                                ==Phrack Inc.==

                     Volume Three, Issue 26, File 11 of 11

            PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN
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            PWN        P h r a c k   W o r l d   N e w s        PWN
            PWN        %%%%%%%%%%%   %%%%%%%%%   %%%%%%%        PWN
            PWN                Issue XXVI/Part 3                PWN
            PWN                                                 PWN
            PWN                 April 25, 1989                  PWN
            PWN                                                 PWN
            PWN          Created, Written, and Edited           PWN
            PWN               by Knight Lightning               PWN
            PWN                                                 PWN
            PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN PWN


Galactic Hacker Party                                            March 30, 1989
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
                             GALACTIC HACKER PARTY
                               August 2-4, 1989
                         PARADISO, AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND

During the summer of 1989, the world as we know it will go into overload.  An
interstellar particle stream of hackers, phone phreaks, radioactivists and
assorted technological subversives will be fusing their energies into a media
melt-down as the global village plugs into Amsterdam for three electrifying
days of information interchange and electronic capers.

Aided by the advanced communications technology to which they are accustomed,
the hacker forces will discuss strategies, play games, and generally have a
good time.  Free access to permanently open on-line facilities will enable them
to keep in touch with home base -- wherever that is.

Those who rightly fear the threat of information tyranny and want to learn what
they can do about it are urgently invited to interface in Amsterdam in August.
There will be much to learn from people who know.  Celebrity guests with
something to say will be present in body or electronic spirit.

The Force must be nurtured.  If you are refused transport because your laptop
looks like a bomb, cut off behind enemy lines, or unable to attend for any
other reason, then join us on the networks.  Other hacker groups are requested
to organize similar gatherings to coincide with ours.  We can provide low-cost
international communications links during the conference.

       [  Despite the wishes of those planning the "Galactic Hacker   ]
       [  Party," there will be NO change in plans for SummerCon '89! ]

For further information, take up contact as soon as possible with:

             HACK-TIC                           PARADISO
             P.O. box 22953                     Weteringschans 6-8
             1100 DL  Amsterdam                 1017 SG  Amsterdam
             The Netherlands                    The Netherlands

         tel: +31 20 6001480                tel: +31 20 264521 / +31 20 237348
_______________________________________________________________________________

Subversive Bulletin Boards                                       March 26, 1989
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
An article in a newspaper from the United Kingdom had an article relating to a
computer bulletin board being run by a 14-year-old boy in Wilmslow, Cheshire,
England.  It contained information relating to such things as making plastic
explosives.

Anti-terrorist detectives are said to be investigating for possible breaches of
the Obscene Publications Act.  Apparently reporters were able to easily gain
access to this bulletin board and peruse articles on such subjects as credit
card fraud, making various types of explosives, street fighting techniques and
dodging police radar traps.

One article was obviously aimed at children and described how to make a bomb
suitable for use on "the car of a teacher you do not like at school," which
would destroy the tire of a car when it was started.

The boy's parents did not seem to think that their son was doing anything
wrong, preferring him to be working with his computer rather than roaming the
streets.

A London computer consultant, Noel Bradford, is quoted as having seen the
bulletin board and found messages discussing "how to crack British Telecom, how
to get money out of people and how to defraud credit card companies.  Credit
card numbers are given, along with PIN numbers, names, addresses and other
details."
_______________________________________________________________________________

Tale Of TWO TAP Magazines!                                       April 24, 1989
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
It seemed inevitable that the battle for the rights to TAP would come into
play, but many wonder why it has taken so long.

The Renegade Chemist, long time member of Phortune 500 and one of its "Board Of
Directors," has been talking about re-starting TAP Magazine for at least two
years... nothing ever happened with it until now.  TRC claims that the TAP
Magazine crew in Kentucky is just a fraud and that he is putting on the "REAL
McCoy."

For a free issue of The Renegade Chemist's TAP Magazine, send a self-addressed
stamped envelope to:

Data Security Consultants, Inc.
TAP Magazine
P.O. Box 271
South Windam, CT  06266-0271

Now on the other hand, Aristotle of the Kentucky based TAP Magazine has shown
an almost uncaring attitude about The Renegade Chemist's statements about TAP
Magazine.  He says that he does not "really mind if these people put out a
magazine.  Honestly I just want to help the community and the more magazines
and information, the better."

The really big news about the Kentucky based TAP Magazine came Saturday, April
22, 1989.  Apparently, because of problems with local banks and the Internal
Revenue Service, TAP Magazine is now FREE!

The only catch is that if you want it, you have to send them a self-addressed
stamped envelope to get each issue or "you can send cash, but only enough to
pay for postage, 25 cents should cover it."  Do not send any kinds of checks
and/or money orders.  Anyone who did will be receiving their checks back or
at least those checks will not be cashed.  The TAP Magazine staff will be
taking care of the printing costs out of their own pocket.

So for the FREE TAP Magazine, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to:

P.O. Box 20264
Louisville, KY  40220

Issue 93 is due for the end of April 1989, but Aristotle also wanted me to let
everyone know that he will be attending SummerCon '89 and bringing with him
plenty of issues of all the TAPs that he, Olorin The White, and Predat0r have
published.

As I have not seen TRC's TAP, I make no judgements.  Instead, get a copy of
both TAPs FREE and compare them yourself.  The market will decide which TAP
will continue.

                            Information Provided by
                      Aristotle and The Renegade Chemist
_______________________________________________________________________________

Computer Group Wary Of Security Agency                           April 11, 1989
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Taken from the San Francisco Chronicle

A public interest group said yesterday that the National Security Agency, the
nation's biggest intelligence agency, could exert excessive control over a
program to strengthen the security of computer systems throughout the federal
government.

The group, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility -- based in Palo
Alto -- urged key members of Congress to focus "particularly close scrutiny" on
the agency's role in helping to implement legislation aimed at safeguarding
sensitive but unclassified information in federal computers.

"There is a constant risk that the federal agencies, under the guise of
enhancing computer security, may find their programs -- to the extent that they
rely upon computer systems -- increasingly under the supervision of the largest
and most secretive intelligence organization in the country," it said.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Verifying Social Security Numbers                                April 11, 1989
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Taken From The New York Times

Dorcas R. Hardy, Commisssioner of the Social Security Administration, told a
Congressional committee that the agency had verified millions of SSN's for
private credit companies.

TRW, the nation's largest credit reporting company, recently proposed paying
the Social Security Administration $1,000,000 to have 140 million numbers
verified.

Phil Gambino, an agency spokesman, reported last month that the agency had
verified social security numbers only at the request of beneficiaries or
employers and had never verified more than 25 numbers at a time.  He said such
disclosures were required under the Freedom of Information Act.

At the hearing yesterday, Dorcas R. Hardy, denied any other verifications at
first.  However, she later admitted that in the early 1980s, 3,000,000 social
security numbers were verified for CitiCorp and that last year 151,000 numbers
were verified for TRW.  Ms. Hardy said that the 151,000 numbers were just part
of a "test run."

Senator David Pryor, a democrat from Arkansas and chairman of the Special
Committee on Aging, said that previous commissioners; the Congressional
Research Service of the Library of Congress, and Donald A. Gonya, chief counsel
for Social Security have all decided that such verification is illegal.
_______________________________________________________________________________

PWN Quicknotes

1.  Prank Virus Warning Message (March 28, 1989) -- An individual placed a time
    bomb message on a government service system in the San Francisco Bay Area
    saying, "WARNING! A computer virus has infected the system!"  The
    individual is learning that such a prank is considered almost as funny as
    saying that you have a bomb in your carry-on luggage as you board a plane.
    -- Bruce Baker, Information Security Program, SRI International
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2.  Hackers' Dictionary In Japanese? (March 30, 1989) -- What is this you ask?
    This amusing compilation was put together a decade or so ago by artificial
    intelligence (AI) graduate students at Stanford, MIT, and Carnegie-Mellon
    and recorded the then-current vernacular of their shared cultures.  They
    did it for fun, but it somehow ended up getting published.

