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Burner mobile app goes beyond prank calls

Prank calls — which in 2013 are all but rooted out with caller ID — may get new life with a new app called Burner. But the software may have legitimate privacy uses as well.

Prank calls — which in 2013 are all but rooted out with caller ID — may get new life with a new app called Burner. The app allows users to create disposable phone numbers so that it’s harder to track who’s calling you. The idea may sound familiar to fans of HBO’s show The Wire, where criminals used burner cellphones to trip up police. But the software may have legitimate privacy uses as well.

Lindsey Turrentine is editor-in-chief of reviews for CNET joins Marketplace’s Ben Johnson to explain the app and its purpose beyond pranks.

 

 

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