Big Tech Corp dependency evaluation - Round 2

Two years ago, I’ve made a self evaluation of my dependency regarding the Big Tech Companies (article in French). I think it would be nice to re-evaluate it regularly to see how is it evolving, or possibly regressing regarding various online services usage.

Legend

Each item will be marked with one of the following icons :

• ✅ : I’m completely independent of a Big Tech Corporation
• ❎ : I’m partially dependent of a Big Tech Corporation
• ❌ : I’m dependent of a Big Tech Corporation
• 🚫 : I don’t use this service anymore

Personal definition

I don’t like the “GAFAM” acronym because it’s reducing to a small variety of corporations and ignore others who may still be preeminent in their respective domain. Also, I’ve no shame to naming things as they are and I’m not into the usage of nicknames for avoiding speaking aloud real names (like “birdsite” for “Twitter”).

What I consider to be a Big Tech Corporation I prefer to avoid is :

• A company proposing a supposedly free of charges online service
• Who is preeminent on its activity domain
• Who monetize its service by exploiting the user generated content (ad space selling, selling data, “sponsored” content, content sorted regarding obscur criteria, etc)
• Track and profile the users, even when they’re not a subscriber of the service, and exploiting these data (“social” buttons installed on other websites, ghost profiles, etc)

E-mails ✅

This step has not changed following the previous exercice. My personal mails are still hosted at Infomaniak and I’m satisfied by their service.

I’ve still have a Gmail account because of Android and that was historically utilized as a professional mail account and its usage is pretty limited. I’m thinking about creating a dedicated pro account at Infomaniak to replace it. So this Google Account will remain only for Android usage.

Online Cloud synchronization ✅

I’ve stopped my Nextcloud some times ago to the benefit of Infomaniak kDrive, while migrating my dedicated server to a lower costing VPS.

My files are now synchronized with this service. Also, I’m now using Infomaniak’s Calendar and Contacts hosting for this parts that were still hosted on my Nextcloud.

For my password bank, I’m using KeepassXC which supports very well the synchronization among cloud.

Social medias ✅

I’m still on Fosstodon and that’s the only social media I’m using.

On the previous exercice, I still had a Twitter account for following some profiles and their news, but today it’s over. I’ve closed my account one year ago and I use Nitter and its RSS support.

I still have a Linkedin account for my online CV and keeping contact with former colleagues, but he usage is almost nonexistent.

Smartphone ❌

This part won’t change for the previous exercice. Despite being enthusiast with the PinePhone, it won’t replace Android for now and it will need some times to see a general public usable Linux-based smartphone. That’s why I’m trying to support them the most I can.

Online music ❌

Formerly using Airsonic coupled with Nextcloud, now it’s over as I’ve stopped it.

So I’m mainly using Spotify for this need, and I don’t really use any alternative (or an offline one). I must admit I’m not especially avoiding to use this service.

News reading ✅

As told in the Social medias part, I’ve closed my Twitter account thanks to Nitter RSS feature.

I was using Tiny Tiny RSS and I’ve moved to FreshRSS at the beginning of the year, still self hosted.

Online search ❎

No actual evolution, still using mainly DuckDuckGo but Google is still sometimes required.

However, I’ve noticed that Google is now just a stupid ad space seller and you feel it in the search results. The pertinence is getting lower with the time because of the SEO over abuse and the sponsored contents. I’m still resorting to Google sometimes, but it’s getting more rare than before.

Operating System ❎

Still a Fedora and Manjaro as a secondary user. However, I’m still dependent to Microsoft Windows and Steam for playing video games.

Todo list 🚫

Formerly, I was using a self hosted Wekan instance, but it was overkill for my personal usage. So this usage is dropped.

On a more professional side, I won’t use it anymore too as I’m tied to the company tools.

Online payments/donations ❎

I’m using in priority Liberapay for support donation.

I’ve also a Paypal account and I’m usually using it for online payments. One of the main reason it to avoid using too my credit card on the Internet.

Conclusion

There has been some changes in two years I must admit, but when you summarize them, it’s basically the same status. Because I’ve stopped some self-hosted services that were not utilized a lot, some usages have changed and I have a regression regarding the oneline music service (because depending of Spotify).

Generally, I’m still trying to avoid the companies for which I’m don’t like their policy or domination regarding a specific domain. However, sometimes I still have to use them, but I’m aware of what I do and try to not falling into their golden jail.

We will see how it’s evolving or regressing later. That’s not a contest too, it’s just a personal way of online life.