Caller ID Research Articles

Caller ID – Whose Privacy Is It, Anyway?

Caller ID or CND (Calling Number Display) is an internationally-available telecommunication service first introduced into the United States about ten years ago. Caller ID utilizes a new form of technology which enables telephone subscribers to identify the numbers (and/or names) of callers before picking up their telephones. This service has been widely assailed as an invasion of the caller's right to anonymity, a right which allegedly subsists as an important component of the caller's right to privacy. However, if privacy is defined from the perspective of the British philosopher John Stuart Mill, it can be argued that, even though anonymity is in fact an implication of genuine privacy, placing an unsolicited telephone call does not constitute a private act. Indeed, many callers who routinely block their numbers from Caller ID display units (such as telemarketers and telecharities) falsely assert a right to place anonymous calls in order to expedite their own intrusion into the privacy of others. This conclusion will be strengthened by contrasting anonymous telephone calls with the much more legitimate appeals to anonymity made by Usenet bulletin boards in cyberspace.

Talking Call Waiting: An Application of Text-to-Speech

Call Waiting is a service provided by most telephone companies that alerts a subscriber to an incoming call while he/she is engaged in a prior call. The Talking Call Waiting service at Ameritech enhances Call Waiting by converting Caller ID information into a spoken utterance using text-to-speech technology. A subscriber to Talking Call Waiting hears the name associated with the line that originates a call to them while he/she is on the phone.

The Privacy Paradox

The proliferation of commerce on the internet has opened up a Pandora's box of ethical concerns regarding technology, its use, and its impact. Technology places within our grasp things that were formerly difficult to even imagine. Today we can buy everything from a pencil to a car via the internet in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. And there is a limitless amount that we can acquire for free. The recent Napster controversy is evidence of this. There is even software available that enables us to keep track of our personal information so that we do not have to keep re-keying in the data. What is becoming scarce, arguably, is our privacy. As we transmit an increasing amount of personal information over the internet, such informa tion?including personal data as well as details of our buying habits?is increasingly becoming more accessible by others, less private to us (Froomkin, 2000; Lester, 2001 ; Reidenberg, 2000). While we react today as if this is a new concern, the issue has emerged repeatedly over the decades (Alderman and Kennedy, 1995; Barrett, 1997; Forester, 1985; Johnson, 1985; Johnson and Snapper, 1985). For example, in the 1960s, people were disturbed by the introduction of national credit cards. Concerns arose again in the 1980s with the rise of Caller ID. People responded with outrage when they found out that businesses with 800 numbers had immediate access to their phone numbers. Businesses such

“Now you see it, now you don't”: Naming privacy, framing policy

This essay analyzes the regulatory record on state‐level telecommunications policy proceedings that established regulations for Caller ID service during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The analysis focuses on the operation of policy frames in the construction of public policy issues, and larger discursive contexts that accommodate specific images, narratives, and arguments about new technologies and their implications. While existing scholarship emphasizes the role of popular cultural forms—cinema, television, science fiction, and so on—in the construction of new communication technologies, this essay argues that such construction occurs with considerable force within the public policy process as well. Thus, an analysis of the operation of political language and policy frames is presented toward clarification of the ways in which the policy process serves as a critical site for the production of dominant knowledges of communication technologies and their role in social life.

More Than Just Talk on the Move: Uses and Gratifications of the Cellular Phone

Mobility, immediacy, and instrumentality are found the strongest instrumental motives in predicting the use of cellular phones, followed by intrinsic factors such as affection/sociability. Subscription to functionally enhanced services such as call transfers and caller ID appears to be important predictors for overall cellular phone use, especially for those who are on the go. As expected, the use of cellular phones on buses, cars, and trains or in malls and restaurants is strongly linked to mobility and immediate access gratifications. Further, young and less educated women tend to talk longer on each call. Finally, talking to co-workers and business partners via cellular phones appears to be for instrumental reasons, while talking to immediate family members is for mobility and showing affection.

Stalking, Monitoring and Profiling

The advent of caller identification (CID) services has brought additional complexity to the issue of telephone privacy. Federal hearings and other documents written between 1988 and 1996 are analyzed to create a typology of possible harms caused by CID, including the potential for CID to be used in the stalking of women by abusive men. Four examples of CID usage that led to a murder of a spouse or lover were located through NEXIS searches of electronic newspaper archives. Analysis of these cases suggest that: stalking has not been a common feature of murder cases involving CID; men have been equally likely to be victims as women; half of the cases have taken place in one of the two states with no restrictions on CID; in half the cases it was the misinterpretation of CID information, rather than the data itself, that led to the murders; and in half the cases the victim's CID device was used against them.

