[00:00.000 --> 00:05.980]  The Iraq war is like a fiscal vacuum cleaner, sucking up every buck not nailed down.
[00:06.300 --> 00:08.540]  The images of Katrina have not faded.
[00:08.860 --> 00:13.480]  They echo around the earth, bouncing off satellites, teaching, telling, revealing.
[00:14.020 --> 00:21.660]  In the very beginning, the images told us that this nation, the richest since Rome, didn't really give a damn about black poor people.
[00:22.040 --> 00:29.060]  It has been half a year, and that message resonates today, just as clearly as it did yesterday.
[00:30.000 --> 00:33.800]  From death row, this is Munia Abu-Jummar.
[00:34.100 --> 00:41.960]  And that was Free Speech Radio News, as heard here on WBAI New York, where it's one minute after 7 o'clock time for Off the Hook.
[01:06.090 --> 01:09.030]  I hope that's understood, but didn't it know?
[01:32.770 --> 01:34.030]  And a very good evening to everybody.
[01:34.170 --> 01:35.710]  The program is Off the Hook.
[01:35.810 --> 01:38.370]  Emmanuel Goldstein here with you on this Wednesday evening.
[01:39.110 --> 01:52.210]  We have a bit of a skeleton crew here tonight because of various religious observances and various sicknesses and various court hearings and other things that have kept us away from microphones.
[01:52.210 --> 01:57.990]  But the people who are here have more than enough material to keep you entertained and informed for the next hour or so.
[01:58.870 --> 01:59.850]  Jim is here.
[02:00.070 --> 02:00.290]  Hello.
[02:00.910 --> 02:02.210]  And we have Redbird.
[02:02.370 --> 02:02.670]  Good evening.
[02:02.830 --> 02:03.290]  And Walter.
[02:03.630 --> 02:03.830]  Hey.
[02:04.330 --> 02:07.910]  And also here is Daniel from Italy.
[02:08.470 --> 02:10.670]  It's been quite a week over there, hasn't it?
[02:10.870 --> 02:11.070]  Hi.
[02:11.250 --> 02:11.690]  How are you doing?
[02:12.370 --> 02:14.090]  Berlusconi really doesn't know how to say goodbye, does he?
[02:14.370 --> 02:15.090]  He won't go.
[02:15.250 --> 02:15.690]  He won't go.
[02:15.990 --> 02:18.250]  Okay, that's the prediction here from Off the Hook.
[02:18.270 --> 02:21.050]  He's not going to go, so we'll have to force him out somehow.
[02:21.690 --> 02:22.270]  All right.
[02:22.430 --> 02:24.290]  We're going to be checking in with Bernie S.
[02:24.370 --> 02:25.010]  in a little while, too.
[02:25.190 --> 02:26.050]  You wouldn't believe it.
[02:26.090 --> 02:30.410]  He still has the Hungarian in his system, and he's trying to get it out.
[02:31.850 --> 02:33.230]  But apparently it's very difficult.
[02:33.350 --> 02:37.010]  The Hungarian flu is something that you simply do not want to mess with.
[02:37.350 --> 02:42.110]  But we have all kinds of interesting things going on this week.
[02:43.190 --> 02:44.330]  I just saw this.
[02:45.790 --> 02:50.270]  Before I started walking down here, I was looking at New York 1, and I saw this story.
[02:50.410 --> 02:57.850]  And I could tell by the way people were running around as I was coming down here that there was sort of a panic in the city because people think that this is an issue.
[02:58.130 --> 03:00.030]  Let me just read you a couple of lines of this.
[03:00.110 --> 03:01.850]  And this is word for word what they say on the air, too.
[03:02.790 --> 03:07.750]  Key logging is the latest in a long line of Internet scams designed to steal your private information.
[03:08.830 --> 03:12.170]  Susan Wan has the details in the following New York 1 for you report.
[03:12.390 --> 03:14.590]  And then she starts speaking, and she says...
[03:14.590 --> 03:19.390]  Well, actually, she quotes an Internet user as saying, They say to the extent that you can use a wired network, it's best to do so.
[03:19.390 --> 03:22.530]  If you need to use wireless, use it as a last resort.
[03:22.790 --> 03:25.310]  That's according to Internet user Andy Blumenstock.
[03:25.890 --> 03:34.590]  A request from work that Andy Blumenstock abides by to avoid the ever-increasing online scams to steal private information.
[03:34.590 --> 03:40.150]  But as users, like Blumenstock, become more savvy, so do scam artists.
[03:40.350 --> 03:45.750]  We've all heard about phishing, emails falsely sent from financial institutions asking for account information.
[03:45.770 --> 03:50.130]  But now, there's a new insidious scam called key logging.
[03:50.350 --> 03:51.850]  It's about as new as the hills.
[03:52.090 --> 03:56.390]  That steals people's private information without their knowledge.
[03:56.970 --> 04:09.690]  You might click onto a link or download an attachment on your computer, and unbeknownst to you, software has been downloaded onto your computer that allows the hackers to follow and retrieve every single keystroke you make.
[04:09.910 --> 04:17.290]  And, in that way, they find out what your password is, your username, personal, and financial account information.
[04:17.290 --> 04:20.950]  Those are the words of Barbara Anthony, Regional Director of the Federal Trade Commission.
[04:21.050 --> 04:25.690]  I'm going to stop right there because, first of all, I take offense at this being a hacker issue.
[04:25.690 --> 04:30.970]  Second of all, why are these people implying that wireless connections are the weak point?
[04:31.130 --> 04:41.130]  Well, I thought that was pretty funny because, well, there's a lot of stupid things in this article, but one of the stupid ones is associating wireless networks with this activity.
[04:41.670 --> 04:50.770]  And traffic can be sniffed, maybe not as easily, but if you have access to the network, it can be sniffed just the same way that you can sniff wireless traffic.
[04:50.770 --> 04:55.510]  And this is in no way associated with keylogging, which is a totally different issue entirely.
[04:55.950 --> 04:59.670]  To install a keylogger onto somebody's machine, you have to download an application to that machine.
[04:59.810 --> 05:08.110]  Now, if you're dumb enough to just willy-nilly download anything that comes out, comes sent to you via email or what have you, okay, something could be installed.
[05:08.230 --> 05:11.190]  But that doesn't matter if you're wireless or plugged into a wall.
[05:11.450 --> 05:16.750]  And the other issue here with the wireless networks is, they're perfectly safe if you learn how to secure them.
[05:16.750 --> 05:24.050]  And that's, you know, people like to leave their networks open and not use encryption and all this other stuff that allows people to very easily sniff wireless traffic.
[05:24.210 --> 05:25.550]  And that's when it becomes an issue.
[05:25.730 --> 05:27.170]  Okay, so sniffing wireless traffic.
[05:27.290 --> 05:33.650]  If I'm sitting on a laptop, I'm in a cafe someplace, and I'm hopping onto a wireless network of my choosing.
[05:33.650 --> 05:35.410]  Could be something nearby.
[05:35.410 --> 05:37.310]  Could be somebody in an apartment someplace.
[05:37.570 --> 05:37.950]  Doesn't matter.
[05:38.150 --> 05:40.570]  Could be any wireless network that I can get a signal for.
[05:40.570 --> 05:41.730]  I hop onto that.
[05:41.870 --> 05:46.850]  I use SSH, which is a secure shell, basically uses encryption from one end to the other.
[05:47.310 --> 05:50.630]  Using that, is there any way somebody can sniff my traffic?
[05:50.830 --> 05:54.190]  If you're using SSH properly, no, it's very secure.
[05:54.370 --> 05:59.470]  If you have, you know, the fingerprints of the machines you're connected to stored on your local machine, then it's secure.
[05:59.650 --> 06:02.250]  There's the possibility always of a man-in-the-middle attack.
[06:02.410 --> 06:07.090]  But if you know, like I said, the keys of the machines you're connecting to, or the fingerprints, that is.
[06:07.090 --> 06:11.910]  Now, a man-in-the-middle attack would basically spliff the machine that you're trying to connect to.
[06:12.030 --> 06:12.210]  Right.
[06:12.330 --> 06:14.890]  And you would log in thinking that you were logging into that machine.
[06:15.070 --> 06:17.050]  And then it basically forwards the traffic to the...
[06:17.050 --> 06:24.390]  So you can actually, you know, get a shell on the machine that you're actually connecting to, but all the traffic is going through a third party, and they can see it in clear text.
[06:24.470 --> 06:25.310]  But you get warned.
[06:25.630 --> 06:29.730]  SSH clients will warn you that this is happening, that the fingerprint doesn't match.
[06:29.830 --> 06:30.170]  Exactly.
[06:30.330 --> 06:33.030]  Unless you haven't connected to that machine from that machine.
[06:33.390 --> 06:33.690]  Okay.
[06:33.690 --> 06:38.590]  Unless you haven't connected to the remote host from the local machine and you didn't have that fingerprint stored.
[06:38.670 --> 06:42.450]  Now, let's say there's a product that I really want to buy on Amazon or something like that.
[06:43.070 --> 06:46.670]  Is it safe for me to do that on a wireless connection and standing in the middle of the street?
[06:46.930 --> 06:51.230]  If it's standing in the middle of the street, I think it is because you're using SSL.
[06:51.430 --> 06:53.490]  If you're using SSL, it should be perfectly fine.
[06:53.590 --> 06:55.610]  But you don't have a choice if you're making an online transaction.
[06:56.490 --> 06:59.150]  Well, there are some places that still don't use it, but yeah.
[06:59.150 --> 07:00.510]  Well, we should name those places.
[07:00.650 --> 07:04.390]  Places that are completely insecure where the little padlock thing is unlocked on your browser.
[07:04.530 --> 07:06.930]  Do not use those and put your credit card information.
[07:06.930 --> 07:10.770]  Do not put your credit card information in an email because that goes out in clear text.
[07:11.470 --> 07:19.550]  You know, it just annoys me when stories like this get fed to the masses and people run around thinking that hooking up to a wireless network is what the danger is.
[07:19.690 --> 07:24.630]  And I think that's something that the cable companies and the phone companies like to spread around because they want you to pay.
[07:24.830 --> 07:26.430]  They want you to pay for every connection you make.
[07:26.430 --> 07:32.010]  And the way wireless connections are working now, anybody can just sort of sit down and there's a signal.
[07:32.270 --> 07:36.450]  Well, literally every connection that's made goes through several hops and routers and all that.
[07:36.550 --> 07:41.090]  And so at any point along the line, you know, there's a potential weakness for someone who wants to sniff traffic.
[07:41.210 --> 07:45.810]  And so, you know, the wireless network is certainly a weak point, but it's not the only weak point.
[07:45.870 --> 07:52.410]  And so you should really educate the people as far as encryption and securing their traffic instead of saying, no, this is a bad technology.
[07:52.490 --> 07:52.950]  Don't use it.
[07:52.950 --> 07:53.730]  All right.
[07:53.750 --> 07:58.390]  A few weeks ago, we had a call from somebody who got a larger phone bill than they expected.
[07:58.830 --> 08:01.630]  I don't think it compares to what this poor guy got.
[08:01.810 --> 08:02.730]  You've probably heard about this.
[08:04.490 --> 08:09.870]  This guy in Malaysia, he nearly fainted when he received a phone bill for, are you ready for this?
[08:11.250 --> 08:12.090]  $218 trillion.
[08:13.570 --> 08:15.610]  Would you faint or I would kind of crack up?
[08:15.750 --> 08:18.570]  Well, I mean, is there that much money in the world?
[08:18.790 --> 08:19.270]  I'm not sure.
[08:19.410 --> 08:20.010]  I don't think there is.
