How to stay away from Google and other evil tech giants: Difference between revisions

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Paula

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+{{Unrelated |text=It is a private project by [[Fedizen:PaulaToThePeople|Paula]] and only mentions the Fediverse.}}
 [[File:GAFAM.png|thumb|GAFAM, we <3 your data!]]
 This post doesn't have much to do with the Fediverse, but if you like the Fediverse because it is social media without an evil tech giant behind it, then you might like the other tools and services mentioned here.
-This is my (PaulaToThePeople's) personal list of tools to avoid '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism Surveillance Capitalism]'''.
+This is my ([[Fedizen:PaulaToThePeople]]) personal list of tools to avoid '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism Surveillance Capitalism]'''.
 Wherever possible I will recommend privacy-friendly, free (as in freedom) software, but if no such software is available the main goal is just to get you away from the worst offenders, a.k.a. #GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple & Microsoft) or #FAANG (incl. Netflix) or #GMafia (incl. IBM).
 Personally I'm also including eBay, Twitter, Yahoo & Cloudflare on the list of evils.
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 ** '''[https://lineage.microg.org/ Lineage OS for microG]''' is great if you are a little more dependent on apps that refuse to work without Google. MicroG is a free implementation of Google Services, so your device and apps can use Google's services while sending a minimal amount of data to Google - but still some.
 ** '''[https://e.foundation/e-solutions/ /e/]''' is a great option if you still miss more services Google usually offers. With an /e/ account you can sync your data from your /e/ device to your /e/ cloud.
-** Not an OS, but as the next step on the spectrum between living completely without Google and living with as much Google as you need I should mention '''[https://opengapps.org/ OpenGAPPS]'''. It is a free script that installs ❗️ ''the'' Google Apps and Services on your Android phone, so if you choose to do that you are already very dependent on Google, but you can choose different packages which include more or less apps - so at least you don't have to have all Google apps on your phone if you don't need them.
+** Not an OS, but as the next step on the spectrum between living completely without Google and living with as much Google as you need I should mention '''[https://opengapps.org/ OpenGAPPS]'''. It is a free script that installs {{Warning small|the Google Apps and Services}} on your Android phone, so if you choose to do that you are already very dependent on Google, but you can choose different packages which include more or less apps - so at least you don't have to have all Google apps on your phone if you don't need them.
 ** Other notable Android-based OSes are '''CalyxOS''' and '''GrapheneOS'''.
 * I haven't extensively tested any '''Non-Android OS''', so I can't say much here. '''[https://pureos.net/ PureOS]''' would probably be my first choice as the most privacy friendly option. I tested '''[https://ubports.com/ Ubuntu Touch]''' for a while in 2017 and was quite pleased with it. It's definitely worth checking out if you don't like Android.
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 [[File:Mobile_App_Stores.png|thumb|logos of F-Droid and Aurora Store]]
-* '''[https://f-droid.org/ F-Droid]''' is the only App store you really need on your mobile phone. It works on all Android flavors and comes only with free software. ❗️F-Droid contains apps that promote bigotry, racism, trans-phobia and worse. Some of these apps only exist for that purpose, but the F-Droid community can't seem to make up their mind and remove them.
+* '''[https://f-droid.org/ F-Droid]''' is the only App store you really need on your mobile phone. It works on all Android flavors and comes only with free software. {{Warning small|F-Droid contains apps that promote bigotry, racism, trans-phobia and worse.}} Some of these apps only exist for that purpose, but the F-Droid community can't seem to make up their mind and remove them.
 ** '''[https://forum.f-droid.org/t/known-repositories/721?u=paulakreuzer Repositories]''': In F-Droid you can choose different sources for apps. Besides the main repo I'd recommend enabling the '''[https://guardianproject.info/ Guardian Project]''' repo in the settings and if you want more apps to choose from get [https://android.izzysoft.de/repo Izzy’s repo]'''. Beware with other repos, if you're not absolutely sure you can trust their maintainers.
 ** '''Alternative client apps''': If you don't like the look and feel of the F-Droid client app I'd recommend you try  '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.gdroid.gdroid/ G-Droid]'''. It has a lot of exciting new features and an active developer who is open to input. Another alternative would be '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/com.mdroid/ M-Droid]'''.
