probably the difference is we have systems in place. religion and other social structures. as systems go so can machines have systems but is less interpretive for better or worse.
it is so easy to spoof and really does not matter in usage except desktop/mobile. there are so many analytics out side that that it is indeed antiquated.
it is probably paranoia but not improbable. they have direct control of these companies and can totally do this. others like the US would have to go less direct routes for these things.
interestingly you had head shops(paraphernalia) before legalization. everyone knew what they where for but nothing illegal until it was used for that specifically. you can even buy crack pipes in some of the seedier neighborhood stores.
there was a mentality mostly from the depression era where it kind of got to hording in the when there was excess that mentality never changed much for that generation.
it is all measured its the extremes that are bad and really applies to anything.
well at least it does not overwrite it it could possibly be recovered. a backup trash folder is a good idea for those things aliases are great for a lot of things including larger scripts that would probably be in a separate file.
not only interpretations of it but those writing it.
look at archeology and how we interpret those from a those who wrote something down. there is of course other interpretations from other indications of more direct evidence but a lot of times we do not get those in conjunction with written records.