(Opt out links at the bottom)
Update:
Connectivity, the company that owns 118800 has ceased the UK Mobile Phone Directory indefinitely according to The Register. The company denies that the site has been taken down as a consequence of a deluge of request by users to go ex-directory.
Original Post:
WTF!?!?
A new mobile phone number directory is set to launch here in the UK. It will be set-up by Directory Business 118800 using ‘publicly available’ data. Although the numbers are not free to anyone you only have to pay £1 to get to person you are looking for.
The Queen please. Buckingham Palace. London
Apparently all this is cool with the ICO (Information Commissioners Office).
This is how the service works; a number seeker calls 118800 and asks the operator to look for yourname and location. If 118800 have you on their database they then call you while holding the other person on the line, and if you are happy to be connected (yeah right), they connect you.
Want to buy double glazing?
At no point are your details shared with the seeker.
I read that they get numbers from 3 main sources:
- Market research companies who cold call and ask folk if they don’t mind their numbers being used for ‘commercial purposes’
- From online businesses who ‘trick’ users by doing the check-uncheck opt-in at the foot of sign-up forms
- dirty brokers who buy and sell peoples numbers
Want to Opt Out? – Yes Please!
118800 say it should be easy to unsubscribe and to do so you need to text the letter ‘E’ to 118800 from the number you wish to remain ex-directory.
Not sure I trust that.
Or you can visit their site to unsubscribe, though at the moment their site is down for ‘essential maintenance’.
Hmmm.
Update:
Connectivity, the company that owns 118800 has ceased the UK Mobile Phone Directory indefinitely according to The Register. The company denies that the site has been taken down as a consequence of a deluge of request by users to go ex-directory.
Hi, Neil from 118800.co.uk here.
We don’t give out mobile numbers. 118800 is a service for connecting people that know each other’s name and address. In the majority of cases it will be a friend or colleague who has lost your number or doesn’t have it on them and needs to get in touch. If you are contacted it will be by 118800 calling to announce the name of that person, or sending a text message with the name and number of the person trying to get in touch. It will then be up to you whether you want to speak to them or not.
The website is currently unavailable while we improve the service we offer our customers. All ex-directory requests made prior to the 10th of July are being processed and we will be taking ex-directory requests again once the website is back up and running, which will be as soon as possible.
You will be able to do this free of charge from the website or by calling us on a low charge number from the phone you wish to make ex-directory.
We recommend you check whether you are in the directory first before taking the time to become ex-directory.
For more information please visit our website on http://www.118800.co.uk
Or watch a video of how the service works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNgLWB123JA
Thanks,
Neil