TELECOM Digest     Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:00:00 EST    Volume 26 : Issue 31

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    South Korean Spammers Arrested by Police (Reuters News Wire)
    Paris Hilton Sues Web Site Displaying Her Property (Reuters News Wire)
    Few Rush Out to Buy New Window Vista (Jessica Mintz, AP)
    Emergency Comms, was: Is Your Phone AC Power Dependent (Danny Burstein)
    NYS AG Spitzer ^h^h Cuomo vs. Nuisance/Adware ... (Danny Burstein)
    Western Union Desk-Fax -- Discontinued? (Lisa Hancock)
    CommunicationsDirect News Daily Update (communicationsdirect_daily)
    Verizon Bundles Cell Use With TV, and Landline (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Re: AT&T Family Reunion - Merger Approved (Lisa Hancock)

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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:02:09 -0600
From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: South Korean Spammers Arrested by Police


South Korean duo arrested for 1.6 bln spam e-mails 
 
Two South Korean computer programmers have been arrested on suspicion
of sending out 1.6 billion spam e-mail messages in violation of the
country's commerce laws, police said on Tuesday.

The two men, one aged 20 and the other 26, are suspected of sending
out the unsolicited e-mail messages between September and December
last year in what police describe as one of the biggest spam blasts in
the country's history.

The two are suspected of obtaining personal and financial data from
12,000 South Koreans who responded to their spam messages. The pair
then sold information on those people to lending services firms in
return for 100 million won ($106,400), police said.

Police said they will soon turn over evidence on the pair, who were
not named, to prosecutors who will then tell the court what sort of
criminal penalties they are seeking against the two.

"This kind of spam mailing is causing enormous problems in South Korea
and we think these two are responsible for some of the biggest
abuses," a police official said by telephone.

Copyright 2007 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, 30 Jan 2007 16:04:06 -0600
From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Paris Hilton Sues Web Site Dispalying Her Property


Paris Hilton has sued to shut down a Web site that displays her
diaries, photos and other personal property in what lawyers for the
celebrity heiress call "one of the most reprehensible invasions of
privacy ever committed."

Hilton's lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Los Angeles on
Monday, says her belongings were taken from storage after a moving
company failed to pay the bill and pictures of them exhibited on the
Internet to anyone paying a $39.97 fee to the Web site
http://ParisExposed.com.

"This action seeks to enjoin perhaps one of the most single egregious
and reprehensible invasions of privacy ever committed against an
individual," Hilton's attorneys wrote in the lawsuit, which claims
copyright infringement, invasion of privacy and violation of her right
to publicity.

According to the lawsuit, the items were put in storage two years ago
by Hilton, 25, when she and her 23-year-old sister, Nicky, moved out
of their Los Angeles home, and that they arranged for a moving company
to handle the rent.

When the moving company neglected to pay the bills, the lawsuit says,
the contents of Hilton's storage locker were sold for $2,775 to
defendants Nabil and Nabila Haniss. They, in turn, sold Hilton's
belongings to Bardia Persa for $10 million, who displayed them on a
Web site called http://ParisExposed.com .

"I was appalled to learn that people are exploiting my and my sisters'
private personal belongings for commercial gain," Hilton, star of the
reality TV series "The Simple Life," said in a declaration attached to
the lawsuit.

Representatives for the defendants could not be reached for comment. 
The Web site was still operating on Tuesday.

Copyright 2007 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
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http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html

For more news and headlines, please go to:
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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:06:54 -0600
From: Jessica Mintz, AP  <ap@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Few Rush Out to Buy New Window Vista


By JESSICA MINTZ, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK - Consumers can finally get their hands on Microsoft Corp.'s
long-delayed Windows Vista, but unlike the mad midnight rushes
retailers saw with the recently released video game consoles, stores
saw only a trickle of early adopters Tuesday.

Retailers around the world held special midnight events Monday or
opened early Tuesday morning, as the Vista operating system and Office
2007 business software went on sale in 70 countries. Some stores,
including a Best Buy in midtown Manhattan, brought in extra employees
to handle pent-up demand for Vista.

At a CompUSA in San Jose, Calif., David Keller, a 40-year-old
information-technology consultant from Jacksonville, Fla., was among
the first in line to pick up a new Hewlett-Packard Co. laptop at
midnight (3 a.m. EST).

"I've been waiting and waiting, and I've been using my personal laptop
for work -- it's not working well," he said. "This is a big deal for
me.  I'll hopefully get the better performance that I need, and I
won't have to go through the trouble of upgrading later."

But at another CompUSA store in Raleigh, N.C., only about a dozen
people braved frigid late-night temperatures to stake their claim on a
copy of Vista.

