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The Teleputing Hotline
And Field Computing Source Letter
Volume 5 Number 18
Monday, May 4, 1992
215 Winter Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30317
FAX: 404-378-0794 Phone: 404-373-7634
MCI:409-8960 GEnie: nb.atl CompuServe: 76200,3025
Editor: Dana Blankenhorn
European Editor: Steve Gold
Asian Editor: Masayuki Miyazawa
Sales Manager: Hiro Nakamura
An Affiliate of the Newsbytes News Network
EDITORIAL ANALYSIS
Why the FBI doesn't like ISDN
The world of audio, in case you hadn't noticed, is rapidly
becoming digital. For the average telephone user this means the
snap, crackle and pop of yesterday's phone calls, not to mention
the delay between finishing dialing and hearing a ringing tone,
have all but disappeared.
Digital telephone exchanges in the US first began appearing in
the 1960s. Since then, most exchanges have gone over to the new
technology. Now it's the turn of the lines between the exchange
and the phone in the office or the home. The technology to do
this is known as integrated services digital network, or ISDN.
ISDN may be good news for the phone user, but it's bad news for
secret services and government agencies around the world.
In the US, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is so
worried it has begun lobbying the Government and the various
telephone companies to slow down or even put a hold on the
introduction of the technology, in the marketplace. The reason
is simple -- ISDN lines are almost impossible to tap.
ISDN lines transfer data at such high speeds and in such small
packets that anyone tapping in to a single channel will find it
difficult to decode the data into coherent speech in real time,
unless all control information is tapped as well. Tapping the
control channels, however, is a major step, requiring the
complicity of the telephone company, not to mention a warrant.
But the nature of the FBI's secret activities prevents the phone
company of even being notified of all wire taps. The paperwork
mountain associated with millions of taps carried out each year
would be immense, say experts. In short, the legal implications
of having to tap entire ISDN circuits are horrendous.
The problem of tapping ISDN calls is made worse by the fact that,
once the digital data streams reach the telephone exchange, they
are mixed together (multiplexed) with other calls and sent around
the world at high speed. Imagine the same problem in the postal
system -- the FBI can easily keep track of parcels in a local
office, but when they're shot at high speed around the country...
Thus, the FBI wants the US telephone companies to modify ISDN
technology to make it easier to tap. As if this weren't bad
enough, government officials have ruled out any form of an R&D
subsidy for the telecoms industry to modify the ISDN technology -
the telecomms industry is expected to pay for the changes itself.
The telecomms industry will simply pass on the extra costs to the
telephone user in the form of increased costs.
Needless to say, US civil libertarians are outraged by the whole
affair. Tapping phones is one thing, they say, but asking the
consumer to pick up the tab is out of order.
One of the first telephone companies asked to implement the
changes to ISDN - changes, incidentally, that the FBI has made a
state secret - is the Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Company,
which covers the Washington area. Officials have said publicly
that the cost of implementing the FBI's required changes will
be hundreds of millions of dollars, and it cannot link with other
telephone companies with driving a bulldozer through the FBI's
secrecy rules.
AT&T officials, which control the US telephone network, are said
to be horrified. They claim that only the largest telephone
companies will be able to implement the FBI's changes, leaving
the smaller companies bankrupt. Some companies are so petrified
they have frozen their existing ISDN conversion programs, causing
an uproar in the business community.
The FBI, meanwhile, is putting pressure on President Bush to
force the phone companies to comply through civilian rather than
covert legislation. William Sessions, the director of the FBI,
held a closed session with the Congress in which he has asked
that legislation be passed without delay. Unless the legislation
is passed, the FBI will find it progressively more difficult to
track terrorists, kidnappers and other dangerous criminals. And
with crime statistics such a political problem, Bush may bow to
Sessions' requests, regardless of cost.
Regardless of the politics of the situation, the real loser will
be the consumer. And there's the shame - the technology is there,
but companies are scared to offer it for fear of offending the
FBI.
---Steve Gold
U.S. FEATURES
AT&T: Personal 700 Phone Numbers
AT&T became the first long distance carrier to offer "personal
phone numbers," which follow their owners around wherever they
are in the US, with a service called EasyReach 700. The firm's
long-distance switches now have software which can recognize the
700 area code and send such numbers to a database, which tells
the switch where to send the call. EasyReach 700 offers a special
type of call-forwarding, using a 4-digit PIN, so you can send
some calls to an answering machine and take others. You may also
decide whether to pay for incoming calls, or have callers pay.
And new users can pick their own numbers.
LA: Residents Asked To Stay Off Phones
Two days of rioting and fires in Los Angeles, following the
acquittal of 4 officers for beating motorist Rodney King, caused
Pacific Bell to ask residents to restrict their calling to
emergency use only, writes Linda Rohrbaugh of Newsbytes from LA.
The problems were blamed on basic network congestion, and full
service returned after the riots ended. At its peak, there were
delays of minutes in getting basic dial tones. PacBell also
restricted its repair work in the affected area to emergency
repairs only.
