Others who care are fighting this fight. Facebook's message at the recent f8 was "privacy is the future"... It is not everyday you get giants like those, even superficially, to pay lip-service to something like that.
> But they're up against Facebook, Google, etc.
It isn't a losing battle, I don't think so. A lot of hardworking and smart people are putting in the effort, like you mentioned, but that effort isn't in vain. May be you're not paying enough attention to know the impact their work is having?
I'm paying close attention, it could be I'm just being pessimistic :-) This is certainly a case where I hope I am wrong.
Like any product however, if people don't care you won't survive and that's why none of the privacy conscious alternatives survive.
Only legal requirements have really made secure, privacy conscious or locally developed alternatives viable.
"Privacy/Security is getting better but it's getting worse faster".
There's soooo many people working hard on both security and privacy. They're trying their best to make products that are privacy focused and more secure. But they're up against Facebook, Google, etc... and the fact that many consumers just don't care. We say we care, but in the end, we don't.
*I guess the quote is paraphrased from a Renner book?