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                             THE SYNDICATE REPORT
Information Transmittal No. 14


Released August 21, 1987
Featuring:
              BOC Restriction Decision Still Pending (i.wld 7\20)
                            Hugo World News 1 (p80 5\20)
   Vendors Underline Commitment to ISDN, Predict Tariff Battles (i.wld 7\29)
           Proposed FCC Access Fee Draws More Criticism (i.wld 8\1)
                 Silent Assault (612 Phreak) Busted (sa 8\12)
by The Sensei
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Exposition:
   Once again, TSReport now excepts outside sources. Anyone can write/provide
information to the Syndicate Report. The Syndicate Report is also altering
format.  Rather than  concentrating mainly on BELL orientated information,
the Syndicate Report now has a more broad interest.  Thus, TSR now handles
all types of news gatherings.

   All articles have been presented by me unless shown at the end of the
article as the information provider(s).

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Author's Note:

   Hello, welcome to TSR 14.  I hope you enjoyed the 13th issue of the
report.  TSR #13 has a Part 2 to it, so if you have not gotten it...look
around for it.  It features my day with the Interstate Cops.

   Anyways, I've set up a TSR Xfer Line.  The number is 612-829-8509.  It's a
pre-recorded transfer of the Syndicate Report.  To use it, dial the number,
wait for the carrier.  The baud rate is only at 300 baud, sorry.  When you
connect, you should see the report.  Have your buffer on...because it's
transfered via ASCII Mode.  This is not a BBS.

   Syndicate Report Newsline is at 612-829-8503.  Dial in an enjoy.

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BOC RES
TRICTION DECISION STILL PENDING:

       Most Regional BOCs -- Limited entry of the regional Bell Operating
Companies (BOCs) into information services may be coming, but US District Judge H.
Greene probably won't decide until after Labor Day. In early July, Greene heard oral
arguments from attorneys for the BOCs as well as from consumer groups, on-line industry
officials, and the Department of Justice (DOJ), which has advocated fewer restriction
fro the BOCs in several areas.
       "The BOCs will get some rights, but as far as what level or what role they
will play, or even which services they will provide, no one knows which prices
Greene may parcel out," said communications consultant G. Arlen.
       Greene is skeptical about the DOJ's proposals, which hinge on FCC
monitoring of potential abuses by the BOCs, which would continue to control
local phone exchanges, Arlen said.

       So uncertain is the outcome that all
 sides seems to be positioning
 themselves to lose, Arlen said. "Everyone seems to be looking to Congress as
 the next arena." But congressional action will be slow, he said.

        Some foes of broader BOC freedom are becoming more conciliatory, said
 D. Simons, president of Digital Video Corp. Recently, the American Newspaper
 Publishers Assoc. (ANPA) adopted a position permitting BOCs to provide a point
 of entry for information services. But the ANPA opposes letting the BOCs provide electronic yellow pages
or databaselike services, he said.

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HUGO WORLD NEWS 1:

This is from some small town newspaper and I thought it was interesting. I'll
only type up the interesting articles since it is rather long.
"HOW TO BEAT PHONE ASSAULT"
- June 25, 1987 [The first few paragraphs are about this girl who was
terrorized by some pervert on the phone] New technology- Thanks to improved
technology, phone call tracing, known to police as putting a "trap" on the line [CLID?],
is now a feasibile solution. Forget about old movies that depict police
urging the perspiring victim to "Keep him talking-stay on the line!" while
the diligent telephone engineers hurry through racks of wires to pinpoint the
origin of the call.It's all computerized now, and the trap is quick and
decisive, with a success rate, says Abel, "near 100 percent With our
computerized switching center
[ESS is what he is talking about], it's almost instantaneous." To obtain
a telephone trap, a customer with persistent harassing calls must notify police.
The police then contact Illinois Bell [The newspaper is from Illinois] and the
trap is installed. A trap costs $20 for a week, $7 each additional week. In
life-threatening situtations, there is no charge. Although Illinois Bell
quickly locates every call made during the trap, legalities often cause a
time lag in providing the information to police. Police eventually release the
caller's identity to the victim and the caller is arrested. Maximum penalty
is a six-month sentence and a $500 fine. However, as of June 1, the new state
legislation requires a police subpoena to obtain phone trap information from
Bell, a process lasting as long as one month.

----------------------------------------

The Dade County Jail in Miami, Florida was slapped with a phone bill of $153,000.
IT seems that the inmates were blue boxing, using AT&T Calling Cards,
billing to third parties, conning operators, and that sort of stuph. One call
on Thanksgiving was to Columbia and lasted about 3 hours. Another call to a
dial-a-porn number lasted for about 4 hours and cost $220. The police are now
investigating and the county's taxpayers are going to have to pay the bill. The
payphones at the prison are supposed to be used for local calls only... yeah
right! That's it for now..

----------------------------------------

This first article is the most recent and I think it is very interesting (and
funny). It comes from the Ann Landers advice column (like I read it every da
y).
"Check this: Ma Bell is a generous soul"

Dear Ann Landers: I think I can top the person who wrote complaining the idiocy
of the phone company. Talk about garbage in, garbage out! When AT&T split
with Bell we had three phones in our house. The equipment belonged to Ma Bell
and the service belonged to AT&T.  After we returned all the phone equipment
to Ma Bell, we received a bill for $0.00. My husband and I took turns calling
people to get this straightened out. Shortly after that we were informed that
our bill for $0.00 was overdue. My husband, just to be cute, sent a check to Ma
Bell for $0.00. A few weeks later, we recieved a check for $5 and a note
thanking us. We didn't cash the check the check, thinking this had to be a
mistake. Several months later, we received another computerized bill for $0.00.
We called again, got nowhere, so we sent another check for $0.00. A few weeks
later we recieved another $5 refund with the same thank you. This went on every
three months for two years. Now we are down to once a year and have given up
trying to straighten this out. We just cash the $5 and forget about it. They
say that computers don't make mistakes, but people sure do. Someone out there
likes us very much, or they are very stupid.

-Linda K.R. in California

----------------------------------------

--- The Chicago Tribune ---

Tuesday, July something (about two weeks ago) "Sign in and then sign on" James
Dao says he has a foolproff way to foil computer  hackers who ferret out secret
passwords [FERRET??? ANYONE HERE FERRET?] and spy mechanically. Punt the
passwords, Dao says. [punt=get rid of]. Using software developed by Dao's
company, Communications Intelligence Corp. (CIC) of Menlo Park, Calif.,
computer users must sign in in order to sign on. CIC's Handwriter program
allows you to sign your name with an electronic pen on a flat plastic plate
underlaid with a grid of wires. The computer then analyzes your signature
against several that you have previously submitted to make sure that
it's not a forgery before giving you access to informations. The handwriting
analysis is more sophisticated than a simple comparison of letters. According
to Dao, the company takes into account how quickly you write and how you
accelerate from beginning to end. It also examines the points at which you
apply most pressure with the pen. All of these factors are unique to your
signature. Signature analysis is only one part of the Handwriter program.
Other features include the ability to write longhand memos and leters that
the computer translates into printed material. Right now, the technology
is availiable only for mainframe and personal computers, Dao says.
But one day, he predicts, businessmen will sit on planes scribling
with electronic pens on plastic plates attached to laptop computers.
"We're opening up computers to a segment of the population
that's afraid of typing," he explains.
-CHICAGO TRIBUNE.. TUESDAY.. SOMETIME ABOUT A WEEK OR SO AGO.



:::::::::::::::::::Information Provided by Hugo World News::::::::::::::::::

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VENDORS UNDERLINE COMMITMENT TO ISDN, PREDICT TARIFF BATTLES:

       NAPA, CA --  Several major computer vendors, including IBM, DEC, AT&T,
and Hayes, stressed their commitment to ISDN at a recent communications seminar.
"We will market ISDN products and ISDN interfa
ces," said Lark Allen,
manager of Telecommunications Market Progs. at IBM, speaking at Dataquest's
Telecom. Industry Conference. "Through our Rolm CBX, we will support ISDN as
well as synchronous and asynchronous data communications."

       But ketnote speaker Ellen Hancock, president of IBM's Communications
Products Division, said that while IBM was embracing ISDN, there was some
concern about line costs.
An executive from Hayes Microcomputer also expressed concern that tariffs will
be complicated. "If tariffs for ISDN are set incorrectly, the ramp-up for
widespread acceptance of ISDN services will be long and painful,"
said Gary Betty, senior vice president of Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc.

       Betty also predicted that there will be a tariff battle in every state
with the arrival of ISDN, Consequently, the industry may be slow in adopting
an ISDN standard, he said.
At AT&T representative, however, hinted that line costs would be
competative, although he would not give details. R.Snow
den, director of AT&T's Concept Development Center, said AT&T would be filing
tariffs for ISDN service before the end of the year.

       F.Balfour, DEC product marketing manager, said that DEC also supports
ISDN, but does not yet support it to the desktop.
In short term, ISDN7s effect may be to lengthen the life of Centrex,
centralized telephone functions offered by Bell Op. Companies, predicted Vic
Krueger, Dataquest's VP for Telecom Industry Service. This is because ISDN will
send several functions which are now being performed by PBX systems back to
the main phone company office, according to Krueger.

  :::::::::Laurie Flynn and Sharon Fisher Contributed to this story:::::::::::

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PROPOSED FCC ACCESS FEE DRAWS MORE CRITICISM:

Washington -- With the July 17 official FCC publication of its plan for
enhanced service access charges, which could add up to 5$ per hour to user
on-line connect fees, providers of information services stepped up their criticism.

       As of last week, the FCC had received more than 100 letters, all of
them against the proposal. "Out ultimate objective is to establish a set of
rules that provide for recovery of the costs of exchange access used in
interstate service in a fair, reasonable, and efficient manner from all
users of access services," read part of the proposal, CC Docket 87-215.
"To the extempt from access charges, the other users of exchange access pay a
disproportionate share of the costs of the local exchange that access charges
are disigned to cover."

       "There is no basis for singling out one class of users and subjecting
them to common carrier-type access charges simply because they are engaged in
the provision of computer services," said G. T. DeBakey, executive director of
Adapso, the computer software and services industry association,  based in
Arlignton, Virginia.

       DeBakey said the new fees would put prices of consumer-oriented
       information services beyond the reach of most users.
The FCC proposal would "cause a drastic curtailment in the development
and availability of commercial network-based information services of all kinds,"
said Anthony L. Craig, president of GE Info. Services division, based in
Rockville, Maryland.

*******The deadline for public comment is August 24; the deadline for replies
to the comments is September 24.  Send them in users!
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SILENT ASSAULT (612 PHREAK) BUSTED:                    (Revised Sept 16, 1987)

       Minneapolis, Minnesota. TSR -- Silent Assault, a local 612 phreak, was
apprehended for various illegal items (stated later) on January 2nd. He was
awoken by one of his parents approximately Midnight. He asked what was wrong
and he was told that the Secret Service was here to talk to him. He then went
to them and they showed SA all their IDs. There was 3 SS Men. Three guys and
One lady, and they asked him if he was Silent Assault. SA tried to act dumb
and said he didn't know what they were talking about. SA said no, and on of the
SS Men asked him if this was his voice. He continued to play back previous
recordings that they had monitored on SA's Info VMS Line. About the Info Line:
SA had a local VMS set up that he carded. He used it to report illegal
information such as CCards, Acc Codes, Hacked Computer Systems and other misc.
PWs. They were monitoring his line probably right away because he had carded
the VMS instead of just hacking the PW. Anyways, after the SS Men played his
voice, he said he didn't think it was his voice. Then they went down and
looked at SA's system, since he had to choice, his parents already gave them
permission. SA had everything (printouts, disks, etc.) sitting out downstairs
since he didn't know they were coming for a visit. One of the SS Men said they
knew what was going on, they had evidence and they were going to seize
everything. They then told him to admit he's SA and it would go easier on
him and they'd help him. He then said, yes I am Silent Assault. SA couldn't
do anything about it since they had his voice on tape, and they had way of
comparing voices.

       SA did get his computer system back, and is now active until he has to
serve his 6 month max. sentence. He did lost about 10 ft. on printouts, over
half his disks of hacking programs and general hack/phreak files. SA stated to
me it was a crock of shit and all of this went on for about 3 months.

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     If you have any question to the information in this file, contact the
author.  Now can be found on the following systems:  Brewery Systems
314-394-8259, Osuny BBS 914-725-4060, PGrounds CF 612-645-7132

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               This concludes this transmittal No. 14 provided by:

                       The Sensei of The Syndicate Report

                            Released August 21, 1987

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ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
       [Mother Earth]

