Resources

A selection of films, shows, hardware, software, and social networking options for the discerning media activist who wishes to undermine and challenge big tech/media companies and surveillance capitalism. Enjoy!

Multimedia:

Metadata Cleaner. If you’re documenting demonstrations, it might be worth remembering that images placed online will still carry metadata you might not want sharing. Metadata Cleaner offers us a way of clearing such metadata before we share images. This is a free and open source programme for Linux users (which we’ll discuss more in a bit) but there are other apps that will carry out similar tasks for you, too.

GIMP. That's GNU Image Manipulation Program, so please don't let the name deter you! This is a free and open source alternative to Adobe Photoshop, so powerful that while you may enjoy basic use of it, it will likely take you years to utilise it to its full potential.

NewPipe. If you’re going to watch YouTube videos on mobile devices, do it via this Android app that strips away all the crap that Google pollutes them with. Feature-rich and privacy friendly, NewPipe was created with the purpose of getting the original YouTube experience on your smartphone without annoying ads and questionable permissions.

FreeTube. This is essentially NewPipe but for your laptop or desktop computer — you can run it as a separate programme and even subscribe to certain channels without being bugged to set up a Google account. Or, if you’re wanting to build alternatives to YouTube…

PeerTube. There are several instances of servers featuring videos of various kinds — I use Kolektiva.media, for example. PeerTube is part of the “Fediverse,” which we’ll come to when discussing social media further below!

Kdenlive. The KDE Non-Linear Video Editor (or simply Kdenlive), is a free and open source video editor that works on Linux, Windows, and BSD.

Audacity. This is a nifty piece of free audio recording and editing software, ideal for podcasting or even music-making.

Resonate. Sick of Spotify? Resonate is a community-owned music network, enabling you to support the artists you love, co-own your platform, and set the terms on which you share.

Libre Office. This is probably not a shocker, but there’s really absolutely no reason to be coughing up money to give to Microsoft for their Office suite when there’s already the free and open source Libre Office that does almost exactly the same things. Don’t look back.

OnlyOffice. This is similar to Libre Office, but geared towards cloud-based office use, ideal for collaborations as well.

Operating Systems:

Linux. It’s not just Microsoft Office you can forget about, but all of Microsoft’s offerings, including Microsoft Windows itself. You can get rid of Mac OS too. Why? Because Linux is free and open source software that is not just “libre” but also often costs you as little as nothing. There are literally hundreds of different Linux distributions (or “distros”) to choose from, and you can find the one for you via the link above at LibreHunt. As a "distro-hopper," I have used many (Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Manjaro, Mint, Elementary, to name a few), but am currently running Pop!_OS.

TAILS. A special mention in particular for this ultra-private Linux distro: The Amnesic Incognito Live System (TAILS) is a private operating system you can carry around with you in your pocket — no, really! If you’re hopping onto different computers but they’re not working smoothly or you just don’t trust their security, you can launch your very own TAILS from your USB stick and use it on that computer, with all its wonderful privacy-focused programmes and features. There’s even an option to have it retain your information unlocked by your own security keys via something called Persistent Storage, meaning it truly does become your own secure personal computer on a stick!

/e/OS. If you’ve already rejected the closed-source world of Apple, are used to Android, but are sick of all the apps that come “baked-in” to it, and want a “de-Googled” version, this – from the non-profit e Foundation – is a smooth, easy-to-use mobile operating system you can put onto your phone with their “easy installer” or perhaps purchase a refurbished device with it already installed, and save waste. You can even buy a sustainability-focused Fairphone with it pre-installed. On the subject of “de-Googling,” if you haven’t taken these leaps yet, you can still avoid over-reliance on Google Play by using F-Droid or Aurora to get your apps, completely bypassing Google Play. And keep in mind there are many alternatives to Google’s seemingly essential services with things like Cryptpad or Riseup Pad (instead of Google Docs), Mega Sync (instead of Google Drive), DeepL (instead of Google Translate), OpenStreetMap (instead of Google Maps), and Tuta Calendar (instead of Google Calendar), and with even more cool alternatives below, there’s really no reason to still utilise the glorified advertising company that is the data-gathering, evil Google.

