Is it a Google specific issue though? I mean there is a policy users could read, they have the dashboard, transparency reports, bug trackers, forums, blog posts, the works, probably more than anyone else offers.

Also there are the many articles the keep popping up about Google with various motivations behind them, I think "people" are more "aware" than you give them credit for.

Also don't you think that data is/are a major part of the functionality of these products? they operate on data, data collection isn't a side effect but it's built into the utility of such services almost by definition.