Reverse directory

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5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#20980 4-Oct-2005 10:41

Maybe you should read Freitsam response as to why, additionally the reason i wanted it in the first place was so I could find out who numbers were on the phone bill without incurring another expense.

Myabe you think telecom is great but there is still human involvement at some point and anytime there is human involvement the liklihood of errors occur, have you thought about how much extra money telecom could be getting in profts if each bill issued had one extra call you never made on it??

ps A lot of policy is based on what other countries do, you don't have to buy in because one country does, but you can look to the advantages that people in other countries have because of that policy

davidhusselmann

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#20984 4-Oct-2005 11:27

Maybe a compromise is in order; Telecom could publish a reverse directory that gives you the initials and surname of the person that called, not the address and other personal information. Just make the directory ambiguous on purpose, so you can't trace a call back to a particular person. All I'd like to do is have an automated caller id that shows me a name - and I'm lazy so I don't want to enter all this.

tonyhughes

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#20990 4-Oct-2005 14:13

TC101: Maybe you should read Freitsam response as to why, additionally the reason i wanted it in the first place was so I could find out who numbers were on the phone bill without incurring another expense.

MMmmm yeah, but someone knew - at the time of dialling. That information could be recorded at the time. I see why the information is wanted though.

Myabe you think telecom is great but there is still human involvement at some point and anytime there is human involvement the liklihood of errors occur, have you thought about how much extra money telecom could be getting in profts if each bill issued had one extra call you never made on it??

Its nothing to do with what I think of Telecom (an opinion of mine that changes just about daily - they have lots of good points and lots of bad points, just like any company). What I dont see though is how knowing the name of the account called could possibly be a factor in whether the call was actually made or not. Any issue of extra billing is probably a wider, more important issue than a reverse directory?

ps A lot of policy is based on what other countries do, you don't have to buy in because one country does, but you can look to the advantages that people in other countries have because of that policy

There are disadvantages too, and a balanced view is helpful sometimes. In general i think the concept is great, but personally it would move me to protect my telephone privacy a little more than I do now.

I wonder how number portability will change this game? (If at all?)

bradstewart

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#21018 4-Oct-2005 22:12

I know its not quite the same, but i use telecoms bill online system, when a call appears on my account i just click on the number and it tells me who the number is registered, works for all landline numbers although not many mobiles are registered. As long as they in the white pages it will show the persons name. I find that very handy

tonyhughes

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#21034 5-Oct-2005 08:32

Ya learn something new every day. that sounds like a step in the right direction - controlled access the system.

tonyhughes

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#21035 5-Oct-2005 08:33

is there a URL you can re-type to check the name on any number? Not just one on your phone bill?

sbiddle

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#21045 5-Oct-2005 11:00

Italk have a similair system with their online billing where you can see the name of the person (or business) you called. Their system also has this information for Australia as well which is pretty cool. There is no link to view this, it's just text.

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bradstewart

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#21048 5-Oct-2005 11:38

It just shows the number as a link, you click and a window pops up with info on the call and the persons name if any. Thats the only way to get as far as im aware

tonyhughes

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#21050 5-Oct-2005 15:43

mmmm.. i was thinking that if the link was like

.../reveselookup&number=6461234567

And it didnt check to make sure a number was actually on your bill, then you could look up any number.

bradstewart

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#21056 5-Oct-2005 16:42

the link looks like:

javascript:parm1="200509081345";mylaunchRemote();

the number being the id of the call. so there doesnt seem anyway of inserting a phone number to check

palnz

13 posts

Geek

#21255 10-Oct-2005 19:30

reverse phonebooks, arent they for telemarketers? sell me something i need for a change!

Andy_Walker

89 posts

Master Geek

#21296 11-Oct-2005 00:14

A reverse directory for private phone numbers is in breach of the privicy act, but that does not apply for business numbers.

UBD offer a CD-ROM master directory of businesse that I use like a reverse directory. You can check a number from your caller ID to see who called you, but of course it only contains business numbers.

I yellow pages used to be avaliable on CD-ROM & had that function. I assume it still is these days.

catdog

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#455904 6-Apr-2011 13:26

Sorry for bringing up such an old post, but a google search dug it up.

I came across a website that provides reverse lookup searching for personal phone numbers (listed in the phonebook) http://personlookup.co.nz/ Given that it is also being indexed by google, it makes it very easy to find personal details from a phone number.

Andy_Walker: A reverse directory for private phone numbers is in breach of the privicy act, but that does not apply for business numbers.

Can anyone provide a link or the wording that specifically would prevent a reverse lookup being allowed in NZ? Assuming that the details are sourced from yellow, perhaps I should contact them and complain?

My phone number was supposed to be unpublished*, so it came as a shock to find it on the site above. A quick search shows that it is also published on yellow.co.nz. It explains why we have had a large increase in telemarketers and "your computer has a virus" scammer calls lately. Now obviously this is a stuff up on either yellow or xnet's behalf (who provide my phone), and is likely against their privacy policy, but is there going to be any point getting it unlisted/unpublished if it is already on telemarketers lists?

*"Non-Published = listing is only available from 018 Directory Assistance"