Last month, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the so-called DC Madam, had her phone records released on the website bearing her name. Within hours, it was found that US Senator David Vitter of Louisiana admitted that his number was on the list. The Associated Press ran a piece entitled Sleuths pounce on ‘D.C. Madam’s’ files, and it was off to the races…

I don’t think that what I’m about to write has been picked up by any media outlets, especially in Japan. The closest reference I could find was a Kyodo article with a headline saying that Palfrey was threatening to make her list public. Please let me know if what follows has been reported by the media.

The records in question can be downloaded from Palfrey’s website, which has copies of her phone records that have been scanned in to a computer. I am looking at the records in the file named “Sprint January 22 2005 - December 22 2005″ on that website (You can click on the image to the left to see a slightly blurry version).

On the bottom of page 35, there are five interesting phone calls. The first was made to 415-777-3533, a San Francisco number, at 1:28PM and lasted for 9.2 minutes. The next call was made at 1:41PM to 650-522-8500 and lasted for 1.6 minutes. Then, there are four calls to 415-392-1333, another San Francisco number. These calls were made at 1:43, 1:45, 1:47 and 1:48PM and lasted 2.0, 0.4, 1.3 and 9.5 minutes, respectively (As a side note, between the second and third calls to that number, a wrong number was dialed at 410-392-1333, which is listed as Elkton, MD on the phone bill but appears to be unlisted).

So, who owns these phone numbers?

Here are the AT&T listings:

(415) 777-3533: Consulate General Of Japan

(650) 522-8500: Japanese Chamber Of Commerce Northern California

(415) 392-1333: Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) San Fransisco

The only thing I have not verified is if these three phone numbers have been tied to these same three organizations back to 2005. However, I don’t have any reason to doubt that is the case, since all three are so connected and there has been such a short time lapse since the calls were made. At any rate, it’s a good idea to verify this (Hello? Is this Dr Smith’s office? No? Hmm…Maybe I have the wrong number written down. Maybe he changed his number! How long have you been at this number?)

Now someone needs to find out what went on. I don’t see anything particularly exciting on the calendar for any of these organizations in July of 2005, let alone something done jointly amongst them. Any ideas?