Email Addresses, Phone Numbers, and Maps

This material has been developed to accompany:

"Searching and Researching on the Internet and the World Wide Web, Fourth Edition" ISBN 1-59028-036-9
"The Information Searcher's Guide to Searching and Researching on the Internet & the World Wide Web" ISBN 1-887902-58-9

Email Addresses, Phone Numbers, and Maps

Topics

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using These Services	Privacy and Ethics Issues
Keeping Current: White Pages and Map Services

Activities

Finding an Individual's Email Address, Mailing Address, and Phone Number

Searching for a Business Address, a Phone Number, a Map, and Driving Directions

There are several services for finding information about people or businesses, and their Web sites are relatively easy to locate. One site is the "Yahoo! People Search ."

Because these services are used to look up addresses and phone numbers, they're often called people finders or white pages services.

If you try more than one service, you'll notice that they are similar. They all search their databases using the information you enter into fields in a form. Each field holds a specific type of information that matches entries in the database. For example, typing El Paso in the field labeled Last Name isn't likely to help you find information about an address in El Paso. The database will instead be searched for people whose last name is El Paso. This type of searching, which is based on the entries or values of specific predefined categories, is called field searching.

The white page services give you fast access to very large databases of email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, and other information. Some services also provide maps, driving directions, and information about businesses in a specific area.: Here are several good reasons to use these services:

You met people at a conference, business meeting, or another situation, and you want to get in touch with them again.
You wonder which of your old or current friends have email and what their addresses might be.
You’re applying for a job or interviewing at a company, so you want the company address, a map of the surrounding area, information about the community in which it’s located, and directions by car.

You use your Web browser to access these services and information. That means you can use the tools and techniques you have already acquired and don’t need to learn how to work with an entirely new program or interface to the database. Also, you can use the browser to save, print, or email your search results if you want to take them with you.

The main disadvantage is that many times, you can't find the information you'd like for an individual. The overwhelming majority of entries in these databases are related to businesses. Listings for individuals appear when people register (give information about themselves) in these directories. Individual listings also come from addresses people use when they post an article on Usenet or from membership or mailing lists that are often related to computers.

It is impossible to find a directory of everyone with access to the Internet-there's no central control of registry service for Internet users, and no single agency could keep pace with the increasing numbers of people using the Internet and World Wide Web. Sometimes you can only find information for folks who use computers and the Internet, or information that may be out-of-date or inaccurate. The surest way, if you can do it, is to ask people directly for their email addresses!

Privacy and Ethics Issues

Where does the information in these databases originate? Most of the services obtain their information from public sources, such as published phone books and registration lists for online services. All services encourage individuals to register with them. If you register, you must provide information about yourself. In return, you gain access to some features not available to the general public. Some services only list information provided by registered users or by those who have supplied data on another voluntary basis.
What control does an individual have over the information in these databases? Much of it comes from public sources, such as phone books, so accuracy and issues of whether a listing appears at all sometimes need to be addressed at the source of the information. You can request that you not be listed in such services. Most of the online white pages services make it relatively easy for you to do that. The problem is that you have to send an email request or fill out a form for each service. There's no way to ask that information about you be hidden or removed from every service.
Can users perform so-called reverse searches? For example, can they type in a phone number and find the name and address of the person with that number? This feature isn't available in most services, but it is available in some. Using this capability would help someone identify a person based on the phone number. Services in which the user pays a fee for searching often permit these reverse searches. These include CD-ROM-based databases that give full access to phone book information

Questions related to ethical use of the information almost all deal with using the information for online junk mail-mass mailings related to commercial activity. Such unsolicited email (usually advertising something or soliciting money) is called spam. Phone listings in online databases could also be used to generate lists for commercial calls for telemarketing.

Most of the services on the Web include a policy statement saying that the information they provide isn't to be used for commercial purposes, but the services don't police the people searching their databases. In their statements, they only promise to respond to complaints from others. It's really up to individuals to protect their privacy and to demand ethical behavior on the Web and the Internet.

Before registering for one of these services, you need to read policies about how your personal information will be used. You can usually find such policies by clicking on hyperlinks labeled Help, Privacy Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, or FAQ from the service's Web page. Here are two examples of policy statements:

The questions raised by the use of this technology are typical of what we need to be aware of and concerned about as more information becomes readily available through the use of computers, networks, and other technologies. There are lots of advantages to using these tools, but we need to think about, and act on, the ramifications of making this type of information so easily accessible.

Activity Searching for a Business Address, a Phone Number, a Map, and Driving Directions

Overview

In this activity, you will find information about a specific business. You will use techniques that you can later apply when finding the same types of information about other organizations or government agencies. Suppose you've got a job interview scheduled with Warner Communications in New York City. You'd like to know the address and phone number of the office, and it would help to have a map of the area. It would also be nice to know a little about the community. No problem! We'll go to the InfoSpace Web site, find its business section, and search for Warner Communications' address and phone number. Once you have that information, you'll use InfoSpace's hyperlinks to find the following things: a map showing the business's location, the names and types of businesses in the area, some background information about the city, and even driving directions!

You'll follow these steps:

Go to the home page for the InfoSpace Web site.
Follow the hyperlink to the business phone directories.
Search for the business's address and phone number.
Follow hyperlinks for more information.

You follow the same steps to get information about any business.

(See the book for the details.)

Several Web pages contain lists of the white pages services discussed in this chapter. To see what new features these services offer, you need to check these sites occasionally. Here’s a selected list of resources to keep you current on the topic of white pages services:

Map Services

There are several map services on the Web. To see what new features these services offer, you need to check these sites occasionally. Here's a selected list of resources. Try one the next time you need a map or driving directions.

Another map collection deserves mention: the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection. This collection contains political, geological, nautical, and other types of maps. It's well worth the visit!

Topics

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using These Services	Privacy and Ethics Issues
Keeping Current: White Pages and Map Services

Activities

Finding an Individual's Email Address, Mailing Address, and Phone Number

Searching for a Business Address, a Phone Number, a Map, and Driving Directions

Visit Searching and Researching on the Internet and the WWW for more information about using the Internet for doing research and finding what you need.

This material has been developed to accompany: