TELECOM Digest     Tue, 13 Dec 2005 04:38:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 561

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    The Front Lines - December 12, 2005 (Jonathan Marashlian)
    A Little Sleuthing Unmasks Writer of Wikipedia Prank (Monty Solomon)
    Cable Industry Gets Family Friendly (Monty Solomon)
    Cellular-News for Tuesday 13th December 2005 (Cellular-News)
    Communications History (Charles G Gray)
    Re: Parental Electronic Supervision of Teens - Good or Bad? (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Parental Electronic Supervision of Teens - Good or Bad? (Carl Navarro)
    Re: Court Won't Hear National Geographic CD-ROM Case (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: FTC Do Not Call List (Lena)
    Re: FTC Do Not Call List (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Hypothetical SxS Question (Carl Zwanzig)
    Re: Wage Laws, was Holiday Observances Phone Rates (Robert Bonomi)

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
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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
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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: Jonathan Marashlian <jsm@thlglaw.com>
Subject: The Front Lines - December 12, 2005
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 16:22:53 -0500
Organization: The Helein Law Group
 

http://www.thefrontlines-hlg.com/ The FRONT LINES

Sponsored by The Helein Law Group, P.C. http://www.thlglaw.com/

Advancing The Cause of Competition in the Telecommunications Industry 

2nd CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS ALLOWS ANTITRUST CLAIMS AGAINST RBOCs TO
PROCEED

On October 3rd, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
reversed a lower court ruling that had dismissed a lawsuit against all
four RBOCs -- BellSouth, Qwest, SBC, and Verizon -- alleging
violations of the Sherman Act, Section 1 (antitrust).  Twombly, et al
v. Bell Atlantic, ___ F.3d ___, 2005 WL 2420523 (2d Cir, NY).

Here's the pertinent background.  

The plaintiffs were not CLECs or other competitors.  Instead, the plaintiffs
were CONSUMERS.

The action is styled as a class action.  The allegations are that
following the passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, the RBOCs
conspired to exclude competitors from their respective geographic
markets for local telephone and high-speed Internet services and also
tacitly agreed not to compete against one another in said markets.

The District Court dismissed the suit for failure to state a cause of
action upon which relief could be granted.  The Second Circuit,
however, reversed and remanded on a narrow procedural ground, finding
instead that the plaintiffs had sufficiently pled enough facts to meet
the notice pleading requirements of the Federal Rules of Civil
Procedure.  Having met the notice pleading requirements, the Second
Circuit held that the lower court erred when it dismissed the suit.

The reversal means that the plaintiffs will be able to use discovery
to build their case against the RBOCs.  The suit remains subject to
possible motions for summary judgment against the plaintiffs, but
these filings cannot be made until after the plaintiffs have had a
chance to use discovery to build their case.

The specific factual allegations used by the plaintiffs are most
interesting.  It was alleged that -

The RBOCs control 90% of the local telephone market in the U.S. The
RBOCs have agreed (conspired) not to compete with one another in their
respective territories.  The result of this conspiracy has been to
drive CLECs out of the market for local phone and high-speed Internet
services.  Plaintiffs (as consumers) were injured by forcing them as
consumers of these services to pay at rates higher than they would
otherwise pay in a competitive environment.

The factual predicates stated in support allegations of antitrust
violations were -

The RBOCs engaged in "parallel conduct" by not competing with each
other, conduct that cannot be explained but for the existence of a
tacit agreement not to compete.  This allegation was supported by
alleging that -
 
* The RBOCs' operating territories include pockets of territories
surrounding other RBOC operating territories which provide the RBOCs
competitive advantages to invade other RBOC territories, but such
invasions have not occurred; 

* The RBOCs have frequently complained that FCC regulations
implementing the 1996 Telecommunications Act hurt their businesses by
forcing them to provide CLECs with access to their networks at rates
that are below the cost of maintaining those networks.  Such RBOC
complaints should have served as a spur for the RBOCs to invade other
RBOC territories to reap the benefits of being able to compete based
on obtaining below cost network operations; but the RBOCs nevertheless
ignored this "incentive"; 

* Richard Notebaert, Qwest's CEO, stated publicly that competing in
neighboring SBC territories "might be a good way to turn a quick
dollar but that doesn't make it right"; * The RBOCs communicate
frequently with each other through a myriad of organizations that
provide the opportunity for a conspiracy to form and be conducted
without the likelihood of detection; and 

* From the day the 1996 Act became law, the RBOCs have used every
means available to destroy the ability of CLECs to compete.

