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Discussion in 'Security and Privacy' started by Super Mallow, 2005/03/30.

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  1. 2005/03/30
    Super Mallow

    Super Mallow Inactive Thread Starter

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    I recently have been receiving phone calls from mysterious numbers, but I think it has something to do online. I was just wondering, from having an IP and a website (Whois info was filled in with hosting company) is it possible for people to find stuff like your address/phone number online? If so, can it be stopped?
     
    Super Mallow,
    #1
  2. 2005/03/30
    Welshjim

    Welshjim Inactive

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    Super Mallow--Is your telephone # in the local phone book? If so, people can usually get your phone number on the internet if they know your name. (For example, http://www.anywho.com/ or http://directory.superpages.com/people.jsp )
    Or if you have to provide your phone number to the company hosting your website, they may have given/sold that info to others.
    However, (and in a very abbreviated description of what happened) over a year ago I started to get a series of phone calls, from what I eventually decided was a recording that would say "Oh, sorry, I must have the wrong number" . I learned it was a scam to get me to try to trace the call and rack up a sizeable phone bill (for calling a third party's number). The local phone company claimed no involvement, but....
     
    Welshjim,
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  4. 2005/03/30
    Super Mallow

    Super Mallow Inactive Thread Starter

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    I haven't used my real name online, so no one would know it.

    They can give that stuff away?!?!

    Yea, they tried a recording thing on our phone too!
     
    Last edited: 2005/03/30
    Super Mallow,
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  5. 2005/03/31
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    When you purchase web hosting, you must provide contact info. This info should be held private by the hosting company, meaning they should not sell or distribute this info directly to 3rd parties. However, the contact info is public information, so anybody can retrieve that info using whois. It's likely that the host did not hand out your info to a 3rd party that requested it, but more likely that some 3rd party has software bots that run whois lookups on domains and retrieves the contact info. Nothing illegal about that. What the 3rd party does with the info they grab may or may not be legal, but usually is at least unscrupulous if they are not a phone book service.
     
    TonyT,
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  6. 2005/03/31
    Super Mallow

    Super Mallow Inactive Thread Starter

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    Uh...I got my whois info blocked. And my real name isn't out in public - alias.

    And my host says info is secured during a purchase
     
    Super Mallow,
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  7. 2005/03/31
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    what's the url of your site?
     
    TonyT,
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