1356 lines
63 KiB
Plaintext
1356 lines
63 KiB
Plaintext
KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL
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K N I G H T L I N E
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Issue 01/Part II of III
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17th of November, 1990
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Written, compiled,
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and edited by Doc Holiday
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KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL ^*^ KL
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---
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F R O M T H E W I R E
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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HEADLINE ADAPTING DIGITAL SWITCH -- Fujitsu To Expand In U.S.
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Byline: ROBERT POE
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DATE 11/15/90
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SOURCE COMMUNICATIONSWEEK (CWK)
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Issue: 322
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Section: PUBLIC NETWORKING
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Page: 33
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(Copyright 1990 CMP Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.)
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RALEIGH, N.C.-Fujitsu Ltd. is boosting efforts to adapt its digital exchange
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to the U.S. network, in anticipation of the $40 billion public switch
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changeout expected in the United States over the next 10 to 15 years.
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Fujitsu plans to increase the number of U.S. staff members in charge of
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selling and engineering the Fetex-150 switch to 600 by 1994 from the current
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100, officials at the Tokyo-based company said.
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The increase will shift development of sophisticated switch features from Japan
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to the United States, said one observer familiar with Fujitsu Network Switching
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of America Inc., based here.
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FILLING U.S. NEEDS
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Most of the current staff there is working on testing the performance and
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network conformance of software developed in Japan, the observer said. With
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the expansion, the subsidiary will be responsible for developing functions and
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capabilities required by U.S. customers.
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The Fetex-150 is Fujitsu's export-model exchange switch, with more than 8.8
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million lines installed or on order in 17 countries. None have been sold in
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the United States, but the recently announced plans confirm longstanding
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speculation that the Japanese manufacturer is planning a major push into the
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U.S.
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When Fujitsu won a major switch tender in Singapore last autumn, competitors
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complained it was selling the equipment at cost to win a prestigious contract
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that would serve as a stepping-stone to the United States.
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WOOING THE BELLS
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Fujitsu said its switch has passed Phase 1 and Phase 2 evaluations by Bell
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Communications Research Inc., Livingston, N.J., the research arm of the seven
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U.S. regional Bell companies. Although the Bellcore certification is
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considered essential to selling to the Bells-which account for about 75 percent
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of U.S. telephone lines-it may not be enough for the company to break into a
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market dominated by AT&T and Nashville, Tenn.-based Northern Telecom Inc.
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Those two manufacturers have more than 90 percent of the U.S. market. A share
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like that, coupled with Bell company inertia in changing to new suppliers,
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leaves foreign public switch manufacturers largely out in the cold, analysts
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said.
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The U.S. subsidiaries of Siemens AG, L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co., NEC Corp.
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and GEC Plessey Telecommunications Ltd. have found the U.S. market tough to
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crack, though each has had limited success and is further along than Fujitsu.
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`INHERENT CONSERVATISM'
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"There's an inherent conservatism on the part of their {U.S.} customer base,"
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said Robert Rosenberg, director of analytical services at The Eastern
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Management Group, Parsippany, N.J. "These are huge companies with billions of
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dollars invested in their current equipment.
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"Even if Fujitsu comes up with a switch that has all the bells and whistles
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that an engineer could ever want, if all the support systems have to be rebuilt
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in order to fit that switch into the network, his manager won't let him install
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it," Rosenberg said.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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Telephone Services: A Growing Form Of "Foreign Aid"
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Keith Bradsher, {The New York Times}, Sunday, October 21, 1990
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(Business section, page 5)
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Americans who make international telephone calls are paying extra to
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subsidize foreign countries' postal rates, local phone service, even
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schools and armies.
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These subsidies are included in quarterly payments that American
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telephone companies must make to their counterparts overseas, most of
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these are state-owned monopolies. The net payments, totaling $2.4
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billion last year, form one of the fastest-growing pieces of the
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American trade deficit, and prompted the Federal communications
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Commission this summer to begin an effort that could push down the
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price that consumers pay for an international phone call by up to 50
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percent within three years.
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The imbalance is a largely unforeseen side effect of the growth of
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competition in the American long-distance industry during the 1980's.
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The competition drove down outbound rates from the United States,
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while overseas monopolies kept their rates high.
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The result is that business and families spread among countries try
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to make sure that calls originate in the United States. Outbound
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calls from the United States now outnumber inbound calls by 1.7-to-1,
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in minutes -- meaning American phone companies have to pay fees for
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the surplus calls. The F.C.C. is concerned that foreign companies are
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demanding much more money than is justified, given the steeply falling
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costs of providing service, and proposes to limit unilaterally the
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payments American carriers make.
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Central and South American countries filed formal protests against
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the F.C.C.'s plan on October 12. Although developed countries like
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Britain and Japan account for more than half of United States
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international telephone traffic, some of the largest imbalances in
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traffic are with developing countries, which spend the foreign
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exchange on everything from school systems to weapons. The deficit
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with Columbia, for example, soared to $71 million last year.
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International charges are based on formulas assigning per-minute
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costs of receiving and overseas call and routing it within the home
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country. But while actual costs have dropped in recent years, the
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formulas have been very slow to adjust, if they are adjusted at all.
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For example, while few international calls require operators, the
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formulas are still based on such expenses.
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Furthermore, the investment required for each telephone line in an
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undersea cable or aboard a satellite has plummeted with technological
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advances. A trans-Pacific cable with 600,000 lines, announced last
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Wednesday and scheduled to go into service in 1996, could cost less
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than $1,000 per line.
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Yet the phone company formulas keep charges high. Germany's Deutsche
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Bundespost, for example, currently collects 87 cents a minute from
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American carriers, which actually lose money on some of the off-peak
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rates they offer American consumers.
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MORE CALLS FROM THE U.S. ARE GENERATING A GROWING TRADE DEFICIT
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U.S. telephone companies charge less for 1980 0.3 (billions of
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overseas calls than foreign companies 1981 0.5 U.S. dollars)
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charge for calls the United States. So 1982 0.7
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more international calls originate in the 1983 1.0
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United States. But the U.S. companies pay 1984 1.2
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high fees to their foreign counterparts for 1985 1.1
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handling those extra calls, and the deficit 1986 1.4
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has ballooned in the last decade. 1987 1.7
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1988 2.0
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1989 2.4 (estimate)
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(Source: F.C.C.)
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THE LONG DISTANCE USAGE IMBALANCE
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Outgoing and incoming U.S. telephone traffic, in 1988, the latest year
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for which figures are available, in percent.
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Whom are we calling? Who's calling us?
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Total outgoing traffic: Total incoming traffic:
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5,325 million minutes 3,155 million minutes
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Other: 47.9% Other: 32.9%
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Canada: 20.2% Canada: 35.2%
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Britain: 9.1% Britain: 12.6%
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Mexico: 8.8% Mexico: 6.2%
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W. Germany: 6.9% W. Germany: 5.4%
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Japan: 4.4% Japan: 4.3%
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France: 2.7% France: 3.4%
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(Source: International Institute of Communications)
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COMPARING COSTS: Price range of five-minute international calls between
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the U.S. and other nations. Figures do not include volume discounts.
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Country From U.S.* To U.S.
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Britain $2.95 to $5.20 $4.63 to $6.58
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Canada (NYC to $0.90 to $2.25 $1.35 to $2.26
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Montreal)
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France $3.10 to $5.95 $4.72 to $7.73
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Japan $4.00 to $8.01 $4.67 to $8.34
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Mexico (NYC to $4.50 to $7.41 $4.24 to $6.36
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Mexico City)
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West Germany $3.10 to $6.13 $10.22
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* For lowest rates, callers pay a monthly $3 fee.
