I get that you're emotionally invested in this for some reason, but that's not a good reason to start making up new facts.

Yes, if they advertised one price, and then said that you had to either accept the data collection or pay a higher price, you'd have a point. That's what OP's rewriting of the title implies. But since that's not what's happening, you don't have a point. It's a discount you're offered below the advertised rate.

The baseline is the normal, advertised price, which gets you the service you expect, with no information sharing. It's what you would be paying if this program didn't exist. Why are you so worked up into a frenzy by the existence of a program that lets people choose to sell a bit of their privacy?

Sure, you wouldn't choose to participate, and neither would I. But why do you want so badly to take that choice away from people who don't care who has their information, and who might value their money a bit more?

Are you also against the existence of ebay, because it lets people sell things that you personally would rather keep? Does the fact that you could sell your most prized possession equal someone charging you a fee to keep it? Of course not.

To go back to your "argument" from before, about functional equivalents, the person who doesn't participate spends more money than if they opted in, but not more than if this discount weren't offered in the first place!

If you had your way and wished this program out of existence, nobody would pay less, and some would pay more. That's the difference between charging a fee for privacy, and offering to purchase information. It's about what the baseline is.

Now, I can envision a future where they advertise the base rate with the discount included, and charge you for opting out. Or maybe where the base rate is jacked up and opting into the program gets you back to your normal price. In those cases, yes, it would be accurate to say that you're getting charged a fee to "not be spied on." But until that happens, post titles like this one are disingenuous at best. Nobody benefits from being misled.