I agree with numlocked that the option of opt-out from companies is less clear, in part because we are on a course where this becomes increasingly strange and irrational.
It's the type of thing you'd say to yourself and others if you worked at one of those companies that mine people for data.
Everybody can't be RMS. Hell, even RMS can't be RMS. For all practical purposes, you're stuck in a hell where you choose between options, all of which track you like a laboratory animal.
it seems unlikely that Google, Facebook, etc. are offering us a good deal in exchange for our data; why would they when we don't even know what the fair price is
They have some idea, given that they're largely responsible for monetizing it. The economy in trading personal information certainly assigns a set value to it. In any case, there is also the question of how many people underage, or otherwise not in a position to give what a reasonable person would see as "informed consent" are swept into this as well.
I agree that the before mentioned companies most likely have a pretty good idea, but also that a lot of users cannot give informed consent to use your words. When we go to a restaurant we can at least make a comparison based on experience; in the case of personal data we are rarely given access to data that allows us to build up any such intuition.
Sure you can: you can compare the various types of services (search engines, social networks, etc) and see who offers the best bang for the private data buck.
Reminded me of a post on algorithms (data) and conformity: https://www.schneier.com/essays/archives/2016/01/the_risksan...