These calling number identification systems are not based on public telephone directories, especially since there are none for mobile phones and for landline telephones the practice of not authorizing the publication of names in telephone directories is increasingly widespread. How then do they get the names corresponding to the telephone users Phone number lookup app free.
First of all, we remind you that the names in the databases of these alternative telephone directory services do not contain the holders of the user contracts (something that only the operator knows and provides exclusively to the Judicial Authority) but who is actually using them. The two names could also coincide, but the interesting thing is precisely the fact that generally the Judicial Authority is able to know the owner of a user, not (or not always) who is using it.
The way in which the services procure data is in fact particular: those who install the Apps on their smartphone allow the services to peek at their address book by copying all the names and users stored there and adding them (after a few checks to avoid false positives ) to their database. Obviously, the first data to be taken from the App is the name and the user of the person who installed it, which will end up in the telephone directory available to everyone
From the point of view of privacy, therefore, the implications are double: on the one hand, one’s data are disclosed, often in an unclear way, but on the other hand, the data of all one’s contacts (who, totally unaware, could not provide any consent) are disseminated and can be used for research by third-party users.
We should have learned by now from the countless presentations of security experts who love – rightly – to point out this aspect that ” when a product or service is free, we are the product “. Even in the case of services to know the name of the caller, whether they are at no cost or cheap, the price to pay is often our privacy but not only that, in this case also that of our contacts .
Lately, precisely for this kind of objection, the Apps try to be a little clearer about the “spying” activities they will do, but it is not always easy to prevent them from accessing our address book. Generally we are asked for permission and we can refuse, but many users do not pay attention to it or accept it for not having limited functionality.
