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How can I improve my degoogle/privacy setup?

Hey all,

I'm not a degoogling newbie but not a veteran either. I'd be grateful to receive feedback on my current setup, which took about a year to migrate onto, and how I can improve it.

My goal is to reduce to keep my personal information as private as possible, and to reduce the chance of my online activities being associated with me as a person to others (e.g. employers). I also don't want to be complacent with allowing big tech's immoral practices and I also support the diversifying of software away from the US.

–PC: use Linux openSUSE Tumbleweed. Very happy with this distro, even as a college student.

–Mobile: Pixel with GrapheneOS. I install very few apps outside those I use for daily life, and where possible I've replaced them with more privacy-respecting alternatives (e.g. NewPipe). I try to access services via the web browser where possible, such as news or maps.

–Email: Use ProtonMail with SimpleLogin aliases. Unfortunately my college uses outlook, which I access by web browser.

–Browser: Vanadium (GrapheneOS default) and Firefox (desktop, with UBO). Should I be using a "hardened" Firefox?

–Search Engine: DuckDuckGo for both. I've used StartPage in the past, but I disliked that I got captchas when using a VPN.

–Messaging: I use both WhatsApp and Signal, but I have very few contacts on Signal. Since I dislike Meta, so I've thought about the nuclear option of sacrificing WhatsApp and forcing contact via Signal. However I feel I have too many people still using WhatsApp so I can't ditch it yet.

–Portable File Storage: Call me old fashioned, but I use USB sticks to transfer files.

–MFA: Aegis Auth, alongside a hardware security key for services that support it.

–Sourcing Apps: Obtainium. Obtainium actually blew my mind when I first used it

–VPN: I use ProtonVPN's free tier, but I'm wary of putting all my eggs in the same basket. I intend on switching to Mullvad, as having IP traffic and email under the same company bothers me a little.

–DNS: Using Quad9 atm, used to use Mullvad. Disappointed to see Mullvad stop their public DNS.

–Social Media: don't use social medias like Facebook, Twitter, etc.; those that I do I don't keep logged in and use for one-off things. Will eventually stop using Reddit.

–Office Software: LibreOffice came bundled with my Linux distro. I rarely use Office 365 online (college purposes).

–AI: very hesitant to use AI. If I use do AI, it will be through duck ai, however for information finding I will search myself on wikis, videos, books etc. Wikipedia is really good as a free service.

–Other: for other things like photos, notes or similar that I haven't mentioned, I either use the default inbuilt in the OSs I use, or simple pen and paper in the case of notes.

That’s what I’ve done so far. I’m open to your input on how to make it better.

Thanks.

https://i.redd.it/8i4wbh202iqh1.png

Source: r/degoogle · by /u/Cautious-School-974

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