Page 209 - DLIS006_INFORMATION SOURCES AND SERVICES

Information Sources and Services

Notes 10.4 Reverse Telephone Directory

A reverse telephone directory is sorted by number, which can be looked up to give the name and
address of the subscriber. A reverse telephone directory is a collection of telephone numbers
and associated customer details. However, unlike a standard telephone directory, where the
user uses customer’s details (such as name and address) in order to retrieve the telephone
number of that person or business, a reverse telephone directory allows users to search by a
telephone service number in order to retrieve the customer details for that service.

Did u know? A reverse telephone directory is also known as a gray pages directory, criss-
cross directory or reverse phone lookup.
Reverse telephone directories are used by law enforcement and other emergency services in
order to determine the origin of any request for assistance, however these systems include both
publicly accessible (listed) and private (unlisted) services. As such, these directories are restricted
to internal use only.
Publicly accessible reverse telephone directories may be provided as part of the standard
directory services from the telecommunications carrier in some countries. In other countries
these directories are often created by phone phreaker’s by collecting the information available
via the publicly accessible directories and then providing a search function which allows users
to search by the telephone service details.
Printed reverse phone directories have been produced by the telephone companies (in the
United States) for decades, and were distributed to the phone companies, law enforcement, and
public libraries. In the early 1990s, businesses started offering reverse telephone lookups for
fees, and by the early 2000s advertising-based reverse directories were available online,
prompting occasional alarms about privacy concerns.
In 2001, a legal case Telstra Corporation Ltd vs Desktop Marketing Systems Pty Ltd was heard in
the Australian Federal Court gave Telstra, the predominant carrier within Australia and the
maintainer of the publicly accessible White Pages (residential) and Yellow Pages (commercial)
directories, copyright over the content of these directories.
In February 2010 a Federal Court of Australia case Telstra Corporation Ltd vs Phone Directories
Company Pty Ltd. determined that Telstra does not hold copyright in the White Pages or the
Yellow Pages.
As it currently stands there is no legal way to ensure a particular number is not listed in the
directories currently available.
In United States, landline phone subscribers can pay a small fee to exclude their number from
the directory. This service is usually called “Your Listing Not Published” and the cost ranges
from $0.80 to $1.50 for residential customers. However, it is a myth that delisting is possible for
cellular numbers, because each cellular carrier has a separate database.
As cellular phones become more popular, there has been debate about releasing cell phone
numbers into public 411 and reverse number directories (S. 1963, the “Wireless 411 Privacy Act”
9/2004). However, opposition led by leading consumer-protection organization Consumers
Union presented several privacy concerns in their congressional testimony. Right now, cell
phone numbers are not available in any public 411 or reverse number directories. However,
several information companies provide reverse cell phone lookups that are obtained from
utility resources, and are available online. Because there is no central database of cell phone
numbers, reverse phone directories that claim to be free cannot return information on those
numbers.

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