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(Source: A.T.&T.)
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WHERE THE DEFICIT FALLS: Leading nations with which the United States
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has a trade deficit in telephone services, in 1989, in millions of
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dollars.
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Mexico: $534
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W. Germany: 167
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Philippines: 115
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South Korea: 112
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Japan: 79
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Dominican Republic: 75
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Columbia: 71
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Italy: 70 (Source: F.C.C.)
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Israel: 57
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Britain: 46
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THE RUSH TOWARD LOWER COSTS: The cost per telephone line for laying
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each of the eight telephone cables that now span the Atlantic Ocean,
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from the one in 1956, which held 48 lines, to the planned 1992 cable
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which is expected to carry 80,000 lines. In current dollars.
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1956 $557,000
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1959 436,000
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1963 289,000
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1965 365,000
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1970 49,000
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1976 25,000
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1983 23,000 (Source, F.C.C.)
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1988 9,000
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1992 5,400 (estimate)
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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A few notes from Jim Warren in regards to the CFP conference:
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Greetings,
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Some key issues are now settled, with some minor remain for resolution.
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CONFERENCE DATES, LOCATION & MAXIMUM SIZE
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We have finally completed site selection and contracted for the Conference
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facility. Please mark your calendars and spread the word:
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First Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy
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March 25-28,1991, Monday-Thursday
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SFO Marriott, Burlingame, California
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(just south of San Francisco International Airport;
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on the San Francisco Peninsula, about 20 minutes from "The City")
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maximum attendance: 600
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PLEASE NOTE NAME CHANGE
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We have found *ample* issues for a very robust Conference, limited only to
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computer-related issues of responsible freedom and privacy. After questions
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regarding satellite surveillance, genetic engineering, photo traffic radar,
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wireless phone bugs, etc., we decided to modify the Conference title for
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greater accuracy. We have changed it from "Technology, Freedom & Privacy" to
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"Computers, Freedom & Privacy."
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ONE MORE NIT TO PICK
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Until recently, our draft title has included, "First International Conference".
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We most definitely are planning for international participation, especially
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expecting presentations from EEC and Canadian privacy and access agencies.
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These will soon have significant impacts on trans-border dataflow and inter-
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national business communications.
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However, we were just told that some agencies require multi-month clearance
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procedures for staff attending any event with "International" in its title.
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**Your input on this and the minor issue of whether to include "International"
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in our Conference title would be appreciated.**
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ATTRIBUTION (BLAME)
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We are building the first bridge connecting the major, highly diverse villages
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of our new electronic frontier. Such construction involves some degree of
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exploration and learning.
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These title-changes are a result of that learning process. Please attribute
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all responsibility for the fluctuating Conference title to me, personally. I
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am the one who proposed the first title; I am the one who has changed it to
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enhance accuracy and avoid conflict.
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Of course, the title will be settled and finalized (with your kind assistance)
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before the Conference is formally announced and publicity statements issued --
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soon!
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Thanking you for your interest and continued assistance, I remain, Sincerely,
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--Jim Warren, CFP Conf Chair
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jwarren@well.ca.sf.us
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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[Reprented from TELECOM digest. --DH]
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FROM: Patrick Townson <telecom@eecs.nwu.edu>
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SUBJECT: Illinois Bell Shows Real CLASS
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For several months now, Illinois Bell has been hawking CLASS. Brochures
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in the mail with our bills and newspaper advertisements have told us about the
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wonderful new services soon to be offered.
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It was just a question, they said, of waiting until your central office had
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been converted. The new features being offered are:
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*66 Auto Call Back: Call back the last number which called you. No
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need to know the number.
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*69 Repeat Dial: If the number you dialed was busy, punching
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this will keep trying the number for up to
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30 minutes, and advise you when it can connect.
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*60 Call Screening Enter:
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# plus number to be screened out plus #
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* plus number to be re-admitted plus *
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# plus 01 plus # to add the number of the
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last call you received, whether or not
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you know the number.
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1 To play a list of the numbers being screened.
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0 For a helpful recording of options, etc.
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Distinctive Ringing Up to ten numbers can be programmed in. When a
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call is received from one of these numbers, your
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phone will give a special ring to advise you.
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Multi-Ring Service Two additional numbers can be associated with
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your number. When someone dials one of these
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two numbers, your phone will give a special ring.
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With both Distinctive Ringing and Multi-Ring Service, if you have Call Waiting,
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the Call Waiting tones will be different from the norm also, so that you can
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tell what is happening. With Multi-Ring Service, you can have it programmed so
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the supplementary numbers associated with your main number are forwarded when
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it is forwarded, or do not observe forwarding, and 'ring through' despite what
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the main number is doing.
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Alternate Answer Can be programmed so that after 3-7 rings,
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the unanswered call will be automatically sent
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to another line *WITHIN YOUR CENTRAL OFFICE*.
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If the number assigned as an alternate is
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itself busy or forwarded OUTSIDE YOUR OFFICE
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then Alternate Answer will not forward the
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call and continue to ring unanswered.
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Transfer on Busy/ This is just another name for 'hunt'. The
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No Answer difference is that hunt is free; Transfer on
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Busy/NA costs a couple bucks per month. Like
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Alternate Answer, it must forward only to a
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number on the same switch. Unlike hunt, it
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will work on NA as well. Unlike Alternate
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Answer, it works on busy as well.
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Caller*ID will be available 'eventually' they say.
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Now my story begins:
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From early this summer to the present, I've waited patiently for CLASS to
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be available in Chicago-Rogers Park. Finally a date was announced: October 15
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the above features would be available. In mid-September, I spoke with a rep in
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the Irving-Kildare Business Office. She assured me *all* the above features
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would be available on October 15. My bill is cut on the 13th of each month,
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and knowing the nightmare of reading a bill which has had changes made in
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mid-month (page after page of pro-rata entries for credits on the old service,
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item by item; pro-rata entries for the new service going in, etc) it made sense
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to implement changes on the billing date, to keep the statement simple.
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She couldn't write the order for the service to start October 13, since
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CLASS was not officially available until the fifteenth. Well, okay, so its
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either wait until November 13 or go ahead and start in mid-month, worrying
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about reading the bill once it actually arrives.
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I've been ambivilent about CLASS since it is not compatible with my
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present service 'Starline', but after much thought -- and since all
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installation and order-writing on Custom Calling features is free now through
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December 31! -- I decided to try out the new stuff.
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She took the order Wednesday afternoon and quoted 'sometime Thursday' for
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the work to be done. In fact it was done -- or mostly done -- by mid-afternoon
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Thursday. But I should have known better. I should have remembered my
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experience with Starline three years ago, when it took a technician in the
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central office *one week* to get it all in and working correctly. Still, I
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took IBT's word for it.
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I got home about 5:30 PM Thursday. *You know* I sat down right away at
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the phone to begin testing the new features! :) The lines were to be equipped
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as follows:
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Line 1: Call Waiting Line 2: Call Forwarding
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Three Way Calling Speed Dial 8
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Call Forwarding Busy Repeat Dialing *69
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Speed Dial 8
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Auto Call Back *66 (second line used mostly by modem;
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Busy Repeat Dialing *69 so Call Waiting undesirable)
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Call Screening *60
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Alternate Answer (supposed to be programmed to Voice Mail;
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another CO; another area code U708e;
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even another telco UCentele).
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Busy Repeat Dialing did not work on the second line (not installed) and
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Alternate Answer worked (but not as I understood it would) on the first line.
