Privacy Interests Connected to Caller ID Services
A new service will allow some phones to automatically identify phone numbers that callers believe are blocked from identification, according to media reports. Wired News explains, “TrapCall instructs new customers to reprogram their cellphones to send all rejected, missed and unanswered calls to TrapCall’s own toll-free number. If the user sees an incoming call with Caller ID blocked, he just presses the button on the phone that would normally send it to voicemail. The call invisibly loops through TelTech’s system, then back to the user’s phone, this time with the caller’s number displayed as the Caller ID.”
Representatives of TelTech Systems, the company offering the service, say the Caller ID unblocking service will help individuals who are being harassed identify their attackers. But, there are competing privacy and security interests for callers who want to remain anonymous.
There are numerous legitimate reasons for a person to want her phone number hidden. For example, domestic violence survivors or stalking victims may need to contact their abusers to discuss custody arrangements or other questions. These victims need the ability to mask their phone numbers, so abusers could not track them down. Another example is journalists who wish to keep secret their sources. The journalists don’t want anyone with access to a whistleblower’s phone to know who has been calling.
ABC News notes one famous case where Caller ID information was used by an attacker.
[In] the 1995 murder of 21-year-old Kerisha Harps, [she] was killed by her ex-boyfriend when he saw the number where she was calling from on a Caller ID display.
According to Associated Press reports during the investigation, Kevin Roberson was looking for Harps in a friend’s apartment when the phone rang; Harps was calling, thinking she would reach her friend and not her ex-boyfriend.
Roberson read the Caller ID display while he was in the apartment looking for Harps and recognized the telephone number, which later led him to locate Harps.
Roberson was later convicted of the shooting death of Harps and sentenced to life in a Texas prison.
You can learn more about these issues in Congressional testimony (pdf) about Caller ID blocking and spoofing from my former EPIC colleague, attorney Allison Knight. Her testimony notes that businesses with toll-free numbers have the ability to identify blocked numbers, because the businesses are paying for the phone calls. But TelTech’s service gives this unmasking ability to anyone, not just a legitimate business. Knight explains why Caller ID spoofing is important; it allows people to send a fake number to Caller ID, so that the caller can’t be identified.
TelTech’s basic caller unmasking service is free. “The Web site charges for plans with more advanced services, like call recording and Caller ID with name,” reports the Associated Press. TelTech also offers Caller ID spoofing as a service to get around its Caller ID unblocking service.
The National Network to End Domestic Violence has a paper on how abusers and stalkers use technology to control and harass their victims.
Possibly related posts: