Return-Path: Received: by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.7.4/NSCS-1.0S) id AAA04747; Thu, 26 Mar 1998 00:37:02 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 26 Mar 1998 00:37:02 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <199803260537.AAA04747@massis.lcs.mit.edu> To: ptownson Subject: TELECOM Digest V18 #46 TELECOM Digest Thu, 26 Mar 98 00:37:00 EST Volume 18 : Issue 46 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Extortionist Found Guilty in MS/Gates Case (TELECOM Digest Editor) Book Review: "Encyclopedia of Networking: Electronic Edition" (Rob Slade) AOL and Tel-Save Approach Half a Million Long Distance Lines (Mike Pollock) Call54 Now Available in West Virginia (Tad Cook) Re: Bell Logo Question (Thor Lancelot Simon) Re: Bell Logo Question (Bob Gramza) Re: Bell Logo Question (Mark Naftel) Re: Bell Logo Question (Fred Goodwin) 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: * telecom-request@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 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. * ************************************************************************* In addition, a gift from Mike Sandman, Chicago's Telecom Expert has enabled me to replace some obsolete computer equipment and enter the 21st century sort of on schedule. His mail order telephone parts/supplies service based in the Chicago area has been widely recognized by Digest readers as a reliable and very inexpensive source of telecom-related equipment. Please request a free catalog today at http://www.sandman.com --------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Please make at least a single donation to cover the cost of processing your name to the mailing list. 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. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 17:46:58 EST From: ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Extortionist Found Guilty in MS/Gates Case A 22 year old man from Long Grove, Illinois (a small town which is a far-north suburb of Chicago) was found guilty on Tuesday of trying to extort five million dollars from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Adam Quinn Pletcher, who has a long history of operating scams on the Internet, was found guilty by a jury in federal court in Seattle after a two-day trial. The jury took just three hours to deliberate in the case. Early in 1997, Pletcher sent a series of four letters to Mr. Gates in which he variously threatened to kill Gates, his family and other Microsoft employees if he did not promptly receive the money he was demanding; the sum of five million dollars. The letters to Gates were sent in postal mail, in double envelopes marked personal and confidential. Pletcher said this was so that no one could possibly hold the letter up to a strong light and read through the envelope. The envelopes bore the address of Apple Comp- uter's chief executive and this was done, according to Pletcher, to make it less likely that anyone but Gates would open the envelopes, 'based on ostensibly who wrote them and the personal/confidential notation'. To further cover his tracks, the letters were mailed from different post offices across northern Illinois. FBI agents and postal inspectors raided Pletcher's home last April, and he was arrested at that time on charges of extortion. Although Pletcher allegedly made a complete confession to FBI agents at the time of his arrest, he chose to plead not guilty at his trial. The jury nonetheless found him guilty after hearing the evidence against him and examining the letters he sent to Gates. Bill Gates actually responded personally to the first letter sent by Pletcher; something that Pletcher said 'absolutely stunned' him when he received a reply directly from Gates in his own handwriting. That letter was not released, but sources say it was a sort of takeoff on the old routine first introduced by Jack Benny years ago: Benny was accosted by a mugger who threatened him saying, 'your money or your life.' After no reaction in a few seconds by Benny the mugger angrily says, 'Hurry up! What are you stalling for?' to which Benny replied, 'I am thinking about your offer and trying to decide.' Pletcher was represented by two attornies: Peter Offenbecher and Walter Palmer, based out of Seattle. The attornies argued unsuccess- fully to the jury that Pletcher 'was playing out an imaginative scenario' and never intended to receive the money and would not have harmed Gates or his employees despite the threats. The jury was unconvinced. Sentencing is set for May 29 and at that time Pletcher could recieve imposition of punishment including twenty years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each of the four counts, or letters written. If this is his first *federal* offense, then barring a specific recommendation by the government seeking harsher punishment, it is likely but by no means assured he would receive a term of federal probation. However based on other events in his recent history which will certainly be brought to the attention of the court by federal prosecutors, it is uncertain what the court will decide is appropriate. For example, even if he receives federal probation on the current matter, he still faces six months in jail in Lake County, Illinois where he was convicted two months ago of selling fake driver's licenses over the Internet. His incarceration on that matter was suspended pending the federal matter which is now concluded except for sentencing. In addition, there is outstanding against Pletcher a civil lawsuit brought by the Illinois attorney general's office for allegedly defrauding several people through a bogus auto brokerage scheme on the Internet, and for running a bogus raffle, or contest on a web site. Besides seeking a permanent injunction to stop Pletcher from