Pets & Turtle Data

Cell phone numbers are not published but that does not mean that they are private. The Internet is filled with sites that offer to do a reverse phone directory, which can reveal personal information about you, such as your name and address. Why is this allowed, and what can you do to maintain your privacy?

Cell phone carriers cannot and do not publish cell phone number directories. In 2004 the Wireless 411 Privacy Act would have allowed them to do a reverse look up and reveal your information to 411 callers. Lists of people’s names would not have actually been published, and supposedly it was to be an opt-in program, but the slippery slope nature of such an act was alarming. The general public was scared by the privacy ramifications and, led by the Consumer’s Union, they were able to defeat the bill. Since then cell phone carriers have kept the names and details associated with cell phone numbers private.

But unfortunately the story does not stop there. Cell phone carriers are not the only source of information. Think of all the forms you must fill out. Everything from an online purchase, to a credit card application, to paying bills requires of litany of personal information, usually involving your phone number at some point. It has now even become common for retail stores to ask for a phone number and email address just to make a simple purchase at the counter. You would be hard pressed to find a blatant attempt to gather personal information for resale than that. The information that is gathered from these various sources is often then sold to brokers who keep vast databases that can be of use to marketers, investigators, and yes, even reverse phone directories.

Your name will not currently ever show up in a mass listing of cell phone numbers, or a simple reverse directory searches. The simple reverse directory searches for cell phone numbers will usually only reveal superficially identifying information such as where the number is from, or who owns, or which carrier services it. Your name and personal information will, however, show up to anyone who pays for a premium reverse directory service.

A premium reverse directory service will pay off a database information broker to retrieve your information. They charge a fee for their service in order to cover the costs associated with obtaining the information, which is more substantial than what advertisement revenues can bring in. The fee acts as a good deterrent for most people to look up your information. You would have to be pretty motivated to pay money just to find out who called you. Most people will just do a quick simple reverse directory search, try to figure out who lives in that area, and then give up. So even though your information is somewhat available, it still is not generally accessed by anyone and everyone.

So what can you do to protect your privacy? Give out the least information as necessary. If businesses insist on giving them information that you do not deem worthy, then give them fake information, which will also possibly throw of the data brokers a little. It is not much, but it is about all that you can do at this point, besides voicing outrage the next time a companies want to publish your personal information.