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U.S. Endorses ENUM
esarjeant writes "It looks like the the U.S. has endorsed ENUM (also known as E.164.arpa). This means you get a single number for phone and Internet, look for demos at Spring VON (San Jose, April 1-3) and VISIONng will be engaging in US trials. Essentially this means you get a new TLD of e164.arpa with your phone number in front of it." The addresses look pretty long and unwieldy, but supposedly consumer devices will make it easier to use.
this is going to make writing women's phone numbers on beer mats a tad more difficult.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
or was that fiber to the curb? Doesn't this make it all that much easier to track people down?
First 10 digit dialing, now this? Seems we could base somthing off of just the number its self, although that seems to be the way the idea is going.
It looks like were getting ever closer to the point where I have to enter a username and password to make a phone call. Seriously folks, the phone is the simplest computer interface in the world, don't ruin it. I don't want email on my phone, and caller id on my tv, I want tv on my tv and other people on my phone!
So, if I post to usenet, google archives this, and any idiot in the world has my phone number.
no thanks
If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
One Number to rule them all, One Number to find them,
One Number to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
Go here to create your own Slashdot dis
I choose to have my phone number unlisted and unpublished. Does this mean I will have to disclose my phone number if I'm using an e.164-enabled device? Or will I just have to sit this one out on the sidelines, confident that it will die the quick death so common with flash-in-the-pan technology?
Personally, I don't want to be ubiquitously accessible. I don't want my internet and telephone services magically tied together. This sounds like a scheme that will benefit vendors, providers, and marketers more than it will benefit consumers.
I prefer callto:// URI:s any day.
Trusted Computing FAQ | Free Dawit Isaak!
Telemarketer: Hello, sir! Can I interest you in a university diploma?
:)
Me: "It's 4 am."
Telemarketer: It's 8 am here, sir! So How about that university diploma?
This is a horribly, horribly bad idea.
Hmm. Not .arpa.us then? Is the idea that all numbers across the globe fit into .arpa, or is this an example of an inappropriate TLD?
Cheers,
Ian
From http://www.networkmagazine.com/article/printableAr ticle?doc_id=NMG20020304S0011:
.arpa domain."
"Just how does ENUM turn phone numbers into domains? When an ENUM client queries DNS, it reverses the phone number ordering and applies the domain name at the end. If the original number is +1-415-947-6022, for example, the ENUM client removes all the dashes and punctuation to get 14159476022. The phone number is then sent to DNS as 2.2.0.6.7.4.9.5.1.4.1.e.164.arpa, assuming the server is located in the
First of all, is this going to allow me to type "T.T.A.L.L.A.C.0.0.8.1.e164.arpa" when I want to go to the "1-800-CALL-ATT" or would I have to use the actual numbers?
Secondly, how long until we get:
Just type T.T.A.L.L.A.C.0.0.8.1.e164.arpa to save up to 44% on long-distance internet browsing!
Finally, why is this addressing scheme named after Arpanet (*.arpa)? Isn't that a bit out-of-date?
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
- Jerome Klapka Jerome
What the Internet really needs is a set of numbers to connect to commonly used people and sites. The current system (tld's, subdomains, @-signs, etc.) is way too confusing. People have a hard time understanding it and finding what they are looking for. A number similar to a phone number for looking up people and businesses on the Internet would simplify things a lot. The only catch I see is that there are a lot of Internet addresses, and perhaps a 32-bit number would be required to identify all of them.
Further, I propose a system to extend the Internet phone numbers to have a textual equivalent. It would be a word or series of words that might be chosen to describe the person or business owning the number. Further, suffixes could be used to identify the nature of the name, such as commercial or the name of the country of origin. To distinguish between the various Internet addresses accessed by the number, a prefix could optionally be added to specify the protocol with which to connect, and for families, businesses and groups, a user name could optionally be specified in addition.
This new system would be a dramatic simplification of the current system with its confusing and obfuscated methodologies. Numbers are much better for identification, and with the usability enhancements I have described would be far superior.
Y'know, this isn't going to be as bad as you think it is.
Sure, it's been argued that this means anyone can find out your phone number from your IP, your IP from your phone number or something similar, and telemarket the living daylights out of you. Not true. Unsolicited telemarketing spam, as you've no doubt been reading on Slashdot, is likely to soon become illegal in all states and most of Europe - at least, that's what I see happening. The closer the internet comes to the phone system, the more quickly we'll see spam being made equally illegal.
As well as encouraging people and corporations to get the broadband into peoples' homes - and I see just about every home "having the internet" within the decade - this system could provide a way of linking a physical location or house number with an internet address, making it easier for legitimate marketers to get along with consumers. I'm already seeing banner ad servers that see from my hostname the I'm in the UK and serve me advertising for UK ISPs - expanding on this concept, we might some day find all banner ads like Slashdot's - serving us only advertising that interests us (Megatokyo shirts, web servers, ThinkGeek) and less online casinos, spyware and fake Windows dialog boxes!
