Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id JAA22010; Thu, 27 Feb 1997 09:02:04 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 27 Feb 1997 09:02:04 -0500 (EST) From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Message-Id: <199702271402.JAA22010@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #54 TELECOM Digest Thu, 27 Feb 97 09:02:00 EST Volume 17 : Issue 54 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Pedophiles on the Net (Tad Cook) To the FCC, on Local Charges and Data Service Pricing (Randolph Fritz) UCLA Short Course: "Spread Spectrum Wireless Communications" (Bill Goodin) Bellcore NANP WWW Pages (John R. Grout) 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 including Compuserve and America On Line. 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Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Pedophiles on the Net Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 23:48:39 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) By Drake Witham Knight-Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON -- In early February, police say, a man here ended three months of increasingly suggestive on-line chat with a 13-year-old boy in California and flew across the country to arrange a sexual encounter with the child. But when he arrived at a Huntington Beach restaurant for a face-to-face meeting with the boy, he was instead arrested by local vice officers. That reckoning is clearly an exception in the freewheeling world of cyber-chat, where growing numbers of young Americans are spending hours sitting at keyboards talking intimately with strangers. Police efforts to rein in on-line sexual predators face daunting legal, technical and financial challenges. Pursuing them is so difficult, and some critics wonder just how serious the problem is. To be arrested, pedophiles must transmit obscene images of provable minors or step out from behind their keyboards and solicit sex from a child in person. "It takes about 30 seconds to find a hard-core conversation or full-color image and six months to build a case," said Sgt. Nick Battaglia of the San Jose (California) Police Department. "And then you can find out the guy you've been talking to all along lives in Australia." If the predators are elusive, their prey is right at home. Nearly six million kids under 18 regularly use the Internet, up from 1.1 million in 1995, a recent study estimates, and chat rooms are their favorite hangouts. "Children love e-mail and they love chat," said Tom Miller, who conducted the study for the private Emerging Technology Research Group. "The curiosity is such a part of their natural profile." One recent afternoon America Online, the most widely used on-line service, had more than 400 public chat lobbies open, each with more than 20 talkers; more than 50 "member rooms," many with sexually suggestive labels, filled to capacity; and an unknown number of private rooms. Much of the explicit talk kids encounter in those rooms would shock or frighten parents. What's more shocking to some is that it's legal for an adult to write sexually explicit messages to children on line. "It's kind of like a verbal orgy," said Nan McCarthy, who has been hanging around on line for 10 years researching her recently published novel "Chat." "These people in live chat rooms don't spend a lot of time on foreplay." Only a few local police departments across the country routinely conduct on-line sex crime investigations, though some others have worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in an ongoing national effort. A successful investigation requires large sums of money for high-tech computer equipment, many man hours and officers who can present themselves as children or pedophiles. To pull off the recent sting in Huntington Beach, an officer had to strain his voice to sound like a 13-year-old and dupe the man into a meeting. The suspect, a 39-year-old employee of the National Academy of Sciences, will be arraigned March 13. Most on-line pedophiles aren't caught. "We think of child victimization as this big monster hiding under the bridge, but it's not like that," said Peter Banks, training director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "They charm kids. They're very good at what they do." "The Internet has got to be the pedophile's dream come true. They can stalk children without any concern of being seen," said Cheryl Kean of Rochester, N.Y. She has not had contact with her 13-year-old daughter since she disappeared in December with a 22-year-old man she met on the Internet. Just how much sex crime is actually perpetrated using the Internet is impossible to estimate. The missing-children center says it has documented more than 50 cases of child abductions by predators who gained the trust of children with sweet talk on the Internet. Most of those children have since been located. Dr. Ira Rosen, a child psychiatrist and physician from Dayton, Ohio, who has worked with abused children for decades, says the new technology clearly has made pedophilia easier. But he believes it's unlikely that the number of people with the problem are growing. "It's certainly more visible," said Dr. Jonathan Freedman, a clinical sociologist in Atlanta and former education director for the Hutchings Psychiatric Center in Syracuse, N.Y. In the unregulated chat section of the Internet called the Internet Relay Chat -- or IRC -- evidence of pedophilia is frighteningly visible. A large array of individuals is almost always there, trading electronic images of nude children -- sometimes engaged in horrifying acts -- across state and national borders. In California last year, two men held a "pedo party" in which they photographed a 10-year-old girl in explicit poses and transmitted, in real time, the images to users in other states and Finland. They even took requests. Authorities in Minnesota discovered last fall that two inmates compiled a list of addresses and physical