TELECOM Digest Fri, 3 Mar 2000 17:59:48 EST Volume 20 : Issue 8Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson
Re: Infamous Hacker Sought for Advice (David Chessler) Book Review: "NFS Illustrated", Brent Callaghan (Rob Slade) Re: NXX by NPA (Jim Orr) Re: NXX by NPA (Clarence Dold) Re: NXX by NPA (Larry Finch) Re: NXX by NPA (Tony Pelliccio) Re: DoubleClick Looks to Regain Surfers' Trust (Walter Dnes) Re: DoubleClick Looks to Regain Surfers' Trust (marc_k) What's That Smell? Oh, It's DoubleClick (Monty Solomon) North American Numbering Plan Proposals - New Discussion Forum (Goldstein)N Re: The DLC Epidemic Spreads to the Northeast (Bill Horne) Re: Wireless Extensions (joe) Latin American Telecom Summit (Laura Garcia) Re: Telephone-Pole Battle: Steel Takes On Wood (John Hines) Re: Communication Tower Being Built (Andrew) Netscape Cookies on a Mac (Isaac Wingfield) Re: Directory Number Fee (Clint CRG) Surf Watch (Rory Matthews) Court Blocks WA School from Suspending Student Over Web Site (M Solomon)
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Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 16:41:20 -0500 From: David Chessler <chessler@usa.NOSPAM.net> Subject: Re: Infamous Hacker Sought for Advice
Content-Location: "http://www.latimes.com/wires/20000302/ tCB00V0757.html"
Thursday, March 2, 2000
By TED BRIDIS, AP Technology Writer
WASHINGTON--The government is seeking advice from the world's most infamous computer hacker, just weeks after his release from federal prison, about keeping its own electronic networks safe from intruders.
In a bizarre twist to the federal prosecution of Kevin Mitnick, a Senate panel today asked him to explain ways hackers infiltrate sensitive computer systems, and to suggest solutions to lawmakers.
"I have gained unauthorized access to computer systems at some of the largest corporations on the planet and have successfully penetrated some of the most resilient computer systems ever developed," Mitnick said in prepared remarks.
Mitnick, 36, also boasted that over 20 years, he broke into all but one computer system he targeted -- including a California college he victimized that eventually paid him as its consultant in an unusual arrangement he called "hire the hacker."
Mitnick, who is prohibited from using any computer or even a cellular telephone for the next three years, was released from prison Jan. 21 after almost five years. He became an underground cause celebre after leading the FBI on a three-year manhunt that ended when investigators traced his electronic signals to an apartment in 1995.
The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee is considering a wide-ranging bill to require agencies to create anti-hacker programs and seek approval from the Office of Management and Budget that such plans are adequate.
Mitnick called the legislation "a good first step" and offered a half-dozen suggestions -- such as requiring agencies to assess what data is most valuable and training employees to recognize attacks under way.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., the bill's co-sponsor, said previously "it's only a matter of time" before an intruder into government computers commits serious damage.
Another expert, Jack L. Brock Jr. of the General Accounting Office, said nearly all government agencies "are plagued by poor computer security," and cited recent audits that 22 of the largest ones were "not adequately protecting critical federal operations and assets from computer-based attacks." The Environmental Protection Agency temporarily closed its Internet connection weeks ago after GAO found serious risks.
The interest from the Senate comes on the heels of sensational electronic attacks against some of the Internet's flagship Web sites. Those attacks didn't compromise the security of the companies, just overwhelmed their services for hours. James Adams, head of Infrastructure Defense Inc., called them "mere pinpricks on the body of e-commerce" and warned that worse -much worse -was possible. He urged Congress to create a new "Office of Business Assurance."
The hearing also comes amid a fledgling effort by the government to encourage private companies to collectively share information about computer attacks.
Mitnick recently acknowledged that, "I would have never been found or arrested unless several -- not only the federal government but several Internet service providers and telephone companies cooperated together to track my location."