The Second Circuit cited these and other facts to find that the
antitrust lawsuit could not be dismissed for failing to state a cause
of action.  Thus, the plaintiffs may now proceed to the discovery
stage.

At stake is some form of injunctive relief, treble damages and
exposure to maximum fines of $100,000,000 per corporation, $1,000,000
per person or imprisonment of up to ten years or both.

CLECs and others - stay tuned.

FCC CONSOLIDATES FRONTIER DECLARATORY PETITION REGARDING ACCESS
CHARGES WITH PETITIONS PREVIOUSLY FILED BY SBC AND VARTEC; ACCESS
CHARGES ON VERGE OF COLLIDING WITH INTERNET PROTOCOL

On November 23, 2005, Frontier Telephone of Rochester, Inc. (Frontier)
filed with the FCC a Petition for Declaratory Ruling that USA Datanet
(Datanet) and any similarly situated carriers must pay tariffed
originating interstate access charges for Feature Group A calls from
Frontier's end users.  Feature Group A calls require calling parties
to input a seven-digit number, obtain dial tone from another carrier's
switch, input a personal identification number, and then the telephone
number of the called party.

In its petition, Frontier seeks a declaratory ruling that it is owed
originating access charges for IP-transported Feature Group A calls
for the following interstate access rate elements: 1) end office
common trunk port; 2) end office local switching; 3) local transport
tandem transmission - fixed; and 4) local transport tandem
transmission facility.

Frontier filed its petition after the United States District Court for
the Western District of New York stayed Frontier's case seeking
payment of access charges from Datanet for originating Feature Group A
access services.  Frontier Telephone of Rochester, Inc. v. USA Datanet
Corp., No. 05-CV-6056 CJS, Decision and Order, 13-14 (W.D.N.Y. Aug. 2,
2005).  The court found it appropriate to stay the case pending the
FCC's resolution of the issues raised by Frontier.

Frontier asked the FCC to consolidate its petition with existing WC
Docket No. 05-276, which is examining petitions for declaratory
rulings filed by SBC and VarTec on similar IP access charge issues.
The FCC agreed to Frontier's request.

As a quick re-cap, on September 26, 2005, the FCC released a Public
Notice requesting comments on Petitions filed by SBC and VarTec.  Both
Petitions request clarification regarding the application of access
charges to certain providers of wholesale transmission using Internet
Protocol (IP).  As described below, SBC and VarTec take contrary
positions on the issue.

On September 21, 2005, SBC filed a petition for declaratory ruling
that wholesale transmission providers using Internet protocol (IP)
technology to transport long distance calls are liable for access
charges.  SBC filed its petition after the United States District
Court for the Eastern District of Missouri dismissed without prejudice
SBC's claims seeking payment of access charges for long distance calls
that were transported using IP technology.  The court found it
appropriate to defer the issues raised by SBC to the primary
jurisdiction of the FCC.

In its Petition, SBC seeks a declaratory ruling that wholesale
transmission providers using IP technology to carry long distance
calls that originate and terminate on the public switched telephone
network (PSTN) are liable for access charges under section 69.5 of the
Commission's rules and applicable tariffs.  SBC seeks a ruling that
providers meeting these criteria are interexchange carriers.

VarTec filed a petition for declaratory ruling on related issues.
Specifically, VarTec seeks a declaratory ruling that it is not
required to pay access charges to terminating local exchange carriers
(LECs) when enhanced service providers or other carriers deliver calls
directly to the terminating LECs for termination.

VarTec also seeks a declaratory ruling that such calls are exempt from
access charges when they are originated by a commercial mobile radio
service (CMRS) provider and do not cross major trading area (MTA)
boundaries.  VarTec also seeks a declaratory ruling that terminating
LECs are required to pay VarTec for the transiting service VarTec
provides when terminating LECs terminate intraMTA calls originated by
a CMRS provider.

