Ostensibly it&#x27;s the job of the state to balance the civil&#x2F;privacy rights of its citizens with surveillance. It&#x27;s the job of these companies to balance the monetary value of the data they collect with the backlash and loss of business they will get by collecting it, which is a very clear and explicit conflict of interest -- they benefit greatly by minimizing that backlash by, say, sponsoring conferences about protecting privacy while simultaneously eviscerating it.