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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Phone search on Web
turns up addressesQuestion: I received an alarming e-mail that was forwarded to me by a friend.
The e-mail said to go to www.google.com, type in your phone number (separated by hyphens, including area code) and click on Google search. If your phone number is listed, it will show your name and address and give you two map options: Yahoo and MapQuest. Any person wishing to discover the physical location of a phone number could receive directions on how to get there from anywhere in the country.
However, Google has an option that will allow anyone to remove their telephone number from the database linked to the mapping feature.
You will first need to check if your number is listed by attempting a search. If the number appears in the mapping database, an icon resembling a telephone will appear. Clicking on this icon will take you to a page containing a description of the service and a link to request your number be removed. So far, unlisted numbers and cell phone numbers do not show up. Can you warn your readers about this?
Answer: We randomly checked numbers in the Verizon Hawaii phone directory.
It appears that if the addresses are published, that information will show up on the Google search, in which case a map giving directions is available.
We typed in several telephone numbers with no addresses given, and no addresses or maps popped up on Google.
This phone number-map feature is available on any number of Web sites, using information that's supposedly already publicly available.
On its Web site, for example, Google says the information it provides is for publicly listed phone numbers and addresses. That information is collected by a third-party provider that searches telephone directories and other public records available elsewhere on the Web.
Google suggests that if you don't want this information widely disseminated, you should contact your local phone company and ask to be both unlisted and unpublished.
Verizon Hawaii customers can do this by calling 643-3456, said spokeswoman Ann Nishida.
It costs $1.20 a month to have nonpublished numbers (which do not appear in the telephone directory and are not available by calling directory assistance at 411) or nonlisted numbers (which are not listed in the directory but available by calling 411), she said.
Verizon customers can ask to have addresses omitted in the directory listing at no charge.
Google cautions people that removing a listing from the Google phone book does not mean personal information will be removed from other pages on the Web or from other reverse phone listing look-up services, such as Anywho, Switchboard.com, Whitepages.com, Reverse Phone Directory, Phonenumber.com or Smartpages.com.
Mahalo
To the person(s) who found my cellular phone and turned it in to the Queen's Physicians Office Building II Pharmacy. I didn't realize it had fallen off my bag until I returned home. Your kind gesture really brightened my day. -- Grateful
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