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TELECOM Digest     Fri, 22 Apr 2005 17:35:00 EDT    Volume 24 : Issue 179

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Widespread Internet Attack Cripples Computers with Spyware (Lisa Minter)
    Dead Marine's E-Mail Raises Legal Issues (Lisa Minter)
    Target, Yahoo in Online Picture Developing Pact (Lisa Minter)
    Vonage Solves Clearwire Blocking Problem; Asks Feds to Help (J. Decker)
    Basics of COT (Ignorance Is Bliss)
    Answer a Waiting call on Definity (srinidhi104@gmail.com)
    Re: New Spam Scam Exploits Pope's Death (Steve Sobol)
    Re: Getting Serious About the War on Spam (Steve Sobol)
    Re: Getting Serious About the War on Spam (news01@jmatt.net)
    Re: AOL to Block Identity Theft Sites (David B. Horvath)
    Re: New Technology Poses 911 Peril VOIP Not Part of Emergency (Garland)
    Re: SBC, Vonage Working on 911 Service Access Deal (Tim@Backhome.org)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
Internet.  All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and
the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other
journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are
included in the fair use quote.  By using -any name or email address-
included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article
herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the
email.

               ===========================

Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be
sold or given away without explicit written consent.  Chain letters,
viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome.

We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we
are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because
we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands
against crime.   Geoffrey Welsh

               ===========================

See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details
and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest.  

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

Date: 22 Apr 2005 12:35:19 -0700
From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Widespread Internet Attack Cripples Computers With Spyware


WASHINGTON, D.C.-- An insidious new Internet attack that hijacks a
victim's Internet connection and stealthily installs a barrage of
adware and spyware is targeting businesses and organizations across
the United States.  

The two-pronged attack, which has been ongoing since early March, has
afflicted an estimated 20,000 computers, according to Ken Dunham,
director of malicious code at IDefense, a Virginia-based Internet
security company.

It starts with an assault known as DNS poisoning: Domain name system
servers, which guide Internet traffic, are fooled into directing
anyone heading to any.com Web site -- for example, www.cnn.com or
www.americanexpress.com -- to a malicious Web site that the attackers
control. That Web site then surreptitiously installs a wide range of
adware and spyware on the victim's computer.

Companies suffer from the attack in a number of ways. First, the
Internet connection for anyone using the poisoned DNS server -- often
the entire company in the case of smaller businesses -- is completely
disrupted. All Web traffic and e-mail trying to go to any.com site
gets hijacked for as long as the DNS server remains compromised.

"Even after the DNS server is fixed, the company has to clean the
adware and spyware from any affected computers, an onerous task that
can keep IT people like David Parsons, who supports about 7000 people
in his help-desk job at a Boston hospital, extremely busy. Parsons
says his hospital was "slammed for about two days straight" by the DNS
poisoning attacks starting March 29. Physician and patient records 
were affected, as were 'more trivial' functions.

Dunham conservatively estimates that 3000 DNS servers at a range of
U.S. companies, including at least two with more than 8000 employees,
were compromised over the past month.

"It's a very sophisticated attack," Dunham says. His company sent
out a high-level threat warning to its clients, which includes Fortune
500 companies and government organizations. 

Dunham notes that both DNS poisoning attacks and the types of spyware
and adware involved have been around for some time. But, he says,
"this [attack] certainly is unprecedented in terms of the methodology
and the sheer scope of adware and spyware installed."

However, Web surfers at home generally are not vulnerable to this
type of attack. Most ISPs use a type of DNS server called BIND, which
is not directly affected by attempts at DNS poisoning. But older BIND
servers can contribute to the problem by passing the attack along to
vulnerable Windows DNS servers.

How It Works

"It took us a little while to figure this one out," says Kyle
Haugsness at the Internet Storm Center, who has been tracking the
attacks since they first began and wrote a report about them for the
ISC.

Haugsness doesn't have a total count of the different organizations
that have been compromised, but he says that about 500 organizations
were hit within the first six days, including a few small not for
profit sites.

Every computer has to talk to a DNS server to know how to get anywhere
on the Internet, and almost every company network has its own DNS
server. When a server is poisoned, it's effectively tricked into
sending someone who types in a.com URL to the attacker's Web site
instead.

