Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#1

Post by mwinatschek » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 9:16 AM UTC

I'm from Germany and currently rely on macOS and iOS, with all my personal data stored in iCloud. Recent political tensions have made me question what might happen in the event of a military conflict between the US and Europe. Could Apple be forced to shut down its services in Europe? What would happen to my devices, operating systems, and stored data in such a scenario?

Are there steps I can take now to prepare for this possibility? Alternatives like Windows and Android are also American-based, and even Linux has strong ties to the US. What options do I have to ensure access to my devices and data during such an event?

I’d appreciate any advice or strategies for preparing for this kind of situation.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#2

Post by yawpitch » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 9:45 AM UTC

If you’re in Europe when a war kicks off between what used to be the USA and will soon not be Europe, you (and humanity) have bigger problems than what happened to your digital corpse.

http://collapseos.org/ https://duskos.org/

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#3

Post by mwinatschek » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 10:00 AM UTC

yawpitch wrote: post #2

If you’re in Europe when a war kicks off between what used to be the USA and will soon not be Europe, you (and humanity) have bigger problems than what happened to your digital corpse. http://collapseos.org/ https://duskos.org/

It’s fascinating to see people developing operating systems for a post-apocalyptic world. I’m not that pessimistic - yet. I just don’t want to wake up one day to some random pop-up saying all my data and software are gone because I trusted companies one the wrong side of the globe for too long.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#4

Post by prophoto » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 10:03 AM UTC

How about going for an independent cloud storage like Dropbox, they are not affiliated to any OS or Windows platforms

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#5

Post by mwinatschek » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 10:11 AM UTC

prophoto wrote: post #4

How about going for an independent cloud storage like Dropbox, they are not affiliated to any OS or Windows platforms

Dropbox is based in San Francisco - and also needs some kind of operating system to be accessed.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#6

Post by yawpitch » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 11:14 AM UTC

mwinatschek wrote: post #3

yawpitch wrote: post #2

If you’re in Europe when a war kicks off between what used to be the USA and will soon not be Europe, you (and humanity) have bigger problems than what happened to your digital corpse. http://collapseos.org/ https://duskos.org/

It’s fascinating to see people developing operating systems for a post-apocalyptic world. I’m not that pessimistic - yet. I just don’t want to wake up one day to some random pop-up saying all my data and software are gone because I trusted companies one the wrong side of the globe for too long.

I would personally say that the time delay between that pop-up displaying and you needing to have already been that pessimistic will be a matter of nanoseconds.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#7

Post by beardyw » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 11:30 AM UTC

Keep local copies of your data as well. I use USB drives.

So far every service I use has a way to download my data. I have been backing them up 4 times a year for several years now. Obviously big stuff which won't change needs to be handled differently to active stuff.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#8

Post by not_your_vase » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 12:00 PM UTC

Alternative solution: move to the US. They will need emigrants anyway when their people will be busy in the Greenland-, Canadian-, Panaman- and EU-wars :)

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#9

Post by mwinatschek » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 12:14 PM UTC

beardyw wrote: post #7

Keep local copies of your data as well. I use USB drives. So far every service I use has a way to download my data. I have been backing them up 4 times a year for several years now. Obviously big stuff which won't change needs to be handled differently to active stuff.

I've backed up my personal files. But they lie on a with macOS encrypted and APFS formatted hard drive. So even if I have backups I have to make sure that they are encrypted but also readable by all operating systems...

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare my digital life for geopolitical disruptions?

#10

Post by mwinatschek » Thu, Feb 20, 2025, 12:15 PM UTC

yawpitch wrote: post #6

mwinatschek wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s fascinating to see people developing operating systems for a post-apocalyptic world. I’m not that pessimistic - yet. I just don’t want to wake up one day to some random pop-up saying all my data and software are gone because I trusted companies one the wrong side of the globe for too long.

I would personally say that the time delay between that pop-up displaying and you needing to have already been that pessimistic will be a matter of nanoseconds.

Yeah, but there are scenarios between no war and a nuclear war - and I want to be at least somehow prepared for those.