But Mitnick also suggested that computer security must include more than updated software or firewalls to keep hackers out. He described in detail his successful efforts to break into AT&T Corp.'s worldwide network: He posed as an executive, he recounted, and called a receptionist, convincing her to fax to him an important password.
Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If I were in Kevin's position I am not sure at all that I would have cooperated. I would have sent back a note to the investigative committee and told them "you are about five years too late asking for my advice, and furthermore the terms of my probation forbid me to use any sort of computer necessary to assist you." I do not think I would give them any cooperation at all. I think the terms of his probation require him to cooperate with *FBI* and other *investigators*, not with the Congress of the United States. That's just how I feel. Those congress- critters could have had him out of prison at the snap of their fingers years ago if they wanted to. They obviously did not care about him either way; now I would show the same concern for them and their dillema. If I were cited for contempt as a result, I would ask them, "what do you plan to do, lock me up for another four years without a trial like last time?" His case left me feeling very bitter about the US Government's role in his case. If he does decide to 'work along' with Congress I hope he gets up there and rips them into shreds for their dishonesty in calculating the amount of 'damages' he supposedly caused. PAT]
From: Rob Slade <rslade@sprint.ca> Organization: Vancouver Institute for Research into User Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 08:15:16 -0800 Subject: Book Review: "NFS Illustrated, Brent Callaghan Reply-To: rslade@sprint.ca
BKNFSILL.RVW 20000129
"NFS Illustrated", Brent Callaghan, 2000, 0-201-32570-5, U$49.95/C$74.95 %A Brent Callaghan %C P.O. Box 520, 26 Prince Andrew Place, Don Mills, Ontario M3C 2T8 %D 2000 %G 0-201-32570-5 %I Addison-Wesley Publishing Co. %O U$49.95/C$74.95 416-447-5101 fax: 416-443-0948 bkexpress@aw.com %P 513 p. %T "NFS Illustrated"
For simple network file and print services, the Network File System (NFS) protocol is a basic cross-platform utility. Frequently referenced in networking texts, NFS is often not covered in detail. This work makes good that shortfall.
Chapter one provides a history, including a kind of family tree of previous protocols. External Data Representation (XDR), explained in chapter two, is the data format used by NFS. Open Network Computing (ONC) Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) are outlined in chapter three. Chapter four discusses the various levels available for RPC authentication. The file system model and file/path name considerations, are covered in chapter five.
Chapters six and seven detail the functions of NFS 2 and 3 respectively. Common operations of implementations are dealt with in chapter eight. Chapter nine looks at the MOUNT protocol, chapter ten the Lock Manager, and chapter eleven automounting. Variants of NFS are reviewed in chapter twelve. Other distributed file systems are discussed in chapter thirteen, including AFS (Andrew File System), DCE/DFS (Distributed Computing Environment/Distributed File System), and SMB/CIFS (Server Message Block/Common Internet File System). PCNFS is covered in chapter fourteen. Chapter fifteen explains both the considerations in, and programs for, NFS benchmarking. WebNFS is a simplified version, outlined in chapter sixteen. The book closes in chapter seventeen with discussion of the Internet requirements for NFS 4, and the work going on in the Internet Engineering Task Force.
Callaghan's text is not bad, but it isn't particularly readable, either. The illustrations are sometimes more puzzling than illuminating. Overall, the book has the necessary information, but it is demanding of the reader, and requires some application.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 2000 BKNFSILL.RVW 20000129
====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer) rslade@vcn.bc.ca rslade@sprint.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca p1@canada.com Failure is not an option. It is a privilege reserved only for those who try. http://victoria.tc.ca/techrev or http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~rslade
From: Jim Orr <jorr@gstworld.net> Organization: GST Telecom Subject: Re: NXX by NPA Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 09:25:12 -0800
No code can go active until it is registered in the LERG (Local Exchange Routing Guide). The company I work for gets it monthly on a CD in Access form.
