TELECOM Digest     Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:29:00 EST    Volume 24 : Issue 569

Inside This Issue:                             Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Make Way, Mainstream TV: Mobile Video is on the Move (Monty Solomon)
    The Plot Thickens/Now it's Not Enough to Watch Favorite TV (Monty Solomon)
    Patent Review Pending on BlackBerry (Monty Solomon)
    ReplayTV to Launch TV Recording Software For PCs (Monty Solomon)
    Time Warner to Sell 5% AOL Stake to Google for $1 Billion (Monty Solomon)
    Taken to a New Place, by a TV in the Palm (Monty Solomon)
    When PayPal Becomes the Back Office, Too (Monty Solomon)
    Cellular-News for Monday 19th December 2005 (Cellular-News)
    Report: Worldwide DSL Subscriptions Soar (USTelecom dailyLead)
    Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously (Seth Breidbart)
    Re: FTC Do Not Call List (Seth Breidbart)
    Re: FTC Do Not Call List (Mark Crispin)
    Re: Verizon/Yahoo ISP Service from Hell (harold@hallikainen.com)
    Re: Obituary: Pulitzer Winning Columnist Jack Anderson Dies (Lisa Hancock)
    Re: Congress: Merry Chrismas! We're Turning Off Your Analog Outs (Hancock)
    Re: Cell Phone to Land Line (DevilsPGD)
    Re: Physically Protecting The Local Loop Metwork? (John C. Fowler)
    Re: USO Asking For Christmas Help (Howard S. Wharton)

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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herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of 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.  

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

Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 16:00:56 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Make Way, Mainstream TV: Mobile Video is on the Move


By Soctt Kirsner 

The biggest problem Todd Boes has with his new video iPod is prying 
it away from his two oldest kids, ages 4 and 6.

"They'd much rather take the iPod up to their room and watch it than
watch the big TV," says Boes, vice president of marketing at Maven
Networks, a Cambridge start-up. They're partial to the Disney Channel
hits "That's So Raven" and "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody,"
available from Apple's online store for $1.99 an episode.

Boes -- when he can get his hands on the device -- watches episodes of
"Lost," music videos from U2 and the Beastie Boys, and the odd video
podcast, a low-budget snippet of personal video.

But as holiday shoppers evaluate Apple's new $299 video-capable iPod,
the question hanging over the entertainment industry is whether the
iPod can do for motion pictures what it did for music. Does its
arrival signal a transition from the era of scheduled TV, DVDs, and
videotapes to the age of Internet downloads?

Apple announced earlier this month that its customers have purchased
(or downloaded for free) more than three million videos from its
iTunes Music Store since October, when videos were added to the
inventory. While the company hasn't divulged how many video-capable
iPods, with their matchbook-sized screens, it has sold, the device's
arrival has ignited real curiosity -- and debate -- in the worlds of
TV, film, and especially home-grown video.

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2005/12/18/make_way_mainstream_tv_mobile_video_is_on_the_move/

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

Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 16:08:36 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: The Plot Thickens/Now it's Not Enough to Watch Your Favorite TV


Now it's not enough to watch your favorite TV show -- you may soon 
have to pay to get the full story

By Matthew Gilbert, Globe Staff 

Madly in love with "24," or "Invasion," or "Prison Break," or "Family
Guy"?

Then get ready to spend more, a lot more, time with it.

In the coming months, you and your TV addiction are going to be reeled
into an expanded "environment" of your favorite network show, one that
may require a cover charge for entry into certain exclusive zones.

You'll be invited to visit characters' blogs at MySpace.com, or pay
for mobile phone episodes (known as mobisodes), or buy DVD packages
and video games containing new and additional plot information. Your
once-simple affair with your TV "story" could have as much to do with
your PC, your cellphone, and your DVD player as it does with your TV
set.

In other words, your relationship is starting to get complicated.
Network TV is becoming only the first step in what is known as a "TV
series." It's becoming an entry point to show-o-spheres, where you not
only watch "24" on Mondays on Fox but you purchase a "24" DVD set
that contains clues to the season's big mysteries.

You not only watch "Lost" on Wednesdays on ABC but you check into the
weekly podcast to hear, say, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje talk about
playing Eko. You don't just laugh at "The Office" on Tuesdays; you
laugh at Dwight's blog entries on the NBC site and on MySpace.
Recently, "Invasion" even included a plot in which paranoid Dave was
abducted because of his blog, which actually exists on ABC's site.
And Neil Patrick Harris's Barney on " How I Met Your Mother"
frequently refers to his blog, which is on the CBS site.

