For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a 23 year old software consultant working in downtown Portland, OR. I grew up in the generation that always knew the term “Google it” meant a simple internet search. Being a tech-literate teen, I became very fond of using some of the free software products that Google began to provide.
Not thinking about what the true cost was to using these “free” Google products and services (data privacy), I began submerging myself into the entire Google ecosystem: Android phones, Gmail, Chrome, Photos, Maps, Docs, Sheets, you get the idea. I’ve fallen in and out of the ecosystem a few times, as I had to at least give the Apple ecosystem a try, as well as Microsoft.
I now find myself using primarily Google services, especially on my fairly new Galaxy S8 Android smartphone. And to be 100% honest, I really like what Google has to offer. However, recently I’ve been having this unsettling feeling, where I didn’t know what I would do if Google were to just disappear tomorrow. My reliance on a single company freaked me out a little. That unsettling feeling stemmed from three recent events that occurred, and made me want to try out going as Google-free as possible for the indefinite future.
- Google fires James Damore, a Software Engineer that wrote a manifesto that did not fit their agenda, in yet another display of their “tolerance” to views that don’t match theirs.
- Watched the episode of Parks & Recreation where a tech company, Gryzzl (characterized as a similar company to Google) rolls out free wifi and additional gifts via drones to people living in Pawnee, Indiana, in exchange to data mine the crap out of them.
- Began working on a project at my job that includes pulling in ad information for a client, to be reported on. Many of these companies that provide ads, collect A TON of data about engagements, impressions, clicks on the ads, etc.
These three events all occurred within 2 days, which led me to researching different ways that I could better combat the war on my privacy in a world where our data is given to anyone and everyone who asks nice enough. I ran into a series of articles by a man named Bryan Lunduke. He talked about how he wanted to try removing himself from the Google ecosystem that he became 99% reliant on for his daily tech usage.
I’m going to take a similar approach that he did to replace the Google products that he became so reliant on a daily basis. I have several goals that I wish to achieve by the end of the month (08.31.2017):
- Repeal and replace as many Google products and services that I currently use as I can, without purchasing any additional hardware (I foresee the Android phone as the biggest challenge)
- Try and keep my monthly cost of new tools under $10
- If possible, use tools that are open source
- Learn how to write & maintain a blog (this is my first ever post, woo!)
- Provide readers with an understanding of what options are out there, if they are interested in a transition to an Google-free world
I look forward to giving you guys an update on my first task: Replacing Chrome and Google Search, on all the devices I use on a daily basis.
