Scenario:
You walk into your local Walmart. Upon entering the door, the greeter scans your body with a laser imaging device. This device stores your appearance, height, weight, and any discoverable medical conditions. You also have to scan your fingerprints and confirm that you really are You.
You then fill out a form listing everyone you know and their phone number, email address, and their interests. You also list all your own information.
Walmart then takes this information and directs you to the section of the store that they feel is most likely for you to make a purchase. A little husky? Here’s our Big & Tall Section. We see you have a cross necklace, would you like some more jewelry or a new Bible? In addition, our business partners also want your private info, so we’ll give everything you provided earlier to them as well, so if you go to their store, they already know what you want.
The above scenario sounds silly, or at least overbearing, and in real life you would never consider shopping there.
This is literally what Facebook, Google, and most websites do all the time. Your phone makes hundreds, if not thousands, of silent connections every day to analyze you, and sell your information to whoever.
It uses all your device sensors and data to know who you are, where you go, how fast you go, who you talk to, and what you say.
I’m not okay with this.
Get a reputable VPN. It will mask your location to your ISP and any web services. It will also keep your ISP from watching your web traffic.
Run a secure private DNS option like NextDNS with ad-blocking (ads don’t get served at all because they can’t get through the connection).
Keep your social apps separate from your other activities. A separate device would be best but Android has a “Work Profile” which will keep those apps from harvesting all your phone data. It will still see your device hardware, but it won’t see your other apps that aren’t in the Profile.
Turn off location, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, when not in use. In Android, there’s also a Developer Option that allows you to turn off all sensors (gyro, accelerometer, etc). You can also turn off Background Sync in the Settings menu.
Keep in mind that some of these suggestions may cause conflicts or other problems. Some apps may not work. (Snapchat for example needs Camera access).
You can’t hide from the government (for the most part). You can protect your private data and information from spying corporations.