To use an Alphabet product is to support Alphabet regardless of how you access it. If you want to de-google, then stop using their products 100%.

It boils down to consent. You should always always get consent before taking an action that includes somebody else. Just because you can see me is not consent to record me. If you don't have consent, don't do it. It's as simple as that.

Look into Pixelfed.

So you want me to visit one of the greatest surveillance capitalist and privacy abusers video website to get tips on how to help people understand why privacy is important? Yah, about that. No.

If you have a Nextcloud instance, then https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/phonetrack might work.

It's developers working on their time to build an app they want. You don't have the right to demand they do things your way.

You can't stop location tracking on cellular devices. If it's connected to a cell tower, you're being tracked and profiled.

Mastodon and friends are built as open conduits with very little in the way of safety or permissions. Spam should be expected.

It's not a Fediverse vulnerability. It's a Mastodon vulnerability. Don't want spam? Use a better fediverse technology.

No idea. Sorry.

Sounds like something is incorrect in your setup. Nothing Lemmy does requires x11, dbus, or any display technology.

Jabber (XMPP) or Matrix/Element.

Cell phone tracking is common place. If you carry one, you're being tracked, profiled and having your data correlated with others. The question is whether you support living in a surveillance society. If you do, grab a cell phone and be happy. If not, get rid of it and use alternative communication methods. It's a simple choice. In my experience, most people choose convenience over privacy.

You are correct. Streams is Fediverse software that you install on a server.

I initially misunderstood your question, so deleted my post. Sorry about that.

I let go and switched to the private program/service.

It defaults to config.hjson. Check the defaults.hjson file for a full list of options including the pool_size variable.

It's in the Lemmy configuration file.

Run your own instance. It's the only way you'll be able to set your own policies. Otherwise you're subject to policies of the instance you're on and those policies may change at any time.

Yes. Synapse is the server side part of Matrix. You install it at a Matrix host, or on a VPS, or even a Raspberry PI device. See https://github.com/matrix-org/synapse#installing-and-configuration

Once up and running you connect a client like Element to it.