From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 20 23:33:16 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 5F3E01543E; Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:33:15 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #151 Message-Id: <20060421033315.5F3E01543E@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:33:15 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 20 Apr 2006 23:35:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 151 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Network Neutrality (Patrick Townson) Westchester (NYC Suburb) and 802.11 Safety (Danny Burstein) Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (xx-google@telefog.com) Re: When Did 2L-5N Become Required in Los Angeles? (Lisa Hancock) EarthLink Taps Level 3 for VoIP (USTelecom dailyLead) Continuing to Read About the Scams (Carl Moore) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Patrick Townson Subject: Network Neutrality Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 21:37:33 -0500 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: 'Network Neutrality', the concept that everyone on the net should be given equal use of network facilities is a very interesting concept. At first glance, I would say I agree with it, yet the telcos, notably AT&T (SBC by its other name) and the larger ISPs (America OnLine for example) seem to be fighting it for various reasons. The editorial comment which follows comes from the Move On people, who, IMO were dreadfully off-base in their comments last week (and again today as a passing comment in this latest piece) also seem to favor network neutrality. Quite some time ago, I suggest that (again, IMO) the ICANN people, given their druthers, would tend to favor 'large corporations' rather than the small, everyday internet user. I would appreciate _your_ thoughts on this topic of Network Neutrality, as it has come to be known. First, here are the thoughts of the Move On people, then I will print responses in the days to come from readers. PAT] --------- Move On Commentary follows -------- Google, Amazon, MoveOn. All these entities are fighting back as Congress tries to pass a law giving a few corporations the power to end the free and open Internet as we know it. Tell Congress to preserve the free and open Internet today. Dear MoveOn member, Do you buy books online, use Google, or download to an Ipod? These activities, plus MoveOn's online organizing ability, will be hurt if Congress passes a radical law that gives giant corporations more control over the Internet. Internet providers like AT&T and Verizon are lobbying Congress hard to gut Network Neutrality, the Internet's First Amendment. Net Neutrality prevents AT&T from choosing which websites open most easily for you based on which site pays AT&T more. Amazon doesn't have to outbid Barnes & Noble for the right to work more properly on your computer. If Net Neutrality is gutted, MoveOn either pays protection money to dominant Internet providers or risks that online activism tools don't work for members. Amazon and Google either pay protection money or risk that their websites process slowly on your computer. That why these high-tech pioneers are joining the fight to protect Network Neutrality (1) -- and you can do your part today. The free and open Internet is under seige-can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here: http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7356-6797352-bMWpQ7QJCHRaBOa6odHI8Q&t=4 Then, please forward this to three friends. Protecting the free and open Internet is fundamental -- it affects everything. When you sign this petition, you'll be kept informed of the next steps we can take to keep the heat on Congress. Votes begin in a House committee next week. MoveOn has already seen what happens when the Internet's gatekeepers get too much control. Just last week, AOL blocked any email mentioning a coalition that MoveOn is a part of, which opposes AOL's proposed "email tax." (2) And last year, Canada's version of AT&T-Telus-blocked their Internet customers from visiting a website sympathetic to workers with whom Telus was negotiating. (3) Politicians don't think we are paying attention to this issue. Many of them take campaign checks from big telecom companies and are on the verge of selling out to people like AT&T's CEO, who openly says, "The internet can't be free." (4) Together, we can let Congress know we are paying attention. We can make sure they listen to our voices and the voices of people like Vint Cerf, a father of the Internet and Google's "Chief Internet Evangelist," who recently wrote this to Congress in support of preserving Network Neutrality: My fear is that, as written, this bill would do great damage to the Internet as we know it. Enshrining a rule that broadly permits network operators to discriminate in favor of certain kinds of services and to potentially interfere with others would place broadband operators in control of online activity ... Telephone companies cannot tell consumers who they can call; network operators should not dictate what people can do online.(4) The essence of the Internet is at risk-can you sign this petition letting your member of Congress know you support preserving Network Neutrality? Click here: http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7356-6797352-bMWpQ7QJCHRaBOa6odHI8Q&t=5 Please forward to 3 others who care about this issue. Thanks for all you do. -Eli Pariser, Adam Green, Noah T. Winer, and the MoveOn.org Civic Action team Thursday, April 20th, 2006 P.S. If Congress abandons Network Neutrality, who will be affected? a.. Advocacy groups like MoveOn-Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly. b.. Nonprofits-A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service. c.. Google users-Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer. d.. Innovators with the "next big idea"-Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete. e.. Ipod listeners-A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned. f.. Online purchasers-Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices-distorting your choice as a consumer. g.. Small businesses and tele-commuters - When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office. h.. Parents and retirees - Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc. i.. Bloggers-Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips-silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets. To sign the petition to Congress supporting "network neutrality," click here: http://www.civic.moveon.org/save_the_internet/?id=7356-6797352-bMWpQ7QJCHRaBOa6odHI8Q&t=6 P.P.S. This excerpt from the New Yorker really sums up this issue well. In the first decades of the twentieth century, as a national telephone network spread across the United States, A.T. & T. adopted a policy of "tiered access" for businesses. Companies that paid an extra fee got better service: their customers' calls went through immediately, were rarely disconnected, and sounded crystal-clear. Those who didn't pony up had a harder time making calls out, and people calling them sometimes got an "all circuits busy" response. Over time, customers gravitated toward the higher-tier companies and away from the ones that were more difficult to reach. In effect, A.T. & T.'s policy turned it into a corporate kingmaker. If you've never heard about this bit of business history, there's a good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T. had to abide by a "common carriage" rule: it provided the same quality of service to all, and could not favor one customer over another. But, while "tiered access" never influenced the spread of the telephone network, it is becoming a major issue in the evolution of the Internet. Until recently, companies that provided Internet access followed a de-facto commoncarriage rule, usually called "network neutrality," which meant that all Web sites got equal treatment. Network neutrality was considered so fundamental to the success of the Net that Michael Powell, when he was chairman of the F.C.C., described it as one of the basic rules of "Internet freedom." In the past few months, though, companies like A.T. & T. and BellSouth have been trying to scuttle it. In the future, Web sites that pay extra to providers could receive what BellSouth recently called "special treatment," and those that don't could end up in the slow lane. One day, BellSouth customers may find that, say, NBC.com loads a lot faster than YouTube.com, and that the sites BellSouth favors just seem to run more smoothly. Tiered access will turn the providers into Internet gatekeepers.4 Sources: 1. "Telecommunication Policy Proposed by Congress Must Recognize Internet Neutrality," Letter to Senate leaders, March 23, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1653 2. "AOL Blocks Critics' E-Mails," Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1649 3. "B.C. Civil Liberties Association Denounces Blocking of Website by Telus," British Columbia Civil Liberties Association Statement, July 27, 2005 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1650 4. "At SBC, It's All About 'Scale and Scope," BusinessWeek, November 7, 2002 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1648 5. "Net Losses," New Yorker, March 20, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1646 6. "Don't undercut Internet access," San Francisco Chronicle editorial, April 17, 2006 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1645 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So what are your thoughts? America OnLine (for one) has stated they do not intend to tamper with the existing newsgroups, etc. On this point, MoveOn was dead wrong last week. Now, on this latest variarion on the same idea, I myself do not know what to think. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Westchester (NYC Suburb) and 802.11 Safety Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 18:40:53 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC [ excerpts ] April 20, 2006 COUNTY TO REQUIRE BUSINESSES TO SECURE WIRELESS NETWORKS Law signed by Spano is first of its kind in the U.S. A groundbreaking proposal requiring local businesses to secure their wireless networks to protect their customers against identity theft and other computer fraud has just become law. County Executive Andy Spano signed a bill into law today that mandates commercial businesses that offer public Internet access and/or maintain personal information on a wireless network to take "minimum security measures." [1] In addition, businesses that offer public Internet access must also "conspicuously post a sign" advising customers to "install a firewall or other computer security measure when accessing the Internet." In a related effort, but taking another tack in combating computer crime, the Department of Public Safety recently created the state's first accredited Digital Crime and Investigation Unit. Two investigators are now dedicated to searching the Internet for "techy criminals" involved in identity theft, fraud (phishing), pedophilia and cyberbullying. The unit will also recover digital evidence that can be used by prosecutors in seeking convictions. When the law was being proposed last fall, a team from the Department of Information Technology showed how easy it was to find vulnerable networks by taking a drive through downtown White Plains. Using a laptop computer equipped with easily available software, they came across 248 wireless hot spots in less than a half an hour. Out of those, 120, or almost half, lacked any visible security at all... rest: http://www.westchestergov.com/currentnews/2006pr/Wifinew.htm [a] closed quotation marks outside the period in original text _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: xx-google@telefog.com Subject: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular Date: 20 Apr 2006 10:41:44 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I haven't found answers to most of these questions: 1. Can a VoIP number be ported to cellular? 2. Can a VoIP number be ported to POTS? 3. Can a VoIP number be ported to another VoIP provider? 4. Can a cellular number be ported to POTS? 5. Can a cellular number be ported to VoIP? 6. Can a cellular number be ported to another cellular provider? (I think that the answer is yes.) 7. Can a POTS number be ported to cellular? (I think that the answer is yes.) 8. Can a POTS number be ported to VoIP? (I think that the answer is yes.) Can you provide answers? Can you direct me to the answers on the Internet? ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: When Did 2L-5N Become Required in Los Angeles? Date: 20 Apr 2006 10:54:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > Many small towns required only four- or five-digit dialing locally > long after the "conversion" took place. By "long," I mean 10 or 15 > years or more. A friend of mine reported is update NY state town worked like that. But once they went to ESS it no longer worked. I wonder if this still applies to sparsely populated places in say Wyoming and the Dakotas where there is little population growth. The step-by-step selectors ignored "absorbed" the front end digits if they were dialed. I worked for an organization that had Centrex, but apparently under a step-by-step switch. I noticed all numbers were 3xxx, so I tried dialing something without the front end "3". That is, for ext 3212 I dialed only 212. It worked. My co-workers were impressed. Of course, if the ext was 3371, you still had to dial the leading 3. I don't recall if there were 39xx or 38xx since 8 and 9 were used for tie lines and outside lines. Also, for suburban message unit calls we were ONI -- we had to give our phone number to an operator. Nobody told me whether I should give my own extension or the main number (3000) so I gave the main number. The operator's switchboard was a cord board, a 552 I believe. I thought Centrex always had consoles. In the early days of Centrex the operator had to handle transfers. (I think Centrex II allowed the user to dial it himself). Transfer requests (flashing) for a directly dialed calls came up to the operator as an attendant request. Transfer requests for an operator connected call resulted in the supv signal on the cord pair automatically flashing until serviced. Centrex could be supplied under either step by step or crossbar, but not panel. I didn't think there was step in the city but apparently there was. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 14:29:33 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: EarthLink Taps Level 3 for VoIP USTelecom dailyLead April 20, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dulofDtutcxIiBLwNo TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * EarthLink taps Level 3 for VoIP BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Lucent wins big IPTV deal with Telefonica * Sprint Nextel buys affiliate * Cisco looks to college students for broadband content ideas * Amazon, InPhonic team to sell mobile phones, service plans * EarthLink, BellSouth, Nokia report earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Shopping for or selling telecom equipment? TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Study: Web access via mobile devices becoming commonplace * NBCU, affiliates to launch broadband venture * Motorola touts wireless mesh REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Pennsylvania looks to catch up in E911 Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dulofDtutcxIiBLwNo ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 15:09:21 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Continuing to Read About Scams I am going along with advice that I *NOT* send *ANY* reply to scam mail -- not even, say, "remove me from your list", because even "remove me from your list" notifies the scammers of the existence of your active email box. Yes, one of the things the scammers might do is to send you a check and get you to send some money back by an irreversible method, say by wire. The check would eventually be found to be counterfeit, and the scammers will have made money (which is the same as the money you sent by wire). A supposed notice of a win in a foreign lottery will turn out to be just another advance-fee fraud. Just before I left for a trip to Indiana in June 2004, I received an inquiry about 2 telephone number strings, one starting with 0031 and the other starting with 001413215, and besides answering the question about the telephone numbers (and doing a futile web search for the firm name mentioned), I warned the sender to make sure this was legitimate (I myself have received some email which claimed to be from Netherlands and to be about a lottery). ----- Forwarded message # 1: From: Rick Merrill Subject: Re: Last Laugh! Purely Spam! MY PRESENTATION TO YOU Organization: Comcast Online Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2004 00:56:21 GMT HENRY CASTLE wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Of the 126 times in the past two days > I have been selected by some bogus Solicitor in Nigeria somewhere to > serve as the executor of some poor deceased devils estate (always > numbering in the millions-billions of dollars) I have never once > answered them. I am wondering what would happen if I did. I've had > many folks say these charlatans would try to pick me clean, getting > my bank deposit account numbers, my social security number, etc. And > some have suggested they (the charlatans) would send you a bogus > draft for several thousand million billion dollars to be deposited > in my bank account, which, surprise!, would turn out to be > counterfiet after I had endorsed/negotiated it and remitted proceeds > back to the Solicitor, etc. > Has anyone on the net ever played their game back at them? Yes. I've seen some of the back and forth of this effort. It is fruitless and potentially dangerous and is not advised. There are just too many of 'them.' - RM ----- End of forwarded messages And if you hear of the slave trade, etc., and the Nigerian scammers' view of it, you might be interested in the following: ----- Forwarded message # 1: Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 16:22:05 EDT From: Carl Moore To: 419.fcd@usss.treas.gov Subject: that rare talk of revenge... Remember the OCCASIONAL remark that 419 scammers are taking revenge for the centuries of disruption caused by slave trade etc.? I will NOT take it on myself to offer any comment (other than to you investigators) about that, but I do wish to communicate something interesting I found (not dealing with the scams, but having to do with a possible way for Christians to regard Jews w/r to the crucifixion of Jesus): it (the crucifixion of Jesus) should not be attributed to all Jews of that time or to the Jews of today. ----- End of forwarded messages ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #151 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Apr 21 14:24:34 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 34F0A150C5; Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:24:33 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #152 Message-Id: <20060421182433.34F0A150C5@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:24:33 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=unavailable version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 21 Apr 2006 14:27:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 152 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Are Major Banking Sites Insecure? (Robert McMillan) Podcasting Not For Most People (Andrew Kantor) Cellular-News for Friday 21st April 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - April 21, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (John Levine) Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: Westchester (NYC Suburb) and 802.11 Safety (William Warren) Re: When Did 2L-5N Become Required in Los Angeles? (The Chief Instigator) Re: Network Neutrality (Steven Lichter) Re: Network Neutrality (Waitman Gobble) Re: Network Neutrality (Larry Farmer) Last Laugh! Walmart Customer Smashes Computer Screen (Evan Schuman) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Robert McMillan Subject: Are Major Banking Sites Insecure? Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:25:23 -0500 Robert McMillan, IDG News Service Online bank customers may want to pay a little more attention to their browsers the next time they log in, because many of the most popular banking sites in the U.S. may be needlessly placing their customers at risk to online thieves, a noted security researcher warned this week. At issue are the user login areas that can be found on banking sites such as Chase.com and Americanexpress.com, which ask users to submit their user ID and password information. Although these forms may be encrypted, they do not use authentication technology to prove they are genuine, according to Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer at the SANS Institute. A more secure approach would be to force users to log in on a HTTPS (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) Web page. HTTPS pages use the SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security protocol, which not only encrypts the information on the page but also provides digital certificates to give assurance that the Web site in question is genuine. "If the login form is not HTTPS, you don't know if it's the real thing," Ullrich said. Web pages that do not use this type of secure connection are vulnerable to a type of attack known as DNS (Domain Name System) spoofing, where attackers attempt to trick Web browsers into visiting bogus Web sites. This type of attack is technically challenging, however, and hackers generally find it far easier to trick users into giving up their user names and passwords using phishing techniques, Ullrich said. SSL for Security Still, there's no good reason for banks to allow users to log in on pages that do not use SSL, Ullrich said. The SANS researcher has compiled a list of banks that includes information on their use of SSL authentication. Banks that require SSL authentication include Capital One Bank, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo. Often banks include SSL login pages as an option, but they can be hard to find, Ullrich said. One trick for finding these pages, which will prompt Firefox and Internet Explorer to display a yellow lock icon on the bottom of the screen, is to submit a bad password on the home page. Often bank sites will redirect users to the SSL login page after this happens, he said. Though he admits to logging in to pages that do not use SSL encryption himself, security consultant Richard Smith agreed that it would be safer for banks to direct their users to an HTTPS page for account logins. "It's only one extra step," he said. "The banks could do it, but I guess they feel that one extra step is too hard for people." One of the banks that does not use SSL sign-in on its front page defended its practices. "It is more convenient for our customers and it is secure," said Bank of America spokeswoman Betty Riess. Though Bank of America allows customers to enter their online IDs on the home page, they cannot submit passwords. The bank sends them to an HTTPS page and uses a technology called SiteKey to confirm to customers that they are at the legitimate Bank of America site before they enter their passwords. "We're committed to safeguarding customer information online and we wouldn't do anything to compromise that security," Riess said. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Andrew Kantor Subject: Podcasting Not For Most People Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:34:21 -0500 Andrew Kantor, USA TODAY I wrote about podcasting last May, and some recent news tells me it's time to get back to the subject. First, a brief refresher. It's necessary; "podcasting" is an incredibly misused word. Podcasting means putting audio files on a website regularly, using a technology called RSS -- Really Simple Syndication. People using the right software can automatically download each new program posted to the site. The automatic part is important. Podcasting is not simply putting audio files on your site and letting people download them. That's known as "putting audio files on your site and letting people download them." To be a podcast, it has to be automated. No RSS, no syndication, no podcast. The original idea was that people would download (or buy) podcasting software, then set it to retrieve their favorite shows overnight. They'd automatically be put on their MP3 players. Those shows -- those podcasts -- would be created by hundreds or thousands of people all over the Internet, and on every subject imaginable. The end result would be that listeners could create a custom "radio" network of sorts with only their favorite content, and that anyone could become a syndicated radio host. And now the news. The next big thing? The good folks at Forrester took a survey, and found that only "one percent of online households in North America regularly download and listen to podcasts." What makes the Forrester report interesting is that it seems to go against the expectations of so many people -- including me. We've gotten used to Internet-based technologies taking off and, to some extent, shaping the media agenda. The rise of MP3s changed the music industry. Blogs changed how we look at and read the news. Viral-video sites such as YouTube mean never missing another funny moment. Sites like Flickr have taken over from the coffee-table album as the way we share our photos. After all that, we thought podcasting was going to change radio. Let's face it: Most radio today sucks. With limited space on the dial and so many stations owned by soulless suits, it feel like you get the same payola-funded, corporate-sponsored drek on all but a few indepen- dent stations. That's because of that limited bandwidth. Getting a space on the dial is expensive, so the majority of what you hear comes through companies big enough to afford it. But what if there was unlimited space, and the cost to run a "radio" station was virtually nil? One the one hand, you'd see a wider selection and encounter more things out of the mainstream -- a chance to expand horizons you don't get on the AM or FM dials. But there's another hand, and it illustrates what I think is one of the three big problems preventing podcasting from taking off. Roadblocks There's already an example of what happens when something gets so inexpensive that what was once limited to corporations and professionals becomes possible for anyone: spam. When direct marketing cost money -- for paper, mailing, phone calls, etc. -- you didn't see all that much. But e-mail is all but free, so the quality of the advertising content dropped, as a friend of mine would say, like a rock tied to a rock. I'm not saying that podcasts are like spam. What I am saying is that there's a downside to "everyone's a publisher": The quality of the medium goes down. Because economics don't act as a quality-control agent, there are a lot of great podcasts, but there are a lot more bad ones. The tradeoff for more choice is more junk to sort through to get the good stuff. That's roadblock number one. Number two is the technology. Radios are simple to use: Turn the dial. Podcast software, while usually well designed, is vastly more complex because the process itself is vastly more complex. You have to search the Net for shows, subscribe to the ones you like, and decide how to handle the audio files -- do you want them downloaded automatically or put on your MP3 player, or would you prefer just to be alerted? None of this is difficult with good software, but compared to turning on a radio and spinning the dial, it's rocket science. The last major roadblock to podcasts taking off is an unfortunate thing, but one that's real nonetheless: the tyranny of choice. "Given the indisputable fact that choice is good for human well-being, it seems only logical that if some choice is good, more choice is better," wrote Barry Schwartz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College. "Logically true, yes. Psychologically true, no. My colleagues and I, along with other researchers, have begun amassing evidence -- both in the laboratory and in the field -- that increased choice can lead to decreased well-being." Let's say you get some podcast software and set it up to sync to your iPod. Now what? You have to find shows you're interested in either by searching a directory like Podcast.net, by hearing of it via word of mouth, or by stumbling upon it. You can't just turn the dial. You're presented with a huge array of choices -- as I write this, Podcast.net has 26651 feeds listed. Choice like that is great if you're looking for something big like a car or a house, where it's not a throwaway, need-it-now decision. But when you just want to listen to something or choose a candidate for a political office, it's frustrating. That isn't to say that podcasting isn't a great idea. Lots of people are taking the time to find and download them, and to set the software up to do it automatically. And they're the better for it, getting to listen to a wider variety of programming than those of us stuck with radio. But until the process makes it to the next generation and some of the chaff disappears on its own -- or some shows achieve widespread prominence thanks to the right person (or site) promoting them -- podcasting is, unfortunately, going to remain a niche. Andrew Kantor is a technology writer, pundit, and know-it-all who covers technology for the Roanoke Times. He's also a former editor for PC Magazine and Internet World. Read more of his work at kantor.com. His column appears Fridays on USATODAY.com. Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news reports from USA Today, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Friday 21st April 2006 Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 07:30:55 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] Algeria Becomes the Arab World's WiMAX pioneer. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17069.php WiMAX is commercially available in Algeria, while several operators in many Arab countries have started testing the service. Smart Link Communication (SLC) has deployed WiMAX to provide broadband wireless services in Algeria. SLC's goal is to build a... [[ Financial ]] China Mobile Denies Bid For Nasdaq-Listed Millicom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17050.php Neither China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd. nor its Chinese parent, China Mobile Communications Corp., is involved in the bidding for Millicom International Cellular, a spokeswoman for the Hong Kong company said Thursday. ... China Mobile 1Q Net Profit CNY14.36 Billion Vs CNY11.25 Billion http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17051.php China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd. said Thursday its first-quarter net profit rose 28% as its subscriber base continued to grow rapidly. ... EBRD's committee OKs $250 mln 8-year loan to Russia's MTS http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17052.php A credit committee of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a U.S. $250 million 8-year loan to be provided to Russia?s largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the bank said Thursday. ... Sprint Nextel Buys Affiliate UbiquiTel For $1.3 Billion http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17053.php Sprint Nextel scooped up another one of its affiliates after agreeing Thursday to pay $1.3 billion in cash to acquire UbiquiTel. ... Vodafone Lured To Silicon Valley To Energize VC Arm http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17054.php Vodafone Group is focusing on a traditional high-technology hotbed after placing the head of its venture-capital arm near Silicon Valley. ... FOCUS: VimpelCom may reignite investor interest in Russian mobiles http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17055.php Following the uninspiring financial results posted earlier by Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom impressed investors with strong fourth quarter and full-year 2005 financials. S... Nokia Reports Rising Profits and Sales http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17065.php Nokia reported sales and profits for the first quarter of this year which were higher than expectations. The company reported a net profit of US$1.29 billion on sales of US$11.7 billion. Nokia's first quarter 2006 operating margin was 14.4%, which wa... MTC Offers Econet Option on Vmobile Purchase Bid http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17067.php The Pan-African operator, Econet says that it has been granted the right of refusal over the offer made to buy a 65% controlling stake in Nigeria's Vee Mobile made by MTC of Kuwait. Spokesman Sure Kamhunga confirmed that documents had been delivered ... [[ Handsets ]] Comtech Providing Designs for Vodafone 3G Handsets http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17062.php China's Comtech has announced its first major design win from Huawei for customized 3G cell phone modules. Comtech will provide customized module designs for use in Huawei's new Vodafone-branded 3G phone. It is anticipated that Huawei will commence m... Global Mobile Phone Shipments Will Reach 1 Billion Units in 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17063.php Global mobile phone shipments grew an impressive 31 percent year-over-year, to reach 229 million units during Q1 2006, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics. Following this strong performance, Strategy Analytics has upgraded its gl... Mobile Handsets Generated $117 Billion in Revenue in 2005 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17070.php Worldwide, mobile wireless handsets generated over US$117 billion in revenue in 2005, says a report released by Telecom Trends International,. The report says the 2005 revenue represented an increase of 14.9% over the revenue generated in 2004, and i... [[ Mobile Content ]] Mobile Streams Buys European Content Firm http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17066.php The mobile content distributor, Mobile Streams says that it is buying the German mobile content company, Cyoshi Mobile for US$3.7 million. The acquisition will strengthen Mobile Streams' footprint across mainland Europe and provide them with direct a... [[ Network Operators ]] ANALYSIS: Smartcom's future lies in innovative services http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17058.php Chilean mobile operator Smartcom is scheduled to launch GSM services in May or June this year, marking a transition from the CDMA network it has relied upon to date. ... New GSM Network Launched in Guinea http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17064.php Investcom says that it has launched commercial mobile telecommunications services in the Republic of Guinea, under the brand name Areeba. Services will initially be concentrated in the capital city, Conakry, with national coverage following soon afte... [[ Regulatory ]] Kazakh PM urges to cut LD, mobile, Internet tariffs in 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17056.php Kazakh Prime Minister Danial Akhmetov called for cutting the long-distance tariffs of fixed-line operator Kazakhtelecom, as well as all companies' tariffs for mobile and Internet services, Aliakpar Matishev, chairman of the competition committee at t... Analyst: CPP regulations to bring social benefits http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17057.php The upcoming expansion of Mexico's calling party pays billing system to cover long distance calls to mobile users will benefit isolated segments of the population in particular, telecommunications analyst Ernesto Piedras told BNamericas. ... TSTT questions arbiters over Digicel interconnection dispute http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17059.php Trinidad & Tobago's incumbent telephone company TSTT has filed a judicial review of an arbitration panel set up by telecoms regulator TATT last week to determine interconnection rates between TSTT and incoming mobile operator Digicel, The Trinidad Gu... Mauritania To Offer New Mobile Licenses http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17068.php We had this tender sent to us, and publish it for interested parties. Following its telecommunications sector liberalization policy, the Mauritanian Authority of Regulation has decided to launch a call for competition related to the allocation of one... [[ Statistics ]] Mobile penetration expected to grow 20-50% this year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17060.php Mobile telephony penetration in Peru is almost universally expected to increase during 2006, but at widely diverging rates depending on the source of the figures. ... [[ Technology ]] Five Key Factors to Consider When Choosing a Bluetooth Software Vendor http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17061.php As the Bluetooth market for silicon goes from strength to strength, the Bluetooth software market is undergoing a subtle change in direction. As more and more manufacturers embrace Bluetooth, they must balance their needs against vendor offerings in ... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 11:32:50 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Friday, April 21, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For April 21, 2006 ******************************** Ericsson Profits Flat, Below Expectations http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17616?11228 STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Wireless equipment maker LM Ericsson on Friday said sales grew in the first quarter but the takeover of money-losing Marconi cut into profits that came in flat, below expectations. Ericsson shares fell nearly 3 percent after the quarterly report was released. Net profit in the January-March period was 4.61 billion... Alltel to Allow Free Calls to 10 Numbers http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17614?11228 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. --Alltel Corp. will allow its wireless customers to make free, unlimited calls to 10 telephone numbers of their choice, even those belonging to other wireless providers. Alltel, the country's fifth largest wireless carrier, will offer its 'My Circle' program beginning Monday to any customer who has a monthly rate... Sprint Scoops Up UbiquiTel http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17612?11228 That's the game plan of Sprint Nextel Corp., which has bought up another one of its affiliates. On Thursday, the company announced that it has paid $1.3 billion for UbiquiTel Inc. a wireless affiliate based in the thriving metropolis of Conshohocken, Pa. UbiquiTel is one... Qualcomm Posts Another Record Quarter http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17605?11228 Shares in Qualcomm were down slightly today, even though the company yesterday reported its third consecutive quarter of record revenues and chip shipments. In its second fiscal quarter, the company raked in net income of $593 million, up 11 percent year-over-year, and revenues of $1.83 billion, up 34 percent year-over-year. Pro-forma... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 2006 03:38:52 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular > 1. Can a VoIP number be ported to cellular? > 2. Can a VoIP number be ported to POTS? > 3. Can a VoIP number be ported to another VoIP provider? > 4. Can a cellular number be ported to POTS? > 5. Can a cellular number be ported to VoIP? > 6. Can a cellular number be ported to another cellular provider? (I > think that the answer is yes.) > 7. Can a POTS number be ported to cellular? (I think that the > answer is yes.) > 8. Can a POTS number be ported to VoIP? (I think that the answer is > yes.) The answers to all of those questions should be yes, except perhaps in a few rural areas that don't have portability yet. For portability purposes, there's no such thing as a VoIP number. VoIP carriers contract with CLECs for their numbers (or might be a CLEC in AT&T's case), and CLEC numbers are POTS numbers. I've ported a number from Vonage to Lingo, nothing special about the process. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 06:16:42 GMT xx-google@telefog.com wrote: > I haven't found answers to most of these questions: > 1. Can a VoIP number be ported to cellular? > 2. Can a VoIP number be ported to POTS? > 3. Can a VoIP number be ported to another VoIP provider? > 4. Can a cellular number be ported to POTS? > 5. Can a cellular number be ported to VoIP? > 6. Can a cellular number be ported to another cellular provider? (I > think that the answer is yes.) > 7. Can a POTS number be ported to cellular? (I think that the > answer is yes.) > 8. Can a POTS number be ported to VoIP? (I think that the answer is > yes.) The answer to all of the above is "Yes, but..." The general rule is that any telecommunications carrier must port its customer's number to another telecommunications carrier that has a presence (i.e., has telephone numbers) in the same rate center. Now for the "buts": Telecommunications carriers include cellular/PCS operators, ILECs, and CLECs. Some VoIP service is offered by telecommunications carriers, and the number portability requirements would apply to their service. Some VoIP service is offered by companies that are information service providers, not telecommunications carriers, such as Vonage. Since they aren't telecom carriers, they generally don't interconnect directly with the PSTN and don't get numbers directly from the numbering administrator (or the pooling administrator). So Vonage et al. don't have numbers of their own in any rate centers. Instead, Vonage et al. buy numbers from telecom carriers, presumably CLECs, who obtain numbers from the numbering adminstrator (or the pooling administrator) in various rate centers. If Vonage has a deal with a CLEC such as Covad (just using Covad as an illustration; I don't know whether they have such a deal) to get numbers in a particular rate center, then numbers in that rate center would be portable to and from Vonage via Covad; this should be true of wireline and wireless numbers in that rate center. Non-wireline carriers, including wireless (cellular/PCS) and VoIP providers, don't need to have numbers in every rate center where they have customers, unlike wireline carriers, because they don't need to have wires going from a switch in the rate center to the customer. Wireless carriers typically select a subset of rate centers that is big enough to avoid toll charges from most "local" calls to their customers. For a simplified example, if rate centers A, B, C, and D all have wireline calls amongst them rated as "local", a wireless carrier only needs numbers from one of them. What this means is that if the wireless carrier gets numbers from rate center A, wireline customers in rate center A will be able to port to wireless and vice versa. Wireline customers in rate centers B, C, and D will not be able to port to or from wireless because the wireless carrier isn't present in their rate center. I assume that the same is true to some extent of VoIP providers, but given their strategy of seeking ports of wireline phone numbers, they have good reason to get numbers (via a CLEC) in each rate center in densely populated areas, while wireless carriers don't have a compelling reason to do so at this stage, since they aren't actively promoting ports of wireline phones. There are exceptions to all rules. Where the FCC is concerned, there are rural exceptions to all rules, since rural telcos are never held to the same standards as others. If you live in a rural area, don't hold your breath waiting to port your number from or to a wireline phone. > Can you direct me to the answers on the Internet? Regarding wireless number portability: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/NumberPortability/ Regarding number portability generally: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/numbport.html http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/NumberPortability/checklist.html Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Mr. Sullivan, am I correct in saying another reason for denying portability of a number is because a customer has a delinquent bill with the carrier he is attempting to port _from_ or out of? I think I saw somewhere that carriers have that protection or recourse available to them, i.e. if you don't pay your bill, you cannot have the number. True or false? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 00:59:55 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Westchester (NYC Suburb) and 802.11 Safety Danny Burstein wrote: > [ excerpts ] > April 20, 2006 > COUNTY TO REQUIRE BUSINESSES TO SECURE WIRELESS NETWORKS > Law signed by Spano is first of its kind in the U.S. > A groundbreaking proposal requiring local businesses to secure their > wireless networks to protect their customers against identity theft > and other computer fraud has just become law. > County Executive Andy Spano signed a bill into law today that mandates > commercial businesses that offer public Internet access and/or > maintain personal information on a wireless network to take "minimum > security measures." [1] [snip] This smells like a lobbyist-written law: the obvious beneficiaries of reduced wireless access are the cellular, DSL, and Cable companies, all of whom stand to lose money if wireless access points aren't "protected". I bet the FCC will strike it down: IANALB, not only is it an obvious usurpation of federal proragatives, but the feds can smell a cut-rate competitor a mile away, and county governments can be had for a pittance compared to the license fees the feds extort from users. William Warren (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) ------------------------------ Subject: Re: When Did 2L-5N Become Required in Los Angeles? From: The Chief Instigator Date: 21 Apr 2006 00:51:34 -0500 hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > Wesrock@aol.com wrote: >> Many small towns required only four- or five-digit dialing locally >> long after the "conversion" took place. By "long," I mean 10 or 15 >> years or more. > A friend of mine reported is update NY state town worked like that. > But once they went to ESS it no longer worked. > I wonder if this still applies to sparsely populated places in say > Wyoming and the Dakotas where there is little population growth. I don't know about some of South Dakota, but my wife spent her first eighteen years in what is now 605-637 ... which has no more than about three hundred active numbers in that CO, which leaves 9700 unused. (My first trip up there was in 1990, and the local telco had gone to ESS before then ... all local calls had to be dialed as seven digits. Interestingly, there's an adjacent CO just across the state line in North Dakota (701-634, IIRC) which is run through the 605-637 (NWEFSD) switch and can be called by dialing 701 plus the local number (but if you dial with 1-701, it's treated as long distance), and has even fewer active numbers in its block of 10,000. The Kentucky coal town I was born in (now primarily 606-848, although 606-238 and 606-733 are in use now) didn't go to ESS until some time after I got my degree in the late '70s, and I was used to going up there in the summer and being able to call anywhere in the two towns it served by dialing the last four numbers. (BNLYKY, if anyone's curious). Anything outside of that, and the neighboring CO in Cumberland, was dialed with 1+. Patrick "The Chief Instigator" Humphrey (patrick@io.com) Houston, Texas chiefinstigator.us.tt/aeros.php (TCI's 2005-06 Houston Aeros) LAST GAME: Houston 5, Iowa 3 (April 15) NEXT GAME: Friday, April 21 vs. Peoria, 7:35 (Game 1) ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Network Neutrality From: Steven Lichter Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 13:38:52 GMT In article telecom25.151.1@telecom-digest.org, Patrick Townson at ptownson@cableone.net wrote on 4/20/06 19:37: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: 'Network Neutrality', the concept that > everyone on the net should be given equal use of network facilities > is a very interesting concept. At first glance, I would say I agree > with it, yet the telcos, notably AT&T (SBC by its other name) and > the larger ISPs (America OnLine for example) seem to be fighting it > for various reasons. The editorial comment which follows comes from > the Move On people, who, IMO were dreadfully off-base in their > comments last week (and again today as a passing comment in this > latest piece) also seem to favor network neutrality. Quite some time > ago, I suggest that (again, IMO) the ICANN people, given their > druthers, would tend to favor 'large corporations' rather than the > small, everyday internet user. I would appreciate _your_ thoughts on > this topic of Network Neutrality, as it has come to be known. First, > here are the thoughts of the Move On people, then I will print > responses in the days to come from readers. PAT] Though as you say Network Neutrality is a good itea, without the large companies, the internet would still be as it was in the begining, just for the Collages and the govenment. The cost of building and maintaining the inferstructure costs millions of dollars and someone has to pay for it, we the users do so the companies that do business also should pay their fair share. I know the companies that pay me to build the network have to get paid in order to pay me, without that I would not be working and would not have the money to use the net. This is not Nerver Land anymore, as much as I miss the old net, this one gives more. The only Good Spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Company ------------------------------ From: Waitman Gobble Subject: Re: Network Neutrality Date: 21 Apr 2006 08:10:07 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, I'm not sure that the typical consumer would have the patience for a broken Internet. If average Susan decides to "shop store x" and the site isn't working properly, her patience will wear thin. If this happens to multiple sites, It is my opinion that she won't merely be "trained" into going to the sites approved by the government. She'd probably just jump ship and scrap the whole notion of the Internet. Which would mean she'd just call up her provider and disconnect service. She has better things to do. The bit about "tiered access" is curious, because it JUST happened to a client of mine. He has been using DSL in his home for years without much of any trouble. However in the past month his service has been offline about half time, which has been extremely frustrating for him. The problem is that a few weeks ago, it was down for a week and they said that some tech had "accidentally unplugged 50 lines in his neighborhood and his was included". It actually took them a week to "plug it back in". Then after a week of uptime it went down again (for another week) and the providers' response was "there's water in the line". The word he received from his provider, which is the company named in the article, was that he should upgrade his account to "their business level service to get better service and have trouble-free Internet". After that phone call, he called his local cable company and ordered their Internet service. That's a true story. We'll see what happens I suppose :) Take care, Waitman ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 12:23:39 -0400 From: Larry Farmer Subject: Re: Network Neutrality The fundamental issue now that internet and web have become important to our daily lives and the economy, how do we ensure its availability and preserve access to it? If we draw parallels to telephony, the internet is nearing its version of the 1934 Telecommunications Act. The resource has become too valuable for things like spam or peer-to-peer networks dominate the resource. Controls will need to be enacted. Those controls will need to be enforced. Government fees/taxes/what-not will be imposed. It's coming, it's inevitable. The big challenge with the internet/web, with respect enforcing rules, is time and place are largely irrelevant. How can a rule enacted by one government be enforced on a violator in another country? As a simple example, suppose I put some pictures from my summer vacation on my personal website. A perfectly normal, legal thing to do in the US. Well, what if posting pictures of such scantily clad people is illegal in some other country? What is to be done? Arrest me? Fine me? Blocking my website can be done, but how do you *find* my website so you can block it? And what happens when I take the pictures down, as I probably would at some point? How do you go back and unblock my site? I think Move On is totally off the mark on this one. I haven't seen what AT&T and Verizon are asking, specifically, but I'm not overly worried about them "controlling" the internet. I think market forces will make it abundantly clear to them that "control" is not what the market wants. Certainly AOL's efforts are about *protecting* equal access, not inhibiting it. When more than 50% of email traffic can be labeling "spam", the ability of you, me or Move On to be heard above the noise is less likely. Besides, reducing spam helps keep the cost of internet access down. phoneyfarmer [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Fifty percent of all email is spam you say? Hellfire, eighty to ninety percent is more like it. It has not been 'as little as' fifty percent for several years. I have very mixed feelings on this; the idea of having the telcos running the net -- for a fee, of course -- is rather repulsive, but you know, I am sure, that AT&T or MCI won't permit spam/scam to run as rampant as those things do now. If they cannot technically get rid of it, then they can price it out of business as AOL has suggested. Will there be some 'collateral damage' (as President Dubya's associates would phrase it in the ill-gotten Iraq situation)? Yes, there may well be ... but if MoveOn (or TELECOM Digest and other decent publications) cannot be heard very well (1) above the noise level of spam/scam or (2) because of the cost of paying 'postage', etc then what's the difference? I trust the spam/scam enablers are pleased with the results which are slowly creeping up on us. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Evan Schuman Subject: Last Laugh! Walmart Customer Smashes Computer Screen Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:28:52 -0500 Hell Hath No Fury Like a Consumer Chipped Off Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 5CAA7159C9; Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:56:16 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #153 Message-Id: <20060422175616.5CAA7159C9@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 13:56:16 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, LONGWORDS autolearn=no version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:55:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 153 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telecom Update #526, April 21, 2006 (Angus TeleManagement Group) Telstra Competitors Propose Joint High-Speed (USTelecom dailyLead) Area Code - NNX (Jan Schmidt) Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (Robert Bonomi) Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (John Levine) Re: MySpace Hires Child Safety Expert From Microsoft (Vientus) Re: Should Consumers Tape "Customer Service" Calls? (Koos van den Hout) Re: Network Neutrality (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Network Neutrality (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Network Neutrality (Brad Houser) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 10:45:38 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #526, April 21, 2006 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 526: April 21, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.com/canada/telecom/ ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Wetmore to Head Bell-Aliant Income Trust ** Dalfen Replies to Forbearance Critics ** IBM Veteran to Head Nortel Marketing ** UBS Showcases "Mobile TV" ** Shaw Adds 28,000 Phone Customers ** Nortel to Restate $1.2 Billion in Revenue ** Cablecos' Radio Requirement to Be Reduced ** RIM Opens Halifax Tech Support Centre ** Telus and Cisco Invest in Widevine ** Sierra Wireless Profitable Again ** Nokia Revenue Continues to Soar ** UBS Revenues Slide During Restructuring ** Dortmans' E-Column Readership Sees Rapid Growth ============================================================ WETMORE TO HEAD BELL-ALIANT INCOME TRUST: Stephen Wetmore will be President and CEO of the planned Bell Aliant Regional Communications Income Fund when it is formally established later this year (see Telecom Update #520). Wetmore was president of Aliant until 2002, when he moved to Bell Canada, where he is currently Group President, Corporate Performance and National Markets. ** Jay Forbes, who has been President and CEO of Aliant since 2002, has announced that he will resign effective July 31. DALFEN REPLIES TO FORBEARANCE CRITICS: The CRTC's "local forbearance" decision has been widely criticized in the press and elsewhere. Earlier this week, CRTC Chairman Charles Dalfen replied to the critics in an exclusive interview with Telecom Update editor Lis Angus. The text of the interview is available online at http://www.angustel.ca/update/up525b.html. IBM VETERAN TO HEAD NORTEL MARKETING: Nortel Networks has hired 26-year IBM veteran Lauren Flaherty as its Chief Marketing Officer, replacing Clent Richardson, who resigned on March 1. Flaherty, who previously led IBM's worldwide small/medium business marketing, is the second IBM VP hired by Nortel this month. (See Telecom Update #525) UBS SHOWCASES "MOBILE TV": Unique Broadband Systems and its subsidiary, Look Communications, have launched demonstration sites in Milton, Ontario, for its Mobile TV service, which provides live TV and broadband data to cars and handheld devices. SHAW ADDS 28,000 PHONE CUSTOMERS: In the quarter ended February 28, 28,000 new customers signed up for Shaw Communications' Digital Phone service, bringing the company's total to just under 119,000. Shaw also added over 36,000 Internet customers in the quarter, and increased its cable and DTH base. ** In the three- and six-month periods ended February 28, Shaw's total service revenue was $611.2 million and $1.2 billion; net income was $45.8 million and $121.5 million (up from $5.7 million and $50.4 million in the comparable periods last year). NORTEL TO RESTATE $1.2 BILLION IN REVENUE: Nortel Networks says that the accounting restatement now under way involves a total of US$1.216 billion, not $866 million as previously stated. (See Telecom Update #520, 524) CABLECOS' RADIO REQUIREMENT TO BE REDUCED: The CRTC plans to eliminate the requirement that cable TV services carry commercial radio stations, requiring them only to distribute local community, campus, and Native radio stations, as well as at least one French and one English CBC station. ** The Commission will call for comments on proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Distribution Regulations in a later public notice. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2006/pb2006-51.htm RIM OPENS HALIFAX TECH SUPPORT CENTRE: Research In Motion has opened a new Halifax technical support centre in Halifax: it is expected to employ 1,200 staff within five years. The Nova Scotia government is contributing $19 million to the project. TELUS AND CISCO INVEST IN WIDEVINE: Telus and Cisco have both made "strategic investments" in Widevine Technologies, a Seattle-based company that develops content protection systems for video-on-demand providers. Widevine raised a total of US$16 million in this investment round; the amounts contributed by Telus and Cisco were not announced. SIERRA WIRELESS PROFITABLE AGAIN: After a year of deep losses, Sierra Wireless returned to profitability in the first quarter, recording net income of US$2.6 million. Revenue of $45 million was more than double that of the same period a year ago. (See Telecom Update #514) NOKIA REVENUE CONTINUES TO SOAR: Strong sales of third-generation cellphones helped lift Nokia first-quarter revenue to 9.5 billion euros ($1.47 billion), 29% higher than a year ago. Profits rose 21%, to 1.05 billion euros. Nokia provided about a third of the estimated 229 million cellphones sold worldwide in the quarter. UBS REVENUES SLIDE DURING RESTRUCTURING: Unique Broadband Systems, majority owner of Look Communications, had revenues of $7.85 million in the quarter ended February 28, 19% less than the same period a year ago. Reduced marketing expenses helped cut UBS's loss to $1.2 million. UBS is restructuring to develop a new "Mobile Multi Media" business. DORTMANS' E-COLUMN READERSHIP SEES RAPID GROWTH: Henry Dortmans' "On the Line" column has been a popular feature of Telemanagement magazine for over ten years. The telecom management consultant is now distributing his articles by opt-in email: in just four months more than 1,000 new subscribers have added their names to the distribution list. ** To receive the past four months' issues, email info@angusdortmans.ca. To register for a free subscription, click on "On the Line" at www.angusdortmans.ca. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web late Friday afternoon each week at http://www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2006 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 13:41:20 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Telstra Competitors Propose Joint High-Speed Starting today we've added "Other News" to your USTelecom dailyLead. This new, headlines-only feature, offered in addition to the full news summaries we present each day, showcases links to other articles that may be of interest to you. It is designed to increase the quantity and variety of news we offer without increasing the time it takes to digest the news each day. We're eager to hear your thoughts about this addition to your daily SmartBrief. Click here to send your comments our way. -- The dailyLead team USTelecom dailyLead April 21, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/duvIfDtutczyzhMKOP TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Telstra competitors propose joint high-speed network BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Alltel offers free, unlimited calls to 10 numbers * Lucent, WWP in reseller pact * Comcast invests in ad-supported 411 service * What's the 411? Directory assistance advertising * China Netcom taps UTStarcom for IPTV USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Everything You Need to Know About Telecom TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Mobile phones new vehicle for podcasts * Cisco leads project to build IP network for Navajo Nation VOIP DOWNLOAD * Skype CEO says China partner censors text messages * Craig McCaw's Clearwire jumps into VoIP fray * UPC expands VoIP services, claims 1M subscribers REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Florida regulators approve Verizon request * High expectations for Wi-Fi networks despite technology's rocky history Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/duvIfDtutczyzhMKOP ------------------------------ Subject: Area Code - NNX Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 13:05:10 -0500 From: Jan Schmidt Am looking for a site where one can enter the AC and NNX and find out what city the telephone number is located in. Do you offer that somewhere on your web site? Thanks, Jan [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not have that feature here in TELECOM Digest, however it is available on other web sites. Perhaps Linc Madison or Jon or one of the guys who keeps up with area codes these days can refer you to such a template. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 19:25:43 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > I haven't found answers to most of these questions: [[.. snip questions ..]] Authoritative answer to all the questions: "it depends". You couldn't even be bothered to specify what country you were talking about, reducing any attempt to respond to nothing more than a 'guess', at best. In the U.S., 'local number portability' is a fact. With some caveats. Only the _owner_ of the number can 'port' it to a different carrier. Who actually 'owns' the number is not necessarily obvious. You _do_ probably 'own' the POTS or cellular number you use. If you have a personal 800 number, it is likely that the company providing the service 'owns' _that_ number, and has just 'loaned' it to you. VOIP providers are the 'customer' to the telephone company, and, as such 'own' the numbers they were issued by the telephone company. They're just letting you 'use' one of their 'direct dial' extensions, as it were. (note: this situation has gotten a _lot_ muddier, with the gov't ruling that VOIP providers must provide '911' under the requirements for 'real' telephone companies. Argument can be made that if they're being treated as a 'real' phone company, they should have to do all the other things 'real' telephone companies do. Like number portability, 911 fees, 'universal access' fees, etc.) There are a minimum of three players in any local number 'porting', possibly as many as _five_. (I think it's possible that one could even get more, but I cant think of how, right now.) At a minimum, there is the 'customer' (you), the old carrier, and the new carrier. 'You' have to issue the authorization for the carrier change, the new carrier has to be willing (and able!) to handle calls for that number After those things are established, the old carrier *must* relinquish the number to the new carrier. Things can get messy, since portability *is* only "local" -- you cannot 'port' a NYC number to Los Angeles, for example. This means that the 'new' carrier must have physical equipment in the 'local' area of the original switch that serviced that number. If the 'new' carrier doesn't have facilities in the right location, they're "not able" to receive the number. The 'more complicated' case: you're a 'user' who buys service from the party (actual telephone 'customer') that 'owns' the number, and want to take it somewhere else -- where you'd just be a 'user' of a _different_ actual telephone 'customer'. (e.g., going from one VOIP provider to another VOIP provider.) This requires: 1) active co-operation from the current VOIP provider, to issue the LOA authorizing their _telephone_company_ to release the number to the designated carrier used by the new VOIP provider. 2) active co-operation from the new VOIP provider, to: (a) identify their carrier, (b) route calls to that number to _you_, and (c) co-operate in relinquishing that number if/when you decide to go 'somewhere else'. 3) a transfer of 'ownership' of that number from the current VOIP provider (remember _they_ are the telephone company's customer) to the new VOIP provider. This is necessary because the new VOIP provider doesn't use the same telephone company as the old VOIP provider -- thus the receiving telephone company does not 'recognize' the current provider (who issued the LOA for the change) as one of _their_ customers. And, similarly, the current telco doesn't recognize the new VOIP provider as one of their customers. 4) the telco of the new VOIP provider must have facilities in the right location, or they're "not able" to receive the number. 5) the new VOIP provider must have links to *that* equipment, or the telco must be willing to back-haul the connection from the 'destination' facility to the one where the VOIP provider has their connection. ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 2006 19:50:00 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular > What this means is that if the wireless carrier gets numbers from rate > center A, wireline customers in rate center A will be able to port to > wireless and vice versa. Wireline customers in rate centers B, C, and > D will not be able to port to or from wireless because the wireless > carrier isn't present in their rate center. Really? My tiny ILEC says our numbers are portable to wireless, but there are no prefixes in their rate centers but theirs. I was under the impression that you really only need to be present in the LATA, not in the rate center, for portability to work. You just need to be able to provide a routing number for the portability database and as far as I can tell the routing number need not be in the same rate center as the original number. There's certainly no technical reason it has to be. Inbound calls will still be rated as calls to the original rate center, but cellular and VoIP carriers don't care. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Vientus Subject: Re: MySpace Hires Child Safety Expert From Microsoft Date: 21 Apr 2006 13:59:48 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com masonboro_island@yahoo.com wrote: > I think this is good news. I've been reading up about the online > predator issue for a while now and I'm glad to see that social > networking communities are beginning to bring in people and > advertisements that help promote online safety. It won't solve > everything but its an improvement. MySpace is now partnering with the > National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which also happens > to provide the cybertipline service so people can report predators. > What does everyone else think about this issue? I think Google should add a phone verification like http://www.Phoneconfirm.com to the sign-up process much like eBay and other older online communities have done. That would help solve multiple sign ups by underage users and give the predators something to think about ... ------------------------------ From: Koos van den Hout Subject: Re: Should Consumers Tape "Customer Service" Calls? Date: 21 Apr 2006 20:14:58 GMT Organization: http://idefix.net/~koos/ T wrote in : [ story about dell support woes ] > There ought to be some sort of vetting process for I.T. folks to get > past those damned support scripts. With Dell there is an option (at least in the Netherlands). A company can send one (or more) of their support people on a special Dell course (and pay for the privilege), after which those support people will have access to second-line support at Dell. Regular freshen-up courses are needed for new models of hardware and other changes. A company needs to have an awful lot of Dell hardware for this to be interesting. Koos Koos van den Hout, PGP keyid DSS/1024 0xF0D7C263 via keyservers koos@kzdoos.xs4all.nl or RSA/1024 0xCA845CB5 -?) Fax +31-30-2817051 Visit the site about books with reviews /\\ http://idefix.net/~koos/ http://www.virtualbookcase.com/ _\_V ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Network Neutrality Date: 21 Apr 2006 17:56:32 GMT Organization: http://extra.newsguy.com In article , Patrick Townson wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: 'Network Neutrality', the concept that > everyone on the net should be given equal use of network facilities > is a very interesting concept. At first glance, I would say I agree > with it, yet the telcos, notably AT&T (SBC by its other name) and > the larger ISPs (America OnLine for example) seem to be fighting it > for various reasons. What's old is new again. :-/ Back in the days of dial-up Internet access the phone companies used to complain about tying up POTS lines for extended data sessions. I seem to remember waaay back something about phone company rules prohibiting customers using profanity during a phone conversation (although maybe that memory is an artifact of college excesses). The ideas being promoted by the phone companies for network usage would be like them charging different rates depending on the types of phone calls you want to make ... like charging more to place a 20-minute data call vs a 20-minute voice call. The dial-up issues were probably justified, because the infrastructure was designed with a completely different usage model. In the case of data networks the capacity planning is typically based on a 95th percentile basis, and it's entirely possible that the new web apps are skewing the loads in ways that weren't anticipated. But with data networks when the capacity is exceeded you don't have to completey redesign and rebuild your infrastructure, you have to add more capacity. That costs money, but throughout the system the costs are determined on the basis of capacity or load requirements. So theoretically as a user/server contributes more to the load on the system their costs increase proportionately and that money eventually trickles through the system to the network providers that are carrying the load and have to build out their capacity to support it. Essentially we're all paying for bandwidth, at both ends. The network bits and bytes don't care what type of data they're carrying. It works the same regardless. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Network Neutrality Date: 21 Apr 2006 12:26:35 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com (quoting from the MoveOn original item): > If you've never heard about this bit of business history, there's a > good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T. had to abide by a > "common carriage" rule: it provided the same quality of service to > all, and could not favor one customer over another. But, while "tiered > access" never influenced the spread of the telephone network, it is > becoming a major issue in the evolution of the Internet. It is curious Move-On cited the old style common carrier policy as a justification for their position. Yes, in the old days it was equal access, equal rates for all, and common carrier. But MCI successfully sued to throw all of that out of the window along with the courts and Congress. MCI claimed the right to carry public customers at lower cost when and if it suited them. That claim created "tiered" service. Our telecom service has been operating that way, for better or worse, ever since. Most telecom services today are deregulated. That means you pay for what you want in a competitive marketplace. If your provider rips you off, too bad, it's buyer beware. I can't help but suspect Move-On is being a little selfish here. Their operation works on mass emails -- to their members to promote causes, from their members to push politicians. Cheap or free email is necessary to do that. Perhaps Move-On is afraid of having to pay for what it now gets for free. Sorry, but just because they're a non-profit doesn't mean they get a free ride. Another poster correctly pointed out that someone has to pay for the Internet. I don't want to subsidize Move-On. Indeed, perhaps someone like myself who is a prolific Usenet poster is getting a free ride. Admittedly I like that deal very much, but I must admit it's not very fair. Another poster noted the problems of spam and abuse. I think there are stll some "purists" or "romantics" out there who still think of the Internet as a pure form of like-minded people when it served only a very select audience of researchers. Those days are very long gone. BTW, there's a intermediate load of mail I call "semi-spam". It's mail from someone you know and converse with, but stuff you're not really interested in. For example, say one of your friends is religious and keeps sending you little Bible quotes and the like, things you didn't ask for and always delete. (Or it could be political messages). Organizations -- both profit and non-profit of course do it all the time. A lot of people do this because it's so easy and free. This represents a wasteful load on the network. As to Move-On's fear that major ISP controllers will restrict access to sites, I question that. Undoubtedly favored sites will get top billing, but that does not mean other sites will be degraded in access. TV and cable networks don't do that to favor their own shows or channels. They can't because consumers would raise hell if they did. Actually, as I consumer, I wonder if some sort of "bit tax" might be a good idea. My dial-up home is essentially worthless these days because sites have some much layered overhead bloat you gotta have DSL to do anything in a realistic amount of time. That bloat doesn't give one any more information, only more pizazz on the screen. On the rare event I find an old site my dial up works just fine and the text flows and small graphics through quickly. At the present rate plain DSL will be obsolete and will have to go to industrial strength DSL or FIOS at much higher cost to us consumers. It is worth it to see pop up ads blink on and off? ------------------------------ From: Brad Houser Subject: Re: Network Neutrality Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 12:30:00 -0700 Organization: Intel Corporation Reply-To: bradDOThouser@intel.com On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 13:38:52 GMT, Steven Lichter wrote: > Though as you say Network Neutrality is a good itea, without the > large companies, the internet would still be as it was in the > begining, just for the Collages and the govenment. The cost of > building and maintaining the inferstructure costs millions of > dollars and someone has to pay for it, we the users do so the > companies that do business also should pay their fair share. They overbuilt it and now that there is so much competition, the free market isn't working for them. They see more and more people going for all you can eat connections. I say keep it free and if you don't want to be an ISP sell to someone else. Google has to pay for all its internet connections or Google would be too slow. Charge based on bandwidth, or bytes, but not for what type of bytes you get or where they come from. Brad Houser ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #153 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Apr 22 14:42:38 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id F273C15582; Sat, 22 Apr 2006 14:42:37 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #154 Message-Id: <20060422184237.F273C15582@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 14:42:37 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 22 Apr 2006 14:46:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 154 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Google Declines to Rule Out Wireless Airwave Bid (Eric Auchard) Microsoft Hires CEO of Ask.com to Head its Web Unit (Reuters News Wire) Apple Questioned in Trade Secrets Case (Monty Solomon) EPIC Alert 13.08 (Monty Solomon) Re: Area Code - NNX (Waitman Gobble) Re: Area Code - NNX (Burris) Re: Area Code - NNX (Rich Greenberg) Re: Are Major Banking Sites Insecure? (Gordon Burditt) Re: Podcasting Not For Most People (Thomas A. Horsley) Re: Podcasting Not For Most People (Barry Margolin) Telecommunications Alternatives For The Distributed Workforce (kimi) Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (John Levine) Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (Michael D. Sullivan) Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (Raqueeb Hassan) Re: Network Neutrality (Steven Lichter) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eric Auchard Subject: Google Declines to Rule Out Wireless Airwave Bid Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:28:48 -0500 By Eric Auchard Google Inc. on Thursday opened the door to the possibility that it could bid on U.S. licenses for wireless radio spectrum in order to offer Internet access services, but said no plans were imminent. Co-founder Larry Page said the company has no wireless spectrum acquisition plans to announce but declined to rule out speculation that Google may be gearing up for a push far beyond wireless trials it is working on in the San Francisco area. "We haven't announced any plans with regard to spectrum, but we are generally interested in improving access to the Internet," he said in a tone mixing the excitement of a keen science student with that of a billionaire ready to pay for the undertaking. He was responding to a question by a Wall Street analyst over whether the company's wireless strategy would lead the company to bid in upcoming U.S. airwave auctions. "In general we are interested in anything that can provide better, more transparent access to the Internet," said Page, who is co-president of Google in charge of products and also the company's biggest shareholder. Later, in a phone interview, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt also said Google had no current plans to bid on radio spectrum. The Federal Communications Commission is slated to auction 90 megahertz of wireless airwaves starting June 29 and initial applications to participate in the sale are due by May 10. The licenses could be used for advanced wireless services like high-speed Internet access and video. The FCC is also expected by January 28 to start auctioning 2008 wireless airwaves that television broadcasters are giving up as they move to digital signals. The two auctions are expected to raise billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury. Google is working on a citywide wireless project with Internet access provider EarthLink in San Francisco, and a trial project of its own in the town of Mountain View, where its headquarters is based. It has said it is studying how it might use advertising to offer free municipal wireless access. Schmidt, asked about radio spectrum, said, "We don't have a huge bid being prepared." He joked that a random engineer might be working on a side project without his knowledge. "It would take some work for an engineer on 20 percent time to prepare a billion dollar bid," Schmidt said. Google encourages some employees to devote a portion of their work week to so-called "20 percent time" projects to develop innovative ideas outside their day-to-day jobs. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington, D.C.) Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headline news from the media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Microsoft Hires CEO of Ask.com to Head its Web Unit Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:30:47 -0500 Software giant Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it hired away Steve Berkowitz, the chief executive of rival Internet company Ask.com, to head Microsoft's own Internet business. Effective May 8, Berkowitz succeeds David Cole, a 20-year Microsoft veteran, who is set to begin a one-year leave of absence, Microsoft said in a statement. He had outlined his plans in a memo to employees in February. Berkowitz is credited in the industry with orchestrating the turnaround of Ask.com, the Web search and media business acquired by Barry Diller's conglomerate, IAC/InterActiveCorp, for $1.85 billion 13 months ago. Under his leadership, Ask, originally known as Ask Jeeves, enjoyed a revival in its audience and market share gains in the highly competitive Web search business over the past year. Berkowitz was named the senior vice president of Microsoft's recently formed Online Business Group, which brings together the operations of Microsoft's MSN Internet business unit with other consumer businesses within Microsoft. The group includes MSN.com, MSNTV and MSN Internet Access programming, advertising sales, business development, and marketing for Live Platforms, MSN and Windows Live, with responsibility for generating greater advertising sales. Microsoft's Online Business Group competes against rivals such as Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit and Ask.com. Berkowitz will report to Kevin Johnson, co-president of Microsoft's platforms and services unit, Microsoft said. He propelled Ask Jeeves into the contemporary Web search market with the acquisition of Teoma in 2001. He led the redesign of Ask, made the site easier to use by removing pop-up and banner ads and providing greater context on searches. Revenue more than doubled under his leadership. Previously, Berkowitz was president and chief operating officer of technology trade publisher IDG Books, where he built a hit consumer brand by expanding the "Dummies" series of books to cover topics ranging from the Web to pet care. He expanded IDG Books by acquiring publishing brands such as Cliffs Notes, Frommers Travel Guides and Betty Crocker Cookbooks. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:57:53 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Apple Questioned in Trade Secrets Case By MAY WONG AP Technology Writer SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A case that could jeopardize the right of journalists to protect the confidentiality of sources and give companies more legal leeway to track down supposed leaks of trade secrets is now in the hands of a state appeals court. Apple Computer Inc. faced tough questions before a three-judge panel of the 6th District Court of Appeal on Thursday as it argued its case seeking to identify the sources who leaked confidential information about an unreleased product to online media outlets in 2004. Apple contended the unidentified sources _ presumed to be company employees _ violated its trade secrets. It subpoenaed the Internet service providers of three online journalists to turn over e-mail records to uncover the possible sources. A lower court last year ruled in Apple's favor but the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose attorneys represent the online journalists of AppleInsider.com, PowerPage.org and MacNN.com appealed. The civil liberties organization contended Apple's protection of trade secrets in this case should not outweigh the journalists' First Amendment right to confidential sources nor the privacy protections of e-mails allowed under federal law. The appellate panel in San Jose questioned Apple's stance, including its claim that the published diagrams of the unreleased music-related product code-named "Asteroid" amounted to a trade secret. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57810158 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 00:53:55 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EPIC Alert 13.08 ======================================================================== E P I C A l e r t ======================================================================== Volume 13.08 April 21, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C. http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_13.08.html ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== [1] ICANN Chooses Privacy for Whois [2] Congress, Administration Push for U.S. Data Retention Laws [3] International Privacy Commissioners Meet in Washington [4] U.S. Archives Had Reclassification Agreements With CIA, Air Force [5] Immigration Bill Would Require DHS Checks for All U.S. Jobs [6] News in Brief [7] EPIC Bookstore: David Lyon's "Surveillance as Social Sorting" [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_13.08.html ------------------------------ From: Waitman Gobble Subject: Re: Area Code - NNX Date: 21 Apr 2006 21:05:54 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello Jan, Here are some links for you: http://www.quentinsagerconsulting.com/npanxx_phonecodes.htm (i've used that one for years, there's a nice free lookup for occasional use.) http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/index.htm (I usually use Melissa Data for address lookups however they also have phone number databases.) I've stumbled upon these http://www.fonefinder.net/ (haven't used but looks ok.) http://www.tndatabase.com/ (interesting click-number thingy. Make use of Control-F key combination to search page.) Take care Waitman ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 07:58:01 -0400 From: Burris Subject: Re: Area Code - NNX Jan Schmidt wrote: > Am looking for a site where one can enter the AC and NNX and find out > what city the telephone number is located in. Do you offer that > somewhere on your web site? > Thanks, > Jan > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not have that feature here in > TELECOM Digest, however it is available on other web sites. Perhaps > Linc Madison or Jon or one of the guys who keeps up with area codes > these days can refer you to such a template. PAT] See if this is what you want ... http://www.telcodata.us/telcodata/telco ------------------------------ From: richgr@panix.com (Rich Greenberg) Subject: Re: Area Code - NNX Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:43:42 UTC Organization: Organized? Me? In article , Jan Schmidt wrote: > Am looking for a site where one can enter the AC and NNX and find out > what city the telephone number is located in. Do you offer that > somewhere on your web site? There are probably several. The one I usually use is: http://www.telcodata.us/telcodata/telco Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507 Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67 Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L ------------------------------ From: gordonb.mjj57@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: Are Major Banking Sites Insecure? Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:10:22 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com > At issue are the user login areas that can be found on banking sites > such as Chase.com and Americanexpress.com, which ask users to submit > their user ID and password information. Although these forms may be > encrypted, they do not use authentication technology to prove they are > genuine, according to Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer at the > SANS Institute. > A more secure approach would be to force users to log in on a HTTPS > (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) Web page. HTTPS pages use the > SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security protocol, which not only encrypts > the information on the page but also provides digital certificates to > give assurance that the Web site in question is genuine. SSL is an effective way of transmitting payment information securely to the thief operating a web site in such a way that the other thieves don't get the info first. > "If the login form is not HTTPS, you don't know if it's the real > thing," Ullrich said. If it's HTTPS, and you don't look at the certificate, you still don't know if it's the real thing. If you don't look at the certificate, you don't know it doesn't say: "Union of Nigerian Bank Fraud Artists, Third Pile of Money on the Left SUCKER, Nigerian Republic of Bank Fraud". I suspect just about anyone can get a real certificate if they use their real name on it, even if they are running a web site from inside a prison and freely admit it to Verisign. Saddam, have you applied for a certificate yet? If you don't pay attention to warnings about certificate authorities, I can make a certificate that looks just like a real bank certificate, and it will fool lots of people. However, it's more fun to make certificates for "Satan, Prince of Darkness", and few people will read it anyway. You do get a few browser warnings, however, I suspect a lot of people would click OK without thinking to a popup: You are about to install the Code Red Virus. Only an idiot would deliberately install a virus thinking it was anti-virus software. The install program will also drain your checking account and take your soul and first-born child. Install virus anyway? > Web pages that do not use this type of secure connection are > vulnerable to a type of attack known as DNS (Domain Name System) > spoofing, where attackers attempt to trick Web browsers into visiting > bogus Web sites. And if you don't read the certificates, you won't notice that you expected to be connected to Chased Bank and you're really connected to Henry's House of Hashish and Aftermarket Biological Weapons. > This type of attack is technically challenging, however, and hackers > generally find it far easier to trick users into giving up their user > names and passwords using phishing techniques, Ullrich said. > Though Bank of America allows customers to enter their online IDs on > the home page, they cannot submit passwords. The bank sends them to an > HTTPS page and uses a technology called SiteKey to confirm to > customers that they are at the legitimate Bank of America site before > they enter their passwords. > "We're committed to safeguarding customer information online and we > wouldn't do anything to compromise that security," Riess said. Bank of America has an interesting setup to avoid spoofing and man-in-the-middle attacks, and it involves the user a bit more. You set up an image (chosen from a set of what might be a few hundred), a caption, and some security questions and answers. (For example, I might select an image of a fire-breathing dragon, and caption it "my mother-in-law". I might also select a security question of "What is your favorite pet?" with the answer "9/11/2001". Of course, by choosing such wierd answers, I'd better remember the real answers as the question won't give much of a hint.) 1. You go to what is supposedly the login page. 2. You put in your ID (but not password) 3. If your computer has the BofA cookie on it for this account, skip to step 7 4. You are asked one of the security questions (I think an SSL page). 5. You answer it. 6. If your answer is correct, the web page offers to put a cookie on the computer you are using (but advises you not to if it's a public system). 7. You get a SSL page showing your selected image and the caption (Together, these are the site key.). You are advised *NOT* to enter your password if you don't see the correct site key. Enter your password. 8. You put in the password. 9. If it's correct, you're in, and the cookie from step 6 is added if requested. 10. You get the online banking page (SSL) for your account. If you usually log in from a small set of computers which by now have the cookie on them, you only do steps 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 10, and you should be suspicious of suddenly getting asked (for a man-in-the-middle attack) one of the security questions. Notes: if you refuse to accept cookies, you get asked the security question, but it still works. The cookie does NOT substitute for knowing the password. Although it's hardly foolproof, especially if the user isn't paying attention, it's different and it involves the user a bit more, so I think it's going to be more effective. Gordon L. Burditt ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Podcasting Not For Most People From: tom.horsley@att.net (Thomas A. Horsley) Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 01:45:45 GMT > "Logically true, yes. Psychologically true, no. My > colleagues and I, along with other researchers, have begun amassing > evidence -- both in the laboratory and in the field -- that increased > choice can lead to decreased well-being." It requires researchers to amass evidence for this? They must be getting government grants. There are places I won't go to eat because just reading the menu takes more time than I have for lunch -- I wouldn't think it would take vast amounts of research to figure this sorta thing out ... Even the fast food joints are starting to join the too many choices trend: Do you want the grilled chicken or the fried chicken? Do you want the Honey-Mustard-Tofu-Wheatgerm sauce or the Banana-Nut-Bat-Guano sauce? I wish they'd all change their scripts and have the first question always be: Do you want that with or without choices? :-). ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Podcasting Not For Most People Organization: Symantec Date: Fri, 21 Apr 2006 22:13:02 -0400 In article , Andrew Kantor wrote: > Roadblocks > There's already an example of what happens when something gets so > inexpensive that what was once limited to corporations and > professionals becomes possible for anyone: spam. .... > That's roadblock number one. Number two is the technology. .... > The last major roadblock to podcasts taking off is an unfortunate > thing, but one that's real nonetheless: the tyranny of choice. When I first heard about sites like eBay and craigslist, I thought they would suffer from much the same problem. If anyone can sell their junk, these sites will presumably be filled mostly with junk. I don't use these sites myself, so I still wonder how they've been so successful despite this. In fact, the same argument could be made about the Web as a whole. Just because anyone can be a publisher doesn't mean everyone *should* be a publisher. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** ------------------------------ From: kimi Subject: Telecommunications Alternatives For Distributed Workforce (March 2006) Date: 21 Apr 2006 18:03:45 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Telecommunications Alternatives For The Distributed Workforce (March 2006) Introduction,Distributed Workforce,Virtual Organization,Field Offices for Larger Concerns,Virtual PBX,Case Study-Centract,Knowledge Worker Impact Quotient,Conclusions http://www.freewebs.com/virtual-pbx/ ------------------------------ Date: 21 Apr 2006 23:45:04 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular > VOIP providers are the 'customer' to the telephone company, and, as > such 'own' the numbers they were issued by the telephone company. > They're just letting you 'use' one of their 'direct dial' extensions, > as it were. Except sometimes. When I switched from Vonage to Lingo about a year ago, before mandatory E-911, I ported my number the normal way and it worked. I have no idea whether Vonage could have prevented the port if they'd wanted to. In fact, what happened was that Vonage didn't even notice, and once I got Vonage to cancel the account (I got their attention by turning off the credit card number to which the account was charged), they thought the number was still theirs but unassigned. This had the effect that anyone in the world other than Vonage customers could call me, while Vonage customers got an out of service recording. Since I don't get calls from many Vonage customers, I didn't care. Then about two months ago, Vonage assigned my old number to a new customer, a student at a nearby college, and I got some rather confused calls from her father who was rather bent out of shape that he called the number that his daughter had given him and that showed up on his caller ID box, and got me instead. Fortunately, I had a simple way to fix it: I happen to be acquainted with a one of the members of Vonage's corporate board of directors, and sent him a note which he forwarded to Vonage management, and it was all fixed within a day. If I hadn't had that side channel, I doubt it would ever have been fixed. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Michael D. Sullivan Subject: Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 03:35:42 GMT John Levine wrote: >> What this means is that if the wireless carrier gets numbers from rate >> center A, wireline customers in rate center A will be able to port to >> wireless and vice versa. Wireline customers in rate centers B, C, and >> D will not be able to port to or from wireless because the wireless >> carrier isn't present in their rate center. > Really? My tiny ILEC says our numbers are portable to wireless, but > there are no prefixes in their rate centers but theirs. > I was under the impression that you really only need to be present in > the LATA, not in the rate center, for portability to work. You just > need to be able to provide a routing number for the portability > database and as far as I can tell the routing number need not be in > the same rate center as the original number. There's certainly no > technical reason it has to be. > Inbound calls will still be rated as calls to the original rate > center, but cellular and VoIP carriers don't care. John, thanks for pointing out that this issue is a bit more complicated than I let on. As you note, there is no technical imperative for portability to be limited to a rate center. A white paper on this is located at: http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/tapd/Nanc/rcnanc1.doc My summary regarding rate centers and their relevance to porting was oversimplified. The general rule for wireline carrier number porting to other wireline carriers is rate center dependent. However, this is not the case with respect to certain ports between wireline and wireless. A wireline carrier must port to a wireless carrier even if the wireless carrier doesn't have numbering resources in the rate center where the number is located. The wireline carriers took the position that they didn't have to do so, but the FCC ruled in November 2003 that wireline-to-wireless ports were required as long as the wireless carrier has service covering the rate center (using Zip codes for that determination, apparently). It did not require wireless-to-wireline ports where the wireline carrier doesn't have numbering resources in the rate center where the ported number is located, however; that issue has been put on hold pending further study. The order is online at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-03-284A1.pdf There is also an October 2003 order holding that wireless-to-wireless porting does not require a common rate center. This order, is online at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-03-237A1.pdf Michael D. Sullivan Bethesda, MD (USA) (Replace "example.invalid" with "com" in my address.) ------------------------------ From: Raqueeb Hassan Subject: Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular Date: 22 Apr 2006 10:27:04 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > Inbound calls will still be rated as calls to the original rate center ... Hello! Now, regarding the technical feasibility -- how do these exchanges interconnected? How can you port numbers should all telcos dialplans are not shared in a single routing device? How will these calls be routed should all the carriers don't share their dialing plans ahead to each other? I guess all the switches (wireline and non- wireline carriers) should be terminated to a tandem exchage (in our case, incumbent telco's responsibility). In a smaller country where ILECs and CLECs (including cellular and VoIP) can be the same carriers, how do you suggest the feasible placement of rate center(s)? TIA Raqueeb Hassan Bangladesh ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Network Neutrality From: Steven Lichter Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 01:41:14 GMT In article telecom25.153.9@telecom-digest.org, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com at hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote on 4/21/06 12:26: > (quoting from the MoveOn original item): >> If you've never heard about this bit of business history, there's a >> good reason: it never happened. Instead, A.T. & T. had to abide by a >> "common carriage" rule: it provided the same quality of service to >> all, and could not favor one customer over another. But, while "tiered >> access" never influenced the spread of the telephone network, it is >> becoming a major issue in the evolution of the Internet. > It is curious Move-On cited the old style common carrier policy as a > justification for their position. > Yes, in the old days it was equal access, equal rates for all, and > common carrier. But MCI successfully sued to throw all of that out of > the window along with the courts and Congress. MCI claimed the right > to carry public customers at lower cost when and if it suited them. > That claim created "tiered" service. Our telecom service has been > operating that way, for better or worse, ever since. And now look who owns MCI!! > Most telecom services today are deregulated. That means you pay for > what you want in a competitive marketplace. If your provider rips you > off, too bad, it's buyer beware. > I can't help but suspect Move-On is being a little selfish here. > Their operation works on mass emails -- to their members to promote > causes, from their members to push politicians. Cheap or free email > is necessary to do that. Perhaps Move-On is afraid of having to pay > for what it now gets for free. > Sorry, but just because they're a non-profit doesn't mean they get a > free ride. Another poster correctly pointed out that someone has to > pay for the Internet. I don't want to subsidize Move-On. > Indeed, perhaps someone like myself who is a prolific Usenet poster is > getting a free ride. Admittedly I like that deal very much, but I > must admit it's not very fair. > Another poster noted the problems of spam and abuse. I think there are > stll some "purists" or "romantics" out there who still think of the > Internet as a pure form of like-minded people when it served only a > very select audience of researchers. Those days are very long gone. > BTW, there's a intermediate load of mail I call "semi-spam". It's > mail from someone you know and converse with, but stuff you're not > really interested in. For example, say one of your friends is > religious and keeps sending you little Bible quotes and the like, > things you didn't ask for and always delete. (Or it could be > political messages). Organizations -- both profit and non-profit of > course do it all the time. A lot of people do this because it's so > easy and free. This represents a wasteful load on the network. > As to Move-On's fear that major ISP controllers will restrict access > to sites, I question that. Undoubtedly favored sites will get top > billing, but that does not mean other sites will be degraded in > access. TV and cable networks don't do that to favor their own shows > or channels. They can't because consumers would raise hell if they > did. > Actually, as I consumer, I wonder if some sort of "bit tax" might be a > good idea. My dial-up home is essentially worthless these days > because sites have some much layered overhead bloat you gotta have DSL > to do anything in a realistic amount of time. That bloat doesn't give > one any more information, only more pizazz on the screen. On the rare > event I find an old site my dial up works just fine and the text flows > and small graphics through quickly. At the present rate plain DSL > will be obsolete and will have to go to industrial strength DSL or > FIOS at much higher cost to us consumers. It is worth it to see pop > up ads blink on and off? In article telecom25.152.10@telecom-digest.org, Waitman Gobble at avail4one@gmail.com wrote on 4/21/06 8:10: > Hello, > I'm not sure that the typical consumer would have the patience for a > broken Internet. If average Susan decides to "shop store x" and the > site isn't working properly, her patience will wear thin. If this > happens to multiple sites, It is my opinion that she won't merely be > "trained" into going to the sites approved by the government. She'd > probably just jump ship and scrap the whole notion of the Internet. > Which would mean she'd just call up her provider and disconnect > service. She has better things to do. The Internet is broken now and the only way to really fix it is to start over again!! > The bit about "tiered access" is curious, because it JUST happened to a > client of mine. He has been using DSL in his home for years without > much of any trouble. However in the past month his service has been > offline about half time, which has been extremely frustrating for him. > The problem is that a few weeks ago, it was down for a week and they > said that some tech had "accidentally unplugged 50 lines in his > neighborhood and his was included". It actually took them a week to > "plug it back in". Then after a week of uptime it went down again (for > another week) and the providers' response was "there's water in the > line". The word he received from his provider, which is the company > named in the article, was that he should upgrade his account to "their > business level service to get better service and have trouble-free > Internet". After that phone call, he called his local cable company and > ordered their Internet service. That's a true story. > We'll see what happens I suppose :) > Take care, > Waitman ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #154 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Apr 23 18:56:39 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 2FF7915161; Sun, 23 Apr 2006 18:56:39 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #155 Message-Id: <20060423225639.2FF7915161@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 18:56:39 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.1 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, BIZ_TLD,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,ONLINE_PHARMACY autolearn=no version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 23 Apr 2006 19:00:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 155 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Pioneering WikFi City Sees Startup Woes (Travis Reed) Texas Community College Bans MySpace.com (Associated Press News Wire) Verizon UNE DS3 Question (darktiger) Google's China Problem (and China's Google Problem) (Monty Solomon) Re: Are Major Banking Sites Insecure? (Steven Lichter) Re: Are Major Banking Sites Insecure? (B. Wright) Re: Does DSL Speed Correlate With POTS Speed? (Charles Gowder) Re: Does DSL Speed Correlate With POTS Speed? (Geoffrey Welsh) Re: Does DSL Speed Correlate With POTS Speed? (Koos van den Hout) Re: NPA-NXX Lists (Anthony Bellanga) Re: NPA-NNX Lists (Mr Joseph Singer) Re: Podcasting Not For Most People (John Levine) Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular (Fred Atkinson) Re: New Technology Will Force TV Ad Viewing (John Stahl) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Travis Reed Subject: Pioneering WikFi City Sees Startup Woes Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:01:34 -0500 By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer Joe Lusardi's friends back in New York couldn't believe it when he told them he'd have free Internet access through this city's new Wi-Fi network. It's free all right, but residents are, to some extent, getting what they pay for. More than a month after St. Cloud launched what analysts say is the country's first free citywide Wi-Fi network, Lusardi and others in this 28,000-person Orlando suburb are still paying to use their own Internet service providers as dead spots and weak signals keep some residents offline and force engineers to retool the free system. "Everybody's happy they were going to have it, but I don't know if they're happy right now," said Lusardi, a 66-year-old retired New York City transit worker. The same troubles with the small town's big Internet project could be lessons for municipalities from Philadelphia to San Francisco considering similar networks. St. Cloud officials are spending more than $2 million on a network they see as a pioneering model for freeing local families, schools and businesses from monthly Internet bills. It also promises to help the city reduce cell-phone bills and let paramedics in an ambulance talk by voice and video to hospital doctors. Instead, what they have so far is a work in progress. "All technology has its hiccups, and sometimes more than hiccups," St. Cloud Mayor Donna Hart said. "I think that it's going to be a major challenge, and it'll probably be a major challenge for some time until the technology is such that it works properly." Wi-Fi is the same technology behind wireless Internet access in coffee shops, airports and college campuses around the country. Several cities have Wi-Fi hotspots, but St. Cloud's 15-square-mile network is the first to offer free access citywide, said Seattle-based technology writer Glenn Fleishman, who runs a Web site called Wi-Fi Networking News. Other cities like Tempe, Ariz., have networks over a larger area (187 square miles), but access isn't free. Planned projects in places like Chicago and Philadelphia would also dwarf St. Cloud's network, but also require a fee for access. Google Inc. and EarthLink Inc. are teaming up to build a $15 million Wi-Fi network across San Francisco, and their proposal is entering final negotiations. EarthLink's faster offering would cost $20 per month, while Google would provide a slower, free service financed by advertising. St. Cloud launched the network on a trial basis in May 2004 in a new division of town to help give businesses an incentive to relocate. After further exploring the benefits, officials decided to expand it citywide. Project supporters say increased efficiency in city government will cover the network's $2.6 million buildout and estimated $400,000 annual operating expense. For example, phones that use the Wi-Fi network will allow it to cut cell-phone bills for police and city workers. The city can avoid adding 10 more building inspectors because the network will existing employees to enter and access data onsite instead of driving back to the office. The network also could keep the estimated $450 that St. Cloud households now spend each year on high-speed access in the local economy. As of last week, nearly 3,500 users had registered for the network, logging 176,189 total hours of use. St. Cloud contracted with Hewlett-Packard Co. to build the project and provide customer support. "HP is working with the city and its partners to optimize the solution and install additional access points to help improve signal strength in isolated areas of the city," the company said in a statement. So far, there have been plenty of calls from frustrated residents. Some can see receivers from their homes and still can't sign on -- even on the porch. Others have tried to connect countless times. Still, HP said that there were only 842 help-line calls out of more than 50,000 user sessions in the first 45 days of service. At first, a desktop computer in Lusardi's house could use the Wi-Fi network with no problem, but his laptop would only work outdoors. Even then it was too slow and unreliable, so he kept his $20 per month Sprint DSL service. Now the desktop doesn't even work, and he's completely abandoned the idea of dropping his pay service and using the network. "It's just total frustration," Lusardi said. "I'm going to stay with the DSL and just forget it, because I don't think it's going to work. Very few people are going to use it, and they're going to say it's underutilized and they're going to shut it down." Lusardi didn't shell out the money for a signal-boosting device St. Cloud recommends for those having trouble connecting -- City Hall sells them for $170. Fleishman said the fact that others share Lusardi's frustration is a crucial technical and public relations problem for the vanguard project. He said residents should understand many won't be able to use the free network without additional equipment to strengthen the signal. "It's very large and it's very ambitious, so they're going to hit some of these problems before some of the marketing and technology is out there," he said. "Products have to catch up to this new market." Fleishman said other cities would likely have the same problems - in bigger cities, even larger ones -- if they didn't fully inform the public of necessary equipment and network limits. Former Mayor Glenn Sangiovanni, who spearheaded the project, stressed that kinks were still being worked out, but noted that not everyone was having problems. "There's a lot of variables, and that's part of it," Sangiovanni said. "It could be the block construction you have, it could be the tin roof you have. There's lots of different things that could be unique to your environment as opposed to my environment. "We went into this with the expectation that it's really a year plan that we're going to implement," he added. "You don't know what you're going to get into when you take on the whole city because you can't stress test that." Ashley Austin, a freshman at nearby Florida Christian College, said she likes using the network to do homework on the city's picturesque downtown lakefront. She said it's also the only way to get online if Internet service is down at the wireless telephone store where she works. "So far I haven't had any problems with the use that I've gotten out of it," she said. Resident Chuck Cooper, a former city commissioner, bought an antenna, but still gets a shaky connection. Navigating from one site to another still produces errors. Generally, he says, it's slightly faster than dial-up access. But even critics like him are quick to praise the endeavor in between grumbles over early problems. "All in all, I guess it's a good idea," Cooper said. "I equate it to cell phones 10 to 15 years ago. You used to have a lot of dropped calls, but now they're substantially better. Hopefully, this will get a little better a lot quicker." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Texas Community College Bans MySpace.com Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 16:56:47 -0500 Del Mar College students now have to use computers outside the school's system if they want to visit the popular Web site MySpace.com. The community college has blocked the site in response to complaints about sluggish Internet speed on campus computers. An investigation found that heavy traffic at MySpace.com was eating up too much bandwidth, said August Alfonso, the school's chief of information and technology. Forty percent of daily Internet traffic at the college involved the site, he said. "This was more about us being able to offer Web-based instruction, and MySpace.com was slowing everything down," President Carlos Garcia said. MySpace.com -- a social networking hub with more 72 million members -- allow users to post searchable profiles that can include photos of themselves and such details as where they live and what music they like. Paul Martinez, 20, is a frequent visitor to MySpace.com and finds the site to be addictive. Restricting access to the site could be a good idea, he said. "The library is pretty much full with people on MySpace, and with them banning it you won't have anything to distract you," he said. Some though, disagree with Del Mar College's decision. "We pay for school and the resources that are used," said Zeke Santos, 20. "It's our choice, we're the ones paying for our classes. If we pass or fail, it's up to us." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headline news of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: darktiger Subject: Verizon UNE DS3 Question Date: 22 Apr 2006 13:21:27 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, We are a CLEC and have been using Verizon Wholesale for Line Shares for DSL. In the interest of paying off our investment in getting fiber to their CO and the collocation space there, we are interested in running a DS3 from our rack in the VZ CO to a customer premise. Looking at the rates, I see a DS3 loop cost of $363MRC and a $278NRC loop provisioning fee ... We are fine with these rates, but are wondering if anyone else has ever ordered one of these before and what other fees are attached that may not be in our pricing schedule. Those prices are very reasonable and makes me wonder if I should expect a $4000 bill after the loop is installed. Thank you, Scott Brown Oregon, USA ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 01:42:30 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Google's China Problem (and China's Google Problem) By CLIVE THOMPSON The New York Times April 23, 2006 For many young people in China, Kai-Fu Lee is a celebrity. Not quite on the level of a movie star like Edison Chen or the singers in the boy band F4, but for a 44-year-old computer scientist who invariably appears in a somber dark suit, he can really draw a crowd. When Lee, the new head of operations for Google in China, gave a lecture at one Chinese university about how young Chinese should compete with the rest of the world, scalpers sold tickets for $60 apiece. At another, an audience of 8,000 showed up; students sprawled out on the ground, fixed on every word. It is not hard to see why Lee has become a cult figure for China's high-tech youth. He grew up in Taiwan, went to Columbia and Carnegie-Mellon and is fluent in both English and Mandarin. Before joining Google last year, he worked for Apple in California and then for Microsoft in China; he set up Microsoft Research Asia, the company's research-and-development lab in Beijing. In person, Lee exudes the cheery optimism of a life coach; last year, he published "Be Your Personal Best," a fast-selling self-help book that urged Chinese students to adopt the risk-taking spirit of American capitalism. When he started the Microsoft lab seven years ago, he hired dozens of China's top graduates; he will now be doing the same thing for Google. "The students of China are remarkable," he told me when I met him in Beijing in February. "There is a huge desire to learn." Lee can sound almost evangelical when he talks about the liberating power of technology. The Internet, he says, will level the playing field for China's enormous rural underclass; once the country's small villages are connected, he says, students thousands of miles from Shanghai or Beijing will be able to access online course materials from M.I.T. or Harvard and fully educate themselves. Lee has been with Google since only last summer, but he wears the company's earnest, utopian ethos on his sleeve: when he was hired away from Microsoft, he published a gushingly emotional open letter on his personal Web site, praising Google's mission to bring information to the masses. He concluded with an exuberant equation that translates as "youth + freedom + equality + bottom-up innovation + user focus + don't be evil = The Miracle of Google." When I visited with Lee, that miracle was being conducted out of a collection of bland offices in downtown Beijing that looked as if they had been hastily rented and occupied. The small rooms were full of eager young Chinese men in hip sweatshirts clustered around enormous flat-panel monitors, debugging code for new Google projects. "The ideals that we uphold here are really just so important and noble," Lee told me. "How to build stuff that users like, and figure out how to make money later. And 'Don't Do Evil' " - he was referring to Google's bold motto, "Don't Be Evil" - "all of those things. I think I've always been an idealist in my heart." Yet Google's conduct in China has in recent months seemed considerably less than idealistic. In January, a few months after Lee opened the Beijing office, the company announced it would be introducing a new version of its search engine for the Chinese market. To obey China's censorship laws, Google's representatives explained, the company had agreed to purge its search results of any Web sites disapproved of by the Chinese government, including Web sites promoting Falun Gong, a government-banned spiritual movement; sites promoting free speech in China; or any mention of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. If you search for "Tibet" or "Falun Gong" most anywhere in the world on google.com, you'll find thousands of blog entries, news items and chat rooms on Chinese repression. Do the same search inside China on google.cn, and most, if not all, of these links will be gone. Google will have erased them completely. Google's decision did not go over well in the United States. In February, company executives were called into Congressional hearings and compared to Nazi collaborators. The company's stock fell, and protesters waved placards outside the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google wasn't the only American high-tech company to run aground in China in recent months, nor was it the worst offender. But Google's executives were supposed to be cut from a different cloth. When the company went public two years ago, its telegenic young founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, wrote in the company's official filing for the Securities and Exchange Commission that Google is "a company that is trustworthy and interested in the public good." How could Google square that with making nice with a repressive Chinese regime and the Communist Party behind it? ... http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/magazine/23google.html?ex=1303444800&en=972002761056363f&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Are Major Banking Sites Insecure? From: Steven Lichter Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 20:24:28 GMT In article telecom25.154.8@telecom-digest.org, Gordon Burditt at gordonb.mjj57@burditt.org wrote on 4/21/06 16:10: >> At issue are the user login areas that can be found on banking sites >> such as Chase.com and Americanexpress.com, which ask users to submit >> their user ID and password information. Although these forms may be >> encrypted, they do not use authentication technology to prove they are >> genuine, according to Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer at the >> SANS Institute. >> A more secure approach would be to force users to log in on a HTTPS >> (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) Web page. HTTPS pages use the >> SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) security protocol, which not only encrypts >> the information on the page but also provides digital certificates to >> give assurance that the Web site in question is genuine. > SSL is an effective way of transmitting payment information securely to > the thief operating a web site in such a way that the other thieves > don't get the info first. >> "If the login form is not HTTPS, you don't know if it's the real >> thing," Ullrich said. > If it's HTTPS, and you don't look at the certificate, you still don't > know if it's the real thing. If you don't look at the certificate, > you don't know it doesn't say: "Union of Nigerian Bank Fraud Artists, > Third Pile of Money on the Left SUCKER, Nigerian Republic of Bank > Fraud". I suspect just about anyone can get a real certificate if > they use their real name on it, even if they are running a web site > from inside a prison and freely admit it to Verisign. Saddam, have > you applied for a certificate yet? > If you don't pay attention to warnings about certificate authorities, > I can make a certificate that looks just like a real bank certificate, > and it will fool lots of people. However, it's more fun to make > certificates for "Satan, Prince of Darkness", and few people will read > it anyway. You do get a few browser warnings, however, I suspect a > lot of people would click OK without thinking to a popup: > You are about to install the Code Red Virus. > Only an idiot would deliberately install a virus thinking > it was anti-virus software. The install program will also > drain your checking account and take your soul and first-born > child. Install virus anyway? >> Web pages that do not use this type of secure connection are >> vulnerable to a type of attack known as DNS (Domain Name System) >> spoofing, where attackers attempt to trick Web browsers into visiting >> bogus Web sites. > And if you don't read the certificates, you won't notice that you > expected to be connected to Chased Bank and you're really connected to > Henry's House of Hashish and Aftermarket Biological Weapons. >> This type of attack is technically challenging, however, and hackers >> generally find it far easier to trick users into giving up their user >> names and passwords using phishing techniques, Ullrich said. >> Though Bank of America allows customers to enter their online IDs on >> the home page, they cannot submit passwords. The bank sends them to an >> HTTPS page and uses a technology called SiteKey to confirm to >> customers that they are at the legitimate Bank of America site before >> they enter their passwords. >> "We're committed to safeguarding customer information online and we >> wouldn't do anything to compromise that security," Riess said. > Bank of America has an interesting setup to avoid spoofing and > man-in-the-middle attacks, and it involves the user a bit more. You > set up an image (chosen from a set of what might be a few hundred), a > caption, and some security questions and answers. (For example, I > might select an image of a fire-breathing dragon, and caption it "my > mother-in-law". I might also select a security question of "What is > your favorite pet?" with the answer "9/11/2001". Of course, by > choosing such wierd answers, I'd better remember the real answers as > the question won't give much of a hint.) > 1. You go to what is supposedly the login page. > 2. You put in your ID (but not password) > 3. If your computer has the BofA cookie on it for this account, > skip to step 7 > 4. You are asked one of the security questions (I think an SSL page). > 5. You answer it. > 6. If your answer is correct, the web page offers to put a cookie on > the computer you are using (but advises you not to if it's a public > system). > 7. You get a SSL page showing your selected image and the caption > (Together, these are the site key.). > You are advised *NOT* to enter your password if you don't see the > correct site key. Enter your password. > 8. You put in the password. > 9. If it's correct, you're in, and the cookie from step 6 is added > if requested. > 10. You get the online banking page (SSL) for your account. > If you usually log in from a small set of computers which by now have > the cookie on them, you only do steps 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 10, and you > should be suspicious of suddenly getting asked (for a > man-in-the-middle attack) one of the security questions. > Notes: if you refuse to accept cookies, you get asked the security > question, but it still works. The cookie does NOT substitute for > knowing the password. > Although it's hardly foolproof, especially if the user isn't paying > attention, it's different and it involves the user a bit more, so I > think it's going to be more effective. > Gordon L. Burditt Our credit union started this option a few weeks ago, surprised me since there was no warning, I found a member newsletter that had said they were goin to start this. Also Walmart has it on their online Pharmacy site to get into your account. ------------------------------ From: B. Wright Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 21:51:11 UTC Organization: XMission Internet http://www.xmission.com Subject: Re: Are Major Banking Sites Insecure? Gordon Burditt wrote: >> Web pages that do not use this type of secure connection are >> vulnerable to a type of attack known as DNS (Domain Name System) >> spoofing, where attackers attempt to trick Web browsers into visiting >> bogus Web sites. > And if you don't read the certificates, you won't notice that you > expected to be connected to Chased Bank and you're really connected to > Henry's House of Hashish and Aftermarket Biological Weapons. You're right, most people don't pay attention to the certificate warnings and even if they did they wouldn't understand how to determine if it was a legitimate concern or not. I however, do. American Express always has an annoying SSL cert misconfiguration of some sort or other from time to time. I know they have these problems, however, still check them when they occur, however if it had been someone like, say, my mom, I'm sure she wouldn't have a clue. > Bank of America has an interesting setup to avoid spoofing and > man-in-the-middle attacks, and it involves the user a bit more. That's pretty interesting but it still doesn't do anything about any type of keylogging software that might be on the machine. This is one of the reasons I now will never use public computers while traveling or even friend's machines. I always explain to them that it's not that I don't trust them, I just don't trust what they may not know is running on their computer. So, I boot a known quantity (Knoppix Linux) and use that to do any banking. You would be amazed however at the number of ignorant internet cafe owners that are 1) "Confident" they have no viruses/trojans 2) so hard headed and ignorant they won't allow you to boot a live Linux CD (that's the point I walk out of the place and find somewhere else). Citibank UK (apparently not in the US, just checked their page) has implemented what seems to be, on the surface a good system for keyloggers. However, it is crap. They pop a java "keyboard" applet up, not only every time you enter your password to login, but EVERY time you do any type of transactions in your accounts once you are already logged on. They keyboard they present to you would be very visible to anyone standing over your shoulder and it is time consuming/cumbersome to enter your password. I have argued with them over this extensively that, this in and of itself, exposes you to someone "shoulder surfing" your password. They could do what my friend has told me Banco do Brasil is doing and randomize the keyboard along with making the letters very faint so they are hard to view from afar. There is another more complex attack that could probably be done against this Citibank UK "virtual keyboard", it wouldn't be hard for someone to map the mouse movements and determine what the password was by taking the letters on the furthest extremes, take a guess the first time, and if that doesn't work simply shift the mapping once or twice (this would depend on how closely grouped the letters in your password were, the further apart, the easier it would be to guess it quickly). Something else which, would likely (I am not sure about this) would be to attach a debugger to the JVM on the machine and simply grab the password through this method, after all, if they have compromised the machine locally they should be able to do this. Randomizing the keyboard would also solve, at least, the mouse movement mapping attack. As noted, the Citibank UK and US both do things differently for not only their banking sites, but also their credit card sites. The UK banking site uses a completely different login system, the UK credit card uses another, and the US banking/credit card system seem to use a common one. How is that for consistency, even with the same company?! This is a big problem without an easy solution but maybe it could be mitigated by having banks adhere to a standard for online authentication processes rather than such a mixed bag. The sum of what could be agreed upon as secure would hopefully turn out to be much better than any of the half assed systems they're using today and if nothing else would only require "user training" as to what is "bad" and "good" once, most non technical people just can't deal with too much complexity when it comes to things like this and that is why they always click "OK" regardless. P.S. One thing I would love while travelling would be "revocable one time passwords" for sites like this. You request from a known safe computer, say, 10 one time use passwords/tokens, then take them with you. If they get lost/stolen you can immediately cancel/revoke these so they can't be used. This would at least allow you to use, relatively securely, an "unfriendly" computer in a situation where you have little choice. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Does DSL Speed Correlate With POTS Speed? From: Charles Gowder Organization: Your Company Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 12:49:38 GMT af877@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Harry Dodsworth) wrote in news:telecom25.149.5 @telecom-digest.org: Looking at those connections I'd say you are in the general middle of the results for 56k modems. DSL equipment is specifically designed to deliver data over copper and there is probably a plan to qualify your individual "loop" Charles Gowder cgowder@cox.net > I'm thinking of getting DSL. It is available in my area now with a > download speed of 3 Mb/s (to my number and neighbours). > However the best connection speed I can get over my phone line with a > 56k modem is 31.2 kb/s. With the same computer I was able to connect > to freenet at 48k over long distance from Toronto. > As my POTS line isn't the best, can I still get a good DSL connection? ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: Re: Does DSL Speed Correlate With POTS Speed? Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 17:18:39 -0400 Organization: UseNetServer.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Before you invest your money in DSL, I > would at least look at a cable modem. Cable is typically just a wee > bit faster, plus you get the flexibility of changing telcos if you > find a telco you like better. PAT] Since the original poster is in Ottawa, I'm guessing his cable provider is Rogers and his telco is Bell Canada. Those two companies have been offering practically identical speed/price packages, every move by one matched by the other and, historically, (IMNSHO) Bell's network has had a better reputation. Perhaps more importantly, not very long ago Rogers experienced a customer relations fiasco as a result of disconnecting the alleged highest-bandwidth customers in areas where they received performance complaints, despite protests by some of the disconnected users that they curtailed or even discon- tinued their internet use immediately after receiving a warning. Disconnecting users for allegedly violating undefinable bandwidth caps and other past faux pas earn Rogers dead last place on my list of potential providers and a "wee bit faster" connection isn't going to change that. It is also worth noting that, if the original poster decides to go DSL, he can choose from many comapnies offering different prices and options. For example, after paying Bell Sympatico $10/month modem rental fee for several years I bought my own and switched to Primus Canada, who charge about the same as Bell Sympatico minus the $10/month modem rental fee for the same connection speed; over two years later, I'm way ahead and satisfied with Primus. There are cheaper providers, and providers with more features (e.g. fixed IP address without paying for business-class service) if you want. Canadians looking for internet access can use http://www.canadianisp.com/ to find details of ISPs' offerings in their area. (NOTE: I am not in any way affiliated with that web site.) In theory, Canadian regulations permit you to mix and match telcos and DSL providers (as long as both wholesale the subscriber loop or the DSL infrastructure from Bell Canada), though I have yet to hear stories of this happeneing smoothly. Geoffrey Welsh Never leave until tomorrow what can wait until next week. ------------------------------ From: Koos van den Hout Subject: Re: Does DSL Speed Correlate With POTS Speed? Date: 23 Apr 2006 13:54:44 GMT Organization: http://idefix.net/~koos/ Harry Dodsworth wrote in : > I'm thinking of getting DSL. It is available in my area now with a > download speed of 3 Mb/s (to my number and neighbours). > However the best connection speed I can get over my phone line with a > 56k modem is 31.2 kb/s. With the same computer I was able to connect > to freenet at 48k over long distance from Toronto. > As my POTS line isn't the best, can I still get a good DSL connection? I had the same worries when I switched from a 2-wire leased line which had trouble staying at 33k6 after rainy days (56k requires special digital equipment at the ISP end of the line so I was limited to 33k6 and two leased-line modems) to ADSL (named 'mxstream by kpn' in those days). Either I was very lucky (the ADSL service was on a different pair which had ISDN with no bit-errors at all) or ADSL is affected in different ways than analog modems. I have monitored the ADSL stats for that line for years, using scripts you can find at http://idefix.net/~koos/speedtouchgraph/ if you happen to have a speedtouch home modem and perl. The 'maximum line rate' reported was always very high, around 7 megabit. The used line rate was ofcourse lower, limited to what the subscription said. This in a Dutch city with its high population density and short distances to exchanges. Koos van den Hout Camp Wireless, wireless Internet access at campsites| Koos van den Hout http://www.camp-wireless.org/ | http://idefix.net/~koos/ PGP keyid DSS/1024 0xF0D7C263 or RSA/1024 0xCA845CB5| Fax +31-30-2817051 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 18:30:50 -0600 From: Anthony Bellanga Am looking for a site where one can enter the AC and NNX and find out > what city the telephone number is located in. The US NPA-NXX lists, direct from Neustar NANPA (North American Numbering Plan Administration), can be found at: http://www.nanpa.com/reports/reports_cocodes.html and then click on "Central Office Code Utilized Reports", and then select the state and NPA you wish to find the NXX central office code for. There will be information as to the city and "default" telephone company that the NPA-NXX code is associated with. As for the telephone company, remember that there is also "thousands-blocks" sub-assignments, as well as portability, which isn't necessarily reflected in these lists. Neustar NANPA's Central Office Code data will include only United States jurisdictions, including DC, Alaska (907), Hawaii (808), Puerto Rico (787 and its 939 overlay), US Virgin Islands (340), Guam (671), the Northern Mariana Islands: Saipan, Tinian, Rota (670), and American Samoa (684). Canadian NPA-NXX lists can be found from the SAIC CNA (Canadian Numbering Administrtor)'s website, at: http://www.cnac.ca/mapcodes.htm Click on the area code region on the map of Canada, or the area code as indicated in the list of codes just below the map, and you'll get a larger list of all NXX central office codes and information as to the city and "default" assigned telephone company. Again, remember that with portability, the customer might have ported their number away from the "default" telephone company assigned. Those parts of the Caribbean which are a part of the NANP (North American Numbering Plan, Country Code +1) but outside of the United States (i.e., the Dominican Republic, and also the various "British" islands, such as Bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada, etc) assign their own NXX codes within their NANPA assigned NPAs. You might have to find individual websites maintained by the various island country's numbering assignment bodies for further details. However, Ray Chow (of Toronto ON Canada) maintains a "Local Calling Area" website, which can be a very useful resource for the entire NANP region, including those Caribbean areas part of the NANP but not part of the US: http://members.dandy.net/~czg/lca_index.php But also note: Ray has indicated in the Yahoo Group he created on local calling area issues, that he might need to move his website to another server/domain in the near future! Hope this helps! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 11:37:48 PDT From: Mr Joseph Singer Subject: Re: NPA - NNX On Fri, 21 Apr 2006 13:05:10 -0500 Jan Schmidt wrote: > Am looking for a site where one can enter the AC and NNX and find out > what city the telephone number is located in. Do you offer that > somewhere on your web site? One site to look at is telcodata.us There is also a lookup on dandy.net, but don't have that handy. Just checked it out if you go to http://google.com and type in the search box NXX it will tell you where that is e.g. NXX = 508-775 will get you a result of Hyannis, Massachusetts. NXX = 206-354 will show Seattle, Washington NXX = 207-549 will show North Whitefield, Maine. Oh, and BTW NNX is likely not what you're looking for. NXX would be the format of area codes and central office codes. NXX means N= any number between 2 and 9 and X= any number i.e. 0 - 9 (including 1 and 0.) ------------------------------ Date: 22 Apr 2006 19:00:07 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Podcasting Not For Most People > When I first heard about sites like eBay and craigslist, I thought > they would suffer from much the same problem. If anyone can sell > their junk, these sites will presumably be filled mostly with junk. > I don't use these sites myself, so I still wonder how they've been so > successful despite this. They're very well organized. Google is filled with junk, too, but we don't care because we type in some search terms and we get a snapshot of just what we wanted. Ebay is set up the same way, with a nicely integrated subject tree and search system that lets you zero in on the stuff of interest quickly. If you don't find it, with another click or two you can tell it to rerun the search every day and send you mail if something turns up. (obTelecom coming up) I buy all sorts of exotic communication cards quite cheaply because I have a standing search for them and I'm usually the only bidder. To return to someone else's restaurant analogy, my ideal restaurant only has one thing on the menu, but it's exactly what I want. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Fred Atkinson Subject: Re: Number Portability: POTS, VoIP, and Cellular Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 15:28:03 -0400 > Some VoIP service is offered by companies that are information service > providers, not telecommunications carriers, such as Vonage. Since > they aren't telecom carriers, they generally don't interconnect > directly with the PSTN and don't get numbers directly from the > numbering administrator (or the pooling administrator). So Vonage et > al don't have numbers of their own in any rate centers. Instead, > Vonage et al. buy numbers from telecom carriers, presumably CLECs, who > obtain numbers from the numbering adminstrator (or the pooling > administrator) in various rate centers. If Vonage has a deal with a > CLEC such as Covad (just using Covad as an illustration; I don't know > whether they have such a deal) to get numbers in a particular rate > center, then numbers in that rate center would be portable to and from > Vonage via Covad; this should be true of wireline and wireless numbers > in that rate center. I recently ported my Vonage SC issued number over to Carolina Net. There was no problem with it. It now works fine on my Carolina Net provided router (on line 2). On the other hand, Voicepulse is fighting my porting request for my NC number. They say that because their policy is that you can't port your number away from them (unless you brought the number to them in the first place), that they don't have to release your number. In addition to that, they say that if they are forced by legal means to release your number, that their policy says that you have to pay them a fee for that release. I have a great deal of trouble understanding how their policy overrules FCC number portability regulations. I've got a complaint filed with the FCC. I never got a copy of the letter that the FCC sent to Voicepulse, but I did get a copy of Voicepulse's reply. They are saying that their policy makes them exempt from having to re-port my number. I haven't heard from the FCC on that yet. I emailed the FCC asking about the status of my complaint a few days ago. The reply was that they haven't read the reply from Voicepulse as yet. I've had problems with Voicepulse service. They seem unwilling to resolve them. The problems have included quality of transmission, some problems with my voicemail, my phone ringing one time and stopping at some odd hour of the morning (which they admit they were having a technical problem but it went on for quite some time before they got it resolved), and a general lack of interest in getting these problems fixed. I was awakened prematurely on a number of occasions because of this issue. One of my students is using Voicepulse at home. He called and left a message on my office voicemail and I couldn't even tell it was him because it was so garbled. I thought it was a wrong number until he said his name at the end of the message. When I spoke to him in person later, he confirmed that it was a Voicepulse call to my Verizon phone at the office. Basically, they are retaining customers because they won't release the numbers. I've got my number published in Verizon directory assistance here in the area. If I drop it, that number will simply be dead and people who are trying to reach me will not be able to. VOIP providers don't put up a 'the number you have reached ... has been changed to ...' recording when you cancel. What does that do to a business that is using their service and becomes dis-satisfied with the service [as I have been] and their numbers are published and their customers wouldn't know how to reach them? Put up with quality problems? Sheesh. Regards, Fred Atkinson ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 08:50:14 -0400 From: John Stahl Subject: Re: New Technology Will Force TV Ad Viewing On 20 April 2006, May Wong , contributed: > In this era of easy ad skipping with TiVo-like video recorders, could > television viewers one day be forced to watch commercials with a > system that prevents channel switching? > Yes, according to Royal Philips Electronics. A patent application with > the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says researchers of the > Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a > technology that could let broadcasters freeze a channel during a > commercial, so viewers wouldn't be able to avoid it.... > In this era of easy ad skipping with TiVo-like video recorders, could > television viewers one day be forced to watch commercials with a > system that prevents channel switching? > Yes, according to Royal Philips Electronics. A patent application with > the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office says researchers of the > Netherland-based consumer electronics company have created a > technology that could let broadcasters freeze a channel during a > commercial, so viewers wouldn't be able to avoid it. If all else fails to deter this newly patented "technology", one could turn off the TV set for 3-minutes (typical duration of commercials now days); or else, maybe do as many others do during those long commercials, go grab a bite to eat, read a book or even go to the WC (bathroom!) John Stahl Aljon Enterprises Telecom/Data Consultant ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #155 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Apr 24 12:50:32 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 3BF6815AD6; Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:50:32 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #156 Message-Id: <20060424165032.3BF6815AD6@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:50:32 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, HOT_NASTY,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP,NO_COST autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:50:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 156 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Retired Trucker Uses CB Radio to Help Others (Jason George) University of Texas Probes Computer Breach (Associated Press Nws Wire) Air Force One Subject of Internet Hoax (Ted Bridis) For MySpace, Making Friends Was Easy; Big Profit Is Tougher (Monty Solomon) Cellular-News for Monday 24th April 2006 (Cellular-News) Telecom Direct Daily Update - April 24, 2006 (Telecom Direct Daily Update) Re: MySpace Hires Child Safety Expert From Microsoft (masonboro_island) Re: Does DSL Speed Correlate With POTS Speed? (Harry Dodsworth) Re: Today's Last Loser: Another Spammer (Robert Bonomi) Telecommunications Alternatives For the Distributed Workforce (kimi) New Digest Sponsor Brings FREE Phone Calls and DA (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jason George Subject: Retired Trucker With CB Radio Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:05:22 -0500 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0604230404apr23,1,3297441.story?track=rss Retired trucker still in driver's seat With his CB, he helps steer big rigs down the right path By Jason George, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporter Dave Wischnowsky contributed to this report April 23, 2006 He's known as Penthouse 13, the Driver in the Sky and the Angel of I-57. Morning to night, he guides truckers around traffic accidents, road construction and weight-restricted bridges that could buckle under heavy freight. "Backing up bad at 3-3-7," his husky voice cautions all on the airwaves, referencing the highway mile marker. The lane-jamming Dan Ryan Expressway construction project that began this spring has made his advice to "avoid that Ryan" that much more helpful to out-of-town drivers. Mainstream America might have sent CB radios and eight-track copies of "Convoy" to its curbs decades ago, but the inexpensive devices have remained a trucking mainstay. And so, Earl Wieringa, who first crammed his 6-foot-5 frame behind the wheel of a truck in 1946, now sits behind the microphone on channel 19, calling out to every CB within 40 miles of Kankakee. From there, the 76-year-old retired truck driver uses his 13th-floor apartment -- hence the handles Penthouse 13 and Driver in the Sky -- to impart a lifetime of driving knowledge. "Drive careful. Be safe. And have a good trip," he ends the countless conversations he has during about seven hours per day in front of the dials. Leaning back from a large silver microphone that would've looked at home on the desk of Edward R. Murrow, Wieringa flashes a toothy grin before lighting up one of his Grand 100 filter cigarettes. "I love it," he says. So do the truckers. Wayne Reynolds, who hauls retail merchandise out of nearby Bradley, admits that even he, a local driver, has been saved a time or two by Penthouse 13's over-the-road omniscience. "The guy is knowledgeable," he said, taking a rest at a Monee truck-stop diner, mile marker 335. "There are a lot of people that have base stations around the country that will help you, but Penthouse is a retired trucker," Reynolds said. "He knows it all." Wieringa's one-bedroom apartment is sparsely decorated -- a few seashells on top of the small television, a Hooters poster that he swears was a gift from a niece. Back by the bay windows in his living room, his electronics spread resembles a Radio Shack. Connected to a suitcase-size CB unit sits his silver microphone. He has stacks of phone books and maps to assist the wayward driver. A flashlight, a strobe light and white Christmas lights that form a "13" in the windows all allow him to signal to truckers that he is more than just a voice in their cabs. "I've got a good view up here," he said, looking north. "I can see all the way to Mokena," about 30 miles. Born in 1929, Wieringa grew up in Chicago Heights, where his love affair with all things truck began. At 16, he drove his first one professionally, hauling garbage at the Olympia Fields Country Club. "We were making $1.10 an hour," he said. "Heck, in the '40s that was good." Two years later, Wieringa shipped out to the Pacific with the Army, where he remained until 1952, driving trucks and Jeeps. "Anything that had wheels or an engine I drove it," he said. After returning home, Wieringa eventually left Illinois and headed west to California, where he lived for 37 years. "In '63 everybody was out of work so I thought, `I like driving,'" he said. "So for 16 years I drove a bus" in metropolitan Los Angeles. In 2000, divorced and childless, Wieringa decided to move to Kankakee at the suggestion of his brother, Archie, who drove trucks there. Finally retired from decades in the driver's seat, Wieringa got a small CB unit and a window magnet antenna so he could talk to his brother, whose routes passed his apartment. "If I leant out on the edge, it could go a mile or a mile-and-a-half," he said of its weak signal. He has since upgraded in a serious way. His CB unit is now twice as big. And it's wired to 150 feet of coaxial cable that runs up to the roof, where a 17-foot antenna pole makes the signal as strong as a small radio station. "The antenna upstairs took me six months to get the OK," he said proudly. Gerry Kilbride, who manages Wieringa's independent-living building for residents 55 and older, admitted that at first the idea of the massive antenna made him raise an eyebrow, but after repeatedly listening to Wieringa's pleadings, it was impossible to deny the request. "He loves talking to these truckers," Kilbride said. Talking is about all Wieringa said he's prepared to do these days. "My driving days are over," he said, before confessing that he recently took a buddy's tractor-trailer for a brief spin. "It was fun," he said. Just the same, he's now happier steering drivers from the bar stool in his living room. "One time it was real icy and snowy, and they couldn't stay on the road," he recalled of an incident last winter. "The semis were sliding all over the place, and I guided about eight or 10 of them into the flea market parking lot" in Kankakee. He said that he never chitchats on the airwaves, believing that CB talk should be professional, G-rated and always as brief as possible. "If I can help them find things or let them know there's a tie-up, I like to help," he said. "I know what they're going to come up against." About 4:30 every afternoon, Wieringa drives his Crown Victoria about a mile down the road to his girlfriend's house for an hour or two. There she cooks him a hot meal. "And you can't refuse that," he said, laughing. Wieringa never strays far from his radio though. He has installed one in his car, and put another in his girlfriend's vehicle. When asked how she handles sharing him with the CB, Wieringa cracked a laugh that sounded like Waylon Jennings' and just shook his head. "She's a lovely woman," he said. jageorge@tribune.com Copyright 2006, Chicago Tribune 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: University of Texas Probes Computer Breach Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:08:18 -0500 University of Texas Probes Computer Breach Nearly 200,000 electronic records at the University of Texas at Austin's business school have been illegally accessed, the school said Sunday. It's the school's second major breach in three years. The university said it learned late Friday that some Social Security numbers and possibly biographical material of students, alumni, faculty and staff might have been accessed. The university has notified the state attorney general's office and established a call center and Web site for those whose records might have been breached. "Our effort has been to help people whose information may have been exposed," said university President William Powers Jr. Officials discovered that some records at the McCombs School of Business had been breached as early April 11. "We think the problem has been limited to McCombs," Powers said. "Since then, we've been working to make sure the entire system, not just McCombs, is secure." Last year, a former UT student received five years probation and was ordered to pay $170,000 in restitution for hacking into the school's computer system in 2003 and accessing almost 40,000 Social Security numbers. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headline news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Ted Bridis p Subject: Air Force One Subject of Internet Hoax Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:10:07 -0500 By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer A startling Internet video that shows someone spraying graffiti on President Bush's jet looked so authentic that the Air Force wasn't immediately certain whether the plane had been targeted. It was all a hoax. No one actually sprayed the slogan "Still Free" on the cowling of Air Force One. The pranksters responsible for the grainy, two-minute Web video - employed by a New York fashion company - revealed Friday how they pulled it off: a rented 747 in California painted to look almost exactly like Air Force One. "I wanted to do something culturally significant, wanted to create a real pop-culture moment," said Marc Ecko of Marc Ecko Enterprises. "It's this completely irreverent, over-the-top thing that could really never happen: this five-dollar can of paint putting a pimple on this Goliath." The video shows hooded graffiti artists climbing barbed-wire fences and sneaking past guards with dogs to approach the jumbo jet. They spray-paint a slogan associated with free expression. After the video began circulating on the Web on Tuesday, the Air Force checked to see whether the plane had been vandalized. "We're looking at it, too," said Lt. Col. Bruce Alexander, a spokesman for the Air Mobility Command's 89th Airlift Wing, which operates Air Force One. "It looks very real." Alexander later confirmed that no such spray-painting had occurred. Ecko acknowledged Friday that his company had rented a 747 cargo jet at San Bernardino's airport and covertly painted one side to look like Air Force One. Employees signed secrecy agreements and worked inside a giant hangar until the night the video was made. Ecko declined to say how much the stunt cost. "It's not cheap," he said. "You have to be rich." On the Net: Hoax video: http://www.stillfree.com Air Force One: http://public.andrews.amc.af.mil Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 21:51:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: For MySpace, Making Friends Was Easy; Big Profit Is Tougher By SAUL HANSELL The New York Times April 23, 2006 SANTA MONICA, Calif. ALMOST on a lark, Chris DeWolfe bought the Internet address MySpace.com in 2002, figuring that it might be useful someday. At first, he used the site to peddle a motorized contraption, made in China and called an E-scooter, for $99. Selling products online comes naturally to him. Having jumped into the Internet business in the early days, Mr. DeWolfe had become a master of the aggressive forms of online marketing, including e-mail messages and pop-up advertising. After the Internet bubble burst, he even built a site that let people download computer cursors in the form of waving flags; the trick was that they also downloaded software that would monitor their Internet movements and show them pop-up ads. Very quickly, however, Mr. DeWolfe's tactics for MySpace changed. He had noticed the popularity of Friendster, a rapidly growing Web site that let people communicate with their friends and meet the friends of their friends. What would happen, he wondered, if he combined this type of social networking with the sort of personal expression enabled by other sites for creating Web pages or online journals? He convinced the executives of eUniverse, the company that had bought his own marketing firm, ResponseBase, to back his plan. As soon as the site was reintroduced, in the summer of 2003, Mr. DeWolfe saw it grow quickly with little marketing. And although his scrappy backer was hungry for cash, he resisted pressure to flood MySpace with advertising and to turn all of its members into money. "Chris came from ResponseBase, and they knew all the direct marketing tactics to get money out of almost anything," said Brett C. Brewer, the former president of eUniverse, which was later renamed Intermix Media. "But I give him credit: from literally the first or second month, he realized MySpace could be something we really need to protect because user confidence in the site was paramount." Now MySpace has a new owner -- Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which bought MySpace and Intermix last year for $649 million -- and the pressure on Mr. DeWolfe to find a way to make much more money from MySpace is far greater. But the opportunity is greater, too. More than 70 million members have signed up -- more than twice as many as MySpace had when Mr. Murdoch agreed to buy it -- drawn by a simple format that lets users build their own profile pages and link to the pages of their friends. It has tapped into three passions of young people: expressing themselves, interacting with friends and consuming popular culture. MySpace now displays more pages each month than any other Web site except Yahoo. More pages, of course, means more room for ads. And, in theory, those ads can be narrowly focused on each member's personal passions, which they conveniently display on their profiles. As an added bonus for advertisers, the music, photos and video clips that members place on their profiles constitutes a real-time barometer of what is hot. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/23/business/yourmoney/23myspace.html?ex=1303444800&en=68344369c2b006ac&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Monday 24th April 2006 Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 07:38:10 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[Financial News]] Ericsson Profit Flat As Marconi Deal, Margins Weigh http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17073.php Ericsson, the world's largest supplier of mobile-phone network equipment, reported flat profit Friday due to the recent purchase of Marconi and receding margins. ... ANALYSIS: Telefónica's investment in Telecom not all it seems http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17080.php Spain's Telefonica recently announced plans to invest US$670mn in its new property, Colombia Telecomunicaciones (Telecom). But upon closer examination, the investment may not be all that it seems. In fact, technically there may be no foreign fina... Tricom plans to invest US$31mn this year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17082.php Dominican Republic telco, Tricom plans to invest 1bn pesos (US$31mn) on expansion and quality improvement works this year, local press reported. ... Vodafone Eying a Return to Landline Telecoms http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17086.php Media reports over the weekend suggest that Vodafone is preparing to drop its cellular-only policy and move into the landline market, offering triple play services. The UK based Telegraph newspaper, citing an unnamed Vodafone executive said that the ... SFR Reports Steady Revenues Growth http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17090.php The French mobile network, SFR - a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal reported that Q1 2006 revenues grew by 3.4% (by 2.9% on a comparable basis) to US$2.6 billion. The favorable effects of the increase in customer base along with the growth in "voice" ... [[Handsets News]] Second Hand Phones for Iraq http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17092.php The UK's Labour Union body, the TUC launched an appeal last week for unions and their members to pass on their used mobile phones to the Iraqi trade union movement as an act of 'second-hand solidarity'. On of the requests from unions representing wor... [[Legal News]] Watchdog says MegaFon unit should abolish discriminatory tariffs http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17075.php A branch of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) in Russia's constituent republic of Kabardino-Balkaria has ruled that Mobicom-Kavkaz, a subsidiary of Russia?s third largest mobile operator MegaFon, should abolish discriminatory tariffs, the FAS sa... Russian police arrest suspect in illegal cell phone imports http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17078.php An investigating committee of the Russian Interior Ministry has arrested a suspect who was allegedly involved in illegal imports of mobile handsets, the committee said in a press release Friday. ... [[Mobile Content News]] Vodafone Offers Mobile TV in Italy http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17091.php The Italian TV Broadcaster, Mediaset and Vodafone Italia have signed an agreement designed to accelerate and boost the technology and commercial rollout of mobile terrestrial digital TV using DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld) technology in I... [[Network Operators News]] Third Network Set To Launch in September http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17083.php Azerbaijan's newest GSM network operator, Azerphone says that it expects to start offering commercial services in September this year. The Minister of Communication and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov said that Azerphone is current building its ... New HQ For Caribbean Digicel http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17085.php In the week of celebrating its fifth anniversary, the Caribbean based Digicel, has recorded a growth rate of 69% and laid plans to build a new headquarters in Kingston for its Jamaican staff base of 1,000. It was five years ago this week that Digicel... Slovenian Network Buys Rival http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17087.php Mobilkom Austria Slovenian subsidiary Si.Mobil has paid US$26 million to buy struggling rival GSM operator, Vega. Si.mobil reached an agreement with Western Wireless International, the owner of Vega, which is going to exit Slovenian market. Si.mobil ... Phone Services Shut-Down in Nepal Again http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17094.php Yet again, mobile phone services in Nepal have been cut by the Royalist government. The mobile services in the Kathmandu valley from Nepal Telecom (NT) and Mero Mobile, along with the CDMA limited mobility service from United Telecom Ltd (UTL) have a... [[Personnel News]] Sprint Nextel To Pay Its Directors $70,000/Year Retainer Fee http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17074.php Sprint Nextel Corp. disclosed Friday that all of its directors will receive an annual retainer fee of $70,000. ... [[Regulatory News]] Sprint Nextel, Walt Disney Agree On Spectrum Relocation http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17071.php Sprint Nextel and Walt Disney's ABC Owned Television Stations Group agreed to relocate spectrum use, allowing Sprint to offer commercial mobile radio services over a portion of the 2-gigahertz band. ... Chile's Smartom Wins Telefonica Moviles Spectrum Auction http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17072.php Chilean mobile telecommunications provider Smartcom won the auction of mobile spectrum offered by the Chilean unit of mobile telephony company Telefonica Moviles, a Moviles Chile spokesman said Thursday. ... Nextel asks govt to keep close eye on Telmex http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17076.php Trunking service provider Nextel del Peru has asked Peru's government to closely supervise competitor Telmex as it develops its concession for fixed wireless local loop service in Lima and Callao, newspaper El Peruano reported. ... Ministry to outsource mobile service quality monitoring http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17077.php Colombia's communications ministry plans to outsource the supervision and monitoring of the service quality provided by the country's mobile operators, newspaper La Republica reported. ... Analyst: Transparency, quick decision making crucial for Cofetel http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17079.php Following a recent reshuffle at Mexico's telecoms regulator Cofetel, it is crucial for the new officials to bring transparency and quick decision making to the entity if the industry is to see significant competitiveness improvements, indu! stry anal... Govt halts WiMax auctions to review fees, bandwidth http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17081.php Colombia's communications ministry has suspended auctions of department-level WiMax spectrum to reevaluate licensing technical details, newspaper La Republica reported. ... [[Reports News]] Cellphones Cited In Car Accident Survey http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17084.php Driver inattention is the leading factor in most crashes and near-crashes, according to a landmark research report released today by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). Nea... Smartphones Pose a Security Challenge to Enterprise Network Managers http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17089.php Smartphones and other high-end wireless devices now enabling the enterprise mobility revolution may pose significant security risks for enterprise telecom and IT departments that don't take adequate measures to protect network resources, according to... Home and Mobile Network Convergence the 'New Frontier' for the Digital Home http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17093.php While much new technology for the connected home in recent years was intended to connect consumer entertainment devices to the home network, ABI Research believes the next frontier is the merger of the digital home network with mobile devices. Today ... [[Technology News]] Nokia Teams Up With MIT http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17088.php Nokia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has announced the opening of the Nokia Research Center Cambridge. The joint research facility, a collaboration between Nokia Research Center and MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intellige... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:17:09 -0400 From: Telecomdirect_Daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Monday, April 24, 2006 ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For April 24, 2006 ******************************** Newport Snares 21CN Exec http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17637?11228 Session border controller vendor Newport Networks Ltd. scored something of an appointment coup this morning by announcing Alan Nunn, formerly the chief voice architect for BT Group plc's 21CN project, as its CTO. Nunn was with BT for 19 years, and spent the past three to four years working alongside CTO Matt Bross on the voice... Examining Customer Loyalty in Mobile http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17636?11228 Can improved customer loyalty efforts increase revenue for mobile operators? For the small independents and new MVNOs, the answer absolutely is "yes." For large mobile operators, though, managing customer information and call volume is challenge enough, making personalized care a nice idea but difficult to achieve. Whether this will... Meshing Things Up http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17634?11228 The emergence of wireless mesh technologies as a potential low-cost alternative to more traditional, but pricier wireless networks, and their appeal as a possible component of the quadruple play of video, voice, data and wireless services, is driving a host of new players--from cable operators and equipment manufacturers to municipal... Transistor Laser Research Moves Forward http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17631?11228 Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign say they are closer to commercializing the room temperature transistor laser they unveiled last year. The team recently coaxed the device to reveal its fundamental properties, helping them to better understand its functionality and potential uses. When they announced their... Netherlands: Versatel, Tele2 to Review Merger Details http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17630?11228 Dutch alternative telco Versatel has announced a review of the original merger conditions with pan-European alternative telco Tele2, after minority shareholders won a court ruling last month against plans to give them a proportionate stake in the merged company. Tele2 bought over 80% of Versatel last July and planned to gain 100% control... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: masonboro_island@yahoo.com Subject: Re: MySpace Hires Child Safety Expert From Microsoft Date: 23 Apr 2006 15:11:02 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com That's an interesting idea. Wouldn't people just give fake numbers though? I went to the website but I'm not completely sure how it works. When you sign up the site calls the number you provided? I'm at least happy that social networking sites are acknowledging the problem and that places like NCMEC are providing services where people can report child exploitation. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Another site where child exploitation is dealt with in an unusual -- almost vigilate way -- is http://perverted-justice.com PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 04:03:50 GMT From: af877@freenet.carleton.ca (Harry Dodsworth) Subject: Re: Does DSL Speed Correlate With POTS Speed? Organization: National Capital Freenet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Many thanks to those who answered my question, which was essentially, > Will I get a good DSL connection when I only connect at 31.2kb on POTS". The consensus of the answers was "Probably!" As Geoffrey Walsh wrote about the financial side, I will comment on that. I'm not anxious to get cable service from Rogers. Partly because I still remember their negative option billing fiasco (they increased rates for supplying extra TV channels unless you opted out). Partly because of local dissatisfaction with their unilateral bandwidth capping and the dropping of newsgroups. Mainly because I don't have cable TV, so I either have to add that or pay a surcharge for cable internet without TV. However I am a Bell Canada customer. Apparently all DSL service in Ottawa is provided by Bell Nexxia. This is wholesaled off to various ISPs who sell it as part of various plans. Bell Sympatico, the ISP branch of Bell, include 24/7 help desk, MSN, and various features and rent modems. Freenet, a non-profit community ISP, sells DSL at a lower markup but with fewer features. Troubleshooting is done by volunteers or through online discussion groups (I've lived with that for 12 years on dialup). Static IP service is available for a small surcharge. Users may supply their own DSL modems. However Freenet sell the Speedtouch 516 (for single port ethernet) or Speedtouch 585 (4 ports + wireless). The advantage of these is that they are supplied configured for Freenet, and the volunteers are familiar with them if there are problems. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Today's Last Loser: Another Spammer Date: Apr 18, 2006 7:43 PM Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Mike wrote: > Spammer strikes again... > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: mgriffinb@you-have-won.net < > mgriffinb@you-have-won.net> > Date: Apr 6, 2006 8:47 AM > Subject: XXXX XXXXX, please call > Mike, > Please call us at 1-866-677-4100. We previously tried to contact you > at 1-248-XXX-XXXX, but were unable to reach you. This is reference to > an entry form you filled out, either on-line or at a major mall or > movie theater. > We actually have some decent news in regards to the Grand Getaways and > Ford Explorer contest. We have an address, claim number, and further > details for you. Since all prizes are well over $500, we will need a > few moments of your time to cover all related lottery-type information > from procuring your prizes due to any tax issues on them. > Sincere congratulations! > Verification Center > P.S. For your convenience, we are available 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM Central > Standard Time, Monday to Friday > 68.61.169.153 Jan 30 2006 12:45PM > Please follow url below to stop further emails > http://www.you-have-won.net/cgi-bin/frame1.cgi?email=XXXXXXXXXXXXX.com > Sender: > Verification Center > 105 South River Rd > North Aurora, IL, 60542 > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I can only presume that Mr. Bonomi (the > author of the note before this last one) places _me_ and this Digest > in the same category as the 'Verification Center' above since _these_ > are the sort of things which AOL would require to pay their own way. > PAT] Ah, but the real question is: *WHO*decides* whether you are, or are not, in the same category? And what the 'definition' of that category is. I'm quite sure that if that 'verification center' was making the determinations, that they *would* put themselves in the "wouldn't have to pay" class, while it is unpredictable how they would classify Telecom Digest. It is also an undeniable fact that some of the mailings originating from the Digest moderator are *indistinguishable* from what the 'evil spammers' send out. If AOL, for example, looked at one or more of those instances where the esteemed moderator decided to 'share the wealth' of his incoming spam, by sending it on to *all* the Digest subscriber mailboxes, it _would_ be very reasonable to classify the sender as a 'spammer'. *NOBODY* signed up to the Digest with the expectation that the moderator would _deliberately_ _and_intentionally_ send them 'lotto', 'Nigeria 419', bank/ebay 'phishing', and other scam messages -- but he =does=. Note, given that neither the original line-item ("E-mail, should the sender pay?"), nor our esteemed moderator's impassionedly affirmative 'answer' to that question made any reference to AOL or its policies -- *nor* did my query regarding his answer -- it is hard to imagine how any rational person would/ could conclude that I was using AOL's categorization rules as the basis for my query. BTW, I *DO* have issues with the concept of "sender pays the receiving ISP to bypass all spam-filtering, regardless of the user's wishes". Some are of a practical nature, some are philosophical. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The answer to your question is that the the present-day 'authorities' (who intend to make the decision on pay to send mail or not) are the AOL people; they have said that when _taken in context_ over a long period of time (_NOT_ message by message but the entire contents of a Digest -- several individual 'messages') this Digest and other established Usenet-style publications do not qualify as and will not be counted as 'spam'. Context is the all-important factor; not any one single message out of the thousands which go out. If YOU honestly believe that taken in context over the quarter-century this Digest has been published that it amounts to 'spam' and is no different than the tons of crap which come out daily on no set publishing schedule, etc, then God Bless You. I guess I will qualify as spam in your estimation. Yes, there could be a change in the authorities; yes, the new authorities could take a different approach to what is what; we will have to deal with it when that time comes, if it ever does. Furthermore, you read this Digest in one of two ways only: Either you subscribe and ask to read it (and I can document your 'asking' to receive it if you are a subscriber) or you read it via a public mailbox (Usenet) in the same way. You do _not_ recieve this Digest in some sort of shady way, where it just shows up in your mailbox each day with no documentation. That (documentation of your desire to receive it) and/or the overall context of the publication demonstrates it is not spam/scam. For everyone that is, except very possibly you, and what I can do for you if you wish, (and I may anyway for the hell of it) is dummy up my Usenet headers to always say 'seen-by' r-bonomi.com so Usenet will never give it to you again (!smile) and purge my mailing lists of any reference to your name and domain. That should resolve any issues you may have, or might possibly arise in your decision-making processes about how to detirmine spam/scam (or not). PAT] ------------------------------ From: kimi Subject: Telecommunications Alternatives For The Distributed Workforce Date: 24 Apr 2006 07:07:24 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Telecommunications Alternatives For The Distributed Workforce (March 2006) Introduction,Distributed Workforce,Virtual Organization,Field Offices for Larger Concerns,Virtual PBX,Case Study-Centract,Knowledge Worker Impact Quotient,Conclusions http://www.freewebs.com/virtual-pbx/ ------------------------------ Subject: New Digest Sponsor Brings FREE Phone Calls and DA Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:42:51 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) A new sponsor for the Digest are the people who provide _free_ directory assistance in exchange for you listening to one or more ten second audio commercial messages. I say 'one or more' since you get one commercial message played to you in exchange for a free directory assistance listing. After hearing the message, and receiving the requested number, if you stay on the line and listen to a _second_ message of equal length (another ten-second blurb) then the call is completed for you at no additional charge. At the present time, there is no limit on teh length of the call, which means you first dial in on their toll-free 800 number, listen to the message, pass the request, receive the information, _then remain on the line_ hear a second message, and your call is completed at no charge. I am not positive, but I think the outgoing call is completed via VOIP; there is no way they could give out 'more expensive' calls (via landline) in this program. A special promotion for readers of the Digest: To show you how it works, and how simple it is, for the indefinite future you can make calls _directly from this web site_. You need to have either a computer audio card (i.e. Skype software installed) -or- you need to have a landline phone nearby for your convenience. For example, I have a phone and a headset right here on my desk next to the copmputer. You go to http://telecom-digest.org and look in the far right-hand column where the advertisers/sponsors are listed. Look at the item marked 'no cost 411' and you will see two 'hot links' as part of the message, one marked 'more information', the other marked to 'make a call'. Click on 'make a call' and a pop-up window will appear asking you to fill in the phone number you wish to be called back on. Fill it in, and hit the 'GO' button. Your nearby phone (or VOIP phone attached to the computer) will ring instantly. Pick it up or turn it on. You will hear chimes and the 'free 411 metro' announcement. Respond to the robot as requested ('business or personal listing?';'what city and state?' and 'what listing?')You may be asked to 'hold for an operator' if the robot does not know what to do. After the human operator (or the 'bot) gives the desired number and exits the line, just stay put ... in two or three seconds (after a pause to see if you are going to hang up or not) another ten second advertising message is played out, and the number you were calling begins to ring. Talk as long as you wish, hang up when you are finished with the call. No charge! The first part of this (give your phone number, get a call back and such) is only needed because you are using a 'direct line' (i.e. java script) connection to infreeda.com. You can leave that part out if you dial direct from your own phone 1-800-411-METRO. If you press the second button (more information) or the 'Thinking Voice' logo at the botton of the first button then you will get information on how to install one of these 'direct connect' buttons for your own web site. As it is configured, the 'direct connect' button rings back to the number you gave it and you are speaking to http://infreeda.com . Here is the script used to implement all this: (everything between the XMP (example) and /XMP (/example) marks) <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>Untitled Document</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> </head> <body> <img src="GIF/TELECOM-banner.jpg" width="150" height="117" border="0" usemap="#Map"> <map name="Map"> <area shape="rect" coords="1,91,74,116" href="http://call.thinkingvoice.com/callback/default.aspx?cardID=63d1f7b0a7c0423789e7f40f60381942" target="_new"> <area shape="rect" coords="73,91,149,116" href="http://www.411metro.com" target="_blank"> </map> </body> Now if you want to have a 'phone booth' sort of thing for your web site users, just copy the above. You will need to copy the 'TELECOM-banner.jpg' over to your own directory somewhere where your script can find it. Of course, do not let this fancy 'call from a web page' thing keep you from programming your own phone dialer with 1-800-411-METRO (6387) or getting one of the intercept devices Mike Sandman sells through his catalog http://www.sandman.com especially if you have a large number of users calling '411' on your money. (Hook Mike's interceptor devices at the head of your PBX, etc so they will catch all the outbound traffic to 411. Enjoy! Patrick Townson ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #156 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue Apr 25 13:21:31 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 8030C15AFC; Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:21:30 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #157 Message-Id: <20060425172130.8030C15AFC@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:21:30 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, BODY_ENHANCEMENT2,HOT_NASTY,NORMAL_HTTP_TO_IP,NO_COST autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:25:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 157 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson New Digest Sponsor Brings FREE Phone Calls and DA (TELECOM Digest Editor) 'Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006' (Monty Solomon) Amazon.com Subsidiary to Sell TV DVDs (Monty Solomon) PBS/Sony High Definition Production Pilot Program (Monty Solomon) Annapolis Wireless Launches Free Public WiFi in Annapolis (Monty Solomon) Major Networks Select CustomFlix for DVD Distribution on (Monty Solomon) Amazon.com and CustomFlix Launch the Media Gateway Program; (Monty Solomon) CustomFlix to Support HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and WMV HD (Monty Solomon) Verizon's Aggressive New Spam Filter Causing Problems (Monty Solomon) 5- vrs. 7-digit Dialing (Neal McLain) Telecom Direct Daily News - April 25, 2006 (Telecom Direct Daily News) Blackstone to Buy 4.5% of Deutsche Telekom (USTelecom dailyLead) Cellular-News for Tuesday 25th April 2006 (Cellular-News) Re: Texas Community College Bans MySpace.com (Charles Newman) Re: Today's Last Loser: Another Spammer (Robert Bonomi) Response Re: Today's Last Loser: Another Spammer (TELECOM Digest Editor) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: New Digest Sponsor Brings FREE Phone Calls and DA Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 09:42:51 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) A new sponsor for the Digest are the people who provide _free_ directory assistance in exchange for you listening to one or more ten second audio commercial messages. I say 'one or more' since you get one commercial message played to you in exchange for a free directory assistance listing. After hearing the message, and receiving the requested number, if you stay on the line and listen to a _second_ message of equal length (another ten-second blurb) then the call is completed for you at no additional charge. At the present time, there is no limit on teh length of the call, which means you first dial in on their toll-free 800 number, listen to the message, pass the request, receive the information, _then remain on the line_ hear a second message, and your call is completed at no charge. I am not positive, but I think the outgoing call is completed via VOIP; there is no way they could give out 'more expensive' calls (via landline) in this program. A special promotion for readers of the Digest: To show you how it works, and how simple it is, for the indefinite future you can make calls _directly from this web site_. You need to have either a computer audio card (i.e. Skype software installed) -or- you need to have a landline phone nearby for your convenience. For example, I have a phone and a headset right here on my desk next to the copmputer. You go to http://telecom-digest.org and look in the far right-hand column where the advertisers/sponsors are listed. Look at the item marked 'no cost 411' and you will see two 'hot links' as part of the message, one marked 'more information', the other marked to 'make a call'. Click on 'make a call' and a pop-up window will appear asking you to fill in the phone number you wish to be called back on. Fill it in, and hit the 'GO' button. Your nearby phone (or VOIP phone attached to the computer) will ring instantly. Pick it up or turn it on. You will hear chimes and the 'free 411 metro' announcement. Respond to the robot as requested ('business or personal listing?';'what city and state?' and 'what listing?')You may be asked to 'hold for an operator' if the robot does not know what to do. After the human operator (or the 'bot) gives the desired number and exits the line, just stay put ... in two or three seconds (after a pause to see if you are going to hang up or not) another ten second advertising message is played out, and the number you were calling begins to ring. Talk as long as you wish, hang up when you are finished with the call. No charge! The first part of this (give your phone number, get a call back and such) is only needed because you are using a 'direct line' (i.e. java script) connection to infreeda.com. You can leave that part out if you dial direct from your own phone 1-800-411-METRO. If you press the second button (more information) or the 'Thinking Voice' logo at the botton of the first button then you will get information on how to install one of these 'direct connect' buttons for your own web site. As it is configured, the 'direct connect' button rings back to the number you gave it and you are speaking to http://infreeda.com . Here is the script used to implement all this: (everything between the XMP (example) and /XMP (/example) marks) <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <title>Untitled Document</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> </head> <body> <img src="GIF/TELECOM-banner.jpg" width="150" height="117" border="0" usemap="#Map"> <map name="Map"> <area shape="rect" coords="1,91,74,116" href="http://call.thinkingvoice.com/callback/default.aspx?cardID=63d1f7b0a7c0423789e7f40f60381942" target="_new"> <area shape="rect" coords="73,91,149,116" href="http://www.411metro.com" target="_blank"> </map> </body> Now if you want to have a 'phone booth' sort of thing for your web site users, just copy the above. You will need to copy the 'TELECOM-banner.jpg' over to your own directory somewhere where your script can find it. Of course, do not let this fancy 'call from a web page' thing keep you from programming your own phone dialer with 1-800-411-METRO (6387) or getting one of the intercept devices Mike Sandman sells through his catalog http://www.sandman.com especially if you have a large number of users calling '411' on your money. (Hook Mike's interceptor devices at the head of your PBX, etc so they will catch all the outbound traffic to 411. Enjoy! Patrick Townson ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:43:03 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: 'Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006' Passed out of Committee Unopposed - Apr 24, 2006 09:39 PM (BusinessWire) SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2006--Today, the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee held a policy hearing in Sacramento on Assembly Bill AB2987, "The Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006." The bill was passed out of committee unopposed and will now move to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for review. Authored by Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez, (D - Los Angeles), and co-authored by Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee Chair Lloyd Levine, (D - Van Nuys), AB2987 seeks to modernize an outdated regulatory process which serves as a barrier to video competition in California and replace it with a new, state-issued authorization. The goals of the new legislation are to encourage investment and new jobs in the state, and speed the availability of innovative video technologies and new choices for consumers. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57903726 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:44:54 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Amazon.com Subsidiary to Sell TV DVDs SEATTLE (AP) -- Amazon.com Inc. said Monday that its subsidiary, CustomFlix Labs Inc., has signed deals with television networks including NBC Universal that could let them sell DVDs of television shows soon after they air. The deals mark yet another offering for people looking to watch TV shows when they want rather than when they are televised. They initially call for CustomFlix to sell DVDs of archived shows with a niche audience, such as NBC's "Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show" and "Antiques Roadshow" from PBS. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57902827 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:52:22 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: PBS/Sony High Definition Production Pilot Program Three New Stations Sign on to PBS/Sony High Definition Production Pilot Program - Apr 24, 2006 04:14 PM (PR Newswire) 'The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer' to Become PBS' First Daily Series in HD WETA in Washington, D.C.; WQED in Pittsburgh and WYCC in Chicago are Latest to Make Transition to High Definition Production with Sony Broadcast Technology LAS VEGAS, April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NAB Booth SU107 -- The PBS/Sony High Definition Production Pilot is moving forward as three PBS member stations have confirmed plans for their transition to high definition program production. The cooperative program, which was created by Sony and PBS to cultivate high-definition television production by public television stations, will greatly enhance the HD services provided by public television -- including the production of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" in HD and the construction of a state-of-the art educational facility in Chicago. Three stations -- WETA in Washington, D.C.; WQED in Pittsburgh and WYCC in Chicago have recently confirmed that they are moving forward with their projects; KQED San Francisco contracted with Sony in December 2005 and is almost finished with their facility upgrade for high definition production. Each station is installing a range of Sony high-definition broadcast and production technology, including multi-format cameras, switchers, VTRs and displays. In addition to being a PBS member station, WETA is also the production home of the highly acclaimed series "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." For that program, WETA will be implementing Sony's new XDCAM(TM) HD system of optical camcorders to acquire material. For its full line-up of programming, WETA is installing several Sony products, including the HDC-1000 studio camera, which can handle both 1080i and 720P signals, an MVS-8000A multi-format production switcher and professional LCD and CRT displays. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57892956 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:55:25 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Annapolis Wireless Launches Free Public WiFi in Annapolis Annapolis to become first Maryland city offering free Internet access for everyone, using Nortel wireless mesh solution ANNAPOLIS, MD, April 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Annapolis is about to go wireless with a free public WiFi hotspot powered by Nortel(x)(NYSE/TSX: NT) wireless mesh technology. Local company Annapolis Wireless will hold its official wire cutting to mark the launch of WiFi service available to everyone on April 29, 2:30 pm in a public ceremony on City Dock at the Market House. The wire cutting ceremony is hosted by the Anne Arundel Tech Council, a non-profit membership organization for technology companies in the Anne Arundel County area. Nortel, which is working with Annapolis Wireless, is an event sponsor and wireless mesh technology provider for the system. SECU Credit Union, Maryland's largest credit union, is also an event sponsor. Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., Mayor Ellen Moyer and county officials will be on hand to celebrate the WiFi launch. The creation of a city-wide WiFi system marks Annapolis' entree into a technologically sophisticated group of cities. Cities such as Philadelphia, Houston and New Orleans also provide free WiFi access. But Annapolis' WiFi carries a distinct difference -- many other cities provide the access using taxpayer funds. Annapolis Wireless, by offering sponsorships and advertising to area businesses on its splash page, is able to provide WiFi access to the public without using taxpayer dollars. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57888317 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:03:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Major Networks Select CustomFlix for DVD Distribution Major Networks Select CustomFlix for DVD Distribution on Amazon.com; Programming from NBC Universal, A&E Home Video and PBS Now Available - Apr 24, 2006 09:00 AM (BusinessWire) LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2006--CustomFlix Labs, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of leading online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), today announced it has agreements with major television and cable networks, NBC Universal, A&E Home Video, and the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), to distribute popular broadcast content via DVD on Demand on the Amazon.com website. These agreements will make thousands of previously unavailable DVDs accessible to millions of Amazon customers. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57870249 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:05:56 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Amazon.com and CustomFlix Launch the Media Gateway Program; Program Digitizes and Unlocks the World's Video Media - Apr 24, 2006 09:00 AM (BusinessWire) LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2006--Leading online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and CustomFlix Labs, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., today announced the introduction of the Media Gateway program, a worldwide initiative to digitize and sell previously unavailable video content on Amazon.com. At the heart of the Media Gateway program is the CustomFlix Future-Proof Archive(TM) service, a secure storage and reformatting platform designed to provide content owners the flexibility to repurpose content into multiple future digital formats. The Future-Proof Archive service currently supports DVD-Video, with additional formats to be announced. The Media Gateway program enables content owners to unlock the hundreds of thousands of hours of content trapped in analog tape formats making it immediately available for sale as physical DVDs, and enabling the content for future inventory-free digital formats. For a limited time, CustomFlix will offer digitization and DVD authoring of qualified content with no up-front investment by the content provider. Amazon.com will then make this content available for sale to tens of millions of Amazon customers and CustomFlix will manufacture DVDs on demand as customers place orders. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57870024 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 00:08:08 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: CustomFlix to Support HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and WMV HD CustomFlix Announces On-Demand Solution to the High Definition DVD Format Wars; Amazon.com Subsidiary to Support HD-DVD, Blu-Ray and WMV HD - Apr 24, 2006 09:00 AM (BusinessWire) LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2006--CustomFlix Labs, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of leading online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), today announced upcoming support for all three of the industry's major high definition formats: HD-DVD, Blu-ray, and Windows Media Video High Definition DVD (WMV-HD DVD). This multi-format support is enabled by the CustomFlix Future-Proof Archive(TM) service, a proprietary storage and repurposing platform designed to allow deployment of digitized files in future formats, giving content providers the flexibility and convenience of distributing content in a format the customers choose. CustomFlix also announced that it has teamed up with HDNet to offer a wide range of programs in multiple HD formats on Amazon.com. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57870221 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 08:08:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon's Aggressive New Spam Filter Causing Problems Verizon's Aggressive New Spam Filter Causing Problems Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday April 24, @12:02PM http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/24/1538205 aviancarrier writes "Verizon DSL has turned on a very aggressive spam filter that is blocking lots of long-time legitimate emails. Emails get bounced with an error: 'XX@verizon.net: host relay.verizon.net[206.46.232.11] said: 550 Email from your Email Service Provider is currently blocked by Verizon Online's anti-spam system. The email "sender" or Email Service Provider may visit http://www.verizon.net/whitelist and request removal of the block.' That whitelist web page lets you request one address at a time to be whitelisted with no guarantee for their response time to process it. I have tested multiple email sources and only one got through. As a VZ customer, I just spent 28 minutes on a call to tech support, eventually got a supervisor who knows nothing about the new spam feature, and would only agree to email a manager who doesn't work weekends about it. I warned her that VZ has a public relations problem but she was too clueless to understand." Many users have submitted this problem so it seems to be a pretty far reaching problem. There is also a discussion going on over at Google about this problem. http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/24/1538205 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 05:17:41 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: 5- v. 7-digit Dialing Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > Many small towns required only four- or five-digit dialing locally > long after the "conversion" took place. By "long," I mean 10 or 15 > years or more. hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com responded: > A friend of mine reported is update NY state town worked like that. > But once they went to ESS it no longer worked. > I wonder if this still applies to sparsely populated places in say > Wyoming and the Dakotas where there is little population growth. You keep asking this same question, and I keep giving you the same answer: mandatory 7-, 10-, or 11-digit dialing applies to almost every ESS office in every state. (I say "almost" because there's probably an exception out there somewhere; I've just never heard of one.) You've stated that an ESS switch can accommodate 5-digit dialing, and I agree. However, as I've noted previously on this list, doing so makes it difficult to devise dialing plans to interconnect two or more switches without running into conflicts between local 5-digit numbers and nearby 7-digit numbers. Furthermore, it makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to add more NNXs as the community grows. Here are links to my previous posts on this subject: CARBONDALE, ILLINOIS, 1971 -- http://tinyurl.com/nd4m4 Carbondale is (or was) a simple situation -- it avoided conflicts by segregating functions on separate levels: - Levels 3, 7, and 9: local 5-digit numbers - Levels 4 and 5: repeatedly-absorbed ("AR") digits. - Levels 6 and 8: NNXs in nearby communities. - Level 2: unused. There were no absorbed-once ("A") digits. ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN -- http://tinyurl.com/jtg3f Prior to about 1953, Ann Arbor presented a similar situation -- it avoided conflicts by segregating functions on separate levels: - Levels 2, 3, and 5: local 5-digit numbers - Levels 6, 7, 8, and 9: local 4-digit numbers - Level 4: NNXs in nearby communities. There were no absorbed ("A" or "AR") digits. Around 1953, "AR" and "A" digits were added, and the situation became: - Levels 2, 3, and 5: local 5-digit numbers. - Level 6: repeatedly-absorbed ("AR") digit. - Level 8: absorbed-once ("A") digit -- see note below. - Level 4: NNXs to nearby communities. - Levels 7 and 9: unused. Note how the "A" digit 8 was used to resolve conflicts: - 668 (or just 8) followed by 6, 7, 8, or 9 was a local 5-digit number. - 668 (or just 8) followed by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 0 was absorbed and ignored. CENTERVILLE, IOWA, 1975 -- http://tinyurl.com/8axyn Centerville was an even more complicated situation: - Level 6: absorbed-once ("A") digit -- see note below. - Levels 5 and 8: repeatedly-absorbed ("AR") initial digits. - Level 4: NNXs to nearby communities (plus one located in Centerville itself). - Levels 2, 3, 7 and 9: unused. Note how the "A" digit 6 was used to resolve conflicts: - 856 (or just 6) followed by 2,3,6,8, or 9 was a local 5-digit number. - 856 (or just 6) followed by 5 was 658-XXXX in Cincinnati. - 856 (or just 6) followed by 1,4,7, or 0 was absorbed and ignored. So, you might ask, why didn't the telco just segregate all Centerville numbers on separate levels, like GTE did in Carbondale? - Because every dialing plan has to avoid conflicts between local 4- or 5-digit numbers and NNX codes in nearby communities reached by 7-digit dialing. - Because every dialing plan has to consider how the local dialing plans in nearby communities avoid conflicts between *their* local (4- or 5-digit) numbers and the NNX codes used by *their* nearby communities. - Because every NNX in an area code has to be unique. A telco can't pick an NNX just because it's convenient for the local dialing plan if it's already in use somewhere else in the area code. And ultimately, because all dialing plans within an area code form a continuous web of inter-community 7-digit dialing, each one of which has to avoid local conflicts. Have you followed all this? Or are your eyes glazed over by now? If you haven't followed it because it's too complicated, that's my point: it is complicated! It's amazing that traffic engineers back in the 50s and 60s were able to figure it all out. Even more amazing is the fact that they were able to implement it with electromechanical devices: Strowger switches and relays. The key to it all was the development of "A" and "AR" levels on the first selectors: A = The selector absorbs the specified digit once only; on the next digit, it "trunks on all levels." This digit must be dialed once (and only once) in order to reach certain specified second digits. However, it is absorbed (ignored) for any other second digit. AR = The selector absorbs the specified digit repeatedly unless a digit has been absorbed previously on a level designated "A". All this is discussed in detail in "Notes on Distance Dialing," Section 4, "Typical Trunking Diagrams for Step-by-Step Offices," published by AT&T Engineering and Network Services Department, Systems Planning Section, 1975. A PDF of Appendix A1 (the trunking diagram of a hypothetical SxS switch) is posted at http://annsgarden.com/Appendix_A1.pdf . Now fast forward a couple of decades, and replace all those old electromechanical switches with ESS switches. Can you program an ESS to emulate "A" and "AR" first selector levels in order to resolve the old conflicts? Sure. But what about new conflicts created by new NXXs (no longer called NNXs) that have appeared during those two decades? How do you resolve them? How, for example, would you add 895 to Centerville? If you follow the existing numbering plan, you would have to add it *after* the "A" and "AR" digits (similar to the way 437 was added). But doing that would create a conflict with existing numbers in the form 856-895X. The only way to avoid this conflict is to implement 7-digit dialing for 856 numbers. I trust this explains why 7-digit (if not 10- or 11-) dialing is now mandatory everywhere. Neal McLain ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 12:22:03 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Tuesday, April 25, 2006 ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For April 25, 2006 ******************************** New Holes in Buckets: Operators Add Services, Revenue Leaks http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17654?11228 WITH THE DISAPPEARANCE of UNE-P and the movement to wireless and VoIP, many smaller carriers and resellers are switching to new product lines and technologies, and entering a growth phase. This presents challenges to those responsible for revenue assurance as the expansion means more customers, more partners and more complexity in the... XO Unveils Broadband Wireless Strategy http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/17652?11228 Alternative service provider XO Communications has announced the launch of Nextlink, its new wireless broadband subsidiary. Nextlink has already launched commercially in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego, Tampa and Washington D.C., and plans to expand the presence of its network to over 70 major U.S. markets over the next two years.... VSNL to Invest US$300 mil. in Undersea Cable between India, Europe http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/17649?11228 India's top international telecoms provider, VSNL, is planning to invest more than US$300 million to roll out an undersea cable between India and Europe, the Press Trust of India reported yesterday (24 April), citing senior executives at the company. The report said that VSNL was implementing the project as it expects rising demand for... Cesky Telecom Earmarks US$6.6 mil. for Broadband Development in 2006 http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17646?11228 Czech fixed-line incumbent Cesky Telecom has earmarked 150 million koruna for the roll-out of its ADSL broadband services this year. Cesky's investment will be directed into building new interconnecting components in the network, so-called DSLAMs (which enable high-speed data transfer over traditional copper networks).... TeliaSonera's Net Profit Rises in 1st Quarter http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17643?11228 STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- TeliaSonera Corp., the Nordic region's largest telecommunications operator, reported a 20 percent rise in first-quarter net profit Tuesday driven by strong mobile and broadband growth. Net profit increased to 4.27 billion kronor (US$566 million) in the three-month period ending March 31, compared with 3.56... AT&T Earnings Rose 63.3 percent on AT&T-SBC Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17642?11228 NEW YORK -- AT&T Inc., on track to become the largest U.S. telephone company, Tuesday said its earnings rose 63.3 percent in the first quarter, the first period it reported combined results after SBC Communications Inc.'s acquisition of AT&T Corp. Net income was $1.445 billion, or 37 cents a share, for the January-March... The Perfect Cellular/VoWLAN Demand Storm http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17641?11228 A classic "pull" strategy is unfolding around enterprise cellular/voice over wireless LAN (VoWLAN) solutions, according to a new mobile-communications study issued by TelecomWeb's sister division InfoTech. Half of the U.S. enterprise decision-makers recently interviewed by InfoTech for its "Dual-Mode Cellular/VoWLAN Solutions:... Poll: Merging Is Surging http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17640?11228 Building up is the way to go, readers say. The latest Light Reading poll asked readers to pick the most profitable way to build a dominant telecom equipment company. Half of the 152 respondents so far believe one should buy a number of smaller, targeted companies. About one-fourth say that merging with a rival is the way to go. Read... DSLAM Market Has Reached Maturity http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17639?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- With Internet users needing faster connections for multimedia applications, the global market for DSLAMs will grow to 89.1 million ports by the end of 2010, up from 76 million in 2005, reports In-Stat. A combination of dial-up users moving to broadband and broadband users moving to higher-speed lines continues... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 13:18:17 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Blackstone to buy 4.5% of Deutsche Telekom USTelecom dailyLead April 24, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dvesfDtutcBfgxYodj TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Blackstone to buy 4.5% of Deutsche Telekom BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Networks bypass portals to offer Web video * AT&T works with Illinois town to offer high-speed services * Mobile video space about to get more crowded * XO to offer fixed-wireless service USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * NEW! IP-Based Services for Carriers and Suppliers HOT TOPICS * Level 3 snaps up ICG * Verizon launches FiOS in Plano, Texas * Motorola could go after Siemens' telecom business * A bandwidth glut no more * EarthLink taps Level 3 for VoIP TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Next-gen Wi-Fi equipment announced * Report: Video phones not being used for video * 3G Phoebus lets computer users connect to high-speed mobile networks REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Rural telecoms, Time Warner Cable clash over VoIP Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dvesfDtutcBfgxYodj ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Tuesday 25th April 2006 Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 07:34:49 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ Financial ]] Russia's MTS gets $1.33 billion syndicated loan http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17096.php Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has concluded an agreement with a number of banks to take out a syndicated loan of up to U.S. $1.33 billion, MTS said Monday. ... Tiscali Denies It Is In Talks For UK Unit Sale http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17097.php A spokeswoman for Italian Internet service provider Tiscali denied "categorically" Monday the company "is in talks with Vodafone Group or any other company for the sale of its U.K. unit." ... [[ Handsets ]] Return of the Payphone: Ultra Low Cost Handsets Getting Down to Business http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17101.php The GSM Association recently announced that its Emerging Markets Handset program is exceeding expectations: mobile operators in Bangladesh, China, India, and Russia have already purchased 12 million of its Ultra Low Cost Handsets (ULCH). But will the... BenQ Mobile Forging Ahead with Realignment of Model Range http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17102.php To accompany the publication of its figures for the first quarter of 2006, the Taiwanese BenQ Group is announcing a strategic handset initiative. Following the launch of 12 new mobile phones under the BenQ-Siemens brand since January, the company say... [[ Legal ]] IPOC Fund: Court Stops Alfa From Selling MegaFon Stake http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17095.php Bermuda-based IPOC International Growth Fund said Monday it has obtained an injunction from a St Petersburg court preventing Russian Alfa Group from selling its 25.1% stake in MegaFon. ... [[ Mobile Content ]] Mobile Video: Who's Watching? Who's Going to Watch? And Why? http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17104.php Watching video on mobile devices has a long way to go before it becomes a ubiquitous practice among mobile phone users, according to a new report published by The NPD Group. According to the report, while 28% of all mobile phones in use in February 2... [[ Network Contracts ]] Huawei Wins Turnkey GSM Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17099.php Oasis, the Congolese operation of Millicom International, has awarded Huawei a turnkey contract to provide a brand new GSM network. Under the first phase of the contract, Huawei will supply and install its Huawei EnerG GSM technical platform and depl... [[ Network Operators ]] Improved Roaming for Asia-Pacific http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17100.php Seven Asia-Pacific operators are forming an alliance to offer joint roaming and marketing services to customers. FET (Taiwan), Hutchison Essar (India), Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong and Macau), KT Freetel (South Korea), DoCoMo (Japan), Indo... Vodafone Japan moves HQ http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17103.php Vodafone K.K. says that it will move its headquarters from Atago in Minato Ward, Tokyo to Higashi-shimbashi, also in Minato Ward, to start operations at the new location progressively from 1 May 2006.... [[ Regulatory ]] Chechnya's deputy PM wants competition on mobile mkt http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17098.php The government of Russia's constituent republic of Chechnya wants to see competition between mobile operators in the republic, Ziyad Sabsabi, deputy prime minister of the republic, told a round table meeting on Monday. ... ------------------------------ From: Charles Newman Subject: Re: Texas Community College Bans MySpace.com Date: 24 Apr 2006 15:30:26 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Associated Press News Wire wrote: > Del Mar College students now have to use computers outside the > school's system if they want to visit the popular Web site > MySpace.com. > The community college has blocked the site in response to complaints > about sluggish Internet speed on campus computers. > An investigation found that heavy traffic at MySpace.com was eating up > too much bandwidth, said August Alfonso, the school's chief of > information and technology. Forty percent of daily Internet traffic at > the college involved the site, he said. > "This was more about us being able to offer Web-based instruction, and > MySpace.com was slowing everything down," President Carlos Garcia > said. > MySpace.com -- a social networking hub with more 72 million members -- > allow users to post searchable profiles that can include photos of > themselves and such details as where they live and what music they > like. > Paul Martinez, 20, is a frequent visitor to MySpace.com and finds the > site to be addictive. Restricting access to the site could be a good > idea, he said. > "The library is pretty much full with people on MySpace, and with them > banning it you won't have anything to distract you," he said. > Some though, disagree with Del Mar College's decision. > "We pay for school and the resources that are used," said Zeke Santos, > 20. "It's our choice, we're the ones paying for our classes. If we > pass or fail, it's up to us." > Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. And that can be circumvented using a proxy server outside the college. Just use an open proxy outside the college network and access MySpace that way. They will know that you went to the proxy, but where you went BEYOND that proxy, they will not know about. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Today's Last Loser: Another Spammer Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 22:19:28 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: > In article , Mike > wrote: >> Spammer strikes again... >> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- >> From: mgriffinb@you-have-won.net < >> mgriffinb@you-have-won.net> >> Date: Apr 6, 2006 8:47 AM >> Subject: XXXX XXXXX, please call >> Mike, >> Please call us at 1-866-677-4100. We previously tried to contact you >> at 1-248-XXX-XXXX, but were unable to reach you. This is reference to >> an entry form you filled out, either on-line or at a major mall or >> movie theater. >> We actually have some decent news in regards to the Grand Getaways and >> Ford Explorer contest. We have an address, claim number, and further >> details for you. Since all prizes are well over $500, we will need a >> few moments of your time to cover all related lottery-type information >> from procuring your prizes due to any tax issues on them. >> Sincere congratulations! >> Verification Center >> P.S. For your convenience, we are available 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM Central >> Standard Time, Monday to Friday >> 68.61.169.153 Jan 30 2006 12:45PM >> Please follow url below to stop further emails >> http://www.you-have-won.net/cgi-bin/frame1.cgi?email=XXXXXXXXXXXXX.com >> Sender: >> Verification Center >> 105 South River Rd >> North Aurora, IL, 60542 >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I can only presume that Mr. Bonomi (the >> author of the note before this last one) places _me_ and this Digest >> in the same category as the 'Verification Center' above since _these_ >> are the sort of things which AOL would require to pay their own way. >> PAT] > Ah, but the real question is: *WHO*decides* whether you are, or are > not, in the same category? And what the 'definition' of that category > is. > I'm quite sure that if that 'verification center' was making the > determinations, that they *would* put themselves in the "wouldn't > have to pay" class, while it is unpredictable how they would classify > Telecom Digest. > It is also an undeniable fact that some of the mailings originating > from the Digest moderator are *indistinguishable* from what the 'evil > spammers' send out. If AOL, for example, looked at one or more of > those instances where the esteemed moderator decided to 'share the > wealth' of his incoming spam, by sending it on to *all* the Digest > subscriber mailboxes, it _would_ be very reasonable to classify the > sender as a 'spammer'. *NOBODY* signed up to the Digest with the > expectation that the moderator would _deliberately_ > _and_intentionally_ send them 'lotto', 'Nigeria 419', bank/ebay > 'phishing', and other scam messages -- but he =does=. > Note, given that neither the original line-item ("E-mail, should the > sender pay?"), nor our esteemed moderator's impassionedly affirmative > 'answer' to that question made any reference to AOL or its policies -- > *nor* did my query regarding his answer -- it is hard to imagine how > any rational person would/ could conclude that I was using AOL's > categorization rules as the basis for my query. > BTW, I *DO* have issues with the concept of "sender pays the receiving > ISP to bypass all spam-filtering, regardless of the user's wishes". > Some are of a practical nature, some are philosophical. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The answer to your question is that the > the present-day 'authorities' (who intend to make the decision on > pay to send mail or not) are the AOL people; Which means it affects *only* AOL's customers. The TLA BFD applies. And the nice thing about it is it works _both_ways_. If AOL starts mucking with mail that AOL's customers _want_, and that mail gets delayed -- or even worse misrouted to a spam folder or deleted -- AOL's customers have the option of going to another provider. And it doesn't take much to make that happen. I consulted at a shop that did a paid-subscription electronic newsletter. "Something" about that newsletter, on occasion, caused AOL's mail-handling system to do strange things with it. Not every mailing, just 'once in a while'. Of course, _we_ got the calls, when the newsletter showed up 'unreadable'. The only answer we had, was "it's a problem in AOL's system, to eliminate it, we recommend you get an account at a different provider." Since the price of (and thus the 'value', to the subscriber) the newsletter was several times greater than the cost of the AOL subscription, this advice was usually taken. I'm pretty sure it wasn't 'spam filters' that were causing the problem, the mailings were going to a maximum of about 2 dozen AOL addresses at any time. > they have said that when _taken in context_ over a long period of > time (_NOT_ message by message but the entire contents of a Digest > -- several individual 'messages') this Digest and other established > Usenet-style publications do not qualify as and will not be counted > as 'spam'. Context is the all-important factor; not any one single > message out of the thousands which go out. If YOU honestly believe > that taken in context over the quarter-century this Digest has been > published that it amounts to 'spam' No, _I_ don't believe that the Digest, "taken as a whole" is spam, however, it is also a fact that the single largest source of advance-fee scams, make-money-fast scams, outright money-begging scams, etc. that _reaches_me_ is "telecom-digest.org", accounting for more than 40% of the total volume of such pollution that I encounter. If the esteemed moderator of the Digest just exercised a little more restraint, on behalf of those who _trust_ him, my spam load would decrease nearly in half. And thousands of other people would see a reduction -- although probably not to the same degree -- as well. > set publishing schedule, etc, then God Bless You. I guess I will qualify > as spam in your estimation. Yes, there could be a change in the > authorities; yes, the new authorities could take a different approach > to what is what; we will have to deal with it when that time comes, if > it ever does. Furthermore, you read this Digest in one of two ways > only: Either you subscribe and ask to read it (and I can document your > 'asking' to receive it if you are a subscriber) And just _where_ was it explained that this subscription included anatomy enlargement/enhancement solicitions requests for assistance in smuggling large amounts of money across international borders, phony international order-processing and money-laundering schemes, etc.? You hate them when they show up in your inbox coming from strangers. Have you ever thought about peoples reaction when that cr*p shows up _from_somebody_they_trust_?? The Digest subscribers trusted you to select _legitimate_ message traffic, and what do you do, when your frustration level runs over? You cr*p in the mailboxes of people who trusted you. It seems that you have as little respect for _their_ mailboxes, as spammers have for yours. > 'asking' to receive it if you are a subscriber) or you read it via a > public mailbox (Usenet) in the same way. You do _not_ recieve this > Digest in some sort of shady way, where it just shows up in your mailbox > each day with no documentation. Absolutely correct. People, myself included, *TRUSTED*YOU* to "do the right thing" and send _what_you_said_you_would_. When a 'trusted neighbor' cr*ps in your yard it is more offensive than finding a turd left by a stranger. The 'betrayal of trust' is a bigger problem, and has far more-long-lasting consequences. > That (documentation of your desire to receive it) and/or the overall > context of the publication demonstrates it is not spam/scam. For > everyone that is, except very possibly you, For people who have the time to do the 'research', that is. For someone who doesn't have the luxury of time, and has to make what amounts to a 'snap judgment',based on an 'unfortunate' and small sample of our esteemed moderator's selections -- they *can* draw an adverse conclusion. And, if you look at *only* what they had to work with, their decision is not indefensible. Given the 'right' sub-set of data, the hypothetical 'reasonable person' *could* come to that conclusion. Do I think they "should" do so? H*ll, no. Do I think such a conclusion is justified, or appropriate? H*ll, no. Do I think such a result is 'within the realm of possibility'? H*ll yes. Do I think the esteemed moderator could eliminate that possibility, by exercising a little more moderation? H*ll, yes! ------------------------------ Subject: Response Re: Today's Last Loser: Another Spammer Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 22:55:00 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message greatly truncated to save reading time, etc. >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I can only presume that >> Mr. Bonomi (the author of the note before this last one) >> places _me_ and this Digest in the same category as the >> 'Verification Center' above since _these_ are the sort of >> things which AOL would require to pay their own way. PAT] > Ah, but the real question is: *WHO*decides* whether you > are, or are >not, in the same category? And what the > 'definition' of that category >is. > >I'm quite sure that > if that 'verification center' was making the > determinations, that they *would* put themselves in the > "wouldn't >have to pay" class, while it is unpredictable > how they would classify >Telecom Digest. And this is where my questions/comments begin: > It is also an undeniable fact that some of the mailings originating > from the Digest moderator are *indistinguishable* from what the 'evil > spammers' send out. If AOL, for example, looked at one or more of > those instances where the esteemed moderator decided to 'share the > wealth' of his incoming spam, by sending it on to *all* the Digest > subscriber mailboxes, it _would_ be very reasonable to classify the > sender as a 'spammer'. *NOBODY* signed up to the Digest with the > expectation that the moderator would _deliberately_ > _and_intentionally_ send them 'lotto', 'Nigeria 419', bank/ebay > 'phishing', and other scam messages -- but he =does=. Anything resembling SPAM which is sent out from here is sent out only as illustration; I have never sent any 'stand alone on its own merits' spam for no other reason except to spam people. If you are receiving any lotto, Nigeria, bank/ebay, phishing' etc as a stand alone piece of email, regardless of who it says it is from, it is NOT from me. Is this the kind of spam you claim I am sending? Any illustrative spam sent under my name (and really is me) will come under the subject headers 'last laugh!' 'what a loser' or similar and will be intended to mock and castigate the true sender, whoever it is. There will be social commentary in the form of Editor's Notes will all of it. Is this the kind of spam you claim I am sending, or is it the first kind, stand alone, sent by someone who decided to pick up the indicia from a bonafide Digest and use it? > Note, given that neither the original line-item ("E-mail, > should the sender pay?"), nor our esteemed moderator's > impassionedly affirmative 'answer' to that question made any > reference to AOL or its policies -- *nor* did my query > regarding his answer -- it is hard to imagine how any > rational person would/ could conclude that I was using AOL's > categorization rules as the basis for my query. Because a rational person, _taking in context_ the original message a couple days earlier where AOL stated their intentions for handling mail and the replies which had followed it the next day (but still before your Epistle showed up would have probably concluded that the discussion was based on AOL's plans. > BTW, I *DO* have issues with the concept of "sender pays the > receiving ISP to bypass all spam-filtering, regardless of > the user's wishes". Some are of a practical nature, some > are philosophical. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The answer to your question > is that the the present-day 'authorities' (who intend to > make the decision on pay to send mail or not) are the AOL > people; Which means it affects *only* AOL's customers. The TLA BFD applies. And also, people who send email to AOL customers. And the nice thing about it is it works _both_ways_. If AOL starts mucking with mail that AOL's customers _want_, and that mail gets delayed -- or even worse misrouted to a spam folder or deleted -- AOL's customers have the option of going to another provider. Certainly they do, but what I am hearing (only me) is that the vast majority of AOL customers are quite pleased with the blessed relief given them in recent months since AOL started pushing so hard on the spam/scam. And it doesn't take much to make that happen. I consulted at a shop that did a paid-subscription electronic newsletter. "Something" about that newsletter, on occasion, caused AOL's mail-handling system to do strange things with it. Not every mailing, just 'once in a while'. Of course, _we_ got the calls, when the newsletter showed up 'unreadable'. The only answer we had, was "it's a problem in AOL's system, to eliminate it, we recommend you get an account at a different provider." Since the price of (and thus the 'value', to the subscriber) the newsletter was several times greater than the cost of the AOL subscription, this advice was usually taken. That is a big difference between what you were sending to AOL and what I send to AOL. The price/value of TELECOM Digest is practically zilch particularly when someone does not recieve it and writes me asking to please re-issue a certain copy to them; I just remail the missing copy. I'm pretty sure it wasn't 'spam filters' that were causing the problem, the mailings were going to a maximum of about 2 dozen AOL addresses at any time. > they have said that when __taken in context_ over a long > period of time (_NOT_ message by message but the entire > contents of a Digest -- several individual >'messages') this > Digest and other established Usenet-style publications do > not qualify as and will not be counted as 'spam'. Context is > the all-important factor; not any one single message out of > the thousands which go out. If YOU honestly believe that > taken in context over the quarter-century this Digest has > been published that it amounts to 'spam' No, _I_ don't believe that the Digest, "taken as a whole" is spam, however, it is also a fact that the single largest source of advance-fee scams, make-money-fast scams, outright money-begging scams, etc. that _reaches_me_ is "telecom-digest.org", accounting for more than 40% of the total volume of such pollution that I encounter. Then I will suggest that my name 'telecom-digest.org' is being forged by spammers/scammers; that is, assuming you are discussing stand-alone spams/scams and _not_ commentaries by myself using illustrative spam examples. And oh, yes, I know there are tons of that going around, even viruses being sent under the name telecom-digest.org. What do you really expect _me_ to do about it? If the esteemed moderator of the Digest just exercised a little more restraint, on behalf of those who _trust_ him, my spam load would decrease nearly in half. And thousands of other people would see a reduction -- although probably not to the same degree -- as well. Considering that maybe once every two weeks or so I see some individual item of spam/scam which is so ridiculous, so outrageous I feel compelled to comment on it -- and that is the ONLY spam/scam I will take any credit for at all -- what I have defined as 'illustrative spam/scam' then you must indeed have a very low volume of it if what I editorially send you amounts to 'nearly half' of what you recieve. (And YOU said that statistic earlier!) > set publishing schedule, etc, then God Bless You. I guess I > will qualify as spam in your estimation. Yes, there could be > a change in the authorities; yes, the new authorities could > take a different approach to what is what; we will have to > deal with it when that time comes, if it ever > does. Furthermore, you read this Digest in one of two ways > only: Either you subscribe and ask to read it (and I can > document your 'asking' to receive it if you are a subscriber) And just _where_ was it explained that this subscription included anatomy enlargement/enhancement solicitions requests for assistance in smuggling large amounts of money across international borders, phony international order-processing and money-laundering schemes, etc.? You see, right from this assertion of yours I can safely say that you are getting a lot of crap sent by whoever _using telecom-digest.org_ as the sender. Now you are subscribed to a social commentary newsletter in which some of those topics get discussed _very rarely_ and when they are used as _ilustrations_ of what comes through the phone numbers and email addresses are time and again 'exxed out' and made illegible. Or, occassionally toll free numbers are left intact for readers to 'play with'. I _NEVER_ print messages like this on their own merits. Never! Someone else must be sending them. You hate them when they show up in your inbox coming from strangers. Have you ever thought about peoples reaction when that cr*p shows up _from_somebody_they_trust_?? I assume that when penis enlargements, bank frauds, job scams, etc show up from someone I trust that the person I trust is not expecting me to place an order for same; that what they are really doing is trying to demonstrate what a _hell-hole_ internet has become in recent years, particularly now that the Enablers have essentially turned their back on the tactics used by these nefarious residents of our net. The Digest subscribers trusted you to select _legitimate_ message traffic, and what do you do, when your frustration level runs over? You cr*p in the mailboxes of people who trusted you. It seems that you have as little respect for _their_ mailboxes, as spammers have for yours. Oh, I hardly think that would be the case. When is the last time YOU received a TELECOM Digest with 150-200 spams/scams on a stand alone basis in an issue. I mean, I do not need an excuse, if that is what you are claiming. > 'asking' to receive it if you are a subscriber) or you read > it via a public mailbox (Usenet) in the same way. You do > _not_ recieve this Digest in some sort of shady way, where it > just shows up in your mailbox each day with no documentation. Absolutely correct. People, myself included, *TRUSTED*YOU* to "do the right thing" and send _what_you_said_you_would_. I send a social commentary newsletter dealing in large part with tele- communications matters. And that is what you get _from me_, a small part of which deals some days with the loads of crap send through by people I have never heard of, never wish to meet, and even wish they did not exist. When a 'trusted neighbor' cr*ps in your yard it is more offensive than finding a turd left by a stranger. This is true, but did your 'trusted neighbor' crap in your yard or did he merely point out the mounds of shit left by persons unknown and in effect point his finger at the Enablers in town who helped to make it possible? The 'betrayal of trust' is a bigger problem, and has far more-long-lasting consequences. Again, WHO did the crap versus WHO occassionally pointed out the crap in the hopes of maybe shaming the Enablers into helping to clean up the mess? > That (documentation of your desire to receive it) and/or the overall > context of the publication demonstrates it is not spam/scam. For > everyone that is, except very possibly you, For people who have the time to do the 'research', that is. For someone who doesn't have the luxury of time, and has to make what amounts to a 'snap judgement',based on an 'unfortunate' and small sample of our esteemed moderator's selections -- they *can* draw an adverse conclusion. And, if you look at *only* what they had to work with, their decision is not indefensible. Given the 'right' sub-set of data, the hypothetical 'reasonable person' *could* come to that conclusion. Do I think they "should" do so? H*ll, no. Do I think such a conclusion is justified, or appropriate? H*ll, no. Do I think such a result is 'within the realm of possibility'? H*ll yes. Do I think the esteemed moderator could eliminate that possibility, by exercising a little more moderation? H*ll, yes! You have not yet begun to see the huge, horrenendous piles of garbage which accumulate here each day. In the thirty minutes or so I have spent considering and composing this reply to you, I can tell you another 40-50 items have accumulated. With luck, they all fell into the spam bucket, but in real practice they fell partially into the real messages area, scattered far and wide, with subject titles so tricky many of them will have to receieve at least a cursory glance before being _manually_ eliminated. Are you suggesting that _I_ should have time to work on all that even though you do not? So, its a lack of moderation you want to see, is it? I have noticed a few things in common about Enablers: so many of you fuss and quarrel among yourselves as the 'correct' approach to take. Each of you feel that _your way_ is best; that the others know nothing or very little, and certainly simple-minded lay people like myself know absolutely nothing at all. None of these problems we face will ever get solved by one single solution. Many solutions and approaches will be needed. Most Enablers have a very high-and-mighty approach, and because most Enablers are relatively intelligent people -- but selfish -- they think of a variety of approaches which will mostly work for themselves and a few others, while leaving the majority of netters out in the cold entirely. Some Enablers go so far as to threaten punishment -- not for the insects they should be abateing, but for other netters who do not 'go along with them'. I have become convinced in recent months that it is not the fault of the spammers/scammers; they are just insects out to suck blood and get their food. The fault really lies with the Enablers who could make some changes on the net if they would only get off their high horses and work with others. Let's twist things around a bit just as you have attempted to do with me, your Esteemed Moderator. I could say if some of you Enablers gave a Good God Damn one way or the other about your Esteemed Moderator(s) -- I am sure there is more than just one -- then you would be working your asses off make our jobs at least a wee bit easier. And I don't think you do give a shit -- or an iota of a shit for that matter what happens to the people who try to organize the messages and maintain some semblance of order in these newsgroups. Because, to give a shit, it would behoove you to work along on other's suggestions on eliminating spam/scam. That would require getting off your high horse and listening and working with others. If you were talking about stand alone, stand on its own merits (or lack thereof) spam/scam then the answer would be to rebuild the net for the essence of un-spoofable (or mostly so) 'caller ID'. In any event, do not blame that on me. If you were talking about my commentaries on same, and the fact that you sometimes wind up getting your nose rubbed in a mess not of your own making, when it begins to happen less and less, I will talk about it less and less, and if one message every two weeks or so causes your spam count to go up 40 percent, then you really do have some virgin eyes. PAT ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #157 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Apr 26 00:37:43 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id E683F15062; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:37:42 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #158 Message-Id: <20060426043742.E683F15062@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:37:42 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:40:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 158 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson 60 Billion Emails Sent Daily (Louis Charbonneau) Prison Break Headed For Cell Phones (Natalie Finn) Television Stations Urged to Break a Few Rules (Stuart Elliott) Would You Trust This Man to Sell Superbowl Tickets on Internet (M Solomon) TiVo Dual Tuner TiVo Series2 DT DVR (Monty Solomon) Report: Fixed-Mobile Revenues to Reach $28b (USTelecom dailyLead) Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (Joshua Putnam) Re: 5- v. 7-digit Dialing (Lisa Hancock) Re: 866-849-3243 (Harold Cade) Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? (John Doe) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Louis Charbobbeau Subject: 60 Billion Emails Sent Daily Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:20:17 -0500 By Louis Charbonneau Internet users around the world send an estimated 60 billion emails every day and 80-85 percent of these are spam or scam attempts, business leaders said on Tuesday. Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Kai-Uwe Ricke said cyber criminals were growing more active and sophisticated, and the vast email traffic meant industry, government and Internet users had to be vigilant and work together. "This figure was new for me as well -- worldwide there are around 60 billion emails sent every day," Telekom Chief Executive Kai-Uwe Ricke told an Internet security conference. "A large percent of it -- 80 or 85 percent is spam or fraud; it has been as high as 90 percent in the USA, but not pesently," Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer added. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned of the recent growth in "phishing" -- fishing for passwords, often via fake emails that especially target online banking. "In 2005, the attempts at phishing (globally) dramatically increased, by 300 percent compared with the previous year," he said. "According to international estimates, phishing is successful with up to 5 percent of all Internet users." He said this success rate caused inestimable economic damage worldwide. Internet security firm Symantec Corp registered some 8 million phishing attempts last year. Germany's BKA federal crime office said this month it had shut a "phishing" ring of Germans and Lithuanians, sparing online banking customers millions of euros of potential losses. The BKA said the phishing ring obtained online banking customers' user names and passwords and other sensitive data from their victims' computers by means of a "Trojan horse," a self-circulating, virus-like program that spreads by email and sends data from the infiltrated computer back to the "phisher." Schaeuble said many Germans used no form of Internet protection, exposing themselves needlessly to phishing and other criminal attempts to infiltrate their computers. "One out of every four Germans is without anti-virus protection and more than half had no firewalls," he said. Ballmer said this situation was probably worse in the United States, but there were signs Internet users were becoming better educated about protecting themselves from cyber criminals. He said it was important for software developers like Microsoft to make their products as secure as possible. But he warned that improved security would require the combined efforts of authorities, the industry and users themselves. "The hackers out there are really are smart and getting smarter. We all have to run in front of them," Ballmer said, "basically, email is almost a totally useless tool these days because of the huge amount of fraud and spam circulating." To improve U.S. cyber security, Ballmer said Microsoft would launch an initiative next month in the United States modeled on a German program, "Germany Safe on the Net," set up a year ago by Telekom, Microsoft, the government and Internet-related firms to improve Internet safety. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html Other news headlines of interest are at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Natalie Finn Subject: Prison Break Headed For Cell Phones Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:22:10 -0500 "Prison Break" Heads to Cells By Natalie Finn Calling all cars, calling all cars -- Prison Break is making a run for your cell phones. Fox announced Monday that it will produce a series of two-minute mobisodes -- teeny TV episodes for mobile phones -- that complement the plot of the hit save-my-brother-or-bust drama Prison Break. The 26-installment serial, Prison Break: Proof of Innocence, introduces the character Amber McCall, who works feverishly to clear her friend L.J. -- son of the wrongly convicted Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Pursell) -- after L.J. is framed for murder. Webisode producers were allowed complete access to the show's location, filming many of the exterior shots at the deserted Illinois prison that stands in for Prison Break's Fox River State Penitentiary. Proof of Innocence will be available for free exclusively to Sprint customers for viewing on SprintTV's Fox station starting this week. In two weeks they will be available on http://Toyota.com. While this is not the first time Fox has answered the mobile phone call, having already given action fans their weekly dose of pocketsize drama with the first-ever scripted mobisode series, 24: Conspiracy, the upcoming Prison Break spinoff is the first of its kind to be supported by advertising. Toyota will air 10-second messages at the beginning of each mobisode and each segment will prominently feature Toyota vehicles, according to a joint statement made by the car manufacturer and Fox. The deal also hands Toyota the reins to create a Prison Break "microsite" on Fox's Website featuring behind-the-scenes video and Prison Break info and, of course, an extensive Toyota ad campaign. Although the financial specifics involved in the partnership weren't made public, media analysts are estimating the deal is worth around $10 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. "We're pleased by the overwhelming success of our mobisodes as a new way to engage and entertain consumers," said Mitch Feinman, VP of digital content for Fox Mobile Entertainment. "This is a prime example of how Fox can come together in a rich, cross platform campaign and reach the most desirable demographics in unique and custom ways," said John Trimble, senior VP of advertising sales for Fox Interactive Media. 24: Conspiracy's producer, Eric Young, will also oversee the new series. Complaints that the Conspiracy mobisodes were too short and that their lesser production values negatively affected 24's overall image -- although it was nominated for a special Emmy for portable programming -- led Fox to tweak the procedure for Prison Break. They doubled the installments' length, from one minute to two, and the TV show's producers have the final say over any plot twist in Proof of Innocence to avoid irritating any of the show's 9.3 million weekly devotees. Fox's news comes just as the National Association of Broadcasters announced that TV networks and local affiliates should share revenue from content shown on the new programming frontier -- iPods, laptops and cell phones. Additionally, three Hollywood unions announced today that they've reached a deal with Touchstone Television so that they can get rolling on making Lost Video Diaries, the mobisode offshoot of ABC's island mystery Lost. Copyright 2006 E! Online, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html Other news headlines and stories can be seen at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ From: Stuart Elliott Subject: Television Stations Urged to Break a Few Rules Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 20:23:56 -0500 By STUART ELLOTT THE expression "think outside the box" has been overused enough to become jargon. But for a few hours yesterday it was appropriate, as local television stations were urged to diversify beyond their boxes, i.e., TV sets, to remain relevant -- and profitable -- in the new digital age. "Conventional wisdom, it's an enemy at a time like this," said Beth Comstock, president for digital media and market development at NBC Universal, part of General Electric. "In media today, I don't think there is a single rule that can't -- and frankly, probably shouldn't -- be broken. "This isn't just about driving growth," she added. "It's about staying in business." Her call to action came at the annual marketing conference sponsored by the Television Bureau of Advertising, an organization that promotes broadcast TV as a medium. For the fifth year in a row, the conference was held during the New York International Auto Show at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, reflecting the status of automakers atop the list of America's largest marketers. For the first time, the conference was devoted to a single topic: the importance of the "multiplatform" -- that is, offering content and advertising not only on local broadcast stations but also online, on cellphones and other wireless devices, through video on demand and on video iPods. The sole topic was intended to underscore that "advertisers and their agencies are increasingly asking for -- make that demanding -- a multiplatform strategy from all their media partners," said Christopher Rohrs, president of the bureau, in a speech he gave to almost 1,200 attendees to begin the conference. To address that, Mr. Rohrs said, the bureau has selected a dozen members to serve on a committee devoted to multiple-media platforms, which plans to hold its first meeting today. The committee members include executives from ABC, CBS, Gannett Broadcasting, Meredith Broadcasting, NBC, the New York Times Company Broadcast Media Group and Pappas Telecasting. There are two principal reasons that TV stations are seeking to broaden their horizons. One is "consumers will increasingly choose what they want to see, when they want to see it, on whatever device they want to see it," said Alan Frank, president and chief executive at the Post-Newsweek Stations division of the Washington Post Company. The other reason was offered by David Rehr, president and chief executive at the National Association of Broadcasters: "Every new stream of programming is potentially a new source of revenue. Most distribution channels will create more value for our content." Those prospects were the subject of a panel discussion led by Gordon Borrell, president and chief executive at Borrell Associates, a consulting company specializing in the local online advertising market. Mr. Borrell discussed a new report from his company showing that local television stations more than doubled their Internet ad revenue last year compared with 2004, to $283 million from $119 million. And, he predicted, the figure would climb to $410 million by the end of 2006. But ad revenue last year for Web sites operated by local newspapers totaled $2 billion, according to the report, or more than nine times what the Web sites of the local TV stations took in. Local television "has the power to significantly drive traffic to the Internet" by cross-promoting with the contents of station broadcasts, Mr. Borrell said, "yet it hasn't in many cases." "You have a tremendous opportunity in front of you," he added. "All media are in flux, and flux is a great time to institute change." As an example, Mr. Borrell cited the Web site operated by WRAL-TV, the CBS affiliate in Raleigh, N.C., that is owned by the Capitol Broadcasting Company. The ad revenue for the site (www.wral.com) exceeds the ad revenue for www.newsobserver.com, the Web site operated by the leading local newspaper, The News and Observer, published by the McClatchy Company. When it comes to capitalizing on additional methods of delivering content and ads, Mr. Borrell said, "we are where television was in the late 1950's." That outlook was echoed by the announcement yesterday of the final figures for Internet ad revenue last year, released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The results set a record at $12.5 billion, up 30.2 percent from $9.6 billion in 2004. "We must be like Google, in a constant beta state," said Christine M. Di Stadio, senior vice president for marketing and new media at the New York Times Broadcast Media Group. Her reference was to the myriad test products and services offered on the Google Web site. Local stations ought to offer opportunities for social networking on their Web sites, Ms. Di Stadio suggested, to compete with popular services like MySpace; streaming video, to compete with Web sites like YouTube; and mobile marketing. As an example, Ms. Di Stadio described a "mobile physician finder" she is developing, listing doctors and their telephone numbers. Cellphone users will be able to "click on the phone number and dial, using click-to-call technology," she said. "Guys, we needed all these screens to come along to make us exciting and vibrant again," Ms. Di Stadio said, laughing. Brian Wheelis, vice president and group media director on the giant AT&T account at GSD&M in Austin, Tex., part of the Omnicom Group, cautioned the attendees against worrying that they will be competing against themselves. "If you think about the Web as cannibalizing, you've already given up and you're not ready for it," Mr. Wheelis said. He praised the Web site of KXAN, the NBC affiliate in Austin, owned by LIN TV, which offers blogs, podcasts, streaming video and other new media at www.kxan.com. Another member of Mr. Borrell's panel, David Buonfiglio, advised local TV stations to take part in the nascent trend known as user-generated or consumer-created content, which is meant to build emotional connections between customers and brands. Mr. Buonfiglio, vice president for local sales at Internet Broadcasting Systems, cited a contest sponsored by the Web site of WPTZ, an NBC affiliate owned by Hearst-Argyle Television that broadcasts to Burlington, Vt., and Plattsburgh, N.Y. The contest on the site (www.thechamplainchannel.com) "invited viewers to write the next commercial" for a local car dealer, Mr. Buonfiglio said, and drew twice as many entries as had been forecast. Mr. Buonfiglio also offered some advice in a humorous vein. "You really should go out and tell agencies what you can do," he said. "Get a capabilities presentation. If you don't have capabilities, get some of them first." Correction: April 25, 2006 The Advertising column in Business Day on Friday, about efforts by local television stations to expand into new media like the Internet, omitted the source of a comparison of advertising revenue for wral.com, the Web site of staton WRAL in Raleigh, N.C., and the Web site for The News & Observer. The information came from the trade publication Mediaweek -- not from Gordon Borrell, who spoke at the conference about the traffic for the two sites but not about their revenue. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from New York Times with no registration nor login requirements; dozens of free articles daily, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:15:24 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Would You Trust This Man to Sell Super Bowl Tickets on Internet? Would you trust this man to sell you Super Bowl tickets on the Internet? Enough people did. That's why Michael Deppe is facing charges that he bilked them and others out of $370,000. By Connie Paige, Globe Correspondent | April 23, 2006 The New England Patriots were three days away from the Super Bowl. But, for about 10 fans, the suspense was not at the stadium in Jacksonville but at the airport in Orlando. They each had shelled out about $7,500 for a pair of seats to last year's game through a dealer they found on the Internet. The tickets, they say, were supposed to have been sent to their homes but never arrived. So, they flew in on faith, relying on assurances from the young ticket-seller that he would have the tickets at the airport. Now, at a Hertz counter, they had cornered the 20-year-old man just in from Boston who had their cash and, they hoped, their tickets. When the seller tried to put them off, one of the buyers called the police on a cellphone. An officer arrived but refused to make an arrest, saying the seller had until the start of the game to deliver the tickets. Then, in a twist that stunned the angry crowd, the young man turned to the officer and asked for protection. She shooed away the buyers, and the man drove off in his rental car. Another close call for Michael R. Deppe. Tomorrow, the resident, at various times, of Stow, Shrewsbury, Marlborough, and Hudson is scheduled to go on trial in US District Court in Worcester. He is accused of failing to deliver to 68 people goods worth $370,000 in Internet-related transactions. Among the witnesses may be a woman who was among those left standing at the Hertz counter 14 months ago. Deppe faces six charges of fraud stemming from the Super Bowl incident. He has pleaded guilty to 10 other federal charges involving merchandise sold over the Internet. Neither he nor his lawyer, Steven Rappaport of Lowell, would talk about the case for this story. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/04/23/would_you_trust_this_man_to_sell_you_super_bowl_tickets_on_the_internet/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 22:18:26 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Dual Tuner TiVo Series2 DT DVR - Apr 25, 2006 04:00 PM (PR Newswire) Record Two Shows At Once, Built-In Ethernet for Easy Networking and Refreshed Upscale Look ALVISO, Calif., April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo, the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), announced today the launch of the TiVo(R) Series2(TM) DT DVR. Available at retail beginning May 1, the TiVo Series2 DT is the first standalone dual tuner DVR with the award-winning TiVo(R) service and features. The TiVo Series2 DT DVR is optimized for cable households, allowing you to record two shows at once, so now you never have to miss any of your favorite shows -- even if they're on at the same time. The TiVo Series2 DT DVR also incorporates built-in Ethernet and USB ports, making it easier than ever to add the TiVo box to the home network. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57934851 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 13:16:06 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Fixed-Mobile Revenues to Reach $28b USTelecom dailyLead April 25, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dvpkfDtutdaGbRkBWm TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Report: Fixed-mobile revenues to reach $28b by 2011 BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon broadens reach of digital media platform * Viacom snaps up gaming company * Citigroup: Telecom TV to boost cable-network owners * AT&T, Lucent report earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Integrate WiMAX into Your 3G Network TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Annapolis plans free, ad-supported wireless * Enterprise customers look to 3G * U.K.'s H2O Networks strings fiber through sewer pipes REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Supreme Court may review AT&T-Microsoft patent dispute * Debate over franchise rules in Golden State heats up * How China controls Internet use Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dvpkfDtutdaGbRkBWm ------------------------------ From: Joshua Putnam Subject: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 15:52:03 -0700 For most of a week now, I've been getting hang-up calls on my cell phone, showing a caller ID of 888-695-9405. If I call that number back, I get a recording thanking me for calling the DNC Hotline, and asking me to leave my number after the beep. I was reluctant at first, but after enough of these calls I did try leaving my number, but the calls keep coming. I've tried all the reverse lookup sites I could think of, none show that number. A Google search only turns up me asking, over in misc.consumers, if anyone knew who that number belonged to. After asking in misc.consumers, though, I have received email from other people who have received the same nuisance calls from the same number. * How do I find out who that number belongs to? * How do I know that's really the number calling me? * How, other than logging all these calls at www.donotcall.gov, do I get the calls to stop? Unfortunately, the cell phone they're calling is with Cingular, so customer service isn't the greatest. josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam Braze your own bicycle frames. See ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: 5- v. 7-digit Dialing Date: 25 Apr 2006 11:37:22 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Neal McLain wrote: > You keep asking this same question, and I keep giving you the same > answer: mandatory 7-, 10-, or 11-digit dialing applies to almost every > ESS office in every state. (I say "almost" because there's probably an > exception out there somewhere; I've just never heard of one.) Thanks for the detailed explanation. The areas I wondered about were the sparse areas with no population growth, areas where no exchanges would get added. In other words, plenty of "room" so there was no conflict. I'm not sure such areas exist anymore, although I understand some western states are zero or even negative population growth. > - Because every dialing plan has to avoid conflicts > between local 4- or 5-digit numbers and NNX codes in > nearby communities reached by 7-digit dialing. Back in the 1970s I saw small town phone books. Dialing instructions for between towns could be rather complex, with a variety of odd access codes required depending on the town. I don't think this was uncommon. Further, in some places the dialable area was quite narrow, anywhere required the operator. Anyway, all of this would simplify the switch level design. In the 1970s, when the Bell System introduced dialed direct toll savings, they prominently stated that they applied to areas that didn't have DDD. > Have you followed all this? Or are your eyes glazed over by now? If > you haven't followed it because it's too complicated, that's my point: > it is complicated! It's amazing that traffic engineers back in the 50s > and 60s were able to figure it all out. > Even more amazing is the fact that they were able to implement it with > electromechanical devices: Strowger switches and relays. All very true. Dialing outward could be controlled by special access codes, as mentioned or simply not even provided for. But inward dialing was still needed to these little points and everyone needed a 7 digit unique number within the area code. Some towns had all toll service passed through a larger next down, that probably was an SxS too, but doing double duty as a tandem to relay calls through. Many people were converted from 5d to 7d at that time, others got new NNXs. The Bell System Labs history Pt II switching goes into some of this, although they don't get into the selector level detail you provided. We take DDD for granted but as you showed, it was extremely complex. The Bell System had a wide variety of individual exchanges and trunking arrangements out there, and the independents had even more variety. In addition, the layouts were fluid as many suburban communities were rapidly growing. Indeed, I'm not sure how much DDD was implemented before 1955 as the Bell System was until then struggling to meet basic service demands. Wholly new exchanges, additions to existing ones, new cable plant, new commercial offices, etc. They had people working out of trailers due to a shortage of office space. > I trust this explains why 7-digit (if not 10- or 11-) dialing is now > mandatory everywhere. Thanks again for the information. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 15:33:36 -0700 From: Harold Cade Subject: Re: 866-849-3243 The number belongs to xpedite.com. This is their policy/contact info. Do Not Call Policy Xpedite strives to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct and is committed to complying with all federal and state telemarketing legislation. No employee or agent of Xpedite shall engage in conduct that violates the terms of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, applicable rules, or state telemarketing regulations. Our personnel are trained to comply with this policy. At your request, Xpedite will be happy to place your telephone numbers on our Do Not Call List. We will note your request immediately, but it may take up to 30 days to remove your information from active lists. You can make your request by calling 866-849-3243, or by writing to us at: 100 Tormee Drive, Tinton Falls, NJ 07712. When you make a request be sure to include your name, address and all telephone numbers (phone and fax numbers, if applicable) you want to be included on our list. You'll remain on our "Do Not Call" List for 10 years, unless you ask to be removed. If your information changes, please notify us of the new name, address, and telephone number(s) in order to remain on the Do Not Call List. If you would like us to remove you from our Do Not Call List so you may receive telephone solicitations by Xpedite or its customers, notify us by contacting Customer Service at the number indicated above. You may also send us correspondence by mail at the address indicated above. If your name, address or telephone number ever changes, you must give us your new information for your "Do Not Call" status to remain in effect. Corporate Privacy Officer To contact our Corporate Privacy Officer when indicated by this Policy or to address questions regarding Xpedite's privacy practices, please e-mail privacy@xpedite.com or call 1-800-966-3297. ------------------------------ From: John Doe Subject: Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 04:15:57 +0200 Organization: Guest of ProXad - France On Sun, 9 Apr 2006 12:38:16 +0300, henry999@eircom.net (Henry) wrote: > And to respond to DLR's concern about the line getting 'answered by > the wrong machine', the point is that the _box_ answers the call and > routes it appropriately. 'Distinctive ringing' from the telephone > company isn't required at all. Sorry for jumping in, but how do those boxes work? Does the box pick up the line, waits for a few seconds, and ... - if it gets a FAX tone, it will direct the call to the fax plug - if it gets nothing, it will forward it to the phone plug? But if it's a voice call, will users just get silence for several seconds, or does the box simultaneously listens to the incoming call to tell if it's fax or voice, and also play a ring tone so, in case it's a human calling, the caller thinks the phone is still ringing? Thank you. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #158 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed Apr 26 17:51:58 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 5A4FA15A23; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:51:58 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #159 Message-Id: <20060426215158.5A4FA15A23@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:51:58 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:55:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 159 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson What Type of Wireless Should I Use? (Ghazan Haider) Cellular-News for Wednesday 26th April 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Wednesday, April 26, 2006 (telecomdirect) AT&T Eyes New Markets for IPTV, Rolls Out Faster (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? (John Levine) Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? (Carl Navarro) Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? (Joshua Putnam) Re: 5- v. 7-digit Dialing (Neal McLain) Re: Telecommunications Alternatives For Distributed Workforce (Wm Warren) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (Robert Weller) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ghazan Haider Subject: What Type of Wireless Should I Use? Date: 25 Apr 2006 21:41:41 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com My company has two locations, 0.92km apart as per Google earth. There is a direct line of sight. There are about equal number of computers in each site. Instead of using replication, we intend to keep everything on one server and link the sites together fast enough to become just a single LAN. Currently theres a 15mbit connection that is always saturated and can be troublesome ... from wavewireless. I suspect its just a power boosted 802.11b. I'm hoping for a gigabit connection using directional antennaes. I've looked into Wimax and D-link's 802.11n products. Dlink does not provide directional antennaes for 802.11n yet, and provides no data at all on range and throughput at that range. Havent seen off-the-shelf wimax products out there. Bell Canada wont give us fiber optic lines, just twisted pairs. However Cisco's LRE (long reach ethernet) products max out at 15mbit. I'd accept 2x 500mbit or even 4x 1gbit connections since we can use etherchannel, but the connections should not encroach on each others' channels the way say 802.11b does (bandwidth of two channels is less than the sum of bandwidth of each channel). Of course it should work in harsh weather. Any suggestions? Can I have 1Gbps at less than 1km? ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Wednesday 26th April 2006 Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 07:39:27 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ 3G ]] Georgia to auction 3rd generation mobile licenses on May 23 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17118.php Georgia's National Communications Commission plans to auction licenses for third generation (3G) mobile services on May 23, the commission said Tuesday. ... 3G Licenses for Macau http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17125.php The Macau government plans to license three 3G licenses this coming October. In a press conference, Tou Veng Keong, coordinator of the Telecommunications and Information Technology Development Office launched the tender document and set a six month d... [[ Financial ]] Elisa 1Q Pretax Profit EUR39 Million Vs EUR39 Million http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17105.php STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones) Elisa Oyj, the finnish telecommunications operator, Tuesday reported net profit easing to EUR30 million in the first quarter from EUR33 million a year ago. . The group's earnings per share amounted to EUR0.18, down from EUR0.23 ... TeliaSonera 1Q Net Up, Unveils Extra Dividend http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17106.php TeliaSonera, the Nordic region's largest telecommunications operator, Tuesday reported a 16% increase in first-quarter net profit and pledged an annual additional dividend payment. ... Japan's KDDI Jan-Mar Group Net Profit Y32.6 Billion Vs Y46.5 Billion http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17107.php Japanese telecom carrier KDDI Corp. said Tuesday its net profit for the quarter ended March fell 30% on year, hurt by higher sales promotion costs and a special loss from writing down assets. ... New AT&T Boosts Earnings By 63% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17110.php AT&T Inc., formerly known as SBC Communications, posted a 63% increase in first-quarter profit Tuesday, helped by the acquisition of the old Ma Bell as well as strong growth in wireless and broadband services. ... AMX in talks to buy Entel from Almendral http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17113.php Latin America's largest mobile operator America Mvil is in talks to buy Chile's second largest telco Entel from the Almendral holding group, Signals Consulting president Jose Otero told BNamericas. ... VimpelCom says plans to borrow $700 mln in 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17119.php Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom plans to borrow about U.S. $700 million in 2006, the company said in a statement Tuesday. ... [[ Handsets ]] Russian police destroy 50,000 Motorola handsets http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17111.php The Russian Interior Ministry started Tuesday destroying 50,000 Motorola C115 mobile handsets that were earlier seized from Russia's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset, Irina Zubarev, a spokeswoman with the ministry's K department, said Tuesday,... Three New Phones Multimedia Computers from Nokia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17121.php Nokia has unveiled a new range of Nokia N-series phones, which the company insists on referring to as "multimedia computers and experiences". The Nokia Nseries range is an example of the fastest growing product category in the mobile space: converged... Asia-Pacific Region Overtakes EMEA in Smartphone Shipments http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17124.php The latest market estimates from Canalys show some major changes happening in the worldwide market for smart mobile devices (handhelds, wireless handhelds and smart phones), with new names appearing in the global top five. Despite a sequential fall i... [[ Legal ]] Siget probes operators over stolen cell phone activation claims http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17115.php El Salvador's telecommunications regulator Siget is investigating allegations that one of the country's five mobile operators is allowing customers to activate stolen cell phones, local daily La Prensa reported. ... [[ Messaging ]] China, Expecting 'BlackBerry,' Already Has 'Redberry' http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17117.php NEW YORK (AP)--The BlackBerry e-mail device is coming to China in the next few months. By then, thousands of Chinese may already be checking their e-mail on the new 'Redberry.' ... UK Text Messaging Reaches Record Levels http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17120.php March 2006 goes on record as the month with the highest ever number of SMS's sent throughout the UK. Figures for March have topped the previous highest monthly total of 3.11 billion in December 2005, to deliver an extraordinary 3.19 billion messages ... [[ Mobile Content ]] Unions Agree Mobile TV Royalty Payments http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17126.php Three Hollywood unions say that they have jointly secured an agreement regarding payments to actors who appear in video clips sent to mobile phones. The Directors Guild of America (DGA), Writers Guild of America, west (WGAw) and the Screen Actors Gui... [[ Network Operators ]] VimpelCom CEO Wants To Tempt Russians To 'Phone More http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17109.php Russia's second-largest mobile phone operator Vimpel Communications plans to increase revenue by encouraging customers to use the telephone more, Chief Executive Alexander Izosimov said Tuesday. ... CTI plans US$262mn investment http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17114.php Argentine mobile operator CTI Mvil, a unit of Mexico's America Mvil, plans to invest US$262mn in 2006, local newspaper La Nacion quoted the company's regional CEO Carlos Zenteno as saying. ... [[ Personnel ]] Deputy telecoms minister fired amid accusations of corruption http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17116.php Bolivia's President Evo Morales has fired deputy telecoms minister Jorge Estrella Ayala following accusations that Estrella demanded a US$100,000 bribe from mobile operator Startel, according to local press reports. ... Phone Employees Killed in Iraq http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17122.php Six employees of the Iraqi mobile phone network, MTC Atheer were shot dead yesterday, at Nakhib, 300 km west of the Shiite holy city of Karbala, reported Major Mahdi Saleh of Karbala's crime department. No further details have been provided. A total ... [[ Regulatory ]] OFCOM Provisionally Awards Spectrum Licences http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17108.php The U.K. Office of Communications, or OFCOM, said Tuesday that 12 companies have been provisionally awarded Wireless Telegraphy Licences for the 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz bands. ... [[ Reports ]] Distribution The Path to Success for Mobile Platform Suppliers http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17123.php The future business models for Service Platform Environments will be based on revenue sharing licence sales is history says Strand Consults. The market for Service Platform Environments is still in its infancy, but due to increasing competition thi... [[ Statistics ]] Statistics agency says Ukraine's mobile users up 10% in Jan-Mar http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17112.php The subscriber base of Ukrainian mobile operators amounted to 33.034 million people as of April 1, up 10.1% compared with December 31, 2005, Ukraine's State Statistics Committee said in a statement Tuesday. ... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:09:49 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Wednesday, April 26, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For April 26, 2006 ******************************** Vonage, The Cloud to Roll Out VoIP over Wi-Fi http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17679?11228 VoIP operator Vonage has linked up with U.K. Wi-Fi hotspot operator The Cloud to launch a mobile/Wi-Fi service. The service will be available to Vonage subscribers who have specially enabled Wi-Fi mobile handsets, and then make cheap VoIP calls from any Cloud hotspots in the country. The service is restricted to these hotspots; customers... Skype Announces Music Ringtones Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17672?11228 NEW YORK -- Skype, eBay Inc.'s Internet telephone subsidiary, announced a deal Tuesday with music publishers that will make audio clips from artists like Madonna, Green Day and Red Hot Chili Peppers available to its users as ringtones. Clips from Madonna songs -- including 'Like A Virgin' and 'Vogue' -- will be... China Gives BlackBerry Maker, and Free Markets, a Raspberry http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17669?11228 NEW YORK -- The BlackBerry e-mail device is coming to China in the next few months. By then, thousands of Chinese may already be checking their e-mail on the new 'Redberry.' The Redberry is not a new version of the BlackBerry that's been designed by Research in Motion Ltd. for the Chinese market. It's the name being used by two... Sprint Nextel Reports 11 Percent Drop in 1st-Quarter Profits http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17667?11228 RESTON, Virginia -- Sprint Nextel Corp. on Wednesday said first-quarter profits declined 11 percent as merger costs outweighed higher sales for the cell-phone carrier. For the three months ended March 31, the company reported earnings of $419 million, or 14 cents per share, compared with $472 million, or 31 cents per share, during... Sprint Unveils Text to Landline Service http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17666?11228 Recognizing the popularity of text messaging, Sprint Nextel introduced its new Text to Landline service, which enables customers to text messages to wired phones. The service is designed to send text messages converted to voicemail messages on a landline phone. The Text to Landline service is being offered to customers who own 2-way... Cisco Speaks Enterprise http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/17665?11228 Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO - message board), the No. 1 enterprise wireless LAN vendor in the world, is attempting to extend its dominance in the market through wireless VOIP technology partnerships that should help to improve the quality of voice-over-WiFi services for enterprise users. The networking giant has teamed up with... Alcatel, Lucent Face 3G Decision http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17663?11228 Among the complicated decisions facing Alcatel (NYSE: ALA - message board; and Lucent Technologies Inc. is what to do with their disparate wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) plans. Alcatel already claims Orange SA as a W-CDMA customer, and Lucent has signed up Cingular... A VoIP, GPS PDA for Business Travelers http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17660?11228 The bloom is off the rose for PDAs, which are increasingly being overshadowed by smartphones. But business travelers, interested in lowering their cellular costs by using a low-cost voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) service, will want to check out the Pharos Traveler GPS 525, a PDA with GPS and VoIP capabilities. Manufactured... Boingo Expands Wi-Fi Reach http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17657?11228 Boingo Wireless has forged two new deals that will add 1,200 international hot spots to its Boingo Roaming System. The company announced a roaming partnership with French mobile phone operator SFR that will add more than 300 hot spots in France to the Boingo Roaming System. The SFR network consists of the Toulouse and Bale-Mulhouse... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 13:07:00 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: AT&T Eyes New Markets for IPTV, Rolls Out Faster DSL USTelecom dailyLead April 26, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dvzEfDtutdboaJYJZb TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * AT&T eyes new markets for IPTV, rolls out faster DSL BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * In wake of telecom mergers, gear makers feel squeeze * Vonage, The Cloud link up in VoIP/Wi-Fi deal * Report: Consumers love the bundle * Nokia launches more multimedia phones * Sprint Nextel's Q1 earnings down USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Telecom Crash Course -- The must-have book for telecom professionals TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * "Redberry" emerges on China scene * New Microsoft browser emphasizes safety * Updated TiVo DVR lets users record two shows simultaneously REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * USTelecom's McCormick says telecoms won't threaten network neutrality * Bush will nominate FCC chief to new term * Franchise law unlikely this year, House aide says Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dvzEfDtutdboaJYJZb ------------------------------ Date: 26 Apr 2006 04:42:23 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? > Sorry for jumping in, but how do those boxes work? Does the box pick > up the line, waits for a few seconds, and ... > -- if it gets a FAX tone, it will direct the call to the fax plug > -- if it gets nothing, it will forward it to the phone plug? You got it. > But if it's a voice call, will users just get silence for several > seconds, or does the box simultaneously listens to the incoming call > to tell if it's fax or voice, and also play a ring tone so, in case > it's a human calling, the caller thinks the phone is still ringing? Depending on the box it might play a fake ring tone, or it might start the answering machine message. Either way, it's pretty putrid. My suggestion is to order distinctive ringing, a second number that rings on the same line with a different pattern. Then get a fax machine that understands distinctive ringing (a lot of them do, check the manual) and will only answer if it hears the ring-ring pattern for the second number. That works great, fax and voice have separate numbers and there's no question who's supposed to answer what call. R's, John ------------------------------ From: Carl Navarro Subject: Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 11:44:26 -0400 On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 04:15:57 +0200, John Doe wrote: > On Sun, 9 Apr 2006 12:38:16 +0300, henry999@eircom.net (Henry) wrote: >> And to respond to DLR's concern about the line getting 'answered by >> the wrong machine', the point is that the _box_ answers the call and >> routes it appropriately. 'Distinctive ringing' from the telephone >> company isn't required at all. > Sorry for jumping in, but how do those boxes work? Does the box pick > up the line, waits for a few seconds, and ... > - if it gets a FAX tone, it will direct the call to the fax plug > - if it gets nothing, it will forward it to the phone plug? Yes. > But if it's a voice call, will users just get silence for several > seconds, or does the box simultaneously listens to the incoming call > to tell if it's fax or voice, and also play a ring tone so, in case > it's a human calling, the caller thinks the phone is still ringing? Yes. Probably one of the most industry standard boxes over here is the Command CS-5500. It runs about $55.00. Oh, check this out; I can't do that on my laptop :-) Here's the link to the command comm website operating instructions for the CS550: http://www.commandcommunications.com/technicalsupport_3.html Carl Navarro ------------------------------ From: Joshua Putnam Subject: Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:08:18 -0700 In article , john.doe@acme.com says: > Sorry for jumping in, but how do those boxes work? Does the box pick > up the line, waits for a few seconds, and ... > - if it gets a FAX tone, it will direct the call to the fax plug > - if it gets nothing, it will forward it to the phone plug? > But if it's a voice call, will users just get silence for several > seconds, or does the box simultaneously listens to the incoming call > to tell if it's fax or voice, and also play a ring tone so, in case > it's a human calling, the caller thinks the phone is still ringing? The one I use does keep the ring tone going while it listens for a fax tone. Unfortunately, these boxes don't work for at least two types of incoming faxes: 1. Some computer-generated faxes don't start generating a fax tone until after the line is answered and the ring tone stops. That was much more of an issue when I started using the box back in the late 80s, very few of those machines seem to be around by now. 2. Some humans send all their faxes manually, and don't hit the "start" button until they hear the receiving fax answer and start squawking at them. So they try again and again, and leave hangup voicemail instead of sending the fax. Sometimes they can be convinced to change their ways, sometimes they can't. One client in particular has been sending faxes this way since they got their first machine in the 1970s, and they've trained the entire office to always send faxes on manual dial, so I get to talk to them more often than I otherwise would! josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam Braze your own bicycle frames. See ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 10:40:44 -0500 From: Neal McLain Subject: Re: 5- v. 7-digit Dialing Lisa Hancock wrote: > The areas I wondered about were the sparse areas with no > population growth, areas where no exchanges would get > added. In other words, plenty of "room" so there was no > conflict. I'm not sure such areas exist anymore, although > I understand some western states are zero or even > negative population growth. But even if the population remains static, telephone-number demand rises because of pagers, cellphones, second lines, PBX-to-Centrex conversions, CLECs etc. And when demand rises in SxS communities, even ILECs may need new NNXs just to avoid dialing-plan conflicts. Centerville, Iowa illustrates both of these points. According to Mark Roberts' original post (ca April 2003), an ESS switch was added for 437 in the late 70s while 856 was still in service. But at the time, 856 was still an SxS switch, and only half of its capacity was used for subscriber numbers (856-2XXX, 856-3XXX, 856-6XXX, 856-8XXX, 856-9XXX). The other half was unavailable due to dialing-plan conflicts. http://tinyurl.com/8axyn . Of course, when 856 was converted to ESS, dialing-plan conflicts disappeared and its entire capacity became available. Mark also notes that Centerville's population had been "around 6,000 for about the last forty years." According to the 2000 Census, it was 8,292 for "Zip Code Tabulation Area 52544." Whether or not a zip code is a good proxy for a telco exchange territory is debatable, but it's the only data available at the moment. Using that data, Centerville's population rose about 37% between "sometime in the 1970s" and 2000. During that same period, Centerville went from 0.5 NNX (half of 856) to four NXXs (436, 437, 856, 895). Bottom line: between early 1970s and 2000, Centerville's population rose by about 37% but its telephone-numbering capacity rose by 700%. Taking this analysis in the opposite direction (Ann Arbor) -- before the first ESS NXXs were introduced (761 and 764 in 1964), Ann Arbor had 3.4 NNXs (662, 663, 665, and 40% of 668). It now has 113 NXXs. Ann Arbor has been growing rapidly, but I doubt that it's grown by 3,225 percent! Neal McLain ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:07:52 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Telecommunications Alternatives For The Distributed Workforce kimi wrote: > Telecommunications Alternatives For The Distributed Workforce (March 2006) > Introduction,Distributed Workforce,Virtual Organization,Field Offices > for Larger Concerns,Virtual PBX,Case Study-Centract,Knowledge Worker > Impact Quotient,Conclusions > http://www.freewebs.com/virtual-pbx/ Pat, Please remind your readers that companies needing a virtual PBX may also use Asterisk, which is open-source and available for free. William Warren (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) ------------------------------ From: Robert Weller Subject: Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 08:41:05 -0700 Josh, DNC is, presumably, the Democratic National Committee. Did you ever donate money to the DNC or one of its daughter PACs? Even if you don't have a "business relationship" with them, it is not clear to me whether the "do not call" requirement of the Telephone Consumer Privacy Act (TCPA) would apply to a PAC. It would not surprise me that the US Congress, when it wrote the TCPA, would carve out some exemption for PACs. According to the FCC's website, the Do-Not-Call registry does not prevent all unwanted calls. It does not cover the following: Calls from organizations with which you have established a business relationship; Calls for which you have given prior written permission; Calls which are not commercial or do not include unsolicited advertisements; Calls by or on behalf of tax-exempt non-profit organizations. http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/donotcall/ Good luck! Bob Weller On Apr 25, 2006, at 9:37 PM, TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: > From: Joshua Putnam > Subject: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? > Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 15:52:03 -0700 > For most of a week now, I've been getting hang-up calls on my cell > phone, showing a caller ID of 888-695-9405. If I call that number > back, I get a recording thanking me for calling the DNC Hotline, and > asking me to leave my number after the beep. I was reluctant at > first, but after enough of these calls I did try leaving my number, > but the calls keep coming. > I've tried all the reverse lookup sites I could think of, none show > that number. A Google search only turns up me asking, over in > misc.consumers, if anyone knew who that number belonged to. > After asking in misc.consumers, though, I have received email from > other people who have received the same nuisance calls from the same > number. > * How do I find out who that number belongs to? > * How do I know that's really the number calling me? > * How, other than logging all these calls at www.donotcall.gov, do I > get the calls to stop? > Unfortunately, the cell phone they're calling is with Cingular, so > customer service isn't the greatest. > josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam > > Braze your own bicycle frames. See > http://www.phred.org/~josh/build/build.html ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #159 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 27 00:35:59 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id E35631530E; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:35:58 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #160 Message-Id: <20060427043558.E35631530E@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:35:58 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:35:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 160 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson AT&T to Offer Movies Over Internet (Reuters News Wire) Review: Webaroo Service too Good to be True (Anick Jesdanun) Phishers Now Use VOIP to Catch Victims (Antone Gonsalves) Seagate to Unveil 750 Gigabyte Hard Drives (May Wong) Proposed Epson Printer Class Action Settlement (Danny Burstein) More About HR 683's Attack on Free Speech (Monty Solomon) Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? (John Doe) Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? (Henry) Re: New Digest Sponsor Brings FREE Phone Calls and DA (Justa Lurker) Re: PBS/Sony High Definition Production Pilot Program (Justa Lurker) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (Joshua Putnam) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Reuters News Wire Subject: AT&T to Offer Movies Over Internet Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:03:48 -0500 AT&T Inc. said on Wednesday it will offer its high-speed Internet subscribers a movie delivery service in partnership with Starz Entertainment Group, a unit of Liberty Media Corp. Vongo, the service from Starz, will feature a co-branded AT&T and Vongo Web site at http://www.att.vongo.com with a 14-day free trial to AT&T high-speed Internet subscribers. Vongo, which was unveiled earlier this year, offers subscribers unlimited access to more than 1,500 movie and video selections as well as live, streaming Starz TV channel for $9.99 a month. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Anick Jesdanun Subject: Review: Webaroo Service too Good to be True Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:05:47 -0500 By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer 4 minutes ago It sounds too good to be true: the highlights of the Web squeezed into a data file small enough to fit on your laptop or mobile phone, letting you browse even when you don't have a live Internet connection. After giving Webaroo a whirl, I found that it is, indeed, too good to be true. Webaroo, downloadable as a free "beta" test from Webaroo Inc., promises to make it "simple for you to take the Web with you - and find what you are looking for anywhere, anytime." On your PC or phone, it stores the Web sites it believes will be most useful for finding nuggets of information. You customize Webaroo by downloading "Web packs," ranging from 64 megabytes for world news to 6 gigabytes for the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. There are packs targeted for several cities around the world, each as large as 256 megabytes. There's also one for soccer, and others are in the works. You also can direct Webaroo to download and store specific Web sites you frequent. Webaroo, which plans to eventually display targeted ads next to search results, can automatically update the sites whenever you are connected to ensure you have the latest information. Problem is, you must tell it to do so -- and it's not apparent unless you happen to view your preference settings. My expectations were low and skepticism high. I knew Webaroo wouldn't be able to handle my e-mail or instant messaging without an Internet connection. Nor was I expecting the ability to post on message boards or download video on demand. But I was hoping for enough of the basics to answer reasonable questions. More often than not, I couldn't easily get what I wanted. I began by requesting the Web packs for Wikipedia, world news and New York, where I live. But Wikipedia never arrived. Only later did I learn I didn't have enough disk space; Webaroo didn't immediately make that clear. I then tried to research restaurants, museums and hobbies in New York. A search for the movie "Thank You for Smoking" got me the previous day's showtimes from AOL City Guide, but links to that day's and the next day's showings produced error messages. "24 Hours on Craigslist" returned a mention in The New Yorker magazine that the documentary was playing -- but I got no reviews or other details about it. Being close to lunchtime, I decided to search for sushi restaurants on New York's Upper East Side. The first three listings were instead for Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai restaurants along with delis on the WEST Side. The fourth result was for a general neighborhood directory, with no information on each restaurant's cuisine or quality. I also tried to find my cable service provider, but a search for "cable television" got me a bed and breakfast that offers cable TV, a computer repair shop called Cable Doctor Co. and a magazine review of an HBO movie. "New York cable television" returned information on the Mets and Yankees baseball teams, not Time Warner Cable. I managed to find the hours for the Museum of Modern Art, but nothing on its current exhibit on Edvard Munch. To be fair, not all searches were frustrating. After trying various search terms, I managed to find what's currently featured at the Guggenheim Museum. I also immediately found airport parking information, a subway map and the week's weather forecast. Searches for news were acceptable. "Egypt blasts," "Nepal protests" and "Thai elections" got me some information on current events, even if the results weren't as extensive as those at Google Inc.'s news aggregator. I can empathize with Webaroo's challenge in making the most information available in the fewest number of bytes. That means giving high priority to directories and other sites with "high content density." But such sites can lack depth and be poorly organized. Webaroo says it wants to err on the side of brevity, but it may soon offer size options -- those who want the bare-bones can get the smallest version of the New York pack, while info-hungry consumers like me can get it super-sized, even if it means having to delete family photos from my hard drive to make room. Also in the works is a "Web to go" pack -- some 40 gigabytes covering just about any question you might have. The closest to it for now is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia in which anyone can contribute, regardless of expertise. Although critics say such openness results in inaccuracies and biases, proponents credit its collaborative nature for a more comprehensive tome that can reverse errors more quickly. I tried deleting some of those family photos to make room for it, but Webaroo still refused, even with 6.8 gigabytes free (Webaroo recommends having at least 10 gigabytes available). Nor would it let me use an external drive with more space (that option is coming). I shudder to think how something that large will fit on a mobile device. Webaroo says you need a Windows Pocket PC device with at least 512 megabytes of external storage -- for Wikipedia, you'd need an 8 gigabyte compact flash memory card. The desktop version works on Windows computers only. Webaroo does provide some of the information you might need on the go, but unless you have plenty of storage space, I wouldn't bother. Spend that offline time reading a book or smelling the roses; either will be more enjoyable than trying to surf an abbreviated Web. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Antone Gonsalves Subject: Phishers Now Use VOIP to Catch Victims Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:07:31 -0500 By Antone Gonsalves A security firm on Tuesday reported discovering a phishing scheme in which the scammers used Internet telephony to copy a bank's automated voice system in order to steal customers' passwords, account numbers and other personal information. In the attack that occurred last week, con artists sent spam disguised as coming from a small bank in a large East Coast city, Cloudmark Inc., a messaging security firm, said. The message asked the recipient to dial a telephone number to talk with a bank representative. The number went to an automated voice system that asked for an account number and personal identification number, or PIN, in order to access the caller's finances. The number was obtained through a regular provider of voice over Internet protocol services. There was no indication that the VoIP provider was aware of the scam, said Cloudmark, which declined to name the company and the spoofed bank. The incident reflected a mutation in the tactics used by phishers to snare victims. More traditional schemes involve spam asking the recipient to visit their bank's Web site through a link in the message. At the bogus site, the visitor is asked to input personal information. The latest scheme, however, is the first Cloudmark has seen using Internet telephony. An investigation by the San Francisco security firm showed that the scammers had used open-source software called Asterisk to convert a computer into a PBX, or private branch exchange, running an automated telephone information system. The voice system sounds exactly like the bank's phone tree, directing the caller to specific extensions, Adam J. O' Donnell, senior research scientist at Cloudmark, said. O'Donnell believes it's likely the phishers were using virus-infected computers that had been commandeered to take calls over the Internet. The use of VoIP is a natural mutation of phishing, since it involves Internet technologies that crooks operating on the Web are familiar with, O'Donnell said. In addition, obtaining a VoIP telephone number is easy and inexpensive and calls can be directed to any IP address. In the latest attack, the phishers used the same pitch in the emails, but used three different telephone numbers. "Through the economics of using VoIP, phishers reap the same benefits of any small business," O'Donnell said. It's not known how popular VoIP technology will become with phishers. That would depend on how successful it is at trapping victims "This is very early on, and we haven't seen a spike," O'Donnell said. "Our main purpose at this point is to tell consumers before they fall victim." Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: May Wong Subject: Seagate to Unveil 750 Gigabyte Hard Drives Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:08:58 -0500 By MAY WONG, AP Technology Writer Seagate Technology LLC is beefing up the capacity of its hard disk drives to a whopping 750 gigabytes, offering consumers of digital media more storage for their computers than ever before. The drive Seagate will introduce Wednesday, the Barracuda 7200.10, is the first computer desktop disk drive to hit the 750-gigabyte mark and represents a 50 percent increase from the previous industry maximum of 500 gigabytes. Scotts Valley-based Seagate, the world's largest disk-drive maker, is first releasing the product as an internal drive for PC makers. Next week, it plans to introduce external hard drives -- add-ons that consumers can use to supplement their existing computer setups -- with a suggested retail price of $559. After that, Seagate plans to introduce versions for other consumer electronics, such as digital video recorders that are growing in popularity as standalone set-top-boxes or part of cable and satellite television receivers. For consumers, the beefier drives mean they can store more movies, photos, games and songs with less worry about quickly running out of space. They also could have larger backup drives to ensure against data loss when their drives crash. (Seagate offers a five-year warranty on its drives.) Analysts say a 750-gigabyte drive could hold roughly 375 hours of standard-definition television programming, about 75 hours of high-definition video, or more than 10,000 music CDs converted to the MP3 digital audio format. For the hard drive industry, the capacity milestone pegs the biggest, fastest jump in its 50-year history. The big leap stems from a new so-called "perpendicular recording" technology that allows drive makers like Seagate and rival Hitachi Global Storage Technologies to boost the density of a disk by aligning bits of data vertically rather than horizontally. At the same time, fewer moving components are needed in the drives. The advances are leading to the largest, most reliable disk drives yet, said Seagate product marketing manager Joni Clark. Before long, consumers will have terabyte-, or 1,000-gigabyte, drives at their disposal, Clark said. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Proposed Epson Printer Class Action Settlement Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:37:43 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC Summary: a small bit of money back because Epson plays/played games with their cartridges. http://epsonsettlement.com/Faq.htm ____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 17:52:14 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: More About HR 683's Attack on Free Speech Begin forwarded message: From: Paul Levy Date: April 26, 2006 5:27:36 PM EDT Subject: More about HR 683's attack on free speech I have written to you before about HR 683, the "Trademark Dilution Revision Act", which would restrict free speech by depriving those accused of trademark infringement of explicit defenses of noncommercial use, fair use and news reporting that are afforded by the current statute. We have been trying for months to draw the trademark owner associations who are behind this bill, to put their arguments on the public record, and we are finally making some progress -- it is remarkable how little they have to say. This past Saturday, Editor & Publisher posted a column by Steven Yahn that explained the problems, which lies in a subtle change in introductory language to the three defenses. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002384406 The E&P column has, at last, succeeded in drawing the sponsors out. Yesterday there were two letters from lawyers (who had apparently not read the bill closely enough), along with Yahn's reply that goes through the statutory and bill language in detail, http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002385861 Today there is a letter fron the bill's main private sector sponsor, the International Trademark Association, along with my response. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002423272 Sadly absent from INTA's arguments are any reasons why trademark owners need this particular change in the language of the Lanham Act, what legitimate interests have been harmed or would be harmed by the application of these defenses to infringement claims, and why INTA is so insistent in keeping this change that it sneaked into the bill without explaining it (at least in public). INTA has ducked these questions so far, but if it wants to change the law, it should tell us why. Paul Alan Levy Public Citizen Litigation Group 1600 - 20th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009 (202) 588-1000 http://www.citizen.org/litigation ------------------------------ From: John Doe Subject: Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:50:21 +0200 Organization: Guest of ProXad - France (BTW, does someone know why Agent doesn't display replies in a hierarchical tree? Are msgs in this ng sent to some kind of mailing-list before being published to Usenet?) On Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:08:18 -0700, Joshua Putnam wrote: > 2. Some humans send all their faxes manually, and don't hit the > "start" button until they hear the receiving fax answer and start > squawking at them. So they try again and again, and leave hangup > voicemail instead of sending the fax. Sometimes they can be convinced > to change their ways, sometimes they can't. In this case, instead of playing a fake ring tone, the box can just display a voice message to the ilk of "If you wish to send us a fax manually, please hit the Start button; If you wish to talk to someone, please wait 5 seconds before we forward your call". Meanwhile, the box listens for an incoming fax tone, and forwards the call after 5 seconds with no fax activity. What d'ya think? > One client in particular has been sending faxes this way since they > got their first machine in the 1970s, and they've trained the entire > office to always send faxes on manual dial, so I get to talk to them > more often than I otherwise would! It's always a good thing to keep in touch with customers ;-) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: To respond to Mr. Doe's question about why messages and subsequent replies are not displayed in a 'tree' or heirarchal format, it is because mail is first processed in a Digest format, _then_ the (TELECOM) Digest output is forwarded on to Usenet for processing in comp.dcom.telecom. PAT] ------------------------------ From: henry999@eircom.net (Henry) Subject: Re: Sharing One Line for Fax and Voice? Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 06:55:24 +0300 Organization: Elisa Internet customer John Doe wrote: > On Sun, 9 Apr 2006 12:38:16 +0300, henry999@eircom.net (Henry) wrote: >> And to respond to DLR's concern about the line getting 'answered by >> the wrong machine', the point is that the _box_ answers the call and >> routes it appropriately. 'Distinctive ringing' from the telephone >> company isn't required at all. > Sorry for jumping in, but how do those boxes work? > ...does the box simultaneously listens [sic] to the incoming call > to tell if it's fax or voice, and also play a ring tone so, in case > it's a human calling, the caller thinks the phone is still ringing? Yes. Moreover, the 'dummy' ring tone generated by the box is customisable. You can set it to match the tone normally produced by your telephone company or you can make it something different, in which case the alert caller recognises that he is through to another level of ... ringingness. Cheers, Henry ------------------------------ From: Justa Lurker Subject: Re: New Digest Sponsor Brings FREE Phone Calls and DA Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:56:59 GMT This 1-800-411-METRO thing sounds OK at first, but I'm wondering if usage won't somehow increase chances of telemarketer calls, etc. based on the notion of an established business relationship now being existent and so forth ? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well no, I do not think so, since what you are dialing is in essence '411'; and that does not increase your chances of telemarketer calls. You dial the long form (800-411-METRO) since telco is unwilling to default _your_ 411 calls to infreeda.com unless you buy one of the intercept boxes from Mike Sandman http://sandman.com which converts '411' on the spot, on your premises to the longer format. And the ten-second advertising blurbs you listen to in lieu of paying the buck and a quarter telco otherwise hits you up for is just a general message; not one which takes down your name or your caller ID, etc. Plus which, if you use the 'place a call' box on our web site http://telecom-digest.org/index.html a check box allows you to block your ID if you think it is important. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Justa Lurker Subject: Re: PBS/Sony High Definition Production Pilot Program Organization: AT&T Worldnet Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 00:59:27 GMT Monty Solomon wrote: > Three New Stations Sign on to PBS/Sony High Definition Production > Pilot Program > - Apr 24, 2006 04:14 PM (PR Newswire) > 'The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer' to Become PBS' First Daily Series in HD > WETA in Washington, D.C.; WQED in Pittsburgh and WYCC in Chicago are > Latest to Make Transition to High Definition Production with Sony > Broadcast Technology Curious that little WYCC, and not the inimitable WTTW, is the Chicagoland PBS station involved with this. ------------------------------ From: Joshua Putnam Subject: Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 20:03:19 -0700 In article , rweller@h-e.com says: > Josh, > DNC is, presumably, the Democratic National Committee. Did you ever > donate money to the DNC or one of its daughter PACs? No, but even if I had, I certainly wouldn't have given them my cell phone number as a contact. > Even if you don't have a "business relationship" with them, it is > not clear to me whether the "do not call" requirement of the > Telephone Consumer Privacy Act (TCPA) would apply to a PAC. It > would not surprise me that the US Congress, when it wrote the TCPA, > would carve out some exemption for PACs. I suppose it could really be the Democratic National Committee, if they're trying to annoy people into voting Republican. But it seems like such a shady operation (endless hang-up calls, calling cell phone numbers, hard-to-identify voice mail, etc.) that I find it hard to believe it's really that DNC. They aren't *that* clueless, are they? josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam Updated Bicycle Touring Books List: ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #160 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu Apr 27 16:32:47 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id D7D3915474; Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:32:46 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #161 Message-Id: <20060427203246.D7D3915474@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:32:46 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, BIZ_TLD,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NA_DOLLARS autolearn=no version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 27 Apr 2006 16:35:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 161 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson California Okays Broadband Over Power Lines Test (Reuters News Wire) Trojan Freezes Computer, Demands $10.99 Ransom (Jeremy Kirk, IDG) Google's Clickfraud Settlement Offer is a Complete Fraud (dorothyferns) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - April 27, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) House Panel OKs National Franchise Bill (USTelecom dailyLead) Cellular-News for Thursday 27th April 2006 (Cellular-News) Re: What Type of Wireless Should I Use? (darktiger) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (Bob Goudreau) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (Ben Schilling) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (DLR) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (Lisa Hancock) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do Tney Keep Calling Me? (Chas Cryderman) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Reuters News Wire Subject: California Okays Broadband Over Power Lines Test Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 14:34:46 -0500 Calif. agency OKs broadband-over-power-lines test The California Public Utilities Commission approved a plan on Thursday allowing providers of high-speed Internet services to test the use of electricity lines to deliver online access throughout the state. CPUC commissioner Rachelle Chong, who drafted the plan, said broadband over power lines, or BPL, could become a new competitor to Internet services delivered via telephone, cable and satellites and help reduce prices for consumers. BPL uses existing utility lines delivering power to neighborhoods to carry broadband signals into homes. It has been touted by equipment makers and regulators as a possible competitor to cable and telecommunications services, which handle almost all of the roughly 40 million U.S. residential broadband connections. BPL technology also could allow utilities to develop so-called smart grid applications to more actively monitor and manage the distribution of electricity, said Chong, a former member of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. Until recently, U.S. utilities interested in BPL have faced various financial and technical problems, The signals that carry data over electrical lines can cause interference with radio equipment and can travel only a short distance before weakening, requiring repeaters in many areas. Nevertheless, utilities like TXU Corp., Texas's largest utility, and Cinergy Corp. in Ohio are exploring the service with privately held BPL provider Current Communications Group. The regulatory commission adopted guidelines for electric utilities and companies that wish to develop and test projects in California. Among the guidelines, electric utility affiliates and other developers can invest in and operate BPL systems. Utility affiliates would have to follow CPUC rules for transactions between a utility and a BPL affiliate to protect against cross-subsidies, the commission said. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headline news, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/tc-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Jeremy Kirk, IDG Subject: Trojan Freezes Computer, Demands $10.99 Ransom Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 14:36:54 -0500 Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service A new kind of malware circulating on the Internet freezes a computer and then asks for a ransom paid through the Western Union Holdings money transfer service. A sample of the Trojan horse virus was sent to Sophos, a security vendor, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant. The malware, which Sophos named Troj/Ransom-A, is one of only a few viruses so far that have asked for a ransom in exchange for releasing control of a computer, Cluley said. The new Trojan falls into a class of viruses described as "ransomware." The schemes had been seen in Russia, but the first one appeared in English just last month. "It is a new kind of malware with a particularly nasty payload," Cluley said. It's unclear how the Trojan is being spread, although Sophos is investigating, Cluley said. Viruses can be spread in several ways, including through spam or a so-called drive-by download that exploits a browser vulnerability when a user visits a malicious Web site. PC Frozen, Files at Risk Once run, the Trojan freezes the computer, displaying a message saying files are being deleted every 30 minutes. It then gives instructions on how to send $10.99 via Western Union to free the computer. Hitting the control, alt, and delete keys will not affect the bug, the virus writer warns. Sophos provides further details at its Web site. The virus writer even offers tech support, Cluley said. If the method of unlocking the computer doesn't work after the money is sent, the virus writer promises to research the problem and includes an e-mail address. Last month, a Trojan emerged that encrypts a user's documents and then leaves a file demanding $300 in exchange for the password to access the information. Victims were instructed to send money to one of 99 accounts run by e-gold, a company that runs a money transfer site. The password, however, was contained on the infected computer. Sophos cracked it and publicly released it. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more tech news, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/tech-news.html ------------------------------ From: dorothyferns@xtcmail.com Subject: Google's Clickfraud Settlement Offer is a Complete Fraud: Date: 27 Apr 2006 04:00:16 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Google's clickfraud settlement offer is itself a complete fraud: Snip Basically if you accept this "deal" Google will return .05% of all fradulent charges to you. Yes, .05% . The example given was if Google admits you had 10,000 dollars of clickfraud, you will only receive a 5 dollar refund. And you don't even get it in cash -- you get it in a "credit" for future advertising you may want to do through Google- which won't be likely since Google just admitted to defrauding you for thousands of dollars that they won't repay. Folks, Google has just passed the realm of "shady business operators" and into "outright crooks." There's not much more I can add to the article, http://www.marketingshift.com/2006/04/google-clickfraud-settlement-issues.cfm it speaks for itself. http://www.fuckedgoogle.com/ Snip Your take? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:46:18 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Thursday, April 27, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For April 27, 2006 ******************************** Internet2 Network Aims to Boost Capacity http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/17699?11228 NEW YORK (AP) - By sending data using different colors of light, operators of the ultrahigh-speed Internet2 network are hoping to boost capacity by as much as 80-fold to enable researchers to connect telescopes around the world and perform other bandwidth-intensive tasks. The new network should be in place by fall 2007, said Douglas Van... Walt Disney Co. To Launch Family-Oriented Mobile Service in Britain http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17693?11228 LONDON (AP) - The Walt Disney Co. announced plans Thursday to begin operating its own family-oriented mobile service in Britain later this year using the O2 communications network. The service, to be called Disney Mobile, will offer multiple handsets within the same subscription and allow parents to control spending, Internet access and... AT&T Forges Ahead with Faster Broadband, IP TV Roll-Out http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17690?11228 AT&T has announced that as of 1 May 2006, new customers can purchase the new Elite service online for US$27.99 per month (a 12-month subscription commitment and other charges apply). The service offers downlink speeds of between 3 Mbps and 6 Mbps, and uplink speeds of between 384 Kbps and 768 Kbps. Existing AT&T Yahoo! high-speed... France Telecom Quarterly Revenue up 10.3 percent, but Core Earnings Flat http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17688?11228 PARIS (AP) -- France Telecom SA posted a 10.3 percent increase in quarterly revenue Thursday but said regulator-enforced mobile tariff cuts and fierce competition in fixed-line offerings hurt core earnings. Europe's second-largest telecommunications operator said revenue rose to EUR12.81 billion (US$15.92 billion) in January-March... Austria: EU Gives Conditions for T-Mobile Takeover of tele.ring http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17687?11228 The European Commission yesterday approved the takeover of Austrian mobile operator tele.ring by T-Mobile Austria, but demanded action to preserve competition in the market. The commission was worried that the original proposal would have taken out tele.ring, which had offered the best prices to customers in recent years. To counter the... Loses Share in Domestic Fixed-Line Market in Q1 http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17685?11228 Polish fixed-line incumbent TP posted a better-than-expected 2.7% year-on-year (y/y) increase in its first-quarter 2006 revenue to 4.56 billion zloty (US$1.5 billion), against 4.44 billion zloty in the same period last year. The group's operating profit came in at 877 million zloty, down 10.1% y/y from 975 million a year earlier, and... House Passes Call Data Piracy Bill http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17684?11228 By a 409-0 vote on Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill to criminalize the fraudulent obtaining, buying and selling of consumer call data records, with provisions that would carry as much as 20-year prison sentence for convicted felons. With similar legislation pending in the Senate, the measure is rapidly bringing to... FCC Steps Toward DE Reform http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17681?11228 WASHINGTON, D.C.-The FCC sidestepped completely overhauling spectrum auction bidding rules for small carriers, but still made a dent in some of the more questionable bidding practices that have pervaded recent spectrum auctions, analysts say. The agency issued a set of proposed modifications to bid winners' lease and resale of spectrum,... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:23:38 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: House Panel OKs National Franchise Bill USTelecom dailyLead April 27, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dykEfDtutdbWjVRbaW TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * House panel OKs national franchise bill BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T, Yahoo! offer VoIP * Starz' Vongo in deal with AT&T * More dark fiber lines begin to carry traffic * Motorola, Cisco end dual-mode phone project * Web giants step up local plays * Comcast, Alcatel, Tellabs report earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Bookstore Best-Seller: VoIP Implementation and Planning Guide TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Yahoo! offers service to record TV shows * New technology combines mobile, landline phones * Nokia, iPass strike Wi-Fi deal for dual-mode phones * Analysis: Carriers' support of UMA key to success of next-gen phones REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * VoIP gear may be subject to export restrictions * FCC changes spectrum auction rules Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dykEfDtutdbWjVRbaW ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News for Thursday 27th April 2006 Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 07:56:30 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ 3G ]] Ukrtelecom suspends tender for 3G equipment supplies http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17139.php Ukraine's state-owned fixed-line monopoly Ukrtelecom has suspended a tender to supply equipment for third generation (3G) mobile services due to amendments to legislation on government purchases, the company's Chairman Georgy Dzekon told the sharehol... Bell Expands EV-DO Coverage in Canada http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17143.php Bell Canada says that it has launched new EV-DO networks in Ottawa, Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville, along with a new roaming agreement with Aliant for EV-DO service in Halifax. Bell Mobility currently also offers its customers high-speed wireless ... Ericsson Powers EMT's Launch of HSDPA in Estonia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17144.php Estonian mobile operator EMT has launched commercial mobile broadband services based on HSDPA in Tallinn. This launch follows the successful upgrade by Ericsson of EMT's 3G/WCDMA networks with HSDPA. Under the agreement, Ericsson has delivered commer... [[ Financial ]] EU Oks T-Mobile Austria Buy Of Tele.Ring With Conditions http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17128.php The European Commission Wednesday cleared Deutsche Telecom's Austrian mobile network provider to buy rival Austrian mobile operator Tele.Ring Service, but imposed some conditions on the purchase. ... Poland's TPSA 1Q Net Profit +9.2% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17129.php Telekomunikacja Polska, Poland's largest telecommunications operator, Wednesday said its first-quarter net profit rose 9.2% on slightly improved revenues. ... Sprint Nextel 1Q Down; Merger Costs Outweigh Sales http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17130.php RESTON, Va. (AP)--Sprint Nextel Corp. on Wednesday said first-quarter profits declined as merger costs outweighed higher sales for the cellphone carrier. ... Sprint Executive: Marketing Costs Weighed On Wireless Margins http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17131.php Sprint Nextel Corp. spent more on advertising and retaining customers in the first quarter, which weighed on the carrier's wireless margins, Chief Operating Officer Len Lauer said. ... Sonae Could Keep Portugal Telecom Interest In Brazil Vivo http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17132.php Portuguese conglomerate Sonae will not necessarily sell Portugal Telecom's stake in Brazil's largest mobile telephone operator Vivo Participacoes, if its hostile bid for the Portuguese telco is successful, Sonae Group President Belmiro de Azevedo sai... US Cellular 3Q Profit Up On Higher Revenue, More Customers http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17133.php United States Cellular Corp., Chicago, saw its net income rise to $34.6 million or 39 cents a share (40 cents basic) in the third quarter from $27.6 million or 32 cents a share basic and diluted a year earlier. ... Entel denies acquisition rumors http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17134.php Chilean holding company Almendral denies being in talks to sell its telecoms unit Entel to Mexico's America Mvil or any other company, Entel president Juan Hurtado told BNamericas. ... ANALYSIS: Ola's partner search winding up http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17135.php The deadline for committing to participate in the bidding process to become Colombia Mvil's (Ola) partner expires this Friday, but the number of companies that will actually come through and make a commitment is far from certain. ... Telenor discusses sale of Kyivstar to Russia's VimpelCom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17140.php Representatives of Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor and Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom have held negotiations on the possible sale of Kyivstar to VimpelCom, Telenor's press office said Wednesday. ... [[ Handsets ]] Camera Function Tops List of Frequently Used Features on Cellphones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17142.php According to recent research by InfoTrends, the camera is the most popular mobile application. Although consumers may not be purchasing phones initially for their imaging components, it seems that once they try the camera feature, they are pleasantly... [[ Network Contracts ]] Huawei Wins Russian CDMA Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17146.php Huawei has won a contract to construct a CDMA2000 network for Skylink, the largest CDMA operator in Russia. According to the contract, Huawei will now provide CDMA20001X/1x EV-DO network in 25 regions and cities in the CIS, making it responsible for ... TDMA & GSM SMS Supported by a Single Server http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17147.php Jinny Software says it has secured a contract to provide an SMSC, coupled with a range of VAS applications and a Real-time Charging Gateway to a key operator in the Caribbean region. The Caribbean operator has an existing TDMA network and is currentl... [[ Network Operators ]] Alegro PCS ditches administrator Swedtel http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17137.php Ecuadorian mobile operator Alegro PCS has put an end to its management contract with Swedish telecoms services firm Swedtel, Ecuadorian daily El Comercio reported. ... Sprint CFO Says Co Winning Share Of Customers http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17141.php Sprint Nextel Corp. is gaining market share in winning over customers, according to Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh. ... [[ Regulatory ]] Georgias Argotex gets mobile license http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17127.php Georgia?s Argotex has paid 19.9 million lari for a mobile telecommunication services license, the National Communications Commission said Tuesday. ... Subtel stresses importance of regulatory reform http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17136.php Telecoms regulations in Chile are significantly out of date and the authorities are keen to implement modifications as soon as conditions allow, according to Pablo Bello, new head of telecoms watchdog Subtel. ... Ukraine's regulator won't issue 3 GSM licenses to Golden Telecom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17138.php Ukraine's National Commission for Communications Regulation (NKRS) will not provide licenses for GSM 900 frequencies in three regions to Golden Telecom, the commission said Wednesday. ... [[ Reports ]] Landline Operators Driving Fixed-Mobile Convergence http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17145.php Fixed telecoms operators will be the driving force behind fixed mobile convergence over the next five years, according to a report from Informa Telecoms & Media. The study predicts 92 million subscribers by 2011 generating US$28 billion in revenues a... ------------------------------ From: darktiger Subject: Re: What Type of Wireless Should I Use? Date: 26 Apr 2006 23:30:18 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Where to start? Well ... Run your own fiber :-) Personally, I don't think you need GigE -- 100Mbps or even 48Mbps may suit you well ... You make no mention to how many computers you have on each side, but the server can only handle so many connections (limitation of a single NIC) For a lot of money you have this option: http://shop.wirelessguys.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.526/it.A/id.2883/.f Gbps for 1- 4 miles... For less money you have this option: http://shop.wirelessguys.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.535/it.A/id.2881/.f 150Mbps ... Or for some good, carrier grade 48Mbps MAX (Time Warner Telecom uses these) https://shop.invictusnetworks.com/detail.php?id=16063 I use those RAD AirMux 200 radios for our backhaul - not bad... With the right module you can even run 4x T1 lines over it for voice traffic or whatever... Hope this helps ... ------------------------------ From: Bob Goudreau Subject: Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 01:36:18 -0400 [Please anonymize my address as usual. Thanks.] Joshua Putnam wrote: > In article , rweller@h-e.com > says: >> Josh, >> DNC is, presumably, the Democratic National Committee. Did you ever >> donate money to the DNC or one of its daughter PACs? > No, but even if I had, I certainly wouldn't have given them my cell > phone number as a contact. >> Even if you don't have a "business relationship" with them, it is >> not clear to me whether the "do not call" requirement of the >> Telephone Consumer Privacy Act (TCPA) would apply to a PAC. It >> would not surprise me that the US Congress, when it wrote the TCPA, >> would carve out some exemption for PACs. > I suppose it could really be the Democratic National Committee, if > they're trying to annoy people into voting Republican. But it seems > like such a shady operation (endless hang-up calls, calling cell phone > numbers, hard-to-identify voice mail, etc.) that I find it hard to > believe it's really that DNC. They aren't *that* clueless, are they? Err, maybe I'm the only one that picked up on this, but it seemed clear to me from the original posts that that the "DNC Hotline" was a "D[o] N[ot] C[all]" hotline set up by the company in question (whoever they are), ostensibly to comply with the TCPA. Nothing to do with politics, in other words. Bob Goudreau Cary, NC ------------------------------ From: Ben Schilling Subject: RE: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:40:23 -0500 Joshua Putnam wrote: > * How, other than logging all these calls at www.donotcall.gov, do I > get the calls to stop? Interestingly enough Congress exempted political organizations from do not call restrictions. You'd have to be cynical to think that they might have some interest in letting those people call you. Ben Schilling ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:09:37 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? >> DNC is, presumably, the Democratic National Committee. Did you ever >> donate money to the DNC or one of its daughter PACs? >> Even if you don't have a "business relationship" with them, it is >> not clear to me whether the "do not call" requirement of the >> Telephone Consumer Privacy Act (TCPA) would apply to a PAC. It >> would not surprise me that the US Congress, when it wrote the TCPA, >> would carve out some exemption for PACs. > I suppose it could really be the Democratic National Committee, if > they're trying to annoy people into voting Republican. But it seems > like such a shady operation (endless hang-up calls, calling cell phone > numbers, hard-to-identify voice mail, etc.) that I find it hard to > believe it's really that DNC. They aren't *that* clueless, are they? Non profits seem to be excluded from the Do Not Call lists. And as someone who lives in a house with people registered in both parties, yes, both parties and their candidates pester us all the time with surveys and get out the vote calls as primaries and general elections approach. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: 27 Apr 2006 12:35:44 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Robert Weller wrote: > It would not surprise me > that the US Congress, when it wrote the TCPA, would carve out some > exemption for PACs. I'm pretty sure it was announced that political calls are exempt from the "no call" lists. What I don't understand is why they called your cell phone. I thought cell phones, hospital rooms, and nursing homes were explicitly blocked by law from receiving such solicitation calls. Cell phones because the owner must pay for received calls and obviously it's a burden for sick people. (Didn't stop my mother from being bothered by calls made by auto sequential dialers in the nursing home; I had to pull the phone out.) The people who make such solicitation calls obviously don't give a damn. They know most consumers won't bother to record the necessary information and register a complaint and even if they do, they'll get a slap on the wrist or fight the complaint dragging it out. I am flooded with such calls on election day. Indeed, I called the local Party and they shrugged it off, saying they had no control over it. I think both parties called but the Dems were worse. I hated the pre-recorded messages from prominent politicians. BTW, when I used 1169, I got "111-111-1111" as the calling number, which apparently is a VOIP line. I was also flooded with union calls. My local union denied a connection to the calls and refused to do anything about. They didn't appreciate the nasty letter I wrote to the national union complaining; the next election call volume was down. The definition of "prior relationship" is stretched greatly by callers. Some callers simply lie and claim "according to our records, about ten years ago you did business with us and we just wanted to check how you're doing". A company is allowed to sell your name or share it with "affiliates" which could be just about anyone. I was really mad at my bank for soliciting me at work to buy stock, yet when they wrongly bounced a check of mine, they didn't bother to call me to inquire. (They bounced it because it "looked funny"). I had to repeatedly complain, but they did pay the penalties the recipient passed on to me and gave me a letter admitting their error. P.S. The no-call lists have significantly reduced nuisance calls at home, and that's good. But I must say I must no use for the scumbags who sell and program 'auto-dialers' since they obviously made no exception for nursing home residents or cell phones. I haven't had incoming calls to my cellphone, but then my own phone is rarely on to receive them. But numerous people have complained about them. Many people (like me) pay for minutes for incoming calls, so it is grossly unfair to call someone. It turned out in my area there was a boiler room of phone solicitors. The owner whined he had to lay people off. Sorry, but I had no sympathy for him or his laid off employees. The unwanted calls were very disruptive to myself and my family; thank goodness we at least have this new law. Can anyone justify this practice? [public replies, please} ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 15:56:52 -0400 From: Cryderman, Charles Reader Joshua Putnam stated: > "I suppose it could really be the Democratic National Committee, if > they're trying to annoy people into voting Republican. But it seems > like such a shady operation (endless hang-up calls, calling cell phone > numbers, hard-to-identify voice mail, etc.) that I find it hard to > believe it's really that DNC. They aren't *that* clueless, are they?" Yes they are! Come-on man, didn't you see how the 2000 and 2004 elections went? Had they a clue they could have won (not that I'd bet on it). Chip Cryderman [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, if you recall during the last election there were various Republicans who got in trouble (put on trial and sent to jail actually) for jamming the phone lines of the Democrats; was it in Connecticut? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #161 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri Apr 28 13:36:12 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 367FB1581D; Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:36:12 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #162 Message-Id: <20060428173612.367FB1581D@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:36:12 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, CELL_PHONE_IMPROVE,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:40:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 162 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Some NPR and Christian Broadcasters Invaded by Howard Stern (AP News Wire) Yahoo Cited in Jailing of China Internet Writer (Benjamin Lim) Vote Shows Rift over Net Neutrality (Jim Puzzanghera) Microsoft Not Plotting Aganst Google, Ballmer Says (Reuters News Wire) Uniden Phones Interference With DSL Phone Line - How to Fix (jrbdmb) Cellular-News: Friday 28th April 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - April 28, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Voip Updated Basic, Translating, Voip News Advanced (triblika@gmail.com) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (Dave Garland) Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? (Harold) Re: California Okays Broadband Over Power Lines Test (Biteone) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Some NPR and Christian Broadcasters Invaded by Howard Stern Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:04:30 -0500 Some commuters hoping to ease into their day with National Public Radio or Christian broadcasts are hearing shock jock Howard Stern instead. Their favorite stations aren't broadcasting Stern's show, which has moved to satellite radio provider Sirius. Instead, poorly installed or defective satellite radio units, which act as mini-FM transmitters, are being blamed. "Usually they're upset, because they don't know what's going on. This isn't what they tuned in to (hear)," Charles W. Loughery, president of the Word FM Radio Network, a group of contemporary Christian stations in eastern Pennsylvania, told The (Baltimore) Sun. Some of the units use FM signals to broadcast the satellite signal to the car's audio system, using frequencies low on the FM band such as 88.1, often reserved for noncommercial, religious or educational stations. The signal from the satellite system can sometimes override broadcasts from those stations for listeners in nearby cars. Anthony Brandon, president and general manager at 88.1 WYPR, a National Public Radio affiliate in Baltimore, said he has sent 60 complaint letters to the Federal Communications Commission, which says it is investigating. Neil Hever, program director for 88.1 WDIY, an NPR affiliate in Bethlehem, Pa., said he has forwarded 38 letters to the FCC. "Back in December, a gentleman called from Warren County, N.J.," Hever said. "He said, 'I'm not going to turn you in, but I take offense to the rap music you're playing.' We said, "We don't program gangsta rap.'" "We're upset because we know it's aggravating our listeners, and we know (interference with a licensed broadcaster) is against the law." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Benjamin Lim Subject: Yahoo Cited in Jailing of China Internet Writer Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:55:33 -0500 By Benjamin Kang Lim Yahoo Inc. has been cited in a Chinese court decision to jail a dissident Internet writer for 10 years for subversion in 2003 -- the fourth such case to surface implicating the U.S. Internet giant. Wang Xiaoning, born in 1951, was convicted of the charge of "incitement to subvert state power" after e-mailing electronic journals advocating a multi-party system, the New York-based watchdog Human Rights in China (HRIC) said in a statement. Wang's journals, called Democratic Reform Free Forum and Current Political Commentary, included essays written under his real and pen names and by others advocating democratic reform. Evidence cited in the verdict included "information provided by Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. stating that Wang's "aaabbbccc" Yahoo Group was set up using the mainland China-based e-mail address bxoguh@yahoo.com.cn.," HRIC said. Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. also confirmed that the e-mail address ahgq@yahoo.com.cn, through which Wang sent messages to his Yahoo Group, was a China-based account, it said. But the verdict did not indicate whether Yahoo Holdings (Hong Kong) Ltd. or Yahoo China -- which is now operated by mainland China-based Alibaba.com -- provided specific information regarding Wang's identity, the watchdog said. Pauline Wong, a spokeswoman for Yahoo Hong Kong, said she did not have any details about Wang's case. "The Chinese government has never approached Yahoo Hong Kong for any information, and Yahoo Hong Kong has never given any information to the Chinese government," Wong said. She could not speak for Yahoo China, but said Yahoo companies worldwide are required to comply with local law. "Wherever law enforcement bodies request information, we would not know the nature of the investigation," she said. But she added: "We definitely condemn punishment of any activity internationally recognised as freedom of expression, whether that punishment takes place in China or anywhere else in the world." The verdict stated that following a search of Wang's home on September 1, 2002, police found the offending essays in personal computer files and records of his e-mail traffic, it said. The verdict also noted that in 2001, administrators of Wang's Yahoo Group noticed the political content of Wang's writings and did not allow him to continue distribution, HRIC said. He then began distributing his electronic journals by e-mail to individual e-mail addresses, HRIC said. The prosecution's evidence also included statements by two witnesses who had communicated with Wang by e-mail after reading his essays in e-mail or on Web sites, HRIC said. The case is the latest in a string of examples that highlight the friction between profits and principles for Internet companies doing business in China, the world's number-two Internet market. Web search giant Google Inc. has come under fire for saying it would block politically sensitive terms on its new China site, bowing to conditions set by Beijing. In December, Microsoft Corp. shut down a blog at MSN Spaces belonging to outspoken blogger Michael Anti under Chinese government orders. (Additional reporting by John Ruwitch in Hong Kong) Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Jim Puzzanghera Subject: Vote Shows Rift over Net Neutrality Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:57:46 -0500 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-neutral27apr27,1,3974734.story?coll=la-headlines-business From the Los Angeles Times Panel Vote Shows Rift Over `Net Neutrality' A House committee rejects a bid to ban extra charges for faster, more reliable delivery of data. By Jim Puzzanghera Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON - A fight in a House committee about online tolls offered a preview Wednesday of the larger battle brewing over the future of the Internet as Congress overhauls telecommunications rules for the first time in a decade. Despite lobbying from online giants such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., the House Energy and Commerce Committee rejected an amendment that would prohibit the owners of Internet networks from charging extra for preferential treatment of data. Uncertainty over so-called Internet neutrality threatens to derail broader efforts to update the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which governs phones and cable television as well as Internet access. Some changes already are strongly opposed by the cable TV industry because they would allow phone companies to more easily offer TV services. Opponents hope to stir up an online groundswell for strong Net neutrality rules. "The public is starting to awaken to this great threat," Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) told his colleagues on the Republican-dominated committee shortly before they voted 34-22 against the neutrality amendment. As more people use the Internet for data-heavy applications like video and music, the copper wires and fiber-optic lines that whisk information from computer to computer can get crowded. Big phone companies led by AT&T Inc. want to charge extra to guarantee fast and reliable delivery. Critics contend that would turn the Internet into a virtual toll road. They say such preferential treatment violates the egalitarian spirit of the Internet and threatens to stifle innovation. All but five of the committee's Democrats supported the amendment, along with one Republican, Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.). The Democratic support was heavier than in a subcommittee vote earlier this month. The overall telecom bill handily passed the committee 42-12, with 15 Democrats supporting it. Opponents said they were not giving up. With House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) backing Net neutrality rules, and some Republicans raising questions about the issue during a House Judiciary Committee hearing this week, opponents hope to slow the bill's momentum toward a full House vote in coming weeks. Net neutrality could cause additional problems for telecom legislation in the Senate. Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is drafting a version of the bill and has said Net neutrality is the most contentious issue. Supporters of the House telecom bill said it would make data discrimination illegal and argued that no company was levying tolls anyway. Committee Chairman Joe L. Barton (R-Texas), the main sponsor of the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006, promised to support a legislative fix if problems arose. But leading Internet companies, including Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, Mountain View, Calif.-based Google, Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc., San Jose-based Ebay Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, Wash., do not want to take that chance. They have been pressing for strong rules to guarantee neutral treatment of data over the Internet. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. joined the group Tuesday. On Monday, a variety of grass-roots organizations - including MoveOn.org Civic Action, Common Cause, Gun Owners of America and the Parents Television Council -- launched Savetheinternet.com to press for Net neutrality rules. The group said 500 blogs had linked to the site and more than 250,000 people had signed a petition to the Energy and Commerce Committee. "It comes down to trust," Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, a coalition member, told reporters in a conference call. The telecom bill would allow companies such as AT&T and Verizon Communications Inc. to more easily offer pay television services similar to cable. The bill would eliminate the need for companies to get permission from every community they want to serve by offering the option to obtain a national franchise instead of the local franchises that cable companies had to obtain. That provision is part of an overall strategy by the companies to compete with cable in offering video, voice and Internet packages to consumers. Barton and other supporters of the bill say that making it easer for phone companies to compete with cable would help create incentives to build more broadband Internet services. AT&T and Verizon also are pushing a bill in the California Legislature to allow for a statewide franchise. Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Microsoft Not Plotting Aganst Google, Ballmer Says Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:01:50 -0500 Microsoft not hatching plan with eBay: paper Microsoft is not plotting against Google with eBay, Microsoft's chief executive told a German newspaper, but he said he did often talk with his counterpart at eBay about working together. "Of course we talk with eBay all the time," Steve Ballmer told Germany's Die Welt in an interview published on Friday. "But we don't get together in a secret circle and hatch plans about what we could do together against Google." Google posted a 79-percent jump in revenue earlier this month as it took a greater share of the Internet search market. Its rapid growth has spurred eBay to consider a partnership with Microsoft or Yahoo, the world's second-biggest Internet search engine company, as Google takes aim against Web auction company eBay with an online classified service. The Wall Street Journal has reported that eBay, a major buyer of Web search keyword advertising, is talking to Yahoo and Microsoft as well as Google about forming an alliance. But Ballmer said: "A tie-up with the sole aim of shutting out a competitor makes no sense. The partnership must produce something that is useful for users and advertisers." He added, however, that he did regularly talk to eBay's CEO Meg Whitman, who he said was a close personal friend. "I've known her for 22 years, and so we talk a lot about what Microsoft and eBay could do together," he said. Ballmer added that he had no plans to pay for Microsoft's new version of Windows, Vista, through advertising. "You mean, would we finance Vista more by advertising than by selling software? Not likely," Ballmer said. "Part of the screen would then be covered in advertisements. I'm sure most customers would rather pay $50 or $60 more for their PC." Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines of interest please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/tde-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ From: jrbdmb@yahoo.com Subject: Uniden Phones Interference With DSL - Why or How to Fix? Date: 27 Apr 2006 19:35:44 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Here's a strange problem I have encounterd in the past week, and I'm hoping that somebody has a clue on what could be happening. My old Uniden 2.4 GHz cordless phone is on its last legs, so I have decided to replace the phone with one of the new 5.6 GHZ models. On both models I tried (TRU8885 and TRU9485), when I take attempt to dial the call using the handset or base, there is a dial tone for a fraction of a second (almost too short to notice) and then the dial tone goes dead. After playing with the phone for a while I determined that for some reason the phone is dialing a "1" by iteslf (local calls would not go through, error message "you do not need to dial a 1 ..."; LD calls go through without having to dial a "1" myself). Now, I disconnected all other phones from my line, verified the DSL filter on the line in use, and the problem persists. But if I hook the same phone up in my "mother in law suite" on a separate line, the phone works as expected. Three tested units (2 8885's, 1 9485) all exhibit the same behavior. (Note that I have a Verizon phone line with the 768KB DSL service, Call Waitng, Voice Mail, and a few other services. My mother in law's line is bare bones with no DSL or extra services.) So ... short of just returning all three Unidens for a different brand, I'm hoping to identify and correct the problem myself. Could it be an interference issue between new Uniden phones and DSL? Perhaps interference between the phone and some other serivce on my line? Are there better quality DSL filters that may resolve the problems? Could it be a Verizon wiring problem, even though my old cordless phone works OK? Or have I found a flaw in the new Uniden cordless phones? Thanks for any info you can provide. ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Friday 28th April 2006 Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 09:30:01 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ Financial ]] Vodafone Completes Vodafone Japan Sale, To Return GBP6 Billion http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17148.php Vodafone Group said Thursday that, further to its announcement on March 17, it has completed the sale of its 97.68% interest in Vodafone Japan to a wholly-owned subsidiary of SoftBank Corporation. ... Alcatel Profit Dips 16% On Tax Charges http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17149.php Alcatel, the French telecommunications-equipment provider that has agreed to buy Lucent Technologies, on Thursday said its quarterly profit fell 16% on higher tax charges. ... Millicom's Q1 driven by 77% CentAm rev growth http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17150.php European mobile holding company Millicom International Cellular registered 77% revenue growth in Central America in the first quarter, the company said in a statement. ... SK Telecom Sees 2006 Wireless Data Service Revenue +20% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17154.php SK Telecom said Thursday it expects its wireless Internet data service business to post 20% revenue growth in 2006. ... Cesky Telecom CEO:Merger With Eurotel To Complete July http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17158.php Cesky Telecom will complete the merger with its mobile unit Eurotel In July, Cesky Chief Executive Jaime Smith said Thursday. ... Telenor says to continue talks with Altimo on VimpelCom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17159.php Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor and Altimo, the telecommunications arm of Russia's Alfa Group, have agreed to continue talks on the possible acquisition of Kyivstar by VimpelCom, Telenor said in a press release Thursday. ... Sweden's Ericsson says 2005 sales in Russia at 4.554 bln kronor http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17160.php The Russian sales of Sweden-based telecommunications equipment producer and supplier Ericsson amounted to 4.554 billion Swedish kronor in 2005, the company said in a press release Thursday. ... Investcom Increases Yemeni & Sudan Investments http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17164.php Investcom has announced that it has finalised the terms of its increased ownership in its Yemen and Sudan subsidiaries. In September 2005, Investcom entered into a deed of exchange with Al Bashair Telecom, agreeing to acquire an additional 40% stake ... [[ Handsets ]] Another Cellphone Health Issue Report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17167.php The effect of electromagnetic fields from digital mobile phones (DMP) on brain functioning is an area receiving increased attention. A study conducted by researchers at Swinburne's Brain Sciences Institute (BSI) in Australia compared the performance ... [[ MVNO ]] Walt Disney Internet Group To Launch UK Family Mobile Service http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17155.php The Walt Disney Internet Group said Thursday that it is to create a mobile phone service in the UK specifically designed for families. ... [[ Network Operators ]] Vivo: Over-subsidized handsets damage market http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17151.php Brazil's largest mobile operator Vivo has criticized rival firms that are offering handsets at promotional rates of 1 real (US$0.47), newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo reported. ... Viva GSM to invest US$15mn in coverage, advertising http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17153.php Bolivian mobile, public telephony and long-distance operator NuevaTel (Viva GSM) plans to invest US$15mn in coverage expansion and advertising this year, local daily El Deber reported. ... FOCUS: New market trends force Russian mobile operators to evolve http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17156.php While the development of Russia?s mobile telecommunications market in recent years was characterized by soaring subscriber bases and falling average revenue per user (ARPU), that trend now seems to be broken with subscriber base growth decelerating a... No more Animals from Orange http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17166.php Orange UK is preparing to ditch its much derided "animals" campaign in favour of a generic branding campaign. The Animals campaign, costing around US$18 million was due to run to the end of this year, and was based around classifying customers as a t... [[ Regulatory ]] Conatel to launch mobile license auction by year-end http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17152.php Honduran telecoms regulator Conatel expects to launch a mobile license auction by year-end, local press reported. ... Phone Operator Study Criticizes EU Roaming Proposals http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17157.php Mobile phone operators published a study Thursday attacking the European Union's proposals to force them to cut the fees customers pay while traveling abroad, so-called roaming fees. ... [[ Reports ]] Chinese Telecoms CAPEX Falling Slightly http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17161.php Analysys International has reported that total capital expenditure (CAPEX) of China telecommunication carriers will reach US$25.6 billion (excluding 3G CAPEX) in 2006, representing a decrease of 1% year over year. According to the report, Chinese tel... [[ Statistics ]] Asia Phone Penetration to Reach 50% By 2010 - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17162.php Asia mobile subscribers totalled 820 million in 2005, a 20.5% increase on 2004, according to Business Monitor International's report on 14 key Asia markets. Of this figure, an estimated 59 million were 3G mobile subscribers in 2005, representing a 57... PDA Market Shrinks as Mobiles Take Customers http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17163.php Following a holiday quarter in which worldwide shipments of handheld devices topped two million units, the worldwide market for handheld devices began 2006 with its ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline. According to IDC's Worldwide Han... [[ Technology ]] Doubling of Handset Filter Shipments - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17165.php Multi-band handsets will drive demand for compact front-end modules that simplify cellphone design, layout and assembly says Strategy Analytics. Filters used in modules, including power amplifier, antenna switch, low noise amplifier and transceiver m... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 12:05:40 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Friday, April 28, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For April 28, 2006 ******************************** Comcast 1Q profit more than triples http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17712?11228 PHILADELPHIA -- Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable TV operator, said Thursday its net income for the first quarter more than tripled, buoyed by strength across all its business lines including once-lagging digital voice. The company earned $466 million (375.38 million), or 22 cents a share, in the latest quarter, compared with... Yell Buys Stake in Telefonica Unit http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/17710?11228 LONDON -- Yell Group PLC said Friday it has agreed to buy a majority stake in the telephone directories arm of Spain's Telefonica SA and announced a 3.07 billion euros ($3.85 billion) takeover bid for the entire division. The move bolsters Yell's plans to build its business through acquisitions following last year's purchase by its U.S.... Mobile TV's XXX Factor http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/17705?11228 If mobile video is the next killer app, then erotic content is quickly becoming that killer app's biggest booster. Mobile TV industry sources say that outside the U.S. as much as 30 percent of the video content viewed on mobile devices is pornography. (See Mobile TV Gets Moving.)Read... EC OKs tele.ring Sale; Demands UMTS Divestiture http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17701?11228 After eight months of deliberation, the European Commission has finally given its approval to the $1.6 billion acquisition of tele.ring, Alltel's Austrian business, by Deutsche Telekom subsidiary T-Mobile Austria GmbH -- but demanded that tele.ring divest its two 3G/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) frequency blocks as a... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: triblika@gmail.com Subject: Voip Updated Basic,Translating,Voip News and Advanced Date: 27 Apr 2006 17:42:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Voip Updated Basic,Translating,Voip News and Advanced How this is possible, what systems are used, what is the standard, all that is covered by this ... http://www.freewebs.com/voipformula/VoIP-HOWTO.html ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 19:15:18 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when DLR wrote: > Non profits seem to be excluded from the Do Not Call lists. And as > someone who lives in a house with people registered in both parties, > yes, both parties and their candidates pester us all the time with > surveys and get out the vote calls as primaries and general elections > approach. As one who makes some of those calls, I can give you a hint, at least with the surveys. Most of them are done by the various individual campaigns, in an attempt to categorize people into three groups: those who are gonna vote for us, those who are gonna vote against us, and the undecided. People who are firmly for or against don't get any more survey calls. (Being largely volunteer operations of varying competence, however, screwups do happen.) The undecided get more sales material, maybe even a call from the candidate him or herself, and another survey later. As long as you're undecided, we'll keep coming back. The "for" people will receive get-out-the-vote calls, the "against" people won't (we would, after all, prefer that they forget to vote). Multiply it all by the number of campaigns in your area. :( We might not volunteer the name of the candidate we're calling in behalf of, but at least in this state we have to tell you if you ask. I suppose if it was a "real" nonpartisan survey, or one that was contracted out to a market research company, the caller wouldn't know who the client was (they probably don't share that info with the minimum-wage peons who make the calls). It was a dark and stormy night when PAT wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, if you recall during the last > election there were various Republicans who got in trouble (put on > trial and sent to jail actually) for jamming the phone lines of the > Democrats; was it in Connecticut? PAT] New Hampshire. Fallout from the case is still going on, the guy in New Hampshire running the scam (James Tobin, the Republican director for New England, who later became Bush's New England campaign chair) made several dozen calls to a White House political affairs office number on election day (while the jamming was going on), and the White House is stonewalling on telling exactly whose desk that phone number went to. Tobin was convicted, there have been a couple of other plea bargains, and the owner of the telemarketing firm that actually made the hangup calls is awaiting trial. ------------------------------ From: harold@hallikainen.com Subject: Re: Who is 888-695-9405, and Why do They Keep Calling Me? Date: 28 Apr 2006 07:34:21 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The FCC rules on telemarketing are located at http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/2006/64/1200/ . Harold ------------------------------ From: Biteone Subject: Re: California Okays Broadband Over Power Lines Test Date: 28 Apr 2006 06:35:07 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Have they fixed the problem with this service and it's possible disturbance it could cause to broadcast radio ? ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #162 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat Apr 29 19:07:18 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C1FBF1516B; Sat, 29 Apr 2006 19:07:17 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #163 Message-Id: <20060429230717.C1FBF1516B@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 19:07:17 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 29 Apr 2006 19:10:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 163 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Using Dilution to Fight Phishers (Munir Kotadia) Mobile Phones 'Affect Brain Function' (Marcus Didius Falco) Dial-Up Provider Loses Net Access Amid Fee Dispute / Ruling (Monty Solomon) Data Storage Firm Apologizes For Loss of Railroad Data Tape (Monty Solomon) Telecom Update #527 April 28, 2006 (Angus TeleManagement Group) FTTH Deployment up 107% Since October (USTelecom dailyLead) Big League Spammer Ralsky in Custody; May be Singing (Danny Burstein) Re: California Okays Broadband Over Power Lines Test (Scott Dorsey) Re: What Type of Wireless Should I Use? (Ghazan Haider) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Munir Kotadia ZDNET Australia Subject: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 12:53:23 -0500 Fighting Fraud by Baiting Phishers By Munir Kotadia, ZDNet Australia http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/security/0,39044215,39347561,00.htm RSA Security's Cyota division is helping fight phishing attacks by giving the online fraudsters what they want: a lot of usernames, passwords, online-banking credentials and credit card numbers. Phishing occurs when cybercriminals set up fraudulent copies of a genuine Web site -- usually of a financial institution -- and try to lure customers of that organization into visiting the site and entering their login credentials and other personal details. Unfortunately for the phishers, one of the techniques Cyota is using to help protect its banking customers is to pump such fraudulent Web sites with so many fake entries that the genuine details are harder to find, according to Naftali Bennett, senior vice president of consumer solutions at RSA and co-founder of Cyota, which was acquired by the security giant late last year. "The technique is called dilution: We generate a list of bogus credentials and feed the Web site with false usernames, passwords and credit card numbers. The fraudster may have obtained 30 genuine credentials out of 300 -- we are trying to make it less worthwhile and more risky for the fraudster," Bennett told ZDNet Australia on Thursday. Dilution is just one of many weapons used by Cyota to help fight against fraud. According to Bennett, RSA Cyota runs a command center that scans about 1.5 billion e-mails a day looking for new phishing attacks. When an attack is discovered, the company contacts the relevant ISPs to shut the phishing site down. "The main thing we do is shut down the Web site. It may be hosted from 12 different locations -- China, Seoul and Lithuania -- but we get a real-time translator, contact the local ISP, and tell them we are calling from the bank; please shut it down," he said. Having repeated this process about 15,000 times, Bennett claims that his company is getting rather good at it: "On average, the duration of a phishing site is about 6.5 days. With RSA Cyota, it is 5.5 hours -- we really shorten the window of opportunity." The information gathered by RSA Cyota will also be used by Microsoft in IE 7, the next version of its Internet Explorer browser. IE 7 will use Cyota's database of known phishing IP addresses to block access to fraudulent Web sites. "We have cut a deal with Microsoft, AOL and other ISPs. Within minutes of discovering a phishing attack, we send Microsoft the IP address of the spoofed Web site. If, by mistake, you click on a (phishing) link, you will see a message telling you (that) you can't enter the Web site because it is a fraudulent one," Bennett added. The technology gained by RSA when it acquired Cyota is also being used to provide banks with a risk-based authentication system that provides an "invisible" second layer of security. The profiling system seems to be favored by banks for their mass market, low-value customers because it does not require relatively expensive tokens, which have for many years been employed by large banks to protect high-value customers and transactions. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news reports, please check out: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is an old, old trick, but still it works pretty well. I did the same thing quite a number of years ago, when I was helping someone with a BBS which was absolutely a fraud-hive (but he wanted to get rid of it all, however the hackers kept calling up his phone line.) I helped him put a 'backdoor' thing in his code, and pointed it to a bogus file of alleged 'credit card numbers' and 'telephone calling card numbers'. Then I took a big, giant, humongous core file which was labled 'mother of all cores' and stuck it in there. (What had happened earlier was something I was working on, I forget what, had dumped core -- a few million bytes of it -- that's why I kept it and called it 'mother of all cores'). I gave it an innocent looking name and buried it all inside that directory, which I labled 'warez'. Then I put a 'secret password' on that file, and a real elaborate looking scheme one had to bust through to get into the so-called 'warez' and 'credit card numbers'. We then went onto the 'hackers BBS' (under a phalse name) and I put up a real tempting looking honey pot for them: "Hey, Doodz! There is a whole load of fresh calling card numbers on the First Choice system ANdover 3-0001." The message I left told them 'the secret word' to break out of the BBS program and get to the shell; (actually a quite restricted rshell) and the password at that level to log in, and the 'file name' to look for. That night there were at least a dozen guys over there snooping around. We sat there all evening watching them call in, break out to the shell, and download that hellish looking file (which at 300-1200 baud download took them a couple hours easily.) Then, the next morning I abolished the back door out of the BBS program and eliminated the r-shell account entirely. That gave them something to play around with for a few hours, all of them enthusiastic with high hopes, I imagine. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 22:01:52 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: Mobile Phones 'Affect Brain Function' - Yahoo! Australia & NZ http://au.news.yahoo.com/060329/2/yenw.html Mobile phones 'affect brain function' Radiation emitted by mobile phones affects brain function, Australian research suggests. Scientists at Swinburne University of Technology's Brain Sciences Institute in Melbourne studied the performances of 120 healthy volunteers on a series of psychological tests during half an hour of exposure to mobile phone emissions. They compared the results to those collected when the same volunteers were tested during a "sham" condition, in which the mobile phone was not emitting radiation. The study was designed so neither the scientists, nor the participants, were aware when the mobile phone was turned on. Lead researcher Con Stough said they found the subjects' reaction times and information processing were impaired by the mobile phone emissions. "The study showed evidence of slower response times for participants undertaking simple reactions and more complex reactions, such as choosing a response when there is more than one alternative," Professor Stough said. "Mobile phones do seem to affect brain function. They seem to be fairly small effects but nevertheless, something's happening." The research was published in this month's edition of the journal, Neuropsychologia. Prof Stough said research by the institute, which was yet to be published, suggested the effects of mobile phone radiation on the brain was cumulative. "People, for instance, who use the mobile phone a lot seem to have more of an impairment than people who are more naive users," he said in an interview. Elderly people were also apparently more sensitive to the effects than younger users. Nevertheless, Prof Stough is not about to give away his own mobile phone. "It's such a part of modern society ... and we haven't established that there's negative health consequences. That's a different type of study. "We're just showing that the radiation is actually active on the brain. "But the impairment is small. The convenience and the way that we communicate now these days outweighs that effect." Prof Stough said if people were concerned about the issue and they still wanted to use a mobile phone, they should buy an ear piece. "The further you get the phone away from the brain, the less radiation it absorbs," he said. As for any use of mobile phones in cars -- hands free or not -- Prof Stough is against it. "I think they should be banned from cars," he said. The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Copyright 2006 Yahoo! Australia & NZ Pty Limited. Direct replies are unlikely to be read. To reply use the address below: falco(underscore)md(atsign)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Yahoo Australia-NZ Pty Ltd. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 18:57:20 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Dial-up Provider Loses Net Access Amid Fee Dispute / Ruling Dial-up provider loses Net access amid fee dispute Ruling favoring Verizon may hike price of service By Keith Reed, Globe Staff Service to thousands of dial-up Internet users in Massachusetts was disrupted this week after a federal court ruled against a Quincy company in a lawsuit that could have broad impact on the cost of dial-up service. The US Court of Appeals in Boston ruled April 11 that Verizon Communications Inc. can charge per-minute fees for calls to local numbers that dial-up users need to connect to the Internet -- in much the same way that they charge for long-distance or other calls. The ruling came after Verizon sued Global NAPs Inc., a Quincy company that supplies local numbers to 28 Internet service providers for use by their dial-up customers. Verizon claims it is owed more than $65 million by Global NAPs. The court did not rule on damages, but Verizon cut off Global NAPs's access to its network, effectively shutting down Internet service for customers of dial-up providers like MegaNet of Fall River, which had to find another company to supply emergency connections for its approximately 7,500 dial-up subscribers. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/04/28/dial_up_provider_loses_net_access_amid_fee_dispute/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 01:30:43 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Data Storage Firm Apologizes for Loss of Railroad Data Tapes Information on as many as 17,000 workers at risk By Chris Reidy, Globe Staff Iron Mountain Inc., a Boston data-storage firm, apologized yesterday for losing personal data, including Social Security numbers, for thousands of Long Island Rail Road employees. The railroad is an Iron Mountain customer. The loss was discovered April 6 by an Iron Mountain driver when backup tapes with employees' personal data were being transferred between locations. At risk are as many as 17,000 current or former railroad employees, according to a report in Newsday yesterday. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/04/28/data_storage_firm_apologizes_for_loss_of_railroad_data_tapes/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 11:02:53 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #527, April 28, 2006 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 527: April 28, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.com/canada/telecom/ ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Rogers Cable Phone Customers Double in Three Months ** TD-Bank Chooses Bell IP Contact Centre ** CRTC to Hear Do-Not-Call Views Next Week ** Cogeco Upgrades Internet Service ** Bell Extends High-Speed Wireless ** Rogers Expands Ottawa Calling Area ** Rogers and Sprint Plan Transborder MPLS ** Bell Reports Progress in Videotron Dispute ** MTS to Receive $10 Million Subsidy Payment ** CRTC Slashes Billed Number Screening Fees ** Aliant Inside Wire Services Deregulated ** CSI Sells Fixed Wireless Business ** MTS Shareholders to Meet Tuesday ** Avaya Sales Flat ** Telehop Revenue Jumps 36% ** Ex-Nortel Exec Named Nakina Chair ** Sierra Chooses New Chairman ** Six Weeks to Telecom Summit ============================================================ ROGERS CABLE PHONE CUSTOMERS DOUBLE IN THREE MONTHS: Rogers Communications had 96,700 cable telephony customers by March 31, twice the total three months earlier. The company's circuit-switched customer base increased 22% from a year earlier, bringing its total base of residential local telephony customers to 498,700. ** Rogers now has 14% more postpaid cellular customers than a year ago. Revenue per customer is up by 5.1%, and the churn rate is down to 1.47%. Data now accounts for 10.3% of wireless network revenue. ** Rogers Business Solutions, which includes the former business wing of Call-Net, increased its revenue by 5.6% from a year ago. ** Rogers is now primarily a telecom company: cellular alone makes up 52% of its total revenue, and all telecom revenues comprise 63%. TD-BANK CHOOSES BELL IP CONTACT CENTRE: Toronto Dominion Bank has signed a seven-year contract with Bell Canada to use Bell's hosted contact centre service, which is based on Cisco IP telephony technology. The incumbent contact centre provider was MTS Allstream. CRTC TO HEAR DO-NOT-CALL VIEWS NEXT WEEK: The CRTC's public consultation on Canadian "Do Not Call" rules runs Tuesday-Thursday of next week (May 2-4) in Gatineau. The Commission's website sets out the agenda, and will provide a live audio feed and transcripts of the hearing. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/process/2006/may2.htm COGECO UPGRADES INTERNET SERVICE: Cogeco Cable has increased the maximum download speed of its standard Internet access service to 7 Mbps. Limits on monthly download volumes have been increased by three to five times, depending on service plan. BELL EXTENDS HIGH-SPEED WIRELESS: Bell Canada has launched EV-DO wireless service, which delivers data at up to 2.4 Mbps, in Ottawa, Hamilton, Burlington, and Oakville. Bell says it now offers the service in 15 urban centres covering all regions of Canada. ** A network sharing agreement allows Bell and Telus to use each other's EV-DO facilities. ROGERS EXPANDS OTTAWA CALLING AREA: Beginning this weekend, Rogers Communications will extend the free calling area for its Home Phone service in Ottawa to cover all of Ottawa-Gatineau, as well as North Grenville, Merrickville, Carleton Place, Lanark, Russell, and other surrounding communities. ** For more than five years, the City of Ottawa has been asking the CRTC and Bell Canada to eliminate long distance charges within the amalgamated city. (See Telecom Update #287) ROGERS AND SPRINT PLAN TRANSBORDER MPLS: Rogers Business Solutions and U.S. LD Carrier Sprint have agreed to jointly offer IP networks with MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) to business customers with locations in Canada and the U.S. BELL REPORTS PROGRESS IN VIDEOTRON DISPUTE: The CRTC has agreed to Bell Canada's request that the deadline for Videotron's response to Bell's recent complaint be extended to May 31. The telco says it is "encouraged" by discussions with Videotron: Bell had complained that the cableco was refusing to let its telephone customers use Bell's high-speed Internet service. (See Telecom Update #524) MTS TO RECEIVE $10 MILLION SUBSIDY PAYMENT: The CRTC has agreed that MTS should receive a retroactive subsidy of $9.893 million for providing residential service in its high-cost Band F area from January 2002 to October 2003. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-20.htm CRTC SLASHES BILLED NUMBER SCREENING FEES: The CRTC has ordered Bell Canada to reduce the fee it charges carriers to make changes to its Billed Number Screening (BNS) database, to $0.34 from $3.16 per transaction. The Commission has also ordered Telus to show cause why its BNS rates should not be similarly reduced. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-24.htm ALIANT INSIDE WIRE SERVICES DEREGULATED: The CRTC has deregulated diagnostic, repair, and maintenance services provided by Aliant for single-line customers' inside wire, except for customers who do not have a jack-ended demarcation device. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-21.htm CSI SELLS FIXED WIRELESS BUSINESS: CSI Wireless of Calgary has agreed to sell its fixed wireless business to Illinois-based Telular for $14.8 million. CSI is also trying to sell its telematics business in order to concentrate on global positioning system products. MTS SHAREHOLDERS TO MEET TUESDAY: Manitoba Telecom Services will hold its Annual Meeting of Shareholders on Tuesday, May 2, at the Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg. The meeting, which begins at noon Eastern Time, will be available as a live webcast at www.mtsallstream.com. AVAYA SALES FLAT: Avaya reports first quarter sales of $1.24 billion, up 1% from a year ago and down 1% from the previous quarter. Product sales rose 9% on the year, but services revenue fell 5%. Net income of $38 million was slightly higher than a year ago, but half the level of the previous quarter. TELEHOP REVENUE JUMPS 36%: LD carrier Telehop Communications reports $20.8 million in total revenue for 2005, up from $15.3 million in 2004. Net income was $611,000, more than double last year's figure. ** Telehop has named former Bell Canada Senior VP Barry Dixon as interim chair while the company's founder and chair, Hersh Spiegelman, undergoes medical treatment in the U.S. EX-NORTEL EXEC NAMED NAKINA CHAIR: Marco Pagini, who headed Nortel's optical division until 2004, has been appointed Chairman of Nakina Systems, an Ottawa-based developer of network management software for carriers. SIERRA CHOOSES NEW CHAIRMAN: Sierra Wireless has named Charles Levine, former President of Sprint PCS, as chairman. He replaces Peter Ciceri. SIX WEEKS TO TELECOM SUMMIT: The 2006 Canadian Telecom Summit will be held at the Toronto Congress Centre, June 12-14. Featured speakers include federal Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and CRTC Chair Charles Dalfen. For information, and to register, go to http://www.gstconferences.com/. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web late Friday afternoon each week at http://www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see http://www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2006 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ============================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 13:28:17 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: FTTH Deployment up 107% Since October USTelecom dailyLead April 28, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dywQfDtutddjiZhzhh TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * FTTH deployment up 107% since October BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon cuts off local telecom's Internet service * Yell buys Spanish rival * Triple play dominates tech spending by cable carriers USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Stay on top of IPTV, Network Security, IMS, Ethernet, IPv6 and more TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Report: Ethernet services revenue more than doubled * Internet2 announces new, faster network VOIP DOWNLOAD * Skype passes 100M users * Vonage details IPO plans REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * California PUC eases BPL rules * Proposal would use chunk of 700 MHz spectrum for emergency services Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dywQfDtutddjiZhzhh ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Big League Spammer Ralsky in Custody; May be Singing... Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 03:44:07 -0400 Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC " Local hacker 'Memehacker' ('instant messaged') in with a scoop on Alan Ralsky, the famed 'Spam King' covered by the Observer and the Detroit News. Here's the breaking story: " Valleywag: 'Tell me the scoop in three sentences. " Memehacker: 'Alan Ralsky is currently being held by the feds and his file is sealed for the next 72 hours by the DOJ. We are concerned that he is going to narq out the entire network since they have enough on him to send him to jail. " 'This means hackers, spammers, anyone who has worked in spam legally or illegally for the last 5 years at least. The DOJ wants to do a dragnet, they have the top dog, but they want the whole system as well ... http://www.valleywag.com/tech/alan-ralsky/scoop-doj-jails-spam-king-alan-ralsky-might-rat-out-a-massive-hacker-spammer-network-170385.php _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: California Okays Broadband Over Power Lines Test Date: 28 Apr 2006 14:09:27 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) Biteone wrote: > Have they fixed the problem with this service and it's possible > disturbance it could cause to broadcast radio ? No. There really isn't one, short of redesigning the whole power delivery infrastructrue. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: Ghazan Haider Subject: Re: What Type of Wireless Should I Use? Date: 28 Apr 2006 21:21:32 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > Where to start? Well ... Run your own fiber :-) That was the first idea. Option exhausted. > Personally, I don't think you need GigE -- 100Mbps or even 48Mbps may > suit you well ... You make no mention to how many computers you have > on each side, but the server can only handle so many connections > (limitation of a single NIC) Well we've really hit the ceiling with 15mbps now. There are all kinds of citrix connections breaking, files can't be transferred etc. Think 30 desktop/laptops in each location with most of the servers in one location. 15mbps doesnt cut it, and we'll quickly hit the ceiling with 50mbps since at least one site's switch will be gigabit. We have a dual subnet setup, and with the citrix licenses it all adds to the running costs. Not to mention the additional servers for the second site. We'll maintain it as is if theres no feasible option, but it never hurts to fish. > For a lot of money you have this option: > http://shop.wirelessguys.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.526/it.A/id.2883/.f > Gbps for 1- 4 miles... Someone else mentioned this to me. In Canadian dollars, including tax etc its 75000. I'll keep this at the back of my head if the company really grows. > For less money you have this option: > http://shop.wirelessguys.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.535/it.A/id.2881/.f > 150Mbps ... Wave wireless sells (802.11g based) 108mbps for way less. Problem is given the protocol you cant aggregate the links properly, two 108 links or channels dont add to 216. Cant do etherchannel either. This is the most likely way to go for us if the telcom wont even take $$$ to lay fiber. > Or for some good, carrier grade 48Mbps MAX (Time Warner Telecom uses > these) > https://shop.invictusnetworks.com/detail.php?id=16063 > I use those RAD AirMux 200 radios for our backhaul - not bad... With > the right module you can even run 4x T1 lines over it for voice > traffic or whatever... Dlink and now Linksys sell APs at 802.11n that can do ~100mbps and theoretically 600mbps in time. Jack up the power and add directional antennae and I'm golden. Just thought there might be something better out there I haven't heard of. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #163 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun Apr 30 15:50:44 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C667F15235; Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:50:43 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #164 Message-Id: <20060430195043.C667F15235@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:50:43 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:53:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 164 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FBI Secretly Sought Data on 3,501 - MSNBC (Marcus Didius Falco) Feds Drop Bomb on EFF Lawsuit (blog.wired.com/27Bstroke6) Rhode Island to Start Statewide Wireless Network (Richard C. Lewis) County Considers Wireless Network (Associated Press News Wire) Re: Dial-up Provider Loses Net Access Amid Fee Dispute (Barry Margolin) Re: What Type of Wireless Should I Use? (darktiger) Re: California Okays Broadband Over Power Lines Test (Koos van den Hout) Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers (harold@hallikainen.com) Re: Big League Spammer Ralsky in Custody; May be Singing (Robert Bonomi) Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ (Bill Darden) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 21:23:31 -0400 From: Marcus Didius Falco Subject: FBI Secretly Sought Data on 3,501 - MSNBC * Original: FROM..... Dave Farber Begin forwarded message: From: Suzanne Johnson Date: April 29, 2006 7:15:37 PM EDT Subject: FBI secretly sought data on 3,501 -MSNBC FBI secretly sought data on 3,501 people in =E2*=9905 : Agency ramped up use of approach that requires no court approval -MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12536627/ The Associated Press Updated: 6:40 p.m. ET April 28, 2006 WASHINGTON - The FBI secretly sought information last year on 3,501 U.S. citizens and legal residents from their banks and credit card, telephone and Internet companies without a court's approval, the Justice Department said Friday. It was the first time the Bush administration has publicly disclosed how often it uses the administrative subpoena known as a national security letter, which allows the executive branch of government to obtain records about people in terrorism and espionage investigations without court approval. Friday's disclosure was mandated as part of the renewal of the Patriot Act, the administration's sweeping anti-terror law. The FBI delivered a total of 9,254 NSLs relating to 3,501 people in 2005, according to a report submitted late Friday to Democratic and Republican leaders in the House and Senate. In some cases, the bureau demanded information about one person from several companies. The department also reported it received a secret court's approval for 155 warrants to examine business records last year, under a Patriot Act provision that includes library records. However, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said the department has never used the provision to ask for library records. The number was a significant jump over past use of the warrant for business records. A year ago, Gonzales told Congress there had been 35 warrants approved between November 2003 and April 2005. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. Copyright 2006 MSNBC.com URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12536627/ Direct replies are unlikely to be read. To reply use the address below: falco(underscore)md(atsign)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: blog.wired.com Subject: Feds Drop Bomb on EFF Lawsuit Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 13:31:17 -0500 Feds Drop Bomb on EFF Lawsuit The federal government intends to invoke the rarely used "State Secrets Privilege" -- the legal equivalent of a nuclear bomb -- in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's class action lawsuit against AT&T that alleges the telecom collaborated with the government's secret spying on American citizens. The State Secrets Privilege is a from vestige English common law that lets the executive branch step into a civil lawsuit and have it dismissed if the case might reveal information that puts national security at risk. Today's assertion severely darkens the prospects of the EFF's lawsuit, which the organization had hoped would shine light on the extent of the Bush Administration's admitted warrantless spying on Americans. Read the complete report at http://wired.blog.com/27Bstroke6 ------------------------------ From: Richard C. Lewis Subject: Rhode Island to Start Statewide Wireless Network Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 13:23:26 -0500 By Richard C. Lewis America's smallest state is seeking to become its first to offer a wireless broadband network from border to border. Backers of Rhode Island's $20 million project say it would improve services and make the state a testing ground for new business technologies. It also comes at a time when Rhode Island's capital of Providence is stepping up efforts to lure business from Boston, about a 50-minute drive away, in neighboring Massachusetts, where office rents are among the nation's most expensive. The Rhode Island Wireless Innovation Networks (RI-WINs) should be fully in place by 2007, providing wireless connectivity throughout state, whose land mass of about 1,045 square miles is only slightly more than double the size of metropolitan Los Angeles. A pilot project involving state agencies, Brown University and businesses is to begin next month. The Rhode Island network is a hybrid of WiMAX and WiFi technologies that would deliver real-time connections at a minimum speed of 1 Megabit per second (Mbps), allowing users to download a typical Hollywood-length film in about 100 minutes. The system will be supported by 120 base antennas placed throughout the state. A few antennas, each about 3 feet to 4 feet in height, are being placed in Providence and Newport on the southern coast during the initial tests. So far, no state outside Rhode Island has sought to build a border-to-border network, said Bob Panoff, a private consultant and the RI-WINs project manager. While more cities are interested in becoming wireless, "there's no groundswell of consumer support for it," said Dave McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association (USIIA), which represents Internet companies. More than 80 U.S. cities have wireless networks, according to a study done in August 2005 by the association. But use has been sporadic, plagued by costs and sputtering technology, said Dave McClure, the association's president. Orlando, Florida, for example, removed its wireless network last year due to tepid use, McClure said. FROM CLASSROOMS TO BEACHES The project is being funded by public and private sources, and once fully operational, users would pay $20 per month or a membership fee based on annual usage, said Saul Kaplan, acting executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, a partner in the project. "We know the demand signals are there," said Kaplan. Officials said the network would support services including business, education, emergency, health care and port security. During the six-month pilot phase, for example, state health inspectors will test the system by entering data from restaurant visits into laptops and sending the information to the health department. Emergency workers will test sending patient information from an ambulance while en route to a hospital. Graduate students at Brown University, a partner in the project, will use the wireless network when teaching public school students. While the system is not being created for consumers, officials say it could have everyday applications, such as retrieving real-time information on the size of crowds at beaches or to access traffic information while driving. "A broadband border-to-border network would allow us to move information to the point of need, wherever it's needed," Kaplan said. Creators say a prime benefit of the network will be to draw businesses looking to use Rhode Island as a laboratory to test-market new technologies on a statewide, demographically diverse population. A study by the Rhode Island-based Business Innovation Factory, a private, nonprofit organization that launched RI-WINs in 2004, estimated the annual cost to operate the network at $5 million. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more newa and headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: County Considers Wireless Network Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 13:25:16 -0500 The perks of living in Suffolk County include gorgeous beaches and beautiful people in the Hamptons. Another one could arrive next year: free Internet access for its 1.5 million residents. County Executive Steve Levy announced the appointment this week of a 15-member committee to develop a business plan and a timeline for creating one of the largest government-sponsored wireless networks in the country. "We believe we can be a model for developing a wireless network which will serve residents, businesses and visitors to our county," Levy said. The cities of Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco are also working on plans for wireless access available within their boundaries. Only the Chicago plan would cover more space and more people than Suffolk County. According to Levy, the wireless network would benefit the county in several ways: speedy transmission of information to emergency responders, filling in service gaps for local businesses, attracting tourists and giving local residents more flexibility. The county plans to issue a proposal for bidders in December, with a selection made by spring 2007. On the Net: http://www.co.suffolk.ny.us Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. For more newss and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http:/telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Dial-up Provider Loses Net Access Amid Fee Dispute / Ruling Organization: Symantec Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 00:19:26 -0400 In article , Monty Solomon wrote: > Dial-up provider loses Net access amid fee dispute > Ruling favoring Verizon may hike price of service > By Keith Reed, Globe Staff > Service to thousands of dial-up Internet users in Massachusetts was > disrupted this week after a federal court ruled against a Quincy > company in a lawsuit that could have broad impact on the cost of > dial-up service. > The US Court of Appeals in Boston ruled April 11 that Verizon > Communications Inc. can charge per-minute fees for calls to local > numbers that dial-up users need to connect to the Internet -- in much > the same way that they charge for long-distance or other calls. > The ruling came after Verizon sued Global NAPs Inc., a Quincy company > that supplies local numbers to 28 Internet service providers for use > by their dial-up customers. I don't understand this. Aren't the fees based on the telephone customer's calling plan? The unlimited calling plans in MA list the exchanges that you can call within your flat rate. > Verizon claims it is owed more than $65 million by Global NAPs. What does this have to do with how Verizon charges their customers? Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I think Verizon believes Global NAPs Inc. is a subscriber to their telephone service (via the dial up numbers used by Global NAP end user customers.) Does Verizon in MA offer unlimited flat rate service to businesses or just to resiences? If Verizon offers unlimited flat rate service plans to everyone, then it should not matter. If they only offer unlimited flat rate service plans to residential customers (i.e. the end users of Global) then it still should not matter. I suspect Verizon is annoyed about the amount of service being consumed by the end users. PAT] ------------------------------ From: darktiger Subject: Re: What Type of Wireless Should I Use? Date: 29 Apr 2006 22:33:22 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Ghazan Haider wrote: >> I use those RAD AirMux 200 radios for our backhaul - not bad... With >> the right module you can even run 4x T1 lines over it for voice >> traffic or whatever... > Dlink and now Linksys sell APs at 802.11n that can do ~100mbps and > theoretically 600mbps in time. Jack up the power and add directional > antennae and I'm golden. Just thought there might be something better > out there I haven't heard of. I am just worried about using D-Link and Linksys gear for that type of a project ... There are three levels: Home User Commercial Carrier Linksys and D-Link are home user (some will likely not agree with me on that...). Can you use them? Sure! Will they work? Sure ... For a bit ... We are an ISP and before I was hired they were using D-Link and Linksys 5-port switches and diffferent locations ... Once I installed some CISCO switches our performance went up 500%+ -- just because it states speed X does not mean it is really that fast. I checked the data sheet for the Linksys 802.11n radio -- it only has 10/100Mbps ports ... So the maximum wired-to-wireless speed would be 200Mbps (upload = 100Mbps - download = 100Mbps). ------------------------------ From: Koos van den Hout Subject: Re: California Okays Broadband Over Power Lines Test Date: 30 Apr 2006 10:36:03 GMT Organization: http://idefix.net/~koos/ Biteone wrote in : > Have they fixed the problem with this service and it's possible > disturbance it could cause to broadcast radio ? That is still an ongoing concern which the American Radio Relay League is following closely. Their comments about the California test can be found at http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/04/28/2/?nc=1 The ARRL web site has more information and background about BPL and how it can interfere with licensed radio. Starting point: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/HTML/plc/ Koos van den Hout (not connected to the ARRL, I just did a lot of searching on BPL, HomePlug and related information a few months ago) The Virtual Bookcase, the site about books, book | Koos van den Hout news and reviews http://www.virtualbookcase.com/ | http://idefix.net/~koos/ PGP keyid DSS/1024 0xF0D7C263 or RSA/1024 0xCA845CB5| Fax +31-30-2817051 ------------------------------ From: harold@hallikainen.com Subject: Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers Date: 30 Apr 2006 08:21:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I've had a similar "dilution" system on my website for years, but this is for spammers harvesting email addresses. At the bottom of the page at http://www.hallikainen.org is a list of randomly generated mailto email addresses. Ideally they have harvested millions of false email addresses off here and are wasting time sending to them. Another nice idea is "honey pots" where spammers harvest the addresses, then, when they send to it, they are added to block lists. I haven't done this as yet, though. Harold [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do the same thing on the web page for this Digest http://telecom-digest.org I have a link to what is called 'Spam Poison' near the top; clicking on that sends the spam harvesters to a site where they get into an endless loop of garbage. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Big League Spammer Ralsky in Custody; May be Singing... Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:45:54 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. Note: the valleywag.com report is *UNCONFIRMED* by any other source at this time. It's been picked-up/repeated in several other places, but _all_ the reports trace back to this single 'pseudonymous' source of unknown credibility. There is some suspicion that this is all a 'mind game' by this 'local hacker', possibly trying to scare off the competition. The 'nym' used by the hacker lends some credibility to that idea. See "meme" in any modern dictionary. In article , Danny Burstein wrote: > " Local hacker 'Memehacker' ('instant messaged') in with a scoop on > Alan Ralsky, the famed 'Spam King' covered by the Observer and the > Detroit News. Here's the breaking story: > " Valleywag: 'Tell me the scoop in three sentences. > " Memehacker: 'Alan Ralsky is currently being held by the feds and his > file is sealed for the next 72 hours by the DOJ. We are concerned that > he is going to narq out the entire network since they have enough on > him to send him to jail. > " 'This means hackers, spammers, anyone who has worked in spam legally > or illegally for the last 5 years at least. The DOJ wants to do a > dragnet, they have the top dog, but they want the whole system as > well ... > http://www.valleywag.com/tech/alan-ralsky/scoop-doj-jails-spam-king-alan-ralsky-might-rat-out-a-massive-hacker-spammer-network-170385.php >_____________________________________________________ >Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key > dannyb@panix.com >[to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: Bill Darden Subject: Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 21:07:49 +0200 Reply-To: info@batteryfaq.org Hi all, The Car and Deep Cycle Battery FAQ has been updated. The current version is 5.5, dated April 30, 2006 and can be found on http://www.batteryfaq.org. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, tips, manufacturer's information, references and hyperlinks are contained on this free, consumer oriented Web site about car, motorcycle, power sports, truck, boat, marine, recreational vehicle, solar, and other starting and deep cycle applications. In Section 4, I have added Specific Gravity and Open Circuit Voltage State-of-Charge vs. temperature tables and a downloadable spreadsheet for several different lead-acid battery types to make temperature compensation much easier. The most popular sections in March were: o Battery Manufacturers and Brand Names List o FAQ Section 9 HOW DO I CHARGE (OR EQUALIZE) MY BATTERY? o Section 7 WHAT DO I LOOK FOR IN BUYING A NEW BATTERY? o Battery Information Links List o Section 4 HOW DO I TEST A BATTERY? If you have time, please visit http://www.batteryfaq.org. If not please bookmark it for future reference. Questions, comments and suggestions for improvement are always welcome at info@batteryfaq.org. Many thanks and kindest regards, BiLL ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #164 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon May 1 14:17:02 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 19360153F4; Mon, 1 May 2006 14:17:02 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #165 Message-Id: <20060501181702.19360153F4@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 14:17:02 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.3 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, HOT_NASTY autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 1 May 2006 14:19:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 165 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Undercover Civilians Lure Online Predators (Ken Maguire) Re: Dial-up Provider Loses Net Access Amid Dispute / Ruling (Monty Solomon) Who Has Best Cell Coverage? It Depends Where You Are (Monty Solomon) Everyone's Always Been a Critic - But Net Makes Their Voices (M Solomon) RIAA, MPAA Alert 40 University Presidents of LAN Piracy (Spam Daily News) Tunisians OvercomeTaboos to Find Love on the Web (Tarak Amera) Cellular-News: Monday 1st May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Monday, May 1, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) FCC Regulations Over Vonage 'Digital Voice' (Raqueeb Hassan) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ken Maguire Subject: Undercover Civilians Lure Online Predators Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:17:22 -0500 By KEN MAGUIRE, Associated Press Writer This was Stacey DeLuca's plan: Chat online with child predators while pretending to be a young girl. Just a few hours. "I'd rather have them talk to me than a real 13-year-old," the 21-year-old said. It didn't take long before a 50-year-old California man allegedly told DeLuca -- who was posing as 13-year-old "Jess" from Massachusetts -- that he likes "younger girls" and that she wouldn't be his first. DeLuca called police, and stayed in character for a month, saving transcripts of the man's lurid comments and graphic photos from the Yahoo Inc. chat room. The result: Lawrence I. Katz of Oceanside, in San Diego County, was charged with attempting to send harmful matter to a minor via electronic means. He's fighting the charges. "I was totally surprised," said DeLuca, a Worcester resident who works in the promotions department of a local radio station. "You get in a chat room and you get tons and tons of instant messages. These guys wait to talk to some little girl." DeLuca is among a growing number of civilians across the nation who are conducting online stings to catch potential child predators. Perverted Justice, an organization that's dedicated to outing online predators, expects to double its volunteer corps, to 100, by year's end. Critics say it borders on vigilantism. Criminal defense attorneys argue that it amounts to entrapment and that the nature of the charges -- rather than the weight of evidence -- forces people to plead guilty to avoid publicity. Law enforcement officials warn that sloppy civilian investigations will push predators further underground, and that civilians may be endangering their own safety. "In criminal justice matters, control is key," said Gerry Leone, a former state and federal prosecutor in Massachusetts. "Civilians who haven't been trained lose the aspect of control." NBC's "Dateline" program has helped popularize the practice by teaming with Perverted Justice to lure adult men to a "meet." The men expect to find a young sex partner, but are instead met by TV cameras, and more recently, by police officers as well. In the program's fourth sting, 17 men were arrested in late March when they traveled to a home in Greenville, Ohio, where they expected to meet an underage girl, according to the Darke County Sheriff's office. Perverted Justice, which was paid by NBC to run its latest sting, boasts of having contributed to more than 50 convictions nationwide, all detailed on its Web site. The group, based in Portland, Ore., enlists volunteers to go undercover online. It has inspired a rival organization, called Corrupted Justice, which decries Perverted Justice's practices as vigilantism. Corrupted Justice says investigations should be conducted only by law enforcement. The Justice Department says stopping online predators is a top priority. Total federal prosecutions of child pornography and abuse cases increased nearly fivefold from 344 in fiscal 1995 to 1,576 in fiscal 2005, a top Justice attorney told a congressional panel in April. And the federally funded Internet Crimes Against Children task forces' investigations resulted in 3,423 state charges and 563 federal charges in the first half of 2005, according to DOJ attorney William Mercer's testimony. Sgt. Jeff Skuza, head of investigations for the Fargo, N.D., Police Department, said civilians can be helpful, especially because many departments have limited manpower. Working with a Perverted Justice volunteer in March, Fargo police arrested four men who showed up to a meet. "We're happy with the integrity" of the evidence, Skuza said. Civilians inadvertently can damage a case, some police say, by scaring off the target. A Massachusetts man burned the hard drive of his computer in his fireplace before police searched his home two years ago after Perverted Justice publicized the man's solicitation of a minor. He wasn't charged. DeLuca rejects the notion that she's taking the law into her own hands. "I'm just sitting in a chat room. They're the ones contacting me. I'm not starting any of the sex talk," she said. DeLuca, who is engaged and has no children, visited the Perverted Justice Web site after watching a recent "Dateline" special. She learned how to be a chat room monitor, created a fake Yahoo profile using a photo of a child actress, and a day later was contacted by "Paul Robinson," who allegedly turned out to be Katz. "There was one night a week when his wife wasn't home, and he'd stay on for hours," said DeLuca. "We'd talk until he had to leave to pick her up." Each day, she forwarded transcripts to police. DeLuca, with police guidance, eventually set up a meeting. But before they could get together, another chat room monitor who was running a similar sting from Maryland revealed her identity to him, and he was scared off, DeLuca said. Nevertheless, the transcripts and Webcam images allegedly depicting Katz involved in sexual acts while alone were enough to persuade San Diego County authorities to charge him. Katz, a casino dealer, did not respond to calls seeking comment. His lawyer, Ivan Schwartz, declined to comment. Katz is free on bail, and a status hearing is scheduled May 12. DeLuca used another fake screen name to pose as a 12-year-old in a sting that led to the April 2 arrest of Cory A. Renwick, 25, of Boston, who police said is a registered sex offender in Florida and Massachusetts, stemming from a 1998 Florida conviction on possession of child pornography. Renwick pleaded not guilty to enticement of a child after he allegedly arranged a meeting with DeLuca. Renwick has no phone listing in Boston. His lawyer, Patrick Sheehan, would only say: "He feels he's innocent. He looks forward to having it tried in court." Cathy Green, a defense attorney based in Manchester, N.H., said many of the men she has defended in these types of cases were innocent. Green said the sexual chats are "completely repulsive," but not criminal. "The real question is, are you dealing with a child predator or are you dealing with someone engaged in a fantasy world who would never act on it," she said. An advantage for police, she added, is that an "investigation" begun by a civilian rather than by law enforcement removes the entrapment defense. DeLuca says she's partly motivated by a close acquaintance who was molested, but the perpetrator was never charged. She also says she's ready to testify if needed in the recent cases. Though she may take a break before her next sting, she doesn't plan to stop. "No, I'll still do it, she said. "Who knows who these kids are that you're saving?" ___ On the Net: Perverted Justice: http://www.perverted-justice.com/ Corrupted Justice: http://corrupted-justice.com/ Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You cannot tell who the players are in this without a scorecard. 'Corrupted-Justice' complains that the folks at 'Perverted-Justice' are not only vigilantes taking the law in their own hands, but that the Perverted-Justice investigations and actions taken are sort of sloppy and misguided. It sort of reminds me of the disputes -- all too common -- between the various sides on the problem of spam-scam. Corrupted-Justice would represent (in this instance) the netters who wring their hands and agree that 'spam is awful' but that only the experts (like computer forensics experts) should deal with it; the rest of us are basically incompetent or unable to deal with the problem 'properly'. Meanwhile, the Perverted- Justice people keep right on doing their (various) thing(s) ignoring the complaints of the 'experts'. Where have we heard that before? If you are going to follow along in this dispute between the two sides, I suggest you begin, as I did, reading through the various pages detailing what the http://www.perverted-justice.com people are doing. You might find their dedication and approach sort of interesting. But then, after you have read through those pages, by all means go over and see the answers given by http://corrupted-justice.com which are also quite convincing. Personally, I tend to come down on the side of Corrrupted-Justice on this, because, to hear them tell it, the folks at Perverted-Justice just slap a lot of paint on a wall and do not really care _where_ the paint gets splattered; nor who gets hurt in the process. Read the two sides on this and decide who you think is correct. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 21:24:03 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Re: Dial-up Provider Loses Net Access Amid Fee Dispute / Ruling Global Naps, Inc. v. Verizon New England, Inc. (04/11/06 - No. 05-2657) Partial summary judgment for defendants is affirmed on different grounds where the FCC did not expressly preempt state regulation of intercarrier compensation for non-local ISP-bound calls, leaving a state telecommunications agency free to impose access charges for such calls under state law. http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/1st/052657.html http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=1st/052657.html http://fsnews.findlaw.com/cases/1st/052657.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 01:30:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Who Has the Best Cell Coverage? It Depends on Where You Are By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff | April 30, 2006 FRAMINGHAM -- Cingular Wireless is running ads saying it has 'the fewest dropped calls,' and Verizon Wireless is running ads calling itself 'the nation's most reliable wireless network,' but Mort Rosenthal says no one company has the best coverage everywhere. Rosenthal, the chief executive of IMO, a new breed of retailer that sells every major wireless brand, knows what he's talking about. The Waltham company has done its own road testing and, unlike the cellular companies, makes the test data available to customers so they can tell town by town, or block by block, which carrier has the strongest signal coverage. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/04/30/who_has_the_best_cell_coverage_it_depends_on_where_you_are/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 01:32:30 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - But Net Makes Their Voices Count By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist Roger Ebert may be endangered, Entertainment Weekly on its way to extinction. Have you noticed how many no-name critics are suddenly serving up pithy opinions about movies, books, music, and video games on the Net? Amazon.com may have been one of the first sites, in the mid-1990s, to allow its users to share their thoughts about a book, just below the venerable Publishers Weekly or Booklist write-up. Now, such sites as Blogcritics.org collect reviews written by bloggers, and Apple's iTunes Music Store allows users to share their iMixes -- lists of favorite songs on a particular theme, like 'NJ Best,' a selection from Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and other musicians with roots in the Garden State. "The cultural influencers are changing," says Brian Kalinowski, chief operating officer of Lycos, the Waltham Internet portal. "Expert opinion in the media used to drive culture. Now, it's peer recommendations." Already, consumers can sample a broader range of critical opinion on the Internet -- some of it relevant and thoughtful, covering products that wouldn't ordinarily be reviewed by the mainstream media, and some of it biased or one-dimensional. ('This game rocks!' ) And marketers, such as movie studios and book publishers, are trying to figure out how Internet tastemakers figure into their relationship with their customers. This year, for instance, movie studios have chosen to forgo advance critics' screenings for more new movies than they did during the same period of last year. The supernatural thriller 'Silent Hill' wasn't shown to critics before it opened on April 21 -- some of the first reviews showed up on the website AintItCoolNews.com that morning -- and yet the movie was last weekend's best box office performer. And publishers such as Boston's Beacon Press are noticing that some niche titles, such as a recent collection of writings about Iranian culture, can attract more critical attention online than off. Publicity director Pamela McColl says that Beacon is still trying to assemble lists of influential book blogs -- 'there are a lot of blogs out there,' she says -- but that the firm already provides review copies to some critics who write solely for the Net. Not surprisingly, McColl says that online reviews seem to be more influential among younger readers. At press events where video game companies introduce products, Greg Kasavin has started to notice more non-journalists in the audience. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/04/30/everyones_always_been_a_critic____but_the_net_makes_their_voices_count/ ------------------------------ From: Spam Daily News Subject: RIAA, MPAA Alert 40 University Presidents of LAN Piracy Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:34:35 -0500 From Spam Daily News While the majority of illegal copying and distribution of music and movies occurs over the public Internet on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing systems, students at colleges and universities have been increasingly using programs like Direct Connect (DC++), MyTunes and OurTunes to engage in such activity on campus LANs without using the broader public Internet. As part of the entertainment industry's efforts to address the ongoing theft of music and movies online by college students, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) today announced a systematic program to identify and curtail campus Local Area Network (LAN) piracy at universities across the country. The perceived security and privacy of these campus LANs give many students incentive to engage in activity they have otherwise learned is illegal and unacceptable. "We are appreciative of our partners in the university community and all they have done in recent years to tackle the problem of digital piracy at campuses across the country," said RIAA President Cary Sherman. "Despite the progress achieved by our collaborative efforts, this remains an ever-evolving problem. We cannot ignore the growing misuse of campus LAN systems or the toll this means of theft is taking on our industry. As we prioritize our focus on campus LAN piracy in the coming year, we hope administrators will take this opportunity to fully evaluate their systems and take action to stop theft by all means." MPAA Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said, "Universities are taking action in a host of ways to address the problem of piracy on campus. We are working to provide as much information as we can to help make those efforts effective, and to stay on top of emerging trends in intellectual property theft. Providing information about LAN systems serves to raise awareness and encourage action." In letters sent today, the RIAA and MPAA notified 40 university presidents of information indicating campus LAN piracy problems on their campuses. The universities receiving these letters are located in the following 25 states: California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Washington, DC. The letters encourage administrators to review the use of their computer networks and, if appropriate, take steps to stop and prevent such theft. Blocking and filtering devices are currently available to help administrators restrict inappropriate use of a campus network. In April 2003, the RIAA brought lawsuits against the student operators of four campus LAN networks at three schools. In the wake those enforcement actions, university administrators pulled down at least a dozen campus LAN servers where music theft had been prevalent. Since then, in addressing university file- sharing, campus LAN piracy is increasingly identified as a key challenge by lawmakers in Congress as well as the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities. "Campus LAN piracy is not new, yet the problem has taken on new urgency," Sherman said. "We know from past experience that bringing this problem to light can effect real change. We are hopeful that this new systematic program will yield even more positive results." April 27, 2006 Dear President (NAME): As you may know, the entertainment community has become increasingly concerned about illegal file sharing on universities' Local Area Network (LAN) using such programs as Direct Connect (DC++), MyTunes/OurTunes (both well-known hacks of Apple's iTunes software) and other similar programs. Our industries have recently launched a systematic program to identify and curtail campus Local Area Network ("LAN") piracy. We write today to inform you that we have information indicating such a problem exists at (SCHOOL). Digital piracy, especially on campuses, is an ever-evolving problem and it requires sustained and targeted vigilance. There has been much attention paid to the illegal copying and distribution of copyrighted movies and music on peer-to-peer ("P2P") file-sharing systems. While the majority of this illegal activity occurs over the public Internet, students at colleges and universities have been increasingly using campus LANs to set up similar systems without using the broader public Internet. The perceived security and privacy of these campus LANs give many students incentive to engage in activity they have otherwise learned is illegal and unacceptable. The copyright community has been aware of the misuse of campus LANs since 2003, when lawsuits were brought against students at three schools. Yet the proliferation of these systems and the growing share of the college piracy problem attributable to them have prompted us to prioritize this aspect of campus piracy as a key focus for the upcoming academic year. In the wake of previous litigation, university administrators pulled down at least a dozen campus LAN servers where movies and music theft had been prevalent. We are hopeful that this new systematic program will yield even more positive results. Illegal activity, whether on the public Internet or a school's local intranet, is universally troubling. In addition, these mini-networks, while cutting down on the use of Internet bandwidth, still use valuable university resources. Fortunately, there are steps that administrators can take to ensure that a school's computing network is not compromised in this way. While illegal file-sharing on campus LANs can be difficult to detect for those outside the school network, such activity is detectable by school administrators. An internal investigation would confirm whether your school's resources are being abused in this way and would allow you to shut down activity that, in addition to being illegal, is undoubtedly a violation of your computer-use policies. Blocking and filtering devices -- such as RedLambda's cGrid and Audible Magic's CopySense -- are available to help administrators restrict inappropriate use of a campus network. In addressing university file-sharing, campus LAN piracy is increasingly identified as a key challenge by lawmakers in Congress as well as the Joint Committee of the Higher Education and Entertainment Communities. Public recognition of campus LAN piracy by these leaders is further indication that this problem is moving to the forefront of concern. As you are no doubt aware, these issues are critically important to not only us, but to all communities that value the protection of copyright and intellectual property. We look forward to working with you as we continue to pursue a comprehensive approach to addressing piracy on college campuses: promoting educational efforts; working with university administrators on technological solutions and offering legal music and movie services; and when necessary, enforcing our rights as appropriate. Sincerely, /s/ Cary H. Sherman President Recording Industry Association of America /s/ Dan Glickman Chairman and CEO Motion Picture Association of America SOURCE: ------------------------------ From: Tarek Amara & Sonia Quissi Subject: Tunisians OvercomeTaboos to Find Love on the Web Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 23:15:11 -0500 By Tarek Amara and Sonia Ounissi Tunisian technician Momo Battar says he has dated many women but that, without the Internet, he would never have found the woman of his dreams. "She has her own particular enchantment and has found the way to my heart," the 32-year-old says. "We will set up home and start a family soon." Battar's story is no longer a rare exception in Tunisian society, where love was once considered taboo among the young, and picking husbands and wives was the privilege of parents. Improvements in living standards, advances in women's rights and the influence of Western culture have prompted many young Tunisians to look beyond their immediate environment for fulfillment. Thousands have taken to the Internet to strike up relationships with people in the next village or on another continent. Some say it is cheaper than meeting in a cafe, others that the anonymity of the Internet allows them to overcome shyness. For 27-year-old barman Adnen, it offered him a ticket to Belgium, where his new e-girlfriend awaits as he prepares the immigration papers. FOUR HOURS A DAY When Tunisia hosted an international conference on the Internet last November, it pledged to create a cybercafe in each village and an e-mail address for each person by 2009. According to official figures, a tenth of Tunisia's 10 million people are already Internet subscribers and 30 percent of citizens have an electronic address. About a quarter of the 20,000 users of popular French language chat room www.amour.fr are Tunisians, according to data on the site. "I spend four hours daily chatting. It's not shameful to get to know other people and form a relationship through the Internet," said Imen, a university student. "Technology was made to benefit from and that's what we're doing," she says. Mimi, 28, said the Internet had removed borders and smoothed over cultural and religious differences, giving her a wider choice in her search for the ideal man. "Tunisia's young are so open to different cultures with various norms that relationships through the Net have become a fact of life," said Mehdi Mabrouk, a sociologist at Tunisia's Universite Des Sciences Humaines de 9 Avril. He said some young people seek love on the Internet as they don't want to unveil the hidden parts of their personalities. "We must not forget that the Internet is a kind of mask, which encourages a fair number of youths and adults to have such experiences (of love) without fear of the results." STIFLING DEBATE But even as love blossoms in cyberspace, critics of the government say the authorities are muzzling other forms of Internet debate as never before. U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said last year that Tunisia has been restricting access to parts of the Web and jailing citizens for expressing their opinions on the Internet. The government dismissed the report. "The access to the Internet is free in the country. About 1 million users benefit from the services of the World Wide Web," an official said. Researchers from the group and the university-based Open Net initiative tested access to 1,947 sites from around the world last September and found that 182 of them were blocked to readers in Tunisia. One cybercafe owner, who asked not to be named, said state repression had played a part in the rise of dating chat rooms because the forced closure of many news and information sites means love is one of the few topics that can still be discussed. In a sign the government had stepped up monitoring of the Web, six people from the eastern town of Jerjis were jailed in late 2004 for using the Internet for "terrorist" crimes. They were freed in February under an amnesty for 1,600 detainees. One year ago, a Tunisian court imprisoned lawyer Mohamed Abbou for 3-1/2 years for publishing controversial articles on the Internet, according to lawyers and human right activists. The government said Abbou was jailed for inciting the population to break the law and violence against a female lawyer. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines and stories from Reuters, please go to: http://teleccom-digest.org/td-extra/news-today.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Monday 1st May 2006 Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 09:31:48 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[3G News]] Smart Expands 3G Services http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17186.php The Philippines based, Smart Communications has unveiled new and expanded 3G service offerings and announced the commercial rates for its 3G cellular service which is now supported by an extensive nationwide network ready for HSDPA technology. Starti... [[Financial News]] Cantv Q1 net income down 37% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17173.php Venezuelan telco Cantv saw its first quarter profit fall 37% to 184bn bolvares (US$73.6mn) compared to 1Q05 due to higher taxes and operating costs related to cellular phone sales, the company said in a statement. ... Ubiquitel Holder Deephaven Will Vote Against Sprint Deal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17175.php UbiquiTel Inc. responded Friday to a letter from one of its largest shareholders, Deephaven Capital Management LLC, that asserted that Sprint Nextel Corp.'s US$974 million buyout offer was too low. ... [[Legal News]] Russian company may sue Motorola for patent violation http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17170.php Russian company Rimko-XXI may file a lawsuit against US mobile handset producer Motorola for violating patent rights, Rimko-XXI?s General Director Sergei Mosiyenko said, Vedomosti business daily reported Friday. ... Russia's lower house committee rejects bills curbing cell phone thefts http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17174.php The energy, transportation and communications committee of the State Duma has rejected two bills aimed at fighting mobile handset thefts, the committee's Deputy Chairman Vladimir Gorbachyov said, Biznes daily reported Friday. ... Cellphone Bugging Rises http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17180.php Germany's Federal Network Agency has published the number of authorised phone bugging requests carried out under the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to these statistics German courts last year ordered 35,015 intercepts of telecommunications as ... Nokia Settles Patent Dispute http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17181.php Nokia and InterDigital have resolved their contract dispute over the patent license agreement originally signed in 1999. The parties had a dispute regarding the impact to Nokia of InterDigital's licenses with Ericsson and Sony-Ericsson. The settlemen... [[Mobile Content News]] Watch Mount Everest Climb on Mobile Phones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17184.php The British Army is going to use mobile phones in part of its current recruitment drive. The army is conducting a PR based expedition to the summit of Mount Everest via The West Ridge. FORscene is being employed to publish the latest videos of the ex... [[Network Contracts News]] Ericsson Wins Caribbean GSM Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17185.php The pan-Caribbean operator, Digicel says that it has chosen Ericsson as its exclusive infrastructure provider for establishing a GSM mobile network in Turks & Caicos. Digicel was awarded a license to operate in Turks & Caicos on April 3. Since Digice... [[Network Operators News]] Vodafone Germany Might Decide On Fixed Line Operations Late May http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17168.php Vodafone Germany might decide on the future of its fixed line unit Arcor as soon as late May, Chief Executive Friedrich Joussen told Dow Jones Newswires Thursday. ... India Bharti Chairman: This Fiscal Year Capex Likely $1.8 Billion-$2 Billion http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17169.php India's Bharti Tele-Ventures is likely to spend US$1.8 billion to US$2 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007 to expand its networks in the country, its chairman and managing director said. ... Oi to launch aggressive campaigns ahead of Mother's Day http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17172.php Brazilian mobile operator Oi plans to launch aggressive promotional campaigns ahead of Mother's Day (May 14), Oi said in a statement. ... Indoor Cellular Coverage for New Airport http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17179.php Ericsson says that it has completed the turnkey project of designing and integrating a multi-operator In-Building Solution (IBS) at the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand's new international airport. The IBS system incorporates six different technologies... Vodafone Romania Rebrands http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17182.php Romania's Connex Vodafone has rebranded as Vodafone Romania, finally dropping the Connex brandname. The Vodafone brand will be introduced in Romania through the "Make the most of now"/"Traieste fiecare clipa" campaign, a communication platform based ... Green Electricity for Sprint Nextel http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17183.php Sprint Nextel is switching to Green Electricity following an agreement to be a significant customer for Kansas City Power & Light's Spearville Wind Energy Facility. Sprint Nextel will purchase renewable, emission-free wind-generated electricity, repr... [[Personnel News]] Siemens Cuts 1,000 More Jobs At Com Unit http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17171.php Siemens, Friday said it will cut 1,000 more jobs at its struggling telecommunications equipment unit Com, as it scrambles to meet an ambitious profit target for the business in 2007. ... [[Regulatory News]] Digicel Expands Netherlands Antilles License http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17178.php Digicel Group has confirmed it has acquired a GSM license in Bonaire in its continued expansion of a pan Caribbean GSM network. Digicel acquired a majority shareholding in Antilliano Por N.V., the entity which holds a business license to operate tele... [[Statistics News]] Russia's VimpelCom reports 1.4 mln users in Rostov Region Apr 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17176.php The subscriber base of Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom in the Rostov Region amounted to 1.432 million people as of April 1, Irina Anisimova, commercial director of VimpelCom's regional branch, told reporters Friday. ... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 11:27:52 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Monday, May 1, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 1, 2006 ******************************** Least Cost Terminating Traffic: Automation Is Key http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17734?11228 In a wireless environment, the costs of terminating traffic vary greatly depending on how and where it is terminated. In most cases, the most cost-effective ways to terminate traffic are available within the low-cost facilities of a carrier's MTA (major trading area), where calls incur local charges. The cost of calls terminated... Network Magic Promises Pain-Free Home Network Management http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/17731?11228 Until recently, network management was a headache reserved for technology professionals. But as more ordinary people interconnect their home computers, peripherals, telecom and media gear via wired and wireless technologies, network management is rapidly becoming everybody's problem. Windows' built-in network management... Mobile Operators Up in Arms Over EU's Roaming Charge Cuts http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/17729?11228 The GSM Association has published a study attacking the European Union (EU)'s proposals to force mobile operators to slash international roaming charges for subscribers travelling within the region. The study, produced by the CRA consultants for the GSM expressed concern that the regulation could make operators offer roaming services at... TPS, France Telecom Launch World's First High Definition IP TV http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17726?11228 France Telecom has teamed up with TPS to launch the first high definition IP TV service in the world. Both parties have announced plans to roll out the service on France Telecom's Malign TV starting from 1 June 2006, in time for the football World Cup. The service will offer subscribers of Malign TV HD option TV channel TF1, M6 and TPS... Wi-Fi Net Sought For 900-Sq.-Mi. NY County http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17724?11228 A county government in New York has begun considering a plan that would allow companies to bid on building and operating a huge Wi-Fi network -- one that would cover a 900-sq.-- mi. area and that would offer free Internet access to potentially hundreds of thousands of users. Suffolk County on Long Island, with approximately 1.5 million... Vonage Targets $500M From IPO http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17720?11228 VOIP services specialist Vonage Holdings Corp. plans to net nearly $500 million from an IPO on the NYSE that would value it at around $2.65 billion, according to documents filed on Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) . The documents show that Vonage, which has been skirting around the IPO process for months,... Nokia Agrees to Pay InterDigital http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17719?11228 InterDigital Communications Corporation's stock soared following news that the company reached a favorable settlement in its royalty dispute with Nokia. Nokia agreed to pay the company $253 million. The settlement involves a dispute surrounding Nokia's royalty obligations for its sales of 2G TDMA-based products. The agreement settles... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: Raqueeb Hassan Subject: FCC Regulations Over Vonage "DigitalVoice" and Other VoIP Providers Date: 1 May 2006 10:17:43 -0700 Hello, I was reading some of the FCC regulations on Vonage, where "DigitalVoice" were exempted from traditional state public utility regulation and this service cannot be branded as regular telephone service. The FCC has already exempted another company (I guess, Pulver) from state regulations because of the fact that free calls are routed entirely over the Internet and never interconnect with the PSTN. With a broadband connection, the service's members talk with each other computer-to-computer. As I was browsing through older Google cache, the then "DigitalVoice" service could connect PSTN. Now, does that mean people still can connect to regular phone lines from Vonage's DigitalVoice or other packages? Even if their calls traverse to PSTN from Vonage's VoIP network, are not they certified as regular Telephone Company or not requiring the telephone licensing? I went over to the Vonage site, but they don't seem like offering "DigitalVoice" anymore, did they change their branded package to some newer names? What are the biggest challenges Vonage expect after that Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) order? TIA Raqueeb Hassan Bangladesh -snip- ------------------- FCC News ---------------- November 9, 2004 "Commission Clears Way for Increased Investment In VoIP Services Like Vonages" Washington, D.C. The Federal Communications Commission declared today that a type of Internet telephony service offered by Vonage Holdings Corp. called DigitalVoice is not subject to traditional state public utility regulation. -snip- ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #165 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue May 2 00:18:50 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 126BF15560; Tue, 2 May 2006 00:18:50 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #166 Message-Id: <20060502041850.126BF15560@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 00:18:50 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 2 May 2006 00:21:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 166 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Canadian Census Going Online (Stefanie Kranjec) Google Concerned About Microsoft Browser (Allison Linn) Level 3 Snaps up TelCove (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - Net Makes Voices Count (Lisa Hancock) Re: RIAA, MPAA Alert 40 University Presidents of LAN Piracy (maskedkoalap) Re: Who Has the Best Cell Coverage? It Depends on Where (TechNoRati) Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers (Barry Margolin) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Stefanie Kranjec Subject: Canadian Census Going Online Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 22:20:23 -0500 By Stefanie Kranjec Canada is joining a small club of countries that is bringing the census into the Internet age, and aims to have 20 percent of respondents fill out their surveys online this year. Paper census forms that try to track the habits, backgrounds and movements of Canada's 32 million people will arrive at households in the mail this week, and with them will be a special Internet access code. "What (the code) allows you to do is go to the Web site where the system checks if your computer has the necessary security requirements," Canadian census director general Anil Arora said on Monday. "It's possible that with some older browsers, a machine may not have the level of security that we would like," he said. "The level of priority we place on confidentiality, on security, is pretty high, pretty impressive." The Internet initiative puts Canada in a small group of countries that have attempted to conduct a national census online. Among them, New Zealand and Switzerland have been successful, with about 30 percent of the Swiss population opting to fill in the questionnaire on the Internet. Statistics Canada, the government agency that conducts a national census every five years, says that its census Web site is "10 times more secure than the average Internet banking site." Anne-Marie Hayden, spokeswoman for the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, said the system meets her agency's standards. "We didn't come across anything that would pose a threat to privacy." The online census will be backed up by three call centers, as well as about 27,000 enumerators, who scour the country to make sure as many people as possible respond. Canada's Statistics Act prohibits anyone from refusing to take part in the census. Those who do not comply may be charged C$500 ($450) or face up to three months in jail. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/news-today.html ------------------------------ From: Allison Linn Subject: Google Concerned About Microoft Browser Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 22:22:27 -0500 Google Concerned About Microsoft Browser By ALLISON LINN, AP Business Writer Google Inc. is hoping to pressure Microsoft Corp. into changing a new Internet Explorer browser feature that could direct more people to Microsoft's online search engine instead of Google's far more popular offering. Google has informally complained to U.S. and European antitrust regulators about what it says are biased settings on Microsoft's latest Web browser, marking the latest spat between two companies whose business models are increasingly bumping up against one another. Mountain View, Calif.-based Google regards Microsoft as the biggest threat to its continued success, and Microsoft has conceded that Goggle is a formidable competitor as well. The next version of Internet Explorer, available now in test form, includes a box in the corner that lets people perform an Internet search without going to a separate Web page, much like what's available from Google's downloadable "toolbar." Users who download IE 7 will be assigned a search engine preference based on the AutoSearch function from the previous version of IE, which is likely to be MSN Search. Google says it's concerned that Microsoft's own search engine is getting favored treatment, and said research it has sponsored shows that it's difficult to change the settings in the new browser to a rival search engine. "The market favors open choice for search, and companies should compete for users based on their quality of search services," Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, said Monday. Gary Schare, director of product management for Internet Explorer, said Redmond-based Microsoft's goal is to let users choose the search engine they want. He also said Microsoft's feedback has shown that it's not difficult to change to a different search engine. "MSN has a certain amount of (market) share. This is not designed to change this," Schare said. "This is designed to essentially keep the status quo." Internet Explorer's main competitors, Firefox and Opera, both include similar boxes with the default search engine set to Google, although users can change to another provider. Google said it has talked about the browser feature with the U.S. Department of Justice and European Union regulators, although it has not filed any formal complaints. Microsoft fought a long-running antitrust case with the Justice Department, and is awaiting a ruling on its appeal of an EU antitrust ruling against it. In both cases, competitors claimed that the company was using the dominance of its Windows operating system to wield influence over other markets, squelching competition. IE 7 will ship with the next version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, and also will be available for free download. Analyst Rob Enderle said he thinks Google's complaints signal that the company is getting more aggressive in its competition against Microsoft, although he doesn't think the search box poses any serious threat to Google's business. He added that Google's move was interesting in that, while Microsoft dominates the computer operating system market, Google is the dominant search engine provider. Nielsen/Net Ratings reported that Google had 49 percent of the U.S. search market share in March, compared with nearly 11 percent for Microsoft's MSN Search. "Once you start raising unfairness questions, and you're the dominant player, then it would be very easy for somebody to use those arguments against you," Enderle said. AP Business Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this report. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines of interest from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.og/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 13:10:27 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Level 3 Snaps up TelCove USTelecom dailyLead May 1, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dzeQfDtutdeuehShnT TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Level 3 snaps up TelCove BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Alcatel, Lucent respond to security concerns * U.S. wireless market may see further consolidation * Siemens commits to SOA * Napster is free again, thanks to ads * Nortel reports earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Selecting the Best SoftSwitch TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * YouTube's viral videos attract users, marketers * Wired magazine's guide to online video REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Rhode Island forges ahead with statewide wireless broadband network * U.S. seeks dismissal of lawsuit over surveillance program Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dzeQfDtutdeuehShnT ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - But Net Makes Their Voices Count Date: 1 May 2006 14:43:06 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote: > By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist > Roger Ebert may be endangered, Entertainment Weekly on its way to > extinction. Have you noticed how many no-name critics are suddenly > serving up pithy opinions about movies, books, music, and video games > on the Net? > "The cultural influencers are changing," says Brian Kalinowski, > chief operating officer of Lycos, the Waltham Internet portal. > "Expert opinion in the media used to drive culture. Now, it's peer > recommendations." I don't hold much credence to it. It has about as much influence as traditional "word of mouth" has (although word of mount could be pretty powerful). For years the on-line gurus have been telling us how the old BBBs would revolutionize human interaction and eliminate the middlemen. After BBSs it was the different pieces of the Internet itself. Political advocates predicted glory from bypassing the gatekeepers, so did a lot of other advocates. They said the same thing about community access cable TV. Wrong! The 'net has been an evolutionary influence, but by no means revolutionary. Certainly there's a lot of opinions published out there (like the one you're reading right now). But in the grand scheme of things, a heck of a lot more people will be reading traditional media (newspaper or TV). We must remember that those who participate in online endeavors are not necessarily representative of the public at large, and therein lies the big fallacy of the "power of the internet". The reality is that true everyday people are busy and don't have time to scurry through every individual's post on whatever forum it is. Internet advocates, including computer geeks, don't understand that the rest of the world does not follow technology or the 'net as they do. This is not to say the 'net has no influence, it does have some. It just isn't this big revolution. Sure, some people are meeting romantic partners through Internet dating, just as some people met partners through the "computer dating" of the 1960s and 1970s. But plenty of people meet through traditional means as well; they certainly haven't gone away. While there is lots and lots of political discourse on the 'net, plenty of people still stick with traditional TV, radio, or mass media sites. Frankly, many people don't follow politics much at all. The Internet advocates greatly dislike the traditional "gatekeepers" of communication, ie news editors, entertainment distributors. But like them or not, they are necessary to filter out the tremendous volume of stuff that comes through. People simply do not have the time or interest to watch every possible self made movie, every possible garage band, or every piece of "news". Further, the social advocates quickly grabbed on this stuff early on, and have turned it into very partisan soapboxes, which has tuned out others who aren't as passionate. For example, there's a railroad newsgroup that doesn't spend too much time talking about railroad stuff. Rather, it is mostly flame wars between advocates of passenger trains and those who hate trains altogether. The haters seem to be very well organized and respond to almost every post. (see misc.transport.rail.americas and go through some of the threads). Another group, alt.prisons, is all social advocacy, nothing about prisons. These groups are proof ot the need of a moderator to sift things out. Pat has said, as have other monitors, of the incredible high volume of junk submitted for publication that is plain garbage and takes much time to sift out. The world of journalism and entertainment gatekeepers isn't perfect. But the alternative is pure chaos. Been there done that, don't like it. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It is not just the 'high volume of junk submitted for publication' although that is quite a bit of it. It is also the high volume of pure spam; stuff you would not consider for publication under any circumstances. I wish it was like in the old days, where there was a high degree of _usable_ material as long as it was cleaned up a little, had to be made grammatically correct, etc. PAT] ------------------------------ From: maskedkoalaprincess@gmail.com Subject: Re: RIAA, MPAA Alert 40 University Presidents of LAN Piracy Date: 1 May 2006 15:32:32 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Back when I was in school, they took this stuff very very seriously and I think the consequences for illegal downloading are only becoming more and more grave ... nothing sucks worse than getting kicked out of school, going to court, probably getting fined or jail time and not being able to transfer anywhere because you were too poor/lazy to buy a copy of a movie or cd ... ------------------------------ From: TechNoRati Subject: Re: Who Has the Best Cell Coverage? It Depends on Where You Are Date: 1 May 2006 15:35:45 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Great article. thanks for passing it along! So true. ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers Organization: Symantec Date: Mon, 01 May 2006 20:15:16 -0400 In article , harold@hallikainen.com wrote: > I've had a similar "dilution" system on my website for years, but this > is for spammers harvesting email addresses. At the bottom of the page > at http://www.hallikainen.org is a list of randomly generated mailto > email addresses. Ideally they have harvested millions of false email > addresses off here and are wasting time sending to them. I doubt this bothers them very much. Even without your dilution, I'll bet most spam address lists have an enormous number of invalid addresses. But they have lots of zombies in their botnets, so they don't care about all the failed mail. These days, one theory is that spammers are relying less on harvesting addresses and more on generating them. They use "alphabet spam", where they simply generate sequences of names like aaa@, aab@, and so on. Also, if they've harvested @, they add @, @, and so on. The reason we think techniques are in use is because there are many cases where someone will activate a new email address and immediately start getting spam, before they've ever published the address anywhere; the most obvious explanation is that the spammers generated the address themselves (another possibility is that they picked an address that was previously used by another customer). Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, but just imagine, if every legitimate netizen out there would make the effort to add five or ten minutes of extra work to the load of their favorite spammer. You are correct, Barry, no one single effort is ever going to rid the net of all the vermin out there these days. As I see it, the only thing which will/might work is to make life as difficult as possible for as many spammer-scammers as possible. Distribution of spam-scam should not be the _easy_ job it is now; it should become a very difficult task. If one cannot easily distribute spam-scam because distribution scheme A (employed by a large number of netters) makes it impossible; scheme B will not work either; a large number of netters use that; and so forth with schemes C, D, and E. Their mailing lists and messege queues should be difficult to handle as they are for the rest of us. If it became as difficult to make money peddling spam lists and scam schemes as it is to run a decent mailing list, that would make me happy. In other words, your (on the internet) spam-scam projects should wind up netting you as little profit as those of us who maintain decent, worthwhile mailing lists (on the same net). That would make me happy. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #166 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue May 2 22:23:11 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id D598615276; Tue, 2 May 2006 22:23:10 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #167 Message-Id: <20060503022310.D598615276@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 22:23:10 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.4 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, HOT_NASTY autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 2 May 2006 22:27:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 167 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson My Space Faces Call to Crackdown on Predators (Jason Szep) Web Crooks Getting More Experienced, Faster (Brian Acohido) Microsoft to Delay Windows Vista Again -- Gardner (Reuters News Wire) Microsoft Settles California AntiTrust Suit (Associated Press News Wire) Should I Switch to Vonage? (Healthy Stealthy) Cellular-News: Tuesday 2nd May 2006 (cellular-news) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 2, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Senate Committee Unveils Draft of Telecom Bill (USTelecom dailyLead) Eavesdropping and Wiretapping Video Receives 5 Stars Review (ctaylor) New Hosted VoIP PBX Service (quirk@syntac.net) Re: Canadian Census Going Online (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - Net Makes Voices Count (Wesrock) Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jason Szep Subject: My Space Faces Call to Crackdown on Predators Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 19:32:13 -0500 By Jason Szep Massachusetts on Tuesday called on popular teen social networking Web site MySpace.com to strengthen protection of children against sexual predators, including raising the minimum age for users to 18 from 14. The arrest on Tuesday of a 27-year-old man in Connecticut on charges of illegal sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl he met through MySpace underlines the risks of the fast-growing Internet site that boasts about 60 million members. "MySpace has not taken sufficient steps to ensure that the MySpace Web site is a safe place for minors," Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly said in a letter to MySpace. He said a three-month investigation found that potential child predators were surfing MySpace seeking chats with potential victims and violent images or content were being posted to bully children. "An adult can register as a minor member and use that profile to seek access to the profiles of countless underage members," he said in a statement. MySpace allows teenagers and young adults to find friends and express themselves by posting profiles and blogs, or Web journals covering everything from their favorite singers to schoolwork and intimate personal details. It generated a blizzard of headlines in national media this year that have raised alarm with parents and school authorities -- from "Man arrested in MySpace.com teen-sex case" to "Sex predators are stalking MySpace; is your teenager a target?" Connecticut authorities said in March that two men -- one age 22 and the other 39 -- were arrested on allegations they had sexual contact with minors they met through MySpace. Another man was arrested early on Tuesday at a Connecticut hotel after a mother reported her daughter missing. 'HAPPENING MORE AND MORE' In February, California police arrested a 26-year-old for felony child molestation after he met a 14-year-old on MySpace. "It's happening more and more all the time, both through MySpace and through chatrooms and other blogging sites," said Christina Slenk, a director of Web Wise Kids, a nonprofit Internet safety organization based in California. Reilly, a Democrat running for governor, said his staff raised the state's concerns in a March meeting with officials at MySpace, which media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. bought for $580 million last year. MySpace authorities were not immediately available to comment but its chief executive, Chris DeWolfe, told Reuters in March that it had several measures in place to prevent abuse. He said the site prohibits children under age 14 from using it and restricts access to the profiles of 14- and 15-year-olds, allowing them to be contacted only by users that they add to their buddy lists. MySpace also uses software to identify minors, flagging profiles with terms likely to be used by children under age 14. But DeWolfe said there was no fool-proof way to verify the age of all users. Reilly said his investigation found that the safeguards failed. He asked MySpace to install an age and identity verification system, equip Web pages with a "Report Inappropriate Content" link, respond to all reports of inappropriate content within 24 hours and significantly raise the number of staff who review images and content. He also wants filters to block sexually explicit or violent images, deletion of profiles of people who have abused the site, removal of all advertisements deemed inappropriate for children and free software that allows parents to block MySpace. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Brian Acohido Subject: Web Crooks Getting More Experienced, Faster Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 19:33:47 -0500 By Byron Acohido, USA TODAY Two cybersecurity surveys released Monday underscore an ominous shift in Web intrusions: They are becoming more stealthy and targeted -- and honed to make a quick buck. Profit-minded intruders are increasingly carrying out "zero-day" attacks that exploit new security vulnerabilities on the same day such flaws become generally known, weeks before patches are available, according to The SANS Institute security training center. Security experts say there is no protection against such intrusions. "A zero-day attack takes you through the M&M shell you have around your computer into the soft chewy center," says Scott Carpenter, security lab director at Secure Elements. "It bypasses all the security you've put in place." The pattern breaks from the hacker tradition of swamping the Internet with nuisance viruses mainly for bragging rights. "We're losing the tsunami effect and instead getting wave after wave of smaller, more intense attacks to get on your machine and steal useful information," says Vincent Weafer, senior director of Symantec Security Response. Meanwhile, identity data held by corporations and government agencies is being widely exposed on the Web by unsuspecting insiders, according to a survey of 100 organizations by security firm Reconnex. "For the most part, it's good people doing bad things unintentionally," says Reconnex CEO John Peters. "If the data does get into the wrong hands, it could be damaging." Among key survey findings: . Insider exposure. An estimated 78% of companies expose Social Security numbers in a way that the data can be leaked, while 40% of companies expose credit card numbers, Reconnex says. . Applications targeted. Attackers have begun probing software programs, such as Apple QuickTime/iTunes, Windows Media Player and Macromedia Flash Player for security holes. They've also targeted database-storage applications, such as Oracle and Veritas Backup, SANS says. . Browsers under siege. In recent months, Apple, long thought immune to intruders, has issued two patches to quell attacks of its Safari Web browser; Microsoft has had to scramble to patch three Internet Explorer zero-day attacks; and Firefox has been patched 11 times, SANS says. Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from USA Today, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Microsoft to Delay Windows Vista Again -- Gartner Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 19:35:18 -0500 Microsoft Corp.'s long- awaited release of the upgrade to its flagship Windows operating system will likely be delayed again by at least three months, research group Gartner Inc. said on Tuesday. The research note, released to clients on Monday, said the new Windows Vista operating system is too complex to be able to meet Microsoft's targeted November release for volume license customers and January launch for retail consumers. A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company disagreed with the Gartner report and it was still on track to meet its launch dates. Vista is the first major overhaul of its operating system, which sits on 90 percent of the world's computers and accounts for nearly a third of Microsoft's total revenue, since Microsoft rolled out Windows XP nearly five years ago. Microsoft originally targeted a 2005 launch for the new Windows, then pushed the release out to 2006 before announcing in March that Vista would again be delayed to improve the product's quality. Gartner targets a Windows Vista release in the April-June quarter of 2007, nine to 12 months after Microsoft conducts a second major test, or "beta," release for Vista during the current quarter. "Microsoft still wants to get it out as soon as possible, but slipping from January to March is nowhere near as bad as slipping from shipping before the holidays to after the holidays," a group of Gartner analysts wrote in the report. Gartner said Windows XP took five months to go from a second test release to the start of production, but the magnitude of technological improvement in Vista is closer to Windows 2000, which took 16 months between the second test and production. Once production starts, it usually takes between six- to eight-weeks for PC manufacturers to load the operating system onto new computers, Gartner said. Microsoft shares were down 22 cents at $24.07 in afternoon trading on Nasdaq. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html More news of interest and radio news at: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/Fednews.html (also) http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/TDNewsradio.html ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Microsoft Settles California AntiTrust Suit Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 19:36:42 -0500 Microsoft Corp. will pay $70 million to thousands of California government agencies in the latest legal settlement spurred by price-gouging allegations against the world's largest computer software maker. The proposed truce covers a wide range of taxpayer-backed agencies -- from local school districts to regional transportation systems -- that bought Microsoft products dating back to 1995. If the settlement gains court approval later this year, Microsoft will divide the $70 million among the eligible government agencies as they buy computers, printers and software, including brands that compete against Microsoft. The proposed payments are similar to a $1.1 billion pool that Microsoft set up for California consumers and businesses in 2004 after settling a lawsuit alleging the software maker had abused its power in the computing industry to inflate prices. Although Microsoft has consistently defended its prices as fair and reasonable, government regulators, customers and business rivals have long insisted that the software maker leveraged its Windows operating system -- the brains of most personal computers -- to build an unfair market advantage. The backlash unleashed a tidal wave of lawsuits, including a closely watched antitrust case filed by the U.S. Justice Department. That showdown culminated in a 2002 settlement. Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft spent billions resolving other suits brought by rivals like AOL Time Warner Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc., as well as other government entities. Led by the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, the California government agencies filed their suit in 2004. The counties of Santa Clara, San Mateo, Los Angeles and Contra Costa also joined in the action. In a statement Tuesday, Microsoft denied it did anything wrong. "We value our relationship with these cities and counties and are pleased to reach a settlement that allows us all to focus on the future," said Tom Burt, Microsoft's deputy general counsel. San Francisco lawyer Richard Grossman, who represented the government agencies, said his clients were "delighted" with the settlement. The agreement still requires the approval of U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz in Baltimore. The California agencies originally sued in San Francisco Superior Court, but the case was transferred to Maryland, where Motz is overseeing several other similar suits against Microsoft. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Healthy Stealthy Subject: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: 2 May 2006 13:01:16 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Right now I'm using Verizon. I have to save money. I'm thinking about switching to Vonage. Does anyone know anything about this company? Is it a mistake to switch to them? Any details? Thanks. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Vonage is certainly a better deal, and much less expensive than Verizon. I have Vonage service here as well, although in fairness I should mention I also still have landline service as well. Some readers here would suggest that there are other VOIP companies better than Vonage, and that may be true, but I think you are inquiring about the _concept_ of VOIP instead of landline, am I correct? I am unwilling to totally abandon my landline service for VOIP. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Tuesday 2nd May 2006 Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 07:06:46 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ Financial ]] Nextel LatAm Q1 profit jumps 44% to US$65mn http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17190.php Latin American digital trunking holding company NII Holdings posted net profits of US$65mn in the first quarter, up 44% compared to 1Q05, the company said in a statement. ... DJ UK PRESS:Rivals Aim To Replace Goldman As Vodafone Broker http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17193.php Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch are preparing pitches to displace Goldman Sachs as broker to Vodafone Group, said a report in the Sunday Telegraph. ... [[ Handsets ]] Huawei making headway in handset market http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17189.php Chinese telephony equipment manufacturer Huawei is making serious headway in Venezuela's handset market, a source close to Venezuela's largest telco Cantv told BNamericas. ... [[ Personnel ]] UK PRESS: Vodafone Chairman Gets Consultancy Role http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17192.php Vodafone PLC is proposing to pay Chairman Ian MacLaurin GBP125,000 a year for a consultancy role following his departure from the company in July, The Observer reports Sunday citing a consultation letter to shareholders. ... Telecoms Engineer Executed in Afghanistan http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17195.php A telecoms engineer working for the Afghani GSM network, Roshan has been found executed following his kidnapping at the weekend. K. Suryanarayana, 41 from Hyderabad, India was found beheaded in southern Afghanistan on Sunday. The Taliban militia has ... Plane Carrying Telecoms Kit Crashes http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17196.php The UN has reported that a cargo plane carrying telecoms equipment has crashed in eastern Congo, killing up to eight passengers and crew. The plane carrying telecom gear from Kisangani to Goma, near the border with Rwanda, went down late Thursday. Ev... [[ Regulatory ]] New Zealand Watchdog Fails To Make Mobile Fee Rules Case - Telecom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17187.php Telecom Corp. of New Zealand Ltd. Monday criticized the Commerce Commission's recommendation to regulate mobile phone termination rates, saying the watchdog has failed to prove its case. ... ANALYSIS: Is Cofetel prepared for WiMax? http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17188.php The decision by Mexican authorities to open up frequency bands for wireless technologies without the need for a concession license is a welcome development that should help define future WiMax spectrum use parameters, analysts say. ... TDLC rejects request to annul Movistar spectrum sale http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17191.php Chile's antimonopoly regulator TDLC has rejected a request from triple play provider VTR to annul the decision by mobile operator Movistar Chile to sell 25Mhz of spectrum to rival operator Smartcom, local press reported. ... Verizon, JetBlue OK'd To Bid in May Spectrum Auction http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17194.php Verizon Airfone Inc. and a JetBlue Airways Corp. unit are among nine companies approved to bid for licenses to provide high-capacity, in-flight Internet service, the Federal Communications Commission announced on Monday. ... [[ Reports ]] Low Cost Cellphones Drive Semiconductors Sales http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17197.php Worldwide sales of semiconductors of US$19.22 billion in February were 6.8% higher than February of 2005, reports the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). February sales reflected a 2.2% sequential decline from the US$19.65 billion reported in J... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 12:19:18 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Tuesday, May 2, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 2, 2006 ******************************** AT&T to Launch Lightspeed Next Month http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/17760?11228 AT&T Inc. will launch its fiber-based Project Lightspeed services in San Antonio, Texas next month, the company told Light Reading Monday. AT&T has been trialing the services with a limited number of subscribers -- many of whom are AT&T employees -- in the city, but now will take the next... The New Dual Mode http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17754?11228 Cellular networks and Wi-Fi have sometimes been seen as competitors, primarily in the wireless data market. But wireless carriers increasingly are seeing Wi-Fi as a complement or even a way of enhancing in-building coverage for voice. Handset manufacturers already have seen the opportunity. There are more than a dozen handsets... SK Telecom-Earthlink MVNO Launches in U.S. http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17752?11228 Helio, the new joint venture between Earthlink and SK Telecom, has launched commercial operations. The new service, which is provisioned over Sprint Nextel's network, is targeted at young people who like to use data services such as web surfing and picture messaging. Helio is currently available on two handsets: Pantech's the Hero, which... Level 3 Buys Again http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17743?11228 Level 3 Communications announced its second acquisition in as many weeks. This time, the company is snapping up TelCove for $1.08 billion to gain access to wireless airwaves licenses as well as expand its landline network. The $1.08 billion deal encompasses a cash payment of $455 million and $637 million in Level 3 common stock, as well... RIM Hit With Another Patent Lawsuit http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17738?11228 With one successful patent-infringement lawsuit under its corporate belt, Redwood Shores, Calif.-based Visto Corporation now plans to take on Research in Motion (RIM). Following a long-running intellectual property lawsuit between Visto and Seven Networks, the company says a jury found that Seven's mobile e-mail service infringes on the... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 13:02:53 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Senate Committee Unveils Draft of Telecom Bill USTelecom dailyLead May 2, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dzpIfDtutdfCfNdaEs TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Senate committee unveils draft of telecom bill BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AOL needs to score big in surging tech sector * Visto sues RIM * EarthLink updates broadband services for SMBs * Analysis: Combined Alcatel-Lucent looks weak in cable * Comcast completes buy of Susquehanna Communications * Verizon reports earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Steven Shepard's Latest Release: IMS Crash Course TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Verizon offers faster FiOS in Tri-State area * Cisco revamps 7200-series routers REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Verizon, JetBlue get approval to bid on airwaves Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dzpIfDtutdfCfNdaEs ------------------------------ From: ctaylor@pinpoint-productions.com Subject: Eavesdropping and Wiretapping Video Receives 5 Stars Review Date: 2 May 2006 07:47:35 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The newspapers and journals are full of information about warrantless wiretapping and eavesdropping. What many people do not realize is that the type of eavesdropping occurring for national security purposes is vastly different than the real world of eavesdropping and wiretapping utilized for industrial espionage, law enforcement and by your local private investigator or tech-guy that has crossed the line into illegal eavesdropping. Now, the realistic world of eavesdropping has been thoroughly exposed in the new two-hour video called "The Red Balloon". Already recognized as the best Issue Awareness Video in 2005 at the international Aurora Awards and given a 5 Stars review in the March issue of Security Management, The Red Balloon presents the government and industry statistics about industrial espionage and eavesdropping, and how big this problem really is. It also reveals the different types of eavesdropping devices used with illegal wiretapping and eavesdropping and the novel techniques utilized by both professional and amateur eavesdroppers. If you are curious about the eavesdropping industry then you simply must see the powerful informational video presented by one of the world's most recognized experts in the field. To learn more you can go to http://www.tscmvideo.com ------------------------------ From: quirk@syntac.net Subject: New Hosted VoIP PBX Service Date: 2 May 2006 09:25:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com May 1, 2006 Haagenti Group launches "telekommunisten," a next-generation hosted telephone exchange service. http://www.telekommunisten.net Just in time for May Day, the activists and voice over IP specialists at the Haagenti Group have launched a next generation hosted VoIP telephone exchange service. This innovative system brings to Voice over IP what has been traditionally the domain of expensive hardware PBX systems, delivering features like an automated attendant, extensions for users and groups of users, voice mail and super cheap long distance rates to VoIP users. telekommunisten is motivated by more than just delivering a ground breaking new product. Those who sign-up for this service have the added bonus of knowing they are supporting the international development and aid work frequently undertaken by the Haagenti Group's founders, including most recently helping co-ordinate relief and communications projects in Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans. May 1st, the traditional day to commemorate the Anarchist Martyrs of Chicago's Hay Market riot, seems an appropriate time to launch a company that is worker-owned and operated, and whose founders promote the ideal of workers owning their own means of production. The Haagenti Group is based in Montreal and Berlin. Contact: +1 514 667 7675 +49 30 896 779 913 info@haagenti.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Canadian Census Going Online Date: 2 May 2006 12:00:10 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Stefanie Kranjec wrote: > By Stefanie Kranjec > Canada is joining a small club of countries that is bringing the > census into the Internet age, and aims to have 20 percent of > respondents fill out their surveys online this year. Modern data processing got its start with the U.S. Census. Because the 1880 census took so long to tabulate, the Census Bureau sought a way to improve it. Herman Hollerith developed a punched card system that proved to be far faster. He started a business that evolved into IBM. Many information system people today forget the basic premise of Hollerith's system, which was that information should only be keyed in once, then used multiple times. Once a data record (a punched card) was created in the Hollerith system, it could be sorted and tabulated in many different ways to produce subtotals and totals organized by a variety of means. People also forget today the importance of good categorization and coding of data and often try to shove a "one size fits all" solution. ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 16:41:59 EDT Subject: Re: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - But Net Makes Their Voices Count In a message dated 1 May 2006 14:43:06 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com writes: > Monty Solomon wrote: >> By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist >> Roger Ebert may be endangered, Entertainment Weekly on its way to >> extinction. Have you noticed how many no-name critics are suddenly >> serving up pithy opinions about movies, books, music, and video games >> on the Net? >> "The cultural influencers are changing," says Brian Kalinowski, >> chief operating officer of Lycos, the Waltham Internet portal. >> "Expert opinion in the media used to drive culture. Now, it's peer >> recommendations." > I don't hold much credence to it. It has about as much influence as > traditional "word of mouth" has (although word of mount could be > pretty powerful). Specifically with respect to motion pictures, it is clear that critics do not and never did "drive culture." Many, many pictures lauded by the critics failed miserably at the box office, while some that the critics considered either trash or beneath serious notice brought in lots of the public. > Further, the social advocates quickly grabbed on this stuff early on, > and have turned it into very partisan soapboxes, which has tuned out > others who aren't as passionate. For example, there's a railroad > newsgroup that doesn't spend too much time talking about railroad > stuff. Rather, it is mostly flame wars between advocates of passenger > trains and those who hate trains altogether. The haters seem to be > very well organized and respond to almost every post. (see > misc.transport.rail.americas and go through some of the threads). I am interested in railroads and railroading and for several years I participated in that particular newsgroup. It became more and more merely flame posts between passionate advocates of these two positions. I finally dropped out because, as you say, little about railroads was included in the posts and there was nothing but an endless iteration of the same arguments by the same people on both sides. However, I would suggest that the "anti-" faction did not hate trains altogether -- just passenger trains. There are well over 100 lists -- some have counted more than 200 -- on various railroad topics, some of them very tightly focused. Some of them have hundreds of participants and engage in rational (and usually civil) discourse. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers Date: 2 May 2006 21:45:07 GMT Organization: Aracnet Internet Services In article , Digest Editor wrote: > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, but just imagine, if every > legitimate netizen out there would make the effort to add five or > ten minutes of extra work to the load of their favorite spammer. Then you end up with a distributed denial of service attack on the mail servers of the world. The spammers don't care. If they were running their own servers they would. But they aren't, they're running bot-nets with thousands of infected home computers to distribute the load across. All your approach does is increase the load that the various mailservers have to deal with when trying to detect and reject the spam as the number of fake addresses and corresponding connection attempts increases accordingly. Unless you can guarantee that the domains used in your fake emails don't and never will exist. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well hey, if the spammers don't care, then why should anyone else? Let's bring the whole thing to a screaming halt. Someone should write a little sript to make up domain names on the fly. Something like: "Ima-Enabler@_the_(number_of_minutes)_delay_in_this_piece_of_email_getting_from_(your_name)_to_(recipient's_name)_is_compliments_of_(spammer1_spammer2_spammer3_who_between_them_sent_out_(number_of_spam_emails_and_scams_)_in_the_past_hour_or_(percentage)_of_all_email.com" Then have that little script calculate and fill in (number of minutes) as an estimate and (spammer1, spammer2, spammer3) and (number of spams-scams) based on traffic patterns seen around the net from one minute to the next and (percentage) as an estimate. And be sure to thank the spammers by name in so far as their names are known for their participation and help in making it possible. In other words, shut it down, rub their noses in the mess, and make it seem like the most natural thing in the world that a piece of email takes 9-10 hours to travel from Point A to Point B and then -- even then -- falls into a spam bucket somewhere along the way. Use gorilla warfare (or do you say 'guerilla'?) to bring those jerks to their knees. If we cannot have email to work the way it was intended, then let's not have it at all ... as the Esteemed William ('punch the buttons, yank the crank') Burroughs once noted in his book 'Naked Lunch' when he was addressing a pet monkey, "either shape up and shit right, or you won't be in a position to shit at all ... " PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #167 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 3 14:15:14 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 81EC015620; Wed, 3 May 2006 14:15:14 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #168 Message-Id: <20060503181514.81EC015620@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 14:15:14 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, WORK_AT_HOME autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 3 May 2006 14:18:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 168 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson FTC Whacks Integrated Credit Solutions/Lighthouse Gang (Mark Crispin) FTC Sues Companies For Selling Phone Records (Reuters News Wire) Should You Get Fired for Using Internet at Work? (Freeman Klopott) Spam Filters Gone Wild (Monty Solomon) An Ipv6 Chart (hemeng2@gmail.com) Cellular-News: Wednesday 3rd May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 3, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Virgin Mobile Warning (NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (Lena) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (SD) Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers (nospam4me@mytrashmail.com) Re: Eavesdropping and Wiretapping Video Receives 5 Stars Review (D Garland) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Crispin Subject: FTC Whacks Integrated Credit Solutions/Lighthouse Gang! Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 10:56:44 -0700 Organization: University of Washington The wheels of justice turn slowly, but they do turn. The Federal Trade Commission has announced a $2.4 million settlement with the Integrated Credit Solutions, Flagship Capital Services, Lighthouse Credit Foundation, Mary H. Mecher, J. Steven Mcwhorter, and Jeffrey E. Poorman; and proceedings continue against Daniel M. Melgar. This gang made prerecorded phone calls to practically everybody in the country (including my cell phone!) advertising their "credit counseling services". The FTC didn't mince words: not only did they make illegal calls, but they didn't provide the promised interest rate deductions, nor lowered interest rates within the promised time, nor provided any financial counseling, nor was their stiff "administrative fee" tax deductable in spite of their claims. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/05/lighthouse.htm One of their lies (repeated in multiple threatening letters from their lawyer) was that telemarketer Integrated Credit Solutions (run by Mcworter) and "non-profit credit counseler" Lighthouse Credit Foundation (run by Melcer) were independent entities. It turned out that Mcworter and Melcer go back quite a ways. McWorter ran Flagship Mortgage Services, the home equity unit of Republic Bank of St. Petersburg; it marketed home equity loans nationwide as a way for high-risk borrowers to escape credit card dept. Flagship went belly-up in late 1998, and Republic Bank was forced to lay off 340 employees and take a $7.5 million loss. Melcer was Republic Bank's senior VP of mortgage banking. [Source: St. Petersburg Times] Not surprisingly, these two lovebirds had to find new work. They took the name Flagship with them, and tried various things until by late 2000 when they had the Flagship/ICS/Lighthouse axis set up, and then they set about harassing people throughout their country with their telemarketing calls starting in 2001. Melcer tries to portray herself about being all sweetness and honesty, supporting Girl Scouts, etc. What she doesn't say is that she had no previous experience with credit counseling or managing non-profits; nor that she invested in Flagship; or that she worked with Flagship to set up the "independent" Lighthouse; or that Flagship paid Lighthouse $65K to get it started. [Source: Massachusetts Attorney General] -- Mark -- http://panda.com/mrc Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote. ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: FTC Sues Companies For Selling Phone Records Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 11:55:08 -0500 U.S. authorities said on Wednesday they had filed suit against five online companies, charging they had illegally sold confidential phone records. The Federal Trade Commission said it is asking a court to bar the sale of the phone records and force the companies to give up the money they made with their operations. "Trafficking in consumers' confidential telephone records is outrageous," FTC consumer protection chief Lydia Parnes said in a statement. "It robs consumers of their privacy and exposes them to everything from snoops to stalkers." The FTC lawsuits come amid a wave of concerns about Web sites that offer to get consumers' phone records. Investigations are also under way by the Federal Communications Commission and states' attorneys general. In addition, lawmakers in Congress are considering measures to impose tougher penalties on the practice. In the lawsuits announced on Wednesday, the FTC charged the companies used "false pretenses, fraudulent statements, fraudulent or stolen documents or other misrepresentations, including posing as a customer of a telecommunications carrier" to get the phone records. The companies advertised on their Web sites that they could get the confidential phone records of any individual and make them available for a fee, the agency said. One of the companies, Integrity Security & Investigations Services Inc., based in Yorktown, Virginia, also sold consumers' financial records, including credit-card information, the FTC said. Other companies and their principals named in the FTC suits were: 77 Investigations Inc., and Reginald Kimbro, based in Upland, California; AccuSearch Inc., doing business as Abika.com, and Jay Patel, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming; CEO Group Inc., doing business as Check Em Out, and Scott Joseph, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Information Search Inc., and David Kacala, based in Baltimore, Maryland. CEO Group President Scott Joseph told Reuters he had not yet had time to review the suit and could not comment. Information Search's David Kacala disputed that he had illegally sold such records, saying the dispute was over information on his company's Web site. "Basically it's charging me with advertising," he told Reuters. Attempts to contact Integrity Security, 77 Investigations, AccuSearch, Kimbro and Patel were not immediately successful. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Freeman Klopott Subject: Should You Get Fired for Using Internet at Work? Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 11:57:08 -0500 Freeman Klopott, Medill News Service WASHINGTON -- BlackBerry devices. Cell phones. Pagers. Wireless Internet access. Broadband at home. The growing list of communications technologies that links workers to the workplace 24/7 increasingly is blurring the lines between work and home. Employees surf the Web at work, checking the weather, making travel plans, and shopping. At home, many send e-mail, continue their work chores on the Internet, and otherwise stay connected with their professional lives. While employers rarely discourage the extra work done at home, many want employees' attention focused on work while at the office. In a recent decision, a New York City administrative law judge adds another angle to the debate between employers and employees over personal use of the Internet in the workplace. Ruling in the case of an employee who allegedly used the Internet for personal reasons during work hours, the judge, John B. Spooner, compared Internet use at work to reading a newspaper or making a telephone call. (Go here for more on the increased use of the Internet as a news source.) Permeable Boundary "It should be observed," Spooner wrote, "that the Internet has become the modern equivalent of a telephone or a daily newspaper, providing a combination of communication and information that most employees use as frequently in their personal lives as for their work." Spooner recommended that Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the city Department of Education, receive the slightest reprimand for insubordination, even though supervisors wanted him fired for using the Internet for personal matters after he was told not to. Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet and American Life Project says it "sounds like the judge was recognizing a reality for lots of workers." Rainie says the "boundary between work and leisure, work and home, is becoming more permeable." The New York administrative court's rulings serve as recommendations to city department heads who make a final decision. In fiscal year 2005, 99 percent of department heads agreed with the findings and altogether rejected just 16 percent of the recommendations. Loss of Money? Despite the mixing of work and personal time, employers fear the loss of salaried time from workers who are not devoting all their workplace time to, well, work. A recent survey by http://Salary.com claims employers waste $759 billion per year paying for employees who are online for personal reasons. But Rainie calls this and other reports like it "junk pieces of research" because they don't account for work at home. And a December 2002 survey conducted by the University of Maryland supports Rainie. The survey finds that workers with Internet access at home and at work used an average of 3.7 hours per week of work time for personal Internet use. But they spend more time, 5.9 hours per week, surfing for work outside office hours. (Go here for some background on the issue.) The Case Existing case law, Rainie says, gives employers the right to dictate how their computers are used, but generally such rules "get to different aspects of the same question: How do people spend their time? What are they supposed to be doing when they're on the job? What do they actually do on their job?" For Choudhri, the veteran of New York City's Department of Education who could possibly still lose his job despite this initial ruling in his favor, the answer to these questions is pretty clear. Much like fellow employees, Choudhri used the Internet during down time. In one instance, Choudhri was reprimanded for checking the weather on the Internet while eating his lunch, Spooner writes in the decision. Martin Druyan, Choudhri's lawyer says, "If everyone in the office has no work and everyone is on the Internet, unless management gives them work or forbids them from doing it, then people are going to use the Internet." Not the End "This saga is not over," Druyan says. "We're midstream here, something is gonna happen." Since the March 9 ruling, the embattled employee has spent 30 days suspended without pay. He is back on the payroll, the department says, but he is not at work. The Department of Education says Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein is expected to make a final decision sometime during the week of April 30. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news of interest on tech topics, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/tech-news.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 01:02:58 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Spam Filters Gone Wild Spam Filters Gone Wild; Spate of Incidents at Verizon, AOL Point to Growing Problem Of Blocking Legitimate Email By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO May 3, 2006 Internet companies are taking more aggressive steps to stop the flow of unwanted email. In a significant number of cases, though, consumers complain that the efforts increasingly are blocking the good along with the bad. Possibly millions of AOL members were temporarily unable to receive some mail from Google Inc.'s Gmail users last week after AOL held up messages from some new Gmail servers over concerns it might be spam. An AOL software update recently resulted in a stoppage of mail that mentioned at least 60 Internet addresses. An update of Verizon Communication Inc.'s spam filters recently sparked widespread complaints from consumers who were unable to receive and send messages. The companies blamed the problems on software glitches or communication failures and often fixed them within hours. Tight precautions are necessary, the companies say, since spam can threaten online security and safety -- a more serious problem than the nuisance of a few missed messages. But others say the incidents are a troubling sign that new antispam measures may be going to far, contributing to everything from lost real-estate deals and blocked banking transactions to bruised relationships caused by unreturned emails that never got through to friends in the first place. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114661393481042025.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As I discuseed in this column yesterday, the _real villains_ -- the spammer-scammers -- do not care either way, and the people who lean toward caring are busy squabbling with each other over which methods to use. If one has to choose between 'online safety and security' (the viewpoint of many companies) and 'a few missed messages' (which netizens seem to care about) I would choose to try and insure that no _legitimate_ messages were lost. But there is a third choice, which some netizens -- I call them 'enablers' refuse to consider: severe punishment of spammers; they opt instead to continually try to refine their 'spam filters', not worrying all that much about 'a few messages'. The enablers have one excuse after another why nothing will work except for their filtering schemes, and as we see in this message and others, even that does not work all that well. Maybe they can learn by extremes: I suggested yesterday that if lots of mail servers were constantly jammed with trash domain names (for our pretection; valid email addresses in the text area of email) and a notation that spammer-scammers 1, 2, 3, 4 had made these efforts necessary (let's all give a warm greeting to them!) they might possibly begin to take the hint; then again, sadly, maybe not. PAT] ------------------------------ From: hemeng2@gmail.com Subject: An Ipv6 Chart Date: 2 May 2006 21:31:44 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com An Ipv6 chart at http://www.o2chart.com/echart/ipv6header.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Wednesday 3rd May 2006 Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 07:24:56 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ Financial ]] MTN Group Agrees Terms For $5.53 Billion Investcom Buy http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17203.php In one of the largest takeover deals ever entered into by a South African group, mobile phone company MTN Group said Tuesday it has agreed terms that may lead to a $5.53 billion offer for Investcom, which has mobile phone operations in Africa and the... Verizon CEO Says Still Wants Vodafone Stake http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17204.php Verizon Communications Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said he remains interested in buying Vodafone Group's 45% stake in Verizon Wireless, but no actions have been taken on either side. ... [[ Legal ]] Research In Motion Comments On Visto Patent Complaint http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17198.php Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) said Visto Corp., which has filed a complaint alleging patent infringement against RIM in the U.S. Eastern District Court of Texas, has already filed patent complaints against several companies in the industry. ... [[ Messaging ]] Telenor To Provide Microsoft Mobile E-Mail In Sweden http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17200.php Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor, Tuesday said it will start offering Microsoft's Windows Mobile E-mail service to its subscribers in Sweden. ... [[ Mobile Content ]] Gemplus USIM Cards Chosen by 3 for Mobile TV http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17211.php Gemplus says that it has been selected as the exclusive USIM partner of 3 Italia, for its world first Mobile TV service. Based on DVB-H technology, the service will be launched on 3 Italia's network prior to the FIFA World Cup in June 2006.... Consumers Bemoan Mobile Games Selection and Pricing http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17216.php With E3 on the horizon, mobile gaming finds itself in the spotlight, with even Paris Hilton getting into the game. But despite Hilton's proclamation that, "mobile gaming is hot right now," the audience for downloaded mobile games is stagnating. M:Met... [[ MVNO ]] Latest Niche Wireless Provider Targets Youth Market http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17199.php Helio LLC, the latest niche wireless service provider to pop up, launched Tuesday with a set of phones and services geared towards the affluent youth and Korean-American markets. ... [[ Network Contracts ]] China's Huawei to supply 3G equip to VimpelCom's Tajik unit http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17208.php Chinese telecommunications equipment producer Huawei Technologies has signed a contract to supply third generation (3G) mobile equipment to Tacom, a Tajik subsidiary of Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom, VimpelCom's press office said ... African Operator Compresses Backhaul Traffic http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17213.php NMS Communications has announced that the pan-African operator, Celtel is broadening the use of NMS's AccessGate backhaul optimisation solution to reduce operating expenses as its subscriber base continues to flourish. AccessGate reduces backhaul tra... [[ Network Operators ]] Indonesia Telkom Expects 3M New CDMA Subscribers In 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17202.php PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia expects to add three million new subscribers to its Flexi mobile-phone service this year amid efforts aimed at having the CDMA unit contribute a larger portion of the company's consolidated operating revenue. ... Source says Russian businessmen behind Kyrgyz? 2nd GSM operator http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17207.php Two Russian businessmen are behind MegaCom, Kyrgyzstan?s second GSM mobile network operator, a source close to the company told Prime-Tass Tuesday. ... All You Can Eat SMS Tariff http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17215.php Telia Sweden is launching an "all you can eat" SMS tariff. For the price of US$13.50 (SEK 99) per month, Telia's customers can send as many SMS messages as they can to all mobile networks in Sweden. Telia's Trend Survey 2006 indicated that SMS is sti... [[ Regulatory ]] EU Court:Regulators Should Have Studied T-Mobile-O2 Deal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17201.php A top European court Tuesday said European regulators were wrong to give antitrust exemption to a roaming agreement between Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile International and 02 PLC. ... EU's Kroes Mulls Ceilings On Roaming Phone Charges http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17205.php European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes Tuesday said she may consider imposing ceilings on the 'roaming' charges of mobile phone operators but ruled out creating fixed roaming-service charges across Europe. ... Telecom Egypt,Telecom Italia To Bid For Mobile License http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17206.php State-controlled Telecom Egypt, Tuesday said it would join forces with Telecom Italia to bid for Egypt's third mobile telecommunications license. ... Petition to Repeal Double-Taxation of Cellphone Use http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17214.php South Dakota, USA cell phone users declared a small victory as a petition was submitted yesterday with enough signatures to place a repeal of a double taxation of cell phone use on the November ballot. The tax in question is the Gross Receipts Tax (G... [[ Reports ]] European Converged Device Market Shows Poor Opening Quarter http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17210.php According to the latest market data from IDC, the Western European mobile device market (including standalone handhelds and converged devices) grew by 25% year on year in the opening quarter of 2006, as total shipments reached 3.2 million units. Sign... Growth Opportunities for Wireless Carriers in Marketing to Teens and Parents http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17212.php JupiterResearch finds that wireless carriers can significantly grow their subscriber base and revenues by targeting teenagers and parents with separate marketing messages. According to a new report, 58% of teens have cell phones, whereas 70% of adult... [[ Statistics ]] VimpelCom reports 100,000 subscribers to Beeline brand in Ukraine http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17209.php The number of subscribers to VimpelCom's Beeline brand in Ukraine amounts to 100,000 as of now, VimpelCom said in a press release Tuesday. The brand was launched in Ukraine on April 11. ... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 12:12:10 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Wednesday, May 3, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 3, 2006 ******************************** OTE Aims For a Million Broadband Users by 2007 http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17779?11228 Greece incumbent telecoms operator OTE plans to double its number of high-speed ADSL broadband users to one million by end-2007, according to its chief executive Panagis Vourloumis. Reuters reports that Vourloumis told an industry conference organised by Greek telecoms regulator EETT that 'broadband is not an abstract concept for OTE. It... Draft Telecom-Reform Bill Helps, Hinders All Parties http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17769?11228 Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who chairs the Commerce Committee, finally unveiled his version of the Communications Act of 2006, which is to be called the Communications, Consumer's Choice and Broadband Deployment Act of 2006. While some see this draft as being good for cable and telcos alike, others are worried about weak net-neutrality... Building a Better VoIP Infrastructure http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/17765?11228 POTS may be on the way out, but you have to admit one thing: it worked, usually reliably and flawlessly.   The same can't be said about voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. VoIP is cheap, easy to incorporate into an array of computer and Web technologies and it works--but not always well and typically at quality levels... Huawei Lands Another Euro Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17762?11228 Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. has cemented its position as one of the most important telecom equipment vendors in the U.K. by landing a deal with Opal Telecom Ltd. , which plans to install its own broadband access equipment in up to 1,000 BT Group plc (NYSE: BT - message board; London: BTA) local exchanges in the U.K. (See Opal Uses... Verizon Wireless Adds 1.7M Subs http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17761?11228 Verizon Wireless ended the first quarter with 53 million customers, more than The Street was anticipating. The No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier in subscriber totals posted revenue of $8.8 billion, a 19 percent year-over-year increase. Wireless data revenues, which totaled $872 million for the quarter, accounted for nearly 11.5 percent of... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us Subject: Virgin Mobile Warning Date: 3 May 2006 09:52:20 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com If you have voice mail and someone calls your Virgin Mobile phone and gets your voice mail box the caller gets charged for the call. This is rightfully so as the caller can leave information for you. Virgin is now instituting a new policy that if you have had voice mail removed from your account, Virgin Mobile will send a supervisory signal back to the CALLING TELCO that your Vrigin phone has answered. That means, that if someone calls you from a pay phone and you do not answer, and you do not have Virgin voice mail they will get an intercept message that could cost the pay phone user fifty cents each time [depending on charges in your local area]. Virgin has already started this and has stated that eventually all their customers will have this "supervised as answered". Perhaps they don't like lost revenue if you do not have an active mailbox. ------------------------------ From: Lena Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: 3 May 2006 03:33:22 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Healthy Stealthy wrote: > I'm thinking about switching to Vonage. Does anyone know anything about this > company? Is it a mistake to switch to them? Any details? I just went through the process of looking at three VOIP companies (Vonage, AT&T CallVantage and Verizon Voicewing) and picked CallVantage. Everyone's situation is different; I don't make enough long distance calls to justify a plan with unlimited LD calling. But I wanted a lot of features, especially Call Filtering where I can block callers without Caller ID as well as 20 specific numbers. I read a lot of reviews on the three companies, and while Vonage has the most customers, they also seemed to have the most complaints about the service. Vonage has a $25 plan with unlimited LD and a $15 plan with a per minute fee for LD. CallVantage has a $30 plan with unlimited LD and a $20 plan with 4 cpm LD. Voicewing has a $35 plan with unlimited LD (can't remember if they offer a per minute LD plan). I chose the $20 CallVantage plan, adding $2 for call filtering, total monthly cost with taxes and fees $27. Voicewing claimed that only one phone can be connected to their telephone adapter, and if one wanted multiple phones, they would have to purchase a multiple phone set. CallVantage claims that one can use the existing house wiring once the incoming landline is disconnected, and all phones can be used. Another reason I chose CallVantage. I think this has more to do with the REN number (Ring Equivalence Number) of the phones, where an REN of 1 is the equivalent of an old style non-powered phone with a ringer that is powered by the incoming phone signal. With nost cordless phones that use house power, the REN is about one tenth of an REN, so multiple phones can easily be hooked up to a telephone adapter without loading it down. The only negative I have found so far with CallVantage is that the telephone adapter is very sensitive to power glitches. When the TA detects a power flicker, the next outgoing call made connects to an AT&T service that asks me to verify that the phone has not been moved (by pressing 1). This is done to comply with the E-911 regulations. I have the telephone adapter connected to my computer's UPS, but the TA still sees an occasional flicker. Fer cryin' out loud, I couldn't possibly move the TA to a new location in a few milliseconds. Wish they would have designed a full minute in to the power outage detection circuitry before sending me to the location verifier at AT&T. One problem I ran into trying to transfer my home number to VOIP is that AT&T did not have a portability agreement with the rinky-dink phone company that I had. Even though I was paying the small fee every month for number portability, AT&T could not get my number. So I am using the phone number assigned to me by AT&T, and am in the process of porting my number to Verizon, after which I can port my number to AT&T. HTH. Lena ------------------------------ From: SD Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: Wed, 03 May 2006 10:36:24 -0500 On 5/2/2006 3:01 PM, Healthy Stealthy wrote: > Right now I'm using Verizon. I have to save money. I'm thinking about > switching to Vonage. Does anyone know anything about this company? Is > it a mistake to switch to them? Any details? > Thanks. I have had Vonage for about 1 year now. For the first 6 months I had periodic problems such as dropped calls and having to reboot the router. The last few months have seen no problems. Give it a shot. No contracts. ------------------------------ From: nospam4me@mytrashmail.com Subject: Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 16:25:42 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: > In article , TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, but just imagine, if every >> legitimate netizen out there would make the effort to add five or >> ten minutes of extra work to the load of their favorite spammer. > Then you end up with a distributed denial of service attack on the > mail servers of the world. What if mail server operators set up their systems to firewall IP addresses which attempt to send to over a certain percentage of invalid addresses? What if more mail-ops require valid reverse DNS as a condition of accepting mail sessions? This would screen out most of the bot-nets. And " wpoison " which was the first well-known harvester-polluting web script always used invalid first-level domains to avoid the DDoS problem. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Herb Oxley From: address IS Valid. ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Eavesdropping and Wiretapping Video Receives 5 Stars Review Date: Wed, 03 May 2006 02:29:20 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when ctaylor@pinpoint-productions.com wrote: > If you are curious about the eavesdropping industry then you simply > must see the powerful informational video presented by one of the > world's most recognized experts in the field. To learn more you can > go to http://www.tscmvideo.com Which is a teaser for a video they want to sell you. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #168 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 3 23:57:13 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C45F61566B; Wed, 3 May 2006 23:57:12 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #169 Message-Id: <20060504035712.C45F61566B@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 23:57:12 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, OFFSHORE_SCAM autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 3 May 2006 23:59:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 169 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Skype Plans Web-Phone Conversations For Groups (Eric Auchard) House Panel Approves Bill to Ban Cyber-gambling (Reuters News Wire) Papers' Web Sites Feature Outside Blogs (Anick Jesdanun) Intel Launches $1B Effort to Push Web Use Worldwide (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (saurabh) Re: Eavesdropping/Wiretapping Video Receives 5 Star Review (Waitman Gobble) Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eric Auchard Subject: Skype Plans Web-Phone Conversations For Groups Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 22:26:19 -0500 By Eric Auchard Web phone-calling company Skype is bringing social networking to crowds as it unveils a service for groups of up to 100 people to hold spontaneous conversations online. The international phone-calling service, which has signed up 100 million users is adding 200,000 new users a day, said on Tuesday it is previewing a shared communications service called "Skypecasts" along with an upgrade of its core Skype software. Skypecasts are live, moderated discussions that allow groups of Skype users anywhere in the world to discuss shared interests, from classes to computer support to cultural or political debates. They amount to the conversational equivalent of Web blogs, complementing the written interactions of blogs. "To date users have been talking one-to-one and one-to-many in private settings," Saul Klein, Skype's head of marketing, said in an interview of Skype's current services. "Skypecast is about starting to have conversations in public settings." The service is moderated by a designated host who is able to pass a virtual microphone to participants in the group when they wish to speak. To keep conversations on track, the software allows the moderator to silence or eject detractors. The social networking trend grew up out of the online dating scene with the rise of Friendster and has evolved as the power of collaborating with one's friends and acquaintances has been applied to everything from music to news to Web search. Skype takes the concept of social networking literally, based on the recognition that buddies on the phone or in an instant message chat are one's social network in a real sense. Coming from a different starting point is MySpace, which began around the same time as a music fan site, but has grown into a broad-based media distribution platform for its owner, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. "The whole idea of talking on Skype is based around actual social networks -- one's address book of contacts," Forrester Research analyst Charlene Li said. The lines between Internet media sites and communications companies such as Skype are increasing blurring as both types of companies offer an increasingly similar set of features. "There is this natural inclination by big communications giants to want to be the focal point for the user experience, the starting point, the way to search the Web, and not just an instant message or voice communication tool," Li said. Hosting or participating in a Skypecast is completely free. The feature is in preview mode, said the Luxembourg-based unit of online auctioneer eBay Inc. Skype is working with several Web community services including Six Apart, the San Francisco-based blogging software maker, as a way for bloggers to create an interactive way for their audiences to hold open conversations online. It is working with OpenVC, a European business networking site, and Bebo.com, a dating network site popular with British youth. Bloggers can schedule Skypecasts and link to them from their sites, so visitors using Skype can click to join discussions instantly, without leaving a blog site. Skype is also set to introduce version 2.5 of the Skype software, with a grab bag of new features, including giving any Skype user on a computer or phone the ability to send text messages directly to mobile phone users, Klein said. The new software is available for download at 1100 GMT (12:00 p.m. British time) on Wednesday. It simplifies features on Skype for novice users, including making international dialing and paying for calls in different currencies easier, said IDC analyst Will Stofega. "Skype is trying to really fix a few of the things that maybe the novice doesn't instinctively understand," he said. On Monday, Skype had said it was furthering its push into business market through a partnership with speakerphone maker Polycom Inc., which plans to offer a handheld-sized Skype speakerphone for travelers that runs off a laptop and costs $129 (70 pounds) -- the low end of speakerphone pricing. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headline news from the daily media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: House Panel Approves Bill to Ban Cyber-gambling Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 22:19:44 -0500 A House of Representatives subcommittee on Wednesday approved a bill that would ban Internet gambling, estimated to be a $12 billion industry. The legislation would update and expand an existing federal law to cover all forms of interstate gambling within the United States, and would bar a gambling business from accepting payment in the form of credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers. It would also prohibit gambling on an estimated 2,300 Internet gambling sites. Shares of some British-based gaming companies fell on news that the bill had progressed another step. PartyGaming Plc and 888 Holdings tumbled about 5 percent each on the London Stock Exchange. The bill was approved on a voice vote by the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime. It will go to the full committee for consideration. However, it remains unclear whether the legislation will reach floor votes in the House and Senate. Congress has a relatively short schedule this year because of the November congressional elections. "Virtual betting parlors have attempted to avoid the application of United States law by locating themselves offshore and out of our jurisdictional reach," said Rep. Bob Goodlatte (news, bio, voting record), a Virginia Republican who wrote the bill. The offshore companies use Internet sites that are "unlicensed, untaxed and unregulated," he said. Under U.S. law, interstate gambling over telephone wires is illegal and other gambling is banned unless regulated by the states. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Anick Jesdanun Subject: Papers' Web Sites Feature Outside Blogs Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 22:21:15 -0500 By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer The Web sites of dozens of newspapers are starting to feature outside blog postings on travel, health and other topics in a further blurring of the line separating traditional and new media. The travel section of the San Francisco Chronicle's site, for instance, had a box in the middle Wednesday with such posts as "The Intricate Architecture of Barcelona" from the RealTravel blog. The sports section of the Austin American-Statesman site had items on the University of Texas teams. The posts supplement the Web journals, or blogs, maintained by the newspapers' own staffs and come from Pluck Corp.'s new BlogBurst service, which collects postings from about 1,000 blogs and distributes them to newspapers, mostly for online use. Bloggers who participate get greater exposure for their writings - but no money, for now. Newspapers get more coverage in areas for which they may not have enough reporters. Pluck charges papers largely based on traffic - and thus ad sales - the posts help generate, and the company may one day share those revenues with the bloggers, too. Dave Panos, Pluck's chief executive and co-founder, said the company is reviewing all blogs ahead of time to make sure they are topical and aren't apt to use offensive language. However, Pluck won't vet every post. Newspapers concerned about quality control can opt instead for prescreened feeds -- five to 10 a day in a given topic instead of dozens or hundreds. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The same sort of arrangement was made with this Digest, and a few other internet newsletters: The source of my news wire here preselects five feeds per day specifically for teleocm news and to appear in the Digest, then the other stuff on the wire goes into the 'td-extra' areas such as 'newstoday.html' and 'internet-news.html'. Its a great system, really; they all get my feed -- those who want to use it -- and I get all their stuff. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 13:17:08 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Intel Launches $1B Effort to Push Web Use Worldwide USTelecom dailyLead May 3, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dzAAfDtutdoObhpgUW TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Intel launches $1B effort to push Web use worldwide BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Skype debuts new software * Nokia ships BlackBerry competitor * Vonage adds European countries to unlimited calling list * Verizon Wireless gets 10% of Q1 revenue from data * Alltel, Qwest, Charter report earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Selecting the Best Softswitch TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Microsoft turns to TV, movie experts for Web pilots * Commentary: Wi-Fi's growing pains REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * New Zealand orders telecom to open local loop Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dzAAfDtutdoObhpgUW ------------------------------ From: saurabh Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: 3 May 2006 15:14:45 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hi dere, I am an Indian and people here also are using Vonage ... it is working well. Useful for anyone who is in either states or wanna have states number. Editor rightly said it is based on VoIP which is very economical compared to another providers. saurabh ------------------------------ From: Waitman Gobble Subject: Re: Eavesdropping and Wiretapping Video Receives 5 Stars Review Date: 3 May 2006 19:25:59 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello, My favorite article that seems somewhat related was written a few years ago by a PBS guy (it seems). Shooting Ourselves in the Foot: Grandiose Schemes for Electronic Eavesdropping May Hurt More Than They Help By Robert X. Cringely http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030710.html Take care, Waitman ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Using Dilution to Fight Phishers Date: 3 May 2006 19:06:04 GMT Organization: Aracnet Internet Services In article , wrote: > jmeissen@aracnet.com wrote: >> In article , TELECOM Digest >> Editor wrote: >>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, but just imagine, if every >>> legitimate netizen out there would make the effort to add five or >>> ten minutes of extra work to the load of their favorite spammer. >> Then you end up with a distributed denial of service attack on the >> mail servers of the world. > What if mail server operators set up their systems to firewall IP > addresses which attempt to send to over a certain percentage of > invalid addresses? There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of infected home systems trying to deliver spam. I used to examine my mail logs to look for patterns, but there are very few duplicate IP addresses. And even if one system did try to deliver enough to trigger such a filter it would quickly be replaced by another. Eventually you would be blocking huge portions of the 'net, one IP address at a time. You could get more sophisticated, and maintain a database and try to consolidate by netblocks, but the end result is that you'll probably just block most of the Internet. > What if more mail-ops require valid reverse DNS as a condition of > accepting mail sessions? This would screen out most of the bot-nets. And a significant number of legitimate sites, too. :-/ I personally use that approach. I don't accept email from sites without valid rDNS unless they've been explicitly whitelisted. There have been some important emails blocked because of it, but I say, "too bad." I've tried to inform the site admins, but they usually ignore me. One company has multiple mail servers, and some of them have valid rDNS while others don't. So random emails from them bounce. > And " wpoison " which was the first well-known harvester-polluting web > script always used invalid first-level domains to avoid the DDoS > problem. Unfortunately, as the namespace becomes more crowded it becomes more likely that previously invalid names will become valid ones. You could, of course, make them obviously invalid, but if they're obvious then they're easy for the harvesters to filter. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #169 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu May 4 16:18:23 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id D3CEB14D60; Thu, 4 May 2006 16:18:21 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #170 Message-Id: <20060504201821.D3CEB14D60@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 16:18:21 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.5 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NA_DOLLARS autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 4 May 2006 16:21:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 170 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Can Open Source Defeat Microsoft? (Jack Germain) Microsoft CEO Sees Web Services as Top R&D Priority (Reuters News Wire) US Steps Into Wiretap Suit Against AT&T (John Markoff) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 4, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) BPL Firm Current Communications to Announce New (USTelecom dailyLead) Cellular-News: Thursday 4th May 2006 (Cellular-News) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (Mark J) In-Building_Solutions_2006 (Cellular-News) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jack M. Germain Subject: Can Open Source Defeat Microsoft? Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 14:29:23 -0500 Jack M. Germain, newsfactor.com While Microsoft has had some 20 years to make Office what it is today, most industry analysts say that new open-source contenders, such as OpenOffice, measure up reasonably well against Redmond's suite. But they also say that while these suites do have most of the features of Microsoft Office, they lack certain advanced capabilities that make all the difference. Clearly, Microsoft continues to define the office space and likely will dominate office software for the foreseeable future. But an interesting question to ask is whether a group of volunteers -- however large -- can ever hope to measure up against Microsoft's millions of dollars. Gates and crew have poured countless programmer hours into Office over the past 20 years, while OpenOffice and other alternative product groups consist almost entirely of volunteers. Is the idea so far-fetched that a group of volunteers can compete successfully with Microsoft? Because the two office suites are not on the same playing field in terms of development funding, it is difficult to equate Microsoft's programmer dollars against the time provided by open-source volunteers. But there are plenty of those in the open-source community who are willing to give that comparison a shot. One of those is Jacqueline McNally, marketing project lead for OpenOffice.org. "When volunteers give freely of their efforts and time, it is often mistaken that we don't have value because we don't appear on a balance sheet," said McNally from her office in Perth, Australia. "It would be an interesting exercise if it were possible to put a value on the time contributed to OpenOffice, considering there are thousands of contributors providing millions of hours." Competition Ongoing While there are of course proponents and detractors on both sides of the line, many analysts have identified open-source software and nonproprietary formats as building up strong momentum against Redmond. "The growing awareness of the benefits of open file formats and transparency are driving interest in OpenOffice, KDE, Gnome, and other alternatives to a Microsoft solution," said Stacey Quandt, research director for security solutions and services for the Aberdeen Group. However, while there are plenty of proponents, the open-source movement does have legitimate detractors. One is Michael Goulde, analyst of software infrastructure for Forrester Research. According to him, the coding for open-source products often provides a built-in drawback. By way of example, he points to OpenOffice. "The actual code for the first version was spaghetti," he said. "The code for 2.0 isn't much better. This is going to be a bear to continue to evolve, and they should probably start from scratch. It's no accident that in Forrester surveys OpenOffice usage barely shows up." Does the existence of these alternative software solutions pose any kind of challenge to Microsoft? We posed that question at several levels of Microsoft's vast media-management army along with requests to discuss the open-source phenomenon. After promises for responses, Microsoft's media messengers said the appropriate corporate responders were all traveling and could not be reached. A key official for the KDE organization, developers of one of the most popular desktop environments for the Linux operating system, was happy to comment. "I cannot speak for Microsoft, but I think that the KDE project has quite a bit of pride over the KDE platform," said Ian Reinhart Geiser, developer on the KDE project and the organization's U.S. representative. "I think this pride is helping inspire us to market KDE outside of the Linux arena." Geiser noted that the interesting thing about the open-source model is that the biggest customers tend to be the developers involved in the projects and who are also working at corporations that end up using the software. In this sense, the open-source movement is not unlike grassroots political movements that seek to transform organizations from within. "I think these developers may be a challenge (to Microsoft) because communities are usually made up of individuals versus complete companies," said Geiser. "I think the big focus on marketing for KDE is to grow beyond these communities and market to institutions such as businesses and schools." Others close to the issue see the open-source model as being more responsive to the marketplace, something that Microsoft's corporate structure tends to restrict. "Open-source communities or projects, including OpenOffice, can more quickly respond or be proactive than large corporations," said McNally. "Also, as an international project, contributors and end-users have the opportunity to participate in myriad ways, based on language or region. Our volunteers are our most valuable resource." Community Pressure Will the community support that drives open-source products ultimately have a larger impact on proprietary software makers like Microsoft in terms of their own product development? Some industry watchers are beginning to think so. What the volunteer model does is to drive the cost of the software to zero, noted Forrester's Goulde. This cost competition is starting to have an affect even on vendors participating in open-source development, who find that to make money on these products, they must raise the cost of their services. "That cost is actually pushed up into the services," said Goulde. Some think that the greatest pressure on the developers of proprietary software will continue to come from innovation. That certainly seems to be the case with Microsoft's quick turnaround in deciding to overhaul its long-stagnant Internet browser now rather than wait to release a new version in Windows Vista. Much of that marketing decision resulted from the overwhelming success of the open-source browser Firefox, with its tabbed interface and numerous user-configurable enhancements. The Gnome desktop environment is another example of how open-source communities can force programming innovation. "I think there are many examples of how a software monoculture can cause the overall quality of software to deteriorate," said KDE.org's Geiser. "I think both KDE and Gnome are also becoming successful enough that even Microsoft is being forced to try to innovate again." He said Gnome is a good example of this push for innovation because it was started when the developers did not agree with where KDE was going. "Over the years we have both inspired great innovations to each other, making the desktop platforms on Linux much more feature-complete than they where two or three years ago," he said. Massachusetts Rebellion Aberdeen researcher Quandt pointed to the current situation with the Massachusetts Legislature as the latest battleground for one of the most visible fights between open source and proprietary programs. At stake is Microsoft's support for proprietary technology becoming a potential hindrance to information access. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts plans to phase out Microsoft Office and replace it with OpenOffice, which supports the OpenDocument Format, she said. Adobe, KOffice, Apache, Sun, and several other major vendors and groups support the OpenDocument format. "The marketing challenge for Microsoft is that while its [forthcoming] XML implementation is royalty free, it is closed-source software and does not address the issue of transparency and access to information that government agencies are seeking," she said. "As the industry logic for open file formats extends to other vertical segments, this will drive more organizations to consider the long-term implications of access to digital assets, and the costs of staying the course with a proprietary solution." This move by Massachusetts, however, is inherently flawed because the OpenOffice programs do not have the capabilities for disabled workers that the Microsoft Office environment has, noted Laura DiDio, senior analyst at the Yankee Group. "Disabled workers will continue to use Microsoft Office and it will cost taxpayers money to maintain both programs throughout the state's offices." DiDio said companies, as well as the Massachusetts Legislature, have to consider the hidden costs associated with adopting OpenOffice. These hidden costs include third-party tools, warranties, I.T. staffing costs to retrain support givers, and the expense of implementing security measures that work with the alternative applications. Another issue underlying the abandonment of proprietary applications for open-source products is the recovery time, DiDio said. For instance, she said, it takes Linux 30 percent longer to recover from a security attack in contrast to Windows. The documentation for open-source applications often is poor, she said, and the support is nowhere near as robust as it is with Microsoft. "Thus, administrators will spend much more time looking for the cure," she said. Success Factors Open source is continuing to expand because it is easier to follow than to lead, asserted Goulde, who pointed out that quite a bit of open-source software mimics capabilities that are in proprietary products. It does the same with technologies that have become commoditized. Why? Because that is the easy part, Goulde noted, adding, "Who wants to pay for commodity technology anyway?" Other factors are driving the gains made by open-source vendors against the Microsoft giant. "The success of office productivity alternatives to Microsoft is about ease of access to information, lower costs, and not being locked in to a single I.T. vendor," said Quandt. The level of competition between proprietary and open-source vendors often is shaded by one's involvement in the marketing challenge. For instance, Al Campa, vice president of marketing for JasperSoft, sees the fight moving away from the Microsoft battle front. His company develops JasperReports, a suite of open-source reporting and analytics software products. According to his perspective, open-source products have replaced Microsoft as the lowest common denominator in computing. "Microsoft is trying to make plays in both markets, but isn't nimble and attractive enough to overcome open source's popularity," Campa said. But, despite this kind of enthusiasm echoed in every sector of the open-source movement, the battle for open-source supremacy is far from over. However, as Campa pointed out, free is compelling. "Software makers will continue to have a hard time competing with something that is free," he said. But even in the open-source marketplace, free does not always work. "Today, people want to know that there is documentation, product support, and durability," said Campa. "They also want to know that it is safe." To solve that marketing quandary, JasperSoft, like many companies creating open-source software, makes two versions available to customers: an open-source free version and another for-fee version that comes with more advance features and support. The bottom line, said Campa, is for companies to have a strategy. "There is not a software company out there that doesn't have an open-source strategy," said Campa. "You can see this with Oracle, SQL, IBM, and others, but every major software company also has to focus on a commercial plan, or they won't become a company with a profit." Microsoft has a hand in open source and traditional open-source developers have been making money selling services on top of their open-source products. It is this business conundrum that might ultimately make the question about proprietary software versus open-source software moot, as the lines between both camps become increasingly blurred. Copyright 2006 NewsFactor Network, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more technical news and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Microsoft CEO Sees Web Services as Top R&D Priority Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 14:23:08 -0500 Microsoft Corp. plans to double spending on research and development at its MSN Internet unit as the company focuses on software services, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday. The world's largest software maker caught investors off guard last week when it said it would sacrifice billions of dollars in profit next year to invest in new business areas. Investors complained about the lack of clarity in Microsoft's plans to compete with online rivals Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news). Speaking at an event to promote its online advertising efforts, Ballmer said investments in the coming fiscal year, starting July 1, are a sign of Microsoft's commitment to be a leader on the Web. "These are certainly early days in this Internet world. I believe only two or three companies can really deliver the infrastructure that's required to keep pace with both consumer demand and advertisers' needs," said Ballmer. Microsoft said it planned to spend $1.1 billion for research and spending at MSN in the 2007 fiscal year, up from $500 million in fiscal 2005. The company also plans to increase capital expenditure to $500 million in fiscal 2007, from $100 million in 2005. "We will spend as a company overall about $6.2 billion in R&D," Ballmer said without specifying a time frame. "We've told our R&D folks that our number one priority is software as a service," said Ballmer. Shares of Microsoft rose 34 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $23.52 in afternoon Nasdaq trade. Prior to Thursday trade, the stock had fallen 15 percent since the company forecast next year's earnings below Wall Street estimates on April 27. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: John Markoff Subject: US Steps Into Wiretap Suit Against AT&T Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 09:51:08 -0500 By JOHN MARKOFF SAN FRANCISCO, April 28 - The government asked a federal judge here Friday to dismiss a civil liberties lawsuit against the AT&T Corporation because of a possibility that military and state secrets would otherwise be disclosed. The lawsuit, accusing the company of illegally collaborating with the National Security Agency in a vast surveillance program, was filed in February by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group. The class-action suit, which seeks an end to the collaboration it alleges, is based in part on the testimony of Mark Klein, a retired technician for the company who says Internet data passing through an AT&T switching center in San Francisco is being diverted to a secret room. There, Mr. Klein says, the security agency has installed powerful computers to eavesdrop without warrants on the digital data and forward the information to an undisclosed place. The foundation has filed documents obtained by Mr. Klein that ostensibly show detailed technical information on N.S.A. technology used to divert Internet data. He has also said in a deposition that employees of the agency went to the switching center to oversee special projects. The company has declined to address the suit publicly, saying it will have no comment on matters of national security or customer privacy. In its action Friday, the government filed a statement of interest asserting military and state secret privilege in asking the judge, Vaughn R. Walker, to dismiss the suit. Separately on Friday, AT&T also filed two motions to dismiss. The government's filing said the authorities "cannot disclose any national security information that may be at issue in this case." The document went on to say that the filing should not be construed as either a confirmation or a denial of any of the claims made by the civil liberties group about government surveillance activities. Elsewhere in the document, however, the government said President Bush had explained that after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he authorized the security agency to intercept communications into and out of the United States by people linked to Al Qaeda and related organizations. The agency is ordinarily prohibited from intercepting the telephone and digital communications of American citizens without a warrant from a special intelligence court. Responding to the filing, Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, "We think the government's right to conduct this program should be considered separately from the issue of whether a telecommunications firm has the right to break the law." The government's interest, Ms. Cohn said, is an indication that the lawsuit is not frivolous. The court plans to hear the various motions on May 17. Earlier this year, the foundation asked the government to examine the documents that the group was preparing to submit to the court related to Mr. Klein's testimony. At the time, the government chose not to intervene, and the documents were filed under seal. The documents, which include affidavits, lists of equipment and technical specifications related to tapping fiber-optic network links, have been obtained independently by a number of news organizations. They refer to a similar installation in an AT&T facility in Atlanta, and Mr. Klein has said he believes there are related eavesdropping facilities attached to AT&T centers in San Jose, Los Angeles, San Diego and Seattle. Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company For more headlines and news stories from New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio with no login nor registration requirements, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 11:59:01 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Thursday, May 4, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 4, 2006 ******************************** Innovating by Leaps & Bounds http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17800?11228 In a world filled with national operators offerings a slew of complicated rate plans, the flat-rate operator used to stand apart. But now the market is becoming even more complicated, thanks to the onslaught of prepaid MVNOs, the advent of free mobile-to-mobile calling and the latest trend of big-bucket calling plans featuring more than... What's Behind the AT&T, BellSouth Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17797?11228 The spectre of Ma Bell once again is haunting the telecom industry as AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. have pledged to merge in a $67 billion deal that brings together two ILECs and their mutually owned wireless company, Cingular Wireless LLC. It also stirs up fears that the incumbents could grow so large they will just operate however... ONO Delays IPO Until 2008   http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/17791?11228 Spanish leading cable TV and broadband operator ONO is now planning an initial public offering (IPO) on the Madrid stock exchange in the first quarter of 2008, when its integration with Auna's operations has been completed. The company had previously intended to float its shares either this year or next. Significance: The move reflects... British Regulator Receives US$6.98M from Spectrum Auctions http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17789?11228 Telecoms regulator Ofcom has confirmed receiving 3.8 million pounds (US$6.98 million) in licence fees for the 12 spectrum licences that it awarded last week. The licences are for 6.6MHz of spectrum in the 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz bands, and would need to be operated on a low-power, technology-neutral basis. Ofcom had... FCC Mandates VoIP Surveillance, Wiretap Compliance http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/17788?11228 The Federal Communications Commission Wednesday mandated that all facilities-based broadband network operators and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers interconnected with the public switched telephone network (PSTN) must comply with federal statues on surveillance and wiretaps sought by law-enforcement and homeland-... Telenor 1st-Quarter Net Profit Doubles http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17783?11228 OSLO, Norway -- The state-controlled Telenor ASA telecommunications group on Thursday said its net profit for the first quarter more than doubled, boosted by the sale of its stake in satellite company Inmarsat PLC and strong operational results. The report beat market expectations, and shares soared 9.4 percent to 78.75 kroner... Alltel Posts Revenue Gains, Earnings Dip http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17782?11228 Acquisition costs weighed on Alltel Corporation's first quarter earnings, which fell 5 percent, but the company did post quarterly revenue growth of nearly 20 percent. Wireless revenue increased 30 percent during the quarter and the company attracted 165,000 new customers. Alltel reported quarterly earnings of $297.4 million, or 77... DT Plans Acquisitions http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17781?11228 Deutsche Telekom AG EO Kai-Uwe Ricke issued an unguarded challenge to pan-European rivals such as France Telecom SA , Telefonica SA , and Telecom Italia SpA yesterday by saying "We are Europe's number 1 and are determined to... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 13:30:28 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: BPL Firm Current Communications to Announce New Funding USTelecom dailyLead May 4, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dAjUfDtutdsOiZDdua TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * BPL firm Current Communications to announce new funding BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Verizon cuts monthly price for VoIP service * AOL turnaround efforts not showing results * RIM countersues Visto * Visto aggressively defends its turf USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Get Important Telecom Contacts TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Faster Wi-Fi gear may not be ready for primetime * Enterprise technologies not user-friendly, Google, Juniper execs say REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Wireless Philadelphia gets nod from two committees * FCC approves wiretap levy * FTC sues five companies that sold phone records Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dAjUfDtutdsOiZDdua ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Thursday 4th May 2006 Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 07:33:42 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] Comverse Wins 3G Services Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17233.php Comverse has been selected to supply a broad array of solutions and services from its Total Communication portfolio to P4, Poland's new 3G mobile operator. These solutions include Comverse's Converged Billing solution, InSight next generation platfor ... [[ Financial ]] New Zealand Telecom 3Q Net Likely Down http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17218.php Telecom Corp. of New Zealand is likely to report a drop in fiscal third-quarter net profit Friday, analysts say, with its struggling Australian operations continuing to be a drag on earnings. ... Alltel CFO Backs Prior Full-Year Estimate http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17221.php Alltel Corp.'s results for the first and second half should fall within the company's prior expectations, according to Chief Financial Officer Sharilyn Gasaway. ... US Spectrum Auction Halts M&A Talk http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17222.php Merger-and-acquisition activity in the wireless phone industry has halted ahead of the Federal Communications Commission's wireless spectrum auction, said Alltel Corp. Chief Executive Scott Ford. ... Three operators make non-binding offers for Ola http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17225.php After a 30-day postponement of the deadline for making non-binding offers to become Colombia Movil's (Ola) partner, three operators have made "non-binding proposals," Ola parent companies ETB and EPM said in a joint statement. ... Iusacell Q1 net loss up 30% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17227.php Mexican mobile operator Iusacell saw its first quarter net loss expand to 491mn pesos (US$44.5mn), up 30% compared to the net loss of 377mn pesos post in first quarter of 2005. ... Telus 1Q Net Ex-Items Up On Subscriber Growth http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17229.php Canada's Telus Corp. posted higher first-quarter earnings excluding items due to continued strong wireless performance and high speed Internet and wireless subscriber growth. ... Mexico's America Movil Upgrades '06 Subscriber Outlook By 2 Million http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17230.php Mexican wireless phone company America Movil on Wednesday raised its 2006 new subscriber target by 2 million customers and affirmed its capital expenditure plan. ... TTPCom Signs GSM Modem License Agreement http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17240.php TTP Communications and Analog Devices have announced that TTPCom's subsidiary TTPCom has reached an agreement with ADI - its long time collaborator in the development of silicon and software for cellular phones - under which TTPCom will transfer to A... [[ Handsets ]] Motorola Buys BenQ Research Center http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17235.php Motorola has purchased a research office based in Denmark from BenQ Mobile. The Aalborg facility and team will be integrated into Motorola's Mobile Devices business and become a products development center for Motorola. Terms of the transaction were ... Samsung and Motorola Shine in Q1 Mobile-Phone Rankings http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17236.php Samsung Electronics and Motorola defied the normal seasonal slowdown in mobile-phone unit production in the first quarter, allowing them to significantly boost their market share, according to iSuppli Corp. Worldwide mobile-phone production in the fi... [[ Network Contracts ]] C&W outsources contact center to Accent http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17226.php US CRM provider Accent has signed a multi-year contract to provide contact center services on behalf of Caribbean telco Cable and Wireless Jamaica, Accent said in a statement. ... Nokia Wins Defense Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17238.php The military equipment company, BAE Systems has selected Nokia to build its GSM/EDGE network to support operations at its Merrimack, USA, facilities. Under the contract, Nokia will supply a GSM/GPRS/EDGE network of equipment and services, including a... [[ Personnel ]] Russia's Sky Link to mull CEO resignation on May 23 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17220.php The extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (EGM) of Russian CDMA mobile operator Sky Link is scheduled to consider the resignation of the company's General Director Raisa Rozinova on May 23, the company said in a press release late Tuesday. ... [[ Regulatory ]] Ofcom Details Spectrum Winners http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17219.php The UK Office of Communications, or Ofcom, said Wednesday that it has awarded 12 Wireless Telegraphy Act licences for the frequencies 1781.7-1785MHz paired with 1876.7-1880MHz as a result of its first spectrum auction. ... Cable&Wireless: To Offer Converged Service With New GSM License http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17223.php Cable & Wireless PLC, Wednesday said it intends to use its new spectrum license to offer services, aimed at corporate customers, that allow one handset to work as a fixed or mobile phone. ... Russian service to set fixed-to-mobile tariffs by June 20 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17224.php Tariffs for calls from fixed-line to mobile phones will be set no later than June 20, Uralsvyazinform fixed-line operator said Wednesday, citing Galina Zhigulskaya, a department director at the Federal Tariff Service. ... Quad-play law gets warm reception from congress http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17228.php Peru's congress cast an initial vote in favor of a law that would permit quadruple play in a single terminal, provided by single or multiple providers, the country's transport and communications ministry (MTC) said in a statement. ... US Spectrum Winners Could End Up With Negative Value Licenses http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17234.php Declines in technology value were major reasons for the post-auction fall in the market value of 1900 MHz PCS spectrum in the U.S. (1994 to 1997) and 1900/2100 W-CDMA spectrum in Europe (during 2000) concludes a new report from The Shosteck Group. ... Serbia Planning Privatisation of GSM Network http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17239.php The Serbian Privatisation Agency and telecoms regulator, the Republic Agency for Telecommunications have announced plans for a GSM/3G License tender and the linked privatisation of the GSM network operator, Mobi 63. The Privatization Agency says that... [[ Statistics ]] SingTel Says Mobile Subscribers Total 85 Million At End Of March http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17217.php Singapore Telecommunications said it had 85 million mobile telephone customers at the end of the March, a gain of 7.21 million from the end of 2005. ... Belarus' MDC subscriber base up to 2.14 million users May 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17231.php The subscriber base of Belarusian mobile phone operator Mobile Digital Communications (MDC) rose to 2.14 million users as of May 1 from 1.885 million users as of January 1, the company's press office said Wednesday. ... [[ Technology ]] EV-DO Rev. A Optimization http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17232.php Actix has unveiled its optimization solution for EV-DO Rev. A, the latest high-speed 3G CDMA-based standard. Actix says that it is the first to market with a solution that addresses the needs of the growing number of operators that are already triali... New WiFi Standard - Buyer Beware http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17237.php The 802.11n Wi-Fi standard holds the promise of enabling a new generation of networking applications including multimedia distribution within the home and very high-speed data connectivity. With a new draft 11n Draft Specification approved in March 2... ------------------------------ From: Mark J Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 23:30:45 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications I have been using Vonage for nearly a year now, with no problems with their service whatsoever. The few times I have had trouble was when the Internet service was out or I had trouble with my Linksys router or Cisco 1900 switch, but only lasted for a minute or so. Healthy Stealthy wrote in message news:telecom25.167.5@telecom-digest.org: > Right now I'm using Verizon. I have to save money. I'm thinking about > switching to Vonage. Does anyone know anything about this company? Is > it a mistake to switch to them? Any details? > Thanks. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Vonage is certainly a better deal, and > much less expensive than Verizon. I have Vonage service here as well, > although in fairness I should mention I also still have landline > service as well. Some readers here would suggest that there are other > VOIP companies better than Vonage, and that may be true, but I think > you are inquiring about the _concept_ of VOIP instead of landline, am > I correct? I am unwilling to totally abandon my landline service for > VOIP. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: IIR's 10th_In-Building_Solutions_2006 Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 12:49:31 -0500 From: cellular-news IIR's 10th In-Building Solutions - European Summit Hilton Vienna, Austria - 22-25 May 2006 http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-Conf/page.aspx?id=1807 Join IIR in Vienna to access vital information about how to best design, plan, implement and optimise in-building solutions to achieve best possible coverage and maximise network capacity. The conference programme has been carefully designed to answer all of your key questions through a mixture of Operator-led presentations, as well as interactive seminar and discussion sessions. The nature of the forum will allow you to discuss strategy for the development of systems including GSM, EDGE, WCDMA, HSPA, Wi-Fi, UMA and WiMAX, while hearing real-life implementation case studies from: 3 Sweden * Banverket * Bell Canada * Maritime Communications Partner * Sonaecom * Swisscom Mobile * Telefonica Moviles * Telenor R&D * Telia Mobile Denmark * T-Mobile International * Turkcell * Vodafone Egypt * Vodafone Greece * Vodafone R&D See http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-Conf/page.aspx?id=1807 for updates to the programme and visit http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-Conf/page.aspx?id=1809 to download the conference brochure The event also offers you excellent possibilities to network with your peers, partners and colleagues during the exhibition. You will be able to meet representatives from: The conference Sponsors: Shyam Telecom, LGC Wireless, Comba Telecom, Dekolink, ip.access and MobileAccess Networks Exhibitors: Alan Dick, Avitec, Centurion, CSI, iBwave, Red-M, RFS, Spinner and Zinwave All in all, this event offers you the best learning and networking resource for In-Building Solutions - DON'T MISS IT! For more information and to book your place now, call +44 (0)20 7915 5055, e-mail your registration to us at registration@iir-conferences.com or register online at http://www.iir-events.com/IIR-Conf/page.aspx?id=1808 ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #170 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri May 5 14:47:59 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C111D150FF; Fri, 5 May 2006 14:47:56 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #171 Message-Id: <20060505184756.C111D150FF@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 14:47:56 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NIGERIAN_BODY1 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 5 May 2006 14:50:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 171 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Court Challenges Internet Wiretap Rules (Ted Bridis) CBS Launches Entertainment Web Site (Reuters News Wire) Cellular-News: Friday 5th May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Friday, May 5, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Telecom Update Canada Issue 528 (Angus Telemanagment) AOL to Resell Clearwire Service (USTA Daily Lead) Spammers Fight Back (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (T) Re: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - Net Makes Voices Count (Herb Stein) Re: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - Net Makes Voices Count (Lisa Hancock) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (Herb Stein) Re: Can Open Source Defeat Microsoft? (Lisa Hancock) Interactive Voice Response - IVR Info (voiceinfo79@gmail.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ted Bridis Subject: Court Challenges Internet Wiretap Rules Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 11:46:43 -0500 By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer A U.S. appeals panel challenged the Bush administration Friday morning over new rules making it easier for police and the FBI to wiretap Internet phone calls. One judge told the government its courtroom arguments were "gobbledygook" and invited its lawyer to return to his office and "have a big chuckle." The skepticism expressed so openly toward the government's case during a hearing in U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia emboldened a broad group of civil liberties and education groups who argued that the U.S. improperly applied telephone-era rules to a new generation of Internet services. "Your argument makes no sense," U.S. Circuit Judge Harry T. Edwards told the lawyer for the Federal Communications Commission, Jacob Lewis. "When you go back to the office, have a big chuckle. I'm not missing this. This is ridiculous. Counsel!" At another point in the hearing, Edwards told the FCC's lawyer his arguments were "gobbledygook" and "nonsense." The court's decision was expected within several months. Edwards appeared skeptical over the FCC's decision to require that providers of Internet phone service and broadband services must ensure their equipment can accommodate police wiretaps under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, known as CALEA. The new rules go into effect in May 2007. Critics said the new FCC rules are too broad and inconsistent with the intent of Congress when it passed the 1994 surveillance law, which excluded categories of companies described as information services. The FCC argued that providers of high-speed Internet services should be covered under the 1994 law because their voice-transmission services can be considered separately from information services. "Congress intended to cover services (in the 1994 law) that were functionally equivalent" to traditional telephones, Lewis said. "There's nothing to suggest that in the statute," Edwards replied. "Stating that doesn't make it so." The panel appeared more willing to support the FCC's argument that Internet-phone services -- which allow users to dial and receive calls from traditional phone numbers -- may be covered under the 1994 law and required to accommodate court-ordered wiretaps. The technology, popularized by Holmdel, N.J.-based Vonage Holdings Corp., is known as "voice over Internet protocol," or VOIP. "Voice-over is a very different thing," U.S. Circuit Judge David B. Sentelle said. He said it offered "precisely the same" functions as traditional telephone lines. Edwards told the lawyer for the civil liberties groups, Matthew Brill, that on his challenge that VOIP services aren't covered under the surveillance law, "I didn't think you have it." Education groups had challenged the FCC rules because they said the requirements would impose burdensome new costs on private university networks. The third judge on the panel, Janice Rogers Brown, did not comment or ask any questions during the arguments. On the Net: Disputed FCC rules: http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-04-187A1.pdf Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: CBS Launches Entertainment Web Site Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 11:49:35 -0500 CBS Corp. has launched a Web site that will offer new programming as well as some of its existing TV shows, as competition intensifies between broadcasters and Internet firms such as Google Inc.. The site, called innertube, was launched on Thursday and will be free to viewers and supported by advertising. Cadbury Schweppes, Chili's, Pier 1 Imports Brinkmann Corp. and Verizon SuperPages.com are its initial advertising sponsors, CBS said. A link to innertube can be found at http://CBS.com. CBS's new site, whose early plans the company first discussed with Reuters in February, comes on the heels of a decision by Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC network to offer its top shows online for free viewing after they have aired on the network. CBS's site will initially feature new shows created exclusively for the Web as well as programs that are "companions" to its TV shows. CBS said it also plans to make some of its top shows available on the site "in the coming months" after they have aired on TV. Shows from its archive of 2,600 titles and 100,000 hours of programming will also be available. "With this broadband channel, we've essentially bypassed cable and created a general entertainment outlet utilizing existing creative and content resources," Leslie Moonves, chief executive of CBS, said in a statement. Programming for innertube debuts this month with a handful of original shows including "Greek to Chic," a college-based reality series and "Beyond Survivor," a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the TV show. In February, CBS said it planned to sell new episodes of "Survivor" for $1.99 from its site. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines each day, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Friday 5th May 2006 Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 08:26:59 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ Financial ]] SingTel 4Q Net Bolstered By Regional Mobiles http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17241.php Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel) reported better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings and unveiled a S$2.3 billion return of capital as growth from Asian mobile operations offset lower profits in Australia. ... Embarq To Close Spinoff From Sprint Nextel May 17 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17244.php Embarq Corp. expects to complete its spinoff from Sprint Nextel on May 17. ... ANALYSIS: Strengths and weaknesses of Ola's three suitors http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17249.php After months of speculation, and a failed first phase which was extended by 30 days due to a lack of interest from potential bidders, three mobile operators have decided to take up Colombia Movil's (Ola) offer to become its strategic partner, hav... [[ Handsets ]] Qualcomm CEO: Winning Battle In Low-End Phones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17251.php Qualcomm is winning the battle of low-end phones in key emerging markets, Chief Executive Paul Jacobs said Thursday. ... [[ Network Operators ]] Golden Telecom says won't compete with major Ukrainian cell operators http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17245.php USA registered telecommunications operator Golden Telecom does not plan to compete against major Ukrainian mobile operators after it receives additional GSM 1800 licenses, the company's spokespeople said during a conference call Thursday. ... Nextel unit invests US$50mn in southern expansion http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17247.php Latin American digital trunking service provider NII Holdings plans to invest US$50mn this year to expand coverage of its Nextel Per unit, local daily Diario Correo reported. ... Digicel sets Haiti, French West Indies milestones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17248.php Caribbean mobile operator Digicel has received regulatory approval to acquire France's Bouygues Telecom Caraibe, a wireless operator in the French West Indies, for 155mn euros (US$196mn), the company said in a statement. ... [[ Personnel ]] Orange UK To Lose Up To 2,000 Staff http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17243.php Orange said Thursday it will cut 15% of its jobs in the UK, a move that will mean the loss of 1,800 to 2,000 jobs. ... [[ Statistics ]] Belarusian GSM operator BeST user base at 7,500 as of May 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17242.php The subscriber base of state-controlled Belarus Telecommunications Network, or BeST, which started commercial operations in the capital city of Minsk on December 21, 2005, amounted to 7,500 users as of May 1, the company said late Wednesday. ... Russia's MegaFon says subscriber base in Moscow up to 4 mln http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17246.php The subscriber base of Russia?s third largest mobile operator MegaFon in the Moscow License Area (MLA) rose to 4 million users as of Thursday from 3 million users as of November 2005, Sonic Duo said in a press release Thursday. ... AMX: Mobile penetration to reach 65%-70% in matter of years http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17250.php Latin American mobile group America Movil expects mobile telephony penetration in Latin America to reach 65%-70% over the next few years, driven by better handsets at lower prices, the company's CEO Daniel Hajj told an investors conference... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 11:36:00 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Friday, May 5, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 5, 2006 ******************************** Verizon: Wireless Funds Fiber http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17812?11228 Verizon Communications Inc. said profits for the quarter ending March 31 shrunk a bit from the prior year's quarter, due to costs related to its acquisition of MCI LLC , as well as additional costs related to the company's massive fiber optics projects. Sales and subscriptions were up, though, thanks to the... France Telecom Culls UK Staff http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/17808?11228 France Telecom SA is cutting between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs in the U.K. as it converges its British mobile and broadband businesses, Orange UK and Wanadoo UK , into a single unit under the Orange brand. The cull is part of a broader headcount reduction program unveiled in February... Verizon Slashes VoIP Prices http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/17806?11228 Verizon has cut the price of its voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service to match that of Vonage -- a defensive move that could spark a price war. The carrier also eliminated discounts for its broadband subscribers, pricing its VoIP service the same for all comers, including those in regions far outside its normal service area. ... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 11:17:48 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #528, May 5, 2006 From: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 528: May 5, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.com/canada/telecom/ ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Decline of Legacy Services Squeezes Telcos Telus Leads in Telco Revenue Gains ** CRTC Chair Responds to Telecom Policy Report ** VoIP Drives Primus Canada Revenue ** RIM Offers Free Small Business Server ** Avaya Adds Mid-Sized IP Systems ** Bell to VoIP Customers: Switch Back for Free ** Former CEO Sues Nortel ** Nortel Completes Restatement ** CRTC Hears Do-Not-Call Views ** Internet Registrar Seeks Board Members ** Credit Union Plans Video Kiosks ** Canadian Chip Maker to Work With Nokia ** RIM in New Patent Fight ** Five Million U.S. Households Use VoIP ============================================================ DECLINE OF LEGACY SERVICES SQUEEZES TELCOS: First quarter financial results of Canada's four leading telcos show that all are suffering a decline of local and long distance revenues. Compared to a year ago, the change in these two categories totalled: MTS -7.4%; BCE -7.3%; Aliant -3.9%; Telus -1.8% (includes data). ** In 2005, all of the telcos lost local lines, mainly to competitors: MTS -6.5% (residential only); BCE -3.2%; Telus -2.7%; Aliant -0.6%. ** Long distance now comprises less than 10% of total revenues for Telus and BCE. BCE's LD revenue fell 15.2%. TELUS LEADS IN TELCO REVENUE GAINS: Total revenue of the four telcos changed as follows: Telus +5.4%; Aliant +3.9%; BCE +2.2%; MTS -0.5%. Wireless revenue grew by 13% to 17%. Both Aliant and Telus report that monthly disconnects on postpaid wireless accounts are now under 1%. ** Changes in operating income: Aliant +11.1%; MTS +6.0%; Telus +1.2%; BCE -3.0%. ** Changes in net income: MTS +3.5%; BCE no change; Aliant -7.8%; Telus -13.3%. Aliant and Telus results were affected by significant one-time events. CRTC CHAIR RESPONDS TO TELECOM POLICY REPORT: In a speech to an industry forum on April 30, CRTC Chair Charles Dalfen said the Commission is assessing the Telecom Policy Review panel's recommendations and will likely implement a number of them on its own initiative. ** Dalfen says he agrees with the principle of "after the fact" regulation, but only if the Commission is empowered to impose meaningful penalties. ** His talk mentioned the interview published in Telecom Update #525b, in which he predicted that business services in most major cities will be deregulated in 18 months. Dalfen also expects residential service in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and some major western markets to qualify soon. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/SPEECHES/2006/s060430.htm http://www.angustel.ca/update/up525b.html VoIP DRIVES PRIMUS CANADA REVENUE: Primus Canada took in $78.6 million in the first quarter of 2006, "driven by growth in local and VoIP products." The company has about 73,000 local lines in service. ** Virginia-based Primus Telecommunications Group reports a US$4 million loss in the quarter; Primus Canada accounted for 26% of its parent company's revenue. RIM OFFERS FREE SMALL BUSINESS SERVER: RIM has announced BlackBerry Enterprise Server Express, enabling small businesses to connect BlackBerry devices to their office email system. The free software includes a licence for one Blackberry, and licences can be purchased for up to 14 more. Businesses that expand beyond 15 devices can convert the software to a full Enterprise Server by purchasing an Unlock Code. AVAYA ADDS MID-SIZED IP SYSTEMS: Avaya this week introduced three telecom systems for businesses with 100-500 employees. MultiVantage Express is an all-in-one IP PBX server, Avaya On Demand provides IP-PBX and contact centre features on a per-month subscription basis, and the S8400 Media Server allows customers with older Avaya systems to migrate to IP telephony. BELL TO VOIP CUSTOMERS - SWITCH BACK FOR FREE: CRTC Telecom Order 2006-103 says Bell Canada can waive reconnection charges for its Digital Voice customers who want to return to Bell's wireline local service. Bell told the Commission in November that some customers resist migrating to its VoIP service without this assurance. ** Commissioner Langford dissented, saying this violates the promotion rules and gives a preference to Bell's VoIP customers over those of competitors. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Orders/2006/o2006-103.htm FORMER CEO SUES NORTEL: Frank Dunn, the Nortel CEO who was fired "for cause" in April 2004, is suing the company for wrongful dismissal, defamation, and mental distress. The suit seeks unspecified punitive, exemplary, and aggravated damages. ** Meanwhile, the Ontario Superior Court has ruled that Dunn must testify in the Ontario Securities Commission's investigation of Nortel. Dunn had said his testimony might be used against him in a U.S. criminal case, but the judge ruled that Ontario law protects him. NORTEL COMPLETES RESTATEMENT: Nortel Networks has filed its 2005 annual report, including revenue "restatements" for 2003, 2004, and the first nine months of 2005. The changes involve US$1.5 billion. CRTC HEARS DO-NOT-CALL VIEWS: The CRTC's public consultation on how a Canadian Do-Not-Call list should operate was held this week. Transcripts of the hearing are posted on the Commission's website. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/process/2006/may2.htm INTERNET REGISTRAR SEEKS BOARD MEMBERS: The Canadian Internet Registration Authority has appointed a Nomination Committee to find candidates to fill three positions on its Board of Directors. Proposals must be received by June 3. For information, see https://elections.cira.ca/2006/en/nom_com_nominees.html CREDIT UNION PLANS VIDEO KIOSKS: Vantis, a Manitoba Credit Union with 22,000 members, is installing video kiosks in all of its branches to allow customers to consult face-to-face with service reps. The system, the first of its kind in a Canadian financial institution, is being deployed by MTS Allstream, using Nortel's SIP multimedia platform. CANADIAN CHIP MAKER TO WORK WITH NOKIA: Markham-based ATI Technologies, a developer of video chips, has entered a long-term strategic relationship with Nokia to develop mobile multimedia devices. RIM IN NEW PATENT FIGHT: Visto, a California-based developer of wireless email products, is suing Research in Motion, alleging that its BlackBerry product infringes on of four Visto patents. RIM has countersued, asking a Dallas court to rule that no patent infringement has taken place. FIVE MILLION U.S. HOUSEHOLDS USE VoIP: TeleGeography reports that 5.4 million U.S. households now subscribe to a Voice over IP service, twice the number one year ago. The research firm predicts that one-fifth of U.S. households will use VoIP in 2010. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web late Friday afternoon each week at http://www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2006 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ============================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 13:17:07 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: AOL to Resell Clearwire Service USTelecom dailyLead May 5, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dAwEfDtutdwOdJOmIO TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * AOL to resell Clearwire service BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * San Francisco's Wi-Fi network faces big hurdles * Smartphone industry braces for new competitors * Report: IPTV gear sales to top $6B in 2009 * U.K. wireless carrier O2 may seek to acquire broadband provider USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * How Telcos Can Win the Video Game with IPTV -- Tuesday, May 9, 1:00 p.m. ET TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Report: Internet is running out of real estate * Gurus plot next 10 years online VOIP DOWNLOAD * AOL's got VoIP * VoIP goes mobile with Mino Wireless REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Detroit may require hands-free devices for drivers Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dAwEfDtutdwOdJOmIO ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Spammers Fight Back Date: 5 May 2006 15:37:56 GMT Organization: Aracnet Internet Services I know that Pat supports the "flood the spammer" service provided by Blue Security. It's interesting to note that the spammers have been fighting back (which I suppose is testament that the service has some effect). There's an interesting description of the attack posted on the SANS.org Handler's Diary website: http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?n&storyid=1311 The Internet is becoming a very unfriendly place. :-/ John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, indeed, the internet is becoming less and less friendly every day. All this unfriendlyness began several years ago when the intruders moved into our virtual community. _They_ thought they could change all the rules around; _they_ thought the rest of us were dimwits and imbiciles who would not dare to stop them or say 'NO' to them. They bullied us around for years and years without resistance, or very little resistance. When some of us started to make resistance, the enablers were shocked. Didn't _we_ understand that _they_ (the enablers) were the only ones who knew anything about anything? Didn't we understand that the spammer-scammers had rights also (oh, boo-hoo!) and they might sue us if we offered any resistance? So the enablers began _attempting_ -- and that's all it was, was a half-assed attempt -- to filter email. As the spammer-scammers got more sophisicated, the enablers, like President Bush in 2003, thought this war will be over in short order, also revved up their filters. There was a lot of 'collateral damage'; like any war, many innocent people got hurt, valid email never made it to its destination, etc, legitmate digests never got delivered, etc. Finally some of us decided enough was enough; I think it was about the time the ratio of spam-scam versus legit reached 80-85 percent; we were not going to wait until the ratio reached a hundred percent for even though that is theoretically possible it is quite unlikely since there will always be at least a few (very few!) pieces of legitmate mail in transit in the queue somewhere to shave off a percentage point or two from the level of !absolutely! (allspam-scam). When we saw the ratio reach the 95 percent mark a few times, we said 'that is close enough'. Years ago, some of us began outing the spammer-scammers by revealing lots of personal data about them: for example, their personal telephone numbers, the addresses where they lived in their white-trash trailer park homes, where they were employed, even their driver's records. At that point, we had to start fighting the enablers as well; for after all, even spammer-scammers have 'privacy rights' you know -- oh boo-hoo, this is so sad, and who were _we_ -- how dare we! -- violate their rights. No matter that the rest of us here in the virtual village have not had an unmolested postal system for many years; by God, you better not harm or do DDoS on the spammer-scammers. As far as I am concerned, there is _no_ realistic expectation where communications on the net are concerned. If the spammer-scammers are doing wholesale DDoS on legitimate sites and the legitimate sites are responding in kind, _to protect what was ours all along_ (and that is the key phrase) that suits me fine. To hell with the enablers and all their fanciful ideas about essentially ignoring it by making feeble and ineffectual attempts to filter it out. PAT] ------------------------------ From: T Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Organization: The Ace Tomato and Cement Company Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 19:53:44 -0400 In article , healthystealthy@gmail.com says: > Right now I'm using Verizon. I have to save money. I'm thinking about > switching to Vonage. Does anyone know anything about this company? Is > it a mistake to switch to them? Any details? > Thanks. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Vonage is certainly a better deal, and > much less expensive than Verizon. I have Vonage service here as well, > although in fairness I should mention I also still have landline > service as well. Some readers here would suggest that there are other > VOIP companies better than Vonage, and that may be true, but I think > you are inquiring about the _concept_ of VOIP instead of landline, am > I correct? I am unwilling to totally abandon my landline service for > VOIP. PAT] Been using Vonage for a bit more than a year. I use that and Skype. The only thing that bothers me is that now the damned fees are creeping into my monthly bill. For example, their $24.99 plan costs me $28.98 after you add the federal and state taxes, and now the E-911 surcharge for RI. But it's still a whole lot cheaper than an equivalent package with Verizon. For example, for roughly the same service level (Actually Vonage has MORE features - the web management stuff rocks!) Verizon was charging me $88 a month. So we've got $60 or more in fees before I say to hell with Vonage and switch exclusively to Skype. ------------------------------ From: Herb Stein Subject: Re: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - But Net Makes Their Voices Count Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Fri, 05 May 2006 04:11:29 GMT wrote in message news:telecom25.167.12@telecom-digest.org: > In a message dated 1 May 2006 14:43:06 -0700, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com > writes: >> Monty Solomon wrote: >>> By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist >>> Roger Ebert may be endangered, Entertainment Weekly on its way to >>> extinction. Have you noticed how many no-name critics are suddenly >>> serving up pithy opinions about movies, books, music, and video games >>> on the Net? >>> "The cultural influencers are changing," says Brian Kalinowski, >>> chief operating officer of Lycos, the Waltham Internet portal. >>> "Expert opinion in the media used to drive culture. Now, it's peer >>> recommendations." >> I don't hold much credence to it. It has about as much influence as >> traditional "word of mouth" has (although word of mount could be >> pretty powerful). > Specifically with respect to motion pictures, it is clear that > critics do not and never did "drive culture." Many, many pictures > lauded by the critics failed miserably at the box office, while some > that the critics considered either trash or beneath serious notice > brought in lots of the public. >> Further, the social advocates quickly grabbed on this stuff early on, >> and have turned it into very partisan soapboxes, which has tuned out >> others who aren't as passionate. For example, there's a railroad >> newsgroup that doesn't spend too much time talking about railroad >> stuff. Rather, it is mostly flame wars between advocates of passenger >> trains and those who hate trains altogether. The haters seem to be >> very well organized and respond to almost every post. (see >> misc.transport.rail.americas and go through some of the threads). > I am interested in railroads and railroading and for several years I > participated in that particular newsgroup. It became more and more > merely flame posts between passionate advocates of these two > positions. I finally dropped out because, as you say, little about > railroads was included in the posts and there was nothing but an > endless iteration of the same arguments by the same people on both > sides. > However, I would suggest that the "anti-" faction did not hate trains > altogether -- just passenger trains. > There are well over 100 lists -- some have counted more than 200 -- on > various railroad topics, some of them very tightly focused. Some of > them have hundreds of participants and engage in rational (and usually > civil) discourse. I suppose this not really on topic, but everybody posting to the Usenet groups should first, write their message and/or response. Then re-read it. Then ask themselves, "Would I send this to my mother?" Come on folks! We're better than this. Just my 2 cents worth. > Wes Leatherock > wesrock@aol.com Herb Stein herb@herbstein.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Everyone's Always Been a Critic - But Net Makes Their Voices Count Date: 5 May 2006 10:44:07 -0700 Wesrock@aol.com wrote: > I am interested in railroads and railroading and for several years I > participated in that particular newsgroup. It became more and more > merely flame posts between passionate advocates of these two > positions. I finally dropped out because, as you say, little about > railroads was included in the posts and there was nothing but an > endless iteration of the same arguments by the same people on both > sides. Unfortunately, posts about non passenger rail never seemed to generate as much interest and responses. I gave up on the urban transit newsgroup because that got particularly bad. The roads newsgroup has gotten a number of whacko comments mixed in with politics from crossposting and that's contaminating it as well. I believe participation on a newsgroup requires a basic belief in that newsgroup's overall theme. For example, IMHO it is inappropriate for someone to espouse atheism on a religious newsgroup. On the railroad newsgroup, there were some reasonable critics of some aspects of psgr rail operations or carriers which is fine. But others would respond to each and every post on psgr rail with a "broken record" of absurd statements. Probably the best thing would've been for such posters to be ignored but nobody does that. Many "utopian" advocates of computer communication (first BBSs and then the Internet) strongly believed and encouraged no moderation and full freedom of posting, believing that was the key to the best discourse. Unfortunately, real life and society doesn't work that way. It seems ever since BBS's and cable TV came out advocates have been talking about a utopian world of free communiations (free of charges, free of controls, full of wonderful information). Of course many of those advocates were and are self serving trying to sell hardware or software products that really don't deliver as claimed. The Internet, as it has evolved to this day, is a useful powerful tool. But like any power tools, it must be carefully used or it will make things worse or even hurt someone, just like a chainsaw or the automobile. After WW II, people bought cars like crazy in the U.S. Then people began to get killed from all those new cars in large numbers. There was a way too long time lag until known safety measures were implemented and much remains to be done. The automakers had to be pushed to include safety gear in cars and drivers have to be pushed hard to drive safely 50 years later. The Internet is similar. Advocates are in total denial of the risks of bad information, predators, fraud, hidden costs, etc. I think the general public should be more aware of those risks and advocates challenged (especially commercial entities) for their lofty promises. ------------------------------ From: Herb Stein Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Fri, 05 May 2006 04:27:18 GMT Mark J wrote in message news:telecom25.170.7@telecom-digest.org: >I have been using Vonage for nearly a year now, with no problems with > their service whatsoever. The few times I have had trouble was when > the Internet service was out or I had trouble with my Linksys router > or Cisco 1900 switch, but only lasted for a minute or so. Had you been having a heart attack, it would have actually been your LAST problem. And what's you option when the power goes out? > Healthy Stealthy wrote in message > news:telecom25.167.5@telecom-digest.org: >> Right now I'm using Verizon. I have to save money. I'm thinking about >> switching to Vonage. Does anyone know anything about this company? Is >> it a mistake to switch to them? Any details? >> Thanks. >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Vonage is certainly a better deal, and >> much less expensive than Verizon. I have Vonage service here as well, >> although in fairness I should mention I also still have landline >> service as well. Some readers here would suggest that there are other >> VOIP companies better than Vonage, and that may be true, but I think >> you are inquiring about the _concept_ of VOIP instead of landline, am >> I correct? I am unwilling to totally abandon my landline service for >> VOIP. PAT] Herb Stein herb@herbstein.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Can Open Source Defeat Microsoft? Date: 4 May 2006 14:21:35 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Jack M. Germain wrote: > While Microsoft has had some 20 years to make Office what it is today, > most industry analysts say that new open-source contenders, such as > OpenOffice, measure up reasonably well against Redmond's suite. But > they also say that while these suites do have most of the features of > Microsoft Office, they lack certain advanced capabilities that make > all the difference. The history of technology is filled with technically inferior products overtaking superior ones. "Features" are not the only factor that drives the marketplace. Issues like compatibility, cost, and product support are important, too. > But an interesting question to ask is whether a group of volunteers > -- however large -- can ever hope to measure up against Microsoft's > millions of dollars. Having worked with various volunteer organizations for much of my life, IMHO they are a very weak type of organization. I do not see them being able to compete in the marketplace because of their inherent weaknesses. > But there are plenty of those in the open-source community > who are willing to give that comparison a shot. "Open source" in itself is only one of many factors in purchasing a product, it is by no means a guarantee of success in itself. Again, technical superiority is by no means a guarantee of marketplace success. Whether we like it or not, Microsoft now has a powerful momentum behind it that has created a "critical mass" for its products. It replaced earlier products that did not have that momentum. The competition must become radically superior in price/performance to MS to gain a foothold and have some luck as well. In practice that requires that (1) the competition comes up with a great product at a very low price, (2) MS itself has become stagnate and overpriced, and (3) multiple large customers and hardware makers buy the alternative product. Years ago IBM had the mainframe market which meant the whole information processing market mostly to itself. But the competition, ironically IBM's own PC division, came up with a better product, IBM's mainframe divison got bloated, and customers loved the PC and associated software. Suddenly accounting applications that were once the sole domain of the mainframe were now done on PC spreadsheet programs. Along with this was technological changes will allowed cheap PCs to be built. [public replies, please] ------------------------------ From: voiceinfo79@gmail.com Subject: Interactive Voice Response - IVR Info Date: 4 May 2006 15:31:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Interactive Voice Response - IVR Info (May 2006), Introduction, Application, Solutions, how IVR works, IVR Solutions, Examples, IVR Software Informations http://ivr-info.atspace.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. This service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #171 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat May 6 20:55:59 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 0E38414F56; Sat, 6 May 2006 20:55:58 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #172 Message-Id: <20060507005558.0E38414F56@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 20:55:58 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 6 May 2006 20:55:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 172 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Chinese Computer Giant Showcaes Capitalistis Credentials (Terril Yue Jones) Nevada Launching Web Site For Canadian Drug Imports (Reuters News Wire) New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web (Associated Press News) Future of the Internet (Dow Jones) Blog Got Vandalized Friday Evening (TELECOM Digest Editor) China Has 60 Million Bloggers! (Reuters News Wire) Blasts at Chinese Internet Cafes Kill 2 (Audra Ang) Re: Big League Spammer Ralsky in Custody; May be Singing... (Linc Madison) Telephone Map of Africa with Country & City Codes (Linc Madison) Re: Virgin Mobile Warning (Mr Joseph Singer) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Terril Yue Jones Subject: Chinese Computer Giant Showcaes Capitalistis Credentials Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 18:23:56 -0500 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lenovo4may04,1,3131923.story?coll=la-headlines-business From the Los Angeles Times By Terril Yue Jones Times Staff Writer Yang Yuanqing heads the world's third-largest maker of personal computers. But few in the United States have ever heard of him -- or his company, for that matter. Lenovo Group aims to change that. Since the Chinese company bought IBM Corp.'s PC business last year for $1.25 billion, the company has moved quickly to establish itself as a global brand. To that end, Lenovo signed on as the official computer sponsor of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Lenovo made the acquisition amid a backlash in Congress against Chinese companies trying to purchase American corporations. Chinese oil company CNOOC Ltd. ditched its attempt to buy Unocal Corp. and appliance maker Haier Group ended its effort to join two U.S. firms to acquire Maytag Corp. Lenovo has moved its global headquarters to Purchase, N.Y., and kept most of its ex-IBM development staff in North Carolina. The company has brought its ThinkPad laptop line to U.S. retail stores and plans to sell Lenovo PCs to small and medium-sized businesses. Yang, Lenovo's 42-year-old chairman, was in the U.S. recently while Chinese President Hu Jintao was making an official visit. He spoke with journalists in San Francisco at the annual convention of the Committee of 100, a group of Chinese American business and civic leaders. Question: How is Lenovo doing in the United States? Do consumers here know the brand? Answer: I don't think so. We are a new company, but so far we are satisfied with our performance because we are keeping the business very stable. This is our first target. Maybe for the next step we should consider how to grow. We recruited a new CEO [former Dell Inc. executive William Amelio], and I believe he will lead this group not only for the U.S. market but also the worldwide market. Q: Do you worry about any stigma associated with being a Chinese company in the minds of American consumers? A: I'm not worried about the public. I'm a little bit worried about the government. For the past couple of weeks, there have been some articles related to procurement of our PCs by the State Department. Our company is a 100% market-oriented company. Some people have said we are a state-owned enterprise. It's 100% not true. In 1984 the Chinese Academy of Sciences only invested $25,000 in our company. The purpose of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to invest in this company was that they wanted to commercialize their research results. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is a pure research entity in China, owned by the government. From this point, you could say we're different from state-owned enterprises. Secondly, after this investment, this company is run totally by the founders and management team. The government has never been involved in our daily operation, in important decisions, strategic direction, nomination of the CEO and top executives and financial management. Everything is done by our management team. The third thing is actually we were the first group Chinese company to be listed in the Hong Kong market, which is a totally free market. We were the first group of Chinese companies to adopt a high standard of corporate governance and diversified shareholder structure to get foreign investors in our company. Q: How will you enter the U.S. market and gain share? A: The IBM PC business had some presence in the U.S. But they only cover large enterprise customers, so-called relationship customers. It's a very limited customer base. So in the future, we will try to keep ThinkPad as a high premier brand to continue to sell to this customer base. In the meantime, we will have the Lenovo brand to cover small and medium businesses and maybe consumers. Q: Will you sell Lenovo computers to U.S. consumers this year? A: It will not be so fast. We asked our team in the U.S. to focus on the commercial segment first. Q: Will you do more deals like the kiosks Lenovo has in Best Buy, where selected models are for sale? A: So far we haven't had this thought. We sell to [small and medium business] customers through Best Buy. Right now, we have no consumer product line to be launched in the U.S. The Lenovo 3000 product line is mainly for [that] segment. It's a good test. I think if we can have success with Best Buy, that can give us a lot of experience. Q: Are you structured more as a Chinese company or as a Western multinational? A: Lenovo was one of the first companies that awarded our founders and management shares and gave our employees stock options. So I think these incentives helped our company compete in the market. Since we acquired the IBM PC business, we became a multinational company. Right now, our shareholder structure is very diversified, so we have the Chinese Academy of Sciences, IBM and some private equity companies as shareholders. And we have a very international board. On our board, there is no representative of the government, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences, whose purpose is not controlling this company but getting a return from the company. Right now, they are very happy - they only invested 25,000 U.S. dollars, but every year they can get a couple of times that in dividend. So it's totally capitalist. Q: Does the direct model work in China? A: The direct model is good for relationship customers. But especially for small cities in China, if you want to use a direct model, it doesn't work. For consumers, they want to look and feel the machine. After they feel better, they will decide to buy. Also they want to get the machine immediately after their payment. They cannot wait three days or one week to get the machine. So you have to have inventory in your retail shops. Q: How big can the Lenovo brand be in the U.S.? A: Certainly we wish our brand will be among the top-level PC brands. Certainly we have a long way to go. Q: You're already No. 3 in the world. A: It's only related to scale. Our brand recognition is still weak, especially in the U.S. and mature markets. From one aspect, we should further leverage the IBM brand, the Think brand, to keep our business stable. From other aspects, we should build ourselves a [Lenovo] brand quickly. Q: Do you feel the center of technology inevitably moves from the U.S. to China? A: China is actually more a manufacturing-oriented country. But the government has started to pay more attention to innovation. The U.S. government gave a lot of importance to [intellectual property] protection in China, but the fact is the Chinese government started to realize if we cannot protect IP, we cannot have a better environment to encourage innovation. Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Nevada Launching Web Site For Canadian Drug Imports Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 18:25:41 -0500 Over objections by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Nevadans will be able to buy prescription drugs from Canada over the Internet starting next week, a spokesman for Gov. Kenny Guinn said on Friday. "Monday is the anointed day," said Steve George, a spokesman for the Republican governor, referring to when a state Web site linking consumers to pharmacies in Canada goes into operation. Nevada regulators gave the Web site their final blessing on Thursday after weighing a review of the program by the state attorney general, who had been skeptical about the measure passed by state lawmakers last year. Responding to fast-rising drug prices, a number of U.S. states and local government have urged the federal government to allow imports of prescription drugs, which often cost less abroad. The U.S. government opposes the imports. "There will be a caveat on the Web site saying that the federal government views getting prescriptions filled in Canada with non-FDA-approved drugs as illegal," George said. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 18:27:20 -0500 Despite a judge's recommendation that he only receive a reprimand, a city worker accused of disregarding warnings to stay off the Internet at work has been fired. The office computer of Toquir Choudhri, a 14-year veteran of the Department of Education, had been used to visit news and travel Web sites. Last month, Administrative Law Judge John Spooner ruled that surfing the Web at work is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the phone. He recommended the lightest possible punishment for Choudhri. Schools Chancellor Joel Klein disagreed. "The penalty of termination is appropriate and not shocking to one's sense of fairness," Klein said Friday. Choudhri's "abuse of the Internet at the time he is supposed to be performing his job demonstrates his disinterest in the job," Klein said. Choudhri's lawyer, Martin Druyan, called the firing a "political decision." "It's unfair, it's shocking to the conscience and it's contrary to the facts and the law," he said. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Dow Jones Subject: Future of the Internet Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 18:30:02 -0500 In the past 10 years the Internet has emerged as a global network that enables instant communications and borderless commerce. The popularity of blogs and the roll out of high-speed wireless connections have already begun to reshape the Web, but what will the Internet look like a decade from now? The Wall Street Journal Online invited Web pioneer Vint Cerf and tech pundit Esther Dyson to discuss what they expect in the next 10 years. Mr. Cerf envisions an interplanetary network, while Ms. Dyson ponders a loss of privacy and an information glut. Their conversation, carried out by email, is below. Mr. Cerf begins: Mobility has entered the world, big time, during the past ten years and the Internet is adapting to it. Geo-indexed information has increased in value as users query "where is the nearest..." and get answers because the system knows where you are when you ask, thanks to the Global Positioning System. Combining media in processing information is increasingly common. Voice a question but get the answer back on your laptop's display, the car's navigational display or your mobile's small but high-resolution screen. Take a photo with the phone and send it automatically to your blog which you just dictated. THE PARTICIPANTS Vinton G. Cerf is the chief Internet "evangelist" for Google Inc. where he is responsible for identifying new technologies. From 1994 to 2005, Mr. Cerf was a senior vice president at MCI. Mr. Cerf co-designed the TCP/IP protocols and basic architecture of the Internet. In 2005, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work on the Web. He has been chairman of the Internet's regulatory body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, since 2000. Esther Dyson is editor at large at CNET Networks Inc., where she is responsible for its quarterly newsletter, Release 1.0, and its PC Forum executive conference. Before selling her business to CNET in 2004, Ms. Dyson had co-owned EDventure Holdings and edited Release 1.01 since 1983. She is a technology investor focused on emerging markets and serves on the board of several start-ups. She was chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation from 1995 to early 1998 and founding chairman of ICANN from 1998 to 2000.Broadband is finally coming, and is highly penetrant already in some communities such as Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo. Our experiences with entertainment video will almost certainly change as we tend to download and watch later rather than watching only what is currently being transmitted. Channel surfing will be replaced by menu selection. And advertising will change in very interesting ways as a result -- but that's for another installment. By the end of the decade, we will have a two planet Internet in operation as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is prepared to serve as a store-and-forward relay to ground-based rovers, a mobile science laboratory and other future missions to Mars. The Interplanetary Internet, serving robotic and manned missions, will grow from this simple configuration to a more complex backbone of interplanetary links as each new mission is launched to the planets and satellites of our solar system. Virtual visits to our near-space neighborhood will be as common as a trip to the local supermarket as we amass enormous amounts of information about the region of space in which we live. Kids will have virtual field trips to visit the Spirit and Opportunity sites on Mars and other places from which we have gathered so much information already and will gather in the next decade. Ms. Dyson writes: The Internet will have become more ubiquitous but less visible. It will still exist as PCs and monitors, but it will also be all around us in other devices: everything from buses and luggage transmitting their locations so they can be tracked, to friends and children signaling their presence anytime you might want to reach them. Rather than being a separate virtual world, the Internet will encompass the physical world as well; most things will have Internet identities available remotely as well as a physical presence available only if you are nearby. What will the Internet look like a decade from now? Join a discussion3.For most people and applications, the biggest issue will be not search but filtering: So much will be knowable, but what do you want to know. People will initially be overwhelmed with choices, but vendors -- competing vendors, I hope, rather than monopolies or governments -- will make default choices for individuals. My hope is that those defaults will be socially valuable, but visible and easy for any user to change for himself; "Paradox of Choice" author [Barry Schwartz] has called this "libertarian paternalism." Mr. Cerf: Esther is spot-on about the Internet of devices: they will be manageable through the network and various services will help us to do that. Entertainment equipment and other consumer electronics will likely be the first to undergo this transformation. Household equipment will be next and then office equipment and the things in our cars and festooned on our bodies. As to the information glut, we'll use all the tools we've used in the past to cope with too much information. We don't read every book, newspaper and magazine published. We don't see every movie. We don't listen to every radio broadcast. We look for clues from friends, trusted sources, personal experience, interest to refine and select. We'll use all those tools and our automated search engines to help out here. Ms. Dyson: I think you'll see a fundamental shift in the balance of power towards individuals. Individuals will declare what kinds of vendors they want sponsoring their content, and then those vendors will have the privilege of appearing, discreetly, around the user's content. There will be much less "advertising" and much more communication to interested customers. Advertisers will have to learn to listen, not just to track and segment customers. So the message to marketers is: If you can't sell your product (assuming it's already in the market), fix the product! Don't try to change the situation by advertising. Consumers will publish wish lists for marketers to scan. Also, their choices will be influenced by their friends' comments much more than by marketers' messages. On the other hand, it will be much harder for consumers to get free content anonymously, because advertisers will want to know more about the people they are paying to reach. In many cases, whether email or ads, users may even get a share of the marketer's payments. (See AttentionTrust.org4 or my op-ed on Goodmail5 or my post on Release 1.06.) This makes sense from advertisers' point of view, but it has a social downside: People who buy Porsches can earn more from marketers than people who buy used cars. People without money will find it harder and harder to get free content -- which means a role for nonprofits in funding access to content for all. Mr. Cerf: Advertising is going to be different on the network as broadband kicks in. "IPTV" is a sort of misnomer that misleads into thoughts of streaming audio and video when in fact it is an opportunity to download and play later. In addition, it offers an opportunity to download ancillary material that expands on the video, perhaps adds some interactive software that might be relevant to it, or even download advertising material associated with products placed into the video program. One could even imagine freezing the screen (pausing the video) and mousing around to click on objects in view. Some of these might have had advertising material downloaded. And since it might be known roughly where you are and at what time you are watching, the advertising might contain live/Web components that are tailored to these factors. Ms. Dyson: I'm going to take this in a slightly different direction. There's a lot of, er, attention being paid right now to the so-called "attention economy." Indeed, O'Reilly [Media Inc.] subtitled its recent (March) Web 2.0 conference "The attention economy." It even featured author Michael Goldhaber, who wrote about the concept some 14 years ago for my newsletter Release 1.0. But people are generally missing the point; Mr. Goldhaber has trouble getting attention for the mirror he is holding up. Most commentators see the attention economy as the intention economy, where attention = intention (to buy). That version of the attention economy is all about sales leads and monetization of attention, and radical ideas include the notion of users getting paid for their attention, as I mentioned earlier, whether in the form of surfing behavior (www.root.net7) or a willingness to read email. While adults worry about privacy, kids seek attention. They post poetry, photos, exaggerated tales of personal exploits, music in order to create an online presence that garners attention. Doesn't this all come down to money in the end? you might ask. Don't kids buy things in order to get attention? Sure. And in the same way, the new financial-industrial economy all came down to food and shelter as we made the transition from an agrarian, feudal economy. But there are new dynamics worth noting. Most users are not trying to turn attention into anything else. They are seeking it for itself. For sure, the attention economy will not replace the financial economy. But it is more than just a subset of the financial economy we know and love. Mr. Cerf: This is an interesting observation and frankly I'd not thought about it in quite the same terms that Esther uses. I must admit that the behavior patterns do look as if some of these users (many of them young) feel "paid" when they have lots of "friends" or lots of hits on their Web sites. I wonder how much of this is youthful "I am ME! Look at ME!" Is any of this a kind of search for identity? Is it exploration of different personas (as in the role-playing games)? Some of this might be attributed to a natural desire to feel part of a group (gangs, cliques, teams, etc.). To some extent, the infrastructure needed to support this potentially self-centered behavior is being paid for through advertising revenues, making it appear to be free to many or most users. Ms. Dyson: Yes indeed, it is youthful behavior etc. - just as it once was youthful behavior to be obsessed with money and to want more money than you could use, which horrified the sages who cared more about old-fashioned values. The shift is not absolute; it's where society focuses (or where some societies are starting to focus). Indeed, Mr. Goldhaber has been writing about this for many years. In some ways it's an outgrowth of TV as much as of the Net. TV makes people want attention; the Net enables them to get it. And yes, advertising supports most of it. It's just that the advertisers are not the center of attention the way they would like to be! Mr. Cerf concludes: The Internet reaches only about a billion users so there are another 5.5 billion to go. It is beginning to include a good deal of information in many languages, but the domain name system needs to be outfitted with a similar capability. Access speeds are increasing but in a very non-uniform fashion. Business models for supporting various parts of the Internet are also in flux with new models being tested almost daily. Mobility is a component of the Internet that is plainly of increasing importance and will drive a variety of new applications. Entertainment media will be augmented with Internet counterparts with results that may not be entirely predictable but which will almost certainly have an interactive component missing from the traditional media. A plethora of "things" will become Internet connected and managed. There will be inventions for the use of the Internet that will come from academic and user settings to surprise us all when they appear, as they have in the past, in unexpected ways -- propagating through viral advertising. There's an Internet in your future, resistance is futile. Ms. Dyson closes: Let me add just a couple of points: The Internet so far has existed mostly in cyberspace, linking computers fed data by humans and by other computers. The Internet of the future will be much more tightly linked to physical space. First of all, many of its future users will connect via cellphones, and the net will know more about their physical locations and their identities than it does about those who reach it by computer. Beyond that, as Vint writes, the Internet will link things in space (on Earth as well as in off-Earth "space"). The Net of the future will know much more about the physical world and all the things in it ... and of course that information will be available to human users. The big challenges in the future will be limiting distribution of that information (security, privacy, confidentiality, etc.) on the one hand and filtering it out on the other (not search, but data-mining, exception-reporting, spam filtering, friend recommendations, behavioral targeting and the like). The big questions are who controls the filtering: individuals, organizations or governments? Will it be done transparently? URL for this article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114597841180135354.html Copyright 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. ------------------------------ Subject: Blog Got Vandalized Friday Evening Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 19:15:50 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Some of you know that several months ago I started a blog (actually a couple of them) for non-telecom related topics which cross my mind each day http://ptownson.blogspot.com Late Friday afternoon someone unknown to me (but they wouldn't have it any other way) took exception to one of my recent messages and chose to trash me out pretty badly. The entire blog had to be rebuilt from scratch and I spent much of the day Saturday doing that. Of course it will never get back esthetically just like I had it before. Oh well, I did not have a lot to do with my time today anyway, as it has been sort of damp and cold here all day. PAT ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: China Has 60 Million Bloggers! Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 18:19:30 -0500 Blogging is booming in China with the number of bloggers expected to hit 60 million by the end of this year. China is the world's second-largest Internet market after the United States with more than 110 million users. A survey by Chinese search engine Baidu.com put the current number of blog, or Web log, sites at 36.82 million which are kept by 16 million people, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. The number of Chinese bloggers is expected to hit 60 million by the end of this year, Xinhua said, quoting a report on China's media industry by the prestigious Tsinghua University. Zhang Xiaorong, strategy development director of "Bokee," which was set up in 2002 and claims the biggest share of China's blogging market, said his company adds about 100,000 blogs a day. "The expected 60 million bloggers would account for more than half of China's 110 million netizens," Xinhua quoted Zhang as saying. The university report forecast the number of bloggers in China would hit 100 million by 2007. Xinhua did not elaborate. Although the industry has invested heavily in blogs, none of the blog service providers are making profits, the report said. A recent report by the Internet Society of China showed nine percent of bloggers write every day, 29 percent write once to three times a week, while 35 percent write four to six times a week, Xinhua said. The growing stable of e-scribes has attracted homegrown firms and foreign giants like Microsoft, Google and Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) But the Communist Party's propaganda mandarins are obsessed with control and have closed down some outspoken blogs. Chat forums and online bulletin boards are routinely monitored for controversial political comments and sensitive words such as "freedom" and "democracy" are censored. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Audra Ang Subject: Blasts at Chinese Internet Cafes Kill 2 Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 18:21:05 -0500 By AUDRA ANG, Associated Press Writer Explosions rocked two Internet cafes in central China, killing two people, injuring four and leaving the premises spattered with blood and broken glass, a local official and state media said Saturday. Authorities refused to say if bombs were involved in the blasts, which occurred Friday night about 10 minutes apart at two cafes within about 33 feet of each other in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province. No motive was apparent for an attack on the premises. Such incidents are rare in China, although explosives are widely available and reports of their use in criminal acts have risen in recent years. "The casualties include two dead and four injured people," said a man who answered the telephone at the Hefei city government office. He refused to give his name or any other details. "This is a serious matter and the cause is still being investigated," he said. Chinese local government officials frequently refuse to identify themselves to reporters because they are not authorized to speak to the media. China has the second largest Internet population after the United States, with more than 100 million users. Even the smallest towns have cybercafes that are often packed with young people chatting online or playing games. An officer at the public security bureau in Hefei who gave only his surname, Li, said it "wasn't clear" if explosives had been detonated. A woman who answered the telephone at the Hefei First Aid Center, where the injured were taken, would not release details on them. The Ju Xing and Hao Yu Internet cafes are on Meiling Avenue, one of Hefei's main streets, the state-run Anhui Daily newspaper said on its Web site. The blasts drew hundreds of onlookers to the site, it said. The official Xinhua News Agency said they happened about 9:30 p.m. A woman who was walking past Ju Xing at the time of the explosion said she saw glass and cement spray from the cybercafe, according to Anhui Daily. "When we heard the first explosion, we thought firecrackers were being set off," an unnamed resident was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "The second one went off about 15 minutes later. It was very loud. It sounded like a bomb exploded." Another resident said panicked customers ran out after the first explosion. A woman in her 20s covered with blood screamed "What's happening?" before collapsing, the newspaper said. She was later helped away by passers-by. Inside Ju Xing, "blood, glass and cement covered the floor," the report said. News photos showed gloved officers sifting through the rubble, which included overturned chairs, computers, chunks of concrete and shards of blue glass. Iron bars on the windows -- a common security feature in Internet cafes -- had been twisted by the explosions and pipes were exposed in the ceiling. Ju Xing had about 70 to 80 computers while Yu Hao had about seven small rooms that could accommodate 10 people each, Anhui Daily said. The second explosion happened in one of the small rooms, leaving a 3.3 foot-wide crack in the ceiling, it said. A customer, identified only by his surname Liu, said he was using a computer in Ju Xing when he heard a loud bang and felt pain in his face. He said the inside of the room "was like a whirlwind," with glass and cement flying everywhere. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines and stories, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Big League Spammer Ralsky in Custody; May be Singing ... Date: Fri, 05 May 2006 11:30:42 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , Robert Bonomi wrote: > Note: the valleywag.com report is *UNCONFIRMED* by any other source > at this time. It's been picked-up/repeated in several other places, > but _all_ the reports trace back to this single 'pseudonymous' source > of unknown credibility. The report appears to have been false. http://www.spamdailynews.com/publish/Spam_King_Alan_Ralsky_not_jailed.asp It is true, though, that Sanford Wallace, "The [other] Spam King," lost a civil suit brought by the FTC over "spyware," and was ordered to pay over $4 million in damages. See http://www.ftc.gov/os/caselist/0423142/WallaceFinalJudgment.pdf [PDF file] Not quite as "juicy" as bringing Ralsky up on criminal charges, but a nice smack upside the head to a deserving target, all the same. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com Read my political blog, "The Third Path" DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. ------------------------------ Subject: Telephone Map of Africa with Country & City Codes Date: Fri, 05 May 2006 11:39:09 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed The http://LincMad.com telecom site recently added a major new page, with a map of Africa, showing the telephone and Internet country codes for all the major countries, along with a listing of all country codes and some major city codes, including many place names in the appropriate local language(s), with time zone information as well. The listing is in order by Internet ccTLD for the convenience of international users. The map is a work of art, suitable for framing. Well, it's a pretty cool map, anyway. I'm still working on a few bits of explanatory text; does anyone know how to say "Daylight Savings Time" in Swahili? (Seriously.) Check it out: http://www.LincMad.com/africa.html Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad d0t c0m Read my political blog, "The Third Path" DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not think they use the phrase 'Daylight Savings Time'. I think the expression they may use (as is the case in many European counties) is 'Summer Time'. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 06:09:18 PDT From: Mr Joseph Singer Subject: Re: Virgin Mobile Warning NOTvalid@Queensbridge.us 3 May 2006 09:52:20 -0700 wrote: > Virgin is now instituting a new policy that if you have had voice > mail removed from your account, Virgin Mobile will send a > supervisory signal back to the CALLING TELCO that your Vrigin phone > has answered. That means, that if someone calls you from a pay phone > and you do not answer, and you do not have Virgin voice mail they > will get an intercept message that could cost the pay phone user > fifty cents each time [depending on charges in your local area]. > Virgin has already started this and has stated that eventually all > their customers will have this "supervised as answered". > Perhaps they don't like lost revenue if you do not have an active > mailbox.>> Well, perhaps you need to shop for a different prepaid service if that's Virgin's attitude that they feel that they have to charge their customers "no matter what." You'll lose the ability to use your phone, but there are lots of alternatives with GSM and if your handset is unlocked you have a choice of several including many MVNO's that use the cingular network. Go to prepaid.gsm.net and look at the USA and look for MVNO's. Be careful though where you look as severall do charge for voicemail deposits though some do not. None of them charge for not answering your phone though as you indicate Virgin is or will be shortly. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #172 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon May 8 15:26:06 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 348771567D; Mon, 8 May 2006 15:26:06 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #173 Message-Id: <20060508192606.348771567D@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 15:26:06 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 8 May 2006 15:30:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 173 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Newspaper Circulation Down (Robert MacMillan) Verizon Warns Others: NO Net Neutrality Wanted (Reuters News Wire) Class Action Suit Against Yahoo (Grant Gross) Verizon Playing Catch-up Against Cable Firms (Monty Solomon) Charge it at 30,000 Feet (Monty Solomon) Vonage Customers Get Shares at IPO Price (BrianEWilliams) Google X is Back! (relay1000@gmail.com) VoIP Quality (mike7411@gmail.com) Letter From Spammers Regarding Blue Security (Staci Saldana) Microsoft Exec: IPTV Deployment Strategy Crucial (USTelecom dailyLead) Cellular-News: Monday 8th May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Monday, May 8, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (Mark J) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (Dave Garland) Re: New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web (Ron Chapman) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Robert MacMillan Subject: Newspaper Circulation Down Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 12:50:57 -0500 By Robert MacMillan U.S. newspaper circulation fell 2.6 percent as of the end of March, according to data released on Monday, the latest evidence that readers are defecting to the Internet and other media outlets. A Newspaper Association of America analysis of semiannual data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations on 770 daily newspapers found that average daily circulation fell to about 45.4 million readers, compared with about 46.6 million in the same six-month period ended March 31 a year ago. Sunday circulation at 610 newspapers fell 3.1 percent to 48.5 million. The Audit Bureau of Circulations counts 882 U.S. daily newspapers among its members. More than 85 percent of them reported their figures for the latest report. Circulation rose 0.5 percent for the New York Times' weekday and Sunday editions. USA Today, Gannett Co. Inc.'s flagship paper, was up 0.1 percent to about 2.27 million. More typical for the industry was a 1 percent drop reported by Dow Jones & Co. Inc.'s flagship paper, the Wall Street Journal. Newspaper companies have been fighting weak print advertising revenue growth and falling profits as more people use the Internet and other media to get their news. Many companies have launched online editions of their papers, some of them updating news throughout the day, to keep their hold on audiences and compete with Web sites like those of Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) and Google Inc. which gather news from multiple sources. But newspaper Internet advertising sales have not offset the weakness seen in their print publications. Still, the online newspaper audience is rising, the Newspaper Association said. Newspaper Web sites averaged about 56 million readers, or 37 percent of all online users, during the first quarter of 2006, according to research firm Nielsen//NetRatings. That is an 8 percent increase over the same period a year ago, the association said. The Washington Post's daily and Sunday circulation figures were off about 4 percent. The Los Angeles Times' daily circulation fell more than 5 percent, while Sunday circulation was down nearly 2 percent. Circulation also fell at newspapers that McClatchy Co. is buying from Knight Ridder Inc. and selling to other companies. The San Jose Mercury News, which McClatchy plans to sell to MediaNews Group Inc., saw circulation fall almost 8 percent for its daily edition and almost 5 percent on Sundays. The Philadelphia Inquirer's daily and Sunday circulation figures fell more than 5 percent while the Daily News was off more than 9 percent. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html To see more stories and headlines from the daily media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Verizon Warns Others: NO Net Neutrality Wanted Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 13:17:49 -0500 Verizon warns financial sector on Internet fight Verizon Communications warned the financial services industry may not get the secure networks it needs if Congress adopts laws governing high-speed Internet broadband networks, according to a company memo obtained by Reuters on Monday. The financial services industry is weighing whether to wade into a fight over legislation on broadband service, known as "Net neutrality." It fears that without safeguards on pricing for network access, the costs to financial institutions could rise. Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. telephone company, opposes legislation for Net neutrality and sent the memo to its consultants urging them to discuss with banking industry clients the arguments against possible legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate. "They are being fed a lot of cock-and-bull, Chicken Little stories about how the future of their industry is at stake because another network industry might have the freedom to price broadband services according to market demand," Verizon's chief congressional lobbyist Peter Davidson said in the memo. He warned that the financial services industry "better not start moaning in the future about a lack of sophisticated data links they need" if Net neutrality laws were passed because the communications industry may not invest in new networks. Verizon and AT&T Inc. have expressed interest in expanding from flat pricing for broadband to selling tiers of service based on the speed, reliability and security. They have pledged not to block access to the open Internet. "Why in the world should broadband network providers, who have invested billions to create those networks, be denied such pricing freedom?" Davidson said. That has raised fears among Internet content companies such as mazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. that they will be shunted to a slower lane of the Internet if they do not pay more for dedicated access. Davidson argued that that broadband providers are not "going to do anything stupid to antagonize the people they rely on for their money!" A financial industry lawyer has been circulating a memo warning that the sector ignores the Net neutrality debate at its peril and urged companies to push for legislation that would preserve flat broadband pricing for online financial services. Financial services lobbyists have said they are concerned about the issue, and are monitoring it. The House could consider legislation this week that would preserve the ability to surf on the open Internet but does not specifically bar Internet providers from charging new fees to assure reliable service to business users. It is part of a broader communications bill. The Senate is considering its own legislation but only requires a study on Net neutrality. Differences between the bills could prevent any legislation from becoming law this year, analysts have said. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If allowing AT&T and Verizon to set prices and standards of service on the net would effectively force all the spammers out of business, then I am all for it! PAT] ------------------------------ From: Grant Gross Subject: Class Action Suit Against Yahoo Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 12:54:45 -0500 Yahoo Faces Class-Action Spyware, Ad-Sales Suit Grant Gross, IDG News ServiceFri May 5, 2:00 PM ET An antispyware activist and lawyer has filed a class-action lawsuit against Yahoo, accusing the Web heavyweight of placing advertisements on spyware-vendor and "low-quality" sites. Ben Edelman, a Massachusetts lawyer and spyware researcher, is one of the lawyers who filed the lawsuit earlier this week on behalf of Yahoo advertiser Crafts By Veronica, as well as other advertisers. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, accuses Yahoo and its ad sales subsidiary Overture Services Inof charging higher rates for ads promised "premium" placement, but then placing those ads on spyware-vendor sites and on Web pages with URLs that are misspellings of popular sites. A Yahoo spokeswoman wasn't immediately available for comment. Money Matters The lawsuit seeks to recover the money advertisers paid to Yahoo for premium, "highly targeted," ad placement at Web sites including ones owned by Microsoft and CNN, Edelman said. Although plaintiffs' lawyers have not released an estimate of damages, it could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, he added. "It seems like there's a lot of money at issue," Edelman said. The lawsuit accuses Yahoo of placing ads on sites run by Intermix Media and Direct Revenue, two companies identified in an April lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer as distributors of spyware and unwanted pop-up adware. Both companies have disputed Spitzer's charges. Edelman agrees with Spitzer's assessment of the two companies, he said. "It's software that at least sometimes gets on your computer without your permission," he said. "It tracks where you go online." In addition, Yahoo places ads on so-called "typosquatting" Web sites, the lawsuit says. Typosquatters register Web sites that have URLs that are common misspellings of popular Web brands, and many typosquatting sites that Yahoo placed premium ads have long lists of advertisements as their only content, the lawsuit says. Ads placed with Yahoo have appeared on Expedai.com, a typosquatter of the popular Expedia.com travel site, the lawsuit says. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from tech sources, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 00:38:01 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon Playing Catch-up Against Cable Firms By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff | May 7, 2006 Sherri Patti of Woburn jumped from Comcast Corp. to Verizon Communications for its FiOS fiber-optic triple play of phone, TV, and Internet. She says she's getting more for less money. Michael McGrath of Woburn switched from Comcast cable to FiOS. He says his TV picture is better now, although he misses the New England Cable News channel and Fox Sports New England, both of which are missing from the Verizon channel lineup. Stephen Gorin of Westwood replaced his Verizon DSL with Verizon's new fiber-optic Internet service. He says his speed has improved, but he was surprised at the six hours it took to install the service. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/05/07/verizon_playing_catch_up_against_cable_firms/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 00:40:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Charge it at 30,000 Feet http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/05/07/charge_it_at_30000_feet/ May 7, 2006 When it's time to buy a beer or a sandwich or rent a headset, American Airlines passengers can now say, "Charge it." American last week began rolling out a new service letting passengers use American Express and other credit and debit cards to pay for in-flight purchases. American, the biggest carrier at Boston's Logan International Airport by passenger volume, expects the technology, which relies on wireless handheld devices toted by flight attendants, will be available systemwide by the middle of next month. ------------------------------ From: BrianEWilliams Subject: Vonage Customers Get Shares at IPO Price Date: 8 May 2006 08:17:56 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I just got this message from Vonage: Dear Valued Vonage Customer, As you may know, Vonage has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to its proposed initial public offering (IPO) of common stock. Because much of our success is attributable to our customers, we have asked the underwriters of the IPO to reserve shares of common stock for sale to certain Vonage customers at the IPO price in a Directed Share Program. You may be eligible to participate in the Directed Share Program if you meet certain eligibility requirements, including having been a Vonage customer from December 15, 2005 through February 1, 2006. You do not need to continue to be a Vonage customer in order to participate. Further information about the terms and conditions of the Directed Share Program, including the eligibility requirements and the process for participating in the program, are available in our registration statement and at the following website: http://www.vonageipo.com Thank you, Vonage [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So is anyone going to purchase any Vonage stock. I wonder if a half-century from now -- say around 2056 or so -- the stock will have obtained the reputation of AT&T stock with the cartoon (1930's) of the old lady sitting placidly in her rocking chair on the porch telling everyone how the dividends are paid on a timely basis and take good care of her needs in her old age. PAT] ------------------------------ From: relay1000@gmail.com Subject: Google X is Back! Date: 8 May 2006 09:11:55 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com http://google-x.blogspot.com - Google X Directory is back ------------------------------ From: mike7411@gmail.com Subject: VoIP Quality Date: 8 May 2006 10:02:35 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is there an automatic way of measuring VoIP quality? ------------------------------ From: Staci Saldana <708mhwarci@vista.com> Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 1:10 AM Subject: www.bluesecurity.com Members Urged to Get Out [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The message which follows was sent to many folks over the weekend -- not just once, but in some instances such as myself, a dozen or more times, by the spammers who broke into Blue Security's data base. PAT] Dear Blue Frog Member, As a follow-up to our previous emails, and, as promised, we are stepping up in the fight against Blue Security. The Blue Frog member email database has been compromised, and is currently being distributed worldwide to spammers and to the public. Attached to this email, you will find a zip file of the Blue Frog database, which includes your own personal or business email address(es). If you have not uninstalled Blue Frog yet, we highly suggest you do so now in order to avoid your involvement in this war any further. Leaving your email address on the Blue Frog list is a risky choice, as we will uphold our promise not only to increase your spam by 20 times the amount you are receiving now, but to continue to make this list publically available as well. Also, as the Blue Frog member database is updated, we will find more creative ways in which to use it, and frequently release it to whomever we wish. Blue Security, Inc [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But if you _do_ leave your name on the list (the .zip file by the way is not attached here) Blue Security will continue to demand apologies and removals from the spammers' lists. And by the way, the .zip file with all the names and email addresses of other netters was also send with a virus-worm enclosed in it for your convenience. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 13:27:59 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Microsoft Exec: IPTV Deployment Strategy Crucial to Techology USTelecom dailyLead May 8, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dBdIfDtuteaacZvDKC TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Microsoft exec: IPTV deployment strategy crucial to technology's success BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Vodafone announces plan to cut roaming charges * Comcast offers VoIP service in Detroit * T-Mobile to launch new roaming plan in Europe, North America * Q-and-A with Sprint's Gary Forsee USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * How Telcos Can Win the Video Game with IPTV Tuesday, May 9, 1:00 ET HOT TOPICS * Level 3 snaps up TelCove * Senate committee unveils draft of telecom bill * U.S. wireless market may see further consolidation * Nokia ships BlackBerry competitor * Commentary: Wi-Fi's growing pains TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Poll: 4 in 10 Americans play computer games * Internet giants battle for control of mobile search * Broadcasters take different approaches to broadband * Who will pay for TV? REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Cable franchise debate heats up in Michigan Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dBdIfDtuteaacZvDKC ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Monday 8th May 2006 Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 09:04:08 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[3G News]] PCTEL Wins 3G Roaming Deal with Vodafone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17275.php PCTEL has announced that Vodafone has selected it's Roaming Client software to be used as one of its 3G connectivity management software solutions. The Roaming Client facilitates connection to the Internet over different types of wireless networks. P... [[Financial News]] CEO: America Movil not interested in acquiring Millicom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17253.php Mexican mobile holding group America Movil is not interested in acquiring the Latin American assets of European mobile holding company Millicom International Cellular, AMX chief executive Daniel Hajj said during an investors' conference ca... Comcel 1Q06 profits up 249% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17254.php Colombian mobile operator Comcel saw its first quarter profits rise 249% year-on-year, to 147bn pesos (US$61.7mn), parent company America Movil said in its first quarter earnings statement. ... Brazil Mobile Co Tim Announces More Restructuring http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17262.php Brazilian mobile-phone operator Tim Participacoes on Friday announced another stage in its restructuring to bring all the Brazilian assets of Telecom Italia under one structure and to hasten the use of tax credits. ... Taiwan's Senao To Spin Off Wireless Communications Unit http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17264.php The board of Taiwan's Senao International Co. approved a plan Friday evening to spin off Senao's wireless communications business to form a new company. ... [[Handsets News]] Qualcomm CEO: Winning Battle In Low-End Phones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17251.php Qualcomm is winning the battle of low-end phones in key emerging markets, Chief Executive Paul Jacobs said Thursday. ... Hard Drives in Cellphones Could Spell the End for MP3 Players http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17271.php Mobile phones offering generous data storage, enabled by small hard drives with ever-greater capacities, may soon allow the cellular handset to rival or surpass the portable MP3 player as the mass market mobile music device of choice. Ten years ago, ... [[Legal News]] Russia's SMARTS says being investigated by police http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17261.php The police have been investigating the operations of Russian regional mobile operator SMARTS, the company's Deputy General Director Andrei Girev told Prime-Tass Friday. ... AT&T Agrees To $150 Million Settlement http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17263.php AT&T Inc. agreed to a US$150 million settlement of class-action suits tied to the offering of AT&T Wireless tracking shares in April 2000. ... [[MVNO News]] French Grocery Chain Auchan Launches MVNO On SFR Network http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17258.php French supermarket chain Auchan announced Friday it would launch a full mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, on Vivendi Universal's SFR network. ... [[Network Contracts News]] Ericsson Expands Coverage for Orange Botswana http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17269.php Ericsson is assisting Orange Botswana to reach out to new customers, previously too remote for cost-efficient coverage, by implementing the Ericsson Expander solution. The Expander solution has allowed Orange Botswana to achieve cell ranges of up to ... Huawei Wins Philippines GSM Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17274.php Huawei says that it has signed a GSM network expansion contract with Digitel in the Philippines. As part of the contract, Huawei's GSM BTS will be deployed to cover the whole Manila city in the Philippines, helping to improve the congested mobile tra... [[Network Operators News]] O2 Mulls Expansion Into Fixed-To-Mobile Services In UK http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17252.php U.K.'s mobile operator O2, a unit of Spain's Telefonica, said Friday that it is considering taking its experience in combining mobile and fixed-line operations to the UK and other markets. ... BrT offers fixed-mobile convergence services http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17256.php Brazilian fixed line operator Brasil Telecom will offer two fixed-mobile convergence services in 2006, Brazilian newspapers reported. ... T-Mobile CEO: Will Continue To Focus On Mobile In UK http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17259.php Wireless operator T-Mobile International will continue its strategy of focusing on mobile communications services in the UK, Chief Executive Rene Obermann said at the sidelines of a media event Friday. ... A Palm Tree Which Can Survive Category 5 Hurricanes http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17268.php Cable and Wireless has installed the first ever camouflaged Palm Tree Cellular Tower in the Caribbean Island of Dominica. The Mono Palm as it is known in technical terms is also the first in the OECS region. Standing at approximately 100ft tall, the ... Telecoms Repairs After Solomon Islands Riots http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17270.php Following riots in the Solomon Islands, Solomon Telekom Fault Engineers and Technicians have responded quickly to the total blackout of landline telephones in and around the Chinatown area. As of Thursday 20 April, Telekom's Fault and PABX rapid resp... [[Offbeat News]] Unlucky Cellphone Thieves http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17273.php Three bungling cellphone thieves in Puchong, Malaysia had a particularly bad run of luck last week when one of the robbers visited a shop at Taman Kinrara claiming to want his cellphone repaired. When the shopkeeper was looking at the phone, the thie... [[Personnel News]] Tower Worker Dies from Fall http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17265.php A worker has died after falling some 90 feet from a cellphone tower situated on the grounds of Bishop Carrol High School in Ebensburg, USA. Michael Sellers, 25 was about half way up the tower, climbing to install an antenna when the accident ocurred ... [[Regulatory News]] Russia's MTS finds local partner to bid for Egypt license http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17257.php Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has found a local partner to participate in the tender for a third GSM license in Egypt, Vedomosti and Kommersant business dailies reported Friday. ... Two New Mobile Licenses for Isle of Man http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17276.php The Communications Commission of the Isle of Man has issued two new mobile licenses. Cable & Wireless already operates a cross-Island telecoms link. Since 2002 it has provided fixed services to larger customers on the Island. It will now be able to c... [[Reports News]] T-Mobile Tops Shop Staff Survey http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17267.php As the number of wireless service offerings grows and new products being offered become more complex to use, wireless customers increasingly rely on the salesperson to help select the right service plans to fit their communication needs, according to... Over 100 WCDMA Networks Live http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17272.php The worldwide movement by operators to deploy high speed mobile broadband services -- based on the global W-CDMA and HSDPA technology standards -- is fuelling unprecedented economies of scale in the supply of equipment for carriers and handsets for con... [[Statistics News]] Indec: Mobile base grows 58.1% yoy http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17255.php Mobile operators in Argentina closed March with 23.89 million lines in service, up 58.1% compared to March 2005, when the number reached 15.10 million, according to statistics bureau Indec. ... Ukraine's Kyivstar user base up to 15.146 mln users May 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17260.php The subscriber base of Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar rose 8.8% since the beginning of the year to 15.146 million users as of May 1, the company said in a press release Friday. ... Worldwide Mobile Phone Subscriber Base Expected to Reach 3.3 Billion by 2010 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17266.php According to the Taiwan based Market Intelligence Center (MIC), the number of global mobile phone subscribers is expected to grow from two billion in 2005 to approximately 3.3 billion in 2010, representing a CAGR (Compound Average Growth Rate) of 10.... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 12:22:00 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Monday, May 8, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 8, 2006 ******************************** DBS vs. BELL: A LOSING PROPOSITION? http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17841?11228 THE RBOCS HAVE SOLD about 1.5 million subscriptions to direct broadcast satellite (DBS) services like those offered by DIRECTV Group Inc. and DISH Network since becoming resellers for those companies in 2003. But now telcos are installing fiber access networks to roll out IPTV, which would compete with their DBS wholesale partners. In... The Wireless Back Office, Up Close and Personal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17839?11228 As consumers demand more customization in the mobile environment, off-net activities threaten to reduce mobile operators to a bit pipe. Carriers can protect their value and differentiation by enabling non-walled-garden m-commerce and adapting their back-office framework to support the shift toward personalization. Consumers are using... Two More Try to Join the Big Six http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17836?11228 The mobile phone industry is dominated by six companies, but that isn't stopping a couple of manufacturers with limited brand recognition from seeking to boost their sales in the United States. Nokia, of course, is the dominant power in handsets and claimed a 35-percent market share worldwide in the first quarter of 2006. At the end of... Telefonica Signs Content Deal with Warner Brothers http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17830?11228 Spain's fixed-line incumbent, Telefonica, has signed a contract with Warner Bros, the leading film and TV production company. Significance: The deal will enable Telefonica to distribute Warner films as part of its video-on-demand (VOD) offering, and make Telefonica's current IP TV service Imagenio more attractive. Spain's number two and... Vodafone Selects New Roaming Client http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17826?11228 Vodafone signed up as a licensee of PCTEL's Roaming Client software. Financial terms of the agreement were not outlined. The mobile operator plans to use the software as one of its 3G connectivity management software solutions. The Mobile Connect software is designed to facilitate connection to the Internet over different types of... Second Try: AOL AIMs At VoIP http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17824?11228 Time Warner's AOL subsidiary, in another run at the VoIP market, is about to launch another VoIP service - this time built around its AIM instant messenger service and offering free phone numbers for incoming calls - a disruptive "market first" aimed at the hearts of such competitors as eBay subsidiary Skype. According to multiple... NTL Adds to UK Jobs Woe http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17821?11228 U.K. cable operator ntl group ltd. (Nasdaq: NTLI - message board) is expected to announce Tuesday that it will cut about one third of its 17,000 employees following its merger with fellow cable firm Telewest Global Inc. (Nasdaq: TWSTY - message board). (See NTL & Telewest: Together at Last!.) Weekend reports in the U.K. press... Contest Seeks Answers to Wireless Networking Questions http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17820?11228 The arrival of wireless ad hoc networks has spawned numerous questions concerning service level tradeoffs. Will users sacrifice bandwidth, signal strength or speed to ensure system effectiveness? How can these tradeoffs be achieved? And what are the incentives that will get users to provide services -- such as routing -- to other nodes?... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: Mark J Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 10:31:27 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications When I lose power I have Vonage configured to forward calls to my cellphone, so that is not a problem. Herb Stein wrote in message news:telecom25.171.11@telecom-digest.org... > Mark J wrote in message > news:telecom25.170.7@telecom-digest.org: >> I have been using Vonage for nearly a year now, with no problems with >> their service whatsoever. The few times I have had trouble was when >> the Internet service was out or I had trouble with my Linksys router >> or Cisco 1900 switch, but only lasted for a minute or so. > Had you been having a heart attack, it would have actually been your > LAST problem. And what's you option when the power goes out? >> Healthy Stealthy wrote in message >> news:telecom25.167.5@telecom-digest.org: >>> Right now I'm using Verizon. I have to save money. I'm thinking about >>> switching to Vonage. Does anyone know anything about this company? Is >>> it a mistake to switch to them? Any details? >>> Thanks. >>> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Vonage is certainly a better deal, and >>> much less expensive than Verizon. I have Vonage service here as well, >>> although in fairness I should mention I also still have landline >>> service as well. Some readers here would suggest that there are other >>> VOIP companies better than Vonage, and that may be true, but I think >>> you are inquiring about the _concept_ of VOIP instead of landline, am >>> I correct? I am unwilling to totally abandon my landline service for >>> VOIP. PAT] > Herb Stein > herb@herbstein.com ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: Sun, 07 May 2006 01:29:06 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Herb Stein wrote: > Had you been having a heart attack, it would have actually been your > LAST problem. And what's you option when the power goes out? There's all sorts of levels of service. What do you do if 911 doesn't work? (What would you have done before 911 was introduced?) What do you do if the power is out? (What do you do if your phone is a cordless and won't work without power?) What do you do if you're not near a phone? I don't see the fact that VOIP is innately a little less reliable than landline as a show-stopper. You just need to understand the tradeoffs before you dive in. Of course they should tell you. The same way as the companies that sell cordless phones tell you that in event of a power failure the phone is worthless. The same way that cell phone companies tell you that there are locations where the phone won't work. Dave ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 May 2006 02:34:41 -0400 From: Ron Chapman Subject: Re: New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web In article , Associated Press News Wire wrote: > Last month, Administrative Law Judge John Spooner ruled that surfing > the Web at work is equivalent to reading a newspaper or talking on the > phone. > He recommended the lightest possible punishment for Choudhri. Schools > Chancellor Joel Klein disagreed. > "The penalty of termination is appropriate and not shocking to one's > sense of fairness," Klein said Friday. > Choudhri's "abuse of the Internet at the time he is supposed to be > performing his job demonstrates his disinterest in the job," Klein > said. I would feel much better if "Schools Chancellor" Joel Klein knew the meaning of the word "disinterest" and how it differs from "lack of interest". Maybe the schools should be run by educated people for a change. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #173 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon May 8 22:33:51 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 26425151D8; Mon, 8 May 2006 22:33:51 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #174 Message-Id: <20060509023351.26425151D8@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 22:33:51 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 8 May 2006 22:35:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 174 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson 'Bostmaster' Gets Five Years in Prison (Reuters News Wire) AT&T Plans Fast Web Alternatives in Rural Areas (Reuters News Wire) Qwest to Expand Bandwidth 'Just in Time' (Reuters News Wire) Help Needed With WAV File (mike7411@gmail.com) Re: Vonage Customers Get Shares at IPO Price (ceestand) Re: Vonage Customers Get Shares at IPO Price (Mark J) Re: New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web (Linc Madison) Virtual PBX, Private Phone Systems, PBX Sip (likatrib@gmail.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Reuters News Wire Subject: 'Bostmaster' Gets Five Years in Prison Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 20:43:04 -0500 A 20-year-old who prosecutors say highjacked computers to damage computer networks and send waves of spam across the Internet was sentenced on Monday to nearly five years in prison. Jeanson James Ancheta, a well-known member of the "Botmaster Underground" who pleaded guilty in January to federal charges of conspiracy, fraud and damaging U.S. government computers, was given the longest sentence for spreading computer viruses, federal prosecutors said. He was sentenced to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Gary Klausner, who also ordered him to pay $15,000 in restitution to the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California, and forfeit to the government some $60,000 to pay its expenses in his prosecution. "Your worst enemy is your own intellectual arrogance that somehow the world cannot touch you on this," Klausner said in sentencing Ancheta. Ancheta was accused in the original 17-count indictment of hijacking some 500,000 computers using "bots," or programs that surreptitiously install themselves on computers so they can be controlled by a hacker. A bot net is a network of such robot, or "zombie," computers, which can harness their collective power to do considerable damage or send out huge amounts of junk e-mail. Prosecutors say the case was unique because Ancheta was accused of profiting from his attacks by selling access to his "bot nets" to other hackers and planting adware, software that causes advertisements to pop up, into infected computers. In entering the guilty pleas, Ancheta admitted using computer servers he controlled to transmit malicious code over the Web to scan for and exploit vulnerable computers, which he then controlled as "zombie" machines. He is expected to surrender to the United States Marshall later today. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Reuters News, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: AT&T Plans Fast Web Alternatives in Rural Areas Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 20:45:58 -0500 Telephone operator AT&T Inc. said on Monday it would offer new satellite-based fast Internet services in U.S. rural markets and expand its investment in emerging WiMax wireless connections. "We are beginning to offer satellite-based broadband service in areas where our DSL service is not available today, giving more consumers a broadband choice," AT&T Chairman and Chief Executive Ed Whitacre said in a speech at the Detroit Economic club. AT&T is partnering with satellite-based high-speed Internet provider WildBlue to provide the service. The telecommunications giant, which plans to buy BellSouth Corp. later this year, will also expand its market efforts related to WiMax and other fixed wireless technologies with new deployments this year in Texas and Nevada. "Today, we reach more than eighty percent of our residential customers with DSL service," Whitacre said. "My hope is that through initiatives such as these, we can bring the benefits of broadband to all our customers." WiMax is a more powerful version of Wi-Fi, a wireless Web connection built into most laptops, but that only covers small areas such as a coffee shop. AT&T also said that, in the next three years, it would make a video service it is developing available to more than 5.5 million low-income households as part of its "Project Lightspeed" fiber optic network plans. AT&T is building a high-speed fiber network to support television services and faster Internet connections as it works to compete better with cable operators, which now offer telephone services, as well as Internet and television. "We have introduced the service in San Antonio, and it's going very well," Whitacre said. "We will roll it out to many more markets later this year." Whitacre said the video service will be launched in Houston next. "Then we will go to 18 million households in the next three years," he said. Another large regional telephone company, Verizon Communications, is building a fiber network and already sells video services in several markets. Whitacre, speaking to reporters later, said the company was on track to achieve its target of adjusted earnings per share growth in the double digit percentage range in the next three years. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Qwest to Expand Bandwidth 'Just in Time' Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 20:48:03 -0500 By Ritsuko Ando Qwest Communications International Inc., the fourth largest U.S. local telephone company, said on Monday that it would expand high-speed network capacity as much as customers want, but not too much more. Qwest's Chief Executive Richard Notebaert told Reuters in an interview that he aimed for "just in time" bandwidth expansion, referring to a popular inventory strategy to optimize the return on investment. "We have to be very thoughtful about our return on investor capital. To do something where assets would not be fully utilized for a number of years, I think, would be suspect on our part," he said. His comments highlight the company's focus on improving its financial health, the weakest of the four so-called "Baby Bells" and its pursuit of a different strategy to its bigger rivals such as Verizon Communications which have been investing heavily in broadband. Qwest, he said, has so far kept up with customers' demand for high-speed Internet connections, now providing many with speeds of around 3 to 5 megabits per second, and some even 7 megabits, compared to 1.5 megabits a few years ago. It will spend around the same or slightly higher in 2006 than last year to bolster bandwidth, he said. Analysts have generally commended Notebaert for bringing discipline and focus to Qwest. Based in Denver, Colorado and servicing 14 western states, Qwest last week posted a 54 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by cost cuts and growth in high-speed Internet subscribers. It ended the first quarter with 1.7 million high-speed subscribers, up 13 percent from the 2005 fourth quarter and up 50 percent from a year earlier. It also ended the quarter with total debt of $15.4 billion, down $1.9 billion from a year earlier. Qwest's improving cash position has helped Qwest's share price nearly double over the past 52 weeks. But the stock, which closed Monday up one percent at $6.82 on the New York Stock Exchange, is still far short of its 2000 peak of more than $60. Analysts expect the improving cash position to prompt a share buyback or dividend payment soon, and Qwest has said it would make a decision on the matter later this year. Notebaert remained coy on the decision, saying only he would listen to shareholders. "Because they see what's happening, they have not been reticent in sharing their opinions," he said, adding that any move may depend on external factors such as interest rates. Notebaert said he expected healthy growth in the wholesale business to continue, and that it should eventually be seen as more of a communications company than a regional telecoms company. He also forecast an expected rise in demand for use of its optical fiber networks. Qwest and other long distance telephone network operators during the dot-com boom expanded high speed fiber optic networks only to later find that they had overestimated demand, leading to a glut of unused optical infrastructure called "dark fiber. "I think that eventually people will have to activate some of that dark fiber. With streaming video and all those things, traffic has to increase," he said. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: mike7411@gmail.com Subject: Help Needed With WAV File Date: 8 May 2006 13:14:25 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is there any sort of program that will analyze a WAV file of modem sounds? ------------------------------ From: ceestand Subject: Re: Vonage Customers Get Shares at IPO Price Date: 8 May 2006 13:50:25 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I got the same thing. I fear clicking on the URL. Is this really vonage? The only reference to it I can find is that supposedly the Domain was up for sale on eBay ... BrianEWilliams wrote: > I just got this message from Vonage: > Dear Valued Vonage Customer, > As you may know, Vonage has filed a registration statement with the > Securities and Exchange > Commission (SEC) related to its proposed initial public offering (IPO) > of common stock. Because much of our success is attributable to our > customers, we have asked the underwriters of the IPO to reserve shares > of common stock for sale to certain Vonage customers at the IPO price > in a Directed Share Program. > You may be eligible to participate in the Directed Share Program if you > meet certain eligibility > requirements, including having been a Vonage customer from December 15, > 2005 through February 1, 2006. You do not need to continue to be a > Vonage customer in order to participate. Further information about the > terms and conditions of the Directed Share Program, including the > eligibility requirements and the process for participating in the > program, are available in our registration statement and at the > following website: > http://www.vonageipo.com > Thank you, > Vonage > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So is anyone going to purchase any > Vonage stock. I wonder if a half-century from now -- say around 2056 > or so -- the stock will have obtained the reputation of AT&T stock > with the cartoon (1930's) of the old lady sitting placidly in her > rocking chair on the porch telling everyone how the dividends are > paid on a timely basis and take good care of her needs in her old age. > PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mark J Subject: Re: Vonage Customers Get Shares at IPO Price Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 16:01:05 -0700 Organization: Cox Communications I looked at the requirements for customers to get the Vonage IPO, and it requires a minimum of 100 shares to purchase through a few specifed brokers, by personal check or wire transfer only. Since I cannot get a bank account right now, I'll have to pass it up. Details on the offer can be found at http://www.vonageipo.com BrianEWilliams wrote in message news:telecom25.173.6@telecom-digest.org: > I just got this message from Vonage: > Dear Valued Vonage Customer, > As you may know, Vonage has filed a registration statement with the > Securities and Exchange > Commission (SEC) related to its proposed initial public offering (IPO) > of common stock. Because much of our success is attributable to our > customers, we have asked the underwriters of the IPO to reserve shares > of common stock for sale to certain Vonage customers at the IPO price > in a Directed Share Program. > You may be eligible to participate in the Directed Share Program if you > meet certain eligibility > requirements, including having been a Vonage customer from December 15, > 2005 through February 1, 2006. You do not need to continue to be a > Vonage customer in order to participate. Further information about the > terms and conditions of the Directed Share Program, including the > eligibility requirements and the process for participating in the > program, are available in our registration statement and at the > following website: > http://www.vonageipo.com > Thank you, > Vonage > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: So is anyone going to purchase any > Vonage stock. I wonder if a half-century from now -- say around 2056 > or so -- the stock will have obtained the reputation of AT&T stock > with the cartoon (1930's) of the old lady sitting placidly in her > rocking chair on the porch telling everyone how the dividends are > paid on a timely basis and take good care of her needs in her old age. > PAT] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for looking into this for us. I got the very same offer in my email Monday afternoon, but had not yet investigated it. I wish there had been a less expensive offer; I might have purchsed one or two shares as a novelty. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Re: New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 16:20:01 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , Ron Chapman wrote: >> Choudhri's "abuse of the Internet at the time he is supposed to be >> performing his job demonstrates his disinterest in the job," Klein >> said. > I would feel much better if "Schools Chancellor" Joel Klein knew the > meaning of the word "disinterest" and how it differs from "lack of > interest". Well, I, for one, do know the meaning of the word "disinterest," and I therefore know that Joel Klein used it correctly. Disinterest: (noun) 2. lack of interest; indifference. [source: American Heritage® online dictionary, via ask.com] Given the context of the remark, it is quite clear that Mr. Klein was not using it in the sense of "impartiality." Perhaps you can explain the difference between "lack of interest" and "lack of interest" for us. > Maybe the schools should be run by educated people for a change. Maybe the pot should be more careful in describing the kettle. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com Read my political blog, "The Third Path" DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I went back to the original message and am quoting from it here in the hopes someone will explain all this to me: >> Choudhri's "abuse of the Internet at the time he is supposed to be >> performing his job demonstrates his disinterest in the job," Klein >> said. > I would feel much better if "Schools Chancellor" Joel Klein knew the > meaning of the word "disinterest" and how it differs from "lack of > interest". > Maybe the schools should be run by educated people for a change. Maybe Ron Chapman and Linc Madison can, between them, explain to me what the difference is. PAT] ------------------------------ From: likatrib@gmail.com Subject: Virtual PBX, Private Phone Systems, PBX Sip, Phone Switches, Pabx Date: 8 May 2006 18:07:10 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Virtual PBX,Private Phone Systems,PBX Sip,Phone Switches,Pabx,Free Internet Calls Introduction, Distributed Workforce, Virtual Organization,Field Offices for Larger Concerns,Virtual PBX,Case Study-Centract,Knowledge Worker Impact Quotient,Conclusions http://www.freewebs.com/virtual-pbx/ ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #174 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue May 9 14:36:26 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9752315779; Tue, 9 May 2006 14:36:26 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #175 Message-Id: <20060509183626.9752315779@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 14:36:26 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 9 May 2006 14:40:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 175 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Verizon Seeks Change in US House Internet Language (Reuters News Wire) AOL Lays Off 1300 Employees (Anick Jesdanun) Cellular-News: Tuesday 9th May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 9, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) AT&T to Offer Satellite Broadband, IPTV to Low-Income (USTA DailyLead) Call Forwarding and "Dialed Number" Information (Biren) Spectrum of a Modem Signal (mike7411@gmail.com) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (Joshua Putnam) Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: Verizon Playing Catch-up Against Cable Firms (Steve Sobol) Re: New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web (Linc Madison) Re: Charge it at 30,000 Feet (Charles Cryderman) Re: Vonage Customers Get Shares at IPO Price (BrianEWilliams) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Verizon Seeks Change in US House Internet Language Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 12:54:12 -0500 Verizon Communications on Tuesday urged House of Representatives lawmakers to revise proposed language on Internet network neutrality, saying it could lead to prolonged litigation and uncertainty. The provisions are part of a broader bill that would make it easier for Verizon and AT&T Inc. to get into the subscription television business. The companies have opposed legislation that would impose so-called "Net neutrality." The House measure codifies principles that the Federal Communications Commission adopted last year and encourages high-speed Internet service providers to ensure that consumers can freely surf the Internet. But Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president of public affairs, policy and communications, said those principles suggest consumers are entitled to Internet access and competition, which he said could lead to price controls and other regulations by an aggressive regulator. "The spirit of the FCC language is fine but taking that language and putting it in the statute, and the subsequent litigation that might result from that, I think is problematic," Tauke said at an Internet policy conference. "So we encourage Congressman Barton and others to do a little careful drafting of that language so that you have language that is more appropriate for statute, which doesn't invite so much litigation down the road," he said, referring to the Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and a principle sponsor of the bill. Similar legislation in the Senate calls for study of the net neutrality issue, a position that Tauke said his company embraced. The 1996 Telecommunications Act has been mired in almost a decade of litigation. Companies have complained that prolonged legal fights have hurt investment and innovation. Verizon and AT&T want to expand flat pricing for high-speed Internet broadband to selling tiers of service based on the speed, reliability and security. They have pledged not to block access to the open Internet. But that has raised fears among Internet content companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. that they will be shunted to a slower lane of the Internet if they do not pay more for dedicated access. Tauke said that concern was unwarranted. It was unclear when the House bill would be considered by the full House because the Judiciary Committee has demanded that it be given time to review and amend the bill, arguing that it has jurisdiction on some of the issues in the measure. Verizon agreed to adhere to the FCC's principles on Net neutrality when it won approval from the agency to acquire MCI Inc. last year. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Anick Jesdanun Subject: AOL Lays Off 1300 Employees Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 12:56:03 -0500 By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer AOL is laying off about 1,300 employees, or 7 percent of its worldwide work force, and is closing its call center in Jacksonville, Fla. Other cuts will come from call centers in Ogden, Utah, and Tucson, Ariz. The layoffs announced Tuesday represent the first major cuts since the Time Warner Inc. Internet unit cut about 700 positions last fall. Although AOL's subscription has been declining, spokesman Nicholas Graham attributed the layoffs to more savvy customers and better tools for them to help themselves. "The Internet world of 2006 is very different from the world of 1996 when AOL first established these member centers," Graham said. "Today, AOL members are more savvy and sophisticated online. They are very different members today than they were in 1996." In its early days, AOL had a reputation for attracting beginners, leading some longtime users to deride the service as the "Internet on training wheels." But AOL dropped some of its hand-holding over the years and began offering its subscribers computer-diagnosis, anti-spyware and other free software, "allowing them to troubleshoot on their own," Graham said. In addition, he said, AOL has been expanding its online help areas, such that 8 million customers a month now look up information themselves online, compared with 5.5 million who interact with a human by phone, e-mail or online chat. "They are able to accomplish with a couple of clicks what it used to take them a phone call or two or three to accomplish," Graham said. As a result, Graham said, call volume has dropped by about 50 percent since 2004. "That's a remarkable success in terms of customer care," he said. "It requires us to rebalance our work force." By contrast, U.S. subscribers dropped by about 22 percent in the past two years. AOL had 18.6 million subscribers as of March 31, down from a peak of 26.7 million in September 2002, as more Internet users drop dial-up connections in favor of broadband. AOL is closing its Jacksonville center Tuesday, laying off 780 employees there. It is laying off 300 in Tucson and 125 in Ogden, with nominal reductions in other locations such as Albuquerque, N.M., and Dulles, Va. More than 500 will remain employed in Tucson and 400 in Ogden. The Ogden reductions take effect Tuesday, and Tucson's are effective June 30. Shares in Time Warner rose 1 cents to $17.06 in morning trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Tuesday 9th May 2006 Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 09:21:27 -0500 From: cellular-news Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ Financial ]] Australian Government Still Hoping For Telstra Sale Oct, Nov http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17278.php CANBERRA (Dow JOnes)--The Australian government Monday deferred a decision about selling the final tranche of major local telecoms company Telstra Corp., a spokesman for Finance Minister Nick Minchin said. Vodafone Plans To Cut European Roaming Fees Next Year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17284.php Under pressure from European regulators, British mobile-phone giant Vodafone Group on Monday said it will slash fees charged to customers for calls made while traveling in Europe by at least 40% next year. Telecom Italia 1Q Net +13%, Margins Fall http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17285.php Telecom Italia, Monday said first-quarter net profit rose 13% due to the buyout of its mobile unit's minorities but margins fell on competitive pressure and the recent implementation of termination rate cuts. [[ Handsets ]] FOCUS: Euroset eyes IPO, strong interest expected from investors http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17286.php The booming Russian stock market and foreign investors strong interest have encouraged Russia's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset to make an initial public offering (IPO). Analysts expect Euroset's IPO to be successful as investors are natural Telia's Top Ten Handset Sales in April 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17290.php For the first time two 3G handsets are in Telia's top ten list of best-selling phones in Telia retail stores. The 3G phones are the Nokia 6280, which directly entered the list in fifth place, and the Samsung Z140. The April top ten list contains a nu Quarter of Europeans Replace Their Phone Each Year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17297.php Twenty-seven percent of European mobile users replace their cell phones every year, according to Telephia. This rate increases by more than twofold after 24 months, with roughly 60% of Europeans buying new phones by the two year mark. Telephia's Q1 2 [[ Mobile Content ]] Mobile DRM Issues Set to Cost Europe US$4.4 billion in 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17294.php The Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) has called on the industry to end revenue leakage and protect content rights by delivering an open and interoperable mDRM solution based on a clear open standard. DRM is core to every mobile transaction - every ti [[ Network Contracts ]] Chinook Wireless Switches From CDMA to GSM http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17287.php Chinook Wireless has selected Nokia to build a GSM/GPRS/EDGE network throughout Montana, USA. Nokia is supplying the entire radio and core network, along with network services. The companies have signed a five-year supply contract covering equipment, GSM Coverage for Alaskan Oil Fields http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17288.php Dobson Communications says that it has launched Cellular One wireless service in Deadhorse, Alaska, extending its GSM/EDGE network to the key staging area and oil-service headquarters for the North Slope oil fields. Vodafone Portugal Updates PrePay Billing Platform http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17292.php Lucent Technologies says that it has completed the deployment of a real-time charging solution for mobile messaging for Vodafone Portugal. The mobile messaging solution helps Vodafone Portugal better manage prepaid customer accounts, and more easily [[ Network Operators ]] Telecom to invest US$66mn in Patagonia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17281.php Telecom Argentina has pledged a 200mn-peso (US$65.8mn) investment in the country's Patagonia region this year, Agencia Nacional de Noticias reported. Mobile Co O2 To Announce Cuts In Roaming Charges Soon http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17283.php UK mobile operator O2 said Monday it plans to unveil cuts in the fees it charges customers when they make calls from outside their home countries, following earlier announcements along similar lines from rivals Vodafone Group and Deutsche Telekom's T [[ Offbeat ]] Bears With Phones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17291.php In Sweden, the month of May is when bears in the country wake up after their winter hibernation period and leave their dens. It is also the time to change the batteries in their "mobile phones". In the forests between Orsa and Sveg in the Dalarna reg [[ Regulatory ]] EU To Regulate Mobile Roaming Despite Vodafone Offer http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17277.php The European Commission Monday said it would press ahead with plans to regulate mobile phone roaming costs, despite a Vodafone Group offer to slash its fees by up to 40%. Ministry doubts case for fourth mobile operator http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17279.php The appearance of a fourth mobile operator in Colombia is unlikely, given the current number of operators and the particular companies that are interested in Colombia Móvil (Ola), according to a report commissioned by the communications ministry Court rejects Digitel appeal of US$390k fine http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17280.php Venezuelan mobile operator Digitel has lost its appeal against the imposition of an 840mn-bolívar (US$390,000) fine, local daily El Carabobeno reported. Govt: Mobile service quality improved http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17282.php Mobile telephony service quality in Colombia improved 1Q06 in comparison with 4Q05, local daily Nueva Economia reported, citing a study by the industry and commerce regulator. Eleven Bid for Egyptian GSM License http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17289.php Egypt's National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) has confirmed that eleven companies have submitted bids for the country's 3rd GSM operating license. A high-level committee was formed by the NTRA to undertake the technical evaluation o... [[ Reports ]] LED Drivers--Phones and TVs; Cost and Power Consumption Hurdles Remain http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17293.php Televisions will succeed mobile phone handsets in the next five years as the key driver for growth in the LED industry, as consumers switch over to flat-panel televisions, principally liquid-crystal display (LCD) TVs, says a new report from Strategy MDs Prefer Mobiles to Landlines http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17296.php Three out of four Managing Directors of medium-sized Swedish companies would prefer to use mobiles as the only phones for all their companies' employees, provided that their total telephone costs would not increase. This is shown in a survey carried [[ Statistics ]] India Challenges China as Fastest Growing Mobile Phone Market http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17295.php The pace of India's mobile phone market growth is accelerating and the country is on track to surpass Russia and the U.S. in total subscribers. That is one of the conclusions of an updated report from Datacomm Research Company. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 11:40:04 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 9, 2006 ******************************** Cable Operator NTL Plans To Cut Work Force by More Than a Third After Telewest Merger http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17855?11228 LONDON -- Cable operator NTL Inc. said Tuesday it plans to cut more than a third of its work force following its acquisition of rival Telewest Global. NTL, which also purchased Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile Holdings PLC last month, said that it will reduce its 17,000-strong work force by 6,000 by the end of next year. NTL said a... Greek Mobile Wireless Operator Cosmote To Buy 42 percent Stake in Germanos http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17854?11228 ATHENS, Greece -- Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications said Tuesday it has signed a deal to buy a 42 percent stake in mobile telephony retailer Germanos at a price of  EUR19 (US$24) per share. Cosmote said it will also launch a public offer for the remaining shares in Germanos at the same price after August. The deal is subject... AT&T To Resell Satellite Broadband Service http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17852?11228 NEW YORK -- AT&T Inc. plans to expand its high-speed Internet offerings by selling satellite-based access to customers in rural areas who cannot be reached by broadband over phone lines. AT&T said Monday it is partnering with WildBlue Communications Inc. to sell satellite broadband under its own brand, starting this month... U.S. Mobile Phone Sales Up http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17845?11228 The U.S. mobile phone market shrugged off the typical post holiday lull, posting an 11 percent year-over-year increase in the first quarter of 2006, according to NPD Group. Motorola retained its spot as the top supplier to the U.S. consumer market. U.S. consumers snapped 34.8 million wireless handsets during the first quarter of... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 13:45:37 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: AT&T to Offer Satellite Broadband, IPTV to Low-Income Households USTelecom dailyLead May 9, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dBpkfDtuteaZuNnLXa TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * AT&T to offer satellite broadband, IPTV to low-income households BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * BellSouth ramps up marketing efforts * Report: Wireline spending up in Q1 on broadband expansion * Report: Verizon offers $38B for Vodafone stake * Local telecoms look for alternatives as wholesale access prices rise * Sprint Nextel, Alltel ink roaming pact USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * We're not Cable -- Differentiating Telco IPTV TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Alcatel tries to improve mobile TV * Warner Bros. teams with former enemy BitTorrent for online REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Connecticut says IPTV not subject to franchise regs Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dBpkfDtuteaZuNnLXa ------------------------------ From: Biren Subject: Call Forwarding and "Dialed Number" Information Date: 9 May 2006 08:48:33 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I have a question about call forwarding and availability of "dialed number" (this could be applicable to both landline and GSM phones): Some user has set up his/her phone (with number A) to forward "all" incoming calls to a certain number B (using sequence *21*B# for GSM) and some caller C calls in A's number. Is there any way we can obtain "original dialed number" (i.e. A) at site B -- before deciding to respond to the forwared call? At site B, caller ID provides original caller (i.e. C) -- but can we correctly obtain "called id" by some means? Is it available at all? If number B is an 800 (or other toll-free) number with ANI/DNIS service, can we get the originally dialed number? Thanks. ------------------------------ From: mike7411@gmail.com Subject: Spectrum of a Modem Signal Date: 9 May 2006 08:49:37 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com If I plot the spectrum of a short modem signal, what should I expect to see? It just looks like a lump in the frequency domain, but I'm not sure I did it right. ------------------------------ From: Joshua Putnam Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: Mon, 8 May 2006 20:45:42 -0700 Organization: . In article , mjlas02@cox.net says: > When I lose power I have Vonage configured to forward calls to my cellphone, > so that is not a problem. My home network equipment is on a UPS. If the PC shuts down promptly, the UPS will keep the network, including Vonage, running for four or five hours. I can hook up outside power if the outage lasts longer than that. If my network goes down, then my phone forwards to my cell. So does my office phone. Calling from my home, 911 gets me to the right dispatch center using either Vonage or my cell phone, I've had occasion to try both. josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam Books for Bicycle Mechanics and Tinkerers: ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: Should I Switch to Vonage? Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 16:21:42 UTC Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. In article , Dave Garland wrote: > It was a dark and stormy night when Herb Stein > wrote: >> Had you been having a heart attack, it would have actually been your >> LAST problem. And what's you option when the power goes out? > There's all sorts of levels of service. What do you do if 911 doesn't > work? (What would you have done before 911 was introduced?) You would have dialed "0" for operator, and the operator would have dispatched the emergency call. > What do you do if the power is out? If you have a traditional wireline phone, you do exactly what you do if the power is not out; the telephone system is independent from commercial power generation in this regard (power is supplied by batteries at the central office; that's why it's 48VDC). Voice over IP is not "a little less reliable"; it's enormously less reliable. Despite this, I have Vonage service at my home; but, having worked in telephony for a long time, I understand the risks. One ought not minimize them for others who have less technical knowledge. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "We cannot usually in social life pursue a single value or a single moral aim, untroubled by the need to compromise with others." - H.L.A. Hart ------------------------------ From: Steve Sobol Subject: Re: Verizon Playing Catch-up Against Cable Firms Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 19:48:03 -0700 Organization: Glorb Internet Services, http://www.glorb.com Monty Solomon wrote: > By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff | May 7, 2006 > Sherri Patti of Woburn jumped from Comcast Corp. to Verizon > Communications for its FiOS fiber-optic triple play of phone, TV, and > Internet. She says she's getting more for less money. > Michael McGrath of Woburn switched from Comcast cable to FiOS. He says > his TV picture is better now, although he misses the New England Cable > News channel and Fox Sports New England, both of which are missing > from the Verizon channel lineup. Verizon managed to inadvertently disconnect a bunch of businesses along Bear Valley Road here in Apple Valley recently, while doing FiOS upgrades. And their DSL still sucks. I have to use it at work :( (I have Charter cable at homee and the service is rock-solid.) Steve Sobol, Professional Geek ** Java/VB/VC/PHP/Perl ** Linux/*BSD/Windows Apple Valley, CA Resident of Southern California - the home of beautiful people and butt-ugly traffic jams ------------------------------ Subject: Re: New York City Fires Employee for Surfing the Web Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 02:46:44 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , Linc Madison wrote: > In article , Ron Chapman > wrote: >>> Choudhri's "abuse of the Internet at the time he is supposed to be >>> performing his job demonstrates his disinterest in the job," Klein >>> said. >> I would feel much better if "Schools Chancellor" Joel Klein knew the >> meaning of the word "disinterest" and how it differs from "lack of >> interest". Ron's point was that the meaning of "disinterest" is "impartiality," rather than "lack of interest." Ron was upbraiding the NYC Schools Chancellor for his supposed misuse of the word "disinterest." > Well, I, for one, do know the meaning of the word "disinterest," and I > therefore know that Joel Klein used it correctly. > Disinterest: (noun) 2. lack of interest; indifference. > [source: American Heritage online dictionary, via ask.com] I pointed out that Ron is in fact wrong. Although "disinterest" does mean "impartiality," it also means "lack of interest" -- precisely what Ron said it does not mean. Since "lack of interest" is verbatim one of the definitions of "disinterest," there is no difference at all between "disinterest" and "lack of interest." > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I went back to the original message > and am quoting from it here in the hopes someone will explain all > this to me: There you have it. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com Read my political blog, "The Third Path" DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Charge it at 30,000 Feet Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 11:14:32 -0400 From: Cryderman, Charles Monty Solomon posted: > When it's time to buy a beer or a sandwich or rent a headset, > American Airlines passengers can now say, "Charge it." American last > week began rolling out a new service letting passengers use American > Express and other credit and debit cards to pay for in-flight > purchases. American, the biggest carrier at Boston's Logan > International Airport by passenger volume, expects the technology, > which relies on wireless handheld devices toted by flight > attendants, will be available system wide by the middle of next > month. Northwest has been doing this for at least the last 6 months. In fact they no longer accept cash. You can only use NW vouchers or any credit card. Chip Cryderman ------------------------------ From: BrianEWilliams Subject: Re: Vonage Customers Get Shares at IPO Price Date: 9 May 2006 08:33:12 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com That website is the real thing. I called UBS at 201-352-999 to confirm. You can also call Vonage at 866-431-9801 for website tech support. Note to the Editor, you can always buy a share or two on the open market. I've decided to buy a decent size piece as a speculation. I passed on Google, and I still regret that decision. The IPO is coming out the week of May 22, so we'll see then if I made the right decision ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #175 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 10 12:24:18 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9247614FC1; Wed, 10 May 2006 12:24:18 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #176 Message-Id: <20060510162418.9247614FC1@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 12:24:18 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.6 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NA_DOLLARS autolearn=unavailable version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 10 May 2006 12:25:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 176 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cingular Pulls Offensive Ringtone (Associated Press News Wire) British Computer Hacker Being Extradited to USA (Kate Holton) Audio Capture of Modem's Signals (mike7411@gmail.com) Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? (Frank Stearns) Cellular-News: Wednesday 10th May 2006 (cellular-news) TelecomDirect Daily News Update - Wednesday, May 10 (TelecomDirect-Daily) Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal (DLR) Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal (Reed) Re: Telephone Map of Africa with Country & City Codes (DarkFiber) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Cingular Pulls Offensive Ringtone Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 10:21:42 -0500 Cingular Wireless Pulls Ringtone From Its Web Site the Company Calls 'Blatantly Offensive' The Associated Press BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Cingular Wireless LLC pulled a ringtone from its Web site Tuesday after learning that it carried a message the company called "blatantly offensive." The cell phone company became aware of the ringtone, which uses mixed English and Spanish and threatens deportation, after an inquiry from a reporter for The Brownsville Herald. The newspaper reported in its online edition Tuesday that the ringtone started with a siren, followed by a male voice saying in a Southern drawl, "This is la Migra," a slang term for the Border Patrol. "Por favor, put the oranges down and step away from the cell phone. I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o," the voice continued. Hispanic activists called the product racist. "It's horribly offensive and a disgusting thing," Brent Wilkes, national executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, told the newspaper. Cingular removed the $2.49 ringtone, among thousands available for downloading from its Web site, Tuesday afternoon, said company spokesman Mark Siegel. "Needless to say, we deeply regret and apologize for it ever being there in the first place. The ringtone is blatantly offensive," he said. The ringtone became available between late February or early March and was downloaded eight times, Siegel said. It was developed by Barrio Mobile, Siegel said. Barrio Mobile is a brand owned by Lagardere Active North American, the U.S. division of a French media company. Cingular officials were reviewing the process used to screen ringtones, which are developed by several other companies, he said. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Kate Holton Subject: British Computer Hacker Being Extradited to USA Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 10:23:45 -0500 By Kate Holton A British computer expert accused by Washington of the world's "biggest military hack of all time" should be extradited to the United States to stand trial, a court ruled on Wednesday. Gary McKinnon, 40, was arrested last June following charges by U.S. prosecutors that he illegally accessed 97 government computers -- including Pentagon, U.S. army, navy and NASA systems -- causing $700,000 worth of damage. Britain's Home Secretary (interior minister) will make the final decision on deportation. McKinnon, whose hacking name was "Solo," has admitted gaining access to U.S. government computers but denies causing any damage. He had tried to fight extradition, saying he was "already hung and quartered over there" and would not receive a fair trial. Prosecutors said McKinnon hacked into sensitive networks over a one-year period from February 2002, crippling U.S. defense systems in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. At the time of the indictment, Paul McNulty, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said "Mr McKinnon is charged with the biggest military computer hack of all time." However, McKinnon's supporters say the U.S. government should be grateful to him for highlighting its security shortcomings. If found guilty in the U.S, he could face up to 70 years in jail and fines of up to $1.75 million. "My intention was never to disrupt security," McKinnon told reporters outside Bow Street magistrates court in London on Wednesday. "The fact that I logged on with no password meant there was no security to begin with." McKinnon's solicitor Karen Todner said they would launch an appeal. She argues her client will not receive a fair trial in the U.S. and could easily be tried in Britain. In a recent interview with Reuters, McKinnon said the U.S. wanted to make a show of his deportation rather than face the tougher task of fixing their computer system. He said he was just an ordinary computer nerd who wanted to find out whether UFOs and aliens existed. (Additional reporting by Michael Holden) Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: mike7411@gmail.com Subject: Audio Capture of Modem's Signals Date: 9 May 2006 13:02:56 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I created an audio capture of my modem's signals at: http://server2.uploadit.org/files/mike7411-modaud2.JPG Anyone know how to interpret this? I thought it was running at 300 bps, but it doesn't look like it. ------------------------------ From: Frank Stearns Subject: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 03:42:45 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Is there an online source that supports cross-searching regular and reverse directories based on partial information? I received an important job-offer vmail that was incomplete -- the caller left a first name and phone number, but the phone number consists of only the area code and prefix. The last four digits are missing. It was too late for *69 (other calls had come in -- unless there's some secret way to go back further than the last incoming call), and I don't have caller ID. If one had proper database access, it would be trivial to search for that first name -AND- for all numbers starting with the known A/C and prefix. (This is a potential of 9999 names, but based on the first name I'd expect a return of 50 to 100 hits -- certainly a manageable list to review. With telco help I have already determined that the prefix does not include cells or PBXs.) However, all the online sources I've found so far want a complete # for the reverse, and a full last name for the regular directory to work. Any suggestions where else I could go do such a search? I'm even willing to script something to step through 9999 numbers in a reverse directory site, if such a site were ascii-based and would allow such activity. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, Frank Stearns ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Wednesday 10th May 2006 Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 08:56:39 -0500 From: cellular-news Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] CDG Publishes EV-DO Market and Operators' Case Studies http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17317.php The CDMA Development Group (CDG) has reported that operators in Asia and the U.S. have seen a significant uptake of CDMA2000 1xEV-DO broadband wireless services and, as result, higher revenues and growth. In some markets, operators report that their ... [[ Financial ]] MobilCom 1Q Net Profit EUR18 Million V EUR28.3M http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17298.php German telecommunications company MobilCom, Tuesday said first-quarter net profit decreased to EUR18 million from the EUR28.3 million reported for the same period last year. ... KPN Profit Rises 41% On Mobile Operations http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17299.php Dutch phone company Royal KPN on Tuesday said its quarterly profit rose 41%, helped by a one-off gain from the sale of its mobile satellite assets and a strong performance from its wireless division. ... Govt to open Hondutel to partner http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17303.php The Honduran government plans to privatize state-run telco Hondutel by means of an international partner, finance minister Hugo Noé was quoted as saying by Reuters. ... ETB, EPM reject first phase offers for Ola partnership http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17304.php Colombian municipal telcos ETB and EPM have rejected the three non-binding offers received from companies interested in becoming a strategic partner for their mobile unit Colombia Movil (Ola), local daily La Republica reported. ... Verizon Reportedly Rebuffed With $38B Offer For Wireless Stake http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17305.php Verizon Communications made an offer of $38 billion to buy the 45% it doesn't already own of Verizon Wireless, only to see Vodafone Group demand $12 billion more, according to a published report Tuesday. ... Altimo Welcomes Telenor Position On Vimpelcom Deal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17307.php Altimo, a unit of Alfa Group Russia, Tuesday said it is pleased that Telenor has accepted Altimo's proposal over the possible merger of Vimpel Communications and Kievstar. ... Qualcomm Provides an Analysts Market Update http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17316.php Qualcomm recently held an Analysts Day for investors. Merrill Lynch were there and report that the day, unsurprisingly was focused predominantly on growth expectations of the WCDMA market. Growth of 3G markets (both evolving from CDMA and GSM upgrade... [[ Handsets ]] USA Handset Sales Reached US$2.3 Billion in Q1 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17308.php According to The NPD Group, mobile phone sales to consumers in the U.S. reached 34.8 million units in the first quarter of 2006. This number represents an increase of more than 11% compared to sales during the same period in 2005. NPD estimates total... [[ Messaging ]] Messaging Remains Important Source of Revenue for Mobile Operators in Western Europe http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17309.php At a time when operators are heavily focusing on rolling out data applications and offering a wide range of content, their bread and butter still lies with SMS. According to a recent IDC study, the mobile messaging market in Western Europe, which inc... [[ Mobile Content ]] 3G Budweiser http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17310.php Hutchison 3G UK says that it has signed a deal with official FIFA World Cup (football/soccer) sponsor Budweiser to extend Budweiser's FIFA World Cup advertising campaign onto the 3 portal. Hutchison 3G UK will form part of Budweiser's new media marke... Sky Television Trialing MediaFLO Mobile TV Service http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17315.php Qualcomm and the UK pay-TV provider, BSkyB have announced that they are to conduct technical trials of Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology. Expected to begin during the summer of 2006, the technical trial will feature 10 channels of BSkyB content on a sma... [[ Network Contracts ]] Aircom Wins T-Mobile Network Rollout Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17312.php Mobile network engineering supplier, Aircom International have announced that they have been awarded a multi-million pound managed service contract by T-Mobile UK. Aircom was selected for this single vendor contract to facilitate T-Mobile's aggressiv... Motorola Wins Nigerian CDMA Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17314.php Nigeria's NITEL has signed a contract with Motorola for the deployment of a CDMA network across the capital city, Lagos. The contract, which follows the US$50 million GSM contract signed between Motorola and NITEL in 2003 builds upon a successful CDM... [[ Network Operators ]] Sprint Expands Nationwide Roaming Pact With Alltel http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17300.php Sprint said Tuesday it has signed a new 10-year agreement with Alltel, renewing and expanding their reciprocal nationwide voice and data roaming agreement. ... GTD Manquehue markets mobile service, plans quad-play http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17301.php Chilean telecoms operator GTD Manquehue has indirectly added mobile telephony to its product range through a marketing deal with the country's number three mobile operator Smartcom, company executives told BNamericas. ... Alltel, Cingular Wireless Extend Roaming Pact Until 2012 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17306.php Alltel Corp. and Cingular Wireless extended an agreement that allows customers of both companies to roam on each other's networks until 2012. ... Australian CDMA Network Shutdown Date Announced http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17311.php Hutchison Telecoms Australia has announced that over 200,000 customers have upgraded from 2G CDMA services to W-CDMA following the rebranding of Orange to 3 CDMA in February and the launch of upgrade offers to those customers. With such a significant... [[ Reports ]] ANALYSIS: Sea change in mobile market imminent http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17302.php Colombia's mobile market is about to undergo a sea change, with operators nearing their saturation points and service capacity being stretched so thin that it would perhaps be better called non-service. ... Increasing Consumer Adoption of M-Payment Schemes - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17313.php Mobile payments are set to rise to US$10 billion in total revenue by 2010, thanks to the entrance of new players offering m-payment schemand subsequent consumer demand, according to Alan Goode, senior analyst and author with Juniper Research. And ... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 11:38:25 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Wednesday, May 10, 2006 ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 10, 2006 ******************************** CosmOTE Eyes Mobtel http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17884?11228 Greek mobile operator CosmOTE is considering a bid for Sebia's second mobile operator, Mobtel, which is being auctioned by the Serbian government Significance: The government is currently auctioning Mobtel's GSM 900 licence, with a tender to sell Mobtel at a starting price of 800 million euro (US$994 million). Mobtel's previous owners,... Mobile Email Standards Bubble Up http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17874?11228 Even as the enterprise mobile email industry continues to embroil itself in patent disputes, work is progressing at the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) to create universal open standards for interoperable mobile messaging services that will work across devices, carriers, and operating systems. ... Euro Giants Issue NGN RFPs http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17870?11228 Vendor marketing teams are dealing with a flurry of major telecom equipment RFPs (request for proposals) from major European carriers that need the latest Ethernet and VOIP infrastructure for their next-generation networks. BT Group plc and Colt Telecom Group plc ... Report: Vodafone Rejects Verizon Offer http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17868?11228 Rumors are once again swirling about negotiations between Verizon Wireless parents Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group. The latest: Vodafone reportedly turned down a $38 billion offer to sell the wireless unit to Verizon, according to the U.K.'s The Daily Telegraph. Neither company is commenting on the report. Vodafone chief Arun... IMS-Based Apps May Not Generate Expected Windfall for Service Providers http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17867?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- IP Multimedia Sub-System (IMS)-based communication applications, enhanced by presence and other personalized functionality, will add value to existing services, but may not generate a windfall of new consumer spending, reports In-Stat. The main revenue benefits that IMS provides lie in the integration of... Cable Chief Implores Troops To Fight On http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/17863?11228 The head of the American Cable Association yesterday told a gathering of cableco managers and "Inside The Beltway" listeners that the business must continue to press its case among legislative and regulatory policy makers to maintain a level playing field against incumbent local exchange carriers in competitive service delivery. ACA and... Wireless Sensors Help First Responders http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17861?11228 When an earthquake strikes a city, one of the first and most important tasks facing emergency managers is determining which bridges are still safe enough for first responders to travel across. Visual inspections are time consuming and, when made in haste, potentially inaccurate. Far better and faster structure analyses can be provided by... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 15:44:43 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal mike7411@gmail.com wrote: > If I plot the spectrum of a short modem signal, what should I expect > to see? > It just looks like a lump in the frequency domain, but I'm not sure I > did it right. In a way over simplified explanation, most modems these days (dial up for sure) transmit a series of tones all the time spaced fairly closely together. These tones are twisted and shifted to allow each one to carry multiple bit patterns. Thus a spectrum view would typically show a "lump" of signals running all the time. ------------------------------ From: Reed Subject: Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 01:46:12 GMT mike7411@gmail.com wrote: > If I plot the spectrum of a short modem signal, what should I expect > to see? > It just looks like a lump in the frequency domain, but I'm not sure I > did it right. A standard dial modem must operate over a band-limited channel between approx 300 to 4000 khz. Therefore it's analog output frequencies should fall within this band. Some harmonics may appear outside this, but they would be spurious. ------------------------------ From: DarkFiber Subject: Re: Telephone Map of Africa with Country & City Codes Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 14:36:45 -0600 Organization: blockME.org On Fri, 05 May 2006 11:39:09 -0700, Linc Madison wrote: > I'm still working on a few bits of explanatory text; does anyone know > how to say "Daylight Savings Time" in Swahili? (Seriously.) > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I do not think they use the phrase > 'Daylight Savings Time'. I think the expression they may use (as is > the case in many European counties) is 'Summer Time'. PAT] ITYM Daylight Saving Time ^ See 'Spelling and grammar' on http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/b.html DarkFiber / BlockIP.org blockme@blockip.org is a spamtrap ...please do not feed it email! ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V25 #176 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 10 19:12:48 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 33BB3152A1; Wed, 10 May 2006 19:12:48 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #177 Message-Id: <20060510231248.33BB3152A1@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 19:12:48 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: R TELECOM Digest Wed, 10 May 2006 19:15:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 177 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Kansas Hacker Charged With Hacking Military Computers (Spam Daily News) Suspects Arrested in Global Child Porn Raid (Reuters News Wire) NY Man to Settle in Washington's First Spyware (Spam Daily News) Verizon May Sell Landlines in Seven States (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal (Robert Bonomi) Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal (Laura Halliday) Re: Call Forwarding and "Dialed Number" Information (r.e.d.) Re: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? (Robert Bonomi) Re: Help Needed With WAV File (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 journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Spam Daily News Subject: Kansas Hacker Charged With Hacking Military Computers Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 11:59:19 -0500 From Spam Daily News Matthew R. Decker, 21, was indicted Tuesday in Wichita, Kansas, with 'accessing without authorization' U.S. Army computers and with 'unlawfully possessing, with intent to defraud,' 531 credit card numbers and account information. The government seeks the forfeiture of more than $53,200 in proceeds from the crimes, as well as computer equipment used in the crime, reports The Wichita Eagle. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in November 2003 and January 2005, in Sedgwick County. If convicted, Decker faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison and fines of up to $500,000. Copyright 2006 The Wichita Eagle 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From:Reuters News Wire Subject: Suspects Arrested in Global Child Porn Raid Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 11:50:45 -0500 Police in 12 European Union countries and the United States searched more than 150 houses and arrested several people suspected of being involved in child pornography, the European police agency said on Wednesday. The operation, codenamed "Baleno," is the result of a worldwide investigation led by the Dutch National Police Agency, Europol said in a statement. The Dutch police provided initial intelligence to 76 countries related to an Internet message board whose members' activities included possession and distribution of child abuse material, the statement said. The network used sophisticated techniques to hide members' electronic identities and to post encrypted content for a short period of time on free Web services. "Today's arrests and house searches are an important action against those who either directly or indirectly are responsible for the sexual exploitation of children," Europol Director Max-Peter Ratzel said in the statement. "The next step in the investigation will be to try to prove the link between the illegal content and the active abuse." Europol did not say how many people were arrested nor in which countries. Raids were carried out in Austria, Belgium, Estonia, France, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, it said. The investigation in the United States was led by the FBI. In June last year, police in 13 European countries raided 150 locations in another child pornography crackdown, seizing computers, videos and other material and made some arrests. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Spam Daily News Subject: NY Man to Settle in Washington's First Spyware Case Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 11:55:58 -0500 From Spam Daily News New York man to settle in Washington's first spyware case Gary T. Preston, of Jamaica, N.Y., will pay $7,200 in legal costs and attorneys' fees, and the cost of the government's investigation and prosecution. Investigators allege that Preston permitted Secure Computer's Web domains to be registered in his name and provided his credit card to make company purchases. The settlement does not include any admission or finding of wrongdoing, but prohibits Preston from assisting any person or organization in disguising its identity from the public or law enforcement. "While his activities did not directly violate Washington's spyware act, they made it much more difficult to identify the real seller of Spyware Cleaner," Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna said. Preston is the second defendant to settle in the Attorney General's case against Secure Computer, based in White Plains, N.Y., and associates in the United States and India. Filed in January in U.S. District Court in Seattle, the lawsuit is the office's first under the state's 2005 Computer Spyware Act and follows a five-month investigation by the Attorney General's Consumer Protection High-Tech Unit. The suit alleges that Secure Computer has marketed and sold Spyware Cleaner since at least 2004 through pop-up ads, spam e-mails, and deceptive hyperlink ads that offer a "free scan." The state's investigation found that this scan always detected spyware on a user's computer, even if none existed. The investigation also showed that the full version of Spyware Cleaner, available only by purchase, failed to detect spyware on a deliberately infected computer and erased the Hosts file, rendering the computer vulnerable to potential attacks from unwanted programs. "Software programs such as those used to sell Spyware Cleaner are known as scareware because their intent is to cause anxiety," McKenna said. "That sort of activity is deceptive and illegal under Washington's spyware law." Burke and Preston were both named as defendants in the suit. In addition, three other individuals were charged in connection with advertising Spyware Cleaner: Zhijian Chen, of Portland, Ore.; Seth Traub, of Portsmouth, N.H., and Manoj Kumar, of Maharashtra, India. The state reached a settlement with Chen in April. He will pay nearly $84,000 in fines and consumer restitution and the government's expenses for promoting Spyware Cleaner through Net Send messages sent to personal computers throughout the United States. The messages simulated system warnings. By agreeing to the settlement, Chen admits violating Washington's Computer Spyware Act and Consumer Protection Act. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 14:11:53 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Verizon May Sell Landlines in Seven States USTelecom dailyLead May 10, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dBAYfDtutebToZGSzo TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon may sell landlines in seven states BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Ericsson ramps up IMS push * Cable operators could bid on wireless spectrum * Talk of Vodafone-Vivendi deal resurfaces * Cisco, Cablevision report earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * We're not Cable - Differentiating Telco IPTV TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * TiVo to offer video from Internet through Brightcove deal REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Verizon wins another video franchise in New York * Cablevision asks FCC to end price controls in N.Y. town * FCC begins spectrum auction for in-flight broadband networks * Verizon's Tauke says telecom bill should be simplified * Telecoms don't need local franchise deals, Oklahoma AG says Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dBAYfDtutebToZGSzo ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 22:06:23 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > If I plot the spectrum of a short modem signal, what should I expect > to see? authoritative answer: "It depends." On a WHOLE lot of things you didn't bother to mention. 2-wire vs 4-wire. (i.e. dialup vs. lease-line.) FDX or HDX (two modems talking *simultaneously* to each other, or *one* talking while the other only 'listens'). Modulation methodology (e.g. FSK, QAM, PEP, PFSK, etc.) Encoding. Modulation 'protocol' (e.g. Bell 202T, Bell 208A, V.42bis, V90, etc.) Data rate. And the *actual*data* being transmitted at the time. ------------------------------ From: laura halliday Subject: Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal Date: 10 May 2006 15:07:54 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com mike7...@gmail.com wrote: > If I plot the spectrum of a short modem signal, what should I expect > to see? > It just looks like a lump in the frequency domain, but I'm not sure I > did it right. Old, slow (< 9600 bps) modems used relatively simple FSK and PSK modulation. The classic Bell 212A (long the standard 1200 bps dialup modem), for example, used 4-ary differential PSK. New modems use trellis-coded modulation with multi-dimensional signal constellations. Analyzing them is not trivial (graduate-level signal processing). Decoding them isn't either. Exactly what are you trying to accomplish? Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..." ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte ------------------------------ From: r.e.d. Subject: Re: Call Forwarding and "Dialed Number" Information Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 16:29:36 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net It's been a long time since I've looked at this, but I think the capability you want is supposed to be addressed by the ISDN "Redirecting Number" Information Element. Easier said than done. I have an August 1996 copy of AT&T Technical Reference 41459, the ISDN Primary Rate Interface (PRI) Specification. I don't know if it's been changed since then, but In Appendix 1, Service Specific Capabilities it says: 1.5 Existing Capabilities Description 1.5.1 Call Processing 1.5.1.1 Number Digits The number digits supported are as specified in the Overview, with the following exceptions: The description about the use of the Called party subaddress, Calling party subaddress, Redirecting number, and Connected number information elements is not applicable since these information elements are not supported. As to the main body of 41459, there are scattered references throughout it to the Redirecting Number IE. Its applicability to the cellular network I really don't know. VoIP people probably can speak to this as well. Some 41459 quotes: PART III - Layer 3 Implementation 3.6.6.7 Redirecting Number The purpose of the Redirecting number information element is to identify the number from which a call diversion or transfer was invoked.(footnote 3) This information element may not be interpreted by the network. Hence, the network may only need to recognize the information element identifier. The maximum length of this information element is 20 octets. (footnote 3.) If Redirecting Number is user generated, then it is transported as MA UUI and will not be interpreted by the network. If it is network generated, then it is not transported as MA UUI and will be interpreted by the network. Note 3: At the redirecting user-network interface, the presentation indicator is used for indicating the intention of the redirecting user for the presentation of the redirecting number to the called user. This may also be requested on a subscription basis. If octet 3a is omitted, and the network does not support subscription information for the redirecting number information restriction, the value "00 - presentation allowed" is assumed. Under 3.9.1.3 Message Associated User-to-User Signaling (MA-UUI) In addition to the User-user information element, the network may treat the following information elements as user data information elements when present in the appropriate messages (listed with their MA UUI length restrictions): - Called party subaddress (3-23 octets), - Calling party subaddress (3-23 octets), - High layer compatibility (3-5 octets), - Low layer compatibility (3-16 octets), 11 - Redirecting number (3-17 octets), - Locking Shift to Codeset 6 and any Codeset 6 information elements (1-129 octets), and - Locking Shift to Codeset 7 and any Codeset 7 information elements (1-129 octets). This all may not help much, but maybe it gives you a starting point. r.e.d. Reply to "red99" (not "rednospam99") @mindspring.com Biren wrote in message news:telecom25.175.6@telecom-digest.org: > I have a question about call forwarding and availability of "dialed > number" (this could be applicable to both landline and GSM phones): > Some user has set up his/her phone (with number A) to forward "all" > incoming calls to a certain number B (using sequence *21*B# for GSM) > and some caller C calls in A's number. > Is there any way we can obtain "original dialed number" (i.e. A) at > site B -- before deciding to respond to the forwared call? At site B, > caller ID provides original caller (i.e. C) -- but can we correctly > obtain "called id" by some means? Is it available at all? > If number B is an 800 (or other toll-free) number with ANI/DNIS > service, can we get the originally dialed number? > Thanks. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 21:03:02 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , Frank Stearns wrote: > Is there an online source that supports cross-searching regular and > reverse directories based on partial information? > I received an important job-offer vmail that was incomplete -- the > caller left a first name and phone number, but the phone number > consists of only the area code and prefix. The last four digits are > missing. If it was a job offer, it was *probably*not* from a "personal" phone, but from the company offices. Thus the 'personal name' first name is not likely to be much help. Depending on where you are, and the locale the call came from, your public library *may* have a print-copy "City Directory", or "Criss- Cross Directory" for the origin locale. OR, if that call is _that_ important, you can go _buy_ a printed reverse directory from Polk , Hill-Donnelly , or Haines & Company I'm not going to comment on the 'believability' of a call coming in with a real "job *offer*", where you had absolutely _no_idea_ who was calling -- didn't recognize the voice, the person's name, *or* the locale of the call. Note for future reference: the 'lost value' of not being able to return this call would have paid for Caller-ID for _how_many_ months? If you 'routinely' get unsolicited job offers by phone, adding Caller ID to your service would seem to be 'cheap insurance'. :) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Assuming of course, the caller did not have a block on his caller ID, or like happens to be the case quite often with company switchboards, DID numbers and similar, the caller ID was accurate and could be used. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Help Needed With WAV File Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 22:37:40 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > Is there any sort of program that will analyze a WAV file of modem > sounds? Yes. At least 27,389 of them, in fact. *grin* No, I'm not going to list them for you. :) It all depends on *WHAT*YOU*WANT*TO*DO* with the file, which you couldn't be bothered to specify. Now, my crystal ball has been behaving somewhat erratically lately, so what follows may not be at all relevant to what you "really" want to do. If you are hoping to be able to recover the 'bits' of the digital data from a 'conversation' between two modems, this is *virtually*impossible* for an 'standard' modem connection with an analog-side speed above 2400 BPS. For _most_ 1200-2400 baud, it is merely 'very difficult' -- unless it is a half-duplex controlled-carrier communication. On the other hand, for the 'trivial' modulation systems commonly used at speeds below 500 baud, it is fairly straihtforward to do. simple differtial analysis of the output of a pair of properly tuned high-Q 'narrorow-bandpass' filters (sometimes called 'notch' filters in a different application) will extract the digital data. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #177 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu May 11 14:49:47 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9112D15408; Thu, 11 May 2006 14:49:46 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #178 Message-Id: <20060511184946.9112D15408@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 14:49:46 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.6 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AMAZING_STUFF, AWL,BAYES_00,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,WORK_AT_HOME autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 11 May 2006 14:52:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 178 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telework Could Help in Pandemic, But US Not Set Up For It (Maggie Fox) EU Slams ICANN Interference With Sex Site Vote (Huw Jones) Verizon Claims Net Neutrality Will Limit its Appeal (Grant Gross) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 11, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) NSA Has Compiled Records of Domestic Phone Calls (US Telecom DailyLead) FSK (mike7411@gmail.com) Re: Help Needed With WAV File (mike7411@gmail.com) Re: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? (Dave Garland) ICT Industry Leaders from Around the World Speak in Hong Kong (Lisa Reyes) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Maggie Fox Subject: Telework Could Help in Pandemic, But US Not Set Up For It Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 12:15:55 -0500 By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent If a flu pandemic kept 40 percent of the workforce away from the office, telecommuting could help keep governments offices and many businesses running -- but hardly anybody is properly set up to do this, experts told the U.S. Congress on Thursday. A report from the Government Accountability Office found that only nine of 23 federal agencies had plans in place for key staff to work from home, via computer, during a pandemic. "One reason for the low levels of preparations reported is that FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) has not provided specific guidance on preparations needed to use telework during emergencies," the GAO report reads. Only a few of the agencies documented that they had made the needed preparations to effectively use telework during an event, GAO Comptroller General David Walker told a hearing of the House Government Reform Committee. "None of the 23 agencies demonstrated that it could ensure adequate technological capacity to allow personnel to telework during an emergency," Walker said. The H5N1 avian flu virus has spread rapidly in recent months, leaving Asia and moving into birds across Europe and into Africa. It does not yet easily infect people, but it has made 205 seriously ill and killed 115 of them. A few mutations could turn this virus into a pandemic strain that would pass easily from person to person and spread around the world in weeks or months. Experts agree that at the peak of the pandemic, 40 percent of workers could be unable to leave home, either because they are ill, caring for someone who is ill, caring for children because schools would be closed, or simply afraid. Many jobs can be done via computer, telephone or teleconference and U.S. agencies have been asked to be ready to do this. YOU CAN'T JUST DIAL UP But it requires planning, said Dr. Jeffrey Runge, acting under secretary for science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security. "It is one thing to say we are all going to use the Internet for work," Runge told the hearing. But there are fears that Internet access could be overwhelmed if millions of workers all try to use limited bandwidth at the same time. "It turns out to be quite a more complex problem than saying, 'guys go home and log on'," Runge said. Linda Springer, Director of the Office of Personnel Management said one agency needed to be put in charge of coordinating this, and said rehearsing telework plans was essential. told the hearing. "Under an emergency, particularly a pandemic, you might have a lot more people teleworking than normal. It is important to make sure you have the technological capacity to do this, you have the software licenses to do this. You don't know what you don't know." Paul Kurtz, executive director of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, said no one had evaluated the total capacity of the Internet's infrastructure. "We simply don't know about what the impact would be if, for example, even half the 60,000-plus employees of the Department of Health and Human Services -- who help coordinate the entire national health care system -- were to attempt to work off-site," Kurtz said. And, he said, agencies may have been reluctant to allow employees to telework up to now because it would save them money that would have to be returned to the Treasury. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news reports, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It seems to me we should be looking for and expecting a _huge_ pandemic of 'bird flu' here in the United States sooner or later; what do you think? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Huw Jones Subject: EU Slams ICANN Interference With Sex Site Vote Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 12:18:26 -0500 By Huw Jones The Internet governing body's decision to reject a new .xxx Internet domain for porn sites is a clear case of ICANN and USA political interference in the Web's governance, the European Commission said on Thursday. The board of the U.S.-based Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) voted by 9 to 5 on Wednesday to dismiss the application to register the domain name, which would be like the .com or .net at the end of an Internet address. Supporters said a .xxx domain would have made it easier to confine sex sites or filter them out, but critics such as the Family Research Council, a conservative U.S.-based religious group, complained it would only legitimize the porn industry, and ICANN agreed with that. The EU executive said the decision underscored the need to make ICANN independent quickly, following unsuccessful demands last year by a group of countries including the EU to make ICANN fully independent. "We see here a first clear case of political interference by ICANN," said Martin Selmayr, spokesman for EU Information Society and Media Commissioner, Viviane Reding. He said correspondence between ICANN and the U.S. Department of Commerce, highlighted the "interference." ICANN, a California-based non-profit group, cannot make changes to the domain-name system without the approval of the U.S. Commerce Department, however they have done so in the past when it suited them. "It's a worrying development that the U.S. administration has interfered in this process," Selmayr said. He urged further steps to complete the privatization of ICANN in the course of this year to release it from the oversight of the Department of Commerce. ICANN said in a statement on Wednesday that its discussion had focused on issues such as sponsorship, compliance issues and public policy concerns. The .xxx application was seen as a test case of ICANN's independence. At a summit in Tunis last November, the United States fought off attempts to wrest control of the domain-name system from the Commerce Department. The U.S. control of the domain-name system had become a sticking point for countries like Iran and Brazil, who argued that it should be managed by the United Nations or some other global body. The United States argued that such a body would stifle innovation with red tape. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Grant Gross Subject: Verizon Claims Net Neutrality Will Limit its Appeal Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 18:39:18 -0500 Grant Gross, IDG News Service WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Efforts in the U.S. Congress to prohibit broadband providers from impairing or favoring some network traffic will "shut the door" to new services, a Verizon Communications official said Tuesday. Current congressional attempts to write a so-called Net neutrality provision into law would stop broadband network operators from offering VPNs (virtual private networks) to online gaming vendors looking to improve connectivity or to hospitals launching home health-monitoring services over IP (Internet Protocol), said Tom Tauke, Verizon's executive vice president of public affairs, policy, and communications. Tauke's concerns that Verizon could no longer offer VPNs are "ridiculous," said Art Brodsky, a spokesperson for Public Knowledge, an online rights advocacy group. "The point is that there has to be room for a company other than Verizon's favored health-monitoring partner to offer the service as well," Brodsky said in an e-mail. Industry Response Tauke's speech -- at a broadband policy summit sponsored by Pike & Fischer, a research and publishing company -- was a focused rebuttal to consumer groups and e-commerce firms calling for a Net neutrality provision to be included in telecommunications reform legislation now being debated in Congress. Advocates for Net neutrality want lawmakers to prohibit large broadband providers from blocking or impairing their customers' access to competing Web sites or applications. Net neutrality advocates say a law is necessary because recently deregulated broadband providers -- many of which have few competitors -- have also talked of charging e-commerce companies new fees for top-priority network connections. But Verizon's Tauke said most current Net neutrality proposals -- including one in a House of Representatives telecom reform bill that Net neutrality advocates complain is too weak -- would limit broadband providers from offering innovative services that need connectivity guarantees. "The Internet, after all, is a network of networks," he said. "It operates on a 'best efforts' basis, and therefore no carrier is accountable for end-to-end management or quality of service." The House bill would prohibit the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from creating new Net neutrality rules and would only allow the organization to investigate blocking abuses after the fact. The Net neutrality provision in a bill approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee last month says consumers are "entitled" to broadband access and competition. Overzealous regulators could interpret that language to mean broadband prices should be regulated, Tauke said after his speech. Background Instead of creating new government regulation of the Internet, lawmakers should let the marketplace and consumers decide what's needed, Tauke said. "If policy makers decide that all network access must be the same -- that a carrier cannot differentiate or discriminate -- we will be shutting the door on an array of new and exciting services for consumers," he said. Blocking access to Web content consumers want makes no sense, Tauke added. He compared a broadband provider blocking Web content to a premium coffee shop replacing its coffee with an instant grocery-store brand. "On paper, it makes them more money; in reality, it puts them out of business," he said. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: What are _your_ feelings on net neutrality? How should this go, realistically? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 12:04:18 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Thursday, May 11, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 11, 2006 ******************************** Moving from Billing Customization to Consolidation is Smart Business http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17902?11228 Technological advancements (such as IP multimedia subsystems), industry mergers and acquisitions, more stringent government regulations and heightened customer expectations impact the billing environment as much as or more than any other aspect of the operator's business. And because it's the touch point to the customer and the cash... Comstar Bids for Svyazinvest Stake in MGTS http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17901?11228 The board of Svyazinvest is considering the latest offer from Comstar UTS for its stake in Moscow fixed-line unit MGTS. Comstar has offered 490 roubles (US$18.13) per share for Svyazinvest's 28% holding, which amount to 23.3% of the total charter capital. Comstar currently owns a 63.7% stake in MGTS, equating to just over 53.0% of the... Companies Weigh Bid on Wireless Licenses http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17897?11228 NEW YORK -- Time Warner Inc.'s cable TV unit is considering a bid for cell-phone spectrum licenses together with three other cable companies and Sprint Nextel Corp. The chief executive of Time Warner Cable, Glenn Britt, told an analyst conference Wednesday that the group will file an application with the Federal Communications... European Telecoms Regulators Cool on EU Plans To Fix Roaming Prices http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17893?11228 BRUSSELS, Belgium -- National telecoms regulators from the EU's 25 member states said Thursday they opposed the European Commission's plans to slash the cost of using mobile phones abroad. Fixing retail prices 'often has unexpected consequences,' the European Regulators Group said in a statement, saying it still wanted the... AT&T Teams with MobiTV http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17888?11228 AT&T is turning to MobiTV to power a television service that will be delivered over its Wi-Fi network. The television service will be accessible from the AT&T Wi-Fi portal, according to the companies. The service is slated to launch this month at nearly 7,000 AT&T-owned and operated Wi-Fi hot spots, including airports,... Intelsat Closer To Panamsat Buyout http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17886?11228 Intelsat Ltd. now says it expects its proposed $3.2 billion transaction to buy Panamsat to close in the second or third quarter of this year, thus creating what it is calling the largest fixed satellite services (FSS) operator in the world (Satellite News, April 26). In its quarterly financial report for the three months ended March 31,... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 13:29:44 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Report: NSA Has Compiled Records of Domestic Phone Calls USTelecom dailyLead May 11, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dCksfDtutedddlALEg TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Report: NSA has compiled records of domestic phone calls BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Analyst: Telecoms on track to surpass cable in broadband * BT's new service merges functions of mobile, desktop phones * RIM gears up to launch BlackBerry in China * Deutsche Telekom reports earnings USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * VoIP for Dummies TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Could power lines edge wireless networks? * Wi-Fi use grows in the home * Report: Wireless services for SMBs could be $18B market in '06 REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * AT&T deal in Illinois likely to result in regulatory shift * Analysis: Spectrum auction could shake up U.S. wireless market * FCC's economist says a la carte would work fine Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dCksfDtutedddlALEg ------------------------------ From: mike7411@gmail.com Subject: FSK Date: 10 May 2006 16:12:49 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is there any way to force my modem to use FSK? I know there's an AT+MS= command, but I can't figure out the exact format for my modem. ------------------------------ From: mike7411@gmail.com Subject: Re: Help Needed With WAV File Date: 10 May 2006 16:17:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I would like to recover the bits of the digital data from a conversation between two modems. Why do you think this is virtually impossible for a standard modem connection with an analog-side speed above 2400 BPS? ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 23:30:05 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when Frank Stearns wrote: > I received an important job-offer vmail that was incomplete -- the > caller left a first name and phone number, but the phone number > consists of only the area code and prefix. The last four digits are > missing. A reverse search is unlikely to find Mike at Fubar Inc. if all the info you have is his first name and a partial phone number. If you know the name of the company, you can probably track him down by calling their switchboard. There's something a little odd about this. Dave ------------------------------ From: Lisa Reyes Subject: ICT Industry Leaders from Around the World Speak in Hong Kong Date: THU, 11 MAY 2006 12:07:14 -0500 Reply-To: lreyes@iec.org FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Lisa Reyes Phone: +1-312-559-3325 E-Mail: mailto:lreyes@iec.org ICT Industry Leaders from Around the World Speak in Hong Kong for IEC's Broadband World Forum Asia 2006 Service Provider Executives Discuss Carrier Progress toward the Converged Broadband Network in an Exclusive Plenary Panel this 16 May CHICAGO 11 May, 2006 As Asia leads the world in broadband penetration and innovative services, the IEC takes the Broadband World Forum Asia 2006 to Hong Kong from 15-18 May and hosts ICT executives from around the world to discuss the latest leading-edge developments. The Tuesday Plenary Panel, Carrier Progress toward the Converged Broadband Network, features Chairperson Paul Berriman, head of Strategic Market Development at PCCW; Chris Bilton, BT vice president of Networks & ICT and BT Group chief technology officer; Thami Msimango, chief technology officer of Telkom South Africa; and Telefonica's Antonio Shcuh, director of Special Projects. IEC President John Janowiak stated, "We're excited to host these key players in one forum so they can share their latest understanding of broadband advancements on a carrier scale." Bilton commented, "The Broadband World Forum in Hong Kong is one of the key industry events of the year. The panel discussion is a particularly interesting session. It will discuss progress to date from a selection of leading network operators from around the world on the deployment of NGNs, how they are meeting the challenges of meeting customer requirements in an increasingly mobile- and service-oriented world, the architecture and key technologies that underpin some of today’s leading NGNs, and some of the key challenges and issues around NGN deployment based on their experiences at the leading edge of NGN deployment." Bilton continued, "Attendees at this session should gain a good understanding of the common and specific challenges that network operators face from different regions around the world, how these have driven their approaches to NGN deployment, updates on their progress in deploying NGNs, and how they are working with regulators, partners, and customers to maximize the benefits of NGN deployment." Msimango also expressed, "Broadband technology is a key economic enabler for both developing and developed nations. It is particularly imperative for the developing world to sensitize their communities to the vistas that broadband technology opens for them and how it can enhance the lives of even ordinary people. It is within this framework that my address will focus on a global view of how broadband is deployed in both the developing and developed worlds." Finally, Schuh added, "Telefonica will be sharing our insight on the benefits of an hybrid approach to TV. We feel that while IPTV is an amazing product that brings terrific benefits to customer's life, technical requirements and economics may hinder deployment in the near term. After analyzing our markets and other operators' experiences, we developed an approach combining IPTV and DTH. This, together with geomarketing and customer segmentation, should enable us to access a broader base of customers and adapt to specific segment needs while keeping critical time-to-market and ROI constraints. In our presentation, we will discuss the main ideas behind this approach and present initial findings from our joint launch of audio-visual services." Schuh concluded, "This is a great moment for the broadband industry: a host of new technologies are becoming economically viable, and customers are increasingly more sophisticated and interested." The Broadband World Forum Asia brings together technology leaders from different parts of the globe to compare and exchange telecommunication developments and ideas. ICT professionals will learn firsthand the various broadband advancements in the Asia-Pacific region. Visit www.iec.org/events/2006/bbwf_asia for complete information or contact Lisa Ann Reyes at +1-312-559-3325 or mailto:lreyes@iec.org. ### ABOUT THE BROADBAND WORLD FORUM ASIA 2006 With KT as the official host sponsor, the IEC's Broadband World Forum Asia premiered in 2004 in Seoul, South Korea, drawing more than 1,500 industry professionals to register. The show continued with last year's Broadband World Forum Asia 2005, held in Yokohama, Japan, with NTT as the official host sponsor. Increasing registration numbers by more than 100 percent, the show drew more than 3,000 industry professionals to register, included more than 150 presentations, and presented more than 120 industry experts as speakers. This year, the Broadband World Forum Asia 2006 team and official host sponsor, PCCW, will host numerous industry-leading companies to exhibit and expect approximately 3,500 people to attend. For complete information, visit http://www.iec.org/events/2006/bbwf_asia. The IPTV Global ComForum also premieres at this year's Broadband World Forum Asia 2006 as a co-located event that will address issues such as content licensing, market realities, managing broadband services over an IP/MPLS core, security environments, digital rights management, personalization, interactivity for the end user, and more. For complete information, visit http://www.iec.org/events/2006/iptv. ABOUT THE IEC A nonprofit organization, the IEC is dedicated to catalyzing technology and business progress worldwide in a range of high-technology industries and their university communities. Since 1944, the IEC has provided high-quality educational opportunities for industry professionals, academics, and students. In conjunction with industry-leading companies, the IEC has developed an extensive, free, on-line educational program. The IEC conducts industry-university programs that have substantial impact on curricula. It also conducts research and develops publications, conferences, and technological exhibits that address major opportunities and challenges of the information age. More than 70 leading high-technology universities are IEC affiliates, and the IEC handles the affairs of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads Association and Eta Kappa Nu, the honor society for electrical and computer engineers. The IEC also manages the activities of the Enterprise Communications Consortium. Please visit http://www.iec.org. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #178 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri May 12 19:16:48 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id A47CD15608; Fri, 12 May 2006 19:16:47 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #179 Message-Id: <20060512231647.A47CD15608@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 19:16:47 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.3 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, HOT_NASTY,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 12 May 2006 19:20:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 179 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Cellular-News: Friday 12th May 2006 (Cellular-News) Storm of Controversy Brews Over NSA's Surveillance (USTelecom dailyLead) The Front Lines - May 11, 2006 (Jonathan Marashlian) Apple Patent Filing Hints at Mobile Phone (Monty Solomon) Plantronics M60 Feedback (Danglerb) The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: EU Slams ICANN Interference With Sex Site Vote (Linc Madison) Re: EU Slams ICANN Interference With Sex Site Vote (Mark Crispin) Re: EU Slams ICANN Interference With Sex Site Vote (Brian Inglis) Re: FSK (Laura Halliday) Re: FSK (Geoffrey Welsh) Re: Help Needed With WAV File (Robert Bonomi) Re: Help Needed With WAV File (DLR) Re: Help Needed With WAV File (John L) Re: VoIP Quality (Scott Dorsey) Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal (Scott Dorsey) Re: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? (Frank Stearns) Re: Call Forwarding and "Dialed Number" Information (Mr Joseph Singer) Re: MySpace Hires Child Safety Expert From Microsoft (Vientus) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Cellular-News: Friday 12th May 2006 Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 08:57:48 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] DoCoMo, Microsoft To Form 3G Mobile Music Service http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17339.php NTT DoCoMo and Microsoft said Thursday that they will team up to provide mobile music services with DoCoMo's 3G handsets. ... [[ Financial ]] Moviles 1Q Net Profit +3.5% As LatAm Drives Operations http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17338.php Spanish wireless operator Telefonica Moviles, Thursday said first-quarter net profit rose 3.5%, with solid growth in Latin America offsetting some weakness in its domestic operations. ... Comcel to emit unknown amount of debt http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17340.php Colombian mobile provider Comcel is planning to issue bonds and securities, local paper Portafolio reported. ... Deutsche Telekom Profit Rises 10% On Mobile, Asset Sale http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17346.php Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest phone company, on Thursday said quarterly profit rose 9.7% on strong growth at its U.S. wireless unit and an arbitrage payment from Celcom Malaysia. ... PRESS: Telenor agrees to get cash, equity in Kyivstar deal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17348.php Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor has agreed to accept both cash and equity for its stake in Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivstar from Russia?s second largest mobile operator VimpelCom, VimpelCom's shareholder Altimo and Kjell Morten ... Russia's VimpelCom completes merger of StavTeleSot http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17350.php Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom has completed the merger of its subsidiary in the Stavropol Region, StavTeleSot, with its parent company, VimpelCom said Thursday. ... Craig McCaw's Clearwire Files $400 Million IPO http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17351.php Wi-Max services firm Clearwire, led by cellular trailblazer Craig McCaw, on Thursday filed to raise up to US$400 million in an initial public offering. ... O2 End March User Base 32.79 Million, +16% Or 699,000 On Year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17354.php O2 Chairman & Chief Executive, Peter Erskine, said Friday that during the first quarter "The strong momentum in all O2's businesses has been maintained within the Telefonica Group. Across O2, now including the Czech Republic, we added 699,000 mobile ... [[ Handsets ]] Russia's DIXIS buys Mobile retailer in Southern Federal District http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17353.php Russian consumer electronics retailer DIXIS has bought Mobile cellular handset retailer, which operates in the Southern Federal District, DIXIS said in a press release Thursday. ... [[ Legal ]] RIM Says US Appeal Court Rules In Its Favor In InPro Suit http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17352.php Research In Motion said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday affirmed the finding of non-infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,523,079, which is held by InPro II Licensing, S.a.r.l. ... [[ Messaging ]] RIM Announces Plans To Launch BlackBerry Service In China http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17344.php Research In Motion (RIMM) Thursday said it will launch BlackBerry service in China through China Mobile Communications Co. ... [[ MVNO ]] T-Mobile Executive Sees Increased Competition In UK Market http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17345.php The head of Deutsche Telekom's mobile arm in the UK Thursday predicted increased competition in the market as more 'virtual' operators launch. ... [[ Network Contracts ]] Siemens Gets Wireless Technology Order From T-Mobile http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17347.php Siemens said Thursday it has received an order from T-Mobile International unit to expand its third-generation wireless technology or W-CDMA networks in Germany and Austria. ... [[ Regulatory ]] AMX, TEM negotiate new mobile concessions http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17341.php Regional mobile groups America Movil and Telefonica Moviles are preparing to negotiate new concessions in Ecuador, where their current contracts expire this year, news service Notimex reported. ... Govt to change telecoms regulations, but "no nationalization" http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17342.php Bolivia's government has announced plans to introduce a new regulatory framework for the telecommunications sector, but does not plan to nationalize any of the sector's companies, local daily El Diario reported. ... Committee approves bill for operators to inform users' balance http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17343.php Brazil's congressional consumer protection committee has approved a bill that would force mobile operators to keep prepaid users informed of their account balance, according to a lower house bulletin. ... European Regulators Come Out Against EU Roaming Plan http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17349.php European telecommunications regulators Thursday criticized a European Commission proposal to slash mobile phone roaming charges, in the latest sign of growing opposition to the plan. ... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 13:49:38 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Storm of Controversy Brews Over NSA's Surveillance USTelecom dailyLead May 12, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dCwEfDtutedTmJmGTJ TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Storm of controversy brews over NSA's surveillance program BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Clearwire files for IPO * BellSouth, Samsung team up * Cisco taps a new leader for Linksys * O2 considers fixed-line play TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Infineon tests 65 nm chip VOIP DOWNLOAD * Business VoIP penetration expected to double by 2010 * Skype expands lanuage options with interpreting service REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * DOJ takes telecoms' side on franchising * Connecticut AG to oppose franchise plan * Philly greenlights Wi-Fi plan * European regulators oppose EU's plan to cut roaming fees Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dCwEfDtutedTmJmGTJ ------------------------------ Reply-To: From: Jonathan Marashlian Subject: The Front Lines - May 11, 2006 Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:37:08 -0400 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 FCC ADOPTS SECOND REPORT & ORDER CLARIFYING CALEA OBLIGATIONS OF CERTAIN IP-BASED SERVICE PROVIDERS On May 3, 2006, the FCC adopted a Second Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and Order (Second Order) on implementation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The primary goal of the Order is to ensure that Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) have all of the resources that CALEA authorizes to combat crime and support homeland security, particularly with regard to facilities-based broadband Internet access providers and interconnected voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) providers. The FCC's CALEA proceedings were initiated by a Joint Petition filed by the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Drug Enforcement Administration in March 2004. The First Report and Order concluded that facilities-based broadband Internet access and interconnected VOIP providers were considered telecommunications carriers=94 and, hence, are subject to CALEA. The First Report is currently the subject of appeal pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, American Council on Education v. FCC. Recently, the case was argued before the court and reports are that the panel of judges was highly critical of the FCC's decision, with one Judge calling the FCC attorney's argument in support of CALEA extension to Internet access providers, gobbledygook. Nevertheless, the Second Order affirms that the CALEA compliance deadline for facilities-based broadband Internet access and interconnected VoIP services will be May 14, 2007, as established by the First Report and Order. The Second Order clarifies that this May 14, 2007 compliance date will apply to all facilities-based broadband Internet access and interconnected VoIP providers. By applying the same compliance date to all providers the FCC hopes to eliminate confusion about the applicability of the deadline, avoid any skewing effect on competition, and prevent migration of criminal activity onto networks with delayed compliance dates. The FCC also clarified that, absent the filing of a petition, it will not intervene in the ongoing process among telecommunications standards-setting bodies, LEAs and other interested persons, to develop assistance capability standards. The FCC clarified that providers are given the option of using Trusted Third Parties (TTPs) to assist in meeting their CALEA obligations. TTPs are available to provide a variety of services for CALEA compliance, including processing requests for intercepts, conducting electronic surveillance, and delivering relevant information to LEAs. The Second Order makes clear however that, if a provider chooses to use a TTP, the provider remains responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of call-identifying information and call content information to a LEA and for protecting subscriber privacy, as required by CALEA. The Second Order concludes that carriers are responsible for CALEA development and implementation costs for post-January 1, 1995 equipment and facilities, and rejected imposing a national surcharge to recover CALEA costs. And, with regard to enforcement of its rulings, the FCC announced it would take separate enforcement action under section 229(a) of the Communications Act against providers that fail to comply with CALEA. Finally, the Second Order requires all carriers providing facilities-based broadband Internet access and interconnected VoIP service to submit interim reports to the Commission to ensure that they will be CALEA-compliant by May 14, 2007. All facilities-based broadband Internet access and interconnected VoIP providers to whom CALEA obligations were applied in the First Report and Order are to come into compliance with the system security requirements in the Commission's rules within 90 days of the effective date of the Second Order. However, given the skepticism shown by the D.C. Circuit Court during oral arguments of the American Council on Education v. FCC appeal, there is the potential for a delay to 90-day compliance deadline. This rapidly developing area of concern warrants increased attention on the part of allentities subject to CALEA requirements. WASHINGTON UTILITIES AND TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION (WUTC) TO IMPLEMENT NEW STATE LAW ELIMINATING USE OF PRICE LISTS FOR COMPETITIVE SERVICES On June 8, 2006, a new law takes effect in the state of Washington which eliminates the use of price lists for competitively classified telecommunications services. The new law contemplates that instead of using Price Lists filed with the WUTC, companies will communicate directly with their customers through written contracts or customer service agreements. All telecommunications carriers who currently have affected Price Lists on file shall be required to withdraw them and provide their customers with information about ongoing rates, terms and conditions. The new law does not, however, affect tariffs or regulatory fees and carriers are still required to work with WUTC to resolve consumer complaints. WUTC will accept new price list filings until June 7, 2006. After that, new price list filings will not be accepted and the WUTC will begin accepting notices of Price List withdrawals. By June 30, 2007, affected carriers must either withdraw existing Price Lists or petition for a one-year extension. If you have any questions about the new law or procedures being implemented by WUTC, please contact your regulatory counsel. If you have none or seek guidance with respect to your obligations, please contact Jonathan S. Marashlian at jsm@thlglaw.com or 703-714-1300. CONNECTICUT PROPOSES PER LINE ASSESSMENTS TO SUPPORT STATEWIDE 911 EMERGENCY SERVICES On May 3, 2006, the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control released a Draft Decision in its annual assessment proceeding to fund development and administration of the state=92s enhanced 911 program. In accordance with Conn. Agencies Regs. =A728-24-10(a), the Draft Decision proposes that on and after June 1, 2006, each telephone and telecommunications company providing local telephone service (including ILECs and CLECs) and each Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) provider (including CMRS resellers) shall assess a fee against each of its subscribers based on the following multi-line assessment schedule: Wireless Telephone Numbers/ Local Access Lines Per-Line Assessment 1 $0.37 2 $0.28 3 $0.25 4 or 5 $0.22 6-10 $0.19 11-25 $0.15 26-50 $0.12 51-99 $0.09 100+ $0.07 Furthermore, the Draft Decision proposes that, no later than September 30, 2006 and quarterly thereafter, all local and CMRS companies provide reports to the Department regarding the quarterly payments made to the state's Enhanced 911 Fund. The Department expects to render a final decision on this matter on May 24, 2006. 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: Fri, 12 May 2006 14:02:08 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Apple patent filing hints at mobile phone Apple patent filing hints at mobile phone By Jessie Seyfer Mercury News The smoldering rumor that Apple could someday unveil a mobile phone just got doused with gasoline. On Thursday, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office made public a December 2004 patent application by Apple describing a hypothetical wireless mobile device, as well as how a person could use such a device to mark media items -- video, ringtones, graphics or video -- for later download. An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the filing. But at least one analyst believes it's a clear indication that an Apple-branded phone is not a question of if, but when. http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/14513108.htm ------------------------------ From: Danglerb Subject: Plantronics M60 feedback Date: 11 May 2006 12:38:40 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com My wife speaks softly, and doesn't like any headset that "clamps" on your head, just ear dongle things, so finding a good headset is taking some time. She likes the mini phone devices for dialing, and we have a Spectra something that seems fine, but when we tried a Plantronics M60 headset she kept getting feedback from the microphone. I bought the M60 cheap on ebay, and it was in a ziplock (looked like typical bulk oem packing to me with a part number to match the M60 used with a Samsung cell phone), so I am wondering if maybe its just a cheap clone, or is this a general problem with the M60? I ordered a Sennheiser PC120 to see if that works better. Any suggestions on either a better miniphone or headset (eardongle style)? I have a few old Plantroics T10 dialers around, but not sure how I would wire up an adapter for 2.5mm. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: 12 May 2006 12:45:13 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I am curious as to what people think of the issue of national security vs. privacy in light of the recent revelations. In the railroad and roads newsgroups, there was a discussion on the issue of the rights of photographers to take pictures of public works vs. the need for security of those works against terrorists. Some facilities (highway toll roads, transit agencies) do not allow photography from public safe locations which traditionally was a absolute right. I myself aren't sure. I don't agree with either extremes--the govt must have some limitations on citizen spying and we must preserve our long existing rights, but the govt does need the power and ability to spy on potential terrorists to protect us. [public replies please]. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: EU Slams ICANN Interference With Sex Site Vote Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 12:26:34 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , Huw Jones wrote: > Supporters said a .xxx domain would have made it easier to confine > sex sites or filter them out, but critics such as the Family Research > Council, a conservative U.S.-based religious group, complained it > would only legitimize the porn industry, and ICANN agreed with that. I have to agree 100% with the EU on this one. The porn industry *IS* legitimate -- it is a legal business, with thousands of properly registered, tax-paying, law-abiding companies involved. If you don't like pornography, then don't surf the porn sites -- but that's exactly what the ".xxx" TLD was designed to facilitate. Let's suppose that you're a parent and you don't want your kids to see porn sites. You're never going to get the sex sites off the Internet completely; that's beyond dreaming. Where there is demand, there will be supply. As things stand now, you have to fiddle with web ratings and content-blocking services, but they have difficulty distinguishing a site about cervical cancer from a hardcore version of Girls Gone Wild. With a .xxx TLD, at least those sites that choose to locate there could be blocked by a single checkbox in your computer's preferences. We should create .xxx (or .sex or .porn, or whatever you want to call it), and provide legal incentives for sites to move there. For example, it should be much more difficult to prosecute a ".xxx" site for peddling porn to minors, since it would be so trivially easy for the responsible adults to block the kids' access. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com Read my political blog, "The Third Path" DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: EU Slams ICANN Interference With Sex Site Vote Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 13:14:31 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Thu, 11 May 2006, Huw Jones wrote: > The Internet governing body's decision to reject a new .xxx Internet > domain for porn sites is a clear case of ICANN and USA political > interference in the Web's governance, the European Commission said on > Thursday. And if ICANN had permitted it, the EU would say that this is a clear case of ICANN being in the pay of US interests (in this case, pornographers) to the detriment of the rest of the network. Opposition to .xxx wasn't just conservative religious groups; the IETF and a number of foreign governments also opposed it. -- Mark -- http://panda.com/mrc Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 07:20:42 GMT From: Brian Inglis Subject: Re: EU Slams ICANN Interference With Sex Site Vote Reply-To: Brian.Inglis@SystematicSW.ab.ca Organization: Systematic Software On Thu, 11 May 2006 12:18:26 -0500 in comp.dcom.telecom, Huw Jones wrote: > By Huw Jones > The Internet governing body's decision to reject a new .xxx Internet > domain for porn sites is a clear case of ICANN and USA political > interference in the Web's governance, the European Commission said on > Thursday. > The .xxx application was seen as a test case of ICANN's independence. > At a summit in Tunis last November, the United States fought off > attempts to wrest control of the domain-name system from the Commerce > Department. > The U.S. control of the domain-name system had become a sticking point > for countries like Iran and Brazil, who argued that it should be > managed by the United Nations or some other global body. > The United States argued that such a body would stifle innovation with > red tape. Drugs, pornography, and prostitution are all legal in various jurisdictions. This isn't stifling innovation with red tape? Having WIPO decide domain name disputes isn't red tape? How about the effect of the EU and/or the Arab League running alternate root servers? Thanks. Take care, Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada Brian.Inglis@CSi.com (Brian[dot]Inglis{at}SystematicSW[dot]ab[dot]ca) fake address use address above to reply ------------------------------ From: laura halliday Subject: Re: FSK Date: 11 May 2006 13:23:47 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com mike7 ... @gmail.com > Is there any way to force my modem to use FSK? Yes. Make it connect at 300 baud so it uses the Bell 103 protocol and modulation. It's one thing to post all these questions, but several people (including me) have asked just what you're trying to accomplish, because you keep omitting crucial details. If you're not prepared to meet people halfway, why should they lift a finger to help you? Laura Halliday VE7LDH "Que les nuages soient notre Grid: CN89mg pied a terre..." ICBM: 49 16.05 N 122 56.92 W - Hospital/Shafte ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: Re: FSK Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 17:02:28 -0400 Organization: UseNetServer.com mike7411@gmail.com wrote: > Is there any way to force my modem to use FSK? Essentially, you need to configure it to operate in '300 bps' mode (though you may be able to squeeze higher speeds out of it; in the BBS days, we used run '300 bps' Bell 103J-compatible modems at 400 bps or even higher, as long as both sides know it and the quality of the conneciton and the modems is sufficient.) > I know there's an AT+MS= command, but I can't figure out the exact > format for my modem. It varies from chipset to chipset. Some modems (e.g. most USR modems manufactured in the past 20 years or so) have online help, while other information may be available on the web. Geoffrey Welsh Never leave until tomorrow what can wait until next week. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Help Needed With WAV File Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 22:32:56 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > I would like to recover the bits of the digital data from a > conversation between two modems. > Why do you think this is virtually impossible for a standard modem > connection with an analog-side speed above 2400 BPS? Because it _is_. Because I know how such things work. Because you -- the eavesdropper -- cannot tell which parts of the 'hiss' belong to which end of the conversation. Because *BOTH* ends use the _same_ frequencies. At the *same* time. At either end, by "knowing" what _you_ are putting on the wire, you can 'deduce' what the other end is doing, by 'cancelling' your signal from what you 'hear' on the wire. WITHOUT that 'insider' knowledge, your best bet is "Miss Cleo". This is also why there is all that hissing going back and forth _before_ the modems 'connect' -- they are each 'seeing' what the line conditions look like, *without* 'near-end' interference, when the far-end modem does 'known things' on the line. *Then* they both start talking, still saying 'known things', to verify that they can filter out their own noise and recover what the far end is saying. *ONLY*THEN* do they announce 'connect', and let "user" data flow across the connection. With _extremely_high-end_ equipment that has been precision calibrated and the artifacts of gear identified and compensated for, *and* with a non- trivial amount of testing with known data on the suspect phone circuit, one _may_ be able to decode the bit-stream. It is far simpler to play "man in the middle" by using a pair of your own modems, and intercepting the call start-up. one end (a) talks to your 1st modem, "thinking" it is talking to the far end (b), wile your 2nd modem is talking to that far end, in it's place. Now, you've got the recovered bit-stream passing between your 1st and 2nd modems, in decoded digital form, with the two halves of the conversation separated. reading _that_ is 'trivial', as they say. of course, going _that_ way means that you run afoul of any number of laws forbidding 'wiretapping', and/or interception of wire communications, but you're not going to let a little thing like _that_ stop you, are you? After all, you have the same legal issues with taking a recording of the modem 'conversation' in the first place. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 21:01:35 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Help Needed With WAV File mike7411@gmail.com wrote: > I would like to recover the bits of the digital data from a > conversation between two modems. > Why do you think this is virtually impossible for a standard modem > connection with an analog-side speed above 2400 BPS? Modems these days and for a long time have a limit of (I think) 2400 baud. This means they can only change the signal 2400 times a second on a voice grade line. So to get the higher bit rates they have to encode multiple things 2400 times a second. One way is the multiple frequencies. The other is that the tones on each frequency are shifted, twisted, etc ... in a way such that each frequency can represent multiple bits at any one time. For all of this to work two modems first go through a process where they test the line at each frequency to determine to determine the attenuation and distortion imposed on by the circuit at each frequency so that these issues can be factored into the real signal. Plus some frequencies will not be used if the signal at that frequency doesn't meet some minimal standards. So to reconstruct the bit patterns you'd have to know the result of the "training" plus have a high enough quality of recording to reconstruct not just the frequencies but the actually phase distortions and skews and run the result back through a DSP process. If you have lots of time, signal processing experience, and a very fast computer (or computers) you might do it. But the first issue is the initial training in effect results in an encryption key that you have to break before you can even start. Now I'm sure that US Robotics and Rockwell have some programs that might do this and maybe the DIA, CIA, and NSA but past that ??? ------------------------------ From: johnl@iecc.com (John L) Subject: Re: Help Needed With WAV File Date: 12 May 2006 01:31:36 GMT Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA > I would like to recover the bits of the digital data from a > conversation between two modems. Hmmn. > Why do you think this is virtually impossible for a standard modem > connection with an analog-side speed above 2400 BPS? Because each end sends data using the full spectrum available, and uses echo cancelling to subtract off its own signal and recover the signal from the other end. If you don't already know what one end is sending, you can't do that. R's, John ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: VoIP Quality Date: 11 May 2006 14:37:53 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) In article , wrote: > Is there an automatic way of measuring VoIP quality? Well, you can measure whether the signal "breaks up," that is to say how often the system cannot meet realtime deadlines. But most of the audible quality issues have to do with the perceptual encoding system required, and sadly there is no automatic way of measuring that. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) Subject: Re: Spectrum of a Modem Signal Date: 11 May 2006 14:52:59 -0400 Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000) In article , wrote: > If I plot the spectrum of a short modem signal, what should I expect > to see? Depends on the modem. > It just looks like a lump in the frequency domain, but I'm not sure I > did it right. If you make the bins small enough, you should see every individual carrier. With a Bell 103 modem, there will be one carrier. With a modern 56k modem there will be dozens of them all across the band. Scott "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." ------------------------------ From: Frank Stearns Subject: Re: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 18:58:38 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Dave Garland writes: > It was a dark and stormy night when Frank Stearns > wrote: >> I received an important job-offer vmail that was incomplete -- the >> caller left a first name and phone number, but the phone number >> consists of only the area code and prefix. The last four digits are >> missing. > A reverse search is unlikely to find Mike at Fubar Inc. if all the info > you have is his first name and a partial phone number. If you know the > name of the company, you can probably track him down by calling their > switchboard. > There's something a little odd about this. Odd in what way? The gentlemen did not leave a last name or a company name (sure wish he had!); the last four digits were cut off from the message. As noted, I did determine with telco help that the prefix I have was not for a PBX or cell. If it were possible to do what is a *trivial* query in any database where one has partial match and selective field ability, I'd probably have 50-100 returns on such a query, and would be willing to call each one and politely ask if they'd called me. So, again, isn't there some way to search a telephone DB in this way, or perhaps a site that would permit 9,999 reverse dir queries via a looped script? Thanks in advance, Frank Stearns ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 16:40:45 PDT From: Mr Joseph Singer Subject: Re: Call Forwarding and "Dialed Number" Information Biren 9 May 2006 08:48:33 -0700 wrote: > I have a question about call forwarding and availability of "dialed > number" (this could be applicable to both landline and GSM phones): > Some user has set up his/her phone (with number A) to forward "all" > incoming calls to a certain number B (using sequence *21*B# for GSM) > and some caller C calls in A's number. > Is there any way we can obtain "original dialed number" (i.e. A) at > site B -- before deciding to respond to the forwared call? At site B, > caller ID provides original caller (i.e. C) -- but can we correctly > obtain "called id" by some means? Is it available at all? > If number B is an 800 (or other toll-free) number with ANI/DNIS > service, can we get the originally dialed number?>> As they say "it depends." Normally in forwarding/diverting situations the original number will show in the call display of the end party and not the number that it's being forwarded/diverted from. If the number it's being forwarded/diverted is a toll-free number it may "destroy" forwarding or it may keep it intact. When I use my "Kall8" http://www.kall8.com number to forward to another number the original number is presented to the end party's caller ID display. I have an option with my toll-free number that I can have either the "real" number presented or the toll-free number presented to the end party's display. ------------------------------ From: Vientus Subject: Re: MySpace Hires Child Safety Expert From Microsoft Date: 12 May 2006 11:22:57 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com masonboro_island@yahoo.com wrote: > That's an interesting idea. Wouldn't people just give fake numbers > though? If you gave a fake number you would not be able to complete the sign-up. For example, when you sign up for myspace Phoneconfirm.com calls your home phone number (based on your input) and an automated voice reads a PIN number over the phone. You would then need to input that correct PIN number into a field on the myspace profile sign-up screen. If you gave a fake phone number, obviously you won't get the call I went to the website but I'm not completely sure how it works. When you sign up the site calls the number you provided? Yes. If that phone number was associated with underage users, harassing or sexual pradators etc ... it would be flagged and couldn't be used for further sign-ups. Think of the process of having a phoneconfirm on myspace as a bit like a library card -- phoneconfirm is a basic identity process that helps serve to create a social contract of accountability on myspace and other social networking sites. >> I'm at least happy that social networking sites are >> acknowledging the problem and that places like NCMEC are providing >> services where people can report child exploitation. >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Another site where child >> exploitation is dealt with in an unusual -- almost vigilate way -- >> is http://perverted-justice.com PAT] I think the "library card" identity confirmation process is a good middle ground -- using a kind of "soft" identity confirmation system like phoneconfirm on myspace -- that isn't as vigilante as perverted justice, nor as much of a regulatory hand grenade as US Rep. Fitzpatrick's bill, and isn't as mayhem producing as as the current status quo. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #179 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat May 13 14:07:38 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 63FF815A1F; Sat, 13 May 2006 14:07:38 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #180 Message-Id: <20060513180738.63FF815A1F@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 14:07:38 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 13 May 2006 13:10:12 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 180 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection (Maxim Kniazkov) Quest Ignored NSA Request (Katherine Shrader) US Dismisses Concerns Over New Microsoft Browser (Peter Kaplan) DOJ Asks Court to Extend Microsoft Antitrust Order (Grant Gross) The Great Microsoft Blunder (John Dvorak) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (George Berger) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (Dave Garland) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (George Mitchell) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (Joshua Putnam) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Maxim Kniazkov Subject: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 12:06:32 -0500 by Maxim Kniazkov US President George W. Bush has moved to quell a firestorm over his government's secret collection of telephone records of tens of millions of private citizens, insisting they were all needed to "target Al-Qaeda." But the latest controversy has already spawned a major lawsuit against Verizon, one of the telephone companies involved, and members of Congress expressed unease over what they see as gradual erosion of privacy rights. The lawsuit, filed in New York on Friday, seeks from Verizon five billion dollars in damages, alleging the company has broken the law by agreeing to provide the National Security Agency with telephone records of its clients. The plaintiffs argue phone companies should not cooperate with the NSA, which specializes in electronic espionage, without a proper court warrant based on well-grounded "suspicion of terrorist activity or other criminal activity." But in his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush rushed to assure the public the secret program did not target innocent private citizens. "It is important for Americans to understand that our activities strictly target Al-Qaeda and its known affiliates," he said. But he gave no answer to questions raised on Capitol Hill as to why a program with a purported narrow target would need such a massive database. The existence of the program was first disclosed Thursday by USA Today newspaper, which said the database compiled by the NSA following the September 11, 2001 attacks contained phone records of tens of millions of Americans provided by AT and T, Verizon and BellSouth. Officials would not provide any details on how the records were used. But former government security experts and media reports indicated its genesis lay in US phone numbers found on Al-Qaeda suspects captured overseas. These numbers, the experts said, immediately become the focus of the NSA's attention, with the circle of surveillance growing exponentially as calls are made to or from the numbers in question. Specially designed computer programs watch for patterns in these contacts and analyze them to make sure no terrorist cell is operating within the United States. Bush said the intelligence activities he had authorized were "lawful" and members of Congress from both sides of the aisle had been adequately briefed. "The privacy of all Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities," he insisted. "The government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval." The new controversy follows charges the president may have broken the law when he authorized the NSA in the wake of 9/11 to conduct wiretaps of international phone calls made by Americans suspected of terrorist ties without a requisite court warrant. But if the wiretaps put the White House on the spot, the new revelations could mean a world of legal and financial trouble for the phone companies. The lawsuit in New York was filed under the 1986 Stored Communications Act, which expressly forbids the companies from turning over client records to the government without a warrant. The statute also gives consumers the right to sue for violations of the act and allows claims of at least 1,000 dollars for each violation. "If you've got 50 million people, that's potentially 50 billion dollars," said Peter Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University and a former White House adviser on privacy issues. The controversy could also complicated the confirmation process for Air Force General Michael Hayden nominated on Monday to be the next CIA director. Republican Chuck Hagel, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Hayden, who headed the NSA when the surveillance programs were put in place, had to answer many questions. "He knows that hes not going to be confirmed without answering those questions," Hagel warned. Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Katherine Shrader Subject: Quest Ignored NSA Request Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 18:35:33 -0500 By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer Telecommunications giant Qwest refused to provide the government with access to telephone records of its 15 million customers after deciding the request violated privacy law, a lawyer for a former company executive said Friday. For a second day, the former National Security Agency director defended the spy agency's activities. In a written statement, the attorney for former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio said the government approached the company in the fall of 2001 seeking access to the phone records of Qwest customers, with neither a warrant nor approval from a special court established to handle surveillance matters. "Mr. Nacchio concluded that these requests violated the privacy requirements of the Telecommunications Act," attorney Herbert J. Stern said from his Newark, N.J., office. The Bush administration is facing new questions about civil liberties after the disclosure that the NSA collected information on millions of Americans' everyday telephone calls. On Friday, CIA director nominee Michael Hayden defended as lawful the secret surveillance programs he oversaw as NSA head from 1999 to 2005, but he declined to comment on the phone-calls database or specific operations. "It's been briefed to the appropriate members of Congress," Hayden told reporters outside a Senate office. "The only purpose of the agency's activities is to preserve the security and the liberty of the American people. And I think we've done that." Nacchio told Qwest officials to refuse the NSA requests, which kept coming until Nacchio left the company in June 2002, his lawyer said. In contrast, AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. complied with the request to turn over phone records shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, USA Today first reported on Thursday. Qwest, the No. 4 U.S. local phone company, serves customers in 14 Western states. Based in Denver, Qwest Communications International Inc. has come under fire over criminal and ethical allegations. Nacchio himself is under federal indictment on insider-trading charges. In a statement, Verizon said press coverage has contained errors about how the company handles customer information. "Verizon will provide customer information to a government agency only where authorized by law for appropriately defined and focused purposes," the company said. Two New Jersey public interest lawyers sued Verizon on Friday for $5 billion, claiming the phone carrier violated privacy laws by turning over customers' records. The lawsuit asks the court to stop Verizon from supplying the information without a warrant or the subscriber's consent. Lawmakers have been pressing the Bush administration for information about the NSA's database of telephone records in advance of hearings reviewing Hayden's nomination to be CIA director, scheduled for next Thursday. The White House on Friday reiterated its support for Hayden and the NSA's operations. "We're 100 percent behind Michael Hayden," said press secretary Tony Snow. "There's no question about that, and confident that he is going to comport himself well and answer all the questions and concerns that members of the United States Senate may have in the process of confirmation." Snow added that questions on classified material may have to be handled in closed sessions with select senators who are cleared for access to that information. Some senators were trying to separate the issue of Hayden's confirmation from questions about White House decisions and the surveillance programs. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he didn't yet know if collection of the phone records was illegal. Yet Reid said he has no "specific problems" with Hayden going into the hearing process and said the Air Force general "has always proven to be a person of intellect and a person of independence." Republicans, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner of Virginia, have said Hayden was relying on the advice of top government lawyers when the operations were initiated. But Sen. Ron Wyden (news, bio, voting record), D-Ore., an Intelligence Committee member, said he now questions Hayden's credibility, adding, "The American people have got to know that when the person who heads the CIA makes a statement that they are getting the full picture." The NSA was using the data to analyze calling patterns to detect and track suspected terrorist activity, according to information the White House gave to Sen. Wayne Allard (news, bio, voting record), R-Colo. "Telephone customers' names, addresses and other personal information have not been handed over to NSA as part of this program," Allard said. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., said on PBS' "NewsHour With Jim Lehrer" that "the president's program uses information collected from phone companies" - the telephone number called and the caller's number. Bond is a member of the select panel allowed access to all information on another controversial Bush program, the warrantless surveillance operations. After meeting with Hayden on Friday, Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., said he had "absolute confidence" in the general and that his Senate confirmation hearings should provide the facts on the monitoring programs. "He's going to have to explain what his role was. To start with, did he put that program forward, whose idea was it, why was it started?" Hagel said. Sen. Susan Collins (news, bio, voting record), R-Maine, praised Hayden as an excellent nominee. But the chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said it was disconcerting "to have information come out by drips and drabs, rather than the administration making the case for programs I personally believe are needed for our national security." Associated Press writers Michael J. Sniffen and Elizabeth White contributed to this report. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Peter Kaplan ` Subject: USA Dismisses Concerns Over New Microsoft Browser Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 18:37:12 -0500 By Peter Kaplan U.S. antitrust authorities on Friday rejected concerns that a search feature in the new version of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer browser would give the company an unfair advantage over Google Inc. The Justice Department said it had investigated and found no basis for concerns that a new search box included in the Internet Explorer 7 browser would give an unfair advantage to Microsoft's MSN search service. The department said the new Internet search box in Microsoft's browser "respects users' and (computer makers') default choices." It said government officials had "concluded their work on this matter." The comments by the Justice Department were part of a report filed with U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the judge overseeing Microsoft's compliance with its landmark 2002 antitrust settlement with the government. Google, the world's most popular Web search provider, had expressed concerns about the new Microsoft browser, according to a May 1 article in the New York Times. The article quoted a Google vice president saying the search box was unfairly set to default to MSN's search service. "We don't think it's right for Microsoft to just set the default to MSN. We believe users should choose," Google's Marissa Mayer said. Internet Explorer is the dominant browser on the Internet. Google likened the new search box to the conduct that provoked the government's earlier antitrust suit against Microsoft, according to the Times article. In the antitrust case, Microsoft was accused of using its Windows operating system monopoly to crush the rival Netscape Internet browser. Representatives of Google were not immediately available for comment on Friday. Similar concerns have been expressed by the European Commission, which has questioned the way Microsoft's upcoming new operating system, known as Vista, may package Internet search functions. In its filing, the Justice Department said it concluded the new search box in Internet Explorer was not anticompetitive, even though it would default to MSN in some instances. It based that conclusion on the fact that the default could be easily changed by computer users. On new PCs, the department said, computer manufacturers can set the default to other search engines, including Google or Yahoo Inc. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Reuters News Service, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Grant Gross Subject: DOJ Asks Court to Extend Mixrosof Antitrust Order Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 12:17:02 -0500 Grant Gross, IDG News Service WASHINGTON-- The U.S. Department of Justice asked a U.S. judge today to extend parts of a Microsoft antitrust order for at least two years because of the company's delays in supplying technical documentation to licensees of its communications protocols. Microsoft agreed with the DOJ's request to extend the order two years beyond its scheduled expiration in November 2007, the company said in a statement. The company has also agreed to allow the DOJ and 17 state plaintiffs in the antitrust case to ask for an additional three-year extension if they still have complaints about Microsoft documentation. The Justice Department is committed to "full and vigorous enforcement" of the final judgment, J. Bruce McDonald, deputy assistant attorney general in the DOJ's Antitrust Division, said in a statement. Companies that want to license the communications protocols will be able to obtain compete and accurate documentation as a result of the extension, he said. Major Remaining Complaint The state of the technical documentation, used by companies that license the communications protocols in Microsoft's software, is one of the major complaints remaining in the antitrust settlement approved by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in November 2002. Kollar-Kotelly, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, must approve an extension of the settlement order. Under the settlement, Microsoft was required to license the communication protocols to other IT vendors interested in developing server software that works with Microsoft's Windows operating system. As part of the new agreement, Microsoft will change the way it has produced technical documentation, now writing it as it develops software, the company said Friday. The licensing of the protocols will become part of Microsoft's "regular product development and business processes," Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, said in a statement. Microsoft will also create a new interoperability lab in which licensees can test and debug their protocols and obtain easy access to on-site Microsoft engineering assistance. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: John Dvorak Subject: The Great Microsoft Blunder Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 12:19:22 -0500 John Dvorak - PC Magazine I think it can now be safely said, in hindsight, that Microsoft's entry into the browser business and its subsequent linking of the browser into the Windows operating system looks to be the worst decision-and perhaps the biggest, most costly gaffe-the company ever made. I call it the Great Microsoft Blunder. It looks like a whopper that keeps whacking the company. The most recent bash came from the Eolas v. Microsoft patent suit over aspects of the ActiveX usage in Internet Explorer. Microsoft lost and was slapped with a $521 million settlement. If the problem is not weird legal cases against the company, then it's the incredible losses in productivity at the company from the never-ending battle against spyware, viruses, and other security problems. All the work that has to go into keeping the browser afloat is time that could have been better spent on making Vista work as first advertised. All of Microsoft's Internet-era public-relations and legal problems (in some way or another) stem from Internet Explorer. If you were to put together a comprehensive profit-and-loss statement for IE, there would be a zero in the profits column and billions in the losses column-billions. The joke of it is that Microsoft is still working on this dead albatross and is apparently ready to roll out a new version, since most of the smart money has been fleeing to Firefox or Opera. This means new rounds of patches and lost money. Continue reading... This fiasco and the great Microsoft Blunder began when Marc Andreessen, then of Netscape, made some silly, off-handed remark about how the browser would become the next platform for applications and suggested, in so many words, that Microsoft would be destroyed. Instead of the boys at Microsoft laughing out loud and then ignoring this remark, they started scrambling around like ants on a hot stove. The next thing you know, Microsoft went Internet slaphappy. Besides cobbling together a browser from any code it could license, it rolled out all sorts of Internet magazines and various Internet-centric ideas to the point where it was obvious to anyone watching that the company itself was believing all the hype coming from outside. The main piece of propaganda among the Internet-centric ideas was that the personal computer is dead. "There'll be no computers in a few short years, as everything will be embedded and become appliances," said all the experts. This appliance malarkey comes and goes, but always goes. We still have computers, we still need operating systems, and we still need Microsoft Office. Yes, there are alternatives to everything, but the gold standards for all these basics make most of the money, no matter what anyone idealizes to the contrary. But Microsoft buys the fear. It must have some of the lowest corporate self-esteem for any dominant company in the history of modern business. The company is like the panicky old woman wondering how she lost a penny in her purse while giving exact change in the express line at the grocery store. Hey lady, you are holding things up! So what can Microsoft do about its dilemma? First, it needs to face the fact that this entire preoccupation with the browser business is bad for the company and bad for the user. Microsoft should pull the browser out of the OS and discontinue all IE development immediately. It should then bless the Mozilla.org folks with a cash endowment and take an investment stake in Opera, to influence the future direction of browser technology from the outside in. Then, Microsoft can worry about security issues that are OS-only in nature, rather than problems compounded by Internet Explorer. Of this I can assure you. People will not stop buying Microsoft Windows if there is no built-in browser. Opera and/or Firefox can be bundled with the OS as a courtesy, and all the defaults can lead to Microsoft.com if need be. Of course we already know that this will never happen, since Microsoft is a creature of habit. So it will forever be plagued by its greatest blunder ever. Have fun, boys. Copyright 2006 Ziff Davis Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more tech articles and news, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ From: George Berger Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 20:40:39 -0400 Organization: Heller Information Services In article , hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > I am curious as to what people think of the issue of national security > vs. privacy in light of the recent revelations. > In the railroad and roads newsgroups, there was a discussion on the > issue of the rights of photographers to take pictures of public works > vs. the need for security of those works against terrorists. Some > facilities (highway toll roads, transit agencies) do not allow > photography from public safe locations which traditionally was a > absolute right. > I myself aren't sure. I don't agree with either extremes--the govt > must have some limitations on citizen spying and we must preserve our > long existing rights, but the govt does need the power and ability to > spy on potential terrorists to protect us. > [public replies please]. The telephone companies keep records on telephone contacts (which number called which number) without going into the substance of the conversations. It's a "Point A to Point B" record. Is this "spying" by the telcoms? No. Millions of records are kept, probably without either your specific permission or knowledge that they keep every contact you make, or is made to you. NSA uses this Point A to Point B calling information to detect patterns in communications, without knowing the substance of the conversations -- or even who the individual was on either end of the link. Is this "spying?" I think not. The other piece of the question pertains to direct interception of calls between known foreign agents or terrorists and individuals within the US boundaries who may -- or may not -- be US citizens. Substance of the conversations IS of interest. "Spying?" Call it what you will. Further, not all US citizens are straightforward and trustworthy individuals. There are a few bad apples. George I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -- Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman (attributed) ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 20:25:14 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information It was a dark and stormy night when hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > I am curious as to what people think of the issue of national security > vs. privacy in light of the recent revelations. I would suggest that the first point is, the government must not violate the law. And simply having some high official say "it's legal if I say it is" is not a defense. If the government (or contractors, at the government's direction) violates the law, the parties involved should face the same legal consequences as you and I do if we violate the law. Violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by "engaging in electronic surveillance under color of law except as authorized by statute", which in this case would mean without warrant or court order, has a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, plus a civil liability to *each* aggrieved party of "(a) actual damages, but not less than liquidated damages of $1,000 or $100 per day for each day of violation, whichever is greater; (b) punitive damages; and (c) reasonable attorney's fees and other investigation and litigation costs reasonably incurred. " My desk calculator couldn't deal with the number you get when you figure "not less than" $100/day for 5 years for 2 million people. At least if we get $10,000 fines from all the Administration, NSA, AT&T, etc. people involved, it will help offset the civil damages a little. "Orders" hasn't cut it as a defense since Nuremberg. This is especially important in an administration where the President thinks that if he crosses his fingers when signing a law, the law doesn't apply to him. The second point would be, we know it won't be limited to national security (or, "national security" will be redefined to include whatever the official in charge wants to spy on). Think how useful that communications information could be in solving a drug case. Already, prosecutors are misusing the "Patriot" act by classifying their crime of choice (say, producing methamphetamine, or tax evasion) as "terrorism". Or a corruption case. Or, since it's secret and nobody will know, why not use it to find out who leaked that info to that reporter. Oh, the data is there, we can tell who called who, why can't it be subpoenaed by a divorce lawyer? That's why courts need to supervise on a case-by-case basis, to prevent those abuses. I think you may have opened up a firestorm of a topic. Dave ------------------------------ From: George Mitchell Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 22:04:48 -0700 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote: > I am curious as to what people think of the issue of national > security vs. privacy in light of the recent revelations. A news poll on ABC tonight said that about 2/3 of respondents thought it was just fine for the NSA to accumulate everybody's phone records. Even theirs. After all, they didn't have anything to hide. As for myself, I am diametrically opposed to this point of view. I feel personally threatened to a far greater degree by the federal government's assaults on my privacy than by any terrorist. Our personal security is based on our rights -- not the abridgement of those rights. -- George Mitchell ------------------------------ From: Joshua Putnam Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 22:08:17 -0700 If there is a legitimate need to curtail human rights to fight terrorists, then the authority to do so should be narrowly tailored, debated by the full Congress, codified in law, and subject to judicial review. I have little doubt that the NSA could have obtained the authority to review phone records if the issue had been brought to Congress after 9/11, considering what other authority was granted to various executive departments in the so-called Patriot Act. What offends me is not that particular surveillance technique, but rather this Administration's habit of engaging in any number of activities without any legal authority, any meaningful Congressional oversight, or any chance for judicial review. We're supposed to have a President, not a King, one of three *co-equal* branches of government. A generation from now, people will look back on the excesses of the Bush Administration with as much shame and disbelief as we do today looking back on the Japanese concentration camps of WW II or the imposition of jail sentences for people who spoke German in public during WW I. josh@phred.org is Joshua Putnam http://www.phred.org/~josh "My other bike is a car." ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #180 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun May 14 15:10:59 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id F3D1C1554A; Sun, 14 May 2006 15:10:58 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #181 Message-Id: <20060514191058.F3D1C1554A@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 15:10:58 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, OPTING_OUT autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 14 May 2006 02:09:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 181 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Ban on Cellphones in NYC Schools Causes Uproar (Canadian Press) Spammers Identify 'Secure Addresses' From Blue Security (Anick Jesdanun) Antispam Firm Blue Security Says was Victim of Attack (Jaikumar Vijaya) Blue Security Denies Fault ion Blog Outage (Greg Keizer) Policy Post 12.08: Illegal NSA Data Mining Highlights Need (Monty Solomon) NSA has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls (Monty Solomon) Cheney Pushed U.S. to Widen Eavesdropping (Monty Solomon) Questions Raised for Phone Giants in Spy Data Furor (Monty Solomon) Scan This Book! (Monty Solomon) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (Wesrock@aol.com) Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection (Gordon Burditt) Last Laugh! Re: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular? (8ackgr0und N015e) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Canadian Press News Wire Subject: Ban on Cellphones in NYC Schools Causes Uproar Among Students, Parents Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 13:22:29 -0500 NEW YORK (AP) - Elizabeth Casanola sneaks her cell phone past the metal detectors at her high school by slipping it down her pants, just below the waistband, where she knows she won't be patted down. A ban on cell phones in the nation's biggest school system is creating an uproar among parents and students alike, with teenagers smuggling their phones inside their lunches and under their clothes, and grown-ups insisting they need to stay in touch with their children in case of another crisis like Sept. 11. Parents have written angry letters and e-mails, staged rallies and news conferences, and threatened to sue. Some City Council members are introducing legislation on their behalf. But Mayor Michael Bloomberg and schools Chancellor Joel Klein have staunchly refused to drop the ban. They insist cell phones are a distraction and are used to cheat, take inappropriate photos in bathrooms, and organize gang rendezvous. They are also a top stolen item. Students have refused to give up their phones, saying the devices have become too vital to their daily existence and to their parents' peace of mind. "My mother, she needs me to have the cell to call me and check up on me," said Steven Cao, 16, a sophomore who lives in Staten Island and attends Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. He called the ban stupid. Some parents would prefer a policy that lets students have cell phones but prohibits their use in classes. New York's 1.1-million-student school system has banned beepers and other communication devices since the late 1980s. But schools have long used an "out-of-sight, out-of-trouble" approach. Then, late last month, city officials began sending portable metal detectors every day to a random but small set of schools to keep out weapons. And the detectors have led to the confiscation of hundreds of cell phones. New York has one of the country's toughest policies on student cell phones, and also bans other electronic devices such as iPods. Detroit bans cell phones, and a two-time violator will not get the phone back. Boston relied on a school-by-school approach until recently, when it changed the policy to let students have a phone, but only if it is turned off and out of sight. Los Angeles lets kids have cell phones, but they can use them only during lunch and breaks. Kenneth Trump, president of Ohio-based National School Safety and Security Services, said his research indicates most schools ban the phones. Others require students to turn off the devices during school hours. New York principals said the ban is tough to enforce, especially in large schools without metal detectors. "Every kid today does carry a cell phone," said Howard Lucks, principal of New Utrecht High in Brooklyn. "The kids keep them in their backpacks, their pockets. As soon as they see an administrator or teacher, they put it away very quickly." Even at schools with permanent metal detectors, students find ways to sneak the phones inside. Casanola sometimes smuggles her phone in pieces, with the battery separate from the main body. Once inside the school, another tactic is to hide the phone in a sandwich roll, according to one principal. Some students leave phones at nearby stores that charge small holding fees. Yen Ramirez, a junior at Manhattan's Washington Irving High, said students need their phones for emergencies. The ban is a problem "because you never know what could happen." Students insist that most classmates use their cell phones responsibly, and they brush off criticism that previous generations got along fine without them. "It's kind of ridiculous that we think we can't survive without a cell phone when people did it for thousands of years," said Elisa Muyl, 14, a freshman at Stuyvesant High. "But now that they have this invention, we should use it." Copyright The Canadian Press, 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, The Canadian Press. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Anick Jesdanun Subject: Spammer Identifies 'Secure' Email Addresses From Blue Security Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 23:12:38 -0500 By ANICK JESDANUN The Associated Press NEW YORK -- One spammer has managed to identify e-mail addresses on a "do-not-spam" list touted as secure, taking advantage of an obvious flaw with such lists and prompting critics to wonder what took so long. Those who submitted their addresses to Blue Security Inc.'s Blue Frog registry have been getting messages that threaten, among other things, "nonsensical spams 20-40 times more than you would normally" get, according to a copy provided by the company. Blue Security described the spammer's tactics as "bullying" and "extortion" as well as a sign the company's controversial anti-spam tactics are working, annoying spammers enough to prompt such a response. Critics, however, say such lists are fundamentally flawed. "Do-not-spam" registries work by encouraging users to submit their e-mail addresses -- Blue Security says it has 450,000. Before sending out a batch of messages, spammers are supposed to remove any addresses appearing on such lists. The lists are generally encrypted so spammers can't mine them for new addresses. Instead, spammers run their lists through an identical encryption algorithm, and the resulting fingerprints are compared. Spammers can then remove any matches. But John Levine, co-author of "Fighting Spam for Dummies," said spammers merely have to run their lists, see what's been removed and compare that with the original to find out the addresses on the "do-not-spam" lists. "It's only a surprise that it took this long," Levine said. Eran Reshef, Blue Security's chief executive, said spammers must already have the e-mail address to learn it is on the "do-not-spam" list. Blue Security has been criticized for what Levine calls its vigilante approach. Users install software that sends complaints to spammers automatically. Thousands complaining at once can knock out a Web site and, the company says, encourage spammers to stop. According the company, the spammer responded not only by threatening users if they don't stop but also by making Blue Security's Web site inaccessible outside Israel, where the company has major operations. Copyright 2006 Associated Press 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Jaikumar Vijaya Subject: Antispam Firm Blue Security Says Was Victim of Attack Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 23:44:36 -0500 The CEO of an antispam firm whose service was knocked offline by a spammer claimed his company was the victim of a sophisticated attack carried out, in part, with the help of someone at a top-tier Internet Service Provider (ISP). Eran Reshef, CEO of Blue Security, an Israeli antispam firm, said that his company was attacked by a major spammer named PharmaMaster who used a combination of methods to knock out the company's Web site and the servers hosting its services. He also hit back at criticism that the response by Blue Security to the attacks caused widespread problems to others. Blue Security operates an antispam service designed to deter junk-mailers by spamming them back. Blue Security's Do Not Intrude program allows individuals to register their email addresses with the company and essentially flood spammers who send them email with automated opt-out requests. The attacks that crippled Blue Service were preceded by PharmaMaster sending out threatening emails to subscribers of the Do Not Intrude Registry, warning them of even more spam if they did not withdraw their subscriptions. PharmaMaster then appears to have gotten someone at a major ISP to block Blue Security's IP address on the Internet's backbone routers, most probably via a process called black-holing, Reshef claimed. With black-holing, an ISP essentially removes the advertised path to a particular Web site or IP address -- making it completely inaccessible to the outside world. According to Reshef, PharmaMaster informed Blue Security that he had gotten an ISP to agree to blackhole the company before the attacks started. "Immediately, we started seeing our IP address getting blacklisted by other ISPs," Reshef said. As a result, traffic to the company's main Web site dropping from the usual 100 hits per minute to about two per minute in less than an hour -- and nothing at all from outside of Israel. At almost the same time, massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were launched against the dedicated servers that provide Blue Security's antispam service. The servers, located at five separate hosting provider sites, were bombarded with up to 2GB of traffic per second, rendering them inaccessible. In what Reshef said was a bid to tell subscribers what was happening, Blue Security pointed the company's corporate Web server URL to its blog, which is hosted by Six Apart in San Francisco. PharmaMaster then launched a DDoS attack against the server hosting Blue Security's blog. That resulted in thousands of other blogs hosted by Six Apart to be knocked offline. The DDoS attacks against the company's dedicated servers meanwhile resulted in service disruptions to five hosting providers and major DNS service provider Tucows, he said. Pointing the company's main URL to the Blue Security blog site on Six Apart when it was under attack may not have been the best idea, Reshef said. But at the time, the company had little idea that the attacker would launch a separate denial of service attack on the blog site as well. Todd Underwood, chief operations and security officer at Renesys, an Internet monitoring company, said that based on traffic analysis, Blue Security's main Web site appears to have been under a DDoS attack for at least two days before it redirected its URL to the blog. "I do think if you are under attack it is your duty not to redirect it against someone else," Underwood said. "It is not a fair or an ethical decision," he said, adding that it is hard to imagine that Blue Security didn't know it was being hit with a DDoS attack when it pointed its URL to the blog site. Underwood also said that it was unlikely that a spammer would have been able to get an individual at a major ISP to install a "no route" to Blue Security, as Reshef claimed. "These are not the kind of networks where people can sneak in and make routing configuration changes" without logging that change or discussing it with others, he said. "The suggestion that some Russian spammer could bribe someone to install a no-route" is hard to believe, he said. John Levine, chairman of the Internet Anti-Spam Research Group, said that other antispam efforts have been similarly targeted as well. But they did not involve an ISP. And neither did those who were attacked respond like Blue Security did, he said. "If you know you are under a DoS attack, pointing your DNS at other parties is irresponsible," he said. Copyright 2006, IDG Communications New Zealand 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Greg Keizer Subject: Blue Security Denies Fault in Blog Outage Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 23:58:07 -0500 By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb.com http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=187200875 Blue Security's chief executive last week denied that the server he repointed at a TypePad blog earlier this week brought along a denial of service attack that caused that blogging service, and others hosted by Six Apart, to crash. "When we changed the domain name server to point to TypePad, there was no traffic flowing into our corporate server at http://www.bluesecurity.com " said Eran Reshef, Blue Security's CEO. "I'm one of the victims here," Reshef said. The dispute over the whats and hows and whens of the incident, which dropped Six Apart's TypePad, LiveJournal, and MessagePad blogging services offline for approximately 8 hours late Tuesday and early Wednesday U.S. time, was fueled Thursday by analysts who said Reshef's story didn't add up. Friday, Reshef acknowledged that some of his company's servers had been subjected to a large denial-of-service (DoS) attacks for days, but said those were operational, or back-end, servers, and not connected to his anti-spam company's front door at http://bluesecurity.com. Earlier, he had denied that any DoS wasunderway. "I just discovered that today," he said. "There was no DoS on the corporate server," when he repointed the URL to a dusted-off blog on TypePad's blogs.com domain to get out the word that the site was unavailable outside Israel, where Blue Security is based. Reshef had earlier said that a Russian spammer, dubbed "PharmaMaster," had bribed a worker at a "major ISP" to reroute Internet traffic so that no page requests reached Blue Security's Web site from outside the country. Friday, Reshef said that further investigation now led him to believe that a "blackhole filter," a technology often applied in DoS defenses, was maliciously used to block incoming traffic. Reshef provided TechWeb with copies of Blue Security's Web logs that showed a drop in access from locales outside Israel over an hour and 45 minute span. During the last 7 minutes of that log, only 28 percent of the site accesses originated outside Israel. "It wasn't the best decision to reroute traffic to TypePad," Reshelf said. But he again defended the repointing, saying that if he had suspected the attacker would follow Blue Security to the TypePad blog, he would have done things differently. "I would have just put out a press release," he said. Reshef said that TypePad readers were able to add comments to the blog for at least 30 minutes after Blue Security repointed its servers. Blue Security redirected its site to TypePad at 11:20 p.m. (GMT) on Tuesday, May 2, he said. But comments were posted from 11:27 to 11:57 p.m., at which point the string broke, not to be resumed for more than two hours. Six Apart said this week that the DoS attack began at approximately 4:00 p.m. PDT (midnight GMT, May 3), or about 40 minutes after Blue Security said their site was redirected. "If the site [wwwl.bluesecurity.com] had been under attack [when we redirected], packets would have reached TypePad within minutes," Reshef said. That users were able to reach the blog and leave comments proves that Blue Security did not drag an ongoing DoS attack to TypePad and Six Apart. But when asked if he had contacted Six Apart prior to repointing his corporate site, or informed them that other company servers were currently under attack at the time, he only answered "I'm not saying this was the smartest move." For its part, San Francisco-based Six Apart refused to divulge details of the attack's timeline. "We're not pointing the finger at anyone," said Jane Anderson, a spokesperson for Six Apart. "No, we've not contacted Blue Security, but we have been in touch with the FBI. This [DoS] was a criminal event, and we intend to follow up." One possible explanation for the mysterious drop-off in incoming traffic to http://www.bluesecurity.com -- which was what led Reshef and his company to redirect the URL to TypePad -- is that Blue Security's own Israeli ISP shut down traffic to block a building DoS. Todd Underwood, the chief of operations and security at Manchester, N.H.-based Renesys, an Internet monitoring and routing analysis firm, said Friday that it's possible that Blue Security's ISP used a blackhole filter to stem an outside attack. "It's entirely plausible that NetVision put a black hole filter in place," said Underwood, "if they were seeing large numbers of packets aimed at Blue Security and didn't want to drag the traffic all the way from, say, New York." NetVision, which has offices in Tel Aviv and Haifa, Israel, was not available due to the time difference. "No, I haven't talked with NetVision," said Reshelf, who confirmed that NetVision was his company's ISP. "They haven't called us, either." Reshef said he and others at Blue Security had been too busy dealing with the crisis this week to find out if NetVision had activated a blackhole filter. He acknowledged, however, that it was a "possible explanation." "If that's what happened, and they haven't told us about it for four days, then I will have to have a long talk with them," Reshef said. Copyright 2005 CMP Media LLC ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 18:19:47 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Policy Post 12.08: Illegal NSA Data Mining Highlights Need for Policy Post 12.8, May 11, 2006 A Briefing On Public Policy Issues Affecting Civil Liberties Online from The Center For Democracy and Technology (1) Illegal NSA Data Mining Highlights Need for Congressional Oversight (2) Program Appears Illegal, Regardless of How Database Was Compiled (3) Relevant Statutes for Access to Stored Records http://www.cdt.org/publications/policyposts/2006/8 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 18:34:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY. The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans - most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews. "It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added. For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made -- across town or across the country -- to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others. The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they said. The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program is secret. http://usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm For more news and headlines from USA Today, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 23:38:36 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Cheney Pushed U.S. to Widen Eavesdropping By SCOTT SHANE and ERIC LICHTBLAU The New York Times May 14, 2006 WASHINGTON, May 13 - In the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Vice President Dick Cheney and his top legal adviser argued that the National Security Agency should intercept purely domestic telephone calls and e-mail messages without warrants in the hunt for terrorists, according to two senior intelligence officials. But N.S.A. lawyers, trained in the agency's strict rules against domestic spying and reluctant to approve any eavesdropping without warrants, insisted that it should be limited to communications into and out of the country, said the officials, who were granted anonymity to discuss the debate inside the Bush administration late in 2001. The N.S.A.'s position ultimately prevailed. But just how Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the agency at the time, designed the program, persuaded wary N.S.A. officers to accept it and sold the White House on its limits is not yet clear. As the program's overseer and chief salesman, General Hayden is certain to face questions about his role when he appears at a Senate hearing next week on his nomination as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Criticism of the surveillance program, which some lawmakers say is illegal, flared again this week with the disclosure that the N.S.A. had collected the phone records of millions of Americans in an effort to track terrorism suspects. By several accounts, including those of the two officials, General Hayden, a 61-year-old Air Force officer who left the agency last year to become principal deputy director of national intelligence, was the man in the middle as President Bush demanded that intelligence agencies act urgently to stop future attacks. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/washington/14nsa.html?ex=1305259200&en=4293d682ba33afda&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 23:41:10 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Questions Raised for Phone Giants in Spy Data Furor By JOHN MARKOFF The New York Times May 13, 2006 The former chief executive of Qwest, the nation's fourth-largest phone company, rebuffed government requests for the company's calling records after 9/11 because of "a disinclination on the part of the authorities to use any legal process," his lawyer said yesterday. The statement on behalf of the former Qwest executive, Joseph P. Nacchio, followed a report that the other big phone companies -- AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon -- had complied with an effort by the National Security Agency to build a vast database of calling records, without warrants, to increase its surveillance capabilities after the Sept. 11 attacks. Those companies insisted yesterday that they were vigilant about their customers' privacy, but did not directly address their cooperation with the government effort, which was reported on Thursday by USA Today. Verizon said that it provided customer information to a government agency "only where authorized by law for appropriately defined and focused purposes," but that it could not comment on any relationship with a national security program that was "highly classified." Legal experts said the companies faced the prospect of lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages over cooperation in the program, citing communications privacy legislation stretching back to the 1930's. A federal lawsuit was filed in Manhattan yesterday seeking as much as $50 billion in civil damages against Verizon on behalf of its subscribers. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/13/washington/13phone.html?ex=1305172800&en=0872ff5e182d5e7c&ei=5090 For more news and headlines from New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio with no login nor registation requirements, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 00:16:54 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Scan This Book! By KEVIN KELLY The New York Times May 14, 2006 In several dozen nondescript office buildings around the world, thousands of hourly workers bend over table-top scanners and haul dusty books into high-tech scanning booths. They are assembling the universal library page by page. The dream is an old one: to have in one place all knowledge, past and present. All books, all documents, all conceptual works, in all languages. It is a familiar hope, in part because long ago we briefly built such a library. The great library at Alexandria, constructed around 300 B.C., was designed to hold all the scrolls circulating in the known world. At one time or another, the library held about half a million scrolls, estimated to have been between 30 and 70 percent of all books in existence then. But even before this great library was lost, the moment when all knowledge could be housed in a single building had passed. Since then, the constant expansion of information has overwhelmed our capacity to contain it. For 2,000 years, the universal library, together with other perennial longings like invisibility cloaks, antigravity shoes and paperless offices, has been a mythical dream that kept receding further into the infinite future. Until now. When Google announced in December 2004 that it would digitally scan the books of five major research libraries to make their contents searchable, the promise of a universal library was resurrected. Indeed, the explosive rise of the Web, going from nothing to everything in one decade, has encouraged us to believe in the impossible again. Might the long-heralded great library of all knowledge really be within our grasp? Brewster Kahle, an archivist overseeing another scanning project, says that the universal library is now within reach. "This is our chance to one-up the Greeks!" he shouts. "It is really possible with the technology of today, not tomorrow. We can provide all the works of humankind to all the people of the world. It will be an achievement remembered for all time, like putting a man on the moon." And unlike the libraries of old, which were restricted to the elite, this library would be truly democratic, offering every book to every person. But the technology that will bring us a planetary source of all written material will also, in the same gesture, transform the nature of what we now call the book and the libraries that hold them. The universal library and its "books" will be unlike any library or books we have known. Pushing us rapidly toward that Eden of everything, and away from the paradigm of the physical paper tome, is the hot technology of the search engine. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/magazine/14publishing.html?ex=1305259200&en=c07443d368771bb8&ei=5090 ------------------------------ From: Wesrock@aol.com Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 20:35:12 EDT Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? In a message dated Fri, 12 May 2006 20:40:39 -0400, George Berger writes: > The telephone companies keep records on telephone contacts (which number > called which number) without going into the substance of the > conversations. It's a "Point A to Point B" record. Is this "spying" by > the telcoms? No. Millions of records are kept, probably without either > your specific permission or knowledge that they keep every contact you > make, or is made to you. This may be true of toll calls, but why would they keep records, or even make a record, of local calls which in most parts of the country are flat rate unlimited? These records are of no value to the telco nor to the customer. Once a local call is taken down (disconnected) there is no reason to record the historical fact. Wes Leatherock wesrock@aol.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I can tell you that since ESS became the most common switching system, telco has had and maintains records on _all_ calls. Whether or not the calls are billed for or not (i.e. 'local' or 'toll'), there still is a record kept of them for whatever reason, for reasons like CALEA and other things. PAT] ------------------------------ From: gordonb.zu0a9@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 01:12:53 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com > But in his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush rushed to assure the > public the secret program did not target innocent private citizens. Cheney did not "target" a fellow hunter either. Funny how that person was injured anyway. > Specially designed computer programs watch for patterns in these > contacts and analyze them to make sure no terrorist cell is operating > within the United States. I'd like to see the output of such a program analyzing contacts between members of Congress and lobbyists made public, to ensure that no bribing of congresscritters is taking place. Gordon L. Burditt ------------------------------ From: 8ackgr0und N015e Subject: Last Laugh! Re: Online Cross-Search of Reverse-Regular Directories? Date: 13 May 2006 18:30:45 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Frank Stearns wrote: > Dave Garland writes: >> There's something a little odd about this. > Odd in what way? The gentlemen did not leave a last name or a > company name (sure wish he had!); the last four digits were cut off > from the message. "Hi, this is George ... I've got a job for you, call me at 202-456-...." As opposed to: Hi Frank, this is George Bush, I got your name and number from Harriet Meirs. She speaks highly of you. She said you would be able to help us here at the White House with a problem we have tracking down male prostitutes who pose as journalists. We are trying to keep this confidential, so call me directly on my private line. Ask for George at 202-456-2930. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Big guffaw! Snort, laugh ... now should I or shouldn't I print that Direct Inward Dial centrex number to Dubya's office? At least it was the direct line into the Oval Office back in the days of Bush the First when I published the pirated copy of the White House internal phone directory which came my way back in the 1980's ... by now, it probably was abused so much his Highness probably ordered C&P -- or whoever their telephone company is -- to change the number. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #181 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun May 14 16:09:14 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 5D118156BD; Sun, 14 May 2006 16:09:14 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #182 Message-Id: <20060514200914.5D118156BD@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 16:09:14 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 14 May 2006 16:11:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 182 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Myths and Falsehoods on NSA Domestic Call-Tracking Program (Media Matters) We Must All be Terrorist Suspects Now (Eugene Robinson) Can TV's and PC's Live Together Happily Ever After? (Monty Solomon) Satellite System Is Over Budget and in Trouble (Monty Solomon) 311 (Monty Solomon) A-la-Carte Cable TV (Neal McLain) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (Linc Madison) Re: Help Needed With WAV File (Geoffrey Welsh) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Media Matters Subject: Myths and Falsehoods on the NSA Domestic Call-Tracking Program Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 14:00:11 -0500 http://mediamatters.org/ Myths and falsehoods on the NSA domestic call-tracking program Summary: Media Matters documents the misleading or false claims advanced by media figures and Bush administration supporters in the wake of news that the National Security Agency had since 2001 been secretly collecting records of phone calls made by millions of Americans. On May 11, USA Today reported that the National Security Agency (NSA) had since 2001 been secretly collecting records of phone calls made by millions of Americans. The article reported that the NSA, in cooperation with three major phone companies, "reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans -- most of whom aren't suspected of any crime" and uses the data "to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity." The public disclosure of the domestic call tracking program provoked bipartisan criticism and calls for a full congressional investigation. Further, it revived the contentious debate over the NSA's warrantless eavesdropping on U.S. residents' international communications. As The New York Times revealed last year, the president authorized the agency to conduct such surveillance shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in apparent violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which requires court approval in order to conduct domestic electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes. As with the exposure of the warrantless surveillance program in December 2005, media figures and Bush supporters have advanced numerous misleading or false claims in the wake of the news, as Media Matters for America documents below. #1: The NSA has access only to Americans' phone numbers and call records -- not names, addresses or other identifying information. In reporting on the NSA call-tracking program, some media figures have emphasized that the phone companies are not providing callers' names and addresses to the agency -- only their phone numbers and records of their various calls. Examples include: a.. CNN national security correspondent David Ensor: The phone companies provide the NSA "the phone numbers they call -- not the names, not the addresses of the people they called." [CNN International's Your World Today, 5/11/06] b.. NBC senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers: "The data provided by AT&T, Verizon, and Bell South reportedly includes phone calls made and received but not customers' names and addresses." [NBC's Today, 5/11/06] c.. ABC chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross: "Officials say the phone records, with no names attached, are fed into NSA computers, programmed to track patterns between the U.S. and places where suspected terrorists might be, such as Afghanistan and Pakistan." [ABC's World News Tonight, 5/11/06] d.. Fox News host John Gibson: "[T]he NSA is compiling phone calling patterns in an effort to track terrorists here in this country. No addresses or names are reportedly part of that information being collected." [Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson, 5/11/06] e.. Fox News correspondent Carl Cameron: "The data records that the NSA is obtaining do not contain customer names, addresses, or anything about the actual call content." [Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, 5/11/06] f.. Fox News correspondent Jim Angle: "But others of both parties said this is far different and far less intrusive than actually listening to suspected terrorist communications. In this case, the NSA is reportedly collecting nothing more than phone call records, without any names or addresses." [Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, 5/11/06] But the original May 11 USA Today article on the program made clear that phone customers' names, addresses, and "other personal information" can "easily" be obtained by cross-referencing their phone numbers with other databases, as Media Matters for America noted. A May 12 Washington Post article further reported that "the government has many means of identifying account owners, including access to commercial databases from ChoicePoint and LexisNexis." Similarly, some reporters have failed to challenge Republican lawmakers' assertions that the data collected by the NSA is limited to phone numbers. For instance, in a May 12 article, Associated Press staff writer Katherine Shrader uncritically reported Sen. Wayne Allard's (R-CO) claim that "[t]elephone customers' names, addresses and other personal information have not been handed over to NSA as part of this program." #2: The NSA is only tracking phone calls, not listening to them. In describing the specifics of the NSA call-tracking program, certain media figures have claimed that the NSA only captures call records and does not use the data for surveillance. On the May 11 edition of CNN's Live From ..., CNN congressional correspondent Ed Henry reported, "[T]he government appears to be ... collecting these records but not actually eavesdropping, not listening in on the calls, an important distinction." On the May 11 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, co-host Sean Hannity claimed, "[A]ll we're looking at are patterns ... we're not looking at the content, we're not listening to people's calls." But in affirmatively claiming that the NSA is not using the data for surveillance, Henry and Hannity are in effect asserting that the NSA's call-tracking program operates independent of the NSA's warrantless domestic eavesdropping program. They offer no support for this claim. Indeed, a May 12 Washington Post article reported that the two programs are directly linked, as the data provided to the NSA by the major phone companies assists the agency in selecting targets for warrantless surveillance. From the May 12 Post article: Government access to call records is related to the previously disclosed eavesdropping program, sources said, because it helps the NSA choose its targets for listening. The mathematical techniques known as 'link analysis' and 'pattern analysis,' they said, give grounds for suspicion that can result in further investigation. Despite this report, the Post and ABC News conducted a poll on the call-tracking program that asserted that the NSA is not "listening to or recording the conversations," as Media Matters noted. Sixty-three percent of respondents found the program, as misleadingly described, acceptable. #3: The Clinton administration implemented a more intrusive surveillance program. Shortly after the disclosure of the NSA's warrantless domestic surveillance program in December 2005, conservative media figures attempted to draw a parallel between the Clinton administration's use of a surveillance program known as Echelon and the warrantless domestic eavesdropping authorized by the Bush administration. In the wake of this new revelation, media have equated the NSA call-tracking operation and Echelon. For instance, a May 12 New York Post editorial claimed that "the program has clear antecedents in a widely rumored surveillance program called Echelon, which was hotly debated across the Internet back in 1999 -- nearly two years before President Bush took office." On the May 12 edition Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade said, "This has been happening since 2000. This isn't one man's policy. The foundation was already laid for this six years ago." But as Media Matters noted in response to the earlier comparisons, in contrast with the Bush administration's surveillance program, the eavesdropping of U.S. residents conducted under Echelon was carried out in compliance with FISA, according to then-CIA Director George J. Tenet. In his April 12, 2002, testimony before the House Intelligence Committee Tenet denied that Echelon was used to spy on U.S residents without a warrant. He said, "We do not target their conversations for collection in the United States unless a FISA warrant has been obtained from the FISA court by the Justice Department." Then-National Security Agency director Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden -- currently Bush's nominee for CIA director -- also appeared before the committee and testified, "If [an] American person is in the United States of America, I must have a court order before I initiate any collection [of communications] against him or her." By contrast, since the disclosure of their warrantless domestic surveillance program, Bush has asserted -- and administration officials such as Hayden have repeated -- that he possesses the authority to eavesdrop on U.S. residents' communications without FISA approval. Conservative media figures such as Hannity and syndicated columnist Michelle Malkin have gone a step further, however, and claimed that Echelon was more intrusive than the Bush administration's current surveillance activities. On the May 11 Hannity & Colmes, Hannity said, "Under the Echelon program there is the ability to monitor, as I said, the substance and content. ... So it seems odd to me that we have a far more intrusive program that liberals support, and now they're all up in arms about a far less intrusive program [the NSA call-tracking program]." In a May 12 column, Malkin wrote, "The paper [USA Today] admits the kind of data collection involved is not new. The Clinton administration's Echelon program was far more intrusive." As with Hannity's claim that the NSA is not using the phone records data to intercept communications of Americans, these assertions rest on the assumption that the data collection program operates independently of the NSA warrantless domestic surveillance program. But as noted above, the Post has reported that the two are directly linked. #4: Only Democrats are criticizing the NSA program. In reporting on the NSA data collection program, various media figures have cast the controversy as a purely partisan dispute by suggesting that only Democrats have criticized the program. In fact, a number of prominent Republican congressmen -- current and former -- have also denounced the program or at least voiced skepticism. As Media Matters noted, Sens. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-SC), and House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) all raised questions and criticism of the program following its disclosure. According to a May 12 USA Today article, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) "questioned why the phone companies would cooperate with the NSA." According to Grassley: "Why are the telephone companies not protecting their customers? ... They have a social responsibility to people who do business with them to protect our privacy as long as there isn't some suspicion that we're a terrorist or a criminal or something." On the May 11 edition of Hannity & Colmes, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) said: GINGRICH: I'm not going to defend the indefensible ... I'm prepared to defend a very aggressive anti-terrorist campaign, and I'm prepared to defend the idea that the government ought to know who's making the calls, as long as that information is only used against terrorists, and as long as the Congress knows that it's under way. But I don't think the way they've handled this can be defended by reasonable people. It is sloppy. On the May 11 edition of MSNBC's Scarborough Country, host and former Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-FL) said: "Memo to the president and congressional leaders who signed up on this lousy program: We don't trust you anymore." And yet, on the May 11 edition of Fox News' The Big Story with John Gibson, homeland defense correspondent Catherine Herridge reported: "The NSA issue dominated the session of the Senate Judiciary Committee today with senior Democrats on this committee saying the new revelation will impact Hayden's confirmation." On the May 11 edition of Special Report, Fox News chief White House correspondent Carl Cameron -- during a "hard news" segment -- attacked Democrats for "complaining about the NSA programs without really knowing what they are" and echoed Republicans in saying that "is precisely why so many Republicans say Democrats just aren't serious about security." #5: "Experts agree" this type of data collection is "legal" A variety of media figures have stated unequivocally that the NSA data collection program is "legal," or that "experts agree" the program is legal. There are, however, a number of experts who have said that the administration might be acting illegally. The New York Times reported on May 12: "Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies [CNSS], said, 'If they don't get a court order, it's a crime.' She said that while the F.B.I. might be able to get access to phone collection databases by using an administrative subpoena, her reading of federal law was that the N.S.A. would be banned from doing so without court approval. Depending on how it was conducted, it may have also have been a crime." The CNSS also issued a statement featured on its website, stating, "On May 11, 2006, USA Today reported that the NSA has been secretly collecting the phone records of millions of Americans. The President held a news briefing in which he carefully failed to deny that the program exists. Such surveillance, if not authorized by the FISA court, is illegal." A May 12 USA Today article quoted Georgetown University law professor David Cole saying: "This may well be another example where the Bush administration, in secret, decided to bypass the courts and contravene federal law." In addition, Newsday reported on May 12: However, James Dempsey of the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology said several laws appear to apply to the described program. Real-time collection of data would require the NSA to get a warrant either from a criminal court or from the special court created by the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act, he said. And if the NSA is collecting historical records, the telecommunica- tions companies face the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and another law that prohibits sharing information without a subpoena or court order, he said. Nevertheless, on the May 11 broadcast of NBC's Nightly News, senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers reported: "Some experts agree that the program, if conducted properly, is legal. But some warn there is also great potential for abuse." Myers failed to note that there are experts who have gone beyond warning of the potential for abuse to challenge the reported program's legality. Similarly, ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross reported on the May 11 broadcast of World News Tonight: "In fact, many experts we talked to today said the program is legal, they believe, based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision that held that phone customers have no expectation of privacy for the phone numbers they dial. What worries some, of course, Elizabeth, is what the government does next if they detect what they think is a suspicious pattern." But, while the Supreme Court ruled in Smith v. Maryland (1979) that the use of "pen registers" -- devices that record only the numbers dialed and received at a specific phone -- is not a violation of Fourth Amendment rights, some legal experts have noted that the NSA's phone data collection program might violate federal statutory law. As George Washington University law professor Orin Kerr explained in a May 11 entry on his weblog: To summarize, my very preliminary sense is that there are no Fourth Amendment issues here but a number of statutory problems under statutes such as FISA and the pen register statute. Of course, all of the statutory questions are subject to the possible argument that Article II trumps those statutes. As I have mentioned before, I don't see the support for the strong Article II argument in existing caselaw, but there is a good chance that the Administration's legal argument in support of the new law will rely on it. On the May 11 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, Roger Cressey, NBC counterterrorism analyst and former counterterrorism advisor to Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, claimed that "assembling the database in and of itself is not illegal." Fox News host Bill O'Reilly claimed on the May 11 edition of The O'Reilly Factor that "there's nobody who believes that the Bush administration is going to lose any of this stuff in a court of law." #6: NSA program could have prevented 9-11 attacks A number of media figures have suggested that the NSA data collection program could have prevented the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had it been in place before then. This same claim was advanced by the Bush administration to defend the NSA's warrantless domestic surveillance program when its existence was publicy disclosed in December 2005, as Media Matters noted. This argument, however, is completely unsubstantiated. As Media Matters noted when Hayden advanced this claim in January, the 9-11 Commission and congressional investigators determined that it was primarily bureaucratic problems -- rather than a lack of information -- that were responsible for the security breakdown. The Washington Post reported on January 24: Hayden echoed a claim earlier this month by Vice President [Dick] Cheney that, if the NSA program had been in place prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, "it is my professional judgment that we would have detected some of the 9/11 al Qaeda operatives in the United States." Like Cheney, however, Hayden did not mention that the NSA, CIA and FBI had significant information about two of the leading hijackers as early as January 2000 but failed to keep track of them or capitalize on the information, according to the Sept. 11 commission and others. He also did not mention NSA intercepts warning of the attacks the day before, but not translated until Sept. 12, 2001. But Matthews, on the May 11 edition of Hardball, said to Sen. Ken Salazar (D-CO): MATTHEWS: Well, here's where the tire hits the road, Senator. Suppose our authorities had broken up 9-11 the day before, because they noticed telephone traffic which suggested 19 people were about to grab four planes and take them in to buildings. Would that have justified the program if that had happened? On the May 11 edition of Special Report with Brit Hume, Fox News chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle reported: ANGLE: For instance, if this had been in place before 9-11, and the U.S. had the phone number used by Al Qaeda planner Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, it could have searched the database to locate which numbers he was calling in the U.S., which might have led to the hijackers before they boarded their planes. Angle's suggestion that the program could have provided the NSA with alleged 9-11 mastermind Khalid Shaik Mohammed's phone number, thus leading authorities to discover the 9-11 plot, ignored the fact that the NSA was monitoring Mohammed's phone calls the day before the attacks and captured a conversation between him and lead hijacker Mohammed Atta. But, as Knight Ridder reported on June 7, 2002: A secretive U.S. eavesdropping agency monitored telephone conversations before Sept. 11 between the suspected commander of the terror attacks and the alleged chief hijacker, but did not share the information with other intelligence agencies, U.S. officials said Thursday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the conversa- tions between Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Mohammed Atta were intercep- ted by the National Security Agency, or NSA, an intelligence agency that monitors and decodes foreign communications. The NSA failed to share the intercepts with the CIA or other U.S. intelligence agencies, the officials told Knight Ridder. It also failed to promptly translate some intercepted Arabic-language conversations, a senior intelligence official said. #7: Veracity of USA Today report is in question Some in the media have suggested that the original USA Today report on the NSA's call-tracking program may be unfounded. For instance, on the May 11 edition of Special Report, host and Fox News Washington managing editor Brit Hume cited the USA Today story and added, "Whether that was actually true or not, it was enough to set off another uproar on Capitol Hill over allegations of domestic spying." Similarly, Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano declared on the May 11 edition of Fox News' The Big Story that we need to know the "facts" about the NSA program. He then said of the USA Today article, "The newspaper is just the newspaper reporter's opinions." In fact, while the Bush administration has not confirmed or denied the substance of the USA Today report, several members of Congress have confirmed the existence of the program. According to a May 11 Bloomberg News Service article, Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, disclosed that he had been briefed about the program. Further, on the May 11 edition of PBS' The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) said, "I'm a member of the subcommittee of the Intelligence Committee that's been thoroughly briefed on this program and other programs." - J.K. & S.S.M. ------------------------------ From: Eugene Robinson Subject: We Must All be Terrorist Suspects Now Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 14:06:58 -0500 by Eugene Robinson, The Anniston Star At least now we know that the Bush administration's name for spying on Americans without first seeking court approval -- the "terrorist surveillance program" -- isn't an exercise in Orwellian doublespeak after all. It's just a bald-faced lie. Oh, and at least now the Senate will have a few questions to ask Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the man George W. Bush has named to head the CIA, at his confirmation hearings. While Hayden was running the super-secret National Security Agency, according to a report Thursday in USA Today, the NSA began collecting comprehensive records of telephone calls made by "tens of millions of Americans." If your service is provided by AT&T, Verizon or BellSouth, according to the newspaper, this means your phone calls -- all the calls you've made since late 2001. Of the major phone companies, only Qwest reportedly declined to cooperate. The allegation, which the president refused to confirm or deny, is not that the spooks are actually listening in as you call home to check on the kids or talk to the bank about refinancing your mortgage. Rather, the idea is to be able to look at a given phone number -- yours, let's say -- and see all the other numbers that you called over a given period of time, or that called you. No names are attached to the numbers. But a snoopy civilian with Internet access can match a name with a phone number, so imagine what the government can do. You'll recall that when it was revealed last year that the NSA was eavesdropping on phone calls and reading e-mails without first going to court for a warrant, the president said his "terrorist surveillance program" targeted international communications in which at least one party was overseas, and then only when at least one party was suspected of some terrorist involvement. Therefore, no one but terrorists had anything to worry about. Not remotely true, it turns out, unless tens of millions of Americans are members of al-Qaida sleeper cells -- evildoers who cleverly disguise their relentless plotting as sales calls, gossip sessions and votes for Elliott on "American Idol." (One implication, by the way, is that the NSA is able to know who got voted off "Idol" before Ryan Seacrest does.) Step back for a moment. There's an understandable tendency, with this administration, to succumb to a kind of "outrage fatigue." Pre-cooked intelligence on Iraq, secret CIA prisons, Abu Ghraib -- the accretion is numbing, and it's easy just to say "there they go again" and count the months until the Decider heads home to Texas for good. Bush and his people have tried to turn flouting the law into a virtue if it's a law they find inconvenient. They've tried to radically change our concept of privacy. We already knew the NSA was somehow monitoring phone calls, so what's the big deal? The big deal is that now we know that the administration -- I'll say "apparently," although if the report were untrue I think the president would have denied it -- is keeping track of the phone calls of millions of citizens who have nothing at all to do with terrorism. Bush has tried to convince us that the overwhelming majority of Americans are not affected by domestic surveillance, but now we know that the opposite is true: The overwhelming majority of us are. The president's claim, in his brief statement on the report, that the government isn't "trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans" is as disingenuous as Bill Clinton's claim that he "didn't inhale." There's no point in collecting all that data if you don't analyze it, and when you do it's inevitable that you learn things about at least some innocent people that those people thought were nobody else's business, certainly not the government's. Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., his frustration evident, said he intended to call executives of AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth to testify at hearings, since the administration won't explain just what it's doing. And, of course, Hayden's confirmation hearings are coming up. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who has been one of Hayden's strong supporters, said the new disclosures on spying may create "a major impediment" to a nomination that was expected to quickly sail through. "Shame on us, in being so far behind and so willing to rubber-stamp anything this administration does," said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. He was referring to the Senate, but he could have been speaking for the entire nation. Copyright (c) 2006 Consolidated Publishing. Source: The Anniston Star http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2006/as-columns-0514-0-6e12r2838.htm 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 11:23:19 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Can TV's and PC's Live Together Happily Ever After? Media Frenzy Can TV's and PC's Live Together Happily Ever After? By RICHARD SIKLOS The New York Times HOLY Grails, swirling myths and big lies seem to be in the air these days - and we're not just talking about a certain heavily publicized movie opening this week that is based on a certain megaselling novel. Rather, consider the much-ballyhooed convergence between television and personal computers (a k a the grail), which seems to edge ever closer with every week. Slowly but surely, it seems that TV programs and movies are finding their way onto the Internet through a growing array of distribution outlets. Just in the last few weeks, for example, Warner Brothers announced it would make hundreds of its hit films and shows available this summer for paid download via the file-sharing site BitTorrent; Fox Entertainment has joined the other major networks on iTunes with downloadable episodes of "24" and "Prison Break"; TiVo announced a deal with the Web video outfit Brightcove that intends to give people with TiVo boxes access to Internet fare on their TV sets; and ABC and CBS have begun streaming replays of some of their most popular shows on their Web sites, offering a new advertising-supported way to tune in. Even though no one seems to be making much money yet on these ventures and there are still chewy legal and rights issues to sort out, there is palpable excitement -- a sense that the TV and movie industries are going to head off the pirates and file-sharing teens by making their products widely available online in legal ways. In doing so, it seems the ultimate no-brainer that anyone with a fancy TV monitor and a broadband Internet connection will next be able to pluck their favorite TV programs and movies off the Web (and eventually choose to disconnect their cable or satellite provider, or, as I've written previously, at least force the cable operators to offer smaller and more appealing packages of channels). http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/14/business/yourmoney/14frenzy.html?ex=1305259200&en=a448180f023f9882&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 11:29:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Satellite System Is Over Budget and in Trouble By WARREN E. LEARY The New York Times May 12, 2006 WASHINGTON, May 11 - A new weather satellite system planned for civilian and military use is behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget because of technical problems and poor management, according to testimony Thursday before the House Science Committee. Johnnie E. Frazier, the inspector general for the Commerce Department, said managers from agencies involved in the program had failed to respond to problems as they arose and to challenge overly optimistic progress reports from the project director. In addition, Mr. Frazier said, the program suffered from a flawed contract incentive program that awarded millions in bonus money to the prime contractor, Northrop Grumman Space Technology, even as the satellite system fell months behind schedule and costs grew by $3 billion or more. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/washington/12satellite.html?ex=1305086400&en=b0335bffd5c15a90&ei=5090 For more headlines and news from New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 13:08:16 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: 311 Excerpts from The Model City http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/05/14/the_model_city/ The piece de resistance, however, is 311. Dial that number from almost any phone in the city, and you reach Somerville's help line. Street unplowed? Cat up a tree? Want to know your alderman's name? Simple questions are answered. Complex ones get a case number, and residents can track their concerns on the Web as easily as a FedEx package. It's a remarkable idea: A local government that actually treats its citizens like customers and holds itself accountable to them. Few places in Massachusetts have 311, and no other has put in place Somerville's mix of budgeting and management tools. ------------------------------ From: Neal McLain Subject: A-la-Carte Cable TV Reply-To: nmclain@annsgarden.com Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 05:39:13 -0400 "McCain a la Carte Bill Expected Soon" The Hill, May 10, 2006 By Alexander Bolton Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is planning to introduce legislation on cable television programming that is expected to put him at odds with several of the nation's largest Christian television networks and could complicate his effort to woo social conservatives for the 2008 presidential election. Specifically, McCain is expected to unveil a bill this week that would give cable companies regulatory incentives to offer their customers content on a channel-by-channel basis, which is known as 'a la carte' programming because of its resemblance to restaurant menus that price entrees and side orders separately. http://www.freepress.net/news/15428 ------------------------------ Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 11:10:36 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , wrote: > I am curious as to what people think of the issue of national security > vs. privacy in light of the recent revelations. It's very, very simple: the NSA and other arms of the Executive Branch should spy on terrorists *within* the laws passed by Congress, and *with* judicial oversight. Under the Constitution, the President lacks any and all authority to order anything different. The NSA program of listening to the content of telephone conversations in which at least one party is a "U.S. person" (not necessarily a citizen, nor even necessarily a permanent resident) is absolutely and unequivocally illegal and unconstitutional. "In time of war" the Constitution doesn't cease to exist, nor do its limitations on police powers. Neither the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act nor the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) gave the Executive any such powers -- nor could they, since the powers arrogated by the administration are beyond Congress' authority to grant. The administration has even admitted that the reason they did not ask Congress to modify the law to permit this surveillance program is that they did not believe that the Congress would comply. In other words, "We figured you would probably say no, so we just did it without asking." The other NSA program, of collecting telephone call records, is a bit more tricky, since it is (supposedly) not intruding into the content of the calls. There is considerable reason to believe that the telcos violated their own legal obligations to their customers (the privacy clauses in their contracts) by turning over the records without a court order, but the violation of the law -- if any -- by the NSA was certainly far less egregious than in the wiretap case. The Supreme Court has ruled that you do not have a legitimate privacy claim to the records of what numbers you called and for how long. Police have often sought call records as part of an investigation, although those searches were much more limited and much more closely tailored to the individual cases. Of course, the other element in both schemes is the effectiveness and wisdom of the program. I don't know who first said it, but, "We're looking for a needle in a haystack, so wantonly piling on more hay might not be the best plan." We do need more data about the terrorists and their plans, but far more than that, we need more intelligent collection of data. There have been published reports that the FBI has been really steamed because the vast majority of the leads produced by the NSA's illegal espionage program have been wild goose chases -- a complete waste of the Bureau's resources without making America the slightest bit safer. Simply put, we don't have the resources to make use of the data we already have, so going after mountains of unsifted raw data isn't the best use of our capabilities. But even if the programs produce some results, the question remains, at what cost? I'm not at all pleased at the idea of the government snooping through my private communications, or even knowing who I called and when. Do I have something to hide? Hell yes! Every single one of us has something to hide. Just because some activity is legal doesn't mean that it's in my interests for the world to know about it, and the line between the government's knowing about it and the world's knowing about it is altogether too thin. Beyond that, our government has a long history of misusing such powers. The FBI wiretapped Martin Luther King because he was a subversive -- in other words, an "uppity nigger" -- even though he was acting completely within the law. President Nixon spied on his political enemies for purely partisan reasons. The Fourth Amendment is there for good reason, to protect the lives of innocent, law-abiding citizens from unwarranted intrusion by the government. To allow President Bush to ignore those protections, as he undeniably has, is the essence of treason. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com Read my political blog, "The Third Path" DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. ------------------------------ From: Geoffrey Welsh Subject: Re: Help Needed With WAV File Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 14:22:11 -0400 Organization: UseNetServer.com DLR wrote: > Modems these days and for a long time have a limit of (I think) 2400 > baud. This means they can only change the signal 2400 times a second According to some old notes I have, V.34 uses signal rates up to 3429 baud and I don't think that V.34bis added to the modulation rates. Since 'Plain Old Telephone Service' connections are sampled at 8000 Hz for transport through the digital public switched telephone network, the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem states that the highest theoretical signal rate is 4000 Hz, but real-world implementations can only approach that. > on a voice grade line. So to get the higher bit rates they have to > encode multiple things 2400 times a second. One way is the multiple > frequencies. The other is that the tones on each frequency are > shifted, twisted, etc ... in a way such that each frequency can That's true of every popular modulation since Bell 103J; if I recall correctly, Bell 212A used phase shifts to encode 2 bits at 600 baud for 1200 bps, V.22bis used phase and amplitude variations to encode 4 bits at 600 baud for 2400 bps, and Telebit PEP modulation used pashe/amplitude modulation to encode a variable number of bits at 6 baud simultaneously on hundreds of carriers, each on a unique frequency, to achieve ~11 kbps (PEP1), ~18 kbps (PEP2), or ~23 kbps (TurboPEP). But those and other modulations were either half-duplex (PEP, V.29FT) or split the available frequencies either symmetrically (Bell 103J, Bell 212A, V.22bis) or asymmetrically (USRobotics' HST) in order to allow bidirectional communication. > Now I'm sure that US Robotics and Rockwell have some programs that > might do this and maybe the DIA, CIA, and NSA but past that ??? Not being an expert in digital signal processing, I could not guess how hard it would be to accomplish but, with computing power practically exploding (pity all that power and more is wasted running bloated code, but that's off-topic) and the availability of computing clusters and grids, I wouldn't think that it would really be that hard for the modulations described above. (That said, I won't have it done by end of day ... or year ... or ...) However, as others have pointed out, the real challenge with higher-speed modulations such as V.32 (9600 bps full-duplex) and V.34 (28800 & 33600 bps) is that, unlike the modulations listed above and in addition to the complicated modulations that you describe, they send and receive on the same frequencies and use echo cancellation in order to discriminate what the other side is sending from the echos of what the near side is sending. This adds another very complex layer and, without access to the transmitted data from at least one side, it might well prove to be impossible for a third party to decode what the other side is sending. Geoffrey Welsh Never leave until tomorrow what can wait until next week. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #182 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon May 15 15:37:09 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 80ECC15668; Mon, 15 May 2006 15:37:08 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #183 Message-Id: <20060515193708.80ECC15668@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 15:37:08 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_REMOVE autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 15 May 2006 15:40:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 183 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson US Spy Agency Built 'Largest Database Ever Known' (Spam Daily News) Verizon Gets Sued Big Time Over NSA Dealings (Spam Daily News) The NSA is on the Line - All of Them (Monty Solomon) Dialing 311? Hold that Call (Monty Solomon) Everyone's Always Been a Critic - Net Makes Their Voices (Monty Solomon) Invasion of the Computer Snatchers (Monty Solomon) Cellular-News: Monday 15th May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 15, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Internet Takes TV in a Whole New Direction (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: 311 (Arthur Kamlet) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (Steven Lichter) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (John Mayson) Re: Blog Got Vandalized Friday Evening (John Mayson) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Spam Daily News Subject: US Spy Agency Built 'Largest Database Ever Known' Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 15:24:20 -0500 From Spam Daily News US spy agency building database of every call ever made Posted on May 11, 2006 After report says millions of Americans' phone records have been given to the National Security Agency (NSA), Bush says privacy is 'fiercely protected.' The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY. The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the sources said. With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans. For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made -- across town or across the country -- to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others. "It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added. The NSA's domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than what the White House has acknowledged. Last year, Bush said he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop -- without warrants -- on international calls and international e-mails of people suspected of having links to terrorists when one party to the communication is in the USA. Warrants have also not been used in the NSA's efforts to create a national call database. Under Section 222 of the Communications Act, first passed in 1934, telephone companies are prohibited from giving out information regarding their customers' calling habits: whom a person calls, how often and what routes those calls take to reach their final destination. Inbound calls, as well as wireless calls, also are covered. Section 2702 of Title 18 in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act prohibits electronic communications service providers from knowingly divulging a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber or customer to any government entity without customer consent, subpoena or court order. Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants. Qwest's CEO at the time, Joe Nacchio, was deeply troubled by the NSA's assertion that Qwest didn't need a court order -- or approval under FISA -- to proceed. Adding to the tension, Qwest was unclear about who, exactly, would have access to its customers' information and how that information might be used. The NSA told Qwest that other government agencies, including the FBI, CIA and DEA, also might have access to the database, the sources said. Unable to get comfortable with what NSA was proposing, Qwest's lawyers asked NSA to take its proposal to the FISA court. According to the sources, the agency refused. The NSA's explanation did little to satisfy Qwest's lawyers. "They told (Qwest) they didn't want to do that because FISA might not agree with them," one person recalled. For similar reasons, this person said, NSA rejected Qwest's suggestion of getting a letter of authorization from the U.S. attorney general's office. A second person confirmed this version of events, reported USA TODAY. Defending his administration's espionage program, Bush said intelligence activities he had authorized were lawful and the government was not eavesdropping on domestic phone calls without court approval. "We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans," Bush said from the White House. "Our efforts are focused on links to al-Qaida and their known affiliates. So far, we've been very successful in preventing another attack on our soil." Ever since news of the surveillance program became public in December, the president and members of his administration have stressed that it was limited to intercepting phone conversations and e-mail messages where one party to the conversation was outside the United States. In January, Bush assured Americans that "one end of the communication must be outside the United States." However, the government has abruptly ended an inquiry into the warrantless eavesdropping program because the National Security Agency refused to grant Justice Department lawyers security clearance. The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, or OPR, sent a fax Wednesday to Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York saying it was closing its inquiry because without clearance it could not examine department lawyers' role in the program. "We have been unable to make any meaningful progress in our investigation because OPR has been denied security clearances for access to information about the NSA program," OPR counsel H. Marshall Jarrett wrote to Hinchey. Hinchey's office shared the letter with The Associated Press. In December, The New York Times revealed that Bush had authorized the NSA to wiretap, without warrants, international phone calls and e-mails that travel to or from the USA. The following month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group, filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T. The lawsuit accuses the company of helping the NSA spy on U.S. phone customers. The lawsuit does not name the government as a defendant, but the Department of Justice has sought to quash the lawsuit, saying it threatens to expose government and military secrets. The usefulness of the NSA's domestic phone-call database as a counterterrorism tool is unclear. Also unclear is whether the database has been used for other purposes. ------------------------------ From: Spam Daily News Subject: Verizon Gets Sued Big Time Over NSA Dealings Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 15:25:50 -0500 From Spam Daily News Attorneys Bruce Afran and Carl Mayer claim the carrier violated privacy laws by turning over phone records to the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) for a secret government surveillance program. The federal suit, filed in New York, asks the court to stop Verizon from turning over any more records to the NSA without a warrant or consent of the subscriber. It also seeks $1,000 for each violation of the Telecommunications Act, or $5 billion if the case is a class action. Afran and Mayer said they would consider filing suits against BellSouth and AT&T in other jurisdictions. Under Section 222 of the Communications Act, first passed in 1934, telephone companies are prohibited from giving out information regarding their customers' calling habits: whom a person calls, how often and what routes those calls take to reach their final destination. Inbound calls, as well as wireless calls, also are covered. Orin Kerr, a former federal prosecutor and assistant professor at George Washington University, said his reading of the relevant statutes put the phone companies at risk for at least $1,000 per person whose records they disclosed without a court order. Section 2702 of Title 18 in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act prohibits electronic communications service providers from knowingly divulging a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber or customer to any government entity without customer consent, subpoena or court order. "This is the largest intrusion into civil liberties ever seen in the United States," said Afran, who is a professor at Rutgers University. "Americans expect their phone records to be private. That's our bedrock governing principle of our phone system." Afran said that he and Mayer will also ask for documents dealing with the origination of the program and President Bush's role in it. Verizon said in a statement that because the NSA program is highly classified, it wouldn't confirm or deny whether the company participated in the program. It also declined to comment about the lawsuit. A government official, while not confirming the existence of the NSA program, pointed to a 1979 Supreme Court case, Smith v. Maryland. The official said justices ruled that the acquisition of basic phone records - calling numbers, called numbers and duration of calls - is not a "search" under the Fourth Amendment and that individuals do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such call record data. But Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said after that case Congress required courts to approve the use of electronic devices that capture basic information about calls in real time, or to get a court order or a subpoena for phone records stored by phone companies. The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY. Qwest was apparently alone among the four major telephone companies to have resisted the requests to cooperate with the government effort. A statement issued on behalf of former Qwest Communications CEO Joseph Nacchio by his lawyer, Herbert J. Stern, said that after the government's first approach in the fall of 2001, "Mr. Nacchio made inquiry as to whether a warrant or other legal process had been secured in support of that request." "When he learned that no such authority had been granted and that there was a disinclination on the part of the authorities to use any legal process, including the Special Court which had been established to handle such matters, Mr. Nacchio concluded that these requests violated the privacy requirements of the Telecommications Act and issued instructions to refuse to comply," Stern said. Verizon Issues Statement on NSA and Privacy Protection Verizon Communications today issued the following statement: The President has referred to an NSA program, which he authorized, directed against al-Qaeda. Because that program is highly classified, Verizon cannot comment on that program, nor can we confirm or deny whether we have had any relationship to it. Having said that, there have been factual errors in press coverage about the way Verizon handles customer information in general. Verizon puts the interests of our customers first and has a longstanding commitment to vigorously safeguard our customers' privacy -- a commitment we've highlighted in our privacy principles, which are available at http://www.verizon.com/privacy. Verizon will provide customer information to a government agency only where authorized by law for appropriately-defined and focused purposes. When information is provided, Verizon seeks to ensure it is properly used for that purpose and is subject to appropriate safeguards against improper use. Verizon does not, and will not, provide any government agency unfettered access to our customer records or provide information to the government under circumstances that would allow a fishing expedition. In January 2006, Verizon acquired MCI, and we are ensuring that Verizon's policies are implemented at that entity and that all its activities fully comply with law. Verizon hopes that the Administration and the Congress can come together and agree on a process in an appropriate setting, and with safeguards for protecting classified information, to examine any issues that have been raised about the program. Verizon is fully prepared to participate in such a process. Source: Verizon 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org./td-extra./newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 21:51:56 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The NSA is on the Line - All of Them An intelligence expert predicts we'll soon learn that cellphone and Internet companies also cooperated with the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on us. By Kim Zetter May. 15, 2006 | When intelligence historian Matthew Aid read the USA Today story last Thursday about how the National Security Agency was collecting millions of phone call records from AT&T, Bell South and Verizon for a widespread domestic surveillance program designed to root out possible terrorist activity in the United States, he had to wonder whether the date on the newspaper wasn't 1976 instead of 2006. Aid, a visiting fellow at George Washington University's National Security Archive, who has just completed the first book of a three-volume history of the NSA, knew the nation's bicentennial marked the year when secrets surrounding another NSA domestic surveillance program, code-named Project Shamrock, were exposed. As fireworks showered New York Harbor that year, the country was debating a three-decades-long agreement between Western Union and other telecommunications companies to surreptitiously supply the NSA, on a daily basis, with all telegrams sent to and from the United States. The similarity between that earlier program and the most recent one is remarkable, with one exception -- the NSA now owns vastly improved technology to sift through and mine massive amounts of data it has collected in what is being described as the world's single largest database of personal information. And, according to Aid, the mining goes far beyond our phone lines. http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/05/15/aid_interview/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 00:48:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Dialing 311? Hold That Call http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/14/dialing_311_hold_that_c= all/ May 14, 2006 Ric Kahn's article '311' (City Weekly, April 30) hits the nail on the head with regard to the desirability of a centralized citizen request, dispatch, and tracking system for city services, but misses the mark in suggesting that 311 should be the access code. I believe that using 311 as the telephone access code for the centralized request line is not a good idea in 2006. 311 works only if all callers in the city can reach it -- if it's ''routable," in telecom industry lingo. And with today's widespread use of cellphones and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services such as Vonage or Skype, that's a problem. The author points to Baltimore's success with 311 -- but that system was set up 10 years ago, when nearly everyone's primary means of calling was a conventional ''wireline" telephone. Today, many people have gone completely wireless, or switched from a conventional wireline service to VoIP. The article mentions that Somerville has instituted 311 service. Suppose Boston did, too, and suppose a Charletown resident, near the Somerville line, dials 311 from a cellphone. That call might be picked up by a nearby cell tower in Somerville. The wireless industry has been working long, hard, and expensively to solve the problem for Enhanced 911 emergency services, and it's not completely fixed yet. The Menino administration is correct in advocating use of a conventional 10-digit telephone number to access a central citizen request line. A 10-digit phone number is universally routable. Kenneth Pogran Lexington Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 02:13:22 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Everyone's Always Been a Critic -- Net Makes Their Voices Count By Scott Kirsner, Globe Columnist Roger Ebert may be endangered, Entertainment Weekly on its way to extinction. Have you noticed how many no-name critics are suddenly serving up pithy opinions about movies, books, music, and video games on the Net? Amazon.com may have been one of the first sites, in the mid-1990s, to allow its users to share their thoughts about a book, just below the venerable Publishers Weekly or Booklist write-up. Now, such sites as Blogcritics.org collect reviews written by bloggers, and Apple's iTunes Music Store allows users to share their iMixes -- lists of favorite songs on a particular theme, like ''NJ Best," a selection from Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and other musicians with roots in the Garden State. "The cultural influencers are changing," says Brian Kalinowski, chief operating officer of Lycos, the Waltham Internet portal. "Expert opinion in the media used to drive culture. Now, it's peer recommendations." Already, consumers can sample a broader range of critical opinion on the Internet -- some of it relevant and thoughtful, covering products that wouldn't ordinarily be reviewed by the mainstream media, and some of it biased or one-dimensional. ('This game rocks!' ) And marketers, such as movie studios and book publishers, are trying to figure out how Internet tastemakers figure into their relationship with their customers. This year, for instance, movie studios have chosen to forgo advance critics' screenings for more new movies than they did during the same period of last year. The supernatural thriller 'Silent Hill' wasn't shown to critics before it opened on April 21 -- some of the first reviews showed up on the website AintItCoolNews.com that morning -- and yet the movie was last weekend's best box office performer. And publishers such as Boston's Beacon Press are noticing that some niche titles, such as a recent collection of writings about Iranian culture, can attract more critical attention online than off. Publicity director Pamela McColl says that Beacon is still trying to assemble lists of influential book blogs -- "there are a lot of blogs out there," she says -- but that the firm already provides review copies to some critics who write solely for the Net. Not surprisingly, McColl says that online reviews seem to be more influential among younger readers. At press events where video game companies introduce products, Greg Kasavin has started to notice more non-journalists in the audience. http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/04/30/everyones_always_been_a_critic____but_the_net_makes_their_voices_count/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 16:26:26 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Invasion of the Computer Snatchers [Interview with 0x80 from February 2006] Invasion of the Computer Snatchers Hackers are hijacking thousands of PCs to spy on users, shake down online businesses, steal identities and send millions of pieces of spam. If you think your computer is safe, think again By Brian Krebs Sunday, February 19, 2006; W10 In the six hours between crashing into bed and rolling out of it, the 21-year-old hacker has broken into nearly 2,000 personal computers around the globe. He slept while software he wrote scoured the Internet for vulnerable computers and infected them with viruses that turned them into slaves. Now, with the smoke of his day's first Marlboro curling across the living room of his parents' brick rambler, the hacker known online as "0x80" (pronounced X-eighty) plops his wiry frame into a tan, weathered couch, sets his new laptop on the coffee table and punches in a series of commands. At his behest, the commandeered PCs will begin downloading and installing software that will bombard their users with advertisements for pornographic Web sites. After the installation, 0x80 orders the machines to search the Internet for other potential victims. The young hacker, who has agreed to be interviewed only if he isn't identified by name or home town, takes a deep drag of his smoke and leans back against the couch to exhale. He smiles. This is his day job, and his work is finished in less than two minutes. In two weeks, he will receive a $300 check from one of the online marketing companies that pays him for his services. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/14/AR2006021401342.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Monday 15th May 2006 Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 09:11:18 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[3G News]] HSPA Networks to Dominate Mobile Infrastructure Revenue http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17368.php High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) network deployments will garner over 60% of infrastructure revenue in 2012, according to a new report from Telecom Trend. The report says the infrastructure market will generate over $100 billion in revenue in 2012. "W... [[Financial News]] O2 End March User Base 32.79 Million, +16% Or 699,000 On Year http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17354.php O2 Chairman & Chief Executive, Peter Erskine, said Friday that during the first quarter "The strong momentum in all O2's businesses has been maintained within the Telefonica Group. Across O2, now including the Czech Republic, we added 699,000 mobile ... O2 CEO Sees Mobile Roaming Use Increasing This Summer http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17356.php UK mobile-telecommunications operator O2 said Friday it sees people increasing the use of mobile phones on holidays, as roaming charges decline. ... Telefonica Profit Jumps 40% On O2, Cesky http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17357.php Telefonica, Europe third-largest telecommunications company, on Friday said quarterly profit jumped 40%, helped by the contribution of recent acquisitions O2 and Cesky Telecom. ... Telecom net profit drops 99% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17358.php Telecom Argentina closed the first quarter of 2006 with a net profit of 3mn pesos (US$984,898), down 99% compared to the 279mn-peso profit posted in the same period in 2005, the company said in a statement. ... TEM: LatAm operations now represent 50% of total revenues http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17360.php Spain's Telefónica Móviles saw its Latin American revenues grow 35% in the first quarter compared to 1Q05, reaching 2.17bn euros (US$2.78bn), TEM said in a statement. ... [[Handsets News]] Motorola Sues Over Handset Copies http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17371.php Motorola says that it has reached agreement in a lawsuit filed against South Korean manufacturer KBT Mobile for infringements of patents, trademarks and designs for the Motorola RAZR mobile phone. With the settlement, KBT has agreed to discontinue al... [[Legal News]] Speedus Files Patent Suits Against Verizon Wireless http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17362.php Speedus Corp. on Friday said its unit, CellularVision Technology & Telecommunications L.P., has filed patent infringement suits against Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group. ... [[Messaging News]] BlackBerry's China Prospects Look Limited http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17355.php Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry handheld e-mail device, said Thursday that it would introduce its service in China through a partnership with China Mobile Communications Co. ... [[Mobile Content News]] Nokia Signs Commercial DVB-H Mobile TV Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17366.php Finland's Digita and Nokia have signed the world's first commercial DVB-H mobile TV platform supply contract. Nokia will deliver to Digita its Nokia Broadcast Solution (MBS) 3.0, which is a service management solution for DVB-H services. The MBS 3.0 ... Operators and Media Cos Fight Over Mobile Content Revenues http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17370.php Media and entertainment players are looking at ways to target the consumer in a more personal and direct way without losing their revenue share of the lucrative mobile entertainment market to the mobile operators says a new report from Informa Teleco... [[Network Operators News]] Nextel Launches Digital Trunking Services In Cancun http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17363.php The Mexican subsidiary of digital trunking operator NII Holdings has launched service in the Caribbean resort city of Cancun, the company said in a press release. ... [[Offbeat News]] Qualcomm Donates CDMA Kit to Congo Hospital http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17372.php Qualcomm says that it has made a commitment to provide a cash donation and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO service and devices for the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, along with Palomar Pomerado Healt... [[Regulatory News]] UAE Urges US To Open Up Telecommunications Sector -Report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17365.php The United Arab Emirates is urging the USA to open up its telecom sector to UAE companies, Gulf News newspaper reported Sunday quoting Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri, UAE minister of Governmental Sector Development. ... [[Reports News]] Global Wireless Growth Slowing - Free Report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17367.php From a global perspective, wireless growth of total active subscribers increased 17% in 2005 compared to 35% in 2004, based on Fitch's Global Wireless Review special report. Fitch expects that the trend for slowing total subscriber growth will contin... Telecom Equipment Sales Growing By Third for 2009 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17373.php Worldwide total telecom and datacom equipment revenue totaled US$107.9 billion in 2005 and will grow 33% to US$143.5 billion in 2009, according to a new market share and forecast report by Infonetics Research. Wireless broadband and mobile radio acce... [[Statistics News]] Ukraine's UMC mobile subscriber base up to 14.6 mln as of May 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17364.php The total subscriber base of Ukraine?s Mobile Communications (UMC), Ukraine?s second largest mobile phone operator, rose 1% in April to 14.6 million users as of May 1, the company said in a press release Friday. ... [[Technology News]] EU expected to propose semiconductor plant http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17359.php European officials were expected to make a proposal Thursday to build a semiconductor plant in Brazil, local newspapers reported. ... Nokia, Google Partnership Highlights WiFi Trend http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17361.php Google's expected partnership with Nokia for a WiFi device could be seen as a bet on the trend of more communities installing wireless Web connections. ... New 65nm Mobile Phone Chip Works First Time http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17369.php Infineon Technologies has announced that the first cell phone chips equipped with its advanced 65-nm CMOS process technology are now available. The components functioned perfectly right from the start, as testing in Duisburg, Munich and Bangalore, In... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 12:16:50 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Monday, May 15, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 15, 2006 ******************************** T-Mobile Registers 1 mil. T-Mobile@home Customers  http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/17948?11228 Germany's leading mobile operator, T-Mobile (part of Deutsche Telekom), had registered nearly 1 million subscribers for its T-Mobile@home service by end- April 2006, up from 200,000 at the end of February. The fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) offering was launched four months ago. Significance: The service allows customers to use their... Nokia To Announce Upgraded 770 Internet Tablet with Google Talk Feature http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17936?11228 HELSINKI, Finland -- The world's largest mobile phone maker, Nokia Corp., said Monday it will launch a new version of the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet to feature Google Talk that will enable users to speak to each other over the Internet and send instant messages. The launch will be announced by Nokia and Google Inc. in the Swedish... Chip Design Promises Longer Battery Life http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17932?11228 Dead batteries are the bane of all mobile device users. But relief may be on the way, thanks to a wireless chip design that uses only a tenth as much energy as existing designs. The possible solution lies in a technology known as an "injection locked frequency divider" (ILFD). Wireless chip manufacturers have long known about... Clearwire Preps for IPO http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17930?11228 Craig McCaw is ready to take its WiMAX technology company public. Clearwire filed details with the Securities and Exchange Commission about a planned initial public offering to raise $400 million. Clearwire first launched its pre-WiMAX service offering in 2004 to a limited audience. Since then, the company has ramped up its rollout... New Treo out of the Box http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/17929?11228 Introducing the first new mobile device in two years based on its native operating system, Palm Inc. today unveiled the long-awaited Treo 700p, a voice/mobile email device that runs on high-speed EV-DO networks. Delayed more than once, and the object of feverish speculation in online forums, the new release is the first Palm OS-based... Cellular Prices Tumble As O2 and Telefonica Cater To 'High Roamers' http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17927?11228 European cellular customers who use their mobile phones outside of their home countries are set to benefit from lower charges as wireless operators across Europe announce plans to reduce roaming charges. In what is being touted as an industry first and the most significant of several roaming initiatives, O2 and Telefonica Moviles have... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 13:37:42 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Internet takes TV in a whole new direction USTelecom dailyLead May 15, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dDeEfDtutefarpHCkN TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Internet takes TV in a whole new direction BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Qwest buys OnFiber Communications * American-owned cable company gets personal in Japan * Palm unveils Treo for faster networks * Nokia to put Google Talk on Web device USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Maximizing Returns on IPTV and Mobile TV HOT TOPICS * Verizon may sell landlines in seven states * AT&T to offer satellite broadband, IPTV to low-income households * Microsoft exec: IPTV deployment strategy crucial to technology's success * Q-and-A with Sprint's Gary Forsee * Report: NSA has compiled records of domestic phone calls TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Media multitasking -- everyone's doing it REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Upcoming spectrum auction could alter wireless playing field * Editorial: Government should change approach to wireless spectrum Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dDeEfDtutefarpHCkN ------------------------------ From: kamlet@panix.com (Arthur Kamlet) Subject: Re: 311 Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 20:17:32 UTC Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: ArtKamlet@aol.REMOVE.com In article , Monty Solomon wrote: > Excerpts from > The Model City > http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/articles/2006/05/14/the_model_city/ > The piece de resistance, however, is 311. Dial that number from almost > any phone in the city, and you reach Somerville's help line. Street > unplowed? Cat up a tree? Want to know your alderman's name? Simple > questions are answered. Complex ones get a case number, and residents > can track their concerns on the Web as easily as a FedEx package. > It's a remarkable idea: A local government that actually treats its > citizens like customers and holds itself accountable to them. Few > places in Massachusetts have 311, and no other has put in place > Somerville's mix of budgeting and management tools. I live in Columbus OH which has had 311 service as described here, for quite a while, but only from an AT&T phone. If your service is from elsewhere, 311 doesn't work. Nor from wireless phones. Art Kamlet ArtKamlet @ AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH ------------------------------ Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? From: Steven Lichter Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 23:47:43 GMT In article telecom25.182.7@telecom-digest.org, Linc Madison at lincmad@suespammers.org wrote on 5/14/06 11:10: > In article , > wrote: >> I am curious as to what people think of the issue of national security >> vs. privacy in light of the recent revelations. > It's very, very simple: the NSA and other arms of the Executive Branch > should spy on terrorists *within* the laws passed by Congress, and > *with* judicial oversight. Under the Constitution, the President lacks > any and all authority to order anything different. > The NSA program of listening to the content of telephone conversations > in which at least one party is a "U.S. person" (not necessarily a > citizen, nor even necessarily a permanent resident) is absolutely and > unequivocally illegal and unconstitutional. "In time of war" the > Constitution doesn't cease to exist, nor do its limitations on police > powers. Neither the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act nor the Authorization to > Use Military Force (AUMF) gave the Executive any such powers -- nor > could they, since the powers arrogated by the administration are > beyond Congress' authority to grant. The administration has even > admitted that the reason they did not ask Congress to modify the law > to permit this surveillance program is that they did not believe that > the Congress would comply. In other words, "We figured you would > probably say no, so we just did it without asking." > The other NSA program, of collecting telephone call records, is a bit > more tricky, since it is (supposedly) not intruding into the content > of the calls. There is considerable reason to believe that the telcos > violated their own legal obligations to their customers (the privacy > clauses in their contracts) by turning over the records without a > court order, but the violation of the law -- if any -- by the NSA was > certainly far less egregious than in the wiretap case. The Supreme > Court has ruled that you do not have a legitimate privacy claim to the > records of what numbers you called and for how long. Police have often > sought call records as part of an investigation, although those > searches were much more limited and much more closely tailored to the > individual cases. > Of course, the other element in both schemes is the effectiveness and > wisdom of the program. I don't know who first said it, but, "We're > looking for a needle in a haystack, so wantonly piling on more hay > might not be the best plan." We do need more data about the terrorists > and their plans, but far more than that, we need more intelligent > collection of data. There have been published reports that the FBI has > been really steamed because the vast majority of the leads produced by > the NSA's illegal espionage program have been wild goose chases -- a > complete waste of the Bureau's resources without making America the > slightest bit safer. Simply put, we don't have the resources to make > use of the data we already have, so going after mountains of unsifted > raw data isn't the best use of our capabilities. > But even if the programs produce some results, the question remains, > at what cost? I'm not at all pleased at the idea of the government > snooping through my private communications, or even knowing who I > called and when. Do I have something to hide? Hell yes! Every single > one of us has something to hide. Just because some activity is legal > doesn't mean that it's in my interests for the world to know about it, > and the line between the government's knowing about it and the world's > knowing about it is altogether too thin. > Beyond that, our government has a long history of misusing such > powers. The FBI wiretapped Martin Luther King because he was a > subversive -- in other words, an "uppity nigger" -- even though he was > acting completely within the law. President Nixon spied on his > political enemies for purely partisan reasons. The Fourth Amendment is > there for good reason, to protect The only Good Spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? (c) 2006 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Company the lives of innocent, law-abiding > citizens from unwarranted intrusion by the government. To allow > President Bush to ignore those protections, as he undeniably has, is > the essence of treason. > Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org > * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com > Read my political blog, "The Third Path" > DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. I can remember many years ago while still working for GTE, I was helping out in a business office filing bills for UCLA dorms, when a court order came down to copy a companies bill. We were told to make copies and send the bills up to the legal department and file the copies. I had always thought that some sort of order hadto be given from a court to get information. Just look at the stink that was made here in the Riverside, Ca. area when Sprint would not give out the location of a car that had been stolen with a child in it. Sprint wanted a court order before releasing the data, and finally did give it to the police after the phone owner give written permission. ------------------------------ From: John Mayson Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 20:02:30 -0500 I had replied to this thread days ago, but there's a disconnect between my NNTP server and this group. PAT, I don't care if you post my address. I have good spam filters. :-) > I am curious as to what people think of the issue of national security > vs. privacy in light of the recent revelations. I am staunchly against any wiretapping without a judicial warrant. I'm also quite concerned about the NSA having a database of our calls. > In the railroad and roads newsgroups, there was a discussion on the > issue of the rights of photographers to take pictures of public works > vs. the need for security of those works against terrorists. Some > facilities (highway toll roads, transit agencies) do not allow > photography from public safe locations which traditionally was a > absolute right. I'm an avid scanner listener. I used to go to the airport with my scanner and stand on top of my van's roof and photograph airlines coming and going. The airport police would even pause while a plane was in my field of view so as to not block my picture. This was 1999 and 2000. I haven't even tried since 9/11 and don't plan to. Just not worth the hassle. > I myself aren't sure. I don't agree with either extremes--the govt > must have some limitations on citizen spying and we must preserve our > long existing rights, but the govt does need the power and ability to > spy on potential terrorists to protect us. The government seems to have a policy: people are no good. None of us can be trusted. I don't trust a government that doesn't trust me. John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA ------------------------------ From: John Mayson Subject: Re: Blog Got Vandalized Friday Evening Date: Sun, 14 May 2006 22:45:05 -0500 > Some of you know that several months ago I started a blog (actually a > couple of them) for non-telecom related topics which cross my mind > each day http://ptownson.blogspot.com Late Friday afternoon someone > unknown to me (but they wouldn't have it any other way) took exception > to one of my recent messages and chose to trash me out pretty > badly. The entire blog had to be rebuilt from scratch and I spent much > of the day Saturday doing that. Of course it will never get back > esthetically just like I had it before. Oh well, I did not have a lot > to do with my time today anyway, as it has been sort of damp and cold > here all day. PAT, It looks like you have three blogs, all of them identical. I read your blog on LiveJournal and was surprised to read about the one on Blogspot. I also came across a third, but I forget where it lives. Are they really all the same, or am I missing something? :-) I was never comfortable with blogging, then came across this great quote on a web page, which I stole for mine. :-) "Moment of theoretical introspection: I don't do blogs. I'm so prone to historical revision that any entry I'd post would be totally torn to shreds within months when I reread it later and wondered just what the heck was I thinking then." John Mayson Austin, Texas, USA [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: They are not all _exactly_ the same; the main difference is that http://ptownson.blogspot.com has a lot more features on it which change daily, such as cartoons, other news reports, classical music, _and sponsors_, etc. The essays which appear there also appear on Blogspot and are used on http://www.livejournal.com/patrick_townson and http://ptownson.blogstream.com , but the latter two do not contain all the other features. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #183 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon May 15 22:45:15 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 7C1D115432; Mon, 15 May 2006 22:45:15 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #184 Message-Id: <20060516024515.7C1D115432@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 22:45:15 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 15 May 2006 22:47:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 184 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson They Know Who We're Calling (Richard Sisk) Bell South Claims it Gave up no Phone Record Either (Walter Putnum) Chat Rooms Help FBI Hunt Down Pedophiles (Mark Sherman) Sype Launches Free Call Promotion in US, Canada (Eric Auchard) Alternatives to GPS: WiFi, Bluetooth, UWB (kkolodziej@indoorlbs.com) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (Danny Burstein) Re: US Spy Agency Built 'Largest Database Ever Known' (jmeissen@aracnet) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Richard Sisk Subject: They Know Who We're Calling Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 20:22:58 -0500 New York Daily News - http://www.nydailynews.com BY RICHARD SISK DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Friday, May 12th, 2006 WASHINGTON - A new furor over Big Brother tactics erupted yesterday when it was revealed that the Bush administration has been tracking nearly every phone call in the country over the past five years. The colossal secret database of phone calls, first reported by USA Today, prompted Democratic and Republican members of Congress to demand answers from the White House, and at least one Senate committee chairman promptly called for public hearings. President Bush did not confirm the massive tracking program, but in a hastily arranged White House announcement tried to assure Americans he was protecting their privacy. "We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans," Bush said. "The government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval. ... The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities," the President said. He did not take any questions. Bush defenders on Capitol Hill confirmed that the National Security Agency began collecting records of landline and cell phone calls shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and condemned leaks on the project. "This is nuts," said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). "We are in a war, and we have got to collect intelligence on the enemy. And you can't tell the enemy in advance how you're going to do it." But Democrats and several Republicans questioned the program's legality. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) said she was "deeply disturbed" by the disclosures. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that "when the average American hears that his or her phone records might have been used, they're going to say, 'What? What happened? How did they use it? What permission did they have to use it?'" After 9/11, the NSA secretly contracted with AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth for the records on all calls made over the more than 200 million phones serviced by the firms. The Denver-based Qwest firm refused to turn over data on its 14 million phones. White House Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino tried to downplay any sense of domestic spying. "If you are calling to make reservations at a restaurant, and if you are calling your daughter at college or if you are calling to plan your wedding, the government has no interest in knowing about those calls," Perino said. She said the government is only "interested in finding out if Al Qaeda is planning an attack in America." Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the Judiciary Committee chairman, said he would subpoena the phone companies to appear before his committee. "We're really flying blind on the subject and that's not a good way to approach the Fourth Amendment and the constitutional issues involving privacy," Specter said. The uproar in Congress recalled the debate earlier this year of the NSA's eavesdropping without court approval on phone calls and e-mails between the U.S. and overseas where an Al Qaeda link was suspected. The Justice Department claimed then that a Bush executive order allowed the special Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to be bypassed. The White House did not say yesterday whether an executive order had been signed for the phone record collection. With Kenneth R. Bazinet 10 Things You Should Know About Phone Scandal 1. What is the National Security Agency doing? The government spy agency is collecting the telephone records of ordinary Americans and building a massive database of nearly every call made within the country. We're talking 200 million phone lines across the U.S. and billions of calls, including an untold number just in New York City. 2. When did this start? Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to USA Today. The bigger question is, where does the NSA snooping stop? Because if they can track our calls, there's little to prevent them from reading our e-mails, text and video messages. Even Internet phone services that encrypt their calls could be vulnerable to Big Brother. 3. Why is the NSA doing this? Identify potential terrorists by tracking who talks to whom in personal and business calls, whether local or long distance. It's a process known as "social network analysis" that aims at identifying previously undetected connections between people. 4. Are the feds listening in to our phone calls? They claim they are not. But they are keeping track of who we call. The NSA records don't include names and addresses. But critics say identifying a caller from a phone number is a snap. They also question the government's rationale for doing this because terrorists can easily get off "the grid" by using pay phones, calling cards and Internet cafes. They can also cover their tracks by using disposable -- or a variety of -- cell phones. 5. Which telephone companies turned over their records to the NSA? Verizon -- with 7 million landline users just in New York State -- AT&T, and BellSouth Corp. cooperated with the feds. They are the nation's biggest telecommunications companies and provide local and wireless phone service to more than 200 million customers. But Qwest, which has 14 million customers in 14 mostly Western states, refused. Bell South said it refused also. 6. What's President Bush's position? Bush insists the feds are not "mining or trolling through the personal lives" of Americans. He says the NSA's actions are "lawful" and that he has briefed members of Congress. 7. What does Congress say? Many Democrats and some Republicans are outraged and are demanding answers. They suspect it may be unconstitutional and violate privacy rights. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) has vowed to grill phone company honchos about the NSA snooping. But Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) is defending the program as a necessary tool for fighting terrorism. 8. What is the potential political fallout? It could stall the confirmation of Bush's pick to run the CIA, Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden. He was already taking flak for spearheading the NSA's electronic eavesdropping program on telephone calls and e-mails from within the U.S. to suspected terrorists overseas. 9. So that's different from what we're finding out now? Yes. That program involved the NSA tapping telephone calls and e-mails from within the U.S. to suspected terrorist overseas - without warrants. This NSA program keeps tabs on all of us - also without our knowledge. 10. What happens now? Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) warned of a "major constitutional confrontation." The debate over civil liberties and the legal underpinnings for the Bush administration's actions has already begun. But the public is divided over how much privacy should be sacrificed in the name of safety from terrorism. Corky Siemaszko What the administration has said about domestic surveillance: Jan. 23 Gen. Michael Hayden, deputy director of national intelligence: "This is not about intercepting conversations between people in the United States. ... This is focused. It's targeted. It's very carefully done. You shouldn't worry." Jan. 25 President Bush: "This is a targeted program to intercept communications in which intelligence professionals have reason to believe that at least one person is a member or agent of Al Qaeda or a related terrorist organization. The program applies only to international communications." Feb. 6 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: "Only international communications are authorized for interception under this program. ... To protect the privacy of Americans still further, the NSA employs safeguards to minimize the unnecessary collection and dissemination of information about U.S. persons." Yesterday: President Bush: "The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities. We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans." NSA spokesman Don Weber: "The NSA takes its legal responsibilities seriously and operates within the law." [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Way back in the 1960's when Electronic Switching Systems (ESS) were first being developed, telco's major complaint was that the telephone network had essentially gotten out of control; among other things, anyone who knew how the 'system' worked (and more people were find out every day about the old-style 'frames' and other apparatus; how ancient and unreliable it was becoming; and the various limitations of the 'system' where people who were less than honest were concerned, or people who were malevolent in their intentions, and telco finally had enough of it and said the entire system had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Now, what telco said to the public was there would now be all these new, modern conveniences such as 'call waiting', 'three way calling' and such, to smooth over their _real_ intention, which was to get a phone system which was totally under their thumbs for once. What telco did _not_ tell you was that no longer, to 'trace a call' did an operator have to call a tech to go back in the frames and spend 30-45 minutes looking around, only to after several minutes hear the sickening sound of the tandems collapsing; all he could do at that point was shrug his shoulders, turn around and walk away and tell the business office -- or whoever had ordered the trace -- that it failed but 'maybe tomorrow we can find out who the bugger is ... '. And ditto when the feds wanted something done; it was a real pain in telco's backside to have to run those jumpers around all over in the frames area. Now with ESS, it became a very simple matter to go see the nerd who was sitting at the terminal and ask him 'did X talk to Y today? When? How long? He could tell you in a few seconds who was doing what at any given time, and provide you with a print out of it as well. So, while the smiling service rep was talking _you_ into purchasing a few of the new features 'which we are now equipped to provide in your calling area' the overall intent of ESS was a lot more nefarious. Why hell, we can even let the public in on certain subsets of these new toys such as 'return last call' and 'speed dialing' and charge them for those new conveniences also. By nickle-and-diming the subscribers for these new toys, we can even amortize a small portion of what it cost us to instll them. Should any of the customers get nosy and ask us, "just how do _you_ know who I talked to earlier today?" we just pass it off as a peculiar question and let it go at that. No, ESS was not intended as a 'customer convenience'; it was intended to restore telco to the people who built it in the first place. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Walter Putnam Subject: Bell South Claims it Gave up no Phone Record Either Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 20:12:46 -0500 By WALTER PUTNAM, Associated Press Writer BellSouth Corp. said Monday its "thorough review" found no indication it gave telephone records to the National Security Agency as part of a federal anti-terrorism surveillance program. A report last week by USA Today identified BellSouth, along with AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., as companies that had complied with an NSA request to turn over millions of customer phone records after the 2001 terror attacks. "Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA," the Atlanta-based regional Bell said in a statement. BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher said the company's investigation found "no contract with the NSA and we are confident that we have turned over no phone records." Last week, Battcher said the company had "not provided any information we would need a subpoena for, and they were evasive about obtaining a subpoena. We were not happy with their answers at all, and felt for sure this would get _our company_ in a lot of trouble. They asked us, just as they asked Qwest; we told them go away and do not bother us without a warrant." The USA Today report followed earlier revelations of wiretapping on overseas calls without a court order and sparked a renewed national debate over government intrusion into Americans' civil liberties in the fight against terrorism. Critics denounced the phone companies for complying with the NSA surveillance request, while others approved of compromising privacy for national security. Another of the regional Bells, Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc., did not comply with the federal request for call logs. "The whole thing stunk badly, in our estimation," said one source. An AT&T spokesman said the company had no comment on BellSouth's statement. A Verizon representative did not immediately return a call for comment. Last week, Verizon said it had complied with relevant laws and was "committed" to customer privacy. San Antonio-based AT&T said it respects customers' privacy but has "an obligation to assist law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for protecting the public welfare." Battcher said BellSouth's customer service department had received little more than two dozen complaints about reports that private phone records may have been relayed to the government. "We have 20 million land line customers, so 26 complaints is not a lot," Battcher said. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Mark Sherman Subject: Chat Rooms Help FBI Hunt Down Pedophiles Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 20:20:06 -0500 By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Seconds after she announces her presence in an online chat room, the girl is besieged by a half-dozen men who want to know more about her. "r u a virgin?" one man asks, after about a dozen quick exchanges that begin with her age (13) and why she is home on a school day (illness). The edgy online banter is taking place in an AOL chat room ostensibly for women who like older men, but known as a forum for men who want to make contact with girls. The supposed 13-year-old in this case, though, is not a child, but an undercover FBI agent who is working out of the bureau's main child pornography unit in a suburban Washington office park. The demonstration for an Associated Press reporter was intended to show off the FBI's growing effort to fight child pornography, which has yielded increases of more than 2000 percent in arrests and 350 percent in federal prosecutions over 10 years. Agents use chats and other more private exchanges to seek out potential pedophiles and pornographers. Another man who believed he was talking to a 13-year-old asked how old she likes her men, then, "virgin?" The agents save transcripts of the online conversations, photographs that get exchanged and telephone numbers that are revealed, intentionally or not. These introductory conversations, in some cases, lead to illegal activity; but the ease with which they're made show how large a problem looms. Child pornography is frighteningly easy to find on the Internet -- images are traded freely, children are lured into dangerous situations and sexual abuse of children as young as infants is available on demand. Finding people who want child pornography "is like shooting fish in a barrel," said Stacey Bradley, an FBI supervisory agent in the Innocent Images unit. "Most people have no idea the _huge_ number of pedophiles there are around the world, or even, for that matter, the United States," she added. One out of every five children ages 10 to 17 receive sexual solicitations online, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "The Internet is a great place, but there are certain parts of town you don't want to be," said Arnold Bell, chief of the FBI's Innocent Images unit. There is wide agreement that images are proliferating and that peddlers of child pornography are becoming more savvy to counter the enhanced police effort to combat it. Orin S. Kerr, a George Washington University law professor and expert on computer crime, said investigators posing as children typically steer clear of unfairly entrapping people on the other end of their online conversations by taking a passive approach. "If agents are careful, entrapment never needs to come up. They take a suggestive screen name, go into a chat room and wait to be contacted. The screen will light up," Kerr said. He said he was aware of only one case that was tossed out of court in which a state investigator, posing as a mother, was found to have improperly lured the defendant by aggressively pushing him to get involved with her children. More often, authorities struggle to keep pace with the availability of sexually explicit pictures of children and a lingering view among the public that what advocates and police call child pornography often is women dressing up to appear younger, said Ernie Allen, the missing and exploited children center's president. The real danger that child pornography presents, shown in several recent cases of sexual abuse that have come to public attention, "is a phenomenon that American and the world has only begun to understand, " Allen said. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales recently called attention to the issue in a speech filled with graphic images that he said was necessary to get the nation's attention. On a recent day in the FBI unit, a working group that includes police officials from several countries was working a major investigation that appeared to reach into most states and dozens of countries, according to pins that were stuck into maps on the wall. Bell, the unit chief, would not discuss the investigation. Several agents acknowledged that they can get discouraged by the volume of images and the number of people who appear eager to see them. Bradley, the FBI supervisor, estimated that 80 percent of the customers for child pornography are in the United States. "But there are so many pedophiles, its like a 'needle in a haystack'; the pedophiles are the haystack, they are everywhere." "But even if I stop just one person from getting molested, it makes a difference," she said. The undercover agent chatted with one man for more than an hour. She tried to stay in character with frequent use of the word "like" and alternate spellings that produced "kewl" for cool. This man sent a photograph, ostensibly of himself, showing a balding man with a mustache and beard. He said he had three grandchildren and asked whether the 13-year-old had a computer in her bedroom, a setup that would allow her easier access with less parental interference. While this man mainly avoided risque questions and answers, the undercover agent regarded him as the most promising prospect for engaging in darker, possibly illegal exchanges, should they meet again online. On the Net: FBI Innocent Images program: http://www.fbi.gov/innocent.htm Justice Department child exploitation and obscenity section: http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/ National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: http://www.missingkids.com Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Eric Auchard Subject: Sype Launches Free Call Promotion in US, Canada Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 20:15:21 -0500 By Eric Auchard Skype, the Web telephone company, said on Monday it would allow consumers in the United States and Canada to make free phone calls, a promotional move that marks a new blow to conventional voice calling services. The offer, which extends through the end of 2006, covers calls from computers or a new category of Internet-connected phones running Skype software making calls to traditional landline or mobile phones within the United States and Canada. Previously, users of Skype, a unit of online auctioneer eBay Inc., were required to pay for calls from their PCs to traditional telephones in both countries. Calls from North America to phones in other countries will incur charges. Skype already offers free calling to users worldwide who call from computer to computer. The company is seeking to accelerate usage in the North American market, where adoption of its voice-over-Internet technology has lagged other regions of the globe. Based in Luxembourg, it counts more than 100 million registered users globally, including 6 million in the United States. Henry Gomez, general manager of Skype North America, said he believes the move would rapidly accelerate adoption of the service. Skype will pick up the interconnection costs of making calls to phone networks owned by other carriers, he said. "Skype anticipates that completely free calling in the U.S. and Canada will expand Skype's increasing penetration in North America and solidify Skype's position as the Internet's voice communication tool of choice," Skype said in a statement. The offer is likely to put price pressure on rival voice-over-Internet phone service Vonage Holdings Corp., which is expected to go public later this month. A spokesman did not return calls seeking comment. Although Vonage and Skype serve somewhat different markets -- with Vonage acting as a full replacement service for traditional phones over Internet lines, and Skype considered by most as a complement to existing service -- the free offer could siphon customers away from Vonage. "In one stroke, Skype simplifies the choice to try Skype," said Phil Wolff, an editor at Skype Journal, an independent consulting group that publishes an online news site on Skype developments. "This promotion targets Skype's hardest market: North America." The move puts pressure on rival Internet services such as Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), AOL, Earthlink and Google Inc., which charge small per-minute fees for computer-to-phone services, Wolff said. Skype, which allows free Web-based calls between members, said the offer to U.S. and Canadian consumers is made feasible by the low cost structure of North American telecom markets relative to other countries, where phone tariffs are higher. "The structure and efficiency of the telecommunications industry in the U.S. and Canada make it possible for Skype to offer free calls," Skype said on its Web site. In October, eBay CEO Meg Whitman signaled that Skype users could eventually expect to make telephone calls for free, with no per-minute charges, as part of a package of services through which carriers make money on advertising or transaction fees. "In the end, the price that anyone can provide for voice transmission on the 'Net will trend toward zero," she said. The company is betting that by combining electronic markets, online payment systems and Web-based communications, eBay can emerge as a leader in all three businesses. Gomez said the free phone service promotion will not alter the company's plans to generate more than $200 million in revenue during 2006, up from roughly $60 million last year. Skype will promote the offer via online advertising, radio spots and ads in selected local cable TV markets, he said. Shares of eBay closed down 26 cents at $31.23 on Nasdaq. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: kkolodziej@indoorlbs.com Subject: Alternatives to GPS: WiFi, Bluetooth, UWB Date: 15 May 2006 14:45:46 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com There is a new group, Alternatives to GPS. http://groups.google.com/group/GPS-Alternatives New Book and Resource website http://indoorLBS.com ------------------------------ From: Danny Burstein Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 21:28:52 UTC Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and UNIX, NYC [ snip ] *Stop* *right* *there*. The very way the question was phrased is misleading, as it sets up a yes/no, black/white dichotomy between "National security" versus "privacy". Of _course_ people are going to think highly o national security. But ... there ain't _nothing_ in the original claims that shows any validity to the arguments that stomping on privacy rights, oh, and violating the laws left and right (allegedly, to be sure, but it certainly looks like it) and shredding the US Constitution (same disclaimer) has anything whatsoever with making us safer. My third grade civics teachers would be embarrassed for anyone putting together a survey like this, and would cry over the lost minds of people using arguments in this manner. _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: US Spy Agency Built 'Largest Database Ever Known' Date: 16 May 2006 00:11:02 GMT Organization: Aracnet Internet Services In article , Spam Daily News wrote: > From Spam Daily News > US spy agency building database of every call ever made > Posted on May 11, 2006 > After report says millions of Americans' phone records have been given > to the National Security Agency (NSA), Bush says privacy is 'fiercely > protected.' > From an ABC news blog: "A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking the phone numbers we (Brian Ross and Richard Esposito) call in an effort to root out confidential sources. A pattern of phone calls from a reporter, however, could provide valuable clues for leak investigators." http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/05/federal_source_.html ------------------------------- TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #184 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue May 16 18:28:20 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id B9D94157B6; Tue, 16 May 2006 18:28:19 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #185 Message-Id: <20060516222819.B9D94157B6@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 18:28:19 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 16 May 2006 18:30:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 185 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Nokia Launches Google Talk (Reuters News Wire) NYC Central Park Getting Free WiFi (Agence France Presse) Calling the USA While Traveling in Europe Query? (donhdoyle@yahoo.com) Cellular News: Tuesday 16th May 2006 (Cellular News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 16, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) BellSouth Denies Giving NSA Records (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Dialing 311? Hold That Call (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? (Lisa Hancock) Re: They Know Who We're Calling (Lisa Hancock) Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection (Thomas D. Horne) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Nokia Launches Google Talk Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 16:02:56 -0500 Nokia, the world's biggest mobile phone maker, unveiled a new version of its Internet tablet device running Google Talk communications software on Tuesday. The deal between Finnish-based Nokia and Web search leader Google Inc. allows people to chat with other users of instant-messaging software via the Nokia Wi-Fi device, which relies on short-range wireless networks. The Nokia 770 Internet tablet, introduced last year, offers wireless access to digital music and video, as well as access to e-mail. The new version of the Internet tablet, unveiled in Stockholm on Tuesday, also has a full-screen finger keyboard. Rather than using cell-phone networks, the 770 device relies on unregulated local wireless connections. Ari Virtanen, of Nokia's Multimedia division, said the device had been selling well since its launch last year. "The first months have been very encouraging," he told a news conference, adding that sales of the product had ramped up in November and sold out in the Christmas market. The product reached its volume expectations for 2005 and Nokia was heading into mass volumes of the 770, he said, adding that the profitability target for the device was about the same as for other Nokia products. Virtanen said Nokia did not see any direct rivalry between the tablet and regular mobile phones. "I cannot see any direct competition between these two business domains. Of course, they always overlap, but we do not see any direct competition," he said. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Agence France Presse News Wire Subject: NYC Central Park Getting Free WiFi Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 16:05:03 -0500 New York's Central Park and a number of other public spaces will become public Internet hubs starting this summer when the city's parks begin offering free wireless net access, the city government said. "We expect Central Park to be launched in July, and the rest of the parks in the late summer," the Department of Parks and Recreation said. Among those green spaces going on-line for public Wi-Fi access will be Washington Square, Union Square, Brooklyn's Prospect Park and Flushing Meadows. Beginning in 2003 the city sought service providers to furnish Wi-Fi service for the parks, but delays set in and only one park -- Battery Park at Manhattan's tip facing the Statue of Liberty -- finally got the service. The city is also seeking a Wi-Fi provider for Dag Hammarskjold Plaza facing the United Nations and for the Brooklyn Heights promenade. A handful of small parks in the city have had free Wi-Fi access since 2002 thanks to private donors. Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more tech reports, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ From: donhdoyle@yahoo.com Subject: Calling the USA while traveling in Europe Query ? Date: 16 May 2006 10:08:06 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm new to internet telephone service. I'm going to be travelling in Europe this summer and need to be able to talk periodically to people in the US. I will have my portable computer with a wireless card. Can I load Skype softward on my computer and then use Skype from an internet connection in the hotel? What better ways might you suggest for inexpensive voice communication back to the US from Europe? While I'm at it, I gather that I will need some kind of headset/micro- phone in order to use Skype. I'm considering the Logitech 350; any opinions on this or a better solution? Many thanks, Don Doyle [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is sort of a toss up for me, trying to suggest _which_ service is best. Personally, I would go with Vonage which is essentially the same except instead of a headset/microphone (attached to the computer) you use a TA (telephone adapter box) attached to the incoming broadband port (which you would have to use for your laptop computer anyway) and a telephone (any phone will do) which plugs into the TA box.) You get the TA box free when you sign up with Vonage (or several other companies) and phones usually are a lot less expensive than a good microphone. PAT] ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Tuesday 16th May 2006 Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 09:05:43 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] European Shift to 3G Handsets Accelerates http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17386.php According to IDC's Western European Quarterly Mobile Devices Market Tracker, the Western European mobile phone market (consisting of traditional mobile phones and converged devices) maintained double-digit growth in the opening quarter of 2006 as shi... [[ Financial ]] Vodafone Shares Rise On Verizon Wireless Report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17375.php Shares of Vodafone Group were the best performing in the British large-cap stock market index Monday following the latest speculation over the possible sale of its Verizon Wireless holding to Verizon Communications. ... Personal posts US$1.93mn net loss http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17377.php Argentine mobile operator Telecom Personal posted a net loss of 6mn pesos (US$1.93mn) in the first quarter of 2006, a direct reversal from the 6mn-peso net profit recorded in 1Q05, the company said in a statement. ... UPDATE: Verizon, Vodafone Hear More Noise On JV Deal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17381.php Speculation has again heated up over a deal between Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group over full control of their lucrative joint venture, but some aren't convinced a deal is imminent. ... [[ Handsets ]] Motorola Launches HIV-AIDS Handset http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17390.php Motorola has joined up with the AIDS/HIV organisation -- Project RED -- and will be offering Red branded handsets. Launched by co-founders Bono and Bobby Shriver at the World Economic Forum last January, (PRODUCT) RED is designed to deliver a sustainab... Motorola outstrips Samsung in Vietnam http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17391.php Nokia still dominates with 50% of the Vietnamese market share, a drop of 2% over February 2006. While Samsung and Sony Ericsson lost 1% of the market share each, falling to 18% and 3% respectively, Motorola gained 4% to end at 22%. The company held o... [[ Legal ]] Russian court rejects Norway's Telenor claim vs VimpelCom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17378.php The Moscow Arbitration Court has rejected a lawsuit filed by Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor that sought to void VimpelCom's extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (EGM) held on September 14, 2005. ... Poll:51% Of Americans Oppose NSA Phone Database-Report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17379.php About 51% of Americans disapprove of a Pentagon database of phone calls made by ordinary citizens, a USA Today/Gallup poll showed, the newspaper reported Monday. ... [[ Messaging ]] Minimal Understanding of SMS Short Codes - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17395.php Three years after the introduction of common SMS Short Code in the USA, only 47% of adult consumers know how to use it, according to data released by Mediamark Research and Zoove. Unsurprisingly the study found that 91% of adults found it easy to res... [[ Mobile Content ]] One Monthly Million Music Sales On 3G Network http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17387.php Hutchison 3G UK has announced that its customers bought more than one million music tracks and videos in the last month. The figures clearly demonstrate the influence 3 is having on UK music sales with 17% of all digital downloads (audio tracks) bein... Motorola Calls for easier Java in Handsets http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17389.php Motorola has announced a new initiative aimed at encouraging greater unification of Java technology for the mobile industry. The company says that it will open source its Java test framework and sample test cases and will develop the reference implem... [[ Network Contracts ]] Oman Operator Upgrades SMS Capabilities http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17388.php LogicaCMG has won a contract to supply additional Next Generation Messaging products and solutions to Oman Mobile. Oman Mobile, faced with strong growth of demand as well as new competition entering the marketplace, is upgrading its existing LogicaCM... [[ Network Operators ]] Eurotel To Close Analog NMT Voice Services In July http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17376.php Czech cellular operator Eurotel Praha SRO , Monday said it will close its analog voice services that use Nordic Mobile Telephone technology, or NMT, in July. ... Inmarsat Gets FCC Green Light To Launch Service In U.S. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17382.php Inmarsat, a London-based satellite-services provider, got approval from the Federal Communications Commission on Friday to start rolling out a new broadband service in the USA. ... IN DEPTH: Having unveiled new logo, MTS may too late to catch up with rivals http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17383.php In the last few weeks Muscovites could see billboards in the streets with an unfamiliar logo -- a white egg inside a red square. No company name was put on the billboards. Market participants speculated that it was probably a new logo for Russia's lar... [[ Offbeat ]] Shia Ringtone Starts Fight in Iraqi Parliament http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17384.php A ringtone started a fight at the Iraqi Parliament last week. A phone belonging to Ms al-Saidi, but being held by one of her bodyguards rang out with a Shia prayer - presumably a RealTone as opposed to a polyphonic tune. At this, the Sunni speaker Ma... Medical Operations by the Light of Cellphones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17385.php According to a report on a private television network, hospital surgeons in Lahore, Pakistan have been carrying out medical operations using the light from cellphone screens at times, due to persistent power failures in the national electricity suppl... Nokia Bans the Mobile Phone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17392.php Nokia's vice president of multimedia strategy and business development, Harry Santamki vows to take a sip of cod liver oil from the bottle on his desk if he ever utters the word "phone". Which is odd considering what Nokia is most famous for making.... [[ Regulatory ]] GSM Assoc Says Roaming Law Will Cost EUR4.3 Billion In Sales http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17374.php A proposed European Commission regulation on roaming mobile phone charges could cost operators EUR4.3 billion in lost sales and EUR2.3 billion profits, the GSM mobile phone operators' association said Monday. ... Australian Regulator Publishes Mobile Chat Regulations http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17394.php The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a guide for mobile chat providers on how to make their services safer for children. The Guide recognises the benefits that mobile chat services can bring for communications and social net... [[ Reports ]] Ultrawideband Shipments to Reach Nearly 300 Million in 2011 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17393.php Several formidable-looking barriers appear, at first glance, to pose serious obstacles to widespread commercial success for Ultrawideband (UWB). But closer examination reveals that few of them will drastically inhibit the market, which a new ABI Rese... Defining the Emerging European Enterprise Mobility Market http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17396.php Yankee Group says that the European mobile enterprise market is at an inflection point, where growing demand presents European mobile operators with a chance to capitalize on the market opportunity. The leading European mobile operators - Orange, T-M... [[ Statistics ]] Eurotel:Over 80,000 Use CDMA Wireless Broadband Internet http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17380.php Czech cellular operator Eurotel Praha, Monday said it had more than 80,000 users of its wireless broadband Internet service using the CDMA standard, as at May 15. ... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 11:58:42 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Tuesday, May 16, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 16, 2006 ******************************** Court Upholds VimpelCom's WellCom Purchase; Telenor to Appeal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17972?11228 The Moscow Arbitration Court has rejected Telenor's attempt to void the purchase of Ukrainian RadioSystems (WellCom) by VimpelCom. Telenor had hoped to invalidate the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of VimpelCom shareholders in September 2005 at which the decision was made to purchase WellCom for US$231 million. Telenor objected that... Skype Offers Free Calls to Regular Phones http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17964?11228 SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Skype, eBay Inc.'s Internet telephone subsidiary, has stopped charging users for dialing up people on traditional landline and mobile phones in the U.S. and Canada. The Internet telephone service, which has always offered free PC-to-PC calls around the world, said Monday it will offer its SkypeOut service for... Verizon Wireless Price Tagged At $48B http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17958?11228 Rumors rampant on both sides of the Atlantic say Verizon and Vodafone have finally settled on a price for Vodafone's 45-percent share of Verizon Wireless - $48 billion plus assumption of $8 billion in debt. Such a deal reportedly could be done by the end of the month. The $48 billion is just more than halfway between the $38 billion and... No Email? No Problem http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17957?11228 As companies look for ways to roll out more enterprise applications to mobile workers, many assume that any new apps will run on a device primarily intended for mobile email, such as a BlackBerry or a Treo. Now, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM - message board; Toronto: RIM) says it will deconstruct that... Motorola Touts Open Source Java http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/140/17955?11228 Motorola is aiming to take mobile Java to the next level by embracing open sourcing. The company believes an open source approach will speed development time and drive innovation. Mark VandenBrink, senior director and chief architect, Motorola Mobile Devices, notes that Java already is being used on nearly 1 billion mobile handsets,... Verizon Sued in Mobile TV Patent Fight http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17952?11228 Holding company Speedus Corp. has sued Verizon Wireless for infringement of two patents that deal with the transmission of television services over cellular networks, and it's investigating whether to sue any other carriers. "We've been assessing our patent portfolio for some time, and it came to our attention that there's likely... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 13:29:43 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: BellSouth denies giving NSA records USTelecom dailyLead May 16, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dDoMfDtutegpbRUltw TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * BellSouth denies giving NSA records BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Report: DSL posts record gains in Q1 * Skype offers free PC-to-phone calls in U.S., Canada * Alcatel, Redback stage strong showing in Q1 * China Telecom, PCCW connect Hong Kong and China via private line Ethernet service USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Selecting the Best Wireless Architecture TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * NBC takes wraps off broadband channels * Shift toward IMS changes the game for software vendors * Survey: TV as pastime lags behind Internet, friends and movies * Study: UWB poised to boom REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Analysis: Lawsuits over surveillance face uphill battle * Baltimore County Council approves Verizon upgrade * NYC sets deadline for Wi-Fi in parks * Lawmaker rallies support for national franchise plan Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dDoMfDtutegpbRUltw ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: Dialing 311? Hold That Call Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 06:32:13 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , Monty Solomon wrote: > http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/14/dialing_311_hold_that_call/ > I believe that using 311 as the telephone access code for the > centralized request line is not a good idea in 2006. 311 works only if > all callers in the city can reach it -- if it's ''routable," in > telecom industry lingo. This is nonsense. 311 is used in some of the most competitive telephone markets in the country, including New York City -- and customers of all carriers can reach it just fine. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "We cannot usually in social life pursue a single value or a single moral aim, untroubled by the need to compromise with others." - H.L.A. Hart ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: The Balance Between National Security and Privacy? Date: 16 May 2006 08:06:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Danny Burstein wrote: > The very way the question was phrased is misleading, as it sets up a > yes/no, black/white dichotomy between "National security" versus > "privacy". Actually, the question sets up the opposite: it's an area with many shades of gray -- far from absolute black or white. > Of _course_ people are going to think highly o national security. As you could see from other postings that is not necessarily the case. > But ... there ain't _nothing_ in the original claims that shows any > validity to the arguments that stomping on privacy rights, oh, and > violating the laws left and right (allegedly, to be sure, but it > certainly looks like it) and shredding the US Constitution (same > disclaimer) has anything whatsoever with making us safer. "Constitutional rights" are complicated and fluid and anything but black and white. The rights evolve over time based on Supreme Court interpretations. The WW II forced Japanese-American relocation was upheld by the Court. The McCarthyism-era actions were initially upheld by the court. In the mid 1950s the court changed (with Warren) and the interpretations and attitudes changed significantly; a lot of McCarthyism-era cases were thrown out at that time. I am not familiar with the specific details of current laws nor specific details of exactly what was and was not tracked. Indeed, in all the hubbub I don't think too many people actually understand the legal details. Perhaps someone who is familiar with those details can fill us in. The separate issue is effectiveness for protection. The ACLU is suing (so far unsuccessfully) to stop random searches of bags on NYC transit lines, claiming the random searches won't deter an attack. Are you saying this NSA research won't protect us? > My third grade civics teachers would be embarrassed for anyone putting > together a survey like this, and would cry over the lost minds of > people using arguments in this manner. Sorry you don't like this discussion, but I don't agree at all. The question is perfectly reasonable and the ensuing discussion of varying opinions is more enlightening than merely a flood of copied news articles. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: They Know Who We're Calling Date: 16 May 2006 08:45:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Way back in the 1960's when Electronic > Switching Systems (ESS) were first being developed, telco's major > complaint was that the telephone network had essentially gotten out of > control; among other things, anyone who knew how the 'system' worked > (and more people were find out every day about the old-style 'frames' > and other apparatus; how ancient and unreliable it was becoming; and > the various limitations of the 'system' where people who were less > than honest were concerned, or people who were malevolent in their > intentions, and telco finally had enough of it and said the entire > system had to be rebuilt from the ground up. My understanding of ESS history is a bit different. The Bell System, since it started, was constantly looking for more efficient ways to handle traffic. This lowered the cost of telephone service which generated more business allowing it to take advantage of economies of scale. This all created a positive cycle -- more business led to more efficiency and lower costs which led to more business. In the late 1930s the crossbar switch, a powerful "thinking" switch, was perfected and placed into service. During the war a long distance version was placed into service and after the war an advanced model was developed. But the Bell System recognized early on that it wasn't enough. Crossbar was electro-mechanical which required costly maintenance and limited switching speed. Changes meant hand rewiring. Telephone usage was still growing strong. Efforts began early on to replace relays with electronics. The problems you speak of -- external abuse of the toll network, unreliable frames -- came well after ESS prototype designs were being tested. That is, ESS was fully committed and in production by the late 1960s. Indeed, according to one writer, ESS actually caused some of the 1970s service problems since it supposedly _completely_ crashed when hit with massive call volume (don't know if that's true) instead of just slow dial tone. > Now, what telco said to the public was there would now be all these > new, modern conveniences such as 'call waiting', 'three way calling' > and such, to smooth over their _real_ intention, which was to get a > phone system which was totally under their thumbs for once. Actually, Bell System exhibits of the 1960s did proclaim the speed, capacity, efficiency, and control of ESS. Computer technology and logic control were alien concepts to the majority of the population back then so it wasn't something the public would readilly understand. I would not describe it as "smooth over their real intention". Keep in mind the management of the Bell System in those years, especially before deregulation and breakup, was technically oriented and very happy to show off technical advances. Bell had travelling and permanent demonstration exhibits all over the place. Let's face it, the typical phone user could care less what was on the other end of their phone, be it a hamster wheel or 'space age' electronics. Did they get a dial tone and reach their desired party? was all that mattered. > What telco did _not_ tell you was that no longer, to 'trace a call' > did an operator have to call a tech to go back in the frames and > spend 30-45 minutes looking around ... Actually, back in the late 1960s the country experienced a nasty fad of prank calls that the Bell System could not handle for the reasons you describe. That was no secret. > And ditto when the feds wanted something done; it was a real pain in > telco's backside to have to run those jumpers around all over in the > frames area. I've been in exchanges and saw such jumpers -- they did not seem to be that big of a deal. Such testing equipment (dial record keepers and other monitors) were developed along with panel switching early on for maintenance and service quality testing. If the feds had a court order the phone company complied with whatever was needed. (I think someone once wrote here the phone company would point out the proper contacts but the feds had to do the dirty work themselves.) Anyway, I strongly doubt ESS was developed mostly to serve the feds' interests because reasonable means existed before ESS. > So, while the smiling service rep was talking _you_ into purchasing a > few of the new features 'which we are now equipped to provide in your > calling area' the overall intent of ESS was a lot more nefarious. ... I don't agree with that at all. As mentioned, the ability to trace calls was _desired_ by the public as a result of severe prank and abuse calls. The new calling features were not a nickel-dime thing, but a profit center. Nothing wrong with that. You want plain POTS, fine, continue paying $4/month. You want call waiting, an extra $3/month. Customer is happy with the new feature and the phone company is happy with the revenue. People in more affluent areas liked the new features, liked the status symbol of having call waiting and putting someone on hold, and didn't mind paying the money for it. ------------------------------ From: Thomas Daniel Horne Subject: Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 21:27:50 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Gordon Burditt wrote: >> But in his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush rushed to assure the >> public the secret program did not target innocent private citizens. > Cheney did not "target" a fellow hunter either. Funny how that person > was injured anyway. >> Specially designed computer programs watch for patterns in these >> contacts and analyze them to make sure no terrorist cell is operating >> within the United States. > I'd like to see the output of such a program analyzing contacts > between members of Congress and lobbyists made public, to ensure that > no bribing of congresscritters is taking place. > Gordon L. Burditt You'll never see it but you can bet that all kinds of pattern analysis is taking place to discover which of us are communist err ah I mean Democrats. -- Tom Horne "people willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both" Benjamin Franklin ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #185 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 17 13:58:28 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 8E8EF154C2; Wed, 17 May 2006 13:58:28 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #186 Message-Id: <20060517175828.8E8EF154C2@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 13:58:28 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.0 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, INFO_TLD autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 17 May 2006 14:00:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 186 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Suits Filed Against Telco in New York, Elsewhere (Larry Neumeister) Software Makers Crack Down on Net Piracy (Michael Leidtke) Cablevision Takes on Telcos (Reuters News Wire) Telemarketing Law Question (mc) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 17, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers (john@mayson.us) Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection (Gordon Burditt) Re: They Know Who We're Calling (Jim Stewart) Re: They Know Who We're Calling (Julian Thomas) Re: Nokia Launches Google Talk (john@mayson.us) Re: Calling the USA while traveling in Europe Query? (donhdoyle@yahoo.com) Re: Dialing 311? Hold That Call! (Anthony Bellanga) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Larry Neumeister Subject: Suits Filed Against Telco in New York, Elsewhere Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 17:46:48 -0500 By LARRY NEUMEISTER Associated Press Writer NEW YORK -- AT&T Inc. and BellSouth Corp. were added as defendants to a lawsuit seeking $200 billion in damages from phone companies accused of violating privacy laws by turning over phone records to the government, lawyers said Tuesday. The companies were added to a lawsuit filed Friday by two New Jersey lawyers in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that accused Verizon Communications Inc. of turning over records for a federal secret surveillance program. The lawsuit also now includes 26 plaintiffs from 18 states who contacted two public interest lawyers after hearing about the lawsuit, the lawyers said at a news conference outside the courthouse. The lawsuit claims the companies violated the Telecommunications Act and the Constitution by turning over the records to the government. The lawsuit was filed after USA Today Thursday identified AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth as companies that complied after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with a National Security Agency request for tens of millions of customer phone records. In a statement, Atlanta-based BellSouth has said it had no evidence it was contacted by the spy agency or that it gave the government access to any customers' phone call records. "Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA," the statement said. New York-based AT&T spokesman Larry Solomon said in an e-mail Tuesday that at AT&T, "we vigorously protect our customers' privacy." He said the company does not allow wiretapping without a court order and has not given customer information to law enforcement authorities or government agencies without legal authorization. Solomon said the company has "an obligation to assist law enforcement and other government agencies responsible for protecting the public welfare, whether it be an individual or the security interests of the entire nation." But he said when government agencies ask AT&T for help, the company responds "strictly within the law and under the most stringent conditions." He added: "Beyond that, we can't comment on matters of national security. This is a national security issue and needs to be addressed on a national level." Verizon has said it could not confirm or deny whether the company participated in the NSA program but promised any access to customer records would be limited. "Verizon does not, and will not, provide any government agency unfettered access to our customer records or provide information to the government under circumstances that would allow a fishing expedition," the company said. Since the lawsuit was filed, New Jersey lawyers Carl J. Mayer and Bruce I. Afran said their offices have been flooded with phone calls and e-mails from people across the country who want to join the action as plaintiffs. "Some are outright outraged at what the government is doing," Mayer said. Others, including dozens of lawyers, have offered to provide legal expertise, he said. He cited an e-mail from one Studio City, Calif., man who wrote that he was not looking for money but just wanted "to protect my civil liberties." He also noted an e-mail from a West Newbury, Mass., man who said he called Verizon to complain about an invasion of privacy and was forwarded to a supervisor who asked, "Are you involved in a criminal activity such that you are concerned with us turning over your records?" Mayer said the lawyers might seek to subpoena President Bush or others in the White House to get to the truth of the scandal. Afran said the lawsuit was not politically motivated, and added that he has been a supporter of many of the administration's policies. "Never in the United States have we seen such widespread abuse of basic civil rights," he said. Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc. Copyright 2006 Associated Press 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Michael Liedtke Subject: Software Makers Crack Down on Net Piracy Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 12:03:33 -0500 By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer Computer software makers launched a crackdown on illegal Internet sales of their products Tuesday by suing suspected pirates who have set up shop on the popular online auction site eBay Inc. Usually fierce rivals Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc. teamed up to kick off the crusade by targeting five different eBay sellers in three lawsuits filed Monday in a Los Angeles federal court. "If online marketplaces are going to pursue the free-market ideals that they aspire to, they must make sure the products they sell are authentic," said Joe Fitzgerald, Symantec's vice president of intellectual property. The two leading makers of antivirus software decided to sue after uncovering evidence that the individuals named in the complaints had completed more than 15,000 sales involving pirated software between October 2005 and December 2005, said Keith Kupferschmid, an executive with the Software & Information Industry Association. The trade group is coordinating the software industry's efforts to patrol eBay and other Internet auction sites for pirates. Kupferschmid said the group intends to buy copies of pirated software in the auctions and then sue "egregious" copyright violators without forewarning. The industry expects to file the suits on a monthly basis. The campaign isn't currently aimed at eBay or the buyers of pirated software. Besides software makers, the association also represents a large number of providers of electronic information, including The Associated Press. This week's initial burst of lawsuits named: Edward Cosmos of Bloomington, Calif.; Grace Chan of San Jose, Calif.; Kevin Liu of New Brunswick, N.J..; Mary Tian of New Brunswick, N.J.; and G.T. Tian of Highland Park, N.J. "I did nothing wrong," said a man who identified himself as Liu after the AP sent an e-mail asking him to call. The man didn't respond to another question before the phone call abruptly ended. Cosmos and the Tians didn't immediately respond to e-mails sent to their eBay profiles Tuesday. Chan's auction registration is no longer active, according to eBay. Efforts to locate a phone number for her were unsuccessful. Cosmos and Chan received nothing but positive feedback from sellers, according to their eBay profiles. A few negative remarks were mixed with the mostly flattering commentary posted about Liu and the Tians on eBay's site. The civil suits seek unspecified damages, as well as court orders to prevent future copyright and trademark infringement. Software makers have long complained about pirates looting their sales. The industry estimates it loses $11 billion to $12 billion a year from the distribution of pirated software. The industry believes 90 percent of all software sold on Internet auctions violates copyrights or licensing agreements, Kupferschmid said. San Jose, Calif.-based eBay disagreed with those estimates. "We know (piracy) is an issue, but we don't think it's a big problem," spokesman Hani Durzy said. Ebay supports the software industry's efforts to penalize pirates, Durzy said. Copyright holders and eBay don't always agree on the definition of an improper sale. For an example, a small business that bought a piece software that was never installed on a computer may have a legal right to sell the unopened copy on eBay, Durzy said, even though the manufacturer might disagree. In auctions involving clear-cut cases of piracy, eBay removes the listing within hours, Durzy said. But Kupferschmid said eBay sometimes takes several days before shutting down an auction of pirated software. He also expressed frustration with an eBay policy that allows sellers previously flagged for piracy to run future auctions. "It's like playing 'Whack-A-Mole,' " Kupferschmid said. "You take one auction down and then another one pops up." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Cablevision Takes on Telcos Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 12:05:14 -0500 Cablevision takes on telcos with cheaper international calls. Cablevision Systems Corp. on Wednesday said it will offer a simpler and cheaper international call rate plan in the latest salvo in the growing battle between cable and phone companies for subscribers. The Bethpage, New York-based company said that its Optimum Voice digital phone service will offer international calls to any country in the world for 4 cents a minute, eliminating country-based pricing. The World Call package offers its 900,000 digital voice customers 500 minutes a month at $19.95. This would be in addition to the standard monthly fee of $34.95 for unlimited calls within the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. When compared with other cable companies, Cablevision has the highest voice penetration of 20 percent of homes passed in its New York tri-state area customer base. In recent weeks the battle between the cable and the phone companies has become more heated as the cable companies have claimed to have had major success in grabbing market share in telecoms traditional areas of voice and high speed Internet customers. Comcast Corp., Time Warner Inc.'s cable unit and Cablevision all posted their best recent subscriber growth during the first quarter prompting analysts to say that they were winning subscribers from the their telecom rivals. Patricia Gottesman, Cablevision executive vice president of product management and marketing, did not specify how much cheaper Optimum Voice would be than the average telecom's prices. But she added, "As long as you can build products and services that have a broad appeal you have an opportunity competitively to make a difference." Phone companies including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications offer country-based international calls with a variety of plans included discounted calls to specific countries. Todd Mitchell, analyst at Kaufman Bros said international call price plans had more of an impact regionally across the United States depending on the demographic of the region. "Where you're going to get the heavy usage is where you need to have the offering where communities are calling home to their families." Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Telemarketing Law Question Organization: BellSouth Internet Group Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 18:57:48 -0400 What legal penalties apply to a telemarketer who autodials all the numbers in town that are not on the do-not-call list (without checking whether they are homes, businesses, hospitals...)? Our whole university was hit with a recorded ad for a local business this morning. Receptionists with rollover systems got, of course, numerous multiple copies. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 11:40:37 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Wednesday, May 17, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 17, 2006 ******************************** Mobile/Wi-Fi Roll-Out Rages On; France Telecom Readies Launch http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17993?11228 France Telecom is to launch a mobile/Wi-Fi phone before the end of the year, in an apparent bid to pile the pressure on Iliad and Neuf Cegetel. The company said yesterday that it will launch its dual phone, which allows users to move seamlessly between a mobile network and their home wireless network. Reuters said a France Telecom... Getting Thin: Motorola's Slvr L2 http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17984?11228 Thin is in, particularly when it comes to cell phones. For proof, take a look at Motorola's new Slvr L2 for Cingular, a phone that's so thin it could almost double as a bookmark. The Slvr L2 is less than a half-inch thick and weighs about 3 ounces. The phone follows in the footsteps--but is slightly smaller than--Motorola's... Verizon Denies Offering NSA Customer Phone Records http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17982?11228 NEW YORK -- Verizon Communications Inc. says it did not give the government records of millions of phone calls, joining fellow phone company BellSouth in disputing key assertions in a USA Today article. The denials leave open the possibility that the National Security Agency requested customer calling data from long-distance... Wireless Internet Access Urged for New York City Parks http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/17980?11228 NEW YORK -- Sunshine, daffodils and ... wireless Internet access? All of these should be widely available at New York City parks, high-tech advocates said at a City Council hearing on the state of Wi-Fi al fresco. "We believe that free Internet is an amenity and should be provided to all New Yorkers just as grass, trees and... Leap Looks to Swap Wireless Spectrum http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17978?11228 Leap Wireless International forged a deal to swap some spectrum in Michigan for spectrum in New York. The spectrum swap is being carried out by Leap subsidiary Cricket Licensee II. The agreement calls for Leap to exchange 10 MHz of spectrum in Grand Rapids, Mich., for 10 MHz of spectrum in Rochester, N.Y. Independently, the licenses... TeliaSonera: Another Strong Broadband Statement http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17973?11228 Sweden-based TeliaSonera made a key move to boost its position in the Norwegian broadband market by acquiring a more-than-82-percent stake in NextGenTel Holding, the Number Two broadband/xDSL operator in Norway. The deal to acquire NextGenTel will enable TeliaSonera to offer a series of broadband services, including VoIP and IPTV, to... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers Date: 17 May 2006 08:59:20 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com It's been reported here that Skype is allowing users to make free calls to the US and Canada during 2006. I have a Skype account, but never used it. I tried it last night and it works well. I used my iPod earbuds and built-in mic on my iBook and the call was clear. For those who have never used skype, you dial regular telephone numbers by prefacing the country code with the plus-sign (+). For instance: +1 212 555 1212. This got me wondering. Are free calls limited to the US and Canada or the entire NANP? I was able to call a number in Bermuda (+1 441) using Skype, so it would appear Skype users can call anyone in +1 for free. I'm about to order a USB headset for my computer. I'll be in Mexico on business next month and it'll be easier (and cheaper) to make calls back to the States using Skype. John Mayson ------------------------------ From: gordonb.bkvq0@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) Subject: Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 22:13:31 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com >>> But in his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush rushed to assure the >>> public the secret program did not target innocent private citizens. >> Cheney did not "target" a fellow hunter either. Funny how that person >> was injured anyway. >>> Specially designed computer programs watch for patterns in these >>> contacts and analyze them to make sure no terrorist cell is operating >>> within the United States. >> I'd like to see the output of such a program analyzing contacts >> between members of Congress and lobbyists made public, to ensure that >> no bribing of congresscritters is taking place. >> Gordon L. Burditt > You'll never see it but you can bet that all kinds of pattern analysis > is taking place to discover which of us are communist err ah I mean > Democrats. Can't they get that kind of information much more simply by looking at voter registration records? Legally, even? Is the fact that I voted in the Republicrat primary rather than the Demican one public information? When primary time comes around, I get a lot more propaganda from candidates in the party primary that I last voted in than ones from the other party. Gordon L. Burditt ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 15:58:44 -0700 From: Jim Stewart Subject: Re: They Know Who We're Calling TELECOM Digest Editor wrote: >> So, while the smiling service rep was talking _you_ into purchasing a >> few of the new features 'which we are now equipped to provide in your >> calling area' the overall intent of ESS was a lot more nefarious. ... > I don't agree with that at all. As mentioned, the ability to trace > calls was _desired_ by the public as a result of severe prank and abuse > calls. > The new calling features were not a nickel-dime thing, but a profit > center. Nothing wrong with that. You want plain POTS, fine, continue > paying $4/month. You want call waiting, an extra $3/month. Customer > is happy with the new feature and the phone company is happy with the > revenue. People in more affluent areas liked the new features, liked > the status symbol of having call waiting and putting someone on hold, > and didn't mind paying the money for it. Not to mention the vast operational savings that ESS yielded. Picture a 10 story building in the geographic center of a large city. Picture crafts-people on all 10 stories maintaining the switch. Now picture the ESS on one floor, serviced by a handful of techs and the other 9 floors being rented out as prime office real estate. ------------------------------ From: Julian Thomas Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 19:47:26 -0400 Subject: Re: They Know Who We're Calling In <20060516222819.B9D94157B6@massis.lcs.mit.edu>, on 05/16/06 at 06:28 PM, editor@telecom-digest.org typed: >> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Way back in the 1960's when Electronic >> Switching Systems (ESS) were first being developed, telco's major >> complaint was that the telephone network had essentially gotten out of >> control; among other things, anyone who knew how the 'system' worked >> (and more people were find out every day about the old-style 'frames' >> and other apparatus; how ancient and unreliable it was becoming; and >> the various limitations of the 'system' where people who were less >> than honest were concerned, or people who were malevolent in their >> intentions, and telco finally had enough of it and said the entire >> system had to be rebuilt from the ground up. > My understanding of ESS history is a bit different. The Bell System, > since it started, was constantly looking for more efficient ways to > handle traffic. This lowered the cost of telephone service which > generated more business allowing it to take advantage of economies of > scale. This all created a positive cycle -- more business led to more > efficiency and lower costs which led to more business. I'm with Jeff/Lisa on this. For a few months in the 1950's I worked at Bell Labs in the very early ESS development project. There didn't seem to be any hidden agenda for capturing all sorts of call data, and in fact in those early days, the storage technologies just weren't there to do what is being done today. They were far more concerned about eliminating pay phone fraud. Julian Thomas: http://jt-mj.net In the beautiful Finger Lakes Wine Country of New York State! Warpstock X - October 12-15 2006; Windsor, Ont. I'll be there - will you? There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved by a suitable application of high explosives. ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Re: Nokia Launches Google Talk Date: 16 May 2006 17:24:55 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Does anyone own a Nokia 770? It's Linux-based and looks like a great tool. I owned a Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 PDA which was also Linux-based. It was ahead of its time when I bought it, but Sharp stopped supporting it. :-( ------------------------------ From: donhdoyle@yahoo.com Subject: Re: Calling the USA while traveling in Europe Query ? Date: 16 May 2006 17:36:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I'm wondering about portability with the telephone, adapter box, vs headset with microphone. I'll be traveling for 5 weeks, moving around quite a bit, so it is important to travel light. --DD ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 19:42:18 -0600 From: Anthony Bellanga Reply-To: no-spam@no-spam.no-spam Subject: Re: Dialing 311? Hold That Call! ******************************************************************** PAT - DO NOT display my email address anywhere in this post! Thanks. ******************************************************************** Monty Solomon posted Kenneth Pogran of Lexington MA's comment to the Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/14/dialing_311_hold_that_call/ >> I believe that using 311 as the telephone access code for the >> centralized request line is not a good idea in 2006. 311 works >> only if all callers in the city can reach it -- if it's "routable" >> in telecom industry lingo. and then Thor Lancelot Simon (tls@panix.com) replies: > This is nonsense. 311 is used in some of the most competitive > telephone markets in the country, including New York City -- > and customers of all carriers can reach it just fine. It's NOT nonsense! Just because 311 apparantly works "fine" in New York City among various carriers and service providers doesn't necessarily mean that it will work just as fine everywhere else it has been implemented. I see that Thor snipped out the rest of the original posting by Monty of Kenneth Pogran's reply to the Globe: >> And with today's widespread use of cellphones and Voice over Internet >> Protocol (VoIP) services such as Vonage or Skype, that's a problem. >> The author points to Baltimore's success with 311 -- but that system >> was set up 10 years ago, when nearly everyone's primary means of >> calling was a conventional "wireline" telephone. Today, many people >> have gone completely wireless, or switched from a conventional >> wireline service to VoIP. >> The article mentions that Somerville has instituted 311 service. >> Suppose Boston did, too, and suppose a Charletown resident, near the >> Somerville line, dials 311 from a cellphone. That call might be >> picked up by a nearby cell tower in Somerville. >> The wireless industry has been working long, hard, and expensively to >> solve the problem for Enhanced 911 emergency services, and it's not >> completely fixed yet. >> The Menino administration is correct in advocating use of a >> conventional 10-digit telephone number to access a central citizen >> request line. A 10-digit phone number is universally routable. This all makes *perfect* sense! While the idea of 3-digit 'N11' codes is "nice", it still isn't always going to work properly in today's telephone industry. Payphones and PBXes aren't necessariy going to recognize 311 for the function it's intended for. Some payphones might use 311 for their own non-standard purposes. The use of a toll-free ten-digit number is probably the best thing, or even a ten-digit "POTS" telephone number, even though there could be routing problems with 800 or 888 type numbers as well from certain types of lines. But at least there's a better understanding of how to handle "standard" ten-digit "POTS" and toll-free numbers by the various members of the telephone industry when compared to novelty codes like 311. I've seen commercials for some local area United Way 211 numbers, and they always semm to post a "disclaimer" on the TV or print ad, indicating that if you can't reach the United Way on 211, instead call this (ten-digit) toll-free 800 number. So, they're admitting that the 211 code might not always work from certain types of phone lines or services in the community! ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #186 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 17 15:51:57 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id DB7C815332; Wed, 17 May 2006 15:51:56 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #187 Message-Id: <20060517195156.DB7C815332@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 15:51:56 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 17 May 2006 15:54:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 187 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Hold the Phone: Spying on Your Calls (NewsWeek May 22 Issue) Judge Seals Documents in NSA Spying Case (David Kravets) Verizon, AT&T Deny Handing Over Phone Records (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Telemarketing Law Question (Ben Schilling) Last Laugh! Re: Spammer With a Toll Free Number (Mr. Rick Meredith) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Hosenball & Evan Thomas Subject: Hold the Phone: Spying on Your Calls Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 14:13:58 -0500 Big Brother knows whom you call. Is that legal, and will it help catch the bad guys? By Mark Hosenball and Evan Thomas Newsweek May 22, 2006 issue - In the difficult days after 9/11, White House officials quietly passed the word through Washington's alphabet soup of intelligence agencies: tell us which weapons you need to stop another attack. At the supersecretive NSA, the National Security Agency (also known as No Such Agency), the request came back: give us permission to collect information on people inside the United States. The NSA had been struggling, without much success, to listen in on terrorists who use cheap and easily available encrypted phones, and officials eagerly drew up a wish list, according to a participant in the discussions. This source, who declined to be identified discussing sensitive matters, said NSA officials did not really expect the White House to say yes to domestic spying. After scandals over wiretapping erupt-ed in the 1970s, the code breakers and electronic sleuths at the NSA had been essentially restricted to eavesdrop-ping on conversations between foreigners abroad. American residents and even most foreign visitors to the United States were off-limits to "Big Noddy," as NSA insiders call their giant "Ear in the Sky" surveillance capability. But after 9/11, president George W. Bush wanted fast action. He believed that most Americans thought their government should do whatever was necessary to catch terrorists before they struck again. Though the details remain highly classified, the "National Security Presidential Directives" issued by Bush called for an all-out war on terrorism, including, it is generally believed, expanded electronic surveillance. Out went the old rules-a 1980 document called "U.S. Signals Intelligence Directive 18," which sharply limited domestic surveillance; in came a new, still dimly understood regimen of domestic spying. Desperate times call for desperate measures. In times of war, open societies have been willing to accept the need for secret spy services. Americans now spend upwards of $40 billion a year on intelligence. Given a hard choice between security and privacy, most Americans would probably choose to sacrifice some of the latter to get more of the former. The harder question is whether the techno wizards at the NSA, overwhelmed by tidal waves of digital data, searching for tiny poisonous fish in a giant sea, can provide true security from another 9/11. There can be no doubt that Bush correctly read the public mood in the days and weeks following the 2001 attacks. And had the president sent a bill up to Capitol Hill giving the NSA broad powers to wiretap and eavesdrop inside the United States, in all likelihood, the lawmakers would have shouted it through. But the president did not ask for public support. Instead, like most chief executives charged with running the modern national-security state, he chose the path of secrecy. True, the administration's spymasters confidentially briefed congressional leaders on the new eavesdropping program. But some of the lawmakers now claim they were confused, or misled, or somehow did not fully understand what the spooks were telling them. Perhaps the legislators weren't fully informed. Or perhaps they didn't really want to hear what they were told. In any case, the story eventually, and inevitably, leaked. Last December, The New York Times revealed that the NSA had eavesdropped on thousands of phone calls between people in the United States and foreign countries without first obtaining warrants. Then, last week, USA Today reported that the NSA had amassed a vast database of billions of calls inside the United States-not the content of the calls themselves, but a record of when and to which phone numbers the calls were made and for how long. (The government did not ask the phone companies for names and addresses, but the simplest Internet search of a phone number can divulge that information.) The revelation was another blow to Bush, whose approval rating in the new NEWSWEEK Poll dipped to 35 percent, his record low in the survey, and it may slow the administration's plan to find a CIA director who can restore morale at the beleaguered intelligence agency. The brewing scandal is likely to entangle the government and the phone companies that helped in a legal morass. Administration officials have always insisted that any eavesdropping or "data collection" had been narrowly focused on Al Qaeda terror suspects. It is hard to determine if the NSA goes on fishing expeditions. A senior administration of-ficial, who declined to be identified discussing classified matters, acknowledged to NEWSWEEK that the NSA had crunched through vast databases to help identify suspects who may have then been subjected to electronic eavesdropping, either without a warrant or under court order. This official claimed that the NSA program had helped gather evidence that had foiled terrorist operations, though the official would not be more specific. If the program "leads to one disruption of another 9/11, then it would be worth it," said the official. But other administration officials interviewed by NEWSWEEK questioned whether the fruits of the NSA program-which they doubted, though not publicly at the risk of losing their jobs-have been worth the cost to privacy. And many Americans naturally wondered whether Big Brother was watching or listening in ways that are still unknown. There are hints, for instance, that the government has been fishing the Internet as well as the phone lines. In San Francisco, a privacy group called the Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit based in part on the testimony of Mark Klein, an AT&T technician for 22 years who claims he witnessed the construction of a "secret room" for the NSA at AT&T's San Francisco headquarters in early 2003. Later that year, Klein says, he discovered that cables from the secret room were tapping into massive volumes of Internet communication. Klein says he discovered similar operations in other cities on the West Coast, and now concludes that the NSA had created the capability of "vacuum-cleaner surveillance" of all data crossing the Internet. AT&T says it has always obeyed the law and worked to safeguard the privacy of its customers. The federal government has mostly remained mum, though at a Dec. 19 White House briefing, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales somewhat cryptically referred to "many operational aspects" of the eavesdropping program "that have still not been disclosed." After the USA Today story, President Bush told reporters, "We are not trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans." Whether that is strictly true will likely be on the agenda this week as lawmakers on the Senate intelligence committee grill Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, Bush's choice to take over the troubled CIA. Hayden ran the NSA before and after 9/11, when the agency was expanding its surveillance programs. "I have substantial questions about his credibility," Senate intelligence committee member Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, told NEWSWEEK. He points to Hayden's public statements that the NSA monitored only international calls. "There was never any mention of establishing a domestic database," says Wyden. Republicans defending Hayden's nomination can counter with some early polls showing that most Americans support expanded electronic surveillance to catch terrorists, even if it intrudes on their privacy. (Much depends on the wording of a poll question, of course, and later polls showed more skepticism. The NEWSWEEK survey found 53 percent agreed with the statement that NSA data collection "goes too far in invading people's privacy," while only 41 percent agreed that the collection program is "a necessary tool to combat terrorism.") Most legal experts seemed to agree that the government could collect a huge database of phone records without violating the Constitution's ban on "unreasonable searches and seizures." Still, the phone companies that cooperated with the NSA-AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth-will be h auled into court, accused by their customers of violating the arcane and murky restrictions of various federal communications laws. All of them have protested that they were complying with the law, though it has been noted that they were paid for their cooperation, and lawyers suing the phone companies will undoubtedly want to know if they were pressured by threats to withhold valuable federal contracts. One much smaller phone company-Qwest, based in the Rocky Mountain states-refused to turn over its call records, arguing that the NSA never satisfied the company's legal doubts about the agency's request. Americans are not naive about the need to snoop at home and overseas. In 1929, Secretary of State Henry Stimson shut down a secret code-breaking operation called the Black Chamber by saying, "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." But America's enemies are apt to play dirty, and during World War II and the cold war, the federal government decided, in effect, to play dirty, too-to steal secrets and eavesdrop, at home as well as abroad. Washington spun a huge web of intelligence agencies with acronyms familiar (like CIA and FBI) and obscure (like NRO-for National Reconnaissance Office-to operate spy satellites). The attitude toward secret or "black" operations was, at first, rather "stiff upper lip" and British. Policymakers did not want to know too much about what the spooks were up to. Presidents were protected by the doctrine of plausible deniability. They were supposed to be able to say, plausibly, that they really didn't know how that secret was stolen-or that a journalist's phone was tapped or that a foreign government was overthrown. If caught, American spymasters were supposed to fall on their swords and take responsibility. Of course, blametaking didn't quite work so stoically in practice. During the Watergate scandal, it emerged that the Feds had been carrying on a program of domestic spying, tapping phones and opening the mail of real and imagined enemies of the state. At the 1975 Church Committee hearings, intelligence officials squirmed and pointed fingers. New laws were enacted, including the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires the Feds to get a warrant from a secret court before eavesdropping on foreign calls in and out of the United States. The NSA was banned from any domestic espionage. At those 1975 hearings, Sen. Frank Church, the chairman of the committee appointed to investigate intelligence abuses, made a statement that today seems ominous and possibly prescient. The Idaho senator said he was most worried about the NSA. The secret agency's capabilities were so great they "could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything, telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide." The NSA does have vast capabilities. One senior U.S. intelligence official, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the subject, told NEWSWEEK that the heat generated by the NSA's secret supercomputers has been so great that officials have been talking about carting in snow and ice to mask the machines from the prying sensors of foreign spy satellites. But increasingly, there has been talk of the agency's "going deaf." The NSA had its best luck monitoring Soviet lines of communication-for example, a microwave transmission from Moscow to a missile base in Siberia. But the new enemy is more shadowy and elusive. In 2002, General Hayden told NEWSWEEK, "We've gone from chasing the telecommunications structure of a slow-moving, technologically inferior, resource-poor nation-state-and we could do that pretty well-to chasing a communications structure in which an Al Qaeda member can go into a storefront in Istanbul and buy for $100 a communications device that is absolutely cutting edge, and for which he has had to make no investment for development." According to most accounts, the NSA remains behind the telecommunications curve. A December 2002 report by the Senate intelligence committee noted that only a "tiny fraction" of the NSA's 650 million daily intercepts worldwide "are actually ever reviewed by humans, and much of what is collected gets lost in the deluge of data." Hayden told NEWSEEK that year that the NSA had been slow to catch up to new technology, and that he was obsessed with turning the enemy's "beeps and squeaks into something intelligible." One of Hayden's most ambitious initiatives was called Trailblazer. It was a program aimed at helping the NSA make sense of its many databases-to put them to use. By more efficiently locating and retrieving messages, Trailblazer could help the NSA "data-mine," to find patterns in the huge volume of electronic traffic that might help lead sleuths to a terror suspect. Instead, the program has produced nearly a billion dollars' worth of junk hardware and software. "It's a complete and abject failure," says Robert D. Steele, a CIA veteran who is familiar with the program. Adds Ed Giorgio, who was the chief code breaker for the NSA for 30 years: "Everybody's eyes rolled when you mentioned Trailblazer." What went wrong? The NSA apparently tried a clunky top-down approach, trying to satisfy too many requirements with one grand solution, rather than taking a more Silicon Valley-like tack of letting small entrepreneurs compete for ideas. John Arquilla of the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, Calif., a renowned "network" intelligence expert, says: "The real problem Big Brother is having is he's not making enough use of the Little Brothers"-the corporations that have become expert at manipulating databases for commercial use. "Data mining" has been a boon to credit-card companies that can match customers and products. It has also helped the Feds track drug dealers who constantly buy and throw away cell phones (the technology can monitor frequent phone-number changes). Identifying and tracking terrorists may be a taller order. For one thing, terrorists have learned not to even use phones. A computer disk or message between, say, Osama bin Laden and Iraqi insurgent leader Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi is hand-delivered. Some terrorists have learned to leave messages hidden in Web sites. Others are given passwords to go on the Web sites and find the messages. Since that process involves no electronic communication-no e-mail or phone call-the NSA is kept in the dark. Effective data mining might have averted 9/11, notes Philip Bobbitt, who served as a National Security staffer in the Clinton administration. On Sept. 10, 2001, the NSA, monitoring pay phones in Qaeda-controlled Afghanistan, intercepted two messages, "The match begins tomorrow" and "Tomorrow is zero hour." No one knew what to make of these messages, which in any event weren't translated until Sept. 12. But the CIA and FBI had the identities of two of the hijackers, who had been linked to earlier Qaeda plotting, in the agencies' computers. "Had we at the time cross-referenced credit-card accounts, frequent-flier programs and a cell- phone number shared by those two men, data mining might easily have picked up on the 17 other men linked to them and flying on the same day and at the same time on four flights," Bobbitt recently wrote in The New York Times. There are doubts within the upper levels of the U.S. government that the NSA, four-and-a-half years after 9/11, is any better equipped and run to piece together the next "Tomorrow is zero hour" intercept. NEWSWEEK has learned that some top government lawyers were troubled by the NSA data collection and search program-not on legal grounds so much, but because they doubted its efficacy. A senior administration official who was involved in legally vetting the NSA program but declined to be identified discussing sensitive matters says that a crude cost-benefit analysis left him uneasy. The NSA program ran a risk of intruding on the privacy of Americans. There are always "false positives." National Journal's Shane Harris conjured up the example of a book agent who represents a journalist who once interviewed Osama bin Laden. A faulty pattern analysis could make him a terror suspect. To justify the risk of dragging such innocents into government investigations, there needs to be evidence showing a high probability of return on the investment-the prospect of actually catching a terrorist. So far, the best catch the Feds have offered up is a truckdriver named Iyman Faris, who conceived a rather farfetched plot to cut down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch. (Faris was apparently identified by a captured Qaeda leader; it's not clear the NSA played any role.) Of course, intelligence services do not always brag about their successes, and one U.S. official privy to the intelligence tells NEWSWEEK that another attack on an urban area in the United States was averted as well. The official would not discuss the plot for fear of revealing NSA listening methods. There has been at least some debate inside the administration over how much license to give the NSA. In the spring of 2004, senior Justice Department lawyers objected to warrantless eavesdropping. For several months, until new rules to safeguard privacy were adopted, the program was suspended. It is not clear whether the NSA's data-collection program was also put on hold or altered in some way. The administration is not eager to air its internal debates. At the Justice Department, an internal watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility, began an investigation into whether DOJ lawyers had behaved unethically by interpreting the law too aggressively-by giving a legal green light to coercive interrogations and warrantless eavesdropping. But the OPR lawyers had to drop their investigation last week when the administration refused to give them the necessary security clearances. Catching Al Qaeda or some shadowy terrorist offshoot before it strikes again will take all the tools of spy tradecraft-old-fashioned human intelligence (HUMINT) as well as signals intelligence (SIGINT) like electronic eavesdropping. It is frustrating to think how close the CIA and FBI came to stopping 9/11. After Al Qaeda bombed the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, local police managed to catch one of the would-be bombers who had decided not to commit suicide in the blast. The conspirator was turned over to American intelligence officials, who persuaded the man to give up the phone number of a Qaeda safe house in Yemen. The NSA began listening in on the phone line of the safe house. American agents were tipped to a Qaeda terror summit in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000. Two of the 9/11 hijackers-Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar-were at that summit. Somehow, the CIA failed to hand over the identities of these two terrorists to the FBI in time for the slow-moving bureau to track them before they flew into buildings on 9/11. That was a human error, but it was caused in part by the culture of secrecy that permeates the national-security state. The CIA and FBI are renowned for their turf wars and unwillingness to share secrets. It's hoped that intelligence reform and the shame of failure have prodded the intelligence agencies to share a little more. As the late senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan observed, during the cold war excessive secrecy did more to hurt national security than to help it. In an overly secretive world, assumptions go untested and rigorous thinking is stifled. The CIA, for instance, failed to predict the collapse of the Soviet Union, in part because agency analysts refused to reach out to outside economists and experts. It is true, as the old World War II saying goes, that "loose lips sink ships." But by refusing to tolerate an open discussion of new rules post-9/11, the Bush team lost a chance to gain public support for the necessary trade-off between security and privacy. Figuring out how to track and find Internet-savvy terrorists is a daunting task. Government officials-even the superspooks of the NSA-need all the help they can get. With Michael Hirsh, Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Richard Wolffe, Holly Bailey and John Barry Copyright 2006 MSNBC.com Copyright 2006 Newsweek URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12779087/site/newsweek 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: David Kravets Subject: Judge Seals Documents in NSA Spying Case Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 14:10:09 -0500 By DAVID KRAVETS, Associated Press Writer Secret documents that allegedly detail the surveillance of AT&T Inc. phone and e-mail lines under the Bush administration's domestic spying program can be used in a lawsuit against the telephone giant, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, but the records will remain sealed. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker rejected a bid by AT&T to return the records given to the privacy advocate Electronic Frontier Foundation by a former AT&T technician. But Walker said the records would remain under seal until it can be determined whether they reveal trade secrets. "The best course of action is to preserve the status quo," Walker said. The hearing is the first in a lawsuit challenging the administration's secretive domestic surveillance program. The suit, filed by EFF in U.S. District Court here, accuses AT&T of illegally cooperating with the National Security Agency to make communications on the company's networks available to the spy agency without warrants. "They are asking this court to suppress evidence of AT&T's criminal activity," EFF lawyer Maria Morris said in arguing that the records remain part of the case. "I thought it was unfortunate counsel chose to use the terms 'criminal activities' and 'crimes,'" AT&T lawyer David Anderson said as he argued that the records should be returned to the company. The goal of the lawsuit is to dismantle warrantless eavesdropping on Americans in the United States, a practice the Bush administration confirmed in December. EFF's case would have been weakened if the records provided by the whistleblower were taken from the case. The case is Hepting v. AT&T Inc., 06-0672. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 13:47:21 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Verizon, AT&T Deny Handing Over Phone Records USTelecom dailyLead May 17, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dDAcfDtutegXxdqfYY TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Verizon, AT&T deny handing over phone records BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Cablevision offers flat-rate plan for international calls * Nortel CEO maps out long-term plan * Verizon unveils VoIP solutions for enterprise customers * BT Group to roll out U.K. Wi-Fi plan * Moto hopes to launch Q next week USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Selecting the Best Wireless Architecture * Learn more about wireless at the Telecom Bookstore TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * SK Telecom launches HSDPA network * Fox hit "24" is set in real time, but watched on TiVo REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Venture capitalists back nationwide wireless Internet firm * Sen. McCain set to unveil a la carte incentives Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dDAcfDtutegXxdqfYY ------------------------------ From: Ben Schilling Subject: Re: Telemarketing Law Question Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 13:39:59 -0500 mc wrote: > What legal penalties apply to a telemarketer who autodials all the > numbers in town that are not on the do-not-call list (without checking > whether they are homes, businesses, hospitals...)? > Our whole university was hit with a recorded ad for a local business > this morning. Receptionists with rollover systems got, of course, > numerous multiple copies. If the numbers aren't on a do-not-call list the only penalties would be those that apply to sending a record message. Check your state law. I don't know where you are located, but in Wisconsin only residential numbers can be placed on the do-not-call list. Ben Schilling Telecomm Manager, Wis Insurance Comm 608-266-1615 ben.schilling@oci.state.wi.us ------------------------------ From: Mr RICK MEREDITH Subject: Last Laugh! Re: Spammer With a Toll Free Number Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 14:03:07 -0400 I got the same message. Has anyone tried to claim their prize? I think I'm going to give him a try -- screw around with his head a little. The following is what they sent me: Rick, Please call me at 1-866-677-4100. I previously tried to contact you at 1-813-9x-xx##, but was unable to reach you. This is reference to an entry form you filled out, either on-line or at a major mall or movie theater. I actually have some decent news in regards to the Worldwide Destination contest. I have an address, claim number, and further details for you. Since all prizes are well over $500, I will need a few moments of your time to cover all related lottery-type information from procuring your prizes due to any tax issues on them. Sincere congratulations! The Prize Claim Coordinators P.S. For your convenience, we are available 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM Central Standard Time, Monday to Friday 65.132.78.141 Dec 14 2005 10:20AM Please follow url below to stop further emails http://www.u-r-a-winner.net/cgi-bin/frame1.cgi?email=m Sender: The Prize Claim Coordinators 105 South River Rd North Aurora, IL, 60542 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I know someone else who _attempted_ (without success, need I add) to collect the 'valuabl, over five hundred dollars' prize. They will talk your head off when you call if you allow them to do so. But, have some fun! You all know the routine by now! PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #187 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu May 18 13:38:04 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id EDC08159D4; Thu, 18 May 2006 13:38:03 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #188 Message-Id: <20060518173803.EDC08159D4@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 13:38:03 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 May 2006 13:33:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 188 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Why Emails are so Easily Misunderstood (Christian Science Monitor) Yahoo Roving Reporter Thrives in 'Hot Zone' (Carly Mayberry) Yahoo Sees No Boost From Ad System Until Next Year (Eric Auchard) Net Neutrality Provision Rejected (Grant Gross) Cellular-News: Wednesday 17th May 2006 (Cellular-News) Cellular-News: Thursday 18th May 2006 (Cellular-News) Free Calls With Skype??? (Michael Muderick) Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Difficulty Finding Needed Information (EL2006) Re: Dialing 311? Hold That Call! (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection (Linc Madison) Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection (Thomas Daniel Horne) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Christian Science Monitor Subject: Why Emails are so Easily Misunderstood Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 19:34:39 -0500 from the May 15, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0515/p13s01-stct.html By Daniel Enemark | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor Michael Morris and Jeff Lowenstein wouldn't have recognized each other if they'd met on the street, but that didn't stop them from getting into a shouting match. The professors had been working together on a research study when a technical glitch inconvenienced Mr. Lowenstein. He complained in an e-mail, raising Mr. Morris's ire. Tempers flared. "It became very embarrassing later," says Morris, when it turned out there had been a miscommunication, "but we realized that we couldn't blame each other for yelling about it because that's what we were studying." Morris and Lowenstein are among the scholars studying the benefits and dangers of e-mail and other computer-based interactions. In a world where businesses and friends often depend upon e-mail to communicate, scholars want to know if electronic communications convey ideas clearly. The answer, the professors conclude, is sometimes "no." Though e-mail is a powerful and convenient medium, researchers have identified three major problems. First and foremost, e-mail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it difficult for recipients to decode meaning well. Second, the prospect of instantaneous communication creates an urgency that pressures e-mailers to think and write quickly, which can lead to carelessness. Finally, the inability to develop personal rapport over e-mail makes relationships fragile in the face of conflict. In effect, e-mail cannot adequately convey emotion. A recent study by Profs. Justin Kruger of New York University and Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago focused on how well sarcasm is detected in electronic messages. Their conclusion: Not only do e-mail senders overestimate their ability to communicate feelings, but e-mail recipients also overestimate their ability to correctly decode those feelings. One reason for this, the business-school professors say, is that people are egocentric. They assume others experience stimuli the same way they do. Also, e-mail lacks body language, tone of voice, and other cues -- making it difficult to interpret emotion. "A typical e-mail has this feature of seeming like face-to-face communication," Professor Epley says. "It's informal and it's rapid, so you assume you're getting the same paralinguistic cues you get from spoken communication." To avoid miscommunication, e-mailers need to look at what they write from the recipient's perspective, Epley says. One strategy: Read it aloud in the opposite way you intend, whether serious or sarcastic. If it makes sense either way, revise. Or, don't rely so heavily on e-mail. Because e-mails can be ambiguous, "criticism, subtle intentions, emotions are better carried over the phone," he says. E-mail's ambiguity has special implications for minorities and women, because it tends to feed the preconceptions of a recipient. "You sign your e-mail with a name that people can use to make inferences about your ethnicity," says Epley. A misspelling in a black colleague's e-mail may be seen as ignorance, whereas a similar error by a white colleague might be excused as a typo. If you're vulnerable to this kind of unintentional prejudice, pick up the phone: People are much less likely to prejudge after communicating by phone than they are after receiving an e-mail. Kruger and Epley demonstrated this when they asked 40 women at Cornell to administer a brief interview, 20 by phone and 20 by e-mail. They then asked a third group of 20, the "targets," to answer the phone interviewers' questions. They sent a transcription of the targets' answers to the e-mail interviewers. The professors then handed each interviewer what they said was a photo of her subject. In reality, each got a picture of either an Asian or an African-American woman (in reality, all were white). E-mail interviewers who thought the sender was Asian considered her social skills to be poor, while those who believed the sender was black considered her social skills to be excellent. In stark contrast, the difference in perceived sociability almost completely disappeared when interviewer and target had talked on the phone. E-mail tends to be short and to the point. This may arise from the time pressures we feel when writing them: We know e-mail arrives as soon as we send it, so we feel we should write it quickly, too. On the other hand, letters depend on postal timetables. A letter writer feels he has a bigger window of time to think and write. Psychologists Massimo Bertacco and Antonella Deponte call this characteristic "speed facilitation," and they believe it influences our episodic memory -- our ability to recall events. They found that e-mailers wrote shorter messages and were less likely to "ground their communications" in memories of shared experience than letters writers were. The brevity of e-mail and the absence of audiovisual cues can endanger business and personal relationships unless e-mail is supplemented with the rapport that comes from more personal communication. "Rapport creates a buffer of positive regard," says Professor Morris, "and when it's not there negotiation becomes brittle, vulnerable to falling apart." Morris, who studies negotiation at Columbia, led a study that found that negotiators exchange more than three times the information in face-to-face interactions as they do via e-mail. Though Morris and his colleagues concluded that e-mail lets negotiators make "more complex, multiple-issue offers," they ultimately built less rapport, thereby increasing tensions and lowering the average economic value of the agreements. Rapport "is an interpersonal resonance of emotional expression," Morris says, "involving synchronous gesture, laughing, and smiling together. Once this rapport exists, it's a buffer against a moment in the negotiation when there's some friction." This buffer is hard to develop without speaking over the phone or in person. Those who negotiated by e-mail in Morris's study trusted each other less and weren't as interested in working together again. But the pitfalls of e-mail interaction were easily overcome by a single phone call. Morris ran a second round of negotiations, all conducted via e-mail, but made half of the corresponding pairs chat on the phone before negotiating -- "just for five or 10 minutes," Morris explains, "and the key thing is we told them, 'Don't get into the issues. It's just an icebreaker.' " The result was dramatically improved agreements. So if you want to buy something on Craig's List, Morris says, "make a brief phone call, even if it's not practical to do the whole negotiation by phone. You can establish a favorable bias with someone and then proceed in a less rich medium, but it's very hard to just get right into the negotiation on a medium that isn't rich." www.csmonitor.com | Copyright 2006 The Christian Science Monitor. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news from Christian Science Monitor, New York Times and NPR, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ From: Carly Mayberry Subject: Yahoo Roving Reporter Thrives in 'Hot Zone' Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 19:28:18 -0500 By Carly Mayberry As a backpack journalist traveling solo across the world in dangerous regions, Kevin Sites' load just got a little lighter. Not that the 60 pounds of digital equipment he totes on his back has lessened any. But Sites has made it to the halfway point of a global trek that has found him documenting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Syrian government -- and in the process helped make Yahoo's news site consistently ranked No. 1 in online news coverage. "Kevin has gotten stories that receive very little coverage by traditional news outlets but that are important and told them in a way that never has been done before or could have been done before in terms of technology," says Scott Moore, Yahoo Media Group's vp content operations. "He's made news cool and relevant to younger audiences with original content that has no spin, no filter." From the beginning, the goal of Yahoo's "Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone" has been to put a human face on global conflict through the kind of intrepid reporting that can't be done with a conventional TV news crew. "I saw an incredible need to cover these places in a way that wasn't just about the body count -- but what happens in terms of victimization and environmental destruction," says Sites, who has worked for the likes of CNN and NBC, gaining notoriety in 2004 when he videotaped a U.S. Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi insurgent in a Fallujah mosque. "People won't be interested in a conflict if it seems obscure to them." So when Sites joined Yahoo after returning from a long stint covering the war in Iraq and saw more and more online news sites cropping up, he knew Yahoo needed to carve out a niche beyond conflict reporting. "There are many layers between us and a story, and what I wanted to do was pull back those layers by simply getting to a person," says Sites, who uses the latest in mobile and Internet technologies to report in real time. "The world is huge, but if we parachute in to enough of these tiny little slivers of countries -- even for a short time -- people should get a much more fully dimensional look." Sites already has compiled multimedia reports for Yahoo's 400 million users from 14 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. "When I first started in Somalia and the Congo and I was reporting 12 hours a day, trying to write and transmitting all night we were having equipment problems and I remember thinking, Are we really gonna do this for a whole year?" he recalls. But eventually Sites found a rhythm and credits his "mission control team" of producer Robert Padavick and researcher Lisa Liu at Yahoo's Santa Monica offices. "I feel like an astronaut and I'm doing a space walk. They're the ones that keep me tethered in," Sites says of Padavick and Liu. As Sites embarks on the final leg of his round-the-world journey, he says certain moments resonate more powerfully for him than others -- like witnessing a mother in Sudan singing a rebel lullaby to her child, the time he shot basketball hoops with young boys in Iran and the experience of covering a child bride tortured in Afghanistan. His coverage of the girl's plight drew 14,000 responses and became Yahoo!'s most e-mailed story that week. Still, the journalist, who was once accustomed to the huge audience of the evening news, remains amazed by the interactive nature of the Internet platform and the Yahoo site itself with its various links, which provide a built-in account of the history behind each story. "It allows for this multilayer storytelling, but what's really cool is that the nature of the Web allows people on the news site to give us story ideas or correct someone else's posting with their own information to in essence move the story forward in this revolutionary endeavor of storytelling on the Web," he says. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Eric Auchard Subject: Yahoo Sees No Boost From Ad System Until Next Year Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 19:26:03 -0500 By Eric Auchard Internet media giant Yahoo Inc. plans to introduce its revamped Web search advertising system in the third quarter, but expects no financial contribution in 2006, executives said on Wednesday. "We don't expect a financial contribution this year," Chief Financial Officer Sue Decker said at the company's annual analyst meeting here. "We are looking more toward 2007." "It would be premature to try and put numbers around that," Decker said in response to a question on the potential financial contributions of the advertising system to Yahoo results. Executives originally said they would release details of how and when the much-anticipated ad service would make money at the meeting. Decker said she was making no change to the company's prior outlook for 24 percent to 31 percent growth this year. Longer term, she expects Yahoo to grow faster than the Internet industry as a whole, mentioning a target of 25 percent to 26 percent rate. "It would be an aspirational growth rate to double that to 25 percent to 26 percent," Decker said in response to one analyst's question, but shied away from his more aggressive 30 percent long-term revenue growth calculation. "I wouldn't take that so literally -- but faster than the industry growth rate," Decker said. Industry growth is expected to slow from around 30 percent presently to annual growth rates around 22 to 24 percent over time, analysts predict. In April, the company said its 2006 year revenues would range between $4.6 billion and $4.85 billion. Tim Cadogan, vice president of Yahoo's search business, said a redesigned software console used by ad buyers, along with the back-end technology will be put in the hands of advertisers by the third quarter in the United States. International advertisers will gain access to it during the first-quarter of 2007, he said. However, the system's revised advertising ranking and pricing mechanisms will only become available in the fourth-quarter of this year in the United States and some time in the first-quarter of 2007 for international clients, Cadogan said. Yahoo began, earlier this month, to test the paid search ad system that aims to compete with market leader Google Inc. by offering advertisers an easier way to manage placing ads alongside consumers' keyword Web search results. Microsoft Corp., previously a major customer of Yahoo's search advertising system, recently unveiled its own Web search advertising system, setting up a three-way battle in the online advertising market. Decker said Yahoo's margins have stabilized in recent years at around 40 percent, as the company balances advertising growth against the need to invest to fuel further growth, to fend off competition from other major Internet companies. At least half of future revenue growth will come from existing users spending greater amounts of time on its network of Internet media and e-commerce sites, rather than relying on new users, Decker said. "More than 50 percent of our revenue growth will come from (increased) revenue per user," she said. Drivers of this growth reflect the increasing availability of broadband Internet connections, mobile phone access to the Internet, Web search improvements and new products. Some analysts expressed disappointment that the company did not set any aggressive new targets for its revamped search business. But Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker said the mood of Yahoo executives appeared upbeat, despite the lack of news at the meeting. "Their outlook appears positive for the short-term and the long-term," said Meeker, who rates Yahoo "overweight." Yahoo closed down 86 cents, or 2.78 percent, to end the day at $30.11 on Nasdaq. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Grant Gross Subject: Net Neutrality Provision Rejected Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 11:34:12 -0500 Committee votes down a provision that would prohibit ISPs from blocking or slowing customers' connections. Grant Gross, IDG News Service Thursday, April 27, 2006 WASHINGTON -- Internet companies and consumer groups calling for a new U.S. law that would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or degrading some connections lost a major battle this week when a U.S. House of Representatives committee voted down such a provision. The House Energy and Commerce Committee, during debate on a telecommunications reform bill, rejected an amendment that would write so-called net neutrality provisions into U.S. law. Backers of a net neutrality law want Congress to prohibit U.S. broadband providers from blocking or slowing their customers' connections to Web sites or services that compete with services offered by the providers. The committee rejected the amendment, on a vote of 34-22, largely along party lines, with all but one Republican opposing the net neutrality amendment offered by Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat. Late yesterday, the committee was still debating the full bill, largely focused on allowing telecom carriers to offer television services over IP (Internet Protocol) in competition with cable TV. The bill would create a national franchising system, instead of requiring that new television providers seek local franchises across the U.S. Backers of the Markey amendment said it would prohibit broadband providers from creating a new online "tax" by charging Internet companies an extra fee for faster connections to their customers. The telecom bill, which prohibits the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from making new net neutrality rules, will "put at grave risk the Internet as an engine of innovation, job creation and economic growth," Markey said. "This will stifle openness, endanger our global competitiveness, and warp the Web into a tiered Internet of bandwidth haves and have-nots." Internet companies including Google and Yahoo, as well as organizations such as the Gun Owners of America, the National Religious Broadcasters, liberal group MoveOn.org, and the Consumers Federation of America, have called for a strong net neutrality law. Backers of a strong net neutrality law say it's needed after the FCC last August deregulated DSL providers, allowing them to no longer share their lines with competitors. The committee's wide-ranging telecom reform bill, sponsored by Chairman Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, would allow the FCC to investigate complaints about the blocking or impairing of Internet content by broadband providers only after the fact. Markey's amendment would have required broadband providers that set aside faster connections for new services such as video over IP to offer the same speeds to competing services. It also would have required the FCC to create an expedited process to deal with complaints. Large broadband providers, including AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Comcast, have opposed efforts to write net neutrality requirements into law, saying they're unnecessary. There have been few examples of broadband providers trying to block competing services, they say. The amendment would have created new regulations for the Internet, Barton said. "I don't think all the Draconian things will happen that they think will happen," he said of amendment backers. Despite support from some consumer groups, the amendment could have hurt consumers, who now bear most of the cost of new networks built by broadband providers, added Representative Charles Gonzalez of Texas, one of five Democrats who voted against the Markey amendment. E-commerce companies should pay more for broadband because they profit from those networks, he said. The bipartisan SavetheInternet.com Coalition accused the committee of "selling out the Internet." The group, which says it gathered more than 250,000 signatures on petitions supporting net neutrality in less than one week, said it will continue to fight for a new law as the telecom reform bill moves forward. After being approved by the committee, the telecom reform bill would have to pass the full House and repeat the same process in Senate. Congress is scheduled finish its work for the year about October 6. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more high-tech news reports, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Wednesday 17th May 2006 Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 11:11:15 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] 3G Kit Being Shipped to New Zealand http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17407.php Econet Wireless New Zealand says that network equipment worth US$36 million is expected to arrive this week as the company prepares to accelerate construction of its network initially in Auckland. Chief Project Director Tex Edwards said in a statemen... [[ Financial ]] SmartTrust looks south for LatAm growth http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17399.php US mobile services company SmartTrust expects sales in Latin America to grow 20% this year, mostly boosted by sales in the recently created Spanish South America region, SmartTrust regional director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Alexander Dann... Telemig reports net loss of US$13.7mn, down 9.8% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17401.php Minas Gerais state's largest mobile phone operator Telemig Celular has recorded a first quarter net loss of 30.2mn reais (US$13.7mn), down 9.8% compared to the 33.46mn reais in the same quarter last year, Brazilian news service Agência Estado r... Russia's MTS files bid for Serbia's Mobi 63 mobile operator http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17403.php Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has filed a bid in the tender for a stake in Serbia and Montenegroen mobile operator Mobi 63, a spokesperson with MTS told Prime-Tass Tuesday. ... Russia's MegaFon RAS net profit up 32.4% on year in 2005 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17404.php The net profit of Russia?s third largest mobile operator MegaFon rose 32.4% on the year to 4.144 billion rubles in 2005, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), the company said in a report Tuesday. ... [[ Handsets ]] Nokia Confirms Google Talk Tie-Up http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17406.php As had been previously reported, Nokia has confirmed that its Nokia 770 Internet Tablet will now come pre-installed with Google Talk, which is Google's free instant messaging service that enables people to chat and make calls through the Internet. Ad... Hurricanes Lead to Tax Rebates on Cellphone Accessories http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17410.php To help Florida residents better prepare for the 2006 hurricane season, mobile phone batteries and chargers will for the first time be available tax-free during the state's hurricane preparation sales tax holiday, May 21 to June 1.... [[ Mobile Content ]] Consumers Excited by Mobile TV but Remain Unconvinced on Usability http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17409.php New research shows that whilst consumers are excited by the latest mobile TV offerings, they remain unconvinced of its usability. This is one of the findings of a report by WaveMetrix, who specialise in monitoring online discussion to gauge and inter... [[ Network Contracts ]] Nokia Gets Unified Device Management Contract From Elisa http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17397.php Nokia, Tuesday said it has received a unified device managment contract with Finnish operator Elisa. ... [[ Network Operators ]] T-Mobile Moves Up Customer Satisfaction Index http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17405.php After nudging upwards last quarter, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) rose to 74.1 in the first quarter 2006, its largest jump since 2003. Both consumer spending and Gross Domestic Product had significant increases in the first quarter,... [[ Statistics ]] Conatel: Mobile base grows 56% in Q1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17398.php Venezuela's mobile telephony sector grew 55.5% in the first quarter of 2006 compared to the year-ago period, reaching a total of 13.6 million subscribers, telecoms regulator Conatel said in a statement. ... Indotel: Telephony penetration reaches 53.7% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17400.php Telephony penetration in Dominican Republic reached 53.7% in the first quarter of 2006, with 4.8 million fixed and mobile lines in service, according to the country's telecoms regulator Indotel. ... Brazil Mobile Phone Ownership Reaches 90.6 Million In April http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17402.php Brazilian mobile-phone ownership reached 90.6 million at the end of April, up 28% on the year and 1.2 million higher than at the end of March, according to preliminary figures released by telecommunications regulator Anatel on Tuesday. ... [[ Technology ]] Corn Cobs into Mobile Phones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17408.php Fujitsu says that it has developed a new bio-based polymer which has been used in developing a prototype mobile phone chassis made from corn starch. In collaboration with Toray Industries, Fujitsu developed the bio-based polymer that features high im... ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Thursday 18th May 2006 Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 07:13:29 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com [[ 3G ]] Business Users Dominate 3G Card Sales - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17422.php 2006 has seen an explosion of sales of equipment allowing Nomadic wireless data usage by consumers, according to figures released today by leading market research firm GfK. Sales of equipment for nomadic usage within the UK, allowing Internet access ... [[ Financial ]] Portugal Competition Authority Sends PT Bid To Phase II http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17411.php SonaeCom's EUR11.1 billion bid for its much-larger rival Portugal Telecom requires further study by the domestic competition authority, an AdC spokeswoman said Tuesday. ... Vivendi Rejects Group Breakup, Hikes Outlook http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17416.php Vivendi, Wednesday said it has rejected a shareholder's proposal to break up the company, adding that its conglomerate strategy should generate higher earnings this year than previously forecast. ... Sale Or IPO Of Permira's Debitel May Be Delayed -Sources http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17419.php The planned sale or flotation of Permira's majority stake in German mobile phone company Debitel may be delayed, two people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday. ... RadioShack Has Opportunity For CEO Update At Meeting http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17420.php RadioShack Corp.'s shareholders will gather for the consumer electronics retailer's annual meeting Thursday amid questions of who will lead the troubled company as it carries out a turnaround plan. ... Russia's SMARTS aggregate RAS revenue up 9.4% on yr in Jan-Mar http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17421.php The aggregate revenue of Russia?s SMARTS group of companies rose 9.4% on the year to U.S. $46.1 million in January-March, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), the company said in a press release Wednesday. ... [[ Legal ]] Court rejects ruling that gave Telenor, Storm equal votes on Kyivstar brd http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17417.php Ukraine's Kiev Court of Appeals has overturned a previous court ruling that gave Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor and Russia's Storm company equal votes on the board of directors of Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivstar, a source clos... [[ Messaging ]] TIM offers Blackberry 8700g to individuals, SMEs http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17412.php Brazilian mobile operator TIM has started to offer the Blackberry 8700g handset to individual customers, TIM said in a statement. ... Blackberry to Tie in with Lotus Notes http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17418.php International Business Machines (IBM) and Research In Motion plan to undertake new initiatives to drive growth in the mobile industry by providing greater integration between IBM Lotus Domino and the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution. ... [[ Network Contracts ]] Vodafone Improves GPRS Monitoring http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17429.php Vodafone Germany has switched on GeoProbe and Advanced Performance Monitoring (APM) from the Tektronix Unified Assurance (UA) suite for its network-wide, real-time GPRS and UMTS monitoring system. Furthermore, the Tektronix solution, which is now ful... [[ Network Operators ]] Movistar to expand coverage with 1,000 base stations http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17414.php Mobile operator Movistar Argentina plans to increase GSM coverage and network capacity by deploying 1,000 new radio base stations nationwide, the company said in a statement. ... Commercial HSDPA Network Live http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17428.php South Korea's SK Telecom has launched a fully commercial HSDPA (High Speed Data Packet Access) service. SK Telecom has introduced the first-ever HSDPA handset and announced the launching of the world's first handset-based commercial HSDPA network. Th... [[ Offbeat ]] A Phone Stolen Every 12 Seconds http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17426.php Mobile phone thieves in the UK are costing the UK some US$734 million each year according to new figures issued by Halifax Home Insurance. Incidents of the crime are happening so frequently that one mobile phone is stolen every twelve seconds in the ... [[ Regulatory ]] Ministry restricts public VoIP to PC-PC calls http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17413.php Colombia's communications ministry has officially clarified that operators without a long distance license may only offer Voice over IP services for PC to PC calls, local daily La República reported. ... Additional GSM Spectrum for Poland http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17427.php Poland's telecoms regulator has awarded some additional GSM 1800 spectrum to operators in the country. Three frequency reservations were subject to tender, each including 33 channels. Each of the tenderers could submit one, two or three offers. The f... [[ Reports ]] Customer Care Vital To Keep Business Customers Happy - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17424.php American business wireless users who have an assigned dedicated channel to contact for service issues record significantly higher satisfaction ratings than customers at companies that do not, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Business W... [[ Statistics ]] Report: Mobile client base up 22% at end 1Q05 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17415.php The number of mobile users in Chile increased 22% at the end of the first quarter of 2006 compared to end-1Q05, reaching 11.6 million subscribers for the three local operators, according to local newspaper La Tercera. ... Canadian Wireless Penetration Reaches Two-Thirds http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17423.php A new Decima Research study commissioned by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) reveals that two-thirds (64%) of Canadian households report owning or having access to a wireless phone. This result represents a significant incr... Cost Cutting Helps CDMA Handset Sales in China http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17425.php China's Analysys International says total sales volume of mobile phones reached 22.38 million units in China in the first quarter of 2006, increasing 7.32% over the previous quarter. According to the research report, China's GSM handset market contin... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 19:07:13 -0400 From: Michael Muderick Subject: Free Calls With Skype??? I have a Skype account, and when I try and dial the number, it tells me I have to buy Skype credits. What's the secret? BTW, to dial a + I held down the "operator" key with the left mouse button. Michael Muderick ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers Date: 17 May 2006 19:59:32 GMT Organization: Aracnet Internet Services In article , wrote: > It's been reported here that Skype is allowing users to make free > calls to the US and Canada during 2006. I have a Skype account, but > never used it. I tried it last night and it works well. I used my > iPod earbuds and built-in mic on my iBook and the call was clear. What wasn't clear to me from the announcement was whether the call is free if it's placed within the US and Canada, or whether it terminates whithin the US and Canada. The former implies originating in the targeted area, whereas the latter could originate anywhere. I would expect that the latter would apply, since it's just IP network traffic until it actually transfers onto the traditional phone network somewhere. But I don't know. I'm curious, though, because I know someone in Afghanistan who uses Skype to communicate with relatives in the US. It would make a huge difference to him. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: EL2006 Subject: Difficulty Finding Needed Information Date: 17 May 2006 15:53:25 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com This is my first time to use Newsgroup ... I find it difficult to find info that I need. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Exactly what type of information are you seeking? Please be specific. Maybe someone here can help you. PAT] ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: Dialing 311? Hold That Call! Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 20:03:11 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , Anthony Bellanga wrote: > Monty Solomon posted Kenneth Pogran of Lexington MA's > comment to the Boston Globe: > http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/14/dialing_311_hold_that_call/ >>> I believe that using 311 as the telephone access code for the >>> centralized request line is not a good idea in 2006. 311 works >>> only if all callers in the city can reach it -- if it's "routable" >>> in telecom industry lingo. > and then Thor Lancelot Simon (tls@panix.com) replies: >> This is nonsense. 311 is used in some of the most competitive >> telephone markets in the country, including New York City -- >> and customers of all carriers can reach it just fine. > It's NOT nonsense! > Just because 311 apparantly works "fine" in New York City among > various carriers and service providers doesn't necessarily mean that > it will work just as fine everywhere else it has been implemented. If it wasn't implemented by idiots, it does. You could make the exact same complaint about 911 -- why don't you? Hint: it's easy to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt if you don't know what you're talking about. I've spent enough time staring at enough switchgear and enough protocol analyzers in my career to have a pretty good idea how routing for N11 calls works. Have you? Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "We cannot usually in social life pursue a single value or a single moral aim, untroubled by the need to compromise with others." - H.L.A. Hart ------------------------------ Subject: Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 17:27:06 -0700 From: Linc Madison Reply-To: lincmad@suespammers.org Organization: California resident; nospam; no unsolicited e-mail allowed In article , Gordon Burditt wrote: > [quoting someone else] >> You'll never see it but you can bet that all kinds of pattern >> analysis is taking place to discover which of us are communist err >> ah I mean Democrats. > Can't they get that kind of information much more simply by looking > at voter registration records? Legally, even? Is the fact that I > voted in the Republicrat primary rather than the Demican one public > information? When primary time comes around, I get a lot more > propaganda from candidates in the party primary that I last voted in > than ones from the other party. That specific information, yes, they can get much more easily from voter records, which are public information. In fact, if you put your unlisted telephone number on your voter registration -- at least in California -- your telephone number is now in the open public record. Very few people seem to realize that the phone number is optional on the voter registration form. I changed my registration to show my number as 415-555-1234, but the bastards matched my registration to other records and called me anyway. I'll save the rant about how the supposed "do not call" registry exempts political campaigns for another day, though. Anyway, there are much more nefarious things the current administration in power -- whether that's the Republicans right now or the Democrats at some point in the future -- can hunt for in this kind of data. I heard a sound bite yesterday about trying to track down who is leaking information to journalists by analysing this kind of calling data. The Bush administration would not hesitate to claim such a purpose as "fighting al Qaeda," but I and others disagree. The government has a history of abusing precisely this kind of ability. They ask me to trust that they will only use it for the common good, and I say no way. Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * lincmad@suespammers.org * primary e-mail: Telecom at LincMad dot com Read my political blog, "The Third Path" DO NOT SEND UNSOLICITED E-MAIL TO THIS ADDRESS. You have been warned. ------------------------------ From: Thomas Daniel Horne Subject: Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection Date: Tue, 16 May 2006 21:27:50 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net USAGordon Burditt wrote: >> But in his weekly radio address on Saturday, Bush rushed to assure the >> public the secret program did not target innocent private citizens. >> Cheney did not "target" a fellow hunter either. Funny how that >> person injured anyway. >> Specially designed computer programs watch for patterns in these >> contacts and analyze them to make sure no terrorist cell is operating >> within the United States. > I'd like to see the output of such a program analyzing contacts > between members of Congress and lobbyists made public, to ensure that > no bribing of congresscritters is taking place. > Gordon L. Burditt You'll never see it but you can bet that all kinds of pattern analysis is taking place to discover which of us are communist err ah I mean Democrats. Tom Horne "people willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both" Benjamin Franklin ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #188 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu May 18 14:26:23 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 1F29D1597B; Thu, 18 May 2006 14:26:23 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #189 Message-Id: <20060518182623.1F29D1597B@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 14:26:23 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 May 2006 14:28:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 189 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson World Cup Fans Warned Against Buying Tickets on Ebay (Mark Trevelyan) AOL Purchases Video Ads Company (Anick Jesdanun) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 18, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Vonage IPO Clouded by Complaints (USTA Daily Lead) Re: Telemarketing Law Question (John Levine) Re: Telemarketing Law Question (Robert Bonomi) Re: Calling the USA While Traveling in Europe Query ? (B. Wright) Re: Calling the USA while traveling in Europe Query ? (John Levine) Re: Antispam Firm Blue Security Says Victim of Attack (shrike@cyberspace) Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Free Calls With Skype??? (Mark Crispin) Re: Free Calls With Skype??? (John Levine) Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers (John Levine) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Trevelyan Subject: AOL Purchases Video Ads Company Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 11:30:48 -0500 AOL Buys Company That Inserts Video Ads By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer AOL LLC, signaling the importance online video will play in drawing visitors to its ad-supported Web sites, has purchased a small company that specializes in inserting advertising into video clips. With the technology from Lightningcast Inc., AOL would be able to run targeted ads within video and even change ads from time to time without replacing the entire video file. Lightningcast's technology also can insert ads into audio clips. Financial terms of the deal, announced Thursday, were not disclosed. AOL already has been using Lightningcast's platform since 2002. By acquiring the company, AOL can better integrate sales and operations with Advertising.com, the online ad business AOL bought in June 2004. "This acquisition will provide a huge infusion of talent, technology and publisher relationships for Advertising.com at a time when streaming video is growing at a blistering pace," Mike Kelly, president of AOL Media Networks, said in a statement. Last month, AOL won the first Daytime Emmy presented for content delivered via the Internet, cell phones and other small-screen devices. Last July's "Live 8" concert special -- delivered in seven separate feeds, all without the meltdowns common with early online video events -- was widely seen as a milestone in Internet video. AOL later launched with Warner Bros. the "In2TV" broadband network featuring free viewing of dozens of old television shows like "Welcome Back Kotter," "Sisters" and "Growing Pains." AOL and Warner Bros. are both units of Time Warner Inc. And earlier this month, AOL quietly opened its test of UnCut Video, a site where users can share clips they made with camera phones and camcorders, competing with the likes of Google Inc.'s video service and YouTube Inc. Lightningcast's technology works with all types of video - live, on-demand streaming and downloads. The development comes as AOL intensifies efforts at driving traffic to free, ad-supported sites to compensate for declines in its traditional business of Internet access subscriptions. But AOL faces immense competition. Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes Music Store and Google Video offer clips for sale, generally $1.99 for an episode of a television show. CBS Corp. recently launched an ad-supported broadband channel, "innertube," with specially created Web series and material that has already run on television. The Walt Disney Co.'s ABC is experimenting with making popular shows available for free on its Web site, complete with ads that cannot be skipped. Time Warner shares were down 6 cents to $17.47 in morning trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. Lightningcast was privately held before AOL's acquisition closed Wednesday. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from daily media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 11:34:11 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Thursday, May 18, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 18, 2006 ******************************** New Barriers for VoIP http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/18017?11228 The state public utility commissions have traditionally had the reputation of being in the hip pockets of the telephone and electric companies that they regulate. While some state commissions have changed that perception and are now viewed as pro-competition and pro-consumer, others have perpetuated it. As I write this column, the... Barton-Rush Bill Not 'An Elegant Solution' http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18016?11228 The piecemeal approach to a rewrite of the '96 Telecom Act took a controversial turn with the proposal of the Communications, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006 in late March. The work of House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, and Bobby Rush, D-Ill., the bill makes way for a national video franchising... No Hope Yet for Vodafone to Grab SFR http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18012?11228 Vivendi has rejected a shareholder proposal to break up the company in what would have created an opportunity for Vodafone to buy the shares it does not already own in French mobile operator SFR. Vodafone owns 44% of the firm, which holds about 36% of the French mobile market, while Vivendi controls a 56% stake. Vivendi shareholder... China Mobile in Talks with Google http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/18005?11228 HONG KONG -- China Mobile (Hong Kong) Ltd., China's largest cell-phone carrier by subscribers, said Thursday it's in talks with Google Inc. to launch an Internet search engine for mobile services in China. China Mobile is keen to explore mobile data services to offset declining revenue from the traditional voice services. ''I... RIM, IBM Collaborate on Mobility http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/18001?11228 Research In Motion (RIM) and IBM see a collective opportunity to enhance mobility in the enterprise space by further integrating RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Solution with IBM Lotus Domino. Initially, the companies plan to offer IBM Lotus Domino directly to BlackBerry devices. The goal, according to the companies, is to give customers... BT Ready To Mesh The Masses http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/17997?11228 BT, stepping up its plans to create "wireless cities" across the U.K., says it's reached agreements with a dozen jurisdictions to blanket those municipalities with a Wi- Fi mesh, with work on the first six to start imminently. The project will, unsurprisingly, be the largest mesh deployment in the U.K. BT is working with Intel as its... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 13:55:45 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Vonage IPO Clouded by Complaints USTelecom dailyLead May 18, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dEnsfDtutehCudvopQ TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Vonage IPO clouded by complaints BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Embarq begins journey as a separate company * Demand for broadband drives revenue growth at BT * Lucent's Russo says traditional telecoms well-positioned to compete * Broadband will renew debate about in-flight phone service * Moonves: Traditional broadcast still big moneymaker USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * What You Need to Know About IPTV TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Sprint introduces backup system * Smartphones a hit with business owners * Study: Worldwide mobile phone sales to jump 23% in 2006 REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Experts: Telecoms unlikely to face penalties in privacy suits Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dEnsfDtutehCudvopQ ------------------------------ Date: 18 May 2006 02:53:34 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Telemarketing Law Question In article you write: > What legal penalties apply to a telemarketer who autodials all the > numbers in town that are not on the do-not-call list (without checking > whether they are homes, businesses, hospitals...)? Check 47 USC 227. That sounds like a whole bunch of violations of the telemarketing law. You can't robocall a residence or hospital, and you can't robocall more than one line of a business at a time. The penalty is $500 per violation. > Our whole university was hit with a recorded ad for a local business > this morning. Receptionists with rollover systems got, of course, > numerous multiple copies. Your university should sue them. R's, John ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Telemarketing Law Question Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 14:54:10 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , mc wrote: > What legal penalties apply to a telemarketer who autodials all the > numbers in town that are not on the do-not-call list (without checking > whether they are homes, businesses, hospitals...)? > Our whole university was hit with a recorded ad for a local business > this morning. Receptionists with rollover systems got, of course, > numerous multiple copies. Under 47 USC 227 the only restriction that applies to calling businesses (which would include your University) is that the caller is not allowed to simultaneously engage two or more numbers at the university. Now, if the logs from your switch can establish that the marketer was calling two (or more) extensions at the same time, you can sue him. It's worth $500 for each call he originated _while_ he had another line in use. Note: 'ringing', but not answered, *does* count as 'in use' for that 'multiple lines' test. The marketer was presumably acting as 'agent' for the business being promoted -- this would make the business liable for the damages, as well as the marketer. Calling residences with a recorded message is illegal *except* for a few special cases (prior express consent of the called party, bona fide emergency situation, etc.). This restriction applies *REGARDLESS* of whether the residence number is listed on the Do-not-call list. Calling 'emergency telephone numbers' -- '911', crisis lines, poison control centers, etc. -- with a recorded message is similarly forbidden. As is calling "the telephone line of any guest room or patient room of a hospital, health care facility, elderly home, or similar establishment" *OR* cell-phones, or any other 'called-party pays' number. "Businesses" enjoy _only_ the protection against multiple *simultaneous* calls. One *might* be able to pursue a 'harassment' action, but the outcome is far from certain. ------------------------------ From: B. Wright Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 00:59:00 UTC Organization: XMission Internet http://www.xmission.com Subject: Re: Calling the USA While Traveling in Europe Query donhdoyle@yahoo.com wrote: > I'm going to be travelling in Europe this summer and need to be able > to talk periodically to people in the US. I will have my portable > computer with a wireless card. Can I load Skype softward on my > computer and then use Skype from an internet connection in the hotel? Where are you going to be staying? If the answer is "sometimes hostels", then you might want to think twice about taking a laptop. Even if you're always staying in hotels I'd leave the laptop home unless yoh have an absolute need for it, it's just something to worry about getting stolen/broken during your travels. If you need safe/secure internet access just bring along a bootable Linux CD find an internet cafe that will let you boot that on their machine (instead of using some potentially trojan infested public Windows machine). > What better ways might you suggest for inexpensive voice communication > back to the US from Europe? It might be a lot less trouble for you just to buy some of the local pre-paid calling cards. You can find these all over the news agents there, they are cheap, and if you make sure to read the terms closely you can find really good rates. If you won't be making many calls then it might make sense to just buy one of the GSM chips that work worldwide and put that in an unlocked GSM phone (make sure it does 900/1800Mhz at least). There are also some pre-paid calling cards that offer local access numbers throughout Europe, usually the rates are higher than the ones you buy at the local shops, but if you use it infrequently it could pay off in convenience. Here are some links, the rates vary and these aren't neccessarily the best, but good enough to give you an idea. You should look around and compare on your own: http://www.prepaidgsm.net/ (some global GSM chip info + comparisons) http://www.hiayh.ekit.com/ (one example of global calling card w/local toll free access numbers) ------------------------------ Date: 18 May 2006 03:07:01 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Calling the USA While Traveling in Europe Query > to talk periodically to people in the US. I will have my portable > computer with a wireless card. Can I load Skype softward on my > computer and then use Skype from an internet connection in the hotel? Sure, although you may reconsider when you see what some European hotels charge for wifi access. Skype has a promotion so that all calls to the US are free (not just to 800 numbers which always were) but if you have to pay $10/hr for wifi, it's not much of a bargain. > What better ways might you suggest for inexpensive voice communication > back to the US from Europe? Get a decent calling card. For example, I have Cognicall's card which is 14.5 cpm from France or 11.6 cpm from the UK, works from payphones or the hotel room phone, and doesn't need any extra hardware. If you're going to be spending a while in one country, see what the local calling cards cost. Friends in the UK tell me that you can get cards to call the US for under 5 cpm. > While I'm at it, I gather that I will need some kind of headset/micro- > phone in order to use Skype. I'm considering the Logitech 350; any > opinions on this or a better solution? I have a little generic USB handset I bought on ebay. Works fine. R's, John Note to Pat: Back when I had Vonage, I lugged my TA around on some trips, and it wasn't so great. I had to use my laptop as a router since the TA doesn't speak wifi, and even at places with wired access, you invariably had to log in from a web browser first. The TA and the cables took up a lot more space in my suitcase than my USB handset. ------------------------------ From: shrike@cyberspace.org Subject: Re: Antispam Firm Blue Security Says Was Victim of Attack Date: 17 May 2006 19:47:59 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com >> With black-holing, an ISP essentially removes the advertised path to a >> particular Web site or IP address -- making it completely inaccessible to >> the outside world. This is completely incorrect. Black-holing is the process of announcing a more specific route for the host pointing it at a null0 interface. In effect they superceded the DOS, and at that moment became the progenitor of a larger scale DOS against Blue Security. Been there, done that, many times. They mitgated bad traffic, but also denied good traffic. Blue Security, (which should have considered a name that didn't acronym as BS) should have considered the response they were going to get. To redirect the traffic really shows these guys as ameatures in the Internet business. All that aside it is time for some ISP's to step up and offer the bandwidth to liquidate this problem. If these guys want to go to war with spam, more power to them. ISP's deal with router-crashing DOS loads nearly every day. Having one that is predictable shouldn't be an issue. -psy ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: A Storm is Brewing Over Phone Record Collection Date: 18 May 2006 10:37:15 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Linc Madison wrote: > I'll save the rant about how the supposed "do not call" registry > exempts political campaigns for another day, though. I got a total of 15 (fifteen) calls during this year's primary season. All recorded messages. In the presidential election they tried to call my mother repeatedly even though she's off the rolls as she is no longer with us. As it turned out, in my area they do not have access to the voter rolls. They are allowed to sit in the polling place (as poll watchers) and note the names of those voting and they make up their lists that way. Obviously if someone is deleted from the rolls they have no way of knowing it and they'll keep trying to reach the person even if they're gone or have moved. > I heard a sound bite yesterday about trying to track down who > is leaking information to journalists by analysing this kind of > calling data. Some years ago a large corporation was upset about leaks to journalists and demanded and received from the Bell in the HQ toll records to search for whoever was calling the journalists. Both the company and Bell got into trouble and bad publicity for that antic. I can't help but wonder with deregulation and hungry non-regulated carriers that that sort of thing still goes on under some loophole. As to the NSA research, frankly at this point I don't have an opinion because there are good arguments on both sides. ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Re: Free Calls With Skype??? Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 10:37:40 -0700 Organization: University of Washington On Wed, 17 May 2006, Michael Muderick wrote: > I have a Skype account, and when I try and dial the number, it tells > me I have to buy Skype credits. What's the secret? BTW, to dial a + > I held down the "operator" key with the left mouse button. As the announcement on http://share.skype.com/sites/en/2006/05/free_calls_to_all_landlines_an.html says: If you're in the US or Canada, you can use SkypeOut to call any landline or mobile number in both the USA and Canada for free. If you're in the US or Canada and calling any other country, OR if you're in any other country and calling landline or mobile numbers in the US or Canada, the standard SkypeOut rates apply. So no, this does not give free calling to the US and Canada from overseas. My guess is that Skype uses your IP address to validate that you are in the US and Canada, and their list of US/Canadian IP networks isn't quite accurate. It works for me. They may be doing something silly like checking the country in your Skype profile, but I doubt that since it's easy for anyone to set that to whatever they want. -- Mark -- http://panda.com/mrc Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote. ------------------------------ Date: 18 May 2006 18:06:28 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Free Calls With Skype??? > I have a Skype account, and when I try and dial the number, it tells me I > have to buy Skype credits. What's the secret? BTW, to dial a + I held down > the "operator" key with the left mouse button. To dial a plus, I'd press the plus key on my keyboard. Where are you trying to call? If it's outside the US and Canada, you do need to buy credits because it costs real money. ------------------------------ Date: 18 May 2006 18:12:12 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers > What wasn't clear to me from the announcement was whether the call is > free if it's placed within the US and Canada, or whether it terminates > whithin the US and Canada. The former implies originating in the > targeted area, whereas the latter could originate anywhere. The latter, calls to US and Canada numbers are now free. (You would already know this if you had spent 10 seconds pointing your browser at http://www.skype.com .) Skype has only the vaguest idea of where you're located. > I'm curious, though, because I know someone in Afghanistan who uses > Skype to communicate with relatives in the US. It would make a huge > difference to him. Since the rate used to be about two cents a minute, he must be making some impressively long calls. R's, John ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #189 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu May 18 16:04:04 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9206F1596D; Thu, 18 May 2006 16:04:04 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #190 Message-Id: <20060518200404.9206F1596D@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 16:04:04 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 May 2006 16:06:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 190 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson US Demands Colleges be Wiretapped Also (Spam Daily News) Police Officers Warned About Cell Phone 'Guns' (Associated Press News Wire) Fox News Slams Qwest for 'Cooperating With Terrorists' (Media Matters) Qwest Gets Customer Praise for Holding Back Records (Tom Zeller, Jr.) Political Telemarketers (John Mayson) Sprint Finishes Spin-Off of Local Companies (Jeffrey Bartash) KDDI lets Mobile Phone Customers Use Google Search (Reuters News Wire) Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers (jmeissen@aracnet.com) Re: Free Calls With Skype??? (john@mayson.us) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Spam Daily News Subject: US Demands Colleges be Wiretapped Also Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 13:43:52 -0500 From Spam Daily News "This is totally ridiculous. I can't believe you're making this argument," Judge Harry T. Edwards told Jacob Lewis, an associate general counsel with the Federal Communications Commission. A U.S. appeals court panel challenged the Bush administration Friday over new rules making it easier for the police and the FBI to wiretap phone calls made over the Internet. One of the three judges hearing the case told the government that its courtroom arguments were "gobbledygook" and suggested its lawyer return to his office and "have a big chuckle." Judge Edwards criticized the U.S. government's demand that universities install wiretapping capabilities in their computer networks, saying he sees no evidence that Congress intended the intrusion. FCC officials last year indicated that their requirement would lead to the installation of new switches throughout university networks to monitor individual computers, said Terry Hartle, senior vice president of the American Council on Education. That would cost colleges an estimated $7 billion. The FCC recently clarified its position, saying universities only need to establish points where police can monitor messages coming in and out of the campus network, as long as the equipment includes authentication technology that reliably identifies each computer user, Hartle said. That alternative may be just as costly, since no such authentication technology yet exists, said Douglas Carlson, executive director of computing services at New York University, who is advising the American Council on Education in its case. "Depending on the data that needs to be collected at the gateway, it could still require major changes at the university networks and systems," he said. Aside from the costs, the universities don't accept that they are subject to the 1994 law or want an outcome that would find otherwise, Hartle said. The FCC has set a May 14, 2007 deadline for compliance. The FCC decision prompted an appeal by universities and libraries. The groups, including the American Library Association and Association of American Universities, challenged the agency's authority to extend such requirements to high-speed Internet services. Judge Edwards has taught at the Michigan, Harvard, Duke, Pennsylvania, Georgetown, and New York University law schools. His most important publication, "The Growing Disjunction Between Legal Education and the Legal Profession," from Michigan Law Review in 1992, has been the source of extensive comment, discussion, and debate among legal scholars and practitioners in the United States. Critics said the new rules were too broad and inconsistent with the intent of Congress when it passed the surveillance law, which excluded categories of companies described as information service providers. They say the FCC has long included broadband Internet in that category. Judge Edwards agreed. And he scoffed at the FCC's argument that broadband Internet services included a separate telecommunications "component" that made it subject to the wiretapping requirements. "Your argument makes no sense," Edwards told Lewis. "I'm sorry I'm not making myself clear," Lewis said. "You're making yourself very clear. That's the problem," Edwards replied. "Congress intended to cover services that were functionally equivalent" to traditional telephones, Lewis said. "There's nothing to suggest that in the statute," Edwards replied. "Stating that doesn't make it so." The panel appeared to be more willing to support the FCC's argument that Internet-phone services - which allow Internet users to make and receive calls from fixed-line phones - might be covered under the law. One of the other two justices on the panel, David Sentelle, expressed more sympathy for the government's argument, especially regarding the idea of extending the surveillance requirements to Internet phone service. But Sentelle also sounded skeptical about the FCC's position on broadband services. The third judge, Janice Brown, did not question the lawyers. The court's decision is expected within several months. Federal agencies foretell a dark world of evil benefiting from limited wiretapping laws. The Department of Justice said leaving out VoIP would deliver "a surveillance safe haven for criminals and terrorists who make use of new communications services." ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Police Officers Warned About Cell Phone 'Guns' Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 13:56:37 -0500 NEW YORK (AP) _ The New York Police Department has warned officers to watch out for a type of rare custom-made pistol, disguised as a cell phone. Federal authorities have been issuing warnings about the specially made .22 caliber handgun since at least 2000, when several were recovered by law enforcement authorities in Europe. The weapons, which use a spring-wound percussion system to fire up to four .22 caliber bullets, have continued to surface occasionally overseas. The NYPD issued a warning to its commanders about the weapon in a directive on May 11, the New York Post reported. The memo included pictures of the weapon and a description of how it works. It asked police conducting security screening at police headquarters or borough courthouses to be cautious handling cell phones during searches. Video of the pistol in action has circulated widely on the Internet. Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc. Copyright 2006 Associated Press 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Media Matters Subject: Fox News Slams Qwest for 'Cooperating With Terrorists' Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 13:54:45 -0500 Kondracke denounced Qwest as "basically helping terrorists" for not giving customers' phone records to NSA. On Fox News' Special Report, Roll Call executive editor Morton Kondracke said the telecommunications company Qwest was "basically helping terrorists" because "to its discredit, [it] said it was not cooperating with the NSA [National Security Agency] and specifically decided not to cooperate" by providing the NSA with the phone call records of its customers. According to The New York Times, a lawyer representing Qwest's former CEO has said that the company "[[Qwest]] turned down requests by the National Security Agency for private telephone records because it concluded that doing so would violate federal privacy laws." During the "All-Star panel" on the May 17 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, Roll Call executive editor Morton M. Kondracke said the telecommunications company Qwest was "basically helping terrorists" because "to its discredit, [it] said it was not cooperating with the NSA [National Security Agency] and specifically decided not to cooperate" by providing the NSA with the phone call records of its customers. "Now, you know, if we're fighting a war on terrorism," Kondracke said, "you'd think the telephone companies would want to cooperate, and I would hope that they would be cooperating. And for a company to opt out and say, 'No, no, no, we're too privacy-minded for this,' you know, it's basically helping terrorists." A May 11 USA Today report that NSA has been collecting and analyzing records of phone calls made by millions of Americans since 2001 stated that, according to its sources, "[a]mong the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA." According to a May 12 New York Times article, former Qwest CEO Joseph N. Nacchio has stated that "Qwest turned down requests by the National Security Agency for private telephone records because it concluded that doing so would violate federal privacy laws," although the company itself has not commented on the USA Today article. The Times article noted that Nacchio left Qwest in 2002 and that he was indicted in December 2005 on 42 counts of "insider selling." From the May 17 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume: KONDRACKE: Well, these statements are very carefully worded, and it took six days for them to come out. And in the beginning, Qwest, this other company, to its discredit, said that it wasn't cooperating with the NSA, and it, you know, it specifically decided not to cooperate. Now, you know, if we're fighting a war on terrorism, you'd think the telephone companies would want to cooperate, and I would hope that they would be cooperating. And for a company to opt out and say, "No, no, no, we're too privacy minded for this," you know, it's basically helping terrorists. I think Senator [Pat] Roberts [R-KS] is absolutely right. I mean, what's going on now is shocking. People are treating the Constitution of the United States as a suicide pact. Here we have Al Qaeda -- I mean, everybody has been watching [the film] United 93, and everybody should watch United 93 just to remind us of what we're dealing with. They would slam a plane into the Capitol, they would blow up an atomic bomb if they possibly could, and we're acting as though people who are trying to protect us are criminals. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does any person with half a brain, or an IQ higher than the outside temperature on a fall day give any attention at all to what Fox News has to say? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Tom Zeller, Jr. Subject: Qwest Gets Customer Praise for Holding Back Records Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 14:03:15 -0500 By Tom Zeller Jr. The New York Times The 1974 Privacy Act was aimed at preventing the government from piling up data on Americans precisely because it could not be trusted. The act did not envision giant commercial databases, or that one day, the government could simply buy its way around the law. Before last week's report that Qwest Communications was apparently the lone holdout among the four largest U.S. telecommunications companies secretly supplying the National Security Agency with Americans' phone-call records, online grumblers often called Qwest by a different name: "Qworst." Whether or not that reputation has been healed by the company's unexpected, and perhaps overstated, turn as a defiant protector of consumer privacy is unclear. A hastily conducted Washington Post-ABC News poll did suggest on Friday that 63 percent of Americans thought that the security agency's program was "an acceptable way to investigate terrorism." What is clear is that news of the agency program, particularly in this fiercely polarized political climate, has turned a beleaguered regional phone company with a somewhat lackluster customer service record into a gleaming political touchstone and beacon of consumer protection. "Qwest: NSA-Free," exclaims an image button making the rounds on liberal blogs at the end of last week. "Who are you with?" Compare that to typical online commentary before last week: "I have had a problem with my home phone line for over a year!" reads a rant at the Useful Fools blog. "I pay for service that I don't get! Down with Qwest! I will never use them again!" To be fair, it is equally easy to scan consumer complaint sites and find irate customers berating, for example, Verizon in the plainest of terms -- "Can you hear me now?!" Lousy Service With a Backbone? Even as Qwest jockeyed in the late 1990s to become one of the first U.S. telecommunications companies to offer bundled services -- telephone, Internet, television, wireless all on one bill -- its reputation for poor customer service, confusing billing and corporate misdeeds has overshadowed its ambitions, making its sudden turn as champion of consumer interests all the more incongruous. The company, which is based in Denver, settled a Securities and Exchange Commission fraud inquiry in 2004 for US$250 million. An additional $400 million was agreed to in October as a partial settlement with angry investors. "They've always had the worst service record in terms of getting things installed and keeping them working," said James Hood, founder of Consumeraffairs.com, a consumer advocacy and complaint site. AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth had all been providing the NSA with call records under a contract, USA Today reported. Only Qwest had refused, according to the report, citing the "legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants." Instant Payoff! "Thank you Qwest! It's nice to see someone following principle over profits," wrote a user named Terra at ThankyouQwest.org, a Web site hastily erected by the purveyors of the liberal blog Empire Burlesque. "When will you have cell service in Ohio?" At Americablog.com, Melissa said: "I just switched to Qwest. It took two minutes." Of course, some of the praise was more grudging -- particularly among Qwest customers who nonetheless oppose what they considered to be government snooping. "Good for Qwest, but, ugh, an otherwise horrible phone company," Craig Randall wrote at Americablog. A current, and unhappy, Qwest customer from Iowa reported, "We have only recently had an option to switch local providers in this rural area, and I have planned to leave Qwest and go with a smaller outfit built by my town." No longer. Government Buying Its Way Around the Law? "Just when I thought I was done with them they go and do something terrific," the customer said. "I'll write and tell them why I'm staying." Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the company's core products, but a customer is a customer. It is worth noting that telephone companies and banks, and shoe warehouses, magazines, courts, video rental stores and online retailers are buying and selling and sharing our personal information all the time. Much of it is gobbled up by large data warehouses, which in turn peddle access to the government. ChoicePoint, the world's largest data broker, recently signed a five-year, $12 million contract with the FBI -- another end-run, consumer advocates contend, around the 1974 Privacy Act, which was aimed at preventing the government from piling up data on Americans precisely because it could not be trusted. The act did not envision giant commercial databases, or that one day, the government could simply buy its way around the law. Copyright 2006 New York Times. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For headlines and news from New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and National Public Radio with no login nor registration requirements, please go to http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/nytimes.html ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Political Telemarketers Date: 18 May 2006 12:46:36 -0700 I posted a query/rant along these lines about a month ago, but my NNTP isn't talking to comp.dcom.telecom. I know politicians exempted themselves from the federal telemarketing law (and also the state law here in Texas). Are they completely and totally exempt or do they have some restrictions also? Here's my point ... I don't belong to any political party. Texas has open primaries (anyone can vote in either primary on election day). I haven't voted in a primary in Texas because a) I almost always vote third-party and b) the major party I hate the least had a presidential candidate from Texas, so what was the point? Still, the Republican Party got a hold of my name and number and call me continually begging for my vote. About 75% of the the time I get a pre-recorded message from our Republican governor or his wife asking I vote for this candidate or that amendment. Every call except for one showed up in my caller ID as "Unknown Name/Unknown Number". The one that did come through came from the 248 area code which is Michigan, not Texas. When I get a human I stop them and ask that a) I be removed from their list b) If they continue to ignore my request I will vote against their candidate automatically. They almost always argue that they have the right to call me because they're exempt from the "Do Not Call" list. They're totally missing the point! I specifically requested not to receive telemarketing calls. Why would they think I would welcome calls from them? If a candidate stood up and said, "While I'm not legally obliged to do so, I will not call people on the 'Do Not Call' list during my campaign", I would strongly consider voting for that person. Having someone tell me "Oh, sorry, no it's our RIGHT to call you and pester you at home twice a day the week before an election!" is outrageous! Here are my questions: 1.) Can politicians block their caller ID information? Regular telemarketers can't. 2.) If I specifically request they not call, are the obliged to stop calling? I emailed the campaign of Rick Perry (our Republican governor) stating that if I got one more call from his campaign I would vote against him. The email bounced. And I continued getting calls. So Gov. Perry ... you have lost my vote and you can never earn it back. John Mayson ------------------------------ From: Jeffry Bartash Subject: Sprint Finishes Spin-Off of Local Comapnies Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 13:59:32 -0500 UPDATE: Sprint's Embarq Starts New Independent Life By Jeffry Bartash WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) -- Embarq Corp., a local-phone company spun off by Sprint Nextel Corp., is slated to begin trading Thursday as an independent company. The spinoff was completed late Wednesday. Under the transaction, each Sprint (US-S) stockholder on record as of May 8 received one share of Embarq (EQ) for every 20 shares of Sprint. By spinning off Embarq, Sprint will be able to focus on almost entirely on its fast-growing wireless business, though the company also operates the nation's third-largest long-distance network. Embarq, for its part, may not have received the attention it needed from Sprint executives as they concentrated on wireless. Independence brings new challenges, but it gives Embarq a greater chance to chart its own course. The company, with 20,000 employees and more than $6 billion in annual sales, operates in 18 states. While Embarq has been losing customers for years to competitors or alternative technologies such as wireless, the local-phone business still generates plenty of cash and could attract investors in search of high dividend yields. The new company also expects gains in high-speed Internet subscribers to partly offset losses in local access lines. As Sprint reported earlier this month, Embarq's revenue is projected to decline to $6.4 billion to $6.5 billion in 2006 from $6.7 billion a year earlier, on a pro forma basis. Pro forma results assume that the spinoff had occurred on Jan. 1, 2005, thereby allowing for financial comparisons. Similarly, adjusted operating income is seen falling to $1.45 billion to $1.55 billion in 2006 from $1.76 billion a year earlier. And Embarq would start off with about $7.2 billion in debt. The number of access lines -- each line is basically the equivalent of one phone line -- is expected to decline by 5.5% to 7.5% in 2006. The local unit had 7.26 million access lines in service at the end of the first quarter. Yet Embarq is also expected to increase its number of DSL high-speed Internet users by 40% year over year. In the first quarter, the local unit added 84,000 DSL customers to end with 777,000. Embarq plans to spend more money to sign up high-speed Internet customers -- the unit's primary growth segment -- and to launch its own Embarq-branded wireless service via a wholesale agreement with its former parent company. Like other local phone companies, Embarq is trying to sign up local phone customers for high-speed service to prevent them from fleeing to rival providers. Subscribers who receive DSL are less likely to leave, market studies have shown. To achieve its goal, the local unit offers discounted packages of services -- local, long-distance, DSL and soon wireless. "Our goal is to make our services easier to use by integrating technologies in ways that enhance our customers' lives and businesses," Chief Executive Dan Hesse said in a statement. While competition in the phone business remains fierce, Embarq would be partly shielded by its concentration in second-tier or rural markets that offer a sanctuary of sorts. Still, some investors argue that competition will continue to siphon off customers, force the company to scale back dividend payments and ultimately undermine its stock price. To avoid that outcome, executives of Embarq have indicated they plan to pursue acquisitions more aggressively once the separation is complete. Bigger phone carriers are looking to sell some of their access lines and smaller rural carriers might be available at reasonable prices. By acquiring fresh assets, the company could obtain more net access lines, boost revenue and cash flow and generate greater savings by combining network operations. In gaining independence, Embarq becomes the No. 1 "pure-play" provider of local phone service in rural America, surpassing CenturyTel Inc. (CTL) and Citizens Communications (CZN) . Within a few months, Alltel Corp. (AT) also plans to spin out its local-phone business, making it No. 2 behind Embarq in the rural market. Embarq is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/ON/index.cfm?story=ON-20060518-000690-0906 ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: KDDI lets Mobile Phone Customers Use Google Search Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 14:07:27 -0500 KDDI Corp., Japan's No.2 telecom firm, said on Thursday it had agreed a deal with Google Inc. enabling users of its Internet services via "au" mobile phones to use Google's Web search engine. The first adoption of the world's most popular search service in Japan, starting in July, will make Internet searches easier while enabling direct access to information sought by users, the company said. Users will also be able to view content aimed not only at mobile phones but also at PCs through the new search service, the first of its kind in Japan, and also text advertisements which meet the needs of users based on search terms, KDDI said. The announcement comes at a time when Japan's $78 billion mobile phone market is preparing for a possible increase in competition as a new government rule this autumn will make it easier for customers to switch services by letting them keep their existing phone numbers. The industry also faces a challenge from Softbank Corp., which recently bought Vodafone Group Plc's Japan operations, allowing the aggressive high-speed Internet provider to offer a combination of fixed-line, broadband and mobile services. Softbank unveiled a new strategic move on Thursday as it said it would set up a mobile phone handset and content joint venture with Vodafone to buy phones at lower costs and offer innovative services to users. But KDDI sees little direct impact from the new service on its earnings, a company spokesman said. "Our main target from this is to improve usefulness of services to our existing users," he said. KDDI declined to comment on further details, including the value or period of the contract. Last month KDDI forecast its group operating profit to rise 7 percent in the year to March, 2007, slightly above market expectations. But KDDI said operating profit at its mobile phone business, which contributes 82 percent of total sales, would be flat this year as it sees the unit's average revenue per user drop and the percentage of customers leaving the service rise. au is KDDI's main mobile phone brand with over 20 million subscribers, tracking behind that of NTT DoCoMo Inc., Japan's No. 1 mobile phone operator. It has enjoyed strong demand in recent years thanks to aggressive pricing plans, attractive phones and innovative services such as music downloads. The news, announced on Thursday afternoon, helped KDDI shares rise 4 percent to 731,000 yen, compared with a 0.14 percent fall in the information and telecommunications sector subindex. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: jmeissen@aracnet.com Subject: Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers Date: 18 May 2006 18:38:12 GMT Organization: Aracnet Internet Services In article , John Levine wrote: >> What wasn't clear to me from the announcement was whether the call is >> free if it's placed within the US and Canada, or whether it terminates >> whithin the US and Canada. The former implies originating in the >> targeted area, whereas the latter could originate anywhere. > The latter, calls to US and Canada numbers are now free. (You would > already know this if you had spent 10 seconds pointing your browser at > http://www.skype.com .) Skype has only the vaguest idea of where > you're located. Well, I did. And the precise wording on the Skypeout page (which is the service that changed) states: "But remember, you can make free calls within the US and Canada to both landlines and mobile phones until the end of the year." It also goes on to say, "If you're in the US or Canada and want to call local numbers (these are US and Canadian landlines and mobile phones) then all you need to do is open up Skype, enter a phone number, hit the big, green, friendly call button and start talking. And best of all these calls are entirely free until the end of the year." Also, their rate page says, "Calling within the US/Canada", not "Calling to the US/Canada" To me that seems to indicate that the free calls only apply to calls made from the US/Canada to the US/Canada. Given the nature of VOIP I would expect that the country of origin wouldn't make a difference. But I don't proclaim to know the specifics of their proprietary protocols. >> I'm curious, though, because I know someone in Afghanistan who uses >> Skype to communicate with relatives in the US. It would make a huge >> difference to him. > Since the rate used to be about two cents a minute, he must be making > some impressively long calls. OK, maybe "huge" was the wrong word. :-) He's a friend of a friend, and all I really know is that he's been using Skype-to-Skype calls to save money. John Meissen jmeissen@aracnet.com ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Re: Free Calls With Skype??? Date: 18 May 2006 11:48:58 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The PC version of the software has that notice. The Mac version does not. I use the "+" key on the "main" part of the keyboard (SHIFT-=). I type in "+1 212 123 4567" and the call goes through. John Mayson ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #190 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu May 18 21:54:55 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 7D30B15952; Thu, 18 May 2006 21:54:54 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #191 Message-Id: <20060519015454.7D30B15952@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 21:54:54 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 18 May 2006 21:57:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 191 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson EU Internet Proposals Intended to Protect Society (David Lawsky) Internet Gamblers Getting Indicted (Ben Ames) Outsourced IBM Workers Will Get Unemployment Benefits (Paul McDougall) Skype Seeks Bulk to Avoid Being Blocked (Nancy Gohring) Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers (john@mayson.us) Re: World Cup Fans Warned Against Buying Tickets on Ebay (jsw) Re: Fox News Slams Qwest for 'Cooperating With Terrorists' (john@mayson.us) Re: Political Telemarketers (Lisa Hancock) Re: Political Telemarketers (Robert Bonomi) Re: Telemarketing Law Question (harold@hallikainen.com) Re: Difficulty Finding Needed Information (john@mayson.us) Re: Calling the USA While Traveling in Europe Query ? (Sidney Zafran) Aftermath of 2002 New Hampshire Phone Jamming (Carl Moore) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: David Lawsky Subject: EU Internet Proposals Intended to Protect Society Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 15:25:16 -0500 EU Internet proposals to protect society By David Lawsky EU proposals to regulate content on the Internet are aimed at protecting society not undermining free speech, European Union Media Commissioner Viviane Reding said on Thursday. Reding spoke at a news conference after a group of European Union culture ministers met to discuss extending rules restricting television content to cover telephones and the Internet as well as over-the-air broadcasts. She said the proposed regulations reflected "basic societal values" -- the protection of young children and restrictions on incitement to hatred. She said there is wide agreement on the restrictions against content that "goes too far and ... destroys our society." "That has nothing to do with free speech, that has to do with the freedom to protect your society on the basis of laws which have been accepted by national and European parliament," she said. She and others said it will take years to reach agreement. Reding said without an EU-wide regulation there would be different rules in each of the 25 EU member nations, providing a barrier to the television industry, which would face a patchwork of rules. She pointed to the example of a French court's decision to bar Lebanon's al-Manar TV from French satellites because it found that the television station broadcast hate speech. The television station has also faced action against it in the United States, even though the U.S. defines freedom of speech more broadly and will not allow the banning of so-called hate speech. However, the U.S. Treasury froze the assets of al-Manar satellite television, al-Nour Radio and their parent company, the Lebanese Media Group in March. At the time, the State Department said al-Manar facilitated the activities of Hizbollah, which the State Department considers a terrorist organization. Despite that, the television station said it would still be able to beam its programs to U.S. and Canadian homes. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Ben Ames Subject: Internet Gamblers Getting Indicted Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 15:30:16 -0500 Internet Gambling Operators Indicted Ben Ames, IDG News ServiceThu May 18, 9:00 AM ET The fugitive owners of a gambling Web site based on the Caribbean island of Antigua have laundered $250 million in profits, according to charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. WorldWide Telesports (WWTS) and its former owner, William Scott, and employee Jessica Davis have been charged with 12 counts of conspiracy, money laundering, and failure to disclose foreign financial accounts, according to an indictment unsealed this week by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Justice Department investigators said Scott and Davis are fugitives who have been on the run since being charged in a separate federal money laundering case in New York in March 1998. In January 2003, Scott sold WWTS to Betcorp, in Melbourne, Australia, a publicly-traded company. Betcorp did not respond to requests for comment in time for this article. According to Betcorp, WWTS still offers Internet, telephone, and wireless wagering to customers worldwide. In 2003, it accepted more than $800 million in wagers and reporting earnings of $12.5 million. Over the company's lifetime, WWTS has paid out $6 billion to winning bettors, according to Betcorp. Facing Charges According to the Justice Department charges, American sports fans used the WWTS Web site and toll-free numbers to bet on baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and other sports. Between April 1998 and October 2004, WWTS made $250 million from those wagers. Scott and Davis are charged with laundering that money through a series of shell corporations and foreign banks, and with violating the Wager Wire Act, which prohibits using the Internet, telephone, and U.S. mail for interstate and foreign gambling. Since filing the case on April 7, 2005, Justice Department investigators have been able to freeze $7 million of those funds after seizing an account at a bank in Guernsey, located off the coast of France. According to the indictment, Scott founded WWTS in Antigua and Barbuda in 1995. He immediately began depositing the company's profits in foreign bank accounts, for $37 million in 1999 and $49 million in 2000. He renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2004 and moved from Ohio to his homes on the Caribbean islands of Antigua and St. Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles. Davis was a WWTS employee. They kept the money in 11 accounts at banks scattered through Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Singapore, Canada, Australia, and the Channel Islands. The indictment seeks to seize those accounts, as well as WWTS property, computers and control of the Web site. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. ------------------------------ From: Paul McDougall Subject: Outsourced IBM Workers Will Get Unemployment Benefits Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 15:32:25 -0500 By Paul McDougall InformationWeek The federal government says a former IBM programmer whose job in New Jersey was outsourced to Canada is eligible to apply for the same employment benefits typically extended to manufacturing workers who lose their jobs to lower-cost offshore competition. Under a ruling handed down by the Department of Labor, the former IBM staffer-who helped develop billing software for businesses-can seek benefits under the Trade Adjustment Act. The Act provides for extended unemployment payments, federally funded retraining, and relocation allowances for workers hit by foreign competition. In the past, IT workers have been shut out from claiming TAA benefits. In a written ruling dated May 11, DOL official Elliot Kushner noted that "a shift in production of software like, or directly competitive to, that produced at the subject facilities to Canada contributed to the total or partial separation of a significant number or proportion of workers at the subject [IBM] facilities" in New Jersey. The former IBM worker, James Fusco, took the DOL to trade court after he was initially denied TAA benefits. The DOL's May 11 ruling in favor of Fusco applies to all workers at IBM centers in Piscataway, New Jersey and Middletown, New Jersey whose jobs were outsourced after November 13, 2001. It was not immediately clear how many IBM workers that would affect. The ruling comes on the heels of similar decisions recently handed down by the DOL that granted TAA status to former tech workers at Computer Sciences Corp. and Land's End. Those decisions came after the U.S. Court of International Trade ordered the DOL to review a policy under which it declined to grant TAA status to programmers because they do not produce a tangible good. The trade court characterized the DOL's previous thinking on the issue as "arbitrary and capricious." Copyright 2006 CMP Media LLC. ------------------------------ From: Nancy Gohring Subject: Skype Seeks Bulk to Avoid Being Blocked Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 15:28:26 -0500 Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service STOCKHOLM -- The larger Skype's user base grows, the less likely it is that telecommunications operators or regulators will successfully block the voice over IP service, said the head of Skype's European operations, during an interview at the VON Europe conference here. An experience in Brazil makes a good example, said James Bilefield, general manager of Skype in Europe. About a year ago, one of the largest telecom operators in Brazil blocked Skype. The reaction from Skype users was so strong that after a week, the operator relented. "The community has the power to change things," he said. Some operators, particularly the incumbents, may seek to block Skype because Skype's low-cost voice service can steal market share from them and thus eat into their most significant source of revenue. Incumbent operators speaking at VON Europe didn't hide the fact that the VoIP players are a threat. "Our existing cash flow is being challenged," said Joacim Damgard, vice president for broadband and fixed services at TeliaSonera. Harder to Block With the introduction of the most recent version of Skype came news that the application does a better job of hiding its traffic on networks, making it harder for service providers or third party applications to block it. While Bilefield couldn't explain how the application does that, he did say that Skype has a mission to make sure that customers can use the software. "Our goal is that consumers who want to use it should be able to," Bilefield said. "They shouldn't have anything in their way." If the issue of blocking Skype gets heated, Skype thinks that regulators will be on its side. "Overall, regulators want to provide choice. Skype does that," he said. Mobile operators have most recently begun to ban VoIP services. Last week, T-Mobile in the U.K. said that subscribers to a new data card service are forbidden to use VoIP services. Bilefield said that some operators have chosen to work with Skype because their customers want the service. In the near future, some mobile operators may find it harder to challenge Skype. Skype has been working on creating a client that is compatible with Symbian, the operating system from Symbian used in smart phones manufactured by Nokia and Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. A Skype client is already available to users of phones running Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers Date: 18 May 2006 12:57:38 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I assumed anyone on the Skype network can call any +1 number for free. I'll find out first-hand next month in Mexico. In the meantime perhaps someone outside of the NANP could give it a try. ------------------------------ From: jsw Subject: Re: World Cup Fans Warned Against Buying Tickets on Ebay Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 14:59:32 -0500 (CDT) > Soccer fans who missed out on the official World Cup draws will run a > big risk if they buy unauthorized tickets via online auction house > Ebay, a German official said on Thursday. For the upcoming College World Series in Omaha in June, tickets have become a very hot commodity. As of this time, all reserved seat tickets are sold, and the Powers That Be have stated that a good percentage of them are now held by scalpers. Ticket prices are controlled by the NCAA and other PTB, and are kept quite low for such a sporting event, typically starting $18-ish for reserved seats and $6-9 for general admission (as in outfield stands). However, many tickets are appearing on Ebay, other auction sites, and unauthorized ticket brokers for many times face value. Despite city ordinances against ticket scalping, and NCAA regulations against it, the regulations are almost impossible to enforce. Omaha City Prosecutors and CWS officials are scouring online sites and taking action where they can, such as revoking any season tickets or faculty or promotional tickets that get into the scalping market. Time will tell if these methods will be effective against online scalping. ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Re: Fox News Slams Qwest for 'Cooperating With Terrorists' Date: 18 May 2006 13:32:29 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I burst out laughing when I read that headline ... but then I realized it's actually kinda scary. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Political Telemarketers Date: 18 May 2006 13:18:57 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com john@mayson.us wrote: > I specifically requested not to receive telemarketing calls. Why > would they think I would welcome calls from them? Because the campaign people they're stubborn, very aggressive, and arrogant. Note that these calls aren't really from the -candidate- but rather his/her campaign staff The staff figures a few offended voters are outweighed by people they do reach. > 1.) Can politicians block their caller ID information? Regular > telemarketers can't. > 2.) If I specifically request they not call, are the obliged to stop > calling? I don't know the laws and state laws vary from state to state. Unfortunately, even if what you question is indeed against the law, it doesn't matter because: 1) A political campaign is a temporary activity. Once the election is over the campaign shuts down. So if they did something wrong they can say "well, we're done so we won't do it again" and go ahead and do it again next time. As to future elections, they're too far away to worry about. So if they block their caller-id or keep calling you (or call restricted places like cell phones or nursing homes), too bad. In a prior campaign, I got 111-111-1111 as the number. Someone said that was a VIOP source which wasn't sending ANI as yet. I don't think that's the canddiate's fault. I've been telesolicited by private firms claiming to have done business with me in the past. I know that was B/S since it was stuff I couldn't have used. 2) Tele-solicitors who violate the law know they can get away with it because 99.999% of recipients won't bother with the bureacracy to file and keep on top of a complaint. Even if one persistent person pushes it through the fine will be relatively modest and they write it off as a cost of business. 3) All the candidates use this process, so singling one out as an abuser won't do any good. 4) I was getting flooded with calls from generic unions but the actual specific source wasn't clear. I think that's illegal but too bad for me. 5) I plan to send a certified letter of complaint to the state party HQ. I doubt it will do any good, but I'm curious as to the response they give me. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Political Telemarketers Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 23:33:52 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > I posted a query/rant along these lines about a month ago, but my NNTP > isn't talking to comp.dcom.telecom. > I know politicians exempted themselves from the federal telemarketing > law (and also the state law here in Texas). Politicians are not specifically mentioned in the Federal law, or the 'rules' implementing it. There are two exemptions that -may- be applicable: 1) "tax exempt nonprofit organizations" 2) "calls not made for a commercial purpose" > Are they completely and totally exempt or do they have some > restrictions also? Here's my point ... > I don't belong to any political party. Texas has open primaries > (anyone can vote in either primary on election day). I haven't voted > in a primary in Texas because a) I almost always vote third-party and > b) the major party I hate the least had a presidential candidate from > Texas, so what was the point? Still, the Republican Party got a hold > of my name and number and call me continually begging for my vote. > About 75% of the the time I get a pre-recorded message from our > Republican governor or his wife asking I vote for this candidate or > that amendment. BOTH of the above exemptions allow pre-recorded calls to residences. 47 CFR 1200, 47 USC 227 > Every call except for one showed up in my caller ID as "Unknown > Name/Unknown Number". The one that did come through came from the > 248 area code which is Michigan, not Texas. When I get a human I > stop them and ask that a) I be removed from their list b) If they > continue to ignore my request I will vote against their candidate > automatically. They almost always argue that they have the right to > call me because they're exempt from the "Do Not Call" list. > They're totally missing the point! Yup. in that conversation _agree_ with them that they have the 'legal right' to continue calling. Ask them if they understand that you have 'preferences' about such matters, _regardless_ of 'what the law allows'. Ask them if they want you to do *them* the favor of voting for 'their' candidate/proposition? Admit that you "are inclined to do so, at _this_ _time_", but then ask them if they understand that failure to honor your 'preferences' about future calls will *guarantee* that you will vote _against_ their candidate/proposition. Then ask them "do you want that to happen?" Then ask them "what steps they will take to _prevent_ that from happening". > I specifically requested not to receive telemarketing calls. Why > would they think I would welcome calls from them? "bad judgment". > stood up and said, "While I'm not legally obliged to do so, I will not > call people on the 'Do Not Call' list during my campaign", I would > strongly consider voting for that person. Having someone tell me "Oh, > sorry, no it's our RIGHT to call you and pester you at home twice a > day the week before an election!" is outrageous! > Here are my questions: > 1.) Can politicians block their caller ID information? Regular > telemarketers can't. Parties engaged in a "telemarketing campaign" must display callerID. (except for tax-exempt non-profits.) 47 CFR 1601 Unfortunately, "calls made without a commercial purpose" are _not_, by definition, part of a telemarketing campaign. 47CFR 1200 Thus, they are _not_ required to display CallerID. They _are_, however, required to provide their phone number, and other contact info, either at the beginning or end of the recorded message. > 2.) If I specifically request they not call, are the obliged to stop > calling? Nope. Only 'telemarketing' callers (except for tax-exempt non-profits) must maintain an in-house Do-not-call list. 47 CFR 1200 Since political calls are 'not made with a commercial purpose', they're not 'telemarketing', as defined, and they are not required to maintain a Do-not-call list. ------------------------------ From: harold@hallikainen.com Subject: Re: Telemarketing Law Question Date: 18 May 2006 12:58:49 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The FCC rules on telemarketing are available at http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/2006/64/1200/ Harold ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Re: Difficulty Finding Needed Information Date: 18 May 2006 13:01:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com PAT has a good point. What are you looking for? If you're looking for specific information from a specific newsgroup, you can visit http://groups.google.com and search it using a wide array of criteria. You can browse the list of groups in your newsreader and find just about ANYTHING. And I mean ANYTHING. I prefer to use Google Reader http://www.google.com/reader. I can type in a topic and find both USENET and other sources for whatever it is I want to read. John Mayson ------------------------------ From: Sidney Zafran Subject: Re: Calling the USA While Traveling in Europe Query ? Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 21:19:09 GMT Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net On 16 May 2006 10:08:06 -0700, donhdoyle@yahoo.com wrote: > What better ways might you suggest for inexpensive voice communication > back to the US from Europe? OneSuite has inexpensive rates for calling back to the USA. You are given a toll free number to call in Europe depending upon the country that you are visiting. We used their services on our recent trip overseas. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 18:07:12 EDT From: Carl Moore Subject: Aftermath of 2002 New Hampshire Phone Jamming A news story today said a former Republican National Committee official was sentenced to 10 months in prison for his part in jamming of New Hampshire Democrats' phones on election day in 2002. The jammed phones were part of a get-out-the-vote effort, and the judge who handed down the sentence said we'll never know if the wrong people got into government posts (i.e. won election) because of this. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #191 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Fri May 19 16:51:56 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 9F9AD14E75; Fri, 19 May 2006 16:51:55 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #192 Message-Id: <20060519205155.9F9AD14E75@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 16:51:55 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 19 May 2006 16:53:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 192 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Activists Challenge AOL's Bulk Email Fees (Yinka Adegoke) USA Not Prepared, but Bird Flu _IS_ on the Way (Reuters News Wire) Few USA Companies Prepared for Bird Flu Outbreak (Del Jones) BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report from USA Today ( Cellular-News: Friday 19th May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 19, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Telecom Update #530, May 19, 2006 (Angus TeleManagement Group) BellSouth Presses USA TODAY For Retraction (USTelecom dailyLead) Analog PBX Extender for Home Based Worker (DavidK) Re: Antispam Firm Blue Security Says Was Victim of Attack (Barry Margolin) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Yinka Adegoke Subject: Activists Challenge AOL's Bulk Email Fees Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 13:18:28 -0500 By Yinka Adegoke Four years ago, a small e-mail campaign saved a struggling coffee shop in Portland, Oregon. Today proprietor Becky Bilyeu is among the thousands of people fighting to preserve the free flow of electronic mail. Bilyeu contacted the MoveOn.org political advocacy group earlier this spring when she heard that Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, the largest U.S. Internet service provider, planned to start charging for guaranteed delivery of certain types of bulk e-mail. The fee -- a small fraction of a cent per e-mail -- took effect two weeks ago. AOL says it will help stop spam, or junk messages, from clogging their customers' inboxes. But many say e-mail should move freely so that people can build and maintain large communities over the Web. Nearly 500 organizations, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to the Gun Owners of America, have joined together to create a coalition called DearAOL.com (http://www.dearaol.com). The coalition predicts Internet service providers could effectively end up taxing nonprofit organizations and charities for e-mail in the same way that businesses now are by AOL. AOL vigorously disputes the claim. "There will be no requirement, ever, for not-for-profits who deliver e-mail to AOL members to pay for e-mail certification and delivery," spokesman Nicholas Graham said. Still, the controversy prompted California state Sen. Dean Florez, a Democrat, to hold a hearing on the fee structure in early April. A Senate committee plans to monitor the AOL program and could take the company and its vendor to task if nonprofit groups start experiencing widespread delivery problems. Meanwhile, Bilyeu, 39, says small businesses should also be exempt from the new policy. In 2002, she turned to the 50 subscribers of her weekly e-mail newsletter to let them know that financial troubles could force her coffee shop to close. Over the next four days, they donated more than $3,000 -- enough to keep her business afloat. Facing off against formidable competitors like Starbucks Corp., she still relies on her e-mail list to keep her customers coming back. "I don't make any money so I can't afford to pay to send out e-mail," she said. " ... I don't want to have to pay to guarantee (that customers) get my little newsletter when I'm already paying AOL $15 a month." CIRCUMVENTING SPAM For e-mail providers like AOL, the challenge is stopping spam and phishing e-mails, which trick users into revealing passwords and financial information, without preventing legitimate bulk messages from getting through. The company believes the answer is e-mail that it authenticates in return for a fee from the sender. AOL worked with a company called Goodmail to offer certified e-mail. The service ensures the delivery of images and hyperlinks on most high-volume mailings. Graham, the AOL spokesman, said the program was going well, and the company expected more senders to use it to transmit important e-mails, such as financial information, to its members. Yahoo Inc. is also testing Goodmail, strictly for what it calls "transactional" messages, such as bank statements and purchase receipts. The Web portal company said it had no plans to charge customers to send and receive such e-mails. Consumer activists, however, say any move to charge for e-mail will eventually lead to a two-tier system that would stifle communication in organizations that have benefited from free delivery. The Association of Cancer Online Resources, which sends out more than 1.5 million e-mails a week to patients around the world, has been a prominent supporter of DearAOL.com. Founder Gilles Frydman said he was driven by a desire for "open standards" on the Web as e-mail has helped patients and health officials access free medical research on cancer treatments around the world. Frydman said free e-mail had helped the association, which relies on private donations, to "do tremendous work for very little." Kay Barre, pastor of St Paul's United Methodist Church in Tarzana, California, said she sometimes sent up to a dozen messages a week to her parishioners. "Some church organizations have thousands of members on their e-lists," she said. "How can they ever afford these kinds of fees? In the first place, how does having a company pay a fee to bypass spam filters solve the spam problem?" The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an activist body for the protection of consumers' digital rights, acknowledges the challenge of coping with spam while maintaining free e-mail. But activism coordinator Danny O'Brien doesn't see the new fees as a solution. In fact, he said Internet service providers could establish the fees as a revenue stream and not work so hard on their spam filters. "If people paid Goodmail and not the ISPs," O'Brien said, "then you'd have this separation of powers because the ISPs would still be incentivized to reduce the amount of spam they're getting." Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Let's see now ... a 'fraction of a penny' per each piece of email might cost all of a dollar or so on a large mailing such as a church. It _might_ (not sure of the figures here) cost this Digest all of a dollar per day. Oh my goodness, that is really going to bankrupt me! (sarcasm mode). I wonder why the coffee shop owner mentioned or the pastor are not placing the blame where it really belongs, on the spammers/scammers who made it all a reality? Why are they choosing to blame AOL? Is it an easier target? AOL is just flowing with the times, the way things are these days. I can tell you that if the spam is not cut back it is going to make it very difficult to continue this Digest. I would be glad to pay a buck or two to have the spam eliminated or greatly cut back. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: USA Not Prepared. but Bird Flu _IS_ on the Way Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 13:22:33 -0500 WASHINGTON (AP) - Bird flu will hit the United States -- it's only a matter of time -- and not all states are ready to respond to the deadly virus, the Homeland Security Department's top doctor warns. Dr. Jeffrey Runge, homeland security's chief medical officer, said "it's not a matter of if, but when" bird flu enters the country. But it won't pose a critical threat until the virus can spread consistently between people, he said. In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Runge said states with experience in dealing with hurricanes or terrorist attacks are more ready to face bird flu. He did not identify those that have been slow to prepare, but said state and local governments must carry most of burden of planning for an outbreak, including readying emergency medical workers, providing hospital beds and setting up treatment centers outside of immediate disaster areas. "Some states still have the idea that if it makes people sick, it's simply a health event," Runge said. "And others are much more forward reaching, and understand that they have to prepare for things like civil unrest, or interruption of the supply chain, or the failure of critical infrastructure to keep going, to keep the nation going in the event of some catastrophic event. And those are the ones that we think are the best prepared." Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., who leads the National Governors Association, said states have "pretty much been told to prepare to row their own boat" in responding to bird flu. Federal health officials "were pretty candid with us," Huckabee said in an interview. "The federal government simply does not have the resources themselves to deal with this on a mass level. And if a pandemic does occur, it will overwhelm their resources, just like it will overwhelm ours." Scientists believe the flu most likely would be carried into the United States by a wild bird migrating from a country that has had an outbreak. Runge credited agriculture inspectors and poultry producers with adopting tough security standards to prevent visitors from exposing fowl to the virus. He recalled hearing from an inspector that "it was tougher to get into a chicken coop than it was to get into our DHS headquarters." Runge's department is responsible for blocking potentially infected birds and bird products from entering the U.S. at airports, seaports and international borders. Unions representing U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have complained they have not been trained to identify bird smugglers or to quarantine birds arriving from countries that have had flu outbreaks. Runge expressed some frustration with the level of training so far. "I wish I could say it had all already been done," he said. "Right now the planning is coordinated, but the education is not as coordinated as we'd like. That having been said, everybody around here's gotten a lot smarter about it." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-19-bird-flu_x.htm?csp=34 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from the Associated Press please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html For USA Today headlines, go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ From: Del Jones Subject: Few USA Companies Prepared for Bird Flu Outbreak Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 13:30:46 -0500 By Del Jones, USA TODAY In Asia, where the bird flu threat is real and people have more to fear than in the USA, companies have taken to putting out bowls of bleach, ammonia or chlorine to make the office smell clean and put employees at ease. Such measures seem borderline comical to U.S. companies where high-level teams have started to brainstorm about what they would do if bird flu mutates into a global nightmare and begins to spread from person to person. The problem is, if a pandemic breaks out, the majority of solutions U.S. companies have come up with will seem almost as cosmetic as the aromatherapy in Bangkok. Just 15% of large U.S. companies have any bird-flu plan, according to a survey in March by human resources consultant Watson Wyatt Worldwide. That's starting to change: .Corning started its corporate pandemic preparedness team in mid-2005. .Best Buy has a bird flu team under orders to report to company leadership by October. .Mutual of Omaha's plan includes flexible hours to reduce building population. It just launched Germ Buster, CEO Dan Neary says, an employee education campaign focused on hygiene. One of the more extreme examples is biotechnology company Biogen Idec, which says it formed a bird-flu team in September that meets every two weeks. Recommendations include a "3-foot rule" that prohibits handshaking, head-count restrictions on elevators, stations with alcohol-based hand-cleaning gel, and more frequent cleaning of bathrooms. "Obviously, we view this as a work in progress," says Jose Juves, one of 11 on the Biogen avian-flu steering committee. The real issue is absenteeism, which the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts could climb above 40% and last for weeks. Boeing is trying to determine if it can operate with 30% of its 160,000 employees out. "We usually don't share specifics, because it's a security issue," says Boeing spokeswoman Kelly Donaghy. "Can you plan for everything? Absolutely not. We're going to be prepared the best we can. Shame on us if we don't at least think about it ahead of time." Emcor Group, a commercial-building management company, feels secure in that only 100 of its 27,000 employees work at corporate headquarters in Norwalk, Conn. Likewise, Xerox has only 350 of its 30,000 U.S. employees working at Stamford, Conn., headquarters, and even the 8,000 employees concentrated in Rochester, N.Y., are scattered among several buildings. Telecommuting is an option, says Patricia Calkins, Xerox vice president of environment, health and safety. But she did not readily know what percentage of employees have company-issued laptops with secure IDs that would let them remotely access the Xerox system. More than 200 companies paid $1,800 each in registration fees to send a representative to a two-day conference on business planning for bird flu in December sponsored by the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. Those representatives come back reciting the wonders of sterilized doorknobs, brown-bag lunches, windows open to the fresh air, larger meeting rooms and an employee population educated enough to refuse to shake hands or crowd onto elevators. They also speak of telecommuting, videoconferencing, flexible hours and relying on e-mail and BlackBerrys for conversations across the room, all examples of what is known as "social distancing" among the growing ranks versed in flu-speak. Few absolute solutions But when pressed, companies say there is little they will be able to do if H5N1 avian flu morphs into a highly contagious and deadly virus like the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-19. It killed about 50 million people, more than 500,000 in the USA. But this time, the flu would leap across oceans in hours to be transmitted by people who won't feel symptoms for up to four days. The WHO calls this worst-case scenario Phase 6. Consumers and employees alike would hunker down at home, costing the global economy $1 trillion, the World Bank estimates. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says 92 million Americans could get sick. The good news is that Phase 6 is far from certain. So far, there have been 205 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans who contracted the flu because they lived among and came in contact with diseased birds, mostly in Asia. The latest came Thursday when it spread to an 8-year-old girl in China. But if the virus one day begins to spread from human to human and the mortality rate is anywhere near 50%, it's easy to imagine unprecedented consumer fear and employees who value their lives more than their jobs. That could cripple the global economy and make corporate doorknob cleaning and catchphrases such as social distancing seem absurdly shallow. Bird flu might never morph into human-to-human transmission, or if it does, it could be a less deadly strain that can be controlled like the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). In that case, articles such as this one were destined to be thrown onto the bonfire of whipped-up scares. Remember Y2K hysteria? Trade association websites are rife with warnings about how the media can be expected to overreact if there is a pandemic, which could lead to irrational behavior. "Most clients we're working with are still relatively confident that life will go on," says Bob Wesselkamper, practice director of international consulting for Watson Wyatt. Planning for the worst But disaster planning by definition requires planning for the worst. Consultants that are positioning themselves for bird flu mania, including Deloitte & Touche and Mercer Human Resource, advise companies to use their imaginations. It's easy to imagine corporate buildings as ghost towns; it's just not easy to imagine how to avoid it. Would a pool of retirees be of any help when older people would be the most vulnerable to fatalities? There isn't much a company can do to prepare, says Fred Crosetto, CEO of Ammex, maker of the N95 face masks that protect people from the spread of the virus. Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits CEO Ken Keymer says a 1918-like pandemic is highly unlikely, and his company is focused more on its contingency plans for Phases 1 to 5. But what if the worst becomes reality? Keymer pauses on the phone. "I'm not even sure. That scenario would shut down all commerce," he says. He starts to envision a business opportunity for home food delivery as people cocoon. But he all but dismisses it as too labor-intensive and impossible if Popeyes employees are home sick, home because they are afraid to get sick or home with their children because schools are shut down. Some employees would die. Others would be devastated with grief. Sales of the N95 mask made by Ammex are up 500% in a year to 5 million a month, and the company will soon double its capacity. Ammex employees are among the best-informed about bird flu. Even so, Crosetto says, his company could suffer 40% absenteeism. It would be the same for most companies and would cripple just-in-time supply chains, causing shortages, and could lead to Hurricane Katrina-like panic and looting. Some companies can likely operate with nearly half their employees gone. Most could operate for a short time by doing the 20% most-critical activities, says Robert Dyson, a business continuity specialist at management consulting firm Accenture. But it can't be pulled off without planning, he says. Even those that plan must worry about their suppliers. "Our business is not an isolated entity," says Biogen's Juves. "Involving people from outside the company will be essential if avian flu risk escalates." Emcor manages 1 billion square feet of office and industrial space for clients including British Airways, JPMorgan Chase and the U.S. State Department. Most companies are thinking about how to alleviate fears enough to get employees to come to work. But Emcor CEO Frank MacInnis says that in a worst-case scenario, companies will be trying to keep non-critical employees out of buildings so that essential workers can work safely and spread out one or two to a floor. Even then, ventilation systems will need to be adjusted to bring in outside air through ultraviolet filtration, MacInnis says. Long absences would hurt Most companies could survive absenteeism if it doesn't last long. But it could drag on. Xerox says it has been advised by government officials to plan for 30% to 50% absenteeism for up to six weeks. "If governments tell us to shut down, we'll do that," Calkins says. The pandemic could even last in waves up to 18 months as it comes to a city, leaves for a while, then returns. Hit first and hard would be airlines, despite assurances by the Air Transport Association that fliers could be safer on a plane than in an enclosed room because of better air circulation and filtration. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will soon have quarantine rooms set up at 25 airports staffed by 100 employees. Next will be shopping malls, movie theaters, sports arenas, casinos, restaurants and labor-intensive industries, which might explain why AMC and Regal theaters, shopping mall operator Macerich, turkey processor Hormel Foods and Air Japan were among the companies that declined comment. "At this time, we won't be sharing any details of our plans," says Wal-Mart's Sharon Weber. "Needless to say, whatever happens, the safety and well-being of our customers and associates will be at the top of our priority list." Popeyes has more reason than most to stay silent, which is why CEO Keymer says it's better to talk. Chicken sales have plummeted in Asia and dropped off in Europe even though the flu can't be spread through cooked poultry. The lesson learned is to aggressively educate consumers and employees to ease fears, Keymer says. Another lesson is to sell something other than chicken. Popeyes won't be introducing hamburgers or lasagna, Keymer says, but it will promote the seafood it already has on the menu if the public avoids anything with feathers. MacInnis, 58, says he's old enough to remember when swimming pools were closed down during the polio scare. Few companies have come to grips with the possibilities of avian flu, he says. The starting gun will be with the first person-to-person fatality followed by wall-to-wall news reports and Google map mash-ups tracking the flu's spread from ZIP code to ZIP code. Or sooner. "Just imagine the situation that is going to break loose when the first duck, swan or fowl is found floating in some Midwest lake," Crosetto says. "If it makes the jump to human-to-human, then it is going to get crazy." Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-04-30-avian-flu-usat_x.htm ------------------------------ From: Subject: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report from USA Today Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 11:45:08 -0500 By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY WASHINGTON - BellSouth asked USA TODAY on Thursday to "retract the false and unsubstantiated statements" about the company that it contends were in a May 11 story about a database of domestic calling records maintained by the National Security Agency. In a letter to the newspaper's publisher, Craig Moon, the company noted that the story said BellSouth is "working under contract with the NSA" to provide "phone call records of tens of millions of Americans" that have been incorporated into the database. "No such proof was offered by your newspaper because no such contracts exist," stated the letter, portions of which were read by spokesman Jeff Battcher. "You have offered no proof that BellSouth provided massive calling data to the NSA as part of a warrantless program because it simply did not happen." Steve Anderson, a USA TODAY spokesman, said "We did receive the letter this afternoon. We are reviewing it, and we will be responding." BellSouth and two other companies named in the story, Verizon and AT&T, have since been sued in federal court for $200 billion by plaintiffs alleging violations of privacy, telecommunications law and the Constitution. BellSouth and Verizon have denied providing information to the NSA. AT&T has said it won't comment on national security matters. USA TODAY first contacted BellSouth more than five weeks ago. On the night before the story was published, the newspaper described the story in detail to BellSouth, and the company did not challenge the newspaper's account. The company's official response at that time: "BellSouth does not provide any confidential customer information to the NSA or any governmental agency without proper legal authority." BellSouth first raised questions on Monday. It said, "Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA." Find this article at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-18-bellsouth-nsa_x.htm?csp=34 Copyright 2006 USA Today 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from USA Today, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/internet-news.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Friday 19th May 2006 Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 08:13:34 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] Alcatel Testing HSPA in France http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17446.php Alcatel has announced that Orange France launched the initial phase of their live HSDPA services in the Paris area with Alcatel's radio access solution. At first, Orange friendly users located in Issy-les-Moulineaux and Boulogne-Billancourt, two majo... [[ Financial ]] Portugal Tel 1Q Net +16%; Domestic Operations Weak http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17433.php Portugal Telecom, Thursday reported a 16% rise in first-quarter net profit, helped mainly by a lower tax provision as its domestic operations continued to weaken. ... EBRD provides Russia's MTS $250 million in long-term funds http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17435.php The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has made a new 8-year loan of U.S. $112 million to Russia?s largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) and extended the maturity of $138 million of an outstanding $150 million loan dis... KPN: No Major Effect From PrePay Dispute Seen http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17436.php Dutch telecommunications operator Royal KPN, Thursday said it doesn't expect major revenue losses to stem from a dispute it has with one of its large distributors of mobile prepaid telephony cards in The Netherlands. ... Sprint Spins Off Embarq As It Focuses On Wireless http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17437.php Sprint Nextel late Wednesday completed the spinoff of its local telephone business, Embarq, as the company streamlines its business for growth. ... CEO sees MTS as active player in consolidation of mobile mkt http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17443.php Russia's largest mobile operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) is likely to become an active player in the consolidation process of the global mobile telecommunications market, MTS' acting President Leonid Melamed said in an interview with Prime-Tass. ... Venezuela Approves Sale Of Cellular Co Digitel http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17444.php Venezuela approved the US$425 million sale of cellular company Digitel and its merger with two other cellular operators into a company with national reach, government regulators said Thursday. ... [[ Handsets ]] The Million Dollar Cellphone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17445.php A new company, GoldVish has been set up in Switzerland to create seriously exclusive mobile phones that will be coated in gold and diamonds. The GoldVish cell phone is designed by Emmanuel Gueit, who manages not only the design department of GoldVish... Four New Handsets from Sony Ericsson http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17451.php Sony Ericsson has announced four new handsets. The evolution of Sony Ericsson's successful Walkman phone range takes another step forward today with the announcement of the UMTS enabled W850.... Global Wireless Handset Market Grows 23% in 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17452.php The market for wireless handsets was US$110 billion in 2005 reports In-Stat, who also predict that it will grow 23%, to exceed US$136 billion in 2006. It will continue to grow but at a slower rate, according to the high-tech market research firm, exc... [[ Mobile Content ]] KDDI Partners With Google For Mobile Phone Search Service http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17432.php Japanese mobile telephone network operator KDDI Corp. said Thursday it would incorporate Google's search engine into its internet mobile phone service from July. ... China Mobile, Google Hold Talks On Mobile Search Engine http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17434.php China Mobile said Thursday it is in talks with Google to launch an Internet search engine for mobile services in China. ... Telcel launches TV over mobile http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17441.php Mexico's largest mobile operator Telcel has launched TV over mobile services for postpaid clients with select handsets, the company said in a statement. ... [[ Network Contracts ]] Russia's MegaFon seeks to provide mobile services at G8 summit http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17442.php Russia's third largest mobile operator MegaFon has filed an application to participate in the tender to choose a provider of mobile services for the summit of the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrialized countries, the company's Press Secretary Mar... Alcatel Wins Angolan GSM Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17447.php Alcatel has signed a US$53 million GSM expansion contract with Angola's Unitel. The project will enable Unitel to increase the capacity and coverage of its GSM network across the country, thus giving people in previously underserved areas access to m... [[ Network Operators ]] Vodafone Japan To Change Name To Softbank Mobile Oct 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17431.php Softbank said Thursday its recently acquired mobile phone unit will change its name to Softbank Mobile from Vodafone Japan K.K. as of Oct. 1. ... Telmex to launch fixed wireless services in 4Q06 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17438.php The Peruvian unit of Mexican telephony giant Telmex plans to launch fixed wireless services in Lima and Callao in the fourth quarter of 2006. ... Claro ends "1 real" handset promotion http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17440.php Brazilian mobile operator Claro ended its 1 real (US$0.45) promotion for handsets on May 16, Claro said in a press release. ... [[ Regulatory ]] Phone Cos Can Easily Break Out Call Data From Content http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17430.php As more people react to reports the U.S. government may be monitoring people's telephone calls, focus has increased on how long-distance calls are handled by telecom companies. ... [[ Reports ]] Report: LatAm mobile users up 33%, but no VAS growth http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17439.php The number of mobile users in Latin America grew 33% in 2005 compared to 2004, but users have yet to increase adoption of value added services, which represent the largest revenues for operators, according to a new study by Fitch Ratings. ... Power Amplifier Suppliers Take Advantage of Handset Market Growth http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17448.php Four handset power amplifier (PA) suppliers below the top three gained share in 2005, according to findings in a recent Strategy Analytics report. According to this report, second-tier suppliers, Anadigics, Avago, Mitsubishi and TriQuint, grew by con... Don't Neglect Voice Revenues - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17449.php Mobile operators in Japan and South Korea have consistently led the world in the development of innovative mobile handsets, services, content and pricing. They generate significant non-voice revenues beyond text messaging and they are the only market... Ericsson Leads WCDMA/HSPA Deployments - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17453.php WCDMA/HSPA infrastructure revenue will grow three times faster than the market and account for over 32% of the US$68.5 billion vendor revenue to be generated in 2006, says Telecom Trends International in a report on next-generation mobile wireless ne... WiMAX Vendors Must Think About Qualcomm Royalties http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17454.php WiMAX equipment vendors should begin now to factor royalties into their planning and pricing activities, according to ABI Research. The firm's newly-launched "Mobile Broadband Research Service" pinpoints a potential ongoing cost that is being widely ... [[ Technology ]] Fuel Cells for Mobile Phones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17450.php Samsung is investing in Fuel Cells for its mobile phones, after the company signed an exclusive agreement with Fuel Cell developer, MTI Micro. Mobion, MTI Micros patented direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) technology, has been chosen to power a series... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 11:33:40 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Friday, May 19, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 19, 2006 ******************************** Deutsche Telekom, pay-TV operator seal Bundesliga Internetbroadcast pact http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/18030?11228 BERLIN -- Deutsche Telekom AG and pay-TV operator Premiere AG announced a partnership Friday that will allow them to broadcast German first-division soccer matches over the Internet. Premiere lost the live television rights to the Bundesliga last December to a rival consortium of cable television operators. Germany's biggest phone... Upbeat BT Tweaks Critics, Rivals http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/18026?11228 BT Group plc executives struck out at its critics, doubters, and rivals as the carrier reported better than expected financials and an upbeat outlook. (See BT Reports Q4 Prelims). The carrier's fourth-quarter revenues were up 7 percent year-on-year to GBP5.1 billion (US$9.6 billion), and full... Europe Loves Carrier Ethernet http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/18023?11228 NEW YORK -- The rapid growth of carrier-class Ethernet data services is transforming the economic and technology underpinnings of telecom network services throughout Europe, according to a major new study released today by Heavy Reading, the market research division of Light Reading Inc. Ethernet Services Carrier Scorecard: Europe... What Game Is This, Anyway? http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/18020?11228 Last week's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) brought with it the inevitable announcements, promises, forecasts and pulse-taking for the mobile games market. Like TV, music, film, and print, gaming is suffering some consumer ennui and severe platform shifting, and so this is one more media platform that...Read... Largent Calls Again for National Wireless Rules http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/18018?11228 WASHINGTON -- An emerging telecommunications reform bill should be the perfect vehicle for Congress to use to reaffirm a national regulatory framework for the wireless industry, said CTIA leader Steve Largent at a hearing on telecom reform today. Largent sounded a familiar call to Senators considering a sweeping telecom reform bill,... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 10:36:00 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #530, May 19, 2006 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 530: May 19, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.com/canada/telecom/ ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** Telcos Appeal Local Forbearance Decision ** Policy Review Recommendations Gathering Steam? ** Bell to Pay $100 Million in Equity Dispute ** 64% of Households Have Cellular Access ** Aliant Shareholders Okay Income Trust ** ISP Wants Deferral Account Ruling Stayed ** CRTC Rules on WNP Issues ** Aliant Customers to Get Rebates ** Former Cygnal Exec Joins Multi-Vision ** World Telecom Day ** AT&T Offers Net Integration in Canada ** Orion Adds Backup Link to Ontario's North ** Telus Mike Intros Bluetooth Phone ** Minacs Founder Dies of Cancer ** Skype Offers Free Computer-to-Phone Calling ** CSI Wireless Founder Resigns ============================================================ TELCOS APPEAL LOCAL FORBEARANCE DECISION: Aliant, Bell, SaskTel, and Telus have asked the federal Cabinet to refer CRTC Telecom Decision 2006-15 (the "local forbearance" decision) back to the Commission for reconsideration, in light of the recommendations of the Telecom Policy Review panel. (See Telecom Update #524) ** The telcos have also asked the Federal Court for leave to appeal this decision, arguing that its restrictions on winback activities violate commercial freedom of speech guarantees under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The CRTC previously denied a similar application. (see Telecom Update #524) POLICY REVIEW RECOMMENDATIONS GATHERING STEAM? Industry Canada has reportedly begun consulting with provincial governments on the Telecom Policy Review report (see Telecom Update #522). Such consultation, among other steps, would be required if the federal government plans to change the Telecom Act or issue a policy directive to the CRTC, as recommended in the report. BELL TO PAY $100 MILLION IN EQUITY DISPUTE: Bell Canada has agreed to pay $100 million to about 5,000 female operators to settle their claim that they received less pay than male colleagues. Bell's agreement with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union ends a 14-year legal battle. (See Telecom Update #348, 389) 64% OF HOUSEHOLDS HAVE CELLULAR ACCESS: A new study conducted by Decima Research for the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association reports that 64% of Canadian households own or have access to a cellphone. 8% of those households (5% of all households) have eliminated wireline service entirely. ** Wireless penetration is highest in Alberta (79%) and lowest in Quebec (51%). www.cwta.ca/CWTASite/english/pdf/DecimaStudy%202006.pdf ALIANT SHAREHOLDERS OKAY INCOME TRUST: Aliant says 97% of its shareholders have voted to approve creation of an income trust that will combine Aliant's wireline operations with Bell Nordiq and parts of Bell Canada. The deal is expected to close by September. BCE owns 53% of Aliant. (See Telecom Update #520) ISP WANTS DEFERRAL ACCOUNT RULING STAYED: New Brunswick-based Barrett Xplore has asked the federal Cabinet to stay implementation of the CRTC's recent deferral account decision. The broadband service provider says that allowing incumbent telcos to use deferral account money to extend broadband service will undermine the business of other providers that offer broadband in rural and remote areas. (See Telecom Update #517, 522) http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-9.htm CRTC RULES ON WNP ISSUES: The CRTC has ruled on a number of issues relating to implementing wireless number portability in March 2007. Among others: there will be no winback restrictions, and customers with unpaid bills cannot be prevented from moving their number to another carrier unless their service has been suspended or terminated. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-28.htm ALIANT CUSTOMERS TO GET REBATES: CRTC Telecom Decision 2006-27 orders Aliant to issue credits to customers by June 16, compensating them for the telco's failure to meet several quality of service standards during 2004 and 2005. Aliant received a 50% exemption for the periods affected by the 2004 strike. ** Commissioner Andree Noel dissented, saying Aliant should be 100% exempted from quality standards during the strike period. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-27.htm FORMER CYGNAL EXEC JOINS MULTI-VISION: Todd Rutherford, who resigned from Cygnal Technologies last month, has been named President of Multi-Vision Communications, a Toronto-based developer of contact centre, collaboration, and messaging software. (See Telecom Update #524) WORLD TELECOM DAY: Did you celebrate? Wednesday was World Telecommunication Day, marking the founding of the International Telecommunication Union on May 17, 1865. AT&T OFFERS NET INTEGRATION IN CANADA: As part of a global expansion of its Network Integration Services unit, AT&T Inc. has begun offering network and vendor consolidation, data center moves and consolidation, outsourced telecom management, and other services, to Canadian businesses. ORION ADDS BACKUP LINK TO ONTARIO'S NORTH: Ontario's research network, ORION, has added a backup fibre link to northern Ontario, after several service outages on its existing route. CANARIE contributed $400,000 of the half-million-dollar cost. http://www.orion.on.ca TELUS MIKE INTROS BLUETOOTH PHONE: Telus has introduced a Mike push-to-talk phone from Motorola that can exchange data with Bluetooth devices located within 10 metres. MINACS FOUNDER DIES OF CANCER: Elaine Minacs, who founded the call centre service bureau Minacs Worldwide in 1981 and was CEO until last year, has died of cancer. The company's Board voted earlier this year to seek a buyer for the 5,000-employee organization. (See Telecom Update #516, 520) SKYPE OFFERS FREE COMPUTER-TO-PHONE CALLING: Skype Technologies now allows users to make free "SkypeOut" calls from their computers to any wireline or cellular phone in Canada and the U.S. The offer expires at the end of 2006. CSI WIRELESS FOUNDER RESIGNS: Stephen Verhoeff, founder of CSI Wireless, has resigned as CEO, President, and Board member. Chairman Michael Lang becomes interim CEO. The Calgary-based supplier of GPS products reports first-quarter income of $15.5 million, up 59%. (See Telecom Update #527) ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web late Friday afternoon each week at http://www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see http://www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2006 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ============================================================ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 14:27:01 EDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: BellSouth Presses USA TODAY For Retraction USTelecom dailyLead May 19, 2006 http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dFakfDtuteiDkhLTcY TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * BellSouth presses USA TODAY for retraction BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T ramping up Internet TV plans * Good times for managed service provider M5 Networks * France's Iliad scores with quadruple-play device * Analysis: Bundled services mean higher profits USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * What Happened to SS7? Tuesday, May 23, 1:00 p.m. ET TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * The technology behind seamless roaming * Linksys chief spotlights home integration VOIP DOWNLOAD * Bandwidth.com targets larger customers with VoIP solutions * Verizon broadens European VoIP plans REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Denver panel approves Qwest's pay TV plan Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.smartbrief.com/resp/dFakfDtuteiDkhLTcY ------------------------------ From: DavidK Subject: Analog PBX Extender for Home Based Worker Date: 19 May 2006 08:48:00 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Other then the MCK and Nortel product, does anyone know of any cheap analog PBX extenders to stick in a home office without DSL? I'm just looking to get calls faster to the home worker so I don't have to dial them over the POTS line which the connect imes are way to high. The home worker has a phone line and an analog phone, that's it. Thanks for any help. David ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Antispam Firm Blue Security Says Was Victim of Attack Organization: Symantec Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 22:21:27 -0400 In article , shrike@cyberspace.org wrote: >>> With black-holing, an ISP essentially removes the advertised path to a >>> particular Web site or IP address -- making it completely inaccessible to >>> the outside world. > This is completely incorrect. Black-holing is the process of > announcing a more specific route for the host pointing it at a null0 > interface. Doesn't that "make it completely inaccessible to the outside world"? > In effect they superceded the DOS, and at that moment > became the progenitor of a larger scale DOS against Blue > Security. Been there, done that, many times. They mitgated bad > traffic, but also denied good traffic. But by blackholing the host's IP, they stopped saturating the connection to the site. This allows all the other systems at the same site to use the Internet. So they reduced an attack that was affecting all the systems that shared the link to one that just impacted a single host. Blue Security was already effectively unusable, so it couldn't really get much worse for them. But they made it better for everyone else in the same data center. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #192 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat May 20 21:53:46 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id BA21F156EE; Sat, 20 May 2006 21:53:45 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #193 Message-Id: <20060521015345.BA21F156EE@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 21:53:45 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.7 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, NO_COST autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sat, 20 May 2006 21:55:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 193 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Ex-Head of Cass Tel in Missouri Gets Prison Term (Associated Press) Tim B-L Sees Web Ready For Next Big Leap (Lucas van Grinsvan) Radio-Frequency Chips Coming to Cattle (Brian Bergstein) Phone Switches (Dave Garland) Help! Anyone Know of Online Phone Service (honestperson6@hotmail.com) My Observations Regards Pay Phones (Andrew F.) Re: World Cup Fans Warned Against Buying Tickets on Ebay (Mr Joseph Singer) Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers (Mr Joseph Singer) Re: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report From USA Today (Ken Stox) Last Laugh! Advertiser With a Toll-Free Number (Mark Crispin) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Ex-Head of Cass Tel in Missouri Gets Prison Term Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 16:21:22 -0500 By Associated Press May 19, 2006, 3:19 PM EDT KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- In a government fraud case prosecutors linked to the mob, a judge on Friday sentenced the former president of a small rural Missouri telephone company to 15 months in prison for defrauding two federal program of $8.9 million. Kenneth Matzdorff admitted inflating expenses by millions of dollars to draw money from the Universal Services Administrative Co., which subsidizes rural phone companies, and the National Exchange Carriers Association, which collects and distributes money phone companies pay for using other companies' systems. Prosecutors say he conspired in 1998 with brothers Richard T. and Daniel D. Martino, controlling owners of a business that owned Matzdorff's Cass County Telephone, or CassTel. Richard Martino is alleged by the government to be a "made" member of the Gambino organized crime family in New York. Both brothers pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud in the case. Richard Martino, of Tuckahoe, N.Y., was sentenced to four years and nine months; Daniel Martino, of Hawthorne, N.Y., was sentenced to five years. Matzdorff, 49, of Belton could have received five years but cooperated in the investigation. Matzdorff and Richard Martino also are among those who pleaded guilty last year in what federal prosecutors in New York said was a scheme that charged consumers hundreds of millions of dollars for unauthorized phone services and Internet pornography. Matzdorff's six-month sentence in that case will run concurrently with the one he received this week. In a brief statement Thursday, Matzdorff apologized to his family, friends, and employees of the phone company. "I know my actions were wrong and I wish to apologize. I'll regret this for the rest of my life," he said. CassTel, which had about 8,000 customers in Cass County, south of the Kansas City suburbs, and some across the state line in Kansas, has since been sold. Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Lucas van Grinsven Subject: Tim B-L Sees Web Ready For Next Big Leap Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 19:21:15 -0500 Web inventor sees his brainchild ready for big leap By Lucas van Grinsven, European Technology Correspondent The World Wide Web is on the cusp of making its next big leap to become an open environment for collaboration and its inventor said he has not been so optimistic in years. Still, Tim Berners-Lee, the Briton who invented and then gave away the World Wide Web, warns that Internet crime and anti-competitive behavior need to be fought tooth and nail. A lot of new technology to make the Web smarter and easier to use is becoming available after many years, he said. "My personal view is that a lot of it is coming together now. That is very gratifying to see. We're moving into another mode with established technology. I'm very optimistic at this moment," Berners-Lee said in a telephone interview ahead of the annual World Wide Web conference, which will be bigger than ever before when it opens in Edinburgh, Scotland on Monday. "The whole industrial environment is more exciting. We had the bubble and the burst, but now you see a low of young companies again. There's renewed enthusiasm among VCs (venture capitalists) to invest in start-ups. I get a feeling of upsurge in activity." Roughly twice as much money is being invested in European Internet start-ups compared with two years ago, according to venture capitalist community Tornado-Insider. The man who in 1990 designed the key ingredients of the Web, while at the European Particle Physics Laboratory CERN in Geneva, to let his fellow scientists work together even when in other parts of the world, is more upbeat than a few years ago. "Four years ago, the patent problems were getting in the way. A lot of us were worried, because it looked like the whole thing could get bogged down," he said, referring to attempts by private companies to patent key software ingredients needed on Web sites and charge royalties for usage. Thanks to the help of many, royalty free licences are now available, said the man who never saw a cent of royalties for his invention which set off an industry that is now generating hundreds of billions of euros (dollars) a year. REALISING A VISION Currently the director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which is a U.S.-headquartered forum of companies and organizations to improve the Web, Berners-Lee is only now realising his early vision of a two-way Web where people can easily work together on the same page and where the content on a page can be recognized by computers. Google Maps, whose geographic maps turn up on other sites combined with services, and photo sharing site Flickr, where members comment on each other's postings and developers can use the pictures to create new applications, are early examples of how Web sites can combine data from different sources. "Several years ago we said: 'What a shame that we can't go to that website and find all that stuff in there.' We had a loose roadmap 5 years ago. Steadily we've been making progress," said Berners-Lee, adding that most of the work had been done. "Of course there are people who say: 'Why didn't Tim do that from the start?' But it's more complicated," he said. Elements are already filtering through, such as web sites that do not have to be refreshed entirely when only parts are being updated. A new query language, SPARQL (pronounced "Sparkle"), is designed to make Web pages easier for machines to read, allowing all sorts of different data to be put to work on the Web. "SPARQL will make a huge difference," Berners-Lee said. Other targets on his list are to expand the Web to mobile devices and to access it with mouth and ear. "You can see so many ways the Web is taking off in so many different directions," Berners-Lee said. CONCERNS He is no fan, however, of fenced-off Web areas specially designed for mobile devices such as the new ".mobi" suffix. He wants websites and devices to be smart enough to figure out what the best way is to present information to consumers. He is also concerned about how some Internet providers in the United States have started to filter data, giving priority to premium data for which the operator receives an additional fee. They can do this, because they own the cables, the service, the portals and other key applications. "The public will demand an open Internet," he said. On his blog, at http://dig.csail.mit.edu/breadcrumbs/blog/4, Berners-Lee pays hommage to the democratic principles of the designers of the Internet who decided that all data packets were created equal. "I tried then to make the Web technology, in turn, a universal, neutral, platform." "It is of the utmost importance that, if I connect to the Internet, and you connect to the Internet, that we can then run any Internet application we want, without discrimination as to who we are or what we are doing." Another element of concern to Berners-Lee is "spam in general and particularly phishing," referring to criminals trying to fish for credit card details and other private data. Web sites have to be much clearer in showing consumers that they are safe, he said. "Now, if a website exchanges a certificate a little lock appears but it does not tell you that. A consumer is not aware of it, and may be at a site that looks official but may not be his bank at all. What you need is a browswer that knows what you're connecting to and tell you." Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from daily media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Brian Bergstein Subject: Radio-Frequency Chips Coming to Cattle Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 19:23:24 -0500 By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer After growing up on a cattle ranch, John Hassell became an electrical engineer specializing in wireless technology. So he feels doubly qualified to offer this warning about the system taking shape to track cattle across America: It won't work. To be sure, he doesn't quibble with the logic of the system. It stems from the Bush administration's plan to give agriculture inspectors the ability to pinpoint the origins of mad cow and other diseases within 48 hours. Livestock facilities and individual animals will get identifying numbers, which owners will use to document the beasts' movements in industry databases. The system isn't expected to be fully online until 2009, but already it's clear that in the sprawling U.S. beef and dairy industries - home to 100 million cattle - many producers will automate data gathering with radio-frequency chips attached to cattle ears. And that's what has Hassell worried. He contends most of the radio-frequency chips making their way onto cattle ears are a terrible fit. Those chips -- based on the same radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology being integrated for inventory control by large retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- are known as "passive" tags that broadcast identifying numbers for only a short range, generally just a few feet. While cattle may be considered docile creatures, they are a lot more mobile and skittish than cases and pallets in Wal-Mart warehouses. Hassell believes only "active" tags, which broadcast identification data for up to 300 feet, will consistently work for the multiple owners and many environments that cattle pass through, from pastures to stockyards, feed lots and slaughterhouses. Hassell is so convinced that he's launched his own company, ZigBeef Inc., to sell long-range tags. The name is a play on the "ZigBee" wireless standard employed by his tags. "I really don't think ... on a mass scale that short-range, passive devices are going to be practical," he said. "The Betamax of the industry is the short-range tags." That makes Hassell sound like many other startup technologists - pooh-poohing a rival standard at the expense of his own. But something makes this situation a bit unusual: Even beef producers who are using the passive flavor of RFID don't seem thrilled with it either. The Joplin Regional Stockyards in Carthage, Mo., began using passive RFID to identify some cattle in 2001. But co-owner Steve Owens believes the technology "hinders the speed of commerce." That's because the thousands of cattle that go through his facility wouldn't always naturally line up and orderly proceed past devices that can read electronic ID tags at short range. Most often, cattle quickly move through his yard in groups. And if a cow has lost a tag or comes to him without one, "you've got to catch that animal in a head chute and hold it still so you can put the tag in an ear," he said. That can take 30 seconds each - which adds up when you've got thousands of mooing creatures to deal with. These factors are big because human contact and other stresses can hurt a cow's ability to gain or maintain weight. That's costly because beef is, after all, sold by the pound - and generally with slim profit margins. "I'm sure hoping and open to other technologies that might be able to solve some of our problems," Owens said. Even so, he and other people in the industry figure that passive tags will carry the day. For one thing, passive tags are cheaper, about $2 each versus roughly $10. Passive tags don't require batteries, because they get their power by induction from the electromagnetic energy sent by the reader. And perhaps most importantly, most of the estimated 5 percent of cattle owners who are using RFID have passive tags. Changing that would be hard, since it's important for all players along the complex chain of cattle ownership to be on the same technical page. "Despite its warts, I think (passive tagging) is the technology that's going to be brought to play initially," said Dale Blasi, a Kansas State University professor researching the challenges of RFID in cattle. "We're innovative, we'll learn how to work around these issues." Still, Hassell holds out hope for ZigBeef. While he's not the first to suggest active tags for livestock, he's encouraged that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has funded the company with an $80,000 grant. Soon he will be eligible for a $300,000-plus extension. That makes this a crucial year. He has to attract potential customers while still fine-tuning his system. Part of his pitch is that while active tags cost more, their readers can run as low as $50, instead of hundreds or even thousands of dollars for passive RFID. The active readers' range could be dialed up or down to register multiple cows or just one at a time. Hassell says his tags' batteries can last five to seven years, well beyond the 15-month life of typical beef cattle. And he asserts that most of the cost of the tags comes from their plastic housing, not their circuitry - so ZigBeef tags could easily include both passive and active chips, soothing producers' fears about choosing the wrong technology. There are still other methods for recording that an animal crossed a certain link in the food chain, including retinal scans for identifying cattle. And there are a spate of old-school record-keeping practices, which often rely on brands, veterinary papers or visually spotting numbers on plastic ear tags and writing them down. Many producers would love to stay that course, fearing the added cost of more detailed tracking. Some also fear that new databases would reveal private business information to rivals, regulators or animal-rights activists. Meanwhile, pork and poultry producers tend not to have such worries. Pigs are unlikely to need RFID because the nation's 60 million hogs generally remain in large, easily identifiable lots, said Bobby Acord, a former USDA administrator who chairs the Swine Identification Implementation Task Force. Chickens follow a similar pattern -- and are too numerous to tally individually, anyway, with 9 billion in the U.S. alone. Early adopters of RFID in cattle have done so largely to better track sick animals and to document organic, grass-fed or other high-value beef and dairy. But holdouts note that premiums for RFID-equipped cattle would likely vanish as more cows get the tags. Because of such hesitation, the cattle industry widely expects that the database system -- which is technically voluntary for now -- will become mandatory to ensure widespread participation. Once that happens, old methods simply could become too difficult, said Allen Bright, animal ID coordinator for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. For example, he notes that people are prone to error as they write down ear-tag numbers. It's not exactly easy in auctions teeming with 10,000 head of cattle. "Just from a practicality standpoint, you need to automate those tags," said Bright, who owns a feed lot in Nebraska. Kevin McGrath, chief executive of Digital Angel Corp., which has sold 6 million passive RFID tags for livestock in North America, contends that the U.S. beef industry has lost more than $3 billion because Japan and other Asian markets have been closed since the nation's first mad cow scare in 2003. If an automated ID system can persuade officials in those markets to resume accepting American beef, the technology would more than pay for itself, he argues. Even so, McGrath says he understands the skepticism. Consequently, Digital Angel plans to test other tag frequencies in hopes of making the chips easier to read on moving animals. "I think we still have to convince the industry that this is the right solution," McGrath said. When it was suggested to him that cattle RFID seems an experiment in progress, he agreed. "And it will be for a long period of time." On the Net: USDA page on ID system: http://www.usda.gov/nais Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. ------------------------------ From: Dave Garland Subject: Phone Switches Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 23:32:07 -0500 Organization: Wizard Information For those who are interested, there is an active thread in alt.folklore.computer about telephone switches. The subject (obviously having suffered severe drift, a characteristic of a.f.u.) is "5963 (computer grade dual triode) production dates?" ------------------------------ From: honestperson6@hotmail.com Subject: Help! Anyone Know of Online Phone Service (With a Chosen Area Code) Date: 20 May 2006 06:43:42 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I used to use http://glophone.com service but it seems to have stopped offering such service.I already have spent hours searching around. Anyone, please tell me a site that I can get a phone number (extension ok) with my chosen area code and receive calls online from any real phone in US? If it costs several bucks a month, it is fine. Free is better. Thanks a lot in advance. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: There is a service operating out of the state of Washington which hands out _for free_ -- totally no charge -- one-way incoming phone numbers which translate into VOIP numbers. Even though I had a couple numbers from them for several months, I have forgotten the name. I am sure someone will remember it. If you are willing to pay a few dollars each month then there are several VOIP services around which do what you want. Use your search program to look for 'VOIP' or 'Voice Over Internet Protocol' to find them. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 03:21:28 +1000 From: Andrew F Subject: My Observations With Pay Phones >> I'm sorry to say it, but my experience using US payphones was not a >> happy one. > The combination of deregulation and cell phone providers who compete > on price has been lethal for pay phones. I just got back from > Ottawa where ILEC pay phones are still all over the place, offer > local calls for a quarter, and don't surcharge 800 numbers. Mostly the same here except Telstra is cutting back and there is some competition from other payphone vendors. Untimed calls have recently gone up to AUD0.50 from AUD0.40. The Telstra public payphone accepts a smart card containing prepaid credit and also offer SMS. > I think that's partly because the're more regulated, and partly > because the smaller number of cell carriers don't compete much on > price. We have some regulations that are keeping some unprofitable phones arounds too. Still many are profitable. Do you have any idea why some phones won't accept coins for international calls? Is it that tourists don't vote? I remember being in a hotel that had some Verizon phones and one will work and the adjacent one will. Different LD carriers apparently which doesn't make sense. Anyway isn't PhoneOne owned by Verizon? That was the most annoying thing. The next was the FCC surcharge. The 2nd biggest pay phone vendor here is lobbying for something like that. In the meantime they are charging a local call charge for accessing 800 numbers except ones they get a kickback on. Really, if I had change I wouldn't be calling my own (shared) 800 number (actually I would, it used to save me money) Oh, yes forgot to tell you, every residential customer of Telstra can get access to an 800 number that allows them to call their own phone without additional cost other than the call cost charged at the standard payphone rate. It's seems to be shared with any number of people who have the same last fours digits of your phone number and have the service enabled. A 4 digits PIN serves to selects your line and is the only (weak) security provided. The card operators are really good at screwing you. Even buying name cards from reputable vendors the information at point of sale is incorrect. I can't see why they can't pass the surcharge on at cost - that would be almost tolerable. At least the smart operators are offering local call access. Next after that: finding a working phones in SFO airport and Union Station in LA. I think Teleco makes more money from phones that don't work that ones that do. Honestly, I must have tried every phone in the station. > On the other hand, Canadian cell users had nationwide roaming that > worked long before we did. We have little roaming here but then > again our 2 largest operators have good nationwide coverage. Andrew ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 13:38:01 PDT From: Mr Joseph Singer Subject: Re: World Cup Fans Warned Against Buying Tickets on Ebay Mark Trevelyan Subject: Word Cup Fans Warned Against Buying Tickets on Ebay So, is this Word Cup some big spelling contest or a competition to see who can use Microsoft Word the best? :) [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Unfortunatly, "Word Cup" was a typographical error for "World Cup". You should blame your Esteemed Editor for that one. Actually, it was caught mid-way through the delivery of that issue and changed from 'Word' to 'World' so that about half the readers got it correct; the first batch of readers got it the wrong way. Sorry about that! Blame it on my diseased brain. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 13:42:58 PDT From: Mr Joseph Singer Subject: Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers 18 May 2006 18:12:12 -0000 John Levine srote: > What wasn't clear to me from the announcement was whether the call > is free if it's placed within the US and Canada, or whether it > terminates within the US and Canada. The former implies originating > in the targeted area, whereas the latter could originate anywhere. > The latter, calls to US and Canada numbers are now free. (You would > already know this if you had spent 10 seconds pointing your browser at > http://www.skype.com .) Skype has only the vaguest idea of where > you're located. If you'll read the notice it's for people *in* the US and Canada to make free calls. It's not for people calling into the US. And indeed Skype can indeed determine where you're calling from by the IP address used to access the service. It's the same deal that when I'm in Israel and access my yahoo mail which is on the US Yahoo service I get served Hebrew adverts in Israel. They know where you are really they do!! What I get is determined by my originating IP address. ------------------------------ From: Kenneth P. Stox Organization: Ministry of Silly Walks Subject: Re: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report from USA Today Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 05:19:29 GMT The real question is: Can we possibly trust anything a Company says anymore if national security is involved? http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-4538.htm http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode15/usc_sec_15_00000078---m000-.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, that is a good point. How can we tell whether a company is telling the truth or lying these days? PAT] ------------------------------ From: Mark Crispin Subject: Last Laugh! Advertiser With a Toll-Free Number Date: Fri, 19 May 2006 20:23:36 -0700 Organization: University of Washington "Publishers Billing Emporium Inc", at PO Box 1787 Provo UT 84603-1787 has a toll-free number of 1-800-834-4181. They send out postal solicitations touting "one of the lowest available rates we can offer for your regular subscription". This "one of the lowest available" rate was 3 years of Alaska magazine for $60.99. These clowns evidentally think that anyone who is interested in Alaska must have flunked third-grade arithmetic. You can order a one-year subscription on Alaska magazine's web page for $18/year, or in the most recent magazine there's a subscription card for $16.95 for one year and $29.95 for two years. With such a valuable offer, they may need some help in testing their toll-free number. -- Mark -- http://panda.com/mrc Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: I shouldn't be surprised if they spam a lot also ... so many magazine subscription outfits are pretty loose with the volume of email they send out. Oh well, most everyone around here knows the routine by now, I am sure. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #193 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sun May 21 14:47:29 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id B202015690; Sun, 21 May 2006 14:47:28 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #194 Message-Id: <20060521184728.B202015690@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 14:47:28 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Sun, 21 May 2006 14:50:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 194 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Time Warner Works to Repair AOL (Karen Jacobs) Retailers Plow Ahead With RFID Chips (Brian Bergstein) Verizon's 'Free Gift' to Customers: Share Info and Numbers (Jessica Taylor) Girl Abucted After Making Random Cell Phone Call (john@mayson.us) Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers (john@mayson.us) Re: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report From USA Today (G. Berger) Re: Help! Anyone Know of Online Phone Service (harold@hallikainen.com) Re: Fox News Slams Qwest for 'Cooperating With Terrorists' (Jessica Taylor) Re: Analog PBX Extender for Home Based Worker (William Warren) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Karen Jacobs Subject: Time Warner Works to Repair AOL Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 13:10:29 -0500 By Karen Jacobs Time Warner Inc. is committed to turning around its AOL Internet business even as the unit loses customers at a faster than expected pace, the media conglomerate's chief executive said on Friday. AOL's dial-up subscribers have been defecting to high-speed services largely provided by cable and phone companies as it works to revamp its business as an online provider of entertainment and other services supported by advertising revenue. "We are committed to completing the transformation of AOL," CEO Richard Parsons told Reuters at the close of Time Warner's annual shareholder meeting in Atlanta. Some investors, including one who spoke at Friday's meeting, have asked whether AOL might be spun off as its results weigh on overall earnings at the world's largest media company. AOL "is in a space that the marketplace thinks is contracting and needs to migrate its business to another part of the Internet landscape where the market is growing," Parsons said, referring to efforts to move AOL from a subscription model to an advertising supported operation. "Our plans are to see that journey through," he said. "I think that if we do that, the market and the stock will react very very positively." AOL's future was one key point of contention between Time Warner management and billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who challenged the company to break up into four divisions. The two sides reached an agreement in February after a bitter six-month battle over how to boost Time Warner's share value. Earlier this month, Time Warner reported quarterly results that disappointed Wall Street forecasts, particularly the loss of 835,000 subscribers at AOL compared with a figure closer to 550,000 expected by analysts. AOL accounted for about 20 percent of Time Warner's $10.5 billion in revenue. Company executives expect to see better subscriber trends and advertising at the unit in the second half of 2006. Shortly afterward, AOL said it would cut 7 percent of its work force, mostly from customer call centers. On Thursday, the Internet company said it bought Lightningcast, which specializes in inserting ads into online video, in a bid to expand its ad network. Time Warner shares are nearly flat since the start of the year and have underperformed the Standard & Poor's 500 Index by about 2 percent in that time. Parsons noted the weak sentiment afflicted most top media companies as investors question how they will preserve growth amid an explosion of competing media options, particularly from Internet leaders Google Inc. and Yahoo . But he said he believed continued growth in Time Warner businesses, particularly its cable operations, and a $20 billion share buyback will help eventually boost company stock. Shareholders approved Time Warner's slate of 11 directors and bid farewell to media mogul and CNN founder Ted Turner, who decided in February to step down from the board. Shareholders also approved a proposal not endorsed by the board to accept a simple majority rule on shareholder votes wherever possible. Parsons said the company would review its stance in light of nearly 80 percent approval for the proposal. Time Warner shares were unchanged at $17.40 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. (Additional reporting by Michele Gershberg in New York) Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Reuters, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Brian Bergstein Subject: Retailers Plow Ahead With RFID Chips Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 13:12:22 -0500 By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer The roots of radio-frequency identification technology stretch at least as far back as World War II, when transponders helped distinguish between Axis and Allied aircraft. Over the years the concept has been greatly miniaturized, landing RFID technology in such settings as animal tags, toll-collection devices, passports, keyless entry systems for cars and wireless credit cards. But perhaps none of these projects will have as much impact for consumers as the adoption of RFID in the supply chains of huge retail stores. Mega-retailers led by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. have gotten their biggest suppliers to add RFID chips to pallets and cases shipped to stores. Now, rather than having people with bar-code scanners walk around to take inventory, RFID readers in warehouses can automatically tally items on the fly. RFID is expected to yield substantial savings largely by reducing the frequency of the following scenario: A customer goes to a store for an item, only to find its shelf empty, even though replacement stock lurks somewhere in the back. It's one of the costliest problems in retail. Simon Langford, Wal-Mart's director of logistics, distribution and replenishment systems, explains that a bar-code scanner can register that certain items have entered a store's back room. But not until one of the items gets scanned at checkout does the store typically get an update. In between, the item might be on a store shelf or still sitting among back-room clutter. In the more than 500 stores where Wal-Mart has integrated RFID, radio tags give additional insight -- they inform employees when supplies enter the storeroom, when they leave it for the sales floor and when their emptied cartons are taken to the trash. A University of Arkansas study last year determined that these stores saw a 16 percent reduction in the times that products were missing from shelves. But Langford said that figure understated RFID's true power, because the study included popular items that sales staffers already were sure to replenish. When the research examined only items that Wal-Mart sold less than 15 times a day, the out-of-stock reduction was 30 percent. Wal-Mart hopes to see even greater improvement soon by giving employees handheld RFID scanners that will direct them precisely to cartons of products they need to bring from the storeroom. Eventually, individual products in Wal-Mart and other stores are expected to get their own RFID tags to give stores even clearer views of their inventory. "That's really where the supply chain gets most messy," said Kevin Ashton, who helped drive RFID development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and now heads marketing for ThingMagic LLC, a maker of RFID readers. Some high-value items like TVs and pharmaceuticals already have their own tags. But most item-level tagging is a decade away. First, tag prices must drop below their current 5-to-7 cent range. Work also still needs to be done to master wireless interference issues that can arise in RFID-dense environments. And developers have to assure the public and retailers that data on the tags are secure and not invasive. "We're seeing the RFID industry get a little bit more mature every day," Ashton said. "We don't view the RFID market as some overnight sensation." Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 12:26:07 -0400 From: Jessica Taylor Subject: Verizon's 'Free Gift' to Customers: Share Info and Numbers Verizon is sharing payment history with credit bureaus. This may not be any more extraordinary than a bank doing so. But Verizon uses your telephone number as your account number, even if it is "non-published." Verizon's 'free gift' to customers Boston Globe published 21 May 2006 Author: B Mohl Verizon Communications Inc. has begun reporting to the nation's three credit bureaus which Massachusetts customers pay their bills on time and which ones don't, a practice a company spokesman described as 'a free gift to the public.' The telecommunications giant says its reports to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion will help consumers with limited credit histories build a payment record that can be used to secure lower rates on mortgages, credit cards, and car loans. But there's a flip side to this 'free gift' from Verizon. Those who don't make their phone payments on time will end up with a black mark on their credit history. A Verizon spokesman acknowledged the idea of sharing payment data originated with the company's bill collection people as a way of spurring customers to pay on time. "It's not a very big stick, but it's a stick," said spokesman James Smith. Consumers with unlisted phone numbers are also upset their numbers are being shared with credit bureaus. A check of my credit reports showed that TransUnion identifies Verizon customers by their complete phone number. Reports from Experian and Equifax identify Verizon customers by their phone numbers minus the last digit. One Stoneham resident, who asked not to be identified because his identity had previously been stolen, said he was shocked to see his unpublished phone number, minus the last digit, on his Equifax report. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what that last number is," he said. "I'm paying them $5 a month to maintain a nonpublished number. Who else has access to this database?" Link to full article: http://tinyurl.com/mctqd or http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2006/05/21/verizons_free_gift_to_customers_giving_payment_data_to_credit_bureaus?mode=PF ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Girl Abducted After Making Random Cell Phone Call Date: 20 May 2006 19:03:58 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/05/20/police_girl_abducted_after_making_random_cell_phone_call/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Massachusetts+news "BROCKTON, Mass. --A 12-year-old Brockton girl dialing random numbers on her cell phone was lured from her home by a stranger and taken to Rhode Island, where she was repeatedly molested, police said." ------------------------------ From: john@mayson.us Subject: Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers Date: 20 May 2006 19:20:25 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > If you'll read the notice it's for people *in* the US and Canada to > make free calls. It's not for people calling into the US. And indeed > Skype can indeed determine where you're calling from by the IP address > used to access the service. It's the same deal that when I'm in > Israel and access my yahoo mail which is on the US Yahoo service I get > served Hebrew adverts in Israel. They know where you are really they > do!! What I get is determined by my originating IP address. According to their website: "Calling people on Skype is totally free. It's also free to call landlines and mobiles within the US and Canada until the end of the year. International calls are pretty cheap too." I guess I'll find out first-hand next month from Mexico. I will be VPN'ed into my company's network, so that might not be the best test. I'll also bring my personal laptop (I planned to anyway) from a hotspot if I can find one. John ------------------------------ From: George Berger Subject: Re: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report from USA Today Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 22:25:31 -0400 Organization: Heller Information Services > The real question is: Can we possibly trust anything a Company says > anymore if national security is involved? In this case, I'd be more likely to believe Bell South. The incident has too much publicity and too many responders for Bell South to risk getting caught in a lie. The negative publicity and subsequent litigation that would most certainly follow could easily force them into Chapter 11, if not worse. DOJ prosecutors are salivating at the chance to bring one more "Rogue Corporation" to its knees and to jail the CEO. If you'll remember, even the New York Times got caught with its pants down when a couple of its reporters "made up" sensational stories. I'd like to wait until the facts are known - - not the "factoids." George (The Old Fud) In article , Kenneth P. Stox wrote: > The real question is: Can we possibly trust anything a Company says > anymore if national security is involved? I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. -- Robert McCloskey, State Department spokesman (attributed) ------------------------------ From: harold@hallikainen.com Subject: Re: Help! Anyone Know of Online Phone Service (With Chosen Area Code) Date: 21 May 2006 09:29:10 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The company in Washington is http://www.ipkall.com . http://www.sipphone.com has access numbers around the world that are free to use. They also have "virtual numbers" that assign a specific number to you for a few dollars a month. See http://www.sipphone.com/virtual/ for paid numbers and http://www.sipphone.com/access/ for free access numbers. Harold ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 12:43:00 -0400 From: Jessica Taylor Subject: Re: Fox News Slams Qwest for 'Cooperating With Terrorists' Media Matters wrote: > Kondracke denounced Qwest as "basically helping terrorists" for not > giving customers' phone records to NSA. > On Fox News' Special Report, Roll Call executive editor Morton > Kondracke said the telecommunications company Qwest was "basically > helping terrorists" because "to its discredit, [it] said it was not > cooperating with the NSA [National Security Agency] and specifically > decided not to cooperate" by providing the NSA with the phone call > records of its customers. > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Does any person with half a brain, or > an IQ higher than the outside temperature on a fall day give any > attention at all to what Fox News has to say? PAT] Yes. A person with at least half a brain and a normal IQ would want to hear many differing viewpoints, many of which are only now available on the mainstream media because of networks such as Fox News. But then again a person with at least half a brain would understand the difference between the remarks of a single person commentator and the full reporting of an entire Network! ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 13:43:10 -0400 From: William Warren Subject: Re: Analog PBX Extender for Home Based Worker DavidK wrote: > Other then the MCK and Nortel product, does anyone know of any cheap > analog PBX extenders to stick in a home office without DSL? I'm just > looking to get calls faster to the home worker so I don't have to dial > them over the POTS line which the connect imes are way to high. > The home worker has a phone line and an analog phone, that's it. > Thanks for any help. > David David, You need to think about the connection before the end points: how much is it going to cost you to get an extension-off-premise line instaled? How much is the monthly charge? You'll probably find that Message Units are cheap by comparison. HTH. William Warren (Filter noise from my address for direct replies) ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #194 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon May 22 12:47:01 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 955C915301; Mon, 22 May 2006 12:47:00 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #195 Message-Id: <20060522164700.955C915301@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 12:47:00 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Mon, 22 May 2006 12:50:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 195 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Malware Gives Out New, Bogus Browser (Jeremy Kirk) Southeast Asian Cyber Attacks Still Way Off (Reuters News Wire) Verizon's 'Free Gift' to Customers: Giving Data to Bureaus (Monty Solomon) Cellular-News: Monday 22nd May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 22, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers (Barry Margolin) Re: Radio-Frequency Chips Coming to Cattle (A User) Re: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report (Thor Lancelot Simon) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeremy Kirk Subject: Malware Gives Out New, Bogus Browser Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 11:04:42 -0500 IM Worm Installs Bogus Browser Jeremy Kirk, IDG News Service Malware writers have created a new worm that installs a new browser and plays screeching music. The annoyance starts with a link apparently sent by a friend in Yahoo's instant messaging program. Instant messaging security company FaceTime Communications described the malware, which it calls "yhoo32.explr", as "insidious" in a security advisory. When the link is clicked, a worm installs the so-called "Safety Browser," a program that leads the user to pages mined with adware and viruses, FaceTime said. The Safety Browser uses an Internet Explorer logo to make it look more legitimate. New Type of Attack Malware spread through instant messaging programs is on the rise. However, FaceTime said this malware appeared to be the first to install a browser without the user's permission. The bug also hijacks Internet Explorer's home page, directing users to the Safety Browser's Web site. After it is launched, the worm sends itself to others on the user's instant messaging contact list. The malware is engineered to overwrite instant messages typed by a user, FaceTime said. The infected message can also be changed on-the-fly, the company said. The screeching music, however, is blocked by Microsoft's Windows XP Service Pack 2, FaceTime said. FaceTime has posted screenshots of the infection process on its blog. Copyright 2006 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For other news and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Southeast Asian Cyber Attacks Still Way Off Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 10:47:42 -0500 Southeast Asian extremist groups have turned to the Internet to recruit people and raise funds but they have not yet been able to mount cyber attacks, a security expert said on Monday. Rohan Gunaratna, head of the political violence and terrorism center at Singapore's Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, said regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) used the Internet extensively to spread its propaganda. "It will take a very long time for Southeast Asian groups to develop the capability to attack the Internet," he said. "Instead of attacking the Internet, they are using the Internet." He was in Malaysia to address Southeast Asian security officials on U.S.-backed training on counter-terrorism, including cyber-terrorism and suicide bombing. A Malaysian counter-terrorism official told the meeting that the threat from cyber attacks in the region was real but offered no information of any specific threat. "The threat is real. It's not the question of how or what, but it is only of when," said Yean Yoke Heng, deputy head of the Malaysian-based South East Asia Regional Center for Counter Terrorism. "We need a better coordination ... to be better prepared to face any cyber attacks by hackers, by terrorist groups," he said. Malaysia announced recently that it would set up a center that provides an emergency response to cyber attacks on the economy or trading system of any country. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said companies such as Symantec Corporation of the United States, Japan's Trend Micro and Russia's Kapersky Lab have agreed to be key partners. Gunaratna, who has written books on al Qaeda and JI, played down the possibility of such attacks by regional militant groups. "There are no groups in Southeast Asia that are capable of attacking the Internet at this point of time," he told reporters. "But there are a number of terrorist groups that are using the Internet very effectively to distribute propaganda, to recruit, to raise funds and to coordinate terrorist attacks," he said. They include JI, al Qaeda's franchise in Southeast Asia, he said. Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian suspected of masterminding bombings on the Indonesian holiday island of Bali last year, is currently leading JI's operations. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from the daily media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 20:27:27 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Verizon's 'Free Gift' to Customers: Giving Data to Credit Bureaus By Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff | May 21, 2006 Verizon Communications Inc. has begun reporting to the nation's three credit bureaus which Massachusetts customers pay their bills on time and which ones don't, a practice a company spokesman described as 'a free gift to the public.' The telecommunications giant says its reports to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion will help consumers with limited credit histories build a payment record that can be used to secure lower rates on mortgages, credit cards, and car loans. But there's a flip side to this 'free gift' from Verizon. Those who don't make their phone payments on time will end up with a black mark on their credit history. A Verizon spokesman acknowledged the idea of sharing payment data originated with the company's bill collection people as a way of spurring customers to pay on time. "It's not a very big stick, but it's a stick," said spokesman James Smith. Consumers with unlisted phone numbers are also upset their numbers are being shared with credit bureaus. A check of my credit reports showed that TransUnion identifies Verizon customers by their complete phone number. Reports from Experian and Equifax identify Verizon customers by their phone numbers minus the last digit. http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2006/05/21/verizons_free_gift_to_customers_giving_payment_data_to_credit_bureaus/ ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Monday 22nd May 2006 Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 07:20:14 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[3G News]] Xfera Preparing 3G Launch But No Deadline Fixed http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17461.php The Xfera consortium, holder of Spain's fourth license for third-generation mobile telephony, is still preparing a launch, a top shareholder said Friday, without providing a fixed deadline. ... 3G Used for Medical Diagnosis http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17465.php Apoplectic strokes can be recognised via VideoTelephony with a mobile phone. These are the results of the apoplectic stroke study 'Fast UMTS' that the University of Twente has held together with Vodafone and a number of doctors and neurologists in th... [[Financial News]] Iusacell extends US$350mn debt restructuring deadline http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17459.php Mexican mobile operator Iusacell has extended until June 1 the deadline for holders of its 14.25% bonds due this year to accept an exchange offer for 10% notes due in December 2013, Iusacell said in a statement. ... Belgacom Core Earns Down 5% As Competition Bites http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17462.php Belgian telecommunications incumbent Belgacom, Friday posted a 5.2% fall in core earnings for the first quarter of 2006 as fixed-line revenues continue to fall and competition in the mobile sector intensifies. ... Econet Buys Burundi GSM Network http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17472.php The pan-African telecommunications group Econet Wireless says that it has acquired a controlling interest in ST Cellular, formerly Spacetel Burundi, one of the four licensed operators in Burundi and has embarked on a major program to expand the mobil... [[Legal News]] Former CEO: BrT contracted Kroll, but no illegal acts http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17460.php The former management of Brazil's third largest telecoms operator Brasil Telecom has confirmed that it hired risk management and fraud prevention company Kroll, but denies illegal acts, local news agency Agencia Estado reported. ... [[Network Contracts News]] Nokia Expands Contract With Sichuan Unicom In China http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17455.php Finland's Nokia, Friday said it has had a GSM contract extended with Sichuan Unicom, a unit of China Unicom. ... China Selects GSM-R for Railway Communications http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17466.php China's Ministry of Railways (MOR) and Nortel have signed a framework agreement for Nortel to provide GSM Railway (GSM-R) switching centers to enable digital mobile signaling and operational communications along passenger lines spanning 20 of China's... [[Network Operators News]] Armed Gunmen Attack Jawwal Headquarters in Gaza http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17463.php A gang of 20 armed gunmen attacked the headquarters of the Palestinian GSM network operator, Jawwal last week. The gunmen terrorized Jawwal employees, expelled them by force and caused wide-spread property damage as they fired their weapons within th... DoCoMo Mandating GSM in all Japanese Handsets http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17469.php Japan's ... [[Offbeat News]] Mobile phone cos under pressure to block signals in prisons http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17457.php Brazil's government plans to submit a bill for a law forcing mobile operators to install equipment that will block signals inside prisons, Brazilian newspapers quoted communications minister Holio Costa as saying. ... [[Regulatory News]] Committee postpones decision on Cofetel candidates http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17458.php The permanent committee of Mexico's congress has postponed until Wednesday, May 24, its approval of the candidates nominated to form the new board of telecoms regulator Cofetel, local daily El Financiero reported. ... No Worries from Base Station Radiation - report http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17471.php Speculation regarding health issues and mobile telecommunications base stations is ignoring a huge body of local and international health research which has found no proven link between base stations and adverse health impacts, says the Australian Mo... Largent Calls for National Wireless Regulatory Framework http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17474.php The USA's Wireless Association President and CEO Steve Largent appeared before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee last week and urged its members to support language that would create a strong and consistent national regulatory... [[Reports News]] Fixed Mobile Convergence Could Increase Churn http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17464.php A recent research study, conducted by ORC International in the UK, has revealed that consumers are willing to change mobile network provider and/or their Internet service provider (ISP) in order to move to a supplier offering a fixed-mobile convergen... [[Statistics News]] China Mobile Adds 4.33 Million Users in April Vs 4.30 Million in March http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17456.php China Mobile (Hong Kong), the largest mobile carrier in China in terms of subscribers, said Friday it added 4.33 million customers in April, up from 4.30 million new subscribers in March. ... Global Mobile Subscriptions to Exceed 2.6bn by Year End 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17470.php Pyramid Research estimates there will be 2.6 billion mobile subscribers worldwide by year-end 2006, up from 2.3 billion in 2005. Between 2006 and 2010, it expects total mobile subscribers to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.7%, t... [[Technology News]] Wind-Up Phone Charger Distribution Deal http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17467.php Freeplay Energy has signed a five year agreement with WP Phones to sell at least one million of their wind-up chargers per year, primarily in Africa. WP Phones will have exclusive distribution rights in sub Saharan Africa over the period.... No More Shaky Camera Phone Photos http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17468.php InvenSense says that it has developed a miniature image stabilization system, due out in the second half of this year, which can be used in mobile phones to stabilize shaky photo images. Consumers accustomed to digital still cameras (DSCs) are often ... Iris Scanning in a Mobile Phone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17473.php The UK based, xVista says that it has developed a portable iris scanning and verification system which could be built into a mobile phone. Developed through a US$3.4 million, six year partnership with the University of Sussex, the xVista system is de... ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 11:44:13 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Monday, May 22, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 22, 2006 ******************************** Network Software Protects Data Confidentiality http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18059?11228 As banks, businesses, government agencies and other enterprises interconnect their computers in ever greater numbers, there's a growing need for software that can provide seamless data links while ensuring data security. In an effort to ensure security while maintaining a free and speedy enterprise data flow, a research team has... NTT DoCoMo to Make All Mobile Handset Models Globally Compatible http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/18056?11228 NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile operator, plans to be the first mobile operator in Japan to make all its mobile handset models compatible with the GSM networks in more than 130 countries in two years, in order to enable easier roaming for travellers, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reports. Under the new system, DoCoMo's mobile... EU Wants More Cross-Border Telecoms Competition http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18053?11228 The European Commission has urged greater cross-border competition in the European telecommunications market, according to reports from the Associated Press (AP). While acknowledging the benefits of its year-old push for better exploitation of digital technologies, the Commission said that stronger investment and more effective... Bite GSM Delays 3G Launch http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/18052?11228 Latvia's newest mobile operator Bite GSM is to postpone the launch of its UMTS services, according to Baltic Business Weekly. The operator's 3G operations had been due to begin in June 2006, but have now been delayed until September 2006, in order to facilitate the introduction of a faster Internet service.... KDDI, Sony to Develop Walkman Cell Phone http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/18050?11228 TOKYO -- A Walkman brand cell phone enabling users to download music onto their handsets will go on sale in the Japanese market next month in a joint project between KDDI and Sony, KDDI Corp. announced Monday. KDDI Corp., Japan's second-largest mobile phone company, scheduled a news conference Monday morning to announce details ... Microsoft Makes Way to Pay for PC Hourly http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/18048?11228 SEATTLE -- Microsoft Corp. has developed technology for people to pay by the hour to use a computer in their own homes, similar to the way many people use pre-paid cards for cell phones. The technology, called FlexGo, will be used as part of efforts to sell computers to lower-income consumers in developing countries, where Microsoft is... Nokia Lands GSM Expansion Deal http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18045?11228 A China Unicom subsidiary has tapped Nokia to expand its GSM network in China. The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. As part of the deal, Nokia will deliver radio and core networks, including MSC Server mobile softswitch and services to Sichuan Unicom. The expanded network will serve four cities in the... House Committee Unwraps Net-Neutrality Act http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18042?11228 Confirming earlier reports (Telecom Policy Report, May 1), members of the House Judiciary Committeeintroduced a bill to codify network neutrality among the Internet's broadband access and backbone providers in response to a growing debate among federal lawmakers and lobbyists on the issue. The five-page Internet Freedom and... Wireless Firms Ring Up More VC Bucks http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18039?11228 Of the $543 million in venture capital investment dollars received by digital media companies during April, a whopping $303 million went to wireless-related businesses, according to San Francisco-based research firm Rutberg & Co. Rutberg says 40 companies announced new VC funding last month; and 11 of those are making a business of... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: Barry Margolin Subject: Re: Using Skype to Call NANP Numbers Organization: Symantec Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 15:36:11 -0400 In article , john@mayson.us wrote: >> If you'll read the notice it's for people *in* the US and Canada to >> make free calls. It's not for people calling into the US. And indeed >> Skype can indeed determine where you're calling from by the IP address >> used to access the service. It's the same deal that when I'm in >> Israel and access my yahoo mail which is on the US Yahoo service I get >> served Hebrew adverts in Israel. They know where you are really they >> do!! What I get is determined by my originating IP address. > According to their website: "Calling people on Skype is totally free. > It's also free to call landlines and mobiles within the US and Canada > until the end of the year. International calls are pretty cheap too." Don't look for details on the front page hype. If you search further in the support knowledge base, you'll find the statement: As of May 15, 2006, and until the end of 2006, all US and Canadian-based Skype customers can now make free calls to any landline and mobile phones in the US and Canada. Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group *** ------------------------------ From: A User Subject: Re: Radio-Frequency Chips Coming to Cattle Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 07:53:34 +1000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com On Sat, 20 May 2006 19:23:24 -0500, Brian Bergstein wrote: > By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer > That makes Hassell sound like many other startup technologists - > pooh-poohing a rival standard at the expense of his own. But something > makes this situation a bit unusual: Even beef producers who are using > the passive flavor of RFID don't seem thrilled with it either. ... > The Joplin Regional Stockyards in Carthage, Mo., began using passive > RFID to identify some cattle in 2001. But co-owner Steve Owens > believes the technology "hinders the speed of commerce." ... > That's because the thousands of cattle that go through his facility > wouldn't always naturally line up and orderly proceed past devices > that can read electronic ID tags at short range. Most often, cattle > quickly move through his yard in groups. ... > And if a cow has lost a tag or comes to him without one, "you've got > to catch that animal in a head chute and hold it still so you can put > the tag in an ear," he said. That can take 30 seconds each - which > adds up when you've got thousands of mooing creatures to deal with. ... > These factors are big because human contact and other stresses can > hurt a cow's ability to gain or maintain weight. That's costly because > beef is, after all, sold by the pound - and generally with slim profit > margins. ... > That makes this a crucial year. He has to attract potential customers > while still fine-tuning his system. Part of his pitch is that while > active tags cost more, their readers can run as low as $50, instead of > hundreds or even thousands of dollars for passive RFID. The active > readers' range could be dialed up or down to register multiple cows or > just one at a time. ... > Hassell says his tags' batteries can last five to seven years, well > beyond the 15-month life of typical beef cattle. And he asserts that > most of the cost of the tags comes from their plastic housing, not > their circuitry - so ZigBeef tags could easily include both passive > and active chips, soothing producers' fears about choosing the wrong > technology. ... > Once that happens, old methods simply could become too difficult, said > Allen Bright, animal ID coordinator for the National Cattlemen's Beef > Association. For example, he notes that people are prone to error as > they write down ear-tag numbers. It's not exactly easy in auctions > teeming with 10,000 head of cattle. ... > Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. (Above article greatly abridged from original publication here in Digest last week.) It's been available in Australia for quite some time. You have been able to track the product in the food chain for quite some time. Cattle don't seem to mind at all. ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report from USA Today Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 01:10:35 UTC Organization: Public Access Networks Corp. Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , George Berger wrote: >> The real question is: Can we possibly trust anything a Company says >> anymore if national security is involved? > In this case, I'd be more likely to believe Bell South. The incident > has too much publicity and too many responders for Bell South to risk > getting caught in a lie. The negative publicity and subsequent > litigation that would most certainly follow could easily force them > into Chapter 11, if not worse. DOJ prosecutors are salivating at the > chance to bring one more "Rogue Corporation" to its knees and to jail > the CEO. Uh. Sure. I'd just like to know whether you mean the same employees of the same Department of Justice which went to court to kill the ACLU's lawsuit over the same, quite likely illegal, NSA surveillance of American citizens by asserting the state secrets privilege? Lost in all this is, I think, the simple fact that it's entirely possible that both what some of the telephone companies and the whistleblowers who tattled on them are saying is true: that records of Americans' telephone calls are in fact being provided automatically to the NSA from within the telco's networks, and that the telcos are not, in fact, providing those records directly to the NSA, thus giving them a fig leaf to hide behind. After all, all that's needed for that to be true is the involvement of any other government agency, a single shell corporation, or a defense contractor used as an intermediary to receive the data. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "We cannot usually in social life pursue a single value or a single moral aim, untroubled by the need to compromise with others." - H.L.A. Hart ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #195 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue May 23 13:33:35 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id C337715244; Tue, 23 May 2006 13:33:34 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #196 Message-Id: <20060523173334.C337715244@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 13:33:34 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.2 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR,NIGERIAN_BODY1 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 May 2006 13:36:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 196 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson File Sharers Hit With Criminal Charges (Adam Pasick) School District to Monitor Student Blogs (Associated Press News Wire) Thieves Steal Personal Data on 26 Miillion Vets (Reuters News Wire) Vast Data Cache About Veterans Has Been Stolen (Monty Solomon) Microsoft Tells Contract Workers to Take a Week Off to Lower Costs (H Yen) Background on Leslie Cauley, USA Today Reporter on NSA Spy Story (crp) U.S. at the Forefront of Wireless Home Technology (USTelecom dailyLead) Cellular-News: Tuesday 23rd May 2006 (Cellular-News) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 23, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Analog T1 line vs. Digital T1 line (l0200100@yahoo.com) New Spyphones and Interceptors Available Now (john@wireless-multimedia.net) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Adam Pasick Subject: File Sharers Hit With Criminal Charges Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 11:11:06 -0500 German file-sharers hit with criminal charges By Adam Pasick German police have filed criminal charges against 3,500 people accused of using the eDonkey file-sharing network to share copyrighted music illegally, the recording industry's trade group said on Tuesday. The music industry has filed thousands of lawsuits in its fight against online piracy, but criminal prosecutions have been relatively rare. Users could face a maximum penalty of five years in prison if the music files were shared for commercial purposes. "No one should be surprised that we are stepping up our campaign in this way," said John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. "Internet piracy has hurt the whole music community in Germany, with legitimate sales falling by a third in just five years." Global music sales have been on the decline for years, but the rate of decline slowed to about 1 percent last year due to crackdowns on piracy and the growth of legitimate online music services like Apple's iTunes. The world's top music companies have voiced hopes that the Internet will eventually offset continued declines in physical formats like CDs. The charges announced in Germany are aimed at people who upload music to file-sharing networks, not those who solely download music to their computers. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from the daily media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: School District to Monitor Student Blogs Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 11:13:06 -0500 High school students are going to be held accountable for what they post on blogs and on social-networking Web sites such as MySpace.com. The board of Community High School District 128 voted unanimously on Monday to require that all students participating in extracurricular activities sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of "illegal or inappropriate" behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds for disciplinary action. The rule will take effect at the start of the next school year, officials said. District officials won't regularly search students' sites, but will monitor them if they get a worrisome tip from another student, a parent or a community member. Mary Greenberg of Lake Bluff, who has a son at Libertyville High School, argued the district is overstepping its bounds. "I don't think they need to police what students are doing online," she said. "That's my job." Associate Superintendent Prentiss Lea rebuffed that criticism. "The concept that searching a blog site is an invasion of privacy is almost an oxymoron," he said. "It is called the World Wide Web." The social networking Web site MySpace.com allows its nearly 80 million users to post pictures and personal information while communicating with others. District 128, in Lake County north of Chicago, has some 3,200 students, about 80 percent of whom participate in extracurricular activities, according to school officials. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Hope Yen Subject: Thieves Steal Personal Data on 26 Miillion Vets Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 21:06:08 -0500 By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Thieves took sensitive personal information on 26.5 million U.S. veterans, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, after a Veterans Affairs employee improperly brought the material home, the government said Monday. The information involved mainly those veterans who served and have been discharged since 1975, said VA Secretary Jim Nicholson. Data of veterans discharged before 1975 who submitted claims to the agency may have been included. Nicholson said there was no evidence the thieves had used the data for identity theft, and an investigation was continuing. "It's highly probable that they do not know what they have," he said in a briefing with reporters. "We have decided that we must exercise an abundance of caution and make sure our veterans are aware of this incident." Veterans advocates expressed alarm. "This was a very serious breach of security for American veterans and their families," said Bob Wallace, executive director of Veterans of Foreign Wars. "We want the VA to show leadership, management and accountability for this breach." Ramona Joyce, spokeswoman for the American Legion, agreed that the theft was a concern. "In the information age, we're constantly told to protect our information. We would ask no less of the VA," she said. Nicholson declined to comment on the specifics of the incident, which involved a midlevel data analyst who had taken the information home to suburban Maryland on a laptop to work on a department project. The residential community had been a target of a series of burglaries when the employee was victimized earlier this month, according to the FBI in Baltimore. Local law enforcement and the VA inspector general were also investigating. "I want to emphasize there was no medical records of any veteran and no financial information of any veteran that's been compromised," Nicholson said, although he added later that some information on the veterans' disabilities may have been taken. Nicholson said he does not know how many of the department's 235,000 employees go through background investigations. He said employees who have access to large volumes of personal data should be required to undergo such checks, but he does not believe the VA employee was involved in the theft. "We do not suspect at all any ulterior motive," he said. The department has come under criticism for shoddy accounting practices and for falling short on the needs of veterans. Last year, more than 260,000 veterans could not sign up for services because of cost-cutting. Audits also have shown the agency used misleading accounting methods and lacked documentation to prove its claimed savings. "It is a mystifying and gravely serious concern that a VA data analyst would be permitted to just walk out the VA door with such information," Illinois Rep. Lane Evans (news, bio, voting record), the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement signed by other Democrats on the panel. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who is a Vietnam veteran, said he would introduce legislation to require the VA to provide credit reports to the veterans affected by the theft. "This is no way to treat those who have worn the uniform of our country," Kerry said. "Someone needs to be fired." The VA said it was notifying members of Congress and the individual veterans about the burglary. It has set up a call center at 1-800-FED-INFO and Web site, http://www.firstgov.gov, for veterans who believe their information has been misused. It also is stepping up its review of procedures on the use of personal data for many of its employees who telecommute as well as others who must sign disclosure forms showing they are aware of federal privacy laws and the consequences if they're violated. Deborah Platt Majoras, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, said her task force has reached out to the three major credit bureaus to be alert to possible misuse. On the Net: Information for veterans suspecting identity theft: http://www.firstgov.gov or 1-800-FED-INFO Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 00:51:29 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Vast Data Cache About Veterans Has Been Stolen By DAVID STOUT and TOM ZELLER Jr. The New York Times WASHINGTON, May 22 - Personal electronic information on up to 26.5 million military veterans, including their Social Security numbers and birth dates, was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee who had taken the data home without authorization, the agency said Monday. The department said that there was no evidence any of the information had been used illegally and that whoever stole it, in a burglary of the employee's home this month, might be unaware of its nature or how to use it. The stolen data do not include any health records or financial information, the agency said. But it was immediately clear from the sheer numbers involved, as well as the tone of the announcement and the steps taken in the aftermath of the theft, that the breach was deeply embarrassing to the agency. "As a result of this incident, information identifiable with you was potentially exposed to others," Jim Nicholson, the secretary of veterans affairs, wrote in a letter being sent to the veterans who might be affected. As measured by the number of people potentially affected, the data loss is exceeded only by a breach last June at CardSystems Solutions, a payment processor, in which the accounts of 40 million credit card holders were compromised in a hacking incident. But in that breach, any exposure could be addressed by simply canceling those accounts. In the latest incident, three crucial keys to unlocking a person's financial life - name, Social Security number and date of birth - may have been set loose. Those cannot be canceled, and a clever thief can use them to begin trying to open new accounts, secure loans, buy property and otherwise wreak havoc on the victim's credit history. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/23/washington/23identity.html?ex=1306036800&en=eb1c02a63fedca31&ei=5090 ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: Microsoft Tells Contract Workers to Take Week Off to Lower Costs Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 21:08:42 -0500 Microsoft Corp. told more than 1,000 contract workers doing software development and testing to take seven business days off without pay to lower costs during this quarter, the company said on Monday. Earlier this month, Microsoft asked half of the technology vendors it uses for software development to defer seven business days worth of work including this week, to the coming fiscal year starting July 1, said company spokesman Lou Gellos. The software giant emphasized it was not over-budget, but certain divisions needed to pare back some costs in order to stay on budget. Microsoft said these types of cut-backs are a common way for technology companies to manage costs. "It is fairly common within the industry, but not that common for Microsoft," said Gellos, who declined to be more specific about what areas of the company were involved except to say that the development was "not critical." Microsoft shares have fallen 16 percent since the company said earnings would be hurt by increased spending next year. Analysts estimated it will spend $2 billion more in fiscal 2007 than expected. The stock rose 32 cents to $22.88 on Monday. Microsoft employs over 63,000 workers worldwide, but it would not comment on the number of contract workers it uses. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. ------------------------------ From: Center For Responsive Politics Subject: Background on Leslie Cauley, USA Today Reporter on NSA Phone Spy Story Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 12:03:52 -0500 Leslie Cauley, the USA Today reporter who last week "broke" the news that three major U.S. telecommunications companies were assisting the National Security Agency in building a database to more easily track any communications by potential terrorists, is listed as a donor to former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, according to a search of The Center for Responsive Politics Web site. A search found a listing for "writer and journalist" Leslie Cauley, indicating she gave $2,000 to Gephardt on June 30, 2003, when Gephardt was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. Before Cauley joined USA Today, she teamed up with former AT&T and Global Crossing executive Leo Hindery to write a book on business deals, Biggest Game of All. But Hindery is not just a businessman -- he's listed as a major donor to Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party, and was even mentioned by The Hill newspaper as a possible DNC chairman in late 2004. The home page for the Center for Responsive Politics: http://www.opensecrets.org [This item, by the MRC's Rich Noyes, was posted Friday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ] Cauley's link to a Democratic campaign seems likely to further cloud the credibility of her story. Two of the three phone companies Cauley fingered, BellSouth and Verizon, have since denied the accuracy of the May 11 USA Today story, and BellSouth yesterday went so far as to demand the newspaper "retract the false and unsubstantiated statements" made by Cauley in her piece. There have also been questions about the timing of the story, which was given huge play on USA Today's front-pages shortly before the former head of the National Security Agency, General Michael Hayden, was due to face confirmation hearings to be the next CIA director, and given the fact that many of the key points of the story were actually reported last December by the New York Times. Cauley's Democratic campaign contributions seem not to be her only tie to liberal politics. Before Cauley joined USA Today, she teamed up with former AT&T and Global Crossing executive Leo Hindery to write a book on business deals, Biggest Game of All. But Hindery is not just a businessman -- he's listed as a major donor to Democratic candidates and the Democratic Party, and was even mentioned by The Hill newspaper as a possible DNC chairman in late 2004. See: www.thehill.com The two were apparently close, at least at one point. According to a 2005 write-up in Broadcasting and Cable, "Cauley and Hindery developed a close relationship during their book project, giving her access to his insights and many documents from that period." The magazine, however, notes that "their collaboration apparently ended very badly," with Cauley trashing Hindery in a later book, End of the Line: The Rise and Fall of AT&T. According to B&C: "She [Cauley] calls him a 'carnival barker,' 'a junk-food addict with a waistline to match' and, in a particularly cheap shot, a 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy makeover just screaming to happen.'" For the B&C article: http://www.broadcastingcable.com Friday's USA Today carried BellSouth's demand of a retraction on page 4A, below a more prominent story headlined "Senators challenge Hayden on surveillance," with partial transcripts of General Hayden being asked Thursday about the claimed NSA database program. According to Friday's USA Today: "BellSouth asked USA Today on Thursday to 'retract the false and unsubstantiated statements' about the company that it contends were in a May 11 story about a database of domestic calling records maintained by the National Security Agency. "In a letter to the newspaper's publisher, Craig Moon, the company noted that the story said BellSouth is 'working under contract with the NSA' to provide 'phone call records of tens of millions of Americans' that have been incorporated into the database. "'No such proof was offered by your newspaper because no such contracts exist,' stated the letter, portions of which were read by spokesman Jeff Battcher. 'You have offered no proof that BellSouth provided massive calling data to the NSA as part of a warrantless program because it simply did not happen.' "Steve Anderson, a USA Today spokesman, said 'We did receive the letter this afternoon. We are reviewing it, and we will be responding.'..." For the May 19 USA Today story: http://www.usatoday.com The paper also included this background that seemed designed to justify their earlier publication: "USA Today first contacted BellSouth more than five weeks ago. On the night before the story was published, the newspaper described the story in detail to BellSouth, and the company did not challenge the newspaper's account. The company's official response at that time: 'BellSouth does not provide any confidential customer information to the NSA or any governmental agency without proper legal authority.'" Since the story broke, Cauley herself has made the rounds. The Washingtonian magazine's Harry Jaffe wrote a gushing profile applauding her "victory for beat reporting." He quoted Cauley as saying her USA Today "scoop" demonstrated the usefulness of unnamed sources: "Like any reporter," she says, "one thread leads to another leads to another" in the "messy process of reporting." "Part of the messy process was clearing the use of anonymous sources, on which the story was based. "Says Cauley: 'This further validates the use of confidential, unnamed sources. They have a real value in our business.'" For the May 16 Washingtonian magazine posting: http://www.washingtonian.com With the phone companies demanding a retraction and her own Democratic connections now revealed, the "value" of her unnamed sources seems increasingly dubious. Could Leslie Cauley may be on her way to becoming a print version of CBS's disgraced Mary Mapes? END of Friday NewsBusters posting by Rich Noyes. On Saturday, I posted the following update: An editorial in Saturday's Washington Times highlighted the Noyes item first posted on NewsBusters. The May 20 editorial, "Spinning, Spying and USA Today," recounted: "With Verizon and BellSouth both challenging USA Today's report on their alleged participation in NSA's surveillance programs, it's not yet clear whether or to what extent the claims in the Gannett daily's much-discussed article are true. What's clearer is that USA Today reporter Leslie Cauley has ties to the Democratic Party, which the Media Research Center's 'NewsBusters' Web site unearthed yesterday. Searching through campaign-filing records, Rich Noyes discovered that Miss Cauley gave $2,000 to then-Democratic presidential hopeful Dick Gephardt in 2003. That's the type of activity that journalists normally avoid if they wish to be perceived as objective..." The Washington Times also relayed another part of the Noyes item, noting "Cauley's collaboration with Democratic fund-raising heavyweight Leo Hindery, with whom she coauthored a 2003 book." For the editorial in full: www.washingtontimes.com Near the end of Friday's show, Rush Limbaugh briefly mentioned Cauley's donation and the http://RushLimbaugh.com home page over the weekend featured a link to the Noyes item on Cauley. Right under the picture of liberal Senator Patrick Leahy holding up Cauley's front page story, Limbaugh had a link to NewsBusters: "USA Today Writer Has Ties to Democrat Campaign." Limbaugh's home page: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, it would seem no one has their hands completely clean, does it? I only spent so much of last week printing articles about this incident because of its implications and relevance to telecom. Those of us who have _some little bit_ (or more) knowledge of the workings of ESS were not surprised to hear that producing telephone records these days is so relatively easy. But I did not expect this incident to have the political overtones which have developed. But then, why should that be such a surprise? PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 13:14:49 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: U.S. at the Forefront of Wireless Home Technology USTelecom dailyLead May 22, 2006 http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dFrMfDtutejSbtpuXj TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * U.S. at the forefront of wireless home technology BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Cable companies experiment with TV set-top boxes * Digital age here for networks * S. Korea's SK Telecom launches wireless service in U.S. * Microsoft develops mobile OS with IM capabilities USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * What Happened to SS7? Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. ET HOT TOPICS * Vonage IPO clouded by complaints * Qwest buys OnFiber Communications * Internet takes TV in a whole new direction * Verizon, AT&T deny handing over phone records * Nortel CEO maps out long-term plan TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * The phone free-for-all * Australia's telecom future depends on optical fiber REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Voice encryption faces regulation questions in U.S. Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dFrMfDtutejSbtpuXj ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Tuesday 23rd May 2006 Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 07:18:40 -0500 From: cellular-news Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] Mobilkom Optimizing its 3G Network http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17492.php Mobilkom Austria sasy that it is now using the optimization tool, Capesso from Symena. The ability to optimize mobile technologies UMTS, EDGE and GSM through this software is beneficial to mobilkom austria in fulfilling its pact with Carinthia, Burge... [[ Financial ]] Authorities approve Cisneros Digitel acquisition http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17481.php Venezuela's telecoms regulator Conatel and antimonopoly watchdog Procompetencia have approved the sale of GSM operator Digitel to the Cisneros media group, Conatel said in a statement. ... AMX aims for 150 million clients by end-2008 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17482.php Mexico's America Movil expects to grow its client base in Latin America by 50% over the next 30 months to reach 150 million users at end-2008, Reuters quoted AMX finance director Carlos Garcia as saying. ... Altimo says talks with Telenor over VimpelCom in deadlock http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17484.php The negotiations between Russia's Altimo and Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor over the merger of Russia's second largest mobile operator VimpelCom and Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivstar have reached a deadlock, Altimo said in a pre... [[ Handsets ]] KDDI, Sony To Sell Walkman-Brand Mobile Phone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17475.php KDDI Corp. said Monday it will start selling mobile telephone handsets with built-in "Walkman" music players made by Sony Corp. in late June. ... Euroset says has 200 phone shops in Kazakhstan http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17486.php Russia's largest mobile handset retailer Euroset has opened 200 outlets in Kazakhstan since the start of its operations in the country in 2004, Euroset said in a press release Monday. ... Motorola Q Handset Launch Confirmed http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17494.php The USA based, Verizon Wireless has finally confirmed that the highly anticipated Motorola Q will be available starting on May 31. The Moto Q -- which runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 software -- delivers a mobile experience in an all-in-one handhel... [[ Legal ]] PRESS: Russian company claims US' Motorola violates patent rights http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17477.php A Russian company, RussGPS, has filed a complaint with Russian law enforcement bodies accusing U.S. mobile handset producer Motorola of violating patent rights, RussGPS' spokesperson Pavel Panov said, Kommersant business daily reported Monday. ... [[ Network Contracts ]] Siemens In CNY1.4 Billion China Pact For Mobile Network Gear http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17476.php Siemens's communications unit said Monday it will supply CNY1.4 billion ($174.42 million) worth of second-generation mobile network equipment and maintenance services to China's two mobile-phone operators this year. ... Turnkey Infrastructure Contract Extended http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17490.php LCC International has announced the 12 month extension of its turnkey services agreement with Algerie Telecom Mobiles, a fully owned subsidiary of Algerie Telecom. This US$19 million contract extension aims at providing full turnkey services to suppo... [[ Network Operators ]] Entel PCS plans US$150mn investment in 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17483.php Chilean mobile operator Entel PCS plans to invest US$150mn this year, a similar amount to previous years, local newspaper Diario Financiero quoted the company's general manager Hernon Mariel as saying. ... Cellphone Coverage On Disputed Spratly Islands http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17488.php By end of June or early July, the Vietnam Telecom Services Company (GPC) says that it will complete installation of BTS in the contested Truong Sa Archipelago (also known as Spratly Islands) to bring mobile service to this island town. Presently, GPC... Huge Telecoms Investment for Sri Lanka http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17489.php Dialog Telekom - Sri Lanka's largest mobile communications operator announced last week, the signing of a hall mark investment agreement with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BoI) to invest a further US$150 million in the country's telecommunica... Manx Accredited for Mobile and Landline Billing Services http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17491.php Manx Telecom, which operates on the Isle of Man next to the UK, says that it has become the first telecommunications company in the world to gain BABT accreditation for both its fixed and mobile billing. BABT -- British Approvals Board of Telecommunic... [[ Personnel ]] PRESS: 2 Vodafone Directors To Stand Down Shortly http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17479.php Two of Vodafone Group's longest-serving directors, Paul Hazen and Penny Hughes, are expected to stand down shortly, The Sunday Times reported, without citing sources. ... [[ Statistics ]] Moldovan mobile operators' combined user base up 4% in Jan-Mar http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17478.php The combined user base of Moldovan mobile operators rose 4.1% in January-March to 1.134 million subscribers as of April 1, Moldova?s National Agency for Telecommunications and Information Regulation said Monday. ... Osiptel: Mobile penetration reaches 22.3% at end 1Q06 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17480.php Mobile penetration in Peru reached 22.3% at the end of the first quarter of 2006, with 6.09 million lines in service, compared to 21% at end 1Q05, a source at the telecoms regulator Osiptel told BNamericas. ... Foreign investment in Russian telecoms at $339 mln in Jan-Mar http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17485.php Foreign investment in the Russian telecommunications sector amounted to $339 million in January-March, the Federal State Statistics Service said Monday without providing comparisons. ... Verizon Gains While Rivals Churn http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17487.php A new analyst report from Merrill Lynch has reported that Verizon Wireless remains the USA market leader and exceeded estimates across the board in 1Q06. At an industry level, subscriber growth and revenues were in line to better than expected, but m... CDMA2000 Achieves Subscriber Milestone http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17493.php The CDMA Development Group has announced that the number of CDMA2000 3G subscribers worldwide surpassed 250 million in the 1Q 2006. The CDG says that CDMA2000 operators added more than 25 million new users in the first three months of the year, drive... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 12:03:21 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 23, 2006 ******************************** Regulator Bans Deutsche Telekom's Wholesale DSL Fee Model http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/18081?11228 Germany's telecoms regulator, the Bundesnetzagentur, has banned incumbent Deutsche Telekom's wholesale DSL pricing model, which enables rival operators to resell broadband internet access to customers. The Bundesnetzagentur claims that Deutsche Telekom's DSL NetRental model is a discount-model that favours larger ISPs over smaller rivals... Internet Telephone Pioneer Vonage Heads for Internet-Size IPO http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18075?11228 NEW YORK -- Vonage, the company that popularized the idea of using broadband Internet connections for phone calls, is set to go public this week at a price that appears to be drawing in plenty of investors, but skeptical glances from some analysts. As a small but well-funded company, Vonage Holdings Corp. has set the pace in the... Motorola Unveils 'Q' Cell Phone http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18074?11228 NEW YORK -- Motorola Inc. unveiled its highly anticipated ''Q'' cell phone Monday, joining other manufacturers in aiming for businesspeople who want their e-mail to go. The Q, which has a QWERTY keyboard and runs a version of Microsoft's Windows, enters a crowded field dominated by Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry and Palm... AT&T Expands European Wi-Fi Reach http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/18069?11228 AT&T forged a new deal with WeRoam to extend its Wi-Fi footprint in Europe. The deal brings AT&T's European Wi-Fi to more than 10,000 hot spots. The company was attracted to a deal with WeRoam because it gives AT&T the ability to work with several wireless Internet service provider (WISP) networks. In France, for instance,... Before the Deluge http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18066?11228 As mobile email providers expand their market to "the next 100 million" users, beyond the 5 million to 6 million corporate users today, systems that automatically send all incoming emails to a mobile device could overwhelm employees and may actually reduce productivity, according to recent user surveys by research firm Strategy Analytics... FCC Delays 3G Spectrum Auction http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/18065?11228 The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has delayed the bidding process for third-generation (3G) Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) by about six weeks, primarily to allow more time for discount-qualifying small businesses to prepare themselves. After our deadline last Friday, the agency disclosed a new schedule that moves the Auction... Report: QOS Fees Could Net Billions http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/18063?11228 Broadband providers could raise billions by charging for differentiated levels of IP services and charging quality of service (QOS) fees, according to the latest Light Reading Insider. (See Net Neutrality Dollars and Sense.) "There is money there for broadband network operators to capture, but they have to follow the right strategy,"... Media Home Networking Growing, But PVRs Still King http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/18061?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Although media networking is growing, many owners of Media Center PCs or PCs with TV tuners are still not using them for recording TV broadcasts, reports In-Stat. Analysis shows that many of these owners are not recording TV programs on those devices, and opting instead to use their Personal Video Recorder or... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: l0200100@yahoo.com Subject: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line Date: 22 May 2006 16:12:53 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com An analog T1 line for us is about $250 US and can get us 23 voice lines. Does anyone know what the capacity for a digital T1 line is? Also, what is the approximate cost? Any help would be appreciated, thanks. ------------------------------ From: john@wireless-multimedia.net Subject: New Spyphones and Interceptors Available Now Date: 22 May 2006 11:54:17 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Hello all. We sell spyphones and Interceptors. It is also possible to make one yourself. Find out on : http://www.wireless-multimedia.net/enter.html Worldwide E-mail and voice support. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #196 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Tue May 23 17:22:19 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 75DBC15379; Tue, 23 May 2006 17:22:19 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #197 Message-Id: <20060523212219.75DBC15379@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 17:22:19 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.9 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Tue, 23 May 2006 17:22:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 197 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Google Reinvents TV Ads With Pay-per-Click Video (Eric Auchard) 2.8 Million Defrauded in Latest Schemes (Reuters News Wire) Advice to Prevent ID Theft (Dan Goodin) Internet Searches: Librarians do it Better (Megan Rauscher) Anti-Spyware Leader Unfazed by Microsoft (Catherine Tsai) Eircom Accepts Takeover Bid From Australia's Babcock (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: File Sharers Hit With Criminal Charges (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Re: Vast Data Cache About Veterans Has Been Stolen (hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eric Auchard Subject: Google Reinvents TV Ads With Pay-per-Click Video Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 15:41:28 -0500 By Eric Auchard Google Inc. said on Monday the company is ready to help Web sites run video advertisements, putting the Web search leader into competition with television for the biggest chunk of ad spending. Google is seeking to take the pay-per-click model it refined for text ads and apply the approach to video, cleaning up a nascent market where irritating splash ads distract users and limit advertisers' desire to spend money on the medium. Google video ads first appear on Web pages as static screenshots in small television-screen like boxes. Only when a consumer clicks on the screen does the ad begin running inside the box -- instead of jumping off the page as many video ads do -- giving users control over how much or how little they view. "We are offering a very, very non-intrusive ad product," said Gokul Rajaram, product manager for Google AdSense, which runs advertising campaigns across affiliated Web sites. "Only users who click on the ad see the video." Google's AdSense network generates nearly half of Google's revenue, with most of the rest coming from Google's own sites. The new "click to play" video ads complement Google's existing line-up of text, static image, banner and flash animation ads that run on the edges of Web pages of sites that use Google to deliver advertising for them. Google aims to make video advertising as simple to buy as these existing formats. Video ads will be introduced this week, Rajaram said. To make it easy for advertisers to use the format, Google will host video advertisements on its own computer servers instead of forcing customers to contract out with a third-party supplier as many video advertisers must now do. Click to play video ads differ from the scattershot approach of broadcast TV advertising in that Google promises to measure the duration of how long customers, on average, watch any particular ad on a site before moving on to another page. "It is very good for advertisers because they now know the user is engaged," Rajaram said in a phone interview. "The targeting is more powerful than traditional broadcast TV," said Greg Sterling, an industry analyst with Sterling Market Intelligence in Berkeley, California. For example, Sterling said one way Google plans to promote the service as a way for advertisers to test-market TV ads on the Web to determine the best ad for broadcast TV campaigns. The Internet ad market grew 30 percent in 2005 to $12.5 billion. But that represents only 5 percent of the budget U.S. marketers spend on all media, including newspapers, radio and TV, according to Internet Advertising Bureau data. U.S. ad spending on cable TV alone totaled $18.9 billion last year. But analyst Safa Rashtchy of broker Piper Jaffray estimates that major advertisers in categories such as autos, finance, entertainment and consumer goods are shifting a growing amount of their spending -- 10 to 20 percent so far -- online. Such brand name advertisers favor using richer graphical or video based elements in their advertising. This part of the market is where rival Yahoo Inc. has long dominated. "Brand marketers will take notice. This is going to cause others like Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL to develop some of the same targeting," Sterling said. "We will see an acceleration of video advertising from here," he predicted. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines of interest, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Reuters News Wire Subject: 2.8 Million Defrauded in Latest Schemes Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 15:39:20 -0500 Hundreds arrested in international fraud schemes. More than 565 people on three continents have been arrested over the past year as part of an international operation targeting mass-marketing fraud schemes, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. The department said about 2.8 million people had fallen victim to the fraud schemes that were carried out through the Internet, and by telemarketers. Through "Operation Global Con," police in countries across North and South America and Europe have uncovered a number of scams and have arrested 565 people since March 1, 2005. The majority of the arrests were made in Spain, followed by the United States, Canada and the Netherlands. Some of the schemes included sweepstakes fraud, when a victim is told he or she has won a large amount of money in a sweepstakes but must first pay bogus "fees" or "taxes" on the winnings. Once the victim sends the payment, no sweepstakes winnings are ever received. Other scams include fake offers of "pre-approved" credit cards and loans, offers of nonexistent investments and tax fraud schemes. About 2.8 million victims have suffered losses totaling more than $1 billion in relation to these fraud scams. Officials said elderly people were often targets of the fraud because they are perceived to be more vulnerable and willing to believe the mail or telephone offers. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news of interest, and to listen to news radio, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/TDNewsradio.html ------------------------------ From: Dan Goodin Subject: Advice to Prevent ID Theft Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 15:43:11 -0500 By DAN GOODIN, AP Technology Writer Consumer advocates have some advice for the 26.5 million veterans whose personal information was stolen from the home of a Veterans Affairs employee: Don't panic. Identity theft may be a growing problem that affected 9.3 million Americans last year, according to Javelin Strategy and Research. But consumer advocates say a few precautions can lessen the chances of becoming a victim, even for people whose personal information has been stolen. The first thing to do if you think your Social Security number, birth date or other sensitive data has fallen into the wrong hands is to place an initial fraud alert on your credit reports. There are three major credit reporting agencies, but a call to one -- for instance, Equifax at 800-525-6285 -- will ensure the other two are notified. A fraud alert entitles you to a free copy of your credit report from each of the three companies. Order one from each and scrutinize them carefully for accounts you didn't open or debts you don't recognize. Also, make sure that information such as your Social Security number and employer are correct on each report. If you discover accounts or transactions you didn't authorize, call and speak with someone in the fraud department of each company involved. Keep a log of each person contacted, along with the date, time and topics discussed on each call. An initial fraud alert also requires businesses to take additional steps to confirm your identity before issuing loans or opening accounts in your name. Be prepared for loan and credit card applications to take slightly longer to be processed. It's important to understand that an initial fraud alert, as the name implies, is only a temporary fix. That's because it remains in effect for only 90 days. To prevent becoming a victim after the three months are up, you'll need to take additional steps. Next, fill out an identity theft report with your local, state or federal law enforcement agency. It's unclear if the mere loss or theft of personal information constitutes identity theft, but filing a report may offer additional protections. The FTC makes an affidavit available at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/pdf/affidavit.pdf. Ask each of the three credit reporting companies to place a freeze or extended alert on your account. Seventeen states have enacted laws that require the reporting companies to block access to your files in most instances. Check with the Consumers Union Web site or attorney general in your state to see if this is available where you live. Even if your state doesn't offer this protection, ask Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to give you an extended alert anyway. This option will entitle you to two free credit reports per year, and it will also require the credit reporting companies to remove you from lists marketers use to send prescreened credit offers for five years. To qualify for an extended alert, the reporting companies will require you to prove you've been the victim of identity theft, even though it is not always clear how the law defines a victim in this case. Be sure to include the FTC affidavit or other law enforcement report you filed. It is legal documentation that your personal identification has been stolen. Finally, recognize that safeguarding your privacy is a never-ending task, even for people who have no reason to believe their personal information has been stolen. A little education and prevention, say consumer advocates, can go a long way. "You need an ongoing vigilance," says Paul Stephens, a policy analyst with the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse in San Diego. "We want people to be proactive, to be vigilant, but we also don't want to have people panicking." On the Net: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/idtheft.htm http://privacyrights.org http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/learn_more/002355indiv.html Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Megan Rauscher Subject: Internet Searches: Librarians do it Better Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 21:31:15 -0500 By Megan Rauscher Cancer patients seeking timely, accurate, unbiased information on the Internet about a disease and its treatment might do well to enlist the help of a professional librarian. According to a study reported today at the Medical Library Association's annual meeting in Phoenix, cancer patients are more likely to find what they are looking for with a librarian-mediated search instead of "going it alone." Over the last five years, Ruti Volk, a professional librarian and manager of the Patient Education Resource Center (PERC) at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues have done about 2,100 searches for cancer patients. After each mediated-search, patients are asked to complete an evaluation on the information provided to them. Results from 513 evaluations revealed several interesting findings, Volk noted in an interview with Reuters Health. "One of the most interesting was that 65 percent of patients said they were not able to obtain the information that we sent to them from any other source. They were not able to get it by themselves by using the Internet; they didn't get it from a healthcare provider or from a cancer organization." An additional 30 percent of PERC visitors said the librarian provided some new information. Only 4 percent said they found all the same information on their own. "This demonstrates," said Volk, "that even though the information is supposedly so accessible and everything is on the web, people still need the help of a professional to find information that is relevant to them that is current and accurate and authoritative." Librarians have access to resources sometimes unavailable to the public such as subscription-based databases. But the biggest advantage, Volk said, is expertise in searching. "I do this every day, I should do it better than other people," she said. Most comprehensive cancer centers have patient resource centers, but not all of them are staffed by trained librarians skilled in finding pertinent healthcare information, Volk also noted. "If people want to gain an in-depth understanding of their condition or they have a complex question, it is wise to enlist the help of a professional librarian," she said. Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. ------------------------------ From: Catherine Tsai Subject: Anti-Spyware Leader Unfazed by Microsoft Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 21:33:09 -0500 By CATHERINE TSAI, AP Business Writer For millions of PC users, the privacy-snatching programs known as spyware have been nothing but a headache as they swipe personal information, slow systems to a crawl and crash computers. For Webroot Software Inc., the annoying programs have been the foundation of success. Thanks to its market-leading anti-spyware software, Spy Sweeper, sales have soared 20-fold since 2002, and last year the privately held company raised an eye-popping $108 million in venture capital. Though there's little chance of spyware ever going away, Webroot is facing a significant challenge in the coming years: Microsoft Corp.'s upcoming Windows Vista operating system will include its own spyware-squashing tools. Vista could put Webroot in the same shoes as RealNetworks Inc., Netscape Communications Corp. and others whose businesses have suffered after Microsoft bundled more features into its ubiquitous operating system. Still, Webroot CEO David Moll seems unfazed. "The taking of a second-best product in this space is akin to locking half the doors in your house," he said. "Vista will not solve the spyware problem. It may change the vector of attack, but it will not solve this problem. And I'll bet the company on it." Some analysts say the company should broaden its focus -- and Moll, without divulging details, said that's in the plans. "Ultimately they need to offer more than just an anti-spyware package," Yankee Group senior analyst Andrew Jaquith said. "To do that, they need access to more money, or be part of a bigger company." Moll said he expects 20 percent revenue growth this year, while Jaquith estimates current overall annual revenue at $75 million to $110 million. Jaquith said an initial public offering is more likely than a buyout because, he estimates, it could take $500 million to acquire the company -- a sum he figured few rivals would be willing to pay. Although an initial public offering isn't imminent, Moll said, Webroot is implementing some of the financial controls required for public companies. Even before Vista ships to businesses later this year and to consumers in early 2007, Webroot faces formidable competition. Anti-spyware programs from companies like Tenebril Inc., Lavasoft AB, McAfee Inc. and others all target the software that gets downloaded and installed onto PCs -- often without users' knowledge -- to monitor keystrokes or capture personal data and send it back to a third party. Some of the rival programs are free, while others are included with broader security programs. Webroot charges $29.95 for the software and a year of updates and customer support. Spy Sweeper, which was first released in 2003, has received strong reviews and it had 75 percent of the U.S. retail market last year for anti-spyware, besting both McAfee and Computer Associates International Inc., according to the NPD Group Inc., a market research firm. For its part, Microsoft said customers should choose spyware protection that works best for them. In fact, Vista users will be able to turn off Windows Defender, if they choose, said Mike Chan, senior product manager for the anti-spyware program. Many anti-spyware vendors set traps, or "honey pots," with algorithms that do the screening. Webroot's differentiator is Phileas, a computer system that actively hunts down spyware with the aim of catching new threats the day they are released. To spark further innovation, Webroot employees who think of ideas that earn patents get bonuses of up to $2,000. Every so often, the company holds the "Spyware Smackdown," a game in which researchers act as spyware writers trying to avoid Spy Sweeper. The company also invested $500,000 on a usability lab, in which cameras monitor volunteers as they use Webroot's software. That research then goes into improving the software's interface. Webroot's efforts have paid off. Besides huge revenue growth helped by the release of Spy Sweeper in 2003, the company has grown from about a dozen employees to 300 in a purple-walled headquarters that look out on the Rocky Mountains. Its conference rooms are named for dead rock stars such as Jerry Garcia. Though Vista raises a cloud around Webroot's continued success, the company is no stranger to escaping threats. The company was launched in 1997 by Steve Thomas and then-girlfriend Kristen Talley. Thomas was a state chess champion at age 10 who landed on an FBI watch list at age 14 after he hacked into a supercomputer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Moll said. After the couple's relationship soured and sales plateaued at a few million dollars, Thomas and Talley in April 2002 hired Moll, a Duke University dropout who once worked at a screw machine factory in Cleveland to pay his way through night school. At the time, Webroot sold a program for cleaning up unnecessary files on PCs, and revenues came evenly from Internet sales, AOL's Shop Direct and retail. Just months after Moll joined, AOL went through a management change and strategy shift and it shut down sales through Shop Direct. Moll, Thomas and Talley stopped taking paychecks, but by then Webroot was developing Spy Sweeper. The program came to market in February 2003. More than three years later, Moll is confronted with another major challenge. "I really do not see consumers going out to buy a best-of-breed anti-spyware product when they're being handed it for free," said Natalie Lambert, a security analyst for Forrester Research Inc. She said business customers may choose to stick with one vendor for all security software, so offering anti-viral software would be a natural move for Webroot. Moll said Webroot soon will do just that. "We don't see customers satisfied with all their vendors," he said. "That creates tremendous opportunity for us." On the Net: http://www.webroot.com Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 12:26:33 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Eircom Accepts Takeover Bid From Australia's Babcock USTelecom dailyLead May 23, 2006 http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dFAMfDtutekvbhYYBG TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Eircom accepts takeover bid from Australia's Babcock BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Vonage preps for IPO amid growing cable competition * Motorola takes on BlackBerry with the new Q * AT&T expands European hotspot service with WeRoam deal * Report: Revenues from VoIP top $1B in '05 USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * VoIP, VoIP and More VoIP TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Google's next big thing? Video ads * S.F. company aims to improve Wi-Fi networks * New dot-mobi domain expected to grow mobile Web REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Free, nationwide Internet via radio spectrum? * Seattle mayor urges private partnerships for fiber network * Cablevision's Charles Dolan renews call for a la carte Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dFAMfDtutekvbhYYBG ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: File Sharers Hit With Criminal Charges Date: 23 May 2006 11:49:04 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Adam Pasick wrote: > German police have filed criminal charges against 3,500 people accused > of using the eDonkey file-sharing network to share copyrighted music > illegally, the recording industry's trade group said on Tuesday. This is a good thing. This issue was discussed recently on the rec.arts.tv newsgroup. Almost all posters were against such prosecutions and lawsuits because they felt the music industry was "greedy", copyright laws were too strict, or they did not respect the concept and laws of intellectual property (some refused to even recognize the concept). Some claimed the music industry was doing illegal things to sniff out piracy which in fact is technically impossible to do at this time. I didn't agree with them. I think the concept of intellecutal property is extremely important and inventors, authors, and artists have a right to retain ownership of their works (as provided in the U.S. Constitution). The music industry is going after high volume pirates, not individual stealing one or two songs. Today's technology makes it possible to easily reproduce and distribute high quality free duplicates of the original in high volumes. This wasn't possible years ago. As to the issue of U.S. copyright rules being too strict, stealing is not the answer. Those who feel that way should get off their butt and write congress saying so. ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: Vast Data Cache About Veterans Has Been Stolen Date: 23 May 2006 11:56:04 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Monty Solomon wrote: > WASHINGTON, May 22 - Personal electronic information on up to 26.5 > million military veterans, including their Social Security numbers and > birth dates, was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans > Affairs employee who had taken the data home without authorization, > the agency said Monday. > The department said that there was no evidence any of the information > had been used illegally and that whoever stole it, in a burglary of > the employee's home this month, might be unaware of its nature or how > to use it. The stolen data do not include any health records or > financial information, the agency said. While this incident is a problem, I think they unnecessarily worried people. It is important to emphasize that the thief did not steal the _data_, but rather, stole the contents of someone's house. Such thieves likely have no idea how to utilize data and usually just want a quick sale of the hardware (TV set, jewelry), tossing away any software. Of course, with the publicity, _now_ a thief knows he has something extremely valuable. > As measured by the number of people potentially affected, the data > loss is exceeded only by a breach last June at CardSystems Solutions, > a payment processor, in which the accounts of 40 million credit card > holders were compromised in a hacking incident. This is the thing that is much more frightening. In that, it was a technically proficient hacker who was out to get the data and likely knew what it was and how to make use of it. ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #197 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Wed May 24 14:40:10 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id B6EA91553A; Wed, 24 May 2006 14:40:09 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #198 Message-Id: <20060524184009.B6EA91553A@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 14:40:09 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.8 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Wed, 24 May 2006 14:40:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 198 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Internet is a Lawless Territory (Kate Holton) Cannes Sex Films Question Role of Porn and Internet (Kirsten Gehmlick) Cellular-News: Wednesday 24th May 2006 (cellular-news) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 24, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) Bible College Student Charged in Phone Fraud Sex Case (AP News Wire) Fastest Internet Ever Coming Your Way (Barry Levine) When Will Blue Security be Back? (rakeshMT) Re: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line (Robert Bonomi) Re: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line (Vcc Ground) Re: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line (DLR) Re: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line (Raqueeb Hassan) Re: School District to Monitor Student Blogs (mc) Re: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report from USA Today (DLR) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kate Holton Subject: Internet is a Lawless Territory Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 12:10:31 -0500 "Lawless" Internet proving costly for gamblers By Kate Holton The Internet is a "lawless land," easily accessed 24 hours a day without stepping out of the house, and for gamblers that can be a costly and irresistible temptation. A recent study published in Britain suggested almost three quarters of the population engage in some form of gambling at some point during the year, handing the gaming industry an annual turnover of 53 billion pounds ($99.38 billion). The biggest growth area in gambling is online, through the Internet's estimated 2,300 gaming sites, which generate around $12 billion a year. The Internet is also helping fuel a substantial rise in gambling addiction. "You can basically do it from your home or your work place, and you can gamble for 24 hours, seven days a week, 365 days of the year," Mark Griffiths, a professor of gambling, told Reuters in an interview. "If you are a vulnerable individual, the ease of online gambling -- the instant access and convenience of use -- is likely to fuel those addictive tendencies you have already." The government says 0.8 percent of the population have some sort of addiction to gambling. But sophisticated new software can be used to spot the unusual betting patterns of gambling addicts, says eCOGRA, an online gaming auditor set up by firms like 888 Plc, Ongame and software maker Microgaming. "There are self-exclusion buttons the players can hit, and operators will sometimes contact players to suggest a cooling-off period," said an eCOGRA spokesman. MASSIVE DEBTS GamCare, a charity for gambling addicts, said those who contacted them had average debts of over 25,000 pounds, and just under 5 percent of callers had run up debts of over 100,000 pounds. In Britain, the government has created the independent Gambling Commission, which from 2007 will regulate the British companies who run gaming sites. Under the new Gambling Commission rules, gambling Web sites will have to train employees to spot possible problem gamblers and offer help and advice on their sites. Online operators must also make sure customers are aware of how much time and money they have spent. But with most companies operating from offshore jurisdictions like Gibraltar, Cyprus, Antigua and Costa Rica, complete regulation is impossible. "It's basically a lawless land," Gamcare's Teresa Tunstall told Reuters. "We urge betters to use regulated and well known Web sites." Bookmaker Ladbrokes says that while it is too early to decide whether to bring its online gaming operations onshore, it is keen to see UK gambling regulation extending as far as possible. Analysts and GamCare say the circumstances of online gambling -- the speed with which people can bet and its solitary nature -- removes a layer of protection that is present in betting shops and casinos. "How does anyone operating an online gambling site know if a player has learning disabilities?" said professor Griffiths. "How do they know if the player has had too much to drink or taken drugs? The point is that they don't. "Even if one online site is responsible and says we're not going to have that problem gambler, you are just a click away from finding another online betting site that isn't." (additional reporting by Pete Harrison) Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html ------------------------------ From: Kerstin Gehmlich and Mike Collett-White Subject: Cannes Sex Films Question Role of Porn and Internet Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 12:14:47 -0500 By Kerstin Gehmlich and Mike Collett-White Directors at the Cannes film festival this year say they are using radical images of sex to challenge mainstream pornography and its widespread availability on the Internet. A series of filmmakers say Internet porn alone now shapes many young people's perception of sex and, in many cases, replaces the experience of real physical relationships. "There are kids who have seen pornography from a very early age, before they are ever gonna have sex," said Larry Clark, one of the directors of the eccentric "Destricted" -- a compilation of explicit sex-centered stories. In his own short film, Clark interviews young men about their sexual preferences and then allows one candidate to appear with his favorite porn-star. "When I was a kid no one told me anything. Now you can go onto the Internet and find out anything ... every other URL is sex. (Young people) are looking at pornography and they are thinking that this is the way to have sex," Clark said, noting his film was educational. U.S. director John Cameron Mitchell, who has brought "Shortbus" to Cannes, agrees that young people are increasingly using the Internet to replace real sex. In Shortbus, he has collected an ensemble of non-professional actors who engage in real on-screen sex and masturbation in an attempt to de-mystify the subject. He does not consider his film to be pornography. He said that the United States had a puritanical view of sex which turned it into an issue in young people's minds. In one particularly provocative scene in his film, three gay men engage in a sex session while singing "The Star-Spangled Banner." "I really believe our country specifically needs to take a look at that stuff. You crush something, it pops up somewhere else, it comes back to haunt you," he said. UNEROTIC SEX Journalists watching the film generally agreed that Mitchell had succeeded in taking much of the eroticism out of the sex. Film critics in Cannes say risque images, which would be considered distasteful by many were they to be shown in a mainstream movie theater, are unlikely to shock a film festival audience, and in any case are not necessarily new. Michael Winterbottom used real sex, for example, in his 2004 film "9 Songs." "When you have run the whole gamut of sexual positions, you've lost the power to shock," Screen magazine wrote. "When so many URLs on the web are devoted to sex, there is little more one can say which will shock or offend a nation's sensibilities." Danish director Anders Morgenthaler reverted to animation to hit out at the porn industry in his film "Princess," which disturbed some by portraying child abuse and violence. Morgenthaler tells the story of a priest who is determined to destroy all films of his deceased porn star sister and to take care of her five-year old daughter, a traumatized child. "I chose animation for the obvious reason that if I had made it a live action piece you would have probably left the theater. It would have been too terrifying to see a girl go through that," Morgenthaler told Reuters. "I decided to make a film about porn influence in society because I saw porn seeking its way into everything, into clothes or toys. There is a 'porn way' of selling things because it sells very well. I got very angry at the role of porn, and now the Internet is becoming increasingly pornographic." Digital sex will feature in the British-Norwegian co-production "Free Jimmy," while ex-porn star HPG shows a porn actor trying to get into regular films in "We Should Not Exist." (Additional reporting by Mike Davidson and Claudia Doerries) Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news reports and headlines, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Wednesday 24th May 2006 Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 07:18:35 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] Sri Lanka's TRC Offers 3G Licenses To Mobile Phone Cos http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17495.php Sri Lanka's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, or TRC, Tuesday invited expressions of interest from mobile phone operators for 3G network licenses. ... Georgia's Telecom Invest Georgia gets licenses for 3G services http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17502.php Georgian company Telecom Invest Georgia has won at an auction frequencies for third generation (3G) mobile services, an official with the National Communications Commission told Prime-Tass Tuesday. ... Anonymous 3G Video Calls http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17514.php Mobestar says that it has launched the first inter-country anonymous 3G video call service. The first anonymous mobile video call supported by Mobestar's Flexible Anonymous Communications Engine (FACE) took place yesterday between Germany and the UK.... [[ Financial ]] Reiman says CPP launch to cut mobile operators' revenue http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17498.php The introduction of the Calling Party Pays (CPP) principle will decrease the revenue of mobile operators, Russian IT and Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman told a news conference Tuesday during the meeting of telecommunications officials from ... Verizon CFO Doesn't See Vodafone Deal In Near Term http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17501.php It's unlikely that Verizon Communications will buy out Vodafone Group's stake in its U.S. wireless business, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Doreen Toben said Tuesday. ... [[ Legal ]] Russian Minister Laundered Money To Buy Mobile Operator http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17496.php The Arbitration Tribunal in Zurich has ruled that Russian Information Technology and Communications Minister Leonid Reiman used money laundering schemes to attempt to buy a 25% stake in mobile phone network operator Megafon, LV Finance Group said in ... Motorola says accusations of patent right violation "groundless" http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17497.php US mobile handset producer Motorola considers accusations that the company is violating patent rights "groundless," Motorola said in a press release Monday, citing Greg Estell, corporate vice president for Motorola's Mobile Devices Europe. ... [[ Network Contracts ]] Italy VIA Advisors To Manage Ecuador Mobile Co Telecsa http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17508.php Italian consulting firm VIA Advisors Corporate Finance on Wednesday will start a two-year contract to manage Ecuador's state-owned mobile telephone operator Telecsa, Julio Garcia, Telecsa's corporate development vice president, told Dow Jones Newswir... New Billing Platform for Trinidad and Tobago http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17515.php Redknee has announced that Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) has deployed it's Turnkey Converged Billing Solution. Redknee's Converged Billing provides TSTT flexible rating across voice, messaging, data and content services wh... [[ Network Operators ]] Anatel: Signal blocking to cost US$430k per prison http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17504.php Brazilian cell phone companies will have to fork out 1mn reais (US$430,000) to install signal blocking equipment in each of São Paulo's 144 prisons, local newspapers quoted staff at the telecoms regulator Anatel as saying. ... Network Failure in South Africa http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17509.php A verbal battle has emerged in South Africa between the newest entrant Cell C and incumbent Vodacom which provides a national roaming service for the operator. Last Friday, Cell C customers roaming onto the Vodacom network found that all voice calls ... Preparing Networks for the Football World Cup http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17510.php Andrew Corp has been deploying indoor coverage services and capacity improvements at Germany's football (soccer) stadiums in preparation for the upcoming World Cup tournaments. The 2006 World Cup matches in Germany, one of the world's biggest multina... Another Digicel Launch in Netherlands Antilles http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17513.php Digicel, the pan-Caribean operator has re-launched its recent acquisition in Curacao as Digicel Curacao. Since the company entered the Curacao market through its acquisition of Curacao Telecom last year, Digicel has committed an investment of in exce... [[ Personnel ]] Vodafone: Appoints John Buchanan As Deputy Chairman http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17499.php Vodafone Group said Tuesday that John Buchanan will become Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Company's Senior Independent Director, in succession to Paul Hazen who has decided to retire from the Board. ... Two executives from Altimo elected to Turkey's Turkcell board http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17507.php Two executives of Russia's Altimo, a part of Alfa Group, were elected to the board of directors of Turkey?s leading mobile operator, Turkcell, Altimo said in a press release Tuesday. ... [[ Regulatory ]] Govt approves single concession law http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17503.php The Peruvian government has approved a law that allows operators to provide fixed, mobile, cable and internet services under a single concession, the transport and communications ministry (MTC) said in a statement. ... Regulator begins publishing prepaid rates, updating monthly http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17505.php El Salvador's telecom regulator Siget has begun publishing monthly listings of mobile operators' on and off-net prepaid call rates, the watchdog said in a news release. ... New GSM Operator for Afghanistan http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17517.php The United Arab Emirates (UAE) based, Etisalat says that it has secured a GSM license in Afghanistan for a license fee of US$40 million. The agreement was signed by HE Amirzai Sangin, Minister of Communication, Afghanistan, and Mohammad Hassan Omran,... [[ Reports ]] One Hundred Million Mobile VOIP Users in 2011 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17511.php As more consumers carry their iPods with them everywhere, they are hoping Apple will add WiFi and VOIP for the killer converged mobile entertainment device, according to a new study from ON World.... Mobility Infrastructure Sales Drop to Lowest Level in Six Quarters http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17512.php Dell'Oro Group has reported that the total mobility infrastructure equipment market contracted 15% on a sequential basis in the first quarter of 2006, due mostly to seasonal weakness plus sluggish CDMA sales. The report indicates that CDMA users have... Market in Central and Eastern Europe to reach EUR58.4 billion in 2011 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17516.php The Central and Eastern European mobile market is forecast to grow by more than 10% per year to reach EUR58.4 billion in 2011, according to a new report published by Analysys. Rising mobile phone penetration and the increasing adoption of mobile broa... US Customer Complaints Falling http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17518.php The USA industry trade body, TheWireless Association's President and CEO Steve Largent has trumpeted the publication of yet another report showing wireless consumers to be increasingly satisfied with their innovative service. Late last week, the Fede... [[ Statistics ]] Agency says WAP, mobile Internet users in Moldova at 222,500 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17500.php The number of subscribers to Wireless Access Protocol (WAP) and mobile Internet services in Moldova amounted to 222,500 people in January-March, Moldova's National Regulatory Agency in Telecommunications and Informatics (ANRTI) said Tuesday. ... Study: Southern Cone mobile penetration reaches 58.7% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17506.php The mobile market in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay has reached 58.7% penetration, with Telefónica Móviles leading the way with a 38.3% share, according to a new study from Signals Telecom Consulting. ... ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 11:57:35 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Wednesday, May 24, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 24, 2006 ******************************** Picking your Spots http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18106?11228 Merchants spend tens of billions of dollars on advertising in the U.S. Cable operators are of the opinion that they deserve a bigger piece of that pie, but until they can more accurately target potential customers, advertisers aren't going to be very accommodating. Most of the major cable operators last year implemented a way to target... IMS: 'Softening' the Hardships of IP Architecture http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18104?11228 The beauty of the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) architecture is that it enables "hard" switches to take on a "softer" nature through software-based technologies. An IP network is a dumb network comprised of generic switches that handle only transport. With IMS, the services that run on top are implemented via software rather than... Broadband Market Share Reaches 70% in U.K. http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18101?11228 Broadband connections now account for nearly 70% of all internet connections in the United Kingdom, according to figures from the National Statistics Office (NSA). In its Internet Connectivity March 2006 report, the NSA said that broadband connections formed 69.2% of all connections, up from 65.1% in December 2005. Dial-up now accounts... FCC Says it Cannot Investigate Phone Companies' Alleged Privacy Violations http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/130/18097?11228 WASHINGTON -- The federal agency that regulates telecommunications has declined to look into allegations that phone companies broke laws by sharing customer records with the government's biggest spy agency. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin said in a letter that the agency does not have the power to review... MetroMesh: A Hacker's Paradise? http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/18096?11228 Wireless MetroMesh technology promises a new era in anytime, anywhere public access Internet for the masses. So-called mesh technology -- in case you've been living under a rock for the last year -- allows 802.11 wireless access points to pass data amongst themselves over the air, removing the need for multiple wired connections back... Alcatel Scores A Double Triple http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18094?11228 Alcatel set into motion a series of collaborative efforts with computer-industry vendors to accelerate its systems-and-software offerings for triple-play voice, data and video service providers, signing one deal with IBM and Microsoft and another with Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Microsoft. According to Alcatel, the IBM/Microsoft... Hybrid Hard Drives Heading to Mobile Devices http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/18089?11228 What's not to like about a mobile storage technology that offers more capacity, faster boot-up times and conserves power? Nothing, of course. That's why a new generation of hybrid hard drives (HHDs) will soon begin appearing in notebook computers, and possibly other mobile products, as soon as next year. HHDs are designed to... MEMS in Mobile Handsets Will Top $1 Billion by 2010 http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/150/18085?11228 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- MEMS consumption in mobile handsets reached US$157 million in 2005, and by 2010, consumption will exceed US$1 billion, reports In-Stat. In addition to the microphones and bulk acoustic resonators that have dominated the MEMS market to date, there are emerging opportunities for inertial sensors (principally... -------------------- Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Bible College Student Charged in Phone Fraud Sex Case Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 17:53:38 -0500 A student at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College was charged in the theft of his roommate's debit card, which was used to pay for more than $2,300 worth of calls to phone sex lines, prosecutors allege in court papers. Shane Erin Mack, 20, of Belt, Mont., was charged with the gross misdemeanors of identity theft and theft by false representation. He made his first court appearance on Monday. Bail was set at $2,500. He remained in jail Tuesday afternoon. Steele County prosecutor Scott Schrener said investigators only had documentation in hand for about $500 worth of calls, but the victim reported that $2,350 worth of calls had been made. Schrener said the criminal charges will be upgraded in the future, as new statements from the bank arrive. The calls were made from March 23 to May 13, according to court papers. Mack allegedly told investigators he admitted taking the debit card out of his roommate's wallet and using it to make up to 30 calls to adult phone lines from public phones on campus, the criminal complaint said. College spokesman Tom Lawson said Mack would not be allowed to return to the school when classes resume in the fall. According to the college Web site, the college offers a Christian "education program which imparts a biblical worldview." A call to the public defender who represented Mack in court on Monday was not immediately returned. Mack's next court appearance was scheduled for June 1. Information from: Owatonna People's Press, http://www.owatonna.com Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ From: Barry Levine Subject: Fastest Internet Ever Coming Your Way Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 12:12:59 -0500 by Barry Levine, newsfactor.com Someday, we might conquer the vast distances of space and visit the stars. But right now, on this planet, we are on the verge of eliminating distance itself. And the vehicle for eliminating distance is the next generation of the medium you are now using: the Internet. The current Net has little to impede you as you search for information. If you want to find the exact height of the Eiffel Tower, for example, and also see a small video or a photo of it, you can, within seconds. But if you want to have a live conversation with someone standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, at night, as if they were on the other side of a clear window -- with the tower shimmering in more realistic detail than you can absorb -- you have two choices. You can either fly there right now, or you can use a PC hooked into the next-generation Internet. That's right: An Internet that leaves the current Internet in the dust is within reach. Some lucky individuals have already seen the possibilities thanks to the next-gen Net's major research network, a consortium of more than 300 universities, research labs, government agencies, and corporations called Internet2. The Other Side In 2005, at a conference in San Diego, a team from the University of Washington showed two high-definition screens. On one screen were small head shots of seven people, stacked in a "Hollywood Squares"-style grid. On the other was a single head shot of a different person, who was talking. All of the people were in different physical locations, meeting together live via uncompressed high-definition video transmitted over Internet2. "It was a lot different from what we have been calling a 'videoconference,'" says Michael Wellings, engineering director for streaming media and broadcast at UW. "Some of the people held up sheets of paper to the camera, for the others to see on their screen, and the writing on the papers could be read," he remembers. "It was literally like seeing someone else on the other side of a glass window." The demonstration in San Diego was one answer to the big question of next-gen Net: What would people do if transmission speeds were practically unlimited on the Internet, if delays were not an issue? As it turns out, most of the answers involve eliminating the distance between people. To make video transmission and personal interaction so immediate that the remoteness of the participants is erased, you need lots and lots of bandwidth. Bandwidth is the speed at which information -- text, pictures, video, and other data -- is carried over the Internet. You can visualize the now-vanishing dial-up Internet, with modem speeds of up to 56 Kbps, as a leisurely country lane. Broadband Internet, such as DSL or cable (1 to 5 Mbps), might be a regular street that you travel to get to work. But the next generation of the Internet, with bandwidth starting between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps and climbing from there, is a superhighway. There are many high-speed networks that, collectively, can be considered the next-generation Internet. But central to the development of new applications is Internet2. Founded in 1996, Internet2 is and will remain a research test bed. "Internet2 will never become part of the public Internet," says Lauren Rotman, a spokesperson for the Internet2 consortium. "Internet2 is a stepping stone between the lab and the commercial marketplace, and will always be a testing ground. But we hope the technologies we develop will make it to the public." Assemble the Musicians Much of the research is based around Internet2's high-performance backbone, called Abilene, that currently runs at up to 10 Gbps. But Internet2 is planning to upgrade Abilene to 80 separate channels of 10 Gbps each, using different wavelengths transmitted over fiber-optic cable. These channels could produce a mind-boggling 800 Gbps of bandwidth. With so much speed and so little delay, unthinkable projects become possible. You could send high-definition video uncompressed to heighten it to a hyper-realistic level; use multichannel digital sound; display real-time-generated 3D graphics; control remote devices with no latency; or harness separate, powerful computing facilities into one mammoth virtual machine. Or you could transport an orchestra. In 2001, famed conductor Michael Tilson Thomas stood on a podium at the New World Symphony, a postgraduate music school in Miami. Simultaneously, in New York, a 40-piece student orchestra and a student conductor were at the Manhattan School of Music. During an entire master class transmitted over Internet2, Thomas conducted and instructed the students as they played Beethoven's Seventh Symphony in a way that the composer never imagined -- across hundreds of miles, in real time and in high-definition video and audio. The New World Symphony has plans to build a $100 million Frank Gehry-designed facility in which all practice rooms and performance spaces will have Internet2 connections. "Internet2 is essential to us," says Tom Snook, New World Symphony's chief technology officer. "It actually removes all spatial boundaries between individuals, allowing people to be in the same space. When we have our musical fellows in an Internet2 room, within about five minutes they totally forget about distance and act like they're in the same space with the other person." Doctors Without Borders Sharing physical space with another person would seem to be a basic requirement for some kinds of interaction -- like, say, surgery. But, amazingly, the next-gen Net is removing that prerequisite. On September 7, 2001, less than a block away from the World Trade Center in New York, Dr. Jacques Marescaux conducted the first "telesurgery" in history. Using robotically controlled laparoscopic tools and a network connection of up to 40 Mbps, he removed the gall bladder of a 68-year-old woman in a hospital in Strasbourg, France. The "minimally invasive" laparoscopic tools used by Marescaux have a video camera and surgical instruments at the tips. Watching a live video feed from inside the patient, the surgeon performs the operation with the instruments inserted into a series of small incisions. Compared to a large incision, the smaller cuts reduce pain, recovery time, and risk. This historic operation was performed as a "proof of concept," says Dr. Timothy Broderick, director of the Advanced Center for Telemedicine and Surgical Innovation of the University of Cincinnati. Telesurgery has many applications for NASA and the military, and could improve emergency medical procedures in remote areas. Other doctors were in the operating room in France, but the procedure itself was conducted across the Atlantic Ocean, with only video and audio guiding the surgeon. Although this medical turning point was lost in the events of September 11, it broke a barrier. Since then, more than two dozen successful telesurgeries have been performed, including colon removals and hernia repairs. "On a network with sufficient bandwidth and quality-of-service," Broderick says, "it's like you're operating on a patient in the same room." One experimental project, still in the development stage, is the Defense Department-funded "Trauma Pod," a portable operating room that would allow telesurgery on the battlefield. There would be at least one major difference from the first telesurgery, however: The patient would be the only human in the operating room. All of the other operating-room personnel would be robots. Plumbing the Depths The next-gen Net not only can save airfare or enable remote-controlled surgery, but also can become an underwater portal. Robert Ballard is one of the most famous explorers alive. He discovered the wreckages of the Titanic, the German battleship Bismarck, the aircraft carrier Yorktown, and John F. Kennedy's legendary PT-109. In 2004, Ballard and crew revisited the Titanic, nearly 20 years after his initial discovery. Using Internet2, he broadcast live video from 12,000 feet below the North Atlantic. This real-time sharing is a key part of Ballard's vision to make "telepresence" intrinsic to his expeditions. In 2005, a remotely operated vehicle made its way underwater as part of Ballard's expedition to explore hydrothermal vent fields in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. Back in a lab at the University of Washington, Associate Professor Deborah Kelley steered the craft, as if she were playing a video game, over Internet2. Live video feeds went to classrooms across the U.S. "We can't do this with the commodity Internet, because of latency," says Tom Dudchik of Immersion Presents, an after-school science-education program founded by Ballard. "Commodity Internet" is researcher-speak for the regular Internet. "With Internet2, there is no latency, no delay, no need to wait for the vehicle to react or to overcompensate. I push it (remotely), it goes." Immersion's underwater television schedule includes a host with the appropriate name of Ernie Kovacs. But this Ernie Kovacs, in contrast to his early-TV pioneer namesake, performs in such locations as 60 feet below the ocean's surface, in an underwater kelp forest off Monterey Bay, California. Exploring the ocean floor, the diver Ernie Kovacs answers live questions from schoolchildren around the country, who watch his live video program in their classrooms over Internet2. Galaxies and Gridirons When the Next Gen Net removes barriers of distance, it often removes barriers to cooperation as well. Take astronomers, for example. In the old days, when they wanted to use one of the remotely situated, massive observatories, they had to pack their bags and hope that their chosen telescope, high on some mountain top, would bag a celestial treat. But with the arrival of Internet2, astronomers can now sit in the comfort of their own homes or offices and remotely control massive telescopes -- like the Gemini Observatory telescopes in Hawaii and the Chilean Andes, or the legendary telescope at Arecibo in Puerto Rico. More important, Internet2 is also enabling scientists to combine collections of massive amounts of data from these and other facilities worldwide and analyze them in real time -- essentially creating extremely powerful, virtual telescopes. Or take football teams. About 110 NCAA schools regularly exchange videos so they can see their next week's opponent without sending scouts. They used to send films; now, hard drives or DVDs of broadcast-quality video are shipped. "By the last week in the season, about one-quarter terabyte's worth of video is FedEx'd," says Chris Thomas, a network engineer at UCLA. Using the regular Internet for sending this video is possible, but highly inefficient. "It would take forever," said Thomas. "Plus, we would have the (excess) download charges." By taking advantage of a California high-speed regional network, however, athletic departments now exchange videos easily, quickly, and inexpensively. This kind of high-capacity network "is the opposite of the commodity Net," Thomas says. "It says 'send as much as possible.'" The Waiting Game With these high-capacity networks practically asking to be used "as much as possible," when will the general public see the next-gen Net? In part, we already are. According to the Internet2 consortium, there are about four million people -- including students in grade schools and colleges, and researchers in university, corporate, or government labs -- using extremely high-speed networks. The students in particular are expected to hasten the technology's mainstream adoption. "They're going to graduate and move into the world, and that's going to drive demand in the marketplace," says Internet2's Rotman. Many of the next-gen Net projects are accessible to the public in formats that allow viewing on DSL or cable modem. The University of Washington, for instance, runs ResearchChannel, a consortium of 30 universities and organizations. Immersion Presents regularly makes taped videos of its expeditions available at its Web site. Commercial uses of the next-gen Net are beginning as well. For example, Ruckus Networks in Herndon, Virginia, uses high-speed local area networks to deliver legal versions of movies and music from college-situated servers to students. Recently, it began using Internet2 to deliver new offerings to the University of Idaho. But when will we have, say, 40 to 100 Mbps or more in the home? "Internet speed is only as good as the last mile," notes Sowmyanarayan Sampath, an analyst at the Boston Consulting Group, a technology research firm. The main backbones of the old, familiar Internet are already fiber optic; it's that last leg to your home that's the problem, as transmission usually comes over on slower phone or cable lines. "It will be three to four years before very high speed connections start really moving into homes in the U.S.," he says, as either fiber or as new upgrades of DSL or cable. He expects that fiber itself will probably add between one and two million homes each year. The More Things Change Regardless of when the next-gen Net makes it to your home, get prepared to watch a high-definition version of "The Matrix," on a whim, while sitting on a park bench. "I expect that we will see downloadable high-definition video to cell phones with heads-up, high-resolution glasses within the lifetimes of the people reading this article," says Michael Wellings, engineering director at the University of Washington. According to Laurie Burns, director of member and public relations at Internet2, the consortium is using wireless in several projects. In the meantime, it's useful to remember what's changed and what has not. Our everyday Internet has become an information and communications pipeline, encompassing mail, text conversations, dictionaries, libraries, telephony, even videoconferencing and television. But more than a decade after the first Web browser became commonplace, we still have movie theaters, paper birthday cards, and meetings between people in the same building. The next-generation Internet, as a window, might change forever the need for travel, shipping, surgeons in the same city, or standalone observatories. But it is likely that we will still go to conferences, use overnight delivery services, and be operated on by people who are standing in front of us. Even when physical distance is dissolved by bandwidth, we'll likely find new reasons to get together in real space. As the New World Symphony's Shook notes: "We'll never replace live interaction in the same room with other people." But we're getting pretty close. Copyright 2006 NewsFactor Network, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more tech news from the daily media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/technews.html ------------------------------ From: rakeshMT Subject: When Will Bluesecurity Return? Date: 24 May 2006 09:05:22 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com The idea has been great and I need the members to tell is there any possibility of Blue Frog coming back. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Yes, it was a good scheme, but it is not likely the Enablers will allow it to continue, because, as one Enabler stated, "The spammerscammers may decide to sue you for disrupting their service." The idea was each person recieving one or more items of spam makes a complaint to the _bonafide, clearly demonstrated_ sender of the spam. People made these complaints through an authorized agent -- Blue Security -- which also made an investigation as to the true sender before releasing the emails of complaint. Needless to say, the Enablers flew into a rage about this, with complaints about how the scheme was (a) an illegal DDoS, upon the 'victims' (really the senders) of the spam, and (b) it was not very well thought out and quite inefectual and accomplished nothing. It must have been pretty well thought out and not that big of a waste of time since the spammers retaliated with a massive attack on Blue Security; really banged it up pretty bad. And since I have yet to see any Sheriff banging on or kicking in my door to place me under arrest, apparently the 'illegal DDoS' did not hold water either. So, I do not know if the Frog will be back or not; obviously not if the Enablers have their way. PAT] ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 23:43:07 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article , wrote: > An analog T1 line for us is about $250 US and can get us 23 voice > lines. > Does anyone know what the capacity for a digital T1 line is? Also, > what is the approximate cost? > Any help would be appreciated, thanks. A T-1 is 1.544 mbit/sec. It is a digital service, by definition. How many voice channels you can cram onto it is a matter of how you do it. IF you're using it as your link to the telco: You can treat it as an ISDN PRI , which gets you 23 B channels (voice or data at 64kbit/sec) plus 1 D channel (shared). You can treat it as a "DS-1", which gives you 24 DS-0 (56kbit/sec) digital voice channels. Which can be converted to analog by a 'D-4' type "channel bank", or equivalent. IF you're using it for a private point-to-point link, you can use various kinds of compression on the link -- as long as you have compatible equipment on both ends of the link -- you can get 24, 48, 64, 96, 128, or even 192 voice circuits over one such link. The fidelity of the voice reproduction goes down as the number of 'lines' on the T-1 goes up. At 48 voice 'lines', quality is 'to the ear', virtually indistinguishable from a regular phone line. 'Cost' is whatever that whomever you're buying from says it is. And things vary tremendously depending on where you are located. A difference of a few tens of kilometers can make a tremendous difference in cost. A difference of 'across the street' can make a 50% difference in the cost of a 'bare' circuit (i.e. not including the 'value' of the service provided by 'whatever it is connected to'. (e.g., the actual telephone network services -- dial-tone, phone number, etc.) In the U.S., ISDN PRI is frequently more expensive than a DS-1, the telco figures that they're providing extra/advanced services with PRI, so it should be worth more to the customer. And have priced it accordingly. But a few telcos do it differently -- wanting to encourage the high-tech use. Either IDSN PRI, or DS-1 requires 'CPE' (equipment _at_ your location) to utilize it. This takes he form of a PBX with the appropriate kind of 'trunk' line card in it, and the corresponding software, *or* (for a DS-1 only) a 'channel bank' to convert things to POTS analog lines -- into which you can plug any kind of 'standard' telephone appliance. ------------------------------ From: Vcc Ground Subject: Re: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line Date: 24 May 2006 04:14:18 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com T1 is a 1.544 Mbit/s "digital" signal consisting of 24 "digital" channels. When used to carry voice calls, one channel is reserved for maintenance/synchronisation, leaving 23 channels for the customer. Each such channel only carries a digital signal: ISDN telephone signal or a "digitised" analogue telephone conversation. VG ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 08:53:53 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line l0200100@yahoo.com wrote: > An analog T1 line for us is about $250 US and can get us 23 voice > lines. > Does anyone know what the capacity for a digital T1 line is? Also, > what is the approximate cost? > Any help would be appreciated, thanks. By definition a T1 line is digital. Apparently you're being quoted with a box to convert the end point to 23 POTS lines/circuits. Each circuit on a T1 has 64KB of data bandwidth. How much it's costs to get it as data vs POTS varies by state, vendor, "deal of the week", etc... ------------------------------ From: Raqueeb Hassan Subject: Re: Analog T1 Line vs. Digital T1 Line Date: 24 May 2006 10:04:26 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com > Does anyone know what the capacity for a digital T1 line is? I thought all T1s are digital. Well, is that because, how that T1 is configured at the service provider end to carry 23 bearer (B) channels and 1 data (D) channel for analog voice? Or 1.544-Mbps of data bandwidth for point to point connectivity? Or is that just a tech talk on the basis of service it offers? Raqueeb Hassan Bangladesh ------------------------------ From: mc Subject: Re: School District to Monitor Student Blogs Organization: BellSouth Internet Group Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 18:58:52 -0400 > "The concept that searching a blog site is an invasion of privacy is > almost an oxymoron," he said. "It is called the World Wide Web." I agree that a school has a perfect right to *watch* students' public behavior outside of school, such as posting blogs. The difficulty arises only if they want to impose a punishment for something done outside of the school and not directly affecting it. This in turn depends partly on to what extent the school can be trusted to administer justice fairly. Frequently, public schools make the headlines for imposing a totally unreasonable penalty on a student; it's as if they don't know how to back down after making a mistake. I'm afraid that might happen here: a school administrator completely misunderstands something on a web page and lowers the boom. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 09:13:35 -0400 From: DLR Subject: Re: BellSouth Demands Retraction of NSA Report from USA Today Kenneth P. Stox wrote: > The real question is: Can we possibly trust anything a Company says > anymore if national security is involved? > http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/06-4538.htm > http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode15/usc_sec_15_00000078---m000-.html > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: You know, that is a good point. How can > we tell whether a company is telling the truth or lying these days? > PAT] "These Days" How could you ever? [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Well, because in the past, companies mainly had their customers to worry about and attempt (or not) to please. Now, given the present political administration, they will often as not have the government on their case as well. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #198 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Thu May 25 15:57:32 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 44E4C1524C; Thu, 25 May 2006 15:57:32 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #199 Message-Id: <20060525195732.44E4C1524C@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 15:57:32 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-3.0 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, CELL_PHONE_IMPROVE,MAILTO_TO_SPAM_ADDR autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Thu, 25 May 2006 16:00:00 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 199 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Hit-and-Miss at Google (Jonathan Berr) Honda Says Brain Waves Control Robot (Yuri Kageama) TiVo Statement on Developments in Lawsuit Against EchoStar (Monty Solomon) TiVo Seeks to Block EchoStar DVR Service (Monty Solomon) EchoStar Statement in Response to Recent Developments In Tivo (M Solomon) Microsoft, Alcatel, HP Form Alliance (USTelecom dailyLead) Treasury Ends Excise Tax on Phone Services (USTelecom dailyLead) Cellular-News: Thursday 25th May 2006 (cellular-news) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 25, 2006 (Telecomdirect_daily) Telephone to Modem (yahooshua@gmail.com) MOS Reading (mike7411@gmail.com) Using Cell Phone For Frequency Calibration Reference (Richard Eldon BARBER) Re: School District to Monitor Student Blogs (Lisa Hancock) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jonathan Berr Subject: Hit-and-Miss at Google Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 22:43:09 -0500 Internet Hit-and-Miss at Google By Jonathan Berr TheStreet.com Senior Writer URL: http://www.thestreet.com/tech/internet/10286988.html Many Google users aren't bothering to check out some of the company's newest and most-hyped features. Google Calendar, Google Finance and Google Talk each account for less than one half of 1% of the traffic to the Google network of Web sites, according to a review of the top 20 Google domains by the market research firm Hitwise. Google Calendar was introduced last month, and Google Finance debuted in March. The company introduced Google Talk, an instant-messaging platform, last year. Hitwise did its analysis during the week ending May 13. Not surprisingly, even with all the new Google products out there, Hitwise found the most popular feature on Google is still search. It accounts for 80% of the company's traffic. Google has become synonymous with Internet search, mostly through word of mouth, also known as viral marketing. "Google has to realize that viral marketing happens to only a handful of companies or products and cannot be relied on," says Garrett Rogers, who writes the Googling Google blog. "Just because Google search got very lucky with its rapid adoption rate in the past doesn't mean its other services will." Nonetheless, the product announcements outside of search show no signs of letting up. Google says it isn't worried about their slow adoption. "We've been very happy with how Google Calendar and other products have been received by users, and we continue to work to make them better based on the feedback we receive from those users," a Google spokeswoman says. In any case, Google is trying to leverage its supremacy in search into other areas dominated by Microsoft, Yahoo! and other rivals. This year, Wall Street has been buzzing about the growing competition faced by the company. Google's shares have dropped 10% -- they fell $2.02 Friday to $368.97 -- though Yahoo! and Microsoft are both off more. Of course, Google's stock has more than quadrupled off its August 2004 initial public offering level. Google's shares aren't going to move to the $500 level Wall Street analysts target unless the company can find a way to top itself. The Hitwise data illustrate that any upside surprise probably isn't going to come from outside Google's core search business. Less than 1% of traffic on Google went to Google Maps, the Froogle shopping site and Google Video Search. Google Base, the free listing service that some analysts say is a potential threat to eBay (EBAY:Nasdaq) , didn't make the top 20 list, Hitwise says. Expectations about the performance of Google Finance may have been overblown. Hitwise estimates that Yahoo! Finance got the most traffic of any financial news site during the study period, while Google Finance ranked 39th. "It seems like the primary way people are getting there is searching for stock symbols," says Bill Tancer, Hitwise's general manager of global research of Google Finance. "It does not have the customizeable functionality that you have in Yahoo! Finance." To be sure, plenty of people continue to flock to Google. Unique visitors to the company's network of sites rose 38% to 105.8 million in April, according to comScore Networks. Google also continues to have a stranglehold on the search market that shows no signs of weakening. In fact, Google emphasized its commitment to search during its recent open house for members of the press and industry analysts. The company also told the crowd that an internal audit found that its employees weren't meeting their requirements to devote 70% of their time to search. If Google is slacking off in search, its competitors don't seem to be benefiting. Google once again gained market share in April, while rivals such as Yahoo! and MSN lost it, according to comScore. However, Yahoo! has questioned comScore's claims that it is losing market share. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news headlines and stories, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Yuri Kageyama Subject: Honda Says Brain Waves Control Robot Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 22:44:43 -0500 By YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer In a step toward linking a person's thoughts to machines, Japanese automaker Honda said it has developed a technology that uses brain signals to control a robot's very simple moves. In the future, the technology that Honda Motor Co. developed with ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories could be used to replace keyboards or cell phones, researchers said Wednesday. It also could have applications in helping people with spinal cord injuries, they said. In a video demonstration in Tokyo, brain signals detected by a magnetic resonance imaging scanner were relayed to a robotic hand. A person in the MRI machine made a fist, spread his fingers and then made a V-sign. Several seconds later, a robotic hand mimicked the movements. Further research would be needed to decode more complex movements. The machine for reading the brain patterns also would have to become smaller and lighter -- like a cap that people can wear as they move about, said ATR researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani. What Honda calls a "brain-machine interface" is an improvement over past approaches, such as those that required surgery to connect wires. Other methods still had to train people in ways to send brain signals or weren't very accurate in reading the signals, Kamitani said. Honda officials said the latest research was important not only for developing intelligence for the company's walking bubble-headed robot, Asimo, but also for future auto technology. "There is a lot of potential for application to autos such as safety measures," said Tomohiko Kawanabe, president of Honda Research Institute Japan Co. Asimo, about 50 inches tall, can talk, walk and dance. It's available only for rental but is important for Honda's image and has appeared at events and TV ads. At least another five years are probably needed before Asimo starts moving according to its owner's mental orders, according to Honda. Right now, Asimo's metallic hand can't even make a V-sign. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news reports from Associated Press please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 15:32:40 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Statement on Developments in Lawsuit Against EchoStar TiVo Statement on Developments in Lawsuit Against EchoStar - May 24, 2006 10:18 AM (PR Newswire) - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=58742129 ALVISO, Calif., May 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVR), today offered the following comment on the recent developments in the lawsuit against EchoStar Communications Corporation: "The level of misleading spin that EchoStar is putting out with respect to our patent case against them is quite extraordinary. We are pleased to state that the USPTO issued its first Office Action in the reexamination. The USPTO reexamined all 61 claims set forth in the Barton patent confirming the validity of most of the claims, including two of the claims that EchoStar has been found to have willfully infringed. In the Office Action, the USPTO expressly rejected the invalidity arguments put forward by EchoStar. While certain of the patent claims were rejected by the patent office, this should in no way impact the jury verdict. We will now be given an opportunity with the patent office to discuss our claims which we believe should result in a reaffirmed and strengthened patent. We will provide a real understanding of how this process works on our earnings call after close of market today." Founded in 1997, TiVo pioneered a brand new category of products with the development of the first commercially available digital video recorder (DVR). Sold through leading consumer electronic retailers, TiVo has developed a brand which resonates boldly with consumers as providing a superior television experience. Through agreements with leading satellite and cable providers, TiVo also integrates its full set of DVR service features into the set-top boxes of mass distributors. TiVo's DVR functionality and ease of use, with such features as Season Pass(TM) recordings and WishList(R) searches, has elevated its popularity among consumers and has created a whole new way for viewers to watch television. With a continued investment in its patented technologies, TiVo is revolutionizing the way consumers watch and access home entertainment. Rapidly becoming the focal point of the digital living room, TiVo's DVR is at the center of experiencing new forms of content on the TV, such as broadband delivered video, music and photos. With innovative features such as, TiVoToGo(TM) and online scheduling, TiVo is expanding the notion of consumers experiencing "TiVo, TV your way." The TiVo(R) service is also at the forefront of providing innovative marketing solutions for the television industry, including a unique platform for advertisers and audience measurement research. The company is based in Alviso, Calif. SOURCE TiVo Inc. -0- 05/24/2006 /CONTACT: Jeffrey Weir of Sloane & Company, +1-212-446-1878/ CO: TiVo Inc.; EchoStar Communications Corporation ST: California IN: ENT TVN CPR CSE SU: LAW PLW CM -- NYW116 -- 1519 05/24/2006 10:18 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 15:34:11 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: TiVo Seeks to Block EchoStar DVR Service NEW YORK (AP) -- The ongoing patent dispute between TiVo Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. flared up again this week as TiVo filed an injunction seeking to ban EchoStar from making or selling its digital video recorder product. - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=58745632 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 15:37:30 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: EchoStar Statement in Response to Recent Developments In Tivo Case EchoStar Statement in Response to Recent Developments In the Tivo Inc. v. EchoStar Communications Corp. Lawsuit - May 24, 2006 07:00 AM (BusinessWire) - http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=58736290 =========================================================================== ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 24, 2006--EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH) has issued the following statement regarding recent developments in the Tivo Inc. v. EchoStar Communications Corp. lawsuit: "We are pleased that the United States Patent and Trademark Office yesterday rejected many of Tivo's patent claims as invalid. That reexamination ruling, together with the favorable decision from the Court of Appeals earlier this month (finding that the Texas court abused its discretion in connection with key trial evidence withheld from the jury), are steps in the right direction as we prepare our response to Tivo's recently filed injunction motion. Similarly, the favorable U.S. Supreme Court decision last week in the Ebay patent injunction case will be considered as part of the long process ahead." About EchoStar EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH) serves more than 12.2 million satellite TV customers through its DISH Network(TM), the fastest growing U.S. provider of advanced digital television services in the last five years. DISH Network offers hundreds of video and audio channels, Interactive TV, HDTV, sports and international programming, together with professional installation and 24-hour customer service. CONTACT: EchoStar Communications Corporation Kathie Gonzalez, 720-514-5351 press@echostar.com SOURCE: EchoStar Communications Corporation ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 12:38:28 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Microsoft, Alcatel, HP Form Alliance USTelecom dailyLead May 24, 2006 http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dGlYfDtuteluxNgsvU TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Microsoft, Alcatel, HP form alliance BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * Comverse snaps up Netcentrex * StreamCast sues eBay, other defendants over VoIP technology * China Mobile close to Millicom acquisition USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Shopping for or selling telecom equipment? TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Cavalier rolls out MPEG-4 video service via fiber network * Study: Mobile VoIP to cross 100M users in five years REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Martin: FCC won't probe NSA matter * S.C. governor signs statewide franchise plan; N.J. advances franchise bill * Net neutrality debate: Craig versus McCurry Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dGlYfDtuteluxNgsvU ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 12:35:59 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: Treasury Ends Excise Tax on Phone Services USTelecom dailyLead May 25, 2006 http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dGzgfDtutemfglXZVa TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * Treasury ends excise tax on phone services BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * AT&T's new satellite broadband service gets off the ground * AOL strikes broadband deal with Covad * Cablevision faces lawsuit over network DVR service * Hurdles may lie ahead for Google's wireless projects * Vonage shares slip in debut USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * USTelecom applauds IRS move to end telephone tax TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Yankee: FMC to shake up communications market * Analysis: The market for 3G embedded modems REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Senator calls for states to assume franchise duties Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dGzgfDtutemfglXZVa ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Thursday 25th May 2006 Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 07:25:35 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News - http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ 3G ]] NEWS SNAP:Telenor To Boost 3G Phone Sales In Scandinavia http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17523.php Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor, Wednesday said it will step up efforts to sell 3G mobile phones and services to its customers in Scandinavia in a bid to offset falling voice revenues. ... [[ Financial ]] Telenor: Sees 06 Revenue Growth Around 30% http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17519.php Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor, Wednesday said at its capital markets day it expects to have revenue growth of around 30% in 2006. ... Telenor: Turnaround Of Swedish Mobile Ahead Of Schedule http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17521.php Norwegian telecom operator Telenor is proceeding well with the turnaround of its recently acquired Swedish mobile operation from Vodafone Group, a senior executive said Wednesday. ... PRESS: Azeri minister says govt plans to sell stake in Azercell http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17522.php The Azeri government plans to sell its 35.7% stake in the country's largest mobile operator Azercell by year-end, the country's IT and Communications Minister Ali Abbasov said, Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday. ... China Mobile Near $5.3 Billion Deal To Buy Millicom http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17528.php China Mobile Communications Corp. is reportedly on the verge of acquiring Millicom International Cellular in a US$5.3 billion deal that would expand the Chinese company's footprint into a slew of emerging markets around the world. ... Vodafone Signs Concession Deal With Turkey Telecom Board http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17529.php U.K. wireless operator Vodafone Group, Wednesday said it signed a concession contract with the Turkish telecommunications board, overcoming one of the last hurdles to finalize the buy of Telsim Mobil Telekomunikasyon. ... Official says Russian mobile operators put pressure on smaller cos, regulators http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17530.php The recent announcement by Russia's two largest mobile operators that they plan to increase interconnection tariffs for other operators puts "pressure on other market participants and regulatory bodies," Vitaly Slizen, a department director with the ... [[ Handsets ]] Motorola challenges Russian handling of handsets seizure http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17520.php Senior representatives of Motorola, Tuesday criticized the way Russian authorities handled the seizure and subsequent destruction of its handsets on the grounds they were unsafe. ... Ancel signs agreement with IXI Mobile to launch new devices http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17525.php Uruguayan state-run mobile operator Ancel has become the first Latin American telco to use the Ogo range of devices made by US telecoms manufacturer IXI Mobile, IXI said in a statement. ... 2GB Memory Cards for Mobile Phones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17539.php Toshiba has announced an expanded line-up of large capacity miniSD memory cards with the introduction of a 2GB capacity card which can be used in mobile phones. The new Toshiba-branded miniSD card will be available from mid-June 2006. At just 20.0mm ... [[ Legal ]] PRESS: Russia's Reiman denies affiliation with IPOC fund http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17524.php Russian IT and Telecommunications Minister Leonid Reiman "has never been the beneficiary of IPOC International Growth Fund or of companies affiliated with the fund," the minister said in a statement, Vedomosti business daily reported Wednesday. ... Qualcomm Sues Nokia - Again http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17536.php Qualcomm says that it has commenced patent infringement litigation in the UK against Nokia. The proceedings, issued in the Patents Court of the High Court of England and Wales, allege infringement of two patents by Nokia in the United Kingdom in rela... [[ Mobile Content ]] Mobile TV Subscribers Grow to More Than 2 Million in the USA http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17537.php Telephia has announced the launch of a mobile television user panel in the USA. This longitudinal research panel will provide the mobile industry with detailed measurement of the attitudes and behaviors among the rapidly growing mobile TV audience. T... [[ Network Contracts ]] Entel to deploy WiMax national network with Alvarion http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17527.php Chilean telco Entel has awarded Israeli wireless systems provider Alvarion a contract to deploy the country's first WiMax network for voice and data services, Alvarion said in a statement. ... US Military Orders Cingular Kit http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17538.php The United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) has ordered wireless voice and data communications services from Cingular Wireless through the federal FISC contracting vehicle. Norfolk, VA-based USJFCOM already has ordered nearly 700 mobile phones, ... [[ Network Operators ]] Claro to offer push-to-talk to consumer market http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17526.php Brazilian mobile phone company Claro, part of Mexico's América Móvil, is to offer a push-to-talk mobile service (PoC) to the consumer market, reported local newspaper Gazeta Mercantil. ... [[ Reports ]] Cell Phones Take 30% Slice of Navigation Market by 2010 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17532.php A new Strategy Analytics report has concluded that at the right price points, cellular phone companies and traditional automotive system suppliers are now well-positioned to present a serious competitive response to the low cost, well branded navigat... Why Japan and South Korea Lead the World in Contactless Payments http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17533.php Japan and South Korea lead the world in adopting contactless payment solutions says a new report from ABI Research. Both countries have implemented nationwide services on a commercial scale. Mobile operators and issuers address a varied range of mark... Korea Faces Eroding High-Tech Competitiveness http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17535.php Once a rising power in the high-tech business, South Korea now is facing mounting competitive pressure that is slowing or even reversing its advances in key product areas, according to Derek Lidow, president and chief executive officer of the market-... [[ Statistics ]] 85 million Arab Cellular Subscribers in 2005 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17531.php A new report from Arab Advisors Group says that with the advent of new operators and increased competition in 2005, subscribers for 39 examined cellular operators in 18 Arab countries reached 84.844 million. Al Jawal and Maroc Telecom sustained their... [[ Technology ]] Nokia Releases Open Source Mobile Browser http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17534.php Nokia has decided to release the source code for its Series 60 web browser to the open source software community. The web browser source code released by Nokia comes under the terms of the open source BSD License, a highly permissive software license... ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 11:37:23 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Thursday, May 25, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 25, 2006 ******************************** E911 Wrestles with VoIP http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18126?11228 As IP-based technology and continuing wireless location-based technology complexities converge, some E911 professionals say the evolution of E911 systems is proving a little more of a headache than was imagined a few years ago. VoIP could be both a boon and a curse for local emergency service providers and wireless carriers that are... Yahoo, eBay To Join Forces in Partnership http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/110/18117?11228 SAN FRANCISCO -- Internet powerhouses Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc. are joining forces in an alliance that appears aimed at thwarting the recent expansions of online search engine leader Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Under the multiyear partnership announced Thursday, the Silicon Valley companies will draw upon each other's strengths... Boingo To Buy Concourse Communications http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/18115?11228 LOS ANGELES -- Wi-Fi access provider Boingo Wireless Inc. has reached a deal to acquire Concourse Communications Group LLC, which operates wireless access networks in a dozen major North American airports. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Wi-Fi hot spots enable travelers at the airports to access the Internet... Qualcomm Files Suit Against Nokia http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18113?11228 Qualcomm is once again battling Nokia in the legal arena. The company filed a patent infringement lawsuit claiming Nokia is violating two of its patents in the United Kingdom. Nokia says it is disappointed Qualcomm is once again turning to the courts. The complaint was filed in the Patents Court of the High Court of England and... KPN Buys Enertel http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18108?11228 Continuing its shopping spree, Dutch telco KPN is paying $12.85 million to buy rival broadband and telecom service provider Enertel from Greenfield Capital Partners. The deal to acquire Enertel is one of a series of acquisitions that KPN has made during the last year as it looks to boost its position in the Dutch market. Its most high-... Alcatel Under Fire Down Under http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18107?11228 A multibillion-dollar contract awarded to Alcatel (NYSE: ALA - message board; Paris: CGEP:PA) by Telstra Corp. has come under scrutiny after questions were raised about alleged favoritism and the vendor's previous performance for the Australian incumbent. In November 2005, Alcatel was awarded a $2.55 billion contract as a lead... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ From: yahooshua@gmail.com Subject: Telephone to Modem Date: 25 May 2006 05:53:09 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com I was wondering why with the advent of VoIP and Skype Vonage and all of this stuff; someone hasn't come up with software that can activate your modem in such a way that you plug your handset telephone into your modem and then use one of these services. Does anyone know if this would work? Why or why not? ------------------------------ From: mike7411@gmail.com Subject: MOS Reading Date: 25 May 2006 07:37:50 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Is there any software that I can feed an input WAV file into and an output WAV file into to get an MOS reading for a VOIP comm system? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 07:58:29 PDT From: Richard Eldon BARBER Subject: Using Cell Phone For Frequency Calibration Reference? Some piano tuners calibrate electronic tuning devices using their cell phone. Is this a good idea? Calling up NIST on the cell phone, you can have 440Hz played to you. Is using a cell phone going to be a stable frequency reference? Will the cell phone network actually be able to preserve the frequency, say as 440.0000 Hz? or will there be frequency domain quantization errors due to wavelet compression, thus affecting the freq stability of the transmitted tone? Please post and email ... Thanks, Richard Barber piano.tuner@yahoo.com http://pianoregulation.com ------------------------------ From: hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com Subject: Re: School District to Monitor Student Blogs Date: 25 May 2006 11:12:58 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Associated Press News Wire wrote: > The board of Community High School District 128 voted unanimously on > Monday to require that all students participating in extracurricular > activities sign a pledge agreeing that evidence of "illegal or > inappropriate" behavior posted on the Internet could be grounds for > disciplinary action. A critical issue not made clear here is whether the postings involve any school owned facility. That is, if someone uses a school computer, school internet service, or school website, then the school district has every right and a duty to set standards and monitor traffic. Kids can be quite nasty on the Internet and the school could be held liable for malicious postings that hurt another kid. The school could also be liable if a kid gets hurt as a result of posting too much personal data. On the other hand, if school facilities are not involved in any way, then it is not the school's business. If two student get into a fight at the movies or the mall on a weekend, then it is not the school's business. I can understand the school's concern for inappropriate posting, especially those that might bring risk to a student (e.g. publicly posting a provacative personal picture and personal info, or malicious gossip about other kids). But the most the school can do for non school facilities IMHO is notify the parents and advise such postings aren't a good idea. If I were a school administrator, the last thing I'd want to do is worry about what my kids did outside of school hours and property*. If I were a student, I'd feel my rights were being violated and the school is snooping on me. *Perhaps if a student was arrested for a serious crime the school has a right to be involved. ------------------------------ From: Patrick Townson Subject: Repeat of an Old Last Laugh! Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 20:30:25 -0500 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This Last Laugh! was first posted here in the Digest a decade ago; it came to us from the person who moderated the humor department on Usenet. I discovered it when rummaging around through some old archives yesterday and thought it might be good for a repeat. PAT] From: Maddi Hausmann Sojourner Subject: Tormenting Telemarketers! Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 21:23:39 +0000 Organization: General Magic, Inc. Message-ID: Sender: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Lines: 113 I recently posted on the limitations of Caller ID as implemented by Pac Bell. Our biggest disappointment with the service was that many phone calls were tagged "OUT OF AREA" rather than giving a phone number. In particular, banks of phones behind switchboards or in a Centrex are marked that way, which covers most of those pesky telemarketers that make our lives so miserable. We've found a way to work around that which others with Caller ID may also wish to use. When we get calls marked OUT OF AREA, especially at the prime telemarketer time (6-8 pm), we now answer the phone "KDNA, you're on the air!" Usually the telemarketer will be a bit befuddled, and ask for one of us by name. We will repeat that we are a radio station, that the caller is on the air, and is, in fact, the twenty-fifth caller. Here's a dialog with one telemarketer who bit real hard: Me: (seeing OUT OF AREA on Caller ID, using bouncy DJ voice) KDNA, you're on the air! Telemarketer: May I speak to Mad-uh-LEEN So...So...So-johr-NOHR? M: This is KDNA, and you are ON THE AIR! You've just won your choice of a new Ford Explorer or $25,000 in cash!!! T: I have? M: You certainly have. T: Oh my god! M: Happy? Which will it be, the Explorer or the money? T: I don't know! Let me get my supervisor! M: You don't need your supervisor, it's your prize. Are you calling us from work? T: Yes I am. (background voices) My boss says to take the money. M: The money! So you listen to KDNA while you're working? T: I didn't even know we were calling you! M: Well, where are you calling us from? T: (some place thousands of miles from us) M: My, my! I guess you can't pick us up all the way out there! So what's your name? T: Sherry. M: Sherry, tell us here on KDNA what kind of music you like. T: I'm so nervous I can't even think! Nothing like this has ever happened to me! M: Sherry, if you like the kind of music that we play here on KDNA, we'll play one just for you! T: But I wouldn't be able to hear it. Where's your radio station, anyway? M: We're broadcasting out of Silicon Valley, California, at 106.6 FM. [obviously telemarketer isn't smart enough to know FM stations don't end in even decimals.] T: This is just so great! M: Sherry, how old are you? T: I'm 20. M: And what do you do? T: I'm a business student at . M: What will you do with the money, Sherry? Start a business? T: Oh, I just don't know! M: I thought you said you were at work, Sherry. T: I am. This is to help pay for college. M: What's your job? T: I'm a telemarketer. M: You're a WHAT? T: I'm a telemarketer. I call people up and ask them if they want to buy M: Oh, that's too bad. T: Why? M: Because we here at KDNA think telemarketers are the lowest scum on earth, and I don't think we can give this prize to a telemarketer. You folks are always interrupting people during dinner and I think that's rotten. So I don't think you should win. T: But that's not fair! M: Hey, it's my radio show, I get to make the rules. T: But you can't do that! M: I sure can, I'm giving this prize to the next caller. Meanwhile, I suggest you quit your job. Today. (click) We apologize if there is a radio station actually named KDNA. We picked it both for its closeness to our daughter's name, Diana, and because it shows our disdain for certain folks stuck in the shallow end of the gene pool. Maddi Hausmann Sojourner madhaus@genmagic.com General Magic, Inc. in beautiful Sunnyvale, CA 94088 USA If you like this address you will also like madhaus@netcom.com Visit my daughter's web page at http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~ds/ [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This was pretty funny when it first appeared here a decade ago; I thought newer readers (from less than ten years ago) might like to see it. Take note these _old_ email addresses may possibly not work any longer. PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-402-0134 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the oldest e-zine/mailing list on the internet in any category! URL information: http://telecom-digest.org Anonymous FTP: mirror.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives/ (or use our mirror site: ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) RSS Syndication of TELECOM Digest: http://telecom-digest.org/rss.html For syndication examples see http://www.feedrollpro.com/syndicate.php?id=308 and also http://feeds.feedburner.com/TelecomDigest ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from * * Judith Oppenheimer, President of ICB Inc. and purveyor of accurate * * 800 & Dot Com News, Intelligence, Analysis, and Consulting. * * http://ICBTollFree.com, http://1800TheExpert.com * * Views expressed herein should not be construed as representing * * views of Judith Oppenheimer or ICB Inc. * ************************************************************************* ICB Toll Free News. Contact information is not sold, rented or leased. One click a day feeds a person a meal. Go to http://www.thehungersite.com Copyright 2006 ICB, Inc. and TELECOM Digest. All rights reserved. Our attorney is Bill Levant, of Blue Bell, PA. ************************ DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE JUST 65 CENTS ONE OR TWO INQUIRIES CHARGED TO YOUR CREDIT CARD! REAL TIME, UP TO DATE! SPONSORED BY TELECOM DIGEST AND EASY411.COM SIGN UP AT http://www.easy411.com/telecomdigest ! ************************ --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of fifty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. End of TELECOM Digest V25 #199 ****************************** From editor@telecom-digest.org Sat May 27 12:24:18 2006 Return-Path: Delivered-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11648) id 3E5121532C; Sat, 27 May 2006 12:24:18 -0400 (EDT) To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V25 #200 Message-Id: <20060527162418.3E5121532C@massis.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 12:24:18 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org (TELECOM Digest Editor) X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.4 (2005-06-05) on massis.lcs.mit.edu X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.5 required=2.0 tests=ALL_TRUSTED,AWL,BAYES_00, NA_DOLLARS,NIGERIAN_BODY1,NONSECURED_CREDIT autolearn=no version=3.0.4 Status: RO TELECOM Digest Fri, 26 May 2006 16:51:29 EDT Volume 25 : Issue 200 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Telephone 'Luxury' Tax Now Discontinued (TELECOM Digest Editor) Earthlink to Build New Orleans WiFi Network (Reuters News Wire) Company Says MPAA Paid Hacker to Spy (Associated Press News Wire) Telecom Update #531, May 26, 2006 (Angus TeleManagement Group) Cellular-News: Friday 26th May 2006 (cellular-news) TelecomDirect News Daily Update - May 26, 2006 (telecomdirect_daily) U.S. Online Population Tops 170 Million (USTelecom dailyLead) Re: Telephone to Modem (AMS) Re: Uniden Phones Interference With DSL - Why/How How to Fix (neverfamous) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Telephone 'Luxury' Tax Now Discontinued Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 16:50:01 EDT From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) The Treasury Department has, for many, many years, been charging a tax on telephone calls. They have been sued many times for it, amd I guess the decision finally came down to not only quit charging it or trying to collect it, but also to allow the essence of a 'class action' lawsuit so that people who have paid that tax over the years can apply for a refund. I think the way this will work is there will be a line on your tax form next year allowing you to deduct as a credit whatever had been paid on the telephone tax. I believe this tax began during the Spanish American War, and like so many government things, it just stayed on forever for at least a century. Talk to your tax people about the particulars of how to apply for a refund, etc. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Earthlink to Build New Orleans WiFi Network Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 15:29:04 -0500 Earthlink Inc., the Internet service provider, said on Friday it has won approval from the New Orleans City Council to build a wireless high-speed Internet network in the city. The company said the wireless network will provide Internet access for residents, businesses and visitors in New Orleans. It will offer a free service for a limited time during the city's rebuilding efforts and a faster paid-for tier service. Copyright 2006 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more headlines and news from the media, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Associated Press News Wire Subject: Company Says MPAA Paid Hacker to Spy Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 15:30:46 -0500 Valence Media, a company accused of aiding online movie pirates, says the group that represents Hollywood studios hired a computer hacker to spy on it. Valence Media, which operates the Web site http://www.torrentspy.com, was sued in February by several movie studios for allegedly helping people locate and download pirated copies of films. On Wednesday, the company sued the Motion Picture Association of America, saying the trade group paid a hacker $15,000 to break into Valence Media's computers and obtain private information, including e-mails, financial information and trade secrets. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, claims an MPAA employee approached an unnamed hacker, who was not an employee of Valence, and asked him to collect information on the company and its three principals. The MPAA employees offered the hacker $15,000 if the information proved useful and said, "We don't care how you get it," according to the lawsuit. The MPAA denied the accusations Thursday. "We see this as nothing more than a desperate attempt to obscure the fact that they are knowingly facilitating piracy," MPAA spokeswoman Kori Bernards said. The Web site operated by Valence Media indexes files located on a multitude of individuals' computers. Once a file is found using the torrentspy search engine, the actual exchange is conducted by individual computer users, without torrentspy's assistance. The studios say torrentspy could easily prevent the piracy by not indexing pirated files or by barring users who regularly offer illegal copies of movies and TV shows. A motion by Valence media to dismiss the MPAA's lawsuit was denied in March. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. 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. And, discuss this and other topics in our forum at http://telecom-digest.org/forum (or) http://telecom-digest.org/chat/index.html For more news and headlines from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 11:06:03 -0700 Subject: Telecom Update #531, May 26, 2006 From: Angus TeleManagement Group Reply-To: Angus TeleManagement Group ************************************************************ TELECOM UPDATE ************************************************************ published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group http://www.angustel.ca Number 531: May 26, 2006 Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous financial support from: ** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/ ** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca ** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/ ** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca ** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.com/canada/telecom/ ** MITEL NETWORKS: www.mitel.com/ ** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com ** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions ** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca ************************************************************ IN THIS ISSUE: ** 96 Arrests in Telemarketing Fraud Crackdown ** World Broadband Total Passes 200 Million ** Vonage IPO Raises Over Half-Billion ** Bell Intros PC-Controlled Communications ** Glitch Hits Telus Voice Mail ** Aastra Sharpens Focus on Enterprise Telephony ** EVDO Reaches Cottage Country ** MSAT Carriers Plan Next-Gen Satellites ** Northwestel to Pay $1.4M to Central Fund ** Bell Wants Final LD Constraints Lifted ** CRTC Backs TBayTel in Roaming Dispute ** Telus Expands Digital Wireless in Rural Quebec ** Moody's Cuts BCE Rating ** Bell: Pay for Wireline WNP from Deferral Account ** Zarlink Reports Profit Gain ** Ascalade Expanding Production of Phones ** Hummingbird Finds U.S. Buyer ** U.S. to Repeal Telecom Tax ** Consultants Call for Speakers ============================================================ 96 ARRESTS IN TELEMARKETING FRAUD CRACKDOWN: Canadian authorities have arrested 96 people as part of a 15-month international crackdown on telemarketing scams that defrauded 2.8 million U.S. residents of an estimated US$1 billion. In total, 565 people were arrested in five countries. ** As part of this operation, the Competition Bureau has charged five Canadians and three companies for alleged involvement in a business directory scam which is said to have taken in $150 million over 10 years. WORLD BROADBAND TOTAL PASSES 200 MILLION: TeleGeography reports that the number of high-speed Internet subscribers worldwide reached 221 million at the end of 2005, a 37% increase from a year earlier. Fewer than a quarter of the lines were in North America; DSL lines made up 65% of the world total. http://www.telegeography.com VONAGE IPO RAISES OVER HALF-BILLION: VoIP provider Vonage Holdings went public on Wednesday. Shares initially sold at US$17, raising US$531 million, but then fell 12.6% over the day, closing at $14.85. BELL INTROS PC-CONTROLLED COMMUNICATIONS: Bell Canada has begun selling Personal Communication Manager, a PC-based soft-client that provides mobile access to a user's office phone service and voicemail from a laptop computer. In the office, the same software provides PC control of a Centrex set, including presence, click-to-call from Outlook, and other features. ** PCM, which was developed by Ottawa-based NewHeights Software, works with either the on-premise or off-premise version of Nortel's Multimedia Communications Server. GLITCH HITS TELUS VOICE MAIL: About 250,000 Telus voice mail customers in Alberta and B.C. were unable to retrieve messages from 3:30pm to 10pm on Tuesday, and again from 11am Wednesday until 2am Thursday. Telus technicians reinitialized several systems and replaced some components to restore service. The company says it is still investigating to determine the failure's cause. AASTRA SHARPENS FOCUS ON ENTERPRISE TELEPHONY: Aastra Technologies has agreed to sell its digital video business unit for about US$35 million. The Toronto-based manufacturer, which makes Intecom PBXs and other telecom equipment, says it is "increasingly focused on Enterprise Communications." (See Telecom Update #490) EVDO REACHES COTTAGE COUNTRY: Hoping to "get away from it all" at the cottage? Think again. Just in time for your vacation, Bell Canada has extended 2.4 Mbps EVDO wireless service to Ontario's traditional cottage country: Lake Muskoka, Lake Joseph, western Lake Rosseau, Bala, Port Carling and Gamebridge, Ontario. ** Since Telus and Bell share network facilities, we assume that both companies will encourage you to use corporate data nets from your dock or canoe. MSAT CARRIERS PLAN NEXT-GEN SATELLITES: MSV Canada and Virginia-based Mobile Satellite Ventures will launch a new U.S. satellite in mid-2009 and a new Canadian satellite early in 2010. The companies, which already provide mobile satellite communications across North America, say the new satellites will provide integrated satellite/cellular service to handsets similar in size and cost to conventional cellphones. NORTHWESTEL TO PAY $1.4M TO CENTRAL FUND: The CRTC has directed Northwestel to pay $1.38 million back to the Central Fund from which it receives a subsidy to support affordable services in the North. This is the amount by which the northern telco exceeded its forecast long distance revenue in 2005. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-32.htm BELL WANTS FINAL LD CONSTRAINTS LIFTED: Bell Canada has asked the CRTC to eliminate remaining regulation of its "basic toll" schedules. When the incumbent telcos' long distance services were deregulated in 1997, the Commission retained some controls on basic toll service. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2006/8661/b2_200605719.htm CRTC BACKS TBAYTEL IN ROAMING DISPUTE: CRTC Telecom Decision 2006-33 says that Superior Wireless's use of digital roaming to provide service within Thunder Bay Telephone's territory was not contemplated in the two companies' roaming agreement, so TBayTel was justified in cutting digital service to Superior's wireless customers last December (see Telecom Update #511). http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2006/dt2006-33.htm TELUS EXPANDS DIGITAL WIRELESS IN RURAL QUEBEC: Telus says it will spend $10 million this year to expand its IX digital wireless network in the Mauricie, Gaspe, and Lower Saint-Laurence regions. MOODY'S CUTS BCE RATING: Moody's Investors Service has cut its ratings of about $10 billion of BCE and Bell Canada debt. BCE's senior unsecured debt is now rated Baa2, two notches above non-investment ("junk") level. Moody's cited concern over BCE's plan to buy back stock rather than reducing debt. BELL -- PAY FOR WIRELINE WNP FROM DEFERRAL ACCOUNT: Bell Canada has asked the CRTC to allow it to recover $9.6 million per year, for six years, to pay for the wireline component of implementing wireless number portability. Bell wants to take the money from its deferral account. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2006/8661/b2_200605967.htm ZARLINK REPORTS PROFIT GAIN: Ottawa-based Zarlink Semiconductors, which makes chips for the telecom industry, reports net income of US$49 million for the year ended March 31, compared with a loss of $21 million the previous year. Revenue fell 10% to $145 million. ** Zarlink has bought the Arizona-based optical communications business of Primarion, Inc. for US$7 million. ASCALADE EXPANDING PRODUCTION OF PHONES: Vancouver-based Ascalade Communications, which designs and manufactures digital wireless and VoIP phones, is building a new factory in China that will increase its production capacity by 40%. ** Ascalade reports first quarter revenues of $22.7 million, a 33% increase over a year ago, and a net loss of $723,000. HUMMINGBIRD FINDS U.S. BUYER: Hummingbird Ltd, whose 125 Ottawa employees make network connectivity and content management software, is being acquired by California-based Symphony Technology Group for US$465 million. U.S. TO REPEAL TELECOM TAX: After years of litigation, the U.S. Treasury Department has agreed to end a 3% excise tax on long-distance service and to refund $13 billion to taxpayers. It was originally imposed as a short-term luxury tax in 1898 to help fund the U.S. invasion of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. CONSULTANTS CALL FOR SPEAKERS: The Canadian Telecommunications Consultants Association will hold its Fall 2006 Conference in Ottawa on September 29-30. Proposals for presentations are due by June 30. For information, write ctca.speakers@ctca.ca, or visit http://www.ctca.ca. ============================================================ HOW TO SUBMIT ITEMS FOR TELECOM UPDATE E-mail ianangus@angustel.ca and jriddell@angustel.ca =========================================================== HOW TO SUBSCRIBE (OR UNSUBSCRIBE) TELECOM UPDATE is provided in electronic form only. There are two formats available: 1. The fully-formatted edition is posted on the World Wide Web late Friday afternoon each week at http://www.angustel.ca 2. The e-mail edition is distributed free of charge. To subscribe, send an e-mail message to: join-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com To stop receiving the e-mail edition, send an e-mail message to: leave-telecom_update@nova.sparklist.com Sending e-mail to these addresses will automatically add or remove the sender's e-mail address from the list. Leave subject line and message area blank. We do not give Telecom Update subscribers' e-mail addresses to any third party. For more information, see www.angustel.ca/update/privacy.html. =========================================================== COPYRIGHT AND CONDITIONS OF USE: All contents copyright 2006 Angus TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further information, including permission to reprint or reproduce, please e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca. The information and data included has been obtained from sources which we believe to be reliable, but Angus TeleManagement makes no warranties or representations whatsoever regarding accuracy, completeness, or adequacy. Opinions expressed are based on interpretation of available information, and are subject to change. If expert advice on the subject matter is required, the services of a competent professional should be obtained. ------------------------------ Subject: Cellular-News: Friday 26th May 2006 Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 07:20:05 -0500 From: Cellular-News Cellular-News http://www.cellular-news.com ====================================================================== [[ Financial ]] PRESS: MTS says mobile sector may lose $7 bln in mkt cap on CPP http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17542.php Following the introduction of the Calling Party Pays Principle scheduled for July 1, the Russian mobile services sector may lose U.S. $6 billion to $7 billion of its capitalization, Mikhail Shamolin, MTS' vice president for sales and customer service... Ukraine's Kyivstar revenue up 60.7% on year in Jan-Apr http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17550.php The revenue of Ukraine's largest mobile operator Kyivstar rose 60.7% on the year to 2.725 billion hryvnas in January-April, the company said in a report filed with regulators Thursday. ... [[ Handsets ]] M'shita Elec To Supply Cellphone Handsets To KDDI http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17540.php Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial said Thursday it plans to supply mobile-phone handsets for KDDI's "au" phone service, as part of efforts to broaden its range of clients. ... Venko, Teikon prepare to launch first handset http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17546.php Brazilian handset manufacturers Venko and Teikon expect to launch their first mobile phone next week, reported local news service Folha Online. ... US Consumers Increasingly Happy with Cellphones http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17554.php Overall satisfaction among wireless mobile phone owners has increased 4% when compared to 2005, marking the second time customer satisfaction has increased significantly in the past three times the study has been conducted, according to a� J.D. Power... [[ Legal ]] Court adjourns Telenor claim against VimpelCom's URS buy http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17549.php The Moscow Arbitration Court adjourned indefinitely on Wednesday the main hearings of a lawsuit filed by Norwegian telecommunication company Telenor seeking to void VimpelCom's purchase of mobile operator Ukrainian Radiosystems (URS). ... [[ Mobile Content ]] Vodafone In Talks With S Korean Mobile Application Cos http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17541.php Vodafone Group is holding talks with some South Korean developers of mobile-phone application technology to use their products for wireless services in Europe, Graeme Ferguson, director of global content development at Vodafone Group Services, told D... [[ Network Contracts ]] Lucent Wins Brazilian CDMA Contract http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17553.php Lucent Technologies has announced a new agreement with Brazil's Vivo to expand and enhance Vivo's 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO digital network in Brazil. These enhancements will expand the coverage of Vivo's network and enable subscribers to access mob... [[ Network Operators ]] TIM kicks off international prepaid roaming http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17544.php Brazil's second largest mobile operator TIM has launched the first of nine expected international roaming agreements for its prepaid users, a TIM spokesperson confirmed. ... [[ Regulatory ]] Ola seeks arbitration over spectrum allocation http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17545.php Colombian mobile operator Ola has asked the Bogota chamber of commerce to act as arbiter in a dispute with the communications ministry over spectrum allocation, local press reported. ... Treasury Disconnects Tax On Long-distance Calls http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17548.php The brief Spanish-American War ended more than a century ago, but not the federal tax assessed to fund the victory. ... [[ Reports ]] No Radiation Problems at Australian University http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17552.php Following a health scare, the Australian RMIT University has conducted radio emission tests on the roof and several floors of a building where a cluster of cancers had occured. However, the tests on floors 16 and 17 and the roof of RMIT University ha... [[ Statistics ]] Russia's VimpelCom user base in Krasnodar Reg at 1.4 mln Apr 1 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17543.php The subscriber base of Russia?s second largest mobile operator VimpelCom in the Krasnodar Region amounted to about 1.4 million users as of April 1, VimpelCom's branch in the region said in a press release Thursday without providing a comparison. ... Study: GSM set to grow 52% in LatAm in 2006 http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17547.php The GSM mobile market in Latin America grew by 21% in 2005 compared to 2004, and is set to expand 52% this year, according to international consultancy RNCOS. ... [[ Technology ]] Conformance Testing for Mobile WiMAX http://www.cellular-news.com/story/17551.php Centro de Tecnologia de las Comunicaciones (Cetecom), in Spain, has just been selected by the WiMAX Forum to develop the Radio Conformance Test Tester (RCTT) for Mobile WiMAX. Cetecom has participated, together with other test equipment manufacturers... ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 12:11:16 -0400 From: telecomdirect_daily Subject: TelecomDirect News Daily Update - Friday, May 26, 2006 Reply-To: telecomdirect_daily-owner@telecomdirectnews.com ******************************** PricewaterhouseCoopers Presents The TelecomDirect News Daily Update For May 26, 2006 ******************************** Strategic Security Considerations for Mobile Enterprises http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18146?11228 Securing business wireless applications is on everyone's minds these days. Employees are being equipped with laptops, mobile devices and wireless access to e-mail to achieve significant gains in productivity, but there still are major areas that are being neglected. This white paper explores: --Concerns about business wireless... AWS Band Blocks & Auction Insights http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/18144?11228 In a few weeks, the FCC will begin auctioning a new set of paired spectrum bands designated for Advanced Wireless Services AWS. The wireless industry and Wall Street types that follow it will be watching closely. Of particular interest will be which companies step up to bid for licenses and how high the bidding goes.... Vodafone Completes Telsim Acquisition http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18141?11228 Vodafone has announced its completion of the acquisition of holdings in the second-largest Turkish operator, Telsim, from the Turkish Savings and Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF). Vodafone beat rival bidders with an offer of US$4.55 billionin December last year, and received approval for the acquisition from the Turkish competition... France Telecom Joins China's TD-SCDMA 3G Standard Alliance http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18140?11228 France Telecom has joined an industry alliance promoting China's home-grown 3G mobile standard TD-SCDMA, making it the first foreign telecoms operator to join the group, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Wang Jing, Secretary General of the TD-SCDMA forum, was quoted as saying that the addition of France Telecom to the alliance... Auction for In-Flight Broadband Winds Down http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18137?11228 NEW YORK -- An auction of nationwide airwaves that could lead to cheaper in-flight broadband and telephone calls was winding down Thursday, with a small Colorado-based company as the apparent winner for the largest swath of radio spectrum. The auction conducted by the Federal Communications Commission will resume Friday, but AC... Excise Tax Repealed - Finally! http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/105/18134?11228 This just in: The U.S. government has finally acknowledged that the Spanish American War is over. The federal excise tax on long distance calling will be repealed and the IRS will refund three years worth of the taxes to consumers and businesses, the U.S. Treasury Department said Thursday. The tax has been around since 1898, when it was... House Takes Aim At Caller-ID Spoofing http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/120/18130?11228 The House of Representatives soon will receive a bill to outlaw and penalize caller-ID spoofing, a practice that currently includes online services and portable cards that allow users to fake caller-ID information - a tactic often associated with the theft of personal data and telephone records as well as identities. The House Committee... Ofcom Proposes Spectrum Sale http://www.telecomdirectnews.com/do.php/100/18128?11228 In the name of advancing high-speed wireless services in the United Kingdom, Ofcom, the Office of Communications, initiated a proposal to open up new spectrum bands on a first come, first served basis. Specifically, the U.K. telecom regulator is contemplating opening up the 71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz bands for the first time for commercial... Copyright (C) 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 May 2006 12:21:28 CDT From: USTelecom dailyLead Subject: U.S. online population tops 170 million USTelecom dailyLead May 26, 2006 http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dHiMfDtutemGjxnqZW TODAY'S HEADLINES NEWS OF THE DAY * U.S. online population tops 170 million BUSINESS & INDUSTRY WATCH * BT snags rights to Premiership soccer games * Murdoch's high-tech custom video plan * Telstra whacks $530 million from capital expenditure forecast * Motorola teams with Pakistani carrier for massive mobile WiMAX deployment USTELECOM SPOTLIGHT * Get Important Telecom Contacts TECHNOLOGY TRENDS * Will mobile IM win out over SMS? VOIP DOWNLOAD * Analysis: Vonage in for a rocky road ahead * Skype takes aim at wireless * Cable phone customers happier than other VoIP customers, survey says REGULATORY & LEGISLATIVE * Editorial: Telecoms should get second chance with TV service * House committee approves net neutrality measure * In-flight broadband auction nears close EDITOR'S NOTE * The dailyLead will not be published Monday Follow the link below to read quick summaries of these stories and others. http://r.rack.smartbrief.com/resp/dHiMfDtutemGjxnqZW ------------------------------ From: AMS Subject: Re: Telephone to Modem Date: 26 May 2006 01:46:05 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com yahooshua@gmail.com wrote: > I was wondering why with the advent of VoIP and Skype Vonage and all > of this stuff; someone hasn't come up with software that can activate > your modem in such a way that you plug your handset telephone into > your modem and then use one of these services. > Does anyone know if this would work? Why or why not? The VoSky Call Center from ActionTec connects a Windows PC to your phone line for use with the Skype Internet calling service. The NY Times had an article about it pros and cons that is still available online. To read the entire article go to: Internet Calls Untethered From Your PC, by David Pogue Published: April 6, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/technology/06pogue.html It reads in part: > Wouldn't it be nice if you could make and receive Skype calls from > your home phone or any ordinary cellphone? Enter the VoSky Call Center ($60 at actiontec.com), nicknamed the Liberator. (All right, I gave it that nickname, but still.) It's a tiny black box, about the size of a sandwich, that connects to a Windows PC (with a U.S.B. cable), to your phone line and to your telephone. An exceptionally clear instruction sheet walks you through the installation. As a final preparatory step, you're supposed to install Skype, if you haven't already, fill up its buddy list with the Skype addresses of your pals, and assign a speed-dial number to each one. Then you're ready for the VoSky magic show. FOR its first trick, the Call Center will let you call Skype buddies using the telephone on your desk. You pick up the handset, dial ## (which means, "This one's for Skype") and listen to a recorded female voice say: "Welcome to the VoSky Call Center. Please enter your contact's speed-dial number." (She pronounces it VOSS-key.) Fortunately, you don't have to sit through her complete recording; you can interrupt by dialing at any time. She's just a digital audio file, not easily insulted. There's a quick click, and then the call is placed. Your comrade, perhaps thousands of miles away, hears the familiar Skype ring tone, sits down at the PC, puts on the headset and answers. You, meanwhile, chat cheerily on your cordless phone as you move about, do the laundry or set the table. ------------------------------ From: neverfamous@gmail.com Subject: Re: Uniden Phones Interference With DSL - Why or How to Fix? Date: 26 May 2006 09:01:06 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com Your posting gives me pause. I just purchased the exact same phones (last night) and have a very similar DSL set-up. I haven't connected the Uniden system yet because I guess I'm supposed to let the phones charge overnight first, but I was planning to do so tonight. I did look through the manual briefly this morning and I noted there are two types of voice mail service signals and one type may require a configuration change on the Unidens. It may not be the culprit, but I thought I would throw it out there as an idea. If you do find the culprit, please post. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V25 #200 ******************************