=------------------------------------------------------------------= |Vol. 1 No. 4 Telephone Free Planet Issue 4| |TFP.nothing.org Season's greetings from TFP! Happy Chanukah!| |Dandy Kwanzaa! December 19, 1997 Merry Christmas!| =------------------------------------------------------------------= =-"I don't want gimmicks. I want a LD phone company I can count on." -Beavis-= =-------A delightful medley of tastes and textures-------= | Anti-Telcommunications Tampering Initiative..KungFuFox | | Ethics in phreaking............................Seizure | | Detecting and escaping from feds.............Keystroke | | Using a payphone as a banking institution....KungFuFox | | Hiding your shit...........................AgentOrange | =------------------TFP Special Features------------------= | Telco News...................................KungFuFox | | Storytime with TFP..........Whoever bothered to submit | =--------------------------------------------------------= "Hola Ninos! Me llamo Matt Foley, y yo soy un Motivational Speaker!" -Chris Farley "Bell Atlantic has announced a new service that will allow anyone to get the address to any listed phone number. Opponents say it is an invasion of privacy. Proponents say it will help to invade people's privacy." -Norm MacDonald =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= =-------------------------------------------------------------------= | Telephone Free Planet - Contact information | | TFP Email: tfp@tfp.nothing.org - TFP Site: http://tfp.nothing.org | =-------------------------------------------------------------------= Alpha dog : KungFuFox, mazer@cycat.com <-NOT Richard Simmons Beta dog : Keystroke, keystroke@thepentagon.com <-drunk surgeon Buncha names : digipimp, AlienPhreak, weatherman, REality, Scud-O, shoelace, Dublisk, ec|ipse, overdub, Allah7, Discore, Seizure, and shamr0ck During this limited time offer, if you send us articles, quotes, emails, logs, phonecalls, news articles, and any other crap you come across, we will give you absolutely nothing in return! 100% Guaranteed, American made nada! Telephone Free Planet isn't your mom or dad. If you break the law because of our influence, we aren't to be held liable for it. It's your problem. If you want to reprint any of our worthless crap ask us at tfp@tfp.nothing.org. =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= ++++++++++The Telefone-Phree Republic of TFP!+++++++++++++++ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%$****%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****A%S&C$I*I*A$R%T****%:&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****h$a%t&r*e*d$o$n*a*l&o%g$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%$****%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%$****%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%$****%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%* &%** $%&& &***%&&%$ $%&&%****&% **$%&&%** $%****$%&& *%$ %**%&&%$ $%&&%****&% **$%&&%** $%****$%&& *%$$ %**%&&%$ $%&&%****&% **$%&&%** **$%&& *%$ &***%&&%$ $%&&%****&% **$%&&%** $%****$%&& &****%&&%$ $%&&%****&% **$%&&%** $%****$%&& *%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&% **$%&&%** $%****$%&& *%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&% **$%&&%** $%****$%&& *%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%$****%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%$****%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%$TelePhone***$%&&%***free$%****$%&planet*%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%$****%$$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$"Dammit Cartman! You have such a big$%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$Fat-ass, When you walk down the street&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$TFP says 'Godamn, that's a big fat-ass!"***%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%-Stan from S0uthPark%&****%&&%$ $%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%****&%$$%****$%&&%$****%$$%&****%&&%$ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If any of the issues TFP has released will be called a POS, this is it. Our worst issue ever. You don't have to read it if you don't want to. You probably shouldn't. What a great Christmas present, huh? I guess we're kinda supplimenting this issue with the New Year's Day release. Hey, how about that spiffy ascii pic up there? In case you can't find the author's name imbedded in it, Hatred on a Log made it. It's his fault if you don't like it. =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= =------------------------------------------------------------------= | Anti-Telcommunications Tampering Initiative - found by KungFuFox | =------------------------------------------------------------------= Anti-Telecommunications Tampering Initiative (ATTI) PROPRIETARY INFORMATION NOT FOR USE OR DISCLOSURE OUTSIDE THE FOLLOWING PACIFIC/NEVADA BELL, USWEST, SOUTHWESTERN BELL, AMERITECH, BELL ATLANTIC, NYNEX, BELLSOUTH WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION Morristown, NJ October 12, 1997 SUBJECT Anti-Telecommunications Tampering Initiative (ATTI). REASON FOR ISSUANCE To provide personnel of the RBOCs with information crucial to the combattance of telecommunication related fraud and harassment. EFFECTIVE / CRITICAL DATES Effective immediately. GENERAL INFORMATION Current proficiency of telcommunication related fraud and harassment has necessitated said initiative. This internal memo will outline and describe currently 'popular' abuse tactics and methods to thwart attempts to utilize such tactics. These anti-tampering methods are valid for all telecommunications systems currently in place, as well as all supporting equipment, personnel, and software. Current known profile of probable tamperer: individuals are teen-aged males, no other information available. Current tampering tactics and known counteractive solutions: 1) TACTIC: Calling local operator and asking for numbers to certain employee accessable services, or possibly asking for passwords to switching equipment, when in fact the person calling doesn't work for an RBOC. SOLUTION: ALWAYS ask if they work for an RBOC before providing such information. Example of technique: "Sir/Ma'am, do you work for ?" 