During prohibition, it was illegal to buy or sell alcohol....but 🤔 I don't think that law was obeyed.
Back in those days we did not have a surveillance state. Nor did people willingly carry tracking devices with them wherever they went. Nor did they publically share their opinions, photos of their children and private information for the surveillance state to recrod. Nor were there license-plate-reading cameras on stoplights tracking their travel.