TrapCall gives users instant access to the phone number, name and billing information of callers. (Photo courtesy of trapcall.com)
Someone may be tracing your telephone calls.
Whether using a landline or cellular network, your name, billing address and even the content of your call might be recorded and filed.
But this has long been the case. You just may not have realized it.
On Feb. 11, TelTech Systems, a New Jersey based company, released a controversial telephone tracing service called TrapCall.
To mask their name and telephone number, many Americans rely on restricted call services, also known as the *67 feature, that companies like AT&T, Sprint and Verizon provide. However, according to Meir Cohen, 27, president and co-founder of TelTech systems, such services give users a false sense of security.
“No one using the *67 feature offered by major companies was ever truly anonymous,” Cohen said. “When you dial an 800 number, because you’re not paying for the call, the recipient has the right to override your restricted number.”
Operating on a similar principle, TrapCall reroutes incoming blocked calls to TelTech’s 800 “dummy” number where blocked caller id’s are reprocessed and re-sent to the person being called in a matter of seconds. This triangulation gives TrapCall users instant access to the phone number, billing information and name of the once private caller.
However technology blogs, both private and corporate, have questioned TrapCall users’ right to disable a service for which many Americans pay top dollar.
“It is your right to know who is knocking on your door before opening it,” Cohen said. “It’s your right to know who’s calling before answering.”
According to Cohen, this service will be beneficial to everyone owning a phone. Cohen claims it will be the “death” of prank calling and the end of the telemarketer’s ability to hide in the digital shadows of communication. “It will be the end of inappropriate anonymity,” Cohen said.
Some, however, do not share his enthusiasm.
“It’s a very troubling situation,” said Brian Namey, communications director at the National Network to End Domestic Violence. “We’re very concerned about this technology and the serious repercussions it will have for victims of domestic violence.”
By court order, victims of domestic abuse are frequently required to maintain contact with their abuser, generally for reasons pertaining to joint custody, Namey explained. These calls are made anonymously for the victim’s safety, but TrapCall strips away that anonymity, simplifying an abuser’s quest to locate the abused.
“This technology sets us back a step by undermining our ability to protect those suffering from domestic abuse,” Namey said.
Cohen finds the complaints of domestic abuse agencies ironic. “With TrapCall and Spoof Card available, any victim’s privacy is better protected than it has ever been, as [victims] can filter their calls and mask their numbers,” Cohen said.
Spoof Card, TrapCall’s sister program, enables users to choose any 10-digit telephone number, registered or not, as a bogus, or spoof number. This sequence will appear on the caller id of any one receiving a Spoof Card user’s call.
But the Spoof Card is untraceable, and “may put innocent victims in harm’s way,” Namey said, concerned that spoofing registered numbers will place the private information of unsuspecting Americans in the hands of potentially dangerous domestic criminals.
According to Cohen, Americans should use TrapCall and Spoof Card responsibly.
“We work very closely with law enforcement to ensure the quality of our product and the safety of our customers,” Cohen said. And with a detailed “terms of use” contract, Cohen believes that his services will do far more good than harm.
“But the American public is not responsible,” said Megan Anderson, a 19-year-old DCCC science major. Anderson believes that information obtained by the TrapCall might encourage illegal and violent behavior by disgruntled TrapCall users towards the masked callers.
In addition to unmasking restricted calls, a feature which one can acquire for free, TrapCall offers a host of innovations only available through a paid membership, including voicemail transcription, the ability to “blacklist” or block callers, and the ability to record one’s phone call.
A default automated warning message precedes the recording of any call made or received by a TrapCall member. However, as many states do not require by law that warning be given, users may disable the message at their own discretion.
According to Cohen, the majority of TrapCall’s features are only available through cellular networks; however, in the near future, TelTech will make their services available for land line use as well.
Many experts believe virtual privacy is never certain and is only as reliable as the technology that protects it. “You have to keep track of technological advances,” said Mike Parrello, 18, a DCCC liberal arts major. “Stay alert because virtual security is remodeled and updated constantly -- stay vigilant because it’s dog eat dog.”
