Mauro Meden

US and big tech companies? No thanks!

WHY

  1. Ethics: choose options that align more with your values, or that simply aren't involved in actively causing harm to others.
  2. Privacy: protect yourself and others against data mining, surveillance, and human rights abuses.
  3. Lock-in: big tech often tries to make their products and services incompatible with software developed by others, effectively holding users hostage by making it extremely hard, if not impossible, for them to leave.
  4. Workers rights: fight against unfair and damaging practices like over hiring and laying off workers to reduce costs and boost stock prices.
  5. Digital sovereignty: US companies own critical infrastructure in other countries, posing a risk especially in a time when their government has been acting with hostility towards the rest of the world, allies included.
  6. Enshittification: stop paying big tech companies that engage in the practice of slowly degrading the quality of the services offered, while constantly increasing prices.
  7. AI: defend your personal and professional data from being used to train Large Language Models (LLMs) and enrich companies and individuals profiting off of them while selling the myth of all-knowing Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) chatbots and the unreachable dream of creating Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).

HOW

This is not an easy task! It requires time and in some cases technical expertise. Here is a guide that can help you get started.

  1. Make a list of software you use:
    • On your computer (e.g. MS Office)
    • On your smartphone and other devices (e.g. Instagram and other apps)
    • Online tools (e.g. Google, Gmail and Google Drive)
    • Social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter/X)
  2. Identify the parent company making the software.
  3. Verify whether you want to support and finance that company.
  4. Starting from your initial list, make a new list of software/services that you want to replace based on your findings (or make updates directly on the original list).
  5. Look for alternatives: this is probably the trickiest part, so keep reading below for more details.

Here is a small example of how you can structure your list:

Device Software Company *WMM Alternatives
Laptop OneDrive OneDrive No Sync
KDrive
Nextcloud

*WMM (Worth My Money): Indicates whether you want to keep giving them money or not.

Finding alternatives

Finding alternatives to replace the software and tools that you are using is not an easy task. It requires time, careful consideration, and isn't guaranteed to work right away. You often need to test different options and choose the one that works best for you. In many cases it's not just about simply finding a different tool that does the same thing as the old one: it requires taking agency over your digital experience.

Since I am in the middle of this process myself, I haven't finished finding a final solution that works for me. The only thing I can share is a work-in-progress that I will keep updated as much as I can: Alternatives to US and big tech companies

If you want to talk about this, all comments are welcome. You can get in touch with me through the contacts page.

Sources:

  1. axbom.com - Big Trek from Big Tech
  2. Getting off US tech: a guide - by Paris Marx - Disconnect
  3. "I want to avoid Big Tech companies" - Community Wiki - Privacy Guides Community
  4. US Big Tech Products Should Be Avoided. Learn Why And Check Out Some Good Alternatives.
  5. The Privacy Problem with Big Tech Companies - Identity