I think that the damage is already too great. They are probably already in all the hubs, exchanges and its not like they will give them back. It's no surprise that they are collecting all the cell data too, whether it be metadata or content. Who knows what kinda stuff they have in the actual hardware beside the repeaters they have on the fiber cables.
My question is how do we enact a change. The genaral public (non-tech people) may not fully understand the implications of what they are doing and how much of our data thy are taking. If the large companies are just going to bend over how do we do something?
It seems like end to end encryption is the only way to go. It makes the UX not as convenient, but convenience is the carrot that has led us to this dismal point.
But more seriously, the only healthy basis for a way out I see is to make literally every part of the "stack" open and transparent. "Open" as in "open source", both regarding hardware and software.
My question is how do we enact a change. The genaral public (non-tech people) may not fully understand the implications of what they are doing and how much of our data thy are taking. If the large companies are just going to bend over how do we do something?