[08:20.330 --> 08:20.990]  I don't...
[08:20.990 --> 08:21.910]  That's unbelievable.
[08:22.510 --> 08:24.190]  $218 trillion phone bill.
[08:24.350 --> 08:25.590]  How much money is there in the world?
[08:25.690 --> 08:27.330]  Can someone count as like a census of money?
[08:27.330 --> 08:29.510]  Well, it depends on how you define money, but to give a...
[08:29.510 --> 08:33.630]  If everybody just put all the cash in their pockets and bank accounts and dumped it onto the street.
[08:33.770 --> 08:34.550]  Cash-wise, no.
[08:34.750 --> 08:34.930]  Really?
[08:34.930 --> 08:45.590]  The annual gross domestic product of the United States, every good and service that is produced in the United States, is only $1 trillion.
[08:45.730 --> 08:47.190]  Okay, but like what about my net worth?
[08:47.190 --> 08:48.130]  That's got to be worth something.
[08:48.310 --> 08:49.370]  But you're...
[08:49.370 --> 08:50.630]  Get that expression off your face.
[08:50.630 --> 08:51.470]  This is still apples and oranges.
[08:51.710 --> 08:54.910]  This is everything that you bought, everything any of us bought.
[08:55.350 --> 08:56.810]  Muhammad Ali just sold his face.
[08:57.410 --> 08:58.050]  You know what I mean?
[08:58.050 --> 08:58.650]  That includes that.
[08:58.870 --> 09:04.590]  Any transaction that occurred in the United States over the past year amounts up to about $1 trillion.
[09:05.090 --> 09:07.430]  And so there are 168 countries.
[09:07.430 --> 09:11.730]  If they're all as big an economy as we are, it's still not that big.
[09:12.270 --> 09:13.430]  So this guy's in trouble.
[09:13.750 --> 09:16.970]  Because there's no way he can raise the money because money doesn't even exist.
[09:17.190 --> 09:18.750]  He'd have to pay over time.
[09:18.970 --> 09:26.630]  You know, say, if he owned everything in the world and was everyone in the world, and he paid, say, 10% a year, it would take him...
[09:27.170 --> 09:27.910]  An eternity.
[09:28.110 --> 09:28.490]  Maybe two.
[09:29.730 --> 09:31.690]  No, it would take him about 15, 20 years.
[09:32.210 --> 09:33.070]  You're kidding, really?
[09:33.070 --> 09:42.450]  If he owned, if he was everyone in the world and owned everything in the world and spent everything from here on in only on the phone bill, it would take him 15, 20 years.
[09:42.450 --> 09:45.670]  Well, still, that's by far the most optimistic outlook I've seen on this whole...
[09:45.670 --> 09:48.670]  You might want to give him a call, except I think he's probably afraid of phones at this point.
[09:49.310 --> 09:52.910]  Anyway, he has up to 10 days to pay up or face prosecution.
[09:55.690 --> 09:56.410]  Yahya Wahab.
[09:56.510 --> 09:57.710]  This is not a laughing matter, Jim.
[09:57.890 --> 09:59.030]  This is a very serious thing.
[09:59.030 --> 10:03.350]  If you're in for $218 trillion, you've got some problems, all right?
[10:03.350 --> 10:04.510]  I don't know who this guy called.
[10:05.890 --> 10:10.470]  Yahya Wahab said he disconnected his late father's phone in January.
[10:10.610 --> 10:13.110]  Apparently, his dad is making calls from beyond.
[10:13.590 --> 10:14.510]  That's why it costs him.
[10:14.550 --> 10:15.210]  That would explain it, yeah.
[10:15.210 --> 10:16.730]  Yahya, I think 900 numbers are expensive.
[10:17.450 --> 10:21.930]  He settled the 84 ringgit, which translates to $23.
[10:22.950 --> 10:24.130]  That's what the bill was.
[10:24.490 --> 10:30.250]  But Telecom Malaysia later sent him a bill for...
[10:30.250 --> 10:31.470]  Well, this goes...
[10:31.470 --> 10:32.430]  There's so many comments in it.
[10:32.490 --> 10:34.190]  I'm not quite sure what it should be called.
[10:34.290 --> 10:35.430]  But basically, it's $218 trillion.
[10:36.250 --> 10:45.410]  For recent telephone calls, along with orders to settle within 10 days or face legal proceedings, it wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake or if...
[10:45.410 --> 10:47.490]  This is the dumbest sentence I think I might have ever read.
[10:47.610 --> 10:53.210]  It wasn't clear whether the bill was a mistake or if Yahya's father's phone line was used illegally after his death.
[10:53.390 --> 10:59.370]  Is there any possible way on earth anybody could use a phone that illegally to rack up that kind of a bill?
[10:59.450 --> 11:00.990]  That's another good question.
[11:01.150 --> 11:03.190]  More money than ever would exist in the world.
[11:03.310 --> 11:04.850]  I can't imagine...
[11:04.850 --> 11:09.690]  Unless every phone call in the world was billed to that and everybody called 900 numbers repeatedly.
[11:10.130 --> 11:10.730]  At the same time.
[11:10.970 --> 11:11.590]  I can't imagine.
[11:11.750 --> 11:15.530]  Unless it was a human prank or error or something, it was probably a software error.
[11:15.790 --> 11:18.670]  It would be really funny to look at the code that generated that number.
[11:18.790 --> 11:31.170]  But if it was used illegally after his death to that amount, that means this company is capable of giving that kind of service, $218 trillion worth of service, to a planet that can never raise that kind of money.
[11:31.230 --> 11:32.150]  What does that say about them?
[11:32.230 --> 11:33.690]  Are they superior beings or something?
[11:33.950 --> 11:40.130]  My favorite website, Risks Digest, actually tried analyzing to see if this was a software error.
[11:40.130 --> 11:41.870]  And they tried floating point.
[11:42.070 --> 11:43.210]  They tried 32-bit.
[11:43.390 --> 11:45.190]  It just doesn't work out either way.
[11:46.310 --> 11:47.210]  Very strange.
[11:47.430 --> 11:51.770]  Government-linked Telecom Malaysia is the country's largest telecommunications company.
[11:51.770 --> 11:52.610]  Now we know why.
[11:52.810 --> 11:54.370]  It's not the way they make their bills.
[11:54.970 --> 12:05.210]  A company official who declined to be identified as she was not authorized to speak to the media, but did it anyway, said Telecom Malaysia was aware of Yai's case and would address it.
[12:05.210 --> 12:10.330]  It would be hard not to be aware of a case of someone owing you $218 trillion.
[12:11.050 --> 12:12.010]  That's unbelievable.
[12:12.870 --> 12:15.210]  Okay, so that's news out of Malaysia.
[12:16.790 --> 12:18.170]  What else is going on?
[12:19.030 --> 12:21.770]  This was an interesting story in Newsday that came out this week.
[12:21.890 --> 12:32.950]  Did you know that cops are able to read license plates of cars that are involved in various crimes with this new mounted scanning system?
[12:33.090 --> 12:33.730]  It's on their roofs.
[12:34.850 --> 12:36.150]  Basically, the story goes like this.
[12:36.190 --> 12:44.850]  Unknown to most Long Islanders, Nassar and Suffolk police have been operating a new device on a handful of their patrol cars that can scan license plates and immediately identify stolen vehicles.
[12:45.070 --> 12:57.010]  The roof-mounted system, also known as a license plate recognition program, scans thousands of plates per shift and sets off an alert to police whenever it detects a stolen vehicle or a car wanted in connection with a crime.
[12:57.530 --> 13:06.770]  Now, it's not too much of a reach to realize that this could be used for anybody without standing tickets or late on their child support or just somebody they feel like harassing today.
[13:06.870 --> 13:08.990]  And that's a big danger there.
[13:09.070 --> 13:12.150]  But I think the technology has been around for a while to be able to do this.
[13:12.290 --> 13:15.210]  I mean, it's standard OCR stuff and license plates are usually very high contrast.
[13:15.230 --> 13:22.510]  So if you take a picture of it and even run it through any kind of commercial OCR software, it should probably be able to recognize the license plate with pretty high accuracy.
[13:22.710 --> 13:24.370]  I bet you can even make one of these things if you wanted to.
[13:24.450 --> 13:26.890]  I mean, I was aware of these things at Bridge and Tunnel Crossing.
[13:27.010 --> 13:31.370]  You know, when you go through toll booths because you have to sort of stop when you're leaving a parking lot at the airport, okay.
[13:31.650 --> 13:33.810]  But this is a moving car, a moving car.
[13:33.870 --> 13:36.650]  And I don't know what the distance is that it can actually read these things.
[13:36.670 --> 13:39.950]  But it looks like a little webcam that's on top of the patrol car.
[13:39.950 --> 13:41.270]  I mean, and that's really all you would need.
[13:41.570 --> 13:45.350]  I mean, if it's a high enough resolution webcam, you could probably get some pretty good distance out of it.
[13:45.410 --> 13:47.750]  Like I said, the license plates are generally pretty high contrast.
[13:47.770 --> 13:54.690]  And if you're using a good OCR software recognition package, you know, it wouldn't be a problem.
[13:57.010 --> 13:59.830]  You can purchase one of these devices for $26,000.
[14:01.390 --> 14:06.090]  According to Chief James Russo, he says, it's like having 10 cops out there looking for stolen cars.
[14:07.110 --> 14:14.210]  I can scan 8,000 to 10,000 plates during an officer's eight-hour shift and an alarm sounds if a plate is listed in the state's database.
[14:15.370 --> 14:16.590]  Basically, they're infrared cameras.
[14:16.710 --> 14:18.350]  They work like supermarket scanners.
[14:18.530 --> 14:24.150]  They're more widely used in Europe, but they're developing a following in this country as Aurelian needs increase.
[14:25.650 --> 14:28.350]  And this is, I think, a Motorola system.
[14:29.290 --> 14:34.710]  I'll hand you the diagrams of it and maybe we can purchase one with the proceeds from the phone bills that we send out.
[14:35.070 --> 14:36.110]  Is this for cars?
[14:36.290 --> 14:38.290]  Are these for like stopped cops on the side of the road?
[14:38.290 --> 14:39.030]  No, they're for moving cops.
[14:39.190 --> 14:39.530]  For moving cops.
[14:39.550 --> 14:41.690]  Moving cops, because I think most of the cops are moving.
[14:41.850 --> 14:42.650]  They're not just stopped.
[14:43.210 --> 14:44.290]  Or they could be sleeping.
[14:44.450 --> 14:44.870]  They could be sleeping.
[14:44.870 --> 14:47.190]  They could be sleeping, but then you have to pass them.
[14:47.690 --> 14:49.190]  I guess it works both ways.
[14:49.410 --> 14:50.870]  No, they could be sleeping and driving.
[14:51.350 --> 14:51.930]  They could be sleeping.
[14:52.030 --> 14:54.590]  But the point is, they don't even have to have a cop car.
[14:54.870 --> 14:56.250]  What do they need the cop car for?
[14:56.270 --> 14:59.950]  They could stick this on a tree, you know, and just everybody passing by.
[15:00.070 --> 15:02.690]  Well, I'm sure EasyPass has a technology like this too.
[15:02.790 --> 15:04.230]  They send out a lot of automated tickets.
[15:04.290 --> 15:04.950]  And that's another thing.
[15:04.950 --> 15:09.490]  If EasyPass has this technology, why do you have to slow down to five miles an hour to go through the toll booth?
[15:09.530 --> 15:10.550]  You don't have to anymore.
[15:10.570 --> 15:11.590]  There's a lot of express lanes.
