Off The Hook - 1992-12-02

[00:12.160 --> 00:12.780]  [SPEAKER_15]: Hello?
[00:14.740 --> 00:15.360]  [SPEAKER_15]: Hello?
[00:17.040 --> 00:17.660]  [SPEAKER_15]: WBAI?
[00:17.940 --> 00:20.320]  [SPEAKER_15]: Yeah, WBAI Arts Magazine.
[00:20.960 --> 00:21.580]  [SPEAKER_15]: When?
[00:22.280 --> 00:22.900]  [SPEAKER_15]: Mondays?
[00:23.140 --> 00:24.340]  [SPEAKER_15]: How about Tuesdays?
[00:24.500 --> 00:27.960]  [SPEAKER_15]: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
[00:28.060 --> 00:29.120]  [SPEAKER_15]: Oh, when?
[00:29.620 --> 00:30.340]  [SPEAKER_15]: Three o'clock?
[00:30.640 --> 00:31.440]  [SPEAKER_15]: How about three o'clock?
[00:31.580 --> 00:32.740]  [SPEAKER_15]: Three o'clock to four o'clock?
[00:33.140 --> 00:33.760]  [SPEAKER_15]: Arts?
[00:33.940 --> 00:34.360]  [SPEAKER_15]: Arts?
[00:34.560 --> 00:35.260]  [SPEAKER_15]: Arts Magazine.
[00:35.840 --> 00:36.440]  [SPEAKER_15]: Yes?
[00:36.760 --> 00:37.100]  [SPEAKER_15]: Writing?
[00:37.520 --> 00:38.320]  [SPEAKER_15]: Oh, theater?
[00:38.640 --> 00:39.240]  [SPEAKER_15]: Movies?
[00:39.540 --> 00:40.100]  [SPEAKER_15]: Music?
[00:40.480 --> 00:40.980]  [SPEAKER_15]: What?
[00:41.260 --> 00:41.680]  [SPEAKER_15]: TV?
[00:42.160 --> 00:42.720]  [SPEAKER_15]: Arts?
[00:43.000 --> 00:44.020]  [SPEAKER_15]: Arts Magazine?
[00:44.460 --> 00:44.940]  [SPEAKER_15]: Monday?
[00:45.220 --> 00:45.680]  [SPEAKER_15]: Tuesday?
[00:46.100 --> 00:46.420]  [SPEAKER_15]: Wednesday?
[00:46.600 --> 00:46.780]  [SPEAKER_15]: Thursday?
[00:47.000 --> 00:47.200]  [SPEAKER_15]: Yeah?
[00:47.420 --> 00:47.740]  [SPEAKER_15]: Okay.
[00:48.440 --> 00:49.000]  [SPEAKER_15]: Okay.
[00:49.380 --> 00:49.980]  [SPEAKER_15]: Thank you.
[00:50.900 --> 00:51.720]  [SPEAKER_15]: Stay tuned.
[01:08.150 --> 01:09.610]  [SPEAKER_23]: And it's ten o'clock.
[01:09.710 --> 01:11.590]  [SPEAKER_23]: You're listening to WBAI New York.
[01:11.590 --> 01:17.190]  [SPEAKER_23]: And if you're tuning in now to listen to the Personal Computer Show, you just missed it.
[01:17.410 --> 01:19.050]  [SPEAKER_23]: It moved to nine o'clock.
[01:20.030 --> 01:22.070]  [SPEAKER_23]: Now, it's time for Off the Hook.
[02:32.330 --> 02:34.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: And a good evening to everybody out there.
[02:35.050 --> 02:36.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: This is Emmanuel Goldstein.
[02:36.140 --> 02:37.430]  [SPEAKER_23]: The program is Off the Hook.
[02:37.430 --> 02:40.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: And, yes, we're here at a brand new time.
[02:40.740 --> 02:44.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: Ten o'clock to eleven o'clock on Wednesday nights.
[02:44.060 --> 02:49.920]  [SPEAKER_23]: The Personal Computer Show, as I mentioned, has moved to our old time, which is nine o'clock.
[02:50.300 --> 02:52.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: And someone's beeping me.
[02:52.200 --> 02:52.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Who could it be?
[02:55.170 --> 02:55.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, yes.
[02:56.100 --> 02:57.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, I'll have to deal with that later, I guess.
[02:58.320 --> 03:01.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: But in any event, we can't stop for anything like that now.
[03:01.820 --> 03:07.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, if you're being beeped or if I'm being beeped, we have to continue because there are important things to discuss.
[03:07.900 --> 03:14.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Including call ID, which is rapidly approaching and enveloping the area, whether you like it or not.
[03:14.800 --> 03:18.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: There are some things about it that I like, some things that I hate.
[03:20.080 --> 03:21.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: And we'll be going over some of that as well.
[03:22.100 --> 03:25.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: We'll also be taking your phone calls at 212-279-3400.
[03:25.140 --> 03:32.850]  [SPEAKER_23]: Talking about the advances in technology, computer hackers, and various other tidbits of information like that.
[03:34.760 --> 03:37.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Let's start by looking at this call ID business.
[03:38.540 --> 03:39.730]  [SPEAKER_23]: Mailings are going out.
[03:39.860 --> 03:44.910]  [SPEAKER_23]: They're going out to people on Long Island and in Queens, Brooklyn, various other parts of the metropolis.
[03:46.100 --> 03:50.790]  [SPEAKER_23]: And they're aiming it now away from the annoying calls.
[03:51.140 --> 03:57.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, those kinds of calls you get where you have to find out who it is that's behind the ring.
[03:57.080 --> 03:58.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, so you have to prosecute them.
[03:59.200 --> 04:01.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Obscene phone callers, scam artists, those kind of people.
[04:01.960 --> 04:08.440]  [SPEAKER_23]: But now, they're marketing it for use by just regular people that don't have anything unusual going on in their lives.
[04:08.740 --> 04:11.850]  [SPEAKER_23]: They have three pictures on this latest ad.
[04:12.380 --> 04:18.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: One is, your nosy neighbor, you see a middle-aged woman looking like she's about to tell you something that's going to change the world.
[04:19.670 --> 04:21.850]  [SPEAKER_23]: Talk to her when you've got time to spare.
[04:22.240 --> 04:25.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: You see her number, which is 516-555-7307.
[04:26.240 --> 04:27.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Don't call any of these numbers.
[04:27.440 --> 04:30.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: If you call them, you get charged a lot of money because you're actually calling information.
[04:31.800 --> 04:32.600]  [SPEAKER_23]: Your sister.
[04:33.230 --> 04:34.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, don't miss this call.
[04:34.740 --> 04:35.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: Pick up right away.
[04:36.420 --> 04:38.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: And the third one is, your daughter's boyfriend.
[04:38.920 --> 04:41.170]  [SPEAKER_23]: You'd rather let her answer this one yourself.
[04:41.620 --> 04:42.290]  [SPEAKER_23]: Herself, rather.
[04:43.820 --> 04:49.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: And it's sort of meant to lull you into this sense that call ID is actually your friend.
[04:49.700 --> 04:52.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Something that you can use every single day.
[04:52.980 --> 04:56.910]  [SPEAKER_23]: When you just glance at that number, you'll know who it is and you'll know if you want to talk to them.
[04:56.910 --> 05:01.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: And you'll save all kinds of time and the phone company will make all kinds of money.
[05:02.290 --> 05:10.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: Because they charge $6.50 a month just to provide that service and a $16 connection fee on top of that.
[05:12.350 --> 05:17.790]  [SPEAKER_23]: But if enough people don't go and get it and don't use this service, it's kind of worthless.
[05:21.330 --> 05:24.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, the other thing is, they give you stickers.
[05:24.790 --> 05:31.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: They send you a couple of stickers that you're supposed to put on your phone to say whether or not you have all-call restrict or not.
[05:32.020 --> 05:37.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: Per-call restrict allows you to dial star-6-7 and not send your number when you call somebody.
[05:37.640 --> 05:40.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: All-call restrict has that as the default.
[05:40.740 --> 05:44.740]  [SPEAKER_23]: In other words, you do not send your number unless you hit star-6-7.
[05:44.740 --> 05:51.920]  [SPEAKER_23]: And if you don't know, if you don't know, it's not very easy to figure out.
[05:52.000 --> 05:55.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, if you have all-call restrict or not.
[05:55.360 --> 05:56.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Because you dial star-6-7 and what do you get?
[05:57.020 --> 05:58.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: You get a pulsating dial tone.
[05:59.120 --> 06:05.160]  [SPEAKER_23]: But if you're not sure which you have, how are you supposed to know what the pulsating dial tone signifies?
[06:05.660 --> 06:07.560]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's very confusing for a lot of people.
[06:07.860 --> 06:10.420]  [SPEAKER_23]: But we have to give the phone company credit.
[06:10.640 --> 06:12.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: We have to give them credit.
[06:13.080 --> 06:29.440]  [SPEAKER_23]: Because when something is confusing, when something is hard for the average person to understand, they reach out and they provide a service so that these people do not have to feel like they're being taken advantage of.
[06:29.440 --> 06:38.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: And friends, the phone company has provided an 800 number that you can call to find out what your phone service has.
[06:38.980 --> 06:42.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: Whether you have all-call restrict or per-call restrict.
[06:42.800 --> 06:46.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: So you know if you dial star-6-7 whether or not you're enabling or disabling call ID.
[06:47.540 --> 06:57.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: So I thought it would be a nice idea if we took our friend the dial tone here and gave a call to that 800 number ourselves.
[06:59.400 --> 07:06.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: And, you know, see if WBAI has per-call blocking or all-call blocking, you know?
[07:07.180 --> 07:10.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's the kind of thing that anybody really deserves to know.
[07:11.320 --> 07:14.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: And it's a good time to ask at six minutes after 10 o'clock.
[07:14.800 --> 07:16.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: Let's see what the answer is.
[07:18.620 --> 07:21.160]  [SPEAKER_05]: Thank you for calling New York Telephone.
[07:21.400 --> 07:24.900]  [SPEAKER_05]: If you are using a Touch-Tone telephone, press 1 now.
[07:25.180 --> 07:30.780]  [SPEAKER_05]: If you are calling from a rotary telephone, stay on the line and your call will be transferred.
[07:30.880 --> 07:31.120]  [SPEAKER_05]: Okay.
[07:31.200 --> 07:33.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: We have a Touch-Tone phone, so let's hit 1.
[07:33.760 --> 07:45.040]  [SPEAKER_05]: If you are calling the New York Telephone Company's President's Helpline about a telephone service complaint or information about call ID or other phone smart services, press 1 now.
[07:45.340 --> 07:49.960]  [SPEAKER_05]: If you are calling New York Telephone for any other information, press 2 now.
[07:50.240 --> 07:50.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[07:50.500 --> 07:51.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: We'll press 1.
[07:51.760 --> 07:54.600]  [SPEAKER_05]: Please hold while your call is being transferred.
[07:55.300 --> 07:56.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: Isn't this convenient?
[07:58.620 --> 07:59.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: Why listen to all those clicks?
[08:18.690 --> 08:21.650]  [SPEAKER_03]: You have reached the President's Office of New York Telephone.
[08:21.930 --> 08:24.950]  [SPEAKER_03]: All of our representatives are busy assisting other customers.
[08:25.390 --> 08:28.690]  [SPEAKER_03]: Please hold on for the next available representative to assist you.
[08:28.890 --> 08:29.310]  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[08:33.360 --> 08:35.400]  [SPEAKER_16]: So easy to lose it.
[08:35.620 --> 08:36.540]  [SPEAKER_11]: Zip, zip.
[08:41.820 --> 08:45.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: So while we're listening to this wonderful music in the background...
[08:47.760 --> 08:50.740]  [SPEAKER_03]: You have reached the President's Office of New York Telephone.
[08:51.060 --> 08:54.040]  [SPEAKER_03]: All of our representatives are busy assisting other customers.
[08:54.440 --> 08:57.780]  [SPEAKER_03]: Please hold on for the next available representative to assist you.
[08:58.000 --> 08:58.420]  [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you.
[08:59.000 --> 09:06.560]  [SPEAKER_23]: While we're listening to this music, I guess, I hope it's not too urgent that we need to find this out right away.
[09:06.840 --> 09:10.420]  [SPEAKER_14]: Never gonna go by...
[09:11.460 --> 09:11.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[09:12.240 --> 09:13.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: It is fairly entrancing, isn't it?
[09:14.780 --> 09:16.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know what I find interesting here is that...
[09:16.900 --> 09:18.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: The phone rings.
[09:18.360 --> 09:20.100]  [SPEAKER_03]: I've reached the President's Office of New York Telephone.
[09:20.120 --> 09:21.160]  [SPEAKER_23]: But you get the same recording.
[09:21.320 --> 09:22.760]  [SPEAKER_03]: All of our representatives are busy...
[09:22.760 --> 09:24.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, your hopes go up like you're going to get a person.
[09:24.760 --> 09:27.620]  [SPEAKER_03]: Please hold on for the next available representative to assist you.
[09:28.420 --> 09:30.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: How many members are there that they're helping now at 10.09 at night?
[09:31.080 --> 09:35.180]  [SPEAKER_14]: Gotta make a song about...
