NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/alt/cyberpun/6808

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-22 | 5.9 KB

Xref: sparky alt.cyberpunk:6808 sci.electronics:21368
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk,sci.electronics
Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!cc.gatech.edu!news
From: [e-mail] (Byron A Jeff)
Subject: Re: Caller ID block?
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Byron A Jeff)
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 14:54:26 GMT
Lines: 111

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Chad Helfenberger) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Byron A Jeff) writes:
>>It's finally time for me to jump in here. Some of my own ideas are present.
>>
>>>>>The only problem I see with the kill list idea is that most businesses have
>>>>>multiple phone lines, and I'm pretty sure (not certain) that the kill list
>>>>>will have a limited memory.
>>
>>Memory is not a problem. It's one of the cheapest parts of a system like this.
>>Even a half a meg is not an unreasonable expectation.
>>
>>As for multiple phone lines it might be reasonable to exclude an entire area
>>code + prefix. That'll usually get all the business lines.
>
>Are you *truly* serious about the excluding an entire area code + prefix?  I
>laughed so hard when I read that I thought it must be a joke, however,
>reading the rest of your message, I assume you ARE serious.  Why would you

I'm deadly serious. And excluding a whole area code (which I would not do)
or area code/prefix (which I would) only take one line in a kill file
(i.e. 1-512-891-XXXX). No need to buy RAM each week at all.

>want to continously make a list bigger and bigger, when you can easily just
>pick up the phone, listen, and if it is a telemarketer, you say, 'Do NOT
>call me EVER again.'  Then hang up.  Simple as that.  No need to buy a box,
>no need to shell out 40 bucks for another meg of RAM every week.

You've obviously not dealt with a computer dialer. Sample:

RING RING
[pick up the phone]
Computer: "Hold the line! Hold the line!"
[you hang up]
[2 minutes later]
RING RING
[pick up the phone]
Computer: "Hold the line! Hold the line!"

Ad-nauseum. They'll keep calling all day/all night until you talk to the
sales-droid. Why do you think Congress finally had to grapple with legislation
to prevent computer dialers. BTW did that pass?

Even a persistent human telemarketer will keep on calling until you threaten
to call the authorities. And even then you're annoyed by having you phone
ring at all.

>
>
>[part about not putting money on telemarketers deleted]
>>
>>Guess what: THEY'RE NOT! They'll take advantage of that in a minute. Imagine
>>what would happen is a really important or emergency call came through when
>>you're not home. The best you can expect is an answering machine to take the
>>message. Emergency personel would have to get your number from somewhere if
>>a family member were in trouble (i.e. wallet, purse, ID bracelet). Those items
>>are on the person so the emergency code could be written along with the phone
>>number. What other truly emergency situations might arise?
>
>Why make it harder on the EMS/Hospital?  Why can't you remove the 1984
>aspects of this altogether and forget adding millions of numbers to a kill
>list as they are placed?  All the reasons you stated for using the emergency
>ID sequence (or whatever you want to call it) are very good arguments
>against CNID.

The point I'm trying to make is that CNID give me the opportunity for me to
decide who I want to have access, not the person calling. Every day I have
telemarketers, computers, hangups, wrong numbers, late nite calls (usually
wrong numbers) come over my phone. A true emergency is extremely, extremely
rare and on the occasions that is has happened it's been someone I know anyway.
So I'd gladly add a marginal discomfort (by having an emergency access code)
to an extremely rare event in order to manage the garbage my phone receives
on a 24/7 basis.

My "kill list" as you call it will not be large. Actually there will be two
small lists and all the rest:

A List: Numbers to accept at any and all times. Parents, family, friends.
F List: Numbers to reject at any and all times. Persistent computers, tele-
        marketers, pranks, annoying people.
Default: any other number not on list A or F.

"A list" folks always get you, "F list" folks won't get you at all and depending
on how annoyed you are with them they won't even get the answering machine,
everybody else gets the answering machine unless they enter a DTMF code during
the recording (2 digits should be quite sufficient). Then the phone rings and
from the code you can know who's calling. So when my phone rings I know
it's someone I want to talk to and I know who it is I'm talking to before I
pick up the phone. Even EMS folks can be helped by making the emergency code
911. And in fact it even helps F list and default folks because they get the
answering machine right away and don't have to wait 4 or 5 rings for you to
get to the phone. AND with this box you can even have ringmaster type service
where different rings happen for different folks in the house depending on
who's calling. C'mon we all know that information is power. Why not use all
the information available to make good productive decisions?

If you havn't noticed most every business in this country already has this
method in place. They're called receptionists. All I want at home is a
computer based receptionist.

BTW you can laugh away but if/when I get this box built then if you try to call
me you'll get an answering machine and my phone won't ring at all. And that
my friend would make this "Big Brother" extremely happy ;-).

Later,

BAJ

---
Another random extraction from the mental bit stream of...
Byron A. Jeff - PhD student operating in parallel!
Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332   Internet: [e-mail]