Stick it to the Man With DuckDuckGo.com
The more the public reads about Google and their package of services, the more suspicious people are becoming, and rightfully. Often people surf the web through their browser and don’t even realize that they are still logged into their Google account. Because the user is still logged in, all of their search habits are saved in massive data farms. All this so the businesses, services, nonprofits and politicians who pay Google can obtain a more perfect consumer profile for potential customers, clients and votes.
People sign up for Google’s gmail and drive because of the 15 gigabytes of free “cloud” storage. But the important thing to remember is that there really isn’t such thing as a magical cloud; no, in reality the cloud is just someone else’s computer – in this case Google’s computers. Visualize your important documents and personal emails and photos stored in a rack server in one of Google’s giant server farms. Do you think this information is secure? Private? Will it be forever?
Just last week I Google searched for companies that sell custom made plaques. I found a few promising leads, but I ultimately decided to use a local, offline company. However, still as of today, as I write this, my email and web browser is clogged with adverts for trophy and plaque companies. I even have friends who report that they start seeing advertisements about things they merely talked about or texted about on their smart phones.
The whole thing is very big brotherish and creepy. Best case scenario, multi-billion dollar companies (not just Google) are profiting from selling your personal data. Worst case scenario? (Put on your tin foil hat) God knows what “they” are really doing and just how intrusive their data collection schemes run.
But in today’s world, telling people to stop using Google is like literally like telling people to stop using the phone. But what if I told you that there really is an easy way to stick it to the man right now?
How? Use duckduckgo.com for your web searches instead of Google. This tiny little upstart company is doing it right. Their slogan is “The search engine that doesn’t track you.”And they claim to: never, ever, ever store your personal information; never ever follow you around with ads; and, they won’t track users in our out of private mode. Their social media hashtag is the very clever #cometotheduckside.
And their search engine is actually pretty good. It isn’t up to Google standards yet, but it is within the same ballpark. They even offer some features that Google doesn’t. And the trade off of a slightly less sophisticated search engine in exchange for true privacy makes it worth saying goodbye to Google and hello to the duck.
Rob Giuffre is a Network+ and A+ certified computer/network technician and sole owner of RatCat Computers. Email Giuffre@protonmail.com.
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