If you are referring to corporate “free” products such as email, cloud and media consumption, I use them until I’m able not to and switch to open source. ex. Gmail -> protonmail Google Drive, photos, contacts -> Next Cloud YouTube -> Jellyfin etc. If you’re referring to corporate Social Media, I just refrain from using them, except FB at the minimum due to contact with old relatives. For other Social Media consumption, I ditched Tweeter (or X or whatever) and Reddit, never used Instagram and TikTok. Switched to Federated SM like Lemmy (Duh!!!) and Mastodon.

TLDR. I value my data,but I draw the line in accordance with my ability to afford it

Oof, if Lemmy started selling data, I’d be downtrodden. It has been a godsend to me that this place took off ever since Reddit shit the bed. I had an account from a while back and was able to essentially resume seamlessly.

I do all sorts of craziness to avoid my data being sold, but like most here, I do have some exceptions.

I keep my Google account for work, but use protonmail, invidious with/sponsorblock and yt-dlp, ddg lite/teddit for search, librewolf, ublock/noscript/etc. All on a Linux desktop with Mullvad VPN for when I need extra privacy (argh, matey).

Phone is Pixel with GrapheneOS and as much Fdroid over sandboxed Google Play as possible.

Exceptions made:

• Google: Account for work and edge cases, (ie buying Pixel directly from them to leave OEM unlocking available).

• LinkedIn: It’s just too prevalent for job hunting in my area, and Microsoft owns it and my data.

• Github: Not much to say here, if you write/pull code, you use it, and Microsoft takes some data.

• Steam: Again, not much to say, Id prefer offline, but triple A titles don’t do that as much on PC no more…

• Meetup: Similar reason to LinkedIn, networking platforms.

• Waze: I try to use OSM as much as possible, but Waze has better adjusting based off of Google owned traffic data.

• Amazon: I actually use them less and less these days, but some things are just easier to get through.

Given Up:

• Instagram: I’ve given up Instagram, which was hardest as many old friends and online acquaintances are on there. But I wasn’t posting any more and interaction was less and less.

• Reddit: Gave up reddit for all the reasons for you’ve heard already. I actually used the official app and didn’t have a problem with it. But the politics of it rubbed me the wrong way. I’m still hoping the fediverse becomes the standard for social media online.

• Microsoft Windows: Oh man, and Linux is king. MUCH better experience.

• ios: Yeah, GrapheneOS drives me back to Google in a way, but it’s just a better experience for me than my old iPhone which is just far less customizable and limiting.

I do not want my data to be monetised at all and I try to limit my use of services that do monetise my data as much as possible. This means that I try to not use Google products, for example.

In some cases, I feel forced to use it because the consequences of doing so are too high. For example, almost all my friends and family use WhatsApp. If I do not use it, I will be harder for hem to communicate with and I would miss out on a lot of stuff which happens in groups. I am not sure to what extent WhatsApp uses my data, but it is part of Meta and I do not trust Meta at all. However, in this case, access to my friends and family is more important to me. Although I am quite angry about it and I will get out immediately once there is a law that obligates messaging apps to be able to communicate with each other.

I would share my data for other uses, if it is in the interest of society. For example, I would share it for some scientific research.

I seek to min-max the subjective value retrieved from the service/product vs. the amount of data given to the data vultures, while taking alternatives into account.

Some examples, including the ones from the OP:

• Lemmy - I’d probably still use Lemmy even if it vultured some of data, as the perceived usefulness of its service is fairly big. However I’d probably start implementing measures against said data vulturing, including: avoiding to speak about certain personal subjects, switching accounts every 2~3 months, bullshitting a bit in the comments, etc. Just like I did in Reddit.
• Facebook, Twitter - they harvest so much data that even if they handled users better I’d probably not use them, plus the benefit that I get from their idiotic userbases is fairly small. I’m still fine however opening some link here and there, I just don’t actively interact with those platforms.
• Youtube - I’ve been using it nowadays through piped.video, to minimise the amount of data exposed while still watching my videos. If piped didn’t exist I’d probably watch it straight from Youtube, it’s a privacy nightmare but more acceptable than lack of access to videos.
• websearch - I look for things in DuckDuckGo first. If DDG didn’t find it, only then I use Google. No Google account, incognito mode (to clean cookies afterwards), location spoofed to Antarctica (mostly due to result relevance).
• all - uBlock Origin, canvas blocker, decentraleyes, location guard are always active. And if a site doesn’t work well with those, odds are that it’s wanting too much of my info to be worth my attention, specially if I can get its services from elsewhere.

So when it comes to privacy I try to keep myself safe/private but without going full zealot about it.

It’s totally unclear what you’re asking about. Can you write another paragraph with details or examples? What kinds of free services or products do you mean? What kinds of personal data are you talking about?

We don’t even know if you’re talking about something physical or digital, for example.

When it comes to “free” services/products, where do you draw the line on how your personal data/activity is used/monetized?

Monetized? I don’t like that. Used for the service to actually work? Then whatever it needs to work. If I have to give out my phone number to play a video game, definitely not. If I have to provide my home address for a product to ship to my door, then I don’t see the issue.

How much of your data would you be comfortable letting Lemmy sell vs Reddit?

None. I hope no instance admin does this. Other than emails and IP addresses, I don’t really know what kind of data we can sell that isn’t publicly available already.

If Zuck treated users better, would you be more accepting of Meta monetizing your data every way possible?

I don’t really know what “treated users better” is supposed to mean. If he paid me a good sum to use Instagram, sure?

When it comes to using something for free (tangible or intangible) do you accept a company selling your personal information if their practices align with what you feel is fair?

Depends on what kind of information they’re collecting/selling, whether the information is anonymized, and to whom the data is being sold to (not that we’ll ever really know for sure). It also depends on what I’m getting in return.

I wasn’t aware I got to draw a line

Man, I don’t know. I try to use the products from Google, Microsoft and co as little as possible, but it’s hard to completely cut them out of my digital life. I don’t think it’s really about drawing a line - because it’s terribly difficult to gauge how much data they actually have and how valuable a service is to you - but rather about trying to avoid those services as much as reasonably possible.

I draw the line in the same place I offer. I freely share what I can with no strings attached. I do not want corporate internet. The vast majority of what they do has no real value. I want a digital public square for the whole world to share ideas and grow in a positive environment without exploitation, manipulation, or stalkers.

Even paid services are selling your data, you are gullible if you think otherwise. Lemmy will eventually sell out just like reddit, give it time.

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