Mastodon Migration

So, this surveillance capitalism thing is totally out of hand. Today @protonmail had a great explainer (https://mastodon.social/@protonmail/111165171600485248) on the mind bending evil Google is up to with it's new "privacy features". But pretty much every tech company is now in the business of profiling you and monetizing your tidbits.

What can you do? A lot as it turns out, but if you just want ONE EASY THING that you can do today, SWITCH TO FIREFOX (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/) and make DuckDuckGo your default search engine.

Download the fastest Firefox ever

Faster page loading, less memory usage and packed with features, the new Firefox is here.

Mozilla
Oct 2, 2023 at 9:44pmWeb
Show threadMastodon MigrationOct 2, 2023
@protonmail Below, you will probably see recommendations for other great things you can do to #DumpGoogle. It's a big topic and can get a little overwhelming, but like anything once you get into it is is not that hard. The purpose of this post is to suggest one simple thing you can do today. But by all means, look into what else you can do; alternative email, cloud storage, other browsers, VPNs, password managers. But today, you can switch browsers... give it a shot.
Show threadTony, Pretty MuchOct 3, 2023
@protonmail @mastodonmigration Thanks for this.
Show threadinsertOct 2, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail why not selfhost a search engine with SearXNG
GitHub - searxng/searxng: SearXNG is a free internet metasearch engine which aggregates results from various search services and databases. Users are neither tracked nor profiled.

SearXNG is a free internet metasearch engine which aggregates results from various search services and databases. Users are neither tracked nor profiled. - searxng/searxng

GitHub
Show threadpeter kleiweg šŸ‡ŖšŸ‡ŗOct 2, 2023
@insert @mastodonmigration @protonmail
Why not selfhost a search engine? I am not going to index the entire web with my Raspberry Pi! That's why.
Show threadinsertOct 2, 2023
@pebbe @mastodonmigration @protonmail fair point, I believe it doesnā€™t do that though, instead combing the results of multiple search engines while preserving privacy. Not exactly sure how it works however
Show threadThe MaryEllenCarterOct 2, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail What about Safari? The combination of Reader View (invaluable for us Olds, as websites created by Millennials and Gen Z's often have elegant but very hard to read fonts) and blocking external trackers is great. But I don't know how it compares for privacy, i.e., tracking its own users itself.
Show threadAleggraOct 2, 2023

@mastodonmigration @protonmail

Done long ago. Thereā€™s a special place in hell for Google.

Show threadMastodon MigrationOct 2, 2023
@Aleggra @protonmail Have to agree. With the type of power they have comes great responsibility. It seems that they have become entirely corrupted.
Show threadJames ThompsonOct 2, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail Ecosia?
Show threadJack Yan (ē”„ēˆµę©)Oct 3, 2023
@FerritinJim @mastodonmigration @protonmail DDG and Ecosia are Bing reskins, and I suspect some personal data go to Microsoft. DidnŹ¼t the DDG browser leak to Microsoft? I just canŹ¼t trust them any more.
I switched to @Mojeek last year after 11 years, 11 months of having DDG as my default.
Show threadKabbawayOct 3, 2023
@jackyan @FerritinJim @mastodonmigration @protonmail @Mojeek if anyone could make sense of the new #Ecosia privacy policy thatā€™d be great, I feel iffy about it but not sure if Iā€™m interpreting it right ~ https://www.ecosia.org/privacy
Ecosia - the search engine that plants trees

Ecosia uses 100% of its profits for the planet and produces enough renewable energy to power all searches twice over.

Show threadJack Yan (ē”„ēˆµę©)Oct 3, 2023
@Kabbaway @FerritinJim @mastodonmigration @protonmail @Mojeek You are right to be suspicious. The short version is Ecosia will give Google and Microsoft your IP address and search terms. I believe thatŹ¼s enough for them to build up your profile and link it to whatever data they already hold on you.
Show threadmjc0961Oct 3, 2023

@mastodonmigration Friendly reminder that stock Firefox is 100% selling you out to Google because Google is funding them. You need to take a little extra time to fix that if you actually want to protect your privacy from Google.

Firefox is NOT private. Here's how to fix it. (Firefox Hardening) https://youtu.be/Fr8UFJzpNls

Firefox is NOT private. Here's how to fix it. (Firefox Hardening)

YouTube
Show threadArt HunterOct 3, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail
And they really, really want you to turn on your viewing history. This is the screen you get if you go to YouTube and your watch history is off ...
Show threadArt HunterOct 3, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail
There are a lot of alternatives to Google products, and I use several. But what can we do when the worst surveillance cap company there is joins the fediverse? The fediverse was the alternative to companies like this. Is there currently an alternative to the fediverse?
Show threadNetuxOct 3, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail
I'm more of a use @Vivaldi and use @StartpageSearch guy, but both are good options.
Show threadWilliam HamiltonOct 3, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail
Switching the search engine is easy-peasy on #Safari, too:
Show threadBG McKay (Brian) šŸ‡ØšŸ‡¦Oct 3, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail Iā€™ve done both of these in the last month
Show threadSlayerranger/CrackamphetamineOct 3, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail The bar said they needed to scan my ID to track me. I love them because they are honest šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚. But nah, fuck surveillance capitalism.
Show threadRobert ClarkOct 3, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail Iā€™ve seen a lot of suggestions for DDG as a Google alternative and I even made it my default but I had to revert because I couldnā€™t find things near as quickly. I guess I need to try #kagi next, hopefully I can get a feel for if itā€™ll suit my needs within the free tier. Also thereā€™s really no good alternative to YouTube which is just another Google product.
Show threadJuan Carlos CammaertOct 3, 2023
@mgiraldo A Safari o Brave no vale?
Show thread@mgiraldo has movedOct 3, 2023
@camars safari. brave estĆ” metido en crypto y ademĆ”s bloquea solo los ads en los que brave no tiene participaciĆ³n
Show threadJuan Carlos CammaertOct 4, 2023
@mgiraldo Got it šŸ‘
Show threadMatthew KayOct 3, 2023
@mastodonmigration @protonmail #DuckDuckGo search is junk. Iā€™m going to try kagi . I donā€™t mind paying for nice things. I also recommend #Fastmail . #VivaldiOniOS seems okay.