2600 Flash
Bell Didn't Invent Phone?
Antonio Meucci is credited by some as the true inventor of the telephone. Meucci, who reportedly could not afford the $10 for a temporary patent back in 1873, was honored by Italian-Americans in Meucci Square. The 177th anniversary of Meucci's birth was heralded by John LaCourte, who said "If he'd had the $250 (for a permanent patent) then, the world would call it Meucci Telephone today, not Bell Telephone."
One of six inventors racing to invent the telephone, Meucci publicly shared sketches of his designs used in the temporary patent in hopes of attracting investors, but to no avail, LaCourte said. LaCourte added that Bell patented the telephone based entirely on Meucci's electrical designs.
The only remaining tributes to Meucci are the square off Avenue U and 86th Street in Brooklyn and the little-known Garibaldi-Meucci Museum on Staten Island. The square, incidentally, is across from the Bell Telephone Co. Building.
The Italian Historical Society of America unsuccessfully sued in 1976 to enjoin the Postal Service from issuing the Bell commemorative stamp on the ground that Meucci was the true inventor of the telephone. LaCourte said he intends to keep alive his drive to have Meucci similarly honored by a post office commemorative stamp, and that he harbors no ill will toward Bell. "I can prove Meucci was the inventor - plain and simple. Bell just became a millionaire with Meucci's invention."
Porno Phone Service Busted
In the first federal prosecution of its kind, a 23-count indictment has been returned charging a New York corporation (Carlin Communications Inc.) and four individuals with running a pornographic telephone service that allegedly was dialed by some Utah children. The official charge was interstate transportation of obscene matter.
"Convictions in this case would challenge the phone-sex industry, which has spread across the country during the past two years," U.S. Attorney Brent Ward said.
The Federal Communications Commission ruled in June of 1984 that commercial operators of "Dial-a-Porn" phone services must restrict children's access by limiting hours of operation and the method of paying for the service.
IRS Drives Telcos to Drink
An enormous volume of calls from taxpayers seeking information from the Internal Revenue Service on their late tax refunds threatened to knock out telephone service to much of Center City, Philadelphia in April, according to Bell of Pennsylvania officials.
To prevent the massive number of inquiries to the IRS from overloading the 40,000 telephone access lines serving half of Center City, Bell technicians had for a number of weeks been electronically diverting millions of calls. "The traffic had been coming in at such a rapid rate that it virtually ripped our system apart. If we didn't [divert phone calls], it would have put the office in real jeopardy - the ability of people to make calls or receive them," said James Killeen, an engineer in the company's electronic switching division.
During one 15-minute period, Bell was able to count at least 6,000 calls made to two IRS' numbers. But officials say the actual volume of additional calls being made to the IRS' numbers at the same time was so heavy that it was beyond the capabilities of their computerized monitoring equipment.
The crush of telephone calls was spurred by the IRS' delay in processing millions of tax returns filed at the agency's Roosevelt Boulevard service center. As of late April, an estimated one million returns had not been opened, according to the agency. A spokesman for the IRS said they were unaware of the problem with telephone call volume.
The IRS maintains 34 access lines for its toll-free tax information number. The agency has 23 access lines for its "Tele-tax" line (215-592-8946), which taxpayers are supposed to be able to call and punch in their Social Security number on the telephone to obtain information about the status of their tax refunds.
The majority of telephone calls were diverted by Bell with a recording saying "All circuits are busy." And those that got through say they were frequently disconnect.ed.
Occasionally, even stranger things happened on the IRS lines. Once they succeeded in reaching either number, taxpayers said they found themselves talking not to an IRS computer or a telephone assister, but to other taxpayers.
Jersey Wins Wiretap Race Again
New Jersey telephones were far more likely to be tapped by law enforcement authorities than those in any other state last year, a distinction that has been noted in the last seven annual wiretap reports issued by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Michael Bozza, assistant director of criminal justice in the state Attorney General's Office, reiterated New Jersey's zealous use of electronic surveillance demonstrates that law enforcement authorities are especially aggressive in investigating organized crime.
According to the report, New Jersey authorities sought and received court approval for 151 taps in 1984 an increase of 29 over the 1983 total. The jump reverses a trend that had brought the number of wiretaps down steadily in recent years.
New Jersey was followed in the ranking by New York, which used 122 wiretaps, Florida, with 58, and Pennsylvania, with 46. No other state had more than 23 wiretaps authorized last year. More than 40 percent of the nation's wiretaps were authorized in New Jersey, New York, and Florida, the report said.
AT&T Computer Caught Stealing
The BellSouth Corporation has been told by AT&T that as many as 41,000 business customers might have been improperly assigned to AT&T long-distance service.
BellSouth has filed plans with the Department of Justice to correct the results of an AT&T computer program that erroneously assigned service under the Equal Access program mandated by the (((breakup of the Bell System))).
Meanwhile, NYNEX says that a previously reported figure of some 19,000 business customers in the NYNEX region improperly assigned to AT&T long-distance service had grown to about 47,000 as a result of additional programming mistakes reported by AT&T.
In a related development, the Bell Atlantic Corporation said it would alter its method of allocating callers to long-distance carriers. Beginning in September, Bell Atlantic said customers who did not choose a long-distance carrier after having two opportunities to do so would be assigned a carrier by Bell Atlantic. Previously, customers who did not make a choice were left with AT&T.