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TELECOM Digest Sun, 4 Dec 2005 16:05:00 EST Volume 24 : Issue 547 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson No Decision Yet by ICANN on Sex Domain (Allan Dowd) EU Expecting a Rush on '.eu' Domain Names (Ellen Spongenberg) IE Flaw Lets Hackers Phish Using Google Desktop (Robert McMillan) Internet Ad Growth Pressures TV Ads to Change (Peter Henderson) Rising Internet Addiction on Par With Drug Use (Andrew Gumble) Parents, Beware Kids Space on Net (Betty White) Sprint PCS Handset Updates (Eric Friedebach) Re: Who Owns the Music? (Lee Hollaar) Re: Who Owns the Music? (Robert Bonomi) Bye Bye BlackBerry? (Monty Solomon) Snared in the Web of a Wikipedia Liar (Monty Solomon) Faster is Better When Schools Spread Word (Monty Solomon) Re: Auto Call Forward (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk are definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Allan Dowd <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: No Decision Yet by ICANN on Sex Domain Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 13:08:59 -0600 By Allan Dowd The fate of the proposed .xxx Internet domain for sex sites, which has drawn fire from U.S. conservative groups and resistance by the Commerce Department remains in limbo, according to the head of the group that oversees the Web domain system. Paul Twomey, president of the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers said on Thursday the group is still awaiting the recommendations of an advisory committee reviewing the proposal, and has no plans to make a decision at ICANN's meeting this week in Vancouver. ICANN announced in June it would move ahead with plans to evaluate establishing a sex-site domain, but the proposal hit a snag in August when the U.S. Commerce Department asked for more time to hear objections. The review committee, made up of representatives from the United States and other governments, has not told ICANN's board specifically what objections are holding up the process but that it needs more time to review the material, Twomey said. He could not say when the Governmental Advisory Committee would be ready. The .xxx domain -- which would be like the .com or .net at the end of an Internet address -- has been pitched by ICM Registry Inc., a private company that has said it could run it as sort of an online red-light district that would enable people to easily find pornography on the Web, or filter it out. Critics such as the Family Research Council, a conservative U.S.-based religious group, complain that creating the .xxx domain would only legitimize the porn industry, and not make it easier to avoid sexual content on the Web. Some critics of the present system have stated the opposite is true: By not having an '.xxx' domain for sex it becomes much harder to avoid sexual content on the Web; '.xxx' could be filtered, after all. The case has also been seen as a test of ICANN's independence from the U.S. government, which has fought off efforts to turn control of the Internet traffic system over to an international body. ICANN, a California-based non-profit group, cannot make changes to the domain-name system -- which matches Web site names to numerical addresses that computers can read -- without the approval of the U.S. Commerce Department. Syracuse University professor Milton Mueller said the United States has compromised its neutrality over the assignment of domains by intervening in the .xxx case. He said Washington has been lobbying other governments to oppose the plan. "If ICANN caves in to this pressure, it reveals to the world that it really is just a plaything of the U.S. administration, and the U.S. reveals to the world that it is able and willing to abuse its power over ICANN," Mueller said. (Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington) Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Helena Spongenberg <ap@telecom-digest.org> Subject: EU Expects a Rush for '.eu' Domain Name Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 13:17:38 -0600 By HELENA SPONGENBERG, Associated Press Writer The European Union expects a surge of applications next week when its ".eu" regional domain name opens for registration. "I expect a real rush, several hundred thousand in the first few days," EU Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding told reporters Thursday. "European companies should waste no time and register for the new `.eu' domain name." Reding and other supporters believe such a domain will help promote European identity and create greater visibility for pan-European e-commerce. Currently, businesses must use domains for their particular country, such as ".fr" for France, or a global one like ".com," which is seen by some as mostly a U.S. suffix. Registration for ".eu" names begins on Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. GMT, and such names can be used immediately. For the first two months, only certain rights holders such as registered trademark owners, public bodies and companies can register. On Feb. 2, ".eu" opens up to family names. General registration begins April 7 on a first-come, first-served basis. Reding said the restricted periods were needed "to reduce considerably the risk of cyber-squatting" - the illicit use of domain names for fraudulent use. Such periods, known as sunrise, are typical these days as new domains get introduced. The ".eu" domain name will be run by EURid, a private European nonprofit group. About 750 licensed resellers will accept registrations on EURid's behalf. Registrations are