318 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
318 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
F I D O N E W S -- Vol.12 No.44 (30-Oct-1995)
|
||
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
|
||
| A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: |
|
||
| FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS |
|
||
| _ | +1-519-570-4176 |
|
||
| / \ | |
|
||
| /|oo \ | |
|
||
| (_| /_) | |
|
||
| _`@/_ \ _ | |
|
||
| | | \ \\ | Editors: |
|
||
| | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
|
||
| |__U__| / \// | Sylvia 1:221/194 |
|
||
| _//|| _\ / | |
|
||
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
|
||
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
|
||
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
|
||
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
|
||
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
|
||
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
||
| MORE addresses: |
|
||
| |
|
||
| submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
|
||
| Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
|
||
| Sylvia max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
|
||
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
||
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
|
||
| obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq |
|
||
| please refer to the end of this file. |
|
||
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|
||
========================================================================
|
||
Table of Contents
|
||
========================================================================
|
||
|
||
1. Editorial..................................................... 1
|
||
2. Articles...................................................... 2
|
||
Dr. Mod em i lala........................................... 2
|
||
ACR (Automatic Call Rejection).............................. 2
|
||
Free Quebec! (with every purchase of double poutine)........ 3
|
||
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 5
|
||
========================================================================
|
||
Editorial
|
||
========================================================================
|
||
FidoNews 12-44 Page: 2 30 Oct 1995
|
||
|
||
|
||
A short issue this week, with only three articles, and an
|
||
intro rather than an editorial<S>.
|
||
|
||
Here is the snooze.
|
||
========================================================================
|
||
Articles
|
||
========================================================================
|
||
Dear Madam Emilia
|
||
Dr. Mod em i lala
|
||
From: Sylvia Maxwell (1:221/294)
|
||
|
||
On the first day of this year's 'puters Freedom and Privacy
|
||
concert in Burlingame there existed a bluely glowing being with
|
||
brown eyes in the VESTIBULE of a hotel, approximately under
|
||
neath a chandelier and beside a piano.
|
||
|
||
Many e-people were about and perchance one of you might have
|
||
noticed me noticing him etc./and could help me find his temporal
|
||
presence if he wishes it found? Prey tell.
|
||
|
||
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
ACR (Automatic Call Rejection)
|
||
Automatic Call Rejection
|
||
by Jerry Schwartz 1:142/928
|
||
|
||
ACR is a feature you can purchase from the telephone company;
|
||
what it does is automatically reject incoming telephone calls
|
||
from anyone who deliberately blocks caller identification
|
||
information. I was not involved directly with any of the recent
|
||
controversy over ACR, but I was on speaking terms with two NCs
|
||
who were at the center of the argument and corresponded with both
|
||
of them about it. Both of them are reasonable men, if somewhat
|
||
fastidious about technical issues.
|
||
|
||
One side contended that they had the right to reject anonymous
|
||
calls, and that it served a direct and important security need:
|
||
preventing people from impersonating nodes and thereby forging
|
||
mail.
|
||
|
||
The other side contended that existing security measures (packet
|
||
and session passwords, for example) were adequate; but that was
|
||
not the impetus for the complaint. The problem was a strictly
|
||
technical one, and one which is beyond the control of any sysop.
|
||
|
||
The sysop whose calls were rejected was NOT deliberately blocking
|
||
their CID information. What happened was that his long distance
|
||
carrier (MCI) was doing something which was causing the local
|
||
telephone carrier at the other end to THINK that he had
|
||
deliberately blocked CID.
|
||
|
||
The calling sysop discovered this problem by turning on the
|
||
speaker in his modem; he then heard a robotic explanation from
|
||
the phone company at the far end. When he called MCI, he was
|
||
FidoNews 12-44 Page: 3 30 Oct 1995
|
||
|
||
told that he would be charged for these calls because so far as
|
||
MCI was concerned the call had gone through. (They did agree to
|
||
eat the charges as a matter of good customer relations.)
|
||
|
||
This highlights the underlying problem: telephone service is not
|
||
as well-coordinated as you might expect. For example, my own
|
||
area has recently changed area codes. There have since been
|
||
articles in the local paper about the problems caused by this:
|
||
out-of-state telephone carriers are not universally capable of
|
||
handling "860" as an area code, and our local company has
|
||
publicly stated that they "have no way of forcing other companies
|
||
to make the necessary changes." (If you check the nodelist,
|
||
you'll see that I am still using the old area code, taking
|
||
advantage of a grace period.)
