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(Excerpted from the CIDMage Manual)
Introduction

Welcome to CIDMage^TM, the first all-software Caller ID generator for Windows PCs!


What is CIDMage^TM?

This application presents you with an easy way to create four different types of Caller ID signal, plus the MDMF Workshop feature allows you to experiment with creating your own MDMF Caller ID messages at the parameter level!

You can hear the "sound" of the normally unheard Caller ID signal, and with a proper connection from your sound card to the phone line, even "go live" and send your own custom made Caller ID messages to Caller ID Display Terminals on your own line or the other end of the line.

There are many reasons to create your own Caller ID signals.

If you work for an electronics retailer, you can make the Caller ID displays on all your display phones say whatever you want them to - even "BUY ME!"

You can use your own Caller ID messages to place brief messages on a Caller ID display - messages like "CALL BACK" or "TURN ON CELLPHONE" - when your call is taken by an answering machine or fax, or when the called party has the ringer on their phone turned off.

If you are calling from another person's line, you can use your own Caller ID message to let them know who you really are.

You can use CIDMage^TM to test the Caller ID terminals in your home or office.

You can use CIDMage to put a patently false phone number and name on a Caller ID terminal as a gag or joke - during our testing we loved putting "OZZY OSBOURNE", "GEORGE W BUSH" and other unlikely names on our friends' Caller IDs!

You can even use CIDMage^TM in conjunction with the *67 Call Privacy feature to mislead someone as to your identity, although this is not recommended not only for obvious social reasons but also because this tactic is not difficult for the called party to detect.


CIDMage^TM Limitations

While CIDMage^TM creates technically excellent Caller ID signals, it should be stressed that there are a few things you cannot do with Caller ID signals that you make yourself. This is because some situations require you to have access to the called party's phone line before they answer, which has not been possible for many years due to changes in the design of the PSTN (public switched telephone network). In addition, certain kinds of phones get their Caller ID data from a digital channel that you, as the caller, do not have access to. Cellular and PCS telephones are the most common example of this kind of number.

The specific limitations of CIDMage^TM and all other Caller ID generators (except the ones used by the phone company to generate "real" Caller ID) are these:

- Regular Caller ID signals are sent to the called party's phone line before they answer. Before they answer, however, you as the caller do not have access to the audio on their end of the call. That is why you do not hear the Caller ID "burst" on your end when you call a Caller ID subscriber. What this means is that you cannot fake the Caller ID information that the called party sees before she answers. You can, however, add a new Caller ID signal using Call Waiting Caller ID, and this technique will be discussed in more detail in the MDMF chapter.

- Generally, you cannot send custom-made Caller ID data to cellular telephones, toll-free numbers that use ANI or Call Detail Service, or any other line that gets its Caller ID-type information from a separate digital channel. Only inside access to the telephone company would make that possible. CIDMage^TM generates the Bell 202 FSK Caller ID signal used on most home and business landline phone lines. Cellphones, even those with a Caller ID feature, are simply not listening for that kind of signal, and even if CIDMage^TM generated the digital Caller ID information used by such phones, you would have no way to deliver it to the phone because it doesn't get it from the audio channel, which is the only part of the network you have access to!


Social Statement

It is very important to understand that, even with these limitations, CIDMage^TM could, like any other tool with the capability of masking one's identity, be abused by telemarketers, bill collectors, stalkers, and others with questionable motives. CIDMage^TM was not designed to be used to harass or deceive people and you should take note that the End User Licence Agreement prohibits that kind of behavior. If you bought CIDMage^TM
expecting to be able to make someone's life more difficult, please find another way to solve whatever problem you may have.

Like any other powerful tool, it is up to you to use CIDMage^TM wisely and responsibly.

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