This section will describe how I keep relative independence from Big Tech and (hopefully) obsolescence when it comes to personal IT use. Even though I highly praise products of a company having humanity’s foundational fruit in its logo, I’d like to have an option to switch and move away it at any point in time, with no lock-in resulting in lost data or wasted time of learning their unique solutions.
The reason is again not purely practical, I don’t expect being locked out from my accounts by the companies where I have them, but there’s an ideological element in it.
Computers are bicycles for brain, and are wonderfully enabling us to create, connect and/or consume. Small computers which we keep in our pockets are especially championing the last two, always equipped with small radio, allowing communication almost always. That makes our lives so much simpler sometimes. It [comes with a price], naturally, but nonetheless, electromagnetic connectedness of our brains1 is a phenomenon adored by me as much as starry skies or exotic fauna and flora.
Practice shows that in many cases we can be also limited by the tools we use. Sometimes the limitations are actually positive thing, sometimes not.
So when I do things my way I evade influence and limitations of other platforms. I can say here anything I want. I can keep private photos on my personal cloud without a fear that closed account may take them away from me, or someone’s malevolence or carelessness share them to the world against my will.
Negative aspects are here too. I need to be conscious about security implications, I need to develop my backup strategy, and - hardest of all - I need to choose from a vast number of available tools and toys. It can be paralyzing. This is one of the main reasons I believe it is worth sharing my experiences - maybe it will save you some time if you already believe that my taste resembles yours.
Some notes and articles will start showing up below.
I believe that careful selection of electronic products and services which become part of our lives is the only way to retain digital autonomy.
List of services currently enjoyed:
- Wonderful VPN software - Tailscale - used to access my private pool of servers and services without worrying about attackers. Instant intranet!
- HTTP server software - Nginx - Serving this website, but also allowing reverse proxy to other solutions. I host it on a super-cheap ($5) VPS from Linode.
- private cloud file hosting using Nextcloud, which is also an ecosystem of its own, with multiple additional applications and extensions.
- a mix of email accounts from big and small providers.
- Nix and NixOS as a way of defining my bigger computers setup. Ongoing discovery with steep learning curve sometimes.
- Apple shortcuts and integrations.
- Private video and audio collection - served either via samba or Jellyfin.
- Password management - opted out of any vendor-specific ways - switched off password collection by Firefox / Safari / whatever - and using encrypted keepass file synced via private cloud.
- Reading and note-taking - mix of Obsidian, Muse, handwritten notes in Apple notes and on paper… Still an area of discovery. I don’t have final opinion on that. It’s becoming quite obvious I should get opinionated at certain point.
List of things which are tempting me:
- Matrix protocol (own instance with connection to Meshtastic for emergencies).
- Fediverse / Mastodon (although I’m not too social).
Footnotes
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to each other, and to a sea of information stored in various networks! ↩