That doesn't imply that I 'trust the government'. I mean, trust is not binary. I trust politicians as far as I think that what they do fits their agenda. So I don't have any trust in 'the government' without context.

The reason why I think a law would be the appropriate solution is

- that the companies have no interest in changing anything towards an (e.g., privacy friendlier system) as it would endanger their market position and therefore their profits

- in the current situation, the majority of people has few alternatives, so they can't 'buy their facebook somewhere else'

- for new competitors, it is quite hard to compete even with a single product not to mention a whole set of them

So it doesn't look like the market will find a solution anytime soon. I am not a fan of too much regulation either. Many laws have problems addressing the real issue and take too long until their are changed appropriately, but most laws cause costs anyway (not just financially).