TrapCall Service To Bypass Caller ID Blocking 399
cemaco writes in with news that TelTech, developers of the infamous SpoofCard service, have come out with something even more controversial: a set of services for revealing blocked caller ID numbers. The services take advantage of a loophole in the way caller ID blocking works — it has never been effective when calling an 800 number, because the recipient is paying for the call. So TelTech instructs you how to forward blocked calls (transparently) to their 800 number; the call comes back to your phone in seconds with the formerly hidden caller ID revealed. Advocacy groups for victims of domestic violence are concerned. Victims of annoying calls hiding behind caller ID blocking are rejoicing.
Re:I don't get it ?? (Score:4, Informative)
HTH.
203 Sense and Antisense U.S. Air Date: October 3, (Score:2, Informative)
[The phone clicks. Frank puts the phone down. The gadget bleeps. Roedecker holds it
out for Frank to see. The readout notes, "Anonymous Caller."]
ROEDECKER: Well, obviously whoever called has blocked caller ID. The phone
company does it for a price.
[Frank snatches back the check out of Roedecker's hands.]
ROEDECKER: Whoa, whoa! All you need now is a device to undo their caller block.
[Roedecker hastily grabs a package from a nearby chair and takes off the lid. It's
another gadget, the LMU-83.]
ROEDECKER: The LMU 83 will override their override very nicely. It's a little more
James Bondian but we are living in a more Blofeldian world.
Re:I don't get it ?? (Score:5, Informative)
We're concerned because most crisis call lines are not the phone bank you see on TV, but volunteers that work at home. As a crisis line volunteer, you want your home number blocked so that the client calls the crisis line and not you.
Some of the people we deal with aren't particularly stable and may try to latch on to the crisis worker - these, if they go into common use, could cause mental health issues for the users of crisis hotlines, AND the volunteers.
Re:I don't get it ?? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Anonymous retribution? (Score:3, Informative)
spoken like a true 'tard. [snip] Say, you have an abusive spouse but you have to share custody. You need to call them but don't want them calling you and abusing you? Hrm, maybe that's a good idea.
If the court is involved to order shared custody, then the court can just as easily issue an injunction prohibiting the abuser from calling the victim. Violation of the order begets jail and fines.
Even in the absence of a court order, the victim could block incoming calls from the abuser's number - assuming this technology is available to defeat ID blocking! All things considered, the ability to block one's originating number seems much more useful for the abuser than the victim.
Fix telco *657 (Score:3, Informative)
My telco advertises *657 service (I may have those numbers slightly wrong) to report harassing phone calls, despite caller ID. Simply dial the code and it replies telling you that the call has been logged. If a police report is also filed, these records are given directly to the police, or if a certain number of these automated complaints are made, a report is automatically filed.
The same thing can be achieved by calling the operator immediately after the phone call and reporting it as harassing. The phone company knows who called you, they don't like people abusing the service any more than landlords appreciate the loud annoying neighbour that makes people move out of their buildings.
ANI != Caller ID (Score:5, Informative)
I can't believe the ignorance of the referenced article. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_number_identification [wikipedia.org] for an intelligent explanation of what's happening. The important part is...
>>>
Because ANI is unrelated to caller ID, the caller's telephone number and line type
are captured by ANI equipment even if caller ID blocking is activated. The destination
telephone company switching office can relay the originating telephone number to ANI
delivery services subscribers. Toll-free Inward WATS number subscribers and large
companies normally have access to ANI information, either instantly via installed
equipment, or from a monthly billing statement. Residential subscribers can obtain
access to ANI information through third party companies that charge for the service.
>>>
To summarize...
* There are 2 *TOTALLY UNRELATED* means of getting *THE NUMBER THAT IS CALLING YOU*
* Caller ID (technically CNID) sends the callers number during the ringing signal.
Any outfit with their own PBX can send out whatever crap they want as CNID.
That's how spoofing services work, and how telemarketers can fake CNID
* ANI (Automatic Number Identification) is billing information data. Spoofing that
effectively constitutes fraud. And you can be certain that phone companies will
do whatever is necessary to make sure their billing systems work . ANI is very
difficult to spoof.
Having said that, TrapCall can be beaten. Not spoofed, but beaten. ANI passes the number making the call. If you call via Skype, your call is forwarded to Skype, who then forwards the call to the destination. The destination gets Skype's billing data. This is technically correct, but useless for identifying the originator. Oh yeah, Skype pays connection charges at the receiving end, so don't expect them to freely work for 1-900 numbers. This is roughly equivalant to calling from New York to Los Angeles to ask your brother to pass on a message to someone in Atlanta. The person in Atlanta knows they got called by somebody from Los Angeles. This is technically correct, but doesn't let them know that the message originated from New York.
