Are Cell Phone Numbers Going Public?

Year after year, many of us receive the panic stricken email swearing that we must act now to keep the telemarketers from calling our cell phones. I cannot keep track of how many times I have received this email in my inbox this past week alone. The email describes the start of a terrible pandemic, if you believe everything that you read. According to the emails, you must call a 1 800 number to opt out from receiving these telemarketer calls.

The email also claims that you will be charged for these calls even if you do not answer and the call is directed to your voice mail. This is also not true. I decided that I wanted to get to the bottom of the allegations. So I did just that, and here is what I found. You can decide for yourself if you believe that your cellular number is at risk.

What is true according to Snopes.com is that the major cellular phone carriers such as Alltel, At&T, Sprint, Cingular, Nextel and T-Mobil had collaborated with a company called Qsent to create a cell phone directory, known as the wireless 411 service. However, the telemarketers and those using auto dialers are not allowed to legally access the information contained within the directory.

It should also be noted that cell phone customers must request to be part of the database, those who do not request it will not be part of the directory. The wireless directories were never going to be in print for the average Joe or telemarketers to access. The numbers were also not going to be available on the internet. The information would only be accessible through the wireless 411 directory to wireless customers. There is no charge one way or another if you choose to be part of the directory or not, that too is a myth.

Therefore, these scam e-mails have been circulating the internet for quite some time. These e-mails have been circulating the internet since 2004. The e-mails claim that the FTC or The Federal Trade Commission has created a telephone number to opt out of the subscriber's individual cell numbers going public.

The company called Qsent who created this database, has not actually brought the directory to life as of yet. There are currently several States which have legislation which require permission from the cellular phone subscribers to be included in any type of directory.