No, I don’t think this is incredibly likely to happen. But like how some disaster prep agencies model zombie outbreaks to get people thinking about hurricanes and earthquakes, it’s a good thought experiment.
Let’s say out of the blue there’s an executive order that prevents US tech companies from servicing Canadian customers.
How hosed are you? Would you have access to backups of family photos not on Apple or Google? Does your email still work? Can you access your password manager? If you have a domain registered, is it still pointable to your servers?
I ask this because I’m trying to train myself to look for Can/EU alternatives in my tech stack for work and personal life.
I’ve withdrawn to self-hosted local almost entirely. In 9 months, my google account will be shut down all the way.
Although I’ve lost a little convenience, the shuttering of a ton of other access, accounts, services, etc has been good overall. I can tell you with confidence where my data now lives, and how my information flows around.
There are loose ends; I don’t like smart TV apps, but I have to live with those.
I have better attention span, I read way more. And honestly, I’ve realized that an online life is a lot of management, which I think is a silent mind-killer.
Disconnect the TV from the internet and use those services from a spare laptop computer which you can control. My TV hasn’t been connected to the net in years. It’s more than doable.
There aren’t really a preponderance of client applications that will work with my TV remote. I did kodi for years a decade ago and asking someone to pass the wireless keyboard is a pain in the ass.
The real issue is that my wife sometimes likes to watch her streaming services, so I can’t just tell her to use what is effectively a web browser for this.
At the moment, I heavily filter what the TV can access outside its subnet and that seems to be the best compromise.
Curious what do you use for search? I have moved to ecosia but it currently gets its stuff from google and bing.
I have to admit i use duck duck go. Might be time to change, though.
As I understand it Ecosia will be moving to the EU search system eventually. I am sure the ads will remain google though. They tell me frequently that my adblodker is not good for them so I am guessing most of the ads are being blocked other than the sponsored pages.