[09:35.180 --> 09:36.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: Isn't this convenient?
[09:36.620 --> 09:44.420]  [SPEAKER_14]: Keep whatever happens that somehow...
[09:44.940 --> 09:47.720]  [SPEAKER_14]: We'll keep it together...
[09:47.720 --> 09:50.540]  [SPEAKER_14]: I'll pledge my heart...
[09:50.540 --> 09:55.420]  [SPEAKER_14]: I'll pledge my soul to you...
[09:56.400 --> 09:59.260]  [SPEAKER_14]: Just take my hand...
[09:59.260 --> 10:02.280]  [SPEAKER_14]: And say that you...
[10:02.820 --> 10:07.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, maybe after all this...
[10:07.480 --> 10:11.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: You'll decide to just take your chances.
[10:12.740 --> 10:14.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: And maybe...
[10:14.260 --> 10:15.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's what they want.
[10:59.060 --> 11:06.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, call ID is only one chapter in the ongoing saga of telecommunications and high technology.
[11:08.740 --> 11:12.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Only one small part of this scary world we live in.
[11:15.180 --> 11:21.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: And you know, something is going to be happening in this scary world in a couple of years that might scare people even more.
[11:21.640 --> 11:24.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: Now, this comes from a memo that's being passed around.
[11:26.480 --> 11:29.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: As of January 1st, 1997...
[11:31.580 --> 11:35.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: International phone numbers will be allowed to be 15 digits in length.
[11:36.780 --> 11:40.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Now, that might not sound very scary to the average person, but...
[11:40.820 --> 11:45.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: For people that program various bits of machinery...
[11:45.200 --> 11:47.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: It could be a nightmare.
[11:49.340 --> 11:52.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: Beginning midnight December 31st, 1996...
[11:54.680 --> 11:59.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: CCITT Recommendation E-164...
[11:59.620 --> 12:01.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: Will be implemented.
[12:02.540 --> 12:08.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: This recommendation allows the expansion of international telephone numbers from 12 to 15 digits.
[12:11.300 --> 12:15.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Although, the North American numbering plan will not change...
[12:16.580 --> 12:22.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: Some foreign countries may assign numbers up to 15 digits long to customers.
[12:24.680 --> 12:31.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: Therefore, terminal equipment originating calls to these subscribers must be able to handle the additional digits.
[12:33.900 --> 12:37.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, it's nice to have a four-year warning...
[12:37.140 --> 12:38.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: Or something like that.
[12:44.760 --> 12:49.420]  [SPEAKER_23]: And that international telephone number can include the country code and the city code and all that.
[12:51.320 --> 12:56.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, numbers here will stay 10 digits, or 11 digits if you include the one.
[12:56.660 --> 12:58.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Which is our country code, after all.
[12:59.240 --> 13:02.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: If you want more information on this, for whatever reason...
[13:02.920 --> 13:06.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: You're urged to contact Marion Norman...
[13:06.200 --> 13:08.920]  [SPEAKER_23]: Who, for some reason, is in Ottawa, Canada.
[13:09.900 --> 13:13.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Telephone number is 613-560-3420.
[13:16.100 --> 13:20.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: And here's an interesting story out of England about electronic banking.
[13:20.500 --> 13:22.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: This comes to us from the Risks Digest.
[13:23.160 --> 13:28.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: The Sunday Times of London has printed a piece about how easy it is...
[13:28.040 --> 13:31.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: To get a hold of people's bank and credit card statements.
[13:32.460 --> 13:38.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: They pay £200 each time to private detectives for personal dossiers on cabinet ministers...
[13:39.340 --> 13:42.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: Including their addresses and private telephone numbers...
[13:42.640 --> 13:45.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: And their last few months' transaction details.
[13:47.120 --> 13:48.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: This is highly security...
[13:48.940 --> 13:51.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: High security sensitive information.
[13:52.580 --> 13:56.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: If you are an IRA sympathizer and you want to blow up the UK Minister of Defence...
[13:56.700 --> 13:59.980]  [SPEAKER_23]: It is quite useful to know what his favourite restaurant is.
[14:01.540 --> 14:05.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: With a bit of luck, the government will now take its own legislation seriously.
[14:06.800 --> 14:14.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: After all, it's an offence for the various banks to make client information available to unauthorised persons in this way.
[14:15.200 --> 14:20.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: And indeed, the negligence of the UK banks about computer security is well known.
[14:22.040 --> 14:28.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Essentially, by making account inquiry facilities available to tens of thousands of low-level staff...
[14:28.060 --> 14:32.300]  [SPEAKER_23]: The banks make it virtually certain that there will be at least one bent staff member...
[14:32.300 --> 14:36.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Who has access and who is prepared to sell the information to private detective agencies.
[14:37.980 --> 14:40.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: In France, on the other hand...
[14:41.040 --> 14:45.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: At least one bank is reported to have a silent alarm...
[14:45.200 --> 14:49.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: Which rings whenever a staff member makes an inquiry about an account held at another branch.
[14:50.040 --> 14:53.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Anyone who started selling the database would be caught quickly.
[14:57.420 --> 14:59.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, once again...
[14:59.260 --> 15:01.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: The real threat is identified.
[15:01.660 --> 15:05.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: The real threat being the organisations themselves.
[15:05.680 --> 15:10.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Not having security to protect data that exists about each and every one of us.
[15:11.480 --> 15:16.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, hackers might be able to get into bank transactions and see how much money somebody has.
[15:16.720 --> 15:19.420]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's quite possible if the system is wide open.
[15:19.540 --> 15:20.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: But more importantly...
[15:20.640 --> 15:23.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: All of these employees can do the same thing.
[15:23.380 --> 15:31.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: And can sell the information to private detectives and unfriendly governments and terrorists and nasty people like that.
[15:32.460 --> 15:33.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Just something to think about.
[15:36.220 --> 15:38.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: And there's something else to think about as well.
[15:38.920 --> 15:40.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: And this is rather disturbing.
[15:40.780 --> 15:43.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: Something I saw in the news just yesterday.
[15:43.760 --> 15:44.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Heard on the news, actually.
[15:45.580 --> 15:56.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: Seems that Blockbuster Video has decided that because of the current Woody Allen controversy, they're not going to carry any more films put out by Woody Allen.
[15:56.940 --> 16:09.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Now, this is the same organisation that refuses to carry the film The Last Temptation of Christ because it's blasphemy or it's offensive to various religious types.
[16:09.940 --> 16:15.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: In other words, the average person is not intelligent enough to go in there and make a decision on their own.
[16:15.380 --> 16:17.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: They're going to make that decision for us.
[16:18.560 --> 16:23.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: And I imagine the same thing holds for any NC-17 film that might be coming out.
[16:23.020 --> 16:24.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'm not sure if they have Harry and June.
[16:24.460 --> 16:25.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: I would doubt that they do.
[16:26.120 --> 16:29.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: But I do know it is policy for them not to carry The Last Temptation of Christ.
[16:29.840 --> 16:36.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: If you ever want to have a good laugh, call up a Blockbuster Video and ask them to carry that film.
[16:36.040 --> 16:42.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: And they look it up in their computer and the computer blows up or something saying you can never even ask for this film.
[16:42.920 --> 16:44.740]  [SPEAKER_23]: So that's number one.
[16:44.960 --> 16:47.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: Censoring films, telling you what you can and cannot see.
[16:48.080 --> 16:51.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: But now, now they're going to take it one step further.
[16:52.240 --> 16:55.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: They're going to do a background check on all the people involved in making films.
[16:55.900 --> 17:05.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: And if they don't like the producer for whatever reason, if they suspect that he might have done something immoral or illegal or just something they don't like, they're going to ban the film from their stores.
[17:06.860 --> 17:07.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's lovely, isn't it?
[17:07.720 --> 17:09.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's a second step of censorship.
[17:09.880 --> 17:11.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: Second of many steps.
[17:11.480 --> 17:15.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: And this is someone that hasn't even been found guilty of anything.
[17:15.280 --> 17:17.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's incredible how they leap to conclusions.
[17:19.900 --> 17:27.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, I cannot go out there and say people boycott this particular place because then it's basically the same kind of tactic.
[17:27.300 --> 17:29.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, it's saying you don't like something.
[17:30.040 --> 17:31.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: You have to forbid people.
[17:31.880 --> 17:33.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: I can't forbid anybody from doing anything, I suppose.
[17:33.900 --> 17:40.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: I can suggest certain things and I certainly suggest people think twice before using such an establishment.
[17:40.860 --> 17:43.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: But, if that's not enough for you, I've got something even better.
[17:44.080 --> 17:44.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: Alright?
[17:46.140 --> 17:49.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: Blockbuster Video has computers.
[17:49.520 --> 17:50.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: Lots of them.
[17:50.440 --> 17:51.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Many, many computers.
[17:52.140 --> 17:54.980]  [SPEAKER_23]: And these computers have information.
[17:55.240 --> 17:59.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: These computers have information about the people that take out videos.
[18:00.000 --> 18:03.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: You can tell a lot about somebody by the videos they watch.
[18:04.120 --> 18:04.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, you can.
[18:05.060 --> 18:05.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know?
[18:06.600 --> 18:07.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: You really can.
[18:08.900 --> 18:14.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: This is something that I was able to do rather easily.
[18:14.560 --> 18:16.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: This is something that you can do rather easily.
[18:17.180 --> 18:24.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: All you have to do is know the name of somebody and which Blockbuster Video store they go to.
[18:25.380 --> 18:25.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: Listen.
[18:33.720 --> 18:34.480]  [SPEAKER_19]: Blockbuster Video.
[18:35.120 --> 18:35.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes, hi.
[18:35.860 --> 18:36.440]  [SPEAKER_23]: Is this Blockbuster?
[18:36.660 --> 18:37.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes, it is.
[18:37.760 --> 18:38.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes, hello.
[18:38.680 --> 18:41.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'd like to check my account to see if I have any tapes outstanding.
[18:41.620 --> 18:42.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: Is that possible?
[18:42.480 --> 18:42.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[18:43.280 --> 18:43.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[18:44.380 --> 18:46.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: My last name is spelled D...
[18:47.640 --> 18:49.160]  [SPEAKER_23]: We're blocking out the name, of course.
[18:57.560 --> 18:58.940]  [SPEAKER_19]: No, you don't know us anything.
[18:59.520 --> 19:00.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't.
[19:00.280 --> 19:00.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, that's...
[19:00.880 --> 19:03.300]  [SPEAKER_23]: I was also wondering if it's possible...
[19:03.300 --> 19:06.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: I had a problem in the past with a couple of my housemates using my card.
[19:07.040 --> 19:12.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: Is it possible to tell me if they've been using it or if the last film was that was taken out or anything like that?
[19:12.980 --> 19:17.580]  [SPEAKER_19]: The last film that was taken out on your account was Medicine Man.
[19:18.740 --> 19:19.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: Medicine Man, okay.
[19:19.900 --> 19:21.040]  [SPEAKER_19]: Straight Talk and Fisher King.
[19:22.000 --> 19:23.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: Do you have dates on those?
[19:24.140 --> 19:25.420]  [SPEAKER_19]: And they were all returned.
[19:25.580 --> 19:28.660]  [SPEAKER_19]: Medicine Man was returned late, but somebody paid the late fee once they returned it.
[19:29.200 --> 19:30.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: I see.
[19:30.140 --> 19:31.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: How far back does that go?
[19:32.240 --> 19:33.280]  [SPEAKER_19]: That's 1128.
[19:33.640 --> 19:34.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, thank you very much.
[19:36.680 --> 19:42.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes, that's how easy it is to get information on people from Blockbuster Video.
[19:42.580 --> 19:44.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: Just call up and give the name.
[19:44.860 --> 19:48.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: They just stand there staring at test patterns on TV screens, apparently.
[19:48.920 --> 20:00.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: And they're more than happy to give information out and tell you what films somebody is watching, when they returned them, how late they were, all kinds of things like that.
[20:00.940 --> 20:06.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: And these are the people that are going around saying that they're not going to carry Woody Allen films because they don't approve.
[20:06.840 --> 20:09.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, folks, I don't approve of this.
[20:10.880 --> 20:12.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: But it's up to you.
[20:12.600 --> 20:14.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: You're the ones that make the final decision.
[20:15.280 --> 20:15.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[20:15.900 --> 20:18.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's 20 minutes after 10 o'clock.
[20:18.320 --> 20:19.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: The program is off the hook.
[20:20.620 --> 20:24.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: And we've got Phiber Optik here with us, who has a pet peeve of sorts, I believe.
[20:24.120 --> 20:26.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: And we're going to take some phone calls, too, in a little while.
[20:26.100 --> 20:29.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: The phone number is 212-279-3400.
[20:29.520 --> 20:31.740]  [SPEAKER_23]: And what is your particular pet peeve this week?
[20:31.820 --> 20:38.000]  [SPEAKER_26]: I wanted to comment about this new product that seems to be popping up everywhere I turn called Gotta Go.
[20:38.480 --> 20:42.460]  [SPEAKER_26]: And this Gotta Go box is supposed to simulate a call waiting.
[20:42.720 --> 20:45.440]  [SPEAKER_26]: You plug it into the wall and you plug your phone into it.
