Net Phone Customers Brace For 'VoIP Spam'

XaviorPenguin writes "If you think that Spam in your e-mail inbox is bad, wait until VoIP gets huge! According to a News.CNet.com story, your voice mail box on your Net Phones may be cluttered with ads for Viagra. '"The fear with VoIP spam is you will have an Internet address for your phone number, which means you can use the same tools you use for e-mail to generate traffic," said Tom Kershaw, a vice president at security specialist VeriSign. "That raises automation to scary degrees."' If you think that is scary, you know the Do-Not-Call list that is out by the FTC, yeah, um, people with Net Phones may not be affected by this list and spammers/telemarketers may take this advantage for themselves. "

Comments

Er,

[hexag]

What, this is suprising? People using new communications methods to advetise to the public? What on Earth is the world coming to.

Oh well, I'll still with my text spamed mobile. And those phonecalls I get, asking me to upgrade my phone. Oh.

Same options for both parties

[Sascha J.]

Well, same possibilities for spamming, means same possibilities for Spamfilters. I know, it's only a cold comfort ;).

Re:Same options for both parties

[FluxInductor]

In theory, yes. But filtering is difficult enough when the entire message is written in text - that means all the information is blatantly there in zeros and ones. Voice recognition adds a whole new dimension to the problem... They'll change the recording every day or so using a different voice, can we keep up?

The FCC cannot regulate the world.

[tpgp]

If you think that is scary, you know the Do-Not-Call list that is out by the FTC

The FCC cannot regulate the entire world - just the US.

Spammers can operate from other countries without worrying about FCC's do-not-call lists (or using compromised boxes for that matter).

Re:Back door...

[Heem]

so put it behind your firewall and only accept incoming from your provider.

Sounds like security specialists spreading FUD

[pandrijeczko]

Having read the article, I'm amazed that one very important fact has been almost completely overlooked - namely that every call will have a charge associated to it.

If the VoIP world goes the way of SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) then everyone will need to use a service provider to assist in routing calls outside of a business network. That provider will assign a charge, albeit a small one, to each call. Unlike sending spam email virtually free of charge, making 100,000 VoIP spam calls will cost a tidy sum of money - far beyond the purses of any 2-bit spammer!

Secondly, in a SIP environment, any call needs to go via a SIP registration server so that the caller is able to get information on what devices and messaging services the called party has available as well as obtaining the called party's IP address (remembering of course that if the called party is mobile, the IP address he or she is registered to is rapidly changing anyway!) I have no doubt that it's a relatively simple task to provide some connection blocking at the SIP server so that it's possible to create a blacklist of callers that will never get a connection.

Sure, I've no doubt that telemarketers will make use of VoIP but while both telemarketers and spammers should burn in hell, telemarketers target specific individuals (based on information they have on that individual that makes them believe they can sell something to him or her) and therefore generate far less junk traffic than spammers.

Personally, this is just FUD spread by a bunch of "think-they-know-it-all" security cowboys out to make a fast buck.

Re:Back door...

[David_W]

so put it behind your firewall and only accept incoming from your provider.

OK, I know virtually nothing about VoIP, but I'm betting I'm right here... wouldn't that also block legitimate calls from others using VoIP phones? (I would think almost certainly for calls from other VoIP providers, unless they route out through POTS, and very possibly other calls from people using your provider as I'd imagine they would route those calls directly to save on costs.)

Re:sigh...

[nmb3000]

Most phone telemarketers were operating legal businesses, so when laws made it imposible for them to operate they simply went out of business.

It's just too durn bad too. I'm sure so many of us were heartbroken to see them go. Just because they were legitimate doesn't mean they weren't a pain in the ass.

You make a very valid point, but whatever the reason, I'm glad to see them gone, even though they did occasionally provide some entertainment when I was in a particularily sadistic mood.

Spam is like Graffitti

[Simonetta]

Spam is in the same class of social irritants as grafitti. (il mio Italiano no esta bonno).

It is someone hijacking a lightly guarded public place for their own benefit. The physical area that gets defaced by grafitti is too low in value to hire a full-time guard to prevent its defacement. The shitperson can deface the area quickly with paint and not get caught, providing a free advertising medium for himself and his (always a male) message.
Public law enforcement officers say that the faster an area that has been defaced by grafitti is cleared of the defacement, the less likely it is to be re-vandalized. I'm not sure if this applies to spam as well. However I do believe that spam in the same social catagory as grafitti.
Spammers, like grafitti vandals, are assholes. To accept as legitimate advertisers is only to ask to deluged with endless amounts of worthless spam. The legal arguments that are used against vandals should be refined and tested in court against spammers.
And, yes, grafitti vandals are assholes too. They aren't artists. They have the ability to create art but they don't. They foul public places. People who claim that grafitti vandals are artists are assholes too. So are the people who defend spammers as 'new media' advertisers.

Re:Spam is like Graffitti

[Scratch-O-Matic]

However I do believe that spam in the same social catagory as grafitti.

I think spam is more like 200 neighbors letting their dogs shit in your yard each day.

Or, to keep with your grafitti motif, spam is like an endless stream of grafitti painted on your own garage door.

I'm not disagreeing with your interesting post...just adding my 2c.

Re:Doesn't sound all that bad...

[avdp]

They don't, and people like ourself with Vonage-like services that interfaces with POTS are most definetely covered by the Do Not Call list. As far as them spamming my little VoIP box from Cisco - well, I may be a bit naive but I hope that it will only accept calls from my provider. If that feature isn't in already, I am sure it will be added days after voip spam starts.

Re:anonymous calls?

[lysander]

Gee, I wonder who might want to provide me with... oh, I don't know... some sort of authentication for VoIP... or perhaps internet services in general...

"The fear with VoIP spam is you will have an Internet address for your phone number, which means you can use the same tools you use for e-mail to generate traffic, said Tom Kershaw, a vice president at security specialist VeriSign.