’Denmark Switches.’ A national campaign to collectively move off Big Tech.

@CiaraNi @BashStKid wow, another one with "less than average" needs
Last year I started to wonder if my tips and answers could be helpful (sometimes people asked me about degoogle during more public BigTech migration waves) as I did everything very easy mode. Was already full Linux long time and listened to local music files when I decided to consciously cut Big Tech off my life for privacy and ethical reasons. And most degoogle/migration manuals are long and detailed because of so many services and apps people use.
And wow, someone else not watching in this video-everything-cursed era!

@sebastian @Flatus Thanks for the tip. I did browse around in NextCloud's solutions but couldn't see a simple off-the-shelf one for a non-tech person like me who just wants it to plug-and-play work. I've been waiting to see Tuta's drive. Then the DanmarkSkifter campaign nudged to me to stop faffing around - get off OneDrive now, get the photos backed up, then pick the right cloud solution after that. Otherwise I'll never take that final step.

@CiaraNi in case it's helpful to anyone, I finally managed to get my entire workflow to be open source software, and have listed it here:
https://johnoestmannmusic.com/tooling/

@CiaraNi I was in the exact same situation - I can't remember how I found The Good Cloud but it works & customer service works well, too Held & lykke!

@madargon @BashStKid 'Less than average' needs Am happy to be below average in this case, because it means I have slightly less work to do 'dis-enshittifying' my digital life, so to speak.

@CiaraNi @BashStKid And less data already leaked to US companies

’Denmark Switches.’ A national campaign to collectively move off Big Tech. March 20th is Big Switch Day. I’ve named my goal now. I’m already almost deMicrosofted, except for my photo archive. I moved to Libre & Tuta mail and have been purging photos as I await the release of Tuta drive. Now I’m committing myself to just get the photos off OneDrive and on to my computer, that I own, in my house, by March 20th. Then I’ll delete Microsoft. Then I’ll boast about it on the Fediverse.

#DanmarkSkifter

Before I could pick my 2026 goal for #DanmarkSkifter, I did a digital status. I was mildly surprised when I saw my 2025 digital changes together. I looked at the list and thought: ’Tell me you hang out in the Fediverse without telling me you hang out in the Fediverse.’

From Outlook to Tuta
From Office to Libre
From MS Authenticator to Ente Authenticator
From Google Play to F-Droid
From Spotify to AntennaPod
From Firefox to Vivaldi
From DuckDuckGo to NoAIDuckDuckGo
And I bought a back-up drive.

@Npars01
@anonymous over on Instagram has been posting some very interesting ideas about how AI will be able to control mass behavior. That is what they are working on with their surveillance network. Complete control. Neural implants are coming. William Gibson is a visionary.
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/musk-says-neuralink-start-high-volume-production-interface-devices-by-2026-2026-01-01/

@CiaraNi

Talking from experience I'd add one thing (if it's a manual action):

Regular calendar reminder to actually do the backup.

edit: not that the reminder actually makes one do the action.. but it's a start.

@lin11c

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rashishrivastava/2025/11/07/why-sam-altman-wont-be-on-the-hook-for-openais-massive-spending-spree/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/andreahill/2025/08/21/why-95-of-ai-pilots-fail-and-what-business-leaders-should-do-instead/

William Gibson's early work never envisioned a future where such devices would be manufactured by companies that go regularly bankrupt, stranding their consumers, vendors, & patients.

https://www.netspi.com/newsroom/netspi-in-the-news/the-ai-journal-when-your-ai-provider-goes-bankrupt-a-hidden-security-risk-cisos-cant-ignore/

He did predict a world where the hacking, data theft, & data harvesting would be used to threaten, coerce, surveil, extort, & blackmail.

https://www.politico.com/story/2015/11/the-koch-brothers-intelligence-agency-215943

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/27/the-reclusive-hedge-fund-tycoon-behind-the-trump-presidency

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/cloak-and-data-cambridge-analytica-robert-mercer/

1/

@CiaraNi very good. I did most of this myself. I don't know how long it will take Tuta to introduce their drive, but you can use #Tresorit instead of onedrive. I use it for years.

@sebastian @Flatus Thanks for the tip. I did browse around in NextCloud's solutions but couldn't see a simple off-the-shelf one for a non-tech person like me who just wants it to plug-and-play work. I've been waiting to see Tuta's drive. Then the DanmarkSkifter campaign nudged to me to stop faffing around - get off OneDrive now, get the photos backed up, then pick the right cloud solution after that. Otherwise I'll never take that final step.

2/
The scale of the manipulation of public sentiment against vaccines and democracy are just two reprehensible examples.
https://therecord.media/chatgpt-health-draws-concern-privacy-critics

He did predict a world where societal trauma is deliberately manufactured then weaponized for corporate & ideological gain by the rich.
https://wp.nyu.edu/greenestreetreview/2019/12/04/hard-wired-traumas-a-retrospective-review-of-william-gibsons-neuromancer/

He saw the "DNA hacking" capabilities of AI

DNA-enabled disassemblers as a tool of "judge, jury, & executioner" police forces & kleptocratic warfare "The Peripheral"

https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/prescriptionsforabrokensystem/114977

@CiaraNi
A handy list! (“ ’Tell me you hang out in the Fediverse without telling me you hang out in the Fediverse.’ “)
I can tick 3 off as well! (More to come, obviously.)

Before I could pick my 2026 goal for #DanmarkSkifter, I did a digital status. I was mildly surprised when I saw my 2025 digital changes together. I looked at the list and thought: ’Tell me you hang out in the Fediverse without telling me you hang out in the Fediverse.’

From Outlook to Tuta
From Office to Libre
From MS Authenticator to Ente Authenticator
From Google Play to F-Droid
From Spotify to AntennaPod
From Firefox to Vivaldi
From DuckDuckGo to NoAIDuckDuckGo
And I bought a back-up drive.

@Pepijn @CiaraNi
May I ask: what do you use to do your backup?

@CiaraNi take a look on Linux Mint @linuxmint instead of Windows?

@CiaraNi @sebastian @Flatus Check Hetzner's Storage Share. That's basically a hosted and very affordable Nextcloud. I'm using it myself.