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MCI Accused of Long-Distance Call Accounting Fraud
drcobb writes "According to the New York Times, MCI is under investigation again. This time for spoofing SS7 point codes to avoid paying access tariffs.
Federal prosecutors have opened an investigation in the United States and Canada into accusations that MCI, the nation's second-largest long-distance carrier, defrauded other telephone companies of at least hundreds of millions of dollars over nearly a decade, people involved in the inquiry said."
i can't think of a joke thats starts with this... but i'm sure someone can successfully turn their advertisements back onto them with a witty one liner
We are going to have a long inquiery followed by a long drawn out process to get the money out of them if found guilty?
Rus
Cheap UK and US VPS
No!!! It's because Michael has KILLED the rest of them and he's currently wearing their skin as his sick human suit !!!!
I can't believe that a conspiracy that large and which touched on interactions with that many other rival carriers could have possibly gone on for a decade unnoticed. Is the biling and routing that automatic or is it just so screwed up that the fraud was lost in the noise?
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
I think it goes without saying that MCI has a terrible history of high level executive decisions to commit fraud, undermine various regulatory agencies and now stealing service from various other carriers. What's of more concern, however, is how many corporations engage in this sort of activity and evade detection.
:-)
On a lighter note, perhaps MCI will change their name again after this is all behind them?
I know this is off topic, but I find it interesting that Slashdot used a Google referer url in it's story. I mean, it's obvious Slashdot isn't Google, and while I'm happy to use the link, I wonder if the NYT will be happy about it, and/or do something about it.. this'll be an interesting one to watch, I guess.
(Maybe Slashdot can become an NYT partner..)
The central element of MCI's scheme, people involved in the inquiry said, consisted of disguising long-distance calls as local calls to avoid paying special access tariffs to local carriers across the country. Those tariffs are the largest single source of MCI's costs for carrying calls and data transmissions.
Accounting? Looks like just lying to me.
Justice Department officials have evidence that MCI may, in effect, have "laundered" calls through small telephone companies, and even redirected domestic calls through Canada, to avoid paying access fees or shift them to rival long-distance carriers, according to people involved in the investigation.
Remember, though, that MCI was Worldcom. (Worldcom changed their name to MCI).
"We were told that Project Invader was an exploitation of a tariff loophole, a trick. We kept the project a secret. The traffic was ramped up slowly to avoid detection."
Seriously, 'Project Invader'? Who comes up with these project names? Are you just asking to be caught?
.
Hm. I see. What is his story, I wonder.
please.
What does spoofing ss7 point codes have to do with this?
Oh, you can't really spoof ss7 point codes, otherwise the return ( cells? ) have no way of getting back to you, so how do you expect to terminate a call? hmmm?
dumbass.
get some clue before you write about telephony related things.
oh, every facilities-based provider gets around getting billed for access, especially when you're talking about intrastate calls. ILEC will bill you roughly 3.5 cents a minute, new CLECs do the same thing, older CLECs charge more but will have to reduce their access costs.
for interstate calls, you're getting hit for half a cent a minute.
there is a document on this somewhere on the fcc site describing how the rates have to go down, and what the rates have to be for intra/inter state access charges.
get some clue.
How do the honest companies ever stay in business, much less turn a profit?
Has the worldcom stuff been settled? I don't know what is happening with that case...
KOalaBear33
......The worst thing in my life happened when the stock market started mattering more than the economy
This article is just scary. Not that I am suprised. Not that we haven't been informed. Not that there isn't enough knowledge at our fingertips to inform ourselves... It's the fact that nothing is done about any of it.
"It?", you ask? The world is one big company. What contribution the average man makes to its net profit is but a speck of dust on an infinite beach. Where are those people who can and do make differences? Why do most people feel so helpless? What are we going to do in the long run? Problems of this nature only plague humanity while we strive to treat the symptom but not the cause.
