SpoofCard Blog » General

Another Federal Court Strikes Down An Anti-Caller ID Spoofing Law

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:17:43 +0000

Great news today! We’ve prevailed in our lawsuit against the state of Mississippi, after a federal judge struck down the state’s recently enacted Anti-Caller ID Spoofing Act. Why is this a big deal? Because we’re now 2 for 2 in our lawsuits against states that have tried to create anti-Caller ID spoofing laws. You may remember that in 2009 we won our first lawsuit against the state of Florida.

Here’s our press release announcing today’s victory in this case:

Toms River, NJ — In an important case that confirms once again that there are constitutional limits on states attempts to regulate activities conducted over electronic networks, including the Internet, the U.S. District Court in Jackson, Mississippi ruled that Mississippi’s recently enacted Caller ID Anti-Spoofing Act was unconstitutional and issued a judgment in favor of TelTech Systems Inc, the parent company of SpoofCard.com. The Anti-Spoofing Act prohibited most callers, and Caller ID spoofing service providers such as SpoofCard, from using Caller ID spoofing to change the Caller ID number when making a call within Mississippi, or to any person in Mississippi.

The plaintiffs, who also included callers that use the Caller ID spoofing feature on their business and personal calls, claimed that the Mississippi law violated the U.S. constitution and the court agreed. The judge recognized that the proliferation of mobile phones, call forwarding, and other technological developments made it impossible for callers or service providers outside of Mississippi to ensure that they were not violating the Mississippi law except by not using Caller ID spoofing at all. Thus, the law had the practical effect of regulating commerce outside the state’s borders, in violation of the Commerce Clause of the U.S. constitution.

This is not the first time SpoofCard has won its lawsuit against a state’s anti-Caller ID spoofing legislation. The Mississippi district court came to the same conclusion as a Miami federal district court, which in 2009 struck down a similar Florida law in TelTech Systems, Inc. v. McCollum, Case No. 08-61644-CIV-Martinez-Brown (S.D. Fla. July 16, 2009).

Moving forward, the Mississippi and Florida decisions have set important precedents for future challenges to potential anti-Caller ID spoofing laws in other states. Furthermore, the court’s reasoning is not strictly limited to anti-Caller ID spoofing laws, as it also applies broadly to a state’s attempts to regulate activities conducted over national or global electronic networks, such as the Internet.

For more information on the Mississippi District Court decision in TelTech Systems, Inc. v. Barbour, Civil No. 3:10CV679TSL-FKB (D.C.S.D. Miss), please contact TelTech’s attorney, Mark Del Bianco, at 301-933-7216.

About TelTech Systems Inc.

TelTech is a leader in the development of one-of-a-kind communication products. SpoofCard is the world’s largest Caller ID spoofing service. It offers its service in the United States and around the world. SpoofCard is available to anyone, is purchased as a prepaid service similar to a calling card, and works to and from any phone. SpoofCard customers range from individuals, to business professionals, to celebrities. TelTech is also creator of TrapCall, the world’s first solution to unmask blocked and restricted calls.

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SpoofApp: Banned From The Android Market

admin — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:11:11 +0000

We’ve always embraced mobile apps and mobile app stores here at SpoofCard, but unfortunately the app stores haven’t welcomed us with open arms. Apple initially took over 6 months to review SpoofApp, only to reject us and let us know that we were never welcome in the App Store. After that experience, Google’s promise of an “open” platform, with the accompanying Android Market, was music to our ears. We released SpoofApp to the Android Market in the very early days of Android (December 2008) when there was only one phone (the G1) and there weren’t more than a few hundred apps. We ranted and raved about how much we absolutely loved Google for giving us an open platform, an open market, and an equal opportunity.

But that’s all changed.

Google recently decided to pull all Caller ID spoofing apps from the Android Market on the basis that “applications that are designed to spoof Caller ID are illegal, according to United States Federal law.” We covered The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009 in detail, after it was signed in to law in December 2010, and it should be clear that Caller ID spoofing itself is NOT illegal because of the wording of the bill. We actually supported this bill because of its carefully crafted language! As long as you are using SpoofCard and SpoofApp in a lawful manner and not with the intent to “defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value”, you can continue to use SpoofCard and SpoofApp just as you were prior to this law being enacted.

We, of course, intend to have our lawyers point out the fact that Caller ID spoofing is not outlawed by the Truth In Caller ID Act to Google’s legal department but we’re not holding our breath that this will get us back in the Market.

The good news is that Android still allows users to download apps directly, without the need for the Android Market. So going forward, you can find SpoofApp hosted right here at http://SpoofCard.com/Android.

(Be sure to enable “installation of non-Market applications” under Settings > Applications > Unknown Sources on your Android phone)

Below is a screenshot of the email response we got from the Android Market Team when we contacted them to see SpoofApp was constantly being removed.

SMS Spoofing Launches Just In Time For April Fools’ Day!

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:28:22 +0000

Get ready for an April Fools’ Day that will go down in history! Today we’ve launched our most frequently requested feature over the years – text message spoofing. We worked extra hard to put this together for you in time for April Fools’ tomorrow and we’re the ONLY company in the world that you will find capable of doing true text message spoofing to US phone numbers.

Sending a spoofed text message costs just 5 SpoofCard credits per message! If you don’t have a SpoofCard account, you can try out SMS spoofing for free before purchasing SpoofCard credits with 1 free text message per user at http://www.spoofcard.com/sms. If you’re an existing SpoofCard customer, just log in to your account and visit the “Send SMS” tab in the Control Panel to begin sending messages.

We’ll shut up now and let you go check out the SMS spoofing for yourself, because seeing is believing! Happy April Fools’ Day from your friends at SpoofCard.

Please be sure to review our Terms of Service for the acceptable use policy before using the SMS spoofing service.

An Update On S. 30: The Truth in Caller ID Act of 2009

admin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 22:10:43 +0000

Back in April SpoofCard contacted you, our customers, to warn you of a bill that was pending in Congress, H.R. 1258, which would have essentially banned the use of Caller ID “Spoofing”. We also informed you that there was another version in the Senate, S.30: The Truth In Caller ID Act of 2009, which included fairer, more specific terms. The Senate version of the bill (S.30) included language that would only ban the use of spoofing to “defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value.”

We urged you in April to contact your Senators and let them know that you would support the Senate version, which would only make it illegal to spoof Caller ID with the intent to “defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value.”

We are writing today to inform you that thanks to your efforts the Senate version of this bill, S.30 was signed into law by President Obama on December 22nd, 2010.

What does this mean for you?

This means SpoofCard will continue to operate doing business as usual — Caller ID Spoofing is NOT illegal. However, if you use our service in violation of the law with the intent to “defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value”, you may be subject to criminal prosecution. We have never condoned such activity, in fact since day one our Terms of service has included the following paragraph:

2. Acceptable Conduct You agree to use the SpoofCard.com services only for purposes that are lawful in the jurisdictions where you are calling from and calling to. You shall not transmit any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including but not limited to any material that encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any applicable local, state, national, or international law.

As long as you are using our service in a lawful manner and not with the intent to “defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value”, you can continue to use SpoofCard just as you have prior to this law being enacted.

We wish to thank all of you for your continued support and helping keep SpoofCard, and Caller ID Spoofing in general, legal!

Rush Limbaugh Talks SpoofCard

admin — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 05:51:07 +0000

If you were listening to Rush Limbaugh today, and you’re now reading this blog, chances are you may have heard him talking about SpoofCard. If you weren’t turned in, you can hear what Rush had to say below!

SpoofCard’s Prank Calls App Hits The iTunes App Store

admin — Wed, 05 May 2010 04:43:53 +0000

SpoofCard’s new iPhone and iPod Touch app titled Prank Calls is now available, for FREE, in the iTunes App Store! Our new Prank Calls app brings you hours of hilarious prank call recordings shared by real SpoofCard users through our SpoofCard Facebook App. We found the funniest user-generated prank call recordings and put them together for you’re prank call enjoyment! You won’t believe some of the pranks these users pulled off!

You can download the SpoofCard Prank Calls mobile app, completely free, by searching the iTunes App Store for “SpoofCard” or by clicking here.

