In Germany recording folks without their consent is illegal (or at least not admissible in courts) in many contexts. It is possible to build incentives that don't lead towards mass surveillance.
I think this is the correct solution. The author's recommendation - a cocktail of browser extensions and other technologies - is only a temporary fix. This needs to be fixed at an institutional level, but there are entire industries (facebook, other ad-service companies) that depend on bulk data collection so a bill like what Germany has will be fought against tooth and nail.