TELECOM Digest     Tue, 3 Apr 2007 20:55:00 EDT    Volume 26 : Issue 91

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson
   
    Fred Phelps Fax Machine Antics (Patrick Townson)
    Slow DSL / Quest and Local ISP (Michel)
    CommunicationsDirect News Daily Update - (communicationsdirect)
    FCC Adopts New Pretexting Rules (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Child Playing With Phone Dials 911; Mother Arrested (Reuters News)
    Re: Judge Hits Vonage With Injuction; Stop Using (Lisa Hancock)

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Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 17:10:53 -0500
From: editor <ptownson@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Fred Phelps Fax Machine Antics


Dear Mr. Townson:

I am employed as a spokesperson and administrator for Sweden's royal
family. Is it possible that your newsletter readers can help? I can
confirm that American preacher Rev Fred Phelps has been faxing hate
messages to us frequently, calling us 'gay faggots' and worse.

As you may know, Phelps and his Westboro Baptist church are best known
for their "God Hates Fags" campaigns in the United States.

They were the subject of a BBC2 documentary by Louis Theroux broadcast
a few days ago.

I think that Rev Phelps has taken against Sweden after an outspoken
minister here, Ake Green, was convicted of inciting hatred of gay
people following a homophobic sermon. His sermon caused some
misconduct by our people, both regular citizens and gay people
alike, in a shouting and pushing match by everyone angry and
fighting. 

Since that time, Rev Phelps has picked on our fax machine with
messages such as, "You're doomed to spend eternity in hell, where
all gay faggots will go". That message comes over and over again
on our machine. 

"All you Swede faggots and your Swedish king and his family." (who
is my employer). Rev Phelps has claimed we are "all ignorant 
bastards bound straight for hell."

I know that this is happening all the time. There have been many other
strange faxes containing all sorts of terms of abuse. Every day there
are more faxes.  What can I do to protect my employer and his family
from being forced to receive these things?

Nina Eldh
Court Spokeswoman


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The Westboro Baptist church has
protested at over 100 funerals of soldiers killed in the line of duty
in Iraq.

Their campaign,  called "Thank  God for Improvised  Explosive Devices"
involves protesters holding up signs and chanting slogans such as "God
Hates Fags," "America is Doomed"  and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" at
the widows of the servicemen. They seem to delight in hurting and
upsetting soldiers, marines and their families.

Unfortunatly, Nina, I do not think Sweden has any law on its books
which pertain to unsolicited faxes as we do here in the USA. You may
wish to ask your legislature to consider such a law. Our laws against
unsolicited faxes were primarily intended against privacy intrusions
of a commercial nature and to protect against recipients of same being
forced to waste paper and ink, and they seem to be generally obeyed,
but some people continue to ignore the laws here as well. There are
some guerilla tactics used in this country by unwanted fax recipients
such as returning the material with a lot more but you need to know
precisely what telephone number is being used to originate the
nuisance. Their telephones, computer lines and fax equipment are all
set up to totally reject _deliberatly anonymous_ (i.e. *67 type)
communications and legal actions against Phelps are almost impossible
to win, and they (legal actions) are filed with regularity by Phelps
Chartered, the family's law practice.

Police official Ed Klumpp, one of the five Topeka police officers
allowed to publicly discuss WBC or Phelps, says officials can do
little other than police the pickets for violence or other
lawbreaking. In fact, Klumpp says he often recommends that communities
facing Phelps pickets concentrate on preventing potential violence
 from counter-demonstrators. "Phelps' people are most careful to avoid
actually breaking _any_ law," he noted.  "Most Topeka, KS police
officers have been forbidden by our city to speak about Phelps (when a
reasonable person might assume the speaker was speaking/acting under
the law, i.e.  uniform or badge or 'official authority'); those few of
us permitted by the city of Topeka to discuss Phelps do so by guarding
our words very closely.  We watch him very closely for _any_ legal
infraction, of which we have seen none."  We watch the counter-
demonstrators equally of course. That is _all_ we are allowed to do."