That Web site checks to see if the victim is using Internet Explorer,
and if so, it tries to install a huge amount of adware and
spyware. Its attempts work if you haven't kept your copy of IE
updated. Dunham says the software installed includes known Trojan
horses like Krepper, and adware such as 180solutions and Coolwebsearch
 -- about 18MB of unwanted software in all.

The apps can pop up advertisements on your system and change your IE
settings. They can also send user information, such as keywords from
searches, to the apps' designers.

"All the installation is done silently, in the background, with no
user interaction," says Dunham.

Whether or not the malicious Web site succeeds in installing any
spyware or adware, the victim ends up at two Web sites in separate
windows that look like search engines and have a multitude of links to
advertisers. Until the DNS server is fixed, any attempt to go to
any.com Web site ends up right back at those two sites.

According to Haugsness's report, the DNS cache poisoning affects some
Windows NT 4 and DNS servers, and Symantec firewalls that use
DNS. Both have released patches for the vulnerable products.

What You Can Do

The bad news is that there's not much you can do personally to guard
your work computer from being affected by DNS poisoning. You have no
good way to avoid using DNS or to protect yourself if your company's
DNS servers have been hit. Your IT department must make sure your DNS
servers are not vulnerable.

But you can protect yourself against the malicious software installs
by making sure your version of Internet Explorer is up-to-date with
all current patches. Other browsers, such as Firefox are not
vulnerable to such installs.

If you've already been hit with spyware and adware by this attack or
some other method, consult Steve Bass's helpful advice for cleaning
your computer.

What's Behind It

Joe Stewart, a senior threat researcher at LURHQ, a South
Carolina-based Internet security company that independently studied
these attacks, the Web site redirection involved and the links in the
two apparent Web search pages that resulted. Stewart found that
clicking on one of the advertiser links in either of the sites sends
information to Findwhat.com, an Internet marketing company that counts
pay-per-click advertising as a big part of its business. The
information sent includes one of two account numbers. That sent number
notifies Findwhat to transfer payment to that particular account.

So, according to Stewart, the attack is all about money. The adware
and spyware generates revenue in much the same way as pay-per-click
links do with a variety of different companies, he says. Once you
click on an advertisement in a pop-up, someone else gets paid.

According to Findwhat spokesperson Michelle Craft, her company started
a comprehensive inquiry when it was notified about LURHQ's
report. Findwhat discovered that those behind the DNS poisoning
attacks were affiliates of two Findwhat account holders.

"Both of the traffic sources mentioned in the LURHQ report were
immediately terminated by the applicable [account holders] and are no
longer able to access Findwhat.com's advertisers," Craft
says. Advertisers who paid as a result of victims' clicks have gotten
their money back, she adds.

Craft declines to provide any further information on the Findwhat
account holders, and says Findwhat doesn't have any more information
on the attackers.

The Global Internet

But there may be other clues as to who's behind the attacks. The
malicious spyware installs come from an Internet site whose name
includes the word _vparivalka_. Important note: Do not try to point
your browser to the 'vparivalka' site, as it may try to install a
large amount of difficult-to-remove adware and spyware on your PC.
It is recommended that _all users_ -- both big and small -- block
out 'vparivalka' to prevent their computers from going to it.

According to Irine Sakk, a native Russian speaker in Northwestern
University's Department of Linguistics, _vparivalka_ is a Russian
slang word with connotations of fraud and cheating. Depending on
context, she says, it can mean giving someone something they didn't
want, when they were expecting something else.

The ISP responsible for the current IP address used by vparivalka.org
is based in the Ukraine and does not list any contact information on
its Web site, which says it is "under construction."

Internet Pain

Although LURHQ's Stewart has worked with FBI agents investigating
other attacks in the past, he doesn't know of any investigations into
these attacks, and doesn't expect to see one.

"We have a hard enough time getting law enforcement to pay attention"
to seriously destructive viruses, he says.

But attacks like these are "really becoming more of a problem for the
end user than, say, viruses or phishing or the other things getting
the headlines," he says. By throwing up unwanted pop-ups, hijacking
Web connections, and slowing computers to a crawl, they are "making
the experience of using the Internet painful, and causing the Internet
to be almost useless to a large number of users."
    
