>Just curious. Was it for technical reason or people complained of this being a privacy issue?

Nobody said anything about people complaining. This option is discountinued for several reasons and I won't comment more on it. Available to all members, something similar and very useful is the option Dashboard\Settings\Online members. So, in there, you can have a visual of who you would like to see who's online. It might not be the exact same functionality as what you are referring to but this is the closest option for that need.