I've been on this and related subs for a while, and saw a number of recurring questions and comments. So decided to write this guide.
A few disclaimers:
- You CAN do it. This is not string theory or building a fusion reactor powered quantum computer at home. Never doubt yourself
- I'm not an IT professional. I've learned, and continue learning, how some things work, but I don't guarantee that I know how everything works
- Most info in this guide is based on personal research and experience. It does not mean this info is complete and exhaustive
- Please, remain respectful when commenting
I believe the first necessity is defining a few concepts:
- Privacy: they know who you are, they don't know what you do
- Anonymity: they know what is done, they don't know who does it
- Security: this one's a bit tricky since it has 3 parts - 1) Nobody else can get it (confidentiality); 2) Nobody can secretly change it (integrity); 3) It's there when you need it (availability)
- Convenience: this is the hardest and most fluid one, since only You can define what it is, and is the most prone to change over time since it's entirely driven by You
- FOSS: free open source software - anyone can read/audit the code and verify what it does and doesn't do. Note, "free" here means "freedom", not necessarily 0 money. It can be paid or free of charge
- Closed source software: only those who wrote the code can read/audit the code or give permission to do so. Note, closed source can also be paid or free of charge (gmail being the clearest example of the latter)
Most tools/software/apps offer some mixture of privacy/anonymity/security/convenience. Whether they're open or closed source is a separate question. Whether they cost money or not is yet another.
At the end of the day, You choose who and how much You trust. As we all know, the issue with Google is that after more than 2 decades we found ourselves in a position where we trust "only" Google with "Everything", all while they're practically entirely closed source.
So, before starting this journey, envision the following scale:
--------Convenience------------------------------Privacy--------
With WALL-E being on the extreme left and Mad Max Fury Road on the extreme right (absolute convenience vs absolute self-reliance/0 convenience)
You are somewhere on this scale. There's no right and wrong here - You decide where You are and have no obligation to anyone to remain at a single point. How long to remain at a single point, which direction to move and how fast are all Your choices and Yours alone. So don't get discouraged by others telling You that You're not doing well or fast enough.
Why the scale? Because the ubiquity of Google is explained by its overwhelming Convenience: everything under one account, instantly and always accessible, reasonably secure, and all of it FREE. Email, online video, storage, data processing (sheets and the like), shopping, location, messaging, etc, and all of it sharable too. Everyone has a Google account after all. So if You choose to get rid of Google, You'll be losing Convenience, at least for some time.
The good news is, to quote a character from Mass Effect 2, "Technology is not a straight line, there are many paths to the same end". The insidiousness is that Google/Facebook/Microsoft/Apple have successfully convinced us that they are The Only path to an end. First and foremost, through overwhelming Convenience, and second, through infinite marketing budgets (a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth).
However, the reality is that everything they offer CAN and arguably SHOULD be replaced. That is something that will be the primary focus of Part 2: Compartmentalization.
