On Wednesday, a woman named Margaret called into a Western Australia radio station to complain that her 9-year-old grandson had been given the same cellphone number as a brothel in Melbourne. "All these men kept calling," Margaret told 6PR. "I tell you what, I was livid.... It was such a shock because he couldn't understand it and I couldn't understand it."
Mistakenly shared phone numbers are in the news in Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald reports, because Australian rules football star ("rucker") Nic Naitanui was apparently assigned the same number as somebody in Queensland. Tech analyst Trevor Long tells the paper that two people sharing a number was possible, but "it would almost certainly mean one or more of the checks and balances within the provisioning system of the telco must have failed."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
What happens if TikTok is banned?Today's Big Question Many are fearful that TikTok's demise could decimate the content creator community
-
The unparalleled leader of the gentle parenting movementIn the Spotlight Dr. Becky became the face of a revolution in how we treat our children
-
One Great Cookbook: Madhur Jaffrey's 'Vegetarian India'The Week Recommends The 2015 tome will reshape how you think about both vegetables and Indian food
-
Empty-nest boomers aren't selling their big homesSpeed Read Most Americans 60 and older do not intend to move, according to a recent survey
-
Brazil accuses Musk of 'disinformation campaign'Speed Read A Brazilian Supreme Court judge has opened an inquiry into Elon Musk and X
-
Disney board fends off Peltz infiltration bidSpeed Read Disney CEO Bob Iger has defeated activist investor Nelson Peltz in a contentious proxy battle
-
Disney and DeSantis reach detenteSpeed Read The Florida governor and Disney settle a yearslong litigation over control of the tourism district
-
Visa and Mastercard agree to lower swipe feesSpeed Read The companies will cap the fees they charge businesses when customers use their credit cards
-
Reddit IPO values social media site at $6.4 billionSpeed Read The company makes its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange
-
Housing costs: the root of US economic malaise?speed read Many voters are troubled by the housing affordability crisis
-
Feds cap credit card late fees at $8speed read The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule to save households an estimated $10 billion a year
