Google is NOT your friend!

I Bing™ therefore I am...

reply to post by pandersway


google was just a search engine.

metacrawler was the big thing. It was a combination of altavista, yahoo, and a few other search engines. google was a small but effective engine.

as it grew, it expanded. It lost its ethics. it has now become a monopoly.

what it is now and what it was originally are two very very different things. And if the guys who made google when it started had intended on being the thing they are today, then they must have had a time machine.

in a way they did it right. they expanded into areas that guaranteed their future success. marketing is the way to keep growing, and every single person on the net is a consumer.

dont do evil became dont get caught... and when they got caught it became, haha suck eggs.

reply to post by mlifeoutthere


I used to love Google. Keyword: used to. Now, I avoid it like the plague. Same goes for Facebook, but I never liked them to begin with.

Here's what I've replaced Google with:

Email: GMX.com with imap synched with "Mail" on my Mac.
Search: DuckDuckGo, Wolframalpha.
Youtube: Use this trick for registering without a phone number

Thats all I need. Everything else is done locally. (Contacts, calendar etc.)

reply to post by LewisStulePhD


Out of the googlepan into the Microsoftire...

Oo

what we need is a new contender. Not someone hanging off the coat tails of the big names. not some dodgy little set up that does a half arsed job. Not something that annoys you so much you would rather go back to google.

A proper alternative that works.

you know, that is the next big thing... I just hope it's done properly and not something that starts off that way and becomes yet another behemoth with only dollar signs as motivation.

reply to post by mlifeoutthere



Try Duck Duck Go...

Auricom
reply to post by mlifeoutthere

 

I used to love Google. Keyword: used to. Now, I avoid it like the plague. Same goes for Facebook, but I never liked them to begin with.

Here's what I've replaced Google with:

Email: GMX.com with imap synched with "Mail" on my Mac.
Search: DuckDuckGo, Wolframalpha.
Youtube: Use this trick for registering without a phone number

Thats all I need. Everything else is done locally. (Contacts, calendar etc.)

duckduck still uses the other engines. Sure it wont track you, but it's not an alternative. It's just another way to worship the devil without god watching you sin..

and it falls short in features.

same with all the private alternatives. if all you're worried about is your IP address and what you're searching for then well, good I suppose. I know I'm not googleing how to blow up things or sinister pronz so I couldn't care less about my IP or search terms.

I simply dislike the way things have become with google. or bing. or any of the main players these days.

reply to post by winofiend


I'm not overly protective of my IP address or name. But I don't like being profiled. And that's what Google does. For starters, you're assigned a unique but anonymous identification number. What does that mean? Well, Google accidently leaked these numbers and search terms related to those numbers a few years ago. People found out a lot of things about the users. Ever tried Googling your name? Well, now it's safe to say your unique and anonymous ID number isn't so anonymous anymore.

Secondly, by using Google you get stuck in a bubble filter. Which means that they start personalizing search data that they think I might be interested in. Now, that could be a good thing, but it's also a bad thing. A lot of items you're looking for will get buried behind all the custom content Google search selected for you.

Duck Duck Go does neither of these things. And the fact that DDG uses Google is a moot point as the ID number is relayed through DDG and not you personally. So let's say I searched my name, next time I go on DDG and search my name it'll look like more than one user searched for me basically letting whoever took the time to look into what a user was searching for know that it's more than one user.

Plus, Google now will use YOU personally in ads. If you "+" something through Google+, it can be used in ads. Another thing I don't like.

But if you feel the need to use Google, by all means do. But don't knock others for not wanting companies to be able to pry into everything you do online.

reply to post by mlifeoutthere

Agreed, Google is not your friend.
If you don't like it, don't use it.
Here is a partial list of other choices.

Search Engine List

20SEARCH, ALL THE WEB, ALTA VISTA, AOL SEARCH, ASK JEEVES, DOGPILE, EBAY, EXCITE, GIGABLAST,
IWON, JOEANT, LYCOS, MAMMA, MSN, NETSCAPE, OPEN DIRECTORY, WEBCRAWLER, WIKIPEDIA, YAHOO,
DuckDuckGo, Ixquick ...

reply to post by Auricom


I google other peoples names. So they must really hate me.

If you think that by using ddg you're avoiding all of the things you just mentioned, well you would be wrong.

I'm just not that fussed about it. I didn't disparage you nor anyone else for it. go for it, but know you're still being tracked and profiled in one form or another..

even on ATS if you are abiding by the T&C you agreed to when you signed up.

Oh and you have to actually opt in to being used personally in ads. Ahh never mind, it's all lies and propaganda. I dont trust google as far as I can spit, but sometimes I smh...

reply to post by mlifeoutthere


yet another google bashing thread *yawn*. why don't you bash facebook for a change?

seriously, this belongs into rant forum.

FyreByrd
Try Duck Duck Go...

Startpage works well.

Google, bing, yahoo are all just the sign of the times. Times gone soooo terribly, terribly wrong.

Spookybelle
reply to post by rival

 

And this bothers you I take it?

Last I heard, they still have to take you through the court system to do anything to you so unless your doing something your not supposed to than what are you worried about?

I have made a social contract with the government, by simply staying in this country, where I expect them to do things and for that I expect to give up some freedoms.

I demand that they provide an environment where I do not have to worry about children being blown up if I take them into the mall. I'm not asking I'm demanding.

When I take kids to school I do not expect to have to dodge gun battles raging on the streets during my drive. If they feel its necessary to spy in order to provide what I demand than so be it.

If they need to pay a guy 40k a year to listen to me talking to a friend about how to make a pineapple upside-down cake than I will send that man a cup of coffee.

Times change, technology changes, and the ways to harm my family changes with it. I expect the government will have to change their methods to deal with that threat.

I'm sorry your so paranoid but unless your one of "them" your probably not a high interest target for anyone.

and you've bought all the crap they've sold you as to be expected.

Regardless of being one of them or not if any of us are NOT a high interest target, then why are they spying and snooping on us ? Because they WILL use that when they decide that 'that' is now 'illegal'

You are a tool, nothing more or less

Indeed
What cookies would you preffer to accept and which one not?
Also what scripts would you advice to allow?

it gets interesting when you use a programm like little snitch ( I´m on OSX) ..Any out- or ingoing traffic is asked for permission.
THEN look how often Google is tracking you..

Mamatus

watchitburn
reply to post by opethPA

 

That only leaves the possibility that you are intentionally knit picking.

That would be "nit" picking not "knit" picking.

So would this.


...sorry; I gave you a star, but I never could resist certain types of straight lines. No offense meant, & I hope, none taken.

Reminds me of 'buy n large' (BNL) from Wall-E

reply to post by mlifeoutthere


S&F for the rant, and wow, I am SO sick of being asked o use my name on YT, that I very seldom even bother logging in AT ALL. I also have specifically blocked Google and YT cookies, as simply blocking third party ones doesn't work for them anymore, since they bypass most browser security settings. I never EVER use them for a search, either. They are nosy and pushy and want to know everything about everyone's personal business. "Friend"? Not even close! About as friendly as Big Brother.

google is nothing more than a tool and ANYONE who thinks that anything that isn't online/wi-fi bsaed isn't tracked is an idiot.
You are tracked/logged no matter what this day and age....get over it. Don't like it?? [I don't]]....what are you gonna do.....write congress [yeah right], vote them out? [rotflmao!!!], any other suggestions??

++No offense to OP or anyone else, just my personal feelings. Seriously, who did what when the NSA stuff was happening?? What about aca crapp??? Seriously, the only protesting from americans that Ive seen in the news was when they got their foodstamps cut of in the S. States.

==pretty sad when the ONLY people willing to protest are those with the least amount.==

Spookybelle
reply to post by rival
[

If they need to pay a guy 40k a year to listen to me talking to a friend about how to make a pineapple upside-down cake than I will send that man a cup of coffee.

Times change, technology changes, and the ways to harm my family changes with it. I expect the government will have to change their methods to deal with that threat.

I'm sorry your so paranoid but unless your one of "them" your probably not a high interest target for anyone.

Unless you're one of 'those' people who fit a 'profile of interest' for those behind the cameras. Perhaps your skin colour and baggy trousers mark you out, maybe not as someone blowing things up, but possibly with the potential to be carrying some secret herbs and spices in demand in these great capitalistic nations, yet the documents required to engage in this sort of trade are monopolised and difficult to attain. Maybe your clothing is a little too disheveled and non-conformist for someone's conservative tastes, or you are eating a mars bar that yet another LEO thinks is a pistol.

Is it too paranoid to look back to the excesses of authoritarian nations of the past like Stalinist Russia, or the Phillipines under the occupation of the U.S at the turn of the century, and wonder if this could happen again? Is it too paranoid to think that trading hard won freedoms for security somehow could negate becoming a person of interest to someone? Is one overly paranoid to think that perhaps mistakes could be made and one may inadvertedly become the target of some organisation due to a human or a computer error?

A large portion of my family in Europe around the time of WW2 were surveilled, locked in ghettoes, later in concentration camps, and mass-murdered by a legally elected government of a major and ultra-modern nation, not because they were terrorists and engaging in gun battles on the streets, but because of the family name they possessed, and some magical powers of evil either because all of these people killed Jesus, every single one was a Boshevik, and amusingly while being Bolsheviks, the entire lot of them managed to control the entire banking system. There were courts back then also, but over a remarkably short period of time plenty of laws were changed and plenty of new ones created. These people, rightly or wrongly had fought for their country just 15-20 years prior in the largest conflict the world had ever seen, and yet it took less than 2 decades for a dedicated organisation to make these people into enemies of the state.

The somewhat primitive by today's standards surveillance technologies (with enormous asssistance from IBM), were sophisticated enough to largely drive the hoarding of, the following imprisonment, and later extermination of these people. Some managed to escape - I'd wager a decent sum that if this type of operation was to happen in nation as modern and wealthy as Germany was immediately prior to WW2, that plenty more would be killed, and a much much smaller number would have even the remotest chance of survival.

If we don't currently live in a police state (and for some, they honestly feel they do), all of the machinery is in place, and the rise of a Suharto or Hussein or Pinochet (all sponsored at one point by the CIA) combined with toys that would make these prior dictators turn in their graves with jealousy, would certainly in my opinion be enough to create a McCarthy era paranoia with more than likely corresponding witchhunts.

When the power in the hands of the surveillance state is such that all of our movements can more or less be reconstructed - every place you've been, every dollar you've spent, and nearly every person you've interacted with, at what point does this start to terrify? For the 'if you've done nothing wrong' crowd, who does nothing wrong? Do you want to terrify the populace into total submission so that most people will 'conform', but will it in any way, shape or form stop those who are committed to whatever their actions may be?

Finally, what if you are totally correct - all of these bad people should not be free to roam on the streets, having gun battles, engaging in terrorism, and generally doing all the nefarious nasty things that requires a total surveillance system in place? What if it turns out that some of these bad people are actually in the government, in law enforcement, and in those courts you appear to have much faith in? What if the bad guys are the bad guys, but those you think are the good guys are also the bad guys?

What then?

"Google" is your Fiend.

"Peerblock" is my Friend.