On the Phone War Front

Reflecting a trend that New York Telephone Supervisor Edward C. Small calls "symptomatic and reflective of the society in which we live," 15% of all phone customers now have unlisted numbers, up from 8.5% ten years ago. One .reason is to escape annoying calls from such groups as pushy salespeople--peddling everything from insurance policies to vacation homes--and over-zealous charities. But the privacy invaders are beginning to fight back with a new weapon: an automated dialer and recorded-message player that can make up to 1,000 calls a day. Because the device blankets entire telephone exchanges--automatically dialing all the numbers, both listed and unlisted--no one can escape the unwanted pitches. And taking the phone off the hook activates a "howler" device of slowly rising intensity.

But wait! The battle of machines is escalating. In Virginia, the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Co. is testing for 90 days a service named "Dial-a-Busy." A patron who wants no calls dials a number, which activates equipment that sounds a fake busy signal if someone phones. To have the buzz turned off, the subscriber dials the special number again. If the test works out, the service will probably be expanded, providing privacy seekers with an alternative to disconnecting their phones.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.