I want to not support the Big 5 as much as possible. I canceled my Amazon Prime today. Not a Mac user. I can delete my Facebook and Instagram profiles. Windows is tougher, but I'm also on an ancient Win10 machine and will dwell in no update land.
But how the berk do you get rid of google?!? Duck Duck Go and Yahoo email? Firefox browser? What about a cell phone? Everything is Android unless it's Apple.
Do what you can. Something is better than nothing.
A few thoughts:
1988RedT2 said:Do what you can. Something is better than nothing.
Word.
I use Startpage or DDG for web search and Firefox as a browser. There's also Chromium, which while being Chrome-based is all open source. For phones, there are plenty of AOSP-based images you can install (LineageOS is probably the most widely used), I consider the lack of Google services a feature rather than a bug.
Citizen, you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide. The 5, and their legislating marrionetts, only have your best interests at heart.
Its too late.
NOHOME said:Its too late.
I fear this is correct.
In reply to BoxheadTim :
Thank you, these are great!
Why? What would going to all this trouble do for you?
All of their products increasingly suck E36 M3 and have long stopped meaningfully giving you anything in return for the incredible amounts of data they collect and sell to line their pockets, so I don't blame anyone for checking out, even if it's not likely to do anything to them. And now all those folks are directly linked to the gov, which is super cool.
Not much you can do to return to a pre-internet level of privacy, but I'm not gonna hate on anyone that takes the handful of steps they can to move in that direction.
BoxheadTim said:A few thoughts:
- Duckduckgo and Qwant work pretty well as search engines. Startpage gives you G**gle results with at least less tracking
I made the switch to "default" to duckduckgo ~3 years ago on my main browser. then the last 18months, went around and made sure all my browsers default to duckduckgo. my experience of late is that it works "better" than g**gle for search result right now. the main thing I haven't replaced yet is: reverse image search. but that's usually an unccomon, 3rd order search effort.
ymmv
In reply to GameboyRMH :
While I agree re the lack of Google services, it affects some pieces of software like online banking apps etc. IIRC there is a workaround for GrapheneOS that mostly addresses this, but I don't have any first hand experience with it.
sleepyhead the buffalo said:BoxheadTim said:A few thoughts:
- Duckduckgo and Qwant work pretty well as search engines. Startpage gives you G**gle results with at least less tracking
I made the switch to "default" to duckduckgo ~3 years ago on my main browser. then the last 18months, went around and made sure all my browsers default to duckduckgo. my experience of late is that it works "better" than g**gle for search result right now. the main thing I haven't replaced yet is: reverse image search. but that's usually an unccomon, 3rd order search effort.
ymmv
The search result quality is pretty good on DDG, but it seems to drop off to completely useless somewhere in the middle of the second page. That's usually when I switch to Qwant or Startpage for a second opinion.
I do mostly use ddg for searches, but I also tend to mix it up a bit with using multiple different search engines.
Pay for HEY for email. They don't mine for marketing. Nominal fee. I don't use it, I've only read about it but the company that makes it has a business strategy that I like. No venture capital and make products people like.
Swisscows is a pretty good search engine
What company provides the same suite of products as google (search, photos, drive/docs, email, etc.) I can switch to that isn't also a big evil on this list? FWIW, I set Edge as my default browser on my work computer with Duck Duck Go and I can't tell you how many times I ended up going to google to find what I was looking for. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. I could search using the same syntax and find stuff orders of magnitude faster.
Amazon I'd like to get rid of, but I don't know what else can replace that functionality other than 100+ individual sites. What do you guys recommend?
Microsoft, not a monopoly... but not far off. I used CAD and play video games. Those are mostly Windows targeted.
Facebook... I do nothing (have an empty account) except marketplace. I would love if there were an alternative that didn't suck.
Instagram I do have and its a bit of a time waster and I should get rid of it.
In reply to TravisTheHuman :
I search on Amazon, and then go buy direct from the manufacturer or another retailer. It's easier than you think.
I sometimes do the opposite. Amazons return process is so much better than some places (Newegg for example).
I might give your process a shot though.
What about Audible? That's Amazon and it's an absolute berkeleying monopoly as far as I can tell.
In reply to TravisTheHuman :
Barnes & Noble has their own audio book version. Also, libraries rent audiobooks!
I'll check Barnes and noble. I listened to 42 books last year. About 30 came from libraries but their selection is definitely limited. I have two different library cards and I use both Hoopla and Libby.
Why the hate for these guys? Amazon to me is very useful, the returns process cannot be beat. I compare pricing on most stuff and after paying shipping Amazon usually wins. Facebook marketplace has passed CL for results, and I just ignore everything else. If you object to them making money from your information buy some of their stock. Then you too will share in the profits.
Resistance is futile.
porschenut said:Why the hate for these guys?
Because a lot of us are tired of tech bro billionaires getting wealthy while making all of us worse off.
Resistance is never futile.
I use Brave browser on my phone.
As far as phones go, look into HMD smarphones. They are designed to be serviced by the end user, and are much cheaper than apple. Yes, they run android, not sure if there's something else you can run.
This is right up my alley, both wife and I have been "degoogled" for a few years. She's on the microG build of LineageOS. My old phone died, so I just got a new Pixel and switched to CalyxOS. Its been fantastic so far, comes with MicroG built in, most stuff "just works" without any advanced tech knowledge needed. FDroid for open source apps, Aurora Store for downloading anonymously from Google Play for the few apps I need that aren't open source. I've had no problem using the apps from a very large US bank, nor from a very large US investment bank. Other non-open source apps like Garmin Catalyst, SpeedHive, etc work just fine as well. You just want to limit how many you use, as most closed source apps are privacy nightmares.
Ironically, the Google Pixel line is the most supported with aftermarket OSs, I'd just buy a used one and switch, save yourself the hassle.
I use Kagi for search. Its a paid option, buy works great. Unfortunately, everything else starts to require more and more tech abilities...
Fastmail (paid) for email, and your own domain name so you can switch providers easily if needed. FairEmail for Android email client, FastMail's web client on desktop.
I use Nextcloud on my own server for file storage/backup. This replaces Google Drive. The phone app will auto-upload pics and video. PhotoPrism to replace Google Photos. Nextcloud with Davx5 on the phones to handle contact and calendar syncing.
A nextcloud app called PhoneTrack along with the app of the same name on the phones to replace Google Maps location history/sharing.
Aegis for open source 2FA. Keepass file stored on Nextcloud with open source clients on devices for password management. There's an open source app called SMBSync I use to keep music synced from the server to my phone, no streaming services.
I think that covers the main things. Highly recommend CalyxOS, just make sure you don't depend on Google services you'll no longer have (like Drive). Replacing those is doable but there's quite a bit of setup, and possibly some custom "glue" code, to make it all 100% automated/wife friendly.
One other thing - if you have paid apps and they only license through Google Play, you lose them when you no longer have Play services on your phone. This isn't a big deal to me, but may be for you.
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