Date: Mon, 11 Jul 94 02:13:42 -0700 From: Robert Jacobson Subject: FCC Called ID Ruling As the staff analyst who wrote California's Caller ID prohibition, eventually introduced into law and then PUC regulation, I am appalled at the FCC's decision. It is mendacious and harmful of telephone users generally, and the breadth of state preemption presumed is reminiscent of the Reagan FCC days. At the very least, the FCC should require that telephone instruments be equipped with an automatic, well-labeled call-blocking button that replaces the awkward, hard to remember *67 (who ever dials three digits, anyway?). If the FCC can require telephone systems like SS7 that pass information, and require ratepayers to underwrite these systems, it can at least require that the instruments for connecting to these systems offer a more ubiquitous, easy to use method for enacting per call blocking. In general, however, I find the ruling horrific in its bland, bureau- cratic acceptance of the supremacy of corporate information gathering. This is chilling to the bone. Bob Jacobson