To all mobile phone users

[Dude111]

http://www.118800.co.uk/removeme/remove-me.html

They are adding 43 million uk mobile phone numbers that they have bought from the phone companys - so anyone can ask for you and give you a buzz - just like the phone book for land lines!

Remove yours today!

[Peter_]

Thanks for the link, it takes a few attempts but its best not to trust these directory companies and as I am already registered with the TPS the is no harm in going ex-directory.

[Raistlin]

Interesting:

1. I've not heard anything from my mobile service provider to suggest that they're giving my number away, nor have I given them permission to do so;

2. No matter what name I put in the service tells me that it has multiple possibilities for the name and asks me for additional information (full address..... );

3. The service suggests that without your permission your number will never be given out:

Search here to find out if we have the mobile phone number of your contact. If we do, we text them with your details so they can call you back. We never give out the mobile numbers of people in our directory to protect privacy

Which goes against your suggestion that people can just 'ask for you and give you a buzz'.

4. They seem to be relying a great deal on information provided by individuals:

The more of us we have in our directory, the more successful we can be in connecting people who need to get in touch. And please do encourage any of your friends, family or colleagues to give us their numbers whilst reassuring them we will never disclose their number to anyone. Don't forget to add your work place details because some people may not know where you live but will know where you work.

How did you get the mobile numbers?
Our mobile phone directory is made up from various sources. Generally it comes from companies who collect mobile telephone numbers from customers in the course of doing business and have been given permission by the customers to share those numbers.

I'm not convinced it's the evil threat that you're selling it as, and will remain unconvinced unless I see information that persuades me otherwise. I'd be interested to know where you got your figure of 43 million from, and would be interested to see something that confirms that they've sold the details to go with the numbers and not just the numbers themselves.

I think that for the mobile companies to sell this amount of customer details without asking/telling them would put them on very dodgy ground indeed - given the amount of focus that everybody is being forced to place on the protection of personal data these days I would doubt they'd be that foolish.

---------- Post added at 08:31 ---------- Previous post was at 08:29 ----------

Originally Posted by Moldova

Thanks for the link, it takes a few attempts but its best not to trust these directory companies and as I am already registered with the TPS the is no harm in going ex-directory.

Consider this, there's no evidence that I can see that shows that they would have had your number to begin with.

Numbers are provided to them by companies that have sold their customers' details to them (with their consent), or by people who register to be 'ex-directory'.

If your service provider hadn't given them your number they wouldn't have had it.....however they do now, because you've just given it to them

[Wayfair]

They did a review on this service on a tv program I was watching on Thursday 'I think it was Working Lunch' and in the end they had to supply the post code of the person they was trying to contact, then all the service did was txt the person and tell them so-and-so was trying to get in touch.

They tried 6 different people and only managed to get a txt sent to one of them.

I am with Rob on this, 43 million people, rubbish, there are 4 of us in this household, we all have mobiles 'one of us has two' but only one of them is registered with the provider.

[Sir John Luke]

Originally Posted by Rob M

Consider this, there's no evidence that I can see that shows that they would have had your number to begin with.

I 'opted out' as soon as the web site opt-out became available. I've just tried entering my (uncommon) name and town and got a 'not found' response. However, my wife has not opted out, and entering her name and town gave 'we think we've found...' and asked for further details (full address) to confirm they've 'got the right person'. This implies that either they HAVE purchased full details or they are using the system to build up a database. Since I'm not wearing my tin-foil hat today, I'd plump for the former. This SHOULD be an opt-in service, but it quite obviously is not.

[Raistlin]

I entered my (uncommon) name and (very small) town and was told that there were multiple possibilities.

I think that if they do have numbers for some people it's most likely because those numbers have been sold by a small number of service providers/companies. I certainly don't think (as seemed to be the suggestion from the OP) that the site has the mobile telephone numbers for everybody.

[Sir John Luke]

Only 16 million according to this

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ity-fears.html

More info

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06...legal_threats/

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by Rob M

Interesting:

1. I've not heard anything from my mobile service provider to suggest that they're giving my number away, nor have I given them permission to do so;

2. No matter what name I put in the service tells me that it has multiple possibilities for the name and asks me for additional information (full address..... );

3. The service suggests that without your permission your number will never be given out:

Which goes against your suggestion that people can just 'ask for you and give you a buzz'.

4. They seem to be relying a great deal on information provided by individuals:
I'm not convinced it's the evil threat that you're selling it as, and will remain unconvinced unless I see information that persuades me otherwise. I'd be interested to know where you got your figure of 43 million from, and would be interested to see something that confirms that they've sold the details to go with the numbers and not just the numbers themselves.

I think that for the mobile companies to sell this amount of customer details without asking/telling them would put them on very dodgy ground indeed - given the amount of focus that everybody is being forced to place on the protection of personal data these days I would doubt they'd be that foolish.

---------- Post added at 08:31 ---------- Previous post was at 08:29 ----------



Consider this, there's no evidence that I can see that shows that they would have had your number to begin with.

Numbers are provided to them by companies that have sold their customers' details to them (with their consent), or by people who register to be 'ex-directory'.

If your service provider hadn't given them your number they wouldn't have had it.....however they do now, because you've just given it to them

As I said above I am already registered with the TPS so if any calls come through I will tell them that and ask to speak with a supervisor which will in most cases cause them to hang up.

[BenMcr]

And as has been said, they can't phone you - if someone uses this service, you get a text asking you to phone them.

[Anonymouse]

I nearly signed up to this; then my sanity chip rebooted and I read the rest of the thread and the Register article. Something doesn't sound right here. Mobile companies usually fall over themselves over opportunities to make money, so if they're refusing to go along with this, it's enough to make you stop and think.

I'm not that concerned anyway since a) mine's a PAYG with Orange, who aren't handing numbers over, and b) the damn thing spends 99.999% of the time switched off, since I check it once a month - if that - and don't use it regularly, so I don't see any point in wasting battery power by leaving it on. And c) I've just signed my mobile up to TPS (did that with my landline yonks ago).

[dizzi]

I'm incredibly sick of stuff like this - I have a phone so the people I choose to give the number to can contact me... not so I become some walking bit of the matrix, obligated to listen to every annoyance that decides it wants to bug me 24-7.

I've also got an abusive ex-partner, who periodically tries to track me down - for me, things like this, things like google street view etc etc are an utter nightmare (I'm thankfully not pictured on it but I have friends who are clearly identifiable). I hate this assumption that we ALL want to be contacted, ALL of the time, by anyone and everyone. I don't even want to be bombarded by text messages saying "random person wants you to call them"... if I want to be nagged by text to call people - I've got a work agency and a mother to do that for me.

[idi banashapan]

why the panic? if someone phones you and you don't know the number, don't answer it. they'll leave a voice mail if it's important. if they persist, set a block on your handset for that number. job done. they can't do anything to you from the other end of the phone!

[fireman328]

Mine is very easy, just dial 999

[BenMcr]

Why would you dial 999?!

[Sir John Luke]

Originally Posted by BenMcr

Why would you dial 999?!

I think the clue is in the username