Could someone please explain why people are getting so worked up about this issue?
Because having your identity stolen can pretty much destroy your life, or at the very least cause you a great deal of suffering for many months. This change would mean a tiny oversight from many years ago could allow those things to happen.
It's also a paradise for fraudsters and charlatans, who will have a bountiful source of new identities to build on if they can just find someone who has since died or can otherwise be assumed not to need an old account any more.
Because having your identity stolen can pretty much destroy your life, or at the very least cause you a great deal of suffering for many months. This change would mean a tiny oversight from many years ago could allow those things to happen.
It's also a paradise for fraudsters and charlatans, who will have a bountiful source of new identities to build on if they can just find someone who has since died or can otherwise be assumed not to need an old account any more.