High-resolution frequency analysis with small data record

In a paper published recently Samant and Shearman discuss several techniques for performing spectral analysis using short data records to overcome the problem of caller ID identification. They fail, however, to mention the nonlinear least squares (NLS) method. The NLS method is considered and is shown to perform similarly to the best method proposed by Samant and Shearman while being simpler computationally.

The Use of Answering Machines and Caller ID to Regulate Home Privacy

Residential telephone service can be conceptualized as a permeable boundary surrounding the home territory through which both desired and unwanted interactions can penetrate. Since the deployment of answering machines and caller ID, callees can screen calls to identify callers before answering. The screening capabilities of these technologies were hypothesized to afford privacy-regulating patterns of answering calls. The hypothesis was supported when undergraduates chose to answer hypothetical calls from desirable and undesirable callers identified using an answering machine or caller ID (Study 1). The subjective social distance of callers from callees was found to systematically influence callees’ normative approval of screening and then not answering calls (Study 2). The results support the notions that people will regulate residential telephone interactions when given the technological means and that they will form new norms that govern use of these technologies to control privacy.

High-resolution frequency analysis with a small data record

Fast Fourier transform-based implementations of the discrete Fourier transform have proven themselves the workhorses of discrete-time spectral analysis. Although these algorithms find widespread use, they have limitations. One problem is that frequency resolution is dependent on the number of samples available. For a given sampling frequency, the longer the data record, the better the frequency resolution. An alternative approach, model-based spectral analysis, is now being employed, as it derives a higher-resolution spectral detail from fewer samples. This approach was used by National Instruments Corp. in a portion of the design of a portable analyzer for the telephony industry. The analyzer is intended for technicians to use in diagnosing and locating faults on a standard twisted pair copper (plain old telephone system) line. In the software design phase, one option considered and tested for feasibility was employing model-based spectral analysis (MBSA) to decode a calling number delivery signal (better known as Caller ID). Not just applicable in this analyzer example, MBSA works in a variety of circumstances and offers a valuable addition to an engineer's toolbox of software-based methods for spectral analysis. The technique might find an application wherever there is a lack of data, as in the case of analysis of a short time event, or where a restriction is imposed to ensure that the spectral characteristics of a signal do not change over the duration of a data set.

Who are the Mobile Phone Have-Nots?

Grounded in the diffusion of innovations theoretical framework, this study focuses on examining who the mobile telephone have-nots are and what are the factors at work. Results of a telephone survey with a probability sample of 834 respondents show that the have-nots tended to be older females with lower household income and education attainment. They had pagers as an alternative and subscribed to no caller ID display service at home. This study also found a polarizing phenomenon in owning new telecommunications technologies. With the poor becoming poorer, the gap between haves and have-nots is widening. A hierarchy of relative influences on the intention to adopt a mobile phone suggests that the effects of age and social differences far outweigh that of the technological differences.

