Safe Talk is a service that is now available in the UK, and it just makes sense. Sometimes someone you don’t know needs to be able to get hold of you, but you might not trust them enough to give them your mobile number or landline number for fear that might be psycho. That’s where Safe Talk comes in. It is a temporary phone number which is yours for seven days. All calls to that number are re-routed to your mobile phone, but the person calling you is unable to discover your real number. Such a service would prove useful for everything from dating or selling things in classified ads to secretly negotiating the sale of stolen weapons.

The number costs £1.50 (about $2.80). At the end of the seven day period you have the option of renewing the number or cancelling it. To set up the number you just have to send a text message, so it seems quite simple.