It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of the technology that increasingly dominates our life. I wear the “dinosaur” label proudly.
It could be said we are swimming in gadgets. Or sinking, depending on your point of view.
Take, for instance, the case against a Collegeville man and woman who were sentenced to jail time for what can best be described as high-tech harassment.
Here is their idea of a good time: Prosecutors say the pair were using an online service called SpoofCard. The company is legitimate. Unfortunately, as with a lot of services, it can be twisted into something a lot more sinister.
What the online service SpoofCard allows you to do is hide, or change, the number being displayed on someone’s caller ID. The idea is that someone might not want the person they are calling to know who they are or where they are calling from.
That’s one way of looking at it. It’s also a way to deliver a high-tech hoax.
And as usual, sometimes people get carried away. In the Collegeville incident, calls were placed to several women in Montgomery County in the middle of the night. When they answered the phone, they were told the caller was inside their house. And lo and behold the number being displayed on the phone was indeed the home phone number. Some fun, eh?
Both the man and woman who placed the prank calls spent a few days in prison after entering pleas to harassment and terroristic threats.
And it reminds me again of one of my favorite desires. Just once I’d like to get my hands around the neck of the person who insists on telling me, “Yeah, this technology is going to make your life so much better.”
It could be said we are swimming in gadgets. Or sinking, depending on your point of view.
Take, for instance, the case against a Collegeville man and woman who were sentenced to jail time for what can best be described as high-tech harassment.
Here is their idea of a good time: Prosecutors say the pair were using an online service called SpoofCard. The company is legitimate. Unfortunately, as with a lot of services, it can be twisted into something a lot more sinister.
What the online service SpoofCard allows you to do is hide, or change, the number being displayed on someone’s caller ID. The idea is that someone might not want the person they are calling to know who they are or where they are calling from.
That’s one way of looking at it. It’s also a way to deliver a high-tech hoax.
And as usual, sometimes people get carried away. In the Collegeville incident, calls were placed to several women in Montgomery County in the middle of the night. When they answered the phone, they were told the caller was inside their house. And lo and behold the number being displayed on the phone was indeed the home phone number. Some fun, eh?
Both the man and woman who placed the prank calls spent a few days in prison after entering pleas to harassment and terroristic threats.
And it reminds me again of one of my favorite desires. Just once I’d like to get my hands around the neck of the person who insists on telling me, “Yeah, this technology is going to make your life so much better.”
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