Something to aspire to
Discussion
It’s easier than you think
If it was easy we all would have done it. Define easy though. What is easy? Because all I hear is time consuming and tedious. Loss of convenience. Likely cost.
Same deal uncoupling from all the shitshow conglomerate homogeneous crap… it takes work. It’s a PITA.
The nice thing about Google is that your account acts like an umbrella account. You don’t have to hunt down every google service. You can de-google straight from them. The messiness comes from using/not using google to sign in to other services, this takes some time to work through if your email login across the board is google. There’s a 3rd party sign in page on google security and privacy settings that shows some of the services with access to your account.
Once you’re fully removed, services like Cloaked or MySudo will help keep accounts unique and identifiable should issues arise. You can also change all the accounts you can think of now and as the others start to pop up over time you can update accounts as you go.
I guess for some it’s easy. Maybe not everyone who signs in multiple ways. But it’s a very important step toward protecting your online privacy and presence. Most don’t start or delay perpetually because the task seems too demanding or the perceived risk doesn’t outweigh the reward.
How many times has your personal info been leaked in the last 5 years?
How many of those had a Gmail account in the leaked data?
If your number is more than 0, you should de-google now.
This is one aspect of it. How can I collab on Docs and Sheets with others? Shared drives… I know when it’s free I’m the product. However, most of us have been hornswaggled and grandfathered into where we are today. The only way out will take time, tedious effort, and money. In my free time…
There is a convenience factor in being able to use the services offered, especially if others are already on those platforms. I think this is where FOSS has an opportunity to grow in adoption. Alternatively you could create a new google account with little to no personal information given and only use it for specific purposes (i.e. collaborating) just a thought.
There’s always a trade off between the level of privacy you want/need and the convenience. Finding the balance and an approach that works for you is the harder part. Cloaked and MySudo take some of that burden off your shoulders but my issue is that you are still relying on someone else to help protect you.
I’m down to Gmail and YouTube. I can spend half a day getting rid of Gmail. YouTube, that’s a lot tougher. There is no service that that is comparable.
I think I may slowly switch from Gmail to Proton, using a paid plan. I find YouTube unwatchable now without paying $80/mo to get rid of ads, IF paying that amount even does get rid of ads. The ads are disruptive and I swear they are getting more obnoxious.