[20:45.780 --> 20:52.020]  [SPEAKER_26]: And if you're talking to someone who you want to get off the phone with, you press the button and it sounds like you have a call waiting.
[20:52.020 --> 20:54.400]  [SPEAKER_26]: So then you say, oh, I've got to take this call.
[20:54.580 --> 20:56.120]  [SPEAKER_26]: And then you get off the phone with them.
[20:56.500 --> 20:58.000]  [SPEAKER_26]: Sounds really keen, right?
[20:58.380 --> 21:05.940]  [SPEAKER_26]: Well, I was wondering about this, since it does cost a whopping $15 and probably contains about 89 cents worth of electronics.
[21:06.760 --> 21:13.860]  [SPEAKER_26]: I wanted to inform the general public that call waiting does not make noise in most places.
[21:14.360 --> 21:20.760]  [SPEAKER_26]: In fact, a better part of 80% of New York City are on digital switching systems.
[21:21.440 --> 21:32.140]  [SPEAKER_26]: And if you get a call waiting, then you would hear a short little tone, but the person on the other end would hear nothing and they would have to take your word for it whether or not you really had a call.
[21:32.300 --> 21:37.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, if I understand correctly, there's two types of switches, analog and digital.
[21:37.300 --> 21:43.300]  [SPEAKER_23]: If you're calling somebody and they get call waiting on the analog system, you hear a big loud click, right?
[21:43.700 --> 21:44.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, if you're...
[21:44.360 --> 21:46.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Kind of like those clicks and they were transferring us all over the place upstate.
[21:46.620 --> 21:54.800]  [SPEAKER_26]: If you're talking to someone and either of you happen to be on an analog switch and either of you gets a call waiting, the other person will hear a loud click.
[21:54.920 --> 21:55.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: Right.
[21:55.240 --> 21:55.820]  [SPEAKER_26]: Both of you will.
[21:55.940 --> 21:59.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: But on a digital switch, it's silent to the caller.
[21:59.660 --> 22:02.440]  [SPEAKER_26]: Only the person who's getting the call waiting hears a short beep.
[22:02.620 --> 22:04.580]  [SPEAKER_26]: The other person hears absolutely nothing.
[22:04.900 --> 22:14.260]  [SPEAKER_26]: The only exception is that if the person happens to be speaking, the person who gets the call waiting, their voice would be momentarily interrupted for half a second by this beep.
[22:14.800 --> 22:17.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: So if you're ever talking to somebody and all of a sudden their voice drops out.
[22:17.840 --> 22:19.380]  [SPEAKER_26]: Seems to drop out momentarily.
[22:19.540 --> 22:20.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: That means that...
[22:20.360 --> 22:21.740]  [SPEAKER_26]: It's a slight indication, yeah.
[22:21.840 --> 22:22.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, they're getting that.
[22:23.360 --> 22:27.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: So now this thing, this gotta go, it makes the click.
[22:27.500 --> 22:28.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: It doesn't make the...
[22:28.620 --> 22:30.820]  [SPEAKER_26]: Yeah, supposedly it makes the click.
[22:31.080 --> 22:39.600]  [SPEAKER_26]: And I just want to note that come 1993, a better part of New York City, more like 100% of it, no one will hear any clicks at all when they get a call waiting.
[22:39.720 --> 22:40.720]  [SPEAKER_26]: So I think it's a total wait.
[22:40.980 --> 22:43.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: They can make an even simpler device, couldn't they?
[22:43.700 --> 22:46.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: That simulates call waiting by not doing anything.
[22:46.460 --> 22:48.200]  [SPEAKER_26]: Well, or just say, I have a call.
[22:48.340 --> 22:48.980]  [SPEAKER_26]: It's very simple.
[22:49.140 --> 22:50.020]  [SPEAKER_26]: I have a call.
[22:50.160 --> 22:50.740]  [SPEAKER_26]: I have to go.
[22:50.980 --> 22:53.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: So for $15, they can give you a piece of paper that tells you what to say.
[22:53.960 --> 22:54.780]  [SPEAKER_26]: Yeah, you can...
[22:54.780 --> 22:57.940]  [SPEAKER_26]: Or by word of mouth, you can say, okay, I have a call now.
[22:58.120 --> 23:03.920]  [SPEAKER_26]: If there was no one talking at the particular time you got a beep, there's no indication whether or not you really got a call or not.
[23:04.020 --> 23:05.420]  [SPEAKER_26]: The person has to take your word for it.
[23:05.660 --> 23:05.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[23:06.680 --> 23:07.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's how things are.
[23:07.100 --> 23:18.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, you know, I used to always be able to fake people out by simply toggling my switch hook and saying, oh, I got a call waiting, you know, because people would think back in the analog days that that's what call waiting sounded like.
[23:18.220 --> 23:21.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: They didn't even realize I was on a crossbar and I couldn't even get call waiting if I wanted it.
[23:21.620 --> 23:22.460]  [SPEAKER_26]: Another thing is...
[23:22.460 --> 23:29.300]  [SPEAKER_23]: These days I'm just able to talk and then just suddenly pause for a second like that and I'll say, oh, call waiting came in, you know.
[23:29.560 --> 23:31.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: They think that that pause indicates something.
[23:31.600 --> 23:33.020]  [SPEAKER_26]: It's a more definite indication, yeah.
[23:33.220 --> 23:43.560]  [SPEAKER_26]: The other thing, though, is that anyone who's used to hearing the call waiting click on an analog switch will know that it has a certain cadence to it.
[23:43.660 --> 23:44.760]  [SPEAKER_26]: It's not just a click.
[23:44.760 --> 23:47.800]  [SPEAKER_26]: It's a certain kind of click and you get used to hearing it.
[23:47.920 --> 23:48.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's a beautiful click.
[23:48.820 --> 23:48.960]  [SPEAKER_26]: Yeah.
[23:49.200 --> 23:57.800]  [SPEAKER_26]: And now I haven't heard the click that this cheap little box tries to imitate, but if it's just some simple click on the line, it's not going to fool anyone.
[23:58.020 --> 24:05.040]  [SPEAKER_26]: And the worst thing that you want to happen is if someone you'd know if you want to get off the phone with them, for them to realize that you don't want to be talking to them.
[24:06.180 --> 24:12.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: It sounds like something that New York Telephone will come up with a device to thwart to get around for a monthly fee.
[24:12.480 --> 24:12.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[24:13.380 --> 24:20.420]  [SPEAKER_23]: But, you know, you say, okay, it costs $15 and you're getting $0.89 worth of electronics, but, you know, at least you're just paying $15 and it's over with.
[24:20.620 --> 24:22.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: I mean, call waiting costs $5 a month.
[24:22.840 --> 24:25.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: And how much work is involved there?
[24:26.100 --> 24:28.340]  [SPEAKER_26]: Yeah, but very little.
[24:28.840 --> 24:29.480]  [SPEAKER_26]: Almost none.
[24:29.720 --> 24:43.060]  [SPEAKER_26]: The whole point is that by contributing to people's little necessities by, for instance, wanting to get off the phone with someone you don't want to talk to, I'm sure, no doubt, that numerous people are just wasting $15.
[24:43.200 --> 24:44.700]  [SPEAKER_26]: And I've seen this in the newspaper.
[24:45.020 --> 24:49.700]  [SPEAKER_26]: I've even seen this gotta go thing mentioned on ABC News in the morning.
[24:50.000 --> 24:51.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, you know, I think the only way...
[24:51.220 --> 24:53.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's kind of like the fake cellular phones, you know.
[24:53.960 --> 24:55.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: I can't understand that either.
[24:55.640 --> 25:03.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: But I think the only way to really be able to judge this thing is to go out and get it and I think maybe I'll do that and we'll play with it on the air.
[25:04.100 --> 25:05.220]  [SPEAKER_26]: Yeah, we could do that.
[25:05.360 --> 25:08.600]  [SPEAKER_26]: But just a forewarning, you're not going to be fooling anyone.
[25:09.340 --> 25:10.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: Not us, anyway.
[25:10.460 --> 25:12.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: You could probably fool some people.
[25:12.300 --> 25:13.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: I've fooled people with all kinds.
[25:13.800 --> 25:18.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't think the average person knows the difference between the cadence of call waiting.
[25:18.660 --> 25:22.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: And they might know the clicks versus the silent speech interruption.
[25:23.680 --> 25:25.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: But they wouldn't know much more than that.
[25:25.880 --> 25:28.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, and I don't know.
[25:28.500 --> 25:33.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: I think most people would fall for it, but you don't need the box to make people fall for it.
[25:33.360 --> 25:34.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: You just say, I have a call coming in.
[25:35.000 --> 25:35.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: Sure.
[25:35.720 --> 25:37.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: And you don't need anything more than that.
[25:37.400 --> 25:39.800]  [SPEAKER_26]: So I just think the bottom line is that it's a big rip-off.
[25:40.320 --> 25:48.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: There's also sound effects they sell, too, for if you're pretending to be standing at an airport or standing in front of a bus station or things like that.
[25:49.000 --> 25:50.920]  [SPEAKER_26]: Anyone with a stereo can just tape anything they like.
[25:50.920 --> 25:59.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, but these are special tapes so that you can stand in a phone booth and tell your wife you're not coming home because you have to work late and there's office sounds all around you.
[26:00.520 --> 26:05.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: But of course, your wife will be armed with call ID so she'll know that you're calling from a payphone.
[26:06.000 --> 26:09.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: And in fact, she won't even take your call because she refuses calls from payphones.
[26:09.180 --> 26:10.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's warfare.
[26:10.960 --> 26:12.420]  [SPEAKER_23]: Electronic warfare is what it's turning into.
[26:13.980 --> 26:16.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: And the phone company gets a fee for everything.
[26:16.640 --> 26:18.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's the beauty of it.
[26:18.860 --> 26:19.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, you want to call waiting?
[26:20.120 --> 26:20.920]  [SPEAKER_23]: $5 a month.
[26:21.100 --> 26:21.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: Call forwarding?
[26:21.820 --> 26:22.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: $5 more a month.
[26:22.780 --> 26:25.900]  [SPEAKER_26]: Don't forget the $15 phantom installation charge.
[26:26.100 --> 26:37.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, now, I called the phone company this week and I finally, finally got them to confess to me that yes, indeed, it is possible for my central office to be able to have call return work on it.
[26:37.900 --> 26:44.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: In other words, I can call somebody and they can use star 69 to return my call without me ever even talking to them.
[26:45.100 --> 26:47.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: However, I cannot do the same thing back.
[26:47.180 --> 26:51.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Now, in the past, the phone company line has been, if you cannot do it, nobody can do it to you.
[26:52.220 --> 27:00.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, now they say that's not necessarily true anymore and it took a few weeks for them to admit this but they finally, you know, after calling them many, many times, I think I've gotten them to confess.
[27:02.120 --> 27:16.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: The other thing I was able to get them to do is admit to a service and the only way that we even found out this service existed was by what some computer hackers told us when they were rummaging around inside the phone company computer that they have certain other features that they don't tell people about.
[27:16.720 --> 27:19.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: One is call forwarding on a busy signal.
[27:19.840 --> 27:23.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: The other is call forwarding on a no answer type of situation.
[27:23.460 --> 27:30.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: In other words, your phone rings and rings and rings and after a certain number of rings, it forwards to another line anywhere you want it to forward in the world.
[27:31.180 --> 27:34.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: And the other service is if your phone is busy, it forwards someplace else.
[27:34.800 --> 27:36.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: And that's kind of handy to have.
[27:36.240 --> 27:37.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: It is kind of handy.
[27:37.080 --> 27:47.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Let's say, you know, a line does not have an answering machine and after a certain number of rings, obviously nobody's home so you want it to go to an answering machine located someplace else, like maybe at your office or something like that.
[27:47.920 --> 27:49.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's a handy service to have.
[27:49.220 --> 27:59.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: So I was finally able to track down the phone company and get them to admit they had this service and yes, they do offer it for a certain fee, I think $5 a month or something like that.
[27:59.840 --> 28:03.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: However, it would cost $56 to install it.
[28:03.580 --> 28:06.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: $56 to change an N to a Y.
[28:07.140 --> 28:10.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: And that's really all it is, is just changing the condition in the computer.
[28:10.380 --> 28:21.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: And what really is annoying here is that they had only just offered call forwarding fairly recently in my area and for the time when they were introducing it, there was a free installation period.
[28:21.600 --> 28:30.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: But, they never told us about this other feature that they weren't telling anybody about and so that free installation period expired.
[28:30.800 --> 28:34.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: So now if I want to get this particular feature, I've got to pay $56 for nothing.
[28:35.700 --> 28:37.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, I don't know.
[28:37.840 --> 28:42.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't want to bash the phone company too much because, you know, I don't know.
[28:43.240 --> 28:45.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: There's other people to bash too, other organizations.
[28:45.760 --> 28:49.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: But really, they've got to get a dose of reality here.
[28:49.280 --> 28:50.980]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, they charge for everything.
[28:51.980 --> 28:54.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: They can't charge for, you know, walking down the hall.
[28:54.860 --> 28:55.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: If they could, they would.
[28:57.140 --> 29:02.960]  [SPEAKER_26]: They get away with justifying all these installation charges by making people think they're actually installing something.
[29:03.120 --> 29:03.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[29:04.180 --> 29:08.260]  [SPEAKER_26]: That there's some amazing high-tech equipment that they have to install to provide them.
[29:08.260 --> 29:14.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: And they take three days to do it to make you feel that they have to go down and do wiring and cable splicing.
[29:14.320 --> 29:15.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: They're doing absolutely nothing.
[29:15.280 --> 29:18.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: Actuality, they just have to go like that on a computer and it's done.
[29:18.760 --> 29:22.740]  [SPEAKER_23]: And if you don't believe that, we can have somebody else go and do it and show how easy it is.
[29:22.740 --> 29:29.060]  [SPEAKER_26]: The people that take the request at your local resident service center, all they do is enter the order into a computer and the computer takes care of the rest.
[29:29.420 --> 29:32.440]  [SPEAKER_26]: There's no person involved in installing these features on the switch.
[29:32.440 --> 29:33.240]  [SPEAKER_26]: It's all automated.
[29:33.460 --> 29:39.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: And I'm sure the computer doesn't request a fee for its services, so it would be nice.
[29:39.180 --> 29:50.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, it would be so nice if telephone service were something that was encouraged instead of trying to weed out people that don't have a lot of money and not giving them anything.
[29:50.280 --> 29:51.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: Why can't we all have call waiting?
[29:51.760 --> 29:53.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: Why can't we all have call forwarding?
[29:53.100 --> 29:59.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Why do we have to pay 75 cents each time we try to call somebody back whose line is busy?
[30:00.080 --> 30:08.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's the newest feature, star 66, which will repeat dial somebody whose line is busy and then call you back when the line is not busy anymore.
[30:08.560 --> 30:12.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: Every time you try that, 75 cents plus the cost of the call.
[30:12.460 --> 30:20.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: If you return somebody's call, they call you and you want to call them back, you don't know who they are, you dial star 69, another 75 cents each time you do it.
[30:21.320 --> 30:31.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: I mean, yeah, they're installing new services, but it doesn't cost them anything more than it does to place the call after the initial expense of the network has been paid for.
[30:31.680 --> 30:36.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: And I'm sure the high rates we're all paying now do more than cover that.
[30:36.220 --> 30:38.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: I mean, it's about time we moved into the 80s.
[30:39.060 --> 30:40.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's now the 90s.
[30:40.900 --> 30:42.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: New York Telephone is always a little bit behind.
[30:43.580 --> 30:48.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: Also, we have to bash New Jersey Bell as well, but maybe on another show we'll do that.
[30:48.340 --> 31:04.080]  [SPEAKER_23]: A lot of our listeners are in New Jersey and certainly New York Telephone is not alone in its practices, although it's one of the few remaining phone companies to keep charging for Touch-Tone service, which is something else that is a big waste, a big waste of our money anyway.
[31:05.420 --> 31:07.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, it's 10.30, time to take some...
[31:07.840 --> 31:09.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Actually, I should clarify that.
[31:09.840 --> 31:11.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'm not saying Touch-Tone service is a waste.
[31:11.480 --> 31:17.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'm saying paying for something that doesn't exist because you're not getting anything when you pay for that.
[31:17.500 --> 31:23.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: And if anybody has any questions about that, I've said this so many times, I don't want to go into it again, but feel free to ask and we'll explain it all.
[31:24.200 --> 31:28.300]  [SPEAKER_23]: But it's just one of many instances where you're being charged for a service that does not exist.
[31:28.780 --> 31:31.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, 212-279-3400.
[31:32.040 --> 31:43.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's our telephone number and we're taking phone calls talking about high technology and the future and blockbuster video and anything else that might be on your mind.
[31:43.180 --> 31:43.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: So give us a call.
[31:43.920 --> 31:46.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: 212-279-3400.
[31:46.680 --> 31:47.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Good evening.
[31:47.940 --> 31:48.400]  [SPEAKER_11]: How you doing?
[31:48.520 --> 31:48.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: How you doing?
[31:48.840 --> 31:49.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: What's up?
[31:49.380 --> 31:49.940]  [SPEAKER_11]: Are we on the air?
[31:50.280 --> 31:51.140]  [SPEAKER_23]: You're on the air now.
[31:51.520 --> 31:52.680]  [SPEAKER_11]: Yeah, I have a question.
[31:52.780 --> 31:57.900]  [SPEAKER_11]: I would call up a bunch of computer bulletin boards like regularly and on one I found a message recently.
[31:58.060 --> 32:02.760]  [SPEAKER_11]: It was like dated November 28 that the FCC is going to try to put a surcharge on modem use.
[32:03.920 --> 32:04.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, that's...
[32:04.760 --> 32:05.740]  [SPEAKER_23]: What was the date on that?
[32:06.920 --> 32:07.760]  [SPEAKER_11]: There was one...
[32:07.760 --> 32:09.700]  [SPEAKER_11]: It happened two years ago but it's happening again.
[32:10.040 --> 32:15.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, well now I should point this out to you right now because this is something that has been pointed out to me many, many times.
[32:16.400 --> 32:17.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: There is...
[32:17.120 --> 32:19.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: This happens on the Internet sometimes and on bulletin boards.
[32:20.500 --> 32:26.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: It also happened with that kid who wanted a wish or something and wanted to get all these postcards because he was dying or something like that.
[32:27.960 --> 32:34.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: these letters keep popping up over and over again and the issue is dead and buried and in fact the kid might be dead and buried.
[32:34.640 --> 32:48.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't know about that but the thing is the issue is not an issue at the moment and the thing is if it ever becomes an issue again it's going to be awfully hard to muster support for it because this has come up like about 18 times in the past couple of years.
[32:49.500 --> 32:49.640]  Really?
[32:49.640 --> 32:52.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, and it's not really happening.
[32:52.300 --> 32:58.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's the word I have that's the most recent word I have is that it's not really happening and if it is we'll certainly be talking about it here.
[32:59.040 --> 32:59.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[32:59.720 --> 32:59.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: Alright?
[33:00.220 --> 33:00.560]  [SPEAKER_23]: Thanks.
[33:00.720 --> 33:01.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: Thanks for calling.
[33:01.520 --> 33:10.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's not to say that modem users aren't being harassed in other parts of the country but as far as a national thing by the FCC that's not happening not at the moment.
[33:10.960 --> 33:11.160]  [SPEAKER_23]: Alright.
[33:11.680 --> 33:13.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: 212-279-3400 Good evening.
[33:14.280 --> 33:15.240]  [SPEAKER_21]: Yes, good evening.
[33:16.240 --> 33:16.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, go ahead.
[33:17.400 --> 33:17.840]  [SPEAKER_21]: Okay.
[33:17.840 --> 33:52.860]  [SPEAKER_21]: I heard from an organization called American Telephone Consumers Council that the Public Service Commission is initiating a new a new case actually and the subject of the case is to see if the traditional way of regulating the phone company like for instance if it wants a rate increase it has to go through a rate case and the What the commission is exploring is the possibility that they would have
[33:52.860 --> 34:05.040]  [SPEAKER_21]: some kind of incentive program so that the phone company would be told to or offer the opportunity to reach certain standards of service, etc.
[34:05.040 --> 34:21.320]  [SPEAKER_21]: And if they do that, and also keeping the rates at a certain level, they would not have to go through a rate case that something could be, you know, an arrangement that would be worked out setting those incentives for them.
[34:22.500 --> 34:26.900]  [SPEAKER_21]: I was wondering what your ideas might be on this.
[34:27.140 --> 34:32.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, I'd be a little bit concerned that this incentive would bypass the process.
[34:33.360 --> 34:34.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's the whole idea, yes.
[34:34.660 --> 34:40.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, now, you know, if they met these conditions, what is it that they'd be gaining?
[34:40.980 --> 34:42.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: They wouldn't have to go through a hearing process?
[34:43.560 --> 34:44.520]  [SPEAKER_21]: That's correct.
[34:46.140 --> 34:56.120]  [SPEAKER_21]: Well, for instance, one thing that happened recently, you know, there was this stage one rate case, which changed a lot of...
[35:06.060 --> 35:08.460]  [SPEAKER_21]: ...followed by stage two and stage three.
[35:08.460 --> 35:28.760]  [SPEAKER_21]: And the approach of the commission on that was to have a settlement conference, which was attended by interested parties, which numbered about, I think, 22 people who met on numerous occasions in the early part of the year and were not able to arrive at any settlement.
[35:28.760 --> 35:57.240]  [SPEAKER_21]: And the Consumer Protection Board actually came in with a case trying to get to open a case that would have a major reduction of the phone company's rates because they felt that or that their figures, as they were studying the situation, indicated that with the laying off or getting rid of a lot of personnel ...and other technical advantages,
[35:57.240 --> 36:07.480]  [SPEAKER_21]: that the company was actually getting a much higher rate of return than it was claimed, than it had been found, and therefore the public was supposed to have a rate reduction.
[36:08.540 --> 36:15.420]  [SPEAKER_21]: But that's the approach I think the commission has, is that they'd like to have these rate moratoriums and so forth.
[36:17.440 --> 36:32.220]  [SPEAKER_21]: But the big issue with the CPB and the CWA just asked that these hearings not be held, this case not be studied, because they had various objections.
[36:32.220 --> 36:42.740]  [SPEAKER_21]: When the main thing is it would take away the traditional rate hearing procedure, which has been in effect for many years.
[36:42.880 --> 36:47.360]  [SPEAKER_21]: Not that it's been the greatest thing in the world, because not many people know what's going on there.
[36:48.040 --> 37:01.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, I think more people should be made aware of that, and also they should be held at times when people can get to them, not in the middle of a working day, and in convenient places, in places where people that don't have cars can get to, especially out in the suburbs.
[37:01.340 --> 37:05.080]  [SPEAKER_21]: The problem is the hearings can be long, drawn out.
[37:05.260 --> 37:07.200]  [SPEAKER_21]: It's a very long, drawn out procedure.
[37:08.220 --> 37:20.420]  [SPEAKER_21]: Fortunately, in the state, after a number of years, we now have a Consumer Protection Board that does make a valiant effort to do its job.
[37:20.420 --> 37:30.060]  [SPEAKER_21]: In other words, it's something where you have to really delegate people who are knowledgeable in the field.
[37:31.060 --> 37:46.540]  [SPEAKER_21]: And there are opportunities for public hearings where people can come up on an individual basis and tell the commission how the rate increase demanded would affect them, or that kind of thing.
[37:46.620 --> 37:52.760]  [SPEAKER_21]: But when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, you have to have people that are skilled in the rate-making procedure.
[37:52.760 --> 38:16.560]  [SPEAKER_21]: And we do have the Consumer Protection Board, and supposedly the staff of the commission is also supposed to play a role on that as well in exploring the data and going over the data submitted by the phone company and introducing their own witnesses to challenge that data when necessary.
[38:20.600 --> 38:46.460]  [SPEAKER_21]: I think the CPB, Consumer Protection Board, joined by the CWA, felt that the traditional rate-making procedures are the fairest thing because there you have an ongoing opportunity during the course of the rate case to request information and so forth.
[38:47.260 --> 38:51.420]  [SPEAKER_21]: And to really search out what the situation is.
[38:51.600 --> 38:57.500]  [SPEAKER_21]: In the settlement hearings, it's more of a, well, this will be a pain.
[38:57.700 --> 39:01.020]  [SPEAKER_21]: I mean, you'll have to get a little pain here, and they'll get a little pain there.
[39:01.180 --> 39:06.920]  [SPEAKER_21]: And actually, nothing was accomplished because they couldn't arrive at a settlement.
[39:09.600 --> 39:16.620]  [SPEAKER_21]: But I was just wondering if you had heard about that and whether you had any ideas on it.
[39:16.720 --> 39:26.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, I hadn't heard specifically about that proposed change, but I do support the current way it is now, and I just wish it was more open to the public.
[39:26.400 --> 39:39.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: And I hope that people are made more aware of it and that when there is a rate increase, you don't see it on the back page of Newsday or something in tiny print where you can't make out what it is they're talking about.
[39:39.880 --> 39:45.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: The important thing is that people understand what it is that's being asked of them.
[39:45.360 --> 39:46.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: What's going to change?
[39:46.740 --> 39:57.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, I saw something in the paper the other day that made it sound, and I think this is what's going to happen, that AT&T isn't going to allow discounts on any holidays anymore.
[39:57.840 --> 40:02.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: They're not going to have evening rates on holidays.
[40:02.920 --> 40:04.700]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'm not sure if that's...
[40:04.700 --> 40:08.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, it was hard to read because they didn't speak English or anything like that.
[40:09.160 --> 40:17.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: But they said they were changing the number of holidays, number of defined holidays per year from something like six to zero.
[40:18.440 --> 40:21.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: Something like that should get headlines if that's really what they're doing.
[40:21.840 --> 40:25.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: And if it's not what they're doing, they should explain just what it is they mean.
[40:27.840 --> 40:28.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: Good evening.
[40:28.760 --> 40:29.380]  [SPEAKER_10]: Yes, hello.
[40:29.560 --> 40:36.600]  [SPEAKER_10]: I'd like to know, is there a way for me to dial direct from New York to dial the operator in L.A.?
[40:37.100 --> 40:39.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: To dial the Los Angeles operator?
[40:39.740 --> 40:39.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[40:41.460 --> 40:43.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: Not if you're not a phone freak, I don't think.
[40:44.160 --> 40:51.920]  [SPEAKER_23]: The only way you can do it is to call somebody in Los Angeles and have them three-way you to an operator, or call somebody in Los Angeles that can transfer you to an operator.
[40:52.160 --> 40:53.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: What do you think, Fiber?
[40:53.640 --> 40:54.980]  [SPEAKER_26]: You just dial 00.
[40:55.040 --> 40:57.200]  [SPEAKER_26]: That'll give you your local AT&T operator.
[40:57.200 --> 40:58.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, but that's not why he's asking.
[40:58.700 --> 41:00.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: He's asking for an operator in Los Angeles.
[41:00.680 --> 41:02.740]  [SPEAKER_26]: And then you could tell her to give you an operator in Los Angeles.
[41:03.180 --> 41:04.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, they're going to do that?
[41:04.380 --> 41:05.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: They're not going to do that.
[41:05.400 --> 41:06.740]  [SPEAKER_26]: Well, I don't see why not.
[41:07.620 --> 41:09.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, I don't see why not either, but I know they won't do it.
[41:10.160 --> 41:11.340]  [SPEAKER_26]: Well, it's something to try.
[41:11.500 --> 41:12.420]  [SPEAKER_26]: They certainly can.
[41:12.700 --> 41:12.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[41:12.960 --> 41:14.860]  [SPEAKER_26]: Why would you need to reach an operator in Los Angeles?
[41:14.880 --> 41:16.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, well, what are you after?
[41:16.540 --> 41:22.060]  [SPEAKER_10]: Well, actually, I wanted to... I was outside the country, actually, at the time.
[41:22.200 --> 41:22.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[41:22.760 --> 41:27.540]  [SPEAKER_10]: And I was trying to reach an operator in the States to dial an 800 number.
[41:27.840 --> 41:28.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, boy.
[41:28.760 --> 41:29.100]  [SPEAKER_10]: Yeah.
[41:29.420 --> 41:37.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's always tough, because if you go through USA Direct or any of the other long-distance services for overseas, they tend not to hook you up to 800 numbers.
[41:39.500 --> 41:45.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Because, you know, they have to pay for the line going overseas, and to hook you up to a toll-free number, they wouldn't make any money.
[41:46.760 --> 41:56.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Really, the only way I can think of to do that, if you want to keep it legal, is to get a hold of somebody in the States and have them three-way to that 800 number as well.
[41:57.440 --> 41:57.820]  [SPEAKER_10]: Okay.
[41:58.000 --> 42:01.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: Either that or find out the translation for the 800 number and call it direct.
[42:01.620 --> 42:01.900]  [SPEAKER_10]: Okay.
[42:02.160 --> 42:02.480]  [SPEAKER_10]: Thank you.
[42:02.620 --> 42:02.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[42:03.080 --> 42:03.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: Bye.
[42:04.720 --> 42:05.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Good evening.
[42:05.600 --> 42:05.980]  Okay.
[42:06.660 --> 42:07.040]  [SPEAKER_13]: Hi.
[42:07.820 --> 42:08.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes, go ahead.
[42:09.380 --> 42:09.720]  [SPEAKER_13]: Hi.
[42:09.840 --> 42:10.860]  [SPEAKER_13]: I just turned off my radio.
[42:12.080 --> 42:19.960]  [SPEAKER_13]: So, you said that you're not paying for anything for the Touch-Tone service.
[42:20.440 --> 42:30.200]  [SPEAKER_13]: Does that mean that if I were to cancel my Touch-Tone service, I would still have the, in effect, Touch-Tone service?
[42:30.240 --> 42:30.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, no.
[42:30.900 --> 42:32.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: You see, the way it works is this.
[42:32.520 --> 42:35.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: You have, your phone makes the Touch-Tones, okay?
[42:35.180 --> 42:39.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: You have a phone, and the tones are made by the tone generator in the phone.
[42:40.260 --> 42:47.980]  [SPEAKER_23]: What the phone company will do if you refuse to pay a monthly fee is that they will program their computer to ignore your Touch-Tones.
[42:48.180 --> 42:48.980]  [SPEAKER_23]: Simple as that.
[42:48.980 --> 42:56.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's not like you're getting something, it's like you're paying to have them not turn on this evil machine that will ignore your Touch-Tones.
[42:57.420 --> 42:59.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's really, back in the old days.
[42:59.580 --> 43:01.320]  [SPEAKER_18]: I mean, the whole thing is Touch-Tone, right?
[43:01.660 --> 43:01.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: Right.
[43:01.980 --> 43:08.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: Back in the old days, like way back in the 1960s, you actually were paying for something new.
[43:08.380 --> 43:12.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, they had to have converters for pulse to tone.
[43:13.460 --> 43:15.140]  [SPEAKER_13]: Right, right, right, exactly.
[43:15.500 --> 43:21.820]  [SPEAKER_13]: So now, now you should be, they should make people pay extra if they want to have a dial tone.
[43:22.360 --> 43:22.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[43:23.080 --> 43:23.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: A dial...
[43:23.520 --> 43:24.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, you could do that.
[43:24.500 --> 43:27.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: You can charge people extra money for every number they use.
[43:27.640 --> 43:28.500]  [SPEAKER_23]: You can do all kinds of things.
[43:28.500 --> 43:38.020]  [SPEAKER_13]: I just mean, like, if you, right now, for instance, if you have, if you don't want your name in the phone book, you have to pay.
[43:38.020 --> 43:40.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, that's another thing that doesn't make any sense.
[43:40.240 --> 43:42.360]  [SPEAKER_13]: You have to pay extra if you don't want it.
[43:42.500 --> 43:44.800]  [SPEAKER_13]: So that's what they should do with the Touch-Tone.
[43:45.240 --> 43:45.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[43:45.820 --> 43:48.220]  [SPEAKER_13]: You should have to pay extra if you don't want it.
[43:48.300 --> 43:51.400]  [SPEAKER_13]: Otherwise, why should everybody be paying something that's been paid for?
[43:51.400 --> 43:52.000]  [SPEAKER_13]: I don't, I don't think, I don't think...
[43:52.000 --> 43:53.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: For maybe, I don't know how many years.
[43:53.520 --> 43:55.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't think you should have to pay extra no matter what, I mean...
[43:55.580 --> 43:56.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Five, ten years.
[43:56.500 --> 43:59.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, but, you know, the system can handle dials, it can handle tones.
[44:00.300 --> 44:02.640]  [SPEAKER_13]: Right, well, I mean, that was just kind of a joke.
[44:02.800 --> 44:06.520]  [SPEAKER_13]: But the idea is, like, we're paying for something that's already been paid for many times.
[44:06.520 --> 44:06.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Of course.
[44:07.160 --> 44:08.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yes, that's the whole point.
[44:08.300 --> 44:13.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: And the reason why it stays in there year after year is that people really don't understand that simple fact.
[44:13.880 --> 44:17.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: And if everybody understood that simple fact, it would go away.
[44:17.060 --> 44:19.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: And they wouldn't charge for call return for every call.
[44:19.760 --> 44:21.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: They wouldn't charge for repeat dialing.
[44:22.080 --> 44:23.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: And they wouldn't charge the outrageous fees.
[44:23.760 --> 44:29.380]  [SPEAKER_13]: A bit optimistic on just how responsive this bureaucracy is to what people want and don't want.
[44:29.380 --> 44:35.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: If 500,000 people massed around phone company headquarters and threatened to tear it down, I'll bet that would make a difference.
[44:35.780 --> 44:35.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[44:36.200 --> 44:37.580]  [SPEAKER_13]: Okay, you send out the call.
[44:37.680 --> 44:38.020]  [SPEAKER_13]: I'm ready.
[44:38.180 --> 44:38.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: All right.
[44:38.940 --> 44:39.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: Thanks.
[44:39.500 --> 44:39.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Good luck.
[44:40.400 --> 44:42.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: And if they can do it in Eastern Europe, they can do it here.
[44:43.040 --> 44:45.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Except it's, you know, slightly different circumstances.
[44:45.880 --> 44:47.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: But you've got to take what you can get.
[44:48.420 --> 44:50.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: And we'll topple the government next, I guess.
[44:50.320 --> 44:50.860]  [SPEAKER_23]: Good evening.
[44:51.400 --> 44:52.280]  [SPEAKER_16]: Hi, good evening.
[44:52.760 --> 44:53.720]  [SPEAKER_16]: How are you doing tonight?
[44:54.180 --> 44:54.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'm okay.
[44:55.020 --> 44:55.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'm fine.
[44:55.180 --> 44:57.860]  [SPEAKER_16]: Okay, my name is Anthony, and I have two questions, please.
[44:58.080 --> 44:58.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, go ahead.
[44:58.620 --> 45:13.340]  [SPEAKER_16]: Okay, the first one is, um, my friend, um, sent the check for a subscription to your magazine for about $21, and he did that, like, about three or four months ago, and he's never received any...
[45:13.340 --> 45:15.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, well, he's got to call the office.
[45:15.060 --> 45:16.440]  [SPEAKER_23]: We can't deal with that over the air.
[45:16.600 --> 45:17.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'll give you the number, okay?
[45:17.920 --> 45:18.760]  [SPEAKER_16]: Okay, he called it.
[45:18.820 --> 45:21.780]  [SPEAKER_16]: He said all he got was some answering machine, and they never returned his call.
[45:22.180 --> 45:28.600]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, well, say, you know, say that it's been three or four months, because that will definitely get, uh, attention, because that's way too long.
[45:28.600 --> 45:30.420]  [SPEAKER_18]: Okay, his name is Joe Diaz.
[45:30.540 --> 45:34.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, I don't, I don't, I don't think, I don't think he wants his name given out over the radio, though.
[45:34.760 --> 45:43.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: I mean, you're, I'm sure you're a friend of his and all that, but, uh, let's not, uh, let's not give too much publicity to people that haven't gotten their particular things.
[45:43.020 --> 45:49.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: But if anybody does have a problem, give a call to the office, 516-751-2600, and they'll be happy to help you, I'm sure.
[45:50.220 --> 45:50.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Good evening.
[45:50.980 --> 45:54.780]  [SPEAKER_17]: Hi, I have a lot of things to tell you that I've discovered, and I want to ask you some questions.
[45:55.060 --> 45:56.280]  [SPEAKER_17]: This is your favorite caller again.
[45:56.520 --> 45:56.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[45:56.640 --> 46:00.800]  [SPEAKER_17]: Um, uh, what phone company is in Fishers Island?
[46:01.080 --> 46:02.900]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh, that's the Fishers Island Telephone Company.
[46:03.020 --> 46:03.420]  [SPEAKER_17]: Oh, okay.
[46:03.620 --> 46:04.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, I knew that one.
[46:04.700 --> 46:11.480]  [SPEAKER_17]: Um, did you know that if you dial 212-818-9901, it gives you touchstones?
[46:12.000 --> 46:21.520]  [SPEAKER_17]: Uh, and, if you dial 914-769-9901, it just gives you a voice saying 769, uh, 914-769.
[46:21.720 --> 46:29.680]  [SPEAKER_17]: And also, did you know that there is going to be a 1-600 number, but it'll only be used for Canada's Telex system.
[46:29.940 --> 46:31.560]  [SPEAKER_17]: I called Belcor and asked them.
[46:32.660 --> 46:34.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'd heard something about 610 once.
[46:35.040 --> 46:36.860]  [SPEAKER_17]: Well, 610 is going to be the United States.
[46:37.820 --> 46:38.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: Really?
[46:38.360 --> 46:39.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: And how is that going to work?
[46:39.200 --> 46:42.740]  [SPEAKER_17]: In other words, you're going to dial 1-600 for Canada.
[46:43.400 --> 46:43.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[46:44.220 --> 46:46.320]  [SPEAKER_17]: If you have 1-600, it's going to be for Canada.
[46:46.640 --> 46:48.580]  [SPEAKER_17]: 1-6-1-0 is going to be the United States.
[46:48.640 --> 46:49.800]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, but what do you get when you dial that?
[46:50.120 --> 46:50.740]  [SPEAKER_17]: Nothing yet.
[46:50.900 --> 46:51.740]  [SPEAKER_17]: I don't know when it's going.
[46:51.840 --> 46:54.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: But I'm saying, once it's installed, what will you get?
[46:54.040 --> 46:55.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: You'll get Telex machines?
[46:55.300 --> 46:55.660]  [SPEAKER_17]: Canada.
[46:55.960 --> 46:57.240]  [SPEAKER_17]: National Telex or something?
[46:57.320 --> 46:58.220]  [SPEAKER_26]: But Telexes are...
[46:58.220 --> 47:01.420]  [SPEAKER_26]: Telexes are not dialable on the, on the, uh, public telephone network.
[47:01.760 --> 47:04.520]  [SPEAKER_17]: Well, I don't know that much about it because, um...
[47:04.520 --> 47:05.780]  [SPEAKER_26]: There are Telex numbers right now.
[47:05.820 --> 47:05.940]  [SPEAKER_26]: Yeah.