2) TACTIC: Gaining access to switching equipment by using popular passwords such as 'GOD' and 'SEX'. SOLUTION: NEVER change the default passwords that come with the switching software. Changing the passwords has been known to greatly increase the likelihood of a hacker break-in. 3) TACTIC: 'Dumpster diving' at COs for important documents such as phone numbers, customer billing information, et cetera. SOLUTION: (A) Put sign on all dumpsters with the phrase 'do not enter'. The method behind use of such a deterrant is obvious. (B) Write the words "not important" in red marker on the top of all important documents (strange as it may seem, documents with the words "not important" written on them are often overlooked). (C) Place a heavy object, such as a sack of telephone books, on top of the dumpster lid(s). 'Dumpster divers' don't waste their time with dumpsters that present difficulty in opening. 4) TACTIC: Opening the back doors of unlocked RBOC owned vans, often operated by linemen, and stealing telecommunications related equipment and documents located immediately inside the vehicle. SOLUTION: ALWAYS leave valuable equipment and documents near the front of the van. Small time thieves seldomly will actually enter the vehicle to retrieve such items. 5) TACTIC: Defrauding payphones of precious quarters by using the ACTS tones in place of actual money, often by means of a device commonly referred to as a 'redbox'. This method often requires the aid of a local operator to work on local calls. The perpetrator will ask the operator for assisted dialing, then attempt to use the tones when prompted to pay for the call. SOLUTION: (A) When asked to have operator assisted dialing from a payphone, always accuse the caller of using tones after they pay for the call (ex: "I'm sorry sir/ma'am, you're not using real coins, those are recorded tones"). If the caller hangs up, screams in horror, or runs away from the phone without hanging up, you will know they were not actually paying for the call. If they are confused by your words, then you may say "Oops, sorry about that. Please hold while I connect your call." (B) Ask the caller if they intend to use a redbox. If they say "yes", it is best to warn them that you are calling security, and attempt to hold them against their will until the security personnel arrives. If they deny that they are using a redbox or are confused by your statement, you may assume they are legitimately paying for the call. QUESTIONS: Please direct all inquiries to the telcommunications abuse department at the following email address: tfp@tfp.nothing.org It is advised that this document be distributed to all employees of your CO, including service operators, office managers, and linemen. =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= =----------------------------------= | Ethics in phreaking - by Seizure | =----------------------------------= This article is writen for use in TFP all other use is prohibited..BLAH BLAH BLAH...etc. The bottom line is: DON'T BE LAME AND COPY ME (like you mofos that took shoelace's article and put your name on it...don't worry shoe, we'll get the bastards). Since the dawn of the phreak, and the birth of the bluebox, the phreaking community has grown and changed a whole lot, but the main question I think we have to ask ourselves is "have we grown for the better, or for the worse?" Billions of years ago when the first phreaks stole fire from bellcore to find out how it made smoke signals, I don't believe their purpose or intention was to breed an army of Ma Bell rapists...I just think they said "Hey, this telco thing neato, eh thog? Lets see how fire work", but the way we are heading these days, the motto seems to be "lets steal from those who steal from us". "What's wrong with that?", you may ask. To tell you the truth, I really don't think our sole motive for phreaking should be to loot and plunder phone companies. To beige box may be essential for communication and learning, but the purpose of beige boxing shouldn't be to rack up a huge bill for the sake of screwing Ma Bell. As another example, the red box was discovered and ORIGANALLY used to say "Hey check this out! The phone takes these tones to recognize the coins!", but now even NON-phreaks use redboxes, and to avoid what? Paying a quarter to call someone who lives a couple miles away? Just get on your bigwheel and ride there if you can't pay for the call. All I am saying is that we are starting to let shit get out of hand. That's why, if you noticed, blue box tones are picked up so quickly now. Soon enough the redbox tones will be deemed useless because someone wanted to call their friend up the road. I am not trying to preach to all of you, it's just that because of the abuse of our 'privileged' access, that access will eventually be nonextistant. Now the ethical phreak does what he does for the sake of knowledge, and hey, if a few bucks are taken from Ma Bell, it is just for the sake of learning, but a thief will always be a thief. If you say "gee, lets see how I can profit (with money) today", you are just as bad as the people running the phone companies who say that all the time, and they can screw us ten times harder than we can them. That's where the price hikes come from, that's where these devices that eliminate blue boxes came from, and that's where the extinction of redboxing will come from. You may agree or disagee with me, but look at what I've said. Is there any doubt about my message? If you use all the water in a well, what happens? Its goodness is all gone because of greed and abuse. So remember what Leonardo Da Vinci said, "Use all things in Moderation." Just try to keep it in mind. (c)1997-1998 "Seizure" is a registered trademark of Undernet's #Phreak. =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= =----------------------------------------------------------------------= | A guide to detecting and escaping from federal agents - by Keystroke | =----------------------------------------------------------------------= A common and very obvious problem in the life of a hax0r/phreak is being apprehended by the evil feds. Thanks to us nifty people at TFP this problem has been nullified. Yes, we have developed a 5 step process to identifying the evil fed! Just like you learned to stop drop and roll, you will learn to identify and escape from evil fedz0r types! Read carefully, there will be a quiz. First off, the fed must be identified. Unfortunately, due to the evil propoganda on TV, most evil hax0r types think that feds dress like normal people. This is not true. Every single federal agent, by law (Section 8 paragraph 2, article 1 of the Fed Dressing Act [FDA]), must wear a trenchcoat which extends below