Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id WAA08361; Tue, 28 May 1996 22:32:21 -0400 (EDT) Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 22:32:21 -0400 (EDT) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (Patrick A. Townson) Message-Id: <199605290232.WAA08361@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V16 #249 TELECOM Digest Tue, 28 May 96 22:32:00 EDT Volume 16 : Issue 249 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Book Review: "How to Get Your Dream Job Using the Internet" (Rob Slade) BellSouth "Complete Choice" Plan (A. Padgett Peterson) University of Arizona Student Guards His Domain Names (Tad Cook) Around and Around With Jeff Boy (TELECOM Digest Editor) Banned by Motorola - They Don't Like my Homepage! (StarTACt) Yet Another Interesting Twist to the Ongoing Spam Saga (Ron Mackey) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 13:28:09 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "How to Get Your Dream Job Using the Internet" BKHGDJUI.RVW 960515 "How to Get Your Dream Job Using the Internet", Shannon Bounds/Arthur Karl, 1996, 1-883577-68-3, U$29.99/C$41.99 %A Shannon Bounds sbounds@coriolis.com %A Arthur Karl %C 7339 East Acoma Drive, #7, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 %D 1996 %G 1-883577-68-3 %I Coriolis %O U$29.99/C$41.99 800-410-0192 +1-602-483-0192 fax: +1-602-483-0193 %P 366 %T "How to Get Your Dream Job Using the Internet" I realize that marketroids have to design book covers to stand out from the mass, but jackets that overhype the contents still annoy me. Finding a "dream job" on the Internet is fraught with the same problems as the same search in the non-online world. This isn't "The *ONLY* Book" to cover employment explorations on the net. And putting up a resume Web page, by itself, is not going to attract much traffic. The promotional overkill is the more annoying when it serves to divert attention from a genuinely excellent guide which is well worth the attention of *any* job seeker, currently connected or not. Bounds and Karl understand job searching, but, more importantly, they also understand the net. From the Internet Crash Course to Schmoozing Online to Making ASCII Look Good they provide detailed and helpful information that reflects the reality of life and culture online. The advice is solid, the technical details are accurate, and the analysis of online society is insightful. Much of the advice is relevant not only to the unemployed, but also to businesses seeking an Internet presence. CD-ROMs and disks included with books all too often contain a junk pile of random and mostly useless junk. The materials gathered for this CD are varied, so not all items will be of interest to all readers. There will, however, likely be something for everyone, from the more commonly used Internet access tools to resume writing and life goal programs. Long time Internauts will probably find that they know most of the general advice already, but may discover new and helpful resources and sites. Newbies looking for a job, or a better job, are well advised to stop here first. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1996 BKHGDJUI.RVW 960515. Distribution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca rslade@vanisl.decus.ca BCVAXLUG Envoy http://www.decus.ca/www/lugs/bcvaxlug.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 12:51:00 EDT From: A. Padgett Peterson Subject: BellSouth "Complete Choice" Plan Received a mailing from BellSouth over the weekend pitching the "Complete Choice" (sm) plan but it took two phone calls to find the gotcha. At first glance it looked like they were offering many (C)LASS features at a great rate -- Caller-ID, Threeway calling, call forwarding, etc. -- but finally found the "gotcha" -- and it was a big one. The following two lines were bulletized: o You currently pay $26.90 per month for your local phone service and current calling features. o With the *Complete Choice* plan, for just $26 per month (cross) you get local phone service with the features you now enjoy -- and all the calling features you want at no additional cost! o Rates given do not include enhanced 911 surcharges, access charges, directory assistance, inside wire, relay charges, certain optional services, and long distance charges. The first part is true: $10.45 per month base for each of our two lines plus $6.00 for "features") is $26.90, however when I asked for verification of the $26 part for two lines the lady at 800.463.5463 ext 566 got somewhat confused and told me that I needed to call my local billing office. As it turned out, what seems too good to be true (reduced phone charges for more options) was. The charge in the second bullet is $26 *per line* or $52 for my two lines. (Nowhere that I have found does it say that the $26 is per line). I told the local person that the advertisement seemed misleading to me and requested that a complaint be made. Warmly, Padgett ------------------------------ From: Tad Cook Subject: University of Arizona Student Guards His Internet Domain Names Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 23:44:43 PDT University of Arizona Student Guards His Internet Domain Names By James Romenesko, Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Minn. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News May 28--Matthew Grossman collects Internet domain names as trophies. The 21-year-old University of Arizona student has registered dozens of trademark names, including 7up.com., dirtdevil.com and universalstudios. com, only to give them up for token gifts. Grossman asked for and received a case of Seven-Up and a T-shirt for giving up the name to the soft-drink maker. He got ten amusement-park passes when he turned over knotsberryfarm.com. Some of his other transactions: a vacuum cleaner for dirtdevil.com, a case of ice cream for breyers.com, and surfwear for billabong.com. "I always ask for something that really doesn't cost the company," says Grossman, who says he registered about 100 names before Internic -- the firm that handles domain name registrations -- began charging a $100 fee last September. A domain name is the core of your Internet address, whether for e-mail (jdoedomain.com) or on the Web (www.domain.com). On the Internet frontier, domain names have been pretty much doled out to whoever claims them first. While Grossman ended his pursuit for trophies when claims started to cost, others have continued to grab. David Graves, business manager for Internic, says 364,000 domain names have already been registered, and 10,000 are being processed weekly. But some predict the rush will end soon. "Most of the good ones are taken," says David Milligan, who founded a Vancouver, Canada, firm called VanityMail Services, which provides e-mail addresses and Internet domain names for customers. To that, Internic's Graves says yes -- and no. "Among the single simple words, there might not be many left," he notes. "But that doesn't consider the combinations of single, simple words." A domain name can be as long as 27 letters, he says. While the so-called good names are being grabbed, businesses and individuals are still finding suitable alternatives and quickly registering them. InterNet Info, a firm that anaylzes commercial domain name registration, reports that the number of commercial domain names (ending in .com) increased more than 60 percent in the first quarter of 1996. In the same period, the number of organization (.org) names increased 48.8 percent, while education (.edu) names climbed just 8.2 percent. The Bay-area 415 area code zone leads the country with 13,915 registered commercial names, while Manhattan's 212 area is second with 10,822. The Twin Cities 612 zone is 16th with 4,431 names at last count. Corporations take domain names seriously, scarfing up whatever they see as having possible future commercial use. Procter and Gamble has registered not only its many product names, but also diarrhea.com, underarm.com, badbreath.com and a host of other names that involve unpleasant body functions. But no business has been busier than Kraft Foods in registering names; it has 147, says Internet Info. The Gap, a clothing retailer, has covered its bases, too, by securing dozens of names, including gapscents.com, gapcafe.com and gapshoes.com. Robert Metcalfe, president of the Minneapolis-based Internet Broadcasting Corp., offers this simple advice to his clients: "Register your name regardless if you use it now. Protect it." He's scooped up several generic names for himself and customers, including advertise.com, phone.com and commodity.com. His most valuable property, though, is probably theinternet.com, which was a second-choice selection he got in 1994. "I wanted to get ibc.com (for Internet Broadcasting Corporation), but that was taken and I had to get creative. I'm glad because I think theinternet is a much better name." Metcalfe, whose firm offers strategic marketing and Web site development, says he, like many others, is finding that most generic names are taken. "It used to be that a client would get locked out of their name maybe 10 percent of the time," he says. "Now they're getting locked out 70 to 90 percent of the time." Both heaven.com and hell.com have been grabbed, while mafia.org belongs to the Center for The Study of Organized Crime. VanityMail's Milligan is one reason the names are going fast: He's taken nearly every name he can think of, from messiah.com to muslim.com to kissa--.com. "I have control of over 500 special and unique domain names," he says. "It occurred to me early in 1995 that domain names were starting