Privacy

I cannot remember when did we start to covering up other's name in order to "protect their privacy".

In fact, not very many of us know the definition of privacy. Let me give you a formal one, from the US Constitution:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."
"No warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

You see, the concept deals with eavesdropping, tapping of phone lines, and activities of a similar kind by the government or other secret agents (and therefore a protection against excessive power of the government or dictatorship) - not disclosing your name to the public.

For the latter purpose, we actually should never use our name - so that no one would ever know what we do.

PS. The original US Constitution actually had no mention about privacy at all. The current description comes from its Fourth Amendment. You may consider what happens in the other side of the Pacific Ocean may not apply here. True. But, in that case, we can simply do away with this concept altogether - why follow the Americans' footsteps ?