Not really. I'd say a lot of this started to change in the late 00's, and there were plenty on the internet in the early 00's that knew about basic online safety. We can argue and split hairs that those people were less normie than most other normies, but at the end of the day the common belief was to be cautious on the internet. Now you're considered somewhat of a freak for not sharing everything.
Normies have zero sense of OpSec.
But they used to. It was once upon a time considered normal behaviour to not give your information to everyone you possibly could.
No, that was just the time before normies arrived on the internet.
Not really. I'd say a lot of this started to change in the late 00's, and there were plenty on the internet in the early 00's that knew about basic online safety. We can argue and split hairs that those people were less normie than most other normies, but at the end of the day the common belief was to be cautious on the internet. Now you're considered somewhat of a freak for not sharing everything.
You're describing the exact timeframe during which normies arrived on the internet.