcom Corporation. The ITC accepted an administrative law judge (ALJ) recommendation that found Qualcomm did infringe on some of Broadcom's patents. However, the recommendation, which was issued in October, ... Chinese PMP Market Becomes Established in 2006 http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21617?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- New entrants, declining prices, and improvements in product features are making Portable Media Player (PMP) shipments gain traction in 2006 in China, reports In-Stat. Early adopters will remain the primary market for PMPs in China in 2007, the high-tech market research firm says. PMP shipments in China will ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:12:08 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Sprint Names CEO Forsee as Chairman USTelecom dailyLead December 13, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eZakfDtusXhGAKCibuddQMAo TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Sprint names CEO Forsee as chairman BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Microsoft begins VoIP beta * Skype to charge for phone service that is now free * Sprint finishes Revision A rollout for 2006 * The Net challenges for big media in 2007 * Vodafone Italia, Sky Italia sign mobile TV deal USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Integrate WiMAX into your 3G network TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * More than 75% of Web users are on broadband * Q-and-A: Ad executive discusses mobile advertising * SMS wildly successful, but successor being sought * Report: Global handset users top 2.6 billion REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Michigan moves to expand video competition Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eZakfDtusXhGAKCibuddQMAo ------------------------------ 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://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 #414 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Dec 15 00:05:19 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 63AC9222E; Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:05:19 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #415 Message-Id: <20061215050519.63AC9222E@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:05:19 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:07:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 415 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson High School Student Charged in Computer Hacking Scheme (Douane D. James) Virtually Addicted (Catherine Holahan, Business Week) Still Too Hot to Touch! Bell South/ATT Merger Put Off Again (Blooomberg) Are There Any Portable Quasi Cell-Base Stations Yet? (Danny Burstein) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 14, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Cisco in $50 Million Deal With China's CCS (USTelecom dailyLead) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 21:37:07 -0600 From: Douane D. James Subject: High School Student Charged in Computer Hacking Scheme Class president at Cooper City High charged with changing grades of 19 students By Douane D. James South Florida Sun-Sentinel Cooper City High School's senior class president was arrested Tuesday and charged in a grade-tampering scandal that has rocked the campus. Ryan C. Shrouder, 18, of Cooper City, was taken to jail from school and charged with two counts of computer crime with intent to defraud, a second-degree felony, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office report. He was released from jail on bail, has been suspended from school and will be recommended for expulsion, said Joe Melita, head of the Broward County School District's investigative unit. Shrouder serves as the alternate student advisor to the Broward School Board. He often sits in on board meetings and was issued a school district laptop computer. Sheriff's Office investigators say Shrouder took advantage of that access and used an employee password to access the district's network and change the grades of 19 students. It's unclear whether authorities think he changed his own grades. Shrouder was considered the main suspect, but other students could be punished for being involved, Melita said. Shrouder's attorney said his client will plead not guilty and that he is being unfairly singled out. "To charge a kid with a computer crime is absurd," said Fort Lauderdale attorney Fred Haddad. "There's plenty of ways to handle this besides charging a felony." Shrouder had been elected leader of his sophomore, junior and senior classes at Cooper City High and recently was voted "most likely to be president" of the United States. Rumors of the arrest spread quickly at the school Tuesday. Administrators delayed the second-period bell so students would remain in class while deputies took Shrouder from the school. Kara Olesky, student government president at Cooper City High, said Shrouder was well liked and appeared to be "headed in a positive direction." "We were shocked," she said. "We would never have thought anyone would attempt something like that." The report filed by the Sheriff's Office detailed the alleged grade-tampering as follows: On Nov. 2, an assistant principal told authorities that the school had begun investigating unauthorized grade changes. Course grades from previous years for 19 students, mostly seniors, had been altered. Cooper City High's bookkeeper told investigators that in the week before the grades were changed she witnessed Shrouder in the office of the computer technology specialist looking for a "sign-on" password to the district network. The technology specialist had left his passwords on a notepad in his desk, according to the report. Investigators later determined that the employee's sign-on account was the same one used to access the grades program and modify the marks. A Cooper City High student witness told authorities that on Oct. 30 he saw Shrouder use his laptop to access the computer application that manages pupil grades. Another student said Shrouder approached her at a party the next day and said he altered her grades, along with those of other students. Sheriff's Office investigators reviewed video surveillance and forensic computer examinations to back up the witnesses' statements, according to the report. Advisors to the School Board are given laptops that have access to the district network for e-mail purposes, but they don't have the security clearance to log into the application that manages grades, officials said. Last year, a West Boca Raton High student used employee passwords to hack into the Palm Beach County district network and change transcripts for students at four high schools. He was ordered to pay restitution and complete a yearlong program to avoid being prosecuted for felony computer fraud. Staff Writer Jean-Paul Renaud contributed to this report. Douane D. James can be reached at ddjames@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7930. Copyright 2006 Sun-Sentinal. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/news-today.