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Plus, I had forgotten how to add 'last call received' to the screening feature.
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It is 5:45 ... business office open another fifteen minutes ... good! I
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call 1-800-244-4444 which is IBT's idea of a new way to handle calls to the
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business office. Everyone in the state of Illinois calls it, and the calls go
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wherever someone is free. Before, we could call the business office in our
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neighborhood direct ... no longer.
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I call; I go on hold; I wait on hold five minutes. Finally a rep comes on
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the line, a young fellow who probably Meant Well ...
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After getting the preliminary information to look up my account, we begin
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our conversation:
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Me: You see from the order the new features put on today?
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Him: Yes, which ones are you asking about?
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Me: A couple questions. Explain how to add the last call received to
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your call screening.
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Him: Call screening? Well, that's not available in your area yet. You
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see, it will be a few months before we offer it.
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Me: Wait a minute! It was quoted to me two days ago, and it is on
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the order you are reading now is it not?
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UI read him the order number to confirm we had the same one.e
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Him: Yes, it is on here, but it won't work. No matter what was written
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up. Really, I have to apologize for whoever would have taken your
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order and written it there.
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Me: Hold on, hold on! It *is* installed, and it *is* working! I want
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to know how to work it.
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Him: No it is not installed. The only features we can offer you at
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at this time are Busy Redial and Auto Callback. Would you like me
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to put in an order for those?
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Me: Let's talk to the supervisor instead.
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Him: (in a huff) Gladly sir.
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Supervisor comes on line and repeats what was said by the rep: Call
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Screening is not available at this time in Chicago-Rogers Park.
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At this point I am furious ...
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Me: Let me speak to the rep who took this order (I quoted her by
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name.)
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Supervisor: I never heard of her. She might be in some other office.
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Me: (suspicious) Say, is this Irving-Kildare?
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Supervisor: No! Of course not! I am in Springfield, IL.
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Me: Suppose you give me the name of the manager at Irving-Kildare
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then, and I will call there tomorrow. (By now it was 6 PM; the
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supervisor was getting figity and nervous wanting to go home.)
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Supervisor: Here! Call this number tomorrow and ask for the manager of
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that office, 1-800-244-4444.
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Me: Baloney! Give me the manager's direct number!
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Supervisor: Well okay, 312-xxx-xxxx, and ask for Ms. XXXX.
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Me: (suspicious again) She is the manager there?
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Supervisor: Yes, she will get you straightened out. Goodbye!
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Comes Friday morning, I am on the phone a few minutes before 9 AM, at the
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suggested direct number. Ms. XXXX reviewed the entire order and got the Busy
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Repeat Dial feature added to line two ... but she insisted the original rep
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was 'wrong for telling you call screening was available ..' and the obligatory
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apology for 'one of my people who mislead you'. I patiently explained to her
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also that in fact call screening was installed and was working.
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Manager: Oh really? Are you sure?
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Me: I am positive. Would you do me a favor? Call the foreman and have
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him call me back.
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Manager: Well, someone will call you later.
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Later that day, a rep called to say that yes indeed, I was correct. It
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seems they had not been told call screening was now available in my office. I
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told her that was odd, considering the rep who first took the order knew all
|
|
about it.
|
|
|
|
I asked when the Alternate Answer 'would be fixed' (bear in mind I thought
|
|
it would work outside the CO, which it would not, which is why it kept ringing
|
|
through to me instead of forwarding.)
|
|
|
|
She thought maybe the foreman could figure that out.
|
|
|
|
Maybe an hour later, a techician did call me to say he was rather
|
|
surprised that call screening was working on my line. He gave a complete and
|
|
concise explanation of how Alternate Answer and Transfer on Busy/No Answer was
|
|
to work. He offered to have it removed from my line since it would be of no
|
|
value to me as configured.
|
|
|
|
One question he could not answer: How do you add the last call received
|
|
to call screening? He could find the answer nowhere, but said he would see to
|
|
it I got 'the instruction booklet' in the mail soon, so maybe I could figure it
|
|
out myself.
|
|
|
|
I got busy with other things, and put the question aside ... until early
|
|
Saturday morning when I got one of my periodic crank calls from the same number
|
|
which has plagued me for a couple months now with ring, then hangup calls on an
|
|
irregular basis.
|
|
|
|
For the fun of it, I punched *69, and told the sassy little girl who
|
|
answered the phone to quit fooling around. She was, to say the least,
|
|
surprised and startled by my call back. I don't think I will hear from her
|
|
again. :)
|
|
|
|
But I decided to ask again how to add such a number to call screening,
|
|
so I called Repair Service.
|
|
|
|
The Repair Service clerk pulled me up on the tube *including the work
|
|
order from two days earlier* and like everyone else said:
|
|
|
|
Repair: You don't have Call Screening on your line. That is not
|
|
available yet in your area. We are adding new offices daily,
|
|
blah, blah.
|
|
|
|
I *couldn't believe* what I was hearing ... I told her I did, and she
|
|
insisted I did not ... despite the order, despite what the computer said.
|
|
Finally it was on to her supervisor, but as it turned out, her supervisor was
|
|
the foreman on duty for the weekend. Like the others, he began with apologies
|
|
for how I 'had been misinformed' ... no call screening was available.
|
|
|
|
Me: Tell ya what. You say no, and I say yes. You're on the test
|
|
board, no? I'll hang up. You go on my line, dial *60, listen to
|
|
the recording you hear, then call me back. I will wait here. Take
|
|
your time. When you call back, you can apologize.
|
|
|
|
Foreman: Well, I'm not on the test board, I'm in my office on my own
|
|
phone.
|
|
|
|
Me: So go to the test board, or pick me up in there wherever it is
|
|
handy and use my line. Make a few calls. Add some numbers to the
|
|
call screening; then call me back with egg on your face, okay?
|
|
|
|
Foreman: Are you saying call screening is on your line and you have
|
|
used it?
|
|
|
|
Me: I have used it. Today. A few minutes ago I played with it.
|
|
|
|
Foreman: I'll call you back.
|
|
|
|
(Fifteen minutes later) ...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foreman: Mr. Townson! Umm ... I have been with this company for 23
|
|
years. I'll get to the point: I have egg on my face. Not mine
|
|
really, but the company has the egg on the face. You are correct;
|
|
your line has call screening.
|
|
|
|
Me: 23 years you say? Are you a member of the Pioneers?
|
|
|
|
Foreman: (surprised) Why, uh, yes I am.
|
|
|
|
Me: Fine organization isn't it ...
|
|
|
|
Foreman: Yes, it certainly is. You know of them?
|
|
|
|
Me: I've heard a few things.
|
|
|
|
Foreman: Look, let me tell you something. I did not know -- nor *did
|
|
anyone in this office know* that call screening was now available. We
|
|
were told it was coming, that's all.
|
|
|
|
Me: You mean no one knew it was already in place?
|
|
|
|
Foreman: No, apparently not ... I think you are the only customer in
|
|
the Rogers Park office who has it at this time. Because the
|
|
assumption was it was not yet installed, the reps were told not to
|
|
take orders for it ... I do not know how your order slipped through.
|
|
|
|
Me: Will you be telling others?
|
|
|
|
Foreman: I have already made some calls, and yes, others will be told
|
|
about this on Monday.
|
|
|
|
Me: Well, you know the *81 feature to turn call screening on and off
|
|
is still not working.
|
|
|
|
Foreman: I'm not surprised. After all, none of it is supposed to be
|
|
working right now. You seem to know something about this business,
|
|
Mr. Townson.
|
|
|
|
Me: I guess I've picked up a few things along the way.
|
|
|
|
We then chatted about the Transfer on Busy/No Answer feature. I asked
|
|
why, if my cell phone on 312-415-xxxx had the ability to transfer calls out of
|
|
the CO and be programmed/turned on and off from the phone itself, my wire line
|
|
could not. 312-415 is out of Chicago-Congress ... he thought it might have to
|
|
do with that office having some different generics than Rogers Park ... but he
|
|
could not give a satisfactory answer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Patrick Townson
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
The following article appeared in the U-M Computing Center News
|
|
(October 25, 1990, V 5, No 18, Pg 10)
|
|
|
|
[This article was also reprinted in TELECOM digest -DH]
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
|
|
NSFNET DEMONSTRATES INTERCONTINENTAL ISO TRANSMISSION
|
|
|
|
[Editor's note: The following article is reprinted, with modifications,
|
|
from the September 1990 issue of the Link Letter (Vol 3, No 4),
|
|
published by the Merit/NSFNET backbone project]
|
|
|
|
At the end of September, partners in the National Science Foundation Network
|
|
(NSFNET) announced a succesful demonstration of intercontinental data
|
|
transmission using the International Standards Organization Conectionless
|
|
Network Protocol (ISO CLNP). The international exchange of ISO CLNP packets
|
|
was demonstrated betweeen end systems at the NSFNET Network Operations Center
|
|
in Ann Arbor and in Bonn, West Germany, using the NSFNET backbone
|
|
infrastructure and the European Academic Supercomputer Initiative (EASInet)
|
|
backbone.
|
|
|
|
The prototype OSI implementation is intended to provide wide area connectivity
|
|
between OSI networks, including networks using the DECNet Phase V protocols.
|
|
|
|
The new software was integrated into the NSFNET's "packet switching" (data
|
|
transmission) nodes by David Katz and Susan Hares of the Merit Computer
|
|
Network, with support from IBM's software developement departments in Milford,
|
|
CT and Yorktown Heights, NY.
|
|
|
|
NSFNET is the first federally supported computer network to acheive
|
|
international ISO CLNP transmission on an operating network, according to
|
|
Merit's Hans-Werner Braun, Principle Investigator for the NSFNET Project.
|
|
|
|
The Prototype ISO implementation is being designed to coexist with NSFNET's
|
|
operational Internet Protocol (IP) network, and is a significant step towards
|
|
offering ISO services on the NSFNET backbone. Eric Aupperle, President of
|
|
Merit and acting director of ITD Network Systems, says that "the demonstration
|
|
shows that we're capable of transporting ISO traffic. Now we're working to
|
|
deploy this experimental service as fast as possible."
|
|
|
|
An implementation of CLNP was first demonstrated by Merit/NSFNET staff at the
|
|
InterOp '89 conference. That implementation of CLNP was originally developed
|
|
as part of the ARGO project at the University of Wisconsin, Madision, with the
|
|
support of the IBM Corporation.
|
|
|
|
by Ken Horning
|
|
DTD Network Systems.
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
{Middlesex News}, Framingham, Mass., 11/2/90
|
|
|
|
Prodigy Pulls Plug on Electronic Mail Service For Some
|
|
|
|
By Adam Gaffin
|
|
|
|
NEWS STAFF WRITER
|
|
|
|
Users of a national computer network vow to continue a protest against
|
|
censorship and a new charge for electronic mail even though the company kicked
|
|
them off-line this week.
|
|
|
|
Brian Ek, spokesman for the network, Prodigy, said the "handful" of users had
|
|
begun harassing other users and advertisers on the service and that some had
|
|
even created programs "to flood members' 'mailboxes' with (thousands of)
|
|
repeated and increasingly strident harangues," he said.
|
|
|
|
But leaders of the protest say they sent only polite letters -- approved by the
|
|
company's legal department -- using techniques taught by the company itself.
|
|
Up to nine of them had their accounts pulled hips week.
|
|
|
|
Protests began in September when the company said it would cut unlimited
|
|
electronic mail from its monthly fee -- which includes such services as on-line
|
|
airline reservations, weather and games -- and would charge 25 cents for every
|
|
message above a monthly quota of 30. Ek says the design of the Prodigy network
|
|
makes "e-mail" very expensive and that few users send more than 30 messages a
|
|
month.
|
|
|
|
But Penny Hay, the only organizer of the "Cooperative Defense Committee" whose
|
|
account was not shut this week, said she and others are upset with Prodigy's
|
|
"bait and switch" tactics: The company continues to promote "free" electronic
|
|
mail as a major feature. She said Prodigy itself had spurred use of e-mail by
|
|
encouraging subscribers to set up private e-mail ``lists'' rather than use
|
|
public forums and that the charges will especially hurt families, because the
|
|
quota is per household, not person.
|
|
|
|
Ek said relatively few members protested the rate chqange. Gary Arlen, who
|
|
publishes a newsletter about on-line services, called the controversy "a
|
|
tempest in a teapot."
|
|
|
|
Hay, however, said the group now has the backing of nearly 19,000 Prodigy users
|
|
-- the ones advertisers would want to see on-line because they are the most
|
|
active ones on the system and so more likely to see their ads.
|
|
|
|
The group is also upset with the way the company screens messages meant for
|
|
public conferences. Other services allow users to see "postings"
|
|
immediately.
|
|
|
|
"They are infamous for this unpredicible and unfathomable censorship," Hay
|
|
said.
|
|
|
|
"We feel what we are doing is not censoring because what we are essentially
|
|
doing is electronic publishing," Ek said, comparing the public messages to
|
|
letters to the editor of a family newspaper.
|
|
|
|
Neil Harris, marketing director at the competing GEnie service, said many
|
|
people would feel intimidated knowing that what they write is being screened.
|
|
He said GEnie only rarely has to deleted messages. And he said GEnie has
|
|
picked up several thousand new customers from among disgruntled Prodigy users.
|
|
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
|
|
|
"Conversations with Fred," {Middlesex News}, Framingham, 11/6/90.
|
|
|
|
The story is bizarre but true, swears Herb Rothman. Seems Prodigy, the network
|
|
run as a joint venture by Sears and IBM, wouldn't let somebody post a message
|
|
in a coin-collecting forum that he was looking for a particular Roosevelt dime
|
|
for his collection. Upset, the man called "member services." The
|
|
representative told him the message violated a Prodigy rule against mentioning
|
|
another user in a public message. "What user?" the man asked. "Roosevelt
|
|
Dime," the rep replied. "That's not a person!" the man said. "Yes he is,
|
|
he's a halfback for the Chicago Bears," the rep shot back.
|
|
|
|
Rothman is one of those alleged compu-terrorists Prodigy claims is harassing
|
|
other users and companies that advertise on the service by sending out
|
|
thousands upon thousands of increasingly hostile messages in protest of a
|
|
Prodigy plan to begin charging users who send more than 30 e-mail messages a
|
|
month. Rothman and the others say they sent very polite messages to people
|
|
(Penny Hay of Los Angeles says her messages were even approved by the Prodigy
|
|
legal department) telling them about the new fees and urging them to protest.
|
|
|
|
What's really happening is that Prodigy is proving its complete arrogance and
|
|
total lack of understanding of the dynamics of on-line communication. They
|
|
just don't get it. People are NOT going to spend nearly $130 a year just to
|
|
see the weather in Oregon or order trips to Hawaii.
|
|
|
|
Even the computerphobes Prodigy wants to attract quickly learn the real value
|
|
of the service is in finding new friends and holding intelligent "discussions"
|
|
with others across the country.
|
|
|
|
But Prodigy blithely goes on censoring everything meant for public consumption,
|
|
unlike other nationwide services (or even bulletin-board systems run out of
|
|
some teenager's bedroom). Rothman's story is not the only one about capricious
|
|
or just plain stupid censoring. Dog fanciers can't use the word ``bitch'' when
|
|
talking about their pets, yet the service recently ran an advice column all
|
|
about oral sex. One user who complained when a message commenting on the use
|
|
of the term "queen bitch" on "L.A. Law" was not allowed on was told that
|
|
"queen b***h" would be acceptable, because adults would know what it meant
|
|
but the kiddies would be saved.
|
|
|
|
So when the supposed technology illiterates Prodigy thinks make up its user
|
|
base managed to get around this through the creation of private mail "lists"
|
|
(and, in fact, many did so at the urging of Prodigy itself!), Prodigy started
|
|
complaining of "e-mail hogs," quietly announced plans to levy charges for more
|
|
than a minute number of e-mail messages each month and finally, simply canceled
|
|
the accounts of those who protested the loudest!
|
|
|
|
And now we are watching history in the making, with the nation's first
|
|
nationwide protest movement organized almost entirely by electronic mail (now
|
|
don't tell Prodigy this, but all those people they kicked off quickly got back
|
|
onto the system -- Prodogy allows up to six users per household account, and
|
|
friends simply loaned their empty slots to the protest leaders).
|
|
|
|
It's truly amazing how little faith Prodigy has in the ability of users to
|
|
behave themselves. Other systems have "sysops" to keep things in line, but
|
|
rarely do they have to pull messages. Plus, Prodigy is just being plain dumb.
|
|
Rothman now has a mailing list of about 1,500. That means every time he sends
|
|
out one of his newsletters on collectibles, he sends 1,500 e-mail messages,
|
|
which, yes, costs more for Prodigy to send over long-distance lines and store
|
|
in its central computers. But if they realized their users are generally
|
|
mature, rather than treating them as 4-year-olds, Rothman could post just one
|
|
message in a public area, that everybody could see.
|
|
|
|
Is this any way to run an on-line system? Does Prodigy really want to drive
|
|
away the people most inclined to use the service -- and see all those ads that
|
|
pop up at the bottom of the screen? Prodigy may soon have to do some
|
|
accounting to the folks at IBM and Sears, who by most accounts have already
|
|
poured at least $750 million into "this thing."
|
|
|
|
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -
|
|
With your computer and modem, you can reach Fred the Middlesex News
|
|
Computer anytime, day or night, at (508) 872-8461. Set your parameters
|
|
to 8-1-N and up to 2400 baud.
|
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
HEADLINE Cops Say Hacker, 17, `Stole' Phone Service
|
|
Byline: By Joshua Quittner
|
|
DATE 10/31/90
|
|
SOURCE Newsday (NDAY)
|
|
Edition: NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
|
|
Section: NEWS
|
|
Page: 02
|
|
(Copyright Newsday Inc., 1990)
|
|
|
|
State Police arrested a 17-year-old computer hacker at his terminal yesterday
|
|
afternoon, and charged the Bethpage High School student with using his computer
|
|
to run up more than $1 million worth of long-distance telephone calls on credit
|
|
card numbers he deciphered.
|
|
|
|
State Police Senior Investigator Donald Delaney, who supervised the
|
|
investigation and arrest of John Farrell, of 83 S. Third St., said that the
|
|
case was among the first to rely on new technology developed by
|
|
telecommunications engineers to track long-distance telephone-service abusers.
|
|
|
|
Investigators believe that as early as December, 1989, Farrell was using his
|
|
computer and a homemade electronic device, known as a black box, to
|
|
sequentially dial telephone numbers, which double as credit card numbers. By
|
|
automatically calling the numbers in sequence, Farrell hoped to trigger a
|
|
signal indicating a valid credit card number.
|
|
|
|
However, AT&T, which recently developed software to detect such sequential
|
|
dialing, alerted Delaney's office in September of Farrell's alleged attempts.
|
|
In July, investigators surreptitiously placed a "pen register" - a device that
|
|
records all numbers dialed from a particular phone line - on Farrell's
|
|
telephone, Delaney said.
|
|
|
|
State Police and U.S. Secret Service agents - the federal agency has been
|
|
taking an active part in computer crimes and investigates credit card fraud -
|
|
staked out Farrell's house yesterday afternoon. Shortly after 3 p.m., when the
|
|
youth arrived home from school, technicians monitoring his telephone line
|
|
signaled the police that he had already turned on his computer and was using an
|
|
illegal credit card number to access an electronic bulletin board in Illinois,
|
|
police said. Officers, armed with a search warrant, then entered the house and
|
|
arrested Farrell.
|
|
|
|
Delaney said Farrell found over 100 long-distance credit card numbers, from
|
|
four long-distance carriers, and posted them on rogue electronic bulletins
|
|
boards in Virginia, Chicago, Denmark and France. Although he allegedly made
|
|
most of the illegal calls, other hackers also used the numbers. The majority
|
|
of the calls - more than $600,000 worth - were billed to four corporate card
|
|
numbers, said Delaney, who added that the phone company is responsible for such
|
|
losses. Farrell was arrested and charged with six felonies, including grand
|
|
larceny, computer trespass and criminal possession of stolen property. The
|
|
charges carry a maximum penalty of four years in prison. He was released into
|
|
the custody of his parents last night. Neither Farrell nor his parents could
|
|
be reached for comment yesterday. Farrell was associated with a group of
|
|
hackers who called themselves Paradox, Delaney said.
|
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
HEADLINE Menacing calls started out as prank, says participant
|
|
Byline: Katharine Webster and Graciella Sevilla
|
|
Credit: Staff Writer
|
|
Notes: Editions vary : Head varies
|
|
DATE 10/28/90
|
|
SOURCE The San Diego Union and Tribune (SDU)
|
|
Pub: UNION
|
|
Edition: 1,2,3,4,5,6
|
|
Section: LOCAL
|
|
Page: B-1
|
|
(Copyright 1990)
|
|
|
|
A three-year campaign of telephoned threats and ethnic slurs directed against
|
|
the Jewish owner of a National City pawn shop started out as a "stupid prank"
|
|
that grew to include more than 100 people, according to one of the young men
|
|
who participated in the harassment. "Little did I know when I started this
|
|
three years ago, that it would escalate into my brother calling (David Vogel)
|
|
10 times a day," said Gary Richard Danko, 21, of Chula Vista, who cooperated
|
|
with the FBI investigation that resulted in the indictment Wednesday of his
|
|
older brother and two other men on civil rights charges.
|
|
|
|
Michael Dennis Danko, 23, and Brett Alan Pankauski, 22, both of Chula Vista,
|
|
and Jeffrey Alan Myrick, 21, of Paradise Hills in San Diego, pleaded not guilty
|
|
in U.S. District Court yesterday to a six-count indictment charging them with
|
|
wire fraud and felony conspiracy to violate the civil rights of David Vogel, a
|
|
66-year-old Jewish immigrant who escaped the Holocaust.
|
|
|
|
Pankauski was released on $10,000 bail and admonished to avoid all contact with
|
|
Vogel. But Danko and Myrick were held without bail pending an Oct. 4
|
|
detention hearing after federal prosecutor Michael McAuliffe convinced
|
|
Magistrate Irma Gonzalez that they posed substantial flight risks.
|
|
|
|
On Wednesday, Gary Danko and a friend, Robert John Byrd, 21, also of Chula
|
|
Vista, pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of conspiring to violate Vogel's
|
|
civil rights, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. The
|
|
two friends, who met while working at a 7-Eleven, were released and agreed to
|
|
testify at the trial of the remaining three defendants.
