@pepdmin Strava.

@pepdmin
Good for you.
Terminated my linkedin a while ago, and never regretted it.
I've never been into facebook or other twitter, so I have nothing of the kind to get rid of.
The only thing I'd like to part with is google. I have "cleaned" my phone as much as I can, but I have to have android.
Here (Luxembourg) we use one single identification system for everything: bank(s), taxeS, social security, e-health system, etc.
Currently it only runs on android and iOS. We used to have tokens, but they've been retired. I have an alternative solution (the chip in the ID card), but that only works with the card reader on the PC.
So pretty much stuck.
Luckily the system had a bad crash a while ago and the country was paralized for almost 2 days, so the goiv realized a SPOF was not the best solution and they are working on an alternative.
In the meantime...

@francois Thank you and I am also in the same boat as you with Google/Android. I absolutely hate that even though Trump showed the world that it is a really bad idea to make yourself too dependent on external actors - ESPECIALLY Google - is a bad idea. I sincerly hope that this too shall pass in a few years but for now... this dependency is shite.

@pepdmin
I never thought I would say this, but Trump did more for Europe than Schuman 😆 .
Thanks to him most europeans finally realized that the US (or anybody else for that matter) couldn't be trusted, and that we had to rely only on ourselves.
And Europe is never as good as when it gets a good kick in the ass, so initiatives have been flourishing all over:

• getting rid of windows (turn to linux),
• getting rid of Office (create their own fork of onlyoffice, see https://office.eu/ ),
• switching to ODF
• the defense projects
• get rid of Visa/Mastercard
  This last one is worth elaborating on, as it received very little press coverage.
  Twenty-four (24) trillions dollars go from EU=>US every years via Visa/Mastercard. So getting rid of that means a real hit to the US economy.
  It is real or will be between now and 1Q2027 depending where you live in the EU.
  In a nutshell, a system had already been set up, but countries were dragging their feet - well no longer.
  It is called WERO and is active in FR, DE and BE already (although you may know it by another name like Payconic in Belgium).
  As of September it will start in LU and AU and until next year will be behind Bizum in SP, MB-Way in PT, Bancomat in IT, etc (and gradually replace the branding as well).

Read all about it :
https://europeanbusinessmagazine.com/business/europes-24-trillion-breakup-with-visa-and-mastercard-has-begun/
and of course
https://wero-wallet.eu/pay-online

( and of course what we're all waiting for is a system to replace android/iOS, but it will come... )

@francois Yeah - I am really looking forward to #Wero launching in #Austria. Does it work without an app though?

@pepdmin
According to what I read you can use it via their own app, or it will appear as an option in your banking app.
I haven't seen a way to use it without an app - yet ?
If it becomes a de facto *you find it everywhere* thing, somebody's bound to be coming up with something (yes, I'm a die-hard optimist)

@francois Trump's punitive tariffs against Brazil are partly due to the PIX payment system—which is free and universally available to individuals—as it has been gaining ground in a space previously monopolized by Visa and Mastercard. Even street vendors accept it. Trump intends to intervene in this year's presidential election to try to install a puppet who has already visited the White House and promised to reverse this situation.

@xenotar é o filho d. ... ? ou neste caso do pai ? 😆
And yes, WA is a royal PITA.
When I was in Indonesia, I ordered some tickets and they kept saying they had sent them to me and I kept saying I hadn't received them. All the exchanges were by mail and those [beep] sent it via WA for some reason, and obviously that stupid system doesn't even tell you the person you're trying to reach is not on wa !!!
in ID WA is everywhere, to the point that people seem to have forgotten that a phone can actually call people ?
I always wondered what will happen the day the wa system is unavailable for some reason....

@francois It is the "01" son—a senator and presidential candidate—who is a traitor to the homeland, alongside the "03" son, a fugitive from the law residing in the U.S. with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio as his protectors. The father is imprisoned for attempting a coup d'état.

@pepdmin Google and LinkedIn.
You inspired me to get rid of LinkedIn 🎉
LinkedIn = klubben för inbördes beundran
In my Swedish opinion 🤭

@joany You go! Google is a bit harder to avoid these days with the nonsense about device integrity and whatnot causing banking apps not to work... or even broader speaking: banking not working outright, because a smartphone is needed for that with many banks.

@pepdmin @stefano github. i quit it, but had to re-create account to submit some patches, and some clients use it too. so, yeah.

@km@babb.no network effect is a serious pain the rear. I am happy that I don't need Github, but I get why leaving it entirely is more complicated than just up and leaving a social network.

@pepdmin github is the real "linked in"... if i had know that, i would have kept my "km" username there

@pepdmin for me it's WhatsApp. Even though I have Signal, DeltaChat and Matrix set up people refuse to convert from WhatsApp. Impossible to even get them to consider it. Frustrates me.

Apart from that I only use Google on a "slop" phone, a phone only used and reserved for banks, govt etc. I dont have FB, X, Insta nor any of the rest thankfully

@epn4littlefedi WhatsApp is a big one, unfortunately. Even with people in my circles that are already users of better alternatives, ever so often they default to this shite app.
The notion of a slop phone is actually something that I considered briefly... and might actually do in the near future.

@epn4littlefedi
I feel your pain.
I have telegram,Signal, DeltaChat and Matrix myself, always resisted WA.
I wouldn't mind getting rid of telegram and signal (too many limitation for my use), but the inertia is just huge

@francois I agree. A combination of Deltachat and matrix/xmpp is all you really need

@pepdmin I did something similar in 2024/2025, closing my accounts on X, Facebook, Instagram, and even Proton, and migrating to pCloud and Tutamail (I had already been using the Fediverse since 2019). I’ve never had WhatsApp and rarely use Signal; I still need to complete my migration from Gmail/Drive, which I hope to finish by 2027.
I also view WhatsApp as the biggest barrier preventing people from leaving US Big Tech, and I consider it the most invasive of all their systems.

@xenotar I am currently in the process of moving all my data away from Proton after their recent blunder with french fascism and was already selfhosting most of my mails on a VPS. And full ack on your sentiment about WhatsApp.

@pepdmin I left Proton when Elon Musk accused the Brazilian justice system of censorship because the Apple Store was throwing an error while downloading ProtonVPN (even though Google Play was fine). Without verifying the facts, Proton endorsed Musk's lie, demonstrating alignment with that fascist. I still have a burner email address that I use on mastodon.social; I used it here by mistake, but I’ll close it as soon as I start paying for Tuta. I don't want to abuse the system by using more than one free account. I also saw that shameful thing Proton did to the French activist—it was deplorable and disgusting.

@xenotar I didn't know that. Jeebus, that and their leaning into w3-shite like proton wallet and lumo have really left a disgusting taste in my mouth.