[soraminazuki]

> The government doesn't need web cookies to find you

Yet the government collects[1] them [2] in[3] bulk[4].

> Though it might feel like it, you aren't being spied on in any meaningful sense.

Not[5] true[6]. There are real harms done.

> Paid services that don't sell your data are the way to go

It's hard for paid services to compete with free ones, so they're incentivized to sell your data anyways.

[1]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism...

[2]: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-in...

[3]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2019/12/11/googl...

[4]: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/09/25/tech-su...

[5]: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/07/catholic-priest-...

[6]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/01/grindr-and-okcupid-sel...

[jklinger410]

It's possible for someone to buy public data and match that with their first party data from your account on their service in order to anonymize you. But it's unlikely. This same tactic was used in Afghanistan to find terrorists.

My point being most people aren't being hunted by anyone in particular like the US Government or the Catholic Church. It's expensive to set up these honeypot apps, and to buy this data, and spend the time to de-anonymize it. Frankly that church story is kind of insane.

Your second example is not really relevant IMO.