Extras such as commentary and deleted scenes have been with us for
years on DVDs, and of course T-shirts and knickknacks are Marketing
101. But now timely information and integral plot and character
developments are also becoming available outside of the televised
mothership. Last week, for example, Fox announced plans to create new
episodes of its animated hit "Family Guy" exclusively for the Web
next year, for a fee.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2005/12/18/the_plot_thickens/

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

Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 17:22:08 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Patent Review Pending on BlackBerry


Case threatens e-mail service

By Bloomberg  |  December 18, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The US Patent and Trademark Office said it would try to
complete a review with 'special dispatch' of patents that could result
in the shutdown of Research In Moti on Ltd.'s BlackBerry e-mail device
in the United States.

The patents are owned by NTP Ltd., a licensing company from Arlington,
Va., that won a 2001 patent-infringement lawsuit against Research In
Motion. The patent office initiated the review in 2002 after James
Rogan, then its director, received letters of complaint from Congress
about the possible shutdown because of a jury verdict.  Research In
Motion later joined the request.

US District Court Judge James Spencer, who presided over the 2002 
trial in Richmond, has declined to delay proceedings on a possible 
injunction while waiting for the patent office to act on the review, 
called a reexamination. The agency has issued ''nonfinal" rejections 
of three NTP patents, including one found to be infringed.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/12/18/patent_review_pending_on_blackberry/

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

Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 18:16:04 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: ReplayTV to Launch TV Recording Software for PCs


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Digital video recording pioneer ReplayTV plans
to announce on Monday it will start selling software to allow personal
computers to tune in and record live television next year in a deal
with Hauppauge Digital's <HAUP.O> Hauppauge Computer Works.

Hauppauge's WinTV-PVR tuner-encoder card, which lets PCs tune in and
record live television, will be sold with ReplayTV software starting
next year in North America.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2005/12/18/replaytv_to_launch_tv_recording_software_for_pcs/

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

Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 09:30:18 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Time Warner to Sell 5% AOL Stake to Google for $1 Billion


By SAUL HANSELL and RICHARD SIKLOS

Rebuffing aggressive overtures from Microsoft, Time Warner has agreed
to sell a 5 percent stake in America Online to Google for $1 billion
in cash as part of an expanded partnership between AOL, once the
dominant company on the Internet, and Google, the current online king.

At stake in this battle was leadership in Internet advertising, which
is a growing threat to other media companies. The loss is a blow to
Microsoft, which had sought AOL as a partner in its advertising
venture to undercut Google, its potent rival.

Though Google is only seven years old, its lucrative search
advertising business and its technical prowess could enable it to
offer consumers free software and services that would directly attack
Microsoft's core software business.

While the terms of the proposed five-year deal are largely set, it
will not be final until it is ratified Tuesday by the Time Warner
board, an executive briefed on the talks said.

Google has agreed to give AOL ads special placement on its site,
something it has not done before. Until now, Google prided itself on
its auction system for ads, which treated small businesses on an equal
footing with its largest customers.

By agreeing to change its business practices for this deal, Google
fends off what could have been a significant challenge from a
combination of AOL and Microsoft and cements its position as far and
away the largest seller of search advertising.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/technology/17aol.html?ex=1292475600&en=159839bd461e22fa&ei=5090

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

Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 09:32:26 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: Taken to a New Place, by a TV in the Palm


By DAVID CARR

Last Tuesday night, I took my place in the bus queue for the commute
home. Further up the line, I saw a neighbor -- a smart, funny woman I
would normally love to share the dismal ride with.

I ducked instead, racing to the back of the bus because season one of
the ABC mystery-adventure "Lost" was waiting on my iPod. Claire was
clearly about to go into labor and John Locke, the sage of the show,
had been acting funny of late. The portable show meant my commute,
which I have always hated with the force of 10,000 suns, had become a
little "me" time.

Much was made of how silly it was for Apple to believe people would 
watch television on a 2.5-inch screen. But consumers have downloaded 
three million video programs from iTunes since the new video iPod 
became available in October. What gives?

The new iPod is its own little addictive medium. Its limitations -- a 
viewing experience that requires headphones and a hand-held screen -- 
create a level of intimacy that arcs to television in its infancy, 
when the glowing object was so marvelous it begat silent reverie.

