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Text File | 1994-09-26 | 10KB | 328 lines

***** ******* ** ** ** ** ******* ***** activist times ** tel-inc!!! ** ******** ******** ** SPECIAL ** NEW JERSEY BELL ISSUE ** ** ** ******** ******** ** ** ... ** . . . 22. vol. 3 ... October-something-88 ************** ** disclaimer **- - - - - - - - - - . ************** / / / / / Activist Times, Inc. ATI is a journalistic, causistic, / /cyberpolitical / /organization, / 4 more info? /trying to / send SASE /help y'all, & us / stamps??? bring to the world / to: radical change in / ATI two or so minute / c/o Kelly increments. / BRO Box 94 - - - - - - - - - Groton, Ct. 06340 ***Call these awe-fish-y'all ATI Host BBS's. AuTobahn 703-629-4422 AT-Tel 812-446-2881 Peacenet (call 415-923-0900 for info) # ### # # # # ## ## ######### CLASS CALLING: A GOOD FEATURE OR NOT. Getting Around Fascist Checksums by Happy Hacker (412) New Jersey Bell has announced that they will make their Class Calling Services available in selected areas of New Jersey on November 1st, and expect to offer it statewide by late next year. State regulators in New Jersey approved this group of services on October 12, 1988 in a 2-to-1 vote. Class Calling services include the following: Call Block, in which customers can block out calls from certain numbers they do not wish to receive calls from, Priority Call, in which customers can have calls coming from certain numbers they specify be announced by a special ring, Repeat Call, which allows continuous redialing of the last number dialed, Select Forward, which transfers calls from up to 6 specified numbers to another telephone number, Return Call, which allows a person to automatically call back the last telephone number that called it, Call Trace, where customers can automatically trace the last call completed to their telephones by dialing a three-digit code, and Caller ID, where the originating number of all incoming calls is displayed on an LED device attached to the tele- phone (The LED device must be purchased separately for $70-80). Class Calling features are affect- ed by intralata calls only. Calls originating from outside NJ or calls crossing the 201/609 area will not be affected by Class Calling features. Also, Class Calling is currently only available in Hudson County and Atlantic City. Currently, only calls originatiing and terminating in these areas are able to utilize Class Calling features. Once the service is avail- able statewide, however, all intralata calls will be subject to Class. And although it's obvious that Crossbar and Step-by-step switched areas cannot utilize Class Calling, the number of areas served by these switches in New Jersey is extremely small. Sounds great, doesn't it? Marvell- ing at these wonders of technology? Don't applaud it too quickly. All telephone users should become concerned with these services, as they are an invasion of caller's privacy. Also, the Call Trace feature arises another concern mentioned by many telecom enthusiasts, including 2600 Magazine: It seems that many services that were done free of charge by telephone companies are developing charges. The Call Trace feature is perhaps a herald of days to come where people harrassed by annoyance calls must PAY to have their harrassers caught. The Call Trace feature permits persons to trace calls, but at the cost of $1 per each traceable call (The call must be an intralata (non-long dis- tance) call). The results of each traceable call are released to the autorities at a customer's request. However, even when a call is deemed "traceable" by NJ Bell and the customer is billed $1 for the trace, the call may not be indeed traceable, as was in the case of a New Jersey man who paid the sum of $42 for call traces, only to find out by the police department that only approximately 5 of them were "traceable". However, worse yet are the impli- cations of the Caller ID service, which is what bulk of this article will discuss. New Jersy Board of Public Utilities president Christine Todd Whitman voted against approving the Class Calling services, pointing outut several problems she had with the Caller ID service, in an article in The Star Ledger, a NJ-based newspaper. Since the Caller ID service causes telephone users to unknowingly transmit their telephone numbers by simply placing a call, this can cause serious problems for may people. Whitman pointed out that many people make job/work-related calls from home and would not like their home numbers disclosed to parties they call. Doctors, social workers and other professionals often make these types of calls. Whitman also pointed out that people who need help may be discouraged from calling anonymous helplines out of fear of their telephone numbers being identified. And let's take that thought a step further: Persons who might wish to anonymously give infor- mation to local authorities might be discouraged to do