Escaping Google’s Tentacles: It’s Time to Consider Alternatives
It has been almost 15 months since I permanently deleted my Facebook account, and I am inching closer to permanently leaving Google as well.
I am leaving these platforms primarily as a result of their dangerous business model, contempt for transparency, undemocratic decision-making process, and hubris.
In an earlier article, I discussed how the advertisement business model has lead to the surveillance economy, which is hurting people and our democratic institutions. Additionally, the big tech corporations have kept their users in the dark about how they operate and deceived them about how they use their data and who they share it with. Furthermore, users have no mechanism through which they can influence the platforms they have come to rely on for meeting their basic digital needs. And finally, Facebook’s inability to appropriately respond to years of scandals shows the foolish pride and arrogance of big tech. As a result of the reality we’re confronted with as citizenry, it’s imperative that we take the initiative to reform our digital institutions.
Some platforms are easier than others to leave. For example, when I was leaving Facebook, I just deleted my account and continued with my life (Though I still use What’s App, which is owned by Facebook). Google’s tentacles, on the other hand, reach much further into our digital lives–Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, Drive, Chrome, Android, Maps, Photos, Calendar, Docs, and Translate, to name a few. (Alphabet Inc. owns Google.)
Many of the services offered by Google function as privately owned, public infrastructure (e.g., there are no feasible alternatives to YouTube, which is a powerful cultural ecosystem.) But despite their importance to our civil society, users are not their main concern, advertisers are. They offer their services by spying and collecting as much data on their users as they possibly can so that they can target them with ads with ever more accuracy; a matter that should be a source of concern for informed citizens and democratic states. In an interview with CNBC, Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt said:
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.”
In an earlier article, I defended the importance of digital privacy for a healthy democracy and explained why the “I have nothing to hide” argument cannot withstand rational criticism, because you have a lot to hide. And the fact that Google’s former CEO has such beliefs, at least in public, should be reason alone to be concerned about its ecosystem.
Though most of Google’s services are “free,” we pay for them with our data, a new form of capital is substantially more valuable than money. Projects such as Datavest allow users to invest their data for monthly returns. They argue that “in ten years there will be more people in the world investing their data than there are investing their money.” Why do we knowingly share our data with an entity whose contempt for privacy is public?
As a result of my concerns for my interests and those of our society, I have decided to escape Google’s tentacles to the extent possible, and I hope you’ll consider it too. It’s worth noting here that it’s a demanding task to completely leave the platform or to never use any Alphabet product, but we can pressure them by empowering alternatives which are experimenting with different architectures and business models.
Privacy-Preserving Google Alternatives to Consider
Over the last few years, I have experimented with tens of products and researched their policies and principles. The products I suggest are just some of the ones I have found to fit well with a vision of a democratic and free digital life.
I will not directly gain any benefits from any of the following recommendations. I hope by experimenting with these alternatives, you’ll realize that you don’t have to sacrifice your comfort to participate in a healthier digital world.
Search Engine
What Google is known for the most and the product that got them started is their Search Engine, Google Search.
Search engines should not show us biased search results based on our previous search history; this leads to the ‘echo-chamber’ effect. Additionally, they should not retain the data for targeting us with ads; this reduces our ability to choose our future actions freely. Both of which are actions Google actively conducts.
I have decided to switch to DuckDuckGo as my primary search engine. Though they generate revenue through advertising and affiliate revenue, they are committed to digital privacy, and they don’t collect or share personal information.
Email Provider
The second popular service that needs an alternative is Gmail. Though Google announced that it would stop analyzing the content of your emails for improving its targeting accuracy (after 13 years), it still can and does read your emails.
I have already made the transition to Protonmail. They are an overall amazing company, built on the principles of human rights and digital privacy. They provide end-to-end encryption and offer users complete ownership of their data. Protonmail stores all user data in European countries and thus does not fall under the jurisdiction of U.S. laws (e.g., The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act).
Web Browser
Though the Chrome browser is often cited as the most secure browser, it comes at a cost. Google uses Chrome to learn about your digital life and then monetizes that information.
I’d suggest switching to Firefox. It’s a browser built by Mozilla–one of the most ethical and pro-privacy major web companies in the world.
Furthermore, most browsers operate on Chromium, which is made by Google, this is bad for competition. (Microsoft’s Edge browser is one of the newest members of the Chromium family.) Mozilla Firefox is one of the only competitors to Google, and unlike Chrome, Firefox is open-source, so developers can see what’s under the hood.
Smartphone Operating System
After almost seven years in the Android ecosystem, I switched to iOS. Apple, unlike Google and Facebook, does not use the advertisement business model and is a strong defender of digital privacy and encryption rights.
Though Apple is by no means a perfect company, Tim Cook has defended encryption and user privacy in courts and Congress multiple times. In a public letter opposing FBI’s request to create a backdoor into their operating system, Tim Cook wrote:
“The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers — including tens of millions of American citizens — from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals.”
He continues:
“For years, cryptologists and national security experts have been warning against weakening encryption. Doing so would hurt only the well-meaning and law-abiding citizens who rely on companies like Apple to protect their data. Criminals and bad actors will still encrypt, using tools that are readily available to them.”
He concludes by stating:
“While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.”
I think Apple is one of the very few big tech companies that is doing the right thing. We should support them in their decision and encourage them to do more.
Video Sharing Platform
YouTube is where things start getting tricky, because similar to Facebook, its power is as a result of its network effect–much of the content on YouTube isn’t available elsewhere. The transition from YouTube will take time, but I suggest we start by telling our favorite content creators to consider alternative platforms such as DTube.
I believe the video-sharing ecosystem is ripe for change, and that change will likely come from the blockchain space. The growth of blockchain will allow content creators to own their content and directly benefit from its revenue, without any intermediaries.
I hope you enjoyed this article. I will leave you with a few lines from Google’s Privacy Policy:
“We use the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content — like giving you more relevant search results and ads.”
