EU Alternatives for US based apps

[venomtail]

With all the latest debacles in tech and governmental policies, looking to drop everything US I use. First steps I'll want to take is to drop Chrome, Gmail and PIA. 

 

Looking at EU alternatives, there are two combos that I can see, just not familiar with them and thinking if anyone has some words of advice:

1. Proton email and VPN. Two services in one, would just have to figure out what browser to use. I see people mention that Vivaldi is pretty great? Anyone used Proton for both email and their VPN?
2. Mulllvad browser and VPN. Again, two services in one but would just have to figure out what sort of an Email service to go with. Anyone used Mullvad and their VPN?

Eventually I'll look for more alternatives, like for example car navigation apps. I've downloaded 3 today and will trial them all so I can eventually drop Google Maps and Waze.

 

Anyone got any more ideas for what every day apps most use that are US based but can be swapped out for EU ones? Maybe even some Canadian alternatives?

[WereCat]

7 minutes ago, venomtail said:

With all the latest debacles in tech and governmental policies, looking to drop everything US I use. First steps I'll want to take is to drop Chrome, Gmail and PIA. 

 

Looking at EU alternatives, there are two combos that I can see, just not familiar with them and thinking if anyone has some words of advice:

1. Proton email and VPN. Two services in one, would just have to figure out what browser to use. I see people mention that Vivaldi is pretty great? Anyone used Proton for both email and their VPN?
2. Mulllvad browser and VPN. Again, two services in one but would just have to figure out what sort of an Email service to go with. Anyone used Mullvad and their VPN?

Eventually I'll look for more alternatives, like for example car navigation apps. I've downloaded 3 today and will trial them all so I can eventually drop Google Maps and Waze.

 

Anyone got any more ideas for what every day apps most use that are US based but can be swapped out for EU ones? Maybe even some Canadian alternatives?

Yes, Vivaldi is a great browser once you figure out some of it's features and learn to use it.

Tuta mail is a good EU alternative for Proton but I don't think they have VPN.

Mullvad is quite solid VPN. I don't think you want to daily drive their browser though, it's not meant to be for your daily task but to stay anonymous as much as possible like with Tor... so no log-in anywhere, no changing settings to reduce fingerprinting, no entering of any credentials, etc... Otherwise it makes no sense.

[OhYou_]

the ultimate answer is to change how you use the browser, not what browser you use. If you are concerned with your browser selling your personal data, then stop putting your personal data online, come to terms on what is important to be private, and what isnt.
It doesn't necessarily mean hurr durr sop doing banking online or buying things, it means re-evaluate what actually needs to be private and what is already in 10s of company's database leaks.
Also, stopping use of chrome now would only prevent future personal info from being shared/sold. everything you have already done is already sold, so in short, who cares about that.

for car navigation, consider osmAND or buying an actual garman. For vpn, anything banned in the UK is good, so go proton.

[venomtail]

5 minutes ago, WereCat said:

Yes, Vivaldi is a great browser once you figure out some of it's features and learn to use it.

Tuta mail is a good EU alternative for Proton but I don't think they have VPN.

Mullvad is quite solid VPN. I don't think you want to daily drive their browser though, it's not meant to be for your daily task but to stay anonymous as much as possible like with Tor... so no log-in anywhere, no changing settings to reduce fingerprinting, no entering of any credentials, etc... Otherwise it makes no sense.

Aah so Mullvad goes hardcore, which for a normal normie just looking to swap goes too far?

[WereCat]

1 minute ago, venomtail said:

Aah so Mullvad goes hardcore, which for a normal normie just looking to swap goes too far?

It's not really meant to be a main browser. It's a great as secondary browser for privacy needs though.

[PDifolco]

58 minutes ago, OhYou_ said:

the ultimate answer is to change how you use the browser, not what browser you use. If you are concerned with your browser selling your personal data, then stop putting your personal data online, come to terms on what is important to be private, and what isnt.
It doesn't necessarily mean hurr durr sop doing banking online or buying things, it means re-evaluate what actually needs to be private and what is already in 10s of company's database leaks.
Also, stopping use of chrome now would only prevent future personal info from being shared/sold. everything you have already done is already sold, so in short, who cares about that.

for car navigation, consider osmAND or buying an actual garman. For vpn, anything banned in the UK is good, so go proton.

Easy to tell, how do you refrain for inputting your email, name, address and card number when buying something ?? 

Of when filing for IRS (here you have to do it online) ?  Call them instead ?

You mean everyone should stop buying online, or only under false identity and stolen credit card ?  

[manikyath]

1 hour ago, venomtail said:

I see people mention that Vivaldi is pretty great?

vivaldi is nice, i've no idea about the security implications of it, but it's a free application so make of that what you wish.

[jordanbuilds1]

2 hours ago, venomtail said:

With all the latest debacles in tech and governmental policies, looking to drop everything US I use. First steps I'll want to take is to drop Chrome, Gmail and PIA. 

 

Looking at EU alternatives, there are two combos that I can see, just not familiar with them and thinking if anyone has some words of advice:

1. Proton email and VPN. Two services in one, would just have to figure out what browser to use. I see people mention that Vivaldi is pretty great? Anyone used Proton for both email and their VPN?
2. Mulllvad browser and VPN. Again, two services in one but would just have to figure out what sort of an Email service to go with. Anyone used Mullvad and their VPN?

Eventually I'll look for more alternatives, like for example car navigation apps. I've downloaded 3 today and will trial them all so I can eventually drop Google Maps and Waze.

 

Anyone got any more ideas for what every day apps most use that are US based but can be swapped out for EU ones? Maybe even some Canadian alternatives?

another good browser is ofc; Firefox but then theres also stuff like brave, qwaunt, and start page

[venomtail]

12 hours ago, jordanbuilds1 said:

another good browser is ofc; Firefox but then theres also stuff like brave, qwaunt, and start page

I'm on Firefox as well most of the time but Louis Rossmann had new complaints about it when it comes to TOS and privacy so I need to have a look into this if it's a non issue or something new's developed.

[venomtail]

15 hours ago, OhYou_ said:

the ultimate answer is to change how you use the browser, not what browser you use. If you are concerned with your browser selling your personal data, then stop putting your personal data online, come to terms on what is important to be private, and what isnt.
It doesn't necessarily mean hurr durr sop doing banking online or buying things, it means re-evaluate what actually needs to be private and what is already in 10s of company's database leaks.
Also, stopping use of chrome now would only prevent future personal info from being shared/sold. everything you have already done is already sold, so in short, who cares about that.

Less about my data being sold, more about it simply not being in the hands of US companies.

 

15 hours ago, OhYou_ said:

For vpn, anything banned in the UK is good, so go proton

What if I'm in the UK very often? 

 

15 hours ago, OhYou_ said:

or buying an actual garman

Did you mean Garmin? US based company so a no go.