Telephone call screening system and method and caller registration system and method for use therewith

A telephone call screening system screens telephone calls placed to a subscriber based upon a preferred caller database established by the subscriber from a networked caller registry database. A caller registration system allows callers to select a private identifier unique to the caller and registers the callers in a caller registry database. The subscriber establishes the preferred caller database by connecting to the caller registration system and selecting the preferred callers. The private identifiers associated with the selected preferred callers are then stored in the preferred caller database. When a caller calls the subscriber, the caller is asked to enter the caller's private identifier. A caller disposition process is initiated based on whether the private identifier is in the preferred caller database.