At 10:17 PM 6/15/03, Garth Wood wrote:
Didn't work on my home phone number, either using google.ca or
google.com. I'm assuming this is a "danger" unique to continental U.S.
phone numbers?
Don't think I would characterize this as a "danger." Messages like this
prey on people's suprise. It does work for **listed** U.S. telephone
numbers, and may work for currently unlisted numbers that were listed at
one time in the past. Even if Google stopped doing this type of search, I
can use the "reverse lookup" feature on any one of several on-line
directories to find the name/address for a listed telephone number, and
then copy/paste the address into an on-line mapping site opened up in a
second browser window. Very nearly as fast without visiting Google's servers.
In addition, it can also be done by looking things up in "dead tree"
reverse listing directories, which BTW have been around for decades, and
then visiting the local AAA office and requesting a map for the city (and
buying a membership, if you're not already a member). It simply takes
longer to do that.
The Forgotten Factoids:
This type of search requires that you *know* the phone number of the person
you want to find to begin with! Plugging in random phone numbers doesn't
get very far toward finding a particular person, nor does a "brute force
and ignorance" method of entering numbers in sequentially. There are too
many millions of phone numbers to have much hope of finally finding what
you're looking for in the span of a human lifetime. Within a single U.S.
area code, there are 9,999,999 possible telephone numbers.
Bottom Line:
If a person's telephone number is "listed," it's essentially public
information and available to anyone through forward and reverse lookup
means from many, many sources! The *real* solution to "privacy" of
phone/name/address, if it's desired, is having an **unlisted** telephone
number!!!
-- John
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|