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DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

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Re: DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

#21

Post by joakin »

truebosko wrote: post #6

Is the whole privacy on search thing really a big issue? I, for one, want Google to be all Orwellian on me because it will mean better search results. I had a scenario like this a few days ago when I googled for "fabric" -- Being a Python developer I was looking for http://fabfile.org and it shows up as the second result while logged in. If I'm not, it won't show up. This may be the outlier state of mind on HN, but I…

I would prefer the web to be better classified and less "guessing". For my queries google has been guessing wrong most of the time and putting results of things i didnt search for in the top results page.

With the bangs and the zero-click duck aproaches what I think is a really good solution, for 'fabric' you get : http://duckduckgo.com/?q=fabric Which has in the zero click info all the meanings (including the python library), and if you would want python related results just do: http://duckduckgo.com/?q=python+fabric And it works beautifully...

I guess is a matter of how you are used to search

Re: DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

#22

Post by coderdude »

potatolicious wrote: post #16
coderdude wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then that is their ONLY claim against Google (yet not Google alone). Everything else on that donttrack.us page is applicable to any and every search engine or Website. I believe DDG is being disingenuous by making it sound like this a Google-only thing. Even if Google is the big guy they want to go after, they should be up front that this is not something that makes Google evil or is specific to Google.

donttrack.us also rips on third-party ad networks that are non-Google for extending the tracking even further. This also seems to be the core reason why DDG rails against search terms in referral URLs, since it's a major enabler for third-party network tracking. So yes, DDG is targeting the 800# gorilla in its marketing, but it's not unjustified, nor has DDG claimed on the donttrack.us page that Google is the sole cu…

>donttrack.us also rips on third-party ad networks that are non-Google for extending the tracking even further

On the site it says "Those sites usually have third-party ads. and those third-parties build profiles about you,"

How are they able to do this? Because Google lets them. That's the message they are sending across to people. The entire campaign is anti-Google only in nature. It's not this fair and balanced reporting on privacy that you're making it out to be.

>nor has DDG claimed on the donttrack.us page that Google is the sole culprit in the destruction of user privacy

Their campaign only talks about Google. That's the only name and logo they ever show or speak of.

Re: DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

#23

Post by Pewpewarrows »

klochner wrote: post #14
truebosko wrote: post #6

Is the whole privacy on search thing really a big issue? I, for one, want Google to be all Orwellian on me because it will mean better search results. I had a scenario like this a few days ago when I googled for "fabric" -- Being a Python developer I was looking for http://fabfile.org and it shows up as the second result while logged in. If I'm not, it won't show up. This may be the outlier state of mind on HN, but I…

There is also a slightly different case - google passing on your search terms to the website that you click through to. You may trust google with knowing that you searched for "naked bieber pics", but you may not want other websites also knowing your search habits.

You're free to opt out at any time:

http://www.google.com/privacy/ads/

Re: DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

#24

Post by citricsquid »

[deleted] wrote: post #13
truebosko wrote: post #6

Is the whole privacy on search thing really a big issue? I, for one, want Google to be all Orwellian on me because it will mean better search results. I had a scenario like this a few days ago when I googled for "fabric" -- Being a Python developer I was looking for http://fabfile.org and it shows up as the second result while logged in. If I'm not, it won't show up. This may be the outlier state of mind on HN, but I…

[deleted]

For anyone wondering, this comment has changed. After being told by ericd he was being a pedantic ass and downvoted he edited the comment. This isn't what it originally said.

Re: DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

#26

Post by jpwagner »

latch wrote: post #12

I know this comes up every now and again...but I find the length of the domain name a barrier to entry. I think building a brand around "DuckDuckGo" is an upward battle.

It's my default search engine in Chrome, so I never have to type the name. In fact, I'm not positive I ever have. Well, just in case: DuckDuckGo!

Re: DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

#27

Post by iamjustlooking »

klochner wrote: post #14
truebosko wrote: post #6

Is the whole privacy on search thing really a big issue? I, for one, want Google to be all Orwellian on me because it will mean better search results. I had a scenario like this a few days ago when I googled for "fabric" -- Being a Python developer I was looking for http://fabfile.org and it shows up as the second result while logged in. If I'm not, it won't show up. This may be the outlier state of mind on HN, but I…

There is also a slightly different case - google passing on your search terms to the website that you click through to. You may trust google with knowing that you searched for "naked bieber pics", but you may not want other websites also knowing your search habits.

Even if the site owner doesn't know that the referring url contained the search term "naked beiber pics" they still know you visited their page which most likely contains "naked beiber pics".

Re: DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

#29

Post by sorbus »

klochner wrote: post #14
truebosko wrote: post #6

Is the whole privacy on search thing really a big issue? I, for one, want Google to be all Orwellian on me because it will mean better search results. I had a scenario like this a few days ago when I googled for "fabric" -- Being a Python developer I was looking for http://fabfile.org and it shows up as the second result while logged in. If I'm not, it won't show up. This may be the outlier state of mind on HN, but I…

There is also a slightly different case - google passing on your search terms to the website that you click through to. You may trust google with knowing that you searched for "naked bieber pics", but you may not want other websites also knowing your search habits.

I am fairly sure that the issue is the browser passing on the referrer, not that Google is making websites aware of any additional information. I might be wrong, of course; there's a lot of FUD about this floating around.

Re: DuckDuckGo Challenges Google on Privacy (With a Billboard in San Francisco)

#30

Post by epi0Bauqu »

Pewpewarrows wrote: post #23
klochner wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is also a slightly different case - google passing on your search terms to the website that you click through to. You may trust google with knowing that you searched for "naked bieber pics", but you may not want other websites also knowing your search habits.

You're free to opt out at any time: http://www.google.com/privacy/ads/

AFAIK this doesn't shut off the search leakage in the referrer header.
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