The Database has several other aspects as well, including the associated LEC Access Tandem, Rate Center association, Wire Center association and Portability information.
The monthly update version is $1,500/year from Telcordia.
"Robert M. Bryant" wrote:
> Do you know where I can get a list of NXX's by NPA or by City or State??
> Robert M. Bryant
> DNAE IBM Team
> 440 Hamilton, 12th. fl.
> White Plains, NY 10601
> (914) 397-8451
> Pager: 888-858-7243, pin 116852
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It would be a humongous list to say
> the least, on several CD Roms, and printing out to hundreds of pages.
> And the list never ends, and is never entirely up to date. PAT]
From: Clarence Dold <dold@rahul.net> Subject: Re: NXX by NPA Date: 2 Mar 2000 02:02:34 GMT Organization: a2i network Reply-To: dold@email.rahul.net
Robert M. Bryant <rmbryant@att.com> wrote: > Do you know where I can get a list of NXX's by NPA or by City or State??
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It would be a humongous list to say
> the least, on several CD Roms, and printing out to hundreds of pages.
> And the list never ends, and is never entirely up to date. PAT]
Not several CDs, only one. http://www.trainfo.com/tra/catalog.htm
The LERG is about $700, and contains _all_ the data. The V&H Terminating Point listing has NPA-NXX, city, V&H, about $250. "City" might not be what you think it is, though.
Changes are downloadable for free, but I've never looked at that format. The TPM CD includes flat ASCII and MS-Access databases.
Clarence A Dold - dold@email.rahul.net - Pope Valley & Napa CA.
From: Larry Finch <LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net> Reply-To: LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net Subject: Re: NXX by NPA Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2000 02:02:26 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet
"Robert M. Bryant" wrote:
> Do you know where I can get a list of NXX's by NPA or by City or State??
> Robert M. Bryant
> DNAE IBM Team
> 440 Hamilton, 12th. fl.
> White Plains, NY 10601
> (914) 397-8451
> Pager: 888-858-7243, pin 116852
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It would be a humongous list to say
> the least, on several CD Roms, and printing out to hundreds of pages.
> And the list never ends, and is never entirely up to date. PAT]
I used to have a program that had it called "NPA" It also had the CO town name, latitude & longitude, V&H, zip code, etc. Took about 4 MB as I recall. The publisher also sold the database separately for ~$500.
Bellcore publishes the information on electronic media as the Terminating Point Master (TPM). There is also an ITPM (International). This has other useful information, including special use flags for NXXs such as Cellular, Pager, etc. You subscribe to TPM; it includes monthly updates. I don't remember the cost, but it was reasonable for a business to buy.
Larry Finch ::LarryFinch@worldnet.att.net larry@prolifics.com ::LarryFinch@aol.com ::(whew!) N 40 53' 47" W 74 03' 56"
From: nospam.tonypo1@nospam.home.com (Tony Pelliccio) Subject: Re: NXX by NPA Organization: Providence Network Partners Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2000 00:37:19 GMT
In article <telecom20.5.6@telecom-digest.org>, rmbryant@att.com says:
> Do you know where I can get a list of NXX's by NPA or by City or State??
> Robert M. Bryant
> DNAE IBM Team
> 440 Hamilton, 12th. fl.
> White Plains, NY 10601
> (914) 397-8451
> Pager: 888-858-7243, pin 116852
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: It would be a humongous list to say
> the least, on several CD Roms, and printing out to hundreds of pages.
> And the list never ends, and is never entirely up to date. PAT]
Quite some time ago someone posted an address for a program by the name of NPA for Windows. The web address is http://www.pcconsultant.com and their phone number is 888-456-7950. For $35.00 you get the full version but I'll be honest, it's VERY accurate. Even the newer cell prefixes are listed in it.
