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 Last Words Archives: 1 / 2001,  2 / 2001,  1 / 2002,  2 / 2002,  3 / 2002,  4 / 2002,  5 / 2002,  6 / 2002,
  1 / 2003,  2 / 2003,  3 / 2003,  4 / 2003,  5 / 2003,  6 / 2003 ,  7 / 2003


Last Words, 6/2003 Archive


Telephone wiretapping: Australians are one of the most spied on people in the Western world, with mail interceptions and telephone taps rising daily. According to the article "The warrants apply to hundreds of thousands of individual phone calls, and police inspected 733,000 telephone bills, including inward and outward calls." The total population of Australian is about 19.6 million. (30/06/03) [perm link] asio



cnn money Corporate espionage?: Verizon Wireless sues Nextel, charging Nextel with improperly acquiring prototypes of a vital new Verizon cellphone and gaining unauthorized access to Verizon Wireless' network. This kind of knowledge transfer must be quite common in any industry, but you rarely see these published. (29/06/03) [perm link]



Vanishing press release: CTIA press release from 18th June 2003 "Congress's Own Survey Says Wireless Number Portability Not A Primary Consumer Concern" has mysteriously been take off from the site. It is also not in the Google cache for some reason, but here is a copy of it. I guess if you start bagging the congress at the same time as you are lobbying to them, your mobile phones might start ringing red hot prompting action. I emailed CTIA asking what happened to it, so if I ever get an answer, I'll post it here.

In the US this battle of the ownership of telephone numbers seem to be similar to what happened in Australia. After years of lobbying and delaying, it was successfully implemented in 2001 and it was great for the mobile market, only one operator was not happy with it, while others liked it.

CTIA seem to have problem with FCC and Congress about what the competition means and how to deal with number portability, but their Number portability is as unnecessary in the competitive wireless market as socks on a fish" statement was such a classic one. (28/06/03) [perm link]
wow-com



news Big business: FCC reported that In the US wireless revenues last year were $76 billion, or about 30 percent, of the entire telecommunications sector revenues.

Here is the interesting part: "Phone lobbyists were quick to cite the finding as proof that the phone industry doesn't need competition-spurring regulations. Powell and FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps are among those calling for regulations to help increase competition in rural areas, where there are fewer cell phone providers than in cities.

"Year after year, the FCC's competition report serves as a potent reminder that the competitive marketplace delivers the lowest prices," said Tom Wheeler, president of the CTIA, the cell phone industry's biggest lobbyist. "Yet, regulators, Congress and the states refuse to let competition work its magic. Instead the industry faces meddling, mandates and more taxes and fees." "

Yes, please, read it again. Everybody wants more "competition", but only different kind of competition. (28/06/03) [perm link]



Wireless hype: Wireless world forum Hall of Fame!
(28/06/03) [perm link]
w2f



yahoo Phone divorce: An adulterous Finn pressed all the wrong buttons as he made love in a car -- unknowingly prompting his mobile phone to call home just in time for his wife to hear his mistress moan "I love you". A working key lock could have prevented this divorce, or maybe not.
(27/06/03) [perm link]



Telemarket this: US Do-Not-Call Registry goes live!
(27/06/03) [perm link]
fcc



security focus Another scam: Security focus has a good article about the Yes-man scam. (27/06/03) [perm link]



Mobiles in prisons: prisoners do anything to get their hand on mobile phone. Here is more pictures from the Sun-Herald.
(26/06/03) [perm link]
gulf daily news



yahoo No news here: Some people think that covering the room with tinfoil prevents the mobile phone calls being scanned or if you loose a baseball game, it is ok to break a telephone in the visiting dugout. People still fear that mobile phone masts will damage their health and SMS scammers continue to hunt victims. (26/06/03) [perm link]



Telecom facts: You know you're living in 2003.
(25/06/03) Thanks Kundan [perm link]
joke



rcr wireless Telecom lobbying: Telecom and tech sectors spent $113.3 million on in-house and out-sourced lobbying during the last six months of 2002, At the head of the telecom class is BellSouth Corp. pnding $5.4 million, which is more that Microsoft did. (25/06/03) [perm link]



Human Nature: Here is a study that will be ignored: Hands-free phones not safer. (24/06/03) [perm link] CNN logo



hellfire Beware of satellite phones near you: US Hellfire missiles target the source of "Saddam Hussein's" satellite phone call, distroying a convoy of vehicles. This is a known US tactic. Would US law enforcement agencies considers using this method domestically in the future?

PS. Iraqi phone system is still disabled, satellite cell phone calls out of Iraq cost about $40 to $60 a minute and pre-war purchasing power parity GDP per capita was $2,500. (22/06/03) [perm link]



Mobile Awards: Mobile Village has announced winners of the Spring Mobile Star Awards. Some interesting product there. (21/06/03) [perm link] mobile star awards



yahoo Mobile Mobiles: Like in India, Bangladesh has a mobile mobile phone industry. Women called as "phone ladies" go around the villages with no other form of communication and rent out mobile phone usage. Grameen Bank has pioneered microlending. Read the old Wired article about it.
Via BoingBoing, thanks BjoernVDM (21/06/03) [perm link]



Mobile Promotion: Upcoming Hulk movie has already a mobile merchandise site hulkmobile.com. Surely this will be a big success as everyone knows that Hulk is stronger that Terminator or Superman.
Check the RCR news article (21/06/03) [perm link]
hulk



