Important Info For Anyone Promoting Cell Phone Lookup Products

If anyone's promoting those "cell phone lookup" products, then I'd suggest you start to diversify fast. Here's a post on MSN's news site which explains that Intelius is in a spot of bother with Verizon Wireless and other parties.

Here's the link:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22902400/

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.

Until now, cell phone users, reluctant to be interrupted in their cars or in public with unsolicited calls, could try to protect the privacy of their numbers by being judicious about whom they gave them to. But the directory service, offered by Intelius Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., threatens to take away that privacy.

Intelius 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. An msnbc.com reporter ran searches on several people and came up empty â€” but he did find his own private cell phone number, albeit with some incorrect information.

A cell phone used by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can also be bought. When a reporter for NBC affiliate KGET of Bakersfield called the number, the person on the other end, who was connected to one of Schwarzeneggerâ€™s private businesses, expressed concern about how easy it was to obtain the private number.

So did one of the nationâ€™s largest wireless carriers.

Verizon Wireless, which helped shoot down plans for a wireless directory as a â€œdumb idea,â€ said in a statement that it would take whetever step was necessary, including litigation, to â€œprotect its customersâ€™ numbers and privacy.â€

â€œTrolling the Internet, using data mining techniques and simply buying lists to create a directory are actions that clearly violate a consumerâ€™s right to privacy,â€ the carrier said. â€œVerizon Wireless has long refused to release our customersâ€™ numbers and we call on legislators and policy makers to ensure that what a consumer wants to be private stays that way.â€

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Trisha Ebner of San Francisco also didnâ€™t like the idea that anyone might be able to get her number without her knowledge.

â€œThat seems kind of ridiculous,â€ she said. â€œI think you should have to opt in rather than opting out.â€
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Important Info For Anyone Promoting Cell Phone Lookup Products

popedope Well-Known Member

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Important Info For Anyone Promoting Cell Phone Lookup Products

popedope Well-Known Member

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