Some of the Most Popular Websites Share Your Data with over 1,500 Companies

I just presume every site does this. In fact, if I keep a journal, I presume that data is being shared with my nosy mom at some point... Difficult to expect data privacy from anywhere these days

I'm curious about the psycho-social factors that have led us here. The vast majority of people just don't care that their data is feeding the surveillance economy. The mechanics of the advertising+surveillance behemoth are built by other people who equally don't seem to care.

Some people are trapped in these systems and don't have any choice, but plenty simply don't seem think or care about it.

This all continues to happen despite rumblings about the problems it causes. Wealth is concentrated into the hands of an elite few, the gap between rich and poor is growing and leading to depression and unrest. Social media fuels addictive behaviours and depression. Politicians foment polarisation, malevolent actors use disinformation to influence elections, governments become increasingly isolationist.

What happened?

Maybe it's not a single, new phenomenon just a combination of others. Diffusion of responsibility, the banality of evil, bread and circuses. But now they're all 'blazingly fast' and at 'global scale'.

The mass surveillance that these ad networks perpetrate has grown into grotesque proportions. One of the concerning "side effects" here is that it provides the basis for mass surveillance, repression and therefore authoritarian regimes - and a slide by democratic governments into a gradual increase of authoritarianism. It needs to come to a stop, and GDPR isn't going to accomplish that.

But what solutions are out there that guarantee reasonable anonymity, and not at the same time provide a haven for criminals?

My impression is that there aren't any, at least not sufficiently user friendly ones. Which means that there is a business opportunity here.