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Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

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Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#111

Post by eli »

throwaway2245 wrote: post #109
kristopolous wrote: post #59

Y'all know we used to publish everybody's phone number in a book along with their address and then distribute copies to every household, right? We did it for many decades and it was fine. Every pay phone, which was a phone anyone with a couple coins could make anonymous calls from, had this giant book right there for your reference. Everyone knows this, right? If you didn't know someone's number you could look it up…

> Y'all know we used to publish everybody's phone number in a book along with their address and then distribute copies to every household, right? By user choice . You had to register your phone number and address to be in that book. It was immediately obvious to everyone what was going on: everybody received the same complete book of information and knew how that was published, with at least a system of opting-out (i…

No, it was opt out. You had to pay not to be listed.

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#112

Post by mmcgaha »

wwwwewwww wrote: post #79
kristopolous wrote: post #59

Y'all know we used to publish everybody's phone number in a book along with their address and then distribute copies to every household, right? We did it for many decades and it was fine. Every pay phone, which was a phone anyone with a couple coins could make anonymous calls from, had this giant book right there for your reference. Everyone knows this, right? If you didn't know someone's number you could look it up…

I'm sure not everyone knows this, because there are are people on this site who have not grown up with phone books. The article talks about a reverse phone book: according to the author, given a phone number, you are able to look up name (and profile picture). To my understanding there were no reverse-lookup phone books like that back in the day.

Here is an example on ebay of a book that has an index by phone number and even an index by street address.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Phonebook-1987-LAS-CRUCES-N...

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#113

Post by throwaway2245 »

eli wrote: post #111
throwaway2245 wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Y'all know we used to publish everybody's phone number in a book along with their address and then distribute copies to every household, right? By user choice . You had to register your phone number and address to be in that book. It was immediately obvious to everyone what was going on: everybody received the same complete book of information and knew how that was published, with at least a system of opting-out (i…

No, it was opt out. You had to pay not to be listed.

That depends on when and where.

Like I said, phone books were evident to everyone because they saw the consequence. That's not a good comparison here.

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#114

Post by dbbk »

Jestar342 wrote: post #89
wwwwewwww wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure not everyone knows this, because there are are people on this site who have not grown up with phone books. The article talks about a reverse phone book: according to the author, given a phone number, you are able to look up name (and profile picture). To my understanding there were no reverse-lookup phone books like that back in the day.

Well given the phone book was a list of names, addresses, _and numbers_ you could, in fact, do reverse lookups.

The point is it was ordered by name, not by number. So you can't jump to an arbitrary number.

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#115

Post by cik »

kristopolous wrote: post #70
cik wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of the issue is the meaning of privacy now. Decades were spent fighting for the right to not receive, or to receive targeted phone calls. We're now (at least my cohort) in a world where no one, ever answers the phone. Either you're in my phone book, or I'm never answering the phone. It's rather liberating.

That's only because calling is the new fax. Would you ignore an SMS from an unknown number? Let's say the content was "Hey, how've you been? It's been a while!"

Actually yes. I ignore all SMSes. WhatsApp is the go-to communication method in Israel. SMS is only for government services and a company from whom I've ordered from in the past.

I get zero advertising now that I moved. It's liberating.

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#116

Post by NikolaeVarius »

cik wrote: post #115
kristopolous wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's only because calling is the new fax. Would you ignore an SMS from an unknown number? Let's say the content was "Hey, how've you been? It's been a while!"

Actually yes. I ignore all SMSes. WhatsApp is the go-to communication method in Israel. SMS is only for government services and a company from whom I've ordered from in the past. I get zero advertising now that I moved. It's liberating.

Relying on Facebook for communication. Horrifying.

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#117

Post by TeMPOraL »

throwaway2245 wrote: post #110
TeMPOraL wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not really a privacy issue, though. That's marketing issue . That is, we let marketers destroy phones as a medium of communication. The answer to that isn't to legislate hiding your phone number. The answer to that should be to legislate this type of marketing away . Advertising is cancer, and I'm constantly surprised by the ends to which people go to justify its continued existence.

Legislating away cold-call marketing is already done; it hasn't stopped it from happening, since it's almost impossible to trace the culprit.

US until very recently wasn't even trying. EU is, and our phones are quite usable. Things could be improved - I wish there was a way to get rid of the few marketers that find their ways to skirt the regulatory boundary. It doesn't seem impossible to achieve.

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#118

Post by codingdave »

kristopolous wrote: post #59

Y'all know we used to publish everybody's phone number in a book along with their address and then distribute copies to every household, right? We did it for many decades and it was fine. Every pay phone, which was a phone anyone with a couple coins could make anonymous calls from, had this giant book right there for your reference. Everyone knows this, right? If you didn't know someone's number you could look it up…

There was also opt-out, even decades ago. You could tell the phone company that you wanted an unlisted number, and you would be excluded from the phone book.

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#119

Post by fckthisguy »

anonymousiam wrote: post #96
usr1106 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Finland many if not most mobile phone numbers are in the phone book. Well, no physical book has been printed for years, but you can call directory enquiries or look them up online. Even reverse look-ups are possible. (Only an ever shrinking minority of households still owns a landline.) How exactly would that subvert 2FA via SMS? Except for calling and ask please read the SMS you just received for me. While t…

It subverts 2FA and SMS because of SIM hijacking. If a bad actor has your mobile number and you use that for 2FA, they can socially engineer (or bribe) a rep from your mobile company to assign your number to a new SIM/phone. This is a common attack these days. https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/11/18564381/community-hackin...

To elaborate how easy this is:

I did this recently in my own number after loosing the sim card. I just called up the phone company and convinced the customer service agent to assign the number to a new sim card I had just bought from the petrol station near my house.

I provided no authentication for this and they had no way to prove I was the owner of the account.

Took all of 5 minutes to pull off.

Re: Look Up Unknown Phone Numbers Using Facebook Reset Password

#120

Post by thesuitonym »

codingdave wrote: post #118
kristopolous wrote: post #59

Y'all know we used to publish everybody's phone number in a book along with their address and then distribute copies to every household, right? We did it for many decades and it was fine. Every pay phone, which was a phone anyone with a couple coins could make anonymous calls from, had this giant book right there for your reference. Everyone knows this, right? If you didn't know someone's number you could look it up…

There was also opt-out, even decades ago. You could tell the phone company that you wanted an unlisted number, and you would be excluded from the phone book.

You can do that with Facebook, too. In fact, Facebook does not know and has never known my phone number.

Or rather, I'm sure it does know because my friends have me in their contact lists and shared that with Facebook, but it's not tied to my account in any UI way. I didn't have to opt out because I never even opted in.

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