Google Phonebook

[carinab]

I received an email from a relative and expected it to be another "urban legend." However to my dismay, it was actually true.

If you go to google and type in your phone number (full area code and number) and hit search, it will list your name and home address with not one but two convenient map links. I don't know how they got a hold of my information!!!

I have not had a phone in my name for at least six years (it's been in my husband's name). Even when I had my own account, it was unlisted and all of my utilities are password protected. Only after I had been re-married for awhile did I get rid of my post office box and put my real address on my drivers license. I finally changed to my married name this last year with USPSA. No, I'm not a paranoid militia member. When I left Kalifornia I also left an mentally unbalanced ex-spouse and I didn't want to be found. I've heard from aquaintances that he has remarried so hopefully he is no longer burning my effigy in his backyard. But, I still don't want my home address and telephone number listed on google for the free universe to look up.

If you discover your info is listed, use this link Google Phonebook Name removal form

You'll only need suffer for another 48 hours before they remove your entry.

BTW, check the other look up links on their removal form. I think I've decided it was our property tax records that got us onto all of these lists....

[sleipnir]

While Google now makes it easier people have always been able to get that information from reverse phone books -- if they knew which towns to look in. These phone books are commonly, and freely, available in local public libraries.

FYI, while my land line is listed, my cell number is not listed. I would give up the land line in a New York minute if it wasn't necessary for my wife's business.

[SiG Lady]

Hmm... it didn't find MINE. Whew. Unlisted for (X) number of years. No property ownership. Still, though, there are DMV records......

[MikeFoley]

My unlisted number wasn't there either. Anonymity is getting tougher for sure.

[j1b]

We did it, and it showed up.

Scary - we got it nixed but still . . .

JB

[warpspeed]

I put mine in and nothing came up.

I'm unlisted but Property & DMV here in CA both have my address but I doubt phone #.

[Putty]

Google is pure Evil........

[diehli]

If anyone wants to find you online, they can. There are places online where people can check your name for criminal records (I think I'm gonna have to do that to see what the hell is on my record before I apply for my CA CCW). See www.intelius.com, for example.

[Gun Geek]

The info on google is from phone records - either the phone company shares it, or there are "data entry" companies that pay people to sit with a phonebook and type the stuff into a database.

This info has been readily available for years. Google just makes it easier to get to, which is the problem, of course.

[faustulus]

I got that email too and it really amused me. I mean really, my name and address have been available for years in the phone book. Heck all some one had to do is (gasp) look it up. Heck they could even have gone down to the courthouse and seen how much i paid for my property. Maybe I am being silly, but quite frankly I am not hiding from anyone. The people that frighten me already have all the information they need.

[geezer-lock]

If anyone wants to find you online, they can. There are places online where people can check your name for criminal records (I think I'm gonna have to do that to see what the hell is on my record before I apply for my CA CCW). See www.intelius.com, for example.

That's encouraged in Texas because any little forgotten misstep will delay or deny your application. And don't leave ANY gaps in your employment or residency listings.

geezer