Comment by w1ntermute | Hacker News Reader

Comment by w1ntermute | Hacker News Reader

> We get the age of cellphone number through a process called cellphone underwriting, which reveals all of the above and more, and which is perfectly legal but secretive enough that I won’t reveal how it works. At the end of the day, we’re looking for entrepreneurs who are young, stable, middle class, and who have the support of family and friends networks — and the age of the cellphone number tells us all those things.

> So, I take the approximate age of a founder’s cellphone number and then during due diligence, I get a stat: The average time of their first phone call in the day. If you and your entrepreneur team are making and taking calls at 6:30 a.m PT, you’re probably talking with people back East and there’s a 50-50 shot you’re making north of a million in revenues.

This smells like complete bullshit. There are no other (relevant) Google results for "cellphone underwriting": https://www.google.com/search?q=cellphone+underwriting (add the quotes yourself, they're being removed by HN's comment code)

GigaOM has really gone to the dogs.

They failed to mention that any entrepreneur must also be born with the gift of flight or at least levitation. I've never read so much bullshit in one place. So if I wanted to change my cellphone company because a new company offered me a better deal, and I wanted (or had) to change my cellphone number because the new one is so much better and too much advertising companies had my previous one any ways. Plus I didn't want to go on my family's "family plan" because it doesn't make sense when I talk to my friends on the cellhone most of the time and with my family on Skype, it means I'm not stable? maybe not. But it means I'm smart.

What a stupid ass "algorithm".

It seems their algorithm has codified age discrimination. It's a shame really that this is a component of their strategy.

Except that their algorithm, overall, seems like a failed strategy.

I'm fairly certain that any half decent PI can fetch a cell account history by a phone number.

This is a common misconception. Ever since the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006[0,1] was passed, it has been illegal to obtain telephone records if you're not a law enforcement or intelligence agency.

Edit: Here[2] is a more comprehensive list of records that private investigators cannot legally obtain: banking and financial records, telephone records, credit information, nationwide criminal records, and a comprehensive individual profile. However, I have no confirmation of the veracity of that website, as I just found it with a quick search.

0: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_Records_and_Privacy_P...

1: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-109hr4709enr/pdf/BILLS-10...

2: http://www.diligentiagroup.com/legal-investigation/5-myths-w...

I think most of definitions of "telephone records" involve call history and other stuff that got HP board in trouble.

Here something like a credit statement showing consistency of payments to a mobile operator would suffice - with number portability being a law some brokers would sell you access to a database telling you which carrier the number belongs to, and how long ago it was recycled.

Well, like I said above, credit information is also not so easy to obtain.

But remember, this is all when you're strictly following the law. There are plenty of PIs who are willing to bend the law.

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