Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA03373; Thu, 24 Apr 1997 00:32:54 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 00:32:54 -0400 (EDT) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199704240432.AAA03373@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V17 #100 TELECOM Digest Thu, 24 Apr 97 00:32:00 EDT Volume 17 : Issue 100 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Re: Are We to Believe This? (Tim Russell) Re: Are We to Believe This? (Bill Turner) Re: Are We to Believe This? (Tim McManus) Re: Are We to Believe This? (Fred Schimmel) Re: Are We to Believe This? (Walter Dnes) Cyber Terrorist Gets Caught (BSCHILLI@MAIL.STATE.WI.US) Stalker Caught (Tad Cook) Re: Wanted to Buy: 80-col Punch Cards (Lou Coles) Re: Wanted to Buy: 80-col Punch Cards (Lee Winson) Re: Wanted to Buy: 80-col Punch Cards (Dave Miller) Re: Reverse Phone Lookup (Dan Cromer) Re: Cyberpromo's Upstream Provider (Doug Terman) Followup on Agis (Gary Pratt) 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. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell us how you qualify: * subscriptions@telecom-digest.org * The Digest is edited, published and compilation-copyrighted by Patrick Townson of Skokie, Illinois USA. You can reach us by postal mail, fax or phone at: Post Office Box 4621 Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 847-727-5427 Fax: 773-539-4630 ** Article submission address: editor@telecom-digest.org ** Our archives are available for your review/research. The URL is: http://telecom-digest.org (WWW/http only!) They can also be accessed using anonymous ftp: ftp hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/archives (or use our mirror site: ftp ftp.epix.net/pub/telecom-archives) A third method is the Telecom Email Information Service: Send a note to archives@telecom-digest.org to receive a help file for using this method or write me and ask for a copy of the help file for the Telecom Archives. ************************************************************************* * TELECOM Digest is partially funded by a grant from the * * International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Geneva, Switzerland * * under the aegis of its Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) * * project. Views expressed herein should not be construed as represent-* * ing views of the ITU. * ************************************************************************* Finally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: russell@probe.net (Tim Russell) Subject: Re: Are We to Believe This? Date: 21 Apr 1997 15:44:26 GMT Organization: Probe Technology Internet Services Bruce Martin writes: > Electronic stalker is making their life hell > By CIARAN GANLEY and SCOT MAGNISH > Toronto Sun > WINDSOR -- The Tamai family doesn't watch the X-Files, The Outer > Limits or Psi-Factor. > "We don't have to -- we're living a nightmare of our own," said Debbie > Tamai-Smith, 36, of Emeryville, a small community 20 km east of > Windsor. I caught a story on this yesterday (Sunday Apr 21) on MSNBC's "Dateline This Week", and was amazed, to say the least. The police officials in question did state that they've talked to "Sommy" several times, and the family had tapes of conversations with him/it, as did the local 911 center. I tend to agree with PAT that the culprit almost has to be someone with inside knowledge and access of the phone system. Seeing as how "Sommy" recently took a vacation, this would seem an ideal time to correlate telephone employee vacation time to see who was gone during the period "Sommy" was silent. The family also said "Sommy" has said things that he/it would only know by listening to the day-to-day conversations going on even when the telephone was not in use, but the house has shown clean for bugs several times. Not knowing the particulars, I'd say a good job of social engineering would account for this, though. Another thing the perp supposedly did was add "Sommy" to the favorite channels list on the television set, but this could probably be easily done with a remote control pointed through a nearby window while the family was away. One seriously sick individual, that's for sure. Tim Russell System Admin, Probe Technology email: russell@probe.net ------------------------------ From: Bill Turner Subject: Re: Are We to Believe This? Date: 21 Apr 1997 16:01:20 GMT Organization: GTE Intelligent Network Services, GTE INS Reply-To: wb4alm@gte.net The {Tampa Tribume} reported that the Hoaxer was the family's teenage son. With regards to the side notes... > The unfortunate truth is that some people in positions of public trust > seem more willing than ever to betray that trust for their own profit > or for just plain kicks. It seems to me that we should be trying to > make our owners of data and access to that data much more accountable > with regard to the traitors they allow to play with it. > Doesn't this suggest a reason why cryptographic key-escrow schemes are > a bad idea? to both statements ... ... Who watches the watchers? Definition of "Loop": See Loop. /s/ Bill Turner, wb4alm ------------------------------ From: tmcmanus@windsor.igs.net (Tim McManus) Subject: Re: Are We to Believe This? Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 12:25:06 GMT Organization: IGS - Information Gateway Services Reply-To: tmcmanus@windsor.igs.net On Mon, 14 Apr 1997 11:45:41 EDT, Bruce Martin wrote: > Sommy cuts in on phone conversations. He controls their power. He > turns lights on and off. He changes channels on their TV, and he > listens in on the family's conversations. > .... Well a conclusion has been reached in this case; I am still left in awe as to why it took so long for them to figure it out. The person who called himself "sommy" is the family's 15 year old son. I am still not sure if I fully believe that to be the case, however the police interogated him on Saturday and he confessed to the whole thing. One of my co-workers and I were involved in trying to solve this case and he insists that the boy has no real knowledge of electronics or computers. ------------------------------ From: Fred Schimmel Subject: Re: Are We to Believe This? Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 17:55:12 -0400 Organization: Prodigy Internet Dana Paxson wrote: > Pat, > I'm inclined to agree with you about insiders on this one. As a firm > believer in cause-and-effect, I wonder whether all the goings-on are > connected, or whether some are just family 'amplifications' caused by > the very real stress inflicted on them by the very real major > problems. Turning lights on and off would depend on some electronic > lamp control, for example; that kind of control is easily tested and > replaced. Turning the power on and off is a different matter; does > the power company control the power feeds remotely, or are they only > interrupible manually? Here is the whole story as reported today in the {Philadelphia Inquirer}, I'm sure other papers carried this as well ... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [The Philadelphia Inquirer] International Monday, April 21, 1997 Teen son is blamed in electronic harassment The Ontario couple said he interrupted their telephone calls. They said he confessed. ASSOCIATED PRESS EMERYVILLE, Ontario -- A widely reported case of electronic harassment was actually the work of the victims' 15-year-old son, the family said yesterday. Police confirmed that the sabotage was an inside job, but refused to name the culprit and said nothing would be gained by filing charges. Dwayne and Debbie Tamai issued a statement saying that their son, Billy, had admitted to making the mysterious calls. The interruptions included burps and babbling and claims of control over the inner workings of the Tamais' custom-built home, including what appeared to be the power to turn appliances on and off by remote control. ``It started off as a joke with his friends and just got so out of hand that he didn't know how to stop it and was afraid to come forward and tell us in fear of us disowning him,'' the Tamais said in their statement to local news media. On Saturday, the Tamais said they were planning to take their son to the police to defend him against persistent rumors that he was responsible. Instead, he confessed to being the intruder who called himself Sommy. ``All the crying I heard from him at night I thought was because of the pain he was suffering caused by Sommy,'' the letter said. ``We now realize it was him crying out for help because he wanted to end all this but was afraid because of how many people were now involved.'' The couple went on to ``apologize to the world for any pain or harm that was caused,'' and also said they would seek professional help for their son. ``It was an internal family matter,'' said Sgt. Doug Babbitt of the Ontario Provincial Police, adding that a process of elimination led police to conclude no devices were ever planted in the home. They also ruled out an intrusion into the Bell Canada system. Bell had rewired the house several times. A two-day sweep by a team of intelligence and security experts loaded with high-tech equipment failed to locate ``Sommy'' on Friday. The team was brought in by two television networks. The trouble began in December when puzzled friends told the Tamais that their telephone calls to the couple were repeatedly being waylaid and cut off. A month later, missed messages and strange clickings seemed minor when a voice, eerily distorted by computer, first interrupted a call to make himself known. After burping repeatedly, the caller told a startled Debbie Tamai: ``I know who you are. I stole your voice mail.'' Mocking, sometimes menacing, the high-tech stalker became a constant presence, eavesdropping on family