-* '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/com.aurora.store/ Aurora]''' can be used additionally if you absolutely think you need some apps that are not available on F-Droid. You can get all <abbr title="free as in free beer">gratis</abbr> apps from the Play store with a fake account. ❗️You'll still be sending some data to Google, but less than if you'd have the Play store and Google services on your phone. Also many apps you can get there are dependent on Google software or contain other adware/spyware.
+* '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/com.aurora.store/ Aurora]''' can be used additionally if you absolutely think you need some apps that are not available on F-Droid. You can get all <abbr title="free as in free beer">gratis</abbr> apps from the Play store with a fake account. {{Warning small|You'll still be sending some data to Google}} but less than if you'd have the Play store and Google services on your phone. Also many apps you can get there are dependent on Google software or contain other adware/spyware.
 ===Desktop Operating Systems===
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 [[File:Firefox_logo.png|thumb|Firefox logo]]
-* '''[https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/ Firefox]''' ('''Beginner Tip''') is the gold standard in free web browsing and even when considering proprietary apps probably only Chrome comes near performance-wise. With many built in features and a huge set of available addons you can turn Firefox into a very privacy friendly browser, but still many groups don't recommend it because it doesn't go far enough. E.g.: ❗️This browser comes with Google as the standard search engine. That's why there are many browsers based on Firefox that e.g. don't come with certain proprietary features, don't use Google as a standard search engine, don't promote proprietary addons or don't have the voluntary tracking options that Firefox has. Here are some examples:
+* '''[https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/ Firefox]''' ('''Beginner Tip''') is the gold standard in free web browsing and even when considering proprietary apps probably only Chrome comes near performance-wise. With many built in features and a huge set of available addons you can turn Firefox into a very privacy friendly browser, but still many groups don't recommend it because it doesn't go far enough.<br>E.g.: {{Warning small|This browser comes with Google as the standard search engine.}} That's why there are many browsers based on Firefox that e.g. don't come with certain proprietary features, don't use Google as a standard search engine, don't promote proprietary addons or don't have the voluntary tracking options that Firefox has. Here are some examples:
 ** '''[https://www.torproject.org/download/ Tor Browser]''' ('''Privacy Tip''') is the first choice when it comes to privacy. It uses the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network) Tor] network to enable anonymous browsing and comes with a lot of additional privacy enhancing features built in. As long as you follow the [https://2019.www.torproject.org/download/download.html.en#warning Tips for using Tor] you should be very safe. Browsing via Tor can be quite slow and using the default settings - which is recommended - can break some sites. That's why you might want to use a different browser for sites you use daily and trust and use the Tor browser only for sensitive research.
-** '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.klar/ Klar]''' is a mobile browser and a great choice for unexperienced users who still want a high privacy level, as it comes very privacy friendly out of the box. You don't have to change any settings (except for the search engine) or (can't) download any addons and Klar will already let you browse the web very privately. E.g. It will regularly delete cache and other private data and it won't let you store passwords. Therefore it is not very convenient to use for browsing sites that you regularly use while logged in. ❗️This browser comes with Google as the standard search engine.
+** '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.klar/ Klar]''' is a mobile browser and a great choice for unexperienced users who still want a high privacy level, as it comes very privacy friendly out of the box. You don't have to change any settings (except for the search engine) or (can't) download any addons and Klar will already let you browse the web very privately. E.g. It will regularly delete cache and other private data and it won't let you store passwords. Therefore it is not very convenient to use for browsing sites that you regularly use while logged in. {{Warning small|This browser comes with Google as the standard search engine.}}
-** '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ Fennec F-Droid]''' is an attempt to remove all proprietary bits from mobile Firefox, but there still might be some blobs left and it still comes with anti-features on F-Droid. ❗️This browser comes with Google as the standard search engine.
+** '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/ Fennec F-Droid]''' is an attempt to remove all proprietary bits from mobile Firefox, but there still might be some blobs left and it still comes with anti-features on F-Droid. {{Warning small|This browser comes with Google as the standard search engine.}}
 ** '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.gnu.icecat/ GNU IceCat]''' ('''Freedom Tip''') is the FSF’s version built on Firefox <abbr title="Extended Support Release">ESR</abbr>, which means it doesn't have the latest fancy Firefox features. Instead it is stripped from most proprietary stuff, comes with FSF endorsed addons preinstalled (and doesn't promote other addons).
