[Drawsing]

This brings up one of my pet peeves. When you call someone, the first words out of your mouth should always be, "This is (your name)." NOT doing this is the equivalent of going up to someone's door with a hood over your face. And what makes me even more angry is the person who calls and not only does not identify himself, but has the gall to say, "Who is this?"

Please don't tell me I am violating one of your precious freedoms to expect this courtesy.

[backhoe]

I learned to do that a long time ago in business- identify yourself! Nobody likes a disembodied, anonymous voice over the phone.

[FreePaul]

Any calls I receive without proper identification do not get answered. They can leave a message (most don't) and if they properly identify themselves I may return the call.

As long as the phone companies can sell call blocking to one party and a method to defeat it to another party we will always have these unidentified calls. Our phone company now wants customers to buy a service that will not put calls through unless they are identified. As soon as enough people subscribe to this they will sell a method to defeat this type of call blocking.

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

My philosophy is when someone calls my home, they are asking permission to enter. I would not open my door for a stranger. I would not open my door without looking to see who is there. I will not answer anyone who refuses to identify themselves via caller ID. Likewise, I prefer to keep my telephone number as private as I can. I keep my number blocked. When I get a message that says "Your call has been delivered, but this line does not accept calls from anonymous numbers" I either unblock or do not call again--it depends on the circumstance.

This is very important. Calls to toll-free numbers deliver your phone number even though you block delivery of your number. Likewise, if anyone wonders why "out of area calls" get through, it is usually because they come from toll-free numbers. I never use a toll-free number.

None of us are aware of the many ways we unwittingly give our privacy.