TELECOM Digest Wed, 15 Feb 95 09:24:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 97 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Federal Charges in Internet Rape 'Fantasy' (TELECOM Digest Editor) II ISDN Interface Code Now in FreeBSD-Current (Roy A. Mccrory) Place-A-Call Now Available From AT&T 500 Service (Ted Trost) Fiber Optics Information Wanted (Ronald Whisenand) North America's New Toll Free Code: 888 (Greg Monti) Book Review: "The Z-Mail Handbook" by Nelson (Rob Slade) Underwriters Lab (UL) Information Wanted (David Weissman) Messaging Software for Windows (Bob Baxter) Celebrity 900 Numbers (Brian Redman) Call Blocking: by State? (Robert Perkins) Digital USR Total Control HUB and AT&T System 85/Definity? (David M. Meyer) Scam at UC Berkeley (John Sullivan) VocalTec and Camelot (Steve Samler) 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@eecs.nwu.edu * 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: 9457-D Niles Center Road Skokie, IL USA 60076 Phone: 500-677-1616 Fax: 708-329-0572 ** Article submission address only: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu ** Our archives are located at lcs.mit.edu and are available by using anonymous ftp. The archives can also be accessed using our email information service. For a copy of a helpful file explaining how to use the information service, just ask. ********************************************************************** *** * 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. * ********************************************************************** *** Additionally, the Digest is funded by gifts from generous readers such as yourself who provide funding in amounts deemed appropriate. Your help is important and appreciated. A suggested donation of twenty dollars per year per reader is considered appropriate. See our address above. All opinions expressed herein are deemed to be those of the author. Any organizations listed are for identification purposes only and messages should not be considered any official expression by the organization. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 15 Feb 95 08:38:17 CST From: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Digest Editor) Subject: Federal Charges in Internet Rape 'Fantasy' Jake Baker, 20 is a sophomore student at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He has been charged with interstate transmission of a threat, a federal crime which carries a penalty of five years in prison on conviction. Mr. Baker published three stories in December on Internet in alt.sex.stories. One of the stories dealt with raping a female classmate after breaking into her home. He described the woman as 'shaking with terror' while several men beat, torture and sexually abuse her. Baker, whose home and parents are in Boardman, Ohio also exchanged messages with a man from Ontario in which he said, "Just thinking about it isn't enough, I need to do it." Federal authorities said the item published on the Internet became a threat and not just a fictional story when Baker identified his classmate by name. Baker was arrested last Thursday in Ann Arbor and taken to the federal correctional center in Detroit pending trial. Although Baker admits writing the story, he claims he meant nothing by it. He insisted the story was fictional and not intended as a threat. His attorney David Cahill said, "Jake is obviously sorry that he did this; he had no idea she would ever find out." The victim found out after University of Michigan authorities were alerted by an alumnus of the school who regularly reads Usenet and the various alt.sex groups. He notified the school and they in turn notified the subject of the article Baker had written. On Friday, Baker was taken before United States Magistrate Thomas Carlson for a bond hearing. After reviewing the matter, Magistrate Carlson refused to set bond. He stated that Baker must be considered very disturbed and a danger to the community; thus he will be held in prison pending his trial. As he was being led away, Baker insisted this was nothing more than 'a violation of my First Amendment rights and probably several other of my rights as well.' To protect the subject of the threat from further harassment she was not identified by authorities, who also asked the news media to not identify her. It must be remembered that in the United States, our consititution requires a presumption of innocence on the part of Jake Baker until proven otherwise to the satisfaction of a judge or jury in a court of law. Patrick Townson ------------------------------ From: Roy A. Mccrory Subject: II ISDN Interface Code Now in FreeBSD-Current Date: Wed, 15 Feb 1995 07:01:55 MST Pat, Possibly this might be of interest to some of your readers, FreeBSD is one of two net groups advancing the BSD 0.1 unix operating system for Intel pc's and other commonly available computers. According to Jordan K. Hubbard: > Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 17:41:16 -0800 > From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" > Subject: II ISDN Interface code now in FreeBSD-current > The README file is appended. This is a GPL'd driver, living wholly > under /sys/gnu and /usr/src/gnu, and is being actively supported > (commercially) by its authors. The FreeBSD Project does not actually > have to resources to deal with supporting it directly at this time, > and so I'd suggest that any ISDN enthusiasts form their own support groups > (and test this code, PLEASE!) and/or get in touch with the authors listed > below for further assistance. This driver is provided ``as is'' by the > FreeBSD Project as a public service to ISDN people. I personally would > like to see it grow and blossom into completely seamless ISDN support > for FreeBSD 2.1, possibly with a good deal of clean-up work as well! > There's a bit of stuff it installs into /usr/sbin that I'm not altogether > that sure of. If we're going to get this WORKING in the 2.1 timeframe, > then ISDN people NEED TO TEST THIS DRIVER! None of the U.S. people I know > of has any of the cards listed, nor do we use ISDN. I would therefor like > to see our European members take a leadership role in this part of FreeBSD! > I am happy to work with anyone wishing to do so, but you will have to do > it SOON. The 2.1 cut-off date is just over a month away! This means that > if you're interesting in ISDN and FreeBSD, the time to start working on > this is RIGHT NOW. Not next week, and certainly not next month. By then, > it will probably already be too late for 2.1! > II ISDN Interface > The ii packet is an ISDN interface for FreeBSD 1.x and FreeBSD 2.0. > This is a first release. It is an idea. It will - hopefully - change a lot. > It supports the EDSS1 and the 1TR6 ISDN interfaces. > EDSS1 is the "Euro-ISDN", 1TR6 is the soon obsolete german ISDN Interface. > Copyright: Its GNU Copyright see the File COPYRIGHT. > It contains a set of driver's: > Low level Drivers for Dr. Neuhaus NICCY 3008, 3009 and 5000 Cards. > An intermediate level isdn driver. > Some high level drivers for ip, tty, and telephone answering. > The ip driver is rather stable. It is used to connect to the Internet. > The tty driver is completely experimental. There are a few of them, as > with every version of *BSD there is a new tty interface. > The telephone answering is quite stable. > Some support programs: > Daemons to handle dialing and answering. > Programs to load the intelligent cards. > Debugging help. > Programs to listen to your answering machine with soundblaster. > What can you do with it: > You may connect to the Internet through TCP/IP and a service provider > supporting PPP or SLIP through ISDN. > You may build up your proper ISDN TCP/IP network. > You may use the tty interface to dial in or out. > You may have the Unix System answering your telephone. > The packet here includes only sources. It will compile with FreeBSD 1.x, > FreeBSD 2.1. and an old version of NetBSD 0.9, > Restrictions: > Only one interface card ( with 2 B-channels ) is supported. > In work: > Low level driver for teles S0/NICCY 1000. A prototype is expected to be > distributed around easter 95. Will not include X75 B-Channel support > nor any Level-3 Protocols for the B-Channels. > A complete Implementation of ip (PPP, VJ). (Might come with teles stuff) > Better error handling specially for the tty driver. > A real telephone answering machine and more telephone support. > FAX support. > Porting the system to Unix System V and SCO. > These versions will be commercial products. > Todo: > Documentation and a lot other stuff. > Rules: > We want the help of as many people as possible to develop the packet. > But if you develop something inside the packet or on top of the packet > you have to put the sources to the public domain or to GNU copyright. If > you distribute a binary packet on base of these sources you have to give > complete sources to your customer, the Internet community and us. > We charge for support. We want to be payed if you need support. We earn our > living as consultants. We want to develop the packet. > If you are a company or a service provider and want to use or distribute > the packet please contact one of us. We want and need your support. > Binaries and Support: > This distribution includes sources only. You will get no free support. > If you want binaries and support contact: > jkr@saarlink.de > Juergen Krause, Buchenstr. 8, D-66497 Contwig/Stambach, Germany > +49 6336 993002 > +49 6336 993003 (fax) > Acknowledgment: > Many thanks to the people at Dr. Neuhaus, Hamburg for their support. > Specially Klaus Muehle, Stefan Nerke and Daniel Piper. > Dietmar Friede, Las Hayas, E-38870 Valle Gran Rey, Spain > dfriede@drnhh.neuhaus.de > +34 22 804181 (Tel./Fax) (9 to 16 WET at working days) ------------- Roy A.& URL http://192.149.217.20/ ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 17:03:28 PST From: Ted Trost, N1RDQ Subject: Place-A-Call Now Available From AT&T 500 Service AT&T is now making its promised "Place-A-Call" Service available. Quote from post card begins here: *Now you can use your 500 Number to call almost anywhere.