thank you! I like that you suggested irl activities like https://upperstory.com/en/turingtumble/

The point about games is a good one. Free games apps are terrible for collecting location data. Do you (or anyone here) know of a place/collection of open source games? They don’t have to be free (£$ money free) but they would have to be open source to know they’re not data harvesters.

I’m not sure - you’d have to ask the organisers 😀

It’s a FREE event!

We (Rebel Tech Alliance) will be there too! https://www.rebeltechalliance.org/

We’ll going through alternatives that people can switch to.

Indeed. It’s for sharing with your less advanced friends and family 😁

Thank you!

I love the explanation of how software is written, read and whether we can ‘see into it’ and verify there’s no nasty stuff going on.

For that reason of course we do try to recommend FOSS whereever possible. However, we’re not totally against proprietary software, so long as the build in privacy-by-design features e.g. E2EE.

We actually want to build sofware ourselves, and are looking into how to build it open source. Any advice welcome!

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments.

Our main aim is getting large numbers of people away from the main big tech companies. We’re less bothered about precisely which alternatives they choose, just that they do make a move.

For the comments about Vivaldi - their anti-surveillance and anti-AI stance, coupled with their great functionality, makes them a perfect off-ramp from big tech browsers. We’re aware that there are hardened browsers with even more privacy, but they can be restrictive - certain sites not opening - and right there you’ve lost a bunch of people who aren’t ready for that kind of trade off (yet).

Our focus is trying to convince those who really don’t care about privacy, that there is a larger problem created by ad surveillance. It’s a tough sell. Probably I’m too far gone to explain at that level. All suggestions welcome!

That’s a good idea. Fancy helping me word that definition?

By big tech we mean the big ones: Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Apple. But you can widen that as you see fit e.g. the AI companies, Netflix etc

Anyone having any luck running Bazzite for VR gaming?

This is excellent! Good work!

Totally! When you see someone else’s phone or laptop and you’re like “ew!”

That is an entirely valid point - and exactly why I wrote that blog post. To help people to explain to those around them that they also need to do something about their privacy. Otherwise they’re giving you away by association.

Come to think of it, I probably should have mentioned that in the post 🤦🏼‍♂️

Good points.

Similar to the other reply - I haven’t moved to a privacy OS on Android yet because of money.

My fancy Samsung is not supported by those OSs (yet).

ah damn, I didn’t know that… I really like those dropdowns as they shrink the article a bit. ok will have to consider not using them.

FYI when you get the blog by email they are expanded by default.

Have you tried viewing it in an RSS reader? (Ghost blogs you just append with /rss)

yeah i’m here. You mean without the ?tracker part to the URL…?

It’s a Ghost blog and that gets added automatically - I’d rather it wasn’t there but I don’t know how to stop that, sorry.

Showing that they blocked right wing stuff in the past, and now align with the right wing, demonstrates that big tech doesn’t care about sides - they just want money and power.

Also: if you sign up for the email newsletter you’ll have an easier time as it’s in light mode.

no idea - it’s a Ghost blog so they must have requied that, which is lame…

We will get to that in the Big Tech Walkout 2026 programme. This is for people who have no idea about tech, and struggle to know the difference between a search engine and a browser. Imagine them trying to install Linux 😂

Baby steps

Here are some simple program steps to follow for the #BigTechWalkout2025 https://www.rebeltechalliance.org/collectiveaction.html

Just do those 6 things and you’ll cut your digital footprint dramatically by the end of the year.

Please also share that hashtag on socials and in the link in messages to friends.