Date: 16 Aug 2000 00:09:27 -0400 Message-ID: <20000816040927.11357.qmail@xuxa.iecc.com> From: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org (Telecom Digest) To: telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Subject: Telecom Digest V2000 #23 Reply-To: editor@telecom-digest.org Sender: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Errors-To: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Precedence: bulk X-UIDL: af608b8e9b6a89c3a6831804fcb39d5c Status: RO X-Status: Telecom Digest Wednesday, August 16 2000 Volume 2000 : Number 023 In this issue: Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Re: eFax beholden to spammers? Re: eFax beholden to spammers? RE: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Re: DSL Line V & H Coordinates Nortel buys Sonoma; other telecom news from Network World Re: DSL Line 866/855 toll-free now properly Database dipped (via LATA tndm) by BellSouth Mobility New Orleans Re: eFax beholden to spammers? Re: Where have all the phone booths gone? Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Re: Robo-Moderation ICANN Elections Legal AT&T Wireless LD slam Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Nosy Bosses Face Limits on E-Mail Spying--Workers Gain New Freedoms Re: Legal AT&T Wireless LD slam Net marketing firm receiving personal information Privacy Report Criticizes 'Infomediaries' Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Lieberman's Privacy 'Tap' Dance 8/15/00 ICBTollFree.Com HEADS UP HEADLINES Boston Company Causes Concern for Web Privacy Advocates Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Re: Legal AT&T Wireless LD slam Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 15 Aug 2000 06:57:39 -0400 From: "David Perrussel" Subject: Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Its one of the oldest tricks in the book back when long distance calls were very expensive. I hardly know of anyone doing it these days though, hence that's probably why AT&T and other carriers are laughing rather than having their lawyers file a lawsuit against GEICO (IMHO, it stands for Gone Ever If Crashed Once) Dave Perrussel Webmaster - Telephone World http://phworld.tal-on.com Date: 14 Aug 2000 18:30:18 -0400 From: Alistair Gale Subject: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service If I were management at a LD carrier, I would be siccing my lawyers onto GEICO. Their latest TV ad shows a guy making a collect call from a hospital to announce the birth of his son, he is speaking to some automated system: - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 09:15:27 -0400 From: sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net (Steve Sobol) Subject: Re: eFax beholden to spammers? >Although we do not sell or >rent any personally identifiable information about you to any third >party, we may, in certain >cases where you access our site from other third party sites, release >your email address >to such third party. We do not disclose certain pieces of information, >Seems innocuous enough, no? Now check this statement from Ronald >Brown, eFax.com's president, which is on their own website under the >heading "EFAX.COM ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER RESULTS": > > >"Advertising revenues in the quarter increased to over $300,000 as we >implemented a wider range of sales partnerships to bring banner >advertising to our eFax MessengerT client software, and we continued to >build revenue from email list rental. The strong demographics of our >user >base make an ideal audience for advertisers to reach business customers >through our directed email advertising and our banner traffic. At the >end of >the quarter we had more than 85,000 paid subscribers and over 2.3 >million >total registered users of eFax.com's services." > > >Scuze me? "email list rental"? Doesn't the privacy statement >specifically prohibit this? "directed email advertising?" Huh? Isn't >that... gasp... spam? Geez, no wonder the spam content in my mailbox >has gone up so much over the last few months... The answer is this: If they only rent out addresses where people have given permission, there is no problem. I use a tagged e-mail address, so I'd know if I was getting spam to the address I use for eFax -- and I haven't gotten any to date. >Are any of us surprised that NASDAQ has delisted (as of August 9th) >this bunch of hypocrites? > >I'd cancel my account, but I'd still be on their spam list, so I may as >well stay on and continue getting something out of the deal... sigh... I'm going to keep an eye out for spam from them. - -- North Shore Technologies, Cleveland, OH http://NorthShoreTechnologies.net