From: BrianW@SoundS.WA.com (Brian Willoughby)
Subject: Couldn't control my own phone (Re: Caller ID block?)
Reply-To: BrianW@SoundS.WA.com
Organization: SoundSoftware, Bellevue, WA, USA
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 09:24:52 GMT

Dahr--The Beastmaster writes
| ... Another major difference
| between the telephone and answering the door, is that if you find someone
| offensive in any way on the phone, you just hang up, and *poof*  they're 
| gone until they try calling back later.  What I'm trying to say is that
| you're comparing apples and oranges.  Yes, they're both fruits, but the 
| similarity stops there.  If you know all of the people you'd ever want to 
| know, I imagine that the block filter would be a wonderful thing, but beyond
| that, it seems that it would be more of a problem than an aid.

Well, it wasn't as simple as "*poof* they're gone" for me!

Have you ever experienced the angry, ex-partner (of someone just _visiting_  
your home) calling incessantly as fast as they can with redial?  That is the  
response I got to an initially calm request to please not call again, followed  
by an angry command not to call ever, followed by instantly hanging up the  
receiver (which was still in my hand from the previous call) without so much as  
hearing who was at the other end.  I couldn't just let the phone ring, because  
the answering machine was already full of profanity.  I had never even met this  
person!  Unplugging all the phones in several rooms didn't seem like much fun  
because I would have to remember to plug them all back in.  And the police have  
no jurisdiction with out of state callers...

My only way out of this was to program my computer to dial another local  
computer line with call-waiting disabled (and then occupy myself with UseNet  
for a few hours), but due to the annoying behavior of the person I was trying  
to avoid, it took a few minutes of quick finger work to even control the use of  
my own phone.  You cannot dial out unless you go off hook, and this person was  
redialing so fast I nearly didn't have a chance to go off hook without  
answering a call (which prevents dial out, of course).

I would have preferred to just enter the calling number into my computer so  
that it would generate a "special" message to that particular caller without  
ringing my phone.  I did not enjoy losing my voice communication link with my  
friends, but that was the only way to take control.

To this date, every time my phone rings once or twice and then stops; or the  
caller hangs up as soon as I say "hello" (or even before); I wonder if it is  
that same person.  With CNID, I would have a damn good idea, because the guilty  
party lives in Alabama, where I personally have no friends or business  
contacts.  Even from a payphone, borrowed phone, or new address (within a  
reasonable travelling distance), I could prove my case of harassment against  
this person based upon the area code.  As it stands, I don't know whether one  
of those Washington slugs is shorting out my phones lines to make them ring  
temporarily (I know this is impossible, but I'm referring to possible phone  
system glitches), or if the fact that I am often needlessly bothered by a  
ringing phone is a legitimate case of harassment.
-- 
Brian Willoughby	Software Design Engineer, BSEE NCSU
BrianW@SoundS.WA.com	Sound Consulting and Signal Processing Software
NeXTmail welcome	- NO EMAIL SOLICITATION without prior permission
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk