The first residential telephone with an integrated display panel which supports Caller ID services was introduced in the US last week by Northern Telecom Ltd at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – and it could rekindle the controversy that flared up in August last year surrounding the digital telecommunications technology-based Caller ID feature after the suggestion that it could be introduced in the UK. Called the Maestro, the new telephone features a display panel that simultaneously displays incoming telephone numbers when the telephone rings, so that subscribers can preview calls before answering: it is essentially this facility, one of the so-called Custom Local Area Signalling Services (CLASS), that is at the heart of the controversy, for while some of the applications of this ID system represent a revolution in telephony – for example, in the areas of 999 emergency calls and tracing abusive phone calls some pressure groups are claiming that it could amount to a dangerous invasion of privacy. But it is this ability to trace abusive calls that has met with the strongest consumer interest. Where this service is available, the crank caller’s number, once traced, is stored by the local telephone company and can be investigated later by the police: Northern Telecom reports that in the six states served by Bell Atlantic – the only network operator so far to support the Caller ID facility, previously available to subscribers as a plug-in adjunct device, on its network – the incidence of abusive calls has fallen dramatically. Another of the CLASS features mentioned above is the facility to remember and display the telephone numbers of up to 15 unanswered incoming calls and recall each number. In the US, codes for access to these services, which vary from region to region, can be programmed into the Maestro so that the push of one button will initiate the process.

Use a payphone

Northern Telecom says this ability can also benefit customers receiving standard custom calling services such as speed dialling, three-way calling and call forwarding, replacing the present method of dialling a coded sequence of keys for each feature with a one-button command. The Maestro will be available through participating telephone companies throughout the US. Bell Atlantic Business Supplies, a division of Bell Atlantic, is the first announced distributor of the Maestro set, which is listed at a suggested price of $136. Northern Telecom’s Maidenhead-based UK division says that the Caller ID feature is presently available only on various private telecommunications networks; British Telecom has shyed away from supporting the necessary software on its public digital network – which serves 30% of its customers – despite a statement from the Office of Telecommunications last year reporting that it wanted to see the timely development of arrangements for its provision. The only real objection to Caller ID came from the American Civil Liberties Union last year. Janlori Goldman, one of the Union’s staff lawyers, argued that the loss of privacy could have serious consequences: With Caller ID, people can avoid intrusive calls by deciding who they want to talk to, but what if a woman staying in a refuge needs to call her family, but is afraid to reveal her location? But even in the event of a private individual being able to trace a number to a specific address, surely one solution to this would be for women in that position, and any callers who wished to conceal their whereabouts, simply to use a payphone. Mark John