[Asterisk-biz] CID Spoofing

[Robert Goodyear]

On Jul 27, 2005, at 11:37 AM, Steve Totaro wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <alex at pilosoft.com>
> To: "Commercial and Business-Oriented Asterisk Discussion"
> <asterisk-biz at lists.digium.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 7:33 AM
> Subject: Re: [Asterisk-biz] CID Spoofing
>
>
>> On Wed, 27 Jul 2005, Dovid B wrote:
>>
>>> Does anyone know if CID spoofing is legal ? I was thinking about
>>> offering such services. There seems to be a big market for it. The
>>> markup is 400%. (Costs 2 cents a minute and you can resell it for 8
>>> cents a minute). Thanks. Dovid
>> Ask your attorney, not the armchair lawyers on -biz.
>>
>> Notwithstanding, if the service is used fraudulently, and you "knew or
>> should have known" of the fraudulent use, you could potentially be 
>> held
>> liable for damages. So, you must screen your clients very closely.
>>
>> -alex
>
> Or not at all.

I have to pitch in here since my wife *is* an attorney...

This is not a good idea for many reasons. Flipping the business model 
on its head, you really need to look at what honest purpose this would 
serve. I, for one, cannot think of one, and if the purpose of your 
product is a majority of dishonesty versus honesty, you're going to 
have a problem in court. And you WILL find yourself there at some point 
just by virtue of being a business owner. There's also another issue 
that you'd be exposing yourself to called "attractive nuisance" wherein 
if you create something that entices someone into doing something 
fraudulent or harmful to themselves or others, you're liable. End of 
story.

Sorry to be a wet blanket here, but there are plenty of good ways to 
make >400% margins in telephony. Hey, you might try starting a VoIP 
ITSP that believes in reliability and customer service... that'd make 
millions! :-)

-Rob.