Life Beneath Clouds
Building a digital life that does not depend on Big Tech
The problem
What if you lose access?
- An account connects your files, devices, and conversations.
- A service can change its terms, stop working, or disappear.
- How much of your digital life could you carry away?
The thread through the talk
Ownership → replaceability → responsibility
- Ownership: who controls the device, service, and data?
- Replaceability: can you move your data and change providers?
- Responsibility: what work becomes yours?
Independence comes in degrees. Keep a usable exit path.
Ownership / devices
Start with the devices in your hands
- Desktop: Linux.
- Phone: GrapheneOS; F-Droid and Aurora Store where appropriate.
- Keep hardware support, app compatibility, and updates in the story.
[Image placeholder: desktop + phone] Screenshots of the actual Linux desktop and phone setup. Annotate one useful choice and one
compatibility compromise on each.
Ownership / everyday habits
Change a few everyday defaults
- Browsing: Firefox and Firefox Klar.
- Search: DuckDuckGo or self-hosted SearXNG.
- Maps: Organic Maps and OpenStreetMap.
[Image placeholder: an offline map] A downloaded area in Organic Maps. Caption the practical benefit: a useful local copy, backed by
shared geographic data.
Replaceability / data
Keep a copy you can use
- Notes and knowledge: Logseq.
- Files across devices: Syncthing, with a VPS as a possible peer.
- Choose formats and exports you can open elsewhere.
[Diagram placeholder: files across devices] Laptop ↔ phone ↔ optional VPS peer. Show a separate backup copy with retained versions, outside
the synchronization arrows.
Synchronization and recovery need separate plans.
Replaceability / people
Conversations have to move together
- Messaging: SimpleX.
- Voice: TeamSpeak on a VPS.
- Telegram clients such as Mercurygram change the client; the service remains a dependency.
[Diagram placeholder: client, service, people] Three layers: the app you use, the service it reaches, and the people you talk to. Mark which
layers each example changes.
Replaceability / social networks
Mastodon: choose a server, join a network
- Independent servers communicate through federation.
- You can follow people on other servers.
- Moving followers is possible; moving post history has limits.
[Diagram placeholder: federation] Three independently operated Mastodon servers, with people following one another across them. Show
one person moving to another server.
Responsibility / privacy and policy
Chat Control: who can inspect a conversation?
- The EU debate concerns detecting child sexual abuse online.
- The privacy questions: scanning scope, safeguards, and encryption.
- Choosing an app is only part of protecting private communication.
Technical choices and public policy both shape digital control.
Ownership / media
Choose how you watch and create
- NewPipe: an Android client for YouTube and other services.
- Create locally: LibreOffice, Blender, Kdenlive, KiCad, FreeCAD.
- Play and convert: VLC and FFmpeg.
[Image placeholder: NewPipe] NewPipe playing a video. Label the Android app separately from the service supplying the video:
changing the client keeps that dependency.
Ownership / home
What keeps working when the internet stops?
- Home Assistant with Shelly and compatible devices.
- Prefer local control and wired connections where practical.
- Use OpenWrt and network boundaries to control device access.
[Diagram placeholder: home network] Home Assistant ↔ local devices. Router at the boundary; selected internet connections beyond it.
Label wired and Thread links where they apply to the actual setup.
Replaceability / infrastructure
A VPS gives you somewhere to run things
- Choose and operate your own services.
- Examples in the notes: Syncthing, TeamSpeak, optional Plausible CE.
- The hosting provider remains part of the dependency chain.
[Diagram placeholder: service portability] Service configuration + data + secrets → a replacement VPS. Label the restore and migration steps
that would need to work.
Infrastructure example / vps-iac
Make the setup repeatable
- Cloud-init and Ansible establish the host.
- Git holds non-secret configuration; secrets travel separately.
- WireGuard provides private access; Cockpit provides local controls.
[Diagram placeholder: one VPS, two layers] Control plane: bootstrap and machine management.
Services: application workloads.
Show configuration, secrets, and private operator access entering through separate paths.
Services: application workloads.
Show configuration, secrets, and private operator access entering through separate paths.
Ownership / local compute
Local AI makes the costs visible
- Ollama and local models are examples from the notes.
- A machine with 32 GB of VRAM is a concrete hardware example.
- Hardware capacity, model choice, and upkeep become your decisions.
[Image placeholder: a local model in use] Terminal or application screenshot. Add the actual model, hardware, and a useful task; include
measured performance only if available.
Responsibility / upkeep
Someone still has to operate it
- Updates, monitoring, backups, and recovery.
- Compatibility problems and the time spent fixing them.
- Deciding how much maintenance fits your life.
Responsibility / questions to work through
Plan for losing a device or a server
- Where are the independent copies and retained versions?
- How do you recover accounts, credentials, and contacts?
- Can you restore the services and files you need?
[Diagram placeholder: recovery path] Lost phone or failed VPS → recovery credentials + backup → replacement device or host. Fill in the
actual storage locations and one tested restore procedure.
Replaceability / choosing a service
Check how you would leave
- Can you export the data in a usable format?
- Can another client or provider take over?
- What happens to your address, history, and connections?
- What time, money, and cooperation would a move require?
Apply the same questions to every alternative.
A practical next step
Move one dependency at a time
- Pick one everyday task that matters to you.
- Try an alternative and check its export or recovery path.
- Keep what works; account for the maintenance it adds.
[Diagram placeholder: a gradual migration] One task → trial → move data → check recovery → decide what comes next. Mark tasks that need other
people to participate.
Life Beneath Clouds / discussion
Build a digital life you can carry with you
Ownership → replaceability → responsibility
Which dependency would you like to make easier to leave?
Appendix / examples from the inventory
A tool shelf for follow-up questions
| Area | Examples in the source notes |
|---|---|
| Devices & accounts | Linux, GrapheneOS, F-Droid, Aurora Store, Yubico |
| Everyday tools | Firefox / Klar, DuckDuckGo, SearXNG, Organic Maps / OSM, Logseq |
| Files & communication | Syncthing, SimpleX, TeamSpeak, Mercurygram, Mastodon, Pixelfed |
| Creative work & media | LibreOffice, KiCad, FreeCAD, Blender, Kdenlive, VLC, FFmpeg, Bandcamp, NewPipe |
| Home & infrastructure | Home Assistant, Shelly, OpenWrt, Hetzner, Codeberg, Plausible CE |
| Compatibility & compute | Proton-GE, Ollama |
Appendix / optional material to develop
Examples that still need a decision
- Alternative providers: Proton Mail, Qwant, Ecosia, Tidal, and Qobuz appear in comparison lists.
- Postman: identify the exact concern and verify it before making a claim.
- Cloud cameras / Ring: select a specific, sourced example if this stays in the talk.
- Personal setup details: backups, password manager, recovery codes, photos, contacts, calendar, and a personal domain.
Appendix / optional visual cues
Humor with a place in the story
| Candidate | Placement / point |
|---|---|
| [Image] Zuckerberg hearing | Opening: platform and account dependence |
| [Clip] Louis Rossmann | Ownership: paying for something and controlling it |
| [Clip] Linus / Nvidia | Devices: hardware and vendor friction |
| [Text gag] GNU/Linux | Devices: free-software principles; label parody |
| [Clip] Kai Lentit / Kubernetes | VPS: choosing the amount of complexity |
| [Clip] Kai Lentit / Clawdbot VPS | Upkeep: the work behind a “simple” setup |