Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uwm.edu!lll-winken!telecom-request From: cyberoid@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Jacobson) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: My First Month of Caller ID in Atlanta Message-ID: Date: 23 Mar 91 00:56:03 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: Human Interface Technology Lab, Univ. of Wash., Seattle Lines: 16 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 233, Message 1 of 12 In response to the Moderator's question, Caller ID in New Jersey has a penetration of between three and ten percent, hardly an appealing marketshare for those planning various forms of universal databases based on telephone number IDs. Combined with the fact that New Jersey, grand as it is, does not constitute a broad geographical or demographic market (it's only about eight million people, of whom a third are children or retired without means), the NJ "experiment" is far too small to engender major abuses. What's needed is for a whole or a substantial part of an RBOC, combining several SMAs, to go Caller ID. Then we should see the information brokers at work! Bob Jacobson