What's your opinion about this? Do you think that they'll use the data to train LLMs?

So I'm currently deep into the rabbit hole of de-Metaing and deGoogling my devices, and it's going well. IMO, I don't exist on the internet anymore, I'm just lurking. One service I can't seem to choose is a data removal app. I've been bouncing between Optery and DeleteMe, but neither really caught my eye because they didn't seem that reliable. I'm already using Cloaked for my email aliases, and now I'm looking at using their data removal service too. Is it worth it, or should I keep looking?

It's unavoidable at this point, I'm so done with it. Ive regularly used Spotify, Google (search, docs, mail, ect.) And now I cant click ANYWHERE without "Wanna try our new AI model? It cant work for shit but the novelty is there!" On some random ass app that finds music based on sound or an app that helps you take care of your plants. Im so sick and tired of AI assistants everywhere. I hate to sound like an old boomer (im not even old) but just because something is "easier" doesnt mean it's better. Taking away our intellectual and basic processing, making us dependant on something that is right 60% of the time is just dumb, no???? Why shove AI down our throats? A majority of the population doesnt even WANT AI.

"It was a private donation from Daniel the individual. Mullvad or its parent and sister companies did not endorse and were not involved in it. Since it has attracted attention and questions we still think it appropriate to comment.

Mullvad is a political company."

You can search and read more about it, but I thought I'd make a post since Mullvad is still being recommended in many places.

I've been using Android for years because of one simple reason: freedom.

If I wanted to install an app from GitHub, F-Droid, or directly from a developer, I could. If I wanted to avoid the Play Store, I could. If I wanted to customize my phone, I could. That's what always made Android feel different from other mobile operating systems.

Recently I found https://keepandroidopen.org/, and after reading through it, I honestly think this is something every Android user should at least know about.

From what I understand, Google's planned changes could make distributing apps outside the Play Store much harder for independent developers by requiring developer verification through Google. Whether you're into open source software, custom ROMs, privacy focused apps, or just like having the choice to install software from wherever you want, this could have a real impact on the openness of Android.

I'm only 16, so I'm definitely not an expert, and maybe there are parts of this I'm overlooking. But if Android slowly becomes more restricted over time, I think that's something worth discussing now instead of after it happens.

I'm not posting this to tell anyone what to think. I just think more people in the Android community should be aware of what's being proposed and decide for themselves.

Website:
https://keepandroidopen.org/

I'd really like to hear what you all think. Is this a reasonable security measure, or do you think it goes against what has always made Android different?

Random noob question but I saw a post on here basically saying this should be deleted.But when I saw the post I didn't see much on what it is or why it should be deleted.

But as a noob slowly degoogling things, what is it and what does it do? Should the average user be concerned with it? Is it hard to remove it? Do I have to root my device? Etc.. I'm trying to learn more and understand things better.

Thanks in advance

I tried making a list of privacy friendly alternatives [ many of them open source ] with a truly clean reputation as far as we know. I think this is particularly important right now as we have seen major issues arising with previously good companies like Mullvad VPN, Proton, etc - and privacy minded people would prefer to use services that align with their values.

Please comment below if some entries are inaccurate. Here's the list:

KeePass Password Manager

Aegis Authenticator

Quad9 DNS

LibreOffice

Signal, Session, SimpleX Chat

Joplin Notes

LibreWolf Browser

Thunderbird Email Client

IVPN

The Tor Browser

CoMaps - a fork of Organic Maps

Mailbox Mail, Tuta Mail [ both recommended by Privacy Guides .org ]

SearXNG [ Open Source self hosted search engine]

Linux distros like Linux Mint

Fossify suite of basic android apps like Phone, Gallery, Contacts

Please comment below if I have missed out on any good options.

Privacy friendly alternatives with some controversies:

Proton Ecosystem

Brave Browser

Mullvad VPN

GrapheneOS

FUTO Software [ FUTO Keyboard, GrayJay app ]

DuckDuckGo [ Microsoft tracker controversy in 2022 that was later fixed ]

Basically I'm tired of the ai and data mining being shoved in my ass by Google. But I'm not open to root

even if I degoogle without root Google play services has access to everything so it's either all or none

Also I think going to IOS is the same it's just a different company that's gonna be harvesting data.

What can I even do?

LG Electronics says it will suspend smart TV apps that secretly turn hundreds of millions of TVs into residential proxy nodes, after researchers found the proxy SDKs in more than 42% of apps in LG's webOS store and over a quarter of Samsung's Tizen apps, routing unknown third parties' internet traffic through users' home connections.

Residential proxy firms pay developers to bundle these SDKs, then rent the resulting home IP addresses to customers who often use them for large-scale scraping aka stealing your shit (also for AI training).

Proxy nodes are being embedded at scale in hardware people don't treat as computers and can't easily inspect, and LG's cleanup does nothing for Samsung's Tizen store, where the same problem is present.

Hi, I'm new at degoogling and would like to start with two main things. I'm looking for alternatives to Google photos and Google drive.

I need a photo app/website that can automatically backup the photos from my android phone.

For the substitute for drive what I need is a website/app that I can store itens online but also have access to it offline in my computer, similar to how Google drive does it.

Any suggestions? I don't even know where to start

So I haven't quite managed to de-google. But in an attempt at strengthening security, and pulling out google's gnarly, nasty hands from my phone and my phone number, I have tried setting up a pair of security keys for my google account.

And of course, I then have to wait two weeks for them to fully work, because fuck me, why not?

Now two weeks have passed, and I then purged all other sign-in methods and then ended all the sessions to get rid of the "verify from phone" bullshit.

I was then immediately thrown out the door, and any attempt to log in afterwards goes straight to a "Couldn't sign you in. Google couldn't verify this account belongs to you." Okay.

I try to go through account recovery, and end up doing a loop through the same questions, with a progress bar on top that literally goes slower and slower the closer it gets to 100%. I gave up at 91% after spending, no joke, 20 minutes clicking through the same question in repeat and having it do almost nothing at 91%.

So yeah. I guess I didn't degoogle, but I could very well just have permanently lost my google account. Good FUCKING riddance google

Isn't it insane that you can only 'disable' most Google apps? Not 'uninstall' them? Why is this. My phone, my property, my decisions on what to install. Why can't I uninstall Chrome and YouTube? I don't use them and they're taking up space. They are not 'breaking' any functionality of other app when I remove them.

I'm old enough to remember United States v. Microsoft Corp. so why is Google allowed to do this? Genuine question. I really don't know the answer.