The difference is the customers also knew the same amount about the store owner. Oh, Gerald started running the store when his father got too sick to do it and he's been at it ever since. He's been trying to convince his son to take it up when he retires, but the boy only wants to play guitar, and so on.

There was trust because they were all part of a community. That's not the case with anonymous trackers that people aren't even aware of.