Insomnia For Dummies

While the monsters of Avenue Q would have you believe that the Internet is for porn, I have found, actually, that it is for stalkers (and porn).  With the vast array of so called “social-networking” sites available, Internet stalking has become the number one pastime among peoples under 25 and can lead to some disastrous endings, like the teenage girl who killed herself when she was bullied on MySpace by someone pretending to be a teenage boy (but in reality was a schoolmate’s mother).

Recently I’ve been emailing someone in my area that I met on a site that’s kinda a cross between a social-networking site and a dating site.  Nothing interesting, just chit-chat and things about favorite movies and things like that.  A couple weeks ago he gave me his telephone number so that we could meet at a bar (or something) when I’m in Boise.  I gave him a ring and noticed that it wasn’t a cell phone but a land line.  I didn’t know people still had those.

I went two whole weeks before realizing that I could find out where he lives by doing a reverse phone lookup on Google.  When I put his number into the search field on Google hit enter.  I found his address and even saw a map.  In Google Maps there was a “Street View” option.  I saw a picture of his house.  How creepy is that?!?!?

I tried my parents’ phone number, got the map, and did the street view.  OMG I’m freaked out.  I saw my car and our crazy mailbox.  Imagine what a stalker could do with this.  Just let your mind wonder a little.

I was even more freaked out when I went back to the original search page and saw the advertisements on the side.  I clicked on one, I believe the title was “Trace This (area code) Number”.  It took me to a site and I entered in a number and it came up with some results that you could buy.  For $14.95 I can learn everything there is to know about someone with a land line phone including all house hold residents and any relatives.

And then, just when I thought that the Internet had changed purposes from a place to find naked pictures of celebrities to a place to find out everything about someone special “in” your life, another ad on the Google page took me to a porn site.