This article examines the dominance of big tech companies and the implications of relying heavily on their services. It highlights the privacy concerns associated with allowing these companies to collect vast amounts of user data. The piece then explores alternative options, particularly open-source and European-based applications, that offer privacy-focused solutions for various digital needs, such as browsers and search engines.
Table of Contents Big tech companies are so dominant and so far-reaching right now that people could probably live their entire digital lives interacting only with Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon products. Things never got quite that bad for me but I did realize recently that I’ve been relying far too much on Google, plus I’ve been using Safari for years even though I don’t actually like it that much.
Because — think about it — if you need to find a new restaurant, hotel, or store, does any other map software empower you to the extent Google Maps does? Not really. Google doesn’t just offer these products for “free,” it has also used its long-standing influence, resources, and user base to make them almost unbeatable. Everyone you know uses them, competitors get bought out or struggle to gain traction, and Google’s products just keep growing and growing all the while.
Companies that break the GDPR law can get fined up to 20 million euros or 4% of their global sales, whichever is higher. Part of the problem with big tech is the secrecy and uncertainty — we don’t even know what the worst thing they’re doing with our data could be. With European companies, those worst-case scenarios are taken off the table, along with a bunch of lesser annoyances too.
It only takes a few seconds to download and you can even import your browser history and your bookmarks from whatever you used before. Not every switch I’ll suggest is easy, but this one truly is. There’s no need to wait, however. You can download the Qwant extension for Safari, Chrome, Edge, or Firefox to make it your default search engine today and start benefiting from a little extra privacy. Independent search engines also use their own search algorithms, which means you can get a break from the same old “top-ranking SEO posts” that plague Google right now.
There are too many options to list here but the most well-known is Proton. It was created in Switzerland by scientists at CERN, which just sounds cool, and all of the data is encrypted so no one, including Proton, can see your emails. It also protects you from trackers, which record what you read and click on and send the information to senders and advertisers.
Grammar checkers Grammarly is the best-known grammar checker around and according to its website, it is GDPR compliant. If you’re interested in an alternative, however, you can try out the open-source LanguageTool . I’m currently trying out a Czech alternative called Mapy.cz — the map and route calculation features are good and it does have some limited business information, too. This kind of stuff is mainly user-generated content so we can only get a true competitor to Google Maps if we help build it ourselves. It’s a lot of work, though.
Privacy BIG TECH PRIVACY OPEN-SOURCE EUROPEAN SOFTWARE ALTERNATIVES
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