163 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
163 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
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PHUK MAGAZINE - Phile 2 of 10
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UK NEWSBYTES
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-- PHONE DAY
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Phone Day is almost upon us! Well, not quite, its on the 16th of
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April 1995, but judging by the, amount of energy BT is putting into
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the big event the public are meant to absorb this information by some
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weird sort of osmosis .... and now us phone phreaks are telling them
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all about it instead of BT! Certainly all of Joe public I have spoken
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to treat phone day as some sort of publicity stunt, like Give Up
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Smoking week, where you are encouraged to use the phone more on Phone
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Day. When it is explained that Phone Day is the day that all the
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dailing codes change the response is mixed, ranging from "why would
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they do that", to "Oh No, not again!", from people who remember the
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great day when London split its codes into 2 zones (071 & 081), and
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the amount of hassle it caused them! Funny enough I found an old BT
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card explaining the LAST change in codes marked "BT - It's you we
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answer to" .... hmmm guess thats why you still charge in UNITS
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instead of seconds huh guys!
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Of course companies offering Phone Day services have sprung up ..
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they will update all your databases ... at a price!! In actual fact
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the new codes have been with us for some months, and it has been
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possible to use the new London codes (0171 & 0181) for a while now.
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In case you can't remember (!), Phone Day means that all codes
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starting with 0 will now start 01, and Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham
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Leicester and Bristol all get new codes (I won't bore you with the
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numbers!).
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-- CALLER RETURN / CALLER ID
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Of course the BIG story of the month should have been the
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introduction of caller return and caller ID on the 5th of November
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.... here's what the SUN newspaper had to say about it on the 28th of
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October ... (When I first wrote this of course I said 'by the time
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you read this .....').
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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[from the SUN Newspaper, 28-10-94]
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BT cures hang-ups for free
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People who rush to answer the phone just as it stops ringing will
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be able to find out who called thanks to a free BT service unveiled
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yesterday.
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From Novemeber the 5th, frustrated customers can dial a code and
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listen to a recorded message telling them who was the last to call
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them.
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BT says the number of return calls will cost the cover of the
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service.
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The firm is also introducing "Caller Display" which allows people
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to see the number of the person calling before they answer.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Once again the actual service has been around for a while in some
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areas, just not "switched on". So if I dial 141, to block CI/CR, I
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get a message "Sorry, you have dialled an incorect service code,
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please replace the handset and consult your instructions". Similarly,
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dialing 1471 gets the message "Sorry no telephone number is stored".
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BUT when I phoned the BT helpline (0800-80-1471) to ask about costs,
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I was told (incorrectly) that Caller Return would cost 3.99 per
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month, and that Caller Display would cost an "unspecified amount"
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plus the cost or rental of the equipment. Funny thing was though,
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that when the helpful young BT chap asked me for my area code "for
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his database" and then repeated the number back he got it wrong!!!
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What is really cool is that Joe Public HAS woken up to the
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problems this might cause, hence the following article from the
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Guardian, 4th November 1994.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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[from the GUARDIAN Newspaper, 04-11-94]
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BT forced to delay service identifying callers
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British Telecom has been forced to postpone the launch of two
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services which reveal a caller's number - because the public is not
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yet aware of the risks involved.
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Civil Liberties lobbies have been concerned about privacy,
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pointing out that a doctor, for examle, ringing a patient from home
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would not want to disclose his private number. And ex-directory
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numbers will be identifiable unless customers opt to retain anonymity.
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BT, which has already spent several million pounds promoting the
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services and warning that numbers could easily be identified, has had
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to increase its budget for an extra two week campaign of newspaper
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and televsion advertisments.
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The services, Call Return and Caller Display, will now come into
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operation on midnight on November 21, rather than tomorrow. This
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follows recent discussions between BT and Oftel, the industry
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regulator, which insisted that the public must be fully informed
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beforehand.
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A BT spokesman said that the group was disappointed at the lack of
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awareness in view of its advertising.
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Call Return enables a phone owner to identify the number of the
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last caller, by dialling a short code. Subscribers to Caller Display
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will have a phone or box that shows the number of an incoming call on
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a screen.
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BT has built in two safeguards. Customers can have the calling
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line identification (CLI) signa on all outgoing signals automatically
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blocked, or they can block the signal on individual calls by dialling
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141 before the number. However the CLI signal will be available to
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BT's malicious calls units. [no shit!! and WHO else can get it!]
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Many with ex-directory numbers (15 percent of personal customer)
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believe that their numbers should be protected automatically.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Methinks, we have not heard the last of this .......
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..... and indeed we hadn't! after "WatchDog" had a good go at
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BT over CR/CD the service didn't start until November 22nd, as
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planned. However, once again everything was put in place some time
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before, allowing us to play with the service, which came into force
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around 18:00 that day. CR does pass unlisted numbers across the lines,
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but we haven't been able to test whether it passes ex-directory or
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not. Blocking seems to work as advertised, and cell-phone numbers are
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also not passed along. What worries me, however, is that on several
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occasions after recieving a call from what I knew to be a listed
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number, and from people who I wouldn't call phreaks and use the 141
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blocking code, were not stored for my use :( Watch this space for
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updates!
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-- INTERNET MANIA
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Anyone who hasn't heard of the Internet these days must be blind,
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deaf, half-asleep or all three. With the introduction of a Guardian
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ONLINE section, the bbc getting their own email address ..(yes!! you
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can email the broom cupboard!), the opening of London's first
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fully fledged, and much hyped "CyberCafe", and the publication of
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not one but 2 expensive glossies (Internet & Comms, and .net),
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everyone and his dog will have an internet account by the year 2000
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(well, if we don't run out of addresses first!).
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However, at a minimum 1.50 UKP per half hour for the privilege
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of having coffee, danish & WWW, we here at PHUK magazine feel that
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Cyberia might be spending some of their hard earned (!!) profits on an
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internet security expert before too long :)
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+++
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That's all for this ish, don't forget, NEWSBYTE exists on
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contributions from its readers, so send your snippets, comments etc to
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PHUK magazine at anon19143@anon.penet.fi, where we will do our best to
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include them in the next issue.
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-- BT HACKER :)
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OK, boring, but I couldn't resist commenting! Calling the BT
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contractor who stole the queen's phone number a HACKER is a joke!! But
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then the Independant wouldn't have sold so many papers with the
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headline "Sub-Contactor Breaks Confidentiality Agreement" would it?
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+++
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EOF |