[15:11.610 --> 15:14.210]  Well, try zipping through there at 55 miles an hour and you'll have...
[15:14.210 --> 15:14.990]  55 is no problem.
[15:15.090 --> 15:18.670]  You'll have a fleet of cops with all sorts of devices chasing you.
[15:18.770 --> 15:19.150]  You will.
[15:19.230 --> 15:19.750]  No, that's not true.
[15:19.890 --> 15:20.270]  It is true.
[15:20.270 --> 15:21.230]  They have express lanes for this.
[15:21.250 --> 15:22.470]  You're talking about through the booths.
[15:22.470 --> 15:23.730]  Well, you're talking about New Jersey.
[15:23.730 --> 15:24.410]  That's a different world.
[15:24.450 --> 15:27.270]  I'm talking about New York where you have to slow down to five miles an hour.
[15:27.430 --> 15:28.710]  But yeah, the technology exists.
[15:29.290 --> 15:30.150]  Yeah, the technology exists.
[15:30.450 --> 15:31.830]  And you won't need toll booths.
[15:31.890 --> 15:33.290]  You won't even know when you're paying.
[15:33.430 --> 15:34.150]  It'll just happen.
[15:35.690 --> 15:36.430]  Pretty unbelievable.
[15:37.230 --> 15:38.970]  Okay, what else is going on here?
[15:39.150 --> 15:51.330]  A former AT&T technician said last Thursday that the company cooperated with the National Security Agency in 2003 to install equipment capable of vacuum cleaner surveillance of email messages and other internet traffic.
[15:51.490 --> 15:52.530]  Vacuum cleaner surveillance.
[15:52.670 --> 15:53.330]  I like that phrase.
[15:53.530 --> 16:07.010]  A statement by the technician, Mark Klein, and several company documents he saved after retiring in 2004 were filed last Wednesday in a class action suit against AT&T by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
[16:07.690 --> 16:13.090]  The documents provided were filed under seal because of concerns about disclosing proprietary information.
[16:13.810 --> 16:24.830]  His documents, some of which he had provided to the New York Times, describe a room at the AT&T internet and telephone hub in San Francisco that contained a piece of equipment that could sift through large volumes of internet traffic.
[16:25.450 --> 16:25.930]  Wow.
[16:26.450 --> 16:27.250]  It's amazing.
[16:27.370 --> 16:30.350]  The monitoring that is going on out there.
[16:30.370 --> 16:31.830]  It just gets better and better, doesn't it?
[16:34.110 --> 16:35.090]  A U.S.
[16:35.250 --> 16:44.690]  maker of network management systems said last Wednesday it received an order from Shanghai Telecom Company for a system that can detect and block telephone calls placed over the internet.
[16:45.430 --> 16:46.550]  Shanghai Telecom.
[16:46.710 --> 16:48.510]  They have 6.2 million landlines.
[16:48.710 --> 16:59.590]  They plan to use Mountain View, California-based Naris, Inc.'s system to improve its ability to block unauthorized internet calls that connect to its phone system, bypassing its toll structure.
[16:59.590 --> 17:01.310]  Unauthorized internet calls.
[17:01.510 --> 17:02.970]  I wonder what that's going to mean.
[17:03.670 --> 17:12.150]  Voice over internet is a very disruptive technology that's causing phone companies around the world to rethink their pricing structures and the way they do business.
[17:12.950 --> 17:14.850]  That's according to CBS News.
[17:16.510 --> 17:17.270]  I'm serious.
[17:17.390 --> 17:18.430]  I'm reading this from a CBS story.
[17:18.570 --> 17:22.410]  CBS News technology analyst Larry Maggett said that.
[17:23.210 --> 17:24.050]  Not Maggett.
[17:24.150 --> 17:25.690]  M-A-G-G-I-D is his name.
[17:26.250 --> 17:37.310]  Current American law encourages this competition, but there are a number of countries whose politicians will use whatever means are necessary to protect their state-owned telephone companies, you know, the kind that bring in trillions of dollars.
[17:37.450 --> 17:42.370]  I think a lot of the times the phone company is getting money for your internet connection anyway and whatever.
[17:42.590 --> 17:45.570]  I mean, you know, now it's moving over to cable companies and stuff like that as well.
[17:45.690 --> 17:48.650]  But, I mean, most people are still paying for their connectivity.
[17:48.650 --> 17:53.010]  They should be able to use the data bandwidth that they have for whatever services they want.
[17:53.990 --> 18:05.170]  Why, oh why, do I believe Shanghai Telephone is being disingenuous and lying through their teeth and saying, oh, it's because we want to make sure that they use the real phone and pay us.
[18:05.450 --> 18:13.670]  It's because they don't want the Chinese people to get in conversation with anybody who's going to tell them anything but the official line.
[18:13.810 --> 18:14.750]  I don't know about that.
[18:14.770 --> 18:17.930]  I think they've kind of realized now that that's going to be impossible to do.
[18:18.050 --> 18:20.030]  Larry Maggett actually would have something to say to you about that.
[18:20.030 --> 18:32.490]  He'd say, before anyone gets too sanctimonious about the Chinese efforts to block internet phone calls, it's important to remember that for most of the 20th century, our own telephone system was a government-regulated monopoly with sanctions against anyone who dared to compete.
[18:33.270 --> 18:39.770]  So, in other words, rather than say that the Chinese government is evil, we shouldn't because the U.S.
[18:39.870 --> 18:42.950]  government used to be evil and allow the phone company a monopoly.
[18:43.050 --> 18:45.010]  That is even more nonsensical.
[18:45.010 --> 18:53.230]  I think this has nothing to do with the Chinese government as much as it has to do with the basic premise of a phone company wanting to get money for phone calls.
[18:53.630 --> 18:54.670]  Okay, believe what you like.
[18:54.830 --> 18:56.830]  Well, I mean, that's been my experience.
[18:57.010 --> 19:01.890]  Phone companies tend to not like people doing things for free that they charge lots of money for.
[19:02.570 --> 19:03.210]  But we'll see.
[19:03.270 --> 19:11.990]  You know, if this catches on in Western countries, I mean, the device is being made here in the United States, then I think that'll be our answer right there.
[19:13.110 --> 19:14.990]  Okay, here's a website somebody sent us.
[19:14.990 --> 19:16.510]  Do you like living in a democracy?
[19:16.810 --> 19:20.030]  Well, enjoy it while you can, because it might not last much longer if the U.K.
[19:20.410 --> 19:21.150]  government gets their way.
[19:21.670 --> 19:24.910]  It's referred to as a nightmare plot by the Times of London.
[19:25.290 --> 19:34.710]  Unnoticed by the majority, the government is quietly slipping through legislation that is being called the Abolition of Parliament Bill, the Totalitarianism Bill, and other equally scary names.
[19:35.370 --> 19:39.090]  The Guardian referred to it as truly how democracy is extinguished.
[19:39.230 --> 19:41.690]  The Daily Mail said almost unfettered power.
[19:42.170 --> 19:43.030]  What is this?
[19:43.030 --> 19:53.330]  Its real name is the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill, and it threatens to bypass normal parliamentary controls and make it almost impossible to stop government ministers from enacting any law they like.
[19:53.690 --> 19:57.710]  Well, we could go on for quite a while because there's all sorts of information on this website.
[19:57.710 --> 20:03.790]  You can just go to the website and read it for yourself, www.saveparliament.org.uk.
[20:04.270 --> 20:05.730]  Saveparliament.org.uk.
[20:05.970 --> 20:07.650]  Sounds similar to our Patriot Act.
[20:07.810 --> 20:08.410]  Yeah, it does.
[20:08.410 --> 20:10.570]  It does, and it's happening all over the place.
[20:11.050 --> 20:15.890]  And, you know, a number of people have been writing in to say various things about the Patriot Act.
[20:16.150 --> 20:18.330]  In fact, here's a letter right here.
[20:19.170 --> 20:19.950]  I love your show.
[20:20.030 --> 20:20.810]  I try to listen every week.
[20:20.910 --> 20:23.330]  But lately, you have been talking about the USA Patriot Act.
[20:23.450 --> 20:24.550]  Actually, there's no but in front of that.
[20:25.130 --> 20:27.870]  And lately, you have been talking about the USA Patriot Act.
[20:28.150 --> 20:29.470]  Here's my opinion on the subject.
[20:29.630 --> 20:31.470]  I think the Patriot Act should be copyrighted.
[20:31.610 --> 20:37.290]  Every business from Czech cashier, the bus company, uses the Patriot Act as one of their rules that doesn't apply.
[20:37.290 --> 20:44.630]  For example, at a Czech cashier in Albany, they had a notice saying, the Patriot Act does not allow us to cash double-endorsed checks.
[20:45.210 --> 20:49.090]  I went to another Czech cashier and had no problem cashing a double-endorsed check.
[20:49.490 --> 20:58.850]  I was in a supermarket in New York City, and they had a notice to customers by the cash registers saying that the Patriot Act does not allow them to sell more than two packages of a certain medicine.
[20:59.210 --> 21:05.090]  I went to the pharmacy next door and to a supermarket in another neighborhood and had no problem getting more than two packages.
[21:05.090 --> 21:10.070]  So you see how people are using the Patriot Act to make people believe things that are not true.
[21:10.370 --> 21:12.250]  If more people listen to your show, they would know that.
[21:12.550 --> 21:14.890]  People just don't bother to ask and inquire.
[21:15.290 --> 21:15.950]  Thanks for your show.
[21:16.050 --> 21:16.630]  I will be at Hope.
[21:16.970 --> 21:17.890]  Charlie from Astoria.
[21:18.050 --> 21:18.830]  Thank you for writing in.
[21:18.950 --> 21:23.490]  It's weird because in one of those cases, the company was actually directing business away from itself.
[21:23.890 --> 21:25.310]  I don't understand the concept.
[21:25.450 --> 21:26.610]  But you can do that.
[21:26.690 --> 21:29.470]  You can say because of the Patriot Act, we can't do this anymore.
[21:29.690 --> 21:30.570]  It's just, you know, it's it.
[21:30.630 --> 21:31.590]  Who's read the Patriot Act?
[21:31.690 --> 21:32.470]  Nobody has read it.
[21:32.530 --> 21:34.610]  The senators and congressmen have not read it.
[21:34.610 --> 21:36.010]  So nobody knows what's in it.
[21:36.350 --> 21:40.190]  I'd like to ask Charlie to send us what supermarket that was.
[21:40.270 --> 21:47.570]  Because what he's referring to, I'm 100% sure, is sales of Sudafed, Sudafedrine.
[21:47.790 --> 21:48.970]  Oh, we're going into that again.
[21:49.030 --> 21:57.270]  No, but the point is this, that it's not the Patriot Act that has restricted it and in many cases required you to give ID when you buy it.
[21:57.270 --> 22:07.670]  It's another act whose name escapes me, but it's explicitly to combat the spread of methamphetamines, which can be made from Sudafed and similar substances.
[22:07.970 --> 22:09.610]  So I'm really curious.
[22:09.610 --> 22:16.610]  I would like to, you know, find out what supermarket that is, contact them, and see why they're using the Patriot Act as a catch-all.
[22:16.770 --> 22:19.110]  Do they get into arguments over the drug act?
[22:19.550 --> 22:28.310]  And is it easier to appeal to people's patriotism rather than to their dislike or fear of drug dealers and drug abuse?
[22:28.430 --> 22:29.670]  I'm very curious.
[22:30.150 --> 22:31.710]  We have to do something with this, though.
[22:31.830 --> 22:44.750]  We have to do something either for the conference coming up or on our internet store or in 2600 or something where we say, because of the Patriot Act, we can no longer accept extra large orders for T-shirts or something crazy like that and just see how many people believe it.
[22:44.850 --> 22:49.870]  How about a T-shirt that says, because of the Patriot Act, you are no longer allowed to read the message on this T-shirt?
[22:51.030 --> 22:55.230]  But then people's heads would explode with the logic error.
[22:55.550 --> 22:57.550]  You used to like seeing that.
[22:57.750 --> 22:58.490]  You've changed.
[22:58.970 --> 22:59.270]  Yeah.
[22:59.370 --> 23:01.730]  You see a few heads explode, it sort of loses its novelty.
[23:02.390 --> 23:05.370]  Here's something from Bernie S., who we're going to be contacting fairly soon.
[23:06.170 --> 23:20.230]  He lets us know today that the United States has fallen to 19th overall in broadband penetration worldwide and is in danger of being passed by Slovenia in early 2007.
[23:20.570 --> 23:24.810]  China is going to surpass us in broadband connections in late 2006.
[23:25.590 --> 23:29.610]  All sorts of countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, Iceland.
[23:30.030 --> 23:30.890]  What an embarrassment.
[23:31.230 --> 23:35.650]  Switzerland, Canada, Korea, I assume that's South Korea, are ahead of us.
[23:36.150 --> 23:37.070]  Don't know about Italy.
[23:37.490 --> 23:38.130]  I don't know.
[23:38.450 --> 23:42.850]  I think Mike made a good comment about this, who's not here as well.
[23:43.490 --> 23:53.130]  As far as the statistics not really making too much sense, they didn't take into account the household size and all this other stuff that, you know, really matters for...
[23:53.130 --> 23:53.610]  How was it done?
[23:53.950 --> 23:55.090]  I don't know how it's done.
[23:55.330 --> 23:56.970]  Was it per 100 people or something like that?
[23:56.970 --> 23:58.310]  Per 100 people, something like that.
[23:58.850 --> 24:01.510]  But it wasn't the most logical way to do it.
[24:01.730 --> 24:03.470]  Well, okay, but here's the thing.
[24:03.630 --> 24:15.070]  If we were number 15 last year using the same criteria, you know, as far as one per 100 households or whatever, even if it's flawed logic, it still shows that we're falling using the same flawed logic.
[24:15.190 --> 24:19.270]  Maybe if they use it in a different way, it would show the same thing or something completely different.
[24:19.590 --> 24:19.950]  Maybe.
[24:20.070 --> 24:20.390]  I don't know.
[24:20.750 --> 24:24.230]  All I know is our broadband connection sucks compared to the rest of the world.
[24:24.310 --> 24:24.370]  Yeah.
[24:24.550 --> 24:26.770]  Well, you don't have to really look into articles like this.
[24:26.770 --> 24:27.670]  I think this sort of backs that up.
[24:27.670 --> 24:29.990]  So I agree with the overall conclusion.
[24:30.250 --> 24:30.570]  Okay.
[24:30.690 --> 24:32.290]  There's something I'd really like to demonstrate here.
[24:32.370 --> 24:36.510]  This is something really kind of neat that I discovered over the weekend.
[24:37.150 --> 24:39.330]  And I've been having a great time playing with it.
[24:39.550 --> 24:45.890]  It's going to involve me dialing something on the air and turning down your microphones because otherwise there'll be all kinds of confusion.
[24:46.970 --> 24:48.270]  And we don't like confusion on the air.
[24:48.370 --> 24:48.850]  Do we have a dial tone?
[24:49.050 --> 24:49.290]  Okay.
[24:49.570 --> 24:50.610]  I'm going to dial this number.
[24:57.690 --> 24:59.270]  Those tones aren't going over the air, are they?
[24:59.350 --> 25:00.810]  I mean, I'd hate for people to know that number.
[25:01.310 --> 25:02.070]  That would be horrible.
[25:03.790 --> 25:04.130]  Welcome.
[25:04.550 --> 25:05.930]  Please enter your PIN number.
[25:07.030 --> 25:07.370]  Okay.
[25:07.430 --> 25:08.510]  I'm going to enter the PIN number.
[25:09.530 --> 25:12.450]  And I'll turn the volume up for that because I don't mind.
[25:12.570 --> 25:14.390]  Oops, I planted the wrong PIN number.
[25:14.950 --> 25:15.170]  Okay.
[25:15.290 --> 25:16.390]  Right away, there's a mistake.
[25:16.730 --> 25:17.850]  So let me hit a pound sign.
[25:18.050 --> 25:19.190]  The PIN entered is invalid.
[25:19.250 --> 25:19.550]  I know.
[25:19.650 --> 25:19.830]  I know.
[25:19.870 --> 25:21.150]  Please enter your PIN number.
[25:21.150 --> 25:21.410]  Okay.
[25:21.490 --> 25:23.590]  Let's try and calm down and we'll get this right.
[25:25.450 --> 25:26.890]  And Jim, don't look at my PIN number.
[25:30.690 --> 25:31.090]  Okay.
[25:31.750 --> 25:37.130]  Your current available balance is $8.100.
[25:38.190 --> 25:40.170]  To place the call, press 1.
[25:40.350 --> 25:40.550]  All right.
[25:40.650 --> 25:42.990]  To listen to your recorded calls, press 2.
[25:43.210 --> 25:45.950]  To set your default preferences, press 3.
[25:46.210 --> 25:48.250]  For customer service, press 9.
[25:48.570 --> 25:48.810]  Okay.
[25:48.870 --> 25:49.790]  It has a bizarre way of counting.
[25:49.830 --> 25:50.250]  We know that.
[25:50.550 --> 25:51.030]  Let's make a call.
[25:51.130 --> 25:53.570]  Please enter the 10-digit phone number you wish to call.
[25:53.970 --> 25:54.410]  Okay.
[26:05.860 --> 26:09.860]  Please enter the 10-digit phone number you wish to appear on the caller ID.
[26:10.560 --> 26:11.000]  Okay.
[26:11.020 --> 26:11.560]  That's always fun.
[26:11.600 --> 26:12.540]  We'll just make it all fives.
[26:21.240 --> 26:25.540]  You have 50 or minutes to complete this call.
[26:25.700 --> 26:28.020]  To use your normal voice, press 1.
[26:28.100 --> 26:31.320]  To change your voice to sound like a woman, press 2.
[26:31.560 --> 26:34.500]  To change your voice to sound like a man, press 3.
[26:34.760 --> 26:37.780]  To hear a sample of your voice changed, press 4.
[26:38.060 --> 26:38.480]  All right.
[26:38.520 --> 26:39.980]  In case this doesn't work, we're going to use 4.
[26:40.160 --> 26:45.560]  To hear a sample of the voice changer, record a short sentence after the tone followed by the pound sign.
[26:46.480 --> 26:48.980]  This is me talking in my normal voice.
[26:49.520 --> 26:52.160]  The following is a sample of a woman's voice.
[26:52.700 --> 26:55.120]  This is me talking in my normal voice.
[26:55.300 --> 26:57.620]  The following is a sample of a man's voice.
[26:58.040 --> 27:00.480]  This is me talking in my normal voice.
[27:00.740 --> 27:03.040]  To use your normal voice, press 1.
[27:03.320 --> 27:06.300]  To change your voice to sound like a woman, press 2.
[27:06.540 --> 27:08.300]  I think I want to sound like a man.
[27:08.500 --> 27:09.460]  To change your voice to sound like a man, press 3.
[27:09.980 --> 27:12.600]  To hear it, to record this call, press 1 now.
[27:12.680 --> 27:13.420]  And this is also called.
[27:13.460 --> 27:14.280]  Otherwise, press 2.
[27:14.520 --> 27:15.220]  Let's record the call.
[27:18.220 --> 27:25.780]  Okay, now this is where it gets kind of crazy because I've got to pick this up and turn down this microphone.
[27:43.920 --> 27:45.120]  It didn't work for some reason.
[27:46.740 --> 27:48.140]  I'm not quite sure what went wrong there.
[27:48.680 --> 27:50.200]  I picked up and there was a fast busy.
[27:51.440 --> 27:52.920]  I can try it one more time.
[27:53.960 --> 27:55.280]  Actually, we should probably call Bernie.
[27:55.880 --> 27:59.120]  I can try that while he's talking and connect in that way.
[27:59.220 --> 28:00.560]  Why don't you call Bernie from this?
[28:00.760 --> 28:00.840]  Yes.
[28:01.060 --> 28:02.200]  I'd like to call Bernie from this.
[28:03.100 --> 28:03.940]  How would that work?
[28:04.040 --> 28:04.780]  Yeah, I guess I can try that.
[28:04.920 --> 28:05.980]  Let's try it that way.
[28:06.180 --> 28:07.320]  Make yourself sound like a woman.
[28:07.340 --> 28:12.040]  The thing though is he's only gonna hear me sounding crazy and you're gonna hear me sounding regular.
[28:12.360 --> 28:13.180]  It's not gonna be as fun.
[28:13.600 --> 28:13.900]  Okay.
[28:14.040 --> 28:14.480]  That's the thing.
[28:14.540 --> 28:17.020]  If I call into BAI though... Call from a cell phone.
[28:17.180 --> 28:18.240]  Call from a cell phone.
[28:18.360 --> 28:19.000]  That's an idea.
[28:19.260 --> 28:20.580]  Okay, let me try that.
[28:21.720 --> 28:24.100]  Do you have something to talk about while I do this?
[28:24.260 --> 28:25.180]  I have a couple of things.
[28:25.320 --> 28:25.580]  Go ahead, Jim.
[28:26.620 --> 28:32.240]  You always know that something is hitting the mainstream when it references money.
[28:32.780 --> 28:36.880]  And now it has to do with ads on the web.
[28:37.620 --> 28:46.440]  It used to be that there was a standard rate for actors appearing in commercials and they wouldn't get any more money if the commercial then appeared on the web.
[28:47.040 --> 28:56.480]  And if the commercial started on the web, there was no guarantee of rates with the Acting Guild, Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Actors.
[28:56.900 --> 28:59.360]  But they're negotiating now.
[28:59.600 --> 29:11.760]  So web ads will now have their own scale and become more expensive and you'll be prohibited from using non-union labor on certain sites to put a web ad up.
[29:13.700 --> 29:20.240]  Well, there's a bunch of sites already that require you to watch their ads before whatever sort of content... No, I'm not talking about watching the ads.
[29:20.340 --> 29:23.460]  I'm talking about not using actors that are paid scale.
[29:23.700 --> 29:32.880]  For example, if you have a... for certain ads on television, everybody has to be paid a certain amount if that ad is being shown on a network or whatever.
[29:33.280 --> 29:37.220]  There's no such law or agreement with the unions on the web.
[29:37.360 --> 29:45.720]  Well, you would think that for the advertisements that you're forced to see, you know that you have an audience who's kind of... a lot of news sites do this and whatever.
[29:45.860 --> 29:52.220]  So it might apply to some places, but I assume that other ones already have some sort of fixed rate that they go out.
[29:52.540 --> 29:52.560]  Yeah, yeah.
[29:53.240 --> 30:03.200]  Similarly, the Emmys now have started a category for shows that appear only on handheld devices, telephones, and the web.
[30:04.960 --> 30:07.980]  Okay, well, there's a lot of shows that appear on both.
[30:08.320 --> 30:09.400]  Where would they fall?
[30:09.560 --> 30:16.000]  Well, they would be whatever the main... I hate to say it, the mainstream, the larger watch thing.
[30:16.080 --> 30:21.500]  For example, if it's a show that airs on television and then on the web, it's a TV show.