conversations, switching TV channels, and shutting off the electricity. ------------------------------------ The only question that remains is how do I get my local phone company to rewire my house so quickly? (Bell-Atlantic NJ) ------------------------------ From: BSCHILLI@MAIL.STATE.WI.US Subject: Cyber Terrorist Gets Caught Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 07:51:54 -0500 *** Canadian boy admits cyber terrorism of his family A 15-year-old Canadian boy admitted he carried out notorious high-tech pranks that terrorized his own family, police said Monday. Police said they will not charge the boy in the case that puzzled experts and attracted media attention. Sgt. Doug Babbitt said the family was interviewed Saturday, presented with all the evidence and told the harassment was an inside job. "That's when 'Sommy,' (the stalker's moniker), "came forward and identified himself." Debbie Tamai, mother of the "Cyber Punk," apologized Sunday for her son's actions. For the full text story, see http://www.merc.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2552279-929 Mercury Mail, Inc. is an independent company not affiliated or associated with Mercury Center, the San Jose Mercury News, or Knight-Ridder, Inc. ------------------------------ Subject: Stalker Caught Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 23:48:46 PDT From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) As I suspected ... Monday, April 21, 1997 Cyber-stalker an inside job: Police EMERYVILLE, Ont. (CP) -- The teenage son of a Windsor-area couple has admitted that he is the electronic intruder who harassed the family over a period of several months. Debbie Tamai issued a statement Sunday saying that 15-year-old Billy made a full confession after police asked him to come in for questioning on the weekend. She also apologized for the actions of her son, who was able to elude investigators, Bell Canada, Ontario Hydro and even an espionage team hired by two television networks. "I don't understand," she said. "For him to let it go on so long. I feel so stupid, so sorry." Provincial police said it was an inside job and no charges will be laid. "It was an internal family matter," said Sgt. Doug Babbitt. "After going through the evidence gathered and the interviews, we concluded that charges would revictimize the family. ... We felt it would be better for (the family) to settle this themselves than to charge them." The electronic stalker, known as Sommy, began haunting the custom-built home of Dwayne and Debbie Tamai in December. He tapped into the family's phone lines, interrupting conversations with burps and babble. The family recently put their house up for sale to escape him. Several times throughout the investigation, Debbie Tamai had argued her son was not responsible. She was asked to bring him in for questioning and did so with the intention of clearing his name through a lie-detector test. Instead, he confessed to his family and police. After the initial shock, Tamai said, the family realized he was a young man crying out for help and he will receive counselling to deal with his emotions. A two-day sweep last week by a team of intelligence and security experts loaded with high-tech gizmos failed to reveal Sommy's methods. The team was brought in by Dateline NBC and the Discovery Channel, which had plans to air its program today. Babbitt said a process of elimination led police to conclude no devices were ever planted in the home. They also ruled out an intrusion into the Bell Canada system. Bell had rewired the two-storey home several times. "We eliminated all external sources and interior sources," said Babbitt. He added that every time investigators set up equipment to try and track down the intruder, Sommy wouldn't call for eight or 10 days. Emeryville is a town of fewer than 1,000 people on the shore of Lake St. Clair, 30 kilometres east of Detroit. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 00:04:43 -0400 From: Walter Dnes Reply-To: waltdnes@interlog.com Subject: Re: Are We to Believe This? I live in Toronto, and have been following the story in the Toronto. The "Sun" media chain was a web site at www.canoe.com An interesting quote in an article today... "Security experts say the Tamai's custom-built home probably included a few features the family did not bargain for, including devices to listen in on conversations and to control the electrical system." Sounds like the "smart homes" which were being hyped a few years ago. The basic tenet was that low-voltage signals would traverse the house wiring, and turn appliances on/off and do various other "cool stuff". What security/encryption (if any) was built in. Could a neighbour send signals into their wall socket and operate the appliances??? This would not be exactly a new concept. More years ago than I care to admit, I remember seeing an episode of "Dennis the Menace" where Mr. Wilson gets a TV with a "new-fangled" remote control. Dennis somehow gets another remote control, and drives Mr. Wilson nuts as Dennis flips the channel to his favourite station, and cranks up the volume so he can hear the programs... from Dennis' house. Walter Dnes waltdnes@interlog.