That's a lot to unwrap. The most important thing, I think, is to realise that the Googles and Metas are not interested in *your* interests for social reasons, like people would be. They are interested because it gives them asymmetric power over a massive amount of people without them realising it.

To alter the behaviour of the so-called masses and the choices they make, even by a tiny fraction, is massively valuable to the companies themselves, but to state actors as well. And the way they get that power is by collecting vast amounts of user data accross the web. And making it incrementally harder to opt-out. That exact phrase "I don't care if X platform gets my data" is the product of a massive campaign against privacy, launched by Meta itself (back then called facebook), if I'm not mistaken.

If the personal loss of privacy doesn't trigger any feelings of disgust for you, I encourage you to think about the issue societally. Normalised data collection and KYC practices erode society at a deep level. It's a self-growing feedback loop of fear and polarisation. Do you want to support that or could you start being more mindful about it personally? Something to consider. 

 I didn’t explain it all in this post. I’m a compartmentalizer. I choose what to leave in the open, for convenience, and what to hide. I also believe that those who take their privacy much more seriously are already under extra scrutiny from the fed. 

I’m aware of the sociological concept that individuals are rather unpredictable, but large masses are very predictable. I’m not underestimating the influence of large companies data collection efforts. I’m also not concerned with them knowing what flavors I like. 

I have the tools, and I know at a decent level how to use them. When I want to keep something private, I run a vpn, use a Firefox instance with privacy badger, ublock, and all the Mozilla spyware turned off. I’ve got tor browser setup if it’s that serious, and to test my relay’s onion service. 

That’s my personal choice, and it’s informed, suited to my threat profile, and works for me. 

 It sounds like you understand privacy quite well. That is, the ability to reveal selectively. I always get triggered by that "I don't care if they collect my data" rhetoric tho. 

 I have my own triggers. I understand. 🫂

Hard to capture everything in a post, even one that long. 🤣