Introducing the Resist Twin Cities website

I have spent the last month and a half working on a website called Resist Twin Cities, about how to fight back against Big Tech – and especially Amazon, Google and Meta.
Last winter, uniting against ICE energized a lot of us and gave us hope. Working on this website has done the same for me. My hope is that uniting to fight back against Big Tech will rekindle that hope and energy for others, and that the website will make a small contribution to the battle. I would love to have collaborators.
The heart of the website is a checklist of actions you can take to keep your money and your data out of the hands of big tech. If you provide your name and email address (which will not be shared with anyone),  any actions you check off will be automatically added to the scoreboard. The site is still under development, so I would be very grateful if you would take a look around and let me know what you think. What works? What doesn’t? What would make it more useful?
If you like the site, consider signing up for a free account, which will allow you to post comments, participate in the online forums, create your own blog and/or contribute to the group blog (ask me how).
In any case, I would really like to hear from you. You can comment on this post, send me a DM, or email the address at the bottom of the website.
Please click on the links in the comments to read the rest of this post, and then have a look around and let me know what you think.

But first, let me anticipate a few questions and objections :

Why an economic boycott? Why Amazon, Google and Meta?
The concentrated wealth and power of Big Tech is an existential threat to our democracy and our freedom. Every dollar we spend on their products and services, and every time we allow them to harvest and monetize our data, strengthens them and weakens us. But our collective wealth is the most powerful weapon we have in this battle. And Amazon, Google and Meta are the corporations that rely most directly on our money, and on monetizing our data.

You gotta start somewhere.

Amazon used to be great – good for shoppers, good for vendors, and super convenient. Now it’s just an over-priced Temu, selling the same cheap Chinese merch and screwing its vendors. Costco has better products, better prices and better values.

Google Search used to be your gateway to the internet. Now it’s cluttered with ads, spam, and an AI overview designed to short-circuit your trip. Luckily, there are good, privacy-protecting alternatives to Google Search, GMail, Chrome, Android, Maps and all the rest.

You probably hate Facebook and Instagram already, for their invasion of privacy, toxic algorithms, reactionary politics, and unending feed of slop and misinformation. If you aren’t ready to part ways completely, you can stary by turning off their algorithms, and blocking most of their ads.

This sounds like a lot of work, and a lot of inconvenience.

It’s a lot easier than it looks. You don’t have to do it all at once, and you can choose the actions that work for you.

If you aren’t ready to give up Amazon completely, you can start by canceling Amazon Prime, and start comparison shopping online at Costco, which often offers better products, better prices and is just as convient. You can still buy from Amazon, if you need to.

As for Google, there are good, privacy-protecting alternatives to Google Search, GMail, Chrome, Android, Maps and all the rest. You can set up a free Proton.me email account and migrate your email data with one click. You can switch your default browser from Chrome to Brave, or Vivaldi or Firefox with a couple of clicks, and import your bookmarks, settings and passwords with one or two more clicks. And you’ll get much better privacy protection at the same time.

You don’t have to give up Facebook or Instagram completely, either. You can set your news feed to “Friends” or “Following” and also start using an ad blocker, which will block most of their ads.

“One person’s boycott isn’t going to make any difference to giant corporations like Amazon, Google and Meta. “

You could say the same thing about one person’s vote, but you aren’t doing this alone. You are climbing aboard a bandwagon that is rapidly picking up speed. People already hate Amazon, Google and Meta. (See “enshittification”) and anger towards Big Tech is exploding around the country, as evidenced by the protests against data centers and Flock surveillance cameras.

And regardless of what impact a boycott might have, I hate the idea that I am paying for my own oppression – my dollars and my data are going towards creating a fascist surveillance state.