Only became free in 2003 in France, and the main telecom company then was not happy, refused to tell how much money it was gaining from selling the data previously, and asked for a subscription increase in exchange.

You need to pay extra to not be listed.

When I was growing up, you had to pay the phone company to not list your number.

Libraries had phone books for other areas. You could find the phone number for anyone.

There as no easy way to do a reverse lookup, but I think people are more afraid of someone finding their number from their name, not their name from their number.