CALLER ID?

_________________________________________________________________
  SANDY SANDFORT                          ssandfort@attmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cypherpunks,

You think CALLER ID isn't available where you live?  Think again.
Any time you call an 800 number, regardless of where you live,
your number is captured by ANI (Automatic Number Identification)
and given to the owners of the 800 number.  This includes the
various "crime stopper" snitch lines that claim "we don't want
your name, just the pusher's."

A special 800 number has been set up to demonstrate this.  It's:

                         1-800-235-1414

Call it, and it will recite your phone number back to you.  It
then gives a pitch for two worthwhile items--a 900 phone number
service that lets you make calls which cannot be traced by ANI,
and FULL DISCLOSURE, a privacy oriented magazine.  If you leave
your name and address, you will be sent FULL DISCLOSURE info.

Check it out,

 S a n d y  (arbitration volunteer)

>>>>>>>> Please address e-mail to: ssandfort@attmail.com <<<<<<<<
_________________________________________________________________

Of course! How else would the phone company be able to bill for those
calls if they couldn't put the number of the person calling on the
customer's phone bill?! Damn! I thought we were safe here in CA. :-(

Sandy writes:
 > Call it, and it will recite your phone number back to you.  It

Too bad it gets the wrong number for my work #:

My number: 415.604.4311.  The number it claims I'm at: 415.967.7227
(No one answers the second number, fyi.)

It also gets (analog, I don't know if digital is available elsewhere, its
not here yet) cellular phones wrong...  Apparently it gets the number of
one of the towers instead...  This may be handy if you want to be
anonymous, and you have access to a cellular phone...  (And can afford the
prime time rates...  :-)  Its not my phone, I had a friend test it for me...
(isn't conference calling wonderful...  :-)

---
Nick MacDonald               | NMD on IRC
i6t4@jupiter.sun.csd.unb.ca  | PGP 2.1 Public key available via finger


On Tue, 11 May 1993, J. Eric Townsend wrote:

> Too bad it gets the wrong number for my work #:
> 
> My number: 415.604.4311.  The number it claims I'm at: 415.967.7227
> (No one answers the second number, fyi.)

>>>>> On 11 May 93 15:17:25 EDT, Sandy <72114.1712@compuserve.com> said:

SS> A special 800 number has been set up to demonstrate this.  It's:

SS>                          1-800-235-1414

SS> Call it, and it will recite your phone number back to you.

The voice at the other end laughed and said "This wouldn't happen to
be YOUR phone number, would it?".

I had to laugh back, because it wasn't.

This is a great way to find out just how much information they really
are getting about you.

I work for a company with several hundred employees, and when I
called, it recited the company's main switchboard number.  Without my
company's cooperation, there'd be no way for trace a particular call
back to me.  Does our phone system even log 800 number calls?  I don't
know.

-eric messick (eric@synopsys.com)