OVERCOMING CHALLENGES OF CALL

MASKING/REFILING: TASK AHEAD FOR

THE TELECOM INDUSTRY

AYOOLA B. OKE ESQ.

ICT DERIVATIVES LTD
 CALLER IDENTITY AND THE
CONSUMER 1
CALLER IDENTITY IS A STANDARD AND KEY FEATURE OF
TELECOMMUNICATION THAT PROTECTS CONSUMERS
BY DISCLOSING SOME HELPFUL INFORMATION ABOUT
THE CALLER:

– IT ALLOWS A NAME TO BE ATTACHED TO A

NUMBER
– DISCLOSURE OF WHO MAY BE ATTEMPTING TO
COMMUNICATE
– GIVES AN IDEA OF THE LOCATION OF THE CALLER
– ASSIST IN RATING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CALL
– ASSIST DECISION ON HOW OR WHETHER TO
RESPOND OR NOT
– GIVES ASSURANCE THE CALLER IS WHO HE
CLAIMS TO BE
– ASSURE A CALLER THE RESPONDENT KNOWS
WHO HE IS
– INFORMS THE RESPONDENT WHO HAS CALLED
– ENABLE ABILITY TO CALL BACK
–
 CALLER IDENTITY AND THE
CONSUMER 2
CALLER IDENTITY
INFORMATION:
qCELL NUMBER
qNAME OF CALLER
qPICTURE
qNETWORK
INFORMATION
qLOCATION
qTown/City
qState
qCountry
 CALLER IDENTITY AND THE
CONSUMER 1
IN SPITE OF CALLER ID BEING
A STANDARD AND USEFUL
NETWORK FEATURE IT CAN BE
DEACTIVATED BY A CALLER OR
BY A NETWORK SERVICE
PROVIDER THUS DEPRIVING
CONSUMERS OF ITS
ADVANTAGES WHICH
INCLUDE PROTECTION:

Ø AGAINST NUISANCE
CALLERS
Ø FRAUDULENT CALLERS AND
ACTIVITIES
 NUISANCE CALLS
CATEGORIES:
Ø PRIVATE NUISANCE
ü Friends
ü Acquaintances
ü Family and
ü Colleagues
Ø PUBLIC NUISANCE
ü Brick n’ Mortar
Marketing
ü Robo calls
ü Value Added
Service Calls
ü Fraudsters
ü Pranksters
ü
NETWORK ARCHITECTURE OF CALL
REFILING
 CALL MASKING/REFILING
• INSPITE OF THE FACT THAT CALL
IDENTITY IS NOW A STANDARD
FEATURE OF TELECOM NETWORKS
AND TERMINALS NEVERTHELESS
SOME CALLS STILL TERMINATE
WITHOUT CALL IDENTIFIER TAGS:
• THIS COULD HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY
DELIBERATE REMOVAL OF THE WHATEVER THE CASE THE
TAGS BY THE CALL ORIGINATING INTENTIONS OF REMOVING
OR TRANSIT OR TERMINATING CALL IDENTIFIERS ARE MOST
NETWORKS LIKELY DISHONEST
• IN ADDITION THE CALLER COULD
HAVE ALSO REMOVED THE TAG IN THUS IT RAISES PRACTICAL,
ORDER TO MAKE AN POLICY AND REGULATORY
ANONYMOUS CALL ISSUES
 PRACTICAL ISSUES
• PRIVACY ISSUES
– Right to Privacy and Freedom of
Association are both constitutional
and fundamental human rights
which have come under serious
challenge through
telecommunications which is a very
intrusive and invasive in nature.
– One of the ways in which this
intrusiveness has been curtailed is
through call identification, which
protects the right of the receiver to
know in advance who is calling and
thus decide if he wishes to answer
the call or not and whether at that
time or at a later time, or how to
communicate with the person
 FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION INCLUDES
FREEDOM TO DISSOCIATE
WHILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS IS
CONNECTING THE WORLD AND
BRINGING PEOPLE INTO ASSOCIATION
PEOPLE STILL HAVE A RIGHT ON WHO
THEY WANT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH
 POLICY ISSUES
• While Fundamental Human rights are deemed inalienable and
sacrosanct the right of one person must be balanced against the
right of others
• Government on its part while wanting to protect individual privacy
and freedom of association, also wants to promote social
integration for political and economic purposes
• Government to some extent wishes to know about its citizens for
planning for social/welfare service delivery and security
protection purposes Thus it does not want any individual cut off
completely as an island on his own
• This is why policy wise it wants all callers properly identified and the
right to withhold your identity is terminated at doorstop of the
right of others to know your identity
 UNSOLICITED COMMUNICATION
ADVENT OF INTERNET OF THINGS E-
EVERYTHING AND M-EVERYTHING
• As further advancement in
telecommunication has made life, socio-
political and economic interaction easier.
• Spam communications (text and voice
mails), pop-up adverts and other more
maliciously intrusive data (such as worms
and viruses) have continued to erode
confidence in the new liberty and
opportunities created by Information
and Communications Technology.
• But the most annoying and invasive of the
lot are mobile SMS and pre-record voice SURROUNDED BY COMMUNICATIONS
calls, which have prompted regulation in SEARCHING FOR AN OASIS OF SILENCE
many other countries due to high rate of
consumer complaints.
 REASON FOR REGULATION
• Society is based on communication and thus
it is easy to opine that communication
should always be encouraged and never
discouraged.
• Unfortunately this would be a simplistic
cliché as there are good and harmless
communication and harmful
communication
• The problem with unwanted communication
is not just the disturbance of the
consumers as there are much more
malicious issues associated with
unwanted communication.
• Spam communication can be said to be the
first step in e-commerce. It was found to
be a useful tool for promoting commerce
over the Internet but like its analogue
predecessor, catalogue marketing, it
floods the consumer with a lot of
unrequired information.
INTERNET/MOBILE FRAUD
 POLICY ISSUES 2
GOVERNMENT USES CALLER INFORMATION FOR
CRIME FIGHTING
 REGULATORY ISSUES
• All practical and policy issues invariably need
regulatory attention but there are some
purely regulatory issues which we now deal
with below:
– Unauthorised network and intervening revenue
theft from operators, government and regulator
– Economics of Market Distortions
– Quality of Service Issues
– The Issue of Over The Top (OTTs) applications
–
–
 RECOMMENDATIONS
• ALL STAKEHOLDERS NEED TO EDUCATE EACH OTHER ON THE ISSUES OF CALL
REFILING AND WORK TOGETHER TO STAMP OUT THE NUISANCE AND
DANGERS OF ILLEGAL CALL REFILING; IN ADDITION:
• THE REGULATOR:
– TERMINATION RATES SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO BE MARKET
DETERMINED TO ELIMINATE MARGINS THAT ATTRACT ILLEGAL
OPERATORS
– ESTABLISH EASY FEEDBACK CHANNELS FROM BOTH CONSUMER AND
OPERATOR
– CLOSELY MONITOR THE MARKET TO DETECT THESE ILLEGAL
ACTIVITIES
– WORK CLOSELY WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES AND OTHER
STAKEHOLDERS TO TRACE AND APPREHEND OFFENDERS
– IMPOSE REGULATORY PRESCRIPTIONS TO BLOCK CALLS THAT DO NOT
PRESENT CALLER IDENTITY
 RECOMMENDATIONS 2
• GOVERNMENT
– RESOLVE THE LEGAL REGIME IN FAVOUR OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CALLED PARTY
– MANDATE NCC TO IMPLEMENT THE LEGAL REGIME THROUGH REGULATORY
PRESCRIPTIONS
• OPERATORS
– INSTALL TECHNOLOGIES THAT ARE CAPABLE OF DETECTING AND PREVENTING OR
BLOCKING ILLEGAL CALLS FOR EXAMPLES CALLS NOT PRESENTING IDENTITY
TAGS
– SEND PERIODIC REPORTS AND STATISTICS OF SUCH ILLEGAL REFILING AND OTHER
ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES DETECTED
– ADOPT BEST PRACTICES THAT ENABLE FULL CALLER IDENTIFICATION
• CONSUMERS
– ASSIST OTHER STAKEHOLDERS IN MONITORING AND REPORTING THROUGH
ESTABLISHED FEEDBACK CHANNELS
–
–
THANK YOU
THE END