[Closed] Non-tracking alternative to Google - Duck Duck Go...

Try google in Incognito for privacy, if you log into your google account then search history travels with you. You can turn this off.

been using DDG for majority of searches - its pretty good, couple of tweaks to your search queries might be required to get the results you are expecting.

add "Ghostery", to see and block, what is tracking you!

Can't see an issue with privacy personally and I like google.

No ads is the ideal, but if they are providing a service to me for free, and earn money from ads.....
Then if the ads that they show me are relevant to what I search for and want then that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

Similarly [url= https://startpage.com/ ]Startpage[/url] offering the "benefit" of Google results - not sure why Google lets this happen

Can't see an issue with privacy personally and I like google.

The amount of money that Google make from tracking people and serving them ads is simply astounding. I'm not totally sure I'm happy with a private corporation having that much wealth and power.

Of course, they [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_be_evil ]don't do evil[/url], so it's not really a problem.

So if I make sure that I'm not tracked, does this just mean I'd get a random selection of ads that are even less likely to be of interest or relevant? Not sure that'd be an improvement

So if I make sure that I'm not tracked, does this just mean I'd get a random selection of ads that are even less likely to be of interest or relevant? Not sure that'd be an improvement

It will mean that you will stay off the grid, and so when the machines rise up against us, you will have a small chance of escaping the ensuing holocaust to a nuclear bunker somewhere. Good luck. The future of humanity rests on your search engine choice....

You had me at "off the grid" 🙂

One thing about Google is that it uses your Search History and interests to tailor your search results

(e.g. as a frequenter of Singletrack you'll be more likely to see Singletrack show up in the search results. And if you search for "on one" it knows you are more likely to be asking about the bike brand than the book or TV series)

Personally I think that's quite handy.

If people want to pay to put ads in parts of the screen at which I do not look, in return for providing me frankly amazing services without charge to me, then I'm fine with that.

I don't really care if they log what I've searched for. And if I log in on a different device, then of course it's me, so of course the know that.

I don't think they can tell if it's you if you don't log in to their service, can they?

It's not just Google that tracks you from one site to another and serves ad's accordingly.

Many retailers serve you ad's on third party sites based on what you view but do not purchase on their own site. This has nothing to do with your choice of search engine.

So if I make sure that I'm not tracked, does this just mean I'd get a random selection of ads that are even less likely to be of interest or relevant? Not sure that'd be an improvement

I don't think they can tell if it's you if you don't log in to their service, can they?

Google robots are reading this page and recording your names

I'm also interested in the point DDG make about Google serving up results tailored to you, which means right wingers get right wing news sites and left wingers get left wing news sites, in response to the same search.
That's polarising and likely to lead to entrenchment/extremism rather than debate. Without realising it, people who use Google as their main source of information will be Ghetto-ising themselves.
It;s a slightly false picture as I suspect few people use Google search as their sole source of news - more likely go to new sites they already know and agree with (and physical newspapers). But still not sure that's healthy in a democracy

And what do people think they do with all this "logged" data?
Have a read through? 😆

After reading above post, have decided this is not a thread I should carry on with. I just don't get that. Or care!

right wingers get right wing news sites and left wingers get left wing news sites, in response to the same search. That's polarising and likely to lead to entrenchment/extremism rather than debate. Without realising it, people who use Google as their main source of information will be Ghetto-ising themselves.

And print newspapers/books etc are well known for their neutral stance on issues?

Ok, 'Duck Duck Go' is now my default search lozenge in the top right hand corner of my brower (Firefox). Hopefully it's not part of some sinister Chinese cyber-hack!!

more likely go to new sites they already know and agree with

I think that even news sites show you other stories based on what you previously linked at on their sites. Given the amount of info. out there then showing you search results that you are likely to be interested in might not be such a bad idea but it any case it is always interesting to drop into incognito mode or use a different browser to see what else comes up 🙂

The amount of money that Google make from tracking people and serving them ads is simply astounding.

they are great at what they do, hats off to them for making money while doing it i say.

I'm not totally sure I'm happy with a private corporation having that much wealth and power.

I couldn't care less personally.

