[whyagaindavid]

Not that I am supporting Chromium (never used Chrome) or google but you could create a

  /etc/chromium-browser/policies/managed/test_policy.json

with contents

  {
       "DownloadDirectory": "/tmp",
       "DefaultNotificationsSetting": 2,
       "DefaultGeolocationSetting": 2,
       "AutoplayAllowed": false,
       "SigninAllowed": false,
       "RestrictSigninToPattern": "^$",
       "SyncDisabled": true,
       "CloudPrintProxyEnabled": false,
       "CloudPrintSubmitEnabled": false,
       "SpellCheckServiceEnabled": false,
       "TranslateEnabled": false,
       "SearchSuggestEnabled": false,
       "NetworkPredictionOptions": 2,
       "BrowserNetworkTimeQueriesEnabled": false,
       "MetricsReportingEnabled": false,
       "SafeBrowsingEnabled": false,
       "SafeBrowsingExtendedReportingOptInAllowed": false,
       "DefaultBrowserSettingEnabled": false,
       "SavingBrowserHistoryDisabled": true,
       "DefaultSearchProviderEnabled": true,
       "DefaultSearchProviderName": "DuckDuckGo",
       "DefaultSearchProviderSearchURL": "https://duckduckgo.com/?q={searchTerms}&kp=-1&kd=1&kl=uk-en",
       "DefaultSearchProviderIconURL": "https://duckduckgo.com/favicon.ico",
       "URLBlacklist": ["facebook.com", "https://www.facebook.com"],
       "CookiesAllowedForUrls": ["[*.]whatever.com", "[*.]whatevercdn.com", "[*.]whatever.io"],
       "CookiesBlockedForUrls": [
               "[*.]doubleclick.net",
               "[*.]wideopenpets.com"
       ],
       "BackgroundModeEnabled": false,
       "WPADQuickCheckEnabled": false,
       "VideoCaptureAllowed": false,
       "AudioCaptureAllowed": false,
       "EnableMediaRouter": false,
       "NativeMessagingUserLevelHosts": false,
       "DefaultWebBluetoothGuardSetting": 2,
       "ExtensionInstallForcelist": ["geddoclleiomckbhadiaipdggiiccfje;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx","cjpalhdlnbpafiamejdnhcphjbkeiagm;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx","kljjfejkagofbgklifblndjelgabcmig;https://clients2.google.com/service/update2/crx"]
   }

For more flags: use chrome://policy https://www.chromium.org/administrators/linux-quick-start

P.S: I do understand your concern. But I see that increasingly google is building for its billions outside of EU/US where people share devices and look at security in a totally different way.