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TELECOM Digest Fri, 11 Nov 2005 13:39:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 514 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Vint Cerf Testimony to Congressional Committee (Circle ID) SBC to Ask Illinois Commerce Commission For More Flexibility (M Wisniewski) Vonage and 911 Saga May be Drawing to a Close (Gordon S. Hlavenka) How do I Detect the Number of a Phone Line? (jason.sandlin@wymtnews.com) Re: Good News, Linux Users! A Worm Just for You (Steve Sobol) Re: Good News, Linux Users! A Worm Just for You (harold@hallikainen.com) Re: Phishers Lure Google Users With Bogus Google Prizes (Steven Lichter) Re: Dutch Trial SMS Disaster Alert System (DevilsPGD) Re: Infone to Shut Down (DevilsPGD) Re: Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management; Gone Too Far (M Solomon) 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: Circle ID <circle@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Vint Cerf Testimony to Congressional Committee Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 23:19:39 -0600 Vint Cerf Speaking Out on Internet Neutrality By CircleID Reporter In a U.S. congress hearing held yesterday November 9th, significant focus was projected on 'network neutrality' and a new telecommunications bill affecting the Internet. "This bill could fundamentally alter the fabulously successful end-to-end Internet," says Alan Davidson in the post on Google blog. Vint Cerf was not able to testify because of the Presidential Medal of Freedom award ceremony at the White House, but submitted the following letter to the hearing: Dear Chairman Barton and Ranking Member Dingell, I appreciate the inquiries by your staff about my availability to appear before the Committee and to share Google's views about draft telecommunications legislation and the issues related to 'network neutrality'. These are matters of great importance to the Internet and Google welcomes the Committee's hard work and attention. The hearing unfortunately conflicts with another obligation, and I am sorry I will not be able to attend. (Along with my colleague Robert Kahn, I am honored to be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday at the White House for our work in creating the Internet protocol TCP/IP.) Despite my inability to participate in the planned hearing in person, I hope that you will accept some brief observations about this legislation. The remarkable social impact and economic success of the Internet is in many ways directly attributable to the architectural characteristics that were part of its design. The Internet was designed with no gatekeepers over new content or services. The Internet is based on a layered, end-to-end model that allows people at each level of the network to innovate free of any central control. By placing intelligence at the edges rather than control in the middle of the network, the Internet has created a platform for innovation. This has led to an explosion of offerings's from VOIP to 802.11x wi-fi to blogging that might never have evolved had central control of the network been required by design. My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others would place broadband operators in control of online activity. Allowing broadband providers to segment their IP offerings and reserve huge amounts of bandwidth for their own services will not give consumers the broadband Internet our country and economy need. Many people will have little or no choice among broadband operators for the foreseeable future, implying that such operators will have the power to exercise a great deal of control over any applications placed on the network. As we move to a broadband environment and eliminate century-old non-discrimination requirements, a lightweight but enforceable neutrality rule is needed to ensure that the Internet continues to thrive. Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can call; network operators should not dictate what people can do online. I am confident that we can build a broadband system that allows users to decide what websites they want to see and what applications they want to use and that also guarantees high quality service and network security. That network model has and can continue to provide economic benefits to innovators and consumers and to the broadband operators who will reap the rewards for providing access to such a valued network. We appreciate the efforts in your current draft to create at least a starting point for net neutrality principles. Google looks forward to working with you and your staff to draft a bill that will maintain the revolutionary potential of the broadband Internet. Thank you for your attention and for your efforts on these important issues. Sincerely, Vinton Cerf Chief Internet Evangelist Google Inc. CircleID is an Online Community Hub for the Internet's Core Infrastructure & Policy Developments. Copyright 2005 Circle ID. http://www.circleid.