When people started calling my personal mobile number with questions about a voluntary organisation I'm involved with, I was confused: we weren't sharing that number. It turns out that Google had decided to take the number I used to verify my identity for Google Business some years prior and start putting it in Google Search results. WTF, Google?
Its weird how more people decided to use this information against people in the modern era than people in the past.
Well I mean you had to go the the kitchen and then look around in the cabinet for the yellow pages. Then you would realize you had five of them, and would say “why the hell do we have five phone books?” Then you’d their out the old ones, only to realize they were all outdated. Then you’d ask your family if they knew where the current one is, and it turns out that it’s propping up the short end of the old couch in the basement. Then you’d need to go get it, but since somebody dumped old leftovers in the trash (this was before recycling) they’re all gross. So you had to go grab a suitably thick replacement, and figure that the table of contents book from the 1982 encyclopedia set you’ve always had would work. You after your 3rd trip up and down the stairs you’ve finally got the phone book but can’t remember why, but while you have it you decide to order a pizza, then throw the book in the cabinet where they go. Two days later you find the phone number you needed in the first place, written on the back of an envelope.
It was used against people in the past too, probably more underreported then than now.