This guide is by a Canadian author, but I find it very appropriate here as most of his solutions are European and he points to several alternatives, so all in all a great source of inspiration.
All very good suggestions indeed. But there are more. Most of them are North(west) European, but this is because most of those countries got their own systems set up already, and got relatively robust privacy laws. Not sure about other ones, but please do inform!
Weather
Windy 🇨🇿 - expansive, worldwide. Pretty.
Yr 🇳🇴 - Norwegian-focused but has good coverage for Europe.
Meteonet 🇫🇷 - old interface, but no-nonsense.Whatever your country has, also works.
Payment processors
National/regional ones exist, they’re more independent and should be preferred.
But also, Wero 🇪🇺 is there. Check if your bank already has it. Though I think it must address tech reliance concerns.Some forms of crypto also are independent, but beware of how much electricity they use.
GNU Taler may also be considered, it’s independent and decentralised!
Banks
If you wish to stick with a ‘traditional’ bank, then these following would be best:
ASN Bank 🇳🇱 - government-safeguarded. Came best out of the Dutch Ethical Banking Guide (Dutch).
Triodos 🇳🇱 - independent (second-best in that guide), Europe-wide.
Ekobanken 🇸🇪 - ecological.Or check Febea and GABV, those two have lists of European ethical&pro-labour banks (the latter also has lists for other areas).
If you’ve the choice, you can also go for a local bank that’s a co-op. Then you can decide along where the money goes, and hold the bank more responsible. They don’t have stocks, instead having different financing methods.
Phones
Jolla 🇫🇮 (has Sailfish OS)
FairPhone 🇳🇱 is a very good option (best balance between ethics, repairability, and privacy). They or Murena might soon get an option that is suited for GrapheneOS.
Murena 🇫🇷 has the iPhone look and feel. Pretty easy to use.
Nothing 🇬🇧 - a bit riskier in my opinion, since they share demographic and fiscal data, and share data outside of the EU/EEZ+UK. However, it allows bootloader unlocking.
Shiftphone 🇩🇪 - has 3rd party support.None of these support GrapheneOS, but they really ought to. GrapheneOS may soon be available on other devices, though. Currently, if you want one, get a used Pixel, ‘clean’ thoroughly, and then put GrapheneOS on it.
Tablets
Archos 🇫🇷
Juno Tab 🇬🇧 (runs Linux)
Murena 🇫🇷
Nokia 🇫🇮 (also has phones, TVs and laptops)
reMarkable 🇳🇴The Purism one is good too and has some killswitches, though it’s US-based (California, at least, which has a sort of GDPR-like law).
Laptops
Do you want to game -> Tuxedo 🇩🇪
It just works & supports FOSS devs -> Slimbook 🇪🇸
Privacy-focused Macbook-like? -> StarLab 🇬🇧
More customisable -> Novacustom 🇳🇱 Customisation and colour -> Framework 🇳🇱Nokia supposedly sells some too, but I couldn’t find a place to buy them.
You can also get an Asus or Acer 🇹🇼 (🇼🇸), or if you don’t mind Chinese products, Lenovo.
Clevo is also a good one, it’s Taiwanese.
Regarding hardware, if you’ve a laptop with an Intel chip, disable the Intel Management Engine, it’s likely backdoor spyware. VIA Technologies 🇹🇼 (🇼🇸) is the only non-American one that makes graphic cards supporting x86, like Intel and AMD.
What OS to pick (an OS is a software like Windows or Macintosh)
Anything Linux, really. Some of them are headed by the Red Hat project, which is good, but it’s American, so keep that in mind. Nevertheless, depending on your tasks:
New to Linux -> Linux Mint (it just works)
Privacy -> openSUSE
Security -> QubesOS (multiple computers on one)
Stable updates -> Debian
I use -> Arch Linux (btw)
Resembles Macbook -> elementaryOSWith most Linux distributions you can make them look like Windows or Mac either way, but I’d like to throw that in.
Smartwatch
PineTime 🇪🇺 - FOSS, more privacy friendly than the big players.
WatchMark 🇬🇧🇩🇪 - has the Apple Watch look, manufactured in Europe.
Montblanc 🇩🇪 - Manufactured in Germany.
Polar Electro 🇫🇮 - Owned by Finns, made in China and Malaysia. For outdoors.
MyKronoz🇨🇭- Swiss, pretty affordable.
And for printers;
Epson 🇯🇵 EcoTank especially, all-around.
Canon 🇯🇵 Pixelma.
Novaware 🇳🇱 - they got a good thermal printer.
Nuvance 🇳🇱 also thermal.



