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From [e-mail]  Thu May 11 17:15:57 1995
1995
17:15:57 -0400
telecomlist-outbound; Thu, 11 May 1995 10:15:25 -0500
1995
10:15:22 -0500
To: [e-mail]


TELECOM Digest     Thu, 11 May 95 10:15:00 CDT    Volume 15 : Issue 236

Inside This Issue:                           Editor: Patrick A. Townson

    Phones Fight Fraud (Steve Geimann)
    Announcement: Nautilus 0.9.0 Now Available (Bill Dorsey)
    Book Review: "Handbook of LAN Technology" by Fortier (Rob Slade)
    Rural Internet via Coops (Dean Hughson)
    MCI Invests in News Corp. (Steve Geimann)
    Data Pagers w/PCMCIA Interface (Douglas Neubert)
    Re: ISDN, BellSouth and OCN (Willard F. Dawson)
    Re: NPA Arrangmenets (John Mayson)
    FCC Press Release on Caller ID (Andrew Robson)
    Southeast Louisiana and Gulf Coast Flooding (Mark Cuccia)

TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not
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----------------------------------------------------------------------



By Steve Geimann
Senior Editor
{Communications Daily}

    U.S. telephone companies have turned to customers to fight $3.37
billion in fraud, launching video campaign with fox mascot and
enlisting financial support of industry to supplement current
antifraud technology.  Alliance to Outfox Phone Fraud has six members
at its launch, including three RBOCs, and said it hoped remaining
large companies and smaller service providers would join soon.
Not-for-profit organization assesses members based on size, ranging
from $500 for small companies to $50,000 for Baby Bells yearly, said
Chmn. Mary Chacanias, Bell Atlantic (BA) fraud prevention manager.
"This
really is worldwide.  It crosses all boundaries."

     Alliance effort focuses on raising consumer awareness of
fraudulent activities, ranging from stealing access codes and PINs
from PBXs, persuading clerical workers to release confidential
information under guise of repair service and eavesdropping as callers
use credit cards at pay phones.

     Industry statistics show $1.6 billion in fraud using PBXs, $1.7
billion from calling card and cellular theft.  Total fraud rose $70
million (2.1%) last year, with average loss of $168,000 for
businesses, while losses to PBXs dropped to $20,000 from $24,000 in
1993.  Chacanias said BA cut credit card fraud 22% last year, is
aiming at 50% this year.

     BA, Pacific Bell, Southwestern Bell, Ill. Consolidated Telephone,
American Telecommunications Enterprises and Communication Fraud
Control Assn.  are the first members of alliance. Patrick Hanley, BA
president, Carrier Services, said some RHCs might be reluctant to admit
they have fraudulent calls: "It's almost like it's become an accepted
cost of doing business."

     Public service announcements to begin in July will use "Freddie
the Phone Fraud Fox" in urging customers to protect calling card
information, avoid accepting third party or collect calls at home,
demand identification from anyone calling themselves phone company
employees, avoid allowing anyone to use cellular phone and call
companies immediately if any phone-related equipment is stolen.

     SWB detected sharp increase in fraud directed at Latin population
in Southern Tex., where individuals posing as SB representatives
instruct consumers to engage call-forwarding feature "as a test," said
Marcia Grabish, area mgr.-operator service, then make fraudulent calls
through customers' phones. One recent victim got bill for $6,000, she
said.  Some customers have asked company to block nondomestic calls
from their cards, she said.

     Industry officials hailed recent arrest in $50-million phone
fraud case involving Cleartel reseller in D.C., in which someone
gained access to computer tape with PINs, Chacanias said.  In Illinois,
Cheryl Smith-Rardin, manager, Corporate Fraud, ICT, said growing problem
of jail inmate phone fraud, in which prisoners order service in name
of warden, is prompting new system involving debit bracelets using bar
code.

------------------------------



Announcing Nautilus 0.9.0 (Beta Test)

WHAT IS NAUTILUS?

