Date: 1 Sep 2000 06:15:10 -0400 Message-ID: <20000901101510.6575.qmail@xuxa.iecc.com> From: owner-telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org (Telecom Digest) To: telecom-digest@telecom-digest.org Subject: Telecom Digest V2000 #40 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: 06969e962fa5e83130f2dfb3331f6866 Status: RO X-Status: Telecom Digest Friday, September 1 2000 Volume 2000 : Number 040 In this issue: Re: BellSouth (LA) gets it WRONG re BellSouth (GA) NPAs 229,478 Re: Passionate reactions online to the DVD decision Re: Verizon's 411 Directory Assistance Re: legality of automated telphone spam Re: Make Your E-Mail Disappear Re: Microsoft Word Documents, Among Others, Can Be "Bugged" Ameritech Feels August Heat (Akron, OH Beacon-Journal) Re: Passionate reactions online to the DVD decision Re: Verizon's 411 Directory Assistance Re: Cannot change my long distance provider? What does it take to be a CLEC? Re: 2600 (was Re: CWA Operating verizonREALLYsucks Web Site) Ado or Not Ado? AOL nabs Quack.com for voice recognition Updated cookie-alert software released for IE 5.5 Re: 2600 (was Re: CWA Operating verizonREALLYsucks Web Site) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 31 Aug 2000 07:16:02 -0400 From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) Subject: Re: BellSouth (LA) gets it WRONG re BellSouth (GA) NPAs 229,478 Mark J Cuccia writes: > It may come to where state regulatory and the FCC will be contacted if > BellSouth continues these delay tactics. What the FCC (and state > regulatory) should consider is maybe FINING the local telcos that are late > in loading new NPA codes, central office codes, routing changes, etc. into > switch translations if the local telco (or LD company) has been notified, > yet still won't take action in a timely manner. The documentation > resources (NANPA's website, Telcordia-TRA's website, the LEC websites > themselves, etc) _ARE_ available to the service providers, so "ignorance" > is absolutely _NO_ excuse. Yeah, I prepare a list of local exchanges (in the form of tables used by various software packages) for some other folks here in Portland. And I find that there are *huge* variations between the time the NNAG (and NANPA "utilized codes") files show an exchange as active and when it actually is *reachable*. Some of that is some of the CLECs taking their own sweet time. Some of it isn't. But I don't have any way of telling. All I can do is try dialing a number in the new exchange. If I get a "disconnected or no longer in service" recording, or reach someone (in which case I apologize for bothering them) then I know the exchange is active. And if I get routed to a recording immediately after dialing the exchange, but before dialing the last 4 digits, I know that it's definitely not "loaded" into US West's switch. If something else happens (and it's amazing just how many *different* things *do* happen), I don't know *what* the situation is. And if the exchange isn't loaded into the switch at my exchange, I still don't know if it's not up yet, or if they've screwed up. Any suggestions on how to find out what's *really* going on with the new exchanges? BTW, there are some supposedly "active" exchanges that still don't work several *years* after the turn on date. I used to have a contact inside US West, but he retired. :-( - -- Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 09:47:24 -0400 From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) Subject: Re: Passionate reactions online to the DVD decision tbetz@pobox.com writes: > The big problem is with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act itself. The > law permits DVD manufacturers to, for example, require you to watch all > the commercials at the beginning of a DVD before you can watch the movie > (as is the case with the "The Sixth Sense" -- you have to watch six minutes' > worth of commercials with skip and fast-forward disabled) -- setting > ridiculous terms for something YOU HAVE ALREADY PAID FOR. Actually, on my friend's new DVD player, the first time we played the disk, it skipped the commercials. And even now you can just hit the skip button as each preview starts. It's still annoying as hell, but it's not *quite* as bad as you describe. - -- Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow) shadow@krypton.rain.com <--preferred leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com <--last resort - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 16:15:01 -0400 From: "Peter F. Dubuque" Subject: Re: Verizon's 411 Directory Assistance In accordance with the prophecy, Gerry Belanger wrote: > This morning I heard a Verizon ad on the radio touting their > 411 Directory Assistance service. It tried to emphasize > the > training the operators get. So by example they played > a "quiz" > session where the instructor asked a question and a rep > answered. > The instructor asks "Georgia?", and the rep answers > "Four Area Codes..." followed by some more stats. > I was flabbergasted that they let this on the air! > Even my SNET/SBC June 2000 phone book shows 5 NPAs. > And with 229 and 478 going active August 1, that makes > seven. > A complaint e-mailed to WCBS-AM in NY this morning has gone > unanswered. "There are too many area codes. Please eliminate three. P.S. I am not a crackpot." :) Seriously, though, if you had to complain to somebody, why did you choose the radio station instead of the ad agency or Verizon itself? - -- Peter F. Dubuque - peterd@shore.net - Enemy of Reason(TM) O- - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 16:46:41 -0400 From: Klassen@UVic.CA (Melvin Klassen) Subject: Re: legality of automated telphone spam On Mon, 28 Aug 2000 03:39:57, djb0x7736d717@scream.org (Dan) wrote: > The new trend, strangely, is devices that hang up if a live person answers, and leave their commercial on your answering machine/voicemail if they get that instead. Quite annoying. The voice-mail system optionally used by Telus (Alberta & British Columbia) residental subscribers lets one call the "message-pickup" number, e.g., 250-881-9000 in Victoria, and then select a mailbox for any subscriber, by entering their telephone-number, and then leave a message. The recipient's home-telephone does not ring (this handy if you want to leave a message when you know that the recipient is sleeping), but the next time they go "off-hook", they will be informed that they have a message. Nah, nobody would abuse this feature, would they? - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 17:20:07 -0400 From: pw@panix.com (Paul Wallich) Subject: Re: Make Your E-Mail Disappear In article <200008310210.LAA14070@coral.ocn.ne.jp>, John De Hoog wrote: >Gunnar Liknes wrote... > >>> Disappearing's free Outlook plug-in lets you send encrypted messages >>> that become unreadable after time. >> >>The way I understand the technology this means the reader has to be online >>everytime he needs to read the message (in order to get the decryption key). >>Interresting technology, but not very practical for dial up users. > >How many times do you normally read the same message? Besides, dialup >access is quickly being replaced by cheap, permanent connections even >here in Japan (cable, OCN, ADSL, SDSL, always-on ISDN, wireless, etc.). >It's only natural that technologies will increasingly be designed with >that reality in mind. What I don't understand, once the decrypted text is on the user's screen, is what prevents it from being saved, printed, photographed or otherwise archived. Since the recipient doesn't need a plug-in, that would appear to mean that some kind of cleartext is being delivered to their machine. Perhaps it's a downloadable plugin that miraculously does the work, but if that's the case I wouldn't lay odds on being able to read the message reliably the first time. paul - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 17:23:26 -0400 From: sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net (Steve Sobol) Subject: Re: Microsoft Word Documents, Among Others, Can Be "Bugged" >>From 'Monty Solomon': >The tracking potential occurs when a file sent through the Internet, >typically as an email attachment, contains an image file located on a >remote Web server. This can happen through a range of popular >Microsoft programs, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint. (The >Privacy Foundation continues to investigate this issue with regard to >other software programs.) >If the document contains an invisible marker called a Web bug, then >when the request for the image is made and acted upon within the >displaying program, a signal will be sent back to the document >author. This signal, obtained through server logs, will contain the >IP number, from which a host name of the computer can usually be >obtained. Those apps are programmable through the Microsoft Office macro language and Visual Basic for Applications. Any app that can render remote content as described above, or is programmable in the way that Office apps are, will have issues. >"The potential use of Web bugs in Word points to a more general >problem," said Smith. "Any file format that supports automatic >linking to Web pages or images can lead to the same problem. Software >engineers should take this privacy issue into consideration when >designing new file formats." 