Re: "that we want privacy FROM THE GOVERNMENT."
Facebook, Google, et al, aren't going to come arrest us for something... like a 16yo kid having a beer after a football game, or watching an R-rated movie, or making out with his same-aged girlfriend.
The government MIGHT do that.
The big difference here is needing/wanting privacy from people who DO have authority over you... the ability to punish you.
Therefore, it simply doesn't matter NEARLY AS MUCH, if Google et al would be any "better"... because they don't have any AUTHORITY... unless you work for them, and then, the worst that they could do, would be to fire you.
"The government... is a monster..."
No, our government is not a monster... and I'm aware that some people might disagree with me, and have cause to do so... like the people of North Vietnam circa 1970, just to name one group.
It is not, however, generally a monster to its own people...
unlike some governments in recent history, and currently, for example the Nazi government of 1939-1945.
GDPR -
I wasn't really complaining about the GDPR, only giving an example of how it had negatively impacted me.
Democracy isn't "parenting"...
Well, there I have to disagree with you... because in some places it IS.
Of course, that's not an inherent trait... just one that sometimes happens, depending on the people who vote and the people they elect... and the way that elected, democratic, government BEHAVES.
To give you an example...
The mayor of New York passed a city ordinance to add/raise taxes on soft drinks sold in volumes over a certain size... to help reduce obesity.
That's a VERY "parental" (or patriarchal, or matriarchal) behavior.
That's a fairly recent example. Here in the US, we have a group of mostly older taxes which we actually refer to as "sin taxes"... intended to raise money by "punishing" people for "immoral" behavior, such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and so on. There were other laws, too... "blue laws" which forced certain businesses (like bars, but even grocery stores in some states) to be closed on certain days or at certain times, and so on.
By and large, the "sin taxes" still exist, and have, in MANY cases, only been increased.
The "blue laws" have largely been repealed... but DO have other purposes. Some were also "labor laws" which forced businesses to give their workers at least one day off. Others were intended to protect kids from being exposed to more adult things.
"...to protect less powerful citizens from the powerful ones."
I agree... but governments CAN cross a line... and not only can, but DO... and thus the need to limit them.
To give another example from history... Nazi Germany... where Hitler and his cabal claimed that they were "protecting real Germans (aka Aryans) from the (allegedly too powerful) Jews."
A more recent example could be the USA's "Patriot Act", post 9-11, written into law "to protect us", but which has led to some rather infamous violations of privacy.