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TELECOM Digest Thu, 29 Sep 2005 13:52:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 444 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Conditions Primitive in Texas After Rita (Pam Easton) Life Beyond Earth (Peter N. Spotts) We Swim in an Ocean of Media (Gregory Lamb) Cellular-News for Thursday 29th September 2005 (Cellular-News) Vonage Chooses Banks for IPO (United States Telecom Daily Lead) Change MAC Address can Change IP Address of a Machine? (jrefactors@hotmail) Electric Powerlines to be Used for Broadband (Lisa Hancock) WEP Cracking Tools (apngss@yahoo.com) Skype Signals Online Video Plan (Monty Solomon) Re: Why is VOIP Getting Hot Now? (harold@hallikainen.com) Re: Can't Trust Spyware Protection? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Stealing Your ID Can be as Easy as ABC (Lisa Hancock) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Pam Easton <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Conditions Primitive in Texas After Rita Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 10:21:47 -0500 By PAM EASTON, Associated Press Writer Five days after Hurricane Rita came ashore, conditions remained primitive in parts of Texas, where some residents were taking baths and brushing their teeth using water from the Neches River and others were sleeping in tents. The plywood sign outside the home in East Texas where eight Beaumont families had sought refuge from Hurricane Rita carried a simple message: "Help Needed. Ice and Water. 43 People." The evacuees had no electricity, no phones and little water or food after the storm. As temperatures neared triple-digits, adults used paper towels dampened with bottled water to keep children from overheating. A campfire was built to keep mosquitoes away. "The only thing we could think of to survive was to put out that sign," said Tiffany Moten, 24, who was staying at the home near Livingston. "Luckily, we were blessed, and we have a lot of friendly people who came up and brought us water and ice and things like that. We are trying to make it." The Federal Emergency Management Agency delivered ice, water and packaged meals Wednesday to residents who rode out the storm, but some officials in hard-hit areas criticized the agency's response, with one calling for a commission to examine the emergency response. In Houston, FEMA closed a disaster relief center just hours after its doors opened when some of the hundreds of hurricane victims in line began fainting in the heat. FEMA officials said they were caught off-guard by the roughly 1,500 people who showed up, but said it would reopen the center Thursday morning. Local officials, including Port Arthur Mayor Oscar Ortiz and Jefferson County Judge Carl Griffith, said FEMA's response has been inadequate. Griffith said he has asked Gov. Rick Perry to set up a commission to study the emergency response to Rita. Congress is holding hearings this week on the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina. FEMA spokesman Ross Fredenburg said communications between Austin and rural East Texas have been troubled, in part because of power problems. But he said FEMA had set up distribution points in 27 southeastern Texas cities. "I don't know what could have been done better since the materials were in place before the hurricane," Fredenburg said. "We're doing everything we can to get water and ice to whomever remains." Meanwhile, local officials and volunteers were trying to help residents and evacuees any way they could. In Woodville, Dam-B Volunteer Fire Department Chief Thomas Eller tried to coax elderly residents to leave their homes Wednesday. "A lot of them don't want to leave, but I don't want to give them a choice," Eller said. "I would rather move them out of here kicking and screaming then have to put them in a (body) bag." Eller had persuaded Joseph Robinson, 90, and his 75-year-old wife, Wanda, to ride out the storm at the firehouse but they wanted to go home after the storm passed. "There ain't no place like home," said Joseph Robinson, who has emphysema. "We got winter coming on. We'll have cool weather. We'll be all right." Farther east in Jasper, Jeff Sargent, vice president of an Arizona- based ambulance company that helped evacuate a Texas nursing home, helped run a makeshift triage center out of a church. He said it was difficult for many residents, trapped behind miles of downed trees, to get medical care, food or water. So far the triage center has seen about 300 patients and treated everything from heart problems to heat-related illnesses, he said. Some rural residents said they felt forgotten after the storm. "They are still stuck on Katrina, and Rita's done some hellacious damage up in these woods," said Sharon Lakey, a 49-year-old Farrsville resident who sat in a long line of vehicles waiting to get gas in Jasper. Associated Press writers Juan A. Lozano in Houston, Liz Austin in Austin and Abe Levy in Port Arthur contributed to this report. 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. ------------------------------ From: Peter N. Spotts <spotts@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Life Beyond Earth Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 10:29:47 -0500 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0929/p02s01-stss.html By Peter N. Spotts, Staff Writer, Christian Science Monitor Life beyond Earth? Potential habitats in the solar system keep popping up. 'Munchkin' moon of Saturn is the latest spot that has researchers buzzing. It's an ice-encrusted munchkin of a moon, only 314 miles in diameter. Its face is so smooth and nearly crater-free that it probably got a facelift. It's a satellite of Saturn, called Enceladus, and the latest hot spot in the quest to answer one of astronomy's most intriguing questions: Is there life in the solar system beyond Earth? Where once scientists set their sights on Mars as the most likely place to hunt for such evidence, their list of potential habitats now includes at least five others: three moons of Jupiter and now Saturn's Titan and Enceladus. This expanding list is due, in part, to more data coming from spacecraft scouting Earth's extended neighborhood. It also stems from a better understanding of how life can exist in extreme environments. To be sure, any inhabitants scientists find would most likely be microbes, not little green men. And the case for such biological havens is far from ironclad. "There's always a big caveat," says David Grinspoon, a planetary geologist at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in Boulder, Colo. "We're profoundly ignorant about what makes a good habitat, since we only know of one place for life" -- Earth. Still, researchers have learned a great deal about the weird environments harboring life on Earth. Thus, "when we explore in depth with an orbiter and really hang out and get to know the place, we find pockets in the system that might be promising for life," Dr. Grinspoon adds. "The Saturn system is turning out to be surprisingly fecund." The list of potential habitats began to expand with the Galileo mission to Jupiter in the 1990s. That mission added three Jovian moons to the list: Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Now, the US-European Cassini mission to Saturn has added the moons Titan and Enceladus. For astrobiologists, the Cassini mission's biggest surprise yet is Enceladus. Researchers had already inferred from Voyager 2's flyby in 1981 that its smooth surface meant it had gotten a facelift, perhaps 100 million years ago. Fresh material from beneath its icy crust welled up and spread across the moon. But that in turn implied heat to generate slush or liquid water -- and no one could figure out its source. Fast forward to 2005, when Cassini stunned researchers with infrared images of a hot spot on the surface at the moon's south pole. Hot, in this case, is still frigid: minus 183 degrees Celsius (minus 297 degrees F.). But that's 20 degrees warmer than the surrounding area. The polar area also is scarred with cracks that release water vapor and tiny ice crystals. Researchers estimate that some of the formations are only 10 to 1,000 years old. Changes on the surface of the Jovian moons, by contrast, look far older, perhaps 100 million years or more. And Cassini scientists have uncovered simple organic molecules in the cracks of Enceladus. To this day, the heat source remains an enigma, says John Spencer, an SwRI scientist whom colleagues credit with discovering the hot spot. What's generating the heat? "That's what we're all scratching our heads over," he replies. No matter. Enceladus apparently has the fundamental chemical recipe for life, says University of Arizona planetary scientist Robert Brown, who heads the team using Cassini's mapping spectrometer. The moon has simple organic molecules, such as methane, ethane, and ethylene. Scientists see tantalizing hints of nitrogen. It hosts liquid water below the surface. "Add a pinch of phosphorous," Dr. Brown says, and you have all you need to make DNA - or perhaps some other DNA-like molecule capable of carrying information. At Enceladus, this stew would have had plenty of time to simmer for 4.5 billion years and "form some of the most basic building blocks of life," he adds. It's not clear that's happened at Enceladus, he says. "But if we're going to run all over the solar system looking at places where those constituents have been for the past 4.5 billion years and where the cocktail might have cooked into something interesting, then Enceladus has to be part of that mix." As does Titan, adds Grinspoon. Until the Cassini mission and the successful touchdown of the European-built Huygens probe, many researchers held that the hydrocarbon-rich moon was a chilled look-alike for Earth before life emerged. The quest was for clues to the origins of life, not a search for life itself. That view is changing, at least for Grinspoon. "What do you need for life? You need an energy source, liquid reservoirs, and you need some basis for complex chemistry," he says. "Does Titan have what it takes? The answer is: yes." www.csmonitor.com | Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. 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. To read CS Monitor and New York Times on line each day, please go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.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, The Christian Science Publishing Society. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Gregory M. Lamb <lamb@telecom-digest.org> Subject: We Swim in an Ocean of Media Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 10:36:06 -0500 http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0928/p13s01-lihc.html By Gregory M. Lamb | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor The media "ecosystem" surrounding Americans -- not just TV, radio, and newspapers but also the Web, PDAs, MP3 players, cellphones, video games, and more -- keeps getting more widespread, personal, and diverse. The world is seeing "a Cambrian explosion" of media usage, says Paul Saffo, a director of the Institute for the Future, a think tank in Palo Alto, Calif. A new study bears that out, providing data to back up the feeling many have that they're immersed in some form of media nearly every waking moment. That's close to true, says a report from the Center for Media Design at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. Researchers watched the behavior of 394 ordinary Midwesterners for more than 5,000 hours, following them 12 hours a day and recording their use of media every 15 seconds on a hand-held device. About 30 percent of their waking hours were found to be spent using media exclusively, while another 39 percent involved using media while also doing another activity, such as watching TV while preparing food or listening to the radio while at work. Altogether, more than two-thirds of people's waking moments involved some kind of media usage. Using more than one medium at once "The extent that we saw that was quite remarkable," says Michael Bloxham, a Ball State researcher who helped prepare the report, which was released Monday at a media convention in New York. What's more, of the time spent using media, nearly one-third was spent consuming two or more forms at once, such as watching TV and surfing the Internet, or listening to music while playing a video game. One theory the study lays to rest, Mr. Bloxham says, is that this media multitasking, which the researchers call Concurrent Media Exposure, "is the province of only the young or the tech savvy." All age groups multitask, he says, though the pairings may differ. Those over 50, for example, were more likely to combine TV viewing with newspaper reading. Younger people might listen to music while sending instant messages. Watching television remains by far the most popular media-related activity. More than 90 percent of those studied viewed TV, for an average of about four hours per day. About three-quarters used a computer, for a little more than two hours per day. While much has been written about how computer use may be eating into TV watching, the report suggests that the reverse may be true as well. "As, over time, the computer becomes a vehicle for more rich media content (often related to TV programming), the line between the two media is likely to blur further, calling into question the TV-centric mindset," it says. Surprisingly, 18-to-24-year- olds were found to spend less time online than older age groups, perhaps because many older people go online as part of their workday, as well as during free time. "The overall amount of time spent in a day with media is enormous," says Jane Clarke, a vice president for Time Warner Global Marketing, who attended a presentation on the study. The study, she says, represents "the best approach I've seen for measuring all combinations of concurrent media usage." Observing how people use media isn't new, Ms. Clarke says, "but quantifying observed media behavior - in 15-second intervals - for a large sample is a breakthrough." The lesson for advertisers: You'll need a "holistic" view of media. "If you're advertising in one medium, you can complement the message by combining it with another medium," Clarke says. "The findings suggest creative ways to combine and package media for advertisers to get their messages to consumers." Advertisers might want to look more closely at less-conventional forms, such as computer software and mobile phones, as new advertising media, Bloxham says. Overall, the study concludes, "From an advertising perspective, there is good news and bad -- both an array of new media outlets along with the challenge of more outlets competing for attention." Defining media broadly, including mobile phones, was definitely the right approach for the study, Mr. Saffo says. "A cellphone is no longer just a communication device, it's a media device," he says, one on which people enjoy music, share photographs, and even view video clips, suggesting that the new industry might be called "Cellu-wood." Still in the midst of a revolution "I think what we're in now is still every bit a media revolution ... but it's a personal media revolution," Saffo adds. Media are becoming more intimate and two-way, he says. "We can answer back if we want." Despite all the competition, today's leading medium, television, won't go away, Saffo predicts (though he admits to being a fan of watching AP news video clips online, which he finds most easily at a Japanese website). Movies didn't disappear when television arrived. And radio adapted when TV came along. "Radio, which had been the centerpiece of American living rooms, reinvented itself as audio wallpaper," he says. The report, "Observing Consumers and Their Interactions With Media," is the second on media usage produced by the four-year-old Center for Media Design at Ball State. It follows in the tradition of the "Middletown Studies" of the early 20th century, in which sociologists observed the inhabitants of Muncie, Ind., which they considered to be a typical American community. www.csmonitor.com | Copyright 2005 The Christian Science Monitor. 