MICROAGE: Enters Field Computing Market
MicroAge Computer Centers became the first retailer to announce a
wireless strategy in support of Field Computing. The chain
created a network of relationships with AT&T EasyLink's e-mail
service, SkyTel's paging service, Hewlett-Packard for its HP 95LX
palmtop computer, Motorola and its wireless networking schemes,
NCR for its notebook and pen-top computers, and Xircom, a
software vendor. MicroAge will now sell "bundles" of computers
and services, combining the Safari notebook computer with SkyTel
paging, for instance.
CORPORATE NEWS: Giant Joint Ventures for New Markets
IBM and Time Warner want to combine the former's multimedia and
compression technologies with the latter's library of film and
published software, and its cable TV business. BellSouth said it
will invest real dollars in a joint-venture with Dow Jones,
seeking new markets for its videotex and audiotex services. The
two firms are testing an audiotex service for Los Angeles
cellular phone subscribers. Dow Jones also has agreements with
NYNEX and Pacific Telesis, and its newspapers have editorialized
frequently in favor of the Bells' entry into the information
industry, an entry which made possible these agreements.
CREDIT CARDS: Fraud Victim Rips Industry Security
William Murphy of Creative Computers, allegedly victimized by
teenagers arrested on April 22nd in New York City, told Barbara &
John McMullen of Newsbytes the lack of security in the credit
card industry is abysmal and "the merchant who bears the brunt."
Murphy, a mail-order computer vendor, said his own people look
for fraud, but the hackers had a fake account with a proper
address used for shipments, making it undetectable by him.
A "hacker," speaking anonymously, agreed with Murphy's assessment
of security at the credit bureaus, saying, "Anyone that knows
what they are doing can get any information they want out of
them. Trans Union is somewhat less abused that the others because
of the terseness of the query commands but they all have
problems. TRW, for instance, is wide open."
On-line Service For Internet Access Without Unix Commands
Information Access Technologies (IAT) started a new on-line
service, Holonet, which it says can meet demand for "Public Unix
Access" through a menu-based on-line system, writes Linda
Rohrbough for Newsbytes. Holonet members are assigned Internet e-
mail addresses, and local access members are available via
Holopacket (San Francisco), PSINet (Worldwide), Internet
(Worldwide), and BT Tymnet services (US and Canada). While the
service is now text-based, plans are in the works to provide FIDO
echoes, as well as programs and graphics for IBM PCs, Amigas, and
Macintoshes. Graphics will be in GIF and JPEG formats.
INTERNATIONAL REPORTS
Japan: Nifty-Serve Cellular Service, NTT Break-Up
Nifty-Serve started a 9,600 bps data service via mobile phones
May 1. Service will be provided through Fujitsu's FENICS net, and
can be accessed via various VAN nodes. It runs under V.32 and MNP
Class 10 standards. Nifty has had ISDN connections since last
July, and will lower their cost. Nifty and PC-VAN also agreed to
exchange e-mail with each other, forming the Japan Electronics
Mail Association to support the MHS standard. Other firms which
will join include NTT, KDD, Fujitsu, Intec, and the Network
Information Center.
NTT will spin-out its mobile phone division in July. NTT Mobile
Telecommunication Network itself will be divided into eight firms
in July 1993. Each will be assigned a geographic territory in
Japan, and offer car phones, mobile phones, ship phones, aircraft
phones, and pagers. Capitalization is estimated to be 15 billion
yen ($100 million), paid by NTT. A total of 1,800 employees will
be transferred.
IBM Japan developed a a motion picture TV telephone for its
PS/55. The TV phone, developed with GC Technology, is designed
for linking to NTT's ISDN and can transmit 12 screens per second.
IBM Japan wants to release it by the end of this year at around 1
million yen. IBM Japan also hopes to make its TV phone PC an
industry standard, and creating The Research Association For
Personal Communication Graphics Communication under Haruhisa
Ishida of Tokyo University to share the technolgy, backed by NTT
and the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication.
UK: BT Expands Packet Net, Modems Slow Down ISDN, Husky and RAM
British Telecom announced plans to expand its packet data
networks. Plans call for the net to be rolled out to 39 new
countries by 1995, many in Eastern Europe. The idea is that
multinational companies will be better served, and subscribers to
line systems linked to the BT PDNs will be able to access
services on a near-global basis. The network expansion will
coincide with a push to upgrade access points to support 9,600
bps.
US Robotics' Miracom unit announced a UKP 100,000 campaign to
promote the V.32Bis 14,400 bps modem standard, saying the price
and performance of V.32bis will make companies think twice before
moving to ISDN. The lower price, with competition from Hayes,
could make the argument valid.
Husky Computers, which claims to be the leading supplier of
rugged handheld computers, has become one of the first UK
firm to demonstrate links to the new RAM Mobile Data network.
Major customers include British Airways, which is testing it at
Heathrow International Airport. Unlike in the US, where Mobitem
radio modems are being sold alongside the Mobitex network, RAM is
acting as a network supplier, leaving it to third-party suppliers
to equip users with hardware.
Finally, Mercury signed Hong Kong Telecom to its new toll-free
telephone service in the UK. Phone users dialing 0500 890 852
will be linked free to a HK Telecom operator who speaks English,
Cantonese, or Putonghua. Callers can then request a collect call
or charge their conversation to a HK Telecom calling card.
While other deals are in the offing, Mercury faces the problem of
using the 0500 area code rather than the internationally
recognized 0800 code, since 0800 has been reserved by BT for its
network. Many subscribers are unaware that 0500 is toll-free.
MOSCOW: More Banks Join SWIFT, IBM Net
Kirill Tchashchin writes from Russia that the Society Worldwide
for Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) is starting a
massive effort to bring Russia's banks to its network. Eleven
Russian banks are already SWIFT members, although just four are
connected to the network. The rest await regional access points,
hopefully by December. Although many Ukrainian, Baltic, and
Caucasian bankers want to join SWIFT, no details have been made
available on the procedure for these foreign countries to join
SWIFT. Moscow access will be via SovAm Teleport, with secure
links to the West and 32 leased lines to local banks. SWIFT is
also working to implement connections with Romanian and Albanian
banks, which are not yet SWIFT members.
IBM announced plans to expand its IBM Information Network into
Estonia and other Baltic countries from Finland. A center will be
put into Tallinn, Estonia by mid-summer, linked via a leased line
to Helsinki and offering X.400 e-mail, EDIFACT document exchange
services and access to 100+ information providers. The service
will cost 4500 Finnish markka (US$1000) in advance yearly with
added usage-related fees.
Finally, the annual Telecommunication Systems and Services
Exhibition was scheduled for Moscow June 21-26. Unlike other
shows, there will be no attendance by the general public, a
measure which guarantees a qualified audience, and Western
telecom companies are likely to have booths on the exhibit floor.
MIDEAST: Improvements Continue
In Saudi Arabia, demand for phone lines is rising smartly
throughout the kingdom, due to the elimination of tolls on local
calls and a 53 percent cut in installation and subscription fees.
The number of phone lines in the nation's Eastern Province, along
the Persian Gulf, will rise from 160,000 to over 220,000 over the
next two years, the government said. The United Arab Emirates is
now offering its citizens video telephones, and Iran upgraded its
microwave relay network with equipment from Alca-Tel of Italy.
Microwave relays are often used in rural parts of the Third World
in place of wires.
COLUMBIA: Strike Ends
It is one again possible to call Columbia, and for Columbians to
call the world. The 14,000 workers at Telecom, the state-owned
phone company, who went on strike over privitization, signed a
deal with the government. Under the deal the strike ends, and the
union gets to review a planned privatization of the company. A
tribunal will also be established to look into government
accusations of sabotage against union members.
CAMBODIA: Cellular Service Coming
TelecomAsia of Thailand has approached the Cambodian government
about a cellular phone concession. A unit of the Charoen Pokphand
Group is currently setting up a trunk radio system for United
Nations workers in the country, under contract from Motorola, and
TelecomAsia would hire it to engineer a cellular system on the US
AMPS standard. TelecomAsia has a contract to install millions of
phones in Thailand, but has said it wants international
expansion.
FACTOIDS:
AMERITECH put in a bid for part of Centel. But the phone and
cellular company, which put itself up for sale in January, is
likely to stay independent.
DATAMATICS of Bombay will re-engineer the STOBI funds transfer
system of Banque Worms in Paris, France, so it can accept input
directly from electronic channels like SWIFT, Sagittaire and
Teletransmission, instead of paper documents.
MURATA released a low-cost fax machine equipped with an auto-
sheet cutting feature. The Muratech M11 will be released in mid-
May at 130,000 yen ($960). The picture is also said to be quite
sharp.
SPECTRUM CELLULAR announced an intelligent interface for hand-
held cellular phones which gives such phones a standard RJ-11
plug, like those found on wired phones.
SPRINT added Israel to the countries on the Sprint World discount
calling plan. You can link with that country, and 39 others, at
discount rates for $3 per month.
CONTACT:
Ameritech, Steve Ford, +312-750-5205
AT&T, Mark Siegel, +908-221-8413
BellSouth, Tim Klein, +404-249-4135
Dow Jones, Roger May, +212-416-2601
Holonet, Arthur Britto, +510-704-0160; FAX +510-704-8019; BBS,
+510-704-1058
IBM Info Systems, Jorma Piispa, +358 90 459-4724
IBM Japan, +81-3-3586-1111
MicroAge, David Lucas, +602-968-3168x2243
Miracom, +0753-811180
Murata Machinery, +81-75-672-8137
NEC PC-VAN, +81-3-3454-6909
Nifty-Serve, +81-3-5471-4857
NTT, +81-3-3509-5035
Pacific Bell, Linda Bonnikson, +714-284-2140
RAM Mobile Data, +081-990-9090
Spectrum Cellular, John Rule, +214/630-9825
Sprint, Robin Pence, +202-828-7454
SWIFT, Bruno Coessens, +32 2 655-3111; FAX +32 2 655-3226
Telecom Show, Yuri Andrianov,+7 095 198-1341
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