Why Are U.S. Phone Numbers Special?

U.S. phone numbers are unique, compared to other countries, because of the kinds of publicly available information affiliated with their registered owners.

Marketing databases, US public records, and the existence of people trying to profit off of that information have made US numbers uniquely useful from a research perspective (or, depending on your view, a stalker’s perspective).

The process for researching a US number involves using one piece of information to find a second bit of information that leads to a third and then again.

So the researcher looks up the number to find the owner’s name/address, other people that lived with them (roomates, current and former spouse), and their email address. Along the way, the researcher will also pick up a few more bits of information too.

This research will involve finding other phone numbers and their owners, which could be confused with the original phone number’s owner. For sake of clarity, the owner of the original phone will be referred to as “Lex” from here on out.