New Google Alternatives

About this episode

The episode discusses private alternatives to Google Sheets and Forms, along with recent news on data breaches and Big Tech's influence.

In my seemingly never-ending quest to replace all things Google, I’ve finally found some solid, private alternatives to Google Sheets and Google Forms. And we’ll also talk about how the EU is looking to create competing products to reduce their dependence on Big Tech from Silicon Valley. In the news: Australian drivers’ info exposed in breach; school admissions website leaked student data; Discord is rolling out age verification; more countries move to ban social media for kids; Big Tech companies volunteer data to DHS on anti-ICE users; Meta wanted to sneak out facial recognition; researchers find tricky bugs in password managers; DJI robovacs were wide open on the internet; Ring’s mass surveillance efforts garner blow back; Russia blocks WhatsApp and Telegram. Article Links More than 200,000 Australian drivers exposed in massive data breach https://www.drive.com.au/news/over-200000-driver-licences-hacked-in-massive-data-breach/ Bug in student admissions website exposed children’s personal information https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/19/bug-in-student-admissions-website-exposed-childrens-personal-information/ Discord will require a face scan or ID for…

Topics covered

• Google alternatives
• privacy
• Big Tech
• data breach
• social media

Keywords

• EU
• data exposure
• age verification
• social media ban
• facial recognition

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Sheets, Forms, Romo, Mastodon, Search Party, Google Sheets, Google Forms

Places: Silicon Valley, Russia, Europe, US

More episodes of Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons Podcast

• Transaction Denied · June 8, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Verify Your Email Archive · June 1, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Bossware & Boundaries · May 25, 2026 · 1h 12m
• Download All Your Emails · May 18, 2026 · 1h 11m
• Cindy Cohn: Privacy’s Defender · May 11, 2026 · 1h 12m
• Withdraw Your Email Data · May 4, 2026 · 1h 13m