I think this is a pessimistic view of the situation and I don't subscribe to it being the norm today.

I run a (still small, 1.5M ARR) tech startup and we treat our employees fairly. Low / clean investment table, early exercise for employees that make early employee risk effectively 0, upfront about how to deal with options, alongside market salaries.

But maybe I am not the norm and it's more common for people to get screwed over. However, I have several friends at startups that have similar recent stories with their options.