> well, the business model of the utilities whose bills you pay (nor the bank's) shouldn't be based on advertising??

They shouldn't need it, but from their point of view why on earth wouldn't they sell their customers out at every opportunity if it means more money for them? Companies are amoral monsters who care about nothing but making money. If a company can do something that will make them more money you should expect them do it regardless of how ethical or legal it is.

Likely they've been sold a bunch of snake oil to prevent "fraud" based around sniffing up their customers' asses.

But you should still use all of the anti-surveillance tech you can, lest the downward spiral continue. The methods are implemented gradually, with soft heuristics. The more customers they have without such vulnerabilities, the harder it is to justify turning the screws.

I’ve seen sites fail to load if google analytics doesn’t load, so that could be it.

Here is why they track and collect:

“Hiding within those mounds of data is knowledge that could change the life of a patient, or change the world.” (Atul Butte, Stanford)

"Information is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine” (Peter Sondergaard, Senior Vice President, Gartner)

“Without big data analytics, companies are blind and deaf, wandering out onto the web like deer on a freeway.” (Geoffrey Moore, author and consultant)

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And the quotes go on and on...

Right, but regardless of the factuality of these claims, remind me how we continue to sidestep the issue of consent from those that are tracked? “Privacy nuts” such as myself do not struggle to see upsides to say a global DNA database with perfect coverage, it is the fact that we are very much aware of the terrible potential downsides of a world where privacy and consent is largely ignored that makes us concerned.

Those aren't the reasons, they're just attempts at finding an argument that will make people lay down and take it.

Utilities shouldn't need advertising in theory, but utilities don't behave well (economically speaking) in general. There is to much regulation (limiting upside from selling their services means squeezing money out of less ethical verticals) or there are monopolistic incentives (you don't have a choice, so we can make you give us ad revenue)

It's arguably the second. Advertising/surveillance as an additional revenue stream is a no-brainer for ethically challenged companies.

Where is there too much regulation of utilities? Particularly considering the issue with PG&E, it seems unlikely this would be the case in the US; the money in the US is being squeezed toward bonuses and the like.

What I usually see if just poorly implemented tagging. For example, if Google Analytics javascript breaks then so do the links I want to click. I’ve seen it on my 529 plan website and in other places. I suppose tracking blockers could forge GA and other javascript objects to avoid this but what a battle this becomes.

Ghostery already does this kind of forging for many blocked gadgets.