This post will be my personal experience about trying to gain back my privacy after years of being privacy unconscious. And foremost I want to apologize for my English, if it isn’t perfect, 'cause English is not my first language.

I was already using Linux for the past year. I tried switching to it three times, and only the third time was successful. Also interested in open source I was for quite a long time, but the privacy topic has never really interested me. I was following this stupid statement: «I don’t worry about privacy because I have nothing to hide», which I regret now. But last Christmas, I suddenly realized how much data I was giving away to Big Tech (and not only them). I can’t perfectly remember what did lead me to that realization. Was it some YouTube video, privacy policy that I suddenly decided to check out or something else, but I immediately started to action.

For the past 6 months I deleted more than 100 accounts. Sometimes it was as easy as to press the button, sometimes I had to email support, and sometimes I literally had to fight for my right to remove the account. Even today there are still 7 accounts left, that I can not delete either because support is ignoring me, or because the process is too slow, or because the service simply does not give the right to remove user account.
JustDeleteMe actually helped me very much with that process, and I’ve even contributed to the project a few times, so to the other users who’ll follow my way the process would be at least a little easier.

Today is a special day, though, because I finally get rid of my Google and Microsoft accounts. I can finally breathe free. My situation is still not perfect, 'cause I still have some proprietary, privacy invasive accounts left, like Steam, Discord, or my banking apps. I can’t just immediately drop them, but at least I’ve reduced the amount of information I left behind.
What’s the moral? Welp, it would be so much easier for today’s me if yesterday’s me had been concerned about privacy in the first place.

  • utopiah@lemmy.ml
    15·
    6 months ago

    Kudos, it’s indeed a long road but a bright one!

    Regarding what’s left :

    • I still use Steam, and even have a SteamDeck (running only Linux) but if you want to avoid that itch.io is probably a good option, namely no launcher, only what game developers provide
    • Discord, well you could use the Web page, that’s what I do and even calls work. If you want to remove it entirely you will obviously lose your contacts so trickier problem
    • banking, same principle, you can do most of it via the Web. Some convenient options won’t work, e.g QR code to login or pay, but overall your bank probably have solutions that don’t require anything but a Web browser and your physical cards, do ask them and if it’s not up to your standards, check for other banks that might have better terms than the big ones

    You don’t have to immediately drop the few left but IMHO it’s not about being a purist or completionist but rather a journey and you already did a lot!