Updated: 1/11/21 @ 12:58 p.m. MST
Popular alternatives to GMail, Facebook, Twitter and other spyware programs.
Privacy and freedom of speech, today, is on the minds of everyone. The group in the light who wants to be able to express themselves and communicate privately amongst themselves. Then there are the dark tyrants who want to suppress your rights and crush you. The tyrants, by the way, probably use some of the methods discussed in this article. There is even a movement by the Democratic party apartheid movement to “cleanse” Trump supporters, as expressed by a person associated with ABC. Democrats have expressed a desire to “hunt down” Trump supporters after the election. One Democrat even put out a video expressly threatening Trump supporters which was applauded by Facebook, Twitter and the other Silicon Valley crowd.
In this article, we briefly review some of the alternatives to Facebook, Twitter, Google and other spyware companies. Bear in mind, however, nothing is perfect. If you decide to move to MeWe, for example, you can expect that government spies will have accounts and track things you say just as they do on Facebook, though the alternatives make that a little more difficult. Also remember that alternative sites are getting hammered with new sign ups daily. So they may work slower especially during peak use. Also be aware that we have not tried all of these suggestions. Many of these were suggested at a recent Republican meeting I attended and I have added others that I have used. So please check the links and carefully read their web sites. Ask questions of more tech savvy people you know and email the company if you want more information.
It should also be noted that we are not presenting these ideas for people to use illegally. And by that we mean in deference to the Constitution of the United States of America. There are hundreds of thousands of laws on the books that do not pass constitutional muster. We could care less if you violate those. If, however, your are BLM or Anitifa or other domestic terrorist bent on destroying the United States and its foundational law, we hope you get caught. If you are a pervert using these methods to harm children we hope you are caught and sent to prison for the rest of your natural life. We are presenting this material for those United States citizens who want to live their lives as the founders intended.
If you are tired of Facebook jail for posting something about Biden and the election when you have just seen a Hollyweed personality holding up the severed head of Trump, you might want to consider the alternative. I used to use the Teapartycommunity.com, but it apparently no longer exist. The current Facebook alternative seems to be MeWe.com.
I have been on MeWe since October last year. MeWe carries no ads and depends on the support of the people using it. You can set up one personal page and use it for free. Each additional page you want to set up costs $1.99 a month. You can also join as a Premium Member which gives you access to other features of the site, such as special emojis, online phone and other features. Even with Premium Membership, however, you still have to pay $1.99 a month for additional pages. We found this out when we started the Northern Arizona Gazette page on MeWe. We did find it worth the $1.99 a month to get news like this out there since Facebook will probably censor this on our page.
When I say there are no ads, there are no corporate ads. If you are using it free, every so often when you sign in you get an ad suggesting you upgrade to Premium. You can cancel it and move on unmolested. There are problems with this platform as with any. When I use Facebook, however, their spyware actually locks up my system after a time. I have not had that problem using MeWe.
Browser
There are two browser alternatives to those spyware programs built into Microsoft and Apple. If you are using Windows 10, you cannot remove and eliminate Microsoft Edge. You can download and use alternatives.
The first, and most popular, is Firefox. I have used it for years on the computer and my Android phone. While it is more secure than using built in browsers, some red flags have popped up in recent updates. You have less control over what comes up when you open a new tab. When you start to type something in, you get a list of the deep state companies that are interested in suppressing your liberties.
Lately I’ve been using Brave. I do not know if it is more secure, but my computer does not seem to get locked up by the Facebook spyware. It seems to run smoother like Firefox used to.
Another thing to consider in your quest for a more secure Internet is a virtual privacy network or VPN. There are some free applications for Android (and I’m sure Apple) phones and some free services online. It is probably worth giving a monthly or annual donation to the sites as they are worth it. What they do is, basically, reroute your Internet through other servers around the world so that it looks as though your are visiting the site from another location. It makes it harder for hackers and others to know where you are accessing the Internet from. The security company Lifelock offers it as part of their Norton utilities package.
Search Engines
Google tracks your moves on the Internet just like Facebook. When you make a search, they record it and share that information with what ever nefarious group they choose. There are two alternatives to Google that do not keep a record of your searches. Startpage.com and Duckduckgo.
I have used Startpage since it was called Ixquick back in the day. It eventually morphed into Startpage with several more features. It uses the Google database to provide search results, but does not keep a record of your searches. One of the interesting newer features is anonymous viewing of web sites. If you click on the feature, it blocks cookies from the site so they do not know you are there. This feature, however, could cause difficulty accessing some of the features of the site.