operating his scams, the suit asks that he make full restitution to customers and penalties of about $300,000. What seems rather amazing to me about this is that even while Pletcher was awaiting trial in the federal case (he was allowed to remain free pending trial on personal recognizance -- that is, simply his word that he would appear as ordered and submit to the authority of the court) that he kept right on with his scams, including the fake driver's licenses. The license scheme, the fake auto brokerage scheme and the 'internet contest' all got started while he was waiting for trial in the earlier thing with Gates. When he was found guilty in the license scheme and sentenced to jail, that caused the recognizance bond in the federal matter to be revoked. When the feds get finished with him, Lake County, Illinois gets him next. You'd think he might have decided to cool things considerably while he was under federal scrutiny, but then, self-destructive people seldom slow down until some law-enforcement agency brings things to a screeching halt. And Adam Quinn Pletcher does seem like a very self- destructive individual. I suspect we may be hearing more about him in years to come. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Rob Slade Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 08:27:41 -0800 Subject: Book Revfiew: "Encyclopedia of Networking: Electronic Edition" Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca BKENNWEE.RVW 980115 "Encyclopedia of Networking: Electronic Edition", Tom Sheldon, 1998, 0-07-882333-1, U$49.99/C$71.95 %A Tom Sheldon tsheldon@ntresearch.com %C 300 Water Street, Whitby, Ontario L1N 9B6 %D 1998 %G 0-07-882333-1 %I McGraw-Hill Ryerson/Osborne %O U$49.99/C$71.95 800-565-5758 fax: 905-430-5020 %P 1164 p. + CD-ROM %T "Encyclopedia of Networking: Electronic Edition" Yes, it's an encyclopedia. The entry size is about the same as for Shnier's "Dictionary of Communications and PC Hardware" (cf. BKPCHDCT.RVW) and larger than that of "Newton's Telecom Dictionary" (cf. BKNTTLDC.RVW) which only means that I think Shnier got his title wrong. But this is certainly of encyclopedic size. Entries may be lengthy, but they are not technical. The level of information would suit the needs of a manager who needed to know what type of animal a cell relay was, but doesn't provide the detail necessary to work with a particular topic, or to make informed decisions for planning or purchasing. Corporate or political items seem to be of greater interest than technical ones. You are almost as likely to find an entry for a proprietary product as for a basic standard (although the entries for products do tend to be shorter). Reports are often incomplete in the practical areas: for example, the description of finger is accurate, but the paragraph does not mention that most sites have now shut finger service off. In the explanation of firewalls we learn a lot more about pre-sixteenth century history than the actual workings of proxy servers. Under hypermedia we hear more about how Sheldon actually heard Ted Nelson speak one time than about the details of Xanadu. (There is no entry for Xanadu.) The author sometimes lets his imagination run away with him, as in the case of a kidnapping detection device that would require the implantation of a device with a GPS (Global Positioning System) *and* a transmitter big enough to reach someone useful *and* a battery big enough to power the whole thing, in your kid (see IP [Internet Protocol]). In his attempt to make descriptions simplistic enough for managers, Sheldon also seems to have become a bit cavalier with the facts. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) users do not have to be on the same server, although they do have to be on the same IRC network. An entry for ActiveX generally accepts the Microsoft party line on security. It may surprise pre-1980 users of Apples and PETs that Microsoft started the personal computer revolution. For the sake of the reviewer's blood pressure, we will draw a merciful veil of darkness over the entry on viruses. The author makes no attempt to give the acronym expansion for BNC connector. There is no entry for Kermit or for the important V series standards. The entry for PGP (Pretty Good Privacy, a widely used de facto encryption standard) states that it is designed to integrate with email clients and uses a graphical interface to ease the process of encryption. In fact, while recently integration products have appeared, and graphical versions of PGP itself, for a long time the "command line only" interface was a stumbling block to its universal acceptance. (That and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, of course.) The author makes a very tentative attempt to note the etiology of the word "hacker" as a skilled technologist, but thereafter continues to use the term in a negative way. Hacking, cracking, spoofing, sniffing, and phreaking are conducted by "internal malicious users and the underground community of pranksters, hardened criminals, industrial spies, and international terrorists." Methinks Sheldon has been reading too many thrillers. AIX and AS/400 are listed under IBM AIX and IBM AS/400 but SNA (Systems Network Architecture) and SAA (Systems Application Architecture) are listed as themselves. DES (Data Encryption Standard) has an entry, but is actually explained under cryptography. Acronyms, even when not words, are ordered as if they were words, rather than as collections of initial letters. The end of each major article gives related entries, of course, but often provides URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) for sites that might have a bearing on the topic. The majority of these appear to be company home pages. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998 BKENNWEE.RVW 980115 ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 16:58:17 -0500 From: Mike Pollock Subject: AOL and Tel-Save Approach Half a Million Long Distance Lines Company Press Release AOL and Tel-Save Approach Half a Million Long Distance Lines DULLES, Va. and NEW HOPE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 25, 1998--America Online Inc. and Tel-Save Holdings Inc. [Nasdaq:TALK - news] said Wednesday that they expect to have generated approximately 500,000 telephone lines by the end of the current quarter under their joint agreement for marketing long distance services to AOL members. ``We think this might be one of the fastest share shifts in the history of the long-distance industry -- and we're only just beginning,'' said Dan Borislow, president of Tel-Save Holdings. ``Tel-Save pioneered the practice of online marketing and customer support for long distance services,'' said Barry Schuler, president, AOL Interactive Services. ``This is a win-win-win situation for Tel-Save, America Online and, most importantly, our members, enabling us to provide a real benefit for the AOL members who visit Keyword: LD and sign up in seconds for the best value in long distance -- long distance service for 9 cents a minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.'' In addition to providing interstate long distance service for 9 cents a minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the AOL Long Distance Savings Plan offers AOL members online billing detail including the ability to view previous months and the ability to check the billing detail for calls made just minutes before, and customer service 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- all without usage requirements, sign-up charges or monthly fees. America Online Inc., (NYSE: AOL - news) based in Dulles, is the world's leader in branded interactive services and content. America Online operates two worldwide Internet online services: AOL, with more than 11 million members; and CompuServe, with more than two million members. America Online also operates AOL Studios, the world's leading creator of original interactive content. Other branded Internet services operated by America Online include AOL.COM, the world's most accessed Web site from home; AOL Instant Messenger, allowing instant communication with all Internet users; and AOL NetFind, AOL's comprehensive guide to the Internet. Tel-Save Holdings Inc. is a nationwide provider of telecommunications services utilizing its state-of-the-art telecommunications network - One Better Net (OBN). Tel-Save headquarters are located at 6805 Route 202, in New Hope. Contact: AOL Ann Brackbill, 703/265-1746 Richard Hanlon, 703/265-3573 or Tel-Save Dan Borislow, 215/862-1082 ------------------------------ Subject: Call54 Now Available in West Virginia Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 21:52:00 PST From: tad@ssc.com (Tad Cook) Call54 Now Available in West Virginia By Todd Meyers, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Mar. 24--If you have a phone number, 75 cents to spend and a little curiosity, you can find out the name and address of the person or business assigned to that number, courtesy of Bell Atlantic's new CALL54. Despite sentiments raised by some that the reverse directory service equates to an invasion of privacy, CALL54 is now available to West Virginia customers in Charleston and southern reaches of the state. "You can opt out if you don't want your name and address given out," said Paul Miller, Bell Atlantic spokesman. Customers concerned about their privacy may phone their local Bell Atlantic office to have their telephone numbers removed from the CALL54 database at any time for no charge. Names and addresses of non-published numbers cannot be accessed through CALL54. "I was quite against it at the outset," said Dannie Walker, technical analyst with the state Public Service Commission, which recently approved the use of CALL54. "There just didn't seem to be enough in the public interest that outweighed the downsides of the service." Walker said he provided people who complained about Bell Atlantic's proposal with a copy of the CALL54 filing and invited them to voice their concerns with the PSC. "Most of the people didn't respond," he said. "That was a little bit disappointing." After learning that customers can both opt out of the CALL54 database and block the service from their own phone lines, Walker has since softened his stance. "If a criminal wants the information, they're going to get it from another source," he said. "If it does turn out to be a problem in West Virginia, we can revisit it." CALL54 is designed to help businesses update customer and delivery lists and to assist customers in verifying the addresses of people who have moved, find out whose number appears in their Caller ID box and locate businesses. Bell Atlantic has offered CALL54 in New Jersey since 1995. "About one-third of our customers already use other sources to get this type of information, and thousands of others have expressed a need for an easy, accurate reverse directory service," said LeAnn Trimpey, CALL54 product manager at Bell Atlantic. "Options include the Internet, CD-ROMs, 900 services and paper crisscross directories available in most libraries. But with CALL54, all you need is a telephone." Bell Atlantic said that CALL54 will prove profitable in West Virginia, although the company declined to provide projected revenues from the service."We feel there is an excellent market for this type of service in West Virginia," Miller said. "West Virginia has the highest rate of Caller ID users per capita in any of our markets. We can't explain why. With that interest in Caller ID, it might very well transfer over to interest in CALL54." To use CALL54, customers dial 555-5454. An automated voice welcomes them and provides instructions