== Tony Pelliccio, KD1S formerly KD1NR == Trustee WE1RD
From: Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org> Subject: Re: DoubleClick Looks to Regain Surfers' Trust Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 21:07:46 -0500
On Wed, 1 Mar 2000 09:14:11 -0600 , Hahn, Ki Suk <kshahn@datalogics.com> wrote in article <telecom20.5.1@telecom-digest.org>:
> I've set my Netscape cookies.txt file to read-only as was suggested
> here some time ago and this works ok. But the IE 4.72... that I
> sometimes use has a folder that contains these cookies. (NT's
> windows\profiles\username\cookies folder with files named
> username@domain.txt <mailto:username@domain.txt> ) I've tried to set
> this folder to read-only but that permission gets changed back. Is
> there any way to make it stick?
Given how often you have to reboot Windows<g>, try the following line in your AUTOEXEC.BAT...
ECHO Y|DEL C:\WINDOWS\COOKIES\*.*
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org> http://www.waltdnes.org SpamDunk Project procmail spamfilters. A picture is worth a thousand words; unfortunately, it consumes the bandwidth of ten thousand words.
From: marc_k@walrus.com (marc_k) Subject: Re: DoubleClick Looks to Regain Surfers' Trust Date: 2 Mar 2000 01:57:50 GMT Organization: Walrus Internet
Hahn wrote:
> From: jmaddaus@NO_SPAM.usa.net (John S. Maddaus)
> Subject: Re: DoubleClick Looks to Regain Surfers' Trust
> Reply-To: jmaddaus@NO_SPAM.usa.net
> Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 17:09:01 GMT
> Organization: AT&T Worldnet
>> Which is why I have my browser set to accept only cookies that get
>> sent back to the originating server and to warn me before accepting
>> any cookies. I always manually reject cookies that are associated
>> with advertising and regularly clear both cache and cookies from my
>> machine using a batch file I picked off of either Tucows or Zdnet
>> (can't remember which). [...]
> I've set my Netscape cookies.txt file to read-only as was suggested
> here some time ago and this works ok. But the IE 4.72... that I
> sometimes use has a folder that contains these cookies. (NT's
> windows\profiles\username\cookies folder with files named
> username@domain.txt <mailto:username@domain.txt> ) I've tried to set
> this folder to read-only but that permission gets changed back. Is
> there any way to make it stick?
> Ki Suk Hahn
You might try setting the system flag, as well as the read-only one. Perhaps Windows will respect a system flag better.
Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2000 01:35:29 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: What's That Smell? Oh, It's DoubleClick
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,12440,00.html
What's That Smell? Oh, It's DoubleClick
No stink is more pungent than that of a loser. DoubleClick may not have attained that lowly status just yet, but it's on the ropes. The online advertising company's ongoing tussle with privacy advocates is prompting some clients to walk away, according to a widely cited report in this morning's Wall Street Journal. A News.com report suggests that bucks - not ethics - prompted at least one of the defections.
While DoubleClick CEO Kevin O'Connor was copping his typically bullish pose on Net advertising at a New York conference, Kozmo.com CEO Joseph Park was telling the Journal that his company wants out of the DoubleClick circle. The home-delivery site plans a relaunch next month and was planning to dump banner ads even before the DoubleClick controversy arose, Park told the Journal. The brouhaha just confirmed the wisdom of that move, he said. Of course the move had nothing to do with reports that DoubleClick was siphoning the video-rental data of Kozmo customers.
AltaVista has also backed away from DoubleClick, according to Journal reporters Glenn Simpson and Andrea Petersen. The search engine will switch to an opt-in model, meaning that DoubleClick will only be able to round up the stats of Web surfers who have OK'd the scrutiny. AltaVista's distancing is bad news for DoubleClick, which rakes in 20 percent of its revenues from the portal.
For its part, Kozmo hopes it's exchanging the nose-holding aroma of DoubleClick for the sweet smell of greenbacks. News.com identified unnamed sources as the basis for its report that Kozmo is about to file for an IPO. In November, online grocer Webvan made its debut at $15 and opened at $26. Webvan is now trading for less that $12, but hey - isn't it the opening-day pop that counts the most? - Deborah Asbrand
AltaVista, Kozmo Distance Themselves From DoubleClick Over Privacy Worries http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB951880945433278787.htm [Paid subscription required.]
