[asterisk-users] "Fixing the Caller-ID Problem", by John Todd for O'ReillyNet

[Jay R. Ashworth]

On Tue, Oct 24, 2006 at 02:57:38PM -0400, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
> This seems like a piece members of this list would find interesting...

Further down, he notes:

	The PSTN cannot turn on a dime and restrict ANI/CLID from many
	clients using "whitelist" filters. Caller ID manipulation is
	used too widely for completely legitimate purposes, and any
	firm providing interconnection will almost always ask for a
	removal of the ingress filter when sending calls to another
	carrier. I believe that a "check-ahead database" that is
	consulted before call completion at any/every border is
	unworkable as a matter of cost and willpower.

with which I disagree.  In the current regulatory environment, the only
thing they really have handle on is calls which transit the PSTN, and
there are *already* rules which restrict what CNID may be transmitted
across the PSTN by a LEC or IXC.

Given that framework, my personal viewpoint is that that's *exactly*
the situation, and that since most switches have that code in them
already, though sometimes they don't bother to enable it, that this
shouldn't be nearly as big a deal as he says it is.  All they should
have to do is instrument their ISDN trunks to see which ones are having
customer-provided CNID sent down them, and clean up their datafill
before enabling  the restriction code that's already there.

It's all about they money, though: if *every* LEC and IXC taking direct
digital drops doesn't all force it at the same time, there will be
scads of carrier changes.  So perhaps legislation -- or more properly,
enforcement of the current rules -- is called for.

Cheers,
-- jra
-- 
Jay R. Ashworth                                                jra at baylink.com
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