Everybody's bitch moaning and complaining about "they're taking away our privacy" while still using Google Chrome. Especially my EU and UK bros.
It is VERY EASY to start taking your privacy back. There's no perfect solution, but any effort will put you in the top 10%. No tech savvy needed.
Here's a privacy tech stack that anyone can set up in 1 day:
1. Browser: BRAVE
Privacy out of the box. Chromium based (works like chrome). Blocks all ads by default INCLUDING YOUTUBE ADS. Brave Search collects very little user data (if any) and is getting good.
2. VPN: PROTON, MULLVAD
Basically any VPN that doesn't retain user logs, allows payment in Bitcoin or cash (Mullvad) is a good start. Never use free VPNs because you are the product. Read reviews from tech savvy people on Nostr or X before picking. Nothing is perfect, unless you set up your own VPN (which requires tech savvy).
Email: PROTON MAIL
It just works very well. Encryption and privacy features like self-destructing emails are nice.
Messaging: SIGNAL
Not the *most private* but good enough. And its easy for your normie friends & family to set up. (soon: Bitchat)
Payments: BITCOIN, LIGHTNING NETWORK
Study Bitcoin. It always works. Nobody can turn it off. No entity controls it. They can close your Stripe, bank account, credit cards, but they can't take your Bitcoin.
Monero might have had an argument, but there's very little usage and just got hit with a 51% attack.
Social Media: NOSTR
They can lock you out of X or Facebook, demonitize & delete your YouTube vids. But they can't shut down Nostr. It's a protocol, not an app. You own your account through your private key. You can migrate it to any app (Primal, Damus). You can get paid in Bitcoin instead of whoring yourself out online for elonbucks.
Storage: A PHYSICAL HARD DRIVE
Seriously. Go out and spend $250 on a 20TB hard drive. Seagate sells them from 8-26TB. You will pay more for your 2TB Google One subscription over time.
Google can block you from upgrading your Google account because of an issue with your Google wallet (and saying you'll lose your data) unless you ID KYC yourself. This happened to me.
But they ain't taking your hard drive!
Image credit: [at]enteio on X