If people want to pay to put ads in parts of the screen at which I do not look, in return for providing me frankly amazing services without charge to me, then I'm fine with that.

Absolutely spot on.

More brilliant, and free, Google services please.

And if adverts pay for them then they are better off being relevant, so tracking is fine too.

Been meaning to switch to using DDG, this thread has convinced me. Of course anyone that concerned about google stalking them can use a bot to feed google false results, which seems more effective than finding honest companies that won't try to generate money from personal info.

[/tin hat]

I couldn't care less personally.

That's cool, but do you accept that different people lead different lives and some will have good, legitimate reasons to want to opt out of strangers having access to their online history and geographical location, purchases, applications etc?

By the way, surely using DDG only addresses search results which is a very small part of the issue?

Any page showing Google Ad Words or other advert from Google, can and most probably [i]will[/i] track you. Likewise any page using other Google components (embedded Google maps and youtube, Google+, site search, calendar, google scripts, etc etc)

(see also: Facebook)

Me no care about the adverts, I don't click on em so they can do what they like in exchange I'll continue using google, they is brilliant like.

That's cool, but do you accept that different people lead different lives and some will have good, legitimate reasons to want to opt out of strangers having access to their online history and geographical location, purchases, applications etc?

Can you not disable cookies?

And I am curious as to what those legitimate reasons are, but I guess you ought not tell me!

<mod>

Before I have to delete any more posts from this thread, could I ask that you all take a moment to review [url= http://singletrackworld.com/terms-and-conditions/ ]STW policy on advertisement blocking[/url] and promotion thereof?

Ta.

</mod>

Ha, the T&Cs actually have a Kylie clause.

Google's targeting by use of cookies etc. allows more relevant ads to be displayed on our site. This means they get more clicks, because they are targeted to the users of the website and their interests. I cannot for the life of me think of why this is not a good thing for the user. It's certainly better for us as it means the price we get for those ads is increased due their increased effectiveness.

If you think ads are annoying then think how much more annoying they'd be if they were ALL for Wonga or Go Compare?

Using web technology to do this is not a bad thing.

If you think ads are annoying then think how much more annoying they'd be if they were ALL for Wonga or Go Compare?

What do you mean if?

As a charity we use Google AdWords and we get more traffic through that than straight 'organic' search even though we rank highly on all the stuff we want to. In general folks who come through AdWords are only a little less likely to give to us after visiting our site as the organic search folks. The point then is that AdWords does appear to do a good job of finding people who are genuinely interested in what we do. It's magic really

What do you mean if?

Perhaps they default to those type when they can't track you eg if you run Ghostery etc.

Google's targeting by use of cookies etc. allows more relevant ads to be displayed on our site.

T-shirt girls ftw!

...such a weird name is a silly idea...

I'll be using DuckDuckGo as a transitive verb all week.

T-shirt girls ftw!

There's a reason you're seeing those ads you know 😉

That's cool, but do you accept that different people lead different lives

yup. I agree with that.

and some will have[b] good, legitimate reasons [/b]to want to opt out of strangers having access to their online history and geographical location, purchases, applications etc?

Can't really think of any to be honest.

There may be some, but I'm not sure if they will be "Good" and "Legitimate"

I'm happy to be enlightened though. Genuinely interested.

That time I bought a t-shirt from CRC??

I'm happy to be enlightened though. Genuinely interested

.

Nobody ?

Well, I'm often doing searches for interesting stuff that I've seen on telly, that might well trigger unwarranted interest from certain agencies. Searching for info on explosives or poisons out of nothing but pure curiosity could bite me in the ass!
For everything else, I'm perfectly happy using Google and Fb.
Well, except for pr0n, of course... 😉

I'm amused by the fact that the OP is vexed about using DuckDuckGo on the basis of the silly name but has been unconcerned about using Google?

I can remember suggesting that my then boss use this new search engine called [i]google[/i] at some point around 98. He went off on this mad rant about how anything with such a stupid name must only appeal to imbeciles and that he'd stay using [i]AskJeeves[/i] instead. I ask you....
Of course, within a year everything he did for Internet searches was via google.