so, fearing they might be indentified through disclosal of their telephone numbers. NJ Bell points out that one of the benefits of Caller ID is that it will discourage telephone "abusers", i.e., people who place prank calls. However, they fail to realize that it will create a sort of anarchy, in which people will confront callers who they feel are "pranking" them by calling them back. This can cause a simple hangup call to escalate into a far worse situation. One example of such an escalation can be seen in a real-life occurrence described to this author. A girl placing a local call dialed an incorrect number. Realizing she had dialed a wrong number, she hung up the phone shortly after the called party had picked up the phone. After hanging up the phone, she looked for the correct number to call. Suddenly, her phone rang. "Hello?", answered the girl. "Don't EVER do that again", spoke a threatening voice into the phone. Yes, that DID happen. And, the girl realized, after being frightened by the phone call, that she had indeed mis- takenly dialed the number of an acquaintence who susbscribed to Caller ID. Caller ID will undoubtedly create many more uncomfortable situations like the one described above. And, a strange sort of telephone "anarchy" will result, as NJ Bell refuses to step into any sort of phone harrassment situation once the Caller ID subsciber has confronted a person he feels is placing harassing calls to him. Besides the obvious gross violations of privacy to all citizens, BBS callers are especially adversely affected by Caller ID. Think of the result if BBS sysops begin to subscribe to Caller ID to identify incoming calls to their BBSs. Many BBS callers enjoy bulletin boards due to the anonymity associated with calling them. They expect privacy. Many BBS callers, for one reason or another do not wish to disclose their identity of phone number to other BBS users, even sysops. Caller ID can be used against these people to identify them against their wishes. Also, BBS sysops subscribing to Caller ID can instantly check the validity of personal information left by a new user on his system. If a BBS sysop catches a user leaving false personal information, he can relay this information to other area sysops. The result is that the BBS user who just wishes for a little privacy can find himself blacklisted from many bulletin boards. Caller ID will can also seriously affect the activites of telecom enthusiasts and casual hackers as well. Small, local computer systems with little security may subscribe to Caller ID to combat hackers from entering their systems. Long distance services such as MCI, and packet switched networks such as Telenet and Tymnet may subscribe to Caller ID to identify all incoming calls to their systems. Consider the implications! So, sounds pretty bad, eh? So, you don't want your calls selectively forwarded, announced by special rings, blocked out, returned, or otherwise traced? There are ways around Class features! One way is to use an alternate carrier while placing a call. Alternate carriers are often used to place intralata toll calls for economical reasons. But, the easiest way to combat Class features is to simply add a "1" plus the area code you are calling while placing intralata calls. For example, if you are in the 201 NPA, and you are calling the number 656-9999, simply dial 1-201-656-9999. By dialing your call in this fashion, it will override all Class Calling features, including Caller ID and Call Trace. Or, simply plug into your neighbor's line with some alligator clips while placing calls that you do not wish to be traced to you. The more people that are aware of these methods, the more privacy the public will remain to have. Go to it, friends... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - :ATI, changing the way people : read for over 2 years. :ATI, a freedom paper. : ATI, a way of life, patriots / :ATI, more than just a - - newspaper, it's the rag / :of justice!!! / - - - - - - - - - - - #b#b#b#b#b#b el section # Living Colour de musica b Que Idea!!! b#b#b#b#b#b# Living color is a 3-piece all-black heavy metal band. They're awesome. The guitarist rocks out, I can tell you that. And the lyrics are what metal SHOULD be. I've only heard one cut so far, so shouldnt judge the guys yet. I was so excited I just had to tell you. Living Colour are awesome. s/ prime PAP, prime anarchist productions, numbers run, for this morning, 7:50:24 am. 1988. 516-922-wine dial a dirty joke. 201-644-2335 ap newsline for the blind 415-995-2606 Reality Hackers magazine 619-375-1234 time and temp 800-833-news National student news ser 303-499-7111 Atomic clock 212-966-9494 National Lawyers Guild, NY 212-966-5000 NLG, World branch 401-351-7722 Laywers Guild, Prov TO THE EDITORS: Why is Manuel Noriega trading drugs to Bush for guns? JS (512) Well, that's it for 22. The special New Jersey Bell issue. Hope you liked it, and remember, Cybe out.