BT delaying tactics ?

Rivals warn of BT 'delaying tactics'
By Tim Richardson
Published Monday 31st January 2005 13:35 GMT

BT's rivals are upping the war of words against the UK's former
telecoms monopoly ahead of this week's crucial deadline.

The UK's dominant fixed line telco has until February 3 to give its
response to the regulator's demands for "substantive behavioural and
organisational changes" within BT and the provision of equal access to
its wholesale product range (aka equivalence). Failure to meet the
demands set by Ofcom could result in an Enterprise Act investigation
which could lead to the giant telco being split in two.

Speaking to the FT David McConnell, chairman of the UK Competitive
Telecommunications Association (UKCTA) - a host of telcos including
Cable & Wireless, Colt, Energis, NTL and Thus - said that although the
industry wanted equivalence to work, there were fears that BT would try
to stall. "The concern is that parts of the BT organisation will
continue to prevaricate and delay: Ofcom and the industry must not
allow itself to be dragged into endless detailed discussions as to what
exactly 'equivalence' is," McConnell stated.

Indeed, in a letter to the Sunday Times McConnell said that the views
expressed by BT boss Ben Verwaayen a week earlier "both raise alarm and
present an incomplete picture of the current broadband market".

"Mr Verwaayen seems to be suggesting that if Ofcom was to reduce its
regulatory burden, BT would be able to offer more wholesale broadband
variants to 'communities outside the scope of LLU'. We could have
welcomed this comment had he also in the same breath embraced the need
for BT Wholesale to treat all retail broadband providers equally, in
other words, commit his organisation to true competition. UKCTA, Ofcom
and British consumers are demanding, quite rightly, nothing less.

He went on: "As history has shown time and again, consumer choice and
product innovation depends on the presence of sustainable market
competition. What is needed are improved wholesale telecom services
that all retail players - not just BT - can use and offer to potential
customers. In other words, Ofcom needs to ensure genuine equality of
access, not an inequality between BT and its competitors."

Last week Ofcom boss Stephen Carter warned has once again that BT's
failure to restructure its business and open up its market to genuine
competition would make an enforced structural split of the company a
"real possibility". ®


Phishing morphs into pharming
By John Leyden
Published Monday 31st January 2005 17:49 GMT

Fraudsters and mischief makers are developing more insidious techniques
for tricking users into visiting bogus websites. Rather than using spam
to con prospective victims into clicking their way to illicit sites -
so called phishing attacks - internet ne'er-do-wells are using DNS
poisoning or domain hijacks to redirect users to dodgy urls.

The trick - dubbed pharming - is potentially more sinister than
phishing because it avoids the need to coax users into responding to
junk email alerts. The attacks also occur across a broader front,
potentially misdirecting all email and web traffic away from victims.
Gerhard Eschelbeck, CTO of Qualys, cited the recent hijack of New York
ISP Panix as typical of the type of threat that might emerge.
Eschelbeck reckons the use of redirection attacks remains largely the
domain of mischief makers. Other security commentators ascribe darker
motives. "Pharming is a next-generation phishing attack," Scott Chasin,
CTO of MX Logic, told Government Computer News.

Both experts agree that pharming is simply a new application of
well-known security weaknesses. It highlights security loopholes that
can only be partly addressed by better browser security. Improved
browser security to prevent address spoofing or crypto plug-in to
verify the digital certificates of sites might help. Banking sites
could adopt two-factor authentication as a comprehensive defence. More
fundamentally, the nascent threat of pharming re-emphasises the need to
revamp DNS systems and domain registration that critics argue is long
overdue. ®

In message <(E-Mail Removed). com>,
six-toes <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>The UK's dominant fixed line telco has until February 3 to give its
>response to the regulator's demands for "substantive behavioural and
>organisational changes" within BT and the provision of equal access to
>its wholesale product range (aka equivalence). Failure to meet the
>demands set by Ofcom could result in an Enterprise Act investigation
>which could lead to the giant telco being split in two.
My conclusion is that BT are disfunctional if not barking .
Who can tolerate listening to music for hours when a simple human
communication would solve.
My current experience of extreme lunacy was to be told that I was now
ASDL enabled only to find that my router/modem did not synch .
BT then condescended to provide an "engineer" who said no go;
attenuation too high.
He suggested that Home highway might work.
So I phone BT who say no you have ASDL ; phone your ISP
Demon then say no ASDL failed.
Back to BT more music .
Cant talk to you about the service you say we cant provide because you
ordered it through and ISP.
Since noone will accept a Home Highway order Perhaps a better modem will
make a difference but is ASDL still connected ask BT , we cant tell you
ask your ISP ???
I give up Ill try Home Highway again .Phone Broadband . NO still on
ASDL
Off to complaints more music, please explain why you cant tell me etc.
etc.
We will talk to Home Highway they say, off to home highway , no problem
they say.
Engineer will call 18Feb.
Now why could they not have said that your line is a bit iffy, dont buy
equipment yet.
Sent an enginer who to test the line for ASDL and Home Highway
suitability at the same time and pronounce .
I have spent at least 6 hours on the phone unnecessarily over some
weeks.



--
dd

Like the Pope, you are wasting your breath.