Grand Central is another solution (Score:3, Informative)
It also carries a known spam caller telephone list that you can subscribe to - they will automatically get dropped or straight to spam voice mail box.
Since changing my cell phone number I have given out my grand central number to everyone but family. It certainly reduces the number of people I need to tell if I switch cell phone provider (and number) in the future too - I'm not going thought the hassle of number porting.
Re:Yeah really (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yeah really (Score:3, Informative)
I know our local phone carrier offers a service where you can block calls from callers who block caller ID. This makes the most sense, because it the caller a simple choice. If you want to call me, unblock your number. If you are not willing to do that, I'm not willing to take your call.
I suppose this service would be useful to people who's phone carriers do not offer that service, but I'd be surprised to find this is the case.
Re:Blocking Caller ID illegal in some states (Score:2, Informative)
Not quite, Lumpy. In the case in question, the man had been driving his car up to the coffee shop for weeks and using his laptop. He had been warned by the coffee shop owners that the WiFi service is for paying customers. After repeated warnings and his continual offense, they called the cops. Unfortunately he was prosecuted under an old law that equated what he was doing with breaking into a bank mainframe.
If you go to a coffee shop, purchase an item, and sit outside in their outdoor cafe area, you will be fine.
Re:Anonymous retribution? (Score:1, Informative)
I said it and I will say it again: if the other person is abusive, you should not be communicating with them via telephone, only via lawyers and police officers.
Yeah, you know *all* about it, don't you?
Courts often order regular visitation rights for violent spouses 'because they were not violent to or in front of the children'. These visits have to be arranged and the court expects *you* to do it. You think the police are going to do it? You think the abused partner can afford to pay a lawyer every few days to arrange contact?
Just how fucking stupid are you?
Re:Anonymous retribution? (Score:3, Informative)
Then change the laws in this country. Oh, and provide free legal services to every abused spouse. Or do you think lawyers will act as go-betweens for free? Same goes for police officers. They usually have more important work to do.
You aren't insightful, you are an asshole.
Re:Yeah really (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I don't get it ?? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yeah really (Score:3, Informative)
No, someone who can get a doctorate in molecular biology is not stupid - at least not by any mainstream definition of the word.
The fact is that human beings are emotionally quite complex, and you will discover this for yourself as you get older.
Re:Yeah really (Score:4, Informative)
Man, I will answer here, but my answer goes to everyone that criticized my post (that had a hint of flamebait to it, really).
I know what I am talking about, I worked for a couple of years in a small town's DA office as an assistant/paralegal and I dealt with battered wives, social workers, the police, the whole she-bang. All there is to it is horrible, I can guarantee you. My wife (as a DA in another town) dealt with it for most of her (15 years long by now) career, and still have to deal with some of it.
Battered wives _must_ be isolated from their abusers quickly, swiftly and irrevocably. If the system does not do that, they go back to him, many times because they think that they don't have marketable skills / enough money to raise the kids or to live, sometimes because religion tells them that they must cope with that, sometimes even because they were conditioned by the abuser to think they deserve to be beaten.
If she made it to the shelter, she calls 911 (999/190), the police gets her kids wherever they are, and they go thru the system. For the night, they don't stay with the abuser. She does not call him. Her lawyer/public defendant/the DA gets the abuser arrested, and the judge will see if it is enough a court order for him to be out of the house.
IN NO CIRCUMSTANCES should abuser and abused exchange words directly. If visitation is granted to him (normally after some time), the victim should arrange for other person (relative, neighbour) to deal with the exchanges of the kids, and should call 911 (etc) at once if the abuser disobeys any terms of custody and/or visitations, because he does not want to go to jail in contempt.
This is women's rights protection 101, and even Brasilian police takes this in a very serious way (especially where there is a vigilant DA), so I have no reason to believe it's not so in other, supposedly more developed countries.
Re:Yeah really (Score:4, Informative)
Same here, but I also know that I sometimes get legitimate calls from unidentified callers (doctor, wife's office, etc). For me, the following works perfectly:
- home phone is call-forwarded to a GrandCentral number
- GrandCentral is configured to send certain callers to my cell phone, wife's cell phone, or both. Unknown callers, "spam" calls, blocked calls, etc., just never ring through.
- an added benefit, voicemails get delivered via email
Re:both blocking and unblocking - which wins? (Score:3, Informative)
If you subscribe to a telephone service, you are paying for a service that is known to cause your phones to ring when your telephone number is dialed. You have the RIGHT to disable the ringer or not subscribe to the service.
Don't want to be interrupted? Disable your ringers or disconnect your phone line.
Re:Battered Men too (Score:1, Informative)