Blocked I.D. Numbers A Thing Of The Past?

Biggins

Now that you can get blocked I.D. numbers to show up on your phone, is it a good thing?
Personally, if someone rings me and don't have the manners to show themselves, I don't answer it.
After all, you don't show up at someones door wearing a face mask hiding your identity and ask for something, chat or selling a service do you?

There is some concern about abuse of the system but on the whole is such a service a good thing?

Here is an interesting article on a publicly available un-blocking number service.

TrapCall Unblocks, Identifies Mystery Callers

New technology that eliminates anonymous callers by exposing their phone numbers and sometimes even their addresses is angering domestic abuse advocates, who say the product may put victims at risk.

TrapCall, which was launched Tuesday, was designed to unblock and reveal callers' identities and numbers even after individuals have tried to block the information.
Telephone users have been able to block personal information from showing up since the early 1990s, when Caller ID was introduced. In the past, people could rely on dialing either *-6-7 before placing a call or asking their phone company to always hide their number when they make outgoing calls to shield their identity.
It is TrapCall's promise to allow people to always see the phone number and even the home address of the person calling them, even if that person has blocked Caller ID, that has domestic abuse organizations upset. Abuse victims advocates argue that victims who routinely rely on blocking Caller ID when communiciating with abusers could be put in harm's way by TrapCall.

"I'm quite concerned about TrapCall," Cindy Southworth, the director of the Safety Net Project at the national network to end domestic violence in Washington, D.C., told ABCNews.com.
"When Caller ID first came out, phone companies worked very closely with domestic violence advocates to make sure victims could make anonymous calls and this strips away that anonymity," said Southworth.

More at the link below.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/Story?id=6899472&page=1

bluto63

Bout feckin time. I'm sick of these private number phone calls. They're good for nothing except prank calls

Muff_Daddy

+ 1 for the elimination of the priviate number.


However, - 10000 for home addresses showing up on other peoples phones!

Ruu_Old

Bye bye Mr.Unknown Number. Bastardin' telemarketers!:mad:

Kiera

Only in America eh!

/hides from Overheal

Mhmm...weetabix

100% agree that this is a good thing. I just let private numbers go to my voice mail where I explain I'm either busy or I dont answer private numbers and to leave a message. If they don't have the decency to let me know who it is I don't have the decency to answer my phone..

Biggins

It will quickly makes it way over here. I look forwards to it.
I'm sick of private numbers. As I have serious sick brother, I do have a fear it might be concerning him.
Especially when I get a call very late and night only to discover it's a sales rep in a different time zone! :mad:

Dave!

I also don't answer private numbers. I dont like surprises.

sneakerfreak

I agree with Biggins,I describe it the same way nearly-someone knocking on your door and refusing to answer when you ask "who's there?"

my voicemail lets people know where they can go if they are on private number.

some people have no choice wether to show their number or not,especially bank workers or hospitals calling from extensions so my voicemail also requests these people to send a letter with their contact number and I will get in touch.

private numbers be gone thank you very much.

phasers

How will I prank call people now?

Biggins

phasers wrote: »

How will I prank call people now?

You will have to use one of those few remaining phone boxes that are disappearing from our streets! :pac:

towel401

i'm all for civil liberties and hating the big brother society that RTDH is always warning us about but private numbers are an abomination i can't wait to see the end of.

of course its a great little money maker for the phone companies with muppets using them for prank calls

Tar.Aldarion

Oh no a private number, what ever shall we do!

ffs, How did you people live without caller ID.

Ruu_Old

phasers wrote: »

How will I prank call people now?

Real life pranks. Knock on door/ring door bell, run away. Classic.

Mhmm...weetabix

Ruu wrote: »

Real life pranks. Knock on door/ring door bell, run away. Classic.

Pssh amateur, everyone knows it's a flaming bag of dog poo FTW

Lu Tze

towel401 wrote: »

private numbers are an abomination i can't wait to see the end of...

Private numbers are not an abomination, this is an abomination

http://comicbookmovie.com/images/news/the-incredible-hulk/hulk2-4.jpg

Just putting things in perspective a little:D

towel401

looks like something from Doom 3

Terry

I answer them sometimes. Doesn't really bother me.
One cousin bought a house years ago and the people who lived there before her didn't take their number. It was ex-directory and she never got around to sorting it out.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Ruu wrote: »

Real life pranks. Knock on door/ring door bell, run away. Classic.

"knick knacks"

Tie a piece of string on to the knocker of a door, hide behind bush, pull string at a safe distance and watch the tenant go "WTF"... I loved this as a kid.

