u/Anhar001

As part of my "DeGoogling" journey, I can see that the amount of data that tech giants such as Google own is staggering.

At the same time I understand just how difficult and challenging it is to "DeGoogle". Of course it's possible to do, however it's not easy for the vast majority of "mainstream" users.

I can see that pure Linux phones while ultra niche do provide potential, however they lack applications and essentially the fully integrated cohesive experience that the phones from the tech giants provide.

My idea was a "ground up" unified platform that would be pre-installed on a custom NAS box (the private server), the idea is simple:

Imagine that a home user purchases a "Box", they plug this into their home router and then scan a QR code on the box to use a super friendly interface to setup their "Box".

Then on their Linux Phone (can be Android in the interim, but Android phones have privacy concerns) they can install all the apps where all the data and account is strictly stored on the "Box".

The "Box" would also automatically form a global P2P decentralised cluster and act as a secure encrypted storage for other "Boxes".

Think of this is owning your own "private cloud" in your home or shop.

The "Box" would also come with multiple services baked in, including its own secure Wifi with lots of strong parental control that is managed via an app on the phone, things like pausing/banning individual or all connected devices, trigger word detection, local AI based image inspection, setting total internet usage limits, setting "bed time" schedules as well as blocklists of sites. It would also have DNS filtering to stop adware (much like PiHole), and optional Tor networking. (Technically speaking we would build on top of an Immutable Linux OS such as Universal Blue with all applications and services install as Flatpak/AppImages etc)

In terms of the phone app side I was thinking of the following:

• Admin Manager (to manage all families accounts)
• Auth (SSO Single Sign On for all apps)
• Notes (can be shared with other accounts in real time, like Google Notes)
• Contacts (will use standard vCard format and CardDav protocol)
• Calendar (will use stand CalDav protocol)
• Kanban (Jira like for project management)
• Files (allows backups of files on phone to the "Box")
• Photos (replacement for Google Photos)
• Passwords (replacement for things like Password Managers)
• Authenticator (2FA TOP replacement like Google Authenticator, keys are stored on the "Box")
• Chat (allows secure chat between accounts as well ACROSS boxes)
• Mail (allows email like text between any accounts on any box)
• Maps (Like Google Maps, but the Box provides the routing/navigation services and the user selects and downloads the countries they need)
• Coin (secure digital "money" can transfer between any account on any box. Money generation is entirely another topic of discussion)
• News (automated scraped and collated data from the web, potentially using optional RSS)

(some users will still want their Android apps, while not recommended we can use Waydroid to run those apps inside a sandbox, however this may not work for all Android apps, especially given how much Google is locking things down now)

And potentially other apps as well, the principle being all the data is stored on the "Box" which will be accessible globally to authenticated accounts of that box only, it's essentially a "private cloud" with added parental security controls/management.

Also for example, because it will have a decentralised aspect, the data will be "backed up" across other boxes (or use something like IPFS network via pinning) this means for example if the box is damaged it's not a problem just get a new "box" and when doing the setup one can click "import" and just provide the security key to restore the box from the P2P/IPFS backup.

This will also allow "moving" accounts across these "boxes" using the "Admin Manager".

Also it's scaleable, if one needs more storage either buy a larger "Box" or just buyer another "Box" and during the setup select "Join existing Box" and it will automatically connect to the first box and expand the data available (and this can be repeated as many times as needed).

Of course all of this will be open source, so anyone can build these boxes DIY if they so choose, or just buy one fully built and already setup.

What I'm describing is basically self hosting private server with a ton of custom apps and services. It's entirely possible to do today, but only for those who are highly technical, the idea of the "Box" is to make this a "Turn Key" solution and one that is completely user friendly and doesn't need any technical skills, it's the "Apple User Experience" of "it just works".

Perhaps this was what the internet was originally supposed to be, not this fully centralised and owned by a few tech giant monsters that spy on everything we do and sell our data to other companies and the government.

This will need a lot of funding, developers and resources, but I believe it's not impossible if the the will and desire is there.