Dispelling the key misconception about online tracking

Most people believe that online tracking is primarily contingent on the exploitation of vulnerable computers. While that does exist and is a serious concern, the reality of mass surveillance is much more banal and terrifying.

Think of it like Archimedes in the bath. The internet is like a bathtub, filled to the brim with water. As a function of getting into the bath, an equivalent volume of water is displaced, just as a function of connecting to the internet you disturb the activity of the surrounding network. For instance, in 1986, hacker and scientist Clifford Stoll was able to pinpoint the location of spy and mercenary Marc Hess in Germany by timing how long it took for Hess's computer to respond to a network diagnostic "Ping" request. This is one of the most basic, essential, and long-standing internet protocols and isn't going anywhere because something like Ping will always be required for computer networks to work. This kind of data will always be available to some degree or another. But the problem is that there is an immeasurable amount of superfluous water being displaced, figuratively speaking, just waiting for anyone to come along and calculate your volume.

Everything you do on the internet is easy to steal because nobody is doing anything right in the commercial space with regard to privacy.