Cleanse

Day Twenty-One: Look Forward

A gold trophy
Congratulations! You did it! Now keep going! (Credit: PNGall.com)

Table of Contents

Wow, look what you've done!

You've changed your browser. You've identified where your data is, moved it to new alternatives, purged it from places you don't want to keep, and obfuscated yourself on services you want to keep. You have at least one, maybe more, secure email addresses, password managers, VPNs, and email maskers.

You have abandoned Google as your go-to suite, replacing them with alternatives. You now own your email, your contacts, your calendars, and your photos on a handy drive. 

You've connected meaningfully with people in your life away from the platforms' "social media" surveillance systems, even using secure messaging, and transitioning your collaborations onto alternative systems.

You are set up to shop untraceably. You even turned off the open mic in your living room and locked down your cell phone.

That was a lot of change for 21 days, so MEGA CONGRATULATIONS! GO YOU!

You have leveled up your privacy game. You have new tools and new skills.  You may even have discovered a newfound curiosity for some aspect of managing your digital life you couldn't have imagined before.

The tools and skills we have covered will serve you well, not because you have finished the work of opting out and can move on. This is a cat and mouse game. They will be nimble, and change. You must be nimble too, and ready to move.

You now have the tools and skills you need to be wary and attentive, to maintain control over your information, and to see the Internet differently moving forward. This awareness will serve you best in coming years.

This is a major accomplishment.  It is also a strong beginning to a life-long journey of repossession, reclaiming your digital life and footprint. After all, the only thing guaranteed in life is change -- so we can't get complacent.   Here is what to keep in mind as you continue your Opt Out journey beyond the #cybercleanse.

Locating More Alternatives

Take a look at your Data Roadmap now.  Chances are there is a lot you have crossed off the list, but there may be more that you didn't get to. Some of which, it's just a matter of time. But others it may be because we didn't cover a specific kind of software. 

How should you locate further alternatives? A search (on DuckDuckGo or another non-Googley search engine) can be helpful. Keep your ears to the ground for new entrants. Before you sign on to something new, read the privacy policies in detail (use the TL;DR service if applicable) and check Crunchbase for funding reports.

There are plenty of options out there! Here are some cool examples to check out that replace your current setup with more data-sovereign systems.

  • Plex is like a peer-to-peer Netflix, you can host your own movies and share video libraries with friends too
  • VLC player instead of iTunes, Quicktime, or iMovie
  • If you menstruate, get a data sovereign period tracker like drip. 
  • Ditch Slack or Discord for Element, Matrix, or Mattermost
  • Host meetings on Jitsi instead of Zoom
  • Leave Spotify for Nuclear or Navidrome
  • Replace YouTube with PeerTube or Loops

How to Stop Worrying and Love Open Source

As you enter the world of alternative tech, you're not just looking at alternative technologies, you'll also be looking at alternative organizations that build and govern those technologies too. Some are small companies looking to make a splash and get acquired. Others are old bulwarks that have been around since the 1990's churning out their one product.

You'll also find a lot of projects built outside of a corporate structure. Open source projects, Foundation-built tech, and civic tech systems are all examples. These may be publicly funded, privately funded, or not funded at all.

The results are usually posted online for anyone to use or download or subject to a small license fee (like, under $50) or a "DONATE" button to "buy the developers a coffee." Typically, they're free (F/OSS means free/open source systems).

Some of these are run by one person or by a small team; others (like many Linux systems) are built by hundreds of people collaborating in their spare time. They may have a complex governance structure or a very simple one. They often run a Discord server for people to join and chat about the project.

Do not fear these projects! These are technologies built by everyday people, outside of the constraints of delivering fantastical Return On Investment (ROI). They are usually friendly to newcomers, once you learn how they go about doing things. 

Open source means there is nothing proprietary about the software. It also typically means that more people can participcate, everyday, in helping to support, build, repair, and envision new technologies and new futures.

So do not be afraid. Open source is not just for highly technical people: it's for everyone. And there are some great tools out there that deserve your support and appreciation to help them to grow and meet the needs of data sovereign citizens the world over.