So, Nina, be glad that you are removed from the USA, I suppose. We
here in Kansas look at Fred with mortification usually; we feel
embarassed for him, since he feels no shame on his own. I 
suggest you ask your telecom /postal authorities to try and help
you idiot-proof your fax machine; require a password to recieve/
send a fax; use telco custom calling features to block out unwanted
calls, etc.  Thanks for writing. PAT]  

(Nina enclosed a photograph of the Swedish royal family and herself
when she wrote.)  PAT]

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

From: mgrahm@tribcsp.com <mgrahm@trib.com>
Subject: Slow DSL / Qwest and Local ISP
Date: 3 Apr 2007 12:16:40 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Hi all,

I am posting this message, as I recently upgraded my DSL service
through Qwest and my local ISP. After doing this my connection speed
seemed to improve greatly. Over the past few weeks this speed has gone
downhill. I did speak to a tech support guy with my ISP last week and
he had me reset my modem. That seemed to increased the speed for a few
days. Earlier today my connection seemed very slow, so I did a modem
reset and now of course the speed has improved again. Just wondering
if there is something else I can do to the modem, so that I don't have
reset it when a snail takes over the connection.

Thanks in advance,

Michael

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

Subject: CommunicationsDirect News Daily Update
From: communicationsdirect <communicationsdirect@communications.com>
Reply-To: communicationsdirect_daily-owner@communicationsdirectnew.com>
Date: Tue,  3 Apr 2007 11:50:41 EDT


********************************
PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents
The CommunicationsDirect Daily Update
For April 03, 2007
********************************

CWTA to Host AWS Spectrum Forum
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/23598?11228

     The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) is
     set to host a forum on 23 April as part of Industry Canada's
     consultation on the auction process for spectrum in the 2GHz
     range, with the auction process expected to begin in early 2008,
     when a total of 105MHz of spectrum will be sold in frequency
     ranging from 1710 MHz to ..

Tutorial: Voice-over-Digital Subscriber Line (VoDSL) Service
New Revenue from Existing Infrastructure
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/140/23592?11228

     The combined forces of deregulation and broadband local-loop
     technologies such as digital subscriber line (DSL) have created
     unprecedented opportunities for service providers of all types to
     maximize their revenues by offering new and exciting
     services. One of the greatest of these opportunities is presented
     by voice over DSL (VoDSL) ...

Seeking to Spur New Revenue, Wireless Industry Brings TV to Cell Phones
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/150/23590?11228

     ORLANDO, Florida -- Try shopping for a 'Watchman' on Sony's Web
     site, and all you'll find is music. Though the company kept
     making the handheld TV for two decades, it never caught on like
     the Walkman, or, more recently, the iPod.  Yet it was earlier
     this decade, right about the same time that Sony ...

AT&T, America Movil in talks with Pirelli
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/23587?11228

     Italian conglomerate Pirelli, a group with a stake in everything
     from tires to telecom, entered into exclusive talks yesterday
     with AT&T and Mexican mobile phone operator America Movil to sell
     60% of its shares in the Italian holding company Olimpia. Pirelli
     indirectly controls an 18% interest in Telecom Italia through its
     80% stake ...

Cisco Creates Russian Investment Fund
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/23585?11228

     Cisco Systems Inc. has set up a 'venture capital initiative' to
     invest in startups and local investment funds in Russia, and has
     already pumped some cash into a Russian e-commerce Website, the
     company announced Tuesday.&nbsp; The vendor, which has already
     hired a Moscow-based investment manager, is looking for...

European Satellite Concerns Plan Telecom/Broadband Initiatives
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/130/23583?11228

     OHB-System AG of Germany inked a deal with the European Space
     Agency (ESA) to develop a European Small Geostationary Satellite
     platform for telecommunications missions.  According to
     TelecomWeb news break sister e-letter Satellite Today, the
     contract, $133.4 million, covers the first part of an initiative
     aimed at developing a ...

Insider: Location Finds Itself
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/23580?11228

     Location applications for mobile phones are undergoing a
     resurgence because of the availability of cheap global
     positioning system (GPS) chips and an influx of new companies
     getting into the market, according to the latest edition of the
     Unstrung Insider.  In the new report, Mobile Location Services:
     Keys to Mass-Market Success, ...

Wireless/Cable Joint Venture Duels with Telcos for US 
Consumer Telecom Bundles
http://communicationsdirectnews.com/do.php/120/23578?11228

     SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Telco and cable company bundles including
     broadband have very high penetration at near 60%, suggesting that
     further growth in bundle services may be limited, reports
     In-Stat.  However, one-third of respondents to an In-Stat
     consumer survey who plan to purchase a bundle within the coming
     year hope to include ...

