                      The Teleputing Hotline 
                   The Worldwide Network Letter
              Volume 3 Number 83 -- October 23, 1990
               215 Winter Avenue, Atlanta, GA 30317 
              FAX: 404-378-0794 Phone: 404-373-7634 
        MCI:409-8960 GEnie: nb.atl CompuServe: 76200,3025 

Editor: Dana Blankenhorn 
European Editor: Steve Gold 
Associate Publisher: Lamont Wood 
Correspondent: Masayuki Miyazawa 
Sales Manager: Hiro Nakamura 

AUSTRALIA: Privacy Concerns Rising

Paul Zucker writes for Newsbytes on a report from a New South 
Wales privacy committee that it is being starved of funding while 
the government ignores the erosion of personal privacy. It cites 
the proliferation of computerized police records, crime 
intelligence, tax and health recording systems, interdepartmental 
data-matching systems, financial institutions own databases and 
their obligations to report certain types of transactions, plus 
many other situations. 

Having read Paul's reports for some time, we note that Australia 
has been more aggressive than even the U.S. in using computer
techniques to fight crime. Until now, the privacy problem has 
been ignored. It will be interesting to see the result if 
opposition politicians start using the privacy issue. 

EQUIFAX CHARGING CONSUMERS TO BE IN DATABASE 

Equifax, a U.S. leader in computerized credit reports, is testing 
a program called Buyer's Market. Consumers pay to choose the 
types of mailing lists they want to be on, and list those they 
want to be off. This is the first time the company has tried to 
become a consumer brand name. The program costs $10 per year, but 
the company promises at least $250 in discount coupons to 
members, for goods and services they want to buy. The first batch 
of coupons are enclosed in the survey form which is part of the 
program. Consumers who want to join Buyer's Market can call 1-
800-BUYRMKT, or 1-800-289-7658. 

USSR: Private Communications Venture Launched 

3 Moscow men have formed an enterprise to promote citizen band 
(CB) radio in the USSR. CB was banned for years for security 
reasons. Now you can get a permit but no equipment is available. 
The new enterprise will develop and make antennas, transcievers 
and other equipment and participate in projects related to 
wireless data communication. "Current politics and economics 
trends in the USSR cause us to worry about our future but we 
still hope our business will survive," Peter Strezev told Kirill 
Tchashchin of Newsbytes. 

MCI OFFERS RESIDENTIAL 800 SERVICE 

Following the lead of US Sprint, MCI announced a residential 
toll-free service, called Personal 800 service. It becomes 
available October 22, and will allow consumers to route calls to 
their homes for a single per-minute rate, regardless of distance 
or the number of calls made. Personal 800 will be offered as an 
enhancement to MCI's PrimeTime calling plan. It costs $2 per 
month for calls on weeknights and weekends. All 800 calls made 
during plan hours are priced at $6.50 per hour, or 10.8 cents per 
minute. Personal 800 calls made during daytime hours are priced 
at 25 cents per minute, or $15 per hour. Consumers also get a 
PrimeTime 10% discount, which applies to all 800 calls made 
during non-plan hours. 

BRITISH NEWSPAPER REPORTS ATTEMPT OF COMPUTER BLACKMAIL 

The Independent, an English newspaper, reports on alleged 
blackmailing attempts using computer systems. The report said 
there have been demands of substantial sums of money made to 5 
banks, who were told that in exchange for the money, they'd learn 
how their high-tech security systems were penetrated. The article 
further stated that, since May 1990, unknown persons using 
computers "have gained access to the banks' central data systems 
and hatched fears they could cause chaos by planting false 
information or damaging computer programs." The story did not 
identify the banks, all of whom, the paper said, either denied 
they were victims or refused to comment. 

CAMBODIA OPENS SATELLITE SYSTEM 

Cambodia opened service from a satellite earth station in Phnom 
Penh. It's part of an agreement between Australia's OTC and the 
Directorate of Posts and Telecommunications of Cambodia, under 
which further improvements will be made in Cambodian telecom over 
10 years. Communications will be handled via the Intelsat 
satellite system to Australia, then routed over OTC's 
international network. Previously, limited amount of 
international communications was handled by the Soviet 
Intersputnik system. Initially, calls to and from Cambodia will 
be connected by switchboard operators, but a digital telephone 
exchange will likely be installed in Phnom Penh in November. 
Capacity will also be increased over the next 2 years with the 
installation of a larger earth station. 

MOSCOW: NEW EXCHANGE TO SET UP COMPUTER SYSTEM 

The Moscow Commodities and Raw Materials Exchange has decided to 
build a computer system to handle its transactions. One exchange 
official was quoted as saying, "We clearly understand that 
without an electronic communication system we will die in just 
months." A two-million-ruble contract was granted to Moscow-based 
Kurchatov Institute of Nuclear Energy. The system it creates is 
expected to be operational in three months. In the first stage 
the computer system will be available for use by Exchange members 
only. Further expansion plans call for the systems' public use, 
writes Kirill Tchashchin of Newsbytes. 

ONLINE FACTOIDS 

900 PRO-HELP, a computer support line running on a caller-paid 
900-number, added fax service. Its RapidFacts dispenses product, 
sales and other information by facsimile to prospects of Western 
Micro Market and Perceptive Solutions. Callers to the Value Page 
of Western Micro Market pay $9.95 for the call while Perspective 
Solutions callers are charged $4.95. 

DIP, designers of the Atari Portfolio, released the Pocket Mac, a 
communications module that links the Pocket PC to an Apple Mac. 
It costs UKP 60-83. 

EUROPE'S information technology market continues to grow twice as 
fast as that of the U.S., says Compaq Chairman Ben Rosen, and 
it's already a bigger market than North America. Rosen called the 
Australian market very slow. 

INFONET bought 67% of Osiware International. Its Hong Kong 
director predicted OSI will let Asia "leapfrog" Europe and the 
U.S. in data communications, as that region lacks proprietary 
messaging networks. 

PHOENIX TECHNOLOGIES announced a joint-development deal with 
Intel which will let laptops use Phoenix basic input-output 
systems with Intel chips. The company also adapted its VGA 
graphics software to work with flat screens. 

REFERENCE POINT delayed offering its international environmental 
database until next year, due to a network design change. 

CONTACT: 

900 Support, Al Viera, +503-684-2826 
DIP Systems, Peter Baldwin, +0483-301555 
Equifax, John Ford, +404-885-8309 
INEP, John Harris, +301-596-2740 
MCI, John Houser, +1-800-289-0073 
Moscow Commodities Exchange, Sergey Petrov, +7 095 924-7530 
Newsbytes, Wendy Woods, +415-500-7334 
New South Wales Privacy, John Stanton, +61-2-287 5760 
Osiware Asia, John Daly, +852 526 9308 
Phoenix, Michael Deutsch, +617-551-4184 
RC&C, Peter Strezev, +7 095 143-5671 

