completely off topic: why do so many folks on HN refer to Elon Musk as "Elon"? Rarely are peopling talking about Bill or Steve; you always add the surname or use just the surname.
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She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
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Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#62Elon has really kicked the hornets nest. This is the level of petty BS they will publish about somebody they don’t like. Imagine what they turn a blind eye to if they like you.
Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#63A skin care consultant with terrible skin... Maybe should consider what else they're lying about.
Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
The messages were sent to her number. I don't think there is any privacy violation if you drop mail addressed to 'person residing at this address' at the wrong house.
I agree that there is no privacy law violation, but it is a bit distasteful. We have some implicit standards in the society and it seems those are conveniently ignored at this point. There is some excuse given in the article in the form of "he probably gives out this number to people he does not wish to talk to", which I find a bit suspicious. When I got letters to previous tenants at my current address I did not ope…
My guess is that the real problem that was touched on is Mr. Musk gives the number out to get rid of unwanted contacts.
I had a number like this, except it was for a drug dealer with a similar area code, and most of the crazy texts and calls slowed down after a few months. I have a common name and get similar wacky emails. It's an impossible problem to solve when it is a problem.
Every couple of years stories like this come out. It's pretty common for celebrities to give out old numbers to undesirable contacts. There was a story in the NY papers a few years ago about a guy getting calls from one-night stand hookups of a musician. The musician gave out his number from 20 years ago because it sounded real.
Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#65I'm reminded of an old Wired article about Steve Wozniak 'collecting' phone numbers. Pan Am (by mistake) and 888-8888. It's pretty far into the article, but the outcome was pretty funny: the number was unusable because...
https://www.wired.com/1998/09/woz/
[spoiler alert: toddlers picked up the phone and randomly pressed buttons, often enough hitting the 8 key repeatedly. He got too many calls to be able to use the number.]
Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#66Weird that Elon did not just pay to keep the number and blackhole it.
But now he can always shrug off unwanted new contacts to his current number by pretending to be that woman who accidentally got Musk's old one. They ask Google and the story checks out, he will never hear from them again. Best possible outcome.
What exactly are you suggesting?
The woman that’s photograph appears in the article, “Lyndsay Tucker, a 25-year-old skin care consultant, who works at a Sephora beauty store in San Jose, Calif.” — is obviously a real person.
Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#672FA
Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#68I get emails for a celebrity. So far I've received: receipts for things like a boat, invitations to perform at large events, 'just catching up' notes from old friends, and confirmations of event planning among others. Recently I got an order confirmation for a large purchase, along with a shipping address and mobile number. I used the mobile number to text the celebrity, explain the situation, and offer my apologies…
It seems they’re not very interested in resolving the problem?
Too busy, or just don’t care?
Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#69I heard someone found shoes that Bill Gates once wore and a gum chewed by Steve Jobs. Both became relics and worshippers write articles about this in the internet. Seriously though - would someone think it was ok if I got a number after a local bakery owner and started sharing messages that were sent to me by mistake? Is this ok because EM is a more known person? I think it still falls under privacy standards.
Yeah, I find this article really distasteful. Being a public figure shouldn’t mean you have zero privacy.
It actually surprised me that Musk (or any public figure) would give up an old phone number. I would have expected a personal assistant to monitor the old number for a time until the calls/messages stopped.
Re: She Gets Calls and Texts Meant for Elon Musk. Some Are Pretty Weird
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
The messages were sent to her number. I don't think there is any privacy violation if you drop mail addressed to 'person residing at this address' at the wrong house.
I mean, when they say Elon, it's no longer exactly addressed to "the person residing at this address", right?
It's no different from sending an email to the wrong address. Disclaimers to the contrary, it isn't the responsibility of the recipient to ensure the address (phone number, in this case) is right.