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, 3 Apr 2007 12:33:46 CDT
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: FCC Adopts New Pretexting Rules


USTelecom dailyLead
April 3, 2007
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/gAnsfDtusXoXgDCibuddjJfQ


TODAY'S HEADLINES


NEWS OF THE DAY
* FCC adopts new pretexting rules
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Verizon supports DSL customers with new PC service
* AT&T seeks partnership with Telecom Italia
* Virgin TV offers Freeview box to customers
* Vonage delays filing its annual report
* Sprint takes timetable pressure off president search
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* USTelecom Calls Pretexting Order "Anti-Consumer"
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* Rogers brings video calls to mobile users
* Analysis: Unbundled DSL can pay off
* Jobs not in favor of video DRM lift
IP DOWNLOAD
* New England Sports Network arrives on FiOS

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

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

Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:56:22 -0500
From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org>
Subject: Child Playing With Phone Dials 911; Mother Arrested


Child playing with phone dials 911; mother arrested on outstanding
warrants
 
NORTH BAY, Ont. (CP) -- A North Bay, Ont. woman is in custody on
outstanding arrest warrants after her six-year-old child accidentally
summoned police.  Police say the child was playing with the telephone
and dialed 911 on Monday while the woman was asleep.

After arriving at the home and determining the 911 call was a false
alarm, officers ran a computer check on the mother.  They discovered
she was wanted on outstanding arrest warrants for failing to appear in
court and for possession of stolen property.  The woman remains in
custody waiting for a bail hearing.  No names have being
released. (CKAT)

Copyright 2007, Reuters

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Judge Hits Vonage With Injuction; Stop Using
Date: 2 Apr 2007 20:23:21 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Scott Dorsey wrote:

> The difference between this situation and the current situation is
> that in 1957, the patent office had inspectors who were familiar
> with the technology, and who would reject attempts to patent devices
> that did not work, or which had become part of standard industry
> techniques decades beforehand.

I am not an expert on patent law.  But I've read some things that
makes me question the above.

There are two excellent histories of IBM published by MIT Press,
"IBM's Early Computers" and "IBM's 360 and early 370 computers".  I
recommend them.

Anyway, these books go into quite of bit of detail over patents, what
IBM could get, what it couldn't get, what it was forced to engineer
around, what it had pay through the nose for license rights, etc.  All
these stories, covering not only computers, but components,
manufacturing, chemistry, and physics, seem to me to relate very well
to the situation of today.

Researchers filed for hundreds of patents, most of which would never
be of any value.  But that's what researchers did.  Even in WW II
secret research labs arranged for patents out of stuff that was
discovered (see Feynman "Surely you're joking").

As to patent examiners being familiar with the technology in 1957, I'm
not sure that was the case either.  Technology was exploding in the
postwar era.  Many big companies maintained research staffs and were
patenting things like crazy.  Just handling the IBM, Bell Labs, RCA,
and other electronics patents alone was enormous.  Everything related
to computers was brand new; how would examiners know what existed?
They were going from improved radio tubes to integrated circuit trips.
I can't help but wonder if the patent office was overwhelmed in the
1950s.

Patents then were also quite controversial.  Who held the rights to
core memory?  Several inventors, big litigation.  Who held the rights
to the first computer?  Eckert-Mauchly had to fight it out with
Atansoff-Berry.  Earlier, some television and FM radio patents were
disputed for years.

I think it's important to note that IBM and Bell Labs were under
consent decrees where they were obligated to license out their patents
for a reasonable sum.  If we were still in the regulated era. Verizon
would be obligated to do likewise and this Vonage problem wouldn't
have come up at all because Vonage would be allowed to use Verizon
patents.  My continuing point is that society chose to dump the
regulated era.

> Today, we have the additional issue that the patent office does not
> have enough inspectors with actual familiarity with software
> technology or with algorithms.  This is how Microsoft can get away
> with patenting the ring buffer, a data structure used at least as
> early as the CDC 6000.

Why didn't CDC patent it?  As mentioned, these companies had large
patent staffs and filed for whatever they could, even if it seemed
worthless or trivial at the time.  Some old IBM materials research
patents turned out valuable years later for chip construction.  Some
stuff IBM patented from the SSEC, which was obsolete the day it was
born, proved to be valuable later on as well.

> We currently have a situation where huge numbers of obviously
> invalid patents are being issued, and there is no way for the
> patents to be declared so without going to court.  And once it comes
> time to go to court, sadly it tends to be a situation of the person
> with the most money winning.

I won't deny money helps a lot, but let's be clear Vonage is not a
single guy working out of his garage; it's a large ongoing concern
with plenty of resources.  And let's not forget the huge AT&T lost in
court to pipsqueak MCI over cream skimming.

