In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, I explained why I start building a personal cloud as part of a long journey towards digital independence from Big Tech. In Part 3, I grappled with the big security risks that come with this choice: When you go for your own cloud, security becomes your… Continue reading Sans Big Tech Part 6: Encrypting emails at rest
Category: Sans Big Tech
Sans Big Tech Part 5: File server in the personal cloud
In Part 1 of this series, I explained why I have embarked on a long journey towards digital independence from Big Tech and Big Risk. Part 2 documented the first step of that journey - building a personal cloud, Part 3 discussed the security issues, and Part 4 described setting up an encrypted calendar in… Continue reading Sans Big Tech Part 5: File server in the personal cloud
Sans Big Tech Part 4: EteSync calendar in the personal cloud
Updated January 2, 2020 with a clarification of CalDav Five years ago, I started working towards what I then called Head in the cloud, feet on the ground, but now prefer to describe using Kleppmann's terminology as Local-first software: you own your data, in spite of the cloud (h/t Adrian Colyer). Among the the first… Continue reading Sans Big Tech Part 4: EteSync calendar in the personal cloud
Sans Big Tech Part 3: Security in the personal cloud
In Part 2 of this series, I explained why I went about setting up my personal cloud server as the first step to freeing myself from dependence on Big Tech. The first comment on this was by Suhan Saha (this comment has apparently disappeared from Facebook now): The biggest disadvantage of private cloud is IT-Security… Continue reading Sans Big Tech Part 3: Security in the personal cloud
Sans Big Tech Part 2: The personal cloud
In Part 1 of this series, I explained why I have embarked on a long journey towards digital independence from Big Tech and Big Risk. This post documents the first step of that journey where I start building a personal cloud. When Big Tech provides free services, these are not really free. First, we pay… Continue reading Sans Big Tech Part 2: The personal cloud
Big Tech 2019 = Big Finance 2005 = Big Risk?
In 2005, Big Finance was at the top of the world. Due to financial innovation and advances in mathematical modelling, Big Finance was highly profitable despite operating at low levels of risk. By 2008, it became clear that all this was an illusion. Then Fed Chairman Bernanke has stated: So out of maybe the 13,… Continue reading Big Tech 2019 = Big Finance 2005 = Big Risk?
Head in the clouds, feet on the ground: Part II (Feed Reader)
In Part I of this series, I argued that we should have a fully functional offline version of every important cloud service that we use. A feed reader is an important cloud service for me. In this post, I explain how to set up a cloud+offline feed reader. A feed reader must by its nature… Continue reading Head in the clouds, feet on the ground: Part II (Feed Reader)
Head in the cloud, feet on the ground: Part I (email)
My approach to cloud services is “Head in the cloud, feet on the ground”. By “head in the the cloud” I mean the effective use of cloud services to allow seamless access across multiple devices from anywhere. By “feet on the ground”, I mean a fully functional offline backup of the cloud so that all… Continue reading Head in the cloud, feet on the ground: Part I (email)
Prof. Jayanth R Varma's blog on computing 