The Telecom Digest for January 08, 2011
Volume 30 : Issue 8 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
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Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 06:43:31 -0800 (PST)
From: annie <dmr436@gmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: The heart of Stuxnet
Message-ID: <99ebd9dc-8614-4c3b-84ea-2ab56b650675@c39g2000yqi.googlegroups.com>
> It also should not be used in unattended applications. More than
> once, I have seen the Windoes Blue Screen of Death on unattended
> information kiosks. A few years ago, I saw it on the electronic sign
> of a casino.
I've seen this and other various Windows errors on the flight boards
at airline terminals. Makes you wonder if they use the same systems
for more critical applications?
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:17:38 -0500
From: Matt Simpson <net-news69@jmatt.net>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: More on abandonment of telephone directories
Message-ID: <net-news69-C38E8C.12173707012011@news.toast.net>
In article
<80a6b6642083e4a2f4dfc6b15d623fff.squirrel@webmail.mishmash.com>,
fatkinson.remove-this@and-this-too.mishmash.com wrote:
> The major problem with the online 'directory assistance' sites is
> that they are often months behind in updates. It takes months for a
> new number to appear in it and months for a changed number to be
> updated. It even takes months for a defunct number to be removed.
And this is worse than a printed directory that is updated once a year?
***** Moderator's Note *****
Yes, it is. The purveyors or online directories are re-using phone
book listings and any other source of phone numbers that they can get
for free or cheaply, and then passing themselves off as accurate while
trying to build market share. They aren't doing anything but taking
advantage of the Internet to spare them printing and distribution
costs, and consumers are getting shortchanged.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 04:00:58 +0000 (UTC)
From: "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: More on abandonment of telephone directories
Message-ID: <ig8nhq$g3$1@news.albasani.net>
Matt Simpson <net-news69@jmatt.net> wrote:
>fatkinson.remove-this@and-this-too.mishmash.com wrote:
>>The major problem with the online 'directory assistance' sites is
>>that they are often months behind in updates. It takes months for a
>>new number to appear in it and months for a changed number to be
>>updated. It even takes months for a defunct number to be removed.
>And this is worse than a printed directory that is updated once a year?
>***** Moderator's Note *****
>Yes, it is. The purveyors or online directories are re-using phone
>book listings and any other source of phone numbers that they can get
>for free or cheaply, and then passing themselves off as accurate while
>trying to build market share. They aren't doing anything but taking
>advantage of the Internet to spare them printing and distribution
>costs, and consumers are getting shortchanged.
List consolidators sell information to other list consolidators and the
original source isn't associated with the record. A list with more records,
no matter how inaccurate, sells for more than a list with fewer. This
mitigates against correction.
As a bad record stands as much of a chance as generating hits as a good
record does, there is no economic incentive to make any corrections
or to track a record back to its original source.
Even worse are the number of list consolidators whose hits are used to
feed traffic to sites that sell out of date credit record headers,
pretending to be private investigators. They never tell you what
credit file these headers came from either, and they refuse to
remove listings for inaccuracy or for privacy. Again, there is money
to be made from out-of-date information.
Telephone directories had errors, of course. Generally, they could be
corrected. Today it's become hopeless.
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 10:41:25 -0800
From: jmeissen@aracnet.com
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: The heart of Stuxnet
Message-ID: <201101071841.p07IfPDD000652@server.meissen.org>
On Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:18:17 -0800, David Clayton wrote:
>
> Maybe if the tech-heads specifically pointed out that these things were
> inherently insecure, and using them would open up their organisations to
> all sort of vulnerabilities, then perhaps they may not be used?
>
> I would imagine that there are multiple issues here, firstly the
> information being made clear by those who know, secondly whether it is
> either disregarded (or covered up) on its way to the top, and thirdly if
> those at the top care enough to take notice.
>
They use Windows because that's the platform most developers are trained
to use, there are a plethora of development tools available, with stuff
like .net available prototyping and development is quick and there's
broad platform support already cooked in. In other words, the development
and maintenance cost is considerably less than would be the case for a
more appropriate embedded OS like QNX or VxWorks.
Contract bids only care about initial up-front costs. Same for internal
development projects. Subsequent issues are someone else's problem.
john-
Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 15:40:52 +1100
From: David Clayton <dcstar@myrealbox.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: The heart of Stuxnet
Message-ID: <pan.2011.01.08.04.40.51.600970@myrealbox.com>
On Fri, 07 Jan 2011 10:41:25 -0800, jmeissen wrote:
........
> Contract bids only care about initial up-front costs. Same for internal
> development projects. Subsequent issues are someone else's problem.
>
Sounds like the summary of the Gulf oil spill report, don't it?
--
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.
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 15:56:16 -0800 (PST)
From: "Mark J. Cuccia" <markjcuccia@yahoo.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: A Second Area Code for Saskatchewan, Maybe as Early as 2014
Message-ID: <166025.71071.qm@web31101.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Two recent news articles:
One from Thursday 06-January-2011 from CBC News:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2011/01/06/sk-telephone-area-codes-saskatchewan-110106.html
Another from Friday 07-January-2011 from CKOM-650am News/Talk Radio
in Regina SK:
http://www.newstalk650.com/story/20110107/45383
regarding a second area code for Saskatchewan, maybe as early as 2014.
Glenn Pilley of the CNA (Canadian Numbering Administration) is quoted
in both articles. He states the two options, split and overlay.
The CNA will begin their 306/SK area code relief planning process
starting in February 2011. At this time, there is nothing at the
CNA website, not even as a "placeholder" regarding documentation for
area code relief planning for SK 306. But when the link is established
it will likely be:
http://www.cnac.ca/npa_codes/relief/306/relief_306.htm
which follows the structure for other Canadian area codes' relief
planning webpage URLs. Presently, this URL goes to a "File Not Found"
(404) page.
Canada hasn't had an area code split since Alberta's single area code
since October 1947, split in 1999, with 403 being retained by the
southern third of the Province (includes Calgary AB), and the central
and northern thirds of the Province splitting-and-changing to 780
(includes the Province capital of Edmonton in the central third).
Everything in Canada since that 1999 Alberta area code split has been
OVERLAYS -- three overlays in 2001, two overlays in 2006, two overlays
in 2008 (as well as an overlay expansion), and so forth. In 2008, the
ENTIRE Province of Alberta, both 403 and 780, was overlaid with the
new 587 area code. The overlay expansion in 2008 was for the entire
Province of British Columbia -- in 1996, 604 split, with the Vancouver BC
expanded metro area keeping 604, and the rest of the Province splitting-
and-changing to the new 250 area code -- in 2001, 778 overlaid the
immediate Vancouver BC metro area -- and in 2008, 778 expanded to
overlay the rest of 604 AND also ALL of 250 for the all of the rest of
the Province.
Next year, 2012, the ENTIRE Province of Manitoba 204 will be overlaid
with 431.
I expect that ALL of the Province of Saskatchewan 306 will be overlaid.
The guessed-at code for the overlay is 474, but that hasn't yet been
officially announced, though.
Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 11:20:49 -0700
From: Fred Atkinson <fatkinson.remove-this@and-this-too.mishmash.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: U.S.T.S.
Message-ID: <ca690b8ec2478aa5d38a40daa36c5fed.squirrel@webmail.mishmash.com>
Back when I was working for MCI in the early eighties, we used to
lease circuits from a subsidiary company of I.T.T.. They were known
as U.S.T.S. (United States Transmission Systems).
They seemed to have disappeared off of the radar.
Does anyone know whatever happened to them? Did they go under? Were
they sold off or merge into another I.T.T. company?
Whatever happened to the microwave system of theirs. It was analog
back then but I suspect that if it is still around that it has been
upgraded to digital.