the ankles. Feds also wear nifty walkie-talkies in their ears. But more on that later! The typical fed also wears dark glasses or is sitting in a helicopter over your house. Now you must identify what the fed is doing! Luckily, feds can only do two things: Spy on you. Watch your neighbors undress. It's extremely difficult to tell what he's doing, but we at TFP have developed a way to find out! You'll need some fertilizer and loads of explosives. Step 1) Sprinkle fertilizer on your neighbor's garden. This should cause the flowers and stuff to grow, thus blocking the windows to the house. Step 2) Place explosives around house. Step 3) Cause explosives to explode. Now that your neighbor's house is gone, the fed has nothing to watch except you. If he still stays that means he is watching you! If he leaves that means that he was watching your neighbor and has moved on to another town, preferrably one with less foilage. If the fed is still there, we're gonna have to move on to step 3! You must kill Mr. Fed. Here's the details: Helicoptor Fed: 1) Goto China 2) Say you are Saddamn Hussien 3) Get free missles 4) Take missles home 5) Shoot Fed down Fed standing by your window: 1) Verbally assult until he leaves Fed 5 feet behind you with SWAT team: 1) Point you browser at tfp.nothing.org 2) Watch as feds die from fear of the lameness Fed on the ircle: 1) Fire up 7th Sphere Ok! Now that the fed isnt a fed anymore (cause dead feds arent feds), and the government dosn't like fed killers, you're going to have to trick them into thinking you're dead before they send more feds to apprehend you. Here's the nitty-gritty: 1) Buy inflatable doll 2) Paint it green Sorry thats it for now, we're not sure of the rest :( Dont worry though! You'll know what to do with you're new toy as soon as we do! Step 5: Hacking the Gibson In a frutile attempt to kosherize murdering a fed, you must find a local Gibson and hax0r it! Since hax0ring Gibsons is a talent you're born with, we cant elaborate on this step no more! BYE! =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= =------------------------------------------------------------------= | Using a payphone as a banking institution - KungFuFox, yet again | =------------------------------------------------------------------= Having an ethical crisis that makes you think to yourself "Gosh darnit, I'm a good guy, why would I want to utilize a phone company's services for anything less than the amount they expect me to pay"? Well here's a twist on the subject. When you use a payphone, you deposit anywhere from twenty cents to several dollars. Think of these deposits as deposits in a bank. Your generous loan of personal wealth to the phone company will begin accruing interest. After all, no loan should come without some benefit to the generous soul who loaned it, right? As these funds you have generously allowed the phone company to borrow are being put to use building a better phone network and probably making it harder for you to phreak, you should undoubtedly be entitled to withdraw some or all funds, possibly closing your account. Don't feel as if you have to keep an open account with any given phone company all the time. You may loan and reclaim your funds whenever you choose. Feel free to have accounts with several telephone companies at the same time, they certainly don't mind the help. On the subject of withdrawls, one may wonder exactly how a withdrawl is transacted, seeing as you've been loaning your money to a collection network that seems to have no plausable method of withdrawl. Not to worry, there are ways, or this loan system would be incomplete. Every time you make a deposit at any branch of this telco bank, you are credited with a certain amount of withdrawable funds. Other than being a telco AND a bank, this bank is special because you may only withdraw from it in the currency of the telecommunications industry, which is phone calls and various uses of telecom services. I will outline a few common methods at your disposal for making withdrawls, keeping in mind you have interest added on to the sum you deposited, which is a nice bonus. The first of these methods, though more of a free service of the telco bank than a withdrawl, makes use of a common ETF device known as the redbox. On branches of the telco bank where redbox services are available, use of this common device will permit access to telecom lines. Each time you use this service, the telco bank will incur the costs necessary to provide this service, thusly necessitating a withdrawl from your deposited funds. Another common method of withdrawl makes use of the ETF device known as a beigebox. Use of this device is permitted only at specially designed withdrawl facilities, such as at TNIs and binding posts. Terminals at these facilities are easily accessable to account holders who are aware of this handy withdrawl feature. This method of withdrawl, as with the redbox method, also allows access to telecom lines, and the cost to complete and maintain a connection, along with the cost of the network infrastructure's maintenance, are paid for by use of your deposited funds. A very gracious service provided to informed customers of the telco bank is known as a 'customer technology fair', and is worthy of further explanation. Almost daily the telco bank sends out a fleet of vehicles specially equipped with phones, line testing equipment, and documents. These items are special offerings to customers of the bank, as an added benefit of doing business with them. By choosing amongst the items available and keeping what you find attractive you may learn more about the telecom industry, though the cost of these items is withdrawn from your account. All in all I'd say this service is well worth the cost to you. As you can see, business with the telco bank can be valuable both for the bank and for you, depending on your needs and their services. I suggest that all persons interested in opening an account begin immediately so that these benefits currently available to account holders can be yours! For those of you uninformed customers who have already opened accounts with the telco bank, I hope this information has proven valuable to you and you can now find new ways to benefit from doing business with the telco bank! Yeah, so what if this article contradicted seizure's article? I don't care about continuity! This whole publication is a damned twilight zone! =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= =-----------------------------------= | Hiding your shit - by AgentOrange | =-----------------------------------= In issue 2 of TFP you may remember an article about what to say if your mom finds your Beige box. Well if your mom is nosy enough to be going through your shit then you should have killed her long ago, so go do that now...I can wait...go on...real simple BANG BANG and that's all she wrote...shoo, go on...well if you're not the type to kill then maybe you should hide your shit better. Before I go into that MAKE SURE that you at least follow the simple rules like don't hide your shit in a drawer, closet, under your mattress, or anywhere your clothes/linens rest because then you may have a nasty conversation like this... Jeremy I was in your room today and I found this phone with black wires and a bell logo on it in you (closet, drawer, mattress) and... ..Well what the FUCK were you doing in my room anyway BITCH?!?!? Well I was just trying to help you by putting away your laundry/making your bed, but apparently you don't want my help and this..thing is why! What the hell is it?! Some sort of device to screw bell and the neighbors out of millions of dollars?!... In this situation you really can't refute the mom's attack so you're basically fucked! But there are safe places where you can store your shit. If you have a vent in your room you can remove the cover and duct tape a shoebox in there. If the vent comes from the ceiling more power to you 'cuz the box will have a floor to rest on and the likelihood that the box will fall down the vent and your parents will call a repairman to see what the hell is blocking the air flow is less likely. Another good place is if your bed has a box-spring under the mattress. On the least conspicuous side of the bed you'll want to accidentally ram into the box-spring with a butterfly knife, slitting the fabric so you can slide your shit into it. Your mother will not be able to use the "making the bed" excuse because this is below the mattress! Of course we all know cut the middle of a book out, but a book will only hold so much. At least with this method your mom's only option for rebuttle will be "Well I was in you room going through your copy of the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms (4 in. thick!) and I found..." well you get the idea. My last method is a bit more complex but anyone can understand it. You need a large (broken/stolen) boombox/stereo and your elite p|-|Ree><0r tools. Rip open the stereo and rip out ALL the electronics which lurk within. Rig the casing so you can open it at will to get your shit out. If you can keep some of the electronic components in there like the radio then you can prove to your mom that it works! So be carefull with your shit let me know what you find by mailing me at Phreak out! =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= =---------------------------------------------= | Telco News - compiled & edited by KungFuFox | =---------------------------------------------= 1: Telecom Freedom Fighters 2: Please Deposit $33 for the Next 15 Minutes 3: Bell Canada Expands Wireless Telephone Service Delivery 4: US LEC Files For Competitive Local Exchange Carrier Certification 5: Nortel Selected by 21st Century As Telephony Network Provider 6: Online Users Still Want Their Telephones "What's your encore? Are you gonna pour sugar in my gas tank while you anally rape my grandma?" -Dante, from the motion picture "Clerks" "RADIO SHACK = ELITE PHREAK0RING BLACK MARKET PHREAK SUPPLEIR, DONUT FUCK" -SkiTzO =-----------------------------------------------------------= Scans: Telecom Freedom Fighters by Jacob Ward 24.Nov.97 -- Recently, full-page advertisements have appeared in upscale Manhattan rags like the Village Voice and the New York Observer, showing a picture of jubilant Germans celebrating on the shattered Berlin Wall. A catchy revolutionary slogan accompanies the image: "Sooner or later, all tyrannies crumble." These ads are part of an underdog campaign launched by RCN Corporation, a small Princeton, New Jersey-based company that's pumping its beleaguered fist in the face of telecommunications giant Bell Atlantic. Armed with its own network of coaxial cable, RCN is a bundled provider that offers packages of phone, cable, and high-speed Internet service for roughly US$40 per month. David McCourt, the tough-talking president and CEO of RCN, hopes his company's low prices will enable it to take a bite out of Bell Atlantic's market share in the lucrative Boston-to-Washington residential market with a little help from the Federal Communications Commission. On August 15, the behemoths Nynex and Bell Atlantic merged and a new telecom giant was created. The $25.6 billion merger, the largest in US history, transformed Bell Atlantic into the country's second-largest telephone service provider, after AT&T. But to keep the 13-state Northeast market open to competitors, the FCC required the new company to allow its rivals to rent service capacity at a reasonable price. RCN is not the first small residential phone provider to take on such enormous competition. In Texas, TeleServe Inc. has been selling bundled services in competition with local giants Southwestern Bell and GTE for years. But several obstacles stand in RCN's way. The most obvious is that the little company has only 60,000 subscribers. To justify the cost of stringing its own coax wires to the front door, RCN must also find buildings with a critical mass of new customers. McCourt himself is considered a wild card although he has a shrewd reputation, he's seldom spent more than a few years on any one venture before moving on to the next. RCN's biggest headache awaits: The FCC conditions attached to Bell Atlantic's merger expire in four years. But having established his reputation building private telecommunications networks both in the US and the UK, McCourt seems unintimidated by the long-shot odds. "We're encroaching on people who've been in business a long time," he concedes. "But we have nowhere to go but up." It may be wishful thinking, but in the meantime, vive la revolution. =-----------------------------------------------------------= Please Deposit $33 for the Next 15 Minutes by Janelle Brown and Austin Bunn 3.Dec.97 -- Today's prison phone systems can recognize individual inmates and track whom and when they call and what they say. It's not just the punishers who want sophisticated telephone tools, either: Prisoners themselves want the most basic telephone services that many Americans now take for granted. Now the twin demands of security and family communication in prisons nationwide have given birth to tests of expensive systems, including voice recognition and videoconferencing. But the problem with high tech is that it's also high cost, and the question of who's paying the bill has made modern prison phones a contentious issue with phone companies, activists, and the FCC alike. The visiting room in Missouri's Jefferson City Correctional Center recalls a high school cafeteria: independent round tables, soda and candy vending machines, and couples conversing quietly. To gain access to the room, visitors must first pass an extended approval process, including jumping through manifold bureaucratic hoops and completing a background check. Then, under the eye of guards, inmates are given their only contact with their loved ones, families, and lawyers in a strange traffic of privacies. But in an air-conditioned, soundproof room down the hall, inmates can now slip out of prison, if only virtually, straight into a booth at the local Kinko's. Introduced in May, the Correction Connection Video Visitation program, developed by Kinko's, Sprint, and the state of Missouri at three separate correctional facilities, gives prisoners the ability to access their kith and kin by videoconferencing with them over a dedicated 384 KBps line, at 30 frames a second. High tech, high cost Though pricey at US$33.75 for 15 minutes, the service has distinct advantages for both the inmates and staff. With three days notice and no paperwork, up to five visitors can set up a meeting time, compared to three allowed in an on-site contact visit. In terms of security, "obviously, during videoconferencing there would be less chance for people to pass contraband," says Missouri corrections spokesman Tim Kniest. Prison and telecom officials have lauded the system as a cheaper way for families to keep in touch with distant inmate relatives. But the reality has been that the videoconferencing is still too costly for many families, and instead has been primarily used by lawyers who want to avoid long trips to see inmate clients. "It's not having overwhelming usage," says Tom Gibbons, national sales manager for Inmate Services at Sprint - which translates into only five inmates using the system in the past five months. "We always thought the biggest usage for videoconferencing would be for prisoners out of state." Sprint was hoping that Texas would be a good source for the service, with their high out-of-state prisoner ratio; unfortunately, those prisoners were removed from Texas jails when a video revealed the abuse that prison guards in Brazoria, Texas, regularly showered on such inmates. Regardless of videoconferencing's success, digital prison telephone systems have been a boon for telephone companies and states alike. The systems are set up by carriers like Sprint and AT&T, which license them from technology companies like T-Netix and Gateway. Each prisoner is assigned an ID number that's required to make outside calls. They are then allowed to call only a pre-approved list of 10 phone numbers, and all calls are monitored, recorded, and interrupted periodically with a recorded message that informs listeners that the call is being made from a prison. All calls have to be made collect, third-party calls are sometimes prevented, and no 800-numbers are allowed. Another telephone system created by T-Netix, currently in beta at three prisons in Colorado, is exploring the potential for voice-recognition systems. Instead of using punchpad PIN numbers, the telephone uses an algorithm called Speakeasy Verification to identify the voice of the inmate before allowing him to use the telephone. The hope is that the system will decrease telephone fraud. "The difference is that if I have your PIN number, I'm you. Prisoners steal PIN numbers all the time; it's like cigarettes, they use it for bartering," explains T-Netix VP of marketing Pat Flannery. "With voice verification, you are your PIN number." For whom the bill tolls But the fancy systems come at a cost. The phone company that gets a state's prison contract is the one which offers the "best commission rate" to the state - Florida, for example, collects 57 percent of all money made on calls from prisons. This becomes a "surcharge," raising the prices for the inmate phone calls. Combined with the costs of installing and monitoring the high-tech phone systems, you get jacked-up phone prices - families report regularly paying $7.50 for a 15-minute local phone call, though it varies from state to state. Who's paying the bill? The prison inmates' families say it's them, and have complained to both the states and the FCC about what they consider unfair phone gouging. The FCC is currently investigating the interstate prison phone system. "We're being charged an exorbitant amount - you have to call collect, and the state gets a kickback into the state general fund," says Edna Silvestri, director of the Missouri chapter of the inmate advocacy group CURE, and wife of an inmate. "My husband tries to keep my phone bill down because I can't afford it, but my bill is still $100 a month." Meanwhile, the phone companies complain that they're not making money, since the state both regulates the phone pricing and takes a large chunk of profits as a commission. They also claim that the cost issue is out of their hands - the state lays out the system requirements, and competitiveness for the contracts means that profit margins are tight. Still, prison officials and phone companies point out that phone calls are privilege, not a right, for inmates, so inmates shouldn't complain. They also note that the telephone technology is in place because of the shenanigans that go on regularly within prison systems. Inmates have been known to run drug operations and internal contraband rings, organize jailbreaks, and even record albums via prison pay phones - often via third-party lines conferenced in by a legitimate number. "That's the major thing prisons are trying to stop - prisoners coming into the system and thinking it's just business as usual," says Gibbons of Sprint. "All inmates must face restrictions because some inmates didn't follow the rules." (c)1993-97 Wired Ventures, Inc. =-----------------------------------------------------------= Bell Canada Expands Wireless Telephone Service Delivery Using Proximity Solution From Nortel (Northern Telecom) CHATHAM, Ont., Dec 3 /PRNewswire/ - Residents of this rural Ontario community are getting a sneak peek at the future of communications in Canada. More than 100 previously party line (multiple users per line) telephone service customers in Chatham now receive single party service from Bell Canada using a Proximity fixed wireless access solution from Nortel (Northern Telecom). The first telephone company in North America to offer commercial service using Nortel's Proximity I, Bell Canada is pioneering this wireline-equivalent technology as part of a proposed $CDN 200 million network modernization announced earlier this year. "Bell Canada is committed to providing our customers features and services like those currently available in urban areas, no matter where they live," said Terry Mosey, vice president, product management, Bell Canada. "This technology allows us to upgrade services to all of our customers more quickly," Mosey said. "This means providing the privacy and reliability of single party service, Internet access, enhanced 911 capability, telebanking and SmartTouch services like Call Display." Nortel's Proximity family uses digital radio, rather than copper cable, to connect customer homes and businesses to the public switched telephone network, reducing the time and cost of network buildout and expansion. Proximity I provides high-quality digital connections to small businesses or residences for voice, fax, high-speed modems and enhanced services such as Calling Number and Calling Name ID. Bell Canada demonstrated the effectiveness, transparency and quality of Nortel's Proximity I as a complement to copper in the local loop in trials earlier this year with residential and business customers in Verona, Ontario and Thetford Mines, Quebec. Operating at 3.5 GHz, Bell Canada's Proximity I networks include radio base stations, power and antenna equipment. Also included are 12-inch octagonal Odish' antennas which mount on an exterior wall, chimney or existing television antenna mast for each customer. (c)PR Newswire. =-----------------------------------------------------------= US LEC Files For Competitive Local Exchange Carrier Certification In Florida CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- US LEC LLC, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), announced it has filed for CLEC certification in Florida. US LEC currently provides local, long distance, and enhanced services to business customers in the BellSouth, GTE, and Sprint service areas of North Carolina. Under a three-year multimillion-dollar contract, US LEC is deploying the Lucent switch platform to support its business expansion into additional southeastern cities throughout 1998 and 1999. US LEC is certified in North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia. US LEC serves over 100 large and midsize business customers with local and long distance services in North Carolina on the US LEC network. (c)PR Newswire. =-----------------------------------------------------------= Nortel (Northern Telecom) Selected by 21st Century As Telephony Network Provider ANAHEIM, Calif., Dec. 9 /PRNewswire/ - Today at the Western Cable Show, Chicago-based competitive communications provider 21st Century announced that it has selected Nortel (Northern Telecom) to provide the transport backbone and telephony portion of its interactive broadband network in Chicago. Under the terms of a three-year letter of intent valued at approximately $US 40 million, Nortel will supply 21st Century with a full suite of switching, transmission, and access solutions -- including its DMS-500 Local/Long-Distance Switching System, AccessNode and AccessNode Express platforms, and S/DMS TransportNode OC-48 and OC-12 systems. 21st Century, recently awarded one of the largest competitive cable franchises in United States history, plans to offer residential and business subscribers with a bundled package of voice, data, video and high-speed Internet access services. 21st Century's initial service launch began in November in the nation's second largest business and financial district, which stretches along Chicago's lakefront from Hyde Park to Evanston. This service area, also referred to as Area 1, contains over 300,000 residential homes, 500,000 commercial/business outlets, and over 50,000 hotel rooms. "We chose Nortel as our telephony and transport solutions provider based on its established reputation as a leading supplier of end-to-end network solutions," said Glenn Milligan, founder, CEO and president, 21st Century. "Nortel has worked closely with us to build a system that will serve as a model for other competitive telecommunications providers and show 21st Century's commitment to providing our customers with a truly comprehensive service offering." Nortel's AccessNode and AccessNode Express are versatile, full-service access vehicles which support multiple access mediums and bandwidth management for both TDM and packet data networks. With Nortel's AccessNode product family, a single integrated network element supports a full portfolio of business and residential service, including POTS, Digital Centrex, ISDN, transparent LAN, DS-1, DS-3, and high-speed copper access services. Nortel's TransportNode portfolio offers reliable, cost-effective solutions for all types of service transport applications. Nortel leads the worldwide market in the deployment of high-capacity SONET systems. Nortel's OC-12 and OC-48 transport systems support a bi-directional line-switched ring architecture capable of re-routing signals within a ring in case of a fiber cable cut or other service interruption -- offering carriers the reliability that is so important in today's networks. The Nortel DMS-500 Local/Long Distance switching system provides carriers the ability to offer combined local- and long-distance telecommunications services to customers through a single, cost-effective switching platform. The DMS-500 switching system offers one of the most feature-rich customer service portfolios in the industry. As a competitive communications provider (CCP), 21st Century will have the flexibility to offer businesses and residential customers a suite of voice, video, and data services -- such as high-speed Internet access, teleconferencing, local & long distance telephony services, cellular and paging services, security, and other interactive services -- via a fiber optic, two-way interactive broadband network. (c)PR