Page 1 2 3 Page 1 2 3 | FRIDAY - MAY 5, 2006 - ISSUE NO. 211 |
Dear friends of Wireless Messaging, First, a short lesson in crime:
There has been a lot in the news lately about unscrupulous people getting the telephone records of famous people. They really created a big mess when they did it to some high-ranking government officials in Washington DC. Now the FCC is proposing new rules to stop this practice, but they want to apply them to the Cell Phone Companies AND Paging Companies too. The American Association of Paging Carriers (AAPC) and USA Mobility have both filed comments to the FCC, asking them to take it easy on the Paging Companies. I have reproduced both documents, the AAPC Comments on this page, and the USA Mobility Comments on the next page. The order of their appearance doesn't mean anything. The USA Mobility document is the longer of the two and it wouldn't fit on page one. If you think that you may have been a victim of “pretexting” or if you want to learn more about it, please read this info by the Federal Trade Commission on how to protect yourself. This week's headlines:
Now on to more news and views. |
A new issue of The Wireless Messaging Newsletter gets posted on the web each week. A notification goes out by e-mail to subscribers on most Fridays around noon central US time. The notification message has a link to the actual newsletter on the Internet. That way it doesn't fill up your incoming e-mail account. There is no charge for subscription and there are no membership restrictions. Readers are a very select group of wireless industry professionals, and include the senior managers of many of the world's major Paging and Wireless Data companies. There is an even mix of operations managers, marketing people, and engineers—so I try to include items of interest to all three groups. It's all about staying up-to-date with business trends and technology. I regularly get reader's comments, so this newsletter has become a community forum for the Paging, and Wireless Data communities. You are welcome to contribute your ideas and opinions. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence addressed to me is subject to publication in the newsletter and on my web site. I am very careful to protect the anonymity of those who request it. NOTE: This newsletter is best viewed at screen resolutions of 800x600 (good) or 1024x768 (better). Any current revision of web browser should work fine. Please notify me of any problems with viewing. This site is compliant with XHTML 1.0 transitional coding for easy access from wireless devices. (XML 1.0/ISO 8859-1.) MORE PAGES
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FTC sues five Web sites selling phone records
By Grant Gross, IDG News Service
May 03, 2006 5:28 pm ET
MacCentral
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed federal court complaints against five Web-based operations accused of selling consumers’ confidential telephone records, the agency announced Wednesday.
The FTC is asking U.S. courts in five states to order the defendants to permanently halt the illegal sale of phone records. The FTC also wants courts to order the operations to give up the money they've made by selling the records.
“Trafficking in consumers’ confidential telephone records is outrageous,” Lydia Parnes, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “It robs consumers of their privacy and exposes them to everything from snoops to stalkers. We intend to put a stop to it.”
The defendants in these cases are: 77 Investigations Inc. and Reginald Kimbro, based in Upland, California; AccuSearch Inc., doing business as Abika.com, and Jay Patel, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming; CEO Group Inc., doing business as Check Em Out, and Scott Joseph, based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Information Search Inc., and David Kacala, based in Baltimore, Maryland; and Integrity Security & Investigation Services Inc., Edmund L. Edmister, Tracey Edmister, and F. Lynn Moseley, based in Yorktown, Virginia.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 says customers’ phone records are their private property and can only be disclosed to the customer or with the approval of the customer, the FTC said.
The defendants advertised on their Web sites that they could obtain the confidential phone records of any individual, including lists of outgoing and incoming calls, and make that information available for a fee, the FTC said.
Congress and the FTC have focused on the sale of phone records after complaints last year from the Electronic Privacy Information Center. In January, Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, said he had asked the FTC and the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to investigate Web sites that offer to sell mobile phone records, including information about incoming and outgoing calls, for as little as US$89.95.
Source: Macworld
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| WIRELESS MESSAGING NEWS |
Majority of Motient directors not seeking re-election
May 02, 2006
By Gregory Meyer
(Crain’s)—The majority of Motient Corp.’s board—including its chairman—have chosen not to seek re-election this year, the company said in a regulatory filing Tuesday.