Great! Maybe we will all start using enum instead of #defined constants!
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
(NOTE: I realise what I am about to propose will never happen.)
The DNS system should be reversed - in other words, this site should be http://org.slashdot
Justification: The ideal would be for the domain to move from the least specific to the most specific. Consider the current system: First, you have the protocol - the most general part of the URL. Then, you have the domain, moving from the most specific to the most general. Then, you have the URI (directory and filename), which moves from the most general to the most specific.
Now, consider if DNS were to be reversed. You would move from the most general (the protocol), then the TLD, then the organization, then the machine, the directories, the file name, and any CGI args.
The ENUM system would be more in line with telephony - you would have the country code, then the area code, exchange, and finally number, just like the current system, rather than having to reverse the number.
You could still have the completion feature you have now - if you type tel://555.1212 the system could automatically apply the default country code and area code, it would just prepend rather than append.
(Oh, BTW: on ENUM, they should have allowed each logical grouping of the telephone to be one subdomain - in other words, county code.area code.exchange.number, rather than c.o.u.n.t.r.y.c.o.d.e etc.)
www.eFax.com are spammers
There are many states that have clear restrictions and laws regarding e-mail spam, but this is never tracked down or dealt with. Specifics like no forged headers, no using anonymous remailers, and so on. But it's tough to track down, and spammers are very crafty, and thus little gets done - at all. Connecting the two (phone, internet) will only worsen the problem. Perhaps, senators would be more interested in legislation and enforcement if they have a 9 year old daughter being offered penis enlargement during dinner-time.
Me: Hello?
Someone: Hi, is this 2..2.0.6.7.4.9.5.1.4.1.e.164.arpa ?
Me: Yes.
Someone: Did you get my e-mail?
Me: Who is this?
Someone: Do you want to improve your sex life by having a penis enlargement.
Me: I'm sorry , but I already have a large penis.Goodbye.
*click*
ring..ring..
"I used to have that really cool,funny sig
Of course there is enough bandwidth. It isn't like the current telephone network system has insuffient bandwidth to cover all the voice calls we currently make.
Don't forget that all voice calls are transmitted over the phone networks on 64K virtual circuts.
Voice over IP, as long as we can keep the IP networks sufficently responsive (a big if), should work fine since telephone companies would be forced to redirect their current voice bandwidth into IP bandwidth.
ENUM in the News
EFA expresses security concerns over ENUM, SMH, November 27, 2002.
Enum's potential applications aren't as widespread as promised, New Architect, July 2002.
Internet Telephone Numbering System (ENUM) offers promise of a single point of contact for all communication devices, ITU Press Release, May 31, 2002.
Listing Again, The Economist, April 11, 2002.
Phone number-to-e-mail service raises privacy concerns, Computerworld, October 5, 2001.
Your Rights Online: A Number For Everything, Slashdot, September 4, 2001.
One number & and no escape anywhere, The Times, September 3, 2001.
Spammers will be able to compile email lists from the telephone directory, promting everyone to go ex-directory, and rendering the phone book obsolete
A symbiosis will be encouraged between email spam and phone spam
Telephone numbers will be available all over the internet, even if they are ex-directory
Changing your phone/fax number will require changing your email address, and vice versa
Moving to a different region will require a change of email address, thus rendering an obvious advantage of email irrelevant
Of course there are advantages as well, but I'm feeling cynical today. Is it just me, or does this plan seem a little naive? A bit like ten years ago, when the internet was going to solve all the problems of the world overnight, and make everyone suddenly nicer.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
but what about Nigeria?
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
I would love to see what their plan is for supporting members of the US Armed Forces and Foreign Service and US expats overseas. We get a number like this while in the US and then we are stationed outside the US. What happens then?
I am still waiting for about 50% of online merchants to figure out the APO/FPO system and how to mail me products. I would rather the Dept. of Commerce fix that problem first before they help telemarketers spam me no matter where on the globe I am.
And what about costs of the calls/transmissions? If I am in Southwest Asia and someone in the US calls my ENUM, who gets tagged for the long distance bill?
Bureaucracy loves company.
So if we can't switch to IPv6 this is supposed to happen? But how are they planning on those two interacting? I imagine that they won't have ENUM for devices or IPv6 for people but won't this make it a little more complicated. You sending the one email but it being routed to eight different devices doesn't necessarily make things easier
It is a brief article, so it brought up a lot of questions for me:
So this is supposed to connect *all* our phone lines with *all* our e-mail addresses and *all* our domains? Or is it that everyone suddenly has these new e-mail accounts and websites which each of us needs to manage and check because the government or other superpowers might decide to leave us notice there instead of, say, on my voicemail machine or sending me a form letter?
How do the e-mail addresses fit into it again?
And so now when my phone company tells me it will take 1 week to move my phone when I move, are my e-mail and domain out for that time, too, or are they required to provide an outside-accessible secured e-mail server and access so I can update my website? How about if I move out of their broadband service area? How about if I change my ISP to cable or satellite? Or if I move into another phone service's area? Does the phone company host my e-mail and website, or my ISP?
And do we get to choose our phone numbers, or do they magically decide at one point in history that *that's* the phone number you keep for the rest of your life? Or do you keep the number for your lifespan?
When they have to extend the phone numbers to 11 digits or more, are they going to revise all old numbers so they start with additional 1's or 9's or something (thinking mostly about the DNS)?
"could be routed to a telephone, an e-mail inbox or a fax machine, depending on the application."
Who decides these routings? Or are we all going to be required to have a magical box to connect us to the outside world? Or are we all issued passwords so we can remotely configure our preferences (yeah, like 99% of the country is going to want to do that, let alone keep their passwords).
Which organization is going to coordinate all of this? Government? Public? Private? Verisign?
We are talking about doing this for everyone, right? Who's going to do the tech support?
8-PP
I still got calls for the person who last had my phone number for years after it was switched to me. Now I can get personal emails for the prior "owner" of my phone number and not even have the chance to tell them I'm not Kim before they go on about what happened to them last night.
Leaving that and telemarketers having everyone's email address immediately and automatically aside, I am confused as to the utility of this. I would much rather have permanent transferable alphabetic EMail address, which I do have on pobox.com, than my telephone number.
I don't see things in black and white; I see the gray. Heck, I actually see in color, which makes things more difficult
Please read the usage scenarios in this Internet Draft if you don't know what ENUM is about.
I wont use it, thank you. My phone number is unlisted. I take pains to protect that and I use a relatively anonymous email address that cannot easily be tied to me in the real world.
I will not go for having my phone number pasted all over the net, part of every newsgroup posting, email-based opinion expression, etc. My phone number, address, etc, are not for wide open, general consumption.
In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq as they increasingly merge the two in America.
"The Phone Company"
For those who don't know (and are too lazy to check here, this is a free service that maps fax numbers to email addresses, so, if you know a fax number, you can send a properly mime-formatted fax (or plain text, it works), to them via a .tpc.int email address: it gets routed to a local internet to fax gateway (presumably a local call away from the destination fax machine), and thence to the desired destination.
Being free, coverage is not perfect, of course, and there are limits to how much each gateway will accept (per origin, hour, day, week, etc.) but the system works surprisingly well!
Yes, fax machines are not phones, but the concept obviously extends there.
You could've hired me.
Ok, so it sounds convenient right? People will be able to find you regardless of the mode of communication, right?
Right. BUT here are the problems.
1) Now the Government can also find me.
2) I'm pretty sure someone will use this to track you/your communications
3) Sometimes I want someone to have my email address but not my phone number, or vice versa, etc.
4) I don't like the idea of being labeled with a number.
I'm sure you call all add others. For me, those concerns weigh heavier than any conveniences.
Opinionated Law Student Strikes Again!
As any educated slashdot reader knows, the instant (and I literaly mean 1 second later) that ENUM becomes operational there will be millions of spam messages targeted to those poor souls.
So, I recommend lawmakers first create a global "do not contact me" list where anyone can go in and declare their ENUM "spam-less".
Of course, this will NOT stop spammers from moving their operations to other countries were such laws do not apply and then send you spam anyways.
In other words, I think the ENUM idea is a great idea, but one which spam will very likely kill. Just imagine, once a single spammer gets a hold of my "universal address" there is NO WAY I will be able to stop such spam. Today at least I can get a different email address and get done with it, but once you have your ENUM tied to your home address, personal website, home phone, fax, work phone, cell phone, beeper, etc, changing emails/numbers/addresses all of a sudden becomes VERY hard. As a matter of fact I wouldn't be surprised if the spam community is actually lobbying to get ENUM approved.
Note that I *wish* I was wrong (and if I'm proven wrong you can trust me that I'll be the first one to be happy about it), but my take on this is that something like ENUM will only work effectively in the long future when all countries agree on a worldwide do-no-call list with legal penalties regardless of in which country you are.
Note that when you look up a US local phone number, it has only one destination (subject to local number portability) However, with US toll-free numbers (i.e. 800, 888, 877, 866, 855), the destination location is dependent on the time of day, the calling party id, and the relative amount of traffic sent to one location versus another. A toll-free number can have a separate destination for a given calling party 10-digit US phone number, area code or other criteria so that a call you place and one I place may end up on different carriers and different parts of the country. Also, a toll free number often absolutely prohibit connections altogether from some portions of the US (or Canada etc). Routing these calls properly is not simple.
For reasons such as this, I think we can expect a lot of hands out looking for money for putting small records in databases (registration) and for looking such up. Look at the business models of the heavy sponsors of ENUM.