Data Independence is something that many, many billions of people have no idea they need in their lives. Taking a look at your own bank statements will tell you the strength of the chains that bind you. But, what if I were to tell you, that’s only a part of the tale? Do you realize how dependent you are on big data to keep your life together?

Let’s get this out of the way right now: this article is not for the faint of heart. What you’re going to read here is really going to be disturbing. But, you’re in for an awakening as to how unaware you really are about your slavery to big data. Don’t worry – there’s always hope at the end of the tunnel.

I’m a “SLAVE?!” Come again?!

As of right now, we are all slaves in one form or another to big data. Let me ask you a series of questions, in no particular order.

• Do you use Windows at work?
• Do you use Google Drive for anything?
• Do you shop on Amazon?
• Do you have cloud storage (OneDrive, iCloud, Google Drive, etc.)?

If you answered “yes” to any of these, congratulations! You’re a slave! That’s a hard pill to swallow for sure. You may not physically have chains on your wrists, but you sure do have them. Let me break it down.

I ask this because you may be using Linux at home. You may have gotten tired of Windows 11’s constant predatory updates, their violations of privacy where Copilot AI takes a snapshot of your active desktop to send to Microsoft and God knows who else. Sneaking Copilot into every single application. Or, this one got me, Windows 11 using half of your RAM, no matter how much you have!.

To these companies, you are nothing more than data. A series of 1s and 0s that formulate files, preferences, and other features that are sold to the highest bidder (specifically, other data brokers). Your Windows usage, how you use your Google Drive, what you shop for on Amazon, what you upload on your iPhone, all of that is bought with a price. You see none of the returns.

Then, there’s your wallet.

Where this hits financially

The average user is fully connected, today. They may think this is something great to behold, but just what does it mean to be “fully connected?” All of the accounts you have and how much you’re paying for them?

Yeah, pretty much.

Let’s face it – you can’t just get by on 5GB of cloud storage. You need to go at least the first cheapest route to get that golden 1TB or 500GB nugget other cloud servers give you. Perhaps you just need it all?

Let’s break down the premiums. This includes what you choose for entertainment as well. This may haunt your dreams.

What you pay for

• Amazon Prime
• Netflix
• Hulu
• Disney Plus
• Paramount Plus
• Office 365-plus-OneDrive
• Google Drive

And those are just some of the things you pay, per month or per-year, just to survive! Your wallet gets drained and your privacy (and that of your family’s) is compromised at a rate of 100%.

This, alone, should scare you. It scared me. Granted, there are some things that I pay for because I kinda have to at this juncture in my life. There are services that I actually enjoy so I do keep them rolling. However, when it comes to cloud storage, social media, gaming I went completely open sourced and totally free!

I gained my Data Independence!

Over the last month, I’ve taken steps to break free of the need for the majority of the services that I have come to use every day. I dumped Microsoft’s paid tier, and I no longer pay for Google. The majority of my online presence is charged through my cell phone company because I have iPhone, but luckily, the only social media I have is this website. This is where I am free to express myself and not be beholden to someone else’s terms of service or community standards. That includes how I use cloud data.

The thing that’s going to blow you away: I achieved it for less than $50 US! That doesn’t include my gaming rig, which is a whole different story… or is it? The gaming PC (the one I used to engineer this website) is the only thing that cost me some good coin. However, being a systems engineer myself, I can tell you that the doorway to all of this is dumping Windows and switching to Linux. To achieve data independence, you need to do this. Windows won’t allow you.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to lay out exactly what I did and how you, too, can get it done. If you want to achieve your own data independence and, at the very least, work to dump some of the vampires that are sucking blood out of your bank account and taking food off your table, then you’re going to want to stick around for this. Not only is this the story of how fleishmi.com came to be, but it could encourage you to want to gain your freedom, take back some big control, and make your own rules. It’s not for everyone. But, I will make it as accessible as I can for you. I hope you’ll stick around because next week, I’m going to take you shopping… sort of. I’m going to show you how I built my home server for less than $50 US, and saved almost $10,000 US by doing it!

Stay tuned!