I’m not going to lie, all of this stuff is way over my head. But I’m trying to figure it out, at the moment I don’t even have a working computer and I’m doing everything on my mobile phone, so I’m guessing I’m pretty limited to the options for privacy. I’m currently working with a iPhone 13 with the latest and greatest software, in settings I’ve got “hide my IP address” toggled on for trackers and websites, I’m also using the free version of CloudFlare/Warp. I’m also trying out the DDG app (not extension) but I’m not sure if I’m really getting any where privacy-wise. I guess my question is, am I actually doing anything to protect myself? I’m very old and slow so type slow so I can try to keep up please.
They were forced to whitelist ms trackers on the tracking protection of their browser
Actually it was just their mobile app
Honestly, searx was never reliable enough for me - even had my own instance set up for a while, and would just end up using DDG half the time anyway.
They had the chance to either destroy the entire company, or whitelist ms trackers in a browser no one uses anyways
Were they forced to release the browser? I mean they could have just canceled the release of the browser, no?
Which is the best instance of searx? W/google results.
The problem I see in using Searx is that if I self-host, I’m not really getting any privacy benefit as my searches would still all be sent to Google using the same IP address, not mixed in with anyone else’s.
If I use a public instance, I have to trust that they are not logging every search I make and associating it with my IP address. At least a large company with a reputation and a privacy policy like DuckDuckGo would face consequences if it ever came to light that they were doing something like this, whereas a Searx instance is much smaller comparatively and could likely get away with logging without anyone ever finding out. If they did, it’s not like they’d lose out on a revenue stream, since Searx isn’t monetized.
Are there any that give Google like results? Every instance of searx I use sucks
I like SearX and use a public instance.
If I ran my own, I couldn’t imagine having it public (what if people search for bad stuff).
And if it’s just my traffic then i don’t see how i get added privacy.
I tried to pick a reputable instance, configured it, and I’m happier with the results than Google results (which is shocking )
Ideally Proton or some similar entity would set up an instance.
Brave search is just such a catch22 for me.
Ive never had an issue with search results personally, the interface is nice, and it has its own index away from google/bing/yandex.
On the other hand, brave has a poor reputation, and if you dare mention brave search as an option in privacy circles you start a fucking flame war in the comments.
I wish we could have brave search without the brave part.
edit: i think i was misunderstood; i meant “brave part” as in the company’s reputation and previous actions, not as in the brave browser.
i use brave search + firefox.
I aggree and people still recommend DDG as a privacy friendly service, they have manipulated and censored search results since Ukraine invasion started to “combat russian misinformation”
Putin can go fuck himself but if you start to manipulate people to follow the same ideology and put them into an echo chamber you are absouldtly no different then putin or china.
MS tracker are least of my concers as I have 4 layers of different tracker blockers. DNS block, blacklisted 1500 biggest domains on Router, using etc/hosts on pc and a browser that has 40 different filter sources on uBlock.
But censoring your opposite views is a screaming red flag for me to never touch their services ever until my dying day.
That website is such a toxic cesspit, its completely filled to the brim with conspiracy theories and unfounded claims.
There is some good stuff in that article, they do a reasonable job of dissecting privacy policies for instance. It would be a lot better without all the conspiracy bs.
Perhaps they are good for the environment, but there are better options out there if you look at their ToS;DR
I like it. However, privacy may not be as top-notch as ithers.