This is the first time since 1995 that Microsoft simultaneously
released new versions of Windows and Office, the software package that
includes Word and Excel. Although the vast majority of people
worldwide still run Windows machines and use Word to type up
documents, the company faces growing competition from Linux
open-source operating systems and an array of free desktop or
Web-based programs for word processing, e-mail and other services.

Microsoft said PC users will want to upgrade to Vista for its 3-D user
interface and speedy desktop search function. The Redmond, Wash.,
software maker also touts Vista's improved security and parental
controls. For Office 2007, Microsoft tossed out familiar menus and
buttons and replaced them with a "ribbon" of settings that change
depending on a user's current task.

But consumers whose computers work fine with Windows XP, Vista's
five-year-old predecessor, may not see a compelling reason to
switch. Al Gillen, an analyst at technology research group IDC,
estimates it will take five to seven years before the majority of
systems running XP are retired.

Michael Bridges of Mabank, Texas, was the lone customer perusing the
sprawling display of Vista software and computers at a Fry's
Electronics store in Dallas on Tuesday morning.

Bridges, a 53-year-old who works in the highway construction business,
said he was curious to see the various editions of Vista but had no
immediate plans to buy a copy.

"Every time Windows comes out it has bugs," he said. "I don't want to
pay for that yet. I'll probably wait a couple of months."

Kathleen Calvin echoed those concerns as she left a Best Buy in
Brooklyn, Ohio, empty-handed.

"I just want to make sure it's something that's going to work well,"
she said.

During the past few weeks, shelves in the computer section at a Best
Buy in midtown New York have been essentially bare, as consumers lost
interest in laptops with XP and the retailer cleared space to sell new
machines running Vista, which imposes such hardware requirements as 1
gigabyte of system memory, or RAM.

Consumers who want to upgrade a relatively new XP computer can expect
to drop $100 to $259 for Vista alone, depending on the version (a
standalone version of Vista costs up to $399, but it is already
included in the price of new PCs). While Microsoft boasts that 1.5
million devices are Vista-compatible now, analysts warn of a
potentially rocky transition.

"The real proof I think is going to be in the first few weeks, where
we see if all the vendors really stepped up to getting their drivers
right," said Michael Silver, an analyst at Gartner, a research group.
"It is definite that some things won't work, especially if you're
trying to make an older PC learn new tricks."

But as in the past, most consumers will switch to Vista only when they
buy new computers, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Monday during a
launch-related event.

Microsoft shares fell 21 cents to $30.32 in afternoon trading Tuesday
on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Associated Press writers Elizabeth Dunbar in Raleigh, N.C., Matt
Slagle in Dallas, Jordan Robertson in San Francisco and Thomas
J. Sheeran in Brooklyn, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 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, 29 Jan 2007 18:40:40 EST
From: Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: Emergency Comms, was: Is Your Telephone AC Power Dependent?


In <telecom26.23.6@telecom-digest.org> T <nospam.kd1s@cox.nospam.net> writes:

  [ snip; just a bit left for some context ]

>> Doesn't the cell tower connect to the rest of the world via copper or
>> fiber feed ? How many of those towers have backup power ?  The
>> majority of tower sites in my rural area have 4 hours of battery
>> backup without an on site generator. After 4 hours you are SOL.

>> That's why our local ham radio repeater is located at one of the few
>> cell tower sites with a standby generator. We also have 48 hours of
>> battery backup.  Steve N2UBP

> Around here they don't bother putting backup power at most cell sites.
> When Nextel put one of their cell sites on the building we're in we
> offered them a tap off our generator but they didn't want it.

You think that's bad? How about the A Number One Key Emergency Radio
System, the one operated by the US Government specifically (in part)
as an emergency alert system, the one that many, make that MANY,
companies, people, utilities, governments, sirens, and _other_ radio
stations slave off of ...

    ... has NO backup power in 1/4 of its locations?

I'm referring to the NOAA (formerly "weather bureau")
radio network.

I noticed that their transmitters covering NYC were off the air in the
2003 blackout. I've been looking into this and have recently gotten
the figures that about _one quarter_ of their transmitters will go
dead when utility power cuts out.

Not very shmmmarrrtttt, is it.

_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
                      dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:05:04 EST
From: Danny Burstein <dannyb@panix.com>
Subject: NYS AG Spitzer ^h^h Cuomo vs. Nuisance/Adware


" NEW YORK, NY (January 29, 2007) - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo
today announced that New York has reached ground-breaking settlements
with three major online advertisers for promoting products and
services on the Internet through deceptively installed programs known
as 'adware.' The agreements, with Priceline.com Incorporated
('Priceline'), Travelocity.com LP ('Travelocity') and Cingular
Wireless LLC ('Cingular') mark the first time law enforcement has held
advertisers responsible for ads displayed through adware.

