Path: utzoo!lsuc!ecicrl!eci386!clewis
From: clewis@eci386.uucp (Chris Lewis)
Newsgroups: tor.general
Subject: Re: City Directory?
Message-ID: <1989Dec7.202321.3605@eci386.uucp>
Date: 7 Dec 89 20:23:21 GMT
References: <2721@client1.DRETOR.UUCP>
Reply-To: clewis@eci386.UUCP (Chris Lewis)
Distribution: tor
Organization: R. H. Lathwell Associates: Elegant Communications, Inc.
Lines: 38

In article <2721@client1.DRETOR.UUCP> mmt@client1.DRETOR.UUCP (Martin Taylor) writes:

>Does anyone know anything about a company called "MIGHT DIRECTORIES"
>Div or R.L.Polk & Co. Ltd"?  We have received a slip headed
>"Important Request from the publisher of the local city directory"
>to provide them with a list of the occupants, their occupations, and
>employers for the house, along with the phone number and whether the
>house is owned or rented.  This seems a lot more than should be going
>into a city directory.  Are these people legitimate?  Is it reasonable
>to fill this slip out in whole or part and return it, or is there a
>significant privacy issue here?  If this is a city directory at all,
>why is a private company involved?  I realize that the information might
>well get into private hands even from a publicly owned database, but
>the idea of giving it directly to a private company doesn't seem right.

R.L. Polk compiles a book out of everything that you tell them (or they
find from other sources) and then sells it to such people as Real Estate 
agencies.

I remember seeing one at a Real Estate agent's, and looking at it out
of curiousity.  And being startled about what they knew about my parents
(and myself).  The one I saw was sorted by address.  Just perfect
for a REA to find out how to pester someone in a house that their client
says "that might be a nice one to buy".  Or for the more criminally
inclined...  ("H'mm, I can see a VCR in his window, and look up in my
Polk's for the person's phone number to find out when the best time is
to visit..."  Or "I'll just look up in my Polk's for the phone number
of the house that I saw that ... enter"....)

They're perfectly legitimate - it ain't illegal and they're a reasonably
reputable firm (in so far as, say, the BBB is concerned).  But, do you really
want to give them anything?  Judge for yourself....
-- 
A fanatic is one who can't change his | Chris Lewis, Elegant Communications Inc
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