Caller Privacy For Dating Sites

USA TODAY -- Nov 27 -- Are you ready to get Jangl'd? Michael Cerda, the co-founder of Jangl, a telephone service start-up, sure hopes so. "We give consumers the ability to call each other without giving out phone numbers," Cerda says. Go to Jangl.com, and sign up for a free account. Provide an e-mail address and telephone number. Create a "Jangl ID." Once you have your Jangl ID, Cerda says, "You can stop giving out your phone number and just Jangl." Callers must go to the Jangl website and key in their Jangl ID. To be accepted, callers have to provide enough personal information so that the Jangl system — which is bi-directional — can connect you with that caller. Once the required information has been keyed in, the Jangl system hands over your contact "phone number." In reality, however, it's a unique telephone ID for that particular relationship. As soon as the call is placed, Jangl forwards it to your real phone number. The privacy protection is bi-directional, so recipients don't know the real numbers of callers, either, Cerda notes. For security reasons, each call is announced with a short preamble that includes the caller's name. Recipients can accept, reject or block any call. Jangl is a natural for online dating services, which have long favored anonymous e-mail systems to protect the identity of users. On Nov. 2, online dating giant Match.com started offering Jangl as a free service, called "matchTalk."  Jane Thompson, a Match VP, says response to the feature has been "extraordinary."  She says 275,000 people already have used the feature.  One surprise: Match.com had expected the service to be used mostly by younger romance seekers, she says. But so far, 50% of users have been in the 35 to 49 age bracket. About 8% are over 55. FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY