Again, nothing here that I don’t already know. I could spend all of my time obsessing over blocking trackers because I’m sooooooooooo important and heaven forbid that Google know anything about important me, or I could just surf the web. That’s the narcissism I see.
Like it or not, there’s pretty much nothing I can do about any of this anyway. Short of comprehensive legislation, it will always be a cat and mouse game. I’m sure you’d agree, given what you wrote. So we’re left with two choices. Play along or give in.
I don’t care about constantly having to update ad blockers and manage conflicts with sites I visit, pour over lists of cookies and trackers and try to figure out how to block them all, etc.
And why? So Google can’t deliver a targeted ad? So Google knows stuff about me. I’m not hiding anything and I don’t harbor some delusion belief that my data is so valuable and important. Does it all creep me out a little? Sure. But I’ve seen no reason to be worried, just a lot of fear mongering and worst case scenarios. If you want to spend your time and energy figuring out how to block Google, good for you, but most of us simply don’t care.
First, you are confused as to how this works. You don't "constantly have to update blockers, etc.," this is the digital age of great apps that do that for you, and as far as stopping Google, (and Facebook and others) on vacuuming up web searches use things like a combination of Ghostery and Adblock Plus and Duck Duck Go browser (uncheck acceptable ads) or any number of other good products and it's essentially a set and forget approach from the consumer end. A VPN is even cleaner.
Of course, that's just for web searches, you will want to take, again very easy, steps to not use Google products like gmail, maps, documents, Photos, etc. But, that doesn't take any energy either, just don't use them; there are great alternatives.
Most importantly, your post is cheered by Google and Facebook because you make the mistake of assuming valuing your privacy means you have something to hide. Or, that it's all about "serving you a targeted ad." Instead, as one leading intel official said, "If Google didn't exist, we'd have to build it." Remember, Google, and to a lesser extent others like Facebook, are assembling massive dossiers on you that include everywhere you have ever driven, everything you have ever said in front of their devices, every photo sent or received, every thing you have ever done on the web, ever email ever sent or received, every document you've ever uploaded, all your contacts, etc., and Google is spending billions on amassing even more, e.g., their entire autonomous driving program is designed to ensure everything you say, look at, stop at, who you are with, etc., is captured as you move about the world in their vehicles or Waymo designed system.
If you can't imagine how that massive dossier on you could be used by criminal hackers, intel agencies, governments, etc., you are Google's dream as they walk you into a dystopian future where you are tracked everywhere you go and every intimate detail of your life is collected and stored for use by others.
