It was a socratic question - the DBA holds the trump card, and there are plenty of DBAs who still, even in 2010, want all data access via stored procs.Seems to me that socratic question would pursue rather than defend a lumpen status quo. Whatever.
Why do you think DBAs turn off SELECT access in the first place?In the olden days security options were limited and we were afraid that people would screw with data via Excel, especially if the database had OS security only, which is all that some offered. Also the concept of tiered development was far less prevalent than it is today. In 2010 there are numerous ways to secure databases if you know what you are doing. Of course all things change if you need uber-security... but then you've got a people problem, not a technical problem, because all the evidence is that uber-security is broken from within.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
