I'm typing on an unusually sluggish computer into an application that I barely recognise.

It's not the computer's fault; I'm putting it under strain by downloading and uploading buckets of bits and bytes.

It's probably an overreaction, but my feelings about data privacy have hardened over the last weeks. The Orange One has given me pause on several fronts.

  1. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). With a name so Orwellian that I keep checking what year it is, a ketamine-fueled, born-again-fascist nerd has been given access to every computer system in America. I daresay my customer's documents and correspondence are of little interest, but the old-fashioned fellow that I am, I'd prefer to keep them private.
  2. War. The tangerine tyrant is obsessed with tariffs and trade wars. I don't want my systems to stop working as collateral damage.
  3. WAR. Only in my darkest moments do I see the US in a shooting war with the remaining free democracies, but hey, I'm not ruling anything out. The leaders of big Tech have decided the best policy is to stick close to the administration. They must do what they feel is best for their companies, but I would really rather avoid any more of my money going into Trump's meme coin or wherever he's stashing it.
  4. Risk diversification. At some point, Bungle is going to fall out with some of his oligarchs - and I'd rather not have all my digital eggs in one basket. Ideally, I'd like to get them into some baskets this side of the Atlantic.

I decided to complete a review of my technology stack and my data.

Google and Microsoft handle my email, and my cloud data lives with Microsoft, Google, and Apple. My client work is in Microsoft Office, and my computers run Mac OS or Windows. Yikes! I'm as reliant on American technology as NATO is on American weaponry.

For a few years now, ProtonMail has been at the forefront of privacy-focused email. It's Swiss-based and offers end-to-end-encrypted (ETEE) mail.

Sort of. The trouble with e-mail is that if I encrypt it and send it to you, then you won't be able to read it. In the perfect world, you get onto Proton, too, in which case, we're both in clover. E-mail and attachments between us are encrypted.

If, however, you're not on Proton, then I can send you password-protected mail and get the password to you another way. Not as good, but an improvement, and at least I know that Musk and his muppets are not combing my e-mail server and forwarding everything on to the Kremlin. So, step one was to switch my e-mail to Proton.

Encrypting attachments is all well and good, but pretty pointless if all the documents are sitting in plain view on an enemy server. I'm not competent enough to run my own data server, so professional outsourcing is a good idea if I can find one outside the US. Enter Proton again. That is why the computer is sluggish, as I transfer all my files, photos and e-mails from the US to Switzerland.

Eventually, I'm using E-mail, Calendar, Cloud Storage, Password Manager, and VPN through Proton for the princely sum of 156 Euros per year. I have saved more than that, ceasing the services that Proton replaces.

On a roll, I have started looking at browsers and search. Using a VPN is a good first step, and a little research has pointed me to Brave. I chose it because it's the most user-friendly of the privacy-focused options. I will have a look at Vivaldi, a European option, but I fear I would miss extensions too much.

I write in Markdown - and so sought an editor that was "on device", European, open source and encrypted. I'm enjoying Zettlr for the moment.

A part of me wants to install Linux and do my work through Libre Office. Eliminate Google and Microsoft entirely. Buy a laptop from the Far East and keep it as locked down as I can. However, clients still rely on MS Office, and I can do without the headache of making Libre work with it.

The data migration took a few days, and various bits and bobs broke, but I think I'm getting on top of it.

I feel less exposed to the whims of the Orange One, and I've inflicted my tiny papercut on the giant corporations funding his grab for limitless wealth and power. Those giants became giants by charging us, both in cash and data. If we starve them of both, they'll go the way of Kodak.

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