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May 20, 2004
Cellular directory
Coming Soon: A Cellphone Directory:
After years of anonymity, the numbers of most of the nation's mobile phones will be compiled later this year in the first wireless directory.
...
It's also a big money issue for an industry suffering through brutal price wars. A wireless directory could generate as much as $3 billion a year in fees and additional minutes by 2009, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Zelos Group Inc.
Can you think of anything the industry could do that would anger customers more? Wait - don't answer that... these are cellular carriers we're talking about.
At least our trusted leadership is on the case:
"I don't want the world to know my cellphone number," said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-Pa.), who has introduced a bill to prevent wireless phone companies from automatically including customers in the directory without getting their permission and from charging customers if they want unlisted numbers.
I'm tired of Big Co's making money off of my personal info. 5% of the value of cell phones is that Linda Cooper the-robot-voice-that-used-to-call-our-house-back-in-the-dark-ages-when-we-had-a-land-line can't call me. Don't take that away.
Posted by sam at May 20, 2004 01:43 PM