cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41387733
I used to self-host because I liked tinkering. I worked tech support for a municipal fiber network, I ran Arch, I enjoyed the control. The privacy stuff was a nice bonus but honestly it was mostly about having my own playground. That changed this week when I watched ICE murder a woman sitting in her car. Before you roll your eyes about this getting political - stay with me, because this is directly about the infrastructure we’re all running in our homelabs. Here’s what happened: A woman was reduced to a data point in a database - threat assessment score, deportation priority level, case number - and then she was killed. Not by some rogue actor, but by a system functioning exactly as designed. And that system? Built on infrastructure provided by the same tech companies most of us used to rely on before we started self-hosting. Every service you don’t self-host is a data point feeding the machine. Google knows your location history, your contacts, your communications. Microsoft has your documents and your calendar. Apple has your photos and your biometrics. And when the government comes knocking - and they are knocking, right now, today - these companies will hand it over. They have to. It’s baked into the infrastructure. Individual privacy is a losing game. You can’t opt-out of surveillance when participation in society requires using their platforms. But here’s what you can do: build parallel infrastructure that doesn’t feed their systems at all. When you run Nextcloud, you’re not just protecting your files from Google - you’re creating a node in a network they can’t access. When you run Vaultwarden, your passwords aren’t sitting in a database that can be subpoenaed. When you run Jellyfin, your viewing habits aren’t being sold to data brokers who sell to ICE. I watched my local municipal fiber network get acquired by TELUS. I watched a piece of community infrastructure get absorbed into the corporate extraction machine. That’s when I realized: we can’t rely on existing institutions to protect us. We have to build our own. This isn’t about being a prepper or going off-grid. This is about building infrastructure that operates on fundamentally different principles:
Communication that can’t be shut down: Matrix, Mastodon, email servers you control File storage that can’t be subpoenaed: Nextcloud, Syncthing Passwords that aren’t in corporate databases: Vaultwarden, KeePass Media that doesn’t feed recommendation algorithms: Jellyfin, Navidrome Code repositories not owned by Microsoft: Forgejo, Gitea
Every service you self-host is one less data point they have. But more importantly: every service you self-host is infrastructure that can be shared, that can support others, that makes the parallel network stronger. Where to start if you’re new:
Passwords first - Vaultwarden. This is your foundation. Files second - Nextcloud. Get your documents out of Google/Microsoft. Communication third - Matrix server, or join an existing instance you trust. Media fourth - Jellyfin for your music/movies, Navidrome for music.
If you’re already self-hosting:
Document your setup. Write guides. Make it easier for the next person. Run services for friends and family, not just yourself. Contribute to projects that build this infrastructure. Support municipal and community network alternatives.
The goal isn’t purity. You’re probably still going to use some corporate services. That’s fine. The goal is building enough parallel infrastructure that people have actual choices, and that there’s a network that can’t be dismantled by a single executive order. I’m working on consulting services to help small businesses and community organizations migrate to self-hosted alternatives. Not because I think it’ll be profitable, but because I’ve realized this is the actual material work of resistance in 2025. Infrastructure is how you fight infrastructure. We’re not just hobbyists anymore. Whether we wanted to be or not, we’re building the resistance network. Every Raspberry Pi running services, every old laptop turned into a home server, every person who learns to self-host and teaches someone else - that’s a node in a system they can’t control. They want us to be data points. Let’s refuse.
What are you running? What do you wish more people would self-host? What’s stopping people you know from taking this step?
Privacy is resistance
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Yeah… Been thinking about this for a while, I think we’re on the same page. Just started getting into self hosting, so far I have a NAS running Jellyfin. I bought a used Tesla model 3 just before Elon started donating to the GOP and I’m going to disconnect the WiFi and 5G antennas this weekend. Already running grapheneOS. Sadly there is Windows-only software I need occasionally for work but I’m going to go full-linux on all but one of my devices.
I dont know if Tesla is one of them but certain cars require internet connectivity for various things when mechanics are doing work, just keep this in mind if you get work done on them
My original plan was to set it up so that I could connect/disconnect them by flipping a switch under the screen but after doing some research that seems to be very difficult. I would need to design a very compact PCB and I don’t know if there would be enough space for it. Things are pretty tight around the computer and modem. The situation has escalated so I just need to unplug them for now.
I bought a used Tesla model 3 just before Elon started donating to the GOP and I’m going to disconnect the WiFi and 5G antennas this weekend
If it’s old enough you can even strip out the entire connectivity module or the physical SIM.
Sadly there is Windows-only software I need occasionally for work but I’m going to go full-linux on all but one of my devices.
That’s what we do at home. My spouse has work computer running Windows that she is expected to use, but our personal machines are running Linux. Only regret? Not having made the switch a few years earlier.
I’ve yet to start self-hosting: nearing my 60s, I confess this is a task I find intimidating (it needs to be done right to be secure and I’m afraid I will not be able to do it right and won’t even know it until it is too late). That being said, living in France, I already moved all the services we use from GAFAM and/or US-owned ones to independent EU-based services, if at all possible ones offering full privacy/encryption.
I have a similar view as you where I don’t have the time to really learn the intricacies of ensuring it’s all set up properly and securely.
I’ve recently started self hosting more things and found tailscale as a very adequate solution for secure connections in a simple fashion.
The other thing is that if it doesn’t need outside access you don’t need to do it which is an extra security step you can take.
it needs to be done right to be secure and I’m afraid I will not be able to do it right and won’t even know it until it is too late
Most self hosting needs are fulfilled sufficiently without really exposing anything outside your own LAN, so that’s basically no more insecure than your home PC.
I was wondering if we are barreling head first into a future where the ratio of self hosted machines running sovereign software equates, per machine, or instance to 100, 500 or 1000 plus lives saved.
Curious at this comment. How is any computer going to save even one life moving forward??
By hosting software that helps people communicate about the location and activity of government-sponsored paramilitary groups like ICE.
Hosting media that helps people be self-reliant, like gardening or home-repair guides.
Hosting state-forbidden media like banned books, that help people to be educated, which in turn saves lives by people not being so suscceptable to propaganda.
I suppose I could think of more, but I think those are some of the most clear examples.
Note: apologies about the spelling errors, my spellcheck is currently not working.
Health, finance, social, journalism, literally anything. Even having accurate accounts of events or history. China is trying to rewrite history, Iran is shutting down the internet. Mesh networks is another form of resistance. All forms of self sovereign application data storage and the ability to share that without controls by 3rd parties are becoming more and more valuable. I would posit it is already a life saving tool. The less data aggregation on you, the less likely you could be targeted. You can’t target something or someone if you can’t see them, or control their systems.
Why you no host? Yunohost
