This feature is used extensively in safety-critical testing procedures, for example. It is also used as a side channel for instrumenting long-running processes.

See also: debuggers and profilers, which simply wouldn't work without this capability.

I've also since learned that this feature is used in applications (e.g. Firefox) which sandbox their processes, as a means of crash-reporting when some process pisses in their sandbox, crashing ...

Sure, it 'seems' dangerous to have this capability - until you need to debug, profile, or instrument something ..