[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #340: Search engine privacy

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #340: Search engine privacy
June 26th, 2013

security cameraThe recent revelation of the National Security Agency's 
PRISM program, which the U.S. government has used to access people's 
phone and Internet search data, has caused a lot of outrage worldwide in 
the last couple of weeks. As long as a year ago, a Pew Internet & 
American Life survey 
<http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Search-Engine-Use-2012.aspx> found 
that almost three out of four people felt that search engine tracking of 
their searches was an invasion of privacy, and the news that massive 
amounts of this search data are being shared with the government must 
surely have increased people's anti-tracking sentiment. And indeed, 
there has been an increase in the use of search engines and other 
Internet tools that do not track user data. But on the other hand, those 
personalized search results are /so/ convenient....

  * Simple ways to enhance your Internet privacy
    <http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57590304-285/simple-ways-to-enhance-your-internet-privacy/>
    (CNET/Dennis O'Reilly) "Who's tracking you? Besides the government,
    every Internet service you've ever used, nearly every Web site
    you've ever visited, and nearly every advertiser who's ever bought
    space on a page you viewed, nobody in particular. Did I mention the
    people who developed the software you use? They may be keeping tabs
    on your activities, too."
  * DuckDuckGo search engine founder touts privacy for users
    <http://mynorthwest.com/11/2293097/DuckDuckGo-search-engine-founder-touts-privacy-for-users>
    (MyNorthwest/Alyssa Kleven) "Google saves your searches, but
    [DuckDuckGo founder Gabriel] Weinberg says it's a myth that they use
    that search history to target ads at you while you're on Google.com.
    Over 99 percent of Google's advertising, according to Weinberg,
    comes from the keywords you type in as you search. Then, the data
    saved is used on Google's other websites, like Gmail or YouTube. Or,
    in some of these cases as we're learning, it's getting in the hands
    of the National Security Agency."
  * Duck Duck Go's post-PRISM growth actually proves no one cares about
    "private" search
    <http://searchengineland.com/duck-duck-go-prism-private-search-164333>
    (Search Engine Land/Danny Sullivan) "Google has little to worry
    about. People don't care about search privacy, and Duck Duck Go's
    growth demonstrates this. Don't get me wrong. If you ask people
    about search privacy, they'll respond that it's a major issue....
    But if you look at what people actually do, virtually none of them
    make efforts to have more private search. Duck Duck Go's growth is
    an excellent case study to prove this. Despite it growing, it's not
    grown anywhere near the amount to reflect any substantial or even
    mildly notable switching by the searching public."
  * The anonymous Internet: Privacy tools grow in popularity following
    NSA revelations
    <http://business.time.com/2013/06/20/the-anonymous-internet-privacy-tools-grow-in-popularity-following-nsa-revelations/>
    (Time/Victor Luckerson) "Anonymization does have its drawbacks.
    DuckDuckGo isn't as adept as Google at anticipating what you're
    looking for before you type it. Using Cryptocat means convincing
    friends to also download the program instead of just logging onto
    Facebook or Gmail. Tor has been known to attract illicit activity...."

*/Numbers fact:/*

DuckDuckGo tweeted that it is now performing over 2 million searches a 
day, and StartPage and Ixquick reported 
<https://www.startpage.com/eng/press/pr-three-million.html> that they 
are performing a combined 3.5 million searches a day. By comparison, 
Google performs more than 400 million searches a day.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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