Recently, I used one of the online telephone directories ( The Switchboard) to locate a school friend of mine that I lost touch with almost thirty years ago. Fortunately, his name is unique enough to stand out immediately. I wrote him a letter, and to make a not-so-long story even shorter, we now speak regularly, catching up on old times, relinking old ties, and plan to have our families get together during the holiday season.

Looking for people in this fashion can be either very rewarding or very frustrating. I suppose the average private investigator could have told me this a long time ago, but I've been finding out first hand. My motive for these searches is probably a result of middle age: some people buy hot new sport cars; I find that I'm compelled to reëstablish and reëvaluate who I am and what my roots are. Since I either missed or wasn't invited to any of my school reunions, I find the web to be a reasonable substitute. In fact, it's probably better, since I can be picky about whom I contact and can avoid some of the more embarrassing moments that I've been told are common at these meetings. The problem with these directory searches is that they're subject to all of the limitations that telephone listings normally present. Looking for women is nearly impossible if they've married and taken their husband's surname. Trying to find anyone with a relatively common name is also a nightmare. (You'd be surprised at how many names are "common". I was amazed to find my own name, first and last, scattered around the country.) I've also found that many people are unlisted. What this all means is that you shouldn't get your hopes up about finding Mary Collins, who married Kevin O'Connor, and moved away in 1975. However, if you're looking for Arturus Cragsmoore McBernstein, you're likely to have a better chance.

How do people react to being told that their name, address and phone number are available on the web? My experience has been that most are surprised, curious, and amused, but few are upset. Their feelings seem to suggest that they're somewhat disarmed by the ease of access and the wide availability that inclusion in these online directories offers. One friend asked an interesting question: is it legal? Her feeling was that it wasn't, and her reasoning is interesting. The average person, at the time he or she subscribed to telephone service, had a reasonable expectation the his/her name would be published in a local paper directory. (The key word here is local.) Of course, unless the number was unlisted, anyone could find the number (and usually the address as well) by using the telephone directory service. However, she reasoned, this was all understood and accepted as a limited and acceptably "contained" level of privacy. Publication on the web with high-speed searches presents a different level of availability, and one that was neither presented as an option to the owner of the number nor explicitly agreed to. I think she has a point. I'm quite sure that mailing lists are being generated from these directories that never would have been created from their paper counterparts. I await the first wave of lawsuits, if they haven't already started. I'd be very interested to hear the arguments from both sides.

Meanwhile, I'm not complaining. I was glad to find my old buddy, and he was quite pleased that the inclusion of his name was there online to make it possible. My only problem is that some people searching for me may think that I've moved to a town called Fertile, Minnesota!

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