Newswire. =-----------------------------------------------------------= Online Users Still Want Their Telephones 12/08/97 By Mo Krochmal, TechWeb NEW YORK -- Internet telephony has captured the attention of early adopters of technology, but is not ready to replace plain old telephone service, according to a survey of attendees at Internet World here on Monday. Internet telephony is a 3-year-old technology that lets users make phone calls over data networks, offering the promise of cheaper telephone communications costs, but it is too much of a work in progress to convince even the geekiest technology users to make the switch. The issues are congestion, delays, and just generally poor quality and reliability. Still, according to Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, the United States will spend $30 million on Internet telephony in 1998 with an expected increase to $2 billion in 2004. Meantime, U.S. customers are paying $5 billion a year to foreign companies for international calls. AT&T, MCI, GTE, and Sprint are paying attention to the young technology, and so are some users. Kenneth Paquette, a Vermont resident and an advisory programmer for IBM, was one of the lone advocates of phone service from ISPs among the people interviewed in the hallways of the Javits Center as Internet World was being set up. "They are more up front about the costs," Paquette said. "Telephone companies have thousands of different rates, and you cannot get an apple-to-apple comparison -- it's all apples to oranges." Paquette said he spends from $1,500 to $2,000 per year on long distance costs to keep in touch with family members scattered all over the northeastern United States. Stuart Greenfield, a technologist in the office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in Austin, said at age 52, he is too old to change -- even though he sees savings in the technology. "We have offices all over the state," he said. "Why not make it Internet? The downside would be that if the Net goes down, you have a real problem." Thomas Wright, chief investment officer for Channel Entertainment International in North Palm Beach, Fla., said he is staying with the phone company right now, but would be interested if Internet telephony becomes more cost-efficient. "I never liked the idea that they broke up the telephone monopoly," said Peter Fries, Webmaster for the Information Services Division of the City of San Francisco. "I thought the telephone companies had it right," he said. "They broke it up, prices went up, and service went down." Maria Alejandra Godoy was enthusiastic about ISPs' handling telephone services. "It fulfills my needs," said Godoy, an Internet engineer for Emtelco, S.A., a telephone service provider in Bogota, Colombia. Roy Hughes, a systems programmer for five years with Dell, in Round Rock, Texas, said he likes the reliability of his telephone company, but is rankled by the price of in-state calling using Southwestern Bell. "I'm trying to get my friends to get hooked up on chat clients so we can communicate," he said. "I want it to be just like a telephone," said Kevin Mullet, a representative for Netscape professional services. "It's not there yet," he said. "I want my computer to be a computer and my phone to be a phone," said Larry Chase, publisher of an Internet marketing newsletter. "I'm an old-fashioned guy." (c)CMP Media, 1997. =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= =-------------------------------= | Storytime with TFP | | By whoever bothered to submit | =-------------------------------= Paranoia - by labassu -------- Many years ago, in a town far far away, I had just found out that biege boxing was not limited to just one phone line. A few weeks later I got my equipment ready (mainly lots of alligator clips) and invited a friend to come with me, this person being someone who had been (in my eyes) a person who had more than enough years under his belt to be calm when stalking in the night. I had already staked out the site many days before and had verified that all lines were in working order so that all would be well :) We drove half way there and walked the rest, us trying to look innocent at 3:00am wearing nearly all black with 2 backpacks. I hooked up 5 lines with no problem and filled them all with people to chat with. About 20 minutes into the calls this car comes racing by going at least 60mph and comes to a screeching halt around the building we are at (the building being a small L shaped building with a drive-thru in the back), and drove right into the back where we were! Our hearts were pounding, waiting for the moment to jump the person and to flee. The head lights were shining right where we were! I had beforehand placed 3 large garbage cans around the side where people could see us... 4 seconds (a long time when your head is throbbing from a rush like this) later, the car pulls out and takes off. Not sure what to make of it we were just glad the car left. The scanner had not picked up anything about our doings so we ASSUMED the guy/gal was just some unstable person and continued messing with the lines (doing what you do when you are young and can't be traced with 5 people on conference). Ten minutes later I jokingly said "now watch, some cop car will come by and arrest us," and literally a few seconds later we see red and blue lights flashing against the fence. The term 'almost shit your pants' accurately described my emotional state. The cop car just kept on going. I said goodbye to everyone and pulled the clips and we went home. The End. =-----------------------------------------------------------= Benny the redbox - by KungFuFox ---------------- Kids like Benny don't come along often. You're lucky if you're friends with a kid like him. He wasn't so great at being friendly, or being cool, but he was the most popular kid around. If you're not even cool and you're popular, you're special. Benny was special. He could fart like noone could. You'd have to hear it to understand. It was like a little raygun when he farted like he did. He knew it was different, everyone else did too. He never knew the way he farted was so great when he was little, he thought it was just something that made him different. The day everything changed was two days before his 13th birthday. His mom had been treating him real well that week, since it was so close to his birthday. His dad didn't care, it was like any other week to him. His mom though, she knew what Benny liked. He was a little fat, and anything sweet