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Mark Brooks notes that a safety expert is urging consumer to use a new phone service, MyPrivateLine.com, that provides a safe, private way to receive phone calls while protecting the identity of your real phone number. The press release says that the newest online directories include cell phone numbers, not just landlines. Can anyone verify this with an example?
FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, which is how these companies make their bank.
Mark neglected to mention that while calls are $.15 cents per minute, calls to check voice mail are also billed at 10¢ (US$) per minute. I can imagine MyPrivateLine customer service reps using a free VOIP system to leave messages in unsuspecting customer’s voicemail boxes, forcing them to spend a buck a pop to answer spam voicemail. That’s a nice little side business, like the people who are hired to click on Eharmony Google ad links all day for cash.
More competition for G*Number. They came out of the gate a few months ago but all has been quiet since then. I liked that messages came into you email box as MP3 files, no charge to retrieve messages. Plus, and this is my own idea, you could create an RSS enclosure and subscribe to you calls in iTunes just like I subscribe to my “dating feed” from Consumating in Bloglines. I’m scraping all my Yahoo and Match emails and search results into RSS as well. Why wait for them when we can do it today. Someone go make this a standalone service please, I don’t have the time.
Lest you forget, or learn for the first time, Skype is free and can be anonymized for free, rendering these services less useful. With Gmails aliasing feature it would be very difficult to trace anyone, including terrorists. The government/FCC will step in soon enough and regulate this type of communication. Some sort of online dating Patriot Act sponsored by True perhaps?
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I appreciate your feedback. If you read the release there are zero references to fear or panic. To educate someone on safety using fear is counter productive. In a release format we try to teach and bring awareness. We are also bringing to market another option for those who dont want to give out there phone number to a total stranger. Did your mom ever tell you not to talk to strangers? There is a reason for that. To give a phone number to a complete stranger is never a good idea. No matter how much they tickle your fancy. In this format I feel the need to express the truth in response to your cynicism. The fact is there are predators in human form stalking you and I as their natural prey. Just like all the young girls in florida snatched out of their beds by sex offenders. There are 500,000 registerd sex offenders in this country. Thats 10,000 per state. Chances are if you dont bump into one in a grocery store, they may pump your gas or respond to your picture online. In Vancouver a serial killer was busted recently after he killed 27 woman. There are 70 more they think he might have had a “date” with. In the information age, almost everything about everyone is available to anyone. Type your name here. See what comes up: http://zabasearch.com/ Then go here http://www.reversephonedirectory.com/ and plug in your phone number. Anyone who enters data in either of these resources will be a bit shocked at their findings. Keeping a degree of privacy when you meet total strangers is being conscious about personal security. Security is difficult for most of us to comprehend. We’re brought up to trust and love and respect. Being a little cautiously paranoid however is healthy and should be a part of social conditioning. But its not. We’re anti security in this society. We think it cant happen to us. We’re in denial. However, a little fear, doubt and uncertainty can save your life someday.
the anonymous phone number business will progress similarly the unfortunate
plight of small and mid-sized DSL providers. Covad leasing space in Verizon
central offices for example. When the market got large enough, Verizon jumped in
the game and made it so expensive and difficult that the smaller players had to
give up or be satisfies with staying small. As soon as the market got large
enough to matter, Verizon effectively shut out competition like Covad, or at
least made it very difficult to operate.
The reverse phone lookup sites are all over the place. Who’s brilliant idea was it to let them florish? Who in the world needs to do a reverse lookup besides the police and rescue squads?
I agree with you, sick people are everywhere. You stated they pump our gas and bag our groceries, don’t forget that they care for our children at church.
I would argue that the marketing plan of any successful security-based product has a section on FUD. You MUST make people aware of the terrible risks, otherwise they won’t buy your service. Look at the recent ADT commercials for example.
I don’t understand why you address my cynacism by referencing facts that don’t pertain to your argument. Why bring up child abduction and murder when we are talking about online dating? That’s an effective viceral and sickening feeling to put across. My point is, how does an anonymous mobile number keep some sicko from stealing children? Perhaps you mean to reduce the odds that he will take yours after a date? That’s a Mastercard commercial right there. Yahoo Personals, $24.95, 10 cents a minute not to be murdered by a serial killer, priceless.
Not talking to strangers as a child is not the same as leveraging anonynimity as a layer of protection as an adult. We must talk with strangers, especially to online
dating, which is built upon the premise that by making it easier to connect with strangers you will be
more likely to meet your mate. Or a psycho, you mileage may vary depending on
your level of street stmarts and common sense as you rightly say at the end of
your comment.
Iam not aware that there is an even distribution of sex offenders in all 50
states. Feel free to back that up if you can. I would be interested to
know the geographic clustering statistics. I know some people are taking the
data and overlaying it on top of Google Maps.
Phone services will achieve better results if they work with the ID verification
companies. Single people don’t want to have to go to several different providers
to be safe. That’s why the dating services should at least offer safety services
to consumers. I’m not saying make it a law, just offer it and let the consumer
decide.
I agree that security is difficult for most to comprehend. You should
have seen the ID verification providers attempting to educate the dating idustry
about how their services work at SITRAS in December. Blank stares all around.
I cannot believe you say we live in an anti-security society, do you own a television or read the newspaper?
I read yesterday that we live in a world where you are more likely to go to jail
for killing one person that killing 1,000. A sobering thought.
I whore heartedly agree that these kind of companies are building on the “FUD” factor and as disturbing as this type of marketing is, it is only getting worse as certain companies push for legislation to protect online daters.
Siciliano’s rebuttal is pure crap.
There is much more money to be made on the positive side of dating, i’d like to see somone focus their efforts there with creating ancillary services to truly aide singles in their search for love.
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