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TELECOM Digest Thu, 13 Oct 2005 16:21:00 EDT Volume 24 : Issue 465 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Dialing For Dollars? SBC Leads the Way (Consumer Affairs) New Gadget Makes Theft of Mobile Phones Much Harder (Reuters News Wire) Seattle's Free Wi-Fi Hits Some Snags (Marcus Jervis) Cellular-News for Thursday 13th October 2005 (Cellular-News) Comcast, Google in Talks to Buy AOL Stake (USTelecom dailyLead) Name of the Calling Feature For Redialing a No Answer (dsaklad@gnu.org) Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan (AntwainBarbour) Re: Device That Interfaces Between CallerID / Serial Port? (anon1@sci) Last Laugh! Some Notes From Aunty Spam (Patrick Townson) 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: Consumer Affairs Report <consumeraffairs@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Dialing For Dollars? SBC Leads the Way in Political Pump Priming Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 14:12:36 -0500 When it comes to lobbying and political palavering, no one takes a back seat to America's telephone and cable companies, with SBC setting the pace for its rivals. Telecom companies spent $56.8 million on political contributions over six years and a minimum of $77.8 million on lobbying over two years in an attempt to curry favor with elected officials in the states, according to a new Center for Public Integrity report. Large regional telephone companies and cable television operators are spending millions in the hope that legislative success at the state level will translate into similar success in Washington, D.C., as Congress debates a major rewrite of federal telecommunications laws this autumn. The leading source of political froth in the states is San Antonio- based SBC Communications, the most aggressive of the dwindling family of "Baby Bell" companies. Now grown into a hulking bruiser, SBC spent $16 million lobbying state governments from 2003-2004 and another $10 million in political contributions from 1999 to 2004. For awhile there, it looked like SBC and its surviving siblings (the Bell progeny having been somewhat thinned by an unfortunate outbreak of cannablism) -- BellSouth, Verizon and Qwest -- would have the political landscape all to themselves following AT&T and MCI's descent into irrelevance. But just when the world looked Bell-safe, the long-slumbering cable television industry lumbered to its feet and began filling the slush-money niche abandoned by the fast-fading long-distance elders. Comcast, Cox and other cable biggies have been moving rapidly onto the Bells' turf, providing telephone and Internet service, and this has necessitated their also moving into the political realm. What are the Bells and cable goliaths chasing with all that money? The Bells' primary goal is elimination of state regulation over local phone rates, using the hardly novel argument that less regulation will mean more competition and lower prices. Never mind that the Bells have successfully cut off at the knees most of the upstart local competitors by convincing the FCC to deregulate the wholesale rates the Bells charge the new entrants. The cable companies, in a nutshell, want whatever it is the Bells don't want. The report is the first attempt by the Center to track the influence of a single industry in all 50 states, it said. The report described the lobbying total as a conservative tally, since poor disclosure laws in nearly half the states make it difficult to get a true picture of all industry spending. Despite the limitations, the survey provides a snapshot of which companies in the telecommuni- cations business are most active in statehouses across the nation. The contribution data, provided by the Institute on Money in State Politics and analyzed by Center researchers, reflects donations made to candidates for state office and to state party organizations. It does not include contributions made to federal candidates or national political parties. The lobbying data was compiled by Center staffers and includes spending by traditional telecommunications companies, such as AT&T and SBC, as well as wireless providers, cable television system operators and industry trade associations. The contribution data includes donations made by traditional carriers, telecommunications services and equipment companies. SBC spokesman Dave Pacholczyk provided the Center with a written statement in response to their findings. "Telecom is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country, requiring us to participate in the legislative process more than most businesses," it reads. "Decisions made by government can have a significant impact on our ability to serve our customers, so we have to make sure policymakers are educated and informed on our issues," he said. The Center's Website provides state-by-state information on contributions and lobbying expenses. The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, tax-exempt organization that conducts investigative research and reporting on public policy issues in the United States and around the world. Copyright 2003-2005 ConsumerAffairs.Com 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. ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: New Gadget Makes Theft of Mobile Phones Harder Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 13:52:34 -0500 Finnish scientists have invented a device to make it harder to steal mobile phones and laptops by enabling them to detect changes in their owner's walking style and then freeze to prevent unauthorized use. The VTT Technical Research Center of Finland said the device, which is has patented but has yet to sell, could prevent millions of portable appliances being stolen every year. "A device is equipped with sensors that measure certain characteristics of the user's gait. When the device is used for the first time, these measurements are saved in its memory," VTT said in a statement. The gadget would monitor the user's walking style and check it against the saved information. If the values differ, the user would have to enter a password. "Compared with passwords and traditional bio-identification, the new method is simple: confirmation of identity takes place as a background process without any need for user's intervention," the researchers said. 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: Marcus Jervis <marcusjervis@hotmail.com> Subject: Seattle's Free Wi-Fi Hits Some Snags Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 18:52:31 +0000 As mentioned in past posts to Telecom Digest, Seattle is experimenting with neighborhood-wide wi-fi in several neighborhoods and parks. This is separate from experimental wi-fi service aboard buses, which are operated by the county. I thought a couple of items in this article are interesting. One is that some businesses along University Way have stopped their regular internet service, expecting to use the free one. I don't know what the nature is of these businesses, but unless they are connecting to a web site that has SSL (and the teltale https instead of http in the browser address bar, like the Seattle Public Library and my bank), they don't have secure access to the net unless they also subscribe to a VPN service. The other interesting item was that there were already so many wireless routers in the vicinity of University Way that spectrum crowding is a problem. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002557695_seattlewifi13.html Thursday, October 13, 2005 - 12:00 AM Seattle neighborhoods' free Wi-Fi hits snags By Tricia Duryee Seattle Times technology reporter Five months ago, Mayor Greg Nickels flawlessly demonstrated a new city-run wireless Internet system in Columbia City as part of a program to see if free access could boost business in certain neighborhoods. Today, the program is in flux after the network was temporarily shut down in Columbia City and connections in the University District and four city parks experienced sporadic outages. The city of Seattle's difficulties deploying the technology even in small areas come at a time when cities from San Francisco to Philadel- phia are promising to blanket entire municipal areas with Wi-Fi, a network of so-called hot spots that provide Internet access across short distances. Seattle's problems illustrate how easily things can go wrong. On the city's Web site, a short message says it all: "We have been experiencing technical problems with some of the equipment used in our WiFi pilot project. Users may not be able to connect to SeattleWiFi at this time." For now, the city says it is committed to getting the service back up and running. "We've ended up putting in a lot more technician time than we anticipated; that's been a much bigger cost for us, but we made a commitment to put it in and we'll make it work," said David Keyes, community technology program manager at the city's Department of Information Technology. The $115,000 pilot program receives money and support from a number of sources. The city is responsible for maintenance while Internet access will be funded through partnerships the University of Washington in the U District and HomeSight and Atlantic Street Center in Columbia City. Keyes said there's an obvious demand. In August, 50 people a day on average logged in at the parks (Occidental, Freeway, Westlake and Victor Steinbrueck). In the same month, the U District saw a daily average of 231 users, with a high of 284. In Columbia City, there was an average of 27 users a day from May to July, even though the network was never stable. The city's measured attempt at rolling out Wi-Fi is a test to see if it would drive more customers to businesses in those areas; and not necessarily if Wi-Fi would make sense to roll out citywide. It is too early to say what must be done to make the networks more stable, Keyes said. Columbia City The decision to temporarily shut down the Columbia City network came after Keyes discussed the issue with the business leaders in the South Seattle neighborhood. Businesses have been informed, and notices have been posted on street signs designating Wi-Fi access. City officials want further analysis before restarting the Columbia City network. Similarly, more work has to be done before the park networks are considered reliable. The U District network has been the most stable of all since launching in May. Teresa Lord Hugel, executive director of the Greater University Chamber of Commerce, said she hears from businesses during each outage because some opted to cancel their previous Internet service after getting the free access. U District Last week, problems with the U District network prompted the city to ask eqquipment provider D-Link for help. D-Link, based in Fountain Valley, Calif., flew in engineers and hired Wi-Fi consultant Greg Skinner, owner of Bellevue-based ACJ Technology Solutions. Skinner said most of the U District's difficulties came from networks bumping into each