Corduroy_Pillows_Making_Headlines

I created a 5-week degoogling plan PDF based on the steps in my book DISENGAGE: Escape the Leash of Big Tech, Scams and Surveillance—Everyday Resistance for the Digital Underdog.

Before I finalize and post it to my site, I'd love some feedback from people who have degoogled or are in the process of doing so.

The final package will be a single PDF, and I've pasted images of the pages below. The final infographic has a link for each product. Please don't worry about formatting issues, I'll get those fixed. But in general, I'm wondering.

• Does this seem motivational/doable?

• Are the tips clear?

• Is there anything that is now incorrect? I wrote the book originally two years ago and updated it in February, so some of my suggestions may already be out of date.

• At the bottom I mention that full instructions for each step are available in DISENGAGE, which is a free book. Is that enough? Or should I instead either note which chapter/page to look at for each step, or directly include links to instructions/tools online?

• The infographic at the end...is it weird to be sideways? I created it a while ago and don't want to have to redo it to fit the orientation. I could offer that separately, OR I could redo the whole PDF to be landscape instead of portrait (which I don't love).

• I'm thinking of turning this into a group challenge (also no cost). If there's enough interest, it could be the checklist, the book, and a Signal group (maybe with a weekly call). I don't know nearly everything about the topic, but I did degoogle myself, and everyone in the group/on the call can share questions and suggestions. What do you think of this idea?

Thanks!

This is something I can't figure out, because my understanding is that no matter what OS you install, unless you bought your Mac with cash, your serial number and credit card are now connected...and will always be spilling data about you.

Thanks for any advice...I'm wondering if it's worth it to install a new OS.

Created this infographic with help/suggestions from the folks at /privacy. There's a PDF download with clickable links here.

I created an infographic of privacy-forward alternatives to Google products...and would love your feedback.

Is it easy to use? Enough white space? Intuitive? Sharable? Is there anything I'm missing?

The infographic image in this post is NOT clickable. The link above will give you a downloadable PDF with working hyperlinks.

Re: the legend, "easy set-up/use" means either that this is a big part of the alternative product's branding, or I've used it myself and found it easy.

I was interviewed for Critical Future Tech on "mainstream tech companies' ability to influence us through the data that we willingly provide them, and the actions we can take to regain control over our digital identities."

There's a podcast and transcript.

CRITICAL FUTURE TECH ISSUE 19

Hope you enjoy!

If you're boycotting Avelo Airlines due to their contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to operate deportation flights...here's some info that may make it easier for you to let them know.

• CEO of Avelo: Andrew Levy: [email protected]
• Vice President, Airports & Customer Support at Avelo: Blaine Nicholas: [email protected]

The email I sent; feel free to steal as needed:

Dear Mr. Levy and Mr. Nicholas,

We were so excited when you started your [city]>[city] route. My family flies to [state] multiple times per year, and sometimes friends go up to visit us there as well. This new route was so much more convenient than flying into [city]!

Sad to say, this past week we took our final flight on Avelo. We just can't support an airline that will be helping the current administration deport people without due process, flout birthright citizenship, and even break up families just to prove a point.

We enjoyed your fast flights and kind employees and are sorry to go...but we're happy to suffer a minor inconvenience to avoid supporting authoritarianism in the U.S.

Thanks for listening,

I hope you find this helpful! I also have a free book on how to disengage from Amazon, Meta, Google, and other surveillance capitalists. No tracking, no email needed, no affiliate links. I'm a former journalist and this was my passion project.

DISENGAGE: Opting Out—and Finding New Options—to Reclaim Your Life from Spammers, Scammers, Intrusive Marketers and Big Tech--

P.S. If my email is too mild to express what you're really thinking, write your own letter and sprinkle it with these words and phrases, from least to most angry:

• unconscionable
• unbelievable
• poor business practice
• horrifying
• unconstitutional
• pitiful
• disgusting
• criminal
• losers
• jagoffs
• buh-bye, assholes
• see ya, shitbags
• fuck you and your airline
• burn in hell

President Trump said Thursday a shooting at Florida State University that killed two people was "terrible" and a "shame," but suggested he's unlikely to back any new gun control measures — saying he's a "big advocate of the Second Amendment."

CBS News

Why am I not surprised?

May be a little elementary for people in this community, b ut I hope it's helpful to someone out there!

I've been working in infographics that sum up some of the advice in DISENGAGE: Opting Out—and Finding New Options—to Reclaim Your Life from Spammers, Scammers, Intrusive Marketers and Big Tech. I hope it's helpful!

I replaced my iPhone with a Pixel 7a running Graphene OS.

Everything I see online says I should be able to easily connect my Airpods by opening up the Bluetooth settings and clicking "Pair" on the phone while the case is open...but it never seems to find my Airpods.

It does find my partner's Mac and other nearby Apple products, including what I think are my neighbors'!

The Airpods are fully charged. The old iPhone now belongs to my kid, which I wiped before giving it to them.

Any suggestions?

I'm a former journalist, and created a free resource called DISENGAGE: Opting Out—and Finding New Options—to Reclaim Your Life from Spammers, Scammers, Intrusive Marketers and Big Tech.

It's available in PDF and full text on the website, plus EPUB at Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, and other retailers.

It costs $0. No email needed, no tracking, no affiliate links. It was a passion project and I'm just trying to get the word out.

(If you know anyone in the press who may want a hardcopy, i printed up a couple dozen in print format on my own dime...just let me know!)

Enjoy!

My first post ever...and this is the only social media I'm on! So please be patient. :)

My passion project has been to write and distribute (for free) a book called DISENGAGE: Opting Out—and Finding New Options—to Reclaim Your Life from Spammers, Scammers, Intrusive Marketers and Big Tech.

Over the course of two+ years, I went through the process of disengaging myself as much as possible from Meta, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and traditional social media...removing myself from people-finder sites and data-broker lists...protecting my home address and images...getting my photos and bios removed from the web and from AI face searches...etc.

As a former journalist, I thought it would be great to write about my experiences to help others reclaim their power, as much as possible, from Big Tech. The book is free, no email required, no tracking, no affiliate links. Available in PDF and full text on the site, and EPUB on Smashwords and other retailers.

Redditors in subs like r/twoxpreppers, r/privacy, and r/anticonsumption were all over it...but I killed off my Reddit account a couple months ago and plan to use only Lemmy and similar.

So here's my catch-22: trying to promote an anti-Big Tech book without using any of that big tech myself.

Here's what's happening so far:

• Volunteers have been putting promotional postcards inside books at bookstores, in Little Free Libraries, etc.
• I'll leave piles of postcards at the next protest I go to.
• My volunteer PR person has been managing an Instagram account for my publishing company (which I have bo control over).
• I'm having a couple dozen print copies of the book made, on my own dime, for my volunteer PR person to send out (and for myself to put in Little Free Libraries).

I was considering doing a test mailing using the USPS "every door" delivery service, but at the price I feel comfortable spending, I'd be able to cover, say, a couple blocks in Berkeley, CA. Also, not sure direct mail is the way to go since I have a chapter on getting off of direct mail lists. :)

Any ideas? News outlets/podcasters/etc. you know of that might be interested? Fun guerrilla marketing-style tactics I haven't used?

I really, really loved creating this book and I'm passionate about the topic. But I just don't have the reach needed to get it out there the way I would like.

Thanks for any ideas!