Well gentle readers it seems that our friendly neighborhood spider-crawler is crossing the line of decency.
There is a new feature that allows you to enter a phone number into the search bar, and if your number is listed google will return a yahoo! and mapquest map straight to your doorstep.
Here is an example: Search for 859-296-4400 this is a business by the way, so I feel no remorse for linking them here. You will notice that the first entry has a phone icon next to it, that is the new feature.
To find out if you are affected, just hop on over and type your phone number in, using the following formatting pattern: 555-555-5555. This has many legal ramifications, the least of which being the protection of minors from pedophiles that they meet on line. With todays technology you could easily discover the phone number of someone you are chatting with through AOL, then feed that into google and BAM! you have thier home address.
All is not lost though, if you find that you are listed and would like to take yourself out of circulation you can click the phone icon that appears next to the search result and opt out, or you can follow this link.
Stroll on over and visit Tim
March 1, 2007
What’s your concern? Combining the address listed in the phone book with the telephone number and generating a map seems a pretty trivial thing.
Stroll on over and visit Chris J. Davis
March 1, 2007
Well for starters, there is now one less level of obfuscation between less than desireable individuals and myself.
Sure you can learn the phone number and look through the phone book; but now that Google has brought this online, those that would not have taken the time to grab a phone book can now just type it into the search bar.
Not to mention that it infringes on my right to privacy, not to mention that I have the right to over-react in regards to whatever I wish! Ha…
Err… I don’t think I am actually over-reacting on this one.
Stroll on over and visit Mr. Hibbity Gibbity
March 1, 2007
Hey Tim. Since you don’t seem to have a problem with it, how about you give me your phone number … :)
In fact, I think everyone that visits this site should give me their phone numbers.
That way, I can show up unexpectedly and demand that you feed and entertain me.
Wow. The possibilities for harassment are endless!
Stroll on over and visit Prisca
March 1, 2007
Mr. HG, you make me laugh out loud! My husband and I would welcome you on our doorstep — and the exchange of stories would be very entertaining. One of our favorite things from ages past: sit around the dinner table with new friends and talk about the journey. (My original comment disappeared without my hitting ‘Say it!’ thus this is not a resubmission but a reconstruction of what was eaten by cyberspace.)
Stroll on over and visit Mr. Hibbity Gibbity
March 1, 2007
Aw, shucks. Thanks Prisca. While many people tend to view my humor as being as subtle as a sledgehammer or as hilarious as having ones finger slammed in a car door, it’s nice to know that there are some who ‘get it’.
That makes me smile and that, in turn, is the recipients gift to me.
Of course, don’t think I didn’t notice that despite your open-door offer, you didn’t provide a phone number or address. :) I see how it is.
Hehe.
Stroll on over and visit Joshu'a
March 1, 2007
I’ve been using www.anywho.com for years to do reverse lookups. Google just makes it easier and perhaps more mainstream.