Speaking of problems... WHY ADD TO MINE with your petty grudge bearing comments. At least a few people with considerable intelligence have told me to stop bothering with this site. Maybe I'll start my own, ZenDot.org or something. Suggestions on that are NOT welcome.
Ok, I am 0 for 0 this week but I have the satisfaction of knowing that I can recommend to those who would deserve so such a service as MCI or Microsoft, Verizon, Cingular, Phillip Morris, Anhueser Busch, OPEC, NATO, AT and TEE, SCO, the RIAA, the MPAA, the TWCable, the Yahoo!s... geez just shoot me, im the guy wearing the "no i will not fix your computer" shirt...
You are about to give someone a piece of your mind, something which you can ill afford...
Even though this suspected fraud happened over a decade, it gets me thinking just how much overhead telephone companies have on their calls, there's probably atleast three layers of cream and one for the actual costs on phonecalls.
So does this make MCI the most successfull hardcore Pheaker in history?
What would ss7 spoofer be called? A plaid box?
(I am not a telecoms specialist, this is second-hand knowledge...)
Most billing systems in telecoms infrastructure work on trust to some extent. That is, billing is based on information such as the originator address, but many telecoms systems do not verify this kind of data except in a limited way.
In a general sense, once you are on a telecoms network, your partners trust you to play fair, but there is not a general paranoia. Historically this was because nationalized telcos had no reason to cheat.
This is a particular headache for SMS operators, since it is relatively easy for fraudulent operators to send SMS traffic with spoofed originating addresses. The traffic is either billed to the wrong parties, or at the wrong rate.
Obviously whenever this kind of fraud gets uncovered, people tighten up their security. But often the cost of doing this is so high that it's a last step, not a first one.
Think of unsecured email and you get a fair analogy.
Perhaps a telco insider has a better view?
Ceci n'est pas une signature
He started running a script against Slashdot, a computer program which automatically posted comments to each story that bashed me and promoted his personal website with its condemnatory and semi-truthful essay about the demise of the censorware project. He spammed Slashdot.
.
True? This is a spam-post? Do such things happen in the world still, today?
Of all of the telephone companies that have lied to me while trying to sell me service, MCI was the most boldface lier.
I guess It's not surprising that they tried to cheat their competitors too.
We've never had MCI. Once they called, and told me wife that they were going to give us $20 to make up for all of the long distance phone problems we'd been having. When the verifier comes on the line [to verify that we wanted to switch to MCI], just say yes to all the questions.
I avoid MCI and AT&T. They are both liers.
Kevin
This is somewhat off topic, but only somewhat, ...
I want to ditch my local carriers entirely. They are too expensive by far and it's a monopoly I don't like (SBC.)
I want a cell phone as big as a class touchtone phone. Big buttons that my kids can use. A devoted 911 button. Real big phone. Weighs a few pounds. So big that you can't toss a book on top of it. It plugs into the wall for power. It's big and has a the best sound quality. And it has a built-in super duper antenna so that it always has five bars of reception.
Now it would be even better if it could share the same number as half a dozen other cell phones. When one rings, they all ring. It wonderful if I could stick a fax or modem jack into it.
Why can't I get that?
I think this make it official. Working in the telecom industry is now a shameful thing. Kinda like saying you're a used car salesman or something.
If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
You might want to look into getting a cellsocket. It's not exactly what you are asking for, but it's a cradle for your cell phone that charges the battery, provides an external antenna hookup, and plugs into your phone jack. You can then use regular phones in your house, and it will send the call through the cell phone.
MCI Accused of Long-Distance Call Contacting Freud
Let's hope they don't pull an Enron and start all of the sudden shredding all their old logs.
That is nothing.
I had a friend that worked for a company that did cold calls to retailers to distribute sporting goods.
She was taught the following.
She would be given a lead. The lead would have a contact name, address and telephone number on it.
