switching.social @switchingsocial@mastodon.at

Hello!

This is the official Mastodon account for the site switching.social.

It's a guide for non-technical people who are concerned about protecting their privacy online. It only lists easy-to-use sites and apps that are ethical and privacy-friendly.

You can find out more at https://switching.social

If you know someone who might benefit from this guide, please share the link with them!

#Introductions #NewHere #DeleteFacebook #DeleteGoogle #ReplaceFacebook

The #bookshop kobo.com sells lots of non-DRM eBooks!

However, they also sell lots of DRM eBooks, all mixed together with the non-DRM, and no filter to sort them out

This makes it very difficult to look for non-DRM books on #Kobo.

So, to solve this problem switching.social presents the Unofficial Kobo Search page, which lets you find non-DRM books available on your country's Kobo site:

https://switching.social/unofficial-kobo-search/

Any feedback very welcome.

#eBook #eBooks #Books #DRM

It's the last few days of @Framasoft's crowdfunding campaign for #PeerTube, the ethical alternative to #YouTube. The campaign's aim is to take PeerTube out of beta and into release.

If you want to support an open source federated video platform, now is your chance:

https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/en/projects/peertube-a-free-and-federated-video-platform

The main goal has been reached so the funding will definitely be paid, but there are stretch goals and the more raised now the faster the development will proceed.

#DeleteYouTube #DeleteGoogle #ActivityPub

It's #FollowFriday! Here are some #alternatives to follow:

@cloutstream CloutStream: An open source federated alternative to LinkedIn, just launched its new website

@Chocobozzz Chocobozzz: Lead developer of #PeerTube, the ethical alternative to YouTube

@Purism Purism: Makers of privacy-oriented computers and the upcoming Librem5 smartphone

@fdroidorg F-Droid: The open source alternative to Google Play

@krita Krita: Open source painting software aimed at artists and illustrators

#FF #FFed

(Just helped someone asking about alternative search engines, so perhaps it's time to repost this link:)

If you're looking for ethical #alternatives to #GoogleSearch, they exist and they are just as easy to use:

https://switching.social/ethical-alternatives-to-google-search/

#Privacy #DeleteGoogle

Added #SnipsAI to the "Bubbling Under" page as an upcoming ethical alternative to Alexa, Siri and Google Home:

https://switching.social/bubbling-under/

According to the feedback from yesterday's thread, Snips seems to be the only voice assistant project that works offline and isn't sending your data to someone else's computer.

Currently, Mycroft sends your data to their server for processing, and Gladys sends your data to Google (!) for processing.

Wow, looks like this was the right day to look for unconnected alternatives to #GoogleHome:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/27/google_home_outage/

(via
https://mastodon.social/@cypnk/100278229119753317 )

I need some help with ethical alternatives to #Alexa, #Siri and #GoogleHome.

The main open source voice assistants seem to be #Mycroft and #Snips:

Mycroft AI
https://mycroft.ai/

Snips AI
https://snips.ai/

Any others?

Does anyone have opinions about how well the #alternatives respect people's #privacy?

Is it correct that Mycroft is centralised (voice queries via a central server) and Snips is decentralised (voice queries locally on the device)?

#MycroftAI #AmazonAlexa #AppleSiri

.@mhall119 is developing an ethical alternative to #MeetUp called #GetTogether.

There's already a flagship site up and running:

https://gettogether.community/

The dev is working on #ActivityPub support and is requesting feedback on what more needs to be done:

https://github.com/GetTogetherComm/GetTogether/issues/60

If you're interested in helping federate GetTogether, join the discussion at the link above.

#Alternatives

There was a discussion recently of using #NextCloud as a more private alternative to #GoogleDrive or #DropBox.

Some people think you have to self-host NextCloud, but this isn't the case.

There are many sites where you can sign up to NextCloud just like you would sign up to Google Drive or DropBox:

https://owndrive.com/
https://indie.host/
https://disroot.org/en/services/nextcloud
etc.

Bear in mind that you have to trust the company running the site you sign up at.

#Privacy #DeleteGoogle #DeleteDropBox

Hmm... the logo at the top of https://switching.social looks quite bare 😕

Maybe it should have an illustration to make it a bit more friendly?

Any ideas or suggestions? Perhaps there should be a mascot of some kind? 🐶

p.s. If you want to take part in the crowdfunding, or just take a look at the stretch goals, the link is:

https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/en/projects/peertube-a-free-and-federated-video-platform

.@Framasoft's crowdfunding for #PeerTube has just passed 100%, so it will definitely get funding 🎉 👏 🍾

There's still 12 days to go, so the appeal is going for a stretch goal to add even more features 😎

Well done everyone! 👍

#DeleteYouTube #Alternatives

It's #FollowFriday so time for some #alternatives to follow:

@funkwhale FunkWhale: Open source federated alternative to GrooveShark and SoundCloud

@prismo Prismo: Federated open source alternative to Reddit, in development.

@Fairphone and @WeAreFairphone Fairphone: Makers of fairtrade modular smartphones

@kevinbeynon Libreture: eBook storage site and comprehensive list of non-DRM eBook publishers.

@clickblaster ClickBlaster: Endless clickbait!

#FF #FFed #Recommendations

.@Blender's videos on #YouTube have now come back, but they are also being told by Google/YT that they HAVE to monetise them. #Blender are considering refusing, which presumably would mean the videos being taken down again:

https://www.blender.org/media-exposure/youtube-blocks-blender-videos-worldwide/

Whatever they once stood for, #Google's aim now is exploiting their users' content for maximum profit.

If you don't want your videos to be exploited, it is important to switch to an independent alternative:

https://joinpeertube.org/en/

#DeleteYouTube