I'm old enough to remember when there was one company that ruled the phone system in the US. Since it's break up there certainly have been some ups and downs in the world of phones, but almost everyone would agree that prices have come down. But did you know that there is company that serves as the digital directory for all the rest? NeuStar is the carriers' digital directory for all phone calls in North America. More than 800 telephone companies have numbers in the database. NeuStar assigns blocks of available telephone numbers to carriers. It also manages the directory for common short codes: five- or six-digit codes that people punch into their cellphones to take part in sweepstakes or to vote for game-show contestants, for instance. And about one out of every four Internet transactions is routed using a NeuStar database, as NeuStar handles traffic for domains that include .biz, .us, .org and .info.
NeuStar's databases are so powerful that the FBI a few years ago sought direct, unfettered access to one containing 310 million phone numbers in the United States and Canada. The telephone companies that pay NeuStar to run the database denied the FBI's request, but they did allow NeuStar to create a site where authorized law enforcement officials with court orders can obtain carrier information on telephone numbers. That's some kind of little black book, eh?
(This entry is linked to the Washington Post, where you can read the article for free but you will have to register.)
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