TELECOM Digest     Wed, 7 Dec 2005 00:47:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 551

Inside This Issue:                            Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Red Cross Worker Steals Client Debit Cards (Kathy Colbert)
    Europe's Own Internet Space Now Open for Business (Reuters News Wire)
    In Face of False Article, Wikipedia Tightens Rules (BBC News Wire)
    Communications History (Dave Marthouse)
    Sony BMG Urges Security Fix for CDs (Monty Solomon)
    Sources For Print Telephone Directories? (Larry G)
    Re: FTC Do Not Call List (Randal Hayes)
    Re: The Lasting Impact of Sony's Rootkit (alonzo_heem@yahoo.com)
    Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously (William Warren)

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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               ===========================

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: Kathy Colvin <US Newswire@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: Red Cross Worker Steals Client Debit Cards
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 22:33:42 -0600


Red Cross Volunteer and His Sister Charged With Stealing More Than 100
Red Cross Debit Cards Intended For Hurricane Evacuees

Contact: Kathy Colvin of the U.S. Department of Justice, 214-659-8707,
Web: http://www.USDOJ.gov/USAO/TXN

DALLAS, Dec. 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- United States Attorney Richard B.
Roper announced that Brian Oneal Hines and his sister, Charmaine
Denise Hines, surrendered to a federal marshall Tuesday and appeared
before United States Magistrate Judge Wm. F. Sanderson, Jr., on
charges outlined in a federal criminal complaints filed yesterday in
the Northern District of Texas. Each complaint charges each with using
stolen Red Cross debit cards to fraudulently obtain goods and
services, in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 1029(a)(2). Judge
Sanderson detained each of the defendants.

The affidavit filed with the federal criminal complaint states that on
Nov. 2, federal law enforcement agents received information from the
Red Cross office located at 4800 Harry Hines Boulevard in Dallas that
a Red Cross volunteer/temporary worker, Brian Hines, was committing
fraud with stolen Red Cross debit cards intended for hurricane
evacuees.

A Red Cross employee stated while he was researching missing Red Cross
debit cards on Sept. 27, Hines came into the office offering to volunteer.
While the employee was working, he noticed that Hines had a small piece of
paper in his hand and that every time he came around, Hines would crumple up
the piece of paper in a suspicious manner. The employee was able to read
numbers on Hines' paper and identified the numbers on this list as being
consistent with a series of missing debit cards. 

The employee was able to determine that one of the missing debit
account numbers had been activated with $4,695 loaded as the value of
the card. The employee found that there were at least 100 debit cards
missing. The national office of the Red Cross notified the employee
that half of the missing one hundred cards had been activated, most of
which with a value of $4,695 each, an unusual amount according to the
Red Cross employee.

Prior to Nov. 2, the Red Cross employee had discussed his suspicions
about Hines with another Red Cross employee, who thought it was probable
that Hines might leave the Red Cross office and conduct a fraudulent ATM
transaction using one or more stolen Red Cross debit cards. On the afternoon
of Nov. 2, the employee observed Hines exit the Red Cross parking lot and
drive to a Frost Bank branch located on Harwood in Dallas, where Hines
pulled into the ATM lane of the bank. A few days later, a U.S. Postal
Inspector and a U.S. Secret Service agent interviewed Hines who eventually
admitted repeatedly using stolen Red Cross debit cards to fraudulently
obtain large amounts of cash from Dallas area ATMs. Hines stated he gave
20 - 25 cards to his sister, Charmaine Denise Hines and her boyfriend. When
asked what he bought with the proceeds from the debit cards, Hines stated
that he bought jewelry for himself and his girlfriend and vehicles for both
family members and friends. Hines also gave gifts of cash, clothing, shoes
and jewelry to his family and friends

Hines also admitted that in October of 2005, he stole at least 100 Red
Cross debit cards or "client assistance cards" from various
locations. Hines stated that he was able to steal Red Cross debit
cards from the Reunion Arena location with the help of _security guard
personnel_. Hines confessed to activating and loading (values) on
approximately 100 stolen debit cards.

When law enforcement interviewed Charmaine Denise Hines, she admitted
that her brother had given her several stolen Red Cross debit cards and that
she had fraudulently used the cards to obtain large amounts of cash.

While the investigation is ongoing to determine the scope of the
fraudulent activity and the total dollar loss, Red Cross records
reflect a loss of more than $230,000 at this time.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the U.S.
Secret Service and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The case is
being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Jarvis.

http://www.usnewswire.com/

Copyright 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770

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: Europe's Own Internet Space Now Open For Business
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 22:37:10 -0600


Trademark holders and government bodies can start claiming their
European identities on the Internet from 1000 GMT on Wednesday, when
the registers open for the new ".eu" domain name aimed at boosting
European e-commerce.

The first steps toward a European Internet domain were taken in 1999
and later supported by the European Commission to encourage
cross-border electronic commerce within the Union.

"This is the first time we see a geographic top level domain shared by
multiple countries. It creates an e-commerce trading block the EU
hopes to benefit by," said David Saias, vice president of sales for
Register.com, one of the big registrar companies with which requests
for domain names can be filed.

