How have others gotten friends/family to make the switch? I’ve been doing a cleanup of my digital life over the last year or so and am trying to move to using more privacy friendly alternatives where possible.
example: I’d love to switch to Signal only but everyone I know only uses WhatsApp. I’ve mentioned switching to people in the past but it’s always the same response (I don’t have anything to hide)
The unfortunate fact is that most people don’t care about their privacy until it’s violated. It’s weird.
I’ve seen people complain about companies like Meta and Google but then not make any effort to try and change…people can be weird sometimes.
I suppose there are a lot of factors at play, but still 🤷🏻♂️
There’s a balance between principles and practicality and for a lot of people it just hasn’t tipped yet. I’m kind of in that boat myself.
On principle, I’d like to eliminate Google from my life entirely.
In practice, there is no good alternative to Google Maps. I’ve tried a bunch of OSM-based apps and they’re just not there yet. So I use Google Maps. Not happy about it, but I still use it.
Apple Maps is a good alternative if you have an iPhone. Apple may not be a whole lot better, but at least they aren’t an advertising company.
I use osmand in conjunction with gps-coordinates.net so I can get the GPS coordinates of addresses to put into osmand since it has a serious lack of addresses
Yep. And YouTube on teevee, just got to pay for it. I can’t suffer these ads.
No real replacement as of now for either.
Imagine paying and they are still mining you.
Wtf sort of dystopian bullshit time line is this.
Stop using them for everything else.
I just switched to Petal Maps, though it doesn’t warn me if a place is closing soon.
@hperrin @governorkeagan Until they *realise* how much and for how long it’s been violated.
Of all the privacy-related changes I’ve made, Signal is the only thing I’ve managed to get anyone else to use.
It was a matter of saying “I don’t use WhatsApp anymore” and that was that. Some friends didn’t make the switch, but they know where to find me.
Quitting Facebook lead people to believe that I was in need of help, though. They thought I was crazy. Still, today, people ask me why they can’t tag me on FB or why I unfriended them. When I tell them I stopped using FB they’re shocked and say things like, “but you’re such a techy computer nerd guy.”
Quitting Google was confusing for others too.
Start sending invites to Signal. Setting up group chats can help too, as invitations to those create mild FOMO in the mind of the invitee, then once they have the app they can use it for things besides group chats.
I have a few friends and family on Signal. Pretty much everyone uses other services too (including myself) but Signal is installed on a few
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I talk to some friends / family on Signal exclusively. They either already cared about it, or they’re close enough that they trust my recommendation / still don’t care but want to put in the effort
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I talk to some friends / family on Signal only when we want to have a more private conversation
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Some people won’t ever be convinced, I talk to them on other services or in person when privacy is important. I set up boundaries to protect myself, and people usually respect that.
This way I protect myself while respecting other people’s choices.
For you I’d recommend focussing on the second option. When you need to talk privately, ask the person to install it and give a short explanation for why it’s better. If they do, then great it’s installed and it’ll get used once in a while. Maybe they will see other people and build up the network. If they don’t install it, then suggest an alternative like talking in person
I don’t have anything to hide
Great! Then I guess they don’t mind giving you their bank password, credit card pin, details of all the medicines they take, information from the work they do, their detailed weekly activity schedule, their browser history, their investment portfolio and assets, etc, etc… I’m salivating at the thought of the hundreds of different ways in which I can make money with all that info!
Sacrificing privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you’re ok giving up free speech because you have nothing to say
Not even gonna name the source where you got that from? :P
Funny thing is that a lot of people actually do give pins and shit. I know more than a few people that straight up gave me their card and the pin number to buy shit when I was a kid.
Besides, giving embarrassing information to a faceless billion dollar company does not feel as bad as giving it to someone who judges you if they find that info embarrassing. It’s illogical but that’s how a lot of people think.
