239 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
239 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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============================================================================
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THE SYNDICATE REPORT
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Bell Information Transmittal No. 9
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Released February 16, 1987
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Featuring:
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911 Charge Fee (m am 12\1)
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AT&T Rates Chopped (m am 12\1)
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TSPS Justice (n wk 12\1)
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Cloning Experiment Avoids Havoc For Bell Companies (n wk 12\1)
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Computer History Stickups (cmt usr 12\5)
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SONAR To Speed Up Order Process (n wk 12\7)
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by The Sensei
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============================================================================
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Exposition:
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The Syndicate Report now excepts outside sources. Anyone can write/provide
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information to the Syndicate Report. The Syndicate Report is also altering
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format. Rather than concentrating mainly on BELL orientated information,
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the Syndicate Report now has a more broad interest. Thus, TSR now handles
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all types of news gatherings.
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All articles have been presented by me unless shown at the end of the
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article as the information provider(s).
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The Syndicate Report is about 2 months late due to computer problems. The
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actual release date was scheduled at Dec 28 '86. Sorry for the late issue.
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Other matters force me to hold off on producing the report, so if you don't
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see the report next month...most likely I stopped publishing.
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============================================================================
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911 CHARGE FEE:
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When the legislature passed the omnibus "garbage" bill last
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session, few reports noticed a measure to fund 911 telephone service in states.
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Starting January '86 most of all telephone customers will be assessed a monthly
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911 service fee of 14 cents on each access line, trunk, or trunk equivalency.
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More than 80 percent of the state's population has 911 emergency calling
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capability but the fee will be charged on all phone lines in the state. The
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fee will be collected by phone companies each month and paid to the state of
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each state. The state will use the money to pay the companies cost of 911
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telephone lines. That cost is estimated to be 3.5$ million per year. The
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law does not provide for reimbursement to phone companies for the cost of
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collecting the fee.
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============================================================================
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AT&T RATES CHOPPED:
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AT&T long distance rates are expected to drop an additional 8.1 percent
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January 1 if the FCC approves the company's filing of last month. The
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proposed reduction, the second in a year and the fourth in three years, would
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save customers 1.2$ billion. The 8 am - 5 am calling period rates would drop
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the most, benefitting daytime callers including large number of business
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customers. MCI and Sprint have indicated they would keep their rates
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competitive, but industry observers say it will be a tight squeeze.
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============================================================================
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TSPS JUSTICE:
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The Justice Department last month filed a court briefing supporting
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a proposal that would allow the former Bell companies to provide certain
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TSPS operator services for interLATA calls.
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The proposal has been opposed by AT&T, MCI and U S Sprint, which have
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sought a ruling that the Concent Decree prohibits the Bell Companies from
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providing such services.
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The services in question include providing conference call arrangements,
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emergency assistance, billing for operator-handled calls, and time and
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charges information.
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============================================================================
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CLONING EXPERIMENT AVOIDS HAVOC FOR BELL COMPANIES:
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Computers in the Network Simulation Lab at Bell Communications
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Research are into cloning. They create clones of voiceband networks at
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the Bell operating companies to find out how proposed changes and improve-
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ments will affect customers' data transmission through modems. By simulating
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network impairments such as echo, the lab can determine whether proposed
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changes will cause digital errors -- before the companies invest in changes.
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Bell Research, the nation's largest research and engineering consortium,
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is jointly owned by the operating companies of the seven Bell regions.
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============================================================================
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COMPUTER HISTORY STICKUPS:
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The run-of-the-mill bank robber nets 20,000$. If caught, the thief
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has a 90 percent chance of being prosecuted and, if convicted, will be jailed
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for five years. A swindler who pulls off an electronic funds transfer nets an
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average of 500.000$, has a 15 percent chance of persecution, and, if convicted,
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faces only five months behind bars.
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Computer Crime is relatively new -- so new that the FBI only began
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keeping statistics in 1974. Today, though, the FBI has developed several
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computer-fraud training programs, including its challenging four-weeks at the
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FBI Academy in Virginia.
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You might say computer crime began as a nickel-and-dime operation.
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In 1967, a New York bank employee used the institution's computer to shave
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fractions of pennies from interest on long-term accounts. He wrote a program
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to deposit these fractions to his own account. After several years, he had
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ammassed over 200,000$.
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In the 1960s and early 1970s, such crimes were isolated. in the 1980s,
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computer crimes are not uncommon. A 1986 study conducted by Mercy University
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in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., revealed that 56 percent of the Forbes 500 companies
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reported computer crime during 1985 with a combined total loss of 12,250,000$.
