Online cell phone directory - Leave us alone!

Thought your cell phone number was private? Thought the advantage of having a cell phone is that you give the number to who you want and avoid unwanted calls? Well I’m glad to inform you that it’s not the case anymore. A company called Intelius has an online cell phone directory of 90 million numbers.

When did you give your consent for your phone number to be published in the cell phone directory? Oh, well you didn’t. The company gather it’s information from public sources like property records and sweepstakes list.

Where will it stop? I mean, please leave us alone! I honestly really like my privacy and hate telemarketing calls. There’s also some people I don’t give my cell phone number intentionally. You pretend you don’t have a cell phone so your boss can’t call you when you’re not home? Well, you can’t hide anymore. I think we’re going too far and we have to draw a certain line. I can’t imagine the time when I’ll receive a telemarketing call while I’m enjoying a meal at the restaurant and forgot to turn my cellphone off. It’s so easy to say to a friend you’ll call back, but getting rid of a telemarketer is not that easy.

So you want to get out of the cell phone directory? It’s not that easy unfortunately. To opt out you have to provide a whole lot of paperwork like copies of driver license and stuff. This is mainly to avoid people to opt out. Shouldn’t it be the opposite? Like you opt in if you want? Why would you have to fight to get out of something you never approved to be in?

I’m curious to know how they got all that information. Of course from public sources, but could it be illegal? It all depends if it was legal for the companies to provide your information, which is usually not the case. When you give out your details, there’s usually a privacy agreement saying they have to keep your information private. Of course, there’s alway ways of playing with the laws and that’s probably what happened.

I just think it’s nonsense. It should be on a volunteer basis. If you don’t mind having your number in the directory, then give your consent and end of the story. If you don’t want well it’s not in, simple as that! I don’t like that cell phone directory idea. It can be a really good thing but it has to be controlled and it has to be a personal decision to be in or not.

Leave us alone.