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ACARS (was Re: An Idea)
by richb＠pioneer.ci.net 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

>From earlier postings: >> ... have all instrumentation output, voice and even possibly video >> (flight deck and cabin) continuosly downlinked to ground stations >> or uplinked to satellites enroute. > 1) In addition to traditional "black boxes" there would be > transmitters in planes that would transmit flight data to a network of > ground stations > 3) Since the transmitters don't have to survive an impact they > wouldn't have to be terribly expensive so you'd be able to intall them > even on relatively small aircraft. > 6) Overseas flights might need to switch to some sort of satellite > system. This would probably be more expensive so would probably be > limited to larger aircraft. This capability has existed since the early 1980s. It is called ACARS, which stands for Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System. I developed firmware for the Bendix system purchased by Delta, Piedmont and Northwest Orient in 1985. Those same systems (which sold for, if I recall correctly, about US$18,000) are in use today. Little, if any, of my other career work has had similar longevity: it is a (sobering) reminder of how long it takes to make improvements in commercial aviation. You can learn more about modernization efforts, including satellite, overseas, and encryption capabilities, by surfing over to www.arinc.com and searching on the keyword ACARS. I do not know whether the airlines are interested in using this to augment the cockpit voice recorder but it would make sense. Twenty years ago, the system was limited to 2400 baud and it was essentially used as a "time clock" for automating the process of tracking hourly air crew wages. The other two primary uses were to provide rapid turnaround on jet engine performance parameters (which reduced service costs), and to expedite bi-directional weather reporting (pilots could retrieve or file weather reports into an automated system). The aviation industry was fun to work in back then but more recently it has been no joy at all (the last project that I participated in was ETMS, which is a USA radar tracking network whose control room is in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA): too much bureaucracy and too much money to get far too little done. It just doesn't seem hard to me to come up with a snazzy database system to keep track of 10,000 airplanes in real-time with data, audio, and video feeds. A dot-com could've done the equivalent task on a few tens of millions of VC money in the space of 3 years, whereas the US government manages to plunder $billions and waste decades. Pardon me for venting. But if someone wants to give it a try, perhaps for some country other than the USA, then I'll come join you on building a "real" aviation network. -rich

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Re: Yes it's off topic but who cares right now.
by David Klindt 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

> so, if we did not learn enough following the french into indochina, we > can learn more by following the russians into afghanastan? this does > not seem like a sucess path to me. > the successful part of our culture is about tolerance and learning to > live with folk different than we (for many values of 'we' and > 'different'). Randy, I truly doubt you understand the idea of war and protection of our citizens. The USA is not going to retaliate... It is answering a call of war - one that has been ongoing for many years. Unlike the Russians going into Afghanistan, our even the US going into South Viet Nam (or the French in your example), we have the skill to go up to the street bully, knock him out, knock the dust off our hands and walk away. It is not like it needs to be 20,000 troops driving into that country. Standing back and hoping it will go away because we want to be "peaceful" has NOT proven to work over the last ten years. > resist the cycle of violence and hate. I agree. But this action doesn't need to be attached the words violence and hate. It is better attributed to, enough is enough, and knock the bully out. Truly, that simple. Best regards to you Randy,

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RE: anybody know what's going on with att cable modems in MA?
by Miles Fidelman 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

On Sat, 15 Sep 2001, Frank Solensky wrote: > > which says, in essence, we've been working on it since 10/19 > > For almost a year?? :-) ooops, that should have been 9/12/01, 10:19am M. ************************************************************************** The Center for Civic Networking PO Box 600618 Miles R. Fidelman, President & Newtonville, MA 02460-0006 Director, Municipal Telecommunications Strategies Program 617-558-3698 fax: 617-630-8946 mfidelman(a)civicnet.org http://civic.net/ccn.html Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere Say It Often, Say It Loud: "I Want My Internet!" **************************************************************************

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mirror space wanted at non-US sites for strong crypto, asap
by Strata Rose Chalup 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

We've had a lot of offers of mirroring space-- here are some more folks looking, because of the WTC disaster. FYI only, and NOT intended to start any discussion. Vote with yer bits, and please just let it pass if you're not interested. If you are interested, contact the folks in the posting below. Tx, SRC --- begin forwarded text ]Status: U ]Delivered-To: cryptography-outgoing(a)wasabisystems.com ]Delivered-To: cryptography(a)wasabisystems.com ]To: cryptography(a)wasabisystems.com, gnu(a)toad.com ]Subject: Please make stable NON-US homes for strong crypto projects ]Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 00:32:12 -0700 ]From: John Gilmore <gnu(a)toad.com> ]Sender: owner-cryptography(a)wasabisystems.com It's clear that the US administration is putting out feelers to again ban publication of strong encryption. See: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46816,00.html The evil gnomes who keep advancing unconstitutional US anti-crypto policies know that the current hysteria in Congress and the Administration will not last forever. So they will probably move very quickly -- within a week is my guess -- to re-control encryption, either by a unilateral action of the Administration (by amending the Export Administration Regulations), or by stuffing a rider onto some so-called "emergency" bill in Congress. They maneuvered very carefully in the Bernstein case such that there is no outstanding injunction against violating the Constitution this way -- and even no binding 9th-Circuit precedent that tells them it's unconstitutional to do so. They know in their hearts that numerous judges have found it unconstitutional, but they have proven throughout the seven-year history of the case that they don't give a damn about the Constitution. Which means it may take weeks, months or years for civil liberties workers to get a judge to roll back any such action. Not just days. We won the case, but they squirmed out of any permanent restrictions -- so far. The US government has a new mania for wiretapping everyone in case they might be a terrorist. There's already two bills in Congress to make it trivial for them to wiretap anybody on flimsy excuses, and to retroactively justify their precipitous act of rolling Carnivore boxes into major ISPs this week and demanding, without legal authority, that they be put at the heart of the networks. See: http://www.politechbot.com/docs/cta.091401.html Even more than before, we will need good encryption tools, merely to maintain privacy for law-abiding citizens, political activists, and human rights workers. (In the current hysteria, mere messages advocating peace or Constitutional rights might best be encrypted.) The European Parliament also recently recommended that European communications be routinely encrypted to protect them from pervasive US Echelon wiretaps. Some US developers, who thought such a reversal would never happen, have built or maintained a number of good open source encryption tools in the United States, and may not have lined up solid foreign maintainers or home sites. LET'S FIX THAT! We need volunteers in many countries to mirror current distributions, CVS trees, etc. We need volunteers to also act as maintainers, accepting patches and integrating them into solid releases. (Note that too many countries have pledged to stand toe-to-toe with the US while they march off to make war on somebody they can't figure out who it is yet. If you live in one of those countries, you may suddenly find that your own crypto regs have been sneakily altered. Take care that each useful package has maintainers and distribution points in diverse countries.) I haven't kept close track of which packages are in danger. I suggest that people nominate packages on this mailing list, and that others immediately grab mirror copies of them as they are nominated. And that some of those who mirror them keep quiet, in case hysterical governments make a concerted effort to stamp out all copies and/or all major distribution sites. If you aren't the quiet type, then *AFTER* IMMEDIATELY PULLING A COPY OF THE CODE OUTSIDE US JURISDICTION, announce your mirror on this mailing list. We freedom-loving US citizens have had to rely on the freedom-loving citizens of saner countries, to do the work of making strong encryption, for many years. We had a brief respite, which we will eventually resume for good. In the meantime, please let me apologize for my countrymen and for my government, for asking you to shoulder most of the burden again. Thank you so much. John Gilmore PS: Companies with proprietary encryption packages might consider immediately open-sourcing and exporting their encryption add-ins, so their customers can still get them from overseas archives. Or taking other actions to safeguard the privacy and integrity of their customers' data and their society's infrastructure. I also advise that they lobby like hell to keep privacy and integrity legal in the US. --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo(a)wasabisystems.com --- end forwarded text -- ======================================================================== Strata Rose Chalup [KF6NBZ] strata "@" virtual.net VirtualNet Consulting http://www.virtual.net/ ** Project Management & Architecture for ISP/ASP Systems Integration ** =========================================================================

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Re: temp connectivity
by Paul Vixie 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

