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From: trebor@lkbreth.foretune.co.jp (Robert J Woodhead)
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: Caller ID problems
Message-ID: <9270@lkbreth.foretune.co.jp>
Date: 15 Apr 91 08:01:20 GMT
References: <1991Apr12.140237.13950@menudo.uh.edu> <A483D2F@taronga.hackercorp.com>
Followup-To: alt.privacy
Organization: Foretune Co., Ltd.  Tokyo Japan
Lines: 38

peter@taronga.hackercorp.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>Just block caller-ID for that call. Why is it so hard to understand why people
>might want to do that? Legitimately.

I made a devious suggestion, in comp.dcom.telecom, to solve the whole problem
by letting people specify 1) how much they would pay for a caller's ID and
2) how much a caller wants in order for his ID to be released.  By making a
market out of the ID information, those who value their privacy can do just
that - VALUE their privacy.  And the phone company handles the $ transfer
between parties (and slices off a %).

So if you don't want to pay for caller's ID, set your phone to "offer" $0.00
for the ID.  And if you don't care who gets your ID, set your price to
$0.00.

The phone company should let you change your default price/offer (for a fee)
and change your price on a per call basis (free).  They could also allow
several pricing structures depending on the nature of the caller (eg: I
charge $0.00 for residential callers to get my ID, but $1.00 to local
businesses and $5.00 to out-of-area businesses).  And you should be able
to maintain a list of people/companies to whom you will release your number.

Another possible solution is that the phone company could alias "fake"
phone numbers to your phone number.  WHen you call, the caller gets a
consistant fake number (999-XXX-YYYY, say).  They can't call you back
but they CAN report this number to the phone company/cops in case of
trouble, and it can be traced, by the proper authorities, back to you.

In other words, it IDENTIFIES you without REVEALING your phone number.
I would expect that a lot of people would pay $5/month for such a service,
and considering that the phone company aliases 800 numbers anyway, it
probably wouldn't be that hard.

-- 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Robert J. Woodhead, Biar Games / AnimEigo, Incs.   trebor@foretune.co.jp |
| "The Force. It surrounds us; It enfolds us; It gets us dates on Saturday |
| Nights." -- Obi Wan Kenobi, Famous Jedi Knight and Party Animal.         |