Privacy, convenience clash; cell phone directory has detractors

• Mack Strong of Riverdale is probably not alone in his reluctance to have his cell phone number included in a planned 411 directory service.
• Sonny Perdue is pushing for the passage of the Georgia Wireless Privacy Act.
• "Georgians should not have to worry that their personal cell phone numbers could be made public without their consent," Perdue said in announcing the push for legislation.
• The inspiration for the law is the planned release of a nationwide "Wireless 411 Directory" by several cell phone companies, a project being organized by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association.
• The new law would require the wireless carriers to get the customers" express permission before adding their number to the directory, would place requirements on the form used to obtain that permission and would allow customers to opt out of the list free of charge.
• At the same time, there have been reports that the directory was folding of its own accord as some carriers like Verizon withdrew due to customer concerns about privacy.
• But the directory is not dead yet, said Jeff Fishburn, spokesman for Qsent Inc., a partner with CTIA in creating the directory.
• "There's never been any other decision by the carriers for the three years they've been working on it that the directory would be anything other than voluntary," Fishburn said.
• Also, the Federal Communications Commission already has protections in place to keep phone solicitors from calling cell phones, said FCC spokeswoman Rosemary Kimball.
• Georgia's Wireless Privacy Act would "supplement the federal legislation," said Shane Hix, spokesman for the Office of the Governor.
• "I urge the General Assembly to pass the Slam Spam E-mail Act so that Georgians can once again check their e-mail without having to wade through a cesspool of spam," Perdue said in a statement.