Oh, I'm not arguing governments are inherently and permanently trustworthy. I certainly wouldn't trust any government in existence right now. However in princi

Oh, I'm not arguing governments are inherently and permanently trustworthy. I certainly wouldn't trust any government in existence right now. However in principle a government is tasked with overseeing the protection and prosperity of a group of people (its subjects) whereas a company is tasked with protecting the interests of its owners (e.g. investors). A company merely operates on its customers (or its users in the case of companies like Facebook where the users are the product, not customers). A government operates for its subjects. At least that's the general idea if you follow Thomas Hobbes, John Locke or Rousseau. I'm certain there are quite a number of governments around which disagree with this definition.