TELECOM Digest Tue, 21 Feb 95 09:44:00 CST Volume 15 : Issue 111 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson Enhanced Telecommunications Services for New Hampshire (Monty Solomon) Anon Servers, Child Porn and Scientologists (Johan Helsingius) Erlang B Tables (Stephen Morrisby) MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here? (Peter T. Overaas) Book on ISDN Wanted (Charles Mingus) Inquiry on CDMA and QUALCOMM (eswu@v9000.ntu.ac.sg) Can You Tell Me About MCK Communications? (intiaa@ozemail.com.au) CATV Based WAN (Dominique Gabioud) E(TACS) and GSM (Alexander Cerna) 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: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 00:36:08 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Enhanced Telecommunications Services for New Hampshire Reply-To: monty@roscom.COM Forwarded FYI to the Digest. From: "Lee D. Rothstein" Subject: Enhanced Telecommunications Services for New Hampshire Organization: MV Communications, Inc. Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 19:25:32 GMT [Disclaimer ********** The text below was intended to be a press release. It was written by Lee Rothstein, of VeriTech, with the help of Tim Platt, of Orr and Reno. The views expressed in the release can only be ascribed to Lee Rothstein. Because there was not time to poll the members to determine the extent of agreement, on both the bill and the press release, the release has not been issued, as yet, by the Consortium. The bill, however, goes before Senate Committee, Thursday. If you are a Member of the Consortium or attend the meetings, please contact Lee Rothstein with your views. Whether or not you attend NHTC meetings, please contact your New Hampshire State Senator to indicate your support for law and other efforts that foster Internet availability, accessibility and bandwidth in New Hampshire.] ====================================================== Enhanced Telecommunications Services for New Hampshire ====================================================== February 7, 1995, Concord, NH. The New Hampshire Telecommunications Consortium (NHTC) is committed to bringing advanced telecommunications infrastructure and enhanced services to the State of New Hampshire. The time is right for this effort. Many people speak of the "super-information highway" vision. Even more people, companies and institutions participate in, and contribute to the ballistic growth of the Global Internet. Consequently, the NHTC believes that proactive steps must be taken by government, business and the community to ensure that New Hampshire has sufficient, powerful and economical access to enhanced telecommunications services at the earliest possible opportunity. Such efforts will ensure the well-being of the State in economic, education, health, safety, and social areas. Special efforts are required because, on the one hand, New Hampshire must compete in the global economy, but on the other hand, we are a sparsely populated and small state that wishes to maintain our high quality of life and environment. To this end, some of the telecommunications consumer members of NHTC have proposed a bill that would change the telecommunications regulatory climate in New Hampshire so that citizens and institutions of the State can benefit from these enhanced services. The draft of the bill was composed by Tim Platt of Orr & Reno, at the request of the NH BIA. We are very grateful to Tim for his efforts on behalf of the Consortium. Specifically, the bill is aimed at increasing competition for delivery of these enhanced services. This, in turn, will allow the State, it's institutions and citizens to remain competitive with other forward-looking states and regions that are well-along this process of fostering advanced telecommunications infrastructure and enhanced services. The proposed bill (NH Senate Bill 22) has been sponsored by State Senator Beverly T. Rodeschin of Newport (Senate District 8). Ms. Rodeschin is a member of the Economic Development Committee. Senator Rodeschin's home phone number is 863-1941. The Chair of the Committee is Carl R. Johnson of Meredith (Senate District 3). His legislature phone number is 279-3177. His home phone number is 279-6492. If you would like to call the senator of your home district, please call the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association at 1-800-540-5388 for further information. Senate Bill 22 maintains traditional distinctions between telephone companies and telecommunications suppliers (the former being a subset of the latter), and between basic and enhanced services. Basic services include most services that we commonly think of as involving the telephone for dial-up voice, fax and data (modem) communications. Enhanced services include data, video and imaging services, especially when they make use of high speed digital infrastructure. The bill is specifically directed at improving advanced telecommunications infrastructure and the pricing, availability, and competitiveness of enhanced telecommunications services. The bill, as drafted, promotes telecommunications infrastructure investment in three different ways: The first option would allow telecommunications service providers (inclusive of telephone companies) to make investments in technologically advanced infrastructures without regulation as to price of the service based on these infrastructures. This would allow access and usage of enhanced services at substantial discounts to current telephone rates. The second feature of the bill encourages telecommunications