The North Carolina Utilities Commission approved BellSouth's Privacy Director service, which blocks unidentified calls, for use by the state's telephone consumers.
Privacy Director is now available in five states, including Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee. It will be available Jan. 1 in the North Carolina cities of Charlotte and Gastonia, as well as in the Research Triangle and Triad regions.
The service intercepts calls that cannot be identified by caller ID and is aimed at limiting telemarketing calls, many of which cannot be picked up by caller ID due to technological restraints. Privacy Director answers the call and asks for identification.
Privacy Director then rings the telephone customer, who can ignore the call, send a rejection message to the caller or answer.