to move and there was some importance to them." With most generic names already claimed, Milligan has taken a new approach in securing names: "In recent weeks I took a new twist and got into phonetics." One of his last acquisitions, he says, was 2die4.com. He's proud of the catch, but says he has no idea what he's going to do with it. Sorry, These Domain Names Are Taken minneapolis.com : The name is registered to a self-described entrepreneur who has never lived in the Twin Cities. "It's basically planned for a business rollout relating to Minneapolis," says registrant Bernard Hicks of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. murder.com : This site is registered to C&C Catering of Alameda, Calif. -- a side business of a husband-and-wife team who both work at Sun Microsystems. "We both have a fondness for murder mysteries and we hope have some mystery parties," says Cathe Ray. "The idea of food and murder goes together quite well sometimes." billgates.com : Dale Ghent, the Middletown, Md., man who registered this name, couldn't be reached. billclinton.com : A Huntington Beach, Calif., man registered the president's name. seinfeld.com : Castle Rock Entertainment, producers of the Seinfeld show, took the name last May. "We're not going to do anything with it until we have a Castle Rock Web site later this year," says Webmaster Jean Wells. peta.com : Two groups are battling for ownership of this name -- People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals and a small group called People Eating Tasty Animals. deadbeat.com : The name is registered to Deadbeat Magazine in Newton, Mass. Appropriately, the publication's phone is disconnected. madonna.com : Minneapolis artist Scott Seekins grabbed this name in January 1995 and uses his Web site (http://www.madonna.com) to display his vast collection of Madonna art, which features both the religious and musician Madonnas. biteme.com : Jim Williams of Richfield says he registered the name during the height of the Communications Decency Act debate, as a protest against Net censorship. lsd.com : Sorry, Timothy Leary, a San Francisco firm called Level Seven Design grabbed this name first. saints.com : "We registered it for a client that produces ceramic religious things," says Tom Moran, CEO of Moran Communications Group of Amherst, N.Y. "'Angels' wasn't available so we took 'saints."' psycho.org : Registered by a German outfit that's simply listed as Psycho. luddite.com : The name is registered to a Boston-area firm called WebMaster Inc., whose phone is disconnected. unabomber.com : Another Boston outfit, Freedom Club, took this name on April 12. klingon.com : Domain owner Patrick Kane says he prefers not to discuss his motivation for securing this name. ----- ON THE INTERNET: Visit PioneerPlanet, the World Wide Web site of the Saint Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press. Point your browser to http://www.pioneerplanet.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 14:20:36 -0500 From: TELECOM Digest Editor Subject: Around and Around With Jeff Boy If you are aware of the sites/account names he's using at present, I'd appreciate the info. Sites he's using are likely not to be very secure and I have a curious friend who can likely find out what Jeff's presence on them is. And a naughty phreak could probably pull the info on his LCI account -- though that would be so illegal and immoral ... Last week I printed a message from someone discussing one of Jeff's latest endeavors: > Eunuchs. Etc. > 1800 351 8085 > Call the 800# ONLY ... we do not reply by email. > We'll Be Happy to DIRECTLY Answer Any Questions! > PLEASE ALLOW 7 DAYS FOR DELIVERY ... INDICATE PC OR MAC FORMAT > Best Success, > Eunuchs, Etc. > 5901 J. Wyoming Blvd. NE Suite 284 > Albuquerque, NM 87109 > P.S. We have perfect ANI. Those who call to harrass will have their > names, addresses and phone numbers posted in alt 2600, phrack,crack and > hack for ALL to have fun. Have a nice day;) I then noted in response: > In one of the few things he has said at one time or anther that is > not a lie, he *does* get ANI on calls to his 800 number, so I can only > suggest that if you wish to call 800 351 8085 you do so from pay phones > or large phone systems where you can *guarentee* for yourself in advance > that the results will be useless to him. Loop arounds also work fine > or what have you. But be forewarned, he is vicious, and anyone who > would actually send him money thinking they were going to get a > product delivered in return is a fool. By the way, that 8501 Wyoming > address is just a maildrop; not a real address, but he is still > probably in the Albuquerque area unless this is our lucky day and for > whatever reason police somewhere arrested him and have him in a lockup. > I do encourage you to discuss your feelings with Jeff on the phone > but be careful when you do. PAT] He appears to no longer be working for LariMar communications. Perhaps it has something to do with all of the phone calls that were received with "perfect ANI" of npa/000-5555 to his number. Or perhaps it has something to do with the fact that their main business 800 number was rerouted to a hispanic sex line. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Larry Host's home number was obtained. Larry Host not being Jeff Slaton it seemed inappropriate to harass him and his wife, but I'm kind of sorry that didn't happen -- he might have been fired earlier. alt.2600 does not consist of many people who know how to do anything, and those who do know how to harass will do so only when personally provoked: not at the behest of Jeff Slaton. Because he is making such arrogant threats, however, it seems as though some people who *really* know what they are doing need to find out a bit more. It might be possible through his 800 account. We'll see if it's still with LCI. PAT ------------------------------ From: StarTACt Subject: Banned by Motorola - They Don't Like my Homepage! Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 17:23:15 -0700 Organization: NJC Motorola cellular does not like my homepage. They sent me a nasty letter. Check it out on my homepage ... http://www.trilli.com/users/jyee ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 May 96 13:52:00 CDT From: rem@dsiinc.com (Ron Mackey) Subject: Yet Another Interesting Twist to the Ongoing Spam Saga Okay, here's a good one for you. 1. Someone spams. 2. I sent email about it to TELECOM Digest. 3. You forward the email with a response to comp.dcom.telecom. 4. An automatic spam canceller sees it there, attempts to cancel it, and blames me for the original spam, and sends me a pretty nasty message. 5. Maybe I should send this to comp.risks now and start the whole thing over. By the way, I never did see your article (other than from the following email that I got). I thought comp.dcom.telecom was immune from spurious cancel messages. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note, added May 28: I am not 'immune' to cancels. I am relatively immune to spam because of the way my traffic is validated at various locations. I do get nearly immediate notice of cancels however and am thus able to re-instate cancelled messages on short notice. All those numbering gaps in c.d.t. last week were cancels issued which I then attempted to re-instate on, only to have those cancelled as well. PAT] Date: Fri, 24 May 1996 13:13:46 -0400 From: clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca To: rem@dsiinc.com Cc: postmaster@dsiinc.com Subject: A posting of yours was cancelled (THINNINGHAIR). > Hi, > This is an automated message (notification number 1). > The posting shown below was automatically cancelled because: > One in a continuing series of thousands of copies of the thinning > hair/minoxydil spam, which has been swatted off several servers so far. > Postmaster: if this posting did not come from your system (which is > often trivially easy to see from the Message-Id), please forward > it on to the postmaster at that site. Thank you. >> Date: Fri, 24 May 96 09:21:00 CDT >> From: rem@dsiinc.com (Ron Mackey) >> Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom >> Subject: Interesting New Spam Twist >> Message-ID: >> Organization: Distributed Systems International, Inc. >> Approved: [comp.dcom.telecom/f3725850b5d51b10815b6cbac3347771] >> X-Submissions-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu >> X-Administrivia-To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu >> X-Ref: Telecom-Digest: Volume 16, Issue 247, Message 4 of 18 >> I've recently seen some interesting SPAM in my days, but this one >> caught my attention because of the threat at the end. >|> From: heinkel@xnet.com (Abram Rutman) >|> Subject: HAIR LOSS?....MINOXIDIL USERS? >|> Organization: XNet - A Full Service Internet Provider - (708) 983-6064 >| >|> Now available in the U.S. PENTADECAN AND FA-BAO 101D. >|> Japan and West Germany's leading treatment for thinning hair. >|> 2.5X more effective than minoxidil. Featured on CNN, NEWSWEEK, >|> NEW YORK TIMES. DOCTOR recommended. For FREE information, >|> please call (1-800) 555 8655 >|> *PLEASE NOTE THAT ANY CALLS NOT PERTAINING TO INFORMATION REQUESTS >|> WILL BE AUTO-BILLED TO ORIGINATING NUMBER UTILIZING >|> LONG DISTANCE SURCHARGES. >|Okay, this guy thinks it's okay to spam 10,000 newgroups with his >|garbage, but doesn't want to be bothered with junk calls himself. >|What I really would like to know is the legality of threatening to >|bill for an 800 call. Does this guy really have any legal recourse >|to stop offending junk calls to his 800 number or are we all free >|to