She would call and say:
"I am calling from such and such. You guys ordered a quantity of sports jersey's from us 2 weeks ago. I am very sorry for how late the delivery is, but we seem to have some confusion with your address."
At which point she repeats the address (intentionally screwing it up) to the hapless employee on the other end of the phone.
While she is at it she also 'double checks' the payment and billing information.
She says 'Thank You' and hangs up the phone.
BLAAAAM now how is that for evil?
Now I used to do something that I don't think is nearly as evil as that. I used to work for a Window manufacturer and installer, Appleby Windows. For the most part they were honest. They didn't do scams like I described.
As a matter of fact I was encouraged to purge the schedules of single owner retired people cause it is just too sleazy to send a rep out to people like that.
My job worked something like this.
I had a territory that I was responsible for, say Allentown Pennsylvania.
I had a number of sales reps in that territory. Each rep was promised to have 1 lead a day M-F and 2 on Saturday. So I needed to supply a total of 7 leads a week for each rep.
Now these reps are pure commision. No sale, no eat. So they took those 7 leads dead serious.
Well anyone that has done this sort of work can tell you that crappy appointments are a real problem. Reps get to houses and they are stood up, a homeowner isn't present, it is a rental.. blah, blah, blah. There are a ton of problems that can make the trip out to the house by the rep a waist of time.
To resolve this problem we would have callers intentionaly overbook the schedules. Then I would call each home and 'confirm' the appointment with the homeowner. I was trained to firm up the appointments and to qualify them. If they passed my approval they got put on the schedule for that night.
Well I was required to have a demo rate of 85%. 85% of all my leads had to be saleable, no they didn't have to sell, but the reason they didn't sell must be on the reps end and not mine.
What this all turns into is that in order to give a rep 7 leads a week I actually have to book like 9 or 10. That way he gets 7 leads in spite of 15% of the ones I supply being crappy.
Sorry this is dragging on, but the evil thing I did wouldn't make any sense unless you understood the motivation for it.
So what happens when none of my leads are crappy and they are all good? We end up standing up good, qualified customers who just might buy our product.
So once I decide that everything is cool and I need to blow off the appointments here is what I did:
'Hello Mr Smith?'
'Yeah this is (insert my name) I am calling from Appleby. I am looking for my rep, Fred Wilson. I apologize for disturbing you during your estimate, but this is something of an emergency.'
At this point Mr. Smith's reaction varies. Some people are confused, others pissed - whatever I didn't care.
I try to say the next bit with a combination of relief, concern and if I can muster it just a little bit of distraction, like I am juggling stuff in an emergency situation.
'Oh dear he isn't there?!?! Ummm... I'll tell you what Mr. Smith this might just be good news.
But I need a favor.
Fred's son was just involved in an automobile accident. Apparently he is hurt pretty bad. Fred's wife is hysterical and trying to contact Fred. Fred carries a cell phone and I bet that she contacted Fred after she contacted me.
I can't blame Fred for standing you up, I think I would have to, all things considered.
But Mr. Smith if you could please promise me that if Fred shows up you will tell him just to contact his
Nothing says "News for Nerds" like "accussed of accounting fraud", this just seems like news for some other site to me...
Onward to the Aether Sphere!
and upper management jailed for 20+ year sentences after corporate misgivings are proven.
Let's face it. We, the working people, have been screwed for years under the "we're doing this for the shareholder" mantra. We've been asked to take pay cuts, work longer shifts, work weekends unpaid. Meanwhile, this is done not for the shareholders, which see no real increase, but for the top executives who use that extra productivity to support their continued bonus plan.
This has always been about bonuses for execs. This story proves that even more.
The only difference between organized crime and corporate America is where they get their suits tailored.
I always thought that the evil greed was with Worldcom, not MCI. From reading the article, it sounds like this started with MCI long before the merger. I was hopeing it was one of the other companies Worldcom of Borg assimilated. Wiltel or MFS or someone else.