Copyright 2005 by PC World Communications, 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. Discuss this article and the effects of malicious
behavior and spamming on the net in our conference room 24/7 at
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html

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

Date: 22 Apr 2005 12:37:42 -0700
From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Dead Marine's E-Mail Raises Legal Issues


By ADRIENNE SCHWISOW, Associated Press Writer

Yahoo Inc. may have resolved its dispute with a family over accessing
the e-mail account of a Marine killed in Iraq, but legal experts say 
the fight may continue for a long time. .

John Ellsworth sought his son's e-mails after Lance Cpl. Justin
Ellsworth was killed Nov. 13 while inspecting a bomb in Iraq. But the
father didn't know his son's password, and Yahoo said it couldn't
break its confidentiality agreement with the Marine.

The family was granted access this week after an Oakland County
probate judge ordered Yahoo to do so. Yahoo had said all along that it
would comply with any such order.

Henry H. Perritt Jr., a professor and expert in cyberlaw at the
Chicago-Kent College of Law, said he knows of no other case where
battles over a dead person's e-mail have gone to court, but he expects
to see more, especially as long as our troops are getting killed
almost daily in Iraq.

"I think that as it is now, the service providers for the most part
just hand it over when they've established death and that someone is
the administrator of the estate," Perritt said Thursday. "But they are
really just beginning to think about this."

Other e-mail service providers, including America Online Inc.,
EarthLink Inc., and Microsoft Corp., which runs Hotmail, have
provisions for transferring accounts upon proof of death and identity
as next of kin. AOL says it gets dozens of such requests a day.

Yahoo's policy, however, states that accounts terminate at death.

Yahoo said it has complied with court orders in a handful of similar
situations, but has not changed its policies on privacy.

"We are pleased that the court has issued an order resolving this
matter, satisfying Mr. Ellsworth's request as representative of his
son's estate, and allowing Yahoo to continue to uphold our privacy
commitment to our users," spokeswoman Mary Osako said.

John Ellsworth had argued that his son would have wanted him to have
the account. The Marine told his dad that kind e-mails kept him going,
and his family wanted to make a scrapbook out of them.

His father now is wading  through tons of spam from mortgage companies
and online dating services; porn and scams from people who single out
our troops, taking advantage of their lonely situation.

Here and there among the volumes of spam, scams and porn, he finds an
encouraging letter from people his son didn't even know; people who
write thoughtful, helpful letters to the troops to show them
encouragement.

"Those few decent letters are a great comfort," Ellsworth told Detroit
radio station WJR.

The Sunnydale, Calif., company's willingness to work with the
family isn't surprising considering that many Internet service
providers still are trying to figure out the best way to handle such
situations, said Julie E. Cohen, a professor of cyberlaw and
intellectual property at Georgetown University Law Center.

Though e-mails are akin to medical and financial records that
executors routinely access to administer the estates of the deceased,
Cohen said, service providers may have been slower to catch up in
realizing the importance of making e-mails available.

Perritt agreed with the family's contention that accessing e-mail is
similar to accessing a safe deposit box.

"I don't see any reason why e-mail should be different from any other
kind of property," he said. "But it's a new twist on an old issue,
particularly with the huge number of troops being sent back home
dead."

Copyright 2005 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. Chat about this report and other news with other
readers in our conference area.
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/chatpage.html 

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

Date: 22 Apr 2005 12:30:31 -0700
From: Lisa Minter <lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com>
Subject: Target, Yahoo in Online Picture Developing Pact


Yahoo Inc. said on Thursday it has launched an online photo service
with Target Corp.  that this fall will enable consumers to order
prints of their digital pictures for pick up at a Target store.

The site, Target Yahoo Photos http://www.target.com/yahoophotos,
extends Yahoo's existing online photo site.

The new site gives consumers unlimited photo storage and tools for
sharing pictures via e-mail and other means. Users will have the
option of picking up their photos, printing them at home or having
them delivered by mail.

Some 1.3 billion pictures were transmitted, or "uploaded," to online
photo sites from personal computers in 2004.

Leading sites include Eastman Kodak's photo service, privately held
Shutterfly, and Snapfish, which was recently bought by printer and
computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co., Shutterfly, Snapfish and other
online photo developing services mail photos to their customers.

Research firm IDC predicts that the so-called Internet-to-retail
market is going to double to about &#36;1 billion in 2008.<p />In
Internet-to-retail, users upload pictures to Web sites run by such
companies as Wal-Mart or Ritz Cameras, which are both powered by Kodak
rival Fuji Photo Film Co. Ltd.  (4901.T).