 ** Notable mention: '''LibreWolf'''.
-* '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/acr.browser.lightning/ Lightning]''' is a nice browser I used for a while. On many mobile devices it will be one of the fastest browsers and with it you are even able to browse via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network) Tor] quite fast. ❗️This browser comes with Google as the standard search engine.
+* '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/acr.browser.lightning/ Lightning]''' is a nice browser I used for a while. On many mobile devices it will be one of the fastest browsers and with it you are even able to browse via [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(anonymity_network) Tor] quite fast. {{Warning small|This browser comes with Google as the standard search engine.}}
 ===Browser Addons===
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 * Notable mentions: '''[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/location-guard/ Location Guard]''', '''[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/terms-of-service-didnt-read/ Terms of Service; Didn't Read], '''[https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-settings/ Privacy Settings]'''.
-❗️Using browser extensions not many others use leads to your browser leaving a unique ''fingerprint'' on a site and that might mean you can be identified or sites at least know which other sites you used. That's why e.g. the Tor Browser doesn't recommend using more than the pre-installed addons.
+{{Warning small|Using browser extensions not many others use leads to your browser leaving a unique ''fingerprint'' on a site}} and that might mean you can be identified or sites at least know which other sites you used. That's why e.g. the Tor Browser doesn't recommend using more than the pre-installed addons.
 ===Search Engines===
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 [[File:Search_engines.png|thumb|Logos of Ecosia and Mojeek]]
-* '''[https://www.ecosia.org/ Ecosia]''' ('''Environmental Tip''') is not known for being a very privacy friendly search engine (though they are working on it), but for it's "greenness". Ecosia has advertisement, but donates a large portion if it's advertising revenue to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforestation reforestation] projects and other environmental causes. ❗️Ecosia is hosted on Cloudflare and their image search depends on Bing (Microsoft), but the websearch works even if you block connections to Bing. I use Ecosia as my primary search engine, because sometimes you have to prioritize and I think saving the planet is more important than my privacy. Also I am quite confident I am doing enough to make sure I'm not leaking too much data while using Ecosia.
+* '''[https://www.ecosia.org/ Ecosia]''' ('''Environmental Tip''') is not known for being a very privacy friendly search engine (though they are working on it), but for it's "greenness". Ecosia has advertisement, but donates a large portion if it's advertising revenue to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reforestation reforestation] projects and other environmental causes. {{Warning small|Ecosia is hosted on Cloudflare and their image search depends on Bing (Microsoft)}}, but the websearch works even if you block connections to Bing. I use Ecosia as my primary search engine, because sometimes you have to prioritize and I think saving the planet is more important than my privacy. Also I am quite confident I am doing enough to make sure I'm not leaking too much data while using Ecosia.
 * '''[https://www.mojeek.com/ Mojeek]''' ('''Privacy Tip''') is a search engine with no tracking whatsoever and a very low environmental impact. It was created in the UK and is hosted on ‘UK’s greenest data center’.
 * Notable mentions: '''[https://www.searx.me/ Searx]''', '''[https://lite.qwant.com/ Qwant Lite]''', '''[https://www.startpage.com/ Startpage]'''...
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 * '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/org.smssecure.smssecure/ Silence]''' ('''Overall Tip''') is a mobile app for SMS/MMS texting. In their own words - which I wholeheartedly agree with - it is easy, reliable, private, safe and <abbr title="essentially the same as free libre software, but developers who call their software open and not free usually care more about the practicality than the ethics of freedom">open source</abbr>. From silence to silence encryption works flawlessly - which is why I think everyone should use it. Otherwise at least the local storage of received and sent messages is encrypted.
-* '''[https://www.signal.org/ Signal]''' is the perfect chat app to move to from Whatsapp. It works very similarly and is secure and private by default. I recommend downloading it from their site, not from Google Play, even though they recommend the opposite. ❗️ Signal is great, but like I said there is no perfect messenger app and Signal has downsides too. Messages are end-to-end encrypted, but the server is closed source and hosted on evil clouds. So the metadata (phone number, who writes to whom and when) is openly accessible by Amazon, Google, Microsoft & Cloudflare. Read an extensive list of everything that might be wrong with Signal [https://github.com/privacytools/privacytools.io/issues/779 here].
+* '''[https://www.signal.org/ Signal]''' is the perfect chat app to move to from Whatsapp. It works very similarly and is secure and private by default. I recommend downloading it from their site, not from Google Play, even though they recommend the opposite. Signal is great, but like I said {{Warning small|there is no perfect messenger app and Signal has downsides too.}} Messages are end-to-end encrypted, but the server is closed source and hosted on evil clouds. So the metadata (phone number, who writes to whom and when) is openly accessible by Amazon, Google, Microsoft & Cloudflare. Read an extensive list of everything that might be wrong with Signal [https://github.com/privacytools/privacytools.io/issues/779 here].
 * Not a messenger, but a protocol messengers can converse with is '''Matrix'''. It's federated, so like the [[Fediverse]], and fully free software. You can choose a very privacy friendly server to create your account on and then download a messenger like '''[https://f-droid.org/en/packages/im.vector.app/ Element]''' and start messaging.
 * Another federated and free software protocol is XMPP. There are very many XMPP clients, e.g. '''[https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.snikket.android Snikket]''' and '''[https://f-droid.org/packages/eu.siacs.conversations/ Conversations]'''.
@@ Line 127: / Line 128: @@
 * '''[https://bigbluebutton.org/ Big Blue Button]''' is a great video conference tool that is completely free of trackers. I like to use the German instance [https://www.senfcall.de/ Senfcall].
-* '''[https://meet.jit.si Jitsi Meet]''' is another option but ❗️ currently it's in the Cloudflare cloud!
+* '''[https://meet.jit.si Jitsi Meet]''' is another option but {{Warning small|currently it's in the Cloudflare cloud!}} Better use '''[https://framatalk.org/ FramaTalk]''' instead.
 ===Social Media===
-[[File:Fediverse logo.png|thumb|Fediverse logo]]
+[[File:Fediverse logo.svg|thumb|Fediverse logo]]
 If you want free and privacy-friendly social media, you are looking for the '''[[Fediverse]]'''.<br>
@@ Line 147: / Line 148: @@
 ===Video Players===
-* '''[https://kodi.tv/ Kodi]''' is a great universal media player for desktop and [https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.xbmc.kodi/ mobile]. Play music, movies, TV shows, podcasts etc from your own Kodi database or stream them. ❗️ But beware of proprietary addons. Unfortunately Kodi doesn't display licenses of addons. Also note that the website is in Cloudflare’s walled garden
+* '''[https://kodi.tv/ Kodi]''' is a great universal media player for desktop and [https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.xbmc.kodi/ mobile]. Play music, movies, TV shows, podcasts etc from your own Kodi database or stream them. {{Warning small|But beware of proprietary addons.}} Unfortunately Kodi doesn't display licenses of addons. Also note that the website is in Cloudflare’s walled garden
 * '''[https://www.videolan.org/vlc/ VLC]''' is another great universal media player for desktop and [https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.videolan.vlc/ mobile], only not with such a fancy design.
@@ Line 201: / Line 202: @@
 * '''[https://en.wikibooks.org/ Wikibooks]''' and '''[https://en.wikisource.org/ Wikisource]''' are part of the Wikimedia Foundation and therefore very trustworthy sources for e-books and papers.
 * '''[https://archive.org/details/texts Internet Archive: Free Books]''' and '''[https://ebooks.qumran.org/ Izzy's eBook library]''' are great sources for freely licensed books too.
-* '''[https://librivox.org/ LibriVox]''' is another source for public domain audio books, but ❗️the site contains Google tracking. You can however access the entire catalogue and more from the '''[https://archive.org/details/audio_bookspoetry Internet Archive: Audio Books & Poetry]''' too.
+* '''[https://librivox.org/ LibriVox]''' is another source for public domain audio books, but {{Warning small|the site contains Google tracking.}} You can however access the entire catalogue and more from the '''[https://archive.org/details/audio_bookspoetry Internet Archive: Audio Books & Poetry]''' too.
 * '''[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Audiobooks Wikimedia Commons]''' has a small category for audiobooks.
@@ Line 226: / Line 227: @@
 ===Online Stores===
-* '''[https://market.fair.coop/shop FairMarket]''' for now is a very small online marketplace using Faircoins.
