This is one of the few times that I found the rambling anecdote relevant, perhaps because it dealt with a significant historical period.

Two things struck me: the Jewish census and the human smugglers. I would have to look up the origin and intent of the census, but the moral is that the existence of such records put people in peril. As for the smugglers, the lesson is that trusted people can use that information to betray you.

How this relates to the modern world is an open question, but the author goes on to suggest parallels: governments persecuting entire peoples, trusted parties collecting data; and solutions: being able to inspect what our software does.