Why I dont use Google much any more

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irishScott

Lifer
Oct 10, 2006
21,562
3
0
Duckduckgo is nice.

Google is nicer. I used DuckDuckgo initially, but if it initially fails to find what I need I always revert to google. Besides, google already has my email. I doubt my web-searches are of much consequence anonymity-wise.
 

TuxDave

Lifer
Oct 8, 2002
10,571
3
71
Try this:

https://startpage.com/

then you go into Settings and make it the way you want (e.g.;
"Do not filter my results," etc.)
and click "Generate URL."

Make that URL your home page.

They don't track you, and they interpose themselves between you & Google, while still using Google.

lol facinating. Will remember to give this thing a shot.
 

mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
The RIAA/MPAA get to censor your web because they donate a piss ton of money to political campaigns. Congress then passes laws that are favourble to them. In fact I seem to remember the MPAA admitting that they had all but outright bribed politicians during the SOPA scandal. This seems to be the root of a lot of America's recent problems. You can call it lobbying, it's still corruption.

Want to see it go away? We did in Canada. Parliament passed a law capping campaign contributions and forbids unions, corporations, and NGOs from donating. It completely altered the political landscape for the better. I suggest Americans put serious pressure on their government to do the same.
 

Kwatt

Golden Member
Jan 3, 2000
1,602
12
81
Try this:

https://startpage.com/

then you go into Settings and make it the way you want (e.g.;
"Do not filter my results," etc.)
and click "Generate URL."

Make that URL your home page.

They don't track you, and they interpose themselves between you & Google, while still using Google.



I am going to try this.
I am using DDG right now.

Thanks


.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
i have nothing to hide and dont do anything illegal, i could care less what google do with my search results data..

so what if they know i like to search for dildos all day long
Dildos, eh? Sounds like you're a dangerous deviant who needs to be locked up for a long time.
"Nothing to hide." That depends entirely upon who is determining what you "shouldn't" be doing with your time.


Researching bomb yields, are you? Sound like you're a threat to national security.
Or maybe you're just curious about how a pressure vessel designed to contain explosives would work.



The RIAA/MPAA get to censor your web because they donate a piss ton of money to political campaigns. Congress then passes laws that are favourble to them. In fact I seem to remember the MPAA admitting that they had all but outright bribed politicians during the SOPA scandal. This seems to be the root of a lot of America's recent problems. You can call it lobbying, it's still corruption.

Want to see it go away? We did in Canada. Parliament passed a law capping campaign contributions and forbids unions, corporations, and NGOs from donating. It completely altered the political landscape for the better. I suggest Americans put serious pressure on their government to do the same.
I think we're at the point where our government would only be persuaded by measures that are decidedly less than legal.


If a bunch of ants gather outside to protest your hoarding of food in your refrigerator, do you quickly hunker down and listen to their demands and agree to share? Or do you slowly reach for a can of Raid?
 
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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,651
13,831
126
www.anyf.ca
I have duckduckgo as my home page at home so most of my searches are on there. Though I've heard they just use google for their results, so the only point in using it is to prevent Google from tracking you, as it will see DDG's servers searching, and not you.

The image search also uses Google and Bing. So it's not really complete, but maybe they are working on making the service their own. We'll see.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,182
10,647
126
I have duckduckgo as my home page at home so most of my searches are on there. Though I've heard they just use google for their results, so the only point in using it is to prevent Google from tracking you, as it will see DDG's servers searching, and not you.

The image search also uses Google and Bing. So it's not really complete, but maybe they are working on making the service their own. We'll see.

The point is to prevent tracking and bubbling. There's nothing wrong with Google search on a technical level. If they gave raw results without personalized filters, and didn't track you, it would be a fine service. DuckDuckGo(my preference) and startpage put a buffer between Google and the user to help make Google what it should be. DDG is primarily a search aggregator, and they don't have plans to really go beyond that. They have their own crawlers, but the primary source of results is the current search leaders.
 
Mar 10, 2005
14,647
2
0
i used google to find a torrent less than 24 hours ago, with "torrent" being the last of 3 words - it certainly didn't appear censored to me
 

FoBoT

No Lifer
Apr 30, 2001
63,084
15
81
fobot.com
if you use dns, isn't it moot what search engine you are using?
if i was a secret govt entity and wanted to know what a person was doing on the internet, i'd just log all dns lookups from the person and i'd know every web site that person visits, searched for or not
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
70,651
13,831
126
www.anyf.ca
Really the best way to stay fully anonymous is a VPN service to a server that is overseas, that you are the administrator of and also own the IP block (so you can put your own whois info). That way if the government sends the provider a DMCA complaint, since you ARE the provider, you'll get it and will then be able to act the way you want on it. You'd still eventually have to comply but at least it would buy you some time to decode what to do such as pack up and leave the country, ignore it or w/e.

Only thing is because there would be a single tunnel going to a single server, it would look suspicious. So not sure if even that would work.
 

KeithP

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2000
5,664
202
106
Google issues a report to list what organizations/company/people are asking for the take downs. http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/

Also, they don't always comply. The stat I saw for the US was that 42% of the requests were either complied with or partially complied with.

I am curious, are you just going to stop using Google, or will you also stop using the companies, and their products, issuing the requests? Obviously, you can't stop using a government so there is that limitation.

It seems pointless to get worked up about a company obeying the law. The problem is the laws. Point your energies towards educating voters and getting the laws changed would be time better spent.

-KeithP
 

IGBT

Lifer
Jul 16, 2001
17,976
141
106
they are now nothing more then a narrow casting add agency with spyBots looking over your keyboard.
 

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,161
126
i have nothing to hide and dont do anything illegal, i could care less what google do with my search results data..

so what if they know i like to search for dildos all day long

Same.

It seems that people that are always overly-concerned about privacy are the ones that are doings things they shouldn't be doing.

I work for an ISP and can tell you the guy that calls us making sure we don't read his emails is the one that always gets busted for kiddie porn.
 

dabuddha

Lifer
Apr 10, 2000
19,579
17
81
Or cellphones, or roads, or credit cards...

That's a bullshit stance. Infringement on freedom should never be tolerated. There's nothing magical about networking that makes surveillance acceptable. Free choices should always be used over non-free choices, and in this case DuckDuckGo is a great free choice. The search results are better, and it has some nice added features Google doesn't have.

Infringement on freedom? That's a bit of a stretch especially considering that no ones forcing you to use google.

Personally, I love google. Does everything I need plus more. Like someone else said, I could give a rat's ass if they see what I'm searching for.
 

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
You guys know there's a wide variety of extensions and addons for Chrome, FF, and Opera to block cookies, scripts, tracking, ads, embedded Flash, FB, etc?
 

TuxDave

Lifer
Oct 8, 2002
10,571
3
71
You guys know there's a wide variety of extensions and addons for Chrome, FF, and Opera to block cookies, scripts, tracking, ads, embedded Flash, FB, etc?

Opera has click to flash and don't track as options you can enable (no need to install extensions or addons)

:)