NextCaller: What Does Your Phone Number Say About You?

I recently read this comment on Hacker News about the telephony startup NextCaller. What is NextCaller? According to their website, they provide “the world’s largest Caller ID database.”

“Caller ID,” you may ask, “So they’ll return my full name that corresponds to my phone number?” Actually NextCaller will return a whole lot more: home address, home value, salary, martial status, names of relatives, email addresses, educational attainment, Facebook and Twitter links, and other useful information. All from a telephone number.

Sound interesting? Let’s look at that sample response from a $0.10 NextCaller lookup:

{
    "add_ons": {
        "code": null,
        "message": null,
        "results": {
            "nextcaller_advanced_caller_id": {
                "code": null,
                "message": null,
                "request_sid": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
                "result": {
                    "records": [
                        {
                            "address": [
                                {
                                    "city": "XXXX",
                                    "country": "USA",
                                    "extended_zip": "XXXX",
                                    "line1": "XXX N Foo Bar Ave",
                                    "line2": "",
                                    "state": "AZ",
                                    "zip_code": "XXXXX"
                                }
                            ],
                            "age": "41",
                            "education": "Completed High School",
                            "email": "XXX@gmail.com",
                            "first_name": "John",
                            "first_pronounced": "JAHN",
                            "gender": "Male",
                            "high_net_worth": "",
                            "home_owner_status": "Own",
                            "household_income": "75k-100k",
                            "id": "XXX",
                            "last_name": "XXXX",
                            "length_of_residence": "11-15 years",
                            "linked_emails": [
                                "XXX@gmail.com"
                            ],
                            "marital_status": "Married",
                            "market_value": "200k-250k",
                            "middle_name": "D",
                            "name": "John XXX",
                            "occupation": "White Collar Worker",
                            "phone": [
                                {
                                    "carrier": "Bandwidth.com Clec Llc - Ca",
                                    "line_type": "Landline",
                                    "number": "XXXXXXXXXX"
                                }
                            ],
                            "presence_of_children": "No",
                            "relatives": [
                                {
                                    "id": "XXXX",
                                    "name": "Eric Doe"
                                },
                                {
                                    "id": "XXXX",
                                    "name": "Carie Doe"
                                },
                                {
                                    "id": "XXXX",
                                    "name": "Mark A Doe"
                                },
                                {
                                    "id": "XXXX",
                                    "name": "Frank G Doe"
                                }
                            ],
                            "social_links": [
                                {
                                    "type": "facebook",
                                    "url": "https://www.facebook.com/XXXX"
                                }
                            ]
                        }
                    ]
                },
                "status": "successful"
            }
        },
        "status": "successful"
    },
    "caller_name": null,
    "carrier": null,
    "country_code": "US",
    "national_format": "(XXX) XXX-XXXX",
    "phone_number": "+XXXXXXXXXXX",
    "url": "https://lookups.twilio.com/v1/PhoneNumbers/+XXXXXXXXXXX"
}

Did you get the number of that attractive woman at the party last night? Might as well look it up on NextCaller using the Twilio API.

A Forbes article explains the how NextCaller attempts to market their service:

“With just a phone number, our Advanced Caller ID can not only tell you the customer’s name, address, and email, but even how many people follow them on Twitter and what kind of roof they have on their house,” Ronconi said. “Companies use it for marketing, lead generation, and intelligent call routing. Our technology allows you to pair the right offer or agent with the right customer,” he added.

Sounds wonderful. Can one opt-out of NextCaller? If so, I can’t find the link on their website.

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