CLASS

CLASS, or Custom Local Area Signaling Services, is coming to a neighborhood
near you. Because of the inception of Signaling System 7, network and
associated databases, a certain class (no pun intended) of services are being
offered to various telco customers around the country as this is written and
phone com- panies are desperately trying to perpetrate these expensive little
ad-ons across the U.S. Although some states are, for the moment, effectively
blocking them through various maneuvers in the courts.

  CLASS will do several different things, the primary one being what is known
as CND, or as some people call it CNID or CNI. The idea used to be known as
ANI, but the aaonym seems to have settled down somewhat to CND or CNID, these
standing for Calling Number Display and/or Calling Number ID respectively.

  What CNI does is allow the customer to rent or purchase a little black box
that looks like a hand calculator, which displays the number of the calling
party after the first ring whether or not thephone is answered. A small LCD
display provides the caller's phone number including area code, the current
time, and the date.

  Most of the units also store about 70 num- bers in memory so if the operator
is not home one can still see who called even if the answer- ing machine is
stressed out. In fact, with a little creativity one can figure out who called
and didn't leave a message by comparing messages on the answering machine or
voice mail with the incoming call register numbers.

  CND's have generated an enormous amount of interest in the press and the
media because of the apparent violation of privacy involved. The justification
for this service is to stop obscene phone calls as well as letting the caller
decide with whom he wishes to speak at any given moment. The down side
includes several things, first and foremost being that it will: (A) cost money
to rent this little box or pur- chase it from the phone company, (B) cost more
money if one doesn't want one's phone number to be displayed on out-going
calls, effectively letting the phone company collect revenues on either side
of the transaction.

  People who are concerned with their privacy are notably aghast at this
situation. Why should I have my number displayed if I call someone to inquire
about a product or ask about a service or even return a call? Think some
sleazy salesman won't call back? Think I won't immediately be placed on a
mailing list and probably on a dial-out marketing list that will be sold to
other vendors who want to find suckers who respond to a particular pitch?

  Bet your ass...

CLASS also allows a number of other options including a customer originated
trace, which means by dialing a number i.e., #57 the last call one receives
will be immediately traced and recorded at the phone company. Of course, the
phone company charges (at the moment, a buck) for this service and to com-
plete the transaction one must call the phone company and ask for the number.

  This feature is designed for harassment-type callers and the phone company
is probably going to want to know why one wants the number requested.

  A sidebar here, if one has call-waiting one can do an interesting thing with
the CLASS concept. When you hear the call-waiting notification buzz, simply
tell the party you are talking to that you will call them back and immediately
hang up the phone. They will be disconnected and the phone will begin to ring
for the person who originally clicked in. After the first ring your display
will light up and translate the data that was sent from the calling party,
letting you trace a call on call-waiting without ever talking to the person.

  Other items that will come along with CLASS are things like Selective Call
Acceptance or Rejection, which allows you to automatically reject calls from
certain numbers. Distinctive Ringing which will invoke a particular ringing
pattem so you can tell if it's a good or bad call before even looking at the
display, and CNDBlocking, which means the called party can program a que of
people into his phone so when they call the number they get a recorded message
from the phone company that says, "Party you are tryin' to reach don't want to
talk to ya, bro," or perhaps a more politely phrased message with the same
meaning.

  CLASS services are of interest to our business for a variety of reasons, the
first being they can be used in a manner similar to an ANI trace or with some
aeative plumbing, one's personal call display box can be wired into a target's
number where it will act not only as a reversed dialed number recorder, but
actually show where all the calls to the target number are coming from...

  The calling number display feature of the CLASS system DOES trace
unpublished numbers as well as published numbers. It's up to the individual
phone company whether they will be displayed on the user's display or not.
There is no way to use a display box on a particular phone system that does
not have the CLASS feature installed, both components are neces- sary for the
system to function.

BEATING THE CLASS

If one doesn't want one's phone number to be displayed at the other end, one
can: (A) purchase a call-blocking service from the phone company, (B) make all
one's calls from a pay phone, (C) go through the operator to place a call, or
(D) use a service some entrepre- neurs have come up with where the caller
dials their 900 number and dial out on their dial tone for an additional
charge. The other possi- bility is a creative placement of a call forward- ing
box.

  I don't know, Yogi, everybody on the side of law and order, not to mention
telephone employees with an eye towards their profit sharing plan, seem to
think the CLASS system is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it seems
to me that it's just another step in the direction of 1984. Oh, hell, that was
years ago, wasn't it? I guess there's a moral in there.

