Tech Tools Fuel 'D.C. Madam' Scandal
Tech tools have helped some enterprising Web-heads creatively use the much-talked about phone records kept by Deborah Jeane Palfrey. The so-called "D.C. Madam" posted a copy of her escort service records (all 46 pounds of them) on her personal Web site and it wasn’t long before folks started remixing.
DCPhoneList.com created a searchable index of Palfrey's publicly released list, with entries dating back to 1994. The site permits searches by phone number but warns that the owner of a given number some years ago may not be the same person answering now.
The site said it hopes that "the many eyes of the public will find that which major media have not." Meanwhile, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., admitted earlier this week that he was a client and Palfrey has said other high-profile government officials used her services.
The Consumerist blog converted Palfrey's records into a text file, ran the numbers through a free online reverse number look-up service, sorted them by call volume then extracted all the hotel results. The top five meeting spots in Palfrey's records included the Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Holiday Inn, and Ritz-Carlton.
What's next? Will someone use Google's popular map-making capabilities to create a virtual tour of Palfrey's clients' escapades?
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