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I suspect the poor guy is absolutely mortified today. I am reminded of the teenage kid in the 1950's who had a very cushy job working at University of Chicago in the telephone switchboard room. After graduation from high school he worked one summer on the overnight shift in the phone room -- alone -- and on those terribly hot summer nights between the hours of 3 and 5 in the morning with _nothing_ to do, he devised a scheme to defraud telco of its money on international long distance calls. It all worked quite well -- or so he thought -- until one Sunday morning. 6:45 AM on a Sunday morning in August, he was quite anxious to get off work. The two day shift operators started at 7, he would be free to leave, walk over to the Hyde Park Coffee Shop for breakfast, then go home to shower, change clothes and meet Mother for services at Rockefeller Chapel, where the very smart young man and his Mother were in charge of the after-service tea and little cakes served to the congregation as refreshments. Then, his intention was to spend the afternoon on the Promentory Beach at 55th Street exhibiting himself to others of his persuasion and nap for a few hours before going back to work that night. Two day shift operators show up a couple minutes before 7 AM; he bids them adieu, walks to the elevator and rides down to the first floor. When he steps out of the elevator, two men approach him, both of whom were impeccably dressed. Calling him by name, the one man shows identification which identifies him as a telephone security representative for Illinois Bell; "and this gentleman with me is Officer (name), a Chicago Police Detective." Oh my ... so that day, instead of breakfast at the hotel coffee shop followed by Chapel services and an afternoon on the beach, much of the day was spent at the Wentworth District police lockup, with his Mother there with money in hand to bail him out of jail. Later that afternoon, back at home, a registered letter arrived for the kid from the telephone chief operator at University of Chicago telling him he was officially dismissed and was NOT to return to work nor be on the premises again. Then the next day, Monday, his picture appeared in the Maroon -- UC daily newspaper -- with a story headlined "Overnight Campus Phone Operator Arrested on Fraud Charges." Yes, I imagine Master Schrouder is quite mortified today by his circumstances. A teenager 45 years ago was likewise severely mortified in his attempt to defraud. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 21:41:14 -0600 From: Catherine Holahan Subject: Virtually Addicted A lawsuit against IBM is reviving debate over whether Web overuse may be classified as an addiction. The answer will have big implications for business. by Catherine Holahan By his own admission, James Pacenza was spending too much time in Internet chat rooms, in some of them discussing sex. He goes so far as to call his interest in inappropriate Web sites a form of addiction that stems from the posttraumatic stress disorder he's suffered since returning from Vietnam. Whatever it's called, Pacenza's chat-room habit cost him his job. After 19 years at IBM's East Fishkill plant, Pacenza was fired in May, 2003, after a fellow employee noticed discussion of a sex act on a chat room open on Pacenza's computer. IBM maintains that logging onto the Web site was a violation of its business conduct guidelines and a misuse of company property -- and that it was well within its rights to terminate Pacenza's employment. Pacenza and his attorney beg to differ. They filed suit in a New York U.S. District Court in July, 2004, seeking $5 million for wrongful termination. Earlier in the year, Pacenza had admitted to a superior that he had a problem with the Internet at home. Pacenza's attorney, Michael Diederich Jr., alleges that the perception that Pacenza was addicted to the Internet caused IBM to fire first without asking questions or "even attempting to examine the situation." Diederich says there are several steps IBM could have taken, including limiting his Internet use or blocking certain sites. "It's not productive or useful for the employer to unfairly terminate employees," says Diederich. The case was held up for two years due to Pacenza's medical problems and his attorney's service as a military lawyer in Iraq. But it has come back to the fore recently, and IBM on Dec. 8 sought a dismissal of the case, saying it's without merit. On the surface, Pacenza's may appear to be an open-and-shut case. He doesn't deny logging onto the chat room at work, and company policy provides for the termination of employees who access inappropriate Web sites. Certifying Addiction. But cases like Pacenza's, which involve Internet misuse, may no longer be quite so simple, thanks to a growing debate over whether Internet abuse is a legitimate addiction, akin to alcoholism. Attorneys say recognition by a court -- whether in this or some future litigation -- that Internet abuse is an uncontrollable addiction, and not just a bad habit, could redefine the condition as a psychological impairment worthy of protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). That in turn would have far-reaching ramifications for how companies deal with workplace Internet use and abuse. For starters, businesses could be compelled to allow medical leave, provide counseling to, or make other accommodations for employees who can't control Internet use, says Brian East, co-chair of the disability rights committee of the National Employment Lawyers' Assn. East says recognizing Internet abuse as an addiction would make it more difficult for employers to fire employees who have a problem. "Assuming it is recognized as an impairment -- it is analyzed the same way as alcoholism," says East. That's a big assumption, and there's intense debate over whether compulsive Internet use should be recognized as an addiction. The American Psychiatric Assn. (APA) doesn't include Internet addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, which serves as the basis for many ADA claims related to mental disabilities. Substance abuse, on the other hand, is listed in a special category under substance-use disorders. Internet addiction would not be eligible for inclusion in the manual until nearly 2012, when the next edition is scheduled to be released, according to the APA. Compulsive Behavior. Whatever the APA stance, several psychiatrists and psychologists already say compulsive Internet overuse can legitimately be called an addiction. Among them is Dr. David Greenfield, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and author of the 1999 book Virtual Addiction. He compares compulsive Internet use to alcoholism, drug abuse, or pathological gambling. Like alcoholics or those who abuse drugs, people who are addicted to the Internet use it to change their mood and feel better, says Greenfield. There are also many who can't stop using it, despite reprimands from work, disputes with family and friends, and other negative effects such as debt due to compulsive Internet shopping or gambling. "It's not surprising that it is not defined yet, because these things change very slowly," says Greenfield. "But when you are in clinical practice and you are dealing with people's lives, you can't wait for those issues to be addressed. There is a huge problem with Internet abuse in the workplace, and you can't pretend that they don't exist because there isn't a label." In October, researchers at Stanford University's medical school released a study showing that a significant number of Americans show addiction symptoms with regard to the Internet. Some 14% reported that it was hard to stay away from the Internet for a several-day stretch. More than 12% said they stayed online longer than intended and nearly 9% said they hid their Internet use from loved ones or employers. Roughly 6% said relationships had suffered due to excessive Internet use. Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, director of Stanford's Impulse Control Disorders Clinic, which conducted the study, says there are clear similarities between excessive Internet use and other addictions. "People are very secretive, people will tell me that they feel restless when they go for a whole afternoon without checking e-mail, there is mounting anxiety when they try to cut back on their online use," says Aboujaoude. However, he stops short of calling it an addiction. The clinic is designing a more rigorous study aimed at determining whether Internet abuse is an addiction and not just a bad habit, or a manifestation of another addiction or psychological problem. "Based on our studies there are definitely red flags and there are things that should be followed up on. But until that is done, you are not going to find a serious researcher calling this Internet addiction," says Aboujaoude. "It's too early to coin a new term 'Internet addiction.'" Treatment Options. Not according to psychologist Kimberly Young, founder of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery in Bradford, Pa. She says that the U.S. lags behind other countries in its recognition of compulsive Internet use as a legitimate addiction worthy of specialized treatment. Korea, for example, has launched the Centre for Internet Addiction Prevention & Counseling in response to what the government sees as the growing problem of Internet addicts in its highly wired society. In October, a 24-year-old died after playing an online game nonstop for 86 hours (see http://BusinessWeek.com 9/11/06, "Online Gaming: Korea's Gotta Have It"). "They have been able to move faster than we have in America," says Young of the Korean government. "They have a lot of government funding to put together these clinics." China also recognizes Internet addiction as a legitimate problem. Chinese employers can send workers to a two-week rehabilitation clinic for Internet issues. Besides counseling, the clinic provides regimented exercise and medical treatment to help people become healthy and redirect their energy. U.S. companies ought to wake up to the problem in order to avoid lost productivity from workers and liability for unjust termination or disciplinary action regarding the Internet. "If you have something like the Americans with Disabilities Act, which recognizes many addictions as a disability, it is not a stretch to see that people who are getting in trouble with the Internet are going to see it as a legitimate addiction and sue," says Greenfield. "It is only a matter of time before one of these suits is successful." Just how many suits are coming down the pike isn't clear, and Pacenza's is among the earliest to weave Internet addiction into a wrongful termination suit. There have been several other legal battles relating to presumed Internet addiction, though often those involve online games or chat rooms that parents say contribute to a child's problems. Workplace Prevention. Even as the debate rages on within the medical community and increasingly in the courts, some businesses are taking steps to combat Internet addiction beyond implementing Internet-use policies. Young, author of Caught in the Net, says she regularly speaks to companies about Internet addiction. "They want to deal with the problem of abuse and minimize that as much as they can," she says. Young says she sees everyone from IT professionals obsessed with Web surfing, to administrative assistants glued to eBay (EBAY), to self-employed lawyers who are missing deadlines because of a fixation with Internet porn. Still, most companies are leery of treating Internet abuse as an addiction. "Overall companies are still a little hesitant to look at it as an addiction," says Young. "But if they look at the costs, it makes more sense than just firing people." Employers try to alert employees to the potential of the problem, by paying for talks or literature, in order to avoid problems such as lost productivity, too much demand on company bandwidth, and sexual-harassment claims from employees who see objectionable material on a colleague's computer. However, some businesses are concerned enough about the cost of replacing otherwise good employees that they send employees to rehabilitation clinics. When it comes to Internet overuse, some companies are finding the best cure isn't firing, but preventive medicine. Some limit Internet access to only those employees who need it to do their jobs. And they are spending money on filtering and blocking software to keep employees from surfing the Web for personal use. Sensible Limits. Continental Airlines (CAL) acknowledges it's impossible to ban all personal use of the Web at work. Louis Obdyke, Continental's managing attorney for labor and employment issues, says the company lets employees occasionally surf the Web, shop, bank, or do other activities online -- providing it doesn't interfere with productivity. "It's pretty much under a rule of reason," says Obdyke. "If you get your work done and you go on the Internet during the workday, we wouldn't see that as a problem." When Internet use causes work to suffer, stiffer measures are taken. And an employee who can't improve or who visits adult or pornographic sites while at work is susceptible to firing. As for whether Internet abuse is comparable to other disorders such as alcoholism, Obdyke is clear: "We don't recognize this Internet addiction idea." Depending on the outcome of Pacenza's case and others likely to follow, companies like Continental may have to. Holahan is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York. 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: Wed, 13 Dec 2006 19:58:24 -0600 From: Molly Peterson Subject: Still Too Hot to Touch! Bell South/ATT Merger Put Off Another Month Vote on BellSouth Deal Omitted From Next FCC Meeting By Molly Peterson Dec. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Federal Communications Commission decided not to vote on AT&T Inc.'s $86 billion purchase of BellSouth Corp. at its Dec. 20 meeting, lessening the prospects for approval this month. The agenda for the meeting, released late today, does include a vote on rules making it easier for telephone companies to sell television service. The FCC hasn't indicated when it will vote on the BellSouth sale. Two Republican commissioners and two Democrats have been deadlocked for months on what, if any, conditions to impose on the deal. They are waiting for the fifth member, Republican Robert McDowell, to decide whether to vote to break the tie. McDowell sat out of the commission's negotiations because of his past work as a lobbyist for rivals of AT&T and BellSouth. FCC General Counsel Samuel Feder ruled on Dec. 8 that a vote by McDowell would serve the government's interest. McDowell, who has been reviewing Feder's opinion and related materials this week, hasn't decided whether he will vote. Before today's announcement, AT&T Chief Financial Officer Richard Lindner said the company is still holding out for regulatory approval of the transaction this month. "The merger's going to be approved," Lindner said in a telephone interview today. "I don't think it will be an extended approval process from this point." Federal rules don't require the FCC to vote in public, so the commission could approve the deal later this month, in a secet session, if at least three members agree to support it. Conditions Sought The panel's Democrats, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein, are demanding conditions such as price controls and airwave license sales, moves resisted by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate, both Republicans. Next week, the commission plans to vote on rules that would make it easier for companies including AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. to sell television service. Martin said last week he circulated a proposal to the other four commissioners to require local franchise authorities to decide within 90 days on some phone-company applications to offer TV in competition with cable providers. FCC action may speed the companies' efforts to offer TV service and counter cable companies such as Comcast Corp. that have lured phone customers by packaging calling services with TV and high-speed Internet access. The phone companies say lengthy negotiations with hundreds of local agencies have hindered their attempts to offer TV service and raised costs. Martin's plan would require local authorities to rule within 90 days on video-franchise applications from companies that already have a community's rights-of-way, such as a phone carrier with existing lines in the region, the chairman told reporters after giving a speech Dec. 6. The proposal would also limit the fees local agencies can require new TV providers to pay as part of franchise deals, Martin said. The FCC also may curb local regulators' ability to impose ``build-out'' rules, which typically require a company to eventually offer service to all households in that region. To contact the reporter on this story: Molly Peterson in Washington at mpeterson9@bloomberg.net 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: Danny Burstein Subject: Are There Any Portable Quasi Cell-Base Stations Yet? Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:21:18 -0500 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC The recent death of James Kim, who had gotten lost with his family in the snow covered and cold middle_of_nowhere Oregon reminded me of a proposal from years ago. In the debriefings after 11-Sept, a bunch of cellular techies announced plans to come up with portable quasi-base stations which could be rolled out and used to "ping" cellphones. In a situation like the World Trade Center, this would have been used for close-in searching -- that is, to let the emergency folk know there was an active cellphone thirty or so feet under the rubble to the right, helping them in the rescue and/or recovery. In Mr. Kim's case, where his family was beyond range of any cellular tower, the portable stations would have been running around in rescue vehicles or aircraft, looking (initially) at a wider area. I didn't see any mention of these in use, and haven't found any indication that they've been built. Anyone have any updates? Thanks. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 14, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:23:40 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 14, 2006 ******************************** Incumbent European Telcos Take Swipe at New EU Rules http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21664?11228 Europe's incumbent telcos have warned that new European Union (EU) rules on telecoms, slated for finalisation in 2008, would harm the industry. Speaking under the auspices of ETNO (European Telecommunications Network Operators Association), they said the rules are outdated, will scare off investment in the sector and will cripple ... Skype to Charge for Unlimited Domestic Calls http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21659?11228 Following the provision of free Skype calling within the United States and Canada for the last six months, the VoIP market leader, Skype, has announced that it will be moving to convert this loss leader into paying customers, launching an unlimited calling package for Skype-Out calls to PSTN landlines within the United States and Canada ... New Congress Unlikely to Push Telecom Agenda Forward http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21657?11228 With the Democrats in control of Congress after 12 years of Republican rule, lawmakers are tackling all manner of issues anew. But a rewrite of the Telecom Act, which Republicans took a stab at in 2006, is far down the list. This leads industry watchers to surmise that while some small-scale action could come out of the House or Senate, ... Identity Management and Protection: A Key Differentiator? http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21655?11228 Convergence in an IP world means that carriers will compete and partner with entertainment companies, financial institutions, ISPs and a host of other players to monetize digital content.  Although carriers currently leverage the trust and branding they have established with customers through billing and customer care relationships, ... Swedish Government to Sell Off Stakes in TeliaSonera, Nordea, OMX http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21654?11228 STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Sweden's center-right government said Thursday it will sell off stakes in six companies including telecom TeliaSonera AB, Nordic banking group Nordea AB and stock market operator OMX AB. It did not offer a timeline of when and in which order the assets would be sold. The other companies were real estate ... Apple as Mobile Operator? http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21652?11228 If Apple Computer Inc. actually does launch an iPhone next year, as many expect, is a move to become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) the next step? At least one financial analyst firm thinks so; UBS Research has issued a report suggesting that Apple could start an MVNO venture early next year. "We believe Apple ... FCC Details Second 