Caller ID Spoofing Puts Innocent Man In Jail [telecom]

May 13, 2010 5 Replies
Caller ID Spoofing Puts Innocent Man In Jail [telecom] open original image

May 11, 2010 6:57 am US/Eastern



Caller ID Spoofing Puts Innocent Man In Jail



Joe Shortsleeve



QUINCY (WBZ)



Imagine police bursting into your home, handcuffing you, and then locking you up for days for something you did not do.



The I-Team says that is exactly what happened to a Quincy man, and WBZ's Chief Correspondent Joe Shortsleeve says this man was set up by someone using a popular technology.



The man does not want people to know his name, but he recounted that cold winter night a year ago when he was making cupcakes in his kitchen.



...



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This was a serious error by the FCC in their Caller ID proceedings in

1995. Had they put an absolute cap on the source of the CPIN message to be only the originating end office, this guy would not have been a victim of those low-lifes.

If I were the victim I would be speaking with an attorney about the police's haste, and lack of understanding of how lousy Caller ID info can be. Seems like they should have first put a trap on the women's line, then looked at ANI before they went gestapo.

The same could be said in the way that The Internet was set up, had some changes had been made as the net aged we would not have the spam problems we have now, or at least we would really know who the spammer was.

You:

I'm not sure I agree because the PSTN is basically a closed system unlike the Internet.

Plus, if someone Spams someone else, the hapless, innocent chef doesn't end up close to being shot and then spending 5 days in the slammer.

Even simpler, they could have checked the victim's (actually 2 victims here, but you know what I mean) billing/call-detail records at the phone company, right?

"Joe job."

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Thanks --

David

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