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Unfortunately, you will never win this game unless you go full "dark mode" and route your traffic through various VPN's, use anonymous browsing tools for every

Unfortunately, you will never win this game unless you go full "dark mode" and route your traffic through various VPN's, use anonymous browsing tools for every session, only use a rooted non-standard Android/iPhone, never use any kind of location services ever, etc. If you want to have a standard iPhone/Samsung device, like using Google Maps, or use social media in any form on your devices, you've lost. They know everything about you and attempting to keep your data secure from them is a moot point. That being said, I still use things like ad blockers, private email (non-Gmail), and prefer iPhone over Android, but I'm just picking my poison really. It's game over, these ad people largely already won. You can make it a little bit harder for them to generate a model of you, but it will still eventually happen even if you have zero contact since all your friends/family will give them enough info to reconstruct you into their system. Heck, even your credit card is snitching on you. Taking your kids for ice cream and leaving your phone at home does nothing, they still know where you went.

IggleSniggle 3y ago
> If you want to have a standard iPhone/Samsung device, like using Google Maps, or use social media in any form on your devices, you've lost. I totally disagree with this point. I went "dim." A few years ago (turned off all of Google except gmail), don't use any social media, route my (and any visitors on my home networks) traffic through Cloudflare, etc...but almost nothing worked. There wasn't a CAPTCHA that I could get through, because every HTTP request seemed to be coming from a different source. I've been slowly and cautiously turning the lights back on, and the experience has been great. YouTube only recommends shit I actually want because it mostly knows only the things I've explicitly saved into my playlists (history is turned off...I don't have privacy there or with what I'm watching, but the experience is dramatically improved, even if I do occasionally fall for some clickbait). I can highly recommend going dim. You can objectively say that you don't actually have privacy, but you can be dark enough that the capital surveillance network just doesn't bother with you.
- softfalcon 3y ago
  Ah, I see where you're coming from. I didn't mean you can't improve your experience by doing what you're doing. I more meant there isn't really a way to end the surveillance and the tracking. I also meant to direct my comments more to a general crowd. The majority of people out there are not going to do anything remotely close to what you are doing to avoid unwanted advertising and tracking. I applaud what you're doing, good on you, but I don't think it's really reasonable for even most tech-folks I know who "just want an iPhone with apps that work". It's unfortunate there isn't an easy option to go "dim" as you say without lots of effort and setup.

IggleSniggle 3y ago

> If you want to have a standard iPhone/Samsung device, like using Google Maps, or use social media in any form on your devices, you've lost. I totally disagree with this point. I went "dim." A few years ago (turned off all of Google except gmail), don't use any social media, route my (and any visitors on my home networks) traffic through Cloudflare, etc...but almost nothing worked. There wasn't a CAPTCHA that I could get through, because every HTTP request seemed to be coming from a different source. I've been slowly and cautiously turning the lights back on, and the experience has been great. YouTube only recommends shit I actually want because it mostly knows only the things I've explicitly saved into my playlists (history is turned off...I don't have privacy there or with what I'm watching, but the experience is dramatically improved, even if I do occasionally fall for some clickbait). I can highly recommend going dim. You can objectively say that you don't actually have privacy, but you can be dark enough that the capital surveillance network just doesn't bother with you.

softfalcon 3y ago
Ah, I see where you're coming from. I didn't mean you can't improve your experience by doing what you're doing. I more meant there isn't really a way to end the surveillance and the tracking. I also meant to direct my comments more to a general crowd. The majority of people out there are not going to do anything remotely close to what you are doing to avoid unwanted advertising and tracking. I applaud what you're doing, good on you, but I don't think it's really reasonable for even most tech-folks I know who "just want an iPhone with apps that work". It's unfortunate there isn't an easy option to go "dim" as you say without lots of effort and setup.