Grounding the Cloud

Further steps to become more Privacy- and Eco-conscious Online.

 

For hardware the most eco option is the ones you already own and to repair them. However, if a device is not usable or repairable anymore its smart to find one that is easily repairable, for instance see Fairphone or Framework Laptop. For privacy its good to think about what softwhare you use, see below.

If you choose a operating system software that is not owned by a big tec company – you are already steps ahead. For smartphones  we recommend E/OS or Graphene OS (the camera app on the Fairphone is way better on e/0s).

For desktop we recommend Fedora (Linux based) or Cube OS. If you want to have a laptop on a usb stick see Tails.

It is easy to buy a device that has the software already – which is possible with Fairphone and Framework. But doing it yourself is not so hard – especially with the e/os tutorial where you can install it via your browser.

For Apple devices there are no different operating systems available.

To have all your apps and services on one place can be very practical. E-mail, Calendar, Notes, Files, Video Calls etc. It is also easy because you set up one thing and end up with a lot at once. However setting up your own  Nextcloud  might not be easy for everyone. It is possible with a raspberry pi (from nr.4 on) and a external hard disk, but you can also use a eco server like Greenhost. An other Ecosystem option could be proton (not eco but only private).

If you want to be more private online you can use Tor Browser – However it might be slow in some cases.

For more privacy you can use Briar or setup your own host or use Nextcloud Talk app.