TELECOM Digest Fri, 17 Dec 93 14:33:00 CST Volume 13 : Issue 823
Inside This Issue: Moderator: Patrick A. Townson
Public Hearings on Privacy (US Consumer Affairs via Dave Banisar)
Connecting From Europe to U.S. via ISDN, Help! (Braun Brelin)
Need Information About Russian Connectivity to Outside (Tomaz Borstnar)
Schedule Change for Computers in Medicine CFP (Wesley Snyder)
Book Review: "Internet Passport" (Rob Slade)
ISDN Availability Data Now Accessible via Internet (Jim Fenton)
BellSouth Sixth to Sue Over Cable Dereg Act (Wash. Post via Paul Robinson)
Questions About Identring (Thomas Chen)
Recourse For Phone Tapping? (Rex Fowler)
MCI Takes 150M Charge (Washington Post via Paul Robinson)
Equal Access Ballots -- Multiple Names for One LD Carrier? (Robert Keller)
Re: Calling Cards and Privately Owned Pay Phones (Tim Gorman)
Re: High Speed Links? (Paul Robinson)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Organization: CPSR Washington Office
From: Dave Banisar <
[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 13:00:10 EST
Subject: Public Hearings on Privacy
Public Hearings on Privacy
NEWS
US OFFICE OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: George Idelson (USOCA)
December 10, 1993 (202)634-4344
Patricia Faley (USOCA)
(202)634-4329
PUBLIC HEARINGS ON INFORMATION AGE PRIVACY SET FOR CALIFORNIA AND
WASHINGTON, DC.
Sacramento: January 10-11, 1994; Washington, DC: January 26-27,
1994. Public Invited to Participate.
Representatives from the public, private and non profit sectors
will present their views on personal privacy and data protection in
the information age at public hearings of a U.S. Government task
force in early 1994.
The hearings will be open meetings of the Privacy Working Group,
chaired by Patricia Faley, Acting Director of the United States Office
of Consumer Affairs (USOCA). The Working Group is part of a task
force set up by the Clinton Administration to consider how to spur
development of an "information superhighway." officially known as the
National Information Infrastructure (NII), the "data highway" will be
capable of exchanging data, voice and images electronically within a
vast network of individuals, businesses, government agencies and other
organizations around the world. Ensuring ready access to information
is the goal of the Administrative initiative, but protecting
individual privacy is essential to its success.
The public meetings will examine privacy issues relating to such
areas as law enforcement, financial services, information technology,
and direct marketing. The California mooting, January 10th and llth,
will be hosted by Jim Conran, Director, California Department of
Consumer Affairs in the First Floor Hearing Room at 400 R Street in
Sacramento. The Washington, DC meeting, January 26th and 27th, will
be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce Auditorium, 14th &
Constitution Ave. NW. Registration begins at 8:30am, meetings at
9am.
The public is invited to attend, question speakers and to make
brief comments, but space is limited. Concise written statements for
the record should be sent to "Privacy," USOCA, 1620 L Street NW,
Washington DC 20036 or faxed to (202)634-4135.
# # #
United States Office of Comumer Affairs - 1620 L Street, NW, Washington,
D.C. 20036-5605
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Braun Brelin)
Subject: Connecting From Europe to U.S. via ISDN, Help!
Date: 17 Dec 93 14:54:00 GMT
Hello,
I am facing some real roadblocks in being able to connect from my
office in Paris to my company's headquarters in the U.S. I am still
very much of a novice when it comes to ISDN and WAN.
I would like to know of anyone who is using ISDN to connect to an
office in the U.S. from France.
I have a number of questions:
1. I have heard of a company called Bintec that makes ISDN sbus cards
that will allow connectivity from one Sparcstation to another. I have
a SPARCstation LX on my end. How does this affect the built-in ISDN
available on the LX?
2. I understand that ISDN standards in the U.S. are different than in
Europe. My company is located in Santa Clara, CA. Does anyone know
how PacBell implements their version of ISDN?
