This nightmare scenario was proposed in https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Broadband_and_Digit... for combatting piracy, and instead we have settled on a lesser evil of limited DRM to access Netflix. This permits torrenting, but torrenting is less prevalent now.
A carbon tax is inevitable, and will alleviate the concerns such as OP's.
Control over E2E encrypted messaging is an ongoing policy dispute. I don't have a good feel for how the pieces will land. A lesser evil solution might be to require warranted escrow for popular messaging clients. This permits two malicious actors communicating over unpopular platforms, but catches cases like threats/harassment on popular platforms.
The freedoms of collaboration over the Internet can taken away with:
1. widespread trusted computing (we're close)
2. banning encrypted comms over unregulated spectrums (done)
3. political will to ban such freedoms (growing)
How can those that prefer such freedoms preserve them? Political activism can. Can censorship resistant tech help in that situation? Plausibly deniable mesh networks? Sneakernet?
I carry around a Pinephone with my personal SIM and use it for most personal activities. I also carry about a work phone, which I use for work, and personal activites that I can't yet do on the Pinephone (maps, chromecast, etc.)
It's liberating to have plain old Linux on my phone. My phone is now introspectable, behaves like my other computers, and only runs software that does not track me.
I hack on these and am excited to see how well these continue to mature.
The Pinephone is too underpowered (camera, 2.4GHz, small battery) to be the a viable choice for most interested folks.
The Pinephone is the phone that will jumpstart developers and early adopters to building an ecosystem, and facilitate more powerful phones.