[treis]

>The fact that you can't avoid them? I can (at least hypothetically) avoid Google. Maybe not really practical, but at least in theory.

>How are you going to avoid your ISP? Might as well decide not to purchase electricity from the local utility...

You can avoid any particular ISP as well. You have to use an ISP, but you also have to use an OS and a Browser. And the companies that dominate the OS and Browser markets are actually recording and selling your data.

[Reelin]

> You can avoid any particular ISP as well.

I take it you aren't from the US? When I said "Might as well decide not to purchase electricity from the local utility...", I wasn't embellishing.

> the companies that dominate the OS and Browser markets are actually recording and selling your data

But again, at least theoretically you can avoid them. For example, you can use Firefox (or hypothetically even Konqueror) and Linux (or FreeBSD, etc). Similar to avoiding Google though, this might not be feasible in practice.

[treis]

>I take it you aren't from the US? When I said "Might as well decide not to purchase electricity from the local utility...", I wasn't embellishing.

I am. And like most other people in the US I have cable option, DSL option, several cell providers, and a couple satellite options. So, yes you are embellishing when you say "Might as well decide not to purchase electricity from the local utility..."

>But again, at least theoretically you can avoid them.

I can theoretically avoid Comcast way easier. To avoid Windows, I'd have to quit my job because I use Windows only software. Chrome to Firefox is easier than getting rid of Windows, but would be worse than going from cable to DSL. And besides, Firefox spies on their users as well (or at least tried to at one point).

[Reelin]

> And like most other people in the US I have cable option, DSL option, several cell providers, and a couple satellite options.

According to the FCC and many lobbyists, sure. That doesn't match what I see reported in the media though, and it certainly hasn't been my personal experience.

I have only once had what I considered to be a real choice, but that required living in a major city. Even then, the choice was between overpaying (imo) for 50/50 versus paying even more for 25/5, which is hardly comparable.

> I can theoretically avoid Comcast way easier.

Perhaps if it's only Comcast that's doing it. But if all the major companies are doing it, it won't be realistic to avoid them all - you have to buy from someone. The (approximate) equivalent to FOSS here would be a community mesh network, and I don't think anyone is arguing that those are viable.