A start-up began offering a technology Wednesday that can spoof a caller ID number, potentially opening the door to telemarketing calls that seem to be coming from a relative or a different company.
Star38 of Newport Beach, Calif., says that for now it plans to sell the capability only to collection agencies, private investigators and police. "Misuse is something we don't want to see happen," says CEO Jason Jepson. "We don't want this to get a bad name."
But the reaction has been immediately negative. "It is yet another example of the technological arms race between privacy protection and privacy invasion," says Avi Rubin, professor of information security at Johns Hopkins University.
"It won't be long before someone at the (Federal Communications Commission) gets a hold of this and gets to the bottom of this," says Alan Cohn, a venture capitalist who was a top aide to former FCC chairman William Kennard... [read more at usatoday.com]
Star38 of Newport Beach, Calif., says that for now it plans to sell the capability only to collection agencies, private investigators and police. "Misuse is something we don't want to see happen," says CEO Jason Jepson. "We don't want this to get a bad name."
But the reaction has been immediately negative. "It is yet another example of the technological arms race between privacy protection and privacy invasion," says Avi Rubin, professor of information security at Johns Hopkins University.
"It won't be long before someone at the (Federal Communications Commission) gets a hold of this and gets to the bottom of this," says Alan Cohn, a venture capitalist who was a top aide to former FCC chairman William Kennard... [read more at usatoday.com]