cash

not much I can do about CCTV (without breaching important social norms)

Gotta say, I don't think most peoples' threat models make worrying about IRL privacy a concern, but that's obviously not the point.

For the record, I don't use any of these techniques myself, it's just stuff I've read.

For facial recognition, a lot of CCTV cameras don't have IR filters, and can be blinded with Infrared LEDs, so there have been some promising experiments with shoving a bunch of them into hats. You'll glow real bright in any footage, but they won't be able to see your face.

Beyond that, there's always prosthetics (think like what is used in movies) to alter your facial characteristics.

All that said, I believe the main way of identifying individuals in camera footage now is by gait analysis. Supposedly a rock in your shoe can change it enough to not match up between different footage.

You'd also want to ditch your phone or put it in a signal blocking bag, as it can be uniquely identified by the saved wifi SSIDs that it tries to connect to, and by its bluetooth unique identifier (might just be the MAC address), that can be tracked by low energy bluetooth beacons (how stores track customer movement within and how most places did covid exposure tracing with the apps).

As far as fingerprints go, maybe a light layer of superglue on your fingertips to disrupt the print patterns? That's a complete guess though.

Barely related, but I did see this recently and had a laugh

Edit: correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they misunderstood the abbreviation "cctv". Mixing up "closed-circuit" and "closed-captioned".

Nothing. The effort required to make a meaningful impact against this type of threat is way beyond my threat level.

In the public, I wear sunglasses and a hat. I don't park in area's that have lots of cameras. Also don't try and stand out, don't wear to flashy clothing, but try and match a little.

For at your home, if you have a garage, park your car in the garage, that way when you leave, neighbors don't know your gone, or when your home. Also make sure to install some sort of lock on your garage door, but make sure it's not electric, found that out the hard way. If you live in an apartment complex, park your car out back if you don't need to carry anything in.

IRL privacy in winter is super easy, wear some layers, hat, sunglasses and gloves.

Some notes for you, standards change were you are, so reflect on the advice your given. For example, I live in the States, but some might live in Europe, cars are different, dress standards are different, stores are different, etc. So some pieces of advice that might be rock solid in one place, may not be wise in others.

I wear a giant Juggernaut-style helmet

I don't really bother much in public places, I use umbrellas when it rains and sunglasses when it is sunny, but In general I try to avoid connecting to public WiFi and always use my vpn when I do.

I dont have any identifying data on my mailbox. I make sure to destroy PII on mail.

My routine is normal, gray, boring.

Tin foil balaclava.

They should make a sunscreen or moisturiser that shields you from face recognition and fingerprints, like those covers on license plates that make em shine on police cameras

I love my Kolari shades I picked up when they were running their kickstarter. Fantastic to use indoors and out. https://kolarivision.com/product/kolari-shades-ultra/

Oh and if you have need enough to worry about fingerprints, best to just get rid of them outright and deal with the rather short but uncomfortable recovery for your fingers to heal back over.

Ride a motorcycle. Then if you're wearing a helmet and gloves it's not odd

My wife wears rubber gloves to the doctor. I have thought about getting some light butler type gloves for riding the train and such.

Stay in the basement and drink alone.

I vote for political parties that are explicitly against facial recognition when possible (always a small party that nobody knows). I use cash.