alwayssilver said:I'm not sure if this is news or not, but recently I recieved an email about google.com. Well I went to the site, typed in my phone number starting with the area code like this ###-###-#### and not only did I get my name, and address to appear, but also a detailed map to my home. I think everyone should check this out and get there names off of that.
Nah, I would just be a better parent to teach them never to do that and to monitor their online activities. Did you think of that? No, I doubt you did.alwayssilver said:Have you ever thought about a kid giving out there phone number online? Some guy or girl typing it up, getting a map to that kids house, and making there way over there? No I doubt you did.
GirlsDoItToo said:Holy crap! Google has a phone book!1!1!eleven!!!
It's nothing new. In fact there are hundreds of websites that do exactly that. It's called a reverse look-up and is only available when a persons phone number is listed in the phone book. If you would rather people not be able to type in your phone number and get a map to your house, perhaps you should not have your phone number listed.
Not to mention, I don't know if you're anything like me, but chances are if people have my phone number, they already know where I live.
GirlsDoItToo said:Nah, I would just be a better parent to teach them never to do that and to monitor their online activities. Did you think of that? No, I doubt you did.
Calm down. Damn.
Well, my argument is that my sister has a 14 and 13 year old. Both have MySpace accounts. And, as we know, MySpace is a place for predators. She monitors them very, very well. So, I do chalk it up to good parenting. Just face it, good parents exist and so do bad. Unlike most parents she only lets them online when she is around and able to monitor their activity.Cid said:Ha. You can't control your kids, or keep an eye on them 24/7. We live in an age where talking doesn't do the trick, and your safe word "I'll monitor their online activities" doesn't cut it either.
Cid said:I doubt a lot of people are like you. Never look ahead, never look at the possibilities. Do you think kids are any safer online now that they have been warned about how people are? No. Heck I did a study where I went online with a game called Maple Story, went up to some random person and said "Hey it's me!" And "You told me about this game." Not only did that person believe me, but supplied me with information about the person she believed me to be, and information about herself. I bet without trying I could have gotten a phone number out of her. I wrote an article about it in the paper as well. Surprised a few people in the process. So drop the sarcasm because you don't speak for everyone on this site. Some people might want to know about possible risks that could come to their families.
GirlsDoItToo said:Well, my argument is that my sister has a 14 and 13 year old. Both have MySpace accounts. And, as we know, MySpace is a place for predators. She monitors them very, very well. So, I do chalk it up to good parenting. Just face it, good parents exist and so do bad. Unlike most parents she only lets them online when she is around and able to monitor their activity.
Also, back on topic:
A phone book gives a name and address of a person when you look up their name. Typically, a person's name is much more easy to come across and more widely used as opposed to just randomly finding a phone number.
Reverse look ups have come in handy in the past with me when someone would prank call or what not. I could type in their number and find out who it is. Much like caller ID, but with more effort.
I have to go to work now. Have fun kids.
GirlsDoItToo said:Nah, I would just be a better parent to teach them never to do that and to monitor their online activities. Did you think of that? No, I doubt you did.
Calm down. Damn.
GirlsDoItToo said:Nah, I would just be a better parent to teach them never to do that and to monitor their online activities. Did you think of that? No, I doubt you did.
Calm down. Damn.
isabeau said:hey daughter of mine....i never knew that putting one's number in a phone book, which is local...would be broadcast all over the internet for weirdos to find...
It's not terribly expensive to make a number unlisted. And if it's essential for business then just get a separate business line. It'll be a tax deductible expense.isabeau said:it costs money to make your phone number unlisted...and my husband needs his number listed for business reasons..
Redmage said:The whole "online security" threat is overblown. We spend so much time worrying about "predators" online, but the plain fact is that even today 90-95% of sexual assaults and molestations are committed by people the victim knows offline, or who identified and began stalking the victim offline. But do we spend 90 to 95% of our attention on the threat that really deserves it? No, because we're so focused on the vague and anonymous threat of the internet.
Just make your number unlisted. Then people can't look it up. End of worry.
Redmage said:It's not terribly expensive to make a number unlisted. And if it's essential for business then just get a separate business line. It'll be a tax deductible expense.
In your case however I don't think it matters. You can exercise adult care in giving your phone number out, and don't need to worry about an unsuspecting child handing it to an online predator.
Cid said:I understand that. But in any fight to protect others you have to take smaller steps. To protect children you take a thousand smaller steps in order to do something larger. And this is one of those steps. I'm pretty passionate about the protection of children, and making parents aware of things.
]Redmage said:It's not terribly expensive to make a number unlisted. And if it's essential for business then just get a separate business line. It'll be a tax deductible expense.
In your case however I don't think it matters. You can exercise adult care in giving your phone number out, and don't need to worry about an unsuspecting child handing it to an online predator.
Highway101 said:I understand that. I was just rather amused by some of these grown ups who have provided me with more information than I know about my own grandparents sweating their security. God forbid they are protecting any children.
Ticklemaster750 said:I thought all of the stalkers were hanging around myspace.com
That's actually my point. You don't have to worry about that nearly as much as you think you do. The chance of them being hurt by someone you know personally and have invited into your home is far greater than the chance of them being harmed by someone online.Cid said:It ain't over blown. If it were overblown we still wouldn't have to worry about our kids doing something stupid like give out there personal information, or meeting someone offline.
If we saw huge nationwide advertising campaigns and weekly media stories about protecting kids from the dangers of lightning bolts, we might wonder what all the fuss was about. Certainly, kids ARE killed by lightning. But there are so many more important threats that most people just give their kids some commonsense instructions and then rightly don't spend a lot of time worrying about it unless they actually see their kids playing under a tree during a thunderstorm. This is like that.Just because the numbers small doesn't mean it isn't important.
I'm sorry, but that doesn't even make sense. I don't need to do anything special to get a "foothold" in a thread. All I have to do is click "Post Reply" and start typing. And yes, it is vague, because people are being scared by shadows. A scant handful of tragedies are being inflated into a huge faceless threat that clearly has you all worked up. But the actual threat is small. There are much more important problems to worry about out there, and only so much time in which to worry. So I think kids are better served by giving each threat the attention it merits, based on the actual risk.That's just a cop out to get a footing in this little debate. And if these threats were vague than there wouldn't be dead kids from the results of them.
About the subject of this thread - people looking the number up online to get the address? Yes, that's exactly what it means. If the number is unlisted you can stop worrying about that.And one more thing. Just because you make your number unlisted doesn't mean you can stop worrying.
