-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- The New York Times last Thursday had two pieces on telephones that may be of interest. One deals with cellular fraud in NYC, given entirely here: "Cellular Fraud in New York Cellular telephone fraud in New York City has become so rampant that a cellular service in Washington will temporarily block its customers from using their wireless phones when they travel in New York. Cellular One of Washington-Baltimore, owned by SBC Communications Inc., has sent its customers letters notifying them that it would block the service beginning on Thursday because it had compiled a huge backlog of phone numbers used in New York that appeared to be fraudulent. Company officials said they would resume service once they finished investigating each case, which they said would take three weeks. Cellular telephone fraud occurs when people use false identification numbers on their wireless telephones and make calls. The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association said fraud costs had soared to about $1 billion a year. Cellular thieves typically use radio scanners to capture the identification numbers of legitimate cellular phones, which transmit the numbers each time they are used. These numbers are then written onto a computer chip inside an inactive phone, effectively 'cloning' the original." ------------------- End illegitimate fraud article Then, probably not coincidentally in this happy legitimate-fraud shopping season, there was a long consumer-oriented article the very same day, alors, about new cordless phones, including this info about security features against illegitimate fraud: "A new generation of digital cordless phones using a powerful 900 megahertz (MHz) frequency ... blocks thieves who scan the airwaves listening for credit card and Social Security numbers people innocently give over the phone. ... Cellular car phones and two-way radio car service conversations were constant unwanted companions with the standard cordless phones [but] with the 900 MHz phones, the interference was practically non-existent. ... The Cincinnati Microwave Escort 9020 Digital Spread Spectrum Cordless Telephone is one of the first models to feature spread-spectrum technology -- originally developed for the military and now being used for consumers -- that digitally scrambles voice communications before transmitting them. ... ... newer standard-frequency models are offering improved security. By using scrambling technology -- though not as sophisticated as digital spread spectrum -- they block out most eavesdroppers. Panasonic calls the feature Secure Guard; Motorola, Secure Clear, and Toshiba, Call Protect. It doesn't add much to the cost ($10 to $25) and is well worth the money, although the phone is not as secure as a digital one." [My first PGP sig, hooray] -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBLuECi4Sb9hQ07hCVAQHhEQQAjzA4HuMxdExsQiHz2T22MpD8Qe6OqjCG CILxx10lXlqYU9/4xtruZuKNd4dHqzKIqsFhLD1IdIHOwplCzigPW5LIs7HKJAJ8 NpfE/lJ3y/ASgk5P21ZPEFHFgzt0voIRIMlrURIgD07kh35XqfaKZ21Jq7yUCfnh g8eLZ8RkgG0= =qYtN -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----