Well, I'm often doing searches for interesting stuff that I've seen on telly, that might well trigger unwarranted interest from certain agencies. Searching for info on explosives or poisons out of nothing but pure curiosity could bite me in the ass!

Using Google for this won't make any difference. Said agencies don't just hang around Google data centers looking for dodgy search terms. 😀

(e.g. as a frequenter of Singletrack you'll be more likely to see Singletrack show up in the search results. And if you search for "on one" it knows you are more likely to be asking about the bike brand than the book or TV series)

Not when I'm at work and I want to find a DX or DU bush data sheet or local suppliers, yet instead of finding relevant results Google gives me lots of STW thread about DX shock bushings...

Speaking of which, I really should be working 😀

True, but if you're searching for "bush" then it could be a lot worse!

Nealglover:

Nobody ?

I guess I was thinking about countries where people can get into fairly serious trouble for researching subjects disapproved of by regime leaders. Not saying that companies such as Google sell info that could get people arrested, but if you store all that data there exists the possibility it could be hacked and used to persecute people. Yes, you'd have to be nuts to spend that much time and effort, but there are plenty of nutters out there.

You'd also have to be fairly nuts to be openly using Google in such countries or indeed just accessing state-forbidden websites, without taking [url= https://www.torproject.org/ ]suitable steps to conceal your identity[/url].

without taking suitable steps to conceal your identity

Especially don't forget to use it after just having hacked the FBI 🙁

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/07/lulzsec_takedown_analysis/

So nobody has come up with any good and legitimate reasons so far then 😀

Well, I'm often doing searches for interesting stuff that I've seen on telly, that might well trigger unwarranted interest from certain agencies.

You really think that if you search for 'how to make a bomb' you'll start getting the FBI raiding your house?

nealglover, do you ask a woman her age/weight?
since when has personal choice not been a good and/or legitimate reason

nealglover, do you ask a woman her age/weight?

What's that got to do with anything ?

since when has personal choice not been a good and/or legitimate reason

I'm not forcing anyone to use google am I ?
Dont worry, You still have your personal choice.

I was just wondering why people were so concerned that google knew they searched for pictures of titanium frames or whatever.

Someone suggested that some people might have "good and legitimate" reasons not to want google to have that information.

So I asked (a genuine question) what those reasons might be, because I honestly couldn't think of any.

So far nobody has really got any.

Apart from just the generic "being against big companies making money" obviously.

Thanks. I tried it, it found what I was looking for without the rubbish I was expecting.

Nealglover wrote:

So I asked (a genuine question) what those reasons might be, because I honestly couldn't think of any.

So far nobody has really got any.

Apart from just the generic "being against big companies making money" obviously.

I'd already written:

I guess I was thinking about countries where people can get into fairly serious trouble for researching subjects disapproved of by regime leaders. Not saying that companies such as Google sell info that could get people arrested, but if you store all that data there exists the possibility it could be hacked and used to persecute people.

Ok, here's a simple example: Syria. All conspiracy theories aside, the Assad regime is trying to stop information getting out of the country because there is a lot of horrific stuff happening (use of chemical weapons, indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas). Information is getting out, via sites such as Twitter, Youtube and GMail accounts. The Assad regime has not fallen, he could conceivably make up with the rest of the world, rebuild a few towns, splash some oil money around and say it was all a misunderstanding. What if he then gets hold of the information to find out who uploaded video footage of his army killing civilians?

There are less dramatic examples, and plenty of behavioural studies of life within a panopticon, where privacy is impossible. The popular phrase "those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear" has been amply discredited by people far better at explaining things than me.

Ok, here's a simple example: Syria. All conspiracy theories aside, the Assad regime is trying to stop information getting out of the country because there is a lot of horrific stuff happening (use of chemical weapons, indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas).

Ok fair enough.

Although I was under the impression we were discussing a load of Middle aged mountain bikers feeling they were "off the grid" because they looked for some pictures of Kylie without Google knowing about it.

If there is anyone on STW from North Korea or Syria then I'm sure the alternative to Google will be much appreciated.

I've tried a few searches using Google, Bong, Yahoo and Duckduckgo. I'm impressed with the pertinence of the results with the Duck. An excellent addition. Much less language sensitive than Google.