Rumors
Warning of Imminent Handover of Cell Phone Directory to Telemarketers Sparks
Worries about SPAM Cell Phone Calls
Wallingford, CT - August 19, 2010 – Have you received an email forwarded to you by one of your friends saying that one day very soon cell phone numbers are going to be released to marketers, and that you will be spammed by unwanted sales calls? Don’t worry. It is not going to happen and even if it does, federal law prohibits telemarketing calls to mobile telephones.
This is one of those rumors that just won’t die. According to the email, you can expect to be inundated by sales calls, and charges for those incoming calls will show up on your cell phone bill unless you call a special number at the national Do Not Call (DNC) Registry to get your cell phone number blocked for the next five years.
There is a national DNC registry, and there is no harm in registering your cell phone number on it, but no national release of cell phone numbers is scheduled or planned. According to the Web site snopes.com, this rumor started several years ago when some of the major wireless companies planned to create a 411 national directory. In the end, the directory never materialized yet the rumor persists.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a special Web page
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2007/02/dnccellphones.shtm that addresses the rumors and sets the record straight. According to information on the site:
Cell phone numbers are not being released to telemarketers and there are no imminent plans to do so.
There is no deadline to register your mobile phone number with the DNC registry.
There is only one DNC Registry, there is no separate list for cell phones and the DNC Registry covers both mobile phone and land line numbers.
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), even if a wireless 411 directory is set up, most telemarketing calls to cell phones would remain illegal, regardless whether a number is on the Do Not Call Registry.
And there is more good news. In 2007 the FTC got rid of the five-year expiration date on DNC registries. So once your number is registered, you won’t have to renew it.
To put your phone number on the DNC Registry, go to
www.donotcall.gov or call toll-free, 1-888-382-1222.
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