+* '''[https://www.avocadostore.de/ Avocado Store]''' ('''Environmental Tip''') is once again an ethical choice I'm throwing in here. It is a shop for eco-fashion and home supplies where each product must fulfill at least one principle (like bio, long-lasting, recycled & recycleable, vegan,...) . {{Warning small|Unfortunately the site is hosted on the Google cloud, contains Google tracking and all pictures are stored on the Amazon cloud.}}
-* '''[https://www.avocadostore.de/ Avocado Store]''' ('''Environmental Tip''') is once again an ethical choice I'm throwing in here. It is a shop for eco-fashion and home supplies where each product must fulfill at least one principle (like bio, long-lasting, recycled & recycleable, vegan,...) . ❗️Unfortunately the site is hosted on the Google cloud and contains Google tracking and all pictures are stored on the Amazon cloud.
 * '''[https://www.willhaben.at/ Willhaben]''' ('''Austria Tip''') is an online trading and reselling marketplace that is great to get your hand on anything second hand and commission-free. It's only for Austria though.
@@ Line 238: / Line 238: @@
 * '''[https://savannah.nongnu.org/ Savannah]''' ('''Freedom and Privacy Tip''') is the right choice for 100% free software.
 * '''[https://codeberg.org/ Codeberg]''' is 100% Free Software and is managed by a non-profit association of FOSS and libre people & financed by its members.
-* '''[https://gitlab.com/ Gitlab]''' ('''Beginner Tip''') is a collaboration platform often recommended, e.g. by PRISM-break and it is the one F-Droid trusts with their data. ❗️Beware though, the flagship instance Gitlab.com is hosted on the Google cloud and is proxied by Cloudflare (thus effectively in an exclusive walled garden) and it [https://git.sdf.org/humanacollaborator/humanacollabora/src/branch/master/gitlab-dot-com.md fails] many criteria in FSF’s repository evaluation, so don't use that. The community edition is free software and can be used to power platforms hosted on other clouds. E.g.:
+* '''[https://gitlab.com/ Gitlab]''' ('''Beginner Tip''') is a collaboration platform often recommended, e.g. by PRISM-break and it is the one F-Droid trusts with their data. {{Warning small|Beware though, the flagship instance Gitlab.com is hosted on the Google cloud and is proxied by Cloudflare}} (thus effectively in an exclusive walled garden) and it [https://git.sdf.org/humanacollaborator/humanacollabora/src/branch/master/gitlab-dot-com.md fails] many criteria in FSF’s repository evaluation, so don't use that. The community edition is free software and can be used to power platforms hosted on other clouds. E.g.:
 ** '''[https://framagit.org/ FramaGit]''' is hosted by Framasoft.
 ** See the [https://git.sdf.org/humanacollaborator/humanacollabora/src/branch/master/forge_comparison.md catalog of instances]
@@ Line 259: / Line 259: @@
 Generally: You'll want to go with hardware that runs the software we discussed before.
-If you already have a device where you can flash one of the privacy friendly [#Operating systems] I'd recommend you do that instead of buying a new device: Consider e-waste and resources! Also consider buying a used device and/or resell your old device.
+If you already have a device where you can flash one of the privacy friendly [[#Operating Systems]] I'd recommend you do that instead of buying a new device: Consider e-waste and resources! Also consider buying a used device and/or resell your old device.
 ===Smartphones===
@@ Line 294: / Line 294: @@
 ** [https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2015/fall/privacy-who-needs-it Privacy: Who needs it?] by Zak Rogoff, Free Software Foundation
 * '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_software Free Software]''' vs '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software Open Source]'''
-** [Open Source Misses the Point](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html) by Richard Stallman, Free Software Foundation
+** [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html Open Source Misses the Point] by Richard Stallman, Free Software Foundation
-** [What is Free Software and is it the same as Open Source?](https://opensource.org/faq#free-software) by the Open Source Initiative
+** [https://opensource.org/faq#free-software What is Free Software and is it the same as Open Source?] by the Open Source Initiative
 ** <abbr title="too long, didn't read / here is the gist">TL;DR:</abbr> Use "Free Software" if you care about the ethics of software freedom and not just the practicality. If you are neutral use <abbr title="free libre open source software">FLOSS</abbr> not <abbr title="free open source software">FOSS</abbr> as the latter could be misunderstood as open source software that is free as in free beer.
 * '''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password Passwords], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_manager Password Managers] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication Two/Multi Factor Authorization]'''
@@ Line 345: / Line 345: @@
 * 2022-06-09: Started move to JoinFediverseWiki.
 * 2022-06-21: Finished move to JoinFediverseWiki.
+* 2022-09-10: Finally added video conference section.
-[[Category:Unrelated stuff]]