[30:21.660 --> 30:27.840]  If it airs on the web and on your telephones, it's a telephone show, as strange as that sounds.
[30:28.080 --> 30:41.180]  What is an example of a telephone only show I've never... There's a show based on 24 that takes place between last season and the current season, I believe, that's available only on your telephone.
[30:41.420 --> 30:41.680]  Wow.
[30:42.240 --> 30:43.120]  Well, that's interesting.
[30:44.300 --> 30:45.060]  Let's see.
[30:45.300 --> 30:47.840]  Oh, Iraq war related news.
[30:47.880 --> 30:55.220]  There's millions of pages of non-translated documents that have been confiscated by the U.S.
[30:55.320 --> 30:55.520]  Army.
[30:55.720 --> 31:05.960]  They say 55,000 boxes of papers of captured memos, manuals, reports, confidential messages, videotapes, and audio tapes.
[31:06.320 --> 31:13.060]  And the government, which is notoriously short of Arab translators, is looking for the public for help.
[31:13.480 --> 31:20.820]  And, uh, you can, uh, find these documents, almost all of which are in Arabic at tinyearl.com.
[31:20.940 --> 31:33.560]  That's not where they originally were, but I shortened the earl, uh, to repeat tinyearl.com slash Z O B 9 M as in mother.
[31:34.080 --> 31:41.560]  That's the letter Z, the letter O, the letter B, the number 9, and M, the letter M.
[31:42.780 --> 31:49.240]  Jim, I would prefer if, uh, you didn't talk about this kind of thing because it sounds a little bit controversial.
[31:51.940 --> 31:56.000]  Um, yeah, obviously I was able to make the connection.
[31:56.260 --> 32:00.020]  I'm talking on my cell phone now, sitting right next to you, and I sound crazy.
[32:01.120 --> 32:06.160]  Um, it's kind of hard to have a conversation back and forth cause you hear me next to you.
[32:06.240 --> 32:08.800]  You always sound crazy, but this makes you sound even more crazy.
[32:09.360 --> 32:10.960]  It's very interesting.
[32:11.100 --> 32:11.660]  It works very well.
[32:11.940 --> 32:13.660]  I don't think it works well at all.
[32:13.860 --> 32:18.840]  It's like, it sounds like his pitch has just been brought down a little bit and the woman's voice has just been brought up a little bit.
[32:18.920 --> 32:20.660]  That's a man's voice for one thing.
[32:20.920 --> 32:21.220]  All right.
[32:21.680 --> 32:23.400]  Would you know that it was him if he was calling you?
[32:23.920 --> 32:24.860]  Would you know that was him?
[32:25.060 --> 32:25.680]  Probably, I would.
[32:26.280 --> 32:27.580]  Sound like a woman to you?
[32:27.900 --> 32:28.140]  Yeah.
[32:28.260 --> 32:28.340]  Yeah.
[32:28.500 --> 32:30.360]  So, uh, yeah, I don't think I'd know it was you.
[32:30.440 --> 32:30.720]  That's true.
[32:30.720 --> 32:43.060]  You're hearing him also while he's talking into his cell phone, so... It's a kidnapper's dream, I'm telling you, because, you know, the voice is all crazy, the caller ID is whatever you want it to be, and you can record the phone call to prove that, in fact,
[32:43.100 --> 32:48.720]  they did not meet your demands, did not agree to what you were saying, and it's a great little prank to pull on people.
[32:48.720 --> 32:51.540]  Now, what service is this, and where are your recorded calls available?
[32:51.760 --> 32:55.860]  Do they just play over the phone again, or can you download them from somewhere, or...?
[32:55.860 --> 33:01.260]  Well, the recorded calls are available on the number that you call.
[33:01.400 --> 33:11.140]  When you call the number, and you enter your PIN, one of the options is for you to actually hear your phone calls, and you can store it.
[33:11.200 --> 33:14.040]  This is very confusing for me, too, because I'm hearing myself a half-second later.
[33:14.620 --> 33:21.600]  But, yeah, it's one of the things that you have an option to do, listen to your phone calls and how you freak people out.
[33:21.600 --> 33:31.520]  But it's also a cool thing, though, when you send fake caller ID, you can send whatever number you want, and in most cases, the person's name will also show up on the caller ID box.
[33:31.540 --> 33:39.500]  So you can really freak people out by calling them from their own houses or from other people's cell phones, and they may say things that they wouldn't say ordinarily.
[33:39.860 --> 33:48.420]  And if they do figure out that it's not the person they think it is, or you want them to think it is, they won't know it's you because of the crazy voice that you're using.
[33:48.420 --> 33:49.620]  Pretty cool, huh?
[33:50.080 --> 33:51.940]  That is very... it's kind of cool, yeah.
[33:52.100 --> 33:53.900]  It's a kind of cool application of...
[33:53.900 --> 33:57.840]  Well, I'd imagine you could probably do this with Asterix or something similar.
[33:58.620 --> 34:01.820]  It just makes me wonder, where is this going?
[34:01.960 --> 34:04.900]  First of all, you can make calls that are cheap.
[34:04.940 --> 34:06.960]  You can make calls from almost any place.
[34:07.160 --> 34:11.080]  But now, you can fake the caller ID, you can fake the voice, you can record the call.
[34:11.580 --> 34:14.800]  It seems like there's all sorts of things that you can do now that you weren't able to do before.
[34:14.960 --> 34:15.540]  That's pretty interesting.
[34:16.060 --> 34:17.660]  So what service is this, or are you not going to?
[34:18.420 --> 34:19.300]  This is called SpoofCard.
[34:19.600 --> 34:20.920]  I stumbled upon this.
[34:21.120 --> 34:24.920]  It's basically spoofcard.com.
[34:25.700 --> 34:28.880]  And you can just sign up online and immediately start using it.
[34:28.960 --> 34:30.100]  What's the pricing like?
[34:30.780 --> 34:32.320]  Well, let's put it this way.
[34:32.480 --> 34:35.760]  It was, what, $8.100 I had left when we called in.
[34:35.760 --> 34:39.200]  When I called back the second time, $0.13 had disappeared.
[34:39.400 --> 34:39.600]  Okay.
[34:39.820 --> 34:40.020]  Yeah.
[34:40.160 --> 34:41.940]  And I hadn't really completed the call either.
[34:41.960 --> 34:43.720]  So I think it charged you during the rings.
[34:44.820 --> 34:50.460]  Well, it's not, it's not certainly not the cheapest service for, but for a couple of prank calls or, you know, playing around with your friends.
[34:50.460 --> 34:50.980]  Oh, no, no, no.
[34:51.060 --> 34:51.760]  Don't use this for pranks.
[34:51.840 --> 34:52.980]  Use this for real business.
[34:53.760 --> 34:54.120]  Extortion.
[34:54.440 --> 34:59.060]  Well, for those of us who occasionally delve into the world of extortion and kidnapping, this thing is a boon.
[34:59.060 --> 34:59.520]  It really is.
[34:59.520 --> 35:11.280]  What about that guy that was arrested a couple years back when he called up women incessantly and persuaded them that he was holding their husbands hostage and that they had to strip and pleasure themselves?
[35:12.740 --> 35:13.600]  What about him?
[35:14.040 --> 35:17.960]  I was saying that if they had used this, it would have been more difficult for him to be caught.
[35:18.240 --> 35:19.420]  Oh, I guess they were caught then.
[35:19.480 --> 35:22.840]  But I wonder what the implications of the Patriot Act on this service is.
[35:24.040 --> 35:31.600]  I bet, I bet, I bet something could be done legally as far as getting the records from this stuff if, if, you know, a lot of illegal activity occurs using the service.
[35:31.760 --> 35:32.780]  Bernie S joins us now.
[35:33.660 --> 35:37.880]  I've been listening to some strange voices on my shortwave radio here in Philadelphia.
[35:39.280 --> 35:42.060]  I hope you're not calling my voice strange.
[35:43.620 --> 35:47.500]  You sound like a Darth Vader.
[35:48.540 --> 35:50.920]  I don't think that's really a fair comparison.
[35:51.400 --> 35:53.320]  The voice of AT&T.
[35:54.240 --> 36:02.360]  I sound like the kind of person who says to leave the package by the mailbox at midnight and to come alone.
[36:04.700 --> 36:05.600]  It's very spooky.
[36:06.780 --> 36:07.720]  It is a little spooky.
[36:07.740 --> 36:09.220]  And I don't want to freak people out too much.
[36:09.680 --> 36:11.660]  But it's just, it's kind of a cool toy to play with.
[36:11.760 --> 36:13.340]  Very difficult to play with, but...
[36:14.300 --> 36:18.280]  If I got a call like that that I wasn't expecting, I would, I would be kind of freaked out.
[36:18.500 --> 36:19.100]  Yeah, yeah.
[36:19.560 --> 36:24.480]  And I imagine there'll be a lot of freaking out going on in the next couple of days as people play with this.
[36:25.140 --> 36:29.460]  Bernie, so we, we hear that you've been, you've been somewhat taken with the Hungarian flu still.
[36:29.820 --> 36:31.020]  Well, I'm not sick anymore.
[36:32.660 --> 36:33.940]  No, no, you're not sick, Bernie.
[36:34.140 --> 36:34.420]  Of course not.
[36:34.440 --> 36:34.940]  It's quite how I sound.
[36:35.040 --> 36:38.140]  No, I'm just, my, my, my voice is, uh, really irritated.
[36:38.300 --> 36:40.500]  Or many listeners may think my voice is irritating.
[36:41.420 --> 36:43.620]  But, um, as long as I don't talk much, I don't cough.
[36:43.860 --> 36:44.140]  Uh-huh.
[36:44.700 --> 36:45.020]  Okay.
[36:45.160 --> 36:47.340]  Well, you know, maybe you should use one of these voice filter things.
[36:47.420 --> 36:50.040]  It might, uh, improve, uh, the sound of your voice.
[36:50.440 --> 36:50.880]  That's right.
[36:50.880 --> 36:54.840]  I could use the option where it's like, to make yourself not sound sick, press four.
[36:55.940 --> 36:58.080]  We have to, we have to write those filters first, but.
[36:58.400 --> 36:58.720]  Yeah.
[36:58.960 --> 37:01.740]  I wonder what it sounds like if you, if you cough into this thing.
[37:05.270 --> 37:05.890]  How'd that sound?
[37:06.020 --> 37:14.330]  Well, I think, I think the, uh, the low frequencies are cut off because it's probably changing the pitch in the cutoff is, I don't know, it doesn't sound like you're coughing very much.
[37:14.850 --> 37:16.770]  Okay, well, I'm going to get rid of this thing because it's starting to annoy me.
[37:16.890 --> 37:21.830]  But before I do, I'm going to turn it up at the same time that I'm talking so you can hear just how confusing it is for me.
[37:22.810 --> 37:24.500]  Yeah, talk closer to the mic of the...
[37:24.500 --> 37:24.910]  Oh, that's right.
[37:25.000 --> 37:26.040]  I'm going to have to talk closer to this.
[37:26.160 --> 37:26.480]  There.
[37:26.830 --> 37:28.120]  You see how confusing that is?
[37:28.410 --> 37:32.140]  And that was going through my head for the last 10 minutes while I was talking on the air.
[37:32.270 --> 37:34.960]  I was also hearing this half a second later in a different voice.
[37:35.250 --> 37:36.430]  Well, we had to hear that too.
[37:36.710 --> 37:37.120]  Well, that's...
[37:37.120 --> 37:38.100]  We had to hear you twice.
[37:38.230 --> 37:38.560]  You know how torturous that is?
[37:38.560 --> 37:39.430]  And you could see me too.
