Anonymity Starts Today

Caller ID. Just when everyone was getting comfortable with the concept, somebody goes and finds a loophole. The New York Times reports today that a company called Star38, out of California, is offering to cloak your outgoing phone calls with a name and number of your choice. The company’s mantra: “Anonymity starts today.” Want to pose as the White House next time you call a friend at work? How about calling in sick as a physician from County General Hospital? Could be fun. Could be troubling. Kind of reminds me of the fake addresses that show up on spam. My question is why the phone companies don’t have sovereignty over sensitive information like this?