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, 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
  • Google
• Alternatives
  • Subscribe to Proton Mail
  • Subscribe to VyprVPN
  • Subscribe to Zoho

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)

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 Bing/DuckDuckGo instead of Google Search

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

More to come, hopefully 🤞🏼