Your Cell Number

Your cell number is now for sale via an online directory - at intellius.com. Those with pay-as-you-go plans like TracFone are not even immune. How do they get your number? From public records where you may have left it as a contact number. So far, over 90 million numbers are in this directory. I don't know if there is a way to opt out. I doubt it. If there was, I'm sure there would be exceptions like there is with the "Do Not Call" list.

I don't like it either, but it had to happen sooner or later. It won't be long and that information will be available for free - just like a regular phone book.

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Followup from The Consumerist:

"In response to consumer feedback," Inteliius says it will discontinue selling your private cellphone number in its searchable online database. Liz Murray, Communications Manager at Intelius in a press release that, besides trying to explain away their actions, also spent half of its time touting the company's Cell Phone Caller ID program, said, "As a company, we have strived to be at the forefront of innovation...We realize that in this instance we may have been ahead of our time." That's right, it was a notion from some future time where mankind has evolved into a more advanced being that doesn't care about its privacy.

However, they add:

Despite the press release, as of this writing, the company is still advertising the cell phone directory on its site.

That means, they will still sell your number info. They just aren't showing the directory list.