Wednesday, May 11, 2005

The Power of Google

I happened to be watching MSNBC during today's lunchtime evacuation of the white house and capital. I switched between MSNBC, CNN and Fox News. CNN was first to report a single engine plane and 2 F16s in the air that fired flares. MSNBC was first to report the all clear. Fox was the only one to report that the RNC headquarters were also evacuated.

CNN showed the plane once it was on the ground. The early shots showed the registration numbers. I googled it and it turns out google reports aircraft registration number listings from the FAA. I instantly found the name and address of the owner. A few clicks on google maps and I could see a satellite photo of his neighborhood but there wasn't much detail of that area. His phone number is unlisted and I can't find much other info about him for free. Though I did find a few services that would do a background check on him for under $10.

1 comment:

The Dad said...

Heh. That's pretty cool. You know, most of those services have my address and phone number as the one in Briarcliff Manor, NY. Haven't lived there in around 12 years. Interestingly the phone number now belongs to Ra. So if I were to fly a Cessna over DC, he'd be gettin' some calls...