DT Intro: As a compliment to our regular Tweetstorm feature, where we trawl the depths to bring you the best threads so you don't have to, we are now going to do the same with the (very) occasional Reddit feed! This one is about subjects close to our hearts...privacy and identity preservation.
My pregnancy story!
You may be wondering what that has to do with privacy. Trust me, it is closely related. I got pregnant 3 years ago and I was so excited. I was looking for all kinds of tips, advice, and products on Google. Yes, at that time I was not aware of the risk involved. I was going around subscribing to all the baby-related newsletters and even filling out Google Forms for companies related to baby products. A relative also bought me Google Home and I used it.
As a result, and thanks to Google and my irresponsibility, now they know my child's age, gender, name, birthday, and a long list of things that I wish they didn't know. I have unintentionally created a footprint of my child on Internet and I'm always receiving things like "It's ____ birthday, you have a 50% of in our store" "Get the best toys for ___"
But I've discovered some of those things I receive are not just for the newsletter I subscribed to, so investigating about this I realized I accepted some cookies that allow those companies to sell my data (including my email) to third parties.
I got more into privacy since I became a mother. I've never felt this way before but I saw my child unprotected and realized the danger of the Internet. And since then, I've also become more protective of my privacy. So if you are a mother/father to be or you know someone that is expecting a baby let them know that giving all the info about our children to google is not right. I completely understand the excitement, the fear, the doubts... but Google is not the solution. And you don't need Google. So please do not upload your children's pictures to Google, do it to secure cloud storage such as Internxt. Or do not use Gmail, use private emails such as Tutanota. Trust me there are hundreds of apps that would allow you to protect your privacy and security online so please do it.
What platforms do you use to protect your privacy? In case you have children, has your vision of privacy has changed since you became a parent?
You're the coolest mom I saw... Really, people don't even think this way now a days... You're really doing a great job diving into the details so you can safeguard everyone's future... And Kudos to you for sharing your story
level 1ParaplegicRacehorse · 2d
This doesn't solve your dilemma, but you really should send this story to your legislative representatives. Ask them to enact legislation which would prevent this or, at the very least, give you access to legal action.
Submit your story to newspapers and magazines. Especially parenting magazines since that's what landed you in this soup to begin with (to be fair, it's not what got you here, it's just what caused you to notice what's happening to everyone everywhere.)
Also, tell all your friends.
Now on to solutions.
In the sidebar of this subreddit are a list of reasonable alternatives for a variety of Google services. Some of them are very easy -- changing search engine, for example -- while other require more effort or discipline.
Also look at the sister subs (again, in the sidebar of this subreddit) for moving away from other privacy-invasive corporate data-silos.
Also, go the website of Electronic Frontier Foundation and read their surveillance self-defense page. And r/privacytools (this one is controversial and opinionated, but it is a reasonable place to start.)
level 2WaldforIsHereOp · 1d
Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. Yes! I've been into privacy since my child was born and I usually read this subreddit since it allows me to learn and discover new alternatives. And yes, I'm constantly talking to my friends about this since i don't want them to fell the same way, Once again ,thank you for all the tools and tips
level 1namelesscreature0 · 2d
Using encrypted communication apps is also very useful.
level 2WaldforIsHereOp · 2d
Yes I'm thinking about this as well. I've heard that Signal encrypts the chats but I have no contacts there since they are not worried about privacy :(
level 1reddi45678 · 2d
Privacyguides.org is a very good start
level 2WaldforIsHereOp · 2d
Thanks! Gonna check them out!
level 1Shybearsecurity · 2d
Before you go ham on all things privacy, i would advise you to take a breath, and pace yourself. It is ok to take your time and take small steps. Unfortunately, many privacy friendly solutions aren't exactly user friendly, and it is ok to let them lie for a while intil you are ready to pick them up.
This is especially relevant when people comment with "just use X" because they have been using it for a while and like X. Problem is, that in people's enthousiasm suggesting all kinds of apps and services, they neglect who you are, and what you need in your current situation.
Famous examples are people suggesting the use of tor, linux any number of VPN's, encryption and 2fa solutions.
This video is a good watch - the same points are addressed in a better way than i can right here in a reddit comment, and i recommend you watch it before you start changing a lot of things.
level 2WaldforIsHereOp · 1d
Yeah, I fell this. Especially when I wanted to become more private and started taking care of it I felt like everything was so difficult to use or only made for developers. That's why I like platforms such as Tutanota o Internxt Drive. And this is also the reason why I'm always asking about this type of thing. I feel that if some private platforms were more user-friendly more and more people would start to feel. But nowadays (I include myself sometime) we think that privacy and UX can't be together in the same sentence
level 1PietroSmusiSerata · 2d
But please don't become a cospirationist Karen, the distance between awareness and cospiracy is not so big
level 2WaldforIsHereOp · 1d
No, never a Karen hahaha. But I'm trying to do the things well since I feel everyone, but especially minors, are very unprotected when it comes to big corporation such as Google
level 1kurata_HVY · 1d
Just make sure whenever you teach your child about "not using the phone in specific ways" don't forget to explain them why, not only you gonna make your child feel respected ("just because" is not a real reason for anything) but also they're gonna be able to apply that knowledge on situations you might not know your child could get into, also remember, not every parent is as wary as you are becoming about the dangers of the internet, so your child might get in contact with children who have a phone-babysitter parent and remember, anything anyone streams on the internet could stay there forever because a stranger recorded it
level 1AwkwardDifficulty · 1d
The most basic thing to do at first is stop using Chrome and start using Firefox on pc as well as on Android/ios. This advice is universal to everyone.
Now as for other things i may not be able to give a proper answer and other comments have given many things as i can see.
level 1ROGguy08 · 2d · edited 2d
if you want to have 99 % of privacy use TOR, if 70% is good, use hardened firefox or brave as a browser, and duckduckgo or startpage as a search engine (startpage can load pages anonymically, throught a proxy)
i use brave, startpage, protonmail, signal.
ive not yet got a private map service, but ill get one.
i got into privacy when i thought that google timeline and ads are a bit too suspicious.
and remember to teach your child, not to think internet is google...
Ive switched from Startpage to public searx instances due to some advertising controversies and searx is open source
I also switched from brave to Ungoogled Chromium on desktop, and Fennec on mobile, due to the same reason
Also i reccomend using OSMAnd~ for maps, F-Droid for an app store, and Ubuntu instead of Windows
obviously any of what youre suggesting is better than google tho lol
level 2WaldforIsHereOp · 2d
Thanks!! I'm gonna look at it for sure it sound really interesting! And yes, i kind of grew up thinking Google was the only tool available and it is not the only one (lucky us)
1More posts from the degoogle community552Posted byu/l0gic_is_life2 days ago
The fall of YouTube has begun with the disabling of the dislike button. It's time to move on to alternatives.
Does anybody want to share their experience with different open-source and/or non google video hosting sites?
For the full thread and additional comments, please go to: https://www.reddit.com/r/degoogle/comments/qrm13c/my_pregnancy_story/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