BBC Logo Mobile Service: According to BBC article in the future mobile phones will have artificial agent as a butler-type character. I might ask Mobitopia wizards to port the intelligent burping mobibot to my phone and the bot can work as a butler/assistant/agent/cook/cleaner, but not to spend any money though. (19/06/03) [perm link]



Number portability: According to CTIA 83% of wireless consumers were satisfied with their service and there is plenty of competition in the US wireless market. CTIA also states that "It has been estimated that implementing number portability will cost more than $1 billion and maintaining it will cost over $500 million per year. That is money directly taken away from improving service quality and coverage". Aren't the people already paying for it? CTIA represents wireless carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet providers. [earlier article] (19/06/03) [perm link] wow-com



analysys Mobile ROI: Mobile devices do generate a return on investment, according to new research from Analysys. A break-even ROI can be achieved if employee productivity is improved by just 0.6% – a time saving of 14 minutes per week per employee – in some sectors.
Via Computerweekly.com (18/06/03) [perm link]



Mast issues: People are still unhappy about the telecom masts, but most the facts always seem to disappear from newspaper articles.
(17/06/03) [perm link]
evening news 24



modbee Thieves are not getting smarter: In the Modesto area more than 300 pay phones have been stolen since January. Police believe money is the motive, with the thieves getting about $20 in coins per phone. In New York 25,000 Sony Ericsson "dummy" phones were stolen from JFK airport. In Florida half of stolen 11,000 phones were recovered in a tractor-trailer. The tractor-trailer had been pulled over by an officer with the Florida Department of Agriculture. The officer stopped a truck that appeared not to have the appropriate tax stamps on it. As we all know don't use a mobile phone to commit a crime. (14/06/03) [perm link]



Contract issues: New Vodafone CEO has a clause in his contract stating that he cannot be fired by text message or e-mail. Why is he worried? He could just take it to court like everyone else. (13/06/03) [perm link] scotsman



SMH Privacy issues: Mobile phones will be banned from changerooms in hundreds of gyms, pools and sports centres across Australia. These bans are happening also elsewhere. "Amateur photography" is still allowed on public beaches and pools. So non-camera phones are banned and normal cameras are ok! Now this confusion will be difficult to control and monitor.
(13/06/03) [perm link]



Mobile gadget: Konami announced cool mobile phone-operated toy cars. (12/06/03) [perm link] konami



rcr wireless Wireless Iraq: MTC-Vodafone, completed a GSM network in the South under the authorisation of the UK Ministry of Defense, while the US was debating who should get the contract to build a cell phone network in Iraq. [more] Via Techdirt Wireless (12/06/03) [perm link]



Inside a phone company: The former top executives at WorldCom Inc. ruled with unquestioned authority, steering the telecommunications company into multibillion-dollar acquisitions on a whim and intimidating underlings who questioned their conduct. WorldCom's collapse wiped out about $180 billion in shareholder value. (12/06/03) [perm link] MCI



ananova Social engineering: Conman left 'wife' as deposit to steal mobile phone. Good plan, nice execution, desired result and points for originality.
Via Techdirt Wireless (10/06/03) [perm link]



Phone music: Music execs look to cell phones for cash. Let's see: cost of the song/material + cost of the bandwidth per kbit = user tolerance to pay for it. Did this work with Internet? (09/06/03) [perm link] CNN logo



google
Stats:
from Zeitgeist
Top Wireless Queries
April 2003

     1. ringtones

     2. sms gratis

     3. motorola

     4. vodafone

     5. suonerie gratis

(09/06/03) [perm link]



Phone features: Cell phones made easy in NY Times analyses the standard features of the phones and Rutland Herald writes about less known phone feature patents. (09/06/03) [perm link] New York Times



fcc US number portability saga continues: U.S. lawmakers may propose delaying cellular number portability deadline -- again. If your network is better than the next one, you should not have anything to worry about this. Slashdot post and discussion. (07/06/03) [perm link]



Dumb Headlines, Sad Story: Train crash blamed on cell phone, not on a train driver? (05/06/03) [perm link] Amarillo News



News24 Another 2G/3G killer applications: Pimps in Hong Kong are luring customers by sending hi-tech digital images of prostitutes to potential clients over their cellphones. (04/06/03) via Techdirt [perm link]



Northern Ireland: Hutchison 3 has pulled the plug on its Northern Ireland operation. Last December Hutchinson 3G was forced to abandon a site in Ballymena, after the Ulster Volunteer Force destroyed a mast under construction. These two things are not related. (04/06/03) [perm link] The Belfast Telegraph



News.com.au Australia: New laws will ban the "rebirthing" of stolen mobile phones by modifying IMEI numbers. Not very impressive as this comes from the government that has not a good track record. Let's see if anyone gets convicted within the first 24 months. (03/06/03) [perm link]



Extra charges: US Senator Charles Schumer called wireless companies an "industry out of control". As we know mobile phones may be wireless, but they do come with strings attached. (03/06/03) [perm link] NY news day



nbc4tv Odd: Lesson number one for cell phone thieves: You may not want to leave your name and address at the scene of the crime. (03/06/03) [perm link]



Illegal telephony: In Saudi-Arabia illegal telephone operations cause heavy losses to the monopoly. The government is cracking down the phone system "entrepreneurs" instead of opening the market for competition. It is like trying to hold back the flood gates! (02/06/03) [perm link] Arab News logo



the sun Sad: Another mobile phone related accident. (01/06/03) [perm link]


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