Nowadays, the cell phone directories like the National Cellphone Number Registry have made the access of cell phone numbers available to interested public. Of course they charge a fee for the services they provide. Now, it is a debatable issue in terms of ethics and more than that the safety of the cell phone owner, if at all such services should be provided. Earlier, it was only the law enforcers like the police and private detectives who had access to cell phone directories.
If we think about the positive impact of the cell phone directory being accessible to the public, it can be said that since most of the people these days carry cell phones for a longer duration of time, there is a greater possibility of being able to contact them at the time of urgency. It does not matter if they are out of home traveling or away from their landline phone connections. A good example of this can be, if you are in a medical emergency and you desperately need to contact a doctor, you can directly access the doctor and be saved from the hassle of calling up his home or office. Another important factor is that in today’s speedy world time is a very precious resource and one can communicate with the person he/she wants to without any wastage of time through a cell phone.
The negative impact is that strangers come to know cell phone numbers and hence, sometimes vital information like the location of the people they are communicating with. If the stranger does not have fair intentions, the cell phone holder might be in a hazardous situation. These days a lot of vital information exchange and malpractices are being enabled with cell phones. The condition is worse when a reverse search like finding out the names and addresses of people with a cell phone number is made available to everybody through directory services like the NCNR and the cell reverse search website.
via: gather