[darklajid]

I try to. The single thing I struggle with? Android.

Maybe Firefox OS will be interesting, iOS isn't. And .. right now I can pay for Android apps, but I'm banned from rate them, comment on them. Ignoring all the 'Do you want to be tracked to provide Better Services (tm)" stuff in that ecosystem.

[jerf]

Somewhat ironically, I had a Google account already (albeit only lightly used, losing Reader killed ~95% of the utility for me), but when I got my Android phone, it simply refused to link to it. I think perhaps because I didn't have GMail? To be honest the error messages were never that clear to me. So instead of linking in my "real" Google account, I had to create a new one. One I never browse with, one that has no services, one not linked to the greater anything. Instead of a lightly-but-really-used account now they just have an Android account floating in space, being virtually useless to them.

[dredmorbius]

That anonymous account knows where you live, who you talk to, where you go, what you read online, ...

Linking it to your legal identity isn't hard. Data show that just two ZIP Codes (in the US) can indentify an individual with 95% accuracy: your home and workplace.

Makes me want to rightgrade to an uncontracted dumbphone and a custom-ROMed tablet. Not linked to any Google accounts.

[jerf]

Yeah, but that's mostly useful to law enforcement, if they were interested, and for that the mere fact of a cell phone is enough to get everything you mentioned. What Google gets of value out of this account is greatly reduced, especially as I've been buying the ad-free version of the apps. (While in theory Google could get everything you say, I believe that in practice they actually do not, say, forward all of your "Reddit is Fun" actions up to the Great Google Motherserver.)

And no, I did not say eliminated. Just greatly reduced. (Again, the moreso after shuttering Reader, although I must say that while you could learn a lot about me from my blog reading list, its utility for selling me stuff was pretty low.)

[dredmorbius]

Yeah, but that's mostly useful to law enforcement, if they were interested

De-anonymization has been studied and applied by various parties, and I'm personally aware of at least one non-LEO application. I don't know that Google does or doesn't do this, though it wouldn't surprise me at all if marketing/advertising and/or other "personalization" services did. It would annoy me intensely to find that they were.

For that the mere fact of a cell phone is enough to get everything you mentioned.

A dumb phone can only report coarse location information, SMS messaging, and calls data. Frequently expiring SIMs would limit the useful duration of much of that information, though you'd need something like a self-hosted Google Voice forwarding service to be able to use the phone usefully while maintaining reasonable anonymity. It's not currently practical for most purposes.

Relying on a Free Software VOIP service based on the tablet preferentially for voice calls would further reduce exposure.

[sirkneeland]

You should have a look at Jolla and their Sailfish OS. Beautiful Linux system based off of MeeGo, not tied to any Google or even American servers.

Google it--wait, no. Duckduckgo it ;)

[pessimizer]

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/5072264/googling-with-bing

The verb for searching the internet would have been Altavista had Altavista sounded like a verb:)

[fluidcruft]

If your phone is supported, you could install CyanogenMod (it works fine without gapps installed). From there you can use f-droid for apps, but possibly Amazon App Store could be a good alternative to the Google Play morass.

[darklajid]

I'm running Cyanogenmod, but I like to have (potentially paid) applications (to avoid the 'apps' non-word). I paid for quite a lot already.

I'm never allowed to rate them, to comment on them in the Google Play store, since .. I cannot have a G+ account (and frankly, I don't want one).

[csmatt]

I run CM too. I killed my G+ account when I found it difficult to change my privacy settings. Not being able to rate apps pissed me off.

[3825]

>possibly Amazon App Store could be a good alternative to the Google Play morass.

Sorry but the last time I tried, Amazon App store was a resource hog. Also apps will stop working if you get signed out of the Amazon app store app. It is like they are trying to prevent one guy who they think will buy a copy of their app, get on a stranger's device, log in to the app store, download their apps, and log out and repeat it for all devices in the world.

[fluidcruft]

I don't think any of that is true anymore.

[andrewaylett]

Unless it's changed in the last couple of weeks, it's still the case that you have to remain logged in to Amazon's app store. They don't use the native account manager either, which is irritating, and the store app sometimes loses your login credentials.