privacy

By Timothy Ho, DollarandSense

Remember Yellow Pages? Yes, that Yellow Pages that used to be in the business of distributing those thick, heavy, phone directory books to the public for free many years ago.

Yellow Pages now has an online presence through a website call CallMyName.sg. And if you didn’t know about this website, then what we will share in this article may shock you.

Home addresses and contact numbers of individuals are published online

CallMyName.sg have many features within their website. One such feature is a search function that allows users to find businesses and individuals. Yes, individuals.

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The search engine is simple enough to understand. Unfortunately, it is even easier for anyone to use. Type in the name of the person you are trying to find and voila, it may appear, along with the respective address and phone number.

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Based on our own checks using names of people within our team, we estimate that about 3 out of 10 people will find their names and details on this website.

We have nothing against websites providing a listing directory for businesses which allow customers to find them. However, we fail to understand what value could possibly be derived by having the personal details of individuals being published online for anyone to search for. We believe people who use this search function to track down individuals may possibly be those with ill intentions.

Your privacy matters

Publishing this article is a double-edged sword. On one hand, there will now be more people who know about this website and could potentially use it for their own agendas. At the same time, we think Singaporeans deserve to know about this, especially if they are unaware that their own personal details are online.

From what we experienced, the website will promptly remove your personal particulars as soon as you were to request them to do so. For that, you can send them a message at the following link.http://www.callmyname.sg/contact-us

This article was first published at DollarandSense

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