As the industry rapidly migrates to IP-based calling, the issue of
access charges and access charge reform is gaining traction in the
courts and at the FCC.  Access charges continue to be a tremendous
source of revenue for ILECs and independent LECs and, as such, will
continue to be tremendous motivation for lawsuits and other "self
help" efforts to collect access charges from a variety of entities,
some of which may or may not be applicable.  If you have concerns,
please contact your regulatory attorney and if you do not have one,
contact us at: 703-714-1313 or via e-mail: mailto:jsm@thlglaw.com
jsm@thlglaw.com.

COMMUNICATIONS TAXES: News & Notes

At The Helein Law Group we are frequently asked to provide advice
regarding state and federal taxation of telecommunications and
enhanced communications services.  The firm's Telecommunications &
Technology Regulatory Practice includes a separate focus that offers
expert advice on federal and state excise taxes on communications
products and services, as well as on state sales, use and gross
receipt (excise taxes), and other "tax-like" regulatory fees that are
or can be applied to a variety of communications and information
technology services and products.

As a new service to its clients and readers of The Front Lines, we
will begin publishing summaries of tax decisions relevant to the
communications industry on a more frequent basis.  We are taking these
steps to highlight the dizzying array of taxes, changes in tax laws &
regulations, and the importance of these changes have in the context
of the telecommunications & enhanced services industries.

If you seek legal advice on issues pertaining to taxes or "tax-like"
fees, please contact our firm at 703-714-1300 or via e-mail:
mailto:mail@thlglaw.com mail@thlglaw.com.

New York

In New York, a recent decision held that sales tax applies to
purchases of electricity used to provide power to telecommunications
equipment.

XO Communications, Inc. (XO), purchased electricity from Con Edison
that was used to power its telecommunications equipment and filed a
refund claim on the sales tax paid on its purchases of electricity.

XO relied on Section 1115(a)(12-a) of the N.Y. Tax Code that its
purchases of electricity were used in the production, delivery, or
rendering of telecommunications services.  But it was held that the
exemption in Section 1115(a)(12-a) does not apply to purchases of
electricity.

XO then relied on Section 1115 (a)(12) claiming exemption for
machinery and equipment used in manufacturing tangible personal
property for sale.  This argument was rejected because the term
"machinery and equipment" does not include electricity and the
electricity purchased did not produce tangible personal property for
sale; but was used to produce a service.

XO's reliance on Section 1115(c)(1) was also rejected because
telecommunications services are not corporeal property because they
cannot be seen or handled and telecommunications are not taxed as
tangible personal property under the Tax Law but as a service.

XO's final argument that under Section 1115(c)(1) its purchase of
alternating current was a purchase of a raw material that was
converted to direct current was rejected because the conversion was
considered to be only an intermediate step in the process to sell it
telecommunications services.
 
XO New York, Inc., New York Division of Tax Appeals, DTA N 820005, 9/29/05.

Pennsylvania

Graham Packaging Company, L.P., recently lost its appeal to overturn
the taxability of canned software based on the differences in the
delivery method used, i.e., the difference between being received via
computer disks as opposed to receiving via an electronic download.

The question presented was whether the renewal of a license to use
canned computer software that was originally delivered by computer
disk was subject to sales tax when updates are delivered via
electronic download?

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue held that the initial
acquisition of canned software by disk, makes it tangible personal
property and taxable.  It issued Sales Tax Bulletin 2005-04 follows an
earlier ruling against Graham, and effective 11/1/05, sales tax must
be charged on all sales of canned software regardless of the delivery
method.

Graham Packaging Company, LP, v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, No. 652 F.R.
2002, 9/1 and Sales Tax Bulletin, 2005-04, PA Department of Revenue,
11/1/05.

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue also announced that it will
soon update its Statement of Policy, 61 Pa. Code 60.20, to reflect the
Federal Internet Tax nondiscrimination Act and the Mobile
Telecommunications Sourcing Act, as well as Pennsylvania Act 23 of
2000 and Act 89 of 2002.  In the meantime the Department provided a
list of examples and definitions of both enhanced and non-enhanced
telecommunication services.

Services that the Department has determined are enhanced
telecommunications services include:

 
*                     Data Processing
*                     Information Retrieval Services
*                     Video Programming 
*                     Video on Demand
*                     Voice Service

Services that the Department has determined are not enhanced
telecommunications services include:

*                     Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
*                     Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
*                     Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
*                     Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS)
*                     Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
*                     Primary-rate Integrated Services Digital Network 
                      (PRI_ISDN)
*                     T-1 and T-3 lines
*                     Time Division Multiplexing (TDM)
*                     Vertical Services
*                     Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)

Sales tax Bulletin 2005-03, Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, Issued
9/30/05.

Tennessee

The Tennessee Court of Appeals has held that telephone central office
machinery and equipment does not qualify for the industrial machinery
equipment exemption under the Tennessee sales and use tax.

AT&T Corporation, Network Systems Division v. Loren Chumley,
Commissioner of Revenue, S Tennessee, Tennessee Court of Appeals,
Appeal from the Chancery Court for Davidson County,
M2004-01514-COA-R3-CV, 10/21/05.

 ________

The Front Lines is a free publication of The Helein Law Group, P.C.,
providing clients and interested parties with valuable information,
news, and updates regarding regulatory and legal developments
primarily impacting companies engaged in the competitive
telecommunications industry.

The Front Lines does not purport to offer legal advice nor does it
establish a lawyer-client relationship with the reader. If you have
questions about a particular article, general concerns, or wish to
seek legal counsel regarding a specific regulatory or legal matter
affecting your company, please contact our firm at 703-714-1313 or
visit our website:

 http://www.thlglaw.com/ www.THLGlaw.com

The Helein Law Group, P.C.
8180 Greensboro Drive, Suite 700
McLean, Virginia 22102

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

Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 15:09:24 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: A Little Sleuthing Unmasks Writer of Wikipedia Prank


By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

It started as a joke and ended up as a shot heard round the Internet,
with the joker losing his job and Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia,
suffering a blow to its credibility.

A man in Nashville has admitted that, in trying to shock a colleague
with a joke, he put false information into a Wikipedia entry about
John Seigenthaler Sr., a former editor of The Tennessean in Nashville.

Brian Chase, 38, who until Friday was an operations manager at a small
delivery company, told Mr. Seigenthaler on Friday that he had written
the material suggesting that Mr. Seigenthaler had been involved in the
assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. Wikipedia, a nonprofit
venture that is the world's biggest encyclopedia, is written and
edited by thousands of volunteers.

Mr. Seigenthaler discovered the false entry only recently and wrote
about it in an op-ed article in USA Today, saying he was especially
annoyed that he could not track down the perpetrator because of
Internet privacy laws. His plight touched off a debate about the
reliability of information on Wikipedia - and by extension the entire
Internet - and the difficulty in holding Web sites and their users
accountable, even when someone is defamed.

In a confessional letter to Mr. Seigenthaler, Mr. Chase said he
thought Wikipedia was a "gag" Web site and that he had written the
assassination tale to shock a co-worker, who knew of the Seigenthaler
family and its illustrious history in Nashville.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/business/media/11web.html?ex=1291957200&en=250503cbb293b485&ei=5090

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

Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:37:51 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Cable Industry Gets Family Friendly


By JENNIFER C. KERR Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Under pressure from the government, the nation's
two largest cable companies plan to offer packages of family friendly
channels to give parents a new way to shield children from sex, rough
language and violence.

Industry leader Comcast Corp., No. 2 Time Warner Cable and several
other companies will start offering "family choice" tiers, most likely
by spring, said Kyle McSlarrow, head of the National Cable &
Telecommunications Association, the main cable trade group.

Details will vary by company, McSlarrow told the Senate Commerce
Committee on Monday. He did not have an estimate on the cost, but said
the tiers would be tied to digital cable packages, which cost more
than a standard non-digital package.

The industry has come under increased scrutiny for raunchy
programming, most recently from the head of the Federal Communications
Commission. Chairman Kevin Martin urged cable executives at an
indecency forum last month to give parents more tools to help navigate
the hundreds of channels available to consumers.

Without endorsing a specific solution, Martin offered several
suggestions, including family friendly tiers and so-called "a la
carte" pricing, which would let customers pick and pay for only those
channels they want.

Most cable executives have dismissed the idea of a la carte pricing,
saying it would drive up costs and lead to the demise of channels that
can't attract enough advertising dollars.

