> I can choose to or withold my consent with regards to companies. I can pick and choose to do business with more privacy-respecting companies, and I can block

> I can choose to or withold my consent with regards to companies. I can pick and choose to do business with more privacy-respecting companies, and I can block my browser from talking to popular tracking domains. Maybe you can, but realistically very few others can. I have the technical skill to do it, but certainly not the time. For the great majority of end-users, many/most don't know they are being spied on, few grasp the scope of it, very few understand the technology or have the skills to do anything about it, and few understand the consequences. One reason few understand what's going on is that companies (and government) take steps to hide it. If everyone is choosing to do it willingly and there's nothing wrong, then why hide it?