News Update
Morris Sentenced
On May 4, Robert T. Morris, whose runaway worm created havoc on the Internet over the fall of 1988, was sentenced to three years' probation, a $10,000 fine, and 400 hours of community service. He could have received up to five years in prison along with a $250,000 fine.
While it seems pretty strange to sentence somebody for what was, in effect, a scientific experiment gone awry, it certainly is a relief that cooler heads seemed to prevail in this important case. After all, Morris could have wound up in prison. We can only hope this isn't the exception to the rule, or worse, a case of special treatment because his father works for the NSA.
Albania Callable
For many years, the strange and mysterious European country of Albania was completely unreachable by telephone, at least from the United States. But all of that suddenly changed on May 1, when AT&T started providing operator assisted calls there. It's rumored that direct dial service will start in the fall. If so, the country code is 355. The call shown below was made from Canada. Now there are only three countries that are unreachable from the United States: Vietnam, Cambodia, and North Korea. (Actually, it is possible to call those places from here - can you figure out how?)
MCI Insecurity
In an internal memo leaked to 2600, MCI admits that there is very little security for their international calling cards. The "international number" is defined as a 17- to 19-digit number composed of the Telecommunications Industry Identifier (89), the country code (from one to three digits), an MCI issuer identifier (222 or 950), the subscriber number (the same as the first ten digits of the MCI 14-digit domestic number), and a check digit. The international number is used when going through operators overseas, not when using MCI Call USA, the MCI equivalent of AT&T's USA Direct.
In a section on fraud, MCI states, "Because there will be no automated validation of the International Number,fraud is a potential issue. However, it should be noted that AT&T has operated this service for over 20 years without validation of its international number." That should paint a pretty clear picture of the effective and immediate solutions some companies come up with when faced with potential security problems.
New York Tel Rate Increase
New York Telephone is asking for some of the most outrageous rate increases in its history. Apart from lowering the nighttime discount rate to 50 percent (from 60 percent) and the evening rate to 25 from 35, the company plans to double the charges for most classes of message-rate service. For instance, if you pay $8 a month for a certain type of service, you can look forward to paying $16 or more in the future. Not only that but charges to local directory assistance from payphones (currently free) will be initiated at a cost of 50 cents per request. The two free requests every customer gets each month will be eliminated. And an unprecedented 50 cent charge will apply to all calls to the operator that don't wind up in a call being processed! The Public Service Commission can deny the rate increase, but if they don't, these outrageous rates will go into effect next January.
Furthermore...
US Sprint has redesigned their bills. And, if you have a 950 access code, you'll be delighted to know that they print your code on every page!