Seeing ads outside likely doesn't harm you though, you can ignore them. If your city is plastered with ads to a point at where you can't stand it you can always move, that's just another part of a city that someone may decide they don't like and want something different.
> Almost all websites have been tailored to include ads and hide information. You're tracked on all devices you touch.
That's really the crux of it though. The problem isn't just that companies are gobbling up all this data, it's also that we make the data available in the first place.
Stop using a smartphone and taking it everywhere with you, limit what you do online in general, and pay cash when you can. A few simple changes would really reduce the data you make available, I'm sure there are other simple changes I'm missing here but the point is that we don't have to protect data that doesn't exist.
> Almost all websites have been tailored to include ads and hide information. You're tracked on all devices you touch.
That's really the crux of it though. The problem isn't just that companies are gobbling up all this data, it's also that we make the data available in the first place.
Stop using a smartphone and taking it everywhere with you, limit what you do online in general, and pay cash when you can. A few simple changes would really reduce the data you make available, I'm sure there are other simple changes I'm missing here but the point is that we don't have to protect data that doesn't exist.