Meir Cohen, founder of Spoofcard, has created a service that allows users to block — or spoof — their phone number when making a phone call. Spoofcard essentially tricks a person into picking up the phone because their caller identification reads a fake number.

Here's an excerpt from a fairly heated interview between Cohen and Lewis Parker of The Kernel:

Parker: I’m reading some of the comments on SpoofCard’s blog by people who’ve been harassed and abused by people using your service, and they’re really upset about what’s happened to them. Is your response: get a lawyer, get a subpoena?

Cohen: I feel terrible about people who have been harassed or stalked or anything like that, I really feel terrible. But again, we are not enabling it by operating and supporting a technology that’s used by millions and millions of people. Guns don’t kill people – people kill people, and that’s a very close argument over here. People can use our technology poorly, they can use the internet poorly. People can use every technology that’s invented for good reasons or bad reasons. I feel terrible if somebody’s getting harassed.  What’s the difference if somebody is getting harassed from a block call or a call from another phone number? There is no difference.

Spoofcard relies on deception and trickery for revenue. That is the underlying problem here — not the fact that individuals use their service illegitimately.

But read on and develop your own opinion. This is pretty eye-opening.