You bring up an interesting case.
On the one hand, we have matter of privacy - people presumably request the forecast for their present location, or their travel destination. This may be sensitive information, depending on personal circumstances.
On the other hand, we have usability - in the name of security, people got stopped from using a convenient feature. This seems pretty close to the trouble of planned obsolescence, and seems to be a somewhat common trend, of security running counter to usability and hackability (in the DIY sense).