Big Tech has a huge influence on our daily lives. However, we take a lot for granted, and the ease of use and comfort of using certain big tech tools comes at a price - the privacy of our data.

Certain browsers, programs and applications use far too much of our personal data, often without us knowing it, or considering it when we press "I accept" in the terms and conditions.

The term "deGoogling" is used when we take a step back and decide to use other applications, browsers, etc. that take privacy seriously, and do not share, expose or sell our private data.

What have I done to come away from big tech?

The more I looked into this, the more I realised that there were solid alternatives to systems that knew what I was looking at, what I was searching, where I was, what applications I was using, etc.

I started to research coming away from big tech, and the best approach I came up with was: slowly but surely.

We've all read the quotation: "If you’re getting something for free, you are the product ".

I started by doing a high-level audit of which products, applications, services etc. I was using, and on what platforms:

• Windows
• Linux
• MacOS
• Google
• WhatsApp

I then started to look at alternative providers who guarantee more privacy and less tracking. My final choices may not all be European in terms of full data sovereignty, but I am happier using them. 

Where to look for alternatives?

Recent geopolitical events have made people look more closely at where their cloud data is being stored, and how governments could use this data. This led me to look more at non-US providers.

There are many sites that provide information on non-US providers. Take a look at https://european-tech.com/ and choose a category to see some popular alternatives.

Starting my deGoogling journey: email

One provider I was interested in at an early stage was Proton. They offer a wide range of services and pricing tiers. I decided to try their free tiers of each product to see how far I got before I hit the famous "you need to upgrade to a paid plan to use this feature".

The more I used their mail service, the more I got interested, and finally chose the Mail Plus plan. It gave me 15 GB of mail and file storage. I then migrated my mail from a US provider over to Proton. The plan also allowed me to hook up my custom domain and remove my domain mail from a US provider (something I had been wanting to do for years). 

I also started using Proton's free products to see how they matched against my existing ones:

• Proton Pass
• Proton VPN
• Proton Calendar

My renewal comes up in a month. I'm currently assessing which plan and which products give me the best value. I will be renewing with Proton, I just need to decide which pricing tier gives me the best range of functionality at the best price.

Unfortunately, I have come across two issues which mean my calendar is not fully on Proton:

• inability to manage events when not connected to Internet (offline)
• Inability to search events on iOS.

These may get fixed soon, but until then, I will not be fully moving my calendaring over to Proton. 

PC Operating systems

I have been using Linux in a very exploratory sense for several years. Initially, I used it as a way to breathe life into pretty old laptops that ran Windows sluggishly, but on which a lower-spec version of Linux ran really well. This saved the laptop from recycling, and delayed me having to purchase new hardware.

I tried dual-boot, and VMs, but I was not happy with performance until I completely reformatted the disk and put only Linux on a laptop. This then led me to look for cross-platform hosting and cloud solutions (more on that later). 

Eventually, I settled for Linux Lite for very old laptops and Lubuntu / Mint on more recent kit. 

I do have a VM on one of my Linux laptops with a Windows 10 on it, but I am not using it. The need for something that only runs on Windows is surfacing less and less.

Mobile Operating systems

Ultimately, I would like to come off iOS.

I am looking at options to move to an alternate mobile OS but this is costly and not easy.

I have looked at Murena and /e/, as well as Volla and Apostrophy. Right now, I don't have >£500 to experiment.

I'm hardening my apps and usage inside of iOS. It's not perfect but it's a much lower cost. I'll worry about this next time i have to replace my mobile.

I had a very disappointing experience with FairPhone. I bought the FP4, and was very happy with it as a phone. Unfortunately it took about 18 months for FP to release Android 15, so I ended up trading it in. They have since released A15 to that model of FairPhone. 

For me, there are still some unanswered questions about moving to an alternate OS and app store like F-Droid, mainly around some apps that will not function, such as Banking Apps. This is a work in progress, and a slow one. It might just be easier to buy a new phone with Murena pre-installed when the time comes.

Cloud storage

Recently, I have set up the free-tier storage plans with pCloud, Shadow Drive, Nextcloud and Proton Drive. I do not need huge amounts of cloud storage so the main free packages are enough for me to store key files I need to be accessible, and the rest is stored on an encrypted offline hard drive. I can now discontinue my paid subscription to my US-based cloud service.

One key functionality for me was cross-platform sync clients. From those above, I have set up the sync on Linux with pCloud, Nextcloud and Shadow Drive but unfortunately, there is no Linux client for Proton Drive and no easy way to set up a sync. I see rclone provides a mechanism and I might look into this one day, or maybe Proton will produce a Linux client for Proton Drive as they have for email.

Messaging