That's control. And privacy is much better now than it was in the "glorious early days of the internet" when your two choices were SMTP and IRC and both were subject to monitoring by local sysadmins and pretty much any node your packets passed through.

Just because the present is not perfect does not mean the past was better. I much prefer the privacy and control of today's internet over yesterday's internet.

How do I prevent Google from reading my email conversations when a huge chunk of the destinations are on the Gmail platform?

I DON'T have control. And I DON'T like it.

I fear the set of Orwellian rules that would be required to make you happy.

I mind that Google and Facebook have access. They are already Orwellian, and figuring out how to control that would be anti-Orwellian.

Said nobody who truly understands network effects or knows someone who depends on Facebook for day-to-day communication with 5-10 people.

Quitting Facebook by yourself is easy but it's pointless if your friends don't do the same. Forcing your social circle to switch at the same time (particularly if they aren't technologically inclined) is folly.

However, women, children, and minorities have far more freedom and privacy than they ever have historically. There are some ways you can look at this so that it seems that corporations have more ability to see into your life. In large, it is really just a rise in their accuracy. Their attempts and actions are actually lessened.

Why should technology get the credit?

If you want your kids to go to school, there needs to be resources for that to happen (and you personally have to have enough resources that you aren't using them for labor).

Different technologies, sure. But the liberating effects of labor saving devices is pretty tough to dispute.

Zoe Quinn, black men getting shot at traffic stops and victims of cyberbullying might all have a different opinion about that.

None of those things are good. But you needn't dig hard to find our culture actively doing these things almost with glee not long ago. Our bar is rightfully higher than it was, and we have legitimate criticisms to overcome. But don't let that detract from the fact that the bar is higher.