Apps:

Jitsi Meet. With a massive amount of marketing money behind it, Zoom became the “big bad” of video conferencing as the pandemic hit, leaving many unaware of Jitsi Meet: open source and with end-to-end encryption, it offers an incredible unlimited free meeting access for up to a hundred people at a time.

Vivaldi. Google’s Chrome browser is, of course, a vile and sinister menace. If you’d like to attempt to wean yourself away from such software but are used to certain Chrome features, Vivaldi is a worker-owned company from Scandinavia that is built on Chrome but holds an ethos of privacy and decentralisation. Vivaldi is indeed, as it claims, “powerful, personal, and private,” and while it may lack one or two features such as containers (see Firefox, below), it is highly suitable for the web browser “power-user.”

Firefox. There is a common argument that browsers are being built in a way that is reliant on the Chromium base, so it’s better to look towards alternatives such as Firefox (and I'll tackle that in a moment). From the non-profit Mozilla Foundation, Firefox offers containers (that enable you to open a site in a contained tab that separates it from the rest of your browsing, for example, for various logins to the same site) and has numerous privacy and security add-ons available, as well as synchronisation between devices via its Firefox account that also links to useful services like Firefox Monitor and Firefox Relay. Don’t let Firefox (or any other browser) fool you into using Google as your default search engine, though — use something like DuckDuckGo, MetaGer, Mojeek, Swisscows, or Startpage instead, though the latter two can be annoying as they seem to rely on ads. If any of those examples aren’t good enough for you, there’s the privacy-focused Searx, which has different search engines available depending on your own needs. And there's the rub: Firefox have not only become incredibly dependent upon Google sponsorship, but also pivoted towards advertising and A.I. in recent months. I used Firefox for over twenty years, and after I fell in love with the workspaces feature and aesthetic of Vivaldi, I retained those, with Firefox’s containers, by using the Floorp forked version of Firefox from Japan and, more recently, the beautiful Zen browser, before finally realising I can cope just fine without containers and use Vivaldi, who are a larger concern, while retaining a good ethos.

Tor Browser. This is Firefox on steroids: enabling anonymity while browsing, routing traffic through the Tor network (though some websites don’t play nicely when you’re using it!)

Mullvad Browser. We’ve talked about Firefox from the Mozilla Foundation, and of course Edge comes from Microsoft, and Chrome from Google, and while Brave browser hails itself as a privacy-focused option, their current CEO was kicked out by the Mozilla Foundation for his bigotry. Built in collaboration with the folks at Tor, Mullvad Browser offers largely the same as Brave but without the prejudice or cryptobro culture. However, if you’re wanting privacy from your ISP regardless of whether you’re using a browser or another programme connected to the internet, you may be interested in…

Mullvad VPN. Yes, it’s Mullvad again, but with what they were most known for before their browser came along: the virtual private network (VPN). The VPN has been the bane of the increasingly anti-union, anti-protest, authoritarian British police state since the introduction of Prime Minister (or “Pry Minister”) Theresa May’s “Snoopers’ Charter,” requiring ISPs to keep tabs on internet activity for the purposes of blanket surveillance. A VPN is ideal in combating government, corporate, or other malicious attacks on privacy, and an absolute must when using public/shared wifi. VPNs are also useful if you’re in one country and wanting to access local content in another country, as you can choose which servers to connect to. While NordVPN and Surfshark may deserve a mention, their “dark patterns” approach to locking in customers and their accounts make me reluctant to recommend them anymore. One of the few VPN providers to offer cheap and flexible pricing combined with ease-of-use, Mullvad hit headlines for refusing to hand over customer details to cops because they don’t log such information.

