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Caller ID is a new technology used by some businesses to always show the company’s main switch number regardless of whether or not an employee is calling from their cell phone, home phone, or a public phone. Many users of caller ID spoofing argue that it is a great tool for improving productivity and business communications. However, the way that some of these buinesses utilize caller ID spoofing may violate the law according to a bill introduced in the Senate and now in the House called “The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010.”

Caller ID spoofing allows a person or business to choose the 10 digit phone number that shows up when placing a phone call. “There are useful aspects of this technology” said Itellas Communications CEO Keith Harrington, “However, the useful aspects of caller ID are not nearly as newsworthy. Add to that PAris Hilton used caller ID spoofing to hack Lindsay Lohan’s voicemail box and voila! every other article is about the dangers, not the usefulness, of the tool.” Bill collectors, telemarketers, and private investigators are a few of the groups that use fake caller ID technology as part of their daily business. Your average person would screen or ignore a call from an unknown number” or “private” listing, however they would answer a call if the number displayed was one they knew.

The main clause of the Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010 reads “It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States, in connection with any real time voice communications service, regardless of the technology or network utilized, to cause any caller ID service to transmit misleading or inaccurate caller ID information, with the intent to defraud or deceive.” However, some companies that employ caller ID spoofing (Google Voice) could be construed as violating this new law as a result of the core function of the technology. Google argues it has a vested interest in displaying the primary number for all incoming and outgoing calls regardless of whether those calls were placed from a desktop phone, a personal smartphone, or a software-based VoIP client on the PC.The law is wording in such a way that it applies not only to traditional means of communication and VoIP networks, but to “any real time voice communications service, regardless of the technology or network utilized.”

While it seems that the debate on the legitimate uses of caller ID spoofing and the ability to fake caller ID will no doubt echo the halls of law school classrooms and corporate board rooms, it is unclear at thsi point which version of the “Truth in Caller ID Act of 2010″, if any, will ultimately pass and get a presidential signature. Good arguments can be made by both sides and all involved seem to agree on teh fact that “fraud” is already illegal so why bother creating a new law that specifies a particular medium to which fraud may be rampant.

Technology call spoofing, caller id spoofing, fake caller id, truth in caller id act 2010, voip

Thieves do not just collect Social Security Numbers. They are also after your telephone records, date of birth and your bank and credit card account numbers. This information is a personal asset as well and people who illegally solicit this information are also known as pretexters. One of the main targets of this type of con is Medicare recipients.

The Medicare “spoofing” scam works by con artists calling seniors claiming to be Medicare representatives and informing seniors that there have been changes in the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health care reform legislation. The person on the phone will claim that the new law requires personal and private information such as bank accounts and/or PIN numbers, and that the information will be necessary in order to ensure that their Medicare benefits remain in an “active” state.

Pretextors are usally very skilled at obtaining the information they need while making the conversation seem casual.When the pretexter (let’s just call it a thief) has the information they want, it is used to call your financial institution. The thief pretends to be you or someone with authorized access to your account. They might claim that they have forgotten their checkbook and need information about their account. Their overall goal is to empty an unsuspecting victim’s bank account and drain them of all available assets.

There have been opponents of laws allowing spoofing providers to exist since the advent of the service. Over the years, numerous organizations and individuals alike have exhausted all available means in order to attack the providers of caller ID spoofing . Certain individuals and organizations put forth claims of how threatening caller ID spoofing is. Opponents claim that scammers use it to gain personal information from people in order to commit fraud and other offences.

There is legislation in Congress to make caller ID spoofing a Federal offense. Here is the name of the legislation (the House version has already passed the House): S. 704: Truth in Caller ID Act of 2007. The law was introduced in the Senate on January 12, 2010. The bill passed the Senate and went to the House. The House changed the wording so that it would be illegal to fake caller ID with the intent to defraud or deceive.

The bill now sits in the Senate awaiting Senate approval of the House changes. Several companies have expressed concerns that the House version of the bill is too vague and leaves room for a multitude of lawsuits going forward. Those companies argue that some users of caller ID spoofing have legitimate purposes, employed by some VoIP services–like Google Voice–and by some organizations to replace the actual caller ID information with an alternate number could be considered “illegal” if the bill passes in its current form.

Technology caller id, spoofing, Technology, voip