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Time to start de-Appling

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Re: Time to start de-Appling

#201

Post by burningChrome »

mbirth wrote: post #182
bob1029 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My new high-privacy, high-control data management solution revolves around pen & paper. As far as I am aware, these implements have not yet been banned in the UK. I don't know why everything must be digital. If you don't put it on a computer, it's almost as if it doesn't exist. If you do this often enough, it is almost as if you don't exist.

In the latest Janus Cycle video he explained how he started carrying an IBM WorkPad c3 around to manage his contacts and appointments. I found that a great idea for people like me that struggle with deciphering their handwriting an hour later.

I've thought of going back to a palm pilot for the same thing. There are tons of Handspring and Palm Pilot Tungsten versions on ebay for under $40.

I believe the Palm T2 and T3 had bluetooth so would be interesting if you could connect the two to keep contacts and appointments off your smartphone. I'm seeing Handspring Treo 650's for under $100 as well.

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#202

Post by EA-3167 »

thw_9a83c wrote: post #29

From the article: > Otherwise, please make sure you de-Apple, de-Google, and de-American Stack yourself when you have time, clarity, and focus to do it. Start today. I don't understand the core of this advice. So if you're in the UK and do all the above, can you suddenly get similar E2EE cloud storage from a different provider without a UK government-mandated backdoor?

It seems like the real solution is de-UK'ing, a wise move for a number of reasons. Move to the continent, to Ireland, or the US (or Australia for that classic British expat experience), but leave the sinking ship. Ideally the time to leave was when the passport was still in the EU, but now is better than never.

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#203

Post by dan-robertson »

sargun wrote: post #193
ebbi wrote: post #157

Taking inspiration from the East India Company, Apple should colonize the UK and take over the government - the iGovernment, if you will. Citizens will regain their right to e2ee privacy, they will not have to deal with voting for mediocre politicians to lead them. Instead, Tim Cook will be their new leader, and every morning over the mandatory installation of HomePods in each home, citizens will be greeted with an e…

I have wondered why the likes of McKinsey, KPMG, and PWC do not put up candidates (don't even sponsor them, just say you're electing _well known consultancy_).

1. Why would McKinsey etc be interested in a well-functioning government? Best argument I have is that if the economy grows then government (and private) spending on consulting may grow.

2. Note that the consulting firms already managed to get the legislation they most cared about – creation of the LLP as a kind of entity – despite not having any candidates

3. If the government is too associated with a big consultancy then (a) they may be pressured out of giving them contracts (not good for McKinsey!) and (b) failures by that consultancy will be highlighted more than usual in the news (also not good!)

4. I mean plenty of people would go through the consultancy meat-grinder before becoming politicians. If you are training juniors to think similarly then that may carry over after they leave.

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#204

Post by celsoazevedo »

whstl wrote: post #162
surgical_fire wrote: post #109

De-appling is easy. I just don't have anything from them. Apart from the work laptop, but that is a problem for my employer, not me. De-googling however is extremely hard. I have been slowly chipping away at it, but there are things I just have no decent option to (such as Waze and Android Auto). Android itself is another problem. I have high hopes for a Graphene device.

De-Googling is also extremely easy, I haven't had a Google account in 10 years, I use uBlock to block the ads, DuckDuckGo for search and a Youtube app that downloads from it instead of using the website. Perhaps the only thing I use directly is Recaptcha. The bigger problem is doing both.

It's easy to use a different calendar, search engine, etc, but it's far from easy to use an Android device without Google Services. Can be done, but banking apps, contactless payments, etc, become painful or impossible.

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#205

Post by raincole »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #199
nickcw wrote: post #87

Very clever image and caption (right at the bottom of the page) > Header image by me: Alan Turing memorial, Manchester, where he reminds you why keeping data private can be a matter of life and death. The image shows a close up of a statue of Alan Turing, his hand holding an apple. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing#Death

The very Wikipedia page you link explains in great detail why, although we can never know for sure, it's actually unlikely that he committed suicide, and more likely that his death was an accident. The suicide story will probably never go away, because it's too good a story. It fits so neatly into popular culture.

I read that section word by word and I honestly don't think it "explains that it's actually unlikely that he committed suicide." The opinions are diverse at best.

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#206

Post by [deleted] »

thw_9a83c wrote: post #29

From the article: > Otherwise, please make sure you de-Apple, de-Google, and de-American Stack yourself when you have time, clarity, and focus to do it. Start today. I don't understand the core of this advice. So if you're in the UK and do all the above, can you suddenly get similar E2EE cloud storage from a different provider without a UK government-mandated backdoor?

[deleted]

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#207

Post by bink »

isodev wrote: post #132
thw_9a83c wrote: post #29

From the article: > Otherwise, please make sure you de-Apple, de-Google, and de-American Stack yourself when you have time, clarity, and focus to do it. Start today. I don't understand the core of this advice. So if you're in the UK and do all the above, can you suddenly get similar E2EE cloud storage from a different provider without a UK government-mandated backdoor?

Because no US corp can promise you true E2EE. Even an app like Signal - are you sure the version you're getting from the App Store is always the one with "unbreakable E2EE"?

With Signal they provide a toolkit you can use to verify that the checksum for your App Store download matches that of the public build or one that you compile yourself.

edit: This is apparently currently not working for Apple and MS builds.

https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/blob/main/reprod...

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#208

Post by celsoazevedo »

thw_9a83c wrote: post #29

From the article: > Otherwise, please make sure you de-Apple, de-Google, and de-American Stack yourself when you have time, clarity, and focus to do it. Start today. I don't understand the core of this advice. So if you're in the UK and do all the above, can you suddenly get similar E2EE cloud storage from a different provider without a UK government-mandated backdoor?

Probably easy to do with a Mac, but iOS is a different question. Way too restrictive if you don't use iCloud.

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#209

Post by raincole »

jcynix wrote: post #176
smsm42 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may think you're being sarcastic, but you are just stating a true fact here. For about 99.9% of this planet's population, it's not just hard, it's something they'd never ever know how to do and have no intention to ever learn. Like it or hate it, but that's what it is. And, for 99.9% of people who know how to do that, they'd still be too lazy to do it properly (hint: where do you keep secret.txt exactly? What hap…

>where do you keep secret.txt exactly? Hidden. Encrypted. And the passphrase is: at 5,21 which is the 5th line on page 21 of your favorite book. Which you have more than one copy of, because you like it that much. And you need copies to lend. Or you have the PDF from Gutenberg.org? And 5/21 might be the birthday of your first child, or your wedding day, or whatever? It might be a favorite quote, like "Those who would…

> And the passphrase is: at 5,21 which is the 5th line on page 21 of your favorite book

Yeah, it's one of those things that you'll forget in N years. That's exactly what prompted "where do you keep secret.txt" question.

Re: Time to start de-Appling

#210

Post by tammer »

Recent history of Apple vs. sovereign states is a real time vindication of Polanyi. Capital is always subordinate to the state (even if it proclaims to be the opposite).
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