[47:05.940 --> 47:07.080]  [SPEAKER_26]: You simply cannot dial them.
[47:07.240 --> 47:08.600]  [SPEAKER_26]: It'll have no effect on us.
[47:09.560 --> 47:13.640]  [SPEAKER_17]: Okay, well, uh, do you know, what is an IOC operator?
[47:13.840 --> 47:15.780]  [SPEAKER_17]: Because I noticed that AT&T has to connect...
[47:15.780 --> 47:17.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: The International Olympic Committee.
[47:17.480 --> 47:19.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, actually, actually, no, that's not true.
[47:19.760 --> 47:20.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's, uh, what is it?
[47:20.920 --> 47:22.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: International Overseas something?
[47:22.740 --> 47:23.840]  [SPEAKER_26]: Well, that's kind of redundant.
[47:24.040 --> 47:25.140]  [SPEAKER_26]: It's, uh...
[47:25.140 --> 47:27.440]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, but the phone company is redundant, let's face it.
[47:29.140 --> 47:30.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: You don't know what it stands for, huh?
[47:30.240 --> 47:33.120]  [SPEAKER_26]: I forget what the O is, but it's International Something Center.
[47:34.260 --> 47:35.560]  [SPEAKER_23]: International Operator Center, that's it.
[47:35.620 --> 47:36.200]  [SPEAKER_26]: Those operators...
[47:36.200 --> 47:37.420]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's got to be International Operator Center.
[47:37.500 --> 47:38.240]  [SPEAKER_17]: I don't know why.
[47:38.840 --> 47:39.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: What happened?
[47:39.740 --> 47:44.960]  [SPEAKER_17]: When I wanted to call directory assistance in another country like France, AT&T has to connect it with an IOC operator.
[47:45.200 --> 47:45.200]  Right.
[47:45.320 --> 47:46.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, that's their new policy.
[47:46.780 --> 47:48.120]  [SPEAKER_23]: They do that for everything now.
[47:48.500 --> 47:48.660]  [SPEAKER_17]: Oh.
[47:49.000 --> 47:49.300]  [SPEAKER_17]: All right.
[47:49.480 --> 47:55.460]  [SPEAKER_17]: Now, I went to a cold card phone that gave you an unrestricted dial tone after you dialed an O-plus call.
[47:55.700 --> 47:58.360]  [SPEAKER_17]: It malfunctioned and gave you an unrestricted dial tone.
[47:58.740 --> 48:00.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, you assume it malfunctioned.
[48:00.240 --> 48:01.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: Maybe that's the purpose of it, but never mind.
[48:01.740 --> 48:04.820]  [SPEAKER_17]: Because I went there the next day, it functioned normally then.
[48:05.060 --> 48:05.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh-huh.
[48:05.340 --> 48:06.040]  [SPEAKER_17]: Uh-huh.
[48:06.080 --> 48:09.220]  [SPEAKER_17]: And also, I went to a cold card phone and lost 50 cents.
[48:09.360 --> 48:12.780]  [SPEAKER_17]: I told... this was a Cherry Communications phone.
[48:12.940 --> 48:14.220]  [SPEAKER_17]: I said, I lost 50 cents.
[48:14.320 --> 48:17.100]  [SPEAKER_17]: I dialed 2-1-1, which is their refund number.
[48:17.260 --> 48:19.600]  [SPEAKER_17]: They said, okay, would you like me to connect you with the number?
[48:19.680 --> 48:20.320]  [SPEAKER_17]: I said, yes.
[48:20.460 --> 48:23.120]  [SPEAKER_17]: And then they just connected me, assuming that I lost the money.
[48:24.200 --> 48:25.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, that's awfully nice.
[48:25.680 --> 48:29.500]  [SPEAKER_17]: Yeah, I mean, anyone could just say I lost money just to get connected to free phone calls.
[48:30.180 --> 48:32.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, eventually, I think they might catch on.
[48:32.820 --> 48:33.220]  [SPEAKER_17]: Right.
[48:33.540 --> 48:35.320]  [SPEAKER_17]: Now, if there's such a thing as blocking...
[48:35.340 --> 48:38.860]  [SPEAKER_17]: Blocking 10X... 10... 1-0 access codes?
[48:39.180 --> 48:39.560]  [SPEAKER_17]: Sure.
[48:39.780 --> 48:40.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, yeah, you can do that.
[48:41.160 --> 48:41.460]  [SPEAKER_26]: Okay.
[48:41.880 --> 48:43.880]  [SPEAKER_26]: All you need to do is ask the phone company.
[48:43.900 --> 48:44.500]  [SPEAKER_26]: They'll do it for you.
[48:45.380 --> 48:45.640]  [SPEAKER_26]: Really?
[48:45.900 --> 48:48.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: Just like you can dial... you can block 900 numbers.
[48:48.400 --> 48:48.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: You can do that.
[48:48.920 --> 48:53.600]  [SPEAKER_17]: Oh, some cold card phones pick up, and then they say, payphone, not a billable number.
[48:53.760 --> 48:53.920]  [SPEAKER_17]: Yep.
[48:54.260 --> 48:54.420]  [SPEAKER_23]: Right.
[48:54.420 --> 49:00.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's in case they get an incoming call from somebody that's trying to charge a collect call to the payphone.
[49:00.020 --> 49:00.560]  [SPEAKER_26]: Not necessarily.
[49:00.880 --> 49:03.620]  [SPEAKER_26]: If you dial an equal access call, a lot of them say that.
[49:03.980 --> 49:05.960]  [SPEAKER_26]: It's illegal, by the way, but they still do it.
[49:06.040 --> 49:07.920]  [SPEAKER_26]: They want to discourage you from using another carrier.
[49:08.780 --> 49:08.960]  [SPEAKER_17]: Yeah.
[49:09.060 --> 49:13.600]  [SPEAKER_17]: In other words, if you're... you could block your phone from getting a third number of billing or collect.
[49:13.820 --> 49:23.860]  [SPEAKER_17]: But let's say there was an operator in some part of the country that didn't have access to the blocking system, and she calls, so that they, you know, she'll hear that payphone, not a billable number.
[49:24.080 --> 49:24.360]  [SPEAKER_23]: Right.
[49:24.980 --> 49:31.480]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's similar to what they call the cuckoo system overseas, where every payphone picks up with a special little tone.
[49:31.640 --> 49:31.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Right.
[49:32.000 --> 49:35.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: And that's the international symbol that this is a payphone.
[49:35.300 --> 49:37.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: Do not bill any collect calls to this number.
[49:37.540 --> 49:40.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: And that recording is just, you know, a variation of that.
[49:41.560 --> 49:44.000]  [SPEAKER_17]: And could you try those numbers with the...
[49:44.000 --> 49:46.480]  [SPEAKER_26]: I just want to... I don't know about your, uh...
[49:46.480 --> 49:48.140]  [SPEAKER_26]: What was the 818 and 212?
[49:49.580 --> 49:51.000]  [SPEAKER_17]: 818... the 212...
[49:51.000 --> 49:52.320]  [SPEAKER_26]: 818-9901.
[49:52.860 --> 49:54.720]  [SPEAKER_26]: The one in 914, forget about.
[49:54.820 --> 49:55.680]  [SPEAKER_26]: That's nothing strange.
[49:55.720 --> 50:00.460]  [SPEAKER_26]: In fact, all offices used to do that before they got the nice digital offices that read you off the nice recording.
[50:00.500 --> 50:01.340]  [SPEAKER_17]: Oh, it's a digital switch.
[50:01.740 --> 50:02.340]  [SPEAKER_26]: You sure?
[50:02.700 --> 50:03.040]  [SPEAKER_17]: Yeah.
[50:03.160 --> 50:03.680]  [SPEAKER_26]: It can't be.
[50:05.200 --> 50:07.540]  [SPEAKER_17]: 914-769-9901.
[50:07.740 --> 50:12.960]  [SPEAKER_26]: Okay, but all I'm saying is that all the analog switches, including the crossbars, they used to do that.
[50:12.960 --> 50:16.200]  [SPEAKER_26]: If you called 9901, it would read the area code in the first three digits.
[50:16.360 --> 50:17.100]  [SPEAKER_26]: There's nothing strange.
[50:17.380 --> 50:18.460]  [SPEAKER_17]: Okay, now, what...
[50:18.460 --> 50:21.820]  [SPEAKER_17]: Why do some cold-car phones give you different Touch-Tones when you're dialing it?
[50:22.280 --> 50:24.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, some of them make all kinds of weird...
[50:24.820 --> 50:25.720]  [SPEAKER_23]: I don't know why they do it.
[50:26.060 --> 50:27.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah, they make strange noises sometimes.
[50:28.080 --> 50:28.820]  [SPEAKER_26]: While you're dialing?
[50:28.900 --> 50:29.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yeah.
[50:29.740 --> 50:34.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: What they're doing simply is blocking what you're actually hearing and just playing something else for you.
[50:34.300 --> 50:35.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: They could play musical notes instead.
[50:35.920 --> 50:36.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Right.
[50:36.540 --> 50:38.380]  [SPEAKER_23]: There's no reason for it, as far as I can see.
[50:38.840 --> 50:40.880]  [SPEAKER_23]: Unless, for some reason, they don't want you to hear what you're doing.
[50:40.880 --> 50:45.400]  [SPEAKER_26]: Perhaps it's also so that if you're connecting to a service where you need to use Touch-Tones, you won't be able to.
[50:46.840 --> 50:47.200]  Right.
[50:47.640 --> 50:48.480]  [SPEAKER_18]: Try those numbers.
[50:48.680 --> 50:49.580]  [SPEAKER_23]: We'll give them a try.
[50:49.720 --> 50:49.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[50:50.160 --> 50:50.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: Thanks for calling.
[50:51.420 --> 50:52.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: And this is off the hook.
[50:52.900 --> 50:58.520]  [SPEAKER_23]: Again, if you're tuning in to hear the Personal Computer Show, obviously you figured out by now that this is not the Personal Computer Show.
[50:59.120 --> 51:00.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: The Personal Computer Show is on...
[51:00.960 --> 51:02.000]  [SPEAKER_23]: I'm getting beeped again.
[51:02.120 --> 51:03.020]  [SPEAKER_23]: You know, this is one of these nights.
[51:03.820 --> 51:05.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: The Personal Computer...
[51:05.100 --> 51:05.620]  [SPEAKER_23]: Oh, my.
[51:05.640 --> 51:06.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: Look at that.
[51:07.900 --> 51:14.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: The Personal Computer Show is now on Wednesdays at 9 o'clock, and we're on at 10 o'clock.
[51:14.120 --> 51:19.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: We switch times, so adjust your lives and schedules accordingly.
[51:20.260 --> 51:22.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, shall we give a try to those numbers?
[51:22.400 --> 51:23.220]  [SPEAKER_26]: I'll try the 818.
[51:23.460 --> 51:24.100]  [SPEAKER_26]: Yeah, I'll try...
[51:24.640 --> 51:27.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, I can't dial 212 since we're in 212, but...
[51:27.800 --> 51:30.940]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's just about 818-9901, see what happens.
[51:31.120 --> 51:31.280]  [SPEAKER_26]: That's what he said, yeah.
[51:32.360 --> 51:33.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: Supposed to get Touch-Tones.
[51:34.420 --> 51:38.560]  [SPEAKER_23]: I imagine every single one of our listeners is calling it now, so that's probably why we got a busy signal.
[51:38.660 --> 51:38.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Yep.
[51:38.960 --> 51:40.540]  [SPEAKER_23]: And probably the same thing for the other one, too.
[51:40.620 --> 51:42.680]  [SPEAKER_23]: So we'll try that off-air and report on it next week.
[51:44.000 --> 51:45.820]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, 212-279-3400.
[51:46.000 --> 51:51.440]  [SPEAKER_23]: Actually, we don't have all that much time left, so if you haven't gotten through yet, you probably won't tonight.
[51:52.500 --> 51:53.060]  [SPEAKER_23]: Good evening.
[51:53.060 --> 51:54.660]  [SPEAKER_06]: Good evening, sir.
[51:54.980 --> 52:05.600]  [SPEAKER_06]: I'm the caller from last week who pointed out that Sprint is the only company left that will connect you to overseas information operators at no charge.
[52:05.660 --> 52:09.040]  [SPEAKER_23]: I hope you're not calling to say that they've started to charge now.
[52:09.120 --> 52:21.180]  [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, in fact, though, I reached the President's hotline number at New York Tell during this program, and I have what I hope is some very good news as a result of that about *67.
[52:21.180 --> 52:34.300]  [SPEAKER_06]: However, I must say as to... I'm certainly glad I got through, because the amount of misinformation that has been given out on various specific points during this program is just overwhelming.
[52:34.500 --> 52:41.440]  [SPEAKER_06]: By the way, for the last caller, it's the Fishers Island Telephone Corporation at 516-788-75.
[52:41.440 --> 52:45.280]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay, I hope you're not saying that that's misinformation, that we said company instead of corporation.
[52:45.600 --> 52:45.680]  [SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
[52:46.140 --> 52:51.720]  [SPEAKER_06]: Um, 6-1-0 is for Canadian Twix numbers.
[52:52.480 --> 52:53.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Uh, T-W-X.
[52:54.060 --> 52:54.220]  [SPEAKER_06]: Right.
[52:54.480 --> 52:59.780]  [SPEAKER_06]: An obsolete system that I don't know how many people still use at 9-1-0...
[52:59.780 --> 53:00.980]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, what is T-W-X?
[53:01.540 --> 53:03.880]  [SPEAKER_06]: Uh, Tele-Typewriter, maybe?
[53:04.240 --> 53:05.260]  [SPEAKER_23]: It's not Telex?
[53:05.480 --> 53:06.200]  [SPEAKER_06]: Oh, no, no.
[53:06.320 --> 53:12.180]  [SPEAKER_06]: It's always been a completely different... I mean, it's a thing for businesses to use in calling each other.
[53:12.380 --> 53:12.560]  [SPEAKER_06]: Right.
[53:12.640 --> 53:22.240]  [SPEAKER_06]: And I once saw a directory of all, or perhaps all the published Twix numbers there are, but it's a system I just haven't heard anybody...
[53:22.240 --> 53:24.220]  [SPEAKER_23]: But it's not on the public telephone network, right?
[53:24.220 --> 53:24.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, no, no, no.
[53:24.780 --> 53:27.900]  [SPEAKER_06]: As you indicated, you cannot simply dial into it.
[53:28.220 --> 53:34.760]  [SPEAKER_06]: 9-1-0, back in the days when lots of businesses had Twix numbers, was the one for United States customers.
[53:34.940 --> 53:37.340]  [SPEAKER_06]: 6-1-0 is for Canadian customers.
[53:38.000 --> 53:47.300]  [SPEAKER_06]: Um, 7-1-0 is a sort of, I don't know if I should call it secret, but it's a, uh, an area code used by the U.S.
[53:47.480 --> 53:50.740]  [SPEAKER_06]: Defense Department for its own internal communications.
[53:50.740 --> 54:10.820]  [SPEAKER_06]: Therefore, when I called Belcourt and talked perhaps to one of the same five people with the title, uh, Numbering Plan Administrator, whom this last caller seemed to have also talked to one of, they said, therefore, they are trying to not use, uh, 6-1-0 and 7-1-0 as they run out of area codes down to the wire,
[54:11.160 --> 54:22.500]  [SPEAKER_06]: uh, even while they assign, say, 8-1-0 and 9-1-0, the last two that are now available out of the original system, plus the 2-1-0 through 9-1-0 series.
[54:22.760 --> 54:32.260]  [SPEAKER_06]: Starting 1-1-95, as I may have remarked last, uh, week, um, area codes will no longer have to have a 0 or a 1 as their center digit.
[54:32.440 --> 54:32.600]  [SPEAKER_24]: Right.
[54:33.040 --> 54:37.860]  [SPEAKER_06]: Uh, they don't want to have any starting with 1 or 0, so that's the only way left to go.
[54:37.860 --> 54:46.620]  [SPEAKER_06]: And the local companies are working desperately to upgrade their computers to handle area codes that don't have a 0 or 1 as the center digit.
[54:46.780 --> 54:52.340]  [SPEAKER_06]: As far as reaching 800 numbers from overseas, they don't lose any money on that at all.
[54:52.540 --> 55:02.560]  [SPEAKER_06]: On USA Direct and Call USA, which is MCI's version, and Sprint Express, which is that company's version, uh, it's USA Direct with AT&T.
[55:02.560 --> 55:06.900]  [SPEAKER_06]: Um, only two companies will do it, AT&T and MCI.
[55:07.140 --> 55:12.200]  [SPEAKER_06]: In both cases, they charge you the regular overseas call rate.
[55:12.480 --> 55:27.480]  [SPEAKER_06]: In addition, for the United States, after, you know, you're calling from overseas, okay, they're charging you the standard rate for whatever it would be for a call to a regular number from the country you're calling from to the United States.
[55:27.480 --> 55:32.780]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, this must be a new service, then, because I've tried it from overseas, and they say we can't connect you.
[55:32.820 --> 55:34.860]  [SPEAKER_06]: Comparatively very new, and I have all the details.
[55:35.460 --> 55:56.960]  [SPEAKER_06]: Um, uh, there are, the, the, the way to go is MCI if you can, meaning you have to have either an MCI, a calling card, or an MCI business card, or a card from just your local phone company, which MCI, like Sprint, and Metromedia, and AT&T, will accept in lieu of their own card,
[55:56.980 --> 56:09.200]  [SPEAKER_06]: and some of them have other sign-ups, like with, uh, a Citibank credit card, or, um, an American Express card, where they give you some extra digits, and the credit card number, plus that PIN, becomes the calling card number.
[56:09.400 --> 56:11.000]  [SPEAKER_06]: But anyway, this is the way it works.
[56:11.120 --> 56:14.920]  [SPEAKER_06]: Now, the problem, with, with AT&T, it's somewhat problematical.
[56:15.480 --> 56:21.020]  [SPEAKER_06]: First of all, AT&T will only connect you, if the 800...
[56:21.020 --> 56:23.640]  [SPEAKER_23]: Don't tell me, only to AT&T 800 numbers.
[56:23.780 --> 56:24.960]  [SPEAKER_06]: That is right, okay?
[56:25.180 --> 56:35.860]  [SPEAKER_06]: I forget what happens, uh, uh, I think you just get a, a circuit busy, a fast busy, Well, sir, you know, next, next, next year, next year, I hate this phone system.
[56:35.880 --> 56:42.460]  [SPEAKER_06]: Everything is based on the IOC, which is International Operating Center, in Pittsburgh, area code 412.
[56:42.760 --> 56:43.020]  [SPEAKER_25]: Uh-huh.
[56:43.020 --> 56:51.160]  [SPEAKER_06]: Um, even if you're calling, say, from the Orient, and you're coming from, across the Pacific, it goes to Pittsburgh, uh, for this function.
[56:51.760 --> 57:04.700]  [SPEAKER_06]: Um, if, let's say, you're calling, uh, now, the only reason you're going to call an 800 number, since it's costing you the same for the call anyway, obviously, is because the only number you have for your party back in the United States is an 800 number.
[57:05.200 --> 57:17.740]  [SPEAKER_06]: Maybe it's somebody that, when you were back in the United States, you always called them on that number, and before you went overseas, you didn't stop to, to call the number and ask them, I'm going to be overseas, what's your regular number if I have to call you from overseas?
[57:18.000 --> 57:18.000]  Right.
[57:18.000 --> 57:20.200]  [SPEAKER_23]: So, we only have about 30 seconds left, so you have to wrap it up.
[57:20.200 --> 57:27.760]  [SPEAKER_06]: So, um, it, it has to be accessible as a regular 800 call from area code 412.
[57:28.060 --> 57:39.440]  [SPEAKER_06]: If it's, uh, an 800 number that accepts calls only within Colorado, for example, even the AT&T operator will get an announcement that says, call not available from your calling area.
[57:39.680 --> 57:46.640]  [SPEAKER_06]: With MCI, that restriction may apply, but they don't care whose AT&T number it is.
[57:46.640 --> 57:59.560]  [SPEAKER_06]: The great, terrific news is that a Mr. Soto representative on that president's hotline says that starting about March, when Manhattan and the Bronx begin to get call ID, that there will be a universal number.
[57:59.660 --> 58:09.460]  [SPEAKER_06]: The way you dial 700-555-4141 to find out who your long-distance carrier is, that you can call to find out whether your line is all-call restrict or per-call restrict.
[58:09.600 --> 58:11.120]  [SPEAKER_06]: It's almost like they're taking our suggestions.
[58:11.120 --> 58:19.040]  [SPEAKER_06]: All they had to do was make one, uh, code for going to reveal and a different code to conceal, and the whole thing wouldn't be necessary.
[58:19.200 --> 58:26.140]  [SPEAKER_06]: The way you use star 72 to put call forwarding into effect, star 73 to cancel it.
[58:26.380 --> 58:26.660]  [SPEAKER_24]: Right.
[58:26.820 --> 58:32.880]  [SPEAKER_06]: The things, um, the $56 fee is what they charge instead of $16 for business customers.
[58:33.020 --> 58:37.420]  [SPEAKER_06]: They weren't concealing the selective call forwarding or the busy call forwarding and thing.
[58:37.420 --> 58:39.340]  [SPEAKER_06]: Those are offered to business customers.
[58:39.520 --> 58:43.140]  [SPEAKER_06]: They would have been in the bill insert called Hello Business for business customers.
[58:43.140 --> 58:46.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, they're not offered to residential customers, but you can get them for residences.
[58:46.660 --> 58:47.400]  [SPEAKER_23]: That's my point.
[58:47.520 --> 58:48.940]  [SPEAKER_06]: You would have to switch one line.
[58:49.080 --> 58:49.740]  [SPEAKER_23]: No, that's not true.
[58:49.760 --> 58:54.340]  [SPEAKER_23]: You can get them, you can get them for a residence line, but you have to call the business office to do it.
[58:54.440 --> 58:56.400]  [SPEAKER_06]: Well, but they weren't really hiding it.
[58:56.700 --> 59:02.160]  [SPEAKER_23]: Well, they don't tell you about it, and if you call, if you call your regular business office, they won't tell you about it.
[59:02.380 --> 59:02.660]  [SPEAKER_23]: You see?
[59:02.860 --> 59:03.060]  [SPEAKER_25]: Yeah.
[59:03.520 --> 59:03.760]  [SPEAKER_23]: Okay.
[59:03.960 --> 59:07.240]  [SPEAKER_23]: Listen, we're out of time, but, uh, you've raised some very interesting points, And I thank you for calling.
[59:07.380 --> 59:15.180]  [SPEAKER_23]: That problem with the 800 numbers, only calling AT&T ones, will probably go away next year when they have the portability introduced.
[59:15.420 --> 59:20.980]  [SPEAKER_23]: And that's where the customer chooses the 800 number and it's not assigned by prefix.
[59:21.100 --> 59:23.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: But that's something we'll get into more detail in coming weeks.
[59:24.360 --> 59:27.840]  [SPEAKER_23]: We're just about out of time now and I want to thank everybody for calling in.
[59:28.380 --> 59:30.100]  [SPEAKER_23]: And we'll be back next week.
[59:35.710 --> 59:36.980]  [SPEAKER_23]: This is Emmanuel Goldstein.
[59:37.060 --> 59:38.790]  [SPEAKER_23]: The program has been off the hook.
[59:38.790 --> 59:46.420]  [SPEAKER_23]: And, again, Personal Computer Show will be here next Wednesday at 9 o'clock.
[59:47.040 --> 59:50.460]  [SPEAKER_23]: And we'll be on again next Wednesday at 10 o'clock.
[59:50.640 --> 59:52.960]  [SPEAKER_23]: Stay tuned for a rebroadcast of the evening's news.
[59:53.190 --> 59:55.320]  [SPEAKER_23]: This is WBAI, New York.
[01:00:27.360 --> 01:00:28.220]  [SPEAKER_01]: Good evening.
[01:00:28.500 --> 01:00:32.620]  [SPEAKER_01]: In the news tonight, how and why have things gotten so severe in Somalia?
[01:00:32.920 --> 01:00:36.440]  [SPEAKER_01]: It's the 50th anniversary of the birthday of nuclear reaction.
[01:00:37.020 --> 01:00:41.980]  [SPEAKER_01]: DuPont Chemical Company refuses to pay the growing crop of claims against its product.
[01:00:42.220 --> 01:00:45.060]  [SPEAKER_01]: And in local news, the spotlight is on Crown Heights.
[01:00:45.340 --> 01:00:52.660]  [SPEAKER_01]: How bad are tensions between black community members and members of the Lubavitcher sect there in the wake of an attack on a black homeless man?
[01:00:52.660 --> 01:00:56.880]  [SPEAKER_01]: With these and other stories, I'm Laura Seidel with Verna Avery-Brand in Washington.
[01:00:56.900 --> 01:01:00.800]  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is the news for Wednesday, December 2nd, 1992.
[01:01:02.400 --> 01:01:05.160]  [SPEAKER_01]: First, to Mark Beavis with these headline stories.
[01:01:05.520 --> 01:01:12.400]  [SPEAKER_22]: In South Africa, the white minority government and the African National Congress have begun three days of talks at a secret venue.
[01:01:12.820 --> 01:01:14.560]  [SPEAKER_22]: Ruben Goldberg has more from Durban.
[01:01:14.560 --> 01:01:24.900]  [SPEAKER_02]: The three-day Bush summit is being billed as a make-or-break meeting aimed at ending the negotiations logjam and setting the stage for the speedy establishment of a government of national unity.
[01:01:25.220 --> 01:01:35.180]  [SPEAKER_02]: On the eve of the meeting, the ANC said the talks are crucial to the future of multilateral negotiations and the swift implementation of a new democratic order in South Africa.
[01:01:35.180 --> 01:01:44.940]  [SPEAKER_02]: Government and ANC negotiating teams will be discussing possible compromises on the two parties' respective timetables for an interim government and free elections.
[01:01:45.260 --> 01:01:53.620]  [SPEAKER_02]: The government sees a much more leisurely process than the ANC, which wants an elected constituent assembly operating before the end of 1993.