Nautilus is a program that lets you have encrypted voice telephone
conversations with your friends without needing any special equipment.
All you need is a standard personal computer (386/25 or faster PC with
Soundblaster compatible sound board, or Sun Sparcstation) and a high
speed modem.  Its speech quality is reasonably good at 14.4kbps and
acceptable at 9600 bps.  It currently won't work at any slower modem
speeds.

Nautilus is the first program of this type that we know of to be
distributed for free with source code.  A few similar commercial
programs have been distributed without source, so that their security
cannot be independently examined.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Nautilus uses your computer's audio hardware to digitize and play back
your speech using a homebrew speech compression routine included with
the program.  It encrypts the compressed speech using your choice of
the Blowfish, Triple DES, or IDEA block ciphers, and transmits the
encrypted packets over your modem to your friend's computer.  At the
other end, the process is reversed.  The program is half-duplex; just
hit a key to switch between talking and listening.

Nautilus's encryption key is generated from a shared secret passphrase
that you and your friend choose together ahead of time, perhaps via
email using PGP, RIPEM, or a similar program.  Nautilus itself does not
currently incorporate any form of public key cryptography.

Further details are in the release notes included with the program.

FTP SITES

Nautilus is available in three different formats:

nautilus-0.9.0.tar.gz - full source code
naut090.zip           - MSDOS executable and associated documentation
naut090s.zip          - full source code

It is available at the following FTP sites:

ftp://ripem.msu.edu/pub/crypt/other/
This is an export controlled ftp site: read /pub/crypt/GETTING_ACCESS
for information on access.

ftp://ftp.csn.org:/mpj/I_will_not_export/crypto_???????/
This is an export controlled ftp site: read /mpj/README for
information on access.

ftp://miyako.dorm.duke.edu/mpj/crypto/voice/
This is an export controlled ftp site: read /mpj/GETTING_ACCESS for
information on access.

INTERNATIONAL USE

Sorry, but under current US law, Nautilus is legal for domestic use in
the US only.  We don't like this law but have to abide by it while it
is in effect.  Nautilus is distributed through export-restricted FTP
sites for this reason.  Please do not export it.

IMPORTANT

This is a BETA TEST VERSION of a BRAND NEW CRYPTOGRAPHY PROGRAM.
Although we've done our best to choose secure ciphers and protocols
for Nautilus, its design details have not yet been reviewed by anyone
except the authors, and it's VERY EASY to make mistakes in such
programs that mess up the security.  We advise against putting too
much faith in the security of the program until it has undergone a lot
more reviewing and debugging.  We encourage cryptographers and users
alike to examine and test the program thoroughly, and *please* let us
know if you find anything wrong.  We hope to release an updated
version within about one month fixing any serious bugs found in the
current version, though probably not having many new features.
Finally, although we'll try to fix any bugs reported to us, WE CANNOT
BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS.

CONTACTING THE DEVELOPERS

Nautilus was written by Bill Dorsey, Pat Mullarky, and Paul Rubin.
To contact the developers, please send email to [e-mail].

This announcement, and the source and executable distribution files,
are all signed with the following PGP public key.  Please use it to
check the authenticity of the files and of any fixes we may post.  You
can also use it to send us encrypted email if you want.  We will try
to keep such email confidential, but cannot guarantee it.

