From: "Keith F. Lynch" <kfl at KeithLynch.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Remarkable claim about phones
Date: Sat,  1 Apr 2023 15:37:40 -0400 (EDT)

Researchers at MIT have made a remarkable claim about telephones.
They suggest that someday, with further advances in technology, it may
be possible to use them to communicate real information for business
and for pleasure, both by voice and by text.

Of course everyone knows that the telephone was invented for the sole
purpose of scamming people.  We all learned that the first-ever phone
call was Watson falsely claiming to Alexander Graham Bell that his
horse-drawn-carriage warranty had expired.

The many improvements on this invention were all designed to further
these scams:

* Phone numbers, so that the scammer has something to fake, to get
  innocent people accussed of his crimes.

* Phone books, so crooks know the names of their victims, and can
  personalize their scams.

* Long distance, so that each crook can scam more people, and is
  beyond the jurisdiction of the victim's local police.

* Cell phones, so that victims can be scammed when they aren't at home
  or at work.

* Texting, to hide the scammer's foreign accent.  And to be able to
  scam deaf people.

This absurd suggestion raises the question as to whether university
professors have taken complete leave of their senses.  Why would
anyone believe anything said over the phone?  The idea is ludicrous.
What next?  The use of email for something besides spamming?