3. Can I get greater than 64Kbytes bandwidth on one ISDN line? That
is, what is the best way to use both B channels (I know about inverse
multiplexing but I dont' know if it is standard or is suppported or
what...)
4. Does any Internet service provider in Europe allow me to use ISDN
to connect to their hubs?
Thanks in advance for any responses.
Braun Brelin Auspex Systems, Inc.
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Tomaz Borstnar)
Subject: Need Information About Russian Connectivity to Outside
Date: 17 Dec 1993 17:21:32 +0100
Organization: ARNES [Academic and Research Network of Slovenia]
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Hello!
My boss urgentely needs up-to-date information about Russian
connectivity. He is especially interested in situation in Moscow. Can
anybody provide me some pointer to this?
Thanks in advance.
Tomaz Borstnar
ARNES (Academic and research network of Slovenia) News admin
Phone:+386-61-125-9199 ext. 422; fax:+386-61-219-385
E-mail:
[email protected] | Arnes, Jamova 39, Ljubljana, Slovenia
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Wesley Snyder)
Subject: Schedule Change for Computers in Medicine CFP
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Organization: The Bowman Gray School of Medicine
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 20:19:16 GMT
CBMS-94
Advance Notice and Call for Papers
Computers in Medicine -- Two Conferences, one location
ONLY TWO MORE WEEKS LEFT TO SUBMIT PAPER SUMMARIES! DEC 31 IS IT!
The Seventh IEEE Symposium on Computer-Based Medical Systems
Friday-Saturday, June 10 - 11, 1994 with tutorials Saturday evening
and Sunday morning;
and the
12th Conference for Computer Applications in Radiology
Monday-Wednesday, June 13-15, 1994 with tutorials on Sunday
CBMS Sponsors
*IEEE Computer Society *IEEE Engineering in Medicine and
Biology Society
*The Winston-Salem Section of the IEEE
* with local support by the Bowman Gray School of Medicine
The Symposium is intended for engineers and computer scientists in
academia and industry who are designing and developing Computer-Based
Medical Systems (CBMS). Biomedical engineers, computer scientists,
medical residents, physicians, and students who are working on medical
projects that involve computers are encouraged to submit papers
describing their work.
The conference is run this year in coordination with the annual SCAR
(Society for Computer Application in Radiology) meeting, starting on
Sunday, June 13, at the Winston-Salem Civic Center, next door to the
Stouffer. CBMS attendees will therefore have the opportunity to
combine two excellent conferences in one trip.
The Program:
CBMS combines technical papers, poster presentations, panel
discussions, tutorials and research laboratory tours. Papers covering
the following related areas are requested:
Device Reliability and Safety Neural Networks and Expert Systems
fault-tolerance, device testing, theory, implementations,
validation and software safety pattern recognition, applications
Image Processing and Analysis Prosthetic Devices
registration, compression, Environmental control, word processing
enhancement, restoration, devices for the hearing and vision
reconstruction, hardware impaired, standards
Signal Processing Cardiovascular Technologies
algorithms, hardware, real-time monitoring, imaging, bioimpedance
processing, monitoring, EEG measurements, micro-computing,
computer applications,
cardiopulmonary resuscitation
Information Systems Clinical Assessment and Risk
Evaluation
RIS, HIS, PACS, networks, databases real-time signal processing,
database systems
Submission of Papers:
Contributions in the forms of papers, poster sessions, software
demonstrations, and tutorials in the areas listed above are invited.
Paper summaries should be limited to two pages (typed, double-spaced)
and should include the title, names of authors, and the address and
telephone number of the corresponding author. Send four copies of your
contributions to: (Authors west of the Mississippi and Asia) Nassrin
Tavakoli, Info Enterprises, 3260 N. Colorado Street, Chandler, AZ
85225-1123. or (Authors east of the Missippi and Europe) Paul
Kizakevich, Research Triangle Institute, POBox 12194, Research
Triangle Park, NC 27709.
Student Paper Contest:
Student papers are invited and considered for the contest. Winners of
the contest will be selected by the Student Paper Contest Committee
and awards will be announced and made the symposium. Awards will
consist of a certificate and monetary prize as follows:
First Prize: $500; Second Prize: $300; Third Prize: $150.
To be eligible, the student must be the first author of an accepted paper,
and must present the paper at CBMS `94.
Deadlines and Key Dates:
Paper summaries due: December 31, 1993 Notice of acceptance:
February 1, 1994
Camera ready papers due: March 15, 1994
------------------------------
Date: 16 Dec 93 15:05 -0600
From: Rob Slade <
[email protected]>
Subject: Book Review: "Internet Passport"
BKINTPSP.RVW 931118
Computer Literacy Bookshops
2590 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95131
408-435-0744 fax: 408-435-1823
[email protected]
or (bookstores only, please)
NorthWestNet
15400 SE 30th Place, Suite 202
Bellevue, WA 98007 USA
(206) 562-3000 fax: (206) 562-4822
"The Internet Passport", Kochmer, 1993, 0-9635281-0-6, U$29.95
[email protected]
This work is a fairly bare bones and no nonsense guide to the
Internet. The book is orderly, and the explanations and illustrations
are clear. Each chapter covers a single topic. Each chapter ends
with additional references, most often online materials or sources.
The work is well researched and highly competent in most cases. There
is, in the early chapters, a gracelessness to it which lacks any kind
of appeal. What humour there is tends to seem somewhat contrived and
sanitized: a topic on the hardware that connects computers on the
Internet is subtitled "Router Rooters: 'Go Internet Go!'" Nevertheless,
it is a thoroughly researched and valuable reference for those interes-
ted in using the resources of the Internet.
Section one, which is also chapter one, is a brief introduction to the
Internet. There is minor mention of the technologies and organizations
involved in the Internet, as well as brief mention of Fidonet and
UUCP. The bibliography is a very solid list of valuable titles, but
would have had significantly more value with some annotation.
Section two covers the basic tools and functions of the Internet. The
topics are well chosen, starting with email, mail servers, mail
gateways to other networks and systems, telnet and ftp. Chapter four
discusses mail etiquette. This section, I am happy to note, gives
more space to the topic than is usual. In the end, though, it comes
down to a list of rules that reduce to "keep it short, keep on topic,
be complete and don't mess up." It would be nice to see one of these
essays tell people how and why flame wars start, which might help to
avoid them. Chapter eight, following ftp, deals with file compression
and archiving.
Section three moves into the next level of sophistication, in terms of
communications, with group discussions. As the book puts it, these
are the "Community Forums" of the net. Chapters nine, ten and eleven
deal very clearly, completely and usefully with Usenet, BITNET,
LISTSERVs and Internet mailing lists. I am noted for highly critical
reviews: I find nothing of any substance wrong with this section, and
recommend it highly and without reservation. Once again, the end of
each chapter gives useful directions on how to find out further
information, particularly the specifics of various LISTSERVs and
mailing lists.
Section four starts to look at the resources of the Internet as a
library, with electronic journals, books, catalogues and data bases.
Chapter fifteen is very similar to the catalog section of Ed Krol's
work (cf BKKROL.RVW) with listings of sites and resources by topic.
Section five deals with exploration and retrieval tools, such as
archie, gopher, WAIS, WWW and directory services. The final section
contains two specialized interests, the use of the Internet in public
education, and access to supercomputing facilities.
The book concludes with several appendices. The most interesting are
likely Appendix A, which gives suggestions of online sources of
information about the Internet, and, B, which gives a short list of
Internet access providers and methods. The glossary is very well
done: not overblown with imposing numbers of entries, but good
explanations of the important terms.
