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From: irving@halcyon.com (Larry Gilbert)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Caller ID Approved in Washington State
Organization: Northwest Nexus Inc. (206) 455-3505
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 912, Message 1 of 15
Lines: 101

 From the {Seattle Post-Intelligencer}, December 17, 1992

State approves caller-ID phone service;
But panel specifies tough conditions to protect consumers

By Ed Penhale
P-I Reporter

     OLYMPIA -- US West Communications can offer caller-identification
service in Washington state, but under more stringent conditions than
the company planned, the state Utilities and Transportation Commission
decided yesterday.

     ... The service probably will become available in mid-1993.

     The commission attached several new conditions for the service.
US West agreed to the conditions after a public hearing in which
critics called the service a threat to privacy rights and supporters
hailed the new technology as an advance that will protect phone users
against unwanted calls.

     Under the new conditions:

     [] There will be an annual, 30-day open-enrollment period in
which telephone customers can choose to have their number blocked from
display on caller-ID equipment at no cost.  Otherwise, customers will
have 90 days after the start of caller ID in their area to make that
choice at no charge.  After that, they will pay $8 -- $13 for
businesses -- to choose line blocking.

     A caller could always block his or her number from display on a
per-call basis, however, by dialing *-67 ahead of the number to be
called.

     [] US West and other telephone companies planning to offer the
service would be required to adhere to a public-education program
approved by the commission.

     [] Volunteers who use home telephones while assisting crisis
centers dealing with domestic violence and sexual assault would be
given line blocking at no cost any time.

     [] People and businesses using caller ID are barred from
collecting numbers and names for sale to third parties for marketing
purposes.

     [] There will be a single starting date, probably midyear, for
caller ID statewide.  US West plans to offer the service in Seattle,
Bremerton, Tacoma, Olympia and Vancouver.  Other companies plan to
start the service elsewhere.

     Commission staffers recommended that people with nonpublished
numbers should get line blocking automatically, because they may think
their numbers would not be displayed on caller ID screens.

     But the commissioners decided those customers, like any other
customers, would have to take action to prevent their numbers from
being picked up by caller ID.

     State Assistant Attorney General Charles Adams and Jerry Sheehan
of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington warned
commissioners that with caller ID, privacy rights would be compromised
because people may unintentionally give their names and numbers to the
people and businesses that they are calling.

     Mary Pontarolo, executive director of the Washington State
Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said there are not enough
safeguards to protect battered women from inadvertently giving away
their number, which could be used to trace an address, to an
assailant.

     Commissioner Richard Casad said he recognized the importance of
privacy rights and added: "I am convinced that this (caller ID) does
not do violence to that concept."

     Sharon Nelson, the UTC chairwoman, voted to approve US West's
request to provide the service, but said she had reservations about
it.

     Nelson said she would block her number from the caller-ID system
because "I'm already on enough telemarketing lists."

     Mike Moran, regulatory director for US West, said the rules
adopted by the UTC for caller ID are among the toughest in the
country.  Thirty-four states now permit caller-ID service, but only 14
give phone customers a chance to have their names and numbers blocked
from the systems.

     Critics of caller ID said all numbers should be blocked from the
system, requiring telephone users to decide for themselves when they
want their number displayed.

     US West officials say that arrangement could severely devalue
caller ID, but they promised they would offer a service that would
allow people to unblock their calls selectively as soon as new
technology needed for that service is available, probably in October.


Larry Gilbert      irving@halcyon.com   finger for PGP key