Yeah, it’s tough work to get people to change. So far I managed to convince my family and a buddy of mine to get Signal and they only did it so they can communicate with me after I told them I won’t be using Whatsapp. The vast majority of people told me it’s too much of a bother to switch. They know where to find me anyway.

I gave up on the ideea of convincing people to ditch Facebook, Instagram and Tiktok. It’s a lost cause.

deleted by creator

If you live in the EU, you will soon be able to message via a third party app to Whatsapp users thanks to the Digital Markets Act from last year. Meta said they’re planning to release this feature this year. However through this feature Meta will still be able to retain data about your messaging. And since Zuckerberg has now openly aligned himself with Trump, there’s a fair chance that data will be used against you at some point in the future.

I recommend you sever any ties to Meta and switch to a privacy focused messenger app like Signal. It has the same interface, but far stronger encryption and it’s open source.

Harmony is closed source which is a massive red flag as even Android is open source. Definetly not a good alternative.

I must say that American companies are getting better and better at making me ditch their products and services.

Art of the Deal at its finest.

The majority of people don’t need so much security, for example I don’t use SELinux even on desktop.

Privacy goes hand in hand with security. If you don’t have strong security then you can’t say that you have privacy. Governments and hackers will exploit your oversight to breach your device, rendering your distancing from Big Tech pointless.

I’m sorry but I won’t give Google more money, I think they have enough billions of dollars already.

I understand and I feel the same way. It’s ironic that in order to obtain the highest level of security and privacy you have to first degoogle and then go back to Google, but life is funny that way. If you are adamant about it, then I suggest you buy a refurbished Pixel.

I prefer to support business projects and developers who are for open source and the independence from the Big Tech

And I encourage you to do so! More than 90% of my apps on my mobile devices now come from either European devs or FOSS projects. Similar situation on my laptop as well that now runs Linux instead of ChromeOS.

However, I strongly urge you not to compromise your online security and privacy. Choosing a weak Android ROM as your OS is one way you can do that and it can have more negative effects on your life than just staying with your default Android. If you really feel the need to ditch Android immediately, then go for Calyx if you can, but try to switch to Graphene when you can. I also can’t immediately switch, but I will probably choose Graphene when I’ll be able to.

I’m sorry, but choosing an OS solely on the nationality of its developers is just careless and should not be encouraged. You should primarily aim for functionality, privacy and security.

The only OS on your list that meets these requirements is Graphene which remains the only true alternative for Android and IOS on mobile devices. The main drawback is that it only works on Google devices due to their superior hardware. The rest of Android Roms lack severely in terms of security features and in some cases are even worse than simple Android. /e/ OS is one of them. The unlocked bootloader and the delay in security updates substantially reduce the security of your device. Mobile based Linux OS are underdeveloped and do not have access to most apps available on the market. They can be considered an alternative only if you use your phone for its basic features and for emailing.

If you can, get a Pixel and install Graphene on it. If not, degoogle your device as best as you can, use a vpn, a password manager and a private email provider.

EDIT: Here is a useful chart comparing all the Android Roms - https://eylenburg.github.io/android_comparison.htm

If you really want to ditch Android, but you can’t get Graphene then your second best choice would be Calyx.

And that the US could ensure they can use the digital part to “turn the aircraft off” for their “national security”.

No, they can’t shut the software off for everyone by turning off a switch. No military in the world would ever touch that aicraft if that was the case. It is true that the F35 runs on American software (except for the Israeli variant) and that for optimal performance it requires updates that are developed by the US. But the jets aren’t connected to a network in order for the US to send a malware type update to compromise the system. The updates need to be manually reviewed and installed. It’s not like how Google sends out automatic updates for Android that pop up in your notification bar. That’s a security risk that could be exploited by enemy agents.

And while the US can’t brick the aircraft from the other side of the ocean, it can stop providing updates to the system. It would drastically reduce the aircraft’s capabilities in the long term, but it would still be operational provided it has the proper maintenance. It just wouldn’t be that good. To put it into crude terms, think of two gaming pcs owned by you and your friend. Both of them are top of the line and both of them can only run Windows. For whatever reason you upset Bill Gates and he refuses to send you anymore updates for your Windows and doesn’t want to sell you a newer OS. Your computer works fine it’s just that you can’t do certain things on it because you’re running Windows 7 while your buddy is running Windows 11. Might not be the best example, but that should give you an ideea.

Regardless we shouldn’t stress about this. Like I’ve said, there’s already a stealth fighter project in development at a European level and we have both the technical expertise and industrial capability to further develop. The only downside is that our stuff is more expensive since we lack the economies of scale the Americans have in the defense sector. But that can be easily solved through joint borrowing and increased investment which is what we’re currently doing. The only losers here will be American defense companies that will see their sales to Europe decline as we shift to domestic alternatives.

Ironically enough Trump might be the best thing that happened for Europe since the formation of the EU. By trying to make America great again through his constant bullying tactics he is not only making America worse, but he is also making Europe great again by forcing us to loosen our ties with the US and invest in our own industries. Through sheer incompetence and ignorance that chucklenut is paving the way for us to become a superpower that can challenge US dominance over the globe.

Can confirm. I finally managed to install Linux Mint on my Chromebook yesterday and while it wasn’t as difficult as I imagined, it was annoying. The guy at Google that came up with the battery ideea deserves prison time. My internal speakers don’t work anymore, but I wasn’t really using them that often so it’s not a problem for me.

Stay away from Chromebooks. Save up for a normal laptop.

relegating your aircraft to a very heavy paperweight

There’s a bit more to this. It wouldn’t immediately render the aircraft useless. It would just heavily restrict its usage and capabilities in the long term.

Iran still has US made fighter jets from the '70s, most notably the Tomcat and the Phantom. They’ve managed to keep at least some of them operational despite the lack of spare parts by cannibalizing parts from other aircraft and keeping flying hours low to reduce maintenance. The Iranians tried to reverse engineer a lot of parts with limited success which is why they’re so desperate to get their hands on more Russian jets like the Su-35.

The key difference between Iran and Europe is that we actually have a strong military industrial complex and experience in manufacturing combat aircraft. As such we would be able to switch to domestic aircraft especially since there’s already a stealth fighter project in development between France, Spain and Germany.