What a coincidence, I made the same decision a few weeks ago.

I think we all here need to understand, that with the keywords we frequently use in this subreddit we are likely to be on a list and undergo manual (human) inspection from some underling at the NSA every now and again.

Now I'm a perfectly law abiding citizen, but I dont want these fuckers looking through my stuff none the less. Adding to that, I'm mad as hell, and the less they know about me the day I stand up to them the better.

As you say, its a slight inconvenience. Google, Microsoft etc offer some slick free services that the competition is not up to in many ways. However, its at the point where the trade off is well worth it.

Heres some solutions I'm using:

• PC: Ditched Windows 8 for Elementary OS. Its a slick Linux OS that looks good, is easy to use and has some nice features. Its annoying in some ways, like finding a driver for my printer and Wifi card. Using Firefox with Tor instead of Chrome. Inconvenience factor: medium

• Email. Ditched Gmail for Tutanota. Its a free, open source encrypted email service. The web browser version is nice but they dont really have a proper Android app (just a web app). However development is strong. Inconvenience factor: medium

• Phone. Still using my Android phone (wouldnt touch Apple). For messaging, have download the free and open source Textsecure ('Signal private messenger' on iOS). Its a sexy messaging app that offers encrypted sms/mms and file sharing to other users of the app. It can also be your default SMS app, as it can send unencrypted SMS messages to people who dont have the App. Its sister app Redphone can be used to make encrypted calls. Inconvenience factor: none

• Search: Using startpage. It goes through google, but doesnt give them your data. At the end of the day no search engine is nearly as good as google at this stage. Inconvenience factor: low

Thanks for the email suggestion! That is the final piece in my abandoning google as well.

Root your phone, then install CM or another custom ROM. That will help a bit toward de-googling the device.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that. No way I could put up with Samsung bloatware!

startpage is great, so is ixquick - its also startpage but a little more secure.

Duck duck go isn't so great, maybe I'm paranoid but I just don't feel safe using it, plus startpage uses google anonymously so you still get the "relevant" results

One more thing:

How the hell do you get away from GoogleTube - YouTube

Great that you left Google. But if you are a citizen you are a slave with no rights what so ever. What you really want is to take full responsibility for your life by opting out of all government assistance programs and be come a Sovereign American.

Thankfully I'm not American and dont live anywhere near the place.

Well hopefully you are not a government citizen otherwise it operates pretty much the same way in every country.

I do think its time to DeGoogle ourselves. Just like Facebook.

Yes, it's scary at first, then it's life affirming!

Related:

Every December, Sweden’s Language Council issues a list of neologisms that have come into popular usage in the past year. The list for 2012 included brony (men who are into “My Little Pony”), nomofob (the fear of being separated from your mobile phone), and ogooglebar, an adjective meaning “something that doesn’t show up in Google search results,” or to anglicize it, “ungoogleable”.

Google did not approve.

How do you say “ungoogleable” in Swedish? You don’t

Hmmm. Have you heard of Red Ice Radio that is based out of Sweden?

I didn't know they were out of Sweden but I listen to their pod-cast occasionally depending on the guest.

Yup. Hendrik creates all his PodCasts in Sweden and they are getting better with every broadcast. Did you know that Apple de-lished them within iTunes last year? This means if you search for them they don't show within iTunes as a PodCast. Apple is censoring them in the US.

This gatekeeper thing is getting outta hand.

Basically the web is going to become America Online again, people will log on and be presented with premade "channels" of content. Oh, I'm sure there will hundreds and thousands of channels catering to all the various interests. People will be able to post and create content on given channels but they will be carefully cataloged, monitored and maintained by the designated gatekeepers.

Yeah it will be a Facebook and AOL kind of thing.

Very true. Just need to stay grounded because "they" want to keep you from connecting to your internal power of life. Its all about disconnecting the mind from the body which over time "they" have perfected. MK-Ultra is about brainwashing the mind.