DoubleClick held at arm's length by partners (Reuters) http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1561080.html?tag=st.ne.1002.thed.1005-200-1561080
DoubleClick: Collecting User Data Is No Crime http://www.zdnet.com/sr/stories/news/0,4538,2453151,00.html
Kozmo May Deliver Itself to the Public http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1560962.html?tag=st.ne.1002.tgif?st.ne.fd.gif.c
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 21:41:09 -0500 From: Fred Goldstein <fgoldstein@wn.net> Subject: North American Numbering Plan Proposals - New Discussion Forum
The North American Numbering Plan, the rules by which telephone numbers are assigned in the USA, Canada, and some Caribbean countries, is a popular discussion topic here on the Digest. Last November, in response to a previous posting, I mentioned a proposed design for a new NANP that I was working on. I've finished drafting the description of my proposed plan, and I've put it up on a web discussion site. Interested parties are welcome to check in to http://www.delphi.com/nanp . (Delphi is now a discussion-forum web site with free membership. Some might remember it as an early on-line service provider, one of the first to offer Internet access. But that's another tale.)
I'm not reopening the usual issues of overlay vs. split, etc. I'm instead taking the long view: What should the NANP be in the future, after the current plan runs out of area codes? There are of course discussions going on in industry forums already. But they're mostly based on making a larger, uglier version of the existing (1947) plan, usually requiring 11 or 12 digit dialing for all calls, even local.
(Parenthetically, I realize that number conservation measures such as unassigned number pooling can stretch out the existing number supply well beyond its planned late-aughts exhaust. But that too is a digression.)
The proposal I've put up has a different approach. Taking into account the way the telephone network works in North America (i.e., the need for deterministic number length, its special codes like 911, and its uses of 1 and 0), the proposed plan is still more like, say, the British one than the US one. An ideal plan has large enough "areas" so that an "area code" covers as much territory as one did back in the '80s; this means that 8-digit local numbers are permitted. But 7-digit numbers can exist too, so long as an area is all one or the other -- I suggest the Caribbean microstates, for instance, will stay with 7 digits.
Area codes in this plan are *always* dialed with a 1 (the UK equivalent is the leading 0), so they are written that way -- 1267, for instance, instead of 1-1267. Geographic USA area codes always begin with 12 or 13; 14 is for non-USA areas. The whole 18 space is for free calls (800, 888, etc... assume that there will be a lot of them) and 19 for premium-rate calls. The 15 space is for nongeographic services, be they voice or data, which will become more important, while 17 is reserved for carrier-specific and subscriber-specific (private) numbers.
It's well understood that you can't just go to 8-digit numbers from 7, since there is no room in the plan. This is made very clear on Linc Madison's excellent area code page (http://www.lincmad.com). In order to eventually have 8-digit dialing, a transition period is needed wherein all calls, local and toll, need the area code. (This is where most industry plans stop!) That allows the old 7-digit numbers to be flushed out during a "permissive" period, before 8-digit locals become permissive. Existing 3-digit prefix codes are algorithmically converted to 4-digit ones; since multiple existing area codes are being merged, the old area code determines the second digit of the prefix.
The Digest is a great forum but I don't think we should burden Pat with the volume of traffic that this topic sometimes gets, so I request that discussion of this topic be limited to the above forum. Thanks. (And welcome back, Pat!)
Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 21:38:54 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bhorne.nouce@banet.net> Subject: Re: The DLC Epidemic Spreads to the Northeast Organization: Global Network Services - Remote Access Mail & News Services
Ed Ellers wrote:
> I see from The Washington Post that Bell Atlantic has now started shafting
> some of its customers in the same way that BellSouth is shafting me --
> namely, by using digital loop carrier systems to provide a poor imitation of
> a phone line, one which unnecessarily distorts the signal and therefore
> blocks the use of V.90 modem connections.