Regards,
Fred
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2011 16:50:11 -0800 (PST)
From: markjcuccia@yahoo.com
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: U.S.T.S.
Message-ID: <669586d0-ca3d-4c77-8e59-18d1adc5e0e5@i18g2000yqn.googlegroups.com>
On Jan 7, 2011, Fred Atkinson wrote:
> Back when I was working for MCI in the early eighties, we used to
> lease circuits from a subsidiary company of I.T.T.. They were known
> as U.S.T.S. (United States Transmission Systems).
>
> They seemed to have disappeared off of the radar.
>
> Does anyone know whatever happened to them? Did they go under?
> Were they sold off or merge into another I.T.T. company?
>
> Whatever happened to the microwave system of theirs. It was analog
> back then but I suspect that if it is still around that it has been
> upgraded to digital.
During the 1980s, the once "mighty" ITT began to dissolve into several
non-telecom related entities that ITT had purchased when they decided
to "diversify" in the 1960s/70s -- remember that ITT bought up Wonder
Bread, Sheraton Hotels, etc. And their (old) name is currently still
associated with technical schools/correspondence courses.
The various telecom entities of ITT -- manufacturing (all forms of
telecom equipment manufacturing: customer premesis equipment, PBXes,
and central office switches), local telcos in several Caribbean/Latin
American countries, and such, were either sold to others (some of the
companies which bought old ITT manufacturing entities themselves have
since gone under or were themselves bought out by others), or went
under.
The US competitive OCC (Other Common Carrier) IXC side of ITT/USTS,
aka "ITT Longer Distance" (the marketing name), ultimately found its
way into MCI (now VeriZon-Business/MCI), due to several mergers or
takeovers, by way of ... "MetroMedia Long Distance" (which BTW was
indeed at one time also associated with the 1960s/70s media company
of the same name which owned radio and TV stations, as well as
produced and syndicated some first-run syndicated TV game shows and
"interview/personality" shows, much MetroMedia's Radio/TV/Broadcasting
side evolved into what is now News Corporation/Murdoch/Fox. BTW,
MetroMedia's Radio/TV side was originally known as the Metropolitan
Broadcasting Company in the late 1950s, which took over most of the
owned-operated TV stations of the defunct 1950s DuMont Television
Network)... and later MetroMedia Long Distance was taken over by
other companies in turn, such as LDDS and then and Worldcom, which
either bought MCI, or maybe MCI later emerged out of Worldcom.
But much of what had been ITT/USTS as an "OCC/IXC" has evolved into
VZ-Business/MCI through various mergers/takovers in the 1980s/90s,
even if the original ITT/USTS network no longer exists.
Mark J. Cuccia
markjcuccia at yahoo dot com
Lafayette LA, formerly of New Orleans LA pre-Katrina
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 02:09:29 +0000 (UTC)
From: wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: U.S.T.S.
Message-ID: <ig8h0p$2qnn$1@grapevine.csail.mit.edu>
In article <669586d0-ca3d-4c77-8e59-18d1adc5e0e5@i18g2000yqn.googlegroups.com>,
<markjcuccia@yahoo.com> wrote:
>The US competitive OCC (Other Common Carrier) IXC side of ITT/USTS,
>aka "ITT Longer Distance" (the marketing name), ultimately found its
>way into MCI (now VeriZon-Business/MCI), due to several mergers or
>takeovers, by way of ... "MetroMedia Long Distance" (which BTW was
>indeed at one time also associated with the 1960s/70s media company
>of the same name which owned radio and TV stations,
Metromedia founder and CEO John Kluge died just last year. He started
Metromedia by acquiring the assets of the failing DuMont television
network from its founder and owner, Allen B. DuMont. Metromedia was
also in the cable TV business, if I recall correctly, but I can't find
immediate corroboration.
-GAWollman
--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wollman@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993
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