---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <0b428b0e-4a6f-4d8a-bfce-ab51bf074b7b@googlegroups.com> Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 13:41:15 -0800 (PST) From: jhhaynes@earthlink.net Subject: How teleprinter works - and telegram handling in England ca. 1940 (Forwarded from the greenkeys list) From: ralph irish <w8roi@wowway.com> To: Telecom Digest <telecomdigestsubmissions@remove-this.telecom-digest.org> This video is worth 11 minutes of your time, to be sure. - Although the machinery used is not that built by TELETYPE, it goes into great detail about codes, code bars and switching. - All done at very slow speed, with special visual gadgets to get the idea of "ON-OFF" switching to create the individual characters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcMHam54EOI&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs ***** Moderator's Note ***** I have a fondness for Teletype machines, and I learned to type on a Model 19 at the M.I.T. radio club, so I'm publishing this as a bit of whimsy for Telecom Digest readers. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <C7E8DFBF-F57B-4BF1-AE35-C255FFFD1549@roscom.com> Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 11:36:12 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Your Selfies Are Insecure. Here's How to Encrypt Them Your Selfies Are Insecure. Here's How to Encrypt Them ... Encryption shouldn't be synonymous with bad design. Check out Signal, an app made by the crew at Open Whisper Systems that allows for secure, encrypted text messaging and phone calls between Android and Apple phones. Plus it's ad-free and costs nothing -- a perk of the company being a non-profit. http://www.wired.com/2016/01/secure-messaging-apps/ ***** Moderator's Note ***** It will be interesting to see if cellular users choose security over speed: given that ads are the big profit center for content providers, the efforts to seek lizard-brain keywords for them will continue, but the fact that they are being shown won't change no matter how well they're targeted, so I don't see much of a future for encryption apps. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <55A2D36E-4D18-489A-85BA-A2CFDDFED6F1@roscom.com> Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 11:14:31 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Analysis and Exploitation of a Linux Kernel Vulnerability Analysis and Exploitation of a Linux Kernel Vulnerability (CVE-2016-0728) The Perception Point Research team has identified a 0-day local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel. While the vulnerability has existed since 2012, our team discovered the vulnerability only recently, disclosed the details to the Kernel security team, and later developed a proof-of-concept exploit. As of the date of disclosure, this vulnerability has implications for approximately tens of millions of Linux PCs and servers, and 66 percent of all Android devices (phones/tablets). While neither us nor the Kernel security team have observed any exploit targeting this vulnerability in the wild, we recommend that security teams examine potentially affected devices and implement patches as soon as possible. http://perception-point.io/2016/01/14/analysis-and-exploitation-of-a-linux-ke rnel-vulnerability-cve-2016-0728/ ***** Moderator's Note ***** This MIGHT affect Android phones IF an exploit gets into the wild. Stay tuned. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20160125144303.GA28425@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2016 09:43:03 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: How to deal with a power outage according to Verizon I just got an email from Verizon yesterday (1/24/2016, 20:07 UTC), with the subject "Jonas is coming, are you ready"? ... and it contains advice such as "The most common storm-related occurance is a power outage which can affect your Verizon services." Verizon advises that, in order to deal with a power outage ... 1. To resolve most issues, unplug and reconnect your Verizon equipment. 2. Didn't work? Visit verizon.com/outage for answers to common questions or to submit a repair request. The email closes with the admonition to "Stay warm and stay safe". In short, it reminds me of the laughable missives the good old Ma Bell PR department used to send: it was the home of Daddy's boys and Momma's girls with vaguely defined missions and even more vaguely defined duties; a place where the most important job qualification was having a relative at fourth-line or above. Bill -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ***** Moderator's Note ***** According to the New York Times, the Weather Channel has been naming storms with the aid of the Latin club at the High School in Bozeman, MT. The Weather Channel gets a lot of free publicity out of it, but I don't think the Bozeman High School is to blame. Bill Horne Moderator ------------------------------ Message-ID: <n81qpd$dgh$1@grapevine.csail.mit.edu> Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 06:25:49 +0000 (UTC) From: wollman@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) Subject: Re: Netflix's Opaque Disruption Annoys Rivals on TV In article <barmar-9DB772.22243423012016@88-209-239-213.giganet.hu>, Barry Margolin <barmar@alum.mit.edu> wrote: >The broadcast networks don't have the technical ability to measure their >audiences directly, like Netflix can, so they need to use a third party >like Nielsen. My guess is that they could have gotten the data >exclusively (along with it being shared with advertisers, who are the >ones that really care), but Nielsen would have charged much more for >that; so Nielsen releases the data to the public, and the >networks/advertisers get to use it as well. No, Nielsen does not "release the data to the public". Only the unimportant "top line" ratings numbers are made public -- these are not the numbers advertising decisions are based on. It is absolutely true that Netflix has no need for third-party ratings, but that's only because they don't sell advertising. Advertisers do not in general accept unaudited, seller-generated audience figures: there's simply too much room for dishonesty. Of course, a lot of the "honest" numbers advertisers do use are in fact bogus, but since everyone is using the same wrong numbers, this keeps the playing field level. (There are still legitimate disputes over the reliability of ratings data, but most of the error is thought to be a result of sampling, and therefore should average out over time. Problems with ratings methodology other than sampling may contribute to consistent, systematic errors -- resulting, for example, in certain kinds of radio formats being either under- or over-rated depending on who you ask.) That said, many non-advertising-supported broadcasts are covered by the ratings at the behest (and expense) of their advertising-selling rivals: even some private in-store "radio" services are encoded for the radio ratings by Nielsen Audio, because it helps create a more accurate picture for advertisers looking to buy particular demographics.[1] What I'm sure must be frustrating to the commercial TV people is that they need Netflix's cooperation to allow Netflix's streaming service to be measured for TV ratings, and Netflix hasn't been offered enough money yet to accommodate their desires. Since Netflix has no incentive to bear the very real costs of doing so on its own, the situation is likely to remain stalemated. -GAWollman [1] These services do not appear in the "top line" ratings Nielsen Audio makes available to the public in PPM-measured markets, but Nielsen customers can pay for studies to be done that include them, and of course some of those stores do advertise on radio and TV and use the ratings as buyers. --

Garrett A. Wollman wollman@bimajority.org Opinions not shared by my employers.

What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft repeated, than the story of a large research program that impaled itself upon a false central assumption accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993

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