Why limiting GAFAM
..and how to keep in touch with me
A letter recently sent to my contacts…
MOVING OUT OF WHATSAPP, GMAIL AND FB MESSENGER
Dear (few) Friends I was still talking to on Whatsapp or messenger,
The techno-survellance operated by the elites has been steadily growing in the last years and is now accelerating out of control as a reaction to the COVID pandemics. As a person involved in the socio-ecological movemements I am extremely concerned about this growing surveillance, which is making any real dissent impossible. As a common citizen “without nothing to hide” I am even more worried because I feel I’ve been stripped of my humanity, of my agency, of my individuality. The world is presented to us mediated by THEIR algorithms and everything we do online is filtered by them and twisted to make a trap for fools.
The five infamous GAFAM companies are now the biggest in the world, representing the very concentration of capital I am fighting against. As all companies acting in a neoliberal framework, their only goal is growing profits enormously and are willing to do anything to achieve that. They have lied to us in the past by selling our data to crooks and will continue to lie to us in the future, notably by sharing all our data with states becoming more and more autoritorian.
Surveillance by the use of big data will enable “smart” oppression of “deviants” and efficient crowd control… whilst state violence becomes more and more targeted and invisibilized.
As a person active in civil society, I’ve seen how the goal of companies competing in the market is not the advancement of humanity, but its polarization to benefit the few. What is valid for fossil fuel companies is valid for GAFAM. Capital must produce more capital, full stop.
This battle is becoming more and more asymmetric and I believe we need to oppose the advancement of those mass control technologies to defend our identity and be able to strike back without being intercepted. We need concrete individual steps now as a pre-requisite to then be able to organise concerted actions using secure communications.
All of this may not sound apparent now, but hopefully this pandemic has opened our eyes on the fact that what we give for granted can change very fast. Complete grounding of flights, house confinement etc…Who’d expected all this?
In the same way, many things we give for granted concerning our online life should be put into question. A big slice of our “life” is in their hands and they can do with it whatever they want. Many whistleblowers are already being kicked out of facebook for instance, or -even more subtle- censored without even noticing it. In countries like Sudan where a revolution is ongoing, social networks are shut down from one day to the next. May COVID teach us one lesson: beware of how fast things can change.
FOR THESE REASONS:
Last year I went to a Linux OS on my PC. I use Tor browser for critical searches.I moved out of Gmail, Googlemaps, Googledocs and Google search. Please write me at losco@eauchat.org. Send me your (possibly non-google) email addresses, too.
I’m changing my phone to a phone with Linux OS installed (from the /e/ foundation).
I am NOW moving out of Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger. Please use the Signal app to chat with me (send me your numbers cause I lost most of my phone contacts). I’d be equally happy to talk to you via the webinterface Jitsi.
I’m still on Facebook but looking at ways of transitioning out of it.
CONCLUSION:
I know I’m “making your life more difficult”, but I think this is a worty effort. Opensource programs may not be “magic” as Google, but they have evolved enormously in recent years, making it easy for anyone to take the necessary first steps in the journey of digital emancipation. The good thing of “transitioning-out” of GAFA is that you have a good leverage to convince your friends to follow you, if they value being in touch with you. And, rest assured, I want to hear your news!
REFERENCES
https://www.ft.com/content/19d90308-6858-11ea-a3c9-1fe6fedcca75 “Asking people to choose between privacy and health is, in fact, the very root of the problem.”
https://charleseisenstein.org/essays/the-coronation/?_page=5
A few recent articles on what’s going on in Belgium, France and Italy in the last few weeks. In the moments of crisis, autoritarian tendencies move extremely fast…
https://www.repubblica.it/tecnologia/2020/03/23/news/coronavirus_un_app_per_tracciare_gli_spostamenti_il_governo_apre_alla_via_coreana_e_cerca_esperti-252123240/
“Let’s use the telecom data of all Belgians to stop the coronavirus”
https://www.lesechos.fr/thema/ville-high-tech/coronavirus-quand-les-etats-font-pression-pour-utiliser-les-donnees-personnelles-1186659
https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/politique-belge/le-gouvernement-wilmes-devrait-recevoir-les-pleins-pouvoirs-pour-lutter-contre-le-coronavirus-5e6e87b4f20d5a29c66f32c6
https://plus.lesoir.be/286535/article/2020-03-12/coronavirus-le-cabinet-de-block-dit-oui-lutilisation-des-donnees-telecoms
