covert%covert.DEC@decwrl.dec.com (John R. Covert) (03/17/89)
[This letter is similar to my letter to the Mass DPU and Attorney General which appeared in V9#92. I have replaced identical portions with summaries in brackets. --jrc] 16 March 1989 Mr. Paul O'Brien President New England Telephone Company 185 Franklin Street Boston, Massachusetts 02110 New England Telephone has announced a new family of telephone features called CLASS. Many of these features provide useful enhancements to telephone service. I applaud the provision of the following services: - The ability to cause a call trace record to be generated by the telephone company for later use in apprehending persons making harrasing calls, - [Return call] - [Call block] - [Distinctive ringing] However, one additional feature is of significant concern: - The ability for any subscriber to obtain the number of the telephone which is currently calling. Today, if I call a New England Telephone operator and ask for the number I'm calling from, the operator will explain that that information is private and may not be revealed. Yet calling number identification will transmit that information to anyone I call. [Reveal only to law enforcement, obtain product info without being put on a follow-up sales call list, do not reveal office number to personal correspondents or home number to business correspondents.] A woman in a battered women's shelter may wish to call her children without making it possible for her husband to determine her location. Although she could go to a pay phone, the area code and first three digits of the pay phone will reveal her approximate location. My objection is not that the caller is being identified. I would not object if it were possible to display the name of the person actually placing the call (even when the call is being made from a phone listed in another name). My objection is that a number, not necessarily a number at which the caller wishes to receive calls, is automatically transmitted to the called party. [If provided at all, must be able to disable easily and at no additional cost.] Sincerely, John R. Covert