Misguided Paranoia

I guess chain letters are the best way to obtain good material...

Google has implemented a new feature wherein you can type someone's telephone number into the search bar and hit enter and then you will be given a map to their house. Everyone should be aware of this! Note that you can have your phone number removed or blocked. Before forwarding this, I tested it by typing my telephone number in google.com. My phone number came up, and when I clicked on the Map Quest link, it actually mapped out where I live. Quite scary. Please look up your own number. Readbelow for details. Think about it ... if a child gives out his/her phone number to someone they can actually now look it up to find out where he/she lives. The safety issues are obvious, and alarming. In order to test whether your phone number is mapped, go to: www.google.com , Type your phone number in the search bar, (A/C + number), and hit enter. If you want to BLOCK Google from divulging your private information, simply click on your phone number. Removal takes 48-hours. If you are unlisted in the phone book, you might not be in there, but it is a good idea just to check. If your number does come up and you hit 'map', it will show you a direct map to your house...

Whomever this may concern,
This service was not devised by Google. Google is a search engine (doing it's job quite admirably) and coordinates with other services like MapQuest to provide public information. You should be angry at MapQuest (and Yahoo Maps, for that matter). To prove Google's innocence, go to maps.google.com and type in a number. This is Google's competing map service and does not provide number tracing. Furthermore, MapQuest and Yahoo Maps (your actual culprits) only divulge information that is public anyway. Your phone number and address are in the phone book. This is not news. Another course of action would be to write legislature concerning what should and should not be public information or getting right to the point and protesting the Patriot Act.