Cell phone users beware!
Staten Island Advance - Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Thought you had heard the last from those pesky telemarketers and the equally annoying spammers?
Think again.
New laws make it possible to safe-guard your home phone, but your cell phone is in danger of being the very next privacy invasion front.
The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association is scheduled to complete an extensive directory of cell phone numbers in December.
That's right, your cell phone number could be sold to telemarketing firms. And who do you think will pay for those unwanted cell phone solicitations?
You guessed right.
But if the senior senator from New York -- Sen. Charles Schumer -- has his way that won't happen.
"Can you imagine if the cell phone companies listed your number and you started getting text messages and then bills for hundreds of dollars?" Sen. Schumer asked at a press conference Sunday to unveil his newest consumer cause.
According to Mr. Schumer, cell phone companies will make a hefty profit on the venture --by selling the directory to telemarketers; by charging consumers and callers for the air traffic and by charging consumers an opt-out fee .
CITA has said phone numbers would not be published and would be made available only to people who dial 411.
In addition, industry spokespeople claim that users could decide at no cost whether to list their number, and deny that the directory would be sold to telemarketing companies.
Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, seems to have little faith in those promises, and so is co-sponsoring a bill that would require cell phone providers to obtain phone users' permission before making numbers public.
Fearing that might not go far enough, Mr. Schumer's proposed legislation -- the Wireless 411 Privacy Act -- would prevent cellular companies from charging a fee for opting out of the directory.
We applaud his efforts. His legislation deserves a ringing endorsement.
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