Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Christopher Davis Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Speech on Telephone Privacy (Really Caller-ID once again) Message-ID: <2007@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 9 Dec 89 15:56:55 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Reply-To: Christopher Davis Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 44 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 9, Issue 565, message 3 of 5 >>>>> On 6 Dec 89 07:43:01 GMT, jgd@rsiatl.uucp (John G. De Armond) said: > Dammit, my phone exists for MY and my family's convenience and use. > No stranger has any more right to invade my privacy electronically > than they do barging through my front door. Not answering the phone > is NOT an answer. Aside from being driven from a service I pay for, > tragedy can happen by ignoring emergency calls. I found out the hard > way when I was a teenager. I got to spend the night in jail on a bum > bust because my parents were not answering the phone that night. That > we later had that cop's ass handed to us on a silver platter was no > consolation for having to spend a hellish night in a city jail. > I insist, no, I demand that a ring on the phone is either someone I > want to talk to or is an emergency. [...] Thank you, Mr. De Armond, for one of the strongest arguments *in favor* of Caller-ID. Presumably you'll have a better idea if you want to talk to someone if you know their phone number before you pick up the phone... > All caller ID will do is allow slime to discover my phone number more > readily. Depends on who you call; I'd like to note that telesalescreeps managed to find my second line even though Caller-ID was [obviously] not available at that point. (The line was data only, which was always fun; nobody called on that line except salescreeps and folks who I'd asked to call back on that line to free up the main line... that gave me license to just turn on the auto-answer modem much of the time. Ah, sweet revenge.) > Hmm, instead of getting mad, perhaps I should take advantage of the > entraprenural opportunity. Hey guys, how do you think a commercial > automatic redialing service would fly. You know, you dial an access > number to get a dial tone and your call is routed out over the service's > line. You think that this service coupled with an iron-clad contract > to never collect or release calling information would fly? I do. Go for it. Just don't expect me to answer the phone if I don't recognize your number--I'll punt to the answering machine, which is what I do without Caller-ID. Christopher Davis, BU SMG '90