Phone Number Searches Can Point to Addresses, Maps

I received one of those mass emails this week from a friend, alarmed by a "new" feature from Google that allows you to put a phone number in the search line and turn up the person's address and a map showing directions to her home.

As Snopes.com, the web site that checks out urban legends, notes, this is true but far from new. You can do the same thing on Yahoo! search, too, and on reverse directory web sites. But I understand the concern, particularly when it comes to our kids' cell phone numbers. I've heard parents say they worry that their kids may give out phone numbers to people and not realize how easily they can find out where they live along with the directions to get there.

The bigger issue is if your teen were to give a phone number to someone that she/he or you wouldn't want to know where you live. If you think that's happening, it's time for a serious talk. 

You can remove numbers from the services, and I'll tell you how below. But that won't remove the bigger issue of giving numbers out to untrustworthy people, or the fact that much of our personal information is no longer private. As Snopes says: "The larger issue is that many entitities we deal with in daily life who are privy to our personal information can make that information to sources that compile databases, which services such as Google PhoneBook use."

When I put my cell phone number into the search lines, no address came up, but it did for our home number. If you want to remove yours from the Google directory, click on the line that reads, "Phone Book Results for (the number)." Then click on the line that reads, "Request to have your name removed from this list," and fill out the online form. It will be removed within 48 hours.

On Yahoo!, it's less clear. There's a "Remove my listing" link, but when you click on it, it brought me to a Yahoo! Help page and not to a telephone number removal form as promised. I am looking into that.

Still, even if you remove numbers from these two lists, know there are other sources, and efforts like this are really scattershot and probably not terribly effective.

LINK: Google PhoneBook [Snopes.com]