> But I would be pretty irritated if the government stepped in and mandated they make my searches public and linkable to me.
Who is calling for this? Are you perhaps taking an absolutist view where "not destroying evidence" is the same as "mandated they make my searches public and linkable to me"? That's quite ridiculous.
Discovery routinely leaks. Handing over every chat from every user to opposing council has both human, technical, and incentive issues that make it far more likely that something I told ChatGPT with an understanding of its privacy limitations will appear in a torrent.