Yahoo and Flickr

What happened to Yahoo and Flickr.  All of a sudden I need to give personal information to sign in to a 10 (plus) year old account?  When Facebook asked me to send my birth certificate/government i.d. to identify myself it sounded like a joke.  Especially knowing I'm probably one of a handful of people to be asked to id myself by this odd group.  Now Flickr and Yahoo.  If they don't want me to use their free service all they have to do is say:  "You aren't allowed to use this free service."  I'm supposed to identify myself to to a machine?