471 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
471 lines
26 KiB
Plaintext
____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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THE SYNDICATE REPORT
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Information Transmittal No. 25
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(Part 1 of 2)
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Released September 20, 1989
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Featuring:
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Editor's Note
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"TSR Clears Month #25"
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Time, Notwithstanding, The Line Noise Collusion
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CCCP Experiences "COMPUTER CRIME"
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More Morris Jr. Morrings
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Extender Bender v2 & C.C. Checksum Kit for Applers
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CI; AT&T, AMEX Telcom, Info Processing Service
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FONVIEW Allows Hacks to Analyze Fone Bills
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Brief Notes from the Report
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"Cellular Fone Sets Off Alarm: Ring!, Ring!"
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Vocabulary Tonic
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by The Sensei
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Editor Syndicate Report Magazine
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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EXPOSITION: TSR
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Once again, The Report accepts outside sources. Anybody can write/provide
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information to The Syndicate Report. Articles/Information may be provided
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through RADIO WAVES Bulletin Board System 612-639-1053. Any info such as
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Busts, Phreaking, Hacking, Data / Telecommunications, and new developments
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on any the previous mentioned specialties will be: accepted, labeled, and
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given full actual credit to the article/info provider(s), or writer(s). --
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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), or writer(s). **
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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EDITOR'S NOTE: TSR
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The Syndicate Report Clears Month #25!
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Well, since TSR #1 was first published back in May, 1986 -- there have
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been a whopping 25 issues. There would have been many more, but The Editor
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took a few months off due too: The '87 Crackdowns (Mine was one of the first),
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Modem Data Burnout (You have to get away from it once in a while), and the
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summer came about. What keeps TSR coming out to you, the hacks/phreaks/users
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of the world, is your continued support. Each time I receive a good word, or
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find users helping out by contributing files, it energizing me.
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Another year of college will be on the way by tyme this file is
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released, so expect future TSRs to be late -- as last year's record show. I'm
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not going to try to get TSRs out by the desired 1 month limit, but I'll surely
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keep by that general time frame.
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With this transmittal, I'm releasing a file on the new Interactive
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Personal Computer System called, Prodigy. I've had a chance to get online
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the system FREE of charge of course, and I'm going to evaluate it -- and make
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some helpful hack suggestions. Expect it released at the end up Sept.
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...enjoy!
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;The Sensei / TSR Editor 1989
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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TIME, NOTWITHSTANDING, THE LINE NOISE COLLUSION: (all TSR 9\6)
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The age old problem of "Line Noise" still haunts many telecommunication
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users -- causing many levels of stress. Here and now, I will try to point out
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some common problems that can cause line noise. Many of these you've heard
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before, many you may have not. Basically this is a summary of solves:
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During the early days of my telecom/modem experiences, many phreaks and
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hacks alike that experienced LN (Line Noise), immediately blamed the local or
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LD (Long Distance) Fone companies. Those guys are great scapegoats for many
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reasons. The most obvious is the outrageous prices they drop upon the users.
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Let's face it, the LD services make a bundle off users dialing LD -- and work
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what? the cost of electricity (which is very cheap in Minnesota, 612).
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Anyway, call up your TSPS Operator (0), and tell her to send you to
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someone that can fix your fone, your getting a lot of static -- say.
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The Bell system can still be the blame: A signal is routed through
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multiple stations before it eventually makes it to the other end and some of
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these stations aren't exactly up-to-date standard ESS or above. Older areas
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may have older, less sophisticated equipment that is more apt to be affected by
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ambient noise. This is one reason some people continue to have noise problems
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even after hanging up and calling back multiple times. Also, a given physical
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connection at one of these junctions may not be up to snuff. If your
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particular bundle of line noise is solved by hanging up and calling back, then
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it's probable that you were previously connected through an intermittent or
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'dirty' connection. Some of these trunk lines (large, multi-caller 'pipes')
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may pass through an area that has a lot of ambient RFI (Radio Frequency
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Interference) present although this is not usually the case.
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Also, if you have a cordless fone, some other person may be connecting to
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you and your cordless fone. I've had this happen before, just after calling
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Bell and figuring it out myself. It doesn't pay to buy a cheap cordless. Also
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those car fones can emit those nasty waves -- check your neighbors. Steal
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all fones for best results.
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What else then, if not the fone company? Your home. Most homes have
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televisions, radios, microwave ovens, VCR's, and if you are reading this, a
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micro-computer. All these devices radiate radio waves that can (and often do)
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get into the phone lines and cause noise. Electric motors and mechanical
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dimmer controls can introduce noise into the electrical wiring in your house
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and cause problems. If your line noise problem does not go away after repeated
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hanging up and calling back, then you may be suffering from one of these
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household problems. If you are suffering from this problem, you can take steps
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to eliminate it. First of all, turn off EVERYTHING, and see if the noise
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persists. If it goes away, then start turning things back on, checking the
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computer each time until you see the noise start up again. It may be that a
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single device is not bugging you but several devices plotting together to annoy
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you. This elimination tournament may take awhile.
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What else? Check your wiring. If your system looks at all like mine
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(with other computer surrounding), you have a mess of wiring interweaving. You
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know what it's like, just look back there to see for yourself. It almost
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immediately reminds me of fishing wire tangled to infinity. You have to unwind
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it all, or you can't go fishing.
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If nothing, try using noise supressors on your power connections to both
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the PC and the modem (if external). Ribbon cables (especially long runs of it)
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are great antennas and will cause problems. Re-route the RS-232 cable so it
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does not run next to the PC power supply or any other transformer. Many
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'clone' monitors do not have internal metal shielding and can radiate lots of
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noise (Ever notice an occasional high pitched whining ring? That's it...).
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Make sure the cable does not run near the monitor. If you are particularly
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adventuresome, you can line the interior of the monitor with foil and ground it
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with a ribbon grounding strap.
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If you're lucky enough to live next to an annoying freeway/highway, then
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interference from CB radio can present a problem. Many of those beer belly,
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coke snorting, no money bum truckers have 100+ watts of power (illegally) on
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their CB rigs and frequently have sloppy amplifiers that can emit spurious
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radiation all over the radio spectrum. (See box plans: Blotto Box, if
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confused.)
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Check software, change baud speeds, could be your brand of modem (cheap?),
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could be the BBS software (another computer type than yours? commie story),
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The modem! Many say that the high the speed transferring your
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information, the more prone you are to LN. Not true. Personally, and say
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others, back when I switched from 300 to 1200, the LN disappeared completely.
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Same happened with me. So, check speeds to see if that does the trick. The
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most common transfer rate is 2400 BPS -- which is very reliable, but to some, a
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hellish nightmare. Try dropping a bps level. If this helps, it's your modem
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(it really pays to shoppe at KMart). The brand of your modem is also very
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critical. Shoppe around for a very reliable modem brand name. I have a
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Packard Bell 2400 Plus -- and it works excellent. Also try: Robotics, Everex,
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Courier, Multitech, and of course Hayes (over priced). But I always hold to
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the phobia that anything expensive is going to be worth it -- besides Radio
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Shack computer equipment.
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Hardware Kantankering: This'll help out the line noise problems by way of
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hardware adjustments:
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The Bell Linemun are usually stupid when it comes to static. After all,
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it can come from ANYWHERE! Bell people will usually charge you also for a
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visit, but only if they find something wrong with your equipment.
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Throw this thing together in about 10 minutes. And take another five to
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adjust the stuff for best results on your worst connection.
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Quick Pointers:
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1) The pot need not be either 5K or audio taper. I used a 10K 15 turn trim pot.
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Suggest you use what is handy.
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2) I used 2MFD's of capacitance (two 1MFD's in parallel) Two R.S. p/n 272-1055
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work fine. Remember that about 90 Volts will appear across red & green at
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ring, so the caps should be rated at 100VDC+.
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3) I ended up with a final series resistance value (100 ohm + pot) of 2.75K.
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I speculate that one could probably use 2MFD and a fixed 2.7K resistor and
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do the job 90% of the time. The adjustment of the pot is not very critical.
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Changes of +/- 1K made little difference in the performance of the circuit.
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_____________________________________________________________
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For more help on LN (Line Noise), read Mike McCauley's: Modem Noise
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Killer (alpha version).
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Also, try a static box. In theory, it keeps the voltage on you line
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stable to reduce garbage/static. Schematics may be found around the BBS
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community.
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:::: Information Written by The Sensei / TSR Editor ::::
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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CCCP EXPERIENCES "COMPUTER CRIME": TSR (log.d 8\1)
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... In Moscow, the first All-Union Conference on Social and Legal Issues
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of Information Science has begun. It is being conducted by the USSR State
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Committee for Computers and Information Science (SCCIS), the USSR Academy
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of Sciences, the USSR State Committee on Public Education, and the USSR
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Ministry of Justice. When I began discussing this with I. Z. Karas, one of
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the conference organizers and chairman of the SCCIS Scientific and
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Technical Council's section on computer-science norms and laws, I didn't
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realize that we were speaking of "computer crime."
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"Legally, it would seem that there is no such thing in our country,"
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said Ilya Zinovyevich, "but in fact, it does exist and is growing. We
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cannot close our eyes to this fact."
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I. Karas is the Chairman of the Board of the Informatika <Information
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Science> Union of Cooperatives, which was created in November, and one of
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whose goals is to assist domestic programming. Ilya Zinovyevich spoke of
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something he knows well, something that requires urgent action. Let me clarify.
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"You are obviously referring to the recently publicized incidents of the
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dangerous computer disease having to do with 'computer viruses,' right?" I
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asked.
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"That is an extremely serious matter, but it is only part of the
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'computer-crime' problem. By the way, in terms of its consequences, I would
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say that what happened at one Soviet enterprise, when an unscrupulous
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programmer input an 'infected' program into a computer and disrupted
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control of a production process, is comparable to an act of sabotage. But
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while people stand trial for intentional sabotage of equipment, in cases of
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this kind our laws have proven practically helpless. The programmer got a
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suspended sentence, which, in my opinion, is laughable compared to the
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damage done. In the US, by contrast, such actions are punishable by a fine
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of up to $10,000 or a jail term of up to 10 years. ...
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"In the USSR today, the information-science situation is this: Total
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anarchy rules, there is no copyright, and, for all intents and purposes,
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there is no recognition of property rights where programs are concerned.
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They are universally pirated, but for some reason we see nothing wrong in
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that. If a disk worth 500 rubles, with a program worth 100,000 rubles
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written on it, is stolen, the thief will be tried only for the theft of the
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disk itself. The following harmful practice also exists: On leaving an
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enterprise, a specialist often destroys a program that he has written and
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then proceeds to sell it to another organization. This is a clear case of
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unearned income. If, for example, only the program is lifted, has there
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been no crime? That's wrong! With the development of cheap duplicating
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equipment, the problem has taken on special urgency. One and the same
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program gets repeatedly sold and resold as a new one that has just been
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developed. We need a psychological breakthrough where computer information
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is concerned. And as long as we do not officially recognize rights to it in
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the same sense that we recognize rights to tangible products, we will not
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be able to deal normally in it, and computerization in the country will be
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impeded. ...
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"In my view, the USSR presently needs at least 10,000 lawyers in the
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field of computer law. As yet, there are very few such specialists.
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Computer forensics is also needed." ...
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:::: Information Provided by Vlady-wire ::::
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:::: Originated from USSR, Moscow, by way of Galaxy Link ::::
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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MORE MORRIS JR. MOORINGS: TSR (log.d 8\1)
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The Justice Department is expected to announce that it will file felony
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charges against Robert T. Morris Jr, who allegedly concocted the computer
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worm that penetrated and shut down some 6,200 computers on the Internet
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network in Nov 1988. Morris will likely be charged under provisions of the
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Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, which makes it a felony to 'access a
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federal-interest computer without authorization,' or to 'prevent authorized
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use of any such computer information.' The virus cost nearly $100 million
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in lost computer time and manpower that was used to purge the worm and
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restore the network's functionality.
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Robert T. Morris Jr. is being indicted the week of Jul 20, 1989 in US
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federal court in Syracuse, NY, with violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse
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Act of 1986. Morris is the alleged author of the computer virus, or worm
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program, that infiltrated the national Internet computer network beginning
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on Nov 2, 1989. He is the first defendant in a federal prosecution of a
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computer crime involving a virus or worm and his is the first case under
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the 1986 law. The law makes it a felony to intentionally access a federal
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interest computer without authorization. Morris allegedly paralyzed up to
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6,200 university and military computers and caused substantial damage with
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a worm released from Cornell University.
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:::: Information Provided by Stall Ecklhouse / 615 ::::
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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EXTENDER BENDER V2.0 & C.C. CHECKSUM GENERATION KIT TSR (t.p.v 8\24)
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UPDATES/ADDITIONS FOR APPLE USERS:
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Extender Bender V2 is no ready, and available. Look for it everywhere.
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Also, Viper is sending out a Credit Card Checksum Generator Kit, much like
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Scourges quick generic IBM CC Checksum Generator. Both are no here!
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Here's what Viper posted on Radio Waves, 612-639-1053...
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C R E D I T C A R D C H E C K S U M G E N E R A T I O N K I T
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For The Apple II
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Written By The Phantom Viper
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Based On Information By Dr. Cyclops And The Alias
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Part C Of Hayes Hacamatic ][, The Next Generation
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Create Validly Checksumed Credit Card Numbers
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Verify Credit Card's Authenticity
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Okay, there are two uploads of this up, on the IBM systems. One file is
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11264 bytes long. Check-it out.
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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CI; AT&T, AMEX TELCOM, INFO PROCESSING SERVICE: TSR (g.md 8\1)
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Call Interactive is a new joint venture company of American Express
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Information Services Company (ISC) and AT&T. Call Interactive provides a
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telecommunications and information processing service that enables thousands of
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callers to participate simultaneously in marketing and entertainment programs.
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The service combines ISC's patented interactive technology and
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telemarketing and data processing expertise with AT&T's call-handling capacity
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and customized audio response capability.
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"Call Interactive will allow businesses to use 800 and 900 telephone calls
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for direct sales, market research, contests, audience participation in
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broadcasts, and many other applications never before possible," said Ric
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Duques, President and Chief Executive Officer of ISC.
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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FONVIEW ALLOWS HACKS TO ANALYZE FONE BILLS: TSR (g.md 8\1)
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Compucom Communications Corp. and US Sprint have signed an agreement
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for the introduction of what they claim is a telecommunications first: an
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intelligent fone billing system using PC based technology.
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The new state-of-the-art billing option, designed by Compucom, eliminates
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the need for many costly resources previously required to analyze fone calls
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and expenses. The new US Sprint product named "FONVIEW," has been adapted from
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Compucom's software and production services entitled SMART BILL, for which a
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patent application is being prepared. US Sprint expects to introduce this
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optional service during the third quarter of this year.
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Upon enrolling in Sprint's program, customers will receive a user-friendly
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software diskette containing all of the programs necessary to analyze their US
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Sprint fone bill, which will also be provided on an IBM PC compatible
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diskette. The software will enable users to analyze all or selected parts of
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their fone bill and view the data on their PC screen, in report form, or via
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graphic displays.
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Standard, menu-driven reports, including call distribution patterns, are
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provided along with ad hoc report capabilities. Call detail can be downloaded
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to various electronic spread sheets. The system also provides 12 months of
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historical cost and usage data in report and graphic format. Users can
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analyze data by such variables as area code, point of origin, department
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number, time of day, and geographic range, to name a few.
