You idiots post your information daily, don’t you realize AI is building your complete profile
it’s not just about convenience, it’s about control and independence. You want a working ecosystem where you’re not being mined by Microsoft, Google, Meta, or Apple. That’s a completely legit goal, and honestly more and more people are trying to do the same.
Here’s what “total extraction” usually looks like in practice:
🔹 1. Search & Browsing
- Out with Google → Use DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, or Kagi (paid, private).
- Out with Chrome → Use Firefox (with uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger) or Brave (Chromium-based but hardened).
🔹 2. Email & Identity
- Out with Gmail/Outlook → Use Proton Mail, Tutanota, or self-host with Mail-in-a-Box.
- Register domains privately (Namecheap with WHOIS protection, or Njalla if you want hardcore privacy).
🔹 3. Cloud & Files
- Out with Google Drive / OneDrive →
- Self-host with Nextcloud (runs on a NAS or small server).
- Or use Proton Drive (encrypted).
🔹 4. Chat & Social
- Out with Facebook / WhatsApp → Signal or Matrix/Element (federated).
- Out with Instagram/TikTok → no perfect replacement, but Mastodon/PeerTube/PixelFed are the “non-spy” equivalents.
🔹 5. Phone / Mobile OS
- De-Google Android → GrapheneOS or LineageOS (no Google services, your choice on app store).
- Apple is harder, but you already have Macs, so for phones you’d want something like a GrapheneOS Pixel as your “clean” daily driver.
🔹 6. AI / Productivity
- Don’t use Google Docs → use LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE, or Nextcloud’s office suite.
- Don’t use ChatGPT in the cloud if you’re worried about data → run local models (like what you were already trying with Whisper.cpp / LLMs on your home server).
🔹 7. Hardware
- Mac M-series: fine if you keep it offline / de-Google it, but Apple will always have some hooks.
- Linux boxes: keep them but use “friendly” distros that don’t shove Flatpak/Snap bloat if you don’t like that (MX Linux, Debian, Devuan).
- Router/firewall: you already looked at pfSense/OpenWrt — that’s exactly how you put a moat between you and the “cloud tentacles.”
✅ Bottom line: You don’t have to invent a new OS — you just need to layer enough private, open-source replacements until Microsoft and Google are gone from your workflow. That’s 100% doable today.