Some places to find cool open source projects that replace daily apps:

  • On Android, there's the F-Droid store, which lists a million different apps that are all free, many of which allow you to manage your own data. 
  • Replace your office software suite with LibreOffice instead, for free!
  • Try OpenSourceAlternatives.To to find new ideas for your favorite software: search by category and you'll be surprised at the quality of the options you can find.

One thing about these software projects is they do not have a fancy call-in phone number or tech support staff (or, increasingly, AI) that can fix your every problem. We are all, collectively, each other's Genius Bar!

If you have trouble with the system, you can search the Forums associated with the project, to see if someone else has had the same problem. If you can't find the solution, sign up for an account (using your new skills of course) and post something online.

You'll find most people are helpful and welcoming to newcomers.  The group that builds the software typically wants to know if you have found a software bug or a problem, so they can fix it. If you have technical chops, you can also help them out!

One reminder: these are people you're talking to, and mostly volunteers. So don't be mad, or threatening, or WRITE IN ALL CAPS, just be respectful and polite and see what wisdom the crowds can offer you.

Advanced Moves: the Digital Homestead

There may come a time, too, when you would like to start trying some of these home-managed systems instead. If so, hooray and welcome! You are not alone: you will work with and rely upon bold communities of others who are facing the same challenges. Personally, I find this stuff fun, exhilerating, and challenging in all the best ways.

As you consider (and install) these systems, make sure you check their INSTRUCTIONS page and follow it closely to set up your own system. They often also have a Discord server or a Forum online where you can post problems as you run into them, and a member of the community will help you out.

It's never been a better time for running your own stuff. Many community groups have built so many tools, and are so busy operating them and coming up with alternatives, that the overhead is way lower now than it was in 2012 when I started doing this stuff. Here are some ideas:

  • YUNoHost gives you a minimum-overhead way to run your own server and host lots of cool systems that you control yourself. (Sandstorm.io is similar, if not as expansive).
  • NextCloud is super powerful, you can host your own documents, shared docs, media files, calendars and so on.
  • If you aren't ready to run a server in your basement (I mean, also, who has time) you can also buy server time from Linode, Vultr, or Kamatera.
  • You might wish to run your own email server too. Note that the Big Tech platforms have, in the name of "security" (yeah right!) started to block domains they don't recognize or that don't have specific security patches installed: others have discussed this problem online, and it's an evolving issue.
  • You can set up a NAS (network area storage, like a local cloud) by following instructions like these

Fellow Travellers, Unite!

Many people think that opting out falsely proposes individual level solutions for political-level problems.  The better solution to the technical problems we are in, they say, is one of better regulation. We shouldn't heap these problems on everyday users. The lawyers and politicians should work to resolve these problems, and we must educate them on the importance of doing so.

Similar to the environmental movement, I don't want you to think that just because you recycle at home or you bought an electric car, you've done your part to fight climate change, such that overarching regulation, incentives, even the Paris agreement aren't necessary.

That said, opting out isn't an isolating exercise. In the process of opting out of toxic tools, hopefully you're opting in to better communities. Our technologies should bring us together in common cause, not tear us apart by extracting our data. 

Additionally, in this market system we inhabit, we have very few options other than to vote with our feet. An exit option democracy (if you don't like it, you should just leave) isn't actually a democracy. But the tech companies force us into a corner until we feel we can't leave.  They also build capital and influence over the regulatory process.

So don't be afraid to vote with your feet and use the voice you have. Pay attention to new software, new companies, and new legislative bills. Join others in supporting alternative systems. With your buy-in they can grow and become more accessible, user friendly, and more widely used.

You're not just taking steps toward securing your data. You're taking steps towards improving our tools, and joining a community clamoring for change. In this fight, you'll never walk alone.

Opting out is the beginning of a movement. We are buildling momentum among those who embrace and clamor for alternatives. We are learning to see and name the problems in the devices and systems we are given. And we are learning to find and support others that deserve our attention.

The goal is more alternatives, less market share for bad actors, and more political momentum among a bigger group of those who choose differently. Together we can better mobilize for change in software, monopolies, infrastructures, and regulation.

So go ahead! Return to the remains of your Data Roadmap with new purpose, new skills, and fresh ideas.

And consider this your official welcome to the community. We are taking the Internet's future into our own hands-- and I, for one, am glad you're with us.