> If anyone needs and kind of connectivity between the following buildings: Likewise, if anyone who needs temporary dark fiber between 60 Hudson and 111 8th, I've identified some MFN strands. And, PAIX is ready to provide temporary housing at 111 8th for any servers or nodes dispossessed by the WTC attack. -- Paul Vixie <vixie(a)eng.paix.net> President, PAIX.Net Inc. (NASD:MFNX)

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Re: More history (on meaning of Pearl Harbor) [OT]
by Vadim Antonov 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

Jacek - you should read _both_ versions to get to the truth. Of course, Communist textbooks gave no reference to the US-Japan war, or to the fact that occupation of Eastern Europe wasn't really on friendly terms, or that the "cleanings" of 1937-41 left the Red Army without trained commanders, most of whom were shot as "traitors", most likely increasing human costs by ten or so millions. I'm no big fan of Communists. However, if you noticed the refence I gave has no relation to communist sources; and it's kind of hard to hide the reality from the population of a country where nearly every able-boded male was participating in the war. They had little reason to rewrite history significantly in that particular aspect. What i'm trying to say that all that Pearl Harbour jingoism has little relevance to what happened. Of course, with communism being the main boogie in US, it was more than inconvinient to give communists the credit for defeating Nazis. And with majority of population having no direct contact with the events, rewriting history was relatively easy to pull off. (It was funny to watch the PBS series tellingly called "The Unknown War" explaining what was going on on the Eastern Front - it was like authors couldn't make their minds on which slant to use :) Realpolitik is dirty. I do not think there's any party which comes out being clean and shiny. But i think that what US did in WWII was close to the best-case scenario for the Western civilization. It is quite cynical and not at all pretty, though. --vadim On Sat, 15 Sep 2001, Jacek Ponarski wrote: > why does this sound so familiar? oh yeah, it reminds me of something what > I read in my history book in the former communist block... I guess in > general our history views are strongly influenced by whose history > interpretation we were exposed to.. :-) > > no further comment (although I'm really tempted to; this is nanog > afterall) :-) > > take care > > j.

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Re: Sprint/Sprint PCS Network Status
by Frank Coluccio 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

My Sprint/PCS service is still sputtering between analog roaming and zilch in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, which is within eyeshot of Ground Zero across the harbor. Digital service did come back for a while, earlier today, but it's back to the same impaired [read as: useless] state now as it's been for the past four days. -FAC > > Since Sprint usually makes a statement only after they've > fixed a failure, I'm guessing something else happened this > morning, and is now fixed. Anyone with information about > what Sprint fixed? > > > Sprint/Sprint PCS Network Status > > > SEPTEMBER 15, 2001 > KANSAS CITY, MO. > As of noon, CDT today, Sprint wireline switching facilities that > support Sprint's telecommunications network are stable and processing > voice and data traffic normally. In addition, Sprint PCS reports that > progress is being made to restore wireless phone service to customers > throughout the greater New York City metropolitan area. > > Four Sprint PCS cell sites remain out of service in the immediate > disaster area. Many other sites across Manhattan are still without > service primarily due to the loss of their landline connection provided > to Sprint PCS by other telecom carriers. > > Service for most Sprint long distance and wireless customers remains > normal across the rest of the United States. Some wireline voice and > data customer sites in New York remain without service, again due to > the loss of their landline connection provided to Sprint by other > telecom carriers. > > Sprint associates continue to work with other telecom companies and > government officials to restore full service as soon as possible. > > >

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RE: anybody know what's going on with att cable modems in MA?
by Miles Fidelman 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

