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An interesting article from RISKS-Digest volume 4 #79:

PNB CANCELS 976 NUMBER FOR PERSONAL-DATA COMPANY

Seattle (AP) -- Pacific Northwest Bell has canceled the 976-prefix toll-call 
number of a Seattle company that obtains and sells information about 
individuals.  The company had sent post cards to thousands of Seattle
residents, offering to delete data about them from company files if they
called the telephone number--a call that cost $7.50.  After PNB attorneys 
alleged that the post cards could involve extortion, the phone company 
canceled Profile Service Corp.'s 976 number Monday, the first time such 
action had been taken in the Seattle area, said PNB spokesman Bruce Amundson.

But Jan Sakamoto, Profile's president, said the company did nothing wrong and
would appeal the phone company's action to the Washington State Utilities and
Transportation Commission.  "I don't think it's blackmail or fraud," Sakamoto
said.  Instead, he said, his company was "catching the brunt of people's ire 
at not being able to control information about themselves."

Commission spokesman Raymond Day said PNB apparently was within its rights in
canceling the number.  The commission allows PNB to cut off service "without 
prior notice, for unlawful use of service or use of service for unlawful 
purposes," Day said.

Seattle news media, the state attorney general's office, the Utilities and 
Transportation Commission, the Postal Service and PNB have received numerous
complaints about the cards, which were mailed to 20,000 Seattle residents.  
The card read:

	"Profile Service Corp. knows some personal things about you
	that other people might like to know.  Our company's computer
	files contain names, telephone numbers, complete addresses,
	credit reports and other important pieces of information about
	you.  We have purchased this information from a variety of
	public and private sources."

The card then advised consumers to call its 976 number to have the
number deleted from its computer files.  The $7.50 charge for the call
would be billed to caller's phone numbers, with most of the charge
being remitted by PNB to Profile.  People who called the number will
have the charge deleted from their phone bills, Amundson said.

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