Absolutely! These are general remarks, not intending for anyone in particular:
Many people are shocked to learn of this technology/loophole in the law. But, as usual, big business always has a big hand in crafting laws that favor them at the expense of consumer privacy, often with the threat of suing states or just leapfrogging to the U.S. Congress to trump the states.
I have no complaint of Dish having the ability to verify legitimacy of accounts using this technology the law allows; I do have a very big problem with many other companies that don't need such information but can legally capture it for their own exploitation.
DishSub,
First off this is NOT about Congress caving to big business.
This is about FAIRNESS. Toll Free numbers are NOT toll free. Really the name is a misnomer, it should be called TOLL FORWARDING.
A company that has a "Toll Free" number pays for ALL OF THE LONG DISTANCE CHARGES. For this very reason those companies have every reason to be able to determine how much those calls are going to cost. Some Long Distance calls are more costly than others so if a company gets ANI data that company can tailor their phone system to answer more costly calls more quickly, to reduce costs and or to mitigate how much money their "TOLL FREE" service is going to cost month in and month out.
If you have a problem with this "loophole" that allows companies to know where and how much your call is going to cost them, then don't use 800 Numbers and call them on your DIME. BTW in most cases companies will give you NON "Toll Free" numbers to call if you do NOT wish to provide your Calls ANI information.
ANI information is only provided on "Toll Free Numbers".
John