The unprepossessing beginning of this work hides a very carefully
researched and well organized reference for those wishing to get into
the Internet and its resources. Less flashy than Krol, it should
nevertheless have a place on the desk of every serious Internet user.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1993 BKINTPSP.RVW 931118
(Postscriptum: this work is being kept up to date. The edition I reviewed was
the fourth, and a fifth is planned for next year.)
Permission granted to distribute with unedited copies of the TELECOM
Digest and associated mailing lists.
DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters
Editor and/or reviewer
[email protected],
[email protected], Rob Slade at 1:153/733
DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact:
[email protected]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 93 17:12:23 -0800
From:
[email protected] (Jim Fenton)
Subject: ISDN Availability Data Now Accessible via Internet
By popular demand, the Combinet "BBS" providing information on ISDN
availability in many areas of the US is now available via the
Internet. The information is supplied by Bell Communications Research
and various Operating Companies and is updated periodically as new
information becomes available.
To access the service, telnet to bbs.combinet.com and login as isdn
(no password is required). After entering an area code and
three-digit prefix, the service displays the availability of ISDN.
Also displayed is information about carrier installation prices and
monthly charges.
For those without direct Internet access, the service continues to be
available on a dialup basis using a 2400 bit/sec modem at (408) 733-4312.
Jim Fenton <
[email protected]>
Combinet, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA 408 522-9164
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 20:57:49 EST
From: Paul Robinson <
[email protected]>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <
[email protected]>
Subject: BellSouth Sixth to Sue Over Cable Dereg Act
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
{Washington Post}, Page F2, December 15:
BellSouth became the sixth regional phone firm suing to overturn the
Cable Communications Act of 1984, which prohibits BellSouth and other
"Baby Bells" from providing phone and cable TV service in the same
area. Its lawsuit in U.S. District court called the curbs an
unconstitutional infringement on its freedom of speech.
Paul Robinson -
[email protected]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Thomas Chen)
Subject: Questions About Identring
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 23:29:50 GMT
Organization: Hughes Network Systems Inc.
Is there a spec for identring; can someone tell me what is the on/off
duration?
tom
[Moderator's Note: By 'identring' are you referring to the service
available from telcos where separate numbers are on one line, each
with their own ringing cadence? PAT]
------------------------------
From:
[email protected] (Rex Fowler)
Subject: Recourse For Phone Tapping?
Reply-To:
[email protected]
Organization: Manufacturing Technology Center, Texas Instruments, Dallas
Date: Fri, 17 Dec 1993 03:25:46 GMT
What recourse does a person have against someone hooking into their
phone line and making long distance phone calls?
A friend of mine has been getting charged for 1-900 numbers for a few
months now. She lives in an apartment complex so the phone lines all
run together up through the walls to each individual apt. Her
neighbor had tapped into her lines to make these calls. They probably
listened in on her conversations as well.
The phone company sent a technician to checkout her lines which is how
they found out.
Now, what can/should she do according to the laws? Press charges,
file suit, ...?
Please Cc: me on any follow-ups since I will be out of town
until January.
Thanks,
Rex Fowler Inet : <
[email protected]>
Texas Instruments TI MSG : rfow
Dallas Tx Phone : (214)995-4001
[Moderator's Note: She certainly can sue her neighbor for theft of
service. I'm surprised telco is still billing her for the calls if
they are the ones who discovered the illegal connection outside her
premises. Are they still after her to pay? Or did telco write it off
and now the 900 Information Provider is after her? If she did not
personally have to pay for the calls then her case will be a little
different than if she was billed, paid for the calls and has now
discovered the theft. In any event, she definitly has a case against
her neighbor and should consult an attorney. Telco will assist by
providing records of their service call and the technician's findings
(that her line had been tapped) when they are subpoened to do so.