    The Hackers' Dictionary contains more than a few puns, jokes, and other
    things that are hard to translate such as "moby," as in "moby memory", or
    "fubar" and its regional variants "foo bar" and "foo baz."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3.  AT&T's Air Force -- AT&T has an air force that patrols its cable routes,
    some routes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  The AT&T air force includes
    helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.  For some areas, AT&T uses infantry
    and armored cars.  AT&T's Sue Fleming says, "We hope NOT to find any
    activity.  We don't want to 'catch' people.  But if we do spot a digging
    crew, the usual procedure is for the pilot to radio the location back to a
    ground crew, who check it out.  On occasion, they drop notes -- or even
    land -- but that depends on where the site is.  In some areas -- like New
    Jersey -- unauthorized landings bring heavy penalties."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4.  Terrorist Threat? -- Scientific advisors to the government told a Senate
    panel that telecommunications networks are tempting targets for terrorist
    activity.  The experts said that advances in technology -- like fiber
    optics, which concentrates equipment and data -- and the fragmentation of
    the telecom industry after divestiture are reasons for the increased risk.
    Certainly the Hinsdale, Illinois CO fire and the recent severing of a fiber
    backbone in New Jersey have shown us all how vulnerable our country's
    telecom network is.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5.  FCC Rules On AOS -- The FCC has ruled on a complaint filed this summer by
    two consumer groups against five Alternative Operator Services (AOS)
    companies.  The FCC found the complaint valid and has ordered the AOS
    companies to stop certain practices immediately.

    The ruling states that callers must be told when their calls are being
    handled by an AOS, operators must provide callers with rate information and
    hotel or payphone owners cannot block calls to other long distance
    carriers.  (Callers who don't take any special action when making a call
    will still be routed to the pre-subscribed carrier.)

    The FCC has also ordered the companies to eliminate "splashing" whenever
    technically feasible.  Splashing is transferring a call to a distant
    carrier point-of-presence and charging the caller for the call from that
    point.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6.  Cool New Service -- CompuServe (the world's biggest computer bulletin
    board) users can now dial in and search and find articles from a bunch of
    different technical trade magazines.  The database was put together by an
    outfit called Information Access Company.  It currently contains full-text
    articles for 50 publications and paraphrased abstracts for 75 more.  Most
    coverage begins with the January 1987 issues.

    You can search the publications by magazine name, author, key word, key
    phrase, etc., then pull up the abstracts of the article of interest and, if
    needed and when available, get the full text of the article.  And it's easy
    to use.

    Charge for the service is $24 per hour, $1 for each abstract, and $1.50 for
    each full-text article accessed.  CompuServe charges $12.50 per hour for
    connect time.  Both per hour charges are pro-rated, and, with the databases
    being so easy to use, you'll rarely be on the board for more than 10-15
    minutes, so those costs will drop.

                     CompuServe              800-848-8199
                     Information Access      800-227-8431
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7.  ISDN Calling Number Identification Services (April 7, 1989) -- Bellcore
    Technical Reference TR-TSY-000860, "ISDN Calling Number Identification
    Services" can be purchased for $46 from:

                                   Bellcore
                               Customer Service
                              60 New England Ave
                           Piscataway, NJ 08854-4196
                                (201) 699-5800

    This Technical Reference contains Bellcore's view of generic requirements
    for support of ISDN Calling Number Identification (I-CNIS).  The I-CNIS
    feature extends the concepts of Calling Number Delivery and Calling Number
    Delivery Blocking to ISDN lines.  I-CNIS also allows the customer to
    specify which Directory Number (DN) should be used for each outgoing call
    and provides network screening to ensure that the specified DN is valid.
    I-CNIS handles calling number processing for both circuit-mode and
    packet-mode ISDN calls and provides four component features:  Number
    Provision, Number Screening, Number Privacy, and Number Delivery.  Material
    on Privacy Change by the calling party and Privacy Override by the called
    party is also included.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8.  Founder of TAP Magazine, Abbie Hoffman, born in 1936, passed away on April
    12, 1989.  He was found dead in his apartment in New Hope, PA.  He was
    fully dressed under the bedcovers.  An autopsy was inconclusive.  An
    article about him appears in the April 24, 1989 issue of Time Magazine,
    "A Flower in a Clenched Fist," page 23.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9.  Bill Landreth aka The Cracker, author of Out Of The Inner Circle, has
    reappeared.  Supposedly, he is now working as a bookbinder in Orange
    County, California and living with the sysop of a bulletin board called the
    "Pig Sty." -- Dark Sorcerer (April 19, 1989)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10.  Hacker/Phreaker Gets "Stiff" Penalty (Green Bay, Wisconsin) -- David
     Kelsey, aka Stagehand, plead guilty to two counts of class "E" felonies
     and received a 90 day jail term.  Once he has completed his jail term, he
     will serve three years probation and an unknown amount of community
     service hours.

     In addition to these penalties, Stagehand must also pay restitution of
     $511.00 to Schneider Communications of Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Stagehand
     was given all his computer equipment back as part of the plea bargain --
     minus any materials considered to be "ill gotten" gains.
_______________________________________________________________________________
! ***


1:30:22 p.m.    ARE YOU STILL THERE ?
! ***


1:35:22 p.m.    RESPOND OR BE LOGGED OFF
!

y
supervisors who said the taps were for the police.  They were told that many of
the taps were for the FBI.

Another radio amateur, Vincent Clark/KB4MIT, a technician for South-Central
Bell from 1972 to 1981, said he placed illegal wiretaps similar to those done
by Bob Draise on orders from his supervisors -- and on request from local
policemen in Louisville, Kentucky.

When asked how he got started in the illegal wiretap business, Bob said that a
friend called and asked him to come down to meet with the Cincinnati police. An
intelligence sergeant asked Bob about wiretapping some Black Muslims.  He also
told Bob that Cincinnati Bell security had approved the wiretap -- and that it
was for the FBI.  The sergeant pointed to his Masonic ring which Bob also wore
-- in other words, he was telling the truth under the Masonic oath -- something
that Bob put a lot of stock in.

Most of the people first wiretapped were drug or criminal related.  Later on,
however, it go out of hand -- and the FBI wanted taps on prominent citizens.
"We started doing people who had money.  How this information was used, I
couldn't tell you."

The January 29th "Newsday" said Draise had told investigators that among the
taps he rigged from 1972 to 1979 were several on lines used by Wren Business
Communications, a Bell competitor.  It seems that when Wren had arranged an
appointment with a potential customer, they found that Bell had just been there
without being called.  Wren's president is a ham radio operator, David
Stoner/K8LMB.

When spoken with, Dave Stoner said the following;

     "As far as I am concerned, the initial focus for all of this began
     with the FBI.  The FBI apparently set up a structure throughout the
     United States using apparently the security chiefs of the different
     Bell companies.  They say that there have been other cases in the
     United States like ours in Cincinnati but they have been localized
     without the realization of an overall pattern being implicated."

     "The things that ties this all together is if you go way back in
     history to the Hoover period at the FBI, he apparently got together
     with the AT&T security people.  There is an organization that I
     guess exists to this day with regular meetings of the security
     people of the different Bell companies.  This meant that the FBI
     would be able to target a group of 20 or 30 people that represented
     the security points for all of the Bell and AT&T connections in the
     United States.  I believe the key to all of this goes back to Hoover.
     The FBI worked through that group who then created the activity at
     the local level as a result of central planning."

     "I believe that in spite of the fact that many people have indicated
     that this is an early 70's problem -- that there is no disruption to
     that work to this day.  I am pretty much convinced that it is
     continuing.  It looks like a large surveillance effort that
     Cincinnati was just a part of."

     "The federal prosecutor Kathleen Brinkman is in a no-win situation.
     If she successfully prosecutes this case she is going to bring
     trouble down upon her own Justice Department.  She can't
     successfully prosecute the case."

About $200 million in lawsuits have already been filed against Cincinnati Bell
and the Police Department.  Several members of the police department have taken
the Fifth Amendment before the grand jury rather than answer questions about
their roles in the wiretapping scheme.

Bob Draise/WB8QCF has filed a suit against Cincinnati Bell for $78 for
malicious prosecution and slander in response to a suit filed by Cincinnati
Bell against Bob for defamation.  Right after they filed the suit, several
policemen came forward and admitted to doing illegal wiretaps with them.  The
Cincinnati police said they stopped this is 1974 -- although another policeman
reportedly said they actually stopped the wiretapping in 1986.