other. Wi-Fi blasts a signal a short distance from an antenna that connects to the Internet. Often, densely inhabited areas contain multiple networks, which cause interference. Skinner, who will assist in Columbia City and the parks, said it's hard to set the blame on any one entity because flare-ups are typical on new networks. "I've designed quite a few networks and it's very well designed and thought out," he said. "They [the city] obviously never deployed something this large, but they did their homework." Keyes said: "A couple of things are safe to say. From the community end, there's a demand for this kind of service. ... From a technical end, Wi-Fi is still a challenging technology." Tricia Duryee: 206-464-3283 or tduryee@seattletimes.com ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Thursday 13th October 2005 Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 07:42:59 -0500 From: cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news.com> Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com India Mobile Gaming Market Is On Track To Expand 700% by 2010 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14379.php According to a recent Pyramid Research survey of mobile phone users across the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries and the U.K., India ranked as the top mobile game market. Of the 355 respondents in India th... Three New Phones from Nokia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14380.php Nokia has announced the addition of three new models to its portfolio of business-optimized devices. The three new handsets support today's most popular and newly announced corporate mobile email solutions like BlackBerr... Atari Games for the N-Gage Handset http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14381.php Nokia says that it has shipped Atari Masterpieces Volume 1 for the N-Gage platform. This bumper pack includes not just one but eight classic games such as Asteroids, Battlezone, Black Widow, Millipede, Missile Command, R... Realtones Generate Bulk of Ringtone Revenues http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14382.php Telephia has reported that 60% of mobile ringtone revenues are generated by realtones. Traditional mono and polyphonic ringtones comprised nearly 33% of the revenue share, while callback tones accounted for 7% of the tot... Research Proves Mobile Phones and Sleep Do Go Together http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14383.php The quality of sleep for Australia's 12 million mobile phone users is not affected by calls on mobiles before bedtime, according to the world's largest independent study into mobile phones and sleep quality.... Lucent Wins CDMA Contracts http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14384.php The USA based operator, Leap Wireless and Alaska Native Broadband 1 License, a Leap joint venture, has signed three-year agreements with Lucent Technologies collectively valued at approximately US$125 million, providing ... Mobile Workers to Increase by More Than 200 Million Users http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14385.php Today's businesses are recognizing the growing importance of the mobile worker, who is perhaps one of the more strategic employees of an organization, and that job functionality can be enhanced by mobility for a signific... 3G for Trinidad http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14386.php Trinidad and Tobago's telecoms operator, TSTT has announced plans to launch a broadband wireless network in Trinidad and Tobago using solutions from Nortel. TSTT plans to offer 3G mobile broadband services to both reside... Vodafone Hit By Advertising Complaints http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14387.php Vodafone has been slapped twice over its advertising campaigns. In the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority upheld two complaints from rival operator, O2 about a poster campaign run by the company commenting on its ne... The Pros and Cons of Smartphone Operating Systems http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14388.php What is a smartphone? At ABI Research, the concept hinges around the operating system, which defines much of what a smartphone is and does.... FOCUS: Russia mulls fighting mobile handset thieves http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14293.php Russia is facing a rising problem of mobile handsets theft. In 2004, the Moscow police officially registered over 7,000 mobile handset thefts. However, analysts consider that the real number of stolen mobile handsets is ... Belarus MDC mobile subscriber base up 4.1% in September http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14297.php The subscriber base of Belarus mobile phone operator Mobile Digital Connection (MDC) increased 4.1% on the month in September to 1.645 million users, the company said Tuesday. ... Ukraine's Jeans mobile subscriber base up to 5 mln users Sep 30 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14300.php The subscriber base of Ukraine's Jeans rose 74% since the beginning of the year to 5 million users as of September 30, Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC) said in a press release. ... Russia's Euroset to cooperate in MVNO project with MTT http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14301.php Russia's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset has concluded an agreement with Multiregional Transit Telecom (MTT) on cooperation in