These records will help her attorney in presenting her case to the
court. I hope she wins her case, and she should without difficulty. PAT]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 19:47:44 EST
From: Paul Robinson <
[email protected]>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <
[email protected]>
Subject: MCI Takes 150M Charge
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
{Washington Post} Dec 16, Page B16
"MCI Communications of Washington said it will take a one-time charge
of as much as $150 million in the fourth quarter to pay for what it
described as a strategic realignment of its business. MCI is taking
the charge to cover consolidation costs associated with the streamlining
of its facilities and the relocation of certain operations to cheaper
areas."
Paul Robinson -
[email protected]
------------------------------
Reply-To:
[email protected] (Robert J. Keller)
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 23:32:36
Subject: Equal Access Ballots -- Multiple Names for One LD Carrier?
From:
[email protected] (Robert J. Keller)
I am curious to know if the issue has ever come up in which an LD
carrier that may be known by different names (e.g., an official
corporate name and a trade name) has wanted to have _both_ names
appear on a local exchange carrier's equal access ballot so as to
increase the likelihood that its name will be recognzed by potential
subscribers? If so, how was this handled?
Thanks.
Bob Keller (KY3R) Tel +1 301.229.5208
[email protected] Fax +1 301.229.6875
[email protected] CIS 76100,3333
------------------------------
Date: 16 Dec 93 11:59:59 EST
From: Tim Gorman <
[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Calling Cards and Privately Owned Pay Phones
[email protected] in Telecom Digest V13 #821 posted the following:
> So I called one of the operators today from a payphone that was giving
> me that trouble. This time I told her "I had problems using the
> voicemail system at work". She suggested to push the keys slower and
> to leave a longer pause each two or three keystrokes.
> It worked. I dialed the target number leaving three second pauses
> between the phone number and the calling card number and waited five
> seconds before pushing in the PIN.
> Hope it works elsewhere.
This is not too far fetched. It would also be interesting to know if
you held the keys down longer. While you may not have meant to, most
people, when slowing their dialing, also tend to hold the keys down
longer.
As anyone running an operator system usually finds out, one of the
biggest problems is recognizing credit card numbers input from DTMF
station sets.
DTMF was not originally designed for the purposes to which it is put
today. Station set oscillators are not held to the tolerances needed
for trouble free operation. Standard DTMF receiver specifications are
not stringent enough to insure operation under many situations of
noise, loss, and phase shift.
By holding the keys down longer, you give the receiving system more time
to recognize digits as well as the intervals between digits. This
results in much more reliable operation.
I would bet that lots of situations where you think the originating set
has prevented the call are actually situations where the far end has
received something it didn't know how to handle and, instead of
gracefully ending the call with a notice, it just locked up and left you
hanging.
Tim Gorman
[email protected]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 11:42:07 EST
From: Paul Robinson <
[email protected]>
Reply-To: Paul Robinson <
[email protected]>
Subject: Re: High Speed Links?
Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA
[email protected], writes:
> We are in the need for a temporary, high-speed (~ 50-100KBytes/sec)
> link from our offices in Buffalo, to Washington D.C. I'd like to
> get some information regarding how much such a link would cost,
> what is involved in setting up the link at both ends, how much
> would it cost to lease the equipment for the period of time, what
> are our options, etc. etc. As you can see, Telecomm is definitely
> not one of my strongpoints, so I'm just fishing for ideas right
> now!
At the Washington, DC end, you can get a connection to the Internet
for 56K for about $500 a month, plus $500 to install, plus the cost of
the routers and the line from the phone company to a Point of Presence,
say $200 a month. So call it $700 a month on this end. Routers sell
for about $6000 or so, and most rental companies charge based on cost
recovery after 10 months, so figure $600 a month for the router. So
figure $1400 a month on the Washington, DC end. Rates may be more,
less or the same at your end. The same place will supply a T1 for
$700 a month plus $2000 to install plus telco charges.
Now, if you want to use a private link rather than TCP/IP packets over
the public Internet, you might want to check with some of the smaller
carriers like Wiltel which are hungry for your business.
Paul Robinson -
[email protected]
------------------------------
End of TELECOM Digest V13 #823
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