Verizon Wireless (VZ) continued its push for consumer privacy announcing a deal with online telephone directory Phonebooks.com to stop providing information associated with cell phone numbers of Verizon Wireless customers.
The carrier hinted that the deal could be temporary as the two parties are working on a “utilitarian solution” to addressing consumer privacy, but until then Phonebooks.com will no longer display information from phone numbers originally issued as a mobile phone number.
“Even if a consumer’s mobile number is obtained lawfully by Phonebooks.com, we believe that Verizon Wireless customers should have the opportunity to provide informed consent before it is published,” said Steve Zipperstein, VP of external affairs for Verizon Wireless. “We are pleased that the leadership team at Phonebooks.com agrees that the safety and privacy of all consumers is a high priority.”
Phonebooks.com started offering information on cell phone numbers last August from a database of more than 2.4 million numbers. There are currently more than 250 million wireless customers across the country.
“Our wireless phone database was provided at no charge, to benefit the public and assist people in finding the information they were looking for,” explained Aaron Rosenthal, president of Phonebooks.com. “While anyone, at any time, was free to remove themselves from this directory, we understand that some people may have specific privacy concerns in regard to their cell phone number. The feedback we’ve received has been overwhelmingly positive. However, the concerned minority cannot be overlooked. … Visitors add information to our site daily, but we have struggled with authenticating that contributions are truly coming from the phone number’s owner. Without the technology to determine consent, we have decided to err on the side of privacy and restrict our directory so that it no longer retrieves phone numbers originally issued as cellular numbers.”
The agreement comes just a day after T-Mobile USA Inc. became the first nationwide operator to offer an enhanced caller identification service that shows the name, city and state of callers who are not stored in a mobile phone’s contacts or address book. The service, which runs $4 per month, is powered by Cequint and access the information operator-validated name information managed by parent company TNS Inc.
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