" 'Advertisers will now be held responsible when their ads end up on
consumers'computers without full notice and consent,' Cuomo
said. 'Advertisers can no longer insulate themselves from liability by
turning a blind eye to how their advertisements are delivered, or by
placing ads through intermediaries, such as media buyers. New Yorkers
have suffered enough with unwanted adware programs and this agreement
goes a long way toward clamping down on this odious practice.'

 		rest:

http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2007/jan/jan29b_07.html

_____________________________________________________
Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
 		     dannyb@panix.com
[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]

------------------------------

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Western Union Desk-Fax -- Discontinued?
Date: 30 Jan 2007 12:21:37 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


In the late 1940s Western Union introduced a small desk top sized
facsimile machine which was a major innovation for its day.  Before
that, fax machines were huge.

The goal was to replace telegraph messengers who were becoming quite
expensive and provide a faster service -- desk to desk.  Also, these
machines were cheaper than a Teletype.  The Western Union Tech Review
(on this website) has articles on the details of transmission.  A lot
of experimentation went into all facets of transmission issues to
maximize clarity and minimize errors.  I believe the document size was
rather small, about 4x6 inches.

I am not sure if the fax signal was analog, varying as the reading eye
moved across the line, or digital, with the line divided into tiny
segments.  A digital signal could be carried on low speed telegraph
lines and converted to paper tape but would be pretty slow.  I also
don't know how the messages were routed -- did the fax print out at a WU
switching center, read by a human, and re-transmitted to the
destination?  If so, was the fax resent, which would mean a very
coarse final result, or was the image stored on paper tape (as other
telegraph messages were) and resent that way?

(Western Union also handled larger size facsimile transmission, such
as weather maps for the US weather bureau and private line
transmissions, but that is separate*).

Anyway, in 1962 there were 38,000 Desk Fax terminals in operation.  
Obviously it was popular.

As voice-telephone line fax machines and cheaper long distance rates
came out the need for Desk Fax declined.  At some point Western Union
had to pull the plug on the service.  I tried searching for a
terminate date, but couldn't find any.  Would anyone know when WU
discontinued this particular service and how many terminals remained
in use?  Would anyone know any other details about the service?

*In 1962 W.U. had a "Public Wirefax" service, which cost $4.00 for a 
coast-to-coast 8x11" page transmission, additional pages at 65 cents.

------------------------------

Subject: CommunicationsDirect News Daily Update - January 30, 2007
From: communicationsdirect_daily" <communications@communicationsdirectnews.com>
Reply-To: communicationsdirect_daily-owner@communicationsdirectnews.com
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 11:31:59 EST


********************************
PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents
The CommunicationsDirect Daily Update
For January 30, 2007
********************************

Verizon Revenues Up but Profits Down
http://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/22406?11228

     Verizon has reported mixed results for the fourth quarter and
     year ending 2006, with revenues continuing to rise to US$22.6
     billion, up 26.1% from the fourth quarter of 2005, or US$88.1
     billion for the full year, up 26.8% from 2005. Net income for the
     fourth quarter has fallen to US$1.0 billion, hit by a number of
     factors including ...

Orange, Fujitsu Siemens Partner for Embedded-SIM Laptops
http://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/150/22403?11228

     Orange Business Services UK and Fujitsu Siemens have signed a
     deal to provide laptops equipped with embedded-SIM technology to
     enable users to access mobile data services without the need for
     external data cards. Under the deal, Fujitsu Siemens Computers
     will also provide access to both 3G and HSDPA, guaranteeing that
     the services will ...

Clever Mobile Enhancements on the Rise
http://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/150/22396?11228

     BOSTON -- The founders of Zink Imaging LLC believe they have two
     great ideas in one absolute show-stopper. They've created a
     portable device that makes it ultra-convenient to print photos
     from digital cameras and phones. And they designed it to use no
     ink.  That's not to say 'hardly any ink,' mind you, ...

EU Court Upholds Antitrust Fine on France Telecom's Wanadoo
http://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/130/22393?11228

     BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A European Union court on Tuesday upheld a
     E10 million (US$13 million) antitrust fine on France Telecom's
     Internet arm Wanadoo, saying the company abused its position to
     undercut rivals offering high-speed Internet services in an attempt
     to monopolise the market. EU regulators fined Wanadoo in 2003 ...

Motorola, Texas Instruments Add 3G, WiMAX and OMAP Technology to Relationship
http://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/22389?11228

     Motorola and Texas Instruments (TI) bank on the forecasts for 3G
     handsets and mobile WiMAX adoption with plans to develop mobile
     devices optimized for wireless consumption.  Building on a
     strategic partnership already in place, Motorola and TI plan to
     include 3G, WiMAX and OMAP technology in developing a new breed
     of mobile devices ...

