thant@horus.esd.sgi.com (Thant Tessman) (04/03/91)
The post by Hans Lachman pointed out everything I would have wanted to except for the following: In article <1991Mar31.143128.785@darwin.ntu.edu.au>, mcnab_pd@darwin.ntu.edu.au writes: > The problem with any argument in favour of copyrighting "Telelphone ID" is > that, for the most part, all the information in it is in the public domain. > Your name, address and phone number are in the telephone directory. [...] There is no reason even this stuff should be "public domain" information. The only way it managed to be treated as such is because phone service isn't the result of a free market. A symptom of this is that you have to pay extra to *not* have your name listed. How many people would have put up with this had they had the choice? The same argument can be made about the 'public' nature of my mortgage information. When we bought a house, the information was made public record. I can almost understand the fact that we own the land and the house being public, but I don't see why the price we paid needs to be public (except for taxes (and that's a worm of a different color)), and I see no reason at all that the mortgage information needs to be public. (This information is used to 'estimate' our income.) Our junk mail and junk phone was next to non-existent before we bought the house. Needless to say, the volume of both has become obscene. As for Telephone ID, what I want is an answering machine that I could enter a list of 'approved' callers. Callers on the approved list would ring my phone. Everything else (including non-self-identifying calls) would be aimed at the answering machine. I'd pay big money for something like this. thant -------------------------------------------------------------------------- HARRY: I've had a team working on this over and over the past few weeks and what we've come up with can be reduced to two fundamental concepts. One... people are not wearing enough hats. Two... matter is energy; in the Universe there are many energy fields which we cannot normally perceive. Some energies have a spiritual source which act upon a person's soul. However, this soul does not exist 'ab initio,' as orthodox Christianity teaches; it has to be brought into existence by a process of guided self-observation. However, this is rarely achieved owing to man's unique ability to be distracted from spiritual matters by everyday trivia. MAX: What was that about hats again? Monty Python, 'The Meaning of Life' --------------------------------------------------------------------------
jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith) (04/03/91)
In article <1991Apr2.171000.492@odin.corp.sgi.com> thant@horus.esd.sgi.com (Thant Tessman) writes:
:As for Telephone ID, what I want is an answering machine that I could enter
:a list of 'approved' callers. Callers on the approved list would ring my
:phone. Everything else (including non-self-identifying calls) would be
:aimed at the answering machine. I'd pay big money for something like this.
Pacific Bell in the San Francisco area is already planning to offer something
along these lines. You would give the phone company a list of preferred
callers. Anytime you receive a call from someone on your Preferred Caller
list, the you would be notified by a distinctive ring. Answering machines
that recognize the distinctive ring would soon follow.
--
Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: jms@tardis.tymnet.com or jms@gemini.tymnet.com
BT Tymnet Tech Services | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms
PO Box 49019, MS-C51 | BIX: smithjoe | CA license plate: "POPJ P," (PDP-10)
San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | humorous dislaimer: "My Amiga 3000 speaks for me."