In this article I explain how and why Google tracks you and what alternative search engines you can use to protect yourself.
By now, you should be pretty much aware of the fact that Google keeps track of every step you make. Every search request you make through the engine is noted and the way you traverse the search result links is being evaluated.
Why?
Because Google has established a gigantic monopoly in the area of website indexing and user data collection. Of course you heard of all the exciting and innovative products Google is coming up with and researching on.
But is it where the money comes from?
Nope. More than 90% of Google income comes from their most successful product - Advertisements. And what is the most valuable asset when it comes to intelligent advertising? Damn right, it's user data. Insane amounts of collected user data parsed by AI-powered Data mining algorithms.
It's safe to say that Google knows more about you than your mom.
The ways in which Google monitors your behavior is a topic so vast, that it would take books to do it just. So let me give you a brief insight and break it down to some simple terms.
You are identified on the Web by your unique IP address. When you are surfing the web and navigating to websites using the Google search form, Google creates a user profile linked to your IP.
Based on the search terms you are using, your profile will soon get filled out by adding categories like: Age: 20-30 (searches for clubs), Male (Searches for men's clothing), Republican (searches for conservative news) and so on. This profile then gets updated and expanded upon, every further Google session you open.
Now comes the really interesting part, it's called account cross-linking. When you access your Gmail account, your Google profile gets synchronized with all data available to Google about activities you did while logged in. Now, if you happen to login to your Youtube account from the same IP address, all statistics about the kind of video content you enjoy get added in the mix.
Are we having fun yet?
Repeat this for any other third-party Google service and you obtain a painfully detailed profile of exactly who you are and what you like.
Oh, by the way, did you know that every user gets unique results back from Google based on their profile? True story.
I will spare my dear reader the elaboration on why this should be deeply concerning to anyone who cares about privacy, and move on to what we can do about this.
That's pretty much the best thing you can do.
I know, I know, Google is so damn fluffy and convenient. All other search engines don't find Jack. True - it may be frustrating to use other search engines as they don't deliver the results with Google's efficiency. But that is because:
A) We never gave them a chance to learn more i.e. didn't give them even 0.1% of the training data Google received
B) We are too spoiled by Google's performance.
Are you willing to give the other search engines a chance?
DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com) is an absolutely brilliant company.
It originates in Pennsylvania, US and was established around 2008. The company prides itself in respecting user privacy. It does not track it's dear customers and provides search results without profiling, which means that everyone gets to see the same results. This is why this search engine is endorsed by the Mozilla Foundation, The Tor Project and pretty much the whole Linux community.
Is it better that Google? No.
At least not in terms of search efficiency. But it is better than Google in thousand other ways. You might have to search for something 2-3 times, you might have to be more specific with your queries but believe me - it is worth the hassle. I have completely switched to DuckDuckGo this year. I have set is as my default homepage and search engine and I've never looked back since. I still occasionally use Google when I really depend on it, but 99% of the time it's the Duck for me.
Why don't you give it a chance too? Head over to https://duckduckgo.com and give it a spin.
If I can convince a single steemian to make the switch with me I'll consider this a mission accomplished.
