Anonymous phone calls (was: What is the EFF doing exactly?)

There is another spin possible on the reasons for replacement of pay phones with
credit card phones. In Canada all new credit card phones are also able to take
phone cards (which are anonymous).

Using a prepaid phone card permits full anonymity. But what it also permits is
metered local calls. This infrastructure would be more familiar to someone from
Europe where metered local calls are the norm. 

Paris make the change to phones that *only* take prepaid phone cards (thus fully
anonymous) obstensibly because people were breaking into phones for the money.
Prepaid phone cards avoid this.

James

Why should my long distance calling subsidize your local internet access? ;-)

----------
From:   "<pstira@escape.com>" <pstira@escape.com>
Sent:   Friday, September 06, 1996 9:54 AM
To:     unicorn@schloss.li
Cc:     vznuri@netcom.com; cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject:        Re: What is the EFF doing exactly? 

Not just DC and Chicago, I'm afraid.  If anyone around NYC noticed, there 
are less and less payphones, and all new ones installed, just about, are 
those yellow credit card phones.  Not all of them, but it's now one for 
one, at least.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In list.cypherpunks, jbugden@smtplink.alis.ca writes:

> There is another spin possible on the reasons for replacement of
> pay phones with credit card phones. In Canada all new credit card
> phones are also able to take phone cards (which are anonymous).
>
> Using a prepaid phone card permits full anonymity. But what it also
> permits is metered local calls. This infrastructure would be more
> familiar to someone  from Europe where metered local calls are the
> norm.

In Minneapolis, USWest has Telecard phones everywhere, and vending
machines with bill accepters.  The calls are also flat rate at $0.25.
Beware using the Telecard for a long distance call.  I did one from
Seattle to Mpls and it was something like $3.65 for the initial charge.

Can Telecards be audited for usage?  If a TLA black-bags my $25 Telecard
from my wallet, can they reconstruct what calls I made with it?
- -- 
           Roy M. Silvernail     [ ]      roy@scytale.com
PGP Public Key fingerprint =  31 86 EC B9 DB 76 A7 54  13 0B 6A 6B CC 09 18 B6
                Key available from pubkey@scytale.com

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