7 ms·

there's no "actual phone lookup platform" you can't get a person's location by knowing their phone number, that's a huge privacy violation. You can get the loca

there's no "actual phone lookup platform" you can't get a person's location by knowing their phone number, that's a huge privacy violation. You can get the location of your own phone via icloud or google's system for android. You could also install an app on your phone to track your phone's location. You cannot find people based on knowing their phone number, that would be a serious safety issue for you know people trying to not, for example, get murdered by their ex-boyfriends.

throwaway29495 4y ago
What about phone numbers corresponding to a specific location?
Hello71 4y ago
it's been reported numerous times that you can buy real-time cell phone location data: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17081684 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17081684, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20506624 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20506624, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32143256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32143256. you might need a little more info than just a phone number, but (allegedly) not that much more.
afpx 4y ago
There’s no public one. But, data brokers have this info, and share it. Internally, a lot of companies can do this. So, it’s not far-fetched.
- asveikau 4y ago
  Doing that for an open-ended phone number anywhere in the world seems like somebody's full time job to maintain. You'd probably need some database that ties together disparate data sources. Confidence in accuracy probably varies. The best source to use probably also changes. I feel like somebody googling for a quick code snippet to do that in a single POST request should be aware of how challenging the problem space is. That would be a hint for joe random developer that they've come up with a bad idea and should work on something else. But I probably expect too much.
- dTal 4y ago
  Are you saying it's routine for cell phone companies to sell live fine location data to the highest bidder? Can I get a source on that? Horrifying if true, enough to make me switch back to landlines.
  - fy20 4y ago
    Back in 2008 I was working with a company in the UK that had an API to do this with O2. It only provided a rough area of where the user was, as it was based on which (single) cell tower the user was connected to. I'd imagine today MIMO data is good enough to triangulate a very accurate (metres) position.
    - retconekt 4y ago
      5G MIMO is sub millimetre 3D accurate to microsecond timing given a good tower time reference.
  - aftbit 4y ago
    I've heard anecdotes about this for a while. Here are a few: https://www.vice.com/en/article/nepxbz/i-gave-a-bounty-hunter-300-dollars-located-phone-microbilt-zumigo-tmobile https://www.vice.com/en/article/nepxbz/i-gave-a-bounty-hunte... https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/t-mobile-sprint-and-att-still-selling-your-location-data-report-says/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/t-mobile-sprint-... https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/6/18214667/att-t-mobile-sprint-location-tracking-data-bounty-hunters https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/6/18214667/att-t-mobile-spri...
    - Tostino 4y ago
      Here is a Last Week Tonight piece on the topic in addition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqn3gR1WTcA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqn3gR1WTcA
rrrrrrrrrrrryan 4y ago
Reverse phone number lookup usually refers to finding a residential/business address tied to a phone number (historically a landline phone, but cell phones are also owned by people who have addresses), not the literal GPS location of the phone. I think white pages are still a thing, no? For the young 'uns - the white pages were part of the physical phone book in every city. You got a new phone book delivered to your doorstep each year for free. Yellow pages listed the phone numbers of every business, white pages listed the phone numbers of the residents. The crazy part is: almost everyone added their numbers voluntarily to the white pages, because you wanted people to be able to easily find and reach you.
- 5555624 4y ago
  > The crazy part is: almost everyone added their numbers voluntarily to the white pages, because you wanted people to be able to easily find and reach you. The default was that your number would be in the phone book, it was not voluntary. If you wanted an unlisted number, you had to pay for it.
  - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 4y ago
    This is even crazier. For reference: I'm old enough to remember using landlines and white pages, but not old enough to have ever had a landline at my own address.
    - agiacalone 4y ago
      I moved to San Francisco in 1999, my early 20s, and got a landline. Cell phones were not yet the norm, and I really didn’t have much interest in having one until a girlfriend of mine insisted I get one in 2000. If I remember correctly, Pac Bell had a “opt in” white pages phone number removal which was not charged, but my parents just a few years prior had to pay for theirs with Pac Bell.
    - swexbe 4y ago
      You would have to be like <15 to not remember landlines.
guelo 4y ago
Yea, I think this "want" is pointing to the massive tsunami of spammer/scammer script kiddies that ChatGPT is enabling.
msla 4y ago
Don't tell Whitepages https://www.whitepages.com/reverse-phone https://www.whitepages.com/reverse-phone > Whitepages free reverse phone lookup service allows you to enter a phone number and quickly find out who called you. Find the phone owner's full name, address, and more. [snip] > Anyone can do a reverse lookup to identify cell phone, residential, and business numbers for free. That, or you could get a normal white pages and process it using some sort of data processing tool... nah, that's science fiction.
- wlonkly 4y ago
  The service doesn't seem to work very well at doing what it says, but that's not the important part. The important part is that what ChatGPT is describing is being able look up the current location of a cellphone, not the owner's address.
vgeek 4y ago
That is widely known about and freely available to the public, maybe. There are multiple options available for pseudo-LE types with relatively lax access prerequisites. https://www.robertxiao.ca/hacking/locationsmart/ https://www.robertxiao.ca/hacking/locationsmart/ is an example of one provider's public demo (requiring only a phone number) being used to provide non-consensual location data.
- gfody 4y ago
  I know a sketchy resporg that used locationsmart, there's a "consent" bit but it's basically honor system
fijiaarone 4y ago
Yeah only the government can do that.

throwaway29495 4y ago

What about phone numbers corresponding to a specific location?