Now the CBS-TV program "60 Minutes" is interested in the Cincinnati goings-on
and has sent in a team of investigative reporters.  Ed Bradley from "60
Minutes" has already interviewed Bob Draise/WB8QCF and it is expected that
sometime during this month (April) April, we will see a "60 Minutes" report on
spying by the FBI.  We also understand that CNN, Ted Turner's Cable News
Network, is also working up a "Bugging of America" expose.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Crackdown On Hackers Urged                                        April 9, 1989
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Taken From the Chicago Tribune (Section 7, Page 12b)

            "Make Punishment Fit The Crime," computer leaders say.

DALLAS (AP) -- The legal system has failed to respond adequately to the threat
that hackers pose to the computer networks crucial to corporate America, a
computer expert says.

Many computer hackers "are given slaps on the wrist," Mark Leary, a senior
analyst with International Data Corp., said at a roundtable discussion last
week.

"The justice system has to step up...to the fact that these people are
malicious and are criminals and are robbing banks just as much as if they
walked up with a shotgun," he said.

Other panelists complained that hackers, because of their ability to break into
computer systems, even are given jobs, sometimes a security consultants.

The experts spoke at a roundtable sponsored by Network World magazine, a
publication for computer network users and managers.

Computer networks have become crucial to business, from transferring and
compiling information to overseeing and running manufacturing processes.

The public also is increasingly exposed to networks through such devices as
automatic teller machines at banks, airline reservation systems and computers
that store billing information.

Companies became more willing to spend money on computer security after last
year's celebrated invasion of a nationwide network by a virus allegedly
unleased by a graduate student [Robert Tappen Morris], the experts said.

"The incident caused us to reassess the priorities with which we look at
certain threats," said Dennis Steinaur, manager of the computer security
management group of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

But computer security isn't only a matter of guarding against unauthorized
entry, said Max Hopper, senior vice president for information systems as
American Airlines.

Hopper said American has built a "a Cheyenne mountain-type" installation for
its computer systems to guard against a variety of problems, including
electrical failure and natural disaster.  Referring to the Defense Department's
underground nerve center in a Colorado mountain, he said American's precautions
even include a three-day supply of food.

"We've done everything we can, we think, to protect the total environment,"
Hopper said.

Hopper and Steinaur said that despite the high-tech image of computer
terrorism, it remains an administrative problem that should be approached as a
routine management issue.

But the experts agreed that the greatest danger to computer networks does not
come from outside hackers.  Instead, they said, the biggest threat is from
disgruntled employees or others whose original access to systems was
legitimate.

Though employee screening is useful, Steinaur said, it is more important to
build into computer systems ways to track unauthorized use and to publicize
that hacking can be traced.

Steinaur said growing computer literacy, plus the activities of some
non-malicious hackers, help security managers in some respects.

Expanded knowledge "forces us as security managers not be dependent on
ignorance," Steinaur said.

"Security needs to be a part of the system, rather than a 'nuisance addition,'"
Steinaur said, "and we probably have not done a very good job of making
management realize that security is an integral part of the system."

IDC's Leary said the organization surveys of Fortune 1000 companies
surprisingly found a significant number of companies were doing little to
protect their systems.

The discussion, the first of three planned by Network World, was held because
computer sabotage "is a real problem that people aren't aware of," said editor
John Gallant.  Many business people sophisticated networks."

It also is a problem that many industry vendors are reluctant to address, he
said, because it raises questions about a company's reliability.

                        Typed For PWN by Hatchet Molly
_______________________________________________________________________________

Ex-Worker Charged In Virus Case -- Databases Were Alleged Target   Apr 12, 1989
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
by Jane M. Von Bergen (Philadelphia Inquirer)

A former employee was charged yesterday with infecting his company's computer
database in what is believed to be the first computer-virus arrest in the
Philadelphia area.

"We believe he was doing this as an act of revenge," said Camden County
Assistant Prosecutor Norman Muhlbaier said yesterday, commenting on a motive
for the employee who allegedly installed a program to erase databases at his
former company, Datacomp Corp. in Voorhees, New Jersey.

