One of the biggest privacy complaints about major Internet search sites such as Google, AOL, MSN and Yahoo is that they keep extensive and often permanent records, called “logs,” of the who, what, where and when of everything that’s entered into that little search box.
In addition, these sites insert “cookies” into your computer that track your Internet activity. Log and cookie files such as these have been used as, among other things, evidence to throw political dissidents into communist Chinese prisons. Fortunately, there are some easy-to-use tools for those who wish to keep their Internet usage to themselves.
For years, the best way to do thorough Web searching without being tracked and cookied was to use a website called Scroogle, which was run by privacy crusader Daniel Brandt. Earlier this year, however, Brandt pulled the plug on Scroogle after malicious hackers relentlessly hammered Scroogle with DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. Not having the deep pockets of a Yahoo or MSN, Scroogle was unable to recover and the Internet lost a valuable resource.
Carrying on in the Scroogle tradition is the wacky sounding but effective DuckDuckGo.com. Invented by MIT graduate Gabriel Weinberg, DuckDuckGo boasts features that make Internet privacy seekers smile. Use them instead of your usual search site, and you’ll no longer be leaving behind a trail of search-term records or access logs, and you won’t have to fill your computer up with tracking cookies.
The DuckDuckGo website is also a good educational resource for all things related to Internet privacy, a subject not understood or taken seriously enough in a world that seems resigned to total-surveillance submission. Did you know that Internet search results are filtered based on who the Internet thinks you are? It’s called the “filter bubble,” and DuckDuckGo gives the easiest to understand explanation of the issue I’ve seen to date.
Those who desire a higher level of protection should install Tor (www.torproject.org), which is an anonymous Internet communication system. Designed to work most effectively with Mozilla’s Firefox browser (which is what you should be using anyway, instead of Yahoo/AOL/Cox/MSN/Internet Explorer), communications are bounced around a distributed network of servers.
This protects you from websites that build profiles of your interests, local eavesdroppers that read your data or learn what sites you visit, and other Internet nasties. Tor was originally conceived by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory as a way of protecting government communications. Used by everyone from housewives to SWAT teams, Tor offers a high level of Internet privacy in an easy-to-use format.
To learn more, visit internet-privacy.org and click “privacy test” at the top of the page. You may be surprised at what you see.