====== Leave GAFAM ======

===== Part 1: the straw that broke the camel's back =====

==== Context ====

  - I am paying attention to data privacy for a while. I tried to reduce my usage of the GAFAM ((Google Apple Facebook Amazon Microsoft)) products as much as I could for past years. It is pretty hard.
  - I am getting more and more exhausted by GAFAM spies: you talked/search for one topic on the internet and right after you got ads about it everywhere on GAFAM products.
  - How I can challenge people to quit((at least reduce usage)) GAFAM products if I don't do it whereas I have the technical skills and I can afford it ?
  - I could give more examples, but it is time for action. No more bullshit, no more excuse.
==== The trigger ====

In January 2023, I was watching one video about this topic "How to free yourself from GAFAM ? with Framasoft"((only in French)). 

[[https://video.blast-info.fr/w/hmDGgcAAZuxB5Q8nVZNEc3|{{ :en:leave-gafam:comment-se-liberer-des-gafam.png?nolink&400 |Blast Au Poste Comment se liberer des GAFAM ?}}]]

Really interesting and during the video, one guy from [[https://framasoft.org/|Framasoft]] was talking about a story of tracking applications in the US: 


  For 160 US dollars you could buy data telling you if a women aborted,
  when and where !

WTF?!? :-( [[https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vzjb/location-data-abortion-clinics-safegraph-planned-parenthood|source Vice.com in english]] [[https://www.telerama.fr/debats-reportages/droit-a-l-avortement-aux-etats-unis-smartphones-et-applis-se-retournent-contre-les-femmes-7010524.php|source telerama.fr in French]]

Sad reminder: yes [[https://reproductiverights.org/abortion-illegal-11-states/|it is now illegal in some US states]].

{{ :en:leave-gafam:part1-en.png?direct&600 |the trigger}}
CC BY-SA 2.0 FR: [[https://ptilouk.net/|Gee]]

Everyone has a threshold, they just reached mine. I decided to restart the big fight to quit GAFAM. Show that it is possible and reduce the power that GAFAM companies have on our life, our futur.

==== Last tries ====

As I said, I already tried to quit GAFAM a long time ago. I wanted to highlight some projects that helped me or at least to say that I was happy to see that something else than GAFAM was existing.

=== Firefox OS ===

I was convinced, and I still am, that the first quick win that I could achieve was to stop using an iPhone.
That's why I tried [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_OS|Firefox OS]]. I love [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox|Firefox browser]] and their philosophy, that's why I was really excited by this phone OS but too many bugs. I was not able to just receive messages and manage calls.

=== Blackphone ===

This english company seems to provide a phone with an clean OS. I was wondering if it could fit my use case but sending the hardware to Canada looked complicated and really expensive and their software package/subscription did not provide me confidence. Maybe I am wrong but I did not go further.


=== Murena ===

Last but not least, [[https://murena.com/|Murena]] is the last one I discovered and it should be the one I would start my quit-gafam-quest. No subscription. You can buy their cloud solution only if you want but we can use your own Nextcloud instance. Looks good to me 8-).

==== Let's start ====

As I said, in my use case, I guess that the best first step for my quest will be to stop using my iPhone and the iCloud subscription that comes with.

I know there will be some challenges:

  - Get all my pictures back from iCloud. I know that exporting is clearly not user friendly like Google Drive ([[https://framablog.org/2023/02/09/la-degooglisation-du-grap-partie-1-la-sortie-de-google-drive/|Degooglisation du GRAP part 1]] in French).
  - Transfer data and applications I need onto my new smartphone. Especially the MFA((Multi Factor Authentication)) applications required by banks, employers...



[[en:leave-gafam:part2-murena|{{ :en:leave-gafam:to-part-2-en.png?direct&200 |to part 2}}]]
CC BY-SA 2.0 FR: [[https://ptilouk.net/|Gee]]