Directors C. Gerald Goldsmith, Gerald Kittner, Jonelle St. John and Barry Williamson and Chairman Steven Singer have all decided not to stand for re-election at Motient’s 2006 annual meeting, the Lincolnshire-based wireless communications company said. Ms. St. John has served on the board since 2000 while Messers Singer and Kittner were elected in 2002. Messers Goldsmith and Williamson have been on Motient’s board since 2005.
The company did not disclose plans for replacements.
A Motient representative was unavailable for immediate comment.
Meanwhile, the board on Saturday elected David Andonian to serve as a director. Mr. Andonian is chairman of the board of Affinnova Inc., a marketing services company.
Motient is locked in a proxy battle with Highland Select Equity Fund, the company’s largest shareholder. Last week, Highland filed a lawsuit claiming Motient officers have been deficient in financial reporting, have made questionable management decisions and engaged in business transactions that pose conflicts of interest.
Highland claimed in court documents that Motient was forced to restate earnings for the periods ending June 30, 2005 and September 30, 2005 because the company failed to “properly reflect stock compensation expenses and other equity interests.” Highland said that Motient awarded $18 million in bonuses during a year where it had $13 million in sales.
Highland also questioned Motient’s pattern of doing business headed by organizations with personal relationships to its board of directors. In the lawsuit, Highland criticized Motient for working with Gary Singer, brother of chairman Mr. Singer, who is a “convicted felon whose white-collar criminal activities and securities law violations landed him a lifetime ban from serving as an officer or director of a public company.”
Source: Chicago Business
GTES Announces GPS Tracking Price Breakthrough with SVR-200
GTES announces the latest update to the SHERLOC Hosted Location Services (www.sherlocgps.com), supporting the SVR-200 GPS tracking device. The SVR-200 combines a SiRFstar GPS with ReFLEX wireless linking, and provides extremely competitive pricing for both the hardware and the airtime services.
Custer, WA (PRWEB) May 1, 2006—GTES is pleased to announce today that it has released the latest update to the SHERLOC™ Hosted Location Services (www.sherlocgps.com), adding support for the SVR-200 GPS tracking device. The SVR-200 combines a high-performance SiRFstar GPS engine with wireless linking via the ReFLEX two-way data network, and provides extremely competitive pricing for both the hardware and the airtime services.
“In discussions with our customers we identified a number of applications requiring a lower-cost hardware platform combined with reduced operating costs,” stated GTES Vice-President of Marketing and Business Development Mark Pocock. “We believe that the SVR-200 price point will attract both consumer and business operators who want to enjoy the security and efficiency benefits of on-demand vehicle tracking, but had considered previously available solutions too expensive to justify”.
The SVR-200 is a 12-24V vehicle tracking device which supports scheduled or on-demand location reporting, geofences, background tracking, speed and motion alerts, external I/O connectivity, and is available with service plans for the US or Canada. When used in combination the SHERLOC™ web-based tracking service, the SVR-200 provides the means for subscribers to determine the current location of the vehicle either on-demand or on a regularly scheduled basis. Alerts can be sent to a cell-phone or email account, notifying subscribers when the vehicle speed exceeds a programmable threshold, enters or exits a defined geographic area, or is stopped for more than a configurable length of time. Visibility of the vehicle location and behavior increases security, reduces operating costs, and improves the efficiency of fleet management.
“We’re pleased to add the SVR-200 to the suite of tracking solutions we offer,” stated GTES President Russ Allen. “SHERLOC™ is already gaining strong acceptance in the security industry. With the unique combination of performance and value afforded by the SVR-200, we are looking forward to addressing the vehicle tracking needs of even our most cost sensitive customers.”
For more information on the SVR-200 or SHERLOC™ please contact Brooks Marsden, VP of Sales, at 770-754-1666 or refer to our website at www.sherlocgps.com.
