This argument may well have some truth, but it shrinks the debate to individual choices about "money in my wallet" versus "privacy". Increasingly the debate is

This argument may well have some truth, but it shrinks the debate to individual choices about "money in my wallet" versus "privacy". Increasingly the debate is moving to national security. We hear that the US government has lost trust in Microsoft. In the UK the choice of GCHQ to use AWS has caused consternation. A much more complex and nuanced landscape is emerging. Two of the links in the Techdirt article reference national security issues. National security and economic welfare of citizens are not separate. Private profit of a few global surveillance and data trading companies creates a problem that affects more than individual rights. So even if one ignores ethics and rights and takes a purely economic perspective, one has to ask whether the damage to a nation caused by big-tech surveillance companies outweighs their net benefit to the economy.