Which was useful. If Bob was the subject of a targeted attack by Larry that unjustly sullied his reputation or opportunities, moving from Aton to Ceeton and changing his name to Rick means that Larry's erasure of Bob's standing is effectively reversed.

Sure, it could be abused. But literally everything has the potential to be abused. Life is about weighing the risks of abuse against the reward of opportunity. And honestly I think we've gotten really bad at assessing that risk in the past half century, with powerful individuals muddying our perception even further to pursue their own goals.