reminder: if you have anything saved with google, you should probably move it to somewhere that's not tied to the US govt. mark my words: it's just a matter of time before they weaponize Google.
this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2025
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Yes. Backup everything and move away.
I've started using Qwant as my search engine and it's not bad at all
that's awesome! this is the first time in decades that i've even heard the name of a search alternative. i'm from the hotbot days. do you know if or how much it's rooted in google's search? i know that's wording it poorly, but i hope you still know what i'm asking
Qwant uses Bing search results AFAIK.
But they're working to create an independent and European search index together with Ecosia.
I heard they are working on their own search engine
Might as well use a SearX instance.
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Ecosia for me. I still find myself asking Google for stock prices and such, but other than that it's ok. Berlin based apparently, plus I like that they plant trees for every search you do. I don't like that they have sponsored links at the top but I suppose that's how it goes.
Don’t they also use Bing search in the background?
Bing and / or Google (you can choose).
But their working together with QWANT on their own search engine.
And from a privacy perspective I’d argue, that it’s still better to use Ecosia / QWANT.
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Thanks, I've switched as well.
Why dont you think its weaponized yet? Thats crazy
you're ahead of the class, my friend. sometimes one must remove the tinfoil hat before addressing the crowd.
This applies to Apple as well.
And Microsoft.
I have a ton of pinned map points for both my work and travel all over the world from the last decade or so... does anyone know of a way to export these from google in a format that will easily plug into openmaps or some other app? There are thousands and manually doing this is not really an option...
I don't know about being easy to plug in, but Google Takeout lets you request an order of all data they have tied to your account across all services, in compliance with EU rules.
I'm not sure what the google maps export looks like, but no matter how it's formatted I'm sure that a simple Python script will be able to transfer the map markers over to openmaps. I'll look into making this if it doesn't already exist on GitHub. I'd like to transfer my stuff over too.
I've been putting off reflashing my custom rom without gapps... I have the necessary self hosted infrastructure in place where I wouldn't need Google. I just needed the extra push.
Thanks for the push.
Which email provider to use?
Was just going to say “host your own on AWS” and then remembered who owns aws.
Might have to literally host my own now.
Good luck. I've heard that it's almost impossible to host your own email now because companies like Google will blacklist it and send all your emails to your recipient's trash instead of their inbox.
Residential IPs are generally gray listed. Same with any cloud provider IP pools. You can get a mail relay for sending email if you want an easy way. Or find a local colo who has their own IP block where you can host a small server. It might take a little time to warm up and build that reputation, but not impossible.
i've switched over to proton for now. that's not advice, though. look them up before you decide to try them.
I'm very happy with proton's service and products (email/calender/drive) so even with the asshole CEO it still feels like good choice. Maybe not as good as some other options out there, most likely would have chosen Tuta if I would switch now.
ugh, this is exhausting. what's asshole about this CEO?
any other alternatives that aren't pretty much guaranteed to turn reich? edit - yeah, that last sentence i didn't read. thanks.
Posteo.net is a buck a month
Tuta.com
European, not Swiss, privacy-focused.
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In an unprecedented move, the Japan Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday issued a cease-and-desist order against Google for violating the country's anti-monopoly law by forcing manufacturers to preinstall the company’s apps on their Android smartphones.
This is the first time that Japan has issued such an order against any of the major U.S. technology companies referred to collectively as GAFAM — Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft.
MAGAM sounds more appropriate - Meta Apple Google Amazon Microsoft 😉
Totally should suggest that to Japan time. Maybe also suggest l AMGAM or MAGMA, I like those too.
Damn Japan, good stuff.
You love to see it.
Anyone know of a good android fork to switch to? I'm sick of using the google bullshit
There is no good android fork. Android is garbage. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to contribute to the OS or port a fork like lineageOS to a new phone. Even just compiling android is a massive pain in the ass. Mobile linux, like postmarketOS, is the clear way forward. And not on former android phones, but on phones with open hardware specs, specifically designed to work with mobile linux.
GrapheneOS. However it only installs on Google phones as only those have their bootloader unlocked.
I've seen the word so much lately I read "bootloader" as "bootlicker" at first.
A phone with a locked bootloader is a bootlicker phone
LineageOS works as well and you can get it running on more phones than Graphene; however, GrapheneOS is superior in terms of security
I've switched to CalyxOS. It supports some more manufacturer and models than GrapheneOS. Got no idea how their user experience compares. It's a bit of tinkering to do, so it's not for the untechnically inclined. Also, make sure you got a way to log on to things without using an authenticator or make sure it won't get lost when the phone gets wiped.
Tariffs incoming in 3, 2...
This is push back against the tariffs. Japan got hit hard
Yeah but the orange thumb isn't known for rationality so joke aside, I wouldn't put it past him to escalate.
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