[37:39.450 --> 37:39.930]  I know.
[37:39.960 --> 37:40.270]  Yeah, it was really bad.
[37:40.460 --> 37:40.810]  I know.
[37:41.100 --> 37:42.040]  I'm hanging up now.
[37:43.310 --> 37:43.620]  There.
[37:44.370 --> 37:46.460]  And now the phone's going to make a funny noise.
[37:46.710 --> 37:49.410]  Okay, so, uh, hang on a second while I, uh, figure that out.
[37:49.750 --> 37:51.410]  So, uh, unbelievable.
[37:51.560 --> 37:57.250]  And we'll be taking phone calls in just a moment at, um, 212-209-2900.
[37:57.810 --> 37:59.960]  And Bernie, are you back with us?
[38:00.500 --> 38:02.500]  You didn't hang up on me, so I'm impressed.
[38:02.750 --> 38:04.120]  Yeah, I hung up on the other guy.
[38:05.020 --> 38:08.480]  Okay, uh, so, uh, you had a couple interesting stories for us, I believe.
[38:08.810 --> 38:18.000]  Well, there was some excitement here in Philadelphia on Monday, um, besides the, uh, immigrants, uh, protesting, the, uh, the new immigration, uh, pending laws.
[38:18.000 --> 38:37.330]  Uh, there are a whole bunch of taxi cab, uh, drivers, many of whom probably evidence themselves, protesting a new Philadelphia requirement that all taxi cabs, uh, later this year must be equipped with a GPS tracking device that the, uh, the city will be able to track all the cabs in real time where they are and,
[38:37.330 --> 38:41.560]  uh, can remotely shut off their, their, um, their fare meters.
[38:41.560 --> 38:47.870]  So if, like, they don't pay a parking ticket or something, they can just shut off a meter so that the, the, the taxi cab driver can't, uh, collect any fares.
[38:48.290 --> 38:57.540]  Uh, worse than that, the, uh, part of the system is, uh, to install the credit card readers in all the cabs, which doesn't really exist in Philadelphia, although it's very common in New York, I guess.
[38:58.190 --> 39:09.540]  And, uh, anyone who rides a cab and pays for a credit card, that would create a database with, uh, easily, uh, uh, showing who went where and when.
[39:10.060 --> 39:11.020]  So, um...
[39:11.020 --> 39:17.580]  This is very interesting, Bernie, because in New York, they're supposed to install GPS in all the cabs, and the cabbies here are also up in arms.
[39:18.140 --> 39:27.790]  Is, is it great minds thinking alike at the same time, simultaneous discovery, or is this like, uh, outside pressures, say, secretly because of the Patriot Act or something?
[39:28.040 --> 39:29.330]  It must be because of the Patriot Act.
[39:29.450 --> 39:40.230]  The cabbies in Philly are going to have to pay $18 a month for this privilege of having their, uh, their meters, uh, uh, shut off remotely and, uh, have their whereabouts tracked at any given moment.
[39:41.040 --> 39:44.230]  So, um, personally, uh, if I'm riding a cab in Philly, I'm going to be paying cash.
[39:44.710 --> 39:46.930]  But, um, I just don't like the idea of everything being tracked.
[39:47.040 --> 40:01.520]  Now, the interesting point this brings up, though, is if the state can, can compel a licensee, in this case, a cab, a medallion licensee, to install GPS tracking equipment in their vehicle, what's to prevent the state from compelling, uh, just individual,
[40:02.040 --> 40:07.660]  uh, people who have their vehicles registered, you know, just individuals, from doing the same thing.
[40:07.660 --> 40:14.850]  I foresee, uh, more and more circumstances where individuals, for whatever reasons, are required to install this stuff in their cars.
[40:14.850 --> 40:17.100]  Well, I can guarantee you that it's going to happen on rental cars.
[40:17.560 --> 40:18.020]  Oh, yeah.
[40:18.230 --> 40:19.210]  It already has, and some.
[40:19.410 --> 40:19.660]  Mm-hmm.
[40:20.340 --> 40:21.890]  Well, it's, it's, it's not a good thing.
[40:21.960 --> 40:24.430]  It can be used for all sorts of, well, bad stuff.
[40:24.560 --> 40:28.370]  If you, I mean, you know, really, really strict speed limit enforcement, stuff like that.
[40:28.460 --> 40:34.910]  You know, you end up, you end up accidentally going five miles over the speed limit or something, and you, you get a ticket in the mail, or, I mean, it's just really ridiculous.
[40:35.190 --> 40:38.430]  And I'll bet they'll, they'll make it a crime for you to remove these from your car.
[40:38.850 --> 40:40.500]  Well, we'll see how that, what happens.
[40:40.690 --> 40:40.980]  Well, you know.
[40:40.980 --> 40:47.830]  You know, it just occurred to me, Emmanuel, this is one instance where a tinfoil hat actually would prove useful.
[40:48.810 --> 40:50.000]  A hat for your car.
[40:50.080 --> 40:50.660]  For your car, yeah.
[40:50.810 --> 40:51.000]  Exactly.
[40:51.190 --> 40:51.690]  It wouldn't do much for you.
[40:51.810 --> 41:06.870]  A tinfoil hat over the GPS antenna of your car would block the, uh, very weak satellite signals coming from, uh, the GPS satellite from being received by the GPS receiver so that those coordinates could not be transmitted by the, by the cabs or your car's radio to the tracking center.
[41:06.890 --> 41:09.460]  Here's a rare financial tip from off the hook to our listeners.
[41:09.710 --> 41:12.750]  Invest in tinfoil because it's going to be increasingly useful over the years.
[41:13.290 --> 41:17.580]  Wasn't there a story just this last week about destroying the RFID chips and passports?
[41:17.790 --> 41:26.730]  In fact, that's, uh, that's interesting too because, uh, that's something that came out, uh, I believe last week it was revealed in the Wall Street Journal that, uh, uh, that's legislation.
[41:26.730 --> 41:32.950]  If, if, if you actually try and tamper with one of these RFID tags inside a passport, it's, what, a felony or something?
[41:33.190 --> 41:37.980]  Well, was it specifically the RFID or was it, was it just tampering with a passport in general?
[41:38.230 --> 41:42.810]  And then the conclusion was when they start issuing the RFID passports that if you tamper with those, you'll get them too.
[41:43.040 --> 41:44.600]  Bernie, do you have the, the phrasing in front of you?
[41:45.310 --> 41:49.370]  I actually, this was, uh, this was an article in, uh, in Monday's Wall Street Journal this week.
[41:56.730 --> 42:10.100]  Because, uh, there were articles about a software, um, uh, writer, a programmer who, uh, uh, uh, had tested his, uh, RFID credit card that he got unsolicited in the mail and was so, uh, scared of it that he, uh, he smashed the, the chip with a hammer,
[42:10.350 --> 42:16.350]  um, so that his card's information couldn't be read from afar by, uh, by unauthorized parties.
[42:16.620 --> 42:18.580]  And this is a guy who's smart and he's a programmer.
[42:18.580 --> 42:20.480]  He knows about these things and the risks involved.
[42:20.770 --> 42:21.980]  But, uh, U.S.
[42:22.020 --> 42:26.390]  passports are coming out later this year and they will all have RFID tags in them as well.
[42:26.950 --> 42:32.370]  And, uh, I was curious as to what, you know, if people started doing this to their passports, what their legal liability was.
[42:32.430 --> 42:37.250]  So I researched on, uh, on, uh, thomas.gov for the, the, the laws involved.
[42:37.270 --> 42:55.560]  And there's a, uh, Title 18, uh, you know, United States Code Title 18, Section 1543, which is forgery or false use of a passport, says whoever falsely makes forges, counterfeits, mutilates, or alters any passport or instrument purporting to be a passport with intent that the same may be used,
[42:56.520 --> 43:10.750]  shall be fined under this title, comma, not or, comma, imprisoned not more than 25 years, um, if the offense was committed to facilitate an act of international terrorism as defined in the Patriot Act.
[43:11.310 --> 43:18.330]  Um, or if it's just for a regular Joe, then it's, uh, 10 years, uh, or both, the fine, uh, fine and 10 years.
[43:18.430 --> 43:28.950]  So it's a mandatory requirement that if you're convicted of mutilating your passport, 10 years in federal prison, uh, and maybe a fine on top of that.
[43:29.120 --> 43:35.390]  It was five years, but the Patriot Act changed that to be 10 years for the average Joe and 25 years for the average terrorist.
[43:35.390 --> 43:38.140]  What if, what if your passport just gets mutilated from heavy use?
[43:38.430 --> 43:39.450]  It doesn't matter.
[43:40.600 --> 43:42.000]  Well, RFID tags...
[43:42.000 --> 43:45.270]  There's no, there's no exception in the law for like, well, you did it by accident.
[43:45.660 --> 43:45.820]  Uh-huh.
[43:46.100 --> 43:50.660]  Either way, I think, I think they're going to be seeing a problem with this because RFID tags can be destroyed.
[43:50.940 --> 44:01.270]  And, uh, I mean, they're relatively sensitive if you find yourself next to something, you know, generating a strong electromagnetic field enough to actually, you know, create enough voltage and destroy the RFID chip.
[44:01.750 --> 44:03.840]  Uh, well, I mean, it's going to happen.
[44:04.100 --> 44:08.620]  And whether or not people do it on purpose or not is, you know, something to be decided.
[44:08.800 --> 44:10.960]  So what's going to happen, uh, Redbird, if you go through U.S.
[44:11.080 --> 44:23.100]  customs, you come back from another country with your RFID passport and it doesn't read, and they look at it and determine, hmm, this has been tampered with somehow, intentionally or not.
[44:23.290 --> 44:24.360]  You get hauled away.
[44:24.840 --> 44:26.040]  Um, what happens?
[44:26.210 --> 44:34.040]  I mean, you have, you have right then and there used an altered or mutilated passport, um, with the intent of that passport be used.
[44:34.100 --> 44:36.300]  It doesn't say that with the intent of falsifying anything.
[44:36.440 --> 44:43.980]  It's saying, if you have it and you intended to use the passport, whether or not you knew it was mutilated, um, you have committed this offense.
[44:44.100 --> 44:44.460]  Look it up.
[44:44.580 --> 44:45.860]  Title, Title 18, Section 1543.
[44:46.300 --> 44:49.690]  How, how old is this, is this law that, that we're looking at?
[44:50.520 --> 45:01.140]  Uh, it was, it was, it was modified just, uh, after 9-11 as part of the Patriot Act to include, uh, it was a little looser language, um, and increased penalties.
[45:01.420 --> 45:11.300]  Well, people's passports get mutilated all the time, uh, either because the picture, uh, gets bent or, or something happens to make it be classified as mutilated.
[45:11.640 --> 45:19.520]  Are the people currently passing through our borders with mutilated passports, are, are they subject to this, uh, to this kind of, uh, penalty?
[45:19.820 --> 45:31.640]  Well, from my, from my experience, if a federal prosecutor wants to do something to you, or some federal agency wants to do something to you, and they can find a law that applies to you, they will apply that law.
[45:31.900 --> 45:40.100]  Now, I'm not going to say most people whose passports get damaged or altered accidentally are going to get charged with this offense, but they could be.
[45:40.320 --> 45:46.540]  And there's no statutory defense to saying, oh, you know, it doesn't say, uh, and you had to know that it was altered.
[45:46.730 --> 45:47.290]  Read the law.
[45:47.480 --> 45:48.290]  It's pretty interesting.
[45:48.440 --> 45:58.800]  And as more and more people start smashing their credit cards with RFID chips in them to, for, to protect their privacy, the point is, you don't have a choice with, uh, with, uh, with the, with the passports.
[45:59.020 --> 46:02.080]  With a credit card, you can call the credit card company, I don't want one with a chip in it.
[46:02.320 --> 46:03.520]  Just send me one with a mag stripe.
[46:03.730 --> 46:06.080]  It can't be read from afar by an evil person.
[46:06.160 --> 46:07.060]  But you don't have a choice.
[46:07.210 --> 46:10.500]  You can't call the State Department up and say, I don't want an RFID chip on my passport.
[46:10.640 --> 46:12.290]  Send me one of those regular good old passports.
[46:12.440 --> 46:12.560]  Right.
[46:12.640 --> 46:13.360]  It doesn't work that way.
[46:13.520 --> 46:16.750]  Well, you can, you can keep it in, uh, tinfoil, actually.
[46:17.040 --> 46:19.080]  I mean, there's a famous story of Richard Stallman.
[46:19.250 --> 46:24.060]  I think he was visiting the UN, and they had RFID IDs, and he walked around with it wrapped in tinfoil.
[46:24.140 --> 46:26.860]  Yeah, but they're not going to keep it in tinfoil if you come into the country with it.
[46:27.290 --> 46:34.250]  No, well, I mean, the whole point is you don't really want people to be able to read your passport remotely using RFID without your knowledge.
[46:34.580 --> 46:48.320]  As far as customs reading it, well, they're going to read it anyway, whether or not they use the magnetic OCR stuff at the bottom of the passport, which is going to be a fallback, by the way, for countries who don't yet have RFID, or whether or whether or not they use the actual RFID chip.
[46:48.520 --> 46:56.300]  So they're probably going to have this magnetic reading failsafe, you know, for a while for those passports who don't have RFID.
[46:56.420 --> 47:16.300]  I'm going to make another Another financial prediction here, and that's that somebody is going to come up with this new device known as passport holders, that you keep your passport in and they cannot be read, again with the aluminum foil, they cannot be read until you take them out and hand them to a friendly passport control officer.
[47:16.400 --> 47:17.060]  They already exist.
[47:17.360 --> 47:22.160]  There's wallets made like that, and I think there might even be a couple of passport holders made like that.
[47:22.160 --> 47:23.400]  Maybe they'll come with the passports now.
[47:23.580 --> 47:24.300]  That would be nice.
[47:24.380 --> 47:25.500]  All right, let's take some phone calls.
[47:25.580 --> 47:26.360]  We only have a few minutes left.
[47:26.360 --> 47:28.160]  212-209-2900.
[47:28.290 --> 47:32.820]  We do have a lot of listener mail, but we're not going to have time to get to it this week because we just had so many other interesting things to talk about.
[47:33.210 --> 47:34.980]  If you want to write to us, though, you can.
[47:35.210 --> 47:36.250]  You're allowed to do that.
[47:36.400 --> 47:38.320]  As far as I know, the laws have not changed.
[47:39.280 --> 47:41.230]  OTH at 2600.com.
[47:41.320 --> 47:42.920]  That's our electronic mail address.
[47:43.120 --> 47:43.710]  The Internet.
[47:43.770 --> 47:44.730]  It comes to us.
[47:45.460 --> 47:56.040]  If, however, you still write letters by hand or by typewriter, you can mail those by dropping them into one of the blue boxes located all around the country or one of the other boxes in the rest of the world.
[47:56.710 --> 48:03.480]  And our address is, off the hook, care of WBAI, 120 Wall Street.
[48:03.750 --> 48:04.420]  10th floor.
[48:04.710 --> 48:05.300]  New York.
[48:05.690 --> 48:06.560]  New York.
[48:06.840 --> 48:09.140]  1-000-5.
[48:09.460 --> 48:10.300]  That's our address.
[48:11.000 --> 48:13.580]  And we do like to hear from our listeners.
[48:13.790 --> 48:14.560]  Let's take a phone call.
[48:14.920 --> 48:15.600]  Well done.
[48:15.960 --> 48:16.340]  Good evening.
[48:16.420 --> 48:16.860]  You're on the air.
[48:16.860 --> 48:18.000]  Oh, hi.
[48:18.900 --> 48:34.020]  I wanted to make a comment about what you talked about, the law that they want to put into place so that people cannot, or various phone companies will not accept Internet-initiated calls.
[48:34.190 --> 48:34.400]  Okay.
[48:34.560 --> 48:39.500]  There's actually a really great website where you can have Internet-initiated calls.
[48:39.660 --> 48:42.100]  It's J-A-J-A-H.
[48:42.100 --> 48:43.820]  Yes, we demonstrated that last week, actually.
[48:44.080 --> 48:44.400]  Oh, you did?
[48:44.480 --> 48:44.770]  Okay.
[48:44.900 --> 48:45.940]  Yeah, it's kind of interesting.
[48:46.340 --> 48:48.080]  Yeah, no, it's fantastic, actually.
[48:48.360 --> 48:55.460]  And so I guess they're trying to crack down on that, which, of course, is interesting.
[48:55.840 --> 49:03.000]  What's really kind of interesting about that system is that you can connect somebody who doesn't want to be connected to somebody else and cause all kinds of problems, too.
[49:03.140 --> 49:05.940]  But I guess that's just the nature of the technology these days.
[49:06.750 --> 49:08.800]  But did they fix that in the newer version?
[49:09.580 --> 49:11.060]  Because they just updated it.
[49:11.580 --> 49:12.230]  Fix what?
[49:12.770 --> 49:14.160]  That you can't...
[49:14.160 --> 49:14.600]  Yeah.
[49:15.380 --> 49:15.940]  How would they?
[49:16.040 --> 49:18.210]  I mean, as far as I understand, you specify both phone numbers.
[49:18.300 --> 49:19.500]  One of them is supposedly yours.
[49:19.790 --> 49:20.460]  Oh, really?
[49:20.640 --> 49:21.640]  No, they changed it.
[49:21.710 --> 49:22.340]  That's the thing.
[49:22.480 --> 49:24.600]  Like, you used to be able to type in two numbers.
[49:25.100 --> 49:27.020]  Now you have to give...
[49:27.020 --> 49:29.840]  Well, I guess you have to change your personal numbers.
[49:29.840 --> 49:30.900]  Did we mess this up?
[49:31.340 --> 49:32.860]  We did it on the air last week.
[49:33.460 --> 49:34.120]  Yeah, I know.
[49:34.270 --> 49:35.400]  It happened very recently.
[49:35.440 --> 49:36.000]  Oh, boy.
[49:36.120 --> 49:39.790]  You know, every time we demonstrate these things, they stop working because someone gets angry.
[49:39.790 --> 49:41.250]  No, it's really bizarre.
[49:41.500 --> 49:42.440]  Okay, sorry about that.
[49:42.540 --> 49:42.750]  I mean, it was great.
[49:42.750 --> 49:44.080]  And now they changed it.
[49:44.080 --> 49:46.820]  And they also changed something with the credit card.
[49:46.940 --> 49:48.420]  Now they accept more credit cards.
[49:48.580 --> 49:50.300]  And you know, spoof card isn't going to work next week either.
[49:52.190 --> 49:52.730]  All right.
[49:52.790 --> 49:54.340]  Well, that's sobering news to hear.
[49:54.560 --> 49:57.750]  But hopefully something else will come along if this isn't still, in fact, working.
[49:57.750 --> 49:58.840]  I'm sure it will.
[49:59.100 --> 49:59.320]  All right.
[49:59.440 --> 49:59.980]  Thanks for your call.
[50:00.140 --> 50:00.270]  Bye.
[50:01.220 --> 50:02.460]  212-209-2900.
[50:02.710 --> 50:03.100]  Good evening.
[50:03.190 --> 50:03.620]  You're on the air.
[50:03.900 --> 50:04.140]  Yes.
[50:04.210 --> 50:06.730]  It's Wallbaums that does that thing with the Patriot.
[50:06.730 --> 50:10.120]  I saw that little notice by the cashier that's Wallbaums supermarkets.
[50:10.380 --> 50:10.710]  All right.
[50:10.800 --> 50:12.750]  Well, thank you for that bit of information for the year.
[50:13.640 --> 50:15.100]  We'll talk to you again in 2007.
[50:15.290 --> 50:15.520]  Good evening.
[50:15.540 --> 50:15.980]  You're on the air.
[50:16.380 --> 50:16.620]  Yes.
[50:16.660 --> 50:20.190]  I'm wondering if you know of a cellular telephone that can suck my dick.
[50:21.540 --> 50:23.190]  Uh, well, I don't know.
[50:23.440 --> 50:23.840]  Good evening.
[50:23.840 --> 50:24.380]  You're on the air.
[50:26.210 --> 50:26.820]  Go ahead.
[50:27.480 --> 50:27.880]  Hello?
[50:28.100 --> 50:28.580]  Yes, go ahead.
[50:28.730 --> 50:28.820]  Yeah.
[50:29.190 --> 50:32.730]  Earlier, Jim used the word disingenuous.
[50:33.360 --> 50:33.770]  Disingenuous.
[50:33.920 --> 50:34.440]  Yes, I know.
[50:34.790 --> 50:35.000]  Okay.
[50:35.210 --> 50:37.800]  I realized that as soon as I said it, I decided not to go back.
[50:37.820 --> 50:38.980]  Well, I didn't do correctness then.
[50:39.020 --> 50:40.160]  Yeah, Jim, let's talk about this.
[50:40.840 --> 50:42.500]  You used the word improperly?
[50:42.500 --> 50:43.690]  You pronounced it improperly?
[50:43.790 --> 50:47.040]  I felt a great wave of shame wash over me.
[50:47.040 --> 50:50.800]  And I decided to just hope that no one who knew the word...
[50:50.800 --> 50:52.980]  Normally, sir, this kind of thing is not tolerated here.
[50:53.560 --> 50:54.620]  Lots of thousands of people are listening.
[50:54.710 --> 50:56.160]  Yeah, millions of people are listening.
[50:56.520 --> 50:59.440]  And the other gentleman used a redundancy.
[51:00.680 --> 51:01.320]  More crazier.
[51:02.580 --> 51:03.420]  Who is that?
[51:03.540 --> 51:04.000]  Did I say that?
[51:04.120 --> 51:05.210]  No, the other fellow.
[51:05.300 --> 51:05.960]  I don't know his name.
[51:06.160 --> 51:07.290]  I apologize if I said that.
[51:07.320 --> 51:07.790]  You said that?
[51:07.790 --> 51:08.190]  I don't know.
[51:08.270 --> 51:08.840]  More crazier.
[51:08.960 --> 51:09.690]  It's either me or Bernie.
[51:09.790 --> 51:11.480]  Well, we're going to go through the transcript after the show.
[51:11.560 --> 51:13.190]  This is some very serious allegations here.
[51:13.340 --> 51:13.640]  More crazier.
[51:13.750 --> 51:13.900]  Yeah.
[51:14.270 --> 51:15.120]  All right.
[51:15.120 --> 51:17.500]  Well, let's be less sillier than take another phone call.
[51:18.300 --> 51:18.980]  Good evening.
[51:19.160 --> 51:19.800]  You're on the air.
[51:20.860 --> 51:21.300]  Yes.
[51:21.900 --> 51:23.500]  Also, I'd like to mention...
[51:23.500 --> 51:25.380]  You sound very similar to another caller.
[51:25.620 --> 51:27.940]  And that's just too much for me to handle.
[51:28.040 --> 51:28.230]  Good evening.
[51:28.300 --> 51:28.690]  You're on the air.
[51:29.460 --> 51:30.230]  Go ahead, please.
[51:30.660 --> 51:30.960]  Yes.
