Discussion Ethically Online

[Le Pertti]

So as we all can see with every big tech company and their services bowing to fascism I thought it would be a good idea so have a thread where we can go over different ways we can untangle ourselves from the worst of them.

Personally I have already deleted everything Meta and haven't really found good replacements for them. I am now looking to get rid of Google stuff, thankfully I dont use android so it is mostly just the emails I need to replace. While there are many good alternatives, it does need to have IMAP support and being able to create several accounts for free. I know Parsnip has undergoing this project too and maybe could share a bit?

Anyone else started replacing stuff, what and where did you go?

 

[Le Pertti]

lashman posted, holy shit did my thread suddenly become urgent!

Yogthos (@yogthos@social.marxist.network)

Google’s new policy tracks all your devices with no opt-out using fingerprinting to create a unique profile for targeted ads. 🤮 https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/googles-new-policy-tracks-all-your-devices-with-no-opt-out/ #google #privacy

social.marxist.network

 

[lashman]

@lashman posted, holy shit did my thread suddenly become urgent!

yes, as always with google - it's all bad news

 

[Li Kao]

I will follow this thread evolution religiously.

 

[Le Pertti]

Speaking of Google, it sucks so much about Youtube, it still the only real place to post videos. As much as I want peer tube to be a thing, it really isnt

 

[Li Kao]

I'm still trying to understand how Amazon recent change (no ebook download via usb) will fuck me up, personally.
Glad I systematically DeDRMed every purchase I ever made with them, but as for the future...

 

[Kal1m3r0]

but as for the future...

I'd get a Kobo

 

[Parsnip]

it does need to have IMAP support and being able to create several accounts for free. I know Parsnip has undergoing this project too and maybe could share a bit?

Free as in actually free, because as the saying goes, if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.
Or do you mean free aliases?

I've been using mailbox.org for a while now, their cheapest plan is 1€/month with 2GB of mail storage and has 3 extra aliases. It's what I started with and while 2GB might not sound like much, it was plenty for me.
I did ultimately end up switching to the 3€/month plan late last year, mainly for the 25 aliases.
So now I have a set up of basically bunch of tiers, my login email which is completely private and not actually in use anywhere, my main "professional" email, a gaming related email and a forum email.
And since I upgraded my plan and have aliases to spare, I also use a few specialized emails like for example microsoft, google, cdkeys and aliexpress all have their own addresses.
And also since subaddressing/plusaddressing is a thing I use that in addition to all the aliases.

I still have 5 gmail addresses in various states of dissolution, 2 of the accounts have been fully migrated and empty since summer 2024, and I'm just keeping them around for a bit in case I forgot some account somewhere that still use them. I haven't set a solid timelimit on it, but I supposed if the account doesn't get new emails in like a year or so, it's probably safe to delete.

My eventual goal is to just have one google account that I would use for whatever android stuff I need it for, the aim is to also remove the email service from that account. But it's going to take a while before I'm there.

The big issue obviously with all of this is that it's a huge pain in the ass to change the addresses in all the accounts you have accumulated over the years, but I just do them here and there with no rush.
It's especially annoying when you have to contact support or whatever to change it, and there are some accounts I have ran into where it's just not possible.

 

[Li Kao]

I'd get a Kobo

In my case, obviously. Plain and simple. Since the news dropped I already bought and DeDRMed two Kobo books. I don't read often enough and never on an ereader or I would have already ordered one of those sexy Kobo color, whatever the name. Still very tempted.
But some of my mother's fave authors are Amazon exclusive.

Apparently you can still get the file from the kindle app on pc, but I'm this instant trying to make sense of what voodoo I did to crack a KFX months ago. It's not pretty.

 

[KingKrouch]

lashman posted, holy shit did my thread suddenly become urgent!

Yogthos (@yogthos@social.marxist.network)

Google’s new policy tracks all your devices with no opt-out using fingerprinting to create a unique profile for targeted ads. 🤮 https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/googles-new-policy-tracks-all-your-devices-with-no-opt-out/ #google #privacy

social.marxist.network

I guess if you buy an Android device, if you care about privacy, the first thing you should do is look into installing a custom ROM, and use an open source alternative to the Google Play Services like MicroG. For YouTube, stuff like ReVanced Manager exists, and that can use MicroG and add additional privacy settings. Shame that Linux compatibility on phones is still hit or miss, because from what I've tried of Plasma Mobile on a cheap touchscreen laptop, it's not the worst thing.

 

[Le Pertti]

So far from what Ive seen in regards to mail, Infomaniak seems like a good option, each account gets two email addresses and has imap support. Haven't tried to do several accounts yet, since it uses phone to verify it might be that one can one create one account.

 

[lashman]

So far from what Ive seen in regards to mail, Infomaniak seems like a good option, each account gets two email addresses and has imap support. Haven't tried to do several accounts yet, since it uses phone to verify it might be that one can one create one account.

what about tutanota?

 

[Le Pertti]

what about tutanota?

No idea, but will check it out!

 

[lashman]

No idea, but will check it out!

good luck

 

[Le Pertti]

Created a peer tube account today just to have a backup for YouTube. nice that one can make it auto import everything from YouTube!

 

[lashman]

Created a peer tube account today just to have a backup for YouTube. nice that one can make it auto import everything from YouTube!

yup, it's cool like that pixelefed has instagram import as well

 

[Le Pertti]

yup, it's cool like that pixelefed has instagram import as well

yeah but I dont fully trust pixel fed either, also I deleted my insta so aaaaall gone!XD

 

[lashman]

yeah but I dont fully trust pixel fed either, also I deleted my insta so aaaaall gone!XD

RIP in pepperoni

 

[Nebulys]

I'm looking to untangle myself from WhatsApp and Facebook, but so many of my friends use it.

Sometimes though, you just have to rip the bandaid off. If I do it, others might follow.

Or they won't and I'll be forever alone.

 

[Le Pertti]

I'm looking to untangle myself from WhatsApp and Facebook, but so many of my friends use it.

Sometimes though, you just have to rip the bandaid off. If I do it, others might follow.

Or they won't and I'll be forever alone.

Getting rid of everything meta has definitely been very isolating. Lost touch with so many! But at least it prepares me on how to move forward, that I won’t take connections for granted and actually make an effort to save phone numbers and such.

 

[Parsnip]

It would be impossible for me to get rid of whatsapp, I'm just hoping that at some point some regulator somewhere forces a company split or something.