I've got your number on the bathroom wall

[venta]

I'm surprised there hasn't been more fuss over this. Maybe I've just missed it.

There are (though not nearly as many as I'd expect) reports online that a company is setting up a Directory Enquiries equivalent for mobile numbers. So (in theory) you call them, and for £1 they'll connect you to (rather than give you the number for)[**] anyone you ask them for.

The provenance of the numbers they're using is a little dicey - "generally [they are] from companies who collect mobile telephone numbers from customers in the course of doing business and have been given permission by the customers to share those numbers". In theory, if you always check[*] that box this won't affect you at all.

It's possible to make yourself ex-directory by texting 'E' to 118800, though early and "unscientific" testing from The Register suggests that the directory is far from exhaustive.

You can read about the directory from the horse's mouth here.

Update: You can check here if you're in the directory. A prize to the first person who can actually find themselves (or indeed anyone they know) in it...

[*] or do I mean uncheck ? I can't remember offhand whether it's opt-in or opt-out.
[**] That's what reports say. The horse's mouth says that they'll sms the person you're trying to contact with your details.

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Well, I searched for myself on Web of Science last night (somebody had achieved a number on some metric of how good you are at getting research published and I realised it was something I might want to know about myself if people use it to decide who to hire) and found that I am very active in the fields of philosophy and cancer research, but not so much in electron microscopy :/

[keris.livejournal.com]

To get my papers on web of science takes a lot of effort in splitting me out from all the other people with my name. It would have helped if certain people had shown me drafts of papers before publishing so I could make sure my middle initial was included; without it, even adding university and dates gives several people... I ended up calculating my h-index myself as I needed to give it on the REF forms!

As for the phone thing, it has me - name, city and house number (but not road or postcode) ties it down.

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

I really must poke the coworker who keeps taking to conferences my data with my name on it and not telling me. It would be doing me a favour if he (a) could write sentences that made sense, (b) actually told me so I could add these things to my publication list.