the development of Euroset's mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) project, an MTT... TeliaSonera says holders to invest $60 mln in Moldova's Moldcell in 5 yrs http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14303.php Shareholders of Moldova’s mobile service operator Moldcell plan to invest U.S. $60 million in the company within five years, Anders Igel, CEO of TeliaSonera, Moldcell's key shareholder, said Wednesday. ... Belarus' BeST to buy $234 mln equipment from Alcatel Shanghai http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14313.php Belarus state-controlled mobile operator Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, has signed an agreement with China's Alcatel Shanghai Bell to purchase the Chinese company's telecommunications equipment for U... Russia's VimpelCom to launch tariff with free cell phone in Dec http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14316.php Russia's second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom plans to launch a tariff with a free mobile handset included in the price of the subscription fee, the company said in a press release Thursday. ... Russia's VimpelCom user base in Far East hits 1 million people http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14319.php The subscriber base of Russia's second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom in the country's Far East Federal District has exceeded 1 million people, the company said on Thursday. ... Russian court freezes SMARTS' shares once again http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14325.php Russia's regional court in St. Petersburg has frozen 100% of the shares of Russian regional mobile operator SMARTS, Kommersant business daily reported Friday, citing Gennady Kiryushin, the company's general director. ... Finland's Elcoteq opens telecom equip plant in Russia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14326.php Russia's ZAO Elcoteq, a subsidiary of Finland's electronics manufacturing company Elcoteq Network Corporation, opened a telecommunications equipment plant in St. Petersburg on Friday, Elcoteq's CEO Antti Piippo said at... PRESS: Russia's VimpelCom may start ops in 9 Far East regions http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14342.php Russia's second-largest mobile operator VimpelCom may get frequencies for operation in GSM 900 frequencies in nine regions in the Far East Federal District, Vedomosti business daily reported Monday, citing a letter fro... MegaFon says ups base stations in Moscow to 1,500 units http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14344.php Russia's third largest mobile operator MegaFon has increased the number of base stations in the Moscow License Area (MLA) to 1,500 units as of now from 1,000 units as of January 1, the company's General Director Sergei... AC&M says Russia's mobile user base up to 111.74 mln on Sep 30 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14346.php The number of mobile phone service subscribers in Russia increased to 111.74 million people as of September 30 from 107.33 million people as of August 31, Advanced Communications & Media (AC&M) said in a report released ... Russia's SMARTS launches EDGE technology in test mode http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14347.php Russian regional mobile operator SMARTS has launched Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology in test mode, the company said Monday. ... Ukraine's UMC mobile subscriber base up to 10.916 mln Sep 30 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14358.php The total subscriber base of Ukraine's Mobile Communications, or UMC, Ukraine's largest mobile phone operator, rose 3.8% on the month to 10.916 million subscribers as of September 30, UMC said in a press release on i... Japan Mobile Phone Shipments Decline 2.3% In August-Kyodo http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14367.php Shipments of mobile phones, including personal handy-phone system devices, in Japan fell 2.3% in August from a year before to 3.19 million units, Kyodo News reported, citing the Japan Electronics and Information Tech... TDC: Easymobile CEO No Longer In Charge Of Country Operations http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14368.php Danish telecom operator TDC AS (TLD) Wednesday said the chief executive of its EasyMobile unit is no longer in charge of operations in the three countries where the company is active. ... Carphone Warehouse To Accelerate Store Rollout In 3Q http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14369.php Carphone Warehouse Group PLC (CPW.LN), the U.K. mobile phone retailer and telecommunications services company, Wednesday said it will accelerate its store roll-out plan in the third quarter. ... Vietnam Mulls Selling Shares In Mobile Phone Cos From 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14370.php Vietnam is considering to sell shares in two state-owned mobile phone firms in stages from 2006 to improve competitiveness of domestic firms in the coming years, a government official said Wednesday. ... Bouygues Telecom Names Philippe Montagner Chairman, CEO http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14371.php Bouygues Telecom, a division of telecom and construction company Bouygues SA (12050.FR), Wednesday appointed Philippe Montagner as its new chairman and chief executive. ... Safran Ignores Weak Mobile Phone Sales http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14372.php Mobile phone and aerospace equipment maker Safran SA (7327.FR) said Wednesday it is pressing on in the mobile phone business regardless of weak sales and plunging profitability at the unit in the first half of this y... EU Govts To Make Telcos Keep Data Up To 1 Year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14373.php Telecommunications companies will be ordered to keep records of their customers' phone call traffic for a year as part of the European Union's efforts to fight militant attacks. ... Belgian Mobile Co BASE Says Mast Permits Delay 3G Rollout http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14374.php Belgian mobile phone company BASE Wednesday said administrative delays in obtaining building permits for radio masts in Brussels was holding up the roll-out of its third-generation wireless technology services. ... Russia's active GSM user base seen up to 111-113 mln this year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14375.php Russia's GSM Standard Operators Association expects the country's total active GSM mobile subscriber base to rise to between 111 million and 113 million users by the end of this year from the current 104.5 million, V... EU Warns Nine Member States Over Breaking Telecom Laws http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14376.php The European Commission has sent written warnings to nine European member states for breaking European telecom rules, the Commission said in a statement Wednesday. ... Official sees Wi-Fi hotspots in Russia up to 680 by year-end http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14377.php The number of Russia's Wi-Fi Internet access points, or hotspots, are expected to increase to 680 by the end of this year from 435 as of now, Executive Director of Russia's Association of GSM Operators Vyacheslav Afa... Russia's Megafon auctions "beautiful" phone number for $3,000 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14378.php Moscow-based mobile provider Sonic Duo, which operates Megafon's network in Moscow and the Moscow Region, has sold a "beautiful" telephone number for U.S. $3,000 at an auction held on October 10, the company's press se... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 12:22:24 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com> Subject: Comcast, Google in Talks to Buy AOL Stake USTelecom dailyLead October 13, 2005 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vEnwatagCrxJqFcLqu TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Comcast, Google in talks to buy AOL stake BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * MetaSolv lands BellSouth contract * Comcast moves to build TV service based on 'Net * SK-EarthLink plan youth-targeted mobile phone service * Apple debuts video iPod * Study: Not all consumers see reason to use VoIP * AT&T sees some success in China USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Engineering Conference at TELECOM '05 -- register now and save TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Japan plans mobile VoIP network REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * New EU rules require telcos to save phone, e-mail records * Milwaukee may launch Wi-Fi network Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/vEnwatagCrxJqFcLqu ------------------------------ From: dsaklad@gnu.org <dsaklad@zurich.csail.mit.edu> Subject: Name of The Calling Feature for Redialing a 'No Answer' Date: 13 Oct 2005 08:21:22 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com On some systems what is the name of the calling feature like busy redial http://www22.verizon.com/ForYourHome/sas/sas_con_LongDescription.aspx#RefTable http://www22.verizon.com/ForYourHome/sas/sas_CallingFeatures.aspx where your call reaches a no answer ringing and you want to be alerted when there is somebody at the number that could take your call?... So after they use the telephone you are alerted somebody might be there. Or when they pick up the telephone for a call you are alerted somebody can answer when you call now. ------------------------------ From: Antwain Barbour <ukcats4218016@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Vonage and the 500 Minute Plan Date: 13 Oct 2005 07:20:46 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Henry Cabot Henhouse III wrote: > I couldn't find reference to the "unlimited local w/500 national" > minutes on the archived website that Daniel pointed me to, but the > info from DevilsPGD confirms what I thought I signed up for... and the > reason I changed my pcs to a 323 number so forwarded minutes would not > count towards the 500 minutes. > I don't recall ever receiving notification from Vonage that the plan > changed. > Vonage has been ok, I've only suffered through a few outages -- which > affected everyone -- and fortunately I've never had the pain of trying > to get through to them on the phone. > I've recently considered switching to Sunrocket ... the website says > they can port one of my Verizon Wireless numbers (310-995 Gardena) > which Vonage can not do. I guess that, along with them being five > bucks a month less than Vonage for unlimited, makes SR attractive to > me. > Anyone have any opinions on SR? > Thanks, > Dave I've had SR for nearly a year at this point, and have been pretty happy with them. It's very cheap, and there are a lot of good features. They have had some recent issues, but I chalk those up to growing pains. They're definitely worth looking into. ------------------------------ From: anon1@sci.sci Subject: Re: Device That Interfaces Between Phone/CallerID and Serial Port? Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 09:25:03 -0700 Organization: UseNetServer.com > http://www.callerid.com/?page=ezid Integrated Voice Response (IVR) system > You need an IVR that can process the CID DTMF. Amanda comes to mind, Ah, IVR is the jargon I was looking for in my original request. So I'm looking for the cheapest standalone IVR device I can find. Thanks. > In about 30 minutes, you ought to be able to build a pretty long wish > list and download some use(ful/less) software. Two problems: My Macintosh has less than 17 megabytes available on hard disk, and most software I've seen on that Web site doesn't run on a Macintosh in the first place. > The IVR solution requires some serious hardware. In an Amanda > implementation you need a voice mail card (2 port version about $600 > or find one on eBay and get yourself a PC that accepts ISA boards) and > the software. I have no money to buy a PC, and no space here to put one even if I got one for free. Your use of "card" bothers me. It sounds like something that plugs inside a computer I don't have, not anything I can just sit next to my Macintosh and use via serial port the way I use my current SupraExpress 56 modem. > Amanda allows variable length digit strings to be sent before the > greeting and can route according to the digits received. If the 10 > digit mailbox esists, play the greeting, if it doesn't, play the > greeting you suggested above. I don't need any multi-line device. I have just one phone line, and one thing I hold in my hand to talk on phone. No mailboxes here. I just need something that will protect me from ten to twenty harassing calls per day, while allowing that one or two non-harassing calls per month to ring my hand-phoneset, using a sort of touch-tone Turing test to discrimate between somebody who has a legitimate reason for contacting me from the others who are just harassing me. (And what do you call that phone-handset anyway? The thing that has a base with touch-tone pad, and a thing you hold in your hand with microphone and earspeaker?) . ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson <ptownson@cableone.net> Subject: Last Laugh! People Doing Stupid Things: Spammer Makes Death Threat Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 14:10:15 -0500 Some recent correspondence from Aunty Spam, our anti-spam investigator working out of the UK: People Doing Stupid Things: Spammer Makes Death Threat to Investigator Summary: Talk about people doing stupid things! How stupid do you have to be to make a death threat against an officer who is investigating you? Spammer stupid! There are all kinds of people doing stupid things all the time. But some take the cake. Such as making a death threat against an officer who is investigating you. You have to admit, as people doing stupid things go, that's pretty darned stupid. But, of course, when I explain that it was a spammer who made the death threat, well, it begins to make more sense. Because we all know that most -- not all, but most -- spammers are even more stupid than the average stupid person. In this instance, the death treat came from Peter Francis-Macrae, alleged to be the biggest spammer in the United Kingdom, but it's actually not at all uncommon for spammers to make death threats, and other threats of bodily harm, to those whom they see as interfering with their operations. When your Aunty worked at MAPS, one of the first anti-spam organizations around, our investigators routinely were threatened like this, both in email and on the telephone. In fact, folks arrived at the office one day only to find that someone's windshield had been shot out. But back to Macrae. Macrae was involved in a scam through which he spammed offers for cheap domain registrations in the EU. The only thing was, the domains he was advertising, and for which he was collecting money, weren't available for sale. So he was investigated by the agency which deals with trading standards, and, it is said, he threatened to slit the throat of the trading standards officer. Not the sharpest tool in the shed, you say, so what? But a high-flying one, in more ways than one. With the 1.5 million British pounds that he netted from his email scams he bought himself, among other things, designer clothing (Yves Saint Laurent) and helicopter lessons. You'd think that his father, with whom the 23-year-old Macrae still lived (in fact, his center of operations was his bedroom in his father's house), might have caught on that his son had a bit too much spare cash for the average 23-year-old. Said the attorney for the government, Rupert Mayo, "He resorted to using violent verbal abuse and deadly threats to quite innocent people when challenged about his fraudulent activity. Of course we had to shut him down entirely; no more computers, no more internet." Is anyone surprised? http://www.aunty-spam.com/ Internet Patrol gives you up-to-the minute reporting on Internet goings on, along with a healthy dose of editorial commentary and pithy, witty remarks. If it happens on the Internet, the Internet Patrol is there. 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. *** 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, Aunty Spam.com For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. 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Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V24 #465 ****************************** | |