PUC Proposes New Prefix for X-Rated Calls

The state Public Utilities Commission proposed Friday that phone companies be required to use a prefix other than the commonly used 976 for services with sexually explicit material, that they supply such services only by presubscription and allow commercial customers to block those calls.

The action was hailed by attorney Robert Gnaizda of Public Advocates, who represented 12 groups that sought changes to protect consumers and prevent children from “running up bills of thousands of dollars” with the expensive entertainment and information calls.

The tentative PUC decision, which is up for a final vote on March 22, expands a 1987 ruling that allowed residential customers to block the 976 calls. Businesses and schools have sought the option because many of their phones are easily accessible but not constantly monitored.

Recorded and live messages intended for adults only would be limited to a separate telephone prefix.

The commission said businesses requesting blocking before a specified cutoff date will pay $1, but will pay $15 later. It also limited costs to no more than $5 for the first minute and $1 for each additional minute, with a $20 maximum charge per call.

Gnaizda said the change in per-minute charges was the most innovative aspect of the PUC ruling. Pacific Bell, he said, had sought to charge $10 for the first minute and $5 for each additional minute.

The largest monthly bill for 976 service known to Gnaizda was $6,000. “Many of them (bills) were in the $5,000 to $6,000 range. So that’s not surprising at all,” he said.

But Gnaizda was skeptical about the PUC plan to have phone companies use three different prefixes to distinguish between services with sexually explicit material that would be harmful to children, and to provide such messages only by presubscription.

“They’ll never be able to define it,” he said.

The commission also said that introductory messages must be used to warn callers of the price of the call and give them a chance to hang up without charge.

“While this (revised settlement) does not constitute a perfect 900 service, in our judgment it will produce a service with substantial benefit for California,” the PUC said in a statement.

“Our goal is to disconnect dial-a-porn,” said Pacific Bell spokesman Jim Herold. “But until we have legal authority to do that, we’ve designed our new 900 service to solve the problems some consumers have had with 976.”