Let's face it, fraud is a hard job. It's much easier and more profitable to be honest. It's more expensive to hire the lawyers, accountants and MBAs needed for fraud rather than the engineers, programmers and technicians a company needs to do an honest job.
We're supposed to come out of bankruptcy here in the next couple of months. So seeing as how three former Worldcom people and our three largest competitors suddenly brought this up shouldn't be a big surprise.
Of course regardless of who points the finger, or why, if your guilty, your guilty.
So this will either greatly push back coming out of bankruptcy, make it so that we loose all the government contracts, or they break us up. As long as they can prove it.
No of course it's not a spam post. The moral of the story: DONT BELIEVE ANYTHING MICHAEL SAYS
Those tariffs are the largest single source of MCI's costs for carrying calls and data transmissions.
Does anyone else find this really irritating? That a tax is the single largest cost they face? It seems to me that the government is the real problem here: IMO, good for MCI for trying to keep more of its hard-earned money away from the gaping maw of Uncle Sam.
[ home ]
there's only ONE reason this news scares me: my girlfriend and I use MCI Neighborhood Plan thing to talk for an unlimited time at a flat monthly rate. I sure hope that this flat rate thing doesn't disappear, we can't afford to talk as much as we want if that's the case. Is it?
I *do* think it's pretty l33t what MCI has (allegedly) been doing, as a purely technical fascination.
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
I understand how this must look to the general public. But I can tell you, if you were in my shoes, you'd do exactly the same. Keeping up with the Joneses in my neigborhood gets very expensive and I've got three kids all looking to go to Ivy League colleges. The bonuses I raked in for this scheme were more than enough to cover this and put a new down payment on a beautiful home in White Plains. What are you doing to ensure your family prospers?
<a href="http://www.joblessjimmy.com">Work is dumb and so is Jobless Jimmy.</a>
The Bush goverment is just persecuting MCI for political reason. Their narrow-minded morale doesn't allow any creative accounting and business methods.
It's time for all accounting nerd to stand up and show their support !
First, we need some "free MCI Worldcom" bumper stickers and t-shirts. This wouldn't of course have any effect on the lawsuit, but we'll feel all great and warm inside.
We might also organize some protests in Washington nobody notices.
And when the MCI management comes out of prison we can all rush to buy their new book "Art of Fraud: Controlling the human element of accounting".
Owner of a Mensa membership card.
With the advent of Corporate insider trading and scandals of such magnitude, (Enron et al), I just wanna know, "where's my check?" Can I get a check? Let's just sue.
Nokia already has such contraptions... you can plug in any POTS compatible device into them.
Nope, plaid box is taken. A plaid box is a a box for converting ma bell's pulse-phone lines to touch-tone lines.
More boxes than you can shake a handset at.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
The systems and software that measure usage, collect the data and generate bills are a substantial part of the cost of running a telephone network. That is one of the reasons that ISPs have avoided this business model.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
if you want to advertise at least pay for it
...Cap'nCrunch was unavailable for comment.
Then why did the Bush government GIVE (without competitive bid) MCI/WC an essentially unlimited contract to rebuild Iraq's communication infastructure....
Oh I don't know. AT&T actually did send me a check for $75 once for switching to them. A real, honest to God check, not some credit or some other BS.
You are a cocksucking asshole.
It's fucking jerks like you who make things bad on us and you.
New rules:
If you've ever worked for a telemarketer, you can't bitch about spam.
If you're the guy who wrote the parent post, you can't bitch about anything, not even being fucked in the ass, because you're a cocksucking asshole who deserves anything bad he gets.
Why go cell? If you have a broadband connect, check out vonage or any of the other IP based teleco's. They provide an interface for your existing phone(s) so you don't have to deal with a headset connected to the computer etc., and it's pretty cheap I pay $40 for LD and local calling. The downside is they have limited area code support. (i.e., getting your particular one, not making calls to them)
But you damn sure need anger management. Just get rid of all your guns before you're the next telco employee pissed off shooting supervisors.