100% correct. - -- 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: 31 Aug 2000 17:24:21 -0400 From: sjsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net (Steve Sobol) Subject: Ameritech Feels August Heat (Akron, OH Beacon-Journal) PUCO receives more complaints about phone company in month than it did during all of last year. Utility says it is trying to improve http://www.ohio.com/bj/business/docs/031848.htm - -- 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: 31 Aug 2000 17:58:24 -0400 From: "Ed Ellers" Subject: Re: Passionate reactions online to the DVD decision Leonard Erickson wrote: "Actually, on my friend's new DVD player, the first time we played the disk (sic), it skipped the commercials. And even now you can just hit the skip button as each preview starts. "It's still annoying as hell, but it's not *quite* as bad as you describe." That's dependent on the disc, and it *is* often quite as bad as tbetz@pobox.com described. The DVD Video spec allows a disc to be encoded to deny access to any specified player function(s) during a given chapter; this was originally intended to allow "kiosk" discs, for example, to lock out the stop function so that a user wouldn't accidentally stop a disc and walk away, but many movie discs do use this to prevent the user from skipping through the FBI (and often Interpol) warnings and/or the distributor's logo. Another possible use would be for a director who insists that his films should be viewed only straight through, by locking out the still frame, slow motion and visual search features. As best I can tell the DMCA has no impact on this, except by making it illegal to make a player that can decrypt CSS without authorization (the CSS license reportedly carries with it the requirement to implement Macrovision, region coding and the other DVD Video features that could be left out otherwise). - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 21:41:26 -0400 From: wa1hoz@xoommail.com (Gerry Belanger) Subject: Re: Verizon's 411 Directory Assistance In article , "Peter F. Dubuque" wrote: >Seriously, though, if you had to complain to somebody, why did you choose >the radio station instead of the ad agency or Verizon itself? Because I have no clue who the ad agency might be, and I am not a Verizon customer. Just a regular WCBS listener. gerryb Gerry Belanger, WA1HOZ wa1hoz@ct2.nai.net Newtown, CT g.belanger@ieee.org - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 22:03:40 -0400 From: Alan Boritz Subject: Re: Cannot change my long distance provider? joemitchellsc@yahoo.com wrote: >I'm in Dallas, Tx. SimCom seems to have an arrangement w/my apt >complex, to provide phone and cable tv services. I do have the option >to use SW Bell, but then I'd have to find an alternative to cable >(direct TV, Dish network, etc...) SimCom gives me .07/mi long >distance, but I have to pay them 4.95/mo for that plan. I wanted to >switch to Broadwing (they took over Coastal Telephone who I used >previously, and was pleased with). Broadwing >(http://www.longdistanceusa.com/) will give me .07/mi w/no monthly >fee. I'm not soliciting for them (intentionally), I just included >their url in case someone is interested. > >If I switch to SW Bell, my local monthly service will go up also. So, >I guess I have to live w/ SimCom. No you don't. SimCom appears to be an aggregator that provides local telephone service (among other services), and is therefore required to permit equal access. This same issue was the source of embarrassment to quite a few clueless university telephone system administrators who also found themselves in the legal role of aggregator, forced to allow equal access, and nailed by state tax authorities for failing to assess and collect state taxes and appropriate municipal surcharges. Suggest you call the Texas PUC at 888-782-8477 to discuss the situation and make it clear that this is the company that delivers your *local* service, and that they're refusing to allow you access to other long distance telephone companies. Suggest following it up with a letter so they can investigate. - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 22:13:35 -0400 From: Roy Smith Subject: What does it take to be a CLEC? I had a visit a few days ago from some guys trying to sell us DSL service in one of our campus residential buildings. Two interesting factoids came out of the conversation: 1) they're a CLEC, and 2) the entire company consists of 30 people. I was a little amazed a 30 person company could be a CLEC. What exactly does it involve? Just file some paperwork with the FCC and hang out a shingle? - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 31 Aug 2000 22:31:09 -0400 From: Alan Boritz Subject: Re: 2600 (was Re: CWA Operating verizonREALLYsucks Web Site) kamlet@infinet.com wrote: >In article <3.0.5.32.20000828162446.0087e4c0@oz.net> you write: >>28 Aug 2000 18:21:34 -0400 jsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net (Steve Sobol) >>wrote: >> >>>>>From 'Joel B Levin': >>>>In <8oc547$rfo$1@panix5.panix.com>, >>>> dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) wrote: >>>>}danny 'does "2600" have any telco history meaning?' burstein >>>> >>>>You're kidding, right? >>> >>>I'd like to know its significance, myself. >> >>2600 hz is the tone that was used in MF (multifrequency) signalling as part >>of the connection tone to disconnect a connection. Someone discovered > >Someone discovered? The detailed article appeared in the public >"Bell