I forgot to mention that one obviously doesn't use Gmail or Facebook. Or at least, one only uses them for superficial stuff. And one has multiple personas, with non-overlapping social networks. Most of those are online-only. But some can be LARP, if you like.
It may be possible to use iOS anonymously. I have an anonymous Apple online account, and could presumably use it with used devices purchased for cash. Anyone know if that's doable?
I forgot to mention that one obviously doesn't use Gmail or Facebook.
Did you read the linked articles? The problem is that others use Google Mail and Facebook, so your e-mail/contact information end up at Google Mail/Facebook anyway.
The analysis of Benjamin Mako Hill shows this very aptly. Although he runs his own mail server, Google delivered 57% of the e-mails that he replied to. So, even though he does not use Google Mail at all, Google can scan/profile/whatever over half his e-mails.
OK, so Google knows a lot about Mirimir. And they see email that Mirimir sends to Gmail addresses. Except for mail lists, that's pretty much all encrypted. But there is the metadata, for sure.
However, I use other personas. I've had on the order of 100 email addresses, over the years. Most all now abandoned, of course. And I suspect that many of my correspondents have similar practices. That's not so easy to profile.
Except we've seen a few tools come up on HN that claim to reliably tie anonymous profiles together via stylistic analysis.
Is google doing the same? Most likely.
Is it reliable? Less clear, given the Google ads page that show what Google thinks it knows about you is often mistaken on age and gender. Perhaps it's more reliable singling out an individual than an age.
When it was doing the rounds a couple of years back plenty of people were commenting how often it got age and gender wrong. Sometimes it was widly inaccurate on interests too.
It may be possible to use iOS anonymously. I have an anonymous Apple online account, and could presumably use it with used devices purchased for cash. Anyone know if that's doable?