{"id":1160,"date":"2025-02-12T16:14:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T16:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/?p=1160"},"modified":"2025-02-21T12:18:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T12:18:13","slug":"de-google-your-life-search-engines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/de-google-your-life-search-engines\/","title":{"rendered":"De-Google Your Life: Search Engines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is the fourth installment of my series of browsing online with more security and privacy<\/strong>. So far I’ve covered browsers, VPNs, extensions<\/strong>, and now this one will cover search engines<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up, I recommend stopping using Google as your search engine<\/strong>. Google is a proprietary ad-based money-driven privacy breaching, data scraping, aggregation tool. It is no longer searching, it is Googling. Stop Googling and start searching<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember that Google is a data company trying to get as much data as possible from you<\/strong>. Stop thinking of it as a free tool, but more as a service you are paying for with your precious data and privacy<\/strong>. In exchange for using their products such as Google Chrome, Maps, Search, and Drive, your data is their payment, which they use to track you and train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They’ve been able to improve their maps only because they’ve harvested our location and accuracy data from us. They crowdsource our labor for their CAPTCHAS to improve their street view images. We provide endless information for their algorithms and AI. They improve their facial recognition networks with our photos. All of it with our data. Let’s stop giving them our data for free<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to search engines. There are three main ways to access them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many browsers, including the ones that I have recommended in the past, have the option to switch from the default search engine<\/strong>, which is unfortunately often Google. You can select other options, so that when you use your browsers address bar to enter search terms, it uses your preferred search engine and not the default one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your preferred search engine is not available in the settings of the browser itself, you can often install a browser extension<\/strong> for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if the extension is not available for your browser, you can go directly to the search engine\u2019s website<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google has trained us so well with their search results, but I want you to unlearn what you think a \u201cgood search\u201d is. Just because it appears at the top does not mean it’s the best result. Similar to the way you would do thorough research, you want to go through different books and articles with many different sources<\/strong>. The same is true of even how we should be using search engine results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion, there is no single perfect search engine, and that is perfectly fine<\/strong>. We should not be seeking perfection<\/strong>. Each one has pros and cons, but remember, you are not limited to a single search engine<\/strong>. You can use several of them, even in rotation, if you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are reasons why having several is beneficial. For instance, DuckDuckGo<\/a><\/strong> is a favorite of many, but it is based in the US, which means, as many are already witnessing, it is vulnerable to US policy and instability. DuckDuckGo also saves search queries, albeit without attribution. Finally, they generate revenue from affiliate campaigns and ads, so this is a consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swisscows<\/a><\/strong> is another search engine that is loved by many. They’re obviously located in Switzerland, and are donation and sponsorship based instead of ad revenue based. They consider their browser \u201cfamily friendly\u201d as they define it, so certain content will get censored out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, another reason why using several search engines can be helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most search engines use different web crawlers to aggregate their results. DuckDuckGo, for instance, uses Yahoo and Bing in their search engine results. One search engine that has their own web crawlers<\/strong> is Mojeek<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Google has trained us in such a specific way, people sometimes get frustrated because Mojeek’s search results look or feel different from Google’s, but this is where I encourage folks to unlearn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the last one I want to recommend is SearXNG<\/a><\/strong>. It’s an open source search engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion, any of these four will help you unlearn some of what Google has tried to train you to do, and will also help you expand your search parameters and experience<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, do your own research<\/strong>. These are my recommendations for right now. They can change because tech always changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with all of my recommendations, they are made based on who I feel makes up the majority of my audience. There are of course versions that are more secure and more private, but I am recommending ones that I feel most people will be able to adopt and are the most accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember that the search engine is only one part of the equation of what it means to have secure and private browsing. There are the other elements, including extensions, connection, VPN, the browser itself, and many pieces that I’ve covered or will cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

De-Google your life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More to come, say secure and private out there y’all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the fourth installment of my series of browsing online with more security and privacy. So far I’ve covered browsers, VPNs, extensions, and now…<\/p>\n

Continue readingDe-Google Your Life: Search Engines<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":5,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":null,"activitypub_content_visibility":"quiet_public","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-1160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech-justice","tag-digital-security","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nDe-Google Your Life: Search Engines - YK Hong<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"De-Google Your Life: Search Engines - YK Hong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is the fourth installment of my series of browsing online with more security and privacy. 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