Lisa Hancock wrote to say:
(stuff snipped)
Earlier in this newsgroup it was reported that mass market calls were
> originating out of VOIP lines and giving nonsensical caller id numbers
> like 111-111-1111. (I got such marketing calls during the political
> campaign -- the Dems were so desperate they called repeatedly all day
> long with recorded pitches. It was a nightmare.) Anyway, maybe
> hackers on VOIP are able to slur callerID. It's strange that a number
> 555-1212 would be used since that's directory assistance, and I can't
> help but wonder the originator purposely set that number up to be
> seen. That is troubling.
Funny; all of the (pre recorded) calls I got (except for one) were from George W Bush, Laura Bush, or the local Republican candidates. (I did get one call from the Dems, but they identified themselves as the state office of the party.). The calls I got from the Dems gave their valid phone number in Washington DC, but the calls from the Republicans showed callerID of either 000-000-0000, or restricted. Too bad that the politicians exempted themselves from the do not call list.
I had opportunity to visit local offices of both parties during the
2004 campaign, and both of them were using VoIP services provided via a Lynksys wireless router (I could see phone cords running from the Linksys box to the cheap phones on the conference tables), but I don't know provider they were using.Joshua
(my opinions are my own and not necessarily those of my employer, but sometimes we agree.)
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: My experiences were rather similar to yours. In addition to a call from George and Laura, a call came from a Kansas Republican. And recall please, the two documented examples of telephone mischief we heard about (and reported here in the Digest) were Republicans playing tricks on Democrats. PAT]