Maybe Google's failure to not make the world worse is being spun into an argument on how all technology has its benefits and evils, but the social benefits from Google's tech appear to be outweighed by its social malefices.
You don't have to commit a crime to be targeted, spied on, harassed and have your life destroyed by the government.
When the government spies on innocent people en masse -- because they say they should have nothing to hide --, the government is the one doing harm to an innocent person, and it's the government who has something to hide.
Without accountability, and given the secret and anonymous nature of their interference, we can't trust that the government only spies on guilty people, because they will circularly claim that they are guilty because they are spied on.
And you shouldn't take solace that comparatively only a few innocent people get their lives destroyed, not just because it can happen to you, or because it shouldn't happen in the first place, but because not being accountable for their crimes gradually emboldens the government, and given advances in automation, to scale it up and encompass more of society until one day they come for you or your children.
I agree - it starts with criminals - because it is an obvious target, but once the capabilities are built then they are used in whatever way the government likes.
Methinks it's time for an anti-trust investigation on Google like the one on Microsoft during the Internet Explorer heyday.
At the same time, I don't trust the US has institutions that haven't been sabotaged by successive US administrations (from both sides) in their capacities to pursue anti-trust investigations of this sort.
Every time I see one of those forms I feel like the hungry, desperate sex workers who "consent" to being degraded and humiliated so that they can feed their families for another day...
Just say no if you feel you shouldn't. It's not required to live -- it's required to get something from someone else that you want. You have agency (as does any sex worker who isn't being trafficked). It's absurd that you'd make the comparison between a family starving and you using a website, but it's even worse because you're pushing off the responsibility of your own actions onto anyone and everyone else.
What's persistently disturbing is that in a free (black) market the price for that commodity has sunk so low. It means that there's a lot of offer available...
