Which rule governs evidence that a telephone call was made to the number assigned at the time to a particular person or to a particular business?

• A. Rule 901. (b)(7)
• B. Rule 901. (b)(6)
• C. Rule 902. (3)
• D. Rule 901. (b)(10)

Answer: (B)

Authentication is the requirement that evidence be shown to be what it claims to be. For telephone communications, one established way to satisfy authentication is to show that the call was directed to the number that was then assigned to a specific person or to a specific business. This ties the call to that entity and helps establish that the record or message is the one you say it is. That specific method is described in Rule 901(b)(6).

In practice, you might bring in testimony or records showing the call went to a number known to belong to the person or business at the time, or other evidence that the number identified the recipient. This makes the link between the call and the claimed source, satisfying the authentication requirement for that type of evidence. Other authentication methods covered by different parts of Rule 901 address different kinds of evidence (like handwriting, ancient documents, or other distinctive characteristics), but they don’t address authenticating a telephone call by the assigned-number link.