January 31, 2008
Cell phone directory rings alarm bells
An online directory that claims to provide 90 million mobile telephone numbers is raising concerns among cell phone users and privacy advocates about unwanted callers who rack up the minutes on their calling plans and the difficulty of opting out of the list. MSNBC reports.
"The directory service, offered by Intelius Inc. charges $14.95 a pop for the numbers, which it says it collects from public sources, such as property records and other businesses. The owner of a number has no say in the matter.
Intelius claims that it has about half the mobile phones in the country in its database, which means a lot of searches come up as false negatives.
“Trolling the Internet, using data mining techniques and simply buying lists to create a directory are actions that clearly violate a consumer’s right to privacy,”Verizon Wireless said. “Verizon Wireless has long refused to release our customers’ numbers and we call on legislators and policy makers to ensure that what a consumer wants to be private stays that way.”
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