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From: das@cs.ucla.edu (David A Smallberg)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: What the 911 Operator Knows
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Date: 21 Jan 91 18:32:51 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 57, Message 3 of 12


Apparently, not everyone knows that the 911 operator knows where
you're calling from: a man in Calabasas (southwest San Fernando
Valley, Los Angeles) phoned 911 to warn of a bomb on a flight 750 to
the Middle East (there's no such flight on any airline from the L.A.
area, as it turns out).  He called from a private home, and was still
there when the police arrived!  I wonder what percentage of the
population does not know how much the 911 operator knows.

For that matter, in areas where Caller ID has been available for a
while, have there been any surveys of how many people ignored all the
advertising and are still unaware that the number they're calling from
is available to the callee?  How long will it take for this knowledge
to spread to, say, 95% of the people?

I suppose this is similar to the time when automatic exchanges started
appearing.  How long did it take for 95% of the population in those
areas to realize that you could call someone without their being able
to readily check where you're calling from, since there was no
operator to ask?


David Smallberg, das@cs.ucla.edu, ...!{uunet,ucbvax,rutgers}!cs.ucla.edu!das


[Moderator's Note: When 911 service first started here in Chicago many
years ago, replacing POLice 5 1313 and FIRe 7 1313 as the emergency
numbers, considerable publicity was given to the fact that the
dispatchers would know who you were and where you were calling from. A
suit by the ACLU to stop 911 service here (as an invasion of the
privacy of the caller to the police) failed, and in the process, the
publicity went on for so long you'd have thought *everyone* would know
 ... yet on opening day a mousy little man turned in a phalse alarm
and when the police knocked on his door he was surprised, to say the
least. In court, he wrung his hands and said he didn't know those
calls could be 'traced' ... "well you do now," bellowed the judge as
he handed him a $500 fine. 911 here has cut phalse fire and police
calls down to almost nothing. Prior to 911 firemen were getting a
couple dozen 'mistaken citizen trying to help' (their euphemism) calls
daily. Despite the extensive PR, most folks do not know about Caller
ID yet or 'call screening', the service I find very useful.  PAT]