Mike Riddle <Mike.Riddle@iugate.unomaha.edu> (03/20/91)
Patrick:
A recent article asked about a potentially new urban legend. The
story was that a person used Caller*ID to locate a harassing caller
and was successfully sued for invasion of privacy.
A quick search on a legal database revealed no appellate litigation
other than the Pennsylvania case which has been discussed at length
previously. I did uncover the following story which suggests that, at
a minimum, the case did not arise in Florida, if anywhere. You will
note that the Flordia PSC was not scheduled to reach a decision on
Caller*ID until February 19th. That makes it unlikely that any case
has come to trial in Florida, and in my opinion that renders the
entire story suspect.
Not that it might not be a winner -- in Pennsylvania, at least, or in
another state with a strong state consititutional or statutory privacy
right.
I believe that one story from a three-month old paper is sufficiently
covered by fair use, particularly when posting to Usenet, so here is
the Florida Caller*ID saga as of December 31, 1990.
South Florida Business Journal;
Copyright South Florida Business Journal, Inc. 1990;
Business Dateline; Copyright (c) 1990 UMI/Data Courier
December 31, 1990
SECTION: Vol 11; No 19; Sec 1; pg 10
LENGTH: 865 words
HEADLINE: Regulatory Issues on the Telecomm Front Burner
BYLINE: David Sedore
DATELINE: FL; US
BODY:
Telecommunications executives may remember 1991, fondly or
otherwise, as the year of the regulator.
Among the issues that will be discussed, reviewed, legislated and
regulated before the Florida Public Service Commission, the Federal
Communications Commission, Congress and the courts during the upcoming
year:
* Caller ID;
* alternative access companies;
* rates for ISDN services;
* cable television transmission, manufacturing and research.
Of all the issues that will receive action next year, introduc-
tion of Caller ID without question has received the most atten- tion.
Its approval or rejection by the PSC won't have that much impact on
the overall industry, but it certainly will be among the most watched
decisions.
Southern Bell filed to introduce the service, which identifies the
originating telephone number of incoming calls, on Sept. 29, 1989. It
was little noticed at the time and seemed destined for quick approval.
The service exploded into a controversy last winter as some perceived
it as a threat to law enforcement and others a threat to privacy.
Southern Bell maintains the service will deter obscene and harassing
phone calls.
The PSC is due Feb. 19 to resolve whether or not the service should
be introduced, whether or not Southern Bell should offer customers the
ability to block it, and how to handle police and social service
agencies.
All sides are to issue briefs by Jan. 11; PSC staff is to write
recommendations by Feb. 12.
"This is going to be it, keep your fingers crossed," said Mark
Long, communications specialist with the PSC.
Of greater impact will be the issue of intraLATA access for long
distance companies. LATAs are lines that demark different regions for
telephone services.
The court ruling that broke up the monopoly of American Telephone
and Telegraph established these lines and gave local telephone
companies such as Southern Bell virtual local and long distance
monopolies within them.
Long said the PSC will be looking at the issue of granting long
distance companies such as U.S Sprint and MCI the same kind of access
to intraLATA long distance business as it does to interLATA business.
"With present technology, they say we're unable to do that now,
but that won't last forever," Long said.
"That will be a key issue, and just the fact that the PSC is
considering is a good indication," said Steven Raville, chief
executive officer of ATC-Microtel.
The matter is especially important locally because the LATA that
covers the South Florida market is the largest in the country and the
LATAs within the state generally are larger than in other states. That
means lots of traffic and a big new market to tap.
Bob Sells, a spokesman for Southern Bell, said a decision to open
up intraLATA traffic to the long distance companies would have an
impact on the local company. If it happens, then Southern Bell will
have to live with the decision and compete.
Southern Bell already has reduced its long distance rates
substantially in hopes of getting more volume. Sells said a three-
minute call from West Palm Beach to Miami used to cost 97 cents. Now
it costs 60 cents.
Other issues to be before the commission includes the treatment of
alternative access companies, which operate their own telephone cable
networks and provide direct access to long distance carriers. Long
said the PSC will review whether to certify them.
The PSC will look at rate structures for private lines, looking at
whether the rates charged are based on cost. It will also look at the
resale of the lines.
Information services, such as voice mail and 1-900 and 976
numbers could be before the PSC as well.
One issue likely not to see action is the deregulation on the
federal level of AT&T. Because of its historically strong position in
the market, dating back to its days as a telephone monopoly, the FCC
has maintained jurisdiction over rates AT&T charges for certain
services. Its competitors are not regulated.
One issue that might receive support is action either through the
courts or through Congress to allow the Bells to move into
manufacturing. Federal court Judge Harold Greene, when he broke up
AT&T's monopoly and created the seven regional Bells, including Bell
South, prohibited them from engaging in any kind of manufac- turing,
along with a host of other businesses.
A panel of telecommunications law experts who met in Boca Raton
earlier this year said that the restriction on manufacturing was the
most likely to be lifted in the near term.
Legislation could see the Bells getting into cable television.
Some see the companies, with their already established wire networks,
as natural competitors to local cable companies. Sells said any cable
operation would be set up as a separate business and would not be
cross-subsidized with revenue from monopoly operations.
New products expected to be introduced and spread widely include
video conferencing and store and forward faxing, Raville said.
"Telecommunications is going to be one of the few businesses in the
country that will not be as adversely affected by recession," Raville
said. "We're really countercyclical. We see telecommunications
taking place of travel."wah@zach.fit.edu (Bill Huttig) (03/25/91)
It is possibly a true story ... since FL did have a test of CLID in 1985 in the ORLANDO area. During the test they allowed free per call blocking. I hope they do when we get CLID.