telco

[anonymous@extropia.wimsey.com]

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> I received annoying phone calls for a period of time, and the local phone
> company (US West) said they'd only get involved once I had an "incident
> number" (or some such) from the police department, and that information
> gathered would only be released to the police. I suppose if I actually
> filed a civil suit against the harassing party (even as a John Doe?) I
> could then use the discovery process to compel them to release their
> relevant records - but that's not really the scenario that Brad and
> 'kitten' seem to imagine.

In the days when telcos used the SXS switching system, there was
significant cost in tracing a call - each channel had to be physically
seized and held - but now it's just a matter of pulling a tape or
punching up the info on a console.  Nevertheless, there are legal
obligations of confidentiality.  Interestingly, the police generally
have no problem seizing toll information on a subscriber, once the
warrant is obtained, because the subscriber needn't be informed - only
the telco, which has a vested interest in keeping the subscriber unaware
that his considentiality was violated.

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