You now stare at bejeweled color and crisp lines rendered in
miniature. The ability to download programming of my choosing gives me
a new kind of private, restorative time, a virtual third place between
a frantic workplace and a home brimming with activity.

But I feel a little dirty. As a print guy, I have always thought that
magazines and newspapers were the ultimate in portable media -- I even
learned that fancy subway fold so I could read broadsheet newspapers
without bonking my seatmate in the nose to get to the next page. And
if I am living in a little world of my own making, it is not doing a
great deal for my connection to the world at large.

Many times on the train or bus, before the new iPod, I would run 
stuff over in my mind -- doing actual thinking as opposed to the data 
processing I do throughout the day and night. My commute has gone 
from a communal and occasionally ruminative day-part to a time when I 
stare at a television remote control that happens to have a picture 
embedded in it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/weekinreview/18carr.html?ex=1292562000&en=ba96d5db754248ff&ei=5090

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

Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 01:47:49 -0500
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Subject: When PayPal Becomes the Back Office, Too


By JULIE BICK
December 18, 2005

WHEN C. J. Liu bills her clients, all it takes is a few mouse clicks, 
and for the most part their payments end up in her bank account a few 
days later. She does not need an assistant to send out invoices or to 
track accounts payable and receivable. She never has to wait for 
checks to arrive in the mail, and she does not have to visit the bank.

Like many others who run small businesses, Ms. Liu, who offers 
business and personal coaching in Seattle, is a PayPal customer.

 From its inception seven years ago, PayPal, based in San Jose,
Calif., has grown to service more than 86.6 million accounts in 55
countries, and it expects to process $25 billion in money transfers
this year. About 70 percent of the payment volume comes through
PayPal's parent company, eBay, and is used to buy and sell items on
the Internet. But more and more, small businesses and sole proprietors
outside of eBay are using PayPal as their back offices.

Merchant services is "one of our biggest areas of focus for growing
the business," said Sara Bettencourt, a spokeswoman for PayPal.

Ms. Liu can send e-mail invoices to her clients by clicking on the
PayPal Web site. The clients -- who, at Ms. Liu's request, have also
set up PayPal accounts by registering bank account or credit card
information -- click on a button embedded in the message to charge the
sum to their credit cards, and the money is transferred to Ms. Liu's
PayPal account. Along the way, Ms. Liu receives confirmation when the
bill has been paid and can review the status of her accounts
receivable online.

Based on her business volume, less than $3,000 a month, Ms. Liu pays 
2.8 percent of her total sales, as well as 30 cents a transaction, 
for this service. "It saves me the hassle of the billing side," she 
said, "so I can concentrate on my client work."

Many of the newest and smallest businesses find that using PayPal is 
more cost-effective than turning directly to a credit card company to 
process transactions. A new business may be charged much more by 
credit card companies because it may not have much sales volume or 
credit history, said Avivah Litan, a research vice president at 
Gartner Inc.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/business/yourmoney/18paypal.html?ex=1292562000&en=973e3a66383666f2&ei=5090

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

Subject: Cellular-News for Monday 19th December 2005
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 09:16:24 -0600
From: Cellular-News <dailydigest@cellular-news-mail.com>


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

[[3G News]]

3G Research Program for the Middle-East
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15297.php

The Qatar based telecoms operator, Qtel has announced a joint
collaboration with Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ), University
of Qatar (UQ) and the College of the North Atlantic at Qatar (CNA-Q)
to conduct research and studies into 3G technologi...

Vodafone Launches 3G in Hungary
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15299.php

Vodafone Hungary has launched its 3G services in Hungary. The first
service from Vodafone will be high speed internet access on the new 3G
network with the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G data card. Attila Vitai,
Vodafone Hungary 's CEO said: "Vodafone's ...

[[Financial News]]

Sweden's AaF Takes Over Operations At Ericsson Design Center
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15275.php

Swedish technical consultant Aangpannefoereningen AB Friday said it
will take over the operations at the Ericsson Design Center in Lysekil
on the Swedish west coast from Telefon AB LM Ericsson. ...

Cablecom Starts Mobile Service With TDC Unit 
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15276.php

Swiss cable television operator Cablecom Holdings AG Friday launched a
prepaid mobile phone offering, further heating up competition with
telephone incumbent Swisscom AG. ...

