Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!netsys!vector!telecom-gateway From: heiby@mcdchg.chi.il (Ron Heiby) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Calling Line Identification Restriction (CLIR) Message-ID: Date: 28 Mar 89 23:42:58 GMT Sender: news@vector.UUCP Reply-To: Ron Heiby Organization: Motorola Microcomputer, Schaumburg, IL Lines: 71 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 116, message 2 of 5 I've been trying to stay out of this whole thing, but can't any longer. Fred R. Goldstein dtn226-7388 (goldstein%delni.DEC@decwrl.dec.com) writes: [much interesting things about CLID/CLIR] > There's also > provision for a User-Provided Number as well as the Network-Provided > Number. If I infer correctly, "User-Provided Number" would let me ID as a different number than that from which I was *really* calling. If so, this would be perfect for my situation. I have two phone numbers in my home. Line A is an unlisted number and the one my wife and I use "all the time" for placing calls and for receiving calls from friends and relatives. Line B is a listed number that rings in my "office" downstairs. During the day, an answering machine picks up. At night, my computer picks up. (It's not a BBS, BTW.) When we are asked to put our phone number on checks or (of all things) credit card slips, we put the Line B number on. Likewise, any sales people, contests, etc. I see the default mode for Line B as "send normal ID" and the default mode for Line A as "ID as Line B". Basically, I care little whether some sales type has the Line B number, as my answering machine allows me to screen calls there. Plus, anyone I really want to talk with knows the real Line A number, anyway. > BTW, there are reasons why you definitely might want a business to > know your number. [example] It's fairly obvious that this approach would satisfy such needs. I believe I saw one message whose author believed that just having someone's phone number would not get you name/address information. This (of course) is wrong. "Reverse" directories have been around for quite a while. I *am* concerned about the potential others have stated for combining the ID information with various demographic or history information. Getting back to basics, it seems to me that the ID feature is being touted as being of use to private citizens to allow them to know who is calling them. It is also clear to me that the greatest potential for abuse of the feature comes from individuals calling businesses who may make "undesired" use of the ID information. The simplest way to avoid this whole potential for abuse is to not make caller ID available to business lines. Residence customers could still get the ID, but when they call a business, they have their privacy. (Of course, it might all be a scam and the *real* reason for all this *is* to provide better service to business customers.) There is still potential for abuse by people with "residence" service, but this can easily be handled by the options that Fred outlines. One that hasn't been mentioned (as far as I know) involves unlisted phone numbers. Right now, if I pick up a phone (maybe my own, in my own home) and call the operator and ask to be told the phone number from which I'm calling, I will be told that the information cannot be given out. This is to protect the owner of the line from someone (repair person (e.g. appliance), baby-sitter, etc) from being able to find out my unlisted phone number from the operator. It's important to some people to be able to prevent someone from being able to pick up the phone and easily determine its number (like by calling a friend and having friend read off the ID). Also, I don't think anyone has mentioned the fact that large areas of the country, served by old switches are not likely to be *able* to report an ID. Can we assume that all "no ID" calls are not from such areas? If I call XX, it should be my choice whether to ID or not. When XX's phone rings, it should be his choice whether to answer or not. Whether XX chooses to use my choice as part of the basis for his is his business. Either or both of us my have important reasons for choosing as we do. -- Ron Heiby, heiby@mcdchg.chi.il.us Moderator: comp.newprod "Life is indeed an inexplicable sequence of imponderable surprises."