Date: Tue, 08 Aug 95 11:38:33 EST Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator To: Comp-privacy@uwm.edu Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V7#011 Computer Privacy Digest Tue, 08 Aug 95 Volume 7 : Issue: 011 Today's Topics: Moderator: Leonard P. Levine Phone Won't Stop Ringing? -- Here's What You Do Re: Caller ID Blockers Re: Caller ID Blockers Re: Information Collection at Sears Info on CPD [unchanged since 08/01/95] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "David D. Levine" Date: 04 Aug 95 10:43:01 -0700 Subject: Phone Won't Stop Ringing? -- Here's What You Do ------- Forwarded Message Date: 02 Aug 95 23:32:13 -0500 From: mt@aleve.media.mit.edu (Michael Travers) Subject: Subgenius Digest V6 #151 Phone Won't Stop Ringing? -- Here's What You Do. Leola Starling of Ribrock, Tenn., had a serious telephone problem. But unlike most people she did something about it. The brand-new $10 million Ribrock Plaza Motel opened nearby and had acquired almost the same telephone number as Leola. From the moment the motel opened, Leola was besieged by calls not for her. Since she had the same phone number for years, she felt that she had a case to persuade the motel management to change its number. Naturally, the management refused, claiming that it could not change its stationery. The phone company was not helpful, either. A number was a number, and just because a customer was getting someone else's calls 24 hours a day didn't make it responsible. After her pleas fell on deaf ears, Leola decided to take matters into her own hands. At 9 o'clock the phone rang. Someone from Memphis was calling the motel and asked for a room for the following Tuesday. Leoloa said, "No problem. How many nights?" A few hours later Dallas checked in. A secretary wanted a suite with two bedrooms for a week. Emboldened, Leola said the Presidential Suite on the 10th floor was available for $600 a night. The secretary said that she would take it and asked if the hotel wanted a deposit. "No, that won't be necessary," Leola said. "We trust you." The next day was a busy one for Leola. In the morning, she booked an electric appliance manufacturers' convention for Memorial Day weekend, a college prom and a reunion of the 82nd Airborne veterans from World War II. She turned on her answering machine during lunchtime so that she could watch the O.J. Simpson trial, but her biggest challenge came in the afternoon when a mother called to book the ballroom for her daughter's wedding in June. Leola assured the woman that it would be no problem and asked if she would be providing the flowers or did she want the hotel to take care of it. The mother said that she would prefer the hotel to handle the floral arrangements. Then the question of valet parking came up. Once again Leola was helpful. "There's no charge for valet parking, but we always recommend that the client tips the drivers." Within a few months, the Ribrock Plaza Motel was a disaster area. People kept showing up for weddings, bar mitzvahs, and Sweet Sixteen parties and were all told there were no such events. Leola had her final revenge when she read in the local paper that the motel might go bankrupt. Her phone rang, and an executive from Marriott said, "We're prepared to offer you $200,000 for the motel." Leola replied. "We'll take it, but only if you change the telephone number." ------- End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------ From: glr@ripco.com (Glen Roberts) Date: 05 Aug 1995 14:34:08 GMT Subject: Re: Caller ID Blockers Organization: Ripco Internet BBS, Chicago Athena Consulting (athena@communique.net) wrote: I am very new to this CALLER ID concept. I just moved to LA from California where they do not allow the masses to have CID. I have seen a device you can purchase from specialty catalogs for like $40 that claims to stop your name and number from being read. Does anyone know if these work or not? Thanks! They work great... but you can do the same by dialing *67. All the box does is dial *67 when you pick up the line... Won't do a thing when you call 800#'s. -- -------------------------------------- Glen L. Roberts, Editor, Full Disclosure Host Full Disclosure Live (WWCR 5065 khz - Sundays 8pm eastern) (WOYL AM-1340, Oil City, PA) Tech Talk Network: Telstar 302 (T2), Ch 21, 5.8 audio http://pages.ripco.com:8080/~glr/glr.html ------------------------------------- ------------------------------ From: jmolini@inetcom.net Date: 05 Aug 1995 20:07:52 GMT Subject: Re: Caller ID Blockers Organization: kpmg trisha.pena@nashville.com (Trisha Pena) writes: If you have an unpublished phone number, you can do the same thing by pressing *67 before you dial a number. It hides your number for that call only so you have to remember to do it everytime or add it as a "pre" in an autodialer. Is there any reason why you don't just call the phone company and have your number removed from the system entirely. I did this in Houston. To have your number permanently removed from all CallerID systems you call the phone company who will give you the number for the national business office. Call them and they send you a form. Fill out and sign the form and your number will be made anonymous. The only downside of this is that some phone companies sell an option to CallerID called Anonymous Call blocking. This means that you must dial the operator and pay a special fee to call people that have this option enabled. It only happened to us for a couple of people, so our anonymous number turned out to be fairly valuable and only periodically problematic. I wouldn't count on special prefixes working to block caller ID from your end unless my phone company was willing to put it in writing. It may also not stop 800 numbers that record calling numbers. -- Jim Molini | Those who make peacefule revolution | impossible, make violent revolution | inevitable. J. F. Kennedy, 1962 ------------------------------ From: donath@hweng.syr.ge.com Date: 07 Aug 95 09:31:53 EDT Subject: Re: Information Collection at Sears Organization: Lockheed Martin Corp, Valley Forge PA In response to the recent postings about retailers collecting information from their customers, I offer my own experience. I went to Sears to buy an appliance costing several hundred dollars. The clerk asked for my phone number. I refused. He entered 555-1212. He then asked for my address. I refused. He would not sell me the item unless I gave my address. I was paying by non-Sears credit card. I went to another retailer and was asked for the same information. I refused. They shrugged and sold me what I wanted anyway. One thing I've wondered about at Sears is signing for a charge card. When signing, they electronically capture the signature by using a stylist and signing on a special tablet. How secure are these signatures? -- Kurt Donath donath@hweng.syr.ge.com ------------------------------ From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Date: 29 Dec 1994 10:50:22 -0600 (CST) Subject: Info on CPD [unchanged since 08/01/95] Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee The Computer Privacy Digest is a forum for discussion on the effect of technology on privacy or vice versa. The digest is moderated and gatewayed into the USENET newsgroup comp.society.privacy (Moderated). Submissions should be sent to comp-privacy@uwm.edu and administrative requests to comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu. This digest is a forum with information contributed via Internet eMail. Those who understand the technology also understand the ease of forgery in this very free medium. 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