SimpleLogin. This is an ideal option to sign up for offers and accounts that you don’t want to share your actual everyday email account with! It helps you protect your privacy online, and it’s open source.

Signal. WhatsApp is owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta. Signal is fast, free, open source, offers encryption, and can be used on mobile or desktop, whether you use Windows, Mac, or Linux (which is of course the best). In addition, Signal’s video chat option is surprisingly smooth enough to rival Jitsi Meet, and even offers screen-sharing. Those wanting something more fun and functional, reminiscent of WhatsApp's look and feel, with less emphasis on open source and encryption, have often opted for Telegram, which sadly become a haven for far-right groups whose members rear their ugly heads in other chatrooms (reflective of the very sketchy background of Telegram itself), but we should always stick to the safe spaces, which brings me to...

Social:

Mastodon. Got concerns about right-wing billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter/X banning leftists and anarchists while platforming his fellow fascists? Mastodon is an open source decentralised social network — by the people for the people. There are many specific communities to choose from, with their own guidelines, so you can avoid hate and bigotry a lot easier! Mastodon have now even developed their very own official mobile app too (though I use one called Megalodon). It’s part of the “Fediverse” where folks from different social media platforms can still interact with each other if they want.

Pixelfed. Want out of Instagram? Slowly but surely, Pixelfed has been building an alternative: one that’s ad-free, ethical, and privacy-focused. There are even nifty apps for it, like PixelDroid. Pixelfed is, as you may have guessed, another part of the Fediverse.

Pleroma. Want out of Facebook? There are numerous instances of Pleroma you can join and still interact with accounts from others, as well as other parts of the Fediverse, which Pleroma is also a part of.

You can read more about the Fediverse here.

Of course, the techbros of the likes of Meta and even Bluesky are keen to co-opt the culture of the Fediverse, but you can check which Fediverse servers have stood firm and opposed such creeping integration via the Fedi Pact.

Smartwatches and other devices:

PineTime. Rather than the various unethical and expensive smartwatches from the surveillance capitalists, you may wish to instead opt for the affordable and effective PineTime from the people who brought us the Pinebook Pro laptop and PinePhone, amongst other things that remind us of the hardware options out there — from the Fairphone and Framework devices with a focus on DIY repairability, to simply refurbished laptops with Linux on and cheap Raspberry Pi microcomputers. There is actually a lot of choice out there, that really depends on personal preference.

(Healthy) media consumption:

For too long our culture has been focused on physical health over mental health, and the dismissal of what we consume mentally and not just physically has gone on far too long. So, rather than junkfood media, here's a little list for a potential viewing journey through some shows and films — fiction and non-fiction alike — that may provoke food for thought (despite inevitably featuring some unsavoury actors, filmmakers, or studios); view them critically, as always, of course:

The Lego Movie, The Sound of Music, It's A Wonderful Life, A Bug's Life, The Shawshank Redemption, Grand Canyon, Crash, Do the Right Thing, The Life of David Gale, Natural Born Killers, Born on the Fourth of July, The U.S. Vs John Lennon, Malcolm X, Ali, The Wrestler, GLOW, Cassandro, Super Amigos, Frida, Thelma & Louise, Nine to Five, Office Space, Sorry to Bother You, The Corporation, Fast Food Nation, Earthlings, Dawn of the Dead, They Live, American Psycho, Vice, The Big Short, Don't Look Up, I Heart Huckabees, Winning Time, 13th, When They See Us, BlacKkKlansman, American History X, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Salt of the Earth, Matewan, Norma Rae, Silkwood, The Milagro Beanfield War, War Inc, Syriana, The Accidental Anarchist, Reds, Libertarias, Land and Freedom, Bread and Roses, I Daniel Blake, Parasite, Punishment Park, The Edukators, Born in Flames, Working Girls, Mr Robot, District 9, Elysium, V For Vendetta, X-Men '97, Doom Patrol, The Boys...

Wanting any hints, tips, or advice on any of the above? Get in touch and I’ll help where I can!