descriptions for 2,000 children, and sent it beyond prison walls and over the Internet. Inspired by the Internet-related abduction and murder of a Maryland child in 1993, the FBI launched an operation called Innocent Images in 1994. Agents in 52 of the bureau's 56 field offices have since prowled on line, using suggestive log-on decoys like "horny15bi" and racy conversations to identify potential pedophiles in 46 states. Agents have had the most success thus far posing as adults looking for sexually explicit images of children. To date there have been 237 searches, 112 formal charges, 87 arrests and 78 convictions out of Innocent Images, according to Larry Foust, a spokesman in the FBI Baltimore field office. Agents in a branch of that office run the FBI's Internet sex sting operation. Kimberly Kellogg, a criminal defense attorney in Kansas City, Kan., handles about 20 pedophilia cases a year and says on-line law enforcement techniques may be entrapment. "It may not be your true pedophile but someone who is just curious," she said. "If the FBI is setting this up, I would think there is an excellent chance of proving entrapment." Lt. Dan Johnson, a vice squad officer in Huntington Beach, disagrees. "In order to entrap someone you have to put the idea in their head and make it so attractive that a normally law-abiding citizen would want to do it," Johnson said. "How do you make it attractive to have sex with a 13-year old?" Even the most ardent defenders of free speech on the Internet stop short of condoning child exploitation, but are concerned the search for pedophiles could eventually lead police to overstep constitutional boundaries. "For the FBI to go in and entice people, masquerading in this game playing, this is likely to extend into other areas. I could see it very easily with the militia movement," said David Sobel, legal counsel for the Electronic Privacy and Information Center. "I think it's a strange way to use limited law enforcement resources." Even some officers who conduct on-line investigations question the need for such operations. Detective Tom Polhemus of the Fairfax County Police Department in Northern Virginia said Internet investigations put the emphasis in the wrong place. "That's not how kids are being abused," said Polhemus, who handles child exploitation cases. "They're being abused by your best friend, your friendly neighbor, your husband. If the Internet is all we worried about, we'd be sitting here all day eating doughnuts." Just what can or should be done to make the Internet less menacing to children remains a divisive question. Last year Congress made it illegal to transmit any sort of sexually explicit message to children. Critics said the new law violated basic principles of free speech and was so vague that it might shut down sites for Playboy magazine and Planned Parenthood. Last June, a federal appellate court in Philadelphia agreed, striking down the measure on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment right to free speech. The Supreme Court will decide the case this spring. Meanwhile, bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress that would require Internet service providers to offer software that could be used to block sexual and violent images. But Internet experts say such efforts are futile because of the technology's basically open structure. Complicating the problem is the varied nature of the on-line world. The largest numbers of on-line users connect through structured commercial sites like America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy. America Online offers parental controls to determine which sites, newsgroups and chat rooms their children can use, and offers guidelines for all users on keeping safe on-line. But it also is clear that it is easy and common for libidinous adults to meet children in these services, despite such safeguards. "Parents can control everything from web access to newsgroups to e-mail. Chat rooms generally have a guide in them and guides can be paged 24 hours a day," said Andrew Graziani, a spokesperson for America Online. "But we're not monitoring private messages." The Internet and the Internet Relay Chat are more difficult to police. There is no normal commerce on the IRC and thus no providers to share the burden of protecting children. And dozens of sites selling access to sexual images and chat on the Internet appear and disappear with startling speed. Software with names like Net Nanny and Cybersitter designed to screen kids from such sites is increasingly popular. Since January 1995, Surfwatch has sold three million copies of a program that blocks access to 25,000 adult sites and can be tailored by parents. "It's a nice alternative. There's a value for law enforcement, but we favor a more preventative approach," said Jay Friedland, co-founder of Surfwatch. But Friedland also points out that parents can't rely solely on software, because kids are often more savvy then their parents about computers and can find a way around protective programs. + + + + Related Internet sites include: http://www.yahooligans.com http://www.cyberangels.org/chatsmarts.html, http://www.cyberangels.org/AOLsmarts.html http://www.cyberstalker.org http://www.nvc.org/ddir/info44.htm ------------------------------ From: randolph@teleport.com (Randolph Fritz) Subject: To the FCC, on Local Charges and Data Service Pricing Date: 26 Feb 1997 15:42:01 -0800 This is what I suggested to the FCC regarding their proposed internet access rate changes. A much more serious issue--and one worth a great deal of attention--is that the FCC is considering major reforms in the whole area of information service pricing. They are, in other words, reconsidering their Computer Inquries. I believe this is needed--but given the current government and regulatory climate, I expect a great deal of pressure to design the system in such a way as to favor large-scale business. This comment, therefore, contains my