limited to people who live in the EU and to companies with headquarters or branches inside the 25-nation bloc. Prices are expected to range from euro80 to euro140 ($94 to $164) during the sunrise periods. They should drop to euro25 to euro30 ($29 to $35) once regular registration begins. There are about 250 domain names on the Internet, but they are typically assigned by country or territory. The Internet's key oversight agency, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, made an exception because EU is on a special "reserved" list kept by the International Organization for Standards, a worldwide standardization body. ICANN also is considering a ".asia" name for that continent. On the Net: http://www.eurid.eu Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. For more news from Associated Press, please go to: http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/AP.html or http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/newstoday.html ------------------------------ From: Robert McMillan <idg@telecom-digest.org> Subject: IE Bug Lets Hackers Phish With Google Desktop Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 22:34:15 -0600 Robert McMillan, IDG News Service A bug in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser gives phishers a way to scan the hard drives of Google Desktop users, according to an Israeli hacker. Because of a flaw in the way IE processes Web pages, a malicious Web site could use the attack to steal sensitive information like credit card numbers or passwords from the hard drives of its visitors. "Google Desktop users who use IE are currently completely exposed," wrote hacker Matan Gillon in an e-mail interview. "An experienced attacker can covertly harvest their hard drives for sensitive information such as passwords and credit card numbers. Since Google also indexes e-mails which can be read in the Web interface itself, it's also possible to access them using this attack." The Details Gillon has posted an extensive description of how such an attack would work, along with a proof of concept exploit, on his blog. The IE bug concerns the way Microsoft's browser processes Web page layout information using the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) format. The CSS format is widely used to give Web sites a consistent look and feel, but attackers can take advantage of the way that IE processes CSS to get Google Desktop to reveal sensitive information. Hackers would first need to trick users into visiting a malicious Web site for the attack to be successful, Gillon says. The attack works with IE 6 and Google Desktop version 2, and may also work on other versions of Microsoft's browser, but not on non-Microsoft browsers like Firefox or Opera, he adds. Turn Off JavaScript Users can nullify the attack by turning off JavaScript in their browsers, Gillon says. This can be done by disabling "Active scripting" in IE's Internet Options menu. JavaScript is a popular scripting language used by Web developers to make their sites more dynamic. Users need to be particularly wary of the Web sites they visit these days, because of another unpatched IE vulnerability that could be used to take over a user's PC. Hackers posted sample code that exploited this problem over a week ago, and Microsoft said that hackers are already using the code in attacks. As with the new CSS problem, users must first be tricked into visiting a malicious Web site for this IE bug to be exploited. Some security experts believe that Microsoft is in the process of rushing out a patch to fix this problem before these attacks become more widespread. These attacks can also be avoided by disabling JavaScript in IE, or by using an alternative browser. Microsoft executives were unavailable to comment on the CSS bug, but a spokeswoman for the company's public relations agency said the issue is being investigated. Microsoft is not aware of any attacks resulting from the hole, she said. Copyright 2005 PC World Communications, Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, PC World Communications. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Peter Henderson <reuters@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Internet Ad Growth Pressures TV to Change Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 22:29:35 -0600 By Peter Henderson Internet advertisers and marketing professionals have a message for television networks: get ready to change the way you work. As Internet advertising grabs a bigger share of marketing budgets and ad agencies tailor spots to a new medium where attention spans can be measured in split seconds, television networks will have to adjust, executives told the Reuters Media and Advertising Summit this week. "We believe the Web site will ultimately replace the 30-second commercial as the central expression of the brand ... The TV commercial over time will become more of a way to simply send people to your Web site," said Brian McAndrews, chief executive of Internet marketing company aQuantive Inc.. Television accounts for roughly two-thirds of major companies' advertising budgets, and that could shrink to about one-half in three years, according to David Verklin, chief executive of online media buying company Carat Americas, a unit of Aegis Group Plc. A main driver of that change will be online advertising, he said, which should see its share of spending roughly double from about 8 percent now, as companies pay more attention to the Web's ability to tailor messages to individual consumers and to track response. Web video advertisements will be about 10 seconds long, and mobile advertising on cell phones and other devices would be a similar length, he projected. Verklin, like a number of executives, predicted that television would begin to look like the Internet, perhaps adding clickable Web sites in place of commercials. The element of interaction could increase the older medium's ability to reach smaller, self-selecting groups of clients, he added. "My vision of the future has more advertisers on TV than ever before," he said. 30 SECONDS IS TOO LONG That could be a sea change for advertisers who have embraced the video possibilities on the Web largely by running 30-second commercials made for television. Charlie Rutman, chief executive of Havas Advertising's media buyer, MPG North America, said that failings in the standard commercial itself were also driving change. "Is the 30-second commercial considered as effective as it was five years ago? I don't think it is. That's why people have an appetite to look elsewhere," he said. Greg Coleman, new global advertising sales chief at Yahoo Inc., agreed that the Web needs promos shorter than 30 seconds, which then might spill back into television. "Will the networks allow for a five-second blast or a 10-second spot? It's going to be interesting to see how traditional media will bend and work with the new world," he said. "I think they are going to have to rethink how ads are placed throughout programming." Widely agreed upon by marketing executives interviewed by Reuters is that ad creativity needs a shot in the arm, especially with the advent of new media formats. "I think the majority of ads are just dull and mind-numbing," said David Droga, outgoing chief creative officer of the Publicis advertising network. "There is a parallel world out there which is 'ad-land.' I don't know anybody who lives in that world." Droga, who is starting his own company, DrogaFive, with backing from Publicis, said ads need to be more creative and better suited to brands they represent. "Anyone can be edgy, but if it is not in sync with the brand, it is just wasted money," he said. Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. ------------------------------ From: Andrew Gumbel <independent@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Rising Internet 'Addiction' on Par With Drug Use Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 13:12:18 -0600 By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles Mental health professionals in the United States have highlighted the emergence of a new psychiatric problem on a par with alcoholism, drug abuse or obsessive gambling: internet addiction disorder. It occurs when an American office worker who should be focussing on the tasks at hand is spending hours playing fantasy football on the computer instead. Or when an executive is so attached to his handheld device that he checks it last thing at night and then consults it the moment he opens his eyes in the morning. Some people spend so much time online that they stop going out, their marriages break up and they are overwhelmed by depression and suicidal feelings. According to estimates in The New York Times yesterday, as many as 10 per cent of the 189 million internet users in the US could be addicted. Hilarie Cash, who heads Internet/Computer Addiction Services in Redmond, near Seattle, has identified a specific chemical rush -- a dopamine high -- which can be generated by even something as simple as receiving an email. She told The New York Times that she has seen instances of anxiety and depression in her patients. Other internet addiction experts have developed 12-step programmes to wean people off their online habit, or started support groups for the addicts' spouses. There are many definitions of internet addiction disorder. One by Jennifer Ferris, a psychologist from Virginia, points to seven telltale signs such as a thirst for ever more time spent online, trembling or even involuntary finger movements when the users is away from the computer, dysfunctions in day-to-day relations with friends and co-workers and, at the extreme, the loss of a job or a marriage because of excessive internet use. However, other professionals argue that internet addiction is merely a new platform for other pathologies such as gambling or obsession with pornography. Internet use is on the rise. A report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project this year found that more than half of American teenagers were online every day, compared with 42 per cent five years ago. And its economic impacts are now being quantified. The business consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas recently estimated that American fantasy football alone was costing US employers $200m in lost productivity every season. Mental health professionals in the United States have highlighted the emergence of a new psychiatric problem on a par with alcoholism, drug abuse or obsessive gambling: internet addiction disorder. It occurs when an American office worker who should be focussing on the tasks at hand is spending hours playing fantasy football on the computer instead. Or when an executive is so attached to his handheld device that he checks it last thing at night and then consults it the moment he opens his eyes in the morning. Some people spend so much time online that they stop going out, their marriages break up and they are overwhelmed by depression and suicidal feelings. According to estimates in The New York Times yesterday, as many as 10 per cent of the 189 million internet users in the US could be