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AT&T ramps up voicemail security, say hello to your new pin code
Have anything sitting in your voicemail that you'd prefer the rest of the world didn't hear? When's the last time you went about checking it, anyway? AT&T is now on a mission to save its carefree customers from themselves, and beginning today, all new subscribers will be required to set a voicemail password or affirmatively disable the security measure. Ma Bell's new policy is a reaction to the current unauthorized intrusion hubbub in the media, combined with the very real threat of caller ID spoofing. Shockingly, its current customers won't receive similar treatment until early next year, and only when they upgrade their handsets. Of course, you can easily secure your voicemail within the settings, and if you prefer the convenience of retrieving your messages without hassle, you'll still have that option -- much to Rupert Murdoch's pleasure, that is.
Sprint, Google Voice getting tight integration, will let you use your number without porting it
If the Nexus S 4G wasn't enough to get you excited, Sprint and Google have one more trick up their collective sleeves this morning: an unprecedented new level of integration with Google Voice. Basically, you'll be able to use your existing Sprint number in Google Voice, but through some custom-brewed sorcery and magicks, you won't have to port it to Google Voice -- your number, and your account, still belong to Sprint so that you won't get an ugly early termination fee. And if you like your current Google Voice number more than your Sprint one, that's cool, too -- you'll be able to set it up so that your GV number shows when you make calls or send texts on your Sprint phone. Either way, you'll use Google Voice for voicemail (as many folks already do) instead of Sprint's voicemail service. No word on when the feature will launch ("soon" is all they're saying), but live demos will be on display at CTIA this week -- on Nexus S 4Gs, we're willing to bet. Follow the break for video!
Google Voice voicemails appearing in public search results
We're not exactly sure what's going on here, but it certainly seems like at least some Google Voice voicemails are being indexed and made publicly available somehow. If you punch in "site:https://www.google.com/voice/fm/*" as a search string you get a few pages of what appear to be test messages, with a couple eye-opening obvious non-tests scattered in there as well. Dates on these messages range from a couple months ago all the way until yesterday, so this is clearly an ongoing issue -- hopefully Google patches this up awful fast. P.S. - Google Voice transcription accuracy really falls off a cliff when it's listening to muffled audio, doesn't it? Update: Google says it's changed how shared messages are indexed and made available to public searches, so we're hoping this was just a one-time thing. [Via Boy Genius Report]
A second look at VoiceMail
Earlier this month I had the unhappy experience of using the iPhone app VoiceMail.[ App Store link] The U.S. $0.99 app was designed to send an audio message to another iPhone, or a PC or Mac. It failed almost every test I gave it, but the developers say they have been hard at work and have updated VoiceMail.In my tests I have found the app to be much improved. The audio is no longer distorted, and the message plays back on any PC now. QuickTime is no longer required to play back the message, as it can come as a standard MP3 file. Uploading the message from the iPhone is still pretty slow, even using WiFi. A short 5 second message took 15 seconds to send. This is a handy utility if you want to send an audio message and don't want to use voice mail, although it seems pretty useless for iPhone to iPhone messaging as you already have voice mail available.I still have some nits to pick with this app. Clicking on the support link at the App Store takes you to a web site that just links you back to the App Store. Not too handy. Your voice mail sits on the developers server's, and that doesn't seem to be overly secure or private. The developers make no mention of a privacy policy.I'm glad to see this app updated, and for some it may be very useful. It's clear it works now, but with MMS messaging coming in iPhone OS 3.0 and a Voice Memo app that may allow forwarding the sound file, the features of VoiceMail may be overtaken by the Apple update.It's not a big risk for less than a buck, and I was glad to see the developers respond so thoroughly to my earlier review and fix most of what I complained about. If you have use for the features it offers, and can live with some uncertainty about privacy, you can certainly give it a try.
Court to T-Mobile, AT&T: your voicemail ain't secure, so stop saying otherwise
Thanks to SpoofCard, AT&T and T-Mobile now owe some cash in the state of California, and the rest of us have been given one more reason to lie awake at night. The service -- of questionable non-illegal value -- reports your Caller ID phone number as anything you like, and injunctions filed in Los Angeles demand that the carriers stop advertising their voicemail services as being secure, considering that they can be set to rely on the calling phone number alone to connect to a specific voicemail box. For their indiscretions, AT&T will be coughing up $59,300 and T-Mobile owes an even 25 grand; meanwhile, SpoofCard's parent company will pay $33,000 for advertising its service as being legal in 50 states even though it's not.[Via Phone Scoop]
