[gui-talk] Cell phone alert correction

Mon Jan 29 14:22:24 CST 2007

In the information from snopes.com, a distinction is made between the bits 
of accurate information and the rest. Just to reassure.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "slery" <slerythema at insightbb.com>
To: "NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List" <gui-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 12:08 PM
Subject: Re: [gui-talk] Cell phone alert correction

Just an FYI.  My sister has received telemarketers on her cell phone twice.
She did register the number and has not received any since.

Also, one way people may be getting the deadline information is that some
states do have specific deadlines for registering with the "state".  My
state for instance posts a deadline because they actively prosecute
telemarketers that use numbers that have been placed on the no call list.
The state uses the deadline as a way of determining who would be included in
a class action law suit against a violator.

HTH,
Cindy
PS I am not contributing to the hoaxes going around but just shedding some
light on actual situations where parts of these messages are true.

-----Original Message-----
From: gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:gui-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org]On
Behalf Of Joel Deutsch
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2007 11:34 AM
To: GUI-Talk; rplist
Subject: [gui-talk] Cell phone alert correction

Hi folks,

Hope this will save some of my fellow subscribers a bit of anxiety and
bother in case they're receiving this bogus alert. This notice that's
circulating again on the Internet isn't accurate. A good
place to check the legitimacy of things like this and virus alerts that are
spread via email is the web site http://www.snopes.com, also known as Urban
Legends. Upon receiving this particular alert via this mailing list, I took
the precaution of going to snopes .com, inputting "do not call cell list" in
a search box, and came up with the text I'll paste in below among several
hits. For those who don't wish to spend time and energy reading the several
examples of warnings like the one posted to the list, arrow down to the
heading (not a Jaws heading, just an ordinary heading, is what I mean)
Origins and read from there. This will explain everything. Read all the way
down from there forward, and you'll see what you need to know. Meantime,
don't bother calling the number suggested in that message. Hope this helps.
Here's a printer-friendly version of the relevant page from snopes.com:

Urban Legends Reference Pages: Celling Your Soul

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp
Celling Your Soul
Claim:   Cell phone users must register their numbers with the national "Do
Not Call" directory to prevent their cell phone numbers from being released
to telemarketers.

Status:   False.

Examples:

[Collected on the Internet, 2006]

Greetings To All of My Friends and Family

In just 4 days from today all U. S. cell phone numbers will be released to
telemarketing companies and you will begin to receive sales calls. You will
be charged for these calls! Even if you do not answer, the telemarketer will
end up in your voice mail and you will be charged for all of the minutes the
incoming (usually recorded) message takes to complete. You will then also be
charged when you call your voice mail to retrieve your messages.

To prevent this, call 888-382-1222 from your cell phone. This is the
national DO NOT CALL list; it takes only a minute to register your cell
phone number
and it blocks most telemarketers calls for five years.

In case you have friends other than me, pass this on to them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
[Collected on the Internet, 2005]

JUST A REMINDER... 31 days from today, cell phone numbers are being released
to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls. YOU
WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS...

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone:
888-382-1222. It is the national DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a
minute of your
time. It blocks your number for five (5) years.

PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
[Collected on the Internet, 2004]

A directory of cell phone numbers will soon be published for all consumers
to have access to. This will open the doors for solicitors to call you on
your
cell phones, using up the precious minutes that we pay lots of money for.
The Federal Trade Commission has set up a "do not call" list. It is called a
cell phone registry. To be included on the "do not call" list, you must call
from the number you wish to register.

The number is 1-888-382-1222 or you can go to their website at
www.donotcall.gov.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
[Collected on the Internet, 2004]

Starting Jan 1, 2005, all cell phone numbers will be made public to
telemarketing firms. So this means as of Jan 1, your cell phone may start
ringing off
the hook with telemarketers, but unlike your home phone, most plans pay for
your incoming calls. These telemarketers will eat up your free minutes and
end up costing money. According to the National Do Not Call List, you have
until Dec 15, 2004 to get on the national "Do Not Call List" for cell
phones.
You can either call 1-888-382-1222 from the cell phone that you wish to have
put on the "do not call list" or you can do it online at www.donotcall.gov.

Registering only takes a minute, is in effect for 5 years. All of you will
need to register before Dec 15. You may want to also do your own personal
cell
phones.
Origins:   Despite dire warnings about the imminent release of cell phone
numbers to telemarketers that continue to be circulated via e-mail year
after
year, no such thing is about to occur,
nor do cell phone users have to register their cell phone numbers with the
national Do Not Call registry before a soon-to-pass deadline to head off an
onslaught
of telemarketing calls. The panic-inducing e-mails (which circulate
especially widely every January or June, since many versions of the warning
list the
end of those months as a cut-off date for registering cell phone numbers
with the national Do Not Call registry) have grown out of a misunderstanding
about
the proposed creation of a wireless directory assistance service.

Cell phone numbers have generally been excluded from printed telephone books
and directory assistance services. However, since the use of cell phones has
burgeoned in recent years (to the point that many people no longer maintain
landline phone service), several national wireless companies (AllTel, AT&T
Wireless, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint PCS, and T-Mobile) have banded together
and hired
Qsent, Inc.
 to produce a Wireless 411 service. Their goal is to pool their listings to
create a comprehensive directory of cell phone customer names and phone
numbers
that would be made available to directory assistance providers.

