Corporations are legally allowed to collect much more and more varied kinds of data than governments, in general. Governments are not barred from purchasing da

Corporations are legally allowed to collect much more and more varied kinds of data than governments, in general. Governments are not barred from purchasing data from private corporations, and it's unclear what an actually-enforceable and -effective regulation on that activity would look like. Governments can do a lot more damage than corporations when they have that kind of data, true. But nothing stops them from acquiring it by issuing money (fiat currency in the US -- practically unlimited!) and employing it for their own ends. So it seems like focusing on the collection of which kinds of data, irrespective of who is collecting, is the real concern here.