Alternative Search Engines?

[dilettante]

We've all heard the privacy issues with Google and seen the boated gratuitious graphics of Bing. Is anyone using alternatives like DuckDuckGo?

Do the "aggregator" meta-searchers like DogPile do anything to help avoid the cookies, captures, and profiling of Google and friends?


Click these for some interesting things about the Big Name search engines:

http://donttrack.us/

http://dontbubble.us/

[baja_yu]

If you're that worried about privacy, Chrome has a nice Incognito mode. In all fairness it should probably be called "Porn" mode.

[BlindSniper]

If you're that worried about privacy, Chrome has a nice Incognito mode. In all fairness it should probably be called "Porn" mode.

Indeed, I can't think of any other good reason you would need it.(unless you are the paranoid type)

[CVMichael]

In Firefox, if you switch to "Private Browsing", won't that remove cookies or other info that they use to track you?

[abhijit]

If you're that worried about privacy, Chrome has a nice Incognito mode. In all fairness it should probably be called "Porn" mode.

The incognito mode is not as anonymous as you think. Firstly adobe flash doesn't like any incognito browsing. So it stores cookies wherever it pleases.

Secondly all the extensions do not work in incognito mode.

This is true for all browsers - IE / Chrome / Firefox.

The best thing to do is clear your browser cookies and adobe flash storage once you are done browsing.

[dilettante]

I think people are missing the part not directly related to privacy: tailoring results based on an accumulated profile of "who you are."

[intraman]

Not quite your standard engine but give this a try.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/

[SambaNeko]

I think people are missing the part not directly related to privacy: tailoring results based on an accumulated profile of "who you are."

Which is not always a bad thing if it helps you find a valid resource quicker. I don't often find myself doing the types of searches that are exemplified on the dontbubble.us site: they're so generic that it's no wonder Google tries to fill the gap for what you actually want. Like the "Egypt" search: one person gets news about protests, the other gets travel info - well which one did you want? Maybe you should've used a more specific search.

I understand the problem and why it might be concerning in some situations, but I think the significance is negligible in most cases.

[abhijit]

I think people are missing the part not directly related to privacy: tailoring results based on an accumulated profile of "who you are."

if I were to draw an analogy, it would be to the rewards cards that most grocery stores in the US issue to regular shoppers. Using the rewards cards, they are able to track your likes / dislikes and tailor discount coupons for specific shoppers.

I don't see this as good or bad. It is just a way where marketing is headed. They want to know more about us to sell us more stuff. The buying though is left entirely to us.

[baja_yu]

Secondly all the extensions do not work in incognito mode.

This is true for all browsers - IE / Chrome / Firefox.

Chrome lets you enable extensions that you want so they work in Incognito mode, but warns you that it can't control what the extension does.

I think people are missing the part not directly related to privacy: tailoring results based on an accumulated profile of "who you are."

Yes. And when you run Incognito mode you're not logged into any service so they can't track you.

[OhGreen]

Going Incognito doesn't affect the behaviour of other people, servers or software. Be wary of:

- Websites that collect or share information about you
- Internet service providers or employers that track the pages you visit
- Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
- Surveillance by secret agents
- People standing behind you

I personally didn't know incognito mode existed...