Some Carriers Respond To Clarify Wireless 411

A story at United Press International discusses the hot topic of a wireless 411 directory, and shows that the carriers may actually be preparing this service the right way. Techdirt believes that any such service should be truly opt-in, there should be no fee for opting-out, and that there should be strong safeguards to protect the directory data from falling into the wrong hands. Surprisingly, it seems like this is the direction the debate is quickly moving. AT&T Wireless CEO Zeglis pointed out that many businesses and consumers only subscribe to a cellular account, and thus are excluded from directory listings, when it's very possible they wish to be listed. (Remember Steve Martin's rhapsody in The Jerk when he finally got listed in the phone book?) We DO feel that some government control and guidelines are appropriate, since it is far easier to prevent the abuse of this 411 data in advance than it ever would be to reverse an inadvertent release of the database. Please forgive us for not fully trusting the same companies that already sold our landline phone numbers to telemarketers. I'm quoted in the linked article, and come off very negative, but I do think that - done correctly - this could be just another service that telcos offer that could earn them a few bucks as certain customers choose to participate.