Comment by wormius
3 days ago
Ugh - our local paper used to have a wonderful archive, that got limited and locked down after the pandemic. IDK if they got bought out, but it's a real shame, I think some of the problem is things that used to be public information (birthdates, families, names) in hospital admissions (I found old entries of my friends parents and my own for being "in the hospital" in the newspaper for example).
I'm sure that plays a role, but still... This obviously is about cost and money making, not security as a whole (ime)
A lot of those aggregated records very quickly become a very precise public record. I'm not saying if it's good or bad but a lot of people on this site probably object to having their lives be essentially an open book which is very close to being the case as soon as a relatively small number of facts are opened up.
It's more the case when the addresses and birthdates of public figures, which are often a matter of public record, enter the picture but it's easier to find out information about a lot of people with a bit of data than most people realize if anyone really cares to investigate.