The Region - News from June 17, 1987

The state Public Utilities Commission took a modest step by telling cellular telephone users that their calls may be overheard, but rejected a plan to require the lack-of-privacy notification on every call. Citing costs and an apparent lack of concern by many customers, the four commission members present at a San Francisco meeting voted unanimously for an order that merely requires companies to distribute notification stickers that can be attached to a cellular phone in a car or elsewhere. The stickers will read, “Conversations with a cellular telephone may not be private.” In addition, the companies must put a notice in next month’s bills explaining the potential lack of privacy and ways to counter it, such as scrambling devices.