Great read, thanks.

Using a lot of different browsers is such an underrated solution that mitigates many risks. Actually it would be a great idea if a good browser offered a way to install it multiple times as a completely separate program. Brave1 Brave2 eg.

Excellent as usual. Thank you for this guide. Will share it with more normies.

Really interesting read. Escaping Apple takes a long time and you need to be intentional with it but it's worth it on the other side. Linux is liberation to computing as Bitcoin is liberation to money.

I have been through a similar process before, lots of moving and deleting, but then I realized that the best is to use LESS, own LESS, even in the digital world, e.g. photos.

Now I am at the stage where I don't use the Apple ID on my laptop anymore, and I erase it from time to time. It took me about 5 minutes to get everything back on track.

Thanks for the other tools you share; gonna have a try with some of them.

Great guide! I feel the excuse given for not using and supporting companies like purism was a bit off (they make special hardware). I got a second hand librem laptop. Purism cares about your privacy and that needs encouragement.

Also, if you care about backdoors you can only get lenovo x200/230 which has very old hardware. A librem laptop is a step up.

As for VPN, check out postmaster as an alternative. Open source that gives you full control on what accesses internet (no need for you to use a sniffer anymore).

Yes, I agree with most points.

You can still get a nice laptop, like those fancy Dell XPS series, and put Linux in it. They work flawlessly. OP's choice is also a great machine.

And for your phone, GrapheneOS is the key, so a Pixel phone works great.

For software, there's basically an Open Source version of anything you might need.

good article, I will subscribe to your substack. Your article shows how difficult it is to really become private and independent. But also people tend to forget that these people make life simpler for the average person. you might say "yeah first they make life a nightmare by stealing your data behind your back, and then they make it simpler for you, what bastards" that is a correct statement, but to make convient easy to use UI UX someone needs to be paid for the work, and nobody wants to pay. everybody wants everything for free. human beings are paradoxically lazy and want something of value for free. most people won't put in the work you did.

I like using multi container firefox plugin to keep cookies and other info off certain tabs. It allows me to open same site different logins on same browser window.
And keep cookies separate.

Thanks! Really considering this. Do you have any input on what ThinkPad to get? Do you just go with a Gen that matches your budget? Does the Yoga work?

If I were to spend $500 what one do you think I should get? I’ve been on Apple so long I really don’t know about other hardware.

I didn't know there was a contact tracing functionality on Apple devices. I didn't know also about the Firefox extension to containerize accounts, will try it! For me just the fact I couldn't copy files from a phone to a computer has been a deal breaker. Also 10 years ago I had really a hard time to understand how the "cloud" could be better than my external hard disk to save data. So for me the transition to the cloud (even nextcloud) has been almost non-existant. When reading your article I feel happy I didn't fall into the Apple digital prison.

I find the lack of any mention of Nostr in your article disturbing :)

There is a guy from Spain selling laptop with many modifications for safety and privacy.

Here is one of the last add that I see from him:

LENOVO THINKPAD X220/ X230 I5 con HDD 240gb, 4 gb d RAM con coreboot (LibreBoot) + intel management engine neutralizado y truncado. 230€

((Microcódigo actualizado + el Intel ME neutralizado + MAC nueva + Libreboot instalado (Trunca el espacio disponible en bios al I.M.E.) (Dejamos el chip abierto para que puedas extraer copia ROM para auditarla o hacer reflash interno de la distribución o posteriores actualizaciones))

Opcional y sin coste 0€:   •Disco desmontado para que le coloques tu uno:  (se envía el hdd desmontado)   •Extraer tarjeta wifi, (solo ethernet)  (La tarjeta se envia desmontada por si se quiere montar mas adelante)

•Ampliaciones disponibles en última foto*

#productos #envios #eur #btc  @LChavo /Threema /Briar mail:  chavo@ph.dedyn.io Twitter: ChavoGnuGrowers

Doing this kind of stuff is probably more important than running a node. Even if you only do/switch/use one of the things in the article.

Internet was a nice concept. It is not fun anymore except a few things like stacker news :) Big companies and governments ruined the Internet. Same can happen to crypto Blockchain technology.

Great write-up.

Think we can all relate to being close to switching on our primary devices. Just need that trigger. Those M1/M2 Macs though are a real barrier though.

What a great read. Lots of experience condensed here. Thanks for the post.

Yeah this was A+ stuff. Thx.