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From: nvuxr!deej@bellcore.bellcore.com (David Lewis)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Speech on Telephone Privacy
Message-ID: <1853@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 5 Dec 89 16:13:45 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 554, message 3 of 11


All in all a very interesting article, and I add my thanks to David
Gast for submitting it to the Digest.

Although I tend to disagree with some of the content... and while I
was trying to figure out why, I realized that the central theme of Mr.
Rotenberg's comments is.

"(Calling Number Delivery) compels the disclosure of personal
information, without the consent of the caller.  This is at the heart
of information privacy and the reason that so many civil libertarians
and consumer advocates are concerned about the service."

Given that, the rest of the arguments tend to flow.  There is a basic
assumption here that Mr. Rotenburg doesn't address, though:

  Is a telephone number "personal information"?  Or is it corporate
  information belonging to the telephone company?

I don't have an answer, of course (but I smell a Ph.D. thesis...)

I will offer some possibilities for discussion, though.

What exactly is "personal information"?  Name?  Blood type?  Is there
some common thread that distinguishes "personal information" from
other types of information?

If the telephone company wanted to change your phone number, would you
be able to get a restraining order preventing them from doing so?  The
telephone companies, after all, have changed people's telephone
numbers in the past and will continue to do so -- ask anyone whose
number used to be 312-NXX-XXXX and is now 708-NXX-XXXX.  If a second
party can change information, is that information "personal"?


I do agree very strongly with Mr. Rotenberg's second recommendation --
involving privacy advocates, public advocates, and so on in the
process of defining new services.  (And, presumably, getting 'em to
sign non-disclosure agreements wouldn't be a problem... :-))

 
David G Lewis					...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej
	(@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center)
			"If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."