Resisting Surveillance Part 2: Alternative search engines

A central tool for internet users, search engines allow us to launch a search on a subject, an author, an organization, etc., using various criteria and keywords to identify available and relevant content. This way of finding documents makes it possible to quickly check the existence, the notoriety and the sources of information on any subject. In 2018, more than a hundred search engines are available: the notorious Google, but also Bing, Yahoo, the Russian Yandex or Chinese Baidu, etc. Even though most of these tools have a “privacy policy,” the commercial interests of their publishers remain a priority over user rights. Thus, each search is accompanied by discrete collection of data concerning the preferences of the user, as well as data relating to the computer used. If you are logged in, they will also have a detailed record of all your searches and maybe your almost-searches. In this way, search engines accumulate an incredible amount of data about individuals and society as a whole. This information can be used for profit or social control. The virtual monopoly of Google’s search engine in Europe (90% market share) gives it a formidable power. Besides these engines, there are less-known but interesting alternatives that provide proper protection of data such as Qwant, Ixquick or DuckDuckGo. In this article we’ll highlight some of these alternatives and encourage citizens who are concerned about their privacy to change their practices.

DuckDuckGo: a search engine that respects privacy

Launched in 2008, one of the slogans of DuckDuckGo is: “The search engine that doesn’t track you”. This engine aspires to limit the gathering and storing of its users’ data as much as possible. The site does not save queries and strongly opposes tracking. It uses its own search engine and also includes results from other open sources of information to enrich the results. Thus, beyond its great respect for privacy and engine commitments, its own features make it an interesting alternative to Google. Making it the default search engine in Firefox is super easy.

The advantages of using DuckDuckGo:

Confidentiality: it does not store personal information about users, not even their IP addresses. The policy is total non-tracking. It offers many guarantees against tracking and keeps the minimum possible amount of data on its users, none of which directly identifies them.

Neutrality: it offers the same results from one user to another, without taking into account a “profile” or previous searches, which are not kept. Thus, we avoid the personalization of the contents, which introduces a confirmation bias, and we obtain a more objective result.

Security: it promotes the use of secure sites (HTTPs — secure access to the website) and is available via the TOR network.

Features: DuckDuckGo offers a number of specific features. In addition to giving “direct” results, such as extracts from Wikipedia pages or OpenStreetMap maps, it can do specific searches (date, place, etc.) and even search on another engine through DuckDuckGo. For example, by entering “!t the search”, we are automatically redirected to the thesaurus. Notably, you can even access Google without being tracked (“!g the request”).

Ethical Commitments: Some of DuckDuckGo’s revenues are spent on free software development projects that protect privacy.

Some nuances:

DuckDuckGo is headquartered in the United States (Pennsylvania). The company is therefore subject to US law and potentially subject to judicial or administrative injunctions to record and transmit data. The engine’s team however rejects this possibility and indicates that they would not submit to it. One could also blame its advertising partnerships with Amazon and eBay, who are far from being advocates of privacy. It must be remembered, however, that DuckDuckGo’s funding sources are scarce, advertising is minimal and can be deactivated in the settings, and DuckDuckGo is far from being the only actor to use it (one example is the Ubuntu free operating system).

Ixquick: a European protective meta search engine

Since 2006, the search engine Ixquick has embraced a policy of fully respecting the privacy and personal data of users. Unlike DuckDuckGo which is based in the United States and thus subject to US law (Patriot Act, etc.), Ixquick is based in the Netherlands. It is therefore subject to European legislation and can boast of working with the Dutch CNIL (National Commission for IT and Freedoms). It is a search meta search engine, which is to say that it does not have its own indexing and search algorithm, but relies on those of Google, Yahoo, etc. It aggregates their results and gives results adapted to the user. Unlike the engines it uses, however, Ixquick is committed in many ways to the protection of privacy on the Internet.

The benefits of using Ixquick:

• all IP addresses and other stored search data is erased within 48 hours,
• there is no placement of identifying cookies on your device,
• there is no storing of personal information without the knowledge of the user, and therefore no sharing data with private companies,
• the connection can be secured using the encrypted communication protocol (HTTPs).
• the company is located in the Netherlands

We thus can enjoy the results of the main search engines without handing them our personal data. Ixquick performs the queries instead of the user. This search engine is committed to upholding some privacy guarantees. It has earned the European label for the protection of personal information and is also engaged with the Dutch CNIL.

Limitations:

Surfboard Holding, the publisher of Ixquick, is funded through Google’s Adsense advertising program, which involves some forms of indirect tracing. Without being able to associate the user’s IP address with the search, Google will still be aware of technical details of the search (keywords, time, linguistic indication, display of advertising, etc.).

Qwant: a French project in development

If at its launch in 2013 the project was unimpressive, the Qwant team understood the problems revealed by Edward Snowden, and Qwant now presents itself as a valuable alternative for greater privacy, and seems to be continually improving.

In the team’s words: “Qwant’s philosophy is based on two principles: not to track users and not to filter the content of the internet. We do our utmost to respect the privacy of users while ensuring a secure environment and relevant results.”

The great strengths of DuckDuckGo and Ixquick are all present: no tracking, cookies limited to strict search needs, no customization of results, HTTPs…

It is therefore an effective alternative for privacy. The company Qwant has the merit of being located in France and taking a public stance for the respect of privacy. On top of that, the engine offers a different approach from Google. Web page results are automatically complemented by results from online news articles, Wikipedia, Twitter, and images that potentially provide faster access to desired information or content. It is easy to see only one category of results. The interface is fluid, functional and easy to use.

Qwant’s funding is based for the moment on the purchases made via its “Shopping” interface, which does not give rise to real privacy concerns.

Note also the existence of a search engine for the youngest, which respects their privacy as well as protecting them from access to inappropriate content: Qwant Junior.

While not perfect, Qwant, Ixquick and DuckDuckGo are adequate alternatives to Google’s monopoly and its propensity to sell our privacy. Other reliable and protective small engines exist too, such as Blekko.com, Searx.me, or Yacy.net.

Yacy: a project to support

Yacy is particularly interesting from a user’s point of view. It is under a free license, does not store personal data, has a decentralized peer-to-peer design, does not involve advertising, etc. However, it is different from other engines in that it requires the installation of software on the machine. It will not run just by visiting the webpage. It operates on a peer-to-peer page-indexing model, so there is no central server. This is an advantage, but it requires active cooperation from its users, who need to play the part of peer servers. While Yacy is not totally ready to replace a classic search engine for everyday use, it is a project worth discovering and supporting.

Internal search engines on sites

Many sites have their own internal search engine. Some of these specific engines can be used directly by installing them in the search bar of Firefox. Thus, if one frequently searches for Wikipedia articles, a precise definition on a dictionary site, or translation help on Linguee.fr, there is no need for the use of a general engine like Google or DuckDuckGo.

 

This article was translated from https://www.lececil.org/node/7690. It is free to modify and distribute under the Creative Commons 3.0 License.