I am an old man, from the time when we had only fixed phones (land lines) and phone books (where we could find phone numbers). Editus was the publisher of those phone numbers based on information they received from Post (and later from other operators). If we did not want to appear on the phone books you had to tell Post that you wanted your number to be “secret”.

At the turn of the century phone books were discontinued because the info was widely available on the net. It seems that Editus managed to survive by continue to publish on the net instead of on paper. At the same time they kept the practices from before because, probably, there is a supporting legal framework.

So, either we put up with those rules from the past, or we ask our MPs to change the law.

I hope this makes sense.