----- Original Message -----
From: "Benjamin Franz" <snowhare(_at_)nihongo(_dot_)org>
To: <spf-discuss(_at_)v2(_dot_)listbox(_dot_)com>
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 8:13 AM
Subject: Re: [spf-discuss] Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Article On
Anti-Spam Technologies Mentions SPF
On Fri, 19 Nov 2004, Nico Kadel-Garcia wrote:
Actually, you can. There are some interesting commercial services now
that
will forge CallerID for you on a call-by-call basis. I haven't
investigated
the details, but it's just a digital signal sent between the first few
rings
of the telephone.
The raido talk shows are having a blast with this.
And it is worth noting that virtually nobody except bill collectors and
scam artists (I think talk shows that want to fake out famous people fall
under the last) think Caller-ID forging is a _GOOD_ thing. Count
on it being made illegal and/or technically impossible _very soon_.
--
Benjamin Franz
*WRONG*. Suicide lines, AIDS support call centers, teen sex information
lines, Planned Parenthood, drug clinics, government whistle-blowing
agencies, dating services, and other services where the anonymity of the
caller is important for their own protection all seem to relish the idea
once you explain its details to them. It still presents a security issue for
the Caller-ID mangling service itself, but it's potentially quite useful
itself. It's especially useful to be able to forge the calling ID to the
number of some organization that accepts the responsibility, such as a
dating service or the suicide hotline itself.
I agree that it's certainly abusable, but given that it's so easily forged,
I hate to see people think they can rely on it or to be frightened from
making a vital call because they don't trust the person they're calling not
to use the Caller-ID to backtrack the call.