suggestions as to how to deal with the larger issues. If you feel you have something to contribute to this debate I strongly suggest that you do so. See: http://www.fcc.gov/isp.html For details, paragraphs 311-318 of the Notice are the relevant ones. Also, if you know any news groups and mailing lists appropriate to such discussion, please let me know their names. Randolph Fritz randolph@teleport.com Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 13:36:56 -0800 (PST) From: Randolph Fritz To: isp@fcc.gov Subject: Regarding CC Docket No. 96-263 (fwd) Randolph Fritz 24 February 1997 The FCC at their e-mail address, isp@fcc.gov Gentlefolk: In answer to your NOTICE OF INQUIRY ON IMPLICATIONS OF INFORMATION SERVICE AND INTERNET USAGE, docket 96-263. In the NOI we have: 313. Many of the concerns now being raised about switch congestion caused by Internet usage arise because virtually all residential users today connect to the Internet -- a packet-switched data network -- through incumbent LEC switching facilities designed for circuit-switched voice calls. The end-to-end dedicated channels created by circuit switches are unnecessary and even inefficient when used to connect an end user to an ISP. We seek comment on how our rules can most effectively create incentives for the deployment of services and facilities to allow more efficient transport of data traffic to and from end users. We invite parties to identify means of addressing the congestion concerns raised by incumbent LECs, for example by deploying hardware to route data traffic around incumbent LEC switches, or by installing new high-bandwidth access technologies such as asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) or wireless solutions. The problem breaks into two parts: first, how to maintain the voice network in the face of the new type of usage presented by current internet users and second, how to develop new higher-performance services. Given the growth of the internet, it seems appropriate to begin treating internet modem access as simply another type of basic service. Since the growth in the service has led to substantial increases in LEC revenues, and since the LECs have ignored the emerging service, I find it appropriate that LECs be required to deploy technologies that would route internet traffic around their existing switches to existing ISPs. This would make very small changes to the users of those services, and would alleviate any concerns with congestion. I see no reason to reward the LECs for, basically, bad planning and customer service. Indeed, despite heavy penalties in switch loading for not deploying such services, the LECs are apparently simply ignoring this potentially lucrative service. I see, basically, no reason to grant the LECs any regulatory relief at all -- let them clean their own houses! In this connection I regard high-bandwidth access services as a red herring: it will take at least five years, and more likely a decade to deploy such services and numerous current users will need to upgrade their equipment to make use of them. High-bandwidth access services will not alleviate the present load on the network unless they are very inexpensive indeed and, if they are at all costly, would lead to substantial expenses for current internet users. I do see a public interest in developing new, high-performance data services and some regulatory relief, in the form of allowing the LECs substantially higher profits for building and deploying faster public access services, seems appropriate. However, there is no reason to charge current rate-payers for the immense capital investment required: let the LECs raise capital the way any other business does. Since the LECs have a long history of killing such services by over-pricing and under-deploying them (consider ISDN), some encouragements to make such services widespread and moderately priced might be appropriate. The current division in our rules between basic and enhanced services may not accurately capture the types of companies that provide information services today, and the manner in which these companies use incumbent LEC facilities. There are many kinds of information services, with different usage patterns and effects on the network. For example, arguments about network congestion caused by long hold-time calls would not seem to apply to information services such as telemessaging or credit card validation. We seek comment on whether we should distinguish between different categories of information or enhanced services. In addition, several companies now provide software that allows a voice conversation to be conducted over the Internet. Such "Internet telephony" allows what appears to be a basic service -- voice transmission -- to take place over a packet-switched interactive data network that we have traditionally considered to be an enhanced service. We seek comment on how new services such as Internet telephony, as well as real-time streaming audio and video services over the Internet, should affect our analysis. Over the past 20 years, "basic service" has been quietly converted to a switched 56-kilobit digital network -- only the customer connection remains analog. Increasingly, this is in turn carried over a flexible frame or packet digital network. It makes sense, therefore, to redefine basic service in terms of bandwidth and delay properties, without reference to voice, and enhanced service in terms of services above and beyond that basic information transport service. There need to be market mechanisms designed to both pay for and charge these services. Our local telephone services appear to me to have all the problems of badly regulated monopolies; they are cutting services and raising prices, secure in the belief that the customers have no good alternatives. The internet as it stands is now experiencing a different sort of market failure: an inadequate pricing mechanism, where prices and costs are disconnected. For instance, there