The Payphone Project

http://sorabji.com/livewire/payphones/
There you are filling up your car when the nearby payphone starts ringing off the hook. Ever wonder how and why people call these anonymous numbers? It all became clear to me when I chanced upon The Payphone Project. This frighteningly comprehensive directory of public phones in almost every area code in North America provides not only their seven-digit codes, but information on their environs. That way you know if the person on the other end is in the lobby at Ichabod Crane Middle School, inside a post office in Bellevue or outside a reading room at the Library of Congress. What's truly scary is that you can add your own numbers -- a surefire way to punish sworn enemies. I'll take a telemarketer over a Net phone voyeur any day.


(This was reprinted from my Washington Post column in 1998)
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