There are a lot of people who would find a reverse phone directory very useful. Unfortunately, many of these people are not using such lookup services because they have fallen victim to two easy misconceptions: either they believe that such things are mostly fictional, or they believe that the general public is not allowed to use them. Neither of these is true, and if only these myths were dispelled, there would be a much larger number of people happily availing of these services.

The first misconception is that reverse phone lookups are mostly fictional. Most people only see them in action on cop shows or crime dramas: the guy in charge snaps at his subordinates to ?find out where that call came from!? and someone almost magically produces a name and address. A skeptical viewer knows that the other tricks that cop shows use (like image enhancement or shooting with one gun in each hand) don?t actually work well in real life, so why should they believe that finding a name and address from a phone number is something that really works? Well, if you think about it, it?s obviously possible to do the opposite ? find a phone number from a name ? since that?s what people do every day using ordinary phone books. Logically, then, it should also be possible to go the other way around, with something like a reverse phone book.

This is where the second misconception comes in: the idea that the general public is not allowed to use reverse lookups. People who do know that they exist may think that only the police can use them. It?s true that the first ?reverse phone books? described above ? sometimes called ?gray pages,? as a pun on the white and yellow pages?-were made for and issued to law enforcement agencies and emergency services. However, the general public has always been allowed to use them as well, as demonstrated by the fact that public libraries were issued ?gray pages? as well. And now, in the age of computers and the internet, it has become easier than ever for ordinary people to find a reverse lookup service and use it. Reverse phone lookups no longer need to be a mysterious and intimidating idea, something belonging only to the elite world of policemen and 911 operators and detectives on TV. They?re a service that can be availed of just as easily as any other service, by anyone, no matter how ordinary.

Reverse phone lookups have a large number of uses in everyday life: deterring unwanted sales calls, checking whether a missed call was important, verifying the address of an acquaintance. However, as a closing remark: although this article has been emphasizing the fact that reverse lookups are a service that anyone can use, you should keep in mind that just because you can find a name and address just like the cops on TV doesn?t mean that you ARE the cops on TV. Use the lookup service responsibly and take anything that requires police action to the police. For instance, some people may use the service to find the name of a stalker who has been harassing them by phone ? but never, ever confront the stalker alone! The proper procedure is to take the information to the police and let them handle things from there.