Today I got a most interesting call from a phone solicitor, who said that he was with AT&T and they were going to be hosting a demo of an AT&T home security system on my block and was I interested in attending.

I told him about Clipper and asked if the AT&T home burglar alarms came along with backdoors allowing various govt agents and burglars to sneak in. Somehow the discussion shifts to PGP vs. Clipper, and the caller asks if I've got a handle (I told him my email address, which was Really Dumb) and then he asks if I'm into pirating or anything... of course I'm not, and said so....

Somewhere along the line I entirely forgot to ask how the hell he got any idea what block I lived on, since my residence address information is something I take great pains to protect.

And then it occurred to me... perhaps Something Else is also going on...? Like, "are you into pirating...?" Hmmm... I never even thought about that at the time, but if anyone else out there gets a call like this, it might be worth some follow-up research...

-gg

I used cold call for a home improvement company while I was in high school. Generally "Our salesman is going to be in your neighboorhood" is just a way to get people to feel like they'd better look at the product now rather than later. It doesn't mean they know where you live. However, unless your number is unlisted it will probably be in the Coles directory (along with such information as how long you've lived at that residence). It sounds like an ordinary cold call.