It seems like every week brings an ever-quickening deluge of this kind of information, whether about some surveillance corporation lying to / exploiting its use

It seems like every week brings an ever-quickening deluge of this kind of information, whether about some surveillance corporation lying to / exploiting its users or an oppressive government edging ever closer toward a full-on 1984 nightmare scenario (some are just about there). At this point the decision tree facing privacy activists, those concerned with human rights, and those who support the expansion of western moral aspirations is unambiguous. Do you dislike Google fucking up the internet and assisting with totalitarian censorship regimes? Stop using their services. Stop letting them pay you to improve their services. If you're good enough to work at Google, you're uniquely positioned to get another high-paying job somewhere else. Same with the other big offenders. Do you dislike FaceBook's scummy behavior on everything from censorship, to digital stalking of non-users, to psychological experimentation with unwitting human subjects? Stop adding fuel to the fire. Quit. Today. Now. Are you uncomfortable with China's aggressive censorship, human rights abuses, and surveillance? Stop buying shit from them. Stop using their software. Nine times out of ten you don't need it. Exceptions arise, and no one's behavior is perfect. But the 1/10 case where you absolutely MUST use a certain surveillance app or buy a certain widget made by slaves in another country is not an excuse for throwing your hands up and capitulating in the other nine cases you encounter every day.