Fieldwork and the Phone

In New York City there are telephones - in virtually every apartment (and via extensions and portable models often in every room), every office (many times on every desk), on street corners and subway platforms. Cell phones live in people's pockets, purses, or hands and telephone conversations occur just about anywhere. This article examines the seemingly antithetical relationship between using the telephone and conducting fieldwork, using as an example some of the experiences and conundrums I encountered while conducting fieldwork among women of New York's mainstream jazz community. I argue that to understand the antithetical relationship that exists between fieldwork and the phone we need to examine both the cultural notions that surround telephone use as well as our notions and ideals of anthropological practice. I further argue that as we recognize the telephone as an important medium of contemporary social life and incorporate it into our ethnographic toolkit, we open the door to a kind of fieldwork that can help move us beyond our localizing tendencies and lingering adherence to face-to-face interactions as the stuff of social life. [telephone, fieldwork, community, ethnography, jazz] Los Angeles may be a car culture, but the real driving force here is the phone. Landline, cell phone, car phone (never pay phone), it's the town's most important power -- and social - tool (Lenkert 1998: 106). In the United States and in many other parts of the world, day to day interaction with the telephone has changed significantly over the last fifteen to twenty years. It is not simply the cellular phones that students now carry to class. It's beepers, answering machines, calling cards, caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, call answering, and multiple phone lines in homes. It's 1-800 and 1-900 numbers and cheaper long-distance service, including overseas. It's automated banking by phone and telephone line mediated fax machines and internet connections. It's campaign finance carried out via the phone. It's telephone sex and published transcripts of recorded telephone conversations between President Clinton's girlfriend, Monica Lewinsky, and her girlfriend, Linda Tripp. On the whole, anthropologists have paid little scholarly attention to the telephone. At the 1995 American Anthropological Association annual meetings Orvar Lofgren pointed to this rather curious omission and suggested that we had been unduly neglectful of our telephone mediated social lives (Lofgren 1995).1 Gupta and Ferguson (1997c: 44)) noted Lofgren's observation about our lack of research of telephone use within the context of a discussion of the anthropological tendency to focus on the exotic and overlook the familiar. Communication scholars and sociologists, some of our colleagues more traditionally concerned with the familiar, have carried out interesting research on the social world of telephone use, even though these scholars also sometimes point out that the telephone has been understudied (see Umble 1996: 13). Two important ethnographic examples are Rakow's (1992) study of women's telephone use in a rural Midwestern town and Umble's (1996) work focused on the telephone use of Amish and Old Order Mennonites in Pennsylvania. These works respectively provide us with an analysis foregrounding matters of the production and reproduction of gender via telephone practices and an over-time examination of how community dynamics and interests impact the construction and use of the telephone. Other important works on the social placement of the telephone include Marvin's (1988) classic social history, When old technologies were new, Fischer's (1992) America calling: A social history of the telephone to 1940 and Ithiel de Sola Pool's (1977) The social impact of the telephone, an edited collection of essays by authors from a range of fields working in a range of pursuits.2 Sociolinguistic work on telephone conversations such as the work carried out by conversation analysts (for example, Schegloff and Sacks 1984), the one aspect of telephone research with which cultural anthropologists - at least linguistically inclined ones - tend to be familiar, should also be noted. …

On location-restricted services

Monitoring the location of user equipment is an important problem in many industries, including direct broadcasting satellites and others, where the physical location of the user determines the availability of the service or is crucial for the security or operation of the service. In this article we study four schemes for detecting the movement of user equipment, such as a set-top terminal, wireless local loop (fixed wireless) phones, and other "nonmovable" equipment, using existing (or emerging) communication infrastructures. The first two schemes are network-centric, which means that the network infrastructure determines the location. The two other schemes are terminal-centric, which means that they rely on the user's device. We start with the currently used scheme, which is based on the telephone network's caller ID features, and show how it can be undermined. Then we describe three more robust schemes: one that uses the cellular phone's enhanced 911 service, one that uses the Global Positioning System, and one that measures the time-difference-of-arrival of the satellite's broadcast. We discuss the accuracy, features, and vulnerabilities of each scheme. We also present possible attacks on these schemes that allow the attackers to conceal their movement, and evaluate the complexity and cost of the attacks.

CPSR's approach to advising policymakers

This paper describes the approach that Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) uses to advise and influence government policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels. It analyzes why CPSR - a relatively small organization - has enjoyed a fair amount of success in influencing policy. It also describes a recurring pattern that applies to CPSR's involvement in policymaking, using as an example CPSR's involvement in policymaking on the Calling Number Identification (CNID) telephone service. An appendix lists situations in which CPSR has directly advised policymakers.

Telecommunication networks as social space: implications for research and policy and an exemplar

We can only understand the scope, nature and underlying driving forces of the major changes now occuring in telecommunications networks if we grasp the linkages between the technical design of the relevant technologies, the corporate and government policy decisions shaping telecommunications products and services and the changing perceptions and behaviours of network users. In this article we attempt to grasp these linkages by developing a socio-spatial understanding of telecommunications networks. We extend and adapt the theorizing of Giddens, Goffman and others on the dynamics of social interaction in physical settings to electronic settings. This is done by delineating a series of socio-spatial concepts — `space', `environment', `proximate space', `virtual space', `public space', `private space'. We suggest these concepts, when integrated with `institutional' and `strategic conduct' analysis, provide a framework for guiding research on these linkages. The introduction of `call management services', particularly Calling Line Identification, in the United States is discussed as an exemplar of the utility of the framework. We conclude by discussing some of the policy implications of the proposed concepts.

