Why Phone Privacy Matters

My cell phone is the most important piece of technology I carry around. In it I store the numbers of my closest friends, family members, co-workers, and other important contacts. I personally never give out my cell phone number to complete strangers, but instead use call forwarding services that send calls to my real phone number. There're plenty of companies that offer these services for a small monthly fee.

I'm still amazed by how many people publicize their home number in places like Craigslist or eBay, even with the rise of reverse phone lookup directories, which help anyone find out where you live just by typing in your phone number, not to mention phone phishing scams.

So what can you do?

Virtually Safer

If you list an item online, instead of listing your number with it,  I suggest you get a free online voicemail account. A service like Private Phone sets you up with a local number and voicemail box anyone can call. You can then check your messages online or over the phone. This solution will work for anyone who needs to publish a phone number online, on a resume, or dating site.

Even business owners fail to protect their privacy by handing out their home number to complete strangers. 

My brother-in-law is a real estate appraiser, and when people weren't too happy with his appraisal reports, they left threatening messages on his answering machine. One caller even threatened him physically. It's just a reminder that exchanging numbers with the wrong person, even in business, could have serious consequences.

For home business owners, I recommend a service like RingCentral (which I've used) or Vonage (which I currently use), because these services not only provide your with a local number, but they also offer a suite of business tools like online faxing, voicemail, and call screening.

The issue with some of these private number solutions arises when you have to call people back, and your real number is shown on their caller ID.

Here are some tips to help you keep your anonymity.

1. Private Number Tip: To keep your phone number private when calling from your cellphone use *67+Area Code+Phone Number (*67-1-650-555-5555).

2. Activate your Caller ID Blocker via your call settings. Find out if your phone will hide your caller ID. My RAZR does by going to Call Setup->My Caller ID->Hide ID.

3. Call your service provider to find out how to request a private number. This feature will never display a number when you call others.

These are just small precautions you can take to make your phone calls a lot safer. As technology gets more sophisticated, so do thieves, and withholding personal information is becoming a must.