Rumor Cell

The National Cell Phone Directory is an Urban Legend   by Elena Tentser

It’s really amazing how spammers thrive on blowing any rumor out of proportion and spreading mass panic whenever possible. It’s also astounding how persistent some of these rumors can be: some won’t go away years after they’ve been officially classified as urban legends.

Take the National Cell Phone Directory panic that began as far back as 2004, and regardless of countless rebuttals, just will not die. Just the other day another such warning appeared in the Sci/Tech section of Google News, of all sources. The rumor claims that in just days all U.S. cell phone numbers will be released to telemarketing companies. Cell phone owners will begin to receive unlimited sales calls, for which they will obviously also have to pay. They urge you to add your cell phone number to the National Do Not Call Directory as the best source of telemarketer protection. Cell phone owners who fell for this have since found out the full irony of this solution, when suddenly their cell phones began to receive more spam calls and texts than ever. By adding your number to ANY online directory, you are just providing another source for telemarketers to harvest for numbers to call.

Just as I write this, my cell phone begins to ring, and I can tell by the unknown area code it’s a telemarketer. I pick up and simultaneously hang up. Nothing new there: telemarketers will find the way to get their hands on our numbers, and they’ll call. The millisecond I spent on the phone won’t end up costing me that much in the large scheme of things; nowadays, we all have pretty reasonable calling plans. I guess, the panic stems from the fact that the cell phone directory is supposed to mass-release ALL cell phone numbers to the public. Now, read my lips: that will never happen. Ever.

Where did this mass urban myth originate from? Some think the panic started back when all the major cell phone carriers got together and considered pooling resources to create a national 411 cell phone directory, due to the fact that land lines were quickly becoming obsolete.

However, extreme legal limitations were put on this directory to prevent abuse, and additional laws that have since been passed, have made an official cell phone directory down-right impossible at this point. Not to mention, it is still illegal for most telemarketers to call consumer cell phones. Some cell phone carriers even initiated lawsuits to put telemarketers back in their place. Bottom line: don’t believe everything you read and put your cell phone privacy fears to rest once and for all.

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