De: I don't disagree with you. And I'm not trying to hold myself out an exemplar of Amish living. What I am suggesting is that a lot can actually be done without going Amish.
For instance:
(1) DON'T WATCH ADS. EVER. Turn off volume if you can't actually block the ad nor avert your eyes. Most of all don't REACT to any ad any more than any other. Use ad blockers extensively (I've got probably five different types of ad and tracking blocker running on my laptop browser and I use ad blocking on my phone as well). IDEALLY NOBODY CAN MAKE A PENNY FROM SHOWING YOU ADS. And, if you are interested in something advertised, try not to buy it in a way that the tracking companies make any money (e.g., don't use sponsored links).
(2) Some hardware is a lot safer than other hardware. Use safer hardware and use its optional protections fully.
A) Apple hardware+software is safer than windows/google. I'm not advocating anyone fully trust Apple, either, but they at least have economic incentive to protect privacy, as a key part of their "value added", over alternative players. They have repeatedly taken steps to make privacy even stronger on their products and finagled their way, or sometimes just used lawsuits, to push back against government pressure and search warrants. Note: I'm not saying they are perfect, but they are objectively FAR better than the alternatives from Microsoft and Google. And there are a lot of 3rd party folks keeping a careful eye on them to keep them safer.
B) Some smart TVs give the smart user a lot more privacy, or oppotunities to increase privacy, vs. others. In general, older TVs are safer, but also certain brands. One of my TVs came with Android. Howeer, the TV could be hand programmed to programmatically block all sorts of things, including OS "Updates", "Helpful Suggestions" from Google on other content providers "which might interest me". I fiddled and fiddled and fiddled. I haven't had a single OS "update" nor had an new "suggestions" appear for years now.
(3) Most of my computers are "off line" most of the time. I am increasingly using advanced firewalls, both hardware and software, to block things from going in or out without my explicit permission. Sometimes that makes certain resources unavailable to me - mostly I figure "good riddance" when I encounter such behavior.
(4) There are a lot of things you can already do to make yourself "untasty" for most surveillance. But it starts with increasing your awareness and looking for alternatives.
A>Eventually, good Linux phones, with complete open source software, will arrive. When one arrives I expect to adopt it.
B>Use TOR when you can. Use Signal as much as possible. Use Evorem free firewall on Windows (and other places when it comes available).
(5) In closing, I just want to repeat that I am not suggesting going Amish. I'm suggest you can get most of the best aspects of the internet without pimping out most of your privacy. If a critical percent of people did even half of what I do, I expect this surveillance nightmare would already be on the ropes.
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