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PRIVACY ALERT - On-line phone/address/map look-up

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Preacherman

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Dec 20, 2002
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Hello, all. I just received the following warning via the API List (thanks, KC!) and wanted to alert THR members to this potential privacy issue.

If you use the Google search engine (www.google.com) and type a telephone number into the search bar (using area code and number with dash separators, as in "123-456-7890"), if this number is in its database, it returns the name of the person or institution owning the phone, as well as the address. You can also click on a link to get a map of that address. I tried this with a couple of numbers, and they were correctly identified and mapped.

This means that anyone wanting to find the location of a given telephone can do so, including getting directions to that location from anywhere in the country. While this can be useful (e.g. you receive an obscene telephone call and want to know where it came from, so that you can initiate further action - legally, of course!), it can also be used by someone to find out where you live. This may or may not be someone who you would want to have that information...

You can protect yourself to some extent by asking Google to remove your telephone number from its database. To do this, you have to do a search on your telephone number. If Google returns a hit, click on the telephone icon next to your listing. This takes you to a page describing the service, and on this page is a link taking you to another page, which allows you to ask Google to remove your number from their database.

HTH...
 
FWIW,

I just tried it with my home # and no hits. Same for my parents house phone. Business line got a hit but it was a link through a professional website where our address is listed. Same with friends #'s, no hits on the home# but a couple through related websites for the business # (he has a pharmacy). Nothing phone book related.

This was with both the 123-456-7890 and (123) 456-7890 type of numbers.

Greg
 
Well, you do realize that there are probably DOZENS of on-line phone databases?

anywho.com, pc411.com, switchboard.com are just three...

Unless your number is a private, unpublished number, it's already in these publically accessible databanks.

Oh, and while you can find my home number in the sites I've listed above, I can't find my home number using your google search method, Preach...
 
My number is a private, unpublished number, So when someone would try to look it up, I'm not there. It cost me a little extra but I think it's worth it to keep me out of there.
I've used the system to find almost a thousand address to numbers that the phone company was trying to pin on me. Seems that a druggy relative used my name on the account and had $2300 in phone calls billed to me. I was able to figure out who it was and then show that I never signed for the account.
So there is good and bad that can be done, just like with everything else (guns, cars, baseball bats, ect, ect, ect....).
 
Those of you who can't get it, are you trying (123)456-7890 and/or 123-456-7890 or are you using 1234567890. The last works, if you break up the numbers in any way the only thing that will come up are any websites with your number in it in the forum you enter.
 
Just tried the 1234567890 format. No hits on home line, 1 hit on business line (wrong address), and one hit on my parents line (no address, wrong city).

This was only in Google, but like Mike mentioned there are a lot of places out there to do a look up.

I think that today has been the only time that I've done a Google search with zero hits. :D

Greg
 
For another kick, try typing your name (as used in Letters to the Editor) in between quotes. You may be surprised to see how many pop up. I found some from May 1999 still out there.
 
chaim

I put in 123-456-7890 and my number came right up!!

I also tryed 1234567890 and my number came right up.
Click to expand...

Just tried the 1234567890 format. No hits on home line, 1 hit on business line (wrong address), and one hit on my parents line (no address, wrong city).
Click to expand...
Ok, so it appears to be inconsistent. For me it only worked in the 1234567890 format, for others it also worked when they broke up the numbers, for others it doesn't come up at all or it doesn't come up correctly. I guess they have some bugs to work out.
 
Mike Irwin is exactly right on this. There are many sites that provide reverse lookup.

And my experience is the same as his.



Do the hits come back as a Google site, or one of the many others?
 
What's the big deal? If you called Ma Bell's 'information' in the 1950's they'd give out he phone number and address also. You just had to go to the gas station to buy a map. If people want to find you they will find you.
 
Scary! Our current number doesn't come up but our previous number has our current address (which is technically wrong) and my name.

And if I type my name in, it says I have a 1998 Dodge Neon. ??? Never owned a Neon. :confused:
 
I use the online phone directories all the time.

I also use mapping software such as MapQuest and MapBlast just as frequently.

Not a problem IMHO until some idiot in your state decides to publsh CCH holder lists. Now I gotta problem!
 
Same with me. My OLD number from the same house comes back but the address IS correct unlike cratz2...

I had it removed...

GT
 
GREAT tip, PreacherMan! :neener:

With CallerID, I don't answer the phone when "unavailable" comes up because they're just telemarketers. I ran a few of them through Google just for grins, and it picked them right up.

This isn't a privacy issue. The telephone numbers are indexed by the web crawlers the commercial databases use. If your number appears on some searchable document somewhere, they will find it.

It's not a privacy issue because your number wasn't private. Google just makes it easier to find non-private information.

Mine didn't come up, mostly because I pay extra for an unlisted number.
 
Hot Dog!

When I type in my number, I get the "Queen Bee Bargain Shop," a now-defunct thrift store that had this number before I did. Almost makes all the wrong number calls worthwhile....
 
Duck Hunt, you do realize, don't you, that by giving us the name of that bargain shop, and putting your state, etc. in your profile, you just gave all of us your telephone number via Google lookup??? :D
 
my numbers unlisted and i pay the extra amount so that my number is flagged to NOT be called by telemarketers, but STILL i get calls every single day trying to sell me stupid stuff. i tell them every time 'take my number off your list PERMANENTLY'. next time i'll ask to speak to a supervisor and inform them that i will take their repeated calls as harrassment and will follow up with legal action.

i dont own a car, so why do i want to be called up every day and asked if i would like a discounted ding-repair?
 
Don't have my address listed in any phone directory, printed or online. You just have to tell the phone company how you want your listing to read, as in:

DOE, John & Jane, Thistown 999-9999


Of course, it also helps that we are on a phone co-op instead of US West.
 
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