Paranoid ramblings? Or close to the truth?

At which point did the internet go from being an open, expansive wonder-tool that anyone could use for their own benefit, to a controlled, invasive, secretive, government-friendly all-in-one moneyspinning mega-company lining the pockets of only five or six? 
When did the big corporations take over and grab you by the balls and make it so that you had to give them all your information (for them to sell on between themselves, incidentally) just to access your own photographs? When did that happen?
I’m thinking it was probably sometime in 2007 but I may be wrong. 
We used to have all the power. We could stop companies controlling us by going online and doing our own research and going back to them with the info to prove that they were unfair or wrong. Not any more.  They’ve wrestled back the steering wheel and they’ve done it through collusion and subterfuge. 
Originally, you could search for something anonymously and leave no trace. Nowadays you can’t even look at a company’s homepage without creating a profile, choosing a password that gives a clue to your hobbies, or providing the middle names of all your descendants on both sides of the family going back six generations. And you’re so used to doing it, you do it without a thought. You give them details that you wouldn’t dare leave written on a piece of paper in your pocket. You do it with trust and with ignorance and they take it and use it to their advantage. They help each other, and they hound us. 
Don’t believe me? Do a simple search for something like home insurance and see how many different companies contact you in the next few days, even though you haven’t put your name into anything or left your contact details. Your simple act of going there to have a look means they know who you are and what you’re looking for, because at some point in the past you clicked ‘Accept’ in the terms and conditions box without giving a tiny thought to what they meant.
If you’re still living under the illusion of control; if you still think you are doing your own thing and being your true self and using the internet exclusively to your own advantage, you’re a twat.  They’ve got you.

RC 10-7-17