* Dear AT&T True Connections(tm) Subscriber, Good news! As promised, we've upgraded the Place-A-Call feature of your True Connections service. Now you can use it to place calls to any direct-dial phone number, (Pending tarriff effectiveness) in addition to your home number. With True Connections Place-A-Call, you can make calls from almost any touch-tone phone. Just dial your 500 number, enter your master PIN and follow directions. The rate for using this feature is $.95 non-peak/$1.05 peak for the first minute and $.15/$.25 for each subsequent minute, only for state-to-state calls. (Calling prices within a state may vary.) When making several calls at once, press "*R" between calls to return back to the menu. Thanks once again for ... [GRATITUDE DELETED] END OF QUOTED MATERIAL Ted Trost, N1RDQ * tedtrost@netcom.com * C-Serve:71175,1043 [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ah, but it is *not* available *anywhere* yet. That postcard was *mailed out in error*, and yes, I got one also in the mail on Monday. I immediatly tried the new service, and when I was unable to find it anywhere on the menu, I bailed out with *0 to the business office where I was told, 'we are sorry, but that feature is not available yet and won't be for awhile ...'. It seems someone got over-eager and mailed out all the postcards which had been printed up and were being held until the proper time. Talk about a screw-up! I don't know what they will do now; maybe they wil try and rush that new feature into service as soon as possible under the circumstances. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Ronald Whisenand Subject: Fiber Optics Information Wanted Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 19:28:22 PST Organization: CallAmerica, San Luis Obispo CA USA Hi, my name is Jonathan and I am in the sixth grade. I have a report on fiber optics and was wondering if any could send me info by E-mail. Thanks, Jonathan [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Jonathan, I hope some of our experienced and well-versed readers on this topic will be in correspondence with you over the next couple days, telling you everything you wanted to know and more about fiber optics. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 22:43:32 EST From: Greg Monti Subject: North America's New Toll Free Code: 888 The newsletter {Communications Daily} reported a few days ago that the Industry Numbering Committee (INC), a part of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, would be meeting in Fort Lauderdale on March 3. On the agenda, assigning a second toll free code, 888. The article notes that the current 800 toll free code contains eight million numbers, of which "more than five million" are in use. New 800 numbers are being assigned at the rate of 30,000 per week (three new 800 numbers per minute) and will exhaust in the first quarter of 1996. Greg Monti, Arlington, Virginia, USA gmonti@cais.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 15:58:11 EST From: Rob Slade Subject: Book Review: "The Z-Mail Handbook" by Nelson BKZMAILH.REV 950105 "The Z-Mail Handbook", Nelson, 1991, 0-937175-76-5 %A Hanna Nelson %C 103 Morris Street, Suite A, Sebastopol, CA 95472 %D 1991 %G 0-937175-76-5 %I O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. %O 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 info@ora.com or nuts@ora.com %P 434 %T "The Z-Mail Handbook" This is complete documentation for the Z-mail mail user interface for UNIX. It covers the command line, full screen and X displays and commands. In addition, there are tips and shortcuts, as well as chapters on customization, scripts, and macros. The material is clear and fully explained. Tips throughout the book are identified by an icon. More technical sections of the book are written in a more technical manner. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995 BKZMAILH.RVW 950105. Distibution permitted in TELECOM Digest and associated publiations. Vancouver ROBERTS@decus.ca Institute for Robert_Slade@sfu.ca Research into rslade@cue.bc.ca User p1@CyberStore.ca Security Canada V7K 2G6 ------------------------------ From: sysdhw@atscv1.atsc.allied.com (WiseGuy) Subject: Underwriters Lab (UL) Information Wanted Date: 14 Feb 1995 13:23 EST Organization: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center -- Greenbelt, Maryland USA úÿ I'm looking for contact information for Underwriters Laboratories. I found UL.COM, but there doesn't seem to be any on-line information. Does anyone have a central phone number? Any info is greatly appreciated. David Weissman - Corporate Networking David.Weissman@atscv1.atsc.allied.com AlliedSignal Technical Services Corp. (410) 964-7909 One Bendix Road, Information Systems (410) 730-6775 - FAX Columbia, Maryland 21045-1897 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 13:23:37 EST From: Bob Baxter Subject: Messaging software for Windows Hi, My company is looking for some type of message retrieval software that works under Windows 3.1 and runs under Novell v3.12. The primary users would be two receptionists at our switchboard. Ideally, a call would come in, the receptionist would take down the message, and file it in the software. Later, when someone calls in to check their messages, the receptionist would simply call their name up and read the listing. Ideally, the software should also have report capabilities, i.e. print out all unanswered calls, number of callbacks, etc. I have had absolutely zero luck in locating such a package. Any help would be appreciated. Virtually yours, bobbles@panix.com Bob Baxter p00284@psilink.com ------------------------------ From: ber@morgan.com (Brian Redman) Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 16:53:12 -0500 Subject: Celebrity 900 Numbers Wanted Does anyone have a pointer to a list of 900 numbers associated with "celebrities"? brian redman - ber@morgan.com ------------------------------ From: bobp@netcom.com (Robert Perkins) Subject: Call Blocking: by State? Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 22:36:23 GMT How can I tell if my call to another state is being blocked? The relative in the other state is still there, but his phone number gets the message that the line has been disconnected, and not further information is available. I doubt that he wants to block my calls. Calling "Information" reveals that the name is not listed. But I know from others that he's still there. Question: can call blocking be limited to one or more specific numbers? From a specific area code? From a specific state? Thanks for the information. Bob Perkins bobp@netcom.com [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: If there were unusual or esoteric kinds of special blocking in place then you would not get a recorded announcement that the number was disconnected. Yes, there are certain kinds of special blocks available. But if, for example, he was using Call Screening to specifically avoid your call, then the announcement would say 'is not taking calls at this time'. If he was blocking calls with blocked caller-id, (should you be doing that), then a recording would so indicate. I think it may be something you have not thought about: he may have had his number changed for whatever reason, and specifically had no referral given to it by people calling the old number. If the new number is non- published, then he would not be shown at that address, regardless of what you know or have found out from others, etc. Have you thought about that? PAT] ------------------------------ From: meyer@frostbite-falls.uoregon.edu (David M. Meyer 503/346-1747) Subject: Digital USR Total Control HUB and AT&T System 85/Definity? Date: 14 Feb 1995 22:58:12 GMT Organization: University Network Services, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR Here at the UO, all of our phone service goes through a AT&T System 85/Definity PBX. I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the USR Digital (i.e., Dual T1) Total Control HUB and this switch. In scenario we're looking at, we'd get the T1's from the PBX, not directly from our LEC. Thanks, David M. Meyer Voice: +1-503-346-1747 Senior Network Engineer Pager: +1-503-342-9458 Office of University Computing Cellular: +1-503-954-1103 Computing Center FAX: +1-503-346-4397 University of Oregon Internet: meyer@ns.uoregon.edu 1225 Kincaid Eugene, OR 97403 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 13:11:50 -0600 From: sullivan@geom.umn.edu Subject: Scam at UC Berkeley This message was mailed around the Berkeley campus: RE: Telephone Fraud If you receive a phone call from someone identifying themselves as an AT&T technician checking on a telephone line problem, and asking you to transfer the call to a designated number and put it on hold so they can repair the problem remotely, DO NOT do so. This caller is NOT legitimate, and following his/her instructions can result in large unauthorized long distance charges against your telephone number. There have been multiple reports to Telecommunications repair today of someone calling the campus with the above request. If you are called - refuse and hang up. Judy Roberts Telecommunications Customer Relations Coordinator [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is an old gag that goes around all the time. Someone is always falling for it. Needless to say when you answer your phone, don't feel you have to do whatever the person on the other end of the line says. Above all, don't go transferring calls all over the place without some thought about what's going on. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 14 Feb 1995 17:12:38 EST From: Steve Samler Subject: VocalTec and Camelot Here's some info from their press release: demo at ftp.vocaltec.com web: http://www.vocaltec.com e-mail info@vocaltec.com There was another product announced yesterday as well: Camelot Corporation Dallas 214 733 3005 Their product will be available in the second quarter. ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #97 *****************************