For decades, millions of us across the country have searched for the phone numbers of friends, family members, associates, even future acquaintances by their name.
We have many reasons for doing this.
We may have lost their number, they may have changed their number, and in the case of work colleagues or new acquaintances, we may not even have their number yet.
I've also encountered numerous occasions where myself and a new friend agreed to contact each other on the phone at a later date, and forgot to exchange numbers.
Sometimes it happens in the heat of the moment.
Searching by Name for Cell Phone Numbers So now that the vast majority of our population is switching to cell phone numbers, can we still find them by name? The short answer is no.
It is currently against industry practices to allow cell phone directories which provide search by name for cell phone numbers.
The primary reason for this is the theory that telemarketers and the DMA will begin soliciting cellular phone users for selling products.
However, reality is not so simple as some would have you believe.
Regardless whether cell phone numbers are made public, it would still be illegal via federal regulations for telemarketers to call cell phones.
The Direct Marketing Association themselves has pledged to avoid calling cellphones with respect to the fact that we have to pay for our minutes! So unfortunately, all that happens is we lose the ability to find our current or potential future contacts in turn for the false sense of security associated with the idea of privacy protection from telemarketing calls.
On top of this, we're still subject to any potential privacy violations on the part of government or regulating authorities, whether it can be justified or not! How Cell Phone Privacy Fails The truth is, current cell phone privacy practices are not even that effective.
Millions of corporations worldwide have been mining your data for decades and keeping it in their own databases.
Almost everything there is to know about a person can already be found out by someone using the correct tools.
And there are already many calls coming to cell phones from unscrupulous parties which have located your number.
Ever notice that 'cellular call', 'unknown call', 'inbound call', or other ambiguous, obnoxious entry on your caller id? I thought so.
I get them almost daily.
You likely do to.
Cell phones are not exempt.
WiFi phones are not exempt.
Even house phones on the national 'do not call' registry are not exempt from these annoyances! And these illegal calls would be entirely unabated by additional privacy measures! So much for the idea of a government saving the world's population from danger.
How to Fix the problem with your Own Hands Yet all things have a natural balance when they're not artificially manipulated by some intervening party, and technology is no exception.
Most people will never have access to your number.
But the few that do, and place obnoxious, even illegal calls on a regular basis, can still be stopped.
How? By identifying and reporting them.
The key is identifying them, and for this we can use a 'reverse phone directory'.
These directories simply take information from the already available millions of public records and put it all in one place.
We can search them in seconds and find a caller's name, address, background info, associated business entities, and more.
Hence, even without further regulation, our numbers can stay private from the majority while we get to keep the tools which help us stop the criminal minority from doing what they will always be able to do - reduce the quality of our lives!
We have many reasons for doing this.
We may have lost their number, they may have changed their number, and in the case of work colleagues or new acquaintances, we may not even have their number yet.
I've also encountered numerous occasions where myself and a new friend agreed to contact each other on the phone at a later date, and forgot to exchange numbers.
Sometimes it happens in the heat of the moment.
Searching by Name for Cell Phone Numbers So now that the vast majority of our population is switching to cell phone numbers, can we still find them by name? The short answer is no.
It is currently against industry practices to allow cell phone directories which provide search by name for cell phone numbers.
The primary reason for this is the theory that telemarketers and the DMA will begin soliciting cellular phone users for selling products.
However, reality is not so simple as some would have you believe.
Regardless whether cell phone numbers are made public, it would still be illegal via federal regulations for telemarketers to call cell phones.
The Direct Marketing Association themselves has pledged to avoid calling cellphones with respect to the fact that we have to pay for our minutes! So unfortunately, all that happens is we lose the ability to find our current or potential future contacts in turn for the false sense of security associated with the idea of privacy protection from telemarketing calls.
On top of this, we're still subject to any potential privacy violations on the part of government or regulating authorities, whether it can be justified or not! How Cell Phone Privacy Fails The truth is, current cell phone privacy practices are not even that effective.
Millions of corporations worldwide have been mining your data for decades and keeping it in their own databases.
Almost everything there is to know about a person can already be found out by someone using the correct tools.
And there are already many calls coming to cell phones from unscrupulous parties which have located your number.
Ever notice that 'cellular call', 'unknown call', 'inbound call', or other ambiguous, obnoxious entry on your caller id? I thought so.
I get them almost daily.
You likely do to.
Cell phones are not exempt.
WiFi phones are not exempt.
Even house phones on the national 'do not call' registry are not exempt from these annoyances! And these illegal calls would be entirely unabated by additional privacy measures! So much for the idea of a government saving the world's population from danger.
How to Fix the problem with your Own Hands Yet all things have a natural balance when they're not artificially manipulated by some intervening party, and technology is no exception.
Most people will never have access to your number.
But the few that do, and place obnoxious, even illegal calls on a regular basis, can still be stopped.
How? By identifying and reporting them.
The key is identifying them, and for this we can use a 'reverse phone directory'.
These directories simply take information from the already available millions of public records and put it all in one place.
We can search them in seconds and find a caller's name, address, background info, associated business entities, and more.
Hence, even without further regulation, our numbers can stay private from the majority while we get to keep the tools which help us stop the criminal minority from doing what they will always be able to do - reduce the quality of our lives!
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