|
|
|
|
Though the arrests climaxed a five-month investigation involving the FBI, U.S.
|
|
attorney's office and the Department of Justice, Gary Danko said yesterday that
|
|
the menacing phone calls to numbers picked "at random" from the telephone book
|
|
began years ago.
|
|
|
|
The group of friends, most of whom have known each other since elementary
|
|
school, all used to make crank phone calls, Danko said, even to each other.
|
|
They also experimented with breaking codes for answering machines and changing
|
|
the outgoing message to something profane.
|
|
|
|
While he said he stopped making the calls to Vogel a couple of years ago, his
|
|
brother and others "took it out to a degree to torment the guy."
|
|
|
|
"I feel bad that it turned out this way," Danko said. "I wish there was some
|
|
way I could make it up to David (Vogel)."
|
|
|
|
"I know how he feels," Danko added. "Ever since I've had my own phone line
|
|
I've had harassing phone calls between 2 and 6 in the morning to the point
|
|
where I've changed my phone number three times." Danko denied that he, his
|
|
brother, or any of the other defendants in the case were racists or that they
|
|
had targeted Vogel for any particular reason. He said that the defendants made
|
|
crank calls to many people, and that the anti-Jewish nature of the calls to
|
|
Vogel was probably based on a "lucky guess" that he was Jewish.
|
|
|
|
According to the indictment, Michael Danko, Myrick, and Pankauski made phone
|
|
calls in which they referred to Nazi concentration camps and Hitler, while
|
|
threatening to harm Vogel and his pawn-shop business.
|
|
|
|
Vogel said he began receiving the phone calls -- which included racial slurs
|
|
and taunts about his wife -- in 1987. Sometimes he received up to 12 calls a
|
|
day, creating a "personal hell." Earlier this year, he finally hired a private
|
|
investigator, who then turned the case over to the FBI.
|
|
|
|
"It caused suffering for us like the concentration camps did for my family,"
|
|
Vogel said. "It was horrible."
|
|
|
|
Another relative of Gary and Michael Danko, who asked not to be identified,
|
|
said he thought the calls to Vogel continued only "because they got a reaction
|
|
out of him -- he screamed and yelled at them." But he said Vogel was probably
|
|
not the only Jew targeted in the phone calls.
|
|
|
|
The relative agreed with FBI agents, who described these incidents as isolated
|
|
and not connected with organized racist groups such as the Skinheads.
|
|
|
|
Instead, he said, the brothers thought they were doing "something funny." He
|
|
said he thought they still didn't realize they were doing something wrong, even
|
|
though he had "yelled and screamed at them" to stop.
|
|
|
|
Gary Danko is a computer "hacker" who works at a computer store, he said.
|
|
Michael Danko was unemployed.
|
|
|
|
FBI agents began investigating the calls in May, when they placed a tape
|
|
recorder on Vogel's phone. It only took a few moments before the first hate
|
|
call came in.
|
|
|
|
Agents traced the calls to a number of phone booths and then began putting
|
|
together the wire-fraud case.
|
|
|
|
In addition to the civil rights violations, the indictment alleges that the
|
|
three defendants conspired to obtain unauthorized AT&T long-distance access
|
|
codes to make long-distance phone calls without paying for them.
|
|
|
|
If convicted of the civil rights and wire-fraud charges, the defendants could
|
|
face up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines. In addition, they face
|
|
various additional charges of illegally obtaining and using the restricted
|
|
long-distance access codes.
|
|
|
|
Yesterday, Vogel angrily rejected the notion that these callers were less than
|
|
serious in their intentions.
|
|
|
|
"They're full of baloney. They don't know what they are talking about," he
|
|
said.
|
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
HEADLINE SHORT-CIRCUITING DATA CRIMINALS
|
|
STEPS CAN BE TAKEN TO DETECT AND PREVENT COMPUTER SECURITY BREACHES,
|
|
BUT BUSINESSES HESITATE TO PROSECUTE
|
|
Byline: Mary J. Pitzer Daily News Staff Writer
|
|
Notes: MONDAY BUSINESS: COVER STORY THE PRICE OF COMPUTER
|
|
CRIME. Second of two parts
|
|
DATE 10/22/90
|
|
SOURCE LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS (LAD)
|
|
Edition: Valley
|
|
Section: BUSINESS
|
|
Page: B1
|
|
(Copyright 1990)
|
|
|
|
Along with other telecommunications companies, Pacific Bell is a favorite
|
|
target for computer crime.
|
|
|
|
"We're a victim," said Darrell Santos, senior investigator at Pacific Bell.
|
|
"We have people hacking us and trying to get into our billables. It seems like
|
|
a whole lot of people are trying to get into the telecommunications network."
|
|
|
|
But the company is fighting back. About seven employees in its investigative
|
|
unit work with different law enforcement agencies to track down criminals, many
|
|
of whom use the phone lines to commit computer crimes.
|
|
|
|
In cooperation with authorities Pacific Bell investigators collect evidence,
|
|
trace calls, interview suspects and testify in court. They even do their own
|
|
hacking to figure out what some of their chief adversaries are up to.
|
|
|
|
"We take a (telephone) prefix and hack the daylights out of it. We hack our
|
|
own numbers," Santos said. "Hey, if we can do it, think of what those brain
|
|
childs are doing."
|
|
|
|
Few companies are nearly so aggressive. For the most part computer crime is a
|
|
growing business that remains relatively unchecked. State and federal laws
|
|
against computer crime are in place, but few cases are prosecuted. Most
|
|
incidents go unreported, consultants say.
|
|
|
|
"We advise our clients not to talk about losses and security because just
|
|
talking about them in public is a breach," said Donn Parker, a senior managment
|
|
consultant at SRI International in Palo Alto. "Mostly companies handle
|
|
incidents privately or swallow the loss."
|
|
|
|
Most problematic is that few companies have tight enough security to protect
|
|
themselves.
|
|
|
|
"On a scale of one to 10, the majority of companies are at about a two," said
|
|
Jim Harrigan, senior security consultant at LeeMah Datacom Security Corp.,
|
|
which sells computer security products.
|
|
|
|
Current laws are strong enough to convict computer criminals, security experts
|
|
say. But they have been little used and sentences are rarely stiff, especially
|
|
because so many violators are juveniles.
|
|
|
|
Fewer than 250 computer crime cases have been prosecuted nationally, according
|
|
to Kenneth Rosenblatt, head of the Santa Clara County district attorney's high
|
|
technology unit. Rosenblatt co-authored California's recent computer crime
|
|
law, which creates new penalties such as confiscation of computer equipment.
|
|
|
|
Under a strengthened federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Cornell University
|
|
graduate student Robert T. Morris Jr. was convicted of unleashing a computer
|
|
virus in Internet, a large computer network tying universities and government
|
|
facilities. Though the virus was not intended to destroy programs, it infected
|
|
thousands of computers and cost between $100,000 and $10 million to combat,
|
|
according to author and hacking expert Cliff Stoll.
|
|
|
|
Morris was sentenced to three years probation and a $10,000 fine.
|
|
|
|
A major problem in policing computer crime is that investigators are
|
|
understaffed and undertrained, Rosenblatt said. While Los Angeles and other
|
|
police departments have computer crime units, most are not geared for it, he
|
|
said. And violent crimes take precedence.
|
|
|
|
Rosenblatt would like to see greater regional cooperation and coordination
|
|
among local law enforcement agencies.
