Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!telecom-request From: john@mojave.ati.com (John Higdon) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Congressional Panels Okay Bills Against Caller*ID Message-ID: Date: 23 Jun 91 07:49:59 GMT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Organization: TELECOM Digest Lines: 41 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 482, Message 1 of 9 On Jun 22 at 19:47, TELECOM Moderator writes: > According to Representative Matthew Rinaldo (R-NJ) "The desire of > people to have privacy in their homes and not be intruded on by > unwanted calls is not as important as the right of people who wish to > make calls anonymously." What an interesting opinion. It would be laughable coming from anyone who did not have to power to create silly laws to enforce it. So now the right to be secure in your home and enjoy peace and tranquility takes a back seat to the right of someone who wishes to annoy and upset someone with anonymous calls? The reason for the state of our country is becoming clearer and clearer... And what if the ability to make anonymous calls had not been a default aspect of current telephone technology? Would there NOW be laws on the books to make it that way? Somehow I doubt it. It is the usual knee-jerk reaction to new technology. > And Senator Herbert Kohl (D-WI) noted, "People should have a right to > make phone calls anonymously and not have to say who they are." That is an interesting statement from someone who is an elected official in a government that has methodically and steadfastly REMOVED the privacy and anonymity of its citizens with the blatant overuse of the SSN, that employs federal "crime enforcement" that ignores actual Constitutional guarantees (the right to make anonymous calls is NOT Constitutionally protected), and that has otherwise intruded and meddled in the lives of people to the point of giving lie to the greatly touted liberty of US citizens. In essence, Congress should make NO laws concerning things technical. Whatever our elected representatives have knowledge of (damned if I can tell what it is), it certainly has nothing to do with technology. For every law that Congress passes that deals with telecommunications, it later ends up passing four more to attempt to undo the damage caused by the first. John Higdon (hiding out in the desert)