If you entrust your data to others, they can let you down or outright betray you.
The problem is, we're moving to software-as-service, which can be yanked or transformed at any moment. The ability of your PC to run independent code is an important safety valve.
The Internet works thanks to loose but trusted connections among its many constituent parts, with easy entry and exit for new Internet service providers or new forms of expanding access.
Thanks in part to the Patriot Act, the federal government has been able to demand some details of your online activities from service providers - and not to tell you about it.
Search engines generally treat personal names as search terms like any others: Data is data.
The Internet is a collective hallucination: one of the best humanity has ever generated.