In telephone land, it is already accepted without question that to remain unlisted, you must request it, or a fee must be paid to the phone company, as a "special service." But now that phones featuring Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) are coming on the market and phone companies are providing consumers with a new service, Calling Number Identification, shouldn't the practice of charging for privacy be re-evaluated?

Phone company GTE describes Calling# ID as "a service which allows a customer to view the telephone number on an incoming call before answering." On some advanced model phones, names can be displayed alongside numbers. So John Doe has been calling and bugging you for weeks and now you know when it's him calling before you pick up the phone. There is a flipside to this of course. Every time you make a call to a phone with an LCD, your name and number is advertised for all to see, even when you dial a wrong number. Be careful answering those call-in telephone polls, someone out there is paying attention to the information you've given them for free. And calling a store for a quick price quote could end up flooding your mailbox with junk mail for years to come or, in the very least, put your phone number on the telemarketing auction block.

That is, of course, unless you pay the fee to remain anonymous. GTE is benevolently allowing its local customers until February 15, 1995 to disconnect from this service for free. After that it'll cost $8- a pop to stay private. Those with unlisted numbers who don't cancel Calling# ID, will still be displayed.

So, once again, the choices are allow corporations to use and spread around your personal information freely and at will, or pay them extra and remain a private citizen. "Proof Positive" that the corporate view of Constitutional freedom is quite different from that of mere citizens'.