From Mid-July there will be a mobile phone directory at 118 800 which aims to list every active UK mobile number in the country. This information will be held in the normal manner of a 118 directory service and will also contain the numbers for minors and the elderly. The database is largely unfiltered and obviously there will be companies interested in purchasing call lists that will be available – as such very soon you, and/or your friends and loved ones could well be subject to unsolicited and unwanted marketing calls.
The database is said to have over 15m numbers collected from market research firms, online businesses (collected from websites where people did not exclude their number from being passed along by ticking the privacy box) and also from brokerage firms who buy and sell personal data, such as telephone numbers. The information on this database has been purchased in a manner which has satisfied the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which investigates allegations of breaches into the Data Protection Act.
If this does not sound like something you would like your number(s) to be a part of, [and I include myself in that] then you can go ex-directory before the launch of this service by following a few simple steps… I have done this myself today and it takes less than 2 minutes. You need to have the mobile to hand that you wish to go ex-directory on. It is free and you do not need to enter any personal details other than the phone number you wish to be excluded from the database.
1. Go to this link http://www.118800.co.uk/removeme/remove-me.html
2. Click “Home”, then “Ex-Directory”
3. Enter your mobile number and the security words that appear on screen
4. This will take you to a new page where you need to enter a 5 digit code – this will be text to you a few moments after entering that page
That’s it, you should be done.
7 comments:
I've just tried it several times in the last ten or fifteen minutes but the security number isn't getting to my phone. Thanks for the info, I'll keep trying.
Job done!
Done. Do you mind if I do a post about this too Dan?
Go for it Subrosa - the more people that know the better. I think most people would want out.
Kyewl! Very handy.
And you also lart socialists, you say?
Many talents you are having.
Thanks for following me - I am to please: unlike army snipers.
I actually know a little about this service and I think they're getting undeservedly bad press.
You can opt out, obviously, like you can from a telephone directory, but the key thing is that they contact you and ask you if you want to accept a call from the person calling you or they send you the phone number of the person calling you. You can always choose not to accept the call or ignore the number they send you.
So it's always under your control. ;o)
Thanks for this link. Excellent.
I'll blog on it too.
Post a Comment