If your reader feels that a DLC system is a "poor imitation of a phone line", then I'm curious what he feels a good "imitation" would be. Perhaps a Picturephone system, with unlimited local calling and free installation?
To say that a Digital Loop Carrier "unnecessarily distorts the signal" is a very arrogant way of inferring that Bell Atlantic would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to design, equip, install, insure, and support a DLC system which requires more (and more expensive) maintenance than copper wires, can't offer the same services, and costs more to run.
All this, so that his V.ridiculous modem wouldn't work? May I suggest your reader put some tinfoil around the walls, to keep the cosmic rays at bay?
Sorry to be the messenger bringing bad new, but the cable conduits are full, and the manholes are full: there is no more copper to be had, and in some areas, BA has had to rip out copper cables installed less than five years ago to accommodate fiber. The FCC and your local lawmakers decided that the public interest, convenience, and necessity required Bell Atlantic to lease space under the streets at bargain basement rates, so that the legions of BUSINESS customers whom make campaign contributions may have a choice of DIAL TONE providers to serve their BUSINESS communication needs.
BUSINESS customers don't give a damn about dialup internet service: they care only about FAX lines, which work fine over DLC. If they need to move data around, they pay for dedicated, diverse, custom designed DATA circuits to do it.
I'm sorry, but civilians whom feel offended about the need for more DIAL TONE in businesses have no recourse other than to Internet mailing lists, while businessmen are able to pick up the phone, call their congressman, and have the call acted on. That's the system we live with.
Claiming that BA, or any other RBOC, would spend immense sums of money just to disable his 56K modem is (let's be kind) naive. By his own admission, your reader is unable to obtain DSL service (it requires copper), so where's the motivation? This sounds like a complaint that BA didn't design it's VOICE network to accommodate net surfers - well, complain all you want, but 56K modems are a hack that requires a very specialized set of circumstances, and when dial tone demands require DLC equipment, that's what BA uses. After all, they get paid to provide dial tone.
Bill Horne
Organization: http://www.remarq.com: The World's Usenet/Discussions Start Here Subject: Re: Wireless Extensions From: joe <jpwjr669NOjpSPAM@aol.com.invalid> Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 17:57:14 -0800
You can get phones from a company in Canada that claim some really L O N G ranges, but they are not approved by the FCC ( or whoever sets the regulations here in the states ). If you are in the US; your best bet would probably be from a company named EnGenius. They have a cordless phone that they claim will work at a range of like 5 miles.
From: LAURA <laura@hughes.com.uy> Subject: Latin American Telecom Summit Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 15:01:06 -0300
Dear Sir,
I congratulate you for the web site. It is really interesting. I would very much appreciate it if you can inform me about the Latin American Telecommunications Summit to be held in Lima, Peru, on March 13/16. I have not found information on the web about it.
Kind regards,
Laura Garcia
From: John Hines <jhines@enteract.com> Subject: Re: Telephone-Pole Battle: Steel Takes On Wood Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2000 12:38:16 -0600 Organization: US Citizen, disabled with MS, speaking solely for myself.
msb@vex.net wrote:
> Is there an important distinction for some reason between *telephone*
> poles and those for other utilities?
In the Chicago metro area, they are power line poles, owned and maintained by Commonwealth Edison, and the telephone, and cable companies lease space from them. ComEd then exchanges the electricity to run the city/village for the lease on the right of way for the poles.
From: Andrew <andrew@kill-9.com> Subject: Re: Communication Tower Being Built Date: 3 Mar 2000 18:46:54 GMT Organization: Kill-9 Industries
Linda Harris <tamworth@voicenet.com> wrote:
> We have been approached by a communications company, who wish to put a
> cellular communications tower on our property.