service providers to work with businesses, institutions and the community to develop pilot projects that satisfy the needs of institutions and individuals. Infrastructure developed as part of a pilot project should also be offered at a discount, and, if made by a telephone company, may be included as part of the rate base infrastructure, if a telephone company makes such request. The third option would allow telephone companies to treat such investments as part of their existing networks, if they elected to do so. Pricing under this third option would be based on traditional tariff filings. The NHTC believes that efforts such as the proposed Senate Bill 22 will be absolutely essential to the well being of New Hampshire, her institutions and citizens. Senate Bill 22 comes up for committee hearing on February 9, 1995 before the Senate Executive Departments and Administration Committee. The NHTC encourages all interested parties to contact their senators and representatives expressing their support for the bill. While Senate Bill 22 may not be a perfect vehicle for bringing New Hampshire into the age of the Global Internet and the Information Superhighway, it can be an effective first step in bringing enhanced telecommunications services to New Hampshire, quickly. Both comments and amendments that will get New Hampshire on the right path, quickly, are invited. The New Hampshire Telecommunications Consortium is composed of business and community organizations dedicated to bringing the super information highway, in all of its forms, to New Hampshire. Members include large telecommunications users, providers and other business groups. Members include: AT&T Continental Cablevision Exeter Hospital Granite State Telephone Lakes Region General Hospital New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters New Hampshire Business and Industry Association New Hampshire Department of Education New Hampshire Hospital Association New Hampshire Public Radio New Hampshire Public Television NYNEX Orr & Reno, Professional Association VeriTech, network information technology consultants [Listing above does NOT imply agreement with either the bill or the release.] <> Lee D. Rothstein | LDR@VeriTech.com | 603-424-2900 | Fax: 603-424- 8549 <> <> VeriTech | 7 Merrymeeting Drive | Merrimack, NH 03054-2934 | USA <> <> Information Technology (IT) Verification & Leadership <> ------------------------------ From: Johan Helsingius Subject: Anon Servers, Child Porn and Scientologists Date: 21 Feb 1995 06:38:31 GMT Press release, Monday, February 20th, 1995 Helsinki, Finland World-wide Internet community appalled over the Scientology seizure Was the child porn scandal just a cover? The reputation of Finland as a country that holds freedom of expression, justice and human rights in high esteem has suffered among the world-wide Internet community. So far Finland has gotten a lot of positive publicity as the home of the best-known anonymous server, anon.penet.fi. These servers enable safe net discussion of sensitive issues, such as reporting violations of human rights. The ease with which the Church Of Scientology (with the help of Finnish police) obtained sensitive information has caused great concern and uproar. With the help of the finnish police, the Church Of Scientology found out the identity of a person who had published material on the Church of Scientology anonymously on the Usenet newsgroups. At the same time there has been a lot of speculation on the net on whether the recent child porn scandal (which was totally unsupported by hard evidence) might be connected to the Scientologists' interest in the anonymous server. ___________________________________ Anonymous servers enable anonymous discussions via electronic mail and newsgroups on the Internet, used by millions of people all over the world, and are vital for support of freedom of expression. These servers are used by people who are under pressure or persecuted, people who report offenses of human rights or even discuss their personal problems and sufferings. One of the longest-lasting and probably the most famous anonymous server is anon.penet.fi, created by the Finnish Internet specialist Johan "Julf" Helsingius back in 1992. Every day more than 7000 messages are automatically handled by the service, and there are over 200 000 registered users. The popularity of the server is largely due to its trustworthiness, based on both the personal reputation of Helsingius among the network community, as well as on the good reputation of Finland as a country where individual rights, privacy and freedom of expression are respected. This kind of reputation is important, since there are lots of people and organisations in the world that would rather see the anon servers being shut down. Governments that violate human rights, as well as other organizations banning public and open discussion of their activities, such as the Church of Scientology, are among these. The Church of Scientology has in fact approached the people offering anonymity services, threatening with lawsuits unless the anonymous discussion in scientology-related newsgroups stops. In fear of lawsuits many American servers have either stopped altogether or strongly limited their activities. The flow of events: On Thursday, February 2, an American representative of the Church of Scientology (CoS) contacted Johan Helsingius, informing him that some information residing on a private and closed CoS system had been made public via the anon.penet.fi server. Based on this they have reported a burglary to the