Mystery Phone Numbers posted by Ben

So I opened my email this morning and discovered a message from a colleague, [deleted], with movie star [deleted]'s personal phone number enclosed.

This isn't as random as it seems. For those who have no clue what I do with my professional life, I'm the director of development for an independent film company out in Washington State. [Deleted] holds a special place in our hearts because he is an avid RPG fan (that's role-playing game for you neophytes) and our biggest film to date was about the table-top role-playing gaming community. Therefore the thought: "Wouldn't it be cool if [deleted] liked our movie? He's a gamer, it's about gamers. What a perfect match!"

So we contacted his agent and merrily sent him a copy of the DVD. End of story. Until I received this phone number in my email.

How [deleted] had acquired it baffled me until I read through the technology blog Engadget this morning, where I learned the sordid story of Paris Hilton's hacked T-mobile Sidekick. Seems that T-Mobile stores users' data on central servers, rather than individual phones, which makes it much easier to hack. So, Paris Hilton gets hacked and I end up with [deleted]'s phone number.

For the record, the fabricated Paris Hilton cult of personality makes absolutely no sense to me, other than as a postmodernist illustration of somebody who is famous for being famous. What circularity! What drama! (For what it's worth, a [deleted] of mine who has worked with her commented to me that she is "probably the unhappiest person [deleted] has ever met.")

So what can we learn from this waste-of-our-braincells post?

1) Don't use a phone service that stores your data on a remote server.
2) If you ever gave Paris Hilton your phone number, anybody can track it down. Change it. Unless you're not a celebrity, in which case you're probably safe.
3) If you ever do acquire an illegitimate phone number, actually using it would be a really great way to forever ruin your chances of establishing a positive professional relationship with its owner. "Hi, [deleted]! I got your number from the internet after these guys hacked Paris' phone. Wanna' see my movie?"

With that in mind, I deleted his number.

For those with a sick interest in the full story, here's the link.