System Journal" for one and all to read. Wow, we're impressed. Really. The (now) famous "someone" was an acquaintance of John T. Draper, aka 'captain crunch,' the grandfather of phone phreakers. This acquaintance had literally "discovered" it with a toy whistle from Captain Crunch cereal, in 1972 (Draper never claimed credit for doing that himself). The rest is history. ... >I worked with a fellow at Bell Labs whose job was writing software >to detect odd patterned calls, such as a call to busy that stayed >off hook for 20 minutes, and the software flagged those. He got >to go along on raids of blue box users. The phone company (PNB >was the first) would get the DA to request an arrest warrant and >the police would then invite the phone company along to identify >what a blue box was. (Not all blue boxes were blue :^) After the >trial, he sometimes got to keep the blue box. Don't you think that it would have been a much more efficient use of a programmer's time to write code for switches to DISCONNECT busy calls, rather than "buffing" police calls? - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 1 Sep 2000 00:31:33 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Ado or Not Ado? Ado or Not Ado? The Denver-based Privacy Foundation has revealed yet another way your actions can be tracked across the Web. A Microsoft Word document (or Excel spreadsheet or Powerpoint presentation) can contain an invisible graphic that phones home over the Net whenever you open the document. The glitch was widely reported today, but no one had much of an angle on it. All the reporters talked to Richard Smith, the researcher who identified the problem, and to someone at Microsoft. Only MSNBC's Bob Sullivan bothered to get a comment from an outside security expert. http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,18130,00.html - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 1 Sep 2000 00:35:51 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: AOL nabs Quack.com for voice recognition AOL nabs Quack.com for voice recognition America Online said today it has acquired start-up Quack.com in a bid to make AOL services available over an ordinary telephone. With the purchase, the online giant steps into territory staked out by "voice portals" like Tellme Networks and BeVocal. These services provide information over the phone, such as stock quotes, driving directions and news headlines, through a voice-recognition interface. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-2663210.html - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 1 Sep 2000 00:40:41 -0400 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Updated cookie-alert software released for IE 5.5 Updated cookie-alert software released for IE 5.5 Microsoft issued a software patch to the public today for its latest Internet browser that tells customers when third-party Web sites try to place "cookies" on their computers for tracking purposes. The update for Internet Explorer 5.5 will also let people designate preferences about accepting different types of cookies, or electronic tags, which can often be helpful for delivering personalized services such as Web-based email. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-2664055.html - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ Date: 1 Sep 2000 06:02:27 -0400 From: andrew Subject: Re: 2600 (was Re: CWA Operating verizonREALLYsucks Web Site) Alan Boritz wrote: > kamlet@infinet.com wrote: >>In article <3.0.5.32.20000828162446.0087e4c0@oz.net> you write: >>>28 Aug 2000 18:21:34 -0400 jsobol@NorthShoreTechnologies.net (Steve Sobol) >>>wrote: >>> >>>>>>From 'Joel B Levin': >>>>>In <8oc547$rfo$1@panix5.panix.com>, >>>>> dannyb@panix.com (danny burstein) wrote: >>>>>}danny 'does "2600" have any telco history meaning?' burstein >>>>> >>>>>You're kidding, right? >>>> >>>>I'd like to know its significance, myself. >>> >>>2600 hz is the tone that was used in MF (multifrequency) signalling as part >>>of the connection tone to disconnect a connection. Someone discovered >> >>Someone discovered? The detailed article appeared in the public >>"Bell System Journal" for one and all to read. > Wow, we're impressed. Really. > The (now) famous "someone" was an acquaintance of John T. Draper, aka 'captain > crunch,' the grandfather of phone phreakers. This acquaintance had literally > "discovered" it with a toy whistle from Captain Crunch cereal, in 1972 (Draper > never claimed credit for doing that himself). The rest is history. No, the whistle came after the 2600Hz exploit was revealed to him. After some experimentation, Draper found that a Captain cruch whistle with the third hole glued up produced 2600Hz. http://www.webcrunchers.com/crunch/Play/history/home.html Andrew - -- The Telecom Digest is currently robomoderated. Please mail messages to editor@telecom-digest.org. ------------------------------ End of Telecom Digest V2000 #40 *******************************