Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: Rich Kulawiec Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Call-Screening Device About to Hit the Market Message-ID: <11636@accuvax.nwu.edu> Date: 2 Sep 90 15:04:29 GMT Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 89 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 615, Message 2 of 9 Excerpts from an article in the {Fort Collins Coloradoan}, Sunday 8/26/90: Duo Develops Phone Device - Owner can Choose Calls to Receive by J. Lewandowski No one should ever be bugged by nuisance phone calls, two Fort Collins businessmen believe. So Rob Day and Andy May are convinced people will pay $200 to stop unwanted calls. The two Fort Collins businessmen wlil soon be selling an answering machine-sized device that can stop incoming calls. They're so confident in their product that they expect to sell 500,000 of the electronic machines during the next twelve months. [...] The product, called Tess, plugs into into the phone just like an answering machine. It prevents the phone from ringing and only lets calls through from people you might wnat to talk to. Tess is an acronym for Telephone Exclusion Screening System. [...] Tess works like this: Users enter phone numbers from whom they'll accept calls -- up to 25 numbers can be programmed. The machine answers before the phone rings and asks the called to enter their number. If the machine doesn't recognize the number, a recorded message asks the caller to try again later. Approved numbers allow the phone to ring. [...] Telesync [the company the pair have formed] is now signing up a variety of national marketing companies to sell the product nationwide. And in what could be considered a case of entrepeneurial cannibalism, the bulk of sales in the first year will be done by -- get this -- telemarketing companies. "They'll call up and say 'how would you like this to be the last phone call at dinner you ever need to answer?'" May said. [...] -- end excerpts, begin comments -- There are a number of obvious problems with this system, and a few that aren't clear, at least from the text of the article. The caller's "number" isn't specified. Is it their phone number, or is it a unique N-digit number that must be told to each caller? If it's their phone number, then it could perhaps be deduced by someone with knowledge of the personal relationships involved, allowing an unauthorized person access. If it's only a few digits, then it could be found by trial and error. That deals with the problem of unauthorized folks gaining access; but what about folks who should be authorized but can't get in? The police and fire departments, for instance; the person who found your lost dog and is calling the number on the tag; a friend you haven't heard from in a while, etc. And with only 25 storable numbers, it seems like it would quickly be necessary to start giving multiple people the same number. Finally, their use of telemarketers to sell the device is one of the sleaziest tactics I've seen yet; it's reminiscent of the street types in certain large cities who run up to cars stopped at intersections and throw mud on the windshields -- and then offer to wash the car for a fee. Rsk [Moderator's Note: You'd have the device on your public, listed line. Your animal's tags would show your non-pub private number. And since this new device apparently does not distinquish one number from another, except that either it is listed in the table or not, you'd just program one number, i.e. 12345, and let it be known to the people you want calling your public number to insert that sequence on answer. If instead of merely saying 'call later' this device would transfer the call to an answering machine, that would be the best arrangement of all. This isn't really a new idea. A company called International Mobile Machines of Bala Cynwyd, PA had a similar product on the market about ten years ago. Why it did not become more popular, I do not know. Their model shunted unwanted calls to an answering machine. I bought one, then later sold it to a friend. PAT]