[01:01:54.160 --> 01:01:57.320]  [SPEAKER_02]: They'll also discuss the ongoing violence in the country.
[01:01:57.320 --> 01:02:04.200]  [SPEAKER_02]: The meeting takes place after a warning signal fired yesterday by Nkata Freedom Party leader Mangasuru Burlesi.
[01:02:04.420 --> 01:02:12.460]  [SPEAKER_02]: He unveiled his plan for a federal KwaZulu-Natal state and served notice that as far as he's concerned, it's federalism or bust.
[01:02:13.000 --> 01:02:14.280]  [SPEAKER_02]: State President F.W.
[01:02:14.360 --> 01:02:20.620]  [SPEAKER_02]: the Clerk has warned KwaZulu's latest constitutional initiative could cause an escalation of violence in South Africa.
[01:02:21.000 --> 01:02:31.500]  [SPEAKER_02]: In its reaction, the ANC says it'll study the KwaZulu proposals in detail before commenting, but it says the steppe is a drastic departure from the constitutional process in South Africa.
[01:02:31.840 --> 01:02:35.160]  [SPEAKER_02]: For Pacifica Radio News, I'm Ruben Goldberg in Durban.
[01:02:35.420 --> 01:02:40.920]  [SPEAKER_22]: In Angola, rebel UNITA forces have captured a second town in the northern part of the country.
[01:02:41.420 --> 01:02:47.780]  [SPEAKER_22]: UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi has said the regional commanders are acting against his orders, and he's lost control of the troops.
[01:02:48.300 --> 01:02:53.700]  [SPEAKER_22]: Diplomats warned that UNITA's military push could mean the resumption of Angola's 16-year civil war.
[01:02:54.460 --> 01:03:00.160]  [SPEAKER_22]: China and Vietnam today strengthened their economic and political ties, signing a series of accords.
[01:03:00.520 --> 01:03:03.580]  [SPEAKER_22]: China also granted its former enemy an interest-free loan.
[01:03:03.840 --> 01:03:05.280]  [SPEAKER_22]: Details were not disclosed.
[01:03:05.620 --> 01:03:08.980]  [SPEAKER_22]: In 1979, China fought with Vietnam in a border dispute.
[01:03:09.480 --> 01:03:12.280]  [SPEAKER_22]: The two nations re-established diplomatic relations last year.
[01:03:12.780 --> 01:03:19.560]  [SPEAKER_22]: In northern Brazil, an Amazon Indian leader has reportedly been shot dead by a truck driver, who then fled the scene.
[01:03:19.780 --> 01:03:27.820]  [SPEAKER_22]: According to the National Indian Foundation, Domingos Gaviao was trying to prevent the trucker from illegally removing timber from a protected reserve.
[01:03:28.120 --> 01:03:32.600]  [SPEAKER_22]: Gaviao had been a leader in efforts to block illegal harvests of tropical timber.
[01:03:33.420 --> 01:03:36.420]  [SPEAKER_22]: And in New York, more trouble in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
[01:03:36.700 --> 01:03:41.220]  [SPEAKER_22]: An ascetic Jew has been charged with taking part in the gang-beating of a homeless African-American.
[01:03:41.660 --> 01:03:43.260]  [SPEAKER_22]: Amy Goodman has more from New York.
[01:03:43.260 --> 01:03:51.960]  [SPEAKER_04]: A 25-year-old black man was treated at a hospital after he reported being beaten by a group of Hasidic Jews behind the Lubavitcher World Headquarters in Crown Heights.
[01:03:52.420 --> 01:03:55.660]  [SPEAKER_04]: The Lubavitchers are an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect with members worldwide.
[01:03:56.140 --> 01:04:00.780]  [SPEAKER_04]: Police say the victim, Ralph Nimmons, accused his attackers of using racial slurs during the beating.
[01:04:01.000 --> 01:04:05.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: A bloody two-by-four was found in the area, along with a black hat, two black coats, and a yarmulke.
[01:04:06.060 --> 01:04:11.500]  [SPEAKER_04]: A 24-year-old Hasidic man was arrested yesterday after Nimmons identified him as one of his attackers.
[01:04:11.500 --> 01:04:18.200]  [SPEAKER_04]: Moishe Katzman was charged with second-degree assault, criminal possession of a weapon and a noxious substance, and aggravated assault.
[01:04:18.460 --> 01:04:21.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: Police say they are looking for other people who have participated in the attack.
[01:04:22.240 --> 01:04:27.740]  [SPEAKER_04]: A spokesperson for the Lubavitchers said the students chased Nimmons not because of his color, but because they thought he was a burglar.
[01:04:28.120 --> 01:04:34.720]  [SPEAKER_04]: Meanwhile, last night, about 200 Hasidim demonstrated outside the police station, blocking traffic and smashing police barricades.
[01:04:34.880 --> 01:04:39.120]  [SPEAKER_04]: A New York Post photographer had to be rescued by police after she was attacked by the crowd.
[01:04:39.140 --> 01:04:40.520]  [SPEAKER_04]: She was a black woman.
[01:04:40.520 --> 01:04:47.360]  [SPEAKER_04]: All this comes as tensions between blacks, Hasidim, and the police continue in the aftermath of the Crown Heights riots two summers ago.
[01:04:47.640 --> 01:04:49.840]  [SPEAKER_04]: For Pacifica National News, I'm Amy Goodman.
[01:04:50.120 --> 01:04:51.360]  [SPEAKER_22]: And those are the headlines.
[01:04:51.580 --> 01:04:52.420]  [SPEAKER_22]: I'm Mark Beavis.
[01:05:02.190 --> 01:05:05.990]  [SPEAKER_01]: The list of countries suffering today because of civil war is long.
[01:05:06.290 --> 01:05:17.430]  [SPEAKER_01]: Taking a look at the human suffering going on in places including Liberia, Angola, Mozambique, Haiti, Yugoslavia, and Somalia, one could conclude that the New World Order is one of complete chaos.
[01:05:17.810 --> 01:05:21.970]  [SPEAKER_01]: The United Nations Security Council moved closer to agreeing to a U.S.
[01:05:22.510 --> 01:05:27.410]  [SPEAKER_01]: military-led operation to protect humanitarian aid in Somalia using force if necessary.
[01:05:27.690 --> 01:05:29.130]  [SPEAKER_01]: They'll take up that matter tomorrow.
[01:05:29.530 --> 01:05:35.390]  [SPEAKER_01]: There are reports President Bush will address the Somalia situation tomorrow in a televised speech to the nation.
[01:05:35.950 --> 01:05:45.490]  [SPEAKER_01]: Senator Paul Simon, who heads the African Affairs Subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, said today that American troops sent to Somalia could be there for as long as six months.
[01:05:45.690 --> 01:05:48.370]  [SPEAKER_01]: The question at this point becomes, why Somalia?
[01:05:48.570 --> 01:05:53.430]  [SPEAKER_01]: Why not send military aid to Yugoslavia or some of these other countries desperately in need?
[01:05:53.650 --> 01:05:55.910]  [SPEAKER_01]: Mary Lou Windell files this report.
[01:05:56.190 --> 01:05:56.950]  [SPEAKER_12]: The U.N.
[01:05:57.050 --> 01:06:01.810]  [SPEAKER_12]: Security Council is moving closer to an agreement to a U.S.-led military operation in Somalia.
[01:06:01.990 --> 01:06:03.710]  [SPEAKER_12]: A decision is expected tomorrow.
[01:06:03.710 --> 01:06:08.450]  [SPEAKER_12]: The goal would be to protect humanitarian aid being delivered to the famine-stricken country.
[01:06:08.750 --> 01:06:16.570]  [SPEAKER_12]: In Somalia, at least 4.5 million people are at risk of malnutrition, disease, and starvation because of the brutal civil war there.
[01:06:17.190 --> 01:06:17.550]  [SPEAKER_12]: U.N.
[01:06:17.670 --> 01:06:21.210]  [SPEAKER_12]: humanitarian aid efforts have consistently been thwarted by warring factions.
[01:06:21.490 --> 01:06:29.710]  [SPEAKER_12]: As a result, the Bush administration offered up to 30,000 troops to provide protection for the supplies, showing force if necessary.
[01:06:29.710 --> 01:06:33.370]  [SPEAKER_12]: Many humanitarian aid groups at this point support the U.N.
[01:06:33.930 --> 01:06:33.930]  intervention.
[01:06:34.210 --> 01:06:42.270]  [SPEAKER_12]: But with so many countries around the world suffering because of civil war, Yugoslavia, for example, the question now becomes, why Somalia?
[01:06:42.990 --> 01:06:50.990]  [SPEAKER_12]: The Bosnian city, Sarajevo, has been besieged for seven months by Serbian nationalists in a drawn-out civil war, yet the U.S.
[01:06:51.070 --> 01:06:52.770]  [SPEAKER_12]: will not send in military forces.
[01:06:53.150 --> 01:07:00.170]  [SPEAKER_12]: Sharon Pauling, African policy analyst for the advocacy group Bread for the World, has part of the answer, she says.
[01:07:00.310 --> 01:07:06.550]  [SPEAKER_00]: I can't really think of any worse-case situation than the situation in Somalia right now.
[01:07:06.550 --> 01:07:10.310]  [SPEAKER_00]: It is the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today.
[01:07:10.550 --> 01:07:13.150]  [SPEAKER_00]: And I think this has been noted, you know, by many.
[01:07:13.770 --> 01:07:22.030]  [SPEAKER_00]: When you've got... I mean, there were points during this catastrophe that 5,000 people were dying in one day, and that's a number that the United Nations used.
[01:07:22.570 --> 01:07:24.610]  [SPEAKER_00]: It varies from place to place.
[01:07:24.770 --> 01:07:29.950]  [SPEAKER_00]: The international efforts to airlift food and have not met with any real success.
[01:07:29.950 --> 01:07:36.910]  [SPEAKER_12]: Geoffrey Laurenti, executive director for the United Nations Association, a citizens' organization that does policy research on U.N.
[01:07:36.990 --> 01:07:46.610]  [SPEAKER_12]: issues, says the reason to intervene in Somalia, as opposed to Yugoslavia, is because the goal of providing humanitarian aid in Somalia is attainable militarily.
[01:07:46.870 --> 01:08:03.110]  [SPEAKER_09]: In the former Yugoslavia, you have much more organized military units and a much more complicated political chessboard of state actors involved.
[01:08:03.330 --> 01:08:08.270]  [SPEAKER_09]: So you have, A, on the political level, different kinds of interests.
[01:08:08.690 --> 01:08:24.270]  [SPEAKER_09]: Second, on the practical level, Yugoslavia is a very intimidating area in which to operate militarily because of the mountains, the difficulty of staging effective clean-out operations, Somalia is largely flat.
[01:08:24.490 --> 01:08:33.830]  [SPEAKER_09]: You have low level of munitions, of arsenals, whereas you have some sophisticated weaponry that the old Yugoslav army has been distributing to the Serbs.
[01:08:34.230 --> 01:08:36.250]  [SPEAKER_12]: Laurenti explains the political reasons.
[01:08:36.490 --> 01:08:59.850]  [SPEAKER_09]: Some will argue that the dynamic of the Yugoslav problem makes a bold step in Somalia now seem especially attractive politically because it takes the heat off of pressures to get involved militarily in Bosnia, which many of our military people feel would be a terrible quagmire and much bloodier.
[01:09:00.590 --> 01:09:06.010]  [SPEAKER_12]: Edwin Dorn, military policy analyst for the Brookings Institute, says the evolving U.S.
[01:09:06.130 --> 01:09:10.210]  [SPEAKER_12]: policy towards Somalia now is the result of political pressure on the U.S.
[01:09:10.290 --> 01:09:10.570]  [SPEAKER_12]: government.
[01:09:10.570 --> 01:09:19.270]  [SPEAKER_20]: There are at least two dozen nations around the world that are in dire straits because of civil war, economic disaster, whatever.
[01:09:20.630 --> 01:09:24.610]  [SPEAKER_20]: Why does Somalia, rather than any place else, pop up on the radar screen?
[01:09:24.750 --> 01:09:25.810]  [SPEAKER_20]: Ultimately, it's mysterious.
[01:09:25.830 --> 01:09:28.070]  [SPEAKER_20]: We can trace it to several things.
[01:09:28.210 --> 01:09:35.770]  [SPEAKER_20]: First of all, it's possible for reporters and for political leaders to get to Somalia to see what's happening and come back and report on it.
[01:09:35.770 --> 01:09:40.490]  [SPEAKER_20]: That's not as easy in, say, Bosnia, where reporters routinely are shot.
[01:09:41.330 --> 01:09:47.030]  [SPEAKER_20]: Neither is it terribly easy in Liberia, where there's an active civil war and great danger.
[01:09:47.250 --> 01:09:48.690]  [SPEAKER_20]: In Somalia, it's possible.
[01:09:49.910 --> 01:09:55.130]  [SPEAKER_20]: Maybe, to put it crudely, it's the result of public relations, political pressure.
[01:09:55.670 --> 01:09:59.850]  [SPEAKER_12]: Laurenti of the United Nations Association says there are additional reasons.
[01:09:59.850 --> 01:10:05.430]  [SPEAKER_09]: It does provide one other political...