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Message Digest 
Volume 28 : Issue 35 : "text" Format

Messages in this Issue:
  Re: 'Foul play' suspected in Tucson Super Bowl porn feed 
  Re: Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals 
  Re: Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals  
  Re: Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals 
  Re: Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals 


====== 27 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======
Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2009 21:31:10 -0800
From: Steven Lichter <diespammers@ikillspammers.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: 'Foul play' suspected in Tucson Super Bowl porn feed 
Message-ID: <AEQhl.21969$ZP4.2601@nlpi067.nbdc.sbc.com>

Monty Solomon wrote:
> UPDATED: 'Foul play' suspected in Tucson Super Bowl porn feed
> 
> By Brian J. Pedersen
> ARIZONA DAILY STAR
> 
> The pornographic content that interrupted thousands of local Comcast 
> subscribers' Super Bowl broadcast was the result of an "isolated 
> malicious act," a company spokeswoman said Monday.
> 
> But company officials have yet to determine how that act was 
> committed, spokeswoman Kelle Maslyn said, though any sort of 
> equipment malfunction has been ruled out.

[Moderator snip]

Years ago when cable was just getting started something like that 
happened in Palm Springs.  It was very late on a Sunday night, the cable 
tech shut the system off for the night, yes it was not 24 hours.  He 
then put a porn tape on, what he forgot to do was shut off the cable 
transmitter.  For 3o minutes the tape was shown on the cable system, 
nothing was said until the tape ended, then the police  switchboards 
went nuts.  We were in the telephone office and at that time of the 
night you could hear a pin drop; even with step.  When that happened the 
first thing we thought was something major had happened, like an A-bomb 
in LA. We went to the switch and heard what was going on, really got a 
laugh from that.  The tech was shown the door.

-- 
The Only Good Spammer is a Dead one!! Have you hunted one down today? 
(c) 2009  I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot In Hell Co.


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

Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 10:33:42 -0500
From: "MC" <for.address.look@www.ai.uga.edu.slash.mc>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals 
Message-ID: <vpZhl.399$wE5.274@bignews3.bellsouth.net>

If jamming technology becomes common, it will be easier for
hostage-takers and other criminals to jam the cellphones of their
victims to keep them from calling for help.


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

Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 11:05:45 -0600 (CST)
From: John Mayson <john@mayson.us>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals  
Message-ID: <alpine.GSO.2.00.0902031055440.17227@nyx3.nyx.net>

I think this is another case of someone in government making a decision 
without understand anything about the technology being used.  When I went 
through training dealing with potential bombs one of the most important 
rules was to turn off all transmitting devices including cell phones, 
two-way radios, two-ways pagers, wifi devices, etc.  The RF could 
potentially set off the bomb.  I can't even fathom wanting to come in with 
a jammer.

I think "T", "hancock4", and Bill all have valid points.  On one hand you 
would have to block off the entire spectrum because any RF device could be 
used as a trigger.  While cell phones have moved away from the 800 MHz 
band, pagers haven't.  And VHF pagers are still used and there are law 
enforcement agencies still on VHF.

But I understand Bill's point too.  Bombers aren't all mad geniuses. 
They're going to use what worked before and a cell phone is less 
conspicuous than, say, a scanner or two-way radio.  So perhaps jamming the 
cell phone band would nullify 99% of the bombs out there, assuming the 
jammer itself doesn't set the bomb off.  While it's true someone could 
design a bomb that responded to a code and not the RF energy itself, I am 
reminded of a friend who set his GSM phone on his paper shredder and when 
the network polled his phone it turned on the shredder.

I'm also of the mindset that 9/11 was a fluke and we're jumping at our own 
shadows.  Jamming cell phones isn't going to help public safety, all it'll 
do is let the cat out of the bag cell phone use will become the next 
smoking/non-smoking battle, more than it already is.

John

-- 
John Mayson <john@mayson.us>
Austin, Texas, USA


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

Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:52:25 GMT
From: "Tony Toews \[MVP\]" <ttoews@telusplanet.net>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals 
Message-ID: <56bho496c4vpgmhom70erv5hhoqva4ji1k@4ax.com>

Dave Garland <dave.garland@wizinfo.com> wrote:

>Such jamming ("blocking" would be shielding the building so that radio
>waves could not enter or exit, which might be a useful thing to do to
>prisons) 

That isn't how jamming works.  It's not a copper shield around the entire building.
It works by swamping your RF reception with it's own signals on the same frequency.
So that your device hears the jammer rather than the cell tower.    Which is why, for
example, a directional antenna would likely bypass such a jammer.  Although if the
directional antenna is very close to the jammer it too would be swamped.

Now a directional antenna would, presumably, be difficult to smuggle into and hide in
a prison.    Although Johnny Cash's One Piece At A Time song about the 1949-1973 car
comes to mind.  <smile>

Tony
-- 
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
   Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can 
read the entire thread of messages.
   Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at 
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
  Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/


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

Date: Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:54:21 +1100
From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com>
To: redacted@invalid.telecom.csail.mit.edu
Subject: Re: Local Police Want Right to Jam Wireless Signals 
Message-ID: <pan.2009.02.03.21.54.19.849956@myrealbox.com>

On Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:04:28 -0500, Tony Toews [MVP] wrote: .......
> Now a directional antenna would, presumably, be difficult to smuggle
> into and hide in a prison.    Although Johnny Cash's One Piece At A Time
> song about the 1949-1973 car comes to mind.  <smile>
> 
Just about anyone with basic RF knowledge can construct directional
antennae out of common materials - it is just a matter of how effective
and efficient they end up being.

It would not be difficult to fabricate something "effective enough" with
things that are already in a prison environment with some simple
instructions.

-- 
Regards, David.

David Clayton
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Knowledge is a measure of how many answers you have, intelligence is a
measure of how many questions you have.

***** Moderator's Note *****

And on that positive note, I'll end the thread. 

Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator

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




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