Friend: What's that?

Me: DuckDuckGo. It's my default search engine.

Friend: Try using Google instead, it's better.

Me: But Google spies on you.

Friend: So?

Me: Don't you care about your privacy?

Friend: It's not like they are going to kill me. It doesn't matter.

Me: *mumbles* typical muggle...

I'm surprised that people could care less for their privacy. I would ban all things google, but I need google docs.

Also, my idiotic school requires gmail and google classroom. Oh, and did I forget to mention we have to use chromebooks!

I dont give a shit about privacy, but ddg has better features

😞 *hugs*

I’m not sold on DDG, the couple of times I’ve used it and the amount of random fake sites that show up in searches makes me feel like I’m back in the year 2000 trying to wiggle around limewires minefield, maybe I’m doing it wrong?

I use the bejesus out of DDG bangs. !yt, !i, !tw, !a, !cpan, !perldoc and a hundred more. For that reason alone, I find it indispensable for my workflow, as no other engine comes close to that functionality, with such simplicity. The tracking and privacy advantages are nice, but that's just gravy. What attracted me and has kept me is duckduckgo's absolutely superior functionality.

So when someone asks me why I'm using DDG instead of Google, my answer is some variation of, "it's better."

To be honest, I've enable even location history in my Google account, I'm ok with Google storing every meter I walk, every day, since 2011.

I like it and I don't care if Google's servers know everything about me.
Will they use my data for personalized search results or ads? Of course they will, but I don't have any problem with this.

My only problem with ddg is that it has really sub-par results as far as my native language (French) and practicality (shopping, looking for nearby stores) are concerned. I use ddg with the Google completion plugin at work, as it's just as good for this.

I've tried using qwant too, but the completion feature just isn't as good as Google's, and I haven't been able to install the opensearch plugin equivalent to ddg+google that I made :(

So now I'm back to Google, and I miss bangs, but it's still the best search engine for me

I used DDG long time ago and then thought: screw you you rubbish results!
Honestly Google works so good because they know you.
They know that I am interested in programming so "python" doesn't show a snake that wants to hug me but the programming language. ;)

I mean they do all this tracking primarily to show ads which do cost more for the advertising company. This is OK for me. You should be aware of. So you shouldn't wonder if they advertise you some sex toys only because you looked them up at home and you sync your chrome at work using the same account. :D That's why you have private modes in all browsers.

It is absolutely correct to always keep in mind privacy and it is fine if you and who else disagrees with their terms of use. But it is also OK if someone accepts them on purpose.

Well said @MrThompson, well said.

I agree.. school's requirements for Google services sucks.

@ewpratten Yeah, good that I have left the school before they had internet access. :) I would go crazy if they want to force me to use some software because they have contracts with them. At school you have no choice. If my employer wants me to program in eclipse I could easily quit but at school...

@MrThompson i dont speak python so this was probably my first time looking it up too

I use Google so I don't have to say that I'm DuckDuckGo'ing something. Sounds awful.

They have enough open source contribution and all that stuff, and they have great free things, so I give them some of my infos

Using Google as a verb is super douche-cringey anyway. Like a Wendy's commercial saying, "on fleek." I just say search.

@ignuit http://blackle.com/

every server is creating logs, so if everybody is spying, nobody is spying, so why don't use the best possible service out there

@ignuit yea its really dev friendly, i love it

@ignuit nooo i always had the Snowden hair in my avatar (even tho i havent been to the barber in like 3 months)

@BindView First it was only an example why context is important when it comes to searching with very few words.
Second you are still looking up programming stuff so guessing python is a programming language for is more likely what you are looking for than for someone who works with snakes.

Please do not get me wrong. DDG is far better than the German version of Bing and is close to Google but Google gives me slightly better results for most searches. Of course DDG has some nice features. I would like to have a symbiosis of both search services. :)

People don't care until they realise itt means their nudes become public.

I think most people do not realize just how much data Google really keeps about you. If people were to go through their Google Activity dashboard they would have a awakening.

Regardless, there infact are people that are fairly liberal about their privacy, me somewhat included.

Google collecting data is not the scary part. Well it kinda is but not as scary as when they start linking that data from their various products to build a complete profile on you. What if they start working with Facebook and linking their data to the data Facebook has collected on you? Data on how you use a single product is not an issue... It's when that data is linked with other products becomes an issue.

@MrThompson 👏 agreed

I'm not that scared by Google. Facebook is another ball entirely.
I just use Duck Duck Go because of the awesome features like the bangs. :D

Ddg is the only viable alternative to Google sometimes I get better results. Often I do not Google is still better especially in staving of fakes as @C0D4 mentioned. It has some cool features like json linting/beautifier. We can only hope DDG gets enough support so it gets better

That happens When people who live on piracy, are asked about privacy.
PS : they don't care.

@daemonAD
It's not wrong.

I'm from the US and something we like to do is called slurring our speech.

Couldn't care less is a mouthful to say and type, so we slur it by saying and typing could care less.

We do this with other words, such as probably. For the same reason above, we slur it by saying prolly instead.

@eArshdeep that's why I love my Activity page. It stores everything, every app I've opened, every vocal recording of me saying "ok google ...".

I know that this data is encrypted and it's stored on Google's servers. I know that it will be used for personalized ads and search results, I'm ok with it.

Then try using Microsoft Office apps or WPS Office?

It's not that I don't care about privacy. I'm a scientist, and I know how frustrating it is to lack data.

I just want to make sure they have am the data they need 😁

Why do DDG users feel like they are superior????

@bdhobare
Uhh, we dont??
Why do Google users assume that all the time? I never said we were more superior, nor did I imply it in anyway way at all?

I was just shocked that some people don't care about their privacy, I never said we were more superior. Next time read more carefully before making false assumptions.

I'm completely OK with Google knowing everything about me. People concerned about privacy think they are somehow unique. The rest of us realise how common we are, going to the same shops, making same searches and looking at same porn movies as everyone else.

@gurumeditation
I never said we are unique. This is the problem with Google users. They are the ones who think they are special because they use Google and they end up hating DuckDuckGo users telling them "you are not special, you are absolutely nothing for using DDG."

@Michelle nothing to do with Google and DDG, I just really don't get why people are concerned about privacy.

@gurumeditation
What if I stalked you 24/7 learning everything about you so I can profile you? What if I secretly took pictures of the things you are doing so I can send recommendations?

@daemonAD
No, it's the same thing. It shortens it so I can type less without being cringing and using things like "u" for "you" and "r" for "are."

You know Google makes all of this very transparent and gives you complete control over what they track. You can even turn off everything with the flip of a switch.

@BindView like what?

@cliatt bangs, SO peeks, wiki snippets

@bahua maybe 10 years ago before it became colloquial...

@BindView what do the bangs do?
Oh and Google has Wiki snippets.

@cliatt !yt searches youtube !w searches wikipedia etc, there are bangs for like a million websites

@BindView site: does the same thing on Google but is available for literally every site...

@cliatt

site:en.wikipedia.org vs !w
site:youtube.com vs !yt

Not much of a comparison. Also, I would rather use a site's own search than the PageRank-filtered version with results in Google (or DDG) format.

@cliatt no it doesnt, it filters google's own results, bangs use the site's own search

@BindView I would imagine in most cases the Google search would be better than the site's own search, half of which are probably powered by Google (like YouTube's)

I really don't care that they spy on me. I can't live without Google products so it's a fair trade

@Milenchy

I'm ho-hum about the, "spying," myself. They build a rich experience, and I'll happily pay for it with that price. But for search, I still prefer DDG, for reasons already stated.

@Michelle please do not do it, my life would bore you to death. It is a health risk hazard.

@Lasagna as long as everybody's opinions are respected it doesn't matter what anyone thinks. And it doesn't matter what one thought 3 years ago either, people can change their minds. Perhaps I can't understand people's concern about privacy as I live in a free country. I do understand everyone hasn't have this luxury.

@gurumeditation
If you don't want me to do it, why would you want google to do it?

@Michelle Well that just reminded me of a funny advert by Qwant (basically French ddg): https://youtu.be/-MSXbhaOxl8

@Michelle Sorry for my poor attempt to a joke. Apparently it could be misunderstood.

@gurumeditation
I understood the joke. Clearly you didn't understand mine.

@daemonAD
You probably wouldn't understand since you don't live in the US. Sure, it means the opposite, but when you slur your speech, it doesn't matter. That's why in some American movies, you'll hear people say that.
I'm a writer and a native English speaker, I know what I'm talking about. I can't explain the whole slurring speech any clearer, sorry. This is the best I can explain it. :(

@daemonAD
Oh okay good. I was reading what I wrote and realized I made no sense at all, but at least you understood haha.
I guess on devRant, it's no secret I'm a writer lol.

@MrCSharp and now they are feeding that information to machines. You know it’s bad when machines know more about your secret desires than you.

@SISheogorath So the idea is that the information is there and we should focus on ethical handling of the data, aka privacy laws and consumer awareness.

Privacy is not that you keep away from it altogether, but knowing what they can do with your data and not giving them what you don't want to. You can always protect your privacy while using their services.

I don't care about the data collected yesterday. But in 20 years time I may start caring about the data collected today.

Where does the line draw on collecting data about me, as technology advances?

I use DuckDuckGo to draw that line. Vote with your feet.

First of all.. No one uses adblock? Secondly if adblock is not an option (e.g YouTube on TV) I wish they did a better job at personalising ads, I'm tired of watching 5 sec of ads in Russian. And holy shit they're loud af, every time I'm making a new world record in sprint to grab the remote asap.
Idk, sounds like a pseudo problem to me.

@H3i1i one word: PiHole

Ecosia User here... It uses bing but I like the concept.

@Michelle your "typical muggle" comment makes me feel like you and my wife would get along

@watzon
Ooh, is she a Harry Potter fan?

@Michelle I've never met a bigger one. We've had a HP marathon going this weekend.

@watzon
In that case, we would get alone. I love Harry Potter! What house is she in? Ravenclaw?

@Michelle she's a Gryffindor actually. And I'm a Slytherin 😂

@watzon
Ah, rip. I'm a Ravenclaw haha.

@Michelle "Could care less" is actually said more frequently simply from misconception.

People think that's the actual saying, not them slurring their speech. And the more it's said/written, the larger the misconception gets.

There's a lot of common English sayings that the general North America population just say wrong from lack of knowledge.

@MrMeeseeks
I'm too tired to explain the whole slurring speech thing any clearer. If you won't believe me, then don't.

@Michelle Not saying I don't believe you (I know slurring is very common in some states) and I wasn't trying to be rude either 😣

Was just stating that the average person who uses the phrase "could care less" says it due to a misunderstanding, not a slur (you're obviously not part of that average since you know the difference).

That's all. Didn't mean to come off wrong or anything ☮️☺️

@MrMeeseeks
Wtf... Did you change your name or something? I thought someone else said that..

@Michelle Nope, I did not change my name

@MrMeeseeks
I clearly remember someone else said that tho... Oh nvm..

I've been in the same situation, the best argument is to say ''ok fine you have nothing to hide it's true, but what if they put a camera in your house, would you still be comfortable watching your TV? It's exactly the same here''

I use bing. Bing is the shit

@MrThompson I'm fine with that as long as sites and other people don't make that I automatically get integrated with Google while not using them myself (gmail and analytics, I'm looking at you)

Not that I like Google mining or data, but have you even seen the tech scene in China?

@IllSlapU Yea! Unfriend him because he uses Google. You might be good friends and have lots in common but fuck that! He uses Google! Unfriend!

I will probablly never understand that shit.

@linuxxx I can imagine avoid Gmail is close to impossible since everyone and their dog uses it

@Froot Yup and that's exactly my problem with it :)

@linuxxx well, can't blame em tho. It's a pretty good platform

@Froot As for features/usability I fully agree with you. I just find it worrying that I literally have to implement measures in order to stay out of their databases when I don't even use their services.

Luckily new European laws will make tracking without explicit permission illegal in Europe. I'm already wishing Google good luck with all the upcoming trials for that haha.

@linuxxx Heh yea. That's going to be interesting

Chromebooks don't need ChromeOS - personal experience.

@ewpratten Half the time the google docs requirement can be negated for single-student projects. I write everything in Markdown and submit PDFs when possible.

@anArchLinuxer almost all my work is group stuff...

@anArchLinuxer my Chromebook seems to have one of the new, non changeable bios things. I haven't bothered to look into it.

You need to unscrew the back and remove the write protect screw (my experience).
What model do you have?

What school is it? I’ll be careful not to join my kids in one of those. Not that I have a kid, just saying.

@iamkrid
Pretty much nearly every high school in the US is like this.

@Michelle oh I came here just for the masters degree. Then I might just go back to my country.

@iamkrid
I'm not sure how universities are here. As long as you aren't going back to high school then you're fine here.

@GeaRSiX The only link I could find to it was on Youtube (sorry guys)
Watch the Snowden interview section.
https://youtube.com/watch/...

Your friend is smarter than you