Afraid of Telemarketers? Don't Be - The Cell Phone Number Distribution Protection Act

By: Adolph K. Reekie

There is a new bill being introduced that is aimed at protecting your privacy and your wireless numbers. This is known as the Cell Phone Number Distribution Protection Act of 2007. If you are worried about the availability of your cellular number, this should be of great interest to you. Though the issue is certainly not life and death, it does go a long way to protect your privacy rights when it seems we are constantly bombarded by unwanted messages everywhere we turn.
The biggest problem with cell numbers is that most have free minutes, but many have to pay for at least some of their used time, and those times usually fall when telemarketers and other largely unwanted calls may try to go through. This can add a significant amount to any mobile phone bill, especially if many companies or individuals get their hands on these numbers. It could also clog up business numbers with tons of unnecessary calls and fees. This is actually a problem for some already, and this bill attempts to nip that in the bud before it gets completely out of control.
Cell companies like Verizon already deal with millions of complaints from customers about unwanted and unauthorized calls and text (SMS) messages from telemarketers and like individuals. These calls are costing their customers money, and they have to fight to stop each and every one of them. If penalties and fines are implemented through this bill, those numbers should drop, much like when the Do Not Call List was started to keep unwanted calls from reaching landline numbers.
Though the price for a text message is low, most common is about ten cents coming or going from a phone, those numbers can add up. If you get an unwanted message from someone, that just cost you ten cents. You can try to reply to say that you want removed from the list, but that rarely works. You have then just spend twenty cents. That doesn't seem like much, but if they were to send you one message a day for a year, it would add up to $36.50 a year you are paying for unwanted messages. Multiply that by the number of wireless numbers out there, and the amount is staggering.
Under this new bill, anyone distributing a mobile number without permission of the owner is subject to fine and up to six months in jail. This aims at those selling numbers for profit of any type, which is probably more common than some realize. What most don't know is that when a number is sold, it might also come along with personal information like credit history, name of spouse, and other information that is strictly private. This can have devastating results in the hands of the wrong person. Not only could they make a profit from reselling a number, they could also have enough information to commit identity theft. Even worse, such a sale of a number that is used by a minor could mean problems with safety for that child. Under this bill, unless your number is or has been already publicly released with your permission, it should remain private.

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