I should really do the same. Not long ago, the realization came to me that Google basically provided my entire internet experience. If it doesn't show up on google within the first few pages, I'd never see it.

That isn't good :/

I stopped using Google for anything a few years ago after I found out it had been started using seed money from a CIA front organization. As I recall, it was In-Q-Tel.

i think that if they want to look at our activities they can view any browser you use. they have the money to make that kind of technology.

This will be more and more true as they expand out into areas like an Internet service provision, operating systems and connected hardware, etc.

But to continue using Chrome, GMail, Youtube, Google Search Engine and the host of other direct to consumer services is tantamount to just handing them everything on a silver platter.

Yeah, Google has an algorithm for everything, I'm sure they will be able to finesse a lot by just following crumbs; but the point is to try and make a point.

Google hasn't spent millions upon millions of dollars to create a web browser, a search engine, an ad revenue model and everything else just to be nice; they want and need as many people as possible using those things.

It's still not too late for a sea change, but someday soon, it might very well be impossible. The day is fast approaching where viable alternatives will have dried up and the gate-keeping system will be all around us.

Check out youtube-dl for downloading youtube videos: https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/

Also think about blocking doublclick.net, either in your hosts file or the hosts file on your router or the dnsmasq conf on your router.

I've been using Minitube the Ubuntu flavor, it's very minimal/efficient for being so feature rich and it plays from the desktop.

Since I use Firefox, I've got Bluhell Firewall as my ad blocker because it's lighter weight and less intrusive than AdBlocker Plus.

I left google to about a month ago, switched to hosted mail at rackspace and phonepower for voip.

Isn't this pointless unless you are switching to encryption?

If the goal is to stop the system from having your data and preferences switching to other services still means your data is mined.

I'm not unrealistic enough to think that this is going to work with Google, or significantly slow the momentum it currently maintains. However, it might strengthen and help grow alternatives to Google, for those care.

But I do think that the statistical notable attrition of direct consumers will send a signal to the company and allow for better competition from Google competitors who are perhaps marginally (or even exceptionally) more ethical.

I'm not even expecting Google to "change" its ways. But, it is possible that if a small but noteworthy percentage of current Google users across the board start immigrating from direct Google to consumer services to competing services, then that will embolden the competition.

Google hasn't spent millions upon millions of dollars to create a web browser, a search engine, an ad revenue model and everything else just to be nice; they want and need as many people as possible using those things.

Competition is the only thing that can keep the Google takeover from being a foregone conclusion.

This is how the market is supposed to work. I don't want a law, or the police or some government agency to storm Google HQ; I want people to vote with their feet and say: "No more piggy backing, trading freedom for a convenience is not something we want anymore".

Root your phone, then install CM or another custom ROM. That will help a bit toward de-googling the device.

Haha great subreddit.

Before I got back on to Reddit, I deleted my facebook and all other forms of social media for like 2 years. Then I reinstated a Twitter, Facebook, Gmail account, and a few other social media sites, in order to created a limited hang out of myself -- mostly because that kind of shit just amuses me. I told my close friends what I'm doing, so they wouldn't be confused as to why I'm a rabid Obama supporter all of a sudden.

But all of the time I've wasted on /r/conspiracy is really fucking up my game. And I've been pretty lazy about it, emailing friends and colleagues about conspiracy theories via gmail. Needless to say being a limited hang out takes more discipline than I anticipated; respect to Snowden.

I'm not paranoid or anything -- honest. I was just hoping to have some fun with the interrogator once they round us up in the FEMA camps. ;) But I think I fucked it up thanks to my laziness, they're gonna know!

You can go to camp, I will kill every motherfucker that comes near my ass in a uniform (Flexes internet muscles)

I would start with the guy that put your ass in a uniform. Is that even a thing?

Well of course it is. You didn't think they would let us wear our regular clothes in the FEMA camps, did you?