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Alternageek Episode 37: Privacy, Liabilities and Vulnerabilities

techmonkey — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:09:58 +0000

In this week’s episode, CodeNinja is back as a guest host. We talk about Charter ISP injecting ads, online harassment bringing EU to propose social networking privacy regulations, ongoing Twitter issues, Summize – Twitter search, touchscreen kit for the EEE PC and the Debian OpenSSL vulnerability.

Click here to download this episode in OGG formatAlternaGeek.com Podcast, Episode 37 for the week of June 2nd, 2008 – Featuring Linuxchic, TechMonkey and guest host CodeNinja.

Alternageek Episode 33: Twitter Recommends Topics

techmonkey — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:00:42 +0000

In this week’s episode, we took a little different approach and put out a tweet on Twitter asking for suggestions on show topics. We took the topics that were suggested and went right into recording. We talk about insects, the Twitter Color War, SideKick 3 issues, getting yourself a virtual Chumby, CommonCraft – Explainations in Plain English, criminalizing wifi leeching, Quotably – Follow Twitter Conversations and we also touch on Ubuntu 8.04 beta, crockpots and the George Foreman iGrill.Links:

Click here to download this episode in OGG formatAlternaGeek.com Podcast, Episode 33 for the week of March 24th, 2008Featuring Linuxchic & TechMonkey

T-Mobile Acknowledges Misinformation

linuxchic — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:37:39 +0000

Final statement from T-Mobile regarding why their internal departments said the Twitter was service indeed blocked:From: Media Relations to Christa C date Dec 17, 2007 7:15 PMmailed-by t-mobile.comChrista,The initial information provided was misinformed. T-Mobile and Twitterconfirmed the technical systems issue as the cause and resolved asquickly as possible so our customers could continue to connect using theservice.T-Mobile USA, Inc.Manager, Public Relations

What we have here is a failure to communicate

linuxchic — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:32:24 +0000

If you haven’t heard about the whole Twitter v. T-Mobile drama over the weekend, you might be living under a rock. In case you are, you can read it on previous posts here at Alternageek or go Google it for the details but basically:

T-Mobile and Twitter shortcodes did not get along.
Customers contacted support, were told over the phone it was blocked.
Customers contacted the T-Mobile customer relations department via email.
T-Mobile sent out canned we-are-blocking-it-get-over-it-or leave response.
Twitter confirmed the block.
The blogosphere & Twitter users pulled out their torches and pitchforks and called T-Mobile nasty names such as”AT&T”.
Twitter said hold up, it’s a technical issue.
Twitter said everything works again.

I emailed the T-Mobile Sidekick Technical department and the Media Relations department on Friday. Today I had a response from each in my inbox. The responses are humorous so I will include them here for your entertainment:First off we have technical support. Make sure you note the standard we-are-blocking-it line in bold:

Customer Care Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 11:51 AMTo: linuxchic@alternageek.comDear Christa,Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. We understand you are having difficulties using a text messaging (SMS) short code on your Sidekick . We know how important it is to be able to use short codes on our Sidekick, and we appreciate how frustrating this must be for you, however please be assured we will be more than happy to assist with your issue.Christa, we are very sorry to read you are unable to use the short code 40404, so please let us review this with you.This is a third part service not supported by T-Mobile, so the code may not work for you. There will be a full phone number associated with the short code, so perhaps twitter can provide you with this. Twitter is not an authorized third-party service provider, and therefore you are not able to utilize service from this provide any longer.Christa, We apologize for any inconvenience that this issue may have caused you.We hope we have addressed all of your questions and concerns, however if you have further issues please let us know.We would like to remind you that you have free access to My T-Mobile, our Web site just for T-Mobile customers. You can manage your account nline, anytime, at no charge, just browse to https://my.t-mobile.com/Login/Default.aspxThank you for taking the time to write to us Christa, and we thank you or being a loyal T-Mobile customer since XXXXXXXXX.If you have any further comments, questions, or concerns about this issue, or any other matter, feel free to contact us at anytime via mail, or by calling 1-800-937-8997, or 611 from any T-Mobile handset.Sincerely,Gary Technical Care SpecialistT-Mobile USA

Now we have a response from Media Relations. Apparently they are politicians and have no problem blaming anything or anyone as long as they don’t have to take responsibility. Once again, note the bolded comments (my markings, not theirs)

Media Relations Mon, Dec 17, 2007 at 2:55 PMTo: Christa C Christa,Twitter users are welcome to stay connected through T-Mobile service. Rumors that T-Mobile blocks the service are false. T-Mobile confirmed with Twitter that there was a technical issue between the two companies’ systems that temporarily prevented some customers from utilizing the service this past weekend. That issue has since been resolved and the companies are working to prevent such incidents from re-occurring.Regards,T-Mobile USA, Inc.Public Relations

Apparently the two departments don’t speak to each other. They are trying to make nice nice by saying they heart Twitter users but still are unable to take responsibility that their own emails are the ones that are creating the rumors. Seriously, tell your people to stop including that line!! I have invited Media Relations to clear up the misunderstanding through Alternageek but I can’t tell you if they will take me up on it.Enough humor and politics for the day, back to doing something worthwhile.

