Technology for Idiots

By Lance Ulanoff
8/9/2006 10:40:00 AM

Which one of these statements is true?

The steady march of technology is creating an epidemic of stupidity.
The steady march of technology is steadily ruining our lives by depleting our privacy and weakening our personal security.

I wish I had the answer, because depending on whom you speak to, both are true.

Not long ago I did some research surrounding caller-ID spoofing. Telephone high jinks are not new, but the advent of caller ID and the security and convenience it provides—knowing who's calling, ignoring the call if you want to, or reaching the caller if you missed the call via *69—are, in the long history of our nation's telephone service, still relatively new. Caller-ID spoofing used to require hardware on the analog side and, if you were a bit of a hacker, software on the VoIP side.

Now it's dead simple. Just visit spoofcard.com or telespoof.com. Each site will allow you to call their 800 number, enter a personal ID, then the number you would like to have appear on the receiver's Caller ID, and then make a phone call. You're charged by the minute for being a complete jerk. By the way, these spoof services aren't even illegal (a piece of pending legislation, the Trust in Caller ID Act, may change that). Various reports note that while these services are intended for entertainment purposes and private investigators, they're now being used by scammers to filch identities. The scams can be as simple and nefarious as someone using Citibank's number as the spoof and then calling and asking you for your account number and maybe even your ATM PIN.

Let's stop for a minute to think about what happens next. The person receiving the call sees Citibank on the caller ID and gives out the information. What does that make him? An idiot? A victim? Both?

I also had the opportunity to talk on TV about this scam, and about the smartest things you can do if you're the victim of a caller-ID spoof. After the segment a producer sidled up to me and said, "Every time you guys from PC Magazine are on, I'm terrified to use technology." I wasn't thrilled to hear this, since I like to think of our editors as tech gurus, gently guiding readers to computing nirvana.—Continue reading >

She continued, "That's because you guys [meaning the media] focus on the scary stuff." I smiled back, hoping this would make her see us and technology in a different light. "There are lots of cool things you can do with technology and not get hurt," I added cheerfully.

That's the simple answer, but as we talked and I saw how little solace my words offered, I thought about how complex a problem it really is.

"Technology and the Internet, by their nature, connect us to everyone else, to people we don't know and things we haven't experienced. So," I continued in full lecture mode, "perhaps we have to close ourselves off a bit, not be so open, hold people at arm's length."

I added that it always helps to use common sense. I even said this on the air. Someone who gets a call asking for critical financial info, even if the call appears to be from a trusted source, should go to their bank branch to discuss it. "Common sense is the byword," I added.

Really? How much common sense do people apply when reading e-mail, chatting on AIM, using MySpace, and talking on the phone and cell phone?

When I'm driving, I use courtesy and patience. I assume I use common sense, but the road underneath me is not suddenly going to open up and swallow me and my car whole. When you're online, using e-mail, or answering phone calls, the possibility of having your documents, your PC, even your identity swallowed whole is all too real.

Technology is so full of possibility and promise, and it grows more powerful and exciting every day. And every day, there are new dangers, and we hear of new victims—and depending on the scam or virus attack or spoof or vulnerability, there can be thousands of victims. Can they all really be stupid?

I have no real answer, so I'll put the question to you. How do we realize technology's promise without completely screwing up our lives?

More articles from Lance Ulanoff:

• BlackBerry Storm Rains on My Typing Parade
• Beware the Netbook Hype Machine
• Goodbye, Jerry Yang, and Thanks for All the Fish
• The Digital Switchover HDTV Argument
• Securing Obama's Internet Presidency
• More

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