Chris Young, 21, of the 2000 block of Liberty Street, Trenton, was charged in
Camden County with one count of computer theft by altering a database.
Superior Court Judge E. Stevenson Fluharty released Young on his promise to pay
$10,000 if he failed to appear in court.  If convicted, Young faces a 10-year
prison term and a $100,000 fine.  Young could not be reached for comment.

"No damage was done," Muhlbaier said, because the company discovered the virus
before it could cause harm.  Had the virus gone into effect, it could have
damaged databases worth several hundred thousand dollars, Muhlbaier said.

Datacomp Corp., in the Echelon Mall, is involved in telephone marketing.  The
company, which has between 30 and 35 employees, had a contract with a major
telephone company to verify the contents of its white pages and try to sell
bold-faced or other special listings in the white pages, a Datacomp company
spokeswoman said.  The database Young is accused of trying to destroy is the
list of names from the phone company, she said.

Muhlbaier said that the day Young resigned from the company, October 7, 1988 he
used fictitious passwords to obtain entry into the company computer,
programming the virus to begin its destruction December 7, 1988 -- Pearl Harbor
Day.  Young, who had worked for the company on and off for two years -- most
recently as a supervisor -- was disgruntled because he had received some
unfavorable job-performance reviews, the prosecutor said.

Eventually, operators at the company picked up glitches in the computer system.
A programmer, called in to straighten out the mess, noticed that the program
had been altered and discovered the data-destroying virus, Muhlbaier said.
"What Mr. Young did not know was that the computer system has a lot of security
features so they could track it back to a particular date, time and terminal,"
Muhlbaier said.  "We were able to ... prove that he was at that terminal."
Young's virus, Muhlbaier said, is the type known as a "time bomb" because it is
programmed to go off at a specific time.  In this case, the database would have
been sickened the first time someone switched on a computer December 7, he said

Norma Kraus, a vice president of Datacomp's parent company, Volt Information
Sciences Inc, said yesterday that the company's potential loss included not
only the databases, but also the time it took to find and cure the virus.  "All
the work has to stop," causing delivery backups on contracts, she said.  "We're
just fortunate that we have employees who can determine what's wrong and then
have the interest to do something.  In this case, the employee didn't stop at
fixing the system, but continued on to determine what the problem was." The
Volt company, based in New York, does $500 million worth of business a year
with such services as telephone marketing, data processing and technical
support.  It also arranges temporary workers, particularly in the
data-processing field, and installs telecommunication services, Kraus said.
_______________________________________________________________________________

Mexico's Phone System Going Private?                             April 17, 1989
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
By Oryan QUEST (Special Hispanic Corespondent)

The Mexico Telephone Company, aka Telefonos de Mexico, aka Telmex, is likely to
go private in the next year or two.  The Mexican government is giving serious
consideration to selling its controlling interest in that nation's
communications network, despite very stiff opposition from the local unions
which would prefer to see the existing bureaucracy stay in place.

The proposed sale, which is part of a move to upgrade the phone system there --
and it *does* need upgrading -- by allowing more private investment, is part of
a growing trend in Mexico to privatize heretofore nationalized industries.

The Mexico Telephone Company has spent more than a year planning a $14 billion,
five-year restructuring plan which will probably give AT&T and the Bell
regional holding companies a role in the improvements.

One plan being discussed by the Mexican government is a complete break-up of
Telmex, similar to the court-ordered divestiture of AT&T a few years ago.
Under this plan, there would be one central long distance company in Mexico,
with the government retaining control of it, but privately owned regional firms
providing local and auxiliary services.

Representatives of the Mexican government have talked on more than one
occasion with some folks at Southwestern Bell about making a formal proposal.
Likewise, Pacific Bell has been making some overtures to the Mexicans.  It will
be interesting to see what develops.

About two years ago, Teleconnect Magazine, in a humorous article on the
divestiture, presented a bogus map of the territories assigned to each BOC,
with Texas, New Mexico and Arizona grouped under an entity called "Taco Bell."

Any phone company which takes over the Mexican system will be an improvement
over the current operation, which has been slowly deteriorating for several
years.

PS:  I *Demand* To Be Let Back On MSP!
_______________________________________________________________________________