Steve Sobol, BOFH - President, Chief Website Architect and Janitor Linux Instructor, PC/LAN Program, Natl. Institute of Technology, Akron, OH sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net - 888.480.4NET - 216.619.2NET - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 10:10:23 -0400 From: Dave Garland Subject: Re: eFax beholden to spammers? >implemented a wider range of sales partnerships to bring banner >advertising to our eFax MessengerT client software, Their recent fax viewer "upgrade" contains a banner ad and a few advertising buttons that refresh when you start up the program, if you have an internet connection open. Unless you are running a firewall like ZoneAlarm (freeware, and highly recommended), which denies them access. Mildly annoying, but hardly a serious breach of privacy. >and we continued to build revenue from email list rental. I use a distinctive email address with them, and aside from their newsletter have never received _any_ mail to that address. >The strong demographics of our user base make an ideal audience > for advertisers When one signs up for a service like efax, there is often a demographic questionnaire. Remember, "on the Internet nobody knows you're a dog". Perhaps the reason I don't see any spam is that their demographics show me to be a 97 year old retired preacher living in a refrigerator carton and getting my Internet connection with a 300 baud accoustic modem at a pay phone. To drag this back slightly on-topic, I signed up with several services like efax (ok, so I'm personally responsible for the exhaustion of numberspace). Efax in particular works well, and enabled me to drop a telephone line, saving $40/month. No significant ill effects. Note that if your fax line is critical, prudence dictates having a fallback plan in case efax suddenly goes away. - -Dave - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 10:35:44 -0400 From: "Green, Andrew" Subject: RE: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service > then we cut to the new grandparents sitting room: > "Will you accept a collect call from John We Had a Baby Boy?" > "Sorry wrong number". > Cut back to John placing another automated collect call...... > > Tagline about "If you want to save money ...GEICO..blah > blah....." > > I guess this is the ultimate in packetized voice! But this > Very Large Corp. seems to be encouraging fraud against > other VLCs. Any thoughts? Harmless, ranking right up there with car commercials showing speeds in excess of 55 mph. I seem to recall a Saturn ad showing similar cost-saving crime by a penny-pinching car buyer, who'd sneak his own laundry into a commercial dryer still running on the previous customer's quarter, and that sort of thing. I know I'm veering off-topic here, but I personally got a _lot_ more worked up over an idiotic radio ad for Land Rover that spoofs Herb Morrison's anguished radio commentary during the Hindenburg air disaster, in which something like 39 people died. They reworded the commentary from a description of a flaming crash into, of all things, a description of a free oil change. What makes this particularly moronic is that the _only_ people who would recognize the attempted cleverness of the ad are the same people who would know that it parodies a fatal crash report. Amazing. - -- Andrew C. Green (312) 853-8331 Datalogics, Inc. 101 N. Wacker, Ste. 1800 http://www.datalogics.com Chicago, IL 60606-7301 Fax: (312) 853-8282 - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 12:11:03 -0400 From: Mickey Ferguson Subject: Re: DSL Line Steve Sobol wrote in message news:slrn8phhlm.m0u.sjsobol@amethyst.nstc.com... > This is cool. Qwest (and USWest before them) had a bad reputation. In > fact, USWest was known to be completely clueless about DSL. It's nice to > know that someone actually got good service from a telco (for a change!) > > Those of us in PacBell/NevadaBell/SBC/Ameritech territory do not tend to > be quite as lucky. Worse yet for those of us in GTE/Verizon land. When I lived in Ohio (in Wadsworth, just a stone's throw from Akron), the service was pathetic. When I moved to Northern California and PacBell land, service was much better. Now that I'm in SoCal and back in GTE territory, service is pathetic again. And from what I've seen, GTE/Verizon is WAY behind in their DSL setups. And what about price? If I were in PacBell land, their price is $39.95/mo. including ISP, with free installation and hardware. Not so in GTE/Verizon - $49.95/mo. They simply don't have the competition, or don't care. I had been trying to get signed up with FreeDSL, since I'm in one of their early rollout regions. FreeDSL keeps telling me that GTE and now Verizon won't respond to them concerning getting my line set up. Now this could be a lie, that FreeDSL simply can't get their act together. But meanwhile I'm left without service. I can't justify an additional $40 (or even $30) per month just for DSL service, when I'm paying less than $10/mo. for very consistent 56K service (almost always getting at least 48K connection) with a local ISP. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 12:20:53 -0400 From: "Bob Edmonds" Subject: V & H Coordinates Do you know how I can get V & H Coordinate tables that would be used on a computer system for least costing routing determinations? Bob Edmonds =20 - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 15:02:27 -0400 From: "Adam Gaffin" Subject: Nortel buys Sonoma; other telecom news from Network World Nortel buys access-gear maker Sonoma Nortel Networks Tuesday announced a definitive agreement to acquire Sonoma Systems, a maker of customer-premises access products employed by major carriers in their managed services. http://www.nwfusion.com/edge/news/2000/0815edgesono.html Gov't to review CLEC access to Project Pronto FCC says it's re-examining collocation, local-loop rules for DSL services provided off neighborhood terminals. http://www.nwfusion.com/edge/news/2000/0814edgefccrecon.html Reins change hands at Cable & Wireless Cable & Wireless North America is getting another new president. The company announced Monday that Wharton "Zie" Rivers is leaving the company and that Alan Gibbs is taking over as president. http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2000/0814candw.html Adam Gaffin Executive Editor, Network World Fusion agaffin@nww.com / (508) 490-6433 "Mediocrity fever grips Hub" - P.1, Boston Globe, 7/31/97 - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 15:21:08 -0400 From: ellis@ftel.net (Rick Ellis) Subject: Re: DSL Line In article , Mickey Ferguson wrote: >Worse yet for those of us in GTE/Verizon land. When I lived in Ohio (in >Wadsworth, just a stone's throw from Akron), the service was pathetic. When >I moved to Northern California and PacBell land, service was much better. >Now that I'm in SoCal and back in GTE territory, service is pathetic again. >And from what I've seen, GTE/Verizon is WAY behind in their DSL setups. What kind of problems are you having? I have GTE DSL and it's been fine for the last 1.5 years. - -- http://www.fnet.net/~ellis/photo/ - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 16:19:42 -0400 From: Mark J Cuccia Subject: 866/855 toll-free now properly Database dipped (via LATA tndm) by BellSouth Mobility New Orleans After several calls back and forth with BSMobility in Baton Rouge / New Orleans, as well as Atlanta Corp.HQ, the New Orleans LA NWORLAIYCM3 (Ericsson) MTSO in New Orleans is properly translating/routing 866/855 toll-free SACs via the New Orleans and Metairie (suburb) LATA tandems for database-dipping, the database returning the "CIC" of the LD-carrier that the called toll-free number's customer has chosen, and then the LATA tandem handing the call over to that "CIC" indicated LD-carrier. Previously, BSMobility was defaulting _ALL_ 866/855 dialed calls over to the calling customer's default chosen "PIC". In my case, AT&T via their OSPS and 4E in Jackson MS. That's fine _IF_ the dialed 866/855 number happens to be one provided by AT&T. But if the 866/855 dialed number is one provided by someone _OTHER_ than AT&T, then the call is rejected by AT&T. All toll-free dialed calls _MUST_ be database-dipped _FIRST_UPFONT_ to determine _WHICH_ LD-carrier is to handle that toll-free call! The tech-rep in Baton Rouge with BSMobility took down the info I gave her as to NANPA's and TRA's websites (she'd never heard of NANPA nor TRA nor Bellcore/Telcordia), and checked with Atlanta. The MTSO switch-man wouldn't re-route 866/855 to the LATA tandem rather than the calling cellular customer's "PIC" until he had authorization from above from Atlanta HQ, even though he know that 866/855 and even 844/833/822 have been coming soon. When the Baton Rouge tech-rep informed Atlanta HQ of the situation as well as NANPAs and TRAs website information, Atlanta "gave authorization" to the switch-man at the New Orleans MTSO, and now the calls route properly. (I don't know if 844/833/822 are re-routed via the LATA tndm yet or not. I'll have to dial something with these SACs and see if I'm rejected by AT&T in Jackson MS, or if I'm rejected by the BellSouth landline LATA-tandem). MJC - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 17:51:09 -0400 From: abuse@cabal.org.uk (Peter Corlett) Subject: Re: eFax beholden to spammers? Joey Lindstrom wrote: [...] > Scuze me? "email list rental"? Doesn't the privacy statement specifically > prohibit this? "directed email advertising?" Huh? Isn't that... gasp... > spam? Geez, no wonder the spam content in my mailbox has gone up so much > over the last few months... This is pretty much why I don't give abuse@cabal.org.uk as my email address to online signup forms. I figure that having a localpart (the bit before the @) of "abuse" is sufficient to deter Usenet trawlers, but not signup forms, where the address is arguably more "validated". The localpart is thus customised for each service I sign up for, so I can switch them off individually if I get spammed. It's probably worth noting that I haven't had spam to any of the service specific addresses above and beyond what was agreed at signup. It's certainly worth noting that all these services are within the EU and thus sale of my personal information isn't permitted by law, unlike the US where such data seems to be considered a company asset to be sold when things are tight. As a side amusement, I registered a throwaway domain that's a common typo of a popular UK domain as a bit of an experiment, and I accept all mail directed at it (barring those listed in the RBL or are otherwise rejected at the SMTP layer.) After four months, its mailbox has about 600 items of which is about 50% mistyped one-to-one private mail, and 50% spam. Almost all of the spam originates in the US, and frequently from large US corporations that should know better. One such company now has their entire netblock in the RBL after they moved their mailserver when the original address was blacklisted so they could keep churning out spam. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 17:51:10 -0400 From: abuse@cabal.org.uk (Peter Corlett) Subject: Re: Where have all the phone booths gone? Peter Morgan wrote: [...] > Thanks for the photo. Nice to see a traditional red box. You may be > unaware that they are not as widely distributed as they were... They are > being replaced, unfortunately, by altogether less sound- proof boxes, > where traffic noise enters by way of a 3" gap at the bottom... which does > at least mean they are easier to keep clean, and much less smelly ! I think it may also depend on the area. The local payphone in this bit of Fulham is a traditional red box - because it's a very low crime area, BT's maintenance is probably little more than painting it occasionally and changing the adverts. If it's not been vandalised, BT don't really have an excuse to replace it. Contrast with other bits of London: Phoning for your pizza on a Friday night, you will be standing in the remains of a "modern" phonebox, and several inches of glass. These might have been red phone boxes once, but it's very labour intensive to replace all those little panes of glass. (You may not get your pizza either. Reputedly, after an incident where a driver got beat up and his bike and money stolen when trying to deliver to West Kensington, they refuse delivery there.) > [...] all the boxes were at something like 40 degrees off vertical, > because an Oak or similar tree was pushing the first and the others went > like dominoes. I'd bet that apart from replacing a few panes of glass, those phone boxes were in fine condition. I wouldn't have thought that there'd be much salvageable from one of their newer phone boxes. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 17:55:53 -0400 From: pw@panix.com (Paul Wallich) Subject: Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service In article <20000814172840.A7047@caribsurf.com>, alistair@caribsurf.com wrote: >If I were management at a LD carrier, I would be siccing >my lawyers onto GEICO. > >Their latest TV ad shows a guy making a collect call >from a hospital to announce the birth of his son, he is speaking >to some automated system: >First Name: "John" >Last Name: "We had a baby boy", >then we cut to the new grandparents sitting room: >"Will you accept a collect call from John We Had a Baby Boy?" >"Sorry wrong number". >Cut back to John placing another automated collect call...... > >Tagline about "If you want to save money ...GEICO..blah blah....." > >I guess this is the ultimate in packetized voice! But this Very Large >Corp. seems to be encouraging fraud against other VLCs. Any thoughts? Considering that in their other ads they have people firing off cannons aimed at their own heads and similar "humorous" behaviors (and also considering that the insurance industry is one of the few that has way more lawyers than telecom) that would be a good way for GEICO to get a bunch more publicity. paul so does connecting a phone call cost _anything_ anymore? - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 18:08:23 -0400 From: abuse@cabal.org.uk (Peter Corlett) Subject: Re: Robo-Moderation wrote: [...] > I suggest some form of 'team moderation', based on something like the > STUMP software. This eliminates the dependence on one single person having > the time to "do it right". I do hope that's "something like STUMP" and not STUMP itself. I've had the "delight" of using it to comoderate a group, and it wasn't pretty. While it works, do not believe the hype on Igor's web page, and do take time to review the source code to ensure it does what you think it does. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 19:50:06 -0400 From: "Judith Oppenheimer" Subject: ICANN Elections For those of you who registered to vote in the upcoming ICANN elections, you can now, and for the next two weeks, formally endorse a candidate seeking to make the final ballot. The endorsement URL is https://members.icann.org/cgi-bin/atlarge/endorse.cgi. (The endorsement process is simply to determine who makes the final ballot. You could endorse a candidate for ballot purposes and then vote for someone else in October, when the election is held.) ICB endorses Karl Auerbach. His platform (proposing significant, much needed reform of ICANN ) is at http://www.cavebear.com/ialc/platform.htm. ... and many of his writings and essays can be found in ICB's Editorial Section. ICB's Domain Name Survey of At Large Member Nominees is at http://icbtollfree.com/txt/icbsurveyresults.htm. (Registration required. Names/contact info not divulged sold leased rented shared whispered etc.) You can read the nominees' ICANN candidate pages here: https://members.icann.org/nom.html. To endorse a candidate, you'll first need to activate your membership. To activate, you'll need your membership number, password and PIN. You can activate here: http://members.icann.org/members_only.htm. The reminder URL to have your membership number and password e-mailed to you is at https://members.icann.org/reminder.access.html. Your PIN was sent via postal mail. You can only endorse *one* candidate, so you might take the time to read the candidate pages and survey responses etc. carefully. Judith Oppenheimer Judith Oppenheimer, +1 212 684-7210, 1 800 The Expert Publisher, http://www.icbtollfree.com/testimny.cfm Register for FREE 800/Dot Com Headlines here: http://www.icbtollfree.com/reg.cfm?NextURL=Index.cfm - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 20:16:57 -0400 From: Lloyd Matthews Subject: Legal AT&T Wireless LD slam I have been using MCI's long distance 5c/minute plan on my AT&T Wireless Services cellphone-no way would I pay their 15c a minute. Recently I got a letter saying AT&T Wireless Services changed my wireless LD carrier to themselves. I called Customer Service and explained that I did not authorize this, switch me back now, please. Customer Service replied that AT&T had given the FCC a sob story about billing problems with other LD carriers, and had asked if the FCC would authorize AT&T forcibly switching all their wireless customers' LD to themselves. The FCC agreed, and that's that. How exactly does this legalized slamming work? I thought Congress passed laws against this sort of thing. The fact that the FCC would collude with a carrier to slam customers really annoys me. So, can anybody recommend a cheap calling card (especially for in-state CA calls)? Or prepaid? Anything but AT&T.... - -- - --Thanks! Lloyd Matthews - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 20:37:19 -0400 From: "Ed Ellers" Subject: Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Paul Wallich wrote: "so does connecting a phone call cost _anything_ anymore?" It does in the sense that you need switching hardware (and accompanying software) to do the job, and that gear has to be scaled to the point where it can handle the specified load most of the time, so the cost has to be paid for by charging the people who are placing that load on the equipment. (The cost of switching a call is probably a helluva lot lower than the cost of *billing* that call. From what I've heard, the only thing stopping the development of flat-rate long distance is the need to pay X cents per minute to the local phone companies at each end, reportedly quite a bit more than the actual cost of transmission!) - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 20:40:22 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Nosy Bosses Face Limits on E-Mail Spying--Workers Gain New Freedoms Nosy Bosses Face Limits on E-Mail Spying--Workers