#DeleteGoogle is tougher than #DeleteFacebook.
It is the most powerful organization in the world, with tracking data on *at least* 4 billion people.
Start with basics:
Use @Firefox instead of #Chrome Enable #PrivacyBadger extension Enable #UblockOrigin
Yes #DuckDuckGo is a pretty good alternative, I set it as the default in Firefox. It's not as good as Google but it does the job for the most part.
@freedom @Firefox Next up #deleteTwitter
@freedom It's hard to do without maps and youtube...
@cheshirepicture Yes - I can't get rid of Google like I can Facebook. But it's worth looking for alternatives here and there.
I was completely embedded in the Googe ecosystem but slowly disengaging. I'm not going to make a martyr of myself, but tiny steps over time by a lot of people create momentum.
@freedom
Challenge accepted 😎😉
I will check into PrivacyBadger, thanks.
Side note FYI: I considered deleting facebook, but I want to remain connected with a lot of people on there who simply aren't going to leave, and that's my only mechanism to do so. What it seems like I'm settling on is to primarily shift my activities over here, and use FB much more rarely. I can see some people doing that and benefiting greatly from it.
@jrichardliston Yes, it was hard for me to leave - I departed on January 1 as a New Year's Resolution.
It was hard at first (like quitting smoking!) but after a while I stopped noticing or caring. People important to me know how to reach me... but I agree that a distributed open source version of Facebook would be great. There's an opportunity for somebody out there for sure.
I totally have been saying that for a while! It's hard to believe that there's not a distributed open facebook happening. Maybe there is and I don't know about it yet.
@jrichardliston I'm guessing there is too. I'm looking for it. Ideally it will be distributed and somehow blockchain enabled. In all honesty, if somebody has this working - right now is the time to get on top of it and PROMOTE THE HECK OUT OF IT!
Also - hit me up if you're looking for money ;)
I dislike the website, but it suffices for now...
http://spherecollege.org/about-us
@jrichardliston Restarting a Facebook profile with a fake name and a separate email address you use for nothing else, and only adding people you actually want to talk to, and then deleting your realname profile, is a great compromise.
@freedom
@freedom but how to get off Android is harder
@frankiesaxx No need to go cold turkey. There are 2.5 billion android devices out there and Google has detailed data on every single one of them. Apple does the same for the 1 billion iOS users. Those are our choices, were not giving up our phones.
Not likely a fit for most people, but I've ordered this:
https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/
It's going to be ready in 2019. Let's see how that goes.
@freedom I know I know. Do you think Lineage is better?
I don't know - neither one is really available yet.
I like the Purism phone because it uses Linux and I'll be able to access most of the apps that I access now (including a Chrome browser if I want one). Their challenge is making it work on a handheld screen.
Lineage is forking regular Android, but it works on a limited set of older phones and is likely not accessible to most users (including guys like me).
@freedom I would really like a linux phone. I just got a linux ereader :)
@freedom @frankiesaxx lineage is not limited to older phones. There are variants of LOS for most devices and now because of Treble there are variants for the newest devices too. LOS can be run on the S9, even, despite it not having been out for too long.
@freedom @frankiesaxx its a nice idea, but what makes my phone really usefull is all the 3rd party apps. Public transport tickets/timetables, 3rd factor for my bank and other important stuff and so on. As long as they cant run Andriod apps, it will go nowhere I am afraid.
@freedom Thanks to Peertube I am almost there... I have delteted Youtube and Facebook.
* I do protonmail and mailfence instead of gmail.
* I do duckduckgo and searX instead of google search.
* I do Mastodon instead of G+.
* I do Riot.im and IRC instead of Hangouts e.t.c...
I do visit Youtube but only as a spectator. I do have privacy badger, cockie autodelete and ublock helping remove traces.
I don't use Chrome... I do not have an Android nor Apple or Microsoft telephone. I have an Jolla.
That is pretty hardcore.
@freedom Not really... it works rather good actually.
The event of Mastodon and Peertube solved two of the though ones.. A year ago these was not an option and the alternatives did not reach a good enough level. I have been looking for awhile... Finally I would say it is possible to be Google free.
Another one that I don't really need as much currently is to use onlyoffice instead of google documents.
@shellkr wow, i'd only seen 'toot' for cli so far, this looks pretty neat, I'll have to give it a try soon!
@joop It actually is pretty neat. ;)
The defaults need a bit of tweaking though to fit your use case. Like binding some keys, some aliases and a good readable madonctl theme.
@Xalofar @joop @freedom The Jolla have APK support so most stuff running on a typical Android device would also work on the Jolla. Jolla are however (currently at least?) not making their own devices any more. The way to go today would be to get a Xperia X and then install SailfishOS on that.
I've had my Jolla since 2012.. This year I will have to decide where to go next. It stand between a Xperia X and a Purism5.
@adonis28850 Thanks! Didn't know about Hooktube.. will try it out. ;)
@shellkr @freedom I would add the following browser add-ons:
- Decentraleyes, protects you against tracking through "free", centralized, content delivery.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/decentraleyes/
- Privacy Settings, alter Firefox's built-in privacy settings easily with a toolbar panel.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-settings/
Optionally:
- uMatrix, point & click to forbid/allow any class of requests made by your browser.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/
@shellkr I can't seem to find Modrana in either the F-Droid or the Play Store. Never heard of it before 🙂
@RyuKurisu It is a SailfishOS native app. So sadly don't think it is available on other platforms. :/
@shellkr another reason to switch to SailfishOS 🤔
@freedom @frankiesaxx @Firefox #OpenStreetMap instead of Google Maps! 🙂
@jacobcammack @freedom @Firefox The earth isn't an organization. It's an ecological system :)
@freedom @Firefox you are correct. it is an ecological system.
however, from space the earth is one thing. it is one thing. it is both massive as we know (ask an ant?) and actually rather small. very small. therefore it acts in concert with itself.
thus google and you and me and iphones and plastic and oil and everything are a part of it's ecological system.
it's a blindness of the walls of our current misunderstanding of the limits of what we call "biology". i believe the sun is biological.
❤️ @freedom @Firefox why should I eliminate Google? They're collecting data yes, but are they doing anything illicit? As in, are they collecting and using data in ways not made clear to the user? I have an Android phone and I use a lot of Google services, so I'm very curious as to whether or not the transaction of my data for Google services is worth it. Up til now I've believed it has been.
@grajan @Firefox It's a transaction, and it's not illegal and we don't advocate using governments or other force-conveying measures against Google.
We do think that data is valuable and that there are risks to our Freedom from having too much data concentrated in the hands of one organization. That's why we look for and advocate for alternatives, including the termination of net neutrality laws and the growth of alternatives.
@ink_slinger @freedom I use a dumbphone, Fastmail, have an adblocker (including trackers). I occasionally use their search engine, though.
At work, of course, we're hip-deep.
@varx Oh yeah, it's unavoidable at work for me, too. We're a Google Apps shop.
@freedom Don't use Google Docs ✔, Google Drive ✔, Google Plus ✔, Google Groups ❌, YouTube ✔ (no uploads, no cookies, no login), Goolge Hangouts ✔, Blogger ✔, Google Search ✔, Google Scholar ❌, Google Fonts ❌ (I have to fix that), Android ✔, Chrome ✔, …
@freedom yeah, been trying to do this myself recently. Got the most important things down, I think. But the amount of data Google must have on us is ridiculous.
I wrote about the process, if you're interested:
@freedom @Firefox use duck duck go