> live in fear of private companies It's not the _concept_ of private companies. It's specific things that those specific companies do. e.g. https://www.bloom

> live in fear of private companies It's not the _concept_ of private companies. It's specific things that those specific companies do. e.g. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/google-and-mastercard-cut-a-secret-ad-deal-to-track-retail-sales https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-30/google-an... Meaningful regulation would mean e.g. air-gapped infrastructure so they can't make inadvertent privacy mistakes. And guaranteed service levels, and a service of last resort. Google have based built a business model without accountability and transparency. Which is fine, as long as we're not forced to use them by the state.