I use photosync to upload to a folder that is an external library for immich. Immich then periodically scans that folder to load new assests. I usually use digikam to manipulate that folder. Immich is there just for easy remote browsing of those files.
If you're US based, there's tons of data broker sites, and you can glue together the information for free as various brokers leak various bits (E.g. Some leak the address, others leak emails, others leak phone numbers). And that's by design for SEO reasons, they want you to be able to google someone with the information you have, so they can sell you the information you don't have.
Some straight up list it all, and instead of selling people's information to other people, they sell removals to the informations owner. Presumably this is a loop hole to whatever legislation made most sites have a "Do Not Sell My Info" opt out.
What you do is look up a data broker opt out guide, and that gives you a handy list of data brokers to search. E.g.
Im not sure a gas station analogy really works. I use a gas station out of convenience (i.e. its on my route) and will only go out of my way for a significant difference in price. This means i go to the same gas stations even when there are others that are “as good as” around just because it’s convenient for me. Similarly if i already setup an account with Amazon and currently use Amazon i won’t move to an “as good as” competitor just because its an inconvenience to setup a new account, add billing info, add my address, etc… for no real improvement.
Alternatively they can work in care facilities (elderly care, psychiatric hospitals, etc…). I dont have the details but i know a few people who did this
One thing i like about Emacs is i can be reasonably sure it isnt going anywhere anytime soon. The GNU version was first released almost 40 years ago and its still actively used and maintained. I like investing my time learning quality tools that stand the test of time.