About GTES
GTES has historically focused on providing support for Glenayre wireless messaging infrastructure and software. Recently, however the company has expanded its development activities to include wireless location technologies, a market that analysts forecast at $3.6 billion by 2010. In support of this new strategic direction, GTES has developed SHERLOC™ (www.sherlocgps.com), a complete one-stop wireless location service, which provides support for multiple asset tracking devices including the latest generation utilizing Assisted GPS technologies. Targeted at business customers who need to improve security or efficiency by tracking their high-value goods in transit or field assets, SHERLOC™ is a hosted application that provides the flexibility to support complex enterprise applications, yet is intuitive enough that a small business operator can track their mobile assets with minimal training.
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TTI Wireless becomes Ascom Certified Solution Partner
Thursday, 04 May 2006
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—May 4, 2006—Ascom Wireless Solutions Inc., a leading developer of on-site wireless communications solutions, is pleased to announce that TTI Wireless has signed up to be a Gold Level Certified Solution Partner. TTI Wireless, headquartered in Sayreville, NJ, services customers throughout the USA and will be a reseller of Ascom's FreeNET VoWiFi system and UNITE Messaging Suite. TTI Wireless is an industry leader with over 30 years experience with on-site and campus paging solutions.
The Ascom FreeNET standards-based solution consists of market-specific VoWiFi portable handsets, a robust messaging system, VoIP Gateway for integration with an existing circuit-switched PBX and supports IEEE standards, including 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11e (Quality of Service), and 802.11i (Security).
The UNITE Messaging Suite consists of small embedded computing servers with Ascom software applications utilizing a Linux kernel providing unparalleled reliability. This is a major improvement over current servers and operating systems and yields substantially longer mean time between failures (MTBF).
"TTI is very pleased to become a Gold Level Certified Solution Partner for Ascom Wireless," says Craig Badrick, CEO of TTI. "The Ascom products are a natural fit for our existing customers and will also allow us an opportunity expand our wireless presence throughout the USA. As an industry leader in wireless messaging it was only natural for TTI to team with another wireless leader in Ascom."
"We are pleased that TTI Wireless has decided to become a partner with Ascom. Their strong customer relationships in healthcare, industry, military bases and hospitality are perfect candidates for FreeNET and UNITE messaging solutions." says Tom McKearney, VP of Marketing and Business Development for Ascom Wireless Solutions. "We look forward to helping them provide fully integrated solutions to their customer base."
About TTI Wireless
Turn-key Technologies, Inc. has over 20 years experience with on-site paging systems and wireless communications specializing in Government, DOD, Healthcare, Industrial, Hospitality, Alarm Interface, and Business applications. Based in Sayreville, NJ, with over 1000 custom-designed in-house paging systems installed nationwide.
About Ascom Wireless Solutions Inc.
Ascom(R) Wireless Solutions (AWS) is the Americas' market leading provider of on-site wireless communication solutions, bringing smart integration to existing systems which enables greater freedom of movement, better service and increased safety in the workplace. Ascom on-site wireless solutions make existing systems work smarter through the integration of complementing, not competing, technologies. Because Ascom is not limited to one particular technology, they can customize unique solutions to meet an organization's needs, helping to create a road map for the long-term goal of an all-digital, wireless facility. Based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, AWS is a part of the Swiss Ascom Group, an international solution provider with comprehensive technological know-how specializing in Wireless Solutions (high-value on-site communications solutions) and Security Solutions (applications for security, communication, automation and control systems for infrastructure operators, public security institutions and the army). For more information, please visit www.ascomwireless.com.