- http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=53885309

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

Subject: Cellular-News for Tuesday 13th December 2005
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 07:42:05 -0600
From: Cellular-Nnews <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com>


Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com

[[ Financial ]]

NTT DoCoMo To Invest $6 Million In Chinese Mobile Payment Co
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15202.php

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Monday it will invest $6 million in January in
the holding company of Chinese mobile payment service provider Just In
Mobile Information Technology Shanghai. ...

Russia's MTS purchases 51% of Kyrgyzstan's Bitel for $150 mln 
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15204.php

Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has
purchased a 51% stake in Kyrgyzstan's largest mobile operator Bitel
for U.S. $150 million, MTS President Vasily Sidorov told
reporters Monday. ...


Orascom Sells Congo GSM Network
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15209.php

Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH) has signed an agreement to sell
its controlling 65% equity stake in its GSM operation in Congo
Brazzaville, Libertis Telecom. Total consideration to OTH is US$66.6
million in cash. As of September 30th 2005, Libe...

[[ Legal ]]

EU Ends Antitrust Probe After ETSI Changes Patent Rules
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15203.php

The European Commission Monday closed an antirust investigation into
the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, a group that sets
the industry's technology standards. ...

[[ Mobile Content ]]

Mobile Content A Key Factor When Buying a Handset
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15206.php

According to research on digital services for mobile phones
commissioned by Buongiorno Vitaminic, downloading ringtones,
wallpapers and multimedia games comes third place among the favourite
activities of mobile holders, preceded only by calls and te...

Mobile TV Launched in South Africa
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15210.php

South Africa's Vodacom has launched the first mobile television
entertainment service on cellphones, to customers in South Africa
using 3G handsets. New forms of content are increasingly making their
way onto cellphones -- music, in particular, is alr...

[[ Network Contracts ]]

Ericsson In Deal With BITE For Mobile Infrastructure
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15201.php

Swedish telecommunications equipment company Telefon AB LM Ericsson
Monday said it has signed a contract with Baltic mobile operator BITE
Group to supply second-generation and third-generation mobile systems
infrastructure in Lithuania and Latvia unt...

Improved Billing Platform in Qatar
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15208.php

Comptel says that it has delivered a data charging solution to Qtel in
Qatar, which includes online mediation, rating product
components. This will enable Qtel to offer unified and wider service
offerings for both postpaid and prepaid mobile users. Q...

[[ Statistics ]]

3G Spending is Higher for Operator Portals Compared to Off-Portal
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15205.php

3G raises adoption of applications and increases overall data services
spending, according to a new report from Telephia, which showed that
3G users were much more active than non-3G users, especially for new
and advanced mobile activities developed ...

Chinese ICT Exports Overtake USA
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15207.php

China overtook the United States in 2004 to become the world's leading
exporter of information and communications technology (ICT) goods such
as mobile phones, laptop computers and digital cameras, according to
OECD data....

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

Subject: Communications History
From: Charles G Gray <graycg@okstate.edu>
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 13:48:28 -0600


In 1959 I was assigned to the US Army Signal Depot in Okinawa.  I got
my uniform all spruced up and answered all of the questions from the
examining board correctly and won "soldier of the month".  There were
three awards.  One was a new Army Green uniform, which would have cost
me about half a month's pay out of my pocket.  When I joined the Army
in 1957 they issued us one OD uniform and one green one.  We were
supposed to buy the second green one ourselves.  We got black shoes,
but we had to dye the brown boots black ourselves.

Another piece of the award was a three-minute phone call to the United
States -- which at the time would cost about US$36.00 (over a third of
a month's pay).  As I recall it was handled by RCA Globecom from a
phone booth in Sukiran to Tulsa, OK.  It was full duplex, so we didn't
have to do the "over" thing.  I called my wife, who had just borne our
first son.  I learned that he had been born via a Red Cross "health
and welfare" telegram, since my wife couldn't afford to call me.  I'm
glad that the troops today have multiple methods of communicating, but
in 1958-59 I was severely restricted.  My wife wrote every day, but we
only had that one single phone conversation in my 15 months overseas.
At $12 a minute, we could buy a lot of stamps.

The final part of the award was a trip to the northern part of Okinawa
(on the general's helicopter) to have a look at the tropospheric
scatter radio site that was being installed.  My memory is clouded by
the fog of time, but I think it was Philco doing the installation.
Since I was a radio repairman I got the "grand tour" of the whole
site.  The helicopter ride was something special as well, since they
were not nearly as ubiquitous as they are today.