Hello71 4y ago

it's been reported numerous times that you can buy real-time cell phone location data: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17081684 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17081684, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20506624 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20506624, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32143256 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32143256. you might need a little more info than just a phone number, but (allegedly) not that much more.

afpx 4y ago

There’s no public one. But, data brokers have this info, and share it. Internally, a lot of companies can do this. So, it’s not far-fetched.

asveikau 4y ago
Doing that for an open-ended phone number anywhere in the world seems like somebody's full time job to maintain. You'd probably need some database that ties together disparate data sources. Confidence in accuracy probably varies. The best source to use probably also changes. I feel like somebody googling for a quick code snippet to do that in a single POST request should be aware of how challenging the problem space is. That would be a hint for joe random developer that they've come up with a bad idea and should work on something else. But I probably expect too much.
dTal 4y ago
Are you saying it's routine for cell phone companies to sell live fine location data to the highest bidder? Can I get a source on that? Horrifying if true, enough to make me switch back to landlines.
- fy20 4y ago
  Back in 2008 I was working with a company in the UK that had an API to do this with O2. It only provided a rough area of where the user was, as it was based on which (single) cell tower the user was connected to. I'd imagine today MIMO data is good enough to triangulate a very accurate (metres) position.
  - retconekt 4y ago
    5G MIMO is sub millimetre 3D accurate to microsecond timing given a good tower time reference.
- aftbit 4y ago
  I've heard anecdotes about this for a while. Here are a few: https://www.vice.com/en/article/nepxbz/i-gave-a-bounty-hunter-300-dollars-located-phone-microbilt-zumigo-tmobile https://www.vice.com/en/article/nepxbz/i-gave-a-bounty-hunte... https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/t-mobile-sprint-and-att-still-selling-your-location-data-report-says/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/t-mobile-sprint-... https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/6/18214667/att-t-mobile-sprint-location-tracking-data-bounty-hunters https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/6/18214667/att-t-mobile-spri...
  - Tostino 4y ago
    Here is a Last Week Tonight piece on the topic in addition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqn3gR1WTcA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqn3gR1WTcA

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 4y ago

Reverse phone number lookup usually refers to finding a residential/business address tied to a phone number (historically a landline phone, but cell phones are also owned by people who have addresses), not the literal GPS location of the phone. I think white pages are still a thing, no? For the young 'uns - the white pages were part of the physical phone book in every city. You got a new phone book delivered to your doorstep each year for free. Yellow pages listed the phone numbers of every business, white pages listed the phone numbers of the residents. The crazy part is: almost everyone added their numbers voluntarily to the white pages, because you wanted people to be able to easily find and reach you.

5555624 4y ago
> The crazy part is: almost everyone added their numbers voluntarily to the white pages, because you wanted people to be able to easily find and reach you. The default was that your number would be in the phone book, it was not voluntary. If you wanted an unlisted number, you had to pay for it.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 4y ago
  This is even crazier. For reference: I'm old enough to remember using landlines and white pages, but not old enough to have ever had a landline at my own address.
  - agiacalone 4y ago
    I moved to San Francisco in 1999, my early 20s, and got a landline. Cell phones were not yet the norm, and I really didn’t have much interest in having one until a girlfriend of mine insisted I get one in 2000. If I remember correctly, Pac Bell had a “opt in” white pages phone number removal which was not charged, but my parents just a few years prior had to pay for theirs with Pac Bell.
  - swexbe 4y ago
    You would have to be like <15 to not remember landlines.

guelo 4y ago

Yea, I think this "want" is pointing to the massive tsunami of spammer/scammer script kiddies that ChatGPT is enabling.

msla 4y ago

Don't tell Whitepages https://www.whitepages.com/reverse-phone https://www.whitepages.com/reverse-phone > Whitepages free reverse phone lookup service allows you to enter a phone number and quickly find out who called you. Find the phone owner's full name, address, and more. [snip] > Anyone can do a reverse lookup to identify cell phone, residential, and business numbers for free. That, or you could get a normal white pages and process it using some sort of data processing tool... nah, that's science fiction.

wlonkly 4y ago
The service doesn't seem to work very well at doing what it says, but that's not the important part. The important part is that what ChatGPT is describing is being able look up the current location of a cellphone, not the owner's address.

vgeek 4y ago

That is widely known about and freely available to the public, maybe. There are multiple options available for pseudo-LE types with relatively lax access prerequisites. https://www.robertxiao.ca/hacking/locationsmart/ https://www.robertxiao.ca/hacking/locationsmart/ is an example of one provider's public demo (requiring only a phone number) being used to provide non-consensual location data.

gfody 4y ago
I know a sketchy resporg that used locationsmart, there's a "consent" bit but it's basically honor system

fijiaarone 4y ago

Yeah only the government can do that.