|
||
|
||
The ACR argle-bargle occurred because either NyNEX, MCI, or the
|
||
carriers down in Texas mishandled the hand-off of CID
|
||
information. This is not something that the pro-ACR folks
|
||
expected, or even necessarily believed possible. It is also not
|
||
something that the anti-ACR folks expected, nor could they
|
||
control it.
|
||
|
||
I can easily conceive of several situations which might cause
|
||
similar problems. Many of the analog phone lines in my company
|
||
are "anonymous" and cannot accept incoming calls. I have no idea
|
||
what if anything appears as CID information when I use my system
|
||
at work to call out. Similarly, calls from other countries and
|
||
smaller telephone carriers in the US might not look "right." In
|
||
theory, ACR should detect and distinguish between "unavailable"
|
||
and "deliberately blocked" but it clearly failed to do so in at
|
||
least one case.
|
||
|
||
Until the technological wrinkles are ironed out, we all have to
|
||
be careful about adopting new techniques prematurely.
|
||
Ultimately, ACR may be a "don't care" to every legitimate Fidonet
|
||
sysop; but for right now, it seems to be a problem.
|
||
|
||
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
Free Quebec! (with every purchase of double poutine)
|
||
Dear Editorbeings,
|
||
|
||
Please advise both readers of the Snooz that this article
|
||
was submitted by Charles Herriot (1:163/110) who
|
||
successfully dragged Logger down from a hydro pole where he
|
||
was beseeching pedestrians to join him in hearty song on
|
||
Patsy Gallant's version of "From New York to L.A." Roll da
|
||
flic, Sylvia....
|
||
|
||
Dear Reverend Visage,
|
||
|
||
I feel a sort of celebratory feeling towards this missive,
|
||
what with it being the 35th outpouring of mine that the
|
||
Editor-beings have been gracious enough to include in their
|
||
esteemed organ. To think that it all began when I wrote
|
||
FidoNews 12-44 Page: 4 30 Oct 1995
|
||
|
||
about the *EC-trolls shutting down the Golden Toilet echo.
|
||
|
||
There is much to comment upon this week. Our frozen country
|
||
stands on the threshold of Balkanizing itself. I can't quite
|
||
fathom the various sentimental outpourings by pundits who
|
||
weep over the meltdown of Canada. In point of fact, I'll be
|
||
one of those cheering heartily when the spoiled children in
|
||
Quebec *finally* live up to their age old threats and get
|
||
the hell out of confederation. They suck millions more from
|
||
the public teat than they contribute through tax revenues
|
||
and that doesn't begin to factor in the cost of reading
|
||
everything on the damned cereal boxes in both official
|
||
languages.
|
||
|
||
I wonder, though, who will presume to speak and negotiate
|
||
for Canada when Lobster Jack and Lucie Bouchard come calling
|
||
to divvy up the spoils. Surely we won't allow Jean Cretin to
|
||
straddle more than one horse at once. We need someone with
|
||
bloodlust in their eyes, a bible and a flintlock... in
|
||
short, you're it. I suggest you open negotiations by
|
||
offering to trade Anne Murray for the Val d'Or gold mines.
|
||
The culturally paranoid folks in Quebec won't notice the
|
||
faint musk of sweat socks when she opens their national
|
||
assembly fete. If they raise any kind of argument about it,
|
||
remind them that we whupped their sorry asses on the Plains
|
||
of Abraham and we'll do it again if we have to.
