The big tech companies are no different from Walmart, DuPont, 3M, and dozens of former giants like Ford and GM: they exploit the public in every way possible because they've bought the politicians who write the laws. If the US had a system of government that was a little less pay-to-play, many of these abuses would be impossible. But as every US politician is up for sale at all times (gotta fund those re-election campaigns!) it is inevitable that the rich get laws that favor them at the expense of everyone else. Furthermore, as the typical US politician is clueless and brain-dead, the idea that they could regulate and legislate adequately is naive in the extreme. No doubt the upcoming hearings will continue to feature fat stupid old white men asking how to activate a feature on their smartphones or what a 404 error means. It's no good blaming Google et al for taking advantage of a completely broken system. Because, let's face it, everyone would do the same thing if only they had enough money to buy a sufficiently large number of representatives.