Just how many major crimes do you have to commit before it ceases to be a civil matter in this country ? Just how many people do you have to harm before its considered criminal or is that just reserved for people that download songs ?
Without business the IT industry would be nothing. Businesses keep nerds in a job so you should be grateful that this site is reporting on news that "matters" to us most of all.
To put it simply: geeks and nerds are soon to be marginalised in the tech industry. In their place will be MBAs and accountants who will be fully trained in technology. Technology, after all, is not that hard to learn - any businessman with a bit of nous can handle what techies do every day.
So we must continue with these type of stories to satisfy the new slashdot target market of business technologists. Nerds are on their way out.
Yours humbly,
Ta bù shì dà yú
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Did you read the article? There's lots of technical stuff in there. I guess you couldn't find anything better to whine about.
What I'm reading is that MCI took out some contracts with some small fish in the pond, who subsequently routed the connection thru to another party. For that other party the incoming call *is* a local call (with a(n ss7 ?) code originating from that "small fish"). What's the problem here ?
:-) and could be considered as (some sort of) fraud. But where does the ss7 point-code spoofing into play here ? Nowhere I would say.
Oh, you mean that there is/should be some sort of "gentlemans agreement" between parties so that their expenditure, regarding long-line fee's, should be canceled by their income form it ?
If that's true, all they could say should be "that's not nice."
Where does a notion like "fraud" come into play ? Or does anyone here think that MCI should pay *twice* for a long-distance call : once to the "small fish", and once *for a local connection* between the "small fish" and some other phone-company ? I don't think so.
As for routing call's to some far-off station and than route it (back) to/thru a competitor (so he's paying a long-distance fee) : That's definitily not nice (understatement
*If* someone want's to play a "fraud" -theme here it could/should be on that last part, where MCI routes call's to far-away places and than route it back thru to competitors so they have to pay.
For the first part : It looks like they where clever by routing their call's thru cheaper in-between stations, and where clever twice by not showing their found solution to other, competitive businesses.
"39cents + 3cents/minute, anywhere in the US to anywhere in the US or western Europa ."
Jesus Christ! Only $0.39 to talk to someone on a Jovian moon? Why hasn't NASA signed up for this?
I guess they make up their money by charging you for the minutes taken up by the light lag.
Still using the same enterprise-wide CRM software that keeps all the email and documents in the same place? Hope you didn't trust the application level security, any number of DB tools will peel it like a grape.
My GF and I use the AT&T unlimited service for the same thing, You could switch to that if MCI goes kaput...
Hmmm, no indication of who was President when this started and who is President when it's found and cleaned up?
If any company ever deserved the death penalty, it's this gang of thieves. Do NOT let WorldCom/MCI/UUNet emerge from bankruptcy. Liquidate the company instead.
I'm sure that Michael Myers would never do that. Well, hardly ever.
That would have been a scam by the contractor. It does not excuse MCI of responsibility of course but you are quite likely to get a call from the same contractor to get you to switch to AT&T.
What a lot of contractors used to do was keep a list of people who would switch over the phone. Then they would call them continuously getting them to switch from one company to annother each month.
I have friends who never paid for their long distance because they were always on some intro offer or another.
I currently have Qwest long distance. They screwed up the billing for 18 months, didn't send me a single bill. This despite me calling to tell them that they had a problem. Their customer service refused to sort out the problem with the local carrier because both had a policy of not waiting more than five rings...
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
They sure have learned some tricks from the phreakers.
This article has funny timing for me, since I had just dealt with MCI's fraud protection (I think that's what it was called) department a little under a month ago.
I moved into an apartment after graduation, and tried to get phone service from another phone company, but MCI still had their service on the phone line from the previous tenant. They denied responsibility for the phone line, saying they had cancelled it.
A few long distance phone calls with no one to bill finally got their attention. Idiots....
I work for a cell company, its against fcc regulations. One number per one phone.
