Organize politically, at the state level, at the federal level, whatever you deem appropriate and achievable.
Push for privacy laws, push for laws around data ownership. Develop a theory of "what should people own" and "what kind of behaviors should be prohibited by companies" and "what kind of disclosures should be required."
Develop a message and start hammering your reps, and get like-minded techies and community members to do the same.
Spend a lot of time doing boring and tedious things like building a coalition, and make this an issue that can be fought for and that people will spend time advocating for.
California's privacy law didn't form in a vacuum, and neither did the EU's GDPR, and neither came into being because individuals were switching their personal browsing habits.
None of that's a technological solution so it's the sort of thing we techies overlook, but that's how you do it without merely voting with your feet and doing individual actions that, on their own, have zero impact.
When techies start organizing around issues like privacy, security disclosure, data ownership, and stuff like this, I think we'll stand to do some real good for the world.
Yes, I had the same thoughts, then I figured out that vast number of techies are earning from the fishy practices we should protest against. And barely anyone is prepared to protest against something that pays for his <insert your poison here> even if he knows it is wrong. We had a few people leaving google and facebook but vast majority stays or those companies would go out of job by only management left. And not only for tech, this is the same on all levels of life.
Just check the threads here when GDPR was introduced, oh all the rage.
Don't blame the companies, politics,...
They are the best what society can offer.
If world is filled with corrupt, egoistic, narcissistic, greedy (etc.) people, the companies that are made by exactly the same people, are also corrupt, greedy (,...).
Same goes for politics. And everything else.
The society needs to change. But. There is barely anyone left to push the change. There is barely anyone who understands that there is a need for change.
< scratching head under thousands of layers of tinfoil hats various people, who didn't listen, put there in last 20 years >
Push for privacy laws, push for laws around data ownership. Develop a theory of "what should people own" and "what kind of behaviors should be prohibited by companies" and "what kind of disclosures should be required."
Develop a message and start hammering your reps, and get like-minded techies and community members to do the same.
Spend a lot of time doing boring and tedious things like building a coalition, and make this an issue that can be fought for and that people will spend time advocating for.
California's privacy law didn't form in a vacuum, and neither did the EU's GDPR, and neither came into being because individuals were switching their personal browsing habits.
None of that's a technological solution so it's the sort of thing we techies overlook, but that's how you do it without merely voting with your feet and doing individual actions that, on their own, have zero impact.
When techies start organizing around issues like privacy, security disclosure, data ownership, and stuff like this, I think we'll stand to do some real good for the world.