Craig McLean: As you may recently have heard, the providers of directory services at "118800" have announced that they will be adding millions of UK mobile phone numbers to their database, and begin making these available to customers. This announcement has prompted a storm of emails, articles and commentary, much of it conflicting. So what is really happening?
Before you call customer services to give them a sizeable piece of your mind, please be aware that your mobile provider has not suddenly started selling your data. Well, no more than usual.
"Connectivity", the company behind the "118800" service, have acquired a database of mobile numbers harvested from marketing ‘opt-in' lists - those paragons of respect for privacy. Connectivity says that this database contains 15 million UK mobile numbers not, as some more hysterical reports suggest "All UK Mobile numbers" (mobile phone ownership per capita stood at around 121% in 2007, that's over 72 million numbers.)
Some commentators decry the service as "an invitation for cold-calling". This is also misguided for three reasons:
Firstly: the service doesn't give out mobile numbers, they charge heavily either to connect calls to mobiles in their database or send the clients contact details by SMS to the mobile number;
Secondly: When connecting calls, they will ask your permission to connect the incoming party;
Thirdly: all of the numbers which they have on their database are already available to cold-calling parasites in the form of much more cost-effective marketing lists - the exact same lists used by Connectivity.
With a healthy amount of foresight, and doubtless as a result of communication with the Information Commissioner's Office, 118800 have ensured that it is simple to exclude yourself from the service. To do this, you can either click on the ex-directory button on the their web homepage, or you can text the letter 'E' to 118800 from the mobile phone you want to be made ex-directory. 118800 will send you an SMS message confirming you've been taken off. It's not mentioned if there is a charge for this text, but it seems unlikely.
But here we get to what I feel is the real issue with Connectivity's service.
This project has been explicitly cleared by the Information Commissioner - an office which is considered a Paper Tiger by many who are concerned with information ownership. The ICO had an opportunity to stand up for the people it has a duty to protect, by making it clear that this is not a fit use of information collected by marketing companies about customers. In failing to do so it further erodes the credibility of the office, and sets a deeply worrying precedent. It has passively allowed yet another extension of the existing abuse of information collected by private companies, and highlighted another example of the powerlessness of "Opt-In" when the marketing dollar is in play.
With luck, this may be the final nail in the coffin of the increasingly irrelevant ICO, and if we are really fortunate, something better may replace it.
