---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <C8FDEAFF-C3EA-45B9-9173-5EDD329E856C@roscom.com> Date: Sun, 7 Aug 2016 13:37:06 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Meet Moxie Marlinspike, the Anarchist Bringing Encryption to All of Us Meet Moxie Marlinspike, the Anarchist Bringing Encryption to All of Us ON THE FIRST DAY of the sprawling RSA security industry conference in San Francisco, a giant screen covering the wall of the Moscone Center's cavernous lobby cycles through the names and headshots of keynote speakers: steely-eyed National Security Agency director Michael Rogers in a crisp military uniform; bearded and besuited Whitfield Diffie and Ron Rivest, legendary inventors of seminal encryption protocols that made the Internet safe for communication and commerce. And then there's Moxie Marlinspike, peering somberly into the distance wearing a bicycle jersey and an 18-inch-tall helmet shaped like a giant spear of asparagus. "It was the only picture I could find," Marlinspike deadpans as we walk into the building. https://www.wired.com/2016/07/meet-moxie-marlinspike-anarchist-bringing-encryption-us/ ------------------------------ Message-ID: <4526d9c8-2485-4b99-bf66-8fcfeea007b1@googlegroups.com> Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2016 13:05:40 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Re: Alternatives to AT&T DSL service On Sunday, August 7, 2016 at 12:50:24 PM UTC-4, Bob Prohaska wrote: > What are the keywords to look for in reading terms of service > documents to make sure the service offered is in fact regulated? I'm > in no hurry to change what I have, but in case I get cornered it would > be good to know the "chapter and verse" that best protects my > interests. I am no expert on utility regulation, but in my opinion "regulation" doesn't mean as much as it used to. That is, many public utility companies do as they damn please, and the state and federal regulators do little or nothing. For example, this newsgroup has numerous articles of Verizon abandoning whole neighborhoods or even whole towns, and getting away with it despite public officials screaming about it*. This isn't just telephone companies, but cable, electric, gas, and water companies as well. The news media is full of articles on that as well. In addition, the carriers have been aggressive about getting once regulated services deregulated. Some examples: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/consumer/Parting-thoughts.html http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20160804_Comcast_wants_to_sell_your_Web_history.html http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20160802_ap_1dbb0a9c820b40b2acf784481d0aa440.html So, getting a "regulated" service may not offer you very much protection. * There are personal stories as well. For instance, an elderly neighbor has Verizon landline service. His phone died and was out for ten days. He had to call them repeatedly to come out to fix it-- at first they insisted it was an inside wiring problem, then they insisted the problem was fixed. They finally told him someone was coming out, and he waited all day for a no-show. Finally it got fixed. In the meantime, he to disturb his neighbors to use their phone to call in for help, and calling them was not an effort for the weary. Regulations do not allow for this sort of interruption in service, especially to an elderly person, but that's how it was. ------------------------------ Message-ID: <d93c9175-fb1b-41f4-9522-098fa0c80dbd@googlegroups.com> Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2016 13:14:48 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Re: Good news - the robocalling scourge may not be unstoppable after all On Friday, August 5, 2016 at 4:18:12 PM UTC-4, Monty Solomon wrote: > The calls use computers and the Internet to dial thousands of phone > numbers every minute and promote fraudulent schemes that promise to > lower credit card interest rates, offer loans, and sell home security > products, to name just a few of the scams. Over the past decade, > robocall complaints have mushroomed, with the Federal Trade Commission > often receiving hundreds of thousands of complaints each month. In > 2013, the consumer watchdog agency awarded $50,000 to three groups who > devised blocking systems that had the potential to help end the > scourge. Three years later, however, the robocall problem seems as > intractable as ever. A while ago there was discussion of this on this newsgroup and IIRC, one of the solution to telephone solicitor abuse would've required alternations to the network so as to prevent fraudulent calls from entering it in the first place. However, any software or hardware modifications would have a cost and the carriers have zero interest in spending any money for that. Controls don't have much support in Congress, which allows loopholes in the "do not call" laws big enough to drive a 747 through. Indeed, Congress considered opening up cell phones to sales calls, but fortunately that proposal was voted down. It did have multiple sponsors, though, and that in itself was disturbing. Personally, I don't understand why the FTC, FCC and other government agencies haven't been more aggressive in going after fraudulent callers. (This writer has received numerous fraudulent phone calls from "Internal Revenue Services" threatening me with legal action; something that was reported on national news.) P.S. I know a number of people with pay-as-you-go cell phones. _Every_ incoming call costs them money. Even cell phones get unwanted calls these days, including fraud, despite it being flat out illegal. ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Wed, 10 Aug 2016