Source: VoIP Magazine
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GTES has recently made the strategic decision to expanding its development activities to include wireless location technologies; a market that researchers forecast could reach $3.6 billion by 2010. In support of this new strategic direction, GTES has developed SHERLOC™ a complete one-stop wireless location service, providing the flexibility of being protocol neutral and network agnostic. Targeted at business customers who need to track their high-value shipments or better manage their service or delivery fleets, SHERLOC™ is a hosted application that combines configuration flexibility with ease of use. GTES is offering SHERLOC™ services both directly and through authorized resellers. If your company has an interest in finding out how location services can enhance your revenue stream, and has the contacts and expertise to make you successful in the location marketplace, please contact us for further information at www.sherlocgps.com and select “Reseller Opportunities,” or call us at 770-754-1666 for more information. www.gtesinc.com GTES is the only Glenayre authorized software support provider in the Paging industry. With over 200 years of combined experience in Glenayre hardware and software support, GTES offers the industry the most professional support and engineering development staff available. Continued Support Programs CALL US TODAY FOR YOUR SUPPORT NEEDS
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BEFORE THE
COMMENTS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PAGING CARRIERS (AAPC), by its attorney, respectfully submits its comments to the Federal Communications Commission in response to the Commission’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the captioned proceeding, FCC 06-10, released February 14, 2006 and published at 71 Fed. Reg. 13317 (March 15, 2006).1 The NPRM is directed at carrier handling of individually identifiable Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI), primarily customer call data and related service information, which paging carriers do not record or store. Accordingly, AAPC respectfully requests that any new or modified regulations adopted by the Commission to enhance the protection afforded for CPNI be appropriately tailored to address the underlying problems it identifies, and do not impose new reporting or other requirements on paging carriers or other groups that generally do not compile significant amounts of individually identifiable CPNI. As its comments in response to the NPRM, AAPC respectfully states: The NPRM was issued in response to a petition for rulemaking filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) on August 30, 2005. EPIC’s petition, in turn, is based on published claims and reports that online data brokers and private investigations can readily obtain confidential subscriber information such as telephone call history and activity, billing records and unlisted numbers. EPIC requested the Commission to investigate the security practices of telecommunications carriers and initiate a rulemaking proceeding to establish more stringent security standards for telecommunications carriers to govern disclosure of CPNI. In the NPRM the Commission requests comments on various issues related to EP IC’s petition, including the nature and scope of the problem identified by EPIC; whether “opt-in” customer approval requirements should be broadened; whether existing carrier CPNI disclosure practices are adequate; whether additional security measures should be mandated; and whether the Commission should expand the reporting requirements applicable to telecommunications carriers. AAPC is the national trade association representing the interests of paging carriers throughout the United States. AAPC’s members serve the vast majority of all paging customers in the United States; and they include all of the nationwide paging operators licensed under Parts 22, 24 and 90 of the Commission’s rules, as well as a representative cross-section of the operators of regional and local paging systems licensed by the Commission. Paging carriers are “telecommunications carriers” within the meaning of the Commission’s CPNI rules, 47 C.F.R. §§64.2001-64.2009, and thus AAPC’s members potentially would be directly affected by any new rules adopted in this proceeding. As the Commission acknowledges in the NPRM, “[p]ractically speaking, CPNI includes information such as the phone numbers called by a consumer; the frequency, duration, and timing of such calls; and any services purchased by the consumer, such as call waiting.” (NPRM at ¶3). However, none of that information relates to paging service and therefore paging carriers do not compile or store that information. Accordingly, most of the issues raised by the Commission simply are not germane to paging carriers. Nonetheless, some of the proposals, such as consumer-set passwords (NPRM at ¶¶15-16), audit trails (id. at ¶¶17-18), encryption (id. at ¶19) and additional reporting requirements (id. at ¶¶28-29) could be applied to paging carriers despite the fact that they do not compile or store the information that the NPRM is designed to address. Under these circumstances, AAPC respectfully requests that the Commission carefully tailor any new rules it adopts in this proceeding so that they apply only to carriers that actually compile and store the sensitive information that is the subject of EPIC’s petition, and not to all telecommunications carriers indiscriminately.
1 By Public Notice DA 06-840, dated April 11, 2006, the original deadline of April 14, 2006 for submitting comments in response to the NPRM was extended to April 28, 2006. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: AAPC
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