Time Warner to Expand Start Over
http://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/22384?11228

     Time Warner Cable Inc. says it will offer its Start Over service
     to a dozen more areas by the end of the year, extending its reach
     to 18 markets.  Start Over allows digital cable subscribers to
     restart specially enabled shows already in progress just by using
     their cable remote controls. Like a full-fledged DVR, the service
     also lets ...

One Console, Many Networks
http://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/22379?11228

     Expanding its product range to encompass service providers
     building large municipal wireless networks, AirWave Wireless
     Inc. today said it is releasing the fifth generation of its
     flagship network-management software. The new Wireless Management
     Suite Version 5.0, says COO Greg Murphy, is the first program to
     comprehensively manage WiFi, ...

Silver Peak Pockets $17M
http://www.communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/22376?11228

     Silver Peak Systems, a startup swimming in a sea of bigger WAN
     accelerator competitors, picked up $17 million in funding
     today. Silver Peak's second funding round in a year -- and third
     overall -- brings its total to $42 million, as it tries to cash
     in on large firms' desire to improve application performance in
     branch ...

Your feedback on our e-letter is always welcome. Send email to:
CommunicationsDirect Editor <telecom_direct_editor@us.pwc.com>

Copyright (C) 2007 PricewaterhouseCoopers.

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 13:12:22 CST
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Verizon Bundles Cell Use With TV, and Landline


USTelecom dailyLead
January 30, 2007
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/gcsIfDtusXlnjzCibuddFaKS

TODAY'S HEADLINES


NEWS OF THE DAY
* Verizon bundles cell use with TV, landline and Internet
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Verizon announces 4th quarter results
* C-COR, Comcast Media Center offer VOD service to small operators
* The selling of Windows Vista
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* China skips ahead to 4G
* MTV looks to a virtual future
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* News Corp. and Liberty seek FCC approval on deal

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others.
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/gcsIfDtusXlnjzCibuddFaKS

------------------------------

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: AT&T 'Family' Reunion: Merger Approved
Date: 30 Jan 2007 13:59:01 -0800


Some recent news motivated me to bring this issue up again.

Back on Jan 3, 12:24 pm, Fred Goldstein
<fgoldstein.SeeSigSpamb...@wn2.wn.net> wrote:

I had previously written:

>> 1) Wireless and cable competition.  Very simply, it is not a "monopoly"
>> anymore so it should not be treated as such.  (The past status doesn't
>> matter, "today" is what counts).  Many people use cable and/or wireless
>> for their plain telephone service needs as well as advanced
>> communications.  It appears this is growing.

Fred replied:  (much snipped)

> There is a duopoly (cable/ILEC) in most areas, simply because past
> FCCs have been prescient enough to recognize that keeping the two
> industries separate was probably a good idea.  It is inefficient to
> have two outside plants, but until recently, they were technologically
> distinct and thus non-overlapping.
 
 ...

> Of course.  At least we do have duopoly in some places, rather than
> pure monopoly.  But while duopoly reduces the temptation to commit the
> most egregious abuses of monopoly pricing, it can get a little cozy.

In essence, Fred argues that the successor Bell System companies still 
have to this day considerable power and thus need to be regulated.

I still don't agree.  In today's paper, they announced that Verizon's 
local customers DECLINED.  This is the first time since the Depression 
that basic telephone customers were lost.

Unlike the Depression, when people simply couldn't afford a phone, 
people today communicate more than ever.  They're using competing 
services, not Verizon.  Clearly, Verizon is no longer a monopoly or 
has such power in the market, otherwise, it would be continuing to add 
customers.

To me, we risk screwing businesses as railroads were screwed in the 
1950s and 1960s.  In those days, the regulators and public saw the 
railroads as monopolies and very powerful organizations.  But the 
railroads faced tough competition from highways and airways that the 
regulators and public ignored.  The power the railroads enjoyed was 
long gone 50 years prior.

It's the same with the modern telephone industry.  I'm sorry, but in 
my opinion the overall tone of Fred's full reply to me suggests the 
same mindsight -- the anti-Bell System attitude of the past.

In the railroad world, the people who still depended on railroads for 
freight and passenger carriage were hurt by the carriers going 
bankrupt.  This was caused in part by mandated low rates and 
unprofitable services.  For example, Fred says the Bells don't have to 
carry deadbeats, but as I read multiple state rulings and comments by 
telco employees, the former Bell companies are forced to eat a lot of 
writeoffs from non paying customers because they're not allowed to cut 
service so easily and must provide service to bad credit risks.  
Another example is introducing or discontinuing services--the former 
Bell companies must spend a fortune on lawyers, writing tarrifs, and 
PUC hearings while the new guys do none of that.  My local library has 
Bell tarrifs on file.  Will I find Vonnage tarffis there?  I don't 
think so.

[public replies, please]

------------------------------


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End of TELECOM Digest V26 #31
*****************************