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It's a European company so they must be aware of the dreaded 'Data Protection' rules here. Users opting in to the service should be okay, but scanning and uploa

It's a European company so they must be aware of the dreaded 'Data Protection' rules here. Users opting in to the service should be okay, but scanning and uploading their entire address books (the pre-selected default) with everyone else's contact info looks questionable. It's been done though, I know the Android Twitter app does this (it asks permission after installing and it's easy to opt-out) so there's probably a way of doing this without getting sued. If you visit their site and try to search your number to opt-out, you get a modal asking you to sign in with a Google or Microsoft account - no other options are provided. In miniscule font, an even smaller tooltip says "Sharing is caring, and in the Truecaller community we care about accurate results. By sharing your contacts with Truecaller, you will receive more accurate results and help improve the experience for millions of users around the world." It's a tried and tested business model but I'm just not interested in doing data entry for someone else's silo for a marginal benefit to myself. Maybe I'm old-school but I'm fine with figuring out who is calling from an unknown number by simply answering and speaking with the caller.

toomuchtodo 11y ago
> It's a European company so they must be aware of the dreaded 'Data Protection' rules here. One man's poison is another man's tea. As a US citizen without any EU data protections, I envy the EU data protection rules. I don't care if that ruin's your startup's model.
- seivan 11y ago
  Everyone has their phone number and home address publicially visible. You can't opt out. Is it the same in the US?
  - akerro 11y ago
    >Everyone has their phone number and home address publicially visible Fist time I hear it. Where?
    - erikrothoff 11y ago
      Sweden for example, where truecaller is from.
    - orjan 11y ago
      Take a look at hitta.se or eniro.se Basically, an online phonebook, with reverse lookup, addresses, birthdays, neighborhood data, ...
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - tombrossman 11y ago
    No, it's not the same. In the US you would usually have your land-line and address listed in the phone book by default, and you could pay a very nominal fee to have it be 'unlisted'. Your mobile number would never be listed at all. As an American living in Europe, I was surprised to see all land-line and mobile numbers published in our local directory (I'm in Britain) which even included a reverse look-up index so you could scan tables of numbers and see the corresponding names! That disappeared a few years back but most of the numbers are still listed if you know the person's name. I'm all for privacy but I think the fear of having your number posted is overrated unless you have an actual reason (stalker, abusive ex, etc...) in which case a free and easy way to totally opt-out should exist. I've had my phone numbers and email address publicly posted for years and while I get the occasional weirdo, it's totally worth it for the random interesting calls from strangers.
drzaiusapelord 11y ago
I tried using Truecaller for its telemarketer blocking and its just a pig. It put its hooks into every part of my phone and notified nagged me to install its sister services constantly. I believe it also tried to replace my default dialer, if memory serves. It felt like a scammy application and I eventually gave up on it when I switched phones. A 'lite' version of this app would be wonderful. Heck, I'd easily pay a dollar or two or three for something that blocked telemarketers and gave me better callerID. I imagine Truecaller's free pricepoint is killing it. They just need to do so many shady things to make money. I'd rather just pay them outright and not feel my phone hijacked. Also, no service seems to be able to cut out scammers using cheap international voip and impersonating domestic numbers via callerid. I suspect there's no stopping this without some heavy handed regulation with voip providers. Truecaller wasn't able to identify or block these. They always came up as unknown. The scammers can simply cycle through fake callerid numbers endlessly it seems. It was amsuing to get the occasional 555-555-xxxx number. I don't think the foreigner scammers who watch Holywood movies for clues into how American culture works realized that these prefixes aren't real.

toomuchtodo 11y ago

> It's a European company so they must be aware of the dreaded 'Data Protection' rules here. One man's poison is another man's tea. As a US citizen without any EU data protections, I envy the EU data protection rules. I don't care if that ruin's your startup's model.

seivan 11y ago
Everyone has their phone number and home address publicially visible. You can't opt out. Is it the same in the US?
- akerro 11y ago
  >Everyone has their phone number and home address publicially visible Fist time I hear it. Where?
  - erikrothoff 11y ago
    Sweden for example, where truecaller is from.
  - orjan 11y ago
    Take a look at hitta.se or eniro.se Basically, an online phonebook, with reverse lookup, addresses, birthdays, neighborhood data, ...
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- tombrossman 11y ago
  No, it's not the same. In the US you would usually have your land-line and address listed in the phone book by default, and you could pay a very nominal fee to have it be 'unlisted'. Your mobile number would never be listed at all. As an American living in Europe, I was surprised to see all land-line and mobile numbers published in our local directory (I'm in Britain) which even included a reverse look-up index so you could scan tables of numbers and see the corresponding names! That disappeared a few years back but most of the numbers are still listed if you know the person's name. I'm all for privacy but I think the fear of having your number posted is overrated unless you have an actual reason (stalker, abusive ex, etc...) in which case a free and easy way to totally opt-out should exist. I've had my phone numbers and email address publicly posted for years and while I get the occasional weirdo, it's totally worth it for the random interesting calls from strangers.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago

I tried using Truecaller for its telemarketer blocking and its just a pig. It put its hooks into every part of my phone and notified nagged me to install its sister services constantly. I believe it also tried to replace my default dialer, if memory serves. It felt like a scammy application and I eventually gave up on it when I switched phones. A 'lite' version of this app would be wonderful. Heck, I'd easily pay a dollar or two or three for something that blocked telemarketers and gave me better callerID. I imagine Truecaller's free pricepoint is killing it. They just need to do so many shady things to make money. I'd rather just pay them outright and not feel my phone hijacked. Also, no service seems to be able to cut out scammers using cheap international voip and impersonating domestic numbers via callerid. I suspect there's no stopping this without some heavy handed regulation with voip providers. Truecaller wasn't able to identify or block these. They always came up as unknown. The scammers can simply cycle through fake callerid numbers endlessly it seems. It was amsuing to get the occasional 555-555-xxxx number. I don't think the foreigner scammers who watch Holywood movies for clues into how American culture works realized that these prefixes aren't real.