Learning and Sharing about Alternatives to Big Tech
So you’ve read, learned, and watched enough to understand that one of the forces stopping you from having a more diverse, more free, and less surveilled online life is Big Tech. What comes next?
One of the biggest issues with coming to this understanding is that it is quite easy to feel powerless. You’re just one person. What can we do to make our online world a more habitable place? Fortunately there are a bundle of different actions you can take which, if done in tandem with other people, can ultimately make a change. In fact, some research would indicate that you only need a small percentage of people to make change, and then others follow.
Switch to Alternative Tools
One of the most immediate things you can do is to switch your browser. It takes more effort but you might also change your operating system, your office suite, your storage drive and of course your social media choices. Don't forget to identify all your Big Tech tools and tools with Big Tech dependencies. And remember that a search engine pulling results from the Google/Bing index, and/or serving Google/Microsoft ads, is still doing positive things for Alphasoft.
We suggest, in a recent piece, some of the alternatives to Big Tech services. For browsers and other choices we’d suggest flicking back through the Technology category on this blog, as we’ve written about a good number of other independent options. For browsers you can read about Mojeek friendly browsers here.
Mojeek makes a lot of use of Debian and other GNU/Linux flavours in our stack and running the computers which are used by our team; and there’s also this piece on /e/OS/ a pro-privacy Android alternative which comes with Mojeek pre-loaded.
Today there are many projects and companies out there working hard to provide you with true alternatives; there’s never been a better time to try out something not attached to GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft).
Stay Educated
Rebutting big tech propaganda (which will become useful in the next step) is a useful skill. Luckily there are a range of different NGOs, publications, and blogs out there that will keep you up-to-date. These include the Open Rights Group, 404Media, and BIG by Matt Stoller to mention a few. Also check out the prolific Cory Doctorow at Pluralistic, who coined the term "Enshittifcation". Of course if you haven’t already, consider subscribing to the Mojeek Newsletter or the related RSS feed.
Once you immerse yourself in understanding the ways in which Big Tech has undue and outsize influence on our daily lives, you can start thinking more critically about concepts such as the “nothing to hide” line which comes out so frequently when people talk about online privacy.
Expand the Circle
A problem shared is a problem halved. So when you’ve spent all that time understanding the issues which need fixing online, it’s time to find more people to build solidarity with, in order to get to solving them. This sounds daunting at first, but it can be as simple as finding and giving input to a relevant forum or social media network.
When it comes to actually bringing people on side, the most useful arguments are ones which either touch them directly, or ones which highlight how the current situation causes harm to other groups. This process of bringing others into the fold is a great way of practising and employing the knowledge which you’ve gained from the previous step. There is nothing like another person to challenge the ideas that you hold and help you find new perspectives or ways of thinking about things.
Sign and Share
Petitions are becoming more common, and if you’re subscribed to some of the newsletters mentioned before, you’ve probably already come across one or two. Across the world there are many organisations that are proactive in campaigns that lobby governments, on digital and human rights. You can check out the following, and let us know who we should add:
- Bits of Freedom 🇳🇱
- Digitalcourage 🇩🇪
- Digital Rights Watch 🇦🇺
- Electronic Frontier Foundation 🇺🇸
- Internet Freedom Foundation 🇮🇳
- La Quadrature du Net 🇫🇷
- Open Rights Group and Big Brother Watch 🇬🇧
You may feel powerless sometimes, but don’t be shy of contacting your political representatives. They may nowadays be too close to Big Tech, but if we don’t speak up they will be taking their input from lobbyists, not their voters.
Finally, if you want to join a group of people in discussing more ways to fight back against Big Tech, please consider joining the Mojeek community.
