Over the years my google account has become the center-piece of my digital life. I use it to store everything - contacts, bookmarks, notes, passwords, essential documents, personal IDs, etc.
The wake-up call came after realising that all it takes to be locked out of my account is an algorithm marking me or my activity as a threat, and if that happens, good luck trying to negotiate getting your data back. Their system, their rules. There are plenty of stories out there
So I’ve been cooking up a plan to limit my dependency on google’s services, even at the expense of giving up some amount of convenience. I will sleep better at night knowing that all my eggs are not in one basket.
Bare in mind, what follows isn’t a plan of replacing google entirely - I will continue using their services. Rather, the goal is coming up with a fail-safe system for backing up my data in case my account dissapears over night.
Also, this doesn’t apply to just Google. It’s the same situation if all your data is with Apple, Microsoft, Tencent, etc
1. Passwords
I have experimented with many password managers, but ultimately decided to go with Bitwarden.
2. Google Drive/data backup
The data in my google drive needs to be synced across to other services, automatically, periodically, privately, and securely.
As this is the technically challenging bit, I will continue this in part 2.