addicted. Hilarie Cash, who heads Internet/Computer Addiction Services in Redmond, near Seattle, has identified a specific chemical rush -- a dopamine high -- which can be generated by even something as simple as receiving an email. She told The New York Times that she has seen instances of anxiety and depression in her patients. Other internet addiction experts have developed 12-step programmes to wean people off their online habit, or started support groups for the addicts' spouses. There are many definitions of internet addiction disorder. One by Jennifer Ferris, a psychologist from Virginia, points to seven telltale signs such as a thirst for ever more time spent online, trembling or even involuntary finger movements when the users is away from the computer, dysfunctions in day-to-day relations with friends and co-workers and, at the extreme, the loss of a job or a marriage because of excessive internet use. However, other professionals argue that internet addiction is merely a new platform for other pathologies such as gambling or obsession with pornography. Internet use is on the rise. A report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project this year found that more than half of American teenagers were online every day, compared with 42 per cent five years ago. And its economic impacts are now being quantified. The business consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas recently estimated that American fantasy football alone was costing US employers $200m in lost productivity every season. Copyright 2005 Independent News and Media Limited NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Independent News and Media Limited. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Betty White <gannettco@telecom-digest.org> Subject: Parents, Beware Kids Space on Internet Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 13:14:40 -0600 Everyone needs their own "space." It sparks emotional and spiritual wellness, medicates the inner sense of self-concept and self-esteem, and allows time to rest and regroup from the demands of today's ever-challenging world. However, after a recent sojourn I took to the adolescent-laden Web site MySpace.com, I have to wonder if -- in this case -- having individual space comes at too high a cost. For those unfamiliar with MySpace, the fourth most viewed site on the Internet in the United States, having a posting on the site is the hottest craze among young adults, teenagers and the even younger group of "tweens." To some of our children in these groups, being on MySpace is as essential as sporting the newest cell phone or having a portable DVD player to watch movies during the car trek home. So what's the issue with this technology-based trend? The views I garnered during my informal fact-finding mission differ greatly, depending on where you sit. To many students, membership in MySpace is harmless. It's simply a forum to post data about life happenings and pictures, make new "friends" via the chat rooms, use instant messaging options and download the sweetest music jamming the airwaves. And, in concept, it is, indeed, harmless. Much like the diaries or journals of yesteryears that many of us kept under lock and key about our daily personal feelings while growing up, MySpace is a forum for personal expression and creativity. But, when dissected, it clearly is also much more. Although the site claims to have a webmaster who patrols the technology domain, pages that have nude photos, graphic language and sexual innuendo are allowed and appear to be more the norm than the exception. This, coupled with provocative pictures of partially clothed teens and those showing what appears to be underage drinking and drug usage that I have seen stretch the very essence of our cherished constitutional right to freedom of speech. Perhaps most disturbing is that interwoven among the countless html pages -- both the innocent and the not so innocent -- is a clear subculture or "underworld" where many of our youngsters seem to take on an alter ego. From my navigating throughout the site, the foul language and distasteful pictures aren't confined to students with a certain GPA, family composition or socioeconomic standing. Another troubling find is the cyber bullying and rampant entries that sully the reputation of students' schools, classmates, peers, parents and even teachers. And, although the site tells those under 16 years of age to "Go away," I know countless 12-, 13-, 14- and 15-year-olds who lie about their age and are daily users. Although MySpace does allow our youth a forum to discuss feelings and problems, commiserate with each other and solicit words of support, its unregulated, unstructured and generally rule-less format opens a zone of danger to our children who don't understand the power of the free and uninhibited expression they are wildly wielding. It falls to parents and educators to teach and demand respectable and honorable boundaries that are defined with responsibility, integrity and a caring maturity. I strongly urge all parents to get a better understanding of what constitutes individual "space." Besides the harm and dishonor they bring to themselves, their schools, friends and families, and the scars of regret they may suffer in the future, our youth are open game for sexual predators lurking in cyberspace to take advantage of them. Betty White is principal of Sacred Hearts Academy, an all-girls school in Kaimuki. She wrote this commentary for The Advertiser. COPYRIGHT 2005 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. NOTE: For more telecom/internet/networking/computer news from the daily media, check out our feature 'Telecom Digest Extra' each day at http://telecom-digest.org/td-extra/more-news.html . Hundreds of new articles daily. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, Honolulu Advertiser / Gannett Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ From: Eric Friedebach <friedebach@yahoo.com> Subject: Sprint PCS Handset Updates Date: 3 Dec 2005 13:53:32 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Calling Sprint PCS customer service (* 2) I heard a recording telling me to wait for an update to the handset, a Samsung APH-620/VGA-1000. That took about a minute before I was in queue for a human. Any idea what that was? Kind of reminded me of the old AOL updates that would get shoved down the pipe to me ten years ago when I was trying to log off. AOL didn't charge for the online time, but I was paying LD with my 14.4 modem! Eric Friedebach /Jaywalking in Dallas/ ------------------------------ From: hollaar@antitrust.cs.utah.edu (Lee Hollaar) Subject: Re: Who Owns the Music? Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2005 14:43:26 MST Organization: School of Computing, University of Utah In article <telecom24.546.6@telecom-digest.org> gordonb.2asgo@burditt.org (Gordon Burditt) writes: >> - if I buy a new CD, I am presumably entitled to record it for local >> (computer/IPOD/backup/whatever) use. If I do that, am I (legally or >> otherwise) prohibited from reselling or giving away the CD? > Yes you are prohibited from reselling it or giving away the original, > unless you include all your copies in the sale, or destroy them. 1. The presumption that you are entitled to record it for local computer use isn't supported by the copyright statute. There are special rules for non-commercial duplication of audio works (see 17 USC 100 1001 and 1008), but they are of limited scope because of some particular definitions. 2. There is no general backup right in the copyright statutes. There is one for "computer programs" in 17 USC 117, but again there is a particular and narrow definition for computer programs. And you have to be the owner of the copy of the computer program, not a licensee. 3. Any justification for the copying would have to be a "fair use" argument under 17 USC 107. Since you are copying a creative work in its entirety, you'd lose on factors (2) and (3), and since you are somewhere between commercial and educational, factor (1) is probably neutral. That leaves factor (4) (effect on the potential market for the work) having to be strongly in your favor. And since your keeping of a copy after transferring the CD to another clearly displaces a sale, it's hard to see how you would win on that factor. 4. The rule about destroying or transferring all copies when the original is transferred comes from 17 USC 117, and is limited to computer programs. But it is at least an indication of what should be done if there is to be at least some illusion of a fair use. ------------------------------ From: bonomi@host122.r-bonomni.com (Robert Bonomi) Subject: Re: Who Owns the Music? Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2005 00:59:33 -0000 Organization: Widgets, Inc. In article <telecom24.545.8@telecom-digest.org>, Michael Quinn <quinnm@bah.com> wrote: > The recent discussions about Sony led to some interesting discussions > among my colleagues about the used CD market: > - if I buy a new CD, I am presumably entitled to record it for local > (computer/IPOD/backup/whatever) use. Your "right" to do that is actually _very_ limited. Not as limited as the record companies would _like_ you to believe, but very limited nonetheless. > If I do that, am I (legally or otherwise) prohibited from reselling > or giving away the CD? There is a huge used CD market out > there. And my kids keep taking my Frank Sinatra and Pink Floyd CDs. You are not prohibited from "reselling or giving away", the CD, but,_IF_ _YOU_DO_THAT_, then any copies of that music that remain in your possession are *illegal* copies, and you are subject to copyright infringement action for the possession thereof. > - if I resell or give away the CD, what about the next buyer/owner -- > is he or she entitled to record it, as above, and then pass it on to > the next user? *WHILE* and _only_ while they are in possession of the CD, they can make limited copies for *limited* reasons allowed by copyright statute. > - if I made a recording of the originally purchased CD, may I bequeath > that to the above mentioned kids? The limited rights you have are 'indivisible' from the physical product you purchased. Anything derived from that product must go _with_ that product. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 01:45:19 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Bye Bye BlackBerry? By IAN AUSTEN OTTAWA, Dec. 2 - What if your BlackBerry screen went dark? To executives like Douglas M. Steenland of Northwest Airlines, the idea of doing business without a BlackBerry is about as appealing as reverting to rotary dial phones and Telex machines. "It's the proverbial blessing and curse," Mr. Steenland said of his BlackBerry, which sends e-mail messages wirelessly. "It's a blessing because it liberates you from the office. It's a curse because there's no escape." That is why there was so much anxiety throughout corporate America over this week's news that a long-running patent infringement battle between the maker of BlackBerry, Research In Motion, and NTP, a tiny patent holding company, might cause a service shutdown, perhaps within