It's funny all this talk about getting information on people on
GOOGLE. Look at what just happened these last two days.
Here is the story:
Leaving the apartment Tuesday morning for work, I find a wallet
nestled in the grass getting wet by the sprinklers. It was a few feet
away from the bus stop. Nobody else was around. I pick up the wallet
and with a glance I see a driver's license, credit cards, basically
the whole works. It belongs to a young woman named Kimberly. (No need
to give the last name, I suppose.) Since she is not there, and the bus
stop occasionally attracts weird characters, I take the wallet to work.
Arriving at my office, I right away try to get a telephone number to
tell Kimberly that I have her wallet. I figure she must be frantic
with worry. The driver's licence shows her address (near 19th and
Pico) but there is no telephone number. I use GOOGLE to find the
telephone number. I then use WHOWHERE. Then I call the operator. No
luck at all! It doesn't matter that I have her complete address. Her
number is not listed.
What next? I hate going through her stuff... Another quick look, and I
find her Blockbuster membership card.
I call Blockbuster. The guy on the line verifies her membership
number, and says he cannot give out her phone number. No problem! I
tell him to tell her about the wallet and give her my name and number.
He gives a lukewarm "Sure..."
Now in the afternoon, I call back Blockbuster. I learn that the guy
did in fact try to reach Kimberly but that the number they had was no
longer current. Ugh.
I leave work in the early evening with the intention of going to
Kimberly's apartment and giving her the wallet. The location is not
out of my way at all. I knock on the door, and a young woman answers.
She is not the one in the driver's licence - a possible roommate??
I find out that this woman has lived here for six months. Kimberly was
the previous tenant. No forwarding address or telephone number. Ugh.
Well, enough for one day...
Now at work this morning, I try again. I carefully go through the
wallet. More cards and numbers. Is there anything with Kimberly's
current number or address??? Or even a friend's number or address??
Success!! I find an insurance card with an address for Kimberly on
Montana Avenue. Maybe she moved here? It makes sense, since I found
the wallet in the area. Now for the second time I use our wonderful
GOOGLE to get her telephone number. Again, not listed!
Convinced that this must be her current address, I call my mother who
lives nearby, and ask her to go to that address. Either tell them in
person, or leave a note!
About ten minutes later I get a call here at work from Kimberly's
roommate. He was grateful that the wallet was safe with me. They had
been very worried. I will see them tonight to return it...
Anyway, if someone wants to keep their number unlisted, I don't think
it's so easy to get it!
John
--- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, Joy McCann
<jmmccann_at_s...> wrote:
> "Weird Uncle David"? Hm.
>
> When I got this message last winter, I tried it maybe 25 times, and
> it worked it in perhaps a third of the cases. I only freaked and sent
> out frantic e-mails when it displayed the addresses of single women
> living alone--which only happened in one or two cases, since most
> single women living alone are careful and have unlisted numbers. BTW,
> it does *not* work with John T.--you get a town and a zip code, but
> no actual street address. Mostly all you get is a zip code, and
> sometimes even that isn't accurate (90405 instead of 90403, etc.).
>
> Actually, Lenny, I had been meaning to talk to you about it, but I
> kept losing the little piece of paper with a note on it to let
> the remaining "positives" know.
>
> --Q.M.
>
> * * * * *
>
> Not this again. Our daycare sent out a panic message about this,
> asking parents to tell their kids never to give out their home phone
> number in fear some evil person would use to trace the home address
> and kidnap the kids.
>
> So after teaching my kids about our number and address (in case of
> emergency) I now have to figure out someway to teach the kids who's a
> good versus bad person. Great, considering most incidences of kid
> abuse/kidnapping involve relatives...
>
> "Kids, don't give our home phone to anyone - not even Grandma or weird
> Uncle David. Don't dial it on a public phone since someone may be
> covertly watching you dial. Don't use a cell phone since someone may
> be eavesdropping. When you talk don't move your lips since someone may
> be lipreading. Only grunt using encrypted Klingon with the sun behind
> your back for maximum blinding purposes."
>
> -Ozzy
>
> "Paranoia's for those without a nuclear arsenal." - Ozzy 4/13/04
>
> --- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, "7visions"
> <7visions_at_p...> wrote:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From:
> > Did you know about this? My number worked, so did John's. Mike's did
> not...Did not test anyone else's
> > ----- Original Message -----
> >
> > This was sent to me by a friend -- it works -- .
> >
> > Google has implemented a new feature wherein you can type someone's
> >
> > telephone number into the search bar and hit enter and then you will
> be
> >
> > given a map to their house. Before forwarding this, I tested it by
> >
> > typing my telephone number in google.com. My phone number came up,
> and
> >
> > when I clicked on the MapQuest link, it mapped the location to my
> home!
> >
> >
> >
> > Please look up your own number. Read below for details. Consider the
> >
> > issues here -- if ANYONE gives out his phone number, someone can
> >
> > actually now look it up to find out where he lives. The safety
> issues
> >
> > are obvious, and alarming, particularly for youngsters.
> >
> >
> > This is not a hoax as you will see. the article appeared in Sunday's
> >
> > NYTimes. In order to test if your phone number is mapped, go to:
> >
> > www.google.com Type your phone number in the search bar with dashes
> >
> > only (i.e., 555-555-1212) and hit Enter. This will divulge your name
> >
> > and address. You will see a link option to the right for Mapquest
> >
> > (click on it), which will use the address to provide a map to your
> home
> >
> > or place of business.
> >
> >
> >
> > If you want to BLOCK Google from divulging your private
> >
> > information, click on the telephone icon next to your phone number
> >
> > after Google responds with your name and address. It takes 48-hours
> to
> >
> > remove it with a form to complete.
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
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Received on 2004-04-14 13:55:39