Do you also keep a list of your sexual preferences, political views, medical history, etc? If so I would recommend giving this to every corporation you interact with. I mean, the odds are some of them might be able to improve their services, in some manner, using this information. Even if just one out of ten would be able to, it would be worth it, right? Since privacy doesn't really matter.
You are acting irrationally.
You give the information if you think it can be useful to provide a better service.
Otherwise you have the means to withdraw from sharing information and you are supposed use them.
By that I mean that, if you value your privacy and don't trust another company to keep your confidential information private, why would you trust another company to keep from collecting your information? Just don't give it in the first place!
There are throwaway accounts on forums like HN and reddit, private browsing, VPNs and anonymous remailers if you need them, but, if you don't need them, that's just noise slowing you down.
Other thoughts that are directly related to the matter in question are that it shouldn't be a problem that a company knows my sexual preferences, political views and medical history, it could be a problem if that information is shared with someone else, or used against me by that company. Second note, my confidential information should, in a perfect world, be of no matter to anyone. No company, person or government should be allowed to judge someone basing on those characteristics instead of skill, compatibility or lawfulness. It is not the case, unfortunately, but this is the reason why privacy does matter, it's because we don't live in a perfect world.
I am confused. First you describe privacy precautions as "noise slowing you down", a few arguments later you have reached the conclusion "this is the reason why privacy matter".
