How old is gran? Ask directory inquiries...

If you want to find someone’s age, you can now ask 192.com directory inquiries.

The online service has introduced the feature today to help you pick out the person you are seeking from a lengthy search-results listing.

The site does not claim to offer an accurate age, only what it calls “a guide”, but it reckons to get within five years in most cases. The information is inferred from a number of indicators in cross-linked data sets, such as phone listings and the electoral roll.

“If the child of a couple at a particular address suddenly appears on the electoral roll, it means the parents must be old enough to have an 18-year-old child. Similarly you can get an idea from how long someone has been on the register,” said 192.com new technology director Dominic Blackburn.

It may sound hit or miss, but the system was spot on for the name I gave Blackburn to try out. He does not see it as intrusive. “It is just helping someone to get in touch with you,” he said.

He points out, too, that the system will not allow you to search on ages: you cannot, for instance, search for all forty-somethings in a particular area, the kind of information beloved of junk-mail advertisers.

“We are not in that business,” said Blackburn. “It would take far too long and cost far too much for them to use our system. They would do better to buy the dataset from somewhere.”

The system does not work for the 50 per cent of subscribers who are ex-directory. Blackburn is confused about these. He grants that some people - journalists or celebrities - may have good reason to keep their heads down.

“But most people ... I don’t understand why they do it. The usual reason they give is to avoid junk marketing but making yourself ex-directory is going to have no effect on that. You are just making it hard for people to contact you.”

192.com began as an alternative directory-inquiry service but has evolved into a people finder, with a wider selection of services. Occasional use is free, provided you register, but their are charges for prolonged access.

The service claims to be the first of its kind to include data from the 2008 electoral roll.

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