[throwaway_pdp09]

I don't have a smartphone. That alone will prevent browsing habits being picked up by parasitic apps etc on a phone. What I browse at home I have more control over with blocklists etc and disabling js.

I rarely carry my dumphone around, if someone needs me they can leave a message. That takes care of tracking by cell station.

There are times I'd like to have a dumphone on me, eg. when meeting people, so at some point I'll get dumphone #2 not linked to me.

If possible, pay cash rather than a credit card. I have done this before but in the uk this was getting more difficult and may not be possible, I don't know. There are always ways around that with grey areas.

At higher levels pressure your government or use the local regulations to push back when a company seems to be behaving unethically.

I'm sure there's more.

But convenience triumphs and all you can see is "I need smartphone". You won't do any of this. People who ask how will never do, or they wouldn't be asking the question to which the answer(s) are obvious.

[ApolloRising]

GPS chip in the car? License plate readers all around you? Face recognition cameras? Chip in the credit card that you are not using? Friends with a iphone that have your number? ID cards that swipe you into places?

[throwaway_pdp09]

I'll try and answer your questions but please answer me this, what is the psychology of people like you who see failure not as an option but as a destination?

You seem absolutely determined to be both resentful of society and completely powerless against it, and not willing to actually do anything to change anything?

Well, I was talking about smartphones so you seem to have moved the goalposts with your questions so that my answers don't apply -- deliberately, to emphasise helplessness?

But okay, let's try

> GPS chip in car

I don't know anything about this so, don't buy such a car. If you do, is the chip enabled without drivers control? I'd be surprised at that.

> License plate readers?

To some extent I guess these are necessary, but they are a usable so you have to deal with this at the level of government rather than directly.

> Face recognition cameras

This has to be tackled at the legal level, and yes, it does concern me. Fortunately in a democracy you have some say. Unfortunately I don't think you will make the effort.

> Chip in the credit card...

Oh for heaven's sake, it's not broadcasting your location it's RFID, and if you want to disable it you can find instructions online. You basically make a small cut into the side of the card which breaks the antenna loop (or whatever it's called). I literally have done that and it took me a few minutes.

> Friends with my phone that have your number

Is this a serious objection? They can't track you via somebody else's phone -- did you even think about this before writing it?

> ID cards that swept into places

This really is scraping the bottom of the barrel. I've had worked cards like this, they simply let you in and out little more than an old-fashioned metal key, with a record being made. You can't be tracked by them other than when swiped.

You seem to have embraced failure while resenting it but it's clearly what you want.

[fsflover]

I typically give the following link to such people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security-in-depth and say that perfection is not achievable, but it does not mean you should give up absolutely everything.

[throwaway_pdp09]

Thanks for that.

The problem isn't DID or anything like that but a strange attitude that they want nice things but will put in zero effort to achieve that even if shown basic steps, and have a mindset that they're totally fucked, everything's against them, they can't win. It's a kind of learned helplessness.