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Comment by userbinator | Hacker News Reader

I very much hope not, for the sake of future historians. Orwell put it best:

"He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past."

Indeed, for future historians it is critical that every company store the address, id, and private info of all their customers, for all time, regardless of risk. Without which we may forget that I lived on Paeroa St for two years while at uni, information that will be crucial in a discussion of the habits of early 2000s university students in New Zealand, and the impact that had on the fall of western civilization and the rise of our new fish-centric ethno-religion in the year 1200 AT (After Tilapia).

I will admit, for as much as I dislike Amazon now, on multiple occasions I’ve found it useful that I can log in and find my old addresses.

Which reminds me, I really should just write those down somewhere safe.

Let's not forget that all this personal data should also enter public domain for historians of the world to process.

How else will future generations be able to put your residence on Paeroa St in connection with the consumption of fish in that area during that time, to reveal the political stance of you and your offspring against the ruling party of the Tilapia...

Hail and Bless Our Lord ./makes gill flapping gestures

Did you really just compare private companies data retention to totalitarian censorship, and in a good way?

History isn't private data

For example you don't need to know exactly who voted for Trump or Biden in the last election, you just need to know the result

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