Making Use Of Phone Lookups In Your Company

There are hardly any companies which do not collect information about their customers. Usually the only difference between them is the amount and the type of gathered data. Some companies need addresses, other public records. Imagine a situation when a real estate company will want to screen one of prospective tenants to make sure he will be able to pay the rent and that he has never been accused of any criminal activity. In such case the real estate company will need to obtain access to such information. However, this is quite a rare situation and usually most businesses will need much more basic information such as confirming a phone number and address or some basic information about the customer's household.

It is of course possible to verify the given phone number by calling it, but this usually annoys people. There is much better solution for it which you can implement in your company's IT system. You can find at least a few companies which allow you to lookup phone numbers automatically using their API, so that you don't have to perform each and every check manually. This will save you a lot of time and effort. For sure there will be some records which have to be verified by a human, but most of address and phone numbers data can be checked automatically.

Even if still don't see any practical use of phone lookups in your company, consider the following situation. The only information which possess about your customers are names and phone numbers. Not much if you would like to send a Christmas card. However, you could always call your customers and ask them for addresses to send the cards. On the other hand, as I mentioned before such solution will not be consider comfortable for your customers and will generate additional costs. When using reverse phone lookups automatically, you will be able to append an address to each of the phone numbers. It is no difference if it's a cell phone or a land line. Good service providers have databases covering all of these phone numbers.

The last thing which can prevent you from implementing such system in you company might be the cost of developing it. Try to ask your IT office for the cost of such operation and believe me, you will be surprised that it's so low. Usually these are just a few hours of programmer's work but when you imagine the advantages you will quickly realise that it's definitely worth it.

They Have 750 Billion Records On You. Have You Even Heard Of Them?

Acxiom official website

With its headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas Acxiom is one of the biggest companies you may have never heard of. In this article I will briefly explain you why it's definitely worth for you to learn a little bit more about this company. I'll deliberately omit some useless facts about number of employees, annual turnover and so on. It's enough for you to know that these are huge figures with no doubt.

To start off I will mention that Acxiom is a data aggregation business. The euphemism means that their main purpose is to obtain as much data as possible from as many people as they can. Since the the company operates in 60 countries around the world, they collect and compile data about their residents. One thing is that these people have given away their sensitive personal information usually without getting anything in exchange, but the other is that some of them were unaware that the their data will be aggregated into Acxiom database. Just think if you have ever done any of these things:

• bought a magazine subscription
• registered an account for any electronic services
• filled in an online survey
• took part in some prize giveaway(i.e. Free iPad Giveaway)
• given away your details in any other way and neglected to read privacy policy

An example of online prize giveaway

In case you have, the probability of some data aggregation company possessing your data is extremely high. Acxiom and other similar companies cooperate closely to merge information collected from third party companies. Other methods involve buying large amounts of data from credit card issuers, retail banking companies, car manufacturers, brokerage firms, insurance and real estate companies, online retailers as well as pharmacies. They work with around 60-70% of the biggest companies in these industries. Just try to think of one single piece of information they may not know have. They know your name, address, previous address, marriage status, cell phone, things you prefer, drugs you take, financial situation(credit history, earnings), your car preferences as well as VINs. Using their software they can easily associate you with your family members in their databases.

Since it's the money that rule the world, it will be no difficult to think of potential use of such sensitive data. Each day they serve 350 millions customers around the world with their databases. Some of the customers need background checks, some of them need to reverse cell phone numbers but most of their customers demand highly targeted contact information which Acxiom surely can provide. They can quickly find millions of people who could be potentially interested in buying shiny tyres to their Chevrolet who live in Kentucky.

How To Opt Out From Such Databases?
In theory the procedure is fairly simple, you just have to fill in a simple questionnaire and send them to a data aggregation company. It is nothing surprising that such firms try to discourage consumers from opting out and it is proven by experts.
Opting out from Acxiom
If you want to opt out from all the data brokers, you should visit Privacy Alerts who created a full list of opt out forms.

How To Avoid Giving Out Your Personal Information?
The first and the most important thing in here is a Privacy Policy of the company which demands personal information from you. You don't have to read the whole Privacy Policy document carefully, just skim read and try to find a similar clause:

We may sell, brand or share your personal information that you supply to us with other 3rd party businesses [...]
Source: http://www.surveypanelgroup.com/privacy.php *
This is not an Acxiom operated website.

If you find something like this, you can be sure that your personal information will be sold to 3rd parties. However, if you can't find anything like this, I strongly advice you to read the Privacy Policy again, but this time do it thoroughly. I know this no fun, but as long as your privacy is concerned you should be very careful.

Sources:
-http://ivebeenmugged.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/05/acxiom.html

Registered In National Do Not Call Registry But Still Receiving Unwanted Calls?

National Do Not Call Registry - implemented in 2004 by the FTC was aimed to contain phone numbers of US citizens who do not want to receive any telemarketing calls. Regarding to the last surveys 92 out of 100 people who have placed their phone numbers on the list report to receive less unsolicited calls. 78% of the poll participants claim to receive much less or none unwanted calls. This proves that creating such a national registry was indeed a good move of US authorities. What is important, the registration is fairly easy and can be either done in the internet or by calling 1-888-382-1222. You will be asked to give the phone number you would like to put in the registry as well as e-mail if you're doing it online. There is no need to enter any additional details such as address or even your name.

Although the provided stats clearly show that the National Do Not Call Registry prevents most of telemarketers from calling your number, there are still numerous incidents when you receive such calls while being listed in the NDNCR. Some of the calls will surely be illegal and you can easily file a complaint about them. However, before filing anything, I'd like to encourage you to read the rest of the article, where you will learn a few exceptions from National Do Not Call Registry.

The first granted exception concerns business lines which are not protected by the NDNCR which means that even you have listed your number in the registry everybody is allowed to call you with his offer and you will not be able to complain. Second exception applies to politicians who can call you with their agitation. However, in the 2008 Congress under the pressure of Citizens for Civil Discourse discussed launching a National Political Do Not Call Registry which we would be opened to voters who don't want to be called by any politicians. Unfortunately, only three politicians actually voted for it.

You also shouldn't bother complaining when you receive survey, debt collectors or non profit organization calls. These are not restricted by the NDNCR. There is also a regulation which let companies who have been in business relationship with you for over 18 months to call you without your consent. If you wish not to receive calls from such companies, you will need to ask them individually which should surely prevent them from calling you again.

You ought to remember how much time has passed from the moment you listed your number in the registry. There is a 31 days hold period during which telemarketers are still allowed to call you. After this time they should stop calling you. Very important thing is also checking if your number actually is listed in the registry. It can be simply done by visiting a verification page of FTC website.


If you believe that none of the above mentioned exceptions concerns your situation, you are free to file a complain. Filing it is very easy and can be done online or simply by calling 1-888-382-1222. You will be asked a few questions regarding the phone call which you think was unsolicited. FTC has also produced a simple movie about filing a complain:

The movie is not stricly about Do Not Call Registry complains but clearly shows the proccess of filing one.