<![CDATA[Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors.]]>Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. Just gotta replace my phone, my phone OS, my phone keyboard, my desktop OS, my work OS, my email, my code editor, my cloud backup, my office software, my maps app, my source hosting, my image editor, my

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/a1613b84-8f27-432c-8e71-5839dd95d54e/oh-yeah-shouldn-t-be-too-hard-to-use-tech-without-supporting-bad-actors.RSS for NodeFri, 11 Sep 2026 17:28:00 GMTSun, 30 Aug 2026 21:14:47 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:07:00 GMT]]>@leto_fregar @ellesaurus Definitely. I found it relatively simple to get rid of a lot of the software/apps (Google search, drive, maps, Dropbox, Adobe). I still need to visit the Google maps website to find some businesses once in a while. Still watch YouTube. Otherwise I've moved to European, Canadian, Australian and Japanese alternatives this year.

But the real issue is the OS, especially the mobile OS — I don't know where to begin. I still want to use mobile banking etc.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/txtx/statuses/117188619190349901https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/txtx/statuses/117188619190349901Mon, 31 Aug 2026 06:07:00 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:37:53 GMT]]>@ellesaurus
Without supporting bad actors nowerdays seems to be nearly Impossible. But it is possible with limited compexity to reduce support by 80%.
Operating systems, email provider, cloud systems, mobile services, maps apps and source hosting are available from the good guys, sometimes even cheaper (even in terms of spending Money 😉 and mostly very easy to migrate.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://norden.social/users/SebastianGallehr/statuses/117188504703006048https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://norden.social/users/SebastianGallehr/statuses/117188504703006048Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:37:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:30:34 GMT]]>https://di.day/

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jnbrgr/statuses/117188475929723809https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jnbrgr/statuses/117188475929723809Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:30:34 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:25:29 GMT]]>@ellesaurus The struggle.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/tagomago/statuses/117188455904958379https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/tagomago/statuses/117188455904958379Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:25:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:19:31 GMT]]>@ellesaurus So often it is just one aspect that kills it. I have a steady income and generally enough wiggle room to not turn over every cent, but my budget is not unlimited.
Many of the alternative OSs are only available for Samsung and Pixel phones, which are too expensive. Maybe a used one?
But then I check reviews and in all cases I have found so far, the camera quality completely goes down the drain. Camera quality is a huge factor in choosing the phones that I buy...

I am using FOSS wherever I can, but my phone OS has proven to be quite stubborn...

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wehavecookies.social/users/leto_fregar/statuses/117188432429896155https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wehavecookies.social/users/leto_fregar/statuses/117188432429896155Mon, 31 Aug 2026 05:19:31 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:59:26 GMT]]>read enshittification and get going on it.
mastodon
mojeek
etc

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/117075058749598395/statuses/117188353515293547https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/117075058749598395/statuses/117188353515293547Mon, 31 Aug 2026 04:59:26 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 03:27:16 GMT]]>@ellesaurus just stop using tech

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/antdude/statuses/117187991049518961https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/antdude/statuses/117187991049518961Mon, 31 Aug 2026 03:27:16 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 03:15:30 GMT]]>@jb643 @ellesaurus I have almost completely de-Googled. (The only Google vestige I have left is an Android phone, but it's a Chinese one so it has a completely and refreshingly DIFFERENT set of bad actors in it.)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/ZDL/statuses/117187944837343411https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/ZDL/statuses/117187944837343411Mon, 31 Aug 2026 03:15:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 03:13:47 GMT]]>@ellesaurus There are two kinds of people who self-righteously advocate this:

1. People who have been going against the prevailing winds for decades and have set up their lives around it already without thinking of the effort they'd expended.

2. Pretentious liars who use all those services they decry, but pretend not to.

Smart and honest people advocate disengagement by stages.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/ZDL/statuses/117187938041293587https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mstdn.social/users/ZDL/statuses/117187938041293587Mon, 31 Aug 2026 03:13:47 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 02:25:56 GMT]]>@jb643 I have a Fairphone 5 with LineageOS. One of the reasons I chose the Fairphone was because you don't need to do any tinkering to unlock the bootloader.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://neopaquita.es/users/Luna/statuses/117187749933701402https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://neopaquita.es/users/Luna/statuses/117187749933701402Mon, 31 Aug 2026 02:25:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:55:12 GMT]]>@ellesaurus the concept of a "Faustian Bargain" has existed for a long time, it's just that you're learning what it is the hard way

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://autistics.life/users/d1/statuses/117187629076428599https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://autistics.life/users/d1/statuses/117187629076428599Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:55:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:54:12 GMT]]>@ellesaurus
And, when you have to run certain apps to access critical stuff (banking, MFA, etc), It's like you need a burner phone for all the "sandboxed" apps.

Even if my primary device is free software, I still need a locked device to run the critical apps.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://boothcomputing.social/users/jamie/statuses/117187625130535554https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://boothcomputing.social/users/jamie/statuses/117187625130535554Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:54:12 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:34:46 GMT]]>@ellesaurus well, most of those are totally possible to replace (and, in fact, many of us did replace them some time ago) but some are just not feasible... even if i wanted to invest lot of money into a subpar phone with obscure software that doesn't work half of the time it is not very useful if my banking app refuses to run on it. you can see the problem with the age verification and eID apps many european countries are rolling out - they directly force you to use specific platforms to participate in many public functions online. until we get our regulations straight this status quo is going to be hard to change.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ieji.de/users/grepe/statuses/117187548695655389https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://ieji.de/users/grepe/statuses/117187548695655389Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:34:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:13:53 GMT]]>@ellesaurus This, i use waht works for me, you use what works for you. cmon people

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://allovertheplace.ca/users/J3317/statuses/117187466598892447https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://allovertheplace.ca/users/J3317/statuses/117187466598892447Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:13:53 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:07:29 GMT]]>@jb643 @ellesaurus I was lucky, s I have opposed Google's data practices since 2003. I walked away from posting Youtube in 2010 over "content ID" and locked comment on all old posts and marked the account as abandoned in 2012 over their then-new TOS that explicitly alllowed fingerprinting across all devices.

I did not have an activted smartphone at all until 2017, and that was to use Signal. As soon as Signal got the ability to run without Google Play Services, I fully de-googled that phone. It had never been used with Google's cloud backup, never been connected to a real name account, and had never run an ad supported app at all.

Finally, I've never had a Facebook or an instagram account, and started blocking FB in 2010 after having blocked ads from the start of using my own computer instead of a library computer to access the net, back in 2009.

So basically I ignored the "Facebook/Google Cloud Counter-Revolution" and let it proceed without me from the start.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/LukefromDC/statuses/117187441444574023https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://kolektiva.social/users/LukefromDC/statuses/117187441444574023Mon, 31 Aug 2026 01:07:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:51:44 GMT]]>@ellesaurus Same problem for Canadians who don't want to support US tech because Americans are at war with us

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://newsie.social/users/humourmetom/statuses/117187379486695864https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://newsie.social/users/humourmetom/statuses/117187379486695864Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:51:44 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:50:49 GMT]]>@ellesaurus it keeps you agile. Trick is to not do it all at once.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116660985003036425/statuses/117187375918174620https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/116660985003036425/statuses/117187375918174620Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:50:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:44:33 GMT]]>@ellesaurus I have been trying to de-google for about a year now, with the added constraint that I don't have a ton of money to spend. I tried the pinephone with limited success and I have been looking for an OEM unlockable google pixel with no success. Any other hobbyists out there found good options?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jb643/statuses/117187351247100070https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/jb643/statuses/117187351247100070Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:44:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:43:46 GMT]]>@ellesaurus @gauge Or the one person supporting it burns out because no one stepped up to help and everyone just assumed "surely there are developers" but the reality is "it is one developer who gets a minor pull request to fix typos once a week."

(Happens... a lot)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/Elizafox/statuses/117187348165125345https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/Elizafox/statuses/117187348165125345Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:43:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:42:23 GMT]]>@ellesaurus "I'm tired, boss"

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/Elizafox/statuses/117187342736699086https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://social.treehouse.systems/users/Elizafox/statuses/117187342736699086Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:42:23 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:12:52 GMT]]>@SteveFoerster @ellesaurus

Well said.

The amount of time it took me to completely detangle from Google was measured in years.

Worth it!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/DaveMasonDotMe/statuses/117187226639212424https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/DaveMasonDotMe/statuses/117187226639212424Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:12:52 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:01:48 GMT]]>@JessTheUnstill @ellesaurus I agree with Jess. Like most things, technology and software “badness” is a continuum. And sometimes, you’ll have to make the least bad choice.

A good example is work. Would I like to skip using MS Office altogether? Sure. But my employer doesn’t give me a choice.

So, it’s important to choose wisely when you have that choice. Do what you can.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/scottwilson/statuses/117187183159619286https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/scottwilson/statuses/117187183159619286Mon, 31 Aug 2026 00:01:48 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 23:38:56 GMT]]>@ellesaurus I've decided I'll just do what's within my capacity. When I have the ability to choose, choose a less unethical option. When I don't, that's fine. No unethical consumption etc. it doesn't mean just abdicate and do the worst of the worst, but at least vote with your eyeballs and wallet and time to be less bad when you can.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/JessTheUnstill/statuses/117187093218673971https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/JessTheUnstill/statuses/117187093218673971Sun, 30 Aug 2026 23:38:56 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to Oh yeah shouldn't be too hard to use tech without supporting bad actors. on Sun, 30 Aug 2026 23:30:30 GMT]]>@ellesaurus Yeah there's no modern choice, and no company really actually believes in competition, they want the whole pie.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/megatronicthronbanks/statuses/117187060057181124https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/megatronicthronbanks/statuses/117187060057181124Sun, 30 Aug 2026 23:30:30 GMT