Alternatives to Google, Facebook and reclaiming privacy.

Pby

I was asked to post this information to various places around the web for the privacy and security aspects. I’m finally posting it to a blog that I can easily keep up to date allowing everything else a place to link to.

My use of alternative software & services started when I stopped using as many Google products & services as I could over ten years ago.

Now between the actions of various governments, their officials, the EU, Google, Twitter, & Facebook over the last two years we now know who can’t be trusted. Especially leading up to the U.S. 2016 election.

FYI, just to be clear hosting data outside the US will not protect it from the NSA. Like they’re foreign counterparts these groups go after everything on a global scale.

So if you own your own router when was the last time you updated it? ISP routers are nice & convenient but they have limited security. Buying your own or better yet building your own network firewall are far more secure options.

Facebook and Google track everything we do. The Facebook apps & Chrome shouldn’t be running on your systems & devices. Many of Chrome’s extensions also track you. If you must use Facebook then consider having a browser installed just for Facebook use.

Use Revo’s free option to uninstall Chrome and any other spying software. Firefox is barely any better as the company is full of SJWs. Meanwhile, the Opera browser was quietly bought out by the Chinese, so if you use Opera do not use their built-in password manager.

At the time when I decided I didn’t want Google or my ISP’s email option that left Hotmail as the only service with comparable features to Google. So I used Microsoft/Hotmail for everything standard and Hushmail for stuff I wanted to keep private. Now I still use Microsoft but I use Gpg4win to encrypt emails on my system before sending them out and Telegram for private communication.

At the time of writing this Microsoft has been agnostic, not interfering with auto complete in their browser or their searches. So, for the time being, I will have some of their services listed.

So here is my big list of alternatives. If anyone has more suggestions hit me with a reply.

Email:

Encrypted Messenger Software:

Browsers:

Mobile Browsers:

Password Managers:

Two-Factor Authentication:

Alernate DNS:

First, do not use Google’s DNS, it just gives them another means to track you. Second Open DNS is now owned by Cisco and they do censor.

Search Engines:

Youtube Alternatives:

Note: If you’re a serious content creator than I suggest mirroring your channel on several of these:

Mobile OS Alternatives:

OS Alternatives:

Social Media alternatives:

VPN/Tunneling Software:

Alternate/Developing web technology:

Miscellaneous: