4 ms·

I think the fact that a call is coming from a voip service is not necessarily the problem, the problem is that a voip number can be made extremely easily. Some

by Splines 10y ago

I think the fact that a call is coming from a voip service is not necessarily the problem, the problem is that a voip number can be made extremely easily. Some sort of "non-anonymous" score can be assigned a voip number. Paying via a credit card or cheque can attach an address to the voip number. Does this address match the reported home of the caller? Does the IP originate from the same area as the caller? Has this voip number been used by the same account for several years?

nemothekid 10y ago
>Some sort of "non-anonymous" score can be assigned a voip number. Paying via a credit card or cheque can attach an address to the voip number. Does this address match the reported home of the caller? Does the IP originate from the same area as the caller? Has this voip number been used by the same account for several years? So what you are saying is, before responding to a potentially life threatening emergency call, the police should first obtain a subpoena for the relevant data of the VoIP operator? Or are you saying the police should have unfettered access to payment methods, address and names of everyone who registers a VoIP number?
- ikeboy 10y ago
  Voip numbers that have emergency dialing access should be required to get that information. In fact, they are, so you'll note the article mentions a loophole of calling a non emergency number, then asking to be transferred to emergency services. I don't know how harmful closing that loophole would be for legitimate calls. Can police track how many legit calls were transferred from non-emergency calls, and came from numbers without emergency calling capabilities? Knowing whether that number is negligible or not is important.
  - pyre 10y ago
    > you'll note the article mentions a loophole of calling a non emergency number, then asking to be transferred to emergency services. The "loophole" is to get to the emergency services for the area they are targeting. You can't dial 911 in British Columbia and get emergency services in Georgia.
    - ikeboy 10y ago
      Yup. It's not clear from there whether they'd be able to call emergency services somewhere else, but it's implied not (they mention getting a local number to call from). Even if they could, you could still check whether their phone can call your emergency services directly.
      - therein 10y ago
        Yes but can't the caller ID be spoofed? At that point, you'll be relying on a system to give you a "sugar score" for a call since you are providing emergency services. But I do agree that a low sugar score combined with a particular type of request should raise some flags.

by Splines 10y ago

nemothekid 10y ago

>Some sort of "non-anonymous" score can be assigned a voip number. Paying via a credit card or cheque can attach an address to the voip number. Does this address match the reported home of the caller? Does the IP originate from the same area as the caller? Has this voip number been used by the same account for several years? So what you are saying is, before responding to a potentially life threatening emergency call, the police should first obtain a subpoena for the relevant data of the VoIP operator? Or are you saying the police should have unfettered access to payment methods, address and names of everyone who registers a VoIP number?

ikeboy 10y ago
Voip numbers that have emergency dialing access should be required to get that information. In fact, they are, so you'll note the article mentions a loophole of calling a non emergency number, then asking to be transferred to emergency services. I don't know how harmful closing that loophole would be for legitimate calls. Can police track how many legit calls were transferred from non-emergency calls, and came from numbers without emergency calling capabilities? Knowing whether that number is negligible or not is important.
- pyre 10y ago
  > you'll note the article mentions a loophole of calling a non emergency number, then asking to be transferred to emergency services. The "loophole" is to get to the emergency services for the area they are targeting. You can't dial 911 in British Columbia and get emergency services in Georgia.
  - ikeboy 10y ago
    Yup. It's not clear from there whether they'd be able to call emergency services somewhere else, but it's implied not (they mention getting a local number to call from). Even if they could, you could still check whether their phone can call your emergency services directly.
    - therein 10y ago
      Yes but can't the caller ID be spoofed? At that point, you'll be relying on a system to give you a "sugar score" for a call since you are providing emergency services. But I do agree that a low sugar score combined with a particular type of request should raise some flags.