On Fri, 14 Sep 2001, O'Flaherty, Douglas wrote: > In the midst of all the other OT traffic, I feel weird saying this... > "End-user Cable Modems aren't a NANOG subject" not to be picky, but this seems to be a regional problem, at the interface between the att.net backbone and att broadband's NE regional network - I was hoping that someone might point to a route-server or looking glass server for ne.mediaone.net, or at least some source of information more useful than: > Here's the AT&T BB customer support web page > http://help.broadband.att.com/tools/networkstatus.jsp which says, in essence, we've been working on it since 10/19 Miles Fidelman > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Miles Fidelman [mailto:mfidelman@civicnet.org] > > Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 3:47 PM > > To: Scott Bradner > > Cc: nanog(a)merit.edu > > Subject: Re: anybody know what's going on with att cable modems in MA? > > > > > > > > Scott, > > > > On Fri, 14 Sep 2001, Scott Bradner wrote: > > > > > Date: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 15:49:53 -0400 (EDT) > > > From: Scott Bradner <sob(a)harvard.edu> > > > To: mfidelman(a)civicnet.org, nanog(a)merit.edu > > > Subject: Re: anybody know what's going on with att cable > > modems in MA? > > > > > > fwiw - I'm on at&t broadband in Cambridge MA and have seen > > no problems > > > at all with Internet connectivity > > > > thanks for the info > > > > it seems to be effecting people in Newton and Brockton - in > > address ranges > > around 65.96.140.* > > > > Miles > > ************************************************************** > > ************ > > The Center for Civic Networking PO Box 600618 > > Miles R. Fidelman, President & > Newtonville, MA 02460-0006 > > Director, Municipal Telecommunications > > Strategies Program 617-558-3698 fax: > > 617-630-8946 > > mfidelman(a)civicnet.org > http://civic.net/ccn.html > > Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century > Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere > Say It Often, Say It Loud: "I Want My Internet!" > ************************************************************************** > ************************************************************************** The Center for Civic Networking PO Box 600618 Miles R. Fidelman, President & Newtonville, MA 02460-0006 Director, Municipal Telecommunications Strategies Program 617-558-3698 fax: 617-630-8946 mfidelman(a)civicnet.org http://civic.net/ccn.html Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere Say It Often, Say It Loud: "I Want My Internet!" **************************************************************************

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RE: On Internet and social responsibility
by Roeland Meyer 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

|> From: measl(a)mfn.org [mailto:measl@mfn.org] |> Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 10:01 AM |> |> On Fri, 14 Sep 2001, Vadim Antonov wrote: |> |> > Guys, why should a North American provider give a place for this |> > propaganda? |> |> Maybe becuase they believe that censorship of opposing |> opinions is BAD? Actually, John Barryhill, on the /ICANN/DNSO/GA list, pointed out that there are a few domain registrations where the registrar accepted registration from denizens of the "proscribed countries" list. That registrar, "Register.Com" in this case, is technically in violation of the law. My guess is that, they never checked the law, or that list, in the first place. As US companies, there are certain individuals and countries that we are not allowed to do business with. Until now, the high-tech community has taken those laws too lightly. We shouldn't have residents of Libya, for example, on our client/customer list at all. Routing traffic to those countries shouldn't be an issue either. It simply shouldn't be done, by a US-based company. These proscription lists have been around for over 10 years. How many of us are violating it without knowlege? BTW, all of us that have our corporate charters from any part of the US are effected by this. Willful violations can carry some severe penalties. |> > Call FBI, have them trace the connections of whoever pays for |> > that site. |> |> And do what exactly? They have every right to speak, even |> if you don't happen to like the message. Actually, they don't. The law says so. Personally, I have no problems with US State telling me I can't do business with terrorists. Do you? I actually think that it's nice that US State is willing to identify, with verification, terrorist supporting countries, so that I can chose to avoid doing business with them. It helps a lot when I can point to a US gov directive prohibiting me from doing business with them. They can't sue me for discriminatory practices because I'm following the law. On the flip-side, those of you that have such undiscovered liabilities can exepect to hear from our government sometime. It is time to weed through the customer/client lists folks. -- IANAL = I Am Not A Lawyer. Before taking legal action based on anything I do, say, or write, you are strongly encouraged to seek the advice of an attorney. -- R O E L A N D M J M E Y E R Managing Director Morgan Hill Software Company tel: +1 925 373 3954 cel: +1 925 352 3615 fax: +1 925 373 9781 http://www.mhsc.com

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nyc bandwidth (60 Hudson, 111 8th, 25 Broadway)
by Jeffrey Meltzer 15 Sep '01

15 Sep '01

if anyone lost any circuits between 60 hudson, 111 8th & 25 broadway, we can provide bandwidth between these buildings until things go back to normal. Jeff

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