News Items
All of the newspapers and TV news shows in New York City have been going on about the new traffic cameras that have been installed in secret locations to catch drivers running red lights. That's right, they snap a picture of the back of your car, read the license plate, and send you a ticket in the mail! (Word has it they ignore anyone from out of state.) The way in which the story has been reported has many New York drivers acting paranoid since nobody knows where exactly these cameras lurk. That is, until now.
If you're in Manhattan, the cameras gaze southbound on 2nd Avenue and East 42nd Street, West Street and West Houston Street, northbound on 3rd Avenue at East 72nd Street, Amsterdam Avenue and West 72nd Street.
In Brooklyn, Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue, Hamilton Avenue North and Clinton Street (northbound), Pennsylvania Avenue and Atlantic Avenue, Boerum Place and Atlantic Avenue, Flatbush Avenue by Toys "R" Us (southbound).
In Queens, 58th Street and Queens Boulevard, Ascan Avenue and Queens Boulevard (eastbound), Northern Boulevard and Douglaston Parkway, Rockaway Boulevard and Brookville Boulevard (westbound).
In Staten Island, Hylan Boulevard and Burbank Avenue (northbound) and Victory Boulevard at Morani Street (eastbound).
Finally, in The Bronx, Grand Concourse and East 167th Street (northbound), Pelham Parkway and Stillwell Avenue, Cross Bronx Expressway Service Road and Rosedale Avenue (westbound). Now at least you'll know where the watchers are watching from. Sleep well.
We had one hell of a surprise when NYNEX called us recently. On our Caller ID display the number 516-215-2087 showed up. 215 is an impossible exchange in 516 since 215 is the area code for Philadelphia and we're not required to dial 1 for long distance. So if we dial 215, our switch will think that we're dialing an area code, not an exchange. (Starting in September, 516 will be required to dial 1 first, in preparation for the new area code explosion of 1995.) This is the first case we've found of a fake number being sent to a Caller ID box. According to the only person at NYNEX who knew what we were talking about, this is actually an internal station number in their ACD system, kind of like an operator console ID.
We've had some fun playing with Call Mover Plus from NYNEX, the service that allows you to record your own intercept message and transfer people calling the old number to the new number. A couple of the potential bugs are discussed in the letters section. The number to call to change a recording is 800-227-6922 and passwords are 4-digits. You can subscribe to this for up to six months and it costs $4 a month for having the recording, $12 a month if you use the transfer feature. Plus a $16 installation fee. Pretty (((slick))) of NYNEX to charge for installation on a disconnected number.
To say we're disgusted with the criminal behavior of the federal prison system would be putting it mildly. Take the case of Paul Stira (Scorpion), a friend of 2600 imprisoned for six months on absurd "conspiracy" charges. It took Paul a couple of months to get the proper forms to send to potential visitors. He sent the forms to 2600 in January which didn't arrive until the end of February. We immediately filled them out and in late March they came back because one box hadn't been filled out exactly right (his name had to be above a line instead of under it or some such thing). Since Paul was being released on April 15, it made little sense to continue this charade. As a result of this kind of thing, Paul went through six months of prison without a single visitor. And that's not all. We thought his stay would be made a little more bearable with a full set of back issues. We got a letter from the federal prison people saying that they found objectionable material in all of our issues and that we had the right to appeal as long as we did it within fifteen days. The postmark of their letter was dated twelve days past when the letter was written and delivered two days later, leaving us one day to have our appeal in their hands. This is the second time we've noticed this fraudulent behavior from the Bureau of Prisons. After another long wait, they finally told us that all of our issues "Give numerous tips on illegal activities such as eavesdropping and telecommunication fraud." That's as specific as they got. The bastards didn't even return the issues, which they initially said they were going to do. This is the way federal prison apparently works, just one injustice after another, with nobody around capable of caring - not lawyers, not the media, nobody.
As we go to press, Mark Abene (Phiber Optik) is still imprisoned and is being denied medicine that his doctor describes as essential. Powerful, influential people are utterly impotent when it comes to dealing with a situation like this. While we continue to look for legal support, the rest of us can offer moral support by writing letters and donating whatever we can afford to Mark's phone fund so he can continue to stay in contact with his friends and family. The address:
Make sure the name and number appear on any checks or money orders.