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: While Vint Cerf raises some very good points, he seems to overlook the fact that Internet already has a de-facto central coordinator in the form of ICANN. And while ICANN would seem to agree with Cerf on one point at least, that 'network operators should not dictate what people can do online' (which is to say they do not object to or stop spammers, scammers, virus writers and similar vermin) ICANN sees no objection to having very onerous contracts for regular users to follow. I'd accept his efforts at sincerity -- even if he is a bit misguided, IMO -- if ICANN would at the very least write their contracts to at least show disapproval of some of the crap which has taken such a chokehold on the net in the past decade. As long as things remain as they are now, where a regular net user -- like myself, or most of you -- can lose his domain name in an instant if ICANN chooses to enforce its contract and revoke us, while turning a blind eye toward the ones who need to be revoked -- virus writers, fraudsters, spammers, etc -- then I am not sure I believe Vint Cerf is doing other than putting on a good show for Congress when he makes speeches or writes letters such as illustated here. Quite obviously, Cerf is more than happy with the de-facto central authority on the net (ICANN). He would have been more honest saying "I do not want central authority _unless it is the central authority of which I approve_. And in his years of employment with MCI, Vint Cerf also sang a different tune: Control of the net by an MCI/ICANN consortium would have suited him fine. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mary Wisniewski <suntimes@telecom-digest.org> Subject: SBC to Ask Illinois Commerce Commission for 'More Flexibility' Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 10:42:21 -0600 BY MARY WISNIEWSKI Business Reporter Chicago Sun-Times SBC will ask the Illinois Commerce Commission today to declare the Chicago marketplace competitive to ease rules on how SBC can charge for residential local service. "It's like asking the commission to acknowledge the sky is blue," said Carrie Hightman, president of SBC Illinois. "It's to acknowledge that customers have a choice in phone service." Hightman said the requested ICC ruling would permit the Texas-based phone giant to compete freely with unregulated competitors like wireless and cable companies. Hightman said the requested ruling would not totally deregulate SBC in the Chicago area -- since the ICC would still look at its rates -- but would give SBC more flexibility. "It will enable us to price according to the market, whatever the market can bear," Hightman said. SBC had promoted a telecommunications bill to the General Assembly last spring that would further deregulate what SBC can charge rivals and customers. SBC had argued that SBC's real competition comes from cable television companies, cell phones and the growing use of Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP. The bill passed the Senate, but got stuck in the House. The new request is narrower than the bill -- focusing on residential service in the most competitive Illinois market. Having the Chicago area declared competitive would allow SBC to respond in a timely way to promotional offerings from rivals. It can't do this now because of regulation, Hightman said. The telecom bill had been criticized by the Citizens Utility Board, a consumer watchdog group, as liable to push up prices for consumers. SBC's current proposal could face similar opposition. Hightman said she believes real competition would give consumers better value and more choice. She noted that prices in the long-distance market went down by 28 percent because of competition, while prices for wireless service, which was never really regulated, have dropped 50 percent in the past four years. If it decides to investigate, the commission would have 180 days to review SBC's request. Hightman noted that neighboring states have reduced phone regulation. SBC has lost 1.7 million landlines in Illinois since 2001, Hightman said. In that same time period, consumers added 3 million wireless lines, 900,000 non-SBC landlines and 1.3 million broadband connections. In other news, SBC has reached an agreement with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 21 on the building of Project Lightspeed, an initiative to expand SBC's fiberoptics network. The agreement would allow the company more flexible use of contractors as it deploys the initiative. In turn, the company has agreed to rehire about 200 IBEW-represented technicians and has canceled the layoff of about 228 people who handle customer calls for network installation and repair at SBC's Lakewood Center in Hoffman Estates. Copyright 2005, Digital Chicago 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. *** 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, Digital Chicago/Chicago Sun-Times. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml For more news headlines, check out our features such as http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html and http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 10:01:35 -0600 From: Gordon S. Hlavenka <nospam@crashelex.com> Reply-To: nospam@crashelex.com Organization: Crash Electronics Subject: Vonage and 911 Saga may be Drawing to a Close I posted a month or two ago with a sort of "Vonage 911 digest", following the tone of their emails as the FCC "deadline" approached. The deadline was postponed, then canceled, and I thought that would be the last I heard from Vonage about 911. But I was wrong. Even after the cancellation of the FCC requirement, I continued to get strident emails urging me to view their 911 info page and activate my 911 service. These were the same emails I'd received before, just the earlier (less panicky) versions. Also, I continued to receive recorded transmissions on my Vonage number. Interestingly, these now don't fall through to voicecmail as they once did; they ring a few times and then hang up. But I recognize the 800 number on CID. Now I believe I may actually be hearing the last from Vonage on 911; yesterday I received this email: > Dear Gordon, > We have sent numerous notifications prompting you to provide us with > location