Tbh it's not black and white. I'm sure a big corporation can extract a ton of information on us but there's still a pretty big gap between having our real names and photos plastered everywhere on social media, or them just knowing where I live and that I spend a lot on steam games. Don't take the small victories for granted.

It is. They know everything about you. Even every store you have shopped at knows a lot about you. It really doesn’t take much interaction for a company to get a lot of info. It’s relatively easy to get an email and from there, if they wanted, they can get the rest of your profile from a 3rd party who has your data all matched up already. They can also build your profile pretty easily themselves as well.

Im in basically the same position since realistically the change needs to be at an institutional level. I can't really change anything by myself without excluding myself from most modern services.

We need laws and regulations. But like you I fear it's too late.

It might not be. Plenty of US states are coming online with privacy rights. If you live in CA, CO, CT or VA you can submit requests to opt out of information sales and for sites to erase your data.

Same here, but that doesn't stop me from trying where I have the time and energy. One of those ways is voting. So far the government has let these companies wipe their shit onto every corner of the internet, and the 5-10% of us switching apps or emails or... Whatever, aren't going to change that. It's not a short-term solution, but I'm starting to think it's really the only way.

Me. I care I just....fuck. That ship has sailed. I don't go out of my way to download the big offenders like Tik Tok but....still. Everyone is tracking me. Everyone is selling my information. God knows how many different companies have massive files on me.