- -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
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=M+h4
- -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iQCVAgUBL7EA+inl/J//FNOFAQGexQP/RDIanlbvluQwPb+JTIzwmy0nIyh4vNxQ
BcGoK/pKLGKHMsOYJF7DEBq39mEJ3Fn/AP6PPlW6yjKOn2Ngxl4WfhIbRdpXyjlr
zbDlm/yZ7zY713RpM2BiPjUoZ7IZWRxhH+WfgvjqTahmSLuBYxnOLWLaQPko9p6N
R6c5FKhDT7c=
=l/tv
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----


Bill Dorsey "Nothing that results from human progress is achieved
[e-mail]  with unamimous consent.  And those who are enlightened
PGP 2.X pubkey  before the others are condemned to pursue that light
available  in spite of the others."  -- Christopher Columbus

------------------------------



BKLANTCH.RVW   950331

"Handbook of LAN Technology", Paul Fortier, 1992, 0-07-021625-8
%A   Paul Fortier
%C   2600 Tenth St., Berkeley, CA   94710
%D   1992
%G   0-07-021625-8
%I   Intertext Publications/McGraw Hill
%O   510-548-2805 800-227-0900 [e-mail]
%P   732
%T   "Handbook of LAN Technology"

This is a collection of papers on various aspects, primarily
theoretical, of local area network technology.  Given the structure,
and the variety of authors, there is a great deal of repetition of
material.

As well as general background, topics covered include error
management, topologies, protocols, control, routing, interconnection,
security, modelling and simulation, network operating system theory,
software, programming languages, tools, architecture, and
implementations.

This would be of use principally as a collection of references in
introduction to specialized theoretical topics.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995   BKLANTCH.RVW   950331.  Distribution
permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publications. Rob Slade's
book reviews are a regular feature in the Digest.


Vancouver      [e-mail]
Institute for  [e-mail]
Research into  Rob.Slade@f733.n153.z1/
User                      .fidonet.org
Security       Canada V7K 2G6

------------------------------



It appears to me that some of the readers here are local coops.  I
wanted to share that in our rural Northern Missouri area the local
telephone coops have shown some real leadership in forming a new group
and offering affordable slip access to the Net to areas as small as
mine (12 miles from a town of 886 people for instance).  That is the
advantage I see in telephone coops -- they can do things that much
larger telephone companies can't quickly ... while my rural area has
Internet access many larger cities in Missouri don't ...


Dean Hughson

------------------------------



By Steve Geimann
Senior Editor, {Communications Daily}
Washington

     MCI plans $2 billion investment in News Corp. as part of global
venture, giving MCI access to content and News Corp. ability to expand
distribution and setting stage for delivering information to homes and
businesses.  MCI Chairman-CEO Bert Roberts and News Chairman-CEO
Rupert Murdoch said venture will expand delivery of entertainment and
information to homes and businesses worldwide.

    Roberts said focus will be on businesses as well as entertainment
in homes and venture will be "by far is the most expansive and most
impactful" of new communications/entertainment joint ventures.
Murdoch said that two industries are changing rapidly and that both
companies can "create opportunities from those changes."

     MCI's initial investment is $1 billion in preferred stock and
warrants that could increase to $2 billion.  At any time in next 4
years, MCI can convert warrants, giving it 13.5% stake in News Corp.
and making it second largest shareholder after Murdoch's family.

    Agreement permits MCI to buy additional shares, up to 20%, after
initial equity position.  MCI will provide $200 million cash
immediately, and News Corp. will offer investments in BSkyB worth up
to $200 million to capitalize joint venture at $400 million. Roberts
and Murdoch will supervise venture jointly.  Staff size wasn't
immediately known.

     Standard & Poor's said it wasn't immediately clear how two
companies would provide services, Telecommunications Group Dir. Robert
Siderman saying: "It's not quite as clear on its face without more
details."  MCI's link to U.S. homes is through local telephone
companies, making immediate synergies hard to see, he said.  He said
MCI isn't lacking for cash, and its current rating of A- reflects
expectation company planned to spend its cash.  Moody's confirmed its
A2 and Prime-1 ratings on MCI's senior unsecured debt and commercial
paper and placed News ratings on review for possible upgrade.  Agency
said: "While the investment reduced MCI's cash balances by about
one-third, the preferred stock structure ... provides immediate market
reeturns although from a lower rated credit."

