In this case yes, it sounds like the pessimistic viewpoint may be the right one. However, for a while now HN has been going downhill with armchair analysis that inevitably concludes that any action taken by a business is wrong/harmful/bad, so I am thankful you took the time to be thoughtful before reacting.

whenever it comes to web/data/privacy, default should be to not trust anyone, block all requests, deny deny deny. if and only if a company can prove they can be trusted, then on a compay-by-company/site-by-site basis should they be allowed to do things. that should be a very steep hill to climb.

blanket optimism sounds like a nice lifestyle of the young, but with age comes realization the world only takes advantage and wisdom leads to being more pessimistic. question everything including authority is how i was raised.