Digital Cleansing For Better Privacy
- Identifying products and services we use
- Finding/Offering alternatives
- Moving to alternatives and helping my family to move as well
I will make a list of services I use or used in the past but didn't delete my account. For each service, I will look for alternatives, move my data to alternatives or deploy an instance of alternative on my server. I will use the alternatives for a while and learn more about how to use them properly. This way I will be able to help my family have a smooth transition.
Here is my list. This list may be different for you, therefore you should make your own list.
This list may get longer as I remember services I subscribed to but didn't use in a while.
- Gmail
- Google Drive
- Google Photos
- Google Contacts
- Google Search
- WhatsApp (Voice/Video Call)
- Zoom
- Windows OS
- Stock Android ROM (due to embedded Google services)
- Mi account (because I used MIUI Android ROM)
- ...
- Note to self: Check archieved emails to find services you stopped using and request account deletion
Now I have a "list of service to opt-out from" to help me focus better. That being said, I started to de-google a while ago and replaced Gmail with Protonmail already. If you think Google is privacy friendly and no need to avoid Google services, here is why I decided to de-google. I will start with looking for alternatives to Google Drive.
If there is any other service you think I should stay away from, you can write to comment toot.
If you have written a blog post as an answer, mention that too.
If you think some of the services or softwares I mentioned here aren't that bad and I would be better of keep using them, please share why you think so. I want to keep an open mind and look at those services from your perspective too.