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The answer, it appears, had nothing to do with the house, and everything to do with the home, if you get my drift. Poor Billy, I hope whatever demons are troubling him will be driven away with therapy. Reading about this whole incident -- and like everywhere else, it was in all the papers here -- brought to mind an incident from my own childhood long since forgotten. I was, I suppose, about twelve years old when it happened, and that would be more than forty years ago. Odd, is it not how old old long forgotten memories surface when the right circumstances occur. We had a neighbor living on our block named Mrs. Theilen. She was an older lady in her sixties and the guardian of a twelve year old boy named Clifford Theilen who was her grandson. The two of them lived alone. One day we heard the fire trucks arriving and went outside to see smoke and a big blaze coming from Mrs. Theilen's house. I remember very well now seeing the fireman leading Mrs. Theilen out to safety; the fireman holding her arm and walking down the sidewalk out to the street. Mrs. Theilen had her hands in front of her eyes and was crying. The house was pretty much ruined in the fire. Well this was the 1950's after all; society tended to be a lot diff- erent than it is now. It was only a matter of a few minutes, or maybe an hour, and the neighbors were all busy trying to help the old woman get things together. The landlord of a vacant house on the block very quickly agreed to let her move in there -- remember, in the 1950's in America, things were done with a handshake and a say-so. There were rental leases some places and contracts, but people were pretty trusting. So within an hour, what could be salvaged from her burned house had been moved down the street to the new house. Other women on the block, including my grandmother, 'took up a collection' for Mrs. Theilen and Clifford, giving them an assortment of clothes, pots and pans, etc, donated by everyone within a two or three block radius. Soon the old woman and her grandson were installed in their new home, and everyone else on the block had had a very busy afternoon being kind and charitable. The next afternoon, we heard the fire sirens again and everyone rushed outside to see ... Mrs. Theilen's *new* house on fire. And again, I recall the men leading Mrs. Theilen to safety, she in tears and this time almost hysterical. But instead of her grandson Clifford standing to the side watching the firemen as he had done the day before, this time he was in the back seat of a police car, crying. Mrs. Theilen walked to the window of the police car and stood there talking to him for a minute. Later we found out he had confessed to starting both fires. He had confessed to his grandmother the night before about starting the fire at the first house, and promised her he would never do that again. He then proceeded the next afternoon to repeat his behavior. The police car drove away with Clifford in the back seat, a 12 year old boy in a lot of trouble. I do not recall ever seeing Mrs. Theilen again after that day, nor Clifford. But at school a couple days later (he and I were in the same sixth grade class) we were told by the teacher that he had been taken to the juvenile department of Chicago State Hospital. 'State Hospital' was a polite euphimism for what until a couple years before that had been known as the Chicago Insane Asylum. In those times, there was no real treatment of any sort for mental illness; the person was just locked away where he could not harm himself or others. We do not have insane asylums any longer, and even 'state hospital' has become an unpopular term. Where Clifford was taken still is located at the same spot on the corner of Irving Park Road and Oak Park Avenue, several acres of land donated by a farmer named 'Reed' back in the middle 1800's to Cook County as a place where 'insane' people could be sheltered and protected; the 'crazy farm' became the Chicago Insane Asylum which became the Chicago State Hospital which became the Reed Mental Health Center several years ago. There is still an adolescent unit for troubled children and teenagers in a locked facility. Poor Billy; I hope somehow he gets the help he needs. PAT] ------------------------------ From: loujon69@delphi.com (Lou Coles) Subject: Re: Wanted to Buy: 80-col Punch Cards Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 16:44:35 GMT Organization: various Though it seems too obvious, I'd try IBM first; there are still some older 360's, still using card readers. Lou > I need about 1K to 5K 80-column punch cards. I have some vintage > devices, including programmable scientific desktop calculators that > use them for input and programming. > Does anyone know where I can get some? ------------------------------ From: lwinson@bbs.cpcn.com (Lee Winson) Subject: Re: Wanted to Buy: 80-col Punch Cards Date: 23 Apr 1997 02:43:52 GMT Organization: The PACSIBM SIG BBS I would check with some major computer paper suppliers, as well as IBM. Some companies might include Uarco, Moore Business Forms, and TAB Products. IBM used to make cards, I don't know if they still do. I would suspect many companies still use that sized card stock for manual card indexing purposes. (I think my employer still does.) ------------------------------ From: davem@whidbey.net (Dave Miller) Subject: Re: Wanted to Buy: 80-col Punch Cards Date: 22 Apr 1997 13:26:53 GMT Organization: WhidbeyNet In message John DeBert writes: > I know this is a little off the areas covered by telecom but I have > no idea of where else to inquire. > There are a lot of people who have read comp.dcom.telecom for > quite a long time. I'm hoping that some of the "old-timers" might > know where I might find these: > I need about 1K to 5K 80-column punch cards. I have some vintage > devices, including programmable scientific desktop calculators that > use them for input and programming. > Does anyone know where I can get some? I'm looking for a couple or three boxes of 96! column cards in specific colors, too. We retired our System 3 about 20 years ago and I was hoping my note card supply would last until retirement, but alas, I'm down to a few boxes of dirty brown only. Would love white, red, and green! Any tips appreciated! Dave Miller Marysville, WA USA davem@whidbey.net My account, my opinion! ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 23 Apr 1997 14:44:25 EDT From: Dan Cromer Subject: Re: Reverse Phone Lookup Pat, Reverse phone lookup is still available from . An even broader function service is available from DeLorme Software, using their Street Atlas USA and Phone Search USA programs; you can have the program show you where the address is on the map if you provide the phone number, and I think you can point at an address on a map and find out the phone listing for that address. I'm not sure of the latter since I don't personally have the phone search program, only the atlas. These are, however, CD-ROMs that must be purchased to be used. See . Daniel H. Cromer, Jr. Director, Information Resources School Board of Alachua County, Gainesville, Florida cromerdh@sbac.edu ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 13:22:22 -0400 From: Doug Terman Subject: Re: Cyberpromo's Upstream Provider Dear Pat and All, By calling the AGIS 800 number, I supprisingly connected to a very nice and sympathetic receptionist who suggested that I write to AGIS on my corporate letterhead, explaining that Cyberpromo was a real PITA. I asked for both the address and the fax number: As given to me, they are: AGIS 3601 Pelham Dearborn, Michigan 48124 AGIS fax number (not verified but as given to me) 313 563 6119 I also suggest to her that there might be a few other unhappy email account holders calling and she. . . sighed. . ., saying, "I think you're right." Now all together -- call and fax but **be nice** Doug Terman, Telecom Ops Mgr. Antilles Engineering, Ltd. snail: PO Box 318, VT 05674, USA voice: (802) 496 3812 fax: (802) 496 3814 ------------------------------ From: Gary Pratt Subject: Followup on Agis Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 21:53:12 -0400 Thought the list might find this interesting ... Closing Bell Internet Daily for Tuesday, Apr 22, 1997 by Frank Barnako ** FBI probing Net 'attack' Apex Global Information Services said the FBI is investigating a "concentrated and systematic attack" on its equipment that forms part of an Internet backbone network. The Michigan-based Internet access provider is one of the original "big six" companies exchanging Internet traffic at major Internet exchange points. A Wired News report quoted observers as saying the incident appeared part of a deliberate attack by a group opposed to bulk e-mailings. AGIS is reported to be friendly to so-called spammers that send the bulk mail including one of the largest such businesses, Cyber Promotions. The effect of the incident has been slow Net access nationwide. Some AGIS-service users report the slowdown and "choking" of access began Monday morning. AGIS provides Internet access to millions of users via its extensive customer base of regional Bell operating companies, content providers, large corporations and Internet service providers. Closing Bell is a trademark of Mercury Mail, Inc. (c) 1997 Mercury Mail, Inc. All rights reserved Gary Pratt gpratt@bellatlantic.net ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V17 #100 ******************************