The 1970s, and it is an allusion to an immigrant from the game "Papers, Please" who is stuck in a dystopian bureaucracy.

I was alluding to Ford Prefect rather than your username.

Anyway, if someone asks you to respect their rights, such as not recording them, telling them you value them too much to respect that is just... odd. It wouldn't make me feel valued or even considered as a person, at all. And it would change the situation from "this person hasn't noticed they're about to step on my foot, I better tell them" to "this person is unable to perceive it and/or doesn't care".