> So how many individuals and organizations do I need to get permission from to install something on my phone?

The problem isn't about installing something on your phone, it's about handing over every single private communication you have with others without getting their approval. It contradicts your first assumption that people have _opted in_.

> All these privacy histrionics are supplanting all other individual rights, personal accountability has to break out of this permission loop, even legally speaking, otherwise no one would be able to do anything.

Are you're suggesting that no consent is necessary for you to put other people's private information on sale?

Private correspondence is always like that.

If you send me a snailmail, I have all right to publish what you right to me (with a few exception, of course).

That's why we got all those email disclaimer nonsense.

You may have the right to publish some emails when necessary. It is a whole different thing to sell every bit of private correspondence to a third party in secret. Not only is it a betrayal of trust, a quick search on the internet suggests that it may be illegal in some cases[1].

[1] https://injury.findlaw.com/torts-and-personal-injuries/invas...

This is excessively reductionist logic. There's a huge gulf between, for example, the snarky reply below ala "forwarding emails is illegal" and "an app is en masse siphoning all communications between its users and others".

The privacy backlash is precisely about people becoming more aware of the latter class of behavior and rebelling against it. Complaining that "no one would be able to do anything" is a straw-man without relevance to the actual social conversation going on right now.

You seem to be operating on the assumption that you're defending something other than the status quo.

(A quick example of this brand of individualism that offers the individual right, non-declinable, to be analyzed and sanctioned by the government: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18704330)