     Roberts said it's too early to identify services or offerings of
joint venture, but speculated it would be in on-line services and
information rather than entertainment.  Several times in conference
call with reporters, Roberts stressed focus will be on information and
entertainment.  "This is not just an alliance for entertainment into
the home," he said.

     Although MCI doesn't have immediate access to home, both
executives said many other delivery systems, including DBS, cable TV
and "eventually" telephone lines will be available.  Roberts said
MCI-News combination wasn't "a timid deal."

------------------------------



╖_



Can anyone tell me if there is a company that sells a service, that
would give my field techs a display pager with an I/O port via PCMCIA
or DB9 serial interface. I am trying to send the techs daily routs to
the techs and right now they all call in and use the 800 service. This
is very costley and with only 20 modems and around 300 techs getting
in can be tough. If you can be of any help in this issue at all please
E-mail me with any info. Thanx.


Doug Neubert     Engineering/Tech. Supp. Telsource Corp.

------------------------------



[e-mail] (Bradley Ward Allen) writes:

> In article <[e-mail]>, Willard F. Dawson
<wdawson@crl.
> com> wrote:

>> [e-mail] (Bradley Ward Allen) writes:

>>> Redundancy is better -- let all subscribers use whatever works best
at
>>> the moment, as determined by a well-maintained set of routers.

>> Redundant routers that kick in to the selected carrier of data rather
>> than falling over to a different carrier are also possible ... and,
>> required, in a RBOC environment that must compete with the likes of
>> MFS and their "miss 1% a year, get the next year for free" attitude.

> Yes but frequently the selected carrier of IP data cannot get packets
> around.  For instance, I have had the worst luck with Sprint, however
> since my main host only connects via it (argg when are they going to
> upgrade?), I have a dependence on them.  My solution is to also have a
> Netcom account, plus maintaining a short list of friends' passwords
> for emergency use.  Last month, I think one out of five login sessions
> had to be done via Netcom.  Tonight, Netcom hosts were down, luckily
> Sprint isn't being a problem to me.

> If I upgrade my system of two providers plus access to three others in
> emergency needs (included are seven regional, international and
> national networks), I'd want some incentive like automated packet
> routing via whatever network is working and other redundancy measures.

Good (or is that great) service providers will themselves be redundantly
connected, and will configure their routers to use BGP to ensure that
outages with one provider do not kill their routes to and from the
'net.

Cheaper providers will cut corners, and hopefully pass the savings on to
you, the user.  If not, I suggest you jump ship, in a hurry.  If so,
then you're choice to remain with them should be an educated decision
...

Unfortunately, too many net-newcomers don't know enough to ask these
kinds of questions. Perhaps there is or should be a FAQ on proper
questions to ask of potential Internet Service Providers.

------------------------------



> In your post, you criticized the current method of NPA splits.

> I didn't quite understand what specific NPA you were referring to,
what
> specifically you didn't like, and what you would prefer instead.

> Could you elaborate?  Thanks.

Well, that posting was more of a run-on thought that anything else.
Basically my problem is we aren't trusting the LECs to make these
decisions, instead we're allowing state regulators and "concerned"
citizens who probably watch too much Oprah to make them.

Having lived in Atlanta for many, many years, I see the 404 splits as
a perfect example.  The Georgia PSC was afraid of excluding outer
communities from being "part of Atlanta", so they didn't split
anywhere near enough off when they created 706.  Now we've got this
404/770 split along I-285 which the local media hyped would keep
Southern Bell from forcing Atlantans to dial 10-digits and would make
it easier for "our" children to memorize their phone numbers (as if
Southern Bell is out to get the people of Atlanta).  However this is
totally false since there is much cross-Perimeter dialing and a very
large "border population" along I-285.  They might as well have made
an overlay so callers wouldn't have to guess what they need to dial.
Hopefully Southern Bell will allow permissive 11-digit dialing

These splits are becoming like the gerrymandered Congressional
districts, IMHO.  Like I said in my original post, yeah, there are
bigger and better things to worry about in life.  But my Libertarian
nature has gotten a little miffed over state and local governments
claiming they're acting in the people's best interest by "protecting"
them from the LECs and their quest to create more telephone numbers.