Shut the fuck up, you obsessive compulsive twat.
Having spent US$60 trying to get MCI to shut down a virus infected host that was continually hitting me with multi-hundred kB emails (to no avail), I say, "MCI is in trouble? GOOD!"
The three constituant parts of this hydra (MCI, WCOM, and UUNET) each have a long history of irresponsiblity to the community - an attitude of "Screw you! We are making money any way possible! You No Likee? Suck ME!". UUNET hosting pink contract spammers, MCI screwing other phone companies, the whole WCOM stock deal.
I hope they get nailed. I hope their execs get sent to prison, and through an administrative mistake go to a nice maximum security prison rather than Club Fed, sharing a cell with an AIDS-infected serial sodomist who has nothing better to do than sign up for penis enlargement and Viagra spams. I hope the companies are forced into liquidation. As a resident of Known Space would say, "Break'em up for parts!"
www.eFax.com are spammers
C'mon! This guy admits he worked for M$!!!
CAN WE BURN HIM????!!!!!
I sense really deep shit wrt patent/license stuff. Looks like free software won't be free to develop, and that's insane. You all US guys, get a life for your goverment.
Here is how something like this typically works.
First, how is it supposed to work. SS7 pointcodes are like the IP address of a telephone switch. Messages are routed through an SS7 network that runs between switches to route calls, identify the source and destination information, and generate billing data. There are rather simple ways to conceal the origin of these calls. The ILECs (who own the InterLATA tandems) have gotten their friends, the state PUCs, to continue with quite high orig/term interconnection tarriffs. This is a huge source of revenue for them. The original concept was to pay for the large upfront expenditures to install the interlata tandems with the breakup of AT&T and the entrance of the new (at the time) IXCs. Those switches (and the required capacity upgrades) have been paid for hundreds of times over. When you consider $.05/min long distance and the orig/term fees are $.03-.04/min for both ends you see the IXC isn't exactly making much. Its a little present to the ILECs from the PUCs.
Many companies are doing this today via what is known as the "enhanced service provider exemption". In short, this states that Inter-LATA traffic which is carried across an enhanced services network (VoIP, VoATM, VoFR, etc) is not subject to InterLATA termination fees at the distant end of the call. The rules are pretty vague here and there doesn't appear to be a minimum percentage in the quantity of calls which must be handled by the enhanced services network or a percentage of the overall call distance that must be handled by the enhanced services network. What you get is folks that buy some to handle perhaps a T1s worth of trunks, place them next to each other in the rack, and route a few calls through it within a single office. Under the current rules they now operate an "enhanced services network" and are thus exempt from paying the orig/term InterLATA tarriffs. There is at least one large calling card provider (especially catering to the Hispanic population in the US) that does exactly this. The company then finds a friendly CLEC to allow them to dump their calls into the local network via MF (tone signalled, non-SS7) trunking and the origin of the call will appear to be a local number.
In the old days (pre-1999) there were several companies doing this without bothering to claim the enhanced service provider exemption. I've personally seen companies locate in a CLEC colocation facility and house nothing but a patch panel in a closed cabinet. MF trunks from IXCs (long distance carriers) are brought in on one side, and MF local-access trunks head out the other. This is also known as "dump and term".
When you're MCI (WorldDom) this becomes trivially easy. MCI owns at least 2 CLECs. WorldCom bought Brooks (I ran local operations in 2 cities for Brooks) shortly before the MCI deal. They also bought MFS several years before that. It would be a very simple matter to use an intermediary in each LATA to launder the traffic via MF trunks back into their MFS/Brooks switches and then pass them off to the ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) as what appear to be local calls. There isn't any high-tech SS7 munging required here.
This could also be accomplished via some sexy work with SS7 on a switch. It would be like NAT and would rewrite the originating point code and phone number to a local one. The same SS7 hardware would take the messages coming back and rewrite them to go to the proper switch. We do NAT with IP addresses every day. Its not a large stretch to imagine doing it with SS7. I don't see much of a need to though. There are much simpler ways to accompish it.