Moving along, when I went to school with AT&T in New Jersey in 1970 we
visited their HF radio site near Princeton, NJ.  There were huge AM
transmitters, and equally huge multi-panel rhombic antennas.  At that
time they were used only for contingency call routing to countries
like Switzerland, who being landlocked, always had a fear of one or
more of their neighbors interfering with their cable connections.
Each transmitter had the name of the country it was prepared to serve.
Of course, the advent of satellites put an end to the overseas HF
services.

Regards,

Charles G. Gray
Senior Lecturer, Telecommunications
Oklahoma State University - Tulsa
(918)594-8433

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Parental Electronic Supervision of Teens - Good or Bad?
Date: 12 Dec 2005 12:38:14 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: When I was in high school (1956-60)
> there were no metal detectors to walk through either, nor any of the
> other 'security' devices so prevalent these days. Somehow, we managed
> to survive.

In fairness to today's administrators, there were some differences
between now and then:

1) Drop outs:  A lot of kids, particularly boys, simply dropped out of
school when it got too boring or onerous.  While there was
encouragement to stay in school in those days, there wasn't the
pressure like today and there were plenty of good jobs available if the
kid had half a brain or a strong back.  In those years American
industry was humming along very nicely and a big demand for labor.  If
you had some smarts and could learn skills and worked hard on the job
you would get promoted even wtihout a HS diploma and make a nice
living.

The point is a lot of the trouble makers in school today would simply
have been out of school in those days.

2) Guns:  Our country has gone nuts with guns.  People had guns in the
old days.  But they had only one or two and they weren't as powerful as
today.  A kid recently murdered his girlfriend's parents and he was
loaded for WW III; likewise with the kids who shot up their schools.

3) There were bad kids and bad schools:  School administrators were
always fanactical about keeping bad news out of the paper, but inner
cities and tough rural neighborhoods had their share of violence.
There was a film on that, The Blackboard Jungle.  During the "good
years" of WW II, schools set up in temporary construction camps for war
industries were pretty rough, the boys caring little and the girls
running off to "take care" of soldiers.  At the end of the war there
were many very bewildered 16 and 17 year old girls sitting in front of
a squalid room waiting for their partying husband.  Some had a baby
with them.  Today we'd put a man who did that in jail but back then as
long as they were married it was fine.

Back in the war and postwar years authors who wrote about this stuff
were criticized as unpatriotic or were banished to heavy-duty college
textbook status that few people would read.  When Hollywood attempted
(very rarely) to cover this social problems the films didn't sell and
Hollywood was criticized as being commie for putting them out.

Fortunately many books on this subject have survived in large
libraries.  The Natl Bldg Museum in Washington did an exhibit on
wartime construction, incl wartime housing, and included the family
and social issues therein.


[public replies please]

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

From: Carl Navarro <cnavarro@wcnet.org>
Subject: Re: Parental Electronic Supervision of Teens - Good or Bad?
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 05:15:42 GMT
Organization: Road Runner High Speed Online http://www.rr.com


On 12 Dec 2005 10:12:58 -0800, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

> There are more and more devices coming onto the affordable marketplace
> that allow parents to monitor their teenagers' whereabout and
> activities.  Is this a good or bad thing?

> One is a video camera in the car which monitors their driving.  It can
> see whether they use their seatbelts (kids often forget) and whether
> they drive carefully or not (samples show kids, even knowing of the
> device, get distracted easily).

> Another is a GPS device for car or cell phone so they know where the
> kid is at all times.

> I have very mixed feelings about these devices and this kind of
> supervision.

I'm very close to getting a GPS for the vehicle.  It has two good
things in that it can monitor speed, and location.  In today's
society, I think it is fast becoming a must to know where your own or
your child's vehicle is at all times.  You can also get it to disable
the vehicle, and entry level systems are in the $500 price range plus
a few bucks a month for monitoring.

If you have a 1970 Pinto you're probably safe from carjacking, but an
SUV or any Honda or sports car and you could be a victim.  To be able
to go on the internet or call the law enforcement people and track
your stolen ride is a pretty reasonabe investment.

