Start looking into how to escape botnet out of curiosity

>Data mining and advertising are shitty business models.
No, they're pretty good business models actually. Maybe not for you, the end user, but definitely for me, the investor and entrepreneur :^)

>It doesn't really affect you.
Yeah it does. When your data gets leaked, all the shit that is now public is compromised. Moreover, this is going to get worse every month. More and more want to cash in on the data mining and adverts, and the technology behind both will warrant developments that are even more intrusive. Sure, we can use an adblocker today and change the channel when the commercials come up, but imagine 20 years down the line being chased down the street by a shitty R2D2 clone trying to convince you to buy the new Star Wars remake merch because your profile says you watch a lot of SF.

It doesn't affect you at this very moment, no. You don't get cancer from the first cigarette, and your liver will be fine after just one bottle. Ignoring the problem means it'll grow further ingrained into our society and make it worse. With dignity and security (among others) on the line, I am sure everyone can find good reasons to keep their privacy intact.

But you're also a product.

Yeah but the goal is to have enough fuck-you money not to give a shit. Erosion of privacy seems pretty inevitable (especially with incoming things like widespread commercial facial recognition) unless you want to put in tons of effort deploying countermeasures for minimal utility/gain.

what is a threat model

you don't need the internet
you don't need a phone

You misunderstand me.
This invasive marketing strategy has pushed me away many of these popular products that use it.
Every time a big corp uses such an immoral stratagem to profit, it hurts itself, but it doesn't hurt me.
Brand loyalty is dead. The consumer's mind has completely changed from what it used to be.
It took 20 years for all these high-tech megacorps to dominate the economy.
Just as fast as they grew they can vanish in the blink of an eye, if the internet hive-mind decides they should.
Mark my words. Not respecting privacy will be their downfall. Not ours.
But all these economy-types are too short-sighted to see the truth. All they can see is money, but fail to grasp the importance of other factors.
What makes you money today, may destroy you in the future, if it hurts your image as a company.
And image is a company's biggest asset.
And right now most are ruining it.

dis nigga watched too much v for vendetta lmao

You are retarded if you can't understand how important image is.
Why do you think google or facebook are so successful?
Because they gave away an invaluable service for free.
In the subconscious mind of the consumer they became deified.
This is what has afforded them all these years of prosperity.
Right now they are ruining this deification status by showing their filthy ugly faces.
Even now they are being vilified because of it.
As soon as something better appears, they will vanish as quickly as they appeared.

>implying consumers have a choice
>implying they even care

You are very correct in that such companies only continue to exist because the consumers keep them afloat. But the problem is, it isn't just these companies that mine data, so do governments. There are also companies that exists solely to mine data - what they sell is the data they've farmed and nothing else.

The people you speak of, the "economy-types" are there for the money; just about every company is. This is a problem because of many things. First, it makes everyone, even the average Joe think that as long as it's legal or something you can get away with, it's fair game - just make tons of money, even if you get sued for someshit, you're likely to lose less money than you've made. This is especially true for the big corporations. There is little punishment for failing to keep the company afloat, and there is even less punishment for a company breaking the law, and the data leaks that have occurred throughout the years show that you hardly get a slap on the wrist for those. Secondly, we might remember the days when one's data wasn't so sought after, but the next generations won't. Who is going to oppose this shit if "it's been like this for as long as I can remember"?

People are used to giving away their info bit by bit in exchange for whatever shit the market has come up with. The masses are unlikely to just stop using Facebook, Google or whatever - the change is gradual for this exact reason. If one wants a better future, one has to work against this transgression.

Given that people these days are giant pussies, we're never going to see an armed revolution again.
Only peaceful revolutions can occur these days. The only way it could happen is serious unification of the moronic masses to debotnet themselves.

But because of Snapchat whores and Facebook and social media in general, this will never happen.

>The people you speak of, the "economy-types" are there for the money; just about every company is.
I am also talking about money. But I am talking about long-term money. Economists fail to see the long-term effect of their actions. They think hey I made a million bucks today from exploiting my customers data. But fail to see how this might mean that the company will be dead in 20 years.

>Secondly, we might remember the days when one's data wasn't so sought after, but the next generations won't. Who is going to oppose this shit if "it's been like this for as long as I can remember"?
You know there is such thing as reading right? And talking with older people. And companies who respect privacy.
If you haven't realized it there is a huge gap in the market today. For providers who will provide the same quality of goods but with respect to one's privacy. This gap is growing every day.
The problem is that the providers who offer privacy are usually not as good as the ones who don't. And consumers do not value privacy high enough to sacrifice comfort (I am also guilty of this)
Eventually there will be someone who will be as good and respect privacy and people will flock to him and abandon the others.
Privacy is one of the most important issues in technology today. A lot of people are working and doing research on how to solve the problem.
I have faith that reason will prevail. In the long run it always does.

Love him or hate him, the motherfucker made a point.

>not just intentionally giving wrong information
Best way to hide is in plain sight

>But fail to see how this might mean that the company will be dead in 20 years.
My point (that I failed to properly articulate) is that it does not matter for some fag if the company dies. He's just gonna jump on the next big thing as soon as he sees the signs. He is there for the money and does not care what he does. Pollution, social problems, exhaustion of resources, etc. If you don't go to jail for a good amount of time, it does not matter, like at all. Just keep milking the cow until it falls over with 0 repercussion.

In the same vein, it doesn't matter for some normalfag if his continued support of such companies has a bad effect. He is unlikely to notice the data leaks, chalking up his stolen email as a random occurrence. He will not care if he needs to give his phone number for some once trivial internet service, thinking they've a good reason to ask for it.

As you've mentioned it yourself, the quality and convenience of the services that respect one's privacy are often inferior to services who do not. It has to be this way when generalizing, or no one would fall for it. With others, there is a direct clash where one cannot have both. There's also the lack of funding and manpower. It is important for the pro-privacy services to receive not only users, but said manpower and funds if they are to get anywhere. It is also important to stress how important said aspect of the product is, that one is using it because they value privacy and actively seek it, lest it devolve into the monster it fought after the money starts flowing and the aforementioned businessmen smell profit.

I admire your positivity. I do believe that we're likely to have this problem fixed eventually if we let nature take its course. However, despite my young age it is unlikely that I will see that happen, and I am not interested in taking chances either. People might be working on the problem but it is hardly going anywhere, considering the inertia of its foes.