on how to use the service. When the caller enters an area code and telephone number, a computer-generated voice speaks the name, address and ZIP code of the individual or business to whom the number is assigned. Callers can press 1 to repeat the listing; press 2 to have the name spelled; or press 3 to have the address spelled. Each 75-cent call allows callers to request information on three separate numbers. [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ameritech has had this service available in the 312/630/708/773/847 area codes for probably forty years. When everything here was in 312, a reverse listing could be obtained by dialing (exchange)-2080, whence an operator would answer and look in a file box of index cards on the Chief Operator's desk and tell you the associated name and address. Eventually all the 'two-oh-eight-oh' lines, as they were called, were merged into 796-9600, but still answered manually by an operator who punched it in the computer and read back what it said. Now-days, use any of the above area codes plus 796-9600 and you reach a computer which responds as described in Tad Cook's message. Two-oh-eight-oh was a free service, as was 796-9600 for quite a few years. Now they get something for calling it it you are within this LATA; I suspect long distance callers just pay toll and nothing more. They have never allowed for any 'opt-out' provision. If you have a listed number in the above area codes, you are in the database. If your number is either non-pub or not listed for some reason then you are not in the database. Two inquiries are allowed for each call. PAT] ------------------------------ From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: Bell Logo Question Date: 24 Mar 1998 01:44:33 -0500 Organization: Panix Reply-To: tls@rek.tjls.com In article , Ernst Smith wrote: > What are the legal rules for usage of the "Bell" name and logo? For > example, with advent of local competition a ILEC might decide that the > Bell logo, which they abandoned after divestiure, might have some > (sentimental) marketing value. Can that RBOC resume usage of the Bell > name and logo? Yes. Only Bellcore (now) can't. Thor Lancelot Simon tls@rek.tjls.com "And where do all these highways go, now that we are free?" ------------------------------ From: Bob Gramza Subject: Re: Bell Logo Question Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 08:49:37 -0600 Organization: Ameritech Interactive Media Services, Inc. I believe the trademark is still the property of the regional Bell Operating Companies. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 24 Mar 98 16:53:01 +0100 From: Mark Naftel Reply-To: Subject: Re: Bell Logo Question At the time of the AT&T/Bell System Divestiture in 1984, as a part of the modification of final judgment (MFJ), the seven newly created Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) - do not forget RBOCs are not independent local exchange carriers (ILECs) - plus Bellcore were given the right to use the Bell name and existing Bell trademark. In addition, Cincinnati Bell and SNET (now acquired by an RBOC) also had "Bell" rights. There was an intellectual property rights agreement detailing rights and use of the trademark and other IP rights, such as patents. Not all the RBOCs chose to exercise their right to use the trademark, but I would assume they still could if they wished. A principle of trademark law, however, is that a trademark must be used at some point, or rights are lost. While Bellcore still uses the Bell in its name (Bellcore at some point was a type of abbreviation for Bell Communications Research), I think it is no longer using the Bell logo trademark - check its web site - with the consummation of the sale to SIAC. Finally, do not make the mistake of referring to an RBOC as part of the Bell System. The Bell System has not existed since 1984. Mark Naftel ------------------------------ From: ABFCNZ@gev.fop.com (Fred Goodwin) Subject: Re: Bell Logo Question Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 16:21:55 GMT Organization: SBC-Technology Resources, Inc. In article , es008d@biko.cc.rochester.edu (Ernst Smith) wrote: > What are the legal rules for usage of the "Bell" name and logo? For > example, with advent of local competition a ILEC might decide that the > Bell logo, which they abandoned after divestiure, might have some > (sentimental) marketing value. Can that RBOC resume usage of the Bell > name and logo? IANAL, but I don't think the RBOCs "abandoned" the Bell logo at Divestiture. When the divestiture settlement was agreed to (c. Jan '82), AT&T planned to keep the Bell logo. The Baby Bells naturally wanted it also. Judge Greene took his time deciding, and in the meantime, the Baby Bell holding companies had to come up with new corporate names and logos. Some (Ameritech, Pacific Telesis, NYNEX, USWest) did not wait for the judge's decision. Others (BellSouth, Bell Atlantic, Southwestern Bell) gambled and waited on the judge, who eventually ruled in their favor. The only AT&T subsidiary allowed to use the name "Bell" after 1984 was Bell Labs. AFAIK, even Pacific Telesis used the Bell logo for its telco subsidiaries, Pacific Bell Telephone and Nevada Bell Telephone. Again, IANAL, but if I were advising an ILEC, I would tell them to consider carefully the likely RBOC legal response if they decided to use the Bell logo. (email and sig are rot-13'd; replace NOSPAM with fgoodwin) ======================================================================== * Fred Goodwin, CMA * Opinions are my own and do not * * SBC-Technology Resources, Inc. * reflect any positions of SBC-TRI * * Austin, Texas * ABFCNZ@gev.fop.com * ======================================================================== ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V18 #46 *****************************