Some of the systems let you establish zones. ie you live in NJ and you
tell your child to stay out of NYC.  You set a zone around NYC and if
the vehicle crosses into that zone it can page you.  We could have
used that to keep someone out of crack town.  Ya gotta do whatever you
can sometimes.


Carl Navarro

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Court Won't Hear National Geographic CD-ROM Case
Date: 12 Dec 2005 12:22:49 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Reuters News Wire wrote:

> The 30-disc set depicted an exact electronic image of the original
> bound magazines, with pages presented two at a time in the very same
> sequence as in the original paper format. The user would see the
> articles, photographs and advertisements exactly as they had appeared
> in the original paper copies.

> Numerous freelance writers and photographers sued for copyright
> infringement and said they were entitled to additional compensation.

The article did not describe the terms in which the contributors sold
their work.  Presumably in this case it was for a use in a particular
magazine issue.

It would appear in this case in essence NatlG merely reprinted an old
issue for which they already compensated the contributor.  I don't
think contributors are entitled to any extra compensation if the
publisher simply issues a reprint of the original work, and that
happens often.  In other words, if I sell a photo to NatlG and they
run it in an issue, and that issue is so popular that they reprint it
many times over, I am not entitled to any more compensation than if it
was a normal press run.

FWIW, I also want to note that the second hand price of old Natg Geo
is very low.  My local library has a bookcase full of them for sale at
20c each and won't take any more donations to sell.  They're not
moving very quickly.  I like the issues from the 1950s and earliers
since the Bell System always had a nice full page ad on the last page
(there was a connection between the Bell System and Natlg Geo boards).
I got one ad showing "the voice with a smile" which I'm giving to our
Centrex operators.

FWIW, a lot of ads from the 1950s are from corporations touting their
defense work for the convert, such as missles and atomic energy.  Lots
of ads had the symbol of an atom in them.  In the 1950s companies were
proud of that, in the 1960s it became rather controversial.

Actually, some people on e-bay make a business of buying this off
stuff, clipping out the ads, and selling the ads.  NatlG isn't so good
for this since the pages are small, but Fortune and Life magazines
have big ads (nice colorful Bell System ads, BTW).

I also picked up a bound volume from the early 1950s with an
interesting article on Long Island, but the bound volumes are stripped
of all ads, which can be more interesting than the articles
themselves.


[public replies please]


[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the past, I wrote a few articles
which I sold, mostly to the Christian Science Monitor for their Home
Forum page; also an occasional crossword puzzle. These were in the
1960's, and the Monitor always paid _very well_ for articles and essays
and such they purchased, but the conditions were you gave them an
_exclusive_ use to the content. No one else could use the articles
(including yourself) and _they could use the articles when they pleased
and as often as they pleased. I think they paid me fifty dollars for
each my Home Forum articles and puzzles. I know it was always sufficient
to keep me in beer and cigarettes. PAT]

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

From: Lena <lenagainster@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: FTC Do Not Call List
Date: 12 Dec 2005 12:44:38 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Lena wrote:

> I'm trying to dictate what people can call me on MY phone...
> telemarketers ... are rude.  They won't leave a message on the answeing
> machine, but will hang up, and then call over and over again.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I quite agree with your assessment, but
> my point was what makes _your_ telephone any more sancrosanct than _my_
> computer. ...And let's face it, spam-scam
> and phishing is far worse than telemarketers ever have been.

The difference between telemarketing and spam, IMHO, is that
telemarketers make my phone ring, and that is something that demands
immediate attention.  That bothers me a lot. Much more than spam that
might happen to be in the inbox when I check for it at my leisure.  (I
don't have automated email retrieval).  I guess I have been fortunate
that I am not innundated with spam.  As some of my ISP provided email
accounts that I guarded meticulously, and only sent to friends, leaked
to (or were guessed by) spammers, I switched to gmail, which seems to
have wonderful spam protection and spam reporting ease.  Click a
button and it's gone.  Telemarketers, OTOH, are difficult to get rid
of.

Lena

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: FTC Do Not Call List
Date: 12 Dec 2005 13:37:22 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Lena wrote:

...