Sprint Nextel To Buy Affiliate Enterprise Communications For $98 Million
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15279.php

Sprint Nextel Corp. agreed to acquire affiliate carrier Enterprise
Communications Partnership for $98 million, including the assumption
of debt. ...

Sprint Nextel To Buy Velocita;Sees Closing First Half 06
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15281.php

Sprint Nextel Corp. agreed to acquire Velocita Wireless through a
stock purchase agreement in an effort to add spectrum capacity. ...

Russia's MTS ups stake in regional mobile operator to 100%
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15283.php

Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems, or MTS, increased
its stake in mobile operator Telesot-Alania to 100% from 52.5%, MTS
said Friday. ...

Nokia Opens New Office in India
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15289.php

Nokia has announced that it is to locate its new Nokia Global Networks
Solutions Center in Chennai, India. The Solutions Center will perform
network operation tasks for selected operator customers in the Asia
Pacific region as well as Europe, the Mid...

[[Handsets News]]

Vodafone Group Japan Unit May Procure Handsets From Samsung
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15274.php

PREMIUM - Vodafone Group PLC's Vodafone KK unit in Japan is
considering procurement of third-generation mobile handsets based on
W-CDMA technology from Samsung Electronics Co., a Vodafone KK
spokesman said Friday. ...

[[Legal News]]

Second NTP Patent Rejected In Non-Final Action
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15273.php

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a second NTP
Inc. patent in what it described as a non-final action. ...

EU Criticizes Watchdogs On Mobile Roaming Charge
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15278.php

The European Commission Friday criticized French and other national
telephone regulators for their failure to crack down on possible
excessive charges for mobile phone roaming. ...

Russia's MTS says Kyrgyzstan's Bitel GSM operation restored 
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15280.php

Kyrgyzstan's largest mobile operator Bitel has restored operations of
its GSM network, MTS said in a statement Friday. MTS has recently
bought a 51% stake in Bitel. ...

Kyrgyzstan's Bitel says 180 employees refused to come to work
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15284.php

About 180 employees of Kyrgyzstan's largest mobile operator Bitel did
not come to work Friday as they were afraid that their lives may be in
danger, Bitel said in a statement on its official Web site Friday. ...

Patent Office Rejects 3rd NTP Patent In Non Final Action
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15286.php

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a third NTP
Inc. patent in another non-final office action. ...

Contactless Payment Phones Tested in USA
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15286.php

A group of companies have announced an advanced Near Field
Communication (NFC) trial for mobile phone applications including
contactless payments, mobile content and premium arena services at
Philips Arena in Atlanta, USA. The trial is the first larg...

[[Mobile Content News]]

51% of UK's Frequent Internet Users Are Interested in Mobile Banking
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15290.php

One in four users would consider switching banks if they were offered
free mobile banking services and 51% would be interested in using a
mobile banking service according to a survey of 2,127 UK online users,
conducted by Forrester Custom Research an...

[[Network Contracts News]]

South Africa Gets Push-2-Talk
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15292.php

South Africa, Vodacom has launched the first Push-to-Talk over
Cellular (PoC) service to the South African business market. The
communication experience of PoC can best be described as a
walkie-talkie or two way radio communication experience, which ...

[[Offbeat News]]

Two SIMs, One Phone Number
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15291.php

Singapore's M1 is launching a service that enables its customers to
have two SIM cards, but both sharing the same phone number. They can
use this extra SIM card on another mobile device, including a
datacard, a Blackberry, car phone, PDA or another m...

[[Reports News]]

Voice Competition Puts Squeeze on US Wireless Market
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15287.php

A new report from Strategy Analytics has highlighted increasing signs
of weakness in the US wireless voice market, with average revenues per
user (ARPUs) for voice services dropping 8% year on year and data
services failing to make up the gap. The qu...

10% of Drivers Use a Cellphone While on the Move
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15298.php

The USA's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has
released a report that finds 6% of drivers used mobile phones while
driving in 2005 nationwide, compared to 5% in 2004. This result is
from the National Occupant Protection Use Surv...

[[Statistics News]]

Russia's MegaFon user base in Siberia up to 700,000 users
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15282.php

The subscriber base of Russia's third largest mobile operator MegaFon
in the Siberian Federal District more than doubled to 700,000 users
since the beginning of the year, the company's press service said Friday. ...

Brazil's Mobile Phone Mix Edges Toward Post Paid In Nov
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15285.php

Brazilian mobile phone companies saw the percentage of post-paid
clients slightly rise to 23.7% in November from 23.5% in the month
before, indicating that margins for operators may have improved
slightly. ...

Four Million Musical Melons in South Korea
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15293.php

South Korea's SK Telecom has announced that 'Melon', a wired and
wireless integrated music portal which opened in November of 2004, now
has over four million subscribers. The number of paying subscribers
who enjoy streaming music downloading services...

15 Million Mobile TV Users in the US by 2009
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15295.php

Ten years ago, it was the Internet that threw the telecom, media and
marketing worlds into chaos. Starting next year, it will be the mobile
phone, according to a new report from eMarketer, which forecasts that
the number of US consumers who watch TV ...

Wireless to Generate 50% of Total Telecoms Revenues in 2007
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15296.php

The global telecommunications industry revenue will reach US$1.2
trillion by the close of 2006, with continued strong growth in
wireless communications leading the way, says a new market analysis
report from Insight Research. According to the new ind...

[[Technology News]]

ZTE Shows Off CDMA Video Services in China
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15288.php

China's ZTE says that it has become the first company to provision
CDMA video service solutions in China, and only the second company to
do so in the world. ZTE has successfully demonstrated video calls
between video handsets, video handset and PC SI...

T-Mobile Signs Signalling Contract
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/15294.php

Teleglobe says that it has established an agreement with T-Mobile UK
to provide inter-carrier Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP)
transport of their signalling traffic from international
roamers. Under the agreement, T-Mobile will directly conne...

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

Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 12:08:05 EST
From: USTelecom dailyLead <ustelecom@dailylead.com>
Subject: Report: Worldwide DSL Subscriptions Soar


USTelecom dailyLead
December 19, 2005
http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/AqcsatagCBzCwhhryW

		TODAY'S HEADLINES
	
NEWS OF THE DAY
* Report: Worldwide DSL subscriptions soar
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH
* Report: Google to buy 5% stake in AOL for $1B
* Softbank, Yahoo! to launch Internet TV service in Japan
* Vonage snags more funding
* Carphone aims to take on BT with Onetel acquisition
* Vodafone targets developing markets
USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT
* See the technology of communications and entertainment at TelecomNEXT
HOT TOPICS
* MCI tests ultra long-haul technology
* Internet video is red hot
* BellSouth trims management positions
* EarthLink snaps up New Edge
* Nortel wins big deal with Comcast
TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
* ReplayTV to sell TV recording software for computers
* The future of interactive advertising
* BPL to serve 2M in Texas
REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE
* Maine initiative would increase access to wireless services
* Report: China could move soon on 3G
* Q-and-A with FCC's Kevin Martin

Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and
others.  http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/AqcsatagCBzCwhhryW

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

From: sethb@panix.com (Seth Breidbart)
Subject: Re: Using Two ADSL Internet Connections Simultaneously
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 07:42:48 UTC
Organization: Society for the Promulgation of Cruelty to the Clueless


In article <telecom24.555.13@telecom-digest.org>, Robert Bonomi
<bonomi@host122.r-bonomni.com> wrote:

> In article <telecom24.551.9@telecom-digest.org>, William Warren
> <william_warren_nonoise@speakeasy.net> wrote:

>> 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.

> This approach only solves "part" of the problem, namely 'outgoing'
> traffic.

> "Incoming" traffic is an entirely different problem.  And
> load-balancing _that_ traffic cannot be done in anything approaching a
> satisfactory manner without 'help' from the 'upstream' end.  And it
> requires that both DSL circuits terminate at the same 'upstream'
> provider.

There are techniques for balancing (or optimizing) incoming (using NAT
to set up each connection to use the better available IP address for
_it_).

> In article <telecom24.552.10@telecom-digest.org>, jonfklein@gmail.com
> wrote:

>> I know nothing about setting up a server, so please pardon my
>> ignorance. Is there any reason why it needs to be a linux server?

> No, it *doesn't*have*to*be* "Linux".

But if you have to ask, you shouldn't be doing it.

Seth

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

From: sethb@panix.com (Seth Breidbart)
Subject: Re: FTC Do Not Call List
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 07:49:36 UTC
Organization: Society for the Promulgation of Cruelty to the Clueless


In article <telecom24.561.10@telecom-digest.org>,
<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:

> I don't understand at all why there's no "no-spam" law passed.

The DMA owns to many Congresscritters.