Los Angeles Police and FBI. The representative of CoS asked Helsingius for the real identity of the individual that had posted the confidential information. After Helsingius had made it clear that he was in no position to give out the information, he was told an official request to the Finnish Police was on its way via Interpol. The next day, February 3, the Finnish police contacted Helsingius, informing him that if need be, they would get a warrant of search and seizure. The necessary documents for these actions were promised for Monday. On Monday, February 6, the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter published an article based on the investigation of Mats Wiklund from University of Stockholm. The article stated that child porn was distributed to Internet from the Finnish anon.penet.fi server. The Finnish media picked up the story, with headlines such as "Internet distributes child porn from an address in Helsinki" (Helsingin Sanomat) and "Internet flooded with child porn" (Ilta-Sanomat). The first public reaction in Finland was based purely on the initial article in Dagens Nyheter. Meantime, the Internet community started to investigate the matter. The child porn statements caused amazement, as the anon server has (due to heavy traffic) been forced to limit the maximum size of messages, and ban postings to groups containing pictures altogether. At closer look the Wiklund "research" is revealed to have been made sloppily and without enough expertise. The information needed to reveal the sender of the articles has not been saved, and the famous pictures themselves are nowhere to be obtained for a closer look. The only picture that is actually included in Wiklund's report seems to be taken on a nudist camp. Wiklund has investigated four newsgroups dealing with sexual pictures, checked 5651 postings and found 8 pictures of adolescent nude children, none of which are (according to Wiklund's own report) actually pornographic. After a closer look at the pictures in those groups, they are shown to actually come from United Kingdom, not Finland. Wiklund admits that he never thought of the possibility of the source of the pictures being forged. On Saturday, February 11, Johan Helsingius reveals the true nature of events and the headlines in Finnish media quiet down. On the Internet there follows a lot of lively discussion and questioning of the motives of the Swedish researcher, the person who forged the source of the pictures, and the journalist of Dagens Nyheter. Some writers suggest a connection to the attempts by the CoS to silence anon servers. Since the authorities don't seem to be investigating the case, Helsingius himself files a request for investigation with the Finnish police. The initial investigation reveals no crime committed at least in Finland. In the meantime, on February 8, the Finnish police serve Helsingius with a warrant for search and seizure, and obtains from Helsingius the electronic mail address of the anonymous user that the CoS wants. Within an hour after the Finnish Police gets hold of the information, the Finnish representative of the CoS informs Helsingius legal representative that they received the information. On 14 February the criminal investigation on the scientologists case is dropped. Helsingius gets this information on February 17, and reveals the situation on some discussion groups and mailing lists on the Internet. This announcement has caused a flood of electronic mail, and a huge outroar among the Internet community. During the weekend, Helsingius received hundreds of comments and queries, most of them questioning the actions of the Finnish authorities. February 19 the maintainer of an anonymous service in Amsterdam tells Helsingius that the Church of Scientology has approached him again, threatening with legal action unless the anonymous participation into the discussion on scientology is stopped. This time the issue would be claims about illicit distribution of copies of copyrighted computer programs. ----------------------- [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Those Scientology people are very strange. So was L. Ron Hubbard, their founder for that matter. Originally an author of mostly science fiction books, in 1949 Hubbard went to a convention of science fiction writers and made the comment that real money in the world was not to be made writing books. "If you really want to make lots of money start a church ..." he said. Well, we know that much is true, I've thought a couple times about starting one myself. Hubbard then wrote a book called "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health" which seems to have sold quite well (he has been dead for a few years but the book is still in print) and from that publication came the Church of Scientology. They have always been very agressive about getting their way and they don't hesitate to sue or otherwise harass anyone who writes an expose of their activities. With Auditors and Engrams and their infamous E-Meter (a device which measures Engrams!) they'll clear you of whatever is wrong in your thinking processes. Several years ago I read a few things about their tactics toward their perceived enemies. I'm not surprised they are now turning their attention to Internet. The comments by Helsingius sort of confirm what I said here the other day where remailers are concerned: they do have records of who says what, and will keep them for use as necessary. He went the full measure and required the authorities to produce a warrant before turning over the information they