1998 the internet was in its infancy? You have got to be kidding. As for breaches of personal information, they have always been there for professors and TAs who don't understand/follow the rules/laws (and there were the same problems in 1998 as there are now). Making it seem as if there weren't any rules or laws at the time governing the release of personal information shows a clear lack of research on the author's part and biased assumptions of the past.