A cross-section of cellular phone users The Heritage newspaper talked to last week in the capital cried onto the various network operators to step in as quickly as possible to stop the shrouding of the identity of callers using ‘unknown’ numbers, a culture fast gaining popularity because of how cheap it is to get licensed to do so. The facility is called the Caller Line Identification Restriction (CLIR) and the service providers give an array of reasons they issue applicants and others wanting their identities to the masked with the CLIR, but the general public seems overwhelmingly disquieted by what it sees as the irresponsible issuance and use of the special numbers. Some Accra dwellers also expressed grave concern over the abundant special car registration numbers these days dotting the streets, contending that cheapening the privilege and high society vehicle owner identification does the country no good, as it can allow the riff-raff and crooks to parade themselves in the streets as special. “We knew that, when you received a call from a private number, unlisted number or one marked 0000000, then it was coming from beyond the borders of our country or from some big, big person within; but what do we see these days? Most users of these so-called special numbers are ordinary ones and some others whose motives for wanting their identity shelved are quite questionable. "Why have the service providers cheapened the so-called special numbers these days?” Maxwell Ampong, a business executive at Adabraka,wondered, and his query ran through the responses of scores of others interviewed on the subject. All respondents hailed the advent of the mobile phone, relating how it was facilitating their business, educational and social transactions. But they were unanimous in bemoaning the threats, insults, trickery and ‘April Fool’ tactics some of those using special numbers subject them to. “But the other side of the coin is too depressing,” bemoaned Sandra Aikens, an undergraduate student. “I would like to stress that the hidden identity of callers should be limited to only such high-ranking officers as the president, the vice, some of the ministers, top notches of National Security and no more. Our respondents portended that most of the callers who pour outrageous invectives on radio use unlisted numbers. They added that some bandits use such numbers to scare their targets away from their legitimate homes and then move in to sweep money and property their victims have toiled to acquire. Jealous and diabolical men and women who use these numbers to call their rivals to tell despicable stories and collapse holy matrimonies were also cited. “the bottom line is you can never trace the criminals and they destroy and meet you the next day in the streets and laughing” was how Yaw Baah-Yeboah, a man who said his wife left him because she received continual calls that he was dating a married woman, lamented. Source: The Heritage