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A survey by an American Bar Association task force in 1984 estimated
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that businesses lose as much as 730$ million a year to computer crime. Other
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sources estimate the annual loss from such crimes may be as high as 3.5$
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billion. White-collar crime, which includes computer-aided theft, adds an
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estimated 15 percent to the cost of retail goods. But what has made computer
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crime such an alluring profession? Three technological advances have formed
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the Achilles' heel of business-computer systems:
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o Systems are more user friendly today than ever.
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o The number of computers has greatly increased
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o Unauthorized persons can access computers through phone lines
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As a result, perfect crimes are committed where it is impossible to
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identify the perpetrator. Super-perfect crimes occur because many
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organizations are unaware a crime has been committed. Movies such as War Games
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often portray young, brilliant computers users ("hackers") as the primary
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threats to business and government computer systems. Not so, Mercy University
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reports. Mercy University's studies revealed that almost two-thirds of
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discovered computer crimes were perpetrated from the inside by employees.
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Hackers commit no more than 20 percent of all computer crimes, 5 percent by
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other estimates. Usually computer criminals are knowledgeable programmers or
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employees who have been entrusted to access critical information. Mercy
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University states, "You don't have to be a computer wizard to steal using
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computers; you just have to have suffice access."
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The most understood motives for people who breach systems, violate
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someone else's privacy or sabotage a critical computer system is: Ego,
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Revenge, criminal/financial gain, irrational behavior and zealous causes. The
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first three are the most prevalent.
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Most computer criminals have never broken the law before but are tempted
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by the technological challenge. The typical computer hacker is an intelligent
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and introverted person who is a luser is social environments. The hacker's
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sense of unimportant and lack of self-worth feed the desire to achieve
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something worth bragging about. For an employee, designing the perfect
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computer crime is little more than a mental exercise, like solving a cross
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word puzzle.
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In 1983, government computer personnel -- unhappy about mandatory
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layoffs -- made unauthorized changes in computer programs so that payroll
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checks continued to be sent to some of the terminated employees.
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The more ingenious revenge methods include computer viruses, which
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gradually alter and disrupt other computer programs and systems, and
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programming bombs, which will, at a predetermined time or number of runs,
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erase a company's data or destroy its master programs. More subtly, it
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may cause virtually invincible but deadly changes to data bases.
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An example of a sophisticated computer crime is the Rifkin case in 1978,
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where consultant Mark Rifkin robbed a California bank of 10.2$ million. All
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he required was one phone call, a code number and an assumed name. Although
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the crime was perfect, Rifkin was caught by the FBI because of his loose
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tongue, rather than by the bank's computer safeguards. In fact, Security
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Pacific National Bank was unaware the funds were missing until the FBI notified
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bank officials.
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Last summer, the U.S. House of Representatives toughed existing
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computer-crime legislation. H.R. 4718, the Computer Crime and Abuse Act of
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1986, would establish three federal crimes for computer fraud, destruction
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and password trafficking. Three areas were strengthened:
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o It would make is a felony, punishable by five years in prison, to trespass
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into a "Federal-Interest computer" with an intent to defraud. A Federal-
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Interest computer is defined as any computer used exclusively by the federal
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government, financial institutions or one of a group of computers located in
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different states.
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o It also would make it a five-year felony to cause damage of 1000$ or more
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by altering information or preventing access to federal-interest computer.
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o It would make it a misdemeanor to display computer passwords. This
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provision is designed to discourage private pirate bulletin boards, in which
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hackers exchange secret codes to gain unauthorized access to computers.
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The Senate Judiciary Committee, by voice vote, approved a similar
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measure, S. 2281.
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::::::::::::::::::::Information provided by The Mercenal::::::::::::::::::::
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============================================================================
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SONAR TO SPEED UP ORDER PROCESS:
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When a customer of Bell calls to order service, it's been customary
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for a service representative, pen in hand, to jot down order information.
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It's passed an order typist for final entry.
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A new system called SONAR (Service Order Negotiation and Retrieval) is
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changing all that. SONAR was introduced earlier this month to service reps.
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all over the nation to Old Mill Account Center. Decisions were made and
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Business Service Centers will cut over to the new system on January 20.
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Project manager Rick Wilson says all Bell Service Centers will have
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SONAR within the next six months. At that point, 85 percent of all residence
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service orders will be on the system. This new technique will create a
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service order without having it touch human hands. And greatly reduce the
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chance for errors...and speed the order process.
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Mountain Bell began using the system in August and Pacific Bell will
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switch to it in the third quarter of next year, NWB Reports.
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============================================================================
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If there is any question to the information in this file, contact the
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author. Now can be found on the Private Sector 20 Meg, 3/1200 baud
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system at (201) 366-4431 (2600 Magazine Bulletin Board).
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============================================================================
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This concludes this transmittal No. 9 provided by:
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The Sensei of The Syndicate Report
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Released February 16, 1987
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============================================================================
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