home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Xref: sparky sci.electronics:21213 alt.cyberpunk:6777
- Newsgroups: sci.electronics,alt.cyberpunk
- Path: sparky!uunet!psinntp!newstand.syr.edu!rodan.acs.syr.edu!lruppert
- From: lruppert@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Dahr--The Beastmaster)
- Subject: Re: Caller ID block?
- Message-ID: <1992Dec19.163455.18085@newstand.syr.edu>
- Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
- References: <DqTsVB5w165w@cybrspc.UUCP> <1992Dec16.054235.13775@mtu.edu> <BzD8s8.E0n@ns1.nodak.edu>
- Date: Sat, 19 Dec 92 16:34:54 EST
- Lines: 63
-
- In article <BzD8s8.E0n@ns1.nodak.edu> csmith@plains.NoDak.edu (Carl Smith) writes:
- >Just because we haven't had it doesn't mean we don't deserve it.
- >
- >People say that caller id is an invasion of privacy. I say that everytime
- >my phone rings it is an invasion of MY privacy. The act of my answering the
- >phone or not, and what the other party might hear in the background, could
- >potentially reveal all sorts of info about myself that I might wish to keep
- >private. In the past that was just the price we paid for the convenience of
- >the telephone. In my opinion, in return the caller OWES it to me to reveal
- >who they are.
- >
- >Here's a similar scenario. Suppose my doorbell rings. I can look though
- >the peep hole and see who it is. If the person on the other side is
- >carrying a case that says "Handy Dandy Brush Sales," or I just don't like
- >their looks, I can choose to not open the door. Also, if you knocked on
- >the door and someone said "Who's there?" and you refused to answer, could
- >you actually expect them to open the door?
- >
- >This all parallels caller id quite nicely. If I don't recognize your number
- >I won't answer the phone, just like I won't answer the door if I don't like
- >the looks of the person on the other side. And if you call with your ID
- >blocked, I wouldn't even consider answering the phone, just like it would
- >be totally out of the question to open the door to someone who refused to
- >answer when I said "Who's there?"
- >
-
- Not Exactly. It is more parallel to seeing the other person's address, not
- their identity. You wouldn't see "Handy Dandy Brush Sales", you'd see
- "1517 Route 681, Syracuse NY". When you see the address, you wouldn't know
- who it was unless you were to know that person very very well. If the
- person wanted to block their number, it may be because they don't know you
- well enough to give it to you. It is the same thing with caller ID. You
- might need to call someone to arrange a business deal, or a meeting, but you
- don't know them well enough to trust them with you phone number because, for
- all you know, this person may be dangerous. They could just call from a
- payphone once they knew your number, and get past your clever little filter.
- Calling from a payphone would be analogous to having a motel address
- displayed at the door of my previous example. However, there is a big
- difference between the door example and the phone. If you let in someone
- you don't know, they can kill you, beat you, rape you, or steal from you.
- If you answer the phone from a blocked number, the most they can do is make
- immature panting noises, or other phone harrassment, in which case you call
- the Telephone Co. or the police, and they handle it. It can be argued that
- someone calling you could find out a few things about you from calling, but
- those things (family members, your gender, perhaps what TV program you are
- watching) would only be useful to someone if they knew your address, and it
- would be extremely unlikely that they'd find something useful in the few
- seconds that it would take for you to say, "I'm sorry, I don't know you.
- Please call back without the number block <click>." 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.
-
-
- Louis Ruppert.
-
-
-
-
-