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Posted by Dave on April 11, 2007, 4:50 pm
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Now that I moved back to the USA and set up phone service I've been
getting hammered by illegal prerecorded telemarketing calls. Often
times the caller ID is spoofed on these calls. I've always had sort
of a sideline interest in telecommunications and so I started reading
about Caller ID spoofing. Apparently there has been a lot of talk
around the US about making caller ID spoofing illegal including a
"Truth in Caller ID Act". Somehow I doubt the telemarketers will be
dissuaded.
Now forgive me as I know very little about how actual telephone
networks function, but it seems like it would be trivial for the phone
companies themselves to seal up this gaping hole in security. Would
it not be much simpler for the US government to just hold the
telephone companies accountable for this billable service they
provide? Why don't the central offices just reject any incoming
Caller ID info and stamp on the correct info? In the case of VoIP,
stamp on the VoIP provider's phone number and require VoIP providers
to divulge the contact info of it's subscribers to called parties....
In the case of calls from unknown or untrustworthy providers - don't
provide any caller ID... Is there something technologically impossible
or unfeasible about these ideas? There has to be something I'm
missing.
If it requires caller ID technology upgrades, then why not just rip
off the band-aid and do it. 10 years from now we'll all have phones
that support the new protocol and hopefully a feature for upgrading
the caller ID software. I just don't see why the government would
even bother with making impossible to enforce laws aimed at the
telemarketers.
Enlighten me...
Dave
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Posted by Linc Madison on April 11, 2007, 7:25 pm
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> Now that I moved back to the USA and set up phone service I've been
> getting hammered by illegal prerecorded telemarketing calls. Often
> times the caller ID is spoofed on these calls. I've always had sort
> of a sideline interest in telecommunications and so I started reading
> about Caller ID spoofing. Apparently there has been a lot of talk
> around the US about making caller ID spoofing illegal including a
> "Truth in Caller ID Act". Somehow I doubt the telemarketers will be
> dissuaded.
>
> Now forgive me as I know very little about how actual telephone
> networks function, but it seems like it would be trivial for the
> phone companies themselves to seal up this gaping hole in security.
On ordinary single-line telephone service, the Caller ID data is
inserted by the telco switch. The problem comes from PBX's. The telco's
line ID for the trunk is pretty much useless for Caller ID purposes,
especially since on most PBX's that line is outgoing only. In fact, it
may even have a non-dialable number, like (xxx) 0xx-xxxx. Thus, the PBX
inserts the Caller ID data, which the telco accepts on faith. It's very
difficult to separate out the PBX administrators who "accidentally"
transmit invalid CLID from the ones who do it intentionally.
It should be possible, though, for the telco to do some sort of "sanity
check," making sure that the CLID is at least a potentially valid
number, or better yet ensuring that the CLID transmitted by a PBX is
within a specified range of numbers. For example, the PBX might have
DID numbers of xxx-2000 through xxx-3999. If that's too much to do in
real time, telco could at least do random spot checks.
I recently got a call from "Rachel" of "Cardholder Services," offering
me my "final opportunity" to lower my interest rate on my credit card
debt (if I owe more than $2,500). Unfortunately, my phone with CLID
display wasn't connected, but I've discovered that the same recording
pops up all over the country, often with completely bogus CLID -- for
example, non-existent area code.
A few years ago, I was getting illegal prerecorded telemarketing calls
to my personal 800 number in the wee hours of the morning, even on
weekends. Happily, in that instance, the number to call back for more
info (about automated telemarketing services, naturally) was a personal
800 number that rang into the owner's bedroom, and there were more
payphones in my neighborhood than he had slots in his call-blocking
list. I suspect it was his wife who made him turn off the robodialer.
--
Linc Madison * San Francisco, California * Telecom at Linc Mad d0t c0m
URL: < http://www.lincmad.com > * North American Area Codes & Splits
Read my political blog, "The Third Path" <http://LincMad.blogspot.com>
US, California, and Washington State laws apply to LINCMAD.COM e-mail.
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Posted by Grant Edwards on April 11, 2007, 7:36 pm
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> [...] Happily, in that instance, the number to call back for
> more info (about automated telemarketing services, naturally)
> was a personal 800 number that rang into the owner's bedroom,
> and there were more payphones in my neighborhood than he had
> slots in his call-blocking list. I suspect it was his wife who
> made him turn off the robodialer.
Payphones?
Like the ones you see in old movies and TV shows where you put
coins in? ;)
OK, they're not quite that rare... yet.
--
Grant Edwards grante Yow! I'm shaving!! I'M
at SHAVING!!
visi.com
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Posted by on April 19, 2007, 4:29 pm
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> Payphones?
>
> Like the ones you see in old movies and TV shows where you put
> coins in? ;)
>
> OK, they're not quite that rare... yet.
They're getting harder to find. In NYC there are lots of them. To my
pleasure, many offered 25c/minute long distance.
A recent TV show just pictured a person using a pay phone, with the
ding-ding sound when she put in the coin. Payphones haven't done that
in years. Ironically, the story line was about the girl earning some
extra money to get her own cell phone. She was grossed out using the
dirty school's pay phone.
They tell me schools have removed pay phones because the kids used
them for abusive purposes.
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Posted by T on April 20, 2007, 6:45 pm
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hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com says...
> > Payphones?
> >
> > Like the ones you see in old movies and TV shows where you put
> > coins in? ;)
> >
> > OK, they're not quite that rare... yet.
>
> They're getting harder to find. In NYC there are lots of them. To my
> pleasure, many offered 25c/minute long distance.
>
> A recent TV show just pictured a person using a pay phone, with the
> ding-ding sound when she put in the coin. Payphones haven't done that
> in years. Ironically, the story line was about the girl earning some
> extra money to get her own cell phone. She was grossed out using the
> dirty school's pay phone.
>
> They tell me schools have removed pay phones because the kids used
> them for abusive purposes.
I remember seeing the old three slot pay phones but never got to use
one. The only payphones I'd ever used were the armored types, where you
could hear the beeps in the handset when you dropped coins in the chute.
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