Caller ID Spoofing About to be Outlawed

[gangals]

Today the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has passed S. 704, a bill that would make it a crime to spoof caller ID. Dubbed the "Truth in Caller ID Act of 2007," the bill would outlaw causing "any caller identification service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller identification information" via "any telecommunications service or IP-enabled voice service." Law enforcement is exempted from the rule.

While we all probably wish this would outlaw caller-ID blocking (think "Private"), it won't. The proposed legislation only targets misleading caller ID spoofing, such as pranking your buddy by sending along "Bush, G.H.W." with your next VoIP call.

"Caller ID provides critical information to those who rely on it," said Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) in a statement. "However, when this technology is used to deceive people it can endanger personal privacy and safety. This bill will help strengthen the ability of the FCC and states to combat these nefarious practices." We all know Stevens is just sick of getting calls from "Tubes, Internet" and "Mr. Giant Truck."

The bill was introduced in February by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME). A similar act has been introduced in the House and passed, making it very likely that this little bill will indeed someday become a law.

But is it needed? Caller ID spoofing can be annoying, and there are indeed several websites online that will happily help you prank your friends. It's hardly an epidemic, but then that's what makes it an ideal law to pass: there is no pro-caller ID spoofing lobby, outside of law enforcement.

On a serious note, caller ID spoofing can be used to bypass dial-in systems that use your calling location to determine who you are. Supposedly none other than Paris Hilton used this technique to break into Lindsay Lohan's voicemail, but somehow we doubt the veracity of that specific claim.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070627-caller-id-spoofing-about-to-be-outlawed.html

[rbcp]

Oh no, this could put PDXUSA out of business!

[Tachyon]

Ted Stevens strikes again! Cleaning up the tubes, one ridiculous and uninformed statement at a time...

[Sidepocket]

I post 8 billion things I get no comments.

Guess this is suppose to be a hint that I suck? 

[Tachyon]

What are those two things up there by RBCP and myself?

[PHISH-PHREAK]

Keep posting things, I enjoy reading all the articles.

[pdxusa]

PDXUSA is a legitimate registered corporation. We have EIN, FCC FRN, FCC REG, ETC.   

[rbcp]

Trust me, this will not impact our business, as, we have been trying to get caller ID spoofing outlawed for years.  It's no surprise that we spring up right after the bill is it ?

My comment about PDXUSA was sarcasm, genius.

[mr_doc]

For someone who has millions of dollars in federal money you sure do have a shitty website. And your marketing campaign seems to rely on posting threads in forums search engines probably won't even weigh. And if they do you'll end up with keywords like 'douche', 'cunt'  and 'retard'.

Why don't you start a thread on how you could improve your website and ask for constructive criticism instead of inviting a flame war every time you post. People here have too much free time, and your ANI verification won't foil beige boxing.

[pdxusa]

PDXUSA is a legitimate registered corporation. We have EIN, FCC FRN, FCC REG, ETC.   

[gangals]

Guess this is suppose to be a hint that I suck? 

I already read Digg....

I do enjoy reading a few of your articles though.

[pdxusa]

PDXUSA is a legitimate registered corporation. We have EIN, FCC FRN, FCC REG, ETC.   

[rbcp]

Looks like pdxusa has won this round...

[urlhttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/04/congress-outlaws-all-caller-id-spoofing-voip-too.ars]Congress outlaws all Caller ID spoofing (VoIP too)[/url]

The House has passed the "Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010" (PDF), which does exactly what its name would lead you to believe.

Under the bill, it becomes illegal "to cause any caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information, with the intent to defraud or deceive." The bill maintains an exemption for blocking one's own outgoing caller ID information, and law enforcement isn't affected.

The change will affect "any real time voice communications service, regardless of the technology or network utilized," so VoIP calls are included. In fact, the Congressional Research Service summary of the initial text makes clear that VoIP was a key target here.

The Senate has already passed its version of the bill back in February, so it should be signed into law soon.

CTIA - The Wireless Association said today that it supports "making caller identification spoofing illegal as the applications of such an activity are usually for malicious purposes."

[rbcp]

So assuming this really happens, I guess sites like spoofcard.com won't be able to offer their fun services anymore.  Which means no more hilarious prank calls utilizing spoofing from us.  It comes in so handy sometimes, like when I prank called that courthouse man earlier this month and spoofed my own Google voicemail.

 I've always wanted to do a PLA Radio episode on spoofing, but just never had any idea where to go with it.  Now it looks like I'll probably never get the chance to.  What we need to do quickly is do some crazy caller ID prank calling.  Post some ideas here.  Or post things you've done with caller ID spoofing in the past.

Years ago, altalp and I caused a lot of chaos in a mall by prank calling all these stores near each other, using the caller IDs of stores next to each other and yelling at the managers for various things.  Then spoofing calls from mall security to ask questions about the harassment.  Then spoofing calls from the stores to mall security to yell at security for not doing anything about the problems with the other store owners harassing us.  We had everyone pissed at each other that night.

Another time I spent weeks spoofing a bunch of weird names to a friends caller ID display, just waiting for her to notice.  She finally did and wrote a blog post about it.

[nyphonejacks]

so what are VoIP services that do not provide you with a telephone number, or provide incoming calls supposed to display on the caller ID? services like skype, where you would have to pay separately for a DID and incoming calls from the PSTN, and all the betamax products like voipbuster - that i am not sure even offers DIDs...

there is a legit reason for CID spoofing and i do not believe that a majority of spoofing is done with malicious intent... i always call customers who have ACR activated on there line with a spoofed number (of the office) from my cell phone, because i do not like giving out my cell to most customers...

the law should not outright ban spoofing, it should only ban spoofing with the intent to commit fraud, or other malicious reasons...

btw - dayum your friend got 5 kidz... no wonder you were able to spoof so many fake CIDs to her with out her answering the phone... she was probably busy making more kidz... l0l