December 2008 Archives

On December 2, 2008, in Washington DC, Jim Baller of the New America Foundation brought together a host of Broadband Advocates that in an unprecedented display of consensus about where America's broadband future should be headed released a Call to Action that provides President-elect Obama and the incoming Congress a policy framework for a comprehensive national broadband strategy.

The Coalition (see list of signatories) includes prominent communications providers, high technology companies, manufacturers, consumers, labor unions, public interest groups, educators, state and local governments, utilities, content creators, foundations, and other stakeholders in America's broadband future. These organizations believe that such a strategy is critical to America's economic vitality, educational opportunity, public safety, energy efficiency, environmental stability, global competitiveness, and a continuing high quality of life.

At the event, representatives of these organizations voiced support for the Call to Action, discussed their shared goals, and announced their intent continue to work together to address key issues and policy priorities.

Geoff Daily of App-Rising.com had a front row seat and wrote a great review of the event; it is well worth checking out.

The Who's Who in the Broadband arena have shared their view with the incoming President. Even if commercial interests play a big role, it is still good to see such strong consensus.

Or "A day in the life of an online fraud investigator."

This is an actual case:

Coming across WWW.EURO-REAL-TRANS.COM the investigator recognizes the layout and scouring his memory he realizes that this is a common template used by Romanian scammers.

He searches for and finds the phone number listed on the site: 0044-701-426-4178, then Googles it to find what other fraudulent sites uses this number.

Finds two: www.express-europa-courier.net and www.euro-real-trans.com.

A similar search on the fax number: 0044-208-711-6177 showed  that prior to this site the scammers also used www.express-euro-transport.com as their illegal vehicle.

He then drafts this email to the ISP/Web Host:

"You are hosting a fraud domain:

WWW.EURO-REAL-TRANS.COM -- It's a common template used by Romanian scammers. A simple Google search of the phone numbers listed on the site: 0044-701-426-4178 reveals the previous fraud domains you used:
www.express-europa-courier.net and www.euro-real-trans.com.

"Same for the fax number: 0044-208-711-6177; prior to this you have used:
www.express-euro-transport.com

"Here is the real owner of the phone number you have listed for the fraud shipping company and Laura Radice:

"Marty Wakefield (203) 294-1234 1 Shelby Drive, Wallingford, CT 06492

"The address you have listed for the domain is the district office for: http://www.housedems.ct.gov/Dargan/index.asp
Stephen D. Dargan
115th District

"At the Capitol:
Legislative Office Building, Room 3603
Hartford, CT 06106-1591
(860) 240-8585
1-800-842-8267
Stephen.Dargan@cga.ct.gov

"In the District:
215 Beach Street
West Haven, CT 06516
(203) 937-1985

(Now, as an aside, it does appear that State Rep. Stephen Dargan is quite familiar with the identity  theft situation. Take a look at: http://www.housedems.ct.gov/Dargan/IDTheft07.pdf).

To continue the email to the web host:

"Here is the domain registration data you have for the Romanian scammer running the fake shipping and escrow site.

"Registrant:
Laura Radice
215 Beach Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06516
United States

"Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: EURO-REAL-TRANS.COM
Created on: 24-Nov-08
Expires on: 24-Nov-09
Last Updated on: 24-Nov-08

"Administrative Contact:
Radice, Laura borgnospam@aborg.com
215 Beach Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06516
United States
(203) 294-1234

"Technical Contact:
Radice, Laura borgnospam@aborg.com
215 Beach Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06516
United States
(203) 294-1234

 "Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.ABORG.NET
NS2.ABORG.NET

"Please suspend this fraud account immediately."

This salvo would of course not have been possible without unearthing all the particulars (as above) about the site; but once the data is at hand, letting the ISP know they are hosting scammers goes a long way to shut at least that one site down.

Although, grimly the investigator recognizes that the web host is actually allowing the scammer to hide his or her contact email by putting it in the domain registration data (see above), and so, in effect, is aiding and abetting a criminal. If someone in real life helps to hide a criminal he can be, and usuall is, held liable as an accomplice. But this is the internet and web hosting companies can apparently do pretty much what they like in the way of drumming up business.

Now, even if this one scammer is shut down, this is only out of then ten he may have discovered and tracked down this day, and this, so far, is not a winning battle, for these scamming sites are not unlike roaches, for everyone you see, there are one hundred you don't.

The moral of this pragmatic slice of life: Stay vigilant, very vigilant.

Several leading national Hispanic organizations are calling on President-elect Obama to deliver on his campaign promises and to make Diversity of Voices a top priority in all communications policy decisions and embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet access for all Americans--and sooner rather than later.

In a joint statement recently sent to the transition team, the ASPIRA Association, Inc., Latinos in Science and Technology Association LISTA), Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), Institute for the Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly, Inc. (IPR/HE), and National Hispanic Medical Association (NHMA) outlined actions the new president must take, including affordable high-speed access, creation of minority media ownership opportunities through DTV sublicensing, and capacity set-asides on all multi-channel video platforms for national non-profit minority controlled broadcasters.

The statement calls for a four point media agenda:

• To ensure that the transition to digital television (DTV) creates new opportunities for minority ownership. Minority owned and controlled entities should be permitted to hold commercial and non-profit licenses for sufficient bandwidth to accommodate single streams of programming which are also required to be carried on multi-channel video services.
• To create a capacity set-aside on all multi-channel video platforms for minority owned and controlled non-profit entities that are not owned or controlled by a broadcast, satellite or cable interest.
• To make making 'Diversity of Voices' a key factor in all Communications. When considering mergers, spin-offs, license transfers and eligibility for public broadcasting funds, policymakers should move to policies which enhance diversity of voices from multiple sources in all media.
• To embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet. Lack of broadband availability exists in alarming frequency in America's urban and rural communities.

The groups further urged President-elect Obama to examine the current landscape that through corporate consolidation and brand extensions has concentrated power in a small number of media giants. "Today there is little opportunity for growth of new and emerging minority-owned broadcast, satellite and cable programmers," said Ronald Blackburn, CEO of ASPIRA. "President-elect Obama must make 'Diversity of Voices' a top priority in all communications policy decisions and embrace a national policy of affordable high speed internet access for all Americans. Unless serious efforts are undertaken to create an antidote to media consolidation, we risk having our community's image, culture and its first amendment rights in the hands of a very few corporate powerhouses."

During the campaign, then-Senator Obama advocated for reduced length of television station licenses and more diversity in ownership of broadcast media. In a written statement to the Federal Communications Commission, a spokesperson for then-Senator Obama expressed the candidate's positions favoring shorter license renewal terms for broadcasters so that they would be subject to more public scrutiny, as well as criticizing the FCC for allowing broadcast consolidation.

"The election of President Obama is an opportunity for a fundamental change in the way children, public schools, and low-income communities are being prepared for the 21st Century," said LISTA National President, Jose Marquez. "Our country lags behind other nations in broadband deployment in an ever-changing global economy. President-elect Obama must take the necessary steps to ensure that every American has access to high speed internet service, and provide the necessary tools to enable children across the country to consider careers in science and technology."

Additional information about the statement can be obtained from the
five leading Hispanic organizations listed below.

http://www.aspira.org.
http://www.a-lista.org
http://www.hacu.net.
http://www.iprhe.org.
http://www.nhmamd.org.