118800 Mobile Phone Directory Service: Site Crashes and Internet Privacy Fears
By Andrew Redfern @ 19th June 2009 2:33 pm
118800, the new UK directory enquiries service caused a storm of controversy in its first week of launch and all for the wrong reasons. The service, which offers a phone and web-based enquiries service which enables users to locate the mobile phone numbers for individuals.
Demand for the service was so great, following intense media coverage, that the site frequently crashes.Privacy groups have been appalled at the service which allows the contacting of the public, including children based on information they may have provided to a third party site, such as during a competition or application.
Google have shown a considerable spike in searches relating to 118800 within the past 72hours, with the service already generating nearly two hundred news articles worldwide. The 118800 story broke on the same day that rival directory service 118118 announced a £14m media deal for off and online marketing with Zenithoptimedia.
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