New EU member states such as Poland, which want a bigger presence on
the Web, can use the ".eu" domain to be more visible and easier to
find, he said.

But even in the traditional EU nations such as Germany, many companies
currently register their Internet name under the national ".de" name
instead of the ".com" space which is associated with American or
global organizations.

If successful, the ".eu" domain could become the de facto domain for
all European organizations, which would make it easier for companies
and consumers to find and approach companies outside their home
countries, Saias said.

"This '.eu' domain is a geographic marketing tool," he said.

For the first two months, close to 500 registrar companies will take
down claims only for registered trademarks, public bodies and
geographical locations in the European Union.

Companies, trade names, business identifiers and literary works can be
registered for two months after that.

Starting April 7, all individuals within the 25 European Union member
states can start filing their requests, said the not-for-profit EURid
organization which keeps the database for the .eu domain names.

The European Union had demanded a "sunrise period" before open
registration to avoid "cybersquatting," which could result in
trademarks being registered by parties other than their owners or
companies having to pay massive amounts to buy their Internet domain
names from speculators.

During the sunrise period, evidence of prior rights such as trademarks
will be checked by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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: BBC News Wire <bbc@telecom-digest.org> 
Subject: After False Article, Wikipedia Tightens New Rules
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 22:41:19 -0600


Wikipedia tightens online rules  -- Online encyclopaedia Wikipedia has
tightened its submission rules followinga complaint.

Prominent journalist John Seigenthaler described as "false and
malicious" an entry on Wikipedia implicating him in the Kennedy
assassinations.

When he phoned Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's founder, he was told there was
no way of finding out who wrote the entry.

Wikipedia has since removed the entry and now requires users to
register before they can create articles.

But visitors to the site will still be able to edit content already
posted without having to register.

The case has highlighted once again the problem of publishing
information online.

'Impulse vandalism'

Unlike content published in magazines, books or newspapers, online
information can be posted anonymously by anyone.

       ************************
The marketplace of ideas ultimately will take care of the problem but
in the meantime, what happens to people like me?  -John Seigenthaler
       ************************

Wikipedia has thrived on offering people the chance to contribute to a
collective knowledge bank.  Since its launch in 2001, Wikipedia has
gathered together some 850,000 articles in English as well as entries
in at least eight other languages on a wide range of topics.

Based on wikis, open-source software which lets anyone fiddle with a
webpage, anyone reading a subject entry can disagree, edit, add,
delete, or replace the entry.

It relies on volunteers, many of whom are experts in a particular
field, to edit previously submitted articles.

Mr. Wales acknowledged that the new procedures would not prevent people
from posting false information but said he hoped it would limit the
number of new articles being created.

This, in turn, should make it easier for the 600 volunteers to edit
content, he said.

"In many cases the types of things we see going on are impulse
vandalism," he said.

In an opinion piece for the USA Today, where Mr Seigenthaler was the
founding editorial director, the 78-year-old journalist claimed that
only one sentence in his Wikipedia biography was correct -- the fact
that he was Robert Kennedy's administrative assistant in the early
1960s.

He went on to describe Wikipedia as a "flawed and irresponsible
research tool".

"The marketplace of ideas ultimately will take care of the problem but
in the meantime, what happens to people like me?" he asked.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/4502846.stm

Copyright 2005 BBC MMV

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.

For more news headlines from the BBC each day, please go to:
http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/BBC.html

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

From: Dave Marthouse <dmart@pure.net>
Subject: Communications History
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 23:33:02 -0500


I am a bit of a communications history buff.  I've been doing a little
research about telecom in the days before transoceanic phone service
before cables and satellites.  The only way to bridge the oceans was
hf radio.  It's interesting to note that anyone with a shortwave radio
could listen to all the international point-to-point phone traffic.  I
am going to assume that a form of independent sideband was used with a
maximum of two or four circuits going to a specific country.  Ssb is
very easy to receive even with a standard shortwave radio of the day
as long as it had a bfo to demodulate and recover the signals.  I
would like to know if any form of primitive encryption was used to
make the circuits a bit more secure.  It must have been very easy to
literally monitor all the international traffic to and from a given
nation.  Anyone who can shed light on this subject would be
appreciated to help scratch my historical itch.


Dave Marthouse
dmart@pure.net

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

Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 00:24:33 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Sony BMG Urges Security Fix for CDs


By ALEX VEIGA AP Business Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Sony BMG Music Entertainment said Tuesday some 5.7
million of its CDs were shipped with anti-piracy technology that
requires a new software patch to plug a potential security breach in
computers used to play the CDs.

The security vulnerability was discovered by online civil liberty
group Electronic Frontier Foundation and brought to the attention of
Sony BMG, which has been under fire in recent weeks over security
issues with an unrelated CD copy-protection plan.

The company said Tuesday it brought the issue up with the MediaMax
software maker, SunnComm Technologies Inc., which has developed a
software patch to fix the problem.

