[hilbert42]

"Not sure there are many people left treating Google as a "trusted partner" …"

Trouble is that whilst many have realized that Google (like much of Big Tech) is the quintessential example of a Poisoned Chalice they remain all too aware they've little choice but to endure or risk unavoidable abuse.

The tragedy of the modern internet is that these monopolies have reduced competition and choice to irrelevancies.

[netsharc]

Cloud feudalism. The feudal decides what rules to apply, their reasoning is opaque and the protests of their subjects don't reach them. One day the feudal can confiscate all your possessions within his territory and banish you from his reign, for whatever reason. You can ask the feudal's henchmen for redress but they can ignore you or just tell you bullshit.

Sometimes protests that reach enough crowd get heard and the problem gets fixed...

[hilbert42]

"Sometimes protests that reach enough crowd get heard and the problem gets fixed..."

That's the stuff of revolution. Feudalists don't listen until forced to under duress, that's when things usually turn very nasty—shades of 1789 and like. The Ancien Régime sans a head or two.

Feudalists all have certain traits in common: arrogance and a sense of superiority coupled with shortsightedness and a lack of empathy.