EFF – Welcome to Opt Out October. Let's Take Control of Our Data and Our Devices

This piece launches "Opt Out October," a month-long push to reclaim control over personal data and devices from dominant tech companies. It argues that large platforms and operating systems are designed to harvest and exploit user information, eroding individual agency through default settings, embedded software, and surveillance-based business models. The campaign frames opting out not as rejecting technology but as deliberately choosing alternatives that respect privacy; it stresses that doing so requires effort because major vendors make switching difficult, but insists meaningful change is possible with deliberate steps.

Concrete tools and guides are offered to stop data from feeding into AI training, to move away from social networks, to replace proprietary software, and even to adopt different operating systems that give users stronger privacy controls. The initiative builds on prior advice (a series of 22 daily tips) but shifts toward cutting off data collection at its sources. It avoids endorsing particular products while pointing users to viable options and practical instructions, encourages public sharing of progress as a social signal, and frames participation as both personal protection and collective resistance to pervasive corporate surveillance.