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How I Fully Quit Google (And You Can, Too)

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Re: How I Fully Quit Google (And You Can, Too)

#32

I think switching to Firefox is the easiest of all. You are not logged in with your Google account all the time which I would think is a big deal. My problem would be YouTube. I spend way too much time there and none other site has half of the content.

Perhaps creating an account for Youtube only and/or browsing it inside a Firefox Multi-Account Container [1] would already go a long way. [1] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account...

You can browse the entire YouTube site and play videos without any cookies even enabled.

If you don't have cookies, there are no logins by default. I've been experimenting with this and almost all sites work fine without any cookies these days (as long as you don't need to log in).

Re: How I Fully Quit Google (And You Can, Too)

#33
post #15

I recently did the same thing. FastMail for email, Apple Maps for Google Maps (not as good as Google, but better than when it launched), DuckDuckGo for search, Firefox or Brave as my browser. I was not prepared for how long and sometimes convoluted it was to change my email address on every site/service. Some bafflingly did not allow me to change my email address. I use Microsoft OneDrive for photo storage but am loo…

> I was not prepared for how long and sometimes convoluted it was to change my email address on every site/service. I’ve made this recommendation before, but buy your own domain. It’s cheap, and will allow you to change your email hosting provider should Fastmail pivot their business from email to surveillance. It’s pretty easy to set up. Others have offered, and I’ll repeat it: if you need a hand getting started, I’…

I used to do this - it's nice but it does come with some downsides. Like paying for the domain and hosting in perpetuity, and having to (at least nominally) manage whatever system you use for email.

Still, the only 100% secure way to do it.

Re: How I Fully Quit Google (And You Can, Too)

#34
Every alternative I tried for Gsuite handling email for some domains ended up being less user friendly, more expensive, or both.

I love my iphone but Google Maps is better than Apple Maps in almost every way.

I could live with DuckDuckGo if I didn't mind being annoyed 1 out of every 4 searches but I do mind. I mind a lot.

Google's Nearline cloud storage is silly cheap and always works.

From a security standpoint I have a hard time using firefox when I know chrome exists.

In short, I've decided I'll just accept privacy is dead in exchange for not being slightly angry each time I use a computing device. YMMV.

Re: How I Fully Quit Google (And You Can, Too)

#35
post #15

I recently did the same thing. FastMail for email, Apple Maps for Google Maps (not as good as Google, but better than when it launched), DuckDuckGo for search, Firefox or Brave as my browser. I was not prepared for how long and sometimes convoluted it was to change my email address on every site/service. Some bafflingly did not allow me to change my email address. I use Microsoft OneDrive for photo storage but am loo…

I'm curious as to why you did that. I get people wanting to use less Google services, but why quit all together?

I’d say using less services only inconveniences you, where as at least quitting completely inconveniences Google as well because they have zero way to track you around.

Re: How I Fully Quit Google (And You Can, Too)

#37

I think switching to Firefox is the easiest of all. You are not logged in with your Google account all the time which I would think is a big deal. My problem would be YouTube. I spend way too much time there and none other site has half of the content.

I like to use youtube-dl to automatically download videos from channels I want to follow (subscription feed replacement) and use hooktube to watch YouTube videos without providing Google with data. I haven't found a problem with that till now except for discovering new content (hooktube isn't that good with that, I found), so for that I have a YouTube only account that is pretty much disconnected from me in everyway (even IP address wise through VPN) made with non-real info. I hope that gives a few ideas for media consumption without sacrificing privacy :)

PS: I cannot add links to youtube-dl and hooktube because I'm on my phone, I believe a quick search can provide them.

Re: How I Fully Quit Google (And You Can, Too)

#38
post #15

I recently did the same thing. FastMail for email, Apple Maps for Google Maps (not as good as Google, but better than when it launched), DuckDuckGo for search, Firefox or Brave as my browser. I was not prepared for how long and sometimes convoluted it was to change my email address on every site/service. Some bafflingly did not allow me to change my email address. I use Microsoft OneDrive for photo storage but am loo…

For photo storage, I personally use nextcloud for hot access and backup an encrypted copy of all my photos to Wasabi AWS S3 equivalent and Online.net's cold storage under the intensive class. I find it worth it to pay for backing up to those services since I take photos of almost everything and I would hate losing them.

Re: How I Fully Quit Google (And You Can, Too)

#39
Quote from TFA:

  (yes, I don’t use Facebook either)
The thing is, I don't find the same seething contempt that Facebook manages to evoke, when I use Google products. Google's stuff is legit, when push comes to shove.

Really it's that they are such a potent organization, capturing so much raw situational awareness that by way of monoculture alone, this represents an existential hazard of sorts. Even if they can dodge the monopoly bullet on paper, a rose by any other name...

By turns, comparing Google's products to what Facebook simply is, isn't even a contest. Facebook is this deformed abomination afflicting the internet in the worst ways possible.

Facebook is like thalidomide for ideas and cognitive capacity. When I browse content on Facebook, not only is there some sort of stifling claustrophobia to it all, but it's like the compromises made to present it within that awful, awful user interface seem to dim the wattage on even the most amazing things. The way people succumb to such a manipulative reality distortion field is truly disappointing.

The reason to fight Google is much more subtle than the reason to fight Facebook. At least with Google, they're producing things that work, things that don't deceptively hobble practical utility in confounding ways. Facebook is this underwhelming quicksand of unredeeming zombification.

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