I think it is ok to have this service, although, what the hell are they thinking about giving out addresses? Does privacy legislation cover this at all?

In some cases it is good, but if I don't want someone to get my number, I don't want them to return calls, how can I prevent this? There are organisations and people that I rather keep my information from, I rather they weren't able to collect information on me without my knowing.

I agree this information should be available, but only to the gardai and to the phone companies... Not so sure about everyone having access to this info...

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

P.C.

So, when your phone rings, and the screen says:

Private number

you don't answer because you don't know who it is.

OK


So, why when your screen says:

014678349

you answer it?

You still don't know who it is.
All you know is it is a Dublin number.

Dave!

P.C. wrote: »

So, when your phone rings, and the screen says:

Private number

you don't answer because you don't know who it is.

OK


So, why when your screen says:

014678349

you answer it?

You still don't know who it is.
All you know is it is a Dublin number.

I don't answer those either! Unless I'm waiting to hear from a job

Is that your number btw?

*rings it*

No.

P.C.

Dave! wrote: »

Is that your number btw?

*rings it*

No.

Hehehehehe

There is some old granny getting loads of calls from people on boards, complaining that she is trying to 'hide' her number.

I love 'private number' - I push the 'green phone' and wait.

They called me, they can do the talking.

Terry

Leonidas Repulsive Boy wrote: »

"knick knacks"

Tie a piece of string on to the knocker of a door, hide behind bush, pull string at a safe distance and watch the tenant go "WTF"... I loved this as a kid.

I think it is ok to have this service, although, what the hell are they thinking about giving out addresses? Does privacy legislation cover this at all?

In some cases it is good, but if I don't want someone to get my number, I don't want them to return calls, how can I prevent this? There are organisations and people that I rather keep my information from, I rather they weren't able to collect information on me without my knowing.

I agree this information should be available, but only to the gardai and to the phone companies... Not so sure about everyone having access to this info...

Pfft. Amatuer.

What you do is remove the cover from the bell, put the front metal part behind the back one and the bell keeps ringing.

Dear Mr. Roche. Sorry for doing this to you so many times back in the 80's. I realise now it was very childish, but in my defence I was a child.

Mhmm...weetabix

Terry wrote: »

Pfft. Amatuer.

What you do is remove the cover from the bell, put the front metal part behind the back one and the bell keeps ringing.

Dear Mr. Roche. Sorry for doing this to you so many times back in the 80's. I realise now it was very childish, but in my defence I was a child.

Adding this to my cheap but fun things to do in the recession!

Lu Tze

towel401 wrote: »

looks like something from Doom 3

From The Incredible Hulk, the character conveniently entitled "The Abomination" :P

Run_to_da_hills

towel401 wrote: »

i'm all for civil liberties and hating the big brother society that RTDH is always warning us about but private numbers are an abomination i can't wait to see the end of.

of course its a great little money maker for the phone companies with muppets using them for prank calls

I agree with you, If someone hasn't the guts to display their number I couldn't be ar*ed answering it.

This has been used by the emergency services for years even on RTG.

mikemac

Ever been called by a garda station? I have many times.

It's always a blocked number.
Well I suppose it possibly needs to be for security reasons. Just throwing it out there as an example if you've ever expecting a call from the local garda.

useful_contacts

is this on mobiles as well as house phones?

K-9

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I agree with you, If someone hasn't the guts to display their number I couldn't be ar*ed answering it.

This has been used by the emergency services for years even on RTG.

RTDH?

Privacy and all that?

The Illuminati could identify you.

Heisenberg.

This post has been deleted.

kraggy

Ruu wrote: »

Real life pranks. Knock on door/ring door bell, run away. Classic.

I'll go one further...

Years ago, when we were kids, we used to torment our neighbours by tieing a piece of very fine fishing line to the knocker on their door and bring the other end with us on to the roof of our houses a couple of doors down and look down the street for a good view. They were used to us knick-knacking and so after the first few times they would just close the door and nod the head as if to say "they're at it again".

But then they would try and catch us by standing inside the door ready to pounce when they heard a knock again. The look on their faces when they'd, as quickly as possible, open the door on hearing a knock only to find empty space.

Took them a while to cop the fact that there was teeny, tiny fishing line attached to their knocker. Pure popcorn moments until they did though...

Black Swan

Biggins wrote: »

Now that you can get blocked I.D. numbers to show up on your phone, is it a good thing?

