Untraceable phone data build wall of privacy
Wednesday, February 22, 2006 BY DRU SEFTONOf Our Washington Bureau
Sorry, retailers, you aren't getting anything out of Jon Carver except payment for the goods he buys -- no name, no telephone number, no address, no personal information whatsoever.
Not that he's some kind of paranoid privacy freak. "The point is, it's just really none of their business," said Carver, 26, of Logan, Utah.
Carver quit shopping at one store because clerks kept asking for his telephone number at checkout for customer-identification purposes. If pressed by a retailer, he resorts to a fake name, false address and a telephone number several digits from his own.
Whether using cash or a credit card, shoppers often are quizzed about their telephone numbers. It annoys many. Carver even goes through elaborate backtracking when purchasing something online: He places the order with the correct personal information, then updates his profile with different data.
He's not alone. In various Web logs, consumers have confessed to providing retailers with:
A fax number.
The right phone number; wrong area code.
The directory-assistance number. 867-5309, from the song of the same name.
An obsolete cell-phone number.
A made-up number.
The store's own number.
A number that spells out an obscenity on the keypad.
Obviously, it's a point of contention. And the issue arises elsewhere. People need numbers to give out to folks they don't know well -- say, an online acquaintance.
It's an opening for anonymous telephone number services such as FreeDigits.com. Users create an untraceable, changeable public phone number that automatically routes calls to their real telephone.
Meet a nice girl in a chat room? Give her that "virtual" number. Hesitating before giving that cute guy in the bar access to your real telephone? Provide him your "public" number.
Don't want to talk to either anymore? Change the number.
Amitai Etzioni, a George Washington University professor of international affairs, is author of "The Limits of Privacy." He has studied trends in privacy for a decade and has seen attitudes shifting along with technology and current events.
Lately, there's been a double privacy whammy.
First, it's in the news. "We're hearing about Google keeping everything we search, and the president spying on people," Etzioni said.
Then there's increasing publicity from what Etzioni calls "privacy agitators" such as the American Civil Liberties Union, advocacy groups that keep "alarming people," warning them against giving out any bit of personal information.
So folks are more reluctant than ever to trust that their data won't be used for some nefarious purpose -- to track them down, study their private habits, sell their information.
Other consumers see the marketing value in their telephone numbers and want something in return.
"People understand there's nothing in it for them to provide the number," said Peter Davidson, 39, of Schaumberg, Ill., who works in marketing. "At best, they'll just get sales calls from the retailer."
His suggestion: Give shoppers who turn over their numbers a "huge discount" on the spot.
Because, as Carver said, "who knows what could come out in the future?" What if stores use numbers to build a database on purchasing habits? Then years from now, when you're up for a sensitive job, your retail history may become an issue if you once purchased some legally questionable or risque item.
Perhaps that's why FreeDigits.com is catching on. The company, based in West Des Moines, Iowa, uses Voice over Internet Protocol technology to provide a free, untraceable number that routes calls to the user's real telephone.
FreeDigits officially launched with 100 registered users in January. Within weeks, there were thousands.
"Privacy is such a big thing in the U.S.," said CEO Kha Phan. "Being able to provide users with a very secure telephone number that's random, with no geographic marking, is very important."
For instance, FreeDigits is working with an online dating service. "Everyone who registers there gets an anonymous e-mail, so it seems logical to also get an anonymous telephone number," Phan said.
It's also developing HopeDigits to provide battered women with numbers. As Phan said, "They need to communicate without giving away their location."
So who knows? Maybe someday everyone will have fake public names and telephone numbers for strangers and retailers, and real private information only for close friends and family.
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