Elsewhere, Google Inc.'s Picasa photo site allows users to send or
order prints from a variety of providers including Snapfish and
Wal-Mart.

Copyright 2005 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.

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

From: Jack Decker <jack-yahoogroups@withheld_on_request>
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 14:25:34 -0400
Subject: Vonage Solves Clearwire Blocking Problem, Asks Feds For Help


http://rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=22336

By Heather Forsgren Weaver

WASHINGTON-Vonage Holding Co., the largest independent Voice over
Internet Protocol provider, has solved the problem at least one
customer was having when Clearwire Corp. blocked access to Vonage's
VoIP service, said Jeffrey Citron, Vonage chief executive officer, on
Capitol Hill Tuesday. Clearwire is a new wireless Internet service
venture backed by cellular pioneer Craig McCaw.

Citron said Vonage is still investigating what remedies it has against
Clearwire because Clearwire is an information service.

The debate about what constitutes an information service vs. what
makes a telecom service has ramifications for everything with
requirements about open access, universal service, enhanced 911 and
law-enforcement surveillance.

Full story at:
http://rcrnews.com/news.cms?newsId=22336

How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html

If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/

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

From: Ignorance Is Bliss <ignoranz.z.bliz@gmail.com>
Subject: Basics of COT
Date: 22 Apr 2005 07:11:09 -0700


Hello,

I am new to Telecom and trying get a very basic understanding of
Signaling and etc.

Could somebody please explain (or point to some URL/book/spec) me about
COT test?

Is there any good book that covers these basics?

Thanks,

Jay

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

From: srinidhi104@gmail.com
Subject: Answer a Waiting call on Definity
Date: 21 Apr 2005 22:56:46 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Hi,

My Definity has call waiting facility enabled. If I am on a call and If
I have a call waiting for me, If I press Flash button (gives dialtone)
and then #9, I get connected to the waiting call after putting the 1st
call on hold.To return to the 1st call, I need to give the exact
sequence again. However, If I just press the cradle, I directly get
connected to the waiting call without the 1st call being put on hold.

Can anyone help me out in figuring what Configurations need to be
donein definity so that the FLASH button works exactly like the cradle
i.e If I just press the Flash, I need to connect to the Next call as
opposed to getting the dialtone.

This would be helpful for one of my experiments.

Thanks,

Srinidhi

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

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: New Spam Scam Exploits Pope's Death
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:09:28 -0700
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com


Paul Vader wrote:

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, all these complainers should
>> read the advice given by our resident anti-spam expert, Robert Bonomi
>> who would tell them (1) any real man would know how to get his 
>> computer to do his bidding if only they would get rid of the 

> Is there any way to plonk the moderator of a mailing list? 

He doesn't morph; you can killfile him just like you can killfile
anyone else.

> Geez Patrick, take a pill and stop bringing up people's names like
> that, especially since they know more about the internet than you
> do. *

> * PV   something like badgers--something like lizards--and something
>        like corkscrews.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Sure there is a way to plonk the moder-
> ator of a mailing list. Just ask any real man how to adjust your
> computer to do what you want. I have an idea; put me on your Spam
> Assassin black list for starters. Wave bye bye to Pat!   PAT]

While I think Paul is overreacting, Pat, I think you are also
overreacting. I know you've had issues with spam. I'm willing to help
you with the spam problem if you're interested in getting
help. Contact me off-group.

Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP:

"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
     --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"

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

From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net>
Subject: Re: Getting Serious About the War on Spam
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:35:11 -0700
Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com



Fred Goldstein wrote:

> I hate to discourage you, but as somebody who has been on the Internet
> even longer than you 

and me -- I've "only" been around since 1989 :)

> Jon [Postel] died suddenly, and Melvin Dummar found a will in his
> name, giving control of the name and address space to a Washington
> lawyer named Sims, who created ICANN out of whole cloth, appointing
> a board.

This doesn't sound right. Didn't ICANN exist a few years before
Postel's passing?

> What can they do about spam?  Frankly, nothing.  They control TLDs.
> That gives them some leverage against the registries and registrars,
> who are supposed to follow some rules, but if a registrant pays his
> $8 or whatever and buys a domain from some registrar, then he can
> use it for spam until the registrar pulls it.  Since registering is
> automated, there's no real threat against spammers.