Rationale and specifications for an automatic cardiac arrest-driven alarm and 911 caller ID (ACADA/911)

The rationale and specifications for a permanent non-invasive cardiac monitoring device are described, including both an alarm and a device-initiated call (giving patient residence identification) to the emergency services number 911, if cardiac arrest is detected. This device may be useful for high-risk cardiac patients, who incur an unwitnessed cardiac arrest, by providing a prompt call and alarm for early initiation of bystander CPR, cardiac defibrillation (if necessary), advanced cardiac life-support, and early transfer of resuscitated patients to a hospital cardiac care unit. Unwitnessed cardiac arrest patients otherwise have a dismal prognosis because of prolonged circulatory arrest times and late initiation of defibrillation attempts. With out-of-home unwitnessed cardiac arrest, ACADA-911 specifications also include a cardiac arrest-triggered determination of the patient's location through a commercially inexpensive global positioning system device, whose output is transmitted to EMS via an attached cellular phone/priority call network. A randomized controlled study evaluation of the device is proposed.

Creeping Peoplebases: Database Developments and Privacy Loss

Le developpement des bases de donnees comprenant des informations sur les personnes pose des problemes au niveau de la vie privee. Cet article demontre donc le developpement de ces bases de donnees concernant les personnes et explique dans quelle mesure cette extension peut devenir une atteinte a la vie privee des personnes

Privacy Survival Guide: How to Take Control of Your Personal Information

Privacy Survival Guide: How to Take Control of Your Personal Information

Regulating “Caller ID:” Emulation and learning in US state-level telecommunication policy processes

Abstract Analysis of the development of Calling Line Identification (CLID) Service (commonly described as “Caller ID”) policy in all 51 state telecommunication regulatory agencies and the Federal Communications Commission over time shows state telecommunication policy to be embedded in complex emulation, learning and innovation processes. Our analysis shows a convergence around specific policy solutions at specific time periods, but the convergence points are shifted when commissions ‘break from the pack’ as a result of learning. CLID number-blocking solutions shift from low-privacy to high-privacy forms over time. The notion of a learning curve, whereby commissions and stakeholders learn about the new service over time utilizing discovery, interrogatory, cross-examination and other procedures, explains the direction of policy development. The likely mechanisms of policy convergence and divergence are discussed. The zigzags of federal policy on number blocking are explained utilizing Noll's external signals theory, the FCC's isolation from state-level policy networks, and federal pre-emption concerns.

Designing Features for Display-Based Systems

The purpose of this paper is to provide a detailed description of the design process used to identify the optimal implementation of the Caller ID feature for a key/pbx telephone system for small businesses. A multidisciplinary team used an assortment of design methodologies such as: literature reviews, patent searches, competitive analysis, feature simulations, focus group research, focused interviews, and usability testing to generate their final design recommendation, which has recently been awarded a patent. Specifically, this paper will focus on: 1) the competitive analysis that included a product comparison and best-in-class analysis of three commercially available Caller ID products, 2) focus group research in which participants viewed slide show demonstrations of display-based features, made ease of use and feature desirability ratings, and then expressed their views toward the features in structured focus group discussion, and 3) focused interviews with customers who had been given Caller ID display units to trial.

Automatic versus User-Controlled Methods of Briefly Interrupting Telephone Calls

Some future telephone services will require that ongoing calls be interruptedbriefly so that one of the parties can receive data transmitted over the voice path. For example, the new service Caller ID on Call Waiting (CIDCW) will allow subscribers who are off-hook and engaged in conversation to receive data indicating the name and telephone number of a new caller, but the data transmission will produce a break of approximately 1s. The question arises, then, as to what method should be used to interrupt calls to transmit data. In an automatic form ofCIDCW, data would be sent without user control once there is a new call, producing an unexpected break in ongoing conversations. In a user-controlled form, users would hear a tone when there is a new call and initiate the data transmission by pressing a button. Astudy was conducted to examine how subjects would react to breaks in their telephone conversations and to determine which form of CIDCW was more favorable. Subjects acting as CIDCW subscribers liked both forms of the service, but they preferred the automatic form, which was also rated as more acceptable and easier to use. Furthermore, compared with the user-controlled form, automatic CIDCW resulted in quick, error-free performance. Subjects acting as the far-end party also favored the automatic form, provided that they heard silence during the interruptions rather than a tone. Generally the automatic approach was found to be the better way to introduce a I-s break into telephone calls.