Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!uwm.edu!linac!mp.cs.niu.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uicbert.eecs.uic.edu!uicvm!u21187
From: U21187@uicvm.uic.edu (John Schulien)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Caller ID problems
Message-ID: <91093.170757U21187@uicvm.uic.edu>
Date: 3 Apr 91 23:07:57 GMT
References: <1991Mar29.220816.8305@ima.isc.com>
 <1991Mar30.043415.7314@odin.corp.sgi.com> <13945@helios.TAMU.EDU>
 <1991Apr2.073825.7152@milton.u.washington.edu> <bw_gmhc@rpi.edu>
Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Lines: 33

Most of the complaints people seem to have with caller-ID revolve around the
fact that the system discloses your phone number, and therefore your identity.

Why not set up a system so that:

Instead of caller-ID displaying the phone number of the caller, have the box
display a *different* number which is unique to that phone number. The index
between actual phone numbers and caller-id numbers would be maintained by the
telco, and a court order would be required to release entries from the index.

You could call someone without revealing your phone number or identity.

If you got an obscene phone call, you would report the caller-id number to
the police, who would identify the caller via the telco database.

You could program your phone to block calls

You could program your phone to display names when certain ID's appear on
your phone. i.e. Callerid "X265937424" --> "Mom & Dad", so you could use
the system to screen calls.

You could program your phone to direct certain calls to your answering machine

I'd be pretty comfortable with a system like this. Does this sound like a
good compromise?

- jms

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
John Schulien   (U21187@UICVM.UIC.EDU or U21187@UICVM.BITNET)
The University of Illinois At Chicago   ICBM: 41 52 N 87 40 W
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Amalgamated Interkludge       Solutions that work for a while