From: csmith@plains.NoDak.edu (Carl Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk,sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Caller ID block?
Date: 19 Dec 92 05:02:10 GMT
Article-I.D.: ns1.BzHpzM.DJw
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network

In article <1992Dec18.202226.16908@lunatix.uucp> chelf@lunatix.uucp (Chad Helfenberger) writes:
>First of all, I'd like to apologize for my childish msg.  I had something 
>stuck up my ..  I'm sure I deserve some flames, but that's the way the ball 
>bounces.

It's nice to see something like this on the net.  Most people wouldn't
bother...  I suppose I might have a little too hot with my reply, but
it is easy to flame over the net...

[this message is getting long, so I believe I will do some editing]
>
>In article <BzF8y9.CIL@ns1.nodak.edu> csmith@plains.NoDak.edu (Carl Smith) writes:
>>>>
>>>You say EVERYTIME the phone rings, it is invasion of your privacy.  Let me 
>>>guess.  But ONLY if it is someone you don't want to talk to?  Right?  I 
>>>figured so. 
>>
>>I NEVER SAID ANYTHING OF THE KIND. 
>
>Ok. ok.  You're ABSOLUTELY right.  For the record, you NEVER said that.  I 
>was just guessing what I felt you probably thought.  Also, I should have 
>refrained from tacking on, 'Right?  I figured so.'.  

Yeah, it was that part that bugged me.  If you had left that off I would
have taken it as a simple question, and I would have had the simple
answer, "no."  :)

>>>then there must 
>>>be some sort of protocol which will be followed by called parties and 
>>>calling parties.  WHY in the HELL would you want to give out your number to 
>>>anyone you called?  
>
>>When caller ID is available I will GLADLY give my number out to anyone I
>>call, with the idea that they will do the same for me when they call.
>
>If you WANT to give your phone number out to anyone you call, I suggest you 
>either subscribe to, or start reading Risks Digest.  It's not in your best 
>interest to give your number to any business, OR person you call.  
[example deleted]

I see you point here.  I was just pushing my views to the extreme to make
my point.  But, I would probably let my number go to almost everyone I
call.  The only common situation that I would probably block my ID is when
I am calling businesses to ask about their products.  If they had my 
number then they could call back to ask why I didn't buy their product.
But, then again, after one call I would put them in the "KILL" list
of numbers...  And, of course there will be an occasional odd situation
where I might want to block id...

>I should have elaborated on the 'protocol' issue I brought up.  I will do so 
>now.  If I call a business/person, I should have the right to block my 
>number from that business or person.  If the business person does not choose 
>to accept my call, fine and dandy.  I can either call back with my 
>unprotected number, or I can just go to a payphone.  Either is fine with me.  
>This is what I meant by a 'protocol'.  

That's exactly the way I feel.  You have every right to block your ID.
And I have every right to not answer blocked calls.  It is then up to
you to decide if talking to me is important enough to not block or to
use a payphone.  What I don't like are people who think I OWE it to 
them to answer their calls, blocked or not...

>In light of your new clarification, I can say, yes, the above example is 
>quite realistic.  However, what I don't understand is this:  Are you so 
>pressed for time that you can't pick up the phone and listen for a few 
>seconds to determine that it is an unwanted caller, and simply hang-up on 
>them?  Weighing the two sides of Caller ID, I'd say that the preservation of 
>privacy ranks much higher than a few seconds saved by not answering the 
>phone.

Well, actually I would probably not just refuse to answer blocked calls
or ID's I don't recognize.  When I get caller ID I plan on building a
machine that lets numbers in my "important" list, and calls that are
reported as out of service area ring thorough during the day.  At night,
when I am trying to get a good nights sleep, all calls not in my
"important" list go to the answering machine.  Blocked ID calls would
go to the answering machine any time of day.  The only thing I would
worry about is emergency calls at night from phones not in the 
"important" list.

>>Without caller id I HAVE NO CHOICE but to reveal the hypothetical private
>>information.  If I don't want to miss important calls, I have to answer
>>ALL calls.
>
>You have to answer ALL calls if you don't want to miss an important one 
>anyway.  If the number on your CNID box is one which you don't recognize, 
>how do you know that it's not important?  It could be the hospital calling t 
>osay that a loved one has been in a bad accident.  You simply cannot gauge 
>the priority (or importance) of a call by the number someone is calling 
>from.

Well, my last message was rather long, so I didn't talk about how I was
going to build the smart call screener.  During the day I would leave
the volume on my answering machine high, and have the ID system let the
first ring through to the phone.  When I hear the ring I could listen 
to the answering machine and if it was an emergency call I could pick it
up.  At night the ID system wouldn't let the phone ring, if it did then
there would be no point, as all calls would bother me at night anyway.i
In that case I wouldn't get the emergency call untill I listened to the
answering machine messages.  That is the only problem I have thought of 
yet, and I don't know what the solution would be.  Perhaps a message to 
press a certain touch tone if the call is a REAL EMERGENCY.  The phone
would then ring as many times as the caller wants.  But then I would 
have to put up with salesman who think selling me their product qualified 
as an emergency...  So, it's not perfect, what what is?

I agree that simply putting an ID display on the line and not answering
numbers that you don't know could cause you to miss quite a few
important calls.

But, as a whole, I think the advantages of caller id FAR OUTWEIGH, the
few disadvantages.
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk