WASHINGTON-Congress is getting into the wireless 411 act, with key lawmakers expressing concerns and a hearing planned for Tuesday.
“While presenting an opportunity for wireless telephone consumers, including subscribers without wireline phones and small-business users, to make their telephone numbers more widely available to friends and to potential customers, this action also raises issues of wireless telephone number privacy that are of great interest to the American public and to Congress,” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Commerce Committee, and Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee.
The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Tuesday with the House Commerce Committee expected to follow the next week.
The letter signed by the three lawmakers was sent to the chief executive officers of the six nationwide carriers and requests a response by Monday to a series of questions:
- Will subscribers be given a choice of whether to opt-in or opt?
- Will it make a difference if the subscriber is new or existing?
- Do you plan to charge subscribers to keep their wireless number(s) unlisted?
- Are your current terms of service with customers consistent with your responses to the above questions?
The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association has said the directory is needed due to the increasing number of wireless customers, as well as the growing number of wireline customers cutting the cord. The directory would be similar to a wireline directory in that customers could get the wireless phone numbers of both consumers and businesses.
Privacy groups claim the directory would open consumers to a deluge of spam messages and telemarketing calls not only that a consumer might not want, but would also have to pay for.
Verizon Wireless has come out against the 411 directory.
