Privacy? BORING! I have nothing to hide!
Your bank statements
Your religion or political preference
Your private life!
My story
Started approximately 10 years ago
Using and contributing to privacy-preserving initiatives
A never ending story!
Overview
Awareness
My 7 acts for privacy!
How to degoogle: let's get started!
Overview
Awareness
My 7 acts for privacy!
How to degoogle: let's get started!
Summary
Awareness: surveillance by Big Tech & governments
News articles about Google reading your e-mails [1]
Global surveillance disclosures by Edward Snowden [2]
TED Talks from Glen Greenwald and others [3]
Time to freak out 😱
Why does Big Tech and governments read and
access all my data?
Both violate my Human Rights [1]
and since 2016 also the EU's GDPR [2]
A classic response on this:
If you have nothing to hide, why should you care then?
Everyone has something to hide
- Bank statements
- Private pictures you send to your loved ones
- Political or sexual preference
- Religion
- ...
If you have nothing to hide, please send me an e-mail with this information attached 😉
Affected services over the past 10 years
- E-mail: GMail
- Contacts: integrated with Big Tech services
- Calendar: Google Calendar
- Collaboration tools: Office, Teams, Zoom, Onedrive, Google Drive
- Messaging: Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat
- Browser: Chrome works really well, but again a Google product
- Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
- OS: Windows, Android, etc.
What can we do about this?
Finding alternatives of course! However, you have to find them first...
I found a lot of alternatives on privacytools.io,
now replaced by privacyguides.org
You have to try things, there's no perfect solution for everyone
Overview
Awareness
My 7 acts for privacy!
How to degoogle: let's get started!
Summary
Act #1: stop reading my e-mails!
Ditch GMail for a privacy-safe alternative
ProtonMail was my go-to alternative,
because of its encryption and fight for privacy
Encryption is the last safeguard against evil actors,
even if they are friendly now [1,2]
Act #1: stop reading my e-mails!
GMail-to-ProtonMail-transfer took more than 7 years!
Later, I replaced ProtonMail by mailbox.org
because ProtonMail uses proprietary APIs and clients.
Privacy is a never ending story, I need to switch easily between providers.
Act #1: stop reading my e-mails!
Mailbox.org uses standard protocols e.g. SMTP, IMAP, and POP3.
I can use any client with PGP encryption.
I only use Open Source e-mail client such as
K9-Mail,
GNOME Evolution,
or Thunderbird
Open Source allows me and others to audit and verify the code.
Act #2: stop reading my calendar & contacts!
Your calendar & contacts contain a huge amount of data about you
Dropped default apps for a non-Google Open Source apps
such as
Simple Mobile Tools apps,
F-Droid,
K9-Mail
Synchronization through standard protocols such as CalDAV and CardDAV.
Act #2: stop reading my calendar & contacts!
Selfhosted@home with the Radicale CalDAV/CardDAV server.
Selfhosting puts me in control of who can read my calendar & contacts.
Managed (free as in freedom) CalDav/CardDAV servers exist, but you need to trust the administrator.
Examples: Disroot, mailbox.org, Nubo
Act #3: stop being involved in my teams!
All Big Tech companies offer competing office tools
to edit text files, spreadsheets, slides, ...
Most of them have business subscriptions
They also offer video conferencing tools, cloud storage, e-mail, ...
for seamless collaboration
All of them aim for a vendor lock-in which makes
it hard to move from one provider to the other
Act #3: stop being involved in my teams!
Open source software uses free formats and standards
which allows you to use any tool you want, without vendor lock-in
Selfhosting is possible and puts you in
control over the data, but also the costs
as Big Tech cannot force a subscription on you
Act #3: stop being involved in my teams!
| Tool |
Alternative |
| Text |
NextCloud, LibreOffice Writer |
| Spreadsheets |
NextCloud, LibreOffice Calc |
| Slides |
NextCloud, LibreOffice Impress |
| Videoconferencing |
NextCloud, Jitsi, mailbox.org |
| Instant Messaging |
NextCloud, Matrix, Mattermost |
| E-Mail |
NextCloud, mailbox.org |
| Calendar & Contacts |
NextCloud, Radicale, mailbox.org |
Act #4: stop reading my messages!
Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp are great tools for messaging, but also for surveillance...
WhatsApp offers E2EE encryption, but still harvests your contacts and other metadata.
Others have no encryption, the government can get a court order for all your private messages [1].
Act #4: stop reading my messages!
Matrix is my prefered messaging network with Element as client
- E2EE encryption: last safeguard
- Decentralized: hard to apply censorship
- Selfhosting: I'm in control
- Standardized protocols: multiple servers and clients exist
- Bridges: optional access to IRC, Telegram, and others
- Videocalls: integrated Jitsi for video calls
Act #4: stop reading my messages!
I selfhost@home my Matrix Synapse server
and deploy my own version of the Element client
Harder for anyone to get my data without my knowledge [1]
since they have to come to me to get it instead of a Big Tech company
Act #5: stop tracking me on the Web!
Google has a monopoly (>60%)
on the Web with their Google Chrome/Chromium browser [1]
Google develops 'Blink', a browser engine used by
all browsers except for
Firefox,
Safari,
GNOME Web, etc.
This website only works in Microsoft Internet Explorer Google Chome
Act #5: stop tracking me on the Web!
Firefox is my favorite for browsing the Web.
- Anti-tracking: builtin anti-tracking features
- Independent browser engine: not based on Blink
- Plugins: uBlock Origin, Cookies Autodelete, ClearURL, NoScript
🚨 Mozilla worked already with Facebook & Google.
Act #6: stop feeding them with your life!
Social Media is the way to know a person,
stalking is really common on social media.
Technology behind Social Media tries to keep you entertained,
which is really bad for your health and social life [1].
Act #6: stop feeding them with your life!
I used Facebook a lot and I still use Twitter, but only for work.
I finally removed my Facebook account last year.
Recently, I moved my Social Media to Mastodon
after Elon Musk tried to acquire Twitter [1].
Act #6: stop feeding them with your life!
Mastodon is a decentralized Social Media network
- Decentralized: hard to apply censorship
- Selfhosting: I'm in control
- Standardized protocols: multiple servers and clients exist
- Federated: access to PeerTube, PixelFed, etc.
I use a managed instance fossotodon.org
Act #7: stop using proprietary OSes
Proprietary operating systems cannot be trusted at all.
- Microsoft Windows: ads, location, diagnotics, usage
- Google's Android: ads, location, diagnotics, usage
- Apple's iOS/macOS: diagnostics, usage
Act #7: stop using proprietary OSes
Switched to a Linux-based OS which provides:
- Free as in Freedom: do what you want
- Open Source: code audit possible
- Free as in Beer: no licenses
Act #7: stop using proprietary OSes
Current setup
Act #7: stop using proprietary OSes
Future setup
Overview
Awareness
My 7 acts for privacy!
How to degoogle: let's get started!
Summary
How to degoogle: battle plan
- Effort: how far do you want to go?
- Threat level: Edward Snowden or not?
- Threats: list possible privacy threats
How to degoogle: find alternatives
Replace the identified threats by alternatives. Tool overviews:
How to degoogle: evaluate
It's not because they are friendly today, they are still tomorrow...
Re-evaluate your choices on a timely basis!
Using Open Source tools and standardized protocols
makes switching straight forward (no vendor lock-in)
Overview
Awareness
My acts for privacy!
How to degoogle: let's get started!
Summary
Summary: 3 rules of degoogling
- There's always an alternative to Big Tech if you want to come out your comfort zone
- Privacy-friendly technology of today may not be so friendly anymore in the future
- Standardized protocols and open source tools makes it easier to switch