would make his day. Every kid has a favorite cereal, and he did too. It was Count Chocula. I could never understand his zest for that cereal, it got old after a couple weeks of eating it daily, for me anyway. His mom normally wouldn't let him have it because it had too many calories and she didn't want him gaining any more weight than he already had, but this week was special, and she let him eat it every day. Most kid related cereals have stupid little promotional gimics like puzzles or toys, and this cereal was no exception. A bat-shreik whistle was the exclamation on the box. Free inside. Benny knew about it, and he knew he was going to find it, all in good time. Most kids care more about the toy than the cereal, but not Benny. He'd rather eat the cereal and get the toy when he got to it. No rush, there was plenty of cereal between him and that toy to eat through first. He'd been digging through that cereal for three days before he came across the whistle. He was nearly done with the box by then. He ate a big breakfast, knowing he only had the luxury of this cereal for a short while. He wasn't really that excited when he finally got the whistle, he just got finished eating, and then examined it. It had one of those little metal bars in it that'd rattle when you blew the whistle. Nothing special. A new trinket, handy for getting adults mad at him in public. He put it in his pocket. Time to go outside. He lived in a town just outside of Newark, New Jersey called Hillside. There wasn't anything really good to do in Hillside. Hop a bus to New York City, that's where everything was, including the best arcades. He went to our friend Nerky's house. Yeah, Nerky is a weird name, but that's what his name was. Anyway, he got Nerky, told him he was taking a bus to NYC, and Nerky came along. They came to my house next. My parents didn't care if I went to NYC, so long as I went with friends and I called to tell them where I was every few hours. That's how Benny's dad was too, just so long as Benny called every once in a while, everything was ok with him. Nerky's parents were weird, they never cared. He never even said where he went, he'd just leave. We went to NYC almost every day we had off. Today was a Saturday, and the city is always more interesting on Saturdays. Not that the bus rides aren't interesting enough. Some weird people ride public transportation. Sometimes there'd be hobos and bag ladies on the bus, just sitting there with all their posessions on them. We brought enough money for the bus fare and an hour or two's worth of video games. Most of the games were still a quarter back then, but there were a few real new ones that cost fifty cents. We only played the new ones when we had some money to waste, which we didn't that day. We went to the same arcade we always went to, a place called Fratello's Circus at the boardwalk on Coney Island. We played the same games we always played, the racecar games and the pinball machines. They were the cheapest and the games seemed to last the longest. We played away almost all of our money in an hour, saving enough for bus fare back and a phonecall each for Benny and I to our parents. Nerky was always slow going back, even though he was pretty thin compared to me. Even more so compared to Benny. We'd just let him walk his own pace, he'd get to the station eventually. We only had to walk about 6 blocks to the station from the arcade. There was a bank of payphones there. It seemed one of the payphones was always out of service, but it was a different one every time. On this particular day, when we got to the bus station and bought our bus tokens, Benny and I went to the payphones to call our folks. As usual, Nerky was a ways behind us when we bought the tokens, but he always found us eventually. A black guy in a green suit was using one of the phones that day, so there was only one available. Benny let me go first since it always took him some time to fish the money out of his pockets. I called my mom and let her know where I was and that I'd be home soon, and I hung up. Benny picked up the phone and dialed his house, fishing in his pockets the whole time. He couldn't find a quarter. A recorded voice said "please deposit 25 cents". I didn't have any money left either. Nerky might've had some, but he wasn't there yet. Benny pulled out the bat-shreik whistle and blew it as loud as he could, hoping Nerky would appear. He farted one of those squeeky farts at the same time. I guess the pressure of blowing on the whistle came out the other end as well. "Thank you", the phone said. "Hey, the phone didn't need no money! It's callin' anyway!" Benny said. I grabbed the phone, his dad picked up. I handed it back to Benny, he told his dad about the same stuff I'd told my mom. Nerky showed up right when Benny hung up. "Hey Nerky, the phone didn't need no quarter to dial, it called anyway. And I didn't have no money!", Benny said. I started thinking, and I said to Benny, "call your folks back, and blow that whistle when it asks you for your money". He did, and sure enough, when he blew that whistle, he farted. "Thank you" said the recording. It turns out Benny could fart a 1700Hz tone, and his butt cheeks vibrated about 15 times a second when he farted. That little metal bar in the whistle rattled back and forth about 15 times a second too, and blew a tone of about 2200Hz. Benny could fart and whistle the exact ACTS tones for a quarter signal. After that initial discovery, word gradually spread. By the end of the school year he was the most popular kid in the school. He'd try it all the time, but always giving his demonstrations away from the watchful eyes of the teachers and the dean. He was warned by them, since they found out about his 'talent', that he would get turned in to the phone company if he got caught doing it. He did it anyway, he just never got caught for it. It sure was funny to watch though. Sometimes he'd stick his butt right up near the receiver to improve tone clarity. He was a walking redbox. He was a natural born phreak. It was fate. Benny the redbox, that's what he was. =----------------------------------------------------------------------------= I know you guys must have SOMETHING to bitch about, judging from the quality of this issue. Please send TFP hatemail to tfp@tfp.nothing.org RIGHT NOW. Or not. Geez. Until the 1st, or maybe the 31st, have fun, and happy holidays! =----------------------------------------------------------------------------=