Gilroy
– Cell phone users in South County bristle at the idea of
wasting their precious call minutes on telemarketers.
If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill outlawing that
possibility, they won’t have to worry that cell phone companies are
releasing their numbers to telemarketers and others without their
permission.
Gilroy – Cell phone users in South County bristle at the idea of wasting their precious call minutes on telemarketers.
If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs a bill outlawing that possibility, they won’t have to worry that cell phone companies are releasing their numbers to telemarketers and others without their permission.
“I think it’s a good idea,” said Silvia Carbajal, a Hollister resident.
Not only would unwanted cell phone calls annoy her, they would be expensive, she said.
“You take care of your minutes so you don’t get overage charges,” Carbajal said. “But if they call, you’re going to go over your minutes and it will cost money.”
Assembly Bill 1733, by Assemblywoman Sara Reyes (D-Fresno) would require cell phone companies to get their customers’ written permission before listing their numbers in a public directory or selling their numbers to anyone. Cell phone users would specifically have to sign up for the directory, not just opt out of it.
The bill was prompted by a cell phone industry group’s plan to compile a directory of names and numbers of close to 75 percent of wireless customers nationwide.
The bill, which sits on Schwarzenegger’s desk and is already approved by the state Legislature, was opposed by cell phone industry groups. The industry would stand to generate $3 billion a year in directory assistance fees and additional minutes or text messages.
Verizon Wireless has said it would keep its 39 million customers’ numbers off the list. Other cell phone numbers would be made available to anyone calling 4-1-1, by as soon as late fall.
“Our main concern is privacy,” Assemblywoman Reyes said in a statement released last month, after the Legislature approved the bill. “Telemarketers will be able to get private cell phone numbers and disturb consumers with phone calls and text messages whenever they want, and at cost to the consumer.”
That message jibes with what Ernie Reyes thinks will happen if the cell phone privacy bill is vetoed.
“No one wants to get annoying phone calls at home or on your cell phone,” said Reyes, 28, a Gilroy resident who pays for all calls – including unwanted ones – made to or from his cell phone.
He said he wasn’t sold on the idea of having his number listed in a public directory without his knowledge.
“I give my number out to the people I want,” he said. “I don’t want to have to worry that I’m going to pick up my phone and it’s someone I don’t know or they’re trying to sell me something.”
Reyes’ friend, Mark Trujillo, said he uses his cell as his primary phone line. The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association – the group that has said it will put out the directory – estimates that eight million people are doing the same, and the number is growing.
“At least ask me before you put my name on a list,” Trujillo said. “It’s just like being in the phone book.”
About 160 million people in the U.S. have cell phones, or roughly two-thirds of American adults.
If the bill becomes law, advocates say, it will ensure that cell phone companies will not be able to charge customers to be listed in the directory and, although most companies say they will not automatically list customers, the law would not let them change their minds.