Hell, if MCI/Worldcom doesn't mind the exposure just run the MF trunks between local and LD switches without the intermediary. It opens up a huge liability hole, but it may have been deemed acceptable.
As much as I understand everybody's frustration with this, I'd like to point that not letting MCI emerge from bankruptcy will not be beneficial for the global economy.
Not to mention those thousands who still work at MCI, doing their job like anyone else, unaware of what upper management is scheming.
If MCI went bankrupt they would drag too much lives with them down in their fall.
So liquidating the company wouldn't really be any more helpful to everyone then letting them emerge and see how the market responds.
Yes I work for MCI and no I'm not particularly proud of it and yes I do not wish to lose my job in this economic climate.
I'm really curious if we'll have another rebranding campaign because of this though.
I'm pretty sure WorldCom *is* MCI, so it's really a pair of thieves.
Unless I am mistaken, MCI Sprint, WorldCom and now MCI have been ripping people off right and left, anyway they could, since the beginning (the 80's I think???). They have always been involved in fraud, who has had their service, carefully checked there bill, and NOT discovered getting overcharged for something. What I find shocking is that there are still people that will willingly do business with these folks.
HenryJamesFeltus.com
http://www.nytimes.com/robots.txt
I've noticed the referrer too, and I hope it means that news.google will start crawling nytimes.com.
He didn't seem angry, just annoyed at the amount of wrong information. Or should he have mentioned Linux and made an unfunny joke?
1) Inflate earnings
2) Falsify expenses
3) Slam 'n Cram Customers
4) Cheat business partners
5) Profit!!!
Looking back, was the monolithic monopoly of the Bell System REALLY that bad?
Stop talking. You're lying.
For more information, click here.
I think the parent's parent should rephrase:
For the Bush administration, it's backhanders and business as usual, despite the best efforts of those lower down in the pecking order.
Investigatories: "We'll persecute MCI unless you make them let us in on the action."
Bush Adm: "No way, we're making a packet regardless AND you just indighted yourself for blackmail and attempted fraud. Mess with the best..."
Investigatories: "Damn. Was worth a try."
Free Gamer - Free games list and commentary
They stole all that money and still went bankrupt? Actually, I guess that shouldn't come as a suprise. Companies that are run corruptly also tend to be run incompetently.
Yeah, good idea. One button that summons a paramilitary response, and gets you arrested if you hit it by accident.
The fact is, the traffic carried by UUNet, the long distance calls made on MCI, can be easily handled by other carriers. The transition could be done in 30 days. KILL THIS COMPANY!!
Fuck, the MAFIA employs a lot of people too. Of course, at least they admit that they're a bunch of thieves.
It doesn't surprise me at all. My testimony before the Nevada PUC regarding manipulating SS7 packets was cancelled last year. Instead, they held it with the lawyers, who argued the packets could not be altered or tampered with. Even after my phone call to them, in which I manipulated the CLID packet, they still ignored the obvious. It took other giants (phone companies, in this case) to finally bring this beast to the public's attention. Now, perhaps, the PUC will also look at what they dismissed with disdain last year.
I'm thinking it's really just the one thief.
JADBP
I wonder if the programmer would be liable as well.
Vista:XPSP2::ME:98SE
Two Words, one product: BAG PHONE!
First rule of holes; When in one, stop digging.
We need government that is not soft on crime. We got a government that is unbelievably soft on White Collar Crime. There is no telling how expensive White Collar Crime is to the economy. Kinda ironic, white collar criminals make a fortune and face little sanction. Let some poor person rob a few thousand dollars from the same company with burglary. Both belong in prison, but the white collar criminal, who is far more destructive to society, gets a slap on the wrist.
HenryJamesFeltus.com
They are no more... AT&T Canada are now known as Allstream.
