Edit: if the above Invidious link doesn’t work, here’s the YouTube link.
*Let me start by trying to de-demonize or demystify the word and concept of “fighting” for something. If I have the will and means to take up arms and weapons against an aggressor that plots to take away my freedom, I shall gather an army and vanquish my oppressors by force. If a doctor tells me that my only chance of surviving an affliction is by laying absolutely still in bed and doing nothing, I will do just that. There is no meaningless magnitude or amplitude, quantity or quality, or any other measurement, to a person’s fight for a cause that they believe in.
With that out of the way, I’ll go first.
Have been doing of late\ I have been trying to spread the word on the privacy implications of “smart glasses”/Raybans by e-mail to newspapers, restaurants, public installations (libraries, pools, schools, municipal administrations, etc), to county and government.
Obstacles put in place by government\ A few years back, police gained legal right to wiretap and to frisk without a warrant. The prison and parole industry gained virtually limitless access to both convicted and no yet convicted people’s biometric data (only fingerprints, for now) if available in police records for any reason. SIM cards can no longer be obtained, regardless of the type, without supplying your government issued personal identification number. Private pro profit companies can evade GDPR compliance by registering applying for such an exemption, for instance, in order to supply online phone number, address, date of birth, financial information and criminal records to the general public.


I agree. I usually share certain concerns/issues sprinkled in with “e-mail blasts” at work regarding phishing, spam, how to avoid falling for scams, or protect yourself online, etc. I can’t go too deep, but I have had a few people reply asking for help on maybe a new phone, making sure it’s secured/safe.
I just started a small blog that I write, so I can start to share links without ads, paywalls, popups, etc. It’s VERY basic and empty right now, but I plan on adding content over time. I want a balance of easily implemented security steps while also still allowing friends/family/coworkers to use social media and all the stuff they’re used to, while eventually cutting back. Too tinfoil hat and they’ll ignore it haha.
Sweet! Whenever you feel ready, please do share! At my workplace, I am kind of known as “the tech guy”, but unfortunately not in a privacy oriented way… Only, “can you please set up my phone? I wanna Tiktok🥹🥹🥹”…
I mean, you can certainly check it out. It’s live, but only a few posts so far. I’m sort of posting anything that I feel is worth talking about, so it gets political, techy, tinfoil hat, nerd, etc. Or, at least when I get to post more.
Let me know your thoughts on if it’s good, easy to follow, too long, or sounds complicated
https://unitedwith.me/how-to-degoogle-your-life-regardless-of-your-technical-prowess/
Thank you so much for your contribution!!!
A few considerations\ Edit: I’d do some disambiguation on the title, because “degoogling” is in itself not a commonly known word. Perhaps changing it to “online hygiene”, “digital privacy” or the likes and then defining a part of it as moving away from Big Tech, which in certain communities is referred to as “degoogling”, Google being one of the biggest of these Big Tech.
I appreciate the feedback!!
A lot of good points and I will apply the tweaks. Funny you mention Codeberg because just shortly after the article I had heard of it. I don’t do Dev stuff so I’m unfamiliar, but as I wanted to clone repos and make a sort of safe haven listfor good digital apps, I found Forgejo. I looked into hosting my own, but found Codeberg then too after isaw Gitea wasn’t really as good and private as I hoped.
So, as I share with friends and family, I’ve got self-hosted URLs but also Codeberg on projects I’d like to contribute to.
I do also want to make a follow up to that with a deeper dive, should anyone care 😅. I think people are starting to realize just how crazy the rabbit hole goes, and it truly does feel Matrix-ish where the “machines” are in control as we live out our lives in this dream world… They control so much, and we cut their power by not using them. It’s pretty freeing, honestly.