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New Google Service Manipulates Caller-ID For Free

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the party-to-whom-you-are-speaking dept.

Lauren Weinstein writes to raise an alarm about a new Google service, Click-to-Call. As he describes it, the service seems ripe for abuse of several kinds. One red flag is that Google falsifies the caller-ID of calls it originates for the service. From the article: "Up to now, the typical available avenue for manipulating caller-ID has been pay services that tended to limit the potential for large-scale abuse since users are charged for access. Google, by providing a free service that will place calls and manipulate caller-ID, vastly increases the scope of the problem. Scale matters."

3 of 116 comments (clear)

  1. Uh... by nmb3000 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not exactly new....

    --
    "What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
    /)
  2. Re:This is stupid. It's not an issue. by 42forty-two42 · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not opt-in anymore. Take a look at maps.google.com - search for a business and they'll ALL have the click-to-call thingy on them.

  3. Re:This is stupid. It's not an issue. by DAldredge · · Score: 4, Informative

    800 type numbers do not get Caller ID data - they get Automated Number Identification data which is much hard to change and, as far as I know, click to call doesn't change the ANI information.