Mise
isle of lucy
You can customise chrome's search stuff, I have shortcuts in the whammy bar (which is what I call the url/search box) for youtube (yt), wikipedia (wiki), thefreedictionary (tfd) and loads of others that I can't remember or look at atm because I'm at work. So if I want to look at the wiki article for oranges, I hit F6 and type "wiki oranges" and it automatically gives me the wiki article for oranges.
Also, re DuckDuckGo, you can use the "!g " function to search using google via duckduckgo. So basically if you want to search for oranges on google but you don't want to have google track you, you can use ddg and type "!g oranges" and it'll search google for oranges. But you need to be logged out of Google or else it will still track you personally via your google account. You can even set the google whammy bar to automatically add "!g " to the start of the search string when using DDG as default, so that every search you make through the whammy bar will automatically use DDG's "search google" feature.
If you want to consistently search on Google without Google tracking you, the best thing to do is to delete and block/disable google's tracking cookies, or use incognito mode. This may still let some stuff through, though, and it's still theoretically possible to piece together all the fragments of your identity that get generated in this way into a consistent, whole profile of you. Personally, I use google for searches that I'm okay about sharing with strangers/the police/my folks/etc, e.g. "the best fruit markets in east london" or "advanced chess tactics", but not for things that I'm not happy sharing with the whole world, like information about STDs or things that might affect insurance premiums.
It sucks that the best search engine is also the most likely to destroy your entire life. I would much rather pay them £25 per year or something for access to their service, and keep myself to myself. I use things like ghostery and clear cookies every so often, but there is still way too much of "me" out there that I would rather didn't exist.
Also, re DuckDuckGo, you can use the "!g " function to search using google via duckduckgo. So basically if you want to search for oranges on google but you don't want to have google track you, you can use ddg and type "!g oranges" and it'll search google for oranges. But you need to be logged out of Google or else it will still track you personally via your google account. You can even set the google whammy bar to automatically add "!g " to the start of the search string when using DDG as default, so that every search you make through the whammy bar will automatically use DDG's "search google" feature.
If you want to consistently search on Google without Google tracking you, the best thing to do is to delete and block/disable google's tracking cookies, or use incognito mode. This may still let some stuff through, though, and it's still theoretically possible to piece together all the fragments of your identity that get generated in this way into a consistent, whole profile of you. Personally, I use google for searches that I'm okay about sharing with strangers/the police/my folks/etc, e.g. "the best fruit markets in east london" or "advanced chess tactics", but not for things that I'm not happy sharing with the whole world, like information about STDs or things that might affect insurance premiums.
It sucks that the best search engine is also the most likely to destroy your entire life. I would much rather pay them £25 per year or something for access to their service, and keep myself to myself. I use things like ghostery and clear cookies every so often, but there is still way too much of "me" out there that I would rather didn't exist.
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