| What Were They Thinking? Thank you Lois for bringing the following to my attention ... frankly, it scares me to pieces [and I thought google was one of the "good guys"]! Lois wrote:
"Try this to see if your address AND THEN A MAP TO YOUR HOUSE (!!!) comes up when you type your phone number into google. Isn't there a law?" Google now includes a feature that lets you type a telephone number into their search bar, click the search button, and have either Yahoo Maps
or MapQuest map out directions to that phone number. Any person wishing to discover the physical location of a phone number, be it a home or business address, can use this feature to locate a street address and receive step-by-step directions on how to get there from anywhere in the country. Google has included an option which allows you to remove your number from the database linking it to the mapping feature. First, check to see if your number is listed. Go to www.google.com, enter your full phone number separated by dashes (e.g., 555-123-4567) then click on "Google Search." If the number is in the mapping database, a telephone icon will appear next to the first or second entry on the results page. Clicking on this icon will take you to a page containing a description of the service and a link where you can request that your number be removed from the database. Also Note that there is the following disclaimer on the opt-out page of google: IMPORTANT NOTE:Removing your phonebook listing will not remove your personal information from other pages on the web or from other reverse phone listing lookup services, such as: [personal note -- if we can't access government papers, get copies of our own medical records, or have our own MDs be able to access our records when we're in the hospital, where is the privacy thinking with this little tool, eh?]
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