The monopoly, and the power that derives from it, from these giants is becoming a problem even for governments.If until 10 years ago the internet remained the (virtual) land of freedom, optimism and equality , for a while Big Tech has gone from being an utopia to becoming a dystopia .A change due to the many scandals about privacy, interference with democratic processes, bad work practices or drift military of some projects.
More and more people are trying to escape from this domain .Movements such as #deletefacebook or the strikes against Amazon mark a turning point in the reputation of the giants of internet.However, today it is almost impossible to dispense with technology, so the open-source alternatives, based on stronger principles, gain adherents.
The ethical alternatives are there, but you have to be very motivated and curious not to succumb to homologation.Next, we will discover some services that do not belong to the five great sisters .Suitable options to maintain the 'biodiversity' of the technological environment and promote healthy and necessary competition.
Alternative browser options
The browser market is dominated by Google Chrome , with a 65% market share.It is followed by Microsoft Explorer/Edge, Apple Safari and Opera, owned by a Chinese consortium.To navigate outside Big Tech and limit the tracking of our habits for advertising purposes, the most valid and well-known alternative is Firefox.The fox still ranks third among the most popular desktop browsers, but its space is shrinking very quickly.The bravest can try to install Vivaldi, a free browser with extensive customization possibilities, or Midori, lightweight and open-source, focused on performance and speed.
Search
DuckDuckGo represents the valid alternative to Google Search, Yahoo or Microsoft Bing.The service does not track users in any way and bases its business model on the contextualization of advertising.Another ethical alternative for the most attentive to environmental and sustainability problems is Ecosia.Its base is Bing, but it is managed by a German company that plants trees with the benefits derived from the advertising that appears in the search results.Q-Want is, instead, a search engine funded by the European Union, launched with the clear intention of competing with Big G.Finally, Mojeek is a Google-style search engine that promises not to track.
Email services
Gmail, in the last 10 years, has become the most popular free email service. For those who want to escape from the Golden G Big enclosure , the alternatives are many, valid and safe However, to get features and space comparable to what Google offers, it is almost always necessary to pay.ProtonMail, for example, is an intrusion-proof and secure email provider, which offers a limited free version and subscription plans from four euros per month.Posting and Mailbox, two other safe alternatives, offer minimum rates of one euro per month.
Web statistics
Once again, Google is also the dominator of the statistics sector with Analytics .The service is free, depending on the number of visits, but it collects a lot of information about users.Also in this case there are equally effective alternatives, such as Matomo or Fathom.Both are designed to automatically comply with the requirements of the GDPR.
Maps
Also in the case of maps you can find alternatives open-source useful to replace Google Maps, Bing Maps and Apple Maps.Many of these, such as the excellent Maps.me, which allows detailed maps to be downloaded on mobile devices for offline connection, is based on data from the OpenStreetMap project.
Office
The alternatives open-source to Microsoft Office or Apple Pages are numerous.The two best-known projects are LibreOffice and OpenOffice, both free and free.To replace the functions offered by Google Docs, there is Etherpad, an open source online editor that offers a free account with a limit of 200 MB.
Alternative for social networks
In the case of social networks, it is not easy to find ethical alternatives with the same number of Facebook, Twitter or Snapchat users .There are similar services that are growing , like Mastodon and Diaspora, however, they are mainly used by expert technophiles.Those looking for an alternative platform to Instagram can try Pixelfed.It allows you to share images without advertising, in chronological order and without algorithms.
Messaging
As for the messaging applications , leaving Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp is not difficult.There are several safe options: Signal, Line, Kik Messenger, Wickr and many others.The problem is not finding the correct application, but to convince friends and acquaintances to use it.Telegram is currently the only alternative with the critical mass of users necessary to be a real WhatsApp competition.
Music and cinema
Finding alternatives to Netflix , Apple Music or Spotify, offering music, movies and series with high production costs, is almost impossible, but there are many services that are committed to the discovery of minor artists.R4000 is a music streaming service based on playlists curated by human DJs and not algorithms.Flix Premiere offers a subscription for about five euros a month, which gives access to a collection of independent films, almost the same as proposed by Bfi.org, which also includes a selection of less known and recent films, difficult to find on Netflix, iTunes or Amazon Prime Video.
Platforms for sharing videos
There is life beyond YouTube .Especially since the Google platform increasingly pays less to its creators and uses algorithms that favor conspiracy content and fake news.The option preferred by many professionals The video is Vimeo, but there are also ethical alternatives less known as PeerTube, completely open-source and no ads, or BitChute.
File transfer
Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Dropbox and other similar services are not the only way to share files online .Among the most interesting alternatives is Firefox Send, which offers free transfers of up to 2.5GB with the possibility to indicate the expiration date of the link.And FilePizza, a transfer service peer-to-peer open source based on donations.
Games
In the gaming sector, there are several interesting services for the purchase of independent titles that guarantee good income to developers and take care of the selection manually.There are GoG (Good Old Games), itch.io and Humble Bundle, which, in addition to the store, proposes a model based on the free offer and offers the possibility of donating part of the purchase price to a charity.
Finally, if what you are looking for an alternative to Amazon , the best thing you can do is go down to the street and enter one of those places called shops.
Images | Wikimedia, Matomo, Midori, Maps.me, Telegram
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