Ok, i was thinking more about the 80s and 90s when i said decades. And even at the turn of the century data collection still was limited to mostly diagnostic data and "always online" devices and software only really started getting traction later - i can remember the uproar when Simcity needed a permanent internet connection or when the xbox one required the same. But after that things went downhill real fast.

I would not trust any member of the current US admin further than i could throw them. They are fascists or opportunists who have no qualms working with fascists, and they are largely incompetent in their jobs too with very questionable world views (looking primarily at Trump, Hegseth, RFK and Patel here, but the rest of the bunch isn't much better). But they are only a symptom of the rot that has taken root in the US at least since the 60s.

The signs were there with Nixon getting off the hook and Reagans Contra affair having no repercussions for him. But there was no push to change anything substantially. I personally blame the civic religion the US has adopted; if you say state and religion are to be separate, but at the same time make the country itself a religion, changing anything basic becomes akin to blasphemy (or "communism" it this specific case.

And the people having no issue with bending the rules of course have no issue bending them when it comes to the relationship between companies and their costumers. The regulatory capture is insane in the US, and forced arbitration should be illegal in a country that believes in the rule of law. Contract law also should not allow one-sided changing of contracts regarding removal of features, privacy and cost structure - slapping a subscription fee on something that already has been sold without subscription should not be a thing at all, unless they also allow costumers to return the product for the full price they paid, and the privacy policy should be fixed in its essence (changing some minor wording is fine).

If you can't be sure that whatever you buy today will work the same way in a few weeks or that it won't just start selling your data because contracts can change whenever, then you also can't trust e-commerce at all, which is an essential way of doing business today - being able to buy something online and transferring money to an unknown party does not work in a low-trust society. The companies behaving that way are sawing on the branch they are sitting on because they don't give a shit about rules.