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If we had mechanisms to identify people who were perfectly trustworthy, ensure these people are perpetually and exclusively in power, and construct perfect security for all involved computer systems then this reasoning would make sense.

It's impossible to trust people with power due to perverse incentives. That's why the ideas of democracy and whistleblowing exist. Those who find "trustworthy authority" less ridiculous than any other oxymoron might better enjoy living in a country whose government was not founded on the core values of accountability for those wielding power like maybe Saudi Arabia

You can trust a person you choose, perhaps. What about that person's successors? Data is forever, people change, people are coerced or bribed, and stuff gets stolen or compromised (or subpeonaed). Over time, databases are leaky.

Take the long view. I guarantee that the people collecting the data do.