Every time you open an app, browse a website, or even leave your phone in a drawer, someone's watching — and building a profile of you. In this episode, Wojtek and Tom pull back the curtain on how big tech tracks your every move, from device fingerprinting to browser tracking, and explain why "anonymous" data almost never stays anonymous.

They break down:

• How apps track you passively — without ever asking permission
• Why cookie pop-ups are designed to push you toward "accept all"
• How browser fingerprinting identifies you even without logging in
• Why the EU just quietly weakened privacy protections via the Digital Omnibus
• The hidden risk of "shadow AI" in business — and a real case of a £14 million fine for a data breach
• What you can actually do to take back some control

Whether you're a curious individual or a business owner navigating AI and compliance, this episode will change how you think about every "accept" button you click.

🎙️ Beyond Big Tech: A Founder's Journey to Digital Sovereignty

Wojtek puts the question straight to Tom, an IT and cybersecurity expert who's made the switch himself more than once in 30 years. What follows is an honest, no-BS answer — including one very unglamorous feature that's kept him from ever going back.

🎧 New episode of Beyond Big Tech is out now.

Tom brings 30 years in tech and is currently moving his IT and cybersecurity business, Operum.tech, away from US Big Tech infrastructure, one layer at a time. Wojtek — a former lawyer and business developer turned AI governance expert — is on the opposite path, learning the technical side as he goes while building a brand-new company designed to be sovereign from day one. Two founders, two starting points, the same stakes.

In this first episode, Tom opens up his journey: how he's going through every corner of his personal and business life to identify exactly where Big Tech is embedded, then testing replacements from European providers and other non–Big Tech options — starting with a more sovereign phone. Every tool gets held to the same three questions the whole show is built on: Is it as good? Is it worth the money? Can I actually rely on it? Nothing gets a pass just because it's European, and nothing gets ruled out just because it's American — if it doesn't measure up, they'll say so.

Tom sets the stakes for the next 12 months: how far can he actually get from Big Tech before it costs him quality, time, or money — and is real independence even possible?

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Next episode: Tom shares his early findings and a full list of the Big Tech touchpoints he's uncovered — the map for everything that follows.

New episodes weekly. For CTOs, CIOs, and founders thinking about vendor lock-in, data sovereignty, and what Europe's tech alternatives actually look like in practice.