ICANN could probably craft better rules and enforce them. (IMHO)

> Even the address-space threat is not helpful; spammers are often
> able to find vacant number blocks and sneak them onto networks long
> enough to do their damage.

Which is the fault of the ISPs

> his UUNET was the top ISP, its reputation was good, and Vint Cerf (the
> Chauncey Gardiner of the Internet, famous for being there) was his
> sexy spokesmodel.  

Eeyew, you called Vint Cerf sexy.

> such misbehavior was not tolerated. The appropriate response is
> technological.  Yes, laws help too; 

Again IMHO, the ultimate solution has to be a combination of legal,
technical and social ...

> price in the fractional-penny range on "stranger emails", enough to
> discourage spam but not normal use.  While John Levine hates it (and I
> respect his opinion), I still haven't seen any ideas I think are
> better.  

It won't work.


JustThe.net - Apple Valley, CA - http://JustThe.net/ - 888.480.4NET (4638)
Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED

"The wisdom of a fool won't set you free"
     --New Order, "Bizarre Love Triangle"

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

From: news01@jmatt.net
Subject: Re: Getting Serious About the War on Spam
Date: 22 Apr 2005 07:04:09 -0700
Organization: http://groups.google.com


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But isn't also a good idea to auto-ack
> the alleged senders of the spam mail since if a person gets enough
> of those they may be moved to clean out the zombies in their own
> computer (if they have any, or if they don't) become angry enough to
> join in the fight in a big time way?  That is why I am seriously
> thinking about changing my auto-ack to say 'thank you for writing me
> and if you didn't write to me then welcome to the club'.  PAT]

But, as Robert and I have pointed out, if the destination SMTP server
flatly refuses the SMTP connection, then it's the job of the SENDING
server, NOT the destination server, to decide what kind of message to
return to the sender.

If the sending server is a legitimate server, delivering legitimate
mail, that somehow got itself onto a blacklist, then it will probably
return a failure notice to the (alleged) sender.

If the sending server is an open relay because the admin doesn't know
any better, and it's relaying spam that came from somewhere else with
forged return addresses, it will probably return a failure notice to
the SMTP From address, which probably does not belong to the sender,
but that's not my problem.

If the sending server is a zombie on a hacked Windows box belonging to
some clueless broadband customer whose machine is spewing spam without
his knowledge (which is quite common), sending a jillion failure
notices to the machine owner would be a good idea, because people who
allow their machines to spew spam, even unintentionally, deserve the
consequences. And notifying him that his machine needs cleaning up
would be good for him and the rest of the world.  But  it's highly
unlikely that the SMTP return address on those spam messages actually
is the real address of the owner of that machine.  Sending a jillion
failure notices to some innocent uninvolved individual is not a good
way to convince people that the net needs cleaning up.  It would be
like throwing a rock through your neighbor's window to convince him
crime is a problem.  OK .. maybe that's stretching the analogy, since
the rock-throwing would be clearly illegal, and returning failure
notices to someone who didn't really send spam is technically legal, if
the spam had his return address on it.  But since you know that it's
highly probable that the return address belongs to someone whose
address was stolen, through no fault of his own, flooding him with spam
rejection notices just to say "See how bad spam is? You should do
something about it" is really bordering on harrassment.



[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So what are you saying, that I should
cease my auto-ack which is intended to serve legitimate users in order
to avoid possibly getting sued for harrassment by someone who gets a
million auto-acks from me that some third person caused to be
generated? That's bull ... anyway, I am essentially judgment-proof
unless you can find some way to attach my social security disability
checks. I have no other money to speak of. I do not intend to let
good, legitimate, often times new users just hang waiting. Anyway, I
get auto acks here all the time also, from spammers who have signed me
up for every mailing list known to mankind. PAT]

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

Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 09:52:49 -0400
Subject: Re: AOL to Block Identity Theft Sites
From: David B. Horvath, CCP <dhorvath@cobs.com>
Reply-To: dhorvath@cobs.com


On 21 Apr 2005 23:24:00 GMT, jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote:

> In article <telecom24.176.7@telecom-digest.org>, Ed Clarke
> <clarke@cilia.org> wrote:

>> On 2005-04-20, mc <mc_no_spam@uga.edu> wrote:

>>> In my opinion, all browsers should block or warn about references 
>>> of the form:

>>> <a href="xxxxx">yyyyy</a>
>>> where yyyyy is a URL that does not match xxxxx.
>>> Simple - why don't they do it?

