It is essential to stop using Chrome.
Under the pretense of saving users from third-party spyware, Google is creating an ecosystem in which Chrome itself is the spyware.
Given Google's overwhelming presence in the browser market, this is unconscionable.
We should all despise the ad-tech business, and have no sympathy for the companies getting whacked by Google's actions. But we should not permit one monopolist to replace them all.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/12/year-review-googles-corporate-paternalism-browser
I can recommended proton to get away from gmail. They also offer a bigger suite with a few other services like cloud storage, VPN, password manager.
The transition is super easy, they also have a free tier if you want to try it out. Though if you like it I recommend sending some money there way, even with a basic subscription
I also moved to the proton suite. It’s a tad expensive but I use all their services so it pays off. All their services feel half baked tho, especially in user experience.
The biggest thing is probably that you’ll have to pay for things if you want something that’s ethical and preserves your privacy, either a paid service or some initial investment into self-hosting (what I did). It’s 100% worth it imo though, being mostly free from big tech feels really nice!
More specifically, I can highly recommend getting a Synology NAS and your own domain name. They have great replacements for many Google apps, and you can also try out open source alternatives with Docker.
I’m barely feeding my family and paying bills at this point. Paying for privacy, email or storage isn’t an option. I guess I need to up my hobby IT game.
I’ve been using gmx which is a free EU email service with encryption paid for through ads but they don’t harvest data and I just use IMAP into my nextcloud email app
Cannot recommend Immich enough as a self-hosted Photos alternative. Obviously not a drop in replacement, and if you don’t want to self-host it’s not really feasible. But it is just awesome.
What lessons have you learned so far? I’ve switched to FF and DDG with great results, but still use Gmail/android/photos.
I can recommended proton to get away from gmail. They also offer a bigger suite with a few other services like cloud storage, VPN, password manager.
The transition is super easy, they also have a free tier if you want to try it out. Though if you like it I recommend sending some money there way, even with a basic subscription
I also moved to the proton suite. It’s a tad expensive but I use all their services so it pays off. All their services feel half baked tho, especially in user experience.
I’m going to drop a recommendation for Skiff here. Paid but their free tier (which I’m using) has plenty of good stuff.
The biggest thing is probably that you’ll have to pay for things if you want something that’s ethical and preserves your privacy, either a paid service or some initial investment into self-hosting (what I did). It’s 100% worth it imo though, being mostly free from big tech feels really nice!
More specifically, I can highly recommend getting a Synology NAS and your own domain name. They have great replacements for many Google apps, and you can also try out open source alternatives with Docker.
I’m barely feeding my family and paying bills at this point. Paying for privacy, email or storage isn’t an option. I guess I need to up my hobby IT game.
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Or Tuta(nota) https://tuta.com are good!
I’ve been using gmx which is a free EU email service with encryption paid for through ads but they don’t harvest data and I just use IMAP into my nextcloud email app
Cannot recommend Immich enough as a self-hosted Photos alternative. Obviously not a drop in replacement, and if you don’t want to self-host it’s not really feasible. But it is just awesome.