Personally I prefer overlays for large metro areas (e.g. Houston,
Atlanta, South Florida), but splits for larger, more sparcely
populated areas, such as Oregon (Were they REALLY considering a
statewide overlay?).


John Mayson (MS 100/2243) Senior Engineer
Harris Electronic Systems Sector
PO Box 99000, Melbourne FL USA 32902
Voice [phone] | Fax [phone] | Pager [phone]
internet [e-mail] | http://p100dl.ess.harris.com

------------------------------



[The following is a press release downloaded from fcc.gov and lightly
edited for line formatting]

Report No. DC 95-71        ACTION IN DOCKET CASE      May 4, 1995

FCC FINALIZES RULES FOR CALLER ID; ALLOWS PER LINE BLOCKING WHERE
STATES PERMIT; PBX CALLER ID RULES PROPOSED
         (CC DOCKET 91-281)

The Commission today voted to approve national Caller ID rules that
will protect the privacy of the called and the calling party by
mandating that carriers make available a free, simple and consistent,
per call blocking and unblocking mechanism. Under the rules adopted
today, callers dialing *67 before dialing a particular call will, for
interstate calls, block calling party information for any interstate
calls and those callers using a blocked line can unblock the line and
release that information by dialing *82.  The Order permits carriers
to provide privacy on all calls dialed from a particular line, where
state policies provide, and the customer selects, that option.

Today's action came as the Commission reconsidered its original Caller
ID nationwide Caller ID system is in the public interest.  It found
that passage of the calling party's number, or CPN, could benefit
consumers by encouraging the introduction of new technologies and
services to the public, enabling service providers and consumers to
conduct transactions more efficiently.

The rules adopted today will take effect December 1, 1995.  Public pay
phones and partylines will be required to be in compliance by January 1,
1997.  The Commission also issued a rulemaking proposal concerning PBX
and private payphone obligations under the Caller ID rules.

In March 1994, the Commission adopted a Report and Order that concluded
that a nationwide Caller ID system was in the public interest and stated
that the potential benefits of a Caller ID system -- efficiency and
productivity gains, infrastructure development and network utilization,
and new service and employment opportunities -- would only be possible
if
CPN is passed among carrier networks.  It noted two areas of concern
however -- compensation issues related to passage of CPN for interstate
calls and varying state requirements intended to protect the privacy
rights of calling and called parties on interstate calls.

In today's action the Commission affirmed its finding that common
carriers, including Commercial Mobile Radio Service providers, with
Signaling System 7 (SS7)call set up capability, must transport CPN
without charge to interstate connecting carriers.  The Commission
clarified that carriers without SS7 call set upcapability do not have
to upgrade their networks just to transport CPN to connecting
carriers.  The Commission noted that local exchange carriers are
required to resell interstate access for Caller ID to other carriers
wishing to compete for end-user business in this market.

The Commission modified its previous decision that only per-call
blocking would be allowed.  Today's action permits per-line blocking
for interstate calls instates where it is permitted for intrastate
calls, provided the customer elects per line blocking. The Commission's
original rules required a caller to dial *67 before each call in order
to block the called party from knowing the caller's number. The
Commission has now modified its rules to permit carriers to provide
privacy on all calls dialed from a particular line, where state
policies provide, and the customer selects, that option, provided
carriers permit callers to unblock calls from that line by dialing
*82.  Where state policies do not require or permit at the customer's
election per line blocking, carriers are bound by the federal privacy
protection model to provide privacy only where *67 is dialed.

The Commission noted that it continues to exempt calls to emergency
lines
from its rules; that is, a carrier's obligation to honor caller privacy
requests to emergency numbers will be governed by state policies.

