I don't know which services provide this or how they gather data, but the thought of anyone being able to download a detailed file on you with only an email or phone number is scary.
Prior to that there were phone books and whilst you could choose to be delisted clearly a lot of people didn’t since the books were so thick!
I thoroughly agree that privacy is important but I don’t think people ever really minded very much or if they did not enough to do something about it like lobby for laws to ensure personal addresses are not disclosed publicly.
There are also possible physical safety issues, especially in a country like the US were people seem to have guns and are willing to use them.
I miss Sweden’s transparency and widespread’s trust.
To what end?
I can't think of a situation when someone might need my address and not being able to get it from me directly.
https://33bits.wordpress.com/about/
It takes only 33 bits of distinctive information to identify a given person. Specific information about a person, including background, can help provide further information on them -- it tells you where to look (and more importantly, a very good idea as to where not to), who to talk to, and what they might have done.
"If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged."
- Cardinal Richelieu (a/k/a Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac)
"the forced revelation of information makes individual privilege and power more important. When everyone has to play with their cards on the table, so to speak, then people who feel like they can be themselves without consequence do so freely -- these generally being people with support groups of like-minded people, and who are neither economically nor physically vulnerable. People who are more vulnerable to consequences use concealment as a method of protection: it makes it possible to speak freely about controversial subjects, or even about any subjects, without fear of harassment."
https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger/posts/WegYVNkZQqq
(Yonatan Zunger is the former chief architect of Google+.)
I, and the people I love, have public political opinions on the internet, and SWATting is a thing.
I can either keep my address a secret (and I do; I use my PO Box whenever possible), or I can decline to participate in public civic discourse and encourage the people I love to do the same.
Much less is to be assumed about you, like just your name.
Versus the country you live in, state/province/territory, city/village/township, neighborhood, etc.
If you google my name, you will find my family (parents, sibling), their home address, phone numbers, ages, occupations. It is local.
Upon release or through veiled communication, I or my family members could easily be targeted for harm by inmates or former inmates.
This is a very real concern for me. I have found no way to permanently remove this information from search results.
I encourage people to think more creatively when they cannot think of potential disadvantages of easily searchable personal information.