Cell phone numbers up for sale

The idea of the last refuge of privacy with your cell phone is heading south into the distant horizon when third party companies like Intelius Inc begin offering your cell number for sale.

Intelius Inc., a company that offers personal and criminal background checks and other “predictive intelligence,” began offering cell phone numbers in July as part of its phone number search service. The company said it was the first offering of its kind.

Source: galvestondailynews.com via watermon

By Mark Collette
The Daily News

Currently a bill, the Wireless 411 Privacy Act  has been referred to the Senate Commerce, and Transportation Committee to be amended to the Communications Act of 1932, which will prevent companies like Intelius Inc. from marketing your private cell phone number.

Three U.S. senators are pushing a bill to protect more than 250 million consumers from having their cell phone numbers listed in a 411 directory similar to directories available for residential phone numbers.

Source: galvestondailynews.com via watermon

Intelius Inc seems to be banking on the idea of future corporate profits in the selling of private cell phone numbers when it recently filed for a $144 million IPO.

Intelius, which provides online background checks and sells cellphone directory information to consumers, filed papers on Thursday to go public.


 
The Bellevue company said it hopes to raise up to $143.8 million, and would trade under the symbol "INTL" on the Nasdaq, according to documents filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com via watermon

Thats make good business sense after reviewing the $60.2 million of revenues the company earned in selling private information over last three fiscal quarters of 2007,  a 40% increase from the previous year.

For November, it said its sites, including www.intelius.com, were collectively among the most-visited Web properties in the U.S., drawing 10.2 million unique visitors, according to comScore.


 
In the filing, Intelius said it recorded a profit of $6.1 million on revenue of $60.2 million for the nine months ended Sept. 2007. In the same period a year earlier, it earned $4.4 million on revenue of about $40 millio

Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com via watermon

Naveen Jain , the cofounder, President, and CEO of Intelius, Inc has been in the spotlight before with past corporate financial activities that might cast this present intial public offering into some question.

Intelius was cofounded by President and Chief Executive Naveen Jain, best known for previously starting InfoSpace, a high-profile Internet company that at its height was worth more than Boeing.


 
But the company unraveled, and Jain was fired from InfoSpace and named as an defendant in several lawsuits. Ultimately, he paid a multimillion-dollar settlement to the company amid allegations of insider trading. In its filing, Intelius said one lawsuit related to his activities as a former officer and director of InfoSpace is continuing.

Source: seattletimes.nwsource.com via watermon

Senate Committee Members Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Wireless 411 Privacy Act

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