Debbie, I don't think anyone is "getting away with" anything, or even trying to. A rule about requiring profiles to be open after a certain period of time was very recently implemented. I believe it applies to people who died over 100 years ago or were born over 150 years ago, provided that they do not have any children currently living, but I may not have that quite right. I'm sure that not all managers - even the active ones - are aware of this requirement.
When you come across a private (or public) profile that meets the criteria for being required to be open, you can file an "open profile request" and I believe those are acted upon very quickly.