View Full Version : To all mobile phone users
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!
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
20-06-2009, 08:31
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..... :erm: );
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 privacyWhich 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 ----------
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 ;)
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
20-06-2009, 08:58
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
20-06-2009, 09:01
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
20-06-2009, 09:04
Only 16 million according to this
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1191783/New-mobile-phone-database-number-Britain-sparks-security-fears.html
More info
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/12/connectivity_legal_threats/
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..... :erm: );
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.:D
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
20-06-2009, 12:00
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).
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
20-06-2009, 14:51
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
20-06-2009, 15:14
Mine is very easy, just dial 999
Sir John Luke
20-06-2009, 16:02
Why would you dial 999?!
I think the clue is in the username;)
idi banashapan
20-06-2009, 16:09
Why would you dial 999?!
really???... lol
I thought he was following on from the discussion about recieving unwanted calls. I was trying to work out why you would dial 999 if you had
Ravenheart
20-06-2009, 16:23
have you noticed all these sort of services are opt out? I only give my number to those who i want to contact me, if I don't know the number i just let it go to voicemail.
The fact that most of the mobile operators refused to hand over the info, so the company got it from "other sources" gives me a good idea of the sort of firm this is.
I fail to see whats urgent about this, title updated.
This was announce weeks ago, I took one look and forgot about it - they dont give out your number (even assuming they have it). Their data is most likely quite old as well.
I searched for myself with my name and postcode and they found me, so I've now gone ex-directory. I get enough random phone calls as it is :erm:
Mine is very easy, just dial 999Yes but that wouldnt produce good results if trying to stop someone from ringing i dont think.
This is the stuff of legends.. Yet another urban myth, all they're doing is harvesting more and more mobile numbers.. It happened in the states in 2006
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp
A bit like when you get a spam email which has an opt-out link on the bottom of it.. You click the link and it confirms the email is live and has someone viewing it so you then get spammed more by them and also the address gets sold on.. The same with your telephone number.. Who's registered with TPS?? Quite simply even if you are you still get phone calls as some companies don;t care about the TPS lists, what makes you think this mobile opt-out (and remember you're not opting out to TPS which produces an industry recognised list but with actually a directory services company ;) ) will be any different
Raistlin
01-07-2009, 08:06
[...]what makes you think this mobile opt-out (and remember you're not opting out to TPS which produces an industry recognised list but with actually a directory services company ;) ) will be any different
And that's the big point.
TPS have the support of the industry to a degree, and don't gain anything from screwing you over - this is a company that only makes any money if they're giving out mobile 'phone numbers.
Mine is very easy, just dial 999Its interesting..the police here in the states use '999' as a signal of IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE needed.. (Officer shot,etc)
Its interesting..the police here in the states use '999' as a signal of IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE needed.. (Officer shot,etc)
Whereas, here in the UK, we use it as a signal for someone to mooch around a bit later...maybe... ;)
Ravenheart
13-07-2009, 13:25
Now they've got the numbers of those who have opted out, and will probably sell them on...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/13/118800_failure_encore/
The thing is to opt out all you have to do is to text E to 118800 and that will also opt you out without divulging your name/address...but then again you are confirming it's a live number ;)
rogerdraig
13-07-2009, 14:09
The thing is to opt out all you have to do is to text E to 118800 and that will also opt you out without divulging your name/address...but then again you are confirming it's a live number ;)
i will send them a dpa notice if they contact me as i don't intend to put my number anywhere near their computer system if its not already there
their computers had crashed i hear any way trying to cope with the ex directory requests
see
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1433346/118800-knocked
I can't help feeling that this was all a ruse to get people to register the mobile numbers. Will wait and see what happens.
rogerdraig
13-07-2009, 18:02
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!
they can sell your number on yet again
they should never have been allowed to set this up and the publics response seems to indicate they think so too lol
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8149908.stm
rogerdraig
14-07-2009, 23:23
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8149908.stm
ahh they are right everyone else is wrong
sigh
superscot69
15-07-2009, 01:13
as always
Hi Neil from 118800.co.uk here,
Thank you for talking about us, just to clear some points up.
We don’t give out mobile numbers. 118800 is a service for connecting people that know each other’s name and address. In the majority of cases it will be a friend or colleague who has lost your number or doesn’t have it on them and needs to get in touch. If you are contacted it will be by 118800 calling to announce the name of that person, or sending a text message with the name and number of the person trying to get in touch. It will then be up to you whether you want to speak to them or not.
We don’t sell data to anyone, so cold calling will not result from our service. Cold calling is common on landline numbers because landline data is freely and widely available. The mobile numbers in our directory are available to no one. 118800 connect people that know each other, we don’t give out numbers.
For more information visit http://www.118800.co.uk/
Or watch a video of how the service works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgLWB123JA
Thanks,
Neil
rogerdraig
01-08-2009, 00:00
Hi Neil from 118800.co.uk here,
Thank you for talking about us, just to clear some points up.
We don’t give out mobile numbers. 118800 is a service for connecting people that know each other’s name and address. In the majority of cases it will be a friend or colleague who has lost your number or doesn’t have it on them and needs to get in touch. If you are contacted it will be by 118800 calling to announce the name of that person, or sending a text message with the name and number of the person trying to get in touch. It will then be up to you whether you want to speak to them or not.
We don’t sell data to anyone, so cold calling will not result from our service. Cold calling is common on landline numbers because landline data is freely and widely available. The mobile numbers in our directory are available to no one. 118800 connect people that know each other, we don’t give out numbers.
For more information visit http://www.118800.co.uk/
Or watch a video of how the service works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgLWB123JA
Thanks,
Neil
just to clear up some points for you
most of us are dont care what you do with numbers what i do care about is that you may have my number in the first place
i never want a txt off of you nor do i wish to have to go to your web site ( which i wouldnt trust in anycase ) to input my number to have it opted out of something that should be opt in in the first place
if i ever told a company i dealt with that i didnt mind them using my number it was never my intention that that was to any directory service as in any case i always go ex directory with my mobile phone company
so now how do you propose you make sure i dont get a txt off of you with out having to endanger my number on your servers ?
perhaps a dpa notice forbidding the automated decisions on any of my data would help ?
personally i think you should write to all these people you claim have let you use their numbers via accidentally ticking or leaving blank a box on some form, to ask them if they want to be part of your service that seems loads didn't want to be part of as soon as you launched ! perhaps the many you seem to think like your idea will write back giving you their permission ;)
and yes i know you just txt me which is what i dont want in the first place
zing_deleted
01-08-2009, 00:08
Its not just our numbers they have its our names and addresses to as the rep mentions they connect people who who you but not your number so thats 43 million names and addresses
Ravenheart
01-08-2009, 10:41
Well said Roger :)
I find it strange that Neil claims they don't sell the data to anyone, but I wonder what sort of firms they got the data from in the first place when o2 and orange refused to hand over the information.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/12/connectivity_legal_threats/
Just another opt-out scam, that the advertising industry love so much.
May your directory fail miserably.. ohh wait...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/13/118800_failure_encore/
Looks like the people have given their answer already
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