> We meet all their requirements regarding site, elevation etc., They
> had done all their homework before they approached us, and they know
> its in a prime site. Its known throughout this district, that our area
> is a black spot for cellular phones. We would like to know, before we
> go any further, as to the payment for the lease offered by them. The
> lease is to run for over 50 years. Is there anyone who has had
> similar dealings with having towers put on their property, and could
> give us an Idea as to what they were given as payment. Its obvious
> that they offer you the very minimum as an opening offer. We are
> curious as to the "going" rate. We live in western PA.
Down in here in Atlanta, according to a recent newspaper article, the going rate is $1200/month.
AT&T wireless put a tower on some property that my stepfather owns in suburban Minneapolis last year. I haven't quizzed him in detail about the deal, but apparently the amount they pay him is indexed to something because they originally payed him $1000/month and this went up to $1048/month after a few months.
The agreement he signed has provisions to let competing wireless providers share the tower in which case each competitor would have to pay my stepfather the same amount that AT&T is paying.
Andrew
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 08:13:23 -0800 From: Isaac Wingfield <isw@witzend.com> Subject: Netscape Cookies on a Mac
> From: siegman@stanford.edu (A. E. Siegman)
> Subject: Re: DoubleClick Looks to Regain Surfers' Trust
> Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2000 21:31:58 -0800
> Organization: Stanford University
> In article <telecom20.5.2@telecom-digest.org>, Douglas Dunlop
> <ddunlop@nortelnetworks.com> wrote:
>> Rather than bother with manually accepting and rejecting cookies, I
>> set Netscape to accept all cookies. I also deleted everything below
>> the "do not edit" line in the cookies.txt file and set the file
>> properties to read only. All cookies are accepted, none are stored ...
> I'm guessing this is a Unix system. Is there a way to do the
> same thing with the MagicCookie file in Netscape on a Mac?
Replace the *file* named "MagicCookie" with a *folder* named "MagicCookie" and Hey Presto! a black hole for cookies -- they just go in and vanish.
Isaac
From: clintcrg@aol.com (Clint CRG) Date: 03 Mar 2000 00:19:03 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Subject: Re: Directory Number Fee
In California there is a monthly fee of $45 per 100 numbers for DID (direct inward dialing directory numbers). Also there is a penalty for droping the numbers in less than three years.
Clint Gilliland Menlo Park, CA
John Schmerold john@katy.com wrote:
> In Missouri, there is no fee for Directory numbers. If you have a
> business with 6 lines, you get 6 numbers, despite the fact that you
> only need one number. Indeed, the business is better off without 6
> numbers due to prevelance of caller-id. So, why not create a revenue
> neutral tariff`q on directory numbers. If a customer wants multiple
> numbers, that is fine, but there will be a monthly $3 per line
> charge.
> Anyone know if this has been tried? Why not?
From: Rory Matthews <rorymath@hotmail.com> Subject: Surf Watch Date: Thu, 02 Mar 2000 14:21:30 PST
Hello Pat,
Thought you might enjoy this... Yesterday while at school using the computers I remembered the discussion on the various Internet blocking programs and decided to investigate. My school uses a program called Surf Watch and I was curious to see if they banned your site. As it turned out they didn't block your site at all. But in the process I discovered something else. It seems that when I go through your Anonymous Web Surfing service I'm able to access all those oh-so-naughty sites that are usually inaccessable. It appears your fighting censorship in a way you probably didn't even realize!
Rory Matthews
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Thank you for your kind words of support, Rory. I appreciate your message. Feel free to tell the other guys at your school about Operator Pat and how she supplies things for you guys to look at. PAT
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2000 23:42:26 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Court Blocks WA School from Suspending Student Over Humorous Web
http://www.aclu.org/news/2000/n022300c.html
Court Blocks WA School from Suspending Student Over Humorous Web Site
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, February 23, 2000
SEATTLE, WA -- In the latest case involving student free speech in cyberspace, a federal judge in Seattle today blocked school administrators from suspending a student because of a web site he had created on his home computer. The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington represented the student in contesting the suspension.
