Caller ID

For the protein involved in the synthesis of major histocompatibility complex II, see CLIP (protein).

Caller ID (caller identification or CID, and more properly calling number identification - CNID) is a telephony service that transmits the caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment during the ringing signal or when the call is being set up but before the call is answered. Where available, Caller ID can also provide a name associated with the calling telephone number. The information made available to the called party is visible on a small liquid crystal display imbedded on the telephone, or on a separate unit which is connected to the telephone.

Caller ID is often helpful for tracing down prank calls and telemarketers. The concept behind caller ID is the value of informed consent; however, it also poses problems for personal privacy.

Calling line identification

Caller ID is also known as calling line identification (CLI) when provided via an ISDN connection to a PABX, while in some countries, the terms caller display, calling line identification presentation (CLIP), call capture, or just calling line identity (CLID) are used; call display is the predominant marketing name used in Canada (though customers often call it caller ID). CNID originated with automatic number identification (ANI) in the U.S.

However, CNID and ANI are not the same thing. Caller ID is made up of two separate entities: the calling number and the billing (or subscriber) name. When a phone switch sends out a number, the remote telephone company is responsible for looking up the name of the subscriber in a common database. Additionally, nothing ensures that the number sent by a switch is the actual number where the call originated. It is very easy for a telephone switch to send any digit string desired as caller ID.

History

In May 1976, Kazuo Hashimoto, a prolific Japanese inventor with over 1000 patents worldwide,[1] first built a prototype of a caller ID display device that could receive caller ID information. His work on caller ID devices and early prototypes was received in the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History in 2000.[2] US Patent 4,242,539, filed originally on May 8, 1976, and a resulting patent reexamined at the patent office by AT&T, was successfully licensed to most of the major telecommunications and computer companies in the world.[3]

Initially, the operating telephone companies wanted to have the caller ID function performed by the central office as a voice announcement and charged on a per call basis. John Harris, an employee of Northern Telecom's telephone set manufacturing division in London, Ontario promoted the idea of having caller ID as a telephone set display. The telephone was coded ECCS for Enhanced Custom Calling Services. A video of his prototype was used to leverage the feature from the central office to the telephone set.

In the beginning of 1977 Nélio Nicolai, a Brazilian inventor, created a machine capable of identifying and displaying the caller ID, he named it BINA (B Identifies Number of A). He patented the invention, but lack of support from the brazilian patent-issuer authority INPI made him pursue the judicial system to effectivelly collect the royalties from his invention (the lawsuit incredibly did not end yet). He received millionary proposals to drop his wish for a full patent recognition, but did not accept any. The first commercially available BINAs appeared in 1982 in the brazilian capital, Brasília. In 1996, Nélio received the WIPO (World Intelectual Property Organization) award for his invention. There is an ongoing debate on how Bell Canada approached Nélio and its former employer (Telebrasília) in the mid-80s asking for technical papers and prototypes (Nélio even travelled to Canada). Experimental use of the system happened at the canadian city of Peterborough. Talks ceased and surprisingly, in 1986, Bell Canada announced such tests to the general public, with following commercialization starting in 1988. Nélio says that no royalties were ever collected.

The first market trial for caller ID and other "TouchStar" services was on July 7, 1984 in Orlando, Florida. Ellis D. Hill, the head of the BellSouth Product team, coined the term "caller ID." This market trial lasted seven months. It was conducted and analyzed by Bell Labs/AT&T Network Systems. In 1987, Bell Atlantic conducted another market trial in Hudson County, New Jersey, which was followed by limited deployment. BellSouth began the first commercial application of caller ID in December 1988 in Memphis, Tennessee and was the first regional Bell to fully deploy the system.

In 1995, Bellcore released another type of modulation similar to Bell 202 in which it became possible to transmit caller ID information and even provide call-disposition options while the user was already on the telephone. This service became known in some markets as call waiting ID or when it was combined with call-disposition options, Call Waiting Deluxe; it is technically referred to as ADSI: Analog Display Services Interface

Operation

In the United States, caller ID information is sent to the called party by the telephone switch as an analog data stream (similar to data passed between two modems), using Bell 202 modulation between the first and second rings, while the telephone unit is still on hook. If the telephone call is answered before the second ring, caller ID information will not be transmitted to the recipient. There are two types of caller ID, number only and name+number. Number only caller ID is called Single Data Message Format (SDMF), which provides the caller's telephone number, the date and time of the call. Name+number caller ID is called Multiple Data Message Format (MDMF), which in addition to the information provided by SDMF format, can also provide the directory listed name for the particular number. Caller ID readers which are compatible with MDMF can also read the simpler SDMF format, but an SDMF caller ID reader will not recognize an MDMF data stream, and will act as if there is no caller ID information present, e.g. as if the line is not equipped for caller ID.

Instead of sending the caller ID in between the first and second ring, some systems use a "line reversal" to announce the caller ID, or caller ID signals are simply sent without any announcement. Instead of Bell 202 the European alternative V.23 is sometimes used, (without the 75 baud reverse channel) or the data is sent using DTMF signalling.

In general, CID as transmitted from the origin of the call is only the calling party's 10-digit phone number. The calling party name is added by the consumer's terminating central office if the consumer has subscribed to that service. Calling name delivery is not automatic. An SS7 (or Signaling System 7) TCAP query must be launched by the called party's central office to retrieve the information for Calling Name delivery to the Caller ID equipment at the consumer's location. Canadian systems automatically send the calling name with the call set up and routing information at the time of the call.

To look up the name associated with a phone number, the carrier in some instances has to access that information from a third party database and some database providers charge a small fee for each access to such databases. To avoid such charges, some carriers will report the name as unavailable, or will report the name as "(city), (state)" based on the phone number. For 800 numbers, they may report a string such as "TOLLFREE NUMBER" if the name is not available in a database.

Uses

Telemarketing

Telemarketing organizations often spoof caller ID. In some instances, this is done to provide a "central number" for consumers to call back, such as an 800 number, rather than having consumers call back the outbound call center where the call actually originated. However, some telemarketers block or fraudulently spoof caller ID to prevent being traced. It is against United States federal law for telemarketers to block or to send false caller ID. See 47 CFR 64.1601. The FCC can fine companies or individuals that are illegally spoofing or blocking their caller ID.

Some telemarketers have used caller ID itself for marketing, such as by using an 800 number and the text string "FREE MONEY" or "FREE PLANE TICKETS" as the name to be displayed on the caller ID.

ISPs

Some Internet service providers (ISPs) providing dial-up access require the customer to use CNID to prevent abuse of the account by unauthorized callers. ^{[citation needed]} Some systems with dial-up access can be programmed only to accept calls with specific callerID strings.

Cell providers

Some cell phone providers used the caller ID to automatically connect to voice mail when a call to the voice mail number was made from the associated cell phone number, bypassing the need to enter a password. While this was convenient for many users, because of spoofing, this practice has been replaced by more secure authentication by many carriers.

Problems

Caller Identification between different countries is often not transmitted, meaning that the equipment with caller ID will simply display either 'UNAVAILABLE' or 'INTERNATIONAL'. However, caller ID between countries is becoming more widely available, meaning that a telephone number in another country will be displayed, complete with the country calling code. This is usually the case with mobile phones, particularly when a subscriber is roaming overseas. However, the overseas number may be compressed into a 'domestic' format, meaning that the number may not be recognizable to the called party. For example, a U.S. number 1 646 555 1212 may be displayed in the UK as 0646 555 1212, instead of 001 646 555 1212.

Some callers have situations in which revealing the number being called from would invade their privacy or cause other severe problems. Caller ID can falsely report when the caller is using a discount or travel calling program or a voice over IP phone, because those systems use intermediate telephone numbers in the country being called.

Some long distance telephone cards, especially those using VOIP to carry calls, mask Caller ID information. These calls are commonly displayed as out of area.

Legal issues

United States

In the United States, telemarketers are required to transmit callerID. 18 FCC Rcd 14014 (FCC, July 3, 2003) at para. 173 et seq. This requirement went into effect on January 29, 2004. 47 C.F.R. § 64.1601(e). Courts have ruled that callerID is admissible. State v. Schuette, 273 Kan. 59, 44 P.3d 459 (Kansas 2002). Providers are required by FCC rules to offer "per-call" blocking of caller ID to their customers.

Legislation pending in the United States in 2007 would make it illegal to "spoof" callerID for fraudulent purposes.

Getting around caller ID

Blocking

The caller ID information is masked when a SkypeOut call is placed.

Blocking is the common term for preventing the display of a calling number. Therefore people won't know its you calling them.

Telecommunications regulators vary in their requirements for the use of assorted technologies to prevent numbers from being displayed. There is also varying treatment for equation of call display blocking with non-published numbers; in some areas, having a non-published number does not mean call display blocking will be automatic, so customers should inquire carefully to make sure their non-published number is not being displayed and if it is, what steps to take to block the number.

In Canada, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires blocking to be customer-activated for each call, although there is an exception for telephone lines at shelters for victims of domestic violence. Such lines can be programmed to always block, without the use of an activation code at the time a call is placed.

In some locations in the United States, regulators allow (or require) blocking to be automatic, transparent to the caller.

Where blocking is applied on a call-by-call basis (at the time a call is made), subscribers can block -- prevent their numbers from being displayed -- by dialing a special code before making a call. In North America and some other regions, the code is *67, while the United Kingdom and Ireland use 141. This special code does not block the information from companies using call capture technology. This means that equipment with caller ID will simply display the word 'PRIVATE' or 'WITHHELD'. When CNID is blocked at the caller's request, the number is actually transmitted through the entire telephone network, with the 'Presentation Withheld' flag set; the destination CO is expected to honor this flag, but sometimes does not -- especially when the destination phone number is served by an ISDN primary rate interface.

Alternatively, in cases where caller ID is being blocked automatically, it can only be released on a call-by-call basis by dialing a special code (*82 in the U.S.; 1470 in the UK). See Disabling, below.

Similarly, some countries offer anonymous caller rejection, which rejects all calls when the subscriber's number is blocked. Some telephone companies also route anonymous calls to a service which requires the caller to announce him or herself, and then requires the called party to accept or reject the call. Blocking the number is referred to as Calling Line Identification Restriction (CLIR). Emergency services will most likely be able to show the restricted number using a service called Calling Line Identification Restriction Override (CLIRO), or by using general ANI services.

In the United States, caller ID blocking does not disable the ANI transmission of your telephone number. ANI equipment is typically found at large companies, call centers, and law enforcement stations. ANI transmissions are more difficult to block or spoof than caller ID.

Spoofing

Caller ID is a simple string of data that can be read and generated very simply by small computer programs and even some inexpensive devices. Although the caller ID information is transmitted in between the first and second rings, before the phone call is connected, it is possible to mislead the phone company as to the origin of the call, thus defeating caller ID. Although misleading the phone company by generating ANI code or by other electronic means is very complex, simpler means do exist. Using services like Vonage or Skype, calling from a payphone, or using a calling card are easy means to fool caller ID.

Disabling

In North America, there is one code to disable caller ID. The code is *67. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, 141 is the equivalent code. Australia uses 1831. New Zealand uses 0197. Hong Kong uses 133. Israel uses *43. Other countries and networks may vary. On GSM mobile networks, callers may dial #31# before the number they wish to call to disable it.

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