• WHAT: Simple ways to maintain your privacy when calling or texting from your cell phone
• WHY: There may be places or people you want to reach without revealing your identity
• COST: Zero

While I'm a collector of great quotes by everyone from Abraham Lincoln to Yogi Berra it's tough to find a really good quote from a rock-n-roll artist... especially one from the pyschedelic 60s and 70s when most of them were too inebriated to put together a complete sentence, much less a great quote.  There is one, though, that always got to me and I'm virtually certain that it's attributable to David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, who said, "You're not really paranoid if people really are out to get you."  And in today's world of identity theft, telemarketers and spamming it's not paranoia to want to occasionally keep your information private. 

In fact, one of the most popular questions I receive through this web site is, "How can I block my phone number when I'm making a call from my cell phone?"  The answer is simple - I'll get to that in a moment - but I'd like to offer an additional tip here about how to keep your information private when sending text messages, too.  

There's no way that I know of to mask or block the number of your cell phone when you're sending a text message from it.  There is, however, another simple solution and that is to send the text message from one of the many web sites that allows you to send them for free (see my earlier post) about sending free text messages) or to send it via email from an account that you use for spam collection. 

The way to block your phone number when calling from your cell phone is simple: just enter "*67" before entering the number and then hit "Send."  This number combination works just as well, by the way, from landline phones - just enter "*67" at the dial tone before entering the rest of the number and the call will show up as "Private", "Blocked", "Unknown" or "Out of area" depending on the carrier you are originating the call from and the carrier that is receiving the call.