tech company data collection is an entirely separate issue

This is a really important point I wish more people appreciated.

It's not a matter of one is worse so the other is not bad.

After the Nazi occupation, France, the Netherlands, and reconstructed Germany itself all either removed sensitive data from state databases, or dismantled & federated the databases themselves. The State needs information about the population in order to be useful.

Much like with private companies, the State should be given the minimum power/info necessary to do its job. Many of the hoops that make it less efficient, also make it less easy to abuse.