|
||
|
||
Another matter which sticks in my craw this week concerns
|
||
deer. Yup, the Bambi kind... except in this case the *lack*
|
||
of deer is what is causing my apoplexy. The deer story makes
|
||
the O.J. travesty seem like a model of jurisprudence. What
|
||
happened was an off-duty police office was shitfaced while
|
||
driving his car. He splattered a bicyclist all over one of
|
||
our local roads and then screeched off from the scene of the
|
||
crime. He managed to drive six kilometres to a donut shop
|
||
where he discovered that the absence of a windshield, a
|
||
headlight, and other parts of his car, meant that he'd been
|
||
in an accident. The crime was investigated by other police
|
||
officers who *neglected* to take a timely breathalyzer
|
||
sample. The charge of impaired driving was withdrawn and a
|
||
judge, incredibly, believed his story that he thought he'd
|
||
hit a deer. During the trial the murdering bastard was
|
||
chauffeured to and from court by his police buddies and
|
||
generally accorded more courtesies and privileges than any
|
||
other criminal. Something is truly rotten in the state of
|
||
Denmark when a police officer is blessed with such a
|
||
ludicrous application of justice. Meanwhile, the dead
|
||
bicyclist's parents are left to grieve and to have
|
||
nightmares about the fact that their son's head was found
|
||
100 metres from the road.
|
||
|
||
I donned a Level 4 biohazard suit and ventured into the echo
|
||
that serves Region 12. Gawd, Duddy Grimspam is *still*
|
||
whinging about his completely wrong legion of world class
|
||
experts. I don't think Net250 have sorted out their
|
||
FidoNews 12-44 Page: 5 30 Oct 1995
|
||
|
||
differences which isn't surprising because they seem to
|
||
possess the sort of collective intellect that suggests a
|
||
family tree wider than it is tall. If they start playing
|
||
banjos, Visage, shoot first, and ask questions later.
|
||
|
||
Your absence has started to become notable... particularly
|
||
by the swarthy gentlemen who claim that you owe major
|
||
dollars on your gambling action associated with the GIANT
|
||
PUMPKIN contest. I could have sworn that I saw you on the
|
||
street the other day. Were it not for the fact that your
|
||
likeness was walking in a straight line and not leering at
|
||
the 300 pound courier-babes, I might have hailed you.
|
||
|
||
I must go Visage, your secretary has become inhospitable and
|
||
this has nothing at all to do with the fact that I wired her
|
||
dictaphone earphone to the gigawatt amplifier output of my
|
||
son's most incredibly bad garage band. She is neither a
|
||
happy nor a well person Visage, and I think we should send
|
||
her to a nice safe neighbourhood like Brentwood.
|
||
|
||
Regards,
|
||
Doc Logger,
|
||
Giant Clam School of Opera & Small Arms Repair,
|
||
Furlang Island,
|
||
South Pacific
|
||
|
||
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
||
========================================================================
|
||
Fidonews Information
|
||
========================================================================
|
||
|
||
------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
|
||
|
||
Editors: Donald Tees, Sylvia Maxwell
|
||
Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
|
||
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar
|
||
Tom Jennings
|
||
"FidoNews" BBS
|
||
FidoNet 1:1/23
|
||
BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS)
|
||
|
||
more addresses:
|
||
Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
|
||
Sylvia- 1:221/194, max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
|
||
|
||
(Postal Service mailing address)
|
||
FidoNews
|
||
128 Church St.
|
||
Kitchener, Ontario
|
||
Canada
|
||
N2H 2S4
|
||
|
||
voice: (519) 570-3137
|
||
sylvia: (519) 579-8029
|
||
FidoNews 12-44 Page: 6 30 Oct 1995
|
||
|
||
|
||
Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET
|
||
INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation
|
||
of individual articles contributed by their authors or their
|
||
authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation
|
||
does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in
|
||
these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
|
||
FidoNews.
|
||
|
||
Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
|
||
Copyright 1995 Donald Tees. All rights reserved. Duplication
|
||
and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use
|
||
in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the eds.
|
||
|
||
OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic
|
||
form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or
|
||
Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
|
||
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail
|
||
address.
|
||
|
||
INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org,
|
||
in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews.
|
||
|
||
Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may
|
||
freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to
|
||
fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is
|
||
necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated
|
||
response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch
|
||
should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the
|
||
previously listed address.
|
||
|
||
SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
|
||
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
|
||
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
|
||
from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.
|
||
|
||
"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
|
||
trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission.
|
||
|
||
' ' disgreement is actually necessary,
|
||
or we'd all have to get in fights
|
||
or semethin to amuse ourselves,,
|
||
and create the requisite chaos."
|
||
-Tom Jennings
|
||
-- END
|
||
|