A process that started roughly a year ago with just changing browser and search engine, now feeling that I got somewhere. The journey ended up being more than just degoogle, but also demetaing and taking more control over my data and privacy.
Before and after picture with notes:
Chrome -> Zen browser (Firefox on iOS)
Google -> Qwant
Gmail -> Proton Mail
NordVPN -> Proton VPN (I don’t use VPN very often, but have NordVPN through another subscription, now replaced with Proton across my devices)
Google Drive / Photos -> Proton Drive
Google Password Manager -> Proton Pass
Google Authenticator -> Proton Pass / Ente (Ente Auth is only used to store my 2FA keys for the Proton account, other keys are stored in Proton Pass)
Google Translator -> DeepL
YouTube -> FreeTube (Unwatched on iOS)
Google Maps -> Magic Earth (OSM on desktop)
WhatsApp -> Signal
Notion -> Anytype
Keep / Notes -> Notesnook
X -> Mastodon / Bluesky
Reddit -> Lemmy (Voyager on iOS, dreaming of an eventual complete migration)
Instagram -> Pixelfed
Facebook -> stopped using
Windows 11 -> Ubuntu (Only personal laptop, work laptop still windows)
Not many people have resources to set up a mastadon instance and I don’t think bluesky can be connected using activitypub but I’m not sure about that.
Proton’s ceo has recently made some Trump sympathizer statements but honestly, I’ll still keep my subscription because of how cheap they are for me.
I didn’t like the statements regarding Trump either, but he deleted it and made some comment/post on reddit distancing himself from Trump and right wing politics. So I made peace with that, but yeah, people won’t forget.
Not sure why people care so much, the individual can think whatever he wants, it hasn’t stopped proton from continuing on its good path (even though I don’t use them much nowadays, they are a great service with a respectable free tier).
Trust in a product can be weaponized.
Also, as a Roman, I would never trust a Swiss. Call it genetic memory.
That article is stupid. Any company that receives a “legally binding order” has to comply with it… what would you expect?
Most companies aren’t going to commit a crime to protect a user (like that one dude who ran an email service and destroyed it when he was required to hand over data, forgot his name!!!). If they did, they’d be out of business…
(The article isn’t exactly dumb, but it doesn’t address this properly in my opinion. The outrage over it seems dumb to me. The government will force companies to do whatever it wants, be mad at the gov not the corpo in this case when its to apprehend a journalist or whatever… i understand if its a terrorist or similar, but this specific case may be more poopy om the gov behalf)