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Since the late 1800's, fone bills have been provided on paper.
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In recent years, as an adjunct to paper bills for companies making
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thousands of calls per month, long-distance call record detail has been
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provided on magnetic tapes. Analyzing magnetic tapes requires access to
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mainframe computers, costly computer programs and personnel. "FONVIEW"
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effectively eliminates this need.
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Neither Hardy nor Sprint would disclose the terms of the agreement except
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to say that it covers a wide range of services over a minimum three year
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period. Compucom is a mainframe-based computer service bureau specializing in
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fone billing systems and software, fone traffic analysis and network
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organization design services.
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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::::::::::::::::::::::: SYNDICATE REPORT BRIEF NOTES :::::::::::::::::::::::
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// Cellular Fone Sets Off Alarm //
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A call placed to a portable cellular fone carried aboard an airplane
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apparently triggered the plane's electronic smoke alarm, forcing the Northwest
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Airlink plane to land in Columbus, Ohio. Federal Aviation Administration
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officials investigated, and sent the plane on its way after discovering the
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cellular phone, the FAA said. Nine people were aboard the commuter flight.
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:::: Information Provided by Techno-Todd / 718 ::::
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_____________________________________________________________
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// Navy Lofts 10 Satellites //
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General Dynamics Atlas rockets will loft 10 Navy communications satellites
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into orbit in the early 1990s, the company said Tuesday. Manufacturer Hughes
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Aircraft Co., said the first would be ready for launch in 1992. The satellites
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are designed to be part of the Navy's worldwide communications network, and are
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intended for delivery to orbit by the space shuttle or other launch vehicles.
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_____________________________________________________________
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// Sharks Like FO //
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For all its high technology, speed and convenience, fiber optics has one
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unexpected disadvantage contributing to recent optical cable problems: fiber
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optics attracts sharks. Engineers on two undersea cable projects have reported
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the problem, and have had to take extra steps to ensure the cables against
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damage. Why the cables trigger sharks' appetites remains unknown.
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(For more information, see TSR Information Transmittal #7, on Sharks and Fiber
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Optical Cables)
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____________________________________________________________________________
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___________________________________________________________________________
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::::::::::::::::::::::::::: TSR Vocabulary Tonic ::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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What "Vocab. Tonic" is, is a list of acronyms and definitions to help
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education the ignorant hacker. With an extensive vocabulary, there is
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virtually nothing one can't learn. Study on...
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BANCS - Bell Admin. Network Communications Systems. This provides equipment
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for the flow of information between terminals, computers, and
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operators.
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DK - Dead Kennedies (j/k), actually: Data Link. A voice-frequency
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signaling path use (loops) and transfers switch commands
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between data links (i.e. digital interfacing made easy.)
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LCAMOS - Loop Cable Admin. & Maintenance Operations System. This systems
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collects and analyzes cable trouble indicators, and activity.
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If you break into FO lines, this is the system that takes care of
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the trouble reports.
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PICS - Plug-in Inventory Control Sys. This monitors inventories of
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CO (Central Office) equipment. If you steal anything, check with
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this service to erase it from the face of the earth. No trace.
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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:::::::::::::::::::::::::: TSR "Quote of the Month" ::::::::::::::::::::::::
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"Pray to the Lord Above, Ask and ye shall usually receive. Even
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ye phreaks and hacks." -Shadow Hide 1976
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____________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________
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TSR will accept additional sponsor/support Systems. If you have a certain
|
||
interest in the Report, and wish to provide support to TSR -- Leave your BBS
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number -- and any other information on RADIO WAVES Bulletin Board Systems.
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F O N E C O N S P I R A C Y I I I
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R A D I O W A V E S
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6 1 2 - 6 3 9 - 1 0 5 3
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Logon: RW Pass: RADIO
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- The Syndicate Report Support -
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- Bulletin Board Systems -
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This concludes this Transmittal No. 25
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(Part 1 of 2)
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Released September 20th, 1989
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by The Sensei
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Editor of The Syndicate Report
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