Mobile-Phone Directory Debated in Congress

A proposed wireless 411 directory for cell-phone numbers should include only the names of consumers who want to be listed, representatives of the industry and consumer groups told Congress on Tuesday.

But the witnesses before the Senate Commerce Committee split over whether privacy protections in the first national database of cell-phone numbers should be voluntary or must be spelled out in a federal law similar to the Wireless Privacy Act, introduced by Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).