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. To read CS Monitor headlines and stories each day along with headlines and stories from New York Times, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.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, The Christian Science Publishing Society. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Thursday 29th September 2005 Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 07:28:02 -0500 From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news.com> Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com GSM Arrives on the Falkland Islands http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14231.php Cable & Wireless is spending US$1.5 million to bring a GSM network to the Falklands Islands (also known as Islas Malvinas), in the South Atlantic. The company has contracted with Alvarion to deliver a compact GSM system,... Component Order for Chinese Handset Vendor http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14232.php Comtech Group has expanded its relationship with China's ZTE for the supply of LCD module interfaces for ZTE's handsets. The ZTE order from China Unicom will be for approximately one million CDMA units. Comtech's dollar ... German Operators Start Blocking Adult Content http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14233.php Germany's mobile phone networks have published a Code of Conduct designed to prevent access to adult content by children. The code of conduct describes uniform standards for mobile operators to ensure that such content g... Local Search on Mobiles Not That Popular - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14234.php JupiterResearch says that consumer demand for paid wireless information services remains low. With just 20% of consumers willing to pay for directory enquiries information and only 7% willing to pay for local search on t... Orange Offers Best Music Download Portal - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14235.php Strategy Analytics has released a new report which concludes that Orange has the Best in Class Full Music Track Download service in the UK, with a 15-plus point performance gap over O2 and Vodafone. These results are bas... One in Five Wireless Phone Users Subscribe to Data Packages http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14236.php Telephia reports that wireless data package adoption among the top five of the USA's service providers showed a 22% penetration rate for the first half of 2005. According to Customer Value Metrics, Telephia's new wireles... GSMA Hosts Interoperability Testing http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14237.php The GSM Association (GSMA) and its partners have successfully completed a series of interoperability trials in both Europe and Asia -- a major step towards ensuring that the next generation of multimedia services, based o... China Tops Cellular Subscriber Top 15 Ranking http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14238.php The worldwide number of cellular subscribers will surpass 2 billion in 2005, up from 11 million in 1990 and 750 million in 2000. China is the clear leader in cellular subscribers and will reach nearly 400 million at year-... Asia Pacific Will Represent 45% of WiMAX Market by 2009 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14239.php Though WiMAX faces several key challenges in the Asia Pacific market, its subscriber base will grow from more than 80,000 in 2005 to more than 3.8 million by 2009, reports In-Stat. In 2009, Asia Pacific WiMAX subscribers ... Toshiba Launches 3G Handset http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14240.php Toshiba has launched the Toshiba 803, Vodafone exclusive mobile phone, its first combined 3G phone and music player. The Toshiba 803 features an external music player, allowing users easy access to music on the move. The... Vodafone Closing UK Call Center http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14241.php Vodafone is closing one of its UK call centers with the possible loss of up to 650 jobs. The call center, based in Birmingham will close next February when its fuctions will be absorbed by cell centers in Warrington and ... Tunisie Telecom Shortlist Delayed A Few Days -Source http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14227.php The Tunisian government is likely to delay the selection of candidates for a 35% stake in Tunisie Telecom in order to get more detailed offers from some bidders, a person familiar with the sale process told Dow Jones New... Telefonica Moviles Mexico To Issue MXN5.5 Billion In Local Notes http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14228.php The Mexican unit of Spanish mobile phone operator Telefonica Moviles SA (TEM) plans to sell up to 5.5 billion pesos ($1=MXN10.8955) Wednesday in medium-term notes on the Mexican market. ... Mexico's Telmex: Open To Other Investments In Colombia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14229.php Mexican phone giant Telefonos de Mexico SA (TMX) said Wednesday it is open to new investment opportunities in Colombia, but unsure whether it will bid again for Colombia Telecommunicaciones (CTMC.YY) after the state comp... RealNetworks Unveils New Wireless Media Push http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14230.php SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) - Stepping up its long-running competition with Microsoft, RealNetworks unveiled a new partnership Wednesday designed to boost its presence in the growing market for mobile phone-based... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 12:41:31 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com> Subject: Vonage Chooses Banks For IPO USTelecom dailyLead September 29, 2005 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/uQkIatagCqlDyVApjk TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Vonage chooses banks for IPO BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * RIM Q2 profits up 57% * Verizon inks carriage deals with four cable networks * Report: Cable to maintain broadband lead * Samsung execs see mobile WiMAX U.S. launch in 2006 USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Reserve your TELECOM '05 room now! TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * RealNetworks CEO sees huge opportunity in mobile content * Skype launches Windows update REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Advocacy groups to challenge CALEA expansion Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/uQkIatagCqlDyVApjk ------------------------------ From: jrefactors@hotmail.com Subject: Change MAC Address Can Change IP Address of a Machine? Date: 29 Sep 2005 08:10:37 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is there any way to change the MAC address of a machine? IP address is assigned by ISP. My understanding is that IP address is based on the MAC address of a machine, is that correct concept? Please advise. Thanks!! ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Electric Powerlines to be Used For Broadband Date: 29 Sep 2005 08:44:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Recently this newsgroup debated the barriers for entry for new communications carriers. Well, now they are working to use power lines to bring in broadband service, so consumers will eventually have a third independent choice of communications providers. The ability of power lines to carry comm signals has been known since the 1930s. Apparently some practical ways to utilize that have been developed and there have been several pieces in the press about it. One such article is at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BROADBAND_SOCKET?SITE=KYWAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT ------------------------------ From: apngss@yahoo.com Subject: WEP Cracking Tools Date: 28 Sep 2005 23:25:40 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Many people say WEP is not secure in wireless networking, and easy to crack the WEP key. Are there any tools out there to do the WEP cracking? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 09:30:58 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Skype Signals Online Video Plan By Rhys Blakely Skype, the internet telecoms company owned by eBay, today moved closer to becoming a major platform for digital content and hinted it could soon offer online video services. Underscoring how rapidly the media landscape is shifting, the news came the day after BT revealed that it will move into television next summer. The telecoms group will launch a set-top box that will enable users to download programmes over broadband internet lines. Skype's foray into content distribution starts today with the launch of Personalise Skype, a feature that means that callers can receive and send pictures, sounds and ringtones over the Skype network. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9076-1803303,00.html ------------------------------ From: harold@hallikainen.com <harold@hallikainen.com> Subject: Re: Why is VOIP Getting Hot Now? Date: 29 Sep 2005 07:53:55 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > In my case it was $88 a month to Verizon vs. $27 a month to > Vonage. Big difference. It's the only thing that hasn't inflated in > the last year or two. Of course, Vonage does not have to pay for the local loop, so there's some savings there. How much are you paying for "last mile" connectivity (cable modem or DSL or whatever)? I'm currently paying Verizon about $25 per month for local dialtone. I'm paying about $3 per month in long distance to another company (about 5 cents per minute, probably much of that is compensation to the terminating carrier). I'm paying $70 per month to cyberonic.com for DSL (6Mbps per second AND they let me run my own servers). I pay $0 per month to http://www.sipphone.com . I also pay about 1 or 2 cents a minute to them for calls into the PSTN. SIP calls (within siphone, to FWD, Google, etc.) are free. I use http://www.ipkall.com to get a POTS number on SIP for free (though the number is in Washington). There certainly are LOTS of options. Harold ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Can't Trust Spyware Protection? Date: 29 Sep 2005 08:02:41 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Andrew Brandt wrote: > Claria and WhenU are making the case that their adware programs don't > resort to illegal tactics, such as exploiting security holes, to > install themselves. And though this software can be annoying, adware > developers argue that merely being listed in an anti-spyware scanner's > database tarnishes a company's reputation by linking its relatively > benign adware application with far more harmful and intrusive spyware > programs. Those companies claiming their spyware is "benign" ought to be shut down and its management thrown in prison. No one should have any right whatsoever to go onto our computers without our expressed (not implied or default) consent. "Annoying" is NOT "benign"; annoying is harassment. The analogy would be demanding the right to sneak into your living room and claiming it's ok because they'll just sit there and not steal or touch anything. They'll still in your living room. Can anyone defend these companies? Why can't the operating systems be set up to block them out? > According to Avi Naider of WhenU, though some other adware companies > will track your Web meanderings and sell that data, WhenU's privacy > policy doesn't permit it to track the search queries that users type > or the Web pages that they browse. So this guy is peaking in my window, and promising he won't share the pictures of me naked? I'm supposed to feel better about that? > It's unfair to permanently blacklist a company based on its past > behavior ... Why is that so unfair? If an individual committed a crime, that crime remains on their record for life and will blacklist them from a great many jobs places to live for life. Why should a company not suffer the same consequences for sleazyness? (And companies don't go to jail.) > Delisting is rare because, Edelman says, anti-spyware firms "stand up > to strongly worded demand letters." We need computer privacy laws so that such 'demand letters' would be laughed at. [public replies, please] ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Stealing Your ID Can be as Easy as ABC Date: 29 Sep 2005 08:21:26 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Tony P. wrote: > What this means is all the data held by the credit bureaus is > bunk. They can't even tell if identity theft has happened or not until > it's far too late. Although they wield a tremendous amount of power of us, they have virtually no regulation. They can do as they please. Since it isn't their problem if you get whacked, they don't care. Until very recently, you had to PAY THEM to see your OWN information! > Of course as I've said before, banks are notoriously insecure. But > they spend an awful lot of money making sure you or I never see news > that they have serious flaws in our banking and financial systems. About 10-20 years ago, before the big bank mega-mergers, many modest sized banks (ie 10 branch offices) balanced their books to the penny every day. Every bad transaction was chased down and researched. But when these small banks were bought out into the huge ones, they stopped getting down to that level of accuracy. Once you do that, the opportunity for fraud, either against the bank or a customer becomes much greater, esp if the thief is smart enough to keep it below the radar threshold (and many thieves do just that). > Best option is to just use real cash for everything. Of course it > makes it inconvenient to buy online, etc. Oh, and never, ever, write a > check. I was recently on a day trip and spent about $200 in buy stuff. Most I put on my credit card. I didn't really want to (per the above), but I didn't have that much free cash on me. One transaction was only $4 for subway but the cash machine wasn't working so I had to use a card to get in. If one goes into a bank to check on intermediate transactions they will CHARGE you a service fee; even though you're saving them from fraud charges. Banking deregulation, which was passed in 1979 under the Carter Adm, was the dumbest thing. More recent law relaxations, such as the end of Glass-Stegal will hurt things even more. The Savings & Loan scandal of the 1980s pretty much passed over most of us because, unlike New Orleans, there were no tearful mayors crying "help us! help us!" on camera. The liberals ignored it since they're clueless about money and business issues and their pet groups weren't involved. The conservatives ignored since they didn't want prying eyes into their world. In the 1930s, the business community utterly despised Franklin Roosevelt for his numerous reform laws. Yet it was FDR who SAVED the business community from ruin since it couldn't regulate itself and the control was ripe for a revolution that would've destroyed everything. I just wish today's liberals and unions* would stop fighting the battles of the 1930s and recognize the issues of the modern day. Memoirs by Eleanor Roosevelt and aides of LaGuardia clearly show the mistakes liberals made in the 1930s and 1940s, but today's activists completely ignore that experience. *A union activist came to our worksite to organize and talked to us -- office workers -- as if we were coal miners of the 1800s. She didn't realize the days of the Molly Maguires were gone and we already had things like a steady salary, many fringe benefits, air conditioning, breaks, flex time, etc., and didn't have mining tunnels collapsing on us. ------------------------------ 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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