The EFF reports on a promising decision by the FTC.

An excerpt:

Absolutely disgusting! And a very good reason for not having a smartphone.

You're being tracked by the authorities most certainly if you have a smart phone even if one opts out of the surveillance applications. I agree, hazel, it's a good reason not to have a smart phone. My daughter has a life threatening medical condition so I am compelled to always have a way to communicate with her; I need to own a smart phone. Snowden paints a grim picture of how we're being watched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFns39RXPrU

We are almost being "forced" to use smartphones, which are really hand held computers.
There is a bank for active duty military and veterans (and their immediate families). As it has few branches everything is done either online with your computer or with a smartphone. At one time you use to be able to scan checks, for deposit, upload the images, type in some information, bingo, the deposit was made. A year or two ago they stop that and you now have to use a smartphone. You sign on to your account, enter some information about the check, endorse it, of course, take pictures of the check with the phone, and, again, the deposit is made. Last time I tried it, they said my smartphone was too old and to try a different phone. I mailed it in, but I do have to admit he software is pretty clever.
Even the huge national banks are getting into the game and offer a similar service.
Even the local supermarket has an app, as does all the public transit companies.
I guess one could just refuse to play their "game."
OTOH, being a "senior citizen," deposit by phone is convenient. Going into the bank and standing in line is more exercise than my old legs can handle.
So, I've gone through all the security settings on the phone and turned off "location," mobile data, etc., and use a VPN.
The only other alternative is, as I said, to not use the service at all.

Like you I also use a VPN. Recently, my bank disabled online access by VPN. Maddening. Everyone wants to be able to track me including my bank.

I notice that fewer and fewer banks and other business have web sites any more. Instead they opt for "web apps" which try to ask for all kinds of excesses including but not limited to motion sensors and location. So avoiding a "smart" phone is necessary but not sufficient in reducing the surveillance.

Political discourse is now about surveillance, but about a decade or more late. That boat has sailed. Now the immediate threat is not the potential of what might happen but rather how that captured information can be used to manipulate and even destroy societies when abused at scale.

Thankfully my smartphone usage keeps me moderately safe. There is no cell reception inside my home. I can only access service bia wifi which I can toggle off which I routinely do. I'm currently using an Android phone upon which I've replaced the OpSys with CalyxOS. Graphene is even more secure but as long as I don't employ web services on my phone, so far there seems to be no link between phone and internet identities.

As soon as PinePhone64 upgrades hardware a bit more (maybe this year) and Linux phone distros work out a few minor bugs, I'm going to buy one. They have hardware switches for turning off several features used in tracking and the battery is still removable so far.

OTOH it isn't like tracking is 100% nefarious. It's mostly just annoying but with compensated with considerable benefits. It can be a tough choice separating the wheat from the chaff. The most annoying thing is the pressure to demand an SMS capable phone for 2 party authentication even though it also serves as some modicum of safety. There really should be a viable alternative.

You are most certainly being tracked by Big Tech.

I submit, though, that that does not necessarily mean you are being tracked in real time by "the authorities," whatever that term may mean.

It has long baffled me that persons sweat bullets over "government surveillance," but are willing to run nekkid through the corridors of profit-driven corporate collectors of confidences.

Just my two cents.

If it's just for communication, wouldn't a 1990's type dumb phone do? Calls and texts only.

I have a little dumbphone that I keep exclusively for this purpose. But why can't they use a landline for that?

Where I live, the parking meters in town have gone over exclusively to smartphone activation. You can't any longer use a card, let alone cash. So those old people who are not too good on their feet and don't know how to use a smartphone, can't go into town to do their shopping any more. It seems they don't want our sort around there any more; it brings the tone down. It's blatant discrimination and I think it ought to be illegal.

I know my post is the exact opposite of the crux of this thread, but it's amusing to me:
My bank has branches, and an app, etc. I do scan checks to deposit them.

Periodically someone gives me cash.

I'm like, "I NEVER carry or use a lot of cash! Can't I take a picture of this to deposit it?!?"

You make an excellent point, hazel! I do in fact only need a cellphone for calling and texting. However, I never liked that style of cellphone when they first came out. I'm a technology junky, I crave the newest whiz-bang thingy. Do I absolutely need it? Possibly not. Having an exceptional camera on my phone is an added bonus.

"Someone in Pango Pango" just also "used VPN" to impersonate you and to steal thousands of dollars from you. But, because they were "using VPN," we couldn't prove it wasn't you, so we approved the transaction ...

Yeah, you get the idea. People in real life are vastly more inventive in trying to find new ways to rip other people off, than they ever were in earning an honest living. And the "fraud prevention department" is on the front line. They're going to use "the incoming IP address" for the same reason that they consider "the incoming phone number (caller-ID)" and "known or approximate geographic locations." And you are the one they're constantly trying to protect.

In spite of these efforts, banks around the world lose enormous amounts of money every single day to "fraud," and they will never get that money back.

My ex's bank card information was stolen. Someone was making an expensive transaction on the other side of the country while she was using the card near home. The transaction was only denied due to lack of funds in the account.

Why aren't we all crying for the poor banks down on their luck and getting ripped off this way??

The banking industry knows that it loses millions of dollars, every day, due to fraud.