I agree with Lena.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I quite agree with your assessment, but
> my point was what makes _your_ telephone any more sancrosanct than _my_
> computer. If _you_ have the right to dictate who can call you on
> _your_ phone, then _I_ should have the right to dictate what kind of
> messages come through on _my_ computer. ...

I think all of us consumers agree that we don't want any spam emails at
all and no soliciting telephone calls at all.

Congress, in its infiite wisdom and infinite lobbying, finally put
some limits on telemarketing.  They do not go as far as we consumers
want, and more restrictions need to be applied.  The telemarketers
have a powerful lobby and fight against this stuff.  I think what Lena
is suggesting a compromise that could get through Congress.

In response to other posts, telemarketers representing charities, past
business relationships, and political issues ARE permitted to call
just as before and you can't stop them; they're exempt from
regulation.  Even if you told candidate Smith not to call you, in the
next election candidate Jones will call you.

I don't understand at all why there's no "no-spam" law passed.  I
don't know who represents the spamming interests and would think those
supporting no-spam would be quite vocal and organized.  I think one
problem is the openness of the Internet where it is very hard to trace
where spam truly comes from, it apparently is very easy for spammers
to forge their origin points or actually hijack someone else's
computer to do their duty work.  To me, that kind of thing should be a
serious felony offense.  I understand another problem is that much
spam originates overseas (along with a lot of illegal porn).

I don't understand Internet message addressing, but it seems to me any
initiated message should have a secured sender's address address.
There should be some technical way that something like that is
reasonably tamper proof so it works reliably.  Such an address would
cut down "phising" and other fraudulent and abusive activity now going
on.

Some people get very upset with that idea because they want
"anonimity".  Fine.  Let's set up a completely separate Internet that
is anonymous, without verifiable addresses (like now).  People who
want to interchange on that are free to do so, with all that entails.

For those of us who take our Internet use a little more seriously, we
should have a separate secured system where only messages and screens
from properly authenticated sites are permitted.  You would have to
use (intentionally) two different browsers, one for the garbage, one
for serious stuff.

I don't understand why some people just love "mob rule".  Civilization
grew out of the development of rules for us to live by--basic manners
and organization.  It's how we get anything done in society.  Random
folk talk is fine for a bar.

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

From: zbang@radix.net (Carl Zwanzig)
Subject: Re: Hypothetical SxS Question
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 01:31:57 -0000
Organization: RadixNet Internet Services


Joe Morris  <jcmorris@mitre.org> wrote:

> And I'm sure you remember the little "dial lock" gizmos that were
> clamped into the "1" fingerhole and were supposed to keep people from
> making outbound calls on an unattended office telephone?  It seems
> that nobody ever thought about dialing with the switchhook -- or just
> banging away with ten or more pulses and asking the operator for
> assistance.

In my high school's computer lab (two ASR33's and an HP 9100), they
resorted to locking the dial in the off-normal position -because- we
were dialing with the switchhook (for some reason, we called it Dutch
Dialing). Ten quick snaps of the hook and "Assistance in dialing,
please". A small mod to the set fixed that... (as did the portable
tone pad).

Speaking of which, is there an online copy of the famous phrase book
for operators?

z!

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

From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomni.com (Robert Bonomi)
Subject: Re: Wage Laws, was Holiday Observances Phone Rates (was Re: Kennedy)
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 02:27:48 -0000
Organization: Widgets, Inc.


In article <telecom24.560.5@telecom-digest.org>, Danny Burstein
<dannyb@panix.com> wrote:

> In <telecom24.559.7@telecom-digest.org> sethb@panix.com (Seth
> Breidbart) writes: [ snip ]

>> According to the "Your Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act"
>> poster (as posted in every workplace), you get time and a half after
>> 40 hours worked in a week.  It doesn't say anything about holidays.

>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Not only for more than 40 hours in
>> one week, but also more than 8 hours in one day. PAT]

> While many people believe that, I'm not aware of any such daily
> requirement.

_FEDERAL_ law does not require 'time and a half' for more than 8 hours
worked.

A number of STATE laws -do- so require.

Federal law expressly provides that if there are both state and
federal requirements that apply, the method that gives the employee
the higher pay will be used.

Federal law specifically does _not_ mandate extra pay for evening,
night, weekend or holiday work.  According to the U.S. dept of labor,
"these are matters for negotiation between the employer and employee
(or his representative)".

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


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