Needing to go to extremes to avoid having their lives ruined can be reasonable for a lot of people depending on where they are and the kind of oppression they live under. Someone might be a whistleblower like Snowden, or in the witness protection program, or a homosexual, or have an abusive ex or stalker, or be seeking an abortion, or be a protestor/freedom fighter, etc.

All the data collection pushed on us, even if it's only for marketing, leaves a lot of people vulnerable.