One of the most common gripes from people today is telemarketers. This has become such an epidemic that Seinfeld addressed it in one of his shows.

Seinfeld (to telemarketer): I can’t talk right now. Why don’t you give me your home number, and I’ll call you back later.

Telemarketer: I’m afraid we can’t do that.

Seinfeld: Oh, I guess you don’t want people calling you and bugging you at home.

Telemarketer: Right.

Seinfeld: Well now you know how I feel.

I term this an epidemic because it really has become frightening to answer your phone at dinnertime now. Thank
God the elections are over!

Well it may just get worse if the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) gets its way. It’s trying to make
a white pages of sorts for all cellular phone numbers. Its claim is that it will not be printed or sold to third parties, and will only be made
available to 411 services if you choose to opt-in. According to the association’s Web site, it paints this as a win-win situation by stating, “Imagine a consumer is looking for Joe Smith’s wireless number. A consumer may call 411 from a wireless or wireline phone to ask for Joe Smith’s number. If Joe Smith has opted-in to the wireless directory, the operator will offer that number. If Joe Smith has decided not to list his number, it will not be available.”

Well, Verizon thinks otherwise. It has already stated it will not hand over its 40 million customers’ numbers to CTIA any time
soon. Brenda Raney at Verizon Wireless said, “customers come to us with an expectation of privacy, and by divulging a wireless
number you violate that expectation.” I couldn’t agree with you any more, Brenda. Glad I’m on America’s number one network!

So what’s this mean to you? Chances are since Verizon isn’t in and that only leaves the other four carriers (Cingular, Sprint,
T-Mobile, and Nextel), it would take a yes from all of them for this to really happen. A no from Cingular, the number two carrier, would
pretty much put this issue to rest and toss it to the dump with all those old school analog phones we trashed oh, so many years ago. So worry not, my mobile warrior, we shall prevail and not be hounded in yet one more outlet in our digital world. The skies are
blue before us, I tell you, they are!