Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Calling Party ID Suspension Message-ID: Date: 13 Mar 89 06:11:23 GMT Sender: news@vector.UUCP Lines: 36 Approved: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.uucp X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 86, message 4 of 4 Yes, it was in the [Chicago Tribune] on Sunday. It really makes me sick to think about the whiners and complainers who feel they are somehow entitled to invade *my privacy* anytime they please by making phone calls anonymously; that you or I have no right to know who is calling us before we answer the phone. A group calling itself the American 'Civil Liberties' Union has also entered the controversy, saying that persons engaged in (what are alleged to be) illegal activities using the telephone would be forced in effect to give testimony against themselves when their phone number is revealed to their victim(s). Next thing you know, the ACLU and others will want to outlaw peepholes in the front door of your home on the theory you have no right to know ahead of time who has come to visit you. What of the rights of computer system administrators harassed by phreaks? What of the rights of people who get anonymous, harassing phone calls in the middle of the night? Well, so what! Phreaks and weirdos get more rights in this country than the rest of us. What truely makes me gag -- puts me on the verge of the dry heaves -- by this stupid court order is that someone managed to convince the judge -- a know-nothing where telecom is concerned -- that announcing the identity of a caller when putting through a connection was tantamount to 'tracing a call'. If the secretary in my office asks who is calling before she puts through a call to me, are we to now assume she is in violation of the law? The Call ID equipment is nothing more or less than an automated version of a human person asking a caller 'who are you? what is your call about?' So much for the privacy rights of the rest of us. Where people get the idea they should be able to hide behind their phone is beyond me. Naturally, rebuttal messages will be printed. Patrick Townson