And the I’d have to contact you at my expense.

True, but then I'd just ignore it or not contact them.

Or use one of my unlimited free texts if I really wanted.

Cool. I can't find me on the thing, so I'm happy for now.

I have no problem with this, in theory. After all; it clearly states that the information is from publicly available sources which the users opted into, there is an opt-out and you don't ever have to accept the call.

However, when I searched it said it found "more than one match" in my home town. Giving it my post code, it still found one match.

My name is not common. I only know of one other, and they're in America. Therefore, I suspect it has my two old numbers. Maybe it has my two new numbers. Either way, I'm a bit surprised because the only places I've given them I most certainly did not elect to share them.

Note, I still don't think 118800 are doing anything wrong. I just want to know who sold them my numbers!!! Does anyone know if the DPA or the FOI act would apply to this information?

DPA does (so you can have info. removed), but FOI only applies to public bodies.

Ah, so it does. What's the one I'm thinking of, where you send a company £10 and demand to see all information they hold on you? I'm probably confused. Actually, I know I am - I'm always confused

When I said DPA; I meant if I asked where they bought the information from, would that be a secret? I don't really care about 118800 but I do care about the people who sold them the info. Clearly, they could sell it to anyone and I don't like that.

Although, I do suspect it's my old numbers they have. Annoyingly I can't see an on-line opt-out option, and I really don't want to phone or text them.

I saw the word 'directory' and instantly though "directory server"...How sad am I?

Anyhoo, I read something a while ago about a world wide implementation of something like LDAP, which would serve as an International yellow pages, which is quite a cool idea, listing extra things like email address, etc.

That is a cool idea, provided of course that it's voluntary. If it wasn't for the nightmare of cold-calling sales pests I'd sign up in a moment.

While I'm quite precious about who has my numbers, communication is quite impossible without knowing how to reach someone. I've thought for a long time now that "numbers" are a pretty old fashioned idea. When I Skype, IM or email I do not use a number. At least, not since the days of Compuserve and ICQ.

I'm all for unified messaging. I currently have about 50 ways of contacting me, all of which need checking. Unfortunately, the spammers prevent me from implementing it. I do not want Viagra adverts on my portable device at 5am, nor facebook updates in my email. Perhaps I'll just unplug everything, and if you want me you'll have to reach me on LJ. Way to a quiet life

I'm certainly not aware of any legal obligation for them to tell you who they received the information from, but you certainly have the legal right to opt-out of any database and/or have any information being stored about you by a company removed.

Which is impossible if you don't know who they are!

I've had this issue before when my phone line was taken over by an unknown company. BT could not tell me who was illegally taking over my phone because the DPA prevented them from sharing the information. I had to go through offcom to place a complaint, but to this day I still don't know who the criminals actual were because of the DPA. There is nothing to stop them doing it again, and I can't take them to court because they are anon.

:edit:

Just found this on their website:



I very strongly suspect they won't tell me who sold them the info though...