The Price of Free Google Report.
Proton analyzed over 54,000 demographic profiles using 2025 ad auction data to estimate what advertisers pay to reach different types of Americans. The range is much wider than you might expect.
The average American generates about $1,605 a year in advertising value. A 35- to 44-year-old man in Bozeman, MT, without children, using a desktop and making high-value corporate searches, generates an estimated $17,929.30. An 18- to 24-year-old father in Fort Smith, AR, using an Android phone and making low-value searches, generates $31.05.
That’s a 577x difference between two people using the same free service.
Well let's see...
I'm very curious about what my value to Google is, considering all that.
It's crazy that we have to go to that much effort just to have a reasonably pleasant online experience.
Since Feb 2025 Google started using browser fingerprinting to track users. While you don't see the ads, they're still building a profile on you.
Pretty sure they started that well before 2025.
They specifically waited until after the inauguration to avoid legal pushback. The Google "Code Yellow" started in 2019 that eventually found this as the final solution.
Basically same,
Only places i have yet to tighten privacy (AFAIK) is email and chats (did make a burner acc on Discord and deleted the old one though). I dont use social media apart from the fediverse. All those accounts are deleted.
Update:
I do use K9 Mail and Thunderbird for email clients and F-droid and Aurora Store as an app store replacement.
Bro that's like my facebook PF...
I want to set up a Jellyfin local media server. As soon as I get my own apartment I'm going to take a serious crack at hosting my own home server for a lot of my needs.
Why wait? I moves with you!
Your location data. You help with traffic notifications, harveating of networks in relation to your location. Even if you dont use maps.
What is bash x spot?
I got it reversed, it's spot x bash. But it's bash script that modifies the spotify client to remove all ads. Doesn't give you premium features, only removes ads. The script must also be run every time spotify updates.
Check it out.
I only drive to my work and back, no where else do I actually drive because I'm an introvert
Also, Ironfox and Cromite are awesome too!
Hopefully Ironfox and Librewolf both replace Firefox itself overtime somehow (Since Firefox new leadership has been enshittifying it), maybe Cromite can do same for Chromium too
What do you recommend for searches?
I've been using Startpage, it gives me often better results than google does these days. The image search is shit though, have to use something else for that
I have been using DuckDuckGo and SearXNG.