In article <telecom24.563.11@telecom-digest.org>,
<hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com> wrote:

> Wesrock@aol.com wrote:
> The emails you describe fall outside a strict definition of spam.

Spam (in this context) is Unsolicited Broadcast Email.  Period.

> Most people associate genital enlargement or Nigerian oil ministers
> or get rich quick schemes with spam.

Most people are wrong, as usual.

>> Defining spam in some cases becomes very controversial.

> I don't think so.

It isn't.

>> Technically, this is impossible with the current mechanisms used by
>> Internet mail.  Nothing short of a complete redesign from the ground
>> up will accomplish it.  An effort to create a new Internet email
>> infrastructure would be extraordinarily expensive and complex.  It
>> would make the conversion to TCP and SMTP in 1983 look trivial by
>> comparison.

> I'm not at all sure it would be as a complex process as you suggest.
> The internet is software driven, not hardware driven; that is, it's
> not like someone going out and physically rewiring every PC and server
> in the world.  Rather, it is developing new software and downloading
> it.

Getting _everybody_ to change software just doesn't happen.  New
systems are either completely new, or they're compatible with old ones
until all the old ones die off.  That takes years, at a minimum.
(Look at Usenet, and the range of ages of server and client software
still in use.)

> Very often I am offered upgrades for various Internet software
> compnents -- the PDF reader, basic browser, news reader, "flash
> player", basic PC operating system, etc.  Actually I'm quite content
> with a bare bones system, but I've found that won't work.  If you
> don't keep up, in a very short time your browser just won't work at
> all -- some site will simply reject you and tell you to get a new
> browser.  My point is that with all these upgrades constantly going
> out it shouldn't be that big a deal to download new components.  Must
> could be done on the gateway end.

Your toy PC is the least of it.  Companies that make their businesses
out of providing service don't switch software anywhere near as easily
(and the new software tends not to be so easily available, either,
especially as it often needs to be customized).

>> The new email infrastructure will also give the world email postage
>> stamps.  And this time, it won't be just governments who get a cut of the
>> profits.  The biggest objection to SMTP in the SMTP vs. X.400 wars two
>> decades ago was that SMTP's fundamental design made it impossible to
>> impose email postage stamps.  You can bet that the new redesigned Internet
>> email won't have that problem.

> Email and internet use is NOT "free".  Someone is paying for the
> servers, routers, and lines and people who install and maintain them.
> For consumers, many pay an Internet Service Provider, such as an AOL,
> for that service.

Taxing email is an idea that's been suggested for many years.  It
ain't gonna happen.  If you want me to pay in order to send you email,
you won't get my email.  Nobody is going to make my mother pay to send
me email (or vice versa).  Remember: my server, my rules.

> They say a very substantial amount of today's email traffic is spam.
> Reducing that traffic would reduce the need for routers and lines and
> that would save money.  Maybe having email stamps isn't such a bad
> idea.

It's just one that won't work.  Why would spammers pay for stamps?
Maybe they'd just steal them from the same people they steal smtp
service from now.

> Telephone service is offered in many grades and prices including many
> "unlimited" use plans for local and long distance, even overseas calls
> are offered at cheap package rates.  There is no reason Internet
> service can't be offered on a similar pricing scale -- those who use it a
> lot would pay a lot.

It is.  Dialup is cheaper than cable modem/adsl is cheaper than OC-3
is cheaper than OC-192, etc.

Seth

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

From: Mark Crispin <MRC@CAC.Washington.EDU>
Subject: Re: FTC Do Not Call List
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 02:36:34 -0800
Organization: Networks & Distributed Computing


On Sat, 17 Dec 2005, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:

>> Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.

> Actually, it does.  Scientific theories don't become "facts" until an
> idea is published and debated among scientists, who test out the
> theories in their own labs and will debate them.  Perhaps it is not
> "public" debate, but an open debate is vital to science.

That is a misunderstanding of science and the scientific method.

Facts are not subject to debate.  Debate does not render a falsehood true; 
nor does it make truth be false.

Nor do theories ever "become" facts.  A theory is an explanation of a 
fact (generally the processes behind that fact).

A theory can never be proven to true.  It can only be proven false
(disproven).  Consequently, an essential part of what defines a theory
is that a theory can be tested.

For example, "God created the universe" is not a scientific theory
because it is impossible to test.  Science does not, can not, and will
never prove (*nor* disprove) the existance of any god.  Faith is
immune to science, especially if faith avoids making any predictions
that can be tested by science.

