[bingojess]

I agree with what you are saying but given the probabilities (I don't see the big 5 having a significant data breach any time soon) it is something I'm willing to trade off or sacrifice so to speak. I guess the ideal scenario would be that all corporation and the government does not store my data, even anonymously. But this is unrealistic and I haven't bothered looking for alternatives that are safer/have more privacy.

Focusing on unlikely events is inefficient in that the preparations or measures taken against them often are not worth the expected benefit. Pointing out that there is always risk of improbable events is not always useful especially when mitigating these risks is costly. We increase the chances of being hit by a car when we leave the house or when we jaywalk.

Personally for me, the benefits from using services provided by Google or any other company outweigh the risks of my information falling into the wrong hands. The worst that I can hypothesize would be a political opponent using some data to pin a crime on me and throw me in jail. Or maybe some of this data could lead to me losing my job. Both unlikely scenarios. I am fortunate however because I live in a country where politicians are less likely to abuse their power (still a possibility of course) and I am not a political dissident nor a criminal. The same can't be said for everyone, so for people where the risks are far greater, they take extra precautions because it is worth it for them.

[hedora]

I emphatically opt out of all of Google's services and tracking. I have done everything I can to avoid having them track me, short of quitting my job (we use google apps at work...).

When you (I think, naively) traded your privacy and freedom for their services, you also traded a bit of my privacy and freedom, and that is unacceptable to me.

The same can be said about any of the other big surveillance capitalism companies (facebook, microsoft, etc).

I don't know why you think they will only hypothetically use this information against you. You are bombarded with machine generated attempts at psychological manipulation on a daily basis, and your private information is regularly leaked/sold to bad actors and out of control law enforcement agencies on a continuous basis.

You even say you are lucky you are not a political dissident, so you admit that, in your own mind, you have given up the right to participate in our democracy as you see fit.

[bingojess]

I opt out when when it's convenient (ie. located in the settings I don't dig further than that) I deleted by FB.

I value it different and am fully rational in what I have done. Psychological manipulation? You mean ads and recommended youtube videos? If you could elaborate, this would interest me.

With regards to bad actors and overreaching LE, I really haven't felt the negatives to warrant changing my behaviour.

I have no idea what you mean giving up participating in democracy. How does choosing not to be a dissident mean I have given up the right to participate in the democratic process? I'm not American by the way. I'm in a country where I have my vote and I can speak up against my government without repercussion. If I were in an authoritarian one I'd be much more concerned.

[skummetmaelk]

Political changes can happen very quickly. Countries can go from free democracies to authoritarian dictatorships in 20-30 years. You cannot know what the world, and your country, will look like in 50 years. Being okay with giving companies ammunition against you is the same as making bad decisions like driving without a seatbelt because "I'm a good driver and I will never crash".

[659087]

> Personally for me, the benefits from using services provided by Google or any other company outweigh the risks of my information falling into the wrong hands

Which benefits? Most of the services Google provides can be replaced for free or for very small amounts of money -- and without giving up your privacy.

Is saving $50-100/yr really worth granting Google the right to store and abuse your data forever, or the risk of your data ending up in the hands of criminals?

[mvdwoord]

These events are not improbable imo. They are inevitable.