The other issue that troubles me greatly is the claim that lay juries
aren't capable to judge this stuff.  Here's why I question that claim:

When I was in college, I had an excellent comp-sci teacher for
application design.  When we wrote up a proposal, he mandated that (1)
absolutely no buzzwords were to be used, (2) that it'd be in plain
English, and (3) any claims of "improved" had to be carefully
quantified.  We also had to provide for any troubles and how our
system would in the end be superior to whatever was being done now.
We found out it was a lot harder to do that than we expected.  But it
made us much better designers.  I wonder if others had that kind of
training.

Any lawyer with half a brain engaged by a technology company, like
Vonage, should be able to explain technical stuff in layman's terms.
Everyday people know what a table and a directory are.  We've all used
a telephone book, for example.  If Verizon patented a certain kind of
directory structure (e.g. "using thumbcut indexes"), explain it.
(Oddly, in this discussion, no one has referred to the actual patent
text and bothered to explain it in simple English).  Let's remember
that one of Franklin Roosevelt's successes was being able to explain
complex issues so that the common man could understand him.  "Would
you haggle about loan terms if your neighbor needed your hose to put
out a fire?"  FDR's big advantage over Herbert Hoover was FDR's great
communication skills and Hoover's lack thereof.  (Hoover was spending
a lot of money to alleviate the Depression, but no one knew it.)

Like I said, I'm not a patent expert.  There's a lot of things -- now
and in the past -- that were very trivial yet patened and lucrative
for the inventor.  A colleague went to the patent site and just for
laughs looked up "athletic supporter".  Turned out there were quite a
few modern patents on it.  I don't know what for.

As to the issues in question here, why didn't whoever was the first to
develop them patent them?  As I said, missing the boat on patents is
not anything new.  IBM failed to patent or copyright some very
valuable developments in the 1950s and they lost out accordingly.  If
IBM missed the boat, certainly Vonage could've also.

At the same time, supposedly patented IBM technology was easily
circumvented.  IBM invested a heck of a lot of money into development
high speed disk packs and disk drives for its System/360 and other
companies, helped by ex-IBM employees, copied them and sold them,
undercutting IBM.  That wa easy to do since they didn't have to cover
the R&D.  RCA's Spectra was a clone of IBM's System/360.  How the heck
did they get away with that?  They obviously did.

Fred Goldstein wrote:

> The key here is that the patents should not have been granted,
> because they lacked the originality and non-obviousness that are
> both requirements of patents.  The problem is that the Patent Office
> doesn't pay much attention to prior art other than patents or
> published journal articles.  Common knowledge and usage doesn't
> count.

Well, that's your personal opinion, obviously the court didn't agree.

In my personal opinion, it was wrong for MCI to skim of the most
profitable toll service while leaving AT&T with mandated low rates for
high cost toll service.  Obviously the court didn't agree.  The courts
don't always do what we think they should.

> but you worship at the altar of infallible incumbent LECs.

The traditional Bell companies are certainly not infailable.  But they
have a good track record.  And yes, I most certainly do support them,
and here's why:

As a customer, I obviously want the most bang for the buck.  I've got
enough gray hair to know there's no such thing as a free lunch, and
something too good to be true usually is.

I've seen many newcomers come into the marketplace with whiz-bang
products and services.  Almost always they were over hyped and the
disadvantages carefully masked over.  Some discount products were fine
(a la fast food) if you knew what you were getting and content with
that.  But some consumer foods were rather unhealthy, thank goodness
the govt mandated "nutrition labels" on foods so we can see how much
added sugar and salt and other crap they threw in.

As to telecom, naturally I want to save money.  I tried VOIP and it
sucked.  I've tried other products, other services.  If they work out
better, great (I like Panasonic equipment, for example).  But so often
in telecom the claims were hollow.  I couldn't get through to customer
service, the rates had some pretty nasty micro-fine print, etc.  The
wireless industry pushed digital on us, and we customers learned later
it wasn't "better" for us, it was actually worse than analog.  In long
distance there was lots of crap pulled, still being pulled.  (I don't
know why Verizon pay phones in NYC offer 25c coin long distance but
elsewhere require a calling card and if you just dial 0+ the rates are
enormous.)

So, sure Verizon isn't perfect, but I'll take them over these other
fly-by-night outfits.  They provide me good service at a fair price.

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


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*****************************