Technology Perspective
October 14th, 2004
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October 14th, 2004
Tech.gov: Don't Call Me, I'll Call You
Sr. Ed. Anush Yegyazarian
Not too long ago, I was trying to meet up with friends at an outdoor
concert in the park. We had chosen a really good, well-marked meeting
place--which dozens of other people and their closest friends were
also using to rendezvous because it was a good, well-marked place.
Wanting to avoid another 20 minutes of wandering through crowds of
people taller than me, I whipped out my handy cell phone. Problem
solved, right? Wrong. My friend didn't have her phone with her because
she was with her significant other, who brought his. And I don't have
his number programmed in my cell.
About 25 minutes later, I finally found them the old-fashioned way--we
bumped into each other. But it would have been really nice to be able
to call 411, get his number, and save the time and hassle.
Six of the major wireless carriers (Alltel, Cingular, AT&T Wireless,
Nextel, Sprint, and T-Mobile) have collaborated on a plan for a cell
phone directory set to go live in 2005. It's an opt-in plan in which
your number won't be listed, they promise, unless you give them
permission. Here's a Q&A on the Wireless 411 plan:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/250086/21421687/755906/0/
Verizon is the notable holdout, claiming that no way no how will it
compromise its customers' privacy in this way, as a Verizon executive
explained in a speech at The Yankee Group's Wireless Leadership
Summit.
Congress, thinking ahead for once, plans to make the carriers' opt-in
promise law and give you some privacy protections from the get-go--via
the Wireless 411 Privacy Act (S. 1963). Read "Dial 4-1-1 for Cell
Phone Numbers?" for details:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/250086/21421687/755907/0/
As of this writing, the bill has just gotten out of committee and
should come before the Senate for a vote in the near future. Read
"Senate Panel Approves Spyware and Wireless Privacy Bills":
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/250086/21421687/755908/0/
The corresponding House bill, still in committee, is H.R. 3558.
But is legislation necessary? My answer is yes--and no.
What Listing, Please?
The directory plan, as set out by proponents in the September hearing
on the Senate bill, includes some good privacy safeguards. For details
on that hearing, go to the Senate Committee's Web page:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/250086/21421687/755909/0/
First and foremost, it's strictly an opt-in plan, requiring your
permission for your cell number to be included in the database.
There's no cost to you to opt in initially or to opt out later.
Second, the database will exist only within Qsent, the company that
will compile the data and make it available to the 411 services on an
as-needed basis--meaning only when someone calls 411 and specifically
asks for a person's number. The 411 operators will never store or
maintain a list of the numbers in the database. Third, no printed or
electronic directory will be created, aside from Qsent's database.
Your cell number isn't going to appear online, available to any kook
with an Internet connection.
Not bad.
There's already legal protection from telemarketers: 1991's Telephone
Consumer Protection Act (Title 47, U. S. Code Section 227) prohibits
autodialed calls to cell phones. And let's not forget the popular Do
Not Call Registry, which you can use to protect your cell number as
easily as you can safeguard your landline (over 62 million telephone
numbers are already permanently set on "do not call").
So what do we need more cumbersome laws for?
Promises, Promises
It's not that we don't trust you--but we don't trust you. That's the
consumer perspective on the plan as it stands today. While it sounds
pretty good, there's nothing stopping any of the carriers, or Qsent,
from changing their minds later on and leaving us up the cellular
creek without a privacy paddle.
The carriers claim they won't betray their customers' trust: In the
ultra-competitive cell phone service market, that's reason enough to
lose customers and ultimately, sink the business. That's true, but
we've been burned before--other companies have changed their minds
about privacy policies in both dire circumstances (dot-com fire sales,
anyone?) and not-so-dire ones. I'm not about to say no to a little
legal guarantee that must-opt-in won't suddenly change to must-opt-out
via Byzantine and expensive methods.
Moreover, I'm paying for incoming call minutes on my cell, so I want
legal safeguards in place to make sure my money and my time won't be
wasted.
The Wireless 411 Privacy Act helps with some of that, but not with all
of it.
A for Effort, C+ for Execution
In his testimony before the committee, Marc Rotenberg, executive
director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, made some
significant and spot-on critiques of the proposed bill.
First, it's opt-in for existing subscribers, which is good. But new
subscribers need to opt out, which is bad--especially since new subs
include customers who switch from one service to another, and who
presumably had already set a preference and may now be stuck with the
wrong default.
Second, though the bill prohibits the creation of a published
directory, it says nothing about selling data to third parties.
Selling data should definitely be a no-no, spelled out in the bill.
Finally, the bill seems to allow sharing of even more information than
the carriers' plan does because it defines "wireless telephone number
information" to mean not only a name and cell number, but also an
e-mail address, physical address, and "any other identifying
information by which a calling party may reach a subscriber." Just
because I let someone call my cell phone does not mean I want them to
know my address, too; one should not automatically go along with the
other.
Rotenberg also argues there should be explicit recourse if you're
included in the directory but did not want to be. He adds that the
bill should clearly be a floor--a minimum level of protection--and not
a ceiling, so that if states want to add even more privacy
protections, they can.
I have some additional concerns that Rotenberg did not mention. At
this point I'm not convinced that a hard and fast ban on the creation
of a published directory is appropriate. For now it may be best, but
the situation may change as more people abandon traditional land lines
in favor of cell phone service. Eventually, it may be desirable to at
least give people the option of having--and being included in--a
published listing of cell numbers.
To Forward or not to Forward?
Another issue I'd like to see the bill address: Ideally, I, as the
recipient of a potentially unwanted call, should not be charged for
it. At the very least, I should be charged less for it than for a
standard incoming call. The challenge for carriers is figuring out
which calls are unwanted. People I haven't given my number to are
likely to use directory assistance to reach me, and many of these
calls may be unwanted. So if directory assistance could be limited to
forwarding calls instead of giving out cell phone numbers, carriers
could track and discount that usage from consumers' bills.
This isn't the most elegant of solutions, I grant you; but it is the
one with minimal hassle and hit-to-the-wallet to the person called, at
least with current technology.
The Senate bill does address forwarding calls and masking the
recipient's number, but doesn't address service fees.
The forwarding clause in the bill is controversial for other reasons.
It tries to set up a service so that you know the identity of a caller
before you accept the call, much as you now do with a collect call.
Both Epic.org and proponents of the directory feel that the wording of
the bill constrains potential service offerings (for example, someone
may choose to be listed with forwarding only, but not in a general
directory). Moreover, Qsent argues the bill aims for the type of
positive identification that doesn't exist right now: Callers could
lie about who they are, and even caller ID services such as those
available for landlines may provide misleading information on calls
from unlisted numbers or telephones in public places, such as a
conference room or pay phone.
Go Ahead, Call Me
According to a recent Federal Communications Commission study, 161
million people had cellular phone service as of the end of 2003, up
from 142 million in 2002. Many of those people use their cell phones
as their primary phone, or even their only phone. Real estate agents,
contractors, and the like, who spend more time out of the office than
in, rely on their cell phones to keep in touch. And many businesses
ask employees to list their cell numbers on business cards, or on
internal company lists. For a significant number of people, cell
phones are no longer just for emergencies or a small circle of family
and friends.
If such people are willing to be part of a directory, and we get
strong privacy protections to go along with it, I should be able to
dial 411 and reach those people, and they, me. But I want a directory
that provides cell numbers and names only, with a bit more privacy
safeguards than the bill in Congress.
Have a question or comment? Write to Anush Yegyazarian:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Read Anush Yegyazarian's regularly published "Tech.gov" columns:
http://pcwnl.pcworld.com/t/250086/21421687/364632/0/
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