Directory enquiries

Just a couple of weeks after it was set up, online mobile phone directory - 118 800 - has been shut down - temporarily at least. Its establishment had caused something of a hoo-hah as a privacy panic spread across, well, spread across the media. That it had bought the 15 million mobile numbers off various marketing companies seemed less of a worry than the fact that they were there and accessible.


Given that many of us have our mobile numbers on e-mail signatures over which we have no control once they leave our outboxes, what is the problem?
I must be in a minority here though, as the 118 800 holding page leaves us in no doubt that the site is down due to the volume of ex-directory requests.
The good old phone book used to have an element of reassurance and comfort about it - with most people's details there on show alongside everybody and ex-directory entries viewed as suspicious.

To the best of my knowledge, there has only ever been one person that has suffered due to being listed in the phone book - Navin R Johnson from the 1979 classic - The Jerk.

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