      - http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53741647

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

Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 16:13:04 PST
From: Larry G <thelarry_g3@yahoo.com>
Subject: Sources For Print Telephone Directories?


Hi everyone,

I tried sending this post via usenet, but for some reason it either
wasn't approved or never reached the servers. I managed to find my own
answer to the question, but more sources can't hurt.

Years ago, I ordered some out-of-state phone directories (I live in
California) and received a catalog of where to get more. I remember
having a catalog from AT&T and one from GTE (which is now Verizon).

Recently, I was curious to know if you could still order
out-of-state/area telephone directores. While sources for online
listings were plentiful, print sources were not.

Through some obscure search, I managed to find Verizon's website for
this "DirectoryStore.com", but was wondering if that was the only
source. I assume that you can also order from your local phone company
directly.

This question in this timeframe is like asking for a listing of
someone's 8-track tape collection, I realize, but not all cities and
places have listings online.

Thanks for any information, and if the original post was rejected for
some reason, can you please tell me why. AFAIK, it is telecom related.

Thanks in advance,

Larry


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So far as I know, your original post
did not get to me. It is telecom-related and would have been used,
as it was this time. But, you know how it goes with spam on the net. 
While legitimate mail can often times get lost in the rush of junk
coming through, the only email guarenteed prominent placement is spam.
PAT]

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

Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:48:27 -0600
From: Randal Hayes <randal.hayes@uni.edu>
Subject: Re: FTC Do Not Call List


> I called 1-888-382-1222.  After I entered my phone number, the voice said
> the calls would stop in 3 weeks, My understanding is that it is 3 months.

Although the "refresh" and "scrubbing" frequency from the FTC/FCC DNC
Registry was originally set at 3 months, it was changed such that
those telemarketers who must comply with the DNC Registry must "scrub"
their lists every 30 days with the latest DNC database information.

Randy Hayes

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

From: alonzo_heem@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: The Lasting Impact of Sony's Rootkit
Date: 6 Dec 2005 15:00:56 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Maybe Sony should have read this piece first:

" The effort required to enforce copyright is approaching infinity.

" Encryption, the Industry counters: we will be so clever that we'll
only distribute a product that can be unlocked and used by the
customer, by the miracle of the cipher, a secret code.

"The Internet was built for maximum survivability in a nuclear war.
It's everywhere, and growing exponentially. How's the hell is
Entertainment business going to keep up with that? And copyright all
you want. The Internet doesn't care; if it can be digitized and loaded
onto a networked computer, it will be everywhere, soon. The cyborg
guarantees it. Go ahead - sick your lawyers on a few dozen
downloaders. It's just a finger in the dyke; a thousand new holes will
appear every day. Squared.

"Comparisons of the Internet to a military cyborg really aren't
hyperbole. The grim history is that Internet was originally built as a
cybernetic military command-and-control infrastructure for
coordinating, among other things, the launch of nuclear missiles.
Researchers at the Department of Defense figured out that virtual
communication circuits on a network beat the heck out of literal,
point-to-point circuits of dedicated wiring. This scheme of virtual
circuits brought with it the prospect the military could build a
control system that could fix itself instantaneously if it sustained
damage. 

"Damage, as in, nuclear damage. When a segment of the network
was compromised -- as in, "Oh, heck -- they just nuked Denver" -- the
system could re-configure these virtual circuits on-the-fly -- with
computers and routers instead of work crews with pliers, wire and
soldering guns -- and the messages would still get through, right now.
Simply, the Net interpreted sudden silences in any of its network
nodes as damage, and routed around it.

"That is the Prime Directive, core message, and DNA of the Internet,
all in one: If you can't get a message through one channel, route
around it -- invisibly, silently, relentlessly -- until you make the
connection.

"And here's the commercially grizzly implication of that Prime
Directive no entertainment executive has, as of yet, been able to
understand: The Internet interprets commercial interest, censorship or
virtual toll-booths of any kind as damage. And routes around them.
Invisibly, automatically, instantaneously."

Quoted from http://www.thomasscoville.com/Tinseltown_Burning.pdf

"Why downloading isn't wrong, copyright is dead and Hollywood is in decline."

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

Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 20:42:22 -0500
From: William Warren <william_warren_nonoise@speakeasy.net>
Subject: Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously


jonfklein@gmail.com wrote:

> Here is the problem,

> I have two telephone lines. I want to make both of these lines ADSL
> connections to the internet and use these connections to provide
> internet access to several wireless laptop computers. A maximum of
> about 20 laptops would be connected to the system at once. I would
> like the laptops to be able to use both lines simultaneously so that I
> don't have one line overloaded and one underloaded (ie: I want to
> balance the traffic on the lines at any given time).

> Anyone have any suggestions on how to set up something like this?

> -Jonathan

Obtain a Linux server, connect each DSL line to a separate Ethernet 
card, and modify its route table to give equal weight to each line. 
You'll need a third card for your wireless AP or other LAN connections.

Best of luck.

William

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

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End of TELECOM Digest V24 #551
******************************