|
|
|
|
Because investigators are understaffed, they must depend on their victims to
|
|
gather enough evidence to convict the culprits. And that can be fraught with
|
|
difficulties, Kenneth Weaver, criminal investigator in the San Diego district
|
|
attorney's office, said at a recent security conference in Newport Beach.
|
|
|
|
In one case a company's computer system crashed and its programs were erased 30
|
|
days after an employee left the firm. With six months of backup tapes, the
|
|
company was able to document what had happened. The District Attorney's office
|
|
asked to estimate how much money had been lost.
|
|
|
|
The total came to $3,850, well below the $5,000 in damages needed for a felony
|
|
case, Weaver said. And then the information was delayed 14 months. It needed
|
|
to be reported in 12 months for the D.A. to go forward with the case.
|
|
|
|
"We were prevented from prosecuting," Weaver said. In California, 71 percent
|
|
of the cases result in convictions once arrests are made, according to the
|
|
National Center for Computer Crime Data.
|
|
|
|
But when prosecutors do make a case, there can be more trouble. Some prominent
|
|
people in the computer industry have complained that a 2-year investigation by
|
|
the U.S. Secret Service infringed on civil rights.
|
|
|
|
The investigation, code-named Operation Sun Devil, was started to snare members
|
|
of the Legion of Doom, an elite hacker group. The Secret Service suspected
|
|
that they had broken into BellSouth Corp.'s telephone network and planted
|
|
destructive programs that could have knocked out emergency and customer phone
|
|
service across several states. Last spring, hacker dens in 13 cities were
|
|
raided. Two suspects have been charged with computer crimes, and more arrests
|
|
are expected.
|
|
|
|
But a group called EFF, formed in July by Lotus Development Corp. founder
|
|
Mitchell D. Kapor and Apple Computer Inc. co-founder Stephen Wozniak, has
|
|
objected to the crackdown as overzealous.
|
|
|
|
"The excesses of Operation Sun Devil are only the beginning of what threatens
|
|
to become a long, difficult, and philosophically obscure struggle between
|
|
institutional control and individual liberty," Kapor wrote in a paper with
|
|
computer expert and Grateful Dead lyricist John Perry Barlow.
|
|
|
|
So far, the foundation has granted $275,000 to Computer Professionals for
|
|
Social Responsibility to expand its ongoing work on civil liberties protections
|
|
for computer users.
|
|
|
|
The foundation also is offering legal assistance to computer users who may have
|
|
had their rights infringed. For example, it provided legal support to Craig
|
|
Neidorf, publisher of an online hacking "magazine." Neidorf had been charged
|
|
with felony wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property for
|
|
publishing BellSouth network information.
|
|
|
|
Neidorf said he was not aware the information was stolen. EFF claimed that
|
|
Neidorf's right to free speech had been violated. The government dropped its
|
|
case after EFF representatives found that the apparently stolen information was
|
|
publicly available.
|
|
|
|
Companies that want to prosecute computer crime face other dilemmas.
|
|
|
|
"The decision to bring in public authorities is not always the best," said
|
|
Susan Nycum, an attorney at Baker & McKenzie in Palo Alto.
|
|
|
|
In a criminal case, the company loses control over what information is made
|
|
public in the trial. But companies can pursue civil remedies that enable them
|
|
to keep a lower profile. Suing for theft of trade secret, for example, would
|
|
be one avenue, Weaver said.
|
|
|
|
Many companies are reluctant to beef up security even if they know the risks
|
|
from computer crime. First, they worry that making access to computers more
|
|
difficult would lower productivity. There also is concern that their technical
|
|
people, who are in high demand, might leave for other jobs if security becomes
|
|
too cumbersome.
|
|
|
|
Expense is another factor. Serious security measures at a large installation
|
|
can cost an average of $100,000, though a smaller company can be helped for
|
|
about $10,000, said Trevor Gee, partner at consulting company Deloitte and
|
|
Touche.
|
|
|
|
"They hear all the rumors, but unless you illustrate very specific savings,
|
|
they are reluctant," Gee said.
|
|
|
|
Proving cost savings is difficult unless the company already has been hit by
|
|
computer crime. But those victims, some of whom have suffered losses in the
|
|
millions, are usually security experts' best customers, consultants say.
|
|
|
|
Much of the vulnerability to computer crime comes simply from lax security.
|
|
Access is not restricted. Doors are not locked. Passwords are easily guessed,
|
|
seldom changed and shared with several workers. And even these basic security
|
|
measures are easy to put off.
|
|
|
|
"You hear a lot of, `We haven't gotten around to changing the password because.
|
|
. .," Roy Alzua, telecommunications security program manager at Rockwell
|
|
International, told the security conference.
|
|
|
|
So what should companies do to plug the gaping security holes in their
|
|
organizations?
|
|
|
|
Consultants say that top management first has to make a commitment that
|
|
everyone in the operation takes seriously.
|
|
|
|
"I've seen companies waste several hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars
|
|
because management was not behind the program," Deloitte & Touche's Gee said.
|
|
"As a result, MIS (management information systems) professionals have a tough
|
|
time" pressing for more security.
|
|
|
|
Once top executives are convinced that there is a need for tighter security,
|
|
they must establish policies and procedures, consultants say. Gee suggests
|
|
that in addition to training programs, reminders should be posted. Such issues
|
|
as whether employees are allowed to use computers for personal projects should
|
|
be tackled.
|
|
|
|
Management also should decide what systems and information need to be secured.
|
|
|
|
"They need to zero in on the information they are really concerned about," said
|
|
Gregory Therkalsen, national director of information security services for
|
|
consultants Ernst & Young. "About 95 percent of the information in the average
|
|
company nobody cares about."
|
|
|
|
Before tackling complicated security systems, companies should pay attention to
|
|
the basics.
|
|
|
|
"Lock a door. It's as easy as that," Alzua said.
|
|
|
|
Companies should make sure that the passwords that come with their computers
|
|
are changed. And then employees should not use common words or names that are
|
|
easy to guess. Using a combination of numbers and letters, although difficult
|
|
to remember, is more secure.
|
|
|
|
Another basic measure is to have a system that automatically checks the
|
|
authorization of someone who dials into the company's computers from the
|
|
outside.
|
|
|
|
Then, companies should develop an electronic audit trail so that they know who
|
|
is using the system and when. And companies should always take the time to
|
|
make backups of their computer files and store them in a place safe from fire
|
|
and flood.
|
|
|
|
A wide variety of software is available to help companies protect themselves.
|
|
Some automatically encode information entered into the system. Others detect
|
|
viruses.
|
|
|
|
For a more sophisticated approach, LeeMah Datacom has a system that blocks a
|
|
computer tone from the telephone line until the correct access code is entered.
|
|
The company has held contests challenging hackers to break into its system. No
|
|
one has, the company said.
|
|
|
|
SRI is developing a system that would monitor computer activity around the
|
|
clock with the supervision of a security guard. SRI is implementing the system
|
|
for the FBI and plans to make it a commercial product.
|
|
|
|
No company would want to have a perfectly secure system, consultants say. That
|
|
would mean shutting out most employees and staying off networks that can make
|
|
operations more efficient.
|
|
|
|
While still balancing the need for openess, however, there is much that can be
|
|
done to prevent computer crime. And although there is no perfect solution,
|
|
companies don't need to stand by waiting to become the next victim.