a month. Indeed, the prospect of life without BlackBerries is so frightening to Northwest -- a heavy user if ever there was one -- that the airline immediately demanded a conference call with R.I.M. executives and one is scheduled for Tuesday. "Everybody here hopes that somebody else will fix the problem," said Andrea F. Newman, Northwest's senior vice president for government relations. "But no one really knows what the problem is or what it will take to fix it." R.I.M., which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, promises it has a solution that will keep its beloved BlackBerries humming even in the face of an injunction. While most analysts view the prospects of a shutdown as unlikely, they have little faith in the proposed solution, which has potential legal pitfalls of its own. What's more, the history of the struggle between the companies means that no outcome is certain. (R.I.M. declined to comment.) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/03/technology/03blackberry.html?ex=1291266000&endf205fd24ccb8593&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 14:50:46 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Snared in the Web of a Wikipedia Liar Rewriting History -- Snared in the Web of a Wikipedia Liar By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE December 4, 2005 ACCORDING to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, John Seigenthaler Sr. is 78 years old and the former editor of The Tennessean in Nashville. But is that information, or anything else in Mr. Seigenthaler's biography, true? The question arises because Mr. Seigenthaler recently read about himself on Wikipedia and was shocked to learn that he "was thought to have been directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both John and his brother Bobby." "Nothing was ever proven," the biography added. Mr. Seigenthaler discovered that the false information had been on the site for several months and that an unknown number of people had read it, and possibly posted it on or linked it to other sites. If any assassination was going on, Mr. Seigenthaler (who is 78 and did edit The Tennessean) wrote last week in an op-ed article in USA Today, it was of his character. The case triggered extensive debate on the Internet over the value and reliability of Wikipedia, and more broadly, over the nature of online information. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/04/weekinreview/04seelye.html?ex=1291352400&en=6a97402d6595c6f1&ei=5090 ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Dec 2005 13:43:47 -0500 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Faster is Better When Schools Spread Word By Ron DePasquale, Globe Correspondent School officials in several of Boston's western suburbs are using new communications systems that allow them to make hundreds, or even thousands, of phone calls to parents almost instantaneously. Proponents of the 'school-to-home' communications systems, which are seeing use by a growing number of districts nationwide, say they can be invaluable in reaching out to parents for both routine messages and in emergencies. "It's quite a remarkable system. It's really something special. There's the security of parents knowing what's going on right away," said Wrentham's superintendent, Mick Janelli. Plainville and Weston are also using the systems. School officials record a message. The systems can then forward that message to everyone in the school community or subsets of people, school officials said. If a school bus breaks down, for example, the school can notify just those parents affected. Last-minute reminders for field trips, PTO meetings, or parent-teacher conferences can also be sent, instead of being forgotten in a 7-year-old's backpack. Teachers who are driving a long commute to work on a snowy day can be called on their cellphones and told that school has been canceled. Officials said the systems could also be helpful in case of emergencies, such as an attack on a school or a health emergency. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/12/01/faster_is_better_when_schools_spread_word/ ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Auto Call Forward Organization: Excelsior Computer Services From: joel@exc.com (Dr. Joel M. Hoffman) Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2005 15:18:01 GMT > I know of a feature that when you want incoming calls forwarded > to let's say your cellular you can reconfigure the office phone. > However you have to be onsite to do so. But what if you can't get to > the phone. Is there a way of doing this remotely or is there some kind of > auto call forward feature so that if line goes down the system > automatically forwards incoming calls to the cellular. "Remote Call Forwarding." I used it for a while in Boston, with mixed results. I could forward my calls remotely (from my home phone), but sometimes the system just didn't work and callers got a fast busy. Better solutions are: 1. A virtual number or VoIP number that you can forward. These are widely available on the Web. 2. A cell phone that you keep with you that you can forward. The basic idea is that you give out the virtual number (or web number, or cell phone number) and forward that number to wherever you are. -Joel ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Free 35mm lens & digital camera reviews: http://www.exc.com/photography ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecomm- unications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. 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