Imagine being asked to stop using anything that’s related to Google, Facebook or Amazon. Uh-oh! Our wholesome life on the internet now sounds almost dead, doesn’t it? Or if you’re fed up to the teeth with all the mess that’s going on with your data being handled by Facebook or Google, where would you go? Even in the face of adverse privacy issues surrounding our tech giants, billions of us are still using their services. Does this simply mean we’ve got nowhere to go? Read more about The Upshot of No Tech Rivalry.
What’s the matter?
Recently, the academics and industry hotshots told the Senate Judiciary committee that the hitch with privacy is the lack of competition between the tech giants. In fact, if one of these tech maestros were to have issues with data privacy, there’s no other alternative we could resort to. Well, that’s just how high-octane they are now.
A peek into the past:
Over the years, there had been instances concerning our privacy which witnessed movements set off to get people to leave this or that tech platform. But none of these barely even made a dip. In addition, Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal had people delete the app. But guess what? It was fewer than 15 million users who stopped using. What do you think it is in front of a 2 billion people who continued to use the social network.
More about the setback:
Moreover, experts claim that the core of privacy issues are nothing but the lack of competition. People do not have a single other alternative, let alone having a wide range of options to go for in the face of a tech glitch. Had there been more of vying between social networks we would’ve been better off in the fallout against Facebook. Why, you ask? It’s simply it’s dominance of social media. After all, Facebook also owns it’s direct competition, Instagram. (Wow, it really looks like there’s no way out.)
Not to mention Google’s whopping share of users! It’s got the world’s most popular mobile operating systems in Android. It’s the most sought-after browser in Chrome. And those billions of users it has on Gmail, YouTube, the search engine and more don’t necessarily need any talking.
Alternatives:
However, here are some privacy-assured alternatives you could resort to:
- Browsers: Brave is one of the most reliant browsers among the other dodgy ones.
- E-mail: Proton Mail is an option you could consider as an alternative for Gmail.
- Search Engines: DuckDuckGo might sound a little familiar because it’s usage is on the rise.
Not surprisingly, the makers of these three companies have claimed to have witnessed some growth, which of course, is no match to the tempo that those tech monsters gain users. But of course, there has to be a reason why they’re not on the go so easily like the established ones. Why? Know here.
It’s now very obvious that the competition we have here is nothing like what we see in other fields. This isn’t anything like going to Subway because you didn’t like it at the Burger Kings‘. We can only credit this to the dominance of the prevalent tech companies. They simply eliminate other options, thereby, leaving us with nowhere to go.
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