[II2II]

Oddly enough, the information is just as available to businesses today yet it is less available to individuals. The digital databases have existed for decades. Certainly longer than the Internet as a publicly accessible network. Yet the phone books, that were accessible to anyone, no longer exist. (I also believe that cost of phone books were included in the price of telephone service, which meant that they were "free" for most households.)

(And, for the sake of accuracy, the yellow pages were a business directory that companies paid for higher profile ads. The white pages were the directory of individuals.)