OK, you call a retail store to inquire if their sale is still on. You don't want to give them your number, because they might put you on a future sales call list. If your ID is not blocked, they may record it.

Well, marketers are always trying to ID people to put on call lists to sell you something. They also sell these lists to other marketers, and pretty soon, you have all these daily sales calls hitting your phone and wasting your time. It's like spam on the Internet.

Many in the States have discontinued using land lines and only use mobiles. Unsolicited sales calls to your mobile cost you money.

ArseBurger

This only works if you:

1) Port your number to them
2) Their peer interconnect operators pass the A number id onwards. Not all do. Also, I'd hazard a guess that their interconnect will start using session based signaling quite soon.

Ponster

ArseBurger wrote: »

This only works if you:

1) Port your number to them
2) Their peer interconnect operators pass the A number id onwards. Not all do. Also, I'd hazard a guess that their interconnect will start using session based signaling quite soon.

Yep. This 'product' only works on calls to mobile phones, not landlines where private number info doesn't make it as far as the actual phone and is stripped out at the local exchange.

BaconZombie

The system that is used to "block" caller ID is flawed, it still sends the information but just flags it so it's not displayed.

This is due to historically the ID flag was used for billing information gathering by the phone company.

Info on Calling Number Delivery (CND)

Relevant

Jaysus, are you all so important that you cant answer private numbers! You do realise there is a function on modern telephones which allows you to hang up on people you don't want to talk to??

AnonoBoy

I'm way too curious not to answer my phone even if it's a private number.

It's so exciting getting a phone call - Who could it be?

Maybe it's Scarlett Johannsen finally returning my call!
Maybe it's the lottery telling me that I'm going to be on Winning Streak!
Maybe it's Mammy telling me to come in for my tea - we're having sausages tonight - Yay!

Phonecalls are so exciting!!! C'mon boys and girls - let's sing the phonecall song!

Ring Ring Ring! It's the phone!
Ring Ring Ring! I hope she's home!
Ring Ring Ring! TURN OFF THAT F*CKING ANNOYING RINGTONE YA BOLL*CKS!

ArseBurger

BOFH_139 wrote: »

The system that is used to "block" caller ID is flawed, it still sends the information but just flags it so it's not displayed.

This is due to historically the ID flag was used for billing information gathering by the phone company.

Info on Calling Number Delivery (CND)

That's only one way of doing it...

The ANI and CLI can be changed to a session id.

Overheal

Kiera wrote: »

/hides from Overheal

Boo!

Although feckit they have a small point. Man beats up wife, wife calls from safety of friends place. Man Caller IDs address. Beats down door. Etc.

Hank Scorpio

ever get those weird 3 am calls then they hang up?

NOW I NO IT WAS YOU .

edit; Judging from the website irish carriers arent supported?

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

Muff_Daddy wrote: »

+ 1 for the elimination of the priviate number.


However, - 10000 for home addresses showing up on other peoples phones!

+1

Overheal

Even without the address its still the case of "! Thats her friends landline, ima go kick her ass"

Granted, its a pay service that not everyone is going to have. Im sure plenty more people will still be able to protect themselve through blocked numbers in those situations that not.

the_syco

Well, it'll be LOL ringing back the prank phone caller and saying: don't f**k with me...

towel401

if i want to annoy someone i just leave them a few missed calls from a +88216 number. you'd be surprised the amount of eejits that will waste their credit ringing it back

Mmcd

towel401 wrote: »

if i want to annoy someone i just leave them a few missed calls from a +88216 number. you'd be surprised the amount of eejits that will waste their credit ringing it back

Whats +88216?

towel401

Mmcd wrote: »

Whats +88216?

Thuraya satellite phones

LD 50

Overheal wrote: »

Boo!

Although feckit they have a small point. Man beats up wife, wife calls from safety of friends place. Man Caller IDs address. Beats down door. Etc.

But why would the abused wife call the husband back

towel401 wrote: »

Thuraya satellite phones

Yea, cos everyone has one of those just for pranking people

towel401

if everyone had them it wouldnt work anymore

the_syco

LD 50 wrote: »

But why would the abused wife call the husband back

Can't figure that one out myself.

towel401 wrote: »

if i want to annoy someone i just leave them a few missed calls from a +88216 number. you'd be surprised the amount of eejits that will waste their credit ringing it back

Where did you get it from?

BaconZombie

No people have then for when the Zombie outbreak happens.....

towel401 wrote: »

Thuraya satellite phones

LD 50 wrote: »

But why would the abused wife call the husband back

Yea, cos everyone has one of those just for pranking people