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The area code, also known as the Number Plan Area (NPA), of a phone number, is extremely important. These three digits are what generally identify a geographical calling area of a switch that provides telephone devices within the area service. The NPA typically applies to the United States and Canada.

Using an area code with a telephone number is required when making long distance calls, and may also be required – depending on where you live -when making local calls. Area codes help you get in touch with the right person and vice versa. For this reason, it is imperative you make sure the right people are able to contact you by remembering to provide them your local area code with your phone number.

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 With the recent release of reams of phone records from a woman accused of running a Washington prostitution ring, bloggers and others online have taken up the cause of hunting for links to elected officials and other prominent people.

Titillated by the prospect of uncovering another name like that of Sen. David Vitter, the Louisiana Republican who admitted his number was on Deborah Jeane Palfrey's escort service phone list, bloggers, many of them liberal, are scouring the records and publishing what they find.

Jennifer Stoddart is a dedicated public servant who has spent years -- first working for the province of Quebec, and since 2003 as the federal privacy commissioner -- trying to protect Canadians' personal information from prying governments and greedy businesses. A lawyer by trade, she has impeccable qualifications for the job, with a strong background in constitutional law and human rights.

But there's a point to be made about the type of highly confidential data that can be obtained by anyone with an Internet connection and a credit card, and Stoddart has the misfortune of being the perfect illustration. Not that she's pleased about it. Her eyes widen as she recognizes what has just been dropped on the conference table in her downtown Ottawa office -- detailed lists of the phone calls made from her Montreal home,

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THE US Congress will investigate revelations that a US spy agency has been tracking the phone records of tens of millions of Americans as President George W Bush insists that privacy rights are not under threat.

Members of Mr Bush's Republican party and opposition Democrats expressed alarm at the newspaper report that the National Security Agency (NSA) was building an unprecedented database of phone records with the help of three main telephone companies.

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Even if telephone companies turn over customers' phone records to the government, customers would likely never be able to find out for sure and would have little recourse in any event.

Most telephone carriers would not comment on reports Thursday that AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. had complied with the National Security Agency's requests for customers' call records. Those that did kept their remarks ambiguous and short.

AT&T and Verizon are Washington state's largest long-distance carriers. New York-based Verizon also is the second-largest local-call

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The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

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George Bush tried desperately yesterday to defuse the news that the three biggest telephone firms in the US provided the National Security Agency with the records of billions of calls made by Americans.

The revelation that the warrantless wiretapping authorised by President Bush was far more sweeping than the administration has admitted could derail the confirmation of Michael Hayden, a former director of the agency, as new CIA chief.

Covered in a report by the paper USA Today, the story also reopens questions about whether Mr Bush acted illegally in authorising taps on Americans without court oversight. USA Today reported that since the September 2001 terror attacks, AT&T Corp, Verizon Communications Inc, and BellSouth Corp had been providing the agency with detailed records of the calls made by their 200 million customers, both international and domestic.

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A U.S. House committee investigating the black market sale of telephone numbers wants records from a telecommunications company owned by a Loveland lawmaker.

Rep. Jim Welker said Tuesday he has no idea why the feds want to look at his records.

"We've done nothing illegal," said Welker, a Republican. "We provide toll-free numbers for marketing and we work with law enforcement when they need information."

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Internet mapping services are powerful and simple: Type a phone number into Google or other sites for a map with door-to-door directions. Finding someone has never been easier.

Now those resources are provoking a backlash. Spooked people worried about stalkers or worse are striking their particulars from phone and Internet listings.

Count Sonjia Kenya among them.

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's early job as health care policymaker gave way during the remainder of her years as first lady to a more traditional, restricted role, according to thousands of pages of calendars outlining her activities in the White House.

While her influence clearly waned after the collapse of a national health care initiative, Clinton became part of the public face of her husband's administration, on issues from foreign policy to domestic legislation.

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While many public officials are hesitant to share information about what the government is doing, what many Americans don't realize is that the business of public officials is highly accessible, especially when it comes to how taxpayers' dollars are spent.

To raise such awareness, the Daily News is participating in Sunshine Week, an annual project aimed at creating awareness about freedom of information and government secrecy.

Jan. 20--Your mobile phone won't likely become a "sell" phone, experts said, contrary to a widely circulating e-mail that claims telemarketers will soon start calling cellular customers to pitch products and services.

Telemarketers aren't likely to do so because federal law restricts the practice, experts said.

What may be fueling concerns over the privacy of cell-phone numbers is that the wireless industry is developing a cell-phone directory. But inclusion in the directory would be voluntary, telecommunications industry executives said; a cell-phone user would have to choose to be in it.