CTIA President Steve Largent wrote members of the Senate to dispu...

consent. “While it is true that the wireless industry once created a joint venture to explore an opt-in wireless directory, that effort was conceived of as a directory assistance service and not as a published directory or publicly available database,” Largent wrote. He added that after a joint venture was launched to create a directory in 2004, CTIA quit the effort. “Recently, the carriers decided to abandon their joint venture, so it is fair to state that neither CTIA nor its members are compiling a wireless directory.” Largent said carriers and CTIA “take very seriously the obligation to guard consumers’ privacy” and wireless subscribers don’t seem to want a national directory. Last week, Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced the bill. “This bill is good news for consumers because people should have the right to decide who has access to their wireless phone number,” Boxer said. “Without the protections provided in this bill, the cell phone numbers of countless Americans could be at risk.”