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) TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and networks. Subscriptions are available at no charge to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu. The Digest is compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson Associates and redistribution/cross-posting of articles herein to news groups such as those distributed via 'Usenet' is prohibited unless permission is ob- tained in writing. This does not apply to *authorized* redistribution lists and sites who have agreed to distribute the Digest. All cross- postings or other redistributions must include the full Digest intact and unedited. Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. You can reach us by snail mail at Post Office Box 1570, Chicago, IL 60690 or Fax at 1-708-329-0572. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Organization: CPSR Washington Office From: Dave Banisar 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: bbrelin@auspex.com (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. bbrelin@auspex.com ------------------------------ From: Tomaz.Borstnar@arnes.si (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: tomaz.borstnar@arnes.si 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: news-admin@arnes.si | Arnes, Jamova 39, Ljubljana, Slovenia ------------------------------ From: wes@relito.medeng.wfu.edu (Wesley Snyder) Subject: Schedule Change for Computers in Medicine CFP Reply-To: wes@relito.medeng.wfu.edu 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 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 info@clbooks.com 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 passport@nwnet.net 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 ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '94, Vancouver, BC, Mar 1-3, 1994, contact: rulag@decus.ca ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Dec 93 17:12:23 -0800 From: fenton@combinet.com (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 Combinet, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA 408 522-9164 ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 20:57:49 EST From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson 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 - Paul@TDR.COM ------------------------------ From: tchen@sdesys1.hns.com (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: rmfowler@landru.mtc.ti.com (Rex Fowler) Subject: Recourse For Phone Tapping? Reply-To: rmfowler@landru.mtc.ti.com 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 : 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 Reply-To: Paul Robinson 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 - Paul@TDR.COM ------------------------------ Reply-To: rjk@telcomlaw.win.net (Robert J. Keller) Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 23:32:36 Subject: Equal Access Ballots -- Multiple Names for One LD Carrier? From: rjk@telcomlaw.win.net (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 rjk@telcomlaw.win.net Fax +1 301.229.6875 rjk@access.digex.net CIS 76100,3333 ------------------------------ Date: 16 Dec 93 11:59:59 EST From: Tim Gorman <71336.1270@CompuServe.COM> Subject: Re: Calling Cards and Privately Owned Pay Phones henderson@mlnaxp.mln.com 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 71336.1270@compuserve.com ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1993 11:42:07 EST From: Paul Robinson Reply-To: Paul Robinson Subject: Re: High Speed Links? Organization: Tansin A. Darcos & Company, Silver Spring, MD USA ajay@cedar.Buffalo.EDU, 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 - Paul@TDR.COM ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V13 #823 ****************************** ****************************************************************************** Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253