The Ali Wise Voicemail Hacking Case

admin — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 20:09:05 +0000

Today there was some confusion about the highly-publicized Ali Wise voicemail hacking case. After reading stories across the web, some readers came to believe that Ali Wise was prosecuted simply because she used SpoofCard. That was NOT the case at all! SpoofCard is NOT illegal!

Ms. Wise plead guilty to eavesdropping and computer trespassing after she illegally hacked into voicemail accounts of two women she was attempting to spy on. It was this blatantly illegal use of spoofing that landed her in hot water.

SpoofCard has many celebrities that use our services within the law and love our product. In no way do we condone Ms. Wise’s actions.

You can read the full Ali Wise story from today at NYPost.com.

SpoofCard’s Stance On The Truth In Caller ID Act

admin — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 19:15:04 +0000

We’ve witnessed an uproar over Caller ID spoofing in the media recently, primarily due to the United States House of Representatives passing H.R. 1258 (a.k.a. The Truth In Caller ID Act), and felt that it’s time for us to address our stance on the past, and present, legislation facing Caller ID spoofing. First off, it’s important to note that that H.R. 1258 has not been passed into law – it must first go to the Senate, where it must be approved, and from there it will reach the President, who must approve and sign the bill.

SpoofCard’s position has been clear since we started: we in no way condone the use of our products for illegal activity. SpoofCard has always cooperated with law enforcement in cases where Caller ID spoofing has been abused.

SpoofCard actually supports carefully drafted legislation at the national level that holds callers liable if they use Caller ID spoofing to defraud or commit other separate criminal acts. With that being said, SpoofCard’s main concern is that the legislation be done properly, so that the legislation is very clear as to what is not allowed.

Last week, MobileCrunch did a great story exposing how the current bill covers Caller ID spoofing for telemarketing and bomb threats scenarios, yet still leaves many questions open. The bill prohibits Caller ID spoofing done with intent to defraud or deceive. The question is what “deceive” may mean, which will need to be addressed by the Senate. You wouldn’t want your office PBX, Skype service, Google Voice service or any other service that may involve Caller ID transmissions, inadvertently affected due to this bill, would you?

In plain terms, this bill should not effect SpoofCard’s ability to offer Caller ID spoofing services to the general public at large. Your SpoofCard account is not going to suddenly get shut down by the government either. This bill will put the responsibility on the end user to use the service within the law. This is no different than your responsibility to make proper use of the call recording feature SpoofCard also offers, which is controlled by telephone recording laws at both the state and federal level.

While the current version of the bill is working its way through the Senate, we’d love to hear stories from you, our passionate customers, about your legitimate uses of SpoofCard. We encourage you to use the comment form below to leave us a reply with your stories.

SpoofCard Is Back In The iPhone App Store…Sort Of

admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:03:35 +0000

You may remember our announcement last fall that our iSpoofCard mobile app was finally available in the iPhone App Store. It was a great moment for us, however, it wasn’t very long lived. Apple removed iSpoofCard from the App Store in early December after they realized the app allowed users to spoof Caller ID.

We’re excited to announce that we are now back in the iPhone App Store….under the name Phone Gangster. Phone Gangster features voice changing, call recording, straight-to-voicemail, and address book integration, but Apple won’t let us add Caller ID spoofing to the app. It’s Apple’s store, so we have to play by their rules this time, if we don’t want to keep getting kicked out.

Phone Gangster may not be for everyone, but don’t forget, iSpoofCard.com is still available from your iPhone and iPod Touch if you want to do Caller ID spoofing along with voice changing and call recording. Click below to get Phone Gangster from the iTunes App Store.

TrapCall Now Supports Sprint

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:01:21 +0000

Our sister site, Trapcall.com, the world’s first service to unmask those pesky blocked and private calls, is now available for Sprint users! That’s right, Caller ID unblocking, incoming call recording, voicemail transcriptions and more, are now available on the Now Network.

TrapCall is incredibly simple to use and setup. No messy software downloads or installs required and it works on all mobile phones with most carriers. You just key a few numbers into your cell phone and TrapCall’s good to go! With TrapCall, you’ll always know who’s really calling.

Did we mention that TrapCall includes a FREE trial?

To get started using TrapCall on your Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless phone, just visit: http://www.trapcall.com.