sought, and that is admirable. But when I was doing the same thing with postal mail years ago, the other fellows I knew in the same business used to take a somewhat more practical view. The úÿ attitude was (regards postal inspectors, police, etc) we have to live with those guys all the time. If you know that in fact to get a warrant all they have to do is go ask a judge for one and they'll be back in a few minutes or a day or so later, then give them what they want and save time for everyone. Some will even call on the phone to request a warrant and have it delivered five minutes later over your fax machine! Then they look at you with some disdain as if to say "old pros like you and I need not waste a lot of time on preliminaries, or the opening exercises." I hope Helsingius afterward at least notified his user that there had been inquiries made. That's a courteous thing to do. PAT] ------------------------------ From: smorrisby@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Stephen Morrisby") Subject: Erlang B Tables Organization: Millicom Ghana Limited Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 11:52:06 GMT Can anyone provide me with the formulae used to calculate Erlang B Tables? Thanks, Steve Morrisby ------------------------------ From: Peter T. Overaas Subject: MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here? Organization: chevron Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 23:08:23 GMT Can anyone explain what the acronym "MVIP" stands for? I heard this in a discussion on IVR. Thanks, Pete [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Once again a reminder that the Telecom Archives (anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu) contains several glossary files in the /glossaries sub-directory. Check them out. PAT] ------------------------------ From: logic@li.net (Charles Mingus) Subject: Book on ISDN Wanted Date: 21 Feb 1995 00:11:13 -0500 Organization: LI Net (Long Island Network) I am currently looking for a book that will give a detailed description of ISDN lines and their uses. I don't know if such a book exists but it would be of great use to me. logic@linet01.li.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ummm, I think we have a few peopl around here who have written books on ISDN, don't we Fred G? Maybe someone can make contact with Mingus and answer his questions. PAT] ------------------------------ From: eswu@v9000.ntu.ac.sg Subject: Inquiry on CDMA and QUALCOMM Date: 20 Feb 95 17:33:29 +0800 Organization: Nanyang Technological University Hello everyone, I have a project on CDMA. I would appreciate if anyone can give me the following information: 1) Where to get the IS-95? In what periodical and in which volume? Or where to buy? 2) Where to get the published materials on CDMA designed by QUALCOMM? I have heard that QUALCOMM has designed a CDMA system, but I still did not find any wirtten material on it. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 23:41:39 +1100 From: intiaa@ozemail.com.au (Internet Industry Association of Australia) Subject: Can You Tell me About MCK Communications? Organization: Internet Industry Association of Australia (INTIAA) Dear Pat, A company in Calgary, Alberta called MCK Communications make a black box that enables a Northern Telecom Meridian handset talk to the switch over a POTS and have full functionality as well, a kind of virtual extension. MCK are not in the phone book. Maybe you can find this out and drop me a line. Cheers, Geoff ------------------------------ From: gabioud@uni2a.unige.ch Subject: CATV Based WAN Organization: University of Geneva, Switzerland Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 12:45:38 GMT It is planned to install a return channel (between 20 MHz and 50 MHz) on a cable TV network. We want to offer a LAN interconnection service supported by this upgraded CATV network. Our idea is to install a Token Bus like network on parts of the CATV net, with point-to-point links between Token Bus islands. Three questions about this project: 1. Do you know the existence of a LAN interconnection service based on the CATV cable? 2. Do you know equipment that can be used for such a service? 3. Token Bus (IEEE 802.4) equipments can not be used directly, because the IEEE 802.4 normalized frequencies are not free. Can I nevertheless use these equipments with just an external remodulator to make the signal fit in free bandwiths on the TV cable? Sincerely yours, Dominique Gabioud gabioud@uni2a.unige.ch ------------------------------ Reply-To: Alexander Cerna Subject: E(TACS) and GSM Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 10:06:10 +0800 From: Alexander Cerna Can someone explain to me what E(TACS) and GSM are in detail? There are around five cellular phone service providers in our country, and most of them use E(TACS). One uses GSM, and says that this is the latest technology in cellular telephony. They say that it would make international roaming possible (although they say that it isn't possible right now). Also, this service provider that uses GSM says that they're the only provider that's 100% digital. One of the implications of this, they claim, is that their phones can't be cloned as easily as the analog ones. Is this true? Also, they say that analog systems are very prone to charge errors. Is this also true? Or are they just trying to scare me from going to the other service providers? Thank you very much. Regards, Alexander Cerna cerna@ntep.tmg.nec.co.jp VOX: +63 (32) 400- 451 NEC Technologies MEPZ, Lapulapu, Phils 6015 FAX: +63 (32) 400- 