I know, remember when the telco's just published those in books every year?
What I find fascinating is that people paid for privacy. Yes, indeed, people paid several dollars extra per month to maintain an unlisted/unpublished phone number. Today very few people are willing to pay actual money for privacy.
Everyone I knew while growing up was in the white pages (parents) with home address, not just phone number.
The early “FreeNet” and ISPs like Compuserve used anonymous usernames. Personalized email addresses came later…
Oddly, because we can’t even pay for privacy today, it appears as if nobody cares. Sure, still desirable but not even an option at any cost.
How we got from there to here is troubling.
Both free and paid online services make extensive use of 3rd party tracking services.
Sure, if one has a flip phone and lives as one did in the 1980s…