As my de-Google project progresses, I realized that I skipped the most important step: reconnaissance. Before you can de-Google your life, you need to first make a list of the Google products and services you interact with – and not all of them have “Google” in their names. Google also owns YouTube, Waze, Nest, Fitbit, Chromebooks, and much more. Furthermore, you need to know and understand what information Google already knows about you. And while you’re doing that, you should delete all the existing data and prevent further collection. Thankfully, Google provides several tools to help you do this (most likely due to regulations like GDPR and CCPA). I’ll help you create your personal de-Google to-do list.

In other news: today I’m launching a massive giveaway promotion to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the podcast!! Also, 100 million Samsung phones shipped with horrible security flaws; Nvidia hackers are pressuring the company to turn off cryptocurrency mining limitations; the (Russian) Conti and TrickBot ransomware operations have been hacked; details of 120,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine have been leaked (on purpose); the US Senate has passed landmark cybersecurity legislation in light of the rising cyber warfare threat; and the ACLU has published a sobering report about a mass surveillance company called Flock (no relation to Google’s FLoC).