Buy European

I explained the whole tech thing to my old dad who has an iPhone and an iPad and such. I didn't tell him he should shift to non-american tech, I just reminded him that while he wants to boycott American products in the stores, he must be aware that the places where a boycott matters is also the places where a boycott is the most difficult. Getting our governments to stop investing in American weapons and American an tech. Us stopping investing in American tech in private and stop using American websites and software. X, Y and Z are American websites, software or tech.

I told him I would be looking into getting myself a European phone next time and I tried to explain what Linux was - despite not being anywhere close to knowledgeable about it myself lol.

I think it gave him something to think about, but I don't expect him to change immediately. But I know that he might reach out to me if he needs a new device at some point.

I think that is the best method, honestly. Just plant the seeds in their heads, let them think about it over time, give them the information your can and be available if/when they reach out 🤗

Agree with @huppakee@piefed.social comment here about the importance of setting a north star and seeing the big picture.

I started idcaboutprivacy for exactly this. It's an open source repository of articles and discussions to surface the importance of privacy how it affects our lives.

I've found that connecting the offline to the online is really helpful in translating concepts and answering the "Why should I care?" question.

On a more tactical level, I like to start off recommending Privacy Guides. Though not everyone agrees with 100% of their software recommendations, it's a really solid starting point, and they also provide justifications for each one.

This journey that you wanna put your parents on is also endless, and we gotta adjust as necessary as things change. It'll never be static. So consider that. Stay lean, open minded, and willing to adapt when necessary.

Had to look this up, but there is this saying that might help you:

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea." – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

I'm gonna install linux xcfe on my grandma's laptop from 2014, windows 10 reached end of life anyway.

Just tell them (the truth) that their emails are read, their keystrokes are sent, their messages are not safe either, tell them that they have no online privacy and America sees it all (that America that is currently shooting people for recording a video). Older generations, I found, expect privacy and they usually are shocked to find out that it is breached every moment they use their mail, os, phone, etc... It is the same with my parents. The change is not fast, we always talk about one particular area (like messaging) and then they ask me themselves what they can do to fix it (like installing signal).

Switching to Signal for family group chat is an easy move, as it's the same user experience than Whatsapp. Note: it's american but not GAFAM (open source and non-profit).

You already have quite a good start. Wait for them to adjust and hear feedback before you switch all of it out. A major component might be mail but you might find more reluctance for them to change if they have specific contacts and accounts added. Whats nice about proton tho is you can add a gmail account to easyswitch and for the time being it will just like import/forward all the mails towards their proton account so the switch is easier.

You need to see and feel it out how far they're willing to go/what they're comfortable with. It would be nice to know what they rely on and like maybe a country so we can suggest alternatives (for example for amazon it highly depends on the country)

So my grandparents had somehow signed up for a free trial of office or 365 or whatever. They ended up getting locked put of opening documents because they didn't want to give the computer their credit card. I was able to fairly easily convince them that Libre office was the was to go. They were pretty thrilled.

I'm thinking of giving them a linux PC to try out at some point as they mostly use it for Facebook and excel spreadsheets anyway.

I say Linux first.

Focus on the future, not the past.

Let your parents live like they used to, since they are probably not really impacted much anyway (until we are all impacted). Focus on teaching your kids who a) understand tech much more and b) will teach the next generations.

This is a tricky thing to do. I'd say start with yourself. On your journey you will find what could be interesting to which family member. All of them doesn't have to migrate at the same time with the same product.

Small steps is always easier to take.