|
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
HEADLINE BELL CANADA'S NEW LOOK TELEPHONE NUMBERS PUZZLE SOME CUSTOMERS
|
|
DATE 09/26/90
|
|
SOURCE CANADA NEWS-WIRE (CNW)
|
|
Contact: For further information, contact: Irene Colella (416)
|
|
581-4266; Geoff Matthews, Bell Canada (416) 581-4205. CO: Bell Canada
|
|
SS: IN: TLS
|
|
Origin: TORONTO
|
|
Language: ENGLISH; E
|
|
Day of Week: Wed
|
|
Time: 09:56 (Eastern Time)
|
|
(Copyright Canada News-Wire)
|
|
RE CN
|
|
--- BELL CANADA'S NEW LOOK TELEPHONE NUMBERS PUZZLE SOME
|
|
CUSTOMERS ---
|
|
|
|
TORONTO - Bell Canada's new look telephone numbers in Southern Ontario are
|
|
causing puzzlement among some customers in the 416 area code.
|
|
|
|
In late 1988 Bell found itself running short of telephone numbers in the Golden
|
|
Horseshoe because of rapid business and residential growth as well as the
|
|
increasing popularity of cellular telephones, fax machines and new services
|
|
like Ident-A-Call.
|
|
|
|
To accommodate continuing growth, the company had to come up with a means of
|
|
creating new number combinations. The solution was found by assigning local
|
|
exchanges made up of combinations which had previously been reserved as area
|
|
codes elsewhere in North America.
|
|
|
|
Until March of this year the three numbers (known as a central office code)
|
|
which begin a telephone number never had a zero or a one as the second digit.
|
|
Anything from two through nine could appear in that position, but combinations
|
|
with zero or one were used only as area codes. But with more than four million
|
|
telephone numbers in use throughout the Golden Horseshoe Bell was simply
|
|
running out of the traditional central office code combinations. By creating
|
|
new central office codes such as 502, 513, 602 and 612, the company has access
|
|
to up to one million new telephone numbers.
|
|
|
|
Some customers, however, have found the new numbers a little confusing. When
|
|
the new numbers were introduced last March, Bell mounted an extensive
|
|
advertising campaign telling customers throughout the 416 area code to dial 1
|
|
plus 416 or 0 plus 416 for all long distance calls within the area code in
|
|
order to ensure calls to these numbers could be completed.
|
|
|
|
Bell spokesman Geoff Matthews says that while the ad campaign was extremely
|
|
effective in changing dialing habits, a number of customers are scratching
|
|
their heads when they first see the new telephone numbers.
|
|
|
|
``In some cases we are finding that business customers have not programmed
|
|
their telephone equipment to permit dialing the new numbers,'' Matthews said,
|
|
``but some people think it is simply a mistake when they see a telephone number
|
|
beginning with 612 for example. Most are satisfied once they have received an
|
|
explanation.''
|
|
|
|
Creating the million new telephone numbers should see Bell Canada through
|
|
several years, Matthews said, after which a new area code will be introduced.
|
|
|
|
The 416 area code is the first in Canada to reach capacity. A number of U.S.
|
|
cities have faced a similar situation, Matthews said, and have introduced
|
|
similar number plans.
|
|
|
|
Bell Canada, the largest Canadian telecommunications operating company, markets
|
|
a full range of state-of-the-art products and services more than seven million
|
|
business and residence customers in Ontario, Quebec and part of the Northwest
|
|
Territories.
|
|
|
|
Bell Canada is a member of Telecom Canada -- an association of Canada's major
|
|
telecommunications companies.
|
|
|
|
|
|
For further information, contact: Irene Colella (416) 581-4266; Geoff
|
|
Matthews, Bell Canada (416) 581-4205.
|
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
HEADLINE Keeping The PBX Secure
|
|
Byline: Bruce Caldwell
|
|
DATE 10/15/90
|
|
Issue: 291
|
|
Section: TRENDS
|
|
Page: 25
|
|
(Copyright 1990 CMP Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.)
|
|
|
|
Preventing toll fraud through the corporate PBX can be as simple, albeit
|
|
inconvenient, as expanding access codes from four digits to 14. "When we had
|
|
nine-digit codes, we got hurt bad," says Bob Fox of US Sprint Communications
|
|
Co., referring to the phone company's credit card numbers. "But when we moved
|
|
to 14-digit codes and vigorous prosecution, our abuse dropped off the table."
|
|
|
|
At most companies, the authorization code for remote access, used by employees
|
|
to place calls through the corporate PBX while away from the office, is only
|
|
four digits. Many companies are "hung up on the four-digit authorization
|
|
code," says Fox, mainly because it's easier for the executives to remember.
|
|
But all it takes a hacker to crack open a four-digit code is about 20 minutes.
|
|
|
|
To help their customers cope with PBX abuse, MCI Communications Corp. has
|
|
prepared a tip sheet describing preventative measures (see accompanying chart).
|
|
PBX fraud may display itself in a particular pattern: The initial stage will
|
|
show a dramatic increase in 950-outbound and 800-outbound services, which allow
|
|
a surreptitious user to "cover his tracks" by jumping from one carrier to
|
|
another-a technique known as "looping." In time, knowledge of the unsecured
|
|
system may become widespread, resulting in heavy use of services connected with
|
|
normal telecommunications traffic.
|
|
|
|
Customers are advised to audit systems for unusual usage and to change codes on
|
|
a regular basis. Steady tones used as prompts to input access codes should be
|
|
avoided, because that is what hacker-programmed computers look for. Instead,
|
|
MCI advises use of a voice recording or no prompt at all, and recommends
|
|
automatic termination of a call or routing it to a switchboard operator
|
|
whenever an invalid code is entered.
|
|
|
|
An obvious source of help is often overlooked. Explains Jim Snyder, an
|
|
attorney in MCI's office of corporate systems integrity, "The first thing we
|
|
tell customers is to contact their PBX vendor to find out what kind of
|
|
safeguards can be built into the PBX."
|
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|
|
|
|
|
|
HEADLINE WATCH YOUR PBX
|
|
Column: Database
|
|
DATE 04/02/90
|
|
SOURCE COMMUNICATIONSWEEK (CWK)
|
|
Issue: 294
|
|
Section: PRN
|
|
Page: 24
|
|
(Copyright 1990 CMP Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.)
|
|
|
|
Many managers of voice systems would be "horrified" if they realized the low
|
|
levels of security found in their PBXs, according to Gail Thackeray, an
|
|
assistant attorney general for the state of Arizona. Thackeray made her
|
|
comments to a group of financial users at a computer virus clinic held by the
|
|
Data Processing Management Association's Financial Industries chapter.
|
|
Thackeray, who investigates computer crimes, said that PBXs often are used by
|
|
network criminals to make free long distance phone calls at the expense of the
|
|
companies that own the PBXs. "PBX owners are often unaware that if $500,000
|
|
worth of fraud comes from your PBX, the local carrier is not going to absorb
|
|
that loss," she said.
|
|
|
|
The PBX also is often the first source of break-in by computer hackers, who use
|
|
the free phone service to get into a user's data system, she said. "PBXs are
|
|
the prime method for international toll fraud and hackers attacking and hiding
|
|
behind your corporate identity," Thackeray said.
|
|
|
|
Richard Lefkon, Citicorp's network planner and president of DPMA's financial
|
|
industries chapter, said users are more likely to take steps toward protecting
|
|
a PBX than a network of microcomputers. "A PBX is expensive, so if you add 15
|
|
to 20 percent to protect it, it's a justifiable expenditure," Lefkon said. "If
|
|
you have a PC which costs a couple of thousand dollars, unless you think you're
|
|
special, you are going to think twice before investing several hundred dollars
|
|
per PC to protect them."
|
|
|
|
_______________________________________________________________________________
|