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De-Googling: My Progress

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Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#91

Post by harha »

brabel wrote: post #59
harha wrote: post #8

I actually think the results on DuckDuckGo are better than on google for many topics especially technical: - there’s less ads (you can turn them off completely, but I’ve only seen one ad on the front page at most which is ok for me) - not as SEOed (still not great though) - the box on the side is often more useful, e.g. Wikipedia instead of shopping ads - on mobile Safari I use the bangs [0] which have a sort of Omni…

As much as I would like to agree, as a user who has DDG as the default search engine, this is not my experience... DDG consistently gives me useless results when I search for less popular languages results (searching Dart, or the search-friendly dartlang, gives me crap every time, while Google finds stuff easily... sure, Dart is by Google, that may be a factor, but if I remember correctly, results for Groovy and very…

Good point, it's possible to send a request to add a bang, but it would be better if there were an interface like in Chrome or Firefox to set up own searches.

I do prefer not leaving all my data with Google though to combine with other activities of which I may or may not know of and I think it's good to use alternative services as much as possible, especially when I use Google just as an interface to surface information from site like Wikipedia or Stackexchange.

(note I'm not affiliated with DDG, I just also went through the process of De-Googling after Inbox was shut down)

Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#92

Post by snovv_crash »

asdff wrote: post #51
kavalg wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you guys use an ad blocker? I barely see any ads since I started using uBlock. Occasionally I browse without an ad blocker and the experience is horrible and intimidating. Actually ads and propaganda were the reasons I quit TV around 10 years ago and I have never regretted it. So much time and mental energy is freed up to do constructive and fulfilling things (e.g. reading books, sports, socializing, musing etc…

Been avoiding internet ads and tracking for 15 years now. I feel like the unibomber. Facebook and google probably still have a good fingerprint on me, though, due to iOS not letting you use good ad blockers. Something uncanny happened recently in terms of the ads I do see that gave me quite a bit of paranoia. My SO recently bought a distinct pair of leggings. How am I seeing ads for that same exact pair of leggings,…

If you were both using home WiFi, you shared an IP address. That's enough to co-localize the two of you.

Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#93

Post by m463 »

Although I agree with the actions this person has taken, and I agree that privacy is an excellent reason, his webpage describing adwords and adsense was not that scary at face value.

I think it is much more scary if you realize that google works very hard to identify who you are accurately, and even matches it with things like offline purchase data.

The opposite of privacy is identification, and google is arguably the most capable and well-funded identification service on the planet.

I also think we as tech people should set a good example.

We could map the path for the less technically adept folks around us to take steps in the right direction.

We could provide support instead of ridicule when people make inconvenient choices instead of giving in.

And we could BE people who care about privacy, even if it is just to read the privacy policy, or block some trackers.

Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#94

Post by AlwaysForward »

asdff wrote: post #51
kavalg wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you guys use an ad blocker? I barely see any ads since I started using uBlock. Occasionally I browse without an ad blocker and the experience is horrible and intimidating. Actually ads and propaganda were the reasons I quit TV around 10 years ago and I have never regretted it. So much time and mental energy is freed up to do constructive and fulfilling things (e.g. reading books, sports, socializing, musing etc…

Been avoiding internet ads and tracking for 15 years now. I feel like the unibomber. Facebook and google probably still have a good fingerprint on me, though, due to iOS not letting you use good ad blockers. Something uncanny happened recently in terms of the ads I do see that gave me quite a bit of paranoia. My SO recently bought a distinct pair of leggings. How am I seeing ads for that same exact pair of leggings,…

Unabomber not Unibomber, not that it matters. Ted Kaczynski, the man you are referring to is a fascinating man, try to ignore all of the recent hype and delusion following that Netflix series. I encourage everyone to read his book "Industrial Society and Its Future", he is without a doubt a luddite but presents some very compelling reasons in the book, if nothing else it will give you some insight into a rather notorious but perhaps unfairly represented character.

Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#95

Post by crashbunny »

I've done a similar thing, qwant, protonmail, firefox (4 different profiles and scores of containers), privacy badger, ublock origin, decentral eyes, but I'm convinced it's not possible to stop tracking. My browser finger print is unique and it doesn't seem possible to change that.

Also I have an android phone with google apps, facebook, twitter, scores of other apps tracking me. There's not much I can do about giving google my location data atm. I like waze and fitness apps too much.

Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#96

Post by glogla »

DeathArrow wrote: post #83
glogla wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, there are just two generally usable mobile OSs - ios and android. The only way to not share you every living moment with google while still having a snartphone is to have an iphone. It's fucked up that's the way world is, but it is the way the world is.

>The only way to not share you every living moment with google while still having a snartphone is to have an iphone. Not really. You can install LineageOS an many Android phones. LineageOS is a de-googled Android. And the latest Huawei Android devices are also Google-free.

That's what I meant by "generally" usable. You can install Lineage. I can as sell. But most people can't.

But the worst thing is that to get most use of Android, you have to have Play store and attached surveillance services. There's a lot of cool stuff on fdroid, but your city's public transport? Your bank's app? Your local taxi's app? Your city's meal delivery app? You're not getting that without Google Play.

You can get some stuff from sites like apkmirror, but that's at the risk of getting malware (again, the two of us can see what's malware and what's the actual apk, but most can't) and at the cost of automated security updates.

I lived like that for a while, and it's not worth it. Maybe if you don't mind you're smartphone is actually a dumbphone - which is a good thing for some people who want it that way because of minimalism and somesuch, but most people don't.

Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#97

Post by dao- »

crashbunny wrote: post #95

I've done a similar thing, qwant, protonmail, firefox (4 different profiles and scores of containers), privacy badger, ublock origin, decentral eyes, but I'm convinced it's not possible to stop tracking. My browser finger print is unique and it doesn't seem possible to change that. Also I have an android phone with google apps, facebook, twitter, scores of other apps tracking me. There's not much I can do about givin…

Have you checked what factors make your browser fingerprint unique?

Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#98

Post by kelnos »

DeathArrow wrote: post #89
cft wrote: post #22

I switched to Bing first for all queries that can result in non-PC content, and then discovered that technical search is better on Bing also. I first switched to Firefox because I wanted to read newspapers. I find it hard without Bypass Paywalls Firefox add-on, that is banned by Google Chrome. As a result, Firefox with Bing default search is my browser. Things like deletions of alternative viewpoints (e.g. Dr. Erikso…

I've found that if you aren't using Chrome while signed in Google account you are punished by annoying recaptchas triggering often and when trying to use Google search, clicking on second on third results page will trigger anti-bot response. That's not very friendly behavior.

As someone who has been using Firefox for years and is always signed into his Google account, that has absolutely not been my experience at all.

Perhaps it's something else, like your IP range, that's triggering it?

Re: De-Googling: My Progress

#99

Post by GoblinSlayer »

m463 wrote: post #93

Although I agree with the actions this person has taken, and I agree that privacy is an excellent reason, his webpage describing adwords and adsense was not that scary at face value. I think it is much more scary if you realize that google works very hard to identify who you are accurately, and even matches it with things like offline purchase data. The opposite of privacy is identification, and google is arguably th…

Hmmm... I did give in :) Google locked my account and I was like "okay.jpg", no google for me anymore. Uneventful story, not even enough for a blog post.
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