Unlike today. See Rashi Yehoshua 2:1. Maybe it wasn’t a big enough threat to local businesses.
By the way, did the king ask her to politely remove the spies, instead of invading her property (Yehoshua 1:3), because she was an important woman\a blackmail threat (since she knew the noblemen and kings and their secrets), just like certain people are treated differently until today, or because they had some decency, unlike today?