_________________________________________________________________ SANDY SANDFORT ssandfort@attmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Punksters! I think some of you are seriously missing the point about the ANI capture of telephone numbers on calls made to 800 numbers. Yes, yes, yes, we are all smart cookies on this list. We can avoid having ANI capture our number if we want to. SO WHAT? The insidious thing about the use of ANI is that the *general public* has no idea it exists. And this is because of the of lack of candor on the part of telcos and 800 companies. As an example, the Bank of America includes a newsletter with their statement. In a recent issue there was an item about WeTip, an 800 hotline. Here is an excerpt of what it said: "If you want to report information about any criminal activity, call WeTip at 1-800-78-CRIME and remember, DON'T give the interviewer your name. You will be assigned a code name and number." Now, WE know all that "code name" BS is just a smoke screen to make the mark think he is anonymous. Unfortunately, most folks don't know what we know. (Did YOU know your 800 calls were compromised, before I posted the callback number?) The folks at 1-800-STOPPER and FULL DISCLOSURE tell me that while most cellular phone systems currently release only trunk numbers to ANI, this is changing. One by one, they are being programmed to release the number of the actual cellular phone. Presumably, this is being done in preparation for Caller ID (and maybe to assist *legitimate* law enforcement needs?). S a n d y (arbitration volunteer)

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