Caller Identification, or Caller ID, acts like an electronic peephole, allowing a person receiving a phone call to see who is calling before answering the phone. The caller’s telephone number and/or name is displayed either on your phone (if your phone has this feature) or on a display unit that you must buy separately. Caller ID means you lose control over the privacy of your phone number -- unless you take advantage of the free phone number blocking options that are available to you.
Fact Sheet 34Protecting Your Telephone Records: Does Your Carrier’s Privacy Policy Ring True?
We have more than 50 Privacy Fact Sheets. Click here to see the rest.
When you pick up your telephone and punch in a number, you expect that the contact is just between you and the person you call. Sure, you know your telephone carrier logs your phone’s activity. After all, a record of your mobile phone calls appears on your monthly telephone bill. And the bill for your landline phone includes information on calls made to phone numbers outside the local zone. But, what you don’t expect is that someone could use your calling history to pry into your personal life, even to physically harm you.
Since 1996, federal communications laws have required telephone
companies to protect the confidentiality of your telephone calls. Despite this restriction, in the years after 1996 instances of unauthorized access to telephone records exploded. This guide explains the current efforts to stop unauthorized access
to your telephone records. It offers suggestions on how to protect your
records, and it provides resources for additional reading.
