Cell phone registry not needed

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jan 10, 2008 by Mike Hall

By Mike Hall

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Don't call the "do-not-call" phone number - not to register your cell phone, anyway.

That is the message from the Federal Trade Commission.

Among those taken in by an "urban legend" e-mail circulating on the Internet for years are Topeka Police Chief Ron Miller and city manager Norton Bonaparte.

At 5:43 p.m. Tuesday, Bonaparte sent out the following e-mail: "To All City of Topeka Employees: I received the following information from Police Chief Miller. Please register your City cellular telephone number."

It was followed by the e-mail message that has passed from person to person for several years.

It warns, "Approximately 1/12/08, all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you may start to receive sales calls and other telemarketing calls."

It urges recipients of the message to call the national Do Not Call Registry phone number of (888) 382-1222 from the cell phone to be protected from unsolicited calls.

That is the phone number to call to be placed on the do-not-call list maintained by the FTC, according to Mitch Katz, an FTC spokesman in Washington, D.C. But there is no need to register cell phones there.

No great harm is done by people registering their cell phones. It just wastes their time and clogs up the Do Not Call Registry with unnecessary names and phone numbers.

"You really can't blame someone for wanting to be helpful," Katz said, "but they really shouldn't forward that one."

However, the national Do Not Call Registry Web site does advise "you can register your home or mobile phone for free."

The FTC Web site has contained an article warning people about the bogus message since April 15, 2005. It states, "If you've received an e-mail telling you that your cell phone is about to be assaulted by telemarketing calls as a result of a new cell phone number database, rest assured that this is not the case."

City spokesman David Bevens said Wednesday afternoon a follow-up e-mail message was being prepared to advise city employees that the information in the e-mail was inaccurate .

He said the chief wanted the message spread "as an extra layer of protection" against abuse of city cell phones.