At 5:01 PM -0800 4/21/98, Dan Geer wrote:
This is a really difficult issue.
And how.
How does this interact with phones whose access (telephone) number is non-unique? Could where I am calling from be divorced from what instrument I am using to call? Is there a parallel between smearing the signal over a spectrum of radio frequencies and smearing the identifying information over a spectrum of numbers? Could calls to 911 carry no phone number but just "here I am" information -- a panic button function, in other words?
Part of the problem in devising technical fixes for this problem is that the technology needs some idea of position in order to operate. Even if we keep it to, "somewhere in cell X", there is incentive to make cells smaller as usage increases. One interesting, but unlikely possibility is an originate-only phone which pays for calls with cash (e.g. Digicash, or a prepaid phone activation card). Since it can't receive calls, it doesn't need an identity. What would come out of the system is, "Someone in cell X called telephone number Y." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bill Frantz | If hate must be my prison | Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | lock, then love must be | 16345 Englewood Ave. frantz@netcom.com | the key. - Phil Ochs | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA