Index Last Week Contact DQ News Latest Issue
Long-Distance Information? Don't Count on It
According to a front page article in the September 21st issue of The Washington Post, there is a serious data quality problem with long-distance directory assistance information across the United States. The problem appears to result from increased competition as local phone companies begin to compete against long distance carriers and each other. Many of these companies refuse to share updated lists of customers' telephone numbers.
Consequently, long distance providers like AT&T are scrambling to assemble their own lists of phone numbers, using whatever sources they can find, including credit card data, motor vehicle records, and electronic scans of published telephone books. The resulting databases have a significant number of errors, which directory assistance operators unknowingly pass on to callers. Until a few months ago, for example, operators referencing Ameritech's listing for The White House, would only find the correct listing if they typed the word "the" before White House. Otherwise the caller might receive the listing for several different persons and businesses.
Before local and long-distance companies started competing the long-distance company sent the directory assistance call to operators at the local phone company, and the local phone company collected a fee from the long-distance company for providing the assistance. During the past several years, local and long distance phone companies have also contracted-out operator assistance services, used a variety of contractors, and put audible "logos" on directory calls. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires local phone companies to make listing available to all companies - but is silent about how and at what price.
In the end, competition may force companies to share data - to some extent. But market forces may make such cooperation a difficult process. The article was written by Post staff writer Mike Mills.
Diana Photo Restarts Debate Over
Lack of Restrictions on Internet
Postings
According to an article in the September 22nd issue of The New York Times, the publication on the Internet of a photograph purporting to show Diana, Princess of Wales, as she lay dying in the back of a crahed Mercedes - and it's subsequent publication in a French newspaper - has set off a controversy over the ease with which inaccurate information can be disseminated over a global computer network.
The Internet image showed firefighters at the scene of a car wreck wearing uniforms that did not remotely match those worn by members of Paris fire brigades, and a truck marked with an emergency number that would not work anywhere in France. The image showed a bloodied blonde woman in a mangled heap of metal. The image was immediately dismissed as a fake by unnamed French authorities. Nevertheless, the image was published on the front page of the newspaper France-Soir.
The Times article concludes by bemoaning how easily electronic images can be captured, manipulated, and broadcast to a global audience by anyone with a computer and modem. The article's author also believes that the public is all too ready to give the "electronic press" the benefit of the doubt when it concerns sensational news and information. The article was written by Times reporter Amy Harmon and appears on page D9.
In a Company Town, Some People
Claim a Right Not to Know
The New York Times recently reported that many residents of Corning, New York, are angry at their daily newspaper, The Leader, for reporting negative information about the performance of Corning, Inc. According to the Times report, a September 9th article in The Leader said that the company was facing a series of business threats, including a drop in demand for optical fiber and that Corning was in "a state of emergency." After the report appeared, the price of Corning stock fell from $53.50 a share on September 9th to $41.93 per share at the close of trading on September 11th - losing more than a billion dollars of value in a single day of trading.
In response to The Leader article, Corning Inc. responded by denouncing the newspaper, removing the paper's vending machines from it's buildings, and calling The Leader incaccurate, misleading, and irresponsible. On the other hand, some Corning residents applauded the article, maintaining a newspaper has the duty to find out information and report it.
The reporter who wrote the article, Courtney Kelley-Roe, maintained that The Leader had no choice after two months of investigative journalism but to report that Corning, Inc. was not as strong as people thought. Indeed, Corning Inc. revised its growth estimates downward shortly after the article was published. According to the Times article, some security analysts who follow Corning's stock were concerned about the performance of Corning Inc. for weeks before The Leader report appeared. The Times article was written by William Glaberson and appears on page A27. For a related abstract about "data mining" in the financial markets, see DATA QUALITY News for the week of September 7th.