They've got your number ... Oh, never mind

FCC debunks a persistent rumor

Contrary to a dire warning making the rounds of the Internet, your private cell-phone number is not about to be released to telemarketers.

This is e-mail-that-refuses-to-die.

Every few months, a variant of the message warns recipients that telemarketers are about to get their cell numbers; next they'll be calling with solicitations, then charging for the calls.

None of that is true.

The Federal Communications Commission receives so many worried calls from the public that it issued a consumer advisory to dispel the myth.

There is no scheme afoot to disseminate private cell-phone numbers, FCC spokeswoman Rosemary Kimball said. It's illegal for telemarketers to place automated calls to mobile phones, she said.

Giving rise to these fears is the wireless industry's project to create a directory of cell-phone numbers. The project has stalled, and it would have been voluntary, anyway: No number would be listed unless it were submitted by a cell-phone user who wanted the number listed.

Telemarketers would be barred from making automated calls to a listed cell-phone number, though they can legally call cell phones if they manually dial the phone number.

However, the e-mail warning is not entirely useless. It includes the phone number for the do-not-call list, created in 2003 to protect consumers from unwanted telemarketing calls. Registering for the list will protect your phone number -- land line or wireless -- for five years.

To register, you can contact (888) 382-1222 or visit www.donotcall.gov.

"There is no downside to putting a cell-phone number on the list," Kimball said.