>From Swedish newspaper *Aftonbladet* Aug 27, 2001,
http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/nyheter/story/0,2789,84644,00.html
In Sweden, a new type of directory service will soon be introduced by the
company Ahhaaa [yes, that actually seems to be their name, see
http://www.ahhaaa.com/ ]. You will be able to call this service 24-7, give
the license plate number of a car, and they will immediately tell you the
name, address and phone number of the person registered as owner of that
car. If the owner is a business, they will also tell you the number of
employees and annual revenue.
The article states a number a "benefits", such as calling the driver who
just cut you off to complain, locate parking violators or notify an owner
whose car has been broken into. Last but not least, the article suggests
that if you find another driver attractive, this service would make it
easier to make contact.
It does not take a criminal mastermind to see ample opportunities for abuse
- road rage, stalking, fraud etc. One could argue that this information has
always been available to the public in Sweden, albeit from different sources
(see http://justitie.regeringen.se/pressinfo/pdf/publicaccess.pdf for an
explanation of the Swedish Principle of Public Access to
Information). However, with modern technology, deregulation of
telecommunication services, and the ubiquitousness of mobile phones, the
information is instantly available and therefore the opportunities to act on
impulse are much greater.
Ulf Lindqvist, System Design Lab, SRI International, 333 Ravenswood Ave,
Menlo Park CA 94025-3493, USA +1 650 859-2351 http://www.sdl.sri.com/ [Ulf Lindqvist via risks-digest Volume 21, Issue 63]
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