Caller ID Spoofing Business Owner Bails Out Following Death Threats
from the so-much-for-that-plan dept
Last week, we had mentioned the story of a company that was offering caller ID spoofing for collections agencies and private investigators. Earlier this week, the company officially launched the solution and the press went wild... as did many angry people, apparently. The guy behind the business says he's been inundated with angry calls and emails, and even had a death threat taped to his door. The anger apparently isn't so much about the fact that he'll be spoofing phone numbers, but that he's basically revealing this technology commercially that was previously only used by hackers and crackers, who now feel he's somehow selling out. In fact, the response has been so crazy that he has decided to sell the business -- though, the stories of death threats probably won't do much good for the selling price, which makes this whole story seem a bit odd. Why not just shut down the service? If people are really pissed that he's making money off of this, won't selling it off be just as bad? Something doesn't seem right about the whole story.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
Chris.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
publicity
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Caller ID Spoofing
This guy may have been totally naive, or not as slick as he fancied himself.
He has enraged people who are adamant about privacy and do not want to be found by agencies trying to track them.
Some of those shadowy sorts are likely 'action oriented' individuals or groups.
He's put the mark of the beast on his own forehead.
Lots of Luck!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Useless really...
7 - Do something the nobody else has yet (or take something that every techie can do and turn it into a service for which you can charge money), wait 6 months trying to be brought, financed or IPOed and watch as 6 other upstarts steal your idea and market share diluting the novelty and worth of your idea/effort.
The folks making death threats (if there actually are any) are just wasting their time and effort fighting the unending tide of progress.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]