"The court recognized today that school officials do not have authority to punish students for exercising their freedom of speech outside of school," said Aaron Caplan, the ACLU of Washington Staff Attorney who represented the student. "Schools need to learn that they can't discipline students who create satires on the Internet."
Nick Emmett, the high school senior whom officials in the Kent School District sought to discipline, welcomed the news. "I feel good that the judge understood my rights as a student," he said. "I went to court to fight for my rights because I don't think administrators should be able to make punishments that are unfair."
Emmett is a college-bound senior and a co-captain of the Kentlake High School basketball team. On the weekend of February 12 and 13, Nick and a friend posted their own site on the Internet, using the Emmett family computer and AOL account. Nick's father helped set up the graphics.
Titled the "Unofficial Kentlake High Home Page," the site was intended as a light-hearted vehicle to promote discussion among the King County school's students. Nick posted compliments to the school's administration, and the home page included the following disclaimer: "This website is meant for entertainment purposes only. In no way, shape, or form is it intended to offend anybody. And to the KL (Kentlake) Administration, ...We love you guys!"
At a friend's suggestion, Nick added a fake obituary to the friend's memory; the idea came, in part, from a creative writing class Nick had taken in which students had been assigned to write mock obituaries. This and another obituary written in jest (with the student's permission) proved so popular that other students began posting requests for parody death notices about themselves to be written. As a humorous touch, a feature was added to the Web site enabling people to vote for the next fake obituary. At school, Nick received praise for the Web site from students and teachers alike.
On February 16, a television reporter interviewed Nick about the Web site, and a television news report that night suggested that the site had a "hit list" threatening to injure people. Concerned by coverage he considered misleading, Nick and his co-creator closed the site. On February 17, Nick learned that the Kentlake principal was placing him on emergency expulsion, pending an investigation. The next day, Nick received a five-day suspension, causing him to miss a basketball playoff game. He and his parents contacted the ACLU of Washington and with the ACLU's help contested the suspension.
"I was surprised they were punishing me and thought it was unfair," Nick said. "I had talked with administrators about the Web site, and they didn't say they had a problem with it. I care about school and want to go to class," he added.
After a hearing this morning, Chief Judge John Coughenour of the United States District issued a temporary restraining order enjoining the school district from enforcing the suspension imposed on Nick Emmett.
In his ruling Judge Coughenour said, "Although the intended audience was undoubtedly connected to Kentlake High School, the speech was entirely outside of the school's supervision or control."
Judge Coughenour cited the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal's ruling in a 1988 ACLU of Washington case (Burch v. Barker), holding that student distribution of non-school-sponsored material cannot be prohibited "on the basis of undifferentiated fears of possible disturbances or embarrassment to school officials." The judge noted that the school district presented "no evidence that the mock obituaries and voting were intended to threaten anyone, did actually threaten anyone, or manifested any violent tendencies whatsoever."
The court's ruling comes as increasing numbers of students are taking freedom of speech into cyberspace. Earlier this month, the Lake Washington School Board decided not to punish three Eastlake High School students represented by the ACLU over a Web site they had created. In 1995, in a much-publicized case, the ACLU of Washington won an out-of-court settlement for Bellevue student Paul Kim after his principal disciplined him for creating a parody of his high school from a home computer. Still pending in the state is an ACLU lawsuit on behalf of a Thurston County high school student who was expelled for a month in 1999 for creating a Web site on his home computer lampooning his school's vice-principal.
The ACLU has represented students in similar cases across the country, including Ohio, Missouri and Texas.
The pleading filed in the case, as well as the judge's temporary restraining order are available online from the ACLU of Washington at: http://www.aclu-wa.org/ISSUES/students/Kentlake%20TRO/Kentlake%20High%20 School%20Index.htm.
Copyright 2000, The American Civil Liberties Union
