Idealogian

What's a Privacy Advocate To Do?

The New York Times reports on new software that lets its users override their caller ID data, allowing them to appear as any number and any name they choose.

On of the unintentionally funny aspects of the article is discussion of how the new product seems to be putting privacy advocates in a tizzy:

Star38 says that others with reason to mask their telephone identities, including private detectives and law enforcement officials, are looking into it, too.

But some privacy-rights advocates and consumer groups wonder whether angry former spouses, stalkers or fraud artists might not be far behind.

"Some people see caller ID as an invasion of their privacy, while others see it as a protection of their privacy," said Robert Atkinson, director of policy research at the Institute for Tele-Information at Columbia University. "It's spy versus spy."

So it's a violation of the caller's privacy to be identified by caller ID, but it's also a violation of the callee's privacy to be unable to accurately determine the identity of the caller.

The company also plans to cooperate with police forces, if asked, to provide records of what numbers customers dialed to and from, and what numbers they chose to show the recipients of their calls.

"Law enforcement will have complete access to search our database," said Jason Jepson, the chief executive of Star38, of Newport Beach, Calif. "We don't want the insinuation that they can sign up, use it temporarily and then run off."

That's also a violation of privacy, but it's for law enforcement purposes, so I guess it's OK, though the ACLU would probably disagree.

Come to think of it, phone calls are almost by their very nature a violation of privacy. They allow you to electronically reach inside someone else's home, uninvited, and make an irritating ringing sound (and maybe even leave a message).

Think there's any future for whitelist technology in the phone market?