Gain New Freedoms By now most of us know that employers may legally monitor or censor messages sent over company e-mail wires. But recently, some workers have successfully challenged blanket e-mail censorship by using, of all things, the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. In two cases that could have broad repercussions, the National Labor Relations Board's Office of the General Counsel successfully intervened on behalf of workers fired for using company e-mail in ways that upset their employers. http://www.pcworld.com/shared/printable_articles/0,1440,17757,00.html - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 20:42:47 -0400 From: sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net (Steve Sobol) Subject: Re: Legal AT&T Wireless LD slam >>From 'Lloyd Matthews': > How exactly does this legalized slamming work? I thought Congress >passed laws against this sort of thing. The fact that the FCC would >collude with a carrier to slam customers really annoys me. Are we absolutely sure that wireless is subject to the anti-slamming regs as landline service is? Most of the landline regs don't apply. GTE (well, Alltel now) forces me to use them, and I can't use a 10-10 code, and a calling card is a hassle to use. (Of course, I'm on a no-LD calling package, so it doesn't matter much anymore) - -- North Shore Technologies, Cleveland, OH http://NorthShoreTechnologies.net Steve Sobol, BOFH - President, Chief Website Architect and Janitor Linux Instructor, PC/LAN Program, Natl. Institute of Technology, Akron, OH sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net - 888.480.4NET - 216.619.2NET - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 21:32:19 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Net marketing firm receiving personal information Net marketing firm receiving personal information WASHINGTON--An Internet marketing company is secretly receiving names and addresses of customers visiting some popular e-commerce sites, which one privacy group called "unforgivable." http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2403836.html - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 21:32:20 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Privacy Report Criticizes 'Infomediaries' Privacy Report Criticizes 'Infomediaries' It says Toysrus.com and others may violate privacy standards by not telling customers about contracts with a data-collection firm. By Elinor Abreu A new report released by Internet security firm Interhack, based in Columbus, Ohio, warns that the practice of outsourcing data collection on the activities of Web site visitors creates significant potential for privacy breaches. http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/1,1151,17328,00.html - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 21:38:08 -0400 From: John_David_Galt@acm.org Subject: Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service Alistair Gale wrote: > I guess this is the ultimate in packetized voice! But this Very Large > Corp. seems to be encouraging fraud against other VLCs. Any thoughts? One could equally argue that the Nissan ad showing high speed on the Autobahn encouraged speeding, or that a recent Pepsi TV ad encourages dangerous skydiving stunts. I think the only problem here is some people's limited sense of humor. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 22:36:43 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Lieberman's Privacy 'Tap' Dance Lieberman's Privacy 'Tap' Dance by Declan McCullagh 7:53 a.m. Aug. 15, 2000 PDT LOS ANGELES -- The Democratic Party platform that delegates will adopt this week embraces personal privacy despite the checkered voting record of its vice presidential candidate. During his 12 years in the Senate, Connecticut's Joseph Lieberman has supported regulations on medical data collection while at the same time championing expanded surveillance powers for law enforcement. http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,38207,00.html - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2000 22:49:20 -0400 From: "Judith Oppenheimer" Subject: 8/15/00 ICBTollFree.Com HEADS UP HEADLINES ************************************************************************* ICBTollFree.Com HEADS UP HEADLINES ************************************************************************* from ICB Toll Free News - Daily News and Intelligence covering the Political, Legal and Marketing Arenas of 800 and Dot Com. ************************************************************************* CONTENTS - - NANC 800 IMG UPDATE - - ENDORSE YOUR CANDIDATE FOR THE ICANN ELECTION - - DOT COMS AND BRANDING - - E.164 NUMBER AND DNS - - TEXT PAYPHONES LAUNCHED IN THE UK - - STANDARD COMMUNICATIONS FOR PORTABILITY - - WHAT'S NU? CHRISTIES.NU ************************************************************************* CUSTOMER SERVICE NOTES: ICB Premium Service is on Summer Sale for $99 for a 12 month subscription, including access to all 'P' articles and Premium areas of the web site. (regular price $549) SUMMER'S ALMOST OVER - ACT NOW! - http://www.icbtollfree.com/order.cfm ICB is a popular research destination, with all content archived indefinitely. Find all ICB headlines, current and archived, at http://www.icbtollfree.com/icbheadlns.cfm. CORRECTION The correct URL for yesterday's editorial EU CULTURE OF POLITICS, AND THE INTERNET is http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4319. ************************************************************************ ARTICLE ACCESS CODE LEGEND ICB Toll Free News offers two valuable service options: F = Free - News and Features articles P = Premium - Unlimited Site Access including all Articles and Documents. ************************************************************************* HEADLINES FOR August 15, 2000 P - NANC 800 IMG UPDATE IMG recommendation outline, scope, timeline. CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4333 F - ENDORSE YOUR CANDIDATE FOR THE ICANN ELECTION For those of you who registered to vote in the upcoming ICANN elections, you can now, and for the next two weeks, formally endorse a candidate seeking to make the final ballot. The endorsement URL is https://members.icann.org/cgi-bin/atlarge/endorse.cgi. For more information and links, read full article. CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4334 F - DOT COMS AND BRANDING How do top ad agency pros view domain names and their role in branding marketing on the Web? Guest Feature: interview with Young & Rubicam's Stephen Jiranek and Don Kelly from Margeotes, Fertitta & Partners. CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4331 ************************************************************************* **************************************************advertisements********* FT Telecom Conferences In its 20th year, this event will bring leading personalities in the telecomms industry to discuss opportunities and challenges which technological advancement, increased competition and restructuring will pose to the future of global telecommunications. Book before 1/09/00 to receive your 10% discount. www.ftconferences.com/dynamic/conferences/ftwt00.htm?bn=icb ************************************************************************* EVERY 3.6 SECONDS SOMEONE DIES FROM HUNGER http://www.hungersite.com/ ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* more HEADLINES FOR August 15, 2000 P - E.164 NUMBER AND DNS E.164 number and DNS Proposed Standard defines how DNS can be used for identifying available services related to one E.164 number. CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4335 F - TEXT PAYPHONES LAUNCHED IN THE UK They feature a screen for text and graphics and a keyboard to write and send e-mails, as well as text messages to mobile phones. CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4336 P - STANDARD COMMUNICATIONS FOR PORTABILITY Many customers don't know how portability works, which "can cause customers to become frustrated and in some cases their toll free number can be put out of service." CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4332 P - WHAT'S NU? CHRISTIES.NU First country code domain name dispute decision awarded. CONTINUED HERE: http://www.icbtollfree.com/article.cfm?articleId=4330 ************************************************************************* **************************************************advertisements********* TelecomCareers.net - Cutting Edge Telecom Careers, #1 Telecom Job Site! http://TelecomCareers.net ************************************************************************* >>>>>>>>>>>>> http://1800TheExpert.com <<<<<<<<<<<<< 800 & Domain Name Acquisition Management, Lost/Stolen 800 # Retrieval, Litigation Support, Regulatory Navigation, Correlating Domain Name & Trademark Matters. ************************************************************************* Read TOLLFREE-L online at http://www.egroups.com/group/tollfree-l/info.html ************************************************************************* ABOUT ICB ICB HeadsUp Headlines Daily Email is sent by request. Subscriptions are free to qualified applicants. 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All rights reserved. ************************************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 23:21:08 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Boston Company Causes Concern for Web Privacy Advocates Tuesday, August 15, 2000 Boston Company Causes Concern for Web Privacy Advocates BOSTON - A Boston-based company is tracking the information consumers are getting from pharmaceutical companies' Web sites, a practice that is raising concern among Internet privacy advocates. Pharmatrak knows if people have been checking information on impotence, AIDS or any other medical condition. Pharmatrak then shares that information with the drug companies -- and the Web surfer may never know. http://www.whdh.com/news/local10.shtml - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 23:27:32 -0400 From: pw@panix.com (Paul Wallich) Subject: Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service In article <0b7a50836001080CPIMSSMTPE01@msn.com>, "Ed Ellers" wrote: >Paul Wallich wrote: > >"so does connecting a phone call cost _anything_ anymore?" > >It does in the sense that you need switching hardware (and accompanying >software) to do the job, and that gear has to be scaled to the point where >it can handle the specified load most of the time, so the cost has to be >paid for by charging the people who are placing that load on the equipment. >(The cost of switching a call is probably a helluva lot lower than the cost >of *billing* that call. From what I've heard, the only thing stopping the >development of flat-rate long distance is the need to pay X cents per minute >to the local phone companies at each end, reportedly quite a bit more than >the actual cost of transmission!) A few months ago, I saw a presentation by some exec from worldcom (he was talking about what a wonderful thing that merger -- since blocked -- would be) and I seem to recall a pie chart with something like 17% of costs going to operational stuff like switching ops and hardware, with billing a larger chunk and marketing just under 50% of the total. It's become a strange business. paul - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 15 Aug 2000 23:57:52 -0400 From: quonk@my-deja.com Subject: Re: Legal AT&T Wireless LD slam > How exactly does this legalized slamming work? I thought Congress > passed laws against this sort of thing. The fact that the FCC would > collude with a carrier to slam customers really annoys me. > > So, can anybody recommend a cheap calling card (especially for > in-state CA calls)? Or prepaid? Anything but AT&T.... > The wireless companies that were not owned by the former Bell System companies were never required to provide you access to the long distance carrier of your choice. Even the former RBOC-owned wireless companies were relieved of most equal access responsibilities by the Telecom Act. McCaw Cellular never let you choose your own long distance company. When they were purchased by AT&T, they promised to provide equal access in order to gain government approval of the transaction. Apparently, if what you say is correct, the government has now decided that they no longer care to enforce this agreement. So no laws have been broken. Good calling cards? I recommend the calling cards from Sams Club or Costco. Both cost 5.9 cents per minute with no surcharges. You can buy Costco cards on line at their web site even if you don't belong. Or try http://www.bigzoo.com . Since they got their new access numbers, the service is more reliable. Be sure to use the new access numbers. Or use a service like Acculinq. You call an 800 number or a local access number and then they identify you by caller-ID or ANI, saving you the trouble of dialing a calling card number. Or better yet, sign up for a cellular plan that has long distance included. It seems like that is the trend now. Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 16 Aug 2000 00:09:24 -0400 From: Alistair@caribsurf.com (Alistair Gale) Subject: Re: GEICO Encourages Theft of Service On 15 Aug 2000 21:38:08 -0400, John_David_Galt@acm.org wrote: >Alistair Gale wrote: > >> I guess this is the ultimate in packetized voice! But this Very Large >> Corp. seems to be encouraging fraud against other VLCs. Any thoughts? > >One could equally argue that the Nissan ad showing high speed on the >Autobahn encouraged speeding, or that a recent Pepsi TV ad encourages >dangerous skydiving stunts. > >I think the only problem here is some people's limited sense of humor. OH YEAH, SMILE WHEN YOU SAY THAT! (Btw thats humOur monkey boy.) - -- alistair .' '. __ . . . (__\_ . . . -{{_(|8) jgs ' . . ' ' . . ' (__/` - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ End of Telecom Digest V2000 #23 *******************************