Gasp! Vonage is a cyber-terror firm!

Rob Rosenberger, Vmyths co-founder
Friday, 25 March 2005 I'VE BASHED ANY number of government bureaucrats for their myopic cyber-concerns over the "911" system. For example, former FBI NIPC director Ron Dick insists Al Qaeda will soon terrorize us by clogging up America's 911 services. Listen to the angst in Dick's voice if you think I'm putting words in his mouth.

A capitalistic telephone company has done more to dismantle 911 service than any cyber-terrorist could hope to achieve.

Well, guess what? Our bureaucrats' collective fear has manifested itself in a company called Vonage, which doesn't provide 911 access to up to 500,047 phones in the U.S.. But Vonage didn't do it for the Almighty Allah — they did it for the almighty dollah. Believe it, folks: a capitalistic telephone company has done more to dismantle 911 service than any cyber-terrorist could hope to achieve. Ah, but wait! It gets better. Dr. Fred Cohen, the father of the modern computer virus, opined on the threat posed by "VoIP firms" like Vonage. In Cohen's scenario, boiler room hucksters will tug at our heartstrings moments after the next major U.S. disaster. They'll clog the nation's phone lines with automated pleas for credit card donations. Think of it as a plague of "dialing for dollars." And thanks to firms like Vonage, you won't know if the hucksters live in India or Indiana.

Man:
Honey, I'm bleeding internally and my leg is wedged under tons of debris! Call 911!
Woman:
I can't get a dial tone! We're being swamped with prerecorded requests to donate to a disaster relief fund!

Cohen offers up a far more realistic scenario than Ron Dick and his myopic bureaucratic brethren. Click here for the story. So. Will the Justice Department put out an arrest warrant for the CEO of Vonage? Will he be tried as a terrorist under the USA PATRIOT Act? Will Vonage's assets be confiscated so they can't be used by cyber-terrorists who masquerade as con men? I'll bet a soda the bureaucrats won't answer questions like this. Bureaucrats don't like to answer embarrassing questions. Ironically, this scenario reminded me of former CIA scientist Michael Caloyannides, who believes capitalism is the Internet's worst security threat. He might actually prove correct ... although not in the way he conceived it.