How to Quickly Get to the Important Truth Inside Any Privacy Policy

[Catweazle]

Privacy policies are horrible. They are too long, impenetrable, and full of legalese that amounts to a take it or leave it offer. But the privacy policy is one of the only places where tech companies have to tell us the truth (TOS and PPs are legal binding documents)—the truth about what personal data they are collecting, how they share and profit from that data, and at a deeper level, what sort of trade we’re making when we choose to use their apps or platforms.

They follow a predictable structure, meaning you can learn to navigate them, spotting key sections and passages from a safe skimming height, swooping down only to extract the juiciest morsels of information or to leverage an opportunity to opt out of certain collection (or to opt in to deeper, more personalized disclosure).

Full Document

[LonM]

Reading these policies is important to be informed of how your data will be (ab)used.

But it's also a pointless exercise, in that often your choice boils down to either accept something you don't really like, or don't use the service. And for many online services you don't have a choice in using them.

[Catweazle]

@LonM, it is clear that you do not have many options in certain services, although there are almost always alternatives, but you must be aware that reading the conditions well is very important, at least to know at what point it is necessary to shield yourself. The main problem is that most people do not read PP and TOS and then complain about lack of privacy, having signed their consent in a binding contract without reading it.
For many years now all I have used is mainly FOSS and services with decent privacy and as a general rule avoiding those with texts longer than a page and too much legal jargon, because these are surely the worst.