I think more importantly is that it was the prevalent attitude when potentially / probably core systems were being developed which are undoubtedly still in plac

I think more importantly is that it was the prevalent attitude when potentially / probably core systems were being developed which are undoubtedly still in place, in some form, today, and that also very likely have carried forward those same biases. If you have little respect for your users outwardly then I'm sure it reflects itself in the code. I mean, isn't this how we've ended up with GDPR in the first place?