457 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #111 ****************************** ÿ@FROM :telecom@delta.eecs.nwu.edu úÿ(Continued from last message) attitude was (regards postal inspectors, police, etc) we have to live with those guys all the time. If you know that in fact to get a warrant all they have to do is go ask a judge for one and they'll be back in a few minutes or a day or so later, then give them what they want and save time for everyone. Some will even call on the phone to request a warrant and have it delivered five minutes later over your fax machine! Then they look at you with some disdain as if to say "old pros like you and I need not waste a lot of time on preliminaries, or the opening exercises." I hope Helsingius afterward at least notified his user that there had been inquiries made. That's a courteous thing to do. PAT] ------------------------------ From: smorrisby@cix.compulink.co.uk ("Stephen Morrisby") Subject: Erlang B Tables Organization: Millicom Ghana Limited Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 11:52:06 GMT Can anyone provide me with the formulae used to calculate Erlang B Tables? Thanks, Steve Morrisby ------------------------------ From: Peter T. Overaas Subject: MVIP? What Are We Talking About Here? Organization: chevron Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 23:08:23 GMT Can anyone explain what the acronym "MVIP" stands for? I heard this in a discussion on IVR. Thanks, Pete [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Once again a reminder that the Telecom Archives (anonymous ftp lcs.mit.edu) contains several glossary files in the /glossaries sub-directory. Check them out. PAT] ------------------------------ From: logic@li.net (Charles Mingus) Subject: Book on ISDN Wanted Date: 21 Feb 1995 00:11:13 -0500 Organization: LI Net (Long Island Network) I am currently looking for a book that will give a detailed description of ISDN lines and their uses. I don't know if such a book exists but it would be of great use to me. logic@linet01.li.net [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Ummm, I think we have a few peopl around here who have written books on ISDN, don't we Fred G? Maybe someone can make contact with Mingus and answer his questions. PAT] ------------------------------ From: eswu@v9000.ntu.ac.sg Subject: Inquiry on CDMA and QUALCOMM Date: 20 Feb 95 17:33:29 +0800 Organization: Nanyang Technological University Hello everyone, I have a project on CDMA. I would appreciate if anyone can give me the following information: 1) Where to get the IS-95? In what periodical and in which volume? Or where to buy? 2) Where to get the published materials on CDMA designed by QUALCOMM? I have heard that QUALCOMM has designed a CDMA system, but I still did not find any wirtten material on it. Thanks in advance. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 23:41:39 +1100 From: intiaa@ozemail.com.au (Internet Industry Association of Australia) Subject: Can You Tell me About MCK Communications? Organization: Internet Industry Association of Australia (INTIAA) Dear Pat, A company in Calgary, Alberta called MCK Communications make a black box that enables a Northern Telecom Meridian handset talk to the switch over a POTS and have full functionality as well, a kind of virtual extension. MCK are not in the phone book. Maybe you can find this out and drop me a line. Cheers, Geoff ------------------------------ From: gabioud@uni2a.unige.ch Subject: CATV Based WAN Organization: University of Geneva, Switzerland Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 12:45:38 GMT It is planned to install a return channel (between 20 MHz and 50 MHz) on a cable TV network. We want to offer a LAN interconnection service supported by this upgraded CATV network. Our idea is to install a Token Bus like network on parts of the CATV net, with point-to-point links between Token Bus islands. Three questions about this project: 1. Do you know the existence of a LAN interconnection service based on the CATV cable? 2. Do you know equipment that can be used for such a service? 3. Token Bus (IEEE 802.4) equipments can not be used directly, because the IEEE 802.4 normalized frequencies are not free. Can I nevertheless use these equipments with just an external remodulator to make the signal fit in free bandwiths on the TV cable? Sincerely yours, Dominique Gabioud gabioud@uni2a.unige.ch ------------------------------ Reply-To: Alexander Cerna Subject: E(TACS) and GSM Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 10:06:10 +0800 From: Alexander Cerna Can someone explain to me what E(TACS) and GSM are in detail? There are around five cellular phone service providers in our country, and most of them use E(TACS). One uses GSM, and says that this is the latest technology in cellular telephony. They say that it would make international roaming possible (although they say that it isn't possible right now). Also, this service provider that uses GSM says that they're the only provider that's 100% digital. One of the implications of this, they claim, is that their phones can't be cloned as easily as the analog ones. Is this true? Also, they say that analog systems are very prone to charge errors. Is this also true? Or are they just trying to scare me from going to the other service providers? Thank you very much. Regards, Alexander Cerna cerna@ntep.tmg.nec.co.jp VOX: +63 (32) 400- 451 NEC Technologies MEPZ, Lapulapu, Phils 6015 FAX: +63 (32) 400- 457 ------------------------------ End of TELECOM Digest V15 #111 ******************************