SilentCallsVictim
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Sorry chaps, I remember Jeremy Clarkson as the face of the TV advertising by BT to promote its so-called "Privacy" service that was launched in 2005 as a supposed solution to problem of Silent Calls.
In fact it was no solution at all, as BT itself was at the time the largest maker of Silent Calls in the UK.
The purpose of BT Privacy was 1) To tie in customers, who had to make calls through BT to get the Caller Display service for free. 2) To sell phones or boxes to provide the Caller Display. 3) To prevent BT's competitors from promoting their services by telephone marketing, as encouraged by Oftel, through automatic TPS registration.
Anyone who took Mr Clarkson's advice not to answer calls without CLI, was not avoiding Silent Calls as these were and are commonly made with false, premium rate or genuine CLI. They would however be avoiding calls from many organisations such as the BBC, which withhold it as policy and from friends calling from their place of work or hotels or overseas or who withhold their own CLI, as they are entitled to do under privacy regulations.
CLI does not identify the caller, the purpose of the call or whether it is likely to be silent, nor does the absence of CLI.
I regret that I could have no faith in Mr Clarkson as the champion of anything meaningful. He is however a great entertainer. I hope that the YouTube video is similarly entertaining.
Neither Mr Clarkson nor this issue should be taken seriously. Petitions to the Prime Minister can have a useful purpose, however they have no serious place in our democracy. Use of public money to fund PR gimmicks, such as the No 10 website, is however a serious issue that is perhaps worthy of discussion.
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