It’s no secret that we here at Irreal are adamantly opposed to surveillance. That includes the casual monitoring of our communications by the government but especially the hoovering up of our every actions by the malevolent adtech industry. It’s a direct corollary to the Iron Law of Data Collection that the government followed by divorce and tort lawyers will start demanding—if they haven’t already—this information from the private concerns that hold it.
Sadly, there not very much effective action that individuals can take to put a stop to this collection. It’s a sad commentary when our greatest hope for a solution to a market problem lies with the government. Viktor Vecsei over on Medium has a detailed post on some of the things companies and individuals can do to combat the adtech and surveillance industries.
Most of the advice is at once obvious and hard to implement. Unless you’re a social outlier like the minions at Irreal, it can be difficult to give up your Facebook account and stop using Gmail. Even Vecsei admits he’s not yet been able to divest himself of these services. Most people won’t bother trying.
The situation is worse for companies. Unless you’ve got the resources of Apple and are using the guarantees of privacy as a way of distinguishing and promoting your brand, it will be difficult to convince your Board of Directors and investors that foregoing adtech is a good choice.
This is why I’m not sanguine that anything other than government action will have any real effect. Sure, there are groups, like most Irreal readers, who understand the issues and are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to insulate themselves from much of the commercial surveillance but I suspect that if everyone of them got off the Internet entirely, no one would notice and the surveillance economy would keep chugging along. Vecsei feels differently and perhaps you’ll agree. His article is, in any event, a useful guide to what you can do right now.