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Reverse Directory

A reverse directory is also known as the grey pages. It is a book that lists the names and addresses associated with phone numbers. They differ from white and yellow pages, which list by personal or business name. The biggest difference, listing style aside is that you cannot request to be excluded from the grey pages.

This is because the reverse directory is used by law enforcement and emergency response to ascertain the origin of calls. For instance if someone is calling to report that their house is on fire, and the call cuts out before the caller can give an address, the fire department would look up the caller’s number in the reverse directory to find their home address.

Because of the privacy issues inherent with a reverse directory, they are not available to the general public. However there are reverse directories of listed numbers. The most common place to find these directories is online. To be removed from directories such as this, one has to pay to have one’s number unlisted by the phone company.

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