Theories can be, and frequently are, amended or even abandoned as new
empirical evidence is collected that disproves portions of the theory.
Note that new evidence that agrees with the predictions of the theory
does not prove the theory.

But this does not happen through debate.  This happens through the
collection of empirical evidence.

If debate decides "fact", there is no science; just pseudo-science.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
Si vis pacem, para bellum.

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

From: harold@hallikainen.com <harold@hallikainen.com>
Subject: Re: Verizon/Yahoo ISP Service from Hell
Date: 18 Dec 2005 10:02:34 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Quite a story! Back when I lived in Pacific Telephone/PacBell/SBC/AT&T
territory, I got the postcards in the mail all the time telling me how
great SBC/Yahoo was. I saw no reason to have them place content in
front of me, so the cards went in the recycling bin.

Similarly, my neighbor signed up for Comcast cable modem service. They
did not send him any info on setting up his computer (use DHCP, use
PPPOE?, etc.). Instead they just gave him a CD that pretty much messed
up his computer. He never did get their email working, so he's still
paying AOL for email along with Comcast for access.

Why do communications companies "partner" with content companies? Does
Yahoo pay the communications company since the users now end up on
Yahoo's page (and users see the ads there)? I really like some things
Yahoo does (like their listservs), but too much consumer oriented
stuff is just plain hokey.

It reminds me of years ago when I got a Radio Shack catalog. The
catalog featured a transistor radio battery that had "higher lumen
output." It featured a TV antena whose major attibute was that it
"looked good on top of any set." I wrote them a letter about it. They
wrote back that the copy can get a bit hokey at times.

I dunno ... I'm finding consumer oriented advertising pretty insulting
in general.

Harold

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Obituary: Pulitzer Winning Columnist Jack Anderson Dies
Date: 18 Dec 2005 12:19:11 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Connie Cass wrote:

> Considered one of the fathers of investigative reporting, Anderson was
> renowned for his tenacity, aggressive techniques and influence in the
> nation's capital.

The above generally, but by no means always, is a good thing.
Journalists such as Anderson had tremendous power and influence over
the public but they had no check or balances.  Their choice of words
or way of coloring a report could turn a low thing into a major
scandal, or make a big thing modest; and that in turn would save or
destroy a person's reputation.  Major journalists such as that have
made plenty of mistakes, doing great harm to political reputations.
(It is extremely difficult for a public figure to sue for libel.)

Writers in the journalism publiation, Columbia Journalism Review, tend
to take a very priestly view of their powers, rationalizing any
excesses, "well it's all in the public good", or "our record of
success far outweighs our errors".  Often journalists have a very
"holier than thou" attitude.

Let's take a look:

> The column broke a string of big scandals, from Eisenhower assistant
> Sherman Adams taking a vicuna coat and other gifts from a wealthy
> industrialist in 1958 ...

At the time, that incident _appeared_ to be a big scandal, but in
hindsight, it does not appear to be that big of a deal.  Adams was a
very effective (although abrasive) member of the Eisenhower
administration.  Adams was forced to resign and that was a loss to the
administration and the country.

> "He held politicians to a level of accountability in an era where
> journalists were very deferential to those in power."

The question is "to what _standard_ of accountability"?  A good
columnist (watch Fox News) could take a normal satisfactory political
record and make anyone look like the scum of the earth.
"Accountability" is a tricky thing.  I've seen local muckraters
destroy politicians by presenting the facts in such a way that
seriously distorted their meaning in the public's mind.  For example,
showing personal business investments as if they were improper, or
implying normal tax deductions were fudged.

> Known for his toughness on the trail of a story, he was also praised
> for personal kindness. Anderson's son Kevin said that when his
> father's reporting led to the arrest of some involved in the Watergate
> scandal, he aided their families financially.

Interesting aspect.  McCarthy did the same thing -- after smearing and
ruining someone publicly, he would privately help them out.

> After he went to work with Pearson, the team took on communist-hunting
> Sen.  Joseph McCarthy ...

Let's remember that other equally promient journalists assisted
McCarthy by printing leaks from McCarthy or J. Edgar Hoover that
smeared and ruined people.  Again, once the damage is done, it's very
hard to undo.

Hoover (and other power brokers) used secret leaks to prominent
journalists like Anderson (or probably even to Anderson) to control
their enemies.  Many congressmen were terrified that Hoover would leak
something negative on them and ruin their careers; this was a reason
Hoover (and others) stayed in power so long without challenge.

