Google reverse phone number directory with Mapquest to location

[Desertdog]

I checked my telephone number and it came up with my address and a map right to our house.
Joe
 
This scary......could be dangerous.
 
For those that may be concerned.
there are a number of Reverse Phone look-up sites .

"Google has implemented a new feature which enables you to type a telephone
number into the search bar and hit enter and you will be given the person's
name and address. If you then hit MapQuest, you will get a map to the
person's house. Everyone should be aware of this! It's a nationwide reverse
telephone book.

If a child gives out his/her phone number, someone can now look it up to
find out where he/she lives. The safety issues are obvious, and alarming.
Note that you can have your phone number removed or blocked. I tried my
number and it came up along with the mapquest and directions straight to our
house. I did fill out the removal form for myself, and encourage all of you
to do the same. Quite scary.

Please look up your own number.

In order to test whether your phone number is mapped, go to: google
( http://www.google.com/ ) Type your phone number in the search bar ( i.e. 555-555-1212) and hit enter.

If you want to BLOCK Google from divulging your private information, simply click on your
telephone number and then click on the Removal Form. Removal takes 48-hours.

Check your own number and although this may not apply to you if you have an
unlisted number or cell phone as primary contact, but you may know someone
who needs to know this.

Please share this information with friends and family." =

[K Frame]

Your number is already in the phone book.

I believe that if your number is published, anyone can call the phone company information line and get the address to which the number belongs.

I've heard about how dangerous this is for at least several years, but I've yet to have anyone present a convincing case for how it is more dangerous than any of the other public information avenues that are currently available.

There are numerous reverse phone number sites -- anywho.com, pc411.com, switchboard.com, and I believe that most now offer some type of link to a map service.

The best way to prevet something like this is to get an unlisted number, inform Google that you don't want your number as part of this project, and monitor your kids when they're on the computer.

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

And that's why I'm unlisted.

[Sindawe]

Interesting.  I've had my number published since I moved out of the family home, so this really does not bother me.  I can see how it would bother some, 'specially those who are trying to stay away from other people like abusive ex's and the like.

[zahc]

I don't have a landline phone.

[K Frame]

I don't have a landline phone.

And that certainly is another option.

I know quite a few people who have gone that way.

Mtnbkr and his wife are almost 100% cell phone, but they still maintain a home line, I think mainly for emergency use, like when they have to call the ambulance because their daughter has repeatedly slammed my head in the refrigerator door.

Again.

[onions!]

I don't have a landline phone.

I don't have any phone.

[Tallpine]

Simple - don't list your address in the directory listing.  Most phone companies will have a form to fill out how you want your listing to appear.  Google or anyone else is not going to have any more information that what your phone company publishes.

Ours just says:
Lastname, He & She, Smalltown,  phone-number

Only we don't live in Smalltown, we live somewhere way out in the hills.  It's not even in the same county 



You might have to disconnect your phone and get an new number and listing in order to permanently remove your address from the directories.

[Manedwolf]

This is not new or novel, really. A number of the high-end GPSs do this as well.

Any of the Pioneer AVIC in-car systems do that. You can enter any US phone number, it will give you the address and route you to it.

And instead of a landline, I have a bluetooth docking station for my cellphone at home. When docked, it energizes the rest of the lines and I can call from or pick up any of the other phones to make a call, just as if it were a landline.

I see no reason to pay $40+ a month for a phone that's not where I am at the moment.

[Tallpine]

We have two landlines and the total for both of them is just over $40/mo 

Funny thing is that our second line is unlisted and we are not paying an extra fee for that 

[Ron]

You can get a map for me but it is wrong!

For some reason mapquest and all the others aren't accurate as to where my house is. They get the neighborhood and street right but not the location of the house.

This may come in handy if someone targeting my house with a smart bomb uses mapquest.

[Manedwolf]

Mapquest tries to kill people anyway. I remember pre-GPS days of the thing routing people through warzone neighborhoods and, if they were going north along the ocean on the east coast, telling them to turn right.

[charby]

I see London, I see France, I see some chick's underpants!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=l&hl=en&q=museum&near=San+Francisco,+California,+United+States&ie=UTF8&view=map&om=1&layer=c&cbll=37.777452,-122.504927&cbp=1,289.875024308419,0.628713401659621,3&ll=37.784792,-122.502236&spn=0.015093,0.029182&z=15


make sure to click on the orangish colored guy!

[Art Eatman]

Hey, they're only about 20 miles wrong on their map.  Farther, by road. :D:D

The Yahoo map is only off by about four miles.

Art

[Paddy]

Sounds like a lot of paranoia to me.  There are plenty of other ways to find you, if someone wants to.  And why would you be worried if they did?

[Tallpine]

There are plenty of other ways to find you, if someone wants to.

Yeah, just drive around the countryside until you see an old man with a long beard and a shotgun sitting in front of a barn 

[onions!]

Tallpine?
Not to drag up any bad juju but didn't you have a problem w/someone showing too much interest in a family member last...summer?How'd that work out?

Our am I having an old timers moment?

[Tallpine]

That was a couple years ago now, onions!

The "problem someone" lived on the property right next door, so phone number lookup was never an issue.  The problem was that he had an easement for his driveway right through our land, and he had all sorts of "guests" who were mostly felons.

Anyway, he got sent to federal prison for a while, sold his place to a nice guy who has only been out here for a couple of hunting seasons.  We now have a locked gate across the drive, and I've been checking the place for the new owner who still lives out of state.

We did have a couple of his "associates" show up 6 months after he went away to jail.  I had to run them off and came about this || close to pulling a gun on them.  But that has been a year and a half ago now.  And my daughters are moved out and gone to another state.

I really don't think he will have the nerve to show up in this neighborhood again.  Several people have threatened to shoot him on sight.

[onions!]

Good,I'm glad it worked itself out w/out death or dis-memberment.
'couple of years?*snicker*where does the time go?

[Antibubba]

I'm not seeing a "REMOVE" option anywhere.

[Jamisjockey]

No standard web pages containing all your search terms were found.

[mtnbkr]

Mtnbkr and his wife are almost 100% cell phone, but they still maintain a home line, I think mainly for emergency use, like when they have to call the ambulance because their daughter has repeatedly slammed my head in the refrigerator door.

Yup.  We keep the home phone to give out to businesses that don't need our immediate attention (most of them).  We don't make outgoing calls on it though, just check the answering machine and call back via cell.

Chris

[SomeKid]

Has the wrong name on my home number...and it appears they think I am homeless and crazy. The map has me living square in the middle of a busy 5 lane street.

[Tallpine]

Good,I'm glad it worked itself out w/out death or dis-memberment.

Yeah, I had to seriously restrain myself from taking "pre-emptive action"   

[Tallpine]

#$%^&*   onions!

We just got a call from the guy that owns the place next door (he lives on the east coast), and he said the previous owner left him a msg that he is going to be visiting somebody in our neighborhood next week and he wants to gets some more stuff out of the house.  The new owner (he has owned it 2 yrs now) told us that under no circumstances was this dirtbag to come on his property (the access to it is through our land).

Damn! I thought I was through with this stuff    At least we can run him off without question at this point.

I'm trying to figure out if I should call the sheriff with advance notice of possible problems...?   Maybe I should call the new owner and ask him to call the local county sheriff and advise him of his viewpoint on access to his property ?  A deputy was out here about 18 months ago concerning the last trespassing incident.

Sorry about the thread drift ... maybe I should start a new one?