Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ukma!rutgers!bellcore!texbell!killer!vector!telecom-gateway From: desnoyer@apple.com (Peter Desnoyers) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Calling Party ID Suspension Message-ID: Date: 14 Mar 89 01:28:43 GMT Sender: news@vector.UUCP Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA 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 87, message 2 of 7 In article telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) writes: >X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 86, message 4 of 4 > > [volumes of vehement verbiage concerning the lack of moral fiber and > general unworthiness of people who want to preserve their privacy when > they call, and a few gratuitous insults directed at the ACLU.] Why should it bother you if people are allowed to call you without reporting their number? Just program your phone to ignore those calls :-) More practically, I would note that providing the calling party ID provides no more and no less information than "tracing a call" - a dated phrase that does not accurately describe the process it identifies. (and hence is an ideal candidate to become legal language.) They are both inquiries, without specification of procedure, and return the same information, from the same source - that looks like good enough grounds for equivalence to convince me. If someone is making harassing phone calls, there is a service you can get today to allow you to trace numbers and report the call to the telco. (they charge for it, which they shouldn't) The point is that it exists to report harassing phone calls. Period. Not so some advertiser can get my number and sell a telemarketing list. Not so someone in Telecom knows everyone who calls me at work, and can distribute that information. Anyway, I think there are reasons that a law-abiding citizen might occasionally want to be able to call anonymously, although I can't think of one off the bat. There are also reasons why the rest of us might want to. (the IRS help line?) Mr. Townson is focusing on what he wants to do to other people, and not on what they want to do to him. Peter Desnoyers