>> Virtual hosts. I have half a dozen websites on a single IP; costs my
>> customers less for web hosting.  The only time it makes a difference
>> is for vanity -- reverse host maps to forward host -- or for SSL.  >

> HTML  link tags where the reference in the tag doesn't match the text
> associated with the tag.

> John Meissen                                  jmeissen@aracnet.com

I missed the original posting but most of the href's I've ever seen
are on the original form where xxxxx does not match yyyyy. For
instance: <a href="http://www.telecom-digest.org>Telecom Digest</a>
fits that pattern. And it would be very easy to make a yyyyy that
*looks* like a URL to a person but would be missed by any software --
<a href="http://www.telecom-digest.org>www,telecom-digest.org</a>
(that's www comma ...).

- David

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

From: Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com>
Subject: Re: New Technology Poses 911 Peril VOIP Not Part of Emergency
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:49:17 -0500
Organization: Wizard Information


It was a dark and stormy night when Justin Time <a_user2000@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> The point is that CID can be blocked and is not guaranteed to be
> delivered.  The ANI information the 911 centers use is pretty much the
> same data that feeds the telephone company billing system.  That
> information cannot be blocked or opted out of providing.  Of course,

Sheesh.  The point is to have the 911 center receive location info on
a VOIP caller under *most* circumstances.  If the caller wants to
conceal their location (e.g. by blocking) they wouldn't be calling 911
for service to their location anyhow, would they?  And the worst-case
fallback is, to pre-911 days, when the caller has to tell them where
they are calling from.  The vast majority of callers, after all, DO
know where they are.

Of course it's not perfect.  There will be people who fall between the
cracks.  Of course it can be defeated.  I can think of a few ways to
defeat or falsify ANI info too (and if you read this group regularly,
you probably can also).

I don't think the special case is particularly likely.  But if you do,
make the alternate 911 line an 800 number, which receives ANI.  Easy,
eh?

There comes a point where the money spent covering any possible
eventuality greatly exceeds the value.  A friend of mine who works in
public health bemoans the fact that the "war on terror" spends close
to a billion dollars in anthrax-detection gear, to save an estimated 4
lives per year, when the same amount of money could save thousands,
even tens of thousands, of lives if spent on less sexy health
measures.  This is like that.  In real life, there's always a "close
enough".

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

From: Tim@Backhome.org
Subject: Re: SBC, Vonage Working on 911 Service Access Deal
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 03:06:19 -0700
Organization: Cox Communications


E-911 has one really invaluable feature known as called party trunk
and line sezure.  No matter how briefly you're off-hook, once you dial
911 you cannot release the connection.  Only the call center can
release the connection.

I wonder if that is even technically possible via VoIP assuming
unrestrained cooperation of the LEC that holds the marbles, so to
speak?

Jack Decker wrote:

> http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=8259385

> SBC, Vonage Working on 911 Service Access Deal

> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - SBC Communications Inc. is in talks to provide
> Internet telephone provider Vonage Holdings Corp. with enhanced 911
> emergency services for its customers, after an initial fight between
> the two carriers.

> Initially SBC rejected a request from Vonage to lease access to the
> necessary equipment and databases, preferring to focus on an
> industrywide effort. Now the two sides are talking about a deal and
> going over technological requirements, according to a letter from SBC
> made available on Thursday.

> Privately held Vonage provides its service using high-speed Internet
> connections and does not have access to the traditional 911 system
> where a phone number and address pop up in emergency call centers.

> Instead, the company's 550,000 customers must activate a 911 service
> by registering an address which is used to send calls to
> lower-priority lines at call centers. That has drawn complaints that
> customers are unaware they must activate the service.

> "We have offered to negotiate commercial agreements ...," Christopher
> Rice, SBC executive vice president for network planning and
> engineering, said in an April 18 letter to Vonage Chief Executive
> Jeffrey Citron.

> Regardless, Rice told Vonage that the carrier would have to reach
> agreements with each public safety entity for delivery of 911 calls.

> Full story at:
> http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=8259385

> How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home:
> http://michigantelephone.mi.org/distribute.html

> If you live in Michigan, subscribe to the MI-Telecom group:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MI-Telecom/

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


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