Which anonymous search engine should I use?!?

[the_f18hornet]

I use duckduckgo, and I REALLY like it. No, really I do, but then I heard that ixsearch is better. I have heard about blekko, and startpage, but now I am getting confused. Which one should I use? Should I stay with duckduckgo? or go to another search engine?
Thanks

P.S. I know that duckduckgo records searches, I am fine with that, because the IP, useragent, and any other personal information is not saved, and duckduckgo does not use your searches to build a profile about you

[Guest]

I like Google, but if you don't prefer that, i would say ixsearch as it is reported as a safe website and a great alternative from Google. Users had stated that it does not have online tracking as others use the tracking.

[Brothers]

I would agree with Chopsy <3.

[Dutch Mountain]

Duck Duck Go is very good and brought me to interesting sites I had before never heard of.
Other anonymous search engines :
Startpage : https://startpage.com
Ixquick : https://www.ixquick.com
Both belong to the same owner, but Startpage follows the ranking methods like Google does.
Ixquick doesn't and can perhaps give another ranking result.

BTW : Also very good and deep digging, but not anonymous is Surf Canyon : http://www.surfcanyon.com
And here in Holland we use Zoekprof ( translated "searchprofessor") : http://www.zoekprof.nl
This one checks all search engines for an overview ( but also not anonymous )

[evilfantasy]

Anonymous searching is a bit misleading. Just because the search engine you are using does not store your search records like Google does not mean that you are anonymously searching the internet. Same goes for 'do not track' features in browsers. Just because the browser does not store your internet history or blocks websites from "following" you or logging your visit does not mean you are invisible!

Invisibility on the internet is a myth. I would venture to say that the tracking your ISP does on you is much much more to worry about then what Google is doing. But that's just me. Privacy on the internet is a myth. Nothing you type in any search engine is actually private and while not perfect, Google and Bing are the best. Period. All it takes is a court order and these 'private' search engines have the ability to turn over search records I guarantee it! You can be a bit more secure from the people around you finding out what you have been up to, maybe, but the word private is a bunch of BS. Everything you do online is logged by some server, somewhere. You can't get around that!

[Dutch Mountain]

<quote user="evilfantasy">
Anonymous searching is a bit misleading. Just because the search engine you are using does not store your search records like Google does not mean that you are anonymously searching the internet. Same goes for 'do not track' features in browsers. Just because the browser does not store your internet history or blocks websites from "following" you or logging your visit does not mean you are invisible!

Invisibility on the internet is a myth. I would venture to say that the tracking your ISP does on you is much much more to worry about then what Google is doing. But that's just me. Privacy on the internet is a myth. Nothing you type in any search engine is actually private and while not perfect, Google and Bing are the best. Period. All it takes is a court order and these 'private' search engines have the ability to turn over search records I guarantee it! You can be a bit more secure from the people around you finding out what you have been up to, maybe, but the word private is a bunch of BS. Everything you do online is logged by some server, somewhere. You can't get around that!
[/quote]

You're absolutely right !
Maybe "anonymous" isn't the right word.
IMO the intention of using an "anonymous' search engine is that your surfing behaviour is not passed on to third parties.
"You have to give the beast a name" ( Dutch idiom ) , hence the use of "anonymous" is common.
But the flag doesn't exactly cover the shipload.
That's true.

[evilfantasy]

It's an important fact that has been forgotten or ignored over time but the public internet or World Wide Web was created and marketed around the ability to publicly SHARE information, not conceal it. The internet was never meant to be private. Internet and Intranet are two different animals.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intranet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet

[pollti]

There's a possibility of getting google results anonymous: www.startpage.com

[evilfantasy]

If you are on the internet you are not anonymous. Startpage can't encrypt your ISP servers or Google servers. Encryption adds a layer of security, not anonymity. Encrypted information can be unencrypted or "hacked." Just ask Sony how spending millions (billions?) on encryption worked out.

They have to collect information. Without an algorithm then when you searched you would just get back a list of random websites or 0 results.

[mobybit]

This is a known problem with Startpage and others that subscribe to Google search api.
The Startpage support faq notes this :

Code: Select all

StartPage acts as an intermediary for Google, and thus we are dependent on the results Google sends us. We have noted that occasionally Google does provide StartPage with slightly fewer results than it offers on its own website. However, for the reasons stated above, this should rarely present a problem. We believe the privacy advantages of using StartPage vastly outweigh the possibility of occasionally receiving slightly fewer search results.

If you use Starpage frequently and compare to Google or Ixquick or DuckDuckGo or other search engines, you will notice that they all may have different results ... and unfortunately Startpage often has the least resutls for uncommon searches.

In the interest of keeping the heat on Ixquick / Startpage to continue innovating and improving I added this to their support queue :

Code: Select all

Subject : google gives a result but not startpage

Try this search, for the exact string :
"600 that have been isolated"

ixquick can also get the result : www.naturalgrocers.com/nutrition/carotenoids

Startpage should combine the results from Google with the Ixquick result to accommodate the cases where the Google results are limited or empty.