============================================================================= PHUK MAGAZINE - Phile 2 of 10 ============================================================================= ------------ UK NEWSBYTES ------------ -- PHONE DAY Phone Day is almost upon us! Well, not quite, its on the 16th of April 1995, but judging by the, amount of energy BT is putting into the big event the public are meant to absorb this information by some weird sort of osmosis .... and now us phone phreaks are telling them all about it instead of BT! Certainly all of Joe public I have spoken to treat phone day as some sort of publicity stunt, like Give Up Smoking week, where you are encouraged to use the phone more on Phone Day. When it is explained that Phone Day is the day that all the dailing codes change the response is mixed, ranging from "why would they do that", to "Oh No, not again!", from people who remember the great day when London split its codes into 2 zones (071 & 081), and the amount of hassle it caused them! Funny enough I found an old BT card explaining the LAST change in codes marked "BT - It's you we answer to" .... hmmm guess thats why you still charge in UNITS instead of seconds huh guys! Of course companies offering Phone Day services have sprung up .. they will update all your databases ... at a price!! In actual fact the new codes have been with us for some months, and it has been possible to use the new London codes (0171 & 0181) for a while now. In case you can't remember (!), Phone Day means that all codes starting with 0 will now start 01, and Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham Leicester and Bristol all get new codes (I won't bore you with the numbers!). -- CALLER RETURN / CALLER ID Of course the BIG story of the month should have been the introduction of caller return and caller ID on the 5th of November .... here's what the SUN newspaper had to say about it on the 28th of October ... (When I first wrote this of course I said 'by the time you read this .....'). +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [from the SUN Newspaper, 28-10-94] BT cures hang-ups for free People who rush to answer the phone just as it stops ringing will be able to find out who called thanks to a free BT service unveiled yesterday. From Novemeber the 5th, frustrated customers can dial a code and listen to a recorded message telling them who was the last to call them. BT says the number of return calls will cost the cover of the service. The firm is also introducing "Caller Display" which allows people to see the number of the person calling before they answer. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Once again the actual service has been around for a while in some areas, just not "switched on". So if I dial 141, to block CI/CR, I get a message "Sorry, you have dialled an incorect service code, please replace the handset and consult your instructions". Similarly, dialing 1471 gets the message "Sorry no telephone number is stored". BUT when I phoned the BT helpline (0800-80-1471) to ask about costs, I was told (incorrectly) that Caller Return would cost 3.99 per month, and that Caller Display would cost an "unspecified amount" plus the cost or rental of the equipment. Funny thing was though, that when the helpful young BT chap asked me for my area code "for his database" and then repeated the number back he got it wrong!!! What is really cool is that Joe Public HAS woken up to the problems this might cause, hence the following article from the Guardian, 4th November 1994. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ [from the GUARDIAN Newspaper, 04-11-94] BT forced to delay service identifying callers British Telecom has been forced to postpone the launch of two services which reveal a caller's number - because the public is not yet aware of the risks involved. Civil Liberties lobbies have been concerned about privacy, pointing out that a doctor, for examle, ringing a patient from home would not want to disclose his private number. And ex-directory numbers will be identifiable unless customers opt to retain anonymity. BT, which has already spent several million pounds promoting the services and warning that numbers could easily be identified, has had to increase its budget for an extra two week campaign of newspaper and televsion advertisments. The services, Call Return and Caller Display, will now come into operation on midnight on November 21, rather than tomorrow. This follows recent discussions between BT and Oftel, the industry regulator, which insisted that the public must be fully informed beforehand. A BT spokesman said that the group was disappointed at the lack of awareness in view of its advertising. Call Return enables a phone owner to identify the number of the last caller, by dialling a short code. Subscribers to Caller Display will have a phone or box that shows the number of an incoming call on a screen. BT has built in two safeguards. Customers can have the calling line identification (CLI) signa on all outgoing signals automatically blocked, or they can block the signal on individual calls by dialling 141 before the number. However the CLI signal will be available to BT's malicious calls units. [no shit!! and WHO else can get it!] Many with ex-directory numbers (15 percent of personal customer) believe that their numbers should be protected automatically. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Methinks, we have not heard the last of this ....... ..... and indeed we hadn't! after "WatchDog" had a good go at BT over CR/CD the service didn't start until November 22nd, as planned. However, once again everything was put in place some time before, allowing us to play with the service, which came into force around 18:00 that day. CR does pass unlisted numbers across the lines, but we haven't been able to test whether it passes ex-directory or not. Blocking seems to work as advertised, and cell-phone numbers are also not passed along. What worries me, however, is that on several occasions after recieving a call from what I knew to be a listed number, and from people who I wouldn't call phreaks and use the 141 blocking code, were not stored for my use :( Watch this space for updates! -- INTERNET MANIA Anyone who hasn't heard of the Internet these days must be blind, deaf, half-asleep or all three. With the introduction of a Guardian ONLINE section, the bbc getting their own email address ..(yes!! you can email the broom cupboard!), the opening of London's first fully fledged, and much hyped "CyberCafe", and the publication of not one but 2 expensive glossies (Internet & Comms, and .net), everyone and his dog will have an internet account by the year 2000 (well, if we don't run out of addresses first!). However, at a minimum 1.50 UKP per half hour for the privilege of having coffee, danish & WWW, we here at PHUK magazine feel that Cyberia might be spending some of their hard earned (!!) profits on an internet security expert before too long :) +++ That's all for this ish, don't forget, NEWSBYTE exists on contributions from its readers, so send your snippets, comments etc to PHUK magazine at anon19143@anon.penet.fi, where we will do our best to include them in the next issue. -- BT HACKER :) OK, boring, but I couldn't resist commenting! Calling the BT contractor who stole the queen's phone number a HACKER is a joke!! But then the Independant wouldn't have sold so many papers with the headline "Sub-Contactor Breaks Confidentiality Agreement" would it? +++ EOF