As an additional privacy measure, the Commission requires that when a
caller requests that the calling party number be concealed, a carrier
may
not reveal the name of the subscriber to that line and callers
requesting
that their number not be revealed should be able to block an automatic
call return feature.  The Commission continues to require that carriers
with call set up capability that pass CPN or transmit Automatic Number
Identification (ANI) educate customers regarding the passage and usage
of
this information.

Finally, the Commission issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking proposing
that Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems and private payphones capable
of delivering CPN to the public switched telephone network also be
capable
of delivering a privacy indicator when users dial *67 and be capable of
unblocking the line by dialing *82.

Action by the Commission May 4, 1995, by MO&O on Reconsideration, Second
R&O and Third NPRM (FCC 95 - 187). Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello,
Barrett, Ness and Chong.

-FCC-

News Media contact: Susan Lewis Sallet at [phone].
Common Carrier Bureau contacts: Marian Gordon at [phone].

------------------------------



I can only speak for New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana -

We are now 100% ESS/Digital ESS.

The flooding this time seems worse than in previous storms.  I did not
have any flooding in my apartment nor was there flooding in any of my
relatives' homes.  Some of the New Orleans metro area had flooding
which 'never' flood.  Electric power, of course, was out at one time
or another for most of us -- the power at home was out for 5 minutes
and later for 55 minutes Monday nite, and there were split-second
power flashes and 5 second 'brown-outs' from Monday nite thru
Wednesday.  Monday nite, the local SCBell class-5 central office where
I live was on battery rather than commercial power.

Sometimes I was off hook up to two minutes off-hook before getting
dial-tone.  I did get re-order signals on some call attempts.  There
were times where I could NOT do a '*66' -- I would get re-order on
those Telco Auto-Redial attempts.  I am a rather new customer of
BellSouth Mobility -- I had some trouble getting a cellular call out --
and when I DID get a channel, the signal was quite bad and I got
cut-off.

Cable-TV service was still on in MY area of New Orleans, but Monday
nite and part of the day Tuesday some channels were out.  ALL Cable
channels were on (and clear) on Wednesday.

I did not come into work on Tuesday or Wednesday -- and when I got to
work today, the System Administorator told us that we had been
'cut-off' from the outside world on Tuesday -- but most of our email
would come in if the sender or their system kept resending.  When I
came in this morning, all issues of TELECOM Digest were waiting in my
e-mail-box, and the receipt date/time was Wednesday nite.

New Orleans has a 'flood-of-the-century' every year or so, and has
since the late 1970's.  We are actually BELOW sea level (most of the
area is built on a SWAMP) and the climate is sub-tropical.  Sometimes
even a SIMPLE rain shower will cause street flooding.

The 1983 annual 'flood-of-the-century' (April 17, 1983) caused FAR
WORSE telephone trouble -- the 'main' telco building in the business
district (Toll, Tandem, TSPS, AND ESS local office) was flooded in the
basement, where telco power was located.  When commercial power went
out, South Central Bell was unable to start up their emergency
generators.  They had to go on storage battery power which eventually
became DRAINED.  At that time, most all network radio and television,
including newswires had NOT yet gone to satellite distribution -- they
still relied on the Bell System (AT&T).

New Orleans was more-or-less cut off from the outside world.  Western
Union could not Telex in or out of New Orleans and WUTC was also
probably down locally -- their switches were just one or two blocks
away from Bell/AT&T and were probably flooded.  No OTHER private line
services/networks were able to transmit to/from New Orleans, and
probably not even locally.

THIS time, the business-district area did NOT flood -- and also there
are
other carriers and networks and technologies out there instead of just
Ma-Bell.

For about 30 minutes Tuesday morning, I did NOT even have sidetone on
the
Central Office serving my home -- I did have a 'hum' of battery, but no
sidetone (I could not 'talk' through the receiver)

Meanwhile, I am dry.


Mark

------------------------------

End of TELECOM Digest V15 #236
******************************