we saw that...

state senator neil riser wants to stop caller id spoofing

according to this piece (see link) by stuart hill, in the 27 january 2009, the franklin sun, "state senator neil riser is working to create a new law intended to help stop 'spoofing' from becoming a criminal tool."

mr. hill goes on to explain that "basically, the technology includes the purchase of a virtual calling card that provides a given number of minutes of talk time. the user dials in a call-free number and enters two numbers: the one he wants to call and the number he wants the call to be shown on the caller id. other services may be offered, such as recording or voice disguising."

senator riser is quoted as saying "the opportunities for criminal use are plenty...the fact that a lot of people don't know about it makes the need to protect our consumers more urgent they've got to be made aware of the possible misuses of this technology."

then we got to this line "in pennsylvania, a u. s. representative was targeted during a political campaigned [sic] with bad-mouth calls to voters which were programmed to appear to come from his own office." its hard to tell if this subject was a part of the interview, or if the writer just threw it in as filler, or for his own reasons, but it got us to thinking.

the first thought we had is that senator riser is a moron as shown by his referring to us as "consumers" instead of citizens. all consumers have for rights is a warranty - that expires - if that much. while citizens have unalienable and inalienable rights, including a bill of rights and a constitution.

the second thought we had was, would any legislator who exhibits such a caviler attitude towards citizens as to call them "consumers," really have our best interests at heart - or is senator riser more concerned in putting a stop to what might could be considered a new and uncontrollable form of politicking?