is no financial incentive to provide quality backbone service, nor currently any way to charge for such a service. Nor are local ISPs in a position to return such charges to their customers--customers are billed for their use of ISP resources, but not the ISP's backbone resources. Unsurprisingly, the public internet is now undergoing a race to the bottom; the only thing that keeps service levels at all tolerable is the intense competition between the smaller ISPs, and that same competition is likely to soon lead to their demise, leading, I fear, to the grungy bus line on the information superhighway. :) An ideal solution would maintain the current low-bandwidth, high-delay services (e-mail, Usenet, public file archives) as free or very inexpensive, while charging a fair rate for the more bandwidth-hungry, low-delay services like voice, video, the fancier sort of web sites, and so on. I believe this is achievable; the demands of the current services are so small relative to the likely demands on the net that they could reasonably be offered as free, or at very low cost. If the network is designed to carry a substantial amount of video, it is even possible that voice service might be made as inexpensive as e-mail currently is. There are two classes of problems here: economic and technical. The technical side should certainly be left to the current internet designers; for the economic side I strongly suggest you bring in consultants who will devise a mixed economic model; one which both can and will be regulated but does not need continuous regulatory attention. Economic consultants should be consumer-oriented; there is every reason to prevent the various interests from creating a government-sponsored monopoly. Also, the economists and engineers need to work together; the best economic model will fail if it ignores engineering reality, and the best network designs will fail if no-one can figure out how to pay for them. The digital revolution presents both enormous possibilities and difficulties. With leadership and luck, I believe we will arrive in the 21st century with a high-quality information infrastructure. Randolph Fritz Networking consultant randolph@teleport.com ------------------------------ From: Bill Goodin Subject: UCLA Short Course: "Spread Spectrum Wireless Communications" Date: Wed, 26 Feb 1997 18:54:00 -0800 On May 28-30, 1997, UCLA Extension will present the short course, "Spread Spectrum Wireless Communications", on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The instructors are Babak Daneshrad, PhD, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, UCLA, and Zoran Kostic, PhD, MTS, Wireless Communications Systems Research Department, AT&T Bell Laboratories. Spread spectrum data communication has seen a revival in recent years. Two of the main driving forces behind its current interest have been the opening of the ISM bands by the FCC in the mid-1980s and the standardization of the IS-95 (CDMA) U.S. digital cellular standard. Currently available wireless LAN products operating in the ISM bands are based on either direct sequence or frequency-hopped spread spectrum technology (WaveLAN, RangeLAN, etc.). Spread spectrum systems are also being used in the implementation of wireless local loops (AirTouch) as well as for digital cellular communications where field trials and limited service are already being offered in various sites in the U.S. and Asia. With recent announcements by PrimeCo (PCS consortium, Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, etc.) regarding its intent to use a CDMA-based system for its future PCS network, it is expected that spread spectrum communication will become more prominent and that the technology is here to stay. Intended for individuals involved in CDMA product design and system deployment, this course provides a foundation for the design of direct-sequence spread spectrum systems (DSSS) for wireless communications. A wide range of issues are covered, ranging from system (cellular) engineering to hardware design and partitioning. The course is motivated by the IS-95 (CDMA) U.S. digital cellular standard -- one of the more complex DSSS systems in existence today. As such, all parts of the standard relating to the physical layer as well as the MAC layer protocols are covered. The course also provides a thorough treatment of the wireless channel and mechanisms involved in radio wave propagation. The course begins with an overview of the cellular industry and the differentiating factors between the various cellular standards, followed by an introduction to the mechanisms of code division multiple access (CDMA), its limitations, and the concepts in the IS-95 standard to overcome them. Physical layer issues are discussed, such as the importance of timing synchronization among users, as well as the CRC, coding, and interleaving schemes used in the IS-95. Key issues in the implementation of a typical IS-95 transceiver are also examined. The course fee is $1295, which includes all course materials. These materials are for participants only, and are not for sale. For additional information and a complete course description, please contact Marcus Hennessy at: (310) 825-1047 (310) 206-2815 fax mhenness@unex.ucla.edu http://www.unex.ucla.edu/shortcourses/ This course may also be presented on-site at company locations. ------------------------------ From: j-grout@ehsn5.cen.uiuc.edu (John R. Grout) Subject: Bellcore NANP WWW Pages Date: 26 Feb 1997 17:44:49 -0600 Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Reply-To: j-grout@uiuc.edu Bellcore, the company that administers the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), has a set of WWW pages containing a list of area codes, a series of maps, and other information on the NANP. The URL is: http://www.bellcore.com/NANP John R. Grout j-grout@uiuc.edu Department of Computer Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #54 *****************************