spam his 800-number the same way he's been spamming us? >|[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It probably is not legal and he may be >|able to do it somehow if he has a contract with some sleazy telco >|billing agency. I'd say handle calls to (800) 555 8655 with the same >|discretion as calls to Slaton: see to it whatever ANI they pick up >|is essentially worthless. Everyone passes several payphones in a day's >|time or knows of some trusty looparound. PAT] [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note as of May 28: The part quoted above with brackets and margin symbols originally appeared here Friday and went out to Usenet at the same time. As the writer notes, it got killed on the Usenet side and treated as spam. I've made a few changes in the text above per instructions from Chris Lewis which will probably get it through this time. As the writer also notes, apparently 'spam' can be defined as a discussion of spam itself. Its too bad Usenet has come to this point; that discussions on spam are even needed. The main point of the message appearing here Friday (bracketed part above) was to say that we seem to have the spammers in a bit of a quandry: They do not make any attempt at all to answer email for obvious reasons. They have no real account or place to call 'home' where they can conduct business. As soon as they get on one account or another and issue spam, they quickly get cancelled by that ISP. They know full well they will get buried in worthless email in all cases so that is why their latest thing is 'we do not respond by email.' But yet ... if they cannot have contact with customers and make sales and make some profit in their 'business', then what is the purpose of it all? There has to be some ability -- some gateway -- for customers to reach them, thus now the use of 800 numbers, and it would appear the spammers' toll-free numbers are now getting as badly polluted as their email accounts used to get. Now that their 800 numbers are getting polluted badly, the spammers are wondering what to use next as a way for people to reach them. Email is out; the toll free lines are jammed with harassing calls. Thus the latest technique: a threat that if 'you harass us, we will arrange for the call to be charged to your phone bill' or 'we will see to it that every bus station restroom between Pawtucket and Palos Altos has your phone number written in it 'so all can have fun.' I am not willing to say the threat to post phone numbers and names in undesirable places won't happen. It may. I am not willing to say that having the call charged back to you via some sleazy billing operation won't occur either, but I really doubt it. It is possible the spammers will 'file complaints' with authorities about people who 'harass' them using the phone. Spam will go away when spam becomes unprofitable. There will always be some just as there are still page after page of 'make money fast' advertisements in the tabloid papers each week. I think most new spammers are quickly learning things are not nearly as ripe for picking on the net as they were led to beleive when they ordered their 'how to do it' software from Slaton and others. So gang, we have them in a bit of a bind now: they have to have *some way* for their customers to contact them; they'll probably continue to use 800 numbers with threats made to those who try to drive them out of business with hellish, humongous phone bills month after month which resulted in 'no sale'. So whether it is eight hundred five five five eight six five five, or eight hundred three five one eight oh eight five, remember to use discretion when calling. Sure it makes it harder when you cannot sit at home and have an automatic dialer do it for you, and no doubt the spammers *will* see some relief in their phone bills from now on, but you can still do your part to help bring an end to spam sometime this century. If tomorrow is a nice day, go sit outside in the park on a bench next to a payphone ... when they no longer have email and they no longer have 800 service, *then* where the spammers turn to find a way for their customers -- the people who make all this necessary -- to reach them? PAT] ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 500-677-1616 Fax: 847-329-0572 ** Article submission address: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Our archives are located at mirror.lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* In addition, TELECOM Digest receives a grant from Microsoft to assist with publication expenses. Editorial content in the Digest is totally independent, and does not necessarily represent the views of Microsoft. ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. 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 V16 #249 ******************************