118800 mobile phone directory, opt out now if you want to be ex-directory
10 July 2009 By MoneyhighStreet Staff 27 Comments
The new 118800 mobile phone directory goes live next week with around 15 million of the UK’s mobile phone numbers listed – you can opt out now if you want to be ex-directory.
The new 118800 service will allow people to find the mobile phone numbers of anyone included within the database.
You basically give the details of who you want to contact.
If they find them then they will text them with your details.
You will be charged £1 if 118800 succeed.
The database currently has about 25% of mobile phone numbers in it, collated from the likes of market research companies and online business where people have ticked boxes to allow communication.
The inclusion of your mobile number in this database may not be what you want – if you don’t you can opt out and become ex-directory.
You can unsubscribe easily enough, either
- text ‘E’ to 118800 from the mobile phone you want to be made ex-directory or
- visit the 118800 website and click on the Ex-Directory tab at the top.
Your choice at the end of the day, stay ‘opted in’ or ‘opt out’.
And how strange that their website is unavailable due to essential maintenance and their text removal (text ‘E’ to 118800 does not work either. Apparently you have to be removed before next week or they charge to remove you………………………………and you can’t do it now……………………….To whom can we complain?
I have been trying to go ex-directory since Wednesday with no luck. Texted ‘E’ twice and no response, and their web site is either unavailable or the remove option does not work!
If the company is planning to sell on-line they are not exactly advertising themselves very well if they can’t even get thier basic site up and running.
OFCOM,
but I’m sure that they won’t be interested.
They say they won’t list children’s numbers but we had no option but to put the contracts in an adults name when we took them out as we were paying the bill each month. How will they differentiate. I have been trying for the past 3 days to get them taken off without success.
How does 118800 get the numbers in the first place? Surely MY server Provider would never think of selling MY number to anyone else? Whatever happened to “invasion of privacy”? I need to go to a lot of bother to remove myself from something I knew nothing about till a friend called me. Something rotten in the …kingdom…of the mobile phone business!
George Orwell got it right, he just got the dates wrong!
My choice at the end of the day? I know it’s NOT.
My choice is NOT to have the hassle in the first place, the fact I have to “opt out” of something I did not “opt in to” removes any choice I might want to make.
Life today is full of this sort of stuff. Too often someone else makes the choice for you and then you are immersed in the beaucracy of undoing the choice that was NOT yours initially.
Systems such as this MUST be an “OPT IN” in my view.
I also have been trying to have my number removed with no success. Perhaps if enough people complain to OFCOM they will have to investigate. In the meantime register your wish not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing telephone calls with the Telephone Preference Service. It is a legal requirement that companies do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS. See the links below for more information.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/mobile/unwanted/sales/
http://www.tpsonline.org.uk
Hope this helps.
118800 Limited are registered at the following address, so I would suggest all the junk mail you get, just fill in a fake name and give this address:
Melbourne House, Brandy Carr Road, Wrenthorpe, Wakefield WF2 0UG
Maybe then they will become p***ed off enough to realise what they are doing to everyone else.
The service raises a number of privacy and regulatory issues which people should take up with the Information Commissioners Office and OFCOM. (www.ico.gov.uk and http://www.ofcom.org.uk
It’s Ok ays the company .. we protect your privacy as the service does NOT give out mobile numbers .. rather it contacts the requested party and lets them know the ‘requesting party’ is looking for them and do they wish to speak with/contact them.
The company has provided a facility so people can opt-out and become ex-directory.
So what’s wrong with all this?
Well, firstly, this directory enquiry (call completion) service sits outside of the regulatory framework for directories and directory enquiry services in the UK and which falls under the remit of OFCOM. Under that Framework, OFCOM has established a national directory database managed by BT and which is called OSIS. This is the OFFICIAL database and which also contains ex-directory numbers. ALL 118 providers that offer telephone numbers are entitled to access this database under the law/the regulatory framework. Mobile operators are obliged to pass subscriber information to OSIS BUT do so only where a customer has specifically requested that they want an entry in a directory or directory enquiry service – in other words where a customer has expressly opted-in. Both OFCOM and the EU (who were taking legal action against the UK government for failing to give mobile customers the right to an entry in directories) have agreed that entries in directories and directory enquiry services should be based on opt-in consent.
It is a fact that the 118800 service does not fall under any definitions of above regulatory framework and so is NOT entitled to access OSIS data or receive data from OSIS or the mobile operators.
The 118800 service is a purely private system. Ask yourself why someone should need to become ex-directory in this service if they are already ex-directory in the national OSIS database?
So what else is wrong. Well, firstly lets look at the 15 million names, addresses and numbers obtained from third parties (and which could be the retailer you bought your phone from or some online retailer who you supplied your details to). 2 pieces of law apply here.
(1) Data Protection Act 1998 – the DPA. Under the DPA those collecting your data would have needed to make you aware in a transparent and clear manner of the intention to place your details in a directory service and the purposes of that directory, and allowed you to make and informed decision as to whether you agreed or not .. in other words they needed your consent. (2) Regulation 18 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 applies – the PECRs. Reg 18 states: The personal data of an individual subscriber shall not be included in a directory unless that subscriber has, free of charge, been –
(a) informed by the collector of the personal data of the purposes of the directory in which his personal data are to be included, and (b) given the opportunity to determine whether such of his personal data as are considered relevant by the producer of the directory should be included in the directory. “ This seems quite clear that the party collecting your data should have told you about the 118800 service and given you the clear opportunity to agree – either by an opt-in box or by an opt-out box (depending on whether they published a clear and prominent notice at the time they collected your data). It seems to me that opt-in consent is required for the purposes of this directory.
So what else. Well, the company says you can obtain a copy of information they hold on you pursuant to your rights under Section 7(1) of the DPA. 118800 now charges £5 (but used to charge the maximum £10 fee permitted under the DPA) for meeting these access requests. BUT why are they charging people when Reg 18(5) of the PECRs requires directory operators to provide subscribers with the means (free of charge) to verify, correct or withdraw their data at any time – I can find no mention of these rights on the 118800 website. Perhaps the company thinks it doesn’t need to if its services sit outside the regulatory framework?
What else? Oh yes. back to the regulatory framework. ALL 118 services are regulated by PhonePayPlus which is an agency of OFCOM the government telecoms and media regulator. PhonePayPlus regulates services by a Code of Practice – the Code. the 118800 service is incompatible with the Code which (a) defines telephone directories as ones that supply phone numbers (b) requires companies providing call completion services to disclose telephone numbers to persons who demand a number and (c) requires that services must not or must not be likely to result in any unreasonable invasion of privacy. As opt-in consent has not been sought from any person in the 118800 directory, it is possible that individuals listed in the directory without their knowledge or agreement will consider contact via the call completion service to amount to an unreasonable invasion of their privacy (especially those who considered they are already ex-directory under the official national OSIS database).
So where do people go from here? If you are concerned you can ask 118800 to verify what data they have on you free of charge – send an email to the email address listed in the 118800.co.uk privacy policy. You could raise your concerns or complain directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.gov.uk) .. you could do the same to OFCOM (ofcom.org.uk) and/or PhonePayPayPlus (phonepayplus.org.uk). Certainly anyone who called the 118800 service yesterday to find out a mobile number (even their own) and found that the service did not work, can complain to PhonePayPlus and also demand a refund of the £1 charge (minimum) for the calls. You could also submit a request under the Freedom of Information Act to the ICO and OFCOM concerning their dealings with Connectivity/118800 and any views expressed ….. legal reviews or alleged approvals and so on.
And don’t forget this company requested that mobile operators give them ALL of their subscriber information and threatened legal action if they didn’t get it! The operators refused.
I hope this has been helpful – it is not a detailed analysis of all the issues raised by this service and believe me there are a number of others!
If EVERYONE writes/emails the Information Commissioner’s Office, they might eventually get the message that people are extremely fed up with their continued fence sitting. They have a public duty to place peoples PRIVACY over the MONEY that these unscrupulous companies launder out of us. The UK government, in turn, receives the tax from these companies.QED.
tell me why should we have to be the ones in a free society HAHA to be given the runaround by some dodgy characters who want to make money out of our mobile am
nd personal details I for one will if I find out who has passed my detail on take the following action. If I find it is a commercial house they will never ever earn another penny from me. I will not answer my mobile to any caller that is not listed on my phone and I will probably use your other persons idea and send by post all my unwanted junk mail whether it has been generated by them or not, in that way they will have a similar job to the one we now have and they will have an opportunity to cotact the junk mail creators
Ref mobile phone directory – why wait to receive junk mail as mentioned by Iver Grudge before sending on to 118800; there are plenty of opportunities in magazines to send off for bumff, so just put 118800’s address in the appropriate boxes and send off. Don’t forget to check the box to allow your details to be used for marketing purposes!!!!
I don’t want my mobile number given out, as people are always trying to find out who I am!
Virgilio Anderson
i don’t want my childrens numbers on their or mine.so please tell me hoe to get them off its bad enough them buying junk as it is.
Yep, after having read through tonnes of 118800 related comments elsewhere, this company cannot hope to achieve businessin the normal, moral sense so, extraction of money by deceit is for them. They’re a clot of parasytic underachievers. I pray to God they fail.
What if you have deliberately not given your number to people and now they can find you, this could cause alot of safety issues, for potential violent ex partners to find you again!
Not happy!
Personally, dont see what the problem is. its there if anyone needs to contact you, maybe you havent given someone your number or its an emergency (clutching at straws here). I’ve rang them today and they seem to be on the straight and narrow.
apparently you can opt out anytime, no one gets your number and you dont have to accept the call anyway!
one guy (the 118800 operator) was telling me that they were getting hundreds of calls today, people worried that the site is down on purpose and you cant opt out after tomorrow, i felt sorry for him.
this connectivity (the company that own 118800) is to blame, not these operators. Its been marketed all wrong and they know it.
RE: ■Eddie Wright on July 10th, 2009 10:18 am
I have been trying to go ex-directory since Wednesday with no luck. Texted ‘E’ twice and no response, and their web site is either unavailable or the remove option does not work!
Eddie, it takes upto 4 weeks, not 4 seconds! lol
Actually…
Melbourne House
Brandy Carr Road
Wrenthorpe
Wakefield
WF2 0UG
Is the KCOM Group – Kingston Communications, Affiniti etc, and so is 118 800!
Wonder what they’ll say if I pop in to see them!
Hello, Joe from 118800.co.uk here.
Just to reassure you that we’ll never actually give out anyone’s personal details. When you search on 118800.co.uk, we’ll send an SMS message to the person you’re looking for, giving them your contacts details and it is then up to you if you wish to call them back or not.
In response to the popular belief that there is a deadline to opt out, this is incorrect. The viral email that has been circulating is incorrect in that there is no deadline, users can opt out at any time.
Our service on 118 800 and 118800.co.uk was being tested in June. There are now developments we want to make to improve the service for our customers. But due to the high levels of enquiries we are getting, we are simply not able to complete the technical work required whilst the service is live. We are sorry for inconvenience and will be up and running again as soon as possible.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us using the feedback form on our site.
Thanks,
Joe
118800.co.uk
People only give out their number to those people that they want to have it, I do not want this company sending me a text telling me that someone is trying to get in contact with me. If it was someone I wanted to speak to they would already have my number.
You can’t believe or trust these 118 800 people.
They are pretending this is their first launch and last month was ‘testing’. This is a lie, and there are news reports and tv programmes proving it.
In fact this is their second launch and their second failure, the first was meant to happen in early June.
You can see the BBC News announcing the start of it in June, and the marketing director was smugly trying to show it off on Working Lunch in the same week.
Unethical and soon to be bust, ha ha!
This is gonna go down in the history as one of the worst business ideas and worst marketing campaigns ever! lol
Joe from 118 800:
Your own CEO admitted on the BBC’s Working Lunch 14/7 that this data was made live on the Internet without proper testing. How can the public feel assured that proper security measures have been taken to prevent any hacking into your servers, which contain thousands of confidential records from people who don’t want to be on your database?
Virgilio Anderson
I also would like my number removed from some such , what seems like an underhand site. My number is given out to people that I want to have it. I am not happy about other people trying to request it from elsewhere.
So PLEASE 118800 take my number off ur list NOW.
How can we use the feedback form on the site as the site is never available, same as the text service .
EW
I want my number off there system not just ex-directory. They have no permission from me to have my mobile number. They bought my mobile number from a third party to whom I gave my details in good faith. I do not want anyone to profit from my details whether it is the third party or the stupid 118800 who bought it from them.
Please you people out there do not be fooled by 118800…do your best to teach their likes a lesson.
They have no right to publish my number in this directory. I have just tried to go onto their website and I am unable to ‘opt out’ as their website is being updated.