[51:31.380 --> 51:33.460]  Hey, I didn't realize that.
[51:33.750 --> 51:35.820]  There's nothing wrong with all crazier, by the way.
[51:35.920 --> 51:36.840]  I think that's perfectly fine.
[51:36.840 --> 51:38.840]  Let's not start a big fight about this.
[51:39.060 --> 51:41.360]  I don't know why that thing was even brought up.
[51:41.360 --> 51:46.000]  Anyway, the thing I wanted to ask you was, who does have the most reliable network?
[51:46.160 --> 51:46.980]  Is it Sprint?
[51:47.100 --> 51:47.860]  Is it Singular?
[51:48.040 --> 51:48.960]  Is it Verizon?
[51:49.270 --> 51:52.660]  Well, I think Bernie will attest that it's not Sprint.
[51:53.100 --> 51:56.270]  And I think most Singular customers would say it's not them.
[51:56.600 --> 51:59.020]  I'm a Verizon customer, and I have Verizon Wireless.
[51:59.020 --> 52:01.270]  They're not bad, but they're ignored.
[52:01.920 --> 52:05.040]  So then what is the big push by Singular saying they're the number one?
[52:05.290 --> 52:06.620]  Singular works very well for me.
[52:06.790 --> 52:07.360]  I use Singular.
[52:07.540 --> 52:09.360]  And I don't have very many complaints.
[52:09.580 --> 52:16.120]  Well, I know Singular left a bad taste with many people when they forced people to rebuy their phones when they merged with AT&T.
[52:16.210 --> 52:21.750]  No, see, you can say no to that, which is something that a lot of people don't do because they do pressure you.
[52:21.880 --> 52:22.380]  They pressure you.
[52:22.460 --> 52:24.080]  When they merged, I got calls all the time.
[52:24.080 --> 52:27.580]  You know, this is Singular, and we really want you to switch and yada, yada, yada.
[52:27.580 --> 52:31.400]  But they wouldn't offer me something comparable to the plan that I had with AT&T Wireless.
[52:31.560 --> 52:34.120]  So as of today, I'm still technically an AT&T Wireless customer.
[52:34.360 --> 52:45.840]  It's worth noting, to answer the gentleman's question, is that when Singular purchased AT&T Wireless and they merged, both networks' coverages were merged.
[52:45.960 --> 52:55.000]  Now, they shut off some of the redundant cell sites, but the number of cell sites that Singular slash AT&T now have on their network exceeds that of Verizon.
[52:55.000 --> 53:00.690]  That doesn't necessarily translate to better service or anything like that, but they've got more cell sites now than Verizon.
[53:00.880 --> 53:07.400]  Well, an interesting thing about Verizon, as long as we're on the subject, there are some things that annoy me, and all of them are focused on their voicemail system.
[53:07.560 --> 53:11.040]  Today, I got notified of a new message an hour and a half after it came in.
[53:11.140 --> 53:19.100]  I was walking around and expecting a call, and the call was on my voicemail, and I wasn't told until 90 minutes after I turned my phone on.
[53:19.380 --> 53:20.270]  That's not acceptable.
[53:20.270 --> 53:26.340]  Their voicemail system, when you call in to check it, it insists on telling you about messages that are going to be deleted.
[53:26.440 --> 53:27.730]  They're marked for deletion.
[53:27.860 --> 53:29.290]  I want to hear my new messages.
[53:29.290 --> 53:31.460]  I don't want to hear a reminder about these things.
[53:31.600 --> 53:41.300]  And then if you hit start or skip it, oftentimes it starts playing those messages, and that results in me freaking out, thinking that somebody's leaving me a message today that actually was left 30 days ago.
[53:41.620 --> 53:44.340]  And it's resulted in all kinds of confusion.
[53:44.340 --> 53:56.730]  And the other thing, if you want envelope information and you hit five to hear when the call was made, the phone number was made, and the duration, it tells you all that information, but you can't skip it once it starts.
[53:56.730 --> 53:57.980]  You have to listen to the whole thing.
[53:58.460 --> 54:00.620]  Other than that, other than that, I'm kind of happy with them.
[54:00.770 --> 54:01.440]  Well, technical...
[54:01.440 --> 54:02.460]  Is this a Verizon voicemail?
[54:02.770 --> 54:04.320]  That's a Verizon wireless voicemail, yes.
[54:04.420 --> 54:05.900]  You know, it's just as bad with T-Mobile.
[54:06.020 --> 54:11.190]  You know, it used to be that you could go backwards in your voicemail, which is ultimately convenient, and they switch the whole thing around.
[54:11.190 --> 54:12.440]  And besides, you couldn't...
[54:12.440 --> 54:16.360]  You know, you would think you'd be able to forward some old voicemail that you wanted to see.
[54:16.500 --> 54:17.250]  You couldn't even do that.
[54:17.380 --> 54:19.860]  So customer service continues on its merry way.
[54:20.020 --> 54:26.140]  One day, all voicemail will be connected, and you'll be able to talk to different subscribers and forward messages every place.
[54:26.290 --> 54:30.660]  One other convenient thing about T-Mobile and Singular is they're the only GSM providers here.
[54:30.710 --> 54:38.580]  So if you're into roaming and going to countries that don't have, you know, the CDMA networks and stuff like that, which, you know, Verizon, it's proprietary...
[54:38.580 --> 54:41.520]  It's kind of a nightmare to get overseas coverage with Singular.
[54:41.580 --> 54:41.980]  Is that true?
[54:42.190 --> 54:42.340]  No.
[54:42.540 --> 54:43.980]  I mean, I wouldn't have had a problem.
[54:43.980 --> 54:51.940]  I was able to connect to the network, no problem, but the roaming charges would have been pretty hefty because I couldn't change my plan, like I said, because I would have had to convert to Singular.
[54:52.080 --> 54:53.440]  So I used prepaid.
[54:53.580 --> 54:55.940]  And I think we discussed this on a previous show, so we don't have to get into it.
[54:56.040 --> 54:57.290]  But it does work.
[54:57.400 --> 55:00.250]  We'll avoid the embarrassment of talking about the horrible company you're part of.
[55:00.700 --> 55:02.120]  Let's take another phone call.
[55:02.690 --> 55:03.230]  Good evening.
[55:03.230 --> 55:03.800]  You're on the air.
[55:04.800 --> 55:05.320]  Go ahead.
[55:05.900 --> 55:07.360]  The word is comparable.
[55:07.860 --> 55:09.270]  Accent on the first syllable.
[55:09.640 --> 55:10.000]  All right.
[55:10.080 --> 55:10.730]  Enough of this.
[55:11.000 --> 55:11.690]  One more call.
[55:11.860 --> 55:12.230]  Good evening.
[55:12.320 --> 55:13.140]  You're on the air.
[55:13.400 --> 55:14.730]  I knew somebody was going to call about that, too.
[55:15.420 --> 55:16.000]  Go ahead.
[55:18.080 --> 55:19.000]  You've got to be quicker.
[55:19.120 --> 55:19.360]  You've got to be quicker.
[55:19.360 --> 55:23.620]  We need some listeners to try to have an hour conversation without making one grammatical error.
[55:23.960 --> 55:24.210]  Okay.
[55:24.300 --> 55:25.640]  And they made that person hang up.
[55:25.750 --> 55:26.580]  This is the last call.
[55:26.660 --> 55:26.920]  Good evening.
[55:26.980 --> 55:27.480]  You're on the air.
[55:28.140 --> 55:28.500]  Yes.
[55:28.800 --> 55:29.020]  I'm on the air.
[55:29.020 --> 55:29.320]  No, no.
[55:29.360 --> 55:30.300]  That's not the last call.
[55:30.400 --> 55:32.100]  You know, this is really driving me crazy.
[55:32.460 --> 55:33.460]  Dial tones and rebel.
[55:33.580 --> 55:34.600]  That's all we seem to get these days.
[55:34.730 --> 55:34.960]  Good evening.
[55:35.100 --> 55:35.420]  You're on the air.
[55:35.730 --> 55:35.820]  Okay.
[55:35.960 --> 55:36.140]  Yes.
[55:36.520 --> 55:36.730]  All right.
[55:36.860 --> 55:38.440]  You know, that's going to do it, folks.
[55:38.660 --> 55:39.880]  Rebel's got to get a spoof card.
[55:39.980 --> 55:43.320]  No, you know, just like I blame the American people because the war is still going on.
[55:43.400 --> 55:45.080]  They haven't marched down to Washington, D.C.
[55:45.120 --> 55:46.270]  and done something to stop it.
[55:46.540 --> 55:52.250]  I blame people for not calling in and tying up the phone lines and keeping the people who tie up the phone lines off the phone lines.
[55:52.440 --> 55:53.340]  It's all people power.
[55:53.460 --> 55:54.160]  You've got to use it.
[55:54.210 --> 55:54.920]  You've got to get angry.
[55:55.020 --> 55:56.320]  You've got to show some power.
[55:56.540 --> 55:59.640]  The thing is, he's probably calling before you even mentioned we have the phone lines.
[55:59.640 --> 56:01.270]  He has 50,000 phone lines.
[56:01.400 --> 56:02.660]  We know, but come on.
[56:02.860 --> 56:04.820]  You know, we have to all get together.
[56:05.000 --> 56:05.800]  Now, we're out of time.
[56:06.770 --> 56:08.800]  And the Personal Computer Show is coming up next.
[56:09.210 --> 56:13.190]  We'll be back again next week with another exciting show, possibly with more people.
[56:14.020 --> 56:15.580]  Hopefully, Bernie will feel better by then.
[56:16.500 --> 56:17.440]  Manuel Goldstein for Off the Hook.
[56:17.480 --> 56:17.900]  Have a good night.
[56:34.920 --> 56:38.920]  Machines, machines, they keep right on going.
[56:40.900 --> 56:43.320]  Machines, machines, they keep right on going.
[56:43.340 --> 56:45.020]  Machines, machines, they keep right on going.
[56:45.100 --> 56:51.440]  But I am weak when I want to go on home.
[56:51.760 --> 56:57.320]  I'm too tired to speak, but they won't let me alone.
[56:57.860 --> 56:58.940]  Oh, yeah.
[56:59.520 --> 57:00.560]  Oh, yeah.
[57:01.120 --> 57:02.060]  Oh, yeah.
[57:02.980 --> 57:08.460]  Machines, machines, they keep right on moving.
[57:08.460 --> 57:14.620]  And machines, machines, they keep right on moving.
[57:15.080 --> 57:20.960]  Well, I've got to find a place to rest my head.
[57:21.220 --> 57:27.100]  A machine, he smiled at me and said, I'm gonna be your bed.
[57:27.100 --> 57:28.060]  A deck of
[57:43.960 --> 57:50.720]  machines, machines, we made them to serve us.
[57:51.080 --> 57:56.860]  Machines, machines, we built them to serve us.
[57:57.080 --> 58:09.120]  But till the day I'm buried in my grave, just right until that day I know I'm gonna be a slave.
[58:09.380 --> 58:12.980]  A slave, a slave, a slave.
[58:13.000 --> 58:19.860]  A slave, a machines, a machines, they keep right on moving.
[58:20.480 --> 58:26.020]  Machines, a machines, they keep right on moving.
[58:26.680 --> 58:26.800]  Yeah.
[58:39.960 --> 58:44.940]  Ooh, yeah, that's great music they have on the Off the Hook show there.
[58:45.320 --> 58:51.120]  Hey, you're listening to WBAI New York 99.5, cat.
[58:51.120 --> 58:59.000]  And everybody else that's listening, and puppies also, we'll include today, this is WBAI...