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Obligatory on-topic message:

Visit Junkbusters and view information on Web Bugs.

The industry uses the euphemism "clear GIFs" to describe web bugs. Search for "clear gifs" in a search engine as well as "web bugs" if you're after more information. I use TopClick because it is a privacy-respecting search engine that doesn't use cookies and I have found it to be very good.

*** NEWS FLASH ***
Congress to investigate Web Bugs. More details here at intenetnews.com.
--

I think only the shivering Chihuahuas at EPIC.Org would worry about such a non-issue. If it really bothers you to have Google "exploit" your search terms, use Topclick then. Same search engine, but without the ads, cookie or search exploitation.

... try Topclick. It uses the Google search engine but without the use of cookies, profiling, banner ads or any kind of tracking. Excellent searching and privacy protection...

Anonymous Coward? Or just cautious with my privacy? What's it to you anyway?

Did a quick freshmeat search, and found a few. Hotbot returned "fewer than 1000" results for "web-based software management software" (exact phrase). Topclick has 61 results for "web-based project management software" (with quotes included); Google also returned 61 for the same query, although the order was different.

Sorry about just pasting in URLs -- I don't have any first hand experience with any of them.

oh yeah, er, um, first post.

darren

Ok. A new search engine. (hum)
Uses Google (so do I, what's your point?)
Hmm. Going away soon, according to a poster on Slashdot. (so why should I use them?)
...
Well, lets see what it's got under the hood...
Search for Top Click
BWAHAHAHAHA
I love it. A search engine that can't find itself!

-----

If you check out their Affiliate page (doesn't Amazon (that link is to noamazon.com, by the way (I just love parentheses)) have a patent on that?) then you'd see that the did license Google's search technology.

Ian explained that TopClick believes there is a substantial segment of the Net population concerned with privacy, and that at least part of that segment would be willing to pay for services that protect privacy. Thus, while the search engine will remain free, TopClick will charge for other products they plan on rolling out (such as AllowMail, which another poster mentioned).

A previous poster mentioned that he thought the name TopClick sounds particularly cheesey. While I'm not certain, I suspect that the name is intended to raise the specter of DoubleClick in your mind. Certainly for anyone concerned for their privacy, DoubleClick is never far from mind.

So basically, the deal is this: the company seems to sincerely believe (in Mr. McCallum's words) "that every single member of the online community has an inherent and indisputable right to privacy on the Internet." They are going to work to educate the Net population, through their comprehensive Privacy Center. And they believe they are among the first of a (hopefully long) stream of companies that will prove wrong all those naysayers who cluck that privacy and profit are incompatible.

A. Keiper
The Center for the Study of Technology and Society

I searched for "Stuff" as my first search on TopClick, just to see what search results look like. The results were quite interesting.

You can find the inside scoop through the company's SEC filing. They are planning to generate revenue through their "virtual bookstore". They're just an Amazon affiliate.

Looks like a pretty weak business model to me...

This search engine appears to have just about everything I've been looking for in a search engine:

• It uses google
• the pages are small and load very quickly -- very few images at all
• Well-designed interface

They seem to be using the same database as Google -- I did a search for a few of my old email addresses (stuff that gets results from Google, pages that are no longer up any more), and I got the same results that I got with Google.

Plus, it's runing Apache/PHP:

(bfm4) $ HEAD
http://www.topclick.com/
200 OK
Connection: close
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:42:35 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.4 (Unix) PHP/3.0.7
Content-Type: text/html
Client-Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:30:03 GMT
Client-Peer: 204.71.176.40:80

All in all, it looks like I'll be switching. The Bookstore has a bunch of Security related articles and books as well, categorized into secitons like Encryption, Consumer Profiling, and Spam.

darren

This search engine appears to have just about everything I've been looking for in a search engine:

• It uses google
• the pages are small and load very quickly -- very few images at all
• Well-designed interface

They seem to be using the same database as Google -- I did a search for a few of my old email addresses (stuff that gets results from Google, pages that are no longer up any more), and I got the same results that I got with Google.

Plus, it's runing Apache/PHP:

(bfm4) $ HEAD
http://www.topclick.com/
200 OK
Connection: close
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:42:35 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.4 (Unix) PHP/3.0.7
Content-Type: text/html
Client-Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:30:03 GMT
Client-Peer: 204.71.176.40:80

All in all, it looks like I'll be switching. The Bookstore has a bunch of Security related articles and books as well, categorized into secitons like Encryption, Consumer Profiling, and Spam.

darren

This search engine appears to have just about everything I've been looking for in a search engine:

• It uses google
• the pages are small and load very quickly -- very few images at all
• Well-designed interface

They seem to be using the same database as Google -- I did a search for a few of my old email addresses (stuff that gets results from Google, pages that are no longer up any more), and I got the same results that I got with Google.

Plus, it's runing Apache/PHP:

(bfm4) $ HEAD
http://www.topclick.com/
200 OK
Connection: close
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:42:35 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.4 (Unix) PHP/3.0.7
Content-Type: text/html
Client-Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:30:03 GMT
Client-Peer: 204.71.176.40:80

All in all, it looks like I'll be switching. The Bookstore has a bunch of Security related articles and books as well, categorized into secitons like Encryption, Consumer Profiling, and Spam.

darren

This search engine appears to have just about everything I've been looking for in a search engine:

• It uses google
• the pages are small and load very quickly -- very few images at all
• Well-designed interface

They seem to be using the same database as Google -- I did a search for a few of my old email addresses (stuff that gets results from Google, pages that are no longer up any more), and I got the same results that I got with Google.

Plus, it's runing Apache/PHP:

(bfm4) $ HEAD
http://www.topclick.com/
200 OK
Connection: close
Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:42:35 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.4 (Unix) PHP/3.0.7
Content-Type: text/html
Client-Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 21:30:03 GMT
Client-Peer: 204.71.176.40:80

All in all, it looks like I'll be switching. The Bookstore has a bunch of Security related articles and books as well, categorized into secitons like Encryption, Consumer Profiling, and Spam.

darren