British Telecommunications Plc is running a trial of Caller Line Identification for the first time, using customers in the Elgin area of North Scotland. The results of the trial will dictate whether the service will be introduced nationally. Around 500 subscribers are being given a special display to attach to their telephone, while the other 23,000 subscribers served by the exchanges will have the trial explained to them, and the option of suppressing display of their number. Callers from outside the trial area will not have their number displayed. Prior to the trial, British Telecom says that it underTOOK a lengthy consultation with bodies including the Office of Telecommunications and the Data Protection Registrar. It says that one of these groups’ primary concerns was that customers should be able to hide their number when they make calls, and that this should be done on a no-charge basis. Oftel also conducted a survey of user opinion in March, and found that 56% felt that Caller Line Identification would be useful and should be introduced, and that 81% of respondents could not think of any time in the last three months when they would have wanted their number suppressed. In a separate exercise, British Telecom also surveyed around 2,000 of its ex-directory customers and found that the majority of them were quite happy with the idea of such a service, with objections very rare. Vivienne Peters of the Telecommunications Users’ Association says that she appreciates British Telecom’s reasons for wanting to introduce the service – particularly the stamping out of malicious calls but emphasises that measures should be taken to protect those that do not want their number displayed – although the simplest solution to that problem remains the injunction if you have a pressing reason to remain anonymous, use a pay-phone. Ms Peters believes that there should be wider consultation before any roll out of the service, to look both at the UK and wider European implications for data protection.
