Hmm....there's a lot more out there than I knew....
CRTC sounds alarm over controversial phone apps
RITA TRICHUR - TELECOM REPORTER The Globe and Mail Tuesday, Sep. 04 2012
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Kristen Beebe likes to know who is calling before she answers her cellphone.
The 23-year-old student from Merrimack, N.H., has no patience for nuisance callers who hide behind blocked numbers. About a year and a half ago, she started using TrapCall, a paid mobile app that unmasks private numbers, blacklists unwanted callers and allows users to record their incoming calls.
“It protects me from knowing who is calling if they are harassing me,” she says. “It protects me from restricted phone calls because nobody likes to get restricted phone calls, especially if they are telemarketers.”
After signing up “hundreds of thousands” of users in the United States since 2009, TrapCall made its Canadian debut in January of this year. But after only five months, parent firm TelTech Systems Inc. shut down its Canadian service, saying it was pressured to do so by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the federal telecom regulator.
The clash with the CRTC highlights a growing tension in the telecom industry. As companies race to bring innovations to market, technology often moves faster than wireless carriers can keep pace, challenging Canada’s long-standing commitment to consumer privacy.
Citing a growing need to safeguard subscriber information in the smartphone era, the CRTC is voicing concerns about this emerging issue. The regulator is worried TrapCall is just the first of many controversial apps that will make their way to Canada, including others that allow users to show a false caller identity (see below). Certain users, including victims of domestic violence, social workers and police, “could face threats to their safety” if their restricted caller information is revealed without their knowledge, the CRTC says.
More on link
CRTC sounds alarm over controversial phone apps
RITA TRICHUR - TELECOM REPORTER The Globe and Mail Tuesday, Sep. 04 2012
Article Link
Kristen Beebe likes to know who is calling before she answers her cellphone.
The 23-year-old student from Merrimack, N.H., has no patience for nuisance callers who hide behind blocked numbers. About a year and a half ago, she started using TrapCall, a paid mobile app that unmasks private numbers, blacklists unwanted callers and allows users to record their incoming calls.
“It protects me from knowing who is calling if they are harassing me,” she says. “It protects me from restricted phone calls because nobody likes to get restricted phone calls, especially if they are telemarketers.”
After signing up “hundreds of thousands” of users in the United States since 2009, TrapCall made its Canadian debut in January of this year. But after only five months, parent firm TelTech Systems Inc. shut down its Canadian service, saying it was pressured to do so by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the federal telecom regulator.
The clash with the CRTC highlights a growing tension in the telecom industry. As companies race to bring innovations to market, technology often moves faster than wireless carriers can keep pace, challenging Canada’s long-standing commitment to consumer privacy.
Citing a growing need to safeguard subscriber information in the smartphone era, the CRTC is voicing concerns about this emerging issue. The regulator is worried TrapCall is just the first of many controversial apps that will make their way to Canada, including others that allow users to show a false caller identity (see below). Certain users, including victims of domestic violence, social workers and police, “could face threats to their safety” if their restricted caller information is revealed without their knowledge, the CRTC says.
More on link