Is it fair and proper for a journalist to have the power as judge,
jury, and executioner?  To put it another way, who watches the
watchers?  Something to thing about.

I am not against muckraking journalists such as Anderson, I am just
concerned that they'll abuse their power and have no checks and
balances.

[public replies, please]

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

From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
Subject: Re: Congress: "Merry Chrismas! We're Turning Off Your Analog Outs"
Date: 18 Dec 2005 12:28:05 -0800
Organization: http://groups.google.com


Monty Solomon wrote:

> The government is proposing that devices (consumer electronics,
> computers, software) manufactured after a certain date respond to a
> copy-protection signal or watermark in a digital video stream, and
> pass along that signal when converting the video to analog. The same
> goes for analog video streams, to pass on the protection to the
> digital video outputs.

Very disturbing.

I don't think this is being proposed by the "government", but rather
private industry.

I find this most objectionable as it prevents me from personally using
recordings I have properly purchased and will force me to either buy
duplicate copies I don't need or replacement playback equipment I
neither want nor need.

For example, I make my own audio tapes using selections from various
sources I have -- phonograph, other tapes, CDs.  I play these tapes in
the car, while I walk, or at work.  This proposal would preclude me
from doing so and I resent that.

Just out of curiosity, do radio stations have to pay a royalty to
record companies when they play music?  What are the rules, if any,
for someone recording a song off the radio or a tape off of TV?

[public replies, please]

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

From: DevilsPGD <spam_narf_spam@crazyhat.net>
Subject: Re: Cell Phone to Land Line
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 19:45:43 -0700
Organization: Disorganized


In message <telecom24.568.9@telecom-digest.org> hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com
wrote:

> John Levine wrote:

>> (A landline phone does no coding at all, cell phones do vast
>> amounts.)

> Yet cell phones are increasingly tiny (see TV ad with woman easily
> squeezing in her cell phone into the pocket of very tight jeans),
> while land-line phones, even contemporary ones, aren't that small.

> Thinking about that, do they make cordless land line phones the same
> tiny size as cell phones?  I'd figure since there's less to do that
> should be easy.

Less incentive to make phones tiny.

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

Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 19:11:16 PST
From: John C. Fowler <johnfpublic@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: Physically Protecting The Local Loop Metwork?


Lisa Hancock wrote:

> Today customers own all their equipment that is supposed to be
> certified.  But what happens if the customer alters the equipment or
> it is defective?  What happens if a high voltage is sent out
> accidently over a telephone line (ie house current, either 110 or
> 220, or ringing current meant for an extension telephone of a PBX)?

In the United States, customers are not supposed to connect anything
to the Public Switched Telephone Network unless it conforms to FCC
Part 68 (see http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/part_68.html for details).
This is supposed to guarantee that the device does not create problems
for the network or other customers on it.

So what happens if you ignore that, and attach house current to the
phone line?  This would likely blow a fuse somewhere.  If not, the
alternative would be for the phone wires to catch/start a fire, as
they usually aren't of a sufficient gauge for that kind of current.

If you were to connect something that didn't blow a fuse but caused
problems for other subscribers, they could file a formal complaint
with the FCC against you, assuming they could figure out who you were.

I think I remember once seeing a little circuit board that did nothing
except guarantee Part 68 compliance.  (It even had its own Ringer
Equivalence Number, a whole 0.0B.)  It was designed for people who
wanted to attach their own homebrew projects to the phone line but not
worry about causing problems.  I don't remember where I saw it, sorry,
but you could probably find something like it wherever you buy other
bare electronic circuit thingies.

John C. Fowler, johnfpublic@yahoo.com

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

From: Howard S. Wharton <yhshowie@acsu.buffalo.edu>
Subject: Re: USO Asking For Christmas Help
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 10:14:23 -0500
Organization: The University at Buffalo


To add what Mr. Townson wrote about the USO. As a Vietnam Vet, the USO
was there for us and I can't tell you how much they were
appreciated. The holidays are a lonely time for many of our troops far
from home.  No mattter how we may feel about the war in Iraq, the
military does not make policy. If we really want to show support to
our military members, please contribute to the USO. I do, because they
were there for me. I want to make sure that they are there for our
serviceman and woman.

Howard S. Wharton
Fire Safety Technician
Occupational and Environmental Safety Services
State University of New York at Buffalo

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


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