Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reverse phone number lookup usually refers to finding a residential/business address tied to a phone number (historically a landline phone, but cell phones are also owned by people who have addresses), not the literal GPS location of the phone. I think white pages are still a thing, no? For the young 'uns - the white pages were part of the physical phone book in every city. You got a new phone book delivered to your…
> The crazy part is: almost everyone added their numbers voluntarily to the white pages, because you wanted people to be able to easily find and reach you. The default was that your number would be in the phone book, it was not voluntary. If you wanted an unlisted number, you had to pay for it.
For reference: I'm old enough to remember using landlines and white pages, but not old enough to have ever had a landline at my own address.