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Plant trees while you search the web

info.ecosia.org

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Re: Plant trees while you search the web

#2
I switched to Ecosia about a month ago. IMHO search result quality is at about 90 % to 95 % compared to Google. I believe Ecosia is using Bing in the background. They are planting trees and claim to respect my privacy. Overall I'm happy with Ecosia and started recommending it to friends.

PS. I'm German and do searches in German and English.

Re: Plant trees while you search the web

#3
I used ecosia for a period of few months, and stopped when I read this their privacy policy(https://info.ecosia.org/privacy#privacy-policy-section-7):

> For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address, user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting.

So when a search is done, our IP address is send to Bing.

I really love the idea of planting trees from profit, and have nothing against ecosia. Just commented to inform readers. Before getting downvoted into oblivion, I would like to make it clear that I'm not saying ecosia is unethical or that everyone should stop using it because of this. For some it matters, for some it doesn't and ecosia seems a great choice for those whom this doesn't matter. I'm just posting it so that those who do care(about their IP being send to Bing) can be aware(since I wasn't for a few months).

Re: Plant trees while you search the web

#4

I used ecosia for a period of few months, and stopped when I read this their privacy policy( https://info.ecosia.org/privacy#privacy-policy-section-7 ): > For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address, user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting. So when a search is done, our IP address is send to Bing. I…

How is this different to using Bing as a search engine directly?

Re: Plant trees while you search the web

#5
post #4

I used ecosia for a period of few months, and stopped when I read this their privacy policy( https://info.ecosia.org/privacy#privacy-policy-section-7 ): > For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address, user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting. So when a search is done, our IP address is send to Bing. I…

How is this different to using Bing as a search engine directly?

There isn't other than the planet benefits

Re: Plant trees while you search the web

#7

I used ecosia for a period of few months, and stopped when I read this their privacy policy( https://info.ecosia.org/privacy#privacy-policy-section-7 ): > For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address, user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting. So when a search is done, our IP address is send to Bing. I…

Which search engine are you using now instead of Ecosia?

I'm much more comfortable to give some information to Microsoft then giving more information to Google so they can add it to my profile they already have.

Re: Plant trees while you search the web

#9
post #4

I used ecosia for a period of few months, and stopped when I read this their privacy policy( https://info.ecosia.org/privacy#privacy-policy-section-7 ): > For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address, user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting. So when a search is done, our IP address is send to Bing. I…

How is this different to using Bing as a search engine directly?

It is not. I've been using DuckDuckGo before switching to them, for me privacy is a big deal. When I first saw ecosia, I thought it was similar to DDG in terms of privacy(Probably because they had pro-privacy phrases).

I know it's not a problem for most, especially if they are using search engines like Bing or Google. And I believe it's better to use ecosia than using say, Bing or Google.

Re: Plant trees while you search the web

#10

I used ecosia for a period of few months, and stopped when I read this their privacy policy( https://info.ecosia.org/privacy#privacy-policy-section-7 ): > For example, when you do a search on Ecosia we forward the following information to our partner, Bing: IP address, user agent string, search term, and some settings like your country and language setting. So when a search is done, our IP address is send to Bing. I…

I'm a strong advocate for digital privacy and opposed to the majority of data collection that occurs, but this comment is FUD. None of the info that you listed would be private if you used Bing normally, so if you're worried about them having that info you'd need to stop using search engines all together

>So when a search is done, our IP address is send to Bing.

Explain why you believe that's a negative? If you use Bing normally they would know your IP as well

>user agent string

Again, using bing normally will allow them to see this information

>search term

Obviously required to be sent to bing

>some settings like your country and language setting

Again, this is information that would be available to Bing if you use their service normally

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