Twitter reports all is well on the home front

linuxchic — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 02:16:40 +0000

The latest post from Twitter on their blog states:“Update (12/15 4:30p): We’ve received word this issue has been resolved. We’ll continue to watch closely and let you know if anything changes. “Earlier today Twitter reported that the issue with T-Mobile users not being able to send or receive updates via SMS was appearing to be a technical issue between the company that handles the SMS technology for Twitter and T-Mobile. This was a hard road travelled because prior to that update even Twitter was confirming that T-Mobile was blocking communications between customers on the carrier and the web 2.0 service. One question still remains, why did T-Mobile continue to issue email communication to their customers that they were indeed blocking the Twitter short code and why did they treat their customers so poorly?I have heard from many T-Mobile customers prior to today that they chose T-Mobile because of their excellent customer service as well as their forward thinking in the mobile industry. They were one of the first mobile carriers to sign on with Google’s Android open mobile platform, they are already utilizing VoIP technologies and recently rolled out the T-Mobile Hotspot @Home service which allows customers to use approved wifi networks to make calls thus avoiding cell phone minute charges. Once the Twitter/T-Mobile SMS outages were discovered and confirmed, the response they issued was not only shocking but seemed to be completely against their prior service offerings and initiatives. This communication was not an isolated occurrence as it began popping up all over the blogosphere as more customers contacted the company and were issued the same canned response.Thankfully it appears that the technical difficulties between the Twitter SMS short code and T-Mobile’s network have been resolved and all Twitter’s loyal users may resume using their phones to update their accounts in 140 characters or less. What remains to be seen is how T-Mobile will respond to the backlash from the initial communications that were released from the president’s office. While Twitter users are relieved to have their service back they are still shocked and angry about how little their patronage means to their cellphone provider who’s slogan is “Stick Together”.

T-Mobile blocks Twitter?

linuxchic — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:30:40 +0000

Post last updated at 12/14/07 9:17 PM CSTAfter several days of no Twitter SMS service I contacted T-Mobile customer support. After the standard technical support for my phone (even though ALL phones on my account are denied access to Twitter SMS via 40404) I was told that they would NOT open a ticket as they don’t support SMS to that number. A friend of mine was told they are actively blocking Twitter SMS because they do not have a contract with Twitter. Of course, I don’t know what the truh is at this point since I had to explain what a short code was and what Twitter was. If they are blocking Twitter I have a problem with this on several levels:1) To block a certain number is like saying we are going to stop you from calling dear old Grandma because she is on AT&T.2) My unlimited text messaging plan is not unlimited if I am blocked from sending to anyone that is not “partnered” with T-Mobile.I have sent a request for confirmation or explanation to T-Mobile’s media relations department. If you are on T-Mobile, I recommend you contact them as well. Hopefully this is a misunderstanding or technical issue with their SMS gateway and will be resolved (or explained) soon. I have sent a message to Twitter support as well. I will update with more info as I get it.Update I still have not received a response from T-Mobile although Twitter has posted that they are working on the issue. I was able to reactivate my cell with Twitter a few minutes ago and am receiving messages from Twitter on it as of this minute. I am still receiving errors when I send an update to 40404.A friend contacted T-Mobile via email and has posted the response on his blog, part of which reads:“Twitter is not an authorized third-party service provider, and therefore you are not able to utilize service from this provide any longer.”My Nagios server isn’t an authorized third-party service provider either does that mean I can’t get SMS alerts from it? C’mon now, lets be serious! It then continues with more excellent customer service: “T-Mobile would like to bring to your attention that the Terms and Conditions of service, to which you agreed at activation, indicate “… some Services are not available on third-party networks or while roaming. We may impose credit, usage, or other limits to Service, cancel or suspend Service, or block certain types of calls, messages, or sessions (such as international, 900, or 976 calls) at our discretion.” Therefore, T-Mobile is not in violation of any agreement by not providing service to Twitter. T-Mobile regrets any inconvenience, however please note that if you remain under contract and choose to cancel service, you will be responsible for the $200 early termination fee that would be assessed to the account at cancellation.”Ok, that is really crappy. The responder is Marianne Maestas of the Executive Customer Relations department at T-Mobile. If you are a T-Mobile customer I would suggest that you let them know that this just isn’t acceptable. You can call them at800-937-8997 or email the CEO’s office at rdotson@t-mobile.com. Even if you AREN’T a T-Mobile customer, call them and tell them you never want to be a customer based on the fact that they censor your service.Update 12/14/07 9:17 PM CST: Biz Stone of Twitter has confirmed that they are seeing the block from T-Mobile at Get Satisfaction. Wow, this can’t be good PR for a company that has signed on with Google on Android and is saying they are supporting an open platform. Guess they don’t mind the open platform, just not open service. What will this mean for the third party apps, will they even work on the T-Mobile network?