ON Tuesday, March 25, 2003, 1:57:50 PM, you wrote: S> Hello tbudl'ers and the other TB! lists,
S> Sorry for the cross-post, but I feel it is VERY important to get the S> word out on this. S> I received a very ominous message today from another mailing list. I S> have enclosed it in its entirety below. Read it and weep! Please S> note that the MapQuest return for the listing even includes an aerial S> PHOTO of your home or business location!! Hi Spike, Next time do some research before you post eRumours. Please read the below. Btw the function only works for US telephone numbers. That should tell you something. ,----------- [ Summary of the eRumor ]--- | | This is a warning that the search engine at www.google.com has a feature | that will map the location of a telephone number. It suggests having | Google remove your number so anyone with harmful motives will not be | able to use the feature against you. | | | The Truth | This is one of those eRumors that focuses on a non-sinister feature of | the Internet and makes it sound sinister. We have not been able to find | any evidence that any law enforcement agency has issued any warnings | about the Google search for phone numbers. | | Google.com is one of the most versatile search engines on the Internet. | One of the features built into Google is the ability to conveniently | look up information from the White Pages of any telephone book. If you | type a name, address, and city of a person with a listed phone number, | you will probably get that person's White Pages listing which includes | the telephone number. As an added feature, Google includes a couple of | mapping services in case you want to look up the location. In the same | way, you can enter the telephone number alone and if it is a listed | number, you'll get the complete listing including the address and, if | desired, the mapping to that address. | | The problem with the eRumor is that it makes it sound as though this is | privileged information, which it is not. It's the same information that | could be gotten from a phone book or directory assistance. It also makes | it sound as though the feature is specifically for the purpose of | entering a phone number and finding a map. It is not. The feature finds | all the listed information about phone number and includes the mapping | if you choose it. | | If, for some reason, you do not wish for your information to be | available through Google, you can, as the eRumor describes, click the | telephone icon next to your information and they will remove you from | their database, but that means very little. The reason the information | is there is because it's public and removing it from Google doesn't | prevent anyone from having it. They can go to the telephone book, | directory assistance, or any of the other pages on the Internet that | have name, address, and telephone information. If you don't want the | information to be public, contact your telephone provider and ask about | an unlisted number or a number that does not list your address. | `----------------- You can read more here: http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/google.htm -- Best regards, Gerard -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The friends you make on the golf course are the friends you make for life. Using The Bat! v1.62h on Windows 2000 5.0 Build 2195 Service Pack 3 ________________________________________________ Current version is 1.62 | "Using TBUDL" information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
