I’m old enough to remember the white pages, where essentially everyone’s name, phone number, and address were published and distributed.
But it’s hard to have a conversation about appropriate calibration of what is private, and what are reasonable expectations, when extremists from both pro-privacy and scorched-earth commerce are so strident.
It was a lot harder to SWAT people when the White Pages existed. American society was much higher-trust then; people didn't show up to pizza parlors with assault rifles because of something they read online.
You'll have to forgive those of us who simply want to remain safe.
Mafia Enforcer: "It's hard to have a conversation about what's an appropriate level of protection racket, when you're always screaming about your kneecaps being smashed. I'm reaching out to you to talk, but I just can't take you seriously when you're behaving like this."
But it’s hard to have a conversation about appropriate calibration of what is private, and what are reasonable expectations, when extremists from both pro-privacy and scorched-earth commerce are so strident.