Many cell phone customers are opposed to the proposed Wireless 411 service
for a number of reasons:
list of 3 items
. They prefer the privacy of knowing that their cell phone numbers are
available only to those to whom they provide them. They don't want other
people being
able to obtain their cell phone numbers without their consent or knowledge.
. They are concerned that their cell phone numbers will be sold to
telemarketers (or other groups that might make undesirable use of those
numbers).
. They see one of the goals of the Wireless 411 service as a ploy to spread
cell phone numbers to wider circles of friends and acquaintances, who will
then
place calls to cell phones and thereby force cell customers to pay for
additional wireless minutes.
list end
The wireless companies behind the proposed Wireless 411 service contend that
their service will be beneficial to cellular customers and that they have
addressed
those customers' major concerns:
list of 3 items
. The service would save money for the millions of customers who have
cellular phones and currently pay to have their cell phone numbers listed in
phone
directories.
. The Wireless 411 service will be strictly "opt-in" - that is, cell phone
customers will be included in the directory only if they specifically
request
to be added. The phone numbers of wireless customers who do nothing will not
be included, those who choose to be listed can have their numbers removed
from the directory if they change their minds, and there is no charge for
requesting to be included or choosing not to be included.
. The Wireless 411 information will not be included in printed phone
directories, distributed in other printed form, made available via the
Internet, or
sold to telemarketers. It will be made available only to operator service
centers performing the 411 directory assistance service.
list end
All of these points have been summed up in numerous media articles, such as
the following from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
There is a grain of truth in the message making it believable, but it's
wrong on two counts: Not all cell phone numbers will be listed in the
national directory
planned for 2006. And telemarketers will not have access to the directory.
It is illegal for marketers using auto-dialers - and most do - to call
wireless
phone numbers.

Here's the truth:

A national directory will be compiled, but numbers will be included on an
opt-in basis. If a cell phone subscriber does nothing, the number will not
be
listed. When the directory is ready, it will be available only as part of
the existing 411 directory service, accessed by calling in and asking for a
specific
number. It will not be published in a book or on the Internet. And it will
not be sold to telemarketers.

Cell phone subscribers can list their numbers on the do-not-call registry if
they choose, but there is no deadline to get on the list, as the e-mail
messages
now circulating suggest
Nonetheless, many consumers don't trust the Wireless 411 consortium to
uphold their promises, and although Qsent and its clients plan to make the
Wireless
411 service available sometime in 2006, its implementation is far from
certain as the wireless
Cell phone
 companies are still contesting proposed legislation which seeks to regulate
wireless phone directories.

So, although the gist of some warnings are correct in alerting consumers to
a proposed directory of cell phone numbers, they are misleading in stating
that such a directory will "soon be published" (the word "published" implies
making a printed directory available, which the wireless consortium
maintains
they will not do) and in directing readers to sign up with The National Do
Not Call Registry. The latter step will not keep wireless customer listings
out of the proposed Wireless 411 database - it will only add their phone
numbers to a list of numbers off-limits to most telemarketers, a step which
is
premature (because the Wireless 411 directory has not yet been implemented)
and largely unnecessary (because the Wireless 411 directory information is
not supposed to be supplied to telemarketers, and because FCC regulations
already in place block the bulk of telemarketing calls to cell phones).

Some versions of the exhortation to cell phone users to add their names to
the Do Not Call Registry erroneously state there is a specific deadline for
getting listed. Says Lois Greisman, the Federal Trade Commission official
who oversees the anti-telemarketing registry: "There is no deadline; there
never
has been a deadline to register."

Adding one's cell phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry won't
have any adverse effect, but customers should be aware of exactly what that
action
will and will not accomplish.

Updates:   Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular Corp. have always declined to
participate in the proposed cell phone directory, and initial partners
Sprint
Corp. and Alltel Corp. have since pulled away from the project due to
concerns about bad publicity and possible new government regulations. So
even if
the cell phone directory database were compiled as planned, at least 45% of
U.S. cell phone numbers wouldn't be included.

Additional information:
The Truth About Cell Phones and the National Do Not Call Registry
  The Truth About Cell Phones and the National Do Not Call Registry
  (Federal Trade Commission)
Wireless 411 Service: Q&A
  Wireless 411 Service: Q&A
  (Qsent)
Choice, Privacy, Security
  Choice, Privacy, Security
  (Qsent)
Last updated:   15 January 2006

The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp

Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2007
by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson
This material may not be reproduced without permission.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Sources
Sources:
definition list of 7 items
    Choi, Candice.   "Cell-Phone Telemarketing Rumor Hooks Americans."
Los Angeles Daily News.   10 December 2004.

    Dalton Jr., Richard J.   "FCC Warns Telemarketers Against Calling Cell
Phones."
Contra Costa Times.   20 November 2003.

    Davidson, Paul.   "Telemarketers Won't Ring Up Cell Phones."
USA Today.   18 April 2005   (p. B4).

    Drucker, Jesse.   "Phone Directory of Cell Numbers Creates Static."
The Wall Street Journal.   14 January 2005   (p. B1).

    Hajewski, Doris.   "Cell Phone Directory Won't Be on Autodial."
[Milwaukee] Journal Sentinel.   29 April 2005.

    Mayer, Caroline.   "Bogus E-Mail Worries Users of Cell Phones."
The Washington Post.   10 December 2004   (p. E1).

    Stinnett, Chuck.   "Wireless Phone Privacy."
The [Henderson] Gleaner.   14 November 2004.
list end

_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk

_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk

-- 
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.17.14/658 - Release Date: 1/29/2007 
2:49 PM