Certainly I think the threat of having a corporate charter revoked might encourage Directors to ensure that everything is above board. And I think that in extreme cases this is warranted. But---
;-)
Who are the actual owners of MCI? Did they have any knowledge of this? Should they be deprived of property just because the execs (who they indirectly hired) cheated someone else? While revoking charters certainly doesn't go beyond the idea of limited liability for investors, it could have a chilling effect inthe industry.
Usually when something REALLY BAD happens (Enron, f. ex.) the companies which share blame end up going out of buisness when faced with all the fallout (Arthur Anderson, f. ex). This is similar.
Now, we need to find a way to do the same to SCO
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I had a friend that worked for a company that did cold calls to retailers to distribute sporting goods... She was taught the following
That's a fairly well known form of fraud, a con game. It's illegal.
Hmmm...wasn't the Bush Administration involved in the whole Enron deal, too? Fishy, fishy...
sick of this crap... FYI, MCI used to be a subsidiary of Worldcom... but now they changed Worldcom's name to MCI (Sprint, whatever) to try to have everybody forget all those Enron style scandals... (on top of all the new ones)
Shut them down and put the CEO's away for LIFE.
Screw IT shut us Down. See what happens I guarantee if I was the CEO and someone came in and told us we were liquidating your company. I would shut off everything, cut all of my cables. Basically turn off the internet and the government.
Even if the Government turns us down for new contracts in the United States, and go for The other carries,they will just turn around and buy the bandwidth from us.
Every other phone company and cell company does the same thing.
Today
Yup
Uhuh
Many Thanks,
Luke
Indeed, the big problem in SS7 is the 2-face security model -- you
are either with us [telco] or attacking us [phone phreak, etc].
BUT..just like the New Orleans PD problem, when you are both......
Never said it was illegal.
Personally I would not have done it. My only telemarketing job was at Appleby. They are a legal do things by the books company. No con games there.
What I did IS in bad taste. But it is also illegal.
Besides kind of like you are posting as an Anonymous Coward I didn't give you her name.
I am sorry, what I meant to say was 'What I did IS in bad taste, but it happens to also be legal.'.
Sorry about that. I got me a bad headache and I didn't proof the message.
Hey, it said no landings, it didn't say anything about a little phone call.
Here're a few things you might really want to know...
First off, plans last only a certain amount of time before they're "grandfathered in", meaning that existing customers can keep the plan but new customers cannot be added. They don't and won't tell you when this is going to happen.
After that time, a number of things can knock you off the plan without you being able to get back on. Interruption of local or long distance service, slamming, a glitch in the systems.. there are quite a few ways you can lose a plan.
Of course, the company will try almost anything to get you off one of the older plans, since they don't make nearly as much money for them as newer plans do.
I've worked in the phone industry before, so I've seen this from both sides of the phone call to customer service. I really oughta write a book about this.
He seemed awfully pissy to me. Whether it's "angry" or just "annoyed", the tone of that post was just way too beligerent.
Bad taste... cruel... immoral... hope you're happy.
Fred's son was just involved in an automobile accident. Apparently he is hurt pretty bad.
Yeah, I think you get 225 years in the Acid Room in Hell for that. Each offense.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
"could have possibly gone on for a decade unnoticed."
It didn't and I wish I didn't have to post this anonymously.
T's Network Performance Group identified the problem in 1996 and believed it was a LEC overcharge in terminations.
Investigation with the Locals determined that they were billing T properly and the problem came from the other direction.
Here's the catch that made it possible. Tarrifs require that calls with bad SS7 still have to be completed, and the issues hashed out in committie later.
And that's where's it's been until an honest MCI employee came forward with the PROOF that could only be found from the inside.
Access to the SS7 network is an exclusive club, but members have a level of access that can make this kind of phreaking nearly impossible to prove from outside.
This really makes WorldCom/MCI's re-entry into the market as a full partner impossible.