On trying to escape the surveillance bubble
The current situation in Palestine and how USA 🇺🇸 based social media are reacting to it (by silencing opposing voices, shadow banning, firing employees who raise concerns, etc.) is quite alarming 🚨. It got me to start doing concrete actions to cut as many ties with companies supporting the genocide (either directly or indirectly) while trying to escape the surveillance bubble (aka Surveillance Capitalism) while at it.
So far I did the following:
Cutting ties (i.e. boycotting)
Amazon
Cutting ties with Amazon and here’s why
- Cancel Amazon Prime subscription (I have been a prime member since 2017, heck I was a Software Engineer at Amazon Dynamic Ads and Amazon Alexa for more than 2 years)
- Moved to using Ebay and Etsy
AXA
Cutting ties with AXA and here’s why
- Cancel AXA company insurance
- Moved to QBE
Cutting ties with Meta. I wrote a lengthy artcile about why.
- WhatsApp –> Telegram (use Secret chats for E2E encryption) & Signal
- WhatsApp for business –> Telegram business accounts
- Instagram/Facebook stories –> Telegram Stories
- Facebook groups –> Telegram groups
Google
Cutting ties with Google and here’s why
- Cancel Google Youtube subscription
- Cancel Google Workspace subscription (for my company) and move to Zoho (India 🇮🇳 based business)
- Use Brave/Safari browser instead of Google Chrome on macOS and iOS
- Use DuckDuckGo instead of Google Search
- Use Fathom Analytics instead of Google Analytics
Alternatives
Subscribe to Proton Mail
- Based in Switzerland 🇨🇭
- Has been recommended by my social circle as a great email provider if privacy is of a concern
Subscribe to VyprVPN
- Based in Switzerland 🇨🇭
- Also recommended by my social circle
Subscribe to Zoho
- Based in India 🇮🇳
- A good alternative to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365
Business Insurance
- I went with business insurance from QBE
More to come, hopefully 🤞🏼