The other that is growing in popularity is Duckduckgo. Like Startpage, they do not record your searches, send targeted ads or track you in privacy mode. I discovered that Duckduckgo has a privacy browser for Android phones although not available for computer. When you do a search in the phone app, you get results like any other search engine. When you click on it, it tries to make the site visitation more secure. I have not studied exactly how, but I know that YouTube videos, for example, come up with just the video you want and no popups. I have started to use it over the Firefox browser app.
Emails
There are two ways to receive emails. One is through a mail reader, such as Thunderbird–which is not secure–or through accessing a web page, such as you do with GMail or Microsoft mail. Also not secure. There are two web based alternatives; Hushmail and Protonmail.
Hushmail is in Canada where privacy laws are different. You had to download Java to make the security work. I am not sure what it requires now as I have not used it for sometime. It is web based but allows you to pass encrypted messages. You can send messages to a person who does not use Hushmail by using a question/answer passcode.
The other is Protonmail. This system was developed by scientist of CERN who were looking to find a way to pass secure messages. This system is in servers in Switzerland where it is much harder to get legal access to the servers. Protonmail claims, however, that with their encryption, even they cannot access the email. There is also an Android phone app for Protonmail.
Both of these services give you one email account free, but add extra services for donations. For example, more email addresses with Protonmail and a vanity email domain with Hushmail. Also, for a price, you get secure forms with Hushmail to allow you to get personal information securely. Both of these are web based. So if you are currently using a web based email such as Gmail, these should not be that big of a transition for you. Used in conjunction with a VPN, any IP address logging would show the email came from another location.
Twitter replacement
The big Twitter alternative was Parler and it was doing well. So well, in fact, that it was shut down by the Amazon. Amazon is the big tech company that provides ALexa designed to spy on your home. They were providing web services for Parler but cut them off on January 10. I, as quickly, “cleansed” my Amazon account. The CEO is still looking for an alternative Internet service provider so they should be back.
The other alternative is Gab. The advantage of Gab is that they have been around longer and have their own servers. I signed up last night and noticed it is slow to connect. It is slow to move around the site. Since they are having thousands of people an hour flocking to the site, however, this is understandable. The problem is that I still cannot seem to get a confirmation email.
A phone app suggested along this line is Signal. Signal allows you to pass secure SMS text messages on your Android or iPhone. Signal replaces the native SMS app on your phone. To be secure, the person sending and receiving the text message must be using Signal, but you can send a text from the Signal app to one not using Signal.
How about a new operating system?
Finally, the biggest thing you can do to secure your system is to get another operating system. I’m not talking about upgrading your Windows 7 to Windows Spyware 10. I am talking about moving from Windows and Apple to Linux.
Linux operating system versions are called “distros” or distributions. There are so many companies distributing Linux that I cannot give you a definite pick for the perfect distro for you. The best advice here is start with a tech savvy friend who uses Linux and obtain advice through them.
Some provide a free version and a more expansive version for a nominal fee, usually around $50. All Linux free versions, however, give you the basic protection. Part of that protection is if you do anything, from updating to adding programs, you will have to enter your password every time. Once you download the program it is yours to use.
There are ways to use your former Windows programs with some versions. The program Wine is one way. Robolinux claims to run Windows programs natively, but I have not been able to get it loaded on a computer to find out. There are, however, so many free programs that are similar to Windows programs that you can download. There are card, dice and shoot ’em up games. There are DVD and CD burning programs and movie makers. There are programs for amateur radio and learning electronics, science and other educational programs. You can search for a list of these programs and download them via the Internet and that is why you need to enter the password every time.
Entering the password for access to the Internet, by the way, is a very paranoid security measure. If you have to enter the password for any changes, a hacker has to know the password to make any changes in your system.
There are also only a couple of anti-virus software programs. That is because Linux has been less susceptible to viruses. Of course, that changes. If you are going to use Linux for your emails, you will probably want to download a virus program such as Clam which checks emails for viruses. That is probably the quickest way to get a virus into your Linux distro.
For older people who are leery about venturing into a new learning experience, you might want to think about the studies that show keeping the mind actively learning new things may delay the onset of elderly mental disorders such as dementia. So securing your online life might be the healthy thing to do.
Summary
This article briefly touches on the more popular methods people are using for security purposes and protecting their freedom of speech. There are more, of course, and more around the corner.
What it boils down to is you. What you need to make your life feel more secure. Also make sure you are vigilant in updating programs and Linux distros that you use.