Originally Posted by l'etoile

Not so much any more. In Spain a couple of years ago I lost my parents at a roundabout when I told them to follow me to the hotel. They had no idea where we were staying. I checked into the hotel in Toldeo, the hotel sent my passport info to the police station immediately via the Internet, my parents happened to end up at the police station and - viola! - the police found me in their system and were able to reunite us that night.

My understanding of the reason behind this though is clearly not to reunite wayward travelers, but more to know where to look for potentially hostile visitors ...think of rounding up certain nationals during times of war ...