2007 'Modest' Spectrum Auction http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/21648?11228 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unveiled the particulars of its 2007 auction of some 94 RF licenses in the 220 MHz-222 MHz band range, its second very- modest-dollar-volume bidding contest. Auction 72, targeted to start June 20, 2007, will permit a variety of fixed, mobile and paging services to be offered in 52 ... Cisco Kills Initial IMS Platform http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21647?11228 Cisco Systems Inc. is killing off its first real products aimed at mobile and wireline operators that wanted to support IP-based services via IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem). The networking giant issued an 'End of Life' notice for its Call Session Control Platform (CSCP) product family on November 30. It will stop taking ... Cingular Extends TruePosition Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21644?11228 In an effort to expand its location technology capabilities, Cingular Wireless has decided to extend its partnership with TruePosition to make the company's wireless location system available across its network nationwide. As part of the newly signed deal, Cingular will extend the coverage of the TruePosition Finder wireless ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2006 11:43:10 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Cisco in $50 Million Deal With China's CCS USTelecom dailyLead December 14, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eZoofDtusXhJyoCibuddJNKu TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Cisco in $50 million deal with China's CCS BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T tests free directory assistance * BT touts growth in retail unit * Qualcomm promotes Jha to COO, hires Lauer * Build a YouTube killer? Not likely USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Take a Steven Shepard Crash Course in WiMAX, IMS, VoIP and Telecom TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * T-Mobile's cellular-Wi-Fi service reviewed * Analysis: FMC services * Report: 2007 outlook for Sprint is positive * Skype releases software for Windows Mobile smartphones REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * FCC to vote on 90-day franchise proposal Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/eZoofDtusXhJyoCibuddJNKu ------------------------------ 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'. 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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 #415 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Dec 15 16:05:10 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 1640E2234; Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:05:09 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #416 Message-Id: <20061215210509.1640E2234@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:05:09 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 15 Dec 2006 16:07:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 416 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Senior AOL Executives Leaving the Company (Anick Jesdanun, AP) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 15, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Telecom Update #559, December 15, 2006 (John Riddell) Nokia, Siemens Delay Merger of Equipment Units to First Quarter (USTelecom) Re: High School Student Charged in Computer Hacking Scheme (Rick Merrill) Re: School Shuns Tech, Teaches Fountain Pen (kludge@panix.com) Re: Virtually Addicted (mc) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:03:10 -0600 From: Anick Jesdanun, AP Subject: Senior AOL Executives Leaving the Company By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer Three senior executives are leaving AOL following a recent shake-up that brought in a veteran NBC executive as the online company's new chief executive, two people familiar with the matter said Friday. The executives are Joe Redling, who is chairman and chief executive of AOL International, Jim Bankoff, executive vice president for consumer and publisher services, and John Buckley, executive vice president for corporate communications. The company had no official comment. The people who confirmed the changes spoke on condition of anonymity because they involved personnel matters not yet announced. Over the past two years, the company has been giving away more of its services to drive traffic to its Web sites and boost online advertising dollars. In August, AOL accelerated the transition by deciding to give away AOL.com e-mail addresses and software once reserved for paying customers. AOL parent Time Warner Inc. later lured Randy Falco, NBC Universal Television Group's president and chief operating officer, to run AOL LLC, pushing out Jonathan Miller. Time Warner executives had been supportive of Miller's efforts to set AOL on a new course, but wanted someone with operational experience to execute the plan. Several AOL executives have contractual clauses allowing them to leave when senior management changes, triggering the departures of Redling, Bankoff and Buckley, according to the people familiar with the decisions. Earlier in the week, Carlo d'Asaro Biondo, the chief executive of AOL's European operations, announced plans to leave after less than two months at the helm to take another job. John McKinley, acting chief technology officer, has previously said he would leave. The people said the changes were voluntary and unrelated to the layoffs of about 450 workers at AOL's Dulles, Va., headquarters on Wednesday. PaidContent reported the departures on its Web site Friday. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - December 15, 2006 From: telecomdirect_daily Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:53:41 EST ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For December 15, 2006 ******************************** MTS Lays Out Strategy: Cut Costs, Expand and Buyback http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21690?11228 Following a year-long review of strategic options throughout 2006 by incoming CEO (chief executive officer) Pierre Blouin, Manitoba Telecom Services Inc.