How I Escaped Google

And Other Web-Based Services

by mrcaffeine  (mrcaffeine@network0.org)

Let me preface this article by saying I love my privacy and I love well designed tools, but I find privacy more valuable.

I've been using various tools online for all sorts of things such as Google Reader for news aggregation, Gmail for email and calendaring, Gtalk for IM, Evernote and Google Docs for notes and documents, Delicious for bookmarks, Flickr and Picasa for photos.

As you can imagine, files, pictures, notes are everywhere and it's not easy or fun to back up - that is, if backing up your content is even possible!  Another concern of mine was to have a backup plan in case one of the services I depend on decides to go belly up.  Where would I be then?  Could I get my data out?  Who is going to have access to my data?  What if they turn into Facebook and constantly change their stance on privacy?

I couldn't sleep or stop thinking about it.  This led me to build my own solution using open-source tools that you can get on the net.

Now, I'm not a programmer, but I've figured out a good bit on PHP and MySQL based applications and I'm pretty comfortable using them, so that was a part of my requirements, since I wanted to install this on my web host.  I'll also point out there that it would be a good idea to get a static IP and an SSL certificate so you can encrypt your applications if your host allows it.

Now, on to the applications!

News Aggregation: RSSLounge or Gregarius

Greader (Google Reader) is a great RSS aggregator and I love the features, but I wanted to have more control of my privacy without the advertisements, so I found RSSLounge.

It is really stable and fast, and has an easy to manage subscription list.  There is also integrated search and, not to mention, built in tagging and organization which is a must have these days.  You can check RSSLounge out at: rsslounge.aditu.de

Gregarius is also a good choice since it has all of the above mentioned features, but requires a bit more database maintenance (when it has about 10,000 articles, it starts to get slow).  Gregarius does also offer theming support and has a plugin architecture so you can customize it yourself.  Gregarius can be found at: sourceforge.net/projects/gregarius

Email: Crystal Mail or Roundcube

Gmail has arguably the best webmail interface out there.

My host comes with IMAP support and I decided to start using it.  Most webhosts use Squirrel Mail (squirrelmail.org) and, while it is functional, is pretty ugly.

I found that Crystal Mail or Roundcube is a wonderful alternative.  They both have built in calendars and address books and are very active projects.  I would recommend either of them for webmail needs as it just comes down to a matter of taste.  You can find Crystal Mail here at www.crystalmail.net or Roundcube at roundcube.net.

Chat: Jabber

Gtalk is still good for IM and I still use it, but since my host also provides a free Jabber service, I decided to use that, so keep this mind if you're shopping for a web host.

Notes and Documents: WordPress

It may seem that using an entire content management system for notes and documents is overkill, but I believe that having a really flexible and active project to maintain my most important notes and documents is really important.

The flexibility of themes and plugins make this one of my favorite tools.  It is even possible to make WordPress be your image gallery.  I have found that there are two key plugins that I use on my particular installation: Inline Editor (www.wpxpand.com/plugins/inline-editor) and Postie (wordpress.org/extend/plugins/postie).

The Inline Editor plugin is exactly what it sounds like.  I can edit my notes directly on the WordPress blog without having to go to the admin panel and Postie allows for more fine grain control of email posting.  This makes it easier to post notes and documents since I can fire up Thunderbird and shoot off a quick email or even use my phone.

I would also like to point out that that it is imperative to keep WordPress up to date so it is secure in order to prevent any unauthorized access.  You can get WordPress at www.wordpress.org.  It is also worth noting that many webhosts can install WordPress for you if you like.

Bookmark Management: SemanticScuttle or Insipid

I had been using Delicious for years, so I had quite the collection of bookmarks and I didn't want to lose them.  Luckily, I found that there are a few projects that will fit the Delicious toolset perfectly.

SemenaticScuttle is an open-source project that aims to essentially build your own Delicious type service.  This was a bit too much for my needs, but it is still an attractive option.

I opted for Insipid (neuro-tech.net/insipid), which is really lightweight and even has Firefox plugins, so you can easily add bookmarks.  It is worth noting that both of these tools support tagging importing Delicous bookmarks, so migration to these is a breeze.

Evading Content Filtering: PHProxy

Every now and then, you may come across a website that you can't view at work or at some other location (2600.com - ha!).

This wasn't originally in my needs, but it comes in handy, so I figured I'd throw it in.  I also am not responsible for any trouble you get yourself into by using a tool to evade content filtering.

By installing PHProxy (phpr0xi.sourceforge.net), you get a mini URL bar and can browse freely by having your web host proxy your browsing to you.

It is worth noting that there are a million different ways to do this, but that's for another article and this works well enough in a pinch.

Webserver File Management: PHPfm

PHPfm (phpfm.sourceforge.net) is a great web-based file manager that has come in handy countless times.

I consider this an important part of the toolbox.  It is invaluable for when you are at a location that does not allow FTP or SFTP access or you need to do nearly anything else file level related.

Security

As for security, I keep all my apps in a separate directory off my main website (i.e., somesite.com/apps) and that is further protected by an .htaccess file password authentication and requires a SSL connection as to prevent snooping while using my tools.

If you are shopping for a web host, I would recommend keeping that in mind or seeing if your current web host can provide this level of service.  It is entirely possible to run this off of your own server as well; the beauty of all of this software is that it can all run on nearly any platform.

I hope you found this interesting and useful.

Just remember: "It's not paranoia if it's real."

Shoutout to Jimmy Grizzle for helping me appreciate my own privacy.