information (street address) where you will be using your > Vonage service. This information is required to activate your 911 > Dialing service for phone number 1630-------. As we have advised you, > all VoIP operators are required by the FCC to provide 911 Dialing > service to all of our customers. > Beginning November 18, we will use the following address to route > your 911 calls unless you immediately login to your web account > https://secure.vonage.com/webaccount/public/login.htm, select the > Features link on your dashboard, and insert your correct street > address information in the 911 Dialing feature box: > [ My address appears here ] > No action on your part is necessary if the address above reflects the > accurate location where you use your Vonage service. In addition, > please note that if you have multiple Vonage lines you must activate > 911 Dialing for each line separately. > Again, if the address above is incorrect, simply login to your web > account (https://secure.vonage.com/webaccount/public/login.htm), > select the Features link on your dashboard, and edit your street > address information from the 911 Dialing feature box. > Please note that 911 calls are routed based on the street address you > have registered with us, so if you move your device you must > re-register your new street address. Also, if you add a line to your > account you will need to activate 911 Dialing by providing us with > your street address for that line as well. Remember, you can easily > update your street address at any time through your web account. > We appreciate your immediate attention to this matter, and we look > forward to providing you with reliable broadband phone service. > Sincerely, > Vonage Customer Care So they are going to default their unregistered accounts to the addresses provided at signup. I imagine that this will allow them to report "100%" to the FCC, and blame any errors on the customer. I originally got my Vonage line as an inexpensive way to "park" a couple of phone numbers, however that didn't pan out (although it looks like I may be able to work it in January) so I've been paying them $15/mo for a line that is never used. The only traffic on my Vonage account has been a couple of test calls and their constant efforts to get me to activate the 911 service. In retrospect I s'pose I could have spent my money more wisely :-) Anyway the ironic thing is that I'm moving to a new address, so now instead of a line with no 911 service I'm going to have a line with erroneous 911 service. (I know, I can just login and change the address. But, in the interest of Science, I'm evaluating their process here.) Gordon S. Hlavenka http://www.crashelectronics.com If your teacher tells you to Question Authority Should you do it? ------------------------------ From: jason.sandlin@wymtnews.com Subject: How Do I Detect the Number of a Phone Line? Date: 11 Nov 2005 07:48:11 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hey. I am going to be running a few new phone lines into my building. I have the TS21 Harris test set, but I want to be able to see what the number is on the line that I am testing. I have seen this done before, but i am not sure how. I want to do this so that I am sure that I do not cross any lines. I will be running the lines and testing them. I know how to test for tone, polarity and all of that stuff. I just want to be able to see what the phone number is coming in on that line. Please help. Thanks Jason [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In most communities there is a phone number one can call which will recite back to you the number you are on. The number to dial changes from one community to another, and itself is frequently changed. (It is intended only for telco outside plant technicians to use.) If you check with Mike Sandman mike@sandman.com or http://sandman.com he also has an 800 number set up to do the same thing. You dial into the 800 number; it reads back your number to you. And there are other 800 numbers doing the same thing, but I forget what they are. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol <sjsobol@JustThe.net> Subject: Re: Good News, Linux Users! A Worm Just for You Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 22:13:55 -0800 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com ellis@no.spam wrote: > In article <telecom24.508.3@telecom-digest.org>, Nancy Weil > <idg@telecom-digest.org> wrote: >> Linux users should update antivirus software > No, Linux users should intall the PHP updates that fix the XML-RPC > problem. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out how a PHP vulnerability ends up getting spin-doctored into being a Linux problem. PHP on Windows should have the same problem, no? Steve Sobol, Professional Geek 888-480-4638 PGP: 0xE3AE35ED Company website: http://JustThe.net/ Personal blog, resume, portfolio: http://SteveSobol.com/ E: sjsobol@JustThe.net Snail: 22674 Motnocab Road, Apple Valley, CA 92307 ------------------------------ From: harold@hallikainen.com <harold@hallikainen.com> Subject: Re: Good News, Linux Users! A Worm Just for You Date: 11 Nov 2005 05:46:36 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com ellis@no.spam wrote: > In article <telecom24.508.3@telecom-digest.org>, Nancy Weil > <idg@telecom-digest.org> wrote: >> Linux users should update antivirus software > No, Linux users should intall the PHP updates that fix the XML-RPC > problem. > http://www.spinics.net/linux/ It DOES look like people are trying to exploit this. Here are a few of the 404 errors from yesterday's log on my server. /MSOffice/cltreq.asp?UL=1&ACT=4&BUILD=6403 ... MVER=4&CAPREQ=0: 1 Time(s) /_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?UL=1&ACT=4&BUILD=6403 ... MVER=4&CAPREQ=0: 1 Time(s) /awstats/awstats.pl?configdir=|echo;echo%2 ... cho%20YYY;echo|: 2 Time(s) /blog/xmlrpc.php: 1 Time(s) /blog/xmlsrv/xmlrpc.php: 1 Time(s) /blogs/xmlsrv/xmlrpc.php: 1 Time(s) /cgi-bin/awstats.pl?configdir=|echo;echo%2 ... cho%20YYY;echo|: 2 Time(s) /cgi-bin/awstats/awstats.pl?configdir=|ech ... cho%20YYY;echo|: 1 Time(s) /drupal/xmlrpc.php: 1 Time(s) /live: 1 Time(s) /phpgroupware/xmlrpc.php: 1 Time(s) /wordpress/xmlrpc.php: 1 Time(s) /xmlrpc.php: 2 Time(s) /xmlrpc/xmlrpc.php: 1 Time(s) /xmlsrv/xmlrpc.php: 1 Time(s) Harold ------------------------------ From: Steven Lichter <shlichter@diespammers.com> Reply-To: Die@spammers.com Organization: I Kill Spammers, Inc. (c) 2005 A Rot in Hell Co. Subject: Re: Phishers Lure Google Users With Bogus Google Cash Prizes Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 04:55:06 GMT Tim@backhome.com wrote: > Steven Lichter wrote: >> I think when these people are cought, they should just shoot them >> right on the spot, after a few public shootings then they will all get >> the idea!!!! > I would add to that list people who run red lights and stop signs, > don't use their turn indicators (especially for left turns in front of > on-coming traffic, and who weave in and out of metro freeway traffic > at 90 mph. > Come to think of it, people who use cell phones in nice restaurants > should also be summarily executed. ;-) You must be in Riverside, Calif. The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2005 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD <spamsucks@crazyhat.net> Subject: Re: Dutch Trial SMS Disaster Alert System Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 00:17:06 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message <telecom24.512.7@telecom-digest.org> Joseph <JoeOfSeattle@yahoo.com> wrote: > Using text messaging to warn people they are in danger is quick and > easy, says the Dutch government. > (CNN) -- The Dutch government is testing a mobile phone danger alert > system that sends text messages to people who could be affected by > natural disasters or terrorist attacks. > The system, called Cell Broadcast, uses GSM technology to identify > cell phone users in a particular area. > If a disaster occurs, a message is sent to all phones in the area, > warning of the danger. Now this is a damn cool idea. ------------------------------ From: DevilsPGD <spamsucks@crazyhat.net> Subject: Re: Infone to Shut Down Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 00:17:06 -0700 Organization: Disorganized In message <telecom24.513.6@telecom-digest.org> J Kelly <jkelly@newsguy.com> wrote: > I remember a couple years back some posts about Infone, the Metro One > "teleconcierge" service. I got an email today from Infone telling me > their service will be closing up shop on 12/31/05. I used it a few > times and was quite pleased with the service. I hate to see it go, > but I guess they only managed to attract about 83,000 subs after > spending $70 million to promote the service. Not a real money maker. I signed up, but I never bothered to use it, I've just never made a 411 call either. The rest of their features looked interesting, but not all that useful since it wouldn't save much time. Sure I could call Infone and have them make a reservation for me, but I could just call and do it myself in the same amount of time. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 09:02:38 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Re: Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far More on the Sony DRM ... Are You Infected by Sony-BMG's Rootkit? EFF has confirmed the presence of XCP on the following titles http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004144.php Excerpt from XCP.Sony.Rootkit http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453096362 Furthermore, XCP.Sony.Rootkit installs a device driver, specifically a CD-ROM filter driver, which intercepts calls to the CD-ROM drive. If any process other than the included Music Player (player.exe) attempts to read the audio section of the CD, the filter driver inserts seemingly random noise into the returned data making the music unlistenable. Trojan horse exploits Sony DRM copy protection vulnerability Sophos issues tool to detect and disable "cloaking" flaw exploited by Trojans http://sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2005/11/stinxe.html Now the Legalese Rootkit: Sony-BMG's EULA November 09, 2005 If you thought XCP "rootkit" copy-protection on Sony-BMG CDs was bad, perhaps you'd better read the 3,000 word (!) end-user license agreement (aka "EULA") that comes with all these CDs. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004145.php Calif. Lawsuit Targets Sony http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/11/calif_ny_lawsui.html Perspective: Why they say spyware is good for you By Declan McCullagh Published: November 7, 2005, 4:00 AM PST http://news.com.com/2010-1071-5934150.html Sony gets an earful over CD software Program to block music piracy prompts privacy, security worries Carrie Kirby, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, November 11, 2005 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2005/11/11/MNGFMFMNV61.DTL ------------------------------ 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. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! 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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 #514 ****************************** | |