How to Search for People | Then and Now

Michelle Wilson - May 16, 2019

These days, privacy is a huge deal. Between social media, focused ads, intelligent technology, and more (not to mention information breaches), keeping your information to yourself seems almost impossible. Well, would it surprise you to understand that individuals already started to care about this problem a century earlier?

Party Lines

Imagine it’s 1904, and your family’s got their first phone. Being a typical family, you have not a personal party line. (While a distinct line is preferable, it’s not yet in your budget.) This implies several households use the same line to obtain mobile calls. It also implies your privacy is non-existent (mainly when your neighbor at the bottom of the block is home). Anyone in your community could be talking about a significant company, chattering with a buddy, or having a private discussion, and anyone sharing your party line could be participating in — without your understanding. Party lines aren’t the only future downside to this fresh communication type.

The Phone Book

Now a phone book is needed. How else would you understand who to call? Not everyone has this newfangled equipment. And what about a phone book? That’s okay — names of people. (And digits, ultimately, but those arrive a little later. Switchboard operators still have a tiny enough roster to operate from, at this stage, all they need to link two sides is their names.) You’re no longer anonymous (if you’ve ever been). People can discover you now. They could call you. If you read about it, it’s an early “individuals search” instrument. And people’s quest is about getting advanced.

Privacy is Slipping Away

In another century or two, town directories (another cell book form) are launched. Concerning phone digits and addresses, published information includes stuff like the name and employer of a spouse. Reverse telephone directories also appear. While primarily intended for use by necessary facilities and law enforcement, copies are often held in libraries. Using one of these phone books, someone can search for and find an address or phone number to find out who’s associated with that location or phone number. Privacy isn’t what it used to be. This will take some acquaintance.

The New Phone Book’s Here!

But, of course, individuals get used to it ultimately. Indeed, searching for your name in the fresh phone book is almost something to look forward to – particularly if you’re a child or a newly independent person.

Use Checkpeople.com Today. It’s the new phonebook!

Today, we still discover helpful those ancient town directories and inverse telephone directories (as well as intriguing snapshots into long-ago moments and locations). They’re particularly useful for genealogical researchers. We often discover we’d like that kind of search force to locate individuals we’ve missed contact with. That’s what’s so useful about a contemporary search page. You have the same kind of cross-reference that those decades-old phone guides had — you can search by title, phone number, or address — but searching requires seconds. Who would you discover? This portal is not a customer reporting agency established by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). You should not use this location to determine an individual’s eligibility for FCRA loan, insurance, jobs, accommodation, or any other intent.

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Browse the CheckPeople blog for more ideas about how to use people search engines more effectively in your long-last family investigations, as well as other searches.