-through its subsidiary MTS Allstream, (which comprises local incumbent wireline and wireless carrier Manitoba Telecom Services and the national business services operator Allstream) ... Iliad Selects Cisco for FTTx http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/21687?11228 France's leading alternative broadband provider, Iliad, has selected Cisco's Ethernet fibre-to-the-home (E-FTTH) technology for its forthcoming roll-out of FTTx. The new network will be based on Cisco's Internet Protocol Next Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture. The first phase of the network will connect 2 million ... Strategies to Fight Low-Cost Rivals http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21680?11228 Companies find it challenging and yet strangely reassuring to take on opponents whose strategies, strengths, and weaknesses resemble their own. Their obsession with familiar rivals, however, has blinded them to threats from disruptive, low-cost competitors. Successful price warriors, such as the German retailer Aldi, are changing the ... EC Sets Common Spectrum For Short Range Unlicensed Wireless http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/21679?11228 Yesterday, the European Commission (EC) said it will implement a series of spectrum set-aside allocations across European Union (EU) member states for a variety of unlicensed, short-range wireless devices, including radio frequency identification (RFID), medical implants, garage door openers, wireless alarms, baby monitors, ... Nokia Siemens JV in Jeopardy http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21677?11228 A corruption scandal that includes charges of money-laundering via Greece and Lichtenstein has thrown a spanner into the works of the merger that would create the world's second-largest vendor of wireless infrastructure. In a terse, 219-word statement, Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG, whose combined networks divisions were ... Email Gets More Outsourced Options http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/21672?11228 A slew of newcomers are using promises of compliance to push email management services, in a trend that could mean growth in outsourced options. Recent announcements include MX Logic, a four-year-old firm based in Colo., which today unveiled MX Logic Message Archiving, a nationwide Web-based email service based on technology from ... Visa Invests in Mobile Payment Facilitator http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21668?11228 Mobile payments continue to intrigue Visa International. In its latest move, the company is making a strategic investment in mFormation and has forged a strategic alliance with the mobile device management (MDM) solutions provider. The companies plan to work together to advance over-the-air (OTA) solutions for mobile payments ... Public Hotspot Deployments Show No Sign of Abating http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/21666?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. The popularity of public Wi-Fi hotspots continues to grow quickly, and the number of worldwide deployments will double over the next five years, reports In-Stat. This includes both stand alone sites and muni-wireless deployments. From 2005 to 2006, there has been significant public hotspot usage uptake within ... Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to: TelecomDirect Editor Copyright (C) 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Subject: Telecom Update #559, December 15, 2006 Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:38:55 -0500 From: John Riddell ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 559: December 15, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca/home/Home_Business.page ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.ca/communications/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** SHAW BUSINESS SOLUTIONS: www.shawbusinesssolutions.ca ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Our Next Issue ** Ottawa to Overturn CRTC on Local Deregulation ** Cableos Split on Bernier Action ** BCE Drops Plan for Trust ** MTS Decides Against Shakeup ** CRTC Expands Ottawa Free-Calling Area ** Persona to Provide IP Telephony ** Primus Expands Wireless Coverage ** MTS Cellphones Offer Radio, TV ** Parkes to Head Selectcore Board ** Unlimited LD for $17.50 a Year ** Ottawa Offers Cellphone Buying Guide ** Wireless Innovation Contest Open Now ** ITU to Showcase 'Fully Networked Car' ** Com Dev Sales, Profits Rise ** Correction OUR NEXT ISSUE: For the convenience of readers leaving early for a holiday break, next week's Telecom Update will be published on Thursday, December 21. OTTAWA TO OVERTURN CRTC ON LOCAL DEREGULATION: In a sweeping rejection of the CRTC's approach to deregulating local phone service, the federal government plans to rewrite key sections of CRTC Telecom Decision 2006-15 (see Telecom Update #524). Changes proposed by Industry Minister Maxime Bernier include: ** The geographic market for deregulation will be either a local interconnection region (roughly, a local calling area) or a local exchange -- not the larger Local Forbearance Regions defined by the CRTC. ** Instead of requiring a 25% market share loss, business service deregulation can take place if there are two independent, facilities-based wireline providers. Residential deregulation will require three providers, but the additional one can be wireless. ** The telcos will still have to show that they are meeting QoS standards on services they provide to competitors, but on a smaller number of standards and showing only "average" compliance, not a six-month consistent record. ** Restrictions on the telcos' local promotions and winbacks will be removed as soon as the new rules take effect. ** Telcos will be invited to file forbearance applications for Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, London, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Montreal, and Quebec City. In each case the CRTC will have 120 days to issue a decision. The government's proposal will be published in the Canada Gazette on December 16, with a 30-day public comment period. http://xrl.us/BernierAnnouncement CABLEOS SPLIT ON BERNIER ACTION: Not surprisingly, the incumbent telcos were very pleased by the Industry Minister's announcement -- but the cable industry was divided. ** Shaw Communications said that it "supported the Minister's decision" and urged the government to make similar changes to cable and satellite regulation. Quebecor, owner of Videotron, issued a similar statement. ** In contrast, Cogeco Cable said Bernier's announcement is "contrary to sound public interest policy and practice for deregulating the telecommunications sector, and it ignores the relevant recommendations of the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel issued earlier this year." BCE DROPS PLAN FOR TRUST: At its December 12 business conference, BCE confirmed that it will not become an income trust but will eliminate its holding company structure. BCE, to be renamed Bell Canada, will have two operating companies: Bell Inc. (the former Bell Canada) and Bell Aliant Regional Communications. (See Telecom Update #550, 557) ** Bell Globemedia, now 15% owned by BCE, is changing its name to CTVglobemedia, effective January 1. MTS DECIDES AGAINST SHAKEUP: After an 11-month-long "comprehensive review" of its business, MTS Allstream has decided against selling off assets or other major changes. The telco plans to cut costs by another $40 million to $50 million in 2007 while focusing on "growth services." (See Telecom Update #515) CRTC EXPANDS OTTAWA FREE-CALLING AREA: CRTC Telecom Order 2006-340 gives interim approval to Bell Canada's application to eliminate long-distance charges within the City of Ottawa, and between Ottawa and surrounding communities including Arnprior, Kemptville, Merrickville, and Smiths Falls. The change, to be effective June 18, will be financed by three-year bill surcharges of 50 cents (residential lines) and 39 cents (business lines). ** The City of Ottawa has been lobbying for this change for more than five years. (see Telecom Update #287) http://www.crtc.gc.ca/public/8740/2006/b2/697562.zip PERSONA TO PROVIDE IP TELEPHONY: Persona Communications, which has about 200,000 cable subscribers, plans to offer Digital Phone service in a number of Canadian cities in 2007. The underlying provider will be MTS Allstream. PRIMUS EXPANDS WIRELESS COVERAGE: Primus Canada now offers wireless service using Rogers' GSM/GPRS network, which covers 93% of Canadian residents. Until November 18, Primus cellphones used the more limited Fido network. MTS CELLPHONES OFFER RADIO, TV: MTS Mobility subscribers can now access TV clips and 24-hour commercial-free radio. Streaming Radio and Streaming TV cost $7/month each plus usage charges. PARKES TO HEAD SELECTCORE BOARD: David Parkes, former President and CEO of Sprint Canada, has been named Chairman of Selectcore, a Tecumseh, Ontario-based company that offers prepaid telecom services to "the ever-growing credit-challenged/sub-prime consumer market." UNLIMITED LD FOR $17.50 A YEAR: Skype's Unlimited Calling Plan, announced this week, offers unlimited VoIP-based long distance calls to any phone within Canada and the U.S. for C$35/year. Customers who sign up by January 31, 2007, will pay half-price ($17.50/year) and receive 100 minutes of free worldwide calls. OTTAWA OFFERS CELLPHONE BUYING GUIDE: "Get a Grip on Your Cellphone Costs," a 28-page pamphlet published by Industry Canada's Office of Consumer Affairs, is available online at http://xrl.us/CellGuide. It can be downloaded in PDF format at http://xrl.us/Cellphone . WIRELESS INNOVATION CONTEST OPEN NOW: The Wireless Innovation Network of B.C. is now accepting entries for its fourth annual Wireless Innovation Contest. The entry deadline is January 29; winners will be announced at CTIA Wireless Orlando, March 27-29. See http://www.winbc.org/WIC/Overview.aspx for details. ITU TO SHOWCASE 'FULLY NETWORKED CAR': The International Telecommunications Union will hold a workshop and showcase exhibit on "The Fully Networked Car: Information and Communication Technologies in Motor Vehicles," at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland, March 2-12, 2007. http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/ict-auto/200703/index.html COM DEV SALES, PROFITS RISE: Com Dev International, which makes satellite components, had revenue of $154 million for the year ended October 31, 24% more than the previous year. Net income was $21.2 million, compared to $5.2 million the previous year. CORRECTION: Contrary to Telecom Update #558, the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Cogeco is Henri Audet, not Louis, his son and Cogeco's CEO. We apologize for the error. 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@blast.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@blast.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. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 12:58:19 CST From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Nokia, Siemens Delay Merger of Equipment Units to First Quarter USTelecom dailyLead December 15, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/faaUfDtusXhMuwCibuddtLof TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Nokia, Siemens delay merger of equipment units to first quarter BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon looks to stem Internet "domain tasting" * France Telecom to limit spending on ultra-high-speed Internet services * BT unveils Wi-Fi FMC service for small businesses * Online video sales to reach $1.5 billion next year USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * USTelecom chief outlines the path to a wonderful life TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * More than 75% of Web users are on broadband * Samsung: Up to 10% growth for U.S. wireless handsets in 2007 * Staccato and SK Telecom offer ultrawideband product VOIP DOWNLOAD * Jaxtr tests calling service for social networks * New Skype version adds social features Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/faaUfDtusXhMuwCibuddtLof ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:28:58 -0500 From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: High School Student Charged in Computer Hacking Scheme It seems so easy that it did not feel like a crime at the time. In a corporation some of the blame would be placed on the IT executive that permitted such sloppy security. ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:40:53 -0500 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Subject: Re: School Shuns Tech, Teaches Fountain Pen May I recommend the Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pen? It uses a gas-sealed chamber rather than a bladder or replaceable cartridge, and as a result it is pretty much completely immune to clogs. Although it can dry out if the cap is left off long enough, it is almost impossible to clog up. It has the convenience of a ballpoint, but it feels and writes like a fountain pen. Absolutely wonderful. --scott ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: Virtually Addicted Organization: BellSouth Internet Group Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:46:12 -0500 Must all misconduct be classified as a medical disorder? Any moralist up to, say, 1950 could have told you that practically all wrongdoing is addictive. (If it weren't, people wouldn't do it.) After B. F. Skinner and the notion that morality has no place in a scientific view of the world, all faults of character are being medicalized. I am not denying that (1) there are real mental illnesses of biological origin, some of the manifesting as lack of self-control, or that (2) addiction is a real biological phenomenon (especially addiction to drugs that alter brain chemistry). But what's next? "Bank-robbing disorder"? ------------------------------ 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://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 #416 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Dec 17 02:34:44 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: ptownson Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id E6FDD224E; Sun, 17 Dec 2006 02:34:43 -0500 (EST) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #417 Message-Id: <20061217073443.E6FDD224E@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 02:34:43 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 17 Dec 2006 02:35:00 EST Volume 25 : Issue 417 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Showdown Looms Over Telecom Spying (David Kravets, AP) Former CEO Gets 15 Months Prison for Computer Child Porn (Reuters NewsWire) New Computer Worm Attacks Business PCs (Associated Press News Wire) A Note From Pay Pal: Internet Security Tips (customercare@paypal.com) Caller ID Showing Which Calling Card Used??? (Chris Farrar) Re: High School Student Charged in Computer Hacking Scheme (Barry Margolin) Re: High School Student Charged in Computer Hacking Scheme (mc) ====== 25 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 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, and why not support Net Freedom Now http://www.freepress.net/netfreedom . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:42:32 -0600 From: David Kravets, AP Subject: Showdown Looms Over Telecom Spying By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer Federal agents continue to eavesdrop on Americans' electronic communications without warrants a year after President Bush confirmed the practice, and experts say a new Congress' efforts to limit the program could trigger a constitutional showdown. High-ranking Democrats set to take control of both chambers are mulling ways to curb the program Bush secretly authorized a month after the Sept. 11 attacks. The White House argues the Constitution gives the president wartime powers to eavesdrop that he wouldn't have during times of peace. "As a practical matter, the president can do whatever he wants as long as he has the capacity and executive branch officials to do it," said Carl Tobias, a legal scholar at the University of Richmond in Virginia. Lawmakers could impeach or withhold funding, or quash judicial nominations, among other measures. The president, however, can veto legislation, including a law demanding the National Security Agency obtain warrants before monitoring communications. Such a veto would force Congress to muster a two-thirds vote to override. "He could take the position he doesn't have to comply with whatever a new Congress says," said Vikram Amar, a law professor at the University of California, Hastings, and a former Supreme Court clerk. Douglas Kmiec, a former Justice Department official under former presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, speculated the younger Bush would assert executive authority to continue eavesdropping in the face of new legislation -- perhaps leaving the Supreme Court as the final arbiter. "He has as much a constitutional obligation to assert himself, just as much as Congress does," Kmiec said. "We do need an arbitrator, an interpreter. That's what the courts, the third branch of government, was intended to be." On Dec. 17, 2005, Bush publicly acknowledged for the first time he had authorized the NSA to monitor, without approval from a judge, phone calls and e-mails that come into or originate in the U.S. and involve people the government suspects of having terrorist links. Bush said he had no intention of halting what he called a "vital tool" in the war on terror. When the Republican-controlled Congress adjourned last week, it left the spying program unchecked. The next move falls to the Democrats who take control in January and are considering a proposal to demands Bush get warrants and others lengthening the time between surveillance and when a warrant must be obtained. A spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), the incoming Senate majority leader from Nevada, said the eavesdropping issue "is something he expects to tackle early next year." "He doesn't believe in giving the president a blank check to listen to the phone conversations of millions of Americans," spokesman Jim Manley said. Jennifer Crider, a spokeswoman for Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat who will become House speaker, said eavesdropping legislation was under consideration and hearings on the topic were likely early next year. Decisions are pending in dozens of lawsuits challenging the program. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the highest court squarely confronted with the issue so far, is to hear the American Civil Liberties Union's challenge Jan. 31. One stop short of the Supreme Court, the appeals court will review a Detroit judge's ruling that the program was unconstitutional. The case is American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency, 06-2095. 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, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:46:03 -0600 From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Former CEO Gets 15 Months Prison for Computer Child Porn A former chief executive of a financial printing firm was sentenced on Friday to 15 months in prison for possessing child porn and erasing thousands of seedy computer files when he learned he was under investigation. Robert Johnson, 61, downloaded the pornography onto a company computer while chief executive officer of Bowne & Co. Inc. He pleaded guilty to possessing at least two child porn images in August. Johnson, who had been publisher of Long Island's Newsday from 1986 to 1994, resigned from Bowne & Co. and gave up his seat on New York state's education board in July 2004 when learning of the investigation. Johnson, who also admitted using a computer program called "Evidence Eliminator" to destroy the hard drives on the company computer, made a tearful plea to U.S. District Judge Richard Howell, saying the pressure of being Bowne's CEO caused him to become severely depressed. "I decided to escape," said Johnson, whose lawyer said he logged onto child pornography Web sites late at night from his office computer and was alleged by federal authorities to have downloaded a movie called "Real Child Rape." "I decided to go to fantasy because reality was too much to bear," he said. Howell, who said Johnson took part in a "detestable subculture," also noted his history of community service as a reason for the sentence of 15 months prison that was less than what federal prosecutors wanted. The judge also fined Johnson $50,000. Johnson will also have to undergo a sex-offender treatment 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 For more news and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 00:48:43 -0600 From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: New Computer Worm Attacks Business PCs A computer worm is attacking some business PCs through a flaw in antivirus software by Symantec Corp., a security company warned Friday. EEye Digital Security, based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., said the worm, dubbed "Big Yellow," began attacking some computer systems on Thursday -- seven months after eEye first discovered the flaw. Symantec released a patch to address the flaw in May, but it's up to its corporate customers to install it. Officials at the Cupertino, Calif.-based security software company said Friday it had so far received three reports of systems affected by the worm. "It is definitely a new worm, and it is looking for vulnerable systems, but we're not seeing any evidence of a significant outbreak or infection," said Vincent Weafer, a senior director at Symantec's security response unit. Big Yellow enters machines through a security hole in the corporate version of Symantec's antivirus software. Once infected with the worm's "bot" program, a hacker can use it as a way to connect with other computers for malicious attacks. EEye urged corporate information-technology departments to fix the flaw. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. NOTE: For more t