contingency plan november 2024

by: zetabeta

updated: 2025-12-09

tldr:
big tech companies are too invasive, now with more help from trump's unlawful corrupt government. bad motives will merge into very invasive and controlling citizens. media is part of it more or less. average smartphones collect huge load of data and it's serious liability for their users. use un-googled androids for temporary measure. dump most big tech products and services, like apple, google, microsoft, facebook, amazon and aws. (possible link).

background:
big tech companies have become too invasive, now they can abuse ordinary citizens even further with help of government. donald trump is greatly corrupt for this purpose. it is merger of bad motives from big tech and government. big tech corporate motives were already bad with spying, data collection and controlling users. trump administration's spying and control of citizens will also be bad. donald trump is ignoring u.s. supreme court, constitution and judiciary. trump is a dictator at this point. u.s. is in severe constitutional crisis. trump is corrupting u.s. administration and judicial system. in the end, it is trump dictator ship with corporate power, at least partially, similar to china with social accounts. even if trump is replaced by gop, gop is just trumpian or worse. gop plays more for corporate and financial interests and not for ordinary citizens. trump's enforcement like ice police is already above the laws. ice detains people without due process and evidence, and sends people to special prison, which have been called as gulags. detained people mostly have been foreigners but includes green card holders. it is only a matter of time when trump forces start to detain ordinary americans with some weird excuses. superrich techbro cronies are part of it. they have some kind of political and financial agenda on this corporate coup. maybe it is looting treasury with tax cuts, stealing information and data, dismantling supervision of their corrupt companies, favoritism in contracts, acquiring monopoly power or other financial motives. big tech bros may use government data for their corporate and financial purposes, some of this data is sensitive and private for ordinary citizens.


do not downplay or underestimate these issues, these are not a small issues anymore ! you really need to do something ! basically resist way or another.

i'm in the e.u.. advises are slightly different for non-u.s. and u.s. residents. for non-u.s., you need to reduce dependencies from u.s. based companies and seeking alternatives. for u.s. it is more like, how to survive likely surveillance state.

avoid u.s. based big tech companies. many of them are pro-trump. also, media will be skewed towards pro-trump direction.

like:
alphabet inc, google, youtube, gmail.
apple.
microsoft.
amazon, aws.
meta inc, facebook, whatsapp, threads, instagram.
x.com, former twitter. x.com collects data its users for corporate control.
bluesky, half illusional alternative for x.com.
tiktok, there is a partial deal with the u.s.. basically there might be badness from both china and the u.s..
and other possible big tech, maybe oracle.

they will become spying and data collecton platforms for trump government, sooner or later, either voluntarily or involuntarily.

avoid android and apple products. this is important and also difficult, because smartphones are quite essential devices and personal, therefore smartphones hold serious liability.

use un-googled android, but consider going away from android. avoid stock android, usually manufacturer's version of android with google's components.
avoid apple products totally, including macs.
avoid google account. do not log in all times.
avoid 2fa's which is using or based on closed platforms, like google play and apple app store.
stop using whatsapp, facebook, instagram and threads.
avoid windows, consider linux operating system, like linux mint xfce.
avoid microsoft account.

alternatives:
linux o.s., like linuxmint xfce, https://linuxmint.com/ .
signal messenger, signal.org .
mastodon, https://joinmastodon.org/ .
technical basic phone.
tuta, tutanota, https://tuta.com/ .
openstreetmap.org
peertube, https://joinpeertube.org/ .
ecosia, https://www.ecosia.org/ .
qwant, https://www.qwant.com/ .
duckduckgo, although uses aws and is u.s. based, duck.com .

some linux based mobile operation systems:
mobian, https://mobian.org/ .
postmarketos, https://postmarketos.org/ .

linux based mobile is not for everyone, every situtation and definately not for beginners.

some un-googled android options:
lineageos.
grapheneos.
! temporarily not maintained, future is uncertain ! calyxos.

fairphone or volla phone might be one option, mostly for europeans.
https://www.fairphone.com/ .
https://volla.online/en/ .

laptop and computer manufacturers in europe:
https://frame.work/
https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/

laptop and computer manufacturers in u.s.:
https://system76.com/


use technical basic phones, difficult to find. some basic phones are based on smartphone os, therefore may contain nastiness of smartphone data collection and corporate control. technical basic phones may not be good for some critical apps, like banking apps. consider two or multiple phones, and leave some of them home, also without sim card.

even though "android open source project" is open source, aosp is controlled and developed by alphabet inc with their corporate and abusive motives. it may not be easy, move away from android, especially in long term. technically android is linux, practically, android is abuse of linux. android is heavily modified linux by alphabet inc. alphabet inc is introducing developer signing for apps for certified devices, even when sideloaded, thus less control to the users and making android more closed system.

privacy switches in most systems like google's android and apple are illusional or partial. they are like gatekeepers, can limit some info for third party, but what about system itself. who watches the gatekeepers.

smartphones and their apps collect huge load of data and usually it is private and sensitive information. this information will be abused by corporations, and it was already abused for corporate reasons. now information goes to government for possible spying and manipulation of people.

most of these advises are good idea anyway, because they improve privacy and reduce data harvesting in your devices. government may not build total surveillance system in the end, but corporations already collect huge load of data and use it against their users. technology is already out there for mass surveillance.

trump administration try to control mass media as well. i don't think there will total bans or control, but with selective funding, taxes and fines, it can favor pro-trump talking points. free speech may exist but certain talking points are heavily favored and enhanced. practically, do not trust media. they already had some kind horse race agenda, pretending republicans as a normal choice. many mainstream media outlets are favoring pro-trump talking points and downplaying anti-trump. trump will use weaponized justice system to go after opponents, which include media in some cases. free speech is seriously threatened.

https://freespeech.org/ is running and offers different views than so called mainstream media and especially rightwing media outlets. many of the rightwing media outlets were propaganda operation even before trump's re-election.


some pre-emptive questions:

check and balance will keep trump and gop under control?

trump is already out of control, and gop is watching idly. trump is the check and balance and enforcement. supreme court is already rightwing, corrupt and trump supporting. trump could replace supreme court with other loyalists. republicans in the congress are in the trump train and are basically rubber stamps. check and balance starting to be dysfunctional and laughable. media won't do their duty either for supervising trump. last supervision and check are the voters.

constitution prevent abuse of power?

i have this saying, "laws are only for those who obey them!". it means that if enforcement and implementation do not follow laws or follows them selectively, then laws are just empty words. final arbiter for constitution is supreme court. supreme court could easily divert the meaning of the laws.

democrats will take over?

i wish. it might happen, but some other half-dictator might come back after trump. and he might look moderate and not so dangerous, still doing serious damage. damage may last even decades regardless who is in power.

you are paranoid, this will never happen?

denying reality might be perfect way to support trump and let it happen. it may not happen in the end. but trump has personal agenda and already tried to hijack power. trump has already done many of these either partially or fully. btw, it is already happening.

republicans will put trump under control?

republicans might be worse than trump, because of their corporate motives. they may look moderate, but they are not. republicans had numerous possibilities put trump under control, and never happened. is it going to happen next time, i don't think so.