> The software developers and software companies of today are on average not to be trusted: they will outright steal the customers' private information and sell it or give it away without a second thought.

This is an 'unintended side effect' of the software-as-a-service model. When software was licensed the software itself was what made the money, and there was no way that someone would buy a piece of software if it did not at least try to keep the data safe, in one piece and on the users' computer. But with software-as-a-service the user expects to see their data moving elsewhere and once that has happened all bets are off on how it can - and will - be monetized.