Yeah the washing machine app is for the public laundromat. I tried it on GrapheneOS with everything enabled but it was lacking something that is only on stock Google Android. I haven’t tried it on a MicroG phone yet.

Hmmm maybe not, but i guess for me its part of doing my part to stop big tech from using our info.

The big question here is how does big tech use our info that makes it important to keep them from having it? Here, political orientation has a large impact on importance, for example:

Ads: Nobody loves ads, but some people tolerate them more than others. Liberals might see them as a necessary evil to provide services at a good cost. Libertarians might say they have the right to use their own hardware as they please and block them out of convenience. Progressives might say that they promote consumerism, and leftists might go further and say that they are one of the ways capitalists keep their control over society. So since data is used for targeted ads, that’s one area that can be argued based on political orientation.

Product improvement: Overall depends on their view of the company’s impact on society. Conservatives and leftists both see big tech as it exists currently as morally corrupt, others may see them as providing a useful service. If they think that big tech has a positive influence on society, then they are probably okay with their non-security critical data being used to improve the product, otherwise they might be more likely to want to avoid that happening.

Finances: Data can be used to personalize prices for large expenses, which is something that threatens everyone. The cost of healthcare, housing, education, and transportation is a major concern across all political orientations (and is why the Democrats lost the election by not doing fucking anything while the Republicans kept telling people that they would fix it by cutting government spending). However, people might also think that there’s nothing they can do about their data being used to make things more expensive or that if they try to resist that then it will cost more for them, so that’s an obstacle that needs to be considered as well.

Law enforcement: If the person is a target of the Trump administration and knows that, then their data being used against them is one clear motivation if they don’t think it’s too late to do anything. Otherwise, it depends on how much the person trusts the government and current law enforcement.

So overall, I would consider where they fit in this political categorization and use the reasons that align best with this. Challenging their political stances is also an option but requires a lot of other things to consider and probably won’t work well since a lot of it is rooted in fundamental values that are difficult to change.

Not just want, need. Picture having 2 kids and 2 jobs, privacy is less important than feeding the family.

That’s an extreme compared to who you are likely talking to, but try putting their concerns in life under that framework. What would make privacy worth their time? What is a consequence they actually care enough about to take time away from the things they have to do?

1. “Easy and painless” depends on your point of view, and we here tend to be biased. For example, just a couple of months ago I had to explain to “a normal person” how to make backup copies of a folder to a pen drive. She did not want additional backup software (and I still don’t know if W10 would have had the functionality out-of-the-box). Copypasting files was too difficult. In the end she decided to go with “save as”, which sounded like a horrible idea to me, since she’couldn’t remember how to open anything in Word that wasn’t in the recently used list when starting the software, and she is going to lose track of which file is which at some point. I doubt it would be “easy and painless” for people like her, who are very common outside our little bubble.

2. Making someone change their opinion is not a sprint, but a marathon. State your opinion openly when relevant, don’t get into an argument, let it brew, mention it again when it comes up, live as you “preach”. That person I mentioned? Happily using Signal with me. Eager(!) to try Linux once W10 support runs out. I’ve told her I’ll install Mint DE on my laptop and loan it to her for unhurried testing and learning this summer while having her familiar backup to lean on if it gets difficult, and to install the same on her own computer when the support runs out, if she still wants me to.

The autistic trait that comes back to bite me most often is the unshakeable confidence that if I just show someone the truth, they’ll believe me.

This has bounced around in my skull since I read it in a meme here. I hate how true it is.

Using signal is easy,

Only works if everyone else uses it too which won’t happen.

using lemmy is easy,

Figuring out which server to join and app to use may not be so easy. I see confused people on Lemmy asking what instance is best.

installing linux and other os is easy.

Installing wasn’t really ever the issue. It’s using them that’s the issue.

That truu, I’ve recently started my privacy journey,

That’s a great decision, imho.

I made the same choice a few years ago. Every little step counts. I will never be an expert or feel that safe using digital tech but I quit using many tools and services I realized I can’t trust at all, which is already something. And it all started by one small first step.

so im slowly switching to alternative to trying to show them to people.

Showing them is a good idea, preaching them to do what you’re doing is probably not that great an idea. Think about it, when was the last time you sincerely changed your mind because someone was forcing you to listen to them or was harassing you. What most probably happened is that you told more or less politely to funk themselves ;)

That article

… is terrifying, imho and it is certainly not the kind of society I want to live in.

There is also a much older story about Amazon deleting the novel 1984 from the kindle of customers having legally purchased it (they were refunded but still that doesn’t change what happened). This kind of events is what started my journey toward a more privacy and ownership-respecting usage of digital tools. That’s also what helped me switch back to analog wherever it was doable (Amazon can’t delete a printed book from my bookshelves).