@Ayzacoder: Attention if you have a Gmail account:
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@dbattistella
Is it very arrogant to assume that everybody who still relies on Gmail in 2026 is either not capable of or not interested in following your instructions anyway?@toxomat Not sure I understand what point you're trying to make.
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@dbattistella Thanks a ton for this info. I'll need to check my settings and make any necessary changes.
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@dbattistella Or bing or firefox
@BlueBrogues @dbattistella Librewolf is an excellent degoogled Firefox fork with the antifeatures stripped out
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@dbattistella Thank you. I'd already done the first one for all my accounts on my phone, but didn't notice the "Workspace smart features" section. Turning those off now.
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thanks! works on Mac OSx.
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5. Move Sensitive Emails
Turning off Gmail's smart features helps, but for truly private emails, consider using a separate service.
For medical, legal, or financial emails, use a free Proton Mail account. It offers end-to-end encryption and doesn't use AI to scan your emails.
Keep Gmail for newsletters, promotions, and less sensitive messages.
Thanks for the clear directions!
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@Ayzacoder: Attention if you have a Gmail account:
Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how.
Here are 5 moves to shut it off, the switch is hidden in two places:
Just do not use email.
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Thanks for the clear directions!
@FallsMom I appreciate it but all the thanks need to go to @Ayzacoder who posted these on X and which I credited in my first post
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@shwell1 @dbattistella You need to erase Firefox from that list, and make sure you use the noai version of DDG. Brave is a good alternative to FF.
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@dbattistella @darwinwoodka I truly believe it never existed.
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@shwell1 @dbattistella Is there a reason why Vivaldi is not included in this list? I use it as my main browser. And I really like it. Even though it asks me to restart 10.000 times a month...I can use proton pass and blockers easily with it as extensions. Thanks!
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@shwell1 @dbattistella You need to erase Firefox from that list, and make sure you use the noai version of DDG. Brave is a good alternative to FF.
@MiaMarkTwo @shwell1 @dbattistella "But yeah, if you are a big fan of AI and crypto, and are okay with having advertisements in the user interface out of the box, are okay with past attempts to steal money from websites and collect donations towards people who wouldn’t necessarily even receive it, plus you can put up with occasional privacy mistakes… use Brave!"
https://blog.alexseifert.com/2025/04/06/why-i-recommend-against-brave/
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@MiaMarkTwo @shwell1 @dbattistella "But yeah, if you are a big fan of AI and crypto, and are okay with having advertisements in the user interface out of the box, are okay with past attempts to steal money from websites and collect donations towards people who wouldn’t necessarily even receive it, plus you can put up with occasional privacy mistakes… use Brave!"
https://blog.alexseifert.com/2025/04/06/why-i-recommend-against-brave/
@phaedral @shwell1 @dbattistella Wow, I didn't know *any* of that. Thanks.
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@MiaMarkTwo @shwell1 @dbattistella "But yeah, if you are a big fan of AI and crypto, and are okay with having advertisements in the user interface out of the box, are okay with past attempts to steal money from websites and collect donations towards people who wouldn’t necessarily even receive it, plus you can put up with occasional privacy mistakes… use Brave!"
https://blog.alexseifert.com/2025/04/06/why-i-recommend-against-brave/
@phaedral @shwell1 @dbattistella Doesn't change what I said about Firefox though.
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@phaedral @shwell1 @dbattistella Doesn't change what I said about Firefox though.
@MiaMarkTwo @shwell1 @dbattistella Agreed!
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@BlueBrogues @dbattistella Librewolf is an excellent degoogled Firefox fork with the antifeatures stripped out
@LukefromDC @dbattistella I have Tor , Vivaldi and Ungoogled Chromium and i use Mojeek search , DuckDuckgo . I have zero computer background , I am retired never worked in a office, if I ask my mates anything about tech they look at me as if I have two heads but I get there in the end
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RE: https://mastodon.social/@404mediaco/117022017506413341
@phaedral @shwell1 @dbattistella This just popped up on my feed, in case you're interested
https://syzito.xyz/@404mediaco@mastodon.social/117022017505721580
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@dbattistella damn, turns out I'd already done this, so at least in theory they're not allowed to do this shit (though I mean let's be real they'll do it anyway but I don't have the time or money to fully switch away from corporate email platforms)
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5. Move Sensitive Emails
Turning off Gmail's smart features helps, but for truly private emails, consider using a separate service.
For medical, legal, or financial emails, use a free Proton Mail account. It offers end-to-end encryption and doesn't use AI to scan your emails.
Keep Gmail for newsletters, promotions, and less sensitive messages.
@dbattistella
My husband and I use tuta (@Tutanota) for sending encrypted email. The account also includes a calendar.I started with a free account just to test it out and then moved to the paid tier to get some more features.
No affiliation with the company, just a customer.
️ Settings → See all settings → Smart features and personalization → Uncheck "Turn on smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet" → Save Changes.
