Today's act of kindness: I helped two victims of surveillance (mainstream users) with some basic privacy:

Google search > DuckDuckGo
Chrome > Firefox + uBlock Origin
Gmail > @Tutanota
Minimize number of apps

Simple actions that cuts a big chunk of surveillance. As usual they were surprised how it works.

@resist1984

Privacy is almost always relative to the threat model of the individual.

Searxes often get blocked or simply don't return anything due to bad configuration.
Despite that I prefer them and recomended it to all my tech friends.

However it's simply a poor choice for an average person that preffers stuff like search bubbles and targeted ads

@jonas

@wuwei @jonas I think you're confusing the Searxes instance (searxes.eu.org) w/the the decentralized #searx network. If you use a searx instance arbitrarily it often gets zero results; but Searxes avoids that problem & gives good results

@resist1984 @wuwei @jonas DDG is generally received as privacy-friendly. Check PrivacyTools, ThinkPrivacy and the EFF. Furthermore, a lot of users find even DDG not as user-friendly as they would like. It would be a nightmare to convince them to use Searxes. 😕

@sudo @jonas @wuwei That's grasping for straws. I struggle to see how someone can be so mentally challenged as to be unable do a #Searxes query, even if the field has an Esperanto background. Results are in English. There are also other options that don't simultaneously feed Amazon, Verizon-Yahoo, and MS. DDG is a poor recommendation from a #privacy PoV.

@resist1984 @sudo @jonas @wuwei If DDG doesn't keep records and track users, and doesn't even have an option to "sign in", then how is it a bad privacy oriented recommendation? A search engine that doesn't track you, doesn't keep records, doesn't tie an account to individuals, doesn't alter search results based on your past searches, and uses https, seems kinda like the definition of a good privacy oriented search engine.

@gerowen @wuwei @jonas @sudo you are *trusting* #DDG to do what they say they do, & they've already been caught violating their privacy policy by issueing tracker cookies. The CEO also has a history of #privacy abuse. DDG is obviously untrustworthy. DDG also finances privacy abusers (#Verizon, #Amazon, & #MS), & supports #CloudFlare.

@resist1984 @jonas @wuwei Please remember that not everyone is talented or even interested in everything. There are some people who can swim very well while there are others who are learning to swim or even afraid of water. That does not imply that they are 'mentally challenged', though. That is why, for the good of everyone, we need to recommend something that anyone can use easily. What matters is that they can do what they need to do while also having a certain degree of privacy. Cheers! 😁

@sudo @wuwei @jonas you don't understand. It takes no more talent to use a Searxes search field than it does to use a DDG search field. If someone is too mentally challenged to use #Searxes, then they are also incapable of using #DDG.

@jonas @wuwei @sudo IOW, you can get more #privacy with the same amount of skill from Searxes than DDG.

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