I'm so overwhelmed with the privacy options out there. Anyone wanna share their setup for syncing/using
Calendar
Contacts
What email providers do you use?
Do you have a custom domain for your email?
Does everything FOSS play nicely with eachother?
Do you use Reddit logged in? What about other social media?
Ahhh!!
@soudk I avoid most social media but there are several ways of browsing them. I like the alternative web frontends for twitter (e.g. nitter.net) and reddit (teddit.net, libredd.it) and use these quite a bit. Logging in isn't possible however. On mobile there are also apps, at least for android that let you use social media im a way private way. For Reddit I can recommend slide from f-droid. Quite feature-rich and logging in is possible.
Feel free to ask more if you want :)
@TheDoctor Hi!! Thanks for the detailed response.
I am aware of those on privacytools.io but I wanted a more human perspective.
About Nextcloud, how do you host it? Was there a particular guide you followed? I've been looking into it but it seemed a bit complicated and the instructions were scattered.
@soudk I had similar issues. I host it on a raspberries pi and use this: https://ownyourbits.com/nextcloudpi/
It's probably the easiest way to get it up and running. If you have a different device, you could also use the snap image. Installing by hand is somewhat more involved but doable. I was able to get that done once by following some tutorial or other. Bit difficult though if you know nothing about networking and servers like me when I did that...
@soudk Okay, I'll just go down the list and try to answer all of your questions, forgive me if I miss one.
For offline calendar, use Etar. If you need Calendar and contacts synced, use self-hosted NextCloud.
I don't use email, but I always recommend Tutanota to everyone, ProtonMail is extremely shady to me, I can clarify if you'd like.
Custom domains for email providers are worthless unless you plan on switching providers frequently or using the same email for business as personal.
That's an impossible question to answer, difference FOSS apps are different, but installing one shouldn't break another.
Absolutely not. Always use front-ends. If you're going to Reddit, replace reddit.com with teddit.net -- if you're going to Instagram, use bibliogram.art -- if you're going to Twitter, use nitter.net -- and all of these websites have alternative instances, some may unblock or block certain things, some may be faster, etc.
If you have any more questions, let me know!
@ThreeBadgersInATrenchcoat why wouldn't using the default social media sites with no accounts and inprivate tabs not be good enough?
@redcoqui Private tabs do nothing other than store less data on your device by default. They can also still track your IP, UUID, OS, browser version, OS version, etc if you use the websites normally. No accounts also hardly does anything, it just removes one step, almost all of them link behavior now, how long you click, how long you stop on something, etc.
@ThreeBadgersInATrenchcoat Hey! Thanks for your response. Self-hosting Nextcloud I'm not sure of... I don't know if I can set it up properly on my own just yet.
Why do you think protonmail is shady?
As for custom domains, I mean, every ~10 or so years there will be better providers out there so I don't want to lock myself in so early. I have tutanota email but like, I'm worried if they go under or slow down development.
@soudk Its actually really easy. If you don't want the fastest, I'd recommend using the Snap package. TLG has a decent tutorial regarding the Snap version if I recall correctly.
Here's a list of reasons why I think ProtonMail is shady and will never trust them:
The developers of ProtonMail, don't even use ProtonMail, they use almost exclusively GMail or Outlook.
They don't let you register over their .onion. If you go to their .onion and then click register, it redirects you to their
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clearnet site.
Its next to impossible to make an account over Tor, as they make you supply another email, your phone number (destroying any anonymity), or even forcing you to donate them money (also destroying anonymity).
They can't provide the zero-access or full un-tamperable e2ee that they claim. Its functionally impossible on the email protocol.
They're partially owned and closely tied with the Swiss government.
They were developed with NSA and CIA oversight.
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They engage in illegal cybercrimes.
They raised $550,000 to "stay independent" but then immediately after the funding campaign ended they sold to a U.S. capital firm.
If you don't mind any of this, then use their service. If you do, I'd suggest you look elsewhere (like Tutanota).
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@ThreeBadgersInATrenchcoat wow! I'll have to read up on this. Tutanota for now then!
@soudk
Calendar, Contacts are synced with my selfhosted Nextcloud
I use a custom domain with Protonmail, and I plan to move to Migadu since it's much cheaper to have unlimited aliases and mailboxes there.
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@soudk
> Does everything FOSS play nicely with eachother?
Mostly yes. Small things:
Bitwarden app won't fill my passwords on Fenix browser on Android, I have to use a browser extension and the latter sometimes fights with an app for autofill. I have to look into it, but I'm lazy.
Default OnlyOffice setup is very unreliable in Nextcloud, so I plan to buy a server and move to Collabora setup (LibreOffice).
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@soudk I'm assuming you are aware of all the options presented on privacytools.io
For calendar/contacts I use a self-hosted nextcloud instance which supports synching via caldav/carddav. Also most email providers offer this service. I'm at posteo and it's fine (can't have custom domains though) but I think all of the services on privacytools work. Most people seem to prefer protonmail but that's too expensive for my taste.