duckduckgo a search engine that doesn't track you!

[bad Chad]

I heard about this while listening to the Thom Hartman show on the radio.  Unlike Google and the others, duckduckgo.com is a none tracking search engine.  Should cut down on the number of adds tossed at you.  I have used it and as far as I'm able to tell it gives just as good of results as Google.

[fotoguzzi]

Firefox and Safari allow you to block tracking in the preferences page.

[Steph]

Firefox and Safari allow you to block tracking in the preferences page.

Not so, just did the following test on my iPhone.
Cleared History And Website Data
And did 1 search: Moto Guzzi
in DuckDuckGo and 1 in Google
Then checked the Website Data history.
 Here is the result, Google seems to do some analytics:

[webmost]

I like them tracking me. I like them showing me ads for exactly what I might like.

Listen, in the old days, I would go to the same working man's greasy spoon every morning, a place where the crockery was as thick as the atmosphere, where half wore flannel and both halves wore jeans, & sit at the counter. The buxom old waitress who knew her way around, she would come turn the mug over in front of me, and, while pouring coffee, she would ask: "Hey, Darlin, what'll you have -- the regular?"

Tracking is the innerweb's way of knowin what your regular is.

[Aaron D.]

My wife uses duckduck. Results aren't as good. Frankly I don't care if they know I'm looking at naked motorcycles. My ad blocker knocks off all the ads anyway.

If I don't want to be tracked I don't take the phone.

[sign216]

I agree that the Google tracking is bad.
And yet, I keep using it!

Occasionally I use Duckduckgo.   The privacy is great, but the results aren't familiar, so it's not as easy.

Privacy doesn't come cheap, eh?

[fossil]

I use Bing for years now. I have switched tracking off on my phones and my computers.

[perter]

Does that mean I can get rid of all the adds for young single russian women looking for marriage? I'm having a hard time explaining these to my wife every time I have been on the computer ;-)

[Mr Pootle]

Does that mean I can get rid of all the adds for young single russian women looking for marriage? I'm having a hard time explaining these to my wife every time I have been on the computer ;-)

But she’s happy that you’re also getting the viagra ads.

[bad Chad]

Turning off tracking on your phone or computer doesn't stop google from knowing what your looking for.   If you directly enter a web site address than yes you aren't being tracked, it's when you use a search engine like bing/google your being monitored.

[fossil]

Well, I don´t get any unwanted mails. Especially not on my phones where I have disabled tracking from the very beginning.

[Aaron D.]

Bing-that is ironic as we used to all worry about Microsoft taking over the world!

[perter]

But she�s happy that you�re also getting the viagra ads.

Should have seen that comming

[Lannis]

Well, I don�t get any unwanted mails. Especially not on my phones where I have disabled tracking from the very beginning.

I've got AdBlocker taking care of on-line ads and pop-ups.   My desktop doesn't go anywhere so they can't track me with it; everyone already knows where I live, I've invited enough people over using on-line forums so that's not something I'm worried about.

I get almost no E-mail spam, I guess someone's protecting me from it.   I don't get 1 unwanted message a month out of hundreds of E-mails.

The on-line shopping places I go remember me as a "regular" and ask "Is it about time to order some more deodorant?   Been six months and that's your usual ..."  (The only brand of deodorant that doesn't irritate me is no longer in stores 'round here).   So that's like a service to me.

Russian brides?   Viagra?   Never get or see any ads for that stuff.

I guess if one's use of the Internet is limited to the desktop using E-mail, on-line bike forums, and on-line shopping, you're not a high-profile target, and the usual precautions will take care of things.

Lannis

[keuka4884]

I use Google only when I want the largest number of sites or pictures.

I like my privacy. No one has a right to track me. I use Ghostery to block adware and malware. Works very well. Tells you how many and who wants to track you. Then I use CCleaner to clean the computer. You may be surprised at how many other sites want to put data mining software onto your computer. CCleaner has cleaned up some nasty stuff for me. Duckduckgo has been my go to search engine for some time now. Also, I use Kaspersky anti virus. The 3 letter agencies don't have a back door if you use Kaspersky. They don't like it because of that.

However, that all may change soon. I have a new hard drive ready to go and soon I will test out the Knoppix OS. It's Linux minus the communication with other computers, so much faster. Linux is the way to go if you value privacy.

I do believe our founding fathers would turn over in their graves if they saw how little privacy we have today. The best form of government is the smallest government that meets the needs of people.

[Wayne Orwig]

If you are not tracked, when you go to a web page, you see ads that are not relevant to you.
If you are tracked, you see ads that are relevant to you.

I don't see the paranoia over this.

[old head]

I use STARTPAGE for searching,
If you use Opera, the browser has a private mode so no history is saved.  I also use adblocker on all my browsers.

CCleaner is very good, I use regularly.  I also use Superantispyware.  Its amazing how many sites put cookies on your harddrive.

I rarely get phishing emails anymore since switching to startpage

Old Head

[Lannis]

CCleaner is very good, I use regularly.  I also use Superantispyware.  Its amazing how many sites put cookies on your harddrive.

.....
Old Head

Two things that I think that most Internet sites, sellers, and marketers do a very good job self-policing on.   

If I get an email from someone I've done business with, entered a query with, or with whom I've otherwise interacted ... it ALWAYS has an "unsubscribe" button at the bottom and it always unsubscribes me, albeit sometimes with a total BS CYA "may take 3 to 10 days to take effect".   Even the most aggressive marketers do that.

And these days, anyone who is leaving "cookies" on my machine has a little notice on their site telling me that they're using cookies